THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN, ETC. 109 



knowledge, that the fall was occasioned by accident, 

 independent of disease. The slightest mark there- 

 fore, upon the knee, should suggest a very narrow 

 scrutiny in the legs, feet, action, and every point 

 about a horse. Even where no possible trace of 

 local disease can be found, a purchaser should not 

 rest satisfied, but follow up his inquiry into the 

 horse's constitution. The staggers, the megrims, and 

 many similar stomach complaints, may have occa- 

 sioned the fall of a horse, and consequently the 

 blemish on his knee, while his legs remain as free 

 from defect as a foal's. In short, I would never buy 

 a horse with blemished knees, however slight the in- 

 jury might appear, unless his history for the last six 

 months had been familiar to me from personal know- 

 ledge. A horse will never fall if he can help it, and 

 nine times out of ten is as much frightened by the ac- 

 cident as his rider. 



Where, from peculiar circumstances such as I 

 have mentioned, a man is not deterred from pur- 

 chasing, he should carefully observe whether the 

 injured knee is enlarged ; if he finds this to be the 

 -case, it is to be inferred that there is considerable 

 local injury ; he should also notice with more than 

 10* 



