Abdy, Sir Robert,38Abercorn, James, Earl of, his unreasonable complaint,153Absenteeism, in England,231;in Ireland,371Alien Office, assists the Post Office in procuring foreign newspapers,347Allen, Ralph, postmaster of Bath, takes in farm the bye and cross-post letters,147;conditions of his contract,147;success of his enterprise,148;is thwarted by the postmasters,149;his contract renewed,150;nature of his plan and his special qualifications for carrying it into effect,155;his local knowledge,157;his difficulties with the postmasters,157seq.;as a means of check lays down certain propositions,161;instances of imposition practised by postmasters,163;by post-boys,164;by carriers and others concerned in the illegal conveyance of letters,165;the liberality of his arrangements,166;his course of procedure contrasted with that of the postmasters-general,168;pays higher rent and increases the frequency of the post every seven years when his contract is renewed,169;his injunction about the use of expresses,182;his death,185;his character,186;is an object of jealousy to Palmer,230Alphabet,374;ingenious one in use at Belfast,375Althorp, John Charles, Viscount, urges on Post Office improvements,415;fixes the limits of the general post delivery,416;throws the packet service open to public competition,417;abolishes the newspaper privilege enjoyed by the clerks of the roads,418;contemplates apparently a reduction of postage,419America, posts set up in,110;first postmaster of New York,111;and of Virginia and Maryland,111;establishment of what was virtually a penny post between England and America,113;American posts become self-supporting,116;postmasters ejected from their offices,207Amsterdam, practice at, on arrival of the mails,174Anne, Queen, treatment of letters for, when in residence at Newmarket,98Antelopepacket, Captain Curtis, gallant action with privateer,321Apertures, introduction of, on the outside of post offices,180Argyll, John, Duke of,64Arlington, Henry Bennet, Earl of, appointed postmaster-general,34Armit, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland, displaced by Lees,221Ashburnham manuscripts,20Ashurst, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of letters,200Aston, Mr. Justice, his judgment touching the free delivery of letters,200Attorneys, their provisional resolution to withhold postage on writs,178;hold appointments in the Dublin Post Office,371Auckland, William Lord, postmaster-general, his pleasantries,333Auditors of the imprests,256noteAustria, liberties taken with post-horses by travellers in,5noteAylsham, Norfolk, post established to in 1733,167Baker, Sir George, physician to George the Third,252Bank of England notes, robbery of, from mail evokes important legal decision,183;origin of cutting bank notes when sent by post,206;contemplated reduction of postage on letters containing second halves of bank notes,298Bankers' franks, meaning of term,315noteBarbutt, John David, secretary to the Post Office,185Barclay, Captain, of Ury, high speed of his coach,426Barclay's plot, expresses sent on discovery of,63Barham, Edmund, packet agent at Dover, terms of his agreement with Walcot, secretary to the Post Office in Ireland,222Barlow, clerk in the secretary's office, modifies the practice of the Dead Letter Office,308Barnstaple, private post set up to Exeter in 1633,17Bath asserts its right to a free delivery,198;right admitted and letter-carrier appointed,202;slowness of post between Bath and London,208;amount of toll between the same towns,210;Post Office Establishment at Bath and amount of the postmaster's salary in 1792,292Beccaria, Bonesana, his essay on Crimes and Punishments,245Belfast, ingenious "alphabet" in use at,375;peculiar usage of delivery,375Belgrave Square, included in the limits of the general post delivery,416Bell, Colonel, comptroller of the Inland Office, particulars of charge against,185noteBells, letters collected by ringing of, introduction of system,121;and its termination,123note;bellmen in England and in Ireland paid on different principle,367(196,221,257)Bernard, Sir Robert,192Besant's patent coaches,282Bethnal Green, a second penny on penny post letters improperly charged at,203Bianconi, Charles, his enterprise,376Bigg, Stephen, his enterprise as a farmer of the posts,60Billingsley, Henry, a broker, carries letters of foreign merchants,13;and is consigned to prison,14Bills of exchange and of lading to and from foreign parts exempt from postage until 1801, exemption then withdrawn,331Birmingham, one of many towns in which a free delivery of letters had ceased,197;free delivery restored and letter-carrier appointed,202;salary of postmaster in 