, Robert, 398

Williamson, Joseph, 113

Witherings, Thomas, 8, 9, 12, 378, 381

Yearly express, 40

Zone rates, 177, 199, 201, 202, 215, 356

* * * * *

_Printed in Great Britain by_

UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, THE GRESHAM PRESS, WOKING AND LONDON

* * * * *

[1] _Report from Secret Committee on the Post Office_ (_Commons_), 1844,
Appx., p. 21.

[2] Ibid., p. 4. _Annual Report of the Postmaster-General_, 1854, p. 8.

[3] _Encyclopaedia of the Laws of England_, London, 1908, vol. xi. p.
344. J. W. Hyde, _The Post in Grant and Farm_, London, 1894, p. 131.

[4] _Report from Secret Committee on the Past Office_ (_Commons_),1844,
Appx., p. 95. In 1324 a writ or letter was issued to the Constable of
Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports, to the Mayor and Sheriffs of
London, the Bailiffs of Bristol, Southampton, and Portsmouth, and the
Sheriffs of Hants, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, reciting that
previous orders _de scrutinio faciendo_ had not been observed, in
consequence of which many letters prejudicial to the Crown were brought
into the kingdom; and commanding them to "make diligent scrutiny of all
persons passing from parts beyond the seas to England, and to stop all
letters concerning which sinister suspicions might arise, and their
bearers, and to keep the bearers in custody until further directions,
and to transmit the letters so intercepted to the King with the utmost
speed."

[5] Richard III in 1484 "followed the practice which had been recently
introduced by King Edward in the time of the last war with Scotland
(1482) of appointing a single horseman for every 20 miles, by means of
whom travelling with the utmost speed, and not passing their respective
limits, news was always able to be carried by letter from hand to hand
200 miles within two days."--_Third Continuation of the Chronicle of
Croyland_, Oxford, 1684, p. 571. The system was identical with that of
the posts of antiquity (_vide_ Appendix B, pp. 374-7, _infra_).

[6] Derived from _posta_, a contraction for _posita_, from _ponere_, to
place. The general use of the word is to signify relays placed at
intervals on the routes followed by messengers.

[7] "Ne men can kepe horses in redynes without som way to bere the
charges"--Tuke to Cromwell, 17 August 1533 (_Report from Secret
Committee on the Post Office_ (_Commons_), 1844, Appx., p. 32).

[8] "The King's ple