HE
6187
S7729
NPM
THE
VOL. II.
LONDON :
E. MARLBOROUGH & CO., AYE MARIA LAKE.
BATH :
STAFFORD SMITH & SMITH, THE FOREIGN STAMP AND CREST DEPOT.
MDCCCLXIT.
38*, 4X
, S 7 9
(CPii'i /.*)
INZnEX TO YOL. II.
*** Where only name of country is given , its stamps are intended to be indicated.
Abuses of the Letter Franking system, 73 Accumulation, Extraordinary, of Postage Stamps, 36 Addenda to Mount Brown’s Catalogue, 87, 99, 119, 138, 151, 167
Albany Bazaar Post-office Stamp, 185 Answers to Correspondents, 16, 32. 47, 63, 79, 96, 111, 128, 144, 160, 176, 192 ’ * ’ ’ ’
Argentine, 72, 180; forged, 101; new series, 137 Australian Stamps, Notes on the, 134 Austria, complementary stamp, 48; forged Zeitungs, 67 ; forged head of Mercury, 79, 90; 174
Baden, 39, 169; Land-post, 101; forged, 182, 183 Bahamas, 9, 47 .
Barbadoes, 48 ; value of, 80 Barnard’s Carriboo Express, 160 Basle, 79, 181
Bavaria, forged, 91, 182; envelope essays, 149, 169
Belgium, 89; new issues, 105; essays, 121, 152, 169 184
Bergedorf, 4, 47; forged, 67
Blind Letter-office, 117
Bolivia, Hand-stamp of, 23
Boyd’s City Post, 57, 128
Brazil, 179; forged, 61, 153
British Guiana, 25, 179; forged, 68, 91, 100, 155; news- paper stamp, 127, 143, 175 British Postal Parcels Stamp, 137, 153, 170 British Post (The) about the year 1780, 77 Brown’s (Mount) Catalogue, Addenda to, 87, 99, 119, 138, 151, 167
Brunswick, 154, 169; envelope, 173; forged, 183 Buenos Ayres, 64, 180, 188; rarity, 153, 160, 185
Caledonian Newspaper, 153 California, 169
Canada, 153, 192; buff envelopes, 184; local, 185 Cape of Good Hope, 16 ; new issue, 39, 120 ; on tinted paper, 191 ; shilling blue, 112; fourpenny black, 128 Central Fair, 137, 175, 192 ’
Ceylon, 48, 136, 191 Chili Stamp, head on, 80, 180 Chit-Chat Postal, 77, 94, 109, 125, 142, 158, 173 Confederate States, 9, 40, 48, 73, 106; blockade stamp, 184 Connell Essay, 25, 64, 89 Corrientes, 85, 136, 180; city of, 86 Costa Pica, 57, 72
Continental Stamps and Stamp Countries, Jabez Jones’s Recollections of, 97, 113, 129, 145, 161, 177 Correspondence, 30, 46, 61, 78, 95, 111, 127, 143, 160, 173, 188 ; the five Bs applied to postage stamps, 30 ; the Paraguayan essay, 30 ; the Prince Consort essays, 31, 46, 78, 95, 111, 127 ; the threepenny New Zealand stamp, 31 ; Mr. Hussey and the American stamp usually designated ‘ Bighead,’ 31 ; the Editor’s reply to F entonia, 46 ; the portrait on the Mexican stamp, 61; how to prevent the sale of forged stamps, 61 ; Dr. Gray on the Prince Consort essays, 78 ; Austrian and Swiss stamp forgeries, 79 ; the Holstein stamp,
Correspondence continued : —
79 ; dealers’ black list, 79 ; the Sydney postage stamps, 79 ; Mr. Burn’s reply to Dr. Gray on the Prince Albert essays, 95 ; prosecution of stamp forgers, 111; questionable, stamps, 111; Oppen’s stamp album, 111; the British Guiana newspaper stamps, 127, 143, 175; the Hamburg locals, 128; about essays in general, 143 ; the United States’ Inter. Bev. stamps, 143 ; the Livonian stamps, 144 ; Brigham Young’s denial of the existence of a Mor- mon stamp, 144.; the tenpenny stamp of Van Diemen’s Land, 160.; reply to ‘ No Essays,’ 160; an uncatalogued Buenos Ayres stamp, 160 ; Pember- ton on essays, &c., 173 ; Swiss stamp forgeries, 174 ; the Central Fair stamps, 175; McBobish & Co.’s 1 Acupulco and San Francisco ’ stamps, 175 ; the Hamburg imitation stamps, 176; Pemberton’s cor- rections and criticisms, 188'; the Prince Consort essays again, 189; concerning essays, 189; old Swiss stamps and essays, 190; impressions on blue paper, 191; the New South Wales stamps, 191; can forgers of stamps be prosecuted? 191; the penny Ceylon adhesive stamps, 191 ; United States Central Fair stamps, 192; the South Germany gulden and the Austrian florin, 192
Correspondents, answers to, 16, 32, 47, 63, 79, 96, 111, 128, 144, 160, 176, 192 Country Postman, The, 126 Curiosities of the Post Bag, 126 Current Stamp Forgeries, 67, 89, 100, 154, 182
Danish West Indies, 176 Denmark, 105, 170; forged, 155
Egyptian Postage Stamps, 25
English envelope stamp, 96, 149; penny adhesive, 104;
on blue paper, 191 Envelope stamps, Notes on, 149 Essays in general, 143 ; meaning of the word, 174 Extraordinary accumulation of postage stamps, 36
Finland, 121 ; forged, 68, 155 ; envelopes, 149 Five Bs applied to Postage Stamps, 30 ; answered, 46, 62 Forgeries, Current Stamp, 67, 89, 100, 154, 182 France, Ancient Posts of, 23; Colonies, 25, 146; 1 franc green, 96; essay, 105, 170; bon-bon stamp, 113; newspaper stamp, 158
General Post Office at Six o’Clock, 38 Geneva, double 5 c., 62; envelope, 80 German Princes and Postage Stamps, 2 Greece (Essays), 73, 88, 114, 190; forged, 155
Hamburg, 57, 73; forged, 155, 176; boten, 62,96, 112, 128; local, 121
Hanover, 9, 112; net- work series, 105; envelopes, 150; Bestelgeld-frei, 25, 158
History of my Stamp Album, 1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 81 History of Postal Communications, 7, 23, 35, 69
IV
INDEX.
Holland, 105, 136
Holstein, 57 ; political significance, 79 ; new issue, 105 Humboldt’s Express, 169
India, red J anna, 61 ; ditto forged, 68 Inside the Post-office, 26 Ionian Islands, 57 ; postal value, 176 Italy, 9 ; new series, 32 ; Segna tassa, 80, 153 ; essays, 88; old issues, 122; newspaper stamps, 173; forged, 183
Jabez Jones’s Recollections of Continental Stamps and Stamp Countries, 97, 113, 129, 145, 161, 177 Japan, 137
Jerusalem Postage Stamps, 158
La Guaira, 121, 137, 169, 184 Langton’s Pioneer Express, 160
Liability of Postage Stamps to Fraudulent Re-issue, 13 Liberia, 1 15 ; forged, 155 Lines for The Stamp- Collector' $ Magazine , 46 Livonia, 10, 24; geographical position, 144; new issue, 170, 185
London Parcels Delivery Company, 137, 144
Lubeck, 4; forged, 69; new issue, 73,88; 4sch.black, 111
Luxemburg, 19
Luzon, 105; obsolete, 184
Magazine, to the Young Readers of the, 29 Mauritius, 24, 40, 160; native stamps, 110 McRobish’s Acapulco stamp, 73, 175 Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 168
Mexico, portrait on, 44, 61; Aztec posts, 70; essays for, 104 ; new issue, 120; names stamped on side, *173 Modena, 91, 112; tassa gazette, 155, 173 Moldavia and Wallachia, 41, 51, 82, 106 Montevideo, 89, 180; blue, 176; diligencia, 181 Montreal, local, 185 Morality of Postage Stamps, 92
Morman Stamp, 22; its reality denied, 141; fae-simile of, 169
Mulready Envelope, 77, 80
Naples, 32, 192 National Post-office, 131
Nevis, 80 ; device explained, 96, 128, 143 ; forged, 155 New Brunswick, 10, 25, 128
New Caledonia, 137, 192; engraving of, 146; forged, 156; more discovered, 176 New Granada, 40, 180
Newly-Issued or Inedited Stamps, 9, 24, 39, 56, 71, 88, 104, 120, 136, 152, 168, 179 New South AVales, 121, 135, 170, 191 ; envelope, 136 New Zealand Threepenny, 31 Nicaragua, Forged, 156 Norway, 9
Notes on the Australian Stamps, 134; envelope stamps, 149; the first series of New South AVales postage stamps, 170; additional, 185; the South American stamps, 178
Obsolete Spanish Stamps, 102 Oldenburg, 139; forged, 183 Opening Letters at the Post-office, 14 Oxford Union Society Stamp, 96
Paraguay, 30
Parma, Forged, 69; second issue, 149 Pemberton on Essa}^, 173 Penny Poem on the Penny Post, 125 Penny Postage, Early Squib on the, 187
Peru, Ancient Posts, 70; stamps, 180 Persian Posts, 8
Pleasures of the Post-office, 123
Polish Envelope Stamps, 185
Pony Express, Forged, 91
Portugal, Donna Maria, 73; Don Pedro, 112
Postage Stamp Collecting in Italy, 121
Postage Stamps, Morality of, 92
Postal Chit-Chat, 77, 94, 109, 125, 142, 158, 173
Postal Communication, History of, 7, 23, 35, 69
Postman-, The Country, 126
Post-office, a singular, 38; inside the, 26; opening let- ters at the, 14; our national, 131 pleasures of the, 123; the general at six p.m., 38; travelling, 10 Prince Consort Essay, -9, 31 ; engraving of, 40 ; discussion on, 46; Dr. Gray on, 78; Mr. Burn’s reply, 95 ; Dr. Gray’s rejoinder, 111 ; Mr. Burn’s second reply, 127 Prussia, 48, 76, 128 ; ^ envelopes, 137, 150; forged, 183
Reception of the Corrientes Stamp in Paris, 85 Reunion, 186, 192
Reviews of Postal Publications, 15, 29, 44, 75, 93, 109, 124, 141, 157, 172 Roman Posts, 35; stamps, 177 Rowland Hill, Press on the Retirement of Sir, 58 Royal Road to Learning, 25 Russia, 137; inland postage, 144; envelopes, 150
Sandwich Islands, 64, 80; rare 13 cents, 169 ; forged, 101,156; new issue, 153 Sardinia, 32, 162 Saxony, 156; forged, 183 Schleswig, 73 ; Schleswig Holstein, 57 Sicily, 123; forged, 101, 156 Singular Post-office, 38
Sketches of the Less-Known Stamp Countries, 4, 19, 41, 51, 82, 106, 115, 139, 146 South American Stamps, Notes on, 178 Spain, new issue, 24, 40, 58 ; old issues, 102 ; official, 112 ; forged, 69, 90 ; envelope, 137 ; queen of, 178 St. Helena, 73, 136 St. Lucia, 105
Stamp Album, History of my, 1, 17, 33, 49, 65, 81 Stamp Collecting and its Uses, 37 Stamp Collecting not a Modern Idea, 44 Stamps, Newly-Issued or Inedited, 9, 24, 39, 56, 71, 88, 104, 120, 136, 152, 168
Stamp Forgeries, Current, 67, 89, 100, 154, 182 Standard Guide to Postage Stamp Collecting, 15 Stockholm, Local, 48, 80
Swiss Stamps, 32; forged, 175; old issues, 188, 190 Sydney, 79
Tahiti, 25
Tasmania, 120, 136, 154; tenpenny, 160 Travelling Post-office, 10 Turkey, 48, 94; local, 64 Tuscany, forged, 100, 111, 156, 170
United States, bighead, 31; blue 10 c., 48, 63; essays, .73, 152; Inter. Rev., 143; locals, 80
Vancouver’s Island, 80
Aran Diemen’s (Charles) Local Hamburg, 121 Venezuela, 181; new issue, 9, 25, 73, 105; forged, 156 Victoria, 16; sixpenny, 112, 192; new issue, 153; black essay, 47
V. R. Official, 32, 176
AVurtemburg, forged, 89; new issue, 105; envelopes, 166 AVestern Australia, 73, 135; forged, 89; perforated, 160
THE
STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE.
THE HISTORY OF MY STAMP ALBUM.
INTRODUCTION.
MYSELF.
‘ Pity the sorrows of a lonely man,
' With books, and friends, and ample means, that can Enjoy himself, and lounge about the town,
And reach his lodgings fearless of a frown.’
It was a cold, dark night in December : without, the wind moaned in fitful gusts, and the slow, steady rain beat in dreary, monotonous:cadence on my window panes : but I was little affected by either — the closely-drawn curtains shutting out the gloom of the evening ; and a clear, bright fire defy- ing the raging of the elements.
With a feeling of intense comfort' and complacency, I glanced round my warm, snug bachelor’s room. I was alone in the world, having lost my father and mother in early childhood. My bringing-up and edu- cation were superintended by a cross, selfish, and misanthropical old uncle, my sole relative, and who, as soon as he had obtained for me a lucrative situation as clerk in Messrs. Clark and Thomson’s office, in the city, washed his hands of my future, and left his only nephew to make his way, unprotected and uncared for, in the wide world. But it was with no very keen sorrow at my lonely condition, that I drew my chair and table nearer the cheery wood fire on this cold winter’s even- ing, and set myself to arrange, for the hun- dredth time at least, my choice collection of stamps — placing, replacing, and displacing them in my pretty russia-leather album. I had been peculiarly fortunate, and ranked amongst my collection the rarest and choicest specimens. The mania had just then come into fashion ; and I was one of the most ardent and devoted votaries of Timbromanie.
While thus, with pleased and satisfied eyes, gloating over my treasures, I was suddenly interrupted by the abrupt entrance of my former school friend, Charles Lawson, who in his usual impetuous manner rushed up to me, shook both my hands, and finally threw himself, breathless and exhausted,, into the chair opposite mine. Before I had time to collect my scattered thoughts, he was pour- ing forth a string of arguments, entreaties, and supplications, the sense of which, after some time, I managed to gather. He was going with two or three mutual acqu.ain- tances to see the Colleen Bawn, then in the zenith of its popularity, and afterwards all were to adjourn to some famous oyster rooms to supper. ‘Would I be of the party? If so, we must lose no time ; we must start directly.’ I was about to replace my album in the table drawer as usual, when my rest- less, impatient friend interrupted me by exclaiming
‘ Come along, old fellow ; don’t wait to put anything away ; I am off, you see.’
Hastily extinguishing my lamp, I followed Lawson, who had by this time nearly reached the street door.
CHAPTER I.
MY LOSS.
‘ “ Madam ! I’ve lost my album, with a pack
Of choicest postage stamps. Call Susan — Jack — Confound it ! ” And the woman cries, “ Alack !
If Con has found it, perhaps he’ll bring it back.” ’
It was long after midnight before I returned home, after this night of unusual dissipation. I was far too tired to think of anything but getting to bed as quickly as possible, and, once there, I fell Into a sound and dreamless sleep, from which I did not awake until the stroke of eight tolling from St. Clement’s Church, hard by, put the drowsy god to
THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Jan. 1, 1864.
2
flight ; but it was not till I was dressed, and had swallowed my hasty breakfast, that I remembered my cherished stamps, so care- lessly left on the table the night before. Glancing round the room, I perceived no vestige of my album ! Inwardly cursing my good landlady’s officious tidiness, I rang the bell, summoning her to my awful presence. Vain were all my questions, abjurations, and, finally, threats. Mrs. Matson had not set eyes upon them : when she entered the room to set the breakfast the table was empty. After a vigorous and prolonged search, I gave up the stamps as lost, and consequently became exasperated and furious. I raged and stormed in, I am afraid, a very ungentle- manly way ; but the woman’s tale remained unaltered.
‘ I had been shamefully, disgracefully rob- bed ; I would not remain in her house another day ; I would send for the police ; the utmost rigour of the law should be employed to enforce the restoration of my cherished property ;’ and at last (oh ! reader, tell it not in Gath), blinded by passion and anger, I took my weeping landlady by her two fat shoulders, and pushed her violently out of the room.
‘ The bold, impudent creature ! ’ exclaimed I, loudly and indignantly, ‘to dare to stand there and face me out that she knew nothing of the extraordinary disappearance of my stamp album. The wretch has dared to cast a covetous eye — to place a sacrilegious hand on the joy and pride of my heart ; but she shall live to rue this day ; I will sift this matter to the bottom ; I will leave no stone unturned to fathom this perplexing mystery.’
It was not alone the loss of my stamps, but the cloud of obscurity which enveloped their disappearance, which provoked and puzzled me. My cunning was baffled ; I hated to be mystified ; and I also hated to find my penetration at fault.
In similar wild rhapsodies and absurd threats, I passed the ensuing half-hour ; but after this I cooled down into a more rational, sensible frame of mind ; and though neither my wrath nor annoyance had diminished, I decided, on calmer reflection, to let the affair rest as it was, until I saw my way clearly to the solution of the enigma ; and I deter-
mined, if the robber should ever prove other than my poor and widowed landlady (which probability, by the bye, I did not see the slightest chance of), it should be ‘ war to the knife,’ as the Spaniards say.
There were several other lodgers besides myself in the house at the time ; but as my rooms were reached by a private staircase, I had never come into contact with any of them, except occasionally exchanging little mutual civilities with a young accountant who lived on the floor above mine. He now and then borrowed my books, and sometimes lent me one of his ; but these usually passed through Mrs. Matson’s hands to reach their destination, and consequently I had only seen my fellow-lodger but twice or thrice, and knew his face but imperfectly.
Carrying into immediate execution my avowed and fixed resolve to leave Mrs. Mat- son, I quitted her house, and by nine o’clock the same evening was comfortably installed in some Small but quiet and respectable apartments in the next street.
(To be continued).
GERMAN PRINCES AND POSTAGE STAMPS.
Our readers, mature as well as juvenile, may be interested or instructed by a summary of the reigning sovereigns at present com- posing the Germanic Confederation ; their titular designations, dates of birth, and accession to power ; and the postage stamps employed in the several states, with their respective periods of issue. The principal referential authority is the Saxe Gotlia Almanack for 1863.
EMPEROR.
Francis Joseph I., of Austria; born August 18th, 1830 ; ascended the throne, December 2nd, 1848. Austrian stamps first issued New Year’s Day, 1852. Four sets, both for letters and newspapers.
KINGS.
Frederick William, of Prussia; born, March 22nd, 1797 ; succeeded his brother, January 2nd, 1861. Prussian stamps, November 15th, 1850. Four issues.
Maximilian II., of Bavaria; born, Novem-
Jan. 1, 1864.] THE STAMP-COLLECTOR'S MAGAZINE.
ber 28th, 1811 ; succeeded, March 21st, 1848. Bavarian stamps, June 5th, 1849. Three issues.
John, of Saxony; born, December 12th, 1811 ; succeeded, August 9th, 1854. Saxon stamps, June 22nd, 1850. Five types for labels, and two for envelopes.
William I,, of Wurtemburg ; born, Sep- tember 27th, 1781 ; succeeded, October 30tb, 1816. The oldest and longest reigning sovereign in the world. Stamps first issued, October 7th, 1851. Three sets.
George V., of Hanover : born, May 27th, 1819 ; succeeded his father, November 28th, 1851. First stamp issued, November 30th, 1850. Four types.
GRAND-DUKES
Frederick, of Baden ; born, September 9th, 1826 ; succeeded, September 5th, 1856. Issue of stamps, May 1st, 1851. Two types, and frequent changes of colour.
Louis III., of Hesse Darmstadt ; born, June 9th, 1806 ; succeeded, June 16th, 1848. Stamps of the office of Thurn and Taxis, numerical value in kreuzer, issued in 1850. Four sets, in the same pattern, but with variation in colour of print or paper.
Peter, of Oldenburg ; born, July 8th, 1827 : succeeded, February 27th, 1853.
Started stamps, December 28th, 1851. Five issues of different devices in adhesives, and two in envelopes.
