fon of John Baptist Marulli, one of the moft ancient Senators of the republic of Lucca, but, at the fame time, indifferently provided with the goods of fortune; that his morals were without blemish; and that he was going to perfect his studies at Salamanca.

Being afraid of his leaving Madrid before I had an opportunity of converfing with him, I found means to have intimated to him my fentiments in his favour. He was told of my great riches, and how highly prized I was for beauty. He was alfo told that my uncle, in quality of guardian, was intent on obliging me to marry one of my relations, that my fortune fhould not go out of our family; but that I had an invincible averfion to that marriage. He was let to know that it depended on him to avail himself of my inclination for him to retrieve the circumftances of his family, and, if the match fuited him, measures would be concerted for introducing him to me.

His answer was at first not so favourable as I wifhed. He was not unacquainted, he faid, with my fortune or great beauty; he had feen me feveral times, and, being prepoffeffed with the ftrongeft inclination for me, had informed himself who I was, to judge if he could reafonably devote him elf to that inclination, or ftop fhort its progrefs. He had learned that, if our conditions of birth were nearly equal, I had over him the advantage of a fortune very fuperior to his; and, fince that eclairciffement, he had used continual efforts to conquer an affection which reafon did not permit he should fuffer to take root in his heart.

The person who was my agent in this affair, returning to the charge, deftroyed all his fcruples, and, exhorting him to prefer the counfels of love to thofe of reafon, difpofed him without difficulty to fee me. We facilitated the means a few days after. I need not proceed to the detail of our converfation. Marulli affured me that, regardless of the confideration of my fortune, he felt för me the heat of a fire that could not be extinguifhed, and (hould be ever grateful for the permiffion I granted him to love me. He conjured me not to yield to the feductive fpeeches of my uncle. He promised to help me to divert him from his purpofe in regard to my being married to my kinfman, as foon as he should return from Salamanca, where he was under a neceffity of going for a fhort time. I affured him alfo, on my part, that, as it was not the nature of my fentiments to admit of birth and death in an inftant, I would oppofe, during his abfence, every enterprife against my will. We afterwards feparated, and I faw him fhed tears, when he

paffed under my balcony the day he left Ma drid. I knew by these tears that he depart-. ed without quitting me, and I felt by a certain emotion, that I followed him without quitting the place I was in.

But to what reverfes of fortune are not the wretches expofed, whom her caprice is to perfecute? The day after Marulli's departure, my uncle informed me that he had just taken leave of the King, being charged by him with a commiffion to the Court of Naples, which required his fetting out as foon as poflible. He recommended to me to make preparations for accompanying him the next day. I had no occafion to counterfeit the fick perfon, to oblige him to defer our departure. The news fo alarmed me, that I was inftantly feized with a fever, attended with a delirium, which gave my uncle great uneafinefs. Thanks, however, to the good.. nefs of my conftitution, no ill confequences enfued. Still was obliged to yield to my uncle's will. He did not ceafe telling me that my fick nefs was only the effect of my repugnance to the marriage he had propofed to me, and that I fhould be cured of it fo foon as I had feen the perfon he had defined for my hufband. I pretended I should be glad of, at least, a few hours repofe, and I availed myself of this refpite to write to Marulli, and inform him of what had paffed. I let him know that I could not help taking a journey to Italy; that, when we should be beyond the Alps, I would perfuade my uncle to take through Lucca the route to Capua; that I would feign in his city to be fuddenly poffeffed with wicked fpirits, to give him, by that feint, time to return from Salamanca; that, in fpite of my guardian and the whole world, I would make him my hufband, if his defign was ftill to be fo; and that I fhould judge of his tenderness for me by his diligence in repairing to Lucca, that I might acquit myfelf of the part I intended to play on his account.

My letter written, I commiffioned a faithful meffenger to deliver it to him, and I am perfuaded that Marulli received it, as foon as he arrived at Salamanca. I have been now here three days, exorcifed as if I had a legion of devils in my body; but I affure you there is no other than love, a fweet and yet terrible devil, who will ceafe tormenting me, the moment Marulli comes to exorcife me himself.

This, Ladies, is my history, and I fhould be infinitely obliged to you for your affifting me in my innocent impofture, by engaging my uncle not to go hence till the devils are expelled Perhaps a delay of fome days will be fufficient to give Marulli time to arrive,

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already heard the voice of Andrew Marulli coming up the stairs, I have impofed no commands on fantastic demons: Phantoms are only formed out of grofs air, and Andrew there is a folid body, compofed of flesh and bones. Is it not true, afked fhe, looking at him enamoured, that spectres of your fpecies are not infenfible of beauty's attractions, and that you had given yourself to me, to fubject to you a heart which would ftill keep aloof, had not I difpofed it to a furrender.

Every one trembled at the fight of Marulli, and none dared to come near him. Even his father could not be perfuaded that it was he in perfon, and all had like to die with fear, when Andrew spoke thofe dreadful words, addreffing himself to the beautiful Caftruccio: Thou didst deceive me then, abominable feductor, when thou didst promife me the affection of that divinity whom I adore. Thou fhouldst have put me in poffeffion of fo precious a treasure, and thou haft feized it for thyself. Charmed to fee her lover second so well the intention of the let ter he had received at Salamanca, and judging it was neceffary, for a moment, to renounce the decorum of language: Ingrate, replied the, doft thou fo repay with unjuft reproaches the devil's fincerity, and perhaps the moft faithful of all the demons in the air, on the earth, or in the abyss? Have I brought thee from Salamanca to Lucca to plunge a poniard into thy bofom, though I cherish thee as my dearer half? And wouldst thou not lose the object of thy love, if I had not taken poffeffion to retain it for thee? I preferve it fo well for thee, that, notwithstanding thy ingratitude, I will not defert it, till thou art put in peaceable pofieffion; and tranfport it with thee into the Indies, if, this inftant, its guardian, thy father, and all the affitants, do not confent, by a written inftrument, to thy happiness.

The road from Salamanca to Lucca which, it was believed, the devil had made Andrew Marulli travel over through the air, had fo affrighted fome of them, that they dreaded being carried themfelves to the Indies by the fame route and the fame vehicle, if they re fused the desired confent. The exorcifts were of opinion it thould be given in order to amufe the devil. The old Senator thought as they did. The propofal was then made, the pretended devil approved of it, and the phyucian, feeing that every one figned, even the Ladies, confidents of the sham demoniac, did the fame; he afterwards wanted to engage the guardian to fubfcribe alfo his fignature through complaifance, left, faid he, if any unforeseen devilish trick fhould happen to aggravate his ward's diforder, both might

be accused of harfhnefs, and the accident laid to their charge. Your reafon appears to me very good, anfwered the old Gentleman, who placed great confidence in him but, if it should be difcovered that we had confented to the marrying of two devils together, for they are real ones that here speak, your Inquifitor would not put a jetting conftruction on the matter. He would, on the contrary, confider it as a profanation, and the only favour he could confer upon us would be to fend us both to a mad-house. Sign, however, faid the physician, my profeffion authorifes me to purfue any proper means for attaining my propofed end, and the Inquifitor himself, who has been hitherto indebted to my fkill for his life, would pass by, unnoticed, in me, ftill more extraordinary matters. You conceive, equally with me, that your figning engages you to nothing, because it is not poffible a farce should be here acted to byafs us; and that the devil, though quite fubtle, is not fo to the degree of concerting, without preparation, a piece that furpaffes all human understanding, nor to fet in motion fprings which can only be effected by nature. Since you advife me to it, replied the guardian, I will fign by your example; but remember that you must be refponfible for the confequences.

When ifabella had in her hands the confent in form, fhe delivered it to Andrew Marulli. Art thou now fatisfied, faid the to him? Wilt thou any more accuse me of having deceived thee? 1 reftore thy fabella to thee, who has been fo taken, by my care, with thy fine qualities, that there three days paft fhe has waited thy coming with the firmnefs of a rock, vainly lafhed about by indignant waves. She gives thee her hand, give her thine; be united to each other, and, when one of the exorcifts fhall confirm your union, I will leave you both to enjoy in peace a felicity which I do not tolerate in all marriages.

The older of the friars, in order to expel more expeditioufly the devil, made the two lovers declare, that, without sny compulfion, and of their own will, they plighted each other their faith. Then Isabella protested that the demon had left her at full liberty to ac cept or refufe the hand of Andrew Marulli, and that the had not given him her's till the was plainly convinced Heaven had ratified her marriage with that cavalier.

Thefe words made her uncle change colour. Well, faid he to the phyfician, do you call this inchantment and witchcraft? It is vou, anfwered the doctor, that made me believe that the devil to amufed people, and I little expected a trick at the bottom. Nor

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I, faid the guardian, and fhall take care to put an end to the fport. Away, niece, bag and baggage, let us take the route of Capua. No, faid humbly the friar to him who had joined their hands; the fhall remain here; our holy mother, the church, must not be a butt of derifion, and we thall attend her till the lawful paftor of the contracting parties completes what we have begun. I will never fuffer it, cried the guardian: Good God! can the grey hairs of an unfortunate old man be fo difhonoured? Softly, Sir, faid Andrew Marulli's father to him, my alliance does not difhonour you, though my fortune is lefs than yours. Befides, I have been no way inftrumental to the marriage, your niece and my fon have concerted the bufinefs without my participation; and you must own that, when we were of their age, we were capable of a like artifice; youth and love make great allowances for fuch improprietics in conduct.

Whilft he spoke, Ilabella's uncle, from excefs of vexation, became fo weak that they were obliged to have him carried into his chamber, and put to bed His beautiful ward quitted her bed, got herself dreffed, and followed Andrew Marulli, who conducted her, as his fpoufe, to his father's houfe She was there received with all the marks of confideration due to her rank. On his fide, the phyfician exercifed on the old uncle all the fkill he had bragged of to him; but the remedies he prefcribed were of no etficacy in regard to a patient who no longer placed any confidence in him, and in two days time this good guardian appeared in the other world, to make the report of his ward's impofture. This accident, however, did not retard the celebration of their marriage in due form; and it may be thought that the happy Ifabella did not fail to invite the amiable ftrangers, who had feconded her to fuch advantage.

AVE VERY fingular event has given room to a Differtation which M. Morand read to the Academy on that subject: The 7th of October, 1765, two butchers, of the Royal Hospital of the Invalids, killed each an ox for the provifion of the houfe, and the meat was employed as ufual for the Officers and foldiers, without the left ailment attending on those who had eaten of it, roft or boiled.

The next morning, however, one of the two butchers, aged 27 years, had his eyeids fwelled and a head-ach; the fwelling got to his cheeks, the head-ach increafed, and a fever fucceeded. In this ftate he was carried to the infirmary of the hofpital; the diforder came to a confiderable height, and bleeding procured him no other relief than a fight leffening of his head-ach. An emetic, which had been given him the fourth day, feemed to esfe him a little. There arofe on his eye-lids, and different parts of his face, blifters which threatened to be gangrenous. Thefe accidents, notwithstanding, diminished; yet there was an efchar under the blifters that came with difficulty to a fuppuration, and the patient was again vomited and purged. The 15th the efchar fell, and left open a confiderable wound which had the afual dreffings; but, the zoth, the left thigh was attacked with a harp pain; and the next day the like accident happened to the right leg, the bath having only increased

the pain and fwelling: Then recourse was had to ordinary cataplafins; the ailing parts came to a fuppuration; both were opened, and yielded only a purulent matter like that of a fimple phlegmon; the patient went out of the Infirmary the 3d of January, having been there near three months.

The other butcher was not taken ill of the difeafe till two days after he had killed the ox; but he met with a worle treatment from it than his companion; for, befides the accidents that were common to both, the fwelling of the face got to the neck, and afterwards to the bofom, and there formed a fhining emphysema, which tended the kin in all parts like a drum, and threatened him with an intire fuffocation. M. de Morand, having opened one of the blifters of the face, applied an actual cautery to it, in order to bring on a fuppuration, and, having perceived a fwelling in the thighs and legs, he applied blifters to them. Thefe remedies, together with bleeding and vomiting, which were at firft adminiftered without much fuccefs, effected a cure, caufing a great quantity of humours to flow This man left the Infirmary the 8th of December, upwards of three weeks before his comrade, who was not, in the main, fo grievously affected.

