er some of her "drops," at a price
commensurate with the supposed wealth of the purchaser.

The liquor thus obtained was subjected to an analysis, and found to be,
as was suspected, a slow poison--clear, tasteless, and limpid, like
that spoken of by the Duke of Guise. Upon this evidence the house was
surrounded by the police, and La Spara and her companions taken into
custody. La Spara, who is described as having been a little, ugly, old
woman, was put to the torture, but obstinately refused to confess her
guilt. Another of the women, named La Gratiosa, had less firmness, and
laid bare all the secrets of the infernal sisterhood. Taking a
confession, extorted by anguish on the rack, at its true value (nothing
at all), there is still sufficient evidence to warrant posterity in the
belief of their guilt. They were found guilty, and condemned, according
to their degrees of culpability, to various punishments. La Spara,
Gratiosa, and three young women, who had poisoned their husbands, were
hanged together at Rome. Upwards of thirty women were whipped publicly
through the streets; and several, whose high rank screened them from
more degrading punishment, were banished from the country, and mulcted
in heavy fines. In a few months afterwards, nine women more were hanged
for poisoning; and another bevy, including many young and beautiful
girls, were whipped half naked through the streets of Rome.

This severity did not put a stop to the practice, and jealous women and
avaricious men, anxious to step into the inheritance of fathers,
uncles, or brothers, resorted to poison. As it was quite free from
taste, colour, and smell, it was administered without exciting
suspicion. The skilful vendors compounded it of different degrees of
strength, so that the poisoners had only to say whether they wanted
their victims to die in a week, a month, or six months, and they were
suited with corresponding doses. The vendors were chiefly women, of
whom the most celebrated was a hag, named Tophania, who was in this way
accessory to the death of upwards of six hundred persons. This woman
appears to have been a dealer in poisons from her girlhood, and resided
first at Palermo and then at Naples. That entertaining traveller,
Father Lebat, has given, in his Letters from Italy, many curious
particulars relating to her. When he was at Civita Vecchia, in 1719,
the Viceroy of Naples discovered that poison was extensively sold in
the latter city, and that