CUSTOMS OF SALES. 219 



sovereigns, I can't give your master the seventy pounds 

 back for the horse ! ' 



This the coachman was unwilling or unable to do ; 

 so his master had to put up with a horse utterly un- 

 suited to him, because the coachman and dealer had 

 entered into a conspiracy to defraud him. 



I informed the dealer of my opinion of the iniquity 

 of thus entering into a conspiracy with a servant to de- 

 fraud his master ; and his answer was : 



( All the trade do it ; and if I do not I cannot sell 

 them a horse. I heartily wish half of us were sent to 

 gaol for it for about six months, and then the custom 

 would soon die out.' 



Exactly ! here it is : ' All the trade do it ! ' And 

 not the horse trade only; for in proportion to the 

 amount of the bills at butchers', bakers', grocers', 

 chemists', &c., so are the Christmas presents to the 

 housekeeper large or small ; and in precisely the same 

 ratio as that between cornfactors, hay and straw dealers, 

 saddlers and coachmen. But depend on it, ye grooms, 

 who scorn to do in secret what ye would not do openly, 

 however much others may laugh at ye for your sensi- 

 tive uprightness, ye will be rewarded by the possession 

 of a clear conscience, and your master's benediction : 

 ( Well done, good and faithful servant ! ' 



In the other case, the groom caught a Tartar with a 

 vengeance. 



His master, a wealthy gentleman in London, had, on 

 a previous occasion in the company of a friend, looked 

 over the stables of a noted horse-dealer in the midland 



