The sequestration of Witherings' office of Foreign Postmaster ceased on
the 28th December 1633, but it was not till the 20th August 1634 that
he was made legally secure in his place. On this latter date he writes
to Sir John Coke as follows:--"Four days past he procured his Order to
be drawn up by Sir William Becher (clerk of the Council in Ordinary),
which he shewed Mr. March, the Earl Marshal's steward, who went with
Mr. Witherings to Mr. Recorder, whose opinion was, that the Order not
only cleared Frizell in law and equity, but all others." Witherings
had, however, to sign a covenant holding the Earl Marshal harmless, and
thereupon the patents were signed over to Witherings.
It is tolerably clear that de Quester and Witherings were not on
particularly good terms. At anyrate the former wrote to Secretary Coke
in March 1633, complaining against Witherings "for breaking open a
packet directed to de Quester, and using disdainful speeches of him."
He also reminds the Secretary of a promise "that he should receive no
damage or detriment."
The occurrence of the sequestration has been the means of leaving on
record details of these early posts which would not otherwise have
survived. A statement of the accounts of Mathew de Quester during the
sequestration of the post office in London for foreign parts (_i.e._
4th September to 28th December 1633), made up in the year 1634, gives
much curious information, as also Witherings' comments on various
alleged inaccuracies therein. "Witherings desires that de Quester may
bring in all the rolls and books of accounts, from which Witherings
may draw out a just account. Among the items in this account, covering
a period of seventeen weeks, are the following:--For three portmantles,
£1, 12s.; for cord and cloth to cover the mails, 2s. 6d.; for
pack-thread to bind up the letters, 9s. 5d.; for pens, ink, and paper
to write and to pack, £1, 1s.; to George Martin for carrying letters
abroad, seventeen weeks, £2, 11s.; to John Ridge for the like service,
£2, 11s.; to clerks' allowance for seventeen weeks, at the rate of £60
per annum a piece, £39, 4s. 8d.; for candles, wax, and sealing-thread,
5s. 4d.; one quarter's rent for the office and other rooms, £10." In
another paper, making further remarks in objection to de Quester's
accounts, Witherings suggests "that if he and Lynde, who is paid £60
per annum for nothing else but to keep the accounts, were jointly to
inspect the rolls and accounts, they would be able to 'just' them in
one day."
There is reason to conclude that at this time some of the stages
in France were under English control; for on the 20th August 1634,
Witherings writes to Secretary Coke that he "had procured the French
ambassador's letters for settling the stages in France, and to-morrow
he begins his journey. At his coming to Paris he will write Coke of all
that passeth."
We may assume from the foregoing particulars that the posts with the
Continent were now laid in stages, and in a way to expedite the mail
service not previously existing.
The channel was, however, about this time infested with foreigners who
plundered the mail packets and robbed the passengers. A few instances
may be interesting.
On the 24th June 1635, the deputy postmaster of Dover writes to
Secretary Coke:--"On Tuesday, 16th, he received advertisement by
certain seamen whom the writer employs for carriage of the merchants'
letters to Dunkirk, and to bring the same from thence, that, coming
by Calais, their shallop and such passengers as were in it were rifled
of all the money they had and some trifles, and the mail (wherein His
Majesty's and the merchants' letters were put) was taken away by men
of Calais, who laid them suddenly aboard with a small shallop full of
musketeers. This advice coming to the writer in the night very late, he
wrote to Mr. Witherings, and did not then give the Lord Warden's deputy
notice, by which means the news came to His Majesty's knowledge before
it was written of to the Lord Warden."
Again, in the month of August, Henry Hendy, the post of Dover, had an
unpleasant experience. In an examination which he underwent touching
the facts, he states that, "going to and returning from Dunkirk, he has
been robbed five times within these seven weeks--four times by the
French, and once by a Flushinger. They shot at him, and commanded him
to strike, calling him and the rest 'English dogs'; and coming aboard,
they used violence, beating them, stripping them of all their money,
apparel, and goods, and took from the post all his bundle of letters,
among which was a packet from the king. The post showing them his pass
from Secretary Coke, they bid him keep it to wipe his breech." The ill
words of calling the men dogs seem to have been in common use in the
channel at that time; for Sobrière, a Frenchman who visited England
at the period in question, makes mention of the incivility which his
countrymen received on landing at Dover, the children running after
them and calling with all their might, "A _Mounser_! a _Mounser_!" and,
as they warmed up, they became more offensive. When told to be off,
they would cry out, "French dogs, French dogs."
