ire, refers to one of
her maids speaking in the housekeeper's room about a matter that was
not to the credit of the family. My lady felt that there was truth in
what the girl said, but it was not in her place to speak, and her
ladyship resolved to make her know and keep her place. "She hath a
pretty face," says the diarist, "and should not be too ready to speak
ill of those above her in station. I should be very sorry to turn her
adrift upon the world, and she hath but a poor home. Sent for her to my
room, and gave her choice, either to be well whipped, or to leave the
house instantly. She chose wisely, I think, and, with many tears, said I
might do what I liked. I bade her attend my chamber to-morrow at
twelve." Next day her ladyship writes in her diary: "Dearlove, my maid,
came to my room, as I bade her. I bade her fetch the rod from what was
my mother-in-law's rod-closet, and kneel and ask pardon, which she did
with tears. I made her prepare, and I whipped her well. The girl's flesh
is plump and firm, and she is a cleanly person--such a one, not
excepting my own daughters, who are thin, and one of them, Charlotte,
rather sallow, as I have not whipped for a long time. She hath never
been whipped before, she says, since she was a child (what can her
mother and late lady have been about, I wonder?), and she cried out a
great deal." Children and servants appear to have been frequently
flogged at Bullingham Court, both by its lord and lady. In other homes
similar practices prevailed.

[Illustration: "The Tutor's Assistant"

(_By George Cruikshank_)]

Public Penance.

Church discipline in the olden days caused the highest and lowest in the
land to perform penance in public. A notable instance of a king
subjecting himself to this humiliating form of punishment is that of
Henry II. The story of the King's quarrels with Becket, and of his
unfortunate expression which led four knights to enact a tragic deed in
Canterbury Cathedral, is familiar to the reader of history. After the
foul murder of Becket had been committed, the King was in great
distress, and resolved to do penance at the grave of the murdered
Archbishop. Mounted on his horse, he rode to Canterbury, and on coming
in sight of the Cathedral, he dismounted, and walked barefooted to
Becket's shrine. He spent the day in prayer and fasting, and at night
watched the relics of the saint. He next, in presence of the monks,
disrobed himself, and presented his b