THE STAMP MANIA. FIRST used, as many of our readers will remember, in 1840, the postage-stamp has only just passed out of its years of minority; and yet at this present moment there are no fewer than fifteen hundred different postage-labels in existence, and the number is increasing every month. Now that the postage-stamp has become an institution with us, people are beginning to inquire who was the author of so convenient an arrangement, and the discussion has served to exemplify the truth of the saying of the wise man: "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and there is no new thing under the sun.' The idea of a post-paid envelope originated early in the reign of Louis XIV. with a M. de Velayer, who, in 1653, established, under royal authority, a private pennypost in Paris, placing boxes at the corners of the streets for the reception of letters, which should be wrapped up in certain envelopes. Some of these envelopes are still extant, and one of them we have ourselves seen.

On this idea, later suggestions may or may not have been built. Dr Gray, of the British Museum, claims the merit of having suggested that letters should be prepaid with stamps as early as 1834. Before that time, Mr Charles Knight proposed a stamped cover for the circulation of newspapers. Of course, no steps were taken in respect to either of these recommendations till the period of penny postage. The credit of suggesting the postage-stamp has consequently to a considerable extent fallen to Sir Rowland Hill; but the best inquiry we have been able to institute would scarcely bear out the usual assumption; and indeed this public benefactor, crowned with so many well-won laurels, may easily afford to dispense with the adornment of this single

one.

Mr Hill's famous pamphlet on Post Reform went through three editions rapidly; in the first edition, which was issued privately, the author makes no mention of the use of stamps-though prepayment of letters was always a principal feature in his proposals-money payments over the counter of the receiving-office only being suggested. Immediately afterwards, the members of a royal commission on the Post-office, which had been sitting since 1833, called Mr Hill before them, as also the officers of the Stamp-office, and Mr Dickenson, the

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paper-maker, with several others, when the subject of letter prepayment was discussed. In the second edition of Mr Hill's pamphlet, the prepayment of letters by means of stamps or stamp envelopes is definitely recommended. When the committee of the House of Commons met to investigate the merits of Mr Hill's penny-postage scheme, they were required to express an opinion as to the desirability or otherwise of prepayment by means of stamps. Again, a favourable opinion was given of the measure, and when the government brought in and passed the penny-postage act, a clause for the use of stamps formed a component part of it. Though all agreed that stamps of some sort should come into use with the advent of cheap postage, it was by no means easy to hit upon a definite plan, or when a number of plans were submitted, to decide upon the particular one to be adopted. Stamped paper representing different charges was first suggested. Folded in a particular way, a simple revenue-stamp would then be exposed to view, and frank the letter. Another suggestion was, that a stamped wafer, as it was called, should be used, and, placed on the back of the letter, would both seal and frank it at the same time. The idea of stamped envelopes, however, was at first by far the most popular, and it was decided that they should be the prepaying medium. Plans and suggestions for the carrying out of the arrangement being required at once, the Lords of the Treasury issued a somewhat pompous proclamation, dated 23d of August 1839, inviting all artists, men of science, and the public in general,' to offer proposals 'as to the manner in which the stamp may best be brought into use.' So important was the subject, that Lord Palmerston, the then Foreign Secretary, was directed to apprise all foreign governments of the matter, and invite suggestions from any part of the civilised world. Three months were allowed for plans, and two prizes of two hundred pounds and one hundred pounds were to be allowed for the proposals on the subject 'which my Lords may think most deserving of attention.' The palm was carried off by Mr Mulready, R. A., who designed the envelopes now known by his name. These envelopes, which allegorically celebrated the triumphs of the post in a host of emblematical figures, were of two colours, the one for a penny being printed in black, and the other, for the twopenny postage, being in blue ink. They gave, however, so little satisfaction, and were found to be so inconvenient, that

them; and at the other two corners, two more square spaces, each containing a letter of the alphabet. No one of the two hundred and forty stamps in a sheet will exhibit the same two letters, but the changes on the alphabet are rung throughout the series. This mystic arrangement of the letters of the alphabet is supposed to constitute the great check on the forger, but we think we see far greater difficulties in the way of this pest to society than that the forger would not only have to engrave his own die and cast his own blocks, not only have to find his own drilling-machine-not his least difficulty-but he would have to make his own paper, and even his own ink. If we look at the back of our postage-stamps, we will find that each die has been struck on a piece of paper bearing the mark of a crown, impressed on the paper as a water-mark at the time of its manufacture. The ink also with which postage-stamps are printed differs from ordinary printers' ink, not only in colour, but in being soluble in water. More, however, than even its execution, the fact of the stamp being a government article, and only obtainable in any large quantity from the Stamp or Post offices, makes any attempt on the part of the forger to put a spurious article into circulation exceedingly difficult. Stamps, while they do duty for coin, are used almost exclusively for small transactions, and generally among people well known to each other.

