Two Frenchmen, At A Public
Ordinary, Stunned The Rest Of The Company With Their Loquacity.
At length, one of them, with a supercilious air, asked the
other's name.
"I never tell my name, (said he) but
in a whisper." "You may have very good reasons for keeping it
secret," replied the first. "I will tell you," (resumed the
other): with these words he rose; and going round to him,
pronounced, loud enough to be heard by the whole company, "Je
m'appelle Pierre Paysan; et vous etes un impertinent." "My name
is Peter Peasant, and you are an impertinent fellow." So saying,
he walked out: the interrogator followed him into the street,
where they justled, drew their swords, and engaged. He who asked
the question was run through the body; but his relations were so
powerful, that the victor was obliged to fly his country, was
tried and condemned in his absence; his goods were confiscated;
his wife broke her heart; his children were reduced to beggary;
and he himself is now starving in exile. In England we have not
yet adopted all the implacability of the punctilio. A gentleman
may be insulted even with a blow, and survive, after having once
hazarded his life against the aggressor. The laws of honour in
our country do not oblige him either to slay the person from whom
he received the injury, or even to fight to the last drop of his
own blood. One finds no examples of duels among the Romans, who
were certainly as brave and as delicate in their notions of
honour as the French.
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