Crossword-Solution: PONTIFIC 8 letters, 1 clue 🏆 scrabble score: 15

Not with more glee, by hands Pontific crown'd, With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round, Rome in her Capitol saw Querno sit,[295] Throned on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.

The tyrant from our shore, Like a forbidden demon, fled; And to eternal exile bore Pontific rage and vassal dread.

Though in the case of simple words ending in a double consonant the derivatives usually retain the double consonant, _pontific_ and _pontifical_ (from _pontiff_) are exceptions, and when three letters of the same kind would come together, one is usually dropped, as in _agreed_ (_agree_ plus _ed_), _illy_ (_ill_ plus _ly_), _belless,_ etc.

Then shall come in the faggot and the stake, And they of convert bodies bonfires make; Match shall this lioness with Cæsar's son, From the Pontific sea a pool shall run, That wide shall spread its waters, and to a flood In time shall grow, made red with martyrs' blood.

The laurel was even bestowed on QUERNO, whose character is given in the Dunciad:-- Not with more glee, by hands pontific crown'd, With scarlet hats wide-waving circled round, Rome in her capitol saw _Querno_ sit, Thron'd on seven hills, the Antichrist of wit.