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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
19
CHAPTER
II.
POSTBOYS.
"Hark!
'tis
the
twanging
horn!...
He
comes,
the
herald
of
a
noisy
world,
With
spatter'd
boots,
strapp'd
waist,
and
frozen
locks,
News
from
all
nations
lumbering
at
his
back,
True
to
his
charge
the
close-pack'd
load
behind;
Yet
careless
what
he
brings,
his
one
concern
Is
to
conduct
it
to
the
destined
inn,
And,
having
dropp'd
the
expected
bag,
pass
on.
He
whistles
as
he
goes,
light-hearted
wretch,
Cold
and
yet
cheerful:
messenger
of
grief
Perhaps
to
thousands,
and
of
joy
to
some,
To
him
indifferent
whether
grief
or
joy."
--COWPER.
As
described
in
the
preceding
chapter,
these
were
the
roads
over
which
postboys
had
to
travel
with
their
precious
charges
during
a
long
series
of
years,
and
to
their
wild
and
disreputable
state
must
to
a
great
extent
be
attributed
the
slow
rate
at
which
the
post
was
then
wont
to
travel.
When
it
is
considered
that
these
men
or
boys
were
exposed
to
all
accidents
of
weather,
stoppages
by
swollen
rivers,
delays
through
the
roads
being
cut
up,
to
their
straying
from
the
beaten
track
during
fogs,
and
to
all
other
chances
of
the
road,
including
attacks
by
footpads
or
highwaymen,
their
occupation
cannot
have
been
a
light
or
agreeable
one.
It
is
by
no
means
easy
to
construct
a
detailed
outline
of
the
duties
which
postboys
had
to
perform,
or
to
describe
under
what
rules
they
proceeded
from
stage
to
stage;
but
we
have
ample
evidence
of
the
rate
at
which
they
covered
the
ground,
and
how
their
speed
varied
at
different
periods,
owing,
it
must
have
been
in
some
cases,
to
the
lack
of
supervision.
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