Sir Ch. To breakfast with you, Sir Hargrave Don't be warm. I am determined, if possible, not to be provoked-But I must not be ill treated.

Sir Har. Why then, sir, take one of those two pistols. My chariot shall carry us

Sir Ch. No where, Sir Hargrave. What has hitherto passed between us, was owing to accident. It is not my way to recriminate. To your own heart, however, I appeal; that must convince you, that the method you took to gain the lady, rendered you unworthy of her. I took no unmanly advantage of you. That I refused to meet you in the way you have demanded, gives me a title to call myself your best friend

Sir Har. "My best friend !" sir

Sir Ch. Yes, sir. If either the preservation of your own life, or the saving you a long regret for taking that of another, as the chance might have been, deserves your consideration. In short, it depends upon yourself, Sir Hargrave, to let me know whether you were guilty of a bad action from mad and violent passion, or from design, and a natural bias, if I may so call it, to violence; which alone can lead you to think of justifying one bad action by another.

Sir Har. Then, sir, account me a man of natural violence, if you please. Who shall value the opinion of a man that has disgracefully G— d—n you, sir-Do you see what marks I shall carry to my grave

Sir Ch. Were I as violent as you, Sir Hargrave, you might carry those marks to your grave, and not wear them long.-Let us break fast, sir. That will give you time to cool. Were I even to do as you would have me, you would best find your account in being cool. You cannot think I would take such an advantage of you, as your passion would give me.

Mr Bag. Nobly said, by Heaven! Let us breakfast, Sir Hargrave. Then you will be cooler. Then you will be fitter to discuss this point, or any other.

Mr Mer. Very right. enemy, Sir Hargrave.

You have a noble

Sir Ch. I am no man's enemy, Mr Merceda. Sir Hargrave should consider, that in the occasion for all this, he was to blame; and that all my part in the affair was owing to accident, not malice.

Mr Jor. I doubt not, Sir Charles, but you

are ready to ask pardon of Sir Hargrave, for your part

Sir Ch. Ask pardon, sir!—No!—I think I ought to have done just as I did. Were it to do again, I should do it, whoever were the man.

Sir Har. See there! See there!-Mr Bagenhall, Mr Merceda, Mr Jordan! See there! Hear that!-Who can have patience?

Sir Ch. I can tell you who ought to have patience, Sir Hargrave. I should have a very mean opinion of any man here, called upon as I was, if he had not done just as I did; and a still meaner than I have of you, Sir Hargrave, had you, in the like case, refused assistance to a woman in distress. But I will not repeat what I have written.

Sir Har. If you are a man, Sir Charles Grandison, take your choice of one of those pistols. Gd-n you! I insist upon it.

And I saw through the knot-hole, that Sir Hargrave arose in passion.

Sir Ch. As I Am a man, Sir Hargrave, I will not. It might look to an angry man like an insult, which I am above intending, were I to say, that I have given, on our first interview, proofs that I want not courage. I give you now, as I think, the highest I can give, in refusing your challenge. A personal insult I know how to repel. I know how to defend myself-But, as I said, I will not repeat anything I have written.

Mr Mer. But, Sir Charles, you have threatened a man of honour in what you have written, if we take you right, with a weapon that ought to be used only to a scoundrel; yet refuse

Sir Ch. The man, sir, that shall take it into his head to insult me, may do it with the greater safety, though perhaps not with impunity, as he may be assured I will not kill him for it, if I can help it. I can play with my weapons, sir; (it may look like boasting;) but will not play with any man's life, nor consent to make a sport of my own.

Sir Har. D-n your coolness, sir!—I cannot bear

Sir Ch. Curse not your safety, Sir Hargrave. Mr Jor. Indeed, Sir Charles, I could not bear such an air of superiority

Sir Ch. It is more than an air, Mr Jordan. The man who can think of justifying one violent action by another, must give a real superiority against himself. Let Sir Hargrave confess his fault-I have put him in the way of doing it, with all the credit to himself that a man can have who has committed a fault-and I offer him my hand.

Sir Har. Damnable insult!-What! own a fault to a man who, without any provocation, has dashed my teeth down my throat; and, as you see-Gentlemen-say, can I, ought I, now to have patience?

