VALUE VARIABLE. 175 



whether men are sportsmen or not, or fond of 

 racing or not, the horse that can win money is 

 valuable in all men's eyes who have any thing to 

 do with racing, and that value depends on the 

 class of horses he can run with and beat, that is, 

 if all is meant fair, for we might be very much 

 deceived in the value of a race-horse if we judged 

 by the price he might be bought or sold at, at 

 particular times ; five thousand might be offered 

 for a horse prior to some great event coming off, 

 in which he might be thought to be more than 

 dangerous, yet after winning the race easily, the 

 same party would not give one fifth of the sum 

 for him : why this would probably happen racing 

 men know well ; to those who are not, it is of no 

 consequence whether they know or not. 



Many horses that are kept for use are to be 

 valued, and that nearly as closely as any other 

 useful article. Cart horses can be valued to a 

 great nicety by any man accustomed to the buy- 

 ing and selling them ; so can good, fair, useful, 

 thirty or forty pound harness horses for other 

 work ; even carriage horses can be estimated when 

 they are merely a fair useful sort, worth we will 

 say from a hundred and twenty to a hundred and 

 fifty the pair ; beyond this their price is almost no- 

 minal, for what a pair of singularly beautiful well- 

 matched horses, with extraordinary high, grand, 

 and fashionable action would bring, depends on the 



