WESTWARD HO ! 257 



Irish Act of the 46th of George III., chapter 87, 

 section 6, laid the same embargo on the Irish packets. 

 As a consequence, parcels, miless sent in the mails at 

 costly letter postage, ^Yhich was out of the question, 

 could only be exchanged between London and Dublin 

 once a fortnight. 



The Prince Eegent coach might take your parcel to 

 Holyhead, but there it lay, if the Henrietta had sailed, 

 for a fortnight. Now a package, say, of eleven 

 pounds' weight and prepaid eighteenpence, or one 

 weighing a pound and prepaid threepence, posted in 

 Great Britain on Monday, is on Tuesday in Ireland, 

 if not actually delivered at its destination. 



Disasters, in the form of failure of the potato 

 crop, famine, and pestilence, were unhappily yet to 

 come ; the population had still to fall from nearly 

 eight millions to less than five ; the Encumbered 

 Estates Act had not been dreamt of ; and such a fact 

 as the emigration of three and a half millions of 

 persons in a period of forty years had presented itself 

 to the thoughts of probably no political economist. 



So, all unaware of impending misfortunes, but not 

 free from a presentiment than an extension of the 

 railways was inevitable and likely to extinguish their 

 existence, the mail-coaches still gaily careered away 

 from Dublin, and far and wide in the land, some by 

 day, but most of them by night. 



' For the information of foreigners,' says the ' Post- 

 chaise Companion,' a book, full of useful facts, which 

 was published by the Flemings, of Dublin, at the 



17 



