"We can with authority contradict the account in the London Evening Post
of last night, of a duel between Mr. M--t--ws and Mr. S--r--n, as to
the time and event of their meeting, Mr. S. having been at his place on
Saturday, and both these gentlemen being here at present."]

With the odor of this transaction fresh about him, Mr. Mathews retired
to his estate in Wales, and, as he might have expected, found himself
universally shunned. An apology may be, according to circumstances,
either the noblest effort of manliness or the last resource of fear, and
it was evident, from the reception which this gentleman experienced
every where, that the former, at least, was not the class to which his
late retraction had been referred. In this crisis of his character, a
Mr. Barnett, who had but lately come to reside in his neighborhood,
observing with pain the mortifications to which he was exposed, and
perhaps thinking them, in some degree, unmerited, took upon him to urge
earnestly the necessity of a second meeting with Sheridan, as the only
means of removing the stigma left by the first; and, with a degree of
Irish friendliness, not forgotten in the portrait of Sir Lucius
O'Trigger, offered himself to be the bearer of the challenge. The
desperation of persons, in Mr. Mathews's circumstances, is in general
much more formidable than the most acknowledged valor; and we may easily
believe that it was with no ordinary eagerness he accepted the proposal
of his new ally, and proceeded with him, full of vengeance, to Bath.

The elder Mr. Sheridan, who had but just returned from Ireland, and had
been with some little difficulty induced to forgive his son for the wild
achievements he had been engaged in during his absence, was at this time
in London, making arrangements for the departure of his favorite,
Charles, who, through the interest of Mr. Wheatley, an old friend of the
family, had been appointed Secretary to the Embassy in Sweden. Miss