Lab
Library
Journal
Shop
Sign in
to keep
Share image
1
318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
156
"I
have
had
occasion
formerly
to
observe
to
you
that
a
very
great
evasion
of
the
Post
Revenue
has
taken
place--particularly
in
the
north
of
Scotland--from
the
privilege
granted
to
soldiers,
under
cover
of
which
not
only
a
very
general
opportunity
is
taken
by
the
common
people
there
to
have
their
letters
carried
by
soldiers
to
be
freed
by
their
officers,
and
having
them
again
in
return
under
soldiers'
addresses;
but
even
in
several
instances
which
I
observed
and
detected,
persons
in
higher
ranks
have
availed
themselves
of
this
circumstance."
Nor
were
people
of
quality
above
the
habit
of
committing
similar
frauds
upon
the
Post-office
revenue,
as
will
be
observed
from
the
following
remarks
penned
by
an
official
on
the
9th
April
1812.
The
statement
runs
thus:--"On
the
31st
ultimo,
having
gone
into
the
mail-coach
office
at
Glasgow,
soon
after
the
arrival
of
the
coach
from
Ayr,
and
observing
several
parcels
which
had
arrived
by
it,
one
in
particular
took
our
attention
by
its
appearing
to
contain
a
loaf
of
bread
of
the
supposed
value
of
6d.
or
8d.,
addressed
to
the
Honble.
Mrs
----,
of
Glasgow;
and
as
this
parcel
was
charged
10d.,
it
created
the
idea
of
some
mistake
having
happened
in
sending
it
in
that
way,
by
which
the
carriage
exceeded
the
value,
besides
the
original
cost
of
it.
"In
a
few
minutes
after
this,
however,
two
ladies
called
for
the
parcel,
one
of
them
believed
to
be
Mrs
----herself,
and
the
other
her
sister,
and
inquired
for
the
parcel;
and
my
curiosity
leading
me
to
notice
the
issue
of
this
supposed
hoax,
I
was
not
a
little
surprised
to
find,
after
the
lady
had
cut
up
the
cover,
that
two
or
three
letters
were
enclosed
with
the
loaf,
one
of
which
she
gave
to
the
other
lady,
and
sent
the
loaf
home
by
the
porter."
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
Undo
Redo
Start over
