254 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



brougham horses, or are put into Tattersalls or St. 

 Martin's Lane, to be sold as the property of a gentle- 

 man. Coper No. 2 looking after them and having in 

 his pockets some weighted balls, which he takes care to 

 give the animals before the show commences. Coper 

 No. 2 runs up the horses until he thinks he has 

 attained enough for them, when they are knocked 

 down to some novice, who thinks because that horsey- 

 looking gentleman bids so much for them he has not 

 given too much by giving a fiver more. There is 

 another class of land sharks in the horse line, and they 

 are as dangerous as the common coper. These are the 

 guinea hunters, or gentlemen who buy horses on 

 commission. Many of them when they know a gentle- 

 man is in want of a certain class of horse will go to a 

 fair or to some coper, and buy a good-looking screw 

 for a few pounds; they will then send it to stand at 

 livery at some respectable livery stable. Coper No. 2 

 is again called in, but this time he takes the part of a 

 gentleman, and Mr. Commission-hunter introduces Mr. 

 Flat to Mr. Sharp, who soon sells him a miserable 

 screw, Mr. Commission taking his share of the 

 plunder, and departing in peace. When the horse 

 arrives in Mr. Flat's stable, they find that if they 

 have bought a horse they themselves have been sold. 

 There is still another class who are the most heartless 

 of all the horse coping tribe ; they are men who sell 

 horses upon commission. If they have a wealthy man 

 they will sell his horse fairly, because they think they 

 can make him pay, but let a man who has come down 

 in the world and is forced to sell his horse and 



