Note 275 — Chapter X · THE PAPACY AND ITS DANGERS.
S. G. C. (Samuel George Chetwynd) Middlemore translation
Lettere dei Principi, i. (Rome. 17th March, 1523): ‘This city stands on a needle’s point, and God grant that we are not soon driven to Avignon or to the end of the Ocean. I foresee the early fall of this spiritual monarchy.... Unless God helps us we are lost.’ Whether Adrian were really poisoned or not, cannot be gathered with certainty from Blas Ortiz, Itinerar. Hadriani (Baluz. Miscell. ed. Mansi, i. p. 386 sqq.); the worst of it was that everybody believed it.