12 THE BATH ROAD 



Let us see what the postage between London, Bath, 

 and Bristol was at different periods. The charges 

 were regulated by distances, and one of the schedule 

 measurements, " exceeding 80 miles and not exceeding 

 150 miles," just includes these two towns. We find, 

 then, that it was possible to get a letter conveyed 

 that distance in 1635 for 4r/., while a bulky package 

 weighinof one ounce cost 9r/. in transmission ; not 

 extravao;ant charo;es for that far-off time, even alio win o- 

 for the greater purchasing power of money in the first 

 half of the seventeenth century. Twenty-five years 

 later the scale was altered, and one could despatch 

 a note for a penny less, althougli it cost 3 J. more for 

 an ounce weight. From 1711 to 1705, the scale 



was — 



Letter. One ounce. 



\d. l.v. \d. 



and from 1765 to 1784 the charo^es were ao-ain raised, 

 to bd. nnd l.<?, '^d. respectively, blatters then went 

 from bad to worse. In the beginning of 1797, the 

 fioures were Id. and 'Is. \d. ; while the climax was 

 finally reached at the beginning of this century, for 

 on July 9, 1812, it cost 9 J. to send a note between 

 London, Bath, or Bristol, and 3.9. for one ounce. 

 A singular fact, in face of these repeated increases, 

 was the growth of the Post Ofiice revenues. Li 

 179G, the net profit was £479,000 ; ten years later 

 it had risen to considerablv over one million sterlino-. 

 The Bristol profit on Post Office business was £469 

 in 1794-5, and at that time the postmaster received 

 a salary of £110 per annum. The Bath postmaster's 

 billet was the best in the service, for he received 



