400 THE ADVENT GRES OF A GENTLEMAN 



the truth!" I have sold my horses with more facility 

 and to more advantage by following this principle 

 than by the most plausible encomium on their merits ; 

 and what is of yet greater importance, I have never, 

 in any instance, experienced the annoyance of de- 

 fending an action on the warranty. Let the fault of 

 a horse be what it may, he will suit some kind of 

 work, and will therefore find a purchaser at his fair 

 value. A frank acknowledgment of faults, too, will 

 obtain credit for a counter statement of good quali- 

 ties. If the seller is very impatient, the purchaser 

 must be looked for among the dealers ; and in this 

 case it will not reduce the price to any extent worth 

 mentioning, if the seller refuses to warrant. A deal- 

 er always asks a w^arranty, because he can resell the 

 horse with more security ; but it influences him very 

 little in fixing his price. He knows that the horse 

 would not be sold except for some fault, real or sus- 

 pected, and he usually takes his chance of the fault, 

 and places as little faith in the seller's warranty as 

 he is conscious that his own deserves. Cases too 

 have been known where a dealer, finding his purchase 

 not suited to the taste of an expected customer, has 

 purposely physicked the horse, that he might return 

 him as unsound, on the warranty. 



