"But my father has seen that paper, too, and declares it has only been written to frighten people. Who tells you all these stories, Lucy?"

The maid would not say at first, but at length, with great shamefacedness, confessed that it was one of the soldiers. Alice bade her keep indoors, and not talk with strange men who, maybe, took pleasure in terrifying her.

Lucy ruffled up at this. "Why, Mistress, Stephen is in master's own company, and he can't be bad, for he was at the Meeting-house on Lord's-day."

"Perhaps you told him you should be there," said Alice.

"I don't deny I asked him to go, Mistress Alice, but it was to spite old Simon, who plagues me every Sunday with his sermons, as if I was the greatest sinner in the world. Stephen does not think so."

"I will ask my father what sort of a man Stephen is," said Alice; "his going to hear Mr. Nye preach does not, therefore, make him a fit companion for a respectable waiting-maid."

THE steadily increasing despotism of the popes made itself manifest in the creation of the cardinals as in other things. Gradually the co-operation of the clergy, first restricted to the cooperation of the Sacred College alone, gave place to a simple consultation of that body. This consultation speedily became a mere form and a pretence, and finally the mere shadow of a form, without any pretence at all, remained. The present practice is for the Pontiff, when he has solely, and merely by motu proprio, determined on a creation of cardinals for the filling of any vacant places-or of any vacant "hats," as the phrase goesto summon a consistory-that is to say, an assemblage of the cardinals-and then to declare the names of those whom he intends to promote. He then (for this much of the shadow of the old practice remains; just enough and only enough to stamp the solemn farce with that character of untruthfulness which Rome really seems to prefer to straightforward methods of proceeding) says to the assembled dignitaries, "Quid vobis videtur?" Then, all the cardinals rising together to their feet, take off their caps, and bow their heads silently, in token of adhesion. The Italian word here translated " cap" is "berettino ;" and as this article plays an important part in the forms and ceremonies connected with the

cardinalate, it is necessary not to confound it with the hat"capello" or "capellone "the latter word signifying "big hat." The "beretta" is the small clerical cap used by ecclesiastics in the choir and in church ceremonies; and the "berettina" is the small, round skull-cap, fitting closely to the head, which the Roman Catholic priesthood very generally wear under the "beretta," or under the clerical hat, and which they frequently do not remove even in the choir.

Having thus received the pretended consent of the College, the Pontiff pronounces the formula of creation:-" Auctoritate omnipotentis Dei, sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli, ac nostrâ creamus sanctæ romance Ecclesie Cardinales presbyteros. such and such and such.

diaconos vero.

such persons. cum dispensationibus derogationibus, et clausulis necessaries et opportunis." And if at the same time he intends to create any cardinals "in petto," he adds, " Alios autem sex. (decen, or whatever the number may be). ... in pectore reservamus arbitrio nostro quandocumque declarandos." So that with regard to these, even the shadow of the form of asking the consent of the College is dispensed with. Then, thrice making the sign of the cross with his right hand in the air, he says, "In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen." And the business is concluded, and the consistory dismissed.

In a very few minutes afterward all Rome knows who the new cardinals are! And of course those promoted dignitaries themselves knew all about it long before! But it is supposed that the tidings of their exaltation will reach them quite unexpectedly. So a servant of the Cardinal Secretary of State hastens off instantly to the residence of each of the new princes of the Church to inform them of the great news. And with more state, a Pontificial Master of the Ceremonies, clothed in purple, waits upon each of the new dignitaries with a similar communication, and at the same time signifies to them at what hour that afternoon each of them must go to the Apostolic palace to receive from the hands of the Pontiff the red "berettina." And, of course, each of these bearers of glad tidings expects, and not in vain, to be munificently rewarded for his news. But neither the one nor the other of these precursors is the bearer of the official communication of the creation. It is a privilege of the office of the Cardinal Vice-Chancellor that none save he can give authentic information of what takes place in a secret consistory. So an officer attached to this high dignitary is also despatched to the house of each of the new cardinals, bearing the official document which certifies his promotion.

