[90]
_Es vir sacrilegus si res sacras violasti,
Si percussisti personam religiosam,
Vel quem de Clero; nisi percussio sancta,
Doctor discipulum, Confessor probra fatentem._
[91] Cap. XV. _Episcopus, Presbyter & Diaconus, peccantes fideles
diverberare non debeant._
[92] _Card. Pulli_ sententiarum _L. vii. Cap. 3. p. 220. Est ergo
satisfactio quædam, aspera tamen, sed Deo tanto gratior quanto
humilior, cum quilibet sacerdotis prostratus ad pedes, se cædendum
virgis exhibet nudum._
[93] I have in the course of this Work frequently produced the
original words of the Authors who are quoted therein, as I thought
this precaution would not be disagreeable to the critical part of
Readers. In regard to the Abbé Boileau himself, no occasion has
offered of doing the same, as he seldom introduces any fact, in
his Book, but in the words of the Writer from whom he borrows it:
however, as in relating the above story, which he has extracted
from a much longer account, he speaks for himself, I shall take
this opportunity of introducing him personally to the Reader, and
of transcribing his own words, in order to enable the Reader to
judge of the goodness of his Latin.----‘_Inter exempla tam infaustæ
notitiæ non pertimescam Historiam narrare hominis cucullati et
cordigeri, Conventus Brugensis, anno circiter MDLXVI, cui nomen
erat Cornelius Adriasem, origine Dordracensis, adversus hæreticos
Guezios stomachosissimi concionatoris, qui puellas seu fœminas
quasdam sacramento fidelitatis & obedientiæ sibi adstrictas, &
specie pietatis devotas, non quidem asperatis & nodosis funibus
verberabat, sed nudata earum femora & nates, inhonestis vibicibus
rorantes, betuleis aut vimineis virgis, ictibus molliter inflictis,
perfricabat._’
[94] ‘_Domine, tota tenera est; ego pro ipsâ recipio disciplinam: quo
flectente genua dixit Mulier, Percute fortiter, Domine, quia magna
peccatrix sum._’--_Men. Phil._ Lib. iv. Cap. 18.
The above story, related by Scot, together with the words he supposes
to have been said by the Woman, have since been turned into a French
epigram, which I have met with in the _Menagiana_, as well as in two
or three different collections of French Poetry.
_Une femme se confessa,
Le Confesseur à la sourdine
Derriere l’Autel la troussa
Pour lui donner la discipline.
L’époux non loin d’elle caché
De miséricorde touché
Offrit pour elle dos & fesse.
La femme y consentit dabord,
Je sens, dit-elle, ma foiblesse,
Mon mari sans doute est plus fort;
Sus donc, mon Pere, touchez fort,
Car je suis grande pecheresse._
The abovementioned flagellating practices of Confessors, are alluded
to in several Books; and Confessors are expressly charged with them
by several Writers, besides what is said above. Among others,
Sanlec, a _bel Esprit_ who lived under Lewis the Fourteenth, and
wrote several Satires, in one of them, which he has intitled _The
Directors_, has made the above practices of Confessors, or Directors,
the subject of his animadversion. ‘This zealous Confessor (says
Sanlec) who, for every trifling fault, with a discipline in his hand,
fustigated his female Devotees.’
