often inspires a deadly very few in a million have died by the stroke or device of brother, or parent, or child, or kinsman, or consort. Still, almost every spot has its tale, of some half maniac. father who has butchered his whole family as they lay asleep, or some frantic mother who has flung child after child into the rushing stream. Insanity, with which the powers of evil seem often to sport, as with a fortress forsaken by its garrison, very purpose towards the nearest objects of love: dark, dreadful thoughts shoot over the bewildered mind; and, though the guilt be wanting, the death is sometimes accomplished. It is as if it was designed that the first death which befell a human creature, with all its train of later fratricides and kindred crimes, should tell from how terrible a depth the victory of the seed of the woman must deliver the victims of sin. VII. Death by Murder. "Seest thou that lifeless corpse, those bloody wounds? See how he lies, who but so shortly since A living creature was, with all the powers Oh, what a heart had he who did this deed!" BAILLIE. APART from the more horrible atrocities of parricide, fratricide, and the murder of consorts or kindred, a multitude of men have been slain by the secret assassin, or the open, infuriated assailant. Monarchs in their palaces; chiefs at the head of armies; rich men lying in their chambers; travellers on the highway; husbands waylaid by the adulterer; adulterers in the arms of their paramours; men whose own crimes have been followed by the swift foot of the avenger; men who have been hated for the strict execution of their duty; men who have been involved in national, political, or family feuds ; each in the moment when he was most unguarded, have felt the sudden knife, or club, or axe, or ball, and fallen by the malice, the fury, the lust of gold, or the revenge, of a fellow-man. The fifth in descent from Cain was Lamech, who was remembered for those verses in which he owned that he had "slain a man to his wounding, and a young man to his hurt." It was no murder, when Eglon died by the dagger of Ehud, and Sisera by the nail and hammer of Jael. Whether the arm of the slayer was moved by a divine impulse or only by a patriotic determination, whether the act could be justified or only excused, the tyrant who had violated every right was the enemy of all the oppressed people, and had nothing to expect but from his own strength and vigilance. Such deeds can never be imitated under the Gospel; but they are not to be read as if we were reading of crimes. It was otherwise when Ishbosheth, as he lay on his bed at noon, was slain by the two sons of Rimmon, who hurried with his head across the plain. Four kings of Israel, and three of Judah, died through conspiracy. Gedaliah, the governor of the conquered Jews, was murdered by those who had just eaten his bread; and Hazael, who had just before recoiled at the prediction of his deed, smothered his sick and confiding sovereign. The brother and the son of Alexander the Great were successively placed on the throne, to fall after a little while by murder. His father, Philip, was struck by Pausanias, as, in great pomp, celebrating the marriage of his daughter, he entered the theatre. The magnificent Xerxes was murdered in his bed by one of his courtiers; three of his successors were also assassinated; and in the lines of Syrian, Egyptian, and Parthian princes, domestic slaughters were so frequent that the reader is scarcely shocked by the occurence, in their history, of less unnatural homicides. Scipio the younger was found, apparently strangled, in his bed: Pompey was murdered in a boat by three Egyptians, in sight of his wife from whom he had just parted; and Julius Cæsar fell down at the foot of the statue of Pompey, stabbed by the daggers of several senators. The Emperor Caligula was pierced in the neck by the poniard of one of his officers, as he passed through a gallery between the theatre and the palace: Claudius died by poison: the gross Vitellius, dragged through the streets of Rome, was murdered with many blows: Domitian was overpowered as he went to dinner: Commodus, after being poisoned by his concubine, was strangled by a strong wrestler: Caracalla was assassinated by a hired soldier, as he paused on a journey: the firm Galba, the rich Didius Julian, Macrinus, already deposed, the upright Pertinax, the wretched Heliogabalus in the arms of his mother, Alexander Severus in his tent, the gigantic Maximin, the associates Pupienus and Balbinus, Philip with his young son, Gallus and Gallienus, Aurelian and Probus, all were slain by their own soldiers; Carinus by a wronged husband; Numerian by his fatherin-law, in his litter: thus died the Pagan lords of the world. Of the Christian emperors, Constans was put to death in his bed by a rebellious officer: the second Valentinian was strangled, the third was murdered in the midst of his capital: Maurice was cruelly destroyed with his children and so died by the sword of the assassin, or by poison, Phocas, the murderer of Maurice, the second Constantine, the second Justinian, Constantine the Sixth, Leo the Armenian, Michael the Third, Romanus the Second and the Third, Nicephorus and Alexius the Fourth. Omar, Othman, and Ali, the second, third, and fourth, successors of Mahomet, all perished by the poniard; and so died, or by the bowstring, many a later caliph and sultan. In the earlier history of the modern nations of Europe, murder was as commonly the end of royalty. King Edmund the elder fell by the hand of a robber who had boldly sat down at his board, and then, having provoked him to seize him by the hair, stabbed him to the heart. Edward the Martyr was murdered at the instigation of his stepmother, Elfrida; Edmund Ironside by two of his chamberlains. The murder of Duncan by Macbeth is no tragic fiction. The Emperor Albert was stabbed by his nephew, in the presence of his court, on the bank of the Reuss. Henry the Third of France was pierced in his palace by the dagger of Jacques Clement; Henry the Fourth in his carriage by Ravaillac. William, the great, Prince of Orange, fell by the hand of an enthusiast. In the civil wars of France, the heads of the royal houses of Orleans, Burgundy, and afterwards of Guise, were successively destroyed by mutual treachery. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was found dead in his bed. by violence. Galeazzo Maria, Duke of Milan, was assassinated as he entered a church in solemn procession; Giuliano de Medici just as the host was lifted: Becket was hewn down at the foot of the altar. Cardinal Beatoun was murdered by several conspirators in his chamber. The Regent Murray was shot from a window, as he rode through Linlithgow. From the feet of Queen Mary, Rizzio was dragged into a neighbouring room, and despatched with many wounds. Wallenstein was assassinated, with the approbation of his emperor. Pizarro, too, was murdered. A stab in the breast from a man of maddened mind destroyed the great Duke of Buckingham, the favourite of two kings. Monaldeschi, the supposed paramour of Christina, was slain by her order in the gallery of Fontainbleau, and almost in her presence. Cardinal Bambridge, Sir Thomas Overbury, and Ainsworth, the Puritan divine, were poisoned. Archbishop Sharp was surprised on a moor, dragged from his carriage, and butchered before the eyes of his daughter. Gustavus the Third was shot in the groin, at a masquerade, with a pistol loaded with slugs or nails. The Czar Paul was assaulted and strangled. The Duke of Berri, son of |