m SEARCH OF A HORSE. 233 



to the next gin-shop, and are a sure indication that 

 a horse-sale is going on in the neighborhood. You 

 may safely elbow your way through them : the fre- 

 quenters of the place rarely have enough in their 

 pockets to make it a haunt for common thieves ; and 

 if such an interloper dared show himself, he would 

 infallibly be horsewhipped within an inch of his life, 

 for the "credit of the trade." Your danger is far 

 greater than losing pocket-money or handkerchief. 

 I wonder that Hogarth never sketched a horse- 

 auction, but perhaps they were unknown in his days : 

 the characters would be worthy of his pencil : — some 

 collected in a corner, some mounted on the top of a 

 coach on sale, and others lounging near the stand ; 

 huddled together in detached bodies of half a score, 

 are seen fellows, such as you might take at random 

 from the next row of hackney coaches. Their dress 

 is as varied as the color of their carriages, yet with 

 a dash of esprit de corps, immediately perceptible to 

 the practised eye. One is equipped in a post-boy's 

 coat, reaching to his ankles, with some half a-dozen 

 pearl buttons scattered at unequal intervals down 

 the lappels : a whity-brown castor, jauntingly cover- 

 ing one side of the head, with an orange handker- 



