been forsaken. The greater number learn trades. Some,
who give proof of higher talents, apply, at the expense of the hospital,
to the study of the fine arts. This hospital is, in itself, a world, and
its government requires almost the qualities of a statesman. Pope Leo
XII., anxious to render available the rare abilities of Canon Mastai,
named him President of the commission which governs this great
establishment. There was need, at the time, so low was the state of the
hospital budget, of the nicest management, unremitting care, and the
highest financial capacity. These qualities were all speedily at work, and
in the course of two years all the resources of the institution were in
admirable order. The fear of bankruptcy was removed, deficits of income
made up, and receipts abundant.

It had not been the custom to allow to apprentice-workmen any share in the
fruits of their labors. Herein Mastai effected a great and certainly not
uncalled-for reform. Far from impoverishing the hospital, this liberal
measure only showed, by its happy results, that justice is in perfect
harmony with economy, and that the best houses are not those which make
the most of the labor of their inmates, but those which encourage industry
by allowing it what is just. The orphans were thus, in two years, enabled
to have a small sum, which secured to them, so far, a mitigation of their
lot. Meanwhile, the proceeds of the hospital were doubled. This was
remarkable success. Count Mastai's reputation for administrative ability
was now of the highest order.

In the Consistory of May 21st, 1827, Canon Count Mastai was named
Archbishop of Spoleto. Thus did Pope Leo XII. signalize his solicitude and
affection for the city of his birth. The appointment came not too soon. It
required all the influence of a great mind to maintain peace at Spoleto.
Party spirit ran high. One side clamored against abuses: the other,
dreading all change, clung pertinaciously to the past. Wrath was treasured
in every bosom. If civil war had not yet broken out, it raged already in
the breasts of the people. Spoleto resembled two hostile camps, and
vividly recalled the state of these cities of the Middle-Age, where stood
in presence, and armed from head to heel, the undying enmities of the
Ghibellins and the Guelphs. The slightest occasion would have sufficed to
cause the hardly-suppressed embers of deadly strife to burst into a flame.
Through the zeal and diplomacy of the Archbi