342 CUTTING IN AND CUTTING OUT. going forward: he is not always seen in the yard; but is enough there to know every horse in it, and somewhere about his price. Well! he sees a gentleman looking at one there. Knowing the horse, he knows at once the description of animal wanted: he does not of course openly interfere in this case, or even suffer himself to be seen if he can prevent it: he has had a glimpse of the horse from the street, and that is enough for him. The gentleman leaves the yard: if he has so closed the bargain as to be unable to be off it, or, as Meddler says, to be choked off, Mr. Meddler has lost his chance: but very probably the customer may not have quite done this: my life on it Meddler trots after him. "Beg your pardon, Sir, I saw you looking at a horse in -'s yard. I know the horse very well; he was bought (so and so): I don't wish to interfere I'm sure, but I know a horse would suit you exactly: he belongs to a PRIVATE GenTLEMAN" (or TRADESMAN, as the case may be). He takes the customer to see the horse or others, if he can persuade him to do so: in fact, having got hold of him, he never leaves him if he can help it; and thus takes a customer from the dealer, and, further, secures one for himself. Thus are these sneaks the bane of dealers. It is true they may order Mr. Meddler not to enter their yard; but then, in certain situations, by making such a man an enemy, his tongue can (and it will not be his fault if it does not) do an incredible deal of mischief; so the dealer is forced to bear the nuisance, and manage as well as he can, by from time to time throwing a sop to these Cerberi. At fairs you will be sure to find Meddler: he is either taken there by, or goes to meet, some dealer from a distance: the dealer is aware Meddler knows IF YOU PLAY WITH A CAT BEWARE OF HER CLAWS. 343 the horses of value, or at least a great part of them, likely to be there. Here he is useful, for he saves the dealer trouble and time, and can probably give him the history of many he looks at. Here he does not make it a sine quâ non to be paid by both parties, though in most cases he contrives to be so; for the dealer buying a number makes the day's work a good one to Meddler, supposing he only got what he gives him, and he would be afraid to play tricks with this employer; for though this dealer, not having suffered at home by Mr. Meddler's interference, is very good friends with him, and treats him to his dinner and bottle of wine, he knows how to appreciate him, and mostly uses him as a useful tool that he knows dare not turn its edge on him. At Repositories and public auctions Meddler is again met. To a Repository he is a positive curse, for the owner of it must either pay him, or he will indiscriminately abuse every horse there, for these of all places Meddler detests the most. The dealer is culpable enough in his eyes for presuming to sell a certain number of horses without him: what then must be his absolute loathing of a place where such numbers are sold without him? He hates its very walls; he knows he cannot be always paid here, for it would look rather odd to any person, on being paid for a horse sold there, to find, in addition to the regular commission, an item, "Paid Mr. Meddler 21. commission." The customer might be uncourteous enough to say, "Who the devil is Mr. Meddler ?" The owner of the Repository might feelingly enough say, "Why, he is the devil:" but I do not think this would satisfy the customer. We shall, I am sorry to say, have occasion to mention Mr. Meddler again, as I now 344 IF YOU GO TO THE RIGHT YOU GO WRONG. propose to do myself the honour of introducing my reader to Repositories. I have been obliged, in accordance with what I proposed in commencing these Hints on Horse Dealers in general, to dwell for some time on the acts and habits of the lowest of the low, and, to carry the thing out, to quote their sentiments, language, and expressions. I fear the task is not yet quite complete: it will, therefore (if only for a time), be a relief to get into a respectable place, and to meet a respectable man. I shall therefore begin by taking my reader to Osborn's -"Harry Osborn's." We may be now supposed to have arrived at a spot where we have Gray's Inn, Verulam Buildings, with sundry other buildings and courts (all inhabited by gentlemen of the law), to our right-(quite right to leave them there) and the Repository on our left. Some person may say that I have brought my reader into a very pretty dilemma; for, turn which side he may, he has a very fair chance of being done. What might be the result of turning to the right I cannot say; but by taking the other turn, I will answer for his coming out unscathed. Besides, there is another thing to be considered: if he should not like this place, he need not go there again sequitur not always to be relied on by those who pay a visit to the other. "In medio tutissimus ibis," they say: now, if we did this, we should run plump into a brewery; and really I am not certain, that, if we were tempted to take a solution of cocculus indicus, it would be altogether so safe an alternative. Quanti vivono in questo mondo alle specie di questo e di quello !" This may be applied to all three places; so we will at once turn into Osborn's. 66 - a NOT SO BLACK AS HIS NEIGHBOURS. 345 Reader, do you see that elderly person in a plain frock-coat, with a pair of shoes, or boots, whose soles would create wonder even with a Folkstone fisherman? That is Mr. Henry Osborn - in the vocabulary of his old customers, and many very old customers he has, "Harry Osborn" - by whom, if your appearance and address proclaim you a gentleman, I will answer for it you will be received with the deference due to your rank in life; or if they denote your being merely a respectable man, you will be treated with the attention and civility due to a customer. (Mem. no light blue satin cravats worn; no champagne talked about, though a bottle might be routed out on occasion.) -Osborn does not call himself a gentleman; but, I tell you what, he will very soon judge whether his customer is one or not. I think I am justified in calling this the first commission stable in England, for two reasons-I believe Osborn was the first who devoted himself exclusively to this branch of the horse trade, and that he has in this way sold more horses than any other man in existence. I am not going to write a panegyric on Mr. Osborn: but so far as I know of him- and I knew him, and he sold horses for me, and to me, when I was a mere boy-I can only say, were I in London, and wanted a horse, to him I should go; and I believe, greatly to his credit be it said, the greater part of his old customers who have left him have left the world also. Having shown my reader a Repository where I consider the business is carried on as fairly as the nature of that business will allow for, in road phrase, a little "shouldering" will creep into the best regulated Repositories I will endeavour to show 346 HONEST MEASURES. what might be done in one where a man intends to do. All persons who are not amateurs of horses are much more suspicious of those whose business lies in that way than those who are; but, unluckily, their suspicions are seldom directed to the right point: so, not knowing what to guard against, these suspicions do them no good. The chief apprehensions I have heard people express in sending a horse to a commission stable for sale are, first, that he will be cheated of his proper feeding; and, secondly, that the owner of the stables will keep the horse unsold for the advantage he derives from the livery expenses. Nothing can be more futile or groundless (in a general way) than both these apprehensions; not from any honesty on the part of the owner or his subordinates, where either or both are inclined to be tricky, but from other causes. With respect to the feeding: this is done by the foreman, who, in large establishments, generally goes at the regular feeding hours with a corn-barrow to the different stables: here he gives to the man or men, according to the number of horses, a feed for each. Thus the foreman cannot cheat the horses without the knowledge of the strappers; and he values his berth too much to put himself in their power; for if he did, he would soon become under them instead of their being under him. As he dare not keep back corn for his own advantage, you may depend upon it he would not do so for that of his master, unless directed by him to that effect and this he would not be, for then he would have it in his power to expose his employer. So, even supposing the whole lot master, foreman, and strappers - to be rogues, the fear of each other in this particular Now the strappers - the gener keeps them honest. Now the strappers |