1831.] [ 597 ] 



MY FIRST DUEL. 



' Snug lying here in the Abbey." 



The Rivals. 



There are some events in the life of a man that make an indelible 

 impression on the mind ; events that, amid the varied scenes of love, of 

 war, or ambition, are to the last hour of existence as forcibly impressed, 

 on the tablet of memory, as at the moment when they were first inscribed 

 there by the hand of fate. Of this nature is our first duel — the recol- 

 lection of the first time that we stood on the boundary line that separates 

 the civilization of the ancient and modern worlds. There are several 

 kinds of courage, it has been a thousand times remarked — all of which, 

 if we take the trouble of metaphysically analysing, we shall find are but 

 the consciousness of our own force or skill. The squadron of steel-clad 

 cuirassiers rides gallantly at the square of infantry, heedless of the brist- 

 ling bayonets, of the kneeling front rank, or the murderous volley of the 

 rear. The sailor, lashed to the helm, looks calmly on the raging tem- 

 pest. The huntsman, in pursuit of game, springs fearlessly across the 

 yawning chasm, or boldly attacks the lion in his lair. Habit, and a 

 familiarity with danger, deadens the instinctive dread of death implanted 

 in us by nature ; yet the cheek of the bravest man may blanch, and the 

 life's blood curdle in the veins, when he finds himself opposed to an 

 adversary, who, without exaggeration, at twelve paces, could wing a 

 musquito. Such was my case when quite a raw and inexperienced 

 youngster, exposed, at the age of sixteen, to one of the most slippery 

 tricks that dame Fortune, in her most wayward humour, can play a man. 

 Every one must recollect the rancorous animosity that subsisted between 

 the British and Americans for several years after the termination of the 

 war between the two countries. Time has now, in some degree, softened 

 down this hostile feeling; but, in 1818, it blazed fiercely forth at Gib- 

 raltar, where a slight misunderstanding at one of the guard-houses led 

 to a succession of bloody, and, in some instances, fatal rencontres, between 

 the garrison and the officers of the American squadron, at that time in 

 the bay. Similar scenes were enacted at Madeira, though with less 

 fatal results ; and, only a few months afterwards, when the United 

 States corvette Ontario, and the British frigate Hyperion, were lying 

 in the bay of Callao de Lima, to so rancorous a pitch had this feeling 

 risen, that the commanders of the two ships came to an understanding 

 to allow their officers to go on shore only on alternate days ; and by this 

 timely precaution they prevented a hostile collision, which would in all 

 probability have deprived the services of both countries of some valuable 

 and gallant officers. It was during the noon-tide heat of this rancorovis 

 feeling between the two nations, that I one evening entered a Cafe, in 

 one ol" the Brazilian outports, to meet, by appointment, a friend, from 

 whom I was to receive some letters of introduction for the interior of 

 the country, for which I was on the eve of my departure. The streets 

 were silent and deserted ; the only sound to be heard was the vesper 

 Iiymn sweetly floating on the evening breeze. On entering the Cafe, I 

 found it tenanted by a group of savage-looking ]\finheiros, who were 

 drinking and listening to a love-lay, sung with great sweetness to a guitar 



