in the council of Trent." Thus it is indisputably clear, that this pretended martyr was a violator of the peace, and suffered for invading the security of society, not for his religious opinions.

?

The next tale we shall notice is the following:-"Shortly after the coronation of Henry the second, a tailor was apprehended for working on a saint's day; being asked why he gave such an offence to religion, his reply was, 'I am a poor man, and have nothing but my labour to depend upon; necessity requires that I should be indus"trious, and my conscience tells me there is no day but the sabbatlı "which I ought to keep sacred from labour.' Having expressed him"self thus, he was committed to prison, and the affair being soon after rumoured at court, some of the nobles persuaded the king to be pre"sent at the trial. On the day appointed, the monarch appeared in a superb chair of state, and the bishop of Mascon was ordered to in"terrogate the prisoner. The tailor, on perceiving the king, paid his "obedience to him in the most respectful manner. The king was "much affected with his arguments, and seemed to muse; on which "the bishop exclaimed, 'He is an obstinate and impudent heretic; "let him be taken back to prison, and burnt to death.' The prisoner was accordingly conveyed to prison; and the bishop artfully insinu"ated, that the heretics, as he called the reformed, had many spe"cious arguments, which, at first hearing, appeared conclusive; but

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on examination, they were found to be false. He then endeavoured "to persuade the king to be present at the execution, who at length "consented, and repaired to a balcony which overlooked the place. "On seeing the king, the tailor fixed his eyes steadfastly upon him, “and even while the flames were consuming him, kept gazing in such a manner, as threw the monarch into visible confusion, and obliged "him to retire before the martyr was dead. He was so much shocked, 66 that he could not recover his spirits for some time; and what added "to his disquiet was, his continually dreaming, for many nights, that "he saw the tailor with his eyes fixed upon him, in the same manner "as during the execution." Whether this tale was invented as a counter-part of Henry the eighth's examination of Nicholson alias Lambert, for denying the real presence, we know not; but we cannot help thinking the poor tailor was highly honoured by the French king's receiving him in a superb chair of state. Monarchs now-a-days are not so condescending. But will any one, in his sober senses, believe that a king would trouble himself so much about a man's working on a saint's day? We think not; and when it is taken into consideration that there was not that system of taxation that now grinds the people to the earth; that there was not so much poverty, and consequently not so much necessity to work as in these days, we may put this story down as another fiction, invented to excite the ignorant to hatred against Catholicism. The relater would make us believe the tailor could make an impression upon the king though he could not on the bishop; and to get him burned, he is compelled to make the bishop a king, and the king a cypher. The bishop orders the poor tailor to prison and to be executed, and this too upon his bare command. Then the bishop persuades the king to be present, though he had before witnessed his merciful disposition towards the tailor. The king consents, and the

tailor fixes his eyes so steadfastly on the monarch, that not even the tortures of the fire could make him change his countenance, and the king was at length obliged to retire. But even here the tailor would not leave him, for his image continued to haunt his majesty for many nights, but how many Fox is not able, or was not willing, to declare. Really such stories as these, and so long and repeatedly told, and we lament to say, implicitly credited, reflect no great degree of sagacity on the part of the people of England. We have not seen its equal except in this same Book of Martyrs, where three men are represented hanging on a gibbet for eating roast goose on a Friday.

One more tale, and we will turn to another subjeet: "Peter Serre," writes Fox, was originally a priest, but reflecting on the errors of "Popery, he, at length, embraced the reformed religion, and learned "the trade of a shoe-maker. Having a brother at Toulouse, who was a "bigoted Roman Catholic, Serre, out of fraternal love, made a journey "to that city, in order to dissuade him from his superstitions: the bro"ther's wife not approving of his design, lodged a complaint against “him, on which he was apprehended, and made a full declaration of "his faith. The judge asked him concerning his occupation, to which " he replied, I have of late practised the trade of a shoemaker. “Of "late!" said the judge, 'and what did you practise formerly ?—That "I am almost ashamed to tell you,' exclaimed Serre, 'because it was "the vilest and most wicked occupation imaginable.' The judge, and all "who were present, from these words, supposed he had been a mur"derer or thief, and that what he spoke was through contrition. He I was, however, ordered to explain precisely what he meant; when, "with tears in his eyes, he exclaimed, 'O; I was formerly a POPISH "PRIEST! This reply so much exasperated the judge, that he con"demned Serre to be first degraded, then to have his tongue cut, and "afterwards to be burnt." Had we been Peter's judge we certainly should not have condemned him to the stake, but would have confined him to the lapstone till he had enough of it. Vile and wicked as the occupation of a Popish priest is represented to be, we think Peter Serre's case is almost a solitary one, for there have not been many priests, we believe, that have exchanged their breviary for a last, though many a cobbler has forsaken his last to become what is called a minister of the gospel, since the days of evangelical liberty, or rather self-interpreting licentiousness. Peter the cobbler, however, must have been better off than the poor tailor whose case we just noticed. Snip could not allow himself to be idle on a saint's day, but Snob could leave his work to convert his brother from Popery; and by a singular coincidence, both Snip aud Snob were burned for their pains, if we are to believe John Fox. When the reformed religion got the ascendency in this country, and the Catholic priests were made to quit their livings, that cobblers, tinkers, and weavers, might occupy them, [at least such is the statement of Dr. Heylin, a Protestant writer] the Catholic priests were so little inclined to leave their vile and wicked occupation, that our Protestant legislature absolutely found it necessary to offer them a bribe, and accordingly an act of parliament was passed allowing all apostate priests from the church of Rome an annuity of twenty pounds a year; but even this could not induce them to betray their trust; on

