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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
23
It
is
fair
to
mention,
however,
that
at
this
period
the
mail
from
London
to
Edinburgh
covered
the
ground
in
eighty-seven
hours,
or
in
fully
three
and
a
half
days;
and
that
as
a
result
of
the
memorial,
the
time
was
reduced
to
eighty-two
hours,
and
the
journey
from
Edinburgh
to
London
reduced
to
eighty-five
hours.
In
1763,
the
London
to
Edinburgh
mail
commenced
to
be
despatched
five
times
a-week,
instead
of
only
three
times;
and
at
this
time,
during
the
winter
season,
the
mail
leaving
London
on
Tuesday
night
was
generally
not
in
the
hands
of
the
people
of
Edinburgh
until
the
afternoon
of
Sunday.
We
are
informed,
in
Lang's
'Historical
Summary
of
the
Post-office
in
Scotland,'
that
in
1715
there
was
not
a
single
horse-post
in
that
country.
There
must,
however,
have
been
some
earlier
attempts
to
establish
horse-posts
in
the
northern
kingdom,
for
Chambers,
in
his
'Domestic
Annals
of
Scotland,'
under
the
year
1660,
refers
to
the
fact
of
a
warrant
being
granted
against
interlopers
who
were
carrying
letters
by
foot
on
the
same
line
on
which
Mr
Mean
had
set
up
a
horse-post.
A
traveller
in
1688
relates,
also,
that
besides
the
horse-post
from
Edinburgh
to
Berwick,
there
was
a
similar
post
from
Edinburgh
to
Portpatrick
in
connection
with
the
Irish
packet
service.
Again,
Chambers
tells
us
that
in
1667
the
good
people
of
Aberdeen
having
had
"long
experience
of
the
prejudice
sustained,
not
only
by
the
said
burgh
of
Aberdeen,
but
by
the
nobility,
gentry,
and
others
in
the
north
country,
by
the
miscarrying
of
missive
letters,
and
by
the
not
timeous
delivery
and
receiving
returns
of
the
samen,"
bestirred
themselves
to
establish
a
better
state
of
things.
It
was
considered
proper
that
"every
man
might
have
their
letters
delivered
and
answers
returned
at
certain
diets
and
times;"
and
it
was
accordingly
arranged,
under
Post-office
sanction,
that
Lieutenant
John
Wales
should
provide
a
regular
horse-service
to
carry
letters
to
Edinburgh
every
Wednesday
and
Friday,
returning
every
Tuesday
and
Thursday
in
the
afternoon.
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