Page:On papal conclaves (IA a549801700cartuoft).djvu/88

 more than ordinary audacity, inasmuch as he ventured first, on peeping upon the very mysteries of the sacred vote constituting a Pope, at which Cardinals alone should he present, and then on divulging in a letter the scene he had looked upon. On this occasion the Cardinals appear to have had special grounds for being on their guard against the possible presence of unqualified Conclavists, for the day after the closing of the gates and the formal expulsion of strangers, they proceeded to an exceptional scrutiny of all who had remained within. The whole population of the Conclave was got together in the Pauline Chapel, at the door of which the three Cardinals, Capi d'Ordini, with the Cardinal Camerlengo, took their seats and scrutinized each individual as he passed out singly before them, the result of the inspection being the ejection of fifteen interlopers. Those who remained did not, however, show any greater disposition for this purgation to humour the assembled Cardinals, for we are told that two days later the Conclavists chose eight of their number as 'defenders to secure the observance of their privileges, that are many,' though the' nature of these privileges is not stated. After an unusual