And it is, moreover, with the glowing pleasure of friendship, and the impartiality of truth, that we can say, the virtues of the heart are united in him to the powers of the mind.

He is a warm, sensible and generous friend; a sociable, entertaining, and communicative companion; and an instructive, ardent, and benevolent brother!

One who has the happiness of calling him by each of these three appellations bears with rich satisfaction this testimony to a character he loves and reveres.

W***** R*****.

CONTINUATION OF THE NARRATIVE OF

JOHN COUSTOS, FREEMASON,
IN THE INQUISITION AT LISBON.

HOW

(Continued from Page 100.)

COWEVER, afterwards calling to mind that grief would only aggravate my calamity, I endeavoured to arm my soul with patience, and to accustom myself in the best manner I was able to my unfortunate situation. Accordingly I rouzed my spirits, and banishing, for a few moments, all these horrible and mournful ideas, I began to reflect seriously on the methods how to extricate myself from this labyrinth of troubles. The consciousness that I had not committed any crime which could justly merit death, would now and then soften my grief, but immediately after dreadful thoughts overspread my mind, when I recollected the crying injustice of which the tribunal that was to judge me is accused. I considered that, being a Protestant, I should inevitably feel, in its utmost rigours, all that rage and barbarous zeal could infuse in the breasts of Jesuits, who cruelly gloried in committing to the flames great numbers of ill-fated victims, whose only crime was their differing from them in religious opinions; or, rather, who were obnoxious to those tygers merely because they thought worthily of human nature, and held in the utmost detestation those Romish barbarities which are not to be parallelled in any other religion.

These apprehensions, together with the reflections which reason suggested to me, viz. that it would be highly incumbent on me to calm, the tumult of my spirits, in order to prevent my falling into the snares which my judges would not fail to spread round me, either by giving them an opportunity of pronouncing me guilty, or by forcing me to apostatize from the religion in which I was born; these things, I say, worked so strongly on my mind, that from this moment I devoted my whole thoughts to the means of my justification. This I made so familiar to myself, that I was persuaded neither the partiality of my judges, nor the dreadful ideas Î had entertained of their cruelty, could VOL. II.

Y

intimidate me, when I should be brought before them; which I accordingly was, in a few days, after having been shaved and had my hair cut by their order.

I now was led, bareheaded, to the President and four Inquisitors, who, upon my coming in, bid me kneel down, lay my right hand on the Bible, and swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I would speak truly with regard to all the questions they should ask me: These questions were, my Christian and sirnames, those of my parents, the place of my birth, my profession, religion, and how long I had resided in Lisbon. This being done, they addressed me as follows:

"Son, you have offended and spoke injuriously of the Holy Office, as "we know from very good intelligence, for which reason we exhort you "to make a confession of, and to accuse yourself of, the several crimes "you may have committed, from the time you was capable of judging "between good and evil to the present moment. In doing this, you "will excite the compassion of this tribunal, which is ever merciful “and kind to those who speak the truth."

It was then they thought proper to inform me, that the diamond, mentioned in the former pages, was only a pretence they had employed in order to get an opportunity of seizing me. I now besought them," "To let me know the true cause of my imprisonment; that having been born and educated in the Protestant religion, I had "been taught, from my infancy, not to confess myself to men, but to God, who, as he only can see into the inmost recesses of the human "heart, knows the sincerity or insincerity of the sinner's repentance who confesses to him; and, being his Creator, it was he only could absolve him."

The reader will naturally suppose, that they were no ways satisfied with my answer; they declaring," That it would be indispensably necessary for me to confess myself, what religion soever I might be of, "otherwise that a confession would be forced from me, by the expedients the Holy Office employed for that purpose."

To this I replied, "That I had never spoke in my life against the "Romish religion; that I had behaved in such a manner, ever fince my living at Lisbon, that I could not be justly accused of saying or doing any thing contrary to the laws of the kingdom, either as to "spirituals or temporals; that I had always imagined the Holy Office "took cognizance of none but those persons who were guilty of sacrilege, blasphemy, and such like crimes; whose delight is to depreciate and ridicule the mysteries received in the Romish Church, but of which I was no ways guilty." They then remanded me back to my dungeon, after exhorting me to examine my conscience.

66

Three days after they sent for me again, to interrogate me a second time. The first question they asked was, "Whether I had carefully "looked into my conscience, pursuant to their injunction?" I replied, "That after carefully reviewing all the past transactions of my life, I "did not remember my having said or done any thing that could just"ly give offence to the Holy Office; that, from my most early youth, my parents, who had been forced to quit France for their religion, and

ઃઃ

"who knew by sad experience how highly it concerns every one, that "values his ease, never to converse on religious subjects in certain "countries; that my parents (I say) had advised me never to engage "in disputes of this kind, since they usually embittered the minds of "the contending parties, rather than reconciled them; farther, that I "belonged to a society composed of persons of different religions, one "of the laws of which society expresly forbids its members ever to disa "pute on those subjects upon a confiderable penalty." As the Inquisitors confounded the word Society with that of Religion, I assured them, "That this society could be considered as a religious one no other66 ways than as it obliged its several members to live together in Charity and Brotherly Love, how widely soever they might differ in re"ligious principles."

60

They then enquired, "How this society was called?" I replied, "That if they had ordered me to be seized because I was one of its "members, I would readily tell them its name; I thinking myself not

a little honoured in belonging to a society, which boasted several "Christian Kings, Princes, and persons of the highest quality among "its members; and that I had been frequently in company with some " of the latter, as one of their Brethren."

