him by saying that Galileo was here on purpose to obey and to recant everything which could be injurious to religion. He then adroitly turned the subject, and returned to the request that his Holiness would have compassion on Galileo, and allow him to remain at the embassy. Urban merely replied that he would have special apartments assigned to Galileo, the best and most comfortable in the Holy Office. With this Niccolini had to be content. In concluding the despatch of 13th March to Cioli, in which he reported this interview, he says:—[345] “When I returned home I told Galileo in part the conversation with his Holiness, but not for the present, that it was intended to summon him to the Holy Office, because I am convinced that this news would cause him the deepest concern, and he would be in the greatest anxiety till the time came. I have thought all the more that it was best to act thus, as no further particulars are as yet known about his citation; for the Pope told me in reference to the speedy settlement of the business, that he did not know what hope there was of it, but that all that was possible would be done.” Meanwhile, Ferdinand II., in spite of the increasingly unpromising aspect of affairs, continued indefatigably to sustain his ambassador’s efforts. The latter and Galileo, in two letters of 19th March,[346] asked the Grand Duke to send letters of recommendation to the eight other cardinals who composed the Holy Congregation, like those he had sent to their eminences Bentivoglio and Scaglia, lest they should feel themselves slighted, and the Grand Duke readily granted the request.[347] The prelates, however, received these letters with mixed feelings, and excused themselves from answering them, as it was forbidden them in their capacity as members of the Holy Office; some even hesitated to receive the letters at all, and it was not till Niccolini pointed out that Cardinal Barberini and others had received them, that they consented to do so.[348] These letters had evidently produced the happiest effect with the Cardinals Scaglia and Bentivoglio. They united, as Niccolini reported on the 19th to Cioli, in protecting Galileo. Scaglia even read the celebrated “Dialogues,” and, which was more to the purpose, that he might, with the help of Castelli,[349] who was best qualified to do it, explain the offending passages in a conciliatory spirit.