SILVER LIKE GOLD INIAY BE BOUGHT TOO DEAR. 235 



much the prices of horses depend on circumstances. 

 Had my friend not had patience to wait for the right 

 customer, he would probably have lost a hundred by 

 the wall jumper : had I attempted to sell my Lincoln- 

 shire bargain in his own country, fifty would have 

 been his estimated price, though very fast, very good, 

 singularly handsome, and in some respects no doubt 

 an animal of astonishing powers. 



I have said that the amount of loss to be expected 

 by a purchaser on selling the article purchased de- 

 pends in a great measure on the article itself. The 

 facility or difficulty of disposing of most articles chiefly 

 depends upon the utility and general demand for the 

 article in question. If it be one in general demand, 

 it is usually to be got rid of at little more loss than 

 the tradesman's profit, provided it has not been used 

 so as to prevent it being again sold as new : if, on the 

 contrary, it is an article of taste or vertu, it has pro- 

 bably been bought at a fancy price ; and should there 

 be a necessity of selling this, excepting among the 

 cognoscenti, the loss on the purchase must be neces- 

 sarily great : no matter whether a bronze horse or 

 a live one, the principle applies the same. As for 

 example : — 



Two ladies go to the same silversmith's — say Storr 

 and Mortimer — as a house of undoubted respecta- 

 bility. Mrs. A. orders dinner-forks, sjDoons, and 

 ladles, and dessert to correspond in proper propor- 

 tions, silver bread-basket, and a waiter or two, the 

 amount of which adds up to 200/. : Mrs. B. orders an 

 epergne of beautiful workmanship, which comes to 

 the same sum. The forks and spoons of course elicit 

 no remarks from Mrs. A.'s friends, being articles of 

 daily use and regarded as common necessaries : while 



