the doctor, I was the plaintiff, at whofe fuit this gentleman was arrested.'

Was you fo, fir cries the colonel; then I have no more to fay. Women and the clergy are upon the fame footing. The long-robed gentry are

exempted from the laws of honour.'

I do not thank you for that exemption, fir,' cries the doctor; and if honour and fighting are, as they feem to be, fynonymous words with you, I believe there are fome clergymen, who, in defence of their religion, or their country, or their friend, the only juftifiable caufes of fighting, except bare felf-defence, would fight as bravely as yourfelf, colonel; • and that without being paid

Sir, you are privileged,

the colonel with great dignity; and you have my leave to fay what you pleafe. I refpect your order, 'offend me.'

and you cannot

⚫ I will not offend you, colonel,' cries the doctor; and our order is very much obliged to you, fince you profess so much refpect to us, and pay none to our mafter.'

• What master, fir!' said the colonel.

That Mafter,' answered the doctor, 'who hath exprefsly forbidden all that cutting of throats, to which you difcover fo much inclination.'

O, your fervant, fir,' faid the colonel, I fee what you are driving at ;. but you fhall not perfuade me to think, that religion forces me to be a coward.'

I deteft and defpife the name as much as you can,' cries the doctor; but you have a wrong idea of the word, colonel. What were all the Greeks and Romans? were thefe cowards; and yet, did you ever hear of this butchery, which we call duelling, among ' them?'

What

Yes, indeed, have I,' cries the colonel. ' elfe is all Mr. Pope's Homer full of, but duels? Did not, what's his name, one of the Agamemnons, fight ' with that paultry rafcal Paris? and Diomede with, what d'ye call him there; and Hector with, I forget his name, he that was Achilles's bofom friend; and ' afterwards with Achilles himfelf? Nay, and in Dryden's

"

Dryden's Virgil, is there any thing almoft befides fighting?'

You are a man of learning, colonel,' cries the doctor, but

I thank you for that compliment,' faid the colonel No, fir, I do not pretend to learning; but I have fome little reading, and I am not ashamed to own it.'

But are you fure, colonel,' cries the doctor, that you have not made a fmall mistake? for I am apt to believe, both Mr. Pope and Mr. Dryden (tho' I cannot fay I ever read a word of either of them) speak ⚫ of wars between nations, and not of private duels: for of the later, I do not remember one fingle inftance in all the Greek and Roman ftory. In short, it is a modern cuftom, introduced by barbarous nations fince the times of Christianity; tho' it is a di⚫rect and audacious defiance of the chriftian law, and is confequently much more finful in us, than it would have been in the heathens.'

Drink about, doctor,' cries the colonel, and let us call a new caufe: for I perceive we shall never agree on this. You are a churchman, and I ⚫ don't expect you to speak your mind.'

"We are both of the fame church, I hope,' cries the doctor.

I am of the church of England, fir,' answered the colonel, and will fight for it to the last drop of my • blood.'

It is very generous in you, colonel,' cries the doctor, to fight fo zealously for a religion by which ́ you are to be damned.'

It is well for you, doctor,' cries the colonel, that you wear a gown for, by all the dignity of a < man, if any other perfon had faid the words you have just uttered, I would have made him eat them Ay, d-n me, and my fword into the bargain.' Booth began to be apprehenfive, that this difpute might grow too warm; in which cafe he feared that the colonel's honour, together with the Champagne, might hurry him fo far, as to forget the refpect due, and which he profeffed to pay, to the facerdotal

robe..

robe. Booth, therefore, interpofed between the dif putants, and said, that the colonel had very rightly propofed to call a new fubject; for that it was impoffible to reconcile accepting a challenge with the Chriftian religion, or refufing it with the modern notion of honour. And you must allow it, doctor,' faid he, to be a very hard injunction for a man to ⚫ become infamous; and more especially for a foldier, who is to lose his bread into the bargain.'

Ay, fir, fays the colonel with an air of triumph, What fay you to that?'

Why, I fay,' cries the doctor, that it is much. harder to be damned on the other fide.'

That may be,' faid the colonel; but damn me, if I would take an affront of any man breathing for all that. And yet I believe myself to be as good a christian as wears a head. My maxim is, Never to give an affront, nor ever to take one; and I fay, that is the maxim of a good chriftian; and no man 'fhall ever perfuade me to the contrary.'

