rom him who complies with both, merely as they are imposed upon
him by custom; for in the former you will remark an air of vanity and
triumph; whereas when the latter appears in a long Duvillier full of
powder, or has decided a quarrel by the sword, you may perceive in his
face, that he appeals to custom for an excuse. I think it may not be
improper to inquire into the genealogy of this chimerical monster,
called a 'duel', which I take to be an illegitimate species of the
ancient knight-errantry. By the laws of this whim, your heroic person,
or man of gallantry, was indispensably obliged to starve in armour a
certain number of years in the chase of monsters, encounter them at the
peril of his life, and suffer great hardships, in order to gain the
affection of the fair lady, and qualify himself for assuming the
_belair_, that is, of a pretty fellow, or man of honour according to the
fashion: but since the publishing of 'Don Quixote' and extinction of the
race of dragons, which Suetonius says happened in that of Wantley,[300]
the gallant and heroic spirits of these latter times have been under the
necessity of creating new chimerical monsters to entertain themselves
with, by way of single combats, as the only proofs they are able to give
their own sex, and the ladies, that they are in all points men of nice
honour. But to do justice to the ancient and real monsters, I must
observe, that they never molested those who were not of a humour to hunt
for them in the woods and deserts; whereas on the contrary, our modern
monsters are so familiarly admitted and entertained in all the Courts
and cities of Europe (except France) that one can scarce be in the most
humanised society without risking one's life; the people of the best
sort, and the fine gentlemen of the age, being so fond of them, that
they seldom appear in any public place without one. I have some further
considerations upon this subject, which, as you encourage me, shall be
communicated to you, by, sir, a cousin but once removed from the best
family of the Staffs, namely, "Sir,

"Your humble Servant,

"Kinsman and Friend,

"TIM SWITCH."

It is certain, Mr. Switch has hit upon the true source of this evil; and
that it proceeds only from the force of custom that we contradict
ourselves in half the particulars and occurrences of life. But such a
tyranny in love, which the fair impose upon us, is a little too severe,
that we mu