"Vale Pontifex Maxime!"

has come . Monsignor Ricci , Majordorno of His Holiness , advances to the bier , and , with evident emotion , covers the face of his dead master with a Avhite silken sheet . At a signal from him , the Chaplains of the Basilica , assisted by several officers of the Noble Guard , take up the corners of the crimson cloth upon Avhich the body lies on the bier , and , raising it thus , reverently deposit it within the first cyprus-Avood coffin . This done , Monsignor Ricci places in the coffin three bags of crimson velvet , containing coins and medals of gold , silver , and bronze , AA-hose number corresponds with the years of the long

Pontificate which has just closed . Also he deposits there a parchment scroll within a leaden tube , on Avhich is written the eulogium of the dead Pontiff , and an outline of the chief acts of his reign . The cyprus coffin is HOAV closed , and screwed doAvn . The Cardinal Secretary of State , retiring from it , makes three genuflections—the last act of homage Avhich Pius the Ninth shall receive from mortal man in scecula seeculorum . The leaden coffin bears a cross above the late Pope ' s arms , which are surmounted by the triple pontifical crown , but without the keys ; these emblems being , attributed only to a living ruler of the Church . Moreover there is engraved upon the leaden coffin the following simple inscription : —

CORPUS . PH . IX . P . M , VIXIT . AN . LXXXV . M . VIII . D . XXVI . Eccles . Univer . Prsafuit . AN . XXXI . M . VII . D . XXIII . ObiitDieVII . Eebr . An . MDCUCLXXVIII . And beneath the inscription a skull and tAvo crossbones . The leaden coffin is again enclosed Avithin a large external case of chestnut-wood , and each receptacle is sealed , with

all accustomed formalities , with the various seals , seven in number , of the Camerlengo , the Majordomo , and the Chapter of St . Peter ' s . Finally the heavy mass is placed upon a species of truck on wheels , covered with crimson cloth , and sloAvly rolled along till it is brought to a standstill beneath a gaping chasm in the tvall above a certain door to the left of one of the galleries of the Canons' Chapel , Avhich is opposite to the monument of Pope Innocent the Ei ghth . In this proA'isional depository lie the remains of each deceased Pope until his next successor dies and replaces him . Gregory the Sixteenth lay here for many years , but , it is said , Avas removed to his last resting-place before the termination of the late unprecedently long Pontificate .

And UOAV , amidst an oppressive and breathless silence broken only by suppressed sobs of Avomen and the harsh occasional creak and jar of pulleys , the coffin , strongly secured by ropes , is slowly hoisted to the niche above the door . As it rises , sloAvly and heavily , the choir begins the psalm , " Benedicius , Dominus Deus Israel , " and at the moment when they come to the verse , " Illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedunt , " the coffin reaches the appointed spot , disappears within the wall , and the masons instantly

begin to close it up Avith stones and mortar . It is over . Another Pontifex Maximus rests under the shadow of the mighty dome . A pale young moon glints silvery upon a windoAV , here and there making the torchlight ruddier . Stole , and cope , and mitre glide away . The flash of arms and red and amber uniforms is SAvallowed up by darkness . Black sbadoAvs in mourning garb blot the Avide pavement of the naveand are gone . Silence steals doAvn from the dome againand

, , Avalks the church unchallenged by a stray echo . Darkness , raven-winged , stealthily chases a moonbeam here and there , and the inscription , like the writing on the Avail , shoAvs more mysteriously fragmentary than ever , " Tu es Petrus , "—the rest is oblivion . T . ADOLPHUS TROLLOPE .

The election of a Pope is a ceremony Avell in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion and the importance of the result . Considering that its rules and regulations Avere settled long before the modern science of election Avas understood , and long before the ballot bad found its Avay into the institutions of Europe , the scene , Avith all its formalities , is interesting , not only from the picturesqueness of its details , but also as a sort of antiquarian curiosity , and as a proof of Papal ingenuity in quite the Dark Ages of history .