El Buscapié

The volume here alluded to is entitled: Cartas Morales del Señor Narveza traducidas de lengua francesa en la española por Madama Francisca de Passier, dirigidas al excelentísimo Señor Don Pedro Enríquez de Acevedo, Conde de Fuentes.[77]

The name of Francisca de Passier, is not recorded as it deserves to be in the annals of Spanish literature. The celebrated Nicolás Antonio, makes no mention of her in the Biblioteca hispana nova. Some few particulars of her life are given by Doctor Francisco Garci López, who published an edition of the Cartas Morales. She was a native of Savoy, in which country her father, a man distinguished for his literary attainments, filled a government appointment. She was a great linguist, and she spoke and wrote several languages with perfect fluency and correctness. “She spoke Castilian,” says her biographer, Dr. López, “so correctly and with such purity of accent, that to hear her no one could have imagined she had been born among the snowy mountains of Savoy, but rather would have supposed her to have been a native of Spain, and all her life accustomed to the courteous conversation of noble ladies and knights in royal palaces.” She died before she had completed her nineteenth year. Her husband, who was a Counsellor of State to the Prince of Savoy, was inconsolable for her loss, and a singular manifestation of his grief was shown in the destruction, instead of the preservation, of his wife’s papers, most of which, after her death, he consigned to the flames. At the urgent solicitation of Dr. Garci López, he was however induced to spare the manuscript of the Cartas Morales. The funeral obsequies of Madama Passier which are alluded to in the Buscapié, lasted nine days. Several eloquent orations in Latin and French were delivered at her interment, and many elegies to her memory were composed in Latin, French, and Spanish.

In Salamanca, in the year 1588, was published, a curious old book of Knight-errantry, entitled El Libro del Paso Honroso, defendido por el excelente caballero Suero de Quiñones, copilado de un libro antiguo de mano, por fray Juan de Pineda, religioso del orden de San Francisco.[78]

The petition addressed by Suero de Quiñones to King John of Castile ran thus—“It is just and reasonable that prisoners and bondsmen should wish to recover their liberty. Even so it is with me, your Majesty’s vassal and subject, who have long been the captive of a lady, in token of which captivity I wear every Thursday round my neck a collar of iron. This fact is notorious in your Majesty’s court and throughout all this kingdom, as well as in foreign parts, where my heralds have proclaimed it. But now, most powerful Prince, I have in the name of the Apostle St. James, devised a plan for effecting my deliverance, in this present year, of which this is the first day. My proposal is to break three hundred lances, with such knights and gentlemen as may accept my challenge—breaking three with every and each knight or gentleman who enters the lists;—the first blood drawn to be counted as one lance broken. The combats to be maintained during fifteen days prior to the festival of the Apostle St. James, (the guide and defender of your Majesty’s subjects) and during fifteen days after the said festival, unless my ransom be accomplished before the expiration of that period. The lists to be planted on the high road, along which most persons pass on their way to the city wherein is the Saint’s sacred sepulchre,[79] and that it be certified to all the foreign knights and gentlemen who may there assemble that they will find at the place of encounter, armour, horses, and above all lances with points of such good Milan steel, that it will require no light stroke to shiver them. And I pray that it be notified to every virtuous lady of rank, who may be in the vicinity of the scene of combat, that she must summon a knight to perform a passage of arms in her behalf, under pain of forfeiting her right hand glove. All these propositions I pray may be agreed to;—saving two conditions, which are—that neither your Royal Majesty nor the most noble Señor Constable, Don Álvaro de Luna, take part in these encounters.”

