ale-house was no doubt another factor in the slow journeying of the postboys, as it was the source of much trouble in the days of mail-coaches.

Mr Palmer, through whose initiative and perseverance mail-coaches were subsequently established throughout the country, thus described the post as it existed in 1783:—

"The post, at present, instead of being the swiftest, is almost the slowest, conveyance in the country; and though, from the great improvement in our roads, other carriers have proportionably mended their speed, the post is as slow as ever. It is likewise very unsafe, as the frequent robberies of it testify; and to avoid a loss of this nature, people generally cut bank bills, or bills at sight, in two, and send the bills by different posts. The mails are generally intrusted to some idle boy, without character, mounted on a worn-out hack, and who, so far from being able to defend himself or escape from a robber, is much more likely to be in league with him."

Including stoppages, this mode of travelling was, up to 1783, at the rate of about three to four miles an hour.

We are again indebted to Mr Chambers for the following statement of careless blunders made by postboys in connection with the Edinburgh mails:—"As indicating the simplicity of the institution in those days, may be noticed a mistake of February 1720, when, instead of the mail which should have come in yesterday (Sunday), we had our own mail of Thursday last returned—the presumption being, that the mail for Edinburgh had been in like manner sent back from some unknown point in the road to London. And this mistake happened once more in December 1728, the bag despatched on a Saturday night being returned the second Sunday morning after; 'tis reckoned this mistake happened about half-way on the road." We hardly agree, however, that these mistakes were owing to the simplicity of the institution, but rather to the routine nature of the work; for it is the fact that blunders equally flagrant have occurred in the Post-office in recent times, even under elaborate checks, which, if rightly applied, would have rendered the mistakes impossible.

CAUTION to POST-BOYS.

By the Act of 5th of Geo. III. If any Post-Boy, or Rider,
having taken any of His Majesty's Mails, or Bags of
Letters, under his Care, to convey to the next Post Town or
Stage, shall suffer any other Person (except a Guard) to ride
on the Horse or Carriage, or shall Loiter on the Road, and
wilfully misspend his Time, so as to retard the Arrival of the
said Mails, or Bags of Letters, at the next Post Town or
Stage.—Every such Offender shall, on Conviction before One
Justice, be committed to the House of Correction, and
confined to hard Labour for one Month. All Post-Boys and
Riders are therefore desired to take Notice of this, and are
hereby cautioned not to fail in the regular Performance of
their Duty, otherwise they will most assuredly be punished as
the Law directs. And it is hoped and requested, for the
Benefit of public Correspondence, that all Persons, who may
observe any Post-Boy or Rider, offending as aforesaid, will
give immediate Notice to—Johnson Williamson
Surveyor of the General Post-Office, (About 1792)

Many of the troubles which the Post-office had with its postboys may possibly be ascribed to the low rate of wages paid by the contractors for their services. This matter is referred to by the Solicitor to the Scotch Post-office, who was engaged upon an inquiry into the robbery of the mail on the stage between Dingwall and Tain in the year 1805. The distance between these places is about twenty-five miles, and five hours were occupied in making the journey. One of the postboys concerned stated in his declaration that his whole wages were 5s. a-week; and with reference to this, the solicitor in his report observes as follows: "Of course it may fairly be presumed that no respectable man will be got to perform this duty. Dismission to such a man for committing a fault is no punishment; and the safety of the conveyance of the mail, which the public have a right to require, seems to render some regulation in this respect necessary."

The following account of the violation of the mails by a postboy may perhaps be aptly introduced here:—

In the autumn of 1808, a good deal of anxiety was caused to the authorities of the Post-office in Scotland, in consequence of reports being made to them that many bankers' letters had been tampered with in course of their transmission by post through certain of the northern counties. To discover who was concerned in the irregularities was rendered the more difficult, owing to the fact that the mail-bags in which the letters had been despatched were reported to have reached their destinations duly sealed. But a thing of this kind could not go on without discovery, and investigation being made, the storm burst over the head of a poor little postboy named William Shearer, a lad of fifteen years of age, who was employed riding the north mail over the stage from Turriff to Banff. From the account we have of the matter, it would seem that in this case, as in many others, it was opportunity that made the thief; for the mail-bags had on some occasions been insecurely sealed, the despatching postmasters having failed to place the wax over the knots of the string—and the postboy was thus able to get to the inside of the bags without cutting the string or breaking the seals, by simply undoing the knots. Here the temptation presented itself; and although some twenty-six letters were found inside his hat when he was searched, it is not unlikely that he commenced by merely peeping into the letters by pulling out their ends, for several bank letters containing notes for considerable sums had been so violated, while the contents were found safe. To cover one delinquency the boy had recourse to others. In order to account for his delay on the road, he opened the bag containing his way-bill, borrowed a knife from a shoemaker who kept one of the toll-houses, and altered his hour of despatch from his starting-point. The unfortunate youth also gave way to drink, stopping at the toll-houses, and calling sometimes for rum, sometimes for whisky, the keepers sharing in the refreshments, which were purchased with stolen money. On one occasion the boy opened a parcel intrusted to him, and from a letter inside abstracted a twenty-shilling note. Whether to render himself all the more redoubtable on the road, over a section of which he travelled in the dark, or for some other purpose, is not clear, but with six shillings of the aforesaid sum he bought a sword, and with two shillings a pistol, the balance going in drink. The occupation of riding the mail was not for one so young: yet it was found that full-grown men often gave more trouble than boys; and it may be here remarked that the adventure of Davie Mailsetter in the 'Antiquary' is no great exaggeration of the service of postboys at the period to which it refers. The poor boy Shearer was put upon his trial before the Circuit Court of Justiciary at Aberdeen; and when called upon to plead, confessed his guilt. There was every disposition on the part of the public prosecutor, and of the presiding judge, to let the case go as lightly as possible against the prisoner—doubtless on account of his youth; but the law had to be vindicated, and the sentence passed was that of transportation for a period of seven years. Since then humanity has made progress, and no such punishment would be inflicted in such a