174 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



but (figuratively speaking) no money would have 

 bought her ; in some proof of which he rode her 

 thirteen seasons. Now, had she got into my 

 hands, I would have sold her for forty pounds 

 rather than ride her, unless it had been in a very 

 close cramp country with harriers ; there she 

 would be as a hunter beyond price, but I no 

 more like such a country than I do the kind of 

 hunter fit for it: it is only, in my estimation, 

 better to hunt there than not hunt at all. 



The fact is, the value of a hunter is nominal, 

 but not often definable ; it is only to be defined in 

 one way : if half a dozen known good riders to 

 hounds would each give a hundred and fifty or 

 any given price for the same horse, that price for 

 the time being is his value ; but it in no way fol- 

 lows, because an owner may set a given price on 

 his horse and may find a purchaser to give it, that 

 such is his value ; the price set on him arose from 

 his owner's estimation of the qualifications the 

 animal possessed, and the price given was from the 

 purchaser's estimation of them being the same as 

 the owner's ; probably no other man would have 

 given half the money many would not perhaps 

 ride the horse if they were paid for doing it. 



Now the value of a race-horse is definable, be- 

 cause it depends on what he can do, and not (as 

 in the case of the hunter) how he does it, if he 

 does it, that is, if he can win: it matters not 



