best suited for the Ternuoise were the red hackle body, and the drake or woodcock wing. Smaller flies should be used here than in the Canche.

In rambling down the banks of the Ternuoise I have, in twenty places, been struck with the singular beauty of the scenery. Near to the little village of Hemicourt there is a peculiarly interesting view of the stream. After passing a narrow path, near a mill, where there are some fine gurgling and rippling currents, full of trout, you must turn to the left, and at every step you will find the scenery open upon you in commanding richness. The river itself becomes a striking object of admiration. You no longer see its continuous course as before, over a broad bed, amid fragments all too much alike. But you see the river partially-here, in most beautiful, varied, and gentie falls; there, in deep pools, edged with moving white lines; and beyond, the whole bed is intercepted by the richest foliage of large trees, meeting as it were from bank to bank, through whose branches, here and there, a bright streak indicates the course of the water. When you take your stand on a rising piece of ground, and look at the falls in succession, the effect is magical; and we can no longer wonder that, in the fabulous spirit of ancient poetry, the heathen mythology admitted the semi-deified personification of rivers.

When the angler is on the Ternuoise, or on the Canche, in the neighbourhood of Hesdin, he must not forget to pay a visit to the battle field of Agincourt. More than four centuries have now elapsed since this singular conflict took place, and yet there is a halo of imperishable glory and interest still thrown around the spot, which promises never to disappear from British history and British bosoms. Every countryman of our own, when he treads upon the hallowed ground, feels an inward thrill of interesting but mixed emotions, composed of national exultation at the noble courage and daring enterprise of our ancestors, and a feeling of regret for frail humanity, in thinking of so many noble hearts of both nations having here yielded up their last drops of life, and whose bones still lie under the green sward on which we tread.

In going from Hesdin to the small town of Fruges, and about four miles on the road, the angler will come to a cabaret, and a blacksmith's shop, situated on an elevated and open part of the country, on the left-hand side on the route to Fruges. Here let him stop and inquire the way to Agincourt. It lies immediately opposite to him on the right; and there is a foot-path across the fields, which leads directly to the village, close to which the battle took place. He will find in the neat little church many memorials of this singular conflict. Any person who resides here will direct the traveller to the farmhouse, where the battle field, and the great green mound, in which the remains of ten thousand warriors are inclosed, may be distinctly viewed. From descriptions of the battle usually found in all our histories, a visitor can easily recognise the whole plan of the action, and can readily enough account, from the position of the ground, for the dreadful slaughter which the French troops experienced, and for the trifling injury which the English soldiers sustained, on that memorable 25th of October, 1415.

51

PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF TILBURY NOGO, ESQ.;

OR,

THE ADVENTURES OF AN UNSUCCESSFUL MAN.

BY FOXGLOVE.

СНАР. ХІ.

Sir Toby." He is knight, dubbed with unhacked rapier, and on carpet con. sideration; but he is a devil in private brawl. Souls and bodies hath he divorced three; and his incensement at this moment is so implacable that satisfaction can be none, but by pangs of death and sepulchre. Hob, nob, is his word, give't or take't-"

Sir And.-
.-" Plague on 't, I'll not meddle with him."

TWELFTH-NIGHT; OR, WHAT YOU WILL.

I do not set up for the character of having more nerve than my neighbours; and I can conceive no anticipations, except perhaps those of a gentleman engaged to be hanged, more disagreeable than the forebodings which darken the existence of a quiet steady-going man, who for the first time in his life finds he has got a duel upon his hands. When I left Cotherstone's house on the night of our fracas, it was evident to me that, come what might, the thing could only have one conclusion. If I steadily persevered in my resolution of refusing to pay, mine adversary would of course take such steps as should make it imperative on me to call him out. If, on the other hand, I accepted the unpalatable alternative of "booking up," I was not at all satisfied that the language I had made use of would not be sufficient to provoke a man in Cotherstone's ambiguous position to the immediate use of fire-arms at a short distance; and view it whichever way I would, one thing was clear the business must end in a fight. With this soothing lullaby, I sought my pillow; and feverish was the rest, and disturbed the dreams, that hovered over my couch. Now I was Gustavus, of dancing memory, threading the lively "galop" with my fascinating Kate, through the conservatory, out into the garden, round the shrubberies, while Mrs. C. beat time, and nodded with a mother's pride in the graceful pair. Anon, Papa, in the guise of the jealous Ankerström, rises from the Ha-ha, with a long rifle-barrelled pistol in his hand, and Kate flying into the house, disappears with an eldritch shriek. Then the scene changes, and I am driving with Jack Raffleton to witness a private trial, from which we both expect great things. It is early morning as we arrive upon the Downs; and the sun, just peeping above the horizon, throws his slanting beams over as fair a scene as merry England can produce. The lark is rising into the deep blue sky, marbled here and there with light and fleecy clouds; and never, I think, was the world so beautiful-never was life so enjoyable. get up to ride the trial!-such are the inconsistencies of a dreambut the animal I bestride is rooted to the ground. "Give it him!" says Jack, as he puts a pistol into my hand. John Scott assumes the form of Mr. Cotherstone, and Alfred Day shoots suddenly up into

