SECTION II.

Barbarities exercised by the Inquisitions of Spain and Portugal.

A doctor Cacalla, his brother Francis, and

FRANCIS ROMANES, a native of Spain, was would rather break it to pieces than take employed by the merchants of Antwerp, to such a trifle."-" Break it to pieces!" said transact some business for them at Bremen. the inquisitor; "break it to pieces if you He had been educated in the Romish per- dare!" Rochus, provoked at this expression, suasion, but going one day into a Protestant snatched up a chisel, and cut off the nose of church, he was struck with the truths which the image. This was sufficient; the inquisibe heard, and beginning to perceive the tor went away in a rage, and soon after the errors of popery, he determined to search carver was apprehended. In vain did he farther into the matter. Perusing the sacred plead that what he had defaced was his own scriptures, and the writings of some Pro- property: his fate was decided: he was contestant divines, he perceived how erroneous demned to be burnt, and the sentence was were the principles which he had formerly executed accordingly. embraced; and renounced the impositions popery for the doctrines of the reformed his sister Blanche, were burnt at Valladolid, church, in which religion appeared in all its for having spoken against the inquisitors. genuine purity. Resolving to think only of his eternal salvation, he studied religious HORRID TREACHERY OF AN INQUISITOR. truths more than trade, and purchased books A lady, with her two daughters and her father than merchandise, convinced that the mece, were apprehended at Seville for protiches of the body are trifling to those of the fessing the Protestant religion. They were ul. He therefore resigned his agency to all put to the torture: and when that was the merchants of Antwerp, giving them an over, one of the inquisitors sent for the account at the same time of his conversion; youngest daughter, pretended to sympathize and then resolving, if possible, to convert his with her, and pity her sufferings; then bindparents, he went to Spain for that purpose. ing himself with a solemn oath not to betray But the Antwerp merchants writing to the her, he said, "If you will disclose all to me, nquisitors, he was seized upon, imprisoned I promise you I will procure the discharge br some time, and then. condemned to be of your mother, sister, cousin, and yourself." jarnt as a heretic. He was led to the place Made confident by his oath, and entrapped` execution in a garment painted over with by promises, she revealed the whole of the Jevils, and had a paper mitre, put upon his tenets they professed; when the perjured lead by way of derision. As he passed by a wretch, instead of acting as he had sworn, Fooden cross, one of the priests bade him immediately ordered her to be put to the neel to it; but he absolutely refused so to rack, saying, "Now you have revealed so , saying, "It is not for Christians to wor- much, I will make you reveal more." Rehip wood." Having been placed upon a fusing, however, to say any thing farther, le of wood, the fire quickly reached him, they were all ordered to be burnt, which whereupon he lifted up his head suddenly; sentence was executed at the next Auto da he priests, thinking he meant to recant, or- Fé. ered him to be taken down. Finding, howwer, that they were mistaken, and that he till retained his constancy, he was placed gain upon the pile, where, as long as he ad life and voice remaining, he kept reEating the seventh psalm.

The keeper of the castle of Triano, belonging to the inquisitors of Seville, happened to be of a disposition more mild andˇhumane than is usual with persons in his situation. He gave all the indulgence he could to the prisoners, and showed them every favor in his power, with as much secrecy as CARVER BURNT FOR INJURING AN IMAGE, possible. At length, however, the inquisitors At St. Lucar, in Spain, resided a carver, became acquainted with his kindness, and med Rochus, whose principal business was determined to punish him severely for it, make images of saints and other popish that other jailors might be deterred from dais. Becoming, however, convinced of the showing the least traces of that compassion rors of the Romish persuasion, he embraced which ought to glow in the breast of every he Protestant faith, left off carving images, human being. With this view they immeand for subsistence followed the business of diately threw him into a dismal dungeon, seal engraver only. He had, however, re- and used him with dreadful barbarity, so that ed one image of the Virgin Mary for a he lost his senses. His deplorable situation, ; when an inquisitor passing by, asked however, procured him no favor; for, frantic he would sell it. Rochus mentioned a as he was, they brought him from prison, at ce; the inquisitor objected to it, and offer- an Auto da Fé, to the usual place of punishhalf the money. Rochus replied, "I ment, with a sanbenito (or garment worn by

