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Inquisition, not employed as familiars in the procession. The train 

 ~Y"" ' moves -lowly along, the great bell of the cathedral toll- 

 ing nt proper intervals. 



We hurry over the rest of this dreadful scene. At 

 the place of execution, stakes are set up according to 

 the number of the sufferers. They are usually about 

 twelve feet in height, and at the bottom of each there is 

 placed n considerable quantity of dry furze. The ne- 

 gative and the.relapsed are first strangled at the stake, 

 and afterwards burnt. The convicted and impenitent, 

 or the professed, as they are otherwise called, are burnt 

 alive. To these, certain Jesuits who are appointed to 

 attend them, address many exhortations, imploring 

 them to be reconciled to the church of Rome, but com- 

 monly without effect. The executioner therefore as- 

 cends, and turns the prisoners off from the ladder, upon 

 a small board fastened to the' stake, within half a yard 

 of the top ; and the Jesuits having declared, "that they 

 leave them to the devil, who is standing at their elbow," 

 to receive their souls as soon as they have quitted their 

 bodies, a great shout is raised, and the whole multitude 

 unite in crying, " let the dogs' beards be trimmed, let 

 the dogs' beards be trimmed." This is done by thrust- 

 ing flaming furze, tied to the end of a long pole, against 

 their faces ; and the process is often continued till 

 the features of the prisoners are all wasted away, and 

 they can no longer be known by their looks. The 

 furze at the bottom of the stake is then set on fire ; but 

 as the sufferers are raised to the height of ten feet above 

 the ground, the flame seldom reaches beyond their 

 knees, so that they are really roasted, and not burnt to 

 death. " Yet, though out of hell," as Dr. Geddes ex- 

 presses it, " there cannot be a more lamentable specta- 

 cle than this," it is beheld by people of both sexes, and 

 of all ages, with the utmost demonstrations of joy, a 

 bull feast or a farce being dull entertainments compa- 

 red with an " auto dafe." 



In finishing the account which we meant to give 

 of the inquisition, it is distressing to state, that this 

 most detestable tribunal, after having been abolished 

 in Spain by the orders of Napoleon, has been re- 

 stored under Ferdinand VII. surnamed " the be- 

 loved,'' a prince, reinstated in his possessions, and 

 established on his throne, by the magnanimous ex- 

 ertions of the British people. The order for the 

 restoration of the Holy Office was dated at Madrid, 

 21st of July, 1814, and bears the signature of "I 

 the King." It was followed on the 5th of April 

 1815, by a solemn declaration on the part of D. Fran- 

 cisco Xavier Miar y Campillo, the Spanish inquisitor- 

 general, offering a term of grace to those who had fall- 

 en into the crime of heresy, and requiring them to 

 purge their consciences by confession, and to be re- 

 conciled to the church. Both the king and the inqui- 

 sitor speak of changes and modifications ; and the lat- 

 ter, in particular, takes notice of the " sweetness and 

 charity" which are now to be used in the ecclesiastical 

 procedure. Strange things have happened in our day ; 

 but we should hope, that though the secret prisons of 

 the inquisition may remain, and its solitary and hope- 

 less confinement, and the agony of its torture, we shall 



cum notis. Ca-saris Caracas, Lupd. 1669. Lucerna In- 

 attuztnrum. Fr. Bernardi Comensis. SimancasDeC^/w- 

 licis Imtttuliombus. Royas De Hcercticis, tyc. Ugolini 

 fractal. Je Harelicis. Gonsaivi Inquisit. Hispanic. Aries 

 Veleclte. Du Cange, Voce Inquisitio. Liruborch's Hist. 



of the Inqiihilion. Dugdale's Spanish Inquisition.. Vol. Insanity. 

 taire's Universal Hist. Supplement to vol. i. p. 22-1, and ^^"Y"" * 

 vol. iii. p. 177. Geddes' f leJb of the Inquisition in Portu- 

 gal. Buchanan's EccU statical Researches}^. 1(JS. . (h) 

 INSANITY. This word ought, from its etymolo- 

 gy, to signify " want of soundness," or " want of 

 health. 1 ' It is applied, in the English language, to de- 

 note an unsound state of the mental powers. It isgene- 

 rally used as synonymous with " mental derangement." 

 But it is more proper to consider it as including a 

 greater extent of malady, by comprehending cases in 

 which the mental powers are in themselves deficient, as 

 well as those in which they are disordered. 



It is a matter of great importance to fix the definition Importance 

 and characters of insanity with such precision,^ to ren- l)f u<ler- 

 der the practical application of just principles on thesub- 'J 

 ject a matter of certainty. The imputation of insanity to s 

 any individual brings after it themost serious consequen- 

 ces ; as it subjects him, in the best regulated communi- 

 ties, to the loss of the common privileges of a man and 

 a citizen ; and, in certain states of society, and during 

 the prevalence of certain opinions, is followed by sub- 

 jection to the lowest degradation, to utter contempt, to 

 horror, and even to cruelty. As soon as a man has- 

 been declared insane, it has too often happened that 

 he has not only been excluded from the common enjoy- 

 ments of society, but cut off from all that considera- 

 tion and tenderness by which comfort is preserved, 

 and has been committed to the custody of persons who 

 had no interest in his recovery or welfare, and from 

 whom no dutiful line of conduct was exacted or expect- 

 ed. The rash application of such an imputation is an 

 event the possibility of which, under these circum- 

 stances, cannot be thought of without horror. But, 

 even under the prevalence of the most humane princi- 

 ples, and the most considerate and discriminating treat- 

 ment of the different descriptions of insane subjects, 

 the question does not lose its importance, When ought 

 any individual to be pronounced insane ? 



Human minds are so differently constituted; their i ti difficul- 

 excellencies and defects are so often and so strangely ty. 

 blended, and contrasts so striking present themselves 

 in the mental features of the same individuals ; the gra- 

 dations of mental qualities and mental states are like- 

 wise so numerous, and difficult to separate from one 

 another, that this question is as hard as. it is momen- 

 tous to solve. 



Practical distinctions, with a view to legal proceed- Modeot 

 ings, therefore, are very properly regulated by the ef- 

 fects which the mental character and state produce on 

 those parts of conduct which are es-ential to man as a 

 member of society, and the safety and suitableness of 

 allowing him to remain at large, and manage his own 

 property and interests. This is more kept in view than 

 the minute analysis of the mode in which the mental 

 operations are conducted. It is a common adage, that 

 the chief difference between a fool and a wise man is, 

 that the wise man has sufficient art to conceal his defi- 

 ciencies. We only descend a grade lower, when we 

 distinguish an insane from a sane mind, than in des- 

 cribing what we commonly call a fool in contradistinc- 

 tion to a wise man. It is often a flat and total loss of a 

 view of his relationship to other men, in addition to 

 those follies which are common to him with many 

 other persons, that decides a man to be insane. 



It often appears an important point, when an atro- 

 cious action has been perpetrated, to determine whe- 

 ther it should be ascribed to insanity or to crime. But, 

 it may be observed, that every case in which this point 



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