The !Loyal Mail to Irelad. By Edward AVetson. (E. Arnold.
10s. ed. not.)—The history of the Irish postal route from the earliest days to the present time is carefully narrated in this inform- ing volume, which incidentally deals with the beginnings of the Post Office under the Tudors and Stuarts. The Holyhead route was, it seems, used for despatches as early as 1570, and for the regular letter post established in 1635, when the rate for a letter from London to Dublin was sixpence. Travellers began to use the route under Charles H.; but the experiences of Clarendon. the Viceroy, in 1685-86 show that it was both difficult and dangerous, since there was no road on the coast beyond Conway, and the traveller had to walk or ride across the minds round Ponmaerunawr. For ordinary folk, as we see in Defoe's novels, Chester continued to bo the port for Reload. Holyhead only replaced Chester. when Jolla Sylvester's new road through North Wales was opened about 1772. The construction of the Menai Bridge was authorized in 1819, when the first steamers began to ply from Holyhead, and the railway was opened to Holyhead in 1848. Mr. Watson has much to any about the interminable disputes that have reged round the Dublin mail service.
Previous page
