“Your printed letters to Welser have reached me, and are very welcome. I shall not fail to read them with pleasure, again and again, which they deserve. This is not a book which will be allowed to stand idly among the rest; it is the only one which can induce me to withdraw for a few hours from my official duties to devote myself to its perusal, and to the observation of the planets of which it treats, if the telescopes we have here are fit for it. Meanwhile I thank you very much for your remembrance of me, and beg you not to forget the high opinion which I entertain for a mind so extraordinarily gifted as yours.”[181] But the cardinal had not confined himself to these assurances of esteem and friendship in his letters, but had proved them by his actions in 1615 and 1616, by honestly assisting to adjust Galileo’s personal affairs when brought before the Inquisition. And Maffeo Barberini attributed the success then achieved in no small degree to his own influence, and used even to relate with satisfaction when Pope, that he had at that time assisted Galileo out of his difficulties. But here we must remind those authors who represent Barberini, when cardinal, as a Copernican, in order to paint his subsequent attitude as Pope in darker hues than history warrants, that although in 1615 and 1616 he exerted himself for Galileo personally, he in no way sought to avert the condemnation of the system. In 1620, however, Barberini gave Galileo a really enthusiastic proof of his esteem. He celebrated his discoveries in some elegant and spirited verses, in which astronomy was allied with morality, and he sent them to Galileo, under date of 28th August, with the following letter:— “The esteem which I always entertain for yourself and your great merits has given occasion to the enclosed verses. If not worthy of you, they will serve at any rate as a proof of my affection, while I purpose to add lustre to my poetry by your renowned name. Without wasting words, then, in further apologies, which I leave to the confidence which I place in you, I beg you to receive with favour this insignificant proof of my great affection.”[182] When this dignitary, who was generally regarded as a friend and protector of science, had ascended the papal chair, the “Accadémia dei Lincei” hastened to dedicate “Il Saggiatore” to his Holiness, in order to spoil the sport of the author’s enemies beforehand.