A STUNNER. 173 



and qualifications ; " finding he was not this, they 

 come down with the stunner, " Why, my good 

 sir, he was never worth more than about 50/. 

 before he was lame." 



Respecting the value, it would take a good 

 folio volume of many hundred pages, to enable 

 the most experienced in horses, and a clever 

 writer to boot, to enable him to give any idea of 

 the different value of different horses ; for when 

 once men indulge in whims and fancies about 

 them, there is no judging what they will give to 

 get possession of a horse they fancy, or what they 

 will sacrifice to get rid of one that does not meet 

 their wishes ; hence the great fluctuation we often 

 see in the price asked for and given for the same 

 horse ; for in some men's hands his qualifications 

 would be of no recommendation, while in those of 

 another person they would be beyond all price ; 

 as an instance of which I bought a mare for my 

 father, and knowing the qualifications he mostly 

 prized, namely, being very handy, and a stand- 

 ing jumper, I rode her best part of a season for 

 him, and made her one of the most perfect stand- 

 ing leapers in the kingdom, and, as a dealer 

 would say, as " handy as a fiddle," though no 

 powers could make her fly her fences ; the conse- 

 quence of her qualifications was, that several 

 others of the same mind as my good father often 

 tempted him to part with her at a high figure, 



