BOOK III.

OF PERSECUTIONS UNDER THE PAPACY, AND PARTICULARLY OF THE INQUISITION.

For several ages the method of proceeding against heretics was committed to the bishops, with whom the government and care of the churches were entrusted, according to the received decrees of the church of Rome. But as their number did not seem sufficient to the court, or because they did not proceed with that fury against heretics, as the pope would have them; therefore, that he might put a stop to the increasing progress of heresy, and effectually extinguish it, about the year of our Lord 1200, he founded the order of the Dominicans and Franciscans. [W]Dominick and his followers were sent into the country of Tholouse, where he preached with great vehemence against the heretics of those parts; from whence his order have obtained the name of Predicants. Father Francis, with his disciples, battled it with the heretics of Italy. They were both commanded by the pope to excite the Catholic princes and people to extirpate heretics, and in all places to inquire out their number and quality; and also the zeal of the Catholics and bishops in their extirpation, and to transmit a faithful account to Rome: hence they are called inquisitors.

Footnote W:

See note [W] at the end of the volume.

Dominick being sent into the country of Tholouse, was confirmed in the office of inquisitor by the papal authority; after which, upon a certain day, in the midst of a great concourse of people, he declaredo penly in his sermon, in the church of St. Prullian, “that he was raised to a new office by the pope;” adding, that “he was resolved to defend, with his utmost vigour, the doctrines of the faith; and that if the spiritual arm was not sufficient for this end, it was his fixed purpose to call in the assistance of the secular one, and to excite and compel the Catholic princes to take arms against heretics, that the very memory of them might be intirely destroyed.” It evidently appears that he was a very bloody and cruel man. He was born in Spain, in the village of Calaroga, in the diocese of Osma. His mother, before she conceived him, dreamt that “she was with child of a whelp, carrying in his mouth a lighted torch; and that after he was born, he put the world in an uproar by his fierce barkings, and set it on fire by the torch which he carried in his mouth.” His followers interpret this dream of his doctrine, by which he enlightened the whole world; but others, with more reason, think that the torch was an emblem of that fire and faggot, by which an infinite number of persons were consumed to ashes.

SECT. I. _Of the progress of the Inquisition._

Dominick being settled in the country of Tholouse, sent a great number of persons, wearing crosses, to destroy the Albigenses in those parts; and caused the friars of his order to promise plenary indulgences to all who would engage in the pious work of murdering heretics. He also caused Raymond earl of Tholouse to be excommunicated, as a defender of heretics, and his subjects to be absolved from their oaths of allegiance. The cross-bearers, being thus sent by Dominick, filled all places with slaughter and blood, and burnt many whom they had taken prisoners. In the year 1209, Biterre was taken by them; and the inhabitants, without any regard of age, were cruelly put to the sword, and the city itself destroyed by the flames; and though there were several Catholics in it, yet, lest any heretics should escape, Arnold, abbot of Cisteaux, cried out, “Slay them all, for the Lord knows who are his;” upon which they were all slain, without exception. Carcassone also was destroyed, Alby and La Vaur taken by force; in which last place they hanged Aymeric, the governor of the city, who was of a noble family, beheaded eighty of lower degree, and threw Girarda, Aymeric’s sister, into an open pit, and covered her with stones. Afterwards they conquered Carcum, where they murdered sixty men. They seized on Villeneuve, a large city near Tholouse, and burnt in it 400 Albigenses, and hanged fifty more. They also took Castres de Termis, and in it Raymond, lord of the place, whom they put in jail, where he died; and burnt in one large fire, his wife, sister, and virgin daughter, because they would not embrace the faith of the church of Rome. They also took Avignon by treachery, and, in despite of their oaths, plundered the city, and killed great numbers of the inhabitants; and, at last, forced the brave earl to surrender Tholouse itself, and then stripped him of his dominions, and would not absolve him from his excommunication, without walking in penance to the high altar, in his shirt and breeches, and with naked feet. Upon this conquest and destruction of the Albigenses, the inquisition proceeded with vigour, and was established by several councils at Tholouse and Narbonne.

In the year 1232, the inquisition was brought into Aragon, and pope Gregory gave commission to the archbishop of Tarracone, and his suffragans, to proceed against all persons infected with heretical pravity; and accordingly the inquisition was there carried on with the greatest rigour.

In 1251, pope Innocent IV. created inquisitors in Italy: and the office was committed to the Friars Minors and Predicants. The Friars Minors were appointed in the city of Rome, the patrimony of St. Peter, Tuscany, the dutchy of Spoletto, Campania, Maretamo, and Romania. To the Predicants he assigned Lombardy, Romaniola, the Marquisate of Tarvesano, and Genoa; and gave them certain articles to be prescribed to the magistrates and people subject to their jurisdiction, with power to excommunicate all who refused to observe them; and in process of time tribunals of the inquisition were erected in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Poland, Dalmatia, Bosnia, Ragusia, and in all places where the power of the pope could extend itself. Innumerable cruelties were practised upon those whom the judges condemned for heresy; some were burnt alive, others thrown into rivers, tied hand and foot, and so drowned; and others destroyed by different methods of barbarity.

Ferdinand and Isabella having united the several kingdoms of Spain by their inter-marriage, introduced, in the year 1478, the inquisition into all their kingdoms, with greater pomp, magnificence and power, than it had ever yet appeared in. The Jews were the first who felt the fury of it. A set time was appointed by the inquisitors for them to come in and make confession of their errors, in the year 1481. Accordingly about 1700 of both sexes appeared, who had their lives granted them. Many, however, refused to obey, and persisted in their heresy. On this they were immediately seized; and through the violence of their torments great numbers confessed their crimes, and were thrown into the fire; some acknowledging Christ, and others calling on the name of Moses. Within a few years, two thousand of them of both sexes were burnt. Others professing repentance, were condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and to wear crosses. The bones of others who were dead were taken out of their graves, and burnt to ashes; their effects confiscated, and their children deprived of their honours and offices. The Jews being terrified by this cruelty, fled, some into Portugal, others into Italy, and France; and left all their effects behind them, which were immediately seized on for the king’s use. At length, in 1494, to purge their kingdoms intirely from Jewish superstition, Ferdinand and Isabel by a law ordered them to depart all their dominions within four years; forbidding them ever to return to Spain, under the punishment of immediate death. Most writers affirm that there were 170,000 families who departed; others say there were 800,000 persons; a prodigious number, almost exceeding belief.

In the year 1500, the archbishop of Toledo took great pains to convert the Moors of Granada to Christianity. He first of all gained over some of their chief priests by gifts and favours. Others, who refused to become Christians, he put in irons in jail, and ordered them to be used with great cruelty; and by these methods gained many converts. Ferdinand at last published an edict against them, commanding them in general to become Christians, or depart his dominions within a certain day.

This tribunal, first erected to discover Jews and Moors, soon began to proceed against heretics, and to exercise the same cruelties against these as they had against the others. Charles V. king of Spain, who with great difficulty had brought the inquisition into the Netherlands, against the Lutherans and reformed, recommended it to his son Philip in his will; and Philip gave full proof of his zeal to execute his father’s commands. For when he was requested by many to grant liberty of religion in the Low Countries, he prostrated himself before a crucifix, and uttered these words: “I beseech the divine majesty, that I may always continue in this mind; that I may never suffer myself to be, or to be called the lord of those any where, who deny thee the Lord.” Nor is this any wonder; for the popish divines endeavoured to persuade the kings of Spain that the inquisition was the only security of their kingdom. No one can wonder, that under this persuasion, the Spanish kings have been violent promoters of the inquisition; and that they have inflicted the most cruel punishments upon the miserable heretics. Philip II. not only in the Low Countries, but also in Spain, shewed himself the patron of it; and that the most outrageous cruelty was acceptable to him. He gave some horrid specimens of it in the year 1559, in two cities of Spain, when he came thither from the Low Countries; [245]“Immediately on his arrival,” as Thuanus relates, “he began to chastise the sectaries. And whereas, before this, one or more, just as it happened, were delivered to the executioner, after condemnation for heresy; all that were condemned throughout the whole kingdom were kept against his coming, and carried together to Seville, and Valladolid, where they were brought forth in public pomp to their punishment. The first act of faith was at Seville, the 8th of the calends of October; in which John Ponce de Leon, son of Rhoderic Ponce Comte de Baylen, was led before the others, as in triumph, and burnt for an obstinate heretical Lutheran. John Consalvus, a preacher, as he had been his companion in life, was forced to bear him company in his death; after whom followed Isabella Venia, Maria Viroes, Cornelia, and Bohorchés; a spectacle full of pity and indignation, which was encreased, because Bohorchés, the youngest of all of them, being scarce twenty, suffered death with the greatest constancy. And because the heretical assemblies had prayed in the house of Venia, it was concluded in her sentence, and ordered to be levelled with the ground. After these, came forth Ferdinand San Juan, and Julian Hernandez, commonly called the Little, from his small stature, and John of Leon, who had been a shoemaker at Mexico in New Spain, and was afterwards admitted into the college of St. Isidore; in which his companions studied, as they boasted, the purer doctrine privately. Their number was encreased by Frances Chaves, a nun of the convent of St. Elizabeth, who had been instructed by John Ægidius, a preacher at Seville, and suffered death with great constancy. From the same school, came out Christopher Losada, a physician, and Christopher de Arellanio, a monk of St. Isidore, and Garsias Arias; who first kindled those sparks of the same religion amongst the friars of St. Isidore, by his constant admonitions and sermons, by which the great pile was afterwards set on fire, and the convent itself, and good part of that most opulent city almost consumed. He was a man of uncommon learning, but of an inconstant, wavering temper; and, being exceeding subtle in disputing, he refuted the very doctrines he had persuaded his followers to receive, though he brought them into danger on that account from the inquisitors. Having, by these arts, exposed many whom he had deceived to evident hazard, and rendered himself guilty of the detestable crime of breach of faith; he was admonished by John Ægidius, Constantine Ponce, and Varquius, that he had not dealt sincerely with his friends, and those who were in the same sentiments with himself; to which he replied, that he foresaw, that in a little time they would be forced to behold the bulls brought forth for a lofty spectacle; meaning thereby, the theatre of the inquisitors. Constantine answered, You, if it please God, shall not behold the games from on high, but be yourself amongst the combatants. Nor was Constantine deceived in his prediction: for afterwards, Arias was called on; and whether age had made him bolder, or whether, by a sudden alteration, his timorousness changed into courage, he severely rebuked the assessors of the inquisitory tribunal; affirming, they were more fit for the vile office of mule keepers, than impudently to take upon themselves to judge concerning the faith, which they were scandalously ignorant of. He farther declared, that he bitterly repented that he had knowingly and willingly opposed, in their presence, that truth he now maintained, against the pious defenders of it; and that from his soul he should repent of it whilst he lived. So at last, being led in triumph, he was burnt alive, and confirmed Constantine’s prophecy. There remained Ægidius and Constantine, who closed the scene; but death prevented their being alive at the shew. Ægidius having been designed by the emperor, Philip’s father, for bishop of Tortona, upon the fame of his piety and learning, being summoned, publicly recanted his errors, wrought on either by craft, or the persuasion of Sotus, a Dominican; and hereupon was suspended for a while from preaching, and the sacred office, and died some time before this act. The inquisitors thought he had been too gently dealt with, and therefore proceeded against his body, and condemned him dead to death, and placed his effigies in straw on high for a spectacle. Constantine, who had been a long while the emperor’s confessor, and had always accompanied him in his retirement, after his abdication from his empire and kingdoms, and was present with him at his death, was brought before this tribunal, and died a little before the act, in a nasty prison. But, that the theatre might not want him, his effigies was carried about in a preaching posture. And thus this shew, terrible in itself, which drew tears from most who were present, when these images were brought on the scene, excited laughter in many, and at length indignation. They proceeded with the same severity, the following October, at Valladolid, against others condemned for the same crime; where king Philip himself being present, twenty-eight of the chief nobility of the country were tied to stakes and burnt.” Bartholomew Caranza, archbishop of Toledo, was also accused; who for his learning, probity of life, and most holy conversation, was highly worthy of that dignity. He was cast into prison, and stripped of all his large revenues. His cause was brought before Pius V. at Rome, and Gregory XIII. pronounced sentence in it.

Footnote 245:

Vol. I. lib. 23. Ed. Buck.

Philip, not content to exercise his cruelty by land, established the inquisition also in the ships. For in the year 1571, a large fleet was drawn together under the command of John of Austria, and manned with soldiers listed out of various nations. King Philip, to prevent any corruption of the faith, by such a mixture of various nations and religions, after having consulted pope Pius V. deputed one of the inquisitors of Spain, fixed on by the inquisitor general, to discharge the office of inquisitor; giving him power to preside in all tribunals, and to celebrate acts of faith, in all places and cities they sailed to. This erection of the inquisition by sea, Pius V. confirmed by a bull sent to the general inquisitor of Spain, beginning, “Our late most dear son in Christ.” Jerome Manrique exercised the jurisdiction granted him, and held a public act of faith in the city of Messina, in which many underwent divers punishments.

He also established it beyond Europe, not only in the Canary islands, but in the new world of America; constituting two tribunals of it, one in the city of Lima, in the province of Peru; the other in the province and city of Mexico. The inquisition at Mexico was erected in the year 1571, and in a short space gave large proofs of its cruelty. Paramus relates, that in the year 1574, the third after its erection, the first act of faith was celebrated with a new and admirable pomp, in the Marquisses, market-place, where they built a large theatre, which covered almost the whole area of the market-place, and was close to the great church; where were present the viceroy, the senate, the chapter, and the religious. The viceroy, the senate, and a vast number of others, went with a large guard, in solemn procession, to the market-place, where were about eighty penitents; and the act lasted from six in the morning to five in the evening. Two heretics, one an Englishman, the other a Frenchman, were released. Some for judaizing, some for polygamy, and others for sorceries, were reconciled. The solemnity of this act was such, that they who had seen that stately one at Valladolid, held in the year 1559, declared, that this was nothing inferior to it in majesty, excepting only that they wanted those royal personages here, which were present there. From this time they celebrated yearly solemn acts of the faith, where they brought Portuguese Jews, persons guilty of incestuous and wicked marriages, and many convicted of sorcery and witchcraft.

The method of the tribunal of the inquisition, as now in use in Spain, is this. The king proposes to the pope the supreme inquisitor of all his kingdoms, whom the pope confirms in his office. The inquisitor thus confirmed by the pope, is head and chief of the inquisition in the whole kingdom, and hath given him by his holiness full power in all cases relating to heresy. It belongs to his office to name particular inquisitors, in every place where there is any tribunal of the inquisition, who nevertheless cannot act unless approved by the king; to send visitors to the provinces of the inquisitors, to grant dispensations to penitents and their children, and to deliberate concerning other very weighty affairs. In the royal city the king appoints the supreme council of the inquisition, over which the supreme inquisitor of the kingdom presides. He hath joined with him five counsellors, who have the title of apostolical inquisitors, who are chosen by the inquisitor general upon the king’s nomination. One of these must always be a Dominican. The supreme authority is in this council of the inquisition. They deliberate upon all affairs with the inquisitor general, determine the greater causes, make new laws according to the exigency of affairs, determine differences amongst particular inquisitors, punish the offences of the servants, receive appeals from inferior tribunals, and from them there is no appeal but to the king. In other tribunals there are two or three inquisitors: they have particular places assigned them, Toledo, Cuenca, Valladolid, Calahorre, Seville, Cordoue, Granada, Ellerena; and in the Aragons, Valencia, Saragossa, and Barcelona.

These are called provincial inquisitors. They cannot imprison any priest, knight, or nobleman, nor hold any public acts of faith, without consulting the supreme council of the inquisition. Sometimes this supreme council deputes one of their own counsellors to them, in order to give the greater solemnity to the acts of faith.

These provincial inquisitors give all of them an account of their provincial tribunal once every year to the supreme council; and especially of the causes that have been determined within that year, and of the state and number of their prisoners in actual custody. They give also every month an account of all monies which they have received, either from the revenues of the holy office, or pecuniary punishments and fines.

This council meets every day, except holy-days, in the palace-royal, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the morning; and on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays after vespers; in these three last days two counsellors of the supreme council of Castile meet with them, who are also counsellors of the supreme council of the inquisition.

This tribunal is now arisen to such an height in Spain, that the king of Castile, before his coronation, subjects himself and all his dominions, by a special oath, to the most holy tribunal of this most severe inquisition.

In the year 1557, John III. king of Portugal, erected the tribunal of the inquisition in his kingdom, after the model of that in Spain. It was chiefly levelled against the Jews, who groan under the cruel yoke of it to this day, without any mitigation of their punishment, being liable to all the penalties ordained against heretics. And because the Jewish wickedness spread every day more and more in the parts of the East Indies, subject to the kingdom of Portugal, Cardinal Henry, inquisitor general in the kingdom of Portugal, erected, anno 1560, the tribunal of the inquisition in the city of Goa, the metropolis of that province; where it is carried on at this time with great magnificence and solemnity.

And that the inquisition might proceed every where without any impediment, pope Paul III. anno 1542, deputed six cardinals to be inquisitors general of heretical pravity, in all Christian nations whatsoever; and gave them authority to proceed without the bishops against all heretics, and persons suspected of heresy, and their accomplices and abettors, of whatsoever state, degree, order, condition and pre-eminence; and to punish them, and confiscate their goods; to degrade, and deliver over to the secular court the secular and regular clergy in holy orders; and to do every thing else that should be necessary in this affair. Pius IV. enlarged their power; and in 1564, gave them authority to proceed against all manner of persons, whether bishops, archbishops, patriarchs or cardinals, who were heretics, or suspected of heresy. At length Sixtus V. anno 1588, appointed fifteen congregations of the cardinals, and assigned to each of them their proper business. To these were added a commissary, and an assessor general. Whatever the majority of these cardinals agree, is looked on as the decree of the whole congregation. They meet twice a week; on Wednesdays in St. Mary’s church, supra Minervam; and on Thursdays in the pope’s presence. In this congregation his holiness decides or confirms the votes of the counsellors and cardinals, and makes a prayer when the congregation comes in.

SECT. II. _Of the Officers belonging to the Inquisition._

These are the inquisitors; the judge of the forfeited effects, the executor, the notaries, the jail-keeper, the messenger, the door-keeper, the physician, the assessors, the counsellors, the familiars, the promoter fiscal, the receiver of the forfeited effects, and the visitors of the inquisitors.

The inquisitors are persons delegated by the pope to enquire concerning all heresies, and to judge and punish heretics. Generally speaking, no one can be deputed to this office who is not forty years old. But if a person is remarkable for knowledge and prudence, he may, in Spain and Portugal, be created inquisitor sooner. This office is accounted of so great dignity in the church of Rome, that the title of “most reverend” is given to the inquisitors as well as the bishops.

Their privileges are many and great. They can excommunicate, suspend, and interdict. None excommunicated by them can be absolved, without command of the pope, except in the article of death. They may apprehend heretics, though they take sanctuary in churches; and make statutes, and encrease the punishments against them. They can grant indulgences of twenty or forty days, and give full pardon of sins to all their officers who died in their service; and have themselves granted a plenary indulgence in life and death. Whosoever shall damage the effects of the inquisitor, or his officer, or shall kill, strike or beat any one of them, is to be immediately delivered over to the secular court. They are freed from serving of all offices. They are to have lodgings, provisions, and other necessaries provided for them. They may proceed against all persons whatsoever, few excepted; against bishops, priests, and friars; and all laicks whatsoever, even princes and kings. They may cite persons of any sex or condition for witnesses: a famous instance of which there is in Joan, daughter of the emperor Charles V. whom they cited before their tribunal to interrogate her concerning a certain person, in some matters relating to the faith. The emperor himself had such an awe of them, that he commanded his daughter without delay to make her deposition, to avoid the sentence of excommunication. Upon which, she actually appeared before the archbishop of Seville, inquisitor general, and gave in her evidence. In Spain also the inquisitors pretend to have a jurisdiction over the subjects of other kings. Of this, we have an instance in Thomas Maynard, consul of the English nation at Lisbon, who was thrown into the prison of the inquisition, under pretence that he had said or done something against the Roman religion. M. Meadows, who was then resident, and took care of the English affairs at Lisbon, advised Cromwell of the affair; and, after having received an express from him, went to the king of Portugal, and in the name of Cromwell demanded the liberty of consul Maynard. The king told him, it was not in his power; that the consul was detained by the inquisition, over which he had no authority. The resident sent this answer to Cromwell; and having soon after received new instructions from him, had again audience of the king, and told him, that since his majesty had declared he had no power over the inquisition, he was commanded by Cromwell immediately to declare war against it. This unexpected declaration so terrified the king and the inquisition, that they immediately determined to free the consul from prison; and immediately opened the prison doors, and gave him leave to go out. The consul refused to accept a private dismission; but in order to repair the honour of his character, demanded to be honourably brought forth by the inquisition. The same Maynard continued many years after under the same character, in the reigns of Charles and James II. and lived at Lisbon till he was about eighty years old, without any molestation from the inquisition. This story was well known to all foreign merchants, who lived at that time, and many years after, at Lisbon.

The inquisitors may also compel the governors of cities to swear that they will defend the church against heretics; and to extirpate with all their power, from their governments, all who are noted for heretics by the church. They may also command all secular magistrates to seize and keep in custody all heretics, and to carry them wheresoever they order. And for the better apprehending of heretics, the inquisitors may go with an armed attendance, and bear arms themselves. They may compel witnesses to give evidence by fines, pledges, excommunication, or torture. They have also power to excommunicate all lay persons disputing about the faith, publicly or privately; and those who do not discover heretics, by themselves or other persons. And finally, they may condemn and prohibit all heretical books, and suspected of heresy, or containing propositions erroneous, or differing from the Catholic faith.

If the inquisitors are negligent or remiss in their office, they are prohibited from entering the church for four years; or if they offend by unjustly extorting money, they are punished by the prelates of their order; but in such a manner, however, as not to lessen men’s opinion of the dignity and authority of the holy office. From this precaution it is, however, very plain, that the tribunal of the inquisition is not so very holy and blameless, as they would have them believe in Spain and Portugal; but that the inquisitors punish innocent men sometimes very unjustly, throwing them into prison, and treating them in a very barbarous and unworthy manner. Of this we have a fresh instance in the inquisition at Goa, in relation to father Ephraim, a Capucine; whom, out of mere hatred and revenge, they seized by craft and subtlety, and carried away to Goa, and there shut him up in the prison of the inquisition. The story is this: Father Ephraim having had an invitation from some English merchants, built a church in the city of Madrespatan, which was near to the city of St. Thomas. To this place, several of the Portuguese came from St. Thomas’s, to have the benefit of Ephraim’s instruction. By this, he incurred the hatred of the Portuguese; and, upon some disturbance that was raised, father Ephraim was called to St. Thomas to appease it; where he was seized by the officers of the inquisition, and carried to Goa, bound hands and feet, and at night coming from on board the ship, hurried into the prison of the inquisition. All men wondered that this Capucine should be brought prisoner before the tribunal of the inquisition as an heretic, who was known to be a person of great probity and zeal for the Roman religion. Many were concerned for his delivery; and especially friar Zenon, of the same order, who tried every method to effect it. When the news of his imprisonment came to Europe, persons were very differently affected. His brother, the lord Chateau des Bois, solicited the Portugal ambassador at Paris, till he prevailed with him to send letters to his Portuguese majesty, to desire his peremptory orders to the inquisitors at Goa, to dismiss Ephraim from his prison. The pope also himself sent letters to Goa, commanding him to be set free, under the penalty of excommunication. The king also of Golconda, who had a friendship for him, because he had given him some knowledge of the mathematics, commanded the city of St. Thomas to be besieged, and to be put to fire and sword, unless Ephraim was immediately restored to his liberty. The inquisitors not being able to surmount all these difficulties, sent him word that the prison gates were open, and that he might have his liberty when he pleased. But he would not leave his jail, till he was brought out by a solemn procession of the ecclesiastics of Goa. And although there are many instances of the like injustice, yet they very seldom publicly punish the injustice and cruelty of the inquisitors, lest their authority, which they would have always accounted sacred, should be contemned. The inquisitor may also appoint a vicar general over his whole province, with a power of proceeding to a definitive sentence on the impenitent and relapsed, and of receiving informations and accusations against any persons, and of citing, arresting, and putting in irons witnesses and criminals, and of putting them to the question or torture; and in general, of doing every thing which the inquisitor himself, if present, could do.

The counsellors or assessors of the inquisition are skilful persons, such as divines, canonists, and layers, whom the inquisitors call in, in difficult cases, to assist them with their advice. When any questions happen in the trials of the causes of heresy, relating to the quality, _i. e._ the nature and degree of guilt in any propositions spoken by heretics, or persons suspected of heresy, the decision in such affairs belongs to the divines, who are thence called qualificators; who are to determine whether it be heretical, or favours of heresy, or erroneous, or such as offends pious ears, or rash, or scandalous, or schismatical, or seditious, or blasphemous, or injurious. The layers are consulted about the punishment or absolution of offenders, and other the like merits of causes. However, the inquisitors are not bound necessarily to follow the advice of these counsellors; but after they have heard their opinions, are free to determine and act what they think proper. These counsellors are sworn to secrecy, and are not acquainted with the names of the criminals or witnesses.

The promoter fiscal is that officer of the inquisition, who acts the part of accuser. It belongs to him to examine the depositions of the witnesses, and give information of criminals to the inquisitors; to demand their apprehension and imprisonment, and, when apprehended or admonished, to accuse them.

The notaries, registers, or secretaries of the inquisition, write down the injunctions, accusations, and all the pleadings of the causes; the depositions of the witnesses, and answers of the criminals; and whether the colour of their face changes; whether they tremble or hesitate in speaking, whether they frequently interrupt the interrogatories by hawking or spitting, or whether their voice trembles; that by these circumstances, they may know when to put the criminals to the torture. These notaries may be chosen either of the laity, or from the monks and clergy. They swear them faithfully to execute that office, and to keep the strictest secrecy.

The judge and receiver of the forfeited effects, is the attorney belonging to the treasury of the inquisition; who demands, defends, and sells, the confiscated goods of heretics, and pays the salaries and other expences of the holy office.

The executors are they who execute and perform the commands of the inquisitors. They apprehend and keep in custody criminals, and pursue them in any places to which they may have escaped; and may, when needful, put them in irons. All persons, whether magistrates or others, are obliged to assist them, when they are endeavouring to apprehend any person, or seize his effects, upon penalty of a large fine, and being put under the ban.

The familiars are the bailiffs of the inquisition, which, though a vile office in all other criminal courts, is esteemed so honourable in this of the inquisition, that there is not a nobleman in the kingdom of Portugal who is not in it; and these are commonly employed by the inquisitors to take persons up. If several persons are to be taken up at the same time, the familiars must so order things, that they may know nothing of each other’s being apprehended. And at this the familiars are so expert, that a father and his three sons and three daughters, who lived together at the same house, were all carried prisoners to the inquisition, without knowing any thing of one another’s being there till seven years afterwards, when they of them who were alive, came forth in an act of faith.

There is a particular kind of these familiars, who wear crosses, instituted by Dominic; who vow upon oath, before the inquisitors, that they will defend the catholic faith, though with the loss of fortune and life. The inquisitors give them red crosses, which they have blessed, and may compel them to perform their vow.

The visitor of the inquisition is one who goes into all the provinces where the inquisitors are, and reports to the inquisitor general and council whatever he thinks proper to be amended; and whether the several inquisitors have observed the several orders and rules prescribed to them, that in case of any offences, they may be duly punished.

The civil magistrate is under great subjection to these inquisitors and their officers. He swears to defend the catholic faith, and to cause all the constitutions relating to the inquisition to be observed, and that he will study to exterminate all persons marked out for heretics by the church. And if any temporal lord shall, after admonition by the church, neglect to purge his dominions from heretical pravity, for the space of a year after such admonition, his country is ordered to be seized, and the person seizing it allowed to possess it without contradiction. When any persons are condemned for heresy by the inquisitors, the civil magistrate is obliged to receive them as soon as delivered to him, and to punish them with the deserved punishment; without presuming directly or indirectly to hinder any judgment, sentence, or process of the inquisitors.

