“We then proceeded to explore another room where there were instruments of torture. One of these was a machine, on which the victim was stretched, and every joint of the body, beginning with the fingers, was racked, until the sufferer swooned away or died. Another engine consisted of a box, in which the head and neck were immoveably confined by a screw, and over this box was a vessel, from which, drop by drop, water fell every second upon the head. This perpetual drop, falling on the same spot, caused most excruciating agony--agony, ending, ere long, in raving madness. Another infernal machine lay along horizontally, to which the sufferer was bound, and then was placed between two beams, on which scores of knives were fixed, so that by turning the machine with a crank, the flesh was torn from the limbs in small pieces. A fourth machine surpassed the others in fiendish ingenuity. Its exterior was a beautiful woman, richly dressed, with arms extended to embrace the victim; around her feet a semicircle was drawn. Whoever stepped over this line touched a spring, which caused the diabolical engine to open, and a thousand knives pierced him with deadly force. “The sight of these engines of infernal cruelty kindled the fury of the soldiers, already enraged with the resistance they met with, and the death of their comrades in assaulting the walls. They declared that they would put their prisoners to the torture. I could not stem their fury. They began with the holy fathers. They put one on the machine for racking the joints. Another was put under the dropping water, and terrible was the agony he seemed to suffer. The inquisitor-general was brought before the machine called ‘The Virgin,’ and commanded to kiss it. ‘You have caused others to kiss it,’ said the soldiers, ‘now you must do it.’ They pointed their bayonets, and pushed him over the fatal circle. The beautiful image instantly prepared for the embrace, clasped him in its arms, and he was cut to pieces. My heart sickened at this awful scene, and I saw no more. * * * * * “In the meantime, the report had reached Madrid, that the prisons of the Inquisition were open! Multitudes already were hastening to the place. Fathers there were who found long-lost daughters; mothers their sons; wives were restored to their husbands; sisters and brothers met once more. Some were friendless and unrecognised. The scene of mingled joy, surprise, and anguish, no tongue could describe.