On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
made to answer for his freedom by passing a month Jn prison at Sabrera , and by paying a fine of fifty ducats . Notwithstanding this , an opportunity afterwards presented itself for finishing his work , in which he was encouraged by the Bishop of Calahorra , and during the suspension of the Holy Office in 1 S 09 , he obtained leave to make use of its records . For two years * he was almost buried in papers , the prodigious quantities of which attested but too powerfully the activity of the dread tribunal . His work may be characterized as one of the most instructive ever written : it is at the same time
remarkably impartial : it proves that the Inquisition was not established without encountering an astonishing degree of opposition from all classes of people in Spain . The most curious thing in this work is , that it discloses all the details of the practice of this tribunal . From others we had heard of the tortures of the Inquisition ; M . Llorente reveals the means by which it secretly pursued its victims .
During the changes which now befel his country , M . Llorente was led to suspend his literary pursuits and engage in politics . He was called to the council of the nation , and first learned that this honour was decreed him from the public prints . His object in the course he adopted being to serve his country in what he then thought the best mode , he used his influence to remedy the evils and soften the misfortunes of the times , and obtained a mitigation of some harsh laws , particularly that which subjected to
confiscation all who took refuge in Cadiz . After having done all in his power to enlighten and to soothe the minds of his countrymen , by several works which he published , he retired from the reaction which he saw to be inevitable , and settled in Paris with a view to profit by the literary treasures of that capital . One of the most unfortunate events for Spain was the division which took place between some of the most enlightened friends of a reformation of the abuses of its government . Llorente was one of those who
attached themselves to the French party , from a belief that thence only could arise a permanent cure for the evils of their country ; and when the French rendered themselves odious , and a spirit of independence arose which none had foreseen , the new patriots pursued , with a blind and indiscriminate rage , some of their most worthy fellow-countrymen , who had only erred as to the means , and might , by conciliation , have been united in one common plan * The patriots who sided with the French were left in exile , and those who
had embraced the opposite course , weakened by the division , became the prey of the treacherous tyrant under whose banners they had sought for freedom and independence . Elorente was prohibited from returning to Spain on the eventual triumph of his country , and was forced to endure the severest calamity a man of letters can know—the loss of his valuable library . From that time he continued to reside at Paris , publishing a series of works which are well known . One of the latest of his works ( Portraits of the
Popes ) gave offence to the higher powers , and he received an order to quit France , and was compelled to return to his country , now the seat of despotic tyranny . With much difficulty he obtained a few days' respite . Neither his character , his labours , nor his age , could procure him an extension of the privileges of hospitality . He set out in the middle of winter , and arrived at
Madrid the 7 th of January , 1823 , where he , in a few days , breathed his last , conscious of having passed his life in defending what he thought was truth . His end was tranquil and serene . His countrymen have erected a monument over the grave of a man who was constant to his principles , excellent in his character , and devoted to his country , though pe / haps mistaken in the means he selected for its service .
Untitled Article
Memoir of Llorente , 165
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1828, page 165, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2558/page/21/
-