The peace of the realm appears to have been frequently disturbed during the reign of James by duels, in which many valuable lives were lost. The death of Sir Hatton Cheek was one of these fatal occurrences. This gallant officer was the second in command of the English army at the siege of Juliers, in 1609, where a few hasty words addressed by him to Sir Thomas Dutton, induced that officer, who was of an inferior rank, to resign his commission and repair to England, where he endeavoured to injure the character of Cheek by various unfavourable reports, and the latter demanded a meeting at Calais. On their meeting on the sands, Dutton began to reproach Cheek with the injuries he had received at his hands, but Cheek insisted upon the immediate settlement of the business. The seconds stripped both parties to their shirts, and they attacked each other, each of them armed with a rapier and a dagger. In the first onset Cheek ran Dutton through the throat with his dagger, close to the windpipe; when Dutton made a pass at him and ran him through the body, while he stabbed him in the back with his poniard. Although Cheek’s wounds were mortal, he rushed upon his antagonist, who, observing that he gradually drooped from loss of blood, merely kept on the defensive till he fell dead at his feet. James had to punish severely the Lord Sanquair, for having killed a fencing-master in a duel: the riddance to society of a master of the art of murder would have palliated the offence, but the unruly conduct of the Scotch followers of Sanquair was so obnoxious and ungovernable, that it was deemed necessary to inflict a punishment on their chief. This case was a curious one: his lordship, who prided himself on his skill in swordsmanship, had an assault with a fencing-master of the name of Turner, who put out one of his eyes with his foil. Turner made every possible excuse for the unfortunate occurrence, and Sanquair affected to forgive him. Some years after he visited the court of Henri IV. of France, when this prince asked him how he had lost his eye. Sanquair was embarrassed by the question, and with some hesitation replied, “By a sword wound.” The king immediately replied, “And does the man live?” An expression which sunk deep into his mind, and from that moment he formed the resolution to rid himself of the obnoxious cause of his misfortune in any manner. On his return to England, disdaining to sacrifice his victim with his own noble hands, he hired two ruffians who assassinated Turner in his lodgings in Whitefriars. The murderers were taken, but Sanquair had fled, and 1000_l_. reward was offered by proclamation for his apprehension. Trusting to his sovereign’s partiality for the Scotch, and having for a mediator at court the Archbishop of Canterbury, he surrendered himself; but all intercession was vain. Bacon was ordered to prosecute, and Sanquair and his accomplices were condemned, and he was hanged on the 29th of June, 1612, in front of the entrance of