In the meantime a consultation was held to fix the place where the
prisoner should be confined. The alcade, or chief judge, was for putting him
into the town prison; but this was objected to, particularly by the corregidor,
who said, in Spanish, "In order to prevent the knowledge of his confinement
from reaching his countrymen, I will take the matter on myself, and be
answerable for the consequences"; upon which it was agreed that he should be
confined in the governor's house with the greatest secrecy.
This matter being determined, one of the sergeants went to Mr. Lithgow,
and begged his money, with liberty to search him. As it was needless to make
any resistance, the prisoner quietly complied, when the sergeant (after rifling
his pockets of eleven ducatoons) stripped him to his shirt; and searching his
breeches he found, inclosed in the waistland, two canvass bags, containing one
hundred and thirty-seven pieces of gold. The sergeant immediately took the
money to the corregidor, who, after having told it over, ordered him to clothe
the prisoner, and shut him up close until after supper.
About midnight, the sergeant and two Turkish slaves released Mr. Lithgow
from his then confinement, but it was to introduce him to one much more
horrible. They conducted him through several passages, to a chamber in a remote
part of the palace, towards the garden, where they loaded him with irons, and
extended his legs by means of an iron bar above a yard long, the weight of
which was so great that he could neither stand nor sit, but was obliged to lie
continually on his back. They left him in this condition for some time, when
they returned with a refreshment of food, consisting of a pound of boiled
mutton and a loaf, together with a small quantity of wine; which was not only
the first, but the best and last of the kind, during his confinement in this
place. After delivering these articles, the sergeant locked the door, and left
Mr. Lithgow to his own private contemplations.
The next day he received a visit from the governor, who promised him his
liberty, with many other advantages, if he would confess being a spy; but on
his protesting that he was entirely innocent, the governor left him in a rage,
saying, 'He should see him no more until further torments constrained him to
confess'; commanding the keeper, to whose care he was committed, that he should
permit no person whatever to have access to, or commune with him; that his
sustenance should not exceed three ounces of musty bread, and a pint of water
every second day; that he shall be allowed neither bed, pillow, nor coverlid.
"Close up (said he) this window in his room with lime and stone, stop up the
holes of the door with double mats: let him have nothing that bears any
likeness to comfort." These, and several orders of the like severity, were
given to render it impossible for his condition to be known to those of the
English nation.
In this wretched and melancholy state did poor Lithgow continue without
seeing any person for several days, in which time the governor received an
answer to a letter he had written, relative to the prisoner, from Madrid; and,
pursuant to the instructions given him, began to put in practice the cruelties
devised, which were hastened, because Christmas holy-days approached, it being
then the forty-seventh day since his imprisonment.
About two o'clock in the morning, he heard the noise of a coach in the
street, and sometime after heard the opening of the prison doors, not having
had any sleep for two nights; hunger, pain, and melancholy reflections having
prevented him from taking any repose.
Soon after the prison doors were opened, the nine sergeants, who had first
seized him, entered the place where he lay, and without uttering a word,
conducted him in his irons through the house into the street, where a coach
waited, and into which they laid him at the bottom on his back, not being able
to sit. Two of the sergeants rode with him, and the rest walked by the coach
side, but all observed the most profound silence. They drove him to a vinepress
house, about a league from the town, to which place a rack had been privately
conveyed before; and here they shut him up for that night.
At daybreak the next morning, arrived the governor and the alcade, into
whose presence Mr. Lithgow was immediately brought to undergo another
examination. The prisoner desired he might have an interpreter, which was
allowed to strangers by the laws of that country, but this was refused, nor
would they permit him to appeal to Madrid, the superior court of judicature.
After a long examination, which lasted from morning until night, there appeared
in all his answers so exact a conformity with what he had before said, that
they declared he had learned them by heart, there not being the least
prevarication. They, however, pressed him again to make a full discovery; that
is, to accuse himself of crimes never committed, the governor adding, "You are
still in my power; I can set you free if you comply, if not, I must deliver you
to the alcade." Mr. Lithgow still persisting in his innocence, the governor
ordered the notary to draw up a warrant for delivering him to the alcade to be
tortured.
In consequence of this he was conducted by the sergeants to the end of a
stone gallery, where the rack was placed. The encarouador, or executioner,
immediately struck off his irons, which put him to very great pains, the bolts
being so closely riveted that the sledge hammer tore away half an inch of his
heel, in forcing off the bolt; the anguish of which, together with his weak
condition, (not having the least sustenance for three days) occasioned him to
groan bitterly; upon which the merciless alcade said, "Villain, traitor, this
is but the earnest of what you shall endure."
