[1] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 21.

[2] Notes and Queries, 1st series, iii, p. 266.

[3] These letters were sent principally between London and different places in Norfolk.

[4] The Paston Letters, ed. J. Gairdner, 1872, nos. 34, 305, 435, 609, 624, 663, 905.

[5] Ibid., nos. 540, 688, 723, 727.

[6] Ibid., nos. 656, 905.

[7] Ibid., nos. 688, 723, 745.

[8] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 96 (68).

[9] Cely Papers, ed. H. E. Malden, 1900, nos. 41, 72, 123, 124, 129, 132.

[10] L. & P. Hen. VIII, ii, pt. 2, p. 1454.

[11] Rep. Com. 1844, xiv, app., p. 21 (8).

[12] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 32 (7).

[13] L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1515-18, 64; ibid., 1526-28, 4359, 4406; ibid., 1540-41, 540.

[14] A. P. C., 1542-47, p. 20

[15] L. & P. Hen. VIII, 1535, p. 27.

[16] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 32 (7). A. P. C., 1542-47, p. 20.

[17] A. de Rothschild, Histoire de la poste aux lettres, Paris, 1873, pp. 95-97, 114-15.

[18] L. & P. Hen. VIII, xiii, 226; A. P. C., 1547-50, pp. 111, 278, 307, 319, 413.

[19] L. & P. Hen. VIII, x, 33, 136; xvi, 202, 236, 284; P. & O. P. C., vii, p. 72; A. P. C., 1550-52, pp. 56, 79, 108, 225, 270, 298.

[20] L. & P. Hen. VIII, xvi, p. 540; P. & 0. P. C., vii, p. 133; A. P. C., 1558-70, p. 238.

[21] L. & P. Hen. VIII, xi, 726; A. P. C., 1547-50, p. 360; ibid., 1592, pp. 128, 150; Cal. S. P. D., 1547-80, pp. 599, 637, 677.

[22] A.P.C., 1558-70, pp. 39, 58, 111, 207, 216, 257, 258.

[23] L. & P. Hen. VII, xvi, 540; A.P.C. 1556-58, pp. 248, 309.

[24] A.P.C., 1556-58, pp. 136, 188, 385. For instance, in 1557 the Council issued orders to increase the wages of the London-Berwick posts from 12d. to 16d. and eventually to 20d. a day; but as soon as their work had again become normal, their wages were reduced to the old rate.

[25] W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, 1896, i, pp. 305-306.

[26] J. A. Froude, History of England, 1862, i, p. 127.

[27] Cunningham, i, p. 430.

[28] Stow, London, 1720, bk. v, p. 401. Cal. S.P.D., 1547-80, pp. 312, 321, 432. There was considerable rivalry between them concerning those nominated for Postmaster-General. See Cal. S.P.D., 1547-80, pp. 312, 314.

[29] Stow, London, bk. v, p. 401.

[30] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 36 (14).

[31] A. P. C., 1542-47, p. 267; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 21 (8).

[32] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 21 (11).

[33] A. P. C., 1547-50, p. 360.

[34] Cal. S. P. D., 1547-80, p. 306.

[35] Cal. B. P., 1560-94, p. 299.

[36] Cal. S. P. D., Add., 1580-1625, pp. 75-76.

[37] Cal. S. P. D., 1581-90, p. 676; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 22 (13).

[38] Cal. S. P. D., 1619-23, pp. 238, 404.

[39] Ibid., pp. 568, 572. A postmaster's salary at this time was about 5s. a day. (Ibid., 1623-25, p. 130.)

[40] Ibid., 1623-25, pp. 117, 130, 153.

[41] Ibid., 1619-23, pp. 567-68.

[42] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 38 (18).

[43] Cal. S. P. D., 1611-18, p. 601.

[44] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. 15, app., pt. 7, p. 63.

[45] Cal. S. P. D., 1629-31, pp. 71, 247.

[46] Ibid., 1625-26, p. 231.

[47] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (26).

[48] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 49 (27); Cal. S. P. D., 1625-26, p. 478; Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. 12, app. 1, p. 295; Cal. S. P. D., 1627-28, p. 405.

[49] Cal. S. P. D., 1627-28, pp. 436, 591.

[50] Ibid., 1625-49, p. 332; 1628-29, pp. 46, 427, 558; 1631-33, p. 384.

[51] Cal. S. P. D., 1603-10, pp. 162, 397, 426, 491, 512, 521, 545, 576, 583, 588, 611.

[52] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 45 (23).

[53] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 45 (23).

[54] Cal. S. P. D., 1623-25, p. 131.

[55] Ibid., 1625-26, p. 30; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 48 (25).