Then one of the Inquisitors asked me, "Whether the name of this "society was secret?" I answered, "That it was not; that I could "tell it them in French, or English, but was not able to translate it " into Portugueze." Then all of them at once fixing their eyes attentively on me, repeated alternately, the words FREEMASON; or, FRANC-MACON. From this instant I was firmly persuaded, that I had been imprisoned solely on account of Masonry. They afterwards asked, "What were the institutions of this society?" I then set before them, as well as I could, "the ancient traditions relating to this "noble art, of which (I told them) James VI. King of Scotland * "had declared himself the protector, and encouraged his subjects to "enter among the Freemasons: That it appeared from authentic ma"nuscripts, that the kings of Scotland had so great a regard for this "honourable society, on account of the strong proofs its members had "ever given of their fidelity and attachment, that those monarchs es"tablished the custom among the Brethren, of saying, whenever they "drank, God preserve the King and the Brotherhood: That this example was soon followed by the Scotch Nobility and the Clergy, "who had so high an esteem for the Brotherhood, that most of them entered into the society.

66

"That it appeared from the traditions, that the Kings of Scotland "had frequently been Grand Masters of the Freemasons; and that, "when the Kings were not such, the society were impowered to elect, as Grand Master, one of the nobles of the country, who had a pen"sion from the Sovereign, and received, at his election, a gift from every

Freemason in Scotland."

*The constitutions of the Freemasons, &c. for the use of the Lodges, by Dr. Anderson, page 38, London, 1723. Some other passages here are taken from the same work.

I likewise told them, "That Queen Elizabeth, ascending the throne "of England at a time that the kingdom was greatly divided by fac"tions and clashing interests, and taking umbrage at the various as"semblies of great numbers of her subjects, as not knowing the in"tention of those meetings, she resolved to suppress the assemblies of "the Freemasons: However, that before her Majesty proceeded to "this extremity, she commanded some of her subjects to enter into this "society, among whom was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate " of England: That these, obeying the Queen's orders, gave her Ma*jesty so very advantageous a character of the fidelity of the Freema"sons, as removed at once all her Majesty's suspicions and political "fears; so that the society have, ever since that time, enjoyed in "Great Britain, and the places subject to it, all the liberty they could "wish for, and which they have never once abused." They afterwards enquired, "What was the tendency of this society?" I replied, "Every Freemason is obliged, at his admission, to take an oath on the Holy Gospel, that he will be faithful to the King, and "never enter into any plot or conspiracy against his sacred person, or against the country where he resides; and that he will pay obedience to the magistrates appointed by the monarch." I next declared, "That Charity was the foundation and the soul, as it were, of "this society, as it linked together the several individuals of it, by the tie of fraternal love, and made it an indispensable duty to assist in the most charitable manner, without distinction of religion, all such necessitous persons as were found true objects of compassion. It was then they called me a liar; declaring, "That it was impossible "this society should profess the practice of such good maxims, and << yet be so very jealous of its secrets as to exclude women from "it."

The judicious reader will perceive at once the weakness of this inference, which, perhaps, would be found but too true, were it applied to the inviolable secrecy observed by this pretended Holy Office in all its actions.

They presently gave orders for my being conveyed into a deeper dungeon than the one I was in before; the design of which, I suppose, was to terrify me completely; and here I continued seven weeks. It will be naturally supposed, that I now was overwhelmed with grief. I will confess, that I then gave myself up entirely for lost, and had no resource left, but in the Almighty, whose aid I implored continually with the utmost fervency.

[To be continued.]

BRIEF ACCOUNT

OF

COLONEL MAEK,

A CELEBRATED AUSTRIAN OFFICER OF THE PRESENT DAY.

C

NOLONEL Maek is a native of Wurzburg, and son of a tradesman of that place. He began his military career as a common hussar in an Austrian regiment, but his uncommon talents for military drawing, his unwearied application to this art, and his extraordinary skill in laying down plans, soon raised him from obscurity, and introduced him to the notice of Marshal Laudohn. This General employed him on different occasions, and attached him to the staff of the army under the character of a Geographic Engineer. His distinguished conduct at the affair of Lissa still more ingratiated him with that great commander. Field-marshal Laudohn had made all his dispositions for crossing the Danube, and attacking that place. Mr. Mack, who had formed the plan of passing the river, as well as that of the attack, went the night before to the Marshal to receive his last orders; when this General informed him, that he had just received intelligence of the Turks having been reinforced at Lissa by a corps of 30,000 men, and that of course he had given up his project of an attack, as, after having passed the river, in case of meeting with any disaster, he should be at a loss how to effect his retreat. Mr. Maek did not credit the report of the reinforcement, but could not prevail on the Marshal to execute his intended attack. Mr. Maek left the General, crossed the Danube in a boat, accompanied by one single bulan, stole into the place, got certain information of the supposed reinforcement not having arrived, took a Turkish officer prisoner in the suburb, repassed the Danube, and at four o'clock in the morning informed the Marshal of his expedition. On this report the Austrian army passed the river, and took Liffa, the whole garrison of which place, consisting of 6000 men, were made prisoners of

war.

In the present war, Colonel Maek, still attached to the staff, has much contributed to the successes obtained at the beginning of the campaign, especially at the attack and capture of the camp of Famars, for which he made all the necessary dispositions. In this affair he received a wound, the cure of which obliged him to repair to Brussels. He expected to be made Quarter-master General of Prince Cobourg's army, but this place having fallen to the share of Prince Hohenloe, his wound afforded him a pretext to retire to Vienna. Called there to the conferences held with respect to the plan of operations for the ensuing campaign, he has caused a system to be adopted totally different from that which has been pursued in the preceding campaigns. This he has laid at Brussels before the commanding Generals of the confederate troops, and has communicated the same to our government. learn that every where it has met with the fullest approbation.

We