The Very Great PopeThe ringing of bells, the surging and swelling of bells supra urbem, above the whole city, in its airs overfilled with sound! Who is ringing the bells? No one—save the spirit of story-telling, in that he tells how, three days before the entry of the Elect, they all began to ring of themselves and did not cease to ring until before St Peter his crowning was consummated. This is historical fact—in all its miracle-beauty not quite the purest joy for the populatio urbis. Three days and nights long the bells of Rome were not to be stayed, they rang with one accord, with the greatest vehemence from all quarters; and to have all the time this monstrous droning and ding-donging in one’s ears was asking not a little of human beings, the spirit of story-telling is sure of that. It
