194 HUNTING. 



not being done., is by many people supposed to give a stamp of 

 very superior intelligence indeed. But it does not follow that 

 the man most ready to give his opinion is the man best quali- 

 fied to have an opinion worth giving. Perhaps one might, 

 without much exaggeration, say rather the contrary, for there 

 are not, we think, many men who have had experience in these 

 delicate matters who would care a second time to subject them- 

 selves to the terrible ordeal contained in the seemingly simple 

 phrase, buying a horse for a friend. For our own part we would far 

 sooner select a wife for a friend than a horse : at any rate, we 

 should not be expected to get rid of the former, if haply she did 

 not suit, as would be nine times out of ten the case in the latter 

 bargain. 



If a man does not dare to rely on his own judgment, and 

 does not know exactly where to lay his hand on the animal he 

 wants, and cannot find the friend wise enough and daring 

 enough to act for him, perhaps he cannot do better than put 

 himself in the hands of a respectable dealer. After all, to put 

 the case brutally, it must be most to the latter's interest to treat 

 his customers fairly. The buyer will of course consider the 

 limitations above indicated in the event of his being recom- 

 mended an untried horse. He may possibly do well also to 

 consider if the horse offered to him has a very shining repu- 

 tation. Dealers are fallible as well as their customers, and 

 may, themselves, have been sometimes a little too ready to 

 listen to the voice of the charmer. One is apt to wonder 

 * how the devil it got there ' when one finds a horse with very 

 splendid testimonials in a dealer's stable ; it is not impossible 

 that the testimonials, true as gospel, as in their day they may 

 have been, may be found on trial to refer rather to the past 

 time than to the future. But, when all is said and done, a 

 man who is quite certain of the sort of animal he wants and 

 the sort of price he intends to pay — simple pieces of knowledge 

 in which so many buyers are so curiously deficient — will 

 probably not go very far wrong to trust to a good dealer. There 

 are a fair proportion of them to be found, and some, of course. 