Frederick William, of Mecklenburg Stre- litz ; born, October 17th, 1823; succeeded, July 18th, 1853. In this grand-duchy are em- ployed those stamps of the office of Thurn and Taxis valued in silbergroschen, of which there have been three issues of similar pattern, but with variations in colour of impression.
Frederick Francis, of Mecklenburg Schwe- rin ; born, February 28th, 1823 ; succeeded, March 7th, 1842. Issue of stamps, both adhesive and envelope, July 1st, 1856. One of the few states that have made no change.
Charles Alexander, of Saxe Weimar; born, June 24th, 1818 ; succeeded, July 18th, 1853. Silbergroschen issue of Thurn and Taxis.
William III., of Luxembourg, King of Holland; born, February 19th, 1817; suc-
ceeded, May 17th, 1849. First issue of stamps, November 1st, 1852; second, Octo- ber 1st, 1859. The former series bore the sovereign’s head ; but since the partition of the grand-duchy between Holland and Bel- gium, the arms of the province are repre- sented on the stamps.
DUKES.
Frederick, of Anhalt-Dessau-Cothen-Bern- burg ; born, October 1st, 1794; succeeded to the government, August 2nd, 1817. The Prussian stamps are used in this duchy.
William, of Brunswick ; born, April 25th, 1806; succeeded, April 25th, 1831. Three issues of stamps, varying in colour only : the first was on January 1st, 1851. This state, as well as that of Mecklenburg Schwe- rin, makes use of the singular contrivance of a stamp in four compartments, which can be cut so as to form the several values of J, b b or 1 silbergroschen.
Christian IX., of Holstein and Lauenburg, King of Denmark ; succeeded his cousin, November 15th, 1863. The succession is, however, disputed by Frederick, Prince of Augustenburg. For a brief period during the revolt in 1850, the duchy, in unison with Schleswig, started stamps for itself; but at present those of Denmark are employed.
Adolphus, of Nassau; born, July 24th, 1817; succeeded, August 20th, 1839. The kreuzer series of Thurn and Taxis stamps serve for this duchy.
Ernest II., of Saxe Coburg Gotha ; born, June 21st, 1818 ; succeeded, January 29th, 1844. Same as the last.
Ernest Frederick, of Saxe Altenberg; born, September 16th, 1826; succeeded, August 3rd, 1853. This duchy uses the silbergroschen issue of Thurn and Taxis.
Bernard Erich, of Saxe Meiningen ; born, December 1 7th, 1800 ; succeeded, December 24th, 1803. Stamps of the kreuzer series of the Thurn and Taxis office.
PRINCES.
John Maria, of Liechtenstein ; born, Octo- ber 5th, 1840; succeeded, November 12th, 1858. The stamps of Austria do duty in this principality.
4
THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Jan 1, 1864.
Paul Leopold, of Lippe ; born, September 1st, 1827 ; succeeded, June 1st, 1851. The stamps used are those of the silbergroschen issue of Tliurn and Taxis.
Henry XXII., of Reuss Greiz ; born, March 28th, 1846 ; succeeded, November 8th, 1858. Same stamps as the last.
Henry LXVIL, of Reuss Schleiz ; born, October 20th, 1 789 ; succeeded, June 19th, 1854. As the preceding.
Adolphus, of Schaumburg-Lippe ; born, August 1st, 1807 ; succeeded, November 21st, 1860. As before.
Frederick Gunther, of Schwartzburg- Rudolstadt ; born, November 16th, 1793 ; succeeded, November 6th, 1814. As before.
Gunther Frederick Charles, of Schwartz- burg Sonderhausen ; born, September 24th, 1801 ; succeeded, September 3rd, 1835. The stamps of Prussia circulate in this princi- pality.
George Victor, of Waldeck; born, Janu- ary 14th, 1831 ; succeeded, May 15th, 1845. The Prussian stamps are current here also.
In addition to these principalities, without any vote in the Diet, are those of Birkenfeld, which has been transferred to the ducal house of Oldenburg since 1817, and which employs the postage stamps of Prussia ; and those of Hohenzollern Hechingen and Hohen- zollern Sigmaringen, since 1850 under the sole possession of Prince Antony. The kreuzer stamps of Tliurn and Taxis do duty in this small principality.
LANDGRAVE.
Ferdinand, of Hesse Homburg ; born, April 26th, 1783 ; succeeded, September 8th, 1848. Same as the last.
FREE STATES.
Frankfort, employing those of the kreu- zer series of the office of Thurn and Taxis.
Hamburg has half a dozen stamps, pub- lished January, 1859, for Holland, England, and transmarine correspondence, besides numerous private offices emplo3ung stamps similar in nature to those of some of the cities of the United States, for local pur- poses. This city has, moreover, six other post-offices ; one, using the stamps of Thurn and Taxis, for Belgium, France, Italy, Spain,
Switzerland, and South Germany ; a second, employing the Prussian stamps, for Prussia, Poland, and Russia ; a third, the Danish, for Denmark ; a fourth, the Swedish, for Sweden and Norway ; a fifth, those of Hano- ver, for Hanover; and lastly, one using those of Mecklenburg, for that country.
Lubeck. The authorities of this city have given forth two series of adhesive postage stamps ; the first, on New Year’s Day, 1859 ; the second and a set of envelopes, last year. Like Hamburg, Lubeck also contains addi- tional post-offices, viz., one, issuing the stamps of Thurn and Taxis ; and another, those of Denmark.
Bergedorf, a dependency on these two latter cities, gives us its singular and once recherche stamps, first issued November 1st,
1861.
Bremen closes the list with half a dozen stamps, of elegant and various designs, the first of which was issued April 4th, 1855.
SKETCHES OF THE LESS-KNOWN STAMP COUNTRIES.
BY C. W. VINER, A.M., PH.D,.
I.— ROMAGNA.
Having previously insisted on the unfrivo- lous nature of the present fast-increasing and widely- spreading taste for collecting postage stamps, and its undoubtful utility as accessory to geographical and historical studies, we cannot do better than prove our proposition by some brief notices of those countries brought more prominently before view, by the rarity or singularity of their postal emissions.
The subject of our first article, for up- wards of twelve centuries the appellation of one of the most beautiful and fertile tracts of the Garden of Europe, were we to launch out into any extended description of its geographical features, or endeavour to depict a tithe of the stirring events occupying its citizens and ennobling its cities for so long a period, would lead us to trespass far beyond the limits prescribed by the nature of our unpretending publication. Our object, then, is to afford a simple outline of the past and present state of the district under con- sideration.
Jan. 1, 1864.] THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE.
5
The very name, Romagna, will probably, ere long, be merged in one united Italy, and preserved from oblivion only in the pages of the stamp-collector’s album. This immor- tality it will owe but to the emission of a few postage stamps, whose official duration did not exceed a twelvemonth !
The term Romagna, bestowed when the Exarchates fixed their residence at Ravenna, the capital of the 'region, thereby rendering it a second Rome ; and that of Romandiola, by which it is frequently distinguished by the writers on the middle ages ; appear with very singular distinctness to identify the same portion of country for many centuries of history. As the usual and extreme boun- daries, may be taken the river Po on the north, and the Tuscan Apennines on the south.
We remember, last summer, being ferried across that magnificent river at an uncon- scionably early hour in the morning, owing to the antiquated and absurd regulation prohibiting the entry into what used to be Papal territory after seven o’clock in the evening. This obliged ourself and com- panions to post from that very uninteresting Austri-Lombardo-Venetian town, Rovigo, at two in the morning, to avoid sleeping at a most dreary, wretched-looking place on the frontier, rejoicing in the name of Santa Maria Maddalena.
The stamps issued in 1859 by the Pro- visional Government of Romagna not only did duty in that part of the revolting pro- vinces of the legations more particularly included in the terms Romagna and Roman- diola— the inhabitants of which, viz., those of Ravenna and Forli, are still called by the Romans, Romagnoli — but in the remaining two legations of Ferrara and Bologna.
The general products of the beautiful region represented by the stamps in ques- tion are, wheat, rye, barley, maize, rice, hemp, flax, and exquisite fruits in abun- dance ; delicious peaches and nectarines ranging from one to five or six for the value of an English farthing. Vineyards and oliveyards adorn and enrich the land; the tobacco plant is largely cultivated ; melons and chestnuts abound ; the silks and sausages
of Bologna are well known ; and the fine buffalos of Ferrara are magnificent speci- mens of the live stock of Italy. The forests of oak, cork, ash, and elm are a valuable addition to the pictorial and fiscal riches of the country ; and the fifteen miles of pine forest, part of which now lies between Ra- venna and the sea, in the precise spot where the fleet of mighty Rome once lay at anchor, has been a theme for the descriptive powers of Boccaccio and Dante, as also of our own Dryden and Byron.
We may take a cursory view of the prin- cipal towns of the region under notice, before proceeding to touch upon its general history.
Ravenna, with the. exception of the re- mains of the wall previously alluded to, has few Roman antiquities to boast of; but many of the churches founded in the early days of Christianity are objects of interest to the visitor. Here is shown the tomb of the wild and wonderful Dante ; and here Byron re- sided some considerable time, and composed several of his plays, and other pieces, in frequent enjoyment of the solitude of ‘ Ra- venna’s immemorial wood.’
In the province of Ravenna is the city of Faenza, once the great depot and place of manufacture of the celebrated majolica ware, or faience of the French.
The largest and most populous city of the Romagna in time present is Bologna, in which are at least a hundred churches. The university was once one of the highest rank in Italy, and has turned out many female professors of eminence. The wonderful Cardinal Mezzofanti, who spoke forty-two languages, was born in the humbler walks of life in this city. The two leaning towers are curious, but frightfully ugly. The colon- naded streets are both handsome and con- venient as shelter from sun or rain. A colonnade, three miles in length, leads from one of the city gates to the church of the Madonna di San Luca, at the top of a very steep and lofty hill. The fatigue of the ascent, to those who would not be attracted by the famous black image of the Virgin, the osten- sible lion of the place, is well repaid by one of the most magnificent views not only in Italy but in the world.
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Ferrara, in the middle ages styled ‘ Most Fortunate City,’ and ‘ Lady of the Po,’ is sadly shorn of its mediaeval glories. Its grass- grown streets, however, will ever be trod by the tourist for the sake of a view of the abodes of Aristo and Guarini, and the prison of the gifted and unfortunate Tasso. It is comparatively modern, dating only from the 5th century. It was for some ages under the dominion of the house of D’Este, till it passed to the Pope’s authority towards the close of the 16th century. It was here that
‘ Parisina left the hall,
But not to list to the waterfall,’
and here too that she paid the penalty of her frailty by the severance of her beautiful head from her body. In the province of Ferrara, near Certo, is a small village in proud pos- session of the Assumption, by Guido. In 1797, the French wished to obtain possession of the prize, but the brave villagers one and all rose in arms, and successfully resisted the attempted brigandage.
Forli contains the town of similar name (a contraction of Forum Livii), founded after the battle of the Metaurus, and named after one of the consuls under whom Asdrubal was defeated there. Its citadel is one of those celebrated for its heroic defence by a woman, Catherine Sporza, in the 15th cen- tury. In this province is the Rubicon, ever associated with the name of Caesar. In Rimini still stands the habitation of the wretched Francesca, for ages famous or in- famous in Dante’s Hell. Rimini is celebrated also as the spot chosen for the meeting of the council held by the Arians and Athana- sians in the middle of the 4th century, which eventuated in the drawing up and promul- gation of the mysterious and much disputed Athanasian creed.
The history of the provinces of the Ro- magna is well nigh identical with that of their acknowledged capital, Ravenna. This town, although one of the most ancient in Italy, is little noticed by historians until the Imperial times, when conjointly with Misenum it became the great station of the Roman fleet. The arch of the Porta Aurea, still standing, is a remnant of the wall built by the emperor Tiberius.
Honorius the First, and his talented and
intriguing sister Placidia, made it their residence, and after them numerous less celebrated occupiers of the imperial bed of thorns.
In the middle of the 5th century the last Roman emperor, of similar name to the first king, was banished into Apulia, to make way for one who, without sufficient reason, figures as the first king of Italy, as he never pro- fessed to assume the regal power, nor were there ever coins or medals struck in com- memoration of him. This was Odoacer, who also made Ravenna the seat of his usurped government, as a sort of consul-general of Rome.
Towards the close of that century, the great Ostrogoth, Theodoric, accompanied by the whole of his tribe, bringing with them their wives, children, cattle, and even furni- ture, advanced towards Ravenna; and having- in the brief space of four years subjected all Italy to his yoke, entered Ravenna in triumph, the archhbishop at the head of all his clergy meeting him as if the chosen emissary of heaven. Odoacer, stripped of his power, was not long allowed to retain life.
Theodatus, the nephew and unworthy successor of Theodoric, soon terminated both his regal and mortal existence. During his weak rale, the emperor of the East, the great Justinian, had sent Belisarius, afterwards as famous for his misfortunes as for his prowess, to attack the shattered government of the West. The victories in Italy obtained by him, were afterwards consolidated by his successor N arses, who was rewarded for his conquests with the title of Exarch of Italy ; and he also fixed the seat of his rule at Ravenna.
For upwards of two hundred years more the capital of Romagna may have been considered the temporal head of Italy, and the abode of a long line of Exarchs ; till in the 8th century it fell into the possession of Astolphus,king of theLongobardi, the ancient Lombards.
He was, however, eventually obliged (although it proved but a nominal cession) to yield possession of his territories to the Papal See, by the coercive pressure of a large army of Franks, under the powerful guidance of 4 little King Pepin ’ the great.
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From, or before this time, there is inex- tricable confusion between the temporal and spiritual power of Rome over many of the chief cities of Italy. The mistress of the world was supposed to have included Ravenna, Bologna, Ferrara, &c., in her jurisdiction; but they were virtually each a species of aristocratic republic, with more or less of surrounding territory, whose supremacy was disputed for by the most powerful existing families. At one time, the infamous Caesar Borgia, after conquering the district by treachery more than force, was created by his father, Pope Alexander the Sixth, Duke of Romandiola ; but it was again annexed to the papacy by his successor Julius IL
From the middle of the 15th, till the commencement of the 16th century, the Venetians w'ere lords paramount of the Romagna. After that the French possessed it for a few }rears, and then, after one of those numerous anomalous battles they claim to have won , leaving their general, Gaston of Nemours, and 20,000 men, of whom a large proportion were their own, lifeless on the field of battle, they made a dignified retreat from Italy. A few years afterwards Ravenna and its surrounding territory were again restored to the Pope by a treaty signed at Bologna.
This last named city, formerly the capital of Northern Etruria, under the denomination of Felsina, under which name it is mentioned by Livy, was colonized by the Romans B.c. 189, and its name changed to Bononia. It formed part of the Exarchate of Vienna under the Longobardi, till the victories of Pepin transferred it to the Papal power. The Bolognese, however, stuck by their motto, c Libertas,’ and proved very disobe- dient children to their spiritual father ; con- stituting themselves an almost independent republic, and their city the virtual capital of what we understand by the term Romagna. In the 13th century the furious contentions between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines so distracted affairs as to eventuate in the sur- render of the inhabitants to the Papal au- thority. Bologna was made the capital of the Cispadane Republic by the great invader, towards the close of the past century. After his overthrow the Pope again became its master; and again, both in 1831 and 1848,
the spirited Bolognese boldly but abortively rose in insurrection, each time quelled by the power of the Austrians.
The Romagnese postage stamps of 1859, together with those of the provisional govern- ments of Parma, Modena, and Tuscany, preserved, we may venture to anticipate, for long, long years in the pages of collectors’ albums, will serve like medals, as the proofs of the more fortunate termination of the struggle for freedom in recent times.
In the stamps of the Romagna can be traced the downright matter-of-fact character of the majority of the people of the district. They are totally devoid of artistic effect. Just so much is imprinted on them as to denote their use and value, and nothing else ; and they bear the same relation to the other postage stamps of Italy, as the dialect of Bologna does to the more polished ones of the North or South.
For some time eight Romagnese stamps only were known to exist ; then appeared the 6 baj. and more recently a 3 baj. yellow, the former of that value being green. This latter is possibly merely an essay or modern re- print ; but we think it strange that a 7 baj. has never turned up, there being that value in the corresponding Papal stamps. The simplicity of the engraving of these indivi- duals has given rise to several imitations, some of which are extremely difficult to distinguish from the genuine specimens, which are so rare that we vainly endeavoured to procure any, used or unused, from any shop or post office, when in the course of last summer we passed through the territory of the Romagna.
HISTORY OF POSTAL COMMUNI- CATIONS.—I.
BY THE REV. HENRY H. HIGGINS, M.A.
When by the simple act of affixing a Queen’s head to a letter, provision is made for its safe transmission from one end of the king- dom to the other, it probably seldom occurs to the sender, that the economy, simplicity, and efficacy of the act are the results of pro- gressive changes which have been brought about during the lapse of centuries, by men who have bestowed a vast amount of thought
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and labour upon the investigation of the best means of facilitating the epistolary cor- respondence of the public.
When a thing has to be done by millions of people in the course of a single day, any one who will show how it may be done more cheaply and expeditiously is a benefactor to the community. It would not be easy to estimate the amount of good that has arisen from the present plan of the penny postage. In commercial transactions the advantage has been, very great ; and the business cor- respondence of the country has increased to an extent that would hardly have been credited a quarter of a century ago. But it is in quite another field that we may perhaps find the most genuine fruit of the penny postage, namely, in the preservation of the intimacy between families and members who have left the paternal home and gone out into the world ; in friendships more' firmly cemented ; in the relief of anxious hearts by the reception of unstinted intelligence ; and in many such like kindly offices. We may fairly take it for granted, that the epistolary arrangements of buying and selling would, under any circumstances, have kept pace with the commercial progress of the age ; but it is very different with those more refined obligations which arise from a sense of regard for the memory of things, and times, and individuals, separated from us by distance. In these things, the removal of a dif- ficulty is equivalent to the exerting of a posi- tive influence ; and if we could only know the amount of good that has been done, for example, in the present year, by mothers hearing from daughters 4 gone to service,’ by young men writing to their old school- masters, and in a hundred similar ways, we might fairly attribute a large proportion of this good to the promoters of the penny post, and so be led to regard our little favourites, the postage stamps, as drops in a stream which has brought relief, comfort, refreshment, and even new life, to tens of thousands.
It may not be uninteresting to trace the course by which we have received our pre- sent facilities for correspondence ; and to do this in an orderly manner requires that in the first instance we should take a glance at
the state of things, in this respect, prevailing in very ancient times.
The transmission of letters by special messengers was of much earlier origin than the establishment of posts of any kind : it is, however, probable that even the former method of communication was not in use much before 1000 B.c. The first letter on record had a most unhappy origin. It was undoubtedly a sealed communication ; for it was sent by King David to his commander- in-chief, Joab, and contained an order for the death of the messenger. About the year 900 B.c., Naaman was the bearer of a letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel. Something like the organization of a band of letter carriers seems to have been effected before the year 700 B.c. ; for in the days of Hezekiah 4 the posts wrent with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel.’ It is, however, questionable whether this implies more than the employ- ment, for the occasion, of a number of private messengers ;* more especially because in the earliest plans for postal arrangements the term 4 posts ’ is applied not to the messen- gers, but to the stations between which the messengers ran.
Much concurrent testimony ascribes to the Persians the first use of posts. Dio- dorus Siculus relates that on certain great lines passing from various portions of the Persian kingdom to the royal court, stations were made, and towers built, on which were placed sentinels, 4 who gave notices of public occurrences from one to another with a very loud and shrill voice ; by which means news was transmitted to the court with great expedition.’ But it is evident that no secrecy could be preserved with respect to intelligence thus transmitted. To remedy this inconvenience, Cyrus, as Xenophon tells us, greatly reduced the number of the sta- tions, and changed those which remained into places for the reception of couriers, who rode on swift horses ; each courier bearing a dispatch which he delivered up to the officer at the next station, who in turn forwarded it in like manner.
