He hoped that Mr Pilson did not mean to allude to bribery; but he did not express this hope, because he thought it would deter the agent from using this means, and it was possible it might prove to be the only way. And if he (Mr Bradshaw) once embarked on such an enterprise, there must be no failure. By some expedient or another, success must be certain, or he could have nothing to do with it.

— Elizabeth Gaskell, Ruth, p207

         There is a story somewhere told of a man who was returning from market, and who was observed furiously lashing his horse into a gallop, side by side with two gentlemen. His friend called out to him to stop or he would lose all his potatoes, which were dropping out fast from his cart, one by one, upon the road. "Hurrah!" said the gardener, "what do I care so long as I can keep up with the gentlemen?"

— Joseph Stapleton, The Great Crime of 1860, p.5