go and read it to M. De Legal.

The secretary punctually performed his commission, and read the
excommunication deliberately and distinctly. The French commander heard
it with great patience, and politely told the secretary he would answer
it the next day.

When the secretary of the inquisition was gone, M. De Legal ordered his
own secretary to prepare a form of excommunication, exactly like that
sent by the inquisition; but to make this alteration, instead of his
name to put in those of the inquisitors.

The next morning he ordered four regiments under arms, and commanded
them to accompany his secretary, and act as he directed.

The secretary went to the inquisition, and insisted upon admittance,
which, after a great deal of altercation, was granted. As soon as he
entered, he read, in an audible voice, the excommunication sent by M. De
Legal against the inquisitors. The inquisitors were all present, and
heard it with astonishment, never having before met with any individual
who dared behave so boldly. They loudly cried out against De Legal, as a
heretic; and said, this was a most daring insult against the catholic
faith. But, to surprise them still more, the French secretary told them,
they must remove from their present lodgings; for the French commander
wanted to quarter the troops in the inquisition, as it was the most
commodious place in the whole city.

The inquisitors exclaimed loudly upon this occasion, when the secretary
put them under a strong guard, and sent them to a place appointed by M.
De Legal to receive them. The inquisitors, finding how things went,
begged that they might be permitted to take their private property,
which was granted, and they immediately set out for Madrid, where they
made the most bitter complaints to the king; but the monarch told them,
he could not grant them any redress, as the injuries they had received
were from his grandfather, the king of France's troops, by whose
assistance alone he could be firmly established in his kingdom. "Had it
been my own troops, (said he) I would have punished them; but as it is,
I cannot pretend to exert any authority."

In the mean time, M. De Legal's secretary set open all the doors of the
inquisition, and released the prisoners, who amounted in the whole to
400; and among these were 60 beautiful young women, who appeared to form
a seraglio for the three principal inquisitors.

This discovery, which laid the enormity of the inquisitors so op