possibly publish something more on that subject, and that it could not be expected that I should pass over the Inquisition without notice, knowing what I did of its proceedings; at the same time, I should not wish to state a single fact without his authority, or, at least, his admission of its truth. I added, that he himself had been pleased to communicate with me very fully on the subject, and that in all our discussions we had both been actuated, I hoped, by a good purpose. The countenance of the Inquisitor evidently altered on receiving this intimation, nor did it ever after wholly regain its wonted frankness and placidity. After some hesitation, however, he said he would take me to the Inquisition the next day. I was a good deal surprised at the acquiescence of the Inquisitor, but I did not know what was in his mind.”

"Next morning, after breakfast, my host went to dress for the Holy Office, and soon returned in his inquisitorial robes.He said he would go with me half an hour before the usual time, for the purpose of shewing me the Inquisition. On our arrival at the place, the Inquisitor said to me, as we were ascending the steps of the outer stair, that he hoped I should be satisfied with a transient view of the Inquisition, and that I would retire whenever he should desire it. I took this as a good omen, and followed my conductor with tolerable confidence.

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

"From the Inquisition I went to the place of burning in the Campo Santo Lazaro, on the river side, where the victims were brought to the stake at the Auto da Fè. It is close to the palace, that the viceroy and his court may witness the execution; for it has ever been the policy of the Inquisition to make these spiritual executions appear to be the executions of the state. An old priest accompanied me, who pointed out the place and described the scene. As I passed over this melancholy plain, I thought on the difference between the pure and benign doctrine, which was first preached to India in the apostolic age, and that bloody code, which after a long night of darkness, was announced to it under the same name! And I pondered on the mysterious dispensation, which permitted the ministers of the inquisition,

with their racks and flames, to visit those lands before the heralds of the gospel of peace. But the most painful reflection was, that this tribunal should yet exist, unawed by the vicinity of British humanity and dominion. I was not satisfied with what I had seen or said at the Inquisition, and I determined to go back again. The Inquisitors were now sitting on the tribunal, and I had some excuse for returning; for I was to receive from the chief Inquisitors a letter, which he said he would give me, before I left the place, for the British resident in Travancore, being an answer to a letter from that officer.

"When I arrived at the Inquisition, and had ascended the outer stairs, the door-keepers surveyed me doubtingly, but suffered me to pass, supposing that I had returned by permission and appointment of the Inquisitor. I entered the great hall, and went up directly to the tribunal of the Inquisition, described by Dellon, in which is the lofty crucifix. I sat down on a form and wrote some notes; and then desired one of the attendants to carry in my name to the Inquisitor. As I walked up the hall, saw a poor woman, sitting by herself on a bench by the wall, apparently in a disconsolate state of mind. She clapped her hands as we passed, and gave me a look expressive of her distress. This chilled my spirits. The familiars told me, she was waiting there to be called up before the tribunal of the Inquisition. While I was asking questions concerning her crime, the second Inquisitor came out in evident trepidation, and was about to complain of the intrusion; when I informed him I had come back for the letter from the chief Inquisitor. He said it should be sent after me to Goa ; and he conducted me with a quick step, towards the door. As we passed the poor woman, I pointed to her, and said 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 leave of Josephus a Doloribus, without uttering a word."

Thus ends Dr. B-n's account, in his "Christian Researches," of the Inquisition at Goa; an account sufficient to excite in all who have any respect for religion, or the feelings of humanity, an abhorrence of popish domination. That a few pious individuals are found among the papists, neither is, nor can be any argument in favour of popery. Its adherents in general still maintain its most obnoxious tenets; namely, that salvation is impossible out of their church; that heretics ought to be put to death and that faith is not to be kept with heretics. Though when protestants were in their power, they proved themselves unacquainted with either justice or mercy; the mild spirit of protestantism forbids their being persecuted : but prudence, and

the principle of self-preservation, should prevent all protestant states from intrusting them with political power. Let the fate of the slaughtered myriads, whose souls under the altar cry for vengeance on mystic Babylon, warn protestants against putting their lives or liberties in the power of men, whose principles lead them to dignify with the appellation, "Holy office," the bloody tribuna! of an Inquisition.

