our larger cities. There was a brilliant array of beauty in the boxes, and a horde of sallow Spaniards and whiskered Frenchmen in the pit.

The hour of opening "the tournament" had arrived, and my fellow cavaliers were in fine spirits and eager to commence the encounter; when, just as the blast of the trumpet was about to announce the first assault, a note, mentioning the sudden indisposition of a near relation, called one of them away, and nearly discomposed all our arrangements. The Colonel, however, stepped promptly forward and explained the difficulty as a cause of delay, at the same time requesting any one of his old pupils who might be present to fill the place of the absent combatant. He had scarcely retired from the arena, before a gentleman followed him to the place near the stables where we were waiting, and signified his readiness to take a part in the grand assault, provided he should be allowed to ride his own horse upon the occasion. The condition was of course assented to; the horse, which was kept in a stable in the neighbourhood, soon made his appearance, and the volunteer mount. ed with the rest of us. We were now provided with lances, which were made with wooden heads, and had their whole length sheathed in leather to prevent any accident to the conflicting parties in case they should splinter, when a sharp point of wood might prove as dangerous as if they were shod with steel. We were then divided into two parties by lot; either side being distinguished by the colour of their baldricks or silken scarfs-which, if I remember aright were crimson and light blue. When each man had adjusted his fencing mask and cap, and seen that his spurs properly set off the polished Suwarrow boot, which was the fashion of the time, it was announced that all was ready. "The flourish of trumpets," as the advertisement expressed it, invited our entré; and the two squads, consisting of ten troopers each, trotted into the circle by two sepa rate passages. The whole affair does, I confess, seem somewhat ridiculous, when I review it with my present taste and habits. But, alas! how many of the scenes and sallies of youth will bear the reflection of maturer years? It is unfair to judge our extravagances of spirit in early life by the ex post facto laws of age. It is like looking upon some barren shoal from which the tide has ebbed, and quarrelling with the bright waves that once clothed its naked. ness and beautified its deformity.

The spectators received us with warm plaudits, and exhibited as serious an interest as if it were a tourney of mailed knights they were about to witness. The truth is, we were a more simple, earnest, and natural people twenty-five years since than now. We had not yet learned that apathy was the essence of good breeding,

and sneering the soul of wit. I may add, too, that wealth, though even then deified, was not yet enthroned as the only divinity in the hearts of my countrymen. In a word, they were yet so rude as to feel a lively interest in other matters beside those which minister to mere utility and dreaming not of Temperance Societies, and other Trades' Unions of moral reform, they conceived that they might catch instruction from Shakspeare as acted by Cooke, and leave folly to the lash of Irving and Paulding, without resorting to a more patent way of reforming it than patronizing the playhouse and Salmagundi.

The trumpet now called us to our stations, and forming in open order upon opposite sides of the arena, each man selected his opponent, and the signal being given, the combatants all spurred to the charge. The cavalier opposite to me chanced to be the gentleman who had so politely volunteered to take a part in the assault at the last moment. He was apparently a strong man, and was so well mounted that I expected to have no feeble antagonist; and indeed the result might well have been different had his horse been equipped with a proper saddle for such an encounter. But it was only a low English trotting saddle, while mine was a deep demipique, in which even an indifferent rider might secure himself with firmness. I saw at a glance the advantage which this gave me, and suited my play accordingly. Dropping my heels low in the stirrup, and gluing my knees to the surcingle, I bent forward as I poised my lance for the encounter. The stranger seemed too confident of victory to throw away any skill upon his opponent; he raised himself erect in his saddle, and rushed to the charge. His hit would have been a full and fair one, but, slightly swerving my person, I received the lance obliquely upon the leather plastrum with which our bosoms were defended, and it shivered in the encounter. Not so with my thrust however, which took effect squarely upon the chest of my antagonist, and was made resistless by my trained circus horse executing a curvette at the moment, which gave a downward impetus to the lunge, and fairly bore my antagonist to the ground. The low cantle of his saddle afforded no stay to his yielding person, and he slipped over the crupper of his horse as if swept from his seat by the wand of an enchanter. The tan-bark with which the ring was cushioned, gave him a kindly though inglorious reception as his shoulders came in contact with the ground, and his heels were thrown upward toward the gallery. He sprang to his feet however, almost before the laughter and plaudits which exploded simultaneously could have reached his ear, and his eyes flashed fire through his wire mask as he made a half movement toward me, and then quickly turning on his heel, hurried in confusion from the ring. The rest of my party

had not fared so well as I did. The majority of them were worsted by the opposing band; many of whom in turn were so bruised and shaken, that they had reason long afterward

"To rue the jousting of that day."

The "assault," in fact, proved of a more perilous character than one could readily have anticipated, considering that the parties engaged were well practised in the sport, and had often thus exer. cised together. There was one feature in the affair, whose influ ence seemed to have escaped every one till now-and that was, that young men habitually amusing themselves in a riding-school, were very different creatures when called for the first time to tilt before a large assemblage of spectators, many of whom were girls of fashion to whom their persons were known. The presence of the females gave a real and furious character to the onset of these hot-blooded youths, that for the moment took away all ridicule from the exhibition, and dignified it by the presence of danger. I have since witnessed many a grand assault in our fencing schools both at New-York and New-Orleans, but I believe that this tournament, though not so celebrated as that given by the British officers near Philadelphia during the Revolution, is the first and last tilting match of which the Manhattanese can boast.

