=Poinder= (_George_), a city officer.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.). =Poins=, a companion of Sir John Falstaff.--Shakespeare, 1 and 2 _Henry IV._ (1597, 1598). The chronicles of that day contain accounts of many a mad prank which [_Lord Warwick, Addison’s step-son_] played ... [_like_] the lawless freaks of the madcap prince and Poins.--Thackeray. =Poison.= It is said that Mithridātês VI., surnamed “the Great,” had so fortified his constitution that poisons had no baneful effect on him (B.C. 131, 120-63). =Poison of Khaïbar.= By this is meant the poison put into a leg of mutton by Zaïnab, a Jewess, to kill Mahomet while he was in the citadel of Kha´ïbar. Mahomet partook of the mutton, and suffered from the poison all through life. =Poisoners= (_Secret_). 1. _Of Ancient Rome_: Locusta, employed by Agrippi´na to poison her husband, the Emperor Claudius. Nero employed the same woman to poison Britannicus and others. 2. _Of English History_: the countess of Somerset, who poisoned Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London. She also poisoned others. Villiers, duke of Buckingham, it is said poisoned King James I. 3. _Of France_: Lavoisin and Lavigoreux, French midwives and fortune-tellers. Catherine de Medicis is said to have poisoned the mother of Henri IV. with a pair of wedding-gloves, and several others with poisoned fans. The marquise de Brinvilliers, a young profligate Frenchwoman, was taught the art of secret poisoning by Sainte-Croix, who learnt it in Italy.--_World of Wonders_, vii. 203. 4. _Of Italy_: Pope Alexander VI. and his children, Cæsar and Lucrezia [Borgia] were noted poisoners; so were Hieronyma Spara and Tofa´na. =Polexan´dre=, an heroic romance by Gomberville (1632). =Policy= (_Mrs._), housekeeper at Holyrood Palace. She appears in the introduction.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.). =Pol´idore= (3 _syl._), father of Valère.--Molière, _Le Dépit Amoureux_ (1654). =Polinesso=, duke of Albany, who falsely accused Geneura of incontinency, and was slain in single combat by Ariodantês.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516). =Polish Jew= (_The_), also called THE BELLS, a melodrama by J. R. Ware, brought prominently into note by the acting of Henry Irving at the Lyceum. Mathis, a miller in a small German town, is visited on Christmas Eve by a Polish Jew, who comes through the snow in a sledge. After rest and refreshment he leaves for Nantzig, “four leagues off.” Mathis follows him, kills him with an axe, and burns the body in a lime-kiln. He then pays his debts, becomes a prosperous and respected man, and is made burgomaster. On the wedding night of his only child, Annette, he dies of apoplexy, of which he had ample warning by the constant sound of sledge-bells in his ears. In his dream he supposes himself put into a mesmeric sleep in open court, when he confesses everything and is executed (1874).