PUECHASINa HOKSES. 83 



case a more knowing man than we conclude Mr. 

 Verdant to be might be taken in under such plausible 

 circumstances, 



I have mentioned these incongruities and unlikely 

 features in the supposed case of the lady's horse, to 

 show that there is nothing really too absurd, too 

 unlikely, or too contrary to common sense, that, if 

 advertised, will not find dupes to be taken in. I have 

 specified the improbabilities existing in this supposed 

 case, that persons not prone to reflect, or to combine 

 circumstances, may see the necessity of so doing in 

 any real case, as we will suppose it would have been 

 well for Mr. Verdant had he done in the supposed 

 one. 



We are not to suppose those persons all simpletons 

 in the ordinary occurrences of life because they are 

 taken in by a specious advertisement ; they are pro- 

 bably merely simple, or, in other words, unknowing 

 in such cases. The moment the inconsistencies in 

 many of these transactions are pointed out to them, 

 they see the thing clear as noonday, and are sur- 

 prised they did not see them before. They need not 



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