CHAPTER XI.

DUELLING IN FRANCE DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.

Profligacy of the Court during the Regency of Philip d’Orleans.--Disregard of the edict against duelling.--A duel about an Angola cat, fought at Paris in open day.--Duel between the Abbé D’Aydie and a clerk.--Between Contades and Brissac.--Efforts of Louis the Fifteenth to check duelling.--Duel between the Duke de Richelieu and the Count de Gacé.--Between Richelieu and the Count Albani.--Between Richelieu and the Prince de Lixen.--Between Du Vighan and the Count de Meulan.--“La botte de St. Evremont.”--Exploits of St. Foix.--Duel between Bricqueville and La Maugerie.--Rousseau’s denunciation of duelling.--Notions of honour that prevailed at Versailles and the Tuilerie 183