The Inquisition in the Spanish Dependencies. By Henry Charles Lea,
LL.D. (Macmillan and Co. 10s. 6d. net)—Dr. Lea deserves the thanks of all students of history for giving completeness to his history of the Inquisition ; but it must be confessed that the volume before us is not equal to some of its predecessors. Every- thing is on a smaller scale ; the details are more petty and mean. The Inquisition reproduces some of the abuses of the monastic system elsewhere. There are the same quarrels with the temporal powers and with the Bishops, the same intolerable claims for immunity on behalf of officials. The most flourishing time of the Inquisition in Sicily was in the early days of Charles V. It was busy in punishing heresy. Thirty-nine persons were burnt between 1525 and 1634. It was still more busy in accumulating property. Officials made a rich harvest out of denunciations and prosecutions. When a heretic was condemned his slaves were sold ; the law pro- vided that they should be set free. One result was an intense popular hatred. When an Inquisitor visited a certain town, he and his suite narrowly escaped being burnt alive in their lodging by the infuriated people. After Sicily we come to Malta. In this section of the history the most notable figures are two Quakeresses who went to the island in 1715 on a missionary enterprise, and were imprisoned for four years. Malta is followed by Naples. This place, as one might expect, takes the lead in horrors. A sect, resembling the Waldenses, grew up in Calabria and attracted the attention of the Roman authorities. A Dominican was sent to investigate. He went among them, apparently in some kind of disguise. The result was the arrest of some sixteen hundred heretics, men, women, and children. An auto-de-fe followed. Eighty-eight were slaughtered, and their remains put upon poles along the Calabrian roads ; seven were burnt alive. (The story is told by a Catholic of Montalto who had witnessed the scene.) It was too much for the Roman authorities. They interfered and ordered more regular proceed- ings. These were as follows. Some of the condemned had offered an armed resistance. These were simple heretics who might be received back on submission. Others had fled after having abjured their errors. These were to be regarded as having lapsed and sent to the galleys. The leaders were to be burnt alive. Women convicted of witchcraft were to suffer the same fate. The children were to be scattered among Catholic families. It was the Roman Inquisition, it should be noted, that did this. Dr. Lea follows the dealings of the Institution with the Canaries, Mexico, Peru, and New Granada; but enough has been said.
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