“I have been in a rage these two days, and am still bilious
therefrom. You shall hear. A captain of dragoons, * *, Hanoverian
| 244 | NOTICES OF THE | A. D. 1819. |
“All this passed in presence of a third person. He then said
No, but to-morrow morning he would give me the meeting at any
time or place. I answered that it was not usual to appoint meetings in the presence of
witnesses, and that we had best speak man to man, and appoint time and instruments. But
as the man present was leaving the room, the Lieutenant
* *, before he could shut the door after him, ran out roaring
‘help and murder’ most lustily, and fell into a sort of hysteric in the arms
of about fifty people, who all saw that I had no weapon of any sort or kind about me,
and followed him, asking him
| A. D. 1819. | LIFE OF LORD BYRON. | 245 |
“The horse was warranted, but, I believe, so worded that the villain will not be obliged to refund, according to law. He endeavoured to raise up an indictment of assault and battery, but as it was in a public inn, in a frequented street, there were too many witnesses to the contrary; and, as a military man, he has not cut a martial figure, even in the opinion of the priests. He ran off in such a hurry that he left his hat, and never missed it till he got to his hostel or inn. The facts are as I tell you, I can assure you. He began by ‘coming Captain Grand over me,’ or I should never have thought of trying his ‘cunning in fence.’ But what could I do? He talked of ‘honour, and satisfaction, and his commission;’ he produced a military passport; there are severe punishments for regular duels on the continent, and trifling ones for rencontres, so that it is best to fight it out directly; he had robbed, and then wanted to insult me;—what could I do? My patience was gone, and the weapons at hand, fair and equal. Besides, it was just after dinner, when my digestion was bad, and I don’t like to be disturbed. His friend * * is at Forli; we shall meet on my way back to Ravenna. The Hanoverian seems the greater rogue of the two; and if my valour does not ooze away like Acres’s—‘Odds flints and triggers!’ if it should be a rainy morning, and my stomach in disorder, there may be something for the obituary.
“Now pray, ‘Sir Lucius, do not you look upon me as a very ill-used gentleman?’ I send my Lieutenant to match Mr. Hobhouse’s Major Cartwright: and so ‘good morrow to you, good master Lieutenant.’ With regard to other things, I will write soon, but I have been quarrelling and fooling till I can scribble no more.”
