same century persuaded the respectable Miss Mary Blandy to the
murder of her father. The assassin of an old woman in Paris
recounts thus the arguments used by his mistress to induce him to
commit the crime: "She began by telling me about the money and
jewellery in the old woman's possession which could no longer be
of any use to her"--the argument of Raskolnikoff--"I resisted,
but next day she began again, pointing out that one killed people
in war, which was not considered a crime, and therefore one
should not be afraid to kill a miserable old woman. I urged that
the old woman had done us no harm, and that I did not see why one
should kill her; she reproached me for my weakness and said that,
had she been strong enough, she would soon have done this
abominable deed herself. `God,' she added, `will forgive us
because He knows how poor we are.'" When he came to do the
murder, this determined woman plied her lover with brandy and put
rouge on his cheeks lest his pallor should betray him.[7]


[7] Case of Albert and the woman Lavoitte, Paris, 1877.


There are occasions when those feelings of compunction which
troubled Macbeth and his wife are wellnigh proof against the
utmost powers of suggestion, or, as in the case of Hubert and
Prince Arthur, compel the criminal to desist from his enterprise.

A man desires to get rid of his father and mother-in-law. By
means of threats, reproaches and inducements he persuades another
man to commit the crime. Taking a gun, the latter sets out
to do the deed; but he realises the heinousness of it and turns