THE SOLDIER OF FORTUNE 67 



What in the world sprightliness of imagination in 

 duelling may be, we are left to conjecture. Perhaps 

 in this case it may have been exemplified in the imme- 

 diate recourse to pistols, the result of which was that 

 the Italian was slain, and Lee was obliged to flee to 

 Gibraltar, where he embarked for London. In May, 

 1772, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant- 

 colonel on half-pay, but was unable to obtain any 

 further recognition from government. 



Ever since the Stamp Act our knight-errant had 

 kept an eye upon the troubles in America, and his 

 letters show that by soldiers and princes at least, even 

 as far as Poland, the quarrel between Great Britain 

 and her colonies was watched with interest. It now 

 seems to have occurred to him that America might 

 afford a promising career for a soldier of fortune. He 

 arrived in New York on the loth of November, 1773, 

 in the midst of the agitation over the tea ships, and 

 the next ten months were spent in a journey through 

 the colonies as far as Virginia in one direction and 

 Massachusetts in the other. In the course of this 

 journey he made the acquaintance of nearly all the 

 leaders of the Revolutionary party, and won high favour 

 from the zeal with which he espoused their cause. He 

 visited Mount Vernon and was warmly greeted by 

 Washington. Whether Washington remembered him 

 or not, as a lieutenant in 1755, is not at all clear. But 

 now the great European soldier, who had fought on 

 the banks of the Tagus and of the Dniester, and was 

 a member of the liberal party in England withal, was 

 sure to interest the noble, genial, and modest man who 

 commanded the militia of Virginia. Whether he 

 could have found favour with Mrs. Washington is 



