Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-05-01
THELADY BURIED ALIVE.
from a London journal


Tn The Causes Cele5res we find the following
romantic story related as having ac'uahy "
CURED in France, and been the cause Of Juo''
c;,, nroeeedine in the courts OF that country;
with wba, truth will be afterwards seen:
9Two merchants, living in the street st. Ho-
xor;ous were connected with each other by the
most sacred and inviolabe ties OF friendship. pos
sessed ofeuual fortunes, and both engaged In the
same branch of trade. The one had son, and
the other daughter, nearly 9th same age
The first sentiments which made the daughter
sensible that she was capable oil love, also con-
WINGED her that her heart belonged TO the son,
who, in his turn, was no less attached to her.
This reciprocal inclination was encouraged ana
kept up by frequen, visits authorized by ooth
fathers. who with pleasure observed the dispo-
sitton of their children exactly suited to the 10
tsn,ion they had Of rendering them husband and
Wifi. Accordingly marriage was about to be
concluded between them, when rich collector
Of The kings revenues made his addresses TO
,he lady a, a lover The delusiye charms OF
superior fortune soon Induced her parents 10
change their resolution with respect to their
neighbours son, and the lady's aversion to her
new lover being surmounled br her fial duty,
she married the collector, and, like virtuous
woman, discharged the gentleman whom she
loved, from ever seeing her again. ne meian-
choiy brought on by an engagement so fatal 10
her happiness, threw her iuto disorder IN
which her senses were SO locked mp that she
was taken for dead and inferred as such
awe may readily suppose that her hrst lover
was not Tie last person who heard the accoonl
of his melancholy accident; but as he remem-
bered that she had before been seized with
violent paroxysm of elhargy, he fauered him
self that her late nisfortunes might possibly be
produced by the same cause. This opinion not
only .iievia,cd his sorrow, but induced HIM to
bribe a. grave digger, by whose assistance be
raised her from her tomb, and conveyed her TO
a proper chamber, where, by the use OF all the
expedients he could possibly imagine, he hap
PLY restored her 10 life.
'rhe lady, probably, was in no small con-
sternation, when she found herself in a strange
isszkrrS sethsrgie par6xfsm. II vas no hard
task TO make her entertain grateful sense Of
the obligation she lay under to her deliverer-
The love she had borne him proved moving
and pathetic orator in his behalf: 50 that, when
she was perfectly recovered, she Justly conclud-
ed that her life belonged to him who had pre-
served IL; and TO convince him Of her affection.
went along with him to England, where they
lived for several years, superlatively happy in all
the tender ende garments OF mutual love.
Il
where they lived without any care to conceal
themselves, because they imagined that nobo
dy would ever suspect what had happened but
as fortune is too often an implacable enemy 10
the most sincere and raplurous love, the COLLECTS.
or unluckily met his wife in public walk, when
the sight Of her well known person made such
an impression on his mind that the persuasion
Of her death could not sface 1t. For this rea-
son, he not only aecosted her, but, noiwi,hstand-
ing the discourse she used in order TO impose
upon him, parted from her fully persuaded that
she was the very woman TO whom he had been
married, and for whose death he had gone into
mourning.
GAS the whimsical nature Of this event cloth
ed the lady with set Of charms, which the col
hector never before imagined her to be mistress
OF, he not only discovered her apartments a, Par
Is, in spite Of all the precautions she had taken
10 conceal herself but also claimed her as his
spouse before the court authorize d. TO decide In
similar cases. In vain did he lover insist upon
the right he had to her, resulting from the care
he had taken Of her. To no purpose did he
represent, that without the measures taken by
himself, the lady would have been rotting in
in her grave,-,hat his adversary had renoun.
ced all claim 10 her BY ordering her to be inter-
red-that he might be justly airaigncd as muir
derer, for not using the precautions necessary
W NcT uSdlh, anu anu lUOuNdtu ON
er reasons suggested by love, which is always
ingenious where il is sincere. But perceving
tina, the cour, was not likely to prove favorable
TO him, he resolved not TO stay Tor its decision,
and accordingly made his escape along with
the lady to foreign climate, where their love
continued sacred and entire, till death convey
ed them TO tlio,e happy regions where love
knows no end, & Is confined within no limits"
Some defects in The story, as thus given, will
at once occur to every one. Ii is no, said when
il happened, or what court II came before; and
to account for the want of any record Of the
judgment pronounced on the case, the parties
are made to evade judgment by flying into a
foreign country. II is, in fact, altogether, but
an imperfect version Of the incident which is
said really to have occurred, not any where in
France, but at Florence, during the great plague
in the year l46o. Dominic Maria Manni, |
who relates the story, says that the sepulchrc in
which the lady was entombed alive was "poiat-