20 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



I will be bound I should find myself right in 

 confiding in my friend's judgment. 



I must correct what I perceive I have said in 

 one particular. I have stated that I would as rea- 

 dily take my friend's opinion of any horse as my 

 own. If I had added of any really good sort of 

 horse, I should have been right ; but if I wanted 

 a selling, money-making direct, London horse, I 

 would in such a case prefer my own judgment and 

 taste, simply for this reason — I have had more of 

 such horses pass through my hands, and think I 

 know London taste better, from having mixed 

 more among a certain class of society than he has 

 — a class who would regard show and fashion 

 before intrinsic worth or merit in their horses, or, 

 indeed, in many cases, in their acquaintance. Such 

 is precisely the sort of horse my friend is not 

 a judge of, and is the reverse of one he would 

 own or purchase for any one else. He is a 

 capital sportsman, capital judge of horses, and, 

 moreover, a capital fellow, but hates worthless 

 animals in horse or man, though both may be 

 turned to account in London by a man who knows 

 how to manage them, and this is all such horses 

 or such men are fit for. In saying that good judges 

 would often do well in letting an equally good 

 judge purchase for them, it must be observed, I 

 say their pecuniary interest, without reference to 

 their amusement, their whims, or caprices. As 



