combined to render duelling so common, that scarcely a day passed without
one at least of these hostile meetings. Amongst the French themselves
there were two parties always ready to distribute to each other "des
coups d'epees" - the officers of Napoleon's army and the Bourbonist
officers of the Garde du Corps. Then, again, there was the irritating
presence of the English, Russian, Prussian, and Austrian officers in
the French capital. In the duels between these soldiers and the French,
the latter were always the aggressors. At Tortoni's, on the Boulevards,
there was a room set apart for such quarrelsome gentlemen, where, after
these meetings, they indulged in riotous champagne breakfasts. At this
cafe might be seen all the most notorious duellists, amongst whom I
can call to mind an Irishman in the Garde du Corps, W--, who was a most
formidable fire-eater. The number of duels in which he had been engaged
would seem incredible in the present day: he is said to have killed
nine of his opponents in one year!

The Marquis de H--, descended of an ancient family in Brittany, also
in the Garde du Corps, likewise fought innumerable duels, killing many
of his antagonists. I have heard that on entering the army he was not
of a quarrelsome disposition, but was laughed at, and bullied into fighting
by his brother officers; and, like a wild beast that had once smelt
blood, from the day of his first duel he took a delight in such fatal
scenes - being ever ready to rush at and quarrel with any one. The
marquis has now, I am glad to say, subsided into a very quiet, placable,
and peacemaking old gentleman; but at the time I speak of he was much
blamed for his duel with F--, a young man of nineteen. While dining
at a cafe he exclaimed, "J'ai envie de tuer quelq'un," and rushed out
into the street and to the theatres, trying to pick a quarrel; but he
was so well known that no one was found willing to encounter him. At
last, at the Theatre de la Porte St. Martin, he grossly insulted this