| Citation |
NHG-P.764.005
20 Jan 1764:11,12,13 (381)
A Remarkable Duel between two Friends.
From the London Magazine, for Aug. 1764.
To the Author of the London Magazine. Sir,
A paragraph in your magazine of last month, mentioning a
duel between two gentlemen of Ireland, I am led, from
reflecting on the frequency of those unhappy engagements, to
trouble you with the following little narrative.
. . . [19 lines telling the story of a romance between the
writer and his best friend, each of whom had a sister]
--Not to take up your time, sir, Mr. Butler and I grew
passionately in love with the sisters of each other, and
proud to have the opportunity of riveting, as I may say, our
friendship, we agreed upon paying our addressed, which were
kindly received, and one day appointed for the celebration
of the two weddings, to the infinite satisfaction of both
our families;--but, O sir, the eve of our wedding day!--How
justly may I cry out with the poet,
For ever hated be the fatal hour,
For ever dark and comfortless the morn,
No sun to shed its salutary power,
Or mark the circling period I was born!
But let ill fortune all array'd in tears,
Be doom'd attendant on the time alone;
The church-yard screech owl bode uncommon fears
And fright the midnight traveller to stone.
. . . [69 lines, 69 lines, 20 lines describing the falling
out of the friends the night before their weddings, the duel
they fought the next day, how the writer killed his friend,
and the subsequent fates of the two sisters, and the moral
of the story, signed] Ferdinand Obrien.
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