Marjorie Nicolson. The Telescope and Imagination

The Telescope and Imagination
Author(s): Marjorie Nicolson

Source: Modern Philology, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Feb., 1935), pp. 233-260
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
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THE TELESCOPE AND IMAGINATION
DURING the last fewyears-perhaps because of the dominant
interestof our own time-students of literaryhistoryhave
becomemoreand moreaware of the importanceof the scien-
tificbackgroundin determiningthe directionof certaincurrentsof
literature,and have beenincreasingly consciousoftheextentto which
majorand minorwritershave feltthe pressureofcontemporary scien-
tificconceptions.Of all the periodsin whichscientificthoughthas
transformed the world,no age, it is agreed,untilour own,saw more
tremendouschangesthan that ofthe Renaissance;and, ifthereis one
thingupon whichhistoriansare agreed,it seems to be that the most
epoch-making of these changescame about throughwhat is vaguely
called "Copernicanism."The difference between"old" and "new" is
said to be foundin the difference betweengenerationswho felttheir
earththecenteroftheuniverseand generations whohave learnedthat
theirearthis no such thing. Yet, thoughwe have paid lip-serviceto
that theory,we have feltour convictionsfall beforepoet afterpoet
who,knowingwithhis intellectthehypothesesofCopernicus,stillfelt
imaginativelythat the "littleworldof men" remainsa solid ball be-
neath his feet,still the centerof his universe.The studentof seven-
teenth-century literaturewho reads thoughtfully those earlierpoets
who firstexperiencedthe strangenessof the "new astronomy,"and
the somewhatlater poets who accepted it as a matterof course,be-
comes aware that therewas littlestirringof the cosmicimagination
even among those who defendedCopernicus.Ultimatelyhe reaches
theconclusionthat,althoughtheintelligent laymanoftheseventeenth
centurywas awareof theso-calledCopernicanhypothesis, in itselfthe
hypothesis disturbed him little; in itselfit led in few cases to either
or
optimism pessimism, but rather, as in the case of Milton's angel,
to a judicial weighingof hypotheseswithouttoo muchconcernas to
whichshouldfinallybe provedtrue.'
1 I suspect that the opinion of the second Viscount Conway on the subject was charac-
teristic of many an intelligent gentleman who, like himself,was "noe otherway a Scholer
then a Scotch pedler is a Marchant." He wrote to his daughter-in-law in 1651 (Conway
letters[1930], p. 32): "Copernicus hath divers followersnot bycause his opinion is true but
bycause the opinion is differentfrom what all men in all ages ever had, for he hath not
[MODERN PHILOLOGY, February, 1935] 233
234 MARJORIENICOLSON
Yet somethingin the "new astronomy"did lead to both optimism

and pessimism.There is a feelinghere of change,of awareness of
astronomicalimplicationwhich both disturbsand fascinates the
seventeenth-century mind. On the one hand, man is shrinkingback
froman unknowngulfof immensity, in whichhe feelshimselfswal-
lowedup; on theother,he is,likeBruno,"risingon wingssublime"to a
spaciousnessof thoughthe had not knownbefore.The poetic and
religiousimaginationof the centurywas not onlyinfluenced, but ac-
tually changed,by something latent in the "new astronomy." New
figuresof speech appear, new themesforliteratureare found,new
attitudestowardlifeare experienced,even a new conceptionof Deity
emerges.All ofthesehave littleto do withtheproblemoftherelative
positionoftheearthand sun; theyare noteven,forthemostpart,the
consequenceof man's knowledgethat his earthis not a special crea-
tionof God's, the centerof the universe.The centurywas aware less
ofthe positionoftheworldthanoftheimmensity oftheuniverse,and
the possibilityof a pluralityof worlds. It is thiswhichtroublesand
enthrals;the solid earth shrinksto minuteproportions, as man sur-
veys the new cosmos; it is a tinyball, moving in indefinitespace, and
beyond it are other worlds with othersuns, all part of a cosmic
scheme whichdefeatsimagination.Not only that; the seventeenth
century,as it becameconsciousof indefinite space, became aware also
that in the littleworld a new microcosm reflectedthenew macrocosm.
Againand again we may findmenturning, as Pascal in themostmag-
nificentpassage on the subject,fromcontemplating "entirenaturein
her heightand fullmajesty," froma bewilderinguniversein which
"this visibleworldis but an imperceptible pointin the ample bosom
of nature," "anotherprodigyequally astonishing,"the world"of
to
thingsmostminute"in whichthe "conceivableimmensityofnature"
is displayedagain "in the compass of thisabbreviationof an atom."
Like Pascal, manya man aftertheinventionofthemicroscopeviewed
"thereinan infinity of worlds"and lost himself"in these wonders,as
astonishingin theirlittlenessas the othersin theirmagnitude."2
proved that there is any ill consequence by holding that the Earth doth stand still and the
heavens move, or discover the least Error in this Tenent, but only he hath very ingeniously
shewed that it may be as well demonstrated that the heavens stand still as that the earth
stands still, we shall know no more then we doe if we think as he doth."
2Blaise Pascal, Thoughts,trans. 0. W. Wight (1893), pp. 158-60.
THE TELESCOPE AND IMAGINATION 235
Such passagesas thesearenotthedirectresultof"Copernicanism,"

but theyare nonetheless theresultofthe "new astronomy."It is the
source of such passages whichthe studentmust seek if he is to dis-
coverwhat reallytransformed modernimagination.Not Copernicus
but Bruno,Galileo, and Kepler are reflectedhere. On the one hand,
the poetic intuitionof the Nolan; on the other,an actual sense ex-
perienceled Milton,Pascal, and othersofthemidcentury to an aware-
ness of the vastnessand the minutenessofthe natureofthe universe
and of man-an experiencewhichto our age is so much taken for
grantedthat only withdifficulty can we thinkourselvesback to the
situationof that firstgenerationof men who by experienceof the
telescope,and of its descendant,the microscope,sometimesin one
nightsaw the crashing-down of the "flamingrampartsof the world"
when
Theyviewedthevastimmeasurable Abyss,
as a sea,dark,wasteful,
Outrageous wild.3
In thisarticle,and in thosewhichfollow,I shall seek to tracethat
experience,attemptingto see how the imaginationof firstone, then
another,was transformed as he looked throughthe telescope,then
throughthemicroscope,and as he read thevolumesofotherswhohad
done so. We may perhapsdate thebeginningofmodernthoughtfrom
the nightof January7, 1610, whenGalileo, by means of the instru-
mentwhichhe had developedwithsuchlabor,actuallyperceivednew
planetsand new worlds.' But thereweretwo earliermomentswhich
must be consideredin any studyof the awakeningof modernastro-
nomicalimagination-differing in degree,but muchthe same in kind
-the momentsof the discoveryofTycho's "new star" of 1572 and of
Kepler's of 1604. These were the precursorswhich preparedmen's
minds to accept what would otherwisehave seemed incrediblein
Galileo's Sidereusnunciusin 1610-the most importantsinglepubli-
cation,it seems to me, of theseventeenthcentury,so faras its effect
upon imaginationis concerned.I shall tryat the presenttimeto re-
constructtheinstantaneouseffectwhichthediscoveriesreportedthere
had upon the poetsofGalileo's owncountry,in orderthattheireffect
upon poeticimaginationin Englandmaybe betterunderstood.In the
paperswhichfollow,I shall tracethecourseofthateffectin England,
3 Paradise lost, VII, 209-10. 4 See below, pp. 244--45.
236 MARJORIE
NICOLSON
themergingofGalileanideas withthosealreadynativethere,and then