When postage-stamps were first introduced in England, it was little thought that they would become a medium of exchange, and far less that they would excite such a furore among stamp-collectors. The same stamp may do duty in a number of ways before it comes to be affixed to a letter, to have its countenance disfigured, and then transported for miles away. It may have been previously used in discharge of some small debt, or sent to pay a charitable subscription. The advertising columns of a newspaper will shew the reader many of the thousand and one ways in which he may turn his spare postage-stamps to account. Therein some public benefactor promises to reveal a secret that will bring its happy possessor within reach of an easy competence, for the small acknowledgment of half-a-crown's worth of stamps. Thirteen Queen's heads will secure you exemption from all the ills that flesh is heir to. 'Send a dozen stamps,' says another, and a specimen of your handwriting, and the advertiser will disclose to you the mysteries of your own mind and capabilities, and will put you in a position to make the most of the faculties you possess.' For the same quantity of stamps, another will tell you who will win the Derby, as surely as if you stood at the winning-post on the very day.' 'Stable Boy' promises all subscribers of twelve stamps that if they do not win on this event, he will never put his name in print again.' Of course, all this is quackery, or worse; but the reader needs not to be told how in an immense number of bonâ-fide cases the system of postage-stamp remittances is exceedingly handy for both buyer and vender, and how trade is fostered by it. As a social arrangement for the poorer classes especially, we could not well overestimate its usefulness. While the use of postage-stamps in this way has never been discouraged, and even owned to be useful, as a means of helping to put a stop to the transmission of coin in letters, the Post-office authorities have recently made provision for taking postagestamps from the public, when such stamps are not soiled or not in single stamps. This arrangement is already in force at the principal post-offices in the country, and will ultimately extend to all. The commission charged on these exchanges is at the rate of sixpence in the pound. In America, as the reader will remember, postage-stamps have formed the principal currency of small value, since the breaking out of the present fratricidal war. Recently, the United

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States government has issued the stamps without gum, as it was found inconvenient to pass them frequently from hand to hand, after they had undergone the gelatinising process. Under a recent act, Postage Currency, July 17, 1862,' the Federal authorities have issued stamps printed on larger-sized paper, with directions for their use under existing circumstances.

Most of our readers will have heard something of stamp-collecting, but few will be aware of the extent to which the timbromanie, or stamp-mania, has been carried. The scenes in Birchin Lane last year, where crowds congregated nightly, to the exceeding annoyance and wonderment of policeman X-where ladies and gentlemen of all ages and all ranks, from cabinetministers to crossing-sweepers, were busy, with album or portfolio in hand, buying, selling, or exchanging, are now known to have been the beginnings of what may almost be termed a new trade. Postage-stamp exchanges are now common enough; one held in Lombard Street on Saturday afternoons is largely attended. Looking the other day in the advertisement pages of a monthly magazine, we counted no fewer than sixty different dealers in postage-stamps there advertising their wares. Twelve months ago, there was no regular mart in London at which foreign stamps might be bought; now, there are a dozen regular dealers in the metropolis, who are doing a profitable trade. Within the last few months, we have witnessed the establishment of a monthly organ for the trade; and in the second number of the Stampcollector's Magazine, the publishers are moved to say that its success has far exceeded their most sanguine expectations.' England is not the only country interested in stamp-collecting. As might be expected, the custom originated in France, and has prevailed there for a number of years. In the gardens of the Tuileries, and also to some extent in those of the Luxembourg, crowds still gather, principally on Sunday afternoons, and may be seen sitting under the trees, sometimes in a state of great excitement, as they busily sell or exchange any of their surplus stock for some of which they may have been in search. The gathering of a complete set of postage-stamps, and a proper arrangement of them, is at least a harmless and innocent amusement. On this point, however, we prefer, in conclusion, to let Dr Gray, of the British Museum, speak, and our readers to judge for themselves. The use and charm of collecting any kind of object is to educate the mind and the eye to careful observation, accurate comparison, and just reasoning on the differences and likenesses which they present, and to interest the collector in the design or art shewn in their creation or manufacture, and the history of the country which produces or uses the objects collected. The postage-stamps afford good objects for all these branches of study, as they are sufficiently different to present broad outlines for their classification; and yet some of the variations are so slight that they require minute examination and comparison to prevent them from being overlooked. The fact of obtaining stamps from so many countries, suggests to ask what were the circumstances that induced the adoption, the history of the countries which issue them, and the understanding why some countries (like France) have considered it necessary, in so few years, to make so many changes in the form or design of the stamp used, while other countries, like Holland, have never made the slightest change.