These stations in course of time became the nuclei of dwellings, and even of villages or towns ; all the inhabitants of which were
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subject to the regulations of the station, and were liable to be impressed, together with their horses and all their possessions, into the service of the king’s couriers or Angari. Hence the expression in St. Matthew, ‘ Who- soever shall compel (Angarize) thee to go a mile, go with him twain.’ An amusing account of one of these Angarii in more recent times is given by Colonel Campbell. ‘ As soon as he stopped at a caravanserai he immediately called lustily about him, in the name of the sultan demanding fresh horses, victuals, &c., on the instant. The terror of this great man operated like magic : nothing could exceed the activity of the men, the briskness of the women, and the terror of the children. But no quickness of preparation, no effort, could satisfy the Angary ; he would exhibit his power in a still more striking point of view, and fell to belabouring them with his whip, and kick- ing them with all his might.’ Any one of our well-conducted, business-like, quick- footed postmen in the present day would be not a little astonished if such an angary were introduced to him as the representative of his official ancestors.
STAMPS NEWLY ISSUED, FIRST DESCRIBED.
OR
This present New Year’s Day has been appointed as the date of the public issue of the new series of stamps for Italy, fully described in our number for November We present our readers with engra- vings of the journal and one of the letter stamps. The envelopes for Bavaria, as well as those of Denmark, have been notified for issue the same day, but we have not yet seen them.
Another set of stamps for Venezuela has come over by the last mail. The values are the same as those of the two former series of small stamps, but the size nearly corresponds with the later issue. They are printed in colour on white. The device is an eagle bearing thunderbolts, — as far as we can
make out, having examined cancelled speci- mens only ; — this is enclosed in a circle. On the top of the stamp is printed, Federation ; and below the circle, Venezolana. The value is at the bottom, — medio real , un real , dos reales . The colours respectively are yellow, blue, and green.
We this month give representations of the green Baha- mas shilling, and the red 2 cents of the Confederate States — the
ON E SHILLING
latter bea ring the head of
President Andrew Jackson, well known in his time by the designation of ‘ Old Hickory.’
It is strange that the foreign collectors seem to have such a considerable amount of information on the subject of British postage stamps. When on the Continent last summer, we were more than once asked for the essays with the head of Prince Albert. We ourselves had never heard of them, but they have lately emerged from obscurity. It seems that one or two sheets only were printed off for specimens, but never adopted. They are in two colours, black and red. The general appearance of the stamps is that of the common penny ones, and the likeness evidently represents His Royal Highness, sixteen or seventeen years since.
We have also had in our possession a resuscitated -envelope stamp of the earliest issue of Hanover. The paper is yellow, bordered with a neat black device ; post- horn in each corner ; and the words, Bestell- geld-frei on the top, bottom, and sides. On the left hand, towards the bottom corner, is — hand-stamped in green — a post-horn in a circle, and Bestellgeld-frei also around it. On the folded side is an inscription, defining the limits of the circulation of the stamp and the price at which they could be bought at the post-office, viz., four guten-groschen the dozen !
An engraving of one of the new stamps of Norway is sub- joined.
A German magazine describes and figures
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Jan. 1, 1864.
a new stamp as emanating from Livonia. It is similar in form and design to the rest of the Russian stamps. The inner oval is green, without any device or inscription. The rest of the stamp is filled in with a minute pattern in rose colour. On the top is Briefmarke , and beneath, Wendenschen Kreises. No value is marked. We have seen the stamp, but think the absence of monetary denomination and of the Russian arms rather suspicious. The same magazine mentions also two other stamps as new, one of which we have seen for sale occasionally these eighteen months or more, though it has never been recog- nized in any catalogue. They are horizon- tally oblong. One is covered with a minute pattern in green, and the other in rose-colour. The latter has Briefmarke des Wendenschen Kreises , and the former, Packenmarke des Wendenschen Kreises , in black print.
We have just received from New Bruns- wick a 2 c. orange. The design of the stamp is similar to that of the current 5 c. and 10 c. We understand also that a new series and some new values for Yan Diemen’s Land are on the point of being issued ; and that the next emission of Brazilian stamps will bear the emperor’s head, instead of the ‘ sweet simplicity ’ of the present device.
THE TRAVELLING POST-OFFICE. We must ask our readers to follow us in imagination — as they would have some diffi- culty in doing so in propria persona — on a journey in the travelling post-office, which we propose making, entirely for their benefit.
The railway mail-service, which has been gradually developing itself during the last twrnnty years, has now assumed gigantic pro- portions : year by year the estimates for conveying mails by railway have largely increased, with a corresponding decrease in the expenses for their means of conveyance. The railway post-office, applied at first to one or two of the trunk lines diverging from the metropolis, is now, or shortly will be, extended to every considerable line of rail- way in the kingdom ; and by means of differ- ent junctions throughout the country, an admirable adjustment is maintained betwreen every large district in the kingdom. The suc- cessful working of this post-office machinery,
as well as the immunity it enjoys from seri- ous derangements, is due in great measure to the absence of the ordinary railway traffic during the time chosen for the conveyance of mails. This traffic disposed of, and ordinary business-hours over, the serious work of the post-office in our largest towns may be said to commence ; and through the long night, a score or two of iron horses are whirling through space, besides an immense amount of finished work securely sealed up, a couple of hundred officials of different grades, busily engaged in all the various operations incident upon the reception and despatch of the national correspondence.
The railway post-office proper comprises a number of divisions or sections, and these, generally, are named from the locality through which they extend ; as the Bangor and Leeds Division, the Carlisle and Perth Division. These divisional parts have dis- tinct officers allotted to them, the number regulated by the amount of work to be performed. The length of the divisions — the extent of one of which forms a post-office journey — varies slightly, averaging about 170 miles; the average length of time taken to perform the journeys being between five and six hours. It may be imagined that a proper control of this vast machinery of operations, with its scattered staff of officials, will be difficult ; but the efficient working of the whole is, nevertheless, thoroughly and promptly maintained. The entire direction of the travelling-officers rests with the mail- office at St. Martin’s-le- Grand, presided over by an inspector-general of mails, with a deputy, and to which office is attached a considerable staff of clerks. Tbe connection between the different branches of the travel- ling-office and the controlling- office in Lon- don is kept up by a number of travelling mail-inspectors.
Suppose we are at one of the many termini of railway operations — the hour close upon midnight — and that time is up, and we have just jumped into the travelling post-office to commence our duties.
Imagine, then, a railway-carriage, some- what larger than an ordinary saloon-carriage, about twenty-two feet long, and as wide and spacious as the railway arrangements will
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allow. Seen from the outside, the large, heavily painted, windowless vehicle looks more as if intended for the conveyance of her Majesty’s horses than her Majesty’s mails ; the roof, however, covered with glass or delicate wire-gauze, and other contri- vances, forming an admirable plan of venti- lation, soon convinces yon that it is intended for some description of the genus homo. It is night, yon remember, and the inside looks warm and cheerful with its row of bright burning moderator lamps— to which the old globular lamp let into the office from the ceiling is fast giving place — contrasting strongly and pleasantly, as far as we are concerned, with the dimly lighted station, through which the cold night-air is rushing. The reader must abstain, however, from imagining anything like luxury in the inter- nal fittings ; everything there is requisite for accomplishing the work in hand, but there is no provision for any kind of indulgence ; and spacious as the place seems, there would not be found, by looking narrowly, a single foot of spare room. Along the whole length of one side of the carriage, and encroaching materially upon its width, a number of tiers of boxes are arranged for the sorting oper- ations ; the smaller ones for the letters, and the larger ones in the centre of the office, more like shelves, for the newspapers and all that vast variety of articles forwarded according to the rules of book-post. Every available inch of space is covered with upright wooden pegs, in recesses made in the carriage-sides, upon which are hung the bags — made of canvas, with the names of towns legibly painted upon them — to be used in the course of the journey. These recesses, as well as the ends of the office, are well padded over, to secure the safety of the officers.
The work has begun : a pile of bags, one from each considerable town in the neigh- bourhood, has been thrown into the office ; one of the clerks is busy opening them, and the rest — each standing opposite to a distinct set of boxes, labelled with the names of different towns on the route — are rapidly sorting away the letters that have been handed to them from the bags. The clerks look rather sleepy, and this is natural enough,
for the hour is a drowsy one, and half the world is dozing ; but the feeling is only momentary, merely the result of a patient watching for train-time. The work fairly started, they soon warm with it, and the scene becomes one of animation and a pleasant enough sort of excitement, till every bundle is cut open, and the letters composing them are disposed of in the boxes. The sorting finished, there is at once a movement among the clerks, as they busy themselves in collecting from the different boxes all the letters that have been received for the bags about to be dispatched at the first station ; the examination of them is careful or more hurried just as the time allows ; the letters are then tied up in packets in the sharp, decisive way long practice makes so easy ; and the bags are tied, sealed, and ready for delivery just as the train is brought to a stand. Here the bags are given out; fresh supplies are received from three or four towns in the immediate district, and we are again on our journey, and in our second stage. The bags received are at once opened ; the same round of sorting, collect- ing, examining, is gone through; the same process of despatching for the next and all subsequent postal stations is repeated, just as we have described.
Daring this our second stage, and before we stop again, we pass two or three important towns : not being among our great centres of population, however, they are not import- ant enough for the mail-train to do them the honour of stopping; so other arrangements have been made for them, and the exchange of letter-bags is effected by machinery whilst the train is progressing at its usual speed. This ingenious contrivance deserves a word in passing, especially as it is now being called more and more into requisition. We will just step out into the adjoining van over the iron gangway that connects it with the post-office carriage. The guard is looking out for the familiar object, such as bridge, river, or cluster of trees, by which he tells his whereabouts with almost mathematical precision. Whilst he is busy finding his position, we will take the time to explain that the machinery is arranged so as to secure, simultaneously in most cases, both
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the receipt and the dispatch of hags. For the purpose of receiving bags, a large strong net is fixed to one side of the van, to be drawn down at the proper moment ; and close to the door, on each side of it, securely fixed to the carriage, are hollow iron bars, inside each of which, working by means of a rope and pulley, an iron arm is fixed, upon which the bags to be delivered, securely strapped in a thick, leal-hern pouch, are suspended ; and where the exchange has to be effected at the station we are nearing, the arrangements are just the counterparts of this. A net is spread to catch each pouch from the extended arm of the carriage, and pouches are hung from iron standards in the ground of sufficient height for the net in the train. The operation itself is just commenc- ing : the door is pushed back into the groove in which it works, and then the guard, touching a spring that holds up the net, it is loosened from its supports, and projects over the carriage-sides ; the iron arm, acting on its pulley-rope, is drawn ^ round into the carriage, where the pouch is rapidly fastened to it by means of a catch or spring — but in such a manner that a touch from the net- apparatus at the station will bring it off — and then let down, remaining by virtue of its own weight at right angles to the door. A moment of waiting, and then all the machinery acts its assigned part properly ; the pouch disappears from the arm, or arms (if the bags have been heavy enough for both to be used), with a whack ; the latest arrival lands in our net with another ; and all is over and quiet as before. We mean, of course, comparative quiet, as much as is possible amid the din and endless rattle of a train speeding away at the rate of forty miles an hour. W e make our way back into the other carriage, the guard bringing with him the treasures we have watched him pick up by the wayside : and these bags opened, and contents sorted off' in the orthodox way, we are at the end of another stage.
Here, evidently, comes the tug of war. We have arrived at one of the principal mail- junctions in the kingdom, and an immense number of bags is waiting our arrival. These bags have been brought, somewhat earlier on, by other mail-trains arranged to effect a
junction with us ; and these, in their turn, have met with other trains running across the country in transverse directions. Bags from towns near and towns remote, with letters for places all along our line of route, as well as letters just passing, in transitu , from this office to some other, are here stowed in, till we can scarcely find standing space. The work, however, is resumed with more energy than ever, and it is surprising how soon, by persistent activity, we come to feel comfortable again. The necessity there is for a certain amount of work^ being accom- plished at a certain point, acts as a spur upon us, and we feel the working- spirit of the office has to be exerted to its fullest extent.
The country through which we are now travelling is only thinly supplied with towns, and consequently, the number of letters received into the office is much smaller. The clerks produce from their hiding-places under the blue-cloth covered counter a round kind of swing-seat attached to it, which turns outside ingeniously upon a swivel, and for some time are seated at their work. We take advantage of this break in the character of the duty to observe more closely the various letters that the clerks are examining.
That the office is conducted on the most approved democratic principles, is a fact patent to any onlooker. The same sort of variety that marks Society, here marks its letters : envelopes of all shades and sizes ; handwriting of all imaginable kinds, written in all shades of ink, with every description of pen ; names the oddest, and names the most ordinary, and patronymics to which no possible exception could be taken. Here is an envelope stamped with the escutcheoned signet of an earl ; another, where the wax has yielded submissively to the initials of plain John Brown ; and another, plastered with cobblers’ wax, with an impression that makes no figure in Debrett, and which, indeed, bears undeniable evidence of having been manufactured with hob-nails ! They are all mingling, for a few hours at any rate, in common fellowship — tossed about in com- pany, honoured with the self-same knocks on the head, sent to their destination locked in loving embrace, and sometimes, in the case of the cobbler’s, exceedingly difficult to part
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at all. Some of the addresses are amusing in their ambiguity ; some are absolutely blundering ; some say too little, others too much ; some give the phonetic system with malice 'prepense , others, because it is nature’s own rendering, and they have never known school ; in all which cases, the work of examination is necessarily deliberate, hesitat- ing, or slow.
We are at our destination at last; with a feeling of dreamy wonder that something has not happened to us ; that, considering the noise and the whirl, our brain is not tied up in a knot somewhere in the head, instead of only swimming ; and that our tympanum is not permanently fractured. Dusty, hungry, tired, sleepy, we hurry through the streets, with the day just breaking.
Of course, this post-office machinery, necessarily in some parts so delicate, is very liable to derangement, does get out of order, and has to depend, as we said at the com- mencement, to a great extent on the proper carrying out throughout the country of an infinite number of railway arrangements. This was clearly seen during the last severe winter, when delays were almost of daily occurrence, and accidents frequent. It is scarcely possible, however, that, so far as prospective arrangements can be made for changing seasons, we shall have a repetition of the failures and delays of last winter. Railway accidents are fruitful sources of discomfiture to the post-office department. It is surprising, however, how fortunate the majority of mail-trains have been in the immunity they have hitherto enjoyed from serious calamities of this nature. When any such calamity does overtake them, it very seldom happens that the post-office arrange- ments suffer, except on the particular journey wherein the accident occurred. Fresh sup- plies of men and materiel are summoned with a speed that would, or ought to, surprise some other commissariat departments, and the work proceeds as if the equilibrium had never been disturbed.
Reader, you have doubtless read our paper impatiently ; you don’t like the way the post- office is managed; you never did, in fact, since you lost that last letter of yours, containing a coin or something else of value,
and couldn’t get it back by demanding it of the secretary ! You haven’t faith in us post-office officials, and long for some rival establishment — spirited individuals to take the matter up, and get the monopoly squashed ! In the meantime, never send such letters through the post in this way again. Pray, remember that in all large departments there will always be some few liable to temptation, and who will not take pains to resist it. As the Money-order Office was established on purpose to meet your case, we ask you, in the name of the ninety-nine honest men, not to tempt the hundredth, who will have sins enough to answer for some day !
But you are indignant that a certain letter you ought to have had is not to hand at the proper moment. However, just think how many letters you do get, which come to your desk as true as the needle to the pole; just listen to the old gentleman yonder, as he tells how long the same business-letter from the old-established house used to be in arriv- ing, and what was paid for it when it did arrive ; above all, pray, think of the travelling caged officials — those wingless birds of the post-office— and of what they go through o’ nights in order that you may have your letter or your newspaper — posted yesterday in some quiet corner of the country, four hundred miles away — with your buttered toast at breakfast in town ! — Chambers’ s Journal.
LIABILITY OF POSTAGE STAMPS TO FRAUDULENT RE-ISSUE.
Of the possibility of a conversion of a con- siderable proportion of the old postage stamps into a condition to pass any but the closest and most inconvenient scrutiny of the sorters and stampers of the post office, and the probability of large numbers being thus fraudulently re-used, we have recently received positive proof, from specimens before us, some of which have actually been posted, and .in the ordinary course delivered at their respective addresses. The processes — for there are more than one — of obviating the cancelling marks are simple and effective ; several, we are informed, having been so transmitted by way of experiment through the post office, after due warning, without a
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Jan. 1, 1864.
single failure, and subsequently forwarded as evidence to the authorities, by a pre-arrange- ment with the Secretary of the General Post Office, whose sanction was previously ob- tained by onr informant. This discovery, it is explained to ns, was the result of a sus- picion entertained by the experimenter of the true motive of the persevering collectors of old stamps in such large and unlimited quantities, the pretence for which, for a long period, has been unintelligible upon any other reasonable hypothesis than a fraudulent object. That this investigation will lead to an im- proved method of defacing the stamp, we cannot doubt. To what extent, during several years, the revenue may thus have suffered, it would be useless to speculate, but we may reasonably infer that, where fraud is deemed impossible and the letter- sorters rendered unsuspecting, a safe busi- ness in this petty species of forgery has been carried on by the initiated to an amount in the aggregate which may have been material, since it applies no less to the larger denomi- nations of postage stamps than the lowest ; whilst, under detection and public exposure, the offence is one which will have been, by its impunity, in all probability, quietly spreading by communication among the dis- honest.— Globe.
[The above extract from the Globe, kindly forwarded by a correspondent, we think worth reprinting ; hut are of opinion that a ti*ue stamp collector would no more think of such low, mean, petty forgery than the post- master-general himself. — Ed.]
OPENING LETTERS IN THE POST- OFFICE.
The political correspondence in the reign of George III. affords conclusive evidence that the practice of opening the letters of public men at the post-office, was known to be general. We find statesmen of all parties alluding to the practice, without reserve or hesitation, and entrusting their letters to private hands whenever their communica- tions were confidential.
Traces of this discreditable practice, so far as it ministered to idle or malignant curiosity, have disappeared since the early part of the present century. From that period, the general correspondence of the country through the post-office has been
inviolable. But for purposes of police and diplomacy — to thwart conspiracies at home, or hostile combinations abroad — the Secre- tary of State has continued, until our own time, to issue warrants for opening the letters of persons suspected of crimes, or of designs injurious to the state. This power, sanctioned by long usage, and by many statutes, had been continually exercised for two centuries. But it had passed without observation until 1844, when a petition was presented to the House of Commons from four persons — of whom the notorious Joseph Mazzini was one — complaining that their letters had been detained at the post-office, broken open, and read. Sir James Graham, the Secretary of State, denied that the letters of three of these persons had been opened ; but avowed that the letters of one of them had been detained and opened by his war- rant, issued under the authority of a statute. Never had any avowal, from a minister, encountered so general a tumult of disappro- bation. Even Lord Sidmouth’s spy system had escaped more lightly. The public were ignorant of the law — though renewed seven years before — and wholly unconscious of the practice which it sanctioned. Having be- lieved in the security of the post-office, they now dreaded the betrayal of all secrecy and confidence. A general system of espionage being suspected, was condemned with just indignation.
Five-and- twenty years earlier, a minister—, secure of a parliamentary majority — having haughtily defended his own conduct, would have been content to refuse further inquiry, and brave public opinion. And in this instance, inquiry was at first successfully resisted ; but a few days later, Sir James Graham adopted a course, at once significant of the times, and of his own confidence in the integrity and good faith with which he had discharged a hateful duty. He proposed the appointment of a secret committee, to investigate the law in regard to the opening of letters, and the mode in which it had been exercised. A similar committee was also appointed in the House of Lords. These committees were constituted of the most eminent and impartial men to be found in parliament ; and their inquiries, while elicit-
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ing startling revelations as to the practice entirely vindicated the personal conduct of Sir Janies Graham. It appeared that foreign letters had, in early times, been constantly searched, to detect correspondence with Rome, and other foreign powers ; that by orders of both Houses, during the Long Parliament, foreign mails had been searched ; and that Cromwell’s Postage Act expressly authorised the opening of letters, in order 4 to discover and prevent dangerous and wicked designs against the peace and welfare of the commonwealth.’ Charles II. had interdicted, by proclamation, the opening of any letters, except by warrant from the Secretary of State. By an Act of the 9th Anne, the Secretary of State first received statutory power to issue warrants for the opening of letters; and this authority had been continued by several later statutes for the regulation of the post-office. In 1788, a similar power had been entrusted to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. In 1722, several letters of Bishop Atterbury having been opened, copies were produced in evidence against him, on the bill of pains and penal- ties. During the rebellion of 1745, and at other periods of public danger, letters had been extensively opened. Nor were war- rants restricted to the detection of crimes or practices dangerous to the state. They had been constantly issued for the discovery of forgery and other offences, on the application of the parties concerned in the apprehension of offenders. Since the commencement of this century, they had not exceeded an annual average of eight. They had been issued by successive Secretaries of State, of every party, and except in periods of unusual disturbance, in about the same annual num- bers. The public and private correspon- dence of the country, both foreign and domestic, practically enjoyed complete secu- rity. A power so rarely exercised could not have materially advanced the ends of justice. At the same time, if it were wholly with- drawn, the post-office would become the privileged medium of criminal correspon- dence. No amendment of the law was recommended ; and the Secretary of State retains his accustomed authority. — May's History of England.
