2 MAY 1891, Page 25

A Hundred Years by Post. By J. Wilson Hyde. (Sampson

Low, Marston, and Co.)—This "Jubilee Retrospect" contains a number of facts and contrasts which, however familiar, never seem to lose their interest. It is a curious point, by-the-way, that the frontispiece gives us a representation of "A Mail-Coach in a Thunderstorm," and we are inclined to rejoice that these days are over. Yet the Post Office is falling back more and more on mail- coaches. Mr. Hyde introduces some wholly irrelevant matters into his little book. What have hereditary pensions to do with the Post Office P He seems to have a grievance of his own against the authorities. Whether his complaints are just or not, they have not tended to improve his book.