482 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



generosity and kindness. It is impossible to 

 contemplate such debasement in the human 

 character, witliout experiencint^ a melancholy 

 regret that the feelings of those servants, who 

 come home elated with having made what 

 they considered a good sale for their masters, 

 should meet with so disagreeable a disap- 

 pointment as to be told the money they 

 received was of no value. 



Some time aaro we remember an instance of 



this kind having taken place in Somersetshire. 



A farmer sent h^ man to Stafforddale-fair, to 



sell a Horse, which he speedily sold for 241., 



being the price he asked. Elated with his 



success, he returned in great good humour 



with himself, and laid the money on the table 



before his master. The farmer was equally 



pleased ; but on a little closer examination, 



however, he soon found out that poor John 



had been duped by sharpers. The notes paid 



him were a ten pound note and a five guinea 



note (of banks which had stopped payment,) 



and a one-pound Dorsetshire note, altered into 



ten. John attempted to trace the swindlers, 



but without success. The same gang passed 



a ten-pound note of a bank that had stopped 



nearly fifty years. 



There seems some fatality to persons con- 

 nected with horse-flesh, that immediately 

 leads to roguery. We never saw any directions 

 given for the purchase of a Horse, but that 

 one of almost the first cautions was, " never 

 buy one of a friend." Such seems the over- 

 whelming contamination of this traffic, that 

 friendship itself, is no security against rascality, 

 and the moment a man has a Horse to sell, 

 he becomes a suspicious character. Now, if 

 the sale of one Horse places a man in such 

 an equivocal situation as to character, what 

 must that man be who becomes a dealer in 



Horses? Why, by common consent, he is 

 placed out of the pale of respectability, and 

 if his conduct were to be in a parallel with 

 his character, he would be a most accom- 

 plished deceiver. Notwithstanding the opinion 

 entertained against horse-dealers, however, if 

 we were in want of an animal suddenly, or 

 were not possessed of sufficient judgment to 

 warrant a confidence to purchase one, we 

 should immediately apply to some eminent 

 dealer, upon the same principle that we 

 should to an eminent jeweller for any article 

 which we were not accurate judges of, and 

 should rely on the same justice on one side as 

 the other. 



A dealer in a large way, has generally a 

 stock of Horses on hand, from which it may 

 be easy to select. If not, his general re- 

 sources are such, that he will very quickly 

 supply you with what you want. To the un- 

 iniated in buying Horses, we should recom- 

 mend them to go to a respectable dealer, as a 

 place less likely for disappointment, than to 

 depend on less responsible judgment. 



When we reflect on the catalogue of dis- 

 eases, imperfections, vice, &c., which a Horse 

 may be liable to, and left for the tyro to dis- 

 cover, when he runs the risk of purchasing for 

 himself; we believe the most economical com- 

 mencement of his study to buy should be with 

 a dealer in a large way. Although he may 

 give a good price for the Horse, even more 

 than its value ; still, in our opinion, he runs 

 less risk than in buying from strangers. If he 

 may have paid a top price, he is unlikely to 

 be so cheated as he might be by the chaunt- 

 ing tribe. The dealer has a residence, and if 

 there be any thing to complain of, you know 

 where to find him. By buying of a dealer of 

 respectability, under a warranty, you have a 



