10 THE STUD. 



reasons that will shortly appear) ; for he knows 

 the penalty for so doing will in most cases be the 

 loss of his time, the detection of his horse as an 

 unsound one, his rejection by the purchaser, with 

 ten and sixpence to pay as the veterinarian's fee, 

 and as a very proper hint to show more judg- 

 ment or more honesty in future before he war- 

 rants an unsound horse. 



Supposing the seller to be an honest man, but 

 no great adept at deciding on the soundness of 

 his horse ; if he warrants him, we have at least 

 the satisfaction of knowing, or, at all events, good 

 reason to conclude, there is nothing so bad about 

 him as to render him incapable of the work 

 he has been at ; for, if he was so, the owner must 

 know it, and would not give a warranty that in 

 such a case could not hold good, and under 

 which his horse would be returned on his hands. 



We will now say something about this hack- 

 neyed term sound : it may be supposed that the 

 w^ord is explicit enough, and most persons con- 

 ceive it to be so ; but the term " sound " really 

 admits of as much contrariety of opinion as the 

 word tipsy ; one man considers another so if, at 

 ten at night, he is not precisely as cool and col- 

 lected as he was at one in the day. Another 

 only calls a man so when he lies on the ground 

 and holds himself on by the carpet: so as to 

 soundness, some persons cannot see that a horse is 



