That pontiff's secretary, Theodoric de Nieur,* does indeed inform us, that Boniface sent questors into different kingdoms, to sell indulgences to such as should offer them as much money as it would have cost them to make a journey to Rome to fetch them; so that they remitted all sins, even without penance, to such as confessed, and granted them, for money, dispensations for irregularities of every sort; saying, that they had in that respect all the power which Christ had granted to Peter, of binding and unbinding upon earth.+

And, what is still more singular, the price of every crime is fixed in a Latin work, printed at Rome by order of Leo X., and published on the 18th of November 1514, under the title of "Taxes of the Holy and Apostolical Chancery and Penitentiary."

Amongst many other editions of this book, published in different countries, the Paris edition (quarto, 1520, Toussaint Denis, rue St. Jacques, at the wooden cross, near St. Yves, with the king's privilege for three years), bears in the frontispiece the arms of France, and those of the house of Medici, to which Leo X. belonged. This must have deceived the author of the Picture of the Popes (Tableau de Papes) who attributes the establishment of these taxes to Leo X., although Polydore Virgil, and cardinal D'Ossat,|| agree in fixing the period of the invention of the chancery-tax about the year 1320, and the commencement of the penitentiarytax about sixteen years later, in the time of Benedict XII.

To give some idea of these taxes, we will here copy a few articles from the chapter of absolutions :Absolution for one who has carnally known his mother, his sister, &c. costs five drachmas.

*Book i. of Schism, lxviii.

+ Matthew, xvi. 19.

Page 154.

Book viii. chap. ii. On the Inventors of Things.
Letter ccciii.

Absolution for one who has deflowered a virgin, six drachmas.

Absolution for one who has revealed another's confession, seven drachmas.

Absolution for one who has killed his father, his mother, &c. five drachmas.

And so of other sins, as we shall shortly see; but, at the end of the book, the prices are estimated in ducats.

A sort of letters too are here spoken of, called confessional, by which, at the approach of death, the pope permits a confessor to be chosen, who gives full pardon for every sin; these letters are granted only to princes, and not to them without great difficulty. These particulars will be found in page 32 of the Paris edition.

The court of Rome was at length ashamed of this book, and suppressed it as far as it was able. It was even inserted in the expurgatory index of the council of Trent, on the false supposition that heretics had corrupted it.

It is true that Antoine Du Pinet, a French gentleman of Franche Comté, had an abstract of it printed at Lyons in 1564, under this title—" Casual Perquisites of the Pope's Shop (Taxes des Parties Casual du Boutique du Pape), taken from the Decrees, Councils, and Canons, ancient and modern, in order to verify the Discipline formerly observed in the Church; by A. D. P." But, although he does not inform us that his work is but an abridgment of the other, yet, far from corrupting his original, he on the contrary strikes out of it some odious passages, such as the following, beginning page 23, line 9 from the bottom, in the Paris edition: And carefully observe, that these kinds of graces and dispensations are not granted to the poor, because, not having wherewith, they cannot be con

soled."

It is also true, that Du Pinet estimates these taxes

* Page 38.

in tournois, ducats, and carlins; but as he observes, (page 42) that the carlins and the drachmas are of the same value, the substituting for the tax of five, six, or seven drachmas in the original, the like number of carlins, is not falsifying it. We have a proof of this in the four articles already quoted from the original.

Absolution (says Du Pinet) for one who has carnal knowledge of his mother, his sister, or any other of his kindred by birth or affinity, or his godmother, is taxed at five carlins.

Absolution for one who deflowers a young woman, is taxed at six carlins.

Absolution for one who reveals the confession of a penitent, is taxed at seven carlins.

Absolution for one who has killed his father, his mother, his brother, his sister, his wife, or any other of his kindred-they being of the laity-is taxed at five carlins; for if the deceased was an ecclesiastic, the homicide would be obliged to visit the sanctuary.

We will here repeat a few others.