Sir Ch. I intended not to do you any of this

mischief, Sir Hargrave. I drew not my sword, to return a pass made by yours-Actually received a raking on my shoulder from a sword that was aimed at my heart. I sought nothing but to hinder you from doing that mischief to me, which I was resolved not to do to you. This, Sir Hargrave, this, gentlemen, was the state of the case; and the cause such, as no man of hoBour could refuse engaging in.-And now, sir, I meet you, upon my own invitation, in your own house, unattended and alone, to shew you, that I have the same disposition as I had from the first, to avoid doing you injury; and this it is, gentlemen, that gives me a superiority to Sir Hargrave, which he may lessen by behaving as I, in this case, would behave to him.

Mr Bag. By G- this is nobly said! Mr Jor. I own, Sir Hargrave, that I would sooner kneel to such a man as this, than to a king on his throne.

Sir Har. D-n me, if I forgive him, with these marks about me!-I insist upon your taking one of those pistols, sir.-Gentlemen, my friends, he boasts of his advantages; he may have some from his cursed coolness; he can have none any other way. Bear witness, I forgive him if he lodges a brace of bullets in my heart-Take one of those pistols, sir. They are equally loaded-Bear witness, if I die, that I have provoked my fate. But I will die like a man of honour.

Sir Ch. To die like a man of honour, Sir Hargrave, you must have lived like one. You should be sure of your cause. But these pistols are too ready a mischief. Were I to meet you in your own way, Sir Hargrave, I should not expect that a man so enraged would fire his over my head, as I should be willing to do mine over his. Life I would not put upon the perhaps involuntary twitch of a finger.

Sir Har. Well, then, the sword. You came, though undressed, with your sword on.

Sir Ch. I did; and for the reason I gave to Mr Bagenhall. I draw it not, however, but in my own defence.

Sir Har. [Rising from his seat.] Will you favour me with your company into my own garden? Only you and I, Sir Charles. Let the gentlemen, my friends, stay here. They shall only look out of the windows, if they please Only to that grass-plot, sir (pointing as I saw) -If you fall, I shall have the worst of it, from the looks of the matter, killing a man in my own garden; if I fall, you will have the evidence of my friends to bring you off.

Sir Ch. I need not look at the place, Sir Hargrave. And since, gentlemen, it is allowed, that the pistols may be dismissed; and since, by their lying loaded on the table, they seem but to stimulate to mischief; you will all excuse me, and you, Sir Hargrave, will forgive me

And so saying, he arose, with great tranquillity, as I saw; and taking the pistols, lifted up

By the report, the writer is sure they were well loaded.

In ran a crowd of servants, men and women, in dismay. The writer sat still in the closet, knowing the matter to be no worse. One of the men cried out, This is the murderer! And they all (not seeing their master, as I suppose, at the window beyond Sir Charles, and who afterwards owned himself too much surprised to stir or speak) were for making up to Sir Charles.

Sir Charles then retiring, put his hand upon his sword; but mildly said, My friends, your master is safe. Take care I hurt not any of you.

Sir Har. I am safe-Begone, scoundrels! Mr Bag. Begone! Quit the room. Sir Hargrave is safe. Mr Mer. Mr Jor.

} Begone! Begone!

The servants, as I saw, crowded out as fast as they came in.

Sir Charles, then stepping towards Sir Hargrave, said, You will, some time hence, sir, think the discharge of those pistols much happier than if they had been put to the use designed when they were loaded. I offer you my hand; it is an offer that is not to be twice refused. If you have malice to me, I have none to you. I invited myself to breakfast with you. You and your friends shall be welcome to dine with me. My time is near expired, (looking at his watch)-for Sir Hargrave seemed too irresolute either to accept or refuse his hand.

Mr Jor. I am astonished!-Why, Sir Charles, what a tranquillity must you have within you! The devil take me, Sir Hargrave, if you shall not make up matters with such a noble adver

sary.

Mr Mer. He has won me to his side. By the great God of heaven, I had rather have Sir Charles Grandison for my friend than the greatest prince on earth!

Mr Bag. Did I not tell you, gentlemen ?— D-n me, if I have not hitherto lived to nothing but to my shame! I had rather be Sir Charles Grandison in this one past hour, than the Great Mogul all my life.

Sir Hargrave even sobbed, as I could hear by his voice, like a child.-D-n my heart! said he, in broken sentences-And must I thus put up-And must I be thus overcome? By G-, by G-, Grandison, you must, you must walk down with me into the garden. I have something to propose to you; and it will be in your own choice either to compromise, or to give me the satisfaction of a gentleman; but you must retire with me into the garden.

Sir Ch. With all my heart, Sir Hargrave. And taking off his sword, he laid it on the

table.

