[1246] The garrote is still used in capital punishments in Spain. It may be well to mention, for the information of some of my readers, that it is performed by drawing a rope tight round the neck of the criminal, so as to produce suffocation. This is done by turning a stick to which the rope is attached behind his head. Instead of this apparatus, an iron collar is more frequently employed in modern executions.
[1247] This is established by a letter of the cardinal himself, in which he requests the king to command all officials to deliver into his hands their registers, instruments, and public documents of every description,—to be placed in these archives, that they may hereafter be preserved from injury. His biographer adds, that few of these documents—such only as could be gleaned by the cardinal's industry—reach as far back as the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. Quintinilla, Vida de Ximenes, p. 264.
[1248] M. Gachard, who gives us some interesting particulars of the ancient fortress of Simancas, informs us that this tower was the scene of some of his own labors there. It was an interesting circumstance, that he was thus exploring the records of Montigny's sufferings in the very spot which witnessed them.
[1249] "Así lo cumplió poniéndole grillos para mayor seguridad, aunque esto fué sin órden, porque ni esto era menester ni quisiera S. M. que se hubiera hecho." Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 561.
[1250] Meteren, Hist. des Pays-Bas, fol. 60.
[1251] This lying letter, dated at Simancas, October 10, with the scrap of mongrel Latin which it enclosed, may be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. pp. 550-552.
[1252] The instructions delivered to the licentiate Don Alonzo de Arellano are given in full, Ibid., pp. 542-549.
[1253] "Aunque S. M. tenia por cierto que era muy jurídica, habida consideracion á la calidad de su persona y usando con él de su Real clemencia y benignidad habia tenido por bien de moderarla en cuanto á la forma mandando que no se ejecutase en público, sino allí en secreto por su honor, y que se daria á entender haber muerto de aquella enfermedad." Ibid., p. 563.
[1254] The confession of faith may be found in the Documentos Inéditos, tom. IV. p. 553.
[1255] "Si el dicho Flores de Memorancí quisiese ordenar testamento no habrá para que darse á esto lugar, pues siendo confiscados todos sus bienes y por tales crímines, ni puede testar ni tiene de qué." Ibid., p. 548.