The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-20 00:00:00

HIM! WATS& AT LONDON BRIDOL

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LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20.

PERHAIN nothing for many years past has
given such intense satisfaction to the inhabi-
tants of the Confederate States of Leicester-
square and Soho as the squabble which ap-
pears recently to have taken place at Homburg.
Without entering further into the merits of
the discussion, we feel bound, in the inte-
rests of truth, to express the very strongest
doubts that any Italian could have so departed
frum the traditions of his race and nation as to
have practically engaged in it bozo with a native
of Great Britain. It is true that Mr. Lenor-
CHERI.: has a foreign name, but his family have too
long played a prominent part in English politics
to suffer the smallest doubt to exist as to their
possessing those sturdy fighting qualities upon
which we islanders are apt to pride ourselves with
such good reason.

Italian gentlemen, and still more Italians who
are not gentlemen, never settle to a stand-up
fight. 'I hey stand in the street and scream at
each other. They gesticulate furiously. They
put their beards, and sometimes their noses,
within an inch of each other's beards and noses.
They shout almost down each other's open
throats ; and then, after a good hour of these
salutary exercises, they kiss each other, and
go off amidst the .Ithniring murmurs of the crowd
akembled to enjoy the harmless steno, and eat
ices at the nearest cafd together. If it is
winter, they perhaps take a little rum syrup,
highly diluted, which they call a " Punch."
Beyond this very mild signification of the word
punch they know nothing. " Hitting out rtht
" and left front the shoulder," " One for his
" nob," getting each other's " head into Chan-
" eery," and other proceedings familiar to every
public schoolboy in these realms, are quite un-
known upon the continental side of the Channe'.
Sometimes even a sympathising circle of friends
will follow continental quarrellers to the coffee-
house where they are making it up, and indus-
triously endeavour to set them by the ears again.
The device nearly always succeeds, and furnishes
new entertainment to all parties concerned, but a
foreign gentleman would consider his honour and
character gone for ever if he gave or received:ablow.
Continental disputants are ready to make a noise,
to spit at the wind, to tear their hair, but
baste ! lialte In ! .31..asicurs. No one under-
stands better than a continental gentleman
the serious inconvenience of walking about with •
discoloured eye, or a nose a little on one aide. If
the friends who follow them to the coffee-house
are very much in want of excitement, and cannot
get it elsewhere, a duel is proposed. The is a de-
lightful episode in the life of everybody ; and the
incidents connected with it are regulated by time-
honoured traditions which have long since acquired
the force of law. The principals in this romantic
affair commence the business by calling on all their
acquaintance. As news of the shildy has been
already noised abroad by excitable quickunts, they
find their acquaintance all eagerly expecting them ;
other persons keep constantly arriving to obtain
the latest information, and anxious to be mixed
up with the interesting affair on any terms and in
any way. Small groups of them congregate in
corners, and on window sills where the air is thick
with cigar smoke. Now is the time for your
esprit fart to show his contempt for (other
people's) death, and to sneer at (other
people's) danger. Many continental reputations fur
smart sayings are acquired at these times. The
melancholy monotony of fashionable life in citic
where there is no political movement is relieved
for a time, and grows brisk with incident. Good
stories circulate on all hands. It is a happy time.
Persons who have not spoken to each other for
years forget their differences to take part in the
universal enjoyment.

Meanwhile the principals and their seconds are
equal to the occasion. They feign entire ignorance
of all that is going on around them. A respectful
circle follows each of them, and interrogates them
from time to time, to draw them out for the
general information of the company. When spoken
to on any subject whatever they refer in a myste-
rious manner to the time and place which has been
fixed for the pathetic little drama they intend to
perform. They sigh profoundly. They mention
their female friends with tender feeling, especially
those who may be dead, and if any one of them
has an aunt who died before he was horn the de-
ceased lady is sure to be named in his discourse.
Finally, they beat their brnasts, apostrophise
their honour, and shed copious floods of tears
over the fanciful picture with which their
imagination is occupied. In a few hours all
their neighbours and their neighbours' neighbours
are fully informed. The local policemen take
their measures in public, and watch the principals
in and out of gunahops, and on to shooting gal-
leries and fencing schools. If the duellists are of
real social importance the Mayor now begins to