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THE CHAMBER OF TORTURE

OF THE

"To banish, imprison, plunder, starve, hang, and burn men for religion,
IB not the Gospel of Christ : it is the Gospel of the Devil. Where perse-
cution begins, Christianity ends.. Christ never used any thing that
looked like force or violence, except once.; and that was to drive bad
men out of the temple, and not to drive them in." JOKTIN.

o.

HISTORY

I*

OF THE

HOLY CATHOLIC INQUISITION.

COMPILED FROM VARIOUS AUTHORS.

"The Inquisition, model most complete
Of perfect wickedness, where deeds were done-
Deeds ! let them ne'er be named and set and planned
Deliberately, and with most musing pains,
How, to extremes! thrill of agony.
The flesh, the blood, and souls of holy men,
Her victims, might be wrought; and when she saw
New tortures of her labouring fancy born,
She leaped for joy, and made great haste to try "',
Their forcewell pleased to hear a deeper groan.
The supplicating hand of innocence, ,

That made the tiger mild, and in its wrath
The lion pause, the groans of suffering most
Severe, were naught to her; she laughed at groans,
No music pleased her more ; and no repast
So sweet to her, as blood of men redeemed
By bioorl of Christ. Ambition's self, though mad,
And nursed in human gore, with her compared,
Was merciful."

WITH AN INTRODUCTION,

BY THE REV. .CYRUS MASON,

/ '

I Pastor of the Cedar-street Church, New York, i

PHILADELPHIA
PUBLISHED BY NATHAN MOORE.

1843.

i. I

Entered according t the act of Congress, in the year 1835, by

HENRY PERKINS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District

of Pennsylvania.

BEABIEB

^oyn ..i i.i

'OA0O

INTRODUCTION.

THE pope of Rome has recently honoured the
United States of America, and shown the deep in-
terest he feels in this country, by the appointment
of an ecclesiastical ambassador, a legate with pie*
nary powers to manage the cause of Romanism in
the new world. This high officer of the church
and state of Rome, has expressed his gratitude and
loyalty by appearing before the public, (at Balti-
more,) as the apologist and defender of the Inquisi-
tion.

The order of the Jesuits is restored, and, so far
as we know, without any change in its constitution
and character. The Romish missionaries to this
country are mostly of the order of Jesuits ; for it
is said by American citizens who have wintered at
Rome, that the Jesuits who come there for com-
mission and patronage, are specially ambitious of
appointments to this country. They regard our
country as an open field, where they may pursue
their schemes without molestation, and with entire

. _ . jrf--*, '

VI INTRODUCTION.

success ; where they may profit by the toleration
csnjdyed under our mild and free institutions.

Here, then, we have the order of the Jesuits
rising and spreading over the fair face of our coun- '
try, encouraged by vast importations of the least
desirable classes of Roman Catholics from the old
kingdoms of Europe, and supported by the joint
patronage of the Society de Propaganda and the
Catholic monarchs of the old world. These sworn
servants of a foreign potentate have as a leader an
avowed defender of the inquisition.

These emissaries are true to their patrons and
their mother church. They defend her infallibi-
lity, and of course, must maintain her supremacy,
and promote (in a prudent way,) all her doctrines
and institutions. They believe that her intolerance
of all modes of faith but her own, is for the glory
of God and the good of the whole world ; arid,
holding her infallibility, they must, of course, de-
fend the machinery by which she has, in former
ages, carried out her spirit of intolerance against
those who have dared to think and speak for them-
selves in the interpretation of the Scriptures. This
is the capital feature of the Romish church: she
is bound in conscience, not only to establish her-

INTRODUCTION. vii

self, but also, (according to her ability and op-
portunity,} to drive every other mode of faith
from the earth. This results directly from her
claim of infallibility; and her infallibility is the
kev-stone of the arch on which she rests.

*

The practical effects of the Catholic religion, in
the hands of these agents of the pope, will be the
same in our country as they are in the old world,
only they must be more slowly disclosed, and de-
fended with caution. The time, however, has
already come, when a citizen, even a senator, may
be knocked down in the street of Cincinnati as
boldly as in the street of Rome, unless he takes
off his hat to the bishop's procession of the host ;
only it must be done by a volunteer member of
the bishop's civil procession, instead of an armed
soldier of the pope. It is better to begin with our
citizens by a civil knocking down, and then they
will the more patiently receive it when it' comes,
in the name of religion, from a military corps of
honour. There is nothing like a gradual initiation
to a new order of things. Our new legate, before
he was clothed with his present office, is supposed
to have commenced, at Charleston, the example
of Catholic priests becoming honorary members

nil INTRODUCTION.

of military companies. Recently, the experimen
has been made of connecting military evolutions
and parade, and a little use of gunpowder with the
ceremonies and worship of the Catholic church;
and the officiating priest supposed it to work well.
It is an easy way of bringing the people to acqui-
esce in the true old idea of " a church militant."

We do not complain of these things : they are
as they should be, if we must have the experiment
of Romanism made in our country. They put the
issue between these foreign priests and the Pro-
testant citizens of America on the right ground;
The question to be settled is this : Is the Romish
intolerance, with the machinery by which it has
been and must be propagated, a desirable gift from
the old to the new world ? These foreign gentle-
men think it is. What do the American people
think?

In view of this question, the present is the right
time for a popular history of the inquisition, one
of the favourite instruments of the Romish church
for the preservation of the faith by the destruction
of heretics. Such a history is contained in the
manuscript now before me. It will be found
admirably adapted to the capacity of the youthful

INTRODUCTION. ix

readers of this country. The author, or compiler,
as he modestly styles himself, has been favourably
known to the public in numerous small volumes
and papers addressed to our youth, while he has
uniformly refused to be known by name. Whether
this concealment arises from a modest distrust of his
abilities, (in which view of himself he must be
alone after the publicatidn of this volume,) or whe-
ther he is preparing to give his name to the world
in connexion with some larger fruit of his literary
labours, are questions in which the public are not
-specially interested. But to us it is well known
that few men have enjoyed better opportunities for
making a fair estimate of the institution described
in his glowing and patriotic pages. Nurtured in
the air of civil and religious freedom, and educated
in the schools of his own country, he has traversed
the broadest oceans, and dwelt long in Roman Ca-
tholic countries, where his minute observations of
the civil and moral influences of Romanism, satis-
fied him that liberty and happiness could never be
the portion of the people who had yielded them-
selves to its influence. Without a personal con-
nexion with any one communion, he has employed
his pen to shed light on the question, whether the

X INTRODUCTION.

machinery of the Catholic church is adapted to
bless our country, or whether it is not another
Trojan horse, introduced under pious pretences, to
subvert our institutions, and give to falling Rome
one more triumph over civil liberty ?

Whether or not the author has given a faithful
narrative, may be proved by reference to the list
of works published in the commencement of the
volume; and nothing is more his desire than thai
the publication of this little volume should lead to
a thorough study of the history of the inquisition,
The student of ecclesiastical history will, of course,
ascend to the sources of knowledge on this subject;
and he will find in Limbarch and other learned
writers, a rich reward for the toil of laborious re-
search. But a cheap, convenient manual, to which
all may have access, is greatly needed in this coun-
try, and if we are not much deceived, the present
volume supplies that desideratum.

The American field is open to the Roman Ca-
tholic as well as the Protestant. Universal tolera-
tion is the glory of our free country, and therefore
every question in religion is to be brought before
the people for their decision. So let it be. The
question is to he -tried whether the people can be

INTRODUCTION. xi

trusted with religious freedom. We rejoice to
live while the experiment is in progress; we have
great hope of the result j and our motto is, give
the people light. Let not intolerance be met by
intolerance, but let the true character and tendency
of the Romish church be made known by a faith-
ful history of what, in the exercise of her infallibi-
lity, she has done in past ages. Let her work in
South America be compared with the work of Pro-
testantism in North America ; and then if our free
citizens can be brought to relish popery, it will go
far to prove that they are unworthy of their fa-
thers, and that civil and religious liberty cannot
dwell permanently in any part of the world.

C. MASON,

Pastor of Cedar-street Church, New York.
March 3d, 1835.

PREFACE.

THE following History of the Inquisition
has been compiled] from a variety of books
upon the subject, and the author feels him-
self in candour bound to state, that he has
made the freest possible use of the labours
of others ; whose! works, however, he has
carefully read, adopting with perfect unrg-
serve, wherever it was practicable, the very
words used by them ; for which he has npt
deemed it necessary, as this book is in-
tended chiefly for youthful readers, to cite
the authorities, though in almost every in-
stance he could easily have done it, be-
cause the readers for whom he chiefly
writes would not have been benefited by
such a plan ; and the work itself would
only have been encumbered by the addition
of, perhaps, several hundred references.

A list of the principal books read and
made use of by the author, is here an-
nexed :

6 PREFACE.

Limborch's History of the Inquisition.

Eecords of the Spanish Inquisition from original MSS.
in 1828.

Histoire de 1'Inquisition de Goa, which is an abridg-
ment of

Dellon's History of the Inquisition of Goa.

Llorente's History of the Inquisition.

Puigblanch's Inquisition Unmasked.

Stoekdale's History of the Inquisition.

Geddes's Tracts.

Pignata, Les Aventures de, Echappe des Prisions de
1'Inquisition de Rome.

M'Crie's History of the Reformation in Italy.

Bower's Account of the Inquisition at Macerata.

Mjarchand's Bloody Tribunal.

Father Paul's History of tlie Inquisition of Venice

Persecution of Da Costa by the Inquisition.

Sufferings of John Coustos in the Inquisition.

Buchanan's Christian Researches in Asia.

English Quarterly Review for December, 1811.

Master Key to Popery, (by G;avin.

Van Halen's Narrative.

History of the Inquisition. Edinburgh. 1828.

Le Maistre's Letters on the Inquisition.

And several other miscellaneous works
and books of travels, which need not be
enumerated!

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction Curiosity and horror inspired by the subjects-
Praises bestowed on the Inquisition by Roman Catholic ;
writers Comparison of its doctrines and practice with the
doctrines and practice of Jesus Christ Its repugnancy to >
the doctrines and practice of the holy fathers and the pri-
mitive church Its original obscure Emperor Constan-
tine Union of church and state Rise of the empire of the
popes Tyranny and corruptions of the church Here-
tics Early reformers Arnold, of Brescia, burnt Rise of
the Albigenses and Waldenses Their persecutions Their -
character Pope Innocent III, St, Dominic Raymond,
earl of Thoulouse, protects the Albigenses and Waldenses. 13

CHAPTER II.

Life and character of St. Dominic, the founder of the inqui- ?
sition Origin and meaning of the word inquisition Fast
holy office Miracles related of St. Dominic His mother's
dream Standard of the inquisition of Goa Persecutions
of the Albigenses and Waldenses Simon de Montfort ^
His cruelties Crusades against heretics The Beguins
Establishment of the inquisition at Jerusalem Reflections. 24

CHAPTER HI. '

- : t i

Objects of Pope Innocent III. in establishing the mquisition---
Epoch of its establishment the same as that of the reforma-
tion, and of the revival ,of letters -Established in Germany ""*
Cruelties of the inquisition towards the heretics of Bo-

- .::!, !' - .-....*., ,.'.. !)"' . ,. ." -," <,."y

hem^a Is planted in various countriesr Is established in ^

"-- -< ' -- = - ' ' >

8 CONTENTS.

Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella Torquemada His life
and character His fatal influence in promoting the inquisi-
tion Bitter persecutions against the Moors and Jews
Expulsion of the Jews and Moors from Spain Death of
Torquemada 36

CHAPTER IV.

The reformation in Italy Aoneo Paleareo His character
and writings Persecuted and finally burnt by the inquisi-
tionAdventures of Mr. Bower His escape from the in-
quisition of Macerata Account of three modes of torture
practised in that tribunalPersecution of Galileo 51

CHAPTER V.

Inquisition in Spain Philip II. Effects of the inquisition
in Spain Auto da Fe in Valladolid in 1559 Fate of Don
Carlos de Seso Execution of Donna Jane Bohorques
Extract of a. sermon preached at this Auto Charles II.
furnishes a gilt fagot for an Auto State of the inquisition
under successive Spanish kings Its decline Abolished
by Napoleon, and revived by Ferdinand VII. Blanco
^Ifhite- Van Halen's account of his own sufferings An
instance of death by the pendulum as late as the year 1820. 64

CHAPTER VI.

Establishment of the inquisition in Portugal Saavedra the
swindler His achievements and punishment Jews in
Portugal Their sufferings The New Christians cruelly
treated Diminutos Anecdote Injurious consequences
to Portugal from the persecution of the New Christians
Distinction between Old and New Christians abolished. . . 79

CHAPTER VIL

Geddes's account of the Portuguese inquisition- Familiars-
Manner of treating prisoners Torture Auto da f^ Sen-

CONTENTS.

tence of death Inquisition at Goa Pyrard Dellon'| ac-
count of his sufferings in the inquisition of Goa. . . .... . . 91

CHAPTER VIII.

* i

Buchanan visits the inquisition at Goa His reception Puts
Dellon's work in the hands of one of the inquisitors-
Conversations on the subject Inquisition of Goa abolished .
in 1812 10?

CHAPTER IX.

Miscellaneous views of the inquisition Its composition and
proceedings Anecdote of Father Ephraim Officers of
the inquisition Their extraordinary power and privi-
leges Anecdote of consul Maynard Council of the in-
quisition in Spain The Cruciata and Hermandad Pri-
sons of the inquisition described Their horrors Anec-
dote Flies Anecdote of Gaspar Bennavidius, a jail-
keeper of the inquisition His monstrous cruelty Arts em-
ployed to make prisoners confess , . . . 1 20

CHAPTER X.

Extravagance and absurdities of certain inquisitorial writers ; <
Heresy, its meaning Abuse and perversion of the term
by the inquisition Excommunication Punishments of
heresy and heretics Death by fire Unlimited power of
this tribunal Forms of process Proofs Arts used by in-
quisitorsHonest and frank confession of an inquisitor
general. .... >, 137

CHAPTER XL

The torture Us different kinds The auto da fe Its differ-
ent kinds Description of the dresses of those who walk in *""
these dreadful processions ^Description of an auto cele-
brated at Madrid in 1680. 151

fOf CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XII.

The inquisition always hostile to knowledge of every descrip-
tion Corrupting influence of the inquisition upon the
people The monks Their condition and influence Mi-
racles of St. Dominic The Rosary and worship of the
virgin Mary Anecdote of an inquisitor who read Voltaire's ,
works Proscription of sciences and authors Brutish ig-
norance of inquisitors Reflections upon the cruelty of the
inquisition . 176

COAT OF ARMS OF THE INQUISITION.

THE Coat of Arms used by the inquisition, is a
green cross on a black field, with an olive branch on
the right side and a naked sword on the left, and this
motto, taken from Psalm Ixxiii. 22, " Exurge Domine,
judica causam tuam ;" which means literally, ." Arise,

11

12 COAT OF ARMS.

Lord, judge thy cause." The original text is Deus,
(0 God,) and not Domine, (0 Lord;) the word God
being superseded by the word Lord, who came not to
condemn but to save the world. Besides this mistake,
which shows how little the inventor of the inquisito-
rial motto understood or handled the Bible, other er-
rors of a grammatical kind might be pointed out.

It may be observed here, that this motto was usu-
ally the text selected for the blasphemous inquisitorial
sermons which were preached at autos da fe.

HISTORY

OP

THE HOLY CATHOLIC INQUISITION.

CHAPTER L

Introduction Curiosity and horror inspired by the subject
Praises bestowed on the Inquisition by Roman Catholic writers-
Comparison of its doctrines and practice with the doctrines and
practice of Jesus Christ Its repugnancy to the doctrines and
practice of the holy fathers and the primitive church Its origi-
nal obscure Emperor Constantine Union of church and state
Rise of the empire of the popes Tyranny and corruptions of the
church Heretics Early reformers Arnold, of Brescia, burnt
Rise of the Albigenses and Waldenses Their persecutions Their
character Pope Innocent III. St. Dominic Raymond, earl of
Thoulouse, protects the Albigenses and Waldenses.

IT is proposed, in the following volume, to pre-
sent to the youthful reader a compendious history
of the origin, the progress, and the decline of the
Inquisition, a wonderful and monstrous establish-
ment, as it is called by an eminent writer, which,
in the dark ages, was substituted for the religion
of Christ; and which may be considered as the

B 13

14 HISTORY OF THE

greatest monument of human genius, human wick-
edness, and human weakness that was ever reared.
It is a deep and instructive lesson, and every page
of it sets in a broader and a clearer light the truth
of that declaration of the sacred volume, that " the
human heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked."

There has always existed an extraordinary cu-
riosity in relation to every thing which appertains
to the inquisition. The very name inspires a feel-
ing of horror which it is difficult to define: and the
feeling is a natural one; for there is something so
dark and so terrible in its history, that while the
reader passes over the shocking narratives with
which its annals are replete, he finds himself ut-
terly unable to realize the details which he reads
with such eagerness; and he rises from the perusal
with a feeling of almost absolute incredulity. But
these melancholy annals have now passed into cer-
tain and authentic history; and not only may the
sombre outlines of this tribunal, the most execra-
ble that ever encumbered the earth, be contem-
plated, but the inmost recesses of its interior have
been explored, and all its abominations are now
set before an astonished world.

And yet the Romish doctors exhausted the lan-
guage of praise in impious commendations of this
tribunal, which they called the bulwark of the
true faith a tribunal not sprung from the wisdom
of man, said they, but sent from heaven, and

CATHOLIC INQUISITION 15

breathing the very spirit of holiness. Hence it is
we constantly find them repeating those titles
which to us appear a species of mockery; for this
sanguinary institution has always been known as
the Holy Office, and even its dungeons called
Holy Houses. They compare the inquisition to
the sun, and add, that as it would be ridiculous ex-
cess to extol the bright orb of day, so would it be
absurd, by mere human eulogies, to attempt to
glorify the inquisition.

But if we compare the doctrines of the in-
quisition with those inculcated by the Saviour
of the world, the folly of the commendations
which have been bestowed, will quickly; ap-
pear manifest. If we compare the practice, the
same result will follow, and yet both their doc-
trine and their practice they profess to base upon
the mild and merciful precepts, and the divine ac-
tions, of the Son of God. We shall be constantly
struck with the glaring inconsistencies which offer
themselves upon every side. In the gospel we
read only of charity and love. Charity is called
the new commandment by which the disciples of
the Lord may be distinguished. What page of the
history of the inquisition records a solitary act of
charity ? " Learn of me," said the Saviour, " for I
am meek and lowly of heart." Christ sent his
disciples abroad as sheep among wolves, to show
forth their divine original by patience under suf-
ferings. What has been the spirit of inquisitors ?

16 HISTORY OF THE

Wolves, indeed, and with very little disguise
they have never ceased to rend and devour the
flock. Christ reproved the zeal of James and John,
who sought to call down fire from heaven to con-
sume the Samaritans, because they would not re-
ceive him; and to Peter he commands that the
sinner be forgiven not only seven times, but
seventy times seven. If then the gospel of Christ be
contrary to the violence shown by this tribunal, so
is it very clear, in spite of all attempts by inquisi-
torial writers to prove the contrary, that it was
equally repugnant to the doctrine of the holy fa-
thers, and to the practice of the primitive church.
One passage alone from the works of one of the
most eminent, St. Chrysostom, will be sufficient to
illustrate the maxims of mildness, even against
heretics, inculcated in that golden age of the
church. " Our war," says he, speaking on the
subject of heretics who were afterwards treated
with such unremitting barbarity by the inquisi-
tion, " is not with men, who are the work of God;
but with opinions which the devil has depraved.
The physician, when he cures a patient, does not
attack the body, but the disorder under which it
labours. In the same manner dealing with here
tics, we ought not to injure them in person, but
seek to remove the error of the understanding, and
the evil of the heart. Finally,- we ought always
to be disposed to submit to persecution, and not to
persecute: to suffer grievances, and not to cause

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 17

them. It is in this manner Jesus Christ con-
quered; since he was nailed to a cross, he did not
crucify others."

It was a Mahometan precept to propagate their
religion by fire and the sword: but the inquisition,
refining upon the former, went still beyond in
cruelty; and although they showed as little mercy
to the bodies of their enemies,' they made war
against their very minds; the tortures of the body,
as will be abundantly shown in the following
pages, being absolutely nothing compared to the
mental agonies to which their victims were sub-
jected. Can any thing be conceived more oppo-
site to Christianity in every feature ? But as there
is nothing on the face of the earth to whieh it may
be compared, let it not be deemed extravagant if we
go further, and liken the inquisition itself to Pan-
demonium, and its ministers to malignant demons.

These observations might, perhaps, have been
reserved for a later period ; but they will be found
to be borne out in every respect by the events
which it is our melancholy task to record. It has
been usual with writers on the inquisition to open
their histories by an account of the persecutions
of the Christian church under the Roman empe-
rors; but this, though a subject of vast interest,
and full of important events, must be passed over
in the present undertaking, it being proposed to
commence at that period when persecution had
become a system, conducted under the pretence

B 2

18 HISTORY OF THE

of religion, and animated and directed by the same
spirit and head, which was the Roman church.
The ecclesiastical history of Rome presents a wide
field to be surveyed a face too broad for our pre-
sent contemplation; our aim being, as we have al-
ready declared, to select from its broad and hideous
countenance the inquisitorial tribunal, which forms
its most tremendous feature.

In giving its history, it is difficult to point out
exactly its fountain heads ; and, indeed, it is not
necessary to show, with historical certainty, the
sources from which they sprung. The fact is, its
original is involved in obscurity, and its growth
was irregular and gradual. It was an invention
of too much wickedness to have been planned and
matured by the depravity of any single person or
age. It was developed by degrees, and first ap-
peared in spots which may be compared to the
blotches of a foul disease, the unerring symptom
of internal corruption. Alas ! that so disgusting a
disorder should have seized the body of the church,
which soon became a loathsome carcass of putridi-
ty and rottenness.

Until the time of the emperor Constantine, the
purity of the Christian faith had been preserved by
the great body of Christians with very little alloy;
but it is from this epoch we are to date the most
disastrous changes : for the conversion of that
monarch threw the civil power into the hands
of i Christians ; and whether from the corrupting

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 19

influence of authority, or as a signal punishment
of heaven, the church can hardly yet be said to be
wholly free from the evils which were generated
by the unnatural union of the Christian faith with
civil empire. In the various changes which en-
sued, we behold the portentous empire of the
popes rising, and with it a gradual declension of
religion and knowledge, until the whole world
became covered with a mantle of ignorance and
superstition, and the cross of Christ had become
the signal of persecution and bloodshed. So that
in those corrupt days, the apostate Julian was un-
fortunately too well justified when he exclaimed,
that, " in his experience, wild beasts were not so
cruel to man, as the Christians of his day were to
one another." <'.-'

It was a fatal policy which had prompted Con-
stantine to remove the seat of government from
Rome to Constantinople. Two empires were thus
formed out of one, and constant struggles ensued.
The hordes of barbarians which desolated the
weakened empire, the new kingdoms rising and
falling upon the ruins of Rome, together with
other influences, operated powerfully in promoting
the gradual development of the papal authority,
and the final establishment of that monstrous doc-
trine, the infallibility of the holy see. By a thou-
sand, artifices, immense wealth had become the
portion of the church, and a steady system of
ecclesiastical aggrandizement had beehi kept in

30 HISTORY OF THE

action for upwards of ten centuries. It was to
maintain this usurped authority and tremendous
sway acquired over mankind, that the inquisition
was established, the scourge of the world, and the
most corrupt engine ever wielded.

This unwholesome tyranny of the Romish
church being once firmly established over man-
kind, her sword of vengeance fell with extermi- '
nating fury on all who dared to offer the least
opposition to her decrees. The odious name of
"heretics" was bestowed on those who enter-
tained any belief different from the settled faith ;
and all Christendom was invoked with promises
of salvation, or driven by menaces of punishment,
to the extirpation of heretics, than whom, the
Romish church taught, the earth could not pro-
duce greater monsters.

From the tenth century, the darkest period of
what is called the dark ages of Europe, the abuses
and wickedness of the church had continued to
increase, till, at last, it had mounted to a height
of iniquity that is scarcely conceivable. To op-
pose this growing crime .and desolation, numerous
individuals, from time to time, had lifted up their
feeble voices in vain. In the twelfth century
arose Arnold of Brescia, who preached boldly and
successfully the necessity of reformation. This
reformer became an object of hatred to the whole
church, whose power was immediately prepared
to crush him; and though he had gained many fol-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION.

lowers and protectors, he finally became a victim,
and was burnt! From the blood of this martyr
sprung the celebrated sects of the Albigenses and
Waldenses, the former so. called from the city of
Albi, where the opinions of Arnold were first pro-
pagated, and the latter called from the Pays de
Vaud, whither the reformer's followers went
after his cruel martyrdom. According to many
writers, it was to extirpate this remnant which had
escaped the sword, that the inquisition was first
set in motion. These sects, of course, early at-
tracted the rage of Rome, and accordingly they
, were hunted down like wild beasts at the instiga-
tion of the popes; and their whole history is a
series of the sufferings they endured at the hands
of their barbarous persecutors. In proportion as
the church became more corrupt, those who dif-
fered from her increased; and as heretics multi-
plied, persecution became a vital principle of the
Catholic religion, gradually assumed a settled cha-
racter, and was reduced to a sanguinary and dia-
bolical system. The various religious orders be-
came the guilty instruments of a remorseless
hierarchy. Among these, the Franciscans and
Dominicans soon rendered themselves conspicuous
for their unsparing zeal against heretics. Invested
by the pope with almost unlimited power over all
those who wandered from the faith of the church
of Rome, they exercised that power, with a dread-
ful rigour, St. Francis and his followers were

22 ' HISTORY OF THE

\ .,;.;

commissioned to extirpate heresies from Italy,
while St. Dominic and his disciples were sent to
ravage certain parts of France, where numerous
heretics, as they were called, disgusted with the
corruptions of Rome, sought out an asylum, and
practised a purer faith and a better worship.

