verance. But the ordinary Judges turned a deaf ear to the applications made by their superior on her behalf; and Donna Marina refusing to purchase her life by telling a falsehood, sentence was pronounced against her. On the day of the auto, she was strangled at the place of execution, and her body was given to the flames.

The autos celebrated at Seville were more memorable than those at Valladolid, if not for the rank of the spectators, at least for the number of prisoners on the scaffold. The first was solemnized September 24th, 1559, in the square of St. Francis. It was attended by four Bishops, the members of the Royal Court of Justice, the Chapter of the cathedral, and a great assemblage of the nobility and gentry. Twenty-one persons were delivered over to the secular arm, and eighty were condemned to minor punishments.

Among those who suffered death, was Don Juan Ponce de Leon, son of the Count de Baylen. This nobleman had been distinguished for his unbounded charity to the poor, and had exerted himself greatly to promote the Reformed cause. The Inquisitors having, by means of the rack, extorted from him a confession of some of the articles laid to his charge, employed their emissaries to persuade him that he would consult his own safety and that of his brethren, by confessing the whole. He had scarcely given his consent, before he repented. The night before his execution, he complained bitterly of being deceived, and having made an undisguised profession of his faith, rejected the services of the Priest appointed to wait upon him. But it is said, that after he was bound to the stake, and saw the fire about to be kindled, he confessed to one of the Priests, and was strangled. His san-benito was hung up in one of the churches, with this inscription, "Juan Ponce de Leon, burnt as an obstinate Lutheran heretic."

Dr. Juan Gonzalez was descended from Moorish ancestors, and at twelve years of age had been imprisoned on suspicion of Mahometan

ism. He afterwards became one of the most celebrated Preachers in Andalusia, and a Protestant. In the midst of the torture, which he bore with great fortitude, he told the Inquisitors that his sentiments, though opposed to those of the Church of Rome, rested on plain and express declarations of the word of God, and that nothing would induce him to inform against his brethren. When brought out on the morning of the auto, he appeared with a cheerful and undaunted air, though he had left his mother and two brothers behind him in prison, and was accompanied by two sisters, who, like himself, were doomed to the flames. At the door of the pri son he began to sing Psalm cix.; and on the scaffold he addressed a few words of consolation to one of his sisters; upon which the gag was instantly thrust into his mouth. With unaltered mien he listened to the sentence adjudging him to the flames, and submitted to the ceremonies by which he was degraded from the priesthood. When they were brought to the place of execution, the Friars urged the females, in repeating the Creed, to insert the word Roman in the clause relating to the catholic church. Wishing to procure for him liberty to bear his dying testimony, they said they would do as their brother did. The gag being removed, Juan Gonzalez exhorted them to add nothing to the good confession which they had already made. Instantly the executioners were ordered to strangle them; and one of the Friars, turning to the crowd, exclaimed, that they had died in the Roman faith; a falsehood which the Inquisitors did not choose to repeat in their

narrative.

The same constancy was evinced by four Monks of the convent of San Isidro; among whom was the celebrated Garcia de Arias, otherwise known by the name of Dr. Blanco. From the time of his imprisonment he renounced that system of caution and dissimulation, on which he had formerly acted. He made an explicit profession of his faith, agreeing in every point with

the sentiments of the Reformers; expressed his sorrow that he had concealed it so long; and offered to prove that the opposite opinions were erroneous and superstitious. Being advanced in years, he ascended the scaffold, leaning on his staff, but went to the stake with a countenance expressive of joy and of readiness to meet the flames.