1792,293;penny post opened at,300Bishopp, Henry, farmer of the posts,33,34"Black-box"; the box in which the correspondence of the Secretary of State for Scotland was carried,53Blaithwaite, William, Secretary of War, remonstrated with on his abuse of the franking privilege,132Blome'sBritannia,35Bonnor, Charles, deputy comptroller-general of the Post Office, his conduct in the matter of the king's coach,252;delays replies to the postmaster-general's inquiries,264;practises deception,264;his base ingratitude,274;is suspended by Palmer,275;suspension removed by the postmasters-general,276;his treachery,278,279;receives the reward of infamy,280Boulton and Watt build the first steamboats used by the Post Office,384Bourne, Frederick, clerk in the foreign department of the Post Office; suggests the establishment of a Ship Letter Office,328Bournemouth, mode of receiving its letters in 1854,293noteBowen, passenger by packet; brings news of the victory at Oudenarde,105Boyle, Henry, Secretary of State, charges the packet agent at Harwich with receiving a bribe,89Bracken, Henry, author ofThe Gentleman's Pocket Farrier, his device to obtain exemption from postage,161Braithwaite, Daniel, clerk to the postmasters-general, his honesty of purpose,244Brighton, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792,293Brill, The,73,83,88Bristol, course of post between Bristol and Exeter in 1660,29;and in 1696,57;salary of the postmaster of, in 1690,50;and in 1792,293;first mail-coach starts from Bristol,213;penny post opened there,300;revision of postmaster's salary in 1686, Appendix,noteBrown, sub-agent of packets at Ostend, his clandestine letter,106Brunel, Sir Marc Isambard, offers to construct a steam engine for the Post Office packets,408Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, letter endorsed by, in 1627,20Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, son of the preceding, tedious course of letter addressed to, in 1666,34.Buckingham, George Grenville Nugent Temple, Marquis of, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, deprecates reduction of packet establishment at Holyhead,248Burlamachi, Philip, is appointed Master of the Posts,21;his title contested,21;is consigned to prison,22Bye-letters, probable meaning of the term in Queen Elizabeth's reign,4;its certain meaning in 1690 and after,52,147;postage upon bye-letters intercepted,52,53,134note;Bye-Letter Office,308Bye-nights,46Byng, Sir George,102,104Cadogan, Brigadier-General, packet detained for,87Camden, John Jeffreys, Earl, promotes Palmer's plan,212;gives to Pitt Palmer's version of his differences with the postmasters-general,274Candles, inordinate supply of, to Post Office servants,231Canning, George, charges the Post Office with forestalling his intelligence,347Carlisle, salary of postmaster of, in 1792,293Carriers allowed to carry letters under restrictions,19;restrictions more clearly defined,129Carteret, Edward, postmaster-general from 1721 to 1739.SeePostmasters-General, Part IV.Carteret, Henry Frederick, Lord, postmaster-general from January 1771 to September 1789.SeePostmasters-General, Parts V. and VI.Carts, first employment of, in London for bringing letters to the General Post Office,316Castello, a prisoner on board packet,88Chalmers, George, his suggestions,256;excites Palmer's jealousy,259Channel Islands without an official post in 1792,294;official post provided,312;rates of postage,314Charing Cross, opening of branch office at,411Charlemont, Lord, his misunderstanding as to packet charges,86Charles, Archduke,78,86Chelsea pensioners, their privilege of sending and receiving letters at low rates of postage withdrawn,404Chenal, captain of packet, rebuked by the postmasters-general,94noteChepstow, the inhabitants of, though under no obligation, continue to pay pence on the delivery of their letters,293Chester, in 1720 the only town outside London with two Post Offices,151;salary of postmaster in 1792,293Chesterfield, Philip, Earl of, postmaster-general from March 1790 to March 1798.SeePostmasters-General, Part VII.Chichester, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from May 1807 to July 1826.SeePostmasters-General, Part VIII.Christmas boxes, intercepted,232Clancarty, Richard, Earl of, postmaster-general of Ireland from 1807 to 1809; and of England from September 1814 to April 1816. [This latter appointment he did not take up.] His decision of character, instance of,368;advocates facilities of communication between England and Ireland,389Clarendon, Thomas, Earl of, postmaster-general from September to December 1786,229,242Clerks of the roads, their duties,47;their salaries,49;are allowed to frank