PUECHASIIs'G HORSES. 53 



and the estimation in which he was held in the hunt 

 he belonged to. Now, what you are likely to be able 

 to buy must depend on the length of your purse ; if 

 that is unhmited, your friend will very properly point 

 out to you the most perfect horses among them ; 

 and in such case you will get a perfect hunter — that 

 is, perfect for a country like the one he came from, 

 probably all but perfect in any — but then be pre- 

 pared with your two or three hundred, or sometimes 

 more, supposing the horse to be as faultless as a 

 hunter can be. 



But, supposing you hmit yourself to (say) a hun- 

 dred, and your friend knows that, he may point out 

 a far better-looking horse — one who can do all the 

 other can — nay, more, he may know him to be the 

 fastest horse of the two, the wider and higher jumper ; 

 but then he is perhaps a httle impatient at first, pulls 

 a little stronger than very fastidious men Hke, may 

 be apt to get his head a little up. Your friend may, 

 as I say, point out such a horse, and add, " I dare 

 say you will get him at about your price." The 

 question, therefore, merges into this — Are you con- 