Sir Har. And must I do so too?-D-n me, if I do!-Take up your sword, sir.

Sir Ch. I will, to oblige you, Sir Hargrave. It will be always in my choice to draw it, or

not.

Sir Har. D-n me, if I can live to be thus treated-Where the devil have you been till now?-But you must go down with me into the garden.

Sir Ch. Shew me the way, Sir Hargrave. They all interposed; but Sir Charles said, Pray, gentlemen, let Sir Hargrave have his way. We will attend you presently.

The writer then came out, by the gentlemen's leave, who staid behind, at the windows. They expressed their admiration of Sir Charles. And Mr Merceda and Mr Bagenhall (the writer mentions it to their honour) reproached each other, as if they had no notion of what was great and noble in man till now.

Sir Charles and Sir Hargrave soon appeared in sight; walking, and as conversing earnestly. The subject, it seems, was some proposals made by Sir Hargrave about the lady, which Sir Charles would not comply with. And when they came to the grass-plot, Sir Hargrave threw open his coat and waistcoat, and drew; and seemed, by his motions, to insist upon Sir Charles's drawing likewise. Sir Charles had his sword in one hand; but it was undrawn; the other was stuck in his side; his frock was open. Sir Hargrave seemed still to insist upon his drawing, and put himself into a fencing attitude. Sir Charles then, calmly stepping towards him, put down Sir Hargrave's sword with his hand, and put his left arm under Sir Hargrave's sword-arm. Sir Hargrave lifted up the other arm passionately; but Sir Charles, who was on his guard, immediately laid hold of it, and seemed to say something mildly to him; and letting go his left hand, led him towards the house, his drawn sword still in his hand. Sir Hargrave seemed to expostulate, and to resist being led, though but faintly, and as a man overcome with Sir Charles's behaviour; and they both came up together, Sir Charles's arm still within his sword-arm-[The writer retired to his first place.] D-n me, said Sir Hargrave, as he entered the room, this man, this Sir Charles, is the devil-He has made a mere infant of me. Yet, he tells me, he will not be my friend neither, in the point my heart is set upon. He threw his sword upon the floor. This only will I say, as I said below, Be my friend in that one point, and I will forgive you with all my soul.

Sir Ch. The lady is, must be, her own mistress, Sir Hargrave. I have acquired no title to any influence over her. She is an excellent woman. She would be a jewel in the crown of a prince. But you must allow me to say, she must not be terrified. I do assure you, that her life has been once in danger already; all the

care and kindness of my sister and a physician could hardly restore her.

Sir Har. The most inflexible man, devil I should say, I ever saw in my life! But you have no objection to my seeing her? She shall see (yet how can I forgive you that?) what I have suffered in my person for her sake. If she will not be mine, these marks shall be hers, not yours. And though I will not terrify her, I will see if she has no pardon, no pity for me. She knows, she very well knows, that I was the most honourable of men to her, when she was in my power. By all that's sacred, I intended only to make her Lady Pollexfen. I saw she had as many lovers as visitors, and I could not bear it.

You, Sir Charles, will stand my friend; and if money and love will purchase her, she shall yet be mine.

Sir Ch. I promise you no friendship in this case, Sir Hargrave. All her relations leave her, it seems to her own discretion; and who shall offer to lead her choice? What I said below, when you would have made that a condition, I repeat-I think she ought not to be yours; nor ought you, either for your own sake or hers, to desire it. Come, come, Sir Hargrave, consider

the matter better. Think of some other woman, if you are disposed to marry. Your figure

Sir Har. Yes, by G-! I make a pretty figure now, don't I?

Sir Ch. Your fortune will make you happier in marriage with any other woman, after what has happened, than this can make you. For my own part, let me tell you, Sir Hargrave, I would not marry the greatest princess on earth, if I thought she did not love me above all other men, whether I deserved her love or

not.

Sir Har. And you have no view to yourself in the advice you give?-Tell me that-I insist upon your telling me that.

Sir Ch. Whenever I pretend to give advice, I should abhor myself, if I did not wholly consider the good of the person who consulted me; and if I had any retrospection to myself, which might in the least affect that person.

The breakfast was then brought in. This

that follows was the conversation that passed at and after breakfast.

Mr Bag. See what a Christian can do, Merceda. After this, will you remain a Jew?

Mr Mer. Let me see such another Christian,

and I will give you an answer. You, Bagenhall, I hope, will not think yourself entitled to boast of your Christianity?

Mr Bag. Too true! We have been both of us sad dogs.