The petition having been assented to by the King, Suero de Quiñones, accompanied by nine knights his followers, set out on his romantic enterprise. He proclaimed himself the defender of the Honroso Paso of the Bridge of Orbigo. Sixty-eight adventurers, and not seventy as stated in the Buscapié, combated for the conquest of the Honroso Paso, and Suero, on being declared the victor, presented to the Umpires of the Field a petition, which was responded to in the following manner:—

“Virtuous Knight and Señor, we have heard your proposition and appeal, and it appears to us to be just. Considering that we ought no longer to delay pronouncing our judgment, we hereby declare that your arms have been triumphant and that your deliverance has been bravely purchased. And moreover, we hereby notify to you, as well as to all others here present, that of the three hundred lances specified in your petition to the king there remain only a few unbroken, and that there would not be even those few, but that on several days there could not be any passage of arms by reason of no knights having presented themselves to oppose the challenger. We accordingly decree that you be released from the iron collar, which we forthwith order the King-at-Arms, and the Herald to remove from your neck; and we declare that you have duly accomplished your emprise, and that you are henceforth delivered from bondage.”

In obedience to the command of the Umpires, the King-at-Arms and the Heralds descended from the platform and before the eyes of all present, took from the neck of Suero de Quiñones the iron ring which he wore as the sign and token of his bondage.

The records of Spanish chivalry mention numerous adventures, no less whimsical and extravagant than that of the doughty knight who was the hero of the Honroso Paso.—Several instances of the same kind are narrated by Hernán Pérez del Pulgar in his Claros Varones de Castilla. (Illustrious men of Castile).

“To the glory and honour of our Blessed Savior and Redeemer, the printing of this book, called El Valerio de las estorias escolásticas é de España was finished in the noble city of Murcia, by maestre Lope de la Roca, a German and a printer of books, on Thursday the sixth day of November, in the year one thousand four hundred and eighty-seven.”

In the certificate of the King-at-Arms attached to the royal letters patent conferring the rank of nobility on Don Francisco Xavier de Almela i Peñafiel, there is a paragraph relating to the lineage of the Almela family. It is there set forth that “Diego Rodríguez de Almela, Canon of the Holy Cathedral Church of Carthegena, Chaplain to the Catholic Queen, and Her Majesty’s Chronicler, who served personally with two esquires and six men on foot at the conquest of Grenada, presented to the Catholic King[80] the sword of the Cid Ruy Díaz.”

The letter addressed on this occasion by the Emperor to the Duke del Infantado, and the Duke’s reply to it, are mentioned but not given by Sandoval, in his History of Charles V. These two letters are printed in an exceedingly scarce work, entitled, Diálogos de contención entre la milicia y la ciencia.[81] by Francisco Núñez de Velasco. The following extract from the Duke’s letter, precisely verifies that passage of the Buscapié to which this note has reference.

“Truly, Señor, it would be a fine example, if the great debt which all the world knows is due to you from the King of France, were to be paid by a challenge to your imperial person. Such a proceeding, if sanctioned by your Majesty, would go far to establish throughout your dominions a law to the effect that all debts may be paid by recourse to arms; which would tend more to the shedding of blood than to the vindication of justice and mercy. All this I write to your Majesty that you may deliberate on my opinion, and I beg you will be assured that if, on more mature reflection I see reason to alter my opinion, I will forthwith advise your Majesty thereof, with all the fidelity I owe you. For this is a matter which concerns my honour, together with that of all the grandees of these realms.”

Cervantes highly appreciated the genius of Lope de Rueda, who was a celebrated actor as well as a dramatic writer. He styles him el gran Lope de Rueda, insigne varón, &c. Some curious particulars respecting Lope de Rueda and the state of the Spanish stage in his time are related by Cervantes in the Prólogo or Preface to his Ocho comedias y ocho entremeses nunca representadas,[82] from which the following extract is translated—

