Galileo was in despair, and on 7th March, 1631, addressed a long letter to Bali Cioli, in which he first related the course of the negotiations respecting the “Dialogues”[236] in detail, and then asked for the powerful intervention of his Highness the Grand Duke, at Rome, to bring the business to a conclusion, so that he (Galileo) might enjoy while he lived these fruits of the labours of over fifty years. Little did Galileo foresee what dire results these “fruits” were to bring. On 8th March his request was granted, and he was informed that Niccolini, at Rome, would be commissioned in the name of the Grand Duke to hasten as much as possible the termination of the negotiations with the Master of the Palace.[237] Galileo was all the more pleased with the success of this attempt, because meanwhile, weary of the long delays, he had begun to have his “Dialogues” printed. This is confirmed by a letter from him of 20th March to his learned friend, Cesare Marsili, in which he says that six sheets of his work, which would consist of fifty or more, were finished.[238] We may here remark that this proceeding of Galileo’s has been the subject of severe and unjustifiable blame on the part of some authors actuated by party spirit. It seems the less called for, since Galileo made no secret of the printing having been begun, and he was not reproached for it at the subsequent trial before the Inquisition. He quite supposed that after Father Stephani had inspected and sanctioned the work, all the conditions were fulfilled. He therefore considered Riccardi’s consent to the publication in Florence as certain. It never occurred to him that after all this he would raise new difficulties.