Part 11

By this act the General Post Master was impowered to appoint post houses in the several parts of the country hitherto unprovided, both in post and by-roads: the postage of letters to and from all places therein mentioned was not only ascertained, but likewise the rates of post horses to be paid by all such as should ride post.

At length, upon the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland, a General Post Office was established by act of parliament in the year 1710, not only for the united kingdom of Great Britain, but likewise for that of Ireland, and her Majesty’s plantations in North America and the West Indies.

The office of Post Master is at present under the direction of two Commissioners who have 2000_l._ _per annum_, and are assisted by a Secretary of 200_l._ a year, who has four Clerks, two of 60_l._ a year, one of 50_l._ and one of 30_l._

The other officers under the direction of the Post Master General are, a Receiver General, who has 300_l._ _per annum_, under whom are two clerks, who have 50_l._ a year each.

An Accomptant General who has 300_l._ _per annum_, and has a Deputy of 90_l._ a year, and three Clerks who have 50_l._ a year each.

A Comptroller of the inland office who has 200_l._ a year, and has a Deputy of 90_l._ a year. A Solicitor to the post office who has 200_l._ a year; a Resident Surveyor, who has 300_l._ a year; and two Inspectors of the mis-sent letters who have 100_l._ a year each.

Six Clerks of the roads, viz. Chester, 100_l._ _per annum_; Assistant, 60_l._ West, 60_l._ and Assistant, 60_l._ North, 60_l._ a year, and Assistant, 60_l._ Bristol, 60_l._ a year, and Assistant 60_l._ Yarmouth, 60_l._ a year, and Assistant, 60_l._ Kent, 60_l._ a year, and Assistant, 50_l._ Notwithstanding the smallness of these salaries; the perquisite of franking news papers, &c. into the country renders the profits of the Clerks of the roads very considerable.

A Court Post who has 2_l._ a day; and a deliverer of the letters to the House of Commons, who has 6_s._ 8_d._ a day.

There is also a Clerk of the by-nights, who has 60_l._ a year, and his Assistant, 60_l._ Ten sorters, seven of whom have 50_l._ a year, and three 40_l._ a year each, seven, supernumerary sorters, three at 30_l._ and four at 25_l._ each. A window man and alphabet keeper, who has 60_l._ a year; and several other officers and servants, among whom are sixty-seven letter carriers at 11_s._ a week.

In the foreign office is a Comptroller, who has 150_l._ a year; an alphabet keeper, who has 100_l._ _per annum_, a Secretary who has 50_l._ a year; and six Clerks, five of whom have 50_l._ a year each, and one 40_l._ a year.

Rates for carrying Letters by the Post, to any part of Great Britain and Ireland.

_Double letters to be paid twice as much as single, treble letters three times as much, and the ounce four times as much as single letters._

Every single letter not exceeding one sheet, to or from any place not exceeding eighty miles, 3_d._

Every single letter above eighty miles, 4_d._

Every single letter from London to Berwick, or from Berwick to London, 4_d._

Every single letter from Berwick to any place within forty miles distance, 3_d._

Carriage of every single letter a greater distance than one hundred and forty miles 6_d._

The port of every single letter to or from Edinburgh, and to and from Dumfries or Cockburnsperth, and between either of those places and Edinburgh, not coming from on ship-board, 6_d._

The port of every single letter from Edinburgh to or from any place within fifty miles distance in Scotland, 2_d._

The port of every single letter a farther distance, and not exceeding eighty miles within Scotland, 3_d._

The port of every single letter above eighty miles within Scotland, 4_d._

Between Donachaddee in Ireland and Port-Patrick in Scotland for port of letters and packets (over and above the inland rates) to be paid at the place where delivered; single letter, 2_d._

The carriage of every single letter from England to Dublin, in Ireland, or from Dublin into England, 6_d._

The carriage of every single letter from Dublin to any place within forty miles distance, or from any place within the like distance to Dublin, 2_d._

The carriage of every letter a farther distance than forty miles, 4_d._

And for the port of all and every the letters and packets directed or brought from on ship-board, over and above the said rates, 1_d._

The several rates for the carriage of Letters, Packets, and Parcels; to or from any parts or places beyond the seas, are as follow; viz.

