I N Q 
Lamentable as were the effeCts of the eftablifhment of 
this tribunal in Spain, its introduction is attributed to the 
ambition of the two proud monks, Torquemada and 
Ximenes ; the former of whom ufed it to open the way 
for him to the cardinalate, and the latter to fecure him- 
felf in the office of prime minifter. How dearly did Spain 
pay for their elevation ! The inquifition having, by vir¬ 
tue of the bulls of Sixtus IV. been eftablifhed in the king¬ 
doms of Arragon, Valencia, and Caftile, and a few years 
afterward throughout all Spain, Torquemada was made a 
cardinal and grand inquifitor. “ Of this high dignity he 
fhowed himfelf worthy ; he held it fourteen years, pro¬ 
ceeded againft more than 100,000 perfons, condemned 
6000 to the flames, enriched his order by their effeCfs, 
and died (fays his biographer,) in the odour of holinefs.'" B; 
this odour of holinefs what it may, we are confident that 
it will not prevent the memory of Torquemada from 
ftinking to the remoteft ages. 
Not fatisfied with degrading and persecuting the peo¬ 
ple, this infolent tribunal held itfelf fuperior to kings, 
and, under the pretext of herefy, vilified their fame and 
infulted their, alhes. We do not recoiled that Dr. Ro¬ 
be r-tfon has taken notice of the circumitance ; but M. La- 
■vallee informs us that, Charles V. not having encouraged the 
inquifition, the foundnefs of his faith was in revenge call¬ 
ed in queltion, after his deceafe, by the members of the 
holy office. No fooner was he dead, than they vifited the 
cell which he occupied in the monaftery of St. Juftus, and 
on the walls of which the emperor had written fome fen- 
tences on juftification and grace. Thefe fentences, they 
pretended, favoured of Lutheranifm ; but their holy rage 
knew no bounds, when, on opening the will of Charles V. 
they found very few pious legacies, and no provifion for fay¬ 
ing mafles. What a crime fora king to die without leav¬ 
ing money to monks for faying prayers! 
But we need not wonder that the inquifition fiiould 
canvas the adions df kings. Its power was fo very great 
about the year 16S5, that it was declared at Rome, “ that 
its tribunal was on certain occafions above that of the 
pope.” And this evidently appeared in the cafe of Mo¬ 
linos, whofe followers were called Molinifts, and Quietifts. 
Innocent XI. (Odefcalchi) had greatly favoured and pro¬ 
tected Molinos, and had entertained him in the Vatican, 
his palace. When the inquifition thought fit (at the in- 
ftigation of Louis XIV.) to proceed againft Molinos, they 
reported .that the pope was a favourer of the herefy of 
quietifm ; and proceeded fo far as to depute certain per¬ 
fons to examine him, “ not (as they faid) in quality of fo- 
vereign pontiff, Chrift’s vicar, fucceflor of St. Peter, &c. 
but as a private individual.” What palled at that extra¬ 
ordinary conference has never been revealed ; but the re- 
fult was, that the pope gave up Molinos to perfecution, 
imprifonment, and death. See Molinos. 
Since the abolition of the inquifition in Spain, a very 
mafterly hiftory of it, up to that period, has been written 
and publifhed at Paris by J. Lavallee, a member of the le¬ 
gion of honour. From this we fhall firfl extraff a fliort 
account of the introduction of the inquifition into Portu¬ 
gal. “ Hiftory has fhown with what addrefs Torquemada 
carried on his projeCt in Spain, and what fuccefs attended 
it. A monk of his own order employed neither fo much 
time nor fo much finefle to introduce the inquifition at 
Lifbon. This monk, in 1557, in the reign of John III. 
prefented himfelf to the king, pfoducing a brief from pope 
Paul IV. of which he faid he was the bearer, and by which 
the creation of a tribunal of the inquifition was ordained. 
It is neceflafy to advert to thefe times of ignorance and 
fuperltition, and to call to mind the fhameful flavery in 
which the court of Rome held kings, in order to conceive 
the little caution which was employed in al'certaining the 
truth of this monk’s pretenfions, and the reality of his 
million. He fpoke : they heard, trembled, and obeyed. 
A grand inquifitor was appointed ; he feleCfed his agents ; 
the tribunal was created, arranged, and inltalled 5 it en» 
Vql. XI. No. 738. 
