demands, and prudent measures; that she would assist them in getting whatever was necessary to their barrier, and in settling, to their satisfaction, the exceptions made by France out of the tariff of one thousand six hundred and sixty-four; that no other difficulties remained of moment to retard the peace, since the Queen had obtained Sicily for the Duke of Savoy; and, in the settlement of the Low Countries, would adhere to what she delivered from the throne:  That as to the empire, Her Majesty heartily wished their barrier as good as could be desired; but that we were not now in circumstances to expect every thing exactly according to the scheme of Holland:  France had already offered a great part, and the Queen did not think the remainder worth the continuance of the war.”

Her Majesty conceived the peace in so much forwardness, that she thought fit, about this time, to nominate the Duke of Hamilton and the Lord Lexington for ambassadors in France and Spain, to receive the renunciations in both courts, and adjust matters of commerce.

The duke[23] was preparing for his journey, when he was challenged to a duel[24] by the Lord Mohun,[25] a person of infamous character.  He killed his adversary upon the spot, though he himself received a wound; and, weakened by the loss of blood, as he was leaning in the arms of his second, was most barbarously stabbed in the breast by Lieutenant-General Macartney,[26] who was second to Lord Mohun.  He died a few minutes after in the field, and the murderer made his escape.  I thought so surprising an event might deserve barely to be related, although it be something foreign to my subject.

[Footnote 23:  James, Duke of Hamilton, was a gentleman of the bed-chamber to King Charles II.  He succeeded his father in the title, April 18th, 1694, and was sent the same year envoy extraordinary to France; ... he was killed, November 15th, 1712. [S.]]

[Footnote 24:  Swift’s account of the duel is exactly agreeable to the depositions of Colonel Hamilton before a committee of the council. [S.]]

[Footnote 25:  Charles Lord Mohun was the last offspring of a very noble and ancient family, of which William de Mohun, who accompanied the Norman conqueror, was the first founder in England. [S.]]

[Footnote 26:  General Macartney was tried, at the King’s Bench bar, for the murder, June 13th, 1716; and the jury found him guilty of man-slaughter. [S.]]

The Earl of Strafford, who had come to England in May last,[27] in order to give Her Majesty an account of the disposition of affairs in Holland, was now returning with her last instructions, to let the Dutch minister know, “That some points would probably meet with difficulties not to be overcome, which once might have been easily obtained:  To shew what evil consequences had already flowed from their delay and irresolution, and to entreat them to fix on some proposition, reasonable in itself, as well as possible