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St. Peter from that balcony. Also Tencin had been able to gain a little space at the expense of his neighbour Molto, who, it was known, was not coming to the Conclave. For it is to be understood that a cell must be prepared for every member of the College whether he comes or not, at the cost of each cardinal for his owna cost which De Brosses at the time he wrote estimates at five or six thousand francs, remarking that the Roman workmen took the opportunity to fleece their Eminences outrageously, as indeed must have been the case if such a sum as £200 or £250 had to be paid for such a cell as is described. If the cost was five or six thousand francs in 1740, it would at the same rate be at least double at the present day.

Each little dwelling-cell, as it is called, although in fact it consists, as has been said, of three or four cells-is constructed of ordinary fir planks, covered uniformly on the outside with serge of violet colour if the inhabitant is a "creature" of the Pope who has just died, of green if he be of any anterior creation. In the coming Conclave the more sombre of these colours will assuredly be the prevailing hue in the Conclave. On the inside the cells are fitted up according to the pleasure of the individual occupant, and, as may be supposed, are for the most part simple enough. On the occasion of the Conclave at the death of Clement XII., the cell of the "Infant of Spain," then a member of the Sacred College, whom there was no chance of seeing at the Conclave, was magnificently fitted up with damask draperies, and consoles and marble tables, while the windows in it were made as large as possible in order that all this magnifi

cence might be seen to advantage from the outside. "One would say," remarks De Brosses, "that it was the café of the Conclave." The other cells, which are to be really inhabited, have a little square window, which admits a small portion of such dubious light as can be had from the corridors, themselves darksome enough. "There they live," says the lively French President, "packed like herrings in a barrel, without air, without light, burning candles at mid-day, a prey to infection, devoured by fleas and bugs! A pretty sort of residence it will be if their Eminences do not get their business finished before the heat begins! It is reckoned accordingly that three or four cardinals generally die of it every Conclave!" If this is somewhat of an exaggeration, it will have been seen from such scattered notices as have found place in the foregoing pages that the percentage of cardinals killed by Conclaves has been by no means a small one! And it will be understood how sincerely the members of the Sacred College must pray that the heavenward flight of the holy father may be in the winter!

The Cardinal Camerlengo, as Chief of the Apostolic Chamber, is Governor of the Conclave, and has all the police of it in his hands. In the Conclave of which De Brosses has preserved the anecdotes I have availed myself of in this chapter, the Cardinal Albani, we are told, performed these duties in a haughty and severe spirit. He makes his round every evening to see that all is quiet and in good order. He places emissaries as sentinels to prevent visits by night by one cardinal to another. But, says De Brosses, they find means to

prowl about in the darkness. The anecdotes of other Conclaves which have been given, and indeed those concerning this Conclave and of Albani's own conduct in it, abundantly show that all these pretended precautions were like so much else-may one not say like everything else?-connected with the subject, a mere sham and solemn farce! When a cardinal wishes to be alone in his cell, he causes a couple of rods provided for the purpose to be placed crosswise before his door, which is understood to be a sign that "he is sleeping, or that at all events he does not wish to be disturbed."

The first day in the Conclave, or rather the afternoon and evening of the day, on which the cardinals, having heard the mass and sung the hymn "Veni Creator," proceed to their prison-house, is full of bustle. Many last words have to be said. The ambassadors of the Catholic powers are then paying their last visits to their Eminences. It is the very high-tide of intrigues, solicitations, promises, warnings, dissimulations, and lies! Then at the ringing of a bell the master of the ceremonies pronounces an "Extra Omnes," and the last door is shut and walled up, and the Conclave has begun.

CHAPTER II.

The Twenty rules of Gregory XV.-Signal for strangers to clear out.Scale of payment of fees to servants and attendants in Conclave.— Death of a Cardinal in Conclave.-Business of each meeting of the Cardinals between the death of the Pope and the commencement of Conclave. Entry into Conclave.-Bull of Pius VI. dispensing with certain formalities in the election of his successor.-Next Conclave in all probability will be quite regular.

THE rules for regulating the proceedings of the Conclave made at divers times by various Popes, specially, as has been seen, by Gregory X., were anew reduced to order, confirmed, and set forth by Gregory XV., on the 15th of November, 1621, by a Bull entitled Eterni Patris Filius. These rules may be thus compendiously stated:

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1st. The election of the Pontiff in Conclave, and no otherwise, may be done in either of three manners-by scrutiny, by compromise, or by acclamation (i.e. the manner earlier called and which has been described as "adoration").

2nd. The number of votes needed to make an election is two-thirds of those present in Conclave. And a man's own vote for himself shall not be counted in this number.

3rd. No election shall be considered as accomplished unless all the votes shall have been published.

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4th. If more than one person has two-thirds of the votes, no election has taken place.*

5th. Before placing his voting paper in the urn, every elector shall swear that he has named in it him whom he believes to be the most fitting person. He must write in the schedule his own name and that of the person to whom he gives his vote.

6th. These schedules must be folded † and sealed in order that it may be ascertained by the seal that two schedules have not been put into the urn by one elector.

7th. The schedules for the scrutiny and for the "accessit," must be alike.

8th. The name of the person voted for must be stated in the "accessit " schedule, as in the case of the scrutiny.

9th. He who purposes to "accede" to some one who has been nominated at the scrutiny must write the name of that person. He who does not purpose to do so must write nemini-to no one-in the place of the

name.

10th. In each scrutiny only one "accessit" shall take place.

11th. Both at a scrutiny and at an "accessit" the schedules shall be counted before they are opened, to see

* It seems difficult to understand this at first. The explanation is that the cardinals were sometimes in the habit of adding one or more other names in their voting papers to the first inscribed, meaning that they voted for the second failing the election of the first; and so on. Thus it might be possible for two persons to have two-thirds of the votes.

†The special method in which these voting papers must be folded will be explained presently.

This term will also be explained hereafter.

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