long arrear of ill deeds to settle, and less time to do it in, than thou tookest to commit the smallest of them. Go not to yonder churchyard, lest you stumble over the grave of him you robbed while dying, and made his orphans beggars. He lies but six paces from the porch, and only three, from the grey stone beneath which thou didst last night bury five hundred golden pieces. Back, I say, to thy hovel-do tardy justice to the living-and pray, every hour of thine own living, that justice may never be done on thee." The withered caitiff dropped upon his knees, clasped his hands, stared wildly, and screamed " mercy!" I left him to his conscience.

CHAPTER IV.

"And such," I exclaimed, " is the first heart I have searched! Conrad' was right. I do but hold the key of a lazar-house-and am master of no richer treasure than lies in the prerogative to uncover our poor, corrupt nature. As if it were not enough, to know, in the general, that we are all base and vile, but I must covet the unhallowed privilege of gloating upon the pestilent individual! Already I feel my folly: but where, where shall I hope to find the sinless creature who is to ransom me from it?"

I saw a throng of villagers approaching. In the midst of them was a distracted girl, whom the parish beadle was hurrying before a magistrate. "What has she done?" I inquired.

66

Something she oughtn't " replied the ostler of the Barley Mow, "elseshe wouldn't be served thus."

"But what?"

"That's more than I can tell Sir, because in fact I dont't know."

"Nor any one else," added a ruddy-complexioned young fellow, whose countenance, I thought, betrayed more interest than could belong to a mere bystander.

"Why you know, James," observed his neighbour," she has confessed." "Confessed!" exclaimed James, with a look and tone expressive at once of contempt and indignation-" I should be ashamed of myself to talk so. Never mind Jane;" he continued, forcing his way through the crowd towards the poor weeping girl, "look up my lass, and don't be afraid.— They can't do anything to you, nor they shan't neither, and that's more."

Jane's tears only flowed the faster, at the voice of her comforter: perhaps because he alone seemed to feel for her situation, or to be convinced of her innocence.

By this time we had reached the magistrate's, and my curiosity being roused, I entered with the rest to hear the charge.

While we were waiting for his worship I had an opportunity of observing the culprit more closely.

She was a well grown girl, apparently about eighteen; and, as far as I could judge from downcast features much disturbed by grief, pretty.James, (I had settled it in my own mind he was her lover, but it subsequently appeared he was her brother), stood by her side holding her hand, as she leaned her head upon his shoulder, and continued to weep bitterly. "It is foolish to take on so," said he "I tell you they can't hurt you, and if the worst comes to the worst, I'll be d-d if they shall,"-repeating the words with increased vehemence, and in a more significant tone.

Jane made no auswer; but she directed towards him one quick glance of her streaming eyes which seemed to say, not-" what can you do?" but, "what can you do which will not be worse than what is already done?”—I had made no mistake. That was her meaning.

The magistrate entered the room, and having taken his seat, the accusation was made. What was my horror, when I found it a case of parricide ! When I heard this young, and apparently artless, creature, acknowledge the truth of all the circumstances deposed to,—and when I could not doubt her guilt, if those circumstances could not be disproved! She was committed to prison to take her trial before a higher tribunal.

From that moment her tears ceased. The coarse revilings, and the hootings of the crowd which followed her to jail, seemed not to dismay her. It was evident she was now sustained by feelings of a deeper foundation than any that had been before excited. Calmness and resolution had succeeded to agitation and horror. The severe firmness of some great purpose accomplished, sat upon her brow. But whatever were the thoughts that supported her, they gave to her carriage and looks the outward semblance of obduracy ; of hardened impenitence of heart, and of shameless effrontery of face.

Why did I forbear to strip off that covering, from the face, and satisfy my doubts, (for they were strong upon me) by laying open the heart?

I remember I was witheld by the stronger persuasion that her's was not the heart I ought to search; though I knew not which was.

