Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/492

 402 NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 a vm. MAY 21, 1921. travelling as escort to Louise de Querou- aille, who was then repairing to Whitehall on her mission of concubinage and di- plomacy. Meanwhile the vein of cool assurance and unflagging humour which had won for Joe Haines the good will of many an English noble had likewise proved an open sesame at the Grand Monarque's court. Thanks to a sound knowledge of French and Italian, Joe was as much at his ease in Paris as in London. But, seeing that he had already dissipated that cool thousand a year (whether his own or somebody else's), and that the doors of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, were yawning widely for his return, it is not unnatural to ask why he was lingering behind after the departure of his ducal patron and purse- bearer. One has only to put two and two together to find that the Grand Monarque's pleasure was at the bottom of the mystery. The solution of the problem lies in what William Perwich wrote to Joe's old chief, Sir Joseph Williamson, in a letter from Paris, dated October 25, 1670 : The King will be (here I mean) at Saint Germains this day to see the Dolphin, upon whose indisposition the King broke up all his divertisements in the midst to come away. I think I told you something of Jo. Haines ; now I can add that he has behaved himself there to everybody's wonder, and diverted the King by severall English dances, to his great satisfaction, and that of all the court. If you should think it convenient, it would do him a great kindnesse in England to mention him in the Gazette among the King's divertisements at Chambort, where, whilst the Balets were pre- paring, he hunted the wild bore and phesants : By the enclosed you see the severall entries and manner of the Balet ; between every one Haines had order to Dance by himselfe, and, notwith- standing the confronting of the best dancers, carried it off to admiration, and was ordred %o dance some things twice over. These facts have not hitherto been credited unto Haines for righteousness. But for the happy publication by the Camden Society of ' The Dispatches of William Perwich ' they would have alto- gether escaped us. Perwich' s details are of prime importance, not only because they reveal how England triumphed in playing the role of uninvited guest at the banquet served in ' Le Ballet des Nations,' but also because they indicate how it chanced that no record of Haines's appearance was preserved in the published accounts of the production. The Drury Lane droll was absent from the rehearsals of the Ballet, and his interludes of eccentric dancing had no place in its scheme. He received no formal invitation to the feast and yet was given the seat of honour. One can readily divine what capital a latter-day comedian would make of such an achievement. Unfortunately for Joe, however, the blatant art of theatrical advertisement had not yet sprung into being. It must needs have been that Wil- liamson failed to take Perwich' s (probably inspired) hint as to the advisability of mentioning his quondam secretary's success in the Gazette, for nobody remarked the faintest halo around Joe's head on his welcome return to Drury Lane. W. J. LAWRENCE. TRIAL BY COURT-MARTIAL OF A DUELLIST. NEWFOUNDLAND, 1826. (See ante, p. 381.) CAPTAIN MOBICE'S ADDRESS. " May it please your Lordships, and Gentlemen of the Jury, " Placed in the same unfortunate situation as my friend, Captain Budkin, and by the law liable to the same punishment ; with feelings, too, like his, lacerated by the late melancholy event, as well as by a severe domestic calamity, of which I have received intelligence since my confinement, I beg to claim the same indulgence which has been extended to him, of reading the few words I have to urge in my defence to the charge upon which we stand indicted. " Gentlemen, there are some circumstances attending the late unhappy affair, to which Captain Rudkin, through delicacy, has avoided adverting, which will, I trust, in the opinion of you all, exculpate our conduct ; at least, they will convince you that it has been honourable throughout, and that instead of fermenting the unfortunate dispute, both Dr. Strachan and myself used every exertion to bring it to an amicable adjustment, as far as we consistently could, without compromising the characters of our principals : and I must do Captain Rudkin the justice to observe that he was perfectly content to accede to our pacific views, and to place his honour in our hands. But, gentlemen, the obstinate determination of the deceased not to make that apology, which I, although his friend, conceived as a gentleman he might have done, without any imputation on his courage or character, and which the very gross provocation ! he had given Captain Rudkin imperiously
 * required, completely defeated our endeavours.

" But, gentlemen, from the secrecy invariably observed upon such occasions, many of these i circumstances must rest upon our own assurance j as men of honour and British officers, strengthened, indeed, by some collateral circumstances which I will be laid in evidence before you.