criminals) on, and a rope about his neck. | he said he was willing to embrace his fo His sentence was then read, and ran thus: mer communion. Ferdinando hearing that he should be placed upon an ass, led this, got an opportunity to speak to him, 1 through the city, receive 200 stripes, and proached him with his weakness, and thre then be condemned for six years to the gal- ened him with eternal perdition; when t leys. This unhappy, frantic wretch, just as monk, sensible of his crime, returned to t they were about to begin his punishment, Protestant faith, and declared to the inqui suddenly sprung from the back of the ass, tors that he solemnly renounced his intend broke the cords that bound him, snatched a recantation. Sentence of death was the sword from one of the guards, and danger- fore passed upon him, and he was burned ously wounded an officer of the inquisition. the same time as Ferdinando. Being overpowered by multitudes, he was prevented from doing further mischief, seized, bound more securely to the ass, and punished according to his sentence. But so inexorable were the inquisitors, that, for the rash effects of his madness, four years were added to his slavery in the galleys.

A Spanish Roman Catholic, named Julia on travelling into Germany, became a c vert to the Protestant religion; and und took to convey from Germany into his o country a great number of Bibles, concea in casks, and packed up like Rhenish w This important commission he succeeded A maid-servant to another jailor belonging so far as to distribute the books. A preten to the inquisition, was accused of humanity, Protestant, however, who had purchased and detected in bidding the prisoners keep of the Bibles, betrayed him, and laid an up their spirits. For these heinous crimes, count of the affair before the inquisit as they were called, she was publicly whip- Juliano was then seized upon, and all me ped, banished her native place for ten years, being used to find out the purchasers of t and had her forehead branded with these Bibles, 800 persons were apprehended. T words: "A favorer and aider of heretics." were all tortured, and most of them Near the same time, John Pontic, a Protest-tenced to various other punishments. ant gentleman, was, principally on account liano was burnt, twenty were roasted of his great estate, apprehended by the in- spits, several imprisoned for life, some quisitors, and charged with heresy. On this licly whipped, many sent to the galleys. charge all his effects were confiscated to the very few indeed acquitted. use of the inquisition, and his body burnt to ashes.

A Protestant tailor of Spain, named Leon, travelled to Germany, and from th John Gonsalvo, originally a priest, but who to Geneva, where, hearing that a great had embraced the reformed religion, was, ber of English Protestants were retur with his mother, brother, and two sisters, to their native country, hc, and some soized upon by the inquisitors. Being con- Spaniards, determined to go with them. demned, they were led to execution, singing Spanish inquisitors being apprized of part of the 106th Psalm. They were or- intentions, sent a number of familiars in dered at the place of execution to say the suit of them, who overtook them at a creed, which they immediately complied port in Zealand. The prisoners were he with, but coming to these words, "the holy fettered, hand-cuffed, gagged, had their Catholic church," they were commanded to and necks covered with a kind of iro add the monosyllables "of Rome," which work, and in this miserable condition absolutely refusing, one of the inquisitors were conveyed to Spain, thrown into said, "Put an end to their lives directly;" geon, almost famished, barbarously tor when the executioners obeyed, and strangled and then burnt. them.

A young lady having been put into Four Protestant women were seized upon vent, absolutely refused to take the at Seville, tortured, and afterwards ordered and on leaving the cloister she embrac for execution. On the way they began to Protestant faith, on which she was sing psalms; but the officers thinking that hended and committed to the flames. the words of the psalms reflected on them- An eminent physician and philos selves, put gags into their mouths to make named Christopher Losada, becan them silent. They were then burnt, and tremely obnoxious to the inquisitors, the houses where they resided ordered to be posing the errors of popery, and pre demolished. the tenets of Protestantism. He was A Protestant schoolmaster, named Ferdi- hended, imprisoned, and racked ba nando, was apprehended by order of the in- severities not making him confess quisition, for instructing his pupils in the principles of Protestantism; and after being severely tortured, was committed to the flames. A monk, who had abjured the errors of Arias, a monk of St. Isidore's mo popery, was imprisoned at the same time as at Seville, was a man of great abilit Ferdinando; but through the fear of death, ¡ of a vicious disposition. He scmetin

man Catholic church to be the only tr he was sentenced to the fire; which t with exemplary patierce, and resig soul to his Creator.

