Anthony Calas to have been ftrangled; the furgeon, having been ordered to examine the ftomach of the deceased, depofed alfo, that the food which was found there had been taken four hours before his death. As no proof of the fuppofed fact could be procured, the Capitoul had recourse to a Monitory, in which the crime was taken for granted, and all perfons were required to give fuch teftimony concerning it as they were able, particularizing the points to which they were to fpeak. This Monitory recites, that La Vaifle was commiffioned by the Proteftants to be their executioner in ordinary, when any of their children were to be hanged for changing their religion; it recites alfo, that when Proteftants thus hang their children, they compel them to kneel, and one of the interrogatories was, whether any perfon had feen Anthony Calas kneel before his father when he ftrangled him; it recites too, that Anthony died a Roman Catholic, and requires evidence of his catholicifm. Thefe ridiculous opinions being thus adopted and published by the principal magiftrate of a confiderable city, the church of Geneva thought itself obliged to fend an atteftation of its abhorrence of opi-' nions fo abominable and abfurd, and of its aftonishment that they fhould be fufpected of fuch opinions by perfons whofe rank and office required them to have more knowledge and better judgment.

But before this Monitory was publifhed, the mob had got a notion, that Anthony Calas was the next day to have entered into the confraternity of the White Penitents. The Capitoul immediately adopted this opinion alfo, without

the leaft examination, and ordered Anthony's body to be buried in the middle of St. Stephen's church, which was done; forty priests, and all the White Penitents, affifting in the funeral proceffion.

Four days afterwards the White Penitents performed a folemn fervice for him in their chapel; the church was hung with white, and a tomb was raised in the middle of it, on the top of which was placed a human skeleton, holding in one hand a paper, on which was written abjuration of berefy, and in the other a palm, the emblem of martyrdom.

The next day the Francifcans performed a fervice of the fame kind for him; and it is eafy to imagine how much the minds of the people were inflamed by this ftrange folly of their magiftrates and priests.

The Capitoul continued the profecution with unrelenting feverity; and though the grief and diftraction of the family, when he first came to the house, were alone fufficient to have convinced any reasonable being that they were not the authors of the event which they deplored, yet having publicly attefted that they were guilty in his Monitory without proof, and no proof coming in, he thought fit to condemn the unhappy father, mother, brother, friend, and fervant, to the torture, and put them all into irons on the 18th of November. Cafing was enlarged upon proof that he was not in Calas's houfe till after Anthony was dead.

From thefe dreadful proceedings the fufferers appealed to the parliament, which immediately took cognizance of the affair, annulled the fentence of the Capitoul as ir

regular,

regular, and continued the profe

cution.

When the trial came on, the hangman, who had been carried to Calas's houfe, and fhewn the folding doors and the bar, depofed, that it was impoffible Anthony fhould hang himself as was pretended; another witness fwore that they look ed through the key-hole of Calas's door into a dark room, where they faw men running haftily to and fro; a third fwore, that his wife had told him, that a woman named Mandrill had told her, that a certain woman unknown had declared fhe heard the cries of Mark Anthony Calas at the farther end of the city. Upon fuch evidence as this, the majority of the parliament were of opinion, that the father and mother had ordered La Vaiffe to hang their fon, and that another fon, and a maid fervant, who was a good Catholic, had affifted him to do it.

One La Borde prefided at the trial, who had zealoufly efpoufed the popular prejudices; and though it was manifeft to demonftration that the prisoners were either all innocent or all guilty, he voted that the father should first fuffer the torture ordinary and extraordinary, to difcover his accomplices, and be then broken alive upon the wheel, to receive the laft ftroke when he had laid two hours, and then to be burnt to ashes. In this opinion he had the concurrence of fix others, three were for the torture alone, two were of opinion that they should endeavour to afcertain upon the fpot whether Anthony could hang himself or not, and one voted to acquit the prifoner. After long debates the majority was for the torture and the wheel, and probably condemned the father by way of

experiment whether he was guilty or not, hoping he would, in the agony, confefs the crime, and accufe the other prifoners, whofe fate, therefore, they fufpended. It is, however, certain, that if they had had evidence against the father that would have juftified the fentence they pronounced against him, that very evidence would have justified the fame fentence against the rest; and that if they could not july condemn the reft, they could not juftly condemn him, for they were all in the houfe together when Anthony died, all concurred in declaring he hanged himself, which those who did not help to hang him, if banged by others, could have had no motive to do, nor could any of the prifoners have hanged him by violence, without the knowledge of the reft.

