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beset him every league he travelled. I have not heard whether he was ever obliged to use the shooting-irons with effect; but in such an emergency he would be equal to the hair-triggers, for he was a good marksman, and would be more likely to kill or wing an opponent than to "toe" himself, as happened in the first duel described. Thirty years ago John Bourke was a m a n of means and position in Melbourne, was on terms of special intimacy with Sir (then Mr.) John O'Shanassy, and it was on his repeated suggestions that O'Shanassy, when Chief Secretary, took up and expedited the memorable adventure to be known subsequently and for all time as the " Burke and Wills expedition." In those days of affluence Mr. Bourke little dreamed that the whirligig of time would bring him to the low-water mark of a sub. or super in a Government department; but in his, as in many other cases, the French proverb was verified and the unexpected happened. For years hefilledan humble billet in the General Post Office, and being advanced in years his lowly position became precarious. Bourke was superannuated recently (1888), but it was a pity to divorce him, the first Melbourne and Sydney overland mailman, from the Post Office, so long as he was able to render any value for the very moderate wage he received. The second "affair of honour" was disposed of at the beach close to Sandridge, in February, 1841. The belligerents were the surgeon of a recently arrived immigrant ship, and a Mr. H 1. They were placed at twelve paces, and a pistol handed to each. H 1 fired without effect, whilst the other refrained from firing. T h e medico then asked his adversary if he was satisfied, and receiving an answer in the affirmative, proclaimed H 1 to be no gentleman. H e also demanded to be paid £5 2s. 6d. as damages for the tarring of the mattress and blankets on the voyage out. H 1 declined to settle the little bill, and there the matter was allowed to rest. T h e doctor had been "called out" by the other for using insulting language, provoked by the desecration of the ^Esculapian bedding. O n e evening in July of the same year a M r . S and a M r . D. M c formed two of a dinner party at a Melbourne hotel, when the potations being more potent than the Yarra fluid, hot words ensued, and S applied an embrocation of steaming whiskey-punch between Mac's eyes. A n appeal to arms was a matter of course, and the diners-out adjourned, with some friends, to see it out in the moonbeams at the Flagstaff Hill. T w o aimless shots were exchanged, the warriors made it up, and the gathering returned to convivialism, and did not get h o m e till morning, by which time the carousers were all gloriously drunk, fn vino Veritas, and the truth leaked out, amidst m u c h merriment, when the seconds accounted for the bloodless battle by declaring that they had forgotten to put bullets into the pistols. T h e flash in the pans, however, accomplished as effectual a peace-making as a leaden recipe might have done. In August, 1841, occurred a hostile meeting, remarkable in consequence of the position attained in after time by the principals. M r . Peter Snodgrass was by no means the least pugnacious individual of an extinct generation, and it did not take m u c h to get up a casus belli with him. Mr. R e d m o n d Barry was a gay and promising young Barrister, and the two were prominent members of the Melbourne Club. Barry had written a letter to a friend, who injudiciously showed it to Snodgrass, about w h o m it contained some reference, which was deemed to be personally offensive, and a challenge was the consequence. T h e gage of battle was taken up, the preliminaries were quickly arranged, and in the rawness of a winter's morning the meeting came off by the side of the " sad sea waves," between Sandridge and the present Albert Park Railway Station. Though the weather was the reverse of promising, Barry made his appearance on the ground done up with as m u c h precision as if attending a Vice-regal levee. Even then he wore the peculiarly fabricated bell-topper, which a future Melbourne Punch was destined to present to the public in illustrated variety; he was strap-trousered, swallow-tail coated, white-vested, gloved, and cravated to a nicety. H e even carried his Sir Charles Grandison deportment with him to the pistol's mouth, and never in after years appeared to such grandiose advantage as on this occasion. W h e n they sighted each other at the recognized measurement, before Barry took thefiring-ironfrom his supporter, he placed his hat with m u c h polite tenderness on the green sward near him, ungloved, drew down his spotless wristbands, and saluted his wicked-looking antagonist with a profound obeisance that would do credit to any mandarin that ever learnt salaaming in the