REVIEWS of POSTAL PUBLICATIONS.
Standard Guide to Postage-Stamp Collecting.
By Bellars & Davie. London : John
Camden Hotten.
‘Whoe’er expects a faultless work to see,
Expects what never was, nor is, nor is to be.’
This time-honoured distich holds good for all human handiwork, postage-stamp cata- logues not excepted. Those at present pub- lished, having each its own peculiar excel- lency and compensating defect, the best and safest advice we can give to the postage-stamp collector is, to invest a trifle — and a very small sum will suffice — in all of them, and thus obtain the needful and accessible in- formation desired.
The work under review is unexceptionable in the quality of the paper, clearness of print, and elegance of the ornamental cover, adorned with the portraits of a number of the rarer stamps in their natural colours. For the good effect of this latter feature the names of Day & Son are ample guarantees.
This publication, moreover, affords an addition to the quantum of scientific know- ledge directly or indirectly attainable by means of the study of postage stamps. We allude to a species of memoria technica , which a com- plicated table of characters and figures affords the possessor of it an opportunity of learning and applying to obtain an acquaintance with the shape and comparative rarity of the stamps he possesses or desires.
This insight into the marketable value and scarcity of postage stamps is a new feature in books on the subject ; and though neces- sarily in a great measure approximative only, a stamp of exceeding rarity at one time (witness the 5 reis Queen of Portugal, for example) becoming pretty generally attain- able when the great demand, in accordance with the laws of political economy, eventuates in the supply.
The compilers of the work adopt Dr. Gray’s plan of placing England and her colonies first, and other countries with their dependencies in alphabetical order. This arrangement, when carried out in albums, tends to weary the eye with an almost inter- minable series of queen’s heads, in more than
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Jan. 1, 1864.
three dozen varieties of representation. We much prefer the geographical adaptation in Moens’ stamp album.
The separation of private offices and proofs from the main body of the volume is a novel and, in some respects, convenient improve- ment, though open to objection, as marring the simplicity of the catalogue. Having gone so far, it would have been advisable to make a further separation, placing the locals apart from the proofs. We may remark, incidentally, that the authors have con- founded proofs with essays. In the former category may be placed the 24 c., 30 c., and 90 c. of the United States, besides numerous others (as those of Cuba, not noticed in the book) ; and in the latter, the three-halfpenny English, the stamps intended for Para- guay, &c.
The issues of stamps follow each other so fast that no catalogue can possibly keep up with them ; we cannot therefore be surprised at the absence of the new emissions of Hong Kong, Jamaica, the Mauritius, envelopes of Austria and Venetia, Italy, Hanover, &c. The exact words of the inscription on the stamps is greatly conducive to facility of identification ; and the uncouth- looking words denoting the Swedish values, and the queer characters on the Moldavian, Russian, and Polish individuals, copied without error, demonstrate the extreme care with which the work must have been got up. There are but two errata noted for correction ; one of which, we submit, is scarcely an error, the word being so spelt on the stamp.
The index and money table appended will be found very convenient ; but in some instances the equivalent values in English currency are decidedly incorrect. Under Germany, southern division, 15 kreuzer are represented as worth tenpence English, and in Bavaria and Baden 25 kreuzer are made equivalent to sixpence-halfpenny ; the former instance exaggerating, and the latter depreciating their actual value, which is about 3 to a penny. The peso of Buenos Ayres is valued at four shillings and two- pence, in lieu of about twopence-three-far- things. It is the peso of Brazil which corres- ponds in value with the American dollar.
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
S. L. B., Southernhay, Exeter. — Your wish is attended to in the present number. — Your previous communication was acknowledged in that for November.
C. E. P., Maiden Bradley. — Your stamp is now obsolete. It was a local for Stockholm.
Ludovictjs. — We incline to your opinion that our newspaper stamps, since the repeal of their duty, being exclusively for their prepayment, are admissible into stamp albums.— We have never seen such a stamp as the 'One you mention. — The impress on the several paper stamps of Natal is always the same size, but there is more or less of the margin left after cutting.
B. D. K., Malta. — The Austrian stamps you describe must be essays. We have never met with their like. — Your black Victoria sixpenny cannot be genuine. The essay of that value is a fac-simile of the blue, being of course printed from the same die. — We have never had an opportunity of comparing the false with the genuine half- anna India of 1854.
R. Meldrum, Glasgow. — Your black twopenny English has the evident remains of blue on its surface. We fancy same extraneous cause altered the colour to what it is. — The forged stamp of the isle of Reunion, of which you send a specimen, is openly sold as fictitious by continental dealers; the real stamp being, as you say, almost un- attainable. You will see both the Reunion stamps alluded to as reproduced in the September number of the magazine.
J. Y., Leicester. — Your stamp is one of the latest series of Austrian postage stamps, all of which we fully described so long ago as in our number for August — We should imagine a stamp, value one dollar, sold for ninepence, about as genuine as the sovereigns that may be bought in the city, near Fenchurch Street, for one shilling. — The blue and lilac of the present issue of Denmark have dotted, the green and brown wavy grounds. — The pink two annas India is now out of use.— We have never heard where the Victoria stamps are executed. We agree with you that the present sixpenny is a hideous specimen of colonial taste. The new fourpenny is a great improve- ment.— The August number of the magazine contained the green 3 pfennige of the new issue for Saxony. Some amateur postman must have helped himself to it in its transit.
G. H. S., Exeter. — The sixpenny Victoria, just alluded to, is mentioned in Mount Brown’s catalogue for 1862, third edition. Our addenda to his catalogue notices the variations in colour of the blue threepenny.
C. B. McLaren. — There are shilling stamps of the Cape of Good Hope in three colours, — dark green, emerald green, and what the ladies call the new green.
P. 11. J., Grammar School, Boston.— Your Spanish stamp, which is almost a fac-simile of the genuine impression, apparently comes from the cover of a packet of sweetmeats.
W. V., Carlisle.— The telegraph stamps can scarcely be regarded as postage stamps. — Our December number con- tains a notification of the intended annual publication of the magazine, with title-page and index.
Ignoramus.— The red penny Victoria, with letters in each corner, exists at present as a specimen only. W e suppose it will be issued as soon as the stock on hand fails.
S. S. B., Stoke Newington Road. — The printing on the back of your Canada beaver shows it to have been cut from the pages of some periodical. — Your Tuscan is four crazie, not one. It appears genuine, but is of a paler green than usual.
Feb. 1, 1864.] THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE.
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THE HISTORY OF MY STAMP ALBUM.
CHAPTER II.
CHANGE OF SCENE.
‘The contrast mark : — Without, the verdure of a princely park,
The glorious sunset, and the perfumed air,
In vain allure the votaries of play :
Within, — dull mimics of the solar ray —
Around the tables lights unnatural flare,
While — health, and time, and money thrown away— Youthful and manly energies decay,
And reign triumphant Fury and Despair.’
Time passed on. A year and a half had slipped away on fleet wings. I was rapidly rising in my profession, and now head clerk in the firm which I had first entered as a raw, nntntored country lad. High in the confidence and esteem of my employers, my salary was large enough to meet all my wishes, and I had a prospect held out of eventually becoming a partner.
I was still unmarried, though my years counted some two or three over thirty ; hut my celibacy was owing to the simple reason, that I had never seen anyone who came up to the standard of female perfection which I expected in my wife — the future Mrs. Wil- liam Sotherby.
In my daily journeys to and from the office, I occasionally met my former land- lady. She always dropped a respectful and deprecating courtesy. I but slightly returned her civility : the robbery of my precious collection still rankled in my breast ; and my animosity against my injurer had not softened or diminished with the months that had elapsed since its loss.
About this time I was entrusted by my employers with a confidential mission to the gay and fashionable watering place of Wies- baden, which would in all probability cause me to be absent from my native country for some time.
It was the height of the season when I arrived in this lively town, at just the most festive and brilliant time of the year ; and I was soon plunged into all the dissipation within my reach. I frequented the faro tables, but merely as a spectator ; gambling had ever been distasteful to me, both on principle and inclination.
One evening when, attracted by the un- usual interest of the game, I had stayed later
than was my custom in one of the public rooms, a young man, who by his tall, manly figure, light flaxen hair, and blue eyes, I concluded at once to be a fellow-countryman, abruptly and hastily entered the room, and, approaching the table, played for some time carelessly and recklessly. I watched his excited movements with keen attention. His face seemed certainly familiar to me ; and I repeated to myself that I had seen before those clear-cut features, and the high, white brow, with the rich masses of shining, fair hair tossed back in wild confusion. I was confident I had heard before the deep bass tones of that ringing voice. Chancing to look up, the young man’s eye caught my inquiring glance. It instantly fell ; he turned deathly pale ; and after this played more desperately, more carelessly than ever ; and his losings now becoming considerable, with a furious oath he dashed his hand vio- lently on the table, and left the saloon.
All that night, the wild looks, the troubled face, and the livid pallor that overspread the young Englishman’s countenance when he first saw me, haunted my dreams. I arose the next morning feverish and disturbed : I resolved to watch over and guard, as far as lay in my power, the man in whose fate I had taken such a sudden and deep interest.
Night after night I repaired to the gaming saloons, and with my back against one of its* marble pillars, I quietly but attentively observed the players. Mr. Heywood (I had learnt the young Englishman’s name from the doorkeeper, to whom he was well known as one of the habitual frequenters of the faro tables) was immediately under my eye ; and I could see the slightest change that passed over his mobile face, and mark the smallest alteration in his manner. His losses aug- mented each evening, till the total must have amounted to no insignificant sum. This continued without interruption for more than a week, without the fickle tide of luck turn- ing once in young Heywood’ s favour. At last, one evening — rendered desperate by continual failures, and the taunts and sneers of a dark, swarthy Spaniard, his principal creditor — he rushed suddenly out of the saloon, his teeth firmly clenched, his eyes wildly flashing, and his nostrils dilated. I
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb. 1, 1864.
hastily followed, divining his insane inten- tions. He hurried throngh the colonnades, down the acacia avenue towards the Adler Hotel. Then apparently changing his mind, he passed round the Heidenmaur, and made his way to the dark pond which serves as repository for the waste waters of the town. Arrived, he was preparing to precipitate himself into its black, sluggish depths ; but I pulled him forcibly back, exclaiming sternly, —
‘ What would yon do, madman ? thus seeking to enter, unbidden and unprepared, the presence of your Maker.’
‘Yes,’ shrieked he, ‘ I am mad with despair and anguish. Ruin, starvation, dishonour, stare me in the face. I am friendless, for- saken. I have lost all and more than I possess in the world, and thought to end my wretched, degraded life beneath these peace- ful waters.’
His voice had sunk at the last few words to a low whisper ; but presently he broke out afresh, his tone rapid, vehement, shrill, and full of a horror that froze my blood, as he screamed in my ear : —
‘ Arid am I to be turned from my settled purpose by yon? — the fiend, the hideous, glaring spectre of the fearful past ! Has Satan, my master, sent you as one of his emissaries to haunt, to torture, to tempt me to still greater sin by the sight of your face, which awakens the remorse and agony of long, awful months ? Leave me, wretch : let me go, man, imp of sin, or whatever you are ! ’ he yelled, and wrenching himself from my relaxed grasp, he essayed once more to throw himself into the pond ; but I was too quick for him ; already my hand clutched his shoulders, and exercising all my strength (for Heywood was a strong, powerful fellow, over six feet high), I drew him away from the fatal and alluring spot, and dragged, or rather led him through the now deserted streets to my lodgings. He still stormed and raved, like one demented ; but so fren- zied and incoherent were his half-uttered ejaculations and broken sentences, that I could gather no sense from them. The in- fluence of the great strain upon his nerves, and the lengthened excitement under which he had for a long time laboured, had for a brief space overthrown his reason, and in
that fearful hour by the banks of the dark pond he had been a raging maniac ; but when he reached my rooms he had become somewhat calmer, and allowed me to ad- minister to him a soothing opiate, and with my assistance got into bed, and was soon in a deep and heavy sleep.
CHAPTER III.
THE SLOUGH OF DESPOND.
‘Fond man ! To madly rush upon a fate Unknown, — untried !
Would that he ne’er had found a living state,
Or never died ! ’
He awoke next morning quiet and collected : his eyes had lost their feverish glare, and the flush of delirium had faded from his cheek, leaving it white and sunken ; and I could now see the ravages made by the wild, dissi- pated life he had been leading. Presently he sat up in bed, and glanced with a strange, bewildered look round the room, and then after a few moments exclaimed, ‘ Ah ! yes, I remember now,’ and shuddering sank back on the bed ; but soon he roused himself, as if unused to any lengthened communion with his own feelings, and said, in a calm, quiet voice ci
‘ I know you well ; we lodged in the same house, near St. Clement’s church, nearly two years ago ; we were friendly, though we rarely met ; but you do not recognise, in the sallow, prematurely- old man before you, the once gay and blooming Edward Allan.’
- Edward Allan ! ’ I exclaimed, warmly grasping his hand. ‘Is it possible? I thought your face wonderfully familiar the first- p.ight I saw you, but could not for the life of me tell where I had seen it ; and your name of Heywood puzzled me.’
‘ That is one of my numerous aliases : their name is legion ; for, flying from one town to another, in consequence of the debts of honour (the last words were uttered bitterly and scornfully) I had contracted in each place I visited, I changed my name as often as my abode, and finally assumed that of Heywood, to baulk the pursuit and detec- tion of an English sharper to whom I had lost enormous sums in Paris, and who had vowed to follow me through all the world, till he obtained either his money or my life. But I will tell you the story of my past, and
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then leave you to judge whether it had not been better to have left me as food for the ravenous carp in those turbid waters, than to burden the earth with the weight of my criminal follies, and let loose upon the world such a wretch as I am, to taint the little that yet remains pure and innocent.’
‘But,’ I replied, gravely and seriously, ‘you may have been spared for new and better purposes, and to give you a chance of making reparation for the sins you have committed. I am convinced and assured that I was the weak and feeble instrument in higher and mightier hands, for your restoration to repentance, and a life more worthy of man’s destined mission.’
At my words he smiled faintly, but rather more hopefully and cheerfully ; and then, in a !ow, subdued voice, told me his history.
It was the old tale, of a father’s sternness, and a youth’s transgressions ; and though the only son, and heir to a large estate, he had been turned adrift upon the world, when the knowledge of the wild, reckless life he was leading at college reached the paternal ears; and then, with only a few pounds in his pocket, and crible de dettes to tradesmen and others to whom he owed large sums, he repaired to London ; and through the in- fluence of a cousin, a large banker at the West End, had obtained employment as accountant in one of the city firms. He had then taken the rooms above mine at Mrs. Matson’s, and had gone on quietly and steadily for some time ; till, restless and dissatisfied with the dull monotony of the office where he was confined all day, he threw up his situation and sought the Continent, and finally came to Wiesbaden, where, after, as I had seen, losing at the gaming table all and more than he possessed, he had ventured one final throw. The result I knew : he had sought a suicide’s grave, from which he had been rescued by a comparative stranger.
With calm reflection came thankful grati- tude for the succour afforded him in his hour of eternal peril ; and when Edward Allan — as we must now call him — quitted me, at my earnest instigation, to seek the pardon of his angry father, it was with a heart full of new and penitent hope.
(To be continued).
SKETCHES OF THE LESS-KNOWN STAMP COUNTRIES.
BY C. W. VINER, A.M., PH.D.
II.— LUXEMBOURG.
When serving our novitiate as stamp collector, some three years since, or rather less, and in possession of the unpretentious number of rather more than a hundred specimens, we often cast a longing glance at a speci- men not unfrequent in our young friends’ albums, although profoundly ignorant of its proper designation, and hopeless of informa- tion from its possessors, — as much in the dark on the subject as ourselves.
It was most usually seen in the page devoted to the Dutch stamps ; the head depicted thereon being almost identical with that of the King of the Netherlands. By the way, what a wonderful difference exists between the face represented on the stamps in question, and the full-blown countenance adorning the handsome stamp for Java, on which his majesty of Holland looks as though he fattened on somewhat rather stronger than the copious waters of his dominion.
To return to our subject. Some collectors objected to this locality for the stamp we have alluded to, as being marked dix cents , which was assuredly neither single nor dou- ble Dutch, and consequently placed it in their French page ; but when the rapid spread of the mania brought us in contact with more well- stocked albums, and a very similar stamp showed itself in value un silber- groscheny the puzzle became more complicated still, as . the veriest tyros were aware that was the designation of a German coin. The then mysterious stamp is now well known to the gieenest of juvenile collectors as the old black Luxembourg.
For the last few centuries Luxembourg, either as duchy or city, has made little or no stir among the European powers ; the in- habitants appearing pacifically submissive to the will of whatever government may have ruled over them for the time being ; but in remoter annals of history, the sages, warriors, heroes, and even heroines of Luxembourg
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb. 1, 1864.
and its dependencies, have shone forth nobly amongst tha noble.
The great commanders selected by poets most usilally for elaborate praise, and all the embellishments of flowery verse, will rarely bear the scrutiny of sober history unscathed ; but Godfrey, Count of Bouillon, whose small and ancient domains are now merged in those of the duchy we are commemorating, pre-eminently challenges all inquiry.
‘ Bom to command,
Among the noblest will Count Godfrey stand :
Bold as a lion in the battle’s roar,
Courteous and gentle when the fight is o’er.’ Historical documents record that he fully deserved the celebrity conferred upon him by the exquisitely-beautiful poem of Tasso. Though universally recognised as the first Christian King of Jerusalem, after his con- quest of that holy city in the last crusade, he modestly refused the insignia of royalty, and would not 4 wear a golden crown where his Master, the King of kings, was obliged to carry one of thorns.’
When he perished, treacherously poisoned by the Emir of Caesarea, all Jerusalem was filled with grief and consternation. He was buried at the foot of Calvary, a herald crying out, 4 King Godfrey is dead ; ’ at which, says the chronicler, Albert of Aix, even the Sara- cens who were present could not restrain their tears.
There is a splendid bronze equestrian statue of Godfrey, by the Belgian sculptor Simonis, in the Place Royale of Brussels : a fac-simile of which was, we believe, in the Great Exhibition of 1851.
William de la Marck, too, 4 the wild boar of Ardennes,’ an object of detestation to the young readers of Quentin Durward, was quite as brave as our talented novelist represents him, but by no means so black in character, —a good instance of the well-known proverb which we need not here particularise.
It would far exceed the limits prescribed for our slight sketch, to enumerate a tithe of the eminent individuals that the province of -Luxembourg can boast of producing. Its princes have become kings and emperors, and its princesses have sat on the thrones of Europe. Its warriors have achieved renown at home and abroad. During the long con- flicts between Louis - the Great and our
William of Orange, one of the counts of Luxembourg, heroic as the rest of his race, but deformed in body, was one of the most redoubted adversaries, on the French side, to our troops. William, after a reverse due to the skill and bravery of his antagonist, exclaimed, 4 Shall I never get quit of that hunchbacked fellow ? ’ This being repeated to the count, he remarked, 4 How does he know anything about my back F I’m sure he never saw it.’ The noble palace of the Luxembourg in Paris — the House of Peers of France — was partly built and completed by one of the dukes of the noble house we are commemorating.
