we; and this
condition was accepted. For, though Davy had no stomach to the trial, he
could not readily find an excuse for declining it. Besides, he had
discovered the captain to be a very bad horseman, and resolved to eke out
his own scanty valour with a border of ingenuity. The servants were
immediately ordered to unpack the armour, and, in a little time, Mr.
Sycamore made a very formidable appearance. But the scene that followed
is too important to be huddled in at the end of a chapter; and therefore
we shall reserve it for a more conspicuous place in these memoirs.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CONTAINING THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE GRIFFIN AND CRESCENT.

Mr. Sycamore, alias the knight of the Griffin, so denominated from a
griffin painted on his shield, being armed at all points, and his friend
Dawdle provided with a certain implement, which he flattered himself
would ensure a victory over the novice Crowe, they set out from the
George, with their attendants, in all the elevation of hope, and pranced
along the highway that led towards London, that being the road which our
adventurer pursued. As they were extremely well mounted, and proceeded
at a round pace, they, in less than two hours, came up with Sir Launcelot
and his company; and Sycamore sent another formal defiance to the knight
by his trumpeter, Dawdle having, for good reasons, declined that office.

Our adventurer hearing himself thus addressed, and seeing his rival, who
had passed him, posted to obstruct his progress, armed cap-a-pee, with
his lance in the rest, determined to give the satisfaction that was
required, and desired that the regulations of the combat might be
established. The knight of the Griffin proposed, that the vanquished
party should resign all pretensions to Miss Aurelia Darnel, in favour of
the victor; that, while the principals were engaged, his friend Dawdle
should run a tilt with Captain Crowe; that Squire Crabshaw and Mr.
Sycamore's servant should keep themselves in readiness to assist their
respective masters occasionally, according to the law of arms; and that
Mr. Clarke should observe the motions of the trumpeter, whose province
was to sound the charge to battle.

Our knight agreed to these regulations, notwithstanding the earnest and
pathetic remonstrances of the young lawyer, who, with tears in his eyes,
conjured all the combatants, in their turns, to refrain from an action
that might be attended with bloodshe