The Sun.
London, England, 1829-08-04 00:00:00

A RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIAST.

A curious case has lately occupied the atten-
tion of the Correctional Tribunal of Montpellier.
Two women, one named Dupy, aged 53, and
blind, the other named Primac, the wife of a
negro called Ibrahim, aged 40, but deprived of
her limbs, conceived in 1820 the prospect of
obtaining the pecuniary resources which they
stood in need of by placing under contribution
the devotion of a woman named Foriette, who
was living i❑ a state of separation from her hus-
band. Those women having ascertained that
Foriette was a person of extreme simplicity of
character and easy to he imposed upon, and that
on the subject of religion she possessed the
most unbounded faith, determined to profit by
the excess of her devotion. The women having
established in Foriette's mind a belief of their
sanctity of character, Ibrahim's wife seized a fa-
vourable opportunity of communicating to her,
in an inspired tone, that " Jesus Christ was in
prison loaded with chains, on the point of being
lashed by the common hangman, and that in this
situation charity alone could aid him, break his
chains, and snatch him from infamy, by collect-
ing for him, secretly however, numerous and
abundant alms." She did not forget to add,
that a recompense the most glorious, felicity the
most unutterable, were reserved for the well-
beloved Christian whom Heaven might conde-
scend to select for this glorious mission. These
words, accompanied with prayers and marks of
the most ardent piety, did not fail to produce
the desired effect on the already heated imagina-
tion of Foriette. Scarcely had the prophetic
words ceased to sound in her ears, when the
young neophyte felt herself the object of a
divine " call." Jesus Christ appeared to her,
and communicated his orders. Like a submis-
sive Christian she received them with submission
and instantly prepared to execute them. Then
she consented to abandon her home and her
friends to solicit alms from town to town, of
which she pretended to be in want herself, but
which she punctually placed in the hands of Ibra-
him's wife who, in her turn, undertook to trans-
mit them to the divine prisoner. Ibrahim's wife,
amongst other places, directed Foriette to go to
Alby to solicit alms, telling her, by way of en-
couragement, that Jesus Christ would conde-
scend to appear to her in the form of an eccle-
siastic, the Abbe Berthez. Foriette immediately
set out on her journey, and collected abundant
alms. When she arrived at Alby she went to
the Abbe Berthez to make confession, and took
an opportunity of privately depositing in a cor-
ner of the confessional the money which she had
collected on her journey. 'When the enthusiast
returned to Alontpellier she informed Ibrahim's
wife how she had disposed of the money. The
good lady flew into a holy rage, and said that it
was by herself alone the assistance destined for
the Redeemer could be transmitted to him.—
Poor Foriette was obliged to return to Alby,
and solicit from the Abbe the restitution of the
money which she had left in his confessional,
and which she obtained and gave to Ibrahim's
wife. The two women now sent their dupe on
longer journies, hoping that the fatigue she un-
derwent would shorten her days, for she had
made a will bequeathing them the greater part
of her property. Whilst poor Foriette, in rags '
and misery, travelled from one end of France to
the other, suffering every privation in order to
increase the celestial treasure, the woman
Dupy, Ibrahim's wife, the negro himself, and
three little black urchins, were occupied solely
in consuming, in pleasant repasts, the increas-
ing produce of public charrty. During almost
nine years Foriette had faithfully kept secret
the real motive of her journies. The sums
which she obtained in alms, amounting to
about 6,000 francs, she constantly delivered
over to Ibraham's wife. On her return from her
last journey, Foriette lodged in the same house
with 11, rs . Ibrahim and Mrs. Dupy, and one
night she heard the former say to the latter,
" This woman will always come back. It is of
no use to send her on the most distant journies,
for she returns as well as when she set out."
These words opened Foriette's eyes to the de-
ception which had been practised on her. The
next morning she communicated the secret to
some gossips in the neighbo'nrhood, and of course
the affair soon became public. The authorities
arrested Mesdames Ibrahim and Dupy, brought
them
.to trial before the Correctional Tribunal,
where they were convicted of swindling, and sen-
tenced, the first to two years, and the second to
one year's imprisonment, and each to pay a fine
of 50 francs and costs.

