“While thus suffering, they barbarously declared that, if I died under torture, I should be guilty of self-murder. And the last time of suffering I fainted, and was carried to my dungeon unperceiving it. Finding that the more they made me suffer, the more I supplicated patience from heaven, these barbarians exposed me to another kind of torture. They made me stretch my arms so that the palms of my hands were turned outwards; when, by a rope that fastened them together at the wrist, and which they turned by an engine, they drew them in such a manner that the back of each hand touched; both my shoulders were dislocated, and a considerable quantity of blood issued from my mouth. This torture was repeated thrice, after which, the physician and surgeons, in setting my bones, put me to exquisite pain in my dungeon.
“Two months after, being a little recovered, I was again conveyed to the torture room, where they turned round my body a thick iron chain, which, crossing my stomach, terminated at my wrists. They next set my back against a thick board, at each extremity of which was a pulley, through which there was a rope run, that caught the ends of the chains at my wrists. These ropes, by means of a roller, pressed or bruised my stomach, so that my wrists and shoulders were put out of joint. The surgeons set my bones presently, and the barbarians made me undergo this torture a second time, which I bore with equal constancy. I was remanded to my dungeon, attended by the surgeons, who dressed my bruises; and here I continued till their auto da fé.
“Nine different times they put me to the torture, when most of my limbs were put out of joint, and bruised in such a manner that I was unable, during some weeks, to lift my hand to my mouth. I fear that I shall feel the effect of this cruelty so long as I live; being seized from time to time with thrilling pains, with which I never was afflicted till I fell into the merciless and bloody hands of the inquisitors.
“The day of the auto da fé being come, I was made to walk in the procession with the other victims of this tribunal. At St. Dominic’s church my sentence was read, of being condemned to the galleys during four years. Four days after I was conveyed to the galleys; and joined, the next day, in the occupation of my fellow-slaves. However, the liberty I had of speaking to my friends, after having been deprived of the sight of them during my wretched abode in the prison of the Inquisition, the open air, and being freed from the apprehensions which always overspread my mind, made me find the toil of the galley more supportable.
“By the tortures inflicted on me in the Inquisition, I was unfit for the painful labour allotted me, viz., the carrying water to the prisons of the city; but fear of the inhumanity of the overseers caused me to exert myself, and I fell sick. I was then sent to the infirmary for two months; when I was visited by the first friars of the convent of Corpo Santo, who offered to get my release, provided I would turn Roman Catholic. I assured them that I expected my enlargement from the Almighty; and having leisure, I desired a friend to write to my brother-in-law, Mr. Barber, informing him of my deplorable state, and entreating him to address the Earl of Harrington in my favour, he having the honour to live in his lordship’s family. This nobleman spoke to his grace the Duke of Newcastle, secretary of state, supplicating leave from our sovereign that his minister at Lisbon might demand me, as a subject of Great Britain.
“His majesty was so gracious as to interpose in my favour. Mr. Compton, the British minister at Lisbon, demanded my liberty of the king of Portugal, in the name of his Britannic majesty; and I obtained it in the latter end of October, 1744. The officer took me from the galley by order of the inquisitors, and brought me before them, when the president told me that Cardinal de Cunha had ordered my release, but I must return in three days.
“I could perceive that the spies of the Inquisition followed me. I waited upon our envoy, and our consul; and five days after I returned to the inquisitors, when the president declared that the tribunal would not permit me to continue any longer in Portugal, and that I must name the city and kingdom whither I intended to retire. I replied that, ‘as my family is in London, I design to go thither;’ and they bid me embark in the first ship that should sail for England.”
Mr. Coustos was kindly received by the Dutch admiral on board his ship, then in the port of Lisbon, and he permitted him to send for his friend, Mr. Mouton, being affected with the relation of their sufferings. They arrived in London, December 15th, 1744. He adds,
“I here return thanks, with all the power of my soul, to the Almighty, for his having so visibly protected me from that infernal band of friars, who employed their various tortures to force me to apostatise from my holy religion. I return our sovereign, George II., the most dutiful and respectful thanks for his so graciously interposing in favour of an ill-fated galley-slave. I shall retain, so long as I have breath, the deepest sensation of affection and loyalty for his sacred person, and will ever be ready to expose my life for his majesty and his august family.”
Mr. Bower.—Mr. Archibald Bower was not so much a victim as to be subjected to the torture, as he was enabled to escape from the power of the inquisitors; but his biography illustrates the character of the Inquisition. He was born in 1686, near Dundee, in Scotland. His parents being Roman Catholics, sent him, at the age of five years, to an uncle in Italy, for education. First at Douay, and then at Rome, his progress was uncommon. He became a Jesuit, and was appointed professor of rhetoric and logic, in the college of Macerata, in Italy. In this city he became intimate with the inquisitor-general of the Holy Office, from whom he received preferment as a counsellor to the Inquisition. There were twelve counsellors, each of whom had a residence, with about £200 per annum, besides extensive privileges.