“A short time ago, when I was in company with some friends, our conversation turned on play-writing, acting, and other matters connected with dramatic representation. These subjects were so ably discussed and criticised that in my opinion it would have been difficult to meet with more clever remarks. One of the questions under consideration was to ascertain who first stripped Spanish comedy of its swaddling clothes, dressed it up, and arrayed it with ornament. I, who was the oldest person in the company, observed that I had a perfect recollection of having seen Lope de Rueda act, and that that extraordinary man was remarkable not only for his talent as a writer, but also for his power as an actor. He was a native of Seville, and was by trade a gold-beater, that is to say, his employment was making gold leaf for gilding. He was an admirable writer of pastoral poetry, and in that style of composition no one either before his time, or unto the present day, has surpassed him. When I knew him, I was a mere boy, and therefore I could form no well grounded judgment respecting the merit of his writing; yet in my present mature age, when I reflect on some of his verses which my memory retains, I think the opinion I have expressed is correct. Were it not for the fear of going beyond the limits of this preface, I would cite some of Lope de Rueda’s verses in support of my opinion.

“In the time of that celebrated man, all the apparatus of a theatrical manager could be packed up in a sack. It consisted of four shepherd’s dresses of white skin trimmed with gilt leather, four beards and wigs, and four shepherd’s staffs. The comedies were composed of dialogues (after the manner of eclogues), between two or three shepherds and a shepherdess. The entertainment was augmented, or rather spun out, by two or three interludes in which sometimes a negro, sometimes a rufián,[83] a fool, or a Biscayan were introduced. All these four characters, and many others, Lope de Rueda, acted in most excellent style, and with the utmost truth to nature. At that period there was no such thing as stage machinery; no combats between Moors and Christians either on foot or on horseback, no figures rising up from trap doors, and seeming as though they rose from the bowels of the earth; no descending clouds in which spirits and angels came down from Heaven. The stage was constructed of four benches ranged square-wise, and over them were laid a few planks, by which means the stage was raised about four spans above the ground. There were no scenes, but an old curtain was hung across the back part of the stage, and was drawn by two cords from one side to the other. A space behind the curtain served as a dressing-room for the actors. The musicians also stood there. They sang old romances, but without guitar accompaniment. Lope de Rueda died at Cordova, and out of respect for his excellent character and great talent he was buried in the cathedral of that city, between the two choirs.”

Further particulars of the life of Lope de Rueda may be found in Moratin’s Orígenes del Teatro Español, and in El Teatro Español Anterior a Lope de Vega, by Nicolás Böhl de Faber.

Of the life of Gil Vicente, the Hispano-Portuguese dramatist and comedian, who has not inaptly been styled the Portuguese Plautus, but little is known. No biographical accounts of him furnish any authentic record either of the date or the place of his birth. Some describe him to have been a native of Guimaräes, others assign Barcellos, and others Lisbon, as his birth-place. Don Adolfo de Castro, notices a fact which would appear to have escaped the observation of Gil Vicente’s biographers, both Spanish and Portuguese, viz.: that he himself mentions his birth-place in one of his Portuguese autos.[84] In that piece, one of the characters steps forward and delivers a sort of address commencing thus:—

Then follows a description of the condition and calling of the author’s grandfather and parents, and Alemtejo is mentioned as the place of his nativity.

Bouterwek, who furnishes some particulars relating to the life of this celebrated man, says:—“There is reason to suppose that Gil Vicente was born within twenty years of the close of the fifteenth century. He first studied the law, but speedily relinquished it, and devoted himself wholly to the dramatic art. It is not recorded whether he was a regularly pensioned writer for the Court, but he was most indefatigable in furnishing the royal family and the public with entertainments suited to the taste of the age. He constantly resided at Court, where his poetic talents were held in permanent requisition for the celebration of spiritual as well as of temporal festivals, and no dramatic writer in Europe was more admired and esteemed than Gil Vicente. His early productions were performed with approbation at court in the reign of Emmanuel the Great, but his reputation rose higher in the reign of John III., and that monarch did not, in his youthful years, scruple to perform characters in the dramas of this favourite author. We are not informed whether Vicente was himself an actor, but he was the tutor of the most celebrated actress of his age, viz.: his daughter Paula.”[86]

Gil Vicente wrote the following epitaph on his wife, to whom he was most affectionately attached, and who was interred in the Franciscan monastery at Evora.