'The changes referred to all mark some historical event of importance such as the accession of a new king, a change in the form of government, or the absorption of some smaller state into some larger one; a change in the currency, or some other revolution. Hence, a collection of postage-stamps may be considered, like a collection of coins, an epitome of the

* Hand-catalogue of Postage-stamps, introduction, pp. 5 and 6.

history of Europe and America for the last quarter of a century; and at the same time, as they exhibit much variation in design and in execution, as a collection of works of art on a small scale, shewing the style of art of the countries that issue them. The size of the collection, and the manner in which they are arranged and kept, will shew the industry, judgment, neatness, and taste of the collector.' Thus, says another authority, the stamps of the period will be indelible records that Parma, Modena, and Tuscany once had independent rulers of their own; they will mark the revolts of Schleswig-Holstein and the Romagna; exhibit the transfer of Luxembourg from Holland to Belgium. When North and South America are parcelled out into kingdoms, like Europe in our days, they will testify to the pre-existence of New Granada, and the Argentine Confederation, &c., as republics; shew the phases of French government, from Republic to Presidency, and thence to Empire; and record to remotest generations that the Grecian islands owned, in days long past, the sway of the British queen, Victoria, for postal amateurs are already on the qui vive in anticipation of another series of Ionians, under a change of régime.'

MR BOWEN'S HOUSE-WARMING. 'ARE you going to the Bowens' theatricals next week, Amy?' asked Kitty.

'I quite agree with Miss Tapper,' said Mrs Flitt; that is to say, I very nearly agree with her. Play- 1 acting is wicked.'

"Why, Mrs Flitt,' urged Amy, I once acted charades at your own house.'

'Charades, my dear-yes!' returned Mrs Flitt. 'There's no harm in charades: there's no harm in a few shawls, and a feather or two. One wears a feather in one's bonnet out-of-doors sometimes, s why shouldn't one do the same indoors? and if one may wear a shawl in the street, I suppose one may in the house. Then as to what is said: I suppose there is nothing wrong in fancying one's self some one else for a few minutes, and trying to provide language for such and such a person, or to suit such and such an occasion. I must say I think, myself, it is a very good intellectual exercise. There is no harm in that; no. The harm is when one takes regular plays, and sits down and regularly learns them, and then says them off by heart like a regular actor; and when one has a curtain, just as they do in a regular theatre'—

'But you had a screen, Mrs Flitt,' said Amy; and by pulling it out, and closing it again, you made it answer all the purposes of a curtain.'

'A screen, my dear!' returned Mrs Flitt, in a tone of injured innocence, as if it was rather hard to impute

'Why, what is there wicked about it?' asked Amy. 'Everything's wicked about it,' said Miss Tapper peremptorily. Plays are wicked; curtains are wicked; dresses are wicked; scenery's wicked; footlights are wicked; and it's a wicked world.'

'Hear! hear!' cried Kitty's brother, Joe. Well done, aunt. Green baize is wicked; pictures are wicked; candles are wicked; and-what was the other? Oh, dresses are wicked-so long live the noble savage, and death to the tailors.'

'Don't, Joe,' said Kitty.

'Oh, pray don't stop him, dear,' said Miss Tapper; 'you know you agree with him. But it doesn't matter: truth is great, and will prevail, and insult is not argument.'

'Nay, aunt!' cried Joe. 'Didn't I agree with everything you said? Didn't I agree with you that the stage is wicked? I'll prove it, too. wicked world; good! all the world's a stage; good: therefore the stage must be wicked; Q. E. D.'

