CHAP. IV.] Mr, G. Payne, 137 



have taken much the same view of the position as the 

 swell,, who living in the West End, on being invited to 

 dine with a friend in Bloomsbnry, as if there were no other 

 mode of getting there except with a coach and four, re- 

 plied, '^ With pleasure, but where am I to change horses ?" 

 Exceedingly powerful both in arms and shoulders, Mr. 

 Payne with his double thong could get the last ounce 

 out of the wheeler inclined to make his companion do 

 most of the work, and the point of his lash rarely failed 

 to reach a leader on the desired spot. Frequently on 

 the road between London and Northampton, when the 

 Sulby Squire was on the box of the Northampton coach, 

 both horses and passengers quickly discovered that some 

 other hands than those of the accustomed driver held the 

 reins. Sure but slow were John Harris — most civil — 

 and S. Daniel — smartest and most polite of Jehus; but 

 when the turn into the Angel-yard at Northampton was 

 made without any change of pace, it was clear to the 

 spectators that a pilot of a higher order than usual was at 

 the helm. Poor Sam Daniel ! your good looks, engaging 

 manners, and fund of anecdote, sportiug and otherwise, 

 made the journey by your side always a pleasant one. 

 The lad schoolward-bound, forgot for a while Virgilian 

 and Homeric horrors, as he listened to your pleasant talk ; 

 and the glass of ale at Dunstable or Hocklifife looked all 

 the brighter and tasted all the sweeter for your words of 

 praise of it. The only act of yours, not quite to be for- 

 given, was, when you rode your inimitable little hack 

 against the "Telegraph" coach on the 17th October, 

 1837. To ask a horse to go sixty-six miles continuously 

 at the rate of ten miles an hour, seems to approach very 

 nearly the confines of cruelty ; but both horse and rider. 



