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him five guineas, and he will take the horse back; 

 or he "will exchange him with pleasure." I 

 should generally close with the first alternative, 

 for extra costs will always exceed five guineas ; but 

 the second is a desperate resource : the exchange 

 will to a certainty be an inferior animal, and in less 

 than a week he must be returned again, and all 

 the battle is to be fought once more. By the time 

 he has tried every horse in the stables, the pur- 

 chaser will have broken half a dozen ribs, be minus 

 his time and money into the bargain, and find that 

 his own legs must carry him through the summer. 

 It should always be the subject of anxious 

 inquiry, ere a hostile step is taken, whether the 

 dealer is worth powder and shot. Very few of 

 them, taking them as a body, are in solvent cir- 

 cumstances ; and then a verdict will prove an empty 

 triumph indeed. This inquiry is easily made among 

 the parochial officers : they will always say (on 

 assigning a fair reason for the question) whether a 

 man pays his rates and taxes punctually ; or they 

 will refer to his landlord, who is always well dis- 

 posed to complain of an irregular tenant. But a 

 man should make these inquiries for himself: they 

 will swell a solicitor's bill largely if left entirely to 

 him. 



