was in our Interest. Be this as it will, even to the very Day of the new Pope’s Exaltation, all the City of Rome thought the Cardinal Cienfuegos Master of the Conclave; which is so true, that among the Satires current during the Vacancy of the Holy See, the Cardinal was exhibited at a Window of the Conclave, taking Aim with a Fuzee at the Holy Ghost, which was hovering about the Place, in form of a Dove.
Cardinal Corsini was proclaimed Pope on Wednesday the 12th of July, in the Morning. He took the Name of Clement XII. in Honour to the Memory of Clement XI. who made him a Cardinal. He is in the 78th Year of his Age. All good People are pleased at his Advancement, and since the Romans could not get a Roman for their Pope, they are not sorry that he was preferred to his Competitors. He was generous and noble, good-natured, mild, and affable, while a Cardinal, and we may expect that he will not hide those Qualities now he is a Pope.
In the Afternoon of his Advancement to the Pontificate, Clement XII. received a Visit from the Pretender, and the Princess his Lady, who are here styled the King and Queen of England. After he had conversed a while with them, he went on Foot to the Chapel of Pope Sixtus, and placed himself on a Seat before the Altar, where he received the Adoration of the Cardinals, who came according to their Seniority, and kneeling down, kissed his Foot, and his Right-hand. The Pope embraced them one after the other, and gave them the Pax to kiss. ’Tis only upon that Day and the Coronation-day, that the Cardinals kiss the Pope’s Foot; for afterwards, they only kiss his Hand. When this first Ceremony was over, the Pope was seated in his Chair of Procession, which is a great Arm-chair, adorned with red Velvet, richly
embroidered with Gold; and then eight Men took him upon their Shoulders, and carry’d him thro’ the great Stair-case to St. Peter’s Church. When they came before the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, the Pope was set down; and rising from his Chair, he went and kneeled at a Desk prepared for the Purpose. After a short Prayer, he returned to his Chair, and was carried towards the High Altar, where he was seated in the Middle. There the Cardinals paid another Adoration to him, like that which they made to him in Sixtus’s Chapel; and then the Pope was carried into a Pew, near the Altar, where he put off his Mitre and Cope, and being put into a Sedan, returned to his Apartment, where he quickly after received the Compliments of the Ambassadors, the Roman Princes, and of all the Quality of Rome; and in the Evening, there were Illuminations and Bonfires throughout the City, accompanied with a Discharge of the Cannon of the Castle of St. Angelo.
The same Rejoicings were continued next Day, which the Pope spent in giving Audiences, and naming his Ministers. Then it was, that at the Recommendation of the French, he appointed the Cardinal Banchieri Secretary of State. They say, that in the Evening, Clement XII. had a long Conversation with the Persons who had the greatest Share of his Confidence when he was a Cardinal, and asked them, what they said at Rome about his Exaltation. One of them intreated to be excused from telling him, but the Pope injoining him to declare the whole Truth to him, the Confident obeyed, and told the Pope that the Romans seemed to approve of the Choice which the Cardinals had made; but that they were apprehensive they should have no better Treatment
from the Florentines, than they had from the Beneventines, under the last Pontificate. ‘The Romans,’ said the Pope, ‘are afraid then without a Cause; for I will have no Respect of Persons, but will so govern, that if I don’t win the Love of my Subjects while I live, they shall, at least, be sorry when I die.’ Then turning about to his Nephew the Marquis Neri Corsini, now a Cardinal, whom he had made a Prelate but the Day before; ‘I exhort you, Nephew, said he, to behave so as to offend nobody. My Reign cannot be long. My Age and my Infirmities ought to put me upon thinking of the Grave, much rather than of human Grandeur. Let you and I live then so, that our Name may not be hated when I am no more seen; and let us, if possible, so carry it to Mankind, that I may be lamented after Death, and that you may not want Friends.’ ’Twas with such Sentiments as these, that Clement XII. ascended the Throne of St. Peter.