The office of the jail-keepers is not to be described; though some account of their jail will not be amiss.

All criminals have not alike places of imprisonment, their cells being either more terrible and dark, or more easy and chearful, according to the quality of the persons and their offences. In reality, there is no place in the prison of the inquisition that can be called pleasant or chearful, the whole jail is so horrible and nasty.

These jails are called in Spain and Portugal “Santa Casa,” i. e. the holy house. Every thing it seems in this office must be holy. The prisons are so built, as the author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa describes them, that they will hold a great number of persons. They consist of several porticoes; every one of which is divided into several small cells of a square form, each side being about ten feet. There are two rows of them, one being built over the other, and all of them vaulted. The upper ones are enlightened by iron grates, placed above the height of a tall man. The lower ones are under ground, dark, without any window, and narrower than the upper ones. The walls are five feet thick. Each cell is fastened with two doors; the inner one thick, and covered over with iron, and in the lower part of it there is a little small window, through which they reach to the prisoner his meat, linen, and other necessaries, which is shut with two iron bolts. The outer door is entire, without any opening at all. They generally open it in the morning, from six o’clock till eleven, in order to refresh the air of the prison.

In Portugal all the prisoners, men and women, without any regard to birth or dignity, are shaved the first or second day of their imprisonment. Every prisoner hath two pots of water every day, one to wash, and the other to drink; and a besom to cleanse his cell, and a mat made of rushes to lie upon, and a larger vessel to ease nature, with a cover to put over it, which is changed once every four days. The provisions which are given to the prisoners, are rated according to the season, and the dearness or plenty of eatables. But if any rich person is imprisoned, and will live and eat beyond the ordinary rate of provisions, and according to his own manner, he may be indulged, and have what is decent and fit for him, and his servant, or servants, if he hath any, with him in the jail. If there are any provisions left, the jail-keeper, and no other, must take them, and give them to the poor. But Reginald Gonsalvius observes, p. 106. that this indulgence is not allowed to prisoners of all sorts, but to such only as are taken up for small offences, who are to be condemned to a fine. But if they find by the very accusation that any persons are to be punished with forfeiture of all their effects, they do not suffer them to live so plentifully, but order them a small pension for their subsistence, viz. about thirty maravedis, of the value of ten Dutch stivers. This agrees with the account of Isaac Orobio, who had a plentiful fortune at Seville, and was nevertheless used very hardly in the prison of the inquisition there. Although his estate was very large, yet he was allowed a very small pension to provide himself provision. This was flesh, which they made him sometimes dress and prepare for himself, without allowing him the help of any servant. In this manner are the richer prisoners treated. As to the poorer, and such who have not enough to supply themselves in jail, their allowance is fixed by the king, viz. the half of a silver piece of money, called a real,[246] every day; and out of this small sum, the buyer of their provision, whom they call the dispenser, and their washer, must be paid, and all other expences that are necessary for the common supports of life. Besides, this very royal allowance for the prisoners doth not come to them but through the hands of several persons, and those none of the most honest; first by the receiver, then the dispenser, then the cook, then the jail-keeper, who, according to his office, distributes the provisions amongst the prisoners. Gonsalvius adds, that he gave this particular account of this matter, because all these persons live, and have their certain profits out of this small allowance of the king to the prisoners; which coming to them through the crooked hands of these harpies, they cannot receive it till every one of them hath taken out more than a tenth part of it.

Footnote 246:

Dr. Geddes tells us of one in the inquisition at Lisbon, who was allowed no more than three vintems a day; a vintem is about an English penny farthing.

The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa tells us, this order is observed in distributing the provisions. The prisoners have meat given them three times every day; and even those who have the misfortune to be in this case, though they have money, are not treated much better than others, because their riches are employed to make provision for the poorer. I was informed by Isaac Orobio, that in Spain they sometimes give the prisoners coals, which they must light, and then dress their own food. Sometimes they allow them a candle. Those who are confined in the lower cells generally sit in darkness, and are sometimes kept there for several years, without any one’s being suffered to go or speak to them, except their keepers; and they only at certain hours, when they give them their provision. They are not allowed any books of devotion, but are shut up in darkness and solitude, that they may be broke with the horrors of so dreadful a confinement, and by the miseries of it forced to confess things which oftentimes they have never done.

And how dreadful the miseries of this prison are, we have a famous instance given us by Reginald Gonsalvius Montanus.[247] In the age before the last, a certain English ship put in at the port of Cadiz, which the familiars of the inquisition, according to custom, searched upon the account of religion, before they suffered any person to come ashore. They seized on several English persons who were on board, observing in them certain marks of evangelical piety, and of their having received the best instruction, and threw them into jail. In that ship there was a child, ten or twelve years, at most, old, the son of a very rich English gentleman, to whom, as was reported, the ship and principal part of her loading belonged. Amongst others, they took up also this child. The pretence was, that he had in his hands the psalms of David in English. But, as Gonsalvius tells us, those who knew their avarice and cursed arts, may well believe, without doing any injury to the holy inquisition, that they had got the scent of his father’s wealth, and that this was the true cause of the child’s imprisonment, and of all that calamity that followed after it. However, the ship with all its cargo was confiscated; and the child, with the other prisoners, were carried to the jail of the inquisition at Seville, where he lay six or eight months. Being kept in so strait confinement for so long a while, the child, who had been brought up tenderly at home, fell into a very dangerous illness, through the dampness of the prison, and the badness of his diet. When the lords inquisitors were informed of this, they ordered him to be taken out of the jail, and carried, for the recovery of his health, to the hospital, which they call the Cardinal. Here they generally bring all who happen to fall ill in the prison of the inquisition; where, besides the medicines, of which, according to the pious institution of the hospital, there is plenty, and a little better care, upon account of the distemper, nothing is abated of the severity of the former jail; no person besides the physician, and the servants of the hospital, being allowed to visit the sick person; and as soon as ever he begins to grow better, before he is fully recovered, he is put again into his former jail. The child, who had contracted a very grievous illness from that long and barbarous confinement, was carried into the hospital, where he lost the use of both his legs: nor was it ever known what became of him afterwards. In the mean while it was wonderful, that the child, in so tender an age, gave noble proofs how firmly the doctrine of piety was rooted in his mind; oftentimes, but especially morning and evening, lifting up his eyes to heaven, and praying to him, from whom he had been instructed by his parents, to desire and hope for certain help; which the jailkeeper having often observed, said, he was already grown a great little heretic.

Footnote 247:

P. 119.

About the same time[248] a certain person was taken up and thrown into the same jail, who had voluntarily abjured the Mahometan impiety, and came but a little before from Morocco, a famous city of Mauritania, and capital of the kingdom, into that part of Spain which lies directly over against it, with a design to turn Christian. When he had observed that the Christians were more vicious and corrupt than the Moors he had left, he happened to say, that the Mahometan law seemed to him better than the Christian. For this the good fathers of the faith laid hold of him, thrust him into jail, and used him so cruelly, that he said publicly, even when in confinement, that he never repented of his Christianity, from the day he was baptized, till after his having been in the inquisition, where he was forced against his will to behold all manner of violences and injuries whatsoever.

Footnote 248:

P. 121.

The complaint of Constantine, the preacher of Seville, was not less grievous concerning the barbarities of this prison;[249] who, although he had not as yet tasted of the tortures, yet often bewailed his misery in this jail, and cried out: “O my God, were there no Scythians in the world, no cannibals more fierce and cruel than Scythians, into whose hands thou couldst carry me, so that I might but escape the paws of these wretches?” Olmedus also, another person famous for piety and learning, fell into the inquisitors hands at Seville; and through the inhumanity of his treatment, which had also proved fatal to Constantine, contracted a grievous illness, and at last died in the midst of the nastiness and stench. He was used to say, “Throw me any where, O my God, so that I may but escape the hands of these wretches.”

Footnote 249:

P. 104.

The author of the History of Goa agrees in this account,[250] who frankly owns, that through the cruelty and length of his imprisonment he fell into despair, and thereby often attempted to destroy himself; first by starving himself; and because that did not succeed, he feigned himself sick; and when the physician of the inquisition found his pulse unequal, and that he was feverish, he ordered him to be let blood, which was done again five days after. When the doctor was gone, he unbound his arm every day, that so by the large effusion of blood, he might continually grow weaker and weaker. In the mean while he eat very little, that by hunger, and loss of blood, he might put an end to his miserable life. Whilst he was in this sad condition, he had sent him a confessor of the Franciscan order, who, by various arguments of comfort, endeavoured to recover him from his despair. They also gave him a companion in his jail, which was some comfort to him in his confinement. But growing well again after about five months, they took his companion from him. The lonesomeness of his jail brought on again his melancholy and despair, which made him invent another method to destroy himself. He had a piece of gold money, which he had concealed in his clothes, which he broke into two parts; and making it sharp, he opened with it a vein in each arm, and lost so much blood, that he fell into a swoon, the blood running about the jail. But some of the servants happening to come before the usual time to bring him something, found him in this condition. The inquisitor hereupon ordered him to be loaded with irons upon his arms and hands, and strictly watched. This cruelty provoked him to that degree, that he endeavoured to beat his brains out against the pavement and the walls; and undoubtedly the ligaments upon his arms would have been torn off, had he continued any longer in that state. Upon this they took off his chains, gave him good words, encouraged him, and sent him a companion, by whose conversation he was refreshed, and bore his misery with a little more easiness of mind. But after two months they took him from him again, so that the solitude of his jail was more distressing to him than before.

Footnote 250:

Cap. 19, 20, 21.

The prisoners,[251] as soon as ever they are thrown into jail, are commanded to give an account of their name and business. Then they inquire after their wealth; and to induce them to give in an exact account, the inquisition promises them, that if they are innocent, all that they discover to them shall be faithfully kept for, and restored to them; but that if they conceal any thing, it shall be confiscated, though they should be found not guilty. And as in Spain and Portugal most persons are fully persuaded of the sanctity and sincerity of this tribunal, they willingly discover all their possessions, even the most concealed things of their houses, being certainly persuaded, that when their innocence shall appear, they shall soon recover their liberty and effects together. But these miserable creatures are deceived; for he that once falls into the hands of these judges, is stripped at once of all he was possessed of. For if any one denies his crime, and is convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, he is condemned as a negative convict, and all his effects confiscated. If to escape the jail he confesses his crime, he is guilty by his own confession, and in the judgment of all justly stripped of his effects. When he is dismissed from prison as a convert and penitent, he dares not defend his innocence, unless he desires to be thrown again into jail, and condemned; and, as a feigned penitent, to be delivered over to the secular arm.

Footnote 251:

Inquis. Goan. cap. 13.

When the prisoner is brought before his judge,[252] he appears with his head and arms, and feet naked. In this condition he is brought out of jail by the warder. When he comes to the room of audience, the warder goes a little forward, and makes a profound reverence, then withdraws, and the prisoner enters by himself. At the farther end of the audience room there is placed a crucifix, that reaches almost to the ceiling. In the middle of the hall is a table about five feet long, and four broad, with seats all placed round it. At one end of the table, that which is next to the crucifix, sits the notary of the inquisition; at the other end the inquisitor, and at his left hand the prisoner sitting upon a bench. Upon the table is a missal, upon which the prisoner is commanded to lay his hand, and to swear that he will speak the truth, and keep every thing secret. After they have sufficiently interrogated him, the inquisitors ring a bell for the warder, who is commanded to carry back his prisoner to jail.

Footnote 252:

Inquis. Goan. cap. 18.

No one in the prison must so much as mutter, or make any noise, but must keep profound silence. If any one bemoans himself, or bewails his misfortune, or prays to God with an audible voice, or sings a psalm or sacred hymn, the jail-keepers, who continually watch in the porches, and can hear even the least sound, immediately come to him, and admonish him that silence must be preserved in this house. If the prisoner doth not obey, the keepers admonish him again. If after this the prisoner persists, the keeper opens the door, and prevents his noise, by severely beating him with a stick; not only to chastise him, but to deter others, who, because the cells are contiguous, and deep silence is kept, can very easily hear the outcries and sound of the blows. I will add here a short story that I had from several persons; which, if true, shews us with what severity they keep this silence. A prisoner in the inquisition coughed. The jailors came to him, and admonished him to forbear coughing, because it was unlawful to make any noise in that house. He answered, it was not in his power. However, they admonished him a second time to forbear it; and because he did not, they stripped him naked, and cruelly beat him. This increased his cough; for which they beat him so often, that at last he died through the pain and anguish of the stripes.

They insist so severely on keeping this silence, that they may cut off every degree of comfort from the afflicted; and especially for this reason, that the prisoners may not know one another, either by singing, or any loud voice. For it oftentimes happens, that after two or three years confinement in the jail of the inquisition, a man doth not know that his friend, nor a father that his children and wife are in the same prison, till they all see each other in the act of faith. And finally, that the prisoners in the several cells may not talk with one another; which, if ever found out, their cells are immediately changed.

If any one falls ill in the prison, they send to him a surgeon and physician, who administer all proper remedies to him to recover him to health. If there be any danger of his dying, they send him a confessor, if he desires it. If the criminal doth not ask for a confessor, and the physician believes the distemper to be dangerous, he must be persuaded by all means to confess; and if he judicially satisfies the inquisitors, he is to be reconciled to the church before he dies; and being absolved in judgment, the confessor must absolve him sacramentally.

If he is well, and desires a confessor, some are of opinion he may not have one granted him, unless he hath confessed judicially. Others think he may; and in this case the confessor’s business is to exhort him to confess his errors, and to declare the whole truth, as well of himself as of others, as he is bound de jure to do. However, he must add, that he must not accuse himself or others falsely, through weariness of his imprisonment, the hope of a more speedy deliverance, or fear of torments. Such a criminal the confessor cannot absolve, before his excommunication is first taken off, and he is reconciled to the church. But in Italy the prisoners are more easily allowed a confessor than in Spain.

They are particularly careful not to put two or more in the same cell, unless the inquisitor for any special reason shall so order, that they may not concert with one another to conceal the truth, to make their escape, or to evade their interrogatories. The principal reason, indeed, seems to be, that through the irksomeness of their imprisonment, they may confess whatsoever the inquisitors would have them. But if an husband and his wife are both imprisoned for the same offence, and there be no fear that one should prevent the other from making a free confession of the crime, they may be put in the same cell.

The inquisitors[253] are obliged to visit the prisoners twice every month, and to enquire whether they have necessaries allowed them, and whether they are well or not. In this visit they usually ask him in these very words; How he is? How he hath his health? Whether he wants any thing? Whether his warder is civil to him? i. e. Whether he speaks to him in a reproachful and severe manner? Whether he gives him his appointed provision, and clean linen? and the like.[254] These are exactly the sentences and words they use in these visits, to which they neither add any thing, nor act agreeable; for they use them only for form’s sake, and when the inquisitor hath spoken them he immediately goes away, scarce staying for an answer. And although any one of the prisoners complains that he is not well used, it is of no advantage to him, nor is he better treated for the future. If there be occasion or necessity, it will be convenient for them to visit the prisoners three or four times every month, yea, as often as they think proper; viz. when the criminal bears with impatience the misfortune and infamy of his imprisonment, in such case the inquisitor must endeavour to comfort him very often, not only by himself, but by others; and to tell him, that if he makes a free confession, his whole affair shall be quickly and kindly ended.

Footnote 253:

Gonsalv. p. 125.

Footnote 254:

Inquis. Goan. c. 12.

The inquisitors must take care not to talk with the criminals, when they are examined or visited, upon any other affairs but such as relate to their business. Nor must the inquisitor be alone when he visits, or otherwise gives them audience; but must have with him his colleague, or at least a notary, or some other faithful servant of the holy office.

This also they are particularly careful of, that the criminals may not be removed from one cell to another, nor associate with any other. If any prisoners have been shut up together at once in the same cell, when they are removed they must be removed together, that hereby they may be prevented from communicating any thing that hath been transacted in the prison. This is more especially to be observed, in case any of them recall their confession, after they have been removed from one cell and company to another. But if a criminal confesses, and is truly converted, he may more easily be removed from one cell to another, because the inquisitor is in no pain for fear of his retracting, but may oftentimes make use of him to draw out the truth from other prisoners.

If women are imprisoned, they must each of them have, according to their quality, one honest woman at least for a companion, who must never be absent from her, to prevent all suspicion of evil. This companion must be ancient, of a good life, pious and faithful. Sometimes when women are to be imprisoned, they do not carry them to the jail of the inquisitors, especially if they are regulars, if the jails be within the walls of the monasteries, but to the convents of the nuns. When this happens, they command the abbess or prioress to admit nobody to discourse with the prisoner without express leave of the inquisitor, but diligently to observe the order given her. But when the cause is of importance, and full of danger, and such they esteem all that relate to the faith, they think it safer that women should be imprisoned in the jails of the inquisitors. But the cardinals inquisitors general are to be consulted in this affair, who, after mature consideration, are to determine whether it be most expedient that such criminals should be kept in the jails of the bishops, or inquisitors regulars; especially if they are young and handsome, as is often the case of those who are taken up for telling people’s fortunes about their sweethearts.

It is farther the custom and received use of this holy tribunal, that such who are imprisoned for heresy are not admitted to hear mass, and other prayers which are said within the jail, till their cause is determined. Their principal pretence for this custom is, that it may possibly happen, when there is a great number of criminals, that the several accomplices, companions and partakers of the crime, may at least by nods and signs discover to one another how they may escape judgment, or conceal the truth.

But the true and genuine reason is, that the prisoner may have nothing to contemplate besides his present misfortune; that so being broken with the miseries of his confinement, he may confess whatsoever the inquisitors would have him. For this reason they deny them books, and all other things that would be any relief to them in their tedious imprisonment. If any one of the prisoners whatsoever prays the inquisitor when he visits him, that he may have some good book, or the holy Bible, he is answered, that the true book is to discover the truth, and to exonerate his conscience before that holy tribunal; and that this is the book which he must diligently study, viz. to recover the remembrance of every thing faithfully, and declare it to their lordships, who will immediately prescribe a remedy to his languishing soul. If the prisoner in the same or next visit is importunate about it, he will be commanded silence; because if he asks to please himself, they may grant or deny him according to their pleasure.

The keeping the jail anciently belonged to the executor’s office; and as often as he was absent, he was obliged to provide another keeper at his own charge. But now the jail-keeper is created by the inquisitor-general, and is different from the executor.

Those who keep the jails for the crime of heresy, must swear before the bishop and inquisitor that they will faithfully keep their prisoners, and observe all other things prescribed them.

Formerly there were two keepers to every jail, but now there is only one jail-keeper appointed in every province, chosen by the inquisitor general, who is not allowed to give the prisoners their food. But the inquisitors choose some proper person to this office, who is commonly called the dispenser. The provisions they give the criminals are generally prepared and dressed in the house of the inquisition; because if they were to be prepared in the houses of the criminals themselves, or any where else, something might easily be hid under them, that might furnish them with the means to conceal the truth, or to elude or escape judgment. This however is to be left to the prudence and pleasure of the inquisitors, whether and when the criminals may without danger prepare their provision in their own houses. But upon account of the hazard attending it, the inquisitors but seldom, and not without exquisite care, gratify them in this particular. If any things are sent them by their friends or relations, or domestics, the jail-keeper and dispenser never suffer them to have them, without first consulting the inquisitors.

As these keepers have it in their power greatly to injure or serve their prisoners, they must promise by an oath, before the bishop and inquisitors, that they will exercise a faithful care and concern in keeping them; and that neither of them will speak to any of them but in presence of the other, and that they will not defraud them of their provision, nor of those things which are brought to them. Their servants also are obliged to take this oath.

But notwithstanding this law, a great part of the provision appointed for the prisoners is withheld from them by their covetous keepers; and if they are accused for this to the inquisitors, they are much more gently punished, than if they had used any mercy towards them. Reginald Gonsalve relates,[255] that in his time Gaspar Bennavidius was keeper of a jail. “He was a man of monstrous covetousness and cruelty, who defrauded his miserable prisoners of a great part of their provisions, which were ill dressed, and scarce the tenth part of what was allowed them, and sold it secretly, for no great price, at the Triana. Besides, he wholly kept from them the little money allowed them to pay for the washing of their linen; thus suffering them to abide many days together in a nasty condition, deceiving the inquisitor and treasurer, who put that money to the keepers account, as though it had been expended every week for the use of the prisoners, for whom it was appointed. Neither was it very difficult to deceive them, because they took but little pains to inquire out the truth. If any one of the prisoners complained, muttered, or opened his mouth upon account of this intolerable usage, the cruel wretch, who had divested himself of all humanity, had a remedy at hand. He brought the prisoner immediately out of his apartment, and put him down into a place they call Mazmorra, a deep cistern that had no water in it. There he left him for several days together, without any thing to lie on, not so much as straw. His provision there was so very rotten, that it was more proper to destroy his health by sickness, than to preserve it, or support him in life. All this he did without ever consulting the inquisitors, and yet fraudulently and villanously pretended their command to his prisoner. If any one besought him to complain to the inquisitors for so injurious a treatment, for they could not do it by any other person, and to desire an audience, the cunning wretch, knowing that the whole blame must lie upon himself, pretended that he had asked, but could not obtain it. By such forged answers he kept the miserable prisoner in that deep pit twelve or fifteen days, more or less, till he had fully gratified his anger and cruelty. After this he brought him out, and threw him into his former jail; persuading him that this favour was owing to his humanity and care, having made intercession for him with their lordships. In short, his thefts and injuries with which he plagued his prisoners, who were otherwise miserable enough, were so numerous, that some persons of interest with the inquisitors at length accused him before them. Upon this he was imprisoned himself; and being found guilty of many false accusations, he received this sentence: that he should come out at a public act of the faith, carrying a wax candle in his hand, be banished five years from the city, and forfeit the whole sum of money, which by virtue of his office he was to have received from the holy tribunal.”

Footnote 255:

P. 111, &c.

“This very man,[256] whilst he was keeper, had in his family an ancient servant maid, who observing the distress of the prisoners, labouring under intolerable hunger and nastiness, through the wickedness and barbarity of her master, was so moved with pity towards them, being herself well inclined to the evangelical piety, that she often spoke to them through the doors of their cells, comforted them, and as well as she could exhorted them to patience, many times putting them in meat under their doors, in proportion to the mean and low abilities of her condition. And when she had nothing of her own, by which to shew her liberality to the prisoners of Christ, she stole good part of that provision from the wicked thief her master, which he had stolen from the prisoners, and restored it to them. And that we may the more wonder at the providence of God, who so orders it that the worst of parents shall not have always the worst of children, but sometimes even the best, a little daughter of the keeper himself was greatly assisting to the maid in these pious thefts. By means of this servant the prisoners had information of the state of the affairs of their brethren and fellow prisoners, which much comforted them, and was oftentimes of great service to their cause. But at length the matter was discovered by the lords inquisitors, by whom she was thrown into prison for a year, and underwent the same fate with the other prisoners, and condemned to walk in the public procession with a yellow garment, and to receive two hundred stripes; which was executed upon her the following day, through the streets of the city, with the usual pomp and cruelty. To all this was added banishment from the city and its territories, for ten years. Her title was, “The favouress and aidress of heretics.” What excited the implacable indignation of the lords, the fathers of the faith, against her, was, that they discovered in her examination, that she had revealed the secrets of the most holy tribunal to some of the inhabitants of the city, particularly relating to the provision allotted to the prisoners. From both these examples, and from their different and unequal punishment, any one may see how much safer it is to add to the affliction of the prisoners in their jail, than to comfort them by any act of humanity and mercy whatsoever.”

Footnote 256:

P. 114.

And in order that the jail of heretics may be kept secret, no one of the officials, no not the judge himself, can enter it alone, or speak with the prisoners but before another of the officials, nor without the previous order of the inquisitors. All are obliged to swear that they will observe this, that no one may see or speak to the prisoners besides the person who gives them their necessaries; who must be a faithful, honest person, and is obliged to swear that he will not discover the secrets, and must be searched to prevent his carrying any orders or letters to the prisoners.

This command they will have observed as most sacred, because, as they say, secrecy is the strength of the inquisition, which might easily be violated, unless this order be punctually kept; and therefore they always most severely punish those who transgress it. Gonsalvius Montanus[257] gives us a very remarkable instance of this. “One Peter ab Herera, a man not altogether vile, but of some humanity, and not very old, was appointed keeper of the tower of Triana, which is the prison of the inquisition. It happened, as it often doth in such numerous and promiscuous imprisonments, that amongst other prisoners committed to his custody, there was a certain good matron, with her two daughters, who were put in different cells, and earnestly desired the liberty of seeing one another, and comforting each other in so great a calamity. They therefore earnestly entreated the keeper, that he would suffer them to be together for one quarter of an hour, that they might have the satisfaction of embracing each other. He being moved with humanity and compassion, allowed them to be together, and talk with one another for half an hour; and after they had indulged their mutual affections, he put them, as they were before, in their separate prisons. A few days after this they were put with great cruelty to the torture; and the keeper being afraid, that through the severity of their torments, they should discover to the lords, the fathers inquisitors, his small humanity in suffering them to converse together for half an hour without the inquisitors leave; through terror, went himself to the holy tribunal, of his own accord confessed his sin, and prayed for pardon; foolishly believing, that by such his confession he should prevent the punishment that threatened him for this action. But the lords inquisitors judged this to be so heinous a crime, that they ordered him immediately to be thrown into jail; and such was the cruelty of his treatment, and the disorder of mind that followed on it, that he soon grew distracted. However, his disorder and madness did not save him from a more grievous punishment. For after he had lain a full year in that cursed prison, they brought him out in the public procession, cloathed with the yellow garment, and an halter round his neck, as though he had been a common thief; and condemned him first to receive two hundred lashes through the streets of the city, and then to the gallies for six years. The day after the procession, as he was carried from the Triana to be whipped with the usual solemnity, his madness, which usually seized him every other hour, came on him; and throwing himself from the ass, on which, for the greater shame, he was carried, he flew upon the inquisitory Alguazile,[258] and snatching from him a sword, had certainly killed him, had he not been prevented by the mob who attended him, and set him again upon the ass, and guarded him till he had received the two hundred lashes according to his sentence. After this the lords inquisitors ordered, that as he had behaved himself indecently towards the Alguazile, four years more should be added to the six for which he was at first condemned to the gallies.”

Footnote 257:

P. 108.

Footnote 258:

An officer that executes the orders of the inquisition.

These keepers are answerable for the smallest fault, for they are to use the same care in the custody of their prisoners, as fathers ought to do in governing their families; so that if they suffer any one to escape from jail, they are to be punished according to the nature of their offence. It is therefore their business frequently to visit and search the cells of their prisoners, to prevent any thing from being clandestinely carried in, by which they may destroy themselves, dig through the walls, and so escape. Their care of the women is to be peculiarly strict; since the sex is naturally frail, and more subject than men to yield to passion and despair, and so are more likely to seek an occasion of destroying themselves. They must, above all other things, take care that they do not behave themselves indecently towards their women prisoners. Thus the congregation of cardinals inquisitors general condemned a jail-keeper to the gallies for seven years, and to perpetual banishment from the place where he committed his offence, for having carnal knowledge of a woman that was prisoner in the holy office.

If the inquisitor thinks it necessary to prevent the escape of any prisoners, he may lay them in irons. If the poverty of the inquisitors is so great, or their jails so defective, as that they are not fit to hold in safe custody, either for the thinness of the walls, or for want of iron bars to the windows, or sufficient bolts for the doors, if the magistrate be required by the inquisitor, he must take care of the safe custody of the prisoners.

What the several duties of the messenger, door-keeper, and physician are, is plain enough from their very names. They must be honest men, and not suspected, and born of old christians.

The salaries of the inquisitors and officers are differently paid in different countries.

In Spain there are fixed salaries for the inquisitors, and other ministers of the holy office, which are paid them at stated times out of the forfeited effects.

