182 the dream of Galileo. June 6. 
is only one round of difsipation, how have they robbed 
merit of all, even of glory, the most precious of its re- 
wards! With what blind devotion do the people bow to , 
them, whom they cozen so fhamefully of the fruits of 
their pofsefsions, and provide for themselves the most lux- 
- utious entertainments from the fat of their herds, and the 
produce of their vineyards! And thou, poor wretch! who 
hast hitherto lived only to God, and thy own vocation, 
who hast never permitted a single pafsion to spring up in 
thy soul, but the pure and holy pafsi6n for truth; who 
hast proved thyself a priest more worthy of the deity 
by discovering the various wonders of his works from the 
fabric of an universe,:to the structure of a worm; must 
thou be deprived of the only comfort for which thow hast 
pined and languifhed so long? of that comfort which is 
not withheld from the beast of the forest, and the fowls 
-of Heaven?—of liberty? What eye watches over .the 
fortunes of men? What righteous and impartial hand, deals 
cut the blefsings of life? thus to suffer those who are un- 
worthy, to plunder their betters, and engrofs every cic to 
themselves. 
I continued to complain till I fell asleep ; and immedi- 
ately a venerable old man seemed to approach my bed- 
side. He stood and beheld me with silent satisfaction, 
while my eye was fixed in admiration upon his contempla- 
tive forehead, and his silver locks. Galileo, said he at last, 
what you now suffer, you suffer on account of the truths 
which I taught you; and the same superstition by which 
you are persecuted, would also have persecuted me, had 
not death procured my eternal freedom. ‘Thou art Coper- 
nicus, exclaimed I, and, before he could answer, caught 
him in my arms. How sweet Viviani are those bonds of 
alliance establifhed among us, by nature herself; but how 
much sweeter are the alliances of the soul! How much 