shall followthe developmentsof the "new astronomy"as it appearsin
literature,watchingnew figuresof speech,new literarythemes,new
cosmic epics, most of all the transformationof poetic and religious
imaginationby ideas which,once grasped,man has neverbeen able to
forget.5
I
The firstofthegreatdiscoverieswhichwereto makethe thoughtful
laymanoftheday-the poet,thetheologian-awareofthenewheavens
and the newearthwhichmodernastronomyhas disclosedoccurredon
November 11, 1572, when Tycho Brahe, the Danish astronomerat
Uraniborg,noticedin the constellationof Cassiopeia what seemedan
unfamiliarbrightstar.8Astonishment seized him,and at firsthe not
unnaturallybelievedthat he must be mistaken;for,accordingto the
accepted"Aristotelianism" oftheday,all thestars,evenmorecertain-
ly than all the sparrows,were knownand numbered.In the classic
doctrineof the schools, the heavens were perfectand immutable,
subject neitherto changenordecay,the heavenlygalaxyunalterable.
As Tycho continuedto observethe appearance witha sextant,how-
ever,the brillianceof the star-it was equal to Venus at its brightest
-and its continuance-forit did notfallbelowthefirstmagnitudefor
fourmonths-assured him that he could not have been mistakenin
his observations.He was ultimatelyprevailedupon to writeand pub-
lisha treatisein whichhe maintainedstoutlythatthiscould not be, as
many thought,a comet,and establishedto the satisfactionof those
not too closelybound by orthodoxythat this was a new star. Such a
contentionwas not only, of course, in oppositionto the orthodox
philosophyoftheheavens,but-much moreimportantto the average
mind-it struckat the root of establishedastrology.Though others
6 This is the firstof a series of papers, all of which have the same general theme: "The
telescope and imagination." The second in the series, "The introduction of the 'new as-
tronomy' into England," is concerned, as the title suggests, with the early effectof Kep-
ler's and Galileo's ideas upon English writers, and the relation they bore to the work of
such native astronomers as Digges and Hariot. I have dealt in that article particularly
with John Donne and Ben Jonson. Later articles in the series deal with the theme of a
plurality of worlds, together with the new conception of the moon, and show the interest
in the old literary theme of a voyage to the moon, interpreted in the light of the new
science; with the effectof the microscope upon both religious and aesthetic imagination;
and with the reaction of certain individual poets--notably Milton-to the new ideas.
9 Cf. J. L. E. Dreyer, Tycho Brahe (Edinburgh, 1890), pp. 38-69.
saw and studiedthe new light,"Tycho's star" it was, and "Tycho's

star" it remainedin popular imaginationduringthe centurythat
followed.' As late as 1650,indeed,longafterKepler'snewstarof1604,
longafternovaehad cometo be generallyaccepted,Drydenwentback
to Tycho fora figureof speech,whenhe wroteon the death of Lord
Hastings:
Liv'dTychonow,struckwiththisray(whichshone
Morebright i' th'morn,thanothers'beamat noon)
andseekoutthere
He'd takehisastrolabe,
Whatnewstar'twasdidgildourhemisphere.8
Had Tycho livedthreeyearslongerthan he did,he mighthave had
theopportunity to see thereceptionin 1604ofthenewsofanothernew
star, and to realize that his seed had not fallenupon entirelybarren
soil,and we mighthave been privilegedto see whetherornothisinter-
pretationof the later novawould have differed in its astrologicalsig-
nificance.But Tycho died in 1601; and Kepler, with whomthe dis-
coveryofthenewstarof 1604is associated,had been onlyan infantin
1572. Yet Kepler had had every opportunityto hear at firsthand
Tycho's theorieson newstars,and the appearanceof thestar of 1604
could hardlyhave been as startlingto himas thatof 1572 had seemed
to Tycho. In 1599 whenTycho, who had leftUraniborgaftermany
years of astronomicalobservation,had settled at Prague under the
patronageof the EmperorRudolph, he learned of a promisingand
daringyoungmathematician, JohannKepler,who was greatlyin need
of support. Kepler was at this time but twenty-eight years of age,
though his intellectual experienceshad been those of a man twicehis
years. As earlyas his university days Kepler had come underthespell
of "Copernicanism,"even thenbeginningto be a dangerousheresy.9
7 The "new star" of 1572 was observed in England by Thomas Digges, who wrote an
important treatise on the subject, Alae seu scalae mathematicae, etc. (1573). The book, dedi-
cated to Lord Burghley, describes the observations Digges had made. His name, however,
is seldom mentioned in connection with the discovery of new stars, though,as will be seen,
he was important in the development of the telescope. Tycho himself,in his later Astrono-
miae instauratac progymnasmata,devotes a long section to a discussion of Digges's work.
See Dreyer, III, 167-203. I shall discuss the English interest in "new stars" in the second
article in this series.
8 Upon the death of Lord Hastings, 11. 43-46.
, While the Ptolemaic system was publicly expounded at Tilbingen, where at the age
of seventeen Kepler received the Bachelor's degree, Michael Maestlin, professorof mathe-
matics who taught the accepted philosophy in his lectures, took occasion to instruct this
In 1596 Keplerpublishedthefirstofhisgreatworks,the Mysterium

cosmographicum,'0 which,farless importantin the historyof thought
than his laterworks,seemsalwaysto have remainedhis ownfavorite,
forKepler-as too fewmodem scientistsseem to realize-remained,
in his own mind,firsta mystic,second a scientist. The Mysterium
cosmographicum appealed profoundlyto that type of Renaissance
mindwhich,likeSirThomas Browne,lovedthe"mystickmathematick
of heaven." Here one may findthe mysteriesof numbersand of dis-
tances,the conceptionofthe Great Geometerwho in his designofthe
universehas been moved by what Sir Thomas Browne delightedto
call the "QunicuncialOrdination"in the "strangeCryptography"of
"his starrieBooke of Heaven." To Kepler the mysteryof the sacred
number5 lies at the centerof the universe,and his excitementover
the later discoveryof Galileo's fourplanetswas marredonlyby his
regretthat theyhad not been fivein number." While thereis much,
even in the Mysteriumcosmographicum, which contributedto the
of
history astronomy as the scientist
knows it, it is essentialforany
understanding of the effect which Kepler was to produce upon the
imaginativemindsof later poets and theologiansto realize that his
firstpublicdefenseof Copernicuswas based upon his profoundbelief
that Copernicanismwas ultimatelyconsistentwithmysticism.
The Mysteriumcosmographicum was followedby a seriesof short
papers,all markedby the same mysticism,which,afterhis banish-
mentto Hungary,Kepler sent back to Maestlin in Tiibingen,witha
pitifulrequest for aid.'2 Perhaps as a result,in 1599 Tycho urged
most promising of his pupils privately in the principles of the Copernican hypothesis. Cf.
C. Carl Rufus, "Kepler as an astronomer" in Johann Kepler, 1571-1630: a tercentenary
commemoration of his life and works .... prepared under the auspices of the History of
Science Society (1931), pp. 4-5.
10 Prodromus dissertationum Mathematicarum continens Mysterium Cosmographicum.
.... Addita est Narratio G. Joachimi Rhetici De libris revolutionum, atque admirandis de
numero, ordine, et distantiis sphaerarum mundi hypothesibus .... N. Copernici. Tubingae,
1596.
1 Kepler's firstacquaintance with Galileo came about over their friendlycorrespond-
ence about the Mysterium cosmographicum; cf. Johann Kepler, etc., p. 87. In the first letter
writtenby Galileo to Kepler, dated August 4, 1597, acknowledging the receipt of the book,
Galileo says that even from the preface of the book, "I catch a glimpse of your meaning,
and feel great joy on meeting with so powerful an associate in the pursuit of truth." In
the same letter he tells Kepler: "Miany years ago I became a convert to the opinions of
Copernicus, and by his theory have succeeded in explaining many phenomena which on
the contrary hypothesis are altogether inexplicable" (quoted in J. J. Fahie, Galileo: his
life and work [1903], pp. 40-41).
12 On the magnet; On the cause and obliquity of the eclipse; On the Divine Wisdom as shown
in the Creation; cf. Rufus, p. 14.
Kepler to come to Prague "as a welcome friend,"and aftersome

