[153] One of the Commissioners was the father of Blaise Pascal.
[154] These instruments were very inferior to those now in use under the same name. See "Treatise on Opt. Instrum."
[155] Theoricæ Mediceorum Planetarum, Florentiæ, 1666.
[156] Circulus affixus virgæ paletorum qui cum eâ de vi movetur.
[157] Utriusque Cosmi Historia. Oppenhemii, 1617.
[161] De nova Temporis dimetiendi ratione. Londini, 1680.
[163] Museum Mazuchellianum, vol. ii. Tab. cvii. p. 29.
[166] Clarorum Belgarum ad Ant. Magliabech. Epistolæ. Florence, 1745, tom. i. p. 235.
[168] Natural and Political Observations. London, 1665.
[169] See also Hudibras, Part II. Cant. III.
They're guilty by their own confessions Of felony, and at the Sessions Upon the bench I will so handle 'em, That the vibration of this pendulum Shall make all taylors' yards of one Unanimous opinion; A thing he long has vaunted of, But now shall make it out of proof.
Hudibras was certainly written before 1663: ten years later Huyghens speaks of the idea of so employing the pendulum as a common one.
_Character of Galileo--Miscellaneous details--his Death--Conclusion._
THE remaining years of Galileo's life were spent at Arcetri, where indeed, even if the Inquisition had granted his liberty, his increasing age and infirmities would probably have detained him. The rigid caution with which he had been watched in Florence was in great measure relaxed, and he was permitted to see the friends who crowded round him to express their respect and sympathy. The Grand Duke visited him frequently, and many distinguished strangers, such as Gassendi and Deodati, came into Italy solely for the purpose of testifying their admiration of his character. Among other visitors the name of Milton will be read with interest: we may probably refer to the effects of this interview the allusions to Galileo's discoveries, so frequently introduced into his poem. Milton mentions in his 'Areopagitica,' that he saw Galileo whilst in Italy, but enters into no details of his visit.
Galileo was fond of society, and his cheerful and popular manners rendered him an universal favourite among those who were admitted to his intimacy. Among these, Viviani, who formed one of his family during the three last years of his life, deserves particular notice, on account of the strong attachment and almost filial veneration with which he ever regarded his master and benefactor. His long life, which was prolonged to the completion of his 81st year in 1703, enabled him to see the triumphant establishment of the truths on account of which Galileo had endured so many insults; and even in his old age, when in his turn he had acquired a claim to the reverence of a younger generation, our Royal Society, who invited him among them in 1696, felt that the complimentary language in which they addressed him as the first mathematician of the age would have been incomplete and unsatisfactory without an allusion to the friendship that gained him the cherished title of "The last pupil of Galileo."[170]