520 Memoirs of Don Jean 



111 the beginning of 1789, the Grund 

 In(|uisitor General, D. Augustin Rubin 

 de Cavfillus, Bishop of Jacn, a|)pointed 

 M. L. Sccielary-General to the Inquisi- 

 tion of the Couit, a |)Ost whicli he occn- 

 pieil till 1791, and wiilch placed at his 

 disposition the aiciiives of tiie Holy 

 OUice, tiic contents of which he was one 

 day to publish. In that year, he was 

 twice introduced to King Charles IV. 

 and his queen, to place in their hands 

 certain pious legacies of the Duchess 

 de Sotomayor. He received a proof of 

 benevolence, on the part of their majes- 

 ties, by their giving him a canonry in the 

 church of Caluhorra. He preferred this 

 benefice to a more eminent post that 

 was offered him by D. A. Rubin, that of 

 Inquisitor of Carthagena in the Indies. 

 The Count de l^lorida Blanca was then 

 at the iiead of the Spanish ministry; he 

 was an able and enlightened statesman, 

 and, speculating on the first movements 

 that were agitating many countries, he 

 was not for retarding the [)rogrcss of 

 knowledge and civilization, but for 

 moderating the excesses of pow( r. With 

 that view lie instituted, at Madrid, an 

 Academy of History, of which M. L. 

 became a member. He was also one of 

 the academicians who maintained public 

 theses on important points of National 

 History. A Report has been preserved 

 of one of those literary solemnities, 

 celebrated in the rojal monastery of St. 

 Isidore, whereat the most distinguished 

 persons of the capital were present, and 

 where the Cardinal de Lorenzano, then 

 Archbishop of Toledo, and Primate of 

 the kingdom, condescended to become 

 a disputant. M. L.'s thesis had to 

 investigate the plans pro[)osed, at dif- 

 ferent limes, for the restoration of learn- 

 ing, in Christendom, by Cassiodorns ; in 

 Italy, in the 6tli century, by St. Isidori', 

 of Seville, in Spain;. in the 71h century, 

 by Charlemagne, in France, aided by 

 Alcuin, towards the end of Ihc 8th ; and 

 to decide which of the said plans might 

 be then adopted, and under « hat modifi- 

 cations. M. L. made it his business to 

 shew the superiority of St. Isidore's 

 methods, and that the ecclesiastical 

 sciences in Spain llourislicd with the 

 greatest lustre under his direction. His 

 Dissertation was analysed in the Madrid 

 Gazelle, but not printed. It procured 

 for him the place of censor, the duties of 

 which he discharged with discernment 

 and a spirit of toleration. 



M. L. found himself obliged, in tlie 

 beginning of 1791, from the intrigues of 

 certain conrticrs, to quit Madrid and 



Antoine Llortnte, (July 'j 



retire fo his canonry of Caluhorra. It 

 was then he umlertook the hospitable 

 fuiiefions of relieving a number of 

 Fieneh priests, roinpclitd to seek re- 

 fuge in Sj)ain. He was the only pirson 

 in Calahorra that understooil the I'rciuh 

 language ; hence he became the interme- 

 diate agent between the exiles and the 

 civil and ecclesiastical anfhorities of the 

 country. It was M. Llorttile who 

 verified the papers of the French pio- 

 scripts, who provided for their food and 

 lodging, examined such as were proper 

 to serve in the ministry, procured for 

 them particular masses (retribiiees,) 

 and also general employment, in diUer- 

 enl parishes. Exclusive of these per- 

 sonal attentions, M. L. employed his 

 interest in behalf of the French |)riests 

 with several great person.tges, and ob- 

 tained considerable sums from their 

 generosity. Among these might be no- 

 ticed the Cardinal de Lorenzana, Arch- 

 bishop of Toledo, the Archbishop of 

 Seville, the Bishop of Cordova, and 

 other prelates. Not cont( nt with thes(! 

 generous succours, M. L. entertained 

 in his own house, during five years, M. 

 I'^liennc Faisneau, a tonsured clerk of 

 the seminary of Poietiers, and provided 

 him with the means of engaging in some 

 trallic whereon he subsisted till his retnrn 

 into France. M. Faisneau was or- 

 dained priest; alterwards, and in that 

 quality, he signed an attestation, whi'reiti 

 the honourable title was given him of 

 Father of French Ecclesiastics; this he 

 transmitted to M Llorente 



In the year following, 1739, M. L. 

 had drawn up an " History of the Emi- 

 gration of the French Clergy into 

 Spain," which was to form a volume in 

 quarto; but the manuscript, submitted 

 to difl'erent examiners, was not to be 

 found; and a tiscal nofar\, consoling 

 the author for this accident, declared 

 that the eireiunstances of the times 

 woulil not have permitted its publica- 

 tion. About this time, Don Manuel 

 Abad La Sierra, Incjuisitor-General in 

 Spain, a person of an enlightened cha- 

 racter, fixed oiiM. Llorente, well know- 

 ing his liberal and philosophical senti- 

 ments, to ex( cute some reforms in the 

 interior constitution and jirocesses of 

 the Inquisition. But, by a court in- 

 trigue, the honest inquisitor was dis- 

 placed, ere he had time to realize his 

 projects. Somewhat later, M. L. was 

 invited by a person in authority to re- 

 sume the execution of the above plans. 

 He applied himself to this work, in con- 

 cert with bis Bishop of Calahorra, D. 

 Francisco 