hesitationon Kepler's part,the offerwas accepted. For a littlemore
than a yearthetwomenworkedtogether,findingfundamentalagree-
ment in spite of theirdifferences, and at Tycho's sudden death the
followingyear Kepler foundhimselfheirnot onlyto Tycho's post of
chiefimperialmathematicianbut-what was to him of far greater
importance-spiritualheir to Tycho's great legacy of astronomical
observationsand hypotheses,which were to affectall his later dis-
coveriesand conclusions.The firstofhis importantpublicationsafter
Tycho's death-concerningthe new star-showed clearlyhis famili-
aritywithTycho's long ponderingson that earlierstar of 1572.
In 1604 the immutableheavens of Aristotle-and his orthodox
disciples!-were again disturbedby the appearance of a new star in
the constellationof Serpentarius-brighter, some declared,than the
earlierstar; twiceas bright,said others,as Jupiter.'3The earlierstar
had dawned upon an amazed and unsuspectingworldwhich-Kepler
suggestedin theironicintroduction to theworkwhichhe immediately
wrote4--felt it to be a "secrethostileinruption,""an enemystorming
a town and breakinginto the market-placebeforethe citizensare
aware of his approach."'5 This one, he declared,skilfullymingling
astrologyand irony,had come in a year,and at a season ofwhichthe
astrologershad predictedgreat things,and would thereforebe ac-
claimednotas thesecretcomingofan enemy,but as the "spectacleof
a public triumph,or the entryof a mightypotentate. ... then at
last the trumpeters and archersand lackeysso distinguishthe person
of the monarch,that thereis no occasionto pointhimout, but every
one criesofhis own accord-'Here we have him!'" The subtlesatire
throughoutthe wholeworkis such that it is small wonderthat the
13Kepler's formerteacher, Maestlin, who was among the firstto observe the new star,
wrote of it: "How wonderfulis this new star! I am certain that I did not see it before29th
September, nor indeed, on account of several cloudy nights, had I a good view till 6th Oc-
tober. Now that it is on the other side of the sun, instead of surpassing Jupiteras it did,
and almost rivallingVenus, it scarcely equals the Cor Leonis, and hardly surpasses Saturn.
It continues, however, to shine with the same bright and strongly sparkling light, and
changes colour almost every moment, now tawny, then yellow, presently purple, and red,
and, when it has risen above the vapours, most frequentlywhite" (Fahie, p. 54).
14Among Kepler's publications on the new star were GriZndtlicher berichtVon einem
ungewohnlichen newen stern, welcher in october diss 1604 jahrs erstmahlen erschienen (Prag,
1605); Joannis Keppleri. . .'. . De stella nova in pede Serpentarii, et qui sub ejus exortum do
novo iniit, trigono igneo. Libellus astronomicis, physicis, metaphysicis, meteorologicis et as-
trologicis disputationibus, (vb&ot et roapao.ootz plenus. De stella incognita Cygni: narratio
astronomica .... (Pragae, 1606). There were other editions and at least one other version.
Is Quoted in W. W. Bryant, Kepler (1920), p. 30.
240 MARJORIE
NICOLSON
adversariesofthenewastronomysometimeshailedhimas an ally,and
insisteduntilthe end that Kepler's positionwas that of the upholder
of the orthodoxastrology.
Kepler was not the onlygreatscientistwho gained both fameand
infamyfromhis defenseof newstars. On the tenthof October,1604,
Galileo Galilei,whothenheld theMathematicChairat theUniversity
of Padua, and was alreadya teacherofnote,observedthenova. Dur-
ingthenextfewmonthshe studiedit closely,and in January,1605,he
proposedit for discussionin his public lectures-which duringthe
precedingsessionhad been upon the theoryofthe planets. No better
evidenceof the interestwhichthe new star excitedin thepublicmind
can be foundthan the contemporaryaccounts of the crowdswhich
throngedhis lecture-room, forcinghim to lecturein the Aula Magna
of the University. The differencesbetweenhis theoriesand those of
Tycho and Kepler need not detain us here.16All of them agreed in
theiroppositionto the accepted Aristotelianphilosophyof the heav-
vens, and Kepler and Galileo both challengedthe Ptolemaic astron-
omy by the Copernican.Galileo's public declarationson the subject
mark the real beginningof the bitterantagonismwhich he was to
encounterthroughouthis wholelife."7
Even Galileo, however,had no presage,as he watchedthe popu-
lar excitementarousedby thediscoveryofa singlenewstar,thatwith-
in six years thatexcitementwas to be multiplieda hundredfold,and
thathe himself, almostovernight,was to add to humanknowledgenot
16 "He demonstrated that it was neither a meteor, nor yet a body existing from all
time, and only now noticed, but a body which had recently appeared and would again
vanish. Unlike his contemporaries, Tycho Brahe and Kepler, who thought that new stars
(and comets) were temporary conglomerations of a cosmical vapour fillingspace; or, as is
now thought, the result of some catastrophe or collision whereby immense masses of in-
candescent gases are produced, Galileo suggested that they mightbe products of terrestrial
exhalations of extreme tenuity, at immense distances from the earth, and reflectingthe
sun's rays-an hypothesis which .... he also applied to comets" (Fahie, p. 55).
17In answer to the attack of Antonio de MIontepulciano, Galileo published in 1605 his
satirical Dialogo de Cecco di Ronchitti da Bruzene in perpuosito del la stella nuova (Padua,
1605). This is reprinted, with a modern Italian version, in the "Edizione nazionale" of
Galileo's works, Le opere di Galileo Galilei .... Direttore, Antonio Favaro, Vol. II (1891).
In the same volume Favaro has included Frammenti di lezione e di studi sulla nuova stella
dell'ottobre,1604. The controversy was continued a few years later when, after Galileo's
firstpublications on the telescope, Baldassare Capra, of Milan, claimed the invention of
the instrument in his Usus et fabrica circini cujusdam proportionis (Padua, 1607). Galileo
replied with his Difesa contro alle calunnie et imposture di Baldessar Capra, in the first part
of which he defends his contentions about the new star which Capra had also attacked.
This reply, together with the two papers of Capra, has been reprintedby Favaro, Le opere,
Vol. II.
one star,as Tycho and Keplerhad done,but starsinnumerable, a new

moon, new planets-a new world. All that the curiousand observant
eye ofman unaidedcould discoverwas knownto Galileo in 1605; but
beyondthe reach of human eye, shroudedas it had been since the
beginning, stretcheda new cosmos. Its discoveryby thegeniusofone
man mightwellhave beencalledbyBacon's majestictitle,TheGreatest
Birthof Time.
II
As seven cities warredfor Homer being dead, so at least seven
countrieshave warredforthe honorof possessingin theirannals the
inventorofthatsimplestyet mostepoch-making ofinstruments-the
telescope. Searchforits originleads one into manypathsof timeand
place. Was there,in any real sense,an "inventor"ofthetelescope,or
did it developby slow stages frommoreprimitiveinstruments whose
beginnings are lost in the mist of Its
antiquity?'8 possible originis
foundby variousmoderncommentators in the "merkhet"or "measur-
ing instrument" of the in
Egyptians, Arabianlegend,in the "queynte
mirours"and "perspectives"ofChaucer,moreprobablyin the "glass-
es or diaphanousbodies" of Roger Bacon. But no recordremainsof
discoveriesmade by any of these instruments.We approach the
modernscientific worldmorecertainlyin the case ofThomas Digges,
is Bibliography upon this subject is so extensive--leading as it does to treatments on
both the telescope and the microscope, that I shall list only certain studies which I have
found of most interest or significance; others which particularly concern the microscope
I reserve for an article on that subject. Among modern treatments the followingare par-
ticularly important: A. N. Disney, C. F. Hill, and Watson Baker, Origin and development
ofthemicroscope(London, 1928); C. Singer,"Steps leading to the invention of the firstopti-
cal apparatus," in Studies in the history and method of science (Oxford, 1921), II, 385 ff.;
G. Govi, "Il microscopio composto inventato da Galilei," Atti R. Accad. Sci. Fis. Nat., II,
Ser. 2 (Napoli, 1888) (English translation in the Jour. Roy. Microsc. Soc., IX [London,
1889], 574 ff.); one of the best general accounts may be found in R. T. Gunther, Early
science in Oxford, II (1923), 288-331. Among early accounts of the instruments which I
have found of most value is the treatment by Hieronymus Sirturus, Telescopium ars
sire etc.
perficiendi novum illud Galilaei visorum instrumentum ad sidera, in tres partes divisa,
(Francofurti, 1618). This contains not only contemporaryaccounts of the origin of the in-
trument, but also important comment upon the early reception of Galileo's discoveries.
From the many important seventeenth-centuryworks on the subject I select the following
as of particular interest: G. Schott, De magia telescopia, sive de fabrica, usu, et effectu pro-
digioso telescopii et microscopii (1657); G. Schott, Magia universalis naturae et artis (1657-
77); H. Power, Experimental philosophy (1664); Robert Hooke, Micrographia (1665);
Hooke, Lectures and collections (1678); Petrus Borellus, De vero telescopii inventore (1655);
R. P. F. Zahn, Oculus artificialis telediophricus sire telescopium (1685-86) ; J. F. Griendelius,
Micrographia nova (1687); P. Z. Traber, Nervus opticus sive tractatus theoricus (1690);
W. Molyneux, Dioptrica nova (1692); Robert Hooke, "Discourse concerningtelescopes and
microscopes," in Philosophical experiments and observations of .... Dr. Robert Hooke (Lon-
don, 1726), pp. 257-68.
242 MARJORIE NICOLSON
whoseexperiments, made about 1550,seem to provethat he had dis-

