"——ch' a Christo
Piu s' assomiglia."
There was but little conversation as we drove back in the midnight. And when at last, in the starry distance, arose the mighty cupola of Santa Maria del Fiore, I caught myself searching among the towers of Florence for the lonely spire of Santo Spirito.
Galileo-Galilei,
the Florentine Astronomer.
1564-1642.
[Footnote 125]
"Even so great a man as Bacon rejected the theory of Galileo with scorn. … Bacon had not all the means of arriving at a sound conclusion which are within our reach; and which secure people who would not have been worthy to mend his pens from falling into his mistakes."—Macaulay.
[Footnote 125: Galileo—The Roman Inquisition. Cincinnati. 1844.
Galileo e l'Inquisizione. Marino-Marini. Roma. 1850.
Histoire des Sciences Mathématiques en Italie. Par Libri. Paris. 1838.
Notes on the Ante-Galilean Copernicans. Prof. De Morgan. London. 1855.
Opere di Galileo-Galilei. Alberi. Firenze. 1842-1856. 16 vols. imp. 8vo.
Galileo-Galilei, sa Vie, son Procès et ses Contemporains. Par Philarète Chasles. Paris. 1862.
Galileo and the Inquisition. By R. Madden. London. 1863.
Galilee, sa Vie, ses Découvertes et ses Travaux. Par le Dr. Max Parchappe. Paris. 1866.
Galilee. Tragédie de M. Ponsard. Paris. 1866.
La Condamnation de Galilée. Par M. l'Abbé Bouix. Arras. 1866.
Articles on Galileo, in Dublin Review. 1838-1865.
Articles on Galileo, in Revue des Deux Mondes. 1841-1864.
Mélanges Scientifiques et Littéraires. Par J. B. Biot. 3 vols. Paris. 1858.
Galilée, les Droits da la Science et la Méthode des Sciences Physiques. Par Thomas Henri Martin. Paris. 1868.]
Very few years of life now remain to the Galileo story as heretofore accepted. It has received more than one mortal wound, and, writhing in pain, must soon "die among its worshippers." And yet some of them still battle for its truth. For these, too, the end approaches. We therefore hasten to glean the field and gather in our harvest of historic leaves, while yet the controversial sun shines with fading warmth. We wish at once to present the Galileo story as truly told; for soon there will be nothing left of it to discuss, and the moving drama of
"The starry Galileo, with his woes,"