COMMENCEMENT OF TILE OYSTER SEA-
SON—( Tills DAY. )—This morning the season for oysters
commenced, and Billingsgate presented a more than usually
animated and noisy scene. There are 97 sail laden with
the best qualities of oysters, and about 12 sail of bastards.
The weather lately has been extremely fine for the promo-
tion of the growth of oysters, and finer qualities are ex-
pected to arrive than for many years past. The current
prices of the best oysters are from 18s. to 4' 03 . per bushel ;
omraon (liar) from 10s, to 143. ditto; middling, 12s. to
I6s. per bushel.

On Sunday afternoon, a small deal box, con-
taining a dead infant, was found by the milkman, at the
door of Messrs CLUTTON and CARTEL'S offices, in High-
street, Southwark. In the course of the same morning,
it was ascertained that two men called at St. Thomas's
and Guy's Hospitals, to dispose of a newly born infant,
whose borly it seemed was marked in a very peculiar man-
ner, but at both the iost4uticns it was reiecied. The in
fant found in the above situatkin .is also tatrlted tke
body, and is :supposed to be the eame offered for ecde to the
eurgeonl for disuctivut

ASSIZES --(RECEIVED THIS DAY.)

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—WORCESTER, Auc. 3.

Mr. Baron VAUGHAN entered this city on Saturday
evening, and opened the Commission. Yesterday the
Learned Judge attended divine service in the Cathedral,
and this morning went into the Nisi Prias Court at
nine o'clock. After disposing of a few causes of no public
interest, his Lordship edict ned into the Crown Court,
where, aften a full Grand Jury had been sworn, his Lord.
ship proceeded to deliver his charge :
" Gentlemen of the Grand Jury—ln consequence of the
much-lamented and unexpected death of the amiable and
able colleague with whom I had the honour to be asso-
ciated in the execution of his Majesty's Commission,
which I alone am now called on to discharge, it falls most
unhappily to my lot to have the honour of addressing and
assisting you in the administration of the criminal justice
of this county ; and it is exceedingly gratifying to observe
so full an attendance of the great body of the county, this
hall being full nearly to overflowing, as it evinces an ardent
attachment to the Constitution and Government under
which we have the happiness to live, and a steady desire
and determination religiously to uphold them. Without
making the judgment seat the organ of idle panegyric, I
hope it may be permitted to me to express, in the sincerity
of my heart, the regret which all classes of his Majesty's
community must feel, in common with myself, on the
loss of the intelligent public functionary of whose valuable
services you are this day deprived. I had the happiness of
knowing him very long and intimately, and of sitting by
his side on the judgment seat; and I hope also that I
knew how to appreciate his worth. As a Judge he was,
in every sense of the word, a loyal, a right, and a good
one ; a man of the most vigorous understanding, of the
most quick perceptions, of the most sound, accurate, and
discriminating judgment ; a man whose industry was inde-
fatigable, and perfectly acquainted with those depths and
shoals of the law which renders the investigation of it so
intricate and difficult. Gentlemen, as a private man, he
was every thing that could be wished ; he was generous,
humane, and charitable, and of the most stubborn and in-
flexible integrity. His memory will be long held I am
sure in the highest veneration by those who were in the
slightest degree acquainted with his merits, and know how
to appreciate them." His Lordship then congratulated the
Grand Jury of the city, that though their population was
not much less than 20,000, there was only one prisoner ,
for trial, and his offence of a very trivial nature.
After the delivery of this address, his Lordship returned
into the Nisi Prins Court, and Mr. Serjeant Peake took
the Crown side, but no case of the slightest interest has oc-
curred in either Court.