Travels Through France And Italy by Tobias Smollett (beautiful books to read .txt) 📖

All This, Exclusive Of The Risque Of His Own

Life In The Duel, And His Conscience Being Burthened With The

Blood Of A Man, Whom Perhaps He Has Sacrificed To A False

Punctilio, Even Contrary To His Own Judgment. These Are

Reflections Which I Know Your Own Good Sense Will Suggest, But I

Will Make Bold To Propose A Remedy For This Gigantic Evil, Which

Seems To Gain Ground Everyday: Let A Court Be Instituted For

Taking Cognizance Of All Breaches Of Honour, With Power To Punish

By Fine, Pillory, Sentence Of Infamy, Outlawry, And Exile, By

Virtue Of An Act Of Parliament Made For This Purpose; And All

Persons Insulted, Shall Have Recourse To This Tribunal: Let Every

Man Who Seeks Personal Reparation With Sword, Pistol, Or Other

Instrument Of Death, Be Declared Infamous, And Banished The

Kingdom: Let Every Man, Convicted Of Having Used A Sword Or

Pistol, Or Other Mortal Weapon, Against Another, Either In Duel

Or Rencountre, Occasioned By Any Previous Quarrel, Be Subject To

The Same Penalties: If Any Man Is Killed In A Duel, Let His Body

Be Hanged Upon A Public Gibbet, For A Certain Time, And Then

Given To The Surgeons: Let His Antagonist Be Hanged As A

Murderer, And Dissected Also; And Some Mark Of Infamy Be Set On

The Memory Of Both. I Apprehend Such Regulations Would Put An

Effectual Stop To The Practice Of Duelling, Which Nothing But

The Fear Of Infamy Can Support; For I Am Persuaded, That No

Being, Capable Of Reflection, Would Prosecute The Trade Of

Assassination At The Risque Of His Own Life, If This Hazard 

Part 7 Letter 15 ( Nice, January 3, 1764.) Pg 154

Was At The Same Time Reinforced By The Certain Prospect Of

Infamy And Ruin. Every Person Of Sentiment Would In That Case

Allow, That An Officer, Who In A Duel Robs A Deserving Woman

Of Her Husband, A Number Of Children Of Their Father, A Family

Of Its Support, And The Community Of A Fellow-Citizen, Has As

Little Merit To Plead From Exposing His Own Person, As A

Highwayman, Or Housebreaker, Who Every Day Risques His Life

To Rob Or Plunder That Which Is Not Of Half The Importance

To Society. I Think It Was From The Buccaneers Of America,

That The English Have Learned To Abolish One Solecism In

The Practice Of Duelling: Those Adventurers Decided Their

Personal Quarrels With Pistols; And This Improvement

Has Been Adopted In Great Britain With Good Success; Though

In France, And Other Parts Of The Continent, It Is Looked

Upon As A Proof Of Their Barbarity. It Is, However, The Only

Circumstance Of Duelling, Which Savours Of Common Sense, As It

Puts All Mankind Upon A Level, The Old With The Young, The Weak

With The Strong, The Unwieldy With The Nimble, And The Man Who

Knows Not How To Hold A Sword With The Spadassin, Who Has

Practised Fencing From The Cradle. What Glory Is There In A Man's

Vanquishing An Adversary Over Whom He Has A Manifest Advantage?

To Abide The Issue Of A Combat In This Case, Does Not Even

Require That Moderate Share Of Resolution Which Nature Has

Indulged To Her Common Children. Accordingly, We Have Seen Many

Instances Of A Coward's Provoking A Man Of Honour To Battle. In

The Reign Of Our Second Charles, When Duels Flourished In All

Their Absurdity, And The Seconds Fought While Their Principals

Were Engaged, Villiers, Duke Of Buckingham, Not Content With

Having Debauched The Countess Of Shrewsbury And Publishing Her

Shame, Took All Opportunities Of Provoking The Earl To Single

Combat, Hoping He Should Have An Easy Conquest, His Lordship

Being A Puny Little Creature, Quiet, Inoffensive, And Every Way

Unfit For Such Personal Contests. He Ridiculed Him On All

Occasions; And At Last Declared In Public Company, That There Was

No Glory In Cuckolding Shrewsbury, Who Had Not Spirit To Resent

The Injury. This Was An Insult Which Could Not Be Overlooked. The

Earl Sent Him A Challenge; And They Agreed To Fight, At Barns-Elms,

In Presence Of Two Gentlemen, Whom They Chose For Their

Seconds. All The Four Engaged At The Same Time; The First Thrust

Was Fatal To The Earl Of Shrewsbury; And His Friend Killed The

Duke's Second At The Same Instant. Buckingham, Elated With His

Exploit, Set Out Immediately For The Earl's Seat At Cliefden,

Where He Lay With His Wife, After Having Boasted Of The Murder Of

Her Husband, Whose Blood He Shewed Her Upon His Sword, As A

Trophy Of His Prowess. But This Very Duke Of Buckingham Was

Little Better Than A Poltroon At Bottom. When The Gallant Earl Of

Ossory Challenged Him To Fight In Chelsea Fields, He Crossed The

Water To Battersea, Where He Pretended To Wait For His Lordship;

And Then Complained To The House Of Lords, That Ossory Had Given

Him The Rendezvous, And Did Not Keep His Appointment. He Knew The

House Would Interpose In The Quarrel, And He Was Not

Disappointed. Their Lordships Obliged Them Both To Give Their

Word Of Honour, That Their Quarrel Should Have No Other

Consequences.

Part 7 Letter 15 ( Nice, January 3, 1764.) Pg 155

 

 

I Ought To Make An Apology For Having Troubled A Lady With So

Many Observations On A Subject So Unsuitable To The Softness Of

The Fair Sex; But I Know You Cannot Be Indifferent To Any Thing

That So Nearly Affects The Interests Of Humanity, Which I Can

Safely Aver Have Alone Suggested Every Thing Which Has Been Said

By, Madam, Your Very Humble Servant.

 

 

 

Part 7 Letter 16 ( Nice, May 2, 1764..) Pg 156

 

Dear Doctor,--A Few Days Ago, I Rode Out With Two Gentlemen Of

This Country, To See A Stream Of Water Which Was Formerly

Conveyed In An Aqueduct To The Antient City Of Cemenelion, From

Whence This Place Is Distant About A Mile, Though Separated By

Abrupt Rocks And Deep Hollows, Which Last Are Here Honoured With

The Name Of Vallies. The Water, Which Is Exquisitely Cool, And

Light And Pure, Gushes From The Middle Of A Rock By A Hole Which

Leads To A Subterranean Aqueduct Carried Through The Middle Of

The Mountain. This Is A Roman Work, And The More I Considered It,

Appeared The More Stupendous. A Peasant Who Lives Upon The Spot

Told Us, He Had Entered By This Hole At Eight In The Morning, And

Advanced So Far, That It Was Four In The Afternoon Before He Came

Out. He Said He Walked In The Water, Through A Regular Canal

Formed Of A Hard Stone, Lined With A Kind Of Cement, And Vaulted

Overhead; But So High In Most Parts He Could Stand Upright, Yet

In Others, The Bed Of The Canal Was So Filled With Earth And

Stones, That He Was Obliged To Stoop In Passing. He Said That

There Were Air-Holes At Certain Distances (And Indeed I Saw One

Of These Not Far From The Present Issue) That There Were Some

Openings And Stone Seats On The Sides, And Here And There Figures

Of Men Formed Of Stone, With Hammers And Working Tools In Their

Hands. I Am Apt To Believe The Fellow Romanced A Little, In Order

To Render His Adventure The More Marvellous: But I Am Certainly

Informed, That Several Persons Have Entered This Passage, And

Proceeded A Considerable Way By The Light Of Torches, Without

Arriving At The Source, Which (If We May Believe The Tradition Of

The Country) Is At The Distance Of Eight Leagues From This

Opening; But This Is Altogether Incredible. The Stream Is Now

Called La Fontaine De Muraille, And Is Carefully Conducted By

Different Branches Into The Adjacent Vineyards And Gardens, For

Watering The Ground. On The Side Of The Same Mountain, More

Southerly, At The Distance Of Half A Mile, There Is Another Still

More Copious Discharge Of The Same Kind Of Water, Called La

Source Du Temple. It Was Conveyed Through The Same Kind Of 

Part 7 Letter 16 ( Nice, May 2, 1764..) Pg 157

Passage, And Put To The Same Use As The Other; And I Should

Imagine They Are Both From The Same Source, Which, Though

Hitherto Undiscovered, Must Be At A Considerable Distance, As The

Mountain Is Continued For Several Leagues To The Westward,

Without Exhibiting The Least Signs Of Water In Any Other Part.

But, Exclusive Of The Subterranean Conduits, Both These Streams

Must Have Been Conveyed Through Aqueducts Extending From Hence To

Cemenelion Over Steep Rocks And Deep Ravines, At A Prodigious

Expence. The Water From This Source Du Temple, Issues From A

Stone Building Which Covers The Passage In The Rock. It Serves To

Turn Several Olive, Corn, And Paper Mills, Being Conveyed Through

A Modern Aqueduct Raised Upon Paultry Arcades At The Expence Of

The Public, And Afterwards Is Branched Off In Very Small Streams,

For The Benefit Of This Parched And Barren Country. The Romans

Were So Used To Bathing, That They Could Not Exist Without A

Great Quantity Of Water; And This, I Imagine, Is One Reason That

Induced Them To Spare No Labour And Expence In Bringing It From A

Distance, When They Had Not Plenty Of It At Home. But, Besides

This Motive, They Had Another: They Were So Nice And Delicate In

Their Taste Of Water, That They Took Great Pains To Supply

Themselves With The Purest And Lightest From Afar, For Drinking

And Culinary Uses, Even While They Had Plenty Of An Inferior Sort

For Their Bath, And Other Domestic Purposes. There Are Springs Of

Good Water On The Spot Where Cemenelion Stood: But There Is A

Hardness In All Well-Water, Which Quality Is Deposited In Running

A Long Course, Especially, If Exposed To The Influence Of The Sun

And Air. The Romans, Therefore, Had Good Reason To Soften And

Meliorate This Element, By