Note 25 — Chapter XVIII · MY LIFE IN LONDON IN THE SEVENTIES AND EIGHTIES. SOCIAL

We had many good stories floating about in Rome at that time and he was always ready to enjoy them, but one, I think, told me by the painter Penry Williams, would not have tickled him as it did us heretics. The Pope, it seems, offered one of his Cardinals (whose reputation was far from immaculate) a pinch of snuff. The Cardinal replied more facetiously than respectfully “Non ho questo vizio, Santo Padre.” Pius IX. observed quietly, snapping his snuffbox, “Se vizio fosse, l’avreste” (If it had been a vice you would have had it)!