Secret Societies Of The Middle Ages.—Iv.

chicken , each of those that I have named , will find to-morz'ow a paper containing a formal donation made by me in my father ' s name , of houses , palaces , or churches . " * Long before tho time of election , indeed , Roderigo Borgia had been aiming at the papacy , his chief securit y being to keep up his friendship with the most influential cardinalsespecially with Sforza and Riario ,

, the former of whom it was said , commanded no less than nine votes in the conclave . Eager and excited , as before , the population thronged at the break of the following day to the square before the Vatican , when again at eleven o ' clock the appearance of the smoke still announcing that no one of the cardinals had obtained the requisite majority of votes ,

provoked the jeers and murmurs of the crowd , It was , nevertheless , rumoured that the election Avas narrowed to the choice of one of three candidates , Roderigo Borgia , Julian de la R-overa , and Ascanio Sforza . The crowd was still of the densest when the procession of the cardinals ' dinner crossed the place of St . Peter ' s . The people welcomed its

approach with their habitual shouts of laughter , but they little knew that with this procession the Pope had entered the Vatican . The day closed as before , expectation was again defeated ; in the evening the customary signal of the smoke was seen . Dark and stormy broke the 11 th of August , 1492 . The election had been promised , and it was easy to see that if the day passed

without it , a tumult would ensue . Expectation was at its highest , and at the last stroke of the bell at the hour of eleven , rose the cry of "Fon v' efwmo . " The rain fell unheeded , the sound of the pick and hammer was heard ; the masons of the conclave were opening , with what speed they might , a rude door through a window which had bam . walled up at the closing of the conclave , through which the

senior cardinal deacon was to announce to the crowd the result of the election . The opening was at length sufficiently enlarged to allow a man to pass through it , and Cardinal Ascanio Sforza presented himself j At first he shrunk back , seemingly appalled at the terrific violence of tho storm , but soon , between two tremendous claps of thunder , and amidst a popular silence almost fearful from its suddenness and from its contrast with the tempest , announced : —

" I give you tidings of great joy : we have a Pope , the most eminent and reverend lord , Roderigo Lenzuolo Borgia , Archbishop of Valencia , Cardinal Deacon of San Mcolo in Carcere , Vice-chancellor of the Church , who has assumed the title of Alexander VI . " Such is a brief history of the election of Alexander VI ., the father of the extraordinary chief of the Vehm tribunal of whom we are

more immediately treating . No sooner did Caesar Borgia receive the news of his father ' s elevation to the papacy , than he left his studies at the university of Pisa ,