Michael Servetus, or Servede, was a native of Arragon, by profession a physician; he wrote against the orthodox doctrines of the Trinity, but was far from ordinary Unitarianism. He was burned at Geneva, at the instance of Calvin. Calvin was rather fond of burning heretical opponents; to the name of Servetus might be added that of Gruet, who also was burned at the instance of Calvin, for denying the divinity of the Christian religion, and for arguing against the immortality of the soul. It is worth notice that while heresy in this sixteenth century began to branch out openly, and to strike its roots down firmly amongst the people, ecclesiastical historians are compelled to record improvement in the condition of society. Mosheim says: “In this century the arts and sciences were carried to a pitch unknown to preceding ages, and from this happy renovation of learning, the European churches derived the most signal and inestimable advantages.” “The benign influence of true science, and its tendency to improve both the form of religion and the institutions of civil policy, were perceived by many of the states.” The love of literature is the most remarkable and characteristic form of advancing civilisation. Instead of being the absorbing passion of the learned few, it becomes gradually the delight and occupation of increasing numbers. This cultivation of literary pursuits by the masses is only possible when enough of heresy has been obtained to render their scope of study wide enough to be useful. Rotterdam gave life to the polished Erasmus, Valentia to Ludovico Vivez, Picardy to Le Fevre, and France to Rabelais. In the latter half of this century, giants in literature grew out, giants who wrote for the people. William Shakspere wrote even for those who could not read, but who might learn while looking and listening. His comedies and tragedies are at the same time pictures for the people of diverse phases of English life and character, with a thereunto added universality of portrayal and breadth in philosophy, which it is hardly too much to say, that no other dramatist has ever equaled. Italy boasts its ’Torquato Tasso, whose “Jerusalem Delivered,” the grand work of a great poet, marks, like a mighty monument, the age capable of finding even in a priest-ridden country, an audience amongst the lowest as well as the highest, ready to read and sing, and finally permeated with the poet’s outpourings. In astronomy, the name of Tycho Brahe stands out in the sixteenth century like one of the first magnitude stars whose existence he catalogued. Chapter III. The Seventeenth Century