ROMAN CATHOLIC INQUISITION IN SPAIN.

An account of the sufferings of Mr. John Coustos, a Free-mason, who was tortured in one of their dungeons, with a view to extort from him the secrets of Free-masonry.

[From Coustos' Narrative.]

John Coustos, the subject of the following narrative, after having endured the appalling routine of an Inquisitorial examination, remarked, "I now wait, with all possible resignation, for what ever you shall think proper to decree; but still hope, from your equity and justice, that you will not pass sentence upon me, as though I was guilty of the crimes mentioned in the indictment, upon the vain pretence, that inviolable secrecy can be observed in such things only as are of a criminal na ture."

I was remanded back to my usual scene of woe, without be ing able to imagine what impression my defence might have made on my judges. A few days after I was brought before his eminence Cardinal da Cunha, Inquisitor and director general of all the Inquisitions dependent on the Portuguese monarchy.

The president, directing himself to me, declared, that the holy tribunal was assembled, purposely to hear and determine my cause that I therefore should examine my own mind; and see whether I had no other arguments to offer in my justification. I replied, "that I had none; but relied wholly on their rectitude and equity." Having spoke these words, they sent me back to my sad abode, and judged me among themselves.

Some time after, the president sent for me again; when being brought before him, he ordered a paper, containing part of my sentence, to be read. I thereby was doomed to suffer the tor tures employed by the holy office, for refusing to tell the truth, as they falsely affirmed, for not discovering the secrets of masonry, with the true tendency and purpose of the meetings of

the brethren.

I hereupon was instantly conveyed to the torture-room, built in form of a square tower, where no light appeared, but what two candles gave and to prevent the dreadful cries and shocking groans of the unhappy victims from reaching the ears of the other prisoners, the doors are lined with a sort of quilt.

The reader will naturally suppose that I must be seized with horror, when, at my entering this infernal place, I saw myself, on a sudden, surrounded by six wretches, who' after preparing the tortures, stripped me naked, (all to linen drawers,) when, laying me on my back, they began to lay hold of every part of my body. First, they put round my neck an iron collar, which was fastened to the scaffold; they then fixed a ring to each foot; and this being done, they stretched my limbs with all their might. They next wound two ropes round each arm, and two round each thigh, which ropes passed under the scaffold, through holes made for that purpose, and were all drawn tight at the same time, by four men, upon a signal made for this purpose.

The reader will believe that my pains must be intolerable, when I solemnly declare, that these ropes, which were of the size of one's little finger, pierced through my flesh quite to the bone; making the blood gush out at the eight different places that were thus bound. As I persisted in refusing to discover any more than what has been seen in the interrogatories above; the ropes were thus drawn together four different times. At my side stood a physician and a surgeon, who often felt my temples, to judge of the danger I might be in; by which means my tortures were suspended, at intervals, that I might have an opportunity of recovering myself a little.

Whilst I was thus suffering, they were so barbarously unjust as to declare, that, were I to die under the torture, I should be guilty, by my obstinacy, of self-murder. In fine, the last time the ropes were drawr tight, I grew so exceedingly weak, occasioned by the blood's circulation being stopped, and the pains I endured, that I fainted quite away; insomuch that I was carried back to my dungeon without perceiving it.

These barbarians finding that the tortures above described could not extort any further discovery from me; but that, the more they made me suffer, the more fervently I addressed my supplications, for patience to heaven; they were so inhuman six weeks after, as to expose me to another kind of torture, more grievous, if possible, than the former. They made me stretch my arms in such a manner, that the palms of my hands were turned outward; when by the help of a rope that fastened them together at the wrist, and which they turned by an engine; they drew them gently nearer to one another behind, in such a manner that the back of each hand touched, and stood exactly par