by routine; he helped it along only by the influence he exercised at
Paris and Versailles, by recommendations to the ministers in reality,
he was merely the remote and worldly representative of his
ecclesiastical principality at court and in the drawing-room.[31]
When, from time to time, he made his appearance there, the bells were
rung; deputations from all bodies hurried to his antechambers; each
authority in turn, and according to the order of precedence, paid him
its little compliment, which compliment he graciously returned and
then, the homage being over, he distributed among them benedictions
and smiles. After this, with equal dignity and still more graciously
throughout his sojourn, he invited the most eligible to his table and,
in his episcopal palace or in his country-house, he treated them as
guests. This done, he had performed his duty; the rest was left to his
secretaries, ecclesiastical officials and clerks, men of the bureaux,
specialists and "plodders." "Did you read my pastoral letter?" said a
bishop to Piron. And Piron, who was very outspoken, dared reply,
"Yes, my lord. And yourself?"

Under the modern régime, this suzerain for show, negligent and
intermittent, is succeeded by an active sovereign whose reign is
personal and constant; the limited and easy monarchy of the diocese is
converted into an universal and absolute monarchy. When the bishop,
once invested and consecrated, enters the choir of his cathedral to
the reverberations of the organ, lighted with wax candles amidst
clouds of incense, and seats himself in solemn pomp[32] "on his
throne," he is a prince who takes possession of his government, which
possession is not nominal or partial, but real and complete. He holds
in his hand "the splendid cross which the priests of his diocese have
presented to him," in witness of and symbolizing their voluntary,
eager and full obedience; and this pastoral baton is larger than the