Chapter 17

W. See note [W] at the end of the volume.

245. Vol. I. lib. 23. Ed. Buck.

246. Dr. Geddes tells us of one in the inquisition at Lisbon, who was allowed no more than three vintems a day; a vintem is about an English penny farthing.

247. P. 119.

248. P. 121.

249. P. 104.

250. Cap. 19, 20, 21.

251. Inquis. Goan. cap. 13.

252. Inquis. Goan. cap. 18.

253. Gonsalv. p. 125.

254. Inquis. Goan. c. 12.

255. P. 111, &c.

256. P. 114.

257. P. 108.

258. An officer that executes the orders of the inquisition.

259. P. 191.

260. P. 82, &c.

261. Gonsalv. p. 181.

262. Gonsalv. p. 65, 66.

263. C. 23.

264. P. 19.

265. These two methods of punishment seem to be taken from the two different forms of the antient Eculeus.

266. Gonsalv. p. 76, 77.

267. P. 73.

268. P. 192.

269. P. 195.

270. P. 196.

271. P. 204.

272. C. 38.

273. Dr. Geddes gives us the following account of this procession in Portugal, p. 442. “In the morning of the day the prisoners are all brought into a great hall, where they have the habits put on they are to wear in the procession, which begins to come out of the inquisition about nine o’clock in the morning.“The first in the procession are the Dominicans, who carry the standard of the inquisition, which on the one side hath their founder, Dominick’s picture, and on the other side the cross, betwixt an olive-tree and a sword, with this motto, “Justitia & Miserecordia.” Next after the Dominicans come the penitents; some with Benitoes, and some without, according to the nature of their crimes. They are all in black coats without sleeves, and bare-footed, with a wax-candle in their hands. Next come the penitents who have narrowly escaped being burnt, who over their black coat have flames painted, with their points turned downwards, to signify their having been saved, but so as by fire. Next come the negative and relapsed, that are to be burnt, with flames upon their habit, pointing upward; and next come those who profess doctrines contrary to the faith of the Roman church, and who, besides flames on their habit pointing upward, have their picture, which is drawn two or three days before upon their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all with open mouths painted about it.“Pegna, a famous Spanish inquisitor, calls this procession, ‘Horrendum ac tremendum Spectaculum,’ and so it is in truth, there being something in the looks of all the prisoners, besides those that are to be burnt, that is ghastly and disconsolate, beyond what can be imagined; and in the eyes and countenances of those that are to be burnt, there is something that looks fierce and eager.“The prisoners that are to be burnt alive, besides a Familiar, which all the rest have, have a Jesuit on each hand of them, who are continually preaching to them to abjure their heresies; but if they offer to speak any thing, in defence of the doctrines they are going to suffer death for professing, they are immediately gagged, and not suffered to speak a word more.“This I saw done to a prisoner, 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 created it?’ After the prisoners comes a troop of familiars on horseback, and after them the inquisitors and other officers of the court upon mules; and last of all comes the inquisitor general upon a white horse, led by two men, with a black hat, and a green hatband, and attended by all the nobles, that are not employed as familiars in the procession.“In the Terreiro de Paco, which may be as far from the inquisition as Whitehall is from Temple-bar, there is a scaffold erected, which may hold two or three thousand people; at the one end sit the inquisitors, and at the other end the prisoners, and in the same order as they walked in the procession; those that are to be burnt being seated on the highest benches behind the rest, which may be ten feet above the floor of the scaffold.”

“The first in the procession are the Dominicans, who carry the standard of the inquisition, which on the one side hath their founder, Dominick’s picture, and on the other side the cross, betwixt an olive-tree and a sword, with this motto, “Justitia & Miserecordia.” Next after the Dominicans come the penitents; some with Benitoes, and some without, according to the nature of their crimes. They are all in black coats without sleeves, and bare-footed, with a wax-candle in their hands. Next come the penitents who have narrowly escaped being burnt, who over their black coat have flames painted, with their points turned downwards, to signify their having been saved, but so as by fire. Next come the negative and relapsed, that are to be burnt, with flames upon their habit, pointing upward; and next come those who profess doctrines contrary to the faith of the Roman church, and who, besides flames on their habit pointing upward, have their picture, which is drawn two or three days before upon their breasts, with dogs, serpents, and devils, all with open mouths painted about it.