The creed of the Albigenses and Waldenses, as
far as it is possible to ascertain it 5 appears to have
been as harmless as their conduct was pure and
peaceable. In the inoffensiveness of their man
ners they resembled the Quakers : mild in their
principles, they were strangers to war, and lived
in the constant practice of virtue and true religion.
Such is the character of the people who were the
earliest objects of Romish cruelty, and whose ex-
termination was the infant essay and darling aim
of that corrupt court. Pope Innocent III. whose
reign was fatal to the happiness of mankind, as it
gave birth to the two orders already mentioned,
the Dominican and the Franciscan, determined to
tear up this heresy by the roots, and a crusade was
proclaimed against it. St. Dominic and Pierre de
Chataneuf were the persons to be employed upon
the errand. The fanaticism of the age was worked
upon by the gloomy eloquence of St. Dominic.
He laboured and preached night and day. Every
. pulpit soon resounded with anathemas against the
devoted Albigenses, and an immense army, which
was impiously called the militia of Christ, was
soon ready to proceed to their destruction. The

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 23

persons who engaged in the crusade had all their
sins forgiven. These religious soldiers, like those
who joined the crusades for the recovery of the
Holy Land, had all manner of indulgences granted
them : they wore the sign of the cross upon their
armour, and hence it was they were also denomi-
nated cross-hearers. By their means it was pro-
posed to cut off with the material sword those
heretics who could not be vanquished by the
sword of preaching.

Raymond, earl of Thoulouse, in France, in
whose territory the Albigenses were chiefly found,
having refused, at the mandate of the pope, to de-
stroy his innocent subjects, became a principal ob-
ject of rage. He was excommunicated by the
pope. This most dreadful of punishments, in that
age, will be explained in another part of the pre-
sent work. The count, however, was so beloved
by his subjects, that the anathema of the church
did not fall upon him with its accustomed de-
slructiveness. Recourse was had to stratagem and
artifice, and a handle was soon made of an unfor-
tunate accident. Pierre de Chataneuf, the pope's
legate who pronounced the curse, was drowned,
and it was at once proclaimed that he had been
murdered by Raymond. The furious churchman
was converted into a saint and martyr, and -ihe
earl was branded as an assassin. Every thing was
done to inflame the people, and to hold the earl
up to execration. The more effectually to secure

24 HISTORY OF THE

his ruin, the pope promised heaven to all who
took arms, and the gift of all the estates of the
count to those who would conquer them.

CHAPTER II.

Life and character of St. Dominic, the founder of the inquisi-
tion Origin and meaning of the word inquisition First holy
office Miracles related of St. Dominic His mother's dream-
Standard of the inquisition of Goa Persecutions of the Albigen-
ses and Waldenses Simon de Montfort His cruelties Crusades
against heretics The Beguins Establishment of the inquisition
at Jerusalem Reflections.

IT is now necessary to suspend the narration for
the purpose of introducing one of the most extra-
ordinary personages which history can boast ; one
who is usually denominated the founder of the in-
quisition ; with which, at all events, his name is
now completely identified. This individual was
St. Dominic, whose authority to conduct the per-
secutions of which we spoke in the last chapter,
was derived from Innocent III. It will be neces-
sary to dwell a little upon his character and life,
after which it is proposed to continue the tragical
history of the persecutions of the Albigenses and
"V^laldenses, since it was on this occasion that the
bloody spirit of papal vindictiveness was first un-
folded.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 25

The instructions which St. Dominic received

/

were, to inquire out, or make inquisition con-
cerning, and to punish all offenders against the
faith. Hence the titles of inquisitor and inqui-
sition. It is also said, that, on his arriving at the
theatre of his future exploits, he took up his abode
in the house of a certain nobleman of Thoulouse,
whom he found sadly infected with heresy ; and
after bringing him back to the true faith, the noble
convert immediately devoted himself and his whole
dwelling to St. Dominic and his order ; and this is
pointed out as the first building in which the holy
office was regularly lodged.

The character of St. Dominic and some of the
incidents of his life, as they have been given by
many writers, possess a strange interest, not so
much on account of the marvellous with which
they teem, but as -illustrating the spirit of the wri-
ters, and the depravity, the folly, and the incon-
ceivable ignorance of those ages. Domingo de
Gusman, styled, in the Romish Calender, St. Do-
minic, is the only saint on record, in whom no
solitary speck of goodness is discoverable. To
impose pain and privations was the pleasure of his
unnatural heart, and cruelty was in him an appe-
tite and a passion. No other human being has
ever been the occasion of so much misery. The
few traits of his character to be gleaned from the
tying volumes of his biographers, are all of the
Darkest colours. He is said never to have looked

26 HISTORY OF THE

a woman in the face, nor spoken to one. On his
preaching expeditions he slept in churches or upon
graves, wore an iron chain round his body, and his
fastings and self-whippings were excessive.

The coming into the world of this bloody man
was preceded by prodigies, which, indeed, are all
false, ,-but they nevertheless show what impression
his actions had made upon those who had either
seen or read of them. It is related that, before his
birth, his mother dreamed that she had brought
into the world a whelp, whose fierce barkings were
heard every where, and that the earth was burnt
by the lighted torch which the monster bore in his
mouth. The Dominican writers say that the torch
means, that St. Dominic enlightened the world:
but others have found in the torch an emblem of
the incredible number of victims who were consu-
med by .the fire and fagot of the inquisition. There
can be little doubt, however, that the whole of this
dream was invented long after the birth of St. Do-
minic ; and its universal reception shows, very
strikingly, the general opinion that was enter-
tained of the founder of the institution, both of
which are figuratively described by the whelp and
the torch. This ridiculous story is the more im-
portant, as it afterwards became the standard of
the inquisition at Goa, in the East Indies.

But to proceed with the marvels related of this
wicked man, which are only worthy of attention,
as they demonstrate the depravity of the age, and

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 29

the character of the writers, as well as of their sub-
ject. Earthquakes and meteors, they declare, an-
nounced his nativity to the earth and the air; and
two or three suns and moons extraordinary were
hung out for an illumination in the heavens. The
virgin received him in her arms when he was
born. When a sucking bsbe he observed fast-days
regularly. Jrfis manhood was as portentous as his
infancy. He fed multitudes miraculously. He
used to be red-hot with divine love sometimes
blazing like a sun sometimes glowing like a fur-
nace. At times it blanched his garments, and im-
bued them with a glory resembling that of the
transfiguration. Once it sprouted out in six wings
like a seraph's, and once the fervour of his piety
made him sweat blood. His thousand other mira-
cles, and more especially those relating to the ro-
sary and the virgin Mary, are, many of them, too
shocking for repetition. " It is impossible," says
a very sensible writer, " to transcribe these atro-
cious blasphemies without shuddering at the guilt
of those who invented them ; and when it is re-
membered that they are the men who have perse-
cuted and martyred so many thousands for con-
science' sake, it seems as if human wickedness
could not be carried farther. Blessed be the day
of Martin Luther's birth ! It should be a festival
only second to that of the Nativity."

From this digression upon the character of St.
Dominic, it is time to return to the fate of the Al-

c2

30 HISTORY OP THE

bigenses. Raymond, earl of Thoulouse, had vainly
wished to protect his innocent subjects. He was
compelled at last to yield implicit obedience to the
church. This reconciliation, however, which was
accompanied by circumstances of great mortifica-
tion -for he was scourged, naked and in public,
till his flesh was torn by the stripes did not pro-
duce the benefits which were anticipated. The
numerous swarms of cross-bearers overspread the
country, like another plague of locusts, devouring
as they went, and leaving nothing but desolation
behind. In the year 1209, the city of Biterre was
captured, and all the inhabitants, without distinc-
tion of age or sex, were inhumanly massacred. It
is related, that some of the cross-bearers being at
a loss how to act, since there were Catholics in the
city, mixed with the heretics, so that they might
slaughter the innocent by mistake ; and apprehend-
ing at the same time that the guilty might feign
themselves Catholics to save their lives, their
doubts were soon resolved and quieted by one of
their spiritual leaders, who exclaimed with a loud
voice, " Slay them all ! Slay them all ! for the
Lord knows who are his own." Every soul was
butchered !

Simon de Montfort was now chosen as the mili-

' tary leader. This commander was of a gigantic

stature, and possessed a constitution hardened to

iron in the crusades of the Holy Land. Born and

reared in the midst of ignorance, fanaticism, and

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 31

war, he would have thought himself dishonoured
by sentiments of mercy and pity. His only vir-
tue was ferocity his courage that of a robber.
Such was the chosen champion of religion. In that
corrupt age the doors of salvation and the path of
glory were equally open to a man who, in our day,
would have been condemned to the scaffold.

The earl, haying been appointed by the cross-
bearers governor of the whole country, including
those portions-which were not yet conqueredj soon
distinguished himself for his zeal and ferocity in
the war, and the most horrible punishments were
inflicted upon the captive heretics. One of these
victims, who was condemned to the flames, having
expressed a desire to abjure his errors and be con-
verted, there arose a division among the cross-
bearers; but the earl quickly decided that the
penitent must be burnt ; alleging, that if his con-
version was genuine, the flames would expiate his
sins ; and if it was pretended, he would meet the
reward his perfidious conduct merited.

In the mean time the younger Raymond, son.
of the earl, had raised an army in Provence, and
was making successful war upori Montfort, and
had even recovered the city of Thoulouse itself.
These successes were greatly facilitated and se-
cured by the death of Montfort, who was killed
fey a stone while endeavouring to retake Thou*
louse. About the year 1221, the earl of Thoulouse
also died, and was succeeded by his son, whose

' 32 HISTORY OF THE

valour had already recovered his father's earldom
by arms. , One of the first acts of the young ear!
was to banish the inquisition from his dominions,
whereby he at once brought upon himself the in-
dignation of the pope. Once more the horrid
trumpet of war was heard, and the Dominicans
were again sent to preach a new crusade, to be
called the " Penance War." Letters were sent to
the French king, Lewis, commanding him, " in
the name of God/' to smite the Albi gentses with
the sword, and burn their cities with fire. It was
in vain now that the earl offered to make every
atonement to God and the holy church. The legate
of the pope was deaf to his submission, and re-
solved to compel him to renounce his patrimony
for ever.

Lewis, king of France, entered upon this war
with alacrity, and besieged the city of Avignon,
Before it was taken, however, he fell a victim to
dysentery. His death was concealed from the
army by the legate, whose conduct, it will pre-
sently be seen, was distinguished by the most
atrocious perfidy. Finding it impossible to con-
quer the city by force, he had recourse to strata-
gem. He craved permission to enter the city, with
his prelates and servants, for the purpose of ex-
amining into the faith of the inhabitants; declaring,
with an oath, that he would put off the siege, and
that his only motive was the salvation of their
souls. The citizens, confiding in the oath of so

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 33

hoty a character, and dreaming of no fraud, con-
sented ; but the army, according to a private un-
derstanding, rushed in at the gates, and treacher-
ously captured the city, slaying many of the peo-
ple, and demolishing the fortresses and towers of
defence. Thoulouse, also, was soon after compel-
led to surrender, and Raymond was subjected to
penalties in some respects severer than those which
had been imposed upon his father. A Catholic
writer, in speaking of one of the penances of the
earl, exclaims, " that it was a holy sight to see so
great a man, who for a long time could resist so
many and great nations, led in his shirt and trou-
sers, and with naked feet, to the altar," which was
done to absolve him from his sentence of excom-
munication.

The earl's neck being thus bowed down to the
papal yoke, uncommon and successful efforts were
made by the pope, and seconded by several mo-
narchs, to enlarge and consolidate the inquisitorial
power. The king of France and the emperor of
Germany, about the same time promulged the
severest laws and constitutions against all manner
of heretics, by which the office of the inquisition
was greatly promoted But it must not be sup-
posed that this cruel tyranny was patiently sub-
mitted to by all nations. In many places great
resistance was made, and open violence employed
against the inquisitors, whose cruelties were ; n
supportable. The power of the pontiff, however,

"34 HISTORY OF THE

was not to be resisted. Even the emperor Fr*
deriek, who had signalized his zeal in the cause of
the church against heretics, was, for a slight offence,
at once attacked by the thunder of excommunica-
tion. Pope John XXIV. went so far as to con-
demn as heretics the Begvtins, monks of the order
of St. Francis, who vowed never to own any pro-
perty, but to live by begging, which they denomi-
nated evangelical poverty. John wished to ex-
empt them from this discipline, and dispense with
the strict rule of St. Francis, and authorized them
to lay up storehouses of corn, wine, and bread ;
which they, deeming it a violation of their purity,
and derogatory to the sublime perfection of their
order, opposed so strenuously, that the pontiff is-
sued a bloody decree against the obstinate Beguins,
Many of them were burnt to death by this pope?
whom they called the Boar of the Forest, which
had destroyed the enclosure of the tabernacle, and
had done more harm to the church of God than
all former heretics put together. One of them,
who was speaking of the pope's power to dispense
with the rule of St. Francis, inquired, contemptu-
ously, in allusion to the text in Scripture whereby
the holy see claims earthly authority, viz. that
"whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound
in heaven," whether, " if the pope bound the tail
of an ass on earth, the tail of the ass would be
tound in heaven."
But in defiance of all opposition, the inquisition

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 35

was introduced into numerous places, and even
found its way into Syria and Palestine; for about
the end of the thirteenth century, the pope sent a
bull to the patriarch of Jerusalem, commanding
him to establish inquisitors in the different dis-
tricts of his legateship, in Judea. It cannot fail
to excite singular emotions in the reader's mind,
to find the inquisition exercising, in the name of
Christianity, its dark and appalling office in the
very spot where the Saviour of mankind had un-
folded his holy and glad mission for the redemp-
tion of a sin-lost world a melancholy change in-
deed, to perceive growing on the soil where once
sprung the rose of Sharon and the lily of the val-
ley, the poisonous and the pestilent branches of a
deadly Upas.

36 HISTORY OF THE

CHAPTER III.

'i

Objects of Pope Innocent III. in establishing the inquisition-"
Epoch of its establishment the same as that of the reformation,
and of the revival of letters Established in Germany Cruelties
of the inquisition towards the heretics of Bohemia Is planted in
various countries Is established in Spain by Ferdinand and Isa.
bella Torquemada His life and character His fatal influence
in promoting the inquisition Bitter persecutions against the
Moors and Jews Expulsion of the Jews and Moors from Spain-
Death of Torquemada.

ALTHOUGH the cruel wars of persecution had
been triumphantly successful in the slaughter of
thousands of innocent persons who had fallen vic-
tims in the victories of Montfort, yet it was obvi- ,
ous that the process of extirpating heresy, by ex-
termination, could never be effectual in the extinc-
tion of the Albigenses ; for, in opposition to the
rigorous measures employed for the purpose, it
had penetrated to the very capital of Christendom.
Innocent had too much sagacity not to perceive
that the evil would only be increased by the vio-
lent steps used to eradicate it. It was therefore
his wicked, though great, policy to create and con-
solidate a power, strong and ever-wakeful, which
should watch over the papal interests, and be both
willing and able, at all moments and in defiance
of all human interference, to crush heresy, when-
ever and in whatever form it might raise its headr

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 37

Accordingly every spring was put in action to ac-
complish -this stupendous plan of human misery.
As usual, the monks of St. Dominic and St. Fran-
cis were the terrible functionaries made use of by
the holy see. These servile minions of the in-,
terests and will of Rome, devoid of the ties of far
mily and affection, which bind men in society ,
accustomed, in religion, to believe and not to ex-
amine were true fanatics, without mercy, without
humanity; and their hatred to heretics was ever,
kept alive by the fear of losing their; temporal
wages.

It is not possible, within .the narrow compass,
which this compendious history is intended to em-.
brace, to give an account of the various successes,
and checks, and all the vicissitudes which the. in-,
quisition met in its gradual progress., Hitherto*,
however, its authority had been confined to. Italy,
where it was pent up within comparatively strict
limits; but it was plain that, like a torrent swok.
len, it vyas soon to overleap its bounds, and, spread-
ing beyond the Alps, to deluge Europe with a flood
of horrors. It is impossible to contemplate this
period of the history of the world without breath-.
less interest and deep emotion;. If the inquisition,
forced its way beyond Italy, all Europe was to be
darkened by its portentous shade, its energies be
paralyzed, its kingdoms be cemeteries, and its
whole soil ;he,c$TO one wide Aceldama, But there
is a great Power which rules, the destinies. of*. our r

D

38 HISTORY OF THE

world ; and the interposition of that Power, at this
critical moment, was providentially conspicuous.
The human mind began to awaken from its torpor
of ages ; the revival of learning followed with its
beneficial consequences, and the glorious Reforma-
tion was just streaking the horizon of that age
with the first colours' of -the dawn. The*e lights
soon broke from heaven upon the darkness of Eu-
rope, and men were enabled to see the fearful
places in which they had been groping, and the
more fearful perils by which they were environed.
What power, says a writer, rescued Europe from
this, apparently, inevitable degradation? It was
one of those circumstances which it is neither
granted to wisdom to foresee, nor to prudence to
guard against; and the importance of which does
not ordinarily strike men's minds until experience,
long after, has enabled them to consider its various
and important results. Is there in history an epoch
more worthy of the attention of a philosopher, than
that in which he beholds the establishment of the
inquisition coincide so nearly with the revival of
letters and of arts in Europe, and sees Providence,
in this respect, imitate its conduct in the natural
world, where it frequently places at the side of the
poisonous weed the plant which contains its anti-
dote ? Providence, we may repeat; for it was not,
assuredly, the presentiment of danger, nor the ap-
prehension of future evil, that gave birth to the art
of printing, almost by the cradle of the inquisition.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 39

Germany was the first country in Europe, be-
''yond Italy, in which the attempt was now made,
by the popes, to plant the inquisition; which, at
every attempt, met with opposition, and in some
instances even caused general insurrections of the
people. Wherever they did succeed, the inquisi-
torial fires were fed, as usual, with thousands of
heretics. In Bohemia, with the dawn of the re-
formation, the fury of the revived inquisition re-
turned. Throughout this empire, in consequence
of the doctrines preached by John Huss and Je-
rome of Prague, who became martyrs to the cause,
and were burnt to death, was experienced, in its
worst forms, the rage of persecution. As the doc-
trines of these men, to whom may be added Wick-
liffe, another early reformer, continued to spread,
the pope, at last exasperated, offered a universal
pardon of sins to the most wicked person who
would kill a Bohemian. The consequence was,
that this fated kingdom was invaded by the empe-
ror Sigismond with a large army, and its whole
extent swept by the besom of war.

The inquisition had been successively intro-
duced into Austria, Dalmatia, Hungary, Poland,
and other places. In Venice, also, it was estab-
lished, but under great restrictions, through the
wisdom of the rulers of that famous republic. The
celebrated order of the Templars had been crushed
by its power. Every thing gave way before its
pasting progress, and before the close of the thir-

40 HISTORY OF THE

teenth century, it was forced, by papal authority,
into Servia, Syria, and even Palestine. In France,
where it had begun to decline, < it was revived
against the descendants of the Albigenses and Wal-
denses. Valence, Flanders, and Artois became
theatres of persecution. In short, the popes were
continually endeavouring to promote it, and to
establish it in those kingdoms and countries which
were exempted from its grievous yoke, that their
enemies might enjoy no place of shelter or refugB
in the world from this terrible tribunal, whose
tyranny rendered miserable all who lived within
its sphere, and made the monarch on his throne
-and the peasant in his hut equally tremble.

But whatever obstacles may have opposed the
planting of the holy office in other countries, it is
very certain that 1 the kingdom of Spain presented
a genial soil, wherein this pernicious institution
took a deep and deadly root. In no country has
the inquisition thriven with so quick and baleful
a growth, or flung such a melancholy shade. It
was nurtured under the fostering care of Ferdi-
nand and Isabella. They established it in all their
kingdoms with great pomp and magnificence, un-
der a pretence of curing the corruptions which
licentiousness had engendered, and the promiscu-
ous intercourse of Moors, Jews, and Christians,
who composed the people over whom their domi-
nion extended. Force and fraud were added to
authority. The most ridiculous impostures were

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 41

practised. At Guadaloupe the holy office desired
a sign from the virgin Mary 5 and it is related that
miracles were wrought in such numbers, and with
such rapidity, that the pious father who undertook
the task of penning them, grew weary of the labour*
It is extremely difficult to divine the real mo-
tives which could have impelled such sagacious
sovereigns to adopt so dangerous a policy. It could
scarcely have derived its original only from a blind
and bigoted zeal for popery, as has been alleged:
they doubtless expected that they should possess
their kingdom in greater peace and security after
stifling the Mahometan and Jewish religions ; or,
perhaps, as the ambition of Ferdinand and Isabella
is said to have aimed at the universal empire of
Europe, they wished, by signal zeal in the cause
of Catholicism, to enlist the good will and conni-
vance of the all-powerful pontiff. But the true
character of Ferdinand, the Catholic king, is well
known. He was a man who scrupled at no crime
which served his purpose; and as the religion in
which he was trained taught that the means were
sanctified by the end, the extension of that religion
by force seemed to him a compensation for all his
other iniquities. The state of Isabella's mind was
not dissimilar from his own : by putting herself
at the head of a faction, she had obtained a king-
dom to which her claim at least was doubtful, and
she, had obtained it at the price of the happiness
and liberty of another, whose right she had her-

42 HISTORY OF THE

self acknowledged and sworn to respect. A crown
thus purchased did not sit easy on her head. She
was unhappy in her husband and unfortunate in
her children, and she sought in religion an ano-
dyne for conscience as well as for affliction. There
is reason to suppose that a morbid melancholy
temperament, thus generated, or at least thus
heightened, was transmitted by her to her pos-
terity a sort of moral ,scrofula which displayed
itself in many members of her family. She and
her husband both supposed that they could wash
their hands clean in blood. In the year 1479, they
obtained the privilege from Pope Sextus TV. of
creating inquisitors, and six years afterwards the
work of devastation began.

On the history of Spain in earlier times, and on
the progress of fanaticism, it is not necessary to
dwell. A new world was discovered, and it was
explored and conquered by her priests and sol-
diers, whose struggle seemed to be, which should
create the wider and worse desolation throughout
the magnificent domain. The monks and inquisitors
preached loudly against the idolatries and human
sacrifices of the Mexicans. What might not these
unhappy beings have replied, had they witnessed
the tortures and the fires which the inquisitors of
Madrid, of Lisbon, and of Goa, were daily kin*
dling for the tens of thousands of human victims
offered up by them in the name of the God of
mercy?

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 43

It was under the malignant influences of Tor-
quemada and Ximenes, whose motives and aims,
though as different as possible, still called upon
them to unite in a grand and equal object. Tho-
mas de Torquemada, or Turrecremata, was a Do-
minican and a fanatic. He aimed at the favour of
the pope and spiritual rule. Ximenes was prime
minister, imperious and tyrannical. Indeed it
should be observed, that motives of a purely hu-
man character had operated in the introduction of
the inquisition in every place where it had become
established ; the object even of the first projector,
Pope Innocent III. having been to sway the world
by means of a great religious engine of irresistible
force.

The inquisition : had found its way into this
country, however, long before the period when
these individuals flourished, but the time was not
ripe; adverse circumstances had retarded its
growth, and it was in a very low condition during
the fifteenth century, when Torquemada made his
appearance. This man may be regarded as a
modern incarnation of the bloody Dominic ; and
as his whole life, like that of the latter, is identi-
fied with the tribunal which was renewed in Spain
by his influence, it will be interesting to contem-
plate his career more closely, and to enter with
greater minuteness into the circumstances of his
lifer . . : : .:, , : ;

A small fortune enabled him to procure 'a good

44 HISTORY OF THE

education, and an ardent spirit drove him, at an
early age, to travel through Spain, where he be-
came deeply enamoured of a lady of Cordova, who
rejected his suit, and became the wife of a Moor.
Thus, personal revenge has been alleged as the real
cause of that malignant hatred of the Moorish race,
of which they were, at a future day, to reap the
bitterness. Soon after his disappointment, which
ever rankled in his breast, he formed a strict bond
of friendship with Lopez de Cervera, superior of
the order of St. Dominic ; an order which, it will
be remembered, was coeval with the inquisition :
and it was in the society of this individual that
Torquemada, who had become a zealous Domini
can, upon examining the archives of the Domini
cans, and perceiving the unlimited power formerly
enjoyed by that order, conceived the ambitious
project of reviving the tribunal of the inquisition.
To accomplish this mighty end, it was first ne-
cessary that the different kingdoms into which
Spain was broken should be united under one
potent empire. The plan was so vast, that it
seemed beyond the reach of one man's strength ;
but Torquemada possessed prodigious force of
mind ; and stimulated as he was by a thousand
motives, among which the prospect of extirpating
the Moors, whose power was on the decline in
Spain, was not the least, his spirit rose with an
object he deemed worthy of the ambition that in-
flamed his bosom. To commence this enterprise

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 45

he adopted the plan usually resorted to in those
days by ambitious monks to gain celebrity, and as
a preacher he quitted Saragossa and repaired to
Toledo, where his eloquence was so successful and
his reputation so great, that, in the course of a short
time, he was gradually elevated to a post which
even he could hardly have anticipated. He was
appointed confessor to Isabella, -who was still a
child. Over her mind Torquemada soon obtained
an entire ascendency, and he planted in it the first
seeds of ambition, by breathing in her ear, con-
stantly, the possibility of her one day mounting
the throne. He accustomed her to the idea that,
as soon as this event took place, which he foresaw
probable, it would be her interest, as hereditary
queen of Castile, to unite herself to Ferdinand, the
hereditary prince of Arragon, by which union one
great object, the consolidation of the empire, was
to be gained. The ingenuity and perseverance by
which this monk obtained complete sway over all
the thoughts of the young princess, would com-
mand admiration could it be for a moment forgot-
ten that all this industry and pernicious wisdom
had for its aim the misery of the human race.

