The post office and its story : $b an interesting account of the activities of a great government departmentBennett, Edward
History
The post office and its story : $b an interesting account of the activities of a great government department
Bennett, Edward
Postal service -- Great Britain -- History
With a twee-we-we, twee-we-we think it no scorn,
Cits, soldiers, and courtiers give way to the horn.
The secrets we hand, of the fair and the great,
And join, spite of distance, each region and state,
All nations and quarters,
Dutch, Irish, and Tartars,
The bonny North Briton,
And more I can't hit on.
Of all our Queen's subjects none serve her so fast,
For still in her service we're all in post haste.
_Chorus_
With a twee-we-we, twee we-we, &c.”
In a little book entitled _A Picture of London in 1808_ I have found the
following delightful passage relating to the London Post Office: “It is
the most important spot on the surface of the globe. It receives
information from the Poles.” This is rather wide of the mark, seeing
that both Poles were then undiscovered. The next statement may have been
nearer the truth: “It distributes instructions to the Antipodes.” And we
seem to get out of our depth farther on: “It is in the highest degree
hitherto realised the seat of terrestrial perceptions and volition. It
is the brain of the whole earth.” But all this tall language was used
for a purpose. The object was to draw attention to a public scandal and
to bring before the notice of people the miserable accommodation which
the State provided for her wise and brainy servants. For the writer asks
us to look on the other side of the picture. “The building is hidden in
a narrow alley, misshapen even to deformity, and scarcely accessible to
the very mail coaches which collect there for their nightly freights.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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