faction herein desired. To-day I think of examining him in order to obtain the said confession; and having, as I hope, received it, it will only remain to me further to question him with regard to his intention, and to impose the prohibitions upon him; and that done, he might have the house assigned to him as a prison, as hinted to me by your Eminence, to whom I offer my most humble reverence.

1

Rome, 28th April, 1633.

Your Eminence's humble and most obedient servant,
FRA VINCO DA FIRENZUOLA.”

The second hearing did not take place on the 28th, as Firenzuola proposed, but not till the 30th, perhaps on account of Galileo's indisposition. He had again to take an oath that he would speak the truth, after which he was requested to state what he had to say. He then began the following melancholy confession :

"In the course of some days' continuous and attentive reflection on the interrogations put to me on the 16th of the present month, and in particular as to whether, sixteen years ago, an injunction was intimated to me by order of the Holy Office, forbidding me to hold, defend, or teach 'in any manner,' the opinion that had just been condemned,—of the motion of the earth and the stability of the sun,-it occurred to me to re-peruse my printed dialogue, which for three years I had not seen, in order care. fully to note whether, contrary to my most sincere intention, there had, by inadvertence, fallen from my pen anything from which a reader or the authorities might infer not only some taint of disobedience on my part, but also other particulars which might induce the belief that I had contravened the orders of the Holy Church. And being, by the kind permission of the authorities, at liberty to send about my servant, I succeeded in procuring a copy of my book, and having procured it I applied myself with the utmost diligence to its perusal, and to a most minute consideration thereof. And as, owing to my not having seen it for so long, it presented itself to me, as it were, like a new writing and by another author, I freely confess that in several places it seemed to me set forth in such a form that a reader ignorant of my real purpose might have had reason to suppose that the arguments adduced on the false side, and which it was my intention to confute, were so expressed as to be calculated rather to compel conviction by their cogency than to be easy of solution. Two arguments there are in particular-the one taken from the solar spots, the other from the ebb and flow of the tide-which in truth come to the ear of the reader with far greater show of force and power than

1 Niccolini's.

ought to have been imparted to them by one who regarded them as inconclusive, and who intended to refute them, as indeed I truly and sincerely held and do hold them to be inconclusive and admitting of refutation. And, as excuse to myself for having fallen into an error so foreign to my intention, not contenting myself entirely with saying that when a man recites the arguments of the opposite side with the object of refuting them, he should, especially if writing in the form of dialogue, state these in their strictest form, and should not cloak them to the disadvantage of his opponent, not contenting myself, I say, with this excuse,-I resorted to that of the natural complacency which every man feels with regard to his own subtleties and in showing himself more skilful than the generality of men, in devising, even in favour of false propositions, ingenious and plausible arguments. With all this, although with Cicero avidior sim gloriae quam satis est,' if I had now to set forth the same reasonings, without doubt I should so weaken them that they should not be able to make an apparent show of that force of which they are really and essentially devoid. My error, then, has been-and I confess it—one of vainglorious ambition, and of pure ignorance and inadvertence.

This is what it occurs to me to say with reference to this particular, and which suggested itself to me during the re-perusal of my book." 1

After making this humiliating declaration, Galileo was allowed immediately to withdraw. No questions were put to him this time. But he must have thought that he ought to go still further in the denial of his inmost convictions, further even than Father Firenzuola had desired in his extra-judicial interview, further than the Inquisition itself required. He did not consider the penitent acknowledgment of the "error" into which he had fallen in writing his " Dialogues" sufficient. The Inquisition was to be conciliated by the good resolution publicly to correct it. He therefore returned at once to the court where the sacred tribunal was still sitting, and made the following undignified proposition:

"And in confirmation of my assertion that I have not held and do not hold as true the opinion which has been condemned, of the motion of the earth and the stability of the sun,-if there shall be granted to me, as I desire, means and time to make a clearer demonstration thereof, I am ready to do so and there is a most favourable opportunity for this, seeing that in the work already published, the interlocutors agree to meet again after a certain time to discuss several distinct problems of nature, connected with

1 Vat. MS. fol. 419 ro. 420 vo.

the matter discoursed of at their meetings. As this affords me an opportunity of adding one or two other' days,' I promise to resume the arguments already adduced in favour of the said opinion, which is false and has been condemned, and to confute them in such most effectual method as by the blessing of God may be supplied to me. I pray, therefore, this sacred tribunal to aid me in this good resolution, and to enable me to put it in effect."1