Absolution (continues Du Pinet) for any act of fornication whatsoever, committed by a clerk, whether with a nun in the cloister or out of the cloister, or with any of his kinswomen, or with his spiritual daughter, or with any other woman whatsoever, costs thirty-six tournois, three ducats.

Absolution for a priest who keeps a concubine, twenty-one tournois, five ducats, six carlins.

The absolution of a layman for all sorts of sins of the flesh, is given at the tribunal of conscience for six tournois, two ducats.

The absolution of a layman for the crime of adultery, given at the tribunal of conscience, costs four tournois; and if the adultery is accompanied by incest, six tournois must be paid per head. If, besides these crimes, is required the absolution of the sin against nature, or of bestiality, there must be paid ninety tournois, twelve ducats, six carlins; but if only the absolution of the crime against nature, or of bestiality, is required, it will cost only thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.

A woman who has taken a beverage to procure an abortion, or the father who has caused her to take it, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if a stranger has given her the said beverage, he shall pay four tournois, one ducat, five carlins.

A father, a mother, or any other relative, who has smothered a child, shall pay four tournois, one ducat, eight carlins; and if it has been killed by the husband and wife together, they shall pay six tournois, two ducats.

The tax granted by the datary for the contracting of marriage out of the permitted seasons, is twenty carlins; and in the permitted periods, if the contracting parties are the second or third degree of kindred, it is commonly twenty-five ducats, and four for expediting the bulls; and in the fourth degree, seven tournois, one ducat, six carlins.

The dispensation for a layman from fasting on the days appointed by the church, and the permission to eat cheese, are taxed at twenty carlins. The permission to eat meat and eggs on forbidden days, is taxed at twelve carlins; and that to eat butter, cheese, &c. at six tournois for one person only; and at twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins, for a whole family, or for several relatives.

The absolution of an apostate and a vagabond, who wishes to return into the pale of the church, costs twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins.

The absolution and reinstatement of one who is guilty of sacrilege, robbery, burning, rapine, perjury, and the like, is taxed at thirty-six tournois, nine ducats.

Absolution for a servant who detains his deceased master's property, for the payment of his wages, and after receiving notice does not restore it, provided the property so detained does not exceed the amount of his wages, is taxed in the tribunal of conscience at only six tournois, two ducats.

For changing the clauses of a will, the ordinary tax is twelve tournois, three ducats, six carlins.

The permission to change one's proper name costs

nine tournois, two ducats, nine carlins; and to change the surname and mode of signing, six tournois, two ducats.

The permission to have a portable altar for one person only, is taxed at ten carlins: and to have a domestic chapel on account of the distance of the parish church, and furnish it with baptismal fonts and chaplains, thirty carlins.

Lastly, the permission to convey merchandise, one or more times, to the countries of the infidels, and in general to traffic and sell merchandise without being obliged to obtain permission from the temporal lords of the respective places, even though they be kings or emperors, with all the very ample derogatory clauses, is taxed at only twenty-four tournois, six ducats.

This permission, which supersedes that of the temporal lords, is a fresh evidence of the papal pretensions, which we have already spoken of in the article BULL. Besides, it is known that all rescripts, or expeditions for benefices, are still paid for at Rome according to the tax; and this charge always falls at last upon the laity, by the impositions which the subordinate clergy exact from them. We shall here notice only the fees for marriages and burials.

A decree of the parliament of Paris, of May 19, 1409, provides that every one shall be at liberty to sleep with his wife as soon as he pleases after the celebration of the marriage, without waiting for leave from the bishop of Amiens, and without paying the fee required by that prelate for taking off his prohibitions to consummate the marriage during the three first nights of the nuptials.* The monks of St. Stephen of Nevers were deprived of the same fee by another decree of September 27, 1591. Some theologians have asserted, that it took its origin from the fourth council

*A most ingenious priestly mode of money-getting! In truth, the imposition and fraud of the Romish church in its prime, possibly furnish one of the most striking and curious instances of human degradation on record. The grossest impudence in the priest, the most abject stupidity in the layman!—T.