coveredthe principleof the telescope. Withone possibleexception,'9
however,Digges,likehis slightlylatercontemporary, Dr. Dee, seems
to have been more concerned with of
magnification objects upon
earththanwithobservationofthecelestialbodies.
So far as modem astronomyis concerned,then, all these early
discoveries,interestingthoughtheyare,are onlypreliminary sketches
forthe finishedportrait.Clearlythey-and otherslike them-helped
preparethe way; forit was not merecoincidencethat Holland, Ger-
many,France,and Italy all claimtheinventionofthetelescopeabout
1608. Whoevertheactual inventor,it is unquestionablethatthelens-
makersof Holland firstconstructedtelescopesin such a way as to
make themavailable forastronomicaldiscovery,thoughno one ofthe
early makers producedan instrumentof sufficient power to make
celestialobservations.In 1608,withina monthtwo spectacle-makers
-Jan Lippersheyof Middelburghin Zealand and James of
Alkmaar-filed petitionsforthe exclusiverightof manufacture.Metius
and
sale of instrumentsforseeing at a distance." Withinthe next few
monthsa numberof the instruments weremanufactured and sold in
various partsof Europe.
Importantthoughit may be to thehistorianofscienceto establish
the inventorof the telescope,to the historianof ideas the precise
originationof an instrumentis of littlereal consequence. The lens-
makerswho exhibitedthe novelty,the aristocratswho consideredit
an interesting toy,mightwell have remainedin the Paradise of Fools
had it not been forone man who, recognizinginstantlythe poten-
tialitiesof the new instrument,had the abilityto developit in such a
way that it mightbe used forcelestialobservation,and the geniusto
interpretwhat he saw. No one doubts that this was Galileo Galilei.
As the star of 1572 remained"Tycho's star," so the telescopealmost
19 The most recent study of Digges suggests that his concept of infinitymay have been
the result of the fact that he did use the telescope forastronomical observation. See Francis
R. Johnson and Sanford V. Larkey, "Thomas Digges, the Copernican system, and the
idea of the infinityof the universe," HuntingdonLibrary Bulletin, No. 5 (April, 1934), pp.
69-117. I am discussing the early English experiments on the telescope at more length in
the second article in this series.
20 Dr. G. M611in 1831 published various important notes on this subject taken fromthe
papers of Professor van Swinden ("On the firstinvention of telescopes," Jour. Roy. Inst.
[London, 18311). Pierre Borell, in De verotelescopiiinventore,etc.,claims priorityforZacha-
rias Jansen.
overnightbecame "Galileo's tube," and such it remained to the

seventeenthcentury.2 It seems that Galileo, on a visit to Venice
about May, 1609, heard of the presentationby a Dutchman--prob-
ably Lippershey--toPrinceMaurice of Nassau of an optical instru-
mentwhich,as if by magic,broughtfarobjects near.22Immediately
recognizingthe principlefromthe description,and evidentlyforesee-
ing the possibilities,Galileo set himselfto the construction
of an in-
strumentwithsuch success that he was able to reportto his brother-
in-lawon August29, 1609, that he had made a glass whichfarsur-
passed the powersof the one reportedfromFlanders.23He describes
21
I have been more and more impressed by this fact as I have read the various seven-
teenth-centuryaccounts of the telescope. The earliest commentators were aware, from
Galileo's own statements and fromhis replies to his antagonists, that Galileo did not claim
to have invented the telescope. But, as the century progresses, Galileo's name becomes
almost legendary, and he is credited with even more wonders than he performed. Indeed
it becomes unusual in the two centuries which follow to findas cautious a statement as this
of Jean de Hautefeuille, Les merreillesqui ontestl nouvellementdecouvertesaux astres du ciel
(Paris, 1674), p. 3: "L'Autheur ne se nomme point. Il est a croire que l'on est venua sa
connoissance par degrez, et insensiblement." Such a statement as this of Claude Comiers
is more common (La natureet presagedes comates[Lyon, 1665], p. 482): "Les ordinaires et
communes Lunettes de longue-veue portent encore le nom de Galile, qui le premier les a
heureusement mis en pratique." Samuel Fuller, author of some of the most popular works
on astronomy in the eighteenthcentury,declares flatly(Practical astronomy[Dublin, 1732],
pp. 139-42): "Galileus a Florentine about 1615 firstinvented and applied the Telescope to
the Discovery of Celestial Objects." One of the few exact accounts of the history of the
instrument by a seventeenth-centuryauthor is to be found in the paper which Robert
Hooke delivered to the Royal Society in February, 1691-2 (see R. T. Gunther, "Life and
works of Robert Hooke," Early science in Oxford, VII [19301,735 ft.). Here Hooke gives
a survey of the extra-Galilean development of the instrumentas adequate as those one
finds in many modern writers, mentioning the contribution of Roger Bacon, Baptista
Porta, Digges, Mletius,and others.
22 Cf. 6Ii11,pp. 319, 483, 496. Logan Pearsall Smith (The life and lettersof Sir
Henry
Wotton,I (1907], 486 n.) findsevidence in letters of Paoll Sarpi that news of the telescope
reached Venice as early as 1608, but mentions a differentaccount given in dispatches of
Giorgio Bartoli, secretary of the Tuscan resident. He speaks of a telescope being tried
fromthe campanile of San Marco on August 22, 1609, and of another brought to Venice by
a stranger a week later.
23 This familiar letter has been frequentlyreprinted,and may be found easily available
in Fahie, pp. 77-78. A very significantsentence indicates that Galileo had not actually
seen any of the Dutch instruments,but, having heard of them, had readily deduced the
optical principle involved. In commenting on the original report he says: "This result
seemed to me so extraordinary that it set me thinking,and as it appeared to me that it
depended on the laws of perspective, I reflectedon the manner of constructingit, and was
at length so entirelysuccessful that I made a spy-glass which farsurpasses the reportof the
Flanders one." In the Sidereus nuncius (The sidereal messenger),trans. E. S. Carlos (1880),
introduction, Galileo says that a report had reached his ears of a telescope constructed by
a Dutchman, and, a few days later, he received confirmationof the report "in a letter writ-
ten from Paris by a noble Frenchman, Jaques Badovere, which finallydetermined me to
give myselfup firstto inquire into the principle of the telescope, and then to consider the
means by which I might compass the invention of a similar instrument,which after a little
while I succeeded in doing, through deep study of the theory of Refraction." In IL sag-
giatore (1623), Galileo describes at greater length the logical process by which he reached
vividlythefirstpublictestoftheinstrument, whenafterhisexhibition
of it before"theirHighnesses,the Signoria,many of the nobles and
senators,althoughofa greatage, mountedmorethanonce to the top
of the highestchurchtowerin Venice,in orderto see sails and ship-
ping that wereso faroffthat it was two hoursbeforetheywereseen,
withoutmyspy-glass,steeringfullsail intotheharbour." The senators
and nobles,likeGalileo himself,wereimpressedat firstonlywiththe
great utilitywhich the discoverypromisedfor naval and military
operations;theirrecognitionof its practicalvalue was evidencedby
theirimmediatepracticalreturnin the life-appointment of Galileo to
his professorship, withan increasein salary.
telescopehad a magnifying
Galileo's first24 powerof threediame-
ters,makingobjectsappear ninetimes larger; nexthad a magnify-
his
ing power of about eight diameters;but, not contentwith that, he
continuedthe developmentuntilwithina remarkablyshorttime he
had perfectedone which,turned toward the stars,gave him some
hintoftheastonishment to come,and led himto devotehimselffever-
ishly,"sparing neither labour norexpense" to the developmentof an
instrumentwhich showed objects nearly thirtytimes nearer,and
nearlyone thousandtimeslarger.This-the fifthtelescopeofGalileo
-is the "optic tube" with which the astonished "Tuscan artist"
viewedthe nightsky,piercingthe heavens and openingto humanity
a new heavenand a new earth.25These werethe discoverieswhichhe
immediatelypreparedto give to the world in his Sidereusnuncius,
the sidereal messengerwhich in 1610 carriedabroad, to increasing
excitement,news of the discoverieswhichwere to transform human
imagination.
his conclusion, and declares that he discovered the principle in one night, and the next day
made his firstinstrument. He insists that the discovery was made "by the way of pure
reasoning." The passage is given in Fahie, pp. 79-81.
24This was actually at least his second telescope, but was the firsthe exhibited.
26The technical details of Galileo's telescope are described in most of the books on the
subject. One of the best accounts is that of Favaro, "Intorno ai cannocchiali costruiti ed
usati da Galileo Galilei," R. Istituto Venuto,Vol. LX, Parto II (Venezia, 1901). The most
interestingrecent account I have found is that of Giorgio Abetti, "I cannocchiali di Galileo
e dei suoi Discepoll," L'universo (Firenze, 1923), Anno IV, No. 9, pp. 685-92. Here Signor
Abetti, who is director at Arcetri, describes a recent visit of Professor George Hale, di-
rector of the Mount Wilson Observatory in California, in honor of which Galileo's tele-
scopes were again set up at Arcetri. Abetti describes each of the extant telescopes, and tells
what could be seen by a modern observer. He also describes some of the later seventeenth-
century instruments.
Galileo himselfmentionsthe proposedpublicationof his epoch-