Which may be thus literally construed:—

Gil Vicente died in the year 1577, at Evora, and his remains were interred beside those of his wife, in the Franciscan monastery. He wrote for his own tomb the following epitaph:—

In an old collection of Gil Vicente’s works, this epitaph is given with the addition of the following lines:—

Alonso de Cisneros, a native of Toledo, a famous actor of the sixteenth century, is less known by his proper name than by the appellation of el Tamborillo. He received this nickname because it was a part of his theatrical duty to beat a drum, which, according to the old Spanish custom, was sounded in the street, to announce that the performances were about to commence, and that the public might assemble in the theatre. It happened that this drum disturbed the siestas of Cardinal Espinosa, who was then officiating as President of Castile, and who stood high in the favour of Phillip II. The Cardinal, irritated by the annoyance, and determined to get rid of it, devised some unfounded pretext for ordering Cisneros to quit Madrid.

This circumstance came to the ears of the Infante Don Carlos, who used to be much diverted by the comedian’s humour and drollery; for at that time the Prince had withdrawn from the court circle, on account of the mortification he suffered from the favour shewn by his father to Rui Gómez de Silva and Cardinal Espinosa.

On hearing of the banishment of Cisneros, and its cause, Carlos resolved on revenge. He ordered the Captain of his Guard to beat four drums daily, from two till five in the afternoon, in front of the Cardinal’s residence. One day when the Prelate went to pay a visit to the palace, his unlucky star brought him face to face with the Prince, who seizing him by his rocket, and shaking him angrily, exclaimed, “How now, priest!—do you dare to face me, after having sent away Cisneros? By the life of my father, I have a great mind to kill you!” Espinosa would doubtless have been roughly handled, but that, luckily for him, Philip II. at that moment entered the apartment.

El Caballero Determinado, traducido de lengua francesa en castellana, par Don Hernando de Acuña, y dirigido al emperador D. Carlos Quinto, Maximo, Rey de España nuestro Señor.—En Anvers, en casa de Juan Steelsio.—Año de MDLIII.[87]

“Cervantes,” observed Don Adolfo de Castro, “has committed an anachronism in that passage of the Buscapié, in which it is affirmed that Oliver de la Marcha was living at the period when Charles V. was challenged by the King of France. He appears to have confounded the author of the Caballero Determinado, who lived in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, with the translator of the work, Hernando de Acuña, who was contemporary with the Emperor, Charles V. But similar errors are of frequent occurrence in the printed works of Cervantes, as well as in the manuscript of El Buscapié.”

El felicissimo viage del muy alto y muy poderoso Príncipe don Felipe, hijo del Emperador don Carlos Quinto Maximo, desde España à sus tierras de la baja Alemaña, con la descripcion de todos los estados de Brabante y Flandes, escripto en quatro libros por Juan Calvete de Estrella. En Anvers en casa de Martín Nucio, 1552.

(The happy journey of the most high and powerful Prince Philip, son of the Emperor Charles V., from Spain to his territories in lower Germany;—together with a description of all the states of Brabant and Flanders. Written in four books, by Juan Calvete de Estrella. Published at Antwerp by Martín Nucio, 1552.)

To the above passage, Don Adolfo de Castro appends the subjoined note, which, though bearing no direct reference to anything mentioned in the Buscapié, is nevertheless sufficiently curious to claim a place here.

“It cannot be doubted that many unfounded statements, by dint of being frequently repeated, come to be regarded as authentic historical facts. An example of this kind which may be here adduced had its origin in the Marques de San Felipe’s Comentarios de la guerra de España, e historia de Su Rey Felipe V. el animoso.[88] In that work we find the following passage—‘On the 24th of August, 1702, the combined English and Austrian fleet appeared before Cádiz. The vessels formed a line along the coast; some anchoring in the sands, and others slowly plying to windward. The Prince of Armstad, with five hundred English, landed at Rota, and the Governor of that town, after surrendering the place without opposition, went over to the enemy. His treachery was rewarded by the title of Marques, conferred on him by the Emperor of Austria. As soon as the Spaniards regained possession of Rota, the Governor was arrested. He was condemned to death and hanged by order of the Marquis de Villadarias, Captain-General of Andalusia.’

