The Old Officer, Instead Of
Checking His Petulance, Either By Rebuke Or Silent
Disapprobation, Seems To Be Pleased With His Impertinence, And
Encourages Every Sally Of His Presumption.
Should a quarrel
ensue, and the parties go out, he makes no efforts to compromise
the dispute; but sits with a pleasing expectation to learn the
issue of the rencontre.
If the young man is wounded, he kisses
him with transport, extols his bravery, puts him into the hands
of the surgeon, and visits him with great tenderness every day,
until he is cured. If he is killed on the spot, he shrugs up his
shoulders - says, quelle dommage! c'etoit un amiable enfant! ah,
patience! What pity! he was a fine Boy! It can't be helpt! and in
three hours the defunct is forgotten. You know, in France, duels
are forbid, on pain of death: but this law is easily evaded. The
person insulted walks out; the antagonist understands the hint,
and follows him into the street, where they justle as if by
accident, draw their swords, and one of them is either killed or
disabled, before any effectual means can be used to part them.
Whatever may be the issue of the combat, the magistrate takes no
cognizance of it; at least, it is interpreted into an accidental
rencounter, and no penalty is incurred on either side. Thus the
purpose of the law is entirely defeated, by a most ridiculous and
cruel connivance. The meerest trifles in conversation, a rash
word, a distant hint, even a look or smile of contempt, is
sufficient to produce one of these combats; but injuries of a
deeper dye, such as terms of reproach, the lie direct, a blow, or
even the menace of a blow, must be discussed with more formality.
In any of these cases, the parties agree to meet in the dominions
of another prince, where they can murder each other, without fear
of punishment. An officer who is struck, or even threatened with
a blow must not be quiet, until he either kills his antagonist,
or loses his own life. A friend of mine, (a Nissard) who was in
the service of France, told me, that some years ago, one of their
captains, in the heat of passion, struck his lieutenant. They
fought immediately: the lieutenant was wounded and disarmed. As
it was an affront that could not be made up, he no sooner
recovered of his wounds, than he called out the captain a second
time. In a word, they fought five times before the combat proved
decisive at last, the lieutenant was left dead on the spot. This
was an event which sufficiently proved the absurdity of the
punctilio that gave rise to it. The poor gentleman who was
insulted, and outraged by the brutality of the aggressor, found
himself under the necessity of giving him a further occasion to
take away his life. Another adventure of the same kind happened a
few years ago in this place. A French officer having threatened
to strike another, a formal challenge ensued; and it being agreed
that they should fight until one of them dropped, each provided
himself with a couple of pioneers to dig his grave on the spot.
They engaged just without one of the gates of Nice, in presence
of a great number of spectators, and fought with surprising fury,
until the ground was drenched with their blood. At length one of
them stumbled, and fell; upon which the other, who found himself
mortally wounded, advancing, and dropping his point, said, "Je te
donne ce que tu m'as ote." "I'll give thee that which thou hast
taken from me." So saying, he dropped dead upon the field. The
other, who had been the person insulted, was so dangerously
wounded that he could not rise. Some of the spectators carried
him forthwith to the beach, and putting him into a boat, conveyed
him by sea to Antibes. The body of his antagonist was denied
Christian burial, as he died without absolution, and every body
allowed that his soul went to hell: but the gentlemen of the army
declared, that he died like a man of honour. Should a man be
never so well inclined to make atonement in a peaceable manner,
for an insult given in the heat of passion, or in the fury of
intoxication, it cannot be received. Even an involuntary trespass
from ignorance, or absence of mind, must be cleansed with blood.
A certain noble lord, of our country, when he was yet a commoner,
on his travels, involved himself in a dilemma of this sort, at
the court of Lorrain. He had been riding out, and strolling along
a public walk, in a brown study, with his horse-whip in his hand,
perceived a caterpillar crawling on the back of a marquis, who
chanced to be before him. He never thought of the petit maitre;
but lifting up his whip, in order to kill the insect, laid it
across his shoulders with a crack, that alarmed all the company
in the walk. The marquis's sword was produced in a moment, and
the aggressor in great hazard of his life, as he had no weapon of
defence. He was no sooner waked from his reverie, than he begged
pardon, and offered to make all proper concessions for what he
had done through mere inadvertency. The marquis would have
admitted his excuses, had there been any precedent of such an
affront being washed away without blood. A conclave of honour was
immediately assembled; and after long disputes, they agreed, that
an involuntary offence, especially from such a kind of man, d'un
tel homme, might be attoned by concessions. That you may have
some idea of the small beginning, from which many gigantic
quarrels arise, I shall recount one that lately happened at
Lyons, as I had it from the mouth of a person who was an ear and
eye witness of the transaction. Two Frenchmen, at a public
ordinary, stunned the rest of the company with their loquacity.
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