n of the present Pope (who did not desire or
expect the elevation), became Secretary of State (being eighty),
and governs the country. He is rich and stingy. The great Powers
still watch the proceedings of the Conclave with jealousy; and
though it is difficult to conceive how the Pope can assist any
one of them to the detriment of another, an Ambassador will put
his veto upon any cardinal whom he thinks unfavourable to his
nation; this produces all sorts of trickery, for when the
Conclave want to elect a man who is obnoxious to Austria, for
example, they choose another whom they think is equally so (but
whom they do not really wish to elect), that the veto may be
expended upon him, for each Government has one veto only. The
last veto absolutely put was on Cardinal ----, who was elected on
the death of Pius VII. He had behaved very rudely to the Empress
Maria Louisa when she took refuge in the north of Italy after the
downfall of Napoleon, thinking it was a good moment to bully the
abdicated Emperor's wife. She complained to her father, who
promised her the Cardinal never should be Pope. He was a young
and ambitious man, and the veto killed him with vexation and
disappointment.

[15] This, from what I have heard since, was not true of the
last Pope, Leo XII., who was an odious, tyrannical
bigot, but a man of activity, talent, and strength of
mind, a good man of business, and his own Minister. He
was detested here, and there are many stories of his
violent exertions of authority. He was a sort of
bastard Sixtus V., but at an immense distance from that
great man, 'following him of old, with steps unequal.'
He used, however, to interfere with the private
transactions of society, and banish and imprison
people, even of high rank, for immorality.

[16] Albani holds the Austrian veto, and is supported by her
authority. But I have heard that since Clement XI., who
was an Albani, there has always been a powerful Albani
faction in the Conclave. This cardinal is enormously
rich and the head of his house. The Duke of Modena is
his nephew, and it is generally thought will be his
heir.

Went and walked about St. Peter's, and was surprised to find how
very little longer it is than St. Paul's. To the Farnese Palace,
built by Paul III. out of the ruins of the Coli