that women, who can mostly get silly people to fight for them, should not fight themselves is natural, but there are instances on record in which ladies have shown their determination to avenge their own wrongs.
madame de villechen mentions a duel fought with swords by the henriette sylvie of molière with another woman, both in male attire. in the letters of madame dunoyer, a case is mentioned of a lady of beaucaire and a young lady of rank, who fought with swords in their garden, and would have killed each other had they not been separated; this meeting had been preceded by a regular challenge.
de la colombière mentions a duel that took place on the boulevard st. antoine between two ladies of doubtful virtue, in which they inflicted on each other’s face and bosom several wounds, two points at which female jealousy would naturally aim. st. foix relates the case of mademoiselle durieux, who in the open street fought 271 her lover of the name of antinotti. but the most celebrated female duellist was the actress, maupin, one of the performers at the opera. serane, the famous fencing-master, was one of her lovers, and from him she received many valuable lessons. being insulted one day by an actor of the name of dumény, she called him out; but as he refused to give her satisfaction, she carried away his watch and his snuff-box as trophies of her victory. another performer having presumed to offend her, on his declining a meeting was obliged to kneel down before her and implore forgiveness. one evening at a ball, having behaved in a very rude manner to a lady, she was requested to leave the room, which she did on the condition that those gentlemen who had warmly espoused the offended lady’s cause should accompany her. to this proposal they agreed; when after a hard combat she killed them all, and quietly returned to the ball-room. louis xiv. granted her a pardon, and she withdrew to brussels, where she became the mistress of the elector of bavaria. however, she soon after returned to the parisian opera, and died in 1707 at the age of thirty-seven.
under the regency a pistol meeting took place between the marquise de nesle and the countess polignac for the possession of the duc de richelieu; and in more modern times, so late, indeed, as 1827, a madame b—— at st. 272 rambert, received a challenge to fight with pistols; and about the same period a lady of chateauroux, whose husband had received a slap in the face without resenting the insult, called out the offender, and fighting him with swords severely wounded him.
in 1828 a duel took place between a young girl and a garde du corps. she had been betrayed by the gallant soldier, and insisted upon satisfaction, selecting her own weapons by the right of an offended party. two shots were exchanged, but without any result, as the seconds very wisely had not loaded with ball. the young lady, however, ignorant of this precaution, fired first, and received the fire of her adversary with the utmost coolness, when, to try her courage, after taking a long and deliberate aim, he fired in the air, and thus terminated the meeting, which no doubt led to many others of a less hostile nature.
in the same month, as a striking instance of the contagion of this practice, a duel was fought near strasbourg between a french woman and a german lady, both of whom were in love with a painter. the parties met on the ground armed with pistols, with seconds of their own sex. the german damsel wanted to fire across a pocket handkerchief, but the french lady and her seconds insisted upon a distance of twenty-five paces, they both fired without effect, when the exasperated german insisted that they should 273 carry on the contest until one of the parties fell. this determination, however, was controlled by the seconds, who put a stop to further proceedings, but were unable to bring about a reconciliation.
we shall shortly see that our english ladies have shown as much determination under similar circumstances; and when we consider the bitter animosity that frequently exists between women, who are not in the habit of resenting their real or supposed wrongs by having recourse to a personal satisfaction, which may be considered the safety-valve of passions, and which not unfrequently supersedes assassination, one may be surprised that duels are not more frequent between them. their mode of living and habits must induce them to brood more deeply than men over the insults which their pride and vanity have received, and in both sexes these sentiments, when ruffled, can rarely be smoothed down. the only reason which may be adduced to account for the circumstance is their natural timidity as regards personal danger, to which we may add the greater certainty of avenging their injuries by intrigue and slander, “whose edge is sharper than the sword.”
