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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
294
"The
envelopes
and
half-sheets
have
an
engraved
surface,
extremely
fantastic,
and
not
less
grotesque.
In
the
centre,
at
the
top,
sits
Britannia,
throwing
out
her
arms,
as
if
in
a
tempest
of
fury,
at
four
winged
urchins,
intended
to
represent
postboys,
letter-carriers,
or
Mercuries,
but
who,
instead
of
making
use
of
their
wings
and
flying,
appear
in
the
act
of
striking
out
or
swimming,
which
would
have
been
natural
enough
if
they
had
been
furnished
with
fins
instead
of
wings.
On
the
right
of
Britannia
there
are
a
brace
of
elephants,
all
backed
and
ready
to
start,
when
some
Hindoo,
Chinese,
Arabic,
or
Turkish
merchants,
standing
quietly
by,
have
closed
their
bargains
and
correspondence.
The
elephants
are
symbolic
of
the
lightness
and
rapidity
with
which
Mr
Rowland
Hill's
penny
postage
is
to
be
carried
on,
and
perhaps,
also,
of
the
power
requisite
for
transporting
the
L1500
a-year
to
his
quarters,
which
is
all
he
obtains
for
strutting
about
the
Post-office
with
his
hands
in
his
pockets,
and
nothing
to
do,
like
a
fish
out
of
water.
On
the
left
of
Britannia,
who
looks
herself
very
much
like
a
termagant,
there
is
an
agglomeration
of
native
Indians,
missionaries,
Yankees,
and
casks
of
tobacco,
with
a
sprinkling
of
foliage,
and
the
rotten
stem
of
a
tree,
not
forgetting
a
little
terrier
dog
inquisitively
gliding
between
the
legs
of
the
mysterious
conclave
to
see
the
row.
Below,
on
the
left,
a
couple
of
heads
of
the
damsel
tribe
are
curiously
peering
over
a
valentine
just
received
(scene,
Valentine's
Day),
whilst
a
little
girl
is
pressing
the
elders
for
a
sight
of
Cupid,
and
the
heart
transfixed
with
a
score
of
arrows.
On
the
right,
again,
stands
a
dutiful
boy,
reading
to
his
anxious
mamma
an
account
of
her
husband's
hapless
shipwreck,
who,
with
hands
clasped,
is
blessing
Rowland
Hill
for
the
cheap
rate
at
which
she
gets
the
disastrous
intelligence.
With
very
great
propriety
the
name
of
the
artist
is
conspicuously
placed
in
one
corner,
so
that
the
public
and
posterity
may
know
who
is
the
worthy
Oliver
of
the
genius
of
a
Rowland
on
this
important
occasion.
As
may
well
be
imagined,
it
is
no
common
man,
for
the
mighty
effort
has
taxed
the
powers
of
the
Royal
Academy
itself,
if
the
engraved
announcement
of
W.
Mulready,
R.A.,
in
the
corner,
may
be
credited.
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