write thus:--"They think that the institution of posts was, in the first place, to facilitate commerce by the conveyance of letters with the quickest possible despatch from one end of the kingdom to the other, and, in the next place, to raise a revenue for Government; and they cannot conceive that either of those ends will be promoted by the letters of two-thirds of the kingdom of Scotland lying dormant for many hours at Edinburgh." In another of the petitions from the people of Aberdeen, they strangely introduce their loyalty as a lever in pressing their claims:--"Were we of this city," say they, "to lay claim to any peculiar merit, it might perhaps be that of a sincere attachment to order and good government, which places us, in this respect at least, equal to the most dignified city in Britain." From a Post-office point of view, the memorialists appeared to be under some mistake as to the gain to be derived from the change desired, for there was something connected with the return mails which did not fall in with the plan, and the surveyor made some opposition to it. In one of his reports he makes this curious observation:--"I am persuaded that some of them, as now appears to be the case, may be very well pleased to get free from the obligation of answering their letters in course--and particularly in money matters"! One or two instances of the cross-post service of former times, in England itself, which might be supposed to be more fortunate than its Scottish neighbour, will repay consideration. Thus we find it duly recorded in official reports, that in 1792 there was no direct post between Thrapston and Wellingborough, though the distance separating them was only nine miles. Letters could circulate between these towns by way of Stilton, Newark, Nottingham, and Northampton, performing a circuit of 148 miles, or they could be sent by way of London, 74 miles up and 68-1/2 down, in which latter case they reached their destination one day sooner than by the former round-about route.