“Upon the feet:  Through this holy unction and His great pity, may God pardon all the sins that you have committed in your walks.  The sick man ought, at this moment, to detest anew all the steps that he has taken in the path of iniquity, such as scandalous walks, and criminal interviews....  The unction of the feet is made upon the top or on the sole, according to the convenience of the sick person, and according to the custom of the diocese where it takes place.  The most common practice seems to be to make it on the soles of the feet.

“And finally upon the breast. [M.  Sainte-Beuve has copied this; we have not, because it was concerned with the breast of a woman.] Propter ardorem libidinis, etc.

“On the breast:  Through this holy unction and His great pity, may the Lord pardon all the sins which have been committed from the ardour of the passions.  The sick man ought, at this moment, to detest anew all the bad thoughts to which he has abandoned himself, all sentiments of hatred, or vengeance that he has nourished in his heart.”

And following the ritual, we could have spoken of something more than the breast, but God knows what holy anger would have been aroused in the Public Attorney’s office, if we had spoken of the loins!

“To the loins:  Through this holy unction and His great pity, may the Lord pardon all the sins that you have committed by irregular impulses of the flesh.”

If we had said that, what a thunderbolt you would have had with which to attempt to crush us, Mr. Attorney! and nevertheless, the ritual adds:  “The sick man ought, at this moment, to detest anew all illicit pleasures, carnal delights, etc....”

This is the ritual; and you have seen the condemned article.  It has nothing of raillery in it, but is serious and earnest.  And I repeat to you that he who lent my client this book, and saw my client make the use of it that he has, has taken him by the hand with tears in his eyes.  You see, then, Mr. Government Attorney, how rash—­not to use an expression which in order to be exact is not too severe—­is your accusation of our touching upon holy things.  You see now that we have not mingled the profane with the sacred when, at each sense we indicated the sin committed by that sense, since it is the language of the Church itself.

I insist now upon mentioning the other details of the charge of outrage against religion.  The Public Minister said to me:  “It is no longer religion but the morals of all time that you have outraged; you have insulted death!” How have we insulted death?  Because at the moment when this woman dies, there passes in the street a man whom she had met more than once, to whom she had given alms from her carriage as she was going to her adulterous meetings; a blind man whom she was accustomed to see, who sang his song walking along slowly by the side of her carriage, to whom she threw a piece of money, but whose countenance