In the Conclave, if one can believe reports, there was no less excitement. All the sombre dignity of Spain left Cardinal Rodrigo at the supreme moment of his life. He showed himself as just a human man, successful in the most daring, most immense, of all ambitions, when his quondam colleagues lowered their green or purple canopies to his, as he joyfully cried: “We are Pope and Vicar of Christ!” The cardinals knelt at His feet, and Cardinal Sforza-Visconti said that undoubtedly the election was the work of God. Then the new Pope recovered at least decorum of speech, replying that He was conscious of His Own weakness, and relied entirely upon Divine Guidance; but His order to Monsignor Burchard, the Caerimonarius, to write His name on little slips of paper, and fling them from a window for the satisfaction of the citizens who swarmed impatiently outside the Vatican; and His haste to retire behind the altar for the purpose of changing His cardinalitial scarlet for the papal habit of white taffetas with cincture, rochet of fair linen, embroidered crimson stola, house-cap, almuce, and shoes of ermine and crimson velvet (of which vestments three sizes are prepared, to suit the stature of any Pope); this order and this haste shew that the Pope’s Holiness was most deeply moved, as any human being well might be. Outside, Rome rejoiced. Inside, the cardinals asked what name the Pope would choose, suggesting Calixtus as a compliment to His dead Uncle and Creator, Who had brought Him first to Rome. But, now, the Pontiff had regained His magnificent composure, and He answered mightily: “We desire the name of the Invincible Alexander.” Cardinal Giovanni de’ Medici, a clever, serious boy of the age of seventeen years, whispered to Cardinal Cibo: “Now we are in the jaws of a ravening wolf, and if we do not flee he will devour us.” But the gigantic Cardinal Sanseverini lifted the Lord Alexander P.P. VI in his strong arms and throned Him on the altar; and the Sacred College paid Him the first adoration, kissing the cross embroidered on His shoe and on the ends of the stola at His knee, and the Ring of the Fisherman on His right forefinger, while Cardinal-Archdeacon Franceso de’ Piccolhuomini and the second Cardinal-Deacon made proclamation to the crowd at the re-opened door of the Conclave: “I announce to you great joy. We have for a Pope the Vicechancellor-Cardinal-Dean Rodrigo de Lançol y Borja, Who wills to be called Alexander the Sixth.”