62 LIFE OF MYTTON. 



a very lieavy rain, this road was rendered impassable, 

 but Mytton would go on, until tlie chase at length 

 fairly stuck fast. There being no other conveyance 

 handy, the Squire jumped on one of the posters and his 

 friend on another, and with the traces hanging about 

 their heels, galloped up to the cover-side! If he was 

 a friend to post-boys, he was equally so to others 

 who served him, and often as he passed through 

 Birmingham, he never gave the waiter where he 

 stayed less than a guinea. I have reason to believe 

 that the money he has at various times lost (not at 

 play, for there I should say he was borne harmless *) 

 would have purchased a pretty estate. I am afraid 

 to say what was supposed to have been the amount 

 of bank-notes that were one night blown out of his 

 carriage on his road from Doncaster races, but I have 

 reason to believe it was several thousand pounds ! 

 His account of the affair was this : He had been 

 counting a large quantity of bank-notes on the seat 

 of his carriage — in which he was alone — with all the 

 windows down ; and falling asleep, did not awake 

 until the night was far spent — his servant paying the 



• He was a very dangerous man with a dice-box in his hand. Wine 

 gave him courage, which generally tells at hazard. 