But the English were not content to undergo all this offence and
ill-usage without showing that they could fight, and were prepared
to maintain their position on the high seas. The measures taken in
this sense are described in the following despatch, dated 14th August
1635, from Admiral Lord Lindsey to Secretary Coke:--"On Saturday last,
speaking with the post of Dover that plys to Dunkirk, the writer found
him unwilling to undergo the service any longer, unless he were better
provided to resist the violences offered him. The earl encouraged him,
and lent him fifteen men, well fitted with muskets and half-pikes and
swords, and sent them aboard his ketch. On Sunday morning they went
off from Dover, and in the afternoon were chased awhile by a shallop,
and then by a Holland man-of-war that made six great shots at them.
The _Sampson_, which the writer had the day before employed to sea,
was in their sight, but they durst not bear up to him, for then they
had been overtaken; but keeping upon a tack, they were too swift for
the man-of-war, who, after five hours' chase, left them in open sea.
The next morning, between Gravelines and Calais, the same shallop that
used to rob the post came to the ketch, as near as a man might throw
a biscuit into her. The master of the ketch had stowed all the men
within, there to remain until he should give the watchword, when they
were to appear and give fire. The shallop shot four or five times at
the ketch, and hailed the master and the rest in such English as one
of them could speak, crying out, 'English dogs! strike, you English
rogues! we will be with you presently,' the chief of them, in a red
coat, flourishing his falchion over his head. Hereupon the master gave
the word; and the men came out, pouring shot so fast into the shallop
that the French had not power to return one shot, but rowed away with
a matter of four using oars that were left of about sixteen men. It
was a dead calm, and the ketch had neither oars nor boat to help her,
otherwise she had brought away the shallop and the remainder of the
men. The post has desired the same supply again for his defence on
Sunday next; the writer has taken order accordingly, and furnished him
also with letters of safe-conduct."
In the following month, September, another outrage upon the mail boat
was committed. Waad, the deputy postmaster of Dover, gives an account
of the transaction, and a capture made thereafter, in a letter to his
chief, Witherings, on the 26th September. He writes: "The manner of
taking the boats by those that were laid in Dover Castle was: that the
Zealanders shot at them divers times, when one of the packet boatmen
struck sail and showed the Lord General's warrant, which they slighted,
and were like to stab the old man whom Waad trusts with the mail, with
base words to His Majesty. The place was off the Splinter, betwixt
Gravelines and Dunkirk. The day was the 2nd instant; and on the 3rd,
setting out another boat with the mail, one of the ketch told Waad
that he saw the captain that took them and some of his men; whereupon,
about twelve in the night, he called the watch and carried the captain
and other two to the town jail, having paid Sir William Monson's
gentlemen's dinners and horse-hires to acquaint the Lord General in
the forenoon before that the vessel was in Dover road. Whereupon Sir
William Monson came into the road and took the ship out, and sent
his boat after ashore. The prisoners being claimed by Sir William
Monson, and also by Mr. Moore, Secretary to the Lord Warden, the Mayor
adjudged to Sir William, who carried them to the Lord General. After
examination, he returned them to Dover Castle; but their ship was
cleared in the Downs, and on the Sunday morning took a bylander of
Bruges; also that night the prisoners made escape out of the castle
by a mat twisted very laboriously." The meaning of this last sentence
probably is, that these sailors untwisted the strands of a mat, then
spun the material into a kind of rope, and let themselves down from
their cell in the castle.