When his irons were off, he fell on his knees, uttering a short prayer,
that God would be pleased to enable him to be steadfast, and undergo
courageously the grievous trial he had to encounter. The alcade and notary
having placed themselves in chairs, he was stripped naked, and fixed upon the
rack, the office of these gentlemen being to be witness of, and set down the
confessions and tortures endured by the delinquent.
It is impossible to describe all the various tortures inflicted upon him.
Suffice it to say that he lay on the rack for above five hours, during which
time he received above sixty different tortures of the most hellish nature; and
had they continued them a few minutes longer, he must have inevitably perished.
These cruel persecutors being satisfied for the present, the prisoner was
taken from the rack, and his irons being again put on, he was conducted to his
former dungeon, having received no other nourishment than a little warm wine,
which was given him rather to prevent his dying, and reserve him for future
punishments, than from any principle of charity or compassion.
As a confirmation of this, orders were given for a coach to pass every
morning before day by the prison, that the noise made by it might give fresh
terrors and alarms to the unhappy prisoner, and deprive him of all possibility
of obtaining the least repose.
He continued in this horrid situation, almost starved for want of the
common necessaries to preserve his wretched existence, until Christmas day,
when he received some relief from Mariane, waiting-woman to the governor's
lady. This woman having obtained leave to visit him, carried with her some
refreshments, consisting of honey, sugar, raisins, and other articles; and so
affected was she at beholding his situation that she wept bitterly, and at her
departure expressed the greatest concern at not being able to give him further
assistance.
In this loathsome prison was poor Mr. Lithgow kept until he was almost
devoured by vermin. They crawled about his beard, lips, eyebrows, etc., so that
he could scarce open his eyes; and his mortification was increased by not
having the use of his hands or legs to defend himself, from his being so
miserably maimed by the tortures. So cruel was the governor, that he even
ordered the vermin to be swept on him twice in every eight days. He, however,
obtained some little mitigation of this part of his punishment, from the
humanity of a Turkish slave that attended him, who, when he could do it with
safety, destroyed the vermin, and contributed every refreshment to him that
laid in his power.
From this slave Mr. Lithgow at length received information which gave him
little hopes of ever being released, but, on the contrary, that he should
finish his life under new tortures. The substance of this information was that
an English seminary priest, and a Scotch cooper, had been for some time
employed by the governor to translate from the English into the Spanish
language, all his books and observations; and that it was commonly said in the
governor's house, that he was an arch-heretic.
This information greatly alarmed him, and he began, not without reason, to
fear that they would soon finish him, more especially as they could neither by
torture or any other means, bring him to vary from what he had all along said
at his different examinations.
Two days after he had received the above information, the governor, an
inquisitor, and a canonical priest, accompanied by two Jesuits, entered his
dungeon, and being seated, after several idle questions, the inquisitor asked
Mr. Lithgow if he was a Roman Catholic, and acknowledged the pope's supremacy?
He answered that he neither was the one nor did the other, adding that he was
surprised at being asked such questions, since it was expressly stipulated by
the articles of peace between England and Spain that none of the English
subjects should be liable to the Inquisition, or any way molested by them on
account of diversity in religion, etc. In the bitterness of his soul he made
use of some warm expressions not suited to his circumstances: "As you have
almost murdered me (said he) for pretended treason, so now you intend to make a
martyr of me for my religion." He also expostulated with the governor on the
ill return he made to the king of England, (whose subject he was) for the
princely humanity exercised towards the Spaniards in 1588, when their armada
was shipwrecked on the Scotch coast, and thousands of the Spaniards found
relief, who must otherwise have miserably perished.
The governor admitted the truth of what Mr. Lithgow said, but replied with
a haughty air that the king, who then only ruled Scotland, was actuated more by
fear than love, and therefore did not deserve any thanks. One of the Jesuits
said there was no faith to be kept with heretics. The inquisitor then rising,
addressed himself to Mr. Lithgow in the following words: "You have been taken
up as a spy, accused of treachery, and tortured, as we acknowledge, innocently:
(which appears by the account lately received from Madrid of the intentions of
the English) yet it was the divine power that brought those judgments upon you,
for presumptuously treating the blessed miracle of Loretto with ridicule, and
expressing yourself in your writings irreverently of his holiness, the great
agent and Christ's vicar upon earth; therefore you are justly fallen into our
hands by their special appointment: thy books and papers are miraculously
translated by the assistance of Providence influencing thy own countrymen."
