THE RATE OF EXCHANGE. 119 



the form wished for : but tlien comes the bugbear 

 of the fancied loss to be sustained in the disposal 

 of the original piece of furniture^ — only 9/. can be 

 got for it. " Here/^ cries the owner^ '^ is 1 1/. loss." 

 By a little reasonings however, we convince him 

 that he is quite in error : he gets an article he 

 wishes to have and gets rid of one he does not like, 

 for the mere sacrifice of one pound ; the one being 

 as good as the other, though different in form. 

 The owner wisely resolves at the moment to do 

 this, but I would bet long odds that call a month 

 afterwards, there would stand the identical drawers; 

 the recollection of the original price paid would 

 have returned, and thus, sinning against convic- 

 tion itself, the owner goes on daily grumbling, 

 yet still adhering to his blind policy. 



It is just the same in every case and Avitli every- 

 thing we j)urchase ; if we give fifty per cent, more 

 than it is worth, its value is just fifty per cent, 

 less than w^e gave : so in selling it ^'c do not make 

 a sacrifice of that sum on the article, but pay thus 

 much for our Avant of knowledge and prudence. 



But to come to horses. It matters not whether 

 the depreciation in their price arises from age, 

 accident, their having turned out badly, or our 

 having given far above their original ^vorth ; their 

 value is what, if sold under the most favourable 

 circumstances, is to be got for them. Conse- 



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