"Again, supposing X. Y. wants to borrow some not very common book which one
happens to have, I am not going to write (and if I did so write you would
not print it), 'If X. Y., as soon as he sees this, will call on the Pump at
Aldgate, he will find my copy of the book tied to the spout, if the charity
boys have not cribbed it; and he can return it or not, according to his
conscience, if he has any."]
{3}
* * * * *
Notes.
PROCLAMATIONS OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES, AND THEIR VALUE AS HISTORICAL
EVIDENCES.
The work that is now going on at the Society of Antiquaries in reference to
the collection of royal proclamations in their library, is one in which not
merely the Fellows of that Society, but all historical students, are deeply
interested. The Society possesses one of the three known largest
collections of these public documents. They were formerly bound up in
volumes of several different sizes, intermixed with a variety of fugitive
publications, such as ballads and broadsides, which formed altogether a
very incongruous collection. A short time since it was found that the
binding of many of the volumes was very much worn, and that some of the
documents themselves had been considerably torn and damaged. Under these
circumstances, Mr. Lemon, of the State Paper Office, offered his services
to the Council to superintend an entire new arrangement, mounting, binding,
and calendaring, of the whole series of proclamations. His offer was of
course gratefully accepted, and the work is now in active progress.
The collection is certainly the most important that is known, and is
especially so in the reign of Elizabeth; in reference to which there is no
collection at all approaching to it, either in completeness or value. Still
there are many proclamations wanting: several of the Fellows of the Society
have come forward most liberally to fill up gaps. MR. PAYNE COLLIER led the
way in a contribution of great value; MR. SALT followed MR. COLLIER with a
munificent donation of a whole collection relating to Charles II. and James
II.; and upon Mr. Lemon's suggestion, and with the joint concurrence of Mr.
Secretary Walpole and the Keeper of the State Paper Office, an interchange
of duplicates has been effected between that office and the Society of
Antiquaries, which has added forty proclamations to the Society's
collection.
My principal reason for addressing you upon this subject is to ask you to
suggest to your readers that a similar interchange of duplicates might be
effected between the Society and any persons who chance to have duplicate
proclamations in their possession.
It is of the very highest literary and historical importance that we should
get together, in some accessible place, a collection of proclamations,
which if not actually complete (a consummation hardly to be expected),
shall yet approach to completeness. The collection at Somerset House offers
the best opportunity for forming such a collection. It is by far the most
nearly complete in existence, and is strong in that particular part of the
series in which other collections are most defective, and in which missing
proclamations are the most difficult to be supplied. At the Society of
Antiquaries the collection will be accessible to all literary inquirers,
and no doubt the Society will publish a proper catalogue, which is already
in preparation by Mr. Lemon.
It is obvious that any person who chooses to contribute such stray
proclamations, or copies of proclamations, as he may chance to have in his
possession, will be helping forward a really good work, and the possessor
of duplicates may not only do the same, but may benefit his own collection
by an interchange.
The value of proclamations as historical authorities, and especially as
authorities for the history of manners, and of our national progress, is
indisputable. As I write, I have before me the _Booke of Proclamations_ of
James I. from 1603 to 1609; and the page lying open affords a striking
illustration of what I assert. It gives us A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF OUR
POST-OFFICE.
Immediately on the accession of James I., the high north road from London
to Edinburgh was thronged with multitudes of pilgrims hastening to the
worship of the newly risen sun. Robert Carey became, in the words of
Cowper's enigma, "the parent of numbers that cannot be told." Scotland has
never poured into the south more active or more anxious suppliants than
then traversed the northward road through Berwick. All ordinary
accommodation soon fell short of the demand. Messengers riding post from
the council to the king were stayed on the road for want of the ordinary
supply of post-horses, all which were taken up by lords and gentry--rushing
northward in the fury of their new-born loyalty. As a remedy for these
inconveniences, the lords of the council issued a proclamation, calling
upon all magistrates to aid the postmasters "in this time so full of
business," by seeing that they are supplied with "fresh and able horses as
necessitie shall require." Of course the supply was merely of horses.
Travellers could not in those days obtain carriages of any kind. The horses
were directed to be "able and sufficient horses, and well furnished of
saddles, bridles, girts and stirropes, with good guides to looke to them;
who for their said horses shall demand and receive of such as shall ride on
them, the prices accustomed."
The new state of things became permanent. London, after James's removal
from Edinburgh, being really the seat of government for the whole island,
the intercourse both ways was continuous, and further general orders for
its management were published by proclamation. There were at that time, on
all the high roads through the country, two sorts of posts:--1. Special
messengers or couriers who rode "thorough post," that is, themselves rode
through the whole distance, "with horn and guide." Such persons carried
with them an authentication of their employment in the {4} public service.
In 1603, they were charged "two-pence halfe-peny the mile" (raised in 1609
to threepence) for the hire of each horse, "besides the guide's groats."
The hire was to be paid beforehand. They were not to ride the horses more
than one stage, except with the consent of "the post of the stage" at which
they did not change. Nor were they to charge the horse "with any male or
burden (besides his rider) that exceedeth the weight of thirtye pounds."
Nor to ride more than seven miles an hour in summer or six in winter. 2.
The other sort of post was what was termed the "post for the packet." For
this service every postmaster was bound to keep horses ready; and on
receipt of a "packet" or parcel containing letters, he was to send it on
towards the next stage within a quarter of an hour after its arrival,
entering the transaction in "a large and faire ledger paper book." Two
horses were to be kept constantly ready for this service, "with furniture
convenient," and messengers "at hand in areadinesse." The postmaster was
also to have ready "two bags of leather, at the least, well lined with
bayes or cotton, to carry the packet in." He was also to have ready "hornes
to sound and blow, as oft as the post meets company, or foure times in
every mile."
The "post for the packet" was at first used only for the carriage of
despatches for the government or for ambassadors, but a similar mode of
conveyance soon began to be taken advantage of by merchants and private
persons. Difficulty in obtaining posts and horses for the conveyance of
private packets, led to the interference of "certain persons called
hackney-men, tapsters, hostlers, and others, in hiring out their horses, to
the hinderance of publique service, danger to our state, and wrong to our
standing and settled postes in their several stages." The government of
James I. thought, in its blindness, that it could put a stop to the
dangerous practice of transmitting unofficial letters, by rendering it
penal for private persons to carry them; that of Charles I., wiser, in this
respect, in its generation, settled a scheme for their general conveyance
through the medium of "a letter office." But the "post for the packet,"
with his leathern bag and his twanging horn (the origin, of course, of our
mail-coach horn), continued down to a late period, and probably still
lingers in some parts of the kingdom. Cowper, it will be remembered,
describes him admirably.