296 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



ignorance of horse-purchasers is frequently so great, 

 that they assume every animal with four legs and a 

 tail, to be capable of every employment to which 

 horses, as a class, can be applied. This is a great 

 mistake, as I have already shown in my earlier pages ; 

 but the mistake is yet more serious, where a pur- 

 chaser, or a grasping attorney, ventures into a court 

 of law to remedy it. 



A purchaser has no remedy in a case like this, un- 

 less he can clearly prove on the part of the seller, 

 misrepresentation in the nature of fraud, after an 

 unequivocal explanation of the object for which the 

 horse is wanted. There are yet other and familiar 

 instances in which the rule of caveat emptor applies ; 

 a purchaser may honestly avow to the dealer that he 

 wants a hunter, or a gig-horse ; according to my doc- 

 trine, the dealer is bound to sell him a horse that has 

 been accustomed to hunting, or to draught, at the 

 peril of an action on the implied warranty ; but this 

 obligation is easily satisfied. The purchaser may 

 probably suspect, from the size of the horse, or from 

 his sluggishness, or other circumstances, that he is 

 not qualified for the intended work ; the dealer re- 

 plies, speaking of course ex cathedra^ " Oh, sir, that 



