The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-04 00:00:00

POISON ! POISON, OM

lAit~oit
I' RENCI[
Taa,nsaodii' then you pretend
.ah, • of a melazo-
Tra,ASNeGguL.,44„voiteuhFaEdcTarrlCrv:(l
cern., and were listening to * traditionary I , tut,
coit..
choir description; believed in by the peasants",
I,,t.,,vtLttill:3lllakoeirof I'l7v,
be-
ears; rei
lcsdt
awtabanei
dln,attha turning ea a umnadtahs:o of eat ot
Jame
travelling
complaint
atrigdn
point
dress,,
sett r ea
ry h s
t
had 14*
comfort him. In answer to an inquiry of what _
gwruiidneg,ingi n soklitaini dFsriennethh,e
seemedh i tterii
vainlyetf dezisr,voV4/a
pened, the stranger's perplexed-looking Swiss guide
g, You
dbercolkaareoduitn
anylt
a; reason, hehis
did not know, but that Monsieur had, all at onc,e, vvith-•
villai
into‘'erytlbt violentiasd
out
o tot
matter with mei" exclaimed the Englishman,
. pouring,
lie ! you scoundrel—you lie! youloruoideovreetploinsoolnvedwhmaet,,s,the
who continued shrugging up his shoulders,
French,taktilniagt., really
I * the gentleman was not.
significant gesticulations, t
atter began anew to
a torrent of accusation and vituperation againstattildiemlinssg,"
in his right mind ; while the:, .
it's all over with me now—rtn a dead man! I iive pot
half an hour to live. Fm poisoned
Oh! oh !"
" What is the matter," we bath exclaimed in great sham,
wring his hands and bewail himself, repeatirt " But
" Poisoned ;—how ? What poison have yon swallowed!"
I feel
it in my bowels! Oh! oli! oh! the agony d
" The poisoned water he gave me ? Oh I oh.
Lord ! 0 Lord! what shall Ido ? And in curs!
for
country, too, where there's never a doctor to be *dl..
love or money. Oh! oh ! oh!" " If you would and
Is!
coohmi!
explain,, or," I said, " perhaps you might be yet Web:
What poison did he put into the water? How do you.
know it was poison ?" " Ile own'd it--I made hid own
it—a villain ! He acknowledged it was poisonous after ha
gave it me," exclaimed the man. " Oh! oh! I'm rack d,
I'm tortured !" He was interrupted by Lady Hunlocke,
who never travels without some medicines, and who had,
at the first sound of his having swallowed poi:911.01u"
to the cart, and tearing open her travelling bag, seized OP
a bottle of ipecacuanha wine, with which she now return-
ed, breathless with speed, exclaiming, " Take this ! take
this I—swallow it instantly. This will save you!--this is
an emetic I"—and the poor man, seizing the bottle, pour-
ed it down his throat with the utmost avidity; making,
however, an involuntary grimace at its nauseous taste, as
he finished the draught. "Do you really think it will
save me ?" he asked, in an altered tone. " I have no
doubt of it ;" said she. " But how did all this happen P
and what poison was it ?" " The poisoned water of the
lake, I tell you!" exclaimed the Englishman;" sand"—" The
water of the lake!--poisoned!—but how did he poison it?"
" He gave it me to drink, knowing it was poisonous, and
offered me more of it, pretending it was very good—and
then he owned after, when I asked him, after I saw it in
the book, that it is very poisonous. He wanted to poison
me with it, to get my money and effects. The villain 1"
" But how did he poison it ?" " Why, it's poisonous
water—the water of the lake is poisonous." " Poison-
ous !"—" Yes—it's very poisonous: and after I had drank
it, the fool gave me this French book to readabout it—and
the first thing I saw (for I understand French) was, that
the water of the lake is very poisonous. You see here it
is ;—he says—" this lake is very poisonous—hien poi-
sonneux ;"--(showing us the words in a French book,
containing a description of the I.ake of Lucerne.) Here
Lady Himlocke and I burst out into an uncontrollable
fit of laughter. " I don't know what you see to laugh