This auto furnished noble examples of Christian heroism in some excellent females. Among these were Donna Isabel de Baena, a rich matron of Seville, who had permitted the Protestants to meet for worship in her house. There were also three young ladies, connected with the most distinguished families in Spain. The case of one of these, Donna Maria de Bohorques, was peculiarly interesting. She was the natural daughter of a Spanish grandee of the first class, and before she had completed her twenty-first year, she fell into the hands of the Inquisition. Great care had been bestowed on her education; and being able to read the Bible and expositions of it in the Latin language, she acquired a knowledge of the Scriptures, such as was possessed by few in her native country. When brought before the Inquisitors, she avowed and defended her faith, and told her Judges that it was their duty to embrace it, instead of punishing her for maintaining it. She was severely tortured, in consequence of her refusal to answer certain questions calculated to implicate her friends. Two Jesuits, and afterwards two Dominicans, were sent to her cell, to persuade her to relinquish her heretical opinions. They returned, vexed at their i success, but admiring the dexterity with which she repelled their arguments. The night before the auto they repeated their visit, in company with two other Priests. She received them politely, but told them plainly that they might have saved themselves the trouble which they had taken; for she felt more concern about her salvation, than they could possibly feel; that she would have renounced her sentiments, if she had entertained any doubt of

their truth; but now she was more than ever confirmed in them. On the morning of the auto, she appeared with a cheerful countenance; and while the procession was being formed, she comforted her female companions, and engaged them to join her in singing a suitable Psalm : upon which the gag was put into her mouth. It was taken out after her sentence was read, and she was asked if she would now confess those errors to which she had hitherto adhered with such obstinacy. She replied, with a distinct and audible voice, "I neither can nor will recant." After she was bound to the stake, the attendant Priests, procuring some delay in the lighting of the pile, and professing to feel for her youth and talents, requested her merely to repeat the Creed. This she did not refuse; but immediately began to explain some of its articles in the Lutheran sense. She was not permitted to finish; and the executioner having received orders to strangle her, she was consumed in the fire.

The second grand auto at Seville took place December 22d, 1560; on which occasion fourteen persons were delivered over to the secular arm, and thirty-four were sentenced to inferior punishments.

Let

Among those who suffered death, was Julian Hernandez, who had been so zealous, three years before, in introducing copies of the Scriptures and other Protestant publications into Spain. When brought out on the morning of the auto, he said to his fellow-prisoners, “Courage, comrades! this is the hour in which we must show ourselves valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ. us now bear faithful testimony to his truth before men, and within a few hours we shall receive the testimony of his approbation before angels, and triumph with him in heaven." He was silenced by the gag, but continued to encourage his companions by his gestures. On arriving at the stake, he knelt down and kissed the stone on which it was erected; then rising, he thrust his naked head once and again among the faggots, in token of his

welcoming that death which was so dreadful to others. The pile was at length kindled; and the guards, envying the unshaken firmness of the martyr, plunged their lances into his body, and thus terminated his sufferings.

Eight females of irreproachable character, and some of them distinguished by rank and education, suffered death at this auto. Among them was Maria Gomez, a widow, who had been a constant attendant at the meetings of the Protestants some years before, but afterwards became deranged. Having recovered from her mental disorder, she was re-admitted into the Protestant fellowship, and fell into the hands of the Inquisition. She appeared on the scaffold with her three daughters, and a sister. After the reading of the sentence dooming them to the flames, one of the young women went up to her aunt, from whom she had imbibed the Protest ant doctrine, and on her knees thanked her for all the instructions she had received from her, implored forgiveness for any offence she might have given her, and begged her dying blessing. Raising her up, and assuring her she had never given her a moment's uneasiness, the old woman proceeded to encourage her dutiful niece, by reminding her of that support which their divine Redeemer had promised them in the hour of trial, and of those joys which awaited them after their momentary sufferings. The five friends then took leave of one another with tender embraces and words of mutual comfort. The affecting interview between these devoted females was beheld by the Inquisitors with a rigid composure of countenance; and so completely had superstition and habit subdued the strongest emotions of the human breast, that not a single expression of sympathy escaped from the multitude at witnessing a scene which, in other circumstances, would have harrowed up the feelings of the spectators, and driven them into mutiny.

