" LABBY " LAMPOONED 25 



to it. The challenge was written out by the sub- 

 editor, Tasker, who was in possession of a letter 

 from Manfield, and he made a plausible imitation 

 of the handwriting. He got a friend to post it at 

 Northampton and it arrived just at the right time 

 too late to make inquiries, but not too late for an 

 indignant reply. 



Serious people may take exception to a practical joke 

 of this character, but it was worth anything to make 

 11 Labby " the laughing-stock of the town, and that was 

 what I really aimed at, not merely the advertisement. 



Phil May produced his impression of the suggested 

 encounter, and this is now reproduced ; and the paper 

 of the same date (3ist October 1885) contained the 

 following further details : 



CONCERNING THE DUEL 



THE proposed duel between myself and Mr Labouchere 

 was, as everyone knows now, a hoax, and it was, per- 

 haps, transparent enough to have been detected in 

 time had St Stephen's not been going to press when 

 the letter signed J. Manfield arrived, and, in the hurry 

 of the moment, it was easy to jump to a wrong 

 conclusion. 



The hoax was a three-cornered one, for it appears 

 that there is a veritable Mr J. Manfield in the flesh, 

 son of Mr. M. P. Manfield, though, somewhat un- 

 accountably, Mr Labouchere, whose political agent 

 Mr M. P. Manfield is, does not seem to be aware of 

 Mr Manfield junior's existence. 



I mention this because it has been stated that the 

 letter was evidently intended to be from Mr M. P. 

 Manfield, whereas I received, on the 23rd inst., a 



