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Besides ambition and cupidity, the motives commonly attributed to

the poisoners, it was imagined that this action included an

indefinable, diabolical voluptuousness of enjoyment, an

attractiveness stronger than the will. The ravings of the sick,

who accused themselves of that which they had dreaded in others,

were considered as so many involuntary revelations, which

rendered belief irresistible.

Among the stories recorded of this delirium, there is one which

deserves to be related, on account of the extensive credence it

obtained.