I

a truculent-looking gentleman, six feet high. I find myself placed within arm's length of my antagonist, and in a frantic attempt to cock my pistol, the hammer of which no power seems able to displace. I awake! with that heavy feeling of oppression which makes us conscious of misfortune, ere our faculties have shaken off the influence of sleep sufficiently to perceive the whole extent of the troubles in which we are involved. It was later than I should have thought; and hurrying my toilet, I ordered my hack, and galloped off to the barracks at Windsor, to gather counsel and assistance from my friend Jack Raffleton. That gallant defender of his country was in the act of sitting down to a late and luxurious breakfast, after the fatigues of a "marching-order fieldday" in the park, when I was ushered into his presence in the messroom. Jack saw by my countenance that the mission with which I was charged was of no pleasant nature; but as several brother-officers were present, it was not a time for explanation, and I accepted, though with no great appetite, the cordial invitation to join these joyous spirits in their merry repast. Fun, good humour, and " chaff" were paramount as ever; and although in low spirits myself, and by no means in a frame of mind to make the companionship of a lot of devil-may-care fellows any more acceptable than the profuse breakfast which tempted my unwilling palate, I could not help envying my companions their hilarity, and thinking within myself, "What a jolly life these fellows lead!" The repast, interminable as I thought it, at length came to an end, and over a weed in Jack's barrack-room I explained to him the scrape I had got into, and asked his advice as to how I was to act.

"Why," said Jack, to whom, as an oracle in these matters, I listened with undivided attention, "we have nothing to do but to keep quiet you have distinctly refused to pay, and have, besides, given Cotherstone a pretty good piece of your mind. If he takes no further notice, well and good; though, from my knowledge of the man, I think such a chance extremely improbable. He is a fighting sort of fellow, confound him and I recollect his parading' Brampton of the Bays, about a disputed bet at Newmarket: everybody said Brampton was right, but he had to pay notwithstanding; and Cotherstone, not satisfied with receiving his money, must stand upon his character, forsooth! and have a shot at him besides.'

"How did it end?" I inquired, somewhat aghast to hear of these strong fighting inclinations.

"Cotherstone shot him in the wrist," was the reply: "the ball took off the lock of his pistol, and ran up his arm to the elbow. The whole thing was badly managed by the seconds: however, it was hushed up, and made all right. But I'll tell you how we must act. It will never do for you to be out of the way should a message arrive. We will drive back to your villa together; stay there all the afternoon, and have an early dinner with a bottle of light claret,"-Jack settled it all as if it was a picnic-" and then if anybody calls we shall be ready for them, and I should hope, with a little good diplomacy, it will not be necessary to come to extreme measures.

With this consolatory remark, Jack ordered his dog-cart, and sending my horse back by his servant, we drove together through the glorious summer noon, striving to converse on indifferent subjects; but, as far as one of us was concerned, I can answer for the effort being most un

