222 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



system in the year 1656, when an Act of Parhament 

 was passed which dealt with the postage of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland. This Act stipulated that there 

 should be one General Post Office In London, and one 

 Postmaster-General, having authority over the entire 

 system ; this Act was confirmed at the Restoration, but 

 repealed in Queen Anne's reign. 



A London penny post was started in 1683, and 

 between 171 1 and 1838 more than one hundred and 

 fifty Acts were passed affecting the regulations of the 

 Post Office ; but for the great radical change which 

 took place in our postal system we are indebted to Sir 

 Rowland Hill ; it was he who substituted the penny 

 postage for the old system and charges hitherto in 

 vogue. At the time this was done great fear was 

 manifested by the Government that, by lessening the 

 charge of postage, they would lower the receipts of the 

 Post Office ; but this, as every one knows, has not 

 proved to be the case. But as the penny postage did 

 not come into effect until 1840, which was after the 

 time of the establishment of railways, and the removal 

 of the mails from the road, I may be excused for not de- 

 scribing its various advantages and its remarkable results. 



I am indebted to an early edition of Beeton's 

 " Dictionary of Science, Art, and Literature," for some of 

 the history of the postal system ; and, although this may 

 appear somewhat of a digression from what has to do 

 with the roads, yet up to this point in the history of 

 postal transmission all letters were carried by the road, 

 and consequently mail-coaches, mail-carts and letter- 

 carriers of all descriptions were a striking feature on 

 the hiohway. Moreover, post-chaises and post-boys, 

 as I have said, owed their name in some way to the 

 establishment of the postal system. Post is thus used 



