sacrifice, under pretence that it was in honour of the blessed Jesus, and his religion, the gospel of peace. Previous to this bloody solemnity, a scaffold fifty feet in length, was erected in the great square, and raised to the same size in height, with a balcony upon it, for the king and royal family to sit in. At the end, and along the whole breadth of this scaffold, at the right hand of the king's balcony, an amphitheatre was raised, to which they ascended by twenty-five or thirty steps, and this was appointed for the council of the inquisition. Above these steps, and under a canopy, the great inquisitor's rostrum was placed, and at the left hand side of the scaffold and balcony, a second amphitheatre was erected of the same extent with the former, for the criminals to stand on.

In the middle of the great scaffold, another very small one was built in an oblong form, which supported two little boxes made like cages, and open at the top, and in these the prisoners were to be placed while sentence of death was pronounced upon them. Three pulpits were also erected on the great scaffold, two whereof were for the use of those who read the sentence, and the third for the preacher, and lastly, an altar was erected not far from the altar where the several counsellors sat. The seats on which their Catholic majesties sat, were ranged in such a manner that the queen was at the king's left hand, and at the right of the queen mother. The rest of the whole length of the balcony on each side, was filled with the ladies of honour of both queens: balconies were likewise erected for the foreign ambassadors, the lords and ladies of the court, and scaffolds for the people.

A month after proclamation had been made of the act of faith, the ceremony opened with a procession in the following order. The march was preceded by an hundred coal merchants, all armed with pikes and muskets, and this was considered as binding on these people, because they furnished the wood and coals with which the criminals were to be burnt.They were followed by Dominican friars, before whom a white cross was carried Behind them came the duke of Mendini-Celi, carrying the standard of the inquisition, a privilege hereditary in his family. The standard was of red damask, on one side of which was represented a drawn sword in a crown of laurels, and the armns of Spain on the other. Afterwards was brought forward, a green cross, covered with black crape, which was followed by several grandees and other persons of quality, familiars of the inquisition, with cloaks, marked with white and black crosses, edged with gold wire. The march was closed by fifty halbardiers or guards, belonging to the inquisition, clothed with black and white garments, and commanded by the Marquis

of Pouar, hereditary protector of the inquisition in the province of Toledo.

The procession having marched in this order before the palace, proceeded to the square, when the standard and the green cross were placed on the scaffold, where none but the Dominicans remained, the rest having retired. These Dominican friars had spent the preceding night in singing psalms, and several masses were celebrated on the altar from day break till six in the morning. About an hour after, the king, queen, queen-mother, with all the royal family, the lords of the bed chamber, the officers at court, and ladies, made their appearance. At eight o'clock, the procession began in the same manner as the day before, preceded by the company of coal-merchants, who placed themselves on the left of the king's balcony, his guards standing on the right. Afterwards came thirty men, carrying images of pasteboard as big as life, some of which represented those who had died in prison, and whose bones were brought in trunks, with flames painted round them, and the rest represented those who had made their escape, and were outlawed.

These figures were placed at one end of the amphitheatre, and then came twelve men and women with ropes about their necks, torches in their hands, and pasteboard caps on their heads, three feet high, on which were written their crimes. These were followed by fifty others, having also torches in their hands, and clothed with yellow great coats, on which were crosses of St. Andrew X, behind and before. These were Jews who had repented of their crimes, and desired to be admitted into the church as believers in Jesus Christ. Next came twenty Jews of both sexes, who had relapsed thrice into their former errors, and were condemned to the flames. Those who had given some token of repentance, were to be strangled before they were burnt; but the rest, for having persisted in their errors, were to be burnt alive. These last wore linen garments, with devils and flames painted on them, and caps after the same manner. Five or six among them, who were more obstinate than the rest, were gagged, to prevent their uttering what the Roman Catholics call blasphemous tenets.

Such as were condemned to die, were surrounded each by four Dominicans, and two familiars of the inquisition. These unhappy creatures passed in the manner above related, under the king of Spain's balcony, and after having walked round the scaffold, were placed in the amphitheatre that stood on the left, and each of them surrounded by the monks and familiars who had attended them. Some of the grandees of Spain were among these familiars, and they, consistent with their usual national pride seated themselves on high benches erected for the purpose.