“Pegna, a famous Spanish inquisitor, calls this procession, ‘Horrendum ac tremendum Spectaculum,’ and so it is in truth, there being something in the looks of all the prisoners, besides those that are to be burnt, that is ghastly and disconsolate, beyond what can be imagined; and in the eyes and countenances of those that are to be burnt, there is something that looks fierce and eager.

“The prisoners that are to be burnt alive, besides a Familiar, which all the rest have, have a Jesuit on each hand of them, who are continually preaching to them to abjure their heresies; but if they offer to speak any thing, in defence of the doctrines they are going to suffer death for professing, they are immediately gagged, and not suffered to speak a word more.

“This I saw done to a prisoner, 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 created it?’ After the prisoners comes a troop of familiars on horseback, and after them the inquisitors and other officers of the court upon mules; and last of all comes the inquisitor general upon a white horse, led by two men, with a black hat, and a green hatband, and attended by all the nobles, that are not employed as familiars in the procession.

“In the Terreiro de Paco, which may be as far from the inquisition as Whitehall is from Temple-bar, there is a scaffold erected, which may hold two or three thousand people; at the one end sit the inquisitors, and at the other end the prisoners, and in the same order as they walked in the procession; those that are to be burnt being seated on the highest benches behind the rest, which may be ten feet above the floor of the scaffold.”

274.Verse.Lord save thy men servants, and thine handmaids.Resp.Those, O my God, who trust in thee.Verse.The Lord be with you.Resp.And with thy spirit.Let us pray.Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to these thy men servants, and thine handmaids, the worthy fruit of penance; that they may be rendered innocent in the sight of thy holy church, from the integrity of which they have strayed through sin, by obtaining the pardon of their sins, through Christ our Lord.Amen.

274.

Verse.Lord save thy men servants, and thine handmaids.Resp.Those, O my God, who trust in thee.Verse.The Lord be with you.Resp.And with thy spirit.

Verse.Lord save thy men servants, and thine handmaids.

Resp.Those, O my God, who trust in thee.

Verse.The Lord be with you.

Resp.And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, to these thy men servants, and thine handmaids, the worthy fruit of penance; that they may be rendered innocent in the sight of thy holy church, from the integrity of which they have strayed through sin, by obtaining the pardon of their sins, through Christ our Lord.Amen.

