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•50 UNPUBLISHED LETTERS.

and of a sudden burst out with a Number, but too
soon, and that threw him quite out. Having been
since left out of their meetings, he askd one of the
Benedictine Cardinals the reason, who replied that he
never had been their friend and never should be of
their assemblies, & did not even hesitate to call
him Apostate. This flung Portia into such a rage
that he spit blood, and instantly left the Conclave
•with all his baggage. But the great Cause of their
antipathy to him, was, his having been one of the
four, that voted for putting Coscia to death, who
now regains his interest, & may prove somewhat
•disagreeable to his Enemies: whose honesty is not
abundantly heavier than his own. He met Corsini
t'other day, and told him; he heard his eminence had
a mind to his Cell: Corsini answerd, he was very well
•contented with that he had. Oh! says Coscia, I
•do'nt mean here in the Conclave, but in the Castle
St Angelo.

With all these animosities, one is near having a
Pope¹. Card. Gotto, an old, inoffensive Dominican,
without any Relations, wanted yesterday but two
voices, and is still most likely to succeed. Card.
Altieri has been sent for from Albano, whither he

¹ Clement XII. had recently died. [Gray to his mother
from Florence, March 19, 1740.] His successor was Benedict
XIV. [amusingly described, same to the same from Florence,
Aug. 21, 1740.]



	•50 UNPUBLISHED LETTERS. and of a sudden burst out with a Number, but too soon, and that threw him quite out. Having been since left out of their meetings, he askd one of the Benedictine Cardinals the reason, who replied that he never had been their friend and never should be of their assemblies, & did not even hesitate to call him Apostate. This flung Portia into such a rage that he spit blood, and instantly left the Conclave •with all his baggage. But the great Cause of their antipathy to him, was, his having been one of the four, that voted for putting Coscia to death, who now regains his interest, & may prove somewhat •disagreeable to his Enemies: whose honesty is not abundantly heavier than his own. He met Corsini t'other day, and told him; he heard his eminence had a mind to his Cell: Corsini answerd, he was very well •contented with that he had. Oh! says Coscia, I •do'nt mean here in the Conclave, but in the Castle St Angelo. With all these animosities, one is near having a Pope¹. Card. Gotto, an old, inoffensive Dominican, without any Relations, wanted yesterday but two voices, and is still most likely to succeed. Card. Altieri has been sent for from Albano, whither he ¹ Clement XII. had recently died. [Gray to his mother from Florence, March 19, 1740.] His successor was Benedict XIV. [amusingly described, same to the same from Florence, Aug. 21, 1740.]