NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. n 



always endeavour to find the " comes jucundus, 7 ' which the 

 facetious Publius Syrus says, is as good as a coach itself.* On 

 this occasion, however, he was not to be found, so Penny and 

 myself had it all to ourselves. Of course we got upon the 

 Basingstoke road, on which we had both been at work, and of 

 course Jack Peer and the Nimrod coach were not omitted in our 

 discourse. Here, however, Horace's excellent advice, not only 

 of " Quid de quoque viro," but also of " et cuidicas? would have 

 been useful to my brother whip, for nearly every word he uttered 

 respecting Peer's reason for quitting the Southampton Telegraph 

 as likewise of the inducements held out to him to return to it, 

 was false. But I do not blame Penny for all the lies he told me 

 on this subject, for they were the lies of others, at second-hand, 

 he having swallowed all he had heard ; and I think it is Dr. 

 Watts, in his Logic, who makes the nice distinction between 

 telling a man he is telling an untruth, and unceremoniously 

 telling him he lies. The one only conveys to him the naked 

 idea of his error, which the Doctor terms the " primary idea ;" 

 but the word lie carries a secondary idea ; for it implies both the 

 falsehood of the speech, and the reproach and censure of the 

 speaker. However, I affected to believe all I heard, and though 

 we parted without being further known to each other, I tipp'd 

 Penny an extra shilling for old acquaintance sake. 



But it is time for myself now to take the advice of Horace; to 

 have an eye to the " ne quid nimis ;" and not lose too much time 

 on this ground. I cannot, however, help remarking, despite of 

 the regard I have for the fraternity of the whip, that road-coach- 

 men, and old ones in particular, are a good deal given to cram 

 their passengers when they find their swallow is good although 

 they sometimes bring it on themselves by asking absurd ques- 

 tions. And yet the art of cramming is not solely practised by 

 coachmen, for men of all trades and grades now and then have 

 recourse to it. No doubt many of your readers will remember 

 my anecdote of Mr. Joliffe's huntsman, the facetious Roffey, 

 cramming " the London gentleman," as he called him, with an 

 account of a run over Surrey, making it appear about three 

 times as good as it had been. On being remonstrated with on 

 this breach of his veracity, he coolly exclaimed " Why I thought 

 I must give the gentleman something to take back with him to 

 London." I have also met with first-rate crammers in the tipper 

 walks of life, who, as Shakspeare says, would " cram words into 

 my ears against the stomach of my sense ;" but they are not so 

 common as they were wont to be. I remember Mr. Warde 



* " Comes jucundus in via pro vehiculo est." A pleasant companion 

 is as good as a coach. 



