him that he had a wife and child at Languedoc, but that it was not his design to return during the life of his uncle.

The stranger being sent for and privately questioned, repeated, in a clear and consistent manner, what he had before communicated, confirmed the apprehensions of the uncle, that the real Martin Guerre was still absent, and added, that since quitting his wife, he had lost one of his legs in the battle of St. Quintin.

The family, alarmed by this account, now saw or thought they saw many little circumstances, which had before escaped their notice, but all tending to prove that the man with whom Mad. Guerre cohabited, and by whom she had two children, was not in fact her lawful husband.

But they found it extremely difficult to convince the deluded female of her mistake; she loudly, and with tears insisted, that her present domestic companion was her first love, her real and original husband; it was not till after several months, that the unhappy woman was at length prevailed on to prosecute the impostor.

He was taken into custody, and imprisoned by order of the criminal judge of Rieux, and a time fixed for examining the evidence, and hearing what Ďu Tilb had to offer in his defence.

On the day appointed, the offender was brought into court, followed by a number of people, whose curiosity was naturally excited; the deposition of the traveller, concerning the absent Martin Guerre was first read; the uncle, the sisters, and many of the inhabitants of Sagias were next closely examined on their oaths; some declared that the prisoner was not Martin Guerre, others as positively insisted that he was the identical person, corroborating their testimony by many collateral circumstances; but the greater number avowed without scruple, that the resemblance between the two, if two there were, was so great, that it was not in their power to distinguish; the weight of evidence was thought by many in favour of the prisoner.

The judge demanding of him what he had to say in his defence, he answered without embarrassment, that the whole was a conspiracy of the uncle and a certain part of the family, who taking advantage of the easy temper and weak understanding of his wife, had contrived the story in order to be rid of him, and to get possession of his property, which he valued at eight thousand livres.

The uncle he observed, had for some time taken a dislike to him, had frequently assaulted him, and in one instance would have killed him by the stroke of an iron bar on his head had he not fortunately parried the blow.

The remark of the prisoner on the weakness of his wife's understanding, served to diminish the surprise of the court at her being so easily duped, nor indeed could they blame any relation for endeavouring, in any manner they were able, to expel the violator of the wife and property of their kinsman.

Du Tilb then proceeded to inform the court of the reasons which first induced him to quit his house and family; related minutely where, how, and with whom he had passed his time; that he had served in the French army seven years, and, on his regiment being disbanded, had entered into the Spanish service, from which, being impatient to see his wife, and sorely repenting that he had ever quitted her, at a considerable expense he procured his discharge, and made the best of his way to Artigues. At this place, notwithstanding his long absence, and the loss of his hair, he was directly and universally recognised by his old acquaintance, and received with transports of joy by his wife and sisters, particularly by his uncle; although

that unnatural and cruel relation had now thought proper to stir up the present prosecution against him.

The prisoner, in consequence of certain leading questions from the judge, gave a minute description of the situation and peculiar circumstances of the place in Biscay, where he said he was born (still insisting that he was Martin Guerre) mentioning the names, age, and occupation of the relations he had left there; the year, the day, and the month of his marriage, also the persons who were present at the ceremony, as well as those who had dined with them; which, on referring to collateral evidence, were found to tally.

On the other hand, forty-five reputable and credible witnesses, who were well acquainted with Martin Guerre and Arnold Du Tilb, swore, that the prisoner was not and could not be Martin: one of these, Carbon Barreau, maternal uncle of Du Tilb, acknowledged his nephew with tears, and, observing that he was fettered like a malefactor, bitterly lamented the disgrace it would bring upon his family.

These persons also insisted, that Martin Guerre was tall, of a slender make and, as persons of that form frequently are, awkward and stooping in his gait; that he had a remarkable way of protruding and hanging down his upper lip; that his nose was flat, and that several scars were to be seen on his left eyebrow, and other parts of his face.

On the contrary, they observed that Du Tilb was a middle-sized well-set man, upright, with thick legs, a well formed nose, and without any thing remarkable about his mouth or lips; they agreed that his countenance exhibited the same scars as that of Martin.

The shoemaker, who had for many years furnished Guerre with shoes, being called, deposed, that his foot reached the twelfth size, but that the prisoner's was rather short of the ninth : it further appeared, that the former had, from his early youth, been dexterous at cudgelling and wrestling, of which the impostor was wholly ignorant.

As a strong circumstance against the person accused, it was added that his manner of speaking, and the sort of language he used, though, at times, artfully interlarded with Patois and unintelligible gibberish, was very different from that which used to be spoken by the real Martin Guerre, who, being a Biscayan, spoke neither wholly Spanish, wholly French, nor wholly Gascon, but a curious mixture of each, a sort of language called the Basque.

