168 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



Scarcely a week passes, that this stale and shallow 

 trick is not successfully repeated ; for the rascals 

 know very well, that even if they were traced to the 

 next door of their dupe, he would hesitate, after the 

 first flush of vexation was over, at encountering all 

 the trouble and expense of a prosecution : nor 

 would it perhaps be easy to establish the legal 

 criminality of their conduct ; a timid magistrate, or 

 an indulgent jury, would reduce it to a mere debt of 

 twenty guineas, or call it a " debt of honor !" When 

 you have chosen your horse, before you part with a 

 farthing of the price, learn something of the seller : 

 if this is difficult, remember that it is just as easy to 

 send his horse to your stables, as for you to try it from 

 his. If this is declined walk away as fast as your 

 legs can carry you. You are in a dangerous posi- 

 tion, after once confessing to a chanter that you 

 like his horse. Canning's eloquence was a hundred 

 degrees less persuasive, than the wily speeches of an 

 ostler under such auspicious circumstances. 



I strongly recommend the horse to be taken away 

 in the seller's saddle and bridle : a demur is often 

 made to the inconvenience, but explain the reason, 

 and no respectable dealer will object to the loan. 



