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to learn, by comparison, the exact state of the Inquisition at the present time. In the evening he came in, as usual, to pass an hour in my apartment. After some conversation I took the pen in my hand to write a few notes in my Journal: and, as if to amuse him, while I was writing, I took up Dellon's book, which was lying with some others on the table, and handing it across to him, asked him whether he had ever seen it. It was in the French Language, which he understood well. lation, de l'Inquisition de Goa,' pronounced he, with a slow articulate voice. He had never seen it before, and began to read with eagerness. He had not proceeded far, before he betrayed evident symptoms of uneasiness. He turned hastily to the middle of the book, and then to the end, and then ran over the table of contents at the beginning, as if to ascertain the full extent of the evil, He then composed himself to read, while I continued to write. He turned over the pages with rapidity, and when he came to a certain place, he exclaimed, in the broad Italian accent, Mendacium, Mendacium.' I requested he would mark those passages which were untrue, and we should discuss them afterwards, for that I had other books on the subject. Other books,' said he, and he looked with an enquiring eye on those on the table. He continued reading till it was time to retire to rest and then begged to take the book with him.

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It was on this night that a circumstance happened which caused my first alarm at Goa. My servants slept every night at my chamber door, in the long gallery which is c mmon to all the apartments, and not far distant from the servants of the Convent. About midnight I was

servants

waked by loud shrieks and expressions of terror, from some person in the gallery. In the first moment of surprise I concluded it must be the Alguazils of the Holy Office, seizing my servants to carry them to the Inquisition. But, on going out, I saw my own standing at the door, and the person who had caused the alarm (a boy of about fourteen) at a little distance, surrounded by some of the Priests, who had come out of their cells on hearing the noise. The boy said he had seen a spectre, and it was a considerable time before the agitations of his body and voice subsided.-Next morning at breakfast the Inquisitor apologised for the disturbance, and said the boy's alarm proceeded from a phantasma animi,' a phantasm of the imagination."

'After breakfast we resumed the subject of the Inquisition. The Inquisitor admitted that Dellon's descriptions of the dungeons, of the torture, of the mode of trial, and of the Auto da Fè were, in general, just ; but he said the writer judged untruly of the motives of the Inquisitors, and very uncharitably of the character of the Holy Church; and I admitted that, under the pressure of his peculiar suffering, this might possibly be the case. The Inquisitor was now anxious to know to what extent Dellon's book had been circulated in Europe. I told him that Picart had published to the world extracts from it, in his celebrated work called Religious Ceremonies,' together with plates of the system of torture and burnings at the Auto da Fè. I added that it was, now generally believed in Europe that these enormities no longer existed, and that the Inquisition itself has been totally suppressed; but that I was concerned to find

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that this was not the case. He now began a grave narration to shew that the Inquisition had undergone a change in some respects, and that its terrors were mitigated.*

*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 the Question. I remembered to have heard, before I 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 the LAST 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 presen ted me with aha

I had already discovered, from written or printed documents, that the Inquisition of Goa was suppressed by Royal Edict in the year 1775, and established

bit, 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 a 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 the San Benito. The relapsed heretics wear another species of robe, called the Samarra, 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 called Carrochas; 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 sun-rise, which served as a signal to warn the people of

again in 1779. The Franciscan Father before mentioned witnessed the annual Auto da Fè, from 1770, to 1775. "It was the humanity, and tender mercy 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. 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, or Godfathers. 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 had assembled from 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 Viceroy of Goa and his Court. All the prisoners are seated to hear a Sermon. I observed that those prisoners who wore the horrible Carrochas came in last in the procession. One of