The Lord Innocent P.P. VIII died on the twenty-fifth of July 1492. The Lord Alexander P.P. VI began to reign on the eleventh of August. During the seventeen days that intervened, while the city was under the rigid rule of the white-faced Cardinal-Chamberlain Riarjo, a matter of some two hundred and twenty assassinations took place: in such order had the deceased Pope left His capital that more than nine murders were committed every day among a population of a mere five and eighty thousand. The Lord Alexander P.P. VI acted with decision to end this abominable state of lawlessness. An assassin was caught redhanded—there was no difficulty about that—he and his brother were forced to look on while their house was rased to the ground (the worst disgrace possible to a Roman); and then they were ceremoniously hanged among the ruins. A commission was established to decide all quarrels, which, formerly, had been settled by cold steel. Official inspectors of prisons were appointed; arrears of official salaries paid up to date; and a bench of four judges established for dealing with capital crimes. So the first act of this pontificate was the restoration, at least provisionally, of public order. The admiring Romans said that this vigorous administration of justice was due to the direct disposing of the Almighty. The coronation, on the steps before the Basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, of the Lord Alexander P.P. VI by the Cardinal-Archdeacon on the twenty-sixth of August was a scene of unlimited magnificence, attended by the Orators of the Powers who hailed the Pope with the most laudatory congratulations. Canon Angelo Ambrogini (detto Poliziano), who spoke for Siena, said :— “Præstans animi magnitudo quae mortales crederes omnes antecellere—Magna quaedam de te, rara, ardua, singularia, incredibilia, inaudita, pollicentur.[24] The Orator of Lucca said:— “Quid iste tuus divinus, et maiestate plenus, aspectus? The Orator of Genoa said:— “Adeo virtutum gloria et disciplinarum laude, et vitae sanctimonia decoraris, et adeo singularum ac omnium rerum ornamento dotaris, quae talem summam ac venerandam dignitatem praebeant ut valde ab omnibus ambigendum sit, tu ne magis pontificatui, an illa tibi sacratissima et gloriosissima Papatus dignitas offerenda fuerit. The Venetian Senate rejoiced:— “propter divinas virtutes ac dotes quibus Ipsum insignitum et ornatum conspiciebamus, videbatur a Divina Providentia talem Pastorem gregi, dominio et sacrosancto Romanae Ecclesiae Vicarium Suum fuisse delectum et praeordinatum. Manfredi, the Ferrarese Orator at Florence, wrote to his Duchess:— “Dicesi che sara glorioso pontifice! [Illustration: _Alexander P.P. VI._]