stay in Paris would be dangerous to his
health. He was so "obscure" that he lived for nearly three years as the
guest of the French ambassador in London. He was so "obscure" that he
was known at the court of Elizabeth. He was so "obscure" that he was
a friend of Sir Philip Sidney, and an intimate associate of Dyer, Fulk
Greville, and the chief wits of his age. He was so "obscure" that he was
allowed, as a distinguished foreigner, to lecture at Oxford, and to
hold a public disputation on the Aristotelian philosophy before the
Chancellor and the university. He was so "obscure" that on his return to
Paris he held another public disputation under the auspices of the King.
He was so "obscure" that his orations were listened to by the senate of
the university of Wittenberg. He was so "obscure" that he was publicly
excommunicated by the zealot Boethius. He was so "obscure" that the
Venetian Inquisition broke through its stern rule, and handed him over
as a special favor to the Inquisition of Rome. He was so "obscure" that
he was at last "butchered to make a Roman holiday," the cardinals having
presided at his trial, and his sentence being several pages at length.
Such was "the obscurity in which Giordano Bruno lived and died."

The Scotch libeller hints that Bruno was not burnt after all. He
forgets, or he is ignorant of the fact, that all doubt on that point is
removed by the three papers discovered in the Vatican Library. He merely
repeats the insinuation of M. Desduits, which has lost its extremely
small measure of plausibility since the discovery of those documents.
The martyrdom of Bruno is much better attested than the Crucifixion.
There always was contemporary evidence as well as unbroken tradition,
and now we have proofs as complete as can be adduced for any event in
history.

From the documentary evidence it is clear that Bruno fought hard for
his life, and he would have been a fool or a suicide to have acted
otherwise. He bent all his dialectical skill, and all his subtle
intellect, to the task of proving that religion and philosophy were
distinct, and that so long as a scholar conformed in practice he should
be allowed the fullest liberty of speculation. The Inquisition, however,
pretends that he abjured all his errors, and the Scotch libeller is
pleased to say he recanted. But, in that case, why was Bruno burnt
alive at the stake? According to the laws of the Inquisition, all who
reconciled themselves to the Churc