It would be possible, perhaps, to
print impressions from some of these vast plates, for the process of
cutting the lines was an exact anticipation of the modern art of
engraving. However, the same thing was done--and I suppose at about the
same period--on monumental brasses, and I have seen impressions or
rubbings from those for sale in the old English churches.
Yesterday morning, in the cathedral, I watched a woman at confession,
being curious to see how long it would take her to tell her sins, the
growth of a week perhaps. I know not how long she had been confessing
when I first observed her, but nearly an hour passed before the priest
came suddenly from the confessional, looking weary and moist with
perspiration, and took his way out of the cathedral. The woman was left
on her knees. This morning I watched another woman, and she too was very
long about it, and I could see the face of the priest behind the curtain
of the confessional, scarcely inclining his ear to the perforated tin
through which the penitent communicated her outpourings.
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