The next step was to imbue her mind with the
necessity and importance of re-establishing the in-
quisition, and to prepare her for it in the event
of her obtaining the crown. Torquemada had
been accustomed to infuse the poison of his coun-
sels at the season of confession, and the time he

46 HISTORY OF THE

now selected was that of receiving;; 'the sacrament.
It is not necessary to go through all the guile
of this serpent, and the winding paths by which
he crawled to his object. He succeeded, and Isa-
bella at that solemn moment engaged herself, by
an oath, to re-establish the "holy office" in Spain,
in case she should ever be placed upon its throne !
Every expectation which had been formed was
realized ; subsequent events elevated Isabella to the
throne, and Torquemada then came forward, and
reminded her of the oath she had registered in
heaven. He represented to her, that although the
conquest of Grenada had driven out the Moors,
yet that they swarmed throughout the land, and that
it was her duty, to convert them all, as well as the
Jews, or to commit them to the flames, for the re-
pose of the kingdom, the benefit of the faith, and
the glory of God. He told her that these pagans,
the enemies of the Holy Catholic religion, would
pretend to embrace the faith, and that the only
remedy was the erection of the inquisition, which
alone was able to rule the conscience, and pene-
trate the most secret corners of the human heart ;
that if the faith had been preserved pure in Italy,
it was to be attributed to this institution; and that
it would reflect immortal honour on so great a
queen to build up this bulwark of the true religion,
which would be as durable as the Spanish mo-
narchy. The successful result of these deadly
counsels need not be repeated. Torquemada

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 47

reached the summit of his hopes. - He was ap-
pointed grand inquisitor of Spain, and very soon
after tribunals were created throughout the empire.
During the fourteen years that he exercised his
new and congenial function, he prosecuted before
his tribunal upwards of one hundred thousand in-
dividuals, of whom about six thousand were con-
demned to the flames, and their goods became the
prey of the spoiler.

The system thus began soon extended itself over
Spain. The Jews who escaped death or imprison-
ment were compelled to wear a peculiar dress, in
order that all Christians might avoid them. Their
children and their children's children to the latest
generation were excluded from all offices of trust
and honour, and prohibited from wearing any
thing but the rudest garments. In the single dio-
cese of Sevills, above one hundred thousand per-
sons were destroyed, converted, or driven into
exile, and in the city three thousand houses were
left without inhabitants. The reader must not
suppose that this is an exaggerated tale : it is the
boast of the inquisitors, and grave and authentic
historians have confirmed what they dared not
condemn, even if they felt at human horror at such
execrable deeds. A third of the confiscated pro-
perty went to the inquisitors ; a third to the ex-
traordinary expenses of the faith that is, it went
the same way ; the remainder was the govern-
ment's share of the plunder. When these perse-

48 HISTORY OF THE ;,,<>

cuted people found it hopeless to appeal to human-
ity, justice, or even policy, they tried to work
upon the cupidity of the government, and large
sums were offered for general toleration, even for
the safety of individuals. They offered an im-
mense sum to Ferdinand, to assist him in his wars,
if he would guaranty to them peace and security
from persecution. The monarch would have
listened to their prayer, wh'en the fierce and un-
sparing Torquemada had the audacity to enter the
presence of the king and queen with the crucifix
in his hand, and exclaim, " Behold the image of our
crucified Redeemer, whom Judas sold for thirty
pieces of silver: you are about to do the same for
thirty thousand. Behold him, take him, and
hasten to sell him ! As for me, I lay down my
office. Nothing of this shall be imputed to me.
You shall render an account of your bargain to
God." Then laying down the crucifix, he de-
parted. The result was, the Jews were banished,
and the Moors were obliged to fly the realm.
These banished Jews carried away with them a
quantity of gold concealed in their garments, and
saddles, and even in their intestines ; for they
melted the coin, and swallowed it in small pieces.
Many were seized in Africa, where the native
Moors even killed the women for the purpose of
procuring the gold which they expected to find in
their bowels. Such were the cruelties which sprung
from the insolent fanaticism of Torquemada, BUS

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 49

tamed by the avarice of Ferdinand; and the
thoughtless zeal of Isabella !

It is conjectured that above half a million of Jews
were expatriated, and their immense riches confis-
cated. If to the whole number be added that of the
Moors exiled, at least two millions of valuable
subjects must have been lost to Spain by the tyrah- .
nical bigotry of Ferdinand and Isabella. This is
the calculation of the historian Mariana. The en-
tire expulsion of the Moors took place in 1609, to
the number of a million of souls; so that, says
Llorente, in the space of one hundred and thirty-
nine years the inquisition deprived the kingdom
of three millions of inhabitants.

The Moors of Grenada had before this period
attracted the attention of the Romish see. Ximc-
nes, archbishop of Toledo, had been sent by the
pope to convert them to Christianity. By violence
he forced many to submit, and a vast number
of Aleorans and other books touching upon the
Mahometan religion were destroyed. In conse-
quence of a dangerous commotion which occurred
in the city of Grenada about that period, numbers
of the Moorish race were condemned as guilty
of high-treason. When it was proposed to trans-
late some portions of the service of the mass, and
of the Gospel, into the Arabic, for the benefit
of the convicts, Ximenes would not permit it, de-
claring that " it was a sin to throw pearls before
swine." He further said, that the Old and New

E

50 HISTORY OF THE

Testaments, in which there were many things that
required a learned and attentive reader, and a chaste
and pious mind, should be kept in those three lan-i
guages only which God, not without the greatest
mystery, ordered to be placeS over his most dear

Son's head, when he suffered the death of .the

' '

cross j", and that then " Christianity would suffer
the greatest mischief when the Bible should be
translated into the vulgar tongues."

Torquemada died in 1498 ; and it is a satisfac-
tion to know that this wretch did not go without |
some punishment, even in this world. He lived j
in constant dread, had always a guard of fifty horse
and two hundred familiars, and drank out of a uni-
corn's horn, (as he believed it to be,) from a super-
stitious notion that it would secure him from poi-
son. The persecution of the Jews, related in this
chapter, which was conducted by this man, is re-
garded by that unhappy people as a calamity
scarcely less dreadful and extensive than the de-
struction of Jerusalem.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 51

CHAPTER IV.

The reformation in Itaiy Aoneo Paleareo- His character and

*- \ '

writings Persecuted and finally burnt by the inquisition Ad-
! ventures of Mr. Bower- His escape from the inquisition of Mace-
rata Account of three modes of torture practised in that tribu-
nal Persecution of Galileo.

BEFORE proceeding with the history of the in-
quisition in Spain, it will be proper to turn for a
little while to other matters connected with the
subject in Italy, the interest of which, it is hoped,
will justify the digression. The zeal of the inqui-
sition against the Jews was stimulated by avarice,
but against the reformers it was inflamed by fear
and hatred. It is a remarkable fact, also, that the
Jews had never been persecuted at Rome. But
the principles of the reformation had made a
greater progress in the papal dominions than is
commonly supposed. In a great number of the
cities, vast multitudes of converts to its doctrine
had been won, and many eminent individuals de-
voted their zeal and efforts to its propagation.
Among these, Aoneo Paleareo claims a distin-
guished station. He was a native of Veroli, in
Italy, had studied the Scriptures, and read the
works of the German reformers, from which he
had imbibed a new and a better knowledge. He
Was, a man very eminent for learning, j but his

52 HISTORY OF THE

freedom of language and his new opinions, sur-
rounded him by spies, who sought his ruin. One
crime he committed was to laugh at a rich priest
who was seen every morning kneeling at the shrine
of a saint, but who, nevertheless, refused to pay his
just debts. An enemy of Paleareo declared, that 1
if he were allowed to live, there would not be a
vestige of religion left in the city. Paleareo gives
the explanation of this himself, which was, that
having been asked what was the first ground on
which men should rest their salvation, lie replied,
Christ. On being asked what was the second, he
said, Christ. And again being asked W 7 hat was the
third ground, he a third time said, Christ. But
the greatest crime he committed was in writing a
book entitled, " The benefit of the death of Christ."
For this book he was condemned to be burnt, but
escaped, and fled to the city of Lucca. He con-
tinued, however, to be persecuted, and was, at last,
in consequence of the reformed opinions he held,
condemned, after an imprisonment of three years,
to be suspended on a gibbet, and his body given to
the flames. Thus, in 1570, at the age of seventy
years, was destroyed by those tigers of the inqui-
sition, the Dominicans, the venerable Paleareo,
distinguished alike for his talents, his writings, his
sufferings, and his boldness; a man who was both
great and good, and one who is regarded as the
greatest ornament of the reformation in Italy.
It is not possible to enter into a regular account

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 53

of this institution as it existed in Italy, as a volume
would easily be exhausted ; but, from the numer-
ous narratives with which its history in this coun-
try abound, one will be selected as sufficient to
show that the same spirit of cruelty pervaded it in
every region and at every period. The account
which Mr. Bower, the author of the " History
of the Popes," has given of his own adventures,
as connected with the inquisition at Macerata, in
Italy, though it has been deemed by some writers
overstrained, yet what he relates of the inquisition
itself in that place, of whose cruelties he was an
eyewitness, is believed to be substantially correct.
There is nothing in his account which appears like
exaggeration, and therefore an abridgment of his
story, as related by himself, is now offered to the
reader.

Archibald Bower was born in Scotland, and at
the age of five years was sent to an uncle in Italy,
where he was educated, and became so distin-
guished that he was appointed professor in the col-
lege of Macerata. The inquisitor general of this
place had contracted a great intimacy with him,
and on the death of one of the inquisitorial judges,
Bovver was appointed in his place, an elevation
which was deemed a great honour. Ignorant of the
office he was about to undertake, he entered upon
it with alacrity, took the oath of secrecy, and re-
ceived a book called the " Directory," containing
rules for the decisions and conduct of the inquisi-

E 2

54 HISTORY OF THE

tors, which, for greater caution, was in manuscript.
This book is always sealed when its possessor is
dangerously ill, or promoted to a higher office, un-
der which circumstances it is death to open or
retain it.

'The first thing he did, after returning home, was
to peruse his directory, in order better to under-
stand his new employment 5 but what was his
astonishment to find the rules more barbarous than
can be conceived. Within a fortnight after his
admission, he had an opportunity to see that the
practice of the inquisition was as inhuman as the
regulations. A poor man was brought to the of-
fice. He had an only daughter who had fallen
sick, and for whom he prayed to the virgin Mary.
His daughter, however, died, and the old man,
crazed by the loss, had flung away the medal of the
virgin which he used to carry about him, and for
this crime he was put to the torture.

It is impossible to express how much his feel-
ings were constantly violated by the barbarities
of which he was a witness. On one occasion it
being his turn to sit by a person tortured, he was
so affected by the agony of the sufferer that he
fainted away, and was obliged to be carried out.
When he recovered, the inquisitor general said to
him, " Mr. Bower, take your place ; you do not
reflect that what is done to the body is for the
good of the soul.' 7 Mr. Bower replied, " it was
the weakness of his nature, and he could not help

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 55

it."" Nature !" said the inquisitor; "you must
, conquer nature by grace." While this conversa-
tion was going forward, the poor wretch expired.
Mr. Bower now began to project his escape, and
revolved in his own mind every possible method
of effecting it ; but the difficulties were formidable
in the extreme, and the consequences, in case
of failure, would be fatal. At length a circum-
stance occurred, in which he was called upon to
act with brutal severity against a nobleman and
his lady, who were his best and dearest friends,
and who had incurred the malice of the church,
which determined Mr. Bower in his resolution.
The manner of it was all that required considera-
tion. It occurred to him to solicit permission to
make a pilgrimage to Loretto ; but conscious of his
secret purpose, he feared the words would falter
on his tongue, and his very confusion betray him.
At last he collected sufficient resolution, and ob-

*

tained the immediate assent of the inquisitor
general.

Having made his preparations, he mounted his
horse determined to take all the by-roads, it be-
ing upwards of four hundred miles before he could
get out of the pope's jurisdiction. As soon as he
reached the place where the road divided, the one
part leading to Loretto, the other in the direction
he wished to go, he hesitated some minutes in

> jj 5 -'. ' - .

great perplexity. The dangers of his adventure
presented themselves in such lively colours that

56 HISTORY OF THE

he was almost tempted to quit his design ; but mus-
tering all his strength of mind, he pushed his horse
into the contrary road.

During the first seventeen days the difficult na-
ture of the route he was obliged to pursue, among
mountains, rocks and precipices, in paths generally
no better than sheep tracks, prevented his ad-
vancing more than one hundred miles ; and, in the
mean time, as soon as the suspicion of his attempt
was rumoured, express despatches were sent, and
every possible method adopted to overtake and
"secure him ; and, indeed, the expresses in a very
short time considerably outstripped him.

During seventeen days he supported himself on
goat's milk obtained from the shepherds, and such
coarse food as he could purchase. At the expira-
tion of this period, having fasted nearly three days,
he was compelled to seek the first habitation, which
happened to be a post-house. He requested the
landlady to give him some victuals ; but looking
about, he saw a paper posted up over the door
which contained an exact description of his own
person, and offered a reward of about four thousand
dollars to any one who should carry him to the
inquisition, and three thousand dollars for his head.
To. add to his terrors, he was recognised by two
individuals, who, either from*want of presence
of mind or of courage, permitted^him, though un-
der circumstances of great difficulty, to escape.

He was now obliged to take refuge in the woods*

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 57

where he must have been famished but for the pro-
tecting care of Providence. In this disconsolate
and wandering manner he had once well-nigh
fallen into the hands of his enemies, having been
on the point of entering a large town which he dis-
covered at a distance ; but was fortunately told by
a person whom he accidentally met, that it was
Lucerne, the .residence of the pope's nuncio, to
and from whom all the expresses concerning him-
self had been despatched.

One dismal, dark, and wet night, Mr. Bower
could neither find shelter, ascertain where he, was,
nor what course to pursue, when he perceived a
light at a great distance, which led him to a miser-
able cottage. He knocked, and some one de-
manded who he was, and what brought him there.
Mr. Bower replied, he was a stranger, and had
lost his way. " Way !" cried the man, " there is
no way here to lose." ; " Why where am I ?"
" In the canton of Berne." "In the canton of
Berne !" exclaimed he in raptures; "thank God,
then I am at last safe." The man, exceedingly
perplexed, came down and let him in, and Mr.
Bower inquired if he had heard any thing of a
person who had lately escaped from the inquisi-
tion. " Ay ! we have all heard of him, 'afijgfe

, J 7 v..*^;"*

^sending off so many expresses, and making. such a
noise about him : God grant that he may be safe,
and keep out of /their hands." Mr. Bower said,
" I am the very person." The peasant, in. a trans-

58 HISTORY OF THE

port of joy, clasped him in his arms, and immedi-
ately called his wife, who received him with every
expression of pleasure. 3VIr. Bower passed the re-
mainder of the night in comfort and security, and
on the following morning the man set out with
him to direct his path, but previously insisted on
his returning a little way to look at the road he
had travelled the preceding night. Mr. Bower
did not much like this. The peasant, perceiving
his doubts, reproved him for distrusting that Pro-
vidence which had so wonderfully preserved him,
and soon convinced him that he only wanted to
increase his confidence in it for the future, by
showing him the danger he had escaped ; for he
and his horse had passed a precipice where the
breadth of the path would scarcely admit a horse,
and the very sight of which made him shudder !

It is unnecessary to pursue Mr. Bower's narra-
tive any farther. It is sufficient to state, that after
encountering many perils, and being on the eve
of capture several times, it pleased Heaven to con-
duct him through all dangers, till he found him-
self at last safely landed in England. What his
feelings were, on finding himself free from the
clutches of the inhuman monsters of the inquisi-
tiqn, may be better imagined than described; but
perhaps no better method can be adopted of show-
ing the reader the ruthless and ferocious character
of the persons from whom he fled, than by menr
tioning three different modes of torture practised

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 59

in the inquisition of Macerata, winch are described
by Mr. Bower. The first torture, called the
" queen of tortures,' 5 consisted in hoisting the
victim up to a ceiling by a rope, and then letting
him drop to within a short distance from the
ground, in such a manner as to break his bones.
This will be more particularly described in another
part of this work ; it was a mode of torture univer-
sally employed by the holy office. The second
torture consisted of an instrument something like
a smith's anvil, fixed in the middle of the floor,
with a spike on the top. Ropes are attached to
each corner of the room, to which the criminals
legs and arms are fastened, and he is drawn up a
little, and then let down with his back bone exactly
on the spike of iron, upon which his whole weight
rests. The third torture is .what they term a slight
one, and applied only to women. Matches of tow
and pitch are wrapped round their hands, and then
set on fire until the flesh is consumed.

The inquisition was not more the irreconcilable
enemy of. reformation in religion, than it was to
any advancement in learning and science. As the
absolute bondage of the human mind was its aim,
it was ever raised to arrest the march of intellect,
and its foul breath always ready to blast improve-
ment in the blossom. A memorable example of
this is presented *fn the fate of the illustrious Gali-
leo, one of the greatest astronomers that ever

60 HISTORY OF THE

and the first who applied the telescope to any valu-
able purpose in the science of the heavens.

This great man having adopted the Copernican
system of the universe or, as it is now called, the
Newtonian, that is, that the sun is the centre of mo-
tion to a number of her planets, and, among others,
the earth, which revolve round the sun at different
periods he saracted the attention of the inquisi-
tors, was arraigned before their tribunal, and in
danger of being put to death. Now listen to the
pompous manner in which the indictment against
the venerable Galileo was drawn up by these in-
quisitorial dunces.

"Whereas you, Galileo, of Florence, aged
seventy, were informed against in the year 1615,
in this holy office, for maintaining as true a cer-
tain false doctrine held by many, namely, that the
sun is the centre of the world, and immovable,
and that the earth moves round it with a daily
motion : likewise that you have kept up a corres-
pondence with certain German mathematicians
concerning the same : likewise that you have pub-
lished some letters concerning the solar spots, in
which you have explained the same doctrine as
true, and that you have answered the objections
which in several places were raised against you
from the authority of the holy Scriptures-by con-
struing or glossing over the said Scriptures accord-
ing to your own opinions: and finally, whereas

60 HISTORY OF THE

and the first who applied the telescope to any valu-
able purpose in the science of the heavens.

This great man having adopted the Copernicau
system of the universe or, as it is now called, the
Newtonian, that is, that the sun is the centre of mo-
tion to a number of her planets, and, among others,
the earth, which revolve round the sun at different
periods he attracted the attention of the inquisi-
tors, was arraigned before their tribunal, and in
danger of being put to death. Now listen to the
pompous manner in which the indictment against
the venerable Galileo was drawn up by these in-
quisitorial dunces.

" Whereas you, Galileo, of Florence, aged
seventy, were informed against in the year 1615,
in this holy office, for maintaining as true a cer-
tain false doctrine held by many, namely, that the
sun is the centre of the world, and immovable,
and that the earth moves round it with a daily
motion : likewise that you have kept up a corres-
pondence with certain German mathematicians
concerning the same : likewise that you have pub-
lished some letters concerning the solar spots, in
which you have explained the same doctrine as
true, and that you have answered the objections
which in several places were raised against you
from the authority of the holy Scriptures by con-
struing or glossing over the said Scriptures accord-
ing to your own opinions : and finally, whereas

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 6i->

the copy of a writing under the form of a letter,
reported to have been written, by you to one who
was formerly your scholar, has been shown to us,
in which you have followed the hypothesis of Co-
pernicus, which contains certain propositions con-
trary to the true sense and authority of the holy
Scriptures.

" Now, this holy tribunal being desirous to pro-
vide against the inconveniences and dangers which
this statement may occasion to the detriment of
the holy faith, by the command of the most emi-
nent lords, &c. &c. of the supreme and universal
inquisition, have caused the two following propo-
sitions concerning the immovability of the sun,
and the motion of the earth to be thus qualified by
the divines, viz.

" That the sun is the centre of the world, and

" i "*'

immovable, with a local motion, is an absurd pro-
position, false in philosophy, and absolutely hereti
cat, because it is expressly contrary to the Sciip-
tures. '

"That the earth is neither the centre of the
world, nor immovable, but that it possesses a
daily motion, is likewise an absurd proposition,
false in philosophy, and, theologically considered,
at least erroneous in point of faith.

" But as it pleased us in the first instance to pro-
ceed kindly with you, it was decreed in the said
congregation, held before our lord N , Febru-
ary 25, 1616, that the most eminent lord cardinal

F

HISTORY OF THE

Bellarmine should command you, that you should
entirely depart from the said false doctrine ; and in
case you should refuse to obey him, that you
should be commanded by the commissary of the
holy office to abandon the same ; and that you
should neither teach it to others, defend it, nor
say any thing concerning it ; and that if you should
not submit to this order, you should be put in

" Thus, for merely entertaining and expressing
an opinion with regard to the system of the uni-
verse," says an eminent modern writer, " was the
greatest philosopher of his age subjected to be im-
prisoned in the jail of the inquisition, which im-
prisonment almost necessarily inferred the for-
feiture of life, by means of burning; and if the
holy inquisitors, in their great mercy, were pleased
not to burn him to death, the circumstance of be-
ing imprisoned by them necessarily inferred the
forfeiture of all his property, and the consigning
his name to infamy." Besides all this, there are
reasons for believing that this great man had actu-
ally been subjected to the- torture !

After enumerating all the errors of Galileo's
writings, and insisting on his recanting them, the
holy inquisitors proceed : " Invoking, therefore,
the most holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
of his most glorious mother Mary, ever a virgin,
we do, by this our definitive sentence, &c. &c.
judge and declare, that you the said Galileo have,

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 63

upon account of those things which are produced
in the written process, and which you have con-
fessed as above, subjected yourself to a strong sus-
picion of heresy in this holy office, by believing,
and holding to be true, a doctrine which is false
and contrary to the sacred and divine Scripture :
viz. that the sun is the centre of the orb of the
earth, and does not move from the east to the west ;
and that the earth moves, and is not the centre
of the world ; and that these things may be con-
sidered and defended as probable opinions, al-
though they have been declared and determined
to be contrary to the sacred Scripture ; and, con-
sequently, that you have incurred all the censures
and penalties appointed and promulgated by the
sacred canons, from which it is our pleasure that
you should be absolved, provided, that you do first,
with a sincere heart, and $ true faith, abjure, curse,
and detest before us, the aforesaid errors and here-
sies, and every other error and heresy contrary to
the Catholic and Apostolic Roman church, in the
form which shall be prescribed to you by us."

Galileo was accordingly forced, in the most hu-
miliating manner, to renounce those sublime truths
which now no one doubts, and which his whole
useful life had been employed in placing upon an
immovable basis. It is "not intended to defend
/ Galileo for denying upon oath what he knew was
truth ; yet he had no alternative between this and
suffering death: but what can be thought of the

64 HISTORY OF THE

holy church, and the holy inquisition, which, as
the enemies of truth and righteousness as well as
science and literature, imposed this dreadful alter-
native upon one of the wisest of the sons of men.

CHAPTER V.

Inquisition in Spain Philip II. Effects of the inquisition in
Spain Auto da Fe in Valladolid in 1559 Fate of Don Carlos
de Seso Execution of Donna Jane Bohorques Extract of a ser-
mon preached at this Auto Charles II. furnishes a gilt fagot
for an Auto State of the inquisition under successive Spanish
kings Its decline Abolished by Napoleon, and revived by Fer-
dinand VII. Blanco White Van Halen's account of his own
sufferings An instance of death by the pendulum as late as the
year 1820.

IN the last chapter a digression was made from
the course of this history, the thread of which will
now be resumed. "^It was under Philip II. says
Llorente, that the Spanish inquisition committed
the greatest cruelties ; and the reign of this prince
is the most remarkable period in the history of the
holy office. He was borri in 1527. Nursed in the
.lap of bigotry, he had imbibed in his cradle. those
principles of intolerance which distinguished the
Romish ecclesiastics who surrounded him. The
inquisition was cherished by this fanatic, and, in
his hands, it became a firebrand that wrapped his
dominions in the flames of religious persecution.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 65

In Castile and Arragon, at this period, there were
no less than eighteen different inquisitorial courts,
whose counsellors were called apostolical. There
were also numherless officials belonging to the
holy office, and about twenty thousand familiars
dispersed through the kingdom, who acted the
odious parts of spies and informers, and through
whose activity and vigilance the dungeons were
always crowded, and the fires kindled. The
dreadful influence of the inquisition pervaded
every limb of the realm, like a poison which was
consuming its vitals. Grievously was Spain tor-
mented with this evil spirit ; and she continued,
during Philip's reign, to writhe under the agonies
of demoniac possession.

