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The History of Duelling; including Narratives of the most remarkable Personal Eficounters that have taken plate from the earliest period to the present time. Bx I. G. Millingen, M.D., F.R.S., Author of "Curiosities of Medical Experience," &c. In 2. vols. Bentley.

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The Election; a Poem, in Seven Books Murray. ENGINEERING,

Treatise on the Improvement of the Navigation of Rivers ; with a new Theory on the Cause of the Existence of Bars. By William Alexander Brooke, M. Inst. C.E.

Weale.

HISTORY OF DUELLING.

THIS work contains a gossipy and readable account of some of the most remarkable duels that have been fought at different times in different countries, eked out by not a few commonplace "meetings," that have nothing of interest in their facts or of peculiarity in their nature. To the so-called history of duels, Dr. MILLINGEN has prefixed a view of the older judicial ordeals, trial by battle, and tournaments ; to which he traces the modern duello. A cut and dry encyclopaedic kind of introduction investigates the subject amongst the ancients, and findeth single combats but not personal; and the Doctor in the course of his work occasionally introduces some reflections upon the nature of the act, or some criticism on particular duels.

Dr. MiLuNGEN's History of Duelling by no means exhausts the subject ; and it is inferior in merit to his Curiosities of Medical Experience ; the Curiosities being the result of professional ex- amination tested by professional skill—the History, if not got up for literary purposes, being the fruits of amateur reading for the older periods, and a scissors-and-paste collection from the newspa- pers for the later. No principle seems to have guided the choice of examples, much beyond that of readableness ; and in English or American duels even that is lost sight of. A reader but tolerably acquainted with American news will discover the omission of duels much more characteristic of the lawlesness and ferocity of the Southern and Border States than are inserted in the work. The English duels, for the better part of the last century, are mere ex- tracts from newspapers ; often with all the incompleteness of a journal publishing a day or two after the event, while the matter was yet unfinished.

The character of the writer's mind does not allow him to reach the philosophy of the subject. He thinks just as every- body thinks, that, living in different times and under widely different circumstances, disapprove of ordeals and duels, and con- demn them in the gross. But customs, which spread widely and were long maintained, must have some foundation in necessity and in reason : bad, doubtless, they are, if tested by a superior crite- rion, but better than the evil state of things they were introduced to remedy. The trial by ordeal, established in India, and traces of which may be found amongst many nations, is evidence of an ignorant and barbarous state of society ; but it is also an evi- dence of the love of justice which everywhere develops itself in the human mind when not biassed by interest. Feeling their own incapacity of dealing with false witnesses, or of eliciting truth in difficult and obscure cases, men seem to have resorted to the "judgment of God," as it was called, in order to afford innocence a better chance of escape, and to free themselves from a responsi= bility they felt incapable of properly exercising; the belief of the constant interference of the Deity being, be it remembered, an established tenet of the age. With the lights of antiquity and the experience of more than a thousand years, we may ridicule or de- claim against this practice : instances of its abuse by the clergy can no doubt be pointed out, and many more took place than are recorded : but, in a very ignorant and superstitious age, the terrors of a mysterious and miraculous tribunal, like the operation of the law in a civilized society, might prevent many crimes and accusa- tions. As the mass of men became enlightened enough to suspect its absurdity, the educated became capable of judicial investiga- tion; and trials by ordeal fell into disuse, when a competent tri- bunal was ready to supersede them. That custom and prejudice upheld them after they ceased to be necessary, is doubtless true ; but such is the case with every thing.

Duelling, like the ordeal, originated in a social necessity : men are compelled to defend themselves as well as they can when the law cannot defend them and public opinion is powerless or un- formed. The blood-feuds of the Asiatic mountaineers, the Arabs, the Scotch Highlanders, and indeed of all tribes which unite in- dependence and barbarism, are examples of this principle ; so is the pursuit of vengeance amongst the Red Indians : redress being unattainable from society, the injured undertakes it himself. A more settled rule and the existence of villeinage in Europe, during the middle ages, limited this principle in some degree, and confined it to certain classes ; as the ordeal and chivalry certainly height- ened and refined it—vengeance being restricted to the offender instead of involving his kindred, all surprises being forbidden, and equality of material advantages required. As the law became stronger to afford redress, and public opinion began to operate as a check upon individual Outrage, duels declined in frequency : and if a society ehould ever exist where law punished all of- fences or opinion stigmatized them, duels would cease as no man, for example, challenges a person detected in a fraud, or in carrying off a child for infamous purposes. This view conforms with the fact. In England, where law and opinion have always had some sort of power, the practice of duelling has been comparatively rare, and few of the duels have been

distinguished by great atrocity or bloodymindedness. In Italy, where duelling is said to have originated, the tyranny of govern- ments, and the insolence of foreign conquerors, soon substituted assassination for the point of honour. In France, where the Court was suspected of ruling the Law—where the opinion of roturiers, much more of the people, went for nothing—and where many cis- vumstances induced the noblesse to attach a fictitious value to a fictitious point of honour—duels prevailed to such an extent, that it is said four thousand gentlemen perished in the reign of Emory the Fourth ; and probably more rencontres even now take place at Paris in a month than throughout England in a year. In the border Slave States of America, where there is neither law nor civilized public opinion, ferocious duelling very frequently degene- rates into assassination.

