tion, we may conclude with certainty that the sketch was made with Galileo's concurrence, or even that the main idea of it was his own. For on close examination we find that the idea on which the whole introduction turns—namely, that it was by no means ignorance of the scientific arguments in favour of the Copernican system which led to the verdict of 1616—is precisely the same as that stated by Galileo in his reply to Ingoli in 1624.[1] As we are aware, since the plague prevented Galileo from returning to Florence or sending the whole MS., he sent the introduction and conclusion to the chief censor, who kept them for months, and did not return them to the Inquisitor at Florence till 19th July. From Riccardi's letter we learn two facts: firstly, that he had only concerned himself with the introduction, leaving the conclusion to the author with the vague remark we have quoted; and secondly, that Galileo's preface must have undergone considerable alterations by the chief censor, as he gave him leave to alter the style but not the sense. There can be no more doubt that the Pope had some hand in the final composition of the preface than that it was not penned by himself. Riccardi appeals in both his ex officio letters to the Inquisitor of 24th May and 19th July, to the "views" and commands of his Holiness; and when the great storm afterwards burst, the Master of the Palace loudly asserted that in Galileo's affairs he had always and in everything acted in concert with the papal secretary, Mgr. Ciampoli, and the latter appealed decidedly to special commands of Urban's.[2] Riccardi and Ciampoli indeed paid for this indiscretion with the loss of their posts, but Cantor has aptly remarked on the subject that, "evidence of the falsity of a statement was never yet
- ↑ Comp. p. 120.
- ↑ Marini, p. 127. Pieralisi tries to convince the reader that Ciampoli acted quite despotically in the matter; and says that when Riccardi refers to "the Pope," it was not Maffeo Barberini, but Mgr. Ciampoli, "Giovanni Ciampoli non Maffeo Barberini era il Papa"! p. 113, a statement which, considering Urban's despotic character and the absence of historical proof, appears very arbitrary.
