low to the Inquisitor, and looked with surprise at me. The Great Hall is the place in which the prisoners are marshalled for the procession of the Auto da Fè. At the procession described by Dellon, in which he himself walked barefoot, clothed with the painted garment, there were upwards of one hundred and fifty prisoners. I traversed this 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 the 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 the hope of satisfying my enquiries 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 own 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 two hundred dungeons, ten feet square, described by your former captives. Let me count the number of your present 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 ask how long they have been here, how long it is since they beheld the light of the şun, 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 resist 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, (it had been before understood that I should take my final leave at the door of the Inquisition, after having seen the interior,) 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 believe 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 Camp Santo Lazaro, on the rive side, where the victims were brought to the stake at the Auto da Fè. It is close to the Palace, that the Vice-Roy and his Court may witness the execution; fot it has ever been the policy of the Inquisition to make these spiritual executions appear to be the execution 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 these 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 Inquisitor 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 towards 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, I saw a poor woman sitting by herself, on a bench by the wall apparently in a disconsolate state of mind. She clasped her hands as I passed, and gave me a look expressive of her distress. This sight 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 to him 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 last leave of Josephus a Doloribus, without uttering a word.'

6

The foregoing particulars concerning the Inquisition at Goa are detailed chiefly with this

view; that the English nation may consider, whether there be sufficient ground for presenting a remonstrance to the Portuguese Government, on the longer continuance of that tribunal in India; it being notorious, that a great part of the Romish Christians are now under British protection. "The Romans," says Montesquieu, "deserved well of human nature, for “making it an article in their treaty with the "Carthaginians, that they should abstain from

SACRIFICING their CHILDREN to their Gods." It has been lately observed by respectable writers, that the English nation ought to imitate this example, and endeavour to induce her allies" to abolish the human sacrifices of "the Inquisition ;" and a censure is passed on our Government for their indifference to this subject. The indifference to the Inquisition is attributable, we believe, to the same cause which has produced an indifference to the religious principles which first organized the Inquisition. The mighty despot, who suppressed the Inquisition in Spain, was not swayed probably by very powerful motives of humanity;

*Edin. Rev. No. XXXII. p. 449.