6B8 tOST I'OIl TIi£ CONVEYANCE OF LETTERS. 
that Augustus instituted posts along all the great roads of the empire. 
At first the despatches were conveyed from post to post by young 
men, who ran on foot, and delivered the despatch to others at the 
next stage. Augustus substituted, in room of these, horses and chariots, 
both for conveyance of despatches and the convenience of travelling. 
His successors continued the same establishment ; to the mainte- 
nance of which, every subject of the empire was obliged to contribute. 
Post-horses are mentioned in the Theodorian code De Cursu Publico; 
but these were only the public horses appointed to be kept there 
for the use of public messengers, who before this institution seized 
any that came in their way. At each post station, according to 
Procopius, ten horses, and as many postilions, were kept, and the 
usual rate of travelling w'as from five to eight stations a day. All 
these establishments of posts, however, in ancient times, were formed 
as much, if not more, for travelling stations, than for the mere con- 
veyance of letters and despatches, though this w'as also secured. 
The^ earliest institution of posts that occurs in modern history is 
about the year 807, by the emperor Charlemagne, who having re- 
duced under his dominion Italy, Germany, and a part of Spain, 
established three posts at the ])ublic expense, to carry on the com- 
munication with these three provinces. The establishment of posts, 
however, like many other institutions of that emperor, dropped at 
his death ; and for a considerable time afterwards, no traces of 
any such establishment are to be found. We cannot indeed discover 
•/ 
its renew'al with certainty sooner than 1464, when that restless and 
suspicious prince Lewis XI. established posts in France, that he 
might be the sooner advertised of all that passed in his own or neigh- 
bouring kingdoms. He employed in this service tw'o hundred and 
thirty couriers, who delivered the letters at the different stations, 
and in the various towns through which they passed in their course. 
Succeeding monarchs created at different times certain offices, for 
the express purpose of superintending the posts ; but the frequent 
changes to which these offices w'ere exposed, prevented for a long 
time the establishment of any regular system of posts in that king- 
dom ; insomuch that, in 1019, the author of the Life of the duke 
d’Epergnon says, the packet or letter office was not yet set up in 
France. Former establishments, it is probable, were solely for the use 
of the court, not for the general good of the nation. 
From France the institution gradually spread through several other 
parts of Europe. In Germany, Lewis Hornig assures us, they were 
first introduced by Count Taxis, who settled them at his own expense, 
in acknowledgment for which, the emperor Matthias, in 1616, gave, 
as a fief, the office of post-master to him and his descendants. 
In England, the establishment of posts, in some form or other, appears 
as early as the reign of Edward III ; hut the notices concerning them 
are very obscure and indistinct. 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 pos^horses at one penny per mile. 
The post-horses here referred to w'ere, it is probable, chiefly for tra- 
velling, and the carriage of letters or packets only an occasional 
service. In 1581, we find, in Camden’s Annals, mention mad( of a 
