Chapter LXVIII: Letter LVII: PARIS, Friday, July 17, 1676

At length it is all over: La Brinvilliers is in the air; after her execution her poor little body was thrown into a large fire, and her ashes dispersed by the wind, so that whenever we breathe, we shall inhale some particles of her, and by the communication of the minute spirits, we may be all infected with the desire of poisoning, to our no small surprise. She was condemned yesterday; and this morning her sentence was read to her, which was to perform the _amende honorable_ in the church of Notre-Dame; and, after that, to have her head cut off, her body burned, and her ashes thrown into the air. They were for giving her the question, but she told them there was no occasion for that, and that she would confess every thing; accordingly, she was till five o’clock in the evening relating the history of her life, which has been more shocking than was even imagined. She gave poison to her father ten times successively, but without effect, and also to her brother, and several others, at the same time preserving the appearance of the greatest love and confidence. She has said nothing against Penautier. Notwithstanding this confession, they gave her the question, ordinary and extraordinary, the next morning; but this extorted nothing more from her. She desired to speak with the procurator-general: no one yet knows the subject of their conversation. At six o’clock she was carried in a cart, with no other covering than her shift, and with a cord round her neck, to the church of Notre-Dame, to perform the _amende honorable_; after which, she was put again into the same cart, where I saw her extended on a truss of straw, with a confessor on one side, and the hangman on the other; indeed, my child, the sight made me shudder. Those who saw the execution say she mounted the scaffold with great courage. I was on the bridge of Notre-Dame, with the good d’Escars; never was Paris in such commotion, nor its attention so fixed upon one event. Yet, ask many people what they saw, and they will tell you they saw no more than I did, who was not present; in short, the whole day has been dedicated to this tragedy.