It's a

‘Ah! never mind,' returned Miss Tapper, in that irritating tone peculiar to martyrs; I can bear it. Scoffs fall harmless when directed against truth. Sneers won't make playacting right, or my opinion wrong: acting's wicked. Reflect upon what I have been saying, Amy, and I think you'll give up your intention. But at anyrate, remember, if anything dreadful happens, I've warned you.' And Miss Tapper

rose and left the room.

screen? One uses a screen in daily life. If it's not wicked to use a screen in one part of the room, it's not in another. A screen does not draw up and let down. Why, I have seen a screen made use of in a church. No; there is no harm in that. It is when one goes further, when one has a regular curtain that draws up and lets down, and footlights, and all those kinds of things-it is then that you overstep the bounds of moderation, and trespass upon the ground of impropriety. I take liberal views about these matters; I don't like to see young people brought up so strictly as to think everything wrong; but, believe me, my dear, a screen is the limit; further than that it is not right to go. So, if the Bowens are going to have anything more than a screen, and a few feathers, and one or two innocent things of that kind, have nothing to do with it, my dear Amy. Have you chosen your words, or would any suggestions of mine be of use to you? "Charitable" is a good word. "Chary," explained Mrs Flitt, and "table." Then the whole--" charitable"-is quite easy, you know.'

'But, Mrs Flitt,' said Amy, slowly and cautiously, 'the fact is that we are not-not going to act charades; we are going to act-Hamlet.'

'Oh, my goodness!' said Mrs Flitt, for the moment quite overcome-oh, my goodness! Dear me! I did not know it was so late.' And making her adieux rather hastily, Mrs Flitt took her departure, with all the best feelings of her nature sadly disturbed.

'I must say, Kitty,' said Mrs General Gore, as she rose to go, soon afterwards-'I must say I think both your aunt and Mrs Flitt take rather too strict a view of the matter. For my part, I candidly confess I can't see the harm of acting real plays. If there is no harm in trying yourself to supply words to suit a particular character upon a particular occasion, I can't see the harm in another person doing the same. And, upon my word, if it's not wrong to compose the conversations, I don't think it can be wrong to write them down; and if it's correct to write them down, I feel certain that it can't be wrong to make use of them afterwards. Now, don't you agree with me?'

Entirely,' cried Amy and Kitty.

Mrs Gore, you speak like a book,' said Joe. Then really,' continued Mrs General Gore, encouraged by the applause, I could not quite agree with the conclusion at which Mrs Flitt arrived about the curtain. What is a curtain ? Dear me to take one of Mrs Flitt's own arguments-if I may use a curtain in one part of the room, mayn't I in another? And what difference does it make, morally, whether a thing draws up and lets down, or unfolds? Then if, as Mrs Flitt says, we may use a screen, because she has seen a screen used in church-oh, how blind bigotry makes us !-for the same reason, we may use a curtain, because they use curtains in church. Yes, I must say I think people look at these little things too seriously-much too seriously. Don't you think so too?'

I quite agree with everything you've said,' cried Amy.

And so do I,' said Kitty. 'So do I,' said Joe. People take a few of these trifles, invest them with an importance to which they have no right, make them in their own minds types of sin, and because you don't look at them in the same light, because you look at them with your own eyes-not through their coloured spectacles-you are set down as an irreclaimable sinner. Why, what are curtains, scenery, footlights, but?'

Stop, Mr Joseph-stop!' cried Mrs General Gore. You said footlights. Now, footlights I strongly object to. Yes, I draw the line at footlights. I quite agree with your aunt and Mrs Flitt that footlights are wicked; I can't even think of them without a shudder. If I hear of footlights being used at private theatricals, I say to myself at once: "There is something wrong with the master of that house."'

'But, Mrs Gore,' said Joe laughing, if we may use candles in one part of a room, why mayn't we in another?'

'Oh, Mr Joseph,' replied Mrs General Gore, don't speak in that light and jesting way about a serious, a very serious subject! There is a moral sense within me, my dear friends, that tells me what is right and what is wrong; and at the very mention of footlights, this moral sense starts up and pricks me, by that means telling us as plainly as possible that footlights are wicked. Besides,' added Mrs Gore triumphantly, 'you never saw footlights in church. Oh, my dear Amy, if the Bowens are going to have footlights, don't consent to act-don't, I beseech you.'