It would appear, too, that actual affairs, which promise worldly ad- vancement, tend to discourage duelling. In France, the noblesse had no manly or stimulating object of any kind to engage their atten- tion: the provincial Irish were in a similar predicament whilst they remained at home ; and they were equally remarkable for the fre- quency of their rencontres, but without the chivalrous grace which the old noblesse threw over them : in the ancient world, where the duel was unknown, every free man took an interest in public busi- ness: in England, so many pursuits in legal, commercial, and poli- tics! walks, are open to individuals, that men's minds are generally occupied with substantial things, and not at leisure to lie in wait for punctilios to torture ; and even in France, duelling almost ceased during the Revolution. America, it may be said, is an example against this opinion : but the duel-fighting communities are chiefly Slave States, where the influential classes have plenty of leisure; and we are not stating the principle as one of universal application, but as one deserving consideration. It is not to be denied but that many particular duels have origin- ated in ruffianly outrage, and deserved condign punishment. Certain ages, too, appear to have been affected with a mania for duelling, which has raged in France longer and more frequently than in any other place. It must, however, be kept in mind, that duelling in such cases is confined to the classes which are bred and born to it, and that their lives are seldom of much value. To do them justice, they seem to have some such notion themselves ; rarely fighting with strangers to their coterie. The celebrated duellist BALAGUY refused an idle challenge which Lord HERBERT of Cherbury wanted to force upon him; and foreigners seldom figure in these rencontres. Mr. POWER observes, that in the frontier towns of America, non-residents are safe from the quarrels and assassinations of the natives, unless they intrude themselves into their affairs.

The way to remedy an evil is not by reechoing vulgar and ill-con- sidered notions in turgid words, which cost not even consideration ; but by investigating the nature and causes of the evil, and impres- sing them on the public mind. As long as the law does not give a man in a certain position a sufficient remedy for a wrong, or opinion holds him degraded if be resort to it, so long will he right himself in his own eyes and those of the world, by resorting to whatever vindication opinion points out. It is gratifying to see that great strides have of late years been made in the right direction. The professional duellist, the man who spent his mornings in pistol- shooting and his evenings in haunting public places to pick quarrels by insolence, is a character within the memory of living men ; though not so frequent in England as in the Colonies. Such a person could scarcely be found now : but admit his existence, and we suspect his insolence, unless with a discreet and strong-minded second, would render one duel still necessary ; but if he escaped transportation, he would be banished society. If a duel of punc- tilio were now vindictively pursued, the combatant and seconds would suffer in estimation. And here we have the true operation of opinion : it does not so much prevent duels being fought, as limit or punish the causes of offence.

Dr. M ILLINGEN echoes the common opinion that the law cannot stop duelling. A law rigorously enforced would stop it fast enough, for few men will go to certain death : but they would then, in extreme cases, resort to secret assassination. In free states, however, law is administered through public opinion : in monarchical govern- ments, short of despotisms like Russia, the monarch and his minis- ters generally hold the notions of the courtiers—the duel-lighting class. A law of duel based upon reason and justice would be ope- rative with a proper tribunal to enforce it. If the military autho- rities, for example, extending their censorship beyond the garnish of tables, were to institute a just inquiry into every duel in which an officer was engaged, and dismiss him the service if it were pro- voked or frivolous, the class of military bullies, much diminished, would be a good deal less ready in giving or taking offence. To prohibit duelling altogether, would cause a man to sell his com- mission who was really compelled to go out.

