Bristol, 5, Lodge Street,
February 26th, 1852.
SIR,--Seeing that the inquiry made by your Correspondent, I. E., and
which appeared in your "Current Notes" for January last, p. 6, in a
paragraph entitled, "Rowland Hill and the Penny Postage," has not been
answered in the "Current Notes," for this month, I will inform you that
the traveller mentioned in that paragraph was not _Rowland Hill_, but
_Coleridge_. The fact was mentioned by Mr. Commissioner Hill (brother
to Rowland Hill), in the last of two lectures, which he gave at the
Bristol Philosophical Institution, on the evening of the 29th ultimo,
"on Postal Arrangements," which I attended. An extract of the Lecture
is to be found in the Bristol newspapers, and especially in the Times
and Gazette, from which I copy the portion which has reference to the
"Inquiry:"
"Many instances were related of the uselessness of the
Post-office of those days to the poor; and the Lecturer
took occasion to remark how often we were wrong and
selfish in measuring any expense by our shillings and
pence, forgetting that these nothings to us were pounds
to the poor. Amongst other instances he referred to
one mentioned in the Autobiography of Coleridge, who,
whilst travelling, observed the postman offering a
letter to a poor woman, urging upon her the necessity
of taking it in, as it was evidently from her son.
The poor woman refused; she could not afford it; but
Coleridge charitably paid the shilling for her, and the
postman left, when the woman expressed her grateful
thanks, but was sorry he had wasted the shilling, for
it was only a blank sheet addressed by her son, as a
means of informing her he had reached his destination
safely. Hundreds of such expedients were then employed,
nor could it be wondered at."
If this communication can be of any use for your "Current Notes," it
will give great pleasure, Sir, to
Your subscriber,
F. S. DONATO.