hree miles distant. No spare bed, a wretched smoky fire; and hard beer,
and poor cheese, called Isle of Wight rock, were all the accommodation our
host could provide. His parlour was just painted; but half-a-dozen
sectarian books and an ill-toned flute amused us for an hour; then we
again started, in harder rain than ever, for Newport. Compelled to halt
twice, we saw some deplorable scenes of cottage misery, almost enough to
put us out of conceit of rusticity, till after crossing a bleak, dreary
heath, we espied the distant light of Newport. Never had we beheld gas
light with such ecstasy, not even on the first lighting of St. James's
Park. It was the eve of the Cowes' regatta, and the town was full; but our
luggage was there, and we were secure. A delicious supper at the Bugle,
and liberal outpourings of Newport ale, at length put us in good humour
with our misfortunes; but on the following morning we hastened on to Ryde,
and thus passed by steam to Portsmouth; having resolved to defer our
geological expedition to that day twelve months. Perhaps we may again
touch on this little journey. We have done for the present, lest our
number should interrupt the enjoyment of any of the thousand pedestrians
who are at this moment tracking

The slow ascending hill, the lofty wood
That mantles o'er its brow.

or coasting the castled shores and romantic cliffs of Vectis, or the Isle
of Wight.

PHILO.

* * * * *

MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS

DUELS IN FRANCE.

Duels had at one time become so frequent in France as to require
particular enactments for their prevention; as, for example, when the debt
about which any dispute occurred did not amount to five-pence. The
regulation of the mode in which the barbarous custom might be maintained
had engaged the attention of several of the French kings. In 1205, Philip
Augustus restricted the length of the club, with which single combat was
then pursued, to three feet; and in 1260, Saint Louis abolished the
practice of deciding civil matters by duelling. With the revival of
literature and of the arts, national manners became ameliorated, and duels
necessarily declined. It was still, however, not unusual for the French to
promote or to behold those single combats over which the pages of romance
have thrown a delusive charm, and which were, in early times, hallowed, in
the opinion of the vulgar, by their accompanying superstitious ceremonies.