SECTION II. Barbarities exercised by the Inquisitions of Spain and Portugal. 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 inquisihe 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 A doctor Cacalla, his brother Francis, and of 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. pennine purity. Resolving to think only of this 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 ather than merchandise, convinced that the mece, were apprehended at Seville for pronches 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, quisitors, he was seized upon, imprisoned I promise you I will procure the discharge some time, and then condemned to be of your mother, sister, cousin, and yourself." burnt 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 evi's, and had a paper mitre put upon his tenets they professed; when the perjured head by way of derision. As he passed by a wretch, instead of acting as he had sworn, wooden cross, one of the priests bade him immediately ordered her to be put to the eel 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." Repwood." 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 ereupon he lifted up his head suddenly; sentence was executed at the next Auto da e priests, thinking he meant to recant, or- Fé. red him to be taken down. Finding, how- The keeper of the castle of Triano, beer, that they were mistaken, and that he longing to the inquisitors of Seville, happenill retained his constancy, he was placed ed to be of a disposition more mild and huin upon the pile, where, as long as he mane than is usual with persons in his situalife and voice remaining, he kept re- tion. He gave all the indulgence he could eating the seventh psalm. 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 wned 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 fels. Becoming, however, convinced of the showing the least traces of that compassion urs of the Romish persuasion, he embraced which ought to glow in the breast of every Protestant faith, left off carving images, human being. With this view they immefor subsistence followed the business of diately threw him into a dismal dungeon, al 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 be would sell, it. Rochus mentioned a as he was, they brought him from prison, at e; 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, r through the city, receive 200 stripes, and proached him with his weakness, and threa 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 A Spanish Roman Catholic, named Julia prevented from doing further mischief, seiz- on travelling into Germany, became a c ed, bound more securely to the ass, and pun-vert to the Protestant religion; and und ished according to his sentence. But so in- took to convey from Germany into his of exorable were the inquisitors, that, for the country a great number of Bibles, conceal rash effects of his madness, four years were in casks, and packed up like Rhenish wi added to his slavery in the galleys. This important commission he succeeded A maid-servant to another jailor belonging so far as to distribute the books. A pretend 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 inquisiti 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 th 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 s 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 u 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 J Leon, travelled to Germany, and from the John Gonsalvo, originally a priest, but who to Geneva, where, hearing that a great n had embraced the reformed religion, was, ber of English Protestants were retur with his mother, brother, and two sisters, to their native country, he, and some n 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 t 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 her with, but coming to these words, "the holy fettered, hand-cuffed, gagged, had their h Catholic church," they were commanded to and necks covered with a kind of iron add the monosyllables "of Rome," which work, and in this miserable condition absolutely refusing, one of the inquisitors were conveyed to Spain, thrown into a said, "Put an end to their lives directly;" geon, almost famished, barbarously tort when the executioners obeyed, and strangled and then burnt. them. A young lady having been put into a vent, absolutely refused to take the and on leaving the cloister she embrace Protestant faith, on which she was a hended and committed to the flames. Four Protestant women were seized upon at Seville, tortured, and afterwards ordered for execution. On the way they began to sing psalms; but the officers thinking that the words of the psalms reflected on them- An eminent physician and philoso selves, put gags into their mouths to make named Christopher Losada, became 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 profe demolished. the tenets of Protestantism. He was a A Protestant schoolmaster, named Ferdi- hended, imprisoned, and racked: but nando, was apprehended by order of the in- severities not making him confess t quisition, for instructing his pupils in the man Catholic church to be the only tru principles of Protestantism; and after being he was sentenced to the fire; which he severely tortured, was committed to the with exemplary patierce, and resigne soul to his Creator. flames. A monk, who had abjured the errors of Arias, a monk of St. Isidore's on popery, was imprisoned at the same time as at Seville, was a man of great abilitie Ferdinando; but through the fear of death, ¡ of a vicious disposition. He sometime 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 sign her first and second confessions. She the circulation of the blood was nearly stopanswered 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 hasti enough to do so again; but depend upon it, ly into his stomach, and the blood rushing if you torture me a hundred times, as soon into its channels, he suffered the most inas I am released from the rack I shall deny credible pain. 2. His thumbs were tied with what was extorted from me by pain." The small cords so hard that the blood gushed inquisitors then ordered her to be racked a from under the nails. 