church; and immediately after divine service is ended, the churchwardens, or some other persons, take them into the galleries, from whence their contents are thrown amongst the congregation, who have a grand scramble for it in the body of the church, which occasions as great a tumult and uproar as the amusement of a village wake; the inhabitants being always extremely anxious in their attendance at worship on this day. The custom is held for the purpose of preserving to the poor of St. Briavels and Hewelsfield the right of cutting and carrying away wood from 3,000 acres of coppice land in Hudknolls and the Meend; and for which every householder is assessed 2d., to buy the bread and cheese given away. J. L.

1627.-RESTORATION OF BULLEY PARISH CHURCH.-On Monday, June 6, 1887, the parish church of Bulley was re-opened for public worship by the bishop of the diocese. Those who remember the gradual decay of the old church to a ruin into which it was hardly safe to enter, and in which no service had consequently been held for years, would not recognise in the compact and neat edifice that now occupies its site the building that for years had been crumbling away. In Rudge's History of the County of Gloucester (1803), vol. ii., p. 53, we find the following with reference to the church :"The benefice is a chapelry annexed to Churcham, and the impropriation is in the chapter of Gloucester. The church, dedicated to St. Andrew [St. Michael and All Angels], consists of a nave only, with a small low spire at the west end. There seems to have been little alteration from the original building, which, as appears by the semi-circular zig-zag arches, was erected either before or immediately after the Conquest. The chancel has, at some former period, either been destroyed by violence, or fallen from the decays of time, but the arch which led to it still remains, and is a fine specimen of Saxon architecture. The south door likewise is of the same period." So bad was the state into which the church had fallen, complete restoration was at first thought hopeless, and it was proposed to partially restore the building, so that it might be used as a mortuary chapel; but Mr. T. Gambier Parry, owner of the adjoining parish of Highnam, and Mr. W. P. Price, lord of the manor, came forward, and their donations being supplemented by a grant from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it was decided to proceed with the entire work. Mr. Sidney Gambier Parry was selected as the architect, and Mr. A. Estcourt, of Gloucester, was entrusted with the work. The first thing to be done, was to take down the old church, which was removed, with the exception of the nave walls; these were carefully restored and pointed, the old form of windows being preserved intact, though renovated and reglazed. The Norman doorway remains in its old state, with the exception of a little restoration, which was found necessary where portions of it had been destroyed, and the fine Norman archway in the chancel

was cleaned and pointed. The old opening above the chancel arch in the east end of the nave was re-opened, and the comparatively modern chancel, which was out of keeping with the character of the building and very unsightly, was cleared away. In its place a new chancel and vestry have been erected in keeping with the thirteenth century work of the church. The whole of the fittings of the interior are new. On the south side is a porch (which, with the entrance gates to the churchyard, is the gift of Mr. W. P. Price), consisting of an oak frame on a stone base. The stone used was from the Chaxhill quarries, and the limestone dressings partly from Painswick and partly from Bisley, blue Pennant being also intermixed. Other minor details were the replastering of the walls, and the flooring and tiling of the nave. The cost of restoration has been upwards of £900, and the work, which was commenced in August, 1886, was finished with the close of the year. The Rev. George C. Hall, M.A., is the present vicar of Churchamwith-Bulley.

*

1628. JOHN PALMER, M.P., AND HIS IMPROVED POSTAL ARRANGEMENTS.-The post-boy on horseback travelling at the rate of three or four miles an hour, (as Mr. Lewins has observed in his interesting volume, entitled Her Majesty's Mails, etc.,) had been an institution since the days of Charles II.,† and towards the close of the eighteenth century the Post-Office was still clinging to the old system. It was destined, however, that Palmer should bring about a grand change. Originally a brewer, he was, in 1784, the manager of the Bath and Bristol theatres. He seems to have known Mr. Allen, of Bath, and to have been fully acquainted with his fortunate Post-Office speculations. In this way, to some extent, but much more, doubtless, through his public capacity as manager of two large theatres, he became aware of the crude postal arrangements of the period. Having frequently to correspond with the theatrical stars of the metropolis, and also to journey between that city and the then centres of trade and fashion, he noticed how superior the arrangements for travelling were to those under which the Post-Office work was done, and he conceived the idea of improvements.

