744 



DUDLEY DUEL. 



time before his execution, and died in that faith, 

 though the a\ owed object of the plot was to secure 

 the establishment of Protestantism in England. 



DUDLEY, SIR MKNKY BATE, baronet, was born 

 at Fenny Compton, August 5, 1745. His father, 

 the reverend Henry Bate, was rector of North Farm- 

 bridge, in Essex, in which benefice his son Henry 

 succeeded him ;it his death ; but the emoluments of 

 the livin- I. nisi but trifling, he established the 

 Morning Post newspaper, and, in 1780, the Morning 

 llrrald. commencing also, about the same time, the 

 ( 'oiirier de I' Europe a journal printed in the French 

 language and the English Chronicle. At this period 

 he was a contributor to the Probationary Odes, the 

 Kollia.l. and other works of a similar class. In 1781, 

 the advowson of the rectory of Bradwell-juxta-Mare 

 was purchased in trust for him, subject to the life 

 of the reverend George Pawson. In 1784, he as- 

 sumed the name of Dudley, in compliance with the 

 will of a relation. Mr Pawson dying in 1797, Mr 

 Dudley presented himself to the vacant benefice ; 

 but the bishop of London refused institution, and 

 a compromise was at length effected. In 1812, 

 he received the living of Willingham, in Cam- 

 bridgeshire. Shortly aitcr, he obtained a baron- 

 etcy ; and, in 1816, the dignity of a prebend in Ely 

 cathedral, wliich he retained till the day of his death, 

 February 1 , 1824. Sir Henry distinguished himself, 

 as a useful magistrate ; while his literary abilities 

 were manifested in the composition of a variety of 

 dramatic pieces. Among these are the Flitch of Ba- 

 con, written for the purpose of introducing his friend 

 Shield to the public ; the Woodman ; the Rival Can- 

 didates ; the Blackamoor Washed White (at the re- 

 presentation of which, party spirit ran so liigh as to 

 produce a serious conflict, in which swords were 

 drawn, &c., among the audience) ; the Travellers in 

 Switzerland ; and the popular piece At Home. In 

 his earlier years, the warmth of his temperament be- 

 trayed him, notwithstanding his cloth, into several 

 quarrels. The cause of two of these rencontres was 

 Mrs Hartley, an actress celebrated for her beauty. 

 A third, of more equivocal character, fought with Mr 

 Stoney Bowes, made a great noise at the time. Sir 

 Henry, at the time of his decease, was a magistrate 

 for seven English counties, and four in Ireland. 



DUDLEY, ROBERT, earl of Leicester, was the fifth 

 son of the duke of Northumberland, and was born 

 about 1532. He was knighted when young, and*was 

 made gentleman of the bed-chamber to Edward VI. 

 Though involved in the criminal designs of his father, 

 and included in the sentence of attainder passed 

 against him on the accession of Mary, he was par- 

 doned, and employed by tliat queen. After Elizabeth 

 ascended the throne, Dudley soon acquired the dis- 

 tinction of being her favourite. Offices, honours, 

 and wealth were showered on him with an unsparing 

 hand. He was appointed master of the horse, knight 

 of the garter, and privy councillor : and he received 

 grants of the princely domains of Kenilworth, Den- 

 bigh, and Chirk castle. In 1560, the death of his 

 wife took place, at Cumnor-hall in Berkshire. This 

 event, according to popular opinion, as appears from 

 Aubrey, involved Dudley in the guilt of murder. If 

 he sacrificed the life of his consort in the hope of mar- 

 rying the queen, his ambitious views were disap- 

 pointed. Elizabeth, however, encouraged him to 

 aspire to the hand of Mary of Scotland, who rejected 

 him with disdain. In 1564, he was created baron 

 Denbigh and earl of Leicester, and was the same 

 year elected chancellor of Oxford university, having 

 previously been chosen to the same office at Cam- 

 bridge. About 1572, he appears to have married 

 the baroness dowager Sheffield, lady Douglas How- 

 ard, by whom he had children, but whom he disowned 



as his wife, and even compelled her to marry another 

 person. In 1575, he gave a princely entertainment 

 to the queen, at Kenilworth castle ; the festivities of 

 which are described in a picturesque manner, in the 

 celebrated romance of Kenilworth, and, in defiance 

 of chronology, connected with the death of Leicester's 

 first wife. Leicester, in 1578, offended the queen 

 by his marriage with the widow of Walter Devereux, 

 earl of Essex. He, however, recovered her favour, 

 and, in 1585, was appointed, through her influence. 

 governor of the Netherlands, then recently emanci- 

 pated from the Spanish yoke. His conduct in this 

 station did not give satisfaction to the queen, or to 

 the states over which he presided, and he was reca ! lei 1 

 the following year. He returned to his command in 

 June, 1587; but he was finally displaced a few months 

 after, and returned to England. He was accused of 

 misconduct by Lord Buckhurst and others ; but Eliza- 

 beth still retained so much partiality for him, that 

 she supported him against all his enemies ; and, on 

 the prospect of the Spanish invasion, in 1588, she 

 appointed him commander of the forces assembled at 

 Tilbury, for the defence of the kingdom. Leicester 

 died September 4, the same year, at Cornbury park, 

 in Oxfordshire, and was interred in a chapel of the 

 collegiate church of Warwick, where a splendid mo- 

 nument was raised to his memory. His memory has 

 been revived by the romance of Kenilworth. 



DUEL (from ditellum, derived from duo) is a combat 

 between two, at a time and place appointed, in conse- 

 quence of a challenge, and so is distinguished from an 

 encounter, taking place without any previous arrange- 

 ment. The custom of duelling was derived from the 

 northern nations ; the judicial combat and the private 

 duel, upon the principle of the point of honour, having 

 both been unknown to the ancients. The Germans, 

 Danes, and Franks carried the practice of the judicial 

 combat so far, that none were excused, except women, 

 sick people, cripples, and such as were over sixty 

 years of age. Even ecclesiastics and monks were 

 obliged to maintain their controversies by a champion 

 in arms ; and this singular species of jurisprudence 

 was not confined to criminal accusations, but the titles 

 to estates were decided hi the same manner. At 

 length, however, this mode of trial was limited to 

 those accusations of capital offences, in which there 

 was no other testimony, and in wliich common fame 

 pronounced the accused party to be guilty. The 

 party vanquished was punished by hanging, behead- 

 ing, or mutilation of members. A judicial combat 

 was authorized by Gundebald, king of the Burgun- 

 dians, as early as A. D. 501. Fleta (1. 1. c. 3i) 

 says it is a combat between two, to prove the truth 

 in respect to their controversy, and the party who 

 conquers shall prevail in the suit. The practice of 

 trying rights to land, as well as the guilt or innocence 

 of an accused party, by combat under judicial autho- 

 rity, very naturally suggested the decision of personal 

 quarrels in the same way (particularly those in which 

 the point of honour was concerned), and all cases in 

 which there was no adequate redress provided in the 

 ordinary tribunals. 



The example of Francis I. of France, and Charles 

 V. of Spain, gave a sanction to this mode of arbitra- 

 tion. On the breaking up of the treaty between 

 these sovereigns, and the declaration of war by the 

 French and English heralds, at the court of Charles, 

 Jan. 2, 1528. the emperor, in replying to the decla- 

 ration of the French monarch, desired the herald to 

 acquaint his sovereign, that he would henceforth con- 

 sider him, not only as a base violator of public faith, 

 but as a stranger to the honour and integrity becom- 

 ing a gentleman. On receiving this message, Francis 

 immediately sent back the herald with a cartel of de- 

 fiance, gave the emperor the lie in form, challenged 