“Such is the Marquis de San Felipe’s account of the taking of Rota, by the English; and it was repeated by Fray Nicolás de Jesús Belando in his history of the Spanish civil war of that period.

“Don Tomás de Yriarte, in his lessons on the History of Spain (Lecciones instructivas de la Historia de España) relates the event in the same manner as the two writers above-named, adding that the Governor was hanged as a traitor, rather than as a coward.

“Don Antonio Alcalá Galiano, in his recently published History of Spain conforms, in his account of the taking of Rota, with the statements of the writers just noticed.

“And, lastly, to speak of myself,” pursues Don Adolfo de Castro, “in the history of my native city Cádiz, which I published in the year 1845, I adopted the accounts of the writers who had preceded me, presuming them to be correct. But it appears that all have been led into error by the original misstatement of the Marquis de San Felipe. The following is the true account of the affair.

“The Governor and Military Commandant of Rota was Don Francisco Díaz Cano Carillo de los Ríos, who filled that post from the year 1690 to 1708, when he was appointed Corregidor and Commandant of the City of Arcos. The English did not land at Rota, but between Rota and the Cañuelos. So far from taking part with the enemy, the Governor of Rota was desirous of putting the city in a state of defence, for which object he applied for arms and ammunition to the City of Cádiz and to the Marquis de Villadarias, Governor of Andalusia. But the required assistance not being forthcoming, it was declared impossible to defend Rota, and the Marquis de Villadarias then ordered the Governor, with the few troops he had, to withdraw from the town and proceed to Sanlucar. This order he executed in a manner perfectly satisfactory, and after the enemy had left our shores he returned to Rota, where he discharged the functions of governor until the year 1708, when he was appointed corregidor of Arcos. Such are the real facts of the case, founded on documents of unquestionable authenticity, which have been collected by the Governor’s son, and published at Madrid in a volume entitled, Díaz Cana Vindicado. Of this publication two copies exist in Cádiz; the one belongs to Señor Don Joaquim Rubio, and the other is in my possession.”

1. Relaciones i cartas. (“Narratives and Letters.”) This manuscript is in 434 folios, and was written some time in the beginning of the seventeenth century.

2. Monstruosa vida del rey don Pedro de Costilla, llamado comunmente el Cruel.[89] No notice is taken of this history by the learned Nicolás Antonio, nor by any writer, Spanish or foreign, who has commented on the Life of Antonio Pérez.

3. El conocimento de las naciones de Antonio Pérez, Secretario de estado que fué del Señor Rey D. Felipe II., discurso político fundado en materia y razón de estado y gobierno, al Rey N. S. D. Felipe III. de el estado que tenian sus reinos y señorios, y los de sus amigos y enemigos con algunas advertencias sobre el modo de proceder y gobernarse con los unos y con los otros.[90]

This work was written in the month of October, 1598, and Antonio Pérez addressed it to Philip III. in the hope of conciliating the favour of that monarch and obtaining permission to return to Spain. It is one of the ablest political essays of which the Spanish language can boast, and it is to be regretted that it has never been published.

4. Máximas de Antonio Pérez, Secretario del Rey D. Felipe II. al Rey Enrique IV. de Francia.[91]

Neither Nicolás Antonio nor any other writer notices this work of the astute politician. In these state maxims, which were written in May, 1600, Pérez betrays the vexation he experienced on finding Philip II. disinclined to permit his return to Spain. In his Conocimento de las naciones, Pérez intimates to King Philip the designs of the King of France, and the best mode of defeating them, and in his maxims, addressed to Henry IV., he recommends to that monarch various enterprises hostile to the King of Spain.

