the trial, which was shouted out to them as the coach passed."[68] Again, at the different stages in the history of the Reform Bill, the mail-roads were sprinkled over for miles with people who were on the _qui vive_ for any news from London, and the coachman and guards on the top of the coaches shouted out the tidings.[69] When the Ministry resigned, many of the guards distributed handbills which they had brought from London, stating the facts. In these days of cheap postage and newspapers in every household, it may be difficult to comprehend the intense interest centring in the appearance of the mail on its arrival at a small provincial town. The leather bag of the Post-Office was almost the undisputed and peculiar property of the upper ten thousand. When there was good reason to suppose that any communication was on its way to some member of the commonalty, speculation would be eager among the knot of persons met to talk over the probable event. Thus we may understand with what eagerness the mail would be looked for, and how the news, freely given out, especially in times of war, would be eagerly devoured by men of all ranks and parties. It only remains to notice, in conclusion, the annual procession of mail-coaches on the king's birthday, which contemporaries assure us was a gay and lively sight. One writer in the early part of the century goes so far as to say that the cavalcade of mail-coaches was "a far more agreeable and interesting sight to the eye _and the mind_ than the gaud and glitter of the Lord Mayor's show," because the former "made you reflect on the advantages derived to trade and commerce and social intercourse by this _magnificent establishment_" (the Post-Office). Hone, in his _Every-day Book_, writing of 1822, tells us that George IV., who was born on the 12th of August, changed the annual celebration of his birthday to St. George's-day, April 23d. "According to custom," says he, "the mail-coaches went in procession from Millbank to Lombard Street. About twelve o'clock, the horses belonging to the different mails with entire new harness, and the postmen and postboys on horseback arrayed in their new scarlet coats and jackets, proceed from Lombard Street to Millbank and there dine; from thence, the procession being re-arranged, begins to march about five o'clock in the afternoon, headed by the general post letter-carriers on horseback. The coaches follow them, filled with the wives and children, friends and relations, of the guards or coachmen; while the postboys sounding their bugles and cracking their whips bring up the rear. From the commencement of the procession, the bells of the different churches ring out merrily and continue their rejoicing peals till it arrives at the Post-Office again, from whence the mails depart for different parts of the kingdom." Great numbers assembled to witness the cavalcade as it passed through the principal streets of the metropolis. The appearance of the coachmen and