1622. I make no reference to the case of Galileo, except this. I have
pointed out (_Penny Cycl. Suppl._ "Galileo"; _Engl. Cycl._ "Motion of the
Earth") that it is clear the absurdity was the act of the _Italian_
Inquisition--for the private and personal pleasure of the Pope, who _knew_
that the course he took would not commit him as _Pope_--and not of the body
which calls itself the _Church_. Let the dirty proceeding have its right
name. The Jesuit Riccioli,[158] the stoutest and most learned
Anti-Copernican in Europe, and the Puritan Wilkins, a strong Copernican and
Pope-hater, are equally positive that the Roman _Church_ never pronounced
any decision: and this in the time immediately following the ridiculous
proceeding of the Inquisition. In like manner a decision of the Convocation
of Oxford is not a law of the _English_ Church; which is fortunate, for
that Convocation, in 1622, came to a decision quite as absurd, and a great
deal {97} more wicked than the declaration against the motion of the earth.
The second was a foolish mistake; the first was a disgusting surrender of
right feeling. The story is told without disapprobation by Anthony Wood,
who never exaggerated anything against the university of which he is
writing eulogistic history.
In 1622, one William Knight[159] put forward in a sermon preached before
the University certain theses which, looking at the state of the times, may
have been improper and possibly of seditious intent. One of them was that
the bishop might excommunicate the civil magistrate: this proposition the
clerical body could not approve, and designated it by the term
_erronea_,[160] the mildest going. But Knight also declared as follows:
"Subditis mere privatis, si Tyrannus tanquam latro aut stuprator in ipsos
faciat impetum, et ipsi nec potestatem ordinariam implorare, nec alia
ratione effugere periculum possint, in presenti periculo se et suos contra
tyrannum, sicut contra privatum grassatorem, defendere licet."[161]
That is, a man may defend his purse or a woman her honor, against the
personal attack of a king, as against that of a private person, if no other
means of safety can be found. The Convocation sent Knight to prison,
declared the proposition _"falsa_, periculosa, et _impia_," and enacted
that all applicants for degrees should subscribe this censure, and make
oath that they would neither hold, teach, nor defend Knight's opinions.
The thesis, in the form given, was unnecessary and improper. Though strong
opinions of the king's rights were advanced at the time, yet no one
ventured to say that, {98} ministers and advisers apart, the king might
_personally_ break the law; and we know that the first and only attempt
which his successor made brought on the crisis which cost him his throne
and his head. But the declaration that the proposition was _false_ far
exceeds in all that is disreputable the decision of the Inquisition against
the earth's motion. We do not mention this little matter in England. Knight
was a Puritan, and Neal[162] gives a short account of his sermon. From
comparison with Wood,[163] I judge that the theses, as given, were not
Knight's words, but the digest which it was customary to make in criminal
proceedings against opinion. This heightens the joke, for it appears that
the qualifiers of the Convocation took pains to present their condemnation
of Knight in the terms which would most unequivocally make their censure
condemn themselves. This proceeding took place in the interval between the
two proceedings against Galileo: it is left undetermined whether we must
say pot-kettle-pot or kettle-pot-kettle.
Liberti Fromondi.... Ant-Aristarchus, sive orbis terrae immobilis.
Antwerp, 1631, 8vo.[164]
This book contains the evidence of an ardent opponent of Galileo to the
fact, that Roman Catholics of the day did not consider the decree of the
_Index_ or of the _Inquisition_ as a declaration of their _Church_. Fromond
would have been glad to say as much, and tries to come near it, but
confesses he must abstain. See _Penny Cyclop. Suppl._ "Galileo," and _Eng.
Cycl._ "Motion of the Earth." The author of a celebrated article in the
_Dublin Review_, in defence of the {99} Church of Rome, seeing that
Drinkwater Bethune[165] makes use of the authority of Fromondus, but for
another purpose, sneers at him for bringing up a "musty old Professor." If
he had known Fromondus, and used him he would have helped his own case,
which is very meagre for want of knowledge.[166]
Advis a Monseigneur l'eminentissime Cardinal Duc de Richelieu, sur la
Proposition faicte par le Sieur Morin pour l'invention des longitudes.
Paris, 1634, 8vo.[167]
This is the Official Report of the Commissioners appointed by the Cardinal,
of whom Pascal is the one now best known, to consider Morin's plan. See the
full account in Delambre, _Hist. Astr. Mod._ ii. 236, etc.