Well, fir,' faid the doctor, fince that is your ⚫ refolution, I hope no man will ever give you an af• front.'

6

"I am obliged to you for your hope, doctor,' cries the colonel with a fneer; and he that doth, will be obliged to you for lending him your gown: for, by the dignity of a man, nothing out of petticoats, I ' believe, dares affront me.'

Colonel James had not hitherto joined in the difcourse. In truth, his thoughts had been otherwise employed; nor is it very difficult for the reader to guess what had been the fubject of them. Being waked, however, from his reverie, and having heard the two or three laft fpeeches, he turned to his bro ther, and asked him, why he would introduce fuch a topic of converfation before a gentleman of Dr. Har rifon's character?

Brother, cried Bath, I own it was wrong, and I afk the doctor's pardon; I know not how it hap'pened to arife: for you know, brother, I am not, ufed to talk of thefe matters. They are generally 'poltroons that do. I think I need not be beholden

to

to my tongue to declare I am none. I have fhewn myfelf in a line of battle. I believe there is no man 'will deny that; I believe I may fay, no man dares deny, that I have done my duty'.

The colonel was thus proceeding to prove that his prowefs was neither the fubject of his difcourfe, nor the object of his vanity, when a fervant entered, and fummoned the company to tea with the ladies; a fummons which colonel James inftantly obeyed, and was followed by all the reft.

But as the tea-table converfation, though extremely delightful to those who are engaged in it, may probably appear fomewhat dull to the reader, we will here put an end to the chapter.

Τ

СНАР.. IV.

A dialogue between Booth and Amelia.

HE next morning early, Booth went by ap

Tpointment and waited' on Colonel James

whence he returned to Amelia, in that kind of difpofition which the great mafter of human paffions would defcribe in Andromache, when he tells us the cried and fmiled at the fame inftant.

Amelia plainly perceived the difcompofure of his mind, in which the oppofite affections of joy and grief were ftruggling for the fuperiority, and begged to know the occafion; upon which Booth spoke as follows:

My dear, faid he, I had no intention to conceal from you what hath past this morning between me and the colonel, who hath oppreffed me, if I may ufe that expreffion, with obligations. Sure never

man had fuch a friend; for never was there so noble, fo generous a heart-I cannot help this ebullition of gratitude, I really cannot.'-Here he paufed a moment, and wiped his eyes, and then proceeded : • You

know, my dear, how gloomy the profpect was yefterday before our eyes, how inevitable ruin ftared me in the face; and the dreadful idea of having entailed beggary on my Amelia and her pofterity

Cracked

6

'racked my mind: For, though by the goodness of the doctor I had regained my liberty, the debt yet ' remained; and if that worthy man had a defign of forgiving me his fhare, this must have been my utmost hope; and the condition in which I must still have found myself need not to be expatiated on. In what light then fhall I fee, in what words shall I relate, the colonel's kindness! O, my dear Amelia, he hath removed the whole gloom at once, hath • driven all despair out of my mind, and hath filled it with the most fanguine, and, at the fame time, the most reasonable hopes of making a comfortable pro'vifion for yourself and my dear children. In the first place, then, he will advance me a fum of money to pay off all my debts; and this on a bond to be repaid only when I fhall become colonel of a regiment, and not before. In the next place, he is gone this very morning to afk a company for me, which is now vacant in the Weft-Indies; and as he intends to push this with all his intereft, neither he nor I have any doubt of his fuccefs. Now, my dear, comes the third, which, though perhaps it ought to give me the greateft joy, fuch is, I own, the weaknefs of my nature, it rends my very heart-ftrings 'afunder. I cannot mention it: for I know it will 'give you equal pain-though I know on all proper occafions you can exert a manly refolution.-You 'will not, I am convinced, oppofe it, whatever you muft fuffer in complying- -O, my dear Amelia, I muft fuffer likewife; yet I have refolved to bear 'it-You know not what my poor heart hath suffered fince he made the propofal-It is love for you alone ' which could perfuade me to fubmit to it-Confider our fituation; confider that of oùr children; reflect but on those poor babes, whofe future happiness is at ftake, and it must arm your refolution. It is your intereft and theirs that reconciled me to a propofal, ‹ which, when the colonel first made it, struck me with the utmost horror: he hath, indeed, from these motives, perfuaded me into a refolution, which I thought 'impoffible for any one to have perfuaded me intoO, my dear Amelia, let me intreat you to give me

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