CHARGE AGAINST DUELS. 1 1 1 



king speaketh in his proclamation, of ordinary tables, 

 and such reverend assemblies : the year-books, and 

 statute-books must give place to some French and 

 Italian pamphlets, which handle the doctrine of 

 duels, which if they be in the right, &quot; transeamus 

 &quot; ad ilia,&quot; let us receive them, and not keep the 

 people in conflict and distraction between two 

 laws. 



Again, my lords, it is a miserable effect, when 

 young men full of towardness and hope, such as the 

 poets call &quot; auroras filii,&quot; sons of the morning, in 

 whom the expectation and comfort of their friends 

 consisteth, shall be cast away and destroyed in such 

 a vain manner ; but much more it is to be deplored 

 when so much noble and genteel blood should be 

 spilt upon such follies, as, if it were adventured in 

 the field in service of the king and realm, were able 

 to make the fortune of a day, and to change the 

 fortune of a kingdom. So as your lordships see 

 what a desperate evil this is ; it trouble th peace, it 

 dis-furnisheth war, it bringeth calamity upon private 

 men, peril upon the state, and contempt upon the 

 law. 



Touching the causes of it ; the first motive, no 

 doubt, is a false and erroneous imagination of honour 

 and credit : and therefore the king, in his last pro 

 clamation, doth most aptly and excellently call them 

 bewitching duels. For, if one judge of it truly, it is 

 no better than a sorcery that enchanteth the spirits 

 of young men, that bear great minds with a false 

 shew, &quot; species falsa ;&quot; and a kind of satanical illu- 