3. He was seated on third time; and, during this last trial, she a bench with his back against a wall, wherebore the torments with the utmost fortitude, in small iron pulleys were fixed. Ropes and could not be persuaded to answer any of being fastened to several parts of his body the questions put to her. As her courage and limbs, were passed through the pulleys, and constancy increased, the inquisitors, in- and being suddenly drawn with great viostead of putting her to death, condemned her lence, his whole frame was forced into a disto a severe whipping through the public torted mass. 4. After having suffered for a streets, 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, Jane Bohorquia, was apprehended on the in- and he was left suspended against the wall. formation of her sister, who had been tortur- 5. A little instrument with five knobs, and ed and burnt for professing the Protestant which went with springs, being placed near religion. Being pregnant, they let her re- his face, he suddenly received five blows on nam tolerably quiet till she was delivered, the cheek, which put him to such pain as when they immediately took away the child, caused him to faint. 6. The executioners and put it to nurse, that it might be brought fastened ropes round his wrists, and then pa Roman Catholic. Soon afterwards this drew them about his body. Placing him on unfortunate lady was ordered to be racked, his back with his feet against the wall, they which was done with such severity, that she pulled with the utmost violence till the cord expired a week after of the wounds and had penetrated to the bone. He suffered the ises. Upon this occasion the inquisitors last torture three times, and then lay seventy fected some remorse, and in one of the days before his wounds were healed. He inted acts of the inquisition, which they was afterwards banished, and in his exile days publish at an Auto da Fé, this young wrote the account of his sufferings, from ty is thus mentioned: "Jane Bohorquia which the foregoing particulars are chiefly found dead in prison; after which, upon extracted. viving the prosecution, the inquisitors dis- A famous writer of Toledo, and a Protest ant, was fond of producing fine specimens Rome, but according to the Protestant of writing and having them framed to adorn church: for the Protestants retain the whole the different apartments of his house. Among of the commandments as they are found in other curious examples of penmanship, was the Bible, but the Papists omit that part of a large piece containing the Lord's prayer, the second commandment which forbids the Creed, and Ten Commandments, in verse. worship of images. The inquisition soon had This piece, which hung in a conspicuous information of the circumstance, and this part of the house, was one day seen by a gentleman was seized, prosecuted, and burnt, person belonging to the inquisition, who ob- only for ornamenting his house with a speciserved that the versification of the command-men of his skill. ments was not according to the church of SECTION III. Trials and Sufferings of Mr. Isaac Martin. In the year 1714, about Lent, Mr. Martin to see his wife and children before he went, arrived at Malaga, with his wife and four but this was denied. Being doubly fettered, children. On the examination of his bag- he was mounted on a mule, and set out togage, his Bible, and some other books, were wards Grenada. By the way, the mule threw seized. He was accused in about three him upon a rocky part of the road, and almonths' time of being a Jew, for these cùri-most broke his back. ous reasons, that his own name was Isaac, On his arrival at Grenada, after a journey and one of his sons was named Abraham. of three days, he was detained at an inn till The accusation was laid in the bishop's it was dark, for they never put any one into court, and he informed the English consul of the inquisition during day-light. At night it, who said it was nothing but the malice of he was taken to the prison, and led along a some of the Irish Papists, whom he advised range of galleries till he arrived at a dunhim always to shun. The clergy sent to Mr. geon. The jailor nailed up a box of books, Martin's neighbors to know their opinion belonging to him, which had been brought concerning him the result of which inquiry from Malaga, saying, they must remain in was this, "We believe him not to be a Jew, that state till the lords of the inquisition but a heretic." After this, being continually chose to inspect them, for prisoners were not pestered by priests, particularly those of the allowed to read books. He also took an inIrish nation, to change his religion, he de-ventory of every thing which Mr. Martin termined to dispose of what he had, and re- had about him, even to his very buttons; and tire from Malaga.. But when his resolution having asked him a great number of frivobecame known, at about nine o'clock at lous questions, he at length gave him these night he heard a knocking at his door. He orders: "You must observe as great silence demanded who was there. The persons here, as if you were dead; you must not without said they wanted to enter. He de- speak, nor whistle, nor sing, nor make any sired they would come again the next morn- noise that can be heard; and if you hear any ing; but they replied, if he would not open body cry, or make a noise, you must be still, the door, they would break it open; which and say nothing, upon pain of 200 lashes." they did. Then about fifteen persons entered, Mr. Martin asked if he might have liberty consisting of a commissioner, with several to walk about the room; the jailor replied priests and familiars, belonging to the inqui- he might, but it must be very softly. After sition. Mr. Martin would fain have gone giving him some wine, bread, and a few wal to the English consul; but they told him nuts, the jailor left him till the morning.the consul had nothing to do in the matter, It was frosty weather, the walls of the dun and then said, "Where are your beads and geon were between two and three feet thick, fire-arms?" To which he answered, "I am the floor was bricked, and a great deal of an English Protestant, and as such carry no wind came through a hole of about a foot in private arms, nor make use of beads." They length, and five inches in breadth, which took away his watch, money, and other things, served as a window. The next morning the carried him to the bishop's prison, and put jailor came to light his lamp, and bade him on him a pair of heavy fetters. His dis-light a fire in order to dress his dinner. He tressed family was, at the same time, turned then took him to a turn, or such a wheel as out of doors till the house was stripped; and is found at the doors of convents, where a when they had taken every thing away, they person on the other side turns the provisions returned the key to his wife. round. He had then given him half a pound About four days after his commitment, of mutton, two pounds of bread, some kidMr. Martin was told he must be sent to ney beans, a bunch of raisins, and a pint of Grenada to be tried: he earnestly begged wine, which was the allowance for three |