Again, in February 1636, another outrage was perpetrated on the packet
boat. The particulars are furnished by the examination of William
Dadds, master; Harry Hendy, passenger; and Richard Swan, servant to
William Dadds. They swore as follows:--"The Earl of Lindsey authorised
His Majesty's passage boat at Dover to wear a flag of His Majesty's
colours upon the rudder-head. It hath secured the said boat from the
Dutch, the French, and Spaniards ever since till Tuesday last; at which
time the said boat, riding at anchor by Dunkirk harbour, near the
Splinter fort, with the said flag, there came down from the said fort
three musketeers, and shot three or four volleys of shot at the said
packet boat, and in the hull of the said boat some of the shot are
still to be seen. They retired to the said fort, and shot one piece of
great ordnance at the said boat. The three musketeers began to beat
the said R. Swan with a crabtree cudgel of two inches about; they
came aboard, searched the packet boat, and fetched W. Dadds ashore,
and made him pay 20s. in money, which H. Hendy laid down to prevent
imprisonment. The master and his company, in the dark of the night, set
sail and came away. The serjeant-major and the soldiers gave no other
reason, than because they came not on shore to fetch the searcher on
board; and if they did not the next time come to fetch the searcher
aboard, they would hang the master upon the gallows. And this is the
first time that ever the searcher did question His Majesty's packet
boat."
Several other violations of the packet boat occurred about this time,
and a good deal of friction arose between the peoples on the two sides
of the channel; but probably the robberies were partly the result
of conditions arising from the unsettled relations existing between
England and the countries on the Continent at the period. The English
took extreme measures with these pirates, as will be seen by the two
following despatches from the Earl of Suffolk to Secretary Coke:--
"July 30, 1636, Dover Castle.--Since the writing of his last letter,
and the condemnation of the French prisoners, two of them, who were
quitted and returned to Calais, reported there that, after the
condemnation of the prisoners, three of them were presently hanged;
whereupon the people of Calais were much influenced, and have
committed many insolencies, as will appear by the enclosed examination.
"Declaration of John Adams of Gillingham, Kent, master of the _John_ of
that place:--Arriving with the packet ordinary from Thomas Witherings,
His Majesty's Postmaster for Foreign Parts, he received from the
master of a ship of Lynn this intelligence: That the people of Calais
came aboard, to the number of 300 or 400, presently after the arrival
of the two sailors cleared at Dover, in the Court of Admiralty, and
assaulted the master and company of the said ship, beating all the
company, wounding the master, and doing many outrageous acts--which are
stated here with a good deal of confusion, and probably exaggeration.
The informant concludes, that carrying the mail to the postmaster of
Calais, and having His Majesty's colours at the stern of his ketch,
the people came down upon them, throwing stones to the endangering of
their lives, and rending the said 'unite' colours.
"August 3, 1636.--By all men that come from Calais, he perceives that
there is in that town a froward inclination against His Majesty's
subjects, and therefore sends him (Sir John Coke) this present
information from the master of His Majesty's packet boat, that the
Secretary may thereupon use means to the French ambassador, or
otherwise, to prevent greater mischiefs that may happen.
"Enclosure.--Information of John Keres of Leith, mariner, that about
the 4th July, carrying over to Calais Mr. Witherings, His Majesty's
Postmaster, as soon as he came on shore they threw stones at informant
that he could not walk in the streets without great danger; and being
forced by stress of weather out of that road for Dunkirk, a little off
Gravelines he met with three French shallops of Calais, who commanded
him to strike, and then boarded him, spoiled his bark, beat him with
their swords, and would have taken the clothes off his back. Having
nothing in his bark worth pillaging, they went their way."
Shortly after this period, it was thought fit to provide an armed
vessel for the channel service. It was named the _Speedy Post_; and
we find that in February and March 1637 there was some correspondence
between the Council and the officers of ordnance as to the supply
of six brass guns for the Postmaster's frigate, the _Speedy Post_
of London. It is probably to this vessel that Evelyn refers in his
diary, under date of the 10th October 1642:--"From hence (Dunkirk),
the next day, I marched three English miles towards the packet boat,
being a pretty fregat of six guns, which embarked us for England about
three in the afternoone. At our going off, the fort against which our
pinnace ankered saluted my Lord Marshall with twelve greate guns,
which we answered with three. Not having the wind favorable, we ankered
that night before Calais. About midnight we weighed; and at four in
the morning, though not far from Dover, we could not make the peere
till four in the afternoon, the wind proving contrary and driving us
westward; but at last we got on ashore, Oct. the 12th."