Her brother walked beside her; but bore the indignant execrations of the crowd with a far different spirit. Some, within his reach, he struck; others, he threatened. They resented neither because they pitied him. Still, he did not say his sister was guiltless. He only told her to fear not, for she was safe; though, when the evidence was given, he said nothing: and when the warrant was signed for her committal, he stood silent. This was either a mystery, or the treacherous consolation, we offer the wretched, when vague, unmeaning assurances are the sole, sad means left, to make what we do not expect, pass for what we vainly wish.

Returning from the prison I walked with this brother. It was then I first learned he was such. I learned, also, that Jane and himself were the children of one father by two mothers. The following conversation passed:

"You seem to be strongly convinced of your sister's innocence." "She is innocent-as innocent as yourself."

"Then why did you suffer her to be falsely accused? Why have you allowed her to go unjustly to prison ?"

He made no reply.

"Is any one guilty?"

66

My father is dead,” he answered with a faltering voice.

66 By what means?"

"The doctor says he has been poisoned."

"And has he?"

Again he made no reply.

"When did he die?"

"Have you the certain means of clearing her from this grievous charge?" "Ay-I hope so."

Hope is a slippery hold of life.. It may fail you in the moment when nothing else can bestead you, and so, your innocent sister perish."

"That cannot be."

"It has been, ere now."

He heaved a deep sigh and exclaimed, "I wish I were dead too! I wish we were all dead! That would be the best end of this dismal business." "And if all were dead-would the guilty remain ?"

"It is hard to say."

"Friend," I replied, "I am master of a strange art; I can read what passes in the secret thoughts of men."

He laughed incredulously: but I turned his laughter to consternation; for I willed to exercise my art, and confounded him by what I uttered. He looked at me with terrified amazement; and before I could calm it, he fled.

[We are under the necessity of doing that which we much disapprove of,-leaving any article to be continued, or concluded, in subsequent numbers. It teazes the reader, and injures the author. But we shall avoid it as much as possible: and should our success be such as to justify, hereafter, an increased quantity of letter press, at a corresponding increase of price, we shall avoid it altogether. They, therefore, who most dislike the practice, have only to assist in putting an end to it by advising all their friends to take in the CANTERBURY MAGAZINE, and at the same time to insist upon its being two shillings a number.]

A MIDNIGHT THOUGHT.

When hopes decay and cares increase,
And earth holds nothing that we love,
Where can we turn to look for peace
If we neglect to look above?

While the vain heart is weak and proud,
And all around is false and smiling;
While pleasure's jocund voice is loud,
And joys that cheat, are still beguiling,

Man grasps the glittering, fickle things,
As if they never could deceive him;
But come the day, that sorrow brings,
He finds they are the first to leave him.

Then, let us eagerly forestall

The solace we are sure to need:
Grief is a guest that comes to all;
But God alone can bid it speed.

Make Him our Hope-midst earthly hope-
Make Him our Care-midst earthly care;
And though in darkness, here, we grope,
All will be sunny brightness THERE.

M.

THE MOST APPROVED METHODS OF POISONING.

BY JOSEPH ARSENIC, M. D.

Of the Royal College of Physicians.

Plutarch mentions a slow or secret poison which occasioned heat, a cough, spitting of blood, consumption, and a weakness of intellect, which was administered to Aratus, of Sicyon.

The Indians in America are acquainted with a most perfect poison, and can employ it with so much skill, that the person to whom it is given infallibly dies, though in a lingering manner, after the expiration of some years.

Theophrastus speaks of a poison which could be moderated in such a manner, as to have effect in two or three months; or at the end of a year or two years; and he remarks, that the "more lingering the death, the more miserable it was."

Locusta, among the Romans, was a celebrated poisoner. She prepared the poison for Britannicus, at the command of Nero, who was so well pleased with its efficacy that he pardoned her, (she having previously been condemned to death) rewarded her liberally and gave her pupils, whom she was to instruct in order that her art might not be lost!

