AN HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE POST OFFICE IN SCOTLAND, COMPILED FROM AUTHENTIC RECORDS AND DOCUMENTS. BY T. B. LANG, ESQ. CONTROLLER, SORTING DEPARTMENT, GENERAL POST OFFICE, EDINBURGH. FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY W. H. LIZARS, ST. JAMES' SQUARE. 1856. NOTE. _This Historical Summary, compiled by_ MR. LANG, _was originally contained in a Letter addressed to the Secretary to the General Post Office in Scotland, with a view to its being included in the Annual Report of the Postmaster-General, presented to both Houses of Parliament at the commencement of the present Session, but it not being considered necessary to include the whole Summary in the Report, Extracts only were published in the Appendix. The whole Summary is therefore now printed, with his Grace's sanction, for private distribution._ AN HISTORICAL SUMMARY OF THE POST OFFICE IN SCOTLAND. The earliest records that can be found relating to the conveyance of Despatches or Letters in Scotland, do not date earlier than the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In these early records, special messengers for the conveyance of the King's Despatches and Correspondence are called "_Nuncii_" or "_Cursores_;" but the information as to their mode of travelling, and regulations for their guidance, is imperfect and limited. Messengers of this description were also employed to convey despatches from foreign countries, for which they received gratuities on their arrival at the Scottish Court. About the year 1500, the name of Post is found to apply to messengers travelling with the utmost rapidity then attainable in charge of despatches.[1] On the 1st of April 1515, the English envoy in Scotland wrote from Stirling to Henry VIII. of England--"This Friday, when I came home to dyner, I received your most honorable letters by Post, dated at your mansion, Greenwich, 26th March."[2] These letters, which appear to have occupied five or six days in transit from Greenwich to Stirling, must have been conveyed by one of these special Court Messengers. It was not long after this period that the municipal corporations and private persons of consequence also introduced messengers of this description. For example, in 1590, a Post was established by the Magistrates of Aberdeen for carrying their despatches to and from Edinburgh and other places of royal residence. They appointed a person for conducting these despatches, under the name of the Council Post, who was dressed in a garment of blue cloth, with the town's armorial bearings in silver upon the right sleeve.[3] In 1635 a public Post was first established in Britain, under Government authority by Charles I.[4] Its main object was to establish regular and certain communication between London and Edinburgh. The journey was limited to three days, and the rate of Postage for a single letter was fixed at 6d. sterling. Mails were despatched between these two cities usually twice a week, sometimes only once.