256 THE COACHING AGE. 



The arrivals of the mails, or in the case of the 

 western ones the mail-carts, at St. Martin's le Grand 

 were : 



H. M. 



Exeter 6 30 



Leeds 4 5 



Glasgow 5 15 



Edinburgh 5 39 



Halifax 5 45 



Liverpool 6 



Chester 6 



Manchester 6 5 



Devonport 6 49 



Holyhead 6 54 



Bristol 6 45 



Portsmouth 6 40 



All the others were timed to arrive before seven 

 o'clock, so that the sorting could commence, or rather 

 be completed, and the delivery take place without 

 delay. As no sorting could take place on the road, 

 and it was indispensable that it should be completed 

 before the letter-carriers could be despatched on their 

 several rounds, punctuality in the arrival of the mails 

 was the very essence of the system, and the failure 

 of one or more to reach their destination would 

 have disorganized the whole machinery. The import- 

 ance of this it was, probably, that led to the great and 

 almost unvarying punctuality of the mails, which was 

 conducted with such exactitude that the arrival of 

 the mail at any particular place on its route was 