Poor Calas, however, an old man of fixty-eight, was condemned to this dreadful punishment alone; he fuffered the torture with great con→ ftancy, and was led to execution in a frame of mind which excited the admiration of all that faw him.

Two Dominicans, father Bourges and father Caldagues, who attended him in his last moments, wished "their latter end might be like his,” and declared that they thought him not only wholly innocent of the crime laid to his charge, but an exemplary inftance of true christian patience, fortitude, and charity.

One fingle fhriek, and that not very violent, efcaped him when he received the first ftroke, after that he uttered no complaint. Being at length placed on the wheel, to wait for the moment which was to end his life and his mifery together, he expreffed himfelf with an humble hope of an happy immortality, and a compaffionate regard for the judges [K] 2

who

who had condemned him. When he faw the executioner prepared to give him the laft ftroke, he made a fresh declaration of his innocence to father Bourges; but while the words were yet in his mouth, the Capitoul, the author of this catastrophe, and who came upon the fcaffold mercly to gratify his defire of being a witness of his punishment and death, ran up to him and bawled out, Wretch, there are the faggots which are to reduce your body to afbes; Speak the truth. Mr. Calas made no reply, but turned his head a little afide, and that moment the executioner did his office.

Though the teftimony of a dying man had thus acquitted the reft of the prifoners, yet the judges, that they might act with an uniform abfurdity throughout the whole affair, banished Peter Calas for life, and acquitted the reft. The widow and the other fufferers are feeking fuch redrefs from the king as can now be had, to whom the fentence of the judge was not fent for confirmation, as it ought to have been.

The judges have thought fit to fupprefs this trial; the widow petitions that it may be ordered to be laid before the parliament of Paris for a revifion.

tens, and they took parish children apprentices. They had then five, Philadelphia Dowley, about 10 years old; Sarah Hinchman, about 12; Anne Naylor, about 13; Mary, her fier, about eight; and Anne Paul, whofe age does not appear: but as Hinchan is faid to have been the biggest girl, the was probably not more than 10.

These children were kept to work in a small flip of a room, so close, that their breath, and the heat of their bodies, made it fuffocating and unwholefome, and they were not only treated with unkindness and severity, but were not allowed fufficient food. As it was natural to fuppofe they would complain, another punishment became neceffary, and they were fuffered to go out of doors but once a fortnight, and ther were never alone. Anne Naylor had a whitloe upon her finger, fo bad that it was obliged to be cut off, and, being befides a weak fickly child, fhe became particularly obnoxious to the inhumanity and avarice of the petty tyrant, of whom he was condemned to be the flave.

Eeing almost worn out by a long feries of ill-treatment, the girl, at length, ran away, but was foon brought back; after this he was treated with yet greater feverity, and kept fo fhort of food, that finding her ftrength decay, the watched for an opportunity to run away a fecond time; but this was now become very difficult, for the mother and daughter being apprehenfive of fuch an attempt, and dreading the confequences of a complaint, yet more than the lofs of the girl, were careful to keep the street-door faft, and their unhappy victim in the Pper part of the houfe.

It happened, however, that, on the 29th of September, the watched the door's being opened for the milkman, and creeping down stairs, took the opportunity of the daughter's back being turned, to flip out; but the daughter miffing her while the was yet in fight, called out to have her stopped, and the milkman, as fhe was running with what ftrength fhe had left, caught her in his arms. The poor child expoftulated with the man, and preffed him, with a moving earnestnefs, to let her go; Pray, milkman, says she, let me go, for I bave had no victuals a long time, and if I ftay here I fball be farved to death. By this time the daughter was come up, and the milkman having no power to detain the child, and it being impoffible for her to escape, fhe fell again into the hands of her mercilefs tyrants; and the daughter having dragged her into the houfe by the neck, flapped to the door, and then forced her up ftairs into the room, where the old woman was ftill in bed, though fhe had fiarted up, and joined in the cry, upon the firft alarm. Here the was thrown upon the bed, and the old woman held her down by the head, while the daughter beat her with the handle of a hearth-broom; after this, he was forced into a two pair of ftairs back room, and a ftring being tied round her waift, fhe was made fast to the door with her hands hound behind her, fo that the could neither lie nor fit down. In this manner was the kept ftanding, without food or drink for three days, being untied only at night that the might go to bed, and the last night fhe was fo feeble, that he was obliged to crawl up to bed upon her hands and knees. During this tim

the other children were ordered to work in the room by her, that they might be deterred from attempting to efcape, by feeing the punishment that was inflicted upon one who had thus offended already.