“Every inquisitor hath annually allowed him 60,000, which is now increased to an hundred thousand pieces, every one of which is worth two of those brass pieces of money, which they commonly call Albi. The judges of the forfeited effects have each of them 30,000. The promoter fiscal as many. The scribe or notary the same. The executor 60,000. The receiver as many. The messenger 20,000. The door-keeper 10,000. The physician 5,000. These salaries may be increased at the pleasure of the inquisitor general, and are to be paid by the receiver at the fixed times; which if he neglects to do, he may be deprived of his office by the inquisitors.

“The assessors and counsellors have no stipend, but must give their advice gratis, when the inquisitors desire it, as some lawyers affirm; and though they may receive a salary freely offered them, yet they cannot demand it, because all Christians are bound to support and defend the affair of the Catholic faith. However, these assessors, who are the eyes of the judges in every cause, even though it be spiritual, justly receive a salary for their service and labour: for many things are justly received, which it would be injustice to demand.

“Those advocates who defend the causes of the poor, have a stipend out of the treasury, which is usually very small, though honourable. But if the criminals are not poor, the advocates are paid out of their effects.”

It is also provided in Spain, by many constitutions, that inquisitors, who receive gifts, incur the sentence of excommunication, and are deprived of their office, and fined double the value of what they take. However, as the author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa informs us, the inquisitors know how to amass vast riches, by two methods. When the effects of the prisoners, after confiscation, are sold by the cryer, the inquisitors, notwithstanding the interdict to the contrary, usually send one of their domestics, who bids a low price for such things as his master wants, being pretty secure that nobody else will out-bid them; and by this means they buy very valuable things for half price, or less. Besides this, the inquisitors have a right to demand the payment of the expences, and other necessary charges they have been at, when, and in what sums they please, whenever the money arising from the confiscations is carried into the royal treasury; without ever giving any reason, or any one’s daring to ask them for what purposes they employ it.

Gonsalvius Montanus also tells us, in his Arts of the Spanish Inquisition, cap. 10. that the inquisitors are sometimes prevailed with to use their prisoners a little more kindly, by some pretty presents made by their friends and relations. But this matter must be dextrously managed, that so the inquisitor may not refuse the offer. The first thing, therefore, is, to bribe one of his servants; in which there is no difficulty, provided it be done privately. When the inquisitors themselves are tampered with, they generally answer, that holy tribunal is incorrupt, and suffers no manner of gifts whatsoever to be received. But they have generally, amongst their attendance, some child of their brother or sister; or, at least, a servant that they greatly esteem, and who is to be highly respected, and who only sees the inquisitor refuse the presents offered to him. This servant comes to the prisoner’s friend, and privately points out to him the relation of the lord inquisitor. This is giving him to understand, unless the person be a stock, that though before he in vain attempted to corrupt the integrity of this holy tribunal, he may by this conveyance prevail upon the inquisitor, though he would refuse to accept the same present when more openly offered him.

SECT. III. _Of the crimes cognizable by the Inquisition, and the punishment annexed to them._

The first and principal crime is heresy. Three things are required to make any one properly an heretic. 1. That he hath been baptized. 2. That he err in his understanding in matters relating to the faith, i. e. differ in those points which are determined by a general council, or the pope, as necessary to be believed, or enjoined as an apostolic tradition. 3. Obstinacy of will; as when any one persists in his error, after being informed by a judge of the faith that the opinion he holds is contrary to the determination of the church, and will not renounce it at the command of such a judge, by abjuring it, and giving suitable satisfaction. This crime is so widely extended by the doctors of the Romish church, that they esteem every thing as heresy, that is contrary to any received opinion in the church, though it be merely philosophical, and hath no manner of foundation in the scripture.

The punishments ordained against heretics are many, and most grievous. The first is excommunication; by which heretics are driven from the church, and expelled the company of all Christians. The ceremony of it is thus: when the bishop pronounces the anathema, twelve priests stand round him, and hold lighted torches in their hands, which they throw down on the ground, and tread under foot at the conclusion of the excommunication; after which a letter is sent to the proper parishes, containing the names of the excommunicated persons, and the reason of their sentence. Persons thus excommunicated, are deprived of all ecclesiastical benefices and dignities, and are not to receive Christian burial.

Being excommunicated, all their effects are forfeited, all donations by them are null and void, and even portions paid to children must be revoked, and all legacies to wives forfeited. The treasury of the inquisition devours all. The consequence of this is, that the children of heretics are absolutely disinherited; excepting only when a child accuses his heretical parents. Heretics are also deprived of their natural power over their children, and of that civil power they have over their servants; so that slaves and servants are, ipso facto, freed from servitude the moment their masters fall into heresy. Subjects are also freed from obedience to heretical princes and magistrates, and absolved from their oaths of allegiance. In a word, heretics lose all right and property in every thing that they have. Hence proceeds the maxim, “that faith is not to be kept with heretics,” because it ought never to be given them; and because the keeping it is against the public good, the salvation of souls, and contrary, as they say, to the laws of God and man. Farther, all places of refuge, which are open to malefactors, and the worst of villains, are denied to heretics. Another punishment is imprisonment; or if they cannot be apprehended, they are put under the ban; so that any one, by his own private authority, may seize, plunder, and kill him as an enemy, or robber. The last penalty is death, the most terrible one that can be inflicted, viz. the being burnt to death. Such as are obstinate and impenitent, are to be burnt alive; others are to be first strangled, and then burnt.

Heretics are distinguished into open and secret. Open heretics are such, who publicly avow somewhat contrary to the Catholic faith, or which is condemned as such by the sentence of the inquisitors. Secret heretics are such who err in their mind, but have not shewn it outwardly by word or deed; and these are excommunicated ipso jure; or who by word or writing have discovered the heresy of their heart with secrecy and craft; and such are liable to all the punishments of heretics.

Again, heretics are either affirmative or negative. Affirmative heretics are such who err in their minds as to matters of faith; and who by word or deed shew that they are obstinate in their wills, and openly confess it before the inquisitor. Negative heretics are such, who being according to the laws of the inquisition convicted of some heresy before an inquisitor, yet will not confess it; constantly declaring that they profess the Catholic faith, and detest heretical pravity; or who owning heretical words or actions, deny the heretical intention; or who refuse to discover all their accomplices. Such are generally put to the torture.

Again, heretics are either impenitent or penitent. An impenitent is one who, being convicted of heresy, or having confessed it before an inquisitor, will not obey his judge, when he commands him to forsake his heresy and abjure it, but obstinately perseveres in his error; or who having confessed through fear of punishment, yet afterwards asserts his innocence, or doth not observe the penance enjoined him. Penitents are those who, being admonished by the inquisitor, abjure their error, and give suitable satisfaction, as the bishop or inquisitor enjoins them; either of their own accord, or upon any particular inquisition made after them. Such who return of their own accord, are treated with greater mildness; but the other enjoined a very severe penance. But they will by no means receive such who do not return till after frequent admonition, or till fear of death; or who endeavour any ways to persuade others to heresy, especially kings and queens, or the sons and daughters of princes.

Next to heretics are the believers of heretics, and such who receive, defend, and favour them; who by word or deed declare their belief of an heretic’s error, who knowingly take them into their houses and other places, and thus conceal them from the hands of the church, or give them notice to make their escape, or vindicate them on their trial, or hinder the procedure of the office of the inquisition; or who, being magistrates, refuse to extirpate them, or to apprehend and keep them in custody, or to punish them when given over to them by the inquisitors; or who being prelates or inquisitors, neglect to have safe prisons, and faithful jailkeepers, or to apprehend, torture, or punish heretics. These, ipso facto, incur excommunication; and if they remain under it a year, are to be punished as heretics. And finally, such who visit them privately, whilst in custody, and whisper with them, and give them food; or who lament their apprehension or death, or who complain they are unjustly condemned, or who look with a bitter countenance on their prosecutors, or who gather up the bones of heretics after they are burnt; these are all favourers of heresy, and are ipso jure excommunicated.

Such also who hinder the office of the inquisition are subject to this tribunal. This may be done by rescuing persons taken up for heresy from prison, or by wounding any of the witnesses against them; or by using threatenings, and terrifying words; or by hindering process, judgment, or sentence; or if a temporal lord ordains that no one shall take cognizance of heresy but himself, and that no one shall be accused but before his tribunal, nor any bear arms but those of his own household. The punishment of this is excommunication; which, if they continue under a year, they must either abjure, or be delivered over as heretics to the secular arm. Sometimes their whole dominions are put under interdict, and given to him who can first conquer them.

Yea, they extend this affair sometimes so far, that all manner of offences committed against any one that belongs to the inquisitors, though they have no relation to the faith, are punished in the same manner as though the office of the inquisition had been hindered by them, or the inquisitor himself had received some grievous injury. Reginald Gonsalvius[259] gives us a remarkable instance of this, which happened in the former age at Seville. The bishop of Terragone, chief inquisitor at Seville, went one summer for his diversion to some pleasant gardens situate by the sea side, with all his inquisitory family, and walked out, according to his custom, with his episcopal attendance. A child of the gardener, two or three years old at most, accidentally sat playing upon the side of a pond in the garden, where my lord bishop was taking his pleasure. One of the boys that attended his lordship, snatched out of the hand of the gardener’s child a reed, with which he was playing, and made him cry. The gardener hearing his child, comes to the place; and when he found out the occasion of his crying, was angry, and bad the inquisitor’s servant restore the reed to him. And upon his refusal, and insolently contemning the countryman, he snatched it away; and as the boy held it fast, the gardener slightly hurt his hand by the sharp husk of the reed, in pulling it from him. The wound was far from being mortal, or from endangering the loss of any part, and so could not deserve a severe punishment. It was no more than a scratch of the skin, a mere childish wound, as one may imagine by the cause of it. However, the inquisitor’s boy came to his master, who was walking near the place, to complain about his wound; upon which the inquisitor orders the gardener to be taken up, and thrown into the inquisitory jail, and kept him there for nine months in very heavy irons; by which he received such damage in his circumstances, which were at best but mean, as the poor man could not easily recover; his children and wife, in the mean while, being ready to perish for hunger; and all because he did not pay deference enough to the inquisitor’s boy, as a member of the holy tribunal. At nine months end they dismissed him from jail, and would have persuaded him that they dealt much more mercifully with him than his crime deserved.

Footnote 259:

P. 191.

Again, there are other persons who are only suspected of heresy. This suspicion is threefold; light, vehement, or violent. A light suspicion arises from a person’s frequenting conventicles, and in his behaviour differing from the common conversation of the faithful. A vehement suspicion of heresy, is a person’s not appearing when called to answer upon any article of the faith; hindering the inquisition, giving council or assistance to heretics; or advising them to conceal the truth, or who knowingly accompany, visit, or receive them; or who are convicted of perjury or lying, in a cause of the faith; or who give ecclesiastical burial to heretics, or their favourers, or bury them in church yards with psalms and prayers; or who preserve the ashes, bones, garments, and the like, of buried heretics; or who think ill of some doctrine or order of the church, such as the power of the pope, the religion of the monks, the rites of the sacrament, and the like; or who persist in their excommunication for two years; such persons give such suspicions as are sufficient to put them to the torture. A violent suspicion arises from such external words and actions by which it may be effectually, and almost always concluded, that he who says or doth them is an heretic; such as the receiving the communion from heretics, and the like. Of these different kinds of suspicions the punishment is different. A person lightly suspected is enjoined canonical purgation, or may be made to abjure. One vehemently suspected may be commanded a general abjuration of all heresies; after which, if he relapses into his former heresy, or associates with, and favours heretics, he is delivered over to the secular power as a relapse. One violently suspected, is to be condemned as an heretic. If he confesses and abjures, he may be admitted to penance; but if he doth not confess, and will not abjure, he is to be delivered over to the secular court, and burnt.

And as some persons are suspected, others are defamed for heresy; such who are spoken against by common report, or such against whom there is legal proof before a bishop that they are spoken against upon account of heresy. And to this two witnesses suffice, though they have had their information from different persons, and though they do not agree as to time and place, and the causes of their knowledge; and though the person accused as defamed, can prove himself to be of good reputation. The punishment of one thus defamed is canonical purgation, and some other ordinary penalty.

Again, other persons are relapsed; such who after having been convicted, either by the evidence of the fact, or their own confession, or legal witnesses, have publicly abjured their heresy, and are convicted of falling into the same again, or into any different heresy, or into a violent suspicion of heresy, and who accompany, visit, and favour heretics; or who are found to be perjured after abjuration, or who after abjuration and purgation do not perform the penance enjoined them. But there is this difference between the last, and the former relapsed persons; that the former are left without mercy to the secular arm; whereas it is in the inquisitor’s pleasure to deliver the latter to secular judgment, or not.

Those also who read and keep prohibited books are subject to the tribunal of the inquisition. Pope Pius V. by a bull excommunicated, amongst others, all who should knowingly read, keep in their houses, print, or in any wise defend, for any cause, publicly or privately, under any pretence or colour, prohibited books, without the authority of the apostolic see. If any one brings heretical books into any Catholic countries, he is not only excommunicated, but his goods confiscated, and himself whipped, if he be of mean condition; but if he is of the better sort, he is banished at the pleasure of the inquisitor. If there arises any vehement suspicion of heresy, from any one’s reading, keeping, defending, or printing the books of heretics, he may be put to the torture to discover the truth. If any of the clergy read or keep prohibited books, they are vehemently suspected; and may be deprived of the active and passive voice, suspended from divine services, deprived of the offices of reading, preaching, &c. and be enjoined fastings, pilgrimages, and the like.

The inquisitors also take cognizance of those who marry several wives at once, because they are presumed to think wrong of the sacrament of matrimony. If upon examination any one affirms it lawful for a christian man to have several wives at once, he is taken for a formal heretic, and is to be punished as such. If he denies any heretical intention, he must be put to the torture; that the inquisitors may know what his mind is, and whether he married two wives out of any erroneous opinion concerning the sacrament of matrimony, or through lust, or carnal concupiscence. All such persons are suspected of heresy, and must abjure as such, and may be condemned to the gallies.

If any one celebrates mass, or hears confession, and gives absolution, not being in priest’s orders, he is vehemently suspected of heresy; and must abjure as such, and then be delivered over to the secular arm, to be punished with death. Raynald gives us an instance of one who said he was a bishop, though he had not the pope’s bull, and as such consecrated priests. The story is this: “James the priest, a false Minorite, born in the dutchy of Juliers, forged the pope’s bull, and declared in the Netherlands that he was a bishop; and although he had not been ordained a bishop, he consecrated priests by a false ceremony in several dioceses of Germany and the Low Countries. At length he was convicted of his wickedness, and the magistrates of Utrecht thought fit, not to condemn him to the flames, that he might be quickly consumed, but to be gradually burnt by boiling water, that so they might conquer his obstinacy, because he most impudently refused to acknowledge his crime. But being gradually let down into the boiling cauldron, and overcome with the extremity of the pain, he detested his wickedness, and prayed that he might receive a milder punishment. His judges being moved with compassion, ordered him to be taken out of the boiling cauldron, and then to be beheaded.”

Those also who solicit women or boys to dishonourable actions in the sacramental confession, are subject to this tribunal. Pius IV. published a bull against them; and when this bull was first brought into Spain, all persons were commanded by a public edict, solemnly published throughout all the churches of the archbishopric of Seville, that whosoever knew or had heard of any monks or clergymen who had abused the sacrament of confession to these crimes, or had in any manner acted in this vile manner at confession with their wives or daughters, they should discover them within thirty days to the holy tribunal; and very grievous censures were annexed to such as should neglect or contemn it. When the decree was published, so large a number of women went to the palace of the inquisitors in the city of Seville only, to make their discoveries of these most wicked confessors, that twenty secretaries, with as many inquisitors, were not sufficient to take the depositions of the witnesses. The lords inquisitors being thus overwhelmed with the multitude of affairs, assigned another thirty days for the witnesses; and when this was not sufficient, they were forced to appoint the same number a third and a fourth time. For as to women of reputation, and others of higher condition, every time was not proper for them to apply to the inquisitors. On one hand, their conscience forced them to a discovery through a superstitious fear of the censures and excommunication; and on the other hand, their regard to their husbands, whom they were afraid to offend, by giving them any ill suspicion of their chastity, kept them at home; and therefore veiling their faces, after the Spanish custom, they went to the lords inquisitors, when, and as privately as they could. Very few, however, with all their prudence and craft, could escape the diligent observation of their husbands at the time of discovery, and hereby possessed their minds with the deepest jealousy. However, after so many had been informed against before the inquisitors, that holy tribunal, contrary to all men’s expectations, put a stop to the affair, and commanded all those crimes which were proved by legal evidence, to be buried in eternal oblivion.

It is required that this solicitation be made in the act of sacramental confession; and such confessors are vehemently suspected, and must abjure as such, and be enjoined fastings and prayers, and may be condemned to the gallies, or perpetual imprisonment; must be suspended from hearing confessions, and deprived of their benefices, dignities and the like.

Yea, sometimes, according to the heinousness of the offence, a more grievous punishment is inflicted. “The Venetians ordered one of them to be burnt alive, by command of the pope. He had been father confessor to some nuns in the dominions of Venice, and had got twelve of them with child; amongst whom the abbess and two others had children in one year. As he was confessing them, he agreed with them about the place, manner, and time of lying with them. All were filled with admiration and astonishment, taking the man for a perfect saint, he had so great a shew of sanctity in his very face.” Epist. ad Belgas, Cent. 1. Ep. 66. p. 345. & Ep. 63. p. 316.

In Portugal also the crime of sodomy belongs to the tribunal of the inquisition. By the laws of that kingdom sodomites are punished with death, and confiscation of all their effects; and their children and grandchildren become infamous. After the natural death of a sodomite, if the crime hath not been proved, they cannot proceed against him, neither as to the crime, nor confiscation of effects, although the crime can be proved by legal witnesses; because crimes, which are not particularly excepted, of which sodomy is one, are extinguished by the death of the delinquent. Nor do they proceed against a dead sodomite, nor confiscate his effects, although he hath been convicted, or confessed when he was alive. If such a one takes sanctuary in a church, he cannot be taken out of it.

If we compare these things with the punishments of heretics, it will appear that the crime of sodomy in the kingdom of Portugal is esteemed a much smaller one than that of heresy, because sodomites enjoy privileges which are denied to heretics. And yet it may happen, that a truly pious man, who fears God, and is most careful of his eternal salvation, may be accounted an heretic by the Portuguese inquisitors; whereas, a sodomite cannot but be the vilest of men. But it is not at all strange, that by the laws of that tribunal Barabbas should be released, and Christ crucified.

Blasphemers also, who deny God, or their belief in him, or the virginity of our Lady, are subject to the inquisitors, and punished in the following manner. If the blasphemy be very heinous, and the blasphemer a mean person, he is made to wear an infamous mitre, hath his tongue tied, and pinched with an iron or wooden gag, is carried forth as a public spectacle without his cloak, whipped with scourges, and banished. But if he be a person of better condition, or noble, he is brought forth without the mitre, thrust for a time into a monastery, and punished with a fine. In smaller blasphemies they are dealt with more gently, at the pleasure of the inquisitors, viz. the blasphemer is condemned to stand, during divine service, upon some holiday or other, with his head naked, without his cloak and shoes, his feet naked, a cord tied round him, and holding a burning wax-taper in his hands. Sometimes also they squeeze his tongue with a piece of wood. After divine service is over his sentence is read, by which he is enjoined fastings, and a fine.

This punishment, however, doth not take place as to a clergyman. For if a clergyman was to appear without his shoes, and with an halter about his neck, and thus stand at the gates of the church before the people, the clerical order, and the ministry of the clergy would suffer disgrace; and it would become a wonder, and evil example to the laity, if the blaspheming clergy were thus exposed.

In these cases the inquisitors mostly act according to their own pleasure, who have an ample power of judging according to the nature and heinousness of the crimes. A certain person who had a quarrel with a clergyman of Ecya, a city in Spain, accidentally said, in the hearing of others, that he could not believe that God would come down into the hands of so profligate an adulterer. The vicar of the ordinary fined him for the speech. But the clergyman, not contented with this revenge, afterwards accused him of blasphemy at the tribunal of the inquisitors at Seville. Nor did the fine to which he was before condemned by the ordinary, prevent his being taken up by command of the inquisitors, imprisoned for a whole year, brought out in triumph without cloak or hat, carrying a wax candle in his hand, his tongue gagged with a wooden gag, thus to punish his blasphemy; and being forced to abjure, as lightly suspected, he was fined a second time.

Fortune-tellers, who look into the palms of the hands, such who exercise divination by lots, and use candles and holy water to discover stolen goods, if they deny any heretical intention, may be tortured to discover it; and if found guilty, are excommunicated, whipped, banished, and subject to other punishments. If any pretend to foretel the mysteries of faith by the stars, or the life or death of the pope, or his kindred, they may be punished with death, and confiscation of goods. With these fortune-tellers are joined witches; who are reported to deny the faith, and make a compact with the devil. These poor wretches are miserably tortured to force them to confess, and then burnt. The inquisitors, within the space of 150 years, burnt 30,000 of them.

Finally, the Jews are also severely handled by this tribunal. The inquisition, indeed, is not designed to compel the Jews to turn Christians, but is introduced against those who, being converted from Judaism to Christianity, return again to the principles they have forsaken; or who deny matters of faith common to them and Christians; or if they invoke devils, or sacrifice to them; or if they speak heretical blasphemies, or pervert a Christian from the faith, or hinder infidels from being converted; or knowingly receive an heretic, or keep heretical books, or deride the host or the cross; or keep Christian nurses, and the like. But the inquisition is levelled principally against those, who having professed Christianity, and been baptized, turn again to Judaism. When suspected they are liable to the torture, may be compelled to abjure, fined, imprisoned, whipped, or burnt, according to the nature of their errors, or heretical actions.

SECT. IV. _Of the manner of proceeding before the tribunal of the Inquisition._

It now remains that I give some account of what relates to the execution of the inquisitorial office.

When the inquisitor is first constituted by the pope, he must present himself to the king, or other temporal lord of those territories in which he is to act, and deliver his apostolic commission, and demand full protection for himself and officers, in all matters belonging to their office. He must also shew his commission to the archbishops and bishops of the dioceses in which he is sent. Finally, he takes an oath from the civil officers, that they will defend the faith, and obey the inquisitor with all their might; and this oath they may compel them to take, under pain of excommunication, and all the punishments which attend it.

After this, the inquisitor appoints a sermon to be preached on a certain day, all other sermons being suspended; at which, four of each religion must be present, and in which he commends the Catholic faith, and exhorts the people to extirpate heretical pravity. When the sermon is ended, he admonishes them to discover to himself all persons who are erroneous, and have said or done any thing against the faith; and then orders monitory letters to be read from the pulpit, by which all persons, of whatsoever condition, clergy or laity, are commanded, under pain of excommunication, to discover to the inquisitors within six or twelve days following any heretic, or person suspected of heresy, which they know. These monitory letters are called, “An edict of the faith.” When these letters are read, he promises, in the pope’s name, indulgencies for three years to all who assist him in reducing heretics, or who discover to him any such; or person defamed, and suspected of heresy; or who, in any other case, bear true witness before him in an act of faith. And finally, he assigns a time of grace to all heretics, &c. viz. the month following; promising them, that if within that space they come freely to him, before they are accused or apprehended, and voluntarily discover their guilt, and ask pardon, they shall obtain pardon and mercy; viz. freedom from death, imprisonment, banishment, and confiscation of effects.

From this obligation to accuse heretics, no persons, of whatsoever dignity or degree, are exempted; brother must accuse brother, the wife her husband, the husband his wife, the son his father, when heretical, or suspected of heresy; the edict obliges all; and neither kings nor princes, nor nearest relations are exempted.

Joan, the daughter of the emperor Charles V. was cited by the inquisitors to be interrogated before them, against a certain person, concerning some things relating to the faith. She consulted her father, who advised her to make her deposition without any delay (lest she should incur excommunication) not only against others, but even against himself, if she knew him to be blameable in the least matter. Joan obeyed this command of her father, and immediately deposed before Ferdinand Valdez, archbishop of Seville, at that time bishop and inquisitor general.

Lewis de Carvajal, although governor and captain general of the province of Tampico and Pamico, was forced to walk out in public penance, because he did not denounce four women, who were secretly Jews, and to whom he was uncle; and though a little before he had the honourable title of president, he was forced to hear his ignominious sentence publicly, was for ever deprived of all offices under the king, reduced to the lowest misery, and through grief and weariness of his life, soon went the way of all flesh.

If any person comes in within the appointed time to accuse himself, he is asked, how long he hath continued in his errors, and from whom he learnt them? whether he hath had, and read any heretical or suspected books? what they were, from whom he had them, and what he hath done with them? Other questions are added concerning his accomplices in heresies, that he may tell the names of all those heretics, or persons suspected of heresy, whom he knows. He is farther asked, whether he hath ever been inquisited, processed, or accused or denounced in any tribunal, or before any judge, on account of the aforesaid errors, or other things relating to heresy? He is also admonished simply to tell the whole truth which he knows, as well of himself as of others; because, if he is afterwards found deceitfully to have concealed any thing, he is judged as one whose confession is imperfect, and as impenitent, and feignedly converted. Finally, he is interrogated, whether he repents of these errors and heresies into which he hath fallen? and whether he is ready to abjure, curse, and detest them, and all other heresies whatsoever, that exalt themselves against the holy apostolic and Roman church, and to live for the future catholicly, according to the faith of the church of Rome, and devoutly to fulfil the salutary penance enjoined him?

However, such as come thus voluntarily, are far from escaping all punishment, but are either treated kindly at the pleasure of the inquisitor, according to the quality of their persons and crimes, or else condemned to pay a fine, or give alms, or some such works of charity. But if they wait till they are accused, denounced, cited or apprehended, or suffer the time of grace to slip over, they are pronounced unworthy of such favours.

And in this case many foolishly deceive themselves with a false opinion, believing, that because favour is promised to such who appear voluntarily, they shall be free from all punishment; because they are only saved from the more terrible ones, it being left to the pleasure of the inquisitors to inflict some penitential punishment on them, according to the nature of their crime, as will appear from the following instance. “There was at the city of Cadiz a certain foreigner, who yet had lived in Spain for twenty years; who, according to a common superstition, dwelt in a desart in a certain chapel, upon the account of religion. Hearing in his chapel of the great number of those who were taken up every day at Seville by the inquisitors, for what they call the Lutheran heresies; having heard also of the decree of the inquisitors, by which he was commanded, under the terrors of excommunication, immediately to discover to the inquisition whatsoever he knew of those things, either as to others or himself; the poor stupid hermit comes to Seville, goes to the inquisitors and accuses himself, because he thought the said inquisitors would use singular clemency towards those who thus betrayed themselves. His crime was, that whereas being about twenty years before this at Genoa, and hearing a certain brother of his disputing about a man’s justification by faith in Christ, of purgatory, and other things of the like nature, he did not wholly condemn them, though he never thought of them afterwards. He therefore acknowledged his crime, and came to ask mercy. When the lords inquisitors had received his confession, they commanded the poor hermit to jail; where, after a long confinement, he was brought out in public procession, and was sentenced to wear the sanbenito, to three years imprisonment, and the forfeiture of his effects.”

Sometimes also they use a certain stratagem to draw persons to a voluntary appearance before the inquisitors. “When they have apprehended any remarkable person, who hath been the teacher of others, or who they know hath been resorted to by many others, upon account of his doctrine and learning, as being a teacher and preacher of great repute; it is usual with them to cause a report to be spread amongst the people, by their familiars, that being grievously tortured, he had discovered several of those that had adhered to him, suborning some persons out of the neighbouring prisons to assert that they heard his cries amidst his tortures, in order to give the greater credit to the report. These reports are spread for this reason, that such who have attended on his instructions, or have been any ways familiar with him, may in time go to the holy tribunal, confess their fault, and implore mercy, before they are sent for, or apprehended. By this means they impose on many, who, if they had waited for their summons, had never been summoned at all. Or if it should have happened that they had been summoned, would not have been dealt with more severely than they generally are, who trust to the inquisitors promises.”

