His nest discovery he also concealed in the same enigmatical manner : the transposed letters signify, in their proper order " Cynthia) figura, Immolator meter "met.= ; " (Venus rivals the moon's phases;) alluding to the crescent form of this planet when in or near conjunc tion. His discovery of spots on the sun's disc, which were evidently attached to that lumlnary,was a severe blow to the imaginary perfection of the sehoolmen.
The Jesuits had always entertained a cordial hatred for Galilei, as he had joined the party by whom they had been expelled from Padua; the progress of his discoweriea was therefore reported to the Inquisition at Itome as dangerous to religion, and be was openly denounced from the pulpit by Caccini, a friar. In his own justification he wrote letters, one to his pupil Castelli, and another to the Archduchess Christina, in which be repudiate. any attack upon religion, and states that the object of tho Scriptures was to teach men the way of 'ideation, and not to instruct them in astronomy, for the acquiring of which they ware endowed with sufficient natural faculties. Nevertheless the Inquisition was implacable, and ordered Cecelia to draw up depositions against Garnet; but his appearance in person at Rome in 1615, and his able defence of his conduct, for a moment silenced his persecutors.
In March 1616 the pope (Paul V.) granted Gelilei an audieuce, end assured him of his personal safety, hut positively required him not to teach the Copernican] doctrine of the motion of the earth : Galata complied, and left !tome in disgust. He had soon occasion to turn his attention again to astronomy, for in 1618 there appeared no less than three comets, on which occurrence Galilei advised his friend. not to conceive too hastily that comets are like planets, moving through the immensity of space, but that they may be atmospheric ; his reasons for this, though ingenious, are fallacious, as are those which lie afterwards gave for the causes which produce tides, which he attributes to the unequal velocities of different pare of the sea by reason of the com bination of the rotatory and progressive motions of the earth, which at some points conspire together and at others are opposed. Wallis afterwards seems to have adopted the sante opinion, which could never have been entertained had either of them reflected on the complete independence of the rotatory and progressive motions of bodies. The motion of the whole solar system too would, on their aupposition, have affected the tides; but dynamics had as yet no existence, and Galilei often frankly confesses that he is more a philosopher than a mathe matician. lie afterwards went to Rome, and was received with great
kindness by the next pope (Urban VIII.): his enemies were silenced for awhile, and he was sent borne to Tuscany loaded with favours and presents; and though his patron, Cosmo II. de' Medici, was dead, his successor, Ferdinand II., showed him strong marks of esteem and attachment.
In 1630 he finished, and in 1632 completed, his celebrated work, 'Dialogue on the Ptoleniaio and Copernican Systems,' which he dedi cated to Ferdinand IL By giving the work this form, his object seems to have been to evade his promise not to teach theCopernican doctrines. Three fictitious persons conduct the dialogue : Salviati, a Copernican ; Sagredo, a banterer on the same side ; and Simplicio, a Ptolemaist, who get. much the worst both by jokes and arguments. In his dia logue Gallici was thought to have aimed at the prohibition in some of his sareaatio remarks; and the pope, who had been personally friendly with Galilei, fancied, apparently with some reason, that he was the person held up to ridioule in the last character, as some arguments which he had used had been put into Simplicio's mouth; he was therefore mortally offended, and the Inquisition resolved not to allow the attempted evasion of Galilee solemn promise. Galilci was accordingly aummoned to Rome, though he was seventy years of ago and overwhelmed with infirmities; he had however all the protection and comforts which the grand duke could confer on him, being kept at the Tuscan ambassador's house; and this spirited man (Nicolini) even wished to maintain him at his own expeuso when he perceived a penurious disposition in Ferdinand's minister.
After some months' residence iu Rome be was again summoned before the Inquisition, and on the 20th of Juue appeared before the assembled inquisitors in the convent of Minerva. The whole of his sentence is too long to be transcribed here, hut it portion of it is too curious to be omitted :— "By the desire of his Holiness, and of the most eminent Lords Cardinals of this supreme and universal Inquisition, the two prop*• rations, of the stability of the sun and motion of the earth, were qualified by the Theological Qualifiers as follows :— "1st The proposition that the sun is the centre of the world and immoveable from its place, is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical ; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scripture.