Of silence as more perilous I deem'd,
And answer'd: 'Father! since thou washest me
'Clear of that guilt wherein I now must fall,
'Large promise with performance scant, be sure
'Shall make thee triumph in thy lofty seat.'"[94]
Besides Count Guido and the popes who, finding the large and airy rooms of the convent a convenient summer resort, were constant visitors at Assisi, it can show a fine list of royal visitors. Among them is the Queen of Sweden who, in 1655, came escorted by Papal Nuncios, foreign ambassadors and cavalry, to pray at the tomb of St. Francis. The Assisans sent out their best carriages with horses ridden by postillions to meet her, adorned their palaces with flags and damask hangings, and rang all the bells as she approached the Basilica. "The Queen is called Christina," a chronicler tells us; "she is aged twenty-nine, is very learned, being able to write in eleven languages; she is small but very comely.... One hundred and fifty beds were prepared in the convent and beautiful it was to see the numerous suite and the pages of the nobles."
A FRIAR OF THE MINOR CONVENTUAL ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS