surprised if she should remain blind to his deserts, for nothing was
more capricious than a woman's mind, and the affection of that sex was
seldom purchased with virtue alone. That my declaration might have the
better effect, I took notice of his deshabille, and, professing sorrow
at seeing a gentleman reduced, slipped two guineas into his hand, at
sight of which he threw away his pistols, and hugging me in his arms,
cried, "Arrah, by Jasus, now, you are the best friend I have met
with these seven long years!" When I had suffered some minutes in his
embrace, he quitted me, and picking up his rusty arms, wished the devil
might burn him if ever he should give me any further trouble about
womankind.

The quarrel being thus amicably composed, I begged leave to look at his
pistols, which I found so crazy and so foul, that I believe it was happy
for him neither of them was discharged, for one of them would certainly
have split in the going off, and he would, in all probability, have lost
his hand in the explosion; but what gave me a lively idea of the man's
character was, to find, upon examination, that one of them had been
loaded without being primed, and the other primed without a charge.

While we walked home together, I expressed a desire of knowing my new
friend's history; and he informed me of his having served in the German
army as a volunteer against the Turks; that for his behaviour at the
siege of Belgrade, he had been honoured with an ensign's commission, and
afterwards promoted to the rank of lieutenant, in which station it was
his misfortune to affront his captain, who challenged him to the field,
and was killed in the duel, upon which he was obliged to retreat; that
he had been in England some years soliciting his friends for provision
in the British army; but being hitherto unsuccessful, was desired by Mr.
Gahagan to turn his thoughts to matrimony, and make his fortune by an
advantageous match; in consequence of which advice, he had made up to
Melinda: and, having heard by means of an Irish footman in the family,
that I was her chief favourite, had called me out in hopes of removing
by my death the greatest obstruction to his desires; but now he was
convinced of my honour and generosity, he swore by the blessed Virgin,
he would think of her no more, if there were not another woman in the
world. As a further proof of his veracity, which I did not at all doubt,
he opened an old iron snuff-box, and pulled out hi