44 



carry on a large and prosperous trade in four-and 

 twenty hours. 



My reader must here forgive me for anothe 

 suggestion of a personal nature. To betray dis 

 trust, is the sure way to be deceived : if you wall 

 into a stable with an air of gratifying curiosity 

 criticise horses merely to affect a knowledge, an« 

 ask for prices as if to contrast them with price 

 elsewhere, and to feel the market rather than " d 

 business," it cannot be expected that you will mee 

 with courtesy or attention ; much less that you wi] 

 be regarded with honest interest as a customer. 



Your true-bred citizen, and almost as often, you 

 exquisite of the park, cannot tell a horse from 

 cow, unless he sees him in a hackney coach 

 Yet even where my previous advice is strictl 

 followed, some little skill in horse-flesh is by n 

 means superfluous. Few of the horse-dealers 

 even of the most eminent, are scientific men ; the; 

 know the merits of their studs by practical ex 

 perience, but they rarely possess better informa 

 tion. The ignorance of many of them is so great 

 that I believe they often obtain the credit of lyin^ 

 when they do not deserve it. Splents, thrushes 

 windgalls, incipient spavins, and many other mino 

 diseases, are always declared to be " of no conse 

 quence whatever;" coughs in particular are to b 



