Nor did he ever properly edit or collate the chance medley of stale items that passed for news in the Gazette.

Chance medley (from the Anglo-French chance-medlee, a mixed chance), is a term from English law used to describe a homicide arising from a sudden quarrel or fight.

Whether all this which they call the universe is left to the guidance of unreason and chance medley, or, on the contrary, as our fathers have declared, ordered and governed by a marvellous intelligence and wisdom.

The original mitigating factors were provocation and chance medley which existed at common law, but the former has been abolished by statute, the latter has been held no longer to exist and new defences have been created by statute.