275. Fol. 149.

276. L. 2. t. 3. c. 11.

277. I cannot here avoid giving my reader a more particular account of this execution from Dr. Geddes, who himself was once present at it. His words are these: “The prisoners are no sooner in the hands of the civil magistrate, than they are loaded with chains, before the eyes of the inquisitors; and being carried first to the secular jail, are, within an hour or two, brought from thence, before the lord chief justice, who without knowing any thing of their particular crimes, or of the evidence that was against them, asks them, one by one, in what religion they do intend to die? If they answer, that they will die in the communion of the Church of Rome, they are condemned by him, to be carried forthwith to the place of execution, and there to be first strangled, and afterwards burnt to ashes. But if they say, they will die in the Protestant, or in any other faith that is contrary to the Roman, they are then sentenced by him, to be carried forthwith to the place of execution, and there to be burnt alive.“At the place of execution, which at Lisbon is the Ribera, there are so many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with a good quantity of dry furze about them. The stakes of the professed, as the inquisitors call them, may be about four yards high, and have a small board, whereon the prisoner is to be seated, within half a yard of the top. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed go up a ladder, betwixt the two jesuits, which have attended them all day; and when they are come even with the forementioned board, they turn about to the people, and the jesuits spend near a quarter of an hour in exhorting the professed to be reconciled to the Church of Rome; which, if they refuse to be, the jesuits come down, and the executioner ascends, and having turned the professed off the ladder upon the seat, and chained their bodies close to the stake, he leaves them; and the jesuits go up to them a second time, to renew their exhortation to them, and at parting tell them, that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their souls, and carry them with him into the flames of hell-fire, so soon as they are out of their bodies. Upon this a great shout is raised, and as soon as the jesuits are off the ladders, the cry is, ‘Let the dogs beards, let the dogs beards be made;’ which is done by thrusting flaming furzes, fastened to a long pole, against their faces. And this inhumanity is commonly continued until their faces are burnt to a coal, and is always accompanied with such loud acclamations of joy, as are not to be heard upon any other occasion; a bull feast, or a farce, being dull entertainments, to the using a professed heretic thus inhumanly.“The professed beards having been thus made, or trimmed, as they call it in jollity, fire is set to the furze, which are at the bottom of the stake, and above which the professed are chained so high, that the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat they sit on; and if there happens to be a wind, to which that place is much exposed, it seldom reaches so high as their knees: so that though, if there be a calm, the professed are commonly dead in about half an hour after the furze is set on fire; yet, if the weather prove windy, they are not after that dead in an hour and a half, or two hours, and so are really roasted, and not burnt to death. But though, out of hell, there cannot possibly be a more lamentable spectacle than this, being joined with the sufferers (so long as they are able to speak) crying out, ‘Miserecordia por amor de Dios, Mercy for the love of God;’ yet it is beheld by people of both sexes, and all ages, with such transports of joy and satisfaction, as are not on any other occasion to be met with.” Dr. Gedde’s Tracts, vol. I. p. 447, &c. Thus far Dr. Geddes.When Mr. Wilcox, afterwards the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Rochester, was minister to the English factory at Lisbon, he sent the following letter to the then Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, dated at Lisbon, Jan. 15, 1706, N. S. which I publish by his lordship’s allowance and approbation, and which abundantly confirms the foregoing account.“My Lord,“In obedience to your lordship’s commands, of the 10th ult. I have here sent all that was printed concerning the last Auto de Fe. I saw the whole process, which was agreeable to what is published by Limborch and others upon that subject. Of the five persons condemned, there were but four burnt; Antonio Tavanes, by an unusual reprieve, being saved after the procession. Heytor Dias, and Maria Pinteyra, were burnt alive, and the other two first strangled. The execution was very cruel. The woman was alive in the flames half an hour, and the man above an hour. The present king and his brothers were seated at a window so near, as to be addressed to a considerable time, in very moving terms, by the man as he was burning. But though the favour he begged was only a few more faggots, yet he was not able to obtain it. Those which are burnt alive here, are seated on a bench twelve feet high, fastened to a pole, and above six feet higher than the faggots. The wind being a little fresh, the man’s hinder parts were perfectly wasted; and as he turned himself, his ribs opened before he left speaking, the fire being recruited as it wasted, to keep him just in the same degree of heat. But all his entreaties could not procure him a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery and dispatch him.” Thus far the Letter.How diabolical a religion must that be, which thus divests men of all the sentiments of humanity and compassion, and hardens them against all the miseries and sufferings of their fellow creatures! For as Dr. Geddes observes,ibid.p. 450, “That the reader may not think that this inhuman joy is the effect of a natural cruelty that is in these peoples disposition, and not of the spirit of their religion, he may rest assured, that all public malefactors besides heretics, have their violent deaths no where more tenderly lamented than amongst the same people, and even when there is nothing in the manner of their deaths that appears inhuman or cruel.”

