uence. For the most part they have been averse to constraint, and
except in very few instances their opposition has not passed beyond the
exciting of theological odium.

As to Science, she has never sought to ally herself to civil power. She
has never attempted to throw odium or inflict social ruin on any human
being. She has never subjected any one to mental torment, physical
torture, least of all to death, for the purpose of upholding or
promoting her ideas. She presents herself unstained by cruelties and
crimes. But in the Vatican--we have only to recall the Inquisition--the
hands that are now raised in appeals to the Most Merciful are crimsoned.
They have been steeped in blood!

There are two modes of historical composition, the artistic and the
scientific. The former implies that men give origin to events; it
therefore selects some prominent individual, pictures him under
a fanciful form, and makes him the hero of a romance. The latter,
insisting that human affairs present an unbroken chain, in which each
fact is the offspring of some preceding fact, and the parent of some
subsequent fact, declares that men do not control events, but that
events control men. The former gives origin to compositions, which,
however much they may interest or delight us, are but a grade above
novels; the latter is austere, perhaps even repulsive, for it sternly
impresses us with a conviction of the irresistible dominion of law, and
the insignificance of human exertions. In a subject so solemn as that to
which this book is devoted, the romantic and the popular are altogether
out of place. He who presumes to treat of it must fix his eyes
steadfastly on that chain of destiny which universal history displays;
he must turn with disdain from the phantom impostures of pontiffs and
statesmen and kings.

If any thing were needed to show us the untrustworthiness of artistic
historical compositions, our personal experience would furnish it. How
often do our most intimate friends fail to perceive the real motives of
our every-day actions; how frequently they misinterpret our intentions!
If this be the case in what is passing before our eyes, may we not
be satisfied that it is impossible to comprehend justly the doings of
persons who lived many years ago, and whom we have never seen.

In selecting and arranging the topics now to be presented, I have been
guided in part by "the Confession" of the late Vatican Council, and in
part by the order of