He had previously fought a duel with one Martin, an
M.P., by whom he was severely wounded. All this furnished Churchill with
matter for his "Duellist," which even Horace Walpole pronounced
"glorious." In this vigorous production, he mercilessly lashes Martin,
Kidgell, Warburton, and especially Sandwich. At this time he, too,
purposed a retreat to France--a country where his name was already so
well known, that when the Honourable Mr Churchill, the son of a general
of the name, was asked, in Paris, if he were Churchill, the famous poet,
and replied that he was not, the answer of the Frenchman was, "_So much
the worse for you._" His time, however, to visit that coast, destined to
be so fatal to him, was not yet quite come.
From Richmond he removed to Acton-Common, where he had a house furnished
with great elegance--"kept a post-chaise, saddle-horses, and
pointers--and fished, fowled, hunted, coursed, and lived in an easy
independent manner." There he continued his irregular but rapid and
energetic course of composition, pouring out poem after poem as if he
felt his time to be short, or as if he were spurred on by the secret
stings of misery and remorse.
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