With respect to the discipline undergone by King Henry II. though he may be said to have freely submitted to it, yet it did not, at bottom, materially differ from that imposed upon Raymond, Count of Toulouse. This Prince had, no doubt, too much understanding to submit to a ceremony of this kind, out of regard for some prevailing notion of the vulgar merely, and much less out of any superstition of his own; but he thought it necessary to perform some remarkable religious act of that sort, for silencing at once the clamours of the Priests, the whole body of whom, incensed by the death of Becket, were every where endeavouring to spirit up the people to a revolt; and he may with truth be said to have submitted to being flagellated, in order to preserve his kingdom: which may serve as a proof, among others, that it is a pleasing thing to be a King. The last instance of a Sovereign who received a correction from the Church, was that of Henry IV. of France, when he was absolved of his excommunication and heresy; and the discipline undergone by that Prince supplies the solution for an interesting question, that may be added to those above discussed; viz. Which is the most comfortable manner of receiving a flagellation?--It is by Proxy.--This was the manner in which the King we speak of, suffered the discipline which the Church inflicted upon him. His proxies were Mess. D’Ossat, and Du Perron, who were afterwards made Cardinals. During the performing of the ceremony of the King’s absolution, and while the Choristers were singing the Psalm _Miserere mei Deus_, the Pope, at every verse, beat, with a rod on the shoulders of each of the two proxies; which shews how essential a part of the ceremony of an absolution, flagellations have been thought to be; and also, how strictly the Church of Rome adheres to such forms as are prescribed by its Ritual, or, by the _Pontifical_, as it is called. Express mention was moreover made of the above beating, in the written process that was drawn of the transaction. _Dominus Papa verberabat & percutiebat humeros Procuratorum, & cujuslibet ipsorum, virgâ quam in manibus habebat._