402

LIFE OF COLONEL MACERONI.

The publisher of this work, who has a just appreciation ofmy abilities, will probably supply me with a decent suit ofclothes, that I may not disgrace my fellow-servants ongoing to my place. And I can find four men whom I haveextricated from great difficulties and a prison, who will givesecurity for me to the amount of twenty-five shillingsagainst my purloining any inkstand, paper, pens, or pencilsthat I may have access to in the execution of my duty!I should have succeeded long ago in obtaining some suchplace as I now solicit, had I been able to muster the sumnecessary to pay for an advertisement in the newspapers.But being pennyless, in rags, and consequently without afriend in the world, I have no chance of reviving and ofresuming a station in society without using this book as avehicle for the announcement of my ambitious pretensions.

Having given an account of several duels, my readersmust not suppose that I venture on being the panegyristof duelling which is always most practised by brutalvulgar men. But while treating of the matter, and ofsabres, small swords, and pistols, I will observe that aduel signifies a combat between two persons, and a combatnecessarily includes and supposes offence to your adversary,and simultaneous defence of yourself. Now, a contest witheither swords or sabres, includes both these conditions ofoffence and defence ,—but with fire-arms there is no defence—nothing but offence; so that the most cool and skilful manstanding to be shot at, is deprived of all his manly attributesin fighting with pistols, which thus, to use an Irishism, be-comes no duel at all. Moreover, by a sword or sabre, a manmay receive a wound that shall either kill him, or if not, willmost likely soon heal. But a pistol bullet may enter a jointor break a bone, so as to make a cripple of him for life.

The ceremony and festivities of the Imperial mar-riage being concluded at Paris , Murat returned to