he man. "Linacre's personal character was
highly esteemed by his contemporaries. He was evidently capable of
absolute devotion to a great cause, animated by genuine public spirit
and a boundless zeal for learning." Erasmus sketches him humorously in
the "Encomium Moriae" (The Praise of Foolishness)--with a play on the
word _Moriae_ in reference to his great friend, Thomas More, of whom
Erasmus thought so much--showing him a tireless student. The
distinguished foreign scholar, however, considered Linacre as an
enthusiast in recondite studies, but no mere pedant. Dr. Payne closes
his appreciation with these words: "Linacre had, it would seem, no
enemies."

Caius, the distinguished English physician and scholar, himself one of
the best known members of the Royal College of Physicians and the
founder of Caius College, Cambridge, sketches {107} Linacre's
character (he had as a young man known him personally) in very
sympathetic vein. As Dr. Caius was one of the greatest Englishmen of
his time in the middle of the sixteenth century, his opinion must
carry great weight. It is to him that we owe the famous epitaph that
for long in old St. Paul's, London, was to be read on Linacre's
tombstone:--

"_Fraudes dolosque mire perosus, fidus amicis, omnibus ordinibus
juxta carus_. A stern hater of deceit and underhand ways, faithful
to his friends, equally dear to all classes,"

Surely this is a worthy tribute to the great physician, clergyman,
scholar, and philanthropist of the eve of the Reformation in England.

{108}

V.

FATHER KIRCHER, S.J.:

SCIENTIST, ORIENTALIST, AND COLLECTOR.

{109}

Oportet autem neque recentiores viros in his fraudare quae vel
repererunt vel recte secuti sunt; et tamen ea quae apud antiquiores
aliquos posita sunt auctoribus suis reddere.--CELSUS _de Medicina_.

{110}

[Illustration: ATHANASIUS KIRCHER]

{111}

V.

FATHER KIRCHER, S.J.: SCIENTIST, ORIENTALIST, AND COLLECTOR.

Except in the minds of the unconquerably intolerant, the Galileo
controversy has in recent years settled down to occupy something of
its proper place in the history of the supposed conflict between
religion and science. In touching the subject in the life of
Copernicus we suggested that it has come to be generally recognized,
as M. Bertrand, the perpetual Secretary of the Paris Academy of
Sciences, himself a distinguished mathematician and historian,
declares, that "the great lesson for those who