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appear, he gets first a sound thrashing, which he is too dispirited to resist, and then he gets another night of it till he is thoroughly tamed and browbeaten: he is again sold; and probably, though then put on proper feeding and allowed proper rest, it takes some days before he so far recovers himself as to resume his former habits. Perhaps, from having been thoroughly cowed, he never does become quite as violent as he was before; but restive he will be no doubt. Now what is the purchaser to do? he cannot most probably prove the horse had been restive, while Mr. Rascal will not only swear, but bring plenty of witnesses to swear, he never was; and indeed the Gentleman and his groom cannot help allowing that for a week the horse was quiet. If he goes to law and gains his cause, it will cost him a good deal of money and a great deal of trouble; and the chances are that so many witnesses will outswear him. The only wise thing for him to do is to give the scoundrel a sum to take him back, which he will do, as such a horse is an income to him: he is a good screw, though not a lame one, and will be sold over and over again by the same party and his coadjutors.

Having mentioned Dublin and a horse there, I will mention another that I saw sold there, at the different Repositories and fairs in the neighbourhood, I should say twenty times. The fact was, if he was sold on Tuesday at one Repository, he was certain to be on Friday for sale at another, as the buyer was sure to find him out in an hour after he had got him. He was what is termed "a chinked-backed one;" that is, he had been injured in the spine. Many of these horses will do well enough with no weight on them when going

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straight along: stop them short, or turn them round quickly, the secret is out at once; but this is of course avoided when shown for sale. The horse I allude to was a very good-looking harness-like horse, five-yearsold, and worth fifty if he had been sound: he was in the hands, or at least was most of his time in the hands, of one of these Mr. Rascals: he was not only a good, but a superfine screw to him. On one of the various occasions of this horse being sold, I was much amused at the fellow's consummate impudence and ingenuity. Some of my readers may have to learn that a horse thus injured in the spine is, in dealers' slang, termed a "German," why I know not: and from this I suppose is by some also called a "foreigner." On the occasion to which I allude, a gentleman was very properly abusing the fellow-who was an Englishman much to the credit of my country!-for selling him this horse. The fellow's reply was, first, "Did I warrant him sound?"-" No, you did not: you said you could not, as he had a corn."-" Well, so he has a corn." "Yes, you scoundrel, but you did not tell me he was broken-backed."—"No, nor he ain't broken-backed: he is only chinked a bit. Did not I tell you he was a furriner, and that was why I sold him so cheap?" "Yes, you did; but what has his being a foreigner to do with his back?"-"Why, everything: if I told you a horse was a buck, I suppose you'd know his eyes warn't right, wouldn't you?"-" No, indeed I should not."-"Why, then, more's the pity!

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say, Jem (continued the fellow to some friend going by), I sold the furriner to this gemman; told him he was one; and now he wants to know what that has to do with his back!"-"Does he ?" said the fellow; "let he?" him get on him an' he'll know."—"Now," says Mr.

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Rascal, "you see every body vot knows anything knows what a furriner means. I didn't warrant him; you harn't got no law nor justice on your side; I wish you luck with him!" The gentleman looked as if he doubted very much the arrival of the luck bespoke for him, and I doubt not would have sold his expectation a bargain. In short, he did not seem to know quite what to do; but he was likely to be relieved from his dilemma by a man (of course one of Mr. Rascal's friends) coming up to him, and saying, “Why, I hear, Sir, you have bought the broken-backed-'un :" (he was broken-backed now!)-"he's of no use to nobody; he can't carry a pound on his back, and he can't draw more nor an empty cart: he's been sold here for three pound many a time. The fellow you bought him of oughtn't to be allowed to come into no sale-yard."

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Well," says the gentleman, "I am taken in I know; I paid eighteen pounds for the horse, and am willing to lose by him; but he is not so bad as you represent him."-" Ain't he, though?" says the fellow: "just let's see him out." The horse was brought out. "Here," says he to some scamp in the secret, "just run this horse, will you ?" The horse was put to the best of his trot, turned as suddenly round as possible, and, as it must be with such horses, he nearly fell on his side as he turned, and appeared for a minute or two hardly able to stand. I need not go on further with the thing than to say, that, as is always done in such cases, a crowd of vagabonds got collected round the gentleman, and to avoid their sneers, coarse jokes, and being laughed at, he was glad to get out of it by selling the horse for three pounds! But, as a finale to his wounded pride and purse, in a few minutes afterwards he saw the fellow riding the horse,

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who came up to him, saying, "Why, he ain't half as bad as I thought he was: he ain't all the money too dear now!"

I saw nothing more of my friend the furriner till about a month afterwards, when "a horse, cart, and harness, the property of a tradesman," was advertised for sale at one of the Repositories at a particular hour, at which particular hour a horse was driven into the yard at a fair trot straight up to the auction-box, but owing to the crowd and carriages for sale being in the way, this "horse, cart, and harness" could not be conveniently turned round-(Mem. we know the horse could not). This was of course foreseen; so he was sold standing there, and for cart purposes his action was no great matter, and it was seen he drew quietly. I think he fetched twenty pounds. I need scarcely say the cart and harness were bought in, having only been borrowed for the occasion. So soon as he was knocked down he was slipped out of the cart, led straight up the yard, and put into the stable, no doubt the purchaser congratulating himself on having got a good horse, the genuine property of a tradesman! Now, although this was all preconcerted— the cart and horse only coming at the time specified-the trot straight up the yard, as if done from being late- the cart not being able to be turned round-and the horse being taken straight out to enable the man to run the cart out of the way—all was done so naturally that nothing like deception or anything particular appeared. This was the last appearance of furriner while I was there: probably if he did not take a benefit there, he has given many a one to others since.

It may appear rather a matter of surprise how such fellows as I have described can afford the expense of

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going distances to fairs, when, as I have said, they are not certain of always being able to buy. The thing is managed in this way. In the first place, they rarely fail to find a something to lay their hands on; and if they do not, they can always pay their expenses by doing a something for respectable dealers which they would not choose to be found doing themselves; and in this case often get a couple of sovereigns from the dealer for selling some screw for him, and frequently a couple more from the buyer for having found one for him: but of course that he is a screw is only found out afterwards; oftentimes never found out at all, unless a very bad one; for if he does his work, it is concluded he is sound; and if in the course of time he cannot, it is supposed that it is something fresh, and the owner only attributes it to ill-luck.

But we will see how Mr. Rascal can help a brother in iniquity without doing anything very bad; merely in fact giving a little quickener to a sale. These fellows, as I have said, always have their eyes open for a chance, and in a moment know what to do on any occasion. We will suppose he sees a gentleman looking at any one horse in a dealer's lot: he may not have asked any questions about the horse, but our lynx-eyed friend plainly sees he is preparing to do so, or has just done it. Up bustles Rascal to the dealer: 'Bob, I want that GOOD horse of yours." Now, by his good he means to imply in a general sense superior, and of course this good would have been equally applied to any other horse among them that had attracted the gentleman's notice. This gives the buyer in prospectu an idea that he has not made a very bad choice. Quickener the first: "Well," says Bob, "what d'ye want wi' he?" The at once recognising

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