Chapter X: Part 10

After these came a number of persons who, by their tears and groans, expressed the deep affliction they felt: and then the train of the Disciplinants made their appearance, who manifested their grief in another manner, that is, by their flagellations. Among the latter were two particular figures who were thoroughly naked, except those parts which must absolutely be covered, for which purpose they wore a kind of short apron. These two figures, who were called the two _St. Jeroms_, on account of the blows with which they at times beat their breast, possessed a kind of skill not very unlike that exerted by Dominic the _Cuirassed_, who could discipline himself with both his hands at once: they performed both the _upper_ and the _lower_ discipline at the same time, and lashed themselves from head to foot, with large scourges they had provided for the occasion. However, as the two latter personages exhibited rather a striking appearance, they were, the ensuing year, ordered to do like the other Penitents, and to wear breeches.

In the same train we describe, were also the family of Joseph, with a number of female mourners, and among them Mary Magdalen, with the Virgin Mary; and, lastly, to crown the whole, there was in the procession a figure fitted with a red-haired wig, and a red beard, who represented Judas, and held up with great triumph in his hand, a purse, in which he shook and jingled a few pieces of money, which were supposed to be the reward he had received for betraying our Saviour.

In fine, what much increases our surprise concerning the flagellating ceremonies and processions we describe, is the great severity and earnest zeal with which those who perform them, lay these disciplines upon themselves; different, in that, from the Priests of the Goddess of Syria mentioned in pag. 87, who, as the Emperor Commodus, and after him Philip Beroald, shrewdly suspected, only performed sham flagellations. The cruel severities exercised upon themselves by the modern Penitents, are facts about which all Writers of Relations agree; all mention the great quantity of blood which these Flagellants lose, and throw to and fro with their disciplines. It is commonly reported, I do not know with what truth, in the places where such processions use to be performed, that those who have been accustomed for several years to discipline themselves in them, cannot leave it off afterwards, without danger of some great disorder, unless they get themselves bled at that time of the year at which those ceremonies use to take place[116]. Madame D’Aunoy says that the first time she saw one of these processions, she thought she should faint away; and she concludes the account she has given of the gallant flagellating excursions that have been abovementioned, with saying that the Gentleman who has thus so handsomely trimmed himself, is often laid up in his room for several days afterwards, and so sick that he cannot go to Mass on Easter Sunday. All the above facts shew how much hardship, practice really may bring Men to bear: and the feats of the above Penitents are not, after all, much more surprising than the prowess of the illustrious _Buckhorse_, in this Country, who submitted to receive boxes upon any part of his body, and as stoutly applied as people chose to lay them on, for six-pence apiece: he only covered his stomach with his arms across it; and the whole was meant as an advantageous exercise for those who proposed to improve themselves in the art of boxing.

A remarkable instance of this power of _use_, to enable us to bear hardships, and even blows, occurs among the Chinese. It appears, from the accounts of Travellers, that there are Men, in China, who make it their trade, being properly fee’d for it, to receive bastinadoes in the room of those who are sentenced to it by the Mandarine; in the same manner as there are Men about the Courts of Law, in this Country, ready to bail upon any occasion. As the bastinadoe is inflicted on the spot, while the Mandarine is dispatching other business, the thing is to bribe the Officer who is to superintend the operation: the real Culprit then flips out of the way; the Man who is to do duty for him comes forth, suffers himself to be tied down to the ground, and receives the bastinadoe; which is laid on in such earnest, that a fresh Man, or Executioner, is employed after every ten or twelve strokes.

However, there is perhaps something in all this, arising from the peculiar constitution and frame of the body, besides practice and resolution. This disposition to bear blows without being disturbed, is greatly valued by Boxers, who set it almost upon a par with skill, agility, and real strength. I hope the Reader will thank me if I inform him that this advantageous capability to receive blows without minding them, is technically called by Boxers, _a Bottom_: at least as it seems from certain publications of those days when the art of boxing was encouraged by the Public in a higher degree than it is at present.

The use that has been made of flagellations in public shows and processions, the different Edicts of Princes for prohibiting or permitting such ceremonies, the Bulls issued by different Popes to approve or condemn them, and the decisions and regulations of a number of Men invested with the first dignities in the Church on the subject of voluntary discipline, are not the only circumstances that prove the great importance of which these practices have gradually grown to be in the Christian World: we ought not to omit to say that they have been the cause of much difference in opinion among the Learned; for something essential would certainly be wanting to the glory of flagellations, had they not been the cause of dissentions among Men, and if at least Treatises _pro_ and _con_ had not been written on occasion of them.

Some among the Learned have, it seems, blamed the pious exercises here alluded to, without restriction: such were the Cardinal Stephen, and Peter Cerebrosus, who have been mentioned in a former place, as well as certain learned Ecclesiastics in Rome, against whom Cardinal Damian likewise wrote. Others have condemned the cruelty with which the same exercises were sometimes performed: among them was Gerson, whose arguments, together with those of the Advocate-General Servin in his speech against the Blue Penitents of Bourges, are recited at some length in the Abbé Boileau’s ninth Chapter.

Debates have, moreover, taken place among the Learned, concerning the precise views with which disciplines ought to be performed, as well as on the properest occasions. And disputes have in particular run high, concerning the degree of efficaciousness of such pious exercises: on which the Reader may remember what has lately been said of the doctrines advanced by the Hereticks called _Flagellants_.

Differences in opinion have also prevailed with respect to the manner in which disciplines are to be executed: some asserting that penitents ought to inflict them upon themselves with their own hands; and others being equally positive that they ought to receive them from the hands of other persons; this was one of the arguments of Gerson.

In fine, debates have taken place concerning the properest situation for penitents to be in, when undergoing such mortifications. Some have objected to the disciplining persons laying themselves bare for that purpose, as being contrary to decency; while others, at the head of whom was Cardinal Damian, have strenuously declared for a state of unlimited nakedness. The following is one of the arguments of the Cardinal on the subject.

‘Tell me, whoever you may be, who are actuated by so much pride as to deride the Passion of our Saviour, and who, refusing to be stripped along with him, ridicule his nakedness, and call his sufferings mere dreams or trifles, tell me, pray, what you prepare to do, when you shall see this heavenly Saviour, who was publicly stripped and fastened to a cross, clad with majesty and glory, accompanied by an innumerable multitude of Angels, surrounded by incomparable and inexpressible splendours, and infinitely more glorious than all visible and invisible things? what will you do, I say, when you shall see him whose ignominy you pretend to despise, seated upon a Tribunal exalted and surrounded by fire, and judging all Mankind in a manner both equitable and terrible? Then will the Sun lose its lustre; the Moon will be involved in darkness; the Stars will fall from their places; the foundations of mountains will be shaken; only a few scarce gloomy rays will be sent from the skies; the earth and air will be consumed by impetuous fires, and all the elements confounded together: what, once more, will you do, when all these things shall happen? of what service to you will these clothes and garments be, with which you now are covered, and which you refuse to lay aside, to submit to the exercise of penitence? with what presumptuous audaciousness do you hope to partake of the glory of Him whose shame and ignominy you now refuse to share?’----The above is certainly the best argument I have hitherto read in favour of nakedness; and it reconciles me to Cardinal Damian, whom I find to have been no bad Writer.

This necessity of nakedness to complete the merit of Penance, has been insisted upon by other Men of importance besides him whom we have just spoken of; and without alledging any further authority on this subject, it will suffice to observe that the greatest personages have submitted to that part of Penitence we mention; several instances of which have been produced in a former Chapter.

Nay, the more complete was this privation of clothes, the more merit there was thought to be in it: hence we find that several Offenders have proportioned their freedom from habiliments, to the greatness of the sense they entertained of their offences; and on this occasion may be recited the penance performed by Fulk, surnamed _Grisegonnelle_, about the year 1000.

This Fulk, who was a very powerful Man in France, being the Son of the great _Seneschal_ of the Kingdom, had been a most bad and violent Man in those times of feudal Anarchy, when force was almost the only law that existed, and the Nobles and Lords were rather Heads of Robbers, than persons invested with any precise dignity. Among other crimes the above Fulk had committed, he had killed with his own hand Conan, Duke of Britanny. He had performed three pilgrimages to the Holy Land; and on the last, meaning to render his penance complete and perfectly unexceptionable, he caused himself to be drawn naked upon a hurdle, with a halter round his neck, through the streets of Jerusalem. Men who had been directed so to do, lashed him by turns, with scourges; and a person appointed for that purpose, cried at certain intervals, _Lord! have mercy on the traitor and forswearer Fulk._ He lived very devoutly afterwards, and founded several Monasteries. An account of this Fulk, and his penance, is to be found in Moreri’s Dictionary.

Others have carried their notions on the present subject still farther, and have thought that bare freedom from habiliments, had some sanctity peculiar to it, and possessed, of itself, a great degree of merit. The Cynic Philosophers in Greece, among whom Diogenes was particularly remarkable, frequently made, we find, their appearance in public, without even a single rag to cover their nakedness; and the Indian Philosophers called _Gymnosophists_, constantly appeared in the same light kind of dress, as we learn from their appellation itself, which signifies _naked Sages_.

Sages of the same kind still continue to exist in the same quarters we speak of; and we have likewise had, in our parts of the World, particular Sages or Sectaries, who have attributed no less merit to a state of nakedness. Such were the _Adamites_, mentioned by St. Austin. These Adamites, thinking they would effectually assimilate themselves to our first Parents before their fall, if they appeared in the same habit, would put themselves in a compleat state of nature during certain solemnities of their own, and either ventured to make their appearance in the public streets in that condition, or did the same, both Men and Women together, in private conventicles or houses, which, if it was winter time, they took care to have well warmed beforehand.

About the year 1300, a Sect of the same kind, called the _Turlupins_ (which word rather seems to have been a nickname, than a serious appellation of that sect) made their appearance in France, again declaring themselves, as well by their example as by their words, for freedom from accoutrements. To these the _Picards_, a century afterwards, succeeded in Germany, who carrying their opinion on the sanctity of nakedness, and their abhorrence of such unhallowed thing as clothing, farther than the Adamites had done, made at all times their appearance in a perfect state of nature. A certain party of Anabaptists, adopting the doctrine of these Picards, tried, on the thirteenth day of February in the year 1535, to make an excursion in the streets of _Amsterdam_, in the hallowed state we mention; but the Magistracy, not taking the joke so well as they ought to have done, used these Adventurers in rather a severe manner.

In fine, to the instances of nakedness we have just recited, we ought not to omit to add that of Brother _Juniperus_, a Friar of the Franciscan Order: and the merit of this Friar was the greater in that, different from the abovementioned partisans of nakedness, he performed his own processions alone, with great assurance and composure.

‘Another time he entered the Town of Viterbo; and while he stood within the gate, he put his breeches on his head, and, his gown being tied round his neck in the shape of a load, he walked through the streets of the Town, where he suffered many tricks from the inhabitants; and still in the same situation, he went to the Convent of the Brothers, who all exclaimed against him; but he cared little for them, _so holy was this good little Brother_[117].’

This account of Brother Juniperus, is extracted from the Book called “Of the Conformities” (_De Conformitatibus_) or rather from that called the _Alcoran of the Cordeliers_, which is an extract from the former: for this Book of the _Conformities_ exists, it is said, no longer; or at least only two or three Copies of it are to be come at, in certain Libraries, the name of which I have forgotten. The Book in question, which is well known from other old Books that mention it, was a compilation made by Franciscan Monks: the design of it, besides reciting pious Anecdotes relative to the Order, was to investigate the _conformities_ between Jesus Christ, and their Founder St. Francis; and the advantage commonly was, in these comparisons, modestly given to the latter. After the period of the Reformation, the Monks of the Order we speak of, became somewhat ashamed of the performance, and have since succeeded in suppressing it, only two or three copies, as hath been above observed, being now left: a Protestant Minister, who procured sight of one of them, has, in this Century, done the Cordeliers or Franciscans the charitable service of giving an extract from the most remarkable Articles to the World, under the abovementioned title of the Alcoran of the Cordeliers.

