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435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
8
INTRODUCTORY.
Circular
letters,
and
a
kind
of
post
for
conveying
them,
are
frequently
mentioned
both
in
sacred
and
profane
history.
Queen
Jezebel
is
remarkable
as
being
the
first
letter-writer
on
record,
though
it
is
not
surprising
to
find
that
she
used
her
pen
for
purposes
of
deception.
According
to
the
sacred
chronicler,
she
"wrote
letters
in
Ahab's
name,
and
sealed
them
with
his
seal,
and
sent
the
letters
unto
the
elders
and
to
the
nobles
in
the
city."
From
the
Book
of
Esther
we
learn
that
Ahasuerus,
king
of
Persia,
being
displeased
at
the
disobedience
of
his
wife,
Vashti,
sent
letters
into
every
province
of
his
vast
empire,
informing
his
subjects
that
it
was
his
imperial
will
that
"every
man
should
bear
rule
in
his
own
house."
The
first
recorded
riding
post
was
established
in
the
Persian
empire
by
Cyrus,
who,
when
engaged
in
his
Scythian
expedition,
in
order
to
have
news
brought
expeditiously,
"caused
it
to
be
tried
how
far
a
horse
could
go
in
a
day
without
baiting,
and,
at
that
distance,
appointed
stages
and
men
whose
business
it
was
to
have
horses
always
in
readiness."[1]
Another
authority[2]
tells
us
that
there
were
one
hundred
and
eleven
postal
stages,
a
day's
journey
distant
from
one
another,
between
Susa
and
the
Ægean
Sea,
and
that
at
each
stage
a
large
and
beautiful
structure
was
erected,
with
every
convenience
for
the
purpose
designed.
Marker
Marker
Fine marker
White-out
Fine white-out
Circle
Paint
Unmarker
Hand
Scalpel
Dice
Sieve
Purify
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