the contrary, they preferred death, dungeons, tortures, banishment, and every degree of persecution from "Protestant-ascendency," to the renouncement of their sacred profession. This is an incontestible fact, and can that be a vile and wicked occupation, when men who follow it, renowned for the superexcellent qualities of the mind, and spotless purity of character, cannot be induced to forsake it under circumstances of either terror or temptation? This is a question we would recommend the "few plain Christians" to ponder over well. They may get a few ignorant creatures to believe their tale about Peter Serre, but the sensible part of the people will think with us, that there is neither authenticity nor probability in the relations of John Fox; in a word, that they are too high coloured to be true.

HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE INQUISITION IN Spain, portugal,

ITALY, &c."

SUCH is the head of the fifth book of this Book of Martyrs, and a more fruitful theme to alarm the sensitive feelings of English Protestants was never invented. From our infancy we have been accustomed to hear of the terrible cruelties of the Popish inquisition, and we can well recollect listening to an itinerant vender of trash, who constantly attended Norwich market some forty years ago, holding forth in a canting, whining tone, on the blood-thirsty principles of the Catholic religion, to induce the gaping multitude to purchase his lies, which they did with avidity, and, no doubt, put them down as gospel facts. Young as we were then, the abominable lies we heard told for truths made an impression on our mind never to be erased; and we could not then help feeling indignant at that system of pretended religion, which had recourse to falsehood, calumny, misrepresentation, ay, every species of defamation and injustice, to excite prejudice and ill-will against the professors of truth. What we then heard stated as the principles of Catholics we knew to be palpable and barefaced lies, because we were then under a course of instruction by our venerable pastor, which inculcated and enforced the very opposite doctrines. The purest spirit of charity, we were told, was the corner-stone of the Catholic religion, and never have we known any other spirit to influence those who follow and practice the precepts of that religion. If men, professing to be Catholics, give way to their passions or suffer themselves to be governed by temporary policy, or unjust and cruel motives, religion itself is not to be condemned because such men make a mockery of or insult its divine mandates. Abuses we know have been committed, in the name of religion, by Catholics as well as Protestants, and this will always be the case while human nature remains what it is; but religion itself, that is pure and undefiled religion, being of divine origin, can never vary nor be any other than worthy of its divine Founder, who while on earth, went about doing good to all men, suffering evils from others, but offering none in return.

The first section commences with the " ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND "CRUELTIES OF THE INQUISITION," in the following words :-" When "the reformed religion began to diffuse the pure light of the gospel

