A WARNING-PIECE
TO
All Married Men and Women.
Being the Full
CONFESSION of MARY HOBRY,
The FRENCH Midwife,
Who Murdered her Husband on the 27th. of January, 1687/8. (As also the Cause thereof.)
For which she receivd Sentence to be Burnt alive: And on Friday the Second Day of March, between the Hours of Ten and Eleven in
the Morning, she was drawn upon a Sledge to Leicester-Fields, where she was burnt to Ashes.
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ALL you that Married Men and Women be
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Give Ear unto this woful Tragedy,
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That now befell a French man and his Wife,
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Who livd together in continual Strife;
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One Denis Hobry about Four years since
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Took to his Wife a Woman Born a French,
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Whom he Abusd at such inhumane rate,
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That she a thousand times wishd him ill Fate,
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And thought within herself to end the Strife,
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[I]f she were forcd, to take away his Life:
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The cause that movd him to those Tyrannies,
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Was her aversion to his Villanies;
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At length into a private Room she fled,
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Intending never to Embrace his Bed,
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Where she remaind four Months, and then by chance
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Her Husband went beyond the Seas to France;
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But when returnd, he Courted her again,
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Tho first he feared it was all in vain.
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He swore a thousand times to please her Mind,
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And prove a Husband, faithful, chaste, and kind.
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His Words prevaild so much, that she did yield,
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Upon these Terms, to give him up the Field,
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That he would first confess before a Priest
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And two Witnesses more, as he ownd Christ
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To be his God, she was his lawful Wife,
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And would no more vex her during his Life.
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Father Gasper wrote this every Word,
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Who placd it afterwards upon Record.
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But scarce two days, or three at most, were past,
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When he on her the old Reproaches cast.
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In two months time he went to France again,
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And gave the Woman just cause to complain;
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For, nothing that he could come at or find,
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But he brought with him, and left none behind.
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When three months passed he returned home,
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And with dissembling Words to her did come;
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Whom she receivd, expecting his good Will,
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But soon found him to be the same Man still.
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She often begd of him, with weeping eyes,
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A Separation, or that otherwise
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He would be civil; who gave this Reply,
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He would her ruine; which causd her to cry,
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And think to take his Life, or lose her own,
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Which she did often tell him in her moan.
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Long she endurd, at last she told her Case
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To Neighbours that dwelt near about the place,
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And said, she feard Mischief would be the end
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Of his ill Actions, or he soon would mend.
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Three months being passd, one time she took a Knife,
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With an intent to take away his Life:
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But God did then bestow on her his grace,
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Which made her give her Husband longer space.
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So twice she did intend upon her Bed
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To stab her Husband, and to leave him dead:
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And to Himself she did declare her mind,
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Who dared her in a most foolish, kind.
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Now he was going from her into France,
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And she told him, If that it were his chance
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Ere to come back, and follow the old Rule,
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She must become unto him something cruel:
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Who promisd her most earnestly, and swore
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He never would abuse her as before.
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In three weeks after he returnd again
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Unto his Wife, who did him entertain;
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And said, dear Hobry, welcome thou to me
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So that you henceforth a good Husband be.
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I will, said he, taking a thousand Oaths,
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If youll me furnish presently with Cloaths.
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She answered Him, The Times were very dear,
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And hardly she her honest Debts could clear.
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He hearing her, most wickedly did curse,
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And swear he would to her be ten times worse
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Than ere he was: who then this Answer had
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From her, That he already made her mad,
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For that it was most commonly his way
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When he did want, to threaten night and day,
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If she could not him furnish, no Excuse
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Could get place with him, but still her abuse.
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One Yard to her did openly declare,
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That for her Ruine her Husband did prepare.
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Thus they continued in the same degree
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To th Twenty Seventh of last January;
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When she, about Ten of the Clock at night
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Took her Repose, bearing no kind of Spight
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Or Malice to her Husband, as before,
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But open, for his Coming, left the door;
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Who came at Five a Clock next Morning home,
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And did in Rage and Choler fret and fome,
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And to his Wife, as dead as in a grave
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(With Sleep) a blow upon the Stomach gave,
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Which made her start; What, you are drunk (said he,)
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If I am not, tis like you are, quoth she:
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He answerd, I with Rogues all night did sit,
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Which made me mad, and you must pay for it;
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Whereupon her gave her another Blow
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Upon the Breast, which did renew her Woe:
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To weeping she immediately did fall,
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And he then took her in his Arms with all
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His force, till he did stop her Vital Breath,
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So that she wished for a sudden Death:
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He forcd on her such barbarous Violence
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In spight of what she did in her Defence;
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Forcing much Blood from her, she cried out
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To her Land-lady, who did not hear the Shout:
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Unto the Neighbours Ill (said she) complain;
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Wherewith he threw her on the Bed again,
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And bit her like a Dog kept in a yard,
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Shall this said she, be always my Reward?
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Yea, answerd he, be sure thyself to keep
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Well, and with that he fell in a dead Sleep;
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Which she beholding, and feeling the smart
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Of his ill usage to her; in her Heart,
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What shall I do, (said she) must I now Die?
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Or Murther him that makes me thus to Cry?
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With that she started full of Wrath and Evil,
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Being thereto Spurrd by th instinct of the Devil,
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And pulld his Garter off his Leg in hast,
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Being a Pack-thread, which she thought no wast,
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And doubling it about his Neck, she drew
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The ends so fast, that she him quickly Slew;
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But soon Repenting, hopd he was Alive,
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And thought that Brandy would him then Revive:
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When all was done, her labour was in Vain,
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For Life once lost, can neer be had again.
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Till Monday following the Corps was there,
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For she could not convey it anywhere,
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Untill she brought her Son out of the Strand,
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Who durst not speak against her course Command;
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When he beheld the Corps lye at this rate,
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He did bemoan his Mothers wretched Fate:
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What will you do? you must (said he) now Die,
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Or out of England you must quickly Flie:
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She told him Money she had none in hand
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That would buy Passage to another Land;
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My way said she is to Cut off his Head,
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His Thighs and Arms, now that he is Dead,
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And none can tell what Country man hes then,
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Though he were found by the most wise of Men.
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At Four or Five past Noon, this Cursed Wife
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Cut off her Husbands Head with a sharp Knife:
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His Arms and Thighs came off, his Legs again,
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And though his Neck did Bleed, he felt no Pain.
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At Eight a Clock this Night through Castle-street
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And Drury-lane she went, and none did meet,
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Until at Parkers lane to please her will
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She laid the Corps nearby a nasty Dung-hill.
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She did in Linnen next the Thighs convey
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Into a Privy thats in the Savoy,
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Where she again the Arms and Legs did cast,
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Nothing remaining but the Head at last:
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She then advised with her Son to know
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Where they might closely put the Head also;
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Who said the Water was for it the Place,
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But she then feard some Man might know his Face;
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And she at last resolved to this end,
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To throw t into the Privy of her Friend,
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A Fringe-maker, that lives by the Savoy,
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For they do still two Privies there imploy.
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The Corps being found, and all the truth well known,
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She did herself no word of it disown;
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But did confess that no untruth is here,
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For God will not let Murtherers go clear.
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She is now Burnd, and beggs of all Mankind
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And Women too, Wisdom by her to find.
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