Footnote W: See note [W] at the end of the volume. ----- Dominick being sent into the country of Tholouse, was confirmed in the office of inquisitor by the papal authority; after which, upon a certain day, in the midst of a great concourse of people, he declaredo penly in his sermon, in the church of St. Prullian, “that he was raised to a new office by the pope;” adding, that “he was resolved to defend, with his utmost vigour, the doctrines of the faith; and that if the spiritual arm was not sufficient for this end, it was his fixed purpose to call in the assistance of the secular one, and to excite and compel the Catholic princes to take arms against heretics, that the very memory of them might be intirely destroyed.” It evidently appears that he was a very bloody and cruel man. He was born in Spain, in the village of Calaroga, in the diocese of Osma. His mother, before she conceived him, dreamt that “she was with child of a whelp, carrying in his mouth a lighted torch; and that after he was born, he put the world in an uproar by his fierce barkings, and set it on fire by the torch which he carried in his mouth.” His followers interpret this dream of his doctrine, by which he enlightened the whole world; but others, with more reason, think that the torch was an emblem of that fire and faggot, by which an infinite number of persons were consumed to ashes. [Illustration] SECT. I. _Of the progress of the Inquisition._ Dominick being settled in the country of Tholouse, sent a great number of persons, wearing crosses, to destroy the Albigenses in those parts; and caused the friars of his order to promise plenary indulgences to all who would engage in the pious work of murdering heretics. He also caused Raymond earl of Tholouse to be excommunicated, as a defender of heretics, and his subjects to be absolved from their oaths of allegiance. The cross-bearers, being thus sent by Dominick, filled all places with slaughter and blood, and burnt many whom they had taken prisoners. In the year 1209, Biterre was taken by them; and the inhabitants, without any regard of age, were cruelly put to the sword, and the city itself destroyed by the flames; and though there were several Catholics in it, yet, lest any heretics should escape, Arnold, abbot of Cisteaux, cried out, “Slay them all, for the Lord knows who are his;” upon which they were all slain, without exception. Carcassone also was destroyed, Alby and La Vaur taken by force; in which last place they hanged Aymeric, the governor of the city, who was of a noble family, beheaded eighty of lower degree, and threw Girarda, Aymeric’s sister, into an open pit, and covered her with stones. Afterwards they conquered Carcum, where they murdered sixty men. They seized on Villeneuve, a large city near Tholouse, and burnt in it 400 Albigenses, and hanged fifty more. They also took Castres de Termis, and in it Raymond, lord of