28 THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF MICHAEL SCOT 



conjecture in a high degree. It commences thus : 

 6 Here beginneth the preface of the Liber Intro- 

 ductorius which was put forth by Michael Scot, 

 Astrologer to the ever August Frederick, Emperor 

 of the Romans, at whose desire he composed it con- 

 cerning astrology, 1 in a simple style 2 for the sake 

 of young scholars and those of weaker capacity, and 

 this in the days of our Lord Pope Innocent iv.' 3 

 One cannot help noticing the close correspondence 

 between this and the colophon of the Astronomia. 

 The two treatises were the complement each of the 

 other. They must have been composed about the 

 same time, and were doubtless meant to serve as 

 text-books to guide the studies of Frederick's youth. 

 That this royal pupil should have been led through 

 astrology to the higher and more enduring wonders 

 of astronomy need cause no surprise, for such a 

 course was quite in accordance with the intellectual 

 habits of the age. It may be doubted indeed 

 whether the men of those times would have shown 

 such perseverance in the observations and discoveries 

 proper to a pure science of the heavens, had it 

 not been for the practicable and profitable interest 

 which its application in astrology furnished. Astro- 

 nomy, such as it then was, formed the last and 

 highest study in the Quadrivium. 4 It was here that 

 Scot had carried off honours at Paris, and now in 

 his Liber Introductorius and Astronomia, we see 



1 The Paris MS. reads ' in Astronomia,' a good example of the con- 

 fusion mentioned above. 2 ' Leviter.' 



3 This is a mistake common to both the MSS. Innocent iv. did not 

 begin to reign till 1243, when Scot was long in his grave. Innocent in., 

 who was Pope from 1198-1216, is the person meant. He was guardian 

 to Frederick n. during his minority. 



4 According to the line : ' Lingua, Tropus, Katio, Numerus, Tonus, 

 Angulus, Astra,' in which the Trivium and Quadrivium were succinctly 

 and memorably expressed. 