_Ce Confesseur zèlé, qui, pour les moindres fautes,
La discipline en main fustigeoit ses Dévotes._
Among the number of those who have administered disciplines of the
kind here alluded to, a few have been so happy as to acquire much
more reputation than the others. Among these must be ranked the
abovementioned Cornelius Adriasem, whose case is related at length
by Meteren, in his Latin History of the Netherlands, published in
the year 1568, from which the Abbé Boileau has extracted it. This
Cornelius Adriasem (or Adriansen) was a loud declaimer against the
faction called the _Gueux_, whom the Abbé calls Hereticks, but who
were, in fact, the same party who opposed the Spanish Government
in those parts, and afterwards succeeded in overthrowing it, and
founded the Republic of Holland. As the above Reverend Father had
thus strongly opposed a powerful, numerous, as well as incensed
party, in the State and the Church, the discovery that was made
of his frailties, afforded matter of much triumph, as well as
made a great noise, and supplied his enemies with an opportunity
of inveighing afterwards against him, which they did not neglect,
as we may conclude from Meteren’s account of the fact, which he
relates at great length, and with much spleen and dulness. However,
new names were coined to express that particular kind of discipline
which Cornelius Adriansen used to serve upon his female penitents:
those who loved to deduce their new appellations of things from
Greek words, called it the _Gynopygian_ discipline; and others,
who, proceeding upon a more liberal plan, thought that the proper
appellation of any particular practice, ought to be derived from
the name of some person who has eminently distinguished himself by
it, called the discipline in question, from the name of the above
Gentleman, the _Cornelian_ discipline: a name by which it still
continues to be expressed in those quarters.
The devisers of the appellation just now mentioned, did not however
mean to say, that Cornelius Adriansen was the inventor of the above
kind of discipline, or even the first man of note who had recourse to
it: or, if such was their meaning, they were wrong. In fact, Abelard,
who certainly is a well-known character, also used to administer
flagellatory corrections to his pupil Heloisa, whose name is not less
illustrious than that of her Master. The Canon Fulbert, as every
one knows, had intrusted him with the care of her education; and as
the Canon was very desirous she should become distinguished by her
learning, he had permitted him to correct her, whenever she should
fail in performing her duty. Abelard, in time, made an extensive use
of the power that had thus been conferred upon him; though, to say
the truth (and as himself confesses in one of those Latin letters he
wrote to her after their separation) he, at last, did not so much use
it, when she had been guilty of faults, as when she too obstinately
refused to commit any.--_Sed & te nolentem (says he) sæpiùs minis
atque flagellis ad consensum trahebam._
As Cornelius Adriansen was preceded in the career we mention, by
a character as distinguished as himself, so has he been followed
by another who was no less so, and who made no less noise in the
world. The person I mean, is the celebrated Jesuit, Father Girard;
and among the number of his pupils or penitents, was Miss _Cadiere_,
who certainly may also be looked upon as an illustrious character.
The Cornelian disciplines which the Father used to serve upon her,
were one of the subjects of the public complaint she afterwards
preferred against him, about the year 1730; which gave rise to a
criminal lawsuit or prosecution that made a prodigious noise, as it
was thought to be a kind of stroke levelled at the whole Society of
the Jesuits, and was known to have been stirred up by Monks belonging
to Orders who were at open enmity with them. The _Demoiselle Cadiere_
likewise brought against Father Girard a charge of sorcery, and of
having bewitched her; in order, no doubt, to apologize for her having
peaceably submitted to the licentious actions of which she accused
the Father, as well as to those disciplines with which she reproached
him, which she circumstantially described in the original complaint,
or charge, which she preferred against him; for Judges are persons
who will not understand things by half words; one must speak plain to
them, and call every thing by its proper name.
Among those who have distinguished themselves in the same career of
flagellation, Readers (I mean those who possess some patriotism and
love of their Country) will, no doubt, be much pleased to find one
who belonged to this Nation; I mean to speak of the Reverend Zachary
Crofton, Curate of St. _Botolph’s_, _Aldgate_, who, on a certain
occasion, served a Cornelian discipline upon his Chambermaid, for
which she afterwards sued him at Westminster.