newspapers,49;their franking privilege invaded,191;mischief resulting from a reduction of their emoluments,193;their financial troubles,206,250;extent of their newspaper business after newspapers become exempt from postage,407Clermont, William Henry, Earl of, deputy postmaster-general of Ireland,194Clies, Francis, captain of packet, his audacious smuggling,90;his attention to religious observances,90;strikes his colours,94Coals supplied to Post Office servants in profligate profusion,231Cobbett, William, inveighs against the early or preferential delivery,342;and against the treatment of foreign newspapers,343Coke, Sir John, his indignant protest against the claim of the foreign merchants to have a post of their own,12Colours, special colours assigned to the Post Office boat employed in the Pool,74;the colours of the packets altered at the Union with Scotland,117Comer, postmaster of Tunbridge Wells in 1725,153Common Council of London, The, sets up a post of their own to Scotland,24Compensation for losses by the penny post,38;when ceased to be given,188Conspiracies against the State, to check these the original object of the Post Office monopoly,7;danger chiefly apprehended from the Continent,9;Coke's opinion on the subject,13;the same opinion expressed in the Act of 1657,28Constables, the duty of, in certain cases, to seize horses for the service of the posts,3,6Convention posts, establishment of,332;their failure and the reason,350;are gradually absorbed,352Conway Bridge, additional rate of postage on letters passing over,395Conyngham, Francis Nathaniel, Marquess of, postmaster-general from July 1834 to January 1835, and again from May 8 to May 30, 1835,427noteCornwall, its posts improved in 1704,62Cornwallis, Charles, Lord, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721.SeePostmasters-General, Part III.Cotton, Sir Robert, postmaster-general from 1690 to 1708.SeePostmasters-General, Part I.Counsel in Post Office cases required to give receipts for their fees,324Country letter, meaning of term,147Couriernewspaper, sum paid by the, for early intelligence from the Post Office,345Couriers originally employed to carry letters on affairs of State,2Court, The, at one time the centre of all the posts,3;a trace of the old state of things to be found in an existing statute,99Court letters, definition of, in 1706,83note;mails detained for the Court letters,211;these letters, unlike others, delivered the moment they arrived,347Court-post, his duties,99;duties performed by deputy,231Coventry, Sir Thomas, Attorney-General, afterwards Lord Keeper, holds De Quester's appointment to be valid,11;cajoles Stanhope into surrendering his patent,23Craggs, James, postmaster-general from 1715 to 1721.SeePostmasters-General, Part III.Crichton, Doctor, refuses to pay his fare by packet,86Cromwell, Thomas, Brian Tuke's letter to, on the paucity of the posts,1Crosby, Brass,192Cross-posts, first post of the kind set up,57;cross-post letters, definition of the term,147Croydon, postmistress of, Auckland's pleasantry on her marriage for the third time,334Culverden, captain of packet boat, engages in smuggling,89Culvert, member of Parliament, expostulated with as to the irregular use of his frank,141noteCurtis, Alderman,274,275Customs, Commissioners of, lodge a complaint against the captain of theExpeditionpacket,90;represent that smuggling is carried on by packet from Ostend,103;take proceedings against some of the Harwich packets,237;are charged by the postmasters-general with unhandsome conduct,238;seize the Dover mail-coach,271Dacre, Lord, superscription on Protector Somerset's letter addressed to,20Dartmouth, William, Lord, his attention called to the late arrival at the Post Office of the Court letters,211Dashwood, Francis, postmaster-general of Jamaica, exaction from, as a condition of his appointment,226Davy, Mrs., her account of the condition of Penzance before 1784,291Day, John, sent from London in 1733 to establish a post at Aylsham in Norfolk, his instructions,167Dead letters, treatment of, a source of perplexity to Allen,158;irregular payments claimed under cover of,236;Dead Letter Office,307;returned letters charged with postage,360Decypherer, the chief,171De Joncourt, express clerk,373Delivery, claim made by several towns to have their letters delivered free resisted by the Post Office and question tried at law,197;claim allowed by the Courts,200;decision carried out grudgingly,203;hour of delivery of foreign letters in 1790,267;early, that is preferential, delivery,342;hour of delivery in St. James's Square between 1820 and 1830,409;in the country, limits of free delivery not defined,410;morning