The grand-duchy of Luxembourg is situate between Belgium proper, France, and the Rhenish provinces of Prussia. It contains an area of about 2,500 square miles, with a population of 160 to the mile. It is tolerably fertile in wheat, rye, &c., and produces wine, though of inferior quality. Its mineral treasures are slate, iron, lead, and copper. Some of the remains of the enormous forest, described by Caesar as the Arduenna Sylva , still diversify and improve the face of the country. The forest of Ardennes preserves its name transmitted ages before the Roman conqueror’s time : Arden being the ancient Celtic appellation of a forest, — borne in our own country also by a large sylvan tract of land in Warwickshire. The Arden of Shake- spear’s As You Like it is identified with the Belgian forest.
The representatives of Luxembourg in postage-stamp albums are nine of the modern series and five of the obsolete, besides one or two essays. The early issue, previously alluded to, has a grey and a black, in value 10 centimes ; and a brick-red, rose, and lake- red, value 1 silber groschen. The first of these last-mentioned stamps is exceedingly rare in good preservation. The current stamps are elegantly engraved with the arms of the grand-duchy ; and, from their tasty contrast of colour, always attract the eye even of those who 4 see no use in them.’ Juveniles and others, ignorant of the com- plicated values of continental coin, may wonder at the apparently strange amount on the green stamp. This (37-| centimes) is the equivalent for 3 silber groschen, as is 25
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centimes for 2 silber groschen, and 12J for 1 silber groscben, which three individuals do duty for the German correspondence.
The city of Luxembourg — whence the duchy derives its designation — was originally a strong fortress of the Treviri, afterwards enlarged by the Romans, and called Augusta Romanorum. After its conquest by Merovin of Prance, the name was changed to Lucis Burgum, or City of Light, because the sun had been anciently worshipped there. This appellation still exists in its Germanized form.
Luxembourg, denominated by a recent traveller 4 the most bewitching, fascinating, and. provokingly-tantalizing place sketcher ever sat down in,’ is the most strongly forti- fied town in Europe, except Gibraltar. Its several successive possessors, Treviri, Ro- mans, Franks, Spaniards, French, and Dutch, have all tried their hands at the improve- ment of its naturally commanding position.
A double line of outworks, in the hepta- gonal form, covers the platform of a rock connected on the west alone with the neigh- bouring country. Precipices, two hundred feet in depth, enclose the lower town in a basin, which is approached from the upper by steep flights of steps, or streets formed in zigzags, like those of Mount Cenis on a small scale.
A projecting headland of rock, called Le JBouc , divides the lower town into two quarters, and being perforated with loop- holes and embrasures, commands a full view of the valley in every direction. The exca- vated casements of this rock will contain 4000 defendants. The whole garrison usually consists of 6000 Prussians, commissioned by the Germanic Confederation.
We have previously narrated our own adventure in this most picturesque of towns last summer, and told how nearly we escaped incarceration for our curiosity, but the visi- tant lately referred to was not so fortunate. He arose with the sun, and having previously spotted some charming localities for sketch- ing, had just commenced an interesting view, when he was pounced upon by a couple of grenadiers, speaking the same vile patois which puzzled ourselves, and hurried off to the guard-house ; where the officer on duty informed him that were he found making
drawings of any part of the fortifications, he would pay the penalty of his temerity by confinement in a dungeon. Could this pro- voking embargo be withdrawn, what a fine field would be open for a spirited photo- grapher ! How beautifully the stereoscope would exhibit the draw-bridges — apparently hanging in the air, the ravelins, counter- scarps, masked batteries, and fortified towers of this seldom- visited fortress !
In the middle of the ninth century the county of Luxembourg formed part of what was called Lotharingia, when c6ded to Lothaire I. of France by the treaty of Verdun. About a century after, Henry the Fowler, in whose hands the district then was, erected it into an independent duchy. In the tenth century Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, held the government, and divided it into Upper and Lower ; delegating Fred- erick, Count of Bar, to the administration of the former, and Godfrey of Ardenne to the latter. This Godfrey afterwards received, from his father, Verdun and Bouillon as his inheritance, and his brother Sigifred the county of Luxembourg. A daughter of this last-named prince married the emperqr Henry II. of Germany, and his eldest son became Duke of Bavaria, renouncing Luxem- bourg in favour of his younger brother Frederic.
Conrad, grandson of Frederic, quarrelled with the archbishop of Treves, and went so far as to seize and imprison that dignitary in the strong castle of his capital. But the fulminations of the Church compelled him to surrender the captive, and a pilgrimage to Jerusalem was the condition of his pardon.
On the decease of Conrad II. Luxembourg passed into the possession of Henry the Blind of Namur, as representative of his mother, Conrad’s cousin. His daughter Ermesinda, widowed a second time, under- took the sole government herself, introduced many improvements into the administration, and became one of the many proofs how well a woman can manage to rule.
In 1308 her great-grandson Henry IV. was elevated to the imperial throne. This prince contrived to aggrandize his family by several noble alliances. He obtained Bohe- mia for his only son, by marrying him to
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb. 1, 1864.
Elizabeth the heiress of that kingdom. His eldest daughter was espoused to the King of Hungary ; his second to Charles the Fair of France ; a third to the Count Palatine, Rodolph; and the youngest to Albert of Austria.
Elizabeth’s husband was that blind king killed by Edward the Black Prince at the battle of Crecy, whose motto, Ich clien, and ostrich plume now compose the well-known heraldic distinction of our princes of Wales. His successor, Wenceslaus — son by a second wife, Beatrice — married the heiress of the Duke of Brabant ; thus becoming possessed of two duchies,- — Luxembourg having just been raised to that rank by the emperor Charles IY. his paternal brother.
The promotion of so many members of the house of Luxembourg to regal and imperial thrones, tended greatly to disturb the regular succession to the duchy. Bohemia, Moravia, Burgundy, Orleans, Saxony, and Poland, by birth or marriage, alternately became its possessors. In the fifteenth century William of Saxony and Cassimer of Poland, joint heirs, ceded their claims respectively to the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy, which latter eventually obtained the sole sovereignty.
The daughter and heiress of this duke, Charles the Bold, marrying Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, Luxembourg with the rest of her dowry passed under Austrian rule ; that prince being son of Frederick, Duke of Austria. His grandson, Charles V., uniting the Netherlands to Spain, Luxem- bourg went with the rest of the provinces. Then followed the Spanish cruelties, and the rule of the infamous Alba.
At length, in the commencement of the seventeenth century, the Peace of Antwerp partially secured the independence of the United Provinces, which the Peace of Munster, at the close of the Thirty Years’ War, fully confirmed.
During the French revolution, by the assistance of the republican inhabitants them- selves, the country was soon conquered, and figured as the Batavian Republic. Napoleon afterwards formed it into a kingdom, and gave it to his brother Louis, father of the present emperor of the French • but on his
resignation it reverted to Bonaparte’s over- grown empire, and formed part of France till the great conqueror’s own reverses en- couraged the inhabitants to throw off the French yoke, and recal the banished Orange family.
In Napoleon’s time Luxembourg was the capital of what was called the Department of the Forests. When the Belgic provinces separated from those now forming the kingdom of Holland, the grand-duchy of Luxembourg was unequally partitioned be- tween the two kings. The King of Holland has one-third only of the territory ; but the population of that part far exceeds in number, and the title of Grand- Duke, which he retains, gives him a vote in the Germanic Confederation. He possesses, moreover, the ancient capital, Luxembourg. The King of the Belgians owns the western part, including the famous old duchy of Bouillon, the beau- tiful ruined Abbey and Forest of St. Hubert, and Arlon, the principal town of the district, the Orolaunum of the Romans.
THE MORMON STAMP.
In the year 1852 Brigham Young issued an octagonal gold coin, and soon after a postage stamp of the same shape. No value was expressed on it, but its price was 5 cents. The execution is very rough, the impression apparently being taken from a wood-block. If seems to have been cut or punched out by an octagonal die. This stamp was in- tended for prepaying letters from one part of the Great Salt Lake Valley to another, or to or from the Salt Lake City, the capital. Some letters, however, with these stamps upon them, found their way to the United States, and were immediately repudiated by the postmaster at Washington. They at once fell into disuse ; but at the present day a system of posting from one part of the Mormon colony to the other is still em- ployed. This and some other attempts at independent government on the part of Brigham Youngs and his followers, caused the Washington authorities to despatch a military force to the Great Salt Lake, for the purpose of restoring order and allegiance. It met with but ill success, however. — The Standard Guide to Postage- Stamp Collecting .
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HISTORY OF POSTAL COMMUNICA- TIONS.—II. ANCIENT GREECE.
BY THE REV. HENRY H. HIGGINS, M.A.
Hermes, son of Zens arid Maia, herald of the gods, patron of travellers and of high- ways, promoter of social intercourse amongst mankind, has, on classical grounds, the best claim to he considered the presiding divinity of postal arrangements. Here we have his likeness, taken by a skilful photographer of the ‘ immortals : ’ — 4 A youth more light- limbed than the stag, whose eyes were like sparks of fire. By his side was a scimitar of diamond, all of one clear precious stone ; and on his feet were golden sandals, from the heels of which grew living wings.’ But as Hermes did to others, so another has done to himself. He is said to have stolen the bow of Apollo, the trident of Neptune, the girdle of Yenus, the sword of Mars, the tools of Yulcan, and the sceptre of Jupiter : but his own turn has come ; almost all his honour has been taken from him and bestowed on a Roman divinity named Mercurius, patron of buying and selling and of cheating : last and deepest indignity of all, the portrait of the divine Hermes on the stamps of his own beloved country, appears in our albums as the effigy of Mercury the e malevolent ’ !
We look in vain for any traces of a postal system amongst the ancient Greeks : private correspondence, if it existed at all, was rare amongst them ; and dispatches relating to the affairs of the state were sent by special messengers, some of whom were celebrated for their powers of speed and endurance. Phidippides ran from Athens to Sparta — about 150 English miles — in two days, and, by his own account, had leisure on his way to receive a favourable Communication from the god Pan, who complained that his wor- ship had been neglected, but stated that he was still well disposed towards the Greeks, and intended to help them in their difficulties with the Persians. This story of Phidippides seems to indicate that the Grecian couriers were not mere letter carriers, but were men having an interest in the tidings they con- veyed, and from whose personal qualifications something more than mere speed was ex- pected.
Some ingenuity was shown by the Greeks in the means they used to secure secrecy in the conveyance of intelligence. At the siege of Potidaea a traitorous commander within the city received letters by arrows shot from without ; but one of these happening to wound a Potidasan, a crowd collected, and the treachery was discovered. But the most ingenious contrivance was employed by the magistrates of Sparta, who, on sending out a general, gave him one of two cylinders of wood made exactly of the same size, the other they retained ; and when wishing to transmit secret orders the magistrates used a long, narrow strip of parchment, which they wrapped in a spiral manner closely around their own cylinder : the order, being written on the strip along the cylinder, was unintelligible when the strip was unwrapped, and could only be read when it was twined round the counterpart cylinder : the strip was sent, and the general alone by the use of his cylinder could decypher the message.
It is a very significant circumstance, that ancient Greece— with all her intellectual re- finement, her unrivalled galleries of art, her theatres and public games, her orators, and philosophers, and statesmen — had no post. Public life arrived at its climax in Athens, but to her citizens our friend of the daily double tap was unknown ; so were infir- maries, and orphan asylums, and schools for the children of the poor. It was not Pallas Athene that set these things on foot ; but with them, and from the same source, arose that mighty postal circulation, which by its million streams exhibits how vigorous are the throbs of private enterprise, and friendly interest, and family affection, in the heart of a Christian nation.
THE HAND STAMP OF BOLIYIA.
It is the subject of much surprise that, notwithstanding the progress made in both the Old and New Worlds in the question of postal reforms, many countries of great commercial importance seem to cling in their public policy to obsolete ideas. Thus Bolivia, a country embracing an area of nearly half a million of square miles, lying adjacent to Brazil, Peru, and the Argentine
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb. 1, 1864.
Republic (all of which have long adopted the system of adhesive labels for the prepayment of postage), has not introduced postage stamps as part of its postal arrangments. But, as necessity has compelled the resort to some other plan to supply the much-needed want, the Bolivia post-office department requires its officials in the various provincial sub- offices to employ a hand stamp, an im- pression of which is to be made upon every prepaid letter.
We have lately had an opportunity of examining a number of these impressions. As a matter of interest to our readers, we will give some brief account of them. In general appearance they resemble very closely the hand-stamped impressions of the city of Brunswick. They are mostly oval, and contain always the name of the particular post-office from which issued, and the word Franca , to indicate the fact of prepayment. On some of them, the words Republica Boli- viana appear round the outer margin. The following are the names of the towns from which we have seen impressions : —
Potosi : octagon : vignette, eagle sur- rounded by laurel : inscription, Potosi at top, and Franca at bottom : black imp. on bluish paper.
Paz : oval : inscription, Republica Bolivi- ana at the top of oval ; in the centre, Paz , Franca ; and laurel branches at bottom of oval : green imp. on white paper.
Santa Cruz : oval : inscription at top, Santa Cruz : vignette, eagle flying, holding an olive branch in each claw : at tlie bottom, Franca: imp., both red and black.
Cochabamba : oval : wreath of olive run- ning round the entire border : inscrip- tion in centre, Cochabamba , Franca : imp., rose.
Sicef : oval : inscription at top, Franca , and at bottom, Sucef : vignette, laurel wreath : imp., rose.
Oeuvo : oval : inscription at top, Oruvo , and at bottom, Franca : in the centre, two olive branches crossed : imp., dark- green.
In reference to the character of these
impressions, we may remark, in general, that they are coarsely done, and bear no comparison in point of execution with any of the modern postage stamps of recent date. It is to be hoped that, ere long, they may give place to something much more sightly, and much more practical.
STAMPS NEWLY ISSUED, OR FIRST DESCRIBED.
The first month of the year being so fre- quently chosen for the emission of new stamps, the second is not likely to herald much in the shape of novelty. We can but announce a new series of stamps for Spain. We venture to say series, although we have yet in our hands but specimens of the 4 cuartos. These are similar in design to those of the last issue, but are printed in brick-red on red-tinted paper, and bear the value abbreviated, to make room for the date of the year (1864). No doubt, the com- panion stamps will have been all seen before this notice is in print.
Engravings of two of the varieties of the ■ dubious Livonian stamps are subjoined, and
we shall be glad of accredited information respecting them from any of our continental or home correspondents.
In our next number will appear a copy of the new threepenny scarlet Mauritius. The green sixpenny and shilling of that most whimsical island appear to have dropped for the present, and to be superseded by the violet sixpenny which came over by one mail only some time since, and the yellow shil- ling, the first that bore the value on the sides in such minute characters as to have escaped notice originally.
We have to note the resuscitation of what we imagine will prove one of the rarest of our colonial antiquities. It is exactly like
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the oblong horizontal British Gniana 4 c., bnt is of the same colour as the bine of the earliest issue. It is at present unique, and adorns the album of the possessor of one of the finest collections of postage stamps in London.
We have seen the local Bestellgeld Hano- verian horse in blue instead of green ; but it is possibly a chemical essay on the gullibility of the credulous.
Amateurs and postal speculators will alike hail with eagerness the following announce- ment, extracted from the Presse : —
‘Special Postage, &c. — Special postage stamps are about to be issued in Egypt for franking letters in the interior of the country. They are to be manufactured in England by a company which supplies such articles to many of the States of Europe.’
A friend has just forwarded us some of the French colonial stamps received from Tahiti. The postmark obliteration is peculiar, and entitles them to the rank of a variety in catalogues. In addition to the usual punc- tuations, the letters 0 C N are stamped, and we are informed they are intended as an abbreviation of Oceanic. This will serve as another pertinent reply to the cynical Cui bono cry of the uninitiated. Messrs. What’s- the-use-of-them & Co. may gain from a little despised postage stamp the information that King George’s Island is colonised by the French.
We here give an engra- ving of the newly-issued two-cent New Brunswick stamp, referred to in our last number. We presume it is intended, like the two- cent stamp of Nova Scotia, for the payment of soldiers’ letters.
We have recently seen most excellent imitations of the New Brunswick O’Connell essay. They are photographed from a good specimen of the original stamp, and are precisely of the natural colour. They cannot, however, be mistaken for the genuine rarity, as they are much larger ; nevertheless, ama- teurs will do well to be careful in purchasing the stamp in question ; for there is nothing to militate against the production of an equally veritable resemblance in the natural size.
An engraving is subjoined of one of the new series of Venezuela stamps, which are fully described in our last number. The specimen, here figured is supposed to be yellow on white.
We think the 2 c. green of the North American Con- federate States has not yet taken its place in catalogues.
THE ROYAL ROAD TO LEARNING.
If a schoolmaster had introduced stamp collecting amongst boys as a ‘ royal road ’ to acquiring a knowledge of current history, geography, and national statistics, he would certainly have been considered a very clever person, and would doubtless have received the thanks of a vast body of papas for his ingenuity, and the success which attended his labours. Why, then, shall not these thanks and good wishes be extended at once and at first hand to the collectors themselves, who have originated the pleasant and in- structive labour ? It has been remarked by a learned and most experienced master in one of our great public schools, that those boys who have cultivated a taste for stamp collecting are more industrious, have a more perfect knowledge of their studies, and, above all, obtain a quicker experience of actual life, and the value of money (for the rarer stamps will generally have to be pur- chased), than those lads who have no similar tastes. #
These remarks are made as a reply to those persons who, having no taste for collecting themselves, cannot understand why others should find both instruction and rational amusement in the gathering of post- age stamps. There are people, high in society, who collect all kinds of odd things —
* Many gentlemen (especially numismatists) collect postage stamps ; but collecting amongst juveniles is here especially spoken of, on account of the ease with which a beginning may be made. The formation of small collec- tions of shells, insects, plants, coins, or even crests and monograms, is especially to be encouraged. Either is just as good as postage stamps for the purpose of training the mind to careful discrimination ; but the value of the latter, as we have just stated, is ‘the ease with which a beginning may be made,’ every household affording, at least, some varieties of the national issue.
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walking sticks, snuff boxes, shop bills, old keys, old shoes worn by eminent people, and parses of different makes and fashions. A duke once made an immense collection of tobacco pipes ; and a merchant at Amster- dam had a great taste for specimen buttons from the coats of eminent men. Snrely, seeking after the paper coins of the civilized world, bearing the effigies of the monarch s, or the national badges, and with scraps of the language on the borders, is as instructive and proper a pursuit as either of these.
J. C. H.
INSIDE THE POST-OFFICE.
From the moment that a letter leaves the hand of the sender, and falls into the box, it becomes the property of the post-office, for purposes of delivery, and cannot be with- drawn. If it contains any hasty phrase, any bitterness of tone that the writer regrets ; if its weight is considered greater than the head or heads upon its surface will carry ; or if any important particular is thought to be omitted in its address, it must, nevertheless, go unaltered through all the allotted stages of its course. What this course is, from the receiving house to the railway carriage (sup- posing it to be a country letter), it may not be uninteresting or uninstructive to explain.
When Mary Jane, your intelligent maid- servant, takes your letter addressed to your aunt at Bolton, in Lancashire, her powers of reading and discrimination are exercised at the grocer’s shop round the corner, where she finds two upright letter-slips in the door- post, one marked 4 London and twelve miles round,’ and the other, 4 Inland and colonial mails.’ She first of all has to consider whether Bolton comes within the range of
4 twelve miles round London ; ’ and when she has decided this geographical point in the negative, either singly, or by the help of the receiving-house attendant, she then drops the letter into the compartment devoted to the colonial and country post. Supposing the time at which she has done this to be five o’clock in the afternoon, and the re- ceiving house to be within a reasonable omni- bus distance of the General Office, in about half an hour your aunt’s letter will be dis-
turbed from its short repose, and taken by a couple of faded, gaudy drivers, in a more faded scarlet, hard- worked, dog-cart-looking vehicle, to St. Martin’s-le-Grand. Here it will be bundled into a large hall, called the General Sorting Office, not unlike Exeter Hall, furnished with long rows of tables, desks, and shelves, at which are seated a number of active, earnest-looking, time- begrudging beings, every one engaged as if legerdemain had been his sole occupation from the cradle, and as if he had a certain task to perform, with only another hour to live. Taskmasters are passing to and fro, directing and inspecting the work ; but the chief taskmaster of all is a large, clear-faced clock, which watches the hurrying crowd with the calm, steady look of a sphinx, and which is glanced at in its turn by some of the labourers, as the conductor of an orches- tra is glanced at by timid performers.