Leaving these squabbles of the channel for a time, it will perhaps be
convenient to consider for a moment who Witherings was.
By the "Visitation of London, 1633-4," we find it stated that Thomas
Withering, "Postmaster of England for Forrayne Parts," was a second
son; that he was of a Staffordshire family who had property in that
county for many generations; that an uncle named Anthony Withering
was a yeoman usher, and his elder brother a gentleman sewer--both
places, we apprehend, attaching to the Court. In proceedings held
before the Council in June 1633, of which Secretary Windebanke made
notes, and wherein Thomas Witherings was interested, mention is made
that Witherings was stated to be a papist, and "to have been at one
time gentleman harbinger to the queen." The office of harbinger was
that of "agent in advance," the harbinger proceeding one day ahead of
the queen, to secure for her suitable lodging and entertainment on
occasions when she was upon progress. If Witherings really held this
office of harbinger, it is possible that he may have shown a leaning
towards papacy (though in later life he was a declared Protestant),
for King Charles' wife Henrietta Maria was a Roman Catholic herself,
and many of her followers were of that religion. There is nothing
improbable in the suggestion that Witherings held the office of
harbinger, seeing that his brother and uncle were servants at the
Court; but whether he was or was not, he would have, by his friends,
interest with the royal family. In a remonstrance of the grievances of
His Majesty's posts in England, carriers, waggoners, and others (1642),
"miserably sustained by the unlawful projects of Thomas Witherings,"
Witherings is referred to as "sometime mercer of London." Of this
mention will be made hereafter.
Witherings was married to Dorothy, daughter of John Oliver of
Wilbrougham; and she brought him a fair fortune. In a petition or
representation made by her after Witherings' death, she mentions that
£105 a year of her land was sold to assist him in procuring his place
as Postmaster.
It is well here to remark, in relation to this sum, and the matter
should be borne in mind in perusing what follows, that £105 in 1632
would be equivalent to about £420 in the present day. Professor Masson,
when speaking of the relative equivalents of English money now and
in the first half of the seventeenth century, gives his impression
"that any specified salary in English money (of that time) would have
purchased at least four times as much, whether in commodities or in
respectability, as the same English money would purchase now." As only
a portion of Mrs. Witherings' land was sold, she must have had a very
respectable fortune of her own.
Witherings lived in an age characterised by corruption, by Court
intrigue and Court favouritism, when envy and uncharitableness
struggled for place and power, and when those who failed to secure
the royal smile were in imminent danger of going to the wall. He did
not achieve his official career without attempts being made to oust
him from his place. Many general allegations were made against him of
irregularities committed in his office, but for the most part with an
irritating absence of any definite charges; and in the opposite scale
we have the fact that he was still Postmaster for Foreign Parts at the
time of his death, in the year 1651.
We have hitherto been dealing with the Postmastership for Foreign
Parts; and having accompanied Witherings over a portion of his
service, it will be convenient now to see what was going on in the
inland posts. It will be remembered that Charles Lord Stanhope was
the king's Postmaster at Home and in Foreign Parts, within the king's
dominions. The duties of Stanhope were to appoint and supervise the
deputy postmasters on the roads, to provide for the conveyance of
letters to or from the king or the Court, and, generally, letters on
State business; but there was no arrangement, recognised as a State
service, for the conveyance of letters of the merchants or the public
generally by the deputy postmasters under Stanhope. Although this was
so, there is apt to be some misapprehension as to the means available
at this time for the forwarding of letters of the public throughout
the country. It might be supposed that no machinery to this end
existed. There is, however, we think, every probability that while
the postmasters were not officially authorised to convey letters from
place to place, they did so, and reaped some benefit from the work. The
postmasters throughout the country were constantly sending guides and
horses between their several stages; the horses had to be brought back
by the guides to their headquarters; and it would be surprising if the
postmasters, when opportunity offered, did not undertake the carriage
of letters for a fee. Further, in a State-paper office document, dated
1635, it is mentioned that the king's postmasters carried the subjects'
letters, but up to that time had never reaped any benefit from it.
