transaction of Mr. M.'s, I doubt not but he will be surprised at my
indifference in not taking the trouble even to explain it. However, I
cannot forbear to observe here, that had I, at the period which this
passage alludes to, known what was the theory which Mr. M. held of
_gentlemanly scuffle_, I might, possibly, have been so unhappy as
to put it out of his power ever to have brought it into practice.

"Mr. B. now charges me with having cut short a number of pretty
preliminaries, concerning which he was treating with Captain Paumier, by
drawing my sword, and, in a vaunting manner, desiring Mr. M. to draw.
Though I acknowledge (with deference to these gentlemen) the full right
of interference which seconds have on such occasions, yet I may remind
Mr. B. that he was acquainted with my determination with regard to
pistols before we went on the Down, nor could I have expected it to have
been proposed. 'Mr. M. drew; Mr. S. advanced, &c.:'--here let me remind
Mr. B. of a circumstance, which I am convinced his memory will at once
acknowledge."

This paper ends here: but in a rougher draught of the same letter (for
he appears to have studied and corrected it with no common care) the
remarks are continued, in a hand not very legible, thus:

"But Mr. B. here represents me as drawing my sword in a _vaunting_
manner. This I take to be a reflection; and can only say, that a
person's demeanor is generally regulated by their idea of their
antagonist, and, for what I know, I may now be writing in a vaunting
style. Here let me remind Mr. B. of an omission, which, I am convinced,
nothing but want of recollection could occasion, yet which is a material
point in an exact account of such an affair, nor does it reflect in the
least on Mr. M. Mr. M. could not possibly have drawn his sword on my