174 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



not diseased, or menaced with disease, to a degree 

 that incapacitates him for fair and serviceable exer- 

 tion in that labor for which he is sold. A veterinary 

 surgeon will declare a horse unsound, that has any 

 symptoms of past, present, or future infirmity. A 

 dealer, or his ostler, will vouch for the soundness of 

 every animal that can place one foot before the 

 other, or manage to stand upon all four. Between 

 these high authorities, especially if his attorney has 

 an eye to costs rather than character, the unlucky 

 purchaser is bewildered, and like all men in that 

 predicament, commits one blunder that leads to a 

 second, till he is lost in a labyrinth of squabbling, 

 litigation, and expense : consoling himself eventually 

 with the comfortable conviction that all lawyers, 

 farriers, and dealers, are rogues alike; beleagured 

 together to swindle him out of his money, and make 

 dupes of honest men ! The proportion of knaves 

 among them is large certainly : but very little reflec- 

 tion will satisfy a reasonable man, that in most cases 

 he can only have himself to blame. 



My first advice is not to be too prompt in re- 

 turning a defective horse. Slight faults, or even 

 doubtful indications of disease, should not be conclu- 



