_Mr Barlow._--You know we are always ready to improve you. But before we leave this subject, I must tell you a little story. "There was a gentleman who was extremely fond of beautiful horses, and did not grudge to give the highest prices for them. One day a horse-courser came to him, and showed him one so handsome, that he thought it superior to all he had ever seen before. He mounted him, and found his paces equally excellent; for, though he was full of spirit, he was gentle and tractable as could be wished. So many perfections delighted the gentleman, and he eagerly demanded the price. The horse-courser answered, that he would bate nothing of two hundred guineas; the gentleman, although he admired the horse, would not consent to give it, and they were just on the point of parting. As the man was turning his back, the gentleman called out to him, and said, 'Is there no possible way of our agreeing, for I would give you anything in reason for such a beautiful creature?' 'Why,' replied the dealer, who was a shrewd fellow, and perfectly understood calculation, 'If you do not like to give me two hundred guineas, will you give me a farthing for the first nail the horse has in his shoe, two farthings for the second, four for the third, and so go doubling throughout the whole twenty-four, for there are no more than twenty-four nails in all his shoes?' The gentleman gladly accepted the condition, and ordered the horse to be led away to his stables." _Tommy._--This fellow must have been a very great blockhead, to ask two hundred guineas, and then to take a few farthings for his horse.