sed.

Few saw the scene which followed, when the good Pope's body had lain
four days in state, and was then placed in its coffin at night, to be
hoisted high and swung noiselessly into the temporary tomb above the
small door on the east side--that is, to the left--of the Chapel of the
Choir. It was for a long time the custom that each pope should lie there
until his successor died, when his body was removed to the monument
prepared for it in the mean time, and the Pope just dead was laid in the
same place.

The church was almost dark, and only in the Chapel of the Choir and in
that of the Holy Sacrament, which are opposite each other, a number of
big wax candles shed a yellow light. In the niche over the door a mason
was still at work, with a tallow dip, clearly visible below. The triple
coffin stood before the altar in the Chapel of the Choir. Opposite,
where the body still lay, the Noble Guards and the Swiss Guards, in
their breastplates, kept watch with drawn swords and halberds.

The Noble Guards carried the bier on their shoulders in solemn
procession, with chanting choir, robed bishop, and tramping soldiers,
round by the Confession and across the church, and lifted the body into
the coffin. The Pope had been very much beloved by all who were near
him, and more than one grey-haired prelate shed tears of genuine grief
that night.

In the coffin, in accordance with an ancient custom, a bag was placed
containing ninety-three medals, one of gold, one of silver and one of
bronze, for each of the thirty-one years which Pope Pius had reigned;
and a history of the pontificate, written on parchment, was also
deposited at the feet of the body.

When the leaden coffin was soldered, six seals were placed upon it, five
by cardinals, and one by the archivist. During the ceremony the
Protonotary Apostolic, the Chancellor of the Apostolic Chamber and the
Notary of the Chapter of Saint Peter's were busy, pen in hand, writing
down the detailed protocol of the proceedings.

The last absolution was pronounced, and the coffin in its outer case of
elm was slowly moved out and raised in slings, and gently swung into the
niche. The masons bricked up the opening in the presence of cardinals
and guards, and long before midnight the marble slab, carved to
represent the side of a sarcophagus, was in its place, with its simple
inscription, 'Pius IX, P.M.'

From time immemorial the well containing the marble staircase which
leads down