. A vagabond courtier; from the memoirs and letters of Baron Charles Louis von Pöllnitz. .A hanging was discussed a week before, as if it werea fete. Prelates and Princes and people of qualitywent to the prison with the police, and escorted thecondemned to the chapel hung with black, where theyinduced him to confess. He then received the Sacra-ments, and at ten next morning was taken in a cart tothe place of execution. After going to the chapel, andbeing forced to say a prayer, he was made to mount theladder backwards, was hung up, and the hangmanstamped on his shoulders in order to hasten dea
. A vagabond courtier; from the memoirs and letters of Baron Charles Louis von Pöllnitz. .A hanging was discussed a week before, as if it werea fete. Prelates and Princes and people of qualitywent to the prison with the police, and escorted thecondemned to the chapel hung with black, where theyinduced him to confess. He then received the Sacra-ments, and at ten next morning was taken in a cart tothe place of execution. After going to the chapel, andbeing forced to say a prayer, he was made to mount theladder backwards, was hung up, and the hangmanstamped on his shoulders in order to hasten he was dead, masses were said for him in all thechurches, and even in the Popes chapel, and a collec-tion was made, to which even the poor contributed. Thecorpse was exposed for four or five hours, and then wasburied like any other. A criminal could not make uphis mind to die. His comforter, the priest assistinghim, told him that even Kings and Popes must die. That is true, replied the penitent, but they are nothung. Clement XII, as a Florentine, was not popular at -^^•^^c^. 0 ~ 1 ° -i .2 THE VAGRANT 391 Rome. Dry, brusque, and stingy, he was trying, de-spite age, loss of memory and sight, to straighten thedisordered finance. Pollnitz thought him completelychanged from— The expensive Cardinal at the Congress of Court-ray, who kept a good table, tried to arrange thehousehold of every plenipotentiary, and—did nothingelse. One day he gave advice on economy to LordWentworth, but Milady was not agreeable. Monsieurle Marquis, she said, we prefer Italians to arrangeour concerts ; as to our tables, allow us to consult theFrench. The Romans say that Clement XII reachedthe Pontificate by playing piquet. From his experience of long visits in Rome, Pollnitzwas of opinion that the terrors of the Inquisition hadbeen much exaggerated in Europe. During the sixteenmonths of his last stay in the Eternal City, he had neverheard of any one being arrested by the Holy Office. The dis
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectcourtsandcourtiers
