One or two instances of the cross-post service of former times, in England itself, which might be supposed to be more fortunate than its Scottish neighbour, will repay consideration. Thus we find it duly recorded in official reports, that in 1792 there was no direct post between Thrapston and Wellingborough, though the distance separating them was only nine miles. Letters could circulate between these towns by way of Stilton, Newark, Nottingham, and Northampton, performing a circuit of 148 miles, or they could be sent by way of London, 74 miles up and 68-1/2 down, in which latter case they reached their destination one day sooner than by the former round-about route.

Again, from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds, two important towns of 11,277[3] and 7655[3] inhabitants respectively, and distant from one another only 22 miles, there was no direct post. Letters had to be forwarded either through Norwich and Newmarket, or by way of London, the distance to be covered in the one case being 105 miles, and in the other 143-1/2 miles. We have not the means of computing the time letters took to travel from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds in 1792, but an Itinerary for 1812 affords the necessary information as regards the later period. Suppose a letter were posted at Ipswich for Bury St Edmunds on Monday, it would be despatched to Norwich at 5.30 a.m. on Tuesday, reaching Norwich some six hours thereafter. It would leave Norwich at 4.0 p.m. same day (Tuesday), and arrive at Newmarket at about 11.0 p.m., where it would lie all night and the greater part of next day, and would only arrive at Bury St Edmunds at 5.40 p.m. on Wednesday. If the letter were sent by the Metropolitan route, its time would be the same, thus:—Leaving Ipswich at 9.30 p.m. on Monday, it would reach London at 8.0 a.m. on Tuesday. Thence it would not get despatched till 7.30 p.m.; and proceeding to Newmarket, would arrive there at 4.0 a.m. on Wednesday. Here it would remain till the afternoon, and would reach Bury St Edmunds, as in the former case, at 5.40 p.m. (on Wednesday). So that, in practice, to cover this short interval of 22 miles by post, three whole days were necessary.

One more instance:—From Salisbury to South Wales, a distance of some 70 miles, letters had to circulate through London, making a journey, up and down, of something like 220 miles, and this without alternative.

These facts show what a poor circulation the Post-office had at the period in question, and what splendid intervals there were in which to sort the correspondence. Nowadays, in any office pretending to importance, the letters pour in all day long (and all night too, possibly), and they pour out in a constant stream at the same time—letters being in and out of an office in certain instances within the space of a few minutes. A good sorter will sort letters at the rate of 25 to 40 a minute. But let us look at what a sorter has to learn to do this. A leaf of the circulation book in use at Edinburgh for places in England is here inserted (p. 131), which will be of assistance in understanding the matter. It will be observed that there are seven times in the day at which despatches are made to England. Letters for Martock, in Somersetshire, for example, in accordance with the hour at which they may be posted, would be sent thus: to Birmingham at 10.0 a.m.; to the Midland Travelling Post-office Forward, third division, at 2.40 p.m.; no circulation at 4.15 p.m.; to the Glasgow and Carlisle Sorting Tender (a sorting carriage running between these towns) at 5.50 p.m.; no circulation at 7.20 p.m.; to the Bristol and Exeter Travelling Post-office at 9.0 p.m.; and to London at 10.0 p.m. Then if we take Mitcheldean, at the foot of the sheet, its circulation is this: to Birmingham at 10.0 a.m.; to Gloucester at 2.40 p.m.; to the Glasgow and Carlisle Sorting Tender at 5.50 p.m.; to Gloucester at 9.0 p.m.; and to Manchester at 10.0 p.m. And so on throughout the book, which contains the names of some 1300 places in England. Nor, as regards England, is this all. The sorters have to divide letters into the several London districts by reference to the street addresses which the letters bear. Again, these men have to know the circulation for Scotch towns and Irish towns, and many of them have, besides, such a knowledge of the streets of their own city, Edinburgh, as enables them to sort letters for delivery into the several postmen's districts. Thus it will be seen that the sortation of letters is no mere mechanical process, but demands considerable head-work, as well as activity of body.

Towns.Counties.How Sent.
Martock, R.S.O.Somerset10 a.m. Birmingham
(Ilminster) 2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
MaryportCumberland10 a.m. Carlisle
2.0 p.m. Carlisle
5.50 p.m. Carlisle
9.0 p.m. Carlisle
Matlock BathDerby2.40 p.m. Derby
4.15 p.m. Derby
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Derby
10.0 p.m. Leeds
MelkshamWiltshire10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 2
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London, G.W. Div.
10.0 p.m. London
Melton MowbrayLeicester2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., No. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Leicester
10.0 p.m. Leeds
Menai Bridge, R.S.O.Anglesea5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
(Bangor) 9.0 p.m. Liverpool
10.0 p.m. Manchester
Merthyr TydvillGlamorgan10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Gloucester
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Gloucester
10.0 p.m. Manchester
Micheldever StationHants10.0 a.m. London
2.40 p.m. London, S.W. Div.
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London, S.W. Div.
10.0 p.m. London
MiddlesboroughYork10.0 a.m. Darlington
10.0 p.m. Bag
Middleton-on-the-Hants10.0 a.m. York
Wolds, (Beverley) 2.40 p.m. Normanton
7.20 p.m. Hull
10.0 p.m. York
MiddlewichChester10.0 a.m. Liverpool
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. N.W. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. Liverpool
MidhurstSussex10.0 a.m. London
2.40 p.m. London S.W. Div.
5.50 p.m. London S.W. Div.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London S.W. Div.
10.0 p.m. London
Milford HavenPembroke 10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Gloucester
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Gloucester
10.0 p.m. Manchester
MilnthorpeWestmorland10.0 a.m. Birmingham
2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
Milverton, R.S.O.Somerset10.0 a.m. Birmingham
(Taunton) 2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 3
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
Milnehead, R.S.O.Somerset10.0 a.m. Birmingham
(Taunton) 2.40 p.m. Midland T.P.O., F. 1
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. B. & E. T.P.O.
10.0 p.m. London
MitchamSurrey10.0 a.m. London
2.40 p.m. London Sub.
5.50 p.m. London Sub.
7.20 p.m. London
9.0 p.m. London Sub.
10.0 p.m. London
Mitcheldean, R.S.O.Gloucester10.0 a.m. Birmingham
(Ross) 2.40 p.m. Gloucester
5.50 p.m. G. & C. S.T.
9.0 p.m. Gloucester
10.0 p.m. Manchester

With some men it is impossible for them ever to become good sorters, even with the most earnest desire on their part to do so. There are certain qualities necessary for the purpose, and if they are not united in the person, he will never come to the front as a good sorter. These are: self-command—necessary when working against time; activity in his person so as to meet any sudden strain of work; a methodical habit; and, the sine quâ non of a sorter, a quick, prehensile, and retentive memory. So much has a sorter to learn, that a man without a head can never distinguish himself; and an educational test, except as a measure of acquirements in a collateral way, is of very little use. A sorter's success rests chiefly upon natural aptitude.

In the circulation of letters, we may discover the paradox that "the longest road is often the shortest"; the explanation of which is, that by a round-about way letters may sometimes arrive sooner than by waiting the next chance by a more direct route. Post-office circulation is not tied down by any strait-laced lines of geographical science, nor by any consideration but that of the economy of time.

For example, at certain periods letters from Edinburgh for places in Norfolk and Suffolk go on to London, to return north to those counties by the mails out of London; similarly, letters for places north of Manchester are at certain hours sent on to that city, to be returned part of the way by next opportunity. It will no doubt seem a puzzle that letters for Ireland should, at a certain time of day, be forwarded from Edinburgh to Leeds in Yorkshire! Yet this is so, and with good results,—the fact being that, after the more direct despatches for the day, Irish letters are sent by the last evening train to Leeds, whence early next morning they are sent across the country, reaching a travelling Post-office proceeding from London to Holyhead, and then catching the day-mail packet for Ireland. Thus they arrive in the sister isle by the time they would otherwise be only leaving Scotland. In the travelling Post-offices the plan of carrying letters away from their destinations in order that time may be gained for their sortation, and afterwards sending them back by a Post-office carriage proceeding in the reverse direction, is largely practised, and with the greatest advantage. Again, letters from Newcastle-on-Tyne for Glasgow, forwarded by the night-mail, take what might be thought to be a very wide circuit—namely, by way of Normanton in Yorkshire, and Manchester and Wigan in Lancashire; yet that circulation is found to be best at the hour at which the night-mail despatch is made. In one more case that may be cited, letters from Berwick-on-Tweed for Carlisle are, at a certain time of the day, forwarded through Edinburgh as the most expeditious route. There is such a complexity of arrangement in the matter of circulation, and so great a dependence of any one part on a great many other surrounding parts, that comparatively few persons ever thoroughly understand it, and only those who can master it should meddle with it.

In one aspect the process of sortation bears some resemblance to digestion. This is observed in connection with the strange courses which letters run if, by a first misreading of the address, they happen to get out of their proper line or direction. A day seldom passes but some letter addressed to Edenbridge in Kent reaches the city of Edinburgh, either from London or some other English town. There is, of course, a strong resemblance between the names of the two places as written, yet the missent letters must have passed through the hands of two or three sorters before reaching Edinburgh. But though this might seem to suggest carelessness, there is this to be said, that whenever a letter for Edenbridge gets out of its own course, and into the stream of letters for Edinburgh, the sorters have a predisposition to assimilate it as an Edinburgh letter, and so it gets forwarded to that city. The same thing applies in regard to letters for Leek, Leith, and Keith, and for Musselburgh and Middlesborough—especially when, as is too often the case, the writing is not good; and many other similar instances might be given. Letters for Fiji frequently reach Edinburgh from London and the South, being missent as for Fife in Scotland; and we have it on the authority of the Colonial Postmaster of Fiji, that numbers of letters, papers, &c., directed to Fife, reach the Fiji Islands. Two letters posted at Hamilton, Bermuda, and addressed to Edinburgh, Saratoga Co., N.Y., were recently observed to perform a curious circuit before reaching their destination. Instead of being sent direct to the United States from Bermuda, they were forwarded to London in England; and here, getting into the current of inland correspondence, they were sent to Edinburgh in Scotland. At this stage their wild career was stopped, and they were put in proper course to recross the Atlantic. It is near the truth to say, that similarity of names and bad writing are the causes of very many of the irregularities which befall letters in their transit through the post.