the arc of the Florentines. The Pope is here represented with one foot on the land, the other on the sea; having a key moreover in his right hand with which he opens heaven, and in the other another key; (the key of hell, or perhaps of purgatory ;) and beneath the legend, "In thy hand I behold the empire of earth, and sea, and heaven."-Have we not in these two pictures of the pageant the very counterpart to the opening emblems of the vision before us ?-Yet again the lion there, as here, appears prominently and repeatedly as a symbol in the devices. For instance, in the triumphal arc near the bridge of St. Angelo, there appear two lions, each with one foot on the Papal insignia, to designate that it is the Pope they symbolize, the other on the mundane globe;2 and with the legends, as the cry uttered by them, "The prey is worthy of my glory!" and, "To me the charge belongs!" With which last we may associate that in the Via Pontificum, where a Pope sits enthroned, and two kings, having cast their crowns before him, kneel and worship. These a lion is represented as blandly licking and fondling. But on other two that appear armed and hostile in the distance, another lion seems as Nempe cum visens Laterana templa, Romuli colles, manifesta Solis Fulsit imago. Compare too the language of Cardinal Ægidius: Videmus te Leone principe fieri, quæ fecit cum se terris ostendit Leo de tribù Judæ &c :" quoted by Bonanni i. 168: also the verse, Cùm primùm nostro illuxit Leo Maximus orbi ; in the piece entitled Simia ad Leonem, Roscoe Append. lxxxviii. 1 Ib. 426. "Nel primo octangulo si vedea un Papa che tenea un piede sopra a terra et l'altro nel mare; et havea nella man dextra una chiave colla quale apriva el cielo, et nella sinistra un' altra chiave: et drieto a lui si vedea la nobile citta Florida elevata in aere; et sotto a questo di tal tenore il breve era; Elevata sum, quia penes te patriæ, parentum, maris, terræ, cælique regnum esse conspicio.' 2 Penni (418) calls this a palla, or ball, but is plainly mistaken. The legends decide the symbol. It was no heraldic ball that could be a prey worthy of the Papal glory, but the ball of the earth only.-In another leonine painting in the pageant, one in which a Lion appeared to have delivered Virtue assaulted by serpent-formed Vices, an Angel was represented as crowning the Lion. Bonanni gives a medal, struck at Rome on the occasion, in which the two devices are united; viz. that of the lion's having his paw on the terrene globe, and of the Angel's crowning him. Of this, as a very interesting illustration of our subject especially because of the legend round it, (The Lion of the tribe of Judah, &c.) I append a copy. about to spring; and the motto "Prostratis placidus, Rebellibus ferox," proclaims, as with lion's roar, that submission, implicit submission, is the law of this pontifical empire. Such is the triplet of counterpart paintings, in this Leonine pageant, in contrast with the Apocalyptic triplet of symbols in the vision before us. And from their mere specification the Reader will see that it was not without reason that I spoke of them as demanding a full and separate consideration.-Before entering on this, however, let us just trace the processional to its termination. And let us mark, in doing so, the almost ostentatious exhibition in it of Christ's degradation and nothingness, as contrasted with the Pope's exaltation :-him whom having now viewed not only as head of the apostacy," but as the blasphemous usurper also of Christ's place in the church, we need no longer hesitate to call the Papal Antichrist. I say, let us mark the contrast exhibited between them. For Christ too is present, they tell us, to swell the triumph of the day. His place they point out under yon canopy, upon the white palfrey, just before the line of bishops; some five-and-twenty attendants being disposed, each with kindled wax-light, round him, and the sacristan as his guard behind. It is that box, they say, which the gold brocade covers, that holds him. There is the holy eucharist,—the consecrated wafer. That is CHRIST.3-Oh foul dishonour to their Lord! He appears but as a state-prisoner, to add to the brilliancy of the pageant; a puppet in the hands of the priest hood! Meanwhile in all the pomp of the processional, and with each of the magnificent decorations that adorn it⭑ 1 Ib. 425. 2 See Vol. I. p. 386-388. 3 Sequia una bianchissima chinea, et sopra del dorso suo havea un tabernaculetto adornato di brochato d'oro, nel qual dentro si posava la sacra Eucharistia ; et di sopra era un bellissimo baldacchino, et circumcirca forsa venticinque parafrenieri, con torce di purissima cera biancha accense in mano, et drieto li il sacrista con un baculo ligneo in mano, per custodia di Christo." Ib. 414. 4 Guicciardini observes on this festival, that it was universally believed that Rome had never seen a more superb and magnificent day since the inundation of the barbarians; that the expense was not less than 100,000 ducats; and that the symbolizing his glory, with every eye fixed upon him, and every knee bent before him, the POPE advances on his triumph. And so, at length, the Lateran is arrived at; that Church with which the Papal episcopate is connected, and in the portico of which, as justificatory of its asserted universal jurisdiction, an old marble records its dignity as the mother and head of all churches.' And as, on the setting out, his studied mimicry of Christ was observable, and the paintings too, and the legends reminded the passer-by, that, "the heaven-sent One," 2 "the King of Glory," was gone forth, so at this close of the procession, the studied mimicry continues. Dismounting at the church vestibule the Pope takes sitting for a moment, as if in great humility, on a lowly seat placed for the occasion: 3 then, amidst the chanting of, "He raiseth the poor from the dust to make him inherit the throne of glory," he is raised from it by some of the officials of the church, led up the nave, and seated on the Papal throne within. They call it his assumption, or taking up as if like that of one before him, to the elevation, not of a mere earthly throne, but a heavenly; and with all power given to him in heaven and on earth.5 magnificent parade confirmed the vulgar in their expectations of happiness, under the Pontificate of one who so abounded in liberality, and delighted in splendor. Vol. vi. p. 116. (Engl. Transl.) The following is the inscription: Dogmate Papali datur, et simul imperiali, Ut sim cunctarum mater et caput ecclesiarum. Also the words "Sacrosancta ecclesia Lateranensis omnium ecclesiarum mater et caput." Moreri Dict. Art. Latran. 2 "Leo X. Pont. Opt. De Calo Misso Gentiles Civesque Sui Numini Ejus Devoti," was the legend of one of the Florentine paintings. Roscoe, p. 423. The representation of Leo as a special envoy from heaven, was a frequent conceit of the times e. g. in Vitalis Castalio's Verses on this occasion; (Ib. App. lxxi.) Jam novus in terras alto descendit Olympo 3 There were three seats so used, one of white earth, two of porphyry; each with holes in, and called stercoraceae, (!) in order to answer the Vulgate, " De stercore erigit pauperem." See Martene ii. 89. 4 The verse is from Hannah's song, 1 Sam. ii. 8: which song, from the mention of God's anointed in verse 10, and from the Virgin Mary's appropriation of much of it in her hymn of praise on the annunciation, has both by Rabbinical commentators, as Kimchi, and also by Christian, been generally supposed to have a reference to Christ. See Patrick's Note ad loc. Assumption is the usual word applied to the elevation to the Papal dignity. So in the French king's mandate in the Lateran Council: "Leone ad summi Apostolatûs apicem, atque universalis ecclesiæ regimen, assumpto." (Hard. ix. |