THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



supply of post horses. A foreign post for 

 the conveyance of letters between London and 

 the Continent seems to have been established 

 by foreign merchants in the fifteenth century ; 

 and certain disputes which arose between the 

 Flemings and Italians regarding the right of 

 appointing a postmaster, which were referred 

 to the privy council, led to the institution of a 

 "Chief Postmaster of England, "who should 

 have charge both of the English and the foreign 

 posts. Thomas Randolph was the first Chief 

 Postmaster of England, appointed in 1581. 

 In 1635 a mail was established to run weekly 

 between London and Edinburgh, and soon 

 eight other lines were instituted. Far back in 

 the twelfth century the University of Paris, 

 whose students gathered from all the civilized 

 nations, employed foot runners to carry letters 

 for its members to all parts of Europe. But 

 not until 1524 was permission granted to the 

 Royal French posts to carry other letters than 

 those for the Government and the nobility. 

 In the United States, Massachusetts was the 

 first colony to provide by legislation for a 

 postal system. This was done in 1639, and 

 Virginia followed in 1657. In 1762 a monthly 

 post was instituted between Boston and New 

 York. In the beginning, letters arriving in 

 this country from beyond the seas were de- 

 livered on board the ship. Letters not called 

 for were left by the captain at a coffee house 

 near the wharf, where they were spread on a 

 table or shelf, awaiting call. These coffee 

 houses gradually grew into common use for 

 letters between cities and the interior, until reg- 

 ular posts were instituted. The establish- 

 ment of a general post office department was 

 one of the first acts of the Continental Con- 

 gress, and Benjamin Franklin was appointed 

 as the first Portmaster-General. 



Postage Stamps, First. Postage 

 stamps, in the form of stamped envelopes, 

 were first used by M. de Velayer, who owned 

 a private post in the city of Paris in the reign 

 of Louis XIV. Over a century later, in 1758, 

 M. de Charnouset, also the proprietor of a post, 

 issued printed postage slips to be attached to | 

 letters. In Spain, in 1716, and in Italy also, | 

 stamped covers for mail matter were tried ; 

 but it was not until 1840 that stamps, as we 

 know them now, were put in use. This was 

 in England, the Government adopting the sys- 

 tem devised by Rowland Hill. Brazil was the j 

 first country to take up the new invention. 

 Russia adopted the postage stamp next, in 

 1845; then Switzerland, in 1846 ; and March 

 8, 1847, the Congress of the United States 

 authorized the issue of postage stamps. These 

 were at first a five-cent stamp and a ten-cent 

 stamp. The reduction of rates in 1851 gave a 



1 new set of stamps, valued at one, three, and 

 twelve cents respectively. Other stamps of 

 different values were added from time to time 

 to meet the exigencies of postal arrangements, 

 reduction of postage to foreign countries, etc. 

 Before 1845, the postal rate on letters in the 

 United States varied from six cents for carry- 

 ing a distance of thirty miles to twenty-five 

 cents for over four hundred miles. By the 

 reduction of that year the postage was made 

 five cents for three hundred miles or less, and 

 ten cents for any distance above that. In 1851 

 the rate was fixed at three cents for every half 

 ounce for three thousand miles, and six cents 

 for any greater distance within the United 

 States. In 1883 the postage was reduced to 

 two cents for half an ounce for letters sent less 

 than three thousand miles, and in 1885 to two 

 cents an ounce. 



Potatoes. The potato was used as a food 

 in America long before the adveot of Europe- 

 ans, and was probably indigenous from Chili 

 to Mexico. It was taken from Peru to Spain, 

 and thence into the Netherlands, Burgundy, 

 and other parts of Europe early in the six- 

 teenth century. In 1563 or 1565 it was car- 

 ried from Virginia to Ireland by Sir John 

 Hawkins, and Sir Francis Drake introduced it 

 into England in 1585. Its importance as a 

 vegetable was not recognized, however, until 

 the time of Sir Walter Raleigh, who cultivated 

 it on a considerable scale on his estates in the 

 County of Cork, Ireland. Through the exer- 

 tions of Raleigh it was developed in quality 

 and popularized as food to such an extent in 

 Ireland that its cultivation spread into Eng- 

 land, where it became known as the " Irish 

 potato." The potato mentioned by early Eng- 

 lish writers before the seventeenth century was 

 the same as the Spanish batatas, or 'sweet 

 potato. 



Printing Crockery. Common crockery, 

 when it is in the state called biscuit ware 

 that is, when it has been whitened by baking 

 but has not been glazed is figured upon or 

 decorated by applying to its surface a design 

 freshly printed upon paper. The ware absorbs 

 the enamel ink, and the paper is removed by 

 water. It is then fired in seggars, or a muffle, 

 to fix the color, dipped in glaze, and then 

 again fired, which converts the gla/.e into a 

 perfectly transparent glassy covering all over 

 the surface of the pottery. Porcelain decora- 

 tion has long held a righ rank as a fine art ; 

 and the exquisite skill shown in some of the 

 finest works of the continental manufacturers, 

 and also in those of Great Britain, has fairly 

 entitled it to that rank. The colors employed 

 are all colored glasses ground to impalpable 

 powder, and mixed with borax, or some other 



