IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 51 



ceive, he is at once classed with the knaves of his 

 profession ; and regular customers are driven away 

 from his stables for ever. Horses are rarely to be 

 found at these places, cheap, nor is it reasonable to 

 expect it ; for all perishable commodities, and few 

 deserve the epithet more than cattle, are inevitably 

 high-priced. It is better, however, to give sixty or 

 seventy guineas in the first instance, for a good and 

 tried horse, than to buy half a dozen at an average 

 of half the money, with the certainty of losing at 

 least forty per cent, on the sale, exchange, or return 

 of five of them. 



I feel no impropriety in mentioning the names 

 of some of those dealers whom I have personally 

 found to be safe men ; especially as my work is 

 published anonymously. In the city, I should re- 

 commend Dye, of White Lion street, Spitalfields. 

 I must acknowledge that I have not been fortunate 

 in my purchases from him, but I have always met 

 with very fair dealing at his stables. I have, on 

 two or three occasions, bought very tolerable hacks 

 from Mr. King, on the Surrey side of Southwark 

 bridge ; he understands a horse, and deals fairly. 

 At the west end of the town, I think that Elmore, 



