516. 
with the principles of the Fronde, a fpirit 
of civil liberty, and of refftance to op- 
prefiion, thought of turning to party- 
urpofes the epidemic rage. They began 
by re-publifhing thofe paflages of Livy, 
of Tacitus, and of Plutarch, which afcribe 
to certain periods of the ancient world a- 
contagious fafhion for poifoning. A fu- 
perftitions opinicn was foon generated 
among the multitude, that druggifts and 
philofophers can compofe venoms, which 
operate, not at the feafon of adminiftra- 
tion, but at definite remote pericds: that 
they can draw drafts upon Death payable 
at one, two, or three wiances, or even at 
one, two, or three years after acceptance 
ef the order; and that thefe drafts are un- 
failingly difcharged at their elapfe, with- 
out a proteft, or a day of grace. Not 
only Quintilian ard Theophrattus were 
ranfacked for corroborations of this mif- 
chievous credulity; but the annals, or ra- 
ther the libels, of the medern Italians 
were prefled into the fervice of thefe ca- 
lumniators of human nature. To Alex- 
ander VI. and Cefar Borgia, more than 
the poffible was imputed, in order to.come 
‘at a fund of baleful anecdotes. Cataf- 
trophes of tragedies tranflated into profe 
were made to pa‘s for hiftory: entomo- 
Jogy,. mineralogy, botany, were employed 
only to catalogue their banes. 
The name of the Sicilian quack-doc- 
trefs Tofana was peculiarly efficient in 
exciting public attention, She was ‘faid 
to have refided fir at Palermo, afterwards 
at Naples, and to be ftill living in impe- 
netrable privacy at fome forfaken hermi- 
tage. She was ftated, for a time to have 
fold thofe drops which from her acs 
quired the name Aqua Tofania, Acqua della 
Lofana, and Acquetta di Napoli, and, at 
length, with a truly difinterefted love of 
crime, to have charitably diftributed the 
preparation among fuch wives as wifhed 
to have other hufbands. Frem four to 
fix drops of this water of Tofana’s, it was 
aflerted, were fufficient to deftroy aman; 
and the dofe could be fo proportioned as 
to operate in any limited time. Watched 
by the late, but never detected in mal- 
practices, fhe had wandered from one ec- 
clefiaftical afylum to another, and thence 
diftributed, under the fuperfcription, 
Meuna of Saiut Nicelgs of Bari, her little 
bottles, ornamented with the picture of 
the Saint. Dozens, grofles, of thefe vials 
of wrath were pretended to have been fent 
to Faris... The regular phyficians wil- 
lingly compared the pious, but perhaps 
drani-vending, ‘Tofana with Hieronyma 
Spara, whe had been hanged at Rome in 
From the Portfolio of a Man of Letters. 
“? Riot, 
1659, for felling venomous philtres to 
young married women. A mortality of 
hufbands was inferred from the purchafe 
of cordials by their wives, and a well- 
meant. ‘* My dear, it willdo you good !*” 
was mifconiirued as an affignation in the 
church-yard. : 
The jealoufies of domeftic life once in- 
flamed, women thought their imnocence, 
and men their fecurity concerned, in inveigh= 
ing with bitternefs indifcriminate againft 
thebuyers of this Daffy’s elixir. Every fud- 
den, every lingering, every con!picuous, 
every critical difeafe was afcribed to the 
Agua Tofania. The chief diftributors 
were {oon rumoured to be the Italian 
apothecary Exili, who adminiftered for 
fecret diforders; one Lavoifin, an accom- 
modating midwife; one Glafer, a German 
who printed chemical pamphlets, and pre- 
tended to raife ghofts; and one Lavi- 
goureux, a fhe-fortune-teller, who. pro- 
fefled to difcover ftolen goods. Lelage, 
a prieft and aftrologer, was employed to 
dete@, or hired to betray, the combina- 
tion. Vitis, fometimes focial, fometimes 
folitary, but always myfterious, from an 
apprehenfion of fneer, were found to have 
been made by women of rank and men of 
intrigue to thefe botchers of flaws. Some 
alleged the pretext of having a nativity 
catt, fome had ventured into the crypts of 
forcery, where were evoked with magic 
lanterns a phantafmagoria of the con{pi- 
cuous dead. Difeafe and vice had con- 
vened their thoulands—curiofity her ten 
thoufands: it was eafy to find out, or to 
decoy, among audiences fo mixed, the 
perfons moft obnoxious to the public, and 
the perfons moft obnoxious to the Mi- 
nifter. The Chambre Ardente well knew 
that the art of oppreffing was to facrifice 
them conjointly; and its proceedings were 
condu&ied accordingly. . 
It was evulgated that the Archbithop 
had been informed, from different parifhes, 
that the crime of poifoning was frequently 
conteffed, and that traces of it were re= 
marked both in high and low families. 
Tellier and his brother Jefuits corro- 
horated thé alarm by hair-briftiing in- 
ftances of enormity and-villainy, which 
wented, indeed, the definition of time, 
and place, and perfon; but of thefe the 
folerma caths of the confeflional were fup- 
pofed to prohibit the revelation. The 
public mind became the dupe of antha: -4 
nourable indignation, and out of horror 
to cruelty called aloud for victims. Ar- 
refts were now begun. Iu the poffeffion 
of the midwife, Lavoifin, was found or 
placed a lift of thofe who had dealings 
with 
