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own house looking just as it did, when he last departed from it, he muttered to himself, Good gracious!, and am I not the husband of Marina? It is impossible to doubt the fact, yet how the devil could I came by this shaven crown and monk's attire? Ah! there is my dear wife,' continued he, and, giving his companion the slip, he rushed into the house, where, meeting his spouse in the hall, he fell upon her neck, whining out My dear Marina, heaven has, no doubt, inflicted on me the sufferings I have lately undergone, as a judgment for my unkind and peevish conduct to you. I have been made a monk against my will, without knowing why or wherefore. However, my worthy brethren may in future find some one else to collect alms for them, for now that I am safely housed, they shall not unkennel me quite as easily as they may think they will.' What barefaced effrontery is this?' screamed out the Senora Marina. · Help! my friends, for the love of heaven, and the Virgin Mary! this brutal monk is about to offer rudeness to me!' On hearing these words, delivered in a tone of great vehemence, the friar, whom Agraz had left outside the door, ran into the house, followed by several of the neighbours, who, quite unable to recognise their friend in the extraordinary disguise in which he presented himself to their observation, turned him neck and heels into the street. They would have proceeded to still further extremities had not his companion interfered, and assured them that he was a poor lunatic, belonging to the monastery of St. Francesco de Asis, who fancied himself married, and every woman he saw to be his wife. He was accordingly allowed once more to take charge of his captive, who, on their return to the monastery, received another severe castigation for his obstreporousness, and was again placed upon a bread and water regimen for several weeks, indeed, until his hair and beard began to assume their original appearance. A few days after the complete restoration of these appendages, he was chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy' in his cell, when, suddenly, the following apostrophe, uttered in a plaintive and melancholious voice, broke upon his ear: Agraz, your wife, Marina, whom you are for ever wearying with your idle and absurd suspicions, is entirely innocent of any of the myriad offences you have laid to her charge. The discipline you have lately undergone, has been a chastisement inflicted upon you by heaven, for your ridiculous jealousy. Let it serve as a warning to you in future, and if you should be permitted to return to your home, have a care how you treat your already much injured consort, lest you provoke a far severer punishment than has hitherto been inflicted upon you.'

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This appeal had the desired effect upon the delinquent, for joining the palms of his hands, and falling straightway on his knees with all the devotion imaginable, he thus apostrophized his invisible monitor: Blessed oracle, be thou of heaven or earth, assist me to escape from this infernal den, and I will not only promise any and every thing you may require, but will positively turn over an entirely new leaf as it regards my wife, and never in future indulge in the slightest complaint without good and sufficient cause, which, the Virgin be praised,' he added, somewhat under his breath, she will not be long in giving me.'

Just at this moment one of the holy brotherhood entered with a repast, infinitely more palatable than any thing he had tasted since his long probation; and having supplied him, as he pretended, under the rose, with a bottle of excellent wine, in which he had the precaution to infuse a pretty strong opiate, left him to discuss his supper at his leisure. The dose of course took effect. Indeed, not having tasted for so many weeks any

more potent beverage than water, the wine would have produced the desired results without the addition of any more powerful sedative. Having fallen into a profound sleep, his hair and beard, which were now completely renewed, were assimilated as nearly as possible to their original form, and his monkish attire having been removed, he was despatched, under the care of one of the holy fathers to his own house, and instantly put to bed, his secular habiliments having been carefully deposited on a chair beside him, he slept soundly until very late the next morning. On awaking, he was greatly astonished to find himself provided with accommodations so immeasurably superior to those to which he had been accustomed for so many weeks; but his surprise was proportionably increased, when, on stretching out his hands, he discovered that his long-lost wife was quietly sleeping beside him. He was at first apprehensive that it was some evil spirit, who had assumed the form of his better half, for the purpose of tempting him to the commission of crime, and he began to repeat his orisons with great earnestness and volubility. Marina, who feigned sleep, pretended to have been awakened by the noise of his paternoster, What, in the name of heaven, do you want,' ejaculated she; am I for ever to be the victim of your violence and peevishness?' 'Who art thou, who askest the question ?' rejoined Agraz, trembling as he spoke, • Who am I; why, who should I be, you superannuated old fool, but your loving

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wife, and obedient slave, Marina ?' How came you to gain access to this convent?' pursued he; should the superior be made acquainted with your visit, you will inevitably be excommunicated, thrust without the pale of the Catholic church; and as for me, I shall be bastinadoed until I have not a square inch of unmutilated skin upon my devoted carcase. 'Of what convent, and what superior, are you raving, you old fool?' How,' said Agraz, rubbing his eyes, have I not been a monk these last fifteen years?' I know not of what you are talking,' said Marina; ‘but if you are really awake, which would appear doubtful, and have no inclination to dine and sup at the same time, you had better get up immediately.'