delivery in London accelerated,411;limits of general post delivery fixed at three miles,417;recommendation of Royal Commission to abolish early or preferential delivery not carried out,423Delivery penny, meaning of term,69Denmark, Frederick the Second, King of, his letter of complaint to Queen Elizabeth,8noteDe Quester, Matthew, appointed postmaster for foreign parts out of the King's dominions,10;his appointment offends Lord Stanhope,10;is superseded by the Privy Council,12;is restored at the instance of Sir John Coke,13;assigns his patent,14Derby, salary of the postmaster of, in 1792,293Dereham, Sir Thomas, Court-post, his duties,99Derrick, Samuel, Master of the Ceremonies at Bath, his account of Ralph Allen,186noteDespatch of mails, hour of, in 1690,47;and until 1784,211;indignation caused by the change then made,220Devonshire, William, Duke of, course of post between Chesterfield and Manchester altered in 1736 at the instance of,166Directories,195,309Distances, inaccuracy of, as computed by the Post Office,175Dockwra, William, establishes a penny post in London,36;his right contested and case decided against him,40;is granted a pension and, on the penny post being absorbed into the Post Office, is appointed comptroller,41;is dismissed,41;provision made by, for the care of general post letters,68;contrast between Dockwra and Povey,122Donlevy, William,368Double letter, definition of,139Dover, a packet station,73;packets to Flanders provided by the packet agent,103;engage in smuggling,103;and bring news clandestinely,106;the Dover mail-coach seized by the Customs,271Drink and feast money,50,232Dublin, Post Office establishment at, in 1690,53;penny post proposed at, in 1703,69;and opened in 1773,196;the clerks at the castle surrender their franking privilege,194;the roof of the Dublin Post Office falls in,207;office in Dublin styled British Mail Office, account of,367;abuses,370Dummer, Edmund, Surveyor of the Navy, builds packets for the Harwich station,75;also for the West India service,78;undertakes this service himself,79;his miscalculations,79;ill-fortune attends him,81;his bankruptcy and death,109Early,i.e.preferential, delivery,342,423Eastbourne, mode of receiving its letters in 1792,293East India Company, send to the Post Office letters received at the India House,311;object to the provisions of the Ship Letter Act,361;procure its alteration,362;their generosity,363;unhandsome return contemplated by the Post Office,364East Indies, rates of postage to the, in 1815,362Edinburgh, post to, set up by the city of London,24;Post Office establishment at, in 1707,117;horse-post between Edinburgh and Glasgow refused by the Treasury,136;course of post between London and Edinburgh accelerated in 1758,180;and increased in frequency in 1765,195;Edinburgh Post Office falls into decay,207;penny post established at,300Eldon, John, Lord, reluctantly assents to the giving of repressive powers,335Elections, Parliamentary, Post Office servants prohibited from intermeddling in,128;and from voting at,206Ellenborough, Edward, Lord,335Evelyn, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1708 to 1715.SeePostmasters-General, Part II.Exeter, private post set up between, and Barnstaple in 1633,17;course of post between Exeter and Bristol in 1660,29;in 1696,57;salary of postmaster in 1792,293Expresses,63,83;when to be sent from Dover,107;employment of, becomes more general about the middle of the eighteenth century,182;is jealously restricted,182;their number reduced on the establishment of mail-coaches,214;fees on expresses,233;express sent daily to and from Ireland after the Union,387Express clerks,371Express office, Haymarket,408Eyles, Sir John, postmaster-general from 1739 to 1744,238Falmouth, packet station opened at, in 1689,75;closed and reopened,77;packet regulations,82;systematic smuggling,89,238;packet agent also victualler,95Fares, by packet to Holland before and after 1689,76;by steam packet and by sailing packet, comparative statement,385Farmers of the Post Office, their popularity and the reason of it,59;are ruined by increase of postage and converted into managers,136;as managers prove useless,138Farra, John, is supplied with a special travelling order,131noteFaversham, marriage of the postmistress,334Fees, exacted from postmasters,232;received by the chief sorter on the occasion of royal birthdays,233;on expresses,233;on the registration of foreign letters,233Ferrers, Countess,182Fielding, Henry, his tribute to Ralph Allen,186"Fifth-clause" posts,350-352Firearms, worthless quality of those originally supplied to mail guards,261Fire of London, intelligence of, takes five days to reach Worthing,34