The meaning of this must be, that the Chief Postmaster and his
predecessors had never reaped any benefit; but it is not likely that
the deputy postmasters, who did the work, would perform the service
for nothing. When the carriage of letters was afterwards taken up as a
State affair, we shall hear an outcry for arrears of wages due to the
postmasters, who previously were apparently content to let that matter
lie over, deriving their profits from the letting out of horses, and
the fees from the carriage of private letters. But the carriers with
their carts and pack horses also conveyed letters for the public, and
though the travelling was slow, it extended to all parts. By consulting
old calendars and like books of reference, the reader will see how
extensive was this carrying business, down to the time when it was
superseded by the railways. But we are not left in any doubt as to
the part the country postmasters took in the carriage of letters for
the public, at anyrate on the Western road from London to Plymouth,
antecedent to this period, for by a petition which will be quoted
hereafter from the postmaster of Crewkerne, it will be seen that, under
an Order of the Council of State, dated the 24th February 1630, a
weekly carriage of letters had been set up by the several postmasters
on that road for their own profit.
Confirmation is given to this statement by papers belonging to the
borough of Barnstaple, under date the 17th September 1633. It is
there recorded that the Mayor and Aldermen of Barnstaple established
communication between their borough and Exeter by means of "a foote
post to goe weekly every Tuesday morning about seaven of the clock in
the morning from the said towne of Barnstaple unto Exceter, and to be
there at the postmaster's howse in Exceter the Wednesday morning, and
there to deliver unto the post whiche is to goe that morneing toward
London all such letters as shalbe sent him to be conveyed unto London,
... which foote post is to stay in Exceter untill the London post for
that weeke shall come from London, and shall take upp all such letters
as the said post shall bringe from London," etc. It is then explained
that, "by means of which so speedie conveyance, men may in eleaven days
write unto London and receive answers thereof backe again, and their
friends and factours may have three dayes' respitt to give answere unto
such letters as shalbe sent; as also any man receiving letters from
London may have like time to answer the same," etc. Now, if we deduct
from the eleven days here mentioned the two days coming and going
of the foot post between Barnstaple and Exeter, and the three days'
"respitt" in London, it leaves only six days for the double journey
between Exeter and London, or three days for a single journey of over
170 miles. There is no doubt whatever from these statements that there
existed, prior to Witherings' posts, a regular weekly horse post from
London to the West of England for the general service of the public.
A project for a new and extended arrangement of the business of the
post office was drafted in 1633--probably by Witherings. According
to this paper, "it was calculated that in the 32 counties of England
there were at least 512 market towns, which, one with another, sent 50
letters per week to London, which, in respect of their answers, are
to be reckoned at 4d. each, making in all 25,600 letters, or £426 per
week. The estimated charge for conveyance of these letters would be
only £37 per week, leaving £388, 10s. weekly profit by this office, out
of which was to be deducted £1500 per annum paid to the postmasters for
the charge of conveying his Majesty's packets. All letters on the road
to Scotland were to be charged 2d. for every single, and 4d. for every
double letter, to be paid at the receiving and delivery in London; for
Yorkshire and Northumberland, 3d. a letter; and for Scotland, 8d. The
postmasters in the country were not to take any money for letters,
save 1d. for carriage to the next market town." Thus, in 1633, it
would appear that nearly 26,000 letters a week reached London from the
country, and, as replies, a similar number would be sent thence to the
country. The project sketched out above was not, however, then carried
out.
