of priests, and the braying of trumpets, making altogether one of the most horrible dins of discord that ever disturbed the slumbering echoes of that venerable pile. After some more psalm-singing, and a benediction by the Archbishop, the Royal Family departed, with their body guard; the functionaries retired to their homesthe crowd to the saloons, the cafés, gardens and theatres, and so ended a day of long announced pomp, which, as a public spectacle of magnificence, was a miserable failure.-French Paper, August 16, 1827.

SIN OF EATING FAT INSTEAD OF BUTTER.

Robert the first, Abbot of Deer, was renowned for his piety. It is gravely related by Fordun, that when he was sitting after dinner, in holy contemplation on a fast day, a figure of an Ethiopian, black as darkness, appeared to him, and then with a loud laugh, vanished from his presence. The holy Abbot, suspecting the cause, called the cook before him, who, at first, denied his crime, but afterwards was brought to confess, that in dressing the fish for the convent-dinner, he had that day made use of fat instead of butter.

How must evil spirits rejoice (says the monkish historian), when monks, in disobedience to the rules of their order, eat flesh on days when it is prohibited.

"Who can believe with common sense,
That Bacon slice gives God offence;
Or that the Herring has a charm,

The Almighty's anger to disarm."

VICTIMS OF THE SPANISH INQUISITION. The following is a general recapitulation of the Victims of the Spanish Inquisition, from the year 1481 till

Spanish Inquisitions, only from 1481 till 1808, amounts to 340,921, without comprising those that suffered exile or imprisonment under the reign of Ferdinand VII., the number of which is very considerable.

If we were to add to these condemnations those that have taken place in the Peninsula, and other countries, under the domination of the Spanish Inquisition, such as Sicily, Sardinia, Flanders, America, the Indies, &c., we should be terrified at the number of unfortunate beings the "Holy Inquisition" has condemned, to make them better Catholics.

The Inquisition has not only decimated the Spanish population by its auto-da-fe, but likewise in provoking civil wars and disturbances, and the expulsion of the Jews and Moors. More than five millions of inhabitants have left the beautiful soil of Spain, during the terrible Inquisition; and of that barbarous institution we may say the same as Montesquieu has said of one of the Emperors of the East:-" Justinian, who, either by his laws or the sword, exterminated sects in urging them to revolt, rendered a number of fertile provinces barren. He thought to have thus increased the number of true believers, but he had only diminished that of human beings."

COLONEL VAN HALEN'S NARRATIVE OF HIS IMPRISONMENT IN THE DUNGEONS OF THE INQUISITION AT MADRID, AND HIS ESCAPE IN 1817 AND 1818.

These interesting volumes are the production of a Spanish Patriot, who, having been betrayed to the authorities by a friend in whom he had placed confidence, was seized, and immured in the Inquisition for several months. The usual preliminary severities and persecutions were there resorted to, in order to extract from him the names of those patriots with whom he had been acting in concert; but these severities having wholly failed to intimidate this brave and honourable man, the actual torture was finally applied. We extract his account of the process :

"At about eight o'clock at night of the same day (November 20), Don Quanito entered my dungeon with a lantern in his hand, followed by four other men, whose faces were concealed by a piece of black cloth, shaped above the head like a cone, and falling over the shoulder and chest, in the middle of which were two holes for the eyes. I was half asleep, when the noise of the doors opening awoke me, and by the dim light of the lantern I perceived those frightful apparitions. Imagining I was labouring under the effects of a dream, I earnestly gazed awhile on the group, till one of them appeared, and pulling me by the leather strap with which my arms were bound, gave me to understand that I was to rise. Having obeyed this summons, my face was covered with

a leather mask, and in this manner I was led out of the prison. After walking through various passages on a level with that of my dungeon, we entered a room, where I heard Zorilla order my attendants to untie the strap. Listen with attention,' he then exclaimed, addressing me, since you have hitherto been deaf to the advice which this holy tribunal has repeatedly given you in their spirit of peace, humanity, and religious charity. This holy tribunal has at last recourse to rigour. We judge the cause of our Divine Redeemer and of our Catholic King, and we shall know how to fulfil the high ministry with which the supreme spiritual and temporal authority has invested us. The most rigorous torments will be employed to obtain from you these truths, or you shall expire in the midst of them. God and the King require that it should be so. This holy tribunal will fulfil their duties-yes!'

"The agitation of the moment permitted me to utter only a few words, which, however, were not listened to, and I was hurried away to the farther end of the room, the gaoler and his assistants exerting all their strength to secure me. Having succeeded in raising me from the ground, they placed under my arm-pits two high crutches, from which I remained suspended: after which my right arm was tied to the corresponding crutch, whilst the left being kept in a horizontal position, they encased my hand open in a wooden glove extending to the wrist, which shut very tightly, and from which two large iron bars ran as far as the shoulder, keeping the whole in the same position in which it was placed, My