_Double letters to be paid for twice as much as single, treble letters three times as much, the ounce four times as much as the single letters._

All letters and packets coming from any part of France to London. Single 10_d._

All letters or packets passing from London through France, to any part of Spain or Portugal (port paid to Bayonne) and from Spain and Portugal through France to London, 1_s._ 6_d._ single, double 3_s._

All letters and packets passing from London through France, to any part of Italy or Sicily by the way of Lyons, or to any part of Turky, by the way of Marseilles, and from any of those parts thro’ France to London. Single 1_s._ 3_d._

All letters and packets coming from any part of the Spanish Netherlands to London. Single 10_d._

All letters and packets passing from London through the Spanish Netherlands to any part of Italy or Sicily (port paid to Antwerp), and from any port of Italy or Sicily, through the Spanish Netherlands unto London. Single 1_s._

All letters and packets passing from London through the Spanish Netherlands to any part of Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and all parts of the North, and from any of those parts through the Spanish Netherlands unto London. Single 1_s._

All letters and packets passing from London through the Spanish Netherlands to any part of Spain or Portugal; and from any part of Spain or Portugal, through the Spanish Netherlands to London. Single 1_s._ 6_d._

All letters and packets passing from any part of the United Provinces to London. Single 10_d._

All letters and packets passing from London through the United Provinces, for any part of Italy or Sicily, and from any part of Italy or Sicily, through the United Provinces, to London. Single 1_s._

All letters and packets passing from London through the United Provinces, to any part of Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, and all parts of the North; and from any of those parts and places, through the United Provinces, to London. Single 1_s._

All letters and packets passing from London through the United Provinces, to any part of Spain or Portugal; and from any part of Spain or Portugal, through the United Provinces, to London. Single 1_s._ 6_d._

All letters and packets passing from London through the Spanish Netherlands or the United Provinces, to Hamburgh (port paid to Antwerp or Amsterdam) and from Hamburgh through the Spanish Netherlands, or the United Provinces, to London. Single 10_d._

All letters and packets passing between London, Spain, or Portugal, by packet boats. Single 1_s._ 6_d._

All letters and packets passing from London to Jamaica, Barbadoes, Antigua, Montserrat, Nevis, and St. Christopher’s, in America, and from any of those parts to London. Single 1_s._ 6_d._

All letters and packets from London to New York, in North America, and from thence to London. Single 1_s._

All letters and packets from any part of the West Indies, to New York aforesaid. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from New York to any place within sixty English miles thereof, and thence back to New York. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from New York to Perth Amboy, the chief town in East New Jersey, and to Bridlington, the chief town in West New Jersey, and from each of those places back to New York, and from New York to any place not exceeding one hundred English miles, and from each of those places to New York. Single 6_d._

All letters and packets from Perth Amboy and Bridlington, to any place not exceeding sixty English miles, and thence back again. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from Perth Amboy and Bridlington, to any place not exceeding one hundred English miles, and thence back again. Single 6_d._

All letters and packets from New York to New London, the chief town in Connecticut in New England, and to Philadelphia, the chief town in Pensilvania, and from those places back to New York. Single 9_d._

All letters and packets from New London and Philadelphia, to any place not exceeding sixty English miles, and thence back again. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from New York and Philadelphia, to any place not exceeding one hundred English miles, and so back again. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from New York aforesaid, to Newport the chief town in Rhode Island, and Providence Plantation in New England, and to Boston, the chief town in Massachusett’s bay, in New England aforesaid; and to Portsmouth, the chief town in New Hampshire, in New England aforesaid; and to Annapolis, the chief town in Maryland, and from every of those places to New York. Single 1_s._

All letters and packets from Newport, Boston, Portsmouth, and Annapolis aforesaid, to any place not exceeding sixty English miles, and thence back again. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from Newport, Boston, Portsmouth, and Annapolis aforesaid, to any place not exceeding one hundred English miles, and thence back again. Single 6_d._

All letters and packets from New York aforesaid, to the chief offices in Salem and Ipswich, and to the chief office in Piscataway, and to Williamsburgh, the chief office in Virginia, and from every of those places to New York. Single 1_s._ 3_d._

All letters and packets from the chief offices in Salem, Ipswich, and Piscataway, and Williamsburgh aforesaid, to any place not exceeding sixty English miles, and thence back again. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from the chief offices in Salem, Ipswich, Piscataway, and Williamsburgh aforesaid, not exceeding one hundred English miles, and thence back again. Single 6_d._