As soon as this announcement has been received, each new cardinal takes his station on the threshold of the State apartments of his palace, clad in a purple cassock, with a black "berettina " on his head, which he must not take off in salutation to anybody, and with a black "beretta" in his hand, and there stands to receive the visits of all the prelacy, nobility, and chiefs of the army. Then, in the afternoon, they proceed to the Apostolic palace, and, going to the apartment of the Cardinal Secretary of

State, there take off their purple girdles and their black hats, and assume a girdle of cloth-of-gold, with golden tassels, leaving the purple girdle and the hats as perquisites to the valet of the Secretary of State. Then they go to the Pope and receive from him the red "beretta," and assuming a red hat (not the red cardinal's hat, the taking of which is a much more solemn affair, which we have not come to yet), and so return to their palaces, visiting, by the way, any persons of royal blood who may then be in Rome. In the evening each new cardinal holds another reception. He must again continue standing on the threshold of his apartment, but this time with a coat, not lined, but with the seams and hems of scarlet, with purple stockings, a red "berettina" on his head, and a black hat, ornamented with a band of red and gold, under his arm. He must remain standing, and must not move from the threshold of the door.

Nobody but those who have seen something of the ways and manners of the Eternal City can form a conception of the degree of importance attached to these and a thousand other puerilities and absurdities of the kind. The number and intricacy of the minute rules and practices which must be observed, without differing a hair's breadth from the established custom in every portion and department of the life of the sacerdotal court, is such that no human being, save one who made the special study of the subject the business of his life, could be capable of steering a correct course through all the intricacies of the channel. There are accordingly to be found at Rome a small class of men, priests of an inferior grade for the most part, who are the great authorities on these subjects; gray-headed old men, who have lived all their lives in the sacristy, and have no more knowledge of all that is beyond the dingy walls of it than babes; who consider their strange science as the most noble and necessary and important on which the human mind can occupy itself, and who alone are able to declare authoritatively that such a cap, or such a fringe, or such a colour, or such a chant, or such a prayer (!), or such an order of procession should be used on such and such a day.

But the "capello pontificio," the huge red hat with its complicated ornaments, which the cardinals receive from the Pope, and until they have received which they are not cardinals, indeed, is the great thing that around which the main parts of the ceremonies cluster, and which may be said to be to a cardinal what Samson's locks were to the mighty Israelite. The form, material, and ornaments of this celebrated hat have all been regulated by minute Papal ordinances. Indeed, a very grave question arising out of an attempt to innovate in one particular with reference to this article of ecclesiastical stage property was like, at one time, to have given rise to a serious dispute in the Church. The red hat is, and always was, made of red cloth. But Pope Paul the Second, in 1464, proposed to change the cloth for silk. The project, however, was so vehemently opposed by those who maintained "that the pomp of the Church ought rather to be diminished than increased to the detriment of the Christian religion," that the innovating design was abandoned. The hat, therefore, continues to be made of

scarlet cloth, with very wide and large rims, a very shallow crown, with, on either side, a huge pendant in five tiers, extending in width as they descend in such sort that the first or highest tier has one tassel; the second, two; the third, three; the fourth, four, and the fifth, five! The whole betasselled mass thus descends below the shoulders. So that, as a learned ecclesiastic historian remarks, the prince of the Church has thirty tassels, in all, hanging from his hat! Of course, as may easily be imagined, this huge structure is not intended to be ever worn except on occasions of a very great state indeed. When a cardinal dies, his body lies in state on a huge sheet of cloth-of-gold, and his hat is hung up at the foot of the bed. It occupies an analogous place also during the funeral service in the church. Then, as previously mentioned, the hat is suspended from the roof of the church over the deceased dignitary's tomb, or sometimes is sent to be hung up in the principal church of his native place. Torrigio, in his learned work on the "Grotte Vaticane," speaks of the hat of a certain Neapolitan. cardinal who died in 1390, which was still (1639) to be seen suspended over his tomb.

