BOWER. 
for it both fnowed and rained, I perceived a light at a dif- 
fancc; and, making towards i't, got into a kind of foot¬ 
path, but fo narrow and rugged, that I was obliged to 
lead ray horfe and feel my way with one foot, before I 
durfl move the other. Thus with much difficulty I at 
length readied the place where the light was, a poor little 
cottage ; and, knocking at. the door, was afked by a man 
within who 1 was, and what I wanted, I anfwered, that 
1 was a flranger, and had loll my way. He thereupon, 
opening the door, received and entertained me with all 
the hofpitality his poverty would admit of. The good 
woman exprefled as much fatisfadfion and good-nature in 
her countenance as her hulband, and I never palled a more 
comfortable night; and rto 'boner did I begin to Ifir in the 
morning, than the good man and his wife came both to 
call me to breakfaff on fome eggs, which providence, they 
Laid, had fupplied them with for that purpofe, I then 
took my leave ; but the good man vyduld by all means at¬ 
tend me to the high-road leaditig-to Bern, which, lie faid, 
was but two miles dillant from that place. But he infilled 
on my firft going back with him to fee the way I had come 
the riight before, the only way, he faid, I could have pof- 
fibly come from the neighbouring canton of Lucern. 1 
faw it, and fliuddered at the danger I had efcaped; for I 
found that 1 had walked and led my horfe along a very 
narrow path on the brink of a dreadful precipice. I reached 
Bern that night, and two days after got to BafiL There 
I met with a mod' friendly reception from one of the ini- 
nifters of the place, having been recommended to him by 
a letter from his brother at Bern. As a boat was to fail 
in two days, he entertained me very elegantly during that 
lime at his houfe; and 1 embarked the third day, leaving 
my horfe to my hod in return for his kindnefs. The com¬ 
pany in the boat confided of a few traders, of a great many 
vagabonds, the very refufe of the neighbouring nations, 
and fome criminals flying from judice. But I was not 
long with-them; for, the boat driking againd a rock not 
far from Strafburg, I refolved not to wait till it was re¬ 
fitted, but purfued my journey, partly in the common 
ftage-eoach, and partly on pod-horfes, through France 
into Flanders. 
“ Here I mud inform the reader, that though the cruel¬ 
ties ofthe inquifition had infpired me with great horror at 
their being encouraged under the name of religion, and I 
had thereupon begun to entertain many doubts concerning 
other dodtrines that I had till that time implicitly fwal- 
lowed, as mod Italian catholics do, without examination; 
neverthelefs, as I had not had an opportunity of thorough¬ 
ly examining them, being employed in (Indies of a quite 
different nature, I was not yet determined to quit either 
that church or the order. Having therefore got fafe into 
French Flanders, I repaired to the college of the Scotch 
Jefuits at Douay ; and, difeovering myfelf to the redtor, 
I acquainted him with the caufe of my hidden departure 
from Italy, and begged him to give notice of my arrival, 
as well as the motives of my flight, to Michael Angelo 
Tamburini, general of the order, and my particular friend. 
My repairing thus to a college of Jefuits, and putting my¬ 
felf in their power, is a plain proof that it was not becaufe 
1 was guilty of any crime, or to avoid the punifhment due 
to any crime, that I had fled from Italy : for, had that 
been the cafe, no man can think, that, inflead of repairing 
to Holland or England, as 1 might eatily have done, and 
bid the whole order defiance, I would have thus deliver¬ 
ed myfelf up to them, and put it in their power to inflidt 
on me what punilhment they pleafed. T he redfor wrote as 
1 had defired him to the general; and the general, taking 
no notice of my flight in his anfvver, diredled me to 'con¬ 
tinue where I was till further orders. I arrived at Douay 
eaily in May, and continued there till the latter end of 
June, when the redfor received a fecond letter from the 
general, acquainting him, that he had been commanded by 
the congregation of the inquifition to order me, wherever 
I was, back to Italy; to promife me in their name full 
pardon'and forgivenefs, if I obeyed; but, if I did not obey, 
3*3 
to treat me as an apoffate. He added, that the fame order 
had been tranfmitted foon after my flight to the nuncios at 
the different Roman-catholic courts ; and he therefore ad- 
vifed me to confult my own fafety without farther delay. 
