me if they do dirty actions," said the boy.
Now, here the enormity and vileness of the confessional peeped out. Here
one can see how the confessor can look into every hearth, and into every
heart, in Rome. The priests had dragged this young boy into their den,
and taught him to play the spy on his father and mother. The hand that
fed him, the bosom that cherished him, he must learn to betray. I appeal
to the fathers and mothers of Britain, whether, than see their children
degraded to such infamous purposes, they would not an hundred times
rather see them laid in the silent grave. Yet some are labouring to
introduce the confessional among us. Should they succeed, it will be the
garrotte on the throat of English liberty.

As regards RELIGION in Italy, this is an inquiry that lies rather beyond
the limits I have marked out for myself. I may be permitted, however, a
few remarks. It appeared to me that the very idea of religion had
perished among the Italians. Not only had they lost the thing itself,
but they had lost the power of conceiving of it. Religion unquestionably
is a state of mind towards God; and devotion is a mental act resulting
from that state of mind. We cannot conceive of an automaton performing
an act of devotion, or of being religious; and yet, if religion be what
it is taken to be at Rome, there is nothing to hinder an automaton being
religious, nay, far more religious than flesh and blood, inasmuch as
timber and iron will not so soon wear out under incessant crossings and
genuflections. Religion at Rome is to kiss a crucifix; religion at Rome
is to climb Pilate's stairs; religion at Rome is to repeat by rote a
certain number of prayers before some beautiful painting or statue; or
to remain a certain number of hours on one's bare knees on the paved
floor; or to wear a hair-shirt. Of religion as a mental act,--as an act
of faith, and love, and reverence,--the Italian is not able to form
even the idea. Hence the want of decorum that shocks a stranger on
visiting the Italian churches. He finds bishops at the altar unable to
restrain their sallies of wit and their bursts of laughter. And after
this, what can he look for among the ordinary worshippers? The young man
can go through his devotions perfectly well, and make love all the while
to the young woman at his side. Young ladies can count their beads to
the Virgin, and continue their gossip on matters of dress or scandal. It
never occurs to them that this in