Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/125

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OF PAPAL CONCLAVES.
109

officiated as Master of the Ceremonies at the Conclave which elected Julius II., 1503,—up to which time everything admitted had to be let through an aperture in the wall, as prescribed in the Bull of Gregory X. Outside the palace there were posts of soldiers around its walls, and at every approach, no one being permitted to pass the barriers erected on the Bridge of St. Angelo and at the gate of the Leonine city who was unfurnished with a pass-medal, so that the quarter of the Borgo was practically shut off from circulation during the sitting of a Conclave.

In the locality now used there occurs no longer any need for the erection of wooden booths. The portion of the Quirinal Palace devoted to the accommodation of a Conclave is that which runs from Monte Cavallo to Quattro Fontane. Here there is probably the longest corridor in the world, upon which opens at equal intervals a range of doors—exactly like those of monks' cells in a convent corridor—that lead into apartments comprising each three or four rooms. These form the habitations of the Cardinals during Conclave, who draw lots for them as they did for the booths. On all points of