In the three first days following the imprisonment of the culprit, he had three _audiences_ of _monition_, or caution, recommending him to speak the truth, without concealing anything that he had done or said, or that he can impute to others, contrary to the faith. He was told that if he followed this recommendation he would be treated leniently; but in the contrary case, he would be proceeded against with severity. Until then the prisoner is ignorant of the cause of his arrest; he is only told that no person is taken to the prison of the holy office without sufficient proof that he has spoken against the Catholic faith, and, therefore, it is for his interest to confess his crimes voluntarily. Some prisoners confessed themselves guilty of the crimes stated in the preparatory instruction; others acknowledged more; others less; generally the prisoners declared that their consciences did not reproach them, but that they would endeavour to recollect the faults which they had committed if the accusations of the witnesses were read to them. The advantages of the confession were, that it lessened the duration of the trial, and rendered the punishments inflicted on the accused less severe when the reconciliation took place. Whatever promises might be made to the prisoners, they could not avoid the disgrace of the _san-benito_ and _auto-da-fé_, or preserve their honour or their property, if they acknowledged themselves _formal_ heretics. Another custom of the Inquisition was to examine the prisoner on his genealogy and parentage, in order to discover by the registers of the tribunal if any of his family had been punished for heresy, supposing that he might have inherited the erroneous doctrines of his ancestors. He was also obliged to recite the _Pater_, the _Credo_, and other forms of Christian doctrine, because the presumption that he had erred in his faith was stronger, if he did not know them, had forgotten them, or if he made mistakes in the repetition. In short, the Inquisition employed every means, and neglected nothing in the trial of the prisoners, to make them appear guilty of heresy, and all this was done with an appearance of charity and compassion, and in the name of Jesus Christ. _Charges._