Your aunt’s letter is at once turned out of the bag on to the top of a large table amongst a heap of other letters — a fortuitous concourse of atoms— mixed and entangled as only a mound of letters can be entangled and mixed. Some fifty men attack them immediately, like eager bone pickers at a virgin dust heap, or rather, considering their playing-card shape and appearance, like maniac gamblers at a scramble when the police are knocking at the outer gate.
All this activity has no other object than to * * * 4 face ’ them ; to put those troublesome letters on their backs which are obstinately lying on their faces ; and to turn those other letters round upon their legs which are at that moment standing on their heads. As fast as a pack that makes a full handful is scratched into order, it is transferred to another table, where the letters undergo another process of stamping.
This process has to obliterate the postage heads, so that they can never be taken off and used again, and also to stamp the letter with a circular impression, containing the date and the name of London — the town from which the letter is about to be dispatched. This task is confided to a nimble-fingered gentleman, who seems inclined to back him- self against any steam engine under the roof, past, present, or to come. Placing a number
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of letters before him in an npright position, with the postage head in the upper right corner, he strokes them down gently but rapidly, one by one, under his right hand, which holds the stamping die, and comes down with unerring precision and bewilder- ing rapidity full upon the label. A hundred heads are damaged in a minute by this skilful operator, who requires a new die every evening ; and the only partial break that occurs in his labour, is when a letter either wants a head, or contains it in the lower left-hand, instead of the upper right- hand corner. Dipping the die on to the ink brush, or stamping a paper at intervals, that stands at his side, to keep a rough record in twenties or fifties of the letters passing through the office for that night’s mail, are eccentric diversions of the head-blotting duty, performed almost too quickly to strike the eye.
After your aunt’s letter and its com- panions have suffered this ring-worm dis- figurement, and also the similar disfigurement of the dating stamp, they are parcelled out to be sorted into bags for the different leading towns, or into divisions for the re-sorting on the different lines of railway.
Those letters that are perfect in full pay- ment and clear handwriting:, are sent to their final bag, or their temporary division, without further questioning or examination ; but those corpulent documents, whose bodies have grown too big for their heads, or in whose cases two heads are officially con- sidered to be better than one, are transferred to the weighing clerk; while those letters whose addresses are faintly conveyed in the yellowest of ink, the most cramped of cramped writings, of the most unknown of unknown tongues, are transferred to a table of officers skilful in solving these passing dark problems, and known throughout the department as the 4 blind men ’ of the post- office.
The weighing clerk is an officer cultivated in sight and touch, whose eye can detect, in an instant, the letter that is attempting to pass on its journey at half price, and whose finger, by merely gliding over the surface of the doubtful letters in the process of count- ing them, can at once assist and confirm the
judgment of the sharp and experienced eye. Not one letter in a dozen, perhaps, that is overweight, requires weighing ; and not one half of the suspected impostors are convicted and marked with the postal double-payment fine.
The table of the 4 blind men ’ is the calmest spot in the building. Theirs is no work of mere mechanical dexterity, that can be brought by constant practice to a dazzling rapidity of execution. It requires much searching in directories, much guessing, much mental effort, to solve most of the rid- dles in writing and spelling that come upon the table. The irregular combinations of the alphabet alone present a boundless field of variety to the ignorant and the persevering ; and when the combinations of Christian names and surnames, names of towns, and names of counties, as well as the forms of letters, and the parts of a letter’s proper super- scription, come to be added, arithmetic can hardly convey the result. It is to this table that all those riddle letters find their way, upon whose surface Islington is spelt and written, 4 East Linton ; ’ and the late Iron Duke is addressed, long after his death, as the 4 Duk hor wellenton, Ip ark corner Lon- don, englent, or hulswear.’ The ‘ blind men ’ are often called upon to decipher such direc- tions as the following, conveyed in the most undecided of handwritings n — ‘ To Mrs. Slater to the Prince of wales in fits Roy place Kin- teston London paid. ’ The 4 blind men ’ decide that this means the 1 Prince of Wales ’ public house, Fitzroy Place, Kentish Town ; and their verdict is final.
Sometimes comic boys address their rela- tives in London in the rudest pictorial form, giving a good deal of trouble to the 4 blind men.’ A picture of a garden and a street, with a fancy portrait of the person for whom the letter is intended, drawn outside the note by a not very artistic youth of seven years of age, is not calculated to ease the sorting labour of the General Post-Office. Ad- dressed to 4 My Uncle J on, in London ; ’
4 Wilm Stratton, commonly cald teapot Wee- lin ; ’ 4 Mary Ann Street, Red Rive lane Luke St. next . door to the ocean ; ’ 4 To No. 3 Cros bsbry Row For The Female whith the Infant up Bromley Stairs ; ’ ‘Ann Poror
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb 1, 1864.
at Mrs. Winhursts No. 24 Next door to two to one ; ’ 4 Mikell Goodliff at St. Nouts Prin- tis to a Shoo Maker Mis his name not known Mrs. Cooper is grandmother to the Lad ; ’ 4 elixa clarck saxton hotel saintlnord hon se ; ’ and 4 This fanke Taghe Warkitt ill Wise Comse Wile of Withe,’ with many more hke them have come, and are constantly coming under the notice of this branch of the sorting department.
The 4 blind men ’ feel a professional artistic pride in mastering every difficulty, although the difficulty is to be taken to the land’s end for the small charge of a penny. Failing all attempts to make clear that which is never to be read in this world, the interior (after the proper forms have been observed) is at last looked into, only to present a larger and more enigmatical surface still. The only colourable explanation that can be given of the mystery, based upon the annual average of riddles which come before the ‘blind men,’ is, that some Irish hop picker, passing through London on his road to Kent, is anxious to communicate with a relative in some part of his native country.
The Sorting Office for newspapers and packets is upon an upper floor, and is reached by an endless staircase, worked by machinery, which revolves and ascends, hke the spokes of the treading mill. The busi- ness in this department is very similar to that below, except that the sorting proceeds more slowly, and the packets, while fewer, are much larger. The 4 blind man ’ here is chiefly engaged with the newspapers, whose moist addresses have either come off, or been partially torn ; and his work, like that of the department, is the heaviest on Friday night, the great newspaper despatch night of the week. He employs himself a good deal in guessing the kind of newspaper which would probably go to certain individuals, when he finds himself with a number of addresses without papers, and a number of papers without addresses. No disappointment is so bitter to the country resident as to miss his weekly budget of news and reading, when he comes down to breakfast on a Saturday morning, or to tear open the cover and find a tory organ, which he hates, in place of the whig organ, which he loves. The newspaper
4 blind man ’ performs his work as carefully as he can; and if he does make an occa- sional mistake, in sending the wrong paper to the wrong man, his countrymen must forgive him, when they know the difficulties with which he has to contend.
By a quarter past seven the first set of newspaper bags are made up, sealed, and sent gliding down a long, shining slide into the court-yard of the building, where they meet with many companions in the shape of the first letter bags sent from the General Sorting Office, for the railway post-office vans below. These bags are quickly packed in one of the dull red and black omnibus- looking vehicles waiting to receive them, and are driven off to the railway terminus, for which they have been partially sorted and packed. Your aunt’s letter, being for Bol- ton, in Lancashire, is sent to Euston Square some time before half-past eight, where it is placed with a host of companions in that series of glowing carriages which often ex- cites the curiosity of the railway night tra- veller. Here much of the sorting work of the General Post-Office is merely transferred, and it goes on unceasingly through the night and morning, as well as the reception, re- sorting, and delivery of the cross- country posts, which are taken in and despatched by the way. A number of clerks and guards, who are reheved at certain stages, attend to this labour, while the carriages in which they stand are rolling along at the rate of five-and- forty miles an hour. Your aunt’s letter, after being turned out of its divisional bag on to the green-baize counter of this flying post-office, is sorted into a pigeon hole, where it remains until it collects a certain number of companions to form a bundle. This bundle is then tied up, and dropped into the Bolton bag, which hangs up, with a brass ticket on it, at the side of the carriage. When the time arrives for this bag to be closed, that is, when the train arrives within a few miles of the town, the despatch is sealed up, and put into a rough leather covering, and without stopping a moment, or slackening one degree of a mile an hour in the speed, the Bolton letters are dropped, by the aid of some external machinery, safely into a roadside net. Here the post-office
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authorities of the town are waiting to receive them, having dropped, in exchange, a num- ber of full bags into a projecting net of the flying carriage ; and by the time the bag is opened, and your aunt’s letter is ready for delivery before she comes down to breakfast in the morning, the railway post-office has gone on catching and discharging letters along a further line of two hundred miles. — Leisure Hour .
TO THE YOUNG HEADERS OF THE MAGAZINE.
Christmas is over, little folks,
You say you’ve nought to do ;
Listen to me, and I will try And find you something new.
Now, you are very dull, my dears,
And this full well I know ;
For Christmas trees and Christmas gifts Sooner or later go.
You think that school is very dull,
E’en when, with merry play
To cheer you when the lesson’s o’er,
You romp on some bright day.
Then I advise you, one and all,
Who’ve ever weary been,
To pay for having every month This good stamp magazine.
Then, when you’ve taken this good step,
Scrape cash enough together
To get a stamp book to amuse Yourselves in rainy weather.
And— do not do a thing by halves — •
Try each your very best
To get a good collection made With care and interest.
Whoever takes my good advice May write and tell me so,
In a few verses thanking me Through Stafford Smith & Co.
0. P. Q.
REVIEWS of POSTAL PUBLICATIONS.
Postage- Stamp Album, and Catalogue of British and Foreign Postage Stamps. By Henry Whymper. (Forming the Third Edition of Oppen’s Alburn and Catalogue). London : Benjamin Blake.
On the whole, this is a much better edition than the second. The paper and style of printing were unexceptionable before, and incapable of improvement ; but the covers are now more elaborate and elegant. One
alteration we think, in the present great spread of emissions, not advisable ; we mean the abstraction of a couple of dozen pages from the catalogue. It is true that in the previous volumes some countries — Holland, Lubeck, Mecklenburg Schwerin, St. Helena, Reunion, and, pre-eminently, British Colum- bia— had more space assigned them than was requisite ; the latter, for its solitary specimen, being provided with no fewer than six dozen spaces ; but these vacancies might have been bestowed upon other places, such as Spain, Prussia, Saxony, Switzerland, &c., which were deficient in room for their numerous emissions ; and moreover, some of them left for the issues of countries such as Egypt, for example, which, we understand, contemplate the utterance of postage stamps.
In the present volume, France, for ex- ample, is mulcted of a page, although its numerous stamps and essays were ill-pro- vided with room even before ; and Hamburg has no space for its really-accredited locals. Europe, however, is yet a gainer by the new arrangement ; a great convenience being ensured by additional pages for Parma, Modena, Romagna, Tuscany, and the Two Sicilies. In Asia, Hong Kong is assigned a separate page, not being crowded into India, as in the previous albums. In the present edition the part devoted to the West Indies is much improved, by the separation of the respective islands ; and the useless space formerly occupied by French and Dutch Guiana is more judiciously bestowed. In Australasia, the large proportion devoted to New Caledonia is got rid of; but we miss a page for the Philippine Islands, whose stamps, indeed, seem to be ignored alto- gether in the album, though they are quoted in the catalogue ; and we conclude the stamps of Cuba, and other Spanish colonies, are intended to lie with those of Spain, which has not enough room for those even of the mother country.
A few additional pages are bestowed on the catalogue, which is considerably im- proved in correctness and detail. A much fuller notice is taken of some of the numerous English essays ; many omissions noticeable in the former edition are supplied ; stamps since issued are noted ; a page or more is
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb. 1, 1864.
added for the enumeration of the locals of the United States ; and several errors have been corrected, and requisite emendations provided.
A sheet containing between forty and fifty- engravings of stamps, printed in bine, forms an attractive frontispiece to the work. Some of the specimens figured are of great rarity ; one, the Langton’s Express, we believe unique.
The album being provided with guards, we would suggest to the publishers to offer for sale some loose leaves similar to those ruled in squares for the book, which could be readily gummed in, and thus uniformly supply gaps where the allowance is at present insufficient.
In reviewing the second edition we ex- pressed a hope that its rapid sale would necessitate another and a superior one. Our semi-prophetic wish has been fulfilled, and we beg cordially to repeat the same.
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE FIVE Rs APPLIED TO POSTAGE STAMPS. To the Editor of the ‘Stamp-Collector’s Magazine.’
Sir, — Will anyone be kind enough to enlighten me as to the relative values of the coins described on the German postage stamps, — as a guten groschen , a silber groschen , a neu groschen , and a groschen ?
True it is, I have learned the three Rs, — reading, ’riting, and, above all, ’ritbmetic. I have also learned the fourth and fifth Rs, which are not quite so common, viz., to remark and reflect; yet with all these advan- tages— assisted, or, more correctly speaking, mystified, by two or three German dictionaries, and Mount Brown’s money table — I must confess myself fairly puzzled.
The neu groschen is, if I recollect right, peculiar to the Saxon postage stamps. The other three occur separately in the issues of several German states ; but only in the various issues of the kingdom of Hanover are all three to be found together. In the 1851 issue, the envelope stamp equivalent to the adhesive guten groschen, is inscribed 'em guter groschen , and on the brown quartett stamp of Brunswick it is called a gute groschen. Why these vagaries in spelling ? Gute and guter may perhaps be accounted for as the first and second form of declension of the nominative masculine of the common adjective gut ; but my slender knowledge of the German language does not perceive how guten can be explained. However, it is quite possible that the Germans, like ourselves, do not strictly adhere to the rules of grammar with regard to money, but give way to arbitrary custom. For instance, if the price of an article be forty shillings, we say it is two pounds ; but if fifty shillings, we sa y two pound ten, making a plural in one case and not in the other. Again, how common it is to say a sixpence, though pence is plural, yet whoever thinks of saying a threepence ?
Mats revenons a nos moutons. With regard to the relative value of the guter groschen and the silber gros-
chen, the Brunswick stamps seem to throw a little light on the subject. The quartett brown informs us that three pfennige are the fourth of a gute groschen, there- fore there are twelve pfennige in a gute or guter groschen. The next but one in value (black on green) states that five pfennige is the half of a (silber ?) groschen, therefore there are ten pfennige to a (silber?) groschen. If this assumption be correct, and if, .as I believe is generally admittted, a thaler contain three hundred pfennige, how comes it that, while Mount Brown and Opp.en reckon thirty silber groschen of ten pfennige each to a thaler, they only give twenty-four guten groschen, or two hun- dred and eighty-eight pfennige, to the same identical coin. Twenty-five guten groschen would seem more correct. At all events, some explanation is required for the uninitiated.
I observe in Mount Brown’s money table, that Olden- burg is placed in the same brace with Hamburg, — surely a mistake. It appears more reasonable that it should change places with Prussia, and that Prussia should be classed with Brunswick ; inasmuch as the four pfennige and six pfennige of the present issue indicate a twelve rather than a ten pfennige groschen. It seems somewhat audacious to find fault with so high an authority as Mount Brown, and perhaps, like Colenso, my sceptical arithmetic is carrying me beyond my deptli ; still, like that pertinacious prelate, I like to say what I think, so will now venture to turn my criticism and scepticism to an assertion at page 143 of your October magazine, wherein, in rather ambiguous terms, you announce that the two grote of Bremen (I presume you mean half a dozen of them) will now free a letter to England.
It strikes me as somewhat curious, as well as inconsis- tent, that a stamp bearing the local inscription of Sfadt, Post Amt , exactly the same as the three grote blue, which has aways been understood as designed only for the town or district of Bremen, should be selected for foreign post- age, particularly as a German groat is worth something less than an English halfpenny, so that at least half a dozen such stamps would be required to free a single letter, unless, indeed, the postage from Bremen to England has been recently much reduced.
I know not whether the much-mooted point as to the reality of the blue Canadian 124 cent is positively settled. Lewes & Pemberton consider it a fancy article ; but then they are equally severe on the one groschen blue of Hanover, which many good judges accept as genuine. Your correspondent of June last is also very sceptical, and naturally so ; for he seems to have been so successful in chemical conjuring with regard to colour, that I should not wonder if he doubted the original colour of every- thing in existence, from green tea to blue diamonds !
I lately purchased a postmarked specimen for a half- penny, from a boy who has not the gumption, even if he had the inclination, to tamper with it. Therefore it seems clear that the Canadian Post-Office did once upon a time issue a sheet of blues ; or else sea air, or sea water, must have a peculiarly potent effect on the colouring matter of the Canadian greens.
Another difficulty which the five Rs have failed to elucidate is, what is the meaning of the letters L H. P. A. in the four corners of the Bergedorf stamps ?— simple enough, no doubt, when one knows it.
Clifton. FEXTOXIA.
THE PARAGUAYAX ESSAYS.
To the Editor of the ‘ Stamp Collector’s Magazine.’ Sir, — Judging by my own opinion, I have little doubt that any contributions to the Stamp-Collector’ s Magazine
Feb. 1, 1864.] THE STAMP COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE.
31
tending to clear up any obscurity there may be in the subject on which it treats, would prove acceptable to the readers thereof. I beg to hand you an extract from a letter lately received by myself, from a cousin who holds an appointment in the medical staff of the Paraguayan army, to whom I had written, asking him to obtain all the particulars he could relative to the essays of Para- guay. He says : ‘ The other day I got hold of the Post- master-General, and obtained the whole history of the (so-called) Paraguayan postage stamps. He assures me that they never existed. The fact is, that when the general was in Paris, some enterprising printer called upon him with the design, which, by the bye, is a copy of the impression on the one-real notes — a lion impaled, &c., and a few were printed in various colours as speci- mens, but they were never issued, and, unless the postage system is entirely changed here, never will be.’ Trust- ing this will be a step towards clearing up this vexed question, I am, &c.,
Westminister. W. E. H.
[The Paraguay stamps have never been recognised otherwise than as essays by collectors, and we are not aware that any doubt on the subject ever existed. The absence of monetary value is a sufficient proof that they were not intended for circulation in their actual con- dition ; and until Paraguay should be acknowledged as a kingdom, they would of course be abortive. — Ed.]
THE PRINCE CONSORT STAMPS.
To the Editor of the ‘ Stamp Collector’s Magazine.’
Dear Sir, — I enclose two each of the Prince Albert Essays, simply to prove that they are cut from the sheets. You can as readily return two as one.
Of their genuineness there can be no question. You may remember the marriage of her Majesty with Prince Albert, which took place in February, 1840. The Mul- ready envelopes, issued two or three months after, were a decided failure. New designs were called for, and even- tually elicited the stamps still in use. But these were halcyon days with the Queen. She fancied a full com- pliance with her wishes. She wanted £50,000 a-year for her husband; the title of Prince Consort, if not King Consort ; a seat in the House of Lords ; and, as regards the Peerage, a precedence before the royal dukes : and as Lord Melbourne was the minister, he was disposed further all her designs. But they wholty failed. The £50,000 was reduced to £30,000 ; and as to honours, he had none granted to him — he was prince consort only for the latter years of his existence.
The engraving such a stamp as the Prince Albert Essay could only have been attempted by permission of Lord Melbourne ; but which, highly censurable as it certainly was, could not escape prohibition by the Lords of the Privy Council ; and many years since I read that such had been attempted, but that the stamp was ordered to be destroyed. Then came on those in pattern the same as we now have.
In July or August last, six black impressions, torn from a sheet, were found among some old letters of 1840-1-2, and a few years onward. I gave a note of this discovery in your September magazine, but that elicited no reply. Among the papers of a person, deceased about three years since, were found two sheets of these stamps. A member of the family took them to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue at Somerset House. It took them quite by sur- prise ; and after considerable discussion among them, in an under ■ tone, they returned the stamps to the party present, with these remarks : — ‘ They (the stamps) cer- tainly were very extraordinary : they knew nothing of
their history ; but the stamps were of no value for the transmission of letters.’ As the stamps had no sanction from the ruling powers, they would not come before the commissioners ; and the rest follows of course.
Early last month I was informed, by one of the family, of these stamps, and was also told I might purchase them if I pleased : they would send one of each for my decision. I purchased them.
