of Bruno were largely forced from him by the violence LITTLE 

 of the opposition he had encountered. Galileo fully be- JOURNEYS 

 lieved that Bruno had been put to death for treason to 

 the Church, and not on account of his astronomical 

 teachings jfr J> 



These men had come up from totally different stations 

 in life. Bruno was a man of the people a self-made 

 man who bore upon his person the marks of the ham- 

 mer. Galileo was of noble blood, and traced an ances- 

 try to a Gonfalonier of Florence. From early infancy 

 he had enjoyed association with polite persons, and 

 had sat on the knees of greatness. 



When eighteen he graduated from the University of 

 Pisa ; and at that early age his family and friends were 

 comparing him, not without reason, to a Genius who 

 had come out of Tuscany some years before, Leonardo 

 da Vinci <& Jt, 



Parents either exaggerate the talents of their children 

 or else belittle them. The woman who bore George 

 Gordon called him "that lame brat; " but we call him 

 "The Poet Byron." Benjamin Franklin ran away from 

 home, and his family thought themselves disgraced by 

 his printed utterances. The mother of George "Wash- 

 ington, on being told that her son had been made Com- 

 mander in Chief, laughed knowingly, and said, "They 

 don't know him as well as I do!" Voltaire's father 

 posted his son as irresponsible, tied up a legacy so 

 "the scapegrace could not waste it," invested good 

 money in daily prayers to be said for the scapegrace's 

 salvation, and then died of a broken heart, just as play- 



39 



