No one in the prison must so much as mutter, or make any noise, but must keep profound silence. If any one bemoans himself, or bewails his misfortune, or prays to God with an audible voice, or sings a psalm or sacred hymn, the jail-keepers, who continually watch in the porches, and can hear even the least sound, immediately come to him, and admonish him that silence must be preserved in this house. If the prisoner doth not obey, the keepers admonish him again. If after this the prisoner persists, the keeper opens the door, and prevents his noise, by severely beating him with a stick; not only to chastise him, but to deter others, who, because the cells are contiguous, and deep silence is kept, can very easily hear the outcries and sound of the blows. I will add here a short story that I had from several persons; which, if true, shews us with what severity they keep this silence. A prisoner in the inquisition coughed. The jailors came to him, and admonished him to forbear coughing, because it was unlawful to make any noise in that house. He answered, it was not in his power. However, they admonished him a second time to forbear it; and because he did not, they stripped him naked, and cruelly beat him. This increased his cough; for which they beat him so often, that at last he died through the pain and anguish of the stripes. They insist so severely on keeping this silence, that they may cut off every degree of comfort from the afflicted; and especially for this reason, that the prisoners may not know one another, either by singing, or any loud voice. For it oftentimes happens, that after two or three years confinement in the jail of the inquisition, a man doth not know that his friend, nor a father that his children and wife are in the same prison, till they all see each other in the act of faith. And finally, that the prisoners in the several cells may not talk with one another; which, if ever found out, their cells are immediately changed. If any one falls ill in the prison, they send to him a surgeon and physician, who administer all proper remedies to him to recover him to health. If there be any danger of his dying, they send him a confessor, if he desires it. If the criminal doth not ask for a confessor, and the physician believes the distemper to be dangerous, he must be persuaded by all means to confess; and if he judicially satisfies the inquisitors, he is to be reconciled to the church before he dies; and being absolved in judgment, the confessor must absolve him sacramentally.