of the people on that line of road. He was the forerunner of a long line of able, zealous, and accomplished men, whose lives have been spent in, and have adorned, the Post Office for two centuries and a half, whose work has been swallowed up in the ever-advancing tide of improvement, and whose names, when their work was done, have disappeared from view and have hardly left an echo behind. CHAPTER VII Two days after Witherings' death, namely, on the 30th September 1651, by Order of Parliament, a previous Order of 21st March 1650, touching the office of Postmaster, inland and foreign, was revived, and the Council of State were directed to report their opinion thereon forthwith. On the 4th October, the Committee for the Posts pass an order, "that the Committee sit in the Inner Horse Chamber on Thursday, at 2 P.M., to receive the claims of all persons pretending any interest in the Foreign or Inland Letter Office, as also the propositions of any person about the improvement and management thereof." This invitation to claimants to come forward opened a very large door, as will be seen presently. It had all along been insisted upon by Witherings that, as his patent for the office of Foreign Postmaster stood in favour of two lives,--his own and that of William Frizell,--the possession of the office was in his right (having many years before bought out Frizell), and must remain of his right so long as either of the two lived. Now, by a provision in Witherings' will, he left £300 a year to Sir David Watkins to execute the office after his death, and to maintain and educate his son Thomas until he should be of sufficient age to take his father's place. Witherings' son died about 1652, and, as a matter of fact, Sir David Watkins carried on the office of Foreign Postmaster, in favour of Witherings' son, and afterwards of his nephew, who became heir, until the 30th June 1653, when a change was made in the whole postal arrangements, both Inland and Foreign.