421 
CATARACT. 
By Mr. W. C. Spooner, V.S., Winchester. 
Report of the Trial, Freestone v. Hopkins.—Win¬ 
chester, July the 5th, 1834. 
This was an action on the warranty of a mare sold by the 
defendant, a horse-dealer at Stockbridge, to the plaintiff, a gen¬ 
tleman residing at Coomb Down, near Bath, at Weyhill Fair, in 
October last, for £55, and which mare proved unsound. The 
defendant took in exchange for the mare a horse valued at £20, 
notes amounting to £20, and a cheque for £15, payment of 
which was afterwards stopped. The mare was sold subse¬ 
quently for £27, her keep and expenses were £4; and the action 
was brought to recover £17, being the difference between the 
£40 and £23, the price for which the mare was sold, after de¬ 
ducting the expenses. 
Mr. Sergeant Bompas stated the case. 
Capt. Bisnee was at Weyhill Fair on the 11th of October : the 
‘ defendant asked £60 for the mare, but agreed to take £55; 
heard him warrant the mare sound. The defendant and plaintiff 
went away together to a booth for some time, and then joined 
me again, when I heard the warranty repeated. I was present 
at the Bazaar in Bristol, in October, and saw the mare sold 
for £27. 
This witness, in his cross-examination, denied that he had ever 
been introduced to the defendant as Captain Fitz or Kirkpatrick, 
or by any other than his real name. Is a captain in the Somer¬ 
setshire militia. 
-Ward.—I am groom to the plaintiff. I was at Weyhill Fair 
on the 11th of October; my master rode the mare from the fair to 
Devizes, and I then led her home : the next day, by direction 
of my master, I took her to Mr. Norfolk, veterinary surgeon in 
Bath, and within a week from this time I and my master went 
to the defendant’s stables at Stockbridge with the mare. We did 
not see the defendant, but his son. My master said he had re¬ 
turned the mare, as she had a cataract. The son replied that he 
would not take in the mare, as his father was not at home. 
Mr. Freestone said if he refused to do so, he should sell her at 
the hammer. We returned with the mare, and a few days after¬ 
wards I took her to Bristol. 
Mr. John Norfolk, veterinary surgeon.—The mare was brought 
to me on the 12th by Mr. Freestone’s groom. I examined her, 
and observed a cataract in the near eye—it was easily disco¬ 
vered : it is a disease which frequently ends in blindness, and is 
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