Galileo
His early discoveries
Genius for mathematics
Professor at Pisa
Ridicules the old philosophers; invents the thermometer
Compared with Kepler
Galileo teaches the doctrines of Copernicus
Gives offence by his railleries and mockeries
Theology and science
Astronomical knowledge of the Ancients
Utilization of science
Construction of the first telescope
Galileo's reward
His successive discoveries
His enemies
High scientific rank in Europe
Hostility of the Church
Galileo summoned before the Inquisition; his condemnation
and admonition
His new offences
Summoned before a council of Cardinals
His humiliation
His recantations
Consideration of his position
Greatness of mind rather than character
His confinement at Arceti
Opposition to science
His melancholy old age and blindness
Visited by John Milton; comparison of the two, when blind
Consequence of Galileo's discoveries
Later results
Vastness of the universe
Grandeur of astronomical science

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME VI.

Galileo at Pisa
_After the painting by F. Roybet_.

Dante in Florence
_After the painting by Rafaeli Sorbi_.

The Canterbury Pilgrimage
_From the frieze by R.W.W. Sewell_.

Columbus at the Court of Spain
_After the painting by Vaczlav Brozik, Metropolitan Museum, New_
_York_.

Savonarola
_From the statue by E. Pazzi, Uffizi Gallery, Florence_.

Michael Angelo in His Studio Visited by Pope Julius II
_After the painting by Haman_.

Luther Preaching at Wartburg
_After the painting by Hugo Vogel_.

Henry VIII. of England
_After the painting by Hans Holbein, Windsor Castle, England_.

Cranmer at the Traitor's Gate
_After the painting by Frederick Goodall_.

Madame de Pompadour
_After the painting by Fr. Boucher_.

John Calvin
_From a contemporaneous painting_.

Lord Francis Bacon
_After the painting by T. Van Somer_.

Galileo Galilei
_After the painting by J. Sustermans, Uffizi Gallery, Florence_.

BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY

* * * * *

DANTE.

* * * * *

A. D. 1265-1321.

RISE OF MODERN POETRY.

The first great genius who aroused his country from the torpor of the
Middle Ages was a poet. Poetry, then, was the first influence which
elevated the human mind amid the miseries of a gloomy period, if we may
except the schools of philosophy which flourished in the rising
universities. But poetry probably preceded all other forms of cu