Francis Laurentius Gangamelli, Pope, was born at St Angelo, in the duchy of Urbino, in October 1705, and chosen pope, though not yet a bishop, in 1769; at which time the see of Rome was involved in a most disagreeable and dangerous contest with the house of Bourbon. His reign was rendered troublesome by the collision of parties on the affairs of the Jesuits; and it is pretended that his latter days were embittered by the apprehensions of poison. Though this report was probably apocryphal, it is said that he often complained of the heavy burden which he was obliged to bear, and regretted, with great sensibility, the loss of that tranquillity which he enjoyed in his retirement when only a simple Franciscan. He was, however, fortunate in having an opportunity, by a single act, to distinguish a short administration of five years in such a manner as will ever prevent its sinking into obscurity. His death was immediately attributed to poison, as if an old man of seventy, loaded with infirmities and disorders, could not quit the world without violence. His proceedings against the Jesuits furnished a plausible pretence for this charge, and the malevolence of their enemies embellished it with other circumstances. It even seems that the ministers of those powers who had procured their dissolution did not think it beneath them to countenance the report; as if falsehood was necessary to prevent the revival of a body which had already sunk, in its full strength, under the weight of real misconduct. The charge was the more ridiculous, as the pontiff had undergone a long and painful illness, which originally proceeded from a suppression of urine, to which he was subject; yet the report was propagated with the greatest industry; and though the French and Spanish ministers were present at the opening of his body, the most horrible circumstances were published relative to that operation. It was confidently reported that the head fell off from the body, and that the stench poisoned and killed the operators. It availed but little that the operators showed themselves alive and in good health, and that the surgeons and physicians proved the falsehood of every part of the report. The world were resolved to believe the report; and the evidence of its falsehood passed unheeded. Clement XIV. appears to have been a man of a virtuous character, and possessed of considerable abilities. He died much regretted, in September 1774. The collection of letters published under the name of this pontiff is not devoid of interest; but it is well known that those letters were written by Caraccioli, who, however, asserted till his last hour that he was only their translator. See Biographie Universelle, art. Caraccioli.