THE HORSEMEN 17 



left London so soon as the last Lreatli had 

 left the body of Queen Elizabeth, and rode 

 the iOl miles to Edinburgh in three days. He 

 reached Doncaster, 158 miles, the first night, 

 Widdrington, 137 miles, the second, and gained 

 Edinburgh, 106 miles, the third day, in spite of a 

 severe fall by the way. About the same time a 

 person named Coles rode from London to Shrews- 

 bury in fourteen hours. 



When Thomas Witherings was appointed Master 

 of the Post, in 1635, the Post Office, as an institu- 

 tion for carrying the correspondence of the public, 

 may be said to have started business, although 

 as early as 1603 private persons were forbidden to 

 make the carrying of letters a business. Like all 

 such ordinances, this seemed made only to be 

 broken every day. It was particularly unreason- 

 able because, before Witherings came upon the 

 scene in 1635 and reorganised the posts, there 

 existed no means l)y Avliich letters could be sent 

 generally into the country. Only the post-riders 

 on business of State on the four great roads were 

 in the habit of taking letters, and their doing 

 so was a matter of private arrangement. 



The postmasters now, on the appointment of 

 Witherings, first officially made acquaintance 

 Avith letters, and their name began to take on 

 something of its modern hieaning. They still 

 supplied horses to the King's messengers and the 

 King's liege subjects, and held a monopoly in 

 these businesses. 



In 1657 the so-called " Post Office of England " 

 VOL. I. 2 