The aforesaid Zachary Crofton, as Bishop Kennet relates in his
Chronicle, from Dr. Calamy’s notes, was formerly a Curate at
Wrenbury, in Cheshire (it was a little before the Restoration) and
he used to engage with much warmth in the religious and political
quarrels of his times: his refusal to take the _engagement_, and
endeavours to dissuade others from taking it, caused him to be
dismissed from his place. He was, however, afterwards provided with
the Curacy of St. Botolph’s, Aldgate; but as his turn for religious
and political quarrels still prevailed, and he had written several
pamphlets, both English and Latin, about the affairs of those
times, he was sent to the Tower, and deprived of his Curacy: he was
afterwards cast into prison likewise in his own County, and when
he procured his liberty, set up a Grocer’s shop. While he was in
the above Parish of St. Botolph, ‘he gave,’ as Dr. Calamy relates,
‘the correction of a school-boy to his servant-maid,’ for which she
prosecuted him in Westminster-hall. This fact the Doctor relates
as an instance of the many scrapes into which Zachary Crofton’s
warm and zealous temper brought him; and he adds that, on the last
mentioned occasion, ‘he was bold to print his defence.’----Indeed
this fact of Parson Crofton’s undauntedly appealing to the Public
in print concerning the lawfulness of the flagellation he had
performed, places him, notwithstanding what Dr. Calamy may add as to
the mediocrity of his parts, at least upon a level with the Geniuses
abovementioned, as well as any other of the kind that may be named,
and cannot fail for ever to secure him a place among the most
illustrious Flagellators.
In fine, to this list of the persons who have distinguished
themselves by the flagellations they have atchieved, I think I cannot
avoid adding that Lady, mentioned by Brantôme, who (perhaps as an
exercise conducive to her health) took great delight in performing
corrections of this kind, with her own hands. This Lady, who was
moreover a very great Lady, would often, as Brantôme relates, cause
the Ladies of her Houshold to strip themselves, and then amuse
herself in giving them slaps upon their posteriors, pretty lustily
laid on: with respect to those Ladies who had committed faults, she
made use of good rods; and in general, she used less or greater
severity, according (Brantôme says) as she proposed to make them
either laugh or cry. The following are Brantôme’s own words.
‘_J’ai ouï parler d’une grande Dame de par le monde, voire
grandissime, qui ne se contentant pas de lasciveté naturelle, & étant
mariée & étant Veuve, pour la provoquer & exciter davantage, elle
faisoit depouiller ses Dames & filles, je dis les plus belles, & se
delectoit fort à les voir, & puis elle les battoit du plat de la main
sur les fesses, avec de grandes clacquades & blamuses assez rudes;
& les filles qui avoient delinqué en quelques chose, avec de bonnes
verges.----Autres fois, sans les depouiller, les faisoit trousser
en robes, car pour lors elles ne portoient point de calecons, &
les clacquettoit sur les fesses, selon le sujet qu’elles lui en
donnoient, pour les faire ou rire, ou pleurer._’
It is no easy matter to point out what precise views the Lady in
question had, when she served the abovementioned flagellations.
Brantôme, who had much travelled, and was grown much acquainted with
the wickedness of the world, insinuates that she was actuated by
motives of rather a wanton kind; but since it is extremely difficult
to believe that thoughts like those Brantôme supposes, could be
entertained, I shall not say by a Lady, but by a person of the
high rank of the Lady in question, I will endeavour to account for
her conduct in a different manner; and I shall consider my time as
exceedingly well employed, if I can clear her from the aspersion
thrown upon her by the above Gentleman.
In the first place, it is very possible, that (as hath been above
insinuated) she considered the flagellations in question as an
exercise advantageous to her health: and Physicians have often made
worse prescriptions.
In the second place, she might, without looking farther, be prompted
by a desire of doing justice; for Brantôme makes express mention of
Ladies who had committed faults: now, such a conduct on the part of
the Lady we speak of, would reflect much honour upon her, and shew
that she did not disdain to superintend her own family.
