the apothecary, the context
shows that this was the same aphrodisiac as the Marquis de
Sades put to such a detestable use at Marseilles in 1772,
when, after fleeing from justice, he was formally sentenced
to death, and broken, in effigy, upon the wheel. See P.
Lacroix's _Curiosites de l'histoire de France, IIeme Serie_,
Paris, 1858.--Ed.

The apothecary's wife heard all this talk, and thought within herself
that she had no less need of the recipe than her husband's "commere."
Observing, therefore, the place where her husband put the remainder of
the powder, she resolved that she would use some of it when she found
an opportunity; and this she did within three or four days. Her husband,
who felt a coldness of the stomach, begged her to make him some good
soup, but she replied that a roast with Duke's powder would be better
for him; whereupon he bade her go quickly and prepare it, and take
cinnamon and sugar from the shop. This she did, not forgetting also to
take the remainder of the powder given to the "commere," without any
heed to dose, weight or measure.

The husband ate the roast, and thought it very good. Before long,
however, he felt its effects, and sought to soothe them with his wife,
but this he found was impossible, for he felt all on fire, in such wise
that he knew not which way to turn. He then told his wife that she had
poisoned him, and demanded to know what she had put into the roast. She
forthwith confessed the truth, telling him that she herself required the
recipe quite as much as his "commere." By reason of his evil plight,
the poor apothecary could belabour her only with hard words; however,
he drove her from his presence, and sent to beg the Queen of Navarre's
apothecary (3) to come and see him. This the Queen's apothecary did, and
whilst giving the other all the remedies proper for his cure (which in
a short time was effected) he rebuked him very sharply for his folly
in counselling another to use drugs that he was not willing to take
himself, and declared that his wife had only done her duty, inasmuch as
she had desired to be loved by her husband.

3 It was from her apothecary no doubt that Queen Margaret
heard this story.--Ed.

Thus the poor man was forced to endure the results of his folly in
patience, and to own that he had been justly punished in being brought
into such derision as he had proposed for another.

"Methinks, ladies, this woman's lov