“At the place of execution, which at Lisbon is the Ribera, there are so many stakes set up as there are prisoners to be burnt, with a good quantity of dry furze about them. The stakes of the professed, as the inquisitors call them, may be about four yards high, and have a small board, whereon the prisoner is to be seated, within half a yard of the top. The negative and relapsed being first strangled and burnt, the professed go up a ladder, betwixt the two jesuits, which have attended them all day; and when they are come even with the forementioned board, they turn about to the people, and the jesuits spend near a quarter of an hour in exhorting the professed to be reconciled to the Church of Rome; which, if they refuse to be, the jesuits come down, and the executioner ascends, and having turned the professed off the ladder upon the seat, and chained their bodies close to the stake, he leaves them; and the jesuits go up to them a second time, to renew their exhortation to them, and at parting tell them, that they leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow to receive their souls, and carry them with him into the flames of hell-fire, so soon as they are out of their bodies. Upon this a great shout is raised, and as soon as the jesuits are off the ladders, the cry is, ‘Let the dogs beards, let the dogs beards be made;’ which is done by thrusting flaming furzes, fastened to a long pole, against their faces. And this inhumanity is commonly continued until their faces are burnt to a coal, and is always accompanied with such loud acclamations of joy, as are not to be heard upon any other occasion; a bull feast, or a farce, being dull entertainments, to the using a professed heretic thus inhumanly.

“The professed beards having been thus made, or trimmed, as they call it in jollity, fire is set to the furze, which are at the bottom of the stake, and above which the professed are chained so high, that the top of the flame seldom reaches higher than the seat they sit on; and if there happens to be a wind, to which that place is much exposed, it seldom reaches so high as their knees: so that though, if there be a calm, the professed are commonly dead in about half an hour after the furze is set on fire; yet, if the weather prove windy, they are not after that dead in an hour and a half, or two hours, and so are really roasted, and not burnt to death. But though, out of hell, there cannot possibly be a more lamentable spectacle than this, being joined with the sufferers (so long as they are able to speak) crying out, ‘Miserecordia por amor de Dios, Mercy for the love of God;’ yet it is beheld by people of both sexes, and all ages, with such transports of joy and satisfaction, as are not on any other occasion to be met with.” Dr. Gedde’s Tracts, vol. I. p. 447, &c. Thus far Dr. Geddes.

When Mr. Wilcox, afterwards the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Rochester, was minister to the English factory at Lisbon, he sent the following letter to the then Bishop of Salisbury, Dr. Gilbert Burnet, dated at Lisbon, Jan. 15, 1706, N. S. which I publish by his lordship’s allowance and approbation, and which abundantly confirms the foregoing account.

“My Lord,

“In obedience to your lordship’s commands, of the 10th ult. I have here sent all that was printed concerning the last Auto de Fe. I saw the whole process, which was agreeable to what is published by Limborch and others upon that subject. Of the five persons condemned, there were but four burnt; Antonio Tavanes, by an unusual reprieve, being saved after the procession. Heytor Dias, and Maria Pinteyra, were burnt alive, and the other two first strangled. The execution was very cruel. The woman was alive in the flames half an hour, and the man above an hour. The present king and his brothers were seated at a window so near, as to be addressed to a considerable time, in very moving terms, by the man as he was burning. But though the favour he begged was only a few more faggots, yet he was not able to obtain it. Those which are burnt alive here, are seated on a bench twelve feet high, fastened to a pole, and above six feet higher than the faggots. The wind being a little fresh, the man’s hinder parts were perfectly wasted; and as he turned himself, his ribs opened before he left speaking, the fire being recruited as it wasted, to keep him just in the same degree of heat. But all his entreaties could not procure him a larger allowance of wood to shorten his misery and dispatch him.” Thus far the Letter.

How diabolical a religion must that be, which thus divests men of all the sentiments of humanity and compassion, and hardens them against all the miseries and sufferings of their fellow creatures! For as Dr. Geddes observes,ibid.p. 450, “That the reader may not think that this inhuman joy is the effect of a natural cruelty that is in these peoples disposition, and not of the spirit of their religion, he may rest assured, that all public malefactors besides heretics, have their violent deaths no where more tenderly lamented than amongst the same people, and even when there is nothing in the manner of their deaths that appears inhuman or cruel.”