Perhaps also it might be, that the abovementioned flagellations were
of the same jocular kind merely, with those which, as hath been
related in the sixth Chapter of this Book, were in use in Rome,
and were often practised in the presence of the Emperor Claudius,
and sometimes upon that Emperor himself. Nor is the circumstance
mentioned by Brantôme, of the high Lady in question sometimes
using pretty great severity, contrary to this supposition: it is a
well-known fact that Great people, when they do their inferiors the
honour to play with them, will often carry the joke too far, farther
than the latter have a liking to: jokes or tricks of this kind, gave
rise to the French common saying, _Jeux de Princes, qui plaisent à
ceux qui les font_. ‘Tricks of Princes, which please those (_only_)
by whom they are played.’
In fine, since the flagellations in question were often carried
on, as appears from the account of Brantôme himself, in a manner
really very jocular, even so much so as to make the Ladies laugh,
it is natural to suppose that they were then executed by the
common and perfectly free consent of the whole company. The Ladies
possibly proposed to represent among themselves the festival of
the _Lupercalia_, which has been described in a former Chapter:
intending to represent it as it was performed in the times of Pope
Gelasius, they stripped themselves in the manner Brantôme has
related: the great Lady, in consideration of her high birth and
station, was permitted to fill the part of the _Lupercus_; the
wielding of the _discipline_ was of course exclusively left to her:
nor was this peculiar advantage which the other Ladies granted her,
in that kind of farce they agreed to act among themselves, materially
different from the favour which certain Clergymen used to grant to
their Bishop, when they played at Whist with him, who allowed his
Lordship the privilege of naming the trump.
In regard to the Gentlemen who have been mentioned above, it is
however pretty evident that (owing, no doubt, to the good-nature
inherent in their sex) they used no kind of severity in those
disciplines they used to bestow; except indeed Parson Crofton,
who, from the circumstance of his writing a pamphlet, and a quarto
pamphlet too, in defence of the flagellation he had performed, seems
really to have been in earnest, both when he planned, and when he
served it.
Thus Abelard, in one of the abovementioned Letters he wrote to his
Pupil, while she lived retired in the Monastery of _Paraclet_,
expressly says that the blows he gave her, were such blows as
friendship alone, not anger, suggested: he even adds that their
sweetness surpassed that of the sweetest perfumes,----_verbera
quandoque dabat amor, non furor, gratia, non ira, quæ omnium
unguentorum suavitatem transcenderent_.
Father Girard, as is evident from the whole tenor of the declaration
of Miss Cadiere herself, had as little intention as Abelard, to do
any kind of injury to his pupil or penitent; and Cornelius Adriansen,
as appears from Meteren’s account, used to proceed with the same
caution and tenderness for his disciples, as the two above-mentioned
gentlemen, and contented himself, as the Abbé Boileau observes, with
gently rubbing them with his instruments of discipline;--_molliter
perfricabat_.
That Confessors should contract sentiments of friendship for their
female penitents, like those mentioned by Abelard, is however nowise
surprizing. La Fontaine says, that
_Tout homme est homme, & les Moines sur tous._
“Every Man is a Man, and Monks above all others.” He might at least
have said, “Every Man is a Man, and Monks as well as others;” and to
this have added, that their virtue, especially that of Confessors,
is exposed to dangers of a peculiar kind. In fact, the obligation
which those who perform that office are under, to hear, with seeming
indifference, the long confessions of Women of every age, who
frequently enter into numerous particulars concerning the sins which
they have either committed, or had distant wishes to commit, is no
very easy talk for Men who, as hath just now been observed, are
after all nothing but Men; and they are, under such circumstances,
frequently agitated by thoughts not very consonant with the apparent
gravity and sanctity of their looks. Nay, raising such thoughts in
them, and in general creating sentiments of love in their Confessors,
are designs which numbers of female penitents, who at no time
entirely cease being actuated by womanish views, expressly entertain,
notwithstanding the apparent ingenuity of their confessions, and
in which they but too often succeed, to their own, and their frail
Confessors, cost. Thus, it appears from Miss Cadiere’s declarations,
that she had of herself aimed at making the conquest of Father
Girard, though a Man past fifty years of age, being induced to it,
by his great reputation both as a Preacher and a Man of parts; and
she expressly confessed that she had for a long while been making
interest to be admitted into the number of his penitents.
