In the Secret Archives of the Vatican, (merely a technical term, for they are open to all the world,) His original acts are preserved; the veritable Briefs and Bulls which He laboured to utter during His reign. They are bound in one hundred and thirteen large-folio volumes, each tome containing about ten thousand separate documents.[82] To understand what kind of thing is a Papal Bull or Brief, the Epistles of St. Peter, which are easily accessible, may be mentioned as the best examples extant;—earnest disquisitions, simple or scholarly, dealing authoritatively with subjects the most vital. The Lord Alexander P.P. VI is responsible for more than a million of these; and He only reigned eleven years. The days and nights appreciably were not longer then than now. WHERE, THEN, DID THE LORD ALEXANDER P.P. VI FIND THE TIME TO ACCOMPLISH THE MULTIFARIOUS TURPITUDES WITH WHICH HE HAS BEEN CHARGED? He was the father of bastards. He was not the first or last,—plebeian, patrician, potentate, or pontiff. He was inflexible to foes. Was ever peace assured except by a stern martinet? The Lord Alexander P.P. VI was a very great Prince, a very faithful Pastor, a very human Man. By members of that Church, at least, which He so ably ruled, He should be regarded as above and beyond criticism (so-called), amenable to no judge, ecclesiastical, or secular.[83] For the rest—the dwellers in glass houses.... * * * * * Sparks that Die “_A fire, that is kindled, begins with smoke and hissing, while it lays hold on the faggots; bursts into a roaring blaze, with raging tongues of flame, devouring all in reach, spangled with sparks that die._” On the death of the Lord Alexander P.P. VI, Duke Cesare de Valentinois della Romagna was the most potent personage in Italy. Several of his veteran legions under Don Michelotto held the Eternal City. Usually, during the Novendiati after a Pope’s demise, armed bands of Colonna and Orsini pervaded the streets, to intimidate the Conclave with their war-cries _Column—Column—_, _Bear—Bear—_. In August and September 1503, the baronial partizans were dumb; and all Rome shouted _Duca—Duca—Duca—_for Duke Cesare. He might have done anything that he pleased. Now, if Duke Cesare were the ambitious ruthless impious despot and villain which a fashion has painted him, he must also have been a fool; in that he did not force the Sacred College to raise another Borgia to Peter’s Throne. There were three Borgia cardinals ready to his hand, all quiet and malleable and inoffensive, and two of them aged men; viz., (α) the Lord Luis Juan de Mila y Borja, Cardinal-Prior-Presbyter of the Title of Santi Quattro Coronati and Bishop of Lerida; first cousin and contemporary of the Lord Alexander P.P. VI: