torian of Cleveland, Mr. George Markham Tweddell, furnishes us
with a copy of a document enjoining penance to be performed in 1766, by
James Beadnell, of Stokesley, in the diocese of York, tailor: "The said
James Beadnell shall be present in the Parish Church of Stokesley,
aforesaid, upon Sunday, being the fifth, twelfth, and nineteenth day of
January instant, in the time of Divine service, between the hours of ten
and eleven in the forenoon of the same day, in the presence of the whole
congregation then assembled, being barehead, barefoot, and barelegged,
having a white sheet wrapped about him from the shoulder to the feet,
and a white wand in his hand, where, immediately after the reading of
the Gospel, he shall stand upon some form or seat, before the pulpit or
place where the minister readeth prayers, and say after him as
forthwith: 'Whereas, I, good people, forgetting my duty to Almighty God,
have committed the detestable sin of adultery with Ann Andrewes, and
thereby have provoked the heavy wrath of God against me to the great
danger of my soul and evil example of others. I do earnestly repent, and
am heartily sorry for the same, desiring Almighty God, for the merits of
Jesus Christ, to forgive me both this and all other my offences, and
also ever hereafter so to assist me with His Holy Spirit, that I never
fall into the like offence again; and for that end and purpose, I
desire you all here present to pray for me, saying, "Our Father, which
art in heaven," and so forth.'"

Towards the close of the last century, it was the practice of women
doing penance at Poulton Church, Lancashire, to pass along the aisles
barefooted, clothed in a white sheet, and having in each hand a lighted
candle. The last time the ceremony was performed, we are told, the cries
of the poor girl melted the heart of the people, and the well-disposed
raised a clamour against it, and caused the practice to be discontinued.

The Rev. Thomas Jackson, the popular Wesleyan minister, was born at
Sancton, a village on the Yorkshire Wolds, in 1783. Writing of his
earlier years spent in his native village, he describes two cases of
public penance which he witnessed. "A farmer's son," says Mr. Jackson,
"the father of an illegitimate child, came into church at the time of
divine service, on the Lord's day, covered with a sheet, having a white
wand in his hand; he walked barefoot up the aisle, stood over against
the desk where the prayers were read, and t