THE MODEL AUCTIONEER. 61 



himself to my father — ' sir, it is the first public lie I 

 have ever been made to tell !' — referring, we must 

 presume, to the fact that the sale was without reserve ; 

 and assuming, also, that my father had, in this open 

 fashion, put a reserve on the animal. 



I could not then, I cannot now, see the justice of 

 this uncalled-for attack on an employer by a man in 

 his business capacity. The horses, advertised to be 

 sold without reserve, were absolutely sold as advertised. 

 Lord Caledon was but a public purchaser like others. 

 Would the imperious auctioneer demand that he must 

 first consult him ? Or why should Lord Caledon not 

 give my father, as well as anyone else, the commission 

 to buy for him 1 I do not say it was politic on the 

 part of the seller to accept the office, but it was more 

 injurious to him than to the purchaser ; and if it had 

 any other result it was advantageous to the public to 

 his detriment, in having a depressing effect upon the 

 remaining part of the sale. And that the sale suffered 

 through the ungenerous imputation, I do not doubt. 



I may not agree with the truth of the assertion, 

 though it is as old as the hills, that auctioneers are 

 paid for saying things in the truth of which they 

 do not believe — thus falsely describing matters and 

 things entrusted to them for disposal as a matter of 

 duty. But I may ask, who ever heard of a piece of 

 furniture, old and useless, being described in any other 

 way than as ' this beautiful piece of antique furniture, 

 strong and extremely useful, which seldom falls to 