It is hard to pass an adverse judgment on such a hero of science; and yet the man who repeatedly denies before his judges the scientific convictions for which he had striven and laboured for half a century, who even proposes in a continuation of his monumental work on the two chief systems of the world to annihilate all the arguments therein adduced for the recognition of the only true system, can never be absolved by the historical critic from the charge of weakness and insincere obsequiousness. It was, however, the century the opening of which had been ominously marked by the funeral pile of Giordano Bruno, and but eight years before, the corpse of Marc 'Antonio de Dominis,—the famous Archbishop of Spalato, who had died suddenly in the prisons of the Engelsburg during his trial before the Inquisition,-had, after the sentence of the Holy Tribunal, been taken from its resting place and publicly burnt in Rome, together with his heretical writings.

1 Vat. MS. fol. 420 vo. 421 ro.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE TRIAL CONTINUED.

Galileo allowed to return to the Embassy.-His Hopefulness.-Third Hearing.-Hands in his Defence.-Agreement of it with previous Events. Confident Hopes of his Friends.-Niccolini's Fears.-Decision to examine Galileo under threat of Torture.- Niccolini's Audience of the Pope.-Informed that the Trial was over, that Galileo would soon be sentenced, and would be imprisoned.-Final Examination.Sent back to "locum suum."-No Evidence that he suffered Torture or was placed in a Prison Cell.

ON the day on which the second hearing had taken place, at Firenzuola's suggestion to the Pope, Galileo was permitted, in consideration of his age and infirmities, to return to the hotel of the Tuscan ambassador, on oath not to leave it, not to hold any intercourse with any one but the inmates of the house, to present himself before the Holy Office whenever summoned, and to maintain the strictest silence about the course of the trial. On the very next day Niccolini wrote to Cioli with great satisfaction: "Signor Galileo was yesterday sent back to my house when I was not at all expecting him, and although the trial is not yet ended." The Tuscan Secretary of State replied on 4th May, with the curt observation: "His Highness was much pleased at the liberation of Signor Galileo," and immediately adds the illhumoured and unworthy remark: "It appears to me that I must remind your Excellency that when I wrote to you to entertain Signor Galileo at the embassy, the time specified was one month, and the expenses of the remaining time must 2 Op. ix. pp. 441, 442.

1 Vat. MS. fol. 421 vo.

fall upon himself."1 Niccolini replied with ill-concealed

indignation: "It would not become me to speak of this subject to Galileo while he is my guest; I would rather bear the expense myself, which only comes to fourteen or fifteen scudi a month, everything included; so that if Galileo should remain here the whole summer, that is six months, the outlay for him and his servant would amount to about from ninety to a hundred scudi." 2

Galileo, who had no idea that his generous protector, Niccolini, had even had to go into unpleasant questions about his support, was entertaining the most confident hopes of a successful and speedy termination of his trial. Although his letters of this period are unfortunately not extant, we see from the answers of his correspondents what sanguine accounts he sent them. Geri Bocchineri wrote on 12th May:

"I have for a long time had no such consolatory news as that which your letter of the 7th brought me. It gives me well-founded hopes that the calumnies and snares of your enemies will be in vain; and in the end, the annoyances involved in the defence, maintenance, and perhaps even increase, of your reputation, can be willingly borne, as you undoubtedly have borne them, since you have gained far more than you have lost by the calamity that has fallen upon you! My pleasure is still more enhanced by the news that you expect to be able to report the end of the affair in the next letter." 4

But many a post day was to pass over, many a letter from Galileo to be received, before his trial was to come to the conclusion he so little anticipated.

On 10th May he was summoned for the third time before the Holy Tribunal, where Father Firenzuola, the CommissaryGeneral of the Inquisition, informed him that eight days were allowed him in which to write a defence if he wished

Wolynski, "La Diplomazia Toscana," etc., p. 61.

2 See Niccolini to Cioli, 15th May, 1633. (Op. ix. p. 442.)

3 Galileo's letters between 23rd April and 23rd July, just the most interesting time, are entirely wanting, which can scarcely be altogether accidental.

4 Op. ix. p. 353.