ntial
courtier like Penautier, was scandalised to see the crime spreading among
the people. Disgrace was, in fact, entailed, in the eyes of Europe, upon
the name of Frenchman. Louis XIV., to put a stop to the evil, instituted
what was called the Chambre Ardente, or Burning Chamber, with extensive
powers for the trial and punishment of the prisoners.

Two women, especially, made themselves notorious at this time, and were
instrumental to the deaths of hundreds of individuals. They both resided
in Paris, and were named Lavoisin and Lavigoreux. Like Spara and Tophania,
of whom they were imitators, they chiefly sold their poisons to women who
wanted to get rid of their husbands; and, in some few instances, to
husbands who wanted to get rid of their wives. Their ostensible occupation
was that of midwives. They also pretended to be fortune-tellers, and were
visited by persons of every class of society. The rich and poor thronged
alike to their _mansardes_ to learn the secrets of the future. Their
prophecies were principally of death. They foretold to women the
approaching dissolution of husbands, and to needy heirs the end of rich
relatives, who had made them, as Byron expresses it, "wait too, too long
already." They generally took care to be instrumental in fulfilling their
own predictions. They used to tell their wretched employers that some sign
of the approaching death would take place in the house, such as the
breaking of glass or china; and they paid servants considerable fees to
cause a breakage, as if by accident, exactly at the appointed time. Their
occupation as midwives made them acquainted with the secrets of many
families, which they afterwards turned to dreadful account.

It is not known how long they had carried on this awful trade before they
were discovered. Detection finally overtook them at the close of the year
1679. They were both tried, found guilty, and burned alive on the Place de
Greve, on the 22d of February, 1680, after their hands had been bored
through with a red-hot iron, and then cut off. Their numerous accomplices
in Paris and in the provinces were also discovered and brought to trial.
According to some authors, thirty, and to others, fifty of them, chiefly
women, were hanged in the principal cities.

Lavoisin kept a list of the visitors who came to her house to purchase
poisons. This paper was seized by the police on her arrest, and examined
by the tribunals. Among the names were found those