ore he had the power so to do; for
the very intimation of his design procured his destruction.

This was that amiable prince Don Carlos, son of Philip the Second, king
of Spain, and grandson of the celebrated emperor Charles V. Don Carlos,
possessed all the good qualities of his grandfather without any of the
bad ones of his father; and was a prince of great vivacity, admirable
learning, and the most amiable disposition.--He had sense enough to see
into the errors of popery, and abhorred the very name of the
inquisition. He inveighed publicly against the institution, ridiculed
the affected piety of the inquisitors, did all he could to expose their
atrocious deeds, end even declared, that if he ever came to the crown,
he would abolish the inquisition, and exterminate its agents.

These things were sufficient to irritate the inquisitors against the
prince: they, accordingly, bent their minds to vengeance, and determined
on his destruction.

The inquisitors now employed all their agents and emissaries to spread
abroad the most artful insinuations against the prince; and, at length,
raised such a spirit of discontent among the people, that the king was
under the necessity of removing Don Carlos from court. Not content with
this, they pursued even his friends, and obliged the king likewise to
banish Don John, duke of Austria, his own brother, and consequently
uncle to the prince; together with the prince of Parma, nephew to the
king, and cousin to the prince, because they well knew that both the
duke of Austria, and the prince of Parma, had a most sincere and
inviolable attachment to Don Carlos.

Some few years after, the prince having shown great lenity and favour to
the protestants in the Netherlands, the inquisition loudly exclaimed
against him, declaring, that as the persons in question were heretics,
the prince himself must necessarily be one, since he gave them
countenance. In short, they gained so great an ascendency over the mind
of the king, who was absolutely a slave to superstition, that, shocking
to relate, he sacrificed the feelings of nature to the force of bigotry,
and, for fear of incurring the anger of the inquisition, gave up his
only son, passing the sentence of death on him himself.

The prince, indeed, had what was termed an indulgence; that is, he was
permitted to choose the manner of his death. Roman like, the unfortunate
young hero chose bleeding and the hot bath; when the veins of his arms
and l