_Inspiration_ is another mode of election, not so common as the ballot,
but which, whenever any candidate has succeeded in forming a strong
party, is not without its advantages. Several cardinals call out
together the name of their candidate, and if many of them agree in
calling the same name, the rest are seldom willing to hold out in open
opposition to a choice which after all may be made without them: the
successful candidate always being expected to remember those who
favored, and seldom known to forget those who opposed his election.
A fourth and last mode, never resorted to except in desperate straits,
and when the contest seems interminable, is by _delegation_: the power
of choice being delegated by the cardinals to one or more of their
number, and all solemnly pledging themselves to abide by the decision.
It was thus that Gregory X. was chosen by a delegation of six,--and that
John XXII. became Pope after two years of regular voting had failed to
procure a successor to the Prince of the Apostles. It has been said,
however, that John, who, partly by his talents and partly by fraud, had
raised himself from the lowest walks of life, had no sooner secured a
pledge of concurrence than he announced his own name as that of the
candidate of his choice.
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