Notes and Queries, Number 75, April 5, 1851

In 1481, Edward IV., during his war with Scotland, established horse riders at posts twenty miles apart, by which letters were conveyed two hundred miles in two days (Gale's Hist. Croyland); and the Scottish Parliament issued an ordinance for facilitating the expedition of couriers throughout the kingdom. Carriers of letters also existed in England about this time, for in a letter from Sir J. Paston, written in 1471, we are informed that "Courby, the carrier, hath had 40d. for the third hired horse," for a journey from Norwich to London and back. (Fenn's Paston Letters, 4to. vol. v. p. 73.)

In 1542, letters reached Edinburgh on the fourth day from their despatch from London. (Sadler's Letters and Negociations.)

In 1548, the rate to be charged for post-horse hire was fixed by statute (2 & 3 Edw. VI. cap. 3.) at one penny per mile.

In 1581 (according to Camden), Thomas Randolph was appointed the first Chief Postmaster of all England.

James I. established (date unknown) the office of Foreign Postmaster, which was first held by Mathewe le Questor.

In 1631, Charles I. appointed William Frizell and Thomas Witherings (in reversion) to the sole management of the foreign post-office. And at this date it seems a regular home post was also carried on, as appears by the following entry from the Corporation Books of Great Yarmouth:—"1631. Agreed, June 6, with the Postmaster of Ipswich to have Quarterly 20s. paid him for carrying and bringing letters to and from London to Yarmouth for the vse of the Towne."

In 1635, Charles I. issued a proclamation for the establishment of "a running post or two, to run night and day between Edinburgh and Scotland and the City of London, to go thither and come back again in six days:" branch posts were also to be established with all the principal towns on the road: the rates of postage were fixed at 2d. under 80 miles; 4d. for 140 miles; 6d. beyond; and 8d. to Scotland. This is conclusive evidence that a regular post-office establishment existed nearly ten years before Prideaux had anything to do with the post-office.

In 1640, a proclamation was issued by the Long Parliament, by which the offices of Foreign and Inland Postmaster (then held by Witherings) were sequestrated into the hands of one Philip Burlamachy, a city merchant. Soon after this we find a Committee of the Commons, with "Master Edmund Prideaux" for chairman, inquiring into the matter.

In 1644, a resolution of the Commons declared that "Edmund Prideaux, Esq., a member of the House," was "constituted master of the posts, messengers, and couriers."

In 1649 Prideaux established a weekly conveyance to every part of the kingdom; and also appears to have introduced other judicious reforms and improvements,—indeed he seems to have been the Rowland Hill of those days; but he has not the slightest claim to be considered as the "Inventor of the Post-office." The mistake may have arisen from a misapprehension of the following statement frown Blackstone: "Prideaux first established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation, thereby saving to the public the charge of maintaining postmasters, to the amount of 7000l. per annum."

I have not been able to obtain any particulars of Prideaux's personal history.

Mercurii.

Jememutha Magna.

Edmund Prideaux and the First Post-office.—See the Appendix to the Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons on the Detaining and Opening of Letters at the Post-Office, 1844, which contains copies of numerous documents furnished by Mr. Lechmere and Sir Francis Palgrave.

Arun.

[We avail ourselves of this opportunity of inserting the following extract from Mr. Rowland Hill's Post-Office Reform; its Importance and Practicability, p. 86. of the third edition, published in 1837, as it shows clearly the use which Mr. Rowland Hill made of the story in his great work of Postage Reform; and that Miss Martineau had clearly no authority for fathering the story in question upon that gentleman:—

"Coleridge tells a story which shows how much the Post-office is open to fraud, in consequence of the option as to pre-payment which now exists. The story is as follows:—

'One day, when I had not a shilling which I could spare, I was passing by a cottage not far from Keswick, where a letter-carrier was demanding a shilling for a letter, which the woman of the house appeared unwilling to pay, and at last declined to take. I paid the postage, and when the man was out of sight, she told me that the letter was from her son, who took that means of letting her know that he was well; the letter was not to be paid for. It was then opened and found to be blank!'1

"This trick is so obvious a one that in all probability it is extensively practised."]