makingworkin a letterto BelisarioVinta26in Florence.27He is, he
writes,at Venicein orderto arrangeforthe printingof what he calls
"alcune osservazionile quali col mezo di' uno mioocchiale"2
ho fattone
i corpicelesti." He speaks in theletterofhisownamazementoverhis
observationsand rendersthanks to God who has made him "solo
primoosservatoredi cosa ammirandaet tenuta a tuttii seccoli oc-
culta." The letterwas writtenon January30, 1610. It was onlyfive
monthssince Galileo had constructedthe firstinstrumentwhichhe
publiclyexhibited;yet in that timehe had not onlyperfectedhis in-
strument,but had already made his greatest discoveries-of the
natureofthe moonand of theMilkyWay, mostofall his discoveryof
the "new stars"about Jupiter.Threeofthesehe had observedforthe
firsttime on the nightof January7, 1610-surely one of the great
nightsof history;his observationsof themwerenot, however,com-
pleteenoughforpublicationuntil,afterrepeatedobservations, he had
establishedto his entiresatisfactionearly in March the existenceof
fourplanetsofJupiter.On March4, 1610,29 Galileo wrotethe dedica-
tion to his Sidereusnuncius,on the title-pageof whichhe offeredhis
discoveriesat one glance to an amazed generation.
Even the modernreader,accustomedto astoundingscientificdis-
coveries,feels the excitementwhich the seventeenthcenturymust
have experiencedin readingGalileo's account of his "incrediblede-
light" when forthe firsttime he observedthe heavens throughhis
"occhiale," and shares the amazementof the lonelyobserverin the
26Belisario Vinta was the Grand Duke's chief secretary of state.
27 The letter is given in Le opere, X, 280-81.
28 Galileo does not call his instrumenttelescopioor telescopiumin his earliest letters and
pamphlets. Mio occhiale,which he uses here, is a favorite of his; elsewhere he uses perspi-
cillum; telescopioseems to have been firstused by him in a letter on September 1, 1611.
The term telescopiumwas not original with Galileo; it is ascribed by Baptista Porta to
Prince Cesi, founder of the Academy of Lincei. Kepler uses the terms conspicillum, per-
spicillum, specillium, pencillium. Telescopium was the only one of these early technical
terms which became frequent in England; while both telescopiumand telescopeare fairly
common during the seventeenth century, the popular phrases more frequentlyused are
"optick glasse," "optick tube," particularly "Galileo's optick glasse" or "Galileo's optick
tube." The instrumentwas also called the "perspective glasse," the "trunke glasse," and
the "trunke spectacle." Ben Jonson,in News fromtheNew World,uses "perplexive glasse"
and "mathematician's perspicil."
,, Fahie says (p. 86): "The book, doubtless, appeared immediately after,say, towards
the middle of March." Its publication may be dated even more accurately by the letter
which Sir Henry Wotton wrote to the Earl of Salisbury on March 13, 1610, in which he
says that the book is "come abroad this very day." The letteris given by Smith, I, 485-87.
"absolute novelty"of his discoveries.He himselfhas suggested,in

