"The idea all this presents is," says Puigblanch, "that the court wishes the prisoner to confess, under the hope of being treated with greater kindness; but, without dreading the charge of temerity, and judging only from the strict nature of the process, I may venture to attribute to such a practice the highest refinement of the Inquisitorial test. At least it will not be denied that the prisoner is compelled to scrutinize every act and period of his life, till at last he hits on the cause of his impeachment. Scarcely recovered from the surprise caused by his arrest, and appalled by the contrast his imagination forms of the many and secret steps previously taken, compared with the state of security in which he lately lived, from that moment the prisoner begins to despair, and hopeless and dismayed, he already beholds the torment that awaits him. Bewildered, as in the mazes of a labyrinth, wherever he turns his eyes, some fresh object increases his pain, and adds to his anguish. Under the undoubted supposition, that in this abode of wretchedness, the appearance of the most officious charity conceals acts of the most insidious cruelty, he beholds no one who is not an enemy, and hears nothing that is not directed to his ruin. Secluded from every species of intercourse, if his keeper says any thing unconnected with the service of his person, it is to assure him that it will be much in his favour to confess according to the pleasure of the Inquisitors. If an attorney is allowed him, it is after he has sworn to use every exertion to induce his client to confess, and that he will abandon his defence from the moment he discovers his guilt. Thus is it that the prisoner has more to fear from his advocate than from the proctor of his enemies." If, on the other hand, the prisoner knows the reason why he is apprehended, and happens to confess every thing of which he has been accused to the Inquisitor, he is commended, and encouraged to hope for a speedy deliverance. If he confesses some things, but cannot guess at others, he is also commended for having resolved to accuse himself, and exhorted, "by the bowels of mercy of Jesus Christ," to proceed, and ingenuously to confess every thing else of which he is accused, that he may experience that kindness and mercy which this tribunal uses towards those who manifest a real repentance of their crimes by a sincere and voluntary confession!