[56] Cal. S. P. D., 1634-35, pp. 11, 38, 48, 389.

[57] Ibid., 1625-49, p. 489.

[58] Ibid., 1635-36, p. 32; 1634-35, p. 48.

[59] See chapter IX.

[60] Cal. S. P. D., 1580-1625, p. 360.

[61] Ibid., 1580-1625, p. 630.

[62] Ibid., 1625-26, p. 366. A single letter consisted of one sheet of paper, a double letter of two, and a triple letter of three sheets.

[63] Rep. Com., xiv, app., p. 55 (35). Cal. S. P. D., 1635, p. 166. Letters were to be carried to and from important places at some distance from the main roads by post-horses. See Cal. S. P. D., above.

[64] Rep. Com., xiv, p. 5; app., p. 57 (36); Cal. S. P. D., 1635-36, p. 32.

[65] Cal. S. P. D., 1635, p. 299.

[66] Ibid., 1637, p. 527; ibid., 1636-37, p. 524.

[67] Ibid., 1638-39, p. 119.

[68] Ibid., 1637-38, pp. 52, 53, 394.

[69] Cal. S.P.D., 1637-38, p. 238.

[70] Ibid., 1640-41, p. 340. As early as 1639 persons were not allowed to have letters back when once posted. (Ibid., 1639, p. 279.)

[71] Ibid., 1637, p. 255.

[72] Ibid., 1639, p. 279; Rep. Com., xiv, app., p. 58 (37).

[73] Cal. S.P.D., 1637-38, p. 51.

[74] Ibid., 1637-38, p. 52.

[75] Ibid., 1639, p. 295.

[76] Ibid., 1639-40, p. 116.

[77] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. 12, app., pt. 2, p. 236.

[78] Cal. S. P. D., 1637, p. 338.

[79] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 59 (39).

[80] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 22 (19); Cal. S. P. D., 1636-37, p. 534; ibid., 1637-38, p. 51.

[81] Ibid., 1636-37, p. 530.

[82] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. 7, p. 154.

[83] Cal. S. P. D., 1640-41, p. 315.

[84] Jo. H. C., 1640-42, p. 81.

[85] Cal. S. P. D., 1640-41, p. 453; Jo. H. C., ii, p. 500; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 60 (40).

[86] Cal. S. P. D., 1640-41, p. 557.

[87] Ibid., 1640-41, p. 536.

[88] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 101 (74).

[89] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 101 (74).

[90] Jo. H. C., 1640-42, p. 722; Jo. H. L., 1642-43, p. 343.

[91] Jo. H. C., 1640-42, p. 500.

[92] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 10 (40); Jo. H. C., 1642-43, pp. 387, 388, 469, 470, 471, 473-74, 508, 512; ibid., 1640-42, p. 899.

[93] Ibid., 1640-42, p. 899.

[94] Cal. S. P. D., 1645-47, p. 461; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 68 (43); Jo. H. L., 1645-46, pp. 579, 588, 637.

[95] Cal. S. P. D., 1652-53, pp. 159, 367; ibid., 1653-54, pp. 21, 22, 297; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 69 (44); Jo. H. C., 1651-59, p. 192.

[96] Cal. S. P. D., 1641-43, p. 501; ibid., 1644, pp. 6, 29.

[97] Jo. H. C., 1642-44, p. 426.

[98] Cal. S. P. D., 1644, p. 400.

[99] Ibid., 1644-45, p. 503; ibid., 1644, pp. 25, 144, 447.

[100] Jo. H. C., 1642-44, p. 477; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 67 (41).

[101] Cal. S. P. D., 1644, p. 477.

[102] Ibid., 1644-45, p. 170.

[103] Ibid., 1649-50, pp. 13, 147.

[104] Jo. H. C., 1648-51, p. 385.

[105] Ibid., 1648-51, p. 126; Cal. S. P. D., 1649-50, pp. 56, 533, 535, 541; 1650, pp. 7, 223; 1651-52, p. 216.

[106] Ibid., 1649-50, p. 381.

[107] Ibid., 1651-52.

[108] Ibid., 1651-59, p. 192.

[109] Cal. S. P. D., 1652-53, p. 449. The following is a list of the contractors, with the yearly amounts offered by each:

—Cal. S. P. D., 1652-53, p. 450.

[110] Cal. S. P. D., 1658-59, p. 371.

[111] Ibid., 1653-54, pp. 27, 328.

[112] Cal. S. P. D., 1653-54, p. 328.

[113] Scobell's Collect., p. 358.

[114] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., p. 71 (48); Cal. S. P. D., 1655, p. 138.

