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leaving the house, by a door which opened into a neighbouring street, she had gone to await at church the finale of this daring act; meanwhile, the more the crimes increased. in this house, the less Saint Jean was reconciled to it, knowing that he would perish if he accused his accomplice; and besides not having any convicting proof to show against her, he invented the story of the apparition of his former master. He even went so far as to strike his body violently with sticks to impose on M. de M-—. He knew that this abominable woman, having at her disposal the first heir of this family, would not kill him, until he had inherited of his relatives and his grandfather, for then her son, after him, would be found the only representative of the male branches, but hardly would so much wealth be come to him, than his mother would spoil him of it to gather it to herself: now in effecting the disappearance of the young Exupère de Niore, Providence caused to be born so unfortunately for the success of her infernal conspiracies, they rendered vain and useless the murder of M. de M- and his sister. Madame de Vartelle, wishing that the suspicions of the daring blow that would make her father-in-law and Madame d'Orgerel perish in the explosion of a mine, should not reach her, arranged this crime with no less skill that the others. The unhappy waiting woman of Madame d'Orgerel, stupified with opium, had been carried from her bed during the night, by this fury herself, and thrown, struck by several blows of a dagger to the heart, into a subterranean pit opening into one of the cellars of the house, where they found her. She arranged then, in her own chamber, the artificial mine to which she set no light, and which found there, made it to be thought she was to have perished herself. It was her hand set fire to the apparatus, the result of which caused the death of Madame d'Orgerel. Saint Jean before his departure knew nothing of this, but on his return, this female parricide seeking to gain him anew, had given him this last confidence. Enraged at not being able to learn, either from M. de M-, or Saint Jean, where the child was hidden, the chief object for her, she was determined to be rid of her accomplice, in the hope that with him would be lost all trace of her nephew, or at least that the possession of the estate might be contested with the child. Saint Jean, who distrusted her, no

longer took his meals in the house, he could not conceive how she would manage to make him take poison.

On the morning of this day he found that he was dying. At once he had swallowed a strong antidote, not powerful enough to save him, but which retarded his death, so that it did not come till after vengeance. This man indicated the places where they would find the remains of the poisons and diabolical machines which Madame de Vartelle had used. He named the druggists, jews, and apothecaries who had furnished the first materials, and then he made known where they would seize papers which would fully inform his auditors.

Shortly after Saint Jean's death drew near and he expired when this sacrilegious woman re-entered the house coming from the Carmelites, where she had dared to go to communion. Arrested unexpectedly, brought to a remote prison under an assumed name, she could not survive her shame, she hung herself with a silk pocket handkerchief, and must have suffered frightful agony before she expired, for she had struggled violently with death, as the numerous bruises which covered her body proved.

This occurrence, horrible in the circumstances, occupied the police very much, it was the cause of an increase of the prosecutions and inquiries directed against the poisoners of both sexes, who seemed willing to revive the fatal epochs of Brinvilliers and la Voisin. The attention they gave to this event led to the discovery of an odious conspiracy against the royal family, and in favor of the house of Orleans.

Before the reader exclaims against this accusation so often advanced in history, and which is looked upon so willingly as a manoeuvre of party hatred, he should reflect on these sad words of M. de Sartines

"When a murder, when a poisoning occurs, the shortest way, with an efficient police, would be to arrest immediately all the relatives of the victim. The calumnies, the quarrels, and the lawsuits of which the family is generally or secretly the theatre, show sufficiently by the scandal of their evidence, that it is to this source one must go to enquire into the causes of mysterious events and horrible catastrophes. The family lives among us under the protection of a virtuous name which the magistracy tremble to suspect, the family is a collection of crimes, a storehouse of infamy. The hypocrisy of the false

caresses which are here lavished, surpass our utmost imaginations. They might found pathetic romances on this basis. In a family of twenty persons, the police should place forty spies."

We have now laid before our readers the principal materials which, in our opinion, suggested the leading incidents of the Count of Monte Cristo. In our narratives we have perhaps, forgotten the duties of the critic, but our readers will recollect. that explanation rather than criticism was promised when the articles on the "Romance of Life" were commenced. We have derived great satisfaction in our progress through the parterres of imagination in which Dumas has cultivated such choice flowers, and it is our hope that our readers may be pleased with our indication of the seed from which such a splendid crop has been raised. When next we seek to occupy their attention. it shall be in reference to the productions of one who either as a novelist or historian has won ample laurels, the highly gifted JAMES. We forbear quoting the peculiar sources from whence we have derived the details of this article, for peculiar reasons which at a future period may cease to exist.

F. T. P.

ART. VI.-FITZPATRICK'S LIFE OF LORD

CLONCURRY.

The Life, Times, and Cotemporaries of Lord Cloncurry, embracing the period from 1775, to 1853; with a selection from his hitherto unpublished correspondence. By William John Fitzpatrick, Esq., M.R.D.S. Dublin: Duffy. 1855. EVEN before reading this book, we were inclined to consider its author an honest Irishman. Our reason for this favorable conjecture was, that this life of Lord Cloncurry was abused by all parties. Conservatives think Mr. Fitzpatrick a leveller. Old Ireland cannot pardon him, because he gives Young Ireland credit for anything under heaven; and Young Ireland proclaims him a trimmer who has done injustice to the best men of its party. We have ever been of opinion, that a really honest and sincere man, who pins the salvation of his country not on any particular party, and sees not every man and every measure through the same glass as his political leaders, but looks, and judges, and speaks for himself, of both men and measures, will for many a year to come, be looked upon with distrust by all parties, and offending each in turn, will find himself denounced for his back-sliding, without getting credit for the good he has done, or even for the services he may have rendered to either party when he thought their objects were useful. Such a man was Lord Cloncurry, and we think his biographer has brought to his task a congenial spirit. We have been pleased by this book, we think that a great deal of time and care have been spent in collecting its materials, it is written in an agreeable style, and for these reasons we shall not criticize the book with a severity to which Mr. Fitzpatrick has occasionally left himself open. Although we shall leave to others the ungracious task, for which it is said critics have such a fancy, of tearing a writer to pieces, we cannot close our eyes to the fact, that there are, in the volume before us, some grave errors of taste, which we are sure none will judge more severely than Mr. Fitzpatrick himself, when he shall have become more experienced as a writer of Biography: a character in which we hope frequently to meet him, but he must bear in mind, that the age of tropes and metaphors has past. Fine writing

or fine speaking is dangerous ground; the subject must admit of it; it must be ventured on only by a master, and even then, sparingly, if perfect, and yet beyond the dignity of the subject or occasion, it is laughed at; a slip is ruin. This book shews that its writer possesses many of the necessary component qualities of a biographer-honesty of purpose and judg ment, a spirit of patient and laborious enquiry, a love for his task, a talent for writing agreeably and seizing interesting points. in his subjects with a little more care in his arrangement, and in his selection of correspondences, and a faithfully preserved vow against every figure of speech known to the elocution book, we should welcome this gentleman as an acquisition to our biographers, and await with anticipations of pleasure and information the productions of his pen.

At first we were disposed to censure the introduction into this work of those sanguinary and disgraceful excesses, by which the people of this country were goaded into rebellion. We will not dwell upon these frightful scenes: they are recorded to the eternal infamy of the ministers who succeeded in accomplishing the legislative union of England and Ireland, and their more wretched tools. It struck us as bad taste and bad judgment, and especially at the present time, to drag again before us the hideous tragedy of '98. On consideration however, we found that it was necessary to enter upon this topic, in order to do justice to Lord Cloncurry: the writer of this biography must have thought, and in our opinion he thought correctly, that justice to his subject should be with him a primary consideration. In this view he was right in entering on these details, which if needlessly introduced, we should be the first to censure. Through life, and not alone with his own class, but amongst all of what is called pure conservative politics, Lord Cloncurry was looked on as a rebel, a man who if he saw a prospect of success, would have led an attack on throne and constitution. His intimacy with many of the leaders in the insurrection of '98, his known. liberal opinions and opposition to that union, upon which English ministers had staked the integrity of the British empire and sacrificed their own characters, his ready assistance both with money and kind offices to attainted men, might lead an unprejudiced mind to suspect there were some grounds for this calumny. The history of his country, during the few years preceding the union will, however, clear away this foul

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