United States or Albania ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He had been told that the bodies would lie in the throne-room because the antique chapel on the ground floor of the palazzo had been shut up for half a century and was in no condition to be used, whilst the Cardinal's little private chapel was altogether too small for any such ceremony.
The Pope bent his brow for a moment, but the effort was too much for him, and after a moment's struggle, he fairly laughed aloud. "Go to, my son," said he, affectionately patting the Cardinal's sallow cheek. "Go to. If the world heard thee, what would it say?"
The queen had passed the night in lonely conference with the prince, who had entered the oratory at midnight and did not leave till five o'clock in the morning. At five o'clock Anne went to the cardinal's room. If she had not yet taken any repose, he at least was already up.
He had not seen his uncle since the evening of the comedy, for Hal had travelled in the Cardinal's suite, and the amusements being all within doors, jesters were much in request, as indeed Charles the Fifth was curious in fools, and generally had at least three in attendance. Stephen, moreover, always shrank from his uncle when acting professionally.
When at last the loud cry from the oppressed inhabitants of Flanders was uttered in unanimous denunciation by the four estates of that province of the infamous Titelmann, the Cardinal's voice, from the depths of his luxurious solitude, was heard, not in sympathy with the poor innocent wretches, who were daily dragged from their humble homes to perish by sword and fire, but in pity for the inquisitor who was doing the work of hell.
It would prevent a riot, which in itself would be a terrible disaster, and which very likely might cause a return of the military commissions His Holiness has abolished." The Governor finished his little speech with much solemnity, and waited for the Cardinal's answer. It was a long time coming; and when it came was startlingly unexpected. "Colonel Ferrari, do you believe in God?"
'Choose your bishop, inform him of your intentions, and if he approves, arrange your conditions with him. These are the cardinal's words, and both he and Archbishop Bedini suggested New York. . . . My trip to Loretto has come to naught, as I can find no one to accompany me, and then my health, I fear, will not bear so much fatigue, I shall come back with some gray hairs; I thought to pull them all out before my return, but on looking this morning with that intention I found them too many.
He blessed me, adding that I was not dispensed from fasting. That very evening, at the cardinal's assembly, I found that the news of my dialogue with the Pope was already known. Everybody was anxious to speak to me. I felt flattered, but I was much more delighted at the joy which Cardinal Acquaviva tried in vain to conceal.
Therefore I held an assembly of the clergy, where, without so much as mentioning the Cardinal's name in the conferences, in which I rather affected to spare him, yet in a week's time I made him pass for one of the most obstinate Jews in Europe.
"You are convinced of the Cardinal's extravagances, and that his only view is to establish in France a form of government known nowhere but in Italy. If he should succeed, will the State be a gainer by it, according to its only true maxims? Would it be an advantage to the Princes of the blood in any sense? But, besides, has he any likelihood of succeeding?
Word Of The Day