Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-18

By the Booklorer.

| lei Popes. The central figure Is Leo
| x, seated in square, heavy chalr,
with a ponderous, illuminated volume
| open on the table before him and a
magnifying glass in his hand. Stand
ing behind him are two cardinals, one
| of them his cousin, Giulio de Med1c!,
| bastard son of his uncle, Glullano,
who was murdered in the cathedral
during the Pazzi conspiracy. This
Cardinal Giulio de Medici later became
Pope as Clement VII. Pope Leo X
was Giovanni de Medici, son Of the
| famous Lorenzo the Magnificent and
Clarice Orsini, daughter of one of the
| Oldest Roman families. In his book
on 1.-THE Medici Popes" Herbert M.
Vaughan gives an interesting descrip-
ton of Leo x at the time of his cleo
| ton to the papacy: I'm outward APP
pearance the new pontiff was tall with
a dignified carriage, despite a stout
and unwieldy frame. His head was
disproportionately large; his smooth
| shaven countenance was flushed and
| unhealthy in hue, whilst his great,
| prominent eyes were so feeble Of vi
| sion that In order to perceive any per-
| son or object, no matter how familiar,
| the Pope was obliged to use continual
| ly spyglass, which was rarely alb
sent from his hand. He had a short,
| tleshy neck with pronounced double
| chin; a broad chest and an enormous
paunch, with which his spindling legs
| made curious contrast. His only
claim to physical beauty lay in his
| hands, Of which their owner was in
ordinately proud and was frequently
to be observed examining with artless
satisfaction; they were plump, white
and shapely, and usually adorned with
rare and splendid gems. Unlike his
| father, whose speech was always
rasping and singularly unpleasing to
| the ear, Leo was the happy possessor
Of a soft, persuasive and well modu-
| lated voice; his manner was almost in
| variably courteous and genial and he
| had sedulously trained his natural gift
of tact to the highest degree of per-
| lection, so that he could always ap-
pear deferential towards his elders.
and jocular, or even boisterous, in the
society of younger men. AS may be
gathered from this description, the
youthful Pope did not enjoy robust
| health" Giovanni de Medici was in
his thirty-eighth year when he at
tanned to the supreme dignity Of the
church. He was popular and hopes
were high all over Europe regarding
i the policies he would pursue. 1t was
prophesied that he would favor the
Spa niards rather than the French The
had only year before been q captive
in the French. camp, that he would
cultivate peace instead of strife, that
he would, because of his own high
moral character, reform and purify
the church: that he would, like all the
Medici, be a generous patron of art
| and letters. These expectations We're
in general fulfilled during the eight
years Of Leo's papal rule.
X X X X
| The other Medici Pope, Clement
| VII, did not Immediately follow Leo
x in the papacy, but the interval
separating the two Medicean reigns
was a brief one. Opposition to the
Medici family developed in the Sacred
College in 1921, with the result that
a compromise candidate was selected,
Adrian of Utrecht, Cardinal of Tor
tosa, a Fleming. who became Pope
as Adrian vi. After only little over
a year of rule, spent in fruitless at
| tempts "to inspire some true Chris
tian ideals into the voluptuous and
extravagant city, which was the capt.
| tai of Western Christendom," he died
"of strange consuming malady" and
| the usual rumors of poison We're rife.
| Another opportunity came to Giulio
| de Medici, and this time he was the
| choice of the cardinals and became
| Pope Clement VII. Herbert M.
| Vaughan describes him as follows:
| "In appearance, as in manner, the
new Pope offered a strong contrast
with the stout and genial Leo x.
Clements figure was tall, slight and
we'll formed, his complexion was sal
| low, his hair black, his eyes a deep
brown. and he had fine regular fea-
lures. He was more of a typical Medici
than his cousin, Leo. and bore
strong resemblance to his father,
| Giuliano, the only brother of Lorenzo
| the Magnificent, who was murdered
| in the Florentine Cathedral month
before his natural son was born to him.
But although handsome, Clements
| face was rendered unattractive by
reason of it's disagreeable expression
and the look of suspicion which was
constantly passing over it. At the
| date of his election the pontiff was
smooth shaven, as we can observe in
Raphael's celebrated portrait OF
Leo X and in certain of the
frescoes in the Vatican, for it
was not until after the sack Of
Rome, in 1927, that Clement, in sign
of mourning for his past indignities,
| allowed his beard and moustache to
grow naturally, a change which I'M
| doubtedly added dignity to the Pope's
general appearance. If Julius was
the first pontiff to wear a beard,
| Clement was certainly the originator
of the papal moustache, which con-
tinued in vogue among the Roman
pontiffs for nearly two centuries"
pope Clement was perhaps less
learned than Pope Leo, but he was
equally appreciative of the arts and
was q patron of Benvenuto Cellini,
Michelangelo and Raphael. Under
| his direction the famous Stance of
Raphael, commenced under Julius II
and continued under Leo X, were
completed. The tragedy of the reign
of Pope Clement was the sack of
Rome in 1927 by horde OF Germans,
Spaniards and Italians under the
Colonna. all acting in the name of
the Emperor Charles V, whom Glenn
ent had alienated by an alliance with
the King of France. The Pope was
obliged to flee from the Vatican and
take refuge in the Castle of st.
Angelo. In addition to Leo y and
Clement VII, two other Popes bore
the name of Medici, but they were
only distantly connected with the
senior branch of the Florentine fam
lily, which first became prominent
under Cosimo il Vecchio. They were
Gian-Angelo de Medici, who became
Pope Plus ~, and Alessandro de
Medici, who became Pope Leo XI.
X X X X
The daughter of Eden Fhillpotts,
Adelaide Eden Phillpotts, has taken
Bohemia while it was still under Aus
trian domination as the scene of her
novel, "Tomek the Sculptor" The
genius Tomek begins his career on
the peasant farm of his family near
Prague, but he goes to Vienna, where
he is apprenticed to stonemason and
works at stone angels for graves. He
finally becomes famous and is ac-
claimed even in London. The story