“Houses, or boxes, for receiving letters before four o’clock, at the West end of the town, and five o’clock in the City, are open in every part of the Metropolis; after that hour bell-men collect the letters during another hour, receiving a fee of one penny for each letter; but, at the General Post Office, in Lombard Street, letters are received till seven o’clock; after that, till half an hour after seven, a fee of sixpence must be paid; and from half after seven till a quarter before eight, the postage must be paid, as well as the fee of sixpence. Persons, till lately, were, if well known, permitted to have back any letter put in, if required; but, by an order of June, 1802, the masters of receiving houses are not allowed to return letters on any pretence whatever.
“Letters from (? for) the East Indies must be delivered at the India House, where a letter-box is provided for their reception.
“Those for the coast of Africa, or at single settlements in particular parts of the world, may be sent either through the ship letter office, or by the bags which await the sailing of ships, and which are kept at the respective coffee houses near the Royal Exchange.”
We should consider these arrangements somewhat primitive; but then, telegrams and frequent mails have spoilt us. The twopenny post was mainly local, there being six deliveries and collections of letters in town daily, and many country places had two deliveries and collections.
The letters were distributed throughout the length and breadth of the country by means of Mail Coaches, which carried passengers at an average rate of sixpence per mile. This system was inaugurated, and organized, at the latter end of the Eighteenth Century, by a Mr. John Palmer, of Bath, who not only suggested the routes, but to prevent robbery, which, previously, was rife, had every coach accompanied by a well-armed guard, and these coaches accomplished their journeys at a uniform rate, including stoppages, of eight miles an hour. They did not start from the Post Office, but from various inns, and the following is a list of the coaches, and places of starting:
| Dover Portsmouth | } | Angel, St. Clements. |
|
Bristol Bath Exeter Liverpool Manchester Norwich Taunton Yarmouth Ipswich | Swan with Two Necks, Lad Lane. | |
| Poole | Bell and Crown, Holborn. | |
| Chester and Holyhead Worcester | } | Golden Cross, Charing Cross. |
| Gloucester | { | Golden Cross, Charing Cross; and the Angel, St. Clements, Strand. |
|
York and Edinburgh Glasgow Shrewsbury Leed | Bull and Mouth, Bull and Mouth Street | |
| Harwich | Spread Eagle, Gracechurch Street. | |
|
Chichester Cambridge Rye Brighton | Unknown. |
The letters were first of all sorted; then they were weighed, and their proper amount of postage marked on them; they were counted, packed in boxes for the different towns, and an account kept of their number; they were then put in bags, which were sealed, and given in charge of the mail guard. Postage was heavy in those days. Take the charges for 1810:
| d. | |||||||
| From any Post Office in England or Wales to any place notexceeding 15 miles from such Office | 4 | ||||||
| For any distance above | 15 | miles, | and not | exceeding | 30 | miles | 5 |
| ” | 30 | ” | ” | 50 | ” | 6 | |
| ” | 50 | ” | ” | 80 | ” | 7 | |
| ” | 80 | ” | ” | 120 | ” | 8 | |
| ” | 120 | ” | ” | 170 | ” | 9 | |
| ” | 170 | ” | ” | 230 | ” | 10 | |
| ” | 230 | ” | ” | 300 | ” | 11 | |
| ” | 300 | ” | ” | 400 | ” | 12 | |
| And so on in proportion, 1d. for every additional 100 miles. | |||||||
London, at this time, was not beautiful. Apart from the public buildings, its 160,000 houses (the number estimated in 1804) were not lovely to look upon. Utilitarian they were, to a degree—long rows of brick-built tenements, with oblong holes for windows. There was no attempt at architecture: that had gone out with the first George; and, during the first half of this century, domestic architecture in this country was at its lowest possible ebb. Just fancy! in the first decade, Baker Street was considered “perhaps the handsomest street in London.” Can condemnation go further? All the houses were the same pattern, varied only by the height of the rooms, and the number of stories, which were mostly three, and very rarely exceeded four. There was the front parlour, and the back parlour, a wretched narrow passage, or hall, with a flight of stairs leading to the drawing-rooms. In the basement were the kitchen and scullery.