The engraving is precisely the same as the black and red stamps of Victoria 1840. There is the same want of the white line above the value, as in the first black penny, and the first blue twopenny, now sought for by collectors.
Another interesting fact, as respects the sheets, is shown by the examples in my possession. It was mooted as to the supply to the stationers, that they should have five per cent, for selling them ; hence my black sheet has twenty-one dozen on it ; so that twenty shillings would be paid by the stationer, and the extra shilling’s worth it was proposed should be his profit. My sheet of red stamps has but twenty dozen, not twenty-one ; so that these were only indecisive propositions.
I have been thus far garrulous, to convince you I have the fullest reliance on their genuine character. I have the six, discovered as I stated, and the two sheets. I am ignorant of any others, and believe I possess all that remain.
I have told you all, and am, dear Sir,
Your very humble servant,
London. J. H. BURN.
THE THREEPENNY NEW ZEALAND STAMP.
To the Editor of the ‘Stamp Collector’s Magazine.’ Dear Sir, — I have been informed that there will be no more threepenny New Zealand stamps issued. The postage via Marseilles is raised from 9d. to lOd. ; and my friend in New Zealand was unable to get threepenny stamps, the authorities telling him that the issue had stopped, and that there was a tenpenny stamp in pro- spective. Yours obediently,
Bedford. J. HAWKINS.
MR. HUSSEY AND THE AMERICAN STAMP -USUALlY DESIGNATED ‘BIG-HEAD.’
To the Edjtor of the ‘Stamp-Collector’s Magazine.’
Dear Sir,'— I have had my attention called to your publication, the /Stamp- Collector’s Magazine. At page 152, in your November number, you say : — -
‘ New York Post-Office : large reet. This stamp, well known to collectors by the designation of “big-head,” was formerly supposed' to be a government issue, but is now ascertained to prove one of Mr. Hussey’s legions of postal offspring,’ &c.
I would hereby advise you to be more careful of your wholesale assertion. To my best knowledge and belief, I never, either awake or asleep, thought of doing that wrong to the community of stamp collectors or dealers. Why you should have selected me as the scapegoat I know not, but can assure you that no man living can be more averse to counterfeiting of the original. I had at one time twenty-five, which I sold at prices varying from fifty cents to one dollar : the last I parted with about the time of your November issue. Of the counterfeits I have seen one, and only one. It came, or was brought to my office to be compared with the originals that I was known to have. The said counterfeit came from Boston, Massa- chusetts. You would be but doing me justice by a
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [Feb. 1, 1864.
counter statement , as I can fully satisfy any correspondent you may confide in this side the water of my innocency , as I have never offered either to buy or sell a single one of those said counterfeits.
Your further remarks about my fertile imagination may, for aught I know of you, apply equally as well to yourself as me ; and as I can see no harm to come of its fertility, or its cultivation, will beg you the favour of a copy of your magazine re-investing me as a gentleman beyond counterfeiting a stamp of his Uncle Samuel’s.
Very respectfully yours,
New York. GEORGE HUSSEY.
[Mr. Hussey totally misunderstood our remarks. We had not the slightest intention of stigmatising him as a forger of the stamp in question. We were informed, and merely repeated our information in the pages of the magazine, that the ‘big-head’ was one of Hussey’s own stamps ; and we meant no sneer in alluding to the ferti- lity of his invention. We forbear repeating one or two well-known proverbs that strike us as applicable in the present case. — Ed.]
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
Lady C. is informed that her New Zealand penny stamp has every appearance of being a Columbo salvage.
H. B. B., Stratford Green. — We have seen your 40 c. Swiss yellow noted in Continental catalogues, and have no doubt of its being genuine.
Reunion. — The specimens you describe are Spanish, French, Belgian, and German receipt or bill stamps. We would impress upon our correspondents the advisability of always forwarding a doubtful stamp for inspection, with a stamp or stamped envelope for the due return of the same.
J. W. K., Bamsbury. — The black penny Y. R. official may be easily identified by noticing that the distinguish- ing letters are in the upper corners of the stamp, and the usual Maltese crosses in the lower angles. We may here caution amateurs against forgeries of this rarity, made in this manner : a black penny stamp is used for the pur- pose ; the two crosses and two letters are cut out neatly ; the former are transplanted from above to below ; an R is taken from another specimen, and placed in the upper right angle ; and, as no V is ever found on our stamps, an A with the cross line scratched out, when turned topsy- turvy, does duty for the wanted letter.
E. S. S.- — It is not at all surprising that parties who have lived hi India deny the existence of a red half-anna, when, as we have remarked before, even the keepers of our own post-offices have, most of them, never seen, or heard of the existence of the English higher-priced enve- lopes. A friend of ours at Honolulu had never heard of the 13 cents of the Sandwich Islands, till we wrote ask- ing for it.
F. C. Channing. — We think the Prussian, and we know the French stamps you inscribe are imitations, either for labelling bonbon boxes, or possibly for the more nefarious purpose of taking in the Jolly Greens.
W. S. Beverley, Yorkshire. — We can give no opinion respecting your stamp, in the absence of fuller informa- tion.
P. S., Ealing. — We are of your opinion, that the publishers, in providing the elegant covers for binding the Stamp-Collector' s Magazine, were too liberal; inasmuch as they gave a 2 c. Nova Scotia for the extra adornment of the volume, whereas a 1 c. of the same country would have cost them less by one-half.
R. F. Wilme, Dublin. — The fac-simile you forwarded is evidently that of the official stamp of a Belgian con- sul-—There never has been either a 45 c. or 50 c. French stamp.— The Ionian series will of course be no longer used, since the cession of the Islands to Greece. — The stamps of the latter country, not having borne the sove- reign’s head, are not likely to be changed.
A. M. S., Lowestoft. — We are obliged for the informa- tion of the genuineness of the 5 c. blue New Brunswick stamp, proved by your reception of two postmarked indi- viduals direct from that colony. — We have several times observed the Victor Emanuel’s head turned topsy-turvy, both on the Sardinian stamps and those for Naples and Sicily. We account for it on the supposition that the head is impressed after the completion of the rest of the stamp.
Alfred R., Birmingham. — In the number of the magazine for last month we expressed our opinion, that newspaper stamps of our own country — serving as they do for prepayment exclusively, without reference to duty, as formerly — are admissible in stamp-collectors’ albums.
M. E. S., Carthorpe. — Your Hamonia stamp is one of a series of ten, emanating from the fertile brain of one of the Hamburg speculators upon the credulity of the unwary.
Tony, Birkenhead.— We stated in our last that New Year’s Day had been fixed for the issue of the new Italian stamps ; but we saw not only the 10 c., but almost all the others, postmarked before that day, and conclude the previous stock had been exhausted in some cities. — With regard to the native places of the numerous locals for the United States, much information is yet required ; and we hope the gentleman who contributed the two interesting papers on the stamps in question, will favour our readers with an accredited list marking the places whence they emanated. We possess an American postal- stamp catalogue; but it gives little, if any, additional information to that afforded by Mount Brown’s manual.
G. Iv. A., Beverley. — The presence of an adhesive penny stamp, and the date of the postmark (1843) on your letter, are proofs that it could not have been a frank. It is not unusual for writers to sign their names on the addresses of their communications. — Your other enclosure is evi- dently some individual’s coat of arms, stamped in order to head or seal a letter.
M. A. E. — Your Staten Island stamp is catalogued as genuine in the last edition of Mount Brown.
E. A. M. Fry. — The numbers postmarked on our stamps denote the different towns whence the letters bearing them arrive. — We hope the publishers will follow your suggestion, of publishing a list of the numbers cor- responding with all the towns in England.
H. W., London, W. — We believe the series lately issued for Italy is for the postal purposes of all parts of that kingdom under the present dominion of Victor Emanuel ; and that, consequently, the stamps employed for Naples and- Sicily some little time since are now obsolete. — The twopenny Newfoundland is now dark- coloured, like most of the others, but we have never seen an eightpenny other than bright red.- — We believe Mr. Brown will endeavour to clear the almost hopeless con- fusion observable in the descriptions of the Peruvian stamps, should his manual ever reach a fifth edition. — We are obliged for the kind expressions of satisfaction you evince with regard to the amusement and information derivable from our magazine.
E. F, — Your two large oval Prussian stamps are either for deeds, drafts, or newspapers.- — The printing* on the back of the Roman baj . 7, proves it to have been cut from some periodical. — The Brazilian stamps are genuine.
March 1, 1864.] THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE.
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THE HISTORY OF MY STAMP ALBUM.
CHAPTER IV. loye’s young dream.
‘ What shades the fields a fairer green,
And lends enchantment to the scene ;
Making each object brighter prove ;
The airy warblers sweeter sound ;
A richer perfume waft around From ev’ry glowing flower? — ’Tis Love.’
For some weeks after Allan’s departure I was detained in Wiesbaden. The business affairs which had called me hither conld not be satisfactorily arranged ; and my employ- ers, thinking I should have to pass the winter there, sent me an introduction to a Mr. Davenport, an Englishman of wealth and good birth, who lived in a fine old mansion called the Schloss Rosenberg, situ- ated about a mile from the town, and who had been formerly acquainted with our senior partner, Mr. Clark. Mr. Davenport received me politely, though coldly, and invited me to spend as much of my time as I liked at his house. I gladly profited by his kindness, attracted by the sweet, beau- tiful face of his only daughter, and forsook all other amusements to pass my leisure hours in her society.
Emily Davenport was tall, and slightly, but gracefully, formed. Her hair and eyes were dark ; but her complexion possessed that brilliancy and purity only seen in our lovely countrywomen. Her voice was soft and low, and her manners lively and cheer- ful, without being noisy or boisterous. She was docile and affectionate to her stern, grave father ; gentle, caressing, and tender to a weak-minded and invalid mother; and was the delight and pride of her parents’ heart.
Oh ! how I now loathed and despised former scenes of revelry : how I thrust from me the recollection of nights spent in hollow mirth ; of carousing and dissipation pro- longed till the bright, twinkling stars had faded before the light of dawning day ! How I abhorred the temptations, the allure- ments that had drawn me aside in this town from the calm, innocent pleasures of other days. I felt so far removed from the pure, mild atmosphere which surrounded Emily, though perhaps I had not been worse than
other young men of the present day ; but I felt what an immeasurable gnlf, what a deep chasm of low, grovelling thoughts and hidden depravity yawned between and sepa- rated the ordinary lives and pursuits of man from those of noble and elevated woman !
I now quickly threw up all other occupa- tion and amusement, to pursue the delightful and intoxicating one of gaining Emily’s affections. She regarded me, I imagined, with favour; but of the sentiments of her father and mother respecting my wishes, I could not form the slightest idea ; for Mr. Davenport’s cold reserve and haughty super- ciliousness, and his wife’s calm apathy and languid inanity, were too much part of their natural disposition to enable me to found the least assumption of disapprobation or other- wise therefrom ; yet still, with my fair share of masculine vanity and egotism, I could not imagine for one moment that the addresses of a poor clerk in a mercantile house, with- out fortune or position, could be acceptable to the father of a high-born, wealthy, and beautiful daughter. Mr. Davenport might reasonably expect his future son-in-law to possess more than a gentlemanly exterior and two hundred a year.
Miserable and wretched at these thoughts, but flattered and gratified at the preference Emily showed me, in her own modest, femi- nine manner, the winter wore away in alternations of despair and joy; till at last, summoning all my courage and hardihood, and thinking that ‘ faint heart never won fair ladye,’ I went one day to the Schloss Rosenberg, and happening to find Emily alone in the garden, with many tremors and flutterings I managed to pour forth love’s undying tale ; and there, under the tender shade of a drooping acacia, with the scent of the budding roses and sweet spring flowers, I received the low, murmured assurance of Emily’s unalterable affection, and the first and holiest pledge of reciprocated love. I then went to Mr. Davenport, and pleaded my cause with all the eloquence and fervour of which I was master ; but he received my suit with haughty surprise and cold disdain ; scornfully and contemptuously elevating his fine eyebrows at my astounding presumption in aspiring to the hand of his daughter. In
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [March 1, 1864.
vain I urged- that he was wrecking not only my happiness hut that of his only and beloved child, — he merely replied : —
£ Love does not last for ever, Mr. Sotherby; and when once Miss Davenport is separated from you, filial obedience, duty, and respect will obliterate all feelings not in accordance with my wishes ; ’ and with these words Mr. Davenport, courteously opening the door for me to pass through, politely wished me adieu.
It must not be supposed that I thus tamely submitted to my defeat ; — on the contrary, no sooner arrived at my lodgings, than I wrote a long, earnest, and vehement letter to Emily, detailing my rejection by her father ; imploring her to use all her influence with him for the mitigation of our sentence ; and recounting all my love and anguish.
I soon received an affectionate reply, im- ploring me to remain patient, and fully confident of her unalterable love ; trusting to her availing herself of every opportunity for disposing her father to a more favourable view of our aspirations. We continued for some few weeks to interchange correspon- dence ; and at last I received a welcome communication from her to the effect that her father had at length, though reluctantly, yielded to her tears and supplications, and granted us the coveted desire of our hearts. For once, Cupid had triumphed over Plutus, and we were happy.
CHAPTER Y.
ANTICIPATIONS AND PREPARATIONS.
1 How calmly smooth the current goes,
A perfect emblem of repose ;
Till from the lofty mountain’s brow A falling fragment stops the flow ! ’
I was not long allowed to revel in my new- found joy, or to bask in the sunshine of Mr. Davenport’s favour and Emily’s smiles ; for soon after our engagement I was sud- denly recalled to England by Messrs. Clark & Thomson. I obeyed the mandate reluc- tantly, and left Wiesbaden with the pain of parting somewhat assuaged by the prospect of meeting, after the lapse of two months, in London, where Mrs. Davenport had wished he marriage to take place. The poor
woman now clung, with the tenacity of an enfeebled mind, to the idea of passing her last days where she had passed her first and happiest,- — amidst the smoke and fog of the great metropolis. I was to take a large and commodious house somewhere in the neigh- bourhood of Kensington ; to furnish and fit it up for the reception of Mr. and Mrs. Davenport, myself, and my future 'wife. My income not being sufficient to maintain Emily in the style to which she had been accustomed, her father declared that she should live in none other ; consequently we were to reside under the paternal roof until I became a rich man.
I had numerous and frequent letters from Edward Allan during my stay in Germany, all breathing a spirit of gratitude and joy for what I had done for him : to me he said he owed his restoration to his father’s favour, and the delight of again being united to the sister to whom he was fondly attached. On my arrival in London I wrote and told him of my approaching marriage with Emily Davenport, and invited him to come and pass a few weeks with me before the happy event took place. His answer came, after some brief delay, — cordial, pleased, and con- senting : I might expect him by that evening’s train from the north : he should be delighted to see me again ; but begged, timidly and earnestly, that all the occurrences which had happened abroad might never be discussed ; and of course during the whole of his visit I rigorously respected his wishes. He never talked of the past, and seemed to live only for the future ; yet his moods were ex- tremely variable, — at one time recklessly gay, at another desponding and moody ; but on the whole I enjoyed his society extremely, and found him refined, cultivated, and well- informed in no ordinary degree. He told me that his father had paid all his college debts, but had absolutely refused to acknow- ledge or liquidate those contracted to ‘ sharpers and blacklegs over the gaming table.’ But these he determined to settle when he came into the estate, both principal and interest. He was evidently a reformed man, and seemed determined to make good use of the life that had been so graciously spared him. Edward had congratulated me
Maiich 1, 1864.] THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE.
35
warmly on liis arrival upon my approaching marriage, and had since then never even distantly alluded to the subject. At the end of three weeks he left : I then set earnestly about house hunting ; and after much fatigue, research, and trouble I succeeded in getting suited to my pompous father-in-law’s grand taste ; and in continual journeyings to and fro, furnishing, and other arrangements, the time passed until I welcomed Mr. and Mrs. Davenport and Emily to our future home. I was to remain in my lodgings till after the wedding, and to continue in the count- ing-house up to that day, and during Mr. Davenport’s life.
(To be continued).
HISTORY OF POSTAL COMMUNICA- TIONS.—III. ANCIENT ROME.
BY THE REV. HENRY H. HIGGINS, M.A.
Much greater progress seems to have been made by the Romans in the art of writing, than in the method- of sending letters. The age and empire of the Caesars had passed away before a regular public post was esta- blished in any part of the world.
The Romans were undoubtedly inferior to the more ancient Greeks in some respects ; but in the attention which they bestowed upon the various appliances of social and domestic life, the Romans had no rivals, and may fairly be said to have commenced most of the institutions peculiar to modern civili- zation. Indeed, it is questionable whether the letters sent by some of the equites splendidi of Rome to their friends were not, after their own -fashion, as exquisitely ( got up ’ as the most elaborate 4 at home ’ ever enclosed in an enamelled envelope of De la Rue.
Such Roman epistles bore little resem- blance to the earliest specimens of letter writing, in which the materials first used were the leaves or the inner bark of trees, (liber). If anyone wishes to try the experi- ment, he may find that letters traced with a lead pencil on a laurel-leaf, become distinctly visible within twenty-four hours after they are written. Put the best of all the primi- tive antecedents of paper was formed from a plant not unlike our common bulrush, which
grew in wet places in many parts of the East, but principally in Egypt : it was called papyrus, whence pur word paper. The outside of the stem of this plant resembled the wrapping of a cigar. When the mem- brane was unfolded and laid out straight, other pieces of the same material were laid crosswise upon it ; the whole was moistened and pressed ; and, when dry, the better sur- face was burnished with a tusk of a boar, whence the charta dentata of Cicero.
For many centuries the papyrus membrane continued to be the material chiefly used for writing, and in the manufacture of books, which in those days were scrolls, kept, as we keep maps, on a roller, whence the word volume, from volvo, to roll.
Egypt being the chief source of the papyrus, it was very natural for the Egyptian kings to pride themselves on the facilities they possessed for making many books ; but in the days of the Ptolemies an eminent literary character of Pergamus, in Asia Minor, collected a library which bid fair to surpass even that of the reigning Ptolemy, who thereupon prohibited the exportation of papyrus. Necessity was in this instance the mother of so great an improvement, in the method of preparing the skins of sheep and goats as a substitute for the papyrus, that the material thus prepared was called Per gamma, whence our parchment. A more costly material was prepared from the skin of the calf ; it was called pf Hum ; a trace of its origin remains in the similarity between our words vellum and veal.
All these materials were included in Roman stationery, as was also a coarser kind of fabric called palimsestus , a name of Greek origin indicating that a wrong word written upon it might be successfully erased.
But for most of the ordinary purposes of writing, and for rough drafts, the Romans used tablets resembling our book-slates, made of some choice kind of wood, or of ivory, and often beautifully framed and fin: shed, the part corresponding with the slate in our book-slates was covered with a thin layer of white or coloured wax, on which the writers engraved their words by means of a sharp- pointed bronze pencil called a style : the opposite end of this instrument was made
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broad and flat like a cliisel, and was used for smoothing over the engraved words when no longer wanted. The Roman gentleman always carried with him his writing tablet and style, and was much addicted to a practice which it would surely have rejoiced the heart of Captain Cuttle to have wit- nessed ; for whatever an educated Roman found worth recording, he ‘made a note of.’ The custom, however, had its disadvantages. To attack anyone with the pen was not always a mere verbal aggression : it was not the correct thing for a Roman to wear a sword or a dagger in the city ; bowie knives and six-shooters the world was as yet innocent of ; but, if we may believe old Suetonius, after a hot dispute the Romans sometimes fought both in and with a style which produced fatal results. Their descen- dants instead of the style use the stiletto.