Lastly, and what seemed to make an impression on the court, the prosecutors referred to the internal evidence of the offender's character, which, they proved, had been from his childhood vicious and incorrigible in the extreme; they produced satisfactory proofs of his being hardened in all manner of wickedness and uncleanness, a common swearer and blasphemer, every way capable of the crime laid to his charge.

The accusation lay heavy upon the prisoner; a pause ensued for deliberation, and the court, fatigued by the long and patient examination of a host of witnesses, took refreshment; the town house being still crowded with persons impatient to give their testimony in behalf of the prisoner, whom they considered and pitied as an injured man.

The first parties next examined astonished the judge, and staggered the whole court, they were the four sisters of Martin Guerre, all reputed to be women of sound understanding, and of character unblemished; they positively swore, that the man in custody was their dear brother Martin. Two of their husbands, and thirty-five persons born or brought up in the neighbour hood corroborated their assertions; among others, Catharine Boere, who

carried Martin and his wife the medianoche, or as an Englishman would call it, the sack-posset, after they were put to bed on the wedding night, declared as she hoped for everlasting salvation, that the prisoner and the man she saw in bed with the bride was the same person.

The majority of these last witnesses also deposed, that Martin Guerre had two scars in his face, and that the nail of the forefinger, on the left hand, in consequence of a wound received in his childhood, grew across the top of his finger; that he had three warts on the back of his right hand towards the knuckles, and another on his little finger; the judge ordered the culprit to stretch forth both his hands, which were found to agree with this description. It further appeared, that on his first arrival at Artigues, the prisoner addressed most of the inhabitants by name, and recalled to the memory of those who had forgotten him, several circumstances with respect to the village, on the subject of births, marriages, and deaths, which had happened ten, fifteen, and twenty years before; he also spoke to his wife (for he still insisted she was) of certain circumstances of a very peculiar nature, that took place on the wedding night; which we will not repeat.

He, who could give an assumed character so strong a resemblance to reality, and so dexterously clothe falsehood in the robes of truth, was no common impostor; like other great villains, he must have been a man of abilities.

To add to the perplexities of this business, the wife being called, her pretended husband solemnly addressed, and called on her, as she valued her peace of mind here, and everlasting happiness hereafter, to speak truth without fear or affection, and declared that he would submit to instant death, without repining, if she would swear that he was not her real husband; the woman replied, that she would by no means take an oath on the occasion, at the same time, she would not give credit to anything he could say.

The evidence, on both sides, being closed, and the defence of the prisoner having been heard, the judge pronounced Arnold Du Tilb guilty, and sentenced him to suffer death; but the culprit appealed to the parliament of Thoulouse, who not long after ordered a copy of the proceedings, and the convict to be forthwith transmitted to them.

The parliament, at that period a court of justice as well as registry of royal edicts, wisely determined to take no decisive step in the business till they had endeavoured to get sight of and secure the man with a wooden leg, as described by the traveller; the uncle strenuously insisting that he, and no other, was his long lost nephew.

A commission was appointed to examine the papers, and call for new evidence, if necessary; descriptions of the person and circumstances of Martin Guerre, the absent husband, were also circulated throughout the kingdom; at length, after several months elapsed, and considerable pains had been taken, the absentee was fortunately discovered in a distant province, conveyed to Thoulouse, and ordered into close custody, with particular directions that he should have no intercourse with any person whatever, even at his meals, but in the presence of one of the commissioners, who ordered an additional lock to the door of the room in which he was confined, and themselves kept the key.

A day was fixed for a solemn and final re-hearing, and a list of such witnesses, as would be required to appear before the parliament, was, in the mean time, sent to Rieux, for the purpose of preventing the trouble and expense of conveying to Thoulouse so large a number of persons who had crowded the court and streets of Rieux.

1

The parliament assembled at an early hour, the former proceedings were read; the prisoner still persisted in asserting his innocence, and complained of the hardships and injuries he had suffered.

The real Martin Guerre now walked into court on his wooden leg, and Du Tilb being asked if he knew him, undauntedly answered, "No," The injured husband reproaching the impostor for the perfidiousness of his conduct in basely taking advantage of the frankness of an old companion, and depriving him of his wife and property; Du Tilb retorted the charge on his

accuser.

