364 WOMAN IN SCIENCE 



each other, and the gentle religieuse was not only her 

 father's confidante and consoler in the hours of trial and 

 affliction, but was also his inspirer and ever-vigilant guar- 

 dian angel. She watched over him, not as a daughter over 

 a father, but as a mother watches over an only son. 1 



All this is beautifully exhibited in her one hundred and 

 twenty-four letters which were published in 1891 for the 

 first time. A few of these letters, it is true, were published 

 as early as 1852 by Alberi, in his edition of the complete 

 works of Galileo, and others were given to the press at 

 subsequent dates ; but the world had to wait more than two 

 and a half centuries for a complete collection of all the 

 known letters of this remarkable daughter of an illustrious 

 sire. 



These documents are precious for the insight they give 

 into the sterling character of a noble woman, but they are 

 beyond price as sources of information respecting the tend- 

 erly affectionate relations which existed between her and 

 one of the foremost men of science, not only of his own age, 

 but of all time. They show how he made her his confidante 

 in all his undertakings, and how she was his amanuensis, 

 his counselor, his inspirer; how her love was an incentive 

 to the work that won for him undying fame ; how she was 

 his support and comfort when suffering from the jealousy 

 of rivals or the enmity of those who were opposed to his 

 teachings. 



These letters cover a period of nearly eleven years the 

 most momentous years of her father's busy and troubled 

 life. Now playful, quaint, elfish, then serious, vivid, confi- 

 dential, they show that the writer's intelligence was as 

 rare as her nature was loyal and affectionate. At times 

 she half -apologizes for the length of a letter, "but you 



i ' ' E nell ' amore della figlia il grande astronomo trovo non 

 soltanto un conforto a suoi affanni, ma anche una guida benefica alia 

 quale sembro egli abandonarsi con cieca tenerezza figliale. " La 

 Storia del Feminismo, p. 509, by. G. L. Arrighi, Florence, 1911. 



