priest interrupts: "On a light matter, or on a serious one? was it for
personal interest? was it in order to stain the reputation of another?
and if so, was the person calumniated a man or a woman? and was that
person married or single? a member of the civil authority, or one of the
clergy?" This introductory part being ended, the priest begins a fresh
tack, and interrogates the penitent upon infractions not specified in any
of the commandments. For example: If the penitent is accustomed to pray
the rosary; if she frequents churches; if she contributes her money
towards the support of divine worship; if she knows, and omits to
denounce, impious persons, heretics, and enemies of the church; if she
prefers the society of worldly men to that of the clergy and friars; if
her parents, brothers, husband, sons, relatives, or friends, read
prohibited or dangerous books; if she orders masses to be said for the
souls of the dead; and other things of a similar kind. Then follows an
exhortation to show the turpitude of the sins confessed and the necessity
of repentance, and the priest concludes this peroration by the imposition
of penance or other expiatory act. Here the confessor has an open field
before him, in which he shows the fecundity of his imagination,--prayers,
paying for masses, fasting, alms, corporal mortification, pilgrimages to
sanctuaries, privation from theatres, balls, and parties, and other
penalties of a similar nature, which form the criminal code of the
confessional tribunal; and here it is easy to imagine what a latitude
this faculty offers to gratify hatred, show revenge, flatter the
powerful, and make things pleasant to those who have the power of
conferring favours. The act concludes with the words of absolution,
which is a formula consisting of a few Latin phrases.

The priest has the power of refusing absolution, but which however he
seldom ventures to exercise, for there is no penitent, be she who she
may, that would not sooner make the most terrible sacrifices of her
self-respect, than expose herself to such an affront. There have been
instances in which refusal of absolution has provoked the penitent to
personal vengeance against an inexorable confessor.

There is a fact well known in Spain, which proves the abuses to which the
practice of confession may lead. A husband who suspected the fidelity of
his wife, knowing that she was accustomed always to go to the same church
and the same confess