fied his constitution that poisons had no baneful effect on
him (B.C. 131, 120-63).

=Poison of Kha[:i]bar.= By this is meant the poison put into a leg of
mutton by Za[:i]nab, a Jewess, to kill Mahomet while he was in the
citadel of Kha'[:i]bar. Mahomet partook of the mutton, and suffered from
the poison all through life.

=Poisoners= (_Secret_).

1. _Of Ancient Rome_: Locusta, employed by Agrippi'na to poison her
husband, the Emperor Claudius. Nero employed the same woman to poison
Britannicus and others.

2. _Of English History_: the countess of Somerset, who poisoned Sir
Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London. She also poisoned others.

Villiers, duke of Buckingham, it is said poisoned King James I.

3. _Of France_: Lavoisin and Lavigoreux, French midwives and
fortune-tellers.

Catherine de Medicis is said to have poisoned the mother of Henri IV.
with a pair of wedding-gloves, and several others with poisoned fans.

The marquise de Brinvilliers, a young profligate Frenchwoman, was taught
the art of secret poisoning by Sainte-Croix, who learnt it in
Italy.--_World of Wonders_, vii. 203.

4. _Of Italy_: Pope Alexander VI. and his children, Caesar and Lucrezia
[Borgia] were noted poisoners; so were Hieronyma Spara and Tofa'na.

=Polexan'dre=, an heroic romance by Gomberville (1632).

=Policy= (_Mrs._), housekeeper at Holyrood Palace. She appears in the
introduction.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Pol'idore= (3 _syl._), father of Val[`e]re.--Moli[`e]re, _Le D['e]pit
Amoureux_ (1654).

=Polinesso=, duke of Albany, who falsely accused Geneura of incontinency,
and was slain in single combat by Ariodant[^e]s.--Ariosto, _Orlando
Furioso_ (1516).

=Polish Jew= (_The_), also called THE BELLS, a melodrama by J. R. Ware,
brought prominently into note by the acting of Henry Irving at the
Lyceum. Mathis, a miller in a small German town, is visited on Christmas
Eve by a Polish Jew, who comes through the snow in a sledge. After rest
and refreshment he leaves for Nantzig, "four leagues off." Mathis
follows him, kills him with an axe, and burns the body in a lime-kiln.
He then pays his debts, becomes a prosperous and respected man, and is
made burgomaster. On the wedding night of his only child, Annette, he
dies of apoplexy, of which he had ample warning by the constant sound of
sledge-bells in his ears. In his dream he supposes himself put into a
mesmeric sleep in open court, wh