had dismissed them from
their office of penitentiaries at court, and branded them with other
marks of disgrace, on account of their illegal and rebellious practices
in South America: the duke, moreover, insinuated himself into the
confidence of the marchioness of Tavora, notwithstanding an inveterate
rivalship of pride and ambition, which had long subsisted between
the two families. Her resentment against the king was inflamed by the
mortification of her pride in repeated repulses, when she solicited the
title of duke for her husband. Her passions were artfully fomented and
managed by the Jesuits, to whom she had resigned the government of her
conscience; and they are said to have persuaded her, that it would be a
meritorious action to take away the life of a prince who was an enemy
to the church, and a tyrant to his people. She, being reconciled to the
scheme of assassination, exerted her influence in such a manner as to
inveigle her husband, her sons and son-in law, into the same infamous
design: and yet this lady had been always remarkable for her piety,
affability, and sweetness of disposition. Many consultations were held
by the conspirators at the colleges of the Jesuits, St. Autoa and St.
Roque, as well as at the houses of the duke and the marquis; at last
they resolved that the king should be assassinated, and employed
two ruffians, called Antonio Alvarez and Joseph Policarpio, for the
execution of this design, the miscarriage of which we have related among
the transactions of the preceding year. In the beginning of January,
before the circumstances of the conspiracy were known, the counts
de Oberas and de Ribeira Grande were imprisoned in the castle of St.
Julian, on a suspicion arising from their freedom of speech. The duchess
de Aveiro, the countess of Attouguia, and the marchioness of Alorna,
with their children, were sent to different nunneries; and eight Jesuits
were taken into custody. A council being appointed for the trial of the
prisoners, the particulars we have related were brought to light by
the torture; and sentence of death was pronounced and executed upon the
convicted criminals. Eight wheels were fixed upon a scaffold raised in
the square opposite to the house where the prisoners had been confined;
and the thirteenth of January was fixed for the day of execution.
Antonio Alvarez Ferreira, one of the assassins who had fired into the
king's equipage, was fixed to a stake at one corner of the scaff