ed at letter-rate, and the 8 pence registration fee
would be charged for the coin--the whole amounting to 6 shillings, 6
pence.

"If the public would only attend," observed Mr Bright, in commenting on
these facts, "to the regulations laid down for their guidance by the
Post-Office--as detailed in our Directories and Postal Guides--such
errors would seldom occur, for I believe that things of this sort are
the result of ignorance rather than dishonesty."

"Now, ma'am," he continued, "we come to the blind officers."

There were several of those gentlemen, whose title, we presume, was
satirically expressive of the extraordinary sharpness of their eyes and
intellects. They were seated at a table, engaged in examining addresses
so illegible, so crabbed, so incomplete, and so ineffably ridiculous,
that no man of ordinary mental capacity could make head or tail of them.
All the principal London and Provincial Directories, Guides, and
Gazetteers were ranged in front of the blind officers, to assist them in
their arduous labours, and by the aid of these, and their own extensive
knowledge of men and places, they managed to dispose of letters for
which a stranger would think it impossible to find owners.

"What would you make of that address, now?" said Mr Bright, presenting
a letter to Miss Lillycrop for inspection.

"It looks like Cop--Cup--no--it begins with a C at all events.--What
think you of it, May?" said the puzzled lady.

"It seems to me something like Captain Troller of Rittler Bunch," said
May, laughing. "It is quite illegible."

"Not _quite_," said one of the blind officers, with a smile. "It is--
Comptroller of the Returned Letter Branch. Some one making inquiries,
no doubt, after a lost letter addressed as badly as this one."

Having looked at a few more of the letters that were then passing under
examination, Mr Bright showed them a book in which were copied
facsimiles of addresses which had passed through the post. Some of
these were pictorial--embracing quaint devices and caricatures, most of
them in ink, and some in colours, all of which had been traced by a
gentleman in the office with great skill. One that struck May as being
very original was the representation of an artist painting the portrait
of the Queen. Her Majesty was depicted as sitting for her portrait, and
the canvas on the easel before which the artist stood was made the exact
size of the postage-stamp.

While the ladies were examin