5. Breve compendio y elogio de la vida del Señor Rey D. Felipe II.[92] Nicolás Antonio and other writers state that Antonio Pérez was the author of this work. It is not an original production but a translation by that eminent man, and is extracted from a History of Henry IV. of France, written in the French language by Pedro Mateo.

Proper names terminating in us, as Arcalaus, Arcus, and others, met with in books of chivalry are not in accordance with the true spirit of the Spanish language. In adopting Latin words having the terminations us and um, the Spaniards have transferred them to their own language through the medium of the ablative or dative case; thus from tetricus they derive tétrico, from templum, templo, &c. Don Adolfo de Castro observes that he recollects only one proper name in which the termination us is retained, namely, Nicodemus; but the us is changed to os in the following names;—Carlos for Carolus; Marcos for Marcus; Longinos for Longinus, and some others.

Not only in proper names do we find the terminations us and um converted into o, the same change is observable in compound words; thus cumsecum is converted into consigo; cumtecum into contigo, &c.

The Latin termination has been preserved in the word vade-mecum; and modern writers have attempted to introduce several other words of similar formation, such as album, consideratum, ultimatum, and desideratum, but these terminations are quite at variance with the genius of the Castilian language.

Cervantes here alludes to a Spanish Lutheran, named Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. This martyr to sincere religious faith is frequently mentioned by the old Spanish historians, and it may be presumed the few scattered notices of his life here collected cannot fail to interest the English reader.

In the beginning of the sixteenth century great alarm was created in Spain by the rapidly increasing number of Protestants. In all the principal cities of the kingdom the Jesuits zealously exerted themselves for the discovery of heretics as the Protestants were commonly termed. The crafty brotherhood hoped by this means to recommend themselves to the common people, and also to induce the clergy to regard them as the strongest phalanx on which the Romish Church could rely for upholding the Catholic religion. In Seville, the doctrines of Luther were secretly adopted by many individuals distinguished for their rank and intelligence, and he who laboured most actively and earnestly for their propagation was Dr. Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. This celebrated man was a native of the city of San Clemente de la Mancha, in the Bishoprick of Cuenca, and he studied in the University of Alcalá de Henares, with his friend Dr. Juan Gil de Egidio. After quitting the University, both took up their abode in Seville where they commenced propounding the doctrines of Luther, Calvin, and other reformers, but with such well concerted secrecy that so far from being suspected of heresy they were regarded as most orthodox and exemplary Catholics. The fame of Constantino’s learning and talents induced several prelates to invite him to reside in their respective dioceses. The Bishop of Cuenca, was desirous of appointing him magistral canon of his cathedral, and he wrote several letters urging him to accept a dignity for which he was so well fitted. But Constantino declined the proffered honour founding his refusal on reasons more or less plausible; the real one however being that his partiality for Lutheran doctrines made him reluctant. Shortly after this, the Emperor Charles V., appointed Constantino his Chaplain of Honour, the duties of which post compelled him to proceed to the Netherlands, where he resided for a considerable time.

Immediately after his return to Spain he was elected Magistral Canon of the Cathedral of Seville where he commenced preaching. His orations, in which Lutheran principles were artfully veiled, and ingeniously interwoven with Catholic doctrines, drew crowds of listeners to the Cathedral. About this time, the Jesuit Father Francisco de Borja, happening to be in Seville, he went to the Cathedral to hear from the lips of Constantino one of those eloquent sermons, the fame of which was resounding throughout Spain. The Padre was startled on hearing certain propositions, which in his opinion, were anything but orthodox, and turning to some persons near him, he repeated the line: Aut aliquis latet error, equo ne credite Teucri.