"throughout Europe, the bigoted Roman Catholics, fearing the exposure of the frauds and abuses of their church, determined to leave no thing unattempted to crush the reformation in its infancy; pope In"nocent III. therefore instituted a number of inquisitors, or persons "who were to make inquiry after, apprehend, and punish the profes"sors of the reformed faith. At the head of these inquisitors was one "Dominic, who was canonized by the pope, in order to render his au"thority the more respectable. He and the other inquisitors visited the "various Roman Catholic countries, and treated the Protestants with "the utmost severity: but at length the pope, not finding them so "useful as he expected, resolved upon the establishment of fixed and regular courts of inquisition; the first office of which was established "in the city of Toulouse, and Dominic became the first inquisitor. "Courts of inquisition were also erected in several other countries; but the Spanish inquisition became the most powerful, and the most "dreadful of any. Even the kings of Spain themselves, though arbitrary in all other respects, were taught to dread its power; and the "horrid cruelties exercised by the inquisition, compelled multitudes "who differed in opinion from the Catholics, carefully to conceal their "sentiments. The Dominicans and Franciscans were the most zealous "of all the monks: these, therefore, the pope invested with an exclu"sive right of presiding over, and managing the different courts of inquisition. The friars of those two orders were always selected from "the very dregs of the people, and therefore were not much troubled "with scruples of conscience; they were obliged, by the rules of their respective orders, to live very austere lives, which rendered their manners unsocial, and better qualified for their barbarous employ→ "ment. The pope gave the inquisitors the most unlimited powers, as "judges delegated by him, and immediately representing his person: they were permitted to excommunicate, or sentence to death, whom they "thought proper, upon the slightest information of heresy; were allowed "to publish crusades against all whom they deemed heretics, and en"ter into leagues with sovereign princes, to join those crusades with "their forces. About the year 1244, their power was further increased by the emperor Frederick the second, who declared himself the pro"tector and friend of all inquisitors, and published two cruel edicts, "viz. that all heretics, who continued obstinate, should be burnt; and "that those who repented, should be imprisoned for life, This zeal in "the emperor for the inquisitors, and the Roman Catholic persuasion, arose from a report which had been propagated throughout Europe, "that he intended to turn Mahometan; the emperor therefore judiciously "determined, by the height of bigotry and cruelty to shew his attach"ment to Popery,"

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"

This is Fox's account of the origin and progress of the inquisition; but such an account as can only be believed by the most besotted mind. In the first place, Innocent III. had been dead three hundred years previous to the reformed religion, or what is so called, making its appearance in Europe. Secondly, St. Dominic was not canonized till thirteen years after his death, that is, in 1234, by Gregory IX, therefore it is a DIRECT FALSEHOOD to say he was thus honoured to make his imputed office of inquisitor the more respectable. Thirdly,

we have shewn, in our preceding pages, that St. Dominic was sent to preach against the Albigenses, and that the members of his order were employed to gain over Pagan countries to Catholicism; and how, we should be glad to learn, could St. Dominic treat Protestants with severity, when there was not a Protestant in Europe till some hundred year's after this first pretended inquisitor had paid the debt of nature? Fourthly, he says, the kings of Spain were taught to dread the power of the inquisition, and yet it was by the power of the king that this tribunal was established. Fifthly, multitudes who differed in opinion from the Catholics were, he says, compelled carefully to conceal their opinions. An odd sort of a reformed religion this must be, that its professors were careful to conceal it. This was not the case with the primitive Christians; with John Fox's first martyrs; they made open profession of their faith, as Catholics always did, in spite of knives, halters, or gibbets. Sixthly, the pope, he says, invested the Dominicans and Franciscans with an exclusive right of presiding in this tribunal, because these friars were always selected from the very dregs of the people, and therefore not much troubled with scruples of conscience; and yet he admits they were obliged to lead very austere lives! This is no very great compliment on the part of John Fox towards the people; however history tells us, that among the Dominicans and Franciscans, there were a number of the most learned men and exemplary characters. Seventhly, he says, the pope gave the inquisitors unlimited powers, and afterwards these powers were increased by the emperor Frederic II. Now if the pope could grant them unlimited power, how could the emperor add to that power? Then, he says, these inquisitors were allowed by the pope to enter into leagues with sovereign princes, and to join them with their forces. Surely, if this be true, these inquisitors, sprung from the dregs of the people, must be wonderful fellows to raise forces without holding territories, and colleaguing with sovereigns though having no scruples of conscience. Eighthly, how fortunate was it for the Roman Catholics, that a report should be raised that the emperor was about to become a Mahometan. But for this lucky circumstance, we suppose, the Catholic church would not have had a stone to rest upon, so judiciously for her did the emperor determine to shew his attachment to Popery by the heighth of bigotry and cruelty. Ah! how many of our enlightened Protestants have been' duped by this miserably told tale; this compound of falsehood and

nonsense.

But before we proceed any further in our remarks we will here give some extracts from the Encyclopedia Methodique, respecting this tribunal. The articles in that work, relating to religious subjects were furnished by the abbè Bergier, a canon of Paris, and director to the present king of France. This divine is in high estimation among Catholics, and as it will be seen that he animadverts very freely on the institution, it must necessarily follow that this tribunal is totally unconnected with the religion of Catholics.

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"INQUISITION.-An ecclesiastical tribunal, erected by the sovereign' pontiffs in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Indies, with a view to the "extirpation of the Jews, Moors, Infidels, and Heretics. It is not by any means our object to eulogise this tribunal or its manner of pro

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