ers, etc.-we saw standing a stout scarlet postman, armed with a long-handled, wooden broad-hoe (such as is used in the London streets for collecting macadamized mud), with which very dexterously and violently he kept pushing the white mass from the centre to the circumference, which was surrounded by red postmen, who, as quickly as they could fill their arms, carried off these papers (each hugging about seventy) towards the sorting-tables. In doing so, they unavoidably dropped several on the floor; and thus, beneath, above, in the pigeon-holes of all the sorting-tables, as also moving about in all directions, there was to be seen that astonishing creation of English newspapers, which, like the rays of the sun, enliven and enlighten every region of the globe. On Friday evenings, the mountain is increased by above half a ton of "Sunday" publications, to be delivered in the country on Saturday.

As the processes of sorting are, generally speaking, similar to those of the letters below, we will not weary our readers by detailing them, but will merely observe that, in order to ensure the utmost attention to this public work, in which not only the British people, but the whole family of mankind are interested, it is notified on a board hung up in as nearly as possible the middle of the hall, that for every paper missent, the man who shall have made the mistake will be fined a penny, which at the end of the quarter will be divided among his comrades.

All newspapers for foreign countries, as fast as they are collected, are despatched through a zinc shoot into the "Foreign Department" below.

In arranging the multitudinous mass which remains,

one of the most important duties that the sorter has to perform is to detect any fraud on that indulgence of the Imperial Parliament which liberally allows them to circulate, even to India, postage free. Under the old system of heavy charges on letters, there were innumerable attempts to carry on an illicit correspondence by means of newspapers. Of these frauds, one of the most common was, commencing at the beginning of the first page, to underdot consecutively with ink, or to undermark, by little holes made with a pin, each letter needful to make up the several words of the fraudulent communication.

Letters, and enclosures even of wedding-cake, are still frequently concealed within newspapers; but by very ingenious means, which it would not be proper for us to reveal, they are usually detected, and, wherever it is possible, punished. The present Postmaster-General is also making strenuous exertions to suppress a species of petty larceny by which a few "household words," which many of the writers, no doubt, consider as perfectly innocent, are inscribed, sometimes openly on the envelope, and sometimes confidentially within. The following are a sample of the punishments that have been inflicted :

For writing on the Envelope.

:

Postage charged

by weight.

s. d.

Of what strange and minute materials is the enormous revenue of the British Empire composed!

At seven minutes before a quarter to eight the newspapers, which, throughout both the upper halls, have by this time been all sorted, are, almost simultaneously, according to their destinations, packed into leather bags, a few of which are tied, sealed, and then dropped through a wooden shoot, to be conveyed at once to the termini of the several railway stations; the remainder, without being closed, at a quarter to eight precisely, are lowered in charge of scarlet postmen, via the machine, into the great sorting-halls beneath. As fast as they arrive there, the letters belonging to each sack (the letter-carrier holds it open while the sorter fills it) are super-packed in strata above the newspapers, until by about three minutes to eight the bags are not only all sealed, but are to be seen, eight or ten in a lump, on the shoulders of postmen, who, appearing almost as if they would break down from the loads they are standing under, completely block up, like ladies waiting for their carriages, the passages which lead to the exeunt-door. As soon, however, as the clock, which has been attentively watching the operations,

benevolently strikes eight, the president's authoritative voice is heard from his elevated desk to utter very distinctly the monosyllable "Go!"-in obedience to which, the door flies open, the mass of white and brown bags, of scarlet cloth, red faces, and horizontal backs, moves on, and in a very few minutes the great sorting-halls above as well as below are all empty! The night scene, outside, of stuffing the bags into accelerators, often leaving therein merely room enough for the guard, is very soon concluded, and thus, by a very few minutes after eight—the last sharp exclamation of "All right! drive on!" having already died away-the whole of the letters and newspapers ejected from the Inland Department of the London Post-office are in various directions rumbling through the streets towards their respective destinations!

MORNING DELIVERY.

Our heart aches when we state, that most of those intelligent public servants whom we have but just dismissed to homes more or less poor, as well as more or less distant, to enjoy that pittance of domestic happiness and of rest, which alone, excepting on the Sabbath-day, is allowed to them, have to arise, dress, and walk to St. Martin's-le-Grand early enough to arrive there before five A.M., to arrange the morning delivery; and if, as is the case, they cheerfully, week after week, month after month, and year after year, daily assemble to perform this endless duty, our readers, as they sit reclining in their easy chairs, will not, we hope, shrink from the

fatigue of reading, for a few minutes, a very brief abstract of the manner in which their important duties are performed.

The bags reaching London from all the inland Postoffices, or in other words from all parts of the United Kingdom, as well as from abroad, are rapidly brought from the termini of the principal railways by two-wheeled mail-carts and four-wheeled accelerators (for no mailcoaches are now employed in this work) to St. Martin'sle-Grand, where they begin to arrive at five o'clock A.M. As fast as they are unloaded at the door, the large, long "roadsacks" are opened, and the "bags" from within these are then brought on the shoulders of red lettercarriers to twenty-four "opening tables," arranged alphabetically, so as to give to each as nearly as possible the same amount of work. A junior clerk examines the bag and seal, and if there appears to be anything wrong about either, without opening, he reports it. If however all be right, he cuts it open, and then, turning it inside out, he deposits the whole of its contents on his table.

Although all the Queen's heads in the heap have been obliterated by the different postmasters in the country, the letters have each to be examined to ascertain whether its postage by stamp or by money is correct, in which operation the clerk separates the mass as he proceeds into two divisions, "Town" and "Country"-the former usually containing about three-fourths, and the latter one-fourth. He also lays aside in one compartment the large letters and parcels.