(unless there was a chance hand on a Wednesday) our letters reached us only once a week, along with our bread and butcher meat, by the weekly carrier, Robbie Hogg. His arrival used to be a great event, the letter-bag being turned out, and a rummage made for our own. Afterwards the Moffat carriers gave more frequent opportunities of getting letters; but they were apt to carry them on to Moffat and bring them back the following week."

Another instance of the slow communications is given in a letter written from Brodick Castle, Arran, by Lord Archibald Campbell, on the 25th September 1820.

The letter was addressed to a correspondent in Glasgow, and proceeds thus: "Your letter of the 18th did not reach me till this morning, as, in consequence of the rough state of the weather, there has been no postal communication with this island for several days." The time consumed in getting this letter forward from Glasgow to Brodick was exactly a week, and when so much time was required in the case of an island lying in the Firth of Clyde, what time would be necessary to make communication with the Outer Hebrides?

Even between considerable towns, as representing important centres in the country, the amount of correspondence by letter was small. Thus the mail from Inverness to Edinburgh of the 5th October 1808 contained no more than 30 letters. The total postage on these was £2, 9s. 6d., the charges ranging from 11d. to 14s. 8d. per letter. At the present time the letters from Inverness to Edinburgh are probably nearly a thousand a day; but this is no fair comparison, because many letters that would formerly pass through Edinburgh now reach their destinations in direct bags—London itself being an instance.

ANALYSIS OF THE LONDON TO EDINBURGH MAIL OF THE 2d MARCH 1838.
(After a print lent by Lady Cole from the collection of the late Sir Henry Cole, K.C.B.)

But coming down to a much later date, and looking at what was going on between London and Edinburgh, the capital towns of Great Britain, what do we find? An analysis of the London to Edinburgh mail of the 2d March 1838 gives the following figures; and let it not be forgotten that in these days the Edinburgh mail contained the correspondence for a large part of Scotland:—

2296 Newspapers, weighing 273 lbs., and going free.

484 Franked Letters, weighing 47 lbs., and going free.

Parcels of stamps going free.

1555 Letters, weighing 34 lbs., and bearing postage to the value of £93.

These figures represent the exchange of thought between the two capitals fifty years ago. These were truly the days of darkness, when abuses were kept out of sight and were rampant.

Down to much later times the bonds of privilege remained untied. In the Civil Service itself what changes have taken place! The doors have been thrown open to competition and to capacity and worth, and probably they will never be closed again. The author of these lines had an experience in 1867—not very long ago—which may be worthy of note. He had been then several years in the Post Office service, and desired to obtain a nomination to compete for a higher position—a clerkship in the Secretary's office. He took the usual step through the good offices of a Member of Parliament, and the following rebuff emanated from headquarters. It shall be its own monument, and may form a shot in the historical web of our time:—

"I wrote to —— (the Postmaster-General) about the Mr. J. W. Hyde, who desires to be permitted to compete for a clerkship in the London Post Office, described as a cousin of ——.

"(The Postmaster-General) has to-day replied that nominations to the Secretary's office are not now given except to candidates who are actually gentlemen, that is, sons of officers, clergymen, or the like. If I cannot satisfy (the Postmaster-General) on this point, I fear Mr. Hyde's candidature will go to the wall."[2]

Now one of the chief obstacles in the way of rapid communication in our own country was the very unsatisfactory state of the roads. Down to the time of the introduction of mail-coaches, just about a hundred years ago, the roads were in a deplorable state, and travellers have left upon record some rather strong language on the subject. It was only about that time that road-making came to be understood; but the obvious need for smooth roads to increase the speed of the mail gave an impetus to the subject, and by degrees matters were greatly improved. It is not our purpose to pursue the inquiry as to roads, though the subject might be attractive, and we must be content with the general assertion as to their condition.

But not only were the roads bad, but they were unsafe. Travellers could hardly trust themselves to go about unarmed, and even the mail-coaches, in which (besides the driver and guard) some passengers generally journeyed, had to carry weapons of defence placed in the hands of the guard. Many instances of highway robbery by highwaymen who made a profession of robbery might be given; but one or two cases may repay their perusal. On the 4th March 1793 the Under-Sheriff of Northampton was robbed at eight o'clock in the evening near Holloway turnpike by two highwaymen, who carried off a trunk containing the Sheriff's commission for opening the assizes at Northampton.

In the Autobiography of Mary Hewitt the following encounter is recorded, referring to the period between 1758-96: "Catherine (Martin), wife of a purser in the navy, and conspicuous for her beauty and impulsive, violent temper, having quarrelled with her excellent sister, Dorothea Fryer, at whose house in Staffordshire she was staying, suddenly set off to London on a visit to her great-uncle, the Rev. John Plymley, prebend of the Collegiate Church at Wolverhampton, and Chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath. She journeyed by the ordinary conveyance, the Gee-Ho, a large stage-waggon drawn by a team of six horses, and which, driven merely by day, took a week from Wolverhampton to the Cock and Bell, Smithfield.

"Arrived in London, Catherine proceeded on foot to Blackheath. There, night having come on, and losing her way, she was suddenly accosted by a horseman with, 'Now, my pretty girl, where are you going?' Pleased by his gallant address, she begged him to direct her to Morden College. He assured her that she was fortunate in having met with him instead of one of his company, and inducing her to mount before him, rode across the heath to the pile of buildings which had been erected by Sir Christopher Wren for decayed merchants, the recipients of Sir John Morden's bounty. Assisting her to alight, he rang the bell, then remounted his steed and galloped away, but not before the alarmed official, who had answered the summons, had exclaimed, 'Heavens! Dick Turpin on Black Bess!' My mother always said 'Dick Turpin.' Another version in the family runs 'Captain Smith.'"

The Annual Register of the 3d October 1792 records the following case of highway robbery:—

"The daily messenger, despatched from the Secretary of State's office with letters to His