350 CANDOUR SOMETIMES INJUDICIOUS. 



the contrary, they are mostly horses that have been 

 used, and their value depends chiefly on their merits: 

 consequently a horse of this sort may, when he comes 

 to be ridden or driven, be worth ten or twenty pounds 

 more or less than he looks when merely a cursory 

 glance is taken of him. If a horse looking worth we 

 will say forty pounds is found on mounting him to go 

 away (in stable phrase) with his knee up, can trot at 

 the rate of fifteen or sixteen miles an hour, and goes 

 over the stones as safe and firm as on the high road, 

 such a hack is worth a hundred to many people, and 

 would bring it : whereas, if on the contrary, he went 

 shoving his feet along as if he was trying whether the 

 stones were slippery or not, twenty pounds and a cart 

 is his value and place : in fact, there are many who, 

 like me, would not accept him as a gift. This is not 

 to be ascertained by a horse being merely rode up to 

 a stable door ; though a keen eye will form an opinion 

 even by this, and probably will be to a great extent 

 correct. But we are not to suppose that any man 

 will take the trouble to try your horse merely for 

 the pleasure of giving you his opinion of him, and 

 which would very likely be that he is a brute. It 

 might be very candid to tell you so, but it would not 

 be business, and, tell it as civilly as such a thing could 

 be told, the only consequence and thanks that would 

 arise would be, the horse would not be left for sale ; 

 and a man cannot afford to pay two or three hundred 

 a-year for premises merely to show you how candid 

 he is. In nineteen cases out of twenty, therefore, a 

 man is quite justified in declining to value a horse 

 brought to him for sale. The owner ought to know 

 his value : if he does not, when he comes to be shown 

 to the public, that will very shortly enlighten him in 



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