his counsel, but who was afraid of committing his own safety. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, heresy could not be proved against him; and he was only condemned to three years' imprisonment, and to a public profession of the Romish faith. When his liberty was restored to him, he hastened to visit the Lutherans in Valladolid. On his return to Seville, 1560, death snatched him from the general persecution which was then impending. Had he lived longer, he would have expired in the flames, to which his bones were consigned in 1560. The trial of Egidius led to discoveries, which, being followed up, put the Inquisition, in some measure, in possession of the secret protestant association. A few priests, who felt their danger, left the kingdom; and Julian Hermandez quitted Seville, on pretence of a commercial speculation, but in reality to promote the diffusion of the reform doctrines by the introduction of protestant books. On his return he was seized, tortured, and convicted of having smuggled a great many works, concealed in double casks, holding a small portion of French wine between an outer and an inner range of staves.

66

'But the circumstance that was most fatal to the interests of the Spanish Protestants, was the unfortunate disclosures made by a female who had embraced that faith. Maria Gomez was a widow who lived as housekeeper with Dr. Zafra, vicar of

26

FATAL COMMUNICATION.

the parish of St. Vincent, at Seville. After the death of Egidius, Zafra was among the chief leaders of the Protestants, and Maria the most constant attendant at the secret meetings where her master officiated. Whether the effort which the abjuration of her former religious principles had cost her, was such as to impair her health, or the fear of detection had dwelt too painfully and too long on her mind, the poor woman became deranged, and it was necessary to confine her. In this state she eluded the vigilance of her keepers, ran straight to the Inquisition, and made a complete disclosure of all she knew. Her derangement was so evident, that Zafra would not confirm her account by his flight, a measure which would, he knew, be so injurious to his friends. The Inquisition allowed the alarm of the Protestants to subside, and, with the assistance of government, prepared to strike a final and decisive blow on a party whose strength they began to fear.

"When that tribunal had taken its measures with its usual secrecy, the Catholics of Spain learned with awful joy, that not only the prisons of the holy office were crowded with Lutherans, but convents and private houses had been converted into gaols, for the safe keeping of their heretical countrymen. Few of the accused had been able to escape. Zafra, who had the most reason to dread the consequences of the disclosure made by his

servant, delayed his flight until he was taken; but he was so fortunate as to break out of prison, and finally escape from his pursuers. Six monks of the Hieronymite convent, near Seville, fled out of the kingdom in time; but one or two having been detected in Flanders, preparing to embark for England, were seized by the Spanish authorities, and sent back to Spain, where they neither expected nor found mercy. The Lutherans of Valladolid were secured at the same time, and a bull obtained from the Pope, authorizing their execution, without allowing them the usual benefit of recantation, within a certain period.

"This bull being obtained, and the secret trials brought to a close earlier than usual, by the unsparing use of the rack; on the 21st of May, 1559, which was Trinity Sunday, the principal square of Valladolid presented one of the most splendid assemblies which Spain, then at the height of its glory, was able to display. Don Carlos, prince of Asturias, then fourteen years of age; his aunt, Jane of Austria, the grandees and ladies of their suite, and all the nobility and gentry of that ancient capital and its environs, filled up the seats, which surrounded the square in the form of an amphitheatre. In the middle of the square an extensive platform was raised, on which the inquisitors were seen, seated under a canopy, facing an altar, surmounted by a crucifix, and bearing the candle

mass.

sticks and sacred vessels for the celebration of Next to the altar stood a pulpit, from which the appointed preacher was to address the convicts; and from whence, at the conclusion of the act, their respective sentences were to be made public by the secretary of the Inquisition."

"O papa!" said Ellen; "what a solemn scene! And all to torture some poor creatures who differed in opinion from themselves. How could they have the heart to be so cruel ?"

"An auto-da-fe," my dear," has always been considered in Spain as a triumph of true Christianity, where the spectators rejoiced so completely in the victory of the church as to overlook the anguish of the sufferers. In the midst of that splendid assembly at Valladolid, there stood fourteen persons, men and women, condemned to die by fire; and by their side were sixteen persons sentenced to infamy, confiscation, and perpetual imprisonment. They all wore the coat of infamy, or san benito; a long slip of cloth, with an opening for the head, hanging loose before and behind, with a high pointed cap of coarse paper on their heads. Those who were to die had the figures of flames and devils on their dress. Near relatives, the sons and daughters of a wealthy citizen, composed the greatest part of the condemned group. They stood near the figure of a female, placed upon a deal box. It was the effigy of Leonor de

Vilero, their mother, whose bones were contained in the box, to be consumed in the same fire with her children. Augustin Cazalla, whom I before mentioned to you as the ladolid, was the eldest.

fatal marks of the rack.

protestant leader in ValHis dislocated limbs bore Pain and the love of life

made him recant his opinions. He had been deluded with the hopes of mercy till the day before his execution, yet not all the barbarity of his tyrants was sufficient to reanimate his courage. He died repenting his protestant belief. Let us not," said Mr. Delville, as his children struggled with tears; "let us not too harshly condemn him: our nature is frail, and the body weakens the mind. Who shall say the extremity of mental and corporeal torture he endured, in the dark recesses of the Inquisition, before his constancy gave way. In the second auto of 1559, thirteen more victims perished in the flames. Don Carlos Seso, a noble Venetian, died firmly and heroically at the stake. His wife, a descendant of the ancient kings of Castile, by a natural daughter of Peter the Cruel, wanted courage to follow her husband's example, and submitted to endure a life of infamy in prison."

66

Surely, sir," said Edward, "that was the hardest fate of the two."

"So I should think," said his father; "but it has been justly observed, that the timid die many