This trumpery being ended, they gave the prisoner eight days to consider
and resolve whether he would become a convert to their religion; during which
time the inquisitor told him he, with other religious orders, would attend, to
give him such assistance thereto as he might want. One of the Jesuits said,
(first making the sign of the cross upon his breast), "My son, behold, you
deserve to be burnt alive; but by the grace of our lady of Loretto, whom you
have blasphemed we will both save your soul and body."
In the morning the inquisitor, with three other ecclesiastics, returned,
when the former asked the prisoner what difficulties he had on his conscience
that retarded his conversion; to which he answered, 'he had not any doubts in
his mind, being confident in the promises of Christ, and assuredly believing
his revealed will signified in the Gospels, as professed in the reformed
Catholic Church, being confirmed by grace, and having infallible assurance
thereby of the Christian faith.' To these words the inquisitor replied, "Thou
art no Christian, but an absurd heretic, and without conversion a member of
perdition." The prisoner then told him that it was not consistent with the
nature and essence of religion and charity to convince by opprobrious speeches,
racks, and torments, but by arguments deduced from the Scriptures; and that all
other methods would with him be totally ineffectual.
The inquisitor was so enraged at the replies made by the prisoner, that he
struck him on the face, used many abusive speeches, and attempted to stab him,
which he had certainly done had he not been prevented by the Jesuits; and from
this time he never again visited the prisoner.
The next day the two Jesuits returned, and putting on a very grave,
supercilious air, the superior asked him what resolution he had taken. To which
Mr. Lithgow replied that he was already resolved, unless he could show
substantial reasons to make him alter his opinion. The superior, after a
pedantic display of their seven sacraments, the intercession of saints,
transubstantiation, etc., boasted greatly of their Church, her antiquity,
universality, and uniformity; all of which Mr. Lithgow denied: "For (said he)
the profession of the faith I hold hath been ever since the first days of the
apostles, and Christ had ever his own Church (however obscure) in the greatest
time of your darkness."
The Jesuits, finding their arguments had not the desired effect, that
torments could not shake his constancy, nor even the fear of the cruel sentence
he had reason to expect would be pronounced and executed on him, after severe
menaces, left him. On the eighth day after, being the last of their
Inquisition, when sentence is pronounced, they returned again, but quite
altered both in their words and behavior after repeating much of the same kind
of arguments as before, they with seeming tears in their eyes, pretended they
were sorry from their heart he must be obliged to undergo a terrible death, but
above all, for the loss of his most precious soul; and falling on their knees,
cried out, "Convert, convert, O dear brother, for our blessed Lady's sake
convert!" To which he answered, "I fear neither death nor fire, being prepared
for both."
The first effects Mr. Lithgow felt of the determination of this bloody
tribunal was, a sentence to receive that night eleven different tortures, and
if he did not die in the execution of them, (which might be reasonably expected
from the maimed and disjointed condition he was in) he was, after Easter holy-
days, to be carried to Grenada, and there burnt to ashes. The first part of
this sentence was executed with great barbarity that night; and it pleased God
to give him strength both of body and mind, to stand fast to the truth, and to
survive the horrid punishments inflicted on him.
After these barbarians had glutted themselves for the present, with
exercising on the unhappy prisoner the most distinguished cruelties, they again
put irons on, and conveyed him to his former dungeon. The next morning he
received some little comfort from the Turkish slave before mentioned, who
secretly brought him, in his shirt sleeve, some raisins and figs, which he
licked up in the best manner his strength would permit with his tongue. It was
to this slave Mr. Lithgow attributed his surviving so long in such a wretched
situation; for he found means to convey some of these fruits to him twice every
week. It is very extraordinary, and worthy of note, that this poor slave, bred
up from his infancy, according to the maxims of his prophet and parents, in the
greatest detestation of Christians, should be so affected at the miserable
situation of Mr. Lithgow that he fell ill, and continued so for upwards of
forty days. During this period Mr. Lithgow was attended by a negro woman, a
slave, who found means to furnish him with refreshments still more amply than
the Turk, being conversant in the house and family. She brought him every day
some victuals, and with it some wine in a bottle.