Sir Har. And I have been the most innocent man of the three; and yet, that's the devil of it, am the greatest sufferer. Curse me, if I can bear to look at myself in a glass!

Mr Jor. You should be above all that, Sir Hargrave. And let me tell you, you need not be

ashamed to be overcome as you are overcome. You really appear to me a greater, and not a less, man, than you did before, by your compromising with such a noble adversary.

Sir Har. That's some comfort, Jordan. But, d-n me, Sir Charles, I will see the lady; and you shall introduce me to her too.

Sir Ch. That cannot be-What! Shall I introduce a man to a woman, whom I think he ought no more to see, than she should see him? If I thought you would go, I might, if she requested it, be there, lest, from what she has suffered already, she should be too much terrified.

Sir Har. What, sir! You would not turn Quixote again?

Sir Ch. No need, Sir Hargrave. You would not again be the giant who should run away with the lady.

The gentlemen laughed.

Sir Har. By G—, sir, you have carried your matters very triumphantly.

Sir Ch. I mean not triumph, Sir Hargrave. But where either truth or justice is concerned, I hope I shall never palliate.

Mr Bag. Curse me, if I believe there is such another man in the world!

Sir Ch. I am sorry to hear you say that, Mr Bagenhall. Occasion calls not out every man equally.

Sir Har. Why did I not strike him? D-n me, that must have provoked you to fight.

Sir Ch. Provoked, in that case, I should have been, Sir Hargrave. I told you, that I would not bear to be insulted. But, so warranted to take other methods, I should not have used my sword: the case has happened to me before now but I would be upon friendly terms with you, Sir Hargrave.

Sir Har. Curse me, if I can bear my own littleness!

Sir Ch. When you give this matter your cool attention, you will find reason to rejoice, that an enterprize, begun in violence, and carried on so far as you carried it, concluded not worse. Every opportunity you will have for exerting your good qualities, or for repenting of your bad, will contribute to your satisfaction to the end of your life. You could not have been happy, had you prevailed over me. Think you, that a murderer ever was a happy man? I am the more serious, because I would have you think of this affair. It might have been a very serious one.

Sir Har. You know, Sir Charles, that I would have compromised with you below. But not one point

Sir Ch. Compromise, Sir Hargrave!-As I told you, I had no quarrel with you; you proposed conditions, which I thought should not be complied with. I aimed not to carry any point. Self-defence, I told you, was the whole of my system.

Sir Ch. I have before now met a challenger; but it was when I could not avoid it; and with the resolution of standing only on my own defence, and in the hope of making an enemy a friend. Had I———

Mr Bag. What poor toads, Merceda, are we! Mr Mer. Be silent, Bagenhall; Sir Charles had not done speaking. Pray, Sir Charles――

Sir Ch. I was going to say, that had I ever premeditatedly given way to a challenge, that I could have declined, I should have considered the acceptance of it as the greatest blot of my life: I am naturally choleric; yet, in this article, I hope I have pretty much subdued myself. In the affair between Sir Hargrave and me, I have the pleasure to reflect, that passion, which I hold to be my most dangerous enemy, has not had, in any one moment, an ascendency over

me.

Sir Har. No, by my soul! And how should it? You came off too triumphantly. You were not hurt. You have no marks to shew. May I be cursed, if, in forgiving you, which yet I know not how to do, I do not think myself the greater hero!

Sir Ch. I will not contest that point with you, Sir Hargrave. There is no doubt but the man, who can subdue his passion and forgive a real injury, is a hero. Only remember, sir, that it was not owing to your virtue that I was not hurt; and that it was not my intention to hurt

you.

Mr Jor. I am charmed with your sentiments, Sir Charles. You must allow me the honour of your acquaintance. We all acknowledge duelling to be criminal; but no one has the courage to break through a bad custom.

Sir Ch. The empty, the false glory, that men have to be thought brave, and the apprehension of being deemed cowards among men, and among women too, very few men aim to get above.

Mr Jor. But you, Sir Charles, have shewn that reputation and conscience are entirely reconcileable.

Mr Bag. You have, by Heaven! And I beg of you, sir, to allow me to claim your farther acquaintance. You may save a soul by it.Merceda, what say you?

Mr Mer. Say! What a devil can I say? But the doctrine would have been nothing without the example.

Sir Har. And all this at my expense !-But, Sir Charles, I must, I will have Miss Byron.

