rned, for
when it was abolished compensation was given for the loss of fees, the
annual payments ranging from L10 8s., to L36 8s. Increased posting
facilities, and the infusion of greater activity into the performance of
post-office work, were no doubt the things which "rang the parting
knell" of these useful servants of the period.

[Illustration: THE BELLMAN COLLECTING LETTERS FOR DESPATCH.]

The slow and infrequent conveyance of mails by the ordinary post in
former times gave rise to the necessity for "Expresses." By this term is
meant the despatch of a single letter by man and horse, to be passed on
from stage to stage without delay to its destination. In an official
instruction of 1824 the speed to be observed was thus described: "It is
expected that all Expresses shall be conveyed at the rate of seven
miles, at least, within the hour." The charge made was 11d. per mile,
arising as follows, viz.:--7 1/2d. per mile for the horse, 2d. per mile for
the rider, and 1 1/2d. per mile for the post-horse duty. The postmaster who
despatched the Express, and the postmaster who received it for delivery,
were each entitled to 2s. 6d. for their trouble.

It will perhaps be convenient to look at the packet service apart from
the land service, though progress is as remarkable in the one as in the
other. During the wars of the latter half of the last century, the
packets, small as they were, were armed packets. But we almost smile in
recording the armaments carried. Here is an account of the arms of the
_Roebuck_ packet as inventoried in 1791:--

2 Carriage guns.
4 Muskets and bayonets.
4 Brass Blunderbusses.
4 Cutlasses.
4 Pair of Pistols.
3 old Cartouch-boxes.

In our own estuaries and seas the packets were not free from
molestation, and were in danger of being taken. In 1779 the Carron
Company were running vessels from the Forth to London, and the following
notice was issued by them as an inducement to persons travelling between
these places:--

"The Carron vessels are fitted out in the most complete manner for
defence, at a very considerable expense, and are well provided with
small arms. All mariners, recruiting parties, soldiers upon furlow, and
all other steerage passengers who have been accustomed to the use of
firearms, and who will engage to assist in defending themselves, will be
accommodated with their passage to and from London upon satisfying the
masters for their provisions