Both Uses of
penance
in
Nicholas Nickleby
- Bury them, heap penance and mortification on their heads, keep them down, and let the convent be their grave!†
Chpt 6 *
- …ARE children, and lead children's lives; that if their pillows be damp, it is with the dews of Heaven, and not with tears; that the limbs of their girls are free, and that they are not crippled by distortions, imposing an unnatural and horrible penance upon their sex; that their lives are spent, from day to day, at least among the waving trees, and not in the midst of dreadful engines which make young children old before they know what childhood is, and give them the exhaustion and…†
Chpt 50
Definition:
-
(penance) self-punishment, prayer, or other action to make up for wrong-doing
or:
a religious practice (often called confession) involving confession, forgiveness, and atonement