gate of the church of Paris, whither
she shall be conveyed in a tumbril, barefoot, a rope on her neck,
holding in her hands a burning torch two pounds in weight; and there on
her knees she shall say and declare that maliciously, with desire for
revenge and seeking their goods, she did poison her father, cause to be
poisoned her two brothers, and attempt the life of her sister, whereof
she doth repent, asking pardon of God, of the king, and of the judges;
and when this is done, she shall be conveyed and carried in the same
tumbril to the Place de Greve of this town, there to have her head cut
off on a scaffold to be set up for the purpose at that place; afterwards
her body to be burnt and the ashes scattered; and first she is to be
subjected to the question ordinary and extraordinary, that she may
reveal the names of her accomplices. She is declared to be deprived of
all successions from her said father, brothers, and sister, from the
date of the several crimes; and all her goods are confiscated to the
proper persons; and the sum of 4000 livres shall be paid out of her
estate to the king, and 400 livres to the Church for prayers to be said
on behalf of the poisoned persons; and all the costs shall be paid,
including those of Amelin called Lachaussee. In Parliament, 16th July
1676."

The marquise heard her sentence without showing any sign of fear or
weakness. When it was finished, she said to the registrar, "Will you,
sir, be so kind as to read it again? I had not expected the tumbril, and
I was so much struck by that that I lost the thread of what followed."

The registrar read the sentence again. From that moment she was the
property of the executioner, who approached her. She knew him by the
cord he held in his hands, and extended her own, looking him over coolly
from head to foot without a word. The judges then filed out, disclosing
as they did so the various apparatus of the question. The marquise
firmly gazed upon the racks and ghastly rings, on which so many had been
stretched crying and screaming. She noticed the three buckets of water

[Note: The torture with the water was thus administered.
There were eight vessels, each containing 2 pints of water.
Four of these were given for the ordinary, and eight for the
extraordinary. The executioner inserted a horn into the
patient's mouth, and if he shut his teeth, forced him to
open them by pinching his nose with the finger and thumb.]