Alarmed at Constantino’s popularity Borja recommended Father Juan Suárez (then Rector in Salamanca), to repair to Seville without delay, and there to establish a House of the Brotherhood of Jesus, for the purpose of checking as far as possible the progress of Lutheran opinions. Borja and other learned Jesuits urged the Dominican Friars to attend in the Cathedral whenever Constantino preached for the purpose of noting any observations of heretical tendency in his sermons, and reporting thereon to the Inquisition. Fully aware that he was an object of suspicion, Constantino felt the necessity of holding himself on his guard. On one occasion whilst descanting in the pulpit on some disputed point of belief, he began to fear that he was too freely unveiling his opinions, and suddenly checking himself in the midst of his discourse he said: Me robaban la voz aquellas capillas. As he uttered these words he pointed to the vaulted roofs of the lateral Chapels pretending to the Catholic portion of the congregation that an echo or some other cause prevented him from rendering himself audible, but in reality alluding to the Dominican monks, whose presence he wished his friends to understand, obliged him to be cautious and reserved.[93]

Shortly after this Constantino took a step which naturally excited great astonishment among the Jesuits. He made a formal application to be admitted as a member of the College which the brotherhood had established in Seville. Whether he took this step with the view of evading the danger of rapidly increasing suspicion; or whether he had conceived the design of attempting to convert the Jesuits to Protestantism, it is impossible to determine, but it can scarcely be imagined he was sincere in his wish to join the fraternity. Father Santibañez, in his Historia de la Compañïa de Jesús, furnishes the following particulars relating to Constantino’s application and its result.

“Constantino came to our college and discoursed with Padre Bartolomé de Bustamante, then exercising the functions of Provincial. He declared that his mind was beginning to be disabused of the world and its vanities; at the same time he feigned the utmost contempt for all mundane concerns, and expressed his wish to retire wholly from them. He declared his resolution to devote himself to religion, to do penance for his sins, and to correct the vanity and presumption of his sermons, by which he said he had gained more applause to himself than souls to God.—Several days elapsed, during which the Fathers discussed together Constantino’s proposition, but without coming to any agreement on the question. In the meanwhile Constantino’s frequent visits to our college were observed, and it began to be reported about that some secret scheme was in agitation. These reports reached the ears of the Inquisitor Carpio, and he desired to make himself acquainted with the facts of the case. He thought it best to address himself privately to Father Juan Suárez, with whom he was on friendly terms. Accordingly he invited Suárez to dinner, and during the repast he turned the conversation on matters concerning the Jesuits. He asked several questions respecting some of the probationers; which questions Suárez answered; and thereupon the Inquisitor said—

“‘I have heard that Doctor Constantino proposes to join the society.’

“‘He has,’ replied the Padre; ‘but what of that, señor, though his proposition has been listened to and entertained, yet we have come to no decision upon it.’

“‘He is,’ resumed the Inquisitor, ‘a person of weight and influence, and much looked up to by reason of his great learning;—yet I doubt whether a man at his age, and one who has always been accustomed to think and act according to his own will and pleasure, could easily submit to the restraints of a noviciate, and to the rigour of monastic rules. Instead of conforming to the regulations of your society he will, on the plea of his own superior merit, lay claim to, and possibly obtain some of those dispensations so odious in religious communities, whose high character can be maintained only by the perfect equality of duties and privileges. Believe me, when Constantino has fairly entered your college, he will give much to get out of it, and to bid you all farewell. To permit him to remain there with exemptions, would be a dangerous relaxation of the religious discipline so inviolably maintained by your society. It is by this sort of relaxation that monastic laws lose their force, and thereby many congregations suffer in the integrity of their principles. I assure you,’ pursued the Inquisitor, ‘that it gives me pain to communicate these doubts; but if the affair concerned me as it does you, I would decline Constantino’s proposition.’

“These words made a deep impression on Father Juan Suárez, and they excited in his mind suspicions which however he very artfully concealed, and he calmly replied to Carpio—

“‘Your observations are perfectly just, most reverend señor; the affair demands serious counsel and deliberation. I shall think well on what you have said.’

“Suárez then took leave of the Inquisitor, and on his return to the College he related to the Father Provincial (Bustamente) what had taken place. The next time that Constantino came to visit the College, Father Bustamente gave a decided denial to his application for admittance, and to check any unpleasant rumours that might be spread by those who either knew or suspected his object, the Father Provincial begged that he would come to our college as seldom as possible. Constantino departed much disappointed and mortified, and shortly after he was arrested by order of the Inquisition.”

