Note *233 — Chapter XIV

All that Dennistoun says of the Borgia must be accepted with care. He takes the Puritan point of view in a country where such a thing as Puritanism has happily seldom existed. Pastor, to whom it seems natural to refer the reader [A History of the Popes] is almost equally censorious though more discerning in his condemnation. He, apparently holding a brief for the Papacy, felt it incumbent upon him to restore the balance of some of his judgments by denouncing Alexander VI. It is strange that the only two sane historians of the Borgia should be Protestants. I gladly refer the reader with every confidence to the work of Creighton [A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, vols. IV. and V.] and of Gregorovius [Lucrezia Borgia].