GIVING GOLD AND RECEIVING LEAD. 191 



character in the estimation of their friends and ac- 

 quaintance. Placing them in comparison with the 

 regular horse-dealer, I have no hesitation in saying, 

 that so far as this pursuit is concerned, I consider the 

 latter the most respectable man. He sells you a horse 

 openly as a dealer, as a man who disposes of him 

 avowedly for profit. You probably place no reliance 

 on his word or confidence in his honour. He does not 

 ask you to do so, nor is he offended if you do not. 

 You purchase of him in most cases under a written 

 warranty, or one given before a witness. If the 

 horse does not answer the description given of him, 

 the law is open to you for redress ; or if you have 

 just cause of complaint, he generally at once takes 

 the horse back. Now if you buy of the gentleman 

 dealer in horses, you trust to his word and to his. 

 honour. If you are deceived, which by-the-by you 

 will find by no means an uncommon case, what is 

 your resource ? You must either keep your bargain, 

 or if you hint that you have been taken in, a quarrel 

 ensues, and you are called out for presuming to 

 doubt the word or honour of a man who in such cases 

 forfeits both perhaps twenty times in the year. Such 

 men are, however, as yet rare among gentlemen, and 

 I trust will long remain so. From the moment a 

 gentleman first harbours the idea of making money 

 of horses by buying and selling them, he has taken 

 the first step towards degradation, and then facile de- 

 scensus Averni. He probably, indeed most probably, 

 at first has no further view than in an honourable 

 way availing himself of his superior judgment and 

 taste. He is unfortunate enough to sell three or four 

 horses to advantage. This gives him encouragement, 

 and probably for the first time in his life he feels the 



