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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
171
[94]
Mr.
Hill
related
some
of
these
in
his
pamphlet.
Thus,
at
page
91,
we
read:--"Some
years
ago
when
it
was
the
practice
to
write
the
name
of
a
Member
of
Parliament
for
the
purpose
of
franking
a
newspaper,
a
friend
of
mine,
previous
to
starting
on
a
tour
into
Scotland,
arranged
with
his
family
a
plan
of
informing
them
of
his
progress
and
state
of
health,
without
putting
them
to
the
expense
of
postage.
It
was
managed
thus:
he
carried
with
him
a
number
of
old
newspapers,
one
of
which
he
put
into
the
post
daily.
The
postmark,
with
the
date,
showed
his
progress;
and
the
state
of
his
health
was
evinced
by
the
selection
of
the
name,
from
a
list
previously
agreed
upon,
with
which
the
newspaper
was
franked.
'Sir
Francis
Burdett,'
I
recollect,
denoted
vigorous
health."
Better
known
is
the
anecdote
of
a
postal
adventure
of
Samuel
Taylor
Coleridge,
already
adverted
to
at
the
commencement
of
the
present
chapter.
The
story
is
told
originally,
in
Mr.
Hill's
pamphlet
also:--Once,
on
the
poet's
visits
to
the
Lake
district,
he
halted
at
the
door
of
a
wayside
inn
at
the
moment
when
the
rural
postman
was
delivering
a
letter
to
the
barmaid
of
the
place.
Upon
receiving
it
she
turned
it
over
and
over
in
her
hand
and
then
asked
the
postage
of
it.
The
postman
demanded
a
shilling.
Sighing
deeply,
however,
the
girl
handed
the
letter
back,
saying
she
was
too
poor
to
pay
the
required
sum.
The
poet
at
once
offered
to
pay
the
postage,
and
in
spite
of
some
resistance
on
the
part
of
the
girl,
which
he
deemed
quite
natural,
did
so.
The
messenger
had
scarcely
left
the
place,
when
the
young
barmaid
confessed
that
she
had
learnt
all
she
was
likely
to
learn
from
the
letter;
that
she
had
only
been
practising
a
pre-conceived
trick:
she
and
her
brother
having
agreed
that
a
few
hieroglyphics
on
the
back
of
the
letter
should
tell
her
all
she
wanted
to
know,
whilst
the
letter
would
contain
no
writing.
"We
are
so
poor,"
she
added,
"that
we
have
invented
this
manner
of
corresponding
and
franking
our
letters."
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