On May 20 Lebzeltern went for the last time to the Vescovado, to take leave of the august prisoner within its walls. [Illustration: PIUS THE SEVENTH. Photo by Levy et ses freres after the painting in the Louvre, by David.] On this last occasion of their meeting at Savona, the diplomatist found Pius VII in a very strange frame of mind. Not by any means inclined to withdraw the concessions he had made in the previous interview with Lebzeltern, but only regretting them bitterly; hoping they might not satisfy Napoleon, and so be rejected by him. On Lebzeltern’s presenting for his consideration a written outline of the concessions in question, the Pontiff, after considering them a little while, rose suddenly from his chair and spoke as follows: “I have made known to you, Lebzeltern, many of my most secret thoughts and sentiments which I would never have entrusted to another living man except my confessor; and I do not regret it because I am perfectly certain that you will never abuse the confidence I have placed in you. Nevertheless, please bear in mind that I only authorize you to report of me to Napoleon and Metternich what I am now going to tell you, and which is just what you yourself have seen and heard—that I am perfectly resigned to God’s will regarding me, and that I humbly place my cause in His hands. Say that no consideration of any kind shall induce me to disobey my conscience and the Divine law. Tell them that I am calm and serene, and that all I ask of the Emperor—for whom I only hope and pray that he may be granted the grace to make his peace with our holy mother the Church—is that he will allow me the means of communicating freely with the faithful, and that he will no longer deprive them of the services of their father and servant. Tell the Emperor that I entreat him to remember that the glory of this world is in itself no passport to heaven; that, albeit I yearn with all my heart to be reconciled with him, yet that I will never be so at the price of my conscience. Assure him very earnestly that I have not the smallest personal feeling against him; that I forgive him with my whole heart all that he has done to me; and that nothing could hurt me more than that he should imagine me capable of harbouring resentments—which in themselves are forbidden by God and have no place either in my heart or in my inclination.”