Palmer began his work of reform in 1783, by submitting a full scheme in a report to Mr. Pitt, who was at the time Prime Minister. He commenced by describing the existing system of mail transmission. "The post," he says, "at present, instead of being the quickest, is almost the slowest conveyance in the country; and although, from the great improvements in our roads, other carriers have proportionately mended their speed, the post is as slow as

To this work, published in London, in 1864, the reader is referred for "an historical and descriptive account of the British Post-Office." A pamphlet by Mr. Jerom Murch, entitled Ralph Allen, John Palmer, and The English Post Office, London and Bath, 1880, should likewise be consulted.

+ See Calendar of State Papers (Domestic), 1665-1666, p. 403, for reference to an "account for the Bristol road, the riding being 4 miles an hour, and the Gloucester road 3."

ever." The system was also unsafe; robberies were frequent, and he saw not how it could be otherwise if there were no changes. "The mails," he continued, "are generally intrusted to some idle boy without character, mounted on a worn-out hack, and who, so far from being able to defend himself, or escape from a robber, is more likely to be in league with him." If robberies were not so frequent as the circumstances might lead one to suppose, it was simply because thieves had found, by long experience, that the mails were scarcely worth robbing, the booty to be obtained being comparatively worthless, inasmuch as the public found other means of sending letters of value. Palmer knew of tradesmen who sent letters by stage-coach. Why, then, "should not the stage-coach, well protected by armed guards, under certain conditions to be specified, carry the mail-bags ?" Though by no means the only recommendation which he made, the substitution of mail-coaches for "worn-out hacks" was the leading feature of his plans. Evincing a thorough knowledge of his subject (however he may have attained it), and devised with great skill, the measures he proposed promised to advance the postal communication to as high a pitch of excellence as was possible. To lend to the scheme the prospect of financial success, he laboured to show that his proposals, if adopted, would secure a larger revenue to the Post-Office than it had ever yielded, whilst, as far as the public were concerned, it was evident that they would rather pay higher for a service which was performed with so much more efficiency. Mr. Pitt, who always listened readily to proposals which would have the effect of increasing the revenue, soon saw and acknowledged the merits of the scheme. But, first of all, the Post-Office officials must be consulted; and from parliamentary papers we learn how bitterly they resented proposals not coming from themselves. They made many and vehement objections to the sweeping changes which Palmer's plans would necessitate. "The oldest and ablest officers in the service represented them "not only to be impracticable, but dangerous to commerce and the revenue." The way in which they met some of his proposals is amusing and instructive. Thus, Palmer recommended Mr. Pitt to take commercial men into his councils; he also submitted that the suggestions of such men should be listened to more frequently, when postal arrangements for their respective districts were in contemplation. Mr. Hodgson, one of the prominent officers of the Post-Office, indignantly answered that "it was not possible that any set of gentlemen, merchants, or outriders [outsiders], could instruct officers brought up in the business of the Post-Office. And it is particularly to be hoped," said this gentleman, with a spice of malice, "if not presumed, that the surveyors need no such information." He "ventured to say, that the post as then managed was admirably connected in all its parts, well-regulated, carefully attended to, and not to be improved by any person unacquainted with the whole. It is a pity," he

sarcastically added, "Mr. Palmer should not first have been informed of the nature of the business in question, to make him understand how very differently the post and post-offices are conducted to what he apprehends." Palmer's propositions also included the timing of the mails at each successive stage, and the proper regulation of their departure from the country; so that they might reach London at specified times, and not at any hour of the day or night, and might, to some extent, be delivered simultaneously. And further, instead of leaving London at different hours of the night, he suggested that the coaches for the different roads should all start from the General Post-Office at the same time. But his plans were pronounced impossible: it was "an impossibility," his opponents declared, "that the Bath mail could be brought to London in sixteen or eighteen hours."