The quotations of your correspondent G. P. P., from Polwhele's Cornwall, relate to the same individual, and a more general construction must, I think, be put upon the expression "our countryman," than that it inferred a native of the county. The family of Prideaux was one of great antiquity, and originated in Cornwall (their first seat being at Prideaux Castle there), and had estates there in the time of the above Edmund. His father, Sir Edmund Prideaux, of Netherton (the first baronet), studied the law in the Inner Temple, where he became very eminent for his skill and learning. He is stated to have raised a large estate in the counties of Devon and Cornwall. He married * * *; secondly, Catherine, daughter of Piers Edgecombe, of Mount Edgecombe, Esq., by whom he had two sons, Sir Peter his successor, and Edmund, the subject of your correspondent's Queries, who is thus described in Prince's Worthies of Devon, p. 509.:—

"This gentleman was bred to the law, and of so great a reputation, as well for zeal to religion as skill in the law, it is not strange he was chosen a Member of that which was called the Long Parliament, wherein he became a very leading man; for, striking in with the prevailing party of those times (though he never joined with them in setting upon the life of his Sovereign), he grew up to great wealth and dignity. He was made Commissioner of the Great Seal [1643. Rushworth, vol. iii. p. 242.], worth 1500l. a-year and by ordinance of Parliament practised within the bar as one of the king's counsel, worth 5000l. per annum. After that he was Attorney General, worth what he pleased to make it [!!], and then Postmaster General … from all which rich employments he acquired a great estate, and among other things purchased the Abbey of Ford, lying in the Parish of Thorncombe, in Devonshire, where he built a noble new house out of the ruins of the old," &c.

Prideaux cannot be called the inventor of the Post-office, although to him may be attributed the extension of the system. The first inland letter office, which, however, extended to some of the principal roads only, was established by Charles I. in 1635, under the direction of Thomas Witherings, who was superseded in 1640. On the breaking out of the civil war, great confusion was occasioned in the conduct of the office, and about that time Prideaux's plan seems to have been conceived. He was chairman of a committee in 1642 for considering the rates upon inland letters; and afterwards (1644) appointed Postmaster, in the execution of which office he first established a weekly conveyance of letters into all parts of the nation. Prior to this, letters were sent by special messengers, or postmasters, whose duty it was to supply relays of horses at a certain mileage. (Blackstone, book i. c. 8. s. 3.)

I am unable to discover when Edmund Prideaux died; but it appears that either he, or one of his descendants, took part in the rising of the Duke of Monmouth in the West of England, upon which occasion the "great estate" was found of great service in providing a bribe for Lord Jeffreys. In the Life of Lord Jeffreys, annexed to the Western Martyrology; or, Bloody Assizes (5th ed. 266. London, 1705), it is said that "A western gentleman's purchase came to fifteen or sixteen hundred guineas, which my Lord Chancellor had." And Rapin, vol. ii. p. 270., upon the authority of Echard, iii. p. 775., states that in 1685 one Mr. Prideaux, of Ford Abbey, Somerset, gave Jeffreys 14000l. [probably misprint for 1400l.] "to save his life."

I think it likely that your correspondent may find further information upon the subject of this note, in the Life of Dr. Humphrey Prideaux, Dean of Norwich (born 1648, died 1724), published in 1748.

J. B. Colman.

Eye, March 18. 1851.

Polwhele was clearly wrong in designating Edmund Prideaux, the Attorney-General, a Cornishman, as he belonged to the family long seated in Devonshire, and was fourteenth in descent from Hickedon Prideaux, of Orcharton, in that county, second son of Nicholas, lord of Prideaux, in Cornwall, who died in 1169.

The four Queries of G. P. P. may be more or less fully answered by reference to Prince's Worthies of Devon, ed. 1810, p. 651.; and an excellent history of the Post-office in the Penny Magazine for 1834, p. 33.

Is it too much to ask of your correspondent, who writes from Putney under my initials, that he will be so good as to change his signature? I think that I have strong reasons for the request, but I will only urge that I was first in the field, under the designation which he has adopted.2

J. D. S.

LADY JANE OF WESTMORELAND

(Vol. i., p. 103.; Vol. ii., p. 485.)

