Before the sixteenth century, postal communications were carried on by royal messengers. These messengers either received stated wages or were paid according to the length of the journeys they made. We find them mentioned as early as the reign of King John under the name of _nuncii_ or _cursores_; and payments to them form a large item in the Household and Wardrobe accounts of the King as early as these accounts exist.[1] They travelled the whole of the journey themselves and delivered their letters personally to the people to whom they were directed. A somewhat different style of postal service, a precursor of the modern method, was inaugurated by the fourth Edward. During the war with Scotland he found himself in need of a speedier and better system of communication between the seat of war and the seat of government. He accomplished this by placing horses at intervals of twenty miles along the great road between England and Scotland. By so doing his messengers were able to take up fresh horses along the way and his despatches were carried at the rate of a hundred miles a day.[2] [1] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 21. [2] _Notes and Queries_, 1st series, iii, p. 266. From an early period private letters were conveyed by carriers and travellers both within the kingdom and between it and the Continent. The Paston letters,[3] containing the correspondence of the different members of the Paston family, throw some light upon the manner in which letters were conveyed during the latter half of the fifteenth century. Judging from such references as we find in the letters themselves, they were generally carried by a servant,[4] a messenger,[5] or a friend.[6] The later letters of this series, written towards the close of the fifteenth century, show that regular messengers and carriers, who carried letters and parcels, travelled between London and Norwich and other parts of Norfolk.[7] From the fourteenth century down, we have instances of writs being issued to mayors, sheriffs, and bailiffs for the apprehension and examination of travellers, who were suspected of conveying treasonable correspondence between England and the Continent.[8] For the most part these letters were carried by servants, messengers, and merchants.[9] [3] These letters were sent principally between London and different places in Norfolk. [4] _The Paston Letters_, ed. J. Gairdner, 1872, nos. 34, 305, 435, 609, 624, 663, 905. [5] _Ibid._, nos. 540, 688, 723, 727. [6] _Ibid._, nos. 656, 905. [7] _Ibid._, nos. 688, 723, 745. [8] _Rep. Com._, 1844, xiv, app., p. 96 (68). [9] _Cely Papers_, ed. H. E. Malden, 1900, nos. 41, 72, 123, 124, 129, 132.