278. P. 135.

279. Pray for us.

280. L. 2. t. 2. c. 5. n. 9, 10, 11.

281. Hist. l. 3.

282. L. 2. t. 3. c. 4, 5.

283. The forts in the harbour of Goa were then occupied by British troops (two king’s regiments, and two regiments of native infantry) to prevent its falling into the hands of the French.

284. There is Old and New Goa. The old city is about eight miles up the river. The vice-roy and the chief Portuguese inhabitants reside at New Goa, which is at the mouth of the river, within the forts of the harbour. The old city, where the inquisition and the churches are, is now almost entirely deserted by the secular Portuguese, and is inhabited by the priests alone. The unhealthiness of the place, and the ascendency of the priests, are the causes assigned for abandoning the ancient city.

285. I was informed that the vice-roy of Goa has no authority over the inquisition, and that he himself is liable to its censure. Were the British government, for instance, to prefer a complaint against the inquisition to the Portuguese government at Goa, it could obtain no redress. By the very constitution of the inquisition, there is no power in India which can invade its jurisdiction, or even put a question to it on any subject.

286. We entered the city by the palace gate, over which is the statue of Vasco de Gama, who first opened India to the view of Europe. I had seen at Calicut, a few weeks before, the ruins of the Samorin’s Palace, in which Vasco de Gama was first received. The Samorin was the first native princeagainstagainstwhom the Europeans made war. The empire of the Samorin has passed away; and the empire of his conquerors has passed away: and now imperial Britain exercises dominion. May imperial Britain be prepared to give a good account of her stewardship, when it shall be said unto her, “Thou mayest be no longer steward!”

287.MonsieurMonsieurDellon, a physician, was imprisoned in the dungeon of the inquisition at Goa for two years, and witnessed an Auto da Fè, when some heretics were burned; at which he walkedbarefoot.barefoot.After his release he wrote the history of his confinement. His descriptions are in general very accurate.

