258 THE COACHING AGE. 



J. Palmer, Esq., this is inscribed as a token of 

 gratitude for benefits received from the establish- 

 ment of mail-coaches. — J. F.' 



The medal I saw was very much worn, and did not, 

 so far as I could discern, bear any date ; neither was 

 there anything upon it to indicate to. whom the ini- 

 tials 'J. F.' referred, but not improbably to some 

 mercantile man in an extensive way of business, who 

 had experienced the benefit of the security and expe- 

 dition of the mail-coach system, if not on the Bristol, 

 on one or other of the several roads on which mail- 

 coaches were put, in some instances at the earnest 

 solicitation of the residents in towns along the main 

 roads, when the benefits to be derived from them 

 were manifest from the success of the Bristol mail. 



I have mentioned how a letter arriving in London 

 on Sunday morning would be delayed in transit 

 in consequence of there being no mail out of London 

 on Sunday night. 



This detention was a matter which received much 

 consideration at the Post Office, and great anxiety was 

 felt to remedy the inconvenience without inflicting 

 upon the Post-Office clerks the necessity of attendance 

 on Sunday. 



One plan suggested was, that at the end of every 

 line of road nearest London a post should be 

 despatched, making a sort of circle round London ; 