Any direct alteration in the law we believe to be uncalled-for. Death in a duel is already murder; the sending a challenge is a civil offence, punishable in various ways ; and the statute of VIC- TORIA is comprehensive enough to enmesh anybody under a lord, who fires at his antagonist.* Nor do we think juries can generally be charged with having given improper verdicts, from the evidence before them. Out of eighteen trials in GEORGE the Third's reign, twelve verdicts were returned, three of which were for murder. The fault is not so much with the law, the juries, or even public opinion, but with the Judges, who shut out all * The purport of' the late very impolitic farce in the House of Lords seems to have been contrived to avoid interpreting the statute ; leaving it what BLACKSTONE calls a snare for the unwary. When Peerage Reform again be- comes a question, the CARDIGAN trial will bear fruit. inquiry into the facts—if the friends of the deceased would fur- nish them, which is not always the case—or when a verdict is returned, pass a nominal or trifling sentence. For let lords, com- plimenting one another, say what they will, the bench is as biassed by prejudices, whims, and class feelings, as any other set. of men, and apportions sentences with -a pretty scrupulous regard to the rank of the offender. Lord DENMAN congratulated Lord CARDIGAN on his acquittal! but we do not find that Mr. Justice WILLIAMS had any compliments to spare for Captain DOUGLAS. After all, so refined a question as the law of honour will in many cases be a ticklish subject for courts to deal with, bound down as they are to positive rules, unless reason in the advo- cate and the common sense of the jury were allowed full play. One of the most offensive yet ridiculous affairs of modern times, or perhaps of any times, was the Wimbledon duel. Yet, look- ing at nothing but the provocation, it might seem justifiable. ELLIOTT, it is said, upset MIRFIN'S gig, breaking both his ve- hicle and his ribs ; and one can readily fancy that in their mid- night brawl at the " Saloon," their language was offensive enough. But reason will instinctively draw a distinction between a man of rank, whose social estimation is injured, or an officer, whose pro- fessional life is destroyed if be submits to a gross insult, and black- guards, with nothing to lose, rioting on the highway, or brawling in a house of ill-fame. In despite of law, logic, or preaching, there is an instinct in the mind which at once seizes upon the necessity under which men act.

Leaving the spirit of the History of Duelling, and coming back to its carcass in Dr. MILLINGEN'S book, we will close our notice of the subject by a few selections from his amusing gossip.

A DUELLING WAG.

St. Evrernont was another celebrated duellist of this period : he had disco- vered a particular thrust, which was honoured with his name, and called la botte de Sr. Evrentont. This brave was witty and capricious, and would ac- cept or refuse a challenge according to the fancy of the moment. St. Foix was his rival in this pursuit of an honourable name. Some of his duels were re- markable. One day, at the Café Procope, at dinner-time, he saw a gentleman seated at a bavaroise, and be exclaimed, "That is a confounded bad dinner for a gentleman ! " The stranger, thus insulted, insisted upon satisfaction ; which was granted ; when St. Foix was wounded. Notwithstanding this injury, he coolly said to his antagonist, " If you had killed me, Sir, I still should have persisted in maintaining that a bavaroise is a confounded bad dinner."

Another time he asked a gentleman, whose aroma was not of the most plea- sant nature, "Why the Devil he smelt so confoundedly ? " The offended party sent him a challenge, which St. Foix refused in the following terms: "Were you to kill me, you would not smell the less ; and were I to kill you, you would smell a great deal more." One day, meeting a lawyer whose coun- tenance did not please him, he walked up to him and whispered in his ear, " Sir, I have some business with you." The attorney, not understanding the drift of his speech, quietly named an hour when he would find him in his office, The meeting was of course most amusing; the expression of St. Foie being, "that he wanted to have an affaire with him," a term which is equally ap- plicable to a duel and a legal transaction.

ST. GEORGE

Died in a state of poverty in 1799, at the age of fifty-four. He was justly considered the first swordsman and the best ski& of his time. One of his feats was throwing up two crown-pieces in the air and hitting them both with his pistols. He was an excellent musician, amiable and polished in his manners, and of a most agreeable conversation' his humanity and charitable disposition were universally acknowledged; and although engag.d in many duels, he had generally been the insulted party, and was never known to avail himself of his reputation to insult any one less skilled in the science of destruction. He was often known, however, to give a salutary lesson to quarrelsome and troublesome young men ; and an instance is recorded of his meeting at Dunkirk, in the company of several ladies, a young officer of Hussars, who, not knowing him, was boasting of his skill as a swordsman, and asserting that no fencer in France was a match for him. "Did you ever meet the famous St. George ?" asked one of the ladies. "St. George ! many a time; he could not stand a moment before me !" answered the Hussar, twirling his mustachios. " That is strange," observed St. George, "and I should much like to have a trial of skill with you, young man. Possibly the ladies could procure us foils, and an assent d'arntes might entertain them." The young officer assented to the proposal with a smile of contempt : foils belonging to the brother of the lady of the house were produced, and without hesitation the Hussar was preparing to shame his aged antagonist, who, politely addressing the ladies, asked them to name the buttons he should touch on his adversary's doliman. The delighted women, glad to see a coxcomb corrected, named the number of the buttons • which St. George touched one after the other, and then whipped the foil out Of the inexperienced hand of the boaster, who, infuriated by rage and shame, wanted immediate satisfaction ; when St. George quietly observed, "Young man, your time is not yet come ; you may still live to serve your country : but recollect you have met St. George, for I am that very person who could not at any time prove a match for you."

PAYING FOR REPARTEE.

