We will conclude by mentioning a circumstance very little known and with which the public have only recently become acquainted through an unpublished letter of Galileo dated in the second year of his retreat. It exhibits this illustrious scholar in a new light, as an amateur of good wine and good cheer. “I desire,” he says, “that you should take the advice of the most experienced judges, and procure for me with all diligence and with all imaginable care, a provision of forty bottles, or two cases of liqueurs of various kinds and of the most exquisite quality. You need not consider the expense: I am so moderate in all other sensual indulgences that I may allow myself some scope in favour of Bacchus without fear of giving offence to Venus or to Ceres. You will, I think, easily find wines of Scillo and of Carini (Scylla and Charybdis if you prefer to call them so)--Greek wines from the country of my master, Archimedes the Syracusian; Claret wines, &c. When you send me the cases, be so good as to enclose the account, which I will pay scrupulously and quickly, &c. From my prison of Arcetri, 4th March.” “_Con ogni diligenza e col consiglio et intervento dei piu purgati gusti, voglio restar serviti di farmi provisione di 40 fiaschi, cioè di due casse di liquori varii esquisiti che costi si ritrovino, non curando punto di rispiarme dispesa, perche rispiarmo tanto in tutti gl’altri gusti corporali che posso lasciarmi andare a qualche cosa a richiesta di Bacco, senza offesa delle sue compagne Venere e Cerere. Costi non debbon mancare Scillo e Carini (onde voglio dire Scilla e Caribdi) nè meno la patria del mio maestro Archimede Siracusano, i Grecchi, e Claretti, &c. Havranno, come spero, comodo di farmegli capitare col ritorno delle casse della dispensa, ed io prontamente sodisfaro tutta la spesa, &c._ _Dalla mia carcere d’Arcetri, 4 di Marzo._ _Galileo Galiᵉⁱ._” It is worthy of remark that he designates his pretty villa at Arcetri as his prison; probably because he was forbidden to extend his walks beyond the convent of San Matteo. APPENDIX TO THE NOTICE ON WILLIAM TELL. The following _Tellenlied_ is the most ancient known, and has been printed in the collection of M. ROCHHOLZ: _Eidgenössische Liederchronik_, p. 206. In the course of time, this ballad has been often altered in its details; but we give here one of the old forms in which it was written. To complete the picture of William Tell’s legend, we have added the celebrated ballad on the death of Tell, by the great poet UHLAND who, by this poem, say the Germans: _Exegit monumentum ære perennius._ 1. Von einer Eidgenossenschaft Und ihrer unerhörten Kraft Ist mir ein Lied gelungen, Drum will ich diesen ew’gen Bund Besingen und den ganzen Grund, Aus welchem er entsprungen. In einem Land, das wie ein Kern Verschlossen liegt in Bergen fern, Die man als Mauern preiset, Fing dieser Bund zum ersten an, Es ward die Sache frei gethan Im Land, das Uri heisset.