Some curious questions as to the post service arose at this period. On
the 13th May 1633, the Mayor and Jurats of Dover made a representation
to the Lieutenant of Dover Castle and of the Cinque Ports, to the
effect that the deputy postmasters and the hackneymen of Dover and
Canterbury had admeasured the highway between these places, and set up
posts at every mile's end, making the distance fifteen miles and a
quarter. For this "distance they charged 3s. 9d. for horse hire, being
9d. more than the ordinary rate." The Mayor and Jurats "called before
them the postmaster's deputy and some of the hackneymen, and found them
resolute therein. They have done the same without commission from His
Majesty or the Lords." It appears that the Kentish miles were longer
than the miles elsewhere, and that 3d. per mile was allowed here, while
in some other places only 2-1/2d. was paid. The men of Kent wanted to
be paid the higher rate for the shorter miles, which they had measured
for themselves.
The postmaster of St. Albans, by the methods which he employed in
carrying on the business of his office, got himself into deep water
with the people of that town. On the 20th January 1632, informations
were made by Edward Seabrooke, John Tuttle, and Fromabove Done,
setting forth complaints against John Wells, postmaster of St Albans,
in pressing their horses for the service of the post maliciously or
corruptly, in order to procure a bribe for their release. On the
next day informations were made by John Mitchell of Sandridge, Ralph
Heyward of Bushey, Henry Pedder of Luton, and John Bolton of Harding,
all containing charges of corruption or misconduct against John Wells,
postmaster of St Albans. Again, on the 3d August 1633, the inhabitants
of the parish of St. Stephens, in St. Albans, forward depositions,
taken before Sir John Garrard and others, Justices of the Peace,
seeking to establish that "under colour of a commission granted by
Lord Stanhope, Wells sent to the several parishes in and about St.
Albans to furnish horses for His Majesty's service, there being not
any such horses needed; but warrants being issued merely to compel the
owners of the horses to compound." Whether Mr. Wells was as bad as
painted we cannot say, but he no doubt had at times to call in extra
horses; for, on the 13th May 1633, Lord Stanhope issued the following
warrant to all Deputy Lieutenants, Justices of the Peace, and other
officers:--"Special occasions are offered, for the affairs of the State
and service of His Majesty, to send in post both packets and otherwise
oftener than ordinary; the persons addressed are therefore to assist
John Wells, post of St. Albans, and on his application to take up
ten or twelve sufficient horses, as the service shall import." This
was within a few days of the king's setting out upon a progress into
Scotland.
On the 19th June 1633, a petition to the Council is forwarded by
Edward Hutchins and Joseph Hutchins, sons of Thomas Hutchins, post of
Crewkerne, lately deceased, and by all the posts between London and
Plymouth, as follows:[1]--
"Having obtained an Order, dated 24th February 1630, from this Board
for the weekly carriage of letters between London and Plymouth, the
settling whereof had cost them £400, besides their great and daily
charge in keeping men and horses. Neither Lord Stanhope, nor Mr.
Dolliver, the Paymaster of the Posts, had given any encouragement to
this business, but rather opposed it; Lord Stanhope going about to
assume the benefit of the merchants' letters, and raising the valuation
of the post places of the Western road from £20 to £100. Pray their
lordships to require Lord Stanhope and the Paymaster of the Posts to
answer wherefor they should raise the post places from £20 anciently
given, and for what cause they (Stanhope and the Paymaster) should have
the benefit of the merchants' letters. Pray also that Edward and Joseph
Hutchins may, for £20, have the place filled by their father and
grandfather for seventy years, or else the benefit of the merchants'
letters, which their father had." Lord Stanhope's answer was to the
effect that he doubted the statement as to the "great sums alleged to
have been given for obtaining the merchants' letters," that he did not
"take notice of disposing any place in that road, nor aim at any profit
by reason of those letters; he only takes upon him the appointment
of the posts." The meaning of this answer is not very clear; but the
two papers taken together show that the postmasters were in the habit
of buying their offices, paying £20 for them, and that it was now
attempted to raise the charge to £100. Stanhope's salary was only
£66, 13s. 4d. per annum, and, in consonance with the shameful traffic
of the age, he made his profit in his own position by requiring his
subordinates to purchase their places.