The firft day the faid little, her ftrength failing her apace; the next day, the faid nothing, but the pains of death coming on, the groaned piteoufly; on the third day, foon after he was tied up, her ftrength wholly failed her, and the funk down, hanging double in the ftring which bound her by the waift. The children being then frighted, ran to the top of the stairs, and called out, Mijs Sally! Mifs Sally! Nanny does not move. The daughter came up ftairs, and found her without any appearance of fense or motion, hanging by the ftring with her head and her feet together; but fhe was fo far from being touched with pity, that he cried out, If he does not move, I'll warrant I'll make ber move, and immediately began to beat her with the heel of her fhoe: finding, however, notwithstanding the blows, which were very hard, that the poor wretch fhewed no figns of fenfibility, fear took the alarm, and fhe haftily called up her mother. When the old woman came up, fhe fat down upon the garret-ftairs, at the door where the child was ftill hanging, and the ftring being at length cut, the laid her acrofs her lap, and fent Sally Hinchman down ftairs for fome drops. When the drops were brought, the girls were all fent down ftairs, and the mother and daughter were foon convinced that their victim was dead.

Having confulted together, they carried the body up ftairs into the fore garret, next to that where the [K] 3 child

child ufed to lie, and locked the door that the other children might not fee it. They pretended the had had a fit, from which the foon recovered; and for two or three days they infinuated, that he was confined in the garret to prevent her running away, having made a third attempt to escape; and the mother herfelf, in fight of the children, took victuals and carried it up into the garret, pretending it was Nanny's dinner. On the fourth day, the body being stripped, was locked up in a box and, in confequence of a plan concerted between the mother and daughter, the garret-door was left open when the children were fent down to dinner, and the streetdoor was alfo opened and left a-jar; when they were at dinner, the mother faid to the daughter, Hark! Sally, don't you hear a noife? go and fee what it is; to which the daughter, as had been agreed, replied, There is no noife, and continued at table: then faid the old woman to Sally Hinchman, Go and fetch Nanny down, he shall dine below to-day. Hinchman went up, and finding the garret door open, and the child not there, ran back frighted, and faid, Medam, Nanny is not there--Run down then, faid the old woman, and look below; upon this feveral of the children ran down, and finding the ftreet-door alfo open, came up, and told what they had feen-Aye, faid the old woman, then he is run away at laft; and it was he that I keard, when I mentioned the noife. Girls, did not you hear a noife? O law, madam, fid the poor children, implicitly concurring in an opinion they did not dare to contradict, fo we did.

Thus they hoped to account for

the child's abfence to her fellowprentices, who were not, however, without fufpicions; one of them, in particular, observed, that, if she had run away, he had run away without her fhoes, of which he was known to have but one pair, and they were found in the garret foon after the fuppofed efcape; another remarked, that they had all her shifts in the wash, and that it was not likely fhe fhould efcape without either shift or shoes. The old woman hearing this whispered, faid, That he went without her fhoes for fear of being heard to go down ftairs, and that if he could but get into the freet, fhe would not mind being barefoot; the fhifts the could not fo readily account for; and a perfon who lodged in the houfe, having asked what was become of Nanny, was anfwered by her fifter, that the was dead. The lodger was fatisfied with the anfwer, having no fufpicion that her death was not natural; but the mother hearing of it, asked Molly Naylor, Who told her, that her fifter was dead; the replied, Philly Dowley, one of her fellow prentices; Philly, therefore, was fharply reproved. Molly was foon after destroyed as her fister had been, and the horrid fecret slept with the mother and daughter.

It became neceffary, however, to keep the children out of the garret, for the body was become very offer five; they were therefore ordered not to wash their hands there as ufual, but to wash them in the kitchen, and the garret-door was kept locked. But at the end of two months, the putrefaction was fo great, that the whole houfe was infected, and it became abfolutely neceffary to remove the body.

The