However, these stark-naked processions performed by the Cynic Philosophers, by the Adamites, the Turlupins, the Picards, and by Brother Juniperus, never met, we find, with any great and lasting countenance from the Public; and, as beatings without nakedness, that is mere bastinadoes, have generally been considered as being but dull and unmeritorious acts of penance, and accordingly never experienced any degree of encouragement, so, nakedness without beatings, has been but indifferently practiced or relished. But when flagellations have been employed, then has the scene become cheered and enlivened; then have Penitents entertained sufficient consciousness of their merit, to continue their exercises with perseverance and regularity; then have numerous converts contributed to perpetuate the practice; then have the World thought the affair worth engaging their attention, and public shews, ceremonies, and solemnities, have been instituted.

Ceremonies of this kind have, however, been planned with different success, by which I mean with different degrees of ingenuity, among different Nations.

The flagellating Solemnities, for instance, that took place in Lacedæmon, are not in any degree intitled to our approbation; very far from it. The cruel advantage that was taken in them, of the silly pride of Boys, to prevail upon them to suffer themselves to be cut to pieces, rendered such ceremonies a practice of really a brutish kind; and it is difficult to decide whether there was in them more inhumanity, or stupidity. The same is to be said of the Solemnities of a similar kind that were performed among the Thracians.

Less exceptionable than those just mentioned certainly were the ceremonies exhibited by the Egyptians, and by the Syrian Priests of Bellona; since it is evident that no kind whatever of compulsion took place in them, in regard to any person.

The same observation is to be made in favour of the processions of modern Flagellants, in which every one has the scourging of his own skin; and at the same time it must be owned that the gallantry and courtship paid to the fair Sex, which so eminently prevail in those processions, are circumstances that greatly recommend them. On the other hand, the gloomy affectation of sanctity which is mixed with the festivity and pageantry of those disciplining solemnities, gives the whole an air of hypocrisy, which is in some degree disgusting, and the degree of real cruelty with which they are attended, cannot but compleat the aversion of such persons as use has not reconciled to the thought of them.

The festival of the Lupercalia that was performed in Rome, had indeed greatly the advantage of all the ceremonies of the kind that ever were instituted. It really deserved to have been contrived, or continued, by a People more polite and refined than the Romans, especially in early times, are represented to us to have been.

Among other excellencies the Festival we speak of possessed, it was performed but once a year, and only continued a few days: for, ceremonies of this kind ought to occur but seldom, and be only of short duration; and it was like a short time of _Saturnalia_, during which each Sex kindly exhibited to the sight of the other those personal charms and advantages which they wisely kept hidden during the rest of the whole year.

In the second place, the real design of the whole transaction was pretty openly and candidly acknowledged: and if we except the few religious rites by which the ceremony was begun, which served to give dignity to it, and the notion of the power of the slaps of the _Luperci_ to render Women fruitful, which served to give importance to the whole solemnity, it was agreed fairly enough on all sides, that no more was meant than temporary pastime and amusement.

In the third place, no cruelty whatever took place in the performance of the Festival we speak of, nor was it possible any should; and from the lightness and the breadth of the straps which the Luperci employed, we may judge of their tender anxiousness not to do, through zeal or other cause, any injury to the fair objects who made application to them.

When one of the three bands of Luperci (out of which every Man who wanted an excellent shape or elegant address, was no doubt irremissibly blackballed) had been let loose out of the Temple of the God Pan, and after the coming of a Lupercus into any particular street had been announced by the flourishes of the haut-boys, the clarinets, the trumpets, kettle-drums, and other musical instruments that were stationed near the entrance of it (for we are absolutely to suppose that music contributed to embellish so charming a festival) some one of the amiable persons who proposed to receive benefit from the Lupercus’s services, moved out of the croud, and threw herself into his way.

On sight of her, the whole fierceness of the Lupercus became softened. However kindled his spirits might have been by the religious rites by which the ceremony was begun, by the course he had just performed, and the sight of the multitude of spectators who lined the streets, whatever in short might be that state of fever in which Festus seems to represent him, the _februans_ Lupercus, at the sight of the lovely creature who obstructed his passage, felt his agitation succeeded by sensations of the most benevolent sort.

So far from entertaining designs of a severe of cruel nature, he scarcely possessed sufficient power to raise his arm, and perform with a faint hand the office that was expected from him. His bosom was filled with the softest passions. Intirely lost in the contemplation of the lovely object that made application to him, already did he begin to have thoughts of employing remedies of a more obvious and natural kind,--already, forgetting all Mankind, did he attempt to inclose her in his arms; when the acclamations of the spectators and the sudden explosion of the musical instruments, at once recalled him to himself; he flew from the amiable person who had thus so thoroughly engaged his attention, and hastened to other objects equally amiable, who likewise came to crave his assistance. If I was called upon to give my vote for any ceremony of the kind here mentioned, I would give it for the festival of the Lupercalia, especially with the improvements that had been made in it about the time of Pope Gelasius. (See p. 94.)

[116] In a certain Spanish book, the name of which I do not remember, a Man is reproached with having besmeared himself with sheep’s blood, in order to make people believe he had flagellated himself in a distinguished manner.

[117] _Aliâ vice intravit Viterbium, & dùm esset in portâ, fœmoralibus positis in capite, habitu in modum fardeli ligato ad collum, sic nudus ad plateas ivit civitatis, ubi multas verecundias perpessus est; & nudus ad locum fratrum ivit, omnibus contrà eum clamantibus, ipso tamen de us parùm curante, tam sanctus fuit iste fratricellus._

CHAP. XXIV.

_The last Chapter, in which the Abbé Boileau is personally
introduced: he is of opinion that the lower discipline is contrary
to decency, and the upper discipline is liable to bring defluxions
on the eyes_[118].

