exterior part of the elbow; his, at the same time, passing a little over that of his antagonist; but, cleverly springing back, I think partly before his Grace had recovered his push, he ran him through the body a little above the right pap. His Lordship’s sword being thus engaged, nothing was left for his defence but a naked left arm; and his Grace being in this dangerous situation, yet had fair play at almost any part of his Lordship’s body, who bravely put by several thrusts exactly levelled at his throat, till at last, having two fingers cut off in defending the pushes, and the rest mangled to a terrible degree, his Grace lodged his sword one rib below the heart, and in this affecting position they both stood without either being able to make another push. Each of them by this time was in a manner covered with blood and gore, when both the seconds stepped in and begged they would consider their situation, and the good of their future state; yet neither would consent to part, till, by the great loss of blood which his Lordship had sustained, he fell down senseless, but in such a position that he drew his sword out of his Grace’s body; recovering himself a little before he was quite down, he faltered forward, and falling with his thigh across his sword, snapped it in the middle. His Grace observing that he was no longer capable of defence, or sensible of danger, immediately broke his own sword, and fell on his body with the deepest sigh of concern, and both expired before any assistance could be got, though Dr. Fountaine had orders not to be out of the way that morning. Thus fell two gallant men, whose personal bravery history can scarcely equal, and whose honour nothing but such a cause could stain. During the civil wars that brought Charles’s head to the block, duelling became a very rare occurrence, and this circumstance is attributed to the following causes by an ingenious writer on the subject:[3]—“These civil wars were not of a nature calculated, like those of France, to increase the rage of the duel, but rather to suspend the frequency of its practice. As it was not a struggle (latterly, in particular) between two powerful factions of the nobility and gentry one against the other, but of the commonalty against whatever was called royal, noble, or honourable in rank and fortune; the consequence was, that the gentry, and those who had been accustomed to look to their own swords for revenge in personal affronts, would have disdained to have settled points of honour by private duel, with antagonists of such ignoble birth. The general course of their thoughts being also bent on the repulsion of the common enemy of the order of gentry, they became more closely united within themselves, and were less in the habit of paying a scrupulous attention to all the supercilious dictates of a captious honour.”