Three foreigners, two of whom were Englishmen, perished in this

On

auto: Nicholas Burton, a merchant of London; William Burke, a mariner of Southampton; and a Frenchman named Fabianne, from Bayonne. Burton, having visited Spain with a vessel laden with goods, fell into the hands of the Inquisition; and, refusing to abjure the Protestant faith, was doomed to be burnt alive. Part of the goods in his ship, which was confiscated by the Inquisitors, belonged to a London merchant, who sent John Frampton, of Bristol, to Seville, with a power of Attorney, to reclaim his property. The Inquisition had recourse to every obstacle in opposing his claim; and after fruitless labour for four months, he repaired to England to obtain more ample powers. his landing the second time in Spain, he was seized by two officers of the Inquisition, conveyed in chains to Seville, and thrown into the secret prisons. The only pretext for his apprehension was, that a book of Cato in English was found in his portmanteau. Being unable to substantiate a charge on this ground, the Inquisitors interrogated him on his religious opinions, and insisted that he should clear himself of the suspicion of heresy, by repeating the Ave Maria. In doing this, he omitted the words, "Mother of God, pray for us," on account of which he was put to the torture. After enduring three shocks of the pulley, while he lay flat on the ground, half dead and half alive, he agreed to confess whatever his tormentors chose to dictate. In consequence of this, he was found violently sus pected of Lutheranism, and the property which he had come to recover was confiscated. He appeared among the penitents at the auto at which Burton suffered, and was kept in prison more than two years before he was set at liberty.

The treatment of one individual, who was pronounced innocent at this auto, affords striking evidence of the abominable injustice and cruelty of the Inquisitors. Donna Juana de Bohorques was the daughter of a Spanish grandee of the first class, and the wife of Don Francisco de Vargas, Baron of Higuera. She

was apprehended in consequence of a confession extorted by the rack from her sister, Maria de Bohorques, who owned that she had conversed with her on the Lutheran tenets without exciting any marks of disapprobation. Donna Juana, being in a state of pregnancy, was permitted to occupy one of the public prisons till the time of her delivery; but eight days after that event, the child was taken from her, and she was thrust into a secret cell. A young female, who was afterwards brought to the stake as a Lutheran, was confined along with her, and did all in her power to promote her recovery. Donna Juana soon had an opportunity of repaying the kind attention of her fellow-prisoner; who, having been called before the Inquisitors, was brought back into her dungeon faint and mangled. Soon after, Donna Juana was conducted in her turn to the place of torture; where, as she refused to confess, one of the engines was applied with so much violence, that the cords penetrated to the bone of her arms and legs; and some of the internal vessels having burst, the blood flowed in streams from her mouth and nostrils. She was conveyed to her cell in a state of insensibility, and expired in a few days. The Inquisitors would have concealed the cause of her death; but this was impossible. Hence they attempted, on the day of the auto, to expiate the crime of this horrid murder, by pronouncing Juana de Bohorques innocent, vindicating her reputation, and restoring her property to her heirs.

Valladolid and Seville were not the only cities whose prisons were crowded with friends of the Reformed doctrine. From 1560 to 1570, one public auto, at least, was celebrated annually in each of the twelve cities, in which provincial tribunals of the Inquisition were established. In September, 1560, the Inquisition of Murcia solemnized an auto, at which five persons were sentenced to different punishments for embracing Lutheranism; and in 1563, eleven appeared there as penitents, on the same charge. In the last

mentioned auto, a son of the Emperor of Morocco, who had been baptized in his youth, was brought on the scaffold for relapsing into Mahometanism, and was condemned to be confined for three years, and then banished from the country. In February, 1560, the Inquisition of Toledo prepared a grand auto for the entertainment of their young Queen, Elizabeth de Valois, daughter of Henry II. of France. Several Lutherans then appeared among those who were condemned to the flames, or to other punishments: and the Duke of Brunswick, to testify his hatred of the Reformed cause, delivered up one of his retinue to the flames. At the same place, in the subsequent year, four Priests, Spanish and French, were burnt alive for Lutheranism, and nineteen persons of the same persuasion were reconciled. In 1565, the same Inquisition celebrated another auto, at which a number of Protestants were condemned to the fire and to various penances; and at an auto in 1571, two persons were burnt alive, and one in effigy, while thirty-one were sentenced to different punishments, as Luther

ans.

