New-York tribune., 1902-04-23

Proceedings of the Scottish Society OF Anti Anti
quaries of the year 16i9. 1t does net seem iikely
that this respectable society Is 50 ahcieht' ~ -
that It quietly published its lucubratlons ali
through the Great Rebellion However me Ine
abundance of young widows at Rome IN io.''
was traced TO the enterprise OF a secret society
OF young wives, banded unGer an ola woman OMAN
named Spara. She was a Sclllan ana d pupn
of Tofana from whom the poison called Aqua
della Tofara' derived its name. Iofaha must
have begun poison at a very early age anu
before 1863 In 1I:'o she was stIil alre az Us
notorious Il poisoner 90 not Ieel any 90
curity about these statements, though they oc-
cur in Essays on Historical truth. Ny huS
ricions are excited by the longevity OF "lofaha
or Tofania.' In 1919 she WAS the head OF
school of posoners. one or them an oid VIZ Moilin il
.-Charley's Aunt" in 1870. Turning TO Cham
bers's Encyclopaedia under Poison, we ma
quite another view of the case. Spara is all
right. During the pontificate of Alexander vi
the clergy under seal Of confession, came 10
know why young widows abounded. ana naiheo
1t TO the Pope The ladies OF Rome had been
long acquainted say, for ten years with the
Doison of Spara, who got it from Tofana, say, IN
1870 This gives Tofana a career Of eighty years
after she commenced her studies Now, this
taxes credulity, and indeed Chambers makes
Toffania or Toffana, flourish at Naples hfty
years after Spara. who was hanged az Rome
with thirteen young widows. about looV. Iol.
fana after killing six hundred people. was
strangled, my Chambers says, In / ~ me ' topl.
Of poisoning In itself obscure, is not eiucldaten
bv this extraordinary conflict of authorities MY
Chambers makes Toffana a follower OF Spara.
and a woman OF seventy in 1I19 Mi Blsset
makes Spara a pupil of Tofana and Spara is
still alive in 1870. though Chambers says that
she was hanged about 1G6lG
When things mixed one doubts whether
James VI and / helped 10 poison Prince Henry
and Sir Thomas Overbury, while Charles
poisoned King James. These are the egreglous !.
results Of comparison of Mr.. Bisset with my
Chambers According Mr., BiSset. that
searcher for historical truth. there Was an i'm
rnense poison conspiracy at the Court OF James
/ The King in il far as poisoning his
eldest son and Sir Thomas Overbury went; II
is fair add that the late Mr. Gardiner dia
NOT believe in this terrible accusation. But the
King was probably. Mr.. Risset thinks. only con-
.erned in destroying Overbury and the Prince
of Wales and many others. His accomplices
may not have let him know that they were also
minded to poison the rest Of the royal family
in the interests of the Catholic religion. His
majesty was not a Catholic and had no inter
est In the restoration Of the ancient faith at
the cos. OF the lives Of all his children. Other
persons taken off by the conspiracy, In which
the King had only a half share, were the Earl
Of Salisbury CeciD. Lord Northampton, LORD
Harrington and his besides Others, In
Guiding poor Arahella stuart Ihis was me
belief of some writer's Of the period. and II any
one trusts in confessions" they abound MI
B;sset finds that DR. Mayerne (whom he regards
as the Kings p0iSoner in ch1efp treated Mon
sie11r Cromwell for n1Alancholia in 162S He re-
marks that if James had been king in l62s, and
had known what fellow Oliver was TO prove
he would have taken care that Monsieur Crom-
weIi'' was cured of melancholia forever
Bad as James was, he could not poison Oliver
pT
NAV have been in destroying the whole house
of Stuart for the purpose of transferring the
crown to the house of Howard. 1t is pleasant
TO know that an inquirer careful and un-
prejudiced as Mr. Gardiner did not believe In
all these terrible intrigues of poisoners. How
ever turning to the valued Chambers, we ma
indeed we know it from other sources-that
II King James was suspected Of poisoning num-
bers of persons he was also suspected or having
heen poisoned himself. In Scotland the Pres
bvterians heard that the mother Of buckingham
po.soued the King tsbe really did quack doctor
him in the manner OF old ladiesD and nobody
seems to have replied that if any persons had
an interest in Fastening the Kings death. they
were the Presbyterians of Scotland However
Chambers mentions that "James's own death
was similarity ascribed to nefarious practices
on the part OF buckingham, nay, even of Charles
l." this on the authority Of Milton / have al
ways suspected that the author of paradise
Lost was the masked man who cut off the
head of Charles l. and that opinion appears
TO about as probable any Of the suspicious
OF poison which have been considering. 1t Is
comfort to have il under the hand OF Prince
Charles that he stamped out plan for poison
ing somebody or other, probably Gorge in Eng
land his royal highness wrote the name of
his Hanoverian rival. For James poisoned
Prince Henry. Charles ! poisoned James l.
James III poisoned Charles II. and only poor
Prince Charles broke with the family tradition
and refused to poison Gorge. Thus human
ity really does advance in morals. and poison
ers in ordinary are no longer the saiaried min
of ldngS-