Excerpt from Paston Letters, Vol. 1 of 2: Original Letters, Written During the Reigns of Henry Vi;, Edward IV., And Richard III. By Various Persons of Rank or Consequence; Containing Many Curious Anecdotes Relative to That Turbulent and Bloody, but Hitherto Dark, Period of Our History; And Elucid The limited means of communication must have operated much to the domestic dis comfort of the time. It appears to have been a matter of course that a man leaving his home, whether on business or pleasure, must leave his family behind him, and that even a settled occupation in the capital, where the individuals had estates, interests, and connexions in the country, as in the case of the Pastous, Jenney and others, could not overcome the difficulties and inconveniences arising from a want of facility of movement and intercourse. We learn that there were carriers, but we are not told how their journeyings were regulated, but probably not on fixed days, or to any one appointed place, but depending on their getting a remunerating load, and going rather to a district than any one place. There can be little doubt that they were also letter-carriers, as it would form a light and profitable addition to their business. It is curious to observe how the profit thus arising from the conveyance of matters at once im portant from their contents, yet of small bulk, should have ultimately led to the establishment of a post-office while at a more recent period, when the post-othee income formed a material item in the national revenue, it was found that the carrier still retained so large a part of this business, even in defiance of law, as to form a material part of the case justifying the re duction of the postage rate to so small a sum as a penny. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.