PUECHASITTQ HOESES. 49 



" If," replied the owner, *' I part him from the rest, his 

 price is a thousand." Had the whole of Tattersall's 

 premises — stud, carriages, and company — been 

 annihilated, it would not more have astonished the 

 gentleman than the price named. So much for, as 

 people term it, " getting at the owner." 



Now in my own experience I have generally found 

 this ** getting at the owner," by which people seem 

 to think they are certain to " get at the truth," to 

 be about the worst thing any man can do : and I 

 shall somewhat surprise my readers in saying, " par- 

 ticularly if that owner happens to be a gentleman." 

 In the first place, we should bear in mind that it is 

 more to the interest of the owner than to any one 

 to deceive us (if disposed to do so) as to the value 

 and qualifications of his horses. But why I consider 

 any application to or conference with him, supposing 

 him to be a gentleman, to be useless, is, that he has 

 been so accustomed to hear his horses praised, and to 

 have his ideas of their value raised to fabulous prices, 

 that, until he has ascertained their real worth by 

 what persons are disposed to bid for them at the 



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