604 
much lower than his middle. As the 
head was also Jower than, the feet, respi- 
ration became exceedingly painful and 
difficult, while the» position itself ocea- 
sioned excrutiating pain in all’ the mem- 
bers. Llorente compares the application 
of the cords, to the mode adopted by the 
Muleteers in loading their mules, when a 
stick is introduced under the cords, and 
then twisted round, so as to prevent the 
load from being loosened ; this stick used 
by the torturer of the Sacred Tribunal, 
is called the Garrote. Pouring water 
into the mouth and nostrils, whence 
breathing was first rendered impossible, 
must have been a dreadful operation. It 
was also customary to stuff a piece of 
linen into the mouth, and let the water 
fall in drops; so that it required an hour 
to absorb a very small quantity. It fre- 
quently happened that the rag was drawn 
out, saturated with blood, proceeding from 
the rupture of the vessels, either in the 
lungs, or parts adjoining. 
There were two other modes of tor- 
ture practised in this country; that of 
the cord and fire. The first was per- 
formed, by raising the victim up to a con- 
siderable height, and then Jetting him 
fall suddenly, to within a few inches of 
the ground, so.as to dislocate his arms or 
other limbs. The torture by fire was the 
most rigorous of all; it consisted of rub- 
bing the'soles of the feet with some lard, 
or other inflammable substance, and then 
lighting a fire close to them. 
THEIR PRISON. 
The subterranean cells were of different 
depths; those at Zaragoza and Madrid, 
which I have seen, though not more than 
from twelve to fifteen feet below the level 
of the street, were damp and loathsome; 
nor can J imagine how any person could 
possibly exist for many days in such 
dreadful receptacles.. Some of them re- 
minded me of the Damusos, noticed in 
my letters from Sicily, and used in the 
criminal procedure of that Island. I un- 
derstand, from an eye-witness, who visited 
Valladolid soon after the entry of the 
French there, in 1809, that there were 
three dungeons in the Holy Office of that 
place, above thirty feet deep, and that 
they cculd be entered only from the top. 
This contrivance was, no doubt, suggested 
by the subterranean’ vaults of ancient 
Rome, destined for starving the vestals, 
who had transgressed the barbarous vow. 
Who knows, too, but that many of our 
fellow-creatures have shared a similar 
fate at Valladolid! It must be confessed, 
the agents of the: Holy Office were not 
very particular from whom they borrowed 
Blaquiere’s Spain and Spanish Revolution. 
new modes of punishment; their first of- 
ject seems to have been that of never 
omitting any opportunity of tormenting 
poor human nature, 
THE POPULATION. 
To trace those causes which have de- 
based the aristocracy of Spain, and 
placed many of its members on a level 
with the peasant and soldier, would, no 
doubt, be worthy of the’ most accurate 
painter of manners, and exceedingly use- 
ful to a legislator, If riches, titles and 
honours, insure no better inheritance to 
their future possessors, than degeneracy, 
ignorance and poverty, who would covet 
either one or the other? It has frequently 
occurred to me, while inhaling the dust 
and heat of the Prado, during the broil- 
ing autumnal evenings, which have 
scarcely yet gone by, and marking the 
long train of carriages which line its 
avenues, that if the ‘ancestors’ of those 
who rode in most of these vehicles could 
have foreseen the degraded and. effemi- 
nate state of their descendants, the 
would have rejected all the blandish- 
ments of fortune, rather than accept 
them on such humiliating conditions. 
The ancestors uf another class of the 
great, would have still more to reproach 
themselves with, if they could have fore- 
seen that fortunes amassed by gallantry in 
the field, or industry in commerce, would 
be squandered away on opera dancers, in 
brothels, and at the gaming-table ; night 
turned into day; and instead of that 
temperance which formed the ground: 
work of their own happiness, an indul- 
gence in every excess, A third class 
might well be shocked, when they con- 
trasted their own humble efforts to aid the 
people and comunidades of the sixteenth 
century, in opposing the encroachments of 
despotism, now dancing attendance at 
court, coveting its tinsel honours, and only 
ambitious of filling their pockets with the 
public money. The fact of its being con- 
sidered that there are no elements for a 
chamber of Peers, renders it unnecessary 
for me to say in what light the nobility are 
regarded. 
Priests and lawyers, who compose the 
second class of society in Spain, are, by 
far, the best informed, whatever use they 
make of their learning, It is unnecessary 
to say that both exercise an amazing in- 
fluence on the condition and morals of the 
people; the former by the example they 
show, and the precepts they instil; the 
latter by their power of promoting litiga- 
tion, and perpetuating the endless abuses 
of law. \ Unhappily it has long been a too 
general maxim with the members of these 
professions, 