Several Divines, as we have seen, have united in blaming the cruel severity with which certain persons used to inflict disciplines upon themselves, by which those persons assimilated themselves to Idolaters and Pagans; besides, it is well worth observing that, by this very severity, those zealous performers of disciplines in the issue obstruct their own piety, and defeat their own ends.

In fact, Physicians and Anatomists inform us, that such is the secret, or open, communication between all parts of the human body, that it is impossible to do any material and continual kind of injury to any, without the other parts being, sooner or later, affected by it: hence it follows that those persons who execute disciplines upon themselves with the great severity we mention, in process of time fall into serious distempers of some kind or other; so that they at length find themselves disabled from continuing those practices by which they intended to procure the improvement of their morals.

The next and the most tender parts are, in the cases we speak of, unavoidably affected by the consequence of the injury that is thus done to the other parts; and from harsh disciplines repeatedly performed upon the shoulders, at length arise, as the learned Bartholinus observes, disorders and defluxions on the eyes.

This inconvenience from the exercises we mention, much perplexed Father Gretzer, who, as hath been before observed, was a great friend to the practice of discipline; and in order to be thoroughly satisfied on that subject, he one day consulted a Physician, a friend of his, who partly freed him from his fears, and partly confirmed them. This Physician made answer, that disciplines executed on the shoulders, when performed with moderation, were perfectly harmless with respect to the eyesight; but then he absolutely avoided giving any such opinion in regard to those which were performed in a harsh or cruel manner. The following is the oracle which the Physician in question delivered.

‘The vulgar opinion, that lashes, applied to the back, are apt to hurt the eyes, is not well grounded. It is true that the great loss of blood injures the brain, and consequently the eyes, which are called by some the _sprouts_ of it; and this it effects by the diminution it causes of the vital heat. But there does not arise from disciplines, such a great loss of blood as that the brain may thereby suffer any considerable deperdition of its heat: on the contrary; since scarifications on the back are often employed with success for the cure of disorders in the eyes, why should bad consequences to them be feared from a few stripes? Those therefore alone who are of a weakly habit of body the exercise in question can hurt, but not persons of a good constitution; and when disciplines are so moderately inflicted as to cause no loss of blood, and barely to affect the colour of the skin, no detriment certainly ought to be feared from them.’ Such was the decision of this excellent Physician, and to it Father Gretzer adds that he willingly and readily subscribes[119].

All physicians, however, have not agreed with him whose authority we have just quoted. Some have delivered different opinions concerning the harmlessness of discipline with respect to the eyes; and whether it was that the Capuchin Friars thought the advice of these latter of greatest weight, or that they intended their zeal should be unrestrained by any apprehension, they have adopted the use of the lower discipline; and the generality of Nuns have done the same, from the like intention, of securing their eye sight. Determined thereto by the advice of able Physicians and pious persons, they have given up the method of flagellating themselves on their shoulders, in order to belabour and slash their loins and posteriors with knotted small cords and hardened rods[120].

But while the persons we speak of have endeavoured to prevent dangers of one kind, they have incurred others which are still worse. By most of the antient Monastic Rules, religious persons were forbidden to inspect any part of their naked bodies, for fear of the wicked thoughts to which such indulgence might give rise: now, how is it possible for persons who strip intirely naked, in order to take discipline, to help, however great their piety may be, having a sight of those parts of themselves which they have been directed never to look on? How can Nuns avoid, in those instants, having at least a glance of those excellent beauties[121] which they are forbidden to survey, and which they thus imprudently expose to the light of the Sun? By substituting one kind of discipline to the other, religious persons have, I am afraid, only laid themselves open, as hath been above observed, to dangers of a still worse nature than those they meant to avoid, and have perhaps only fallen from Charybdis into Scylla[122].

Neither, if such disciplines cannot be performed in secret without danger, is it very prudent to execute them in the presence of witnesses. Tertullian observes, that ‘Nature has made either fear or shame, the attendants of every evil action.’ Now, if we judge from this rule, we shall become convinced of the truth of the observations we are making here. In fact, what Man or Woman could, without fear or shame, execute a lower discipline in company with other persons? who could without reluctance firk their loins and posteriors with rods, on an exalted place, and in the middle of a numerous Assembly of People? who could thus undauntedly expose their nakedness to the rays of the Sun, and to the eyes of a multitude of Spectators[123]?

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[118] In order to support his opinion concerning the dangers of disciplines, the Abbé Boileau has quoted Bartholinus’s treatise _De medico flagrorum usu_, and that wrote by John-Henry Meibomius, a Professor at Lubeck, _De usu flagrorum in re venereâ_. The singularity of these titles led me to look into both publications, in order to be able to give my opinion about them, and also in hope I might pick a few facts and quotations to entertain the Reader with: but I have been disappointed; both Treatises being as dull unconnected farragos as ever were printed. From Meibomius’s Treatise, and also from Cœlius Rhodiginus’s Book, the Abbé had however borrowed two stories, which I at first intended to insert in this Chapter; but as I have found them, upon more attentive examination, to be related in no pleasing nor even probable manner, besides being very long, I have set them aside, contrary to the design of this Work, as I have explained it in the _Introduction_, which was to make use of and introduce, in the Text, all the facts and quotations scattered in the Abbé’s Book: I therefore make my apology to the Reader, for the omission.

To the other facts thus supplied by the Abbé’s Work, I have in this Chapter, conformably to the promise made at p. 131, added the Abbé’s own expressions and remarks, not only on account of their great ingenuity, but also in order that the present final Chapter might be a common conclusion of our respective talks, and that the Abbé and me, joining hands again in it, might thus have an opportunity, as is the custom at the end of Plays, to make our obeisance together, and take a joint leave of the Public.

