The "post"
was a stout countryman, with a red coat, tall jackboots and a huge hat.
He rode a strong horse, which carried, _en croupe_, an immense pack,
covered with oiled canvas, rising high enough to support his back,
while he blew a long horn to announce his arrival.
Letters were rare and very expensive articles unless franked by a
Member of Parliament, but gazettes and newsletters formed a large
portion of his freight. No private gentleman except the Dean and Sir
George Herries went to the extravagance of taking in a newspaper on
his own account, but there was a club who subscribed for the _Daily
Gazetteer_, the _Tatler_, and one or two other infant forms of
periodical literature. These were hastily skimmed on their first
arrival at the club-room at the White Dragon, lay on the table to be
more deliberately conned for a week, and finally were divided among
the members to be handed about among the families and dependants as
long as they would hold together.
Major Delavie never willingly missed the coming of the mail, for his
foreign experiences gave him keen interest in the war between France
and Austria, and he watched the campaigns of his beloved Prince Eugene
with untiring enthusiasm, being, moreover, in the flattering position
of general interpreter and guide to his neighbours through the scanty
articles on foreign intelligence.
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