288. The following were the passages in Mr. Dellon’s narrative, to which I wished particularly to draw the attention of the inquisitor.—Mr. D. had been thrown into the inquisition at Goa and confined in a dungeon, ten feet square, where he remained upwards of two years, without seeing any person, but the gaoler who brought him his victuals, except when he was brought to his trial, expecting daily to be brought to the stake. His alleged crime was, charging the inquisition with cruelty, in a conversation he had with a priest at Daman, a Portuguese town in another part of India.“During the months of November and December, I heard every morning the shrieks of the unfortunate victims, who were undergoing theQuestion. I remembered to have heard, before l was cast into prison, that the Auto da Fè was generally celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in the churches that part of the Gospel in which mention is made of theLAST JUDGMENT; and the inquisitors pretend by this ceremony to exhibit a lively emblem of that awful event. I was likewise convinced that there were a great number of prisoners, besides myself; the profound silence, which reigned within the walls of the building, having enabled me to count the number of doors which were opened at the hours of meals.—However, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed by, without my hearing of any thing, and I prepared to undergo another year of melancholy captivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 11th of January, by the noise of the guards removing the bars from the door of my prison. The Alcaide presented me with a habit, which he ordered me to put on, and to make myself ready to attend him when he should come again. Thus saying, he left a lighted lamp in my dungeon.—The guards returned about two o’clock in the morning, and led me out into a long gallery, where I found a number of the companions of my fate, drawn up in a rank against the wall: I placed myself among the rest, and several more soon joined the melancholy band. The profound silence and stillness caused them to resemble statues more than the animated bodies of human creatures. The women, who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed in a neighbouring gallery, where we could not see them; but I remarked that a number of persons stood by themselves at some distance, attended by others, who wore long black dresses, and who walked backwards and forwards occasionally. I did not then know who these were: but I was afterwards informed that the former were the victims who were condemned to be burned, and the others were their confessors.“After we were all ranged against the wall of this gallery, we received each a large wax taper. They then brought us a number of dresses made of yellow cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew painted before and behind. This is called theSan Benito. The relapsed heretics wear another species of robe, called theSamarra, the ground of which is grey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted upon it, placed upon burning torches with flames and demons all round.—Caps were then produced calledCarrochas; made of pasteboard, pointed like sugar loaves, all covered over with devils, and flames of fire.“The great bell of the Cathedral began to ring a little before sunrise, which served as a signal to warn the people of Goa to come and behold the august ceremony of the Auto da Fè; and then they made us proceed from the gallery one by one. I remarked as we passed into the great hall, that the inquisitor was sitting at the door with his secretary by him, and that he delivered every prisoner into the hands of a particular person, who is to be his guard to the place of burning. These persons are called Parrains, orGodfathers. My Godfather was the commander of a ship. I went forth with him, and as soon as we were in the street, I saw that the procession was commenced by the Dominican Friars; who have this honour, because St. Dominic founded the inquisition. These are followed by the prisoners who walked one after the other, each having his Godfather by his side, and a lighted taper in his hand. The least guilty go foremost; and as I did not pass for one of them, there were many who took precedence of me. The women were mixed promiscuously with the men. We all walked barefoot, and the sharp stones of the streets of Goa wounded my tender feet, and caused the blood to stream: for they made us march through the chief streets of the city: and we were regarded every where by an innumerable crowd of people, who hadassembledassembledfrom all parts of India to behold this spectacle; for the inquisition takes care to announce it long before, in the most remote parishes. At length we arrived at the church of St. Francis, which was, for this time, destined for the celebration of the act of faith. On one side of the altar was the grand inquisitor and his counsellors; and on the other the vice-roy of Goa and his court. All the prisoners were seated to hear a sermon. I observed that those prisoners who wore thehorrible Carrochascame in last in the procession. One of the Augustin monks ascended the pulpit, and preached for a quarter of an hour. The sermon being concluded, two readers went up to the pulpit, one after the other, and read the sentences of the prisoners. My joy was extreme when I heard that my sentence was not to be burnt, but to be a galley-slave for five years.—After the sentences were read, theysummonedsummonedforth those miserable victims who were destined to be immolated by the holy inquisition. The images of the heretics who had died in prison were brought up at the same time, their bones being contained in small chests, covered with flames and demons.—An officer of the secular tribunal now came forward, and seized these unhappy people, after they had each received aslight blow upon the breastfrom the Alcaide, to intimate that they wereabandoned. They were then led away to the bank of the river, where the vice-roy and his court were assembled, and where the faggots had been prepared the preceding day.—As soon as they arrive at this place, the condemned persons are asked in what religion they choose to die; and the moment they have replied to this question, the executioner seizes them, and binds them to a stake in the midst of the faggots. The day after the execution, the portraits of the dead are carried to the church of the Dominicans. The heads only are represented, (which are generally very accurately drawn; for the inquisition keeps excellent limners for the purpose,) surrounded by flames and demons; and underneath is the name and crime of the person who has been burned.”Relation de l’ Inquisition de Goa, chap. XXIV.

“During the months of November and December, I heard every morning the shrieks of the unfortunate victims, who were undergoing theQuestion. I remembered to have heard, before l was cast into prison, that the Auto da Fè was generally celebrated on the first Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in the churches that part of the Gospel in which mention is made of theLAST JUDGMENT; and the inquisitors pretend by this ceremony to exhibit a lively emblem of that awful event. I was likewise convinced that there were a great number of prisoners, besides myself; the profound silence, which reigned within the walls of the building, having enabled me to count the number of doors which were opened at the hours of meals.—However, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed by, without my hearing of any thing, and I prepared to undergo another year of melancholy captivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 11th of January, by the noise of the guards removing the bars from the door of my prison. The Alcaide presented me with a habit, which he ordered me to put on, and to make myself ready to attend him when he should come again. Thus saying, he left a lighted lamp in my dungeon.—The guards returned about two o’clock in the morning, and led me out into a long gallery, where I found a number of the companions of my fate, drawn up in a rank against the wall: I placed myself among the rest, and several more soon joined the melancholy band. The profound silence and stillness caused them to resemble statues more than the animated bodies of human creatures. The women, who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed in a neighbouring gallery, where we could not see them; but I remarked that a number of persons stood by themselves at some distance, attended by others, who wore long black dresses, and who walked backwards and forwards occasionally. I did not then know who these were: but I was afterwards informed that the former were the victims who were condemned to be burned, and the others were their confessors.

