M. Piron tells us, that the idea of a Post-paid Envelope originated,
early in the reign of Louis XIV., with M. de Velayer, who, in 1653,
established, with royal approbation, a private penny post, placing boxes
at the corners of the streets for the reception of letters, wrapped up
in envelopes, which were to be bought at offices established for that
purpose.
M. de Velayer also caused to be printed certain forms of _billets_, or
notes applicable to the ordinary business among the inhabitants of great
towns, with blanks, which were to be filled up by the pen with such
special matter as might complete the writer's object. One of these
_billets_ has been preserved to our times by a pleasant misapplication
of it. Pelisson, Mde. de Sevigné's friend, and the object of the _bon
mot_, that "he abused the privilege which men have of being ugly," was
amused at this kind of skeleton correspondence; and under the affected
name of _Pisandre_, (according to the pedantic fashion of the day,) he
filled up and addressed one of these forms to the celebrated
Mademoiselle de Scuderi, in her _pseudonyme of Sappho_. This strange
_billet-doux_ has happened, from the celebrity of the parties, to be
preserved, and is still extant: one of the oldest, we presume, of
penny-post letters, and a curious example of a pre-paying envelope--as
well as a new proof of the adage, that "there is nothing new under the
sun."
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