Letters from the Hague, dated the eleventh instant, N. S. advise, that Monsieur Rouille having acquainted the Ministers of the allies, that his master had refused to ratify the preliminaries of a treaty adjusted with Monsieur Torcy, set out for Paris on Sunday morning. The same day the foreign Ministers met a committee of the States-General, where Monsieur Van Hessen opened the business upon which they were assembled, and in a very warm discourse laid before them the conduct of France in the late negociations, representing the abject manner in which she had laid open her own distresses, that reduced her to a compliance with the demands of all the allies, and her meanness in receding from those points to which Monsieur Torcy had consented. The respective Ministers of each potentate of the alliance severally expressed their resentment of the faithless behaviour of the French, and gave each other mutual assurances of the constancy and resolution of their principals, to proceed with the utmost vigour against the common enemy. His Grace the Duke of Marlborough set out from the Hague on the ninth in the afternoon, and lay that night at Rotterdam; from whence, at four the next morning, he proceeded towards Antwerp, with a design to reach Ghent the next day. All the troops in the Low Countries are in motion towards the general rendezvous between the Scheld and the Lis: the whole army will be formed on the twelfth instant; and it is said, that on the fourteenth they will advance towards the enemy's country. In the mean time the Marshal de Villars has assembled the French forces between Lens, La Bassee, and Douay. Yesterday morning Sir John Norris, with the squadron under his command, sailed from the Downs for Holland. From my own Apartment, June 3. I have the honour of the following letter from a gentleman whom I receive into my family, and order the heralds at arms to enroll him accordingly: 66 "Mr. Bickerstaff, Though you have excluded me the honour of your family, yet I have ventured to correspond with the same great persons as yourself, and have wrote this post to the King of France; though I am in a manner unknown in his country, and have not been seen there these many months: TO LEWIS LE GRAND. "Though in your Country I'm unknown, Of late so poor and mean you 're grown, Here vermin eat your Majesty, There meagre subjects stand unfed! What surer signs of poverty, Than many lice and little bread? Then, Sir, the present minute chuse ; Consider this, and Dunkirk raze, Send one pretender out to graze, "Your humble servant, BREAD THE STAFF OF LIFE." VOL. I. R N° 25. TUESDAY, JUNE 7, 1709. Quicquid agunt homines nostri est farrago libelli. Juv. Sat. i. 85, 86. Whate'er men do, or say, or think, or dream, White's Chocolate-house, June 6. P. A LETTER from a young lady, written in the most passionate terms, wherein she laments the misfortune of a gentleman, her lover, who was lately wounded in a duel, has turned my thoughts to that subject, and inclined me to examine into the causes which precipitate men into so fatal a folly. And as it has been proposed to treat of subjects of gallantry in the article from hence, and no one point in nature is more proper to be considered by the company who frequent this place than that of duels, it is worth our consideration to examine into this chimerical groundless humour, and to lay every other thought aside, until we have stripped it of all its false pretences to credit and reputation amongst men. But I must confess, when I consider what I am going about, and run over in my imagination all the endless crowd of men of honour who will be offended at such a discourse; I am undertaking, methinks, a work worthy an invulnerable hero in romance, rather than a private gentleman with a single rapier but as I am pretty well acquainted, by great opportunities, with the nature of man, and know of a truth that all men fight against their will, the danger vanishes, and resolution rises upon this subject. For this reason, I shall talk very freely on a custom which all men wish exploded, though no man has courage enough to resist it. But there is one unintelligible word, which I fear will extremely perplex my dissertation, and I confess to you I find very hard to explain; which is the term "satisfaction." An honest country gentleman had the misfortune to fall into company with two or three modern men of honour, where he happened to be very ill treated; and one of the company, being conscious of his offence, sends a note to him in the morning, and tells him, he was ready to give him satisfaction. "This is fine doing," says the plain fellow; "last night he sent me away cursedly out of humour, and this morning he fancies it would be a satisfaction to be run through the body." As the matter at present stands, it is not to do handsome actions denominates a man of honour; it is enough if he dares to defend ill ones. Thus you often see a common sharper in competition with a gentleman of the first rank: though all mankind is convinced, that a fighting gamester is only a pickpocket with the courage of an highwayman. One cannot with any patience reflect on the unaccountable jumble of persons and things in this town and nation; which occasions very frequently, that a brave man falls by a hand below that of a common hangman, and yet his executioner escapes the clutches of the hangman for doing it. I shall therefore hereafter consider, how the bravest men in other ages and nations have behaved themselves upon such incidents as we decide by combat; and show, from their practice, that this resentment neither has its foundation from true reason or solid fame; but is an imposture, made up of cowardice, falsehood, and want of understanding. For this work, a good history of quarrels would be very edifying to the public; and I apply myself to the town for particulars and circumstances within their knowledge, which may serve to embellish the dissertation with proper cuts. Most of the quarrels I have known, have proceeded from some valiant coxcomb's persisting in the wrong, to defend some prevailing folly, and preserve himself from the ingenuousness of his own mistake. By this means it is called "giving a man satisfaction," to urge your offence against him with your sword; which puts me in mind of Peter's to the keeper, in the Tale of a Tub; "if you neglect to do all this, damn you and your generation for ever; and so we bid you heartily farewell." If the contradiction in the very terms of one of our challenges were as well explained, and turned into downright English, would it not run after this manner? "Your extraordinary behaviour last night, and the liberty you were pleased to take with me, makes me this morning give you this, to tell you, because you are an ill-bred puppy, I will meet you in Hyde Park an hour hence; and because you want both breeding and humanity, I desire you would come with a pistol in your hand, on horseback, and endeavour to shoot me through the head, to teach you more manners. If you fail of doing me this pleasure, I shall say you are a rascal on every post in town: and so, Sir, if you will not injure me more, I shall never forgive what you have done already. Pray, Sir, do not fail of getting every thing ready; and you will infinitely oblige, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, &c." From my own Apartment, June 6. Among the many employments I am necessarily put upon by my friends, that of giving advice is the most unwelcome to me; and, indeed, I am forced to use a little art in the matter: for, some people will ask counsel of you, when they have already acted what they tell you is still under deliberation. I had almost lost a very good friend the other day, who |