The Knights Templar.

To induce them to do so , forged letters are presented to them from the Grand Master , inviting them to make this confession * Copiam litterarum magni magistri quibus omnibus fratribus suis intimabat quod ha _ c et base fuerat confessus et quod idem confiterentur omnes . Having resisted every species of seduction they are then put to the torture . Confessions are extorted from them ; and if , in the intervals of the torments ,

they retract , they are condemned as heretics , renegadoes , and are then put to death ; not for having committed the crimes whereof they are accused , but for having revoked their confessions . f Hatred ancl animosit y are carried to such extravagance , that the remains of the Templars who were dead before the Order was accused , are dug up again and committed to the flames . J

The greatest part of one hundred and twenty-seven articles of accusation , sent by order of his holiness to the apostolical commissaries , to the inquisitors , and to the bishops , to superintend the accusations , will appear absurd , improbable , and even contradictory . This accusation pretends , that at the time of the instalment of the Templarsthey were to becomeban express lawimpious in their faith

, , y , , and depraved in their morals ; that they denied Jesus Christ ; that they spit upon the cross , ancl encouraged scandalous liberties . It would be not only superfluous , but distressing , to undertake a detail of such cruel , unjust , and inconsistent accusations . Instead of branding with infamy the memory of the persecution of the Templarslet the shame ancl the success of those incredible denunciations be

, cast upon the spirit of that de 2 iraved century , whose success in those infernal plots for the ruin of the Templars , was promoted by the very absurdity of the charge . Amidst the black catalogue of the striking characteristics , from which an opinion may be formed , of the spirit of the times , I shall cite here the charge carried against the memory of Boniface VIII . §

Philip the Fair , or his courtiers , undertook to prove that this pontiff had contaminated himself with the most foul and detestable crimes ; that he was a heretic § : that he hacl sold his soul to the devil , & c . The witnesses had a formal , judicial hearing , and had attested the facts denunciated . Clement V . was under the necessity of employing great address , firmness , and numerous resources , to invalidate the proofs , and to avert the

scandal of a sentence which would have blasted the memory of Boniface . Guichard , Bishop of Troves , was charged with having promoted , by sorcery , the death of the queen Jeanne of Navarre . To the extravagance of the accusation suceeeded the absurdity of the proofs . Witnesses deposed that he was guilty . || About the period when Philip the Fair ' s death took place , animosity and

revenge obtained signal success over Enguerrand cle Marigni . At first he was , prosecuted for dilapidation of the finances . The Count de Valois , who sought the destruction of Marigni , procured the arrest of his wife and sister . It was deposed by witnesses , that at the solicitation of this minister , these ladies had employed a magician named Jacques de Lor , to put the king to death , by certain magical operations through the medium of waxen figures . The pretended magician was put into prison , where he hanged himself in