Duelling Days in the Army #266468

"Duelling," said that clever, though rather eccentric philosophical writer, Mandeville, "is the tie of society, and although we are beholden to our frailties for the chief ingredient in it, there has been no virtue, at least" (he adds) "that I am acquainted with, which has proved half so instrumental to the civilizing of mankind; who, in great societies, would soon degenerate into cruel villains and treacherous slaves, were honour to be removed from among them."<br><br>But what is honour? The other day a captain in the Russian army stole some seventy pounds from a lady's bag, and when the money was found upon him he pulled out a revolver and shot himself, preferring death to the dishonour of being discovered to be a thief.