PISTOLS AND COFFEE FOR TWO.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 182, 6 January 1877, Page 2

PISTOLS AND COFFEE FOR TWO.

Sir Charles Gavan Duffy recently delivered one of his interesting lectures to the Melbourne people on the subject of his Travels in Europe, in the course of which he told the following amusing story ament French bread and the origin of a well-known phrase :—ln every club in London, and in every first-class hotel you are served with French bread ; and French bread does not require merely a French baker, but flour impregnated with the sunshine of the south. We have the sunshine and the flour, why have we not the bread ? We eat bread at least twice a day, and it would not be unworthy of a little care that we might eat it of the best quality. Apropos of French bread, I am tempted to relate a surprise which once befel me. It has become, as you know, a well established tradition that in Galway men are so accustomed to duelling that it is a common thing in that bellicose city to order coffee and pistols for two, or pistols for two and coffee tor the survivor-. I know something of Galway and I don’t think that coffee is the beverage they prefer in those parts, but in Brussels I stumbled on the origin of the tradition. In that little capital there is a large proportion of the population in military costume, and a greater variety of uniforms than I have seen anywhere else on the globe, and the first time I breakfasted at the Hotel du Parc, two warriors stalked into the salle a mange)' and one of them to my profound surprise, called out in an authoritative voice, Garcon , du cafe , et d&s pistolets pour deux, touts de suite. “ Waiter, bring coffee and pistols for two without delay.” Hero was the Galway story complete in everything but the locality, and with my own eyes and ears for witnesses. But a little inquiry dissipated the marvel. The warriors only wanted their breakfasts, as pistolet is the local name for a roll of fancy bread. I wish we could have a pistol, or even a pair of pistols with our coffee in Australia.