THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD 



155 



sympathy, as to how the struggle between death and the 

 invalid was getting on in the sick chamber — alternately 

 (as they chanced to be Whig or Tory) jubilant or 

 depressed as the bulletins were issued ; tremulous with 

 anxiety even in their cups as to which way the political 

 cat would jump. 



Now the road runs over Putney Heath, where our 

 ancestors (who had drunk three bottles over night and 



A Duel on Putney Heath. 



transmitted the blessings of gout to a distant posterity) 

 showed, in a humorous age, so little lack of humour as 

 to appear early on a frosty next morning to be skewered 

 by a blackleg parading as a boon companion in the 

 presence of sharps for seconds. The preliminary nego- 

 tiations have been well described by the late Lord 

 Beaconsfield, and should be commended to our cousins 

 in France and on whatever other barbaric shores the 

 code of the duello still ridiculously lingers. 



