o 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 au