PrRCHASING HORSES. 7 I 



But with the low dealer it is a very different story — 

 he has not often any regular customers. The horses 

 he has are placed, as it may be said, in *' holes and 

 corners," from whence they issue when a purchaser 

 is found; the man himself lives in "holes and 

 corners," and when a sale is effected, no such man 

 is known in either place : you may chance to meet 

 him at some of the repositories, but to what purpose 

 your doing so ? — he is either civil, and pretends to 

 be very sorry, or very impudent without pretending 

 to be sorry at all. There are many such characters 

 about the town : to them a good-looking, half-blind, 

 or half-broken winded horse is a continual income, 

 and gets into their hands, and is sold perhaps half- 

 a-dozen times over. The purchaser buys him, we 

 will say, at thirty-five guineas, which price he has 

 been run up to at the hammer ; after he has been 

 paid for, and is perhaps being led away, up comes 

 some one of the gang, and accosts the customer with 

 " Have you bought that horse, Sir ?" 



" Yes, I have." 



" Why, he aint of no use to no one — he has been 



