pations 45,691 116,892 162,583
Children under five
years 28,911 29,133 58,044
------ ------- -------
Total 194,540 206,234 400,774

The comparative population of this and other large towns in England is
thus given:--

Pop. Pop. Inc. Prcent
1881. 1871. of inc.
London 3,707,130 3,254,260 452,870 13.89
Liverpool 549,834 493,305 56,429 11.35
Birmingham 400,774 343,787 56,893 16.52
Manchester 364,445 351,189 13,256 3.70
Salford 194,077 124,801 69,276 55.64
Leeds 326,158 259,212 66,946 25.81
Sheffield 312,943 239,946 72,997 30.38
Bristol 217,185 182,552 24,633 13.47
Bradford 203,544 145,830 57,614 39.50
Nottingham 177,934 86,621 91,343 105.81
Hull 152,980 121,892 31,088 25.62
Newcastle 151,822 128,443 23,379 17.96
Portsmouth 136,671 113,569 23,102 20.35
Leicester 134,350 95,220 39,130 41.05
Oldham 119,658 82,629 37,029 45.11
Sunderland 118,927 98,242 20,685 90.40
Brighton 109,062 90,011 19,051 21.11
Norwich 86,437 80,386 6,051 7.50
W'lvrhmptn 76,850 68,291 8,569 12.46
Plymouth 75,700 68,758 4,942 7.10

~Portugal House.~--See "_The Royal_."

~Post Offices.~--Charles I. must be credited with founding the present
Post Office system, as in 1635 he commanded that a running post or two
should be settled "to run night and day between London and Edinburgh, to
go thither and come back again in six days, and to take with them all
such letters as shall be directed to any post town in or near that
road." Other "running posts" were arranged to Exeter and Plymouth, and
to Chester and Holyhead, &c., and gradually all the principal places in
the country were linked on to the main routes by direct and cross posts.
It has often been quoted as a token of the insignificance of Birmingham
that letters used to be addressed "Birmingham, near Walsall;" but
possibly the necessity of some writer having to send here by a
cross-country route, _via_ Walsall, will explain the matter. That our
town was not one of the last to be provided with mails is proved by
Robert Girdler, a resident of Edgbaston Street in 1652, being appointed
the Govern