the Holy Office was not allowed to busy itself about any religious matter except heresy, in the strictest sense; it could not interfere in connection with any violation of the laws of the Church, not even in cases of sorcery or blasphemy, for magicians fell under the authority of the Signors of the Night, and blasphemers were answerable to the Executives against Blasphemy. These laws had not changed in the sixteenth century, and the Holy Office had less to do than most of the contemporary tribunals. An examination of the documents preserved in its archives shows that from the year 1541 to the fall of the Republic there were three thousand six hundred and twenty trials, of which fifteen hundred and sixty-five fell in the sixteenth century, fourteen hundred and ninety-seven in the seventeenth, and only five hundred and sixty-one in the eighteenth. In the majority of cases the testimony was declared insufficient; in others, the accused hastened to abjure their errors. Sometimes, however, we find long trials in the course of which torture was used as by the other tribunals, and in these cases the end was frequently a sentence of death or a condemnation to the galleys. [Sidenote: _Molmenti, Stud. e Ric., and Cecchetti, Corte di Roma._] No heretic was ever burned alive in Venice; death was inflicted by strangling, beheading, or hanging. Each Doge promised, indeed, on his election, to burn all heretics, but it is amply proved that only their dead bodies or their effigies were really given to the flames. [Illustration: A: Clerk of the Exchequer B: Commissioner of the Inquisition C: The Patriarch’s Vicar General D: The Nuncio’s Auditor E: The Father Inquisitor F: The Patriarch G: The Pope’s Nuncio H: A Venetian Senator I: A Venetian Senator J: A Venetian Senator A B C D E F G H I J Door used by the +-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-++-+ Father Inquisitor, the | ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ ++ | Nuncio’s Auditor, the | | Door used by the Patriarch’s Vicar, -+ /-------------------------\ +- Patriarch, the the Commissioner |Court of the Holy Office | Nuncio, and the of the Inquisition, -+ \-------------------------/ +- three Senators. and the Clerk of | | the Exchequer. | | +-------------------------------+ ]