RIDICULOUS PENITENCIA. 259 



r 



m 



ed streets, — are calculated to produce impres- 

 sions of a most confused description, in Avhich 

 regret and melancholy may be said to form 

 no inconsiderable share. 



It has been customary for great malefactors 

 to propitiate Divine forgiveness by a cruel sort 

 of penitencia, which generally takes place dur- 

 ing the Scmana Santa. I once chanced to 

 be in the town of Tome on Good Friday, 

 when my attention was arrested by a man 



ked, bearinsr.in 



hich 



constructed of the hghtest wood, must have 

 weighed over a hundred pounds. The 

 long end dragged upon the ground, as we 

 have seen it represented in sacred pictures, 

 and about the middle swung a stone of im- 

 mense dimensions, appended there for the 

 purpose of making the task more laborious. 

 Not f^ir behind followed another equally des- 

 titute of clothing, with his whole body wrap- 

 ped in chains and cords, which seemed buried 

 in the muscles, and which so cramped and 

 confined him that he was scarcely able to 

 keep pace with the procession. The person 

 who brought up the rear presented a still 

 more disgustin g aspect lie walked along with 

 a ftitient and composed step, while another 

 followed close behind belaboring him lustily 

 with a whip, which he flourished with all the 

 satisfaction of an amateur; but as the lash 

 was pointed only with a tuft of ftntwisted 

 sea-grass, its apphcation merely served to 

 keep open the wounds upon the penitent's 