All letters and packets from New York aforesaid, to Charles Town, the chief town in North and South Carolina, and from Charles Town aforesaid to New York. Single 1_s._ 6_d._

All letters and packets from Charles Town aforesaid, to any place not exceeding sixty English miles, and thence back again. Single 4_d._

All letters and packets from Charles Town aforesaid, to any place not exceeding one hundred English miles, and thence back again. Single 6_d._

_Post letters may be sent from London every night to_

Abingdon Ampthill Ashburton Attleborough Bath Beccles Beconsfield Birmingham Bridgewater Bristol Bromsgrove Burntwood Bury St. Edmunds Cambridge Campden Canterbury Chatham Chelmsford Chertsey Chester Chipping Norton Cirencester Claremont Cobham Colchester Croydon Darking Dartford Deal Derby Dover Enfield Epsom Esher in Surry Evesham Exeter Faringdon Feversham Gerard’s Cross Gloucester Gravesend Grays Guildford Ham in Surry Hampton Court Hampton Town Hamwick in Surry Hanworth Harborough Hertford High Wickham Ingateston Ipswich Isleworth Kelvedon Kingston Kingston Wick Lalam Leatherhead Leicester Littleton Liverpool Loughborough Lowstoff Lynn Maidstone Manchester Middlewich Moulsey in Surry Namptwich Newmarket Newport Pagnell Northampton Northwich Norwich Nottingham Oxford Petersham Plymouth Portsmouth Prescot Queenborough Richmond Ripley Rochester Royston Rumford Sandwich Saxmundham Shepperton Shiffnal Shrewsbury Sittingbourn Southall Stafford Stoke in Norfolk Stone Sunbury Taunton Teddington Thame Thames Ditton Thanet Thetford Tiverton Twickenham Uxbridge Walsall Walton Warrington Wellington Wells Weybridge Windham in Norfolk Windsor Wingham in Kent Witham Witton Wolverhampton Woodburn Worcester Yarmouth Tunbridge bag every night from Midsummer to Michaelmas only

Bags for the following towns are dispatched Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; and the returns are delivered Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; Arundel, Brighthelmston, Chichester, East Grinstead, Godalmin, Haslemere, Lewes, Midhurst, Petworth, Ryegate, Steyning, Shoreham.

On Mondays.] To France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Flanders, Sweden, Denmark.

On Tuesdays.] To Holland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Scotland, and all parts of England and Wales.

N.B. One Tuesday the packet goes to Lisbon, and the next Tuesday to the Groyn, and so on.

On Thursdays.] To France, Spain, Italy, and all parts of England and Scotland.

On Fridays.] To Flanders, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Denmark, Holland.

On Saturdays.] To all parts of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.

Letters are returned from all parts of England and Scotland certainly, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and from Wales every Monday and Friday. But their coming from foreign parts is more uncertain on account of the seas.

POST OFFICE _court_, a small but neat court in Lombard street, in which is the post office.

POSTERN _passage_, Shoemaker row.

POSTERN, Bakers row.

POSTERN GATE, an ancient gate which stood at the east end of Postern row on Tower hill. It was erected soon after the Conquest in a beautiful manner with stones brought from Kent and Normandy, for the convenience of the neighbouring inhabitants, both within and without the walls; but in the second year of the reign of Richard I. William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, and Chancellor of England, having resolved to enlarge and strengthen the Tower of London with an additional fortification, he caused a part of the city wall, which extended about 300 feet from the Tower to this gate, to be taken down, in order to make way for a strong wall and a spacious ditch: by which means the postern being deprived of its support on that side, fell down in the year 1440. It was afterwards replaced by a mean building of timber, laths and loam, with a narrow passage; but this also decayed, and has been many years removed quite away; nothing remaining at present to preserve the name, but a few posts to guard a narrow foot way from the encroachments of horses and carriages.

A little to the south of the place where the gate stood, is a descent by several stone steps to an excellent spring, much admired, which is still called the Postern Spring.

POSTERN _row_, a row of houses on Tower hill, leading from the place where the postern gate formerly stood.

POTTERS _fields_, 1. Back lane, Southwark. 2. Pickleherring lane.

POTTLEPOT _alley_, St. Catharine’s by the Tower.*

POVERTY _lane_, Brook street.‖

POULTNEY _court_, Cambridge street.