The clergy of St. Martain's parish coming forward, placed themselves near the altar, the officers of the supreme council of the inquisition, the inquisitor, and several other persons of distinction, both regulars and seculars, all on horseback, with great solemnity arrived afterwards, and placed themselves on the right hand of the amphitheatre, and on both sides of the rostrum which the grand inquisitor was to seat himself. The grand inquisitor came last, dressed in a purple babit, accompanied by the president of the council of Castile, and several other officers, who, on this occasion, would have been reckoned among the number of heretics, had they not become more than the obsequious slaves of the priest.

Then they began to celebrate mass, in the midst of which, the priest who officiated went down from the altar and seated himself in a chair which had been placed for him. The grand inquisitor came down from his seat, and having saluted the altar, and put the mitre on his head, he advanced towards the king's balcony. There he went up the steps that stood at the end of the balcony, with several officers who carried the cross and gospels, and a book containing the oath by which the kings of Spain oblige themselves to protect the Catholic faith, to extirpate heretics, and to support the holy inquisition to the utmost of their power.

The king standing up bare-headed, having on one side of him a grandee of Spain, holding the royal sword with the point upwards, swore to observe the oath which a counsellor of the inquisition had just read to him. The king continued in this posture till such time as the grand inquisitor was returned back to his seat, where he took off his pontifical vestments. Then one of the secretaries of the inquisition ascended a pulpit appointed for that purpose, and read an oath to the same purport, which he administered to all the grandees who were then present; and this part of the ceremony was followed by that of a Dominican going up into the pulpit, and delivering a sermon full of flattery in praise of the inquisition.

About two o'clock in the afternoon they began to read the sentences of the condemned criminals, and they began with those who had died in prison, or who had been outlawed. Their figures in pasteboard were carried up to the little scaffold, and put into the cages; and then they read the sentences to each of the criminals who were alive, and they were one by one put into the cages, in order that every person present might know them. There were in all twenty persons of both sexes condemned to the flames, and of these, six men and two women could not be prevailed upon either to confess or repent of their errors. A young woman was remanded to prison because she had always made the strongest protestations of her innocence, and therefore they

thought it would be proper to re-examine the evidence that had been produced against her. Lastly, they read the sentences of those who bad been found guilty of bigamy or witchcraft, with several other crimes, and this lasted till about nine in the evening, when mass was finished.

Mass being finished, the grand inquisitor, clothed in his pontifical vestments, pronounced a solemn absolution on all those who would repent; and then the king being withdrawn, the criminals who had been condemned to be burnt, were delivered over to the civil power, and being mounted upon asses, were carried in this manner through the gate called Foncural. About three hundred paces from it they were chained to stakes, and executed a little after midnight. Those who persisted in their errors were burnt alive, but such as repented were first strangled before the fire was lighted. Those condemned to less punishments were remanded to prison, and the inquisitors returned home to their palace.

Besides these public executions of those whom they call heretics, they have also many private ones, and these are generally in the last week of lent, for it is a maxim among the Roman Catholics that they cannot give better proofs of their penitence than by persecuting heretics. On such occasions all the magistrates are obliged to attend; for it may be justly said, that in Roman Catholic countries the priests trample upon the rights of the people, civil or sacred.

It is a fixed maxim in the inquisition, that no regard is to be paid to the characters of men, let them be ever so exalted in rank, or spotless in their reputation. We have already seen how they treated Dominis, an archbishop, and the most learned man of his age; but the inquisition of Castile went still further, for it attempted to arraign the memory of the emperor Charles V. and to condemn his last will and testament to the flames, as heretical, together with all those who had the greatest share in his confidence and favour.

As this is a most astonishing incident, the reader will undoubtedly be very well pleased to have it at full length; for which reason we shall give it from the most undoubted authority, and such as neverhath yet been contradicted. The emperor Charles V. resigned the kingdom of Spain in favour of his son Philip II. and retired to spend the remainder of his days in a monastery. As many of the German princes, subject to him, were Protestants, he continued to correspond with them till his death, and some of their letters to him having been discovered by the Dominicans, they gave it out that his motives for retiring to a convent were, that he might have an opportunity of enjoying his own private opinions. It was said, that he could not forgive himself for the ill treatment of those brave princes whom he had conquered. Their virtues, which so eminently shone

in their distress, tarnished all his laurels, and insensibly engaged him to have some esteem for these tenets. This esteem manifested itself by the choice he made of persons suspected of heresy, for his spiritual guides. After his death, the cell in the abbey of St. Justus, where he died, was found bung round with papers, written with his own hand, upon the subjects of justification and grace; and in terms that differed but very little from the notions of Protestants.

