ing Burke, "much resembles that which Pantagruel gave Panurge on the subject of his marriage, as I heard a friend of mine, Percy, of Gray's Inn, reading to me the other day."

"I do not know the people you speak of," continued Bob, "but such was the advice which Waddy gave

me.

"Why,' said I, 'Wooden-leg, my friend, this is like playing battledore and shuttlecock; what is knocked forward with one hand is knocked back with the other. Come, tell me what I ought to do.'

"Well,' said Wooden-leg, taking the meershaum out of his mouth, in dubiis suspice, &c. Let us decide it by tossing a halfpenny. If it comes down head, you fight-if harp, you do not. Nothing can be fairer.'

" I assented.

"Which,' said he, is it to betwo out of three, as at Newmarket, or the first toss to decide?'

"Sudden death,' said I,' and there will soon be an end of it."

"Up went the halfpenny, and we looked with anxious eyes for its descent, when, unluckily, it stuck in a gooseberry bush.

"I don't like that,' said Woodenleg Waddy; 'for it's a token of bad luck. But here goes again.'

Again the copper soared to the sky, and down it came-head.

"I wish you joy, my friend,' said Waddy; you are to fight. That was my opinion all along, though I did not like to commit myself. I can lend you a pair of the most beautiful duelling pistols ever put into a man's band-Wogden's, I swear. The last time they were out, they shot Joe Brown of Mount Badger as dead as Harry the Eighth.'

"Will you be my second?' said I. "Why, no,' replied Wooden-leg, 'I cannot; for I am bound over by a rascally magistrate to keep the peace, because I barely broke the head of a blackguard bailiff, who came here to serve a writ on a friend of mine, with one of my spare legs. But I can get you a second at once. My nephew, Major Mug, has just come to me on a few days' visit, and, as he is quite idle, it will give him some amusement to be your second. Look up at his bedroom-you see he is shaving

himself.'

"In a short time the Major made his appearance, dressed with a most military accuracy of costume. There was not a speck of dust on his wellbrushed blue surtout-not a vestige of hair, except the regulation whiskers, on his closely-shaven countenance. His hat was brushed to the most glossy perfection-his boots shone in the jetty glow of Day and Martin. There was scarcely an ounce of flesh on his hard and weatherbeaten face, and, as he stood rigidly upright, you would have sworn that every sinew and muscle of his body was as stiff as whipcord. He saluted us in military style, and was soon put in possession of the case. Woodenleg Waddy insinuated that there were hardly as yet grounds for a duel.

"I differ,' said Major Mug, decidedly-the grounds are ample. I never saw a clearer case in my life, and I have been principal or second in seven-and-twenty. If I collect your story rightly, Mr Burke, he gave you an abrupt answer in the field, which was highly derogatory to the lady in question, and impertinently rude to yourself?'

"He certainly,' said I, ' gave me what we call a short answer; but I did not notice it at the time, and he has since made friends with the young lady.'

"It matters nothing,' observed Major Mug, 'what you may think, or she may think. The business is now in my hands, and I must see you through it. The first thing to be done is to write him a letter. Send out for paperlet it be gilt-edged, Waddy-that we may do the thing genteelly. I'll dictate, Mr Burke, if you please.'

"And so he did. As well as I can recollect, the note was as follows:"Spa Walk, Mallow, June 3, 18—.

'Eight o'clock in the morning. "SIR,-A desire for harmony and peace, which has at all times actuated my conduct, prevented me, yesterday, from asking you the meaning of the short and contemptuous message which you commission d me to deliver to a certain young lady of our acquaintance, whose name I do not choose to drag into a correspondence. But now that there is no danger of its disturbing any one, I must say that in your desiring me to tell that young lady she might consider herself as d-d, you were guil

ty of conduct highly unbecoming of an officer and a gentleman, and subversive of the discipline of the hunt. I have the honour to be, sir, your most obedient humble servant, "ROBERT Burke.

""P.S.-This note will be delivered to you by my friend, Major Mug, of the 3d West Indian; and you will, I trust, see the propriety of referring him to another gentleman without further delay.'

"That, I think, is neat,' said the Major. Now, seal it with wax, Mr Burke, with wax-and let the seal be your arms. That's right. Now, direct it.'

