degree. Among other things, he had brought his aim with a piftol to fo much certainty, and made fuch improvements on the weapon, that he could lay a hundred guineas to ten on hitting, at a confiderable diftance, any part of his adverfary's body. Thefe arts, however, I by no means approve: They refemble, methinks, a loaded die, or a packed deal; and I am inclined to be of opinion, that a gentleman is no more obliged to fight against the first, than to play against the latter. They may, in the mildest construction, be compared to the fure play of a man who can take every ball at billiards; and therefore, if it fhall be judged that an ordinary marksman muft fight with the perfon poffeffed of them, he is, at leaft, intitled to odds, and must be allowed three fhots to one of his antagonist.

I have thus, with fome labour, and I hope ftrict honour, fettled certain articles in the matter of duelling, for fuch of my readers as may have occafion for them. It is but candid, however, to own, that there have been, now and then, brilliant things done quite without the line of my directions, to wit, by not fighting at all. The Abbé whom I was difputing at Paris on this fubject,

with

concluded

concluded his arguments against duelling with a ftory, which, though I did not think it much. to the purpofe, was a tolerable ftory notwithftanding. I shall give it in the very words of the Abbé.

"A countryman of yours, a Captain "Douglas, was playing at Trictrac, with a "very intimate friend, here in this very coffee"houfe, amidft a circle of French officers "who were looking on. Some difpute arif"ing about a caft of the dice, Douglas faid, "in a gay thoughtlefs manner, "Oh! what "a ftory!" A murmur arofe among the by-. "ftanders; and his antagonist feeling the af"front, as if the lie had been given him, in "the violence of his paffion, fnatched up the "tables, and hit Douglas a blow on the head. "The inftant he had done it, the idea of his "imprudence, and its probable confequences "to himself and his friend, rufhed upon his "mind he fat, ftupified with fhame and re"morfe, his eyes rivetted on the ground, re"gardless of what the other's refentment

might prompt him to act. Douglas, after "a fhort paufe, turned round to the fpecta"You think," said he, "that I am now ready to cut the throat of that unfor

<tors:

66

"tunate

"tunate young man; but I know that, at "this moment, he feels anguifh a thousand "times more keen than any my fword could « inflict. I will embrace him-thus-and

1

try to reconcile him to himself;-but I will "cut the throat of that man among you who "fhall dare to breathe a fyllable against my "honour." "Bravo! Bravo!" cry'd an "old Chevalier de St. Louis, who ftood im

66

mediately behind him :-The fentiment of "France overcame its habit, and Bravo! "Bravo! echoed from every corner of the 66 room. Who would not have cried Bravo! "Would not you, Sir? "Doubtless." "On "other occafions, then, be governed by the "fame principle." "Why, to be fure, it 66 were often better not to fight-if one had "but the courage not to fight."

I

I

N° I2.

SATURDAY, March 6, 1779.

To the AUTHOR of the MIRROR.

SIR,

AM a plain country-gentleman, with a fmall fortune, and a large family. My boys, all except the youngest, I have contrived to set out into the world in tolerably promifing fituations. My two eldeft girls are married; one to a clergyman, with a very comfortable living, and a refpectable character; the other to a neighbour of my own, who farms most of his own eftate, and is fuppofed to know country-bufinefs as well as any man in this part of the kingdom. I have four other girls at home, whom I wish to make fit wives for men of equal rank with their brothers-in-law.

About three months ago, a great lady in our neighbourhood (at leaft as neighbourhood is reckoned in our quarter) happened to meet the two eldest of my unmarried daughters at the house of a gentleman, a distant relation of mine, and, as well as myself, a freeholder in our county. The girls are tolerably hand

fome,

fome, and I have endeavoured to make them understand the common rules of good-breeding. My Lady ran out to my kinf

man, who happens to have no children of his own, in praise of their beauty and politeness, and, at parting, gave them a moft preffing invitation to come and fpend a week with her during the approaching Chriftmas holidays. On my daughters' return from their kinfman's, I was not altogether pleased at hearing of this. invitation; nor was I more fatisfied with the very frequent quotations of my Lady's fayings and fentiments, and the defcriptions of the beauty of her complexion, the elegance of her dress, and the grandeur of her equipage. I oppofed, therefore, their defign of paying this Christmas vifit pretty warmly. Upon this the honour done them by the invitation, the advantages to be derived from an acquaintance with the great Lady, and the benefit that might accrue to my family from the influence of her Lord, were immediately rung in my ears, not only by my daughters, but also by their mother, whom they had already gained over to their fide; and I must own to you, Mr. MIRROR, though I would not have you think me hen-peck'd,

that