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Overwhelmed by the confusion of images and recollections that presented themselves to his imagination, the Senor would have disbelieved the evidence of his eyes and ears, if in passing his hand over his chin he had not encountered a beard as thick and as bushy as any one would desire to possess, save a rabbi of the first order. Having groped his way out of bed, and opened the window-shutter, he discovered that he was once again in his own room, and that every vestige of his late pursuits had vanished from his view. The clothes by his bed-side were those in which he had always been accustomed to array himself whilst engaged in secular pursuits; and looking in the glass, he was still further bewildered to find that the religious character of his face had vanished altogether. He began to cross himself in a perfect agony of gratitude and devotion, believing that what he had witnessed was in effect the fulfilment of the mysterious promise which had been made to him by some unseen visitant in his cell. In answer to the inquiries of his wife, he related to her all he fancied had befallen him with the most rigid gravity of countenance, concluding that the whole must have been a dream, designed to admonish him to behave with more kindness and confidence than he had ever before been accustomed to behave to his wife. She of course was glad to encourage this illusion, and promised to say nine masses to the holy Virgin, should it please God to turn her spouse from the error of his ways, and teach him a little of

that subservience to the wishes of his lady, which is, for the most part, the characteristic of Spanish husbands.

Satisfied that the case was as he had supposed it to be, he begged her a thousand pardons for his former ill-treatment, and vowed that in future he would condemn her for no fault of which he did not witness the commission. In some sort, as an earnest of the liberality of his intentions, he gave her permission to go out when and to whatever place she pleased, promising to pester her no more as to how she had employed each moment of her absence,

more,

The first use Marina made of this carte-blanche was to set out in search of her two friends, whom she found extremely anxious to have her pretensions examined with all due expedition. Having explained the circumstance that had delayed the attainment of her views so many weeks, the whole trio repaired together to the residence of the Count de Crapesa, and having related to him the several expedients, by means of which they had completely cured their husbands of the vices of avarice, drunkenness, and jealousy, he addressed them in these words: Fair ladies, the diamond you found on the day of the Feast of St. Blas, and which has been the means of stimulating you to such extraordinary exertions of your ingenuity, was lost by me a few minutes before it fell into your hands. It is worth two hundred pistoles, and I believe I promised to increase the premium one hundred Now, as the task of attempting to distinguish between three ladies of so much ingenuity and wit is difficult, if not impossible; to say nothing of the invidiousness of comparisons where all are excellent, I beg you will divide the contents of this purse amongst you, and believe me when I affirm, that I never in my life before parted with my money with such perfect satisfaction. Having united in returning their thanks to the Count de Crapesa, the Merry Wives of Madrid repaired to their several homes, resolving to lay aside the God-send they had received for their own especial use and advantage whenever they might wish for any thing which their husbands refused to purchase for them. Nor was the possession of a pecuniary gratuity their only reward. The steward having acquired an independence sufficient to enable him to set business at defiance, withdrew himself from his master's employ, and purchased an elegant little country villa; the painter was led to abjure debauchery and drunken companions altogether, and old Senor Agraz was so entirely cured of his jealousy and wrongheadedness, that he allowed his lady to follow the bent of her own inclinations as to whom she visited, and discontinued the curtain lectures he had been in the habit of previously inflicting upon her. Thus the three ladies proved that they knew how to profit by the injunction conveyed in the well known proverb, Be merry and wise!'

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REMARKABLE PROOF OF THE INADEQUACY OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

IN the year 1689, there lived in Paris a woman of fashion, entitled Lady Mazel. Her house was very spacious, and three stories in height. In a small room partitioned off from the hall slept the valet de chambre, whose name was Le Brun. The front room of the first floor was occupied by the Lady Mazel. The key of her chamber was by her desire taken out of the door every night and laid on a chair, by the servant who assisted her in undressing, and who, the door shutting with a spring, was accustomed to close it after her, so that it could not be opened from the outside. On the second floor slept the Abbé Brulard. On the 27th of November, being Sunday, Le Brun, the valet, attended his lady to church, then repaired to another place of worship himself; and afterwards, having supped with a friend, went home.

