Others began to strike the slab, with all their might, with the butts of their muskets, in order to break it. The fathers, who had been looking on with the greatest dismay, now broke out in loud remonstrance against our desecration of their holy and beautiful house. As they were thus engaged, one of the soldiers, who was busy with the butt of his musket, struck a part of the marble under which was a spring, and the slab partly flew up; then the faces of the inquisitors grew pale, and they trembled, as Belshazzar, when the handwriting appeared on the wall. The marble slab being raised, the top of a staircase appeared. I stepped to the altar, and took one of the long candles which was burning, some of my men doing the same, that we might see to explore what was below. One of the inquisitors here came up to me, and laying his hand gently on my arm, said, with a demure and holy look, ‘My son, you must not take those lights with your bloody hands; they are holy.’ ‘Well,’ said I, pushing him back, ‘I will take a holy thing to shed light on iniquity; I will bear the responsibility.’ We proceeded down the staircase. “On reaching the floor, the first room we entered was a large square hall, on one side of which was a raised platform with seats, the centre one being raised considerably, being the throne of the inquisitor-general. In the centre of the hall was a large block, with a chain fastened to it, where the accused were chained during their examinations. “On leaving the hall of judgment, we proceeded along a passage with numerous doors. These were the cells of solitary imprisonment, from which the miserable victims were never brought out, except it were for torture. Within some of these cells we heard sounds as we advanced. On opening the doors we witnessed such sights as I wish never to see again, the details of which are too horrible to relate. _In some cells we found bodies apparently but a short time dead. Others were in various stages of decay; and we saw some, of which little but the bones remained, still fixed by chains to the floor of the dungeon._ To prevent this corruption being offensive to the occupants of the Inquisition, there were flues extending along the roofs of the cells and carrying the odour off to the open air. _Among the living prisoners we found aged men and women of threescore years and ten, youths and girls of fourteen or fifteen, and others in the prime of life._ Some had been there for many years, and had lost count of the time since they entered. The soldiers went to work to release them from their chains, and took from their knapsacks their over-coats and other clothing to cover their nakedness. They were eager to be taken to the light of day, but having heard of the danger of this, I caused food to be given to them, and then directed them gradually to be brought out to the light as they were able to bear it.