[115] Ibid., 1655, pp. 285 f.

[116] Scobell, Collect., pp. 511-13 (1656, c. 30).

[117] Cal. S. P. D., 1657-58, p. 81. In January of 1660 the Council took the Post Office under its own control for a short time. Jo. H. C., 1651-59, p. 81; Cal. S. P. D., 1659-60, p. 303.

[118] Cal. S. P. D., 1660-61, p. 178; Hist. MSS. Com., Rep. 7, p. 109.

[119] Cal. S. P. D., 1660-61, pp. 93-100, 301.

[120] Ibid., 1660-61, pp. 37, 82.

[121] The act of 1660 (12 Ch. II, c. 35) passed in pursuance of this agreement added nothing of importance to the act of 1657, except on the question of rates. See below, chapter VIII.

[122] Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., pp. 75, 76 (52, 53).

[123] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 7, p. 140.

[124] Cal. S. P. D., 1663-64, p. 122; Rep. Com., 1844, xiv, app., pp. 86, 91 (60, 64).

[125] Ibid., 1844, xiv, app., p. 91 (64). Confirmed in 1685 (Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 11, app., 2, p. 315; 1 Jas. ii, c. 12).

[126] Cal. S. P. D., 1664-65, p. 376; 1666-67, p. 567.

[127] Cal. S. P. D., 1664-65, p. 457. Although letters might be prepaid, it was not compulsory that they should be, and the vast majority were not.

[128] Joyce, p. 46.

[129] Cal. S. P. D., 1667, p. 80.

[130] Ibid., 1664-65, p. 51.

[131] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 12, app., pt. 7, pp. 14, 93; Cal. S. P. D., 1665-66, p. 14. Cal. S. P. D. Add., 1600-70, p. 713.

[132] Cal. S. P. D., 1665-66, p. 573.

[133] Ibid., 1667, p. 260.

[134] Stow, London, bk. ii, p. 163.

[135] Notes and Queries, series 9, i, p. 122; Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 15, app., pt. 2, p. 19; Cal. S. P. D., 1670, p. 578.

[136] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 15, app., pt. 2, p. 19.

[137] Stow, London, bk. v, pp. 403-04; Thos. DeLaune, Present State of London, 1681, pp. 346-47; W. Thornbury, Old and New London, ii, p. 209; Noorthouck, Hist. of London, 1773, p. 252. Noorthouck is mistaken in making Murray the promoter of the London Penny Post, although the idea may have originated with him.

[138] Notes and Queries, ser. 6, xi, p. 153; Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 10, app. 4, pp. 125, 132; Joyce, p. 38.

[139] DeLaune, Present State of London, 1681, p. 345.

[140] Cal. B. P., 1697-1702, xliv, 56.

[141] Two men living in Limerick and Tipperary claimed in 1692 that they had organized a Penny Post in Ireland (Cal. S. P. D., 1691-92, p. 449). In 1704 the Countess Dowager of Thanet petitioned to be allowed to establish a Penny Post in Dublin, but nothing was done (Cal. T. P., 1702-07, lxxxix, 305).

[142] Cal. T. P., 1697-1702, lxxi, 40; Charles Knight, London, 1842, iii, p. 282.

[143] Hist. MSS. Com., Rep., 12, app., pt. 7, p. 262; Cal. S. P. D., 1690-91, p. 50; Hist. MSS. Com., Rep.,15, app., pt. 9, pp. 144, 180; Cal. T. P., 1557-1696, p. 284.

[144] Cal. S. P. D., 1689-90, pp. 59, 74; Cal. T. P., 1557-1696, p. 203.

[145] Stow, London, bk. v, p. 401; DeLaune, Present State of England, ed. 1690, p. 343.

[146] Cal. T. P., 1557-1696, pp. 369, 461.

[147] Acts of Parliament of Scotland, ix., pp. 417-419 (5 Wm. III).

[148] Cal. S. P. D., 1574-1660, p. 273.

[149] Joyce, pp. 196, 300.

[150] Cal. S. P. Am. and W. I., 1693-96, p. 637.

[151] Cal. T. P., 1697-1702, lx, 77.

[152] Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, ii, 707.

[153] See Appendix: Tables I, II.

[154] In 1765 the maximum weight for articles passing wholly by the Penny Post was lowered from 16 to 4 ounces (5 Geo. III, c. 25).

[155] 9 Anne, c. 11.

[156] A bye-letter was the name given to a letter carried over one of the great roads but not passing to, from or through London. A cross post letter passed not over the great roads, but over subsidiary or minor roads.

[157] Joyce, p. 136.

[158] Cal. T. P., 1714-19, cxc, 26; ccvi, 29.