the same, that she was
in no way guilty; and Maitre Nivelle, one of the best lawyers of the
period, consented to defend her cause.

He combated one charge after another, in a remarkably clever way, owning
to the adulterous connection of the marquise with Sainte-Croix, but
denying her participation in the murders of the d'Aubrays, father
and sons: these he ascribed entirely to the vengeance desired by
Sainte-Croix. As to the confession, the strongest and, he maintained,
the only evidence against Madame de Brinvilliers, he attacked its
validity by bringing forward certain similar cases, where the evidence
supplied by the accused against themselves had not been admitted by
reason of the legal action: 'Non auditur perire volens'. He cited three
instances, and as they are themselves interesting, we copy them verbatim
from his notes.

FIRST CASE

Dominicus Soto, a very famous canonist and theologian, confessor to
Charles V, present at the first meetings of the Council of Trent under
Paul III, propounds a question about a man who had lost a paper on which
he had written down his sins. It happened that this paper fell into
the hands of an ecclesiastical judge, who wished to put in information
against the writer on the strength of this document. Now this judge was
justly punished by his superior, because confession is so sacred that
even that which is destined to constitute the confession should be
wrapped in eternal silence. In accordance with this precedent, the
following judgment, reported in the 'Traite des Confesseurs', was given
by Roderic Acugno. A Catalonian, native of Barcelona, who was condemned
to death for homicide and owned his guilt, refused to confess when the
hour of punishment arrived. However strongly pressed, he resisted, and
so violently, giving no reason, that all were persuaded that his
mind was unhinged by the fear of death. Saint-Thomas of Villeneuve,
Archbishop of Valencia, heard of his obstinacy. Valencia was the place
where his sentence was given. The worthy prelate was so charitable as to
try to persuade the criminal to make his confession, so as not to lose
his soul as well as his body. Great was his surprise, when he asked
the reason of the refusal, to hear the doomed man declare that he hated
confessors, because he had been condemned through the treachery of
his own priest, who was the only person who knew about the murder. In
confession he had admitted his crime and sa