of a more formidable nature has to our
astonished fancy been just demonstrated. In
the newspapers of the past week it is reported
that he, in the first instance, refreshed himself
with a hearty meal of phosphorus, which
was, at his own request, supplied to him very
liberally by several of his visitors, who were
previously unacquainted with him. He washed
down (they say) this infernal fare with
solutions of arsenic and oxalic acid; thus throwing
into the background the long-established fame
of Mithridates. He next swallowed with great
gout, several spoonfuls of boiling oil; and, as
a dessert to this delicate repast, helped himself
with his naked hands to a considerable
quantity of molten lead. The experiment,
however, of entering into a hot oven, together with
a quantity of meat, sufficient, when cooked, to
regale those of his friends who were specially
invited to witness his performance, was the
chef-d'oeuvre of the day. Having ordered
three fagots of wood, which is the quantity
generally used by bakers, to be thrown into
the oven, and they being set on fire, twelve
more fagots of the same size were subsequently
added to them, which being all consumed by
three o'clock, M. Chabert entered the oven with
a dish of raw meat, and when it was sufficiently
done he handed it out, took in another, and
remained therein until the second quantity was