theorderoftheirimportance,thenewconceptionswhichwe shall find
reflected in theliteratureoftheseventeenthcentury.30 Firstand most
obvious was the instantaneous increasein the numberof new stars,
"stars in myriads,whichhave neverbeen seen before,"says Galileo,
"and whichsurpassthe old,previouslyknown,starsin numbermore
than ten times."3' Again, he declares: "It is a most beautifuland
delightful sightto beholdthe body of the Moon." Beautifuland de-
lightfulindeedto Galileo; but to poetswhoforcenturieshadbeenstirred
to singofthesmoothsurface,the clearevenradianceofthe "luminous
orb," how extraordinary must have seemed his calm statementthat
"the Moon certainlydoes not possess a smoothand polishedsurface,
but one roughand uneven,and, just like the face of the Earth itself,
is everywherefullof vast protuberances,deep chasms,and sinuosi-
ties." If thisnewconceptionofthe moonwas not to put on end to the
romanticconventionalpraiseofthe "fairDiana," it was nevertheless
to offerto a groupofpoetsa newrealismwhich,as we shallsee, was to
delightin the "vast protuberances,deep chasms,and sinuosities,"
and it was, in a shortspace oftime,to bringback intoimmensepopu-
larity,withnew meaning,the old legendof a worldin the moon. But
theseare stillmattersforthe future.Popular as the new conception
of the moon was to become, therewere other early discoveriesof
Galileo whichvied withit. For centuriespoets had sung the beauties
of the Milky Way, and astronomersand philosophershad disputed
about its nature. Now in one nightGalileo had solved the problem
and had, as he wenton to say in the Sidereusnuncius,"got rid of dis-
putes about the Galaxy or Milky Way, and made its natureclear to
the verysenses,not to say to the understanding."32
But thegreatestofGalileo's discoverieshad been thelast ofthem-
30 The quotations which follow are from Carlos' translation, pp. 8-9.
31 Later in the work Galileo says (pp. 40-41): "Beyond the stars of the sixth magnitude,
you will behold through the telescope a host of other stars, which escape the unassisted
sight, numerous as to be almost beyond belief."
so
32 In his furtherdiscussion of the Milky Way (pp. 42-43) Galileo says:
"By the aid of
a telescope any one may behold this in a manner which so distinctlyappeals to the senses
that all the disputes which have tormented philosophers through so many ages are ex-
ploded at once by the irrefragableevidence of our eyes, and we are freedfrom wordy dis-
putes upon this subject, for the Galaxy is nothing else but a mass of innumerable stars
planted togetherin clusters. Upon whatever part of it you direct the telescope straightway
a vast crowd of stars presents itselfto view; many of them are tolerably large and extremely
bright, but the number of small ones is quite beyond determination."
the one whicheven he himselfat firstcould not believe. To this in
particularhe calls the attentionof philosophers."That which will
excite the greatestastonishmentby far," he declared,"and which
indeedespeciallymovedmeto call theattentionofall astronomers and
philosophersis this, namely,that I have discoveredfour planets,
neitherknownnorobservedby any one ofthe astronomers beforemy
time." The effectof Galileo's discoveryof new planets upon the
historyof sciencehas been discussedso oftenand so completelyby
those"astronomers"to whoseattentionhe called it thateven thelay-
man takes forgrantedits implicationsin astronomy.Yet the effect
of this discoveryupon poetic and religiousimagination,particularly
duringthe centurywhichfollowed,has been so slightlytreatedthat
thoughwe recognizethe theologicalcontroversiesto which it gave
rise,we are hardlyaware of theextentto which,on the positiveside,
those new planetsswam into the ken of thoughtfuland perceptive
minds,and we have missedboth the "wild surmise"and the exulta-
tion of the seventeenth-century writersas theygazed withnew eyes
upon the worldswhich Galileo had unfoldedto theirview. We shall
findit reflectednot only in new figuresof speech drawn fromthe
telescopeitself,fromnewstars,fromthe moon,fromthe MilkyWay,
and fromthe new planets,but in new themesforliterature,and the
recrudescence ofold themeswithnewmeanings,mostofall in a stimu-
lation of that imaginationwhichlike
thefleetAstronomer canbore
Andthreadthespheres withhisquick-darting
mind.33
Beforewe are readyto considerthe effectof the Sidereusnunciusin
England,however,it willbe wellto see its effectupon its own genera-
tion in Italy."3
" George Herbert, "Vanity," Poetical works,ed. George Gilfllan (1853), p. 84.
34 No study has been made in English, so far as I have learned, of the immediate effect
of Galileo's discoveries upon popular imagination. There have been, of course, many com-
petent accounts of the antagonism which his work produced in both astronomyand philos-
ophy. I have thereforeomitted all consideration of these matters, and confined myself
in the section which follows to the popular interest aroused by Sidereus nuncius. Fahie
(pp. 100-101) comments upon the fact that popular excitement in Italy grew intense as
the news spread. In Florence "poets chanted the discoveries and the glory of their fellow-
citizen." In Venice a contemporary described the excitement as amounting to a frenzy.
This account, in which Fahie is followed by most English biographers,is based to some ex-
tent upon statements in the Telescopiumof Sirturus, and to some extent upon Favaro, the
great editor of Galileo. Favaro, in the national edition of Galileo's works, had brought
together a mass of material in prose and poetry,chieflyLatin and Italian, which shows the
III
Hardly had the Sidereusnunciusappeared than lettersbegan to
pour in upon Galileo. Even beforethe receiptof the volumein Flor-
ence, AlessandroSertini35wrote on March 27, 1610, indicatingthe
interestfeltin Galileo's telescopicdiscoveries."The precedingday,
he declares,upon his arrivalin the Mercato Nuovo, Filippo Manelli
had approachedhimwiththewordthathis brotherPiero had written
that the post fromVenice was bringinga package fromGalileo. The
news,he declares,spreadin such a way that he couldnot defendhim-
self fromthe people who wanted to know what it was, thinkingit
mightbe a telescope. When theylearnedthat it was the new book,
curiositydid not abate, especially,he adds, amongmenofletters.The
same eveninghe and othershad read a passage-the sectiondealing
withthe new planets-"e finalmente," he says, "6 tenutagrancosa e
he
marvigliosa."Florence, goes on to say, is greatlyexcitedovertele-
scopes, and he begs Galileo to send him one forhimself.If Galileo,
he suggestsin a later sectionof the letter,wishesAndrea Salvadore
to compose somethingabout the "Medicean stars," he should write
him personally;Sertinihas already suggestedit to Buonaruoti. We
shall presentlysee the resultof these two suggestions.
Three representative letterswrittenwithinthe new few weeks in-
dicate the same great interest.On April3, 1610, Ottavio Brenzoni37
wroteto Galileo fromVerona,expressinghis gratitudeforthe copy of
the Sidereusnunciuswhichhe had received,and sayingthat the least
popular reception of the Sidereus nuncius. Much of the material in the section which fol-
lows is based upon his studies, though I have included some passages which he does not
quote. In addition to Favaro's edition of Le opere. and various contemporary editions of
Galileo's and Kepler's works which contain complimentary poems, my chief sources are
the following: Favaro, Galileo Galilei e lo studio di Padova (Firenze, 1883); Bibliografia
Galileiana (Rome, 1896); "Miscellanea Gallleiana inedita" in Reale Istituto Veneto di
Scienze, Lettreed Arti, Memorie. Vol. II (Venice, 1822); Nuovi studii Galileiani (Venice,
1891); "Amici e correspondenti di Galileo Galilei," in Attidel R. Istituto Veneto,Vol. LIV.
Domenico Berti, "La venuta di Galilaeo Galei a Padova e la invenzione del telescopio," in
ibid., Vol. XVI, ser. iii; Sante Pieralisi, Urbano VIII e Galileo Galilei (Rome, 1875); Vin-
cenzo da Filicaja, In mortedi Vincenzo Viviana. I wish to express my appreciation of the
assistance of a formerstudent at Smith College, Miss Lilian Balboni, who assisted me in
findingsome of the material in volumes not available to me at the time.
t3Sertini had corresponded with Galileo at least as early as 1605. Cf. Favaro, Galileo e
lo studio di Padova, I, 280.
36Favaro, Galileo Galilei e lo studio di Padova, I, 390; see also Le opere, X, 305-6.
37Brenzoni had writtenGalileo on December 19, 1605, a long letter concerning the new
star of 1604, which Favaro quotes in Galileo e lo studio di Padova, II, 252-58. Other letters
from Brenzoni, mainly on astrological subjects, may be found ibid.,pp. 257, 285, 307, 308.
part of the workhad exceededhis expectations.38On the same day

BenedettoCastelli,writingfromBrescia,speaks of the Sidereusnun-
cius whichhe has already"letta e rilettapil di diecivolte con somma
meravigliae dolcezzagranded'animo."39Two weekslater,on April17,
1610, Frate Ilario Altobelli,writingfromAncona, says: "I1 Nuncio
Sidereo di V. S. Eccmafa tanto strepitoch'ha potuto destarmida
un profondissimo letargoa cui soggiaccioper un lustrocontinuo."40
He proceedswitha requestforlensesin orderthat he may make ob-
servationsfor himself. From Naples on June 16, 1610, Orazio del
Monte4' wrote declaringthat the inventionof the telescopewas a
matterof the greatestsatisfaction,and hailingthe discoveryof the
newplanetsas equal to thediscoveryofa new world;theirdiscoverer,
he declares,is equal to Columbus.42
This was to provea popularfigureof speech withpoets in Italy,43
38 Le opere, X, 309.
39 Cf. ibid., pp. 310-11. Father Castelli, a Benedictine (1577-1644), one of the earliest
of Galileo's astronomical disciples, was himselfan important mathematician and a lifelong
friendof Galileo, with whom he corresponded frequently. In October, 1613, he was called
to the Mathematical Chair in the University of Pisa, from whence he wrote Galileo on
November 6 that he had been forbidden to treat in his lectures of the motion of the earth,
or even to hint at it. Cf. Fahie, p. 147 and passim.
o40Le opere, X, 317-18; Altobelli continues: ".... Impazzirebbono, se fusser vivi, gll
Hipparchi, i Tolomei, i Copernici, i Ticoni, e gli Egittil et i' Caldei antichi, che non hanno
veduto la meth.di quello che si credevano di vedere, e la gloria di V. S. con sl poca
Eccm-
fatiga offusca tutta la gloria loro; del che io ne godo tanto, che niente pill."
41Orazio del Monte had been a student of Galileo's at Padua as early as 1603; cf. Fa-
varo, Galileo e lo studio, etc., I, 200.
42 Le opere, X, 371-72: "Ma questa, d'haver scoperto quattro pianeti di
pill, 0 cosa
maravigliosa, et simile allo scoprimento d'un mondo novo; et V. S. Ecc. con molta
di
raggione gareggiar gloria con il Colombo, non che potr,
avantaggiare il Montereggio: et io,
che professo portarle particolare affetto,godo in estremo che il suo nome cresca con il suo
molto merito."
"4It should be remembered,in connection with the poems to which Galileo's discoveries
gave rise, that Galileo was known to his contemporaries,particularly in these earlier years,
as a man of letters as well as a mathematician, and that he prided himselfupon his reputa-
tion as a literaryconnoisseur. Among the earliest papers which Galileo was invited to read
before the Academy of Florence were two (1587-88) on Dante's Inferno. Galileo took part
in the censure passed by the Accademia della Crusca on Tasso's Gerusalemmeliberata; his
essay, Considerazioni al Tasso, which was thought for many years to have been lost, was
discovered in 1780 by the Abbe Serassi, who was collecting materials for his Life of Tasso
(Fahie, p. 30 n.). Galileo was equally well known forhis defense of Ariosto, whose Orlando
Furioso he was said to have known by heart, and which he defended as violently as he at-
tacked Tasso. Among actual literaryworks Galileo left the fragmentof a play, Capitolo in
Biasimo della Toga (1590), an outline of a comedy in prose, and several sonnets and other
short poems, which Favaro has published. The most interestingof his sonnets-which may
be either conventional "enigma" or a more profound reflectionof Galileo's on the difficul-
ties in which he later found himself-was published as a dedicatory poem in the Sphinx of
Malatesti. It has been reprinted by S. W. Singer in "Milton and Malatesti," Notes and
queries, VIII, 295-96.
as later in England. Amongthe complimentary verses in whichthe