The culminating point, accordingly, of all the ceremonial attending the making of a cardinal is when he proceeds to the Apostolic palace to receive the hat from the hands of the Pope. For this purpose a public consistory is summoned, generally on the fourth day, the Thursday after the secret consistory in which the nomination was made. On the preceding day the new dignitary receives a printed paper, informing him at what hour he is to present himself at the Vatican, and naming the colour of the costume he is to wear -for, it should be mentioned, that when members of any of the monastic orders are raised to the cardinalate, they do not wear purple, like their secular brethren, but keep the colour proper to the vestments of their own order. At the hour named, the successor of the apostles who is about to be made a prince, starts forth with three carriages, or with four if he be of princely rank, dressed in a cardinal's full suit, all scarlet, and with his "candatario "-i.e., his train-bearer in cassock and girdle of purple silk. A servant, carrying a scarlet parasol, heads the procession. A train of other servants, in gala liveries, follow the carriages. The blinds of the carriage in which the new cardinal sits must be drawn down, and the horses must be without tassels to their harness. They will come back presently with tassels, having assumed them at the same time that their master assumes his tassels and his grand hat! When he arrives at the Apostolic palace, there is more changing of dress to be done, and then the candidate betakes himself to the Apostolic chapel, where a minutely regulated stepping hither and thither takes place, which it would be too tedious to describe at length. Then oaths of fidelity to the Pope and of obedience to certain bulls are taken before the altar. All this takes place before the Pope appears upon the scene. But when the oaths have been taken, he appears, habited in red, with a golden mitre on his head, and proceeds to the hall of public consistory, and there, after a few more marchings and counter-marchings, two of the old cardinals place themselves one on either side of each of the new cardinals,

and lead them up, one after another, to the foot of the Papal throne. Arrived there, the new cardinal makes three profound inclinations; then, going on his knees, he kisses the foot and then the hand of the Pope, and is thereupon received with a double embrace by the Pontiff; and, quitting him, goes solemnly around the chapel, giving the kiss of peace to each member of the Sacred College, and then finally takes his place in the stall which is his according to his rank in order of the new creations. There is then an harangue by the consistorial advocate, and when that is finished, each one of the new batch of cardinals takes off his "beretta," and returns again to the foot of the throne, where at length he receives on his knees the hat which the Pope, taking it from the hands of the majordomo, to whom it has been handed by the "guardaroba," or property-man-to borrow a phrase from the theatre, which alone is fitted to lend a phraseology to its Roman rival-places on the recipient's head, accompanying the action with the following words, literally translated from the Latin :-"To the praise of the Omnipotent God, and the adornment of the Holy Apostolic See, receive the red hat, the especial mark of the dignity of the Cardinalate, by which is signified that you will be ready to show yourself intrepid even to death, and the shedding of your blood for the exaltation of the faith, the peace and quiet of the Christian world, and the welfare of the Holy Roman Church."

Some writers say that the red colour of the hat is a memorial of the shedding of our Saviour's blood by the crown of thorns. But the more general interpretation is, according to the meaning of the formula just quoted, that the new Prince of the Church should be ready to emulate the early martyrs of it.

An older formula, which was used in the earlier ages of the Church, has been preserved. But neither does this make any allusion to any connection between the colour of the hat and the blood of Christ. It ran thus: "To the praise of the Omnipotent God, and the exaltation of the Catholic faith, for which you must be prepared to pour out even your own blood if it should be needed, we give and place on your head a red hat."

As soon as the words have been spoken, the master of the ceremonies lifts the hat off the kneeling cardinal's head and hands it to the prelate, who holds the place of "secret chamberlain guardaroba,” which really can be translated no otherwise than as "propertyman." And that high functionary hands it on to an under" guardaroba," who takes charge of it till it is finally despatched to the new dignitary's own residence. When his hat has thus been taken off, the new cardinal again prostrates himself, again kisses the Pope's hand, and then, descending the steps of the throne, stands on the right side of it till all his fellows have gone through the same ceremony. Then all proceed to the Papal robing-room, where the Pontiff takes off the dress and mitre he wears at the altar, and in his ordinary costume receives the thanks of each of the newly-made cardinals in a set speech. One of the authors on Papal ceremonial has given a number of models of such thanksgiving speeches. The Pope then retires to his apartment, and all the Sacred College proceed in procession to the Sistine Chapel, singing the "Te Deum."