ye," returned John, "it was not that: lammy-pie is not made of lamb." Why what the devil was it then?" exclaimed the terrified traveller. "Why, our poor kiddy, to be sure," returned the other, "who died yesterday of the shab.” *

* A cutaneous disorder to which kids are liable.

ON DUELLING.

[ ALTHOUGH we are on our probation before the publick, and should, therefore, rather wink at, than ridicule, the follies of the day, we are urgently impelled to insert the following letter. The practice to which the sensible writer adverts, is too ridiculous to escape the smile of the wit,and too abominable to be contemplated without horror by the Christian. It is the solemn duty of every writer who aspires to the arduous task of directing publick opinion, to hold up this custom to utter contempt and detestation, By constant attrition the hardest rock is worn away.

Who are the legislators in this code, which imperiously calls upon us to mock the express prohibitions of Heaven and act in defiance of common understanding? Seek them at the gaming table, on the turf, or in the brothel. Go not in those places where Wisdom holds her courts, where Virtue listens to the still small voice of self-gratulation, where Courtesy is studied, not from fear, but a desire to please go not to such haunts, for there you most assuredly shall not find these lawgivers to cowardice, weakness, and vice.]

SIR,

IT is very amusing, and sometimes not unprofitable, to compare the manners and customs of our own times with those of former ages, and our vanity is not a little gratified when we find the result in our own favour. People who are pretty far advanced in life, are very apt to rail at the "degeneracy of the age," whilst the young, enjoying the present hour with avidity, are satisfied to take the world as it goes, and leave their grandsires to

complain that things are not as they used to be! For my own part, I am neither young nor antiquated; neither a blind idolator of the haughty ancients, nor a courteous flatterer of the enlightened moderns; but exalted on the pinnacle of truth, I examine their several pretensions with candour, and am compelled to declare that I find the advantage altogether in favour of our own illustrious times! The human mind in our day has reached the utmost climax of possible perfection in both moral and intellectual science, and we are very far before the Greeks or Romans, the Babylonians, or Egyptians in inventions and refinements-in all the arts of living, and of dying too.

I have been led to these reflections by a passage which arrested my attention in "Sully's Memoirs," and which I hope will place my argument in a convincing point of view to your readers.

Henry IVth, of France, was a very gallant prince, as much at his ease in the midst of battle, as in the pleasures of his court. His nobles were high-spirited, honourable gentlemen, who set at naught their own lives, or those of their neighbours; insomuch, "that every day, and for the slighest occasions, some blood was shed." But Henry had been accustomed to the sight of bloodit never touched his nerves-yet he was humane and good-natured, and was easily prevailed on by Sully, indignant and intractable, to issue severe edicts, at different times, against Duelling, which that austere minister was pleased to term, " a barbarous and detestable practice." On one of these occasions, the king commanded him to draw up a memorial on that subject from the abundant stores of his wisdom and knowledge; and the following, which he presented, contains an account of the manner in which that genteel mode of ridding the world of a troublesome person, in times prior to his, was conducted and I am about to quote it as an example of the barbarism of those days, compared with the transcendant illumination of our own.

"In the first place, (says Sully) nobody, however offended, "might take vengeance in his own right; and as it is now prac❝ticed in the first emption of caprice and passion, and much less "in mere bravado, which, in my opinion, is of all things contrary

"to the laws of society. They had their judges, before whom, "he that thought himself injured in his honour, was to give an ac"count of the wrong suffered, and demand permission to prove, "in the way of arms, that he did not lay upon his enemy a false

"accusation. It was then considered shameful to desire blood for "blood. The judge, who was commonly the lord of the place, "made the person accused appear likewise before him, and never "allowed the decision of battle, which was demanded by throwing "a glove, or some other pledge, upon the ground, but when he "could get no other proof of either guilt or innocence. The "pledges were received, and the judge deferred the decision of "the quarrel to the end of two months, during the first of which "the two enemies were delivered, each of them, to common "friends upon security for their forthcoming: their friends en"deavoured, by all sorts of means, to discover the person crimi❝nal, and to give him a sense of the injustice of maintaining a "falsehood, from which he could expect nothing but the loss of "his reputation, of his life, and of his soul; for they were per❝ suaded, with the utmost degree of certainty, that Heaven always "gives a victory to the right cause; and, therefore, a duel, in "their opinion, was an action, of which the event could be deter"mined by no human power. When the two months were ex"pired, the two rivals were put into a close prison, and committed " to the ecclesiasticks, who employed every motive to make them "change their design. If, after all this, they still persisted, a ❝day was at last fixed to end their quarrel.

