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favourite. She lived at the back of Museum Square, and at 
valentine time she had quite a harvest. Letters were taken 
upstairs two stories to her room, the door deftly opened, the valen- 
tines thrown in upon the floor, the door closed, and a stampede 
made down the stairs, sometimes by little urchins in clogs, which 
made considerable clatter. 
Another successor was John Musgrave, a clock and watchmaker, 
and a good hand at the business. He was succeeded by “ post- 
man” Mary Pearson, of whom more hereafter. 
But I must make mention of the mode by which the postbags 
came to Keswick and were dispatched to other towns. ‘The riding 
boys were succeeded by men who drove a post-gig, depositing the 
leathern letter bags in a box which the driver sat upon. A pair of 
horse-pistols were delivered by the postmaster to each man when 
he set out on his journey, which he placed in holsters on either 
side of the splash-board in front of him. These were duly 
delivered up to the postmaster at the end of the day’s journey. In 
recollection of these times a friend writes thus to me from South 
Devon :— 
**So you are going to give an address upon the posting times of old. I think 
it would be about the year 1831 or 1832 that Mark Smith and Jacky Barnes 
drove the post-gigs. Jacky was a bit of a merchant ; for I remember it was he 
who first introduced lucifer matches into Keswick, at sixpence a box. I pre- 
sume they got to Whitehaven from Liverpool. The price was much too high 
for the boys at High School to use them instead of swinging the lighted peat in 
order to get a good kindle upon reaching the school; for I dare say you will 
remember the tinder was often too damp to take the light. Well! if such were 
called ‘good old times,’ the moderns have the advantage.” 
But a great change came for the better. The postman’s gig 
was discontinued, and we had from Lancaster to Whitehaven well- 
appointed four-horse coaches, with driver and guard in scarlet 
coats and gold lace hatbands. Arnold and Burdett were the 
guards, and Tom Preston and David Johnston the drivers. Mr. 
Fitzsimmons of Whitehaven was the contractor; and the service 
was performed with great regularity. A worthy magistrate once 
said to me, ‘“‘ We travelled in great state in those days. We gave 
