by which each strove to circumvent the other is
extremely amusing, but too long to be given here. After various
fruitless attempts, the Corsini faction concentrated all their forces on
Cardinal Aldrovandi. He was a man of decent character, and had the
support of a small body of independent cardinals, called the "Zelanti,"
who, to the great disgust and contempt of their brethren in purple, were
mainly influenced by the consideration of the worthiness of his
character. The number of voices needed to make the election was
thirty-four: Aldrovandi had thirty-three. Cardinal Passionei, the
scrutator who had to declare the votes, and a member of the opposite
faction, became, we are told, as pale as death when he announced with
trembling voice the thirty-third vote. There was every reason to think
that at the accessit he would have the one other vote needful to make
the election. But it was not so. The terrible Albani was too much
feared, and had his own party too well in hand. But the thing was run
very close. The danger was great that during the hours of the night that
must intervene before the next scrutiny some means might be found to
detach _one_ Albani follower from his allegiance. There was the
great bait to be offered that the one who changed his vote would be in
effect the maker of the new pope. Under these circumstances, Albani felt
that nothing but some "heroic" measure could save him. What he did was
this: There was a certain Father Ravali, a Cordelier, and one of the
leading men of his order, on whom Albani could depend, and who was, in
language more expressive than ecclesiastical, "up to anything." This
monk was instructed to seek a conference with Aldrovandi at the
_rota_. (The rota was the opening in the wall at which such
interviews were permitted in presence of certain high dignitaries
specially appointed to attend it, for the express purpose of hearing all
that might be said, and preventing any communication having reference to
the business of the conclave. How they performed their duty the present
story shows.) The monk began by saying that all Rome looked upon the
election of Aldrovandi as a certain thing. Aldrovandi, doing the humble,
replied that to be sure many of his brethren had deigned to think of
him, but that he did not make any progress--that there were those who
were too determinately opposed to his election, etc. The monk thereupon
goes into a long and unctuous discourse on all the sad evils to
C