If any person is accused by another, the accuser is interrogated, “How long he hath known N. against whom he denounces? likewise, how he came to know him? Again, whether he observed that the aforesaid N. was suspected of matters relating to the faith from his words, or his actions? Likewise, how often he had seen the said N. do or say those things for which he thought him an heretic, or suspected of heresy? Likewise, at what time, and in the presence of whom the aforesaid N. did or said those things of which he is denounced? Likewise, whether the aforesaid N. hath had any accomplices in the aforesaid crimes, or any writings belonging to the offences denounced? Likewise, to what end and purpose the aforesaid things were done or said by the aforesaid N. whether seriously, or in jest? If it appears that there was a long interval of time between the commission of the crimes denounced, and the making the denunciation, the inquisitor interrogates the denouncer, why he deferred so long to come to the holy office, and did not depose before, especially if he knew that he incurred the penalty of excommunication by such omission?” He is moreover asked, “Whether he knows any thing farther of N. which concerns the holy office, or of any other person? Likewise, whether he hath at any time had any cause of hatred or enmity with the aforesaid N. and whence it proceeded? With what zeal, and with what intention he comes to the holy office, and to make denunciation? Whether he hath denounced through any passion of mind, ill will, hatred, or subornation? And he is admonished ingenuously to tell the truth.” He is especially interrogated how he came by his knowledge, because on that principally the truth and weight of the testimony depends.

When the denunciation is received; first, it must be read over to the denouncer, that he may add, take away, or alter as he pleases. Secondly, he must subscribe to his deposition; or if he cannot write, he must at least put under it the sign of the cross. Thirdly, he must take an oath of secrecy.

After this, the witnesses are called on. And in this affair all persons, even such as are not allowed in other tribunals, are admitted. Persons excommunicated, heretics, Jews, and infidels, wives, sons and daughters, and domestics, are allowed as witnesses against those accused of heresy, but never for them: those who are perjured and infamous, whores, bawds, those under the ban, usurers, bastards, common blasphemers, gamesters, persons actually drunk, stage-players, prize-fighters, apostates, traitors, even all without exception, besides mortal enemies.

When the witnesses are summoned, first they take an oath upon the scriptures to speak the truth. After this he is asked by the inquisitor, whether he knows, or can guess the cause of his citation and present examination? If he says yes, he is interrogated how he knew it? If he says no, he is interrogated, whether he hath known, or doth know now any one or more heretics, or persons suspected of heresy, or at least is able to name any such? Whether he knows N.? What was the occasion of his acquaintance with him? How long he hath known him? Whether he hath been used to converse with him? Whether he hath heard at any time any thing from the said N. concerning the Catholic religion? Whether ever he was in such a place with the said N. and whether the said N. did or said there such and such heretical things, or favouring of heresy? Who were present when N. did or said the aforesaid things? How often he saw them said or done, and on what occasion, and how? Whether the said N. spoke the aforesaid things in jest, or without thinking, or through a slip of his tongue, or as relating the heresies of some other person or persons? Whether he said any thing which ought not to have been said, through hatred or love, or omitted and concealed somewhat that ought to have been explained? He is farther admonished to tell the single truth, because, if he is detected of speaking falsely, he will be made to suffer the penalties, not only of perjury, but of favouring heresy.

After this, one of the proctors of the court demands that the criminal be taken up, and the inquisitor subscribes an order for this purpose. When he is apprehended, he must be well guarded, put in irons, and delivered to the jailkeeper of the inquisition.

When the criminal is put in jail, he is brought before the inquisitor. The place where he appears before the inquisitor, is called by the Portuguese the table of the holy office. At the farther end of it there is placed a crucifix, raised up almost as high as the ceiling. In the middle of the room there is a table. At that end which is nearest the crucifix, sits the secretary or notary of the inquisition. The criminal is brought in by the beadle, with his head, arms and feet naked, and is followed by one of the keepers. When they come to the chamber of audience, the beadle enters first, makes a profound reverence before the inquisitor, and then withdraws. After this, the criminal enters alone, who is ordered to sit down on a bench at the other end of the table, over against the secretary. The inquisitor sits on his right hand. On the table near the criminal lies a missal, or book of the gospels; and he is ordered to lay his hand on one of them, and to swear that he will declare the truth, and keep secrecy.

After taking this oath, of declaring the truth both of himself and others, the inquisitor interrogates him of divers matters. As, whether he knows why he was taken up, or hath been informed of it by any one or more persons? Where, when, and how he was apprehended? If he says that he knows nothing of it, he is asked, whether he cannot guess at the reason? whether he knows in what prisons he is detained? and upon what account men are imprisoned there? If he says he cannot guess at the cause of his imprisonment, but knows that he is in the prisons of the holy office, where heretics and persons suspected of heresy are confined, he is told, that since he knows persons are confined there for their profanation of religion, he ought to conclude that he also is confined for the same reason; and must therefore declare what he believes to be the cause of his own apprehension and confinement in the prisons of the holy office. If he says he cannot imagine what it should be, before he is asked any other questions, he receives a gentle admonition, and is put in mind of the lenity of the holy office towards those who confess without forcing, and of the rigour of justice used towards those who are obstinate. They also compare other tribunals with the holy office, and remind him, that in others the confession of the crime draws after it immediate execution and punishment; but that in the court of the inquisition, those who confess and are penitent, are treated with greater gentleness. After this, he is admonished in writing, and told, that the ministers of the holy office never take up any one, or are used to apprehend any one without a just cause; and that therefore they earnestly beseech him, and command and enjoin him, exactly to recollect and diligently to consider his actions, to examine his conscience, and purge it from all those offences and errors it labours under, and for which he is informed against.

After this he is asked, what race he comes of? Who were his parents and ancestors? that hereby he may declare all his family. Whether any one of them was at any time taken up by the holy office, and enjoined penance? This they are especially asked, who descend from Jews, Mahometans, and sectaries. Where he was brought up? In what places he hath dwelt? Whether he ever changed his country? Why he did so, and went into another place? With whom he conversed in the aforesaid places; who were his friends, and with whom he was intimate? Whether he ever conversed with any of his acquaintance about matters of religion, or heard them speak about religion? In what place, and when, and how often, and of what things or matters they conversed?

He is moreover asked, of what profession he is, and what employment of life he follows? Whether he be rich or poor? What returns he hath, and what the expences of his living? Then he is commanded to give an account of his life, and to declare what he hath done from his childhood, even to this time. And that he may declare all this, he is asked, in what places or cities he studied, and what studies he followed? Who were his masters? whose names he must tell. What arts he learnt? What books he hath had and read? and whether he hath now any books treating of religion, and what? Whether ever he hath been examined and cited, or sued, or processed before any other tribunal, or the tribunal of the holy inquisition, and for what causes; and whether he was absolved or condemned, by what judge, and in what year? Whether ever he was excommunicated, and for what cause? Whether he was afterwards absolved or condemned, and for what reason? Whether he hath every year sacramentally confessed his sins, how often, and in what church? Then he is commanded to give the names of his confessors, and of those from whom he hath received the eucharist; and especially for the ten years last past, and more. What orations or holy prayers he recites? Whether he hath any enemies? whose names he must tell, and the reasons of their enmity.

If the criminal is persuaded by these, or by more or less such interrogatories, openly to confess the truth, his cause is finished, because it is immediately known what will be the issue of it.

But if after all these interrogatories the prisoner persists in the negative, and says he doth not know why he is cited or sent to prison, the inquisitor replies, that since it appears from his own words, that he will not discover the truth, and that there is no proof of his having such enmities with any person, or that there are no such causes of hatred as he alledges, by which others could, or ought to be induced slanderously, and falsely to inform against him, that therefore there arises the stronger suspicion, that the depositions against him in the holy office are true. And therefore he is beseeched and abjured, by the bowels of mercy of Christ Jesus, to consider better and better, and ingenuously to confess the truth, and to declare whether he hath erred in words or deeds, in the aforesaid matter relating to the faith, and the holy office, or rendered himself suspected to others.

If by such general interrogatories the inquisitor cannot draw from the prisoner a confession of the crime of which he is accused, he comes to particular interrogatories, which relate to the matter itself, or the crimes or heresies for which the criminal was denounced. For instance, if he was accused for denying purgatory, then one, two, or three days after his first examination, he is again interrogated by the inquisitor, whether he hath any thing, and what to say, besides what he said in his other examination? Whether he hath thought better of the matter, and can recollect the cause of his imprisonment, and former examination, or hath at least any suspicion who could accuse him to the holy office, and of what matters? Whether he hath heard any one discoursing of paradise, purgatory, and hell? What he heard concerning that matter? Who they were, that he heard speaking, or disputing of those things? Whether he ever discoursed of them? What he hath believed, and doth now believe about purgatory? If he answers, that his faith concerning it hath been right, and denies any ill belief, but that he believes as holy mother church believes and teaches, he is ordered to say what the holy Roman mother church doth think and believe concerning this article.

If the prisoner knows the reason of his being apprehended, and openly confesses every thing of which he hath been accused to the inquisitor, he is commended, and encouraged to hope for a speedy deliverance. If he confesses some things, but cannot guess at others, he is commended for taking up the purpose of accusing himself, and exhorted by the bowels of mercy of Jesus Christ to proceed, and ingenuously to confess every thing else of which he is accused; that so he may experience that kindness and mercy, which this tribunal uses towards those who manifest a real repentance of their crimes by a sincere and voluntary confession.

In these examinations the inquisitors use the greatest artifice, to draw from the prisoners confessions of those crimes of which they are accused; promising them favour, if they will confess the truth. And by these flattering assurances they sometimes overcome the minds of more unwary persons; and when they have obtained the designed end, immediately forget them all. Of this Gonsalvius[260] gives us a remarkable instance. “In the first fire that was blown up at Seville, anno 1558, or 1559, amongst many others who were taken up, there was a certain pious matron with her two virgin daughters, and her niece by her sister, who was married. As they endured those tortures of all kinds, with a truly manlike constancy, by which they endeavoured to make them perfidiously betray their brethren in Christ, and especially to accuse one another, the inquisitor at length commanded one of the daughters to be sent for to audience. There he discoursed with her alone for a considerable time, in order to comfort her, as indeed she needed it. When the discourse was ended, the girl was remanded to her prison. Some days after he acted the same part again, causing her to be brought before him several days towards the evening, detaining her for a considerable while; sometimes telling her how much he was grieved for her afflictions, and then intermixing familiarly enough other pleasant and agreeable things. All this, as the event shewed, had only this tendency, that after he had persuaded the poor simple girl, that he was really, and with a fatherly affection concerned for her calamity, and would consult as a father what might be for her benefit and salvation, and that of her mother and sisters, she might wholly throw herself into his protection. After some days spent in such familiar discourses, during which he pretended to mourn with her over her calamity, and to shew himself affected with her miseries, and to give her all the proof of his good will, in order, as far as he could, to remove them; when he knew he had deceived the girl, he begins to persuade her to discover what she knew of herself, her mother, sisters, and aunts who were not yet apprehended, promising upon oath, that if she would faithfully discover to him all that she knew of that affair, he would find out a method to relieve her from all her misfortunes, and to send them all back again to their houses. The girl, who had no very great penetration, being thus allured by the promises and persuasions of the father of the faith, begins to tell him some things relating to the holy doctrine she had been taught, and about which they used to confer with one another. When the inquisitor had now got hold of the thread, he dextrously endeavoured to find his way throughout the whole labyrinth; oftentimes calling the girl to audience, that what she had deposed might be taken down in a legal manner; always persuading her, this would be the only just means to put an end to all her evils. In the last audience he renews to her all his promises, by which he had before assured her of her liberty, and the like. But when the poor girl expected the performance of them, the said inquisitor, with his followers, finding the success of his craftiness, by which he had in part drawn out of the girl, what before they could not extort from her by torments, determined to put her to the torture again, to force out of her what they thought she had yet concealed. Accordingly she was made to suffer the most cruel part of it, even the rack, and the torture by water; till at last they had squeezed out of her, as with a press, both the heresies and accusations of persons they had been hunting after. For, through the extremity of her torture, she accused her mother and sisters, and several others, who were afterwards taken up and tortured, and burnt alive in the same fire with the girl.”

Footnote 260:

P. 82, &c.

But if they do not succeed neither with this way, the inquisitor permits some person or other, who is not unacceptable to the prisoner, to go to him, and converse with him; and if it be needful to feign himself still one of his own sect, but that he abjured through fear, and discovered the truth to the inquisitor. When he finds that the prisoner confides in him, he comes to him again late in the evening, keeps on a discourse with him, at length pretending it is too late to go away, and that therefore he will stay with him all night in the prison, that they may converse together, and the prisoner may be persuaded by the other’s discourse to confess to one another what they have committed. In the mean while there are persons standing at a proper place without the jail, to hear and to take notice of their words; who, when there is need, are attended by a notary.

Or else the person who thus treacherously draws out any thing, according to his desire, from his fellow-prisoners, prays the jail-keeper, when according to custom he is visiting his prisoners, to desire that he may have an audience. And when he goes out of his jail to give an account of his office, he discovers not only what he heard from any of the prisoners, but also how they received the doctrine proposed to them; whether with a chearful or angry countenance, and the like; if they refused to give them an answer, and what they themselves think of them. And the accusations of such a wretch they look on as the best and most unexceptionable evidence, although the person be otherwise one of no manner of worth, credit, or regard.

They who have been lately in the prison of the inquisition in Spain and Portugal, tell us of another method they make use of to draw a confession from the prisoners, viz. The inquisitor suborns a certain person to go and speak to the prisoner, and to tell him he comes of himself, and of his own accord, and to exhort him to tell the inquisitor the truth, because he is a merciful man, and such fine tales. This is now particularly the custom in Spain and Portugal, as to those they call the new Christians. If the prisoner affirms himself to be a Catholic, and denies that he is a Jew, and is not convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, they suborn one to persuade him to confess. If he protests himself innocent, the other replies, that he also hath been in jail, and that his protesting his innocence signified nothing. What, had you rather dwell for ever in jail, and render your life miserable, by being ever parted from your wife and children, than redeem your freedom, by confessing the crime? By this, and other like things, the prisoners are oftentimes persuaded to confess not only real, but fictitious crimes. And when their constancy is thus almost overcome, the inquisitor commands them to be brought before him, that they may make him a confession of their faults.

After these examinations, if the prisoner persists in the negative, he is admitted to his defence, and hath an advocate or proctor appointed him, but such only as the inquisitors allow him; and who, as soon as ever they know the prisoners are criminal, bind themselves by oath to throw up their defence. A copy of the accusation is usually given to the prisoner, to which he must answer article by article; and likewise a copy of the proofs, but not of the names of the witnesses, nor any circumstances by which they may discover who they are, for fear the witnesses should be in danger if known.

After the process is thus carried on, it is finished in this manner: Either by absolution, if the prisoner be found really innocent, or the accusation against him not fully proved. Not that they pronounce such person free from heresy, but only declare that nothing is legally proved against him, on account of which he ought to be pronounced an heretic, or suspected of heresy; and that therefore he is wholly released from his present trial and inquisition. But if, notwithstanding this, he should afterwards be accused of the same crime, he may be again judged and condemned for it; and this absolution will stand him in no stead.

If the party accused is found to be only defamed for heresy, and not convicted of heresy by any legal proofs, he is not absolved, but enjoined canonical purgation. The manner of the purgation is this: the party accused must produce several witnesses, good and Catholic men, who must swear by God, and the four holy gospels of God, that they firmly believe he hath not been an heretic, or believer of their errors; and that he hath sworn the truth, in denying it upon oath. If he fails in his purgation, i. e. cannot procure such a number of purgers as he is enjoined, he is esteemed as convict, and condemned as an heretic.

If the person accused is not found guilty by his own confession, or proper witnesses; yet if he cannot make his innocence appear plainly to the inquisitor, or if he is caught contradicting himself, or faultering, or trembling, or sweating, or pale, or crying; or if there be half proof of his crime, he is put to the question or torture. And this liberty the inquisitors sometimes shamefully abuse, by torturing the most innocent persons; as appears by the following instance.

“[261]A noble lady, Joan Bohorquia, the wife of Francis Varquius, a very eminent man, and lord of Higuera, and daughter of Peter Garsia Xeresius, a wealthy citizen of Seville, was apprehended, and put into the inquisition at Seville. The occasion of her imprisonment was, that her sister, Mary Bohorquia, a young lady of eminent piety, who was afterwards burnt for her pious confession, had declared in her torture that she had several times conversed with her sister concerning her own doctrine. When she was first imprisoned, she was about six months gone with child; upon which account she was not so straitly confined, nor used with that cruelty which the other prisoners were treated with, out of regard to the infant she carried in her. Eight days after her delivery they took the child from her, and on the fifteenth shut her close up, and made her undergo the fate of the other prisoners, and began to manage her cause with their usual arts and rigour. In so dreadful a calamity she had only this comfort, that a certain pious young woman, who was afterwards burnt for her religion by the inquisitors, was allowed her for her companion. This young creature was, on a certain day, carried out to her torture, and being returned from it into her jail, she was so shaken, and had all her limbs so miserably disjointed, that when she laid upon her bed of rushes, it rather encreased her misery than gave her rest, so that she could not turn herself without the most excessive pain. In this condition, as Bohorquia had it not in her power to shew her any, or but very little outward kindness, she endeavoured to comfort her mind with great tenderness. The girl had scarce began to recover from her torture, when Bohorquia was carried out to the same exercise, and was tortured with such diabolical cruelty upon the rack, that the rope pierced and cut into the very bones of her arms, thighs, and legs; and in this manner she was brought back to prison, just ready to expire, the blood immediately running out of her mouth in great plenty. Undoubtedly they had burst her bowels, insomuch that the eighth day after her torture she died. And when after all they could not procure sufficient evidence to condemn her, though sought after and procured by all their inquisitorial arts; yet, as the accused person was born in that place, where they were obliged to give some account of the affair to the people, and indeed could not by any means dissemble it; in the first act of triumph appointed after her death, they commanded her sentence to be pronounced in these words: because this lady died in prison (without doubt suppressing the causes of it) and was found to be innocent upon inspecting and diligently examining her cause, therefore the holy tribunal pronounces her free from all charges brought against her by the fiscal, and absolving her from any farther process, doth restore her both as to her innocence and reputation; and commands all her effects, which had been confiscated to be restored to those to whom they of right belonged, &c. And thus, after they had murdered her by torture, with savage cruelty, they pronounced her innocent.”

Footnote 261:

Gonsalv. p. 181.

After the sentence of torture is pronounced, the officers prepare themselves to inflict it. “[262]The place of torture in the Spanish inquisition is generally an under-ground and very dark room, to which one enters through several doors. There is a tribunal erected in it, in which the inquisitor, inspector, and secretary sit. When the candles are lighted, and the person to be tortured brought in, the executioner, who was waiting for him, makes a very astonishing and dreadful appearance. He is covered all over with a black linen garment down to his feet, and tied close to his body. His head and face are all hid with a long black cowl, only two little holes being left in it for him to see through. All this is intended to strike the miserable wretch with greater terror in mind and body, when he sees himself going to be tortured by the hands of one who thus looks like the very devil.”

Footnote 262:

Gonsalv. p. 65, 66.

The degrees of torture formerly used, were principally three: first, by stripping and binding. Secondly, by being hoisted on the rack. Thirdly, squassation.

This stripping is performed without any regard to humanity or honour, not only to men, but to women and virgins, though the most virtuous and chaste, of whom they have sometimes many in their prisons. For they cause them to be stripped, even to their very shifts; which they afterwards take off, and then put on them straight linen drawers, and then make their arms naked quite up to their shoulders. As to squassation, it is thus performed: the prisoner hath his hands bound behind his back, and weights tied to his feet, and then he is drawn up on high, till his head reaches the very pully. He is kept hanging in this manner for some time, that by the greatness of the weight hanging at his feet, all his joints and limbs may be dreadfully stretched; and on a sudden he is let down with a jirk, by the slacking the rope, but kept from coming quite to the ground; by which terrible shake his arms and legs are all disjointed, whereby he is put to the most exquisite pain; the shock which he receives by the sudden stop of his fall, and the weight at his feet, stretching his whole body more intensely and cruelly.

The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa tells us,[263] that the torture now practised in the Portuguese inquisition is exceeding cruel. “In the months of November and December, I heard every day in the morning the cries and groans of those who were put to the question, which is so very cruel, that I have seen several of both sexes who have been ever after lame. In this tribunal they regard neither age nor sex, nor condition of persons, but all without distinction are tortured, when it is for the interest of this tribunal.”

Footnote 263:

C. 23.

The method of torturing, and the degree of tortures now used in the Spanish inquisition, will be well understood from the history of Isaac Orobio, a Jew, and doctor of physic, who was accused to the inquisition as a Jew, by a certain Moor his servant, who had by his order before this been whipped for thieving; and four years after this he was again accused by a certain enemy of his for another fact, which would have proved him a Jew. But Orobio obstinately denied that he was one. I will here give the account of his torture, as I had it from his own mouth. After three whole years which he had been in jail, and several examinations, and the discovery of the crimes to him of which he was accused, in order to his confession, and his constant denial of them, he was at length carried out of his jail, and through several turnings brought to the place of torture. This was towards the evening. It was a large under-ground room, arched, and the walls covered with black hangings. The candlesticks were fastened to the wall, and the whole room enlightened with candles placed in them. At one end of it there was an inclosed place like a closet, where the inquisitor and notary sat at a table; so that the place seemed to him as the very mansion of death, every thing appearing so terrible and awful. Here the inquisitor again admonished him to confess the truth, before his torments began. When he answered he had told the truth, the inquisitor gravely protested, that since he was so obstinate as to suffer the torture, the holy office would be innocent, if he should shed his blood, or even expire in his torments. When he had said this, they put a linen garment over his body, and drew it so very close on each side, as almost squeezed him to death. When he was almost dying, they slackened at once the sides of the garment; and after he began to breathe again, the sudden alteration put him to the most grievous anguish and pain. When he had overcome this torture, the same admonition was repeated, that he would confess the truth, in order to prevent farther torment. And as he persisted in his denial, they tied his thumbs so very tight with small cords, as made the extremities of them greatly swell, and caused the blood to spurt out from under his nails. After this he was placed with his back against a wall, and fixed upon a little bench. Into the wall were fastened little iron pullies, through which there were ropes drawn, and tied round his body in several places, and especially his arms and legs. The executioner drawing these ropes with great violence, fastened his body with them to the wall; so that his hands and feet, and especially his fingers and toes being bound so straitly with them, put him to the most exquisite pain, and seemed to him just as though he had been dissolving in flames. In the midst of these torments, the torturer, of a sudden, drew the bench from under him, so that the miserable wretch hung by the cords without any thing to support him, and by the weight of his body drew the knots yet much closer. After this a new kind of torture succeeded. There was an instrument like a small ladder, made of two upright pieces of wood, and five cross ones sharpened before. This the torturer placed over against him, and by a certain proper motion struck it with great violence against both his shins; so that he received upon each of them at once five violent strokes, which put him to such intolerable anguish that he fainted away. After he came to himself, they inflicted on him the last torture. The torturer tied ropes about Orobio’s wrists, and then put those ropes about his own back, which was covered with leather to prevent his hurting himself. Then falling backwards, and putting his feet up against the wall, he drew them with all his might, till they cut through Orobio’s flesh even to the very bones; and this torture was repeated thrice, the ropes being tied about his arms about the distance of two fingers breadth from the former wound, and drawn with the same violence. But it happened, that as the ropes were drawing the second time, they slid into the first wound; which caused so great an effusion of blood, that he seemed to be dying. Upon this the physician and surgeon, who are always ready, were sent for out of a neighbouring apartment, to ask their advice, whether the torture could be continued without danger of death, lest the ecclesiastical judges should be guilty of an irregularity, if the criminal should die in his torments. They, who were far from being enemies to Orobio, answered that he had strength enough to endure the rest of the torture, and hereby preserved him from having the tortures he had already endured repeated on him, because his sentence was, that he should suffer them all at one time, one after another. So that if at any time they are forced to leave off through fear of death, all the tortures, even those already suffered, must be successively inflicted to satisfy the sentence. Upon this the torture was repeated the third time, and then it ended. After this he was bound up in his own clothes, and carried back to his prison, and was scarce healed of his wounds in seventy days. And inasmuch as he made no confession under his torture, he was condemned, not as one convicted, but suspected of Judaism, to wear for two whole years the infamous habit called Sambenito, and after that term to perpetual banishment from the kingdom of Seville.

Ernestus Eremundus Frisius,[264] in his History of the Low Country Disturbances, gives us an account from Gonsalvius, of another kind of torture. There is a wooden bench, which they call the wooden horse, made hollow like a trough, so as to contain a man lying on his back at full length; about the middle of which there is a round bar laid across, upon which the back of the person is placed, so that he lies upon the bar instead of being let into the bottom of the trough, with his feet much higher than his head. As he is lying in this posture, his arms, thighs, and shins are tied round with small cords or strings, which being drawn with screws at proper distances from each other, cut into the very bones, so as to be no longer discerned.[265] Besides this,[266] the torturer throws over his mouth and nostrils a thin cloth, so that he is scarce able to breathe through them; and in the mean while a small stream of water like a thread, not drop by drop, falls from on high, upon the mouth of the person lying in this miserable condition, and so easily sinks down the thin cloth to the bottom of his throat; so that there is no possibility of breathing, his mouth being stopped with water, and his nostrils with the cloth; so that the poor wretch is in the same agony as persons ready to die, and breathing out their last. When this cloth is drawn out of his throat, as it often is, that he may answer to the questions, it is all wet with water and blood, and is like pulling his bowels through his mouth. There is also another kind of torture peculiar to this tribunal, which they call the fire. They order a large iron chafin-dish full of lighted charcoal to be brought in, and held close to the soles of the tortured person’s feet, greased over with lard, so that the heat of the fire may more quickly pierce through them.

Footnote 264:

P. 19.

Footnote 265:

These two methods of punishment seem to be taken from the two different forms of the antient Eculeus.

Footnote 266:

Gonsalv. p. 76, 77.

This is inquisition by torture, when there is only half full proof of their crime. However, at other times torments are sometimes inflicted upon persons condemned to death, as a punishment preceding that of death. Of this we have a remarkable instance in William Lithgow, an Englishman, who, as he tells us in his travels, was taken up as a spy in Mallagom, a city of Spain, and was exposed to the most cruel torments upon the wooden horse. But when nothing could be extorted from him, he was delivered to the inquisition as an heretic, because his journal abounded with blasphemies against the pope and the Virgin Mary. When he confessed himself a Protestant before the inquisitor, he was admonished to convert himself to the Roman church, and was allowed eight days to deliberate on it. In the mean while the inquisitor and Jesuits came to him often, sometimes wheedling him, sometimes threatening and reproaching him, and sometimes arguing with him. At length they endeavoured to overcome his constancy by kind assurances and promises; but all in vain. And therefore as he was immoveably fixed, he was condemned, in the beginning of Lent, to sutler the night following eleven most cruel torments; and after Easter to be carried privately to Granada, there to be burnt at midnight, and his ashes to be scattered into the air. When night came on his fetters were taken off, then he was stripped naked, put upon his knees, and his hands lifted up by force; after which opening his mouth with iron instruments, they filled his belly with water till it came out of his jaws. Then they tied a rope hard about his neck, and in this condition rolled him seven times the whole length of the room, till he was almost quite strangled. After this they tied a small cord about both his great toes, and hung him up thereby with his head towards the ground, and then cut the rope about his neck, letting him remain in this condition till all the water discharged itself out of his mouth; so that he was laid on the ground as just dead, and had his irons put on him again. But beyond all expectation, and by a very singular accident, he was delivered out of jail, escaped death, and fortunately sailed home to England. But this method of torturing doth not belong to this place, where we are treating only of the inquisition of a crime not yet fully proved.

If when the person is decently tortured he confesses nothing, he is allowed to go away free; and if he demands of his judges that he be cleared by sentence, they cannot deny it him; and they pronounce, that having diligently examined the merits of the process, they find nothing of the crime of which he was accused legally proved against him.

