The Stool of Repentance in Presbyterian polity, mostly in Scotland, was an elevated seat in a church used for public penance of persons who had offended against the morality of the time, often through fornication and adultery. Often, at the end of the service, the offender had to stand upon the stool to receive the rebuke of the minister.
The humiliation associated with sitting on the stool and publicly repenting one's sins often drove people to suicide, or women to conceal their pregnancy and even to kill their child, rather than to face the congregation of the Kirk Session.[1]
An alternative to, or commutation of, the Stool of Repentance was payment of buttock mail.[2]
Stool of Repentance is also the name of a parlour game for children and adults. The players sit in a circle around a stool.[3]
One of the group (the "victim") leaves the room, and the rest say or write all sorts of things about him or her. For instance, one will say he or she is handsome, another that he or she is clever, or stupid, or vain. The "victim" is then called back to sit on the stool, and one of the players begins to tell or read him or her the different charges that were made against him or her. "Someone said you were vain; can you guess who?" If the victim guesses correctly, he or she returns to the circle, and the person who made the accusation takes the stool as the new "victim". If, however, the "victim" is unable to guess correctly, he or she must leave the room again and fresh charges are made against him or her. The game almost certainly takes its name from the old Scottish church custom.