Blaquiere’s Spain. and Spanish Revolution. 
parts of the ceremony being completed 
high mass and Te Deum were sung; on 
which the king retired, when the cross 
and standard were borne back in triumph 
to the cathedral. 
Five of the thirteen sufferers by fire 
were nuns: of whom, the oldest had not 
attained her thirtieth year. Agreeably to 
the tenor of their sentences, those who 
recanted were strangled previous to being 
placed on the pile, 
An Auto-de-Fé performed at Seville, 
on the 24th of September of the same 
year, wanted only the presence of roy- 
alty to render it much more splendid 
than those of Valladolid: the victims 
were more numerous, there being twenty- 
one given up to the flames, and eighty 
condemned to minor penalties. A great 
concourse of the nobility and people 
also attended this ceremony, which de- 
rived additional interest from the rank of 
the victims, particularly three beautiful 
young women, named de Virues, Cornel, 
and Bohorques; the latter no less re- 
nowned for her learning and heroism, 
than for her personal charms. Belong- 
ing to one of the first families of Anda- 
lusia, Maria de Bohorques had scarcely 
reached the twenty-first year of her age, 
when she was seized by the familiars of 
the Holy Office, as a Lutheran; when 
summoned to appear, Maria boldly ac- 
knowledged her principles, and _elo- 
quently defending them, told her judges, 
that so far from punishing, they ought to 
follow her example. On refusing to ad- 
mit the assertions of suborned witnesses, 
the torture was applied, Suffering with 
the utmost resignation, the tormentors 
could only extort that her sister Juana 
knew her sentiments, and did not seem 
to disapprove them. This admission, 
which proved fatal to the party thus inno- 
cently denounced, proceeded from that 
ceandour and love of truth, which ren- 
dered it impossible for the victim to dis- 
guise any act of her life. Condemned 
to ascend the pile, the most strenuous 
efforts were made to convert the offender. 
Two Jesuits, sent for this purpose the 
night before her execution, retired with- 
out producing any effect, though full of 
admiration at her firmness and learning, 
These were followed by several other 
missionaries, whom she also captivated 
by the sweetness of her manners, and 
solidity of her reasoning; but they could 
not gain a single point, or weaken her 
faith for a moment, Maria seemed to 
lose her temper only once, during the 
tremendous trial to which she was. ex- 
MONTHLY MAG, No, 377. 
601 
posed: it was just as she was about to 
suffer, when a priest who had abjured, 
having exhorted her in the most earnest 
manner to reject the doctrines of Luther, 
she upbraided him with his ignorance and 
.folly; adding, that there was then no 
time for disputation, and that what. re- 
mained ought"to be employed in con- 
templating the death and passion of their 
Redeemer; thus strengthening the faith 
by which they were to be saved and jus- 
tified. Notwithstanding the obstinacy of 
Maria de Bohorques, as it was called by 
her ,persecutors, numbers of the hierar- 
chy, both priests, monks, and bishops, 
interfered with the Inquisitors, urging 
them to take the youth and surprising 
mental acquirements of the criminal into 
consideration. After much entreaty, 
they consented to be satisfied, if she 
would only repeat the creed. This she 
did, but had scarcely concluded, before 
she began to comment on each article, 
interpreting in conformityto the princi- 
ples of Luther. The judge, however, 
would not give her time to finish; order- 
ing the executioners to perform their 
office, she was strangled and thrown into 
the flames. 
The last Auto-de-Fé performed in the 
presence of the Royal Family, which 
took place here in 1680, to celebrate the 
marriage of Charles [I. with a princess of 
the Bourbon race, at a time when 
Europe had attained a degree of know- 
ledge and refinement, scarcely exceeded 
in the present day, is, doubtless, one of the 
most extraordinary facts connected with 
the history of the human mind: while it 
proves to what excesses and absurdities 
the force of custom is capable of carrying 
a people and their rulers. An account 
of this frightful holocaust, in which no 
less than one hundred and twenty vic- 
tims were brought forward, condemned 
to various punishments, is amongst the 
reprints which have appeared since the 
recent change, and may be truly re- 
garded as the greatest literary curiosity 
of the age. 
Extreme piety and a desire of follow- 
ing the example of his father, Philip 1V. 
(surnamed the Great!) who had patron- 
ized and was present at the grand Auto 
erformed in 1632, are the reasons al- 
edged by the author, for his Catholic 
Majesty having expressed a wish to pre- 
side over a similar ceremony, 
From the number of delinquents col- 
lected at several prisons round the ecapi- 
tal, it was decided, that. instead of 7. 
brating the Auto at Toledo, as originally 
4u intended, 
