[57] Speculat. Lib Venetiis, 1585, Epistolæ.

[58] This opinion, with respect to the milky way, had been held by some of the ancient astronomers. See Manilius. Lib. i. v. 753.

[59] Huyghens announced his discovery in this form: a a a a a a a c c c c c d e e e e e g h i i i i i i i l l l l m m n n n n n n n n n o o o o p p q r r s t t t t t u u u u u, which he afterwards recomposed into the sentence. Annulo cingitur, tenui, plano, nusquam cohærente, ad eclipticam inclinato. De Saturni Lunâ. Hagæ, 1656.

[60] B. vii. v. 364. Other passages may be examined in B. i. 286; iii. 565-590, 722-733; iv. 589; v. 261, 414; vii. 577; viii. 1-178.

Chapter IX.

Account of the Academia Lincea—Del Cimento—Royal Society.

Galileo's resignation of the mathematical professorship at Padua occasioned much dissatisfaction to all those who were connected with that university. Perhaps not fully appreciating his desire of returning to his native country, and the importance to him and to the scientific world in general, of the complete leisure which Cosmo secured to him at Florence, (for by the terms of his diploma he was not even required to reside at Pisa, nor to give any lectures, except on extraordinary occasions, to sovereign princes and other strangers of distinction,) the Venetians remembered only that they had offered him an honourable asylum when almost driven from Pisa; that they had increased his salary to four times the sum which any previous professor had enjoyed; and, finally, by an almost unprecedented decree, that they had but just secured him in his post during the remainder of his life. Many took such offence as to refuse to have any further communication with him; and Sagredo, a constant friend of Galileo, wrote him word that he had been threatened with a similar desertion unless he should concur in the same peremptory resolution, which threats, however, Sagredo, at the same time, intimates his intention of braving.

Early in the year 1611, Galileo made his first appearance in Rome, where he was received with marks of distinguished consideration, and where all ranks were eager to share the pleasure of contemplating the new discoveries. "Whether we consider cardinal, prince, or prelate, he found an honourable reception from them all, and had their palaces as open and free to him as the houses of his private friends."[61] Among other distinctions he was solicited to become a member of the newly-formed philosophical society, the once celebrated Academia Lincea, to which he readily assented. The founder of this society was Federigo Cesi, the Marchese di Monticelli, a young Roman nobleman, the devotion of whose time and fortune to the interests of science has not been by any means rewarded with a reputation commensurate with his deserts. If the energy of his mind had been less worthily employed than in fostering the cause of science and truth, and in extending the advantages of his birth and fortune to as many as were willing to co-operate with him, the name of Federigo Cesi might have appeared more prominently on the page of history. Cesi had scarcely completed his 18th year, when, in 1603, he formed the plan of a philosophical society, which in the first instance consisted only of himself and three of his most intimate friends, Hecke, a Flemish physician, Stelluti, and Anastasio de Filiis. Cesi's father, the Duca d'Acquasparta, who was of an arbitrary and extravagant temper, considered such pursuits and associates as derogatory to his son's rank; he endeavoured to thwart the design by the most violent and unjustifiable proceedings, in consequence of which, Cesi in the beginning of 1605 privately quitted Rome, Hecke was obliged to leave Italy altogether from fear of the Inquisition, which was excited against him, and the academy was for a time virtually dissolved. The details of these transactions are foreign to the present narrative: it will be enough to mention that, in 1609, Cesi, who had never altogether abandoned his scheme, found the opposition decaying which he at first experienced, and with better success he renewed the plan which he had sketched six years before. A few extracts from the Regulations will serve to shew the spirit in which this distinguished society was conceived:—