So fingular a difeafe, as well by its effects as caufe, engaged M. Morand to make all poffible inquiries, in regard to it. The two oxen had been vifited, according to the con

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ftant cuftom of the houfe, and no difeafe, nothing amifs, had been obferved in them, only that they appeared fomewhat fatigued They were knocked down and bled as ufual; their blood feemed nothing different from that of others, and neither of the butchers had an open wound whereby the blood might have penetrated into the interior parts of their body: No extraordinary fmell, also, was obfervable at the opening of the oxen.

The undertaker of the butchery had been in the fame office for the army in the laft war, and he informed M. Morand, that they had often killed oxen which had been over-fatigued for the provifion of the army, without any foldier or Officer being thereby incommoded; but it often happened, that the butchers who had flain them had been attacked by the fame difeafe as the Invalid butchers, and that even fome of them had died of it.

Hence it was not difficult to perceive what had happened to the oxen of the Invalids: Among the beats that are drove to Paris, there are always fome ftragglers, which do not follow the reft without being much worried by dogs, or by the drivers; and it probably happens to them as to a jaded or overridden horse. It is well known, that a horfe, in a foundered state, is in great danger of lofing his life; and that thofe who bargain for horfes have an action for having their money refunded by him who had jaded the horse.

It is therefore very poffible, that the body ef an ox killed in that ftate, being ftill hot, and perhaps his blood more fo, may exhale a pernicious vapour, affecting thofe that touch the body, or receive the blood of the animal on their fkin: But what can be the degree of malignity of thefe vapours, and why do they principally attack the cellular membrane? This is not eafily explained. What is fingular is, that the vapour of animals, labouring under the bovilla peftis, or murrain, does not in any wife affect those that open them, dead or dying A Surgeon-major had opened upwards of 200, in the mortality of 1712, without being in the leaft incommoded. It appears likewife, by leveral examples, that the flesh of thefe animals was eaten without any inconveniency; it is true, that one only example that happened in Dauphiny feems to infinuate the contrary; but it follows, however, from all M. Morand's obfervations, that the oxen killed at the Invalids had been, probably, over-drove

and killed before they recovered from their laffitude; that butchers, killing animals in that ftate, run the rifque of their lives, but that the flesh may be eaten with impunity; though it fhould be wholefomer, if the animal had time to recruit himself of his fatigue.

The reading of the circumstances of this fat before the Academy caused M, du Hamel to recollect a like accident, that happened in his part of the country: Among fome oxen, driven from Limolin to Paris, one of the fineft, weighing about 800lb. was not able to follow the reft. By the advice of fome graziers and butchers, who were of opinion he had been ailing, he was fold to a butcher of Pithiviers, who fent his journeyman to kill him in the ftable of the inn where he was kept. During his operations, this perfon, having put his knife into his mouth for a few moments, was fome hours after attacked with a fwelling of his tongue, and a freightering of his cheft, with a difficulty of breathing: There appeared black puftules over his whole body, and he died the 4th day of a general gangrene.

The inn-k.eper having the palm of his hand pricked by a bone of the fame ox. alivid tumor arofe in the part, the arm fell into a fphacelus, and he died at the end of the 7th day: His wife having received fome drops of blood on the back of her hand, the hand fwelled, and he had fome difficulty in getting cured: The fervant-maid, having paffed under the ox, foon after it was hung up, received fome drops of blood on the cheek, which brought on the part a great inflammation, terminating in a black tumor. She was cured, but remained disfigured by it: In fine, the Surgeon of the hospital at Pithiviers, by having o ened one of these tumors, and put his lancet between his wig and forehead, his head fwelled, and an erysipelas was formed, which he long continued ill of.

It is very certain, that the blood of this ox was very contagious, yet his flesh was fold to the beft houfes of Pithiviers and its en virons, and none were in the least incom moded by the eating of it. It would, perhaps, be curious to know if the animals, which might have eaten of it raw, or drank the blood, had been affected. The refemblance of the two facts of Pithiviers and the Invalids is fufficiently manifeft: The caufe of the firft is not equivocal; and there is great reafon to believe that it is the fame which occafioned the fecond.

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