MAIL-GUARDS 253 



desirous of becoming a Mail Guard, he is 23 years 

 of age, and we beleive {sic) him to be a Sober, 

 Steady Man, and deserving of the Situation. 

 " We are, 



" My Lords, 



" Your Lordships' 



" Obedient Servts., 

 " Caltkorpe ; 



" Rd. Spooner, Banker, Birmingham ; 

 "Thomas Attwood, Banker, Birmingham." 



It was not the salary that made the position of 

 a mail-guard so well w^orth having. He received 

 only 10^. 6c?. a week from the Dejiartment, and 

 his uniform of trousers, top-boots, scarlet coat, 

 frogged across the front of the body with gold lace, 

 and a gold-banded black tall hat with a cockade. 

 Out of his miserable half-guinea he had to himself 

 provide the cost of oil for the hand-lamp in front 

 of his seat on the dickey, and to pay the stable- 

 helpers who cleaned his tools and tool-box, oiled 

 and reloaded every day his blunderbuss and pair 

 of pistols, and performed a variety of odd jobs that 

 took five shillings a week out of his pocket. He 

 obviously could not exist on his j^^y '• how, then, 

 did he live ? That is a question soon answered. 

 A mail-guard going a long distance — anything 

 from a hundred to a hundred and fifty miles was 

 a usual sjoell — generally looked for half a crown 

 each from inside passengers and two shillings from 

 the outsides. If you could not afford so much he 

 would do with less, but then you lost the touch of 

 the hat that accompanied the larger sum, 