But if, when under the question, he confesses, it is written in the process; after which he is carried to another place, where he hath no view of the tortures, and there his confession made during his torments is read over to him, and he is interrogated several times, till the confession be made. But here Gonsalvius observes,[267] that when the prisoner is carried to audience, they make him pass by the door of the room where the torture is inflicted, where the executioner shews himself on the purpose to be seen in that shape of a devil I have described before; that as he passes by, he may, by seeing him, be forced to feel, as it were over again, his past torments.

Footnote 267:

P. 73.

If there be very strong evidence against the criminal, if new proofs arise, if the crime objected to him be very heinous, and the discoveries against him undoubted; if he was not sufficiently tortured before, he may be tortured again, but then only “when his mind and body are able to endure it.”

If he doth not persist in his first confession, and is not sufficiently tortured, he may be put to the torture again; not by way of repetition, but continuation of it.

But if he persists in his confession, owns his fault, and asks pardon of the church, he is condemned as guilty of heresy by his own confession, but as penitent. But if he obstinately persists in heresy, he is condemned, and delivered over to the secular arm to be punished with death. If he confesses any thing by torture, he must be forced to abjure it.

When a person accused of heresy is found to be only slightly suspected of it, he is considered either as suspected publicly or privately. If he is publicly suspected, this was formerly the manner of his abjuration. On the preceding Lord’s day the inquisitor proclaims, that on such a day he will make a sermon concerning the faith, commanding all to be present at it. When the day comes, the person to abjure is brought to the church, in which the council hath determined that he shall make his abjuration. There he is placed upon a scaffold, erected near the altar, in the midst of the people, and is not allowed to sit, but stands on it, that all may see him, bare-headed, and with the keepers standing round him. The sermon being made on the mass, to the people and clergy there present, the inquisitor says publicly, that the person there placed on the scaffold is suspected from such and such appearances and actions, of the heresy that hath been refuted in the public sermon; and that therefore it is fit that he should purge himself from it, by abjuring it, as one slightly suspected. Having said this, a book of the gospels is placed before him, on which laying his hands, he abjures his heresy. In this oath he not only swears that he holds that faith which the Roman church believes, but also that he abjures every heresy that extols itself against the holy Roman and apostolic church: and particularly the heresy of which he was slightly suspected, naming that heresy: and that if he shall do any of the aforesaid things for the future, he willingly submits to the penalties appointed by law to one who thus abjures, and is ready to undergo every penance, as well for the things he hath said and done, as for those concerning which he is deservedly suspected of heresy, which they shall lay on him; and that with all his power he will endeavour to fulfil it.

If he hath not been publicly suspected, he abjures privately after the same manner in the episcopal palace, or inquisitor’s hall.

If he is vehemently suspected, he is placed in like manner upon a scaffold; and after he hath taken his oath upon the gospels, his abjuration is delivered him in writing, to read before all the people, if he can. If he cannot read, the notary, or some religious, or clergyman reads it by sentences, pausing between each till the other hath repeated it after him; and so on, till the whole abjuration is gone through. In this abjuration he submits himself to the punishments due to relapses, if he ever after falls into the heresy he hath abjured. After the abjuration is made, the bishop admonishes him, that if ever hereafter he doth, or says any thing by which it can be proved, that he hath fallen into the heresy he hath abjured, he will be delivered over to the secular court without mercy. Then he injoins him penance, and commands him to observe it; adding this threatening, that otherwise he will become a relapse, and may, and ought to be judged as an impenitent. However, suspected persons, whether it be slightly or vehemently, are not condemned to wear crosses, nor to perpetual imprisonment, because these are the punishments of penitent heretics; though sometimes they are ordered to wear for a while the Sambenito, according to the nature of their offence. Ordinarily they are injoined to stand on certain holy days in the gates of such and such churches, holding a burning taper of such a weight in their hands, and to go a certain pilgrimage; sometimes also they are imprisoned for a while, and afterwards disposed of as is thought proper.

Gonsalvius gives us some instances of these punishments.[268] “There was at Seville a certain poor man, who daily maintained himself and his family by the sweat of his brow. A certain parson detained his wife from him by violence, neither the inquisition nor any other tribunal punishing this heinous injury. As the poor man was one day talking about purgatory, with some other persons of his own circumstances, he happened to say, rather out of rustic simplicity than any certain design, that he truly had enough of purgatory already, by the rascally parson’s violently detaining from him his wife. This speech was reported to the good parson, and gave him a handle to double the poor man’s injury, by accusing him to the inquisitors, as having a false opinion concerning purgatory. And this the holy tribunal thought more worthy of punishment than the parson’s wickedness. The poor wretch was taken up for this trifling speech, kept in the inquisitor’s jail for two whole years, and at length being brought in procession, was condemned to wear the Sambenito for three years in a private jail; and when they were expired, to be dismissed, or kept longer in prison, as the lords inquisitors should think fit. Neither did they spare the poor creature any thing of his little substance, though they did his wife to the parson, but adjudged all the remains of what he had after his long imprisonment to the exchequer of the inquisition.

Footnote 268:

P. 192.

“[269]In the same procession there was also brought forth a reputable citizen of Seville, as being suspected of Lutheranism, without his cloak and his hat, and carrying a wax taper in his hand, after having exhausted his purse of 100 ducats towards the expences of the holy tribunal, and a year’s imprisonment in the jail of the inquisition, and having abjured as one vehemently suspected; only because he was found to have said, that those immoderate expences (and on these accounts the Spaniards are prodigiously extravagant) which were laid out in erecting those large paper or linen buildings, which the common people corruptly call monuments, to the honour of Christ now in heaven, upon Holy Thursday; and also those which were expended on the festival of Corpus Christi, would be more acceptable to God, if they were laid out upon poor persons, or in placing out to good persons poor orphan girls. Two young students[270] added to the number in that procession. One because he had written in his pocketbook some verses made by a nameless author, so artificially, as that the same words might be interpreted so as to contain the highest commendation of, or reflection upon Luther. Upon this account only, after two year’s imprisonment, he was brought forth in procession, without his hat and cloak, carrying a wax taper; after which he was banished for three years from the whole country of Seville, made to abjure as lightly suspected, and punished with a fine. The other underwent the same censure, only for transcribing the verses for their artful composition, excepting only that he commuted his banishment for 100 ducats towards the expences of the holy tribunal.”

Footnote 269:

P. 195.

Footnote 270:

P. 196.

If any one informed against, confesses on oath his heresy, but declares that he will abjure and return to the church, he must publicly abjure in the church before all the people. There is placed before him the book of the gospels; he puts off his hat, falls on his knees, and putting his hand on the book, reads his abjuration. And from this none, though otherwise privileged, are excepted. After this abjuration they are absolved from excommunication, and reconciled to the church; but are injoined various punishments, or wholesome penances by the inquisitors at pleasure. What the punishments of religious persons are, may be seen from the two following instances.

Friar Marcellus de Pratis, a religious of the order of the Minors, was condemned in Sicily by the inquisition (because he had rashly feigned himself a saint, impeccable, confirmed in grace, and had pronounced other scandalous and rash propositions) to the gallies for three years, to be banished for two more into such a convent of his own religion as should be assigned him, with this addition; that he should fast every Friday on bread and water, eat upon the ground in the refectory, walk without his hat, and sit in the lowest place in the choir and refectory, and be perpetually deprived of his active and passive vote, and of the faculty of hearing any persons confessions whatsoever.

One Mary of the Annunciation, prioress of the monastery of the Annunciation at Lisbon, a maid of thirty-two years old, had pretended that the wounds of Christ, by the special grace and privilege of God were imprinted on her, and shewed thirty-two wounds made on her head, representing the marks of those which were made by our Saviour’s crown of thorns, and blood sprinkled on her hands like a rose, the middle of which was like a triangle, and shewed the holes of the nails narrower on one side than the other. The same were to be seen in her feet. Her side appeared as though it had been laid open by the blow of a lance. When all these things were openly shewn, it was wonderful to see how they raised the admiration and devotion of serious and holy men, and withal surprized and deceived them; for she did not suffer those pretended wounds to be seen otherwise than by command of her confessor. And that absent persons might have a great veneration for her, she affirmed, that on Thursdays she put into the wounds a small cloth, which received the impression of five wounds in form of a cross, that in the middle being the largest. Upon which these cloths were sent, with the greatest veneration, through the infinite devotion of the faithful, to the pope, and to almost all the most venerable and religious persons of the whole world. And as Paramus then had the administration of the causes of faith in the kingdom of Sicily, he saw several of those cloths, and the picture of that woman drawn to the life; and a book written by a person of great authority concerning her life, sanctity, and miracles. Yea, Pope Gregory XIII. himself determined to write letters to that wretched creature, to exhort her thereby to persist with constancy in her course, and to perfect what she had begun. At last the imposture was found out, that the marks of the wounds were not real, but made with red lead; and that the woman’s design was, when she had gained authority and credit enough, by her pretended sanctity, to recover the kingdom of Portugal to its former state, which had legally fallen under the power of Philip II. Upon this the following sentence was pronounced against her by the inquisitors of Lisbon, December 8, anno 1588. First, she was commanded to pass the rest of her life shut up in a convent of another order, that was assigned to her without the city of Lisbon. Likewise, that from the day of pronouncing the sentence, she should not receive the sacrament of the eucharist for the space of five years, three Easters, and the hour of death excepted; or unless it were necessary to obtain any jubilee, that should in the mean while be granted by the pope. Likewise, that on all Wednesdays and Fridays of the whole year, when the religious women of that convent held a chapter, she should be whipped, whilst the psalm, “Have mercy on me O God,” was reciting. Likewise, that she should not sit down at table at the time of refreshment, but should eat publicly on the pavement, all being forbidden to eat any thing she left. She was also obliged to throw herself down at the door of the refectory, that the nuns might tread on her as they came in and went out. Likewise, that she should perpetually observe the ecclesiastical fast, and never more be created an abbess, nor be chosen to any other office in the convent where she had dwelt, and that she should be always subject to the lowest of them all. Likewise, that she should never be allowed to converse with any nun without leave of the abbess. Likewise, that all the rags marked with drops of blood, which she had given out, her spurious relics, and her effigies describing her, should be every where delivered to the holy inquisition; or if in any place there was no tribunal of the inquisition, to the prelate, or any other person appointed. Likewise, that she should never cover her head with the sacred veil; and that every Wednesday and Friday of the whole year she should abstain from meat, and live only on bread and water; and that as often as she came into the refectory, she should pronounce her crime with a loud voice in the presence of all the nuns.

Michael Piedrola also took upon himself for many years the name of a prophet, boasted of dreams and revelations, and affirmed they were revealed to him by a divine voice. Being convicted of so great a crime, he abjured de levi, was for ever forbid the reading of the Bible, and other holy books, deprived of paper and ink, prohibited from writing or receiving letters, unless such only as related to his private affairs; denied the liberty of disputing about the holy Scripture, as well in writing as in discourse; and finally, commanded to be thrown into jail, and there pass the remainder of his life.

Another punishment of heretics who abjure, is the confiscation of all their effects. And this confiscation is made with such rigour, that the inquisition orders the exchequer to seize on not only the effects of the persons condemned, but also all others administered by them, although it evidently appears that they belong to others. The inquisition at Seville gives a remarkable instance of this kind.

“Nicholas Burton, an Englishman, a person remarkable for his piety, was apprehended by the inquisition of Seville, and afterwards burnt for his immoveable perseverance in the confession of his faith, and detestation of their impiety. When he was first seized, all his effects and merchandizes, upon account of which he came to Spain, were, according to the custom of the inquisition, sequestered. Amongst these were many other merchandizes, which were consigned to him as factor, according to the custom of merchants, by another English merchant dwelling in London. This merchant, upon hearing that his factor was imprisoned, and his effects seized on, sent one John Frontom, as his attorney into Spain, with proper instruments to recover his goods. His attorney accordingly went to Seville; and having laid before the holy tribunal the instruments, and all other necessary writings, demanded, that the goods should be delivered to him. The lords answered that the affair must be managed in writing, and that he must choose himself an advocate (undoubtedly to prolong the suit) and out of their great goodness appointed him one, to draw up for him his petitions, and all other instruments which were to be offered to the holy tribunal; for every one of which they exorbitantly took from him eight reals, although he received no more advantage from them, than if they had never been drawn at all. Frontom waited for three or four whole months, twice every day, viz. in the morning, and after dinner, at the gates of the inquisitor’s palace, praying and beseeching, on his bended knees, the lords inquisitors, that his affair might be expedited; and especially the Lord Bishop of Tarraco, who was then chief inquisitor at Seville, that he, in virtue of his supreme authority, would command his effects to be restored to him. But the prey was too large and rich to be easily recovered. After he had spent four whole months in fruitless prayers and intreaties, he was answered, that there was need of some other writings from England, more ample than those he had brought before, in order to the recovery of the effects. Upon this the Englishman immediately returns to London, and procures the instruments of fuller credit which they demanded, comes back with them to Seville, and laid them before the holy tribunal. The lords put off his answer, pretending they were hindered by more important affairs. They repeated this answer to him every day, and so put him off for four whole months longer. When his money was almost spent, and he still continued earnestly to press the dispatch of his affair, they referred him to the bishop. The bishop, when consulted, said he was but one, and that the expediting the matter belonged also to the other inquisitors; and by thus shifting the fault from one to the other, there was no appearance of an end of the suit. But at length being overcome by his importunity, they fixed on a certain day to dispatch him. And the dispatch was this: the licentiate Gascus, one of the inquisitors, a man well skilled in the frauds of the inquisition, commands him to come to him after dinner. The Englishman was pleased with this message, and went to him about evening, believing that they began to think in good earnest of restoring him his effects, and carrying him to Mr. Burton the prisoner, in order to make up the account; having heard the inquisitors often say, though he did not know their real meaning, that it was necessary that he and the prisoner should confer together. When he came, they commanded the jail-keeper to clap him up in such a particular prison, which they named to him. The poor Englishman believed at first that he was to be brought to Burton to settle the account; but soon found himself a prisoner in a dark dungeon, contrary to his expectation, and that he had quite mistaken the matter. After three or four days they brought him to an audience; and when the Englishman demanded that the inquisitors should restore his effects to him, they well knowing that it would agree perfectly with their usual arts, without any other preface, command him to recite his Ave Mary. He simply repeated it after this manner: ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is Jesus the fruit of thy womb. Amen.’ All was taken down in writing, and without mentioning a word about the restoring his effects (for there was no need of it) they commanded him back to his jail, and commenced an action against him for an heretic, because he had not repeated the Ave Mary according to the manner of the church of Rome, and had left off in a suspected place, and ought to have added, ‘Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners;’ by omitting which conclusion, he plainly discovered that he did not approve the intercession of the saints. And thus at last, upon this righteous pretence, he was detained a prisoner many days. After this he was brought forth in procession, wearing an habit; all his principal’s goods for which he had been suing being confiscated, and he himself condemned to a year’s imprisonment.”

Besides this confiscation of effects, they enjoin them wholesome penances; such as fastings, prayers, alms, the frequent use of the sacraments of penance, and the eucharist; and, finally, pilgrimages to certain places.

Some penances are honorary, attended with infamy to those who do them. Such are, walking in procession without shoes, in their breeches and shirt, and to receive therein public discipline by the bishop or priest; to be expelled the church, and to stand before the gates of the great church upon solemn days, in the time of mass, with naked feet, and wearing upon their cloak an halter about their neck. At this time they only stand before the gates of the church, with a lighted candle in their hand, during the time of solemn mass on some holy day, as the bell is ringing to church.

Besides these, they now use the punishment of banishment, of beating, and whipping with scourges or rods. Sometimes they are condemned to fines, excluded as infamous from all public offices, prohibited from wearing silver or gold, precious garments and ornaments, and from riding on horses or mules with trappings, as nobles do.

But the most usual punishment of all, is their wearing crosses upon their penitential garments, which is now frequently enjoined penitents in Spain and Portugal. And this is far from being a small punishment; because such persons are exposed to the scoffs and insults of all, which they are obliged to swallow, though the most cruel in themselves, and offered by the vilest of mankind; for by these crosses they are marked to all persons for heresy, or, as it is now in Spain and Portugal, for Judaism: and being thus marked, the they are avoided by all, and are almost excluded from all human society.

This garment was formerly of a black and bluish colour, like a monk’s cloak, made without a cowl; and the crosses put on them were strait, having one arm long, and the other across, after this manner †. Sometimes, according to the heinousness of the offence, there were two arms across, after this manner ‡. But now in Spain this garment is of a yellow colour, and the crosses put on it are oblique, after the manner of St. Andrew’s cross, in this form X, and are of a red colour. This cloak the Italians call “Abitello,” the Spaniards “Sant Benito,” as though it was “Sacco Benito,” i. e. the blessed sackcloth, because it is fit for penance, by which we are blessed and saved. But Simancas says it is the habit of St. Benedict.

Finally, the most grievous punishment is the being condemned to perpetual imprisonment, there to do wholesome penance with the bread of grief and the water of affliction. This is usually enjoined on the believers of heretics, and such as are difficultly brought to repentance; or who have a long while denied the truth during the trial, or have perjured themselves.

Besides this condemnation to perpetual imprisonment, such persons are also enjoined other penances, viz. sometimes to stand in the habit marked with the cross at the door of such a church, such a time, and so long, viz. on the four principal festivals of the glorious Virgin Mary, of such a church; or on such and such festivals, at the gates of such and such churches. Sometimes before they are shut up in prison they are publicly exposed, viz. being clothed with the habit of the crosses, they are placed upon an high ladder in the gate of some church, that they may be plainly seen by all; where they must stand till dinner time; after which they must be carried, clothed in the same habit, to the same place, at the first ringing to vespers, and there stand till sun-set; and these spectacles are usually repeated on several Sundays and festivals in several churches, which are particularly specified in their sentence. But if they break prison, or do not otherwise fulfil the penances enjoined them, they are condemned as impenitents, and as under the guilt of their former crimes; and and if they fall again into the hands of the inquisitors, they are delivered over as impenitents to the secular court, unless they humbly ask pardon, and profess that they will obey the commands of the inquisitors.

However, if persons remain impenitent till after sentence is pronounced, there is no farther place for pardon. And yet there is one instance of Stephana de Proaudo, extant in the book of the sentences of the Thoulouse inquisition, who, being judged an heretic the day before, and left as an heretic to the secular court (from whence it appears that it was not then usual for those who were left to the secular court to be burnt the same day on which the sentence is pronounced, as is now practised in Spain and Portugal) seeing on the following day, viz. Monday, that the fire in which she was to be burnt was made ready, said on that very day, that she was willing to be converted to the Catholic faith, and to return to the ecclesiastical unity. And when it was doubted whether she spoke this feignedly or sincerely, or through fear of death, and was answered, that the time of mercy was elapsed, and that she should think of the salvation of her soul, and fully discover whatsoever she knew of herself or others concerning the fact of heresy, which she promised to say and do, and that she would die in the faith of the holy church of Rome; upon this the inquisitor and vicars of the bishop of Tholouse called a council on the following Tuesday, and at length it was concluded, that on the following Sunday she should confess the faith of the church of Rome, recant her errors, and be carried back to prison, where it would be proved whether her conversion was real or pretended; and so strictly kept, that she might not be able to infect others with her errors. Emerick[271] also gives us an instance at Barcelona, in Catalonia, of three heretics, impenitent, but not relapsed, who were delivered over to the secular arm. And when one of them, who was a priest, was put in the fire, and one of his sides somewhat burnt, he cried to be taken out of it, because he would abjure and repent. And he was taken out accordingly. But he was afterwards found always to have continued in his heresy, and to have infected many, and would not be converted; and was therefore turned over again, as impenitent and relapsed, to the secular arm, and burnt.

Footnote 271:

P. 204.

The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa,[272] gives us another instance of a very rich new Christian, whose name was Lewis Pezoa, who, with his whole family, had been accused of secret Judaism, by some of his enemies; and who, with his wife, two sons and one daughter, and some other relations that lived with him, were all thrown into the jail of the inquisition. He denied the crime of which he was accused, and well refuted it; and demanded that the witnesses who had deposed against him might be discovered to him, that he might convict them of falsehood. But he could obtain nothing, and was condemned as a negative, to be delivered over to the arm of the secular court; which sentence was made known to him fifteen days before it was pronounced. The Duke of Cadaval, an intimate friend of the Duke d’Aveira, inquisitor general, had made strict inquiry how his affair was like to turn. And understanding by the inquisitor general, that unless he confessed before his going out of prison he could not escape the fire, because he had been legally convicted, he continued to entreat the inquisitor general, till he had obtained a promise from him, that if he could persuade Pezoa to confess, even after sentence pronounced, and his procession in the act of faith, he should not die, though it was contrary to the laws and customs of an act of faith. Upon that solemn day therefore, on which the act of faith was to be held, he went with some of his own friends, and some that were Pezoa’s, to the gate of the inquisition, to prevail with him, if possible, to confess. He came out in the procession, wearing the infamous Samarre, and on his head the Caroch, or infamous mitre. His friends, with many tears, besought him in the name of the Duke de Cadoval, and by all that was dear to him, that he would preserve his life; and intimated to him, that if he would confess and repent, the said duke had obtained his life from the inquisitor general, and would give him more than he had lost. But all in vain; Pezoa continually protesting himself innocent, and that the crime itself was falsely invented by his enemies, who sought his destruction. When the procession was ended, and the act of faith almost finished, the sentences of those who were condemned to certain penances having been read, and on the approach of evening the sentences of those who were to be delivered over to the secular court being begun to be read, his friends repeated their intreaties, by which at last they overcame his constancy, so that desiring an audience, and rising up that he might be heard, he said, “Come then, let us go and confess the crimes I am falsely accused of, and thereby gratify the desires of my friends.” And having confessed his crime, he was remanded to jail. Two years after he was sent to Evora, and in the act of faith walked in procession, wearing the Samarre, on which was painted the fire inverted, according to the usual custom of the Portuguese inquisition; and after five years more that he was detained in the jail of the inquisition, he was condemned to the gallies for five years.

Footnote 272:

C. 38.

If the person accused is found a relapse by his own confession, he cannot escape death, even though he is penitent. If he be in holy orders, he is first degraded. After sentence is pronounced against him, he is delivered to the secular arm, with this clause added to his sentence by the inquisitors: “Nevertheless, we earnestly beseech the said secular arm, that he will moderate his sentence against you, so as to prevent the effusion of blood, or danger of death:” Thus adding hypocrisy and insult to their devilish barbarity.

If the person accused be an impenitent heretick, but not relapsed, he is kept in chains in close imprisonment, that he may not escape, or infect others; and in the mean while all methods must be used for his conversion. They send clergymen to instruct him, and to put him in mind of the pains of hell-fire. If this will not do, they keep him in chains for a year or more, in a close, hard jail, that his constancy may be overcome by the misery of his imprisonment. If this doth not move him, they use him in a little kinder manner, and promise him mercy, if he will repent. If they cannot thus prevail with him, they suffer his wife and children, and little ones, and his other relations, to come to him, and break his constancy. But if after all he persists in his heresy, he is burnt alive.

If the person accused be found guilty of heresy by the evidence of the fact, or legal witnesses, and yet doth not confess, but persists in the negative; after having been kept in jail for a year, he must be delivered over to the secular arm. So that if it should happen that he is accused by false witnesses, and is really innocent, the miserable wretch, though falsely condemned, is delivered to the power of the secular court, to be burnt alive; nor is it lawful for him, without the commission of mortal sin, as the Roman doctors think, to save his life, by falsely confessing a crime he hath not committed; and therefore it is the duty of the divines and confessors, who comfort such a negative, and attend on him to his punishment, to persuade him to discover the truth; but to caution him by all means not to acknowledge a crime he hath not committed, to avoid temporal death; and to put him in remembrance, that if he patiently endures this injury and punishment, he will be crowned as a martyr.

It is however evident, if the practice of the Portugal inquisition be considered, that the inquisitors are not so very solicitous about the eternal salvation of those they condemn, as they are to consult their own honour by the criminals confessions even of false crimes. Of this we have a remarkable instance, of a noble Portugueze, descended from the race of the new Christians, who was accused of Judaism. But as he did most firmly deny the crime objected to him, nothing was omitted that might persuade him to a confession of it; for he was not only promised his life, but the restitution of all his effects, if he would confess, and threatened with a cruel death if he persisted in the negative. But when all this was to no purpose, the inquisitor general, who had some respect for him, endeavoured to overcome his constancy by wheedling, and other arguments; but when he constantly refused to confess himself guilty of a crime he had not committed, the inquisitor general being at last provoked by his firmness, said, “What then do you mean? Do you think that we will suffer ourselves to be charged with a lie?” And having said this, he went off. When the act of faith drew near, the sentence of death was pronounced against him, and a confessor allowed him to prepare him for death. But at last he sunk under the fear of his approaching dreadful punishment, and by confessing on the very day of the act of faith the crime falsely fastened on him, he escaped death; but all his estate was confiscated, and he himself condemned for five years to the gallies.

If the person accused is a fugitive, after waiting for his appearance a competent time, he is cited to appear on such a day in the cathedral of such a diocese, and the citation fixed on the gates of the church. If he doth not appear, he is complained of for contumacy, and accused in form. When this is done, and the crime appears, sentence is pronounced against the criminal; and if the information against him be for heresy, he is declared an obstinate heretic, and left as such to the secular arm. This sentence is pronounced before all the people, and the statue or image of the absent person publicly produced, and carried in procession; on which is a superscription, containing his name and surname; which statue is delivered to the secular power, and by him burnt. Thus Luther’s statue was burnt, together with his books, at the command of Pope Leo X. by the Bishop of Ascoli.

The inquisitors also proceed against the dead. If there be full proof against him of having been an heretic, his memory is declared infamous, and his heirs, and other possessors, deprived of his effects; and finally, his bones dug out of their grave, and publicly burnt. Thus Wickliff’s body and bones were ordered to be dug up and burnt, by the council of Constance: Bucer and Fagius, by Cardinal Pool, at Cambridge; and the wife of Peter Martyr, by Brookes, Bishop of Gloucester, at Oxford; whose body they buried in a dunghill. And thus Mark Antony de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, was condemned after his death for heresy; and the inquisitors agreed that the same punishments should be executed upon his dead body, as would have been on himself had he been alive.

Having taken this resolution, the twenty-first day of December, anno 1624, was appointed for the pronouncing sentence. Early in the morning of it, so vast a multitude had got together to St. Mary supra Minervam, where they generally give these religious shews, that they were forced not only to shut up, but to guard the gates with armed men; and the great area before the church was so prodigiously thronged, that there was scarce room for the cardinals themselves to pass. The middle aisle of the church, from the first to the fourth pillar, was boarded in, with boards above the height of a tall man. At the upper and lower end of it there were gates, guarded by Switzers. On each side there were scaffolds, running the whole length of the inclosure; in which were seats for the cardinals and other prelates, and other conveniences, to receive the courtiers and other noblemen standing or sitting. On the right hand, coming in, the sacred council presided; on the left hand were placed the inferior officers of the holy inquisition, the governor of the city, and his officials. Before the pulpit was to be seen the picture of Mark Anthony, drawn in colours, covered with a black common garment, holding a clergyman’s cap in his hand, with his name, sirname, and archiepiscopal dignity, which formerly he had borne, inscribed upon it, together with a wooden chest bedaubed with pitch, in which the dead body was inclosed. The rest of the church was filled with citizens, and a great many foreigners; the number of whom was at that time larger, because the jubilee that was at hand had brought them from all parts to the city, that they might be present at the opening of the sacred gates.

Things being thus disposed, a certain parson mounted the pulpit, and with a shrill voice, which rung through all the parts of the spacious church, and in the vulgar language, that the common people might understand him, read over a summary of the process, and the sentence by which the cardinals inquisitors general, specially deputed for the affair by the pope, pronounced Mark Anthony, as a relapse into heresy, to have incurred all the censures and penalties appointed to relapsed heretics by the sacred canons, and papal constitutions; and declared him to be deprived of all honours, prerogatives, and ecclesiastical dignities, condemned his memory, and cast him out of the ecclesiastical court, delivered over his dead body and effigies into the power of the governor of the city, that he might inflict on it the punishment due, according to the rule and practice of the church. And finally, they commanded his impious and heretical writings to be publicly burnt, and declared all his effects to be forfeited to the exchequer of the holy inquisition. After this sentence was read, the governor of the city and his officers threw the corpse, effigies, and aforesaid writings into a cart, and carried them into the Campo Fiore, a great multitude of people following after. When they came there, the dead body, which as yet in all its members was whole and entire, was raised out of the chest as far as the bottom of the breast, and shewn from on high to the vast concourse of people that stood round about; and was afterwards, with the effigies and bundle of his books, thrown into the pile prepared for the purpose, and there burnt.

