of which he had heard, and was inclined to give up the search. But Colonel de Lile was of a different mind. Addressing Colonel Lehmanowsky, he said, "Colonel, you are commander to-day, and as you say so it must be; but if you will be advised by me, let this marble floor whereon we stand be examined. Let water be brought and poured upon it, and we will watch and see if there is any place through which it passes more freely than others."

"Do as you please, Colonel," replied the commander, and ordered water to be brought accordingly. The slabs of marble were large, and beautifully polished. When the water had been poured over the floor, much to the dissatisfaction of the inquisitors, a careful examination was made of every seam in the floor, to see if the water passed through. Presently Colonel de Lile exclaimed that he had found it. By the side of one of these marble slabs the water passed through fast, as though there was an opening beneath. All hands were now set to work for further discovery; the officers with their swords, and the soldiers with their bayonets, cleared out the seam, and endeavoured to raise the slab; others with the butt-ends of their muskets struck the slab with all their might in order to break it; while the priests remonstrated against the desecration of their holy and beautiful house. While thus engaged, a soldier who was striking with the butt-end of his musket struck a spring, and the marble slab flew up.

The faces of the inquisitors instantly grew pale, as Belshazzar when the hand-writing appeared on the wall, and they shook with fear from head to foot. Beneath the marble slab, now partly up, there was a staircase. The commander stepped up to the altar, and took from the candlestick one of the lighted candles four feet in length, that he might explore the room below. One of the inquisitors endeavoured to prevent him; and laying his hand gently on the Colonel's arm, with a very demure and sanctified look, said, "My son, you must not take those lights with your bloody hands: they are holy."

"Never mind," said the commander, "I will take a holy thing to shed light on iniquity; I will bear the responsibility!" Colonel Lehmanowsky then took the light, and

proceeded down the staircase. When he and his companions in arms had reached the foot of the stairs, they entered a large square room which was called the Hall of Judgment. In the centre of it was a large block, and a chain fastened to it. On this the inquisitors had been accustomed to place the accused, chained to his seat. On one side of the room was an elevated seat, called the Throne of Judgment, which the inquisitor-general occupied; and on either side were seats less elevated, for the holy fathers when engaged in the solemn business of the Holy Inquisition. From this room the party proceeded to the right, and obtained access to small cells extending the entire length of the edifice; and here they were presented with the most distressing sights. These cells were places of solitary confinement, where the wretched objects of inquisitorial hate were confined year after year, till death released them from their sufferings: and there their bodies were often suffered to remain until they were entirely decayed, and the rooms were made fit for others to occupy.

To prevent the effluvia proving offensive to those who occupied the Inquisition, there were flues or tubes extending to the open air, sufficiently capacious to carry off the odour. In these cells were the remains of some who had paid the debt of nature; of whom some had been dead apparently but a short time; while of others nothing remained but their bones, still chained to the floor of their dungeon. In other cells were found living sufferers of both sexes, and of every age, from threescore years and ten down to fourteen or fifteen years, all in a state of complete nudity, and all in chains! Here were old men and aged women, who had been shut up for many years. Here, too, were the middleaged, and the young man, and the maiden of fourteen years old.

The soldiers immediately went to work to release these captives from their chains, and took from their knapsacks their overcoats, and other clothing, which they gave to cover their nakedness. They were exceedingly anxious to bring them out to the light of day; but Colonel Lehmanowsky, aware of the danger, had food given them, and then brought them gradually to the light as they were able to bear it.

The military party then proceeded to explore yet another room on their left. Here they found the instruments of torture, of every kind which the ingenuity of men or devils could invent. The first instrument noticed was a machine by which the victim was confined, and then, beginning with the fingers, all the joints in the hands, arms, and body were broken and drawn one after another, until the sufferer died.

The second was a box in which the head and neck of the victim were so closely confined by a screw, that he could not move in any way. Over the box was a vessel, from which one drop of water fell upon the head of the victim every second, each successive drop falling upon precisely the same place; by which, in a few moments, the circulation became suspended, and the sufferer had to endure the most excruciating agony.

