Donna Maria de Bohorques, was the natural daughter of Pedro Garcia de Xerez Bohorques of one of the first families of Seville, and from which sprung the Marquises de Ruchena, grandees of the first class. She was not twenty-one years of age when she was arrested as a Lutheran. She had been instructed by the doctor, Juan Gil (or Egidius), was perfectly acquainted with the Latin language, and understood Greek; she had many Lutheran books, and had committed to memory the Gospels, and some of the principal works which explain the text in a Lutheran sense. She was conducted to the secret prisons, where she acknowledged her opinions, and defended them as Catholic. She said that some of the facts and propositions contained in the depositions were true, but denied the others, either because she had forgotten them, or was afraid to compromise others. She was then tortured, and confessed that her sister, Jane Bohorques, was acquainted with her sentiments, and had not disapproved them. The fatal consequences of this confession will be shown hereafter. The definitive sentence was pronounced, and Maria Bohorques was condemned to _relaxation_. As the sentence was not communicated to the prisoner till the day before the _auto-da-fé_, the inquisitors desired that Maria should be exhorted during the interval. Two Jesuits and two Dominicans were successively sent to her. They returned full of admiration at the learning of the prisoner, but displeased at her obstinacy, in explaining the texts of Scripture which they proposed, in a Lutheran sense. On the day before the _auto-da-fé_, two other Dominicans went with the first, to make a last effort to convert Maria, and they were followed by several other theologians of different religious orders. Maria received them with as much pleasure as politeness, but she told them, that they might spare themselves the trouble of speaking to her of their doctrines, as they could not be more concerned for her salvation than she was herself; that she would renounce her opinions if she felt the least uncertainty; but that she was still more convinced that she was right, since so many _popish_ theologians had not been able to advance any arguments, for which she had not prepared a solid and conclusive answer. At the place of execution, Don Juan Ponce de Leon, who had abjured heresy, exhorted Maria to do the same. She received his advice very ill, and called him _ignorant, an idiot, and a babbler_: she added, that it was no longer a time to dispute, and that the few moments they had to live ought to be employed in meditating on the passion and death of their Redeemer, to reanimate the faith by which they were to be justified and saved. Although she was so obstinate, several priests, and a great number of monks, earnestly entreated that she might be spared, in consideration of her extreme youth and surprising merit, if she would consent to repeat the _Credo_. The inquisitors granted their request; but scarcely had