IVidows and Wives. present exhorted him to confess whatever remained upon his mind in reference to the crimes for which he was to surfer. The criminal made no other reply than, — "I am innocent. It is unlucky, but I am sacrificed for the guilt of others." One final effort to obtain confession, or at least admission of his guilt, met with the former result; and this extraordinary of fender, persevering to the last in his war with justice and society, marched forth to his doom. The shout that rent the air as he appeared might have been heard for miles. The si lence that succeeded was the more appalling. Dumollard's lips moved as though in prayer. The priests bent forward, caught, and ear nestly re-echoed the solitary accents, —
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"Jesus! Marie! Pray for me!" He knelt for a moment on the lower steps of the scaffold, and the Abbe Beroud offered to his white lips the symbol of divine mercy. Then the executioners helped him up the remaining steps, tied him to the plank, pushed the latter to its place. Quick as lightning the axe descended, and in a few seconds head and body lay together in a rude coffin, the body to be interred in an obscure nook of the cemetery at Montluel, the head to be sent to the phrenological professors at Lyons. There was scarcely time for a trace of blood to become visible. Never was the merciful death of the guillotine more skilfully administered; never was death punishment more richly deserved than by the French wolf, Dumollard.
WIDOWS AND WIVES. By R. Vashon Rogers. "T3 E wery careful o' widders! " was the .■—" advice Mr. Weller, Senior, gave on one occasion to his hopeful son, Sammy. The law has in many ways followed the suggestion. King Ethelred II., who died in 1016, while on the throne of Mercia passed a law saying that people should "not too often oppress widows and step children, but willingly gladden them." 1 Widows' weeds were not in those old days expected to be long-lived : the afore mentioned king said : " Let every widow who conducts herself lawfully, be in God's ' grith ' [peace or protection] and the King's, and let every one continue XII. months husbandless; afterwards let her choose what she herself will." 2 Cnut (the gentleman who got his feet wet by the rising tide) passed a similar enactment, and, knowing well the feminine mind, he added : " And if the widow within the space of a year choose 1 Ancient Laws of England, Ethelred, ch. 6, § 47. - Ibid, ch. 5, § 21 : ch. 6, § 26.
a husband, then let her forfeit her . morgengyfu,' and all the possessions which she had through her first husband; and let the near est kinsman take the land and possessions which she had before, and let him (the hus band) be liable in his 'wer' to the King, or to him to whom he may have granted it. And though she be taken forcibly, let her forfeit the possessions, unless she be willing to go home again from the man, and never again be his. And let not a widow take the veil too precipitately."1 Some of our widowed readers may say, " Willingly would we forfeit our morgengyfu — whatever that may be — for Number Two." So we must say that it was the " morning-gift," the gift which the husband gave to the wife the morning after the marriage, in token of satisfaction with his choice; and on his death it became her separate property. The " wer " which the second husband had to pay for his too suc cessful and precipitate wooing was the price 1 Laws of King Cnut, Secular, 74.