The third was an infernal machine, laid horizontally, to which the victim was bound; the machine then being placed between two beams, in which were scores of knives so fixed that, by turning the machine with a crank, the flesh of the sufferer was all torn from his limbs into small pieces.

The fourth surpassed the others in fiendish ingenuity. Its exterior was a large doll richly dressed, and having the appearance of a beautiful woman, with her arms extended ready to embrace her victim. A semicircle was drawn around her, and the person who passed over this fatal mark touched a spring which caused the diabolical engine to open; its arms immediately clasped him, and a thousand knives cut him in as many pieces, while in the deadly embrace. The sight of these engines of infernal cruelty kindled the fire of indignation in the bosoms of the soldiers. They declared that every inquisitor and soldier of the inquisition should be put to the torture. Their rage was ungovernable. Colonel Lehmanowsky did not oppose them: they might have turned their arms against him if he had attempted to arrest their work. They then began punishing the holy fathers.

The first was put to death in the machine for breaking joints. The torture of the inquisitor that suffered death by the dropping of water on his head was most excruciating:

the poor wretch cried in agony to be taken from the fatal machine. Next, the inquisitor-general was brought before the infernal machine called "the Virgin." He was ordered to embrace her, and begged hard to be excused.

"No," said the soldiers, "you have caused others to kiss her, and now you must do it." They interlocked their bayonets, so as to form large forks, and with these pushed him over the deadly circle. The beautiful image, prepared for the embrace, instantly clasped him in its arms, and cut him into innumerable pieces.

The French commander, after having witnessed the torture of four of the barbarous inquisitors, sickened at the awful scene, and he left the soldiers to wreak their vengeance on the other guilty inmates of that prison-house of hell. In the meantime it was reported through Madrid that the prisons of the Inquisition were broken open, and multitudes hastened to the fatal spot. Oh, what a meeting was there! It was like a resurrection. About a hundred who had been

There

buried for many years were now restored to life. were fathers who found their long lost daughters; wives were restored to their husbands, sisters to their brothers, and parents to their children; and there were few who could recognise no friend among the multitude. The scene was such as no tongue can describe.

When the multitude had retired, Colonel Lehmanowsky caused the library, paintings, furniture, and other articles of value, to be removed; and having sent to the city for a waggon-load of powder, he deposited a large quantity in the vaults beneath the building, and placed a slow match in connection with it. All having withdrawn to a distance, in a few moments the walls and turrets of the massive structure rose majestically in the air, impelled by a tremendous explosion, and then fell back to the earth an immense heap of ruins. THE INQUISITION WAS NO MORE!

It may be now observed that history's elucidation of the vintage metaphor terminates our second series, having brought us to the end of the seventeenth century, to which period the evidences of "correspondence of the predictions of the

Apocalypse with the marked events of the Christian era " advanced us in the first series contained in vols. i. & ii.; and as the additional evidences of correspondence now before us have reached the proportions of a book, forming in conjunction with the two former a complete historical answer to both the religious and secular demands of the 14th and its preceding prophetic chapters, it only remains to conclude by a brief glance at the progress made in this, our third volume.

CONCLUSION.-SECOND SERIES.

It will be remembered that an interesting subject of inquiry on the sounding of the seventh trumpet was raised in our second volume (referred to at p. 525) by the mighty angel's declaration under the sixth trumpet (x. 7), "But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets;" and accordingly, finding that when the seventh angel sounded, "great voices. in heaven" announced "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever," we could not but conclude that the utterance of those voices "finished the mystery of God," or revealed that which had been previously hidden. And as Paul declares in his epistle to the Romans (xvi. 25) that "by the preaching of Jesus Christ, the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began, is now made manifest;" and in his epistle to the Ephesians (iii. 3, 6), that "by revelation was made known unto him the mystery, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel; " and furthermore writes to