Star.
London, England, 1824-07-23 00:00:00

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THE MOSS ROSE.
FROM TaR GERMAN OF RRUMMACHER.
Frewhile, in Orient's sunny clime
When earth-born things were yet In prime,
Nor guilt the golden bands had riven
That link'd in peace the earth to Heaven—
The Angel-Sprite, whose bounded powers
ATo given to Ltd the tribes of Flouters—
Each leaf at eve with bairn bedewing,
At ttrr•t each faded charm renewinz—
One no.ol, on Spring's first petals laid,
Had coucli'd him in a Rose-tree's shade.
th.freti anon he rai-Al his Lead,
And smiling to the-lio,e-trec said:
" ally loveliest child, my
Accep the thanks thy father owe:. ;
ThatAs for thy fr:gratice f:•e'ly
From ruby .enp around my head—
Thanks for thy cool reviving shade,
While slumbering itilliyaghtter laid!
0 ask l—mhate'er the bocr.—'tis thine;
The joy to grant. the boon be miner
" Then o'er my form new beauties sh4ed,"
•At•nnce the Rose-tree's spirit said.
And,lo! ere scarce th'ewords have birth,
From fragrant wreaths slow struggling forth,
The loveliest Flower wiih Moss is braided—
The humblest weed her branches shaded!
Yet, Linz ! 'mist thou marked, when tht.rc
The lowly weed enrobed the Fair,
What nameless charms—what graces new
Its cliasten'd lustre round her threw—
While, all around, the Flowers were seen -
Do homage to the Rose's Queen:
Oh! thou'dst have dofi'd that robe of pride, .
Those sparkling gems have cast aside,
And simply deck'd as Nature bade,
_ Scorn's' Fashion's—worse than useless—aid!

ASSASSINATION BY A FRENCH CURATE.

PARIS, JULY 21.
A brochure (pamphlet) has been published here, giv-
ing a detailed account of the rape and assassination com-
mitted by Mingrat, Es-Curate of St. Quentin (depart-
ment of the Isere), who was condemned to death by the
Court of Assize of Grenoble, on the gill of December,
1822. The following are the principal facts:
Mingrat, a man of low extraction, was, at the age of
28, named to the curacy of St. Quentin. He had not
been long in the situation when some strange stories
began to circulate respecting him. Some scandalous
and criminal adventures were laid to his account, and
neither his tone nor his manners were calculated to dis-
credit these rumours. He was a man of a lofty stature,
with a sombre, false, and disdainful expression of counte-
nance. He was possessed of immense strength, and has
been seen to carry on his shoulders, froth one part of
the church to another, a heavy wooden confessional,
which generally resisted the force of two ordinary men
to move. With the strength of a giant he had also the
passions and arrogance of one. Honi ever, as an ele-
ment of success in his profession, he affected great ri-
gour in his sentiments and conduct, interdicting and
discountenancing, as much as in him lay, the amuse-
ments and recreations of his parishioners.
At a quarter of a league from St. Quentin, in the'
hamlet of Get, lived Etienne Charnalet, a disbanded
soldier, whose wife, Marie Gerin, was remarkable for
leer beauty. The curate Mingrat, who bad been in-
flamed by the charms of the soldier's pretty wife, called
one day at the cottage, and told Marie Gerin when next
she came to St. Quentin, to call upon him, as be should
have to charge her with a letter for the curate of her
village. Even at this early period he commenced his
criminal designs, by engaging Marie to listen to some
preten_!ed pious discourses, which he read to her in the
most impassioned manner, but which he only used as a
pretext to make a moat warm and amorous declaration
of his passion for her. Marie, though astonished by his
vivacity and agitation, did not understand his object,
but attributed the state of excitation he was in to the
fervour of his piety. This circumstance was proved on
the trial by a young man who had been listening out-
side the window to the mystical declarations of Mingrat.
A few days after this, Marie went to St. Quentin, and
entered the church about six o'clock in the evening.—
On seeing Mingrat, she saluted him respectfully, and
said she came to confess to him. He, on some pretext or
other, got her into the Presbytery where he lived, adjoin-
ing the church. There, it appears, he consummated the
double crime of violation ant assassination, in doing
which he must have gagged the mouth of his victim, as
low and st;fled moans were heard by his servant-maid.
—The marks of strangulation were found upon the neck
of the unfortunate woman. The servant, attracted by
the stifled moans she heard, came to Mingrat's room-
door, and found it fastened on tire inside, and thinking
that he might have fallen into a fit, she knocked, and
called to him to open it, but received for answer an
order to return instantly to the kitchen. When he did
at length come out of his room, she ran to meet him,
saying, " Oh, Sir, you have frightened me dreadfully;
I thought that you were dying." To which he re-
plied, in a bewildered and furious manner, 18 Hold
your tongue ; you are an ideot :" and to get her out of
the way, he told her to take the newspaper to one of
his neighbours. But the servant, whose curiosity was
now awakened, only pretended to obey,• and, fortu-
nately for the discovery of the crime, remained in the
house. Having spoken to some of the neighbours of
what she had heard, a vague rumour got abr6ad, and
in a short time the husband of Marie came to the Pres-
bytery, to inquire after his wife. On his knocking,
Mingrat himself opened the door, and stood so in the
passage as to prevent the husband from entering. He
first denied having seen Marie, but afterwards, on the
husband insisting, he pretended to recollect that he had
seen her in the church, but had refused to listen to her
confession, on account of the negligence and disorder of
her dress. He then led the husband down the church-
yard, away from the house, and after a moment's con-
versation, abruptly quitted him, and returned to the
Presbytery. -He ordered the servant, who did not sleep
in the house, to go away, without giving her time to clear
away the supper. Then, not supposing that he was
watched, he set about disposing of the body of his victim.
—He tied the hands and test, and attaching a rope to
the neck,' he lowered the body out of the window into a
back yard. He then went round to this yard, and taking
hold of the tope, dragged the body after him to a rising
ground, called La Roche. The head, as it bounded over
the stones, for the ground was uneven arid rocky, left
behind portions of,hair and flesh, which were collected
the next day, and brought forward as proofs of the hor-
rid deed. 1k had, pro,ious to lowering the body,
stripped it, and left thtscletiies behind, with the excep-