successful. Why did Windsor Forest look more beautiful, bathed as it was in that flood of sunshine, than it had ever looked before? Why had the hum of insects, the song of birds, the towering elms, the stately oaks, the massive shade of the deep woodland glades, a charm that, to my unawakened feelings, had never previously existed? Could it be that life, in all its beauty, all its capacity for enjoyment, that life of which the sunny summer noon was so suggestive a type, had never been really appreciated, until the probability of its being hazarded, the possibility of losing it, had startled me into the consciousness of its innumerable blessings and delights? Certainly I found myself becoming more and more keenly alive to the pleasures of existence, and contemplating with more and more disgust the disagreeable necessity to which I was reduced. Gradually I tasked my memory to recall in long and ghastly array all the traditions of duelling that I had ever read or heard of-how a certain English gentleman, of undaunted courage and unerring aim, had been insulted by a French Count, celebrated as a bully by preference and a duellist by profession; how he retaliated by pulling the Frenchman's nose, and thus, placing himself in the position of the challenged, obtained the option of weapons, and chose pistols as placing him more upon a par with his antagonist than the small-sword; how they fought at "the Barrier," as it is called, beginning at twenty-five paces; how, ere one step was completed, both the pistols had been discharged, the Englishman being the least moment in advance, and shooting his adversary through the heart, at the same instant that the count's ball grazed his forehead -the fact of receiving a bullet in the "pericordium" only disturbing the Frenchman's aim to that extent. How, upon another frightful occasion, at one of these sanguinary "barrier" duels, the younger combatant of the two, the hope and stay as he was the representative of his family, having failed in bringing down his antagonist at a long shot, was forced by the rules of the "duello," and the exigencies of 'honour," to walk coolly up with his discharged pistol in his hand to be murdered in cold blood at the white handkerchief, placed on the ground half-way between the principals; how his adversary-a fiend in human form-laid his hand upon the youth's person, to feel the exact spot where his heart beat, and pressing the muzzle of his weapon against that well-spring of vitality, immolated him then and there with the words " I pity your poor mother!" How, in later days, men had been shot dead in duels, such as the customs of society made inevitable, and the survivors rendered amenable to the laws of their country, on the capital charge; how, the option between being shot and hanged was by no means agreeable; and how it was very possible that the events of the next four-and-twenty hours might give me my choice of either catastrophe. In short, by the time we drove up to the door of my villa, and my servant informed me that a gentleman was waiting to see me in the drawing-room," I had worked myself up into a state of nervousness and agitation, the least calculated to get me well through the business upon which I concluded the gentleman "had called."

66

An interview of half an hour with Major O'Cleverley, who turned out to be my visitor, did not serve, as may be supposed, to tranquillize my nerves. As my prophetic soul had already taught me, the Major

had called on the part of Mr. Cotherstone, and was the bearer of a proposition, to which I felt it quite impossible to accede. I was to pay over the eighteen hundred immediately, as a proof of the most satisfactory nature that I had no accusation to make as to the manner in which it was won; I was to apologize for my intemperate behaviour the previous night, laying the blame on the quantity of wine I had drunk, acted upon by the excitement of high play, "and thus," concluded the Major, drawing himself up to his full height, with a bland smile, "having made the amaunde honorable' customary amongst gentlemen, me friend Mr. Cotherstone will be happy to look over this most unfortunate 'fracam,' and will be ready and willing-Bedad! he's a good fellow, Cotherstone !-to shake hands with yerself, Mr. Nogo, and say no more about it." I summoned up all my dignity to reply with becoming pomposity to the Milesian ambassador, and the upshot of it was, that I referred him for all further particulars to my friend Captain Raffleton, at that moment waiting in the next room. I thought this announcement rather staggered the Major, and I must do him the justice to say, that throughout the whole proceedings he was decidedly against warlike measures, if they could possibly be avoided; and no doubt it would have suited the purpose of himself and his confederate better could they have succeeding in fleecing their pigeon quietly, as they had one and all been before the public quite often enough to make such a display by no means desirable.

Jack's interview with the Major soon came to a conclusion, my friend adopting a very high tone-distinctly refusing, on my part, to pay the money, or withdraw the charge of cheating at play, which I had made against Mr. Cotherstone, and expressing a perfect readiness on the part of himself and his friend to abide the issue of the ordeal of single combat, the preliminaries of which were duly settled in my drawing-room during the Major's visit-time and place arranged, and even a jocose allusion, on O'Cleverley's part, to trains and steamboats, which might allow of the survivor's escaping to the Continent. Jack's reasons for this decided line of conduct were sensible enough in their way, though I could not help thinking that, like all men engaged as seconds in a duel, he did not quite see the "last appeal" in so important a light as it appeared to his principal. "I do not think," said he, as he walked up and down the lawn after the Major's departure, "that these fellows will come to the scratch at last: depend upon it, they do not mean fighting. Their object, of course, is to get the money, and they are trying to bully you into paying; but we must be firm with them, and after all, if worst comes to the worst, we can wink and hold out iron' as well as they can-by the bye, can you shoot any, Nogo?"

I was forced to confess that my pistol practice was by no means first-rate, and that, in fact, I had no idea of the weapon whatever; had certainly never loaded one; and very much doubted if I had even "let one off." It was accordingly agreed upon, that, if we heard nothing further from "the enemy" before four o'clock that afternoon, we should consider such silence tantamount to a declaration of war, and prepare accordingly, Jack binding himself to give me correct instructions, as to the most authentic manner of holding, levelling, and discharging my pistol, with all and sundry niceties and arrangements, peculiar to the "duello."