FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167  
168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   >>   >|  
h member of the holy college was shut up in a separate room; and the messengers always found Montalto's door bolted. He would reply to their eminences, he said, the moment his cough abated, the moment he felt any intermission of his excruciating pains. But why could they not proceed to business without him? The opinions of so insignificant a person could not at any time be necessary; but, surely, it was inhuman to disturb a man fast sinking under disease, and whose thoughts were fixed upon that world to which he was hastening. The conclave sat fourteen days, and even then the votes of the three parties were equally divided. What was to be done? The best way was to have a nominal Pope, for the shortest possible time, so that the struggle of the real competitors might begin anew. They accordingly elected unanimously to the papal throne--the Ass of La Marca! On this announcement the new monarch came instantly forth from his cell, leaving behind him his staff, his cough, his stoop, his pains, his infirmities, and his humility! He advanced with an erect figure, and a firm and dignified step into the midst of the conclave, and thanked their eminences for the honor they had conferred upon him, which he would endeavor to merit by discharging its high functions conscientiously. As he passed from the sacred council the _vivas_ of the people rent the air. "Long live the Pope!" they cried: "justice, plenty, and large loaves!" "Address yourselves to God for plenty," was the answer: "_I will give you justice._" And he kept his word: ready, stern, severe, inflexible, impartial justice! He was impatient to see the triple crown; and before preparations could be made for his coronation, he caused the bauble to be produced, and placed on a velvet cushion in the room where he sat. The bauble? It was no bauble to him. It was the symbol of Power, just as he was himself the personification of Will. It was the thought which had governed his whole life--which had blazed even in the unconscious eyes of his boyhood. With what memories was that long gaze filled--with what resolves. The room was crowded with spectres of the past, and visions of the future, that met and blended in one homogeneous character; and as Pope Sixtus V. rose from his chair, he felt proudly that there rose with him--within him--throughout him--the hog-boy of Montalto. The dissimulation which was so remarkable a trait in this remarkable character was now at an end, and o
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167  
168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
justice
 

bauble

 

plenty

 

conclave

 

remarkable

 
moment
 
character
 

Montalto

 
eminences
 

answer


triple

 

preparations

 
impatient
 

impartial

 
severe
 

inflexible

 
loaves
 
sacred
 

passed

 

council


people

 

functions

 

conscientiously

 

Address

 

dissimulation

 

produced

 

memories

 

boyhood

 

blazed

 

unconscious


filled

 
future
 

homogeneous

 

visions

 

resolves

 
Sixtus
 

crowded

 
spectres
 

governed

 
discharging

velvet
 

cushion

 
blended
 
caused
 

symbol

 

personification

 
thought
 

proudly

 
coronation
 

leaving