_Election of a Pope_ (Vol. iii., p. 142.).--Probably T. refers to the
(alleged) custom attendant upon the election of a pope, as part of the
ceremony alluded to in the following lines in _Hudibras_:--
"So, cardinals, they say, do grope
At t'other end the new made Pope"
Part I. canto iii. l. 1249. [24mo. ed. of 1720.]
In the notes to the above edition (and probably to other of the old
editions) your correspondent will find a detailed explanation of these two
lines: I refer him to the work itself, as the "note" is scarcely fit to
transcribe here.