This institution, says Watson, was no doubt
well calculated to produce an uniformity of reli-
gious profession ; but it had a tendency, likewise, to
destroy the sweets of social life, to banish all free-
dom of thought and speech, to disturb men's minds
with the most disquieting apprehensions, and to
produce the most intolerable slavery, by reducing
persons of all ranks of life to a state of abject de-
pendence upon priests, whose integrity, were it
even greater than that of other men, as in every
false religion it is less, must have been corrupted
by the uncontrollable authority which they were
allowed to exercise.

By this tribunal a visible change was wrought
in the temper of the people, and reserve, and dis-

F 2

66 HISTORY OF THE

trust, and jealousy became the distinguishing cha-
racter of a Spaniard. It perpetuated and confirmed
the reign of ignorance and superstition; It in-
flamed the rage of bigotry ; and the cruel specta-
cles to which, in the execution of its decrees, it
familiarized the people, nourished in them thabfe-
rocious spirit which, in the Netherlands and Ame-
rica, they manifested by deeds that have fixed an
everlasting reproach upon the Spanish name.

The emperor Charles V. in his will had charged
his successor, in the name of God, and out of the
great affection he bore him, to honour and sustain
the office of the holy inquisition. Philip obeyed
the injunction too well ; for, not content with the
cruelties he committed on shore, he established the
inquisition on board his fleets at sea ; but it existed
a very short time, as it was found to impede the
progress of navigation. He even carried it to
America, where very soon three tribunals were
erected, one at Lima, one at Mexico, and one at
Carthagena. That at Mexico immediately gave
proof of its cruel parentage; for, in 1574, an auto
da fe was celebrated with so much pdmp and splen-
dour, that eyewitnesses have declared that it could
only be compared to that of Valladolid, in 155.9,
at which Philip and the royal family attended.
Of this some notice will now be taken.

In 1559, an auto da fe had been solemnized at
the city of Valladolid, in which a large number
of Protestants had been committed to the flames

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 67

On his arrival at that place Irom the Netherlands,
Philip was chagrined and mortified at his disap-
pointment in not witnessing a sight in which his
cruel heart would have taken such delight. He
therefore signified to the inquisition his wish, that
all who could be got together, and were left from
the auto which had been celebrated, should be
burnt for his gratification. The dreadful cere-
mony, says Watson, more repugnant to humanity
as well as to the spirit of the Christian religion, than
the most abominable sacrifices recorded in the an-
nals of the pagan world, was conducted with the
greatest solemnity which the inquisition could de-
vise ; and the monarch, attended by his son Don
Carlos, by his sister, and by his courtiers and
guards, sat within sight of the unhappy victims.
After hearing a sermon (from which an extract
will be given presently) by the bishop of Zamora,
he rose from his seat, and having drawn his sword
as a signal that with it he would defend the holy
faith, he took an oath administered to him by the
inquisitor general^ to support the inquisition and
its ministers against all heretics and apostates, and
' to compel his subjects everywhere to yield obe-
dience to its decrees.

Among the Protestants condemned, there was a
nobleman of the name of Don Carlos de Sesd, who,
when the executioners were conducting him to
the stake, called out to the king for mercy, saying,
" And canst thou, oh king, witness the torments

68 HISTORY OF THE

of thy subjects? Save us from this cruel death:
we do not deserve it." " No," Philip sternly an-
swered. " I would myself carry wood to burn my
own son, were he such a wretch as thou." After
which, he beheld the horrid spectacle that fol-
: lowed with a composure and tranquillity that be-
tokened the most unfeeling heart.

That Philip actually did afterwards cause the in-
quisition to proceed against and condemn to death
his only son Don Carlos, obtained universal belief,
and is recorded by almost all writers ; but Llo-
rente has shown, beyond all controversy, that the
inquisition had nothing to do in the matter. It is
an affair, therefore, which belongs to general his-
tory. There is little doubt that Don Carlos was
stark mad, and must have been condemned to
death ^by his father, if he had not died in the in-
terim, for having attempted parricide, and for hav-
ing formed a plan for usurping the sovereignty
of Flanders by means of a civil war.

In the following year, 1560, an auto was cele-
brated at Seville, expressly for Philip. One of the
most illustrious martyrs was Don Juan Ponce de
Leon. Montano, says a sensible author who had
been his bosom friend, and performed the mourn-
ful task of recording his martyrdom, relates that it
was Ponce de Leon's custom to walk backward
and forward upon the place of execution, contem-
plating it as the theatre upon which so many,
of his brethren had consummated their sacrifice,

CATHOLIC INQUISITION.

arid Where he must one day expect, in like liian-
ner, to bear witness to the truth. History pre-
sents few finer pictures of the effect which certain
danger produces upon a mind resolved.

Llorente has given an account of 4he chief vic-
tims of this auto. From his history, one case of
deep interest will be selected. Donna Jane Bo-
horques, a lady of high rank, (whose sister had
perished in a former auto, having previously de-
clared in prison that Donna Jane had been familiar
with her doctrines and had not opposed 'them,)
was taken to the secret prisons, at the time far ad-
vanced in her pregnancy. She was delivered in
prison, her child taken from her at the end of eight
days, in defiance of the most sacred rights of na-
ture, and she was imprisoned in one of the com-
mon dungeons of the holy office. It fortunately
happened, that she had as a companion in her cell
a young girl who was afterwards burnt as a Lu-
theran, and who, pitying her situation, treated her
with the utmost tenderness during her conva-
lescence. She soon required the same care. She
was tortured, and all her limbs were bruised and
almost dislocated. Jane Bohorques attended her
in this dreadful state. Jane Bohorques was not
yet quite recovered when she was tortured in the
same manner. The cords with which her stil
feeble limbs were bound, penetrated to the bo
and several blood-vessels breaking in her boj
torrents of blood flowed from her mouth.

HISTORY 3F THE

was taken back to her dungeon in a dying state,
and expired a few days after. The inquisitors
thought they expiated this cruel murder by de-
claring Jane Bohorques innocent in the auto da fe
of this day. Under what an overwhelming re-
sponsibility, exclaims Llorente, will these mon-
sters .appear before the tribunal of the Almighty!
From the sermon which was preached on the
occasion of the auto at Valladolid, before Philip,
as has been stated, and which may serve the reader
as an ample specimen of the blasphemous rhapso-
dies usually employed by the friars at an auto da ,
fe, a single extract is now presented : " And thou,
oh most holy tribunal of the faith! for boundless
ages mayest thou be preserved, so as to keep us
firm and pure in the same faith, and promote the
punishment of the enemies of God. Of thee can I
say what the Holy Spirit said of the church
1 Thou art fair, my love, as the tents of Kedar, as
the curtains of Solomon !' But what parallels,
similes, or comparisons are these ? What praise,
or what heightened contrast can that be which
compares a delicate beauty to the tents of Kedar,
and the spotted skins of Solomon ? St. Jerome
discovered the mystery, and says, that the people
of Kedar being fond of the chase, therein took
great delight ; and for this purpose had always
ir tents pitched in the field, on which, in order
rove the valour of their arms, they spread the
of the animals killed in chase, and hiing up

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 71

^

the heads of the wild beasts they had slain. This
was the greatest beauty of their tents ; to this the
Holy Spirit compares the beauty of the church ;
and this is also to-day the glory of the holy tribu-
nal of the faith. To have killed these horrid wild
beasts and enemies of God whom we now behold
on this theatre, some by taking life from their er-
rors, reconciling them to our holy faith, and in-
spiring them with contrition for their faults ;
others by condemning them, through their obdu-
racy, to the flames, where, losing their corporeal
lives, their obstinate souls w,ill immediately burn
in hell. By this means God will be avenged of his
greatest enemies, dread will follow these exam-
' pies, and the holy tribunal will remain trium-
phant," &c. &c.

Philip II. died in 1589, and was succeeded by
Philip III. during whose reign persecution drove
from Spain one million of Morescoes, all useful
and industrious citizens, who went to Africa. Jt
would occupy too much time and space to trace
the enormities of this institution under each suc-
cessive king. The pusillanimous Charles II. who
succeeded in 1665, had implored the inquisition
to indulge his barbarous eyes with the spectacle
of an auto da fe, and he supplied a fagot for the
pile on which his own subjects were to be con-
sumed. The sticks of this fagot were gilt ; it was
Adorned by flowers, and tied up with ribands, and

72 HISTORY OF THE

it was, on the occasion, the first stick that was
placed upon the pile.

During the reign of Philip V. which commenced
in 1700, and lasted forty-six years, an annual auto
da fe was celebrated in all the tribunals of the in-
quisition. Some held two, and even three had
taken place at Seville and Grenada. Judaism, of
which a fuller account will be elsewhere given,
was nearly extirpated. *

In the reign of Ferdinand VI. literature revived
in Spain, for which the way was already paved,
and with its revival the fury of this tribunal began
to abate. Freemasonry, an object entirely new,
Was what now chiefly occupied its attention.
Charles III. ascended the throne in 1759. There
was a remarkable decrease in the number of autos.
Knowledge made rapid strides, and the laws of the
inquisition, though they had not been altered, were
administered upon milder principles.

Charles IV. succeeded in 1788. The Jesuits
were expelled, learning made considerable ad-
vancement, and the inquisition continued to de-
cline till the year 1808, when Napoleon conquered
Spain, and decreed the suppression of the inquisi-
tion. In 1S13, the cortes general of the kingdom
adopted the measure, and declared the tribunal in-
compatible with the political constitution of the
nation. Upon the abdication of Charles, his son
Ferdinand VII. was placed upon the throne ; but

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 73

while he was disputing with his father on the sub-
ject of the abdication, which Charles declared was
compulsory, and therefore not binding, Napoleon
settled the dispute by elevating his brother Joseph
to the throne of Spain. " When Joseph was ac-
knowledged king of Spain,' 5 says Llorente, who
had been secretary of the inquisition, " the archives
of the supreme council, and of the inquisition of
the court, were confided to me, in consequence
of an order from his majesty. With his approba-
tion, I burnt all the criminal processes except those
which belonged to history, from their importance,
or the rank of the accused."

When Bonaparte, however, restored the crown
of Spain to Ferdinand VII. one of the first mea-
sures of his administration was to annul the acts
of the cortes, and to re-establish the holy office in
its full powers. This was in 1814*

It is difficult to know exactly the acts of the in-
quisition since its re-assumption of power ; but the
spirit of the tribunal may still be best perceived
in its various official documents, amongst which
the first is that which contains the instructions
transmitted by the respective tribunals of Euro-
pean and American Spain to each of the confessors
belonging to their several districts. This docu-
ment was dated from Seville, in 1815. The other
document was issued from Madrid in the same
year, and contains a list of prohibited books, which
includes almost every book published in Spain

G

74 HISTORY OF THE

during the revolution. In another edict from Ma-
drid, which paved the way for the one of which
mention, has just been made, the inquisitors
speak of themselves, and of their intentions, in lan-
guage which cannot be listened to without con-
tempt. " All," says the edict, " having unani-
mously agreed, that now, as well as ever, modera-
tion, sweetness, and charity ought to shine forth
as forming the character of the holy office."

No auto da fe has been celebrated in Spain since
the period spoken of. "I myself," says the reve-
rend I. Blanco White, " saw the pile on which the
last victim was sacrificed to Roman infallibility.
It was an unhappy woman whom the inquisition
of Seville committed to the flames under the charge
of heresy, in 1785. She perished on a spot where
thousands had met the same. fate. I lament from
my heart that the structure which supported their
melting limbs was destroyed during the late con-
vulsions. It should have been preserved with the
infallible and immutable canon of the council
of Trent over it, for the detestation of future
ages." It may be proper here to remark, that Mr.
White, now a minister of the gospel, was formerly
a Catholic priest. In the account he gives of him-
self in his " Practical and Internal Evidences
against Catholicism," he says, that " at times light
clouds of doubt passed over his mind as to his re-
ligion, which at last became so overcast, that he
was on the borders of atheism."

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 75

Even as late as the year 1817, at the time when.
Spain was afflicted by many political troubles, Don
Juan Van Halen, an officer in the army, was ar-
rested by the inquisition, and thrown successively
into its dungeons at Marcia and at Madrid. He
gives an account of an individual confined at the
same time, whom he heard apostrophizing (perhaps
under derangement from his sufferings) the gnats,
whom he called devils of priests transformed into
gnats, by whom he said he was incessantly tor-
mented, as if they were in the pay of the inquisi-
tors. The holy office was at this time employed
as an engine of political tyranny, and Van Halen
was seized on account of the part which he took
in political affairs. The inquisitors long strove in
vain to induce him to betray such of his friends
and associates as they wished to criminate. At
last, one of the inquisitors, Zorrilla, wearied with
the delay, and infuriated by the contumacy of the
prisoner, suddenly addressed him in mingled tones
of impiety and rage "This holy tribunal has at
last recourse to rigour. It will extort from you
truths which neither the duty of a religious oath,
demanded without violence, nor the mild admoni-
tions which/ have been so often resorted to, in or-
der to induce you to make the desired declara-
tions, have been able to obtain. We judge the
cause of our divine Redeemer, and of our Catho-
lic king, &c. &c. The most rigorous torments
will be employed to obtain from you these truths,

76 HISTORY OF THE

or you shall expire in the midst of them, &c. Jus-
tice, God, and the king require that it should be
so. This holy tribunal will fulfil its duties.
Yes !"

" The agitation of the moment permitted me to
utter only a few words, which, however, were not
listened to, and I was hurried away to the farther
end of the room, the jailer and his assistants exert-
ing all their strength to secure me. Having suc-
ceeded in raising me from the ground, they placed
under my arm-pits two high crutches, from which
I remained suspended ; after which my right arm
was tied to the corresponding crutch, while my
left being kept in a horizontal position, they en-
cased my hand open in a wooden glove extending
to the Wrist, which shut very tightly, and from
which two large iron bars ran as far as the shoul
ders, keeping the. whole in the same position in
which it was placed. My waist and legs were
similarly bound to the crutches by which I was
supported ; so that I shortly remained without
any other action than that of breathing, though
with difficulty.

" Having remained a short time in this painful
position, that unmerciful tribunal returned to their
former charges. Zorrilla, with a tremulous voice
that seemed to evince his thirst for blood and
vengeance, repeated the first of those charges
which he had just read, namely, whether I did not
belong to a society whose object was to overthrow

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 77

our holy religion, and ihe august throne of our
Catholic sovereign ? I replied that it was impos-
sible I should plead guilty to an accusation of that
nature. e Without any subterfuge, say whether it
is so/ he added in an angry tone. -' It is not,
sir/ I replied. The glove which guided my arm ?
and which seemed to be resting on a wheel, began
now to turn, and with its movements I felt, by de-
grees, an acute pain, especially from the elbow to
the shoulder, a general convulsion throughout my
frame, and . a cold sweat overspreading my fac,e.
The interrogatory continued, but Zorrilla's ques-
tion of ' Is it so ? Is it so ?' were the only words
that struck my ear amidst the excruciating pain I
endured, which became so intense that I fainted
away, and heard no more the voices of those can-
nibals.

"When I recovered my senses, I found myself
stretched on the floor of my dungeon, my hands
and feet secured with heavy fetters and manacles,
fastened by a thick chain, the nails of which my
tormentors were still rivetting. It was with much
difficulty that I dragged myself to my bed. It
seemed to me that the noise of my chains would
awaken my jailers, whose presence was to me the
most fatal of my torments. I spent the whole of
this night struggling with the intense pains which
were the effect of the torture, and with the work-
ings of my excited mind. This state of mental
agitation, and the burning fever, which was every

78 HISTORY OF THE

moment 'increasing, soon threw me into a^ deli-
rium, during which I scarcely noticed the opera-
tion performed by my jailers of opening the seams
of my coat to examine the state of my arm." '*,

After languishing a long time, and enduring
great sufferings, he succeeded in effecting his es-
cape in the beginning of 1818, took refuge in the
Russian dominions, visited England and France,
and returned to Spain in 1821.

In the year 1820, when the inquisition was
thrown open by the cortes of Madrid, upwards
of a score of prisoners was found in it, not one
of whom knew the name of the city in which he
was, nor was any one of them perfectly aware
of the crime laid to his charge. One of these
prisoners, says Llorente, had been condemned,
and was to have suffered on the following day.
His punishment was to be death by the pendu-
lum. The method of thus destroying the victim
is as follows : The condemned is fastened in a
groove upon a table, on his back ; suspended above
him is a pendulum, the edge of which is sharp,
and it is so constructed as to become longer with
every movement. The wretch sees this imple^
ment of destruction swinging to and fro above
him, and every moment the keen edge approach-
ing nearer and nearer: at length it cuts the skin
of his nose, and gradually cuts on, until life is ex-
tinct. It may be doubted if the holy office, in its
mercy, ever invented a more humane and rapid

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 79

method of exterminating heresy, or insuring con-
fiscation ! This, let it be remembered, was a pun-
ishment of the secret tribunal, A. D. 1820! ! !

CHAPTER VI.

. Establishment of the inquisition in Portugal Saavedra the
swindler His achievements and punishment Jews in Portugal
Their sufferings The New Christians cruelly treated Diminu-
tos Anecdote Injurious consequences to Portugal from the per-
secution of the New Christians Distinction, between Old and
New Christians abolished.

THE establishment of the inquisition in Portu-
gal was attended by circumstances too curious to
be omitted in this volume, although the subject
had been involved in unnecessary dtiubt. The
first bloody harvest was over in Spain before the
reapers descended into the fields of Portugal ; for
this country had successfully resisted all the at-
tempts of the popes to introduce it. A swindler
is said to have effected at last what the court
of Rome had ceased to attempt. This man's name
was Juan de^Saavedra. Having long lived by his
wits, and being especially dextrous in forging pub-
lic grants, he conceived that it would be a good
speculation to act as inquisitor in Portugal ; and
accordingly he made a journey into that country
for the purpose of reconnoitring it, and learning

80 HISTORY OF THE

in what manner it would be expedient to proceed.
Returning towards Andalusia, he met with a mem-
ber of a newly established order coming from
Rome with certain bulls, relating to its establish-
ment : he had not been named himself to any place
of honour or trust in these bulls, and this had
soured him. Saavedra offered to forge new ones
for him, and insert his name in the manner he de-
sired, which was done accordingly, and the forger
retained the originals for his own purpose. Having
now a prototype before him, he drew up such a
bull as he wanted, and affixed to it the genuine
seals. This was done at Tavira in Algarve.

His next measure was to return to Ayamonte,
where there was a provincial of the Franciscans,
who had lately arrived from Rome. Saavedra
made his appearance in the character of a simple
man, saying, that six well-dressed men, travelling
post, had dropped these parchments upon the road,
which he had found shortly afterwards ; and know-
ing that the provincial understood such things, he
had brought them to him, meaning, if they were
of any consequence, to lose no time in following
the persons to whom they must have belonged.
The Franciscan examined the parchment, and was
delighted to find that it was a bull for the establish-
ment of the holy office. He charged Saavedra,
therefore, to lose no time in overtaking the cardi-
nal and his party.
The impostor had two reasons for proceeding in

CATHOLIC INQUISITION 81

this manner : he wished to satisfy himself that the
forgery was well executed, and also to spread
abroad the tidings, which would facilitate his ope-
rations. The next business was, by means of his
accomplices, one of whom acted as his secretary,
to establish a household at Seville. They engaged
above sixscore domestics, and the chapel was fitted
up for the cardinal's reception. At a fit time they
gave out that they were going to Badajoz, to wait
for their master there : accordingly all the baggage
was packed up, and they departed ; but when they
had proceeded, Saavedra met them ; they received
him with the greatest expressions of joy and sur-
prise, and returned to Seville, where he made his
entrance amid the rejoicings of the whole people.
Here he was lodged in the archbishop's palace,
and remained twenty days, during which he pro-
duced a bond for thirteen thousand ducats due to
him from the marquis of Tarija, for money lent at
Rome : the date was accurate, the signature well
executed, and he found no difficulty in obtaining
them. Having done this, he moved on to Badajoz,
and from thence despatched his secretary to the
king of Portugal with letters from the pope and
the emperor. The king was astonished, and ex-
pressed displeasure by the manner of his silence :
the secretary was alarmed, and hastily returning
to Saavedra, entreated him to be content with what
they had already gained, and to think only of en-
joying it in security.

82 HISTORY OF THE

The dauntless swindler, however, persisted in
his project, sent his accomplice back to Lisbon,
and directed him not to leave the palace till he had
received an answer from the king : he told him
also not to fail to observe that the cardinal was a
young man, and would immediately return to
Rome with the answer, be it what it might. Joam,
confounded, and perhaps intimidated, required
twenty days to deliberate, which Saavedra readily
granted, because it was not possible to communi-
cate with Rome in that time. At the end of those
days the king sent to conduct the mock cardinal
into Portugal. Counsellors of course would not
be wanting to recommend obedience, and Joam
was too timid to risk any thing like a direct oppo-
sition to the commands of the pope. The impos-
tor was lodged three months in the palace, esta-
blished the holy office, and spent three months
more in travelling about the country, exercising
his inquisitorial powers wherever he went, and
amassing money to a degree which seems to have
besotted him.

The trick, however, was discovered in Spain,
and the marquis of Barca Rota having made a
priest at Moura invite the mock cardinal to a feast,
seized him, and sent him prisoner to Madrid.
Cardinal Tavira, who was at that time grand in-
quisitor and governor of Castile during the em-
peror's absence, examined him, and sent an account
of the whole proceedings to Rome. Saavedra had

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 83

speculated well, and the very magnitude of the
imposture contributed to save him. He had done
that for the Romish church which the pope him-
self had been unable to effect ; and the holy father,
concluding that it must be the especial will of hea-
ven to bring about so good a work by such extra-
ordinary means, recommended a merciful sen-
tence, and hinted that he should like to see the
man who had acted so remarkable a part. The
royal council demanded sentence of death ; but the
cardinal favoured him ; the inquisitor of Llerena
was appointed judge: 300,000 ducats, which he
had extorted from those whom he had seized and
condemned, or reconciled to the church, were
taken from him, and he escaped with condemna-
tion to the galleys for ten years. Light as this
sentence was, it was not carried into effect.
Charles V. admiring the audacity of the man, was
curious to see him ; and having heard his defence,
admitted that so good an end might be pleaded in
justification of the means, and rewarded him with
a pension.

If the reader of this strange account of the es-
tablishment of the inquisition in the kingdom of
Portugal have any doubt upon his mind, he has
only to turn to the history of the whole transac-
tion as given by Llorente from the most authentic
documents. The statement which this remarkable
impostor himself made contains several misrepre-
sentations j but the facts themselves are beyond

84 HISTORY OF THE

all controversy* The affair of the false nuncio is
familiar to the world, in histories, romances, and
dramatic pieces. It should be observed, however,
that Llorente goes no further than to prove that
Saavedra, finding the inquisition established in
Portugal in a manner contrary to his notions, went
to work to put it on a different footing, and ac-
tually succeeded in changing it into the form it
had in Spain, which was his model.

In a former chapter an account of the persecu-
tions of the Jews, and of their expulsion by the
inquisition from Spain, was given. A great
number of this injured people applied to Joam II.
king of Portugal, offering him a large sum for per-
mission to enter his kingdom and embark for
Africa. Some of the Portuguese counsellors ad-
vised the king to refuse them a passage ; urging,
that if they xvere driven to despair, they would
submit to be baptized ; which, however little it
might profit the stubborn natures of the old, would
prove effectual for their children. Joam, however,
wanted money, and wanted the Jews also, of whom
he expected to make use in his African conquests
and colonies. He therefore admitted them, upon'
paying a toll of eight cruzados a head, babes at the
breast only were exempted ; armourers and arti-
ficers in brass or iron were to enter at half price,
if they chose to remain in Portugal. The places
by which they were to enter were specified, and
toll-gatherers stationed to admit them. These pel-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 85

secuted wretches brought the plague with them :
great numbers died by the road-side and in the
waste country, for lack of all human charity. The
calamities which they subsequently endured in this
country and in Africa rendered them desperate,
and many of them consented to baptism, and re-
turned to Spain, fancying that now they had made
the sacrifice, they should be secure. Little did
they foresee the curse which they thus brought
upon themselves and entailed upon their posterity.
The miseries of the New Christians, as they were
styled, were greater than those to which either the
Jews or the Moors had been subjected.

The troubles which the Jews had to encounter
after their re-settlement in Portugal and Spain,
forced then) to adopt every possible means of mi-
tigating the fury of their persecutors ; hut the
greatest effort of the New Christians to obtain re-
lief was in the time of Pedro II. They petitioned
for an act of oblivion for the past, and required
that the inquisition should act upon the principles
of that of Rome. If this were granted, they pro-
mised that they would, within one year, land five
thousand troops in any part of India, and contri-
bute twenty thousand cruzados annually towards
the military expenses of that remote region ; that
they would defray the cost of all the missions and
schools, and of sending out all the governors and
viceroys. That they would contribute to the sup-
port of a minister at Rome, grant large subsidies

H

86 HISTORY OF THE

in war, and form an East India Company, with a
large capital, all the duties of which should go to
the crown ; and that they would do other things
of great import to the general weal. But all their
exertions proved unavailing in procuring any
radical and permanent amelioration of their con-
dition.

