My Particular Friend footnotes: The Affair of the Code Duello 7
Beginning with Explanations:
‘Don’t be facetious, Jane, no one could be so good a shot with a pistol, and surely Mr Jenkins is not so good a shot as to merely graze Mr Sunderland’s cheek.
Pistols used in duelling were intentionally inaccurate, lacking the rifling that would ensure a ball would fly straight. In fact in her book Gentlemen’s Blood, Barbara Holland mentions Lord Cardigan, accused in 1840 of using a rifled pistol with a hair trigger to wound his opponent. Lord Cardigan claimed his right to be tried by the House of Lords and was acquitted on a technicality.
Mr Arkwright loaded the pistols and affirmed everything was proper and Mr Purcell may have took him at his word.
Again from the Code Duello Rule 18: The seconds load in presence of each other, unless they give their mutual honors they have charged smooth and single, which should be held sufficient.