and people. I noticed to him that after looking through

appeared to me to be a He acknowledged that

the colleges and schools, there total eclipse of Scriptural light. religion and learning were truly in a degraded state.-I had visited the theological schools, and at every place I expressed my surprize to the tutors, in presence of the pupils, at the absence of the Bible, and almost total want of reference to it. They pleaded the custom of the place, and the scarcity of copies of the book itself. Some of the younger Priests came to me afterwards, desiring to know by what means they might procure copies. This inquiry for Bibles was like a ray of hope beaming on the walls of the Inquisition.

'I pass an hour sometimes in the spacious library of the Augustinian Convent. There are many rare volumes, but they are chiefly theological, and almost all of the sixteenth century. There are few classics; and I have not yet seen one copy of the original Scriptures in Hebrew or Greek.'

• Goa, Augustinian Convent, 27th Jan. 1808.

On the second morning after my arrival, I was surprised by my host, the Inquisitor, coming into my apartment clothed in black robes from

the usual dress of his order is white.

head to foot: for

He said he was

going to sit on the Tribunal of the Holy Office. I presume, Father, your august Office does not occupy much of your time?' 'Yes' answered he, 'much. I sit on the Tribunal three or four days every week.'

I had thought, for some days, of puting Dellon's book into the Inquisitor's hands; for if I could get him to advert to the facts stated in that book, I should be able 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. Relation 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 inquiring 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.

"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 common to all the apartments, and not far distant from the servants of the convent. About midnight I was waked by loud shrieks and expressions of terror, from some person in the gallery. In the first moment of surprize 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 servants 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 had been totally suppressed; but that I was concerned to find 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, 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 gene. rally 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 capti

I had already discovered, from written or printed documents, that the Inquisition of Goa was suppressed

vity, 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 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.