Help Deciphering One Line On 1817 Stampless Letter

I have a stampless cover sent from Nanjemoy, Maryland on October 24, 1817, to Edinburgh, Great Britain (Scotland). Per the CDS, it arrived in Great Britain on December 11, 1817. It has a stepped "LIVERPOOL/SHIP LETTER" cancel, and you can just make out a boxed 1/2-penny Scottish road tax stamp. (The "2" is clear.)

What I am having trouble deciphering is the line at the top left. I can't make out the first character, but the rest of the line looks like "16. 4/ 7 1/2". Any ideas what that means?

The handwriting of this portion of the letter is different from the main body. Based on the contents of the letter, it seems like these are the jottings of the recipient, John Blair, who was a "Writer to the Signet" or a solicitor. These lines neatly summarize the gist of this two-page letter.

Could the numbers be indicative of the postal rate from Liverpool to Edinburgh? The Great Britain Philatelic Society has a great online resource on inland rates, but I can't seem to square the numbers "16. 4/ 7 1/2" with that information.

Appreciate any help.

Mike

It looks like "1st" to me


Peter

The digits may be a sum of money, i.e 4s7 1/2d. I don't think the "16" belongs with the other numbers - it's by a different hand.

My initial thoughts were the letter was finally received or replied or filed on
1st (month) 16(th day)
in somewhat of a Quaker style, which the numbers might also make it easier for filing than using the names of the month if the clerk was not too literate.

Are you able to offer any links to "The Scottish Road tax" ?
First time I have come across this.
Very interesting.

You may wish to forward your query to our SCF team of Ron and Eunice Shanahan.
The specialise in this type of material

Please let us know if you solve your queries.
https://victorianweb.org/misc/shanahan.html

1d ??
?? NANJEMOY 24th October ?9 17
Ian? Robertson
Rory? Rob D ??
Power of Attorney
Will send a copy of Rob
John Ox's Will and Proof of
their Pedigree

Tend to agree with Geoff 4shillings and seven pence happenny 4/7½d

"Edinburgh NB" - Edinburgh North Britain

Writers to the signet
Solicitors in Scotland were previously known as "writers"; Writers to the Signet were the solicitors entitled to supervise use of the King's Signet, the private seal of the early Kings of Scots.

Just a thought
The scribble (Script accounting)

is 4/7 (4 shillings and seven pence) add to that the road tax = 4/7½d


4/7d

Check out Lot Nos 882 and 883:

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ZI/zi5345.cfm

Also this info from Ron Shanahan:

-/webgil/Adh.html

Serendipity !
I just managed that last link, just minutes ago.

I was searching for....
Bonnici, A. (2001). Valentine day. Scottish 1/2 road tax marks. Land's end cachets. The PSM journal, 30(1), 11-27.

PSM Journal

and that link popped up.
Whew! that was a toughie, I spent a few hours on that one,
I went through "Street Life of Medieval England" (G T Salisbury)
I had been reading at the Dentist on Friday.

Nothing there on taxing.

I did reveal the entymology of the word SCAVENGER (Scawageor)
Medieval Road paver


Ron and Eunice link (text string "mail Tax" rather than road tax )

Acronym : PSM
Philatelic Society of Malta.

John Blair
Writer to the Signet, Edinburgh.

Society of Writers to H.M. Signet (Great Britain). A history of the Society of Writers to Her Majesty's Signet [electronic resource] : with a list of the members of the society from 1594 to 1890 and an abstract of the minutes online. (page 13 of 62)

Lots of great information. Thanks to all.

I'm not at the 50 post minimum to provide links, but hopefully the moderator(s) will grant an exception for these two:

This link to the Great Britain Philatelic Society has detailed information on postal rates in Great Britain, including the 1/2d road tax: https://www.gbps.org.uk/information...801-1839.php. I should be able to reconcile the 4s 7-1/2d rate with these tables, but I'll certainly reach out to Ron and Eunice Shanahan to confirm my conclusion.

Then there is this really interesting presentation given at the British Empire Study Group on the road tax: https://thedigitalphilatelist.com/b...-1813-1839/.

For those interested, below are images of the letter itself. It was sent by James Robertson to John Blair in the interest of securing property held by a William (?) Knox in Scotland that presumably belonged, via an inheritance, to a Knox who resided in Charles County, Maryland. The letter also mentions a Captain Dent who had the power of attorney in this case. The Knox's and Dent's were prominent families in Charles County, Maryland.

Mr. Robertson must have known Mr. Blair because towards end of the letter, there is a casual mention that "Ann & Mary are well" and that Mr. Robertson hopes to find Mr. Blair and his "in [the] same state."

A London attorney by the name of Dobie also has some role in this case. In 1817, there was a law firm by the name of Dobie and Thomas in London, with Alexander Dobie being one of the partners.

We can probably never know the meaning of "1st. 16. 4/ 7 1/2" but knowing a bit about how lawyers run matters, "1st" could denote the first item of correspondence in the matter, the "16" could be a file number or an aggregate time spent in hours, and "4/71/2" could be a fee that the solicitor charged for consulting, preparing a deed, or starting a will contest.

A spanking Video, thanks.
Knitted very well to my current book "street life in medieval England"
How disgusting things were, prior to the toll roads and turnpikes.

People were actually really fined, from throwing urine from windows
into the street. Not just a legend.