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tended to forsake the errors of the church of covered she was innocent.-Be it therefore Rome, and become a Protestant, and soon known, that no farther prosecutions shall be after turned Roman Catholic. Thus he con- carried on against her; and that her effects, tinued a long time wavering between both which were confiscated, shall be given to the persuasions, till God thought proper to touch heirs at law." One sentence in the above his heart. He now became a true Protest-ridiculous passage wants explanation, viz. ant; and the sincerity of his conversion that no further prosecutions shall be carried being known, he was seized by the officers on against her. This alludes to the absurd of the inquisition, severely tortured, and custom of prosecuting and burning the bones afterwards burnt at an Auto da Fé. of the dead: for when a prisoner dies in the

A young lady, named Maria de Coceicao, inquisition, the process continues the same who resided with her brother at Lisbon, was as if he was living; the bones are deposited taken up by the inquisitors, and ordered to in a chest, and if sentence of guilt is passed, be put to the rack. The torments she felt they are brought out at the next Auto da Fé; made her confess the charges against her. the sentence is read against them with as The cords were then slackened, and she was much solemnity as against a living prisoner, reconducted to her cell, where she remain- and they are committed to the flames. In a ed till she had recovered the use of her similar manner are prosecutions carried on limbs; she was then brought again before against prisoners who escape; and when the tribunal, and ordered to ratify her con- their persons are far beyond the reach of fession. This she absolutely refused to do, the inquisitors, they are burnt in effigy. telling them, that what she had said was Isaac Orobio, a learned physician, having forced from her by the excessive pain she beaten a Moorish servant for stealing, was underwent. The inquisitors, incensed at accused by him of professing Judaism, and this reply, ordered her again to be put to the the inquisitors seized him upon the charge. rack, when the weakness of nature once He was kept three years in prison before he more prevailed, and she repeated her former had the least intimation of what he was to confession. She was immediately remanded undergo, and then suffered the following six to her cell: and being a third time brought modes of torture: 1. A coarse linen coat was before the inquisitors, they ordered her to put upon him, and then drawn so tight that gn her first and second confessions. She the circulation of the blood was nearly stopswered as before, but added, "I have twice ped, and the breath almost pressed out of hi given way to the frailty of the flesh, and body. After this the strings were sudder perhaps may, while on the rack, be weak loosened, when the air forcing its way hast nough to do so again; but depend upon it, ly into his stomach, and the blood rushing you torture me a hundred times, as soon into its channels, he suffered the most inI am released from the rack I shall deny credible pain. 2. His thumbs were tied with at was extorted from me by pain." The small cords so hard that the blood gushed quisitors then ordered her to be racked a from under the nails. 3. He was seated on and time; and, during this last trial, she a bench with his back against a wall, wherere the torments with the utmost fortitude, in small iron pulleys were fixed. Ropes d could not be persuaded to answer any of being fastened to several parts of his body questions put to her. As her courage and limbs, were passed through the pulleys, constancy increased, the inquisitors, in- and being suddenly drawn with great vioof putting her to death, condemned her lence, his whole frame was forced into a dissevere whipping through the public torted mass. 4. After having suffered for a eets, and banishment for ten years. considerable time the pains of the last-menA lady of a noble family in Seville, named tioned position, the seat was snatched away, Bohorquia, was apprehended on the in- and he was left suspended against the wall. ation of her sister, who had been tortur- 5. A little instrument with five knobs, and and burnt for professing the Protestant which went with springs, being placed near gion. Being pregnant, they let her re- his face, he suddenly received five blows on tolerably quiet till she was delivered, the cheek, which put him to such pain as they immediately took away the child, caused him to faint. 6. The executioners pat it to nurse, that it might be brought fastened ropes round his wrists, and then Roman Catholic. Soon afterwards this drew them about his body. Placing him on fortunate lady was ordered to be racked, his back with his feet against the wall, they ich was done with such severity, that she pulled with the utmost violence till the cord a week after of the wounds and had penetrated to the bone. He suffered the Upon this occasion the inquisitors last torture three times, and then lay seventy some remorse, and in one of the days before his wounds were healed. He acts of the inquisition, which they was afterwards banished, and in his exile publish at an Auto da Fé, this young wrote the account of his sufferings, from thus mentioned: "Jane Bohorquia which the foregoing particulars are chiefly found dead in prison; after which, upon extracted.