"Ensign Brady?' "No-no-the right thing would be, "Mr Brady, Ensign, 48th foot," but custom allows "Esquire." That will do.-"Thady Brady, Esq., Ensign, 48th Foot, Barracks, Mallow." He shall have it in less than a quarter of an hour.'

"The Major was as good as his word, and in about half an hour he brought back the result of his mission. The Ensign, he told us, was extremely reluctant to fight, and wanted to be off, on the ground that he had meant no offence, did not even remember having used the expression, and offered to ask the lady if she conceived for a moment he had any idea of saying any thing but what was complimentary to her.

"In fact,' said the Major, 'he at first plumply refused to fight; but I soon brought him to reason. Sir,' said I, 'you either consent to fight, or refuse to fight. In the first case, the thing is settled to hand, and we are not called upon to enquire if there was an affront or not-in the second case, your refusal to comply with a gentleman's request is, of itself, an offence for which he has a right to call you out. Put it, then, on any grounds, you must fight him. It is perfectly indifferent to me what the grounds may be; and I have only to request the name of your friend, as I too much respect the coat you wear, to think that there can be any other alternative.' This brought the chap to his senses, and he referred me to Captain Codd, of his own regiment, at which I felt much pleased, because Codd is an intimate friend of my own, he and I having fought a duel three years ago in Falmouth, in which I lost the top of

this little finger, and he his left whisker. It was a near touch. He is as honourable a man as ever paced a ground; and I am sure that he will no more let his man off the field until business is done, than I would myself.'

"I own," continued Burke, "I did not half relish this announcement of the firm purpose of our seconds; but I was in for it, and could not get back. I sometimes thought Dosy a dear purchase, at such an expense; but it was no use to grumble. Major Mug was sorry to say that there was a review to take place immediately, at which the Ensign must attend, and it was impossible for him to meet me until the evening; but,' added he, at this time of the year it can be of no great consequence. There will be plenty of light till nine, but I have fixed seven. In the meantime, you may as well divert yourself with a little pistol practice, but do it on the sly, as, if they were shabby enough to have a trial, it would not tell well before the jury.'

"Promising to take a quiet chop with me at five, the Major retired, leaving me not quite contented with the state of affairs. I sat down, and wrote a letter to my cousin, Phil Purdon of Kanturk, telling him what I was about, and giving directions what was to be done in the case of any fatal event. I communicated to him the whole story-deplored my unhappy fate in being thus cut off in the flower of my youth-left him three pair of buckskin breechesand repented my sins. This letter I immediately packed off by a special messenger, and then began halfa-dozen others, of various styles of tenderness and sentimentality, to be delivered after my melancholy decease. The day went off fast enough, I assure you; and at five the Major, and Wooden-leg Waddy, arrived in high spirits.

"Here, my boy,' said Waddy, handing me the pistols, here are the flutes; and pretty music, I can tell you, they make.'

"As for dinner,' said Major Mug, I do not much care; but, Mr Burke, I hope it is ready, as I am rather hungry. We must dine lightly, however, and drink not much. If we come off with flying colours, we may crack a bottle together by and by; in case you shoot Brady, I

have every thing arranged for our keeping out of the way until the thing blows over-if he shoot you, I'll see you buried. Of course, you would not recommend any thing so ungenteel as a prosecution. No. I'll take care it shall all appear in the papers, and announce that Robert Burke, Esq., met his death with becoming fortitude, assuring the unhappy survivor that he heartily forgave him, and wished him health and happiness.'

"I must tell you,' said Woodenleg Waddy, it's all over Mallow, and the whole town will be on the ground to see it. Miss Dosy knows of it, and is quite delighted-she says she will certainly marry the survivor. I spoke to the magistrate to keep out of the way, and he promised, that though it deprived him of a great pleasure, he would go and dine five miles off-and know nothing about it. But here comes dinner. Let us be jolly.'

"I cannot say that I played on that day as brilliant a part with the knife and fork as I usually do, and did not sympathize much in the speculations of my guests, who pushed the bottle about with great energy, recommending me, however, to refrain. At last, the Major looked at his watch, which he had kept lying on the table before him from the beginning of dinner-started up-clapped me on the shoulder, and declaring it only wanted six minutes and thirty-five seconds of the time, hurried me off to the scene of action-a field close by the Castle.