Jane, Countess of Henry Neville, fifth Earl of Westmoreland, was daughter of Sir Roger Cholmley, of Kinthorpe and Roxby, co. York. (Vis. York. Harl. MS. 1487. fol. 354.) She is often confused with his other wife, Anne Manners, and also with her own sister, Margaret Gascoigne, both in the Neville and Cholmley pedigrees as printed. (Burke's Extinct Baronetage, art. Cholmley, and Extinct Peerage, art. Neville.) But while the Manners pedigree in Collins's Peerage (by Longmate, vol. i. p. 433.), as cited by Q. D., removes the former difficulty, that of Gascoigne is disposed of by the Cholmley pedigree in Harl. MS. above quoted, as well as by that (though otherwise very incorrect) in Charlton's Whitby, book iii. pp. 290, 291. 313., and by the Gascoigne pedigree in Whitaker's Richmondshire, vol. i. p. 77. Thus we possess legal and cotemporary evidence who Jane, Countess of Henry, fifth Earl of Westmoreland, really was, without any authentic obstacle or unremoveable contradiction to its reception, viz. that she was a Cholmley.

But I conceive your correspondent's identification is totally erroneous. It is true he only puts an hypothesis on the subject; but this hypothesis has no solid foundation. In the first place, Henry, fifth Earl of Westmoreland, died in 1549; and all authorities seem to agree that his first wife was Anne Manners, and his second Cholmley's daughter. Thus, if either of his countesses were living in 1585, it must have been the latter, by which means all chance of appropriation is removed from Manners to Cholmley. But I shall now give reasons for contending that neither of these ladies was your correspondent's Countess of Westmoreland, by referring him (2ndly) to Longmate's Collins's Peerage, vol. i. p. 96., where he will find that Jane, daughter of Henry Howard, the talented and accomplished Earl of Surry, married Charles Neville, sixth Earl of Westmoreland. He has evidently passed her over, through seeing her called Anne in the Neville pedigrees: "Anne" and "Jane" being often mutually misread in old writing, from the cross upon the initial letter of the last name.

I offer it to your correspondent's consideration, whether his "Jane, Countess of Westmoreland," was not wife of the said Charles Neville, sixth Earl of Westmoreland, who was attainted 18 Eliz. (1575-6). His date is evidently most favourable to this view. It is true the attainder stands in the way; but if even this affords an obstacle, the next candidate for appropriation would be Jane Cholmley. Assuming, however, that your correspondent allows this lady as a candidate for the appropriation, her pedigree corroborates the claim. I have found, by long and minute observation, that hereditary talent, &c. usually descends by the mesmeric tie of affection and favoritism, from fathers to the eldest daughter, and from mothers to the eldest son; and the pedigree of Jane, Countess of Charles, sixth Earl of Westmoreland, stands thus:—

Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham; great,good, and accomplished, and fell a victim to envy.=||1st Dau. Elizabeth, wife of Thomas Howard, thirdDuke of Norfolk.=||1st Son. Henry Howard, Earl of Surry, the poet;great, good, and accomplished, and fell a victim toenvy= as physical heir of his mat. grandfather.||1st Dau. Jane, wife of Charles Neville, sixth Earl ofWestmoreland (and qu. the authoress in question?).

Besides being eldest daughter of the celebrated poet, the said Jane, Countess of Westmoreland, was sister of Henry Howard, the learned Earl of Northampton, her father's younger son—(some younger son, like eldest daughters, generally inheriting, physically, in some prominent feature, from the father).

William D'Oyly Bayley.

Replies to Minor Queries

Ulm Manuscript (Vol. iii., pp. 60. 191.).—In addition to the information supplied by Mr. Foss, it may be mentioned that this manuscript is so called from having been referred to by Griesbach as the Codex Ulmensis apud Gerbert. This takes us to the Iter Alemannicum, Italicum et Gallicum of Martin Gerbert, published in 1765, at p. 192. of which work he informs us, that in the year 1760 this manuscript was preserved at Ulm in the library of the family of Krafft, which consisted of 6000 volumes, printed and manuscript. Of its history from this period till it came into Bishop Butler's hands, I am ignorant. Its reference at present in the British Museum is MSS. Add. 11,852.

μ.

