CHAPTER VI 



THE EARLY MAIL-COACHES 



Long before the last quarter of the eighteenth 

 century da\Yned, the time was ripe for Post Office 

 reform in the carrying of the mails ; but, as a 

 matter of course, no one within that department 

 saw any necessity for change, and although the 

 Post Office revenue was suffering severely from 

 correspondence being sent in a clandestine manner 

 by stage-coach, the slow and uncertain old methods 

 had been retained, Reform had, as always, to 

 come from without, just as when Ralph Allen 

 of Bath planned his service of postboys in 1719. 

 He had, against much opposition, introduced his 

 system of messengers riding with the mails at a 

 sj^eed of " not less than five miles an hour," then 

 considered great expedition, and comparing very 

 favourably with the average stage-coach speed of 

 something less than four miles, including stops. 

 Allen's postboys were at that time the fastest 

 travellers on the road, Avith the excej^tion of the 

 highwaymen, whose blood mares, according to 

 tradition, were faster stilL No one could grumble 

 at the course of post in those days on the score 

 of comparison Avith the journeys made by other 

 travellers ; but, like many other reforms, Allen's 