'Well,' said Joe, when Mrs Gore was gone, 'for a woman like my aunt, who declares she was against plays and everything connected with them, I have some respect; but for a woman who can swallow a screen and strain at a curtain, or swallow a curtain and strain at a candle, I have no respect at all.'

Nor I,' said Amy, pulling out her acting edition. 'Come and hear me my Ophelia, Kitty, will you?'

Yes, the Bowens were going to act Hamlet. Mr Bowen, senior, who had been an ironmonger, and was now a gentleman, had from his earliest youth been impressed with the idea that he was gifted with histrionic powers of no common order. As iron had been the business, theatricals had been the pleasure of his life; not that he had ever as yet appeared upon any boards, but he had been diligently educating himself for an occasion of the kind by a constant attendance at the theatre, by an earnest study of plays in general, and of Shakspeare's in particular, and by carefully cultivating the acquaintance of all the members of the profession that he had had the good-fortune to meet. That day was a white day in the annals of the Bowens when Stalker, the great tragedian, took an early dinner with them before proceeding to rehearsal. Stalker's great characters were the Ghost in Hamlet, and the Duke in Othello. Long dwelt that evening in the memory of the Bowens,

when Scorley, the comedian, supped with them after the performance; Scorley, the pet and pride of the London theatres-on the Surrey side of the river. Many people would tell you that a man with propensities of this kind would never succeed in life as an ironmonger, but this would be a mistake. Mr Bowen never allowed his pleasures to interfere with his business, and he had succeeded so well, that at the age of fifty he was able to retire with a large fortune, an extensive library of dramatic works, and a profound conviction, the result of long study, that the character of Laertes had never as yet been done justice to, and, till he undertook it, never would be. After his retirement, Mr Bowen went through the usual stages in the opinion of the local society: the ironmonger dissolved into the retired tradesman; the retired tradesman into the person with property; and when he took the large house in Morley Street, he was considered fairly to have earned the title of gentleman, and was visited accordingly.

This house in Morley Street Mr Bowen had not taken without an eye to its suitableness for an amateur theatre. From the front-door, you passed through a lobby into a large hall that occupied a great part of the front of the house at one end of this hall was a breakfast-room; at the other, a dining-room. Opposite the door of the lobby was the door that opened into the servants' part of the house; and answering to this, at the other end of the hall, was the door by which you gained the staircase that led to the drawing-room.

'Now,' thought Mr Bowen, as he surveyed this hall previous to taking the house, 'how will this do for a theatre? Cut the hall into two with your curtain. Well! Make the front-door end your stage, and you have the breakfast-room for your green-room. Well! The other half is for your audience, with the diningroom for supper-room. Excellent! I'll take the house,' said Mr Bowen.

The only objection to this arrangement was, that any one entering the house from the front-door must come upon the stage; but as between the door and the hall there was the lobby, where a servant could be stationed, this did not so much matter.

Of course, Mrs Bowen's first thought, when they were comfortably settled in the house, was a housewarming. This suggestion was eagerly caught at by Stanley Bowen, the eldest son, who inherited his father's theatrical tastes, and was possessed of a voice so powerful, that at college it had gained for him the nickname of Bowen-erges.

'House-warming by all means,' said Stanley; 'and let's celebrate it with private theatricals.'

'My idea exactly,' cried Mr Bowen, rising solemnly; and I'll be Laertes.'

So the Bowens were going to act Hamlet. It was impossible to pass the house without seeing that something was wrong. You can always tell by the look of a house whether any one is dead, or has just been born, or is just going to be married; and in the same way you can tell by the look of a house if private theatricals are impending. It was plain enough in this case, at anyrate. Carpenters were constantly going in and out; through the windows, you could see that the hall was divided by a curtain; lamps were lighted in broad daylight; and the shutters of one of the hall-windows were kept closed. A hatchment could not be plainer.

But if the house from the outside betrayed that there were going to be private theatricals, the moment you set foot inside it, that fact, and the additional fact of Hamlet being the play selected, became painfully clear. Through the lobby-door, you hear a gentleman abusing his mother at the top of his voice, and using the most dreadful language to convey an idea of the very low opinion he has of his uncle.