"Without entering into a long enumeration of all the sciences, as well as of the persons who have been eminent therein, it would not be possible to give a complete idea of the individuals who have suffered by the proceedings of the Inquisition; John Reuchlin, in Germany—Picus, Prince of Mirandula, in Italy—Peter Ramus in France—and Desiderius Erasmus, every where—had to endure the lash of this infernal fury; yet no nation has thereby suffered so much as Spain. In the seventeenth century, father Pedro de Soto, a wise and pious writer—father Juan de Villagarcia, professor of theology at Oxford—and in general all the learned men who at that time visited England, became its victims. Father José de Sigüenza, a diligent and polished historian—and in more recent times, many distinguished individuals, by their acquirements in history, theology, mathematics, politics, philology, &c., became objects of Inquisitorial vengeance. Finally, within late years, not a few enlightened persons of literary pursuits and known probity, have had to drag a miserable existence within the walls of the Inquisition, on account of denunciations ridiculous and chimerical, or have been admonished or threatened by it. Even in the way of artists of any pre-eminence, this tribunal has placed obstacles. A navigator, who, by discovering a new route, had performed a voyage in less than the customary time—a master of the first rudiments, who, by his genius and constancy, had brought forward and improved his scholars quicker than his competitors—and even the handicraftsman who has enjoyed more credit than others of his own class—have incurred the displeasure of the Inquisition, and been entangled in its toils."