158 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



much as any three ordinary horses could be got 

 to consume in value. 



I make no doubt there are persons who are 

 cheated out of such a sum as my friend con- 

 templated, and that such a sum is consumed in 

 food but not food for the horse. The baker and 

 butcher, I consider, in such a case get an honest 

 two thirds, and the horse as little of the remainder 

 as possible to keep him in decent condition. All 

 this imposition arises from the same cause as that 

 which will always occasion such persons to lose 

 money by their purchases when they make them 

 on their own judgment, that is, undertaking the 

 management of what they do not understand. 



In some proof of this being the case, a physician 

 has lately told me, that for the keep, shoeing, little 

 repairs of clothing, head-collars, and the supply 

 of chamois, sponges, mops, brooms, &c., all of 

 which are paid by his coachman, the bills, re- 

 gularly amount to three hundred a year. This, for 

 one pair of horses, I must say, exceeds anything 

 I ever heard of in point of imposition on the 

 part of a servant; still the master has paid it 

 during the six years this coachman has been with 

 him. The gentleman allowed he thought he was 

 paying too much, and asked my opinion. I 

 thought he was, by more than two hundred a year ; 

 but being only a mere acquaintance, I thought it 

 no business of mine to put him right, for the 