Lady Mazel supped, as she was accustomed to do, with the Abbé, and about eleven o'clock retired to her dormitory, where she was attended by her maids. Before they left her, Le Brun came to the door, and laid the key on one of the chairs which stood nearest to it; they then went out, and Le Brun following them, shut the door after him. In the morning he went as usual to market; and on his return home, pursued his customary avocations. At nine o'clock he expressed great surprise that his lady did not get up, as she usually rose at seven. He then went to his wife's lodging, which was in the neighbourhood, and mentioned his uneasiness that his lady's bell had not rung. Having, on his return, found the domestics in great consternation, in consequence of their having heard nothing of their lady; and one of them having expressed a fear that she had been seized with apoplexy, Le Brun observed, It must be something worse; my mind misgave me, for I found the street-door open last night, after all the family were in bed.'

A smith was immediately sent for, and the door having been forced open, Le Brun, who entered first, walked to the bed, and after speaking several times without receiving any answer, drew back the curtains, and exclaimed, O! my lady is murdered!' Whilst the other servants were busied about the body, he went to the wardrobe, taking out the strong box in which the family jewels were kept, and feeling it heavy, observed, * that it was strange that any one could commit murder unless to conceal robbery !'

A surgeon having been sent for, examined the body, which was covered with no less than forty-three wounds. In the bed, which was deluged with blood, was found a scrap of coarse lace, and a napkin made into a nightcap, which was also bloody, and had the family mark on it. From the wounds on the lady's hands, it appeared that she had struggled hard with the murderer, who had apparently cut the muscles before he could disengage himself.

The key of the chamber was gone from the room, but no marks of violence appeared on any of the doors; nor were there any signs of a robbery, as a large sum of money, and all the lady's jewels, except a gold watch, were found in their usual places.

Le Brun, on his examination, said, 'That after he left the maids on the stairs, he went into the kitchen, and placing his hat and the key of

PROOF OF THE INADEQUACY OF CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

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the street-door on the table, sat down by the fire to warm himself; he shortly fell asleep, and slept, as he fancied, from the appearance of the candle, about an hour. On going to lock the street-door he found it open; he locked it, and took the key with him to his chamber.'

On trying the bloody night-cap on Le Brun's head, it was found to fit him exactly; and on this slight ground of suspicion he was committed to prison. On his trial, a strong suspicion was expressed that the lady was murdered by some person who was let in by Le Brun for that purpose. Not one of the locks had been forced; and this, added to his improbable story of finding the street-door open, was regarded as strong evidence of his guilt, and of his having had an accomplice; the more especially, because part of the cravat found in the bed was discovered not to be like his. And one of the female servants deposed, that she had washed such a cravat some time before for a man named Berry, who had been footman to the Lady Mazel, and whom she discharged for robbing her.

Le Brun, in his behalf, had nothing to oppose to these suspicious circumstances, but an uniformly good character, which he had maintained for the nineteen years in which he had been in Lady Mazel's service; and the general esteem in which he was held as a good husband, father, and servant. In this dilemma it was resolved to put him to the torture, which was done with so much severity, that he died within a week of the bruises which he had received; strongly asserting his innocence to the last moment of his existence.

About a month after this event, notice was sent from the provost of Sens, that a dealer in horses had lately taken up his abode there, under the name of John Gorlet, but that he was strongly suspected to be the Berry who formerly lived footman with the Lady Mazel in Paris. In consequence of this information he was apprehended; and on searching him, a watch was found, which proved to be the one belonging to the murdered person. On his trial, at Paris, a person deposed to having seen him quit that lady's house on the night of the murder; and a barber swore to having shaved him on the following morning, and mentioned, that, in answer to some observation he had made as to his hands being so much scratched, Berry said that he had been killing a cat.

On this evidence he was condemned to be put to the torture, when he acknowledged that he and Le Brun had planned to rob and murder Lady Mazel; but, when he was brought to the place of execution, confessed that he came to Paris on the Wednesday before the murder was committed, and that on the Friday evening he found means to enter the house unperceived, got into one of the garrets, where he lay until Sunday morning, subsisting on apples and bread, which he had in his pockets. That about eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, when he knew the family was gone to mass, he stole down to Lady Mazel's chamber, and the door being open, he got under the bed, where he continued until the afternoon, when his victim again went to church; and knowing that she would not come back for some hours, he got from under the bed, and making a cap of a napkin which lay in a chair, sat down by the fire, until he heard the coach drive into the court-yard, when he again got under the bed, and remained there until Lady Mazel having been in bed about an hour, he presented himself before her, and demanded her money; she began to call out, and attempted to ring her bell, upon which he stabbed her; and she resisting with all her strength, he repeated his stabs until she was dead. He then took the key of the

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