Nancy Baym's right: multiple daily mail deliveries were common in 19th c London (not to mention in other parts of the world, such as the large cities in India, well into the 20th c). It's also important to remember that besides such "public" mail deliveries, it was quite common to have servants, messenger boys, and the like (a street urchin would do in a pinch) deliver letters across town quite regularly. As the telegraph was introduced (and then became increasingly affordable and accessible), telegrams were sent across town, from business to business, or from business to home (for those wealthy enough to have home access) for many of the same sorts of reasons we send emails to local recipients. Naomi Naomi Baron Professor of Linguistics American University Washington, DC 20016-8045