“The day of the _auto da fé_ being come, I was made to walk in the procession with the other victims of this tribunal. At St. Dominic’s church my sentence was read, of being condemned to the galleys during four years. Four days after I was conveyed to the galleys; and joined, the next day, in the occupation of my fellow-slaves. However, the liberty I had of speaking to my friends, after having been deprived of the sight of them during my wretched abode in the prison of the Inquisition, the open air, and being freed from the apprehensions which always overspread my mind, made me find the toil of the galley more supportable. “By the tortures inflicted on me in the Inquisition, I was unfit for the painful labour allotted me, viz., the carrying water to the prisons of the city; but fear of the inhumanity of the overseers caused me to exert myself, and I fell sick. I was then sent to the infirmary for two months; when I was visited by the first friars of the convent of Corpo Santo, who offered to get my release, provided I would turn Roman Catholic. I assured them that I expected my enlargement from the Almighty; and having leisure, I desired a friend to write to my brother-in-law, Mr. Barber, informing him of my deplorable state, and entreating him to address the Earl of Harrington in my favour, he having the honour to live in his lordship’s family. This nobleman spoke to his grace the Duke of Newcastle, secretary of state, supplicating leave from our sovereign that his minister at Lisbon might demand me, as a subject of Great Britain. “His majesty was so gracious as to interpose in my favour. Mr. Compton, the British minister at Lisbon, demanded my liberty of the king of Portugal, in the name of his Britannic majesty; and I obtained it in the latter end of October, 1744. The officer took me from the galley by order of the inquisitors, and brought me before them, when the president told me that Cardinal de Cunha had ordered my release, but I must return in three days. “I could perceive that the spies of the Inquisition followed me. I waited upon our envoy, and our consul; and five days after I returned to the inquisitors, when the president declared that the tribunal would not permit me to continue any longer in Portugal, and that I must name the city and kingdom whither I intended to retire. I replied that, ‘as my family is in London, I design to go thither;’ and they bid me embark in the first ship that should sail for England.” Mr. Coustos was kindly received by the Dutch admiral on board his ship, then in the port of Lisbon, and he permitted him to send for his friend, Mr. Mouton, being affected with the relation of their sufferings. They arrived in London, December 15th, 1744. He adds,