Such are the details of this affair as given by Father Santibañez, in his History of the Jesuits; but he furnishes no clue whereby we may arrive at any satisfactory conclusion respecting the real object which Constantino had in view. It still remains questionable whether, by joining the Jesuits, he hoped to conciliate the friendship of those bitterest persecutors of the Lutherans; or whether, finding his own doom sealed, he was desirous of bringing discredit on the College, which, after his reception might have been regarded by the Inquisition as a cradle of Protestantism.

Some time after his arrest, and before the investigation of his case had brought about any result, an accidental circumstance occurred, which clearly convicted Constantino of being a Lutheran. A widow named Isabel Martínez was declared guilty of heresy, and the Inquisition, according to custom, issued an order for the sequestration of her property. Through the evidence of a treacherous servant, it was ascertained that many of her valuables were concealed in sundry coffers in the possession of her son, Francisco Beltran. Accordingly Luis Soltelo, an alguazil in the service of the Holy Inquisition, was directed to proceed to the house occupied by Beltran, and there to search for the hidden goods. No sooner had the alguazil entered the house, than Beltran, without waiting till a question was addressed to him, said, “Señor, there appears to be some mistake here! You have doubtless been directed to search my mother’s house, where some things are concealed, and if you will promise that no harm shall befal me for not having revealed this matter sooner, I will show you where the articles are hidden.” Without a moment’s delay, Beltran conducted Soltelo to the house of his mother, Isabel Martínez, and taking a hammer, he forced open a trap door, communicating with a cellar. In this cellar were found hidden a great number of printed books and manuscripts; the books were the works of Luther, Calvin and other Reformers, and the manuscripts were in the handwriting of Constantino Ponce de la Fuente. When denounced by the Inquisition, Constantino knowing that his books and papers would go far to convict him, had bethought himself of this means of preventing them from falling into the hands of his persecutors. With this view he consigned them to the care of his friend Isabel Martínez, a woman of virtuous and honourable character and a Protestant. But through the indiscretion of her son, both she and Constantino were sacrificed. Soltelo, not a little surprised at the booty he had unexpectedly discovered, took possession of the books and papers, at the same time telling Beltran that the objects he had been sent to search for, were his mother’s jewels and money. Beltran was dismayed by this information, and he then saw, when too late, the unfortunate result of his precipitancy. Fearing lest he might expose himself to danger by any further attempt to conceal these valuables, he surrendered them all into the hands of the alguazil Soltelo.

Constantino’s books and papers having been conveyed to the Inquisition and examined, it was found that the manuscripts were full of the most decided Lutheran doctrines; treating of the true Church, its spirit and character, and declaring that nothing could be more remote from it than the Church of Rome. Some of these papers contained discussions on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the Sacrifice of the Mass;—others treated of justification, of pontifical bulls and decrees; of indulgences; of rewards of grace and glory; of auricular confession, and various other subjects respecting which Catholics and Protestants are widely at variance. To sum up all, Constantino called purgatory, Una cabeza de lobo inventada por los frailes para tener que comer.[94]

Constantino was now removed from the place in which he had heretofore been confined, and he was incarcerated in one of the secret dungeons of the Inquisition. The manuscripts were shown to him, and he acknowledged them to be in his handwriting, adding that he fervently believed all that they contained. The Inquisitors urgently pressed him to disclose who had been his coadjutors in disseminating his doctrines in Seville; but all their endeavours were vain. Constantino firmly refused to betray his Protestant friends and associates. After a lingering confinement in a damp subterraneous cell, this noble-minded man was seized with dysentery, which disease speedily terminated his life. Mortified at finding their victim thus wrested from their grasp, the Inquisitors circulated among the public a report that Constantino had terminated his own existence, in order to evade the just punishment which he knew awaited him.[95]