1 36 The Pytchley Hunt, Past and Present, [chap, iv. 



one who truly lamented tlie loss of an old and kindly- 

 hearted friend, will show the depth of the affection that 

 existed between the brothers. 



'* My dear , — I am well aware how deeply you would 



all feel this awful visitation. I will not attempt to describe 

 to you my misery, although I hope it may please God to 

 mitigate the intense agony I now suffer. I have bid adieu 

 to happiness in this world. The most affectionate and best 

 of brothers, as well as the most amiable of human beings, 

 has been snatched away. We were scarcely ever separate 

 in life, and the future must be a blank to me.'^ 



Long after he had apparently recovered his spirits, 

 he loved to recall some speech or act of poor dear ^'^Bill.'^ 

 From his sisters, Mrs. T. Paris and Lady Goodricke — 

 each holding strong views on religious matters — G. Payne 

 imbibed a marked distaste to hearing sacred subjects 

 treated with levity. Making a point of attending church 

 once on a Sunday, few there were more attentive to what 

 was going on, and an indifferent address from the pulpit 

 was not unlikely on his homeward walk to be character- 

 ized as a d — d bad performance ! Most truly might he 

 be said to be one of the many 



" Who see and hail the better part, 

 But fail to take it to the heart." 



By no means the equal of Messrs. Musters and Os- 

 baldeston in the number of his athletic successes, as a 

 coachman or with " the gloves/^ he was something more 

 than '^ bad to beat.*' At a day when " coaching '' was at 

 its zenith, and the names of Sir St. Vincent Cotton and 

 Sir Henry Peyton were as household words, G. Payne took 

 high rank as a " whip.''' To drive four-in-hand, town or 

 country, was his great delight; and he doubtless would 



