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OF THE DISCOVERIES OF

be sullied by a number of dark spots, which ap-peared upon different parts of its surface; a greatnumber of new stars were discovered in everypart of the heavens; the planet Jupiter wasfound to be attended with four moons, thatmoved round him in the same manner as ourmoon moves round the earth; the phases ofVenus appeared like the monthly phases of themoon ; and, in short, every observation he made,furnished him with a new proof in favour of theCopernican system, and served to shew that thereis not so great a difference between celestial andsublunary nature, as the philosophers of anti-quity had vainly imagined.

Galileo was now in the seventieth year of hisage, and but for the persecution of those whoought to have cherished and revered him, hislife might have been as happy to himself as itwas beneficial to mankind. In the midst of hisresearches and discoveries, which he prosecutedwith the greatest assiduity, he was summonedbefore the tribunal of the inquisition, as a manof the most obnoxious and dangerous princi-ples; and on the 22d of June, 1663, the fol-lowing arret was pronounced against him, byseven cardinals, who were appointed his judges.It is a curious specimen of catholic infallibility;and as I am indebted for it to a member of thatcommunity, I shall give it you in his ownwords.

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