Father Maximilian Hell (Vol. iii., p. 167.).—A querist is in conscience bound to be a respondent; I therefore hasten to tell you that Dr. Watt (Biblioth. Britan. iv. Magnetism, animal) should have written Hell instead of Hehl. It was that eminent astronomer, Maximilian Hell, who supposed that magnets affected the human frame, and, at first, approved of Mesmer's views. The latter was at Vienna in 1774; and perhaps got some parts of his theory from Father Hell, of whom he was afterwards jealous, and therefore very abusive. The life of Hell in Dr. Aikin's General Biography is an unsatisfactory compilation drawn up by Mr. W. Johnston, to whom we are indebted for the current barbarism so-called. In that account there is not one word on Hell's Treatise on Artificial Magnets, Vienna, 1763; in which the germ of animal magnetism may probably be found.

Engastrimythus.

Meaning of "strained" as used by Shakspeare (Vol. iii., p. 185.).—The context of the passage quoted by L. S. explains the sense in which Shakspeare used the word "strain'd:"

"Portia. Then must the Jew be merciful.Shylock. On what compulsion must I? tell me that.Portia. The quality of mercy is not strain'd," &c.

that is, there is nothing forced, nothing of compulsion in the quality of mercy.

Johnson gives: "To strain, to force, to constrain."

Q. D.

L. S. will find his difficulty solved by Johnson's Dictionary (a work to which he himself refers), if he compares the following quotation with Portia's reply to Shylock:—

"He talks and plays with Fatima, but his mirthIs forced and strained," &c.Egduf.

[We have also to thank, for replying to this Query, our correspondents R. F., R. T. G. H., P. K., J. H. Kershaw, C. M., Y., E. N. W., C. D. Lamont, and also Mr. Snow, who remarks that "actresses rarely commence this speech satisfactorily, or give, or seem to feel, the point of contrast between the must and no must, the compulsion and no compulsion. In fact, the whole of it is usually mouthed out, without much reference to Shylock or the play, as if it had been learned by rote from a school speech-book. Hazlitt says, in his Characters of Shakspeare's Plays, 'The speech about mercy is very well, but there are a thousand finer ones in Shakspeare.'"]

Headings of Chapters in English Bibles (Vol. iii., p. 141.).—The summaries of the contents of each chapter, as found in the authorised editions of our English Bible, were prefixed by Miles Smith, bishop of Gloucester, one of the original translators, who also wrote the preface, and, in conjunction with Bishop Bilson, finally reviewed the whole work. Your correspondent will find full answers to his other queries in Stackhouse and Tomlins; in Johnson's History of English Translations, &c.; and in T. H. Horne's Introduction.

Cowgill.

Miscellaneous

NOTES ON BOOKS, SALES, CATALOGUES, ETC

The author of The History of the Church of Rome to the end of the Episcopate of Damasus, A.D. 384, which has just been published by Messrs. Longman, well remarks, "that he is not aware that there is any account of the Church of Rome, framed on the simple and obvious principle of merely collecting and arranging the testimony of history with regard to facts, and so presented to the reader as that he should leave a right to believe that when he has read what is before him, he has learnt all that is to known. This is strange, considering the points at issue, and the extent, duration, and intensity of the controversies which have been carried on between that Church and the rest of Christendom." It is indeed strange, and it happens fortunately, looking at the all-important question which now agitates the public mind, that the subject should have engaged for some years the attention of a learned, acute, and laborious scholar like Mr. Shepherd, so that he is enabled to put forth the result of his inquiries upon this interesting topic at this moment. Mr. Shepherd's book is indeed a startling one: and when we tell our readers that he "has proved, or, to say the least, has given such indications as will lead to the proof that some documents which have been quoted as authorities in the History of the Early Christian Church, are neither genuine nor authentic;" that he has pretty well resolved St. Cyprian into a purely mythic personage; and shown that all the letters in his works passed between imagined or imaginary correspondents,—we think we are justified in pronouncing his History of the Church of Rome a work calculated to excite the deepest interest in all who peruse it (and by the omission of all long quotations in the learned languages, it is adapted for the perusal of all), to exercise great influence on the public mind, and to awaken a host of endeavours to combat and overthrow arguments which appear to us, however, to be irresistible.

The Council of the Shakspeare Society has just issued to the members the first volume for the present year. It contains Two Historical Plays on the Life and Reign of Queen Elizabeth, by Thomas Heywood, which are very ably edited, with an Introduction and Notes, by Mr. Collier; and we have no doubt will be very acceptable; first, from the interest of the plays themselves, the second of which appears to have been extremely popular; and, lastly, as a further instalment towards a complete collection of Heywood's dramatic works.

