Albemarle to confine Buckingham to his house, or
take some other measures to prevent him from fighting. Albemarle neglected
the order, thinking that the king himself might prevent the combat by some
surer means. The meeting took place at Barn Elms; the injured Shrewsbury
being attended by Sir John Talbot, his relative, and Lord Bernard Howard,
son of the Earl of Arundel. Buckingham was accompanied by two of his
dependents, Captain Holmes and Sir John Jenkins. According to the
barbarous custom of the age, not only the principals, but the seconds
engaged each other. Jenkins was pierced to the heart, and left dead upon
the field, and Sir John Talbot severely wounded in both arms. Buckingham
himself escaping with slight wounds, ran his unfortunate antagonist
through the body, and then left the field with the wretched woman, the
cause of all the mischief, who, in the dress of a page, awaited the issue
of the conflict in a neighbouring wood, holding her paramour's horse to
avoid suspicion. Great influence was exerted to save the guilty parties
from punishment, and the master, as base as the favourite, made little
difficulty in granting a free pardon to all concerned. In a royal
proclamation issued shortly afterwards, Charles II. formally pardoned the
murderers, but declared his intention never to extend in future any mercy
to such offenders. It would be hard, after this, to say who was the most
infamous, the king, the favourite, or the courtesan.

In the reign of Queen Anne, repeated complaints were made of the
prevalence of duelling. Addison, Swift, Steele, and other writers employed
their powerful pens in reprobation of it. Steele especially, in the
_Tatler_ and _Guardian_, exposed its impiety and absurdity, and
endeavoured both by argument and by ridicule to bring his countrymen to a
right way of thinking.[66] His comedy of _The Conscious Lovers_ contains
an admirable exposure of the abuse of the word _honour_, which led men
into an error so lamentable. Swift, writing upon the subject, remarked
that he could see no harm in rogues and fools shooting each other. Addison
and Steele took higher ground; and the latter, in the _Guardian_, summed
up nearly all that could be said upon the subject in the following
impressive words:--"A Christian and a gentleman are made inconsistent
appellations of the same person. You are not to expect eternal life if you
do not forgive injuries, and your mortal life is rendered uncomfortable if
y