CAPTAIN SHABBYHOUNDE 229 



Mr. Whipend may buy fiftj' horses without any one trou- 

 bling his head about any of them ; but let Mr. Spoonbill be 

 seen trotting one out, and he will have the whole "town" out, 

 as they say. 



Old John Lawrence, a kind-hearted, if not a very practical 

 writer on horses, exclaims, " Who shall counsel a man in the 

 choice of a wife or a horse ! '" but if a buyer were to listen to 

 all the hints and suggestions he will have made him, he would 

 stand a good chance of going on foot the rest of his life. In 

 spite of Mr. Lawrence's exclamation, good stout counsellors 

 will never be wanting on the animal side of the question at all 

 events, and the ridiculous thing is, that the lower the figure, 

 the greater the fear on the part of the purchaser. Time was, 

 when we used to talk about a twenty pound horse, just as we 

 did about a twenty shilling note, a guinea hat, a silk umbrella, 

 or any other unimportant thing ; but now — thanks to the 

 march of railroads — a twenty pound horse has become an 

 object of considerable importance. People used formerly to 

 talk of " giving a horse away for twenty pounds," just as our 

 friends under the Quadrant talk of giving one a piping bullfinch 

 for an old coat ; but now twenty pounds is a most difficult sum 

 to realize. People look at a twenty pound horse as if they 

 thought the seller had stolen it. A two hundred pounder is an 

 easier one to sell. 



Gentlemen dealing is at best but a ticklish trade, and we 

 doubt any one being able to pursue it for any length of time, 

 and retain the title of a "gentleman." Every woman has 

 been said to be a separate enigma, and the same may be said 

 of every horse, and yet to hear an ignoramus talk, you would 

 think there was but one article answering to the name — that 

 they were all alike. There are very few horses without some- 

 thing or other that they would be better without, and which a 

 man is obliged to slur over by himself, or servant, if he wishes 

 to get rid of the animal without a sacrifice. It is just this 