ng the prosecution, the inquisitors dis- A famous writer of Toledo, and a Protest

edifice. It contains four courts, each about and the examination proceeds; when the forty feet square, round which are about 300 president asks a variety of questions, and dungeons or cells. The dungeons on the the clerk minutes both them and the anground-floor are for the lowest class of pris-swers. oners, and those on the second floor are for When the examination is closed, the bell persons of superior rank. The galleries are is again rung, the jailor appears, and the built of freestone, and hid from view both prisoner is ordered to withdraw, with this within and without by a double wall of about exhortation: "Tax your memory, recollect fifty feet high. So extensive is the whole all the sins you have ever committed, and prison, which contains so many turnings and when you are again brought here, commuwindings, that none but those well acquaint-nicate them to the holy office." The jailors ed with it can find the way through its va- and attendants, when apprized that the pris rious avenues. The apartments of the chief oner has made an ingenuous confession, and inquisitor are spacious and elegant; the en- readily answered every question, make him trance is through a large gate, which leads a low bow, and treat him with an affected into a court-yard, round which are several kindness, as a reward for his candor. chambers, and some large saloons for the He is brought in a few days to a second king, royal family, and the rest of the court, examination, with the same formalities as to stand and observe the executions during before. The inquisitors often deceive prisan Auto da Fé. oners by promising the greatest lenity, and A testoon (sevenpence halfpenny English even to restore their liberty, if they will acmoney) is allowed every prisoner daily; and cuse themselves; the unhappy persons, who the principal jailor, accompanied by two are in their power, frequently fall into this other officers, monthly visits every prisoner snare, and are sacrificed to their own simto inquire how he would have his allowance plicity. Instances have occurred of some, laid out. This visit, however, is only a mat- who, relying on the faith of the judges, have ter of form, for the jailor usually lays out the accused themselves of what they were tomoney as he pleases, and commonly allows tally innocent of, in expectation of obtaining the prisoner daily a porringer of broth, half their liberty; and thus became martyrs to a pound of beef, a small piece of bread, and their own folly. a trifling portion of cheese.

There is another artifice made use of by Sentinels walk about continually to listen; the inquisitors: if a prisoner has too much if the least noise is heard, they call to, and resolution to accuse himself, and too much threaten, the prisoner; if the noise is re-sense to be ensnared by their sophistry, they peated, a severe beating ensues. The fol- proceed thus: a copy of an indictment against lowing is a fact: a prisoner having a violent the prisoner is given him, in which, among cough, one of the guards came and ordered many trivial accusations, he is charged with him not to make a noise; to which he re- the most enormous crimes, of which human plied that it was not in his power to forbear. nature is capable. This rouses his temper, The cough increasing, the guard went into and he exclaims against such falsehoods. He the cell, stripped the poor creature naked, is then asked which of the crimes he can and beat him so unmercifully that he soon deny. He naturally mentions the most atroafter died. cious, and begins to express his abhorrence Sometimes a prisoner passes months with- of them, when the indictment being snatched out knowing of what he is accused, or hav-out of his hand, the president says, "By ing the least idea of when he is to be tried. your denying only those crimes which you The jailor at length informs him, that he mention, you implicitly confess the rest, and must petition for a trial. This ceremony we shall therefore proceed accordingly." being gone through, he is taken for exami- Sometimes they make a ridiculous affectanation. When they come to the door of the tion of equity, by pretending that the pris tribunal, the jailor knocks three times, to oner may be indulged with a counsellor, if give the judges notice of their approach. A he chooses to demand one. Such a request bell is rung by one of the judges, when an is sometimes made, and a counsellor apattendant opens the door, admits the prison- pointed; but upon these occasions, as the er, and seats him on a stool. trial itself is a mockery of justice, so the

The prisoner is then ordered by the presi- counsellor is a mere cipher: for he is not dent to kneel down, and lay his right hand permitted to say any thing that might offend upon a book, which is presented to him close the inquisition, or to advance a syllable that shut. This being complied with, the follow- might benefit the prisoner.

ing question is put to him: "Will you prom- Though the inquisitors allow the torture ise to conceal the secrets of the holy office, to be used only three times, yet at those three and to speak the truth?" Should he answer it is so severely inflicted, that the prisoner in the negative, he is remanded to his cell, either dies under it, or continues always after and cruelly treated. If he answer in the a cripple. The following is a description of affirmative, he is ordered to be again seated, the severe torments occasioned by the tor