THE NEW HORSE. 
live happy in such imagination, until some kind friend shall 
dispel his vision of happiness by pointing out to him the 
imperfections of his favorite. 
Setting aside his warranty of being sound, and quiet to 
ride and drive” (which for the sake of argument we will say 
shall turn out a true one), the new horse may stumble, may 
shy, may prove so obstinately steady as to require all the 
whips in the parish to whip him along; or else so hot and 
irritable in his temper as to torment his rider or driver all 
but into fits, and everytime he is used create pain instead of 
pleasure. In fine, he may have twenty vices, and yet, ac- 
cording to the letter of the law, be accounted “ sound, and 
quiet to ride and drive.” Prizes in horse-dealing are almost as 
scarce as prizes in a lottery. Horse-buying, with the most skil- 
ful and circumspect of us, is after all neither more nor less than 
a lottery in which the blanks far exceed the number of the 
prizes. It is not, in the nature of things, possible for any person 
to possess himself of a knowledge of kC what a horse is,” until 
he has got that horse absolutely into his own stable, and has for 
some time and in different ways made use of it himself. He may 
ascertain that the animal is sound, and in some considerable 
degree satisfy himself of its quiet disposition and aptitude 
for the purposes he requires it ; but, after all, there are vices 
and faults which will escape the utmost vigilance of the pur- 
chaser, and only show themselves after one, two, three, or 
more days’ or even weeks’ possession. I knew one person 
who bought “a very nice horse” at the hammer — it was 
everything to appearance he could either want or desire : at 
length, after having it in his possession for some short time, he 
discovered it had two faults : one was that, reluctantly as 
it quitted home, it turned quite frantic on its return : after 
any journey, the moment it came to any well-known road on 
its return, it would, if restrained from hurrying homeward at 
the top of its pace, turn restive. The other fault was, a habit 
of casting itself in its stall, night after night, disturbing and 
alarming persons whose sleeping-rooms were over its stable, 
and endangering its own life by the manner in which it 
occasionally got its limbs entangled and twisted within its 
halter. Another person bought a very fine mare of a dealer, 
exceedingly well-bred, and a capital huntress ; she, however, 
proved to have one unfortunate propensity, and that was 
to tear all the clothes off her back ; and afterwards tear her 
skin as well, the moment she felt the heat of blood naturally 
created by getting into condition. 
All this shows what a hazard people run of getting their 
ends served who seek after advertised horses. On one occa- 
10 
XXVI. 
