1824 ] 



Sketches oj the Inquisition, No. III. 



993 



demons and the spirits of malevolent men ; 

 the soiil is ever forced upwards by the 

 desire of happiness, but it is ever jiressed 

 downwards by the weight of iniquity ; 

 while the mind is continually harussed by 

 this melancholy reflection, — all the treasure 

 of celestial felicity I might have enjoyed, 

 liad I not barred the gates of heaven 

 against myself by my obstinate uiick- 

 edness." 



2. The subject solely possessing Ca), or 

 existing in (b), the state previously tnen- 

 tioned, its employment is accusative of the 

 inhering subject ; as {a) How amiahle und 

 delightful do clieerfulnegs and benevolence 

 render piety !' (b) Where innocence sat 

 enthroned, there, over her own stinging 

 reflections and tormenting fears, broods fell 

 despair.' — Hunter. 



3. The subject possessed (a), or af- 

 fected by (b), the state or energy previ- 

 ously mentioned, its employment is ob- 

 jective, or accusative of the object ; as (a) 

 ' Without being biassed or prejudiced, 

 Homer's Odyssey and Ariosto's Orlando 

 may well be compared.' — Voltaire, (b) 

 The remorse-stricken, broken-hearted, 

 criminal, can around him only view the 

 pall, the winding-sheet, the coffin, and the 

 grave.' — Frere. ' No man ought to look 

 upon the advantages of life (such a? riches, 

 honour, power, and the like,) as his pro- 

 perty, but merely as a trust, which God 

 has deposited with him, to be employed 

 for the use of his brethren.' — Swift. 



Simeon Shaw. 

 Burslem Grammar School. 



For tlie Monthly Magazine. 



SKETCHES q^ KF.LIGIOUS PEKSECU TIONi 



NO. in. 



THE Emperor Frederick II. had 

 been a pupil ofliinocont 111. and 

 declared himself the Protector of the 

 Inquisition. The plan of this work 

 ilocs not admit of detailiiijc its history 

 in Italy ; but it may be well to record 

 and preserve some leading particu- 

 lars of the ])eiiaities to be incurred 

 in the al)0ve law. 1. Heretics, con- 

 demned, as such, by the churcii, to be 

 delivered to secular justice, and punish- 

 ed in a manner proportioned to their 

 crime. 2. Should the dread of punish- 

 ment reclaim any to the unity of the 

 faith, such must submit to n canonical 

 penitence, and be shut up in % prison 

 for life. 3. If heretics should be found 

 in any part of the empire, the Inquisitors, 

 or zealous Catholics, may call upon the 

 judges to apprehend and detain them 

 as prisoners, until, after previous ex- 

 communication, they should be con- 

 demned and suilcr death. 4. That 

 such us should protect or support tiiein, 

 should undergo the same punisliincnt. 



6. That any person, after niaking ab- 

 juration, in the article of apparent 

 death, and relapsing; info heresy, on the 

 recovery of his hcallli, to incur the same 

 penalty. 6. The crime of iese majesty 

 divine, being greater than that of lesc 

 majesty human, and God punishing the 

 sins of t!ie fathers upon the children, 

 to teach them not to tread in their 

 steps, those of liere!ics, to the second 

 generation, to be declared incapable of 

 holding any public employment, or 

 enjoying any honours, cxce[)t in the 

 case of such children as should denounce 

 their own parents. 



Wherever the Inquisilion appeared, 

 it assumed a menacing attitude, but it 

 had not acquired the form of a perma- 

 nent tribunal, one principal end pro- 

 posed by the popes, at llie accession of 

 Gregory IX. to the pontifical throne. 

 Tills pojie exerted his influence so eflec- 

 tually, to promote the interests of the 

 Inquisition, that he at length succeeded. 

 As he had been a zealous protector of 

 St. Dominic de Guztnan, and the inti- 

 mate friend of St. Francis d'Assises, he 

 assigned t!ie functions of inquisitors to 

 the Dominican monks; but he joined 

 the Franciscans with them, sending 

 them into the provinces where there 

 were no religious of the order of St. 

 Dominic; and associating them also, 

 in their labours, in several places 

 where they were established. 



While the inquisitors were prose- 

 cuting heresies in France and Italy, 

 the pope's legates successively assem- 

 bled councils at Toulouse, at Melon, 

 and at Beziers, wherein they not only 

 renewed tlie former severe measures, 

 but added otitcrs, subject to the dispo- 

 sition of the inquisitors. In subslaiicc, 

 they purported, that all the inhabitants, 

 from tlie age of fourteen for men, and 

 twelve for women, should engage u[ion 

 oath to prosecute heretics; in case of 

 refusal, to be treated as |)ersons sus- 

 pected of heresy. That sucii as did not 

 appear, regularly three times a year, 

 before the Tribunal of Penitence, 

 should be treated as suspected persons ; 

 that every town wherein lieriMics should 

 he foimd, sliould pay a silver mark for 

 each, to the person that shall deiioiuice 

 and cause them to be apprehended ; 

 that houses, which have served for an 

 asylum to heretics, shall be razed to tlio 

 ground ; that all the property of here- 

 tics, and their accom])lices, shall be 

 confiscated, the children being excluded 

 from the smallest portion; that volun- 

 tary converts from heresy siiall not be 

 siilfercd to dwell in the same country ; 



that 



