THE CORNISH MAIL 129 



In 1821 the London mail did not reach Penzance 

 until late in the evening. Letters which left London 

 on Monday, and arrived on Wednesday night, could 

 not be answered until Thursday night, and the 

 answers did not reach London until the following 

 Monday. 



A letter posted in time for the first despatch from 

 London on Monday morning would now reach Pen- 

 zance early enough to admit of a reply being sent by 

 the mail which is delivered in London on Tuesday 

 evening. By taking thought, it is also possible to 

 arrange that a letter sent by the last despatch from 

 London on Monday night shall secure a reply by the 

 last delivery on Tuesday night — one day instead of 

 seven days for the complete course of post. 



Though instances can be indefinitely multiplied, it 

 may be added that the times are also changed since 

 an old lady, still living at Bamborough, who knew 

 Grace Darling, could most cheaply send a pair of 

 boots to a sister in service by carrier to Sunderland, 

 and thence by smack to London, conversely as Carlyle 

 obtained his ' Nochden.' The parcel post takes 

 books or boots, if need be, from door to door — from 

 London to Bamborough or Edinburgh, from John 0' 

 Groats to the Land's End — in a few hours for a few 



pence. 



Of the days when the Post-Office sailed its own 

 IDackets to places beyond sea, the historian of the 

 Post-Office, Mr. Herbert Joyce, in his admirable and 

 exhaustive work, makes effective mention. 



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