or of the Clergy,"
Debreyne, and a multitude of authors too numerous to mention, have given
the curious and scientific rules of that secret art.

They all agree in declaring that it is a most difficult and dangerous art;
they all confess that the least error of judgment, the least imprudence or
temerity, when storming the impregnable citadel, is sure death (spiritual,
of course) to the confessor and the penitent.

The confessor is taught to make the first steps towards the citadel with
the utmost caution, in order that his female penitent may not suspect at
first what he wants her to reveal; for this would generally induce her to
shut for ever the door of the fortress against him. After the first steps
of advance, he is advised to make several steps back, and to put himself in
a kind of spiritual ambuscade, to see the effect of his first advance. If
there is any prospect of success, then the word "March on!" is given, and a
more advanced post of the citadel must be tried and stormed if possible. In
that way, little by little, the whole place is so well surrounded, so well
crippled, denuded, and dismantled, that any more resistance seems
impossible on the part of the rebellious soul.

Then the last charge is ordered, the final assault is given; and if God
does not perform a real miracle to save that soul, the last walls crumble,
the doors are beaten down! Then the confessor makes a triumphant entry into
the place; the very heart, soul, conscience, and intelligence, are
conquered.

When once master of the place, the priest visits all its most secret
recesses and corners; he pries into its most sacred chambers. The conquered
place is entirely, absolutely in his hands; he does what he pleases within
its precincts; he is the supreme master, for the surrender has been
unconditional. The confessor has become the _only_ infallible ruler in the
conquered place--nay, he has become its only God--for it is in the name of
God that he has besieged, stormed, and conquered it, it is in the name of
God that, hereafter, he will speak and be obeyed.

No human words can adequately give an idea of the irreparable ruin which
follows the successful storming and unconditional surrender of the once so
noble fortress. The longer the resistance has been, the more terrible and
complete is the destruction of its beauty and strength; the nobler the
struggle has been the more irretrievable are the ruin and loss. Just as the
higher and stronger th