himself against its effects,
by an affectation of the humblest deference to the decisions of
theology. Had Galileo stood alone, his devotion to science might have
withdrawn him from so hopeless a contest; but he was spurred on by the
violence of a party. The Lyncaean Academy never scrupled to summon him
from his researches. They placed him in the forlorn hope of their
combat, and he at last fell a victim to the rashness of his friends.

But whatever allowance we may make for the ardour of Galileo's temper,
and the peculiarity of his position; and however we may justify and even
approve of his past conduct, his visit to Urban VIII., in 1624, placed
him in a new relation to the church, which demanded on his part a new
and corresponding demeanour. The noble and generous reception which he
met with from Urban, and the liberal declaration of Cardinal Hohenzoller
on the subject of the Copernican system, should have been regarded as
expressions of regret for the past, and offers of conciliation for the
future. Thus honoured by the head of the church, and befriended by its
dignitaries, Galileo must have felt himself secure against the
indignities of its lesser functionaries, and in the possession of the
fullest license to prosecute his researches and publish his discoveries,
provided he avoided that dogma of the church which, even in the present
day, it has not ventured to renounce. But Galileo was bound to the
Romish hierarchy by even stronger ties. His son and himself were
pensioners of the church, and, having accepted of its alms, they owed to
it, at least, a decent and respectful allegiance. The pension thus given
by Urban was not a remuneration which sovereigns sometimes award to the
services of their subjects. Galileo was a foreigner at Rome. The
sovereign of the papal state owed him no obligation; and hence we must
regard the pension of Galileo as a donation from the Roman Pontiff to
science itself, and as a declaration to the Christian world that
religion was not jealous of philosophy, and that the church of Rome was
willing to respect and foster even the genius of its enemies.

Galileo viewed all these circumstances in a different light. He resolved
to compose a work in which the Copernican system should be demonstrated;
but he had not the courage to do this in a direct and open manner. He
adopted the plan of discussing the subject in a dialogue between three
speakers, in the hope of eluding by this artifice the censur