260 A DIG. 



was not. T mip^ht perhaps rather surprise a dealer 

 wlio had pointed out to me a splint as a cause of un- 

 soundness in a horse by not minutely examining the 

 diseased part, but by immediately very minutely ex- 

 amining his eyes, -watching his lianks, or catching 

 hold of his head, and Avitli my stick in terrorem or 

 reality, ascertaining whether, instead of his being in 

 one respect an imperfect horse, he is not in another a 

 very perfect hull — a term not known to every one ; for, 

 though they probably know the old adage, that though 

 a mare is a horse, a horse is not a mare, they have 

 yet to learn tliat, though a bull is not a horse, a 

 horse is very frequently a bull. 



I do not mean to say any respectable dealer would 

 be guilty of such tricks ; his character would be too 

 much at stake : but if, for instance, a man not a judge 

 went to a dealer in horses, or any thing else, and it 

 was known he was going abroad, or where his good 

 or bad word could have no eflfect, if in making a pur- 

 chase he did not get, in horse-dealers' phrase, a dig, 

 I am a bad prophet. 



Nothing can be more absurd, nor is there any thing 

 more annoying to a dealer, than for a man who is not 

 a judge of horses himself to take a man with him to 

 look at a horse or horses who fancies himself one 

 without being so. Such a man does not know enough 

 to see the merits of a horse, but is sure (as he thinks 

 to show his judgment) to find fault. With such a 

 companion, a man may look at a hundred horses with- 

 out buying one; this soi-disant ]vi^gQ thinks, by find- 

 ing fault, he shows how wide-awake he is : the result 

 in nine cases out of ten is, he rejects horses that 

 would suit his friend's purpose, and buys some wretch 

 at last. 