Indeed, these dangers to which Confessors are exposed from their
continual and confidential intercourse with the Sex, (for, to the
praise of Women be it spoken, they are infinitely more exact than
Men in making their confessions) are much taken notice of in the
books in which directions are given to such Priests as are designed
for that employment; and they are warned against nothing so much
as an inclination to hear preferably the confessions of the other
Sex.----St. Charles Borrommee, as I have read in one of those books,
prescribed to Confessors to have all the doors wide open, when they
heard the confession of a Woman; and he had supplied them with a set
of passages from Psalms, such as, _Cor mundum crea in me Domine_, and
the like, which he advised them to have pasted on some conspicuous
place within their sight, and which were to serve them as ejaculatory
exclamations by which to vent the wicked thoughts with which they
might feel themselves agitated, and as kinds of _Abracadabras_, or
_Retrò Satanas_, to apply to, whenever they should find themselves on
the point of being overcome by some too sudden temptation.
Numbers of Confessors however, whether it was that they had forgotten
to supply themselves with the passages recommended by St. Charles
Borrommee, or that those passages really proved ineffectual in
those instants in which they were intended to be useful, have, at
different times, formed serious designs upon the chastity of their
penitents; and the singular situation in which they were placed,
both with respect to the Public, and to their penitents themselves,
with whom, changing the grave supercilious Confessor into the wanton
lover, was no easy transition, have led them to use expedients of
rather singular kinds, to attain their ends. Some, like Robert
d’_Arbrissel_, (and the same has been said of Adhelm, an English
Saint who lived before the Conquest) have induced young Women to lie
with them in the same beds, giving them to understand, that, if they
could prove superior to every temptation, and rise from bed as they
went to it, it would be in the highest degree meritorious. Others,
Menas for instance, a Spanish Monk whose case was quoted in the
proceedings against Father Girard, persuaded young Women to live with
him in a kind of holy conjugal union, which he described to them, but
which did not however end, at last, in that intellectual manner which
the Father had promised. Others have persuaded Women that the works
of matrimony were no less liable to pay tithes than the fruits of the
earth, and have received these tithes accordingly. This scheme was,
it is said, contrived by the Fryars of a certain Convent in a small
Town in Spain, and La Fontaine has made it the subject of one of his
_Tales_, which is entitled _The Cordeliers of Catalonia_, in which
he describes with much humour the great punctuality of the Ladies in
that Town, in discharging their debts to the Fathers, and the vast
business that was, in consequence, carried on in the Convent of the
latter.
Lastly, other Confessors have had recourse to their power of
flagellation, as an excellent expedient for preparing the success
of their schemes, and preventing the first suspicions which their
penitents might entertain of their views.
In order the better to remove the scruples which the modesty of
these latter caused them at first to oppose, they used to represent
to them, that our first Parents were naked in the garden of Eden;
they moreover asked, whether people must not be naked, when they
are christened; and shall not they likewise be so, on the day of
Resurrection? Nay, others have made such a state of nakedness, on the
part of their penitents, a matter of express duty, and have supported
this doctrine, as the Author of the _Apologie pour Hérodote_ relates,
by quoting the passage of Jesus Christ, in which he says, _Go, and
shew thyself to the Priest_.
However, instances of the wantonness of Priests like this latter,
in which a serious use was made of passages from the Books on which
Religion is grounded, in order to forward schemes of a guilty nature,
certainly cannot, in whatever light the subject be considered, admit
of any justification: though on the other hand, when the national
calamities produced by sophisms of this kind and the arts of Men of
the same cloth, are considered, one cannot help wishing that they
had constantly employed both these sophisms and their artifices in
pursuits like those above-mentioned, and that, ensnaring a few female
penitents (who were not perhaps, after all, extremely unwilling to be
ensnared) and serving flagellations, had been the worst excesses they
ever had committed.