, 1913-11-15

moment . Dub III lI1OSC NhO SlON" PO'
q, the well being of the body reacts through
the mind upon q whole nation where IN a
lesser man it affects only the affairs of q
person or Il family. The author draws with
skill the character and the progress of the
malady of this celebrated mailman, and
displays the curious and minute zeal Of the
fanaticism With which he was devoured.
The mind which could devise the fortunes
and treacheries of the daily practice of the
Holy Office in Spain aud yet prohibit an
inouisitor to visit a newly-racked victim for
fear that the presence Of his %torturer might
cause the poor soul to commit the sin OF
anger, or gravcly inyeigh against an actual
shedding OF blood in the process Of lntlcnn8
torture, could not be considered as directing
the movements of u sane man. The readers
Of Poe and OTHER writer's who have dealt
with the later history of the InqulsltIon IN
the lioht eth er of history or their oWn ma
gination have pictured u variety of fortunes
designed with an ingenuity which would
have done credit to the exquisite cruelty
of a Chinaman or an Iroquois. Torquemada,
however, was content with a simpler, but
hardly less effective, series of penalties Mr..
Sabatini describes at length the practice OF
the Holy Office and one Is struck not less
by the Injustice, according to our present
standards, OF the procedure OF denuHclatlon,
trial, and admissibllity of evidence as by
the actual iuhumanity Of the treatment met
ell out TO the victims. One of the cruelest
rules was that which forbad any Catholic
to assist or shelter a hertlc, the penalty
being an Indictment for heresy. IN virtue
of this o prisoners counsel would desert
him when most in need of every assistance
he could get.
The author pictures the early stages of
that horrible blight which ruined the life
of Spain, aud follows the progress of it's
advance. Here and there its advent was
met with armed resistance, in other places
with preferred brides, or appeals to the
Catholic Kings, or to the Pope Every
artli Q was in vain the ruler Of the lnquisi-
tion fought down all opposition and con
quered with treachery or laWlessness on his
own part whore he could not win by the
actual force of the civil authority which
was placed at his disposal. Mr.. Sabatini
describes the procedure Of Il trial before the
Holy Office and the consequent auto
du F6, and provides Illustrations Of the
grotesque penitential garments inflicted
upon tn unhappy victims, the pattern Of
which varied according to the enormlty OF
the wearer's spiritual offences. 1t must be
remembered, however, in extenualon of the
Inquisition that it permitted q victim to be
reconciled to the Church even after the fag-
gots which we're to burn him alive had been
lit, and in this case the mercy of immediate
strangulation was accorded. Such belated
repentance docs not seem to have removed
the legal faint OF heresy from bis descend
ants; for the rule which the Holy Office i'm
posed upon the State WAS that the offspring
of h%oretics were incapable of holding any
honorable office, or inheriting their proper
ty, although themselves of unblemished
faith.
In his preface the author very rightly
quotes Lecky, in order that 10 one should
preen himself on the superior humanity Of
any one branch of christianity, during the
period of the Reformation and Immediately
afterwards. II the Holy Office was the crea-
tion of the Church OF Rome, which 'perse-
cuted to the full extent of the power of her
clergy, and that power was very gleat, " it
must also be remembered that "the persecu-
ton of which every Protestant Church was
guilty was measured by the same rule, but
clerical influence in Protestant countries was
comparatively weak" NJ. Sabatini's book is
q useful, if unpleasant, but Of history. We
may think Torquemada to have been mad,
and his inquisitors iends in human shape,
but at least we must remember that Spain
-. -~L H. II, a~,okn- r-1;oI ~nrnit&ol