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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
261
An
individual
who
had
apparently,
like
Rip
Van
Winkle,
been
asleep
for
a
number
of
years,
suddenly
starts
up,
and
imagines
that
he
has
committed
a
petty
fraud
upon
the
Post-office,
and
so,
to
ease
his
conscience,
pens
the
following
confession:--
"I
enclose
you
7
sixpenny
stamps,
and
ask
you
to
credit
2
shillings
to
revenue
as
conscience
money,
as
I
consider
that
I
owe
your
Department
that
amount,
having
enclosed
some
weeks
ago
3
letters
to
India
within
a
cover
to
a
friend.
At
the
time
of
my
doing
so
I
thought
I
was
doing
no
wrong,
as
the
three
letters
enclosed
were
merely
messages
which
I
did
not
like
to
trouble
my
friend
with;
but
lately
I
have
thought
differently,
and
to
quiet
my
conscience
I
send
you
the
enclosed
stamps,
and
beg
of
you
to
be
good
enough
to
acknowledge
the
receipt
of
2s.
in
the
columns
of
the
'Daily
Telegraph'
as
conscience
money
from
----.
I
send
1s.
6d.
extra
as
cost
of
insertion
of
the
acknowledgment."
The
question
even
of
"who
shall
be
the
hangman"
is
thought
to
be
a
fit
subject
for
elucidation
at
the
Post-office.
"I
hope
you
will
pardon
me
for
asking
of
you
the
favour
of
satisfying
a
curiosity
which
cannot,
without
distortion,
be
called
a
morbid
one.
The
question
I
am
about
to
put
is
prompted
by
the
statement
in
the
London
papers
that
Marwood
is
to
be
the
executioner
of
Peace.
"Now,
being
fully
cognizant,
from
my
readings
of
journals
more
than
50
years
back,
that
York
has
always
retained
its
own
executioners
(Askern
having
succeeded
Howard),
I
am
sceptical
as
to
the
correctness
of
the
above
statement.
But,
assuming
it
to
be
correct,
I
should
like
to
be
informed
why
Peace's
particular
case
should
cause
a
deviation
from
the
old
bylaws
of
your
county
(York),
which
gives
name
to
an
archiepiscopal
province.--Hoping
to
be
pardoned
for
thus
troubling
you,
I
am,"
&c.
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