RELATIVE VALUE. 177 



judge of the value of his own horse. If the words 

 " to him" were added, there would be much truth 

 in it ; but without these two additional words, I 

 beg leave to give it as an opinion that a very con- 

 siderable number of owners know nothing at all 

 about the value of their horse. Selling, or making 

 the attempt to sell, will tell them the truth ; buy- 

 ing does not even afford a hint on the subject. 



When I say this, I must, however, state this 

 depends a good deal on where and of whom he 

 buys ; if he buys of any person in a private way, 

 of course each makes his bargain, and no matter 

 whether the thing purchased be a horse or an 

 article of jewellery, it may be bought and sold at 

 (in mercantile phrase) fifty per cent below or 

 above its value; but if a stud of well-known 

 horses are on sale, and on the day of the sale a 

 number of persons who know the qualifications of 

 each horse are present, a man purchasing one of 

 them will in a general way get the horse at some- 

 thing like his value, that is, supposing the stud is 

 for some particular reason to be bona fide sold, 

 and the owner a gentleman ; but if, as is frequently 

 the case, a stud is advertised, and the owner merelv 

 has this done to get rid of objectionable horses, 

 then the chances are a buyer gives far more than 

 the horse's value, by getting hold of a roarer, a 

 lame or thoroughly bad one. 



But supposing a man is not thus unfortunate, 

 H 



