‘POPE JOAN.’
Reading edition
‘You know, of course, that there was once a Papessa? They have put that in the books, I suppose?’
‘I know there is such a story, but learned writers have proved it was a mere invention.’
‘Ah, well! you read books. I dare say you know best; but, anyhow, that’s what they say. And, after all, who knows!’
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · An argument worthy to take rank beside the famous one of ‘Mrs. Brown’ concerning Noah’s Ark. ↑Note 2 · I said this, really thinking at the moment there was such a statue surmounting the apex of the pediment of the façade; but it afterwards camNote 3 · ‘Well, I daresay it isn’t true; but there’s no one in Rome who has not heard of it. And what makes them believe it is this.1 Outside of St. Note 4 · ‘Oh! that’s a statue of Religion, or the Church.2 There never was a woman-pope.’Note 5 · There was a prince Marescotti,1 who had two daughters, Cecilia and Giacinta. From her childhood Cecilia had always been gentle and pious, anNote 6 · But their father, good man,2 knew them better, and one day he announced to them the choice of a state of life which he had made for them; foNote 7 · The one was as dismayed as the other at the time, though the event showed he had chosen right. Cecilia, who loved quiet and repose, tenderly