Buckingham’s marriage was an act of reparation of his profligacy. He had seduced the only daughter of the Earl of Rutland, and carried her to his lodgings at Whitehall. After having kept her there for some time he returned her to her father, who intimated to the royal favourite, “that he had too much of the gentleman to suffer such an indignity, and if he did not marry his daughter immediately, to restore her honour, no power should protect him from his just revenge.” She was heiress to a considerable fortune, and Buckingham complied with the Earl’s injunction. In 1661, a quarrel arose in London between several ambassadors, which proved likely to lead to serious consequences. Philip IV. of Spain had sent the Baron de Batteville to London, where the Comte d’Estrade was ambassador for France. The Comte de Brabe, the Swedish ambassador, had made his first entry in town, when a dispute arose amongst these ministers regarding precedence, each being anxious to take the lead of the other. The Baron de Batteville had cut the traces of the carriage of the French ambassador, and when the domestics of the latter sought to retaliate, they found that chains had been used instead of ordinary traces. The King of France recalled his minister, and the Spanish monarch sent the Comte de Fuentes to Paris to apologize for the conduct of his ambassador. A duel had been expected, as the Comte d’Estrade had been engaged in the hostile meeting between the Duc de Guise and the Comte de Coligny, and was considered a very punctilious person in such matters; but the parties very wisely had referred the affair to their respective courts. At this period the pit of the theatre became the constant _arena_ of quarrels that led to duels. The young bloods of the day made it a point to go to the playhouse, for the mere purpose of insulting females, and getting themselves involved in disputes that might increase their fashionable popularity. In 1720, Mrs. Oldfield, a celebrated actress, was performing in “The Scornful Lady,” when Beau Fielding (the Orlando the Fair of the Tatler) insulted a barrister of the name of Fulwood, by pushing rudely against him. Fulwood expostulated with some degree of violence, upon which Fielding laid his hand upon his sword. The pugnacious lawyer drew, and gave his antagonist a severe wound in the body. Beau Fielding, who was then a man of above fifty years of age, came forward, and uncovering his breast, showed his bleeding wound to the public, to excite the compassion of the fair sex; but, to his no small disappointment, a burst of laughter broke forth from the audience. Fulwood, emboldened by his success with Fielding, repaired to Lincoln’s-inn-fields Theatre, where he picked up another quarrel with a Captain Cusack, and then demanded satisfaction. They went into the fields, and the lawyer was professionally despatched by the soldier, and left dead on the ground.