Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 137.djvu/626

620 carts or rude waggons, in imitation of one which, at the commencement of her reign, had been invented for her Majesty's use. Until then the Queen had, like every one else, travelled on horseback. Judges rode the circuit in jack-boots; ladies mostly on pillions, fastened behind their cavaliers. In this primitive style the Queen, on her first entry to the city, rode behind the Lord Chancellor. We can scarcely picture her Majesty Queen Victoria trusting herself behind Lord Selborne. It was, however, when a Scotch king ascended the throne of England, that the absolute necessity of greater intercourse between England and Scotland led to an immediate improvement in the post. Private correspondence was then taken into consideration, and postal rates were first established. The charge was twopence for a single letter for any distance under 80 miles, and fourpence from 80 to 140 miles, sixpence for any longer distance in England, eightpence to Scotland; but it must be remembered that the value of money was ten times greater than at present, so it is not surprising that, although so much was done to develop the postal arrangements, there was no increase in the revenue: the rates were quite prohibitory. At that time few persons could afford to pay sixpence – that is, five shillings – for a single letter. The post-messengers, therefore, had very little to do, and the smuggling of letters through the country became a regular trade: the consequence was, that in 1680 the revenue from the Post-office only amounted to five thousand a-year. By a remarkable coincidence, about this time a Mr John Hill published a slight work in favour of reducing all postal rates to one penny, whatever the distance. It would be curious to know whether this pamphlet and the name in any way suggested the idea of a uniform penny rate to Mr Rowland Hill.

It was at this date the Post-office was for the first time considered of sufficient importance to occupy the attention of Parliament. When an Act was introduced "to settle the postage in England, Scotland, and Ireland," in the course of the debate great importance was attached to the commercial and social interests involved in the Post-office. Strange, indeed, that these had been so long ignored. Lord Strickland said, "Nothing can more assist trade and commerce than this intercourse." All parties were agreed that the bill was good for commerce; and from this time the Post-office was to become an important part of the revenue. It does not appear that the improved organisation of the Post -office led to the acceleration of the mails. The post took four days between London and Dover; and oxen had frequently to be employed to drag the carriages over the broken roads, and in no instance did the pace ever exceed three miles an hour. In a work called 'The Grand Concern of England,' published in 1673, it seems that the roads were so bad, that when a family intended to travel, they frequently sent on servants to investigate the country and report upon the most promising track. Fuller says he frequently saw as many as six oxen employed in dragging a single person to church. During floods, it was not unusual for passengers to remain at some town for days together, until the waters had subsided. We extract from 'The Royal Mail' a most graphic description of the state of the roads at this date: –

"The first four miles out of Edinburgh, on the road towards London,