483 
rosT. 
Rost, an operation in book-keeping. Sec 
Book-keeping. 
Post, a conveyance for letters or dis- 
patches. England appears to be the first 
country in Europe, which formed a regular 
establishment for this purpose: though it was 
r.ot till a late period that it assumed anything 
like a regular form even here. In the reign 
of Edward VI., however, some species of 
posts must have been set up, as an act of 
parliament passed in 1548, fixing the rate of 
post-horses at one penny per mile : the post- 
horses here .referred to were, it is probable, 
chiefly for travelling, and the carriage of let- 
ters or packets only an occasional service. 
In 1581, we find in Camden’s Annals mention 
made of a chief postmaster for England being 
appointed. Iiow his office was managed, 
does not clearly appear ; the limited state of 
the correspondence of the country probably 
rendered it of trifling consequence. King 
James I. originally erected a post-office under 
the controul of one Matthew de Quester, or j 
Vie i’ Equester, for the conveyance of letters to j 
and from foreign parts ; which office was ! 
afterwards claimed by lord Stanhope, but was ! 
confirmed and continued to William Frizel 
and Thomas Witherings, by king Charles I., 
in 1632. Previous to this time, it would ap- 
pear that private persons were in the habit 
of conveying letters to and from foreign parts; 
all such interference with the postmaster’s 
office is, therefore, expressly prohibited. King 
Charles, in 1635, erected a letter-office for 
England and Scotland, under the direction of 
the above Thomas Witherings. The rates 
of postage then established were, two-pence 
for every single letter for a distance under 
SO miles ; four-pence from 80 to 140 miles ; 
six-pence above 1 40 miles. The allowance 
to the post-masters on the road for horses 
employed in these posts, was fixed at two- 
pence halfpenny per mile for every single 
horse. All private inland posts were dis- 
charged at this time ; and in 1637, all private 
foreign posts were in like manner prohibited. 
7’he posts thus established, however, extended 
only to a few of the principal roads ; and 
the times of transmission were not in every 
case so certain as they ought to have been. 
Witherings was superseded for abuses in 
the execution of his offices in 1640, and they 
were sequestrated into the hands of Philip 
But lamachy, to be exercised under the care 
and oversight of the king’s principal secretary 
of slate. On the breaking out of the civil 
war, great confusions and interruptions were 
necessarily occasioned in the conduct of the 
letter-office; but it was about that time that 
the outline of the present more extended and 
regular plan seems to have been conceived 
by Mr. Edmond Prideaux, who was afterwards 
appointed attorney-general to the common- 
v> ealth. He was chairman of a committee in 
1642, for considering the rate of postage to 
beset upon inland letters; and some time 
v\as appointed postmaster by an ordinance 
of both houses of parliament, in the execu- 
tion of which office he first established a 
weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of 
the nation. In 1653, this revenue was farm- 
ed for 10,000/. for England, Scotland, and 
Ireland; and after the charge of maintaining 
postmasters, to the amount of 7000/. per an- 
num was saved to the public. Prideaux’ s 
emoluments being considerable, the common 
council of London endeavoured to erect ano- 
8 
ther post-office in opposition to his; but they 
were checked by a resolution of the housed' 
commons, declaring that the office of post- 
master is, and ought to be, in (he sole power 
and disposal of the parliament. This office 
was farmed by one Maubey, in 1654. In 
]6j6, anew and regular general post-office 
was erected by the authority of the Protector 
and his parliament, upon nearly the same 
model that has been ever since adopted, with 
the following rates of postage : for 80 miles 
distance, a single letter two-pence ; for a 
greater distance, not out of England, three- 
pence ; to Scotland, four-pence. By an act 
of parliament passed soon after the Restora- 
tion in 1660, the regulations settled in 1656 
were re-established, and a general post-office 
similar to the former, but with some improve- 
ments, was erected. In 1.663, the revenue of 
the post-office was found to produce 2 1,500/. 
annually. In 1685, it was made over to the 
king, as a branch of his private income, and 
was then estimated at 65,000/. per annum. 
The year after the Revolution, the amount of 
the post-office revenue was 90,504/. 10s. (id. 