These poisons were prepared either from plants or animal substances. Among the former, the principal were aconite, hemlock, and poppy. Among the latter, the most remarkable was that supplied by the sea-hare-lepus marinus, with which, according to Philostratus, Domitian despatched Titus. The terrible effects of the lepus marinus, are expressly mentioned by Dioscorides, Galen, Nicander, Ætius, Pliny, &c. The sea-hare is the aplysia depilans of Linnæus. This animal poison, however, was seldom used, as it easily betrayed itself by some peculiar symptoms. With the far stronger, and now common, mineral poisons, the ancients were not acquainted; for their arsenic was what we call orpiment, and not that pernicious metallic calx which formed the principal ingredient of those secret poisons which, in later times, were brought to such diabolical perfection in France and Italy.

No one was ever more famous in this art than Tophana or Toffania, a woman who resided first at Palermo, and afterwards at Naples. She sold those drops which, from her, acquired the name of aqua Tophania, aqua della Toffana; and which were called also acquetta di Napoli, or only acquetta. She distributed her preparation to such wives as wished to have other husbands. From four to six drops were sufficient for a man. When Keysler was at Naples, in 1730, she was still living in an ecclesiastical asylum whither she had fled for safety. Labat says "she distributed her poisons in small glass phials, with this inscription: Manna of St. Nicholas of Bari, and ornamented with the image of the Saint. A miraculous oil, employed by folly, in the cure of many diseases, drops from the tomb of that saint which is shown at Bari, in the kingdom of Naples; and on this account it is dispersed in great abundance under the like name. It was, therefore, the best appellation which Tophania could give to her poison, as it was not examined too closely." "I am of opinion" says Beckman, "that the celebrated Tophania, when she engaged to free wives from disagreeable husbands whithin stated days and weeks, must have had certain and very accurate information respecting their constitution and manner of living, or as the physicians say, their idiosyncrasy."

It is thought, the poisons prepared by Toffana were arsenical mixtures—or arsenical neutral salts. They occasioned loss of appetite, faintness, gnawing pains in the stomach, loss of strength without any visible cause, a continual indisposition, followed by a wasting of the lungs, a slow fever, &c. Some suppose these stygian draughts were compounded of opium and cantharides.

A few drops were given, from time to time, in tea, chocolate, soup, &c. They were as limpid as rock water, and without taste. There is not a lady at Naples who has not some of it lying carelessly on her toilette with her smelling bottles. She alone knows the phial and can distinguish it.

ADDITIONS TO JOHNSON'S DICTIONARY.

BY GEOFFREY OLDCASTLE.

[It was a gigantic effort of JOHNSON, to compile his DICTIONARY, out of the chaos in which the English language then lay. That the omissions, however, were numerous, we all know; and yet, numerous as they were, the only wonder is, they were not more. In Mr. Todd's enlarged and valuable Edition of this Dictionary, these omissions, to the extent of many thousand words, have been supplied: still, before we can have a complete Dictionary, there must be many more thousands added. If every one would do what I do when reading-note down such words as are of rare occurrence, and not to be found in Todd's Johnson, with their authorities, and each contribute his mite, we should, in time, have a dictionary approaching very nearly to perfection. It is only by such united offerings that the thing will ever be done. The following is my first offering; others shall follow.]

Masty. [From Mast.] "Full of Mast; well stored with acorns. Not in use." Todd's Johnson. It is evident, from the following quotation, it was used to signify lusty, vigorous; athletic strength. "For at this age, he, (Oliver Cromwell) would make nothing of beating of tinkers, and such masty fellows at quarter staff." (Hist. of the Life and Death of Oliver Cromwell, &c. Harleian Misc.)

Every. This adjective (though no such definition of it is to be found in Todd's Johnson,) was formerly used to signify the same as is conveyed by the phrase

"

you are no common, no ordinary, no every day person." In the " Trial of the Regicides," (p. 21 Ed. 1737,) when Colonel Harrison, pleading to his Indictment, was endeavouring to quibble about the manner of his pleading guilty or not guilty, the Court interrupted him in these words: "If you understand,-(you not every man, you are versed in proceedings of law) you know you must put yourself upon the trial of God and your country: if you do not, it is as good as if you had said nothing."

