70 CONFESSIONS OF A HOUSE DKALRR. 



children could take an airing when they felt inclined ; 

 dnd ill time I thought we might he able to retire from 

 business, and keep a pair of horses the same as the aris- 

 tocracy. I have read most of the books published about 

 the formation of the best horses' teeth, age, &c., and 

 fancied I should have no difficulty in selecting one to 

 suit me. 



" I had been on the look-out for some time, when an 

 advertisement of a brougham horse, in amorningpaDer, 

 took my attention as being the very animal I required. 

 I went at once to the address, and found a very pretty- 

 looking bay horse, which the owner, a bustling, jolly 

 sort of looking man, at once harnessed to a brougham and 

 drove me back to the warehouse. My cashier, who is 

 the son of a farmer, always said he was a good judge of 

 horses, and pronounced this one to be perfect. The owner 

 said he had another gentleman coming to look at the 

 horse, and I, to secure him, at once gave him a cheque 

 for 60, the price asked, and made sure in my own mind 

 that I had done well, as the man showed me an envelope, 

 bearing -a country post-mark, containing a receipt for 

 ,54, and a letter purporting to come from a clergyman, 

 who had sold the horse, giving him the best of charac- 

 ters, and stating that he only sold him because his phy- 

 sician had recommended him to take horse exercise ; the 

 concluding part of the epistle thanking the man for the 

 capital riding cob, which arrived safe by rail, in lieu of 

 his old favourite, which he hoped would fall into good 

 hands, for he was a good creature. Altogether the whole 