[119] ... _ad cujus sententiam, meam libens volensque adjungo._

[120] _Quippecum eâ de causâ Capucini, multæque Moniales, virorum Medicorum ac piorum hominum consilio, ascesim flagellandi sursum humeros reliquerint, ut sibi nates lumbosque strient asperatis virgis, ac nodosis funiculis conscribillent._

[121] _Ho, ho, Monsieur l’Abbé!_ How come you to be so well acquainted with beauties of the kind you mention here, and to speak of them in so positive a manner? For, the Reader must not think I here lend any expressions to the Abbé which are not his own: _Num probrosum_ (says he), _soli ostendere lumbos & femora juvenilia, excellenti formê, quamvis religionis honestate consecrata?_ This _Monsieur l’Abbé_, for his excursion upon objects and beauties which, one should have thought, lie out of his province, richly deserves a lecture of the same kind with that which Parson Adams received from Lady Booby, when he ventured to expatiate, in her Ladyship’s presence, on the beauties of Fanny.

[122] These dangers arising from self-examination I do not allow myself to call in question; since, besides the Abbé Boileau, the Framers of Monastic Rules have taken notice of them; and indeed I find Brantôme has entertained thoughts of the same kind; and many facts are to be found in that Chapter of his which he has intitled _Of Sight in Love_, that fully confirm the above observations. But besides these serious dangers into which a too curious examination of one’s-self may lead, there are others very well worth mentioning: I mean to speak of the acts of pride, vanity, self-admiration and complacency, to which the above curiosity may give rise. Vanity and a disposition to admire one’s-self, are dispositions that are but too general among Mankind; and there is hardly a time in life at which we may be said to be perfectly cured of such worldly affections. On this occasion I shall produce the following anecdote, which is related by Brantôme.

A certain Lady, who had been very handsome, and now was somewhat advanced in years, would no longer look at her face in the looking-glass, for fear of discovering some new injury time might have done to it; but she used to survey the other parts of her body, and then, suddenly actuated by the worldly vanity we speak of, she exclaimed, “God be thanked, here I do not grow old” (_je ne vieillis point_.)

These dangers of a too curious examination of one’s own person, are extremely well expressed by Ovid, in that part of his Metamorphosis where he describes Narcissus sitting near that clear silver fountain in which he contemplated himself:

_Fons erat illimis, nitidis argenteus undis._

And the Poet relates, in a very lively manner, the astonishment of the Youth, at the sight of, as he thought, his own charms and perfections.

... _visæ correptus imagine formæ
Adstupet ipse sibi._

That unexperienced Nuns should be led, by their disciplines, into faults of a similar kind, are therefore very natural apprehensions. Being thoroughly engaged in the contemplation of those beauties which they expose to light, it is no wonder that all their thoughts of a religious kind should vanish: and they even may very well in the issue, inchanted as they are by what they are beholding, intirely forget and neglect those pious exercises which they have purposely retired to their cell to perform.

[123] _Quid turpius excogitari potest, sivè viro sivè fœminæ, quàm, lumbis & femoribus ad radios Solis apertis, seipsum diverberare?... Quis in edito & aperto loco, plenis comitiis, in conspectu hominum, lumbos natesque virgis cædere non pertimescat?_

This exhibition of nakedness to the rays of the Sun, the Poet Lafontaine observes, is only fit for the New World. He expresses this opinion in that Tale which has been above quoted, _The Pair of Spectacles_, when he attempts to express the objects which the Nuns exhibited to the sight of each other, and of the Abbess: “Niggardly and proud charms, which the Sun is allowed to see only in the New World, for this does not shew them to him.”

_---- chiches & fiers appas
Que le Soleil ne voit qu’au nouveau monde,
Car celui-ci ne les lui montre pas._

However, notwithstanding the opinion of the Poet Lafontaine, it seems that an exhibition of charms and attractions, even superior to what takes place in the New World, is common in Russia; which is certainly a part of our Old World: the Reader may see in the accounts given by Travellers, that individuals of both Sexes, after some stay in the hot-baths and stoves in use in that Country, will rush out promiscuously together, stark-naked, playing, and delightfully rolling themselves in the snow. If Russia had been more visited by Travellers in the times of Cardinals Damian and Pullus, these two great Promoters of nakedness would have been supplied with facts much to the advantage of their doctrine.

Bartholinus too, from the accounts of the same Travellers would have been supplied with excellent materials for composing his abovementioned Treatise, _On the physical use of Flagellations_. The Abbé Dauteroche, one of the latest Travellers who have published an account of Russia, where he went to observe the transit of Venus, gives a somewhat accurate description of the baths and stoves we mention. The heat is commonly carried in them to so high a degree as the fiftieth of Reaumur’s scale (which answer to the 130th of Fahrenheit’s; the greatest summer heat in England seldom surpasses, or even reaches, 80) a suffocating steam is raised by throwing plenty of water upon stones kept constantly red hot; and, in order to carry the agitation of the blood still farther, flagellations are applied to: a bundle of birchen twigs, with the leaves on, which being dry are soon stripped off, is as constant a part of the bathing implements and furniture, as a handkerchief or a towel. All these different operations being fulfilled, the bathers, as is above said, rush out into the external air, sometimes ten, or even twenty degrees colder than it was in this Country in the year 1740, and roll themselves in the snow, or jump into water through holes made in the ice. These are certainly surprising instances of what the human body may be brought to bear; much more remarkable than those that have been before mentioned; and the boxes of Buckhorse, the Chinese bastinadoes, and the flagellations of the Italian and Spanish disciplinants, are nothing in comparison to it. But, for a farther account of the Russian stoves, and of the trial the Abbé Dauteroche had the curiosity to make of them, as well as of the unexpected and unwelcome entertainment he received, I must refer the Reader to the Work itself he has published.

INDEX.

_Abbots_, possess an unlimited power of imposing disciplines on their
Monks, 135, 139.
Trick played by a certain Abbot to his Monks, 143, & _seq._
Are not respected by their Monks in proportion to their great power
over them, 154, & _seq._
An explanation of the common saying, _they wait for him as Monks do
for their Abbot_, _ibid._
See _Priors_.

_Abelard_, the great pains he takes for the instruction of Heloisa,
235, 236.
His letters to her, quoted, 236, 243.

_Adamites_, mentioned by St. Austin, what sect they were, 392.

_Adams_ (Parson), proposed as a pattern of gallantry and proper
behaviour, 294.
Receives a lecture from a Lady, which he deserves, 405.

