Old Posting Times. 43 



them. He based this on what he saw of Sir Gregory 

 Lewin, Mr. Blackburn, Q.C., and one or two others, 

 learned in the law, who, if the assize at Carlisle ex- 

 tended over a Sunday, generally posted down after 

 their consultations to Penrith, and dined most sump- 

 tuously at the Crown. The story of the brace of wild 

 ducks lingered for many a year about the Crown bar. 

 To the horror of these men of eclectic appetite, they 

 had been stuffed by mistake with sage and onions. 

 Upon ascertaining this violation of all true art, the 

 president nearly pulled the bell down in his indigna- 

 tion, and ordering in a kettle of water, scooped out all 

 the stuffing, and carefully rinsed the birds' interiors 

 before they were re-consigned to the cook. The 

 waiter, however, bid the cook to bo of good cheer, and 

 gave it as his opinion (without fee) that those lawyers 

 need not have pretended to possess such very delicate 

 appetites, as, when he came back with the ducks, they 

 had eaten all the ejected stuffing, and a small loaf of 

 bread along with it. Jemmy Anderson of Shap was 

 another great character, and quite equal to any crisis. 

 He was once driving a carriage from there to Penrith, 

 when the hirer put out his head and roared, with quite 

 Harry Brougham- emphasis, " Postillion, I shan't give 

 ytiu a far tiling for your horses or yourself ; you've driven 

 like a snail." Jemmy pulled up immediately, and 

 turning half round in his saddle, faced the foe. " You 

 won't pay me a far tiling, won't you ; then I've come far 

 enough for nowt" and so saying, he descended swiftly, 

 and began to take out his horses. Jemmy was a man 

 of his word, and nothing but the offer of a handsome 

 compromise — " money down " — induced him to put 

 them to again. 



The postboys never seemed to have a holiday, and 

 if they had, it would have been a source of deep dif- 

 ficulty to them how to spend it. One of their Southern 

 brethren, Tom King of the Old Crown at Amersham, 

 spent his in a most peculiar manner. He had the 



