præsentis electionis." After this all the Cardinals kissed the Pope, and the doors having been opened I was of the first who kissed his feet, which he would not have me do, saying that it would have been better next day. Nevertheless I did kiss them, and then all left the chapel, attending the Pope to his room, which he found so thoroughly gutted by the Conclavists that he was forced to betake himself into that of Cardinal Montepulciano, when he at once resolved on getting crowned next day in St. Peter's. While an this noise was going on, the gates of the Conclave were forced, and a mob entered, so that but for Messer Ascanio della Cornia[1] the whole Conclave had a chance of being gutted. As soon as he had come in, measures of precaution were, however, taken for everything, and no one
- ↑ He was a nephew of Paul III., invested with the uncommon title of Consul for this Conclave, not without umbrage having been taken by the Roman nobility, according to the same Conclavist :-'Nel medesimo giorno alle 21 hore, delli Cardinali, che si trovavono in Roma fu fatta congregatione sopra le cose et governo della Citta, dell a quale il Signor Ascanio dell a Cornia fu eletto Consule, benche questi Baroni Romani alquanto conteudessero, dicendo essere officio loro haver cura dell a Citta, poi hebhero pazienza.'—Lettere di Principi, vol. iii p. 160.
