Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 8.djvu/456

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. vm. NOV. 9, 1907,

NOTES ON BOOKS, &o.

Sir Rowland Hill : the Story of a Great Reform.

Told by his Daughter. (Fisher Unwin.) WE congratulate Mrs. Smyth, the daughter of Rowland Hill who, by the way, frequently con- tributes to ' N. & Q,.' on her valuable addition to the history of postal reform. In this volume of three hundred pages we have a succinct account of the entire movement modestly told.

Before entering upon the contest originated by Rowland Hill's pamphlet, ' Post Office Reform : its Importance and Practicability,' published by Charles Knight in February, 1837, Mrs. Smyth gives us a glimpse of her happy home life, where educa- tion became a delightful pastime, not a task, as it generally was in those days. It will be remem- bered what a pleasant way the Hills had of im- parting instruction, and how their school at Bruce Castle a prospectus of which, dated December, 1835, is, thanks to the courtesy of our valued contributor Mr. W. H. Peet, now before us was condiicted. The boys them- selves were associated with the business of school government ; and the acquisition of knowledge was rendered "a source of continued pleasure to the scholars," who were encouraged to ask for infor- mation from their teachers respecting everything not perfectly clear to their minds. De Quincey well wrote of those "ancient halls of Bruce": "There it is possible for the timid child to be happy ; for the child destined to an early grave to reap his brief harvest in peace."

When Rowland Hill moved with his family to Hampstead, his house soon became the haunt of many distinguished friends. At Mr. Field's house they met Clarkson Stanfield and Turner. The latter, at a crowded evening party, after saying farewell, returned a few minutes later, "wonderfully and fearfully apparelled, and silently commenced a search about the drawing - room. Suddenly he seemed to recollect, approached a sofa on which sat three handsomely attired ladies, whose in- dignant countenances were a sight for gods and men when the abruptly-mannered artist called on them to rise. He then half dived beneath the seat, drew forth a dreadfully shabby umbrella of the 'gamp' species, and, taking no more notice of the irate three than if they had been so many chairs, withdrew." Among more intimate friends was their neighbour Charles Wentworth Dilke,then living at Wentworth House, where " one met every writer, to say nothing of other men and women, worth knowing." With him Mrs. Smyth had many delightful walks, when he would speak, with a charm of manner we remember well, of friends who had been his guests Keats, Charles Lamb, Coleridge, and many others.

Mrs. Smyth has much to relate with reference to the way in which the franking of letters was abused. Her father advocated its being abolished. Members of the favoured classes were able to send by post, free of charge, fifteen couples of hounds, two maid- servants, a cow, two bales of stockings, a deal case containing flitches of bacon, or a huge feather bed. Roebuck stated "in the House of Commons that 'the Ambassador's Bag 'was often unduly weighted. Coats, hose, boots, and other articles were sent by it ;

even a pianoforte, and a horse." The law regarding the postage of newspapers was curious. The cost was virtually covered by the duty stamp. Yet no newspaper could be posted in any provincial town for delivery within the same, nor anywhere within the London District (a circle of twelve miles radius from the General Post Office) for delivery within the same circle, unless a postage of a penny, in addition to the impressed newspaper stamp, were paid upon it. This was constantly evaded by news- agents sending papers to Gravesend, the Post Office then having the trouble of bringing them back, and of delivering them without charge. Among Mrs. Smyth's recollections of childhood's days is a vision of the newspaper, sheet by sheet, passing through a succession of households till its contents had become "ancient history."

The excellent Index shows how liberally Mrs. Smyth recognizes her father's helpers. One of the earliest and most energetic of these was Henry Cole, afterwards knighted. His pictorial devices aided much in bringing the question home to the people. One of these was a drawing of a mail-coach with a large amount of postal matter, piled, by artistic licence, on the roof, instead of inside " the boot." Six huge sacks contained between them 2,296 newspapers, weighing 273 lb., a seventh sack, as large as any of its fellows, held 484 franked letters, and weighed 47 lb. ; while a moderate-sized parcel was filled with Stamp Office documents. They were all labelled " Go free." A bag of insig- nificant dimensions leant up against one of the sacks. It held 1.565 ordinary letters, weighed 34 lb., and was marked 93/. " This tiny packet paid for all the rest." The figures given were absolutely correct, and showed the actual proportions of the mail matter carried from London to Edinburgh on the 2nd of March, 1838.

The eighteen illustrations include four portraits of Rowland Hill, a view of Bruce Castle, the Mul- ready envelope, and a charming portrait of Lady Hill. She was a devoted wife and a true helpmate : "During the long postal -reform agitation, her buoyant hopefulness and abiding faith in her hus- band's plan never failed to cheer and encourage him to persevere. Years after, when their children were old enough to understand their position, their father would tell them how much he owed to her and bade them never to forget the debt." At 10 S. vi. 232 Mr. John T. Page gave the inscription to hei husband's memory which is on her tomb in High gate Cemetery.

The Edinburgh Review for October contains nothing dealing with literature of the type whicl stands apart from history and politics. The artich on Palermo gives an account of the varying for tunes of the city of the Golden Plain from it; Phoenician days till the present time. ' La Cam pagne maritime de 1805' is principally a notice ol Major Desbriere's volume of that name. It leave! the reader asking himself how Napoleon could b< possessed of such marvellous military foresight and yet at the same time prove so incapable o comprehending the ABC of naval warfare. Th< contradictory orders which he issued in swif succession, combined with a system which allowe( no initiative to his admirals, were ruinous to hi hope of invading England. No one can doubt th( individual courage and heroism of the French com batants at Trafalgar. "As to the fleet itself an< the fate to which it went, from the evidence whicl