believe, that having so great authority as he had, he soon could recruit his Seraglio.

Though Guerrero was so busy in the affairs of the king, he did not forget the other business concerning the catholic faith; so, to make the people sensible of his indefatigable zeal, he began again to summons priests and friars to new trials, of which I am going to speak.

The trial of a Friar of St. Jerome, organist of the convent in Saragossa.

All the summoned persons being together in the hall, the prisoner and a young boy were brought out; and after the first inquisitor had finished his bitter correction, the secretary read the examinations and sentence, as follows:

Whereas, informations were made, and by evidences proved, that Fr. Joseph Peralta has committed the crime of Sodomy, with the present John Romeo, his disciple, which the said Romeo himself, owned upon interrogatories of the holy inquisitors: they having an unfeigned regard for the order of St. Jerome, do declare and condemn the said Fr. Joseph Peralta, to a year's confinement in his own convent, but that he may assist at the divine service, and celebrate mass. Item, for an example to other like sinners, the holy fathers declare that the said John is to be whipped through the public streets of the town, and receive at every corner, as it is a custom, five lashes; and that he shall wear a coroza, i. e. a sort of a mitre on his head, feathered all over, as a mark of his crime. Which sentence is to be executed on Friday next, without any appeal.

After the secretary had done, Don Pedro Guerrero did ask Fr. Joseph, whether he had any thing to say against the sentence or not? And he answering, no, the prisoners were carried back to their prisons, and the company were dismissed. Observe the equity of the inquisitors in this case: the boy was but fourteen years of age, under the power of Fr. Joseph, and he was charged with the penalty and punishment Fr. Joseph did deserve. The poor boy was whipped according to the sentence, and died the next day.

The Trial of Father Pueyo, Confessor of the Nuns at St. Munica.

This criminal had been but six days in the inquisition, before he was brought to hear his sentence, and every thing being performed as before, the secretary read.

Whereas father Pueyo has committed fornication with five spiritual daughters, (so the nuns which confess to the same confessor continually, are called) which is, besides fornication, sacrilege and transgression of our commands, and he himself having owned the fact, we therefore declare that he shall keep his cell for three weeks, and lose his employment, &c.

The inquisitor asked him whether he had any thing to say against it: and father Pueyo said, holy father, I remember that when I was chosen father confessor of the nuns of our mother St. Monica, you had a great value for five young ladies of the monastery, and you sent for me, and begged of me to take care of them: so I have done, as a faithful servant, and may say unto you, Domine quinque talenta tradidisti me, ecce alia quinque super lucratus sum. The inquisitors could not forbear laughing at this application of the scripture; and Don Pedro Guerrero was so well pleased with this answer, that he told him, you said well: Therefore, Peccata tua remittuntur tibi, nunc vade in pace, et noli amplius peccare. This was a pleasant trial, and Pueyo was excused from the performance of his penance by this impious jest.

The trial and sentence of the Licentiate Lizondo.

The secretary read the examinations, evidence and convictions, and the said Lizondo (who was a licentiate, or Master of Arts) himself did own the fact, which was as follows:

The said Lizondo, though an ingenious man, and fit for the sacerdotal function, would not be ordained, giving out that he thought himself unworthy of so high dignity, as to have every day the Saviour of the world in his hands, after the consecration. And by this feigned humility he began to insinuate himself into the people's opinion, and pass for a religious, godly man, among them. He studied physic, and practised it only with the poor, in the beginning; but being called afterwards by the rich and especially by the Nuns, at last he was found out in his wickedness; for he used to give something to make the young ladies sleep, and this way he obtained his lascivious desires. But one of the evidences swore that he had done these things by the help of magic, and that he had used only an incantation, with which he made every body fall asleep:But this he absolutely denied, as an imposition and falsity.— We did expect a severe sentence, but it was only that the licentiate was to discover to the inquisitors, on a day appointed by them, the receipt for making the people sleep; and that the punishment to be inflicted on him, was to be referred to the

discretion of the holy fathers. We saw him afterwards every day, walking in the streets; and this was all his punishment We must surely believe that such crimes are reckoned but a trifle among them, for very seldom they show any great displeasure or severity to those that are found guilty of them.

Of the Order of the Inquisitors to arrest an Horse, and to bring him to the Holy Office.