The time was now so far elapsed, and the horrid situation so truly
loathsome, that Mr. Lithgow waited with anxious expectation for the day, which,
by putting an end to his life, would also end his torments. But his melancholy
expectations were, by the interposition of Providence, happily rendered
abortive, and his deliverance obtained from the following circumstances.
It happened that a Spanish gentleman of quality came from Grenada to
Malaga, who being invited to an entertainment by the governor, informed him of
what had befallen Mr. Lithgow from the time of his being apprehended as a spy,
and described the various sufferings he had endured. He likewise told him that
after it was known the prisoner was innocent, it gave him great concern. That
on this account he would gladly have released him, restored his money and
papers, and made some atonement for the injuries he had received, but that,
upon an inspection into his writings, several were found of a very blasphemous
nature, highly reflecting on their religion, that on his refusing to abjure
these heretical opinions, he was turned over to the Inquisition, by whom he was
finally condemned.
While the governor was relating this tragical tale, a Flemish youth
(servant to the Spanish gentleman) who waited at the table, was struck with
amazement and pity at the sufferings of the stranger described. On his return
to his master's lodgings he began to revolve in his mind what he had heard,
which made such an impression on him that he could not rest in his bed. In the
short slumbers he had, his imagination pointed to him the person described, on
the rack, and burning in the fire. In this anxiety he passed the night; and
when the morning came, without disclosing his intentions to any person
whatever, he went into the town, and inquired for an English factor. He was
directed to the house of a Mr. Wild, to whom he related the whole of what he
had heard pass the preceding evening, between his master and the governor, but
could not tell Mr. Lithgow's name. Mr. Wild, however, conjectured it was he, by
the servant's remembering the circumstance of his being a traveller, and his
having had some acquaintance with him.
On the departure of the Flemish servant, Mr. Wild immeidately sent for the
other English factors, to whom he related all the paritculars relative to their
unfortunate countryman. After a short consultation it was agreed that an
information of the whole affair should be sent, by express, to Sir Walter
Aston, the English ambassador to the king of Spain, then at Madrid. This was
accordingly done, and the ambassador having presented a memorial to the king
and council of Spain, obtained an order for Mr. Lithgow's enlargement, and his
delivery to the English factor. This order was directed to the governor of
Malaga; and was received with great dislike and surprise by the whole assembly
of the bloody Inquisition.
Mr. Lithgow was released from his confinement on the eve of Easter
Sunday, when he was carried from his dungeon on the back of the slave who had
attended him, to the house of one Mr. Bosbich, where all proper comforts were
given him. It fortunately happened that there was at this time a squadron of
English ships in the road, commanded by Sir Richard Hawkins, who being informed
of the past sufferings and present situation of Mr. Lithgow, came the next day
ashore, with a proper guard, and received him from the merchants. He was
instantly carried in blankets on board the Vanguard, and three days after was
removed to another ship, by direction of the general Sir Robert Mansel, who
ordered that he should have proper care taken of him. The factor presented him
with clothes, and all necessary provisions, besides which they gave him two
hundred reals in silver; and Sir Richard Hawkins sent him two double pistoles.
Before his departure from the Spanish coast, Sir Richard Hawkins demanded
the delivery of his papers, money, books, etc., but could not obtain any
satisfactory answer on that head.
We cannot help making a pause here to reflect how manifestly Providence
interfered in behalf of this poor man, when he was just on the brink of
destruction; for by his sentence, from which there was no appeal, he would have
been taken, in a few days, to Grenada, and burnt to ashes; and that a poor
ordinary servant, who had not the least knowledge of him, nor was any ways
interested in his preservation, should risk the displeasure of his master, and
hazard his own life, to disclose a thing of so momentous and perilous a nature,
to a strange gentleman, on whose secrecy depended his own existence. By such
secondary means does Providence frequently interfere in behalf of the virtuous
and oppressed; of which this is a most distinguished example.
After lying twelve days in the road, the ship weighed anchor, and in about
two months arrived safe at Deptford. The next morning, Mr. Lithgow was carried
on a feather bed to Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, where at that time was the
king and royal family. His majesty happened to be that day engaged in hunting,
but on his return in the evening, Mr. Lithgow was presented to him, and related
the particulars of his sufferings, and his happy delivery. The king was so
affected at the narrative, that he expressed the deepest concern, and gave
orders that he should be sent to Bath, and his wants properly supplied from his
royal munificence. By these means, under God, after some time, Mr. Lithgow was
restored from the most wretched spectacle, to a great share of health and
strength; but he lost the use of his left arm and several of the smaller bones
were so crushed and broken, as to be ever after rendered useless.
