We found a good many
people in the church, but not an inconvenient number; indeed, not so many
as to make any remarkable show in the great nave, nor even in front of
the chapel. A detachment of the Swiss Guard, in their strange,
picturesque, harlequin-like costume, were on duty before the chapel, in
which the wax tapers were all lighted, and a prie-dieu was arranged near
the shrine, and covered with scarlet velvet. On each side, along the
breadth of the side aisle, were placed seats, covered with rich tapestry
or carpeting; and some gentlemen and ladies--English, probably, or
American--had comfortably deposited themselves here, but were compelled
to move by the guards before the pope's entrance. His Holiness should
have appeared precisely at twelve, but we waited nearly half an hour
beyond that time; and it seemed to me particularly ill-mannered in the
pope, who owes the courtesy of being punctual to the people, if not to
St. Peter. By and by, however, there was a stir; the guard motioned to
us to stand away from the benches, against the backs of which we had been
leaning; the spectators in the nave looked towards the door, as if they
beheld something approaching; and first, there appeared some cardinals,
in scarlet skull-caps and purple robes, intermixed with some of the Noble
Guard and other attendants.
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