At the Union, the produce of the English post- 
office was stated to be 1 0 1 , 1 0 1 /. In 1 7 1 1 , the 
former establishments of separate post-offices 
for England and Scotland were abolished ; 
and by the stat. 9 Anne, c. 10. one general 
post-office, and one postmaster-general, were 
established for the whole united kingdom ; 
and this postmaster was empowered to erect 
chief letter-offices at Edinburgh, at Dublin, 
at New York, and other proper places in 
America, and the West Indies. The rates of 
postage were also increased at tins time, as 
follows : In England, for all distances under 
80 miles, three-pence ; above 80 miles, four- 
pence. From London to Edinburgh, six- 
pence. In Scotland, under 50 miles, two- 
pence; from 50 to 80 miles, three-pence; 
above 80 miles, four-pence. In Ireland, 
under 40 miles, two-pence ; above 40 miles, 
four-pence. By the above act, all persons, 
except those employed by the postmaster, 
were strictly prohibited from conveying let- 
ters. r i hat year the gross amount oi the 
post-office was 1 1 1,46 1/. 17s. 10c/. The net 
amount, on a medium of the three preceding 
years, was, in the printed report of the com- 
missioners for the equivalent, stated to be for 
England, 62,000/., and for Scotland, 2000/. 
In 1754, the gross revenue of the post-office 
for Great Britain amounted to 210,663/. ; in 
1764, to 281,533/.; and in 1774 to 345,321 /. 
r l lie privilege of franking letters had been en- 
joyed by members of parliament from the 
first erection of the post-office ; the original 
design of this exemption was, that they 
might correspond freely with their constitu- 
ents on the business of the nation. By de- 
grees the privilege came to be shamefully 
abused, and was carried so far, that it was not 
uncommon for the servants of members of 
parliament to procure a number of franks 
tor the purpose of selling them ; an abuse 
which was easily practised, as nothing more 
was required for a letter’s passing free than 
the subscription of a member on the cover. 
To restrain these frauds, it was enacted, in 
1764, that no letter should pass free unless 
the whole direction was of the member’s 
writing, and his subscription annexed. Even 
this was found too great a latitude ; and by a 
new regulation in 1784, no letter was per- 
mitted to go free, unless the date was marked 
on the rover fn the member’s own hand- 
writing, and the letter put into the office the 
same clay. That year the rates of postage 
were raised in the following proportions : an 
addition of one penny for a single stage ; one 
penny from London to Edinburgh; one 
penny for any distance under, and two-pence 
tor any distance above 150 miles. An ad- 
dition to the revenue of 120,000/. was esti- 
mated to arise from these regulations and ad- 
ditional rates. In ail the statements of duties 
upon postage of letters given in this account, 
th.: rates mentioned are those upon single 
letters: double letters pay double, treble let- 
ters treble, an ounce weight quadruple post- 
age ; all above are charged by the weight, in 
the same proportion. 
About the year 1784, a great improvement 
was made in the mode of convey ing the mails, 
upon a plan first suggested in 1782, by Mr. 
John Palmer. Diligences and stage-coaches, 
he observed, were established to every town 
ot note in the kingdom; and he proposed 
that government, instead of sending the mails 
in the old mode, by a boy on horseback, and 
in carts, should contract with the masters of 
these diligences to carry the mail, along with 
a guard for its protection. This plan, he 
shewed, could not fail to ensure much more 
expeditious conveyance, the rate of travelling 
in diligences being far quicker than the rate 
of the post ; and it was easy to carry it into 
execution with little additional expence, as 
the coach-owners would have a strong induce- 
ment to contract at a cheap rate for convey- 
ing the mail, on account of the additional 
recommendation to passengers, their carriages 
would thereby acquire in point of security, 
regularity, and dispatch. Though govern- 
ment heartily approved of this plan, and the 
public at large were satisfied of its utility, yet, 
like all new schemes however beneficial, it 
met with a strong opposition : it was repre- 
sented by a number of the oldest and ablest 
officers in the post-office, not only as im- 
practicable, but dangerous to commerce and 
the revenue. Notwithstanding this opposition, 
however, it was at last established, and gra- 
dually extended to many different parts of 
the kingdom ; and, upon a fair comparison, 
it appeared that the revenue was very con- 
siderably improved, though Mr. Palmer’s 
numerous reforms, and the great number of 
new appointments which they rendered ne- 
cessary, greatly inc reased the former expence 
of management. The conveyance of the 
mails on the new plan was contracted for, 
after the two first years trial, at 20,000/. per 
annum less than the sum first estimated by 
Mr. Palmer. 
The present establishment of the general 
post-office for Great Britain, consists of a 
postmaster-general, to the duties of which 
station there have', for many years past, been 
two persons appointed, under the title of 
joint postmasters-general ; a secretary ; up- 
wards of 150 assistants and clerks for the 
head letter-office in London, under the di- 
rection of a superintending president of the 
inland-letter department ; and a comptroller 
of the foreign-letter office. Near 600 deputy- 
postmasters, throughout the kingdom, act 
under one principal and nine riding surveyors. 
There are also distinct offices and clerks, 
acting under an accountant-general and a 
receiver-general; as well as a separate esta- 
blishment for tnc two-penny, formerly the 
