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most of the best hands, as I was informed, were occupied in the convent with the internal ceremony, the external was all performed in the chapel.
When the cardinal was robed, the novice was led into the chapel by a lady of the first rank in Rome, and brought to the altar in an exceeding splendid dress. Her hair was of a beautiful light brown, and curled en tte de mouton all over her head. Her robe was of the richest embroidered, and, I believe, em- bossed, blue and silver, I ever saw. She had on a large stage hoop, and a great quantity of diamonds; more than two yards of her train swept the ground; she seemed rather a pretty sort of young person than a beauty.
When she first appeared, she looked very pale, and more dead than alive; she made a most profound reverence to the cardinal, who was seated on the steps of the altar in his mitre and all his rich vestments, ready to receive her. She threw
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