Chap. IV.] Mr. G. Payne. 133 



As a host^ George Payne had few or any equals. 

 Neither witty nor particularly well-read^ he knew every- 

 thing that was going on, and had the happy knack of mak- 

 ing each guest feel that he was an item of some importance 

 in the party at which he was present. Full of anecdote 

 and general information on the topics of the day, con- 

 versation could not flag, and the dinner ever seemed too 

 short. Those dinners in the little Northamptonshire 

 village, with George Payne at one end of the table, and 

 " Billy '' at the other, might well have been looked upon 

 as nodes ccenceqiie Deoriim ; aud that, in spite of an 

 occasional going to bed a poorer, if not a wiser man. 

 The three genii presiding over the little queer-shaped 

 room into which the guests betook themselves after 

 dinner, were whist, ecarte, and vingt-et-un. The 

 amount of the stakes was always tempered to the purse 

 of the (so far) unshorn lamb ; but a good many sove- 

 reigns were wont to change hands in the course of the 

 evening. In reply to a query from the writer of this 

 narrative to a noble lord who was a guest at Pitsford 

 Hall, on one of these occasions, he thus writes : — 

 '' Whist was not the game. We played vingt-et-un until 

 a very late hour. The party consisted of George and 

 Billy Payne, two Suttons, Bateman, F. Yilliers, Kooper, 

 and myself. F. V. lost two hundred and fifty in a very 

 short time, went to his room, and brought down the 

 money in new bank-notes, and retired from the contest. 

 I happened to have thirty-three pounds in my pocket, 

 my old bailiff having handed me thirty pounds (thi 

 produce of some trees sold), just as I was starting. I 

 soon lost this and borrowed some more from G. P. I had 

 a good deal of luck, and won a hundred ; but the balance 