The principle upon which the inquisition acted
was, that Judaism was like the scrofula once in
the system, there was no getting it out ; it mat-
tered not how deeply the -breed was crossed,
whether a man was a half-new Christian, or a
quarteron, or a half-quarteron, (for the degrees
were as nicely discriminated as the shades of
colour in the Spanish colonies,) the Hebrew leaven
was in the blood. The vulgar were taught to be-
lieve that Judaism could be sucked in with the
milk of a Jewish nurse. This was directly oppo-
site to the practice of the Romish church towards
all other converts : if a missionary could sprinkle
a savage or a Hindoo, they were satisfied. A story
is told of a female devotee in Japan, who used to
invoke the name of Ameda one hundred and forty
thousand times in the course of the day and night,
that being her whole employment. The Romish
missionaries succeeded in converting her ; and the
effect was, that she left oif invoking Ameda, and
called upon the virgin Mary one hundred and
forty thousand times a day. Why, therefore, when
such conversions as these were boasted of, were

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 87

the New Christians dealt with so differently ? Be-
cause the Portuguese inquisition was literally and
truly a confederacy, for the purpose of acquiring
property by imprisoning, torturing, ruining, and
destroying whole families, under false pretences
of Judaism.

The New Christians were rich, because the same
causes which have always made the Jews flourish
wherever they have been left in peace, held good
with respect to these compulsory converts. When-
ever a victim was seized, his property was also
seized. One witness for any charge, even though
he were a fellow-sufferer in the inquisition, which
was usually the case, was sufficient. The charges
were generally, refusing to eat pork, or hare, or
fish without scales, or putting on a clean shirt on
Saturdays, and others of a similar nature ; being
always such as it was next to impossible to dis-
prove. Those who persisted to the last that they
were innocent of Judaism, that they were Catho-
lics, and would die in the Catholic faith, were sen-
tenced as convicted and negative ; and this dif-
ference was made between them and the real
Jewish martyr, that they were strangled at the
stake, while the latter was burnt alive. But by
far the greater number of persons whom the in-
quisition has put to death as Jews, have died pro-
testing themselves Christians, and invoking the
name of Jesus with their expiring breath.

At the time these executions were in frequent

88 HISTORY OF THE

use, foreign Jews were suffered to frequent Por-
tugal on business, on condition of wearing a dis-
tinguishing dress, and being always attended by a
familiar of the inquisition. It is related of one of
them, that he went with his familiar to see an
auto da fe. First in the procession came the peni-
tents ; these, he was told, had confessed they were
Jews, and besought mercy : a light punishment
would be imposed on them. Those who were to
De burnt followed. "Would not they then ask
mercy ?" inquired the Jew. He was told they
were to suffer for being negative, and refusing to
confess that they were Jews. " If they appointed
me inquisitor," said the Jew to his familiar, "I
would act in the same manner. I would let all
who confessed themselves Jews go, and would burn
those who denied it."

Horrible as this is, it is not the most atrocious
part of the proceeding of the holy office. The
case of those persons who were called Diminutos,
was more pitiable than those who died for persist-
ing in the truth. By the practice of this accursed
tribunal, the accused was neither informed of the
precise fact with which he was charged, nor the
names of his accusers. In most cases it happened
that hope and fear, and human weakness, made him
admit that he was guilty the great object of the
inquisition being to obtain this confession, because
confiscation followed ; and the fairest promises
were never spared to bring about this end. But

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 89

here the unhappy man found himself caught in a
web of iniquity. He must now confess of what
he is guilty, and who were the persons whom he
suspected of having borne witness against him. If
he failed in this, he suffered as a Diminuto, that is,
for not having confessed in full ; and went to exe-
cution with the miserable reflection of having in-
volved all whom he named in the same calamities
with himself : for these poor wretches would ran-
sack their memories to save themselves, by the
vicarious sacrifice which this devilish tribunal re-
quired ; run through the whole of their kin to the
remotest branches, and put down their bosom
friends and most distant acquaintances in the fatal
list. One instance is upon record, of a man who
accused in this manner his own daughter, whom at
the age of five he had put into a nunnery ; and
from her nunnery, in consequence, she was drag-
ged to the inquisition. A woman who suffered as
a Diminuta had accused above six hundred per-
sons, yet failing to guess her own accusers, was led
out to execution. On the way, her daughter, who
appeared in the same auto da fe, called to her aloud
to remind her of some relations, hoping to enable
her to save her life. " Child," she replied, " I
have left no one unmentioned either in Castile or
Portugal." They both died protesting their in-
nocence, and declaring they confessed themselves
guilty, and accused others, in the hope of saving
their lives.

90 HISTORY OF THE

But the cases of startling cruelty and injustice
which might be cited are inexhaustible. What
were the consequences ? An emigration, slow,
silent, and continual, followed, unlike that of the
Moors from Spain, and the Huguenots from
France, but even more pernicious and baleful.
Those New Christians who could leave the coun-
try, left it ; they whom circumstances rooted, as it
were, to the soil, sent their property abroad, that
it might at least be out of the reach of the inquisi-
tion. The emigrants carried with them a natural

i V

hatred of the country ; they submitted plans of
conquest for the Dutch ; furnished information and
money, and enabled the Dutch to wrest from the
Portuguese their dominions in the east, and their
best possessions in Africa. Long years of a wiser
system and a prosperous commerce had not obli-
terated the visible marks of ruin and depopulation,
and the government must have become bankrupt
had not treasures unexpectedly flowed in from the
mines of Brazil. Before that resource failed, the
marquis of Pombal had abolished the distinction
between Old and New Christians. He rescued
the New Christians, and there were no heretics in
the peninsula for the same reason there are no
Christians in Japan they had been exterminated !

CATHOLIC INQUISITION.

CHAPTER VII.

Geddes's account of the Portuguese inquisition Familiars
Manner of treating prisoners Torture Auto da fe Sentence of
death Inquisition at Goa Pyrard Dellon's account of his suf-
ferings in the inquisition of Goa. < :

DR. GEDDES has given an interesting view of the
inquisition in Portugal. Of this writer it has been
said, that if he was prejudiced, it was because,
having the abomination of popery in its worst form
before his eyes, his hatred and horror at what. he
hourly witnessed prevented him from se'eing that
any good could possibly co-exist with it. Some
particulars relating to the proceedings of the holy
office in Portugal will now be drawn and abridged
from this interesting author.

In Portugal, as indeed in all other countries
where this tribunal has been erected, the office
of familiars is deemed so honourable, that noble-
men and the most eminent persons feel it a dis-
tinction to be employed in this vile office.

All persons, however infamous or perjured, are
admitted by this inquisition as witnesses, and the
first question asked the prisoner by his judges is,
whether he knows why he was arrested. If he
answers in the negative, he is then asked whether
he knows for what crimes the inquisition usually
imprisons people. If he replies, " for heresy/' he

HISTORY OF THE

lished to confess his own heresies, and to
his teachers and accomplices. If he de-
ever having held any heresies, or holding,
!5mmunication with heretics, he is gravely told
the inquisition does not imprison rashly, and that
he would do well to confess his guilt, as the holy
office is merciful to those that confess. He is then
remanded to jail, being previously advised to ex-
amine his conscience, that the next time he is sent
for, he may come prepared to make a full and free
confession. After the lapse of days, months, or
years, as the case may be, he is summoned again ;
and if he persists in declaring that he cannot make
the confession they require of him without ac-
cusing himself and others falsely, they put a great
number of questions to him, and conclude by tell-
ing him they have sufficient proof of his being a
heretic. He ; is seni back to his prison, charged to
pray to God for grace to dispose him to make a
full confession to the saving of his soul, which is
all they seek for. Being now allowed a consider-
able time to pray and consider, he is brought up a
third time ; and if he persists in denial as before,
he is asked a variety of questions, which terminate
In their telling him that they have evidence
enough to put him to the torture of the rack, to
make him confess.

While the executioner is preparing that engine
of unspeakable cruelty, and is taking off the pri-
soner's clothes, exhorting him still to have mercy

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 93

on his own soul and body, and confess, if he per-
sists to refuse to accuse himself and others falsely,
the inquisitors order the executioners to do their
duty ; upon which small cords are twisted around
the prisoner's arms, and he is jerked up in the air
till his limbs are all dislocated, when the torment
becomes exquisite. The poor victim calls for
mercy, and often cries out that he must expire
if they do not give him some ease, which the in-
quisitors do not regard, as they say all persons
racked think themselves nearer death than they
really are. If this agony is endured without con-
fession, which is rarely the case even with the
most innocent, the poor wretch is carried to pri-
son, where a surgeon sets his bones. In all other
courts where torture was employed, if the prisoner
endured without confession, he was esteemed in-
nocent; but in the inquisition it was different:
there individuals were racked a second, and even
a third time> though few ever live through the last
infliction. If the prisoner in his acute anguish
makes a confession, whether true or false, he is
obliged to subscribe his name to it, and thus the
want of sufficient evidence is supplied by this ex-
tortion. But it is a very hard matter for any per-
son to escape being racked, since neither .confess-
ing nor denying exempts the victims of the holy
office.

All this time, it must be observed, they main-
tain the singular and iniquitous custom of keeping

94 HISTORY OF THE

the prisoners ignorant of the crimes of which they
are accused, and of the persons by whom the ac-
cusation has been made, so that it is scarce possi-
ble to make a defence, even if a defence would be
bf any avail. The prisoner is next furnished with
an advocate and proctor for his mock trial, who,
far from being instruments of justice, are nothing
but tools of the tribunal, more inclined to ensnare
the culprit than to render him any benefit.

If an individual commits suicide, or dies a natu-
ral death in the prison of the inquisition, still they
do not make their escape from the untiring and
relentless holy office. In the first case it is esteem-
ed a clear and undeniable evidence of guilt ; and
in the second case the trial goes on as if the per-
son were alive. But the power of. this accursed
bar extends further still ; for forty years after
death an individual may be tried and convicted
of having died a heretic, and his property be con-
fiscated ; and, as to the taking of persons out of
their graves, burning their bones ? depriving them
of their good name, and rendering their memories
odious, there is no limit of time, such is their in-
extinguishable malice.

The next scene in this melancholy tragedy is
the auto da fe. This " horrid and tremendous
spectacle," as an inquisitorial author calls it, which
will be described more fully hereafter, is always
represented on the Sabbath day. All the unhappy
beings who figure in this catastrophe, have some-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 95

thing in their looks ghastly and disconsolate be-
yond all imagination ; but in the eyes and coun-
tenances of those who are to be burnt to death,
there is an expression fierce, eager, and unnatural !

The prisoners who are to be roasted alive have
a Jesuit on each side continually preaching to them
to abjure their heresies, and if any one attempts to
offer one word in defence of the doctrines for
which he is going to suffer death, his mouth is in-
stantly gagged. " This I saw done to a prisoner,"
says Dr. Geddes, " 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 cre-
ated it. 7 "

When the procession arrives at the place where
a large scaffolding has been erected for their recep-
tion, prayers are offered up, strange to tell, at a
throne of mercy, and a sermon is preached, con-
sisting of impious praises of the inquisition, and
bitter invectives against all heretics ; after which
a priest ascends a desk, and recites the final sen-
tence. This is done in the following words,
wherein the reader will find nothing but a shock-
ing mixture of blasphemy, ferociousness, and hy-
pocrisy.

" We, the inquisitors of heretical pravity, hav-
ing, with the concurrence of the mdst illustrious

96 HISTORY OF THE

N lord archbishop of Lisbon, or of his deputy |

N , calling on the name of the Lord Jesus

Christ, and of his glorious mother, the virgin Ma-
ry, and sitting on our tribunal, and judging with '1
the holy gospels lying before us, so that our judg
ment may be in the sight of God, and our eyes ;
may behold what is just in all .matters, &c. &c.

"We do therefore, by this our sentence put in
writing, define, pronounce, declare, and sentence
thee, (the prisoner,) of the city of Lisbon, to be a
convicted, confessing, affirmative, and professec 1
heretic ; and to be delivered and left by us as such ]
to the secular arm ; and we, by this our sentence,
do cast thee out of the ecclesiastical court as a con-
victed, confessing, affirmative, and professed here-
tic ; and we do leave and deliver thee to the secu-
lar arm, and to the power of the secular court,
but at the same time do most earnestly beseech
that court so to moderate its sentence as not to
touch thy blood, nor to put thy life in any sort
of danger"

History cannot yield a parallel instance of such
gross and palpable mockery both of God and man,
as this request to the civil magistrates not to put
the prisoner to death. If the request came from
the heart, why are the victims brought forth from
prison, and delivered to those magistrates in coats
painted all over with flames ? Why does the in-
quisition preach, and teach that heretics ought . to
be burnt? And why, with all the power they

CATHOLIC INQUISITION,

.98 HISTORY OF THE

nothing more lamentable, does not feel his heart
expand with gratitude to the Almighty for the
mighty blessings and happiness we enjoy in our
country, where the pure and merciful principles
of the gospel of Christ are understood and prac-
tised, and every human being is permitted to wor-
ship God under his own vine and fig-tree, and
none to molest and make, him afraid." A con-
gratulation in which every American reader can
unite with all his heart. t ,

In a former part of this chapter, the sufferings
of the New Christians were narrated. The fore-
going account of the torments inflicted upon here-
tics, serves to show the same cruel spirit as mani-
fested by the inquisition against another class of
victims; and while it enters with a more painful
minuteness into its horrible practices, it is offered
as a fair sample of the manner of proceeding of the
holy office, as adopted in all countries, and against
all persons whom that tribunal chose to persecute.

As the discoveries and conquests of the Spa-
niards, as well as of the Portuguese extended, so
did the crimson banner of the inquisition, not only
in the new world, but also in India. Pyrard, an
early traveller, has given an account of the bloody
deeds of this tribunal in Goa, where, he declares,
nothing could be more cruel or more merciless
than their conduct; but to show the avaricious
mptiyeS'.by which they were impelled, he affirms
that the moment prisoners are taken, all their

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 99

goods are seized ; that few are arrested who have
not the misfortune to be 'rich, and that it was the
rich alone whom they put to death.

As a still further illustration of the history of the
Portuguese inquisition at Goa, the narrative of a
young gentleman of the name of Dellon, a native
of France, who^went to the East Indies for the pur-
pose of travelling, and who fell into the hands of
the holy office at Goa, one of the most important
settlements of Portugal in the east, will now be
followed, even at the risk of some repetition,
which it is impossible entirely to avoid. At the
time his troubles commenced, Dellon was staying
at the town of Damaun, belonging also to the Portu-
guese, with a view to rest and recruit himself after
the fatigues of the various journeys and voyages
he had made. The governor of the place had con-
ceived a violent dislike to him growing out of a
feeling of jealousy, and from this animosity, con-
cealed under the mask of friendship, sprung all his
subsequent persecutions, although they were attri-
buted to various other pretexts. One of these pre-
texts arose from a dispute he had with an indivi-
dual of the order of St. Dominic, on the subject
of baptism. " Dellon quoted the passage in St. John,
"Except a man be born of water and of the Spi-
rit, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven." The 1
priest, -offended at a quotation which was intended
to exclude one of the modes of baptism held by
the Romish church, immediately and secretly de-

100 HISTORY OF THE

nounced him to the holy office. Another pretext
was, that on several occasions he had omitted" to,
show that idolatrous veneration to the painted im-
ages of the virgin Mary which was required by
the church, and for imprudently asserting that im-
ages ought not to be " worshipped." Another al-
leged offence was, that on being told by one of his
neighbours that he must put a cover or veil over
the crucifix in his room whenever he wished to
commit any sin, he replied, it was impossible to
conceal any thing from God, and that " the cru-
cifix was in itself nothing hut a piece of ivory."
This neighbour, knowing he would be punished
if he neglected to accuse any person who spoke
Or acted contrary to any tenet of the church, felt
it a duty to carry the information to this hateful
court, which makes it a duty for friends to, betray
friends, parents their children, and children their
parents. In a conversation afterwards in company,
he expressed an opinion that inquisitors were hu-
man, and subject to passions like other judges.
Upon being told that he ought not to dare to speak
in such a manner that " the tribunal was infalli-
ble because the Holy Ghost perpetually dictated
its decisions," he entered, with some warmth, to
show that it had been guilty of some undeniable
instances of injustice. Every thing was laid be-
fore the inquisition, and ultimately brought down
the wrath of that tribunal upon the unfortunate
voung man, whose only fault was indiscretion.

CATHOLIC .INQUISITION. 101

Dellon having become apprized that he was in
danger, the dread of being dragged before the
holy office by the malice of his enemies impelled
him to go in person to the commissary, and in-
genuously relate all that had occurred, assuring
him that he had no bad intention, and that x he was
willing to correct or retract any thing improper
which he might have advanced. Soon after this
he was arrested, to his utter surprise, and con-
ducted to the inquisitorial prison of Damaun.

A description of the melancholy abode in which
he found himself, without being conscious of hav-

.ing committed any crime, would be frightful. It
would also be superfluous, as a general picture
of inquisitorial prisons will be given in another
place. It is sufficient to say, that an immense
quantity of worms crawled over the floor, and upon,
the beds on which the wretched prisoners in vain
sought the blessings of repose. The friends of Del-
lon constantly inculcated that the best and surest
way of regaining liberty, was to make a full con-
fession. Accordingly, he wrote to the grand in-
quisitor at Goa a frank statement of the whole
matter, and besought him to believe, that if he had
erred, it was rather from levity and imprudence,
than from any ill intentions. To this letter he re-
ceived no reply, but was left to languish in his
noisome dungeon.

An order arrived, some months after, to transfer
the prisoners to Goa, and Dellon, with the rest,

I 2

102 HISTORY OF THE

all loaded with heavy fetters, was put on board,
and after enduring many miseries on the voyage,
they were at length immured in the prison of Goa.
This was more foul and horrible than any he had
yet seen, and perhaps nothing could be more nau-
seous and appalling. It was a sort of cavern, where
the day was but just distinguishable ; and where
the subtlest sunbeam scarce ever penetrated. The
stench was excessive ; but when night approached
he could not lie down, for fear of the swarms of
vermin and the filth which abounded everywhere ;
and he was constrained to recline against the wall.

Very soon after he was summoned before the
grand inquisitor of the Indies, Francisco Delgado
e Matos, before whom he behaved in the same
frank manner as on the former occasions : he be-
sought his judge to hear his whole story, and added
tears to his entreaties ; but the judge, without show-
ing the least emotion, ordered him back to his
prison ; telling him that there was no haste, and
that he had other business more important to attend
to. An inventory of Dellon's property was then
made, which was all ridiculous, as nothing was
ever restored.

He had several audiences before his cruel judges,
in which, though he manifested his penitence, he
found no relief, or even hope of pardon ; till at
last he abandoned himself to grief. Driven to de-
spair, in a paroxysm of madness, he attempted to
destroy his life, and made a variety of trials to

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 103

effect his purpose, for which he afterwards hum-
bled himself before Almighty God and asked for-
giveness.

He had been eighteen months in the inquisition,
when he was called to a fourth audience, which dif-
fered from all the former, wherein he had only
been his own accuser ; but here informations were
formally laid against him to the holy office, and his
own confessions made a part of the depositions.
He assured the court that he had no intention to
controvert the doctrines of the Catholic church on
baptism ; but that the passage, " except a man be *
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God," having struck him as
very particular, he had demanded an explanation.
The grand inquisitor was entirely ignorant of this
passage, and on being shown the very words in the
New Testament, he attempted no explanation, but
abandoned the subject. Such ignorance was worthy
of a man who presided over such a nefarious court !
The result of this audience was, that the prisoner's
property was confiscated, and that he was himself
delivered over to the secular power, to be punished
according to law ; that is, to be burnt !

Nothing now remained but patiently to wait
his fate, although he was compelled to remain in
dreadful suspense as to what his punishment would
really be ultimately. Every effort was made to
force him to confess that he had spoken disrespect-
fully of the pope, and that his object had been to

104 HISTORY OF THE

support heresy j but as these were false imputa-
tions, the prisoner would not yield to their urgent
and wicked zeal to force him to confess a lie be-
fore God. In this state of uncertainty he expected
the approach of the first Sunday in Advent, think-
ing that the auto da fe, which would determine his
fate, would then take place ; because in the service
of that day is read a portion of the gospel which
describes the day of judgment, and the inquisitors
select the day on that account.

Several little events occurred which led him to
believe the moment of the awful ceremony was
not far distant. It was impossible not to feel some
sentiment of pleasure at the idea of being raised
from the tomb in which he had been buried for
years ; but the dreadful denunciation of the court
filled him with anxiety and melancholy. Over-
come at last by vexation and deathly images, he
dropped into a sleep, from which he was awakened
by the noise of the guards drawing back the bolts
of his cell. He was seized with such a trepidation
that it was a long time before he could summon
resolution to put on the garments which had been
left by his visiters.

In the auto da fe which followed, Dellon marched
in the ranks with the other prisoners, with his head
and feet bare, through the streets of Goa, for more
than an hour, the sharp flint stones which covered
the streets causing his feet ta stream with blood
an object of pity to the immense crowd which had

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 105

come 'from all parts of India to witness the cere-
mony. Here a very natural reflection would arise
as to the folly and inconsistency of attempting to
propagate the gospel, which breathes a spirit of
gentleness, charity, and forgiveness, and of exhi-
biting, with so much pomp and parade, the mer-
ciless horrors of such an institution, before those
pagans whom it was their professed object to in-
struct in the truths of Christianity to bring them
to salvation, and who could jiot but detect the
dreadful variance between the precepts and prac-
tice of those who professed to follow and imitate
Christ; and who, moreover, could not help be-
holding their own rites and ceremonies outdone
in cruelty by the more sanguinary doings of
Christians.

When they arrived at the church, a priest of the
Augustine order ascended the pulpit, and preached
for a long time. Among other things, he drew a
comparison between the inquisition and Noah's
ark, in which, however, he noted this distinction,
that the creatures which entered the ark, left it on
the cessation of the deluge with their original na-
tures ; whereas the inquisition had this singular
characteristic, that those who came within its walls
cruel as wolv,es and fierce as lions, went forth gen-
tle as lambs.

The sermon being finished, the different victims
were called up separately to receive their re-
spective sentences. The sentence of Dellon was

106 HISTORY OF THE

excommunication, forfeiture of all his goods to the
king, banishment from the Indies, and condemna-
tion to serve in the galleys of Portugal for five
years, with such other penances as the inquisitors
might think proper to add. Besides all these, he
was obliged to bind himself, by the most sacred
oaths, to observe a profound and inviolable secrecy
as to every thing which had come to his know-
ledge during his long detention, a practice univer-
sal in the inquisition to conceal their atrocities,
and which they enforce with all the terrors of their
power.

In pursuance of the sentence, he was conveyed
in irons on board a vessel bound for Portugal, and
after the fatigues and privations of the voyage, he
arrived at Lisbon about the close of the year 1676,
where he was immediately placed in the prison
called the Galley, to which, as the Portuguese do
not use galleys in their marine, those who are sen-
tenced to them by the holy office are sent He
was chained by the leg to a man who had escaped
the night before from being burnt by making a
confession. In this situation five long years more
of suffering still remained ; but Dellon obtained the
privilege of writing to his relations in France, and
acquainting them with his deplorable condition,
Through the zeal of an individual high in the fa-
vour of the queen of Portugal, the intercession
of friends, and the application of many persons
of rank, he at length experienced the unspeakable

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 107

delight of being set at liberty upon condition of his
leaving the country at once. It is unnecessary to
say with how much eagerness he embraced the
conditions, happy to escape, and grateful to Hea-
ven for having preserved him through so many
years of peril and suffering. For years afterwards
he was unwilling, from conscientious scruples, to
reveal what had happened to him ; till, at last, be-
ing convinced in heart that it was a duty which
he owed both to God and man to disregard the
oath which had been extorted by duress, he pub-
lished his interesting narrative to the world.

CHAPTER VIII.

Buchanan visits the inquisition at Goa His reception Puts
Dellon's work in the hands of one of the inquisitors Conversa-
tions on the subject Inquisition of Goa abolished in 1812.

IN continuation of the subject of the preceding
chapter, the reader will listen with interest and
satisfaction to an abridgment of the account given
by the Rev. Dr. Buchanan, in his " Christian Re-
searches in Asia/' who visited, in the year 1808,
the city of Goa, with the work of Dellon in his
hand, for the express purpose of finding what was
the actual state and present condition of the inqui-
sition described by that author.

108 HISTORY OF THE

There are two cities, Old Goa and New Goa.
The old city, where the inquisition and the
churches are, is now deserted by almost every one
but priests. On his arrival at New Goa, Dr. Bu-
chanan intimated his wish to the viceroy to sail
up to. the old city and see the inquisition, to which
he politely acceded. A Portuguese officer, major
Pareira, offered to accompany him, and introduce
the doctor to the archbishop, who was the pri-
mate of the orient.

