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trains of governors of provinces; but are never sounded incities, except at the royal palaces.

DUCK Hunting with dogs was a favourite amusement inthe twelfth century. Decoys for ducks are noticed in thetime of Henry VIII .

DUEL . The custom of deciding a quarrel by single com-bat, under the impression that Providence would not fail todeclare itself in favour of the innocent, took its rise amongthe northern nations, and according to M.Godeau, was firstintroduced into Italy by the Lombards , towards the conclu-sion of the fifth century. In a short time it spread through-out the rest of Europe , and was generally resorted to as amode of trial, where the evidence was not sufficiently con-clusive to admit of a satisfactory judgment being pronouncedby the civil judge.

This mode of trial was introduced into England, amongother northern customs, by William the Conqueror , and itappears from Madox’s History of the Exchequer, was so fre-quently resorted to, that the fines paid on these occasions madeno inconsiderable branch of the King’s revenue. The lasttrial of this kind was in the reign of Elizabeth. One wasappointed to take place in the year 1631, between DonaldLord Rey, or Rhee, appellant, and David Ramsey, Esq.,defendant, in the painted chamber at Westminster; but thatquarrel terminated amicably by the interposition of Charles I .

The practice of duelling was thus converted, by the sanc-tion of the Governments, into a public mode of trial, butwhen the enlightened state of Europe would no longer admitof this superstitious method of judicature, and the establishedpower of the crown enabled it to administer the laws withstrict impartiality, the custom of private duelling was intro-duced as the only means of avenging such injuries of a personalnature, which could not be regularly noticed in a court of