_Adhelm_, an English Saint, the kind of mortification he recommends
to young women, 246.

_Adriasem_, alias Adriansen (Cornelius), what kind of penance he
imposes upon his female penitents, 231.
A farther account of him, 234.
Is the inventor, or at least the promoter, of the _Cornelian_
discipline, 235.

_Adrian_ I. (Pope) occupied the Holy Chair in the year 772, and
forbids Confessors to beat their penitents, 229.

_Ægyptians_, an account of their religious ceremonies and
flagellations, 85.

_Ajax_ Mastigophoros, a Tragedy of Sophocles, a remarkable passage in
it, quoted, 54.

_Alcoran_ of the Cordeliers, what Book, 394.

_Amorous_ History of Gauls, quoted, 342.

_Anabaptists_, a pious expedition and procession of theirs, 393.

_Anchorites_ of the East, accounts of their self-mortifications, 112,
& _seq._

_Anthony_ (St.) is the Institutor of Monastical Life, 127.
Frequent visits he receives from the Devil, and the different
treatments he experiences from him, 125, 127.

_Apuleius_, quoted, 86.

_Aulus Gellius_, quoted, 149.

_Austin_ (St.) his remarkable advice to the Tribune Marcellinus,
concerning Heretics, 133.

_Augustus_, is said to have subjected the Romans to his whip, 60.

B.

_Bastinadoes_, are but incomplete acts of penance, 224, 395.

_Bath_ (Knights of the) at the time of their installation are to
receive admonitions from the Master Cook of the Sovereign,
186.

_Bernardinus_ de Bustis, a sermon of his quoted, 310.

_Bernardinus_ of Sienna, in what manner he receives the advances of a
Lady, 263.
Is not a fit model for ordinary persons to imitate, 294, 297.

_Bishops_, are invested, in the earliest times, with a power of
flagellation over their flock, 132, & _seq._

_Boileau_ (the Abbé) specimens of his Latin, 232, 263;
personally introduced, 400;
reprimanded, 405.

_Bolingbroke_ (Lord) writes Ministerial dispatches on the posteriors
of his Mistress, 285.

_Bonner_, Bishop of London, his method of informing Hereticks, 258.

_Boston_ Magistrates and Select-men served with a flagellation, 273,
& _seq._

_Bottom, a_, a boxing technical expression; its meaning, 386.

_Brantôme_, quoted, 173, 176, 178, 239, 407.

_Bridget_, a holy Nun, sets both St. Chrysostom and St. Austin right,
by means of a vision she has, 107.

_Buchanan_, his flagellatory jokes, 160.

_Buckhorse_, his prowess, 385.

_Buffoon_ (a Court) in Spain, his witticism at the expence of the
Queen, and flagellatory reward for the same, 178.

_Burnet_, quoted, 259, 267.

_Buxtorf_, his Judaic Synagogue quoted, 35, 36.

C.

_Caligula_ (the Emperor) his expedients for silencing those who made a
noise near him in the Theatre, 266.

_Calot_, the celebrated Engraver, mentioned, 127.

_Canillac_ (the Marquis of) falls in love with Margaret, Queen of
Navarre, on sight of her fine arm, 269.

_Canon_ (an English) Dean of the Church of Rheims, bestows a sound
admonition and discipline on the Bishop of Châlons, 151, 152.
Thanks given him by the latter, _ibid._

_Captives_, the treatment they experienced from their Conquerors, in
antient times, 53, 54, 265.

_Capuchin_ Friars, declare for the use of the lower discipline, 21,
404.
Charitable offer of one to a young woman, 188.
His success in that affair, _ibid._

_Cechald_ (the widow) resolutely performs the hundred years penance,
221.

_Celebrated Causes_ (the Collection of) quoted, 281.

_Cerebrosus_ (the Monk) opposes the practice of self-flagellation,
and writes against Cardinal Damian on that subject, 212.

_Cervantes_, quoted, 295. Has thrown a great light on the subject of
flagellations, 325.

_Chantpré_ (the Monk) runs the gantelope through the whole tribe of
Devils, for his having refused to practice self-flagellation
while he was alive, 302.

_China_, bastinadoes submitted to for money, 386.

_Christians_, did not, at the time of the first establishment of
Christianity, adopt the use of voluntary flagellations, 39,
& _seq._
Nor do they seem to have practised them in the times which
immediately followed that period, 102, & _seq._
Have confessedly imitated several practices from the antient Pagans,
100, 101.
The time at which the use of voluntary disciplines, evidently
appears to have become universally received among them, 192,
& _seq._ 201, & _seq._
Voluntary flagellations have never been so commonly practised among
the Eastern, as among the Western Christians, 123.
Difference in the notions of these two Sects, with respect to such
practices, 362, & _seq._
A crimination of the Greek or Eastern Christians, against the Latin
or Western Christians, 250.

_Church_, how strictly adheres to its forms and _ritual_, 254.

_Churchill_ (Miss Arabella) dazzles his Royal Highness the Duke of
York; by what means, 286.

_Cicero_, quoted, 59, 80.

_Claudius_ (the Emperor) jokes of his buffoons with him, 97.

_Clergy_, it is a sacrilege to beat one of the Clergy, 228.
Exception to that rule, _ibid._
Surprising licence that prevailed among them at a certain period,
316.

_Climax_ (St. John) examination of a passage in his Book, 121, 122.
The truer meaning of this passage, 365.

_Clopinel_ (the Poet) his case hinted at, 268.
Farther account of him, 332, & _seq._
His witticism at the expence of the Fair Sex, 333;
the sentence passed upon him on that occasion by the Court Ladies,
and his lucky escape, _ibid._

_Cobbing-board_, an instrument on board ships, 292.

_Cobler_, a remarkable adventure of an Arabian Cobler, 290.

_Column_ (the), to which Jesus Christ was fastened, the inscription
put afterwards upon it, 103.
True meaning of that inscription, 105.

_Commodus_ (the Emperor), a law of his to prevent the cheats of the
Priests of Bellona, in Syria, 87, 88.