And finally, in order to beget in the common people a greater abhorrence of the crime of heresy, they usually pull down and level with the ground the houses or dwellings in which heretics hold their conventicles, the ground on which they stood being sprinkled over with salt, and certain curses and imprecations uttered over it. And that there may be a perpetual monument of its infamy, a pillar or stone, four or five feet high, is erected in the said ground, with large characters on it, containing the name and owner of the house, shewing the reason of its demolition, and the reign of what pope, emperor or king, the matter was transacted.

The whole of this horrid affair is concluded by what they call “An Act of Faith;” which is performed after this manner. When the inquisitor is determined to pronounce the sentences of certain criminals, he fixes on some Lord’s-day or festival to perform this solemnity. But they take care that it be not Advent Sunday, or in Lent, or a very solemn day, such as the Nativity of our Lord, Easter, and the like; because it is not decent that the sermons on those days should be suspended, but that every one should go to his own parish church. A certain Sunday or festival therefore being appointed, the parsons of all the churches of that city or place, in which this solemnity is to be performed, do, by command of the bishop and inquisitor, when they have done preaching, publicly intimate to the clergy and people, that the inquisitor will, in such a church, hold a general sermon concerning the faith; and they promise, in the name of the pope, the usual indulgence of forty days, to all who will come and see, and hear the things which are there to be transacted. They take care to give the same notice in the houses of those religious, who commonly preach the word of God; and that their superiors should be told, that because the inquisitor will in such a church make a general sermon concerning the faith, therefore he suspends all other sermons, that every superior may send four or two friars, as he thinks fit, to be present at the sermon, and the pronouncing the sentences. This solemnity was formerly called “A general Sermon concerning the Faith;” but it is now called, “An Act of Faith.” And in this, great numbers of persons, sometimes one or two hundred, are brought forth in public procession to various kinds of penances and punishments, all wearing the most horrible habits. They choose festivals for this solemnity, because then there is a greater confluence of people gathered together to see the torments and punishments of the criminals, that from hence they may learn to fear, and be kept from the commission of evil. And indeed, as this act of faith is now celebrated in Spain and Portugal, the solemnity is truly an horrible and tremendous spectacle, in which every thing is designedly made use of that may strike terror; for this reason, as they say, that they may hereby give some representation and image of the future judgment.

If any one, whether an impenitent or relapsed heretic is to be delivered to the secular court, the bishop and inquisitor give notice to the principal magistrate of the secular court, that he must come such a day and hour with his attendants to such a street or place, to receive a certain heretic or relapsed person out of their court, whom they will deliver to him: and that he must give public notice the same day, or the day before in the morning, by the crier, throughout the city, in all the usual places and streets, that on such a day and hour, and in such a place, the inquisitor will make a sermon for the faith; and that the bishop and inquisitor will condemn a certain heretic or relapse, by delivering him to the secular court.

In most of the tribunals of the inquisition, especially in Spain, it is a remarkable custom they use, viz. on the day before the acts of faith, solemnly to carry a bush to the place of the fire, with the flames of which they are consumed, who deserve the punishment of being burnt. This is not without its mysteries; for the burning, and not consuming bush, signifies the indefectible splendour of the church, which burns, and is not consumed; and besides this, it signifies mercy towards the penitent, and severity towards the froward and obstinate. And farther, it represents how the inquisitors defend the vineyard of the church, wounding with the thorns of the bush, and burning up with flames all who endeavour to bring heresies into the harvest of the Lord’s field. And finally, it points out the obstinacy and frowardness of heretics, which must rather be broken and bent, like a rugged and stubborn bush; and that as the thorns and prickles of the bush tear the garments of those who pass by, so also do the heretics rend the seamless coat of Christ.

Besides, the day before the criminals are brought out of jail to the public act of faith, they part with their hair and their beard; by which the inquisitors represent, that heretics return to that condition in which they were born, viz. becoming the children of wrath.

All things being thus prepared to celebrate this act of faith, all the prisoners, on that very day which is appointed for the celebration of it are clothed with that habit which they must wear in the public procession. But the custom in this matter is not altogether the same in all the inquisitions. In that of Goa, the jail-keepers, about midnight, go into the cells of the prisoners, bringing a burning lamp to each of them, and a black garment striped with white lines; and also a pair of breeches, which reach down to their ankles; both which they order them to put on. The black habit is given them in token of grief and repentance. About two o’clock the keepers return, and carry the prisoners into a long gallery, where they are all placed In a certain order against the wall, no one of them being permitted to speak a word, or mutter, or move; so that they stand immoveable, like statues, nor is there the least motion of any one of their members to be seen, except of their eyes. All these are such as have confessed their fault, and have declared themselves willing to return by penance to the bosom of the church of Rome. To every one of these is given a habit to put over their black garment. Penitent heretics, or such as are vehemently suspected, receive the blessed sackcloth, commonly called the Sambenito; which, as we have before related, is of a saffron colour, and on which there is put the cross of St. Andrew, of a red colour, on the back and on the breast. Vile and abject persons are made to wear the infamous mitre for more outrageous blasphemies, which carries in it a representation of infamy, denoting that they are as it were bankrupts of heavenly riches. The same mitre also is put on Polygamists, who are hereby shewn to have joined themselves to two churches; and finally, such as are convicted of magic; but what is signified hereby as to them, I have not been able to discover. The others, whose offences are slighter, have no other garment besides the black one. Every one hath given him an extinguished taper, and a rope about their neck; which rope and extinguished taper have their signification, as we shall afterwards shew. The women are placed in a separate gallery from the men, and are there cloathed with the black habit, and kept till they are brought forth in public procession.

As to those who are designed for the fire, viz. such as have confessed their heresy, and are impenitent, and negatives, viz. such who are convicted by a sufficient number of witnesses, and yet deny their crime, and finally such as are relapsed, they are all carried into a room separate from the others. Their dress is different from that of the others. They are however, clothed with the sackcloth, or kind of mantle, which some call the Sambenito, others the Samarra or Samaretta. And though it be of the same make as the Sambenito is, yet it hath different marks, is of a black colour, hath flames painted on it, and sometimes the condemned heretic himself, painted to the life, in the midst of the flames. Sometimes also they paint on it devils thrusting the poor heretic into hell. Other things may also be put on it; and all this is done, that persons may be deterred from heresy by this horrible spectacle.

As to those, who after sentence pronounced, do at length confess their crime, and convert themselves, before they go out of jail, they are, if not relapses, clothed with the Samarra, on which the fire is painted, sending the flames downward, which the Portugueze call Fogo revolto; as though you should say, the fire inverted. Besides this, they have paper mitres put on them, made in the shape of a cone; on which also devils and flames are painted, which the Spaniards and Portugueze call in their language Carocha. All of them being thus clothed, according to the nature of their crime, are allowed to sit down on the ground, waiting for fresh orders. Those of them who are to be burnt, are carried into a neighbouring apartment, where they have confessors always with them, to prepare them for death, and convert them to the faith of the church of Rome.

About four o’clock the officers give bread and figs to all of them, that they may somewhat satisfy their hunger during the celebration of the act of faith. About sun-rising, the great bell of the cathedral church tolls; by which, as the usual signal of an act of faith, all persons are gathered together to this miserable spectacle. The more reputable and principal men of the city meet at the house of the inquisition, and are as it were the sureties of the criminals, one of them walking by the side of each criminal in the procession, which they think is no small honour to them. Matters being thus prepared, the inquisitor places himself near the gate of the house of the inquisition, attended by the notary of the holy office. Here he reads over in order the names of all the criminals; beginning with those whose offences are least, and ending with those whose crimes are greatest. The criminals march out each in their order, with naked feet, and wearing the habit that was put on them in jail. As every one goes out, the notary reads the name of his surety, who walks by his side in the procession. The Dominican monks march first; who have this honour granted them, because Dominick, the founder of their order, was also the inventor of the inquisition. The banner of the holy office is carried before them; in which the image of Dominick is curiously wrought in needle-work, holding a sword in one hand, and in the other a branch of olive, with these words “justice and mercy.” Then follow the criminals with their sureties. When all those whose crimes are too slight to be punished with death, are gone out into procession, then comes the crucifix; after which follow those who are led out to the punishment of death. The crucifix being in the midst of these, hath its face turned to those who walk before, to denote the mercy of the holy office to those who are saved from the death they had deserved; and the back part of it to those who come after, to denote that they have no grace or mercy to expect: for all things in this office are mysterious. Finally, they carry out the statues of those who have died in heresy, habited in the Samarra; and also the bones dug out of the graves, shut up in black chests, upon which devils and flames are painted all over, that they may be burnt to ashes.

[273]When they have thus marched round the principal streets of the city, that all may behold them, they at length enter the church, where the sermon concerning the faith is to be preached. At Goa this is usually the church of the Dominicans, and sometimes that of the Franciscans. The great altar is covered over with cloth, upon which are placed six silver candlesticks, with burning tapers. On each side of it is erected something like a throne; that on the right hand for the inquisitor and his counsellors; that on the left for the viceroy and his officers. Over against the great altar there is another lesser one, on which several missals are placed; and from thence even to the gate of the church is made a long gallery, three feet wide, full of seats, in which the criminals are placed, with their sureties, in the order in which they enter the church; so that those who enter first, and have offended least, are nearest the altar.

Footnote 273:

Dr. Geddes gives us the following account of this procession in Portugal, p. 442. “In the morning of the day the prisoners are all brought into a great hall, where they have the habits put on they are to wear in the procession, which begins to come out of the inquisition about nine o’clock in the morning.

“The first in the procession are the Dominicans, who carry the standard of the inquisition, which on the one side hath their founder, Dominick’s picture, and on the other side the cross, betwixt an olive-tree and a sword, with this motto, “Justitia & Miserecordia.” Next after the Dominicans come the penitents; some with Benitoes, and some without, according to the nature of their crimes. They are all in black coats without sleeves, and bare-footed, with a wax-candle in their hands. Next come the penitents who have narrowly escaped being burnt, who over their black coat have flames painted, with their points turned downwards, to signify their having been saved, but so as by fire. Next come the negative and relapsed, that are to be burnt, with flames upon their habit, pointing upward; and next come those who profess doctrines contrary to the faith of the Roman church, and who, besides flames on their habit pointing upward, have their picture, which is drawn two or three days before upon their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all with open mouths painted about it.

“Pegna, a famous Spanish inquisitor, calls this procession, ‘Horrendum ac tremendum Spectaculum,’ and so it is in truth, there being something in the looks of all the prisoners, besides those that are to be burnt, that is ghastly and disconsolate, beyond what can be imagined; and in the eyes and countenances of those that are to be burnt, there is something that looks fierce and eager.

“The prisoners that are to be burnt alive, besides a Familiar, which all the rest have, have a Jesuit on each hand of them, who are continually preaching to them to abjure their heresies; but if they offer to speak any thing, in defence of the doctrines they are going to suffer death for professing, they are immediately gagged, and not suffered to speak a word more.

“This I saw done to a prisoner, presently after he came out of the gates of the inquisition, upon his having looked up to the sun, which he had not seen before in several years, and cried out in a rapture, ‘How is it possible for people that behold that glorious body, to worship any Being but him that created it?’ After the prisoners comes a troop of familiars on horseback, and after them the inquisitors and other officers of the court upon mules; and last of all comes the inquisitor general upon a white horse, led by two men, with a black hat, and a green hatband, and attended by all the nobles, that are not employed as familiars in the procession.

“In the Terreiro de Paco, which may be as far from the inquisition as Whitehall is from Temple-bar, there is a scaffold erected, which may hold two or three thousand people; at the one end sit the inquisitors, and at the other end the prisoners, and in the same order as they walked in the procession; those that are to be burnt being seated on the highest benches behind the rest, which may be ten feet above the floor of the scaffold.”

After this comes in the inquisitor, surrounded with his colleagues, and places himself on the right hand throne; and then the viceroy, with his attendants, seats himself on the throne on the left hand. The crucifix is put on the altar in the midst of the six candlesticks. Then the sermon is preached concerning the faith, and the office of the inquisition. This honour is generally given to the Dominicans. The author of the History of the Inquisition at Goa tells us, that in the act of faith, in which he walked in procession, cloathed with the Sambenito, the provincial of the Augustines preached the sermon, which lasted half an hour, and treated of the inquisition, which he compared to Noah’s ark; but said it was preferable to Noah’s ark in this, because that the animals which entered it came out of it after the flood with the same brutal nature they carried in; whereas the inquisition so far changes the persons who are detained in it, that though they enter cruel as wolves, and fierce as lions, they come out of it meek as lambs.

When the sermon is ended, two readers, one after another, mount the same pulpit, and with a loud voice publicly read over the sentences of all the criminals, and the punishment to which they are condemned. He whose sentence is to be read over, is brought by an officer into the middle of the gallery, holding an extinguished taper in his hand, and there stands till his sentence is read through; and because all the criminals are supposed to have incurred the greater excommunication, when any one’s sentence is read over, he is brought to the foot of the altar, where, upon his knees, and his hands placed on the missale, he waits till so many are brought there, as there are missals upon the altar. Then the reader for some time defers the reading of the sentences; and after he hath admonished those who are kneeling at the altar, that they should recite with him with their heart and mouth the confession of faith he is to read over to them, he reads it with a loud voice; and when it is ended, they all take their former places. Then the reader reads over the sentences of the rest, and the same order is observed till all the sentences are gone through.

When the sentences of all those, who are freed from the punishment of death by the mercy of the office, are read through, the inquisitor rises from his throne, puts on his sacred vestments, and being attended with about twenty priests, comes down into the middle of the church, and there saying over some solemn prayers,[274] which may be seen[275] in the Book of the Sentences of the Thoulouse Inquisition, he absolves them all from the excommunication they were under, giving each of them a blow by the hands of those priests who attend him.

Footnote 274:

_Verse._ Lord save thy men servants, and thine handmaids. _Resp._ Those, O my God, who trust in thee. _Verse._ The Lord be with you. _Resp._ And with thy spirit.

_Let us pray._

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to these thy men servants, and thine handmaids, the worthy fruit of penance; that they may be rendered innocent in the sight of thy holy church, from the integrity of which they have strayed through sin, by obtaining the pardon of their sins, through Christ our Lord. _Amen._

Footnote 275:

Fol. 149.

Farther, when the inquisitors absolve and reconcile penitents at an act of faith, they make use of rods, to admonish them, that by heresy they have fallen from the favour of God into his anger and fury. Hence Paramus[276] advises such penitents to consider, with how great indulgence they are treated, because they are only whipped on the shoulders; that they may go away, and being mindful of the divine fury, may take heed not to relapse for the future. The rod also points out the judiciary power which the inquisitors exercise over impious heretics, and those who are suspected of heresy; because a rod is the measure by which any one’s deserts are measured, and therefore penitents are whipped with rods according to the nature of their offence, whereby their faults are weighed and measured. Farther, the inquisitors use rods, because, as a rod at the beginning is in its nature flexible, tender and soft, but at last hard, blunt and stiff, so the inquisitors are soft and tender, whilst penitents offending through frailty and ignorance, reconcile themselves; but if heretics do afterwards suffer themselves to be overcome by wickedness, and fall again into the crimes they have committed, then they whip them, and strike them severely, even to the burning of the fire. And, finally, they use rods to establish and support the weak in the faith; because rods are a very apt instrument to support and confirm the lame and weak.

Footnote 276:

L. 2. t. 3. c. 11.

The penitents carry in their hands extinguished wax tapers, whilst the inquisitors reconcile them; to intimate, that the light of the faith hath been altogether extinguished in their minds by the sin of heresy and infidelity. These tapers are made of wax, whereby heretics profess (Risum teneatis) that their hearts have been so melted, through the heat of Concupiscence, as to receive various sects; and that as wax grows hard by moisture, but melts by dryness and warmth, so they being hardened by the moisture of carnal delights, have remained in infidelity, but are melted as wax, and converted by the dryness and heat of tribulation and penance enjoined them. And finally, the cotton of the taper, and the wax of which it is made, and the fire with which it is lighted after absolution, shadow forth that the heretics have denied faith, hope, and charity. But when the tapers are lighted after their reconciliation, this signifies that they profess they will demonstrate, by the light of good works, the faith which they have recovered.

Farther, those who are reconciled are sprinkled with holy water and hyssop, in token, that being brought out of the power of darkness, and having turned the eyes of their minds to the true light of the faith, they are to remain free from all the snares and calumnies of the devil, that they may serve God with greater freedom.

Farther, he who hath offended against the Catholic faith which he had professed, hath a rope tied round his neck, to signify, that the inward parts of such a person being possessed by the craftiness of the devil, have been given to such sins, of which his outward parts being tied with ropes, give a very evident sign and proof. And though they are reconciled after abjuration of their heresy, yet they walk with a rope tied about their necks; that they may come out as witnesses against themselves, and may be examples to others, that they may turn their eyes to the inward spots of the mind.

During this action, every one of the prisoners eats the bread and figs in the church, which were given them by the officers of the inquisition in jail.

When this ceremony is performed, the inquisitor goes back to his place; after which the sentences of those who are appointed to death are read over; the conclusion of which is, that the inquisition can shew them no favour, upon account of their being relapsed, or impenitent, and that therefore it delivers them over to the arm of the secular court, which they earnestly intreat so to moderate their punishment, as to prevent the effusion of blood, and danger of death. When those last words are read, one of the officers of the holy office gives each of them a blow on the breast, by which he signifies that they are left by the inquisition; upon which one of the officers of secular justice comes to them and claims them. If any of them are in holy orders, they are degraded, and deprived of all their orders, before they are delivered to the secular arm. After this they read the sentences against the dead. At last these miserable wretches are brought to the secular judge, to hear the sentence of death; and when they come before him, they are severally asked in what religion they desire to die? Their crime is never inquired into; because it is not the office of the secular magistrate to ask, whether those, who are condemned by the inquisition, are criminal? He is to presuppose them guilty, and his duty is to inflict the punishment appointed by law upon those who commit such crimes, of which they are pronounced guilty by the inquisition. When they have answered this one single question, they are soon after tied to a stake, round about which there is placed a pile of wood. Those who answer that they will die Catholics, are first strangled; but those who say they will die Jews or heretics, are burnt alive.[277] As these are leading out to punishment, the rest are carried back without any order, by their sureties, to the jail of the inquisition. This is the celebration of an act of faith in Portugal; or rather in that part of India which is subject to the Portugueze, as a Frenchman hath described it in his History of the Inquisition at Goa, who himself walked in procession at an act of faith, wearing the infamous Sambenito, and who accurately observed and described all the circumstances of it.

Footnote 277:

I cannot here avoid giving my reader a more particular account of this execution from Dr. Geddes, who himself was once present at it. His words are these: “The prisoners are no sooner in the hands of the civil magistrate, than they are loaded with chains, before the eyes of the inquisitors; and being carried first to the secular jail, are, within an hour or two, brought from thence, before the lord chief justice, who without knowing any thing of their particular crimes, or of the evidence that was against them, asks them, one by one, in what religion they do intend to die? If they answer, that they will die in the communion of the Church of Rome, they are condemned by him, to be carried forthwith to the place of execution, and there to be first strangled, and afterwards burnt to ashes. But if they say, they will die in the Protestant, or in any other faith that is contrary to the Roman, they are then sentenced by him, to be carried forthwith to the place of execution, and there to be burnt alive.

“At the place of execution, which at Lisbon is the Ribera, there are so many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with a good quantity of dry furze about them. The stakes of the professed, as the inquisitors call them, may be about four yards high, and have a small board, whereon the prisoner is to be seated, within half a yard of the top. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed go up a ladder, betwixt the two jesuits, which have attended them all day; and when they are come even with the forementioned board, they turn about to the people, and the jesuits spend near a quarter of an hour in exhorting the professed to be reconciled to the Church of Rome; which, if they refuse to be, the jesuits come down, and the executioner ascends, and having turned the professed off the ladder upon the seat, and chained their bodies close to the stake, he leaves them; and the jesuits go up to them a second time, to renew their exhortation to them, and at parting tell them, that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their souls, and carry them with him into the flames of hell-fire, so soon as they are out of their bodies. Upon this a great shout is raised, and as soon as the jesuits are off the ladders, the cry is, ‘Let the dogs beards, let the dogs beards be made;’ which is done by thrusting flaming furzes, fastened to a long pole, against their faces. And this inhumanity is commonly continued until their faces are burnt to a coal, and is always accompanied with such loud acclamations of joy, as are not to be heard upon any other occasion; a bull feast, or a farce, being dull entertainments, to the using a professed heretic thus inhumanly.

“The professed beards having been thus made, or trimmed, as they call it in jollity, fire is set to the furze, which are at the bottom of the stake, and above which the professed are chained so high, that the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat they sit on; and if there happens to be a wind, to which that place is much exposed, it seldom reaches so high as their knees: so that though, if there be a calm, the professed are commonly dead in about half an hour after the furze is set on fire; yet, if the weather prove windy, they are not after that dead in an hour and a half, or two hours, and so are really roasted, and not burnt to death. But though, out of hell, there cannot possibly be a more lamentable spectacle than this, being joined with the sufferers (so long as they are able to speak) crying out, ‘Miserecordia por amor de Dios, Mercy for the love of God;’ yet it is beheld by people of both sexes, and all ages, with such transports of joy and satisfaction, as are not on any other occasion to be met with.” Dr. Gedde’s Tracts, vol. I. p. 447, &c. Thus far Dr. Geddes.

When Mr. Wilcox, afterwards the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Rochester, was minister to the English factory at Lisbon, he sent the following letter to the then Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, dated at Lisbon, Jan. 15, 1706, N. S. which I publish by his lordship’s allowance and approbation, and which abundantly confirms the foregoing account.

“My Lord,

“In obedience to your lordship’s commands, of the 10th ult. I have here sent all that was printed concerning the last Auto de Fe. I saw the whole process, which was agreeable to what is published by Limborch and others upon that subject. Of the five persons condemned, there were but four burnt; Antonio Tavanes, by an unusual reprieve, being saved after the procession. Heytor Dias, and Maria Pinteyra, were burnt alive, and the other two first strangled. The execution was very cruel. The woman was alive in the flames half an hour, and the man above an hour. The present king and his brothers were seated at a window so near, as to be addressed to a considerable time, in very moving terms, by the man as he was burning. But though the favour he begged was only a few more faggots, yet he was not able to obtain it. Those which are burnt alive here, are seated on a bench twelve feet high, fastened to a pole, and above six feet higher than the faggots. The wind being a little fresh, the man’s hinder parts were perfectly wasted; and as he turned himself, his ribs opened before he left speaking, the fire being recruited as it wasted, to keep him just in the same degree of heat. But all his entreaties could not procure him a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery and dispatch him.” Thus far the Letter.

How diabolical a religion must that be, which thus divests men of all the sentiments of humanity and compassion, and hardens them against all the miseries and sufferings of their fellow creatures! For as Dr. Geddes observes, _ibid._ p. 450, “That the reader may not think that this inhuman joy is the effect of a natural cruelty that is in these peoples disposition, and not of the spirit of their religion, he may rest assured, that all public malefactors besides heretics, have their violent deaths no where more tenderly lamented than amongst the same people, and even when there is nothing in the manner of their deaths that appears inhuman or cruel.”

The method of celebrating an act of faith in Spain, is somewhat different. For whereas at Goa the banner, which they carry before the procession hath the picture of Dominick wrought in it, Paramus says, that in Spain the cross is the banner of the inquisition, which is carried before them; and tediously tells us of several mysteries signified by the cross, of which I will here give a short summary.

The cross is the beginning and end of all acts of the inquisition; and by it is represented, that the tribunal of the inquisition is a representation of that supreme and final tribunal, in which the sign of the cross shall appear before the Lord Christ, coming to the judgement of the world with great majesty and glory. Farther, it denotes the war which the inquisition wages against heretics, and the victory which they gain over the enemies of the orthodox faith; because the inquisitors are appointed the conquerors of heretical pravity, and captains for the defence of religion, who keep watch at the castle of the inquisition for the Christian faith, repair it when going to ruin, restore it when tumbled down, and preserve it when restored in its ancient, flourishing and vigorous state.

The inquisition uses a green cross, that it may be more conveniently distinguished from those crosses of other colours, which are used by the Christian commonwealth; and especially that it may be shadowed out, that all things usually signified by greenness, belong to the inquisition. For instance, greenness denotes stability and eternity; it is a grateful, pleasant, and attractive colour to the eyes, and finally is a sign of victory and triumph. Hereby is shadowed forth, that the inquisitors of heretical pravity vigilantly preserve the stability of the church; and that heretics are attracted by the green cross, so that they cannot escape the judgment of this tribunal, and by beholding it are brought to the tender bosom of mother church, and drawn to repentance, and the sincerity of the faith.

The banner of the inquisition hath a green cross in a field sable, adorned on the right hand with a branch of green olive, and brandishing on the left a drawn sword, with this motto round about the scutcheon, “Exsurge, Domine, & judica causam tuam; Psal. lxxiv. 22. Arise, O Lord, and plead thy own cause.” The branch of green olive denotes the same as the green cross. But the branch of olive is on the right hand of the cross, and the sword on the left, to shew that in the inquisition mercy is mixed with justice; and the meaning of this mixture they derive from the ark of the tabernacle, in which, together with the tables, there was the rod and the manna, the rod of severity, and the manna of sweetness; as though the rod of Aaron which blossomed, was the rod with which judges command criminals to be whipped. The branch of olive at the right hand, signifies that nothing ought to be so strictly regarded by the inquisitors as mercy and clemency, which the olive most wonderfully shadows forth, which hath branches always green, and which endures storms much longer than any other trees, and if buried under water, is not so soon destroyed, nor doth so easily lose its verdure. The drawn sword brandishing on the left, points out that the inquisitors, after having tried in vain all methods of mercy, do then as it were unwillingly come to the use and drawing of the sword, which was given by God for the punishment of offenders. The field of sable, in the midst of which the green cross is placed, intimates the repentance of the criminals, and the sorrow they conceive on account of their sins; which, however, the green mitigates with the hope of pardon.

The motto round the scutcheon, “Exsurge Domine,” &c. marks out that the inquisitors, in expectation of the coming of the Lord, do in the mean while punish the wicked, that they may deter others, and defend the good.

