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Untitled Article
The pomp which environs the Pontiff in public ^ and attracts the attention so forcibly , may perhaps appear to many , a glorious and enviable distinction ; but there are few , I believe , who would not , if accompanied by it in all the details of ordinary life , feel it an intolerable burden . Other
sovereigns have their hours of relaxation ; they act their part in public , and then throw off their robes , and mix in the domestic circle with their family or their confidants * The Pope has no hours of relaxation ; always encumbered with the same robes *
surrounded by the same attend , ants , and confined within the magic circle of etiquette , he labours for ever under the weight of his dignity , and may , if in * fluenced by ordinary feelings , often $ , igh in vain , for the leisure and
The custom of being carried in a chair of state has also given offence , and is cirtamly not very conformable to the inodern practice even of courts 5 however it is another remnant of ancient manners , a mode of conveyance , ( less luxurious indeed ) copied from the
leeiica , so ranch in use among the Romans . In the earlier ages , the custom of the Popes as of other Bishops was to pass from the sacristy through the church on foot , * leaning on two priests , and thus advancejto the altar j a custom more conformable to Christian humility
and to tfic simplicity not only of ancient but even or modern times . In fact , in all the ceremonial of the Roman Church and Court , the only parts liable to misrepresentation or censure , are certain additions qF later times , when .
in religious pomps and court pageants , in dress and in style , all was inflated and cumbersome . The rule of reform is easy and obvious ; to prune off the excrescences of barbarous ages , and to restore the majestic forms of antiquity , * Ordo Rom . Primus ct Secund . Muratori .
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the insignificance of the coliegt or the cloister A morning of biu biness and application closes with a solitary meal ; a walk in ifo gardens of the Quirinal or the Va *
ttcan ^ a visit to a church or an hospital , are his only exerci se * . Devotion and business , the duties of the Pontiff and of the Prince successively occupy his hours , and leave no vacant interval for
the indulgence of the taste , orthe arrangement of the , affairs of the individual . What honours caa compensate for a life of such restraint and confinement ! ( Pt 620—6 ^ 3 )
On the whole , the person and conduct of the Pope , whether in public or in private , are under perpetual restraint and constant inspection * The least deviation from strict propriety or even frpm
customary forms , would be iro * mediately noticed , published , and censured in pasquinades . Leo X . loved shooting , and by the change of dress necessary for that amusement , gave scandal . Clft *
ment XIV . ( Ganganelli ) was ad « vised by his physicians to ride he rode in the neighbourhood of his Allan Villa * and , it is said * offended the people of the country not a little by that supposed levity . Benedict XIV . wished
to see the interior arrangement of a new theatre , and visited it before it was opened to the . public * the next morning an inscription appeared over the door by which he had entered , Porta * an tf *\
plenary indulgence to all ffloto e * - ter . These . anecdotes suffice to » hew the joyless uniformity ? M the papal court s a 3 well as-W stri ct decoemn tkU ^ ryM ^ ewjy department immediately connected with the person of the Ponti *
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€$ 8 Account of the Court and Pope of Rome
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1813, page 698, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2434/page/6/
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