l8 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



insignificant in size. It cost annually four thousand 

 pounds to repair, a thousand to warm, and five 

 thousand to light. Most of the business was done 

 with the aid of oil-lamps, partly because almost every 

 letter had to be held up against a bright light for the 

 detection of enclosures, and partly because the rooms 

 w^ere rather dark. But it was a miserable building 

 in which to lodge a great Government office. Sir 

 John Tilley cannot yet have forgotten its discom- 

 forts. His office, when he was very young, was, I 

 once heard him say, the disused kitchen of the old 

 rectory-house of St. Mary Woolnoth, which the Post- 

 Office rented, and which, prior to 1832, faced Sherborne 

 Lane, south of the church. 



Houses were also taken for postal purposes in 

 Abchurch Lane, in order to ease the strain ; but 

 these extensions were to little purpose. The mail- 

 guards' room was not twelve feet square ; it had to 

 receive, every night, eighteen guards, as well as twelve 

 assistants, with tools, bars, and great-coats. There 

 was no place for the deposit of firearms. The 

 Comptroller had to share a room with his clerks. 

 When persons preferred to speak to him alone, the 

 clerks had to retire, quitting their own work and 

 interrupting that of others. 



The housekeeper used two small rooms — one with- 

 out a fireplace, up a wretched staircase, ' narrow and 

 worn out,' leading to second and third floors above. 

 Had the building caught fire below, the whole esta- 

 blishment upstairs would probably have been swept 



