40 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



Six or eight places have been accepted by various 

 authorities as the points from which measurements 

 were made, viz. : for the eastern roads, Shoreditch 

 Church and the Standard in Cornhill ; for the south- 

 east, the Stone's End in the Borough, which I take 

 to have been the south end of Blackman Street, near 

 the King's Bench Prison ; for the south, perhaps the 

 ObeHsk in Westminster Bridge Eoad ; for the western 

 roads, Hyde Park Corner ; and for the northern roads, 

 St. Giles's Pound, which stood near St. Giles's Church ; 

 Holborn Bars, and notably Hicks' s Hall. 



Of these, the most ancient was probably the 

 Standard in Cornhill ; the best known, at any rate 

 in the Post-Office, Hicks's Hall. 



Shoreditch Church stands in the High Street, 

 exactly opposite Old 'Street, where the Kingsland 

 Eoad and the Hackney Eoad conspire to make, with 

 the other two, what is still known in rural parts as a 

 four-want way. 



The Standard in Cornhill dated from a very early 

 time indeed. It was an ingenious, but imperfect, 

 contrivance for receiving Thames water, raised by 

 mere pressure of the tide. Sometimes the Standard 

 overflowed, at others it ran dry. Known indifferently 

 as the Carrefour, Foure Spouts, or Water Standard, it 

 stood at the intersection of Leadenhall Street, Cornhill, 

 Bishopsgate Street, and Gracechurch Street. (In 

 the later great fire of 1765, by the way, all these 

 four corners were alight at the same time.) 



Eventually, the Standard became a nuisance, and 



