“After breakfast we resumed the subject of the Inquisition. The inquisitor admitted that Dellon’s descriptions of the _dungeons_, of the _torture_, of the _mode of trial_, and of the _auto da fé_, were, in general, just; but he said the writer judged untruly of the motives of the inquisitors, and very uncharitably of the character of the holy church; and I admitted that, under the pressure of his peculiar sufferings, this might possibly be the case. The inquisitor was now anxious to know to what extent Dellon’s book had been circulated in Europe. I told him that Picart had published to the world extracts from it, in his celebrated work called ‘Religious Ceremonies,’ together with plates of the system of torture and burnings at the _auto da fé_. I added, that it was now generally believed in Europe that these enormities no longer existed, and that the Inquisition itself had been totally suppressed; but that I was concerned to find that this was not the case. He now began a grave narration, to show that the Inquisition had undergone a change in some respects, and that its terrors were mitigated. “I had already discovered, from written or printed documents, that the Inquisition of Goa was suppressed by royal edict in the year 1775, and established again in 1779. The Franciscan father before mentioned witnessed the annual _auto da fé_, from 1770 to 1775. ‘It was the humanity and tender mercy of a good king,’ said the old father, ‘which abolished the Inquisition.’ But, immediately on his death, the power of the priests acquired the ascendant under the queen dowager, and the tribunal was re-established, after a bloodless interval of five years. It has continued in operation ever since. It was restored in 1779, subject to certain restrictions, the chief of which are the two following:-- “‘_That a greater number of witnesses should be required to convict a criminal than were before necessary; and_, “‘_That the_ auto da fé _should not be held publicly as before; but that the sentences of the tribunal should be executed privately, within the walls of the Inquisition_.’