figureappears are nine Latin epigramsby one of Galileo's Scotch
pupils at Padua, Thomas Seggett,44 who was a disciple not only of
Galileo, but ofKepler, and who,it is said, was the firstpersonto send
to Kepler the Sidereusnuncius.45Here, in morethan the rhetoricof
compliment,Seggettdeclares that Galileo makes gods of mortalsby
enablingthemto reach stars knownhithertoonly to the gods; that
Galileo owes muchto God, to be sure,but that Jupiterhimselfowes
muchto Galileo; that Columbusgave man lands to be conqueredby
bloodshed,Galileo gave man new worldsharmfulto none. Which,he
asks,is the greater?4"In one oftheepigramsSeggettgroupstogether
Kepler and Galileo, as historyhas since done, introducinginto his
verses the famous Vicisti Galilaee,too oftenattributedto Kepler.4'
Anotherinteresting poem in whichthe comparisonwithColumbusis
used, but which goes still fartherin its implications,using other
figuresof speech whichwereto recurin Englishpoetry,was the com-
plimentarypoem of Johannes Faber, later published in Galileo's
II saggiatore.48As far as the stars of heaven are distant fromthe
earth,declaresFaber,so fardoes Galileo outshineothers;theymeasure
tinymilesof earthor the salt tractsof the sea; Galileo climbsbright
Olympuswithboundlesssteps and eye equipped by art.
Yield,Vespucci,and let Columbus yield.Each ofthese
Holds, it is true,his way throughthe unknownsea ....
Butyou,Galileo,alonegavetothehumanracethesequenceofstars,
Newconstellationsofheaven.
"4 Seggett was one of several British pupils of Galileo whom I shall mention again in
the second paper in this series. His "Album amicorum," now in the Vatican Library, con-
tains Galileo's autograph, with the date August 13, 1599. The edition of the Sidereus
nuncius which Kepler reprintedat Frankfort,with a preface by himself,contains Seggett's
laudatory verses. Sir Henry Wotton, when he arrived at Venice as ambassador, found
Seggett in prison, charged with libel by a Venetian nobleman; one of Wotton's firstofficial
acts was to secure his release. Cf. Cal. S. papers, Ven., X, 184, 275.
4" Favaro, Galileo e lo studio di Padova, I, 399.
4"Epigram I (Favaro, Le opere, Vol. III, Part I, p. 188):
"Ille dedit multo vincendas sanguine terras;
Sidera ad hic nulli noxia. Malor uter?"
47Epigram VI (ibid., p. 189):
"Keplerus, Galilaee, tuus tua sidera vidit;
Tanto quis dubitet credere teste tibi?
Si quid in hoc, et nos Mediccia vidimus astra,
Pragae marmoreumlenis fertubi Molda iugum.
Vicisti Galilaee. Fremant licet Orcus et umbrae,
Iupiter ilium, istas opprimet orta dies."
4s Ad Galilaeum Galilaei Lynceum Florentinum Mathematicorum saeculi nostri principe,
mirabilium in caelo per telescopium novum naturae oculum inventorem. I have given the
important sections in translation since the original is too long to quote.
He calls downblessingsupon the tube ofGalileo whichbringsmento

the stars. Even as eyes that are wearyin an aged body see through
the strongpower of eyeglasses,he declares,so Galileo to the world
in its failingyearshas givenspectacles,a workofwondrousskill. And
he concludes:
0 bolddeed,tohavepenetratedtheadamantineramparts of
heavenwithsuchfrailaid ofcrystal.
Happysouls,to whomit is givento surveythecitadelsof
thegodsthrough yourtube,Galileo.
Chief among the poets who used the Columbus-motif in their
praise of Galileo was Giambattista Marino, who devoted a section of
his longnarrative poem Adonide to Galileo's discoveries.Here, in the
polishedverse whichso greatlyinfluencedhis followers,Marino in-
troducesas one of his famousdigressions a scene in whichMercury,
explaining the wonders of the heavens to Adonis,finallyspeaksofthe
strangemarkings on the moon, which leads him to a long passage in
praise of Galileo and his telescope. The firststanza describesthe
instrument itself,as futureages willknowit:
TempoverrN, chesenzaimpedimento
Questesuenoteancorsiennotee chiare,
Merc6d'unammirabile stromento,
Percui ci5 ch'elontanvicinoappare;
E conun'occhiochiuso,e I'altrointento
Specolandociascunl'orbelunare,
Scorciarpotralonghissimiintervalli
Perun picciolcannone,e duecristalli.49
Galileo, says Mercury,will be to futureages a "novello Endimion,"

discovering againformanthemoon.5?Not onlya newEndymion,but,
declaresMercury,a new Argonaut,and-leaping overtimeand space
-another Columbuswho will discoverforman new heavens and a
new earth,new light,all thingsnew:
Aprendo il sende l'Oceanprofondo,
Ma nonsenzaperiglio e senzaguerra,
Il LigureArgonauta el bassomondo
Scoprir.novoCieloe novaterra.
49 L'Adonide:
poema del Cavalier Marino (Amsterdamo, 1679), stanza 42.
6oStanza 43.
Tu del Ciel,nondelmarTifisecondo,
Quantogiraspiando,e quantoserra,
Senzaalcunrischio, ad ognigenteascose
Scoprirai noveluci,e novecose.5'
In the stanzas whichfollowMarino prophesiesthe fameof thisgreat
discoverer,who owes muchto God, but to whoselaborsheavenitself
is indebted because in them Galileo has discoverednew beauties;
his fame will be eternal,and the stars themselveswill tell forthhis
praisewithtonguesoflight:
Ben deitu moltoal Ciel,cheti discopra
L'inventionde l'organoceleste,
Ma vie pii '1Cieloa la tua nobil'opra,
Chele bellezzesuefamanifeste.
Degnae l'imagintua,chesia l~ sopra
Tra i lumiaccolta,ondesi fregiae veste,
E de le tuelunetteil vetrofrale
Tra glieternizaffirrestiimmortale.
Nonprimanb,chede le stelleistesse,
Estinguail Cieloi luminosi rai,
Esserdeelo splendor, ch'alcrinti tesse
Honoratacorona,estintomai.
Chiarala gloriatua vivrdconesse,
E tu perfamain lorchiarovivrai,
E conlinguedi luceardentie belle
Favellerandi te semprele stelle.52
Of all the discoveriesof Galileo, however,therewas none which
so instantaneouslyappealed to imaginationas that of the planetsof
Jupiter.Poets in Italy wereswiftto seize withenthusiasmnot only
upon the noveltyof the idea, but upon the opportunitywhichthe
namingofthestarsoffered forcomplimentto theMedici. Marinowas
typicalof manywhenhe wrote:
E colmedesmo occhialnonsoloinlei
Vedraidapressoogniatomodistinto,
Ma Gioveancorsottogliauspiciimiei
Scorgeraid'altrilumiintorno cinto,
Ondelassi'de l'Arnoi Semidei
Il nomelasceranscultoe dipinto.
Che Giulioa Cosmocedaallhorsia giusto,
E dal Medicituosia vintoAugusto."
51 Stanza 45. is Stanzas 46-47. 53Stanza 44.
Many of the verses on the subject belong,as one mightexpect,