" I had communicated to colonel Adams and to
the British resident, my purpose of inquiring into
the state of the inquisition. These gentlemen in-
formed me that I should not be able to accomplish
my design without difficulty, seeing every thing
relating to the inquisition was conducted in a very
secret manner, the most respectable of the lay Por-
tuguese themselves being ignorant of its proceed-
ings; and that if the priests were to discover my
object, their e'xcessive jealousy and alarm would
prevent their communicating with me, or satisfy-
ing my inquiries on the subject. On receiving
this intelligence, I perceived that it would be ne-
cessary to proceed with great caution. I was, in
fact, about to visit a republic of priests, whose do-
minion 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."

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 109

Lieutenant Kempthorne joined the company,
and they proceeded up the river. From major
Pareira he learned that there were upwards of
two hundred churches and chapels in the province
of Goa, and more than two thousand priests

"On our arrival at the city," continues he, <s it
was past twelve o'clock; all the churches were shut,
and we were told they would not be opened again
until 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 some
place to sleep in. He seemed surprised at this in-
timation, 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 anywhere. 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 build-
ing which had been long uninhabited. Matters
at- this time presented a very gloomy appearance,
and I had thoughts of returning with my com-
panions 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 Inqui-

K

110 HISTORY OF THE

siti.on at Goa," 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 daylight on the morning of the
auto da fe. 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 sancta 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 counte-
nances of the two British officers, while they con-
templated a place where formerly their own coun-
trymen were condemned to the flames, and into
which they themselves might now suddenly be
thrown, without the possibility of rescue.

"The day being now far spent, and my com-
panions about to leave me, I was considering
whether I should return with them, when 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 re-
verend appearance, and possessing great fluency
of speech and urbanity of manners. After a half
hour's conversation in the Latin language, during
which he adverted rapidly to a variety of subjects,

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. Ill

he politely invited me to take up my residence
with him during my stay in old Goa. I was highly
gratified by this unexpected invitation ;. but lieu-
tenant 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 tribunal in rank, but first
and most active agent in the business of the de-
partment. Apartments were assigned to me in
the college adjoining the convent, next to the
rooms of the inquisitor himself ; and here I have
been four days at the very fountain head of infor-
mation in regard to those subjects which I wished
to investigate. I breakfast and dine with the in-
quisitor almost every day, and he generally passes
his evenings in my apartments.

" Next day after my arrival I received an invi-
tation to dine with the chief inquisitor. The se-
cond inquisitor accompanied me, and we found a
respectable number of priests and a sumptuous en-
tertainment. In the library of the chief inquisitor
I saw a register containing the names of the pre-
sent establishment of the inquisition at Goa, and
the names of all the officers. On asking the chief
inquisitor whether the establishment was as exten-
sive 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 in-

112 HISTORY OF THE

quisitors them selves, but from certain priests whom
I visited in their respective convents ; particularly
from a father in the Franciscan convent, who had
himself repeatedly witnessed an auto da fe.

" 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. 1 1 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 Del-
Ion's book in the inquisitor's hand, 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 my
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 if he had ever seen it. It was in the
French language, which he understood well. l Re-
lation de 1'Inquisition de Goa,' (the title of Dei-
Ion's book,) pronounced he with a slow articulate
voice. He had never seen it before, and began to
read with eagerness. He had not proceeded far

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 1 1 3

before he betrayed evident symptoms of uneasi-
ness. 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, 'mendacium, menda-
cium, 7 (which means falsehood, falsehood.) I re-
quested he would mark those passages which were
untrue, and we would 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.

" Next morning 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 fe 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. He was now
anxious to know to what extent Dellon's book had
been circulated in Europe. I told him Picart had
published to the world extracts from it in his cele-
brated work, entitled < Religious Ceremonies/ to-
gether with plates of the system of torture, and
burnings at the auto da fe. I added that it was
now generally believed in Europe that these enor-

114 HISTORY OF THE

mities no longer existed, and that the inquisition
itself had been totally suppressed ; but that I was
concerned to find that it was not the case. He now
began a grave narration to show that the inquisi-
sition had undergone a change in some respects,
and that its terrors were mitigated.

" I had already discovered, from written or
printed documents, that the inquisition of Goa was
suppressed by royal edict in 1775, and established
again in 1779, subject to certain restrictions; the
chief of which are the following : That a greater
number of witnesses should be required to convict
criminals than were before necessary, and that the
auto da fe should not be held publicly as before,
but that the sentences of the tribunal should be
executed privately within the walls of the in-
quisition.

" In this particular, the constitution of the new
inquisition is more reprehensible than that of the
old one. Formerly, the friends of those unfortu-
nate 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 fe ;
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 pre-
serve the power of the inquisition, and, at the same
time, to lessen the public odium of its proceed-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 115

ings, in the presence of British dominion and civi-
lization.

"I asked the father his opinion concerning the
nature and frequency of the punishments within
the walls. He said he possessed on certain means
of giving a satisfactory answer; that every thing
transacted there was declared to be ( sacrum and
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 inqui-
sition;' that is to say, who did not show, in the
solemnity of his countenance, or in his peculiar
demeanour, or his terror of the priests, that he had
been in that dreadful place."

The doctor listened very patiently to all the in-
quisitor had to say, and replied, that if he wished
to satisfy his mind upon the subject, he must show
him the inquisition. This was at first refused ; but
after some reasoning, the inquisitor at length con-
sented, and they set off the following morning to
visit the odious tribunal.

" He led me," pursues the doctor, " 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 at-

116 HISTORY OF THE

tendants of the holy' office. They bowed very low
t6 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 fe.
At the procession described by Dellon, in which
he himself walked barefoot, clothed with the
painted garment, there were upwards of one hun-
dred and fifty prisoners. I traversed this hall for
some time with a slow step, reflecting on its for-
mer scenes, the inquisitor walking by my side in
silence. I thought of the fate of the multitudes
of my fellow-creatures who had passed through
this place, condemned by a tribunal of their fel-
low-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 poor souls back again,
that she might allow them a little farther proba-
tion ?' 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 se-
veral small rooms, and thence to the spacious
apartments of the chief inquisitor. Having sur-
veyed 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,
6 that cannot be.' I now began to suspect that it
had been in the mind of the inquisitor from the

CATHOLIC INQUISITION, 117

beginning to show me only a certain part of the
inquisition, in the hope of satisfying inquiries 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 assertions and arguments regarding the present
state of the inquisition, was to show me the pri-
sons and the captives. I should then describe
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 for-
mer 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 go-
vernment 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.? Show
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 fe. 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 In-
dia.' To these observations the inquisitor made
no reply, but seemed impatient that I should with-
draw. ' My good father,' said I, ( I am about to

118 HISTORY OF THE

take my leave of you, and to thank you for your
hospitable attentions; and I wish always to pre-
serve on my mind a favourable sentiment of your
kindness and candour. You cannot, you say,
show 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, f That is a question which
I cannot answer!' On his pronouncing these
words I retired hastily towards' the door, and I
wished him farewell.

"From the inquisition I went to the place of
burning, on the river side, where the victims were
brought to the stake at the auto da fe. It is close
to the palace, that the viceroy and his court may
witness the execution ; for it has ever been the po-
licy of the inquisition to make these spiritual exe-
cutions 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 dif-
ference 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 dis-
pensation which permitted the ministers of the in-
quisition, with their racks and flames, to visit these
lands before the heralds of the gospel of peace.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 119

But the most painful reflection was, that this tri-
bunal should yet exist, unawed by the vicinity
of British humanity and dominion. I was not
satisfied with what I had seen and said at the in-
quisition, 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.

" When I arrived at the inquisition, and had as-
cended the outer stairs, the door-keepers surveyed
me doubtingly, but suffered me to pass, supposing
that I had returned by permission and appoint-
ment of the inquisitor. I entered the great hall,
and went up directly to the tribunal of the inqui-
sition, 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 her-
self on a bench by the wall, apparently in a dis-
consolate state of mind. She clasped her hands as
I passed, and gave me a look expressive of her dis-
tress. This sight chilled my spirits. The fami-
liars 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.xthe letter

120 HISTORY OF THE

of 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, 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 Joseph a Deloribus
without uttering a word."

The inquisition of Goa was abolished in the
month of October in the year 181.2.

CHAPTER IX.

Miscellaneous views of the inquisition Its composition and
proceedings Anecdote of Father Ephraim Officers of the in-
quisition Their extraordinary power and privileges Anecdote
of consul Maynard Council of the inquisition in Spain The
Cruciata and Hermandad Prisons of the inquisition described
Their horrors Anecdote Flies Anecdote of Gaspar Bennavi-
dius, a jail-keeper of the inquisition His monstrous cruelty Arts
employed to make prisoners confess.

IT is to be observed, that although minute
shades of difference occur in the structure of the
inquisitorial tribunals as they have existed in va-
rious countries, yet the form and manner of pro-
ceeding have ever been essentially the same : so
that the miscellaneous descriptions which are now
about to be laid before the reader, though they par-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 121

ticularly belong to the holy offices in Spain and
Portugal, nevertheless bear a full application in all
important points to the holy office in every part
of the globe.

The ministers or officers of the inquisition are
numerous. The inquisitors, who are called apos-
tolical, are judges delegated by the pope, who is
the supreme judge of every thing touching the
holy faith. The usual age at which one was capa-
ble of exercising this office was forty years; but
by a papal decree, a person of thirty might become
apostolic inquisitor in Spain and Portugal. They
are wholly the creatures of the pope ; so that, if an
inquisitor should unjustly prosecute any one for
heresy, there is no appeal or redress but from
Rome, which is always difficult and often impos-
sible. The most extravagant respect is shown to
these officers, and even in cases where it has been
found necessary to punish an inquisitor, they take
care not to lessen men's opinion of the dignity and
authority of the holy office by his condemnation.

For example, this tribunal often punished inno-
cent persons, imprisoned and used them barba-
rously. Of this there is a memorable instance in
father Ephraim, a Capuchin ; whom, out of mere
hatred and revenge, they seized by craft and sub-
tlety, and carried off to the inquisitorial prison at
Goa. Everybody wondered at hearing that father
Ephraim, a man of such holiness and probity,
should be suspected of heresy ; and when the news

L

1 22 HISTORY OF THE 1 ' /

arrived in Europe, it created the liveliest emotions.

.His Portuguese majesty sent peremptory orders to
the inquisitors to liberate him. The pope also
sent letters to Goa, commanding him -to be set free

.under penalty of excommunication. And the king
of Golconda, who entertained the greatest esteem
and affection for him, issued his directions for the
city of St. Thomas to be besieged and burnt, and
.the inhabitants put to the sword, unless the vene-
rable father was immediately restored to liberty.
The inquisitors, from necessity, not from a sense
of justice, sent word to father Ephraim that the
prison gates were open, and he might depart when
he pleased : but he positively refused to leave the
jail, till he was brought out by a solemn .proces-
sion of the ecclesiastics of Goa, which was accord-
ingly done. Now, although this was so palpable
a case of injustice and a wrong done to so eminent
an individual, that even the king of Portugal and
the pope himself interfered ; yet the thought of
punishing the malignity of the inquisitors was

. never for a moment contemplated. .

To enter into a minute account of all the subor-
dinate officers and assistants belonging to the ex-
tensive and complicated institution, would prove a
labour as insipid to the reader as it would be in-
compatible with, the limits of this work. A de-
scription, therefore, will be omitted of the vicars,
the assessors and. counsellors, the .promoters fiscal,
the notaries, the judges, and receivers of confiscated

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 123

goods, the executors, the officials, the familiars, the
cross-bearers, the visiters, and various others who
.are necessary to carry on the immense operations
of. this gigantic system of ecclesiastical tyranny ;
,but it will be proper to dwell for a few moments
on the inquisitors themselves, the chief of all, and
who are, generally, like Milton's Satan^ " by merit
raised to that bad eminence."

The power of the inquisitors has always been
fearfully great, it having ever been the interest of
the popes to shower privileges upon them with a
munificent hand, and to these immense " wages of
sin" is to be attributed their cheerful and un-
wearied zeal in the persecution of heretics. Thus,
by a bull it is decreed, that no inquisitor shall be
liable to the penalty of excommunication, except
by the special command of the apostolic see, to
which tribunal alone they were amenable. The
consequence of this immunity from restraint was,
that the inquisitors seldom or never were punished ;
for if they only had ingenuity enough to avoid in-
fringing the temporal power of the popes, their
crimes, however flagitious, were regarded with an
indulgent eye by the pontiff.

Again, when inquisitors wish to inflict punish-
ment, and are apprehensive that too much delay
will be occasioned by sending to the inquisitorial
court, which has the proper authority, they are
permitted to have recourse to temporal courts of
justice, and to require temporal lords to assist

124 HI-STORY OF THE

them, even though such lords may be undor sen-
tence of excommunication at the time. No matter
how wicked and unjust such lord may be,~no mat-
ter how incompetent he may have been pronounced
to perform any other duty of life, still, if by com-
mand of an inquisitor, he did any thing against
heretics, the act immediately became valid. These,
and. a thousand other privileges and exemptions
attached to inquisitors, of a nature at once iniqui-
tous and tyrannical, not to say unchristian, are
usually said to be bestowed and allowed " in favour
of the faith," as if Christianity stood in need of
such nefarious measures for its support ; measures
which of themselves are an ample demonstration
of the ungodly character of the cause.

But the inquisitors claimed and extended their
power not only over their own fellow-subjects, but
also over those of foreign states residing within
their dominions. It was of little consequence to
the holy office what treaties existed on the subject,
expressly exempting foreigners from liability to
the inquisition for matters of faith ; they always
managed to evade such provisions, so that strangers
were always at their mercy : nor could any safety
be procured, except from the immediate frown of
the government whose subject was so outraged,
and that government backed too by sufficient
power to make its interference respected. Of this
there was a remarkable case in the time of Oliver
Cromwell.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 125

Thomas Maynard, who was the English consul
at Lisbon, had been thrown into the prison of the
inquisition, under pretence of having said or done
something against the Romish faith. Cromwell
was at once advised of it, and immediately sent ah
express to the English charge d'affaires, who, upon
receiving it, went forthwith to the king of Portu-
gal, and in the name of Cromwell demanded the
liberty of consul Maynard. The king replied that
it was not in his power ; that the consul was in the
hands of the inquisition, over which he had no sort
of authority. As soon as Cromwell received this
answer, he sent new instructions to his minister,
who demanded another audience, in which he told
the king, that since his majesty had no power
over the inquisition, he was commanded by Crom-
well to declare war against the inquisition. The
monarch, as well as the inquisitors, were greatly
terrified at this unexpected energy, and imme-
diately opened the gates of the prison; but the
consul, like father Ephraim, refused to accept a.
private dismission, and in order to repair the sul-
lied honour of himself and the English people
whom he represented, demanded to be brought
forth publicly by the inquisition. Such instances,
however, were exceedingly rare, and fefm a strik-
ing contrast with the general history and irresisti-
ble power of this institution, before which the
greatest monarchs were made to bow with sub-
mission,

HISTORY OF THE

In Spain and Portugal the supreme council of
the inquisition possessed a more tyrannic sway
over the inferior tribunals of those countries than
the pope, who was at the head of the holy office in
Italy, did over those of that country. The supreme
council consisted of a grand inquisitor (who wa&
appointed by the king, although it is said the pope
had the power of a veto upon the appointment)
and five members. The inferior inquisitions, sub-
ordinate and dependent on the supreme court, were
established at Grenada, Seville, Cordova, Toledo,
Cuenza, Valladolid, Murcia, Llerena, San Jago, Lo-
grogno, Saragossa, Valencia, Barcelona, Majorca,
Sardinia, Palermo, Mexico, Carthagena, and Lima.
Each of these had three inquisitorial judges.

Besides the multitude of inferior officers, there
were two classes of individuals in Spain, who were
devoted to the service of the holy office, by which
they were employed, like two powerful arms,
to seize their victims everywhere. From their
clutches it was next to impossible for any one to
escape. These were the Hermandad and the Cru-
ciata. The Hermandad was an immense body of
constables or spies, who were spread, not only
through the cities, but even through the towns and
villages. Whe smallest hamlet teemed with these
vermin, creatures generated by want and idleness.
They carried their art to perfection. When once
their eyes were fixed upon a victim, his doom was
sealed. If they could not use force, they resorted

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 127

to stratagem. They assumed all characters. They
continued their arts for months, nay years, with
untiring perseverance, till at length they drew
the devoted person into some imprudent step, and
then they pounced upon him and delivered him to
the inquisition, where he was lost for ever. No
wonder the Spanish nation was changed in< charac-
ter ! The Crusiata consisted of different materials,
though equally infamous: their influence was
brought to bear more particularly upon the higher
ranks of society. The Cruciata consisted of the
noble and the rich, the grandees and the bishops,
and they were united for the purpose of watching
over the manners of Catholics, and reporting to the
inquisition the least failu're in the discharge of duty
or profession. Nothing could be better calculated
to promote national hypocrisy than such an esta-
blishment, since the perpetual fear of these in-
formers would necessarily become a stronger mo-
tive to incite them to religious . observances, than
the fear of God.

As soon as the poor victim was seized and car-
ried before the inquisition^ the next step was to
cast him into prison. Who has not heard of the
dungeons of the inquisition ? The use of jails, it
has always been understood, was to keep suspected
or criminal pei sons in custody ; but the inquisition,
refining upon and perverting every institution,
converted them into abodes of punishment, in
which, to use the words of Simancas, an inquisito-

128 HISTORY OF THE

rial author, " they may inflict the penalty of per-
petual imprisonment for more heinous offences,
which is indeed very grievous, and equal to death:"
an honest confession ! for who can think without
horror of such a punishment, inflicted sometimes
on those who merely believed in the doctrines or
opinions of heretics : human beings perpetually
imprisoned for freedom of thought, in dreadful re
ceptacles ; there to do what the inquisition called
"wholesome penance, with the bread of grief and
the water of affliction."

The inquisitorial prisons are generally noisome
and pestilent dungeons, and every way worthy of
the establishment of which they form a portion.
To add mockery to cruelty, they are called, in Spain
and Portugal, as was before remarked, santas casas,
or holy houses ; and really one might almost be
tempted to suppose that these names, as well as
that of holy office belonging to the inquisition itself,
had been imposed, not seriously, but by way of
irony and derision. Though these mansions and
cells of wretchedness are very much alike in all
countries where the tribunal of the inquisition has
gained a footing, yet in Spain and Portugal they
seemed to weatva blacker glcom ; so that Constan-
tino Ponce, who was called "the great philosopher,
the profound theologian, and the most eloquent
and celebrated preacher ? \ of the time of Charles V.,
ere yet he had been made to taste of actual tor-
tures, in speaking of the barbarity of his confine-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 129

ment, exclaimed, "Oh, 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
hands of these monsters?"

Of the miseries of the Portuguese prisons, an
illustration is given by an author whose name is
Reginald Gonsalvius. An English ship had put
in at the port of Cadiz, and the familiars of the
inquisition of that place immediately searched her,
as was their custom, to see what there was on
board to affect religion, as they pretended, before
they could suffer a soul to go on shore. They
seized several English persons in whom they dis-
covered symptoms of true evangelical piety, and
clapped them in jail. In the ship there was a
child ten or twelve years of age, the son of a very
rich English merchant, to whom the ship belonged.
This child was seized also, under pretence that a
copy of David's Psalms in English, was found in
his hands ; but the true reason was, their avarice
and cursed arts, by which they hoped to extort
money from the wealthy parent. The ship was
confiscated, and the child >vas carried, with the
rest of the company, to the prison of the inquisi-
tion, at Seville, where he lay about eight months.
In consequence of the strict confinement, damp-
ness of the place, and badness of the food allowed,
the child fell very ill, for he had been brought up
delicately and tenderly at home. When the in-

130 HISTORY OF THE

quisitors heard this, they had the boy removed,
for recovery of his health, to the hospital of the
inquisition, which is almost as bad a place as the
prison itself. In this place the unhappy boy, from
barbarous treatment, lost the use of both his legs,
nor was it ever known what became of him after-
wards, though it is probable he died of the ill usage
of these monsters. During his confinement the
poor boy had given striking proofs how firmly the
pious instructions he had received at home were
fixed in his mind. Morning and evening he was
seen on his knees at prayer to that God who, his
parents had taught him, was to be looked up to
in the hour of trouble ; and his inhuman keepers
always taunted him on these occasions by calling
him their " little heretic."

The first thing a prisoner of the inquisition is
compelled to do when thrown into jail, is to give
an exact account of all his/wealth and possessions.
The inquisitors pretend .always that they do this
with a view to keep faithfully their property, that
it may be safely restored, if they should be found
innocent; and such confidence had the deluded
people in the sanctity and sincerity of the tribunal,
that they always most willingly discovered the
most concealed things they had. But these people
were deluded ; for when a person fell into the
hands of the inquisition, he was stripped and de-
spoiled of all. If the prisoner denied his crime,
and was convicted by false witnesses employed for

133

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 133

the purpose, all his goods were confiscated. If, to
escape the horrors of imprisonment, he confessed
the crime, he became guilty by his own acknow-
ledgment, and as a matter of course was robbed of
every thing. Even when the prisoner was dis-
missed as a convert and penitent, he did not dare
to defend himself, under a terror of being rerim-
prisoned for life or burnt to death.

When summoned before his judges, the prisoner
appears, conducted by his keeper, with his ^iead,
arms, and feet naked. At one end of the audience
room is a large crucifix, and in the middle is placed
a table with seats around it. At the table are seat-
ed the notary of the inquisition and the judges,
and at one end the wretched prisoner himself upon
a bench. On the table is the missal or mass-book,
on which the prisoner lays his hand when he takes
the oath to tell the whole truth, and to keep every
thing a profound secret. When the audience is
over, and the interrogatories done, the inquisitors
ring a bell, and the keeper re-conducts the prisoner
to his cell.

In these jails the most profound silence is kept
None dare mutter a word or make the least noise.
If an individual in his agony bewails his fate, or
even if he prays to God aloud, or sings a psalm,
the keeper immediately enters and admonishes
him to be silent. If he does not obey he is again
admonished, and if it is done a third time the
keeper beats the prisoner severely. This is done

M

134 HISTORY OF THE

not only to punish the offender, but to intimidate
the other prisoners; who, from the nearness of
their cells and the tomb-like stillness of the place,'
can easily hear the sound of the blows and the
cries of the sufferers. It is related, that on one oc-
casion when a prisoner coughed, the jailers came
to him and admonished him to forbear. He an-
swered, it was not in his power. They admon-
ished him a second time, and because he did not

>;' '.,'. . '

cease, they stripped him naked and cruelly beat

him. This made his cough worse, and instead of
being softened, v they continued beating him till the
poor wretch expired.

One reason why they insist so severely upon
profound silence, is to prevent the prisoners from
.recognizing each other by whistling, singing, or
other signals. So that it often happens friends,
even parents and children, are not aware that they
have been pining in the same jail, and perhaps in
adjoining cells, until they meet at the awful cere-
mony of an auto da fe. The great aim of this
solitary confinement is, that its extreme irksome-
ness may force the victims to make any confes-
sions which may best suit the wicked purposes and
wishes of the inquisitors. The arts of the inqui-
sitors to draw confessions are detailed by numerous
writers. They even procure persons, who are
chosen for their being agreeable to the prisoners,
and having influence, to go and converse with
them, and even to feign to belong to their sect,

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 135

and only to have abjured through fear. They will
thus insidiously persecute the prisoner by every
hypocritical wile, till at last> after a lapse of days,
weeks, or even months, they succeed in drawing
out some confession. It may well excite wonder
how men can be of such a devilish temper as vo-
luntarily to hire themselves for such offices, men
who consent to be shut up in dungeons with the
prisoners for whole months, pretending sometimes
to be friends, sometimes fellow-prisoners, in order
to force out something by which to condemn the
prisoner, who put up with every thing, stench,
hunger, thirst, and what is still more strange, will
go in this way from one cell to another, and pass
all their time in an occupation which has no paral-
lel in history, a business foul, and nefarious, and
diabolical ! These creatures are called flies by
the inquisition.

But the prisoners are exposed to cruelties from
a thousand other sources. Reginald Gonsalvius,
before quoted, relates of one-Gaspar Bennavidius,
vho was a keeper of a jail, and whom he describes
4S "a man of monstrous covetousness and cruelty,"
*.hat he used actually to defraud the poor languish-
ing prisoners of the scanty allowances made by the
mquisitors ; and that if any of them murmured, he
was accustomed to punish them by forcing them
into a vile place called Mazmorra, a deep cistern
without water in it, though so damp that the
very provisions became rotten in it, and fitter to

136 HISTORY OF THE

destroy than to support life. This man, it is true;,
was punished as soon as his conduct became known
to the inquisitors, but not so much on account of
his barbarity as for violating the regulations of the
establishment. To prove that no merciful motives
had any share in his punishment, this very man
had, at the time, a servant 'maid, who, witnessing
the intolerable sufferings of her master's victims,
through pity used to succour and relieve them,
and also to take from the wicked thief, her master,
the very provisions he stole from them, to give
them back to the prisoners by stealth. " And,' 5
says the author, " that we may the more wonder
at the providence of God, who so orders it that the
worst parents shall not always have bad children,
a little daughter of the keeper himself used to assist
the maid in these pious thefts." At length the
matter was discovered, and the humanity of this
good woman was visited by the Lord's inquisitors
with rigorous punishment.