When Witherings set up the new plan of "estafette" posts in 1633,
the men who had up to that time performed the post service between
England and the Continent were all dismissed. They, like the deputy
postmasters, had purchased their places, and upon being turned off
received no compensation. Aggrieved as they felt themselves to be, they
had recourse to a petition to Lord Cottington. They were Sampson Bates,
Enoch Lynde, Jarman Marsham, Job Allibon, Abraham van Solte, and Samuel
Allibon "heretofore ordinary posts for the Low Countries." "At their
first entrance into their places," says the petition, "they paid great
sums of money for the same, and they were granted for term of life,
some of petitioners having served twenty-six years, and others various
other long periods. About April 1633 petitioners were all dismissed
without restoring any of their moneys, or giving them any allowance
towards their maintenance, so that they have been driven to pawn their
household stuff, and, if not relieved, are like to perish. The ordinary
posts beyond the seas likewise dismissed have been allowed £80 yearly,
although their places were not so good as petitioners'. Pray that, upon
a new election of a Postmaster, petitioners may be admitted to their
several places again, or each of them receive a pension from the office
of the Postmaster."
Besides the constant stream of horse posts passing from London to Dover
in connection with the continental mail service, there was a service
by foot messenger between these two towns. At this period there was
a prohibition against the carrying of gold out of the country. In
_Moryson's Itinerary_, 1617, the following limitation is stated to
have been in force:--"In England the law forbids any traveller, upon
paine of confiscation, to carry more money about him out of the kingdom
than will serve for the expenses of his journey, namely, about twenty
pounds sterling." In 1635, the prohibition was still in force. On
the 29th June of that year, the foot post between London and Dover,
Edward Ranger, was examined as to the exporting of gold before Sir John
Bankes, the Attorney General. Ranger deposed "that within two years
last past he had carried from London to Dover gold and silver, to the
value of several thousand pounds in the whole, for Cæsar Dehaze, Edward
Buxton of Lime Street, Jacob Deleap, Roger Fletcher, Walter Eade,
and John Terry of Canning Street, Charles French of Wallbrook, Peter
Heme of Love Lane, Lucas Jacob of Botolph's Lane, and John Fowler of
Bucklersbury, and Isaac Bedloe, and had delivered the same, in various
sums, severally to John Parrott, Nathaniel Pringall, Mark Willes, John
Demarke, David Hempson, David Neppen, John Wallop, and Henry Booth, at
Dover; that he had after the rate of five shillings for every hundred
pounds he carried; and that he believes that the greatest part of the
gold was sent beyond the seas by such persons as he delivered the same
unto at Dover." This man Ranger was still foot post for Dover down to
1649; but in that year he was superseded in his place in consequence of
certain irregularities. In the Council of State's proceedings of the
17th December of that year, the Mayor and Jurats of Dover were to be
advised that the Council approved of another appointment being made,
"as it would not have been safe for the State to suffer him (Ranger) to
continue in that employment."
The king's posts at this period (1633) were not remarkable for their
great speed. On the 27th June, Secretary Coke and the king received
letters at Edinburgh which had taken five days in coming from
Greenwich. On 9th July, Sir Francis Windebank writes to Secretary
Coke, that "your several letters of the 2nd and 3rd of this present,
written from Lithco (Linlithgow) and Stirling, and sent by Davis, came
to my hands upon Sunday the 7th, late in the evening. I send these by
Davis again because of the slowness of the posts, some of your letters
being ten days upon the way, and never any packet yet dated at the
stages as they ought to be." A Captain Plumleigh, writing from Kinsale,
apparently to the Lord Deputy, complains that "your lordship's letters
unto me seldom come to my hands under fourteen days' time. I beg that
the despatch of this of mine may come on towards Kinsale day and night,
for otherwise we shall haply lose the opportunity of a fair wind," etc.