POULTON’S _court_, near Broad street.†

POULTERERS, a company incorporated by letters patent granted by Henry VII. in the year 1504.

They have a Master, two Wardens, twenty-three Assistants, and a livery of an hundred and six members, who on their admission pay a fine of 20_l._ but they have no hall.

POULTRY, a street which extends from the Mansion house to Cheapside, and was so denominated from the Poulterers stalls which anciently extended along that street from Stocks market. _Maitland._ See SCALDING _alley_.

POULTRY COMPTER, one of the city prisons, so denominated from its use and situation: for this prison belonging to one of the Sheriffs, Maitland supposes, might possibly be named the Compter, from the prisoners being obliged to account for the cause of their commitment before their discharge: and the addition of Poultry is added from its situation in that street, to distinguish it from the Compter in Wood street.

For an account of the several officers belonging to the two Compters, see the article COMPTER.

POWDERED BEEF _court_, Cabbage lane.

POWELL’S _alley_, Chiswell street, Moorfields.†

POWELL’S _court_, Queen street.†

POWELL’S _yard_, Upper Ground street, Southwark.†

PRAT’S _wharf_, Millbank, Westminster Horseferry.†

PREBENDS _of St. Paul’s_. See the article CANONS.

PRECENTOR or CHANTER OF ST. PAUL’S, an officer who superintends the church music, and has a sub-chanter to officiate in his absence. To him belongs the second stall on the north side of the choir: he is perpetual Rector of the church of Stortford, proprietor of the same, and patron of the vicarage. _Newc. Repert._

PREROGATIVE COURT in Doctors Commons; this court is thus denominated from the prerogative of the Archbishop of Canterbury; who by a special privilege beyond those of his suffragans, can here try all disputes that happen to arise concerning the last wills of persons within his province, who have left goods to the value of 5_l._ and upwards, unless such things are settled by composition between the metropolitan and his suffragans; as in the diocese of London, where it is 10_l._

This court, which was formerly held in the consistory of St. Paul’s, is kept in Doctors Commons in the afternoon, the next day after the court of Arches. The Judge is attended by the Register and his Deputy, who sets down the decrees and acts of the court, and keeps the records.

PREROGATIVE OFFICE in Doctors Commons, an office belonging to the above court, in which copies of all wills deposited in the office are wrote in large folio volumes, and any person may have the privilege of searching a particular will for a shilling, and of having a copy of the whole, or of any part of it, for a moderate fee.

The places belonging to this court are in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

PRESBYTERIANS, a considerable body of Protestant dissenters; their religious sentiments are in general pretty far from Calvinism, they have now scarcely any resemblance to the church of Scotland; and every congregation in this city, is in a manner as independent of each other as the independents themselves. The meeting houses within the bills of mortality are as follows:

1. Bethnal green. 2. Broad street, Wapping. 3. Brook house, Clapton. 4. Church street, Hoxton. 5. Crosby square, Bishopsgate street. 6. Crown court, Russel street. 7. Founders hall, Lothbury. 8. Grafton street, Seven dials. 9. Gravel lane, Houndsditch. 10. Great St. Thomas Apostle’s. 11. Hanover street, Long Acre. 12. King John’s court, Bermondsey. 13. King’s Weigh-house, Little Eastcheap. 14. Leather lane, Holborn. 15. Little Carter lane. 16. Little Eastcheap, near Tower street. 17. Little St. Helen’s Bishopsgate street. 18. Long ditch, Westminster. 19. Maiden lane, Deadman’s place. 20. Middlesex court, Bartholomew close. 21. Mourning lane, Hackney. 22. New Broad street, London wall. 23. Near Nightingale lane. 24. Old Jewry, Poultry. 25. Parish street, Horselydown. 26. Poor Jewry lane, near Aldgate. 27. Queen street, near Cuckolds point. 28. Rampant lion yard, Nightingale lane. 29. Ryder’s court, near Leicester fields. 30. Salisbury street, Rotherhithe. 31. St. Thomas, Southwark. 32. Salters hall, Swithin’s lane. 33. Shakespear’s walk, Upper Shadwell. 34. Silver street, Wood street. 35. Spitalfields. 36. Swallow street, Piccadilly. 37. Windsor court, Monkwell street.