But besides these things, there are other differences between the celebration of an act of faith in India and Spain. Gonsalvius tells us,[278] this solemn procession began in this manner at Seville. “In the first place went some school-boys, brought out of a certain college in which boys were taught, which they commonly call the house of teaching, who strike an awe upon others by their habit, singing, and order, in which they are kept by certain clergymen cloathed in surplices. They walk along singing the litanies of the saints, repeating them alternately, the chorus alternately answering,[279] “Ora pro nobis.” After these follow the prisoners themselves, commonly called penitentials, disposed as it were into several classes in this order. Next after the children walk those who are convicted of lesser faults. The tokens of their guilt are usually unlighted candles, halters about their necks, wooden bits, and paper mitres. They walk with their heads uncovered, that the mitre may not be concealed; and after the manner of slaves, without their cloak. Those who excel others in birth, or riches, follow after those who are meaner. Next to these march those who are cloathed with the Sambenito’s, or military mantles, marked across with the red cross; the same order being observed as above, according to the distinction of the persons. Those who are defiled in holy orders, as they are superior in dignity, so also are they in their place or rank in the procession. After these comes the third and last class, viz. of those who are appointed for the fire. Every prisoner is attended by two armed familiars, for his safe custody, one on each side of him; besides which, those who are to die have two monks or theatins, as they call them, walking by them. The whole council of the city, consisting of the alguazils, jurors, the judges of twenty-four degrees, the great officers of the court, the regent and viceroy himself, or his deputy, who are followed by a great number of nobility on horseback, immediately follow the classes of the prisoners, who, according to the custom of a triumph, ought certainly to march first. After these comes the ecclesiastical order, the clergy, beneficed persons, and curates walking first. Next after them walk the whole chapter of the principal church, which they commonly call the cabild of the greater church. Then the abbots and priors of the monks orders, with their attendants. All these walk before the holy tribunal to do honour to it, because, on that day, it openly triumphs. Between these and the next after there is a space left empty, in which the fiscal of the inquisition, who hath had no small share in gaining that victory to the holy tribunal, walks as standard-bearer in truly military pomp, displaying and opening the standard made of red damask silk. This standard is most curiously embroidered, having on one side of it the arms of that pope who granted the inquisition, with his name written at large; and on the other those of King Ferdinand, who first brought it into Spain. Every thing in it is wrought with silk, gold, and purple. Upon the very point of this banner is fastened a silver crucifix washed over with gold, of great value; to which the superstitious multitude pay a peculiar veneration, for this reason only, because it belongs to the inquisition. At length come the fathers of the faith themselves, with a slow pace, and profound gravity, truly triumphing, as becomes the principal generals of that victory. After them come all the familiars of the holy inquisition on horseback. Then an innumerable company of the common people and mob, without any order or character. In this pomp they march from the jail of the inquisition to the high and magnificent scaffold, which is built of wood, in the noblest and most capacious street of the city, for shewing the penitents to public view, and for hearing their sentences. On this scaffold they make them sit in the same order as they marched. There is also another scaffold almost as large as the former, over against it, in which is erected the tribunal of the lords inquisitors; where they sit in their inquisitorial, and almost divine majesty, attended with all that grandeur in which they came.”

Footnote 278:

P. 135.

Footnote 279:

Pray for us.

The king (if present) the queen and the whole court, and also the legates, and all the nobility of Spain, generally honour this solemnity with their presence. The seat of the inquisitor general is like a tribunal, raised above the king’s. When all are seated in their places, they begin with celebrating mass; but when the priest who officiates is come to about the middle of the service, he leaves the altar, and goes back to his proper place. Then the supreme inquisitor comes down from the scaffold, robed in all his ornaments; and making his reverences before the altar, ascends by several steps to the king, attended by some of the officers of the inquisition, who carry the crucifix and gospels, and the book in which is contained the oath, by which the king obliges himself to protect the Catholic faith, to the extirpation of heresies, and the defence of the inquisition. The king standing bare-headed, having on one side of him the constable of Castile, or one of the grandees of Spain, who holds up the sword of state, swears that he will keep the oath, which is publicly read over to him, by one of the members of the royal council; and remains in the same posture, till the supreme inquisitor goes back to his place. After this one of the secretaries of the inquisition goes into a desk, reads over the like oath, and takes it from the council, and the whole assembly. Then all the several sentences are read over, and the solemnity sometimes lasts till nine o’clock in the evening.

Criminals penitent and reconciled, and brought out in public procession, are carried back to their former jails in the holy office the same day in which the sentences are pronounced against them, and the day following are brought to an audience of the inquisitors, and are admonished of those things which are enjoined them by their sentences, and how grievously they will be punished, unless they humbly do the penances assigned them. After this, they send every one to the place to which his sentence ordered him. Those who are condemned to the gallies, are sent to the jails of the secular judges. Some are whipped through the principal streets of the city, and sometimes receive two hundred lashes. Others wear the infamous Sambenito; some every day, others must appear in them only sundays and holy days. But in these things every one observes the custom of his own inquisition. In the inquisition at Goa this is the method. Before the prisoners are dismissed, they are carried from jail to some other house, where they are every day instructed in the doctrines and rites of the Church of Rome; and when they are dismissed, every one hath a writing given him, containing the penances enjoined them; to which is added a command, that every one shall exactly keep secret every thing he hath seen, said or heard, and all the transactions relating to him, whether at the table, or in other places of the holy office. And to this secrecy every prisoner binds himself by a solemn oath.

The day after this solemnity also, the effigies of those condemned to death, painted to the life, are carried to the dominican’s church, and there hung up to be viewed by all. The custom in this matter is described by Ludovicus a Paramo.[280] “There is another monument of infamy, which, though vulgarly called by the Spaniards Sambenito, yet is not a garment, but a cloth affixed to the walls of the churches for perpetual infamy in the parishes where they lived. On this cloth is written the name and surname of the criminal, and the business he carried on is also expressed. If he discovers any farther, they add another little piece to the cloth to prevent doubt, describing his country, and oftentimes also the parents and grandfathers of the condemned person.

Footnote 280:

L. 2. t. 2. c. 5. n. 9, 10, 11.

“In some of these cloths may be read who were the parents of the criminals, of what race they were; whether they were married, or if married women, whose wives they were; whether lately recovered to the Christian religion, from the Jewish law and Mahometan sect. Finally, the cause of their penance is declared according to the nature of their crime, viz. that he was an arch-heretic, a dogmatist, a declared heretic, an heretical apostate, a feigned penitent, negative and obstinate, an impenitent and relapsed heretic, a Lutheran, Anabaptist, Calvinist, Martianist heretic, even though they died before condemnation. Besides this inscription, there is also painted the mark which is usually put on living penitents, as is above explained. In the ancient cloths, which have not yet been repaired, one may see an upright cross. Besides these already mentioned, other things may be seen in them; for in some the person and crime is omitted, and this one word only written without the picture, ‘Combustus,’ burnt. On the clothes of such as are reconciled, this word only, without any cross or mark, ‘Reconciliatus,’ reconciled. Sometimes the date of the year is wanting. Sometimes the flames are painted without any inscription, so that the criminal cannot possibly be known. However, these monuments of infamy and disgrace are not to be fixed up to render those infamous, who are reconciled during the time of indulgence and grace. For as it was agreed with them, that they should not wear such infamous habits, nor be cloathed with them during the time of their reconciliation, it would be contrary to reason and justice to hang them up, because it would be wholly to destroy the favour granted them. This constitution is observed in all the kingdoms and dominions of the King of Spain, except in Sicily; where, in the year 1543, when the licentiate Cervera was inquisitor there, there was a very great commotion at Palermo, when the people rose against the holy inquisition, and tore off the infamous cloths from the walls of the church dedicated to St. Dominic, with so great a fury and rage, that they could never, to this day, fix them up again upon the walls either of that, or any other church.”

Thus far we have described the method of proceeding observed in the inquisition; and if we attentively consider it, and compare it with the usual method of proceeding in all other courts, we shall find it to be a series and connection of injustice and cruelties, and subversive of all laws, both divine and human.

The Papists usually recommend to their own people this tribunal as an holy one, and call the inquisition the holy office. But if we consider it thoroughly, we shall find it is all disguise, by which they endeavour to palliate and cover over the villany and injustice of this court. I will not now undertake to shew that the causes which are managed before this tribunal are not subject to human judgment, but belong to the tribunal of God, and his son Christ: for God only, the supreme Lord of all, who can save, and can destroy, can prescribe the laws of salvation and damnation: He only, as omniscient and searcher of hearts, can pronounce an infallible judgment of every one’s faith, which lies concealed in his mind, and which he may dissemble by words or actions, and hath admitted no man as partner with himself in this power. From hence it evidently follows, that it is a sacrilegious violation of the divine majesty and laws, in that the pope of Rome arrogates to himself the judgment of the faith, prescribes laws of believing to the faithful, erects the tribunal of an inquisition, sends every where inquisitors as judges delegated by him, who, in his name, and by a power granted by him, are to inquire into the faith of all, and punish those who are not in all things obedient to the pope. Nor will I here examine that villainous doctrine, by which they teach that heretics are to be deprived of all power, so that faith is not to be kept with them; subjects are not bound by their oath of allegiance and fidelity: that the husband or wife, for the heresy of either, is freed from the laws of matrimony, and even children from obedience to their parents: for it is fully evident, that this doctrine subverts all laws, divine and human.

I will only, in a few words, represent the principal iniquities and instances of injustice of this tribunal; in which, as to the reason and method of proceeding in favour of the faith, it differs from the laws and customs of all other courts; whereby things evidently unjust in other tribunals, are in this accounted just. I shall not indeed mention all, but the chief only, and most remarkable instances, as specimens of the rest.

I. The first is, that the inquisitors, by publishing an edict of the faith, oblige all, under the penalty of excommunication, to inform before them of every one of whom they suspect of heresy, for the slightest cause; so that not only a relation is bound to accuse his relation, a brother his brother, and by this information to bring him into danger of being burnt, the most horrible of all punishments; but even a wife her husband: yea, what destroys all the laws of nature, a son, according to the opinion of many doctors, is bound to inform against his father, if a secret heretic.

II. A second instance of injustice, is their condemning a person defamed only for heresy, to make canonical purgation, i. e. to purge himself with seven, more or less, compurgators; so that if he fails in one, two or three, he is accounted guilty, for thus the life and torture of any one depends on the will and pleasure of another.

III. A third is, that in this office every one, though excluded by other courts, is admitted for a witness, a mortal enemy only excepted.

IV. To this may be added a fourth, that the names of the witnesses are not shewn to the prisoner, nor is any circumstance discovered to him by which he can come to the knowledge of the witnesses.

V. A fifth instance of injustice is, that if two unexceptionable witnesses, who yet must ever be liable to exception, because unknown to the criminal, testify of different facts, yea, sometimes if there be one only, yea, if but a mere report, they think it enough to order to the torture.

VI. A sixth instance is, that they would have persons informed against become their own accusers: for as soon as ever any one is thrown into jail, he is bound by an oath to declare the truth.

VII. A seventh instance is, that the inquisitors use various arts to draw out a confession from the prisoners, by making them deceitful promises, which, when they have got the confession, they do not believe themselves obliged to fulfil; that so the prisoner being destitute of all human assistance and comfort, and seeing no end to his miseries, may, through the art and fraud of the inquisitor, have no possible way left to defend himself, and yet in the mean while these wretches affect the appearance of justice, and grant the criminals an advocate and proctor to manage their cause. But in this the prisoner is miserably deceived.

VIII. And this is an eighth specimen of their injustice, because the advocate granted to him is given him only to betray him. For he may not choose such an advocate as he himself approves of, nor is it lawful for the advocate to defend the prisoner, unless he would be accounted as a favourer of heresy; but the inquisition itself assigns him his advocate, bound to them by an oath, whose principal business is to persuade the criminal to confess the crime he is accused of, not to use any methods of defence not practised in the court of the inquisition, and immediately to quit his defence, if he cannot defend him according to the laws of the inquisition.

IX. A ninth is, that when the crimes cannot be proved against the prisoner, he is not absolved from the crime of which he is accused, but only from prosecution; and all the declaration that is made, is that the crime against him is not proved by proper witnesses; and this sentence is never taken for an adjudged case. So that he who is once informed against to the inquisition, although he be innocent, and his crime cannot be proved according to the received manner of the inquisition, though indeed, according to that manner, all crimes of which there is but the least suspicion may be easily proved; yet he is never blotted out of the inquisitors book or index, but his name is there preserved in perpetual remembrance of his being a suspected person, that if he should happen to be informed against for heresy at any other time, these latter informations added to the former may amount to a real proof; and that although he is dismissed from jail by the sentence of the judge, he may never be able to live in safety, but that being always suspected by the inquisitor, he may be arrested for the same crime which ought to have been forgotten, upon the fresh information of some vile and wicked fellow.

X. A tenth, and that not the least instance of injustice, is their readiness to put persons to the torture, and that to discover a secret crime, lying concealed in the mind; yea, that they will use the torture so much the sooner, because the crime is more concealed than other crimes.

XI. The eleventh is, their putting persons to the torture upon half full proof of the crime. This half full proof is faultering, defamation, and one witness of his own knowledge, or when the tokens are vehement and violent. All these things are subject to the pleasure of the judge. So that if any one falls into the hands of a cruel inquisitor, and faulters in his answer, or is informed against by one witness, who declares he was present at the action or words he gives information of, he cannot possibly escape the torture, nor consequently the punishment of the crime he is accused of, considering the violence of the torments. Nor is this all; but as there may be some facts occasioned not so much by heresy concealed in the mind, as by carnal concupiscence or rashness, they will have such to be tortured for their intention, and force them by torments to confess they had an heretical intention in their mind.

XII. A twelfth is, that when they prepare themselves for the torture, they gravely and seriously admonish the criminal to speak nothing but the truth, and to confess nothing that is not agreeable to truth to avoid the tortures. By this means they put on the appearance of sincerity, as though they sought nothing but the naked truth, that when the torture is finished they may be very secure that the tortured person hath confessed a real crime, because they have seriously and gravely admonished him to say nothing contrary to truth. In the mean while they suppose, that the crime objected against him is real, and endeavour to force from him a confession by torture, and threaten to double his torments unless he confesses; so that if he denies the crime, his torments are aggravated; if he confesses it, his torments are soon ended. Hence it appears, that their design is not honestly to find out the truth by torture, but that they suppose the crime is real, although according to the laws of the inquisition it be only half proved, and then extort a confession of it.

XIII. A thirteenth is, that whereas in other courts the number is certainly fixed how often the torture may be repeated, they have invented a method of torturing persons very often, without offending against the law, which provides that the tortures shall not be repeated above twice or thrice. If, for instance, they make use of the lesser tortures, and the prisoner confesses nothing, they afterwards make use of more grievous ones, then proceed to such as are more cruel, till at different intervals of time they have gone through all the several kinds of tortures. And this they do not call a repetition, but only a continuation of the torture; so that if any one hath been several times tortured, but with a different kind of torture each time, and hath thus at certain distances gone through all the kinds of torture, according to the opinion of these merciful casuists, he ought to be accounted as tortured only once.

XIV. A fourteenth is, that when they deliver condemned persons to the secular arm, they intercede for them, that their punishment may be so moderated as to prevent shedding of blood, or danger of death. And in the mean while, if the magistrate is not ready to burn the heretics, or delays the punishment, they oblige him, under penalty of excommunication, to execute the sentence. The superstitious wretches are afraid they should become irregular, by delivering a criminal to the secular magistrate without intercession, and yet are not afraid of becoming irregular, by compelling the magistrate under penalty of excommunication to murder those whom they have condemned. Can any thing be more evident, than that this is nothing more than acting a part, and an affectation to be thought by the people to have no hand in the murder of which they are really the authors?

XV. The last instance I shall mention, appears in their ridiculous process against the dead, whose relations and heirs they cite, to appear on such a day to defend, if they can and will, the memory of the dead. Whereas they themselves have made it a law, that if any one appears in defence of an heretic, he shall be accounted as a favourer of heretics himself, and condemned as such, and have no advocate or procurator to defend himself. So that they cite all persons to defend the memory of the dead, and yet deter all persons from such defence by a most grievous punishment, appointed against the favourers of heretics. So that all this is like their intercession for criminals, mere imposture and sham. Then they provide an advocate to manage the cause, bound to them under an oath, and he publicly declares he cannot defend the memory of the deceased. So that as no one undertakes his defence, the accusations against him are reckoned just, the proofs legal, and the deceased is condemned for heresy. But what greater instance of injustice can there be, than to condemn a person as convicted, whose defence no one dares undertake, without running the hazard of his fortune and life.

If any one considers these things, which I have mentioned as specimens only, he will find no sanctity in the court of the inquisition; but must acknowledge, that in the whole method of proceeding there is nothing but injustice, fraud, impostures, and the most accursed hypocrisy; by which the inquisitors, under the feigned pretence of sanctity, endeavour to disguise the villany of their proceedings, that so they may maintain their dominion over the miserable common people, and keep them all in subjection to themselves. And though they do every thing that is wicked and vile, yet they would have all adore them for the venerable character of sanctity.

It is needless to mention here more instances of their cruelty: I shall say all in a few words. The miseries of the jail, in which the prisoners are generally confined by themselves for several years, shut up in darkness, without being allowed any human converse, are so great, the cruelty of their torments so severe, and their punishments so exquisite, that they greatly exceed the cruelty of all other courts: for persons are not only burnt alive, but their mouths gagged, so that they have not the liberty to groan or cry out in those most horrible tortures; and by thus stopping up their mouths, they are in such an agony, as that they are almost strangled. But their cruelty towards the penitent and converted is most detestable: for whereas the church ought, with open arms, to embrace penitents, in imitation of the shepherd who carried the lost sheep on his shoulders, and brought it home to the sheepfold, these wretches enjoin the most grievous punishments on those whose lives they spare, which with them are only wholesome penances. For they condemn them either to wear the infamous Sambenito, or to imprisonment, or the gallies, whereby their very life is oftentimes a punishment to them; whilst others are denied the very hopes of life, especially the relapsed, who are condemned to death without mercy, though they convert themselves. And yet the sacraments are given to those who are reconciled to the church when they desire it; and thus before they are put to death they become members of the church, put in a state of salvation, and by the priests themselves most certainly assured of an heavenly crown. Can there be any greater cruelty, and more abhorrent from the spirit of Christianity, than to punish with death an erroneous person who repents, detests his error, and is now reconciled to the church? But the ecclesiastical sanctions must be satisfied, and the authority of the church preserved entire, though the laws of Jesus Christ, and the commands of the gospel are trampled under foot.

All these iniquities are committed according to the very laws of the inquisition. Many things are indeed, in the execution of this office, left to the pleasure of the inquisitors, which power they often villainously abuse, as appears from their daily practice, and innumerable instances; for it was the common complaint of all nations against the inquisition, what Thuanus tells us[281] was the complaint of the Neapolitans: “That the perverse and preposterous form of trials increased the horror, because it was contrary to natural equity, and to every legal method in carrying on that jurisdiction. Add to this the inhumanity of their tortures, by which they violently extorted from the miserable and innocent criminals, that they might deliver themselves from their torment, whatsoever the delegated judges would have them confess, though generally contrary to truth. And for this reason it was justly said, that it was invented not for the sake of defending religion, which the primitive church had provided for by a quite different method, but that by this means they might strip all men of their fortunes, and bring innocent persons into danger of being destroyed.”

Footnote 281:

Hist. l. 3.

The papists indeed glory, that the inquisition is the most certain remedy to extirpate heresies. And because the inquisition is so effectual a method to extirpate heresies, Ludovicus a Paramo[282] gathers from thence that it was ordained for this purpose by the most wise providence of God. But what is really unjust in itself, and carried on by unjust methods, cannot have God for its author; nor is success any argument that the inquisition is from God. The first inquiry is, whether it be suitable to the nature of the Christian doctrine? If it be not, it is then unjust and anti-christian. Many things are unrighteously undertaken, by men, and accomplished by violence and cruelty, by which innocence is oppressed; which, although God in his just and wise counsel permits, he is far from approving. Even in Japan, a cruel persecution hath extinguished the Christian religion, as preached by the Roman priests; so that the Roman Catholic religion is equally extinguished there by the violence of persecutions, as those doctrines are in Spain, which are contrary to the church of Rome, and which they render odious by the infamous name of heresy. And yet they will not allow that any just argument can be drawn from hence, to prove that that persecution was given by divine Providence, as a most effectual remedy for the extirpation of their religion. If other parties of Christians would use the same diligence and cruelty of inquisition against them, I may venture to affirm, that they themselves could not withstand it: but that within a few years the popish religion would be extinguished in all Protestant countries, and scarce a single person left who would dare to profess it. But God forbid that the Christian religion should ever be propagated this way, which doth not consist in a feigned and hypocritical profession, but in a sincere and undissembled faith. And therefore, as no one ought to assume to himself the power of judging concerning it, but God the searcher of hearts, to him only let us leave it to pass the true judgment concerning every man’s belief. Let us in the mean while detest the tyranny of the papists; and strive to reduce those who, in our judgment, hold errors, into the way of truth, by the good offices of charity and benevolence, without arrogating to ourselves a judgment over the consciences of others. And out of a serious regard to the last great day of judgment, let us approve our consciences to God: and every one of us, expecting from his mercy an equitable and righteous judgment, pray without ceasing: “ARISE, O LORD, AND PLEAD THY OWN CAUSE.”

Footnote 282:

L. 2. t. 3. c. 4, 5.

OF THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INQUISITION AT GOA,

_Taken from the Rev. Dr. BUCHANAN’s “Christian Researches in Asia.”_

THE ROMISH CHRISTIANS IN INDIA.

In every age of the Church of Rome there have been individuals, of an enlightened piety, who derived their religion not from “the commandments of men,” but from the doctrines of the Bible. There are at this day, in India and in England, members of that communion, who deserve the affection and respect of all good men; and whose cultivated minds will arraign the corruptions of their own religion, which the author is about to describe, more severely than he will permit himself to do. He is indeed prepared to speak of Roman Catholics with as much liberality as perhaps any Protestant has ever attempted on Christian principles: for he is acquainted with individuals, whose unaffected piety he considers a reproach to a great body of Protestants, even of the strictest sort. It is indeed painful to say any thing which may seem to feeling and noble minds ungenerous; but those enlightened persons, whose good opinion it is desirable to preserve, will themselves be pleased to see that truth is not sacrificed to personal respect, or to a spurious candour. Their own church sets an example of “plainness of speech” in the assertion of those tenets which it professes, some of which must be extremely painful to the feeling of Protestants, in their social intercourse with Catholics; such as, “That there is no salvation out of the pale of the Romish church.”

This exclusive character prevents concord and intimacy between Protestant and Catholic families. On the principles of infidelity they can associate very easily; but on the principles of religion, the Protestant must ever be on the _defensive_; for the Romish church excommunicates him: and although he must hope that some individuals do not maintain the tenet, yet his uncertainty as to the fact prevents that cordiality which he desires. Many excellent Catholics suffer unjustly in their intercourse with Protestants, from the ancient and exclusive articles of their own church, which they themselves neither profess nor believe. If they will only intimate to their Protestant friends, that they renounce the exclusive principle, and that they profess the religion of the Bible, no more seems requisite to form with such persons the sincerest friendship on Christian principles.

At the present time we see the Romish religion in Europe _without_ dominion; and hence it is viewed by the mere philosopher with indifference or contempt. He is pleased to see, that the “seven heads and the ten horns” are taken away; and thinks nothing of the “names of blasphemy.” But in the following pages, the author will have occasion to shew what Rome is, as _having_ dominion; and possessing it too within the boundaries of the British Empire.

In passing through the Romish provinces in the East, though the author had before heard much of the Papal corruptions, he certainly did not expect to see Christianity in the degraded state in which he found it. Of the priests it may truly be said, that they are, in general, better acquainted with the Veda of Brahma than with the Gospel of Christ. In some places the doctrines of both are blended. At Aughoor, situated between Tritchinopoly and Madura, he witnessed (in October 1806) the Tower of Juggernaut employed to solemnize a Christian festival. The old priest Josephus accompanied him, when he surveyed the idolatrous car and its painted figures, and gave him a particular account of the various ceremonies which are performed, seemingly unconscious himself of any impropriety in them. The author went with him afterwards into the church, and seeing a book lying on the altar, opened it; but the reader may judge of his surprize, when he found it was a Syriac volume, and was informed that the priest himself was a descendant of the Syrian Christians, and belonged to what is now called the Syro-Roman Church, the whole service of which is in Syriac.—Thus, by the intervention of the papal power, are the ceremonies of Moloch consecrated in a manner by the sacred Syriac language. What a heavy responsibility lies on Rome, for having thus corrupted and degraded that pure and ancient church!

While the author viewed these Christian corruptions in different places, and in different forms, he was always referred to the Inquisition at Goa, as the fountain-head. He had long cherished the hope, that he should be able to visit Goa before he left India. His chief objects were the following:

1. To ascertain whether the inquisition actually refused to recognise the Bible, among the Romish churches in British India.

2. To inquire into the state and jurisdiction of the inquisition, particularly as it affected British subjects.

3. To learn what was the system of education for the priesthood; and

4. To examine the ancient church-libraries in Goa, which were said to contain all the books of the first printing.

He will select from his journal in this place, chiefly what relates to the inquisition. He had learnt from every quarter, that this tribunal, formerly so well known for its frequent burnings, was still in operation, though under some restriction as to the _publicity_ of its proceedings; and that its power extended to the extreme boundary of Hindoostan. That, in the present civilized state of Christian nations in Europe, an inquisition should exist at all under their authority, appeared strange; but that a papal tribunal of this character should exist under the implied toleration and countenance of the British Government; that Christians, being subjects of the British Empire, and inhabiting the British territories, should be amenable to its power and jurisdiction, was a statement which seemed to be scarcely credible; but, if true, a fact which demanded the most public and solemn representation.

_Goa, Convent of the Augustinians, Jan. 23, 1808._

‘On my arrival at Goa, I was received into the house of Captain Schuyler, the British resident. The British force here is commanded by Colonel Adams, of His Majesty’s 78th regiment, with whom I was formerly well acquainted in Bengal.[283] Next day I was introduced by these gentlemen to the vice-roy of Goa, the Count de Cabral. I intimated to his excellency my wish to sail up the river to Old Goa,[284] (where the inquisition is,) to which he politely acceded. Major Pareira, of the Portuguese establishment, who was present, and to whom I had letters of introduction from Bengal, offered to accompany me to the city, and to introduce me to the archbishop of Goa, the primate of the Orient.

Footnote 283:

The forts in the harbour of Goa were then occupied by British troops (two king’s regiments, and two regiments of native infantry) to prevent its falling into the hands of the French.

Footnote 284:

There is Old and New Goa. The old city is about eight miles up the river. The vice-roy and the chief Portuguese inhabitants reside at New Goa, which is at the mouth of the river, within the forts of the harbour. The old city, where the inquisition and the churches are, is now almost entirely deserted by the secular Portuguese, and is inhabited by the priests alone. The unhealthiness of the place, and the ascendency of the priests, are the causes assigned for abandoning the ancient city.

‘I had communicated to Colonel Adams, and to the British resident, my purpose of enquiring into the state of the inquisition. These gentlemen informed me, that I should not be able to accomplish my design without difficulty; since every thing relating to the inquisition was conducted in a very secret manner, the most respectable of the lay Portuguese themselves being ignorant of its proceedings; and that, if the priests were to discover my object, their excessive jealousy and alarm would prevent their communicating with me, or satisfying my inquiries on any subject.

‘On receiving this intelligence, I perceived that it would be necessary to proceed with caution. I was, in fact, about to visit a republic of priests; whose dominion had existed for nearly three centuries; whose province it was to prosecute heretics, and particularly the teachers of heresy; and from whose authority and sentence there was no appeal in India.[285]

Footnote 285:

I was informed that the vice-roy of Goa has no authority over the inquisition, and that he himself is liable to its censure. Were the British government, for instance, to prefer a complaint against the inquisition to the Portuguese government at Goa, it could obtain no redress. By the very constitution of the inquisition, there is no power in India which can invade its jurisdiction, or even put a question to it on any subject.

‘It happened that Lieutenant Kempthorne, commander of His Majesty’s brig Diana, a distant connection of my own, was at this time in the harbour. On his learning that I meant to visit Old Goa, he offered to accompany me; as did Captain Stirling, of His Majesty’s 84th regiment, which is now stationed at the forts.

‘We proceeded up the river in the British resident’s barge, accompanied by Major Pareira, who was well qualified, by a thirty years’ residence, to give information concerning local circumstances. From him I learned that there were upwards of two hundred churches and chapels in the province of Goa, and upwards of two thousand priests.’