The Ceremony of his Coronation was performed on the 16th of July, and I can assure you, that, setting aside the Number of Cardinals and Bishops who attended at it, there was nothing in it magnificent. The Pope, vested in his Pontificalibus, and preceded by the Sacred College, went in Procession to Sixtus’s Chapel, where he made a very short Prayer, and then was carried thro’ the grand Stair-case under St. Peter’s Portico, where he was seated on a Throne, and admitted St. Peter’s Chapter to kiss his Foot. He was from thence carried into the Church, and put down at the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, before which he made his Prayer kneeling, as did also the Cardinals. After this Prayer, he was carried to the Chapel of St. Gregory the Great, where he made another short Prayer prostrate before the Altar. Then he was placed
in a Throne on the Right-side of the Altar, and the Cardinals seated themselves upon Benches, on both Sides of the Chapel. While the Musick was performing a Tercet, they put on their white Copes, embroidered with Gold, and their Mitres of white Damask, and the Archbishops and Bishops did the same. After this, they went all, both Cardinals and Prelates, to perform Homage to the Pope, with this Distinction, that the Cardinals kissed only the Hand of the Holy Father, but the Prelates kissed his Hand and his Foot too. When this Ceremony was ended, the Pope caused the Crucifix to be elevated, and gave his first Blessing to the Standers-by, and the Populace, thereto annexing a plenary Indulgence in articulo mortis. He afterwards descended from his Throne, put himself again in his Chair of Procession, and was carried before the High Altar. He was the only Person that had then the Mitre on his Head; for the Cardinals and Prelates held theirs in their Hands. While he was thus carried in Procession, a Master of the Ceremonies went before him, burning Flax three times, calling out aloud at each time to him, Sancte Pater! sic transit Gloria Mundi: i. e. Holy Father! so passeth away the Glory of the World. This Exhortation to the Remembrance of the Frailty of human Greatness seemed to me to touch the Pope’s Heart; for he lifted up his Eyes to Heaven, and the very Tears trickled down his Cheeks. When he drew near the Altar, he fell on his Knees, and prayed with a great deal of Devotion and Humility. He then received the Benediction of three of the eldest Cardinal Priests, and the first Cardinal Deacon presented him with the Pall; after which, he went up to the Altar, perfumed it with Incense, and then caused himself to be seated in his Throne, which was
erected at the Bottom of the Church, facing the Altar. The Cardinals sat upon high Benches, on both Sides the Throne, in two Ranks, leading to the Altar. The Persons whom they here call the King and Queen of England, with the Princes their Sons, and their whole Court, were in a Gallery on the Right-hand of the Throne, and in another Gallery opposite to this, were the principal Ladies of Rome, and the most distinguished Foreigners. I was there in the Retinue of the Prince of Waldeck, who has been here these two Months.
From that Gallery, we saw the Cardinals, the Archbishops, and the Bishops, pay their Homage to the Pope; which was performed by kissing the Pope’s Hand and Foot. Then the Pope tuned High Mass, at which the Epistle and Gospel were sung, both in Greek and Latin, by a Greek Bishop and a Cardinal Deacon. The Pope, after he had performed the Consecration, returned to his Throne, where a Cardinal assistant Priest carried the consecrated Host to him, and the Chalice, of both of which the Pope took one half kneeling and bare-headed. He sucked the Divine Blood, according to a Custom, thro’ a golden Tube; and when the Cardinal assistant Priest had taken the half that remained, both of the consecrated Host, and the Chalice, the Mass was ended. After the Office was over, the Pope, preceded by the Cardinals, Bishops, and Prelates, was carried in grand Procession to the Gallery which is over the great Gate of the Church, fronting the great Square, where he was seated on a very high Throne, in order to be seen by the People; and after two Cardinal Deacons had taken off his Mitre, and put on his Tiara, kissing at the same Time both his Hand and Face, the Pope rose up, and gave his solemn Benediction standing, to the People