The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance

CHAPTER II. POSTBOYS. "Hark! 'tis the twanging horn!... He comes, the herald of a noisy world, With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks, News from all nations lumbering at his back, True to his charge the close-pack'd load behind; Yet careless what he brings, his one concern Is to conduct it to the destined inn, And, having dropp'd the expected bag, pass on. He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch, Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some, To him indifferent whether grief or joy." --COWPER. As described in the preceding chapter, these were the roads over which postboys had to travel with their precious charges during a long series of years, and to their wild and disreputable state must to a great extent be attributed the slow rate at which the post was then wont to travel. When it is considered that these men or boys were exposed to all accidents of weather, stoppages by swollen rivers, delays through the roads being cut up, to their straying from the beaten track during fogs, and to all other chances of the road, including attacks by footpads or highwaymen, their occupation cannot have been a light or agreeable one. It is by no means easy to construct a detailed outline of the duties which postboys had to perform, or to describe under what rules they proceeded from stage to stage; but we have ample evidence of the rate at which they covered the ground, and how their speed varied at different periods, owing, it must have been in some cases, to the lack of supervision.