The present was thought a curious instance of audacity contrasted with simplicity of heart and unassuming manners; an impudent and flagitious adventurer, who had for several years enjoyed the wife and property of another, and, in the face of his country, endeavouring to persuade the injured man out of his name and personal identity; it was further observed, that the gesture, deportment, air, and mode of speaking of the impostor was cool, consistent and steady; while those who appeared in the cause of truth, were embarrassed, hesitating, confused, and on certain points, contradictory in their evidence.

The wife, the four sisters, and the uncle, had not yet seen the real Martin Guerre; they were now called into court: the first who entered was the eldest sister, who, the moment she caught sight of the man with a wooden leg, ran and embraced him, exclaiming, with tears, "Oh, my dear brother, I now see and acknowledge the error and misfortune into which this abominable traitor hath betrayed us."

The rest of the family approached, confessed, in a similar way, how much they had been deceived; and the long lost Martin, mingling his tears with theirs, received their embraces, and heard their penitential apologies with ' every appearance of tenderness and affection.

But, towards his wife, he deported himself very differently; she had not yet ventured to come near him, but stood at the entrance of the court, trembling and dismayed; one of the sisters, taking her arm, conducted her to Martin, but he viewed her with sternness and aversion, and, in reply to the excuses and advances she made, and the intercession of his sisters in her behalf, "That she was herself innocent, but seduced by the arts of a villain." He observed, "Her tears and her sorrow are useless, I shall never love her again; it is in vain that you attempt to justify her, from the circumstance of so many others having been deceived; a wife has ways of knowing a husband unknown to all the world; in such a case as this, it is impossible that a woman could have been imposed on, if she had not entertained a secret wish to be unfaithful; I shall, for ever, regard her as the cause of all my misfortunes, and impute solely to her, the whole of my wretchedness and disgrace."

The judge reminding the angry husband, that if he had remained at home, nothing of what had happened could ever have taken place, recommended lenity and forgiveness.

Du Tilb was pronounced guilty of fraud, adultery, sacrilege, rape, and theft, and condemned to make the amende honourable, in the market-place of Artigues, in his shirt, with his head and feet bare, a halter round his neck, and a lighted torch in his hand; to demand pardon of God, the king, the nation, and the family he had so cruelly deceived; it was further ordered, that he should be hanged before the house of Martin Guerre, and that his body should be burnt to ashes; his effects were adjudged to be the property of the children begotten by him on Martin's wife.

The criminal was taken back to Artigues, and, as the day of execution approached was observed to lose his firmness; after a long interview with the Curé, he, at last, confessed his crime, acknowledging that he was first tempted to commit it, by being repeatedly mistaken for and addressed by the name of Martin Guerre; he denied having made use of charms, or of magic, as many suspected, observing, that the same supernatural art which could enable him to carry on the deception, would also have put it in his power to escape punishment.

He was executed pursuant to his sentence, first addressing a few words to Martin Guerre's wife, and died offering up prayers to the Almighty to pardon his sins, through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ.

66

FAMILY PRIDE.

On the hangings of a room in the mansion of the Comte de Croy, is represented a scene from the deluge, and a man pursuing Noah with the words, My friend, save the papers of the Croys." On the tapestry in the chateau of the Duke of Levis, the Virgin Mary was represented, saying to one of the family, who stood bareheaded before her, "Cousin, put on your hat," who replied, "Cousin, it is for my convenience."

WAR HORSES.

Two of the regiments which had been quartered in Funen were cavalry, mounted on the fine black long-tailed Andalusian horses. It was impracticable to bring off these horses, about 1,100 in number: and Romana was not a man who could order them to be destroyed lest they should fall into the hands of the French; he was fond of horses himself, and knew that every man was attached to the beast which had carried him so far, and so faithfully. Their bridles, therefore, were taken off, and they were turned loose upon the beach. As they moved off, they passed some of the country horses and mares, which were feeding at a little distance. A scene ensued such as probably never before was witnessed. The Spanish horses are not mutilated, and these were sensible that they were no longer under any restraint of human power. A general conflict ensued, in which, retaining the discipline that they had learned, they charged each other in squadrons of ten or twenty together ; then closely engaged, striking with their fore feet, and biting and tearing each other with the most ferocious rage, and trampling over those which were beaten down, till the shore, in the course of a quarter of an hour, was strewn with the dead and disabled. Part of them had been set free on a rising ground at some distance; they no sooner heard the roar of the battle than they came thundering down over the intermediate hedges, and catching the contagious madness, plunged into the fight with equal fury. Sublime as the scene was, it was too horrible to be long contemplated, and Romana, in mercy, gave orders for destroying them; but it was found too dangerous to attempt this; and after the last boats quitted the beach, the few horses that remained were seen still engaged in the dreadful work of mutual destruction.