The condition of the roads in these times was an important factor in
causing the posts to travel slowly; and the through couriers, after
riding during the day, would necessarily rest during the night. The
following letter, dated 20th December 1633, from Sir Gervase Clifton
to Sir John Coke the younger, at Selston, Nottinghamshire, describes
a journey by road:--"I will be bold to trouble you with a discourse
of my perambulation. I came on Tuesday to Dunstable, somewhat, albeit
not much, within night. On Wednesday to Northampton, almost three
hours after daylight, yet with perpetual fear of overturning or losing
our way, which without guides hired, and lights holding in, I had
undoubtedly done. On Thursday to Leicester, a great deal later, and so
much more dangerously, as the way (you know) was worse at the end of
the journey. On Friday we were the most of all troubled with waters,
which so much covered the causeways, and almost bridges, over which we
were to pass, as made me nearer retiring than coming forward; which,
nevertheless, at length I ventured to do, and am (God be thanked), with
my wife, safely got to Clifton (near Loughborough), where I remain yet,
the worse of the two, by reason of a great cold I have taken." Even
a good many years later the roads were in a bad way. In 1678, Lady
Russell writes to her husband from Tunbridge Wells: "I do really think,
if I could have imagined the illness of the journey, it would have
discouraged me: it is not to be expressed how bad the way is from Seven
Oaks; but our horses did exceeding well; and Spence very diligent,
often off his horse to lay hold of the coach." Smiles, in his _Lives of
the Engineers_, gives an account of the great North road, the principal
thoroughfare into Scotland, from a tract published in 1675 by Thomas
Mace, one of the clerks of Trinity College, Cambridge:--
"The writer there addressed himself to the king, partly in prose and
partly in verse, complaining greatly of the 'wayes, which are so
grossly foul and bad,' and suggesting various remedies. He pointed out
that much ground 'is now spoiled and trampled down in all wide roads,
where coaches and carts take liberty to pick and chuse for their best
advantages; besides, such sprawling and straggling of coaches and carts
utterly confound the road in all wide places, so that it is not only
unpleasurable, but extreme perplexin and cumbersome both to themselves
and all horse travellers.'
"But Mace's principal complaint was of the innumerable controversies,
quarrellings, and disturbances, caused by the pack-horse men in their
struggles as to which convoy should pass along the cleaner parts of the
road. From what he states, it would seem that these disturbances, daily
committed by uncivil, refractory, and rude Russian-like rake-shames,
in contesting for the way, too often proved mortal, and certainly were
of very bad consequences to many. He recommended a quick and prompt
punishment in all such cases. 'No man,' said he, 'should be pestered
by giving the way (sometimes) to hundreds of pack-horses, panniers,
whifflers (_i.e._ paltry fellows), coaches, waggons, wains, carts,
or whatsoever others; which continually are very grievous to weary
and loaden travellers; but more especially near the city and upon a
market-day, when, a man having travelled a long and tedious journey,
his horse well-nigh spent, shall sometimes be compelled to cross out
of his way twenty times in one mile's riding, by the irregularity
and peevish crossness of such-like whifflers and market-women; yea,
although their panniers be clearly empty, they will stoutly contend
for the way with weary travellers, be they never so many, or almost
of what quality soever.' 'Nay,' said he further, 'I have often known
travellers, and myself very often, to have been necessitated to stand
stock-still behind a standing cart or waggon, on most beastly and
insufferable deep wet wayes, to the great endangering of our horses,
and neglect of important business; nor durst we adventure to stir
(for most imminent danger of those deep rutts and unreasonable ridges)
till it has pleased mister carter to jog on, which we have taken very
kindly.'"
These were the sort of roads the posts had to travel in the seventeenth
century; but fortunately the horses were suited to the conditions.
With respect to these, Moryson says, in his _Itinerary_ (1617), that:
"The horses are strong, and for journies indefatigable; for the
English, especially northern men, ride from daybreak to the evening
without drawing bit, neither sparing their horses nor themselves."
In considering the speed of the posts and the endeavours made to
accelerate them, it is well to bear in mind the condition of the
highways.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: This petition has already been referred to as establishing
the fact that before Witherings' inland posts, the postmasters on the
Western road had already established a weekly post for the public.]