ct in any of the courts, it seems most
probable that it was never issued. This opinion is strengthened by the
fact, that, two years afterwards, the council ordered another duel to be
fought with similar forms, but with less magnificence, on account of the
inferior rank of the combatants. It is not anywhere stated that Henry
interfered to prevent it, notwithstanding his solemn oath; but that, on
the contrary, he encouraged it, and appointed the Marshal de la Marque to
see that it was conducted according to the rules of chivalry. The
disputants were Fendille and D'Aguerre, two gentlemen of the household,
who, quarrelling in the king's chamber, had proceeded from words to blows.
The council, being informed of the matter, decreed that it could only be
decided in the lists. Marshal de la Marque, with the king's permission,
appointed the city of Sedan as the place of combat. Fendille, who was a
bad swordsman, was anxious to avoid an encounter with D'Aguerre, who was
one of the most expert men of the age; but the council authoritatively
commanded that he should fight, or be degraded from all his honours.
D'Aguerre appeared in the field attended by Francois de Vendome, Count de
Chartres, while Fendille was accompanied by the Duke of Nevers. Fendille
appears to have been not only an inexpert swordsman, but a thorough
coward; one who, like Cowley, might have heaped curses on the man,

"(Death's factor sure), who brought
Dire swords into this peaceful world."

On the very first encounter he was thrown from his horse, and, confessing
on the ground all that his victor required of him, slunk away
ignominiously from the arena.

One is tempted to look upon the death of Henry II. as a judgment upon him
for his perjury in the matter of duelling. In a grand tournament
instituted on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter, he broke
several lances in encounters with some of the bravest knights of the time.
Ambitious of still further renown, he would not rest satisfied until he
had also engaged the young Count de Montgommeri. He received a wound in
the eye from the lance of his antagonist, and died from its effects
shortly afterwards, in the forty-first year of his age.

In the succeeding reigns of Francis II., Charles IX., and Henry III., the
practice of duelling increased to an alarming extent. Duels were not rare
in the other countries of Europe at the same period; but in France they
were so frequent, that historians,