POSTING IN ENGLAND. 315 



which gives them an extra weight of from eight to ten stone to 

 carry. The consequence of this is that the hand-horses were 

 required to do more of the drawing than the riding-horses, and 

 this added another element of difficulty, and called for a further 

 nicety of discernment on the relative amount of work that 



should be exacted 

 from each horse. 

 The postboys in 

 those days were 

 ignorant men, most 



of whom could neither read nor write, and they had to learn 

 from observation of how their seniors drove, and from a sort of 

 instinct, how it was to be done. There were of course good 

 and bad drivers, but the bulk of the postboys on the main 

 roads were marvels of cleverness in their profession, and drove 