_Confessors._ Their great influence over their penitents, and the
reason of it, 21, 22.
Assume a power of beating their penitents, 227.
Are forbidden by Pope Adrian I. to do so, 229.
Ingenious penances imposed by some of them, 230, & _seq._
Dangers of their profession, 243, & _seq._
Advice given them by St. Charles Borromee, 245.
Their situation with respect to decorum, _ibid._
The expedients contrived by some among them, 246, 247.

_Conformities_ (the Book of the) a farrago of superstitious trash; an
account of the book, 394.

_Cornelia_ Juliana, a Holy Nun, gives the Devil his due, 305.

_Cornelian_ discipline defined, 235.
See _Discipline_.

_Cotelier_, a Doctor of the Sorbonne, his Monuments of the Greek
Church quoted, 250.

_Coxcomb_, a Russian; how chastised by a set of Ladies, 334, & _seq._

_Crofton_ (Zachary), a Reverend Divine, and a propagator of Cornelian
flagellations in this Country, 237.
Farther account of him, 238.

_Cuistre_, a flagellator in a public School; the original meaning of
the word, 189.

_Curate_ (a French), animadverts upon the Abbé Boileau for his
depreciating the lower discipline, 120.

_Cynic_ Philosophers, great partisans of nakedness, 391.

D.

_Dacier_ (Mons.) a very learned man in all that relates to antiquity,
quoted, 96.

_Dagobert_, heir to the Crown of France in the year 526, orders a
correction to be inflicted upon his preceptor, 74, 75.

_Damian_ (the Cardinal) the great Patron of Flagellations, 192, 201,
& _seq._
Declares freedom from accoutrements the best state, for performing
such pious exercises, 223.
A convincing argument of his on the subject, quoted, 389.

_D’Aunoy_ (Madame), a French Lady of quality, her Journey into Spain
quoted, 375, 377, 385.

_D’Arbrissel_ (Robert), lies with young women by way of mortification,
246.

_Dauteroche_ (Abbé Chappe), his Journey to Siberia quoted, 409, 410.

_Denmark_, flagellations are not unknown in that Country, and are even
sometimes performed at Court, 291.

_Devil_ (the), makes it a common practice to flagellate Saints, 125,
& _seq._
A holy Nun at last proves an overmatch for him, 305.

_Disciplinants._ See _Flagellants_.

_Disciplines_, the different meanings of that word, 19.
The great variety of instruments used for inflicting them, 226.
The Cornelian discipline, what it is, 235.
The upper and lower disciplines defined, 21.
The lower discipline is practised by a number of Saints of both
Sexes, 120.
The dangers of these two kinds of disciplines, 400, & _seq._
See _Lower Discipline_.
Voluntary disciplines, see _Voluntary Flagellations_.

_Dominic_ the Cuirassed, a Hero in the career of self-flagellation,
203, & _seq._

_Du Cange_, his Glossary, quoted, 142, 180, 200.

E.

_Edesse_, the familiar manner in which its inhabitants treated the
statue of the Emperor Constantine, 288.

_Edmund_ (St.) Archbishop of Canterbury, a great instance of his
virtue, while he pursues his studies in Paris, 262.

_Elizabeth_ (Queen), no lover of formality in giving tokens of her
displeasure, 190.
Seems to have used peculiar methods for rendering her Ministers what
they ought to be, 343, 344.

_Empress_, the, wife to Justinian II. is threatened with a flagellation
by the great Eunuch, 173.

_Engineer_, an, of the Town of Elæa, an officious mistake of his, and
atonement for the same, 149, 150.

_Essex_ (the Earl of) his letter to Queen Elizabeth, quoted, 343.

F.

_Fakirs_, their astonishing penances, which are well-ascertained facts,
render every account of that kind credible, 115, 206.
Dialogue between one and a Turk, quoted from M. de Voltaire, 207.

_Fathers_, antient Greek and Latin, are their expressions about
self-scourgings and beatings to be taken in a literal sense?
122, 123.

_Fielding_, quoted, 294, 376.

_Flagellants_, the formation of their processions, 345, & _seq._
The success they met with in different Countries, 350.
Description of one of their itinerant processions in Germany, 351,
& _seq._
Their establishment and first success in France, 355, 372, & _seq._
are there discountenanced at last, 373.
Their fraternities must be distinguished from the sect of Hereticks,
called _Flagellants_, 368.
Account of these Hereticks, 369.
Account of these fraternities, 370, & _seq._
Are, as it were, naturalised in Italy and Spain, 374.
Manner in which they perform these processions in Spain, 374,
& _seq._
In Italy, 382, & _seq._
Real cruelty of these Flagellants upon themselves, 384, 385.

_Flagellating_ fanaticism, a kind of, seems to have taken place in
England about the time of the Rebellion, 340.
Proofs of it, _ibid._

_Flagellations_, are either of a voluntary, or a corrective, or a
recommendatory kind. Voluntary flagellations were in use among
most Nations of Antiquity, 79, & _seq._
Were unknown, it seems, to the first Christians, 102.
Were not prescribed to religious persons by the first Founders of
Monastic Orders, 118.
Conjectures about the times in which they grew into use among
Christians, 192, & _seq._
The time at which they certainly became universally used among them,
201, & _seq._
Cruelty with which they are performed, 203, & _seq._ 384, & _seq._
Incredible and superstitious stories contrived to recommend them,
299, & _seq._

_Flagellations_ (corrective) their use is known from the earliest
times, 51.
Are used as a means of procuring victory in war, 52;
by Masters over their Slaves; great power of Masters in Rome in
that respect, 57, & _seq._
Both in antient and modern times by Schoolmasters, 71, & _seq._
by Judges, 55;
by Ladies to correct misbehaviour, 319, & _seq._
Are useful to defeat captious arguments, 177.
To reward satires or bon-mots, 177, 178, 268, & _seq._
To check those who betray the secrets of others, 268, & _seq._
To repress competitors, 277.
To confute heresy, 258.
Are, in modern times, used in Seraglios, 172;
in the palaces of the western Sovereigns, 173, & _seq._
in Monasteries and the rites with which they are performed there,
131, & _seq._ 180.