"There certainly was a miscellaneous assemblage of the inhabitants of Mallow, all anxious to see the duel. They had pitted us like gamecocks, and bets were freely taken as to the chances of our killing one another, and the particular spots. One betted on my being hit in the jaw, another was so kind as to lay the odds on my knee. A tolerably general opinion appeared to prevail that one or other of us was to be killed; and much good-humoured joking took place among them, while they were deciding which. As I was double the thickness of my antagonist, I was clearly the favourite for being shot; and I heard one fellow near me say, Three to two on Burke, that he's shot first-I bet in ten-pennies,'

"Brady and Codd soon appeared, and the preliminaries were arranged with much punctilio between our seconds, who mutually and loudly extolled each other's gentlemanlike mode of doing business. Brady could scarcely stand with fright, and I confess that I did not feel quite as Hector of Troy, or the Seven Champions of Christendom, are reported to have done on similar occasions. At last the ground was measured-the pistols handed to the principals-the handkerchief dropped-whiz! went the bullet within an inch of my ear-and crack! went mine exactly on Ensign Brady's waistcoat pocket. By an unaccountable accident, there was a five-shilling piece in that very pocket, and the bail glanced away, while Brady doubled himself down, uttering a loud howl that might be heard half a mile off. The crowd was so attentive as to give a huzza for my success.

"Codd ran up to his principal, who was writhing as if he had ten thousand colics, and soon ascertained that no harm was done.

"What do you propose,' said he to my second-'What do you propose to do, Major ?'

"As there is neither blood drawn nor bone broken,' said the Major, I think that shot goes for nothing.' "I agree with you,' said Captain Codd.

"If your party will apologize,' said Major Mug, I'll take my man off the ground.

66 6

Certainly,' said Captain Codd, 'you are quite right, Major, in asking the apology, but you know that it is my duty to refuse it.'

"You are correct, Captain,' said the Major; 'I then formally require that Ensign Brady apologize to Mr Burke.'

"I as formally refuse it,' said Captain Codd.

"We must have another shot, then,' said the Major.

"Another shot, by all means,' said the Captain.

"Captain Codd,' said the Major, you have shewn yourself in this, as in every transaction of your life, a perfect gentleman.'

"He who would dare to say,' replied the Captain, that Major Mug is not among the most gentlemanlike men in the service, would speak what is untrue.'

"Our seconds bowed, took a pinch of snuff together, and proceeded to load the pistols. Neither Brady nor I was particularly pleased at these complimentary speeches of the gentlemen, and, I am sure, had we been left to ourselves, would have declined the second shot. As it was, it appeared inevitable. "Just, however, as the process of loading was completing, there appeared on the ground my cousin Phil Purdon, rattling in on his black mare as hard as he could lick. When he came in sight he bawled out,

"Yes,' I replied.

"My dear Burke,' said he,' it must have been a mistake: let us swear eternal friendship.'

"For ever,' said I, 'I resign you Miss Theodosia.'

"You are too generous,' he said, but I cannot abuse your generosity.'

"It is unprecedented conduct,' growled Major Mug. I'll never be second to a Pekin again.'

"My principal leaves the ground with honour,' said Captain Codd, looking melancholy nevertheless.

"Humph!' grunted Wooden-leg Waddy, lighting his meershaum.

"The crowd dispersed much displeased, and I fear my reputation for valour did not rise among them. I went off with Purdon to finish a jug at Carmichael's, and Brady swaggered off to Miss Dosy's. His renown for valour won her heart. It cannot be denied that I sunk deeply in her opinion. On that very evening Brady broke his love, and was accepted. Mrs Mac. opposed, but the red-coat prevailed.

6

"He may rise to be a general,' said Dosy, and be a knight, and then I will be Lady Brady.'

"Or if my father should be made an earl, angelic Theodosia, you would be Lady Thady Brady,' said the ensign.

Beautiful prospect!' cried Dosy,

"So I am told,' said I. "Back out, Bob, then; back out, at the rate of a hunt. Old Mick Macnamara is married.'

"Married!' I exclaimed. "Poz,' said he. I drew the articles myself. He married his housemaid, a girl of eighteen; and'- here he whispered.

་

"What,' I cried,' six months!' "Six months,' said he, and no mistake.'

"Ensign Brady,' said I, immediately coming forward, there has been a strange misconception in this business. I here declare, in presence of this honourable company, that you have acted throughout like a man of honour, and a gentleman; and you leave the ground without a stain on your character.'