“After we were all ranged against the wall of this gallery, we received each a large wax taper. They then brought us a number of dresses made of yellow cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew painted before and behind. This is called theSan Benito. The relapsed heretics wear another species of robe, called theSamarra, the ground of which is grey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted upon it, placed upon burning torches with flames and demons all round.—Caps were then produced calledCarrochas; made of pasteboard, pointed like sugar loaves, all covered over with devils, and flames of fire.

“The great bell of the Cathedral began to ring a little before sunrise, which served as a signal to warn the people of Goa to come and behold the august ceremony of the Auto da Fè; and then they made us proceed from the gallery one by one. I remarked as we passed into the great hall, that the inquisitor was sitting at the door with his secretary by him, and that he delivered every prisoner into the hands of a particular person, who is to be his guard to the place of burning. These persons are called Parrains, orGodfathers. My Godfather was the commander of a ship. I went forth with him, and as soon as we were in the street, I saw that the procession was commenced by the Dominican Friars; who have this honour, because St. Dominic founded the inquisition. These are followed by the prisoners who walked one after the other, each having his Godfather by his side, and a lighted taper in his hand. The least guilty go foremost; and as I did not pass for one of them, there were many who took precedence of me. The women were mixed promiscuously with the men. We all walked barefoot, and the sharp stones of the streets of Goa wounded my tender feet, and caused the blood to stream: for they made us march through the chief streets of the city: and we were regarded every where by an innumerable crowd of people, who hadassembledassembledfrom all parts of India to behold this spectacle; for the inquisition takes care to announce it long before, in the most remote parishes. At length we arrived at the church of St. Francis, which was, for this time, destined for the celebration of the act of faith. On one side of the altar was the grand inquisitor and his counsellors; and on the other the vice-roy of Goa and his court. All the prisoners were seated to hear a sermon. I observed that those prisoners who wore thehorrible Carrochascame in last in the procession. One of the Augustin monks ascended the pulpit, and preached for a quarter of an hour. The sermon being concluded, two readers went up to the pulpit, one after the other, and read the sentences of the prisoners. My joy was extreme when I heard that my sentence was not to be burnt, but to be a galley-slave for five years.—After the sentences were read, theysummonedsummonedforth those miserable victims who were destined to be immolated by the holy inquisition. The images of the heretics who had died in prison were brought up at the same time, their bones being contained in small chests, covered with flames and demons.—An officer of the secular tribunal now came forward, and seized these unhappy people, after they had each received aslight blow upon the breastfrom the Alcaide, to intimate that they wereabandoned. They were then led away to the bank of the river, where the vice-roy and his court were assembled, and where the faggots had been prepared the preceding day.—As soon as they arrive at this place, the condemned persons are asked in what religion they choose to die; and the moment they have replied to this question, the executioner seizes them, and binds them to a stake in the midst of the faggots. The day after the execution, the portraits of the dead are carried to the church of the Dominicans. The heads only are represented, (which are generally very accurately drawn; for the inquisition keeps excellent limners for the purpose,) surrounded by flames and demons; and underneath is the name and crime of the person who has been burned.”Relation de l’ Inquisition de Goa, chap. XXIV.

289. The manjeel is a kind of palankeen common at Goa. It is merely a sea-cot suspended from a bamboo, which is borne on theheadsof four men. Sometimes a footman runs before, having a staff in his hand, to which are attached little bells or rings, which he jingles as he runs, keeping time with the motion of the bearers.

290. Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p. 449.

291. Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p.429.

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