_Flagellations_ (jocular) performed as a pastime, 96, 97, 39, 240, 241.

_Flagellations_ (recommendatory) 162, & _seq._

_Flagellations_ (in general) are undergone by Sovereigns and Great
Men, 265.
Are served by Emperors with their own hands, _ibid._
Are useful to make one’s fortune, 267.
To acquire reputation, _ibid._
Are very proper to enliven and embellish public festivals, 395.
Are capable of being performed with much gracefulness, 375, 376.
The most comfortable manner to receive them, 253.
Their glory completed, 258.

_Francis_ (St.) his stigmats, a contrivance of his, 109.
Is flagellated by the Devil the very first night after his arrival
at Rome, 126.

_Friars_, miracle effected by one, 128, & _seq._
Contrivance of certain Friars in Catalonia, 247.
See _Monks_.

_Fulk_ Grisegonelle, an account of the penance he performs, 391.

G.

_Gay_ quoted, 77.

_Gelasius_ (Pope), puts an end to the festival of the Lupercalia, 94.
Improvements that had been made in it in his time, _ibid._

_Gerald_ (Sylvester) his _Itinerarium Cambriæ_, quoted, 317.

_Gil Blas_, quoted, 78.

_Girard_ (Father), inflicts Cornelian disciplines on Miss Cadiere, 237.

_Gerund_ de Campazas, a Spanish Novel, quoted, 293, 379.

_Goddesses_, weapons with which the Antients supplied them, 60, 319.

_Gretzer_ (Father), a strenuous promoter of flagellations, 44, 45.
His consultation of a Physician recited, 402, 403.

_Gymnosophists_, or naked Sages, 391.

H.

_Heloisa._ The friendship of Abelard to her, 236, 243.

_Henry_ II. of England, receives a correction from the Church, 251,
252.

_Henry_ III. of France, inlists as a Brother in a fraternity of
Disciplinants, 356, & _seq._ 372.

_Henry_ IV. of France, receives likewise a correction from the Church,
253.
The great indulgence with which he is treated on that occasion, 254,
255.

_Hermits_, what kind of men they are, 115.
No better than common Friars; story of one, _ibid._

_Hérodote (Apologie pour)_, an account of the Book, 128.
Again quoted, 247, 315.

_Herodotus_, quoted, 85.

_Hooëden_ (the Rector of), accident that happened to his Concubine,
317.

_Hope_ (Cape of Good), in what manner fires are prevented there, 292.

_Horace_, quoted, 24, 55, 56, 65, 71, 283.

_Hudibras_, quoted, 327, 339, 376.

_Hume_ (Mr.) quoted, 259.

_Husbands_ corrected by their Wives, 339.
The subject is extensive and deep, and requires a Treatise apart,
340.

I.

_James_ I. flagellated by his Preceptor, 160.

_James_ II. dazzled by Miss Arabella Churchill’s posteriors, 286.

_Jerom_ (St.) his observations on the epitaph of the widow Marcella,
quoted, 94.
His exhortation to Sabinus, 109.
Does not seem to have practised any beatings upon himself, otherwise
than with his fists, 110.
Fired with an ardent desire of acquiring the style of Cicero, 111.
Fustigated for that reason by the Angels before the Tribunal of God,
_ibid._

_Jesuit_, a Reverend Father Jesuit acts as an agent from Philip II. of
Spain, to persuade a Princess of the Austrian House to marry
him, 176.
The eloquence of the Father, _ibid._
He only draws in the issue a flagellation upon himself, 177.
Is served with it in the kitchen, 177, 187.

_Jesuits_, their regularity in inflicting flagellations, 161.
Excellent Latin distich made at the expence of the society by one of
their School-boys, 162.

_Jews_ (the antient) made not self-flagellations part of their
religious worship, 27, & _seq._
The impartiality shewn to both sexes among them, 30.
The modern Jews adopt the practice of voluntary flagellations, 35.
A description of their manner of performing them, 35, & _seq._
Coercive flagellations were known among them, 27, 28.
The number of the blows was fixed by the Law of Moses at forty, 30.

_Innocents_ (the day of the), a day of great retribution and justice,
328, & _seq._
Giving the innocents is an antient as well as ingenious custom, 330,
331.

_Italy._ Processions of Disciplinants are much in vogue in that
Country, 381.
The pageantry and festivity by which they are accompanied, 381,
& _seq._

_Juliet_ of Gonzaga, abominable act of ingratitude and vanity of that
woman, 271.

_Juniperus_ (Brother), a great partisan of nakedness, 393.
His public entrance into the town of Viterbo, and noble carriage as
well as sanctity on that occasion, _Ibid._

_Justin_, quoted, 51.

_Justina_ (the Monk of St.) his Chronicle quoted, 346, & _seq._

_Juvenal_, his singular expression with respect to Augustus, 60.
His account of the cruel wantonness of Roman Mistresses with their
slaves, 67, & _seq._
The festival of the Lupercalia alluded to by him, 91.

K.

_Kennet_ (Bishop), his Chronicle, quoted, 237.

_Kitchen_ (the), is the appropriated place for flagellations in the
Palaces of the Western Kings and great Men, 185.
Advantages of the place, _ibid._
The great share the people of the kitchen bore in former times in
supporting the dignity of Kings, 186.
Farther remark on the importance of the people of the kitchen, 191.
Their laudable zeal in assisting their Masters, 190, 191.

_Kolben_, his description of the Cape of Good Hope, quoted, 292.

L.

_Labat_ (Father), his travels into Spain and Italy quoted, 382.

_Lacedæmon_ Flagellating solemnities that took place there, 79,
& _seq._
Are described, or alluded to, by Cicero, Plutarch, Lucian, Seneca,
&c. _ibid._
Are still in use in the times of Tertullian, 83.
It is difficult to say whether there was more inhumanity or
stupidity in these processions, 395.