The case well deserves my trouble in giving a full account of it; so I will explain it from the beginning to the end. The rector of the university of Saragossa has his own officers to arrest the scholars, and punish them if they commit any crime. Among their officers there was one called Guadalaxara, who was mighty officious and troublesome to the collegians or students; for upon the least thing in the world he arrested them. The scholars did not love him at all, and contrived how they should punish him, or to play some comical tricks upon him. At last, some of the strongest agreed to be at the bottom of the steeple of the university in the evening, and six of them in the belfry, who were to let down a lusty young scholar, tied with a strong rope, at the hearing of the word war. So the scholars that were in the yard, and at the bottom of the steeple, picked a quarrel purposely to bring Guadalaxara there, and when he was already among them, arresting one, they cried out war. At which sign the six in the steeple let down the tied scholar, who taking in his arms Guadalaxara, and being pulled up by the six, he carried him almost 20 feet high, and let him fall down. The poor man was crying out, O Jesus! the Devil has taken me up. The students that were at the bottom had instruments of music, and put off their cloaks to receive him in, and as he cried out, the Devil, the Devil, the musicians answered him with the instruments, repeating the same words he pronounced himself, and with this, gathering together great numbers of scholars, they took him in the middle, continuing always the music and songs, to prevent, by this, the people's taking notice of it, and every body believed that it was only a mere scholastic diversion: So, with this melody and rejoicings, they carried the troublesome Guadalaxara out of the gates of the city into the field, called the Burnt Place, because formerly the heretics were burnt in that field. There was a dead horse, and opening his belly, they tied the poor officer by the hands and legs, and placed him within the horse's belly, which they sewed, leaving the head of Guadalaxara out, under the tail of the horse, and so they went back into

the city. How dismal that night was to the poor man, any body may imagine; but yet it was very sweet to him, in comparison to what he suffered in the morning; for the dogs going to eat of the dead horse's flesh, he, for fear they should eat off his head, continually cried out, ho! ho! perros, i. e. dogs, and that day he found that not only the scholars, but even the very dogs were afraid of him, for dogs did not dare approach the dead horse. The laborers of the city, who were a most ignorant sort of people, but very pleasant in their rustic expressions, going out to the field, by break of the day, saw the dogs near the horse, and heard the voice, ho! ho! perros. They looked up and down, and seeing nobody, drew near the horse, and hearing the same voice, frightened out of their senses, went into the city again, and gave out that a dead horse was speaking in the burnt field; and as they affirmed and swore the thing to be true, crowds of people went to see and hear the wonder, or, as many others said, the miracle of a dead horse speaking. A public notary was among the mob, but no one dared to go near the horse. The notary went to the inquisitors to make affidavit of this case, and added that no one having courage enough to approach the horse, it was proper to send some of the friars, with holy water and stola, to exorcise the horse, and find out the cause of his speaking. But the inquisitors who think to command beasts, as well as reasonable creatures, sent six of their officers, with strict orders, to carry the horse to the holy office. The officers having an opinior. that the devil must submit to them, went, and approaching the horse, they saw the head under the tail, and the poor man crying out, help, take me out of this putrified grave; for God's sake, good people, make haste, for I am not the devil, nor ghost, nor apparition, but the real body and soul of Guadalaxara, the constable of the university; and I do renounce, in this place, the office of arresting scholars forever; and I do forgive them this wrong done to me, and thanks be to God, and to the Vir gin of Pilar, who has preserved my body from being converted into a dead horse, that I am alive still.

These plain demonstrations of the nature of the thing did not convince, in the least, the officers of the inquisition, who are always very strict in the performance of the orders given them, so they took the dead horse and carried it to the inqui sition Never were more people seen in the streets and window's than on that day, besides the great crowd that followed he corpse, which I saw myself; the inquisitors having notice beforehand, went to the hall to receive the informations from

the horse; and after they had asked him many questions, the poor man pushed up the tail with his nose to speak, to see, and to be seen, still answering them; the wise holy fathers trusting not to his information, gave orders to the officers to carry the speaking horse to the torture, which being done accordingly, as they began to turn the ropes through the horse's belly, at the third turning of them the skin of the belly broke, and the real body of Guadalaxara appeared in all his dimensions, and by the horse's torture, he saved his life. The poor man died three weeks after, and he forgave the scholars who contrived this mischief, and an elegy was made on his death.

Thesis defended by F. James Garcia, in the hall of the

Inquisition.

The case of the Rev. father F. James Garcia, made a great noise in Spain, which was thus:

This same James Garcia is the learned man of whom I have spoken several times in my book. His father, though a shoemaker by trade, was very honest and well beloved, and as God had bestowed on him riches enough, and having but one child, he gave him the best education he could, in the college of Jesuits, where, in the study of grammar, he signalized himself for his vivacity and uncommon wit. After going to the university, he went through philosophy and divinity, to the admiration of his masters; he entered St. Augustin's order, and after his noviciate was ended, desired to obtain the degree of master of arts; he defended public thesis of philosophy, and after, other thesis of divinity, without any moderator to answer for him in case of necessity. The thesis and some propositions were quite new to the learned people; for among other propositions, one was Innocentium esse verum pontificem, non est de fide, i. e. it is not an article of faith that Innocent is the true pope. And next to this proposition, this other: Non credere quod non video, non est contra fidem. It is not against the Catholic faith not to believe what I do not see.

Upon account of these two propositions, he was summoned by the inquisitors, and ordered to defend the said propositions separately, in the hall of the inquisition, and answer for six day's together, to all the arguments of the learned Qualificators, which he did, and kept his ground, that instead of being punished for it, he was honored with the cross of the Qualificator, after the examinations were made of the purity of his blood.