In the same letter Kepler writes, that although he has himself perfect confidence in the truth of Galileo's assertions, yet he wishes he could furnish him with some corroborative testimonies, which Kepler could quote in arguing the point with others. This request produced the following reply, from which the reader will also learn the new change which had now taken place in Galileo's fortunes, the result of the correspondence with Florence, part of which we have already extracted.[53] "In the first place, I return you my thanks that you first, and almost alone, before the question had been sifted (such is your candour and the loftiness of your mind), put faith in my assertions. You tell me you have some telescopes, but not sufficiently good to magnify distant objects with clearness, and that you anxiously expect a sight of mine, which magnifies images more than a thousand times. It is mine no longer, for the Grand Duke of Tuscany has asked it of me, and intends to lay it up in his museum, among his most rare and precious curiosities, in eternal remembrance of the invention: I have made no other of equal excellence, for the mechanical labour is very great: I have, however, devised some instruments for figuring and polishing them which I am unwilling to construct here, as they could not conveniently be carried to Florence, where I shall in future reside. You ask, my dear Kepler, for other testimonies:—I produce, for one, the Grand Duke, who, after observing the Medicæan planets several times with me at Pisa during the last months, made me a present, at parting, worth more than a thousand florins, and has now invited me to attach myself to him with the annual salary of one thousand florins, and with the title of Philosopher and Principal Mathematician to His Highness; without the duties of any office to perform, but with the most complete leisure; so that I can complete my Treatises on Mechanics, on the Constitution of the Universe, and on Natural and Violent Local Motion, of which I have demonstrated geometrically many new and admirable phenomena. I produce, for another witness, myself, who, although already endowed in this college with the noble salary of one thousand florins, such as no professor of mathematics ever before received, and which I might securely enjoy during my life, even if these planets had deceived me and should disappear, yet quit this situation, and betake me where want and disgrace will be my punishment should I prove to have been mistaken."