at," he exclaimed, looking very angry--" for if you don't
believe it, I can tell you it's true—and too true,. for the
rascal himself owned it to my face, when I asked him. He
said it was very poisonous (lien poisomieur), and he told
me, too, of--I don't know how many hundred of people
that died all in one day with drinking of it—the villain !
But he shall drink it himself—l'll be hang'd if he shan't!"
And instantly as this thought struck him, he seized the
unludky little Swiss by the collar, who kicked and re-
belled with all his might, conceiving himself in the grasp
of a madman, who was going to toss him into the lake;
but his struggles were in vain—for he was as a shrimp in
the bands of the athletic Englishman, who dragged him,
in a moment, to the water's edge, and standing over him,
in a menacing attitude, exclaimed, " Boir! bolt!" The
trembling Swiss, who fancied he himself wanted to
drink, submissively ejaculated, " Oui, Monsieur !" and
filling a leathern cup, which, with a shaking hand, he
drew from his pocket, he presented it to the English-
man. " You impudent rascal I" exclaimed the enraged
Euglishman—" do you want to poison me again ?" And
seizing him by the shoulders, he shook him until hie
bones must have been nearly dislocated, saying—" Boire
roux, voles ell!: to boire"—in a voice choked with passion.
Trembling in every limb, the poor little Swiss, now be-
ginning to understand, passively took a drink, " There—
now I think I've clone for you I" exclaimed the English-
man triumphantly—" I've paid you up. But oh ! oh!
the poison ! the poison ! Oh! Think of dying this
way—poisoned like a rat ? Oh ! I'm sick !--Oh ! oh !
oh !" Lady Huniocke—(who as well as myself, had
been all the time ia convulsions of laughter)..—now at-
tempted to articulate—" It is the emetic ! You are not
poisoned. The water is not poisonous." "Oh ! oh !
You foolish woman 1 Oh !—Why you don't understand
French. The book says the water is fres poisonnen.r,'
which in English means"—" That it's :very full of fish,"
interrupted Lady Hunlocke. "Of poison, I tell you.
Oh !"—ejaculated the poor sick wretch. "Of poison,
which means fish, certainly ; and poissonneux means fishy,
exclaimed Lady fluttlocke in a fresh paroxysm of laughter.
When at last he was, with some difficulty, convinced that
the lake, instead of being poisonous, merely abounded in
fish, he went nearly distracted with rage, and raved at his
own stupidity, at the guide's stupidity, at our stupidity,
and at the unlucky emetic, which now made him ex-
tremely ill in good earnest.—Continental Adventures.

A singular phenomenon has been observed in the
river Deben, between Wsoeodtltnidge and the sea. Eels
to a great extent, o o
both nft
thisnb e r
on
td size,a
have died. The oldest fishermen' i
id
river recollect nothing like it. The f rrynuni at Wood-
bridge declares that he has himself seers dead, On
ferent days within the last fortnight " a tumbril load,
some as big as his oar, and a yard long or more."--
He adds, that for some days before the last spring
tides " the water and air stunk with them." The Ws
high tides carried them away. Some hogs lower down
are said to have made early discovery of the savoury
banquet. They are described as exhibitinga ludicrous
scene, running about with an limpet" "l dsngling
out of their mouth; chased peradventure by
aytn
hetr en-
vious messmates, or two or more tugging a
unfor-
tunate individual, One gentleman states that be
counted on the Sutton bank of the river, opposite
Woodbridge' 75 dead eels in the space of a few yards.
An unusual mortality among the same fish has
been recently observed also on the Orwell. The
cause of this occuoence is not known. No gas ma-
chinery, nor any thing whatever connected with dele-
terious matter exists near the course of the Debut.—
Buv Pod.