‘Duel scene from The Corsican Brothers’ by Edward Henry Corbould, painted in 1852. Alexander Dumas’s novel ‘The Corsican Brothers’ was dramatised by Irish playwright Dion Boucicault, and performed at the Princess’ Theatre in London that year. Corbould’s painting was a sketch for a commission from HRH Prince Albert, Prince Consort.
Part 1 of 2
SIR George Beaumont,* when a young man, was one day in the Mount (a famous coffee-house in Mount Street, Grosvenor Square) with Harvey Aston.* Various persons were seated at different tables. Among others present, there was an Irishman who was very celebrated as a duellist, having killed at least half-a-dozen antagonists.*
Aston, talking to some of his acquaintance, swore that he would make the duellist stand barefooted before them. “You had better take care what you say,” they replied; “he has his eye upon you.” “No matter,” rejoined Aston; “I declare again that he shall stand barefooted before you, if you will make up among you a purse of fifty guineas.”
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (1753-1827). He is remembered chiefly as an energetic patron of the arts, with very strong opinions on artistic good taste which did not include the works of J.M.W. Turner, though he was friendly towards John Constable and an admirer of Sir Joshua Reynolds’s work. Beaumont’s gift of sixteen paintings to the National Gallery in 1825, just a year after it was founded, helped to form the backbone of its collection.
Colonel Henry Hervey Aston (1759-1798) was an officer in the British Army who was mortally wounded in a duel against a Major Allen in Madras in December 1798, just one day after fighting another with a Major Picton in which both parties had deliberately shot high. In happier times, Henry had played thirteen first-class matches as a batsman for the Hambledon Club and the MCC. Even then he walked on the wild side, winning a duel in 1790 against a certain Lieutenant Fitzgerald at the cost of severe wounding. Aston was a grandson of the Revd Harry Aston (1701-1748), a friend of Samuel Johnson.
Rogers does not name the duellist. The most celebrated Irish duellist of the day was surely Colonel Richard ‘Hairtrigger Dick’ Martin (1754-1834), born in Ballynahinch Castle in County Galway, for which he was a Member of Parliament at Westminster from 1800. A complex man, he was opposed to slavery and campaigned vigorously for the prevention of cruelty to animals, winning a notable victory in Martin’s Act (1822) criminalising the ill-treatment of cattle, and earning him the soubriquet ‘Humanity Dick’ from King George IV; but his humanity apparently did not stop him participating in over a hundred duels with sword and pistol.
Part Two
Looking down Mount Street in Mayfair, London. The street remains home to various chic eateries and coffee shops.
ASTON then said in a loud voice, “I have been in Ireland, and am well acquainted with the natives.” The Irishman was all ear. Aston went on, “The Irish, being born in bogs, are every one of them web-footed; I know it for a fact.”
“Sir” roared the duellist, starting up from his table, “it is false!” Aston persisted in his assertion. Sir,” cried the other, “I was born in Ireland; and I will prove to you that it is a falsehood.” So saying, in great haste he pulled off his shoes and stockings, and displayed his bare feet. The joke ended in Aston’s sharing the purse between the Irishman and himself, giving the former thirty guineas, and keeping twenty. Sir George assured me that this was a true story.
