1 830^ Secrets of the Court of Charles the Fourth of Spain. 1!)5 



slight in make, delicate and feminine in. face and appearance, flexible 

 and active as the insidious snake. All depended on the management of 

 his first attempt, but he boldly embarked on his dangerous adventure, 

 determined on success or death! During the distribution of the daily 

 dole to the poor at the outer gate, at day-break, he fled from his convent 

 unobserved, and instantly repaired to that of his (almost unknown) 

 beloved one, into which he found means to insinuate himself, by. a feat 

 which not one in a million could attempt with any hope of success. 



His enamorata, as he was apprized, was one of the two nuns A duty 

 that morning, in the pious work of alms-giving. These (consisting of 

 provisions, clothes, &c.) are placed on a kind of boxed turnstile which, 

 revolving on its pivot, is turned outwards liberally stored, and returned 

 back with the emptied vessels. Into this machine young Manoel con- 

 trived to screw* himself, and on his arrival inside, was released with 

 silent demonstrations of joy by his beloved, assisted by a saintly sister. 

 Having provided a suit of their own costume, they equipped the panting 

 boy, and instantly hurried him off to their cell. Such a prize to the 

 community, could not long be kept a secret, and the ingenuity of the 

 whole sisterhood was, for upwards of two months, successfully exerted 

 to conceal their general treasure : but, alas ! a dreadful discovery 

 dispelled this dream of transient felicity ; natural proofs of the intrusion 

 of an unhallowed visitor, struck the eye, while it wrung the heart, of 

 the holy mother abbess ! The Patriarch was apprized of the horrid 

 scandal ; the nuns were locked up in separate cells ; the familiars of the 

 holy office entered on their task, with blood-thirsty zeal ; and the 

 luckless Manoel, dragged forth from his hiding place, soon found a 

 living tomb in the deepest dungeon of the Inquisition ! 



Had he only murdered his parents, fired the city, or blown up the 

 arsenal, some claim to mercy might have been advanced on the score 

 of youthful levity ; but to violate the sanctity of a nunnery ! was an 

 offence, for the punishment of which even the most cruel, lingering, 

 and horrid death was deemed inadequate ! 



Arraigned before the dread and secret tribunal, the unfortunate 

 Manoel found his ghostly uncle the most inflexible of his persecutors ; 

 an appeal to the mercy of his judges he saw was useless ; so the youth 

 resigned himself to a fate which appeared inevitable, nor deigned to 

 beg a life which he no longer thought worth the possession. His 

 parents, however, whose influence in the state was powerful, obtained 

 a suspension of the execution of his sentence, until it had been confirmed 

 by the grand inquisition in the mother country, pending which, 4 

 strong appeal was made by his distracted mother to the mercy of the 

 queen. Two years passed before the horrid monotony of his unvaried 

 life of woe was broken. Days and nights rolled on, to him equally 

 undistinguished ; the cheerful light of heaven never having penetrated 

 the gloom of his deep and dreary cell since the first hour of his entomb-- 

 ment ! when, at length, (after a period, according to his reckoning of 

 countless years, but in reality only two) his dungeon door was opened, 



* The same feat was said to be performed by a British officer in Portugal ; but as the 

 French officers had previously dissolved the charm which bound in chains the portress of 



the gates, the gay and gallant guardsman (Dan M'K ) might have walked quietly 



in at the great door : he was an artiste in gymnastics, however, and the feat gave him 

 something to boast of. 



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