Mr Jor. I think everything impertinent, that hinders me from asking questions for my information and instruction, of a man so capable of giving both, on a subject of this importance. Allow me, Sir Charles, to ask a few questions, in order to confirm me quite your proselyte.

Sir Ch. Taking out his watch, as I saw.]

Time wears. Let my servant be called in. The weather is cold. I directed him to attend before the door.

It was immediately ordered, with apologies. Sir Ch. Ask me, Mr Jordan, what questions you please.

Mr Jor. You have been challenged more than once, I presume.

Sir Ch. I am not a quarrelsome man ; but as it was early known that I made it a principle not to engage in a duel, I was the more subjected, I have reason to think, for that, to inconveniencies of this nature.

Mr Jor. Had you always, Sir Charles, that magnanimity, that intrepidity, and steadiness, I know not what to call it, which we have seen and admire in you?

Sir Ch. I have always considered spirit as the distinction of a man. My father was a man of spirit. I never feared man, since I could write man. As I never sought danger, or went out of the way to meet it, I looked upon it, when it came, as an unavoidable evil, and as a call upon me for fortitude. And hence I hardly ever wanted that presence of mind in it, which a man ought to shew; and which sometimes, indeed, was the means of extricating me from it.

Sir Har. An instance of which, this morning, I suppose you think, has produced?

Sir Ch. I had not that in my head. In Italy, indeed, I should hardly have acted as in the instance you hint at. But in England, and, Sir Hargrave, I was willing to think, in Cavendish Square, I could not but conclude myself safe. I know my own heart. I wished you no evil, sir. I was calm. I expected to meet you full of fire, full of resentment: but it is hard, thought I, (as some extraordinary step seems necessary to be taken,) if I cannot content myself with that superiority, (excuse me, Sir Hargrave,) which my calmness, and Sir Hargrave's passion, must give me over him, or any man. My sword was in my power. Had I even apprehended assassination, the house of an English gentleman could not have been the place for it; and where a confidence was reposed. But one particular instance, I own, I had in my mind, when I said what I did.

All the gentlemen besought him to give it. Sir Ch. In the raging of the war, now, so seasonably for all the powers at variance, concluded, I was passing through a wood in Germany, in my way to Manheim. My servant, at some distance before me, was endeavouring to find out the right road, there being more than one. He rode back affrighted, and told me he had heard a loud cry of murder, succeeded by groans, which grew fainter and fainter, as those of a dying person; and besought me to make the best of my way back. As I was thinking to do so, (though my way lay through the wood, and I had got more than half way in it,) I beheld six pandours issue from that inner part of the wood, into which, in all probability, they

had dragged some unhappy passenger; for I saw a horse bridled and saddled, without a rider, grazing by the road side. They were well armed. I saw no way to escape. They probably knew every avenue in and out of the wood: I did not. They stopped when they came with in two musket shots of me, as if they had waited to see which way I took. Two of them had dead poultry slung across their shoulders, which shewed them to be common plunderers. I took a resolution to ride up to them. I bid my servant, if he saw me attacked, make the best of his way for his own security, while they were employed either in rifling or murdering me; but if they suffered me to pass, to follow me. He had no portmanteau to tempt them. That, and my other baggage, I had caused to be sent by water to Manheim.-I am an Englishman, gentlemen, said I, (judging, if Austrians, as Í supposed they were, that plea would not disavail me:) I am doubtful of my way. Here is a purse; holding it out. As soldiers, you must be gentlemen: it is at your service, if one or two of you will be so kind as to escort and guide me through this wood. They looked upon one another: I was loath they should have time to deliberate I am upon business of great consequence. Pray direct me the nearest way to Manheim. Take these florins.

At last, one that seemed of authority among them, held out his hand: and, taking the purse, said something in Sclavonian; and two of them, with their pieces slung on their shoulders, and their sabres drawn, led me out of the wood in safety; but hoped, at parting, my farther generosity. I found a few more florins for them; and they rode back into the wood; I suppose to their fellows; and glad I was to come off so well. Had I either seemed afraid of them,or endeavoured to escape, probably I had been lost. Two persons were afterwards found murdered in the wood; one of them, perhaps, the unhappy man whom my servant had heard cry out, and groan.

Mr Jor. I feel now very sensibly, Sir Charles, your danger and escape. Your fortitude indeed was then of service to you.

Sir Har. But, Sir Charles, methinks I shall be easier in myself, if you give me one instance of your making, before now, an enemy a friend. Have you one in point?

Sir Ch. Stories of this nature come very from a man's own mouth.

ill