16 THE STUD. 



gentlemen particularly, make it a rule never to 

 warrant any horse. I know, personally, several 

 who act thus ; and the general motive for this 

 determination is, not to be plagued by a horse 

 being returned after they have, perhaps, suited 

 themselves with another, and, in support of such 

 motive, resolve not to warrant. I must in can- 

 dour say that, allowing, as we must, that there 

 are numberless tricks among sellers, there is a 

 fair sprinkling of the same among purchasers ; I 

 would not buy, or at least I would not recom- 

 mend any one else to buy (though I have done it 

 scores of times), a horse of a suspected person 

 without a written warranty, an examination by 

 a veterinarian of known talent and respectability, 

 and, further, without ascertaining the seller's pe- 

 cuniary responsibility, and also his place of abode ; 

 for, after all, sometliing may peep out, after a few 

 days' work, that no professional skill could de- 

 tect, — an old strain, for instance. 



But though I have, as I have observed, often 

 bought a horse on my own judgment without 

 warranty, and even from those who, I doubt not, 

 if they got hold of a pocket-book lined, would 

 not be nice as to its appropriation, I would not, or 

 ever did, give a warranty to one of this class ; for 

 if I had done so, as sure as the horse was a horse, 

 he would have been returned temporarily lame, 

 half blind, or dosed in some way ; for the pur- 



