1 1 8 The Pytchley Hunt^ Past and Present, [chap. iv. 



extravagance and self-indulgence. Having lost his 

 father before lie had reached his seventh year^ and with 

 no one to look to for correction but a fond and too- 

 indulgent mother, it is not to be wondered at that his 

 early companions were not all that could be desired. 

 Inheriting a love for gambling in all its phases, he put 

 no sort of constraint upon the evil passion^ and before he 

 had attained his twenty-first year^ cards^ hazard^ and 

 the turf had begun to undermine his splendid patri- 

 mony. 



It is recorded in the annals of the Doncaster St. Leger, 

 that in the year in which Mr. Gascoigne^s " Jerry *' 

 won that great race^ Mr. Payne lost upwards of thirty 

 thousand pounds^ and that^ before he had come of age. 

 Undaunted by his ill-success in 1824, in the following 

 year he followed the advice of Mr. Gully, and by backing 

 '^ Memnon^^^ for the same race, recouped himself for his 

 previous losses. 



Earely fortunate with his own horses, considering 

 the number he had in trainings, he occasionally won large 

 sums backing those of his friends. When " Crucifix " 

 won the Oaks, his own mare " Welfare ^' ran second. 

 Her success which seemed imminent for a few seconds, 

 would have cost him thousands, as he had backed Lord 

 George Bentinck's famous mare for a large stake, not 

 dreaming that his own had a shadow of a chance. His 

 remarks upon his own feelings when it seemed as if he 

 were going to have the honour of being enrolled upon 

 the list of winners of the " Oaks,^^ greatly amused those 

 who heard them. 



One of his earliest confederates upon the turf was Mr. 

 Bouverie of Delapre Abbey, near Northampton, a country 



