Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/48

 and a Secretary of State, has deprived the Camerlengo of the realities of greatness, and left him a mere lay figure of his former self. Instead of being, as once he was, a dictator for the time of the interregnum, the real King of Rome during the interval between the death of one and the creation of another Pope, whose authority was actively invoked to secure the peace of the city at that season, and did effectively intervene in the course of general government at all periods, the Camerlengo is now confined to the exercise of mere ceremonial, and the hollow display of a dumb-show of authority. From the moment, however, that the Pope has breathed his last, he figures still as the first man in the State, and during the days before the Conclave can be constituted, as its direct representative, inaugurating the exercise of his provisional powers by a truly quaint piece of ceremony, the symbolism whereof is obscure. At the head of the Chierici di Camera, the Camerlengo hastens to hold an inquest on the reported demise of the Pope. Proceeding to the death-chamber, the Cardinal strikes the door with a gilt mallet, calling on the Pope by name. On receiving no reply, he enters the room, when he taps