In short, the ingenuity of cruelty employed to
work upon the prisoners' minds, and extort confes-
sion, is almost beyond belief; and, at last, if the
accused did not confess his guilt, they had recourse
to a final experiment which proved a fatal snare to
many. They delivered to the prisoner an accusa-
tion in writing, and in this pretended accusation
they blended several crimes perfectly false, and of
an enormous nature, with the charges they wanted
to get at. By this trap they succeeded: the pri-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 137

soner did not fail to cry out against the horrible
imputations, and v thereupon the inquisitors con-
demned them as guilty of those other allegations
against which they remonstrated with least vio-
lence.

CHAPTER X.

Extravagance and absurdities of certain inquisitorial writers-
Heresy, its meaning Abuse and perversion of the term by the
inquisition Excommunication Punishments of heresy and here-
tics Death by fire Unlimited power of this tribunal Forms
of process Proofs Arts used by inquisitors Honest and frank
confession of an inquisitor general.

INQUISITORIAL writers have displayed prodi-
gious extravagance, as well as ingenuity, in dis-
torting passages of Scripture, and discovering
types in the Old and New Testament to illustrate
and sustain the divine original of the inquisition
before a deluded and ignorant people. Of this,
the most impious and unblushing proofs are given
by Louis de Paramo, an inquisitor, in his cele-
brated Latin work on the " Origin and Progress
of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, and of Its
Dignity and Utility." God himself, according to
this writer, was the first inquisitor, and the first
auto da fe was held in the garden of Eden. God
cited Adam, because the process would otherwise

M 2

138 HISTORY OF THE

have been null ; and upon the culprit's appearance,
he inquired, that is, made inquisition, into
Adam's crime. The man accused his wife, after
which the Judge questioned her also. The serpent
he did not examine, because of his obstinacy.
Both parties were separately examined, and in se-
cret, to prevent collusion ; and no witnesses were
called, because confession and conscience are as
good as ^thousand witnesses ; and then the judge
had nothing to do but to pronounce sentence. Pa-
ramo does not think it worth while, however, to
mention another, and a more serious, reason for
not calling witnesses ; which is, that there were no
witnesses to call.

Abraham also was an inquisitor, arid so was
Sarah, which the author thus proves. She turned
Ishmael out of doors for idolatry. She saw him
playing with Isaac. Now what is meant by this
\vordplaying ? In Exodus it is written, the peo-
ple sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to
play ; that is, says St. Jerome,, to commit idolatry ;
and therefore it is plain that Ishmael was turned
out for idolatry. In this crazy matner Paramo
goes through the Pentateuch, and the books of Jo-
shua and Judges. David, he tells us, was a bitter
inquisitor. Solomon also, though the wisest of
men, was the most severe upon idolaters and iftere-
tics. Zimri, who slew his master, was of the holy
office. So was Elijah ; so was Elisha ; so was
Jehu ; and, (which caps the climax of absurdity,)

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 139

so was Nebuchadnezzar ! Under the gospel dis-
pensation Christ is represented as the first inquisi-
tor, and the very form of punishment in use by
the holy office, it is affirmed, is directed by the
gospel ! But the reader turns with indignation
and contempt from so much levity and so much
folly.

Heresy now claims attention : heresy ! a fatal
word a word which has deluged the world with
blood, and caused infinite sorrows among the sons
of men ! " This word," says Dr. Buck, " signifies
sect, or choice. It was not, in its earliest accepta-
tion, conceived to convey any reproach, since it
was indifferently used either of a party approved
or of one disapproved by the writer. Afterwards
it was generally used to signify some fundamental
error adhered to with obstinacy." -The practice
of the early Christians on this subject was shown
in the beginning of this work. The shocking per-
version of the term by the Catholic inquisition
will now be placed in contrast.

It is the observation of Llorente, that if the pri-
mitive system of the church towards heretics had
been pursued faithfully, as it ought to have been
after the peace of Constantine, the tribunal of the
inquisition would never have existed, and perhaps
the number and duration of heresies would have
been less. However this may be, one thing is
plain, that heresies multiplied with 'a rapidity
exactly proportioned to the violent attempts made

140 HISTORY OF THE

/ ',

by the civil and ecclesiastical powers to extirpate \.
them, until they at length formed the grand em-
ployment of the church of Rome. Heresy, or
heretical pravity, (that is, wickedness,) was the
grand crime cognizable by the inquisition, whose
office legitimately consisted in its extirpation. But
heresy assumed a thousand shapes, and was hunted
down by as many different statutes of the Romish
church. Some were manifest heretics,, others con-
cealed ; some affirmative, others negative ; some
impenitent, others penitent; some arch-heretics,
others believers of heretics ; some receivers, others
defenders, and others favourers of heretics ; some
are hinderers of the office of the inquisition, others
suspected of heresy, others defamed as heretics,
and others relapsed. Again, there were some who,
by committing certain other crimes, incur the sus-
picion of heresy; or who, committing other crimes,
are yet answerable to the tribunal of the inquisi-
tion, because of gome heretical word or action
mixed up with those crimes. Finally, Jews, and
backsliders to Judaism, New Christians, Moors, 1
witches and sorcerers, and, in more modern times,
free-masons and political heretics, complete the
melancholy catalogue of human beings who were
rendered answerable to the inquisition. From this
enumeration alone, it must appear to all that heresy
was thus converted into a net of infinite meshes,
from which few or none could escape, who were
the natural game or prey of this horrid institution

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 141

To make a regular heretic, three things were ne-
cessary. First, that the individual should have
professed the Catholic faith. Secondly, that he
should err in his understanding in matters relating
to the faith. Matters of faith being all points de-
termined by a general council or by the pope, as
necessary to be believed, and such as are enjoined
by an apostolic tradition. Thirdly, obstinacy of
vill, which was tested in two ways; when one
tvas called before a judge of the faith, and informed
that any opinion he happened to hold was contrary
to the faith, and yet persisted in the error ; and
again, when, after the discovery of his error, he will
pot abjure it, and give any satisfaction the church
flemanded. So far was this carried, that every
,'thing was defined to be heresy that was contrary
fto the slightest and most trifling received opinion
of the church, even on a subject merely philoso-
phical, and having no foundation in the scriptures.

Heresy being regarded by the Catholic church
as the most heinous of all crimes, the punishments
inflicted upon heretics were the most grievous ; and;
they were of two kinds, civil and ecclesiastical.
The ecclesiastical were, excommunication, depriva-
on of church burial, of dignities, benefices, and
il ecclesiastical offices. The civil were, depriving
men of the privileges and benefits of law, pecu-
niary mulcts and fines, banishment, death, and the
'iann.
I By excommunication, heretics were driven from

142 HISTORY OF THE

the sacraments, deprived of the common suffrages
of the church, and expelled the company of the
pious and faithful. One of the synods of the Ca-
tholic church declared, in the following words,
" that ye may understand the nature of this ex-
communication, he (the heretic) must not enter
into the church, nor eat and drink with any chris-
tians. Let none receive his gifts, nor offer him a
kiss, nor join with him in prayer, nor salute him."
The ceremony of excommunicating a heretic is
thus performed. When the bishop pronounces
the curse, twelve priests must stand around him
holding lighted candles, which they throw down
on the ground and tread under their feet at the
conclusion of the excommunicating anathema.
These interdicts are very numerous in the Catholic
church, and are couched in a great variety of terms.

Of the civil punishment of heresy, confiscation
is the chief, and one of the Catholic writers deduces
it impiously from the example of God himself,
"who," as another author says, "not contented j
with the sentence of death pronounced against . ,
our first parents, drove man from the place of
his delights, stripped him of all his goods, and
Adjudged him to hard and continual labours ; and
commanded, for his wickedness, the vsry earth to
bring forth briers and thorns."

To pass over the many other punishments of
heretics, death was one of the last ; and death too,
of the most terrible kind ; which is, to be burnt

I
CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 143

alive! This mode of punishment, in the usual
impious manner, is inferred from 2 Kings xxiii.
where Ozias commanded the bones of the heretical
priests to be burnt ; and also from the words of
our Lord in John xv. 6. " If a man abide not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered,
and men gather them and cast them into a fire, and
they are burned," Paramo, the Catholic author
already quoted, also discovers this punishment to
be justified by the New Testament, as was before
asserted. "James and John," says he, "thought
that the Samaritans who would not receive our
Lord, should be destroyed by fire from heaven,
according to St. Luke, chap. ix. See here now the
punishment of heretics, viz. fire. For the Sama-
ritans were the heretics of those times. Matt. xxi.
^ and xxii. Mark xii. and Luke xx." Such language
is not extraordinary in a man who finds, even in
' paradise, an inquisition ; and who endeavours, by
numerous arguments, to make God himself an in-
quisitor ! But Catholic writers have gone still
farther in their malignity against the human race,
and have declared, that the burning of heretics by
fire was not only reasonable, but that if any worse
and more terrible mode could be discovered, it
ought to be and would be made use of a sentiment
so shocking, that even a Catholic might have shud-
dered at it to which there is nothing on record
to compare it, unless it be the excuse of the bloody
tyrant Draco, who punished all crimes, both great

144 HISTORY OF THE

and small, with death ; declaring, at the same time,
that the least crime deserved death, and he did not
know of any worse punishment for the greatest.

Those persons who praised other modes of wor-
ship were heretics ; also those who said men might
be saved in all religions those who dared to find
fault with, or to criticise, in any way, a decision
of the pope. If any one showed disrespect to an
image, or read, kept in his house, or lent any book
forbidden by the inquisition, or ate meat upon days
of abstinence, or had a heretic for a friend, or wrote
to console a prisoner in the inquisition, or tried to
procure evidence to acquit him. " At one period,''
says a writer, " the sale of Spanish horses to the
French was considered as heresy, because the
French were Huguenots, and would probably use
the horses against the interests of the Romish'
church." These are but a few of the items, from
the least of which justification, unless it was- the
pleasure of the inquisition, was impossible. Diffi-
cult as it was to escape their fangs, it was infinitely
more difficult to get out of them when seized. If
the inquisition wanted to arrest a person, he was '
seized without warning; nothing could protect
him, for no asylum was sacred. None dared to
interfere to utter a syllable in defence; and when
a person once stepped over the threshhold of the
inquisition, he was dead to the world. The num-
ber of beings who put an end to themselves by
suicide^ in their despair, is beyond all calculation !

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 145

The two principal hinges upon which, in crimi-
nal cases, the judicial examination of the prisoners
before this tribunal turns, are First, an impossi-
bility, almost absolute, on the part of the culprits
to substantiate the justice of their cause ; and a
facility almost boundless, on the part of the inqui-
sition, to aggrieve them. With a code in which
illegality is reduced to a system, and a tribunal
that contemns all man holds sacred, a tribunal that
rests the issue of its important affairs on the im-
penetrable secrecy of its proceedings ; that fears
no one on earth, for to no one is it responsible, not
even to public opinion, it cannot be a matter of
surprise tjiat such a multitude of enormous crimes
should have rendered it so odious ; crimes the
more revolting, because perpetrated under the
mask of the gospel.

The judges presiding over a tribunal wielding
such power, should at least have been well instruct-
ed in the principles of justice and equity ; and yet
it is a fact, that the dulness and ignorance of inqui-
sitors has passed into a proverb. Hence, " the
Portuguese noblemen," says Puigblanch, " when
they wish to joke about the backwardness of their
children at college, threaten to make inquisitors
of them." Of late, the following saying was to be
met, says the same author, in the mouths of all
" Question : What constitutes an inquisition ? ;
Answer : Why, one crucifix, two candles, and
*hree blockheads."

N

146 HISTORY OF THE

The two forms of process were, by inquisition
and denunciation : the latter, however, finally su-
perseded the other, as by several edicts a general
injunction was laid on all to denounce, within six
days, any one who had sinned in any way. These
edicts rendered society a horde of panic-struck and
abject wretches, where the mutual hatred, and the
mutual prejudices of citizens became the common
property of this tribunal, and where the foulest
passions of our fallen nature were quickened into
the worst activity. Indeed, denunciation and se-
cret impeachment were found to answer the pur-
pose much more effectually; and what was the re-
sult ? " Taking from the simple denunciation,"
says Puigblanch, " whatever is favourable to the
informer, and from the rigorous accusation what is
contrary to the culprit, the inquisition has created
a new judicial process which it is impossible to
class or define. In it, the rancour and vengeance
of those who traced it seem emulously to shine,
and it is difficult to discern whether the blows are

\,

most levelled against the rights of justice or of hu-
manity ; for who can defend himself against
calumny when stimulated by the law, and accom-
panied by almost a certain hope of impunity ?
This bane of society, by means of secrecy, is cor
verted into an arm that wounds at an immense
distance.''

Proofs were of three kinds : First, by instru-
ments or writings. Second, by witnesses, two

148

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 149

of which, in addition to the denunciator, are, in
theory, requisite. The prisoner, however, as has
been said, never knows who is his accuser nor the
witnesses, as infinite pains are taken to keep him
in the dark. It is only when any doubt has arisen
respecting the identity of his person, that the wit-
nesses view him from a secret place where they
cannot be seen, or else are brought before him
with masks on their faces, and covered with cloaks
from head to foot. And, third, by voluntary con-
fession, which, though called spontaneous, always
partook of coercion.

The fact, which daily occurred, that the inno-
cent were murdered with the guilty, was regarded
with great indifference ; for it was a cherished
maxinij " that it is better one hundred pious Ca-
tholics should perish, than one heretic escape :"
for, said they, by putting to death an innocent
person, we hasten and secure his entrance into
paradise ; while a liberated heretic may infect a
multitude. " Let no person complain," says Ni-
cholas Eymeric, in his celebrated book, the ( Di-
rectory of the Inquisitors/ " if he be unjustly
condemned ; let him console himself with the re-
flection that he' has suffered for righteousness'
sake."

This famous book of Eymeric was written about
the middle of the fourteenth century. The author
was a Dominican, and chief inquisitor to the
crown of Arragon, and his work has served as a

AT 9.

150 HISTORY OF THE

model for all the regulations which have been in
force in Spain, Italy, and Portugal, and as author-
ity for all who have written on the subject. From
this work a single passage, being a stratagem or
precaution which he recommends to inquisitors
when sitting in judgment, will be amply suffi-
cient. " When the prisoner has been impeached
of the crime of heresy, but not convicted, and he
obstinately persists in his denial, let the inquisitor
take the proceedings into his hands, or any other
file, of papers, and looking them over in his pre-
sence, let him feign to have discovered the offence
fully established therein, and that he is desirous he
should at once make his confession. The inquisi-
tor shall then say to the prisoner, as if in astonish-
ment, ' And is it possible you should still deny
what I have here before my own eyes ?' He shall
then seem as if he read, and to the end that the
prisoner may know no better, he shall fold down
the leaf, and after reading some moments longer,
he shall say to him, * It is just as I have said : why
therefore do you deny it, when you see I know
the whole matter ?' " In all this the author di-

-,

rects the judge not to enter too minutely into the
particulars of the fact, for fear of his erring in any
of the circumstances, and lest the prisoner should
discover the falsehood.

This chapter will now close with a confession
from an eminent inquisitor, at which one's blood
runs cold. Don Manuel Abad y Lasierra, one

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 151

of the latest inquisitors general, a person by no
means prejudiced, and for that reason not liked by
any of his cloth, speaking of the ease with which
an innocent person may be entrapped in the snares
of this tribunal, used to say, "that he had never
feared the inquisition till he had been" made in
quisitor general" With such a confession from
such an individual, and at so recent a period, the
reflection naturally arises, What must this tribunal
have been in the high and palmy period of its
greatest power ?

CHAPTER XL

The torture Its different kinds The auto da fe Its different
kinds Description of the dresses of those who walk in these
dreadful processions Description of an auto celebrated at Ma-
drid in 1680.

THE inquisition has uniformly adopted the vices
of all other tribunals, and even adc^d to them ; but
in "the torture" it astonishingly surpassed them.
In the first place, it originally invented a multitude
of new v methods of infliction; and in the second,

i

not content to force the culprit to confess his
crime and reveal his accomplices, it also obliged
him to confess his very intention : so that, after
admitting all, that any other court could wish to
know, he was again subjected to the pangs of tor-

152 HISTORY OF THE

ture, and compelled to declare himself to be as
criminal before men, as bis judges supposed he
was before God. There was another practice still
more inhuman. When the culprit, from repent-
ance, at once confessed his intention and revealed
his accomplices, the torture was again inflicted
if any of the accomplices" denied being such, for
the purpose of seeing if he persisted in the decla-
ration. /Sentence of torture always began by in-
voking the name of Christ !

Three kinds of torture, says Puigblanch, who
will be followed in this part of the subject, have
been generally used by the inquisition, namely,
the pulley, the rack, and fire. As sad and loud
lamentations accompanied the sharpness of pain,
the victim was conducted to a retired apartment,
called the " Hall of Torture," and usually situated
under ground, in order that his cries might not in-
terrupt the silence which reigned throughout the
other parts of the building. Here the court assem-
bled, and the judges being seated, together with
their secretary^gain questioned the prisoner ; and
if he still persisted, they proceeded to the execu-
tion of the sentence.

The first torture, which was alluded to in the
account given in a former .chapter of Bower's ad-
ventures, was performed by fixing a pulley to the
roof of the hall, with a strong hempen or grass
rope passed through it. The executioners then
seized the culprit, and leaving him naked to his

153

158

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 157

drawers, put shackles on his feet, and suspended
weights of one hundred pounds to his ancles. His
hands were then bound behind his back, and the
rope from the pully strongly fastened to his wrists.
In this situation he was raised about the height of
a man from the ground, and, in the meantime, the
judges coldly admonished him to reveal the truth.
In this position twelve stripes were sometimes in-
flicted on him. He was then suffered to fall sud-
denly, but in such a manner that neither his feet
nor the weights reached the ground, in order to
render the shock of the body greater.

The torture of the rack, also called that of water
and ropes, and the one most commonly used, was
inflicted by stretching the victim on his back along
a wooden horse, or hollow bench, with sticks across
like a ladder, and prepared for the purpose. To
this his feet, hands, and head were strongly bound,
in such manner as to leave no room to move. In
this attitude he experienced eight strong contor-
tions in his limbs, namely, two on the fleshy parts
of the arms above the elbows, and two below ; one
on each thi'gh, and also on the legs. He was, be-
sides, obliged to swallow seven pints of wate.r,
slowly dropped into his mouth on a piece of silk
or ribbon, which, by the pressure of the water,
glided down his throat, so as to produce all the
horrid sensations of drowning. At other times
his face was covered with a thin piece of linen,

158 HISTORY OF THE

through which the water ran into his mouth and
nostrils, and prevented him from breathing.

In the torture by fire, the prisoner was placed
upon his legs, naked, in the stocks ; the soles of his
feet were then well greased with lard, and a blaz-
ing chafing-dish applied to them, by the heat of
which they became perfectly fried. When his
complaints of the pain were loudest, a board was
placed between his feet and the fire, and he was
again commanded to confess ; but it was taken
away if he was obstinate. This species of torture
was deemed the most cruel of all ; but this, as well
as the qthers, were, without distinction, applied to
persons of both sexes, at the will of the judges,
according to the circumstances of the crime and
the strength of the delinquent.

Lesser tortures were used with persons unable
to withstand those already described. Such were,
that of the dice, of the canes, and of the rods. For
the first, the prisoner was extended on the ground,
and two pieces of iron, shaped like a die, but con-
cave on one side, were placed on the heel of his
right foot, then bound fast on with a rope which
was pulled tight with a screw. That of the canes
was performed by a hard piece being put between
each finger, bound, and then screwed as above.
That of the rods was inflicted on boys under nine
years of age, by binding them to a post and then
flogging them with rods*

159

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 161

The time allowed for torture, by a bull of Paul
III., could not exceed an hour ; but in Spain, where
the race of cruelty was always won, it was ex-
tended to an hour and a quarter, and an hour and
a half. The sufferer often became senseless, in
which case a physician was ever in attendance, to
inform the court whether the paroxysm was real
or feigned, and. to declare how much human nature
could endure. When the victim remained firm,
or refused to ratify a confession within twenty-
four hours afterwards, he has been forced to un-
dergo as far as three tortures, with only one day's
interval between each. Thus, while his imagina-
tion was still filled with the dreadful idea of his
past sufferings, his limbs stiff and sore, and his
strength debilitated, he was called upon to give
fresh proofs of his constancy, and again endure the
horrid spectacle and the excruciating pangs, tend-
ing to rend his whole frame to pieces.

The persons charged to inflict these cruel opera-
tions were generally the servants of the jailer : as
the institution, however, was formerly under the
charge of the Dominicans, and of late years also in
Italy, it is probable that the lay brethren were se-
lected to inflict the torture; .particularly as the
inquisition was usually contiguous to their con-
vents, with which they communicated by a se-
cret door and passage ; and by- these services, the
brethren, far from being dishonoured, considered
they were doing acts acceptable to God.

o 2

162 HISTORY OF THE

When neither persuasions, threats, nor artifices
forced the culprit truly or falsely to confess, the
inquisitors then recurred to the torture, mixing
even this deception with vseverity ; for besides
threatening the prisoner to make his pangs last for
an indefinite period of time, they made him be-
lieve, after he had borne them for the stated time,
that they only suspended their continuation be-
cause it was late, or for some other similar reason ;
they protesting, at the same time, that he was not
sufficiently tortured. By this protest they avoided
giving a second sentence when they returned to
inflict the torture afresh, considering it as a con-
tinuation of the preceding one ; by which means
they were able to torment the victim as often as
they thought proper, without formally coming to
the second torture. ^,

Whilst the unfortunate victim, melted in tears
at the sight of the horrors by which he is sur-
rounded, bewails his miserable fate, or, frenzied
with the force of fury, in vain calls all nature to
his aid, and invokes the name of God ; whilst his
passions are alternately irritated and then depressed
into a desponding calm, at one time protesting his
innocence, and next calling down curses on his
tormentors' heads; in short, whilst his body is
shaken by the most violent convulsions, and his
soul racked^ his inexorable judges, unmoved by
such a scene, with the coldest cruelty mix their
orders with his cries and lamentations ; at one time

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 163

addressing themselves to him to exhort him to re-
veal, and next to their officers to remind them of
their duty. In the mean time, with the same se-
renity, the secretary pens down every sigh, groan,
and execration which the force of the torment
obliges the wretched and frantic victim to utter.

The legislators who originally authorized this
mode of trial, at least had the equity to pronounce
all inferences of guilt as thereby wiped away, and
dismissed the sufferer who persevered in his de-
nial ; but the inquisition condemned him to per-
petual imprisonment, or sent him to the galleys.
Consequently, the unfortunate culprit, perhaps
wholly innocent, often entirety disabled by the
writhings of his muscles and the dislocation of his
bones, caused by the shocks of the pulley, crippled
by the compression of the rack, or maimed by the
contraction of his nerves through the operation of
fire, was, after all this, obliged to endure the in-
famy of being mixed and confounded with the
vilest wretches.

But the last and most appalling scene, which
closes the awful drama of the inquisition, was the
auto da fe, to which allusion has often been made
in the course of this little volume, and of which a
very brief and imperfect description is all which
can now be promised to the reader. The auto da
te was a spectacle as august and splendid as it was
cruel and terrible, uniting in its sublime concep-
tion, as it is affirmed, two of the grandest ideas

164 HISTORY OF THE

that the human mind can entertain, namely, a Ro
man triumph, and the day of judgment.

There were two kinds of autos da fe, the parti-
cular and the general. The former were called
autillos, or little autos, and were celebrated in
some small church or hall with closed doors, and
before only select persons. The general autos were
solemnized in the principal square of the city, or
some spacious church. In the first, the culprits
were few, in the second, numerous. In the
grander exhibition great care is taken to include
persons who have committed different crimes, so
as to give an imposing variety to the spectacle ;
and, at the same time, some relapsed persons,
whom even repentance cannot save from the
flames ; for if all could be pardoned by abjuring
their errors, the exhibition might be spoiled at the
last moment !

The victims who walk in the procession, wear
certain insignia ; these are, the san benito, the co-
roza, the rope round the neck, and the yellow wax
candle. The san benito is a penitential garment or
tunic of yellow cloth reaching down to the knees,
and on it is painted the picture of the person who
wears it, burning in the flames, with figures of
dragons and devils in the act of fanning the flames.
This costume indicates that the wearer is to be de-
stroyed as an impenitent. If the person is only
to do penance, then the san benito has on it a cross,
and no paintings or flames. If an impenitent is

168

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 167

converted just before being led out, then the san
benito is painted with the flames downward ; this
is called " fuego repolto," and it indicates that the
wearer has escaped the terrible element. For-
merly these garments were hung up in the
churches as eternal monuments of disgrace to their
wearers, and as the trophies of the inquisition.
The coroza is a pasteboard cap, three feet high,
and ending in a point. On it are likewise painted
.crosses, flames, and devils. In Spanish America
it was customary to add long twisted tails to the
corpzas. Some of the victims have gags in their
mouths, of which a number is kept in reserve in
case the victims, as they march along in public,
should become outrageous, insult the tribunal, or
attempt to reveal any secrets.

There was a remarkable custom which prevailed -
particularly in the inquisition of Spain. On the
day before an auto da fe, they carried a bush to
the place at which the condemned are to be burnt.
This has its mysteries ; for the burning and not
consuming bush, signifies the inconsumable splen-
dour which burns without perishing. It means
also, mercy to the penitent, and rigour to the ob-
durate. Again, it is intended to represent how
the inquisitors defend the vineyard of the church,
wounding with the thorns of the bush, and burn-
ing with fire, all who bring heresies into the har-
vest of the Lord's field. Finally, it points out the
frowardness of heretics, who are therefore to be

168 HISTORY OF THE

broken like a rugged and contumacious shrub ; be-
cause, as its thorns tear the garments of the passers ,
by, so do the heretics, whom it resembles, rend li
the seamless coat of Christ. I

The most memorable auto da fe on record, was
celebrated at Madrid, in the year of our Lord 1680,
before Charles II. and his queen. It was noised
all over the world, and travellers and historians
have selected it as the rarest specimen of which
the inquisition could boast. A painting of it was
made by Francisco Rizzi, and a full description
has been given by Jose de Olmo, an eyewitness
and a familiar, and who in that capacity had no
small share in the whole transaction. The name
of the inquisitor general was Don Diego Sarmiento
de Valladares, who had been a member of the
council of government during the minority of the
king, and who thought it a good opportunity .of
securing the good-will of his master, by exhibiting
to him an auto on a splendid scale.

Orders had been sent to the various tribunals to
hasten their trials, that the number of criminals
might be as large as possible; and that the con-
course of people should be the greater, it was
solemnly proclaimed, a month before the time,
that on Sunday the thirtieth of June, " this great
triumph of the Catholic faith," as Olmo calls it,
would take place. The public notification ran
thus " Be it known to all the inhabitants and
dwellers in this city of Madrid? the court of his

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 169

Majesty present and residing therein, that the
holy office of Ihe inquisition celebrates a public
auto da fe, in the large square of this said city, on
Sunday 30th of June of this present year ; and that
those graces and indulgences will be granted which
the popes have enacted, for all who may accom-
pany and aid in the said auto da fe. This same is
ordered to be proclaimed for the information of
every one."

The reader naturally pauses upon the selection
of the Sabbath-day the day set apart for rest and
religious joy the day on which all work is sus-
pended, and all public punishments suppressed :
and yet this day, revered by so many nations,
was the day on which this arrogant tribunal called
upon the civil magistrate to dye his hands in hu-
man blood, and to profane the solemn season of re-
ligious festivity.

Orders were issued for a vast stage or platform
to be erected in the principal square, and two hun-
dred and fifty artizans enlisted into the service
of the inquisition, under the title of " Soldiers of
the Faith," to guard the criminals; eighty-five
persons, among whom were grandees and the
highest nobility, having solicited and obtained for
the occasion the places of familiars to the holy
office.

As the day approached, the whole country was
al^ve. On fe twenty-eighth of June a preparatory
auto, by way of rehearsal, took place, in which the

P

170 HISTORY OF THE

u soldiers of the faith," marched in a kind of pro-
cession, bearing fagots to the burning-place, they
passed the palace, where the monarch receiving
an ornamented fagot from the captain, showed it
to the queen, and ordered that it should, in his
name, be the first cast into the flames; thus imi-
tating Ferdinand, who, on a similar occasion, car-
ried the wood on his own shoulders. On the fol-
lowing afternoon the procession of the two crosses
was performed with all solemnity; and, after-
wards, the prisoners were all collected together in
the secret prisons of the inquisition.

At length came the awful day, so impatiently
expected by the multitude, who have ever been
found to exult in sanguinary spectacles. At three
m the morning the clothes, san benitos, and break-
fasts were served out to the culprits. At seven
the procession moved ; and first came the " sol-
diers of the faith," who, as pioneers, cleared the
way. Next followed the cross of St. Martin,
covered with black; then came the prisoners, one
hundred and twenty in number seventy-two wo-
men and forty-eight men, of whom some were in
effigy. The effigies of those condemned persons
who had died or escaped, followed. These effi-
gies have inscriptions, and are. sometimes borne
on long poles. Then came those who were to ,do
penance, and those who were reconciled ; and
finally appeared twenty-one -miserable beings con-
demned to burn, each with his coroza and san be-

171

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 173

nito, and most of them with gags in their mouths,
attended by numerous familiars and friars, under
the pretence of comforting and exhorting them
Behind the effigy of each culprit was also con-
veyed boxes containing their books, when any had '
been seized with them, for the purpose of also be-
ing cast into the flames. The courts of the inqui-
sition followed immediately after, with the secre-
taries, commissaries, and familiars, and among
them the two stewards, who carried the sentences
of the criminals enclosed in two precious caskets.
Next, on horseback, paraded the sheriffs and
other officers of the city, and a long train of fami-
liars on richly caparisoned horses, with inqui-
sitors' habits over their dresses. Then a vast
multitude of ecclesiastical ministers, all bearing
suitable insignia, and mounted on mules with
black trappings. Behind came the mayor and
corporation of Madrid, and the fiscal proctor of
Toledo, who carried the standard of the faith.
Next, the inquisitors of Toledo and Madrid; and
lastly, the inquisitor general, on a superb steed
magnificently clothed, twelve servants in-livery,
and an escort of fifty halberdiers, commanded by
the marquis de Pobar, whose livery was still more
gorgeous. The whole was closed by the sedan
chair and coach of the inquisitor general, and a
suite of carriages filled with his pages and chap-
lains. " This triumphant procession," says Olmo,
u was performed with wonderful silence ; and

174 ' HISTORY OF THE

though all the houses, squares, and streets were
crowded by an immense concourse of people,
drawn together from a motive of pious curiosity,
scarcely one voice was heard louder than another."
The stage, which had been erected on the side
of the great square facing the east, was one hun-
dred and ninety feet long, one hundred broad, and
thirteen high, forming a parallelogram with a sur-
face of nineteen thousand square feet, at the two
ends of which flights of steps, as wide as the stage
itself, were elevated to the second story of the
houses. The royal family witnessed the whole
scene from a balcony expressly prepared, and the
ambassadors of foreign powers had balconies as-
signed to them. Beneath the stage were prisons
for the culprits, and various apartments for re-
freshments. A vast awning was thrown over the
crowd, which occupied all the balconies and houses
on the four sides of the great square. This grand
piece of machinery was finished in about five days,
upon which the historian Olmo says, " It appeared
that God moved the hearts of the workmen ; a cir-
cumstance," he continues, " strongly indicated by
sixteen master builders, with their workmen, tools,
and materials coming in, unsolicited, to offer their
services, and persevered with such zeal and con-
stancy, that without reserving to themselves the
customary hours for rest, and taking only the ne-
cessary time for food, they returned to their labour
with such joy and delight, that, explaining the

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 175

\

cause of their ardour, they exclaimed, ( Long live
the faith of Jesus Christ ! All shall be ready at the
time prescribed ; and if timber should be wanting,
we would gladly take our houses to pieces for a
purpose so holy as this. ? "

As soon as the prisoners, the tribunals, and the
individuals invited, were settled, the inquisitor
general, arrayed in his pontifical robes, took his
throne, from which he presently descended, and
approaching in the most solemn manner, his
majesty administered to him the usual oath, by
which he swears to sustain the holy office of the
inquisition. Grand mass was then celebrated, and
the sermon, which was spoken of and quoted in a
former chapter, was delivered.

When the sermon was ended, the reading of the
trials and sentences commenced, and lasted for a
tedious length of time. Those condemned to death
were handed over to the civil authorities, and pro-
ceeded to the place of execution. The mass lasted
till nine o'clock at night. The patience with
which Charles II. endured the fatigue was amaz-
ing, for he never quitted his balcony to partake
even of refreshment ; and when all was over, he
even asked, in a tone of disappointment, if any
thing yet remained to be performed.

The burning-place was sixty feet ^square, and
seven feet high, and upon it were twenty stakes
with the corresponding rings. Some of the vic-
tims were previously strangled, and others at once

176 HISTORY OF THE

thrown into the fire. The latter, however, in some
instances denied the executioners their hellish
pleasure, by throwing themselves of their own ac-
cord into the flames. The bodies of those who
were hanged, and the effigies, and bones of the de-
ceased, were cast in, and more fuel added, till all
was converted into ashes, which was about nine in
the morning.

Such is a description, though greatly abridged,
of this celebrated auto da fe, the largest and most
splendid ever known in regard to the number of
prisoners, the variety of punishments, and the fact
of its having been presided over by three inquisi-
torial tribunals, one of which was the supreme
council, together with the inquisitor general, and
attended by all the king's court and grandees.

CHAPTER XIL

The inquisition always hostile to knowledge of every descrip-
tion Corrupting influence of the inquisition upon the people
The monks Their condition and influence Miracles of St. Do-
minic The Rosary and worship of the virgin Mary- Anecdote
of an inquisitor who read Voltaire's works Proscription of sciences
and authors Brutish ignorance of inquisitors Reflections upon
the cruelty of the inquisition.

WHEREVER the inquisition prevailed, corrup-
tion covered the country as the waters cover the sea.
The people were degraded to the lowest condition

\

177

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 179

by bigotry and fanaticism, and monastic mumme-
ries assumed every possible shape. The common
intercourse of life was conducted by a strange per-
version of religious language. If a domestic
brought lights into a room, he would have been
turned out of service if he had neglected to ex-
claim, " Blessed be the holy sacrament of the al-
tar." If any one sneezed, he was saluted t( in the
name of Jesus." If it thundered, the people made
the sign of the cross, or sprinkled the apartment
where they were with holy water. The proces-
sions, met at every turn, were distinguished for
their absurdities, nay, impieties. The populace
laughed, sung, and scourged themselves, naked, in
the streets, till the blood gushed forth. They car-
ried about figures of the apostles, of wicker work,
muffled in huge hempen wigs, with small mirrors
at the back, to denote that they knew the past as
well as that which was to come. They had colos-
sal images of Christ carried about by men called
NazareneSj penitents, whose coats sometimes drag-
ged forty feet behind them, and he whose coat tail
was the longest, was reckoned the most devout.
Others aga.'n, in most hideous dresses, represented
the unfortunate Jews, and were pursued by hisses,
groans, curses, and missileSj wherein the spirit
of the inquisition was most apparent, which strain-
ed every nerve to keep alive the hatred against
the unhappy race.
The monks found their account in all these ex-

180 HISTORY OF THE

travagances. They taught the people to place
candles on the tombs of their relatives : these were
disposed of by the churches. (e Sprinkle, sprinkle
the graves of your parents," exclaimed the eccle-
siastics : " every drop of holy water extinguishes
a blaze of the fire of purgatory." This holy wa-
ter was prepared and sold to the silly people by
the churches. On certain days they had public
auctions for the benefit of souls in purgatory. The
monks ransacked the whole country for offerings
to be contributed to the sale, and those who paid
highest for the articles exhibited were regarded as
the most holy. The money was laid out in buy-
ing masses ; which invention, in Spain and Portu-
gal particularly, was a source of inexhaustible re-
venue. Philip IV. ordered, in his will, that all
the priests in the place where he died, should for
ever repeat a mass on the day of his decease, for
the good of his soul : and besides other provisions
of the same kind, he left a fund of money for one
hundred thousand masses more, with an express
condition, that if, by good fortune, there should be
more than was sufficient to procure the entrance
of his soul into heaven, the overplus should be
turned to the account of those unfortunate souls
of whom nobody thinks.

That famous implement of superstition, the ro-
sary, was borrowed by St. Dominic, the founder
of the inquisition, from the Moors ; who probably
got it from the Hindoos. The Romish church.

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 181

says a sensible writer, had established an opinion
that prayer was a thing of actual, not relative value ;
that it was received as currency in the treasury of
heaven, where due account was kept ; and that
credit was given to every soul for all which he
had himself placed there, or which had been paid
over for his use ; for the stock was transferable by
gift or purchase. The bead-string was ah admira-
ble device upon this principle, if it had been
merely for abridging the arithmetic. But the ro-
sary had other advantages. The full rosary con-
sists of one hundred and sixty-five beads ; that is,
of fifteen decads, with a larger bead at the end of
each, which is for the pater noster ; the smaller
ones being for the aves Marias. It is apparent
that if the ave Marias were repeated one hundred
and fifty times continuously, the words would ne-
cessarily become without thought or feeling, and
soon pass into confused and inarticulate sounds ;
but by this invention, when ten beads have been
dropped, the larger one comes opportunely in to
j^g the memory : sufficient attention is thus
awakened to satisfy the conscience of the devotee,
and yet no effort, no feeling, no fervor are re-
quired ; the heart may be asleep and the under-
standing may wander; the lips and the fingers are
all which are needed for this act of most acceptable
and most efficient devotion. "It is a means,"
says an English Catholic, " to kindle and nourish
devotion, and with great facility to pray and ob-

Q

182 HISTORY OF THE

tain, by the most effectual intercession of so great
an advocate, (as the virgin,) all manner of good
and perfect gifts ; from which, so fruitful means,
should be excluded neither the husbandman in the
field, nor the traveller in his journey, nor the la-
bourer with his toiling, nor the simple by his un-
skilfulness, nor the woman by her sex, nor the
aged by their impotency, nor the poor for want of
ability, nor the blind for want of sight ; a devotion
which repugneth to no estate or condition, not re-
quiring more knowledge than to say the pater nos-
ter and ave Maria, nor more charge than the price
of a pair of beads, nor any choice of place or situa-
tion of body, but as it shall like the party, either to
stand, sit, lie, walk, or kneel, &c."

The virgin, they affirmed, was enchanted with
this her own form of devotion, and hence she often
appeared garlanded with roses, in the proportion
of one red to ten white ones. There was no end
to the miracles of the rosary. A knight, to whom
St. Dominic presented a rosary, arrived at such
perfection of piety, that his eyes were opened, and
he saw an angel take every bead as he dropped it,
and carry it to the queen of heaven, who imme-
diately magnified it, and built with the whole
string a palace upon a mountain in Paradise. This
was a saint-miracle ; a much greater one was
vouchsafed to a sinner. A damsel, by name Alex-
andra, induced by St. Dominic's preaching, used
the rosary; but her heart followed too much after

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 183

the things of this world : two young men, who
were rivals for her, fought, and both fell ; their re-
lations caught her, and, in revenge, cut off her head
and threw it into a well. The devil immediately
seized her soul, to which it seems he had a clear
title ; but for the sake of the rosary the virgin in-
terfered, rescued her soul out of his hands, and
gave it permission to remain in the head at the
bottom of the well, till it should have an oppor-
tunity of confessing and being absolved. After
some days this was revealed to St. Dominic, who
went to the well and told Alexandra in God's
name to come up : the bloody head obeyed, perch-
ed on the well-side, confessed its sins, received
absolution, took the wafer, and continued to edify
the people for two days, when the soul departed,
to pass a fortnight in purgatory on its way to hea-
ven. All such nonsense was greedily devoured
by the deluded people.

Such was the terror of the inquisition, that the
monks held every thing at their will. Every act
of tyranny and cruelty was received with profound
submission. If a man was ill, two monks, like
foul, ill-omened birds, fastened themselves at his
bed-side, tormented him in his last moments, living
sumptuously all the time, and very often turned
to their benefit his worldly property. But their
pride and audacity were fully equal to their avarice.
If a priest was about to bear the viaticum, the first
carriage they met was seized and made use of by

184 HISTORY OF THE

the insolent ecclesiastic ; while the owner, on foot,
was forced to fall in with the procession behind.

A list of the books prohibited by the inquisition
was published in a huge work, consisting of several
folio volumes, by which a new species of study was
devised ; it being necessary, previously, to study
these works, in order to ascertain what books were
not allowed to be studied. Nearly all the great
French authors were interdicted. The following
anecdote will amuse the reader. A French vessel
put into Lisbon : the marquis de Pombal was then
minister of Portugal. Some young men belonging
to the vessel went on shore, and impelled by cu-
riosity traversed the city, visited the churches, and
refreshing themselves after their fatigues at a coffee-
house, they permitted their conversation to run
with freedom over all they had seen. Some ironi-
cal expressions concerning the multitude of monks
escaped them, and one went so far as to quote cer-
tain satirical lines from Voltaire. They were in-
stantly surrounded, but they fought their way to
the boat and escaped, all except one, who was made
prisoner. The French ambassador being absent,
the consul-general applied to the marquis de Pom-
bal, who declared it was out of his power to inter-
fere, and he advised the consul to wait on the
grand inquisitor. He did so, again and again.
His highness, the grand inquisitor, always eluded
his visit. The consul then ordered his state coach,
and, with official ceremony and pomp, he repaired

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 185

to the inquisitor's palace, and demanded audience
in the name of the king of France. On his en-
trance, the inquisitor was loud and resolute against
the enlargement of the youth, repeating the terrible
words heresy, atheism, philosophy, and " Voltaire,
whose very name," he said, " was blasphemy.''
The consul reasoned and remonstrated/but all ap-
peared in vain, till at last the inquisitor, leading
the consul into a private room, and closing the
door, made the consul swear in the most solemn
manner, not to betray what he was about to say.
Being assured on this subject, he frankly confessed
to the consul, that he was totally ignorant of the
works of Voltaire, and that he had the greatest cu-
v riosity to read them. The consul seized so fa-
vourable a chance, and immediately had a complete
set of Voltaire's works conveyed secretly to the
inquisition. Several days elapsed, when the con-
sul again applied for the liberation of the prisoner,
who never would have been freed, if the grand in-
quisitor had not been threatened by the consul.
The inquisitor being thus exposed to such immi-
nent danger, as would have followed upon the
scandal of Voltaire'^ works being promulgated,
hastened to comply with the consul's desire, and
at his own earnest entreaty, the whole affair was
kept a secret for several years.

" Science and the inquisition," says Puigblanch,
" in no country ever enjoyed long, at least, a peace-
ful dwelling together : the former soon declines

o 2

186 HISTORY OF THE

and degenerates wherever the latter is indigenous
and successfully thrives. The earth itself, over
which its malignant shade spreads and darkens,
loses its fecundity in consequence of the tainted
effluvia issuing from its trunks and boughs, as well
as the poisoned juices which circulate around its
root!"

Medicine could not flourish in a country where
the monks were able to persuade a bigoted and
brutish people, that saints, and miracles, and
masses would cure all diseases; and where, to env
ploy a physician instead of invoking a saint, might
be considered heresy. Every thing tending to il-
luminate mankind, promote civilization, or benefit
society, was proscribed by the inquisition.

Besides theology, philosophy, and politics, sci-
ences of first importance in a state, polite literature,
and the dead languages, have been hated with a
deadly hatred by these malignant despots. One
reason of the odium in which the old languages
were held, was, that it was a study to which the
reformers and the protestants applied themselves,
so that in the eyes of inquisitors, he who read a
Bible in the original tongues, was deemed a Lu-
theran or a Jew.

A volume were insufficient to enumerate the
sciences which were proscribed, and the indivi-
duals eminent in them, who have suffered. Artists,
navigators, schoolmasters, and even handicrafts-
men have incurred the vengeance of the inquisi-

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 187

tion, and been entangled in its accursed toils.
" Great God," exclaims Nebrija, one of the re-
storers of Spanish literature, who incurred the
displeasure of the inquisition for some grammatical
criticisms upon the Latin translation of the Bible
called the Vulgate, " what slavery is this ? What
iniquitous oppression, which, under the title of
piety, does not permit me to manifest my way of
thinking, in matters by no means injurious to the
faith ? What ! Did I say manifest ? nay, that does
not even allow me to write down my opinion for
my own use, and within the secrecy of my own
closet ; not even to utter it within my teeth, or
make it the subject of my meditations."

If science and authors have been treated so badly,
it is not astonishing to find that the writings them-
selves have shared a similar fate. In the celebrated
index of prohibited books, alluded to above, may
be found the works of Bacon, and Locke, and even
Milton's Paradise Lost ; indeed there is scarce a
book of merit which does not make its appearance
either as totally forbidden, or condemned in parti-
cular parts. This mad stupidity was carried into
the new world, where the fatal zeal of the fana-
tical Zumaraga, first bishop of Mexico, is the sub-
ject of lamentation to every enlightened person,
who has either read or written concerning that in-
teresting region. All the symbolical writings and
monuments of the Mexicans, which that inquisitor

188 HISTORY OF THE

could lay his hands upon, perished, under the ab-
surd notion that they were diabolical works, and
savouring of heresy. Another inquisitor, Cisneros,
in Spain, it is said committed to the flames as many
as eighty thousand volumes of Arabian works,
many of the most valuable works at that time ex-
tant in all sciences, being in the Arabic language.
One book on stenography, or the art of writing by
cyphers, was condemned by the inquisition as a
book upon magic : and in the same celebrated in-
dex appears under condemnation, " A book printed
in octavo, in forty-four pages, in Hebrew letters, in
Venice, 1764, by Christopher Ambrosini." Here
the inquisitors who condemned this book, did not
actually know what it was about !

But besides obstructing science in every way,
the inquisition has promoted error under every
imaginable form. It has arrogated infallibility to
itself, by attempting to identify its name with that
of the church, and of religion. " We, the apos-
tolical inquisitors, &c." is their style. The belief
in witches and magic was one of their errors
which was a copious source of cruelty. Facts
crowd upon the mind, but the limits of this work
forbid entering fully upon this opening field. One
other error will be mentioned, which was cherish-
ed, and sustained with infinite care, and that was,
the supremacy of the church, and of its ministers,
even in temporal matters, over nations an error

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 189

of the first magnitude, and one that was carried to
such an extreme, that in one of its edicts it pro-
claimed that kings derived their power ami au-
thority from God, and that the people were bound
to believe this with divine faith) denouncing, at
the same time, those philosophers as heretics who
taught the sovereignty of the people. This error,
in the literal sense in which it was meant, must
appear monstrous indeed to every American, in
whose country, blessed of God, the sovereignty
of the people is one of the first principles j to deny
which, would be as absurd as to deny, in mathema-
tics, that the whole is greater than a part. Such are
a few of the errors of the holy inquisition, a tribunal
which is called by one of its writers, " a column
of truth; the guardian of the faith, treasure of the
Christian religion, -light against the deceptions of
the enemy, and touchstone on which the purity
of the doctrine is tried to discover whether it be
true or whether it be false."

The horrid scenes which the autos da fe created
all over the earth, almost stagger belief. In re-
flecting, says Puigblanch, on the cruelty of these
autos, it seems as if I beheld the triumph of the
savages of Canada over some of their prisoner ene-
mies. On one of the latter they brutally satiate
their rage : bound to a pole, they raise him up on
high, tear down his flesh by mouthfuls, cut away
his members one by one, and in the mean time the

190 HISTORY OF THE

victim, without expressing pain, though foaming
with rage, breathing .defiance, and presenting the
spectacle of all the furious passions of the human
soul, provokes and mocks his executioners with
irritating reproaches, urging them to the torture,
while he glories in the triumph of having over-
come them in ferocity. Cases of a similar cha-
racter have really and frequently been witnessed
in the autos of the inquisition. To show that there
is no exaggeration in the picture, read the follow-
ing description from Garau, of what he beheld at
an auto where he officiated as a minister. . It was
at an auto in Majorca, in 1691. Thirty-four cul-
prits were delivered to the flames after being
hanged, and three were burnt alive, as impenitent
Jews. Their names were Raphael Vails, Raphael
Terongi, and Catherine Terongi. " On seeing the
flames near them," says the Jesuit Garau, " they
began to show the greatest fury, struggling to free
themselves from the ring to which they were
bound, which Terongi at length effected, although
he could no longer hold himself upright, and he
fell side-long on the fire. Catherine, as soon as
the flame's began to encircle her, screamed out re-
peatedly for them to withdraw her from thence,
although uniformly persisting not to invoke the
name of Jesus. On the flames touching Vails, he
covered himself, resisted and struggled as long as
he was able : being fat, he took fire in his inside

CATHOLIC INQUISITION. 191

in such a manner that before the flames had en-
twined around him, his flesh burnt like a coal,
and, bursting in the middle, his entrails fell out."
It is now time to draw this melancholy history
to a close, which will be done by a quotation from
Salgado, a converted Spanish priest, who wrote a
short description of that tribunal, entitled, " The
Slaughter-house," in the reign of Charles II. of
England. " The inquisition," says he, " is sub-
ject to no laws, but arbitrarily racks souls, and
murders bodies, of which there are a cloud of wit-
nesses men condemned because the inquisition
would be cruel. What blasphemy in this tribu-
nal, ever to pretend to be actuated by a divine im-
pulse, where every brick seems a conjuring shell,
and every officer a tormenting fiend ! for suppose
we a Jew, a Mahometan, a Christian in their hands,
what do they pretend v to do with such a one ?
Would they chastise him ? What need have they
then of so many officers ? Why such scandalous
methods as a secret chamber, an unseen tribunal,
invisible witnesses, a perfidious secretary, and
merciless servants : confiscation of goods through
fraud and guile, keepers as hard-hearted as the re-
lentless walls, the fiscal mutes, the shameful san
bsnitos, unrighteous racks, a theatre filled with
^orror to astonish the prisoner, a hypocritical sen-
fence, a disguised 'executioner, and a peremptory
judgment ? In all the times of Paganism no such

192 HISTORY, &c.

Roman tribunal was ever erected. In their am-
phitheatres men had not quite put^off -humanity :
those condemned to die were exposed to wild
beasts to be torn in pieces ; they knew their exe-
cutioners ; but here the condemned are tormented
by disguised ones : men they should be by their
shapes, but devils by their fierceness and cruelty."

THE END.

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