Characters. This word, in the plural, seems to have been synonimous with stenography. Kirk, one of the witnesses on the Trials of the Regicides, says, (p. 56 at supra) "My Lords I was there, (at the King's trial) only as a spectator> I went only there to see and hear what was there to be seen and heard; I stood there and took notes in characters of the proceedings."- "In the evening, His Majesty sent for Mr. Rushworth, the clerk, whom he observed to take his speech in characters, requiring a copy of it, who, pleading in excuse how Mr. Nevell was committed to the Tower for telling his Majesty what was spoke in the House, he smartly replied, I ask you not to tell me what was said by any member, but what I said myself;' upon which, a copy being transcribed, it came out in print next morning by the King's order." (Rushworth's Historical Collections, vol. iv. p. 238. 8vo. Ed.)

Wire-lace. This word is not in Todd's Johnson. I do not know from what mechanic art it is derived; but from the following use of it, it appears to have signified any thing that was accomplished by trick or obstinate perseverance.— Carew, (Trial of the Regicides, p. 69) attempted, like Harrison, Scroop, and the rest, to justify what he had done in trying and condemning the King, on the ground that he acted in obedience to the authority of Parliament, when the Court said, "This is not to be heard. You have heard what hath been said to you; there could be no just authority, neither was nor could be; but you would, by a wire-lace, bring it in."

Snig. A kind of eel. "Grose" says Mr. Todd, "confines this word to Hampshire; but it is used in some parts of the north." The following quotation from "The Surey Demoniack, or an account of Satan's strange and dreadful actings in and about the body of Richard Dugdale, of Surey, near Whalley in Lancashire," (1697) will shew that it was so used in that county. "John Fletcher further saith, I was one night in bed with Richard Dugdale, and I felt something come up towards my knees; then I felt it creep up till it came towards my heart; then I got hold of it, and it was about the bigness of a little dog or cat ; and it slipped through my hands as if it had been a snig." (p. 59.)

Yarwangles. The Demoniack in a fit lay on his back with his arms and legs spread open like a pair of yarmangles.” (Ib. p. 5.) This word is not in Todd's Johnson; nor do I know what it means.

Mante or Mant. Not in Todd's Johnson; but occurs frequently in the writers of Elizabeth's reign. It is nothing more than the French word maint-many. “And Galba having placed of purpose, before his tribunall a mante of images of great personages executed or banisht in Neroe's times, &c." (Henry Savile's Translation of Tacitus, p. 3. Ed. 1603.)

Knitch. To the single example of the use of this word quoted by Mr. Todd, from Wicliffe's Bible, may be added the following from Grenewey's Tacitus(p. 5. Edit. 1603.)—" But he had no sooner gotten, by the orders of the senators, the fasces or knitch of rods, and the Pretorship, &c."

Light. adj. The 14th signification of this word in Johnson, i. e. bright, clear, is found in the following, from the first Homily, written in the reign of Edward VI. "It (the Scripture) is a light lantern to our feet."

Amatorious. I have not met with this word in any author except Milton; and with him it seems to have been a prodigious favorite. Johnson quotes only one instance, from his Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. The following is from his Eikonoclastes. "A prayer stolen word for word from the mouth of a Heathen woman praying to a Heathen God; and that in no serious book, but in the vain, amatorious poem of Sir Philip Sidney's Arcadia."

To Whisk. This word seems to have borne the (probably cant) signification of to punish or make suffer. In a curious little book called "England's Shame, or the unmasking of a Political Atheist, being a full and faithful relation cf the life and death of that grand imposter Hugh Peters, by W. Young, M.D. (the same person, it is likely, that gave evidence against Peters on his trial,) London, 1663. 12mo,' we find the following sentence. "Peters riding before him, (the King,) out of the castle, cries, “We'll whisk him, we'll whisk him, now we have