THE LATER MAILS 17 



conveyance of mails by railways. We must not, 

 hoAvev^r, suppose that such instant advantage was 

 always taken of new methods. That Avould not 

 he according to the traditions of the Post Office. 

 Accordingly, we find that, although what is now 

 the London and South- Western E^ailway was 

 opened between Nine Elms and Portsmouth in 

 May 1810, it was not until 1812 that the Ports- 

 mouth Mail went by rail. Por two years it 

 continued to perform the 73 miles 8 furlongs in 

 9 hours 10 minutes, when it might have gone 

 by train in 6 hours 10 minutes less. 



With these changes, London lost an annual 

 spectacle of considerable interest. Prom 1791 

 the procession of the mail-coaches on the King's 

 birthday had been the grand show occasion of the 

 Post Office year. No efforts and no expense were 

 spared by the loyal contractors (loyal in spite of the 

 ofttimes arbitrary dealings of the Post Office with 

 them) to grace the day ; and Vidler and Parratt, 

 Avho for many years had the monopoly of sup- 

 plying the coaches, equalled them in the zeal 

 displayed. The coaches were drawn up at twelve, 

 noon, to the whole number of twenty-seven, at the 

 factory on Millbank, beautifnl in new paint and 

 new gilding ; the Bristol Mail, as the senior, lead- 

 ing, the others in the like order of their establish- 

 ment. On this occasion the Post Office provided 

 each guard with a new gold- laced hat and scarlet 

 coat, and the mail-contractors who horsed the 

 coaches, not to be outdone, found scarlet coats 

 for their coachmen, in addition to j)roviding new 



VOL. II. 2 