Messrs. Sotheby and Wilkinson will sell on Tuesday and Wednesday next a valuable portion of the Library of a gentleman, including the late Charles Mathews' copy of the Second Shakspeare; a valuable series of works on Annuities, &c.; and another on the History and Antiquities of London.

Books Received.—Supplement on the Doctrine and Discipline of the Greek Church. We characterised Mr. Appleyard's interesting little volume, entitled, The Greek Church, as historical rather than doctrinal. The title of this Supplement shows that it expressly supplies the very material in which the original work was deficient.—Archæologia Cambrensis, New Series, No. VI. A very good number of this record of the Antiquities of Wales and its Marches, and in which are commenced two series of papers of great interest to the Principality: one on the Architectural Antiquities of Monmouthshire, by Mr. Freeman; the other on the Poems of Taliessin, by Mr. Stephens.

Catalogues Received.—W. Brown's (46. High Holborn) Catalogue Part 52. of Valuable Second-hand Books, Ancient and Modern;—Cole's (15. Great Turnstile, Holborn) List No. 33. of very Cheap Books; B. Quaritch's (16. Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 27. of Antiquarian, Historical, Heraldic, Numismatic, and Topographical Books; Charles Skeet's (21. King William Street, Strand) List No. 2. of Miscellaneous Books just purchased.

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE

Wood's Athenæ, by Bliss. Vol. 3. 4to.

Dibdin's Typographical Antiquities. Vols. 2. and 4. 4to.

Nichols' Literary Anecdotes. Vol. 4. 8vo. 1812.

Mede's Works, by Worthington. 1664. Fol. Vol. 1.

Dodd's Catholic Church History. Vol. 2. Fol. edition.

Warburton's (Bishop) Works. 4to. edition. Vol. 1.

A Mirror for Mathematics, by Robert Tanner, Gent. London, 1587.

*** Letters stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. Bell, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.

Notices to Correspondents

We are reluctantly compelled, by want of room, to postpone until next week Mr. Singer's Paper on a passage in Shakspeare's Anthony and Cleopatra; one by Mr. Dawson Turner on the Authors of the Rolliad; and many other interesting communications.

Cromwell's Devlings with the Devil. S. H. H. is thanked for the curious MS. he has forwarded upon this subject, which shall appear next week, when the original shall be carefully returned. We should be glad to see the other paper referred to by S. H. H.

A. L. is thanked. The only reason for the non-appearance of any of his communications is, that they were not sent separately, and we have not had time to make a selection. We take this opportunity of again begging correspondents who write to us on several subjects to oblige us by writing on separate papers; and (which does not refer to A. L.) by writing plainly, more particularly proper names and quotations.

K. R. H. M. Received.

Nocab has our very best thanks for his kind letter, and his endeavours to increase our circulation. We are endeavouring to arrange for a permanent enlargement of our paper, and propose shortly to make use of Nocab's communication and valuable hint.

Sing's reminder, that Saturday last, the 29th of March, was "the centenary anniversary of the death of Captain Coram, the worthy founder of the Foundling," reached us too late for us to call attention to it.

Mr. A. J. Dunkin's communication on the subject of his proposed Monumenta Anglicana shall have our early attention.

Kerriensis is thanked for several interesting communications of which we propose to make an early use.

Will L. M. M. R. send his address? The book he wants has been reported to the publisher.

Replies Received.—Mathew's Med. Passage—San Grail—Nettle in. &c.—The Tanthony—Treatise by Engelbert—Circulation of the Blood—Sir A. Chadwick—Rowley Powley—Langholme Fair—Epitaph on a Turncoat—Gig Hill—Damasked Linen—Endeavour—Meaning of Strained—Rack—Daughter of James II.—Snail-eating—Munchausen's Travels—Mitre, &c.—Cloven Tongues—"Going the whole hog"—Expression in Milton—Haybands in Seals—King John at Lincoln—Handbell—Vineyards—Mazer Wood.

Vols. I. and II., each with very copious Index, may still be had, price 9s. 6d. each.

Notes and Queries may be procured, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsvenders. It is published at noon on Friday, so that our country Subscribers ought not to experience any difficulty in procuring it regularly. Many of the country Booksellers, &c. are, probably, not yet aware of this arrangement, which will enable them to receive Notes and Queries in their Saturday parcels.