"Brady hopped three feet off the ground with joy at the unexpected deliverance. He forgot all etiquette, and came forward to shake me by the hand.

"But why dally over the detail of my unfortunate loves? Dosy and the ensign were married before the accident which had befallen her uncle was discovered; and, if they were not happy, why, then you and I may. They have had eleven children, and, I understand, he now keeps a comfortable eating-house close by Cumberland basin in Bristol. Such was my duel with Ensign Brady of the 48th."

"Your fighting with Brady puts me in mind, that the finest duel I ever saw," said Joe MacGillycuddy,

was between a butcher and bulldog, in the Diamond of Derry."

"I am obliged to you for your comparison," said Burke, "but I think it is now high time for dinner, and your beautiful story will keep. Has any body the least idea where dinner is to be raised?"

To this no answer was returned, and we all began to reflect with the utmost intensity

THE period of which I speak will tell all the more minute circumstances. The Spanish Revolution of 1822 is still fresh enough in the public mind to save me the trouble of telling how it began, grew, maddened, and was extinguished. It was a pendant to the French; Jacobin in heart, but Spanish still-therefore Jacobin just as much as the plays performed by school girls at the breaking up for the holidays, resemble the exhibitions of the American savages round a dying captive. All was mimic daring and feeble ferocity. The Spaniard's soul is but an animated guitar after all. Strike it, and it shakes from its fibres all kinds of sounds, eccentric, sweet, discordant, new, old; but it waits the striker, and without him, it will never send out a tone from the day when it is first put together, to the day when it is laid up in that case which neither man nor woman can unlock. The Frenchman is a jet d'eau, artificial in every point and pin of his construction, spouting, sporting, and rustling for ever-all dexterity, ingenuity, and happy artifice. The Englishman is a river, rough or smooth as chance so please, but not very amenable to the directions of man, and, when curbed by human contrivances, apt to shew his dislike to the artist by sweeping away bridge, barrier, and artist together. The Italian is a canal, smooth as one of those water-roads that insulate his own dull, soundless, and magnificent Venice; channels that look unfathomable, simply because they are black, and that, threatening to swallow up the traveller at every stroke of the oar, are travelled over, ploughed and harrowed, shaken and polluted, by the passing keel of every rambler of the earth, lover or hater, freeman or slave, without being stirred into so much as a bubble of foam. The Spaniard is a rivulet, clear or obscure as it may be, springing from the mount of some hoary genealogy, or from the silent and unnamed recesses of some peasant hamlet, still with a touch of nature, still murmuring romance, still glistening with the

lights of heaven and the flowers of earth, but still not to be relied on for good or evil half an hour together, and as liable to be dried to the bottom by the half hour's sunshine, as swollen into a torrent by the half hour's shower. The moral of the whole is, that though a Spaniard may form showy plans, he is satisfied with the trouble of projection. A Spaniard may begin a revolution, but he must find somebody else to finish it. His play is always in the hands of the manager; his rockets never rise a foot above ground. All is fitful, fanciful, and unfinished.

Let me say under what circumstances I was in Spain. At the conclusion of the war in 1815, I had rambled over the Continent. England was the citadel, and after having been shut up for a dozen years in the citadel, I felt a wish to see a little of the surrounding country. Accordingly, I rambled over Germany, where the French made highways of the bodies of electors and princes, turned dukes and barons into valets, and manufactured the genealogies of the twenty-four lineal descendants of Priam of Troy into horsecloths. Switzerland was my next perambulation. Switzerland, where all the romance of hill and dale only exhibits the narrowestspirited set of knaves on the face of the globe. The whole territory a large inn, and every soul within it nothing but the soul of an innkeeper, sulky, sharping, and sour. Switzerland, the nursing mother of all that is bitter in religious feud, repulsive in manners, sullen in prejudices, and conceited in pride. Why will our travellers do the honours of their calling by a little deference for fact? The Swiss have for six centuries been the dealers in human flesh, the sellers of their blood to all and every crowned profligate, who would buy it for any profligate purpose under the sky. So much for the virtues of the men of the mountain.

From Switzerland I plunged into Italy, that melodrama of nations, the extravagant, the showy, the silly, and the subtle. Decked out in the finery