NIMROD. 81 



&quot; She s the best in the lot,&quot; said the coachman, interrupt 

 ing us, to explain a severe cut he had given the near-wheeler ; 

 &quot; the Lest in the lot, sir. Now she s woke up, see how she 

 throws her weight in. I ve been working a coach, off and on, 

 these fifteen years, and I don t think I ever had a better bit 

 of stuff before me ; but you saw how she was lagging. She 

 isn t sulky kifid as a kitten never takes offence and she 

 don t mean she s ailing ; but sometimes she gets into a kind 

 of a doze ; forgets herself, and don t hear me ; dreamy like, 

 I consider ; thinking about the last stable, instead of the one 

 she s going to. I can t break her of it. But she s tough as 

 steel Lady Nimrod&quot; 1 we calls her after the old Nimrod, 

 you know, sir, as writes for Bell s Life. Ah, sir! but he 

 can write, can t he, and no chaff! You ve read the Northern 

 Tour ; that distinguished old whip, you remember, that he 

 tells of, he was my nuncle, it s in our blood, he was a 

 working on the Northern then.&quot; 



*,***** 



&quot; I must beg leave,&quot; said the gentleman, resuming our 

 discussion, &quot; to deny that we have been governed by such an 

 exclusively selfish policy, in that matter of Free Trade and 

 Protection, as you imputed to us. The principles of Free 

 Trade are the natural laws of the universe, applicable at all 

 times to all places. I fully believe that it would have been 

 as profitable for our ancestors to have adopted them, as it is 

 for us ; and so far from ascribing their success to protection, 

 I should say that it was in spite of Protection, and due only 

 to indomitable energy and perseverance. And I feel no man 

 ner of doubt, that Protection, so far from encouraging your 

 manufacturers, can only rest as an incubus upon their inge 

 nuity and energy.&quot; 



&quot; However your manufacturing success may have been 

 affected by mere protection in itself, there can be no ques- 



PART II. 4* 