The ten conquerors were after some discussion duly proclaimed. But one hapless knight, who had triumphed over his enemy, could not triumph over the pain of a sprained ancle sufficiently to take his place upon the stage which was now erected for the small sword exercise. As a matter of courtesy, his privilege of contesting for the prize was assigned to the gentleman who had volunteered in the first assault, and who seemed anxious for an opportunity of ef facing the recollection of his fall by showing his skill in the use of another weapon than the lance. I had not yet seen the face of this person, masked as it was with its iron vizard; and my astonishment was.not slight, when I caught a glance of his countenance, to recognize one familiar to me, and one whom the reader may remember when I have occasion to repeat his name-a name which I cannot even write without a revulsion of feeling.

Lots were now drawn to decide who should commence the foil play; and No. 1 and No. 2 were soon matched upon the floor. Sufficient breathing time being then given, No. 3 contested the prize with the conqueror, and No. 4 in turn succeeded. None of these kept their ground against more than one antagonist, and there was nothing interesting in the play until No. 6 was called; when a short, florid, sailor-looking person stepped upon the stage, and with a few furious passes vanquished two opponents in succession.

The seventh lot had been drawn by the stranger volunteer. His No. was now called, and my cousin Jocelyn-for he it was that had been my opponent in the first contest-placed himself upon the floor.

It was the first time that I had seen this person since he crossed my path on the eventful day mentioned in the second chapter of these memoirs: and the associations which his appearance now brought to mind, called up that choking sensation which the reader may some time have known when shadowy thoughts of the past have suddenly flitted before him; and the unbidden memories of some painful event come crowding back upon the mind that seemed, but a moment before, to be freed from them for ever.

Jocelyn, although he bore something unpleasant in his countenance that half libertine, half sinister expression which sits so disagreeably upon the features of youth-was withal what the world call a handsome man. His face and figure were both such as la. dies love to look upon; and I thought, when witnessing the assured and not ungraceful manner with which he stepped upon the platform, bent his foil, and stretched himself to his work, that there was an air and style about my rival which would have captivated a stronger mind than that of poor Elsie. His bull-necked and loggylooking antagonist perhaps made his gentleman-like person appear to more advantage from the contrast; and the murmur of applause which pervaded the assemblage when my cousin first crossed foils with his opponent, broke forth in the loudest plaudits when, after passing a few feints, he disarmed him without making a single real thrust. Two fencers now presented themselves in succession to strip the conqueror of his laurels. But fortune still decided for my cousin. Each of his opponents, indeed, claimed to have made a hit, and an appeal was more than once had to the judges; but in the end Jocelyn disarmed them as he had their predecessor, without making one serious thrust. I had drawn the tenth lot myself, and was consequently the last man with whom the conqueror had to contend for the prize. In the first assault in which he had taken a part, his superior skill seemed so manifest, that I had anticipated Jocelyn would carry all before him to the end; but the appeal to the judges in the second encounter had induced me to study his motions more narrowly. In all the subsequent passes I had been an intent observer of his play, and before it came to my turn to cross a foil with him, I was fully satisfied that my accomplished cousin did not fence fairly. His forte lay only in a peculiar knack of twisting the foil out of the hand of his opponent. It was not a fair disarming, for the execution of the trick required a most unscientific exposure of his own body; and in performing the feat, he certainly at different

times received no less than three palpable hits, which he refused to acknowledge, and which the judges, dazzled by his skill in one branch of the art, would not see. I felt confident that I could ex. pose the meanness, and I determined to do it if he should attempt to practise it upon me.

Jocelyn, who was several years my senior, and had rarely taken any notice of me while passing my boyish years in his neighbour. hood, evidently did not recognize his kinsman, who had shot up to man's estate since last we met. He seemed, indeed, notwithstanding his former discomfiture, to regard me with the utmost indifference as I now presented myself upon the floor to contend for a prize of which recent good fortune made him feel secure. We saluted, and crossing my foil with his wonted easy grace, he began with the customary feints to throw me off my guard. But I was fully possessed of his play, and my confident cousin soon found that he had no easy antagonist to contend with. I made a lunge, and touched him as fairly as ever man was struck.

"I claim that," I cried.

"Upon my soul, no-pardon me, sir," replied Jocelyn, glancing around him. Col. Delacroix advanced to the judges. One looked doubtingly, but the other three were decidedly against me. I bowed, and we exchanged a few more passes with the same result.

66

"A hit-a decided hit," exclaimed a by-stander, as I drew my feet together, and threw up my foil, waiting for my antagonist to acknowledge it.

"Pardon me, not at all-point de tout-point de tout," cried my cousin, turning toward Monsieur Delacroix.

"A good hit in favour of Mr. Vanderlyn," said the Colonel's aid; but his word passed for nothing. The matter was referred to the umpires. They were this time equally divided, but the decision of Col. Delacroix, who acted as arbiter, was again in favour of my cousin.

me.

A third assault, and the same result with the same decision against Jocelyn, however, this time somewhat lost his self-possession as he made his denial. He turned red in the face, whether from anger or from conscious falsehood I did not know; but I rather think it was the former emotion, as, omitting the usual salute of courtesy, he made me a haughty obeisance when again addressing himself to his work. The air and manner nettled me; and discovering by this time that I was undoubtedly the best fencer of the two, I determined that his insolence should not go unpunished. With this view I claimed a moment's respite in order to exchange the foil I had hitherto used for the stiffest one I could select from the rack. The spectators now seemed exceedingly interested in the result of