merelyto theliteratureofcompliment, hailingthediscoverer,offering
deft flatteryto the house of Medici.54Others, however,, were less
conventionalin mood and suggestreal awarenesson thepart of their
authorsof the greatnessof Galileo's discoveries.Among these is a
sonnetby Piero de' Bardi, one of severalpoemssentto Galileo by his
friendSertini.Here, afteran octave in whichDe' Bardi writesofthe
souls of the fourMedici shiningin heaven,he hails Galileo:
Tu, Galileo,apri'1tresor de' cieli
Col vetroillustre,
e i granToscaniRegi,
Fattistelleimmortali, a noiriveli.`
The two most interestingand significant poetic reflections
upon the
theme of the Medicean stars were those by Andrea Salvadore and
MichelangeloBuonarruoti,both of which,as we alreadyknow,were
writtenby request,one as the resultof Sertini'srequestto Buonar-
ruotiand the otherupon Galileo's own requestto Salvadore.56
MichelangeloBuonarruotithe younger,nephewof the greatsculp-
tor, whose staunch friendshipfor Galileo remainedfirmlong after
publicexpressionofinterestin Galileo had ceased to be politic,wrote
in theseearlierdays a song of praise of variousheroeswho had been
immortalizedas stars in heaven, none of them greaterthan the
Medici,honoredby thenewstars,and Galileo whohad honoredthem.
He writes:
Le quattroa noinonpii% vedutestelle,
Ch'illinceosguardosol dell'altoingegno
Tuo,Galileo,ci scuopre,albergodegno
Sarannoin cieldellequattroalmebelle.57
The most interesting
of the treatmentsof the Medicean starsis Per
"4 A good example is the Meditazione poetica sopra i Pianeti Medicei of Girolamo Ma-
gagnati, which Favaro quotes in his "Amici e correspondentidi Galileo Galilei," Attidel R.
Istituto Veneto,LIV, 444-45. I quote the followinglines:
''Tu recasti al tuo De, divino araldo,
Fra l'alte meraviglie e pellegrine
Che tu primo spiasti al cielo in seno
L'onor fatal de la Medicee Stelle."
55 Le opere, X, 399.
5sFavaro comments (IX, 233-35) that Galileo himself did not fail to encourage poets
to sing of that which he considered his greatest glory-the discovery of the satellites of
Jupiter. Salvadore's poem was requested by Galileo, writtenby Salvadore, and corrected
by Galileo. It was not published until after the death of both.
57Le opere,X, 412, footnote to Letter 372 of August 7, 1610.
254 MARJORIE
NICOLSON
of Andrea Salvadore, to whomGalileo had written

le stellemedicee58
at Sertini'sadvice. Salvadore beginshis poem witha descriptionof
thelegendaryassault upon heaven ofthe giantsand theirdestruction
by Jove. In thesecondpart of the poem he drawsa parallelbetween
the oldermadnessand the follyofthosemortalsof his owntimewho
raise theirvoices against heaven and, denyingthe existenceof the
new planets,seek to refusethroughjealousy the glorydue theirdis-
coverer.As in the past, so in the future,he concludes,punishment
will come upon the impious;the poem concludes:
Inchinate tacendoi lumiignoti,
Ch'incielspiegano, alteri
Del granMediceonome,i railucenti;
Lumi,ch'a Gioveintorno in proprii
moti
Errandovan pergl'immortal sentieri:
Ches'indarno tentaro
Gli empi,chei montialzaro,
Il regnotorglide bei girlardenti,
Comeco' falsiaccenti
Potreteal regnosuo,linguemendaci,
Toglierl'eternee luminose faci?
In additionto all ofthese,thereweremanyothertributesby lesser
and greater contemporaries,all suggesting,though the language
may be merelythat of compliment,the interestwithwhichGalileo's
discoverieswerereceived.59One ofthese-a somewhatlaterpoem-is
worthyof particularattentionless forthe ideas it containsthan for
its author. This is a Horatian ode, the Adulatio perniciosa60-
"Carmen quasi pluvia caelitus demissa," as Campanella said6L-of
68 Per le stelle medicee temerariamenteoppugnate, canzone di' Andrea Salvadore, in Le
opere, IX, 267-72. Favaro gives not only the text, but (IX, 238-65) a facsimile of Salva-
dore's manuscript with corrections in Galileo's hand.
", Among these I may mention the following: Virginio Cesarini wrote a Latin poem--
"eleganti e bellismi versi latini," as Favaro calls them (Galileo e to studio di Padova, I.
403)-in honor of Galileo, of which these two lines are quoted by Berti, p. 2016:
"Quis te Galilee silebit.
Longa tibi in chartis regna futura cano."
Luca Valerio sent Galileo a Latin epigram (Le opere,VIII, 181) in a letter fromRome on
November 11, 1611, declaring that Galileo's fame will be immortal. Prince Cesi sent Gali-
leo some verses by Demisiano (ibid., p. 185); Niccolo Aggiunti also wrote in Galileo's
honor (Berti, p. 2016).
60 Memorie storichedel sacerdota Sante Pieralisi (Rome, 1875), pp. 22-24.
61Favaro, Galileo a lo studio,etc.,I, 403: "Carmen quasi pluvia caelitus demissa, secum
defert castimoniam eloquil Davidici, puritatem Terentil, sales Plauti, lepores Catulli,
malestatem Pindari, numeros Horatil, sacrae aptos lyrae."
MaffeoBarberini,62laterUrban VIII. Obviouslywritingin imitation
of Horace, Barberinishowerscompliments upon Galileo,commenting
upon theimportanceofhisdiscoveryofthetelescope,ofthenewknowl-
edge of the natureof the moon and of the satellitesof Jupiter,and
showingparticularinterestin Galileo's hypothesisof the nature of
sun-spots.The Adulatioperniciosais not in itselfof particularin-
terest,but it marksa chapterin the tragicdevelopmentof Galileo's
life.
IV
All thesewritershad realizedtheimportanceofGalileo'sdiscoveries;
noneofthem,however,had caughtthemostsignificant oftheconcep-
tionswhichGalileo's discoveryof the new planetswas to bringinto
human thought.It was, as mightbe expected,a philosopherwho
immediatelybecame aware of the new evidenceof the senses which
Galileo was offering to provethe truthof an age-oldbelief. Fromhis
prison in Naples, Campanella-suffering forhis opinionsas Galileo
was later to suffer-wroteon January13, 1611,a letter3concerning
the Sidereus nuncius in which his excitementand his enthusiasm
characteristically overflow.He burstsintopraiseof theman whohas
restoredthe true philosophyof the past, who has not only brought
back the gloryof Pythagorasbut has givennew meaningto a great
biblicalpassage:
In astronomia nos Ptolemeuset Copernicus pudefaciebant;sed tu, Vir
Clarissime, nonmodorestituis nobisgloriam Pythagoreorum, a Graecissub-
dolissubreptam, eorumdogmataresuscitando, sed totiusmundigloriam tuo
splendore extinguis."Et vidicaelumnovum etterram novam,"aitApostolus et
Isaias: illi dixerunt,
nos caecutiebamus; tu purgasti oculoshominum et no-
vumostendiscaelumet novamterram in luna.
62In the early days of Galileo's difficultieswith his opponents, Barberini defended him
more than once, notably in his controversy with the peripatetics, which arose from his
telescopic discoveries. On August 28, 1629, Barberini sent Galileo the verses in which he
celebrated his discoveries, saying that he proposed "to add lustre to my poetryby coupling
it with your name" (quoted Fahie, pp. 185-86). In 1623 Galileo's Il saggiatoreappeared
with a dedication to Barberini, now Pope Urban VIII. By 1624, however, Galileo was
forced to realize that while Barberini had defended him, Pope Urban was adamantine in
his refusal to grant even passive toleration to the new astronomy. As is well known, Urban
was at last persuaded that Galileo's character Simplicio in the Dialogo was intended as an
unflatteringportrait of the pope. The sequel is too well known to require comment.
63 Quoted in Le opere,XI, 21-26. Favaro calls attention to the fact that the letter was
published for the firsttime by Berti, pp. 2163-70. Campanella's letter begins: "Sidereum
Nunclum, quae recens vidisti in caelo arcana Dei, neque non licet homini loqui, narrantem,
duabus horis iocundissime audivi; atque pluribus sane diebus extensam narrationem op-
tassem."
256 MARJORIE
NICOLSON
He hails the new heavens, the new philosophyto be born of them,

minglingold tales and new proofs,fantasyand reality,and raisesfor
the firsttimethe questionwhichwas to tear the seventeenthcentury
asunder: the questionof a pluralityof worldsand of the possiblein-
habitantsofthesenewplanets. It is probablethatsincethebeginning
of time man had ponderedthis problem;certainlyit has been a re-
currentthemein philosophiesand theologies. Now forthe firsttime
here was the evidence of the senses, to put an end, so Campanella
seemed to think,to humanwranglings of the intellect.His lettersto
Galileo fromthistimeon are filledwiththeenthusiasmofthedisciple.
Galileo,he declares,is thegloryofItaly; he surpassesall theinnovators
of the past. As Amerigogave