to Cardinal Passionei, who spoke of me to the sovereign
pontiff.

Before I pass on to anything else, I will inform my readers of what took
place on the occasion of my second visit to this old cardinal, a great
enemy of the Jesuits, a wit, and man of letters.

VOLUME 18--RETURN TO NAPLES

ROME--NAPLES--BOLOGNA

CHAPTER VIII

Cardinal Passianei--The Pope--Masiuccia--I Arrive At Naples

[Illustration: Chapter 8]

Cardinal Passionei received me in a large hall where he was writing. He
begged me to wait till he had finished, but he could not ask me to take a
seat as he occupied the only chair that his vast room contained.

When he had put down his pen, he rose, came to me, and after informing me
that he would tell the Holy Father of my visit, he added,--

"My brother Cornaro might have made a better choice, as he knows the Pope
does not like me."

"He thought it better to choose the man who is esteemed than the man who
is merely liked."

"I don't know whether the Pope esteems me, but I am sure he knows I don't
esteem him. I both liked and esteemed him before he was pope, and I
concurred in his election, but since he has worn the tiara it's a
different matter; he has shewn himself too much of a 'coglione'."

"The conclave ought to have chosen your eminence."

"No, no; I'm a root-and-branch reformer, and my hand would not have been
stayed for fear of the vengeance of the guilty, and God alone knows what
would have come of that. The only cardinal fit to be pope was Tamburini;
but it can't be helped now. I hear people coming; good-bye, come again
to-morrow."

What a delightful thing to have heard a cardinal call the Pope a fool,
and name Tamburini as a fit person. I did not lose a moment in noting
this pleasant circumstance down: it was too precious a morsel to let
slip. But who was Tamburini? I had never heard of him. I asked
Winckelmann, who dined with me.

"He's a man deserving of respect for his virtues, his character, his
firmness, and his farseeing intelligence. He has never disguised his
opinion of the Jesuits, whom he styles the fathers of deceits, intrigues,
and lies; and that's what made Passionei mention him. I think, with him,
that Tamburini would be a great and good pope."

I will here note down what I heard at Rome nine years later from the
mouth of a tool of the Jesuits. The Cardinal Tamburini was at the last
gasp, and the conversation turned upon him, when somebody else sa