PRESCOT _court_, St. John’s street, Smithfield.†

PRESCOT _street_, Goodman’s fields.†

PRESTON’S _yard_, in the Minories.†

PRICE’S _alley_, 1. Brewer’s street. 2. Knave’s Acre, Wardour street.† 3. Queen street, in the Park, Southwark.†

PRICE’S _buildings_, Gravel lane.†

PRICE’S _court_, Gravel lane.†

PRICE’S _yard_, Long lane.†

PRIEST’S _alley_, 1. Foster lane, Cheapside.† 2. Tower hill.†

PRIEST’S _yard_, Dancing lane, Southwark.†

PRIMROSE _alley_, 1. Bishopsgate street. 2. Long alley, Moorfields. 3. St. Mary Overies dock, Southwark.

PRIMROSE HILL, a very pleasant hill between Kilburn and Hampstead; also called Green Berry Hill, from the names of the three assassins of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey, who brought him hither after they had murdered him at Somerset house.

PRIMROSE _row_, Primrose alley.

PRIMROSE _street_, Bishopsgate street.

PRINCE’S _court_. Several of these courts and streets received their name, as well as those of King street and Queen street, after the restoration, in honour of the return of the royal family. 1. Duke street, St. James’s. 2. Drury lane. 3. Gravel lane, Southwark. 4. Hedge lane, Charing Cross. 5. Long Ditch, Westminster. 6. Lothbury. 7. Newport market. 8. Old Gravel lane, Ratcliff highway. 9. Tower hill. 10. Wentworth street.

PRINCE’S _square_, Ratcliff highway, is a neat square, principally inhabited by the families of gentlemen who belong to the sea. Its chief ornament is the church and church yard belonging to the Swedes, surrounded with iron rails and well planted with trees. The front of the church is carried up flat with niches and ornaments, and on the summit is a pediment. The body is divided into a central part projecting forwarder than the rest, and two sides. The central part has two tall windows, terminated by a pediment, and in the midst of that is an oval window; but in the sides there is only a compartment below with a circular window above. The corners of the building are wrought in a bold, plain rustic. The tower rises square from the roof, and at the corners are placed urns with flames: from thence rises a turret in the lanthorn form with flaming urns at the corners: this turret is covered with a dome, from which rises a ball, supporting the fane, in the form of a rampant lion.

PRINCE’S _stairs_, Rotherhith.

PRINCE’S _street_, 1. St. Anne’s street, Soho. 2. Barbican. 3. Brick lane, Spitalfields. 4. Charles street, Old Gravel lane, Ratcliff. 5. Drury lane. 6. Duke street, St. James’s. 7. Duke street, Southwark. 8. Hanover square. 9. Little Queen street. 10. Oxford street. 11. Queen street. 12. Ratcliff Highway. 13. Red Lion square, Holborn. 14. Rotherhith Wall. 15. Sun Tavern fields, Shadwell. 16. The west end of Threadneedle street; first built by act of Parliament after the fire of London, in which it was called by this name before it was erected. 17. Upper Moorfields. 18. Whitcomb street, Hedge lane. 19. Wood street, Spitalfields.

PRINTING HOUSE _lane_, leading to the King’s printing house in Black friars.

PRINTING HOUSE _street_, Water lane.

PRINTING HOUSE _yard_, 1. Water lane. 2. By White’s alley, Coleman street; thus named from a large printing house there for woollens.

PRITCHARD’S _alley_, Fair street, Horselydown.†

PRIVY COUNCIL, held at the Cockpit. This great and honourable assembly meet in order to consult upon those measures that are most likely to contribute to the honour, defence, safety and benefit of his Majesty’s dominions.

The members of this body are chosen by the King, and are, or ought to be distinguished by their wisdom, courage, integrity, and political knowledge. A Privy Counsellor, though but a Gentleman, has precedence of all Knights, Baronets, and the younger sons of all Barons and Viscounts. They sit at the council board bareheaded, when his Majesty presides; at all debates the lowest delivers his opinion first; and the King last of all declares his judgment, and thereby determines the matter in debate.

PRIVY GARDEN, Whitehall, was formerly used as a private garden, though it extended almost to the Cockpit. The wall joined the arch still standing by the Cockpit, and ran on in a line to King street. _Plan of London drawn in Queen Elizabeth’s time._

PRIVY GARDEN _stairs_, Privy Garden.