Mr. Pitt, however, inherited his father's contempt for "impossibilities," and saw, with the clear vision for which he was remarkable, that Palmer's scheme would be as profitable as it was practicable; and he resolved, in spite of the short-sighted opposition of the authorities, that it should be adopted. On the 24th of July, 1784, the Post-Office Secretary issued this order:-"His Majesty's Postmasters-General, being inclined to make an experiment for the more expeditious conveyance of mails of letters by stage-coaches, machines, &c., have been pleased to order that a trial shall be made upon the road between London and Bristol, to commence at each place on Monday, the 2d of August next." Then follows a list of places to which letters might be despatched by these coaches; and then this information :-"All persons are therefore to take notice, that the letters put into any receiving-house before six of the evening, or seven at this chief office, will be forwarded by these new conveyances; all others for the said post-towns and their districts put in afterwards, or given to the bellmen, must remain until the following post at the same hour of seven." The coaches commenced running according to the above advertisement, but not until the 8th of the month. One left London at eight in the morning, reaching Bristol about eleven the same night. The other left Bristol at four in the afternoon of the same day, reaching London in sixteen hours. Palmer was installed at the Post-Office on the day of the change, under the title of Controller-General; and it was arranged that his salary should be £1,500 a year, with a commission of two and a half per cent. upon any excess of net revenue over £240,000—the sum at which the annual proceeds of the Post-Office stood at the date of his appointment. But the opposition to his scheme, manifested by the officials before it was adopted, did not give way. Perhaps his presence at the Council Board did not conduce to harmony. However it was, he appears for some time to have contended single-handed with men determined to oppose him. Goaded and tormented by them, he fell into their snares, and attempted to carry his measures by indirect means. In

1792, when his plans had been in operation about eight years, and were beginning to show every sign of success, it was thought desirable that he should surrender his appointment. A pension of £3,000 was granted in consideration of his services. Subsequently he memorialized the Government, setting forth that the pension fell far short of the emoluments which had been promised, but he was unsuccessful. Against this treatment he never ceased to protest; and his son, Major-General Palmer, frequently brought his claims before Parliament, until, in 1813, after a struggle of twenty years, the House of Commons voted a grant of £50,000.

As mentioned in an obituary sketch in the Gentleman's Magazine (1818), vol. lxxxviii., pt. ii., pp. 276-80, Palmer "was born at Bath, where his father carried on a very considerable brewery, and was engaged in other very extensive concerns; his mother was descended from the Longs, one of the oldest and most respectable families in that city. He represented his native city twice in Parliament, and upon his resignation was succeeded by his son Colonel [afterwards Major-General] Palmer, who is one of the present members." Palmer died at Brighton, August 16, 1818, in his seventy-sixth year, and was buried in Bath Abbey. BRISTOLIENSIS.

1629.-MAISEMORE REGISTER OF MARRIAGES, 1557-1590.-The earliest extant volume of the Maisemore registers is really not older than the year 1600, as stated in the Parish Register Abstract, 1833*; but it contains a transcript of marriages and burials which had taken place in the parish before that year, all the entries being very clearly written by some one person. The marriages, which date from 1557, shall be given in the first instance, and exactly as they appear. The burials date from 1538. CONWAY DIGHTON.

Anno Domini Secundum

Cursum et Computationem
Ecclecia Anglicanæ 1557.

Matrimonia.

Imprimis. Matrimonium Willielmi milton [et] Joanes Carpenter xxx die Januarij.

Anno Domini 1558.

Matrimonium Robarti ffreeman [et] Joannes Etkins xx die Augustij. Matrimonia Thome Saunders et Catheren Chen ix die Januarij. Matrimonium Willielmi Coxe ac Catheren Spilman vii die ffebruarij. Anno Domini 1560

Matrimonia Johanis Slauter ac Margareta Collier xii die Augustij. Matrimonia Willielmi Cicell* et Agnete Porter xxii die Augustij.

• See ante, vol. iii., p. 108.

• Mentioned in a letter from Richard Cheney, Bishop of Gloucester, to the Minister Cecill, dated Oct. 15, 1568. The writer states that he "is willing to grant the farm of Maismore to Mr. Cecill."-Calendar of State Papers (Domestic), 1547-1580, p. 320, quoted in Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, vol. iii., p. 894.