'*• It is to be obferved here, that it is deemed apoffacy 
in a perfon of a religious order to quit his habit, ana with¬ 
draw, without the knowledge of his fuperiors, from the 
college, convent, or monaftery, in which they have placed 
him ; and that all bilhops are not only imppwered, but 
bound, to apprehend fuch an apoffate within the limits of 
their refpeclive jurifdidlions, and deliver him up to his 
fuperiors to be punilhed by them. As I had quitted the 
habit, and withdrawn from the college of Macerata, with¬ 
out leave of my fuperiors who had placed me there, I 
fhould have been treated as an apoffate, had I been dif- 
covered in my flight in a Roman-catholic country, even 
where no inquifition prevailed. But my returning volun¬ 
tarily, and refumirig the habit, cleared me from the guilt 
of apolfacy at the general’s tribunal, nay, and at that of- 
the inquifition itfelf. However, the congregation of the 
inquifition had it Hill in their power to oblige the .general 
to recal me to Italy, and to treat me as an apoffate if I did 
not obey ; difobedience to an exp refs command of a fupe- 
rior being deemed apolfacy, and puni filed as fuch with 
clofe confinement, and with bread and water for food till 
the order is complied with. That order the general re¬ 
ceived ; but his friendfhip for me, and his being fully- 
convinced of my innocence, the inquilitor himfelf having 
nothing; to lay to my charge but my flight, prompted him 
to warn me of the danger that threatened me. indeed I 
thought myfelf quite fafe in the dominions of France ; 
and fhould accordingly have lived there unmoleffed by the 
inquifition ; but as I had belonged to it, and was confe- 
quently privy to their diabolical proceedings, they were 
apprehenfive 1 fhould difeover them to the world; and it 
was to prevent me from fo doing, that they obliged the 
general to order me back to Italy, and promife me, in 
their name, a free pardon if 1 complied ; but to confine me 
for life if I did not comply with the order. 
“ Upon the receipt of the general’s letter, the redfor 
was of opinion, that I fhould repair, without lofs of time, 
to England, not only as the fafeft afylum, but as a place 
where 1 fhould foon recover my native language, and be 
ufefully employed, either there or in Scotland. I readily 
clofed with the redtor’s opinion, who went that very night 
out of town ; and in his abfence, but not without his pri¬ 
vity, I took one of the horfes of the college eai ly next 
morning, as if I were going to pafs a few days at Lille. 
But, fleering a different courfe, I reached Aire that night, 
and Calais the next day. No fooner did I alight at the 
inn, than I went down to the quay ; and endeavoured to 
engage fome fifbermen to carry me that night in one of 
their fmall veffels to England. This alarmed the guards 
of the harbour; and I fhould certainly have been appre¬ 
hended, as fufpedfed of fome great crime, and flying from 
juftice, had not lord Baltimore, whom 1 had the good 
luck to meet at the inn, informed of my danger, and pity¬ 
ing, my condition, attended me that moment with all his 
company to the port, and conveyed me immediately on¬ 
board his yacht. There I lay that night, leaving every 
thing that I had but the clothes on my back at the inn ; 
and the next day his Jordlhip fet me afhore at Dover, from 
whence 1 came in the common flags to London.-** 
This is the narrative which, after thirty years, Mr.Bower 
publifhed to the world. On his arrival in England he got 
introduced to Dr. Afpinwall and Dr. Clark. After feve- 
ral conferences with thefe gentlemen, and fome with Dr. 
Berkeley, bifiiop of Cloyne, then dean of Londonderry, 
added to his own reading and reafoning, he obtained, as 
he fays, the fulleft convidlion that many of the favourite 
dodfrines of Rome were not only evidently repugnant to 
feripture and reafon, but wicked, blafphemous, and ut¬ 
terly incopfiftent with the attributes of the fupremp and 
infinite Being. He therefore withdrew himfelf from the 
communion of the church without further dehay, quitted 