The year 1570 may be regarded as the period of the suppression of the Reformation in Spain. After that date Protestants were still occasionally discovered and brought to punishment; but they were as "the gleaning grapes, when the vintage is done." Several of these were foreigners, and especially Englishmen. Their treatment frequently produced remonstrances from foreign powers, which, for a long time, were disregarded by the Spanish Government. At length, the injury done to commerce by persecution, obliged them to issue orders, that strangers visiting Spain for the purpose of trade, should not be molested on account of their religion. The Inquisitors, however, made no scruple of transgressing the ordinances of the court on this point, by proceeding, from time to time, against foreigners, under the pretext that they propagated heresy by books or conversation.

A SPANISH MARTYR OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

THE Reformed faith can number among its Confessors a Spaniard who suffered in the nineteenth century,-Don Miguel Juan Antonio Solano, Vicar of Esco, in the diocess of Jaca. He was educated according to the usual system of philosophy and divinity; but, throwing off his early prejudices, he made great proficiency in mathematics and mechanics. His benevolence led him to employ his inventive powers for the benefit of his parishioners, by improving their implements of husbandry, and fertilizing their soil. A long and severe illness, which made him a cripple for life, withdrew him from active pursuits, and induced him to apply himself more closely to theological studies. His small library happened to contain a Bible; and by perusing this with impartiality and attention, he was led to form for himself a system of doctrines, agreeing, in the main, with the doctrines of the Protestant Churches. Solano had too much candour and integrity either to conceal his sentiments, or to disseminate them clandestinely. Having drawn up a statement of his new views, he laid it before the Bishop of his diocess; and receiving no answer from him, he submitted it to the Theological Faculty in the University of Saragossa. In consequence of this, he was seized and thrown into the prison of the Inquisition at Saragossa. By the assistance of some kind friends, he made his escape, and reached Oleron, the nearest French town; but, after serious deliberation, he resolved to assert the truth in the very face of death, and actually returned of his own accord to the prison. On appearing before the tribunal, he acknowledged the opinions laid to his charge; but pleaded in his defence, that after long meditation, with a sincere desire to discover the truth, and with no other help than the Bible, he had come to these conclusions. He

avowed his conviction, that all sav ing truth is contained in the holy Scriptures; that whatever the Church of Rome has decreed to the contrary, by departing from the proper and literal sense of the sacred text, is false; that purgatory is a mere human invention; that it is a sin to receive money for saying mass; with other similar sentiments. The tribunal, after going through the ordinary forms, decided that Solano should be delivered over to the secular arm. The Archbishop of Saragossa, who was at that time Inquisitor-General, being averse to an execution by fire, prevailed on the Supreme Council to order a fresh examination of the witnesses. This was carried into effect, and the Inquisitors renewed their former sentence. The Archbishop next ordered an inquiry into the mental sanity of the prisoner. A Physician was found, who gave an opinion, that he was not of sound mind; but the sole ground on which it rested was, that the prisoner had vented opinions different from those of his brethren. The only expedient that remained was, to persuade Solano to retract opinions which had been condemned by so many Popes and General Councils. But the attempt was altogether fruitless. To all the arguments drawn from such topics he replied, that money was the god worshipped at Rome, and that, in all the Councils held of late, the Papal influence had decided theological questions, and had counteracted the good intentions of some respectable men. Meanwhile, his confinement brought on a fever, during which the Inquisitors redoubled their efforts to convince him. He expressed himself thankful for their attention, but told them, that he could not retract his sentiments without offending God and betraying the truth. On the twentieth day of his sickness, the Physician informed him of his danger, and exhorted him to improve the few moments which remained. "I am in the hands of God," said Solano, "and have nothing more to do." Thus died the Vicar of Esco, in 1805. He was refused the usual