It was the object of the pope's vicar, Raimond, bishop of Orvietto (bad politician and good canonist), to seek, by every means, to remove all impediment between the offerings of devotion and the treasury of St.
Peter.
Such, in brief, was the state of Rome at the period we are about to examine.

Her ancient mantle of renown still, in the eyes of Italy and of Europe, cloaked her ruins.

In name, at least, she was still the queen of the earth; and from her hands came the crown of the emperor of the north, and the keys of the father of the church.

Her situation was precisely that which presented a vase and glittering triumph to bold ambition,--an inspiring, if mournful, spectacle to determined patriotism,--and a fitting stage for that more august tragedy which seeks its incidents, selects its actors, and shapes its moral, amidst the vicissitudes and crimes of nations..