VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE. 
365 
beastly fat, and must have a good dosing to get her into condition; after 
that we went to the Railway Hotel, and after luncheon I said, “ Mr. 
Butson, is it to be a bargain/’ He said, “Oh, yes/’ I said, “Then 
shall l draw on you at two or three months?” and he said, “ Three, if 
it makes no difference to you.” My stable-man brought the mare 
into Exeter; he led her in, riding another mare. ■ The defendant then 
deposed to the correspondence between him and the plaintiff, and said, 
after the mare had died I met the plaintiff at the Swan; expressed my 
sorrow at hearing that the mare had died. Plaintiff said, “ What are 
you going to do about?” I said, “ What do you mean, Mr. Butson?” 
He said, “ You know you warranted her.” I said, “ You won’t dare 
say so.” He said, “ She is nothing but a patched-up mare.” I said, 
“On my honour, Mr. Butson, I pledge you that the mare never had a 
teaspoonful of medicine, nor had she a symptom of illness after she 
came into my possession before I sold her to you.” He said, “ It is 
all humbug, she’s a patehed-up mare, and you know it.” I said, “ I’m 
not going to be insulted in this way; if you talk to me so I shall leave 
the room.” He said, “ Well, then, if you didn’t warrant her, you said 
you believed her to be sound.” I said, “ I grant you that. I did say I 
believed her to be sound, and I do to this moment. You have been 
dosing this mare, perhaps exposing her to draughts, or through some 
indiscretion you have brought on inflammation, and you want to throw 
the loss on me, but you will not.” He said, “ Come, we’ll have no un¬ 
pleasantness over it. I’ll leave it to the landlord, or any one you like. 
I propose we go to Canterbury.” I asked what he meant, and he said, 
“ To divide.” I said, “ Certainly not. You have not the slightest 
claim on me. You bought this mare as a speculation, and if you had 
made £60, £70, or £80 of her, you would not be for dividing with me 
the profit.” He said, “ I never calculated upon making more than £50 
of her.” I had ridden the mare hunting with a snaffle, and she had 
gone very comfortably indeed. When I sold her I had not the slight¬ 
est idea of there being any disease whatever in the mare. Had not the 
slightest idea of her having any corns. 
Cross examined—I bought the mare in March or April, 1857. On 
one occasion, when hunting, she hitched her foot in the hedge in what 
is called a steeper, which wrenched her foot a little, and made her go 
lame for two or three weeks. I never heard the mare cough while I 
had her; she never ran away with me, or attempted such a thing; 
when she was hunting I have put the reins on her neck and crossed a 
whole field. I turned her out to grass because she was difficult to be 
shod, and also, because if any lameness should exist, it would doubt¬ 
less restore her; she showed no symptoms of lameness when I turned 
her out. I had her in August, but never rode her. I can’t say why I 
did not use her; I had no particular reason. I sent her into Mr. 
Avery’s, at Exeter, and she was put up for sale; I don’t know whether 
£28 was the highest bidding. I remember a person named Strong, an 
innkeeper of Frome, being made a bankrupt; he was a customer of 
mine. I remember that he was to be examined in the Bankruptcy 
Court. I had a person named Hawkins at that time as an agent of 
mine. 
Mr. Collier —As this is a question of credibility between you and Mr. 
Butson, I am compelled to ask you a question which it gives me some 
pain to put. Did you endeavour to get Strong to give you a preference 
over the other creditors, and did you write to Hawkins in these terms : 
“ He can give bills payable at six, twelve, eighteen, and twenty-four 
months. But in case he should be asked in court if he had given any 
