112

HISTORICAL VIEW OP THE

drew down upon him the whole weight of ecclesiasticalvengeance. The blow was indeed averted for a time,during the liberal administration of pope Clement IV. ;who not only secured Bacon from molestation, butencouraged him to draw up a collection of his treatises;which was afterwards published, under the title of“ Opus Majus,” in 1266'. On the death of that pon.tiff, however, the storm of persecution rose more fiercelyagainst him: under various pretences he was repeatedlyimprisoned, his books prohibited, and his doctrinescondemned. At length, through the interposition ofsome powerful friends, he obtained a release; and re-turning to the pursuit of his studies, though now at anadvanced age, he continued the composition of severalof his works, the last of which was a compendium oftheology; and died peaceably in his convent at Oxford,in 1292.

It is perhaps difficult for us fully to appreciate themerits of such a man as Roger Bacon , from the wantof an adequate idea of the extreme ignorance withwhich he was surrounded; but the respect with whichhis memory has been popularly cherished, is a proofof the commanding elevation of his master mind: healso claims our sympathy as, perhaps, the first of thelong list of the victims of ecclesiastical persecution, andas associated with that illustrious band of patriots tothe republic of letters and science, who maintainedthe cause of intellectual and moral liberty against theodious encroachment of spiritual despotism.

Revival of Algebra , Physics , Astronomy, and Geometry .

The oriental origin of algebra seems unquestionable,but there has existed some difference of opinion as tothe period when it first became known in Europe .The most probable account assigns a date at the verycommencement of the thirteenth century. Leonarda, amerchant of Pisa , having made frequent visits to theEast in the course of commercial adventures, returned to