"Your reverence has been an inquisitor?" I exclaimed, somewhat
startled.
"From my thirtieth year until the time of the suppression of the
holy office in these afflicted kingdoms."
"You both surprise and delight me," I exclaimed. "Nothing could
have afforded me greater pleasure than to find myself conversing
with a father formerly attached to the holy house of Cordova."
The old man looked at me steadfastly; "I understand you, Don Jorge.
I have long seen that you are one of us. You are a learned and
holy man; and though you think fit to call yourself a Lutheran and
an Englishman, I have dived into your real condition. No Lutheran
would take the interest in church matters which you do, and with
respect to your being an Englishman, none of that nation can speak
Castilian, much less Latin. I believe you to be one of us - a
missionary priest, and I am especially confirmed in that idea by
your frequent conversations and interviews with the Gitanos; you
appear to be labouring among them. Be, however, on your guard, Don
Jorge, trust not to Egyptian faith; they are evil penitents, whom I
like not. I would not advise you to trust them."
"I do not intend," I replied; "especially with money. But to
return to more important matters: - of what crimes did this holy
house of Cordova take cognizance?"
"You are of course aware of the matters on which the holy office
exercises its functions. I need scarcely mention sorcery, Judaism,
and certain carnal misdemeanours."
"With respect to sorcery," said I, "what is your opinion of it? Is
there in reality such a crime?"
"Que se io {12}?" said the old man, shrugging up his shoulders.
"How should I know? The church has power, Don Jorge, or at least
it had power, to punish for anything, real or unreal; and as it was
necessary to punish in order to prove that it had the power of
punishing, of what consequence whether it punished for sorcery or
any other crime."
"Did many cases of sorcery occur within your own sphere of
knowledge?"
"One or two, Don Jorge; they were by no means frequent. The last
that I remember was a case which occurred in a convent at Seville:
a certain nun was in the habit of flying through the windows and
about the garden over the tops of the orange trees; declarations of
various witnesses were taken, and the process was arranged with
much formality; the fact, I believe, was satisfactorily proved: of
one thing I am certain, that the nun was punished."
"Were you troubled with much Judaism in these parts?"
"Wooh! Nothing gave so much trouble to the Santa Casa as this same
Judaism. Its shoots and ramifications are numerous, not only in
these parts, but in all Spain; and it is singular enough, that even
among the priesthood, instances of Judaism of both kinds were
continually coming to our knowledge, which it was of course our
duty to punish."
"Is there more than one species of Judaism?" I demanded.
"I have always arranged Judaism under two heads," said the old man,
"the black and the white: by the black, I mean the observance of
the law of Moses in preference to the precepts of the church; then
there is the white Judaism, which includes all kinds of heresy,
such as Lutheranism, freemasonry, and the like."
"I can easily conceive," said I, "that many of the priesthood
favoured the principles of the reformation, and that the minds of
not a few had been led astray by the deceitful lights of modern
philosophy, but it is almost inconceivable to me that there should
be Jews amongst the priesthood who follow in secret the rites and
observances of the old law, though I confess that I have been
assured of the fact ere now."
"Plenty of Judaism amongst the priesthood, whether of the black or
white species; no lack of it, I assure you, Don Jorge; I remember
once searching the house of an ecclesiastic who was accused of the
black Judaism, and after much investigation, we discovered beneath
the floor a wooden chest, in which was a small shrine of silver,
inclosing three books in black hogskin, which, on being opened,
were found to be books of Jewish devotion, written in Hebrew
characters, and of great antiquity; and on being questioned, the
culprit made no secret of his guilt, but rather gloried in it,
saying that there was no God but one, and denouncing the adoration
of Maria Santissima as rank idolatry."
"And between ourselves, what is your own opinion of the adoration
of this same Maria Santissima?"
"What is my opinion! Que se io?" said the old man, shrugging up
his shoulders still higher than on the former occasion; "but I will
tell you; I think, on consideration, that it is quite right and
proper; why not? Let any one pay a visit to my church, and look at
her as she stands there, tan bonita, tan guapita - so well dressed
and so genteel - with such pretty colours, such red and white, and
he would scarcely ask me why Maria Santissima should not be adored.
Moreover, Don Jorgito mio, this is a church matter and forms an
important part of the church system."
"And now, with respect to carnal misdemeanours. Did you take much
cognizance of them?"
"Amongst the laity, not much; we, however, kept a vigilant eye upon
our own body, but, upon the whole, were rather tolerant in these
matters, knowing that the infirmities of human nature are very
great indeed: we rarely punished, save in cases where the glory of
the church and loyalty to Maria Santissima made punishment
absolutely imperative."
"And what cases might those be?" I demanded.
