the voting papers have been thus prepared, the senior cardinal, the
dean of the Sacred College, rises from his throne and walks to the foot
of the altar, holding his schedule aloft between his finger and thumb.
There he kneels and passes a brief time in private prayer. Then rising
to his feet, he pronounces aloud in a sonorous voice the following oath:
"Testor Christum Dominum qui me judicaturus est, me eligire quem
secundum Deum judico eligi debere, et quod in accessu praestabo" ("I
call to witness the Lord Christ, who shall judge me, that I elect him
whom before God I judge ought to be elected, and which vote I shall give
also in the _accessit_"). The last words allude to a subsequent
part of the business of the election, to be explained presently. It is
hardly necessary to point out to the reader that this oath, solemn as it
sounds, might just as well be omitted. It is as a matter of course
evident that each elector will give his vote for the person who
_ought_ in his opinion to be elected. But as to the _motives_
of that opinion, as to the _grounds_ on which it seems best to each
elector that such and such a man _ought_ to be elected, the oath
says nothing. The cardinals whose votes Alexander VI. bought thought, no
doubt, that in all honesty they _ought_ to give their voices for
the man who had fairly paid for them. But, putting aside such gross
cases, let the reader reflect for a moment how extensive a ground is
covered by the celebrated "A.M.D.G." formula ("Ad majorem Dei gloriam").
The conscience of an elector may be supposed to speak to him thus: "It
is true that I know A.B. to be a profligate and thoroughly worldly man,
but his influence with such or such a statesman or monarch will probably
be the means of saving the Church from a schism in this, that or the
other country. And that assuredly is A.M.D.G. And he is the man,
therefore, who ought to be elected."

Well, the oath having been thus pronounced, the voter places his folded
schedule on a silver salver, and with this casts it into the silver urn
which is on the altar. And one after another every cardinal present does
the same--every cardinal present except, however, any one who may not
have received at least deacon's orders. One so disqualified may indeed
be empowered to vote by dispensation of the deceased pope; but this
dispensation is usually given for a limited period--a few days
probably--only; and if this time has expired before the election is
comp