But nothing supported the notions the monks had formed against him, so much as his last will. He left but very few pious legacies, or foundations for masses, and the whole purport differed so widely from those made by zealous Catholics, that they inquisition considered it as subject to censure. However, they were obliged to conceal their intentions, till the arrival of Philip II. his son, because they did not know his natural disposition, nor with what spirit he might be actuated. But Philip, upon his arrival in Spain, having ordered all those to be put to death who favoured the new opinions, the inquisitors became so bold, that they openly accused his father's confessors of heresy: among whom was the archbishop of Toledo, the primate and metropolitan of Spain. The king having suffered all his father's confessors to be thrown into prison, the bigotted Spaniards looked upon it as a high mark of his zeal for the Christian faith; whereas the inhabitants of other nations looked upon it with horror. Who could have imagined, that a few Dominican monks, dignified with the title of Lords of the Inquisition, would have presumed to condemn to the flames the archbishop of Toledo, the bishop of Dresse, and Dr. Caculla, at that time three of the most learned men in Spain. But they did so, and although Philip was a most relentless bigot, yet he had that much honour left in him, that he would not suffer those men to be burnt alive, who had been long connected with his father in the most intimate manner.

Hitherto we have only treated of the punishment of heretics in Spain, we shall now proceed to the account of this horrid tribunal in Portual. At the time of the establishment of the Inquisition, Spain and Portugal were so nearly connected, that frequently they formed but one kingdom. However, in 1557, while the two nations were disunited, a Dominican friar went to Portugal, where he produced a bull, which he pretended to have received from the pope, authorizing him to establish the inquisition. Whether this bull was forged, or whether he-received it from the pope, cannot be certainly known; but be that as it may, John III. at that time king of Partugal, ordered the friar to be condemned to the galleys for life.

This, however, did not hinder the inquisitors from carrying on their designs; for such is the inflexible severity of the Roman Catholics, that nothing can

set bounds to their malice against those whom they call heretics. The king of Portugal, however, procured privately from Rome, a brief, containing a free pardon for all those who had been accused of Judaism, or any other crimes of which the inquisition took notice; and in consequence thereof, the prison doors were set open, and all those confined in them, restored to their former liberty. This was rather galling to the inquisitors, but they were obliged to submit, and dissemble their resentment till a more favourable opportunity offered.

The duke of Braganza being raised to the throne of Portugal, under the title of John IV. would undoubtedly have abolished the inquisition in his dominions, had his reign been long and peaceable.That judicious prince was sensible of the many abuses committed by the inquisitors, who were all sworn to secrecy; and he was no stranger to the characters of many who sat as judges in that tribunal. Pride and avarice were their ruling motives, and under the stale pretence of promoting piety, they trampled upon civil right, and murdered their fellow creatures.

This prince issued a proclamation, ordering, that all such persons as should be convicted of heresy, should be referred to the civil power for judgment, and that their goods should not be seized on by the inquisitors, as had been formerly the practice. This declaration astonished and alarmed the inquisitors, because it tended towards taking from them the greatest part of their emoluments. This made them have recourse to every expedient, in order to set things upon their former footing; and they played their tricks so well, that they at last obtained a brief from the pope, unknown to the king, by which his holiness ordained, that all forfeitures should be paid into the inquisition in the same manner as they were before the king's declaration; and all those who refused to comply, were to be excommunicated. The inquisitors having prevailed thus far, waited in a body upon the king, just as he was returning from paschal communion, when one of them, in the name of the rest, besought him to give them leave to read the bull they had received from his holiness, and they desired further, that it might be read publicly in the hearing of the whole court.

The king having listened to them with the greatest attention, after a few minutes pause, asked them who was to enjoy the profits arising from the fines imposed upon heretics? They answered, "The king himself was to enjoy them." Since it is so (replied the king), there can be no manner of doubt but I have a right to dispose of my own in what manner I please; I shall therefore order, that all sorts of goods seized from those persons called heretics, be immediately restored to their nearest relations."

It is not much to be wondered, that the inquisitors