A most vindictive duel was fought at this period by a colonel of the French Guards. This gentleman was boasting of the good fortune of never having been obliged to fight a duel. Another officer present expressed his surprise, with some indirect allusions to his want of courage; observing, “How could you avoid fighting when insulted?” The colonel replied, “that he never had given offence, and that no one had ever presumed to insult him. Moreover, that on such an occasion he would consider the character of the person who had wantonly insulted him, ere he demanded satisfaction.” Upon this statement, his interlocutor, in the most insolent manner, struck him in the face with his glove, adding, “Perhaps, sir, you will not consider this an insult!” The colonel calmly put on his hat, and walked out of the room. The following morning, however, he sent a challenge to his aggressor. When they came to the ground, the colonel wore a patch of court-plaister, of the size of a crown-piece, on the cheek which had received the blow. At the very first lounge he wounded his antagonist in the sword-arm; when, taking off the plaister, he cut off an edge of it with a pair of scissors, and, replacing it on his face, took his leave of his adversary, very politely requesting he would do him the honour of letting him know when he recovered from his wound. So soon as he heard that he was able to hold a sword, he called him out and wounded him a second time; cutting off another portion of the patch. In a like manner he called him out, fought, and wounded him, until the plaister was reduced to the size of a shilling; when he again challenged him, and ran him through the body: then, calmly contemplating the corpse, he observed, “I now may take off my plaister!” This was a cruel, but a well-merited chastisement inflicted on an insolent braggart, who little knew, at the time he thus wantonly insulted this officer, he was addressing one of the most dexterous swordsmen in the land. During the early part of the reign of Louis XVI. society continued under the sway of former prejudices and a false notion of honour, which made it consist in upholding a character for courage, gallantry, and successful intrigue. It soon assumed another feature; and patriotism, and self-devotion in the cause of liberty and independence, became the source of many quarrels and bitter recriminations. The last duel of any notoriety at this period was one fought by the Comte de Tilly, and for which he was apprehended by order of the _connétablie_ and court of honour, presided over so late as 1788 by the Duke de Richelieu; which sentenced him to imprisonment in the Abbaye, whence he was liberated after a confinement of three months. This court no longer bore the reputation of a fair bench, capable of deciding the knotty point of honour; but, like all other institutions, had become inert, and corrupted to such a degree, that De Tilly gives the following account of its nature: