234 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



At first sight it would seem surprising that Glasgow, 

 now so spirited a city, should at the end of the last 

 century have put up with a five days' post to London 

 — and that, too, a riding-post — instead of a four-horse 

 mail, covering the ground in two or three days. 



It was not that the municipality were unaware of 

 the speed and convenience of coaches. Pagnan's 

 * History of Glasgow ' proves the contrary by giving 

 the text of an indenture, dated as far back as 1678, 

 by which William Hoom, of Edinburgh, contracted 

 with the magistrates of Glasgow for ' a sufficient 

 strong coach, with sex able horses, whilk coach sail 

 contine sax persons and sail go once ilk week ' 

 between Edinburgh and Glasgow. 



At least they knew what a coach was. All the 

 same, Glasgow had to wait another hundred years, 

 and until some small experiments had been tried 

 with a post-coach to Carlisle, before a mail-coach was 

 put on to London. 



Even more amazing still is it that, aspiring to 

 rival the city of Edinburgh as a centre of University 

 teaching, and outstrip it in commercial enterprise, the 

 Glasgow merchants should have put up with the delay 

 of their London mail taking the circuitous route of 

 the Scottish capital, and should have continued to do 

 so for four years after Bristol, guided by the illustrious 

 Palmer, had found a swift way to the Metropolis. 



An impetus was needed to set public spirit in 

 motion as regards the Post-Office. It came at last. 

 On July 7, 1788, the first mail-coach arrived in 