I N Q Joy 
tered on its fun&ions; and in a few months the prifons 
were crammed with victims, blood flowed, and the Ta¬ 
gus was empurpled; but it was only on the newly-con¬ 
verted Jews that its rage was exerted at that time. In 
the mean time, the truth was divulged, and it was difqc- 
vered that this monk was an impoftor, that he had re¬ 
ceived no miffion from the holy fee, and that his brief 
was a forgery. He was confequently arrefted, tried, con- 
viCIed, and lentenced to the galleys. It may be thought 
that this difeovery would neceflarily lead to the fuppref- 
fion of an inftitution which owed its origin to an impef- 
ture; but no fuch thing. They did not fo much as dream 
of itsabolirion, and the inquifition continued its cruelties.” 
The audacity of a tribunal thus furreptitioufly intro¬ 
duced furpafled all that had been witnefled even in Spain 
and Italy. At Venice, the government was awake to the 
evils refulting from what was called, by a ftrange profa¬ 
nation of the name, the Holy Office ; and, when the fena- 
tors at laft fubmitted to its introduction, they clogged it 
with fuch reftriCfions, and exercifed over it fo vigilant a 
fuperintendance, that the popes were mortified by the 
ifi'ue of the experiment. The Venetians, by an extraor¬ 
dinary energy, counteracted the efforts often made by the 
inquifitors to extend their authority, and prevented their 
affefted zeal againft; herefy from invading the functions 
of government. 
To manifeft the hoftility of the inquifition to the pro- 
grefs of knowledge, Monf. Lavallee cites the circum- 
Itances which occurred at Madrid relative to the propofed 
Spanifh verfion of Dr. Robertfon’s Hiftory of America. 
Though this work had been approved by the Spanifti li¬ 
terati, and though it had obtained for its celebrated au¬ 
thor the honour of being ele&ed a member of the Royal 
Academy at Madrid, the inquifition condemned the pro¬ 
pofed tranflation ; and, in the month of January 1779, an 
ediCt appeared, prohibiting the reading of it throughout 
all Spain. Other inftar.ces are produced, to fliow how 
this fword of Damorles, conftantly fufpended over the 
head of genius, muft have reftrained all its nobleft exer¬ 
tions ; and how impoffible it was for philofophy and elo¬ 
quence to difplay their awakening powers under fuch a 
foul-appalling inftitution. Every idea of reform was (ti¬ 
tled in its birth, and the fentiment of an honeft indigna¬ 
tion at vice dared not clothe itfelf in expreflion. “The 
thunders,” fays the author, “ which were fo often dis¬ 
charged by Bofl'uet and Bourdaloue againft the unbecom¬ 
ing levities of the priefthood, would have been heavy 
crimes in the eyes of thefe inquifitorial monks ; and the 
Lutrin of Boileau would have conducted him to an auto- 
da-fe." 
The laft part of M. Lavallee’s labours difplays the im¬ 
policy of the kings of Spain in protecting the inquifition, 
and afligns the reafo.n of its more fatal operation in that 
country than in Italy. He moreover ex poles the abfur- 
dities of preachers and writers in favour of the inquifi¬ 
tion ; (quoting from one of the latter, among other non- 
fenle, the curious affertion that “ God was the firlt grand 
inquifitor, and Adam and Eve the firlt heretics ; that Je- 
fus Chrift was alfo an inquifitor, and commenced his mif¬ 
fion by the death of Herod ;”) depifts the extreme luxury 
in which the grand inquifitors lived; and takes his leave 
of the reader by difplaying the decree of Napoleon, by 
w hich this horrid engine of lpiritual and temporal tyranny 
is abolifhed for ever. 
INQUIS'ITIVE, adj. \_inquifilivus, Lat.J Curious; bufy 
in fearch ; aCtive to pry into any thing : with about, after, 
into, or of, and fometimes to. —This idlenefs, together 
with fear of imminent nvifehiefs, have been the caulb 
that the Irifh were ever the moll inquifnive people after 
news of any nation in the world. Davies. —He is not in- 
quifitive into the reafonablenefs of indifferent and innocent 
commands. Taylor. —It can be no duty to write his heart 
upon his forehead, and to give all the iuqufitive and ma¬ 
licious, world a furvey of thole thoughts, which it Is the 
F f prerogative 
