Before trial it was impossible to tell which of the two kinds of stamps would be preferred: the one impressed upon the envelope and so forming a part of it, or the other, the handy little adhesive. Rowland Hill expected the former to be the favourite on account of its being already in place, and therefore less time-consuming. Moreover, as a man gifted with a delicate sense of touch, the tiny label which, when wet, is apt to adhere unpleasantly to the fingers, attracted him less than the cleanlier embossed stamp on the envelope; and perhaps he thought it not unlikely that other people would be of like mind. But from the first the public showed a preference for the adhesive; and to this day the more convenient cover with the embossed head has been far seldomer in demand. It is not impossible that if the present life of feverish hurry and high pressure continues, and even intensifies, the reformer's expectations as regards the choice of stamps may yet be realised. It may have been the expression of this merely “pious opinion” on his part which gave rise to some absurd fables—as, for instance, that he recommended the adhesive stamp “very hesitatingly,” and only at the eleventh hour; that he sought to restrict the public to the use of the impressed stamp because he preferred it himself; and rubbish of like sort. From the time that Rowland Hill first planned his reform till the day when his connection with the Post Office terminated, his aim ever was to make of that great Department a useful servant to the public; and all who knew what was his career there were well aware that when at length he had beaten down opposition, that object was attained. He was the last man likely to allow personal predilections or selfish or unworthy considerations of any kind to stand before the welfare of the service and of his country. [Illustration: _From a Photograph by Maull and Polyblank._ SIR ROWLAND HILL.] FOOTNOTES: [151] “Life,” i. 377. It is curious that neither in the article on the French Post Office in the “Encyclopædia Brittanica” nor in that in Larousse's “_Dictionnaire du XIXe Siècle_” is mention made of M. de Valayer or M. Piron. Whether the real worthies are excluded from the articles in order to make room for the fustian bound to creep in, it would be difficult to say. But, while perusing these writings, a saying of my brother's often returns to mind. “I have never,” he declared, “read any article upon the postal reform, friendly or the reverse, which was free from misstatements.” [152] No. 128, p. 555.