On its first
coming into general use, the clergy had cried out against it as
ministering to the vanity and extravagance of the age; but in a
while many of them adopted its use, for, as Granger remarks, "it
was observed that a periwig procured many persons a respect and
even veneration which they mere strangers to before, and to which
they had not the least claim from their personal merit."
Amongst other strange innovations and various improvements known
in this reign, the introduction of a penny post may be considered
the most useful. King James I., of happy memory, had, in
imitation of like regulations in other countries, established a
general post for foreign parts; King Charles I. had given orders
to Thomas Witherings, Esquire, his postmaster-general, to settle
"a running post or two, to run night and day between Edinburgh,
in Scotland, and the city of London, to go thither and back in
six days;" but the organization of a penny post, for the
conveyance of letters and parcels throughout the capital and
suburbs, was reserved for the reign of the merry monarch. This
beneficial scheme was originated by an upholsterer named Murray,
who communicated it to one William Dockwra, a man who for over
ten years had laboured with fidelity in the Custom House.
Uniting their efforts, they, with great labour and vast expense,
carried the plan into execution in the year 1680,
The principal office was stationed at the residence of William
Dockwra, in Lime Street; seven sorting-houses and as many as four
hundred receiving-houses were speedily established in the cities
of London, Westminster, and the suburbs; and a great number of
clerks and messengers were employed to collect, enter, and
deliver parcels and letters not exceeding one pound in weight nor
ten pounds in value.
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