This expedient must have been adopted from the difficulty in discovering the number of enclosures when there were more than two. It is impossible to say how long these rates continued, probably not later than Witherings' régime. During Prideaux' management the maximum postage on a single letter was 6_d._, reduced later to 3_d._[568] [566] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 57 (36). [567] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 58 (37). [568] Joyce, p. 29. The Council of State gave orders in 1652 for the imposition of the following rates for a single letter:-- _d._ Within 100 miles from London 2 To remoter parts of England and Wales 3 To Scotland 4 To Ireland 6[569] Whether these rates were actually collected is questionable. The postage which the farmers of the Posts were allowed to collect in the following year was fixed by the Council of State for single letters as follows:-- _d._ Under 80 miles from London 2 Above 80 miles from London 3 To Scotland 4 To Ireland 6 These rates are in effect lower than those of Witherings, for he had inserted a 3_d._ rate for letters delivered between 80 and 140 miles from London, had charged 4_d._ for all letters going farther than 140 miles, and had charged 8_d._ and 9_d._ for letters to Scotland and Ireland respectively. They were a little higher than those of 1652, for by them 2_d._ had carried a letter 100 miles.[570] [569] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1651-52, p. 507. [570] _Cal. S. P. D._, 1652-53, p. 449. In 1657, the first act of Parliament was passed, fixing rates for letters and establishing the system for England, Ireland, and Scotland. The domestic rates were:-- _For a_ _Double_ _Per_ _single letter_ _letter_ _ounce_ {Within 80 miles from London 2_d._. 4_d._ 8_d._ In England {Above 80 miles from London 3 6 12 To or from Scotland 4 8 18 To or from Ireland 6 12 24 In Ireland {Within 40 miles from Dublin 2 4 8 {Above 40 miles from Dublin 4 8 12 The foreign rates were:--