Notwithstanding that every effort was used, Mr. Lithgow could never obtain
any part of his money or effects, although his majesty and the ministers of
state interested themselves in his behalf. Gondamore, the Spanish ambassador,
indeed, promised that all his effects should be restored, with the addition of
1000 Pounds English money, as some atonement for the tortures he had undergone,
which last was to be paid him by the governor of Malaga. These engagements,
however, were but mere promises; and although the king was a kind of guarantee
for the well performance of them, the cunning Spaniard found means to elude the
same. He had, indeed, too great a share of influence in the English council
during the time of that pacific reign, when England suffered herself to be
bullied into slavish compliance by most of the states and kings in Europe.
The Story of Galileo
The most eminent men of science and philosophy of the day did not escape
the watchful eye of this cruel despotism. Galileo, the chief astronomer and
mathematician of his age, was the first who used the telescope successfully in
solving the movements of the heavenly bodies. He discovered that the sun is the
center of motion around which the earth and various planets revolve. For making
this great discovery Galileo was brought before the Inquisition, and for a
while was in great danger of being put to death.
After a long and bitter review of Galileo's writings, in which many of his
most important discoveries were condemned as errors, the charge of the
inquisitors went on to declare, "That you, Galileo, have upon account of those
things which you have written and confessed, subjected yourself to a strong
suspicion of heresy in this Holy Office, by believing, and holding to be true,
a doctrine which is false, and contrary to the sacred and divine Scripture--
viz., that the sun is the center of the orb of the earth, and does not move
from the east to the west; and that the earth moves, and is not the center of
the world."
In order to save his life. Galileo admitted that he was wrong in thinking
that the earth revolved around the sun, and swore that--"For the future, I will
never more say, or assert, either by word or writing, anything that shall give
occasion for a like suspicion." But immediately after taking this forced oath
he is said to have whispered to a friend standing near, "The earth moves, for
all that."
Summary of the Inquisition
Of the multitudes who perished by the Inquisoition throughout the world,
no authentic record is now discoverable. But wherever popery had power, there
was the tribunal. It had been planted even in the east, and the Portuguese
Inquisition of Goa was, until within these few years, fed with many an agony.
South America was partitioned into provinces of the Inquisition; and with a
ghastly mimickry of the crimes of the mother state, the arrivals of viceroys,
and the other popular celebrations were thought imperfect without an auto da
fe. The Netherlands were one scene of slaughter from the time of the decree
which planted the Inquisition among them. In Spain the calculation is more
attainable. Each of the seventeen tribunals during a long period burned
annually, on an average, ten miserable beings! We are to recollect that this
number was in a country where persecution had for ages abolished all religious
differences, and where the difficulty was not to find the stake, but the
offering. Yet, even in Spain, thus gleaned of all heresy, the Inquisition could
still swell its lists of murders to thirty-two thousand! The numbers burned in
effigy, or condemned to penance, punishments generally equivalent to exile,
confiscation, and taint of blood, to all ruin but the mere loss of worthless
life, amounted to three hundred and nine thousand. But the crowds who perished
in dungeons of torture, of confinement, and of broken hearts, the millions of
dependent lives made utterly helpless, or hurried to the grave by the death of
the victims, are beyond all register; or recorded only before HIM, who has
sworn that "He that leadeth into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that
killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword."
Such was the Inquisition, declared by the Spirit of God to be at once the
offspring and the image of the popedom. To feel the force of the parentage, we
must look to the time. In the thirteenth century, the popedom was at the summit
of mortal dominion; it was independent of all kingdoms; it ruled with a rank of
influence never before or since possessed by a human scepter; it was the
acknowledged sovereign of body and soul; to all earthly intents its power was
immeasurable for good or evil. It might have spread literature, peace, freedom,
and Christianity to the ends of Europe, or the world. But its nature was
hostile; its fuller triumph only disclosed its fuller evil; and, to the shame
of human reason, and the terror and suffering of human virtue, Rome, in the
hour of its consummate grandeur, teemed with the monstrous and horrid birth of
the INQUISITION!
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Jeremiah 17:18 (KJV)