"When the day was come, the two champions were brought "fasting in the morning before the judge, who obliged both of "them to declare upon oath that they said the truth; after which "they suffered them to eat; they were then armed in his pres"ence: the kind of arms being likewise settled, four seconds, " chosen with the same ceremonies, saw them undressed, and "anointed all over the body with oil, and saw their beards and "hair cut close; they were then conducted into an enclosed «ground, and guarded by armed men, having been made to re"peat, for the last time, their assertions and accusations, to see if "they persisted in them without alterations. They were not

"even then suffered to advance to the combat; that moment "their seconds joined them at the two ends of the field, for ano"ther ceremony, which of itself, was enough to make their wea"pons drop from their hands, at least if there had been any friend"ship between them. Their seconds made them kneel down in "this place, facing each other; they made them join hands, with "the fingers of one put between the fingers of the other, they "demanded justice from one another, and were conjured on each "side not to support a falsity; they solemnly promised to act "upon terms of honour, and not to aim at victory by fraud and ❝enchantment. The seconds examined their arms, piece by

piece, to see that nothing was wanted, and then conducted them "to the two ends of the lists, where they made them say their "prayers and make their confession; then asking each of them "whether he had any message to send to his adversary, they suf"fered them to fall to, which they did at the signal of the herald, who cried from without the lists, "Let the brave combatants "go." After this, it is true, they fought without mercy, and the ❝vanquished, dead or alive, incurred all the infamy of the crime "and the punishment; he was dragged upon a hurdle in his "shirt, and afterwards hanged or burnt, while the other returned "triumphant, with a decree that attested him to have gained "his suit, and allotted him all manner of satisfaction."

Now, what a solemn commotion was here about so very a trifle as the taking away a good-for-nothing life, useless, perhaps, to its possessor, (as that of a duellist very often happens to be) or to society! Well might Sully call it "wild and ridiculous," and still more so does it appear to us, who have lived to see with what indifference the same weighty affair can now be conducted! In our free and happy day, no man is interdicted from taking "vengeance" in any way he likes best. The moment he feels his honour assailed, he hastens to vindicate it—no time, no place, restrains his indignation-even in the midst of our " solemn assemblies" he "throws his glove." No tyrannical ecclesiastick impertinently interferes-no arrogant judge "demands an account of his wrongs" He fixes his day, and our very newspapers (so perfect is our liberty) proclaim it to the world!--It is

heard with indifference-no disturbance is excited-no imprisoning, nor fasting, nor shaving of heads, or of beards, is thought of, though shaving of heads might possibly be a useful application— but every one minds his own business, and the "brave combatants" settle theirs at their leisure. When their high-soul'd honour is satisfied, we scorn to drag the poor vanquished wretch (if he escape with life) on a hurdle, like those Goths and Vandals, or hang him, or burn him-but we do imitate their generosity in receiving the "victor honoured and triumphant !" It is likewise in favour of my argument, that monsiuer de Sully was an outrageous enemy to duellists that he calls them, "Gladiators, more "dreadful and contemptible than the men who formerly bore that "name"—that he inveighed against "the practice of those smart "youths who withdraw slyly into a field to shed the blood of one "another, with hands impelled by no better instinct than that "which instigates a beast of prey"-with many more such angry expressions, which serve to show the mean, pusillanimous character of a celebrated statesman in the seventeenth century— whereas, the more just and liberal opinions of the great men of the present age, are an undeniable evidence of their superiour heroism and wisdom. Even our very women have more sense than this sagacious duke, for they can see that duelling is a most excellent invention! Their little constitutional weaknesses do, indeed, induce them sometimes to argue against it; but the gentlemen assure them that it is particularly beneficial to them, for "there is no other way to preserve good manners”—and so extremely dexterous are they in this mode of preserving them, that I remember to have heard one of these choice spirits, describing the happy temper of one of his friends, declare, that "he "could leave his company at table, step out, fight a duel, and re"turn, without giving the smallest suspicion by his look or "manner that any thing had disturbed him?”. Cæsar have surpassed this?

-Could Julius

STEELE.