124 PRECEPT ATTD PEACTICE. 



''No, sir; but you might have done. We charge 

 all alike who dine in this room, provided they don't 

 exceed their pint of wine." 



I thought the imposition so barefaced, so truly 

 ridiculous, and the cool yet perfectly civil explanation 

 of the waiter so unique in itself, and unprecedented, 

 that I could not, for the life of me, make a serious 

 affair of it. We will hope our tyro came off better. 



We will suppose he has, and resolves on making 

 another attempt to get what he came for. We have 

 instanced his success, or rather want of it, in one 

 quarter ; why he had no better in others, must remain 

 a secret. Whether his appearing astray induced the 

 dealers to suppose they might show him anything, 

 and they consequently did not show him their best 

 horses, fondly hoping he would buy one of the worst ; 

 whether a natural, and, in fact, a gentlemanly, dislike 

 of some half-dozen touts or friends of the dealer in- 

 terfering with his purchasing, caused him to quit the 

 scene altogether ; or whether feeling his temper rise 

 at impertinent observations and gibes of such fellows 

 made him avoid a scene in which a quarrel would 



