MAIL-COACHES 33 



"An extra sum will be given to the porter if he deliver 

 this letter immediately." 



Dickens refers to this custom in The Pickwick Pafers: 



"Well," said Mr. Pickwick, "but I must send a letter 

 to London by some conveyance, so that it may be de- 

 livered the very first thing in the morning at all hazards." 

 The landlord smiled his delight. Nothing could be 

 easier than for the gentleman to enclose a letter in a 

 sheet of brown paper and send it on either by the mail 

 or night coach from Birmingham. If the gentleman 

 was particularly anxious to have it left as soon as pos- 

 sible he might write outside "To be delivered im- 

 mediately" which was sure to be attended to, or "P/2y 

 the hearer half a crown extra for immediate delivery''' was 

 surer still. 



This circumstance eventually gave rise to the intro- 

 duftion of mail-coaches, whose inception was due to 

 the inventive genius of one man, and a man, moreover, 

 who had nothing whatever to do with postal affairs. 

 This was Mr. John Palmer, the manager of the Bath and 

 Bristol theatres, whose business suffered great incon- 

 venience from the inadequate postal arrangements. 

 The stage-coaches between London and Bath did the 

 journey in one day, whereas a letter took three. Mr. 

 Palmer, like many of his fellow-townsmen, sent import- 

 ant letters under the guise of parcels, and it occurred 

 to him that it would be a very great improvement if, 

 in place of the post-boys, stage-coaches with certain 

 modifications were made the official carriers of His 

 Majesty's Mails. 



The idea was undoubtedly good, and Palmer drew up 

 3 



