of
_Timothy Buck_, had something resembling the old Heroes of Romance,
_Timothy Buck_ return'd Answer in the same Paper with the like Spirit,
adding a little Indignation at being challenged, and seeming to
condescend to fight _James Miller_, not in regard to _Miller_ himself,
but in that, as the Fame went out, he had fought _Parkes_ of _Coventry_.
[2] The Acceptance of the Combat ran in these Words:

"_I_ Timothy Buck _of_ Clare-Market, _Master of the Noble Science of
Defence, hearing he did fight Mr._ Parkes _of_ Coventry, _will not
fail (God Willing) to meet this fair Inviter at the Time and Place
appointed, desiring a clear Stage and no Favour._

Vivat Regina."

I shall not here look back on the Spectacles of the _Greeks_ and
_Romans_ of this kind, but must believe this Custom took its rise from
the Ages of Knight-Errantry; from those who lov'd one Woman so well,
that they hated all Men and Women else; from those who would fight you,
whether you were or were not of their Mind; from those who demanded the
Combat of their Contemporaries, both for admiring their Mistress or
discommending her. I cannot therefore but lament, that the terrible Part
of the ancient Fight is preserved, when the amorous Side of it is
forgotten. We have retained the Barbarity, but lost the Gallantry of the
old Combatants. I could wish, methinks, these Gentlemen had consulted me
in the Promulgation of the Conflict. I was obliged by a fair young Maid
whom I understood to be called _Elizabeth Preston_, Daughter of the
Keeper of the Garden, with a Glass of Water; whom I imagined might have
been, for Form's sake, the general Representative of the Lady sought
for, and from her Beauty the proper _Amarillis_ on these Occasions. It
would have ran better in the Challenge, _I_ James Miller, _Serjeant, who
have travelled Parts abroad, and came last from the Frontiers of_
Portugal, _for the Love of_ Elizabeth Preston, _do assert, That the
said_ Elizabeth is the Fairest of Women. Then the Answer; _I_ Timothy
Buck, _who have stay'd in_ Great Britain _during all the War in Foreign
Parts, for the Sake of_ Susanna Page, _do deny that_ Elizabeth Preston
_is so fair as the said_ Susanna Page. Let _Susanna Page_ look on, and I
desire of _James Miller_ no Favour.

This would give the Battel quite another Turn; and a proper Station for
the Ladies, whose Complexion was disputed by the Sword, would animate
the Disputants with a more gallant Incentive tha