228 A THING IS WORTH WHAT IT WILL FETCH. 



this, and he will find his average, in lieu of one out of 

 six that may not pay well, will be more likely to be 

 six out of seven that he will lose by. Among the 

 horses I supposed the dealer as having bought was 

 one for which he states he gave one hundred and fifty, 

 and he is certain of selling him at three hundred. 

 "We will allow that one hundred and fifty is a strong 

 price for a dealer to give for a harness-horse, which, 

 so far as he knows, has only soundness, good looks, 

 and action to recommend him, and that a hundred 

 and fifty added is a strong profit : granted that it 

 is so; but it by no means follows, if he does sell 

 him at three hundred, that he sells him at a hundred 

 and fifty more than he is worth, or indeed even at 

 one sovereign more : the value of a thing is what it 

 will sell for. He does in this case unquestionably sell 

 him at a hundred and fifty, say two hundred, more 

 than his general marketable price among the gene- 

 rality of purchasers ; but this is not the light in which 

 such a horse is to be looked at. He was not purchased 

 at first for the generality of purchasers, but for a 

 particular market and that market composed of a 

 select number of men of fortune, amateurs in horses, 

 who, to gratify their vanity, taste, or caprice, or 

 perhaps all together, are content to give these sort 

 of prices. The man of wealth and fashion will have 

 his gratifications (no matter in what) : he expects 

 and is willing to pay for them. If his cook is 

 really a superior artiste, he gives him a hundred or a 

 hundred and fifty pounds a-year pretty strong 

 wages no doubt : still, if other men of the same rank 

 would be willing to give this cook (artiste, I beg his 

 pardon) the same, that is the man's value among 

 those who can afford to employ him I again beg 

 his pardon; I should say, avail themselves of his 



