434
NOTES AND QUERIES, cio* a. v. ju*. 2, im.
-century took advantage of the posting-house
system, which had originally been organized
for the convenience of the king's messengers,
and especially for those carrying letters or
briefs. These houses at first only on the
main roads between large towns, but later
on branch routes also were granted the
monopoly of supplying relays of horses for
the king's service, and for the carriage of
letters for the public, and finally for the use
of general travellers. The "postmasters"
received fixed wages from Government, and
to supplement these were allowed to charge
2jc?. a mile for one horse or 5d. a mile for
two horses, with a mounted attendant, who
was always to accompany the party when as
many as two horses were hired.
In Charles I.'s time, Thos. Withering endeavoured to render the postal system self- supporting by imposing a fixed charge for private letters of 2d for a single or 5d. for a double one for a distance not exceeding 80 miles, 2d or 4d. for 140 miles, and so on, this scale being a modification of that already obtaining in certain local post - services, notably in Devonshire, where several towns (e.g., Barnstaple) kept horses at the expense of .the corporation, and undertook to convey private letters at regular times to meet the king's post on its way to London. That the same arrangement held good for travellers is not explicitly stated, but may perhaps be inferred.
In the South Tawton churchwardens' accounts I find the entry, in 1557, "P l for the shoying of the horse "for the Poste, xij d ." [ should have thought that, as the old " Posting Road " from Exeter to Oakhampton ran through this parish, its people would have caught the post on the wing, and not have needed to keep post-horses of their own. Was there, perhaps, not any Govern- ment post-house at Oakhampton so early? If a royal post-horse cast a shoe in any place it passed through, did the cost of reshoeing fall on that parish or on the king ?
At Leicester, says Joyce, in 9 Eliz., the members of the corporation bound them- selves under penalty to keep four post-horses in constant readiness for their sovereign's use ; but this "can hardly have been a common practice." Where horses were not provided voluntarily, the magistrates and constables had orders to seize them wherever they could be found. But did they pay for them'?
Wright's (Fothergill's) 'History of Oke- hampton, Devon,' among extracts from Rat- tenbury's 'Journal,' has the following:
"1644 This year the town was pub to great
costs for free quarter post-horses, and convoys of
letters by Parliamentary soldiers and others such
like, as by Mr. Hearne's account may appear."
I should be glad of further illustrations of the subject. ETHEL LEGA-WEEKES.
Regulations for posting were made in the reign of Elizabeth by Thomas Randolph, Master of the Posts. In 1603 it was ordered by the Privy Council that in all places where posts are laid for the packet (that is, for conveying letters on the king's business) " they also, as persons most fit, shall have the benefit and pre-eminence of letting, furnishing, and appointing of horses to all riding post, that is to say, with horn and guide, by commission or otherwise."
The postmasters were required to keep sufficient post-horses with the necessary furniture. Persons riding with commission and certain officials going to or from the Court were to pay 2ic. a mile for each horse, and a groat to the guide for each stage. No horse was to be ridden beyond the stage for which it was hired, except with the owner's consent, was not to carry more than 30 Ib. weight besides the rider, nor to travel more than seven miles an hour in summer and five in winter. Persons riding in post on their own private business were to arrange the prices with the postmasters. This proclama- tion was signed by the king, and counter- signed by Sir John Stanhope, Master of the Posts.
The first Act of Parliament for the regula tion of the Post Office, 12 Ch. II. c. 35, pro- vided (s. 2) that the Postmaster-General and his deputies, and no other person or persons whatsoever, shall prepare and provide horses and furniture to let to hire unto all through posts and persons riding in post by com- mission or without, from all and every the parts and places of England, Scotland, and Ireland where any post- roads are or shall be established. (A list of the English post- roads and stages will be found in 9 th S. i. 121.) The charge for each horse was fixed at 3d. a mile, and the guide was to have 4c. for each stage. This Act remained in force until the end of the seventeenth century and later. It was repealed by the Post Office Act, 9 Anne, c. 11 ; but section 2 of the original Act was re-enacted.
There is a good deal of information about travelling in England in the third chapter of Macaulay's 'History.' Macaulay appeared to suppose that a part of the revenue of the Post Office was derived from the letting of post-horses on hire ; but this is incorrect, as the profit derived from letting post-horses belonged to the postmasters who owned them. J. A. J. HOUSDEN.