‘On our arrival at the city,[286] it was past twelve o’clock: all the churches were shut, and we were told that they would not be opened again till two o’clock. I mentioned to Major Pareira, that I intended to stay at Old Goa some days; and that I should be obliged to him to find me a place to sleep in. He seemed surprised at this intimation, and observed that it would be difficult for me to obtain reception in any of the churches or convents, and that there were no private houses into which I could be admitted. I said I could sleep any where; I had two servants with me, and a travelling bed. When he perceived that I was serious in my purpose, he gave directions to a civil officer, in that place, to clear out a room in a building which had been long uninhabited, and which was then used as a warehouse for goods. Matters at this time presented a very gloomy appearance; and I had thoughts of returning with my companions from this inhospitable place. In the mean time we sat down in the room I have just mentioned, to take some refreshment, while Major Pareira went to call on some of his friends. During this interval I communicated to Lieutenant Kempthorne the object of my visit. I had in my pocket ‘Dellon’s Account of the Inquisition at Goa;’[287] and I mentioned some particulars. While we were conversing on the subject, the great bell began to toll; the same which Dellon observes always tolls, before day-light, on the morning of the Auto da Fè. I did not myself ask any questions of the people concerning the inquisition; but Mr. Kempthorne made inquiries for me: and he soon found out that the Santa Casa, or Holy Office, was close to the house where we were then sitting. The gentlemen went to the window to view the horrid mansion; and I could see the indignation of free and enlightened men arise in the countenance of the two British officers, while they contemplated a place where formerly their own countrymen were condemned to the flames, and into which they themselves might now suddenly be thrown, without the possibility of rescue.

Footnote 286:

We entered the city by the palace gate, over which is the statue of Vasco de Gama, who first opened India to the view of Europe. I had seen at Calicut, a few weeks before, the ruins of the Samorin’s Palace, in which Vasco de Gama was first received. The Samorin was the first native prince against whom the Europeans made war. The empire of the Samorin has passed away; and the empire of his conquerors has passed away: and now imperial Britain exercises dominion. May imperial Britain be prepared to give a good account of her stewardship, when it shall be said unto her, “Thou mayest be no longer steward!”

Footnote 287:

Monsieur Dellon, a physician, was imprisoned in the dungeon of the inquisition at Goa for two years, and witnessed an Auto da Fè, when some heretics were burned; at which he walked barefoot. After his release he wrote the history of his confinement. His descriptions are in general very accurate.

‘At two o’clock we went out to view the churches, which were now open for the afternoon service; for there are regular daily masses; and the bells began to assail the ear in every quarter.

‘The magnificence of the churches of Goa, far exceeded any idea I had formed from the previous description. Goa is properly a city of churches; and the wealth of provinces seems to have been expended in their erection. The ancient specimens of architecture at this place far excel any thing that has been attempted in modern times in any other part of the East, both in grandeur and in taste. The chapel of the palace is built after the plan of St. Peter’s at Rome, and is said to be an accurate model of that paragon of architecture. The church of St. Dominic, the founder of the inquisition, is decorated with paintings of Italian masters. St. Francis Xavier lies enshrined in a monument of exquisite art, and his coffin is enchased with silver and precious stones. The cathedral of Goa is worthy of one of the principal cities of Europe; and the church and convent of the Augustinians (in which I now reside) is a noble pile of building, situated on an eminence, and has a magnificent appearance from afar.

‘But what a contrast to all this grandeur of the churches is the worship offered in them! I have been present at the service in one or other of the chapels every day since I arrived; and I seldom see a single worshipper, but the ecclesiastics. Two rows of native priests, kneeling in order before the altar, clothed in coarse black garments, of sickly appearance, and vacant countenance, perform here, from day to day, their laborious masses, seemingly unconscious of any other duty or obligation of life.

‘The day was now far spent, and my companions were about to leave me. While I was considering whether I should return with them, Major Pareira said he would first introduce me to a priest, high in office, and one of the most learned men in the place. We accordingly walked to the convent of the Augustinians, where I was presented to Joseph a Doloribus, a man well advanced in life, of pale visage and penetrating eye, rather of a reverend appearance, and possessing great fluency of speech and urbanity of manners. At first sight he presented the aspect of one of those acute and prudent men of the world, the learned and respectable Italian Jesuits, some of whom are yet found, since the demolition of their order, reposing, in tranquil obscurity, in different parts of the East. After half an hour’s conversation in the Latin language, during which he adverted rapidly to a variety of subjects, and enquired concerning some learned men of his own church, whom I had visited in my tour, he politely invited me to take up my residence with him, during my stay at Old Goa. I was highly gratified by this unexpected invitation; but Lieutenant Kempthorne did not approve of leaving me in the hands of the _Inquisitor_. For judge of our surprise, when we discovered that my learned host was one of the inquisitors of the holy office, the second member of that august tribunal in rank, but the first and most active agent in the business of the department. Apartments were assigned to me in the college adjoining the convent, next to the rooms of the inquisitor himself; and here I have been now four days at the very fountain head of information, in regard to those subjects which I wished to investigate. I breakfast and dine with the inquisitor almost every day, and he generally passes his evenings in my apartment. As he considers my enquiries to be chiefly of a literary nature, he is perfectly candid and communicative on all subjects.

‘Next day after my arrival, I was introduced by my learned conductor to the Archbishop of Goa. We found him reading the Latin letters of St. Francis Xavier. On my adverting to the long duration of the city of Goa, while other cities of Europeans in India had suffered from war or revolution, the archbishop observed, that the preservation of Goa, was owing to the prayers of St. Francis Xavier. The inquisitor looked at me to see what I thought of this sentiment. I acknowledged that Xavier was considered by the learned among the English to have been a great man: what he wrote himself, bespeaks him a man of learning, of original genius, and great fortitude of mind; but what others have written for him, and of him, tarnished his fame, by making him the inventor of fables. The archbishop signified his assent. He afterwards conducted me into his private chapel, which is decorated with images of silver, and then into the Archiepiscopal library, which possesses a valuable collection of books. As I passed through our convent, in returning from the archbishop’s, I observed among the paintings in the cloisters a portrait of the famous Alexis de Menezes, archbishop of Goa, who held the synod of Diamper near Cochin, in 1599, and burned the books of the Syrian Christians. From the inscription underneath I learned that he was the founder of the magnificent church and convent in which I am now residing.

‘On the same day I received an invitation to dine with the chief inquisitor, at his house in the country. The second inquisitor accompanied me, and we found a respectable company of priests, and a sumptuous entertainment. In the library of the chief inquisitor I saw a register, containing the present establishment of the inquisition at Goa, and the names of all the officers. On my asking the chief inquisitor whether the establishment was as extensive as formerly, he said it was nearly the same. I had hitherto said little to any person concerning the inquisition, but I had indirectly gleaned much information concerning it, not only from the inquisitors themselves, but from certain priests, whom I visited at their respective convents; particularly from a father in the Franciscan convent, who had himself repeatedly witnessed an Auto da Fè.

-------

‘_Goa, Augustinian Convent, 26th Jan. 1808._

‘On Sunday, after divine service, which I attended, we looked over together the prayers and portions of Scripture for the day, which led to a discussion concerning some of the doctrines of Christianity. We then read the third chapter of St. John’s Gospel, in the Latin Vulgate. I asked the inquisitor whether he believed in the influence of the Spirit there spoken of. He distinctly admitted it; conjointly however he thought, in some obscure sense, with _water_. I observed that water was merely an emblem of the purifying effects of the Spirit, and could be _but_ an emblem. We next adverted to the expression of St. John in his first Epistle; ‘This is he that came by water and blood: even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by _water_ and _blood_:—blood to atone for sin, and water to purify the heart; justification and sanctification: both of which were expressed at the same moment on the cross. The inquisitor was pleased with the subject. By an easy transition we passed to the importance of the Bible itself, to illuminate the priests and people. I noticed to him that after looking through the colleges and schools, there appeared to me to be a _total eclipse_ of Scriptural light. He acknowledged that religion and learning were truly in a degraded state.—I had visited the theological schools, and at every place I expressed my surprise to the tutors, in presence of the pupils, at the absence of the Bible, and almost total want of reference to it. They pleaded the custom of the place, and the scarcity of copies of the book itself. Some of the younger priests came to me afterwards, desiring to know by what means they might procure copies. This inquiry for Bibles was like a ray of hope beaming on the walls of the inquisition.

‘I pass an hour sometimes in the spacious library of the Augustinian convent. There are many rare volumes, but they are chiefly theological, and almost all of the sixteenth century. There are few classics; and I have not yet seen one copy of the original scriptures in Hebrew or Greek.’

-------

‘_Goa, Augustinian Convent, 27th Jan. 1808._

‘On the second morning after my arrival, I was surprised by my host, the Inquisitor, coming into my apartment clothed in _black robes_ from head to foot: for the usual dress of his order is white. He said he was going to sit on the tribunal of the holy office. ‘I presume, father, your august office does not occupy much of your time?’ ‘Yes’ answered he ‘much. I sit on the tribunal three or four days every week.’

‘I had thought, for some days, of putting Dellon’s book into the Inquisitor’s hands; for if I could get him to advert to the facts stated in that book, I should be able to learn, by comparison, the exact state of the inquisition at the present time. In the evening he came in, as usual, to pass an hour in my apartment. After some conversation I took the pen in my hand to write a few notes in my journal; and, as if to amuse him, while I was writing, I took up Dellon’s book, which was lying with some others on the table, and handing it across to him, asked him whether he had ever seen it. It was in the French language, which he understood well. ‘Relation de l’ Inquisition de Goa,’ pronounced he, with a slow, articulate voice. He had never seen it before, and began to read with eagerness. He had not proceeded far, before he betrayed evident symptoms of uneasiness. He turned hastily to the middle of the book, and then to the end, and then ran over the table of contents at the beginning, as if to ascertain the full extent of the evil. He then composed himself to read, while I continued to write. He turned over the pages with rapidity, and when he came to a certain place, he exclaimed in the broad Italian accent, ‘Mendacium, Mendacium.’ I requested he would mark those passages which were untrue, and we should discuss them afterwards, for that I had other books on the subject. ‘Other books,’ said he, and he looked with an inquiring eye on those on the table. He continued reading till it was time to retire to rest and then begged to take the book with him.

‘It was on this night that a circumstance happened which caused my first alarm at Goa. My servants slept every night at my chamber door, in the long gallery which is common to all the apartments, and not far distant from the servants of the convent. About midnight I was waked by loud shrieks, and expressions of terror, from some person in the gallery. In the first moment of surprise I concluded it must be the _Alguazils_ of the holy office, seizing my servants to carry them to the inquisition. But, on going out, I saw my own servants standing at the door, and the person who had caused the alarm (a boy of about fourteen) at a little distance, surrounded by some of the priests, who had come out of their cells on hearing the noise. The boy said he had seen a _spectre_, and it was a considerable time before the agitations of his body and voice subsided.—Next morning at breakfast the Inquisitor apologised for the disturbance, and said the boy’s alarm proceeded from a ‘phantasma animi,’ a phantasm of the imagination.’

‘After breakfast we resumed the subject of the inquisition. The inquisitor admitted that Dellon’s descriptions of the dungeons, of the torture, of the mode of trial, and of the Auto da Fè, were in general just; but he said the writer judged untruly of the motives of the inquisitors, and very uncharitably of the character of the Holy Church; and I admitted that, under the pressure of his peculiar suffering, this might possibly be the case. The inquisitor was now anxious to know to what extent Dellon’s book had been circulated in Europe. I told him that Picart had published to the world extracts from it, in his celebrated work called ‘Religious Ceremonies,’ together with plates of the system of torture and burnings at the Auto da Fè. I added that it was now generally believed in Europe that these enormities no longer existed, and that the inquisition itself had been totally suppressed; but that I was concerned to find that this was not the case. He now began a grave narration to shew that the inquisition had undergone a change in some respects, and that its terrors were mitigated.[288]

Footnote 288:

The following were the passages in Mr. Dellon’s narrative, to which I wished particularly to draw the attention of the inquisitor.—Mr. D. had been thrown into the inquisition at Goa and confined in a dungeon, ten feet square, where he remained upwards of two years, without seeing any person, but the gaoler who brought him his victuals, except when he was brought to his trial, expecting daily to be brought to the stake. His alleged crime was, charging the inquisition with cruelty, in a conversation he had with a priest at Daman, a Portuguese town in another part of India.

“During the months of November and December, I heard every morning the shrieks of the unfortunate victims, who were undergoing the _Question_. I remembered to have heard, before l was cast into prison, that the Auto da Fè was generally celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in the churches that part of the Gospel in which mention is made of the LAST JUDGMENT; and the inquisitors pretend by this ceremony to exhibit a lively emblem of that awful event. I was likewise convinced that there were a great number of prisoners, besides myself; the profound silence, which reigned within the walls of the building, having enabled me to count the number of doors which were opened at the hours of meals.—However, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed by, without my hearing of any thing, and I prepared to undergo another year of melancholy captivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 11th of January, by the noise of the guards removing the bars from the door of my prison. The Alcaide presented me with a habit, which he ordered me to put on, and to make myself ready to attend him when he should come again. Thus saying, he left a lighted lamp in my dungeon.—The guards returned about two o’clock in the morning, and led me out into a long gallery, where I found a number of the companions of my fate, drawn up in a rank against the wall: I placed myself among the rest, and several more soon joined the melancholy band. The profound silence and stillness caused them to resemble statues more than the animated bodies of human creatures. The women, who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed in a neighbouring gallery, where we could not see them; but I remarked that a number of persons stood by themselves at some distance, attended by others, who wore long black dresses, and who walked backwards and forwards occasionally. I did not then know who these were: but I was afterwards informed that the former were the victims who were condemned to be burned, and the others were their confessors.

“After we were all ranged against the wall of this gallery, we received each a large wax taper. They then brought us a number of dresses made of yellow cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew painted before and behind. This is called the _San Benito_. The relapsed heretics wear another species of robe, called the _Samarra_, the ground of which is grey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted upon it, placed upon burning torches with flames and demons all round.—Caps were then produced called _Carrochas_; made of pasteboard, pointed like sugar loaves, all covered over with devils, and flames of fire.

“The great bell of the Cathedral began to ring a little before sunrise, which served as a signal to warn the people of Goa to come and behold the august ceremony of the Auto da Fè; and then they made us proceed from the gallery one by one. I remarked as we passed into the great hall, that the inquisitor was sitting at the door with his secretary by him, and that he delivered every prisoner into the hands of a particular person, who is to be his guard to the place of burning. These persons are called Parrains, or _Godfathers_. My Godfather was the commander of a ship. I went forth with him, and as soon as we were in the street, I saw that the procession was commenced by the Dominican Friars; who have this honour, because St. Dominic founded the inquisition. These are followed by the prisoners who walked one after the other, each having his Godfather by his side, and a lighted taper in his hand. The least guilty go foremost; and as I did not pass for one of them, there were many who took precedence of me. The women were mixed promiscuously with the men. We all walked barefoot, and the sharp stones of the streets of Goa wounded my tender feet, and caused the blood to stream: for they made us march through the chief streets of the city: and we were regarded every where by an innumerable crowd of people, who had assembled from all parts of India to behold this spectacle; for the inquisition takes care to announce it long before, in the most remote parishes. At length we arrived at the church of St. Francis, which was, for this time, destined for the celebration of the act of faith. On one side of the altar was the grand inquisitor and his counsellors; and on the other the vice-roy of Goa and his court. All the prisoners were seated to hear a sermon. I observed that those prisoners who wore the _horrible Carrochas_ came in last in the procession. One of the Augustin monks ascended the pulpit, and preached for a quarter of an hour. The sermon being concluded, two readers went up to the pulpit, one after the other, and read the sentences of the prisoners. My joy was extreme when I heard that my sentence was not to be burnt, but to be a galley-slave for five years.—After the sentences were read, they summoned forth those miserable victims who were destined to be immolated by the holy inquisition. The images of the heretics who had died in prison were brought up at the same time, their bones being contained in small chests, covered with flames and demons.—An officer of the secular tribunal now came forward, and seized these unhappy people, after they had each received a _slight blow upon the breast_ from the Alcaide, to intimate that they were _abandoned_. They were then led away to the bank of the river, where the vice-roy and his court were assembled, and where the faggots had been prepared the preceding day.—As soon as they arrive at this place, the condemned persons are asked in what religion they choose to die; and the moment they have replied to this question, the executioner seizes them, and binds them to a stake in the midst of the faggots. The day after the execution, the portraits of the dead are carried to the church of the Dominicans. The heads only are represented, (which are generally very accurately drawn; for the inquisition keeps excellent limners for the purpose,) surrounded by flames and demons; and underneath is the name and crime of the person who has been burned.” _Relation de l’ Inquisition de Goa_, chap. XXIV.

‘I had already discovered, from written or printed documents, that the Inquisition of Goa was suppressed by royal edict in the year 1775, and established again in 1779. The Franciscan father before mentioned witnessed the annual Auto da Fè, from 1770, to 1775. “It was the humanity, and tender mercy of a good king,” said the old father, “which abolished the inquisition.” But immediately on his death, the power of the priests acquired the ascendant, under the Queen Dowager, and the tribunal was re-established, after a bloodless interval of five years. It has continued in operation ever since. It was restored in 1779, subject to certain restrictions, the chief of which are the two following, ‘That a greater number of witnesses should be required to convict a criminal than were before necessary;” and, ‘That the Auto da Fè should not be held publicly as before; but that the sentences of the tribunal should be executed privately, within the walls of the inquisition.

‘In this particular, the constitution of the new inquisition is more reprehensible than that of the old one; for, as the old father expressed it, ‘Nunc sigillum non revelat Inquisitio.’—Formerly the friends of those unfortunate persons who were thrown into its prison, had the melancholy satisfaction of seeing them once a year walking in the procession of the Auto da Fè; or if they were condemned to die, they witnessed their death, and mourned for the dead. But now they have no means of learning for years whether they be dead or alive. The policy of this new mode of concealment appears to be this, to preserve the power of the inquisition, and at the same time to lessen the public odium of its proceedings, in the presence of British dominion and civilization. I asked the father his opinion concerning the nature and frequency of the punishments within the walls. He said he possessed no certain means of giving a satisfactory answer: that every thing transacted there was declared to be ‘sacrum et secretum.’ But this he knew to be true, that there were constantly captives in the dungeons; that some of them are liberated after long confinement, but that they never speak afterwards of what passed within the place. He added that, of all the persons he had known, who had been liberated, he never knew one who did not carry about with him what might be called, ‘the mark of the inquisition;’ that is to say, who did not shew in the solemnity of his countenance, or in his peculiar demeanor, or his terror of the priests, that he had been in that dreadful place.

‘The chief argument of the Inquisitor to prove the melioration of the Inquisition was the superior _humanity_ of the inquisitors. I remarked that I did not doubt the humanity of the existing officers; but what availed humanity in an inquisitor? he must pronounce sentence according to the laws of the tribunal, which are notorious enough; and a _relapsed heretic_ must be burned in the flames, or confined for life in a dungeon, whether the inquisitor be humane or not. ‘But, if,’ said I, ‘you would satisfy my mind completely on this subject, shew me the inquisition.’ He said it was not permitted to any person to see the inquisition. I observed that mine might be considered as a peculiar case; that the character of the inquisition, and the expediency of its longer continuance had been called in question; that I had myself written on the civilization of India, and might possibly publish something more upon that subject, and that it could not be expected that I should pass over the inquisition without notice, knowing what I did of its proceedings; at the same time I should not wish to state a single fact without his authority, or at least his admission of its truth. I added that he himself had been pleased to communicate with me very fully on the subject, and that in all our discussions we had both been actuated, I hoped, by a good purpose. The countenance of the inquisitor evidently altered on receiving this intimation, nor did it ever after wholly regain its wonted frankness and placidity. After some hesitation, however, he said he would take me with him to the inquisition the next day.—I was a good deal surprised at this acquiescence of the inquisitor, but I did not know what was in his mind.

‘Next morning after breakfast my host went to dress for the holy office, and soon returned in his inquisitorial robes. He said he would go half an hour before the usual time for the purpose of shewing me the inquisition. The buildings are about a quarter of a mile distant from the convent, and we proceeded thither in our _manjeels_.[289] On our arrival at the place, the inquisitor said to me, as we were ascending the steps of the outer stair, that he hoped I should be satisfied with a transient view of the inquisition, and that I would retire whenever he should desire it. I took this as a good omen, and followed my conductor with tolerable confidence.

Footnote 289:

The manjeel is a kind of palankeen common at Goa. It is merely a sea-cot suspended from a bamboo, which is borne on the _heads_ of four men. Sometimes a footman runs before, having a staff in his hand, to which are attached little bells or rings, which he jingles as he runs, keeping time with the motion of the bearers.

‘He led me first to the great hall of the inquisition. We were met at the door by a number of well-dressed persons, who, I afterwards understood, were the familiars, and attendants of the holy office. They bowed very low to the inquisitor, and looked with surprise at me. The great hall is the place in which the prisoners are marshalled for the procession of the Auto da Fè. At the procession described by Dellon, in which he himself walked barefoot, clothed with the painted garment, there were upwards of one hundred and fifty prisoners. I traversed this hall for some time, with a slow step, reflecting on its former scenes, the inquisitor walking by my side, in silence. I thought of the fate of the multitude of my fellow-creatures who had passed through this place, condemned by a tribunal of their fellow-sinners, their bodies devoted to the flames, and their souls to perdition. And I could not help saying to him, ‘Would not the holy church wish, in her mercy, to have those souls back again, that she might allow them a little further probation?’ The inquisitor answered nothing, but beckoned me to go with him to a door at one end of the hall. By this door he conducted me to some small rooms, and thence to the spacious apartments of the chief inquisitor. Having surveyed these he brought me back again to the great hall; and I thought he seemed now desirous that I should depart. ‘Now, father,’ said I, ‘lead me to the dungeons below; I want to see the captives.’—‘No,’ said he, ‘that cannot be.’—I now began to suspect that it had been in the mind of the inquisitor, from the beginning, to shew me only a certain part of the inquisition, in the hope of satisfying my enquiries in a general way. I urged him with earnestness, but he steadily resisted, and seemed to be offended, or rather agitated by my importunity. I intimated to him plainly, that the only way to do justice to his own assertions and arguments, regarding the present state of the inquisition, was to shew me the prisons and the captives. I should then describe only what I saw; but now the subject was left in awful obscurity.—‘Lead me down,’ said I, ‘to the inner building and let me pass through the two hundred dungeons, ten feet square, described by your former captives. Let me count the number of your present captives, and converse with them. I want to see if there be any subjects of the British government, to whom we owe protection. I want to ask how long they have been here, how long it is since they beheld the light of the sun, and whether they ever expect to see it again. Shew me the chamber of torture; and declare what modes of execution, or of punishment, are now practised within the walls of the inquisition, in lieu of the public Auto da Fè. If, after all that has passed, father, you resist this reasonable request, I shall be justified in believing, that you are afraid of exposing the real state of the inquisition in India.’ To these observations the inquisitor made no reply; but seemed impatient that I should withdraw. ‘My good father,’ said I, ‘I am about to take my leave of you, and to thank you for your hospitable attentions, (it had been before understood that I should take my final leave at the door of the inquisition, after having seen the interior,) and I wish always to preserve on my mind a favourable sentiment of your kindness and candour. You cannot, you say, shew me the captives and the dungeons; be pleased then merely to answer this question; for I shall believe your word:—How many prisoners are there now below, in the cells of the inquisition?’ The inquisitor replied, ‘That is a question which I cannot answer.’ On his pronouncing these words, I retired hastily towards the door, and wished him farewell. We shook hands with as much cordiality as we could at the moment assume; and both of us, I believe, were sorry that our parting took place with a clouded countenance.

‘From the inquisition I went to the place of burning in the _Camp Santo Lazaro_, on the river side, where the victims were brought to the stake at the Auto da Fè. It is close to the palace, that the vice-roy and his court may witness the execution; for it has ever been the policy of the inquisition to make these spiritual executions appear to be the executions of the state. An old priest accompanied me, who pointed out the place and described the scene. As I passed over this melancholy plain, I thought on the difference between the pure and benign doctrine, which was first preached to India in the apostolic age, and that bloody code, which, after a long night of darkness, was announced to it under the same name! And I pondered on the mysterious dispensation, which permitted the ministers of the inquisition, with their racks and flames, to visit these lands, before the heralds of the Gospel of Peace. But the most painful reflection was, that this tribunal should yet exist, unawed by the vicinity of British humanity and dominion. I was not satisfied with what I had seen or said at the inquisition, and I determined to go back again. The inquisitors were now sitting on the tribunal, and I had some excuse for returning; for I was to receive from the chief inquisitor a letter which he said he would give me, before I left the place, for the British resident in Travancore, being an answer to a letter from that officer.

‘When I arrived at the inquisition, and had ascended the outer stairs, the door-keepers surveyed me doubtingly, but suffered me to pass, supposing that I had returned by permission and appointment of the inquisitor. I entered the great hall, and went up directly towards the tribunal of the inquisition, described by Dellon, in which is the lofty crucifix. I sat down on a form, and wrote some notes; and then desired one of the attendants to carry in my name to the inquisitor. As I walked up the hall, I saw a poor woman sitting by herself, on a bench by the wall, apparently in a disconsolate state of mind. She clasped her hands as I passed, and gave me a look expressive of her distress. This sight chilled my spirits. The familiars told me she was waiting there to be called up before the tribunal of the inquisition. While I was asking questions concerning her crime, the second inquisitor came out in evident trepidation, and was about to complain of the intrusion; when I informed him I had come back for the letter from the chief inquisitor. He said it should be sent after me to Goa; and he conducted me with a quick step towards the door. As we passed the poor woman I pointed to her, and said to him with some emphasis, ‘Behold, father, another victim of the holy inquisition!’ He answered nothing. When we arrived at the head of the great stair, he bowed, and I took my last leave of Josephus a Doloribus, without uttering a word.’

The foregoing particulars concerning the inquisition at Goa are detailed chiefly with this view; that the English nation may consider, whether there be sufficient ground for presenting a remonstrance to the Portuguese government, on the longer continuance of that tribunal in India; it being notorious, that a great part of the the Romish Christians are now under British protection. “The Romans,” says Montesquieu, “deserved well of human nature, for making it an article in their treaty with the Carthaginians, that they should abstain from SACRIFICING their CHILDREN to their gods.” It has been lately observed by respectable writers, that the English nation ought to imitate this example, and endeavour to induce her allies “to abolish the human sacrifices of the inquisition;” and a censure is passed on our government for their indifference to this subject.[290] The indifference to the inquisition is attributable, we believe, to the same cause which has produced an indifference to the religious principles which first organized the inquisition. The mighty despot, who suppressed the inquisition in Spain, was not swayed probably by very powerful motives of humanity; but viewed with jealousy a tribunal, which usurped an independent dominion; and he put it down, on the same principle that he put down the popedom, that he might remain pontiff and grand inquisitor himself. And so he will remain for a time, till the purposes of Providence shall have been accomplished by him. But are we to look on in silence, and to expect that further meliorations in human society are to be effected by despotism, or by great revolutions? “If,” say the same authors, “while the inquisition is destroyed in Europe by the power of despotism, we could entertain the hope, and it is not too much to entertain such a hope, that the power of liberty is about to destroy it in America; we might even, amid the gloom that surrounds us, congratulate our fellow-creatures on one of the most remarkable periods in the history of the progress of human society, the FINAL ERASURE _of the inquisition from the face of the earth_.”[291] It will indeed be an important and happy day to the earth, when this final erasure shall take place; but the period of such an event is nearer, I apprehend, in Europe and America, than it is in Asia; and its termination in Asia depends as much on Great Britain as on Portugal. And shall not Great Britain do her part to hasten this desirable time? Do we wait, as if to see whether the power of infidelity will abolish the other inquisitions of the earth? Shall not we, in the mean while, attempt to do something, on Christian principles, for the honour of God and of humanity? Do we dread even to express a sentiment on the subject in our legislative assemblies, or to notice it in our treaties? It is surely our duty to declare our wishes, at least, for the abolition of these inhuman tribunals, (since we take an active part in promoting the welfare of other nations,) and to deliver our testimony against them in the presence of Europe.

Footnote 290:

Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p. 449.

Footnote 291:

Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p.429.

This case is not unlike that of the immolation of females in Bengal, with this aggravation in regard to the latter, that the rite is perpetrated in our own territories. Our humanity revolts at the occasional description of the enormity; but the matter comes not to our own business and bosoms, and we fail even to insinuate our disapprobation of the deed. It may be concluded then, that while we remain silent and unmoved spectators of the flames of the widow’s pile, there is no hope that we shall be justly affected by the reported horrors of the inquisition.—(_Thus far Dr. Buchannan._)