Duelling was not only resorted to by men of the sword, but by men of finance; and the celebrated Law of Lauriston, who was placed at the head of this depart- ment, had commenced his famed c•Ireer by several hostile meetings. Howbeit, he so managed matters as not to compromise the security of his gambling-house in the Rue Quincampoix by quarrels, although an assassination ultimately ex- posed this hell to a serious investigation. One of the murderers was a Count Horn, a Belgian nobleman of distinguished family; but who, notwithstanding the powerful interest made in his behalf, was sentenced to be broken on the wheel. The Regent in this case was inflexible; nor would he even commute the punishment into a less degrading execution. This firmness was attributed to his partiality for his creature Law, whose bank was of great assistance to his constant debaucheries. Madame de Crequi, who was a relative of the criminal, and who exerted her best endeavours to save him, attributes this murder of what she calls "the Jew who had robbed him," to other motives; and asserts that his Highness's implacable hostility arose from having once found him with one of his favourites, the Countess de Parabere ; when the Duke disdainfully said to him, "Sortez, Monsieur I " to which the other replied, "Your ances- tors, Sir, would have said sortons "

The Emperor JOSEPH had a great aversion to duels, and vigor- ously exerted himself to suppress the practice. Amongst the many good things told of the Imperial Reformer, perhaps the following is as neat a one as any.

"An anecdote is related of Joseph the Second, who, having been informed that one of his officers had slapped the face of another, sent for both parties. The following day, on parade, the Emperor appeared on the balcony of his palace with the offended person, whom he cordially embraced ; at the same time, a scaffold was erected, on which the public executioner slapped the face of the offinder, who was afterwards conveyed to a fortress."

STATISTICS OF DUELLING UNDER GEORGE THE THIRD.

Such was the frequent occurrence of duels in this long reign, that one hun- dred and seventy-two were fought (in which three hundred and forty-four per- sons were concerned); sixty-nine individuals were killed; in three of these fatal cases neither of the combatants survived ; ninety-six were wounded, forty-eight of them desperately, and forty-eight slightly; while one hundred and seventy-nine escaped unhurt. From this statement it will be seen, that rather more than one-fifth of the combatants lost their lives, and that nearly one-half received the bullets of their antagonists. It also appears, that only eighteen trials took place: that six of the arraigned individuals were acquitted; seven found guilty of man- slaughter, and three of murder—two of whom were executed, and eight im- prisoned during different periods.

The courage of duellists is often talked of; but merely going out to fight a duel is not so Much an act of courage as of neces- sity—the test is the conduct on the ground. A professed duelist is rarely a man of courage : he relies upon his skill for his security; takes great care to avoid insulting a good shot or swordsman ; and when he happens unluckily to get involved with one by mistake, his hardihood of habit not unfrequently gives way. Even men of real courage like the odds, if there is any, in their favour. The fact is, that certain danger is an unpleasant prospect, only willingly sought when men are blinded by passion, or some other excite- ment. An instance of this is given from Dr. MILLINGEN'S personal experience.

" When the British army occupied the South of France, similar scenes were witnessed, but more especially at Bordeaux, where the French officers came over the Garonne for the sole purpose of insulting and fighting the English, who were, in many instances, absurd enough to meet their wishes. It is, however, gratifying to state, that the fortune of arms was generally in our favour; and in many instances, when our young officers bad been so imprudent as to accept a challenge with the sword, their superior bodily strength and utter ignorance of the polite rules of duelling turned to their advantage ; in several instances, they rushed on their adversaries, broke through their guard, and cut them down. In vain the French expostulated against this breach of les *les de l'escrime, and called out foul play'; our seconds usually carried pistols in their pockets, and threatened to shoot any one who interfered ; and the French at last were tired.of the experiment."

French honour was not, however, insensible to an appeal to French generosity ; as we learn from the Doctor's further experience-

" In one instance the French officers went to the little Theatre de la Gaiete, then on the Allees Tourny, when a furious fray took place between them and several British officers: although the latter had no swords, the French drew theirs; but the British, breaking up chairs and tables, in a few minutes shi- vered their weapons, and knocked them down in every direction. It is somewhat strange, but I was in a great measure the means of terminating these differences. Coming out of the theatre, I was assailed by a group of French officers : I calmly replied, that if 1 had given offence to any of them. I was ready to afford them any satisfaction ; and dilated on the absurdity of snaking a national war the subject of personal hostility, while I enlarged on the friendly feeling that had prevailed between our armies during the Penin- sular war, and recalled to their recollection the many kind acts that we had shown each other when prisoners and wounded. The officers not only list- ened to me with the greatest attention, but one of them actually hugged me in his rude embrace, and I was obliged to accompany them to an hotel and sup with the party. The next morning there was not a French officer remaining in the town."