Note 4 — I THE RATE FOR LETTERS

Report from Secret Committee on the Past Office (Commons),1844, Appx., p. 95. In 1324 a writ or letter was issued to the Constable of Dover and Warden of the Cinque Ports, to the Mayor and Sheriffs of London, the Bailiffs of Bristol, Southampton, and Portsmouth, and the Sheriffs of Hants, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall, reciting that previous orders de scrutinio faciendo had not been observed, in consequence of which many letters prejudicial to the Crown were brought into the kingdom; and commanding them to "make diligent scrutiny of all persons passing from parts beyond the seas to England, and to stop all letters concerning which sinister suspicions might arise, and their bearers, and to keep the bearers in custody until further directions, and to transmit the letters so intercepted to the King with the utmost speed."