Middlemen in English Business 365 



roads were introduced in 1696. And in 1711 sub-centers of the postal 

 system were established in Edinburgh, Dubhn, New York, the West 

 Indies and other American colonies.^ The same year the Scotch Post 

 Office, which had been established in 1695, was united with the English 

 under the one London Postmaster General.- Packet service to Ireland 

 was started in 1653,^ to the West Indies in 1702,"* and that to Holland, 

 France, Flanders and Spain was improved.^ The mail service in 1691 

 has been summarized as follows: "On Monday and Thursday letters 

 went to France, Italy, and Spain, on Monday and Friday to the Neth- 

 erlands, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. On Tuesday, Thursday, 

 and Saturday, mails left for all parts of England, Scotland, and Ire- 

 land, and there was a daily post to Kent and the Downs. Letters 

 arrived in London from all parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 

 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, from Wales every Monday, 

 and from Kent and the Downs every day."^ 



A most important extension of service was made by the bye-posts 

 and cross-posts. Posts between the market towns and the nearest 

 post towns were called "bye-posts." They were introduced in 1689. 

 The success of the Exeter-Bristol cross-post led to their further estab- 

 hshment by the government and by private individuals.^ In 1721 

 Ralph Allen was given a lease of the cross- and bye-posts for seven 

 years at £6000 rental a year;^ he furnished a thrice-'a-week service 

 during the next two decades and a daily service in the east and south- 

 west directions from London after 1741.^ The most important cross- 

 post was that established in the west of England. Branches from 

 Plvmouth, Exeter, Taunton, Bridgewater and Bristol joined and 

 followed the Severn through Gloucester, Worcester, Shrewsbury, 

 Chester, Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester, Bury, Rochdale, HaU- 

 fax, Leeds, York and Hull. The provision of this road was "to main- 

 tain the Correspondence of Merchants and Men of Business, of which 



1 Hemmeon, 34; 9 Anne, Cap. 10, Sec. 4. 



= Ibid., 32, 34. 



3 Cal. S. P. Dom., 1652-3: 312, 449. 



^Cal. T. P., 1702-7:64. 



5 A sketch of international postal relations is given in Hemmeon, 111-17. 



^ Hemmeon, 31. A like summary is given, page 38, for the service in 1750; by 

 which date daily mails were provided to the south and midland counties; the serv- 

 ice to Ireland, Wales and Scotland, and to the Continent was practically the same. 



" Cal. T. P., 1657-96: 55; 1697-1702: 56. 



' Cal. T. B. and P., 1731-4: 539. 



» Ibid., 1739-41:449-50. 



