The post office and its story an interesting account of the activities of a great government department

“Room, room for the Post, who with zeal for the Queen Like Pegasus flies, tho' his scrub is but lean, Tho' dirty or dusty, Tho' thirsty yet trusty, The restless knight-errant, While Anna's his warrant, (True knight of the road) of high honours can boast, The greatest of subjects give way to the post. Chorus With a twee-we-we, twee-we-we think it no scorn, Cits, soldiers, and courtiers give way to the horn. The secrets we hand, of the fair and the great, And join, spite of distance, each region and state, All nations and quarters, Dutch, Irish, and Tartars, The bonny North Briton, And more I can't hit on. Of all our Queen's subjects none serve her so fast, For still in her service we're all in post haste. Chorus With a twee-we-we, twee we-we, &c.” In a little book entitled A Picture of London in 1808 I have found the following delightful passage relating to the London Post Office: “It is the most important spot on the surface of the globe. It receives information from the Poles.” This is rather wide of the mark, seeing that both Poles were then undiscovered. The next statement may have been nearer the truth: “It distributes instructions to the Antipodes.” And we seem to get out of our depth farther on: “It is in the highest degree hitherto realised the seat of terrestrial perceptions and volition. It is the brain of the whole earth.” But all this tall language was used for a purpose. The object was to draw attention to a public scandal and to bring before the notice of people the miserable accommodation which the State provided for her wise and brainy servants. For the writer asks us to look on the other side of the picture. “The building is hidden in a narrow alley, misshapen even to deformity, and scarcely accessible to the very mail coaches which collect there for their nightly freights.”