Letters sent by consuls or generals were usually written across the whole sheet of paper or parchment, one side of which only was used ; but Julius Caesar began the custom of folding the sheet, as we fold our note paper, and writing in pages. The example of so illustrious a personage was sure to be followed ; and in course of time all writings which conferred any exclusive right or privilege amongst the Romans were executed in this form, which, from its double leaf, gave to the document the name of diploma or double-fold. The emperor or his ministers granted the diploma as in our own times the state issues letters patent, i.e., open to the inspection of all. But according to Pliny the diploma was especially used when a Roman citizen wished to avail himself of the public couriers for the more speedy transmission of a private letter. It is true that wealthy Roman families commonly kept a servant whose especial duty it was to carry letters to their destination, whence he was called tdbellarius, from tabella, a letter. But it may readily be conceived that when letters had to be sent long distances, a much more speedy conveyance might be ensured by the employment of the government couriers. For this purpose a diploma had to be obtained. The writer of this paper is not able to ascertain whether the diploma was affixed to the letter thus sent ; but it seems
probable that this was the case where the letter bad to pass from one courier to another. Here, then, we have the complete prototype of the postage stamp ; for what is our penny queen’s head but her Majesty’s royal diploma authorizing us to make use of her royal mail for the transmission of our private correspondence P It is not the less a royal warrant because it can be obtained for so small a sum. As for the credit of our own times resulting from the invention of postage stamps, it will not suffer from the appearance of a Roman precedent ; and per- haps some of our younger collectors may even think that the pages of tbeir albums wear a more dignified aspect when they are regarded as adorned with a series of British and foreign diplomata.
AN EXTRAORDINARY ACCUMULA- TION OF POSTAGE STAMPS.
Some time since there appeared in the public journals, a statement to the effect that a cer- tain young lady, under age, was to be placed in a convent by her father, if she did not procure before the 30th of April last, one million of used postage stamps. This caused numerous persons to forward stamps for the purpose of securing her liberty. In March last, a lady, a member of one of the first families in Derbyshire, residing not many miles from Derby, mentioned the conditions to her friends, and in a short time the lady began to receive packages by post and rail- way from every quarter, which poured in in such numbers, that in ten days during last April, she received parcels containing mil- lions of stamps. The walking postman who was in the habit of delivering a few letters daily at the mansion where the lady resides, became so loaded with letters and packages containing Queen’s heads that it was neces- sary to employ another man to assist him. On one morning, between 90 and 100 letters and packets arrived by post, and on another, between 120 and 130. These were in addi- tion to multitudes which arrived on other days. Boxes, bales, and packages also poured in by railway ; and to such an extent that it became necessary to give public notice, by advertisements and printed cir-
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culars, that it was urgently desired that no more stamps should be sent, as the young lady had procured the number she required.
The following sketch gives some idea of the packages. One of them is a large wine hamper, another a large wine cooler, next a large clothes basket. The two latter were used to put the smaller packets in as they arrived, being altogether many bushels. Next is a packet from a great mercantile house in London, and contains 240,000 Qreen’s heads. There was also a tea-chest full sent from another quarter. There were nine boxes between one and two feet long, a foot wide, and about six inches deep. Smaller packets formed a heap two feet six inches long, one foot wide, and one foot six inches deep ; and two baskets two feet long, one foot six inches wide, and one foot four inches deep were filled ; besides which many boxes were not received but sent back to the railway station. In addition to this accu- mulation, letters from all quarters arrived, many from persons of the highest rank, expressing the deepest sympathy and the most kindly feeling. Numbers of them stated that large collections of heads would still be sent, if required. — Illustrated London News , May 18, 1850.
STAMP COLLECTING AND ITS USES. It may be, and often is, objected, — 4 Of what use is stamp collecting ? ’ The writer is ready to admit that it is not the most bene- ficial occupation of time ; but still believes it may claim the merit of being instructive, and that as an evidence of the advance in civilisation of the nations using them, postage stamps are not without interest. The newly- issued Turkish stamps are a visible proof of the onward progress of that barbaric power, and of its wish for more extended intercourse. When Captain Cooke landed at Otaheite,^ he little imagined that in less than a century after, the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands would have so far advanced as to require postage stamps to facilitate their correspon- dence. Yet such is the case : the half-length portrait of the king of the islands figures on a very respectable stamp issued at Honolulu.
* The writer seems to imagine Otaheite one of the Sandwich Islands. — Ed.
The black republic of Liberia, from its little corner in Western Africa, sends forth a set of stamps which would be no disgrace to a European country, and which add another link to the chain of proof that under favour- able circumstances the negro will rise. Nicaragua and Costa Rica have issued very beautiful stamps ; and the very fact of their being in use, we may hope, points to a more settled state of affairs in those countries. In another direction, also, stamps are useful. They represent to the mind distant nations as actually in existence, whom we previously hardly believed in. To the juvenile, whose idea of a country is generally that it is an irregular space on a map, surrounded by coloured lines, and covered with names and black dots, and who thinks of it only as (in the words of his geography) 4 bounded on the north by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean,’ &c., stamps are especially instructive. The Bahamas, for instance, cease to be thought of as mere black-letter words ; they become, in the mind of the collector, the actual residence of an industrious community. The queen’s head on the Hong Kong stamps shows that her subjects must be there; and the Chinese figures at her side remove all shade of dis- belief in the existence of that grotesque language and people, and all doubt as to whether or not the wonderful hieroglyphics on the tea chests are not daubed on by the grocers’ apprentices in fits of artistic inspi- ration. It is, indeed, surprising how few colonies there now are which do not issue stamps. The owners of the boundless pam- pas of South America frank their letters with curiously-designed stamps. The British Columbian miner ensures the safe delivery of his roughly- scrawled epistle by a stamp. New Caledonia and Reunion can eacli boast a stamp. Disturbed Mexico has had its stamps. The Moldavian peasant ponders over the strange bit of paper which will carry his letter far away from him. The colony honoured by Dr. Colenso’s presence issues a very pretty portrait of our Queen. Prince Edward Island, Queensland, St. Helena, and St. Lucia have all issues of their own. Even the European’s grave, Sierra Leone, is not without its emblem of civiliza-
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tion. The Papal States delight in a stamp of poverty-stricken appearance ; and the convict in Western Australia affixes a stamp, perforated in the centre, to his letters to distinguish them from others.
In another light, also, stamps are interest- ing. We notice in the successive issues of different countries and colonies a proof of improvement in the engraver’s art as applied to stamp devices. The handsomest stamps are in most cases the latest issues. The earlier ones, particularly those of our colo- nies, being in many cases scarcely more than incomprehensible smudges, several of them having been printed from wood blocks. Probably the most beautiful stamps are those of Nova Scotia: they are of two kinds, one bearing a medallion portrait of the queen, whilst her bust is impressed on the other. Each is engraved with exquisite finish, and the effect is heightened by the simplicity of the design. G. 0. T.
THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE AT SIX O’CLOCK, P.M.
The General Post-Office, which is regarded as the centre of the whole postal network of the kingdom, stands in St. Martin’s-le- Grand. It is a compact edifice, built of Portland stone, in a cold regular style, and has three porticoes supported by arches. The central portico, over which is a frieze bearing the name of George IV., leads by a flight of steps to a grand passage or hall, that runs through the whole width of the building, and opens into Foster Lane. In this passage are the boxes to receive the letters destined for the four cardinal points of the world, and behind these boxes are lofty windows, generally closed. I will, however, suppose that the time is a quarter to six p.m. The first window on the left hand, over which may be read 4 For newspapers only,’ is then wide open. An impetuous crowd, entering from either end of the pas- sage, fills the hall, and the letters fall like hail into the boxes ; but it is the newspaper window which will principally attract our attention. The peristyle is blockaded by a band of porters and newspaper boys, lads of twelve or thirteen years of age, employed in the service of the papers. They run up
perspiring and panting under bags full of papers, and jostle each other in spite of the efforts of the policemen, who try to main- tain some degree of order in the midst of the con: union. Every moment the mob grows larger, for it is well known that the Rost-Office clock is faithful and pitiless. The journals, covered with a band, fly like a flock of pigeons round the windows, hurled by a thousand hands. Sacks, packages, and baskets pour, as into an abyss, ream after ream of paper. All this falls pell-mell, thrown from the outside, and is caught in its flight, as it were, by the men inside : they empty the sacks and baskets, and then return them to their owners. It is hard work ; and a policeman on duty told me that, a few years ago, before certain precautionary mea- sures were taken, the officials had more than once had their eyes and faces blackened by the avalanche of newspapers hurled upon them. There is even a rumour that in the heat of action, a boy was one day thrown with the bundles, by mistake, into the office.
The clock begins striking six ; the eager- ness and thronging are redoubled; the newspapers still stream in ; but, at the last stroke, the window is sharply closed. 4 Too late ! ’ one or two discontented laggards exclaim. Letters and papers, however, can still be sent off the same evening, the former by paying up to seven o’clock an extra penny stamp, the latter one halfpenny, as a fine inflicted for negligence. This exciting scene, called by the English the Newspaper Fair, ought especially to be seen on Friday and Monday, because these are the two days on which the weekly newspapers are sent off. For letters, the great day is Saturday, as the Post-Office is closed on Sunday, and com- mercial houses generally devote Saturday to their correspondence. — The English at Home.
A SINGULAR POST-OFFICE.
How Cities Grow in America. — When the first sod of the Union Pacific Railway, for completing railroad communication from the Atlantic to the Pacific, was dug last month at Omaha city, a citizen gave the assemblage an account of his arrival at that city, or rather at the site, in October, 1854. 4 Along
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a narrow path,’ lie said, 4 cut by some stal- wart men through the tall, rank prairie, I wended my way in search of the post-office. At length I found an old pioneer, seated apparently in solitary rumination upon a piece of hewn timber, and inquired of him for the post-office. He replied that he was the postmaster, and would examine the office for my letters. Thereupon he removed from his head a hat, to say the least of it, some- what veteran in appearance, and drew from its cavernous depths the coveted letters. On that day the wolves and the Omahas were the almost undisputed lords of the soil ; and the entire postal system of the city was conducted in the crown of this venerable hat. To-day, our postal service, sheltered by a costly edifice, spreads its briarean arms towards north, south, east, and west,’ &c ; but all that goes without speaking. Omaha city is now the capital of Nebraska.
NEWLY-ISSUED, OR INEDITED STAMPS.
1 Sitting upon thorns.’— Common Saying.
‘ Ne sutor ultra crepidam.’ — Phiedkus.
‘ Everything loses by translation, except a bishop.’
— Sydney Smith.
Peeling in duty bound to afford a paper for the magazine every month under some such title as the above, in the paucity of more legitimate objects for note, we 'must endea- vour to eke out sufficient matter from comparatively extraneous sources, to fill the requisite space in the pages assigned us.
We shall offer a few remarks applicable to each of our quotations ; or rather, to which each of the quoted saws will form an appro- priate motto.
With a solitary exception, the pages of collectors’ albums have lately received no additions save a few impressions with change of colour, — as the sixpenny Bahamas, which is now printed with a rich mauve ink ; and the penny Natal, now as dark as the Baha- mas of the same value. The stamps of these two colonies evidently come from the same manufactory, as proved by the die of the queen’s head, the paper used, the perforations so difficult to make use of, and the anti- adhesive nature of the backs. The penny Yan Diemen’s Land is a rich deep claret ;
the twopenny Victoria a different shade of mauve ; and some of the New Zealand individuals vary in colour.
The single specimen that alone redeems the postal novelties from a barren blank is the new shilling Cape of Good Hope, whose form, no longer triangular, is now what is called in the provinces, with very unmathe- matical want of precision, a longish square.
We believe the change of shape in the green stamp has also taken place in the sixpenny, though we have not yet seen a specimen ; and conclude that the fourpenny and penny will follow suit ; leaving the threepenny Newfoundland the sole repre- sentative of a triangle out of the couple of dozen hundred different varieties of postage stamps known to collectors.
In the superseded stamp, the figure of Hope, the tutelar symbol of the colony, was very comfortably reclining in the space assigned her; and she does not appear at all comfortable in her change of position, putting us in mind of the first motto at the head of our paper.
She is not, literally, sitting on thorns, but is evidently very ill at ease upon the cold, hard anchor that supports her, on the fluke of which her right arm rests. She is trying to ease herself, as one does when in a con- strained position, by resting the left hand on the back of one of the handsome Cape sheep, whose fleece seems the only soft article in the group. There are the hard ground, the hard Cape mountain, the hard iron anchor, and a vine at the right of the figure, as hard as the other objects of the representation, the leaves of which give one the idea of being modelled in iron.
Our second proverb came into mind on perusal of the Post- Office Savings Bank Almanack for the present year, in which the very trifling amount of information on the subject of postage-stamp collecting possessed by the writer is evinced by his instancing the number of fourteen hundred stamps that must be found before ‘ a collection is perfect.’ We ourselves had — alas ! that we are com- pelled to use the past tense — upwards of nineteen hundred ; and the amateur whose choice collection some two score of ours helped to swell, numbers at present, inclusive
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THE STAMP-COLLECTOR’S MAGAZINE. [March 1, 1864.
of proofs and essays, a thousand more than the almanack’s limit to an entire collection !
The writer names the sum of six-and- twenty pounds as representing the value of a complete set of stamps. In our own nine- teen hundred, six-and-twenty alone would have commanded that amount in any stamp market ! An absurd climax is reached by the quotation of the postage currency stamp of the United States as the most interesting of the whole series. We dare say it is in the land of the almighty dollar, though it enters a few collectors’ albums on sufferance only here.
The following extract from the London Journal of January 16th, testifies to the truth of the saying of the witty divine constituting our last quotation : — ‘The cheapest postage stamp is the 1-centime French ; the dearest is the Horse-post of California, 4 dollars (21 francs) ; the best engraved are those of France, Greece, and particularly that of New Caledonia (//), which merits the first place; the ugliest are those of Belgium and the English penny ; the largest are those of Siberia (! !) ; and the smallest, one of Meck- lenburg, bearing the head of an ox.’
This astounding paragraph is apparently a translation from a translation ; and we should have found some difficulty in grasping at the meaning of the original through the thorns and briars of the misapprehension of one or both of the translators, had we not recognised a sentence of our own, extracted from an early number of this magazine, through the distorted media before us.
A German magazine did us the honour of translating our remarks ; and Horse-post is a free rendering of the foreign equivalent for Pony Express. The unrecorded stamp of Siberia was a sufficient excuse for introducing the matter in this part of the magazine ; though the veriest tyro will readily appre- hend the clerical misprint of that country in lieu of Liberia, the stamps of which are indeed among the largest issues ; but we were almost floored at the audacious claim of the hideous [stamp of New Caledonia to the palm of beauty, till we recollected that the German equivalent for that island — thus causing the amusing blunder — will equally answer, as it was of course intended to do,
for the home of those specimens of acknow- ledged beauty, — Nova Scotia !
An engraving of one of the Prince Albert Essays is here given. A letter by Mr. J. H. Burn appeared in our last number ; a perusal of which will give collectors a good deal of interesting information concerning these newly- discovered rarities.
We possess another stamp which has till lately most marvellously escaped the re- searches of collectors, and which we have seen quoted in one manuscript continental catalogue only. It is a Spanish of the issue of 1857, value 12 cuartos ; the colour is a rich bright vermilion.
The annexed engraving represents a stamp recently issued by the Confederate States of America, and has already been fully described in a previous number.
This paper will not be so barren in notice of newly-issued stamps as we expected when penning the early part. We have just met with a new series of the New Granada or United States of Columbia stamps. They are four in number; in colours and values the same as the preceding issue ; but the shield and branches are white on coloured, in lieu of colour on white ground ; and the four vacant corners of the stamps are filled with a sort of fleur-de-lis device. We saw the red 20 c. of this series some time since, but were not sufficiently assured of its authenticity to introduce it to notice.
Engravings of the new 4 cuartos stamp for Spain, and the threepenny scarlet Mau- ritius— both of which were referred to in our last number — are here presented to our readers.
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SKETCHES OE THE LESS-KNOWN STAMP COUNTRIES.
BY C. W. VOTER, A.M., PH.D.
III.— THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES. MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA.
The famous astrologer of the sixteenth century, Cornelius Agrippa, is related to have possessed a wonderful mirror, in which his art enabled him to revive the images of the deceased for the gratification of their surviving friends. One evening, he was visited by a stranger in Asiatic costume, desiring the exercise of his power in raising to view the shade of Miriam, his beloved daughter. After some preliminaries, Agrippa bade him name how long1' he had mourned her death, as his wand must be waved once before the mirror for each ten years that had elapsed. ‘Wave on,’ was the reply, ‘and see that thy hand tire not.’ A period repre- senting nearly fifteen centuries passed on ere the amazed magician beheld the mist disperse from the polished surface, and expose to view the resuscitated form of the beautiful and long-regretted daughter of the Wandering Jew.
Eor many a decade more must the magi- cian’s wand have waved ere he could have raised the phantom of one of the earliest historically known inhabitants of the coun- tries now represented by the pair of uncouth and unartistic-looking postage stamps of which fac-similes are subjoined.
Some centuries before the Christian era, the occupiers of the region at present under the alias of Moldo-Wallachia first started into celebrity, successfully obstructing the passage of the Great Alexander across the Danube. ‘ Macedonia’s Madman ’ was wise enough to be convinced that the profit derivable from resisting and vanquishing the brave but poor Getae amounted to nil , and prudently turned for conquest in another
direciion. Forty years afterwards they took Lysimachus, king of Thrace, prisoner during an aggressive attack of that monarch ; and Dromichetes, the sovereign of the country, generously restoring the royal captive to liberty, was rewarded with the hand of his daughter in marriage.
These Getse, better known by the name of Dacians, not very long afterwards were themselves defeated by the Gauls, and many of them sold as slaves to the Athenians and other Greeks. Strabo tells us that the Daci were originally called Davi ; and etymolo- gists add that by some extraordinary process of interchange of letters, c and v are found to be -convertible, and instance the English words quick as synonymous with vivus , and twelve with duodecim ! However this may be, we frequently find the name Davus applied to a slave in the Latin plays of Terence, and in other authors, where their innate northern astuteness is so curiously evinced by outwitting their ostensibly more civilized masters.
It is owing to the exile of the poet among the barbarous Getae — though the actual spot where he lived and died in banishment from the bitterly -regretted refinement of imperial Rome, is without the boundaries of the region we are actually commemorating — that we owe the beautiful and pathetic Tristia of Ovid. The peasants of the dis- trict still hold the tradition that ages ago a man of honeyed words died among their ancestors, vainly entreating with his last breath that his remains might be transported to his yearned- for home ; and it is not improbable that relics of the poem he com- posed in the Getian tongue, may yet exist in the traditionally-preserved household rhymes of the region.
To the early emperors of Rome, the warlike Dacians proved formidable antago- nists. Tiberius got some slight advantage over them ; but an expedition under one of the Cato family was signally defeated ; and the tyrannical coward Domitian, after agree- ing to pay them an annual tribute, named himself Dacicus, as having achieved a con- quest. Trajan, however, after having con- structed the wonderful bridge across the Danube, some remains of which exist to
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this day, totally routed their forces under Decebalus, and virtually depopulated the country. It was after this victorious enter- prise that the beautiful pillar, so well known to tourists, was erected in his honour.
The actual inhabitants of Moldo-YVallaehia boast themselves descendants of those Roman colonists who were sent by Trajan to occupy the devastated regions of Dacia. That this boast is not idle — as regards, at least, the fact of a Roman origin — is well proved by the language of the people, one moiety of the words in which — including all the aux- iliary verbs, articles, pronouns, numerals, and the major part of the prepositions and adverbs — being Latin. The inhabitants call themselves Roumani, and their country Roumania ; and Ylak, from which comes the term Wallach, signifies strong, as does the word Roman, if traced to its Greek root. Some modern writers, who object to all 4 received interpretations,’ deny their descent from Trajan’s colonists, and trace them to the Thracian tribe of Ylaki, who joined others in re-peopling Dacia, after the natives had been exterminated by an invasion of the Mongols in the thirteenth century. They do not deny, nevertheless, that both name and language prove them in some measure of Roman descent. They are, and have been for six hundred years and more, Christians of the Greek Church.
Those wrriters who claim for them an uninterrupted descent from the Roman colonists of Trajan, are justified by many acknowledged historical and existing facts. Gibbon alludes to the Wallachian as sur- rounded by, not mixed with, the barbarians. They have ever zealously guarded their nationality. They adopted many of the words of the dialects around them, yet kept their own pure and unmixed. 4 They never cut,’ says a historian, 4 their new-born children’s faces, that they might taste iron before their mother’s milk, as the Huns did ; they never made their women drive the plough, like the Avari ; nor cut off the thumbs of their slaves, like the Scythians.’ The Romans seldom, if ever, took wives from another nation, and the modern Roumani testify a similar aversion. A Moldavian or W allachian peasant is never known to