“Oh excellent Pharamond, name not a Friend to the unfortunate Spinamont.  I had one, but he is dead by my own Hand; [3] but, oh Pharamond, tho’ it was by the Hand of Spinamont, it was by the Guilt of Pharamond.  I come not, oh excellent Prince, to implore your Pardon; I come to relate my Sorrow, a Sorrow too great for human Life to support:  From henceforth shall all Occurrences appear Dreams or short Intervals of Amusement, from this one Affliction which has seiz’d my very Being:  Pardon me, oh Pharamond, if my Griefs give me Leave, that I lay before you, in the Anguish of a wounded Mind, that you, good as you are, are guilty of the generous Blood spilt this Day by this unhappy Hand:  Oh that it had perished before that Instant!”

  Here the Stranger paused, and recollecting his Mind, after some little
  Meditation, he went on in a calmer Tone and Gesture as follows.

“There is an Authority due to Distress; and as none of human Race is above the Reach of Sorrow, none should be above the Hearing the Voice of it:  I am sure Pharamond is not.  Know then, that I have this Morning unfortunately killed in a Duel, the Man whom of all Men living I most loved.  I command my self too much in your royal Presence, to say, Pharamond, give me my Friend! Pharamond has taken him from me!  I will not say, shall the merciful Pharamond destroy his own Subjects?  Will the Father of his Country murder his People?  But, the merciful Pharamond does destroy his Subjects, the Father of his Country does murder his People.  Fortune is so much the Pursuit of Mankind, that all Glory and Honour is in the Power of a Prince, because he has the Distribution of their Fortunes.  It is therefore the Inadvertency, Negligence, or Guilt of Princes, to let any thing grow into Custom which is against their Laws.  A Court can make Fashion and Duty walk together; it can never, without the Guilt of a Court, happen, that it shall not be unfashionable to do what is unlawful.  But alas! in the Dominions of Pharamond, by the Force of a Tyrant Custom, which is mis-named a Point of Honour, the Duellist kills his Friend whom he loves; and the Judge condemns the Duellist, while he approves his Behaviour.  Shame is the greatest of all Evils; what avail Laws, when Death only attends the Breach of them, and Shame Obedience to them?  As for me, oh Pharamond, were it possible to describe the nameless Kinds of Compunctions and Tendernesses I feel, when I reflect upon the little Accidents in our former Familiarity, my Mind swells into Sorrow which cannot be resisted enough to be silent in the Presence of Pharamond.”

  With that he fell into a Flood of Tears, and wept aloud.

“Why should not Pharamond hear the Anguish he only can relieve others from in Time to come?  Let him hear from me, what they feel who have given Death by the false Mercy of his Administration, and form to himself the Vengeance call’d for by those who have perished by his Negligence.’

R.