hen repeated a confession at
the dictation of the clergyman; after which he walked out of the
church. The other case was that of a young woman,

'Who bore unhusbanded a mother's name.'

She also came into the church barefoot, covered with a sheet, bearing a
white wand, and went through the same ceremony. She had one advantage
which the young man had not. Her long hair so completely covered her
face that not a feature could be seen. In a large town, few persons
would have known who she was, but in a small village every one is known,
and no public delinquent can escape observation, and the censure of busy
tongues. These appear to have been the last cases of the kind that
occurred at Sancton. The sin was perpetuated, but the penalty ceased; my
father observed that the rich offenders evaded the law, and then the
authorities could not for shame continue to inflict its penalty upon the
labouring classes."[41]

In the month of April, 1849, penance was performed at Ditton Church,
Cambridgeshire.

The Church of East Clevedon, Somersetshire, on July 30th, 1882, was the
scene of a man performing penance in public, and the act attracted much
attention in the newspapers of the time.

FOOTNOTES:

[40] Walker's "History of Wakefield Cathedral."

[41] Rev. Thomas Jackson's "Recollections of my own Life and Times,"
1873.

The Repentance Stool.

The records of church-life in Scotland, in bygone times, contain many
allusions to the repentance stool. A very good specimen of this old-time
relic may be seen in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, at
Edinburgh. It is from the church of Old Greyfriars, of Edinburgh. In the
same museum is a sackcloth, or gown of repentance, formerly used at the
parish church of West Calder.

Persons guilty of adultery were frequently placed on the repentance
stool, and rebuked before the congregation assembled for public worship.
The ordeal was a most trying one. Severe laws have been passed in
Scotland to check adultery. "In the First Book of Discipline," says the
Rev. Charles Rogers, LL.D., "the Reformers demanded that adulterers
should be put to death. Their desire was not fully complied with, but in
1563 Parliament enacted that 'notour adulterers'--meaning those of whose
illicit connection a child had been born--should be executed." Dr.
Rogers and other authorities assert that the penalty was occasionally
inflicted.

[Illustration: REPENTANCE STOOL, FROM OLD GREYFRIARS, EDI