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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
70
In
the
year
1590,
the
magistrates
of
Aberdeen
established
a
post
for
conveying
their
despatches
to
and
from
Edinburgh,
and
other
places
where
the
royal
residence
might
for
the
time
be.
This
institution
was
called
the
"Council
Post";
and
the
messenger
was
dressed
in
a
garment
of
blue
cloth,
with
the
armorial
bearings
of
the
town
worked
in
silver
on
his
right
sleeve.
In
the
year
1715,
there
was
not
a
single
horse-post
in
Scotland,
all
the
mails
being
conveyed
by
runners
on
foot;
and
the
ground
covered
by
these
posts
extended
from
Edinburgh
as
far
north
as
Thurso,
and
westward
as
far
as
Inveraray.
About
the
year
1750,
an
improved
plan
of
forwarding
the
mails
was
introduced
in
Scotland
by
the
horse-posts
proceeding
only
from
stage
to
stage--the
mails
being
transferred
to
a
fresh
postboy
at
each
point;
but
in
the
majority
of
cases
the
mails
were
still
carried
by
foot-runners.
Before
the
change
of
system
the
plan
of
proceeding
was
this,
taking
the
north
road
as
an
example:
"A
person
set
out
with
the
mail
from
Edinburgh
to
Aberdeen:
he
did
not
travel
a
stage
and
then
deliver
the
mail
to
another
postboy,
but
went
on
to
Dundee,
where
he
rested
the
first
night;
to
Montrose,
where
he
stayed
the
second;
and
on
the
third
he
arrived
at
Aberdeen;
and
as
he
passed
by
Kinghorn,
it
behoved
the
tide,
and
sometimes
also
the
weather,
to
render
the
time
of
his
arrival
more
late
and
uncertain."
The
plan
of
conveying
mails
by
the
same
runners
over
long
distances
continued
much
later,
however;
for
we
find
that
in
1799
a
post-runner
travelled
from
Inverness
to
Lochcarron--a
distance
across
country
as
the
crow
flies
of
about
fifty
miles--making
the
journey
once
a-week,
for
which
he
was
paid
five
shillings.
Another
messenger
at
the
same
period
made
the
journey
from
Inverness
to
Dunvegan
in
Skye--a
much
greater
distance--also
once
a-week,
the
hebdomadal
stipend
in
this
instance
being
seven
shillings
and
sixpence.
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