Page:Modern literature (1804 Volume 1).djvu/318

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

He went to his friend, whom he found vehemently contending with his father, that he must meet and chastise the villain. "My dear friend," interrupted our hero, "do you believe me a man of honour, or that I would suffer an insult to pass without a punishment adequate to the subject and object?" "I know you would not." "Do you think I would accept a challenge from a footman?" "Unquestionably not." "Or from any one not a gentleman?" "Certainly not." "Can you think the writer of this letter entitled to the treatment of a gentleman?" "Not by conduct; but by his situation in life, and the estimation of society." "His situation in life is nothing to us," replied our hero, "and if you will follow my advice, you will satisfy society, even that part of it that supports the factitious honour of duelling, and punish the fellow without degrading yourself, a gentleman, to the low level of a brutal