That Master,' answered the doctor, who hath expressly forbidden all that cutting of throats, to ' which you discover so much inclination.'

'O! your servant, sir,' said the colonel; I see 'what you are driving at; but you shall not persuade me to think, that religion forces me to be a coward.'

I detest and despise the name as much as you can,' cries the doctor; but you have a wrong idea of the word, colonel. "What were all the • Greeks and Romans? were these cowards? and yet, did you ever hear of this butchery, which we 'call duelling, among them?'

Yes, indeed, have I,' cries the colonel. What else is all Mr. Pope's Homer full of, but duels? Did not, what's his name, one of the Agamemnons fight with that paultry rascal Paris? and Diomede with, what d'ye call him there; and Hector with, I forget his name, he that was Achilles's bosom-friend; and afterwards with • Achilles himself? Nay, and in Dryden's Virgil, is there any thing almost besides fighting?'

You are a man of learning, colonel, cries the doctor; but-'

'I thank you for that compliment,' said the colonel. No, sir, I do not pretend to learning; but I have some little reading, and I am not • ashamed to own it.'

'But are you sure, colonel,' cries the doctor, that you have not made a small mistake? for I am apt to believe, both Mr. Pope and Mr. Dryden " (though I cannot say I ever read a word of either ' of them,) speak of wars between nations, and not ❝ of private duels; for of the latter, I do not remember one single instance in all the Greek and Roman story. In short, it is a modern custom, introduced by barbarous nations since the times of Christianity; though it is a direct and audacious • defiance of the Christian law, and is consequently

< much more sinful in us, than it would have been in the heathens.'

Drink about, doctor,' cries the colonel; and let us call a new cause; for I perceive we shall 'never agree on this. You are a churchman, and "I don't expect you to speak your mind.'

We are both of the same church, I hope,' cries the doctor.

I am of the church of England, sir,' answered the colonel; and will fight for it to the last drop of my blood.'

6

It is very generous in you, colonel,' cries the doctor, to fight so zealously for a religion by which you are to be damned.'

It is well for you, doctor,' cries the colonel, that you wear a gown; for, by all the dignity of a man, if any other person had said the words 6 you have just uttered, I would have made him eat them- -Ay, d-n me, and my sword into the • bargain.'

Booth began to be apprehensive, that this dispute might grow too warm; in which case he feared that the colonel's honour, together with the Champagne, might hurry him so far, as to forget the respect due, and which he professed to pay, to the sacerdotal robe. Booth, therefore, interposed between the disputants, and said, that the colonel had very rightly proposed to call a new subject; for that it was impossible to reconcile accepting a challenge with the Christian religion, or refusing it with the modern notion of honour. And you must allow it, doctor,' said he, to be a very hard injunction for a man to become infamous; and more especially for a soldier, who is to lose his bread into the bargain.'

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Ay, sir,' says the colonel, with an air of triumph, What say you to that?

6

Why, I say, cries the doctor, that it is much 6 harder to be damned on the other side.'

• That may be,' said the colonel; 'but d-n me, if I would take an affront of any man breathing, for all that. And yet I believe myself to be as good a Christian as wears a head. My maxim is, Never to give an affront, nor ever to take one; ' and I say, that is the maxim of a good Christian; and no man shall ever persuade me to the contrary.'

6

'Well, sir,' said the doctor, since that is your resolution, I hope no man will ever give you an

'affront.'

'I am obliged to you for your hope, doctor,' cries the colonel, with a sneer; and he that doth will be obliged to you for lending him your gown1; for, by the dignity of a man, nothing out of petticoats, I believe, dares affront me.'

Colonel James had not hitherto joined in the discourse. In truth, his thoughts had been otherwise employed; nor is it very difficult for the reader to guess what had been the subject of them. Being waked, however, from his reverie, and having heard the two or three last speeches, he turned to his brother, and asked him, why he would introduce such a topic of conversation before a gentleman of doctor Harrison's character?

Brother,' cried Bath, I own it was wrong, and I ask the doctor's pardon; I know not how it happened to arise; for you know, brother, I am not used to talk of these matters. They are generally poltroons that do. I think I need not ⚫ be beholden to my tongue to declare I am none. I have shewn myself in a line of battle. I believe there is no man will deny that; I believe I may say, no man dares deny that I have done my duty.'

The colonel was thus proceeding to prove that his prowess was neither the subject of his discourse, nor the object of his vanity, when a servant entered and summoned the company to tea with the

ladies; a summons which colonel James instantly obeyed, and was followed by all the rest.

But as the tea-table conversation, though extremely delightful to those who are engaged in it, may probably appear somewhat dull to the reader, we will here put an end to the chapter.

CHAP. IV.

A Dialogue between Booth and Amelia.

THE next morning early, Booth went by appointment, and waited on colonel James; whence he returned to Amelia in that kind of disposition which the great master of human passions would describe in Andromache, when he tells us she cried and smiled at the same instant.

Amelia plainly perceived the discomposure of his mind, in which the opposite affections of joy and grief were struggling for the superiority, and begged to know the occasion; upon which Booth spoke as follows:

My dear,' said he, I had no intention to conceal from you what hath passed this morning between me and the colonel, who hath oppressed " me, if I may use that expression, with obliga'tions. Sure never man had such a friend; for never was there so noble, so generous a heart-I 'cannot help this ebullition of gratitude, I really 'cannot.'-Here he paused a moment, and wiped his eyes, and then proceeded: You know, my dear, how gloomy the prospect was yesterday be'fore our eyes, how inevitably ruin stared me in the face; and the dreadful idea of having intailed beggary on my Amelia and her posterity, racked my mind; for, though by the goodness of the doctor I had regained my liberty, the debt yet

remained; and if that worthy man had a design ' of forgiving me his share, this must have been my utmost hope; and the condition in which I must still have found myself, need not to be expatiated on. In what light then shall I see, in 'what words shall I relate, the colonel's kindness! 'O my dear Amelia! he hath removed the whole gloom at once, hath driven all despair out of my mind, and hath filled it with the most sanguine, and, at the same time, the most reasonable hopes of making a comfortable provision for yourself and my dear children. In the first place, then, ⚫ he will advance me a sum of money to pay off all my debts; and this on a bond to be repaid only when I shall become colonel of a regiment, and not before. In the next place, he is gone this very morning to ask a company for me, which is 6 now vacant in the West-Indies; and as he intends to push this with all his interest, neither he nor I have any doubt of his success. Now, my dear, ' comes the third, which, though perhaps it ought 'to give me the greatest joy, such is, I own, the 'weakness of my nature, it rends my very heartstrings asunder. I cannot mention it, for I know it will give you equal pain-though I know on all proper occasions you can exert a manly resolution. You will not, I am convinced, oppose it, whatever you must suffer in complying-0 my dear Amelia! I must suffer likewise; yet I have resolved to bear it-You know not what my poor heart hath suffered since he made the pro'posal-It is love for you alone which could per 'suade me to submit to it--Consider our situation; consider that of our children; reflect but on those poor babes whose future happiness is at stake, and it must arm your resolution. It is your interest and theirs that reconciled me to a proposal, which, when the colonel first made it, struck me with the utmost horror; he hath, in