Instances of the conduct and cruelty of the Inquisitors will be afterwards given, in treating of their manner of proceeding towards all who are unhappily lodged within the walls of their "holy," or rather unholy edifice. In the meantime, we shall give here the following example of gross ignorance displayed by these spiritual guides, in their zeal to suppress not only true religion, but even philosophy and science, under the pretext of labouring to extinguish heresy. Galileo, the chief mathematician and astronomer of his age, was the first who applied the telescope to any valuable purpose in the science of astronomy. Having become a convert to the system of Copernicus, or what is now called the Newtonian system, that is, that the sun is the centre of motion to a number of planets, and among others the earth, which revolve round the sun at different periods, Galileo attracted the attention of the Inquisitors, was arraigned before their tribunal, and in danger of being put to death. In order to give the reader a specimen of the manner of drawing up a criminal's indictment by the lords of the Inquisition, the following amusing extracts are taken from the libel against Galileo:—"Whereas you, Galileo, of Florence, aged 70, were informed against in the year 1615, in this holy office, for maintaining as true, a certain false doctrine, held by many, namely, that the sun is the centre of the world, and immovable, and that the earth moves round it with a daily motion; likewise, that you have kept up a correspondence with certain German mathematicians concerning the same; likewise, that you have published some letters concerning the solar spots, in which you have explained the same doctrine as true, and that you have answered the objections which in several places were made against you, from the authority of the Holy Scriptures, by construing or glossing over the said Scriptures, according to your own opinions; and finally, whereas the copy of a writing under the form of a letter, reported to have been written by you to one who was formerly your scholar, has been shown to us, in which you have followed the hypothesis of Copernicus, which contains certain propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures:— "Now this holy tribunal, being desirous to provide against the inconveniences and dangers which this statement may occasion, to the detriment of the holy faith, by the command of the most eminent lords, &c. of the Supreme and Universal Inquisition, have caused the two following propositions concerning the immovability of the sun, and the motion of the earth, to be thus qualified by the divines, viz. "'That the sun is the centre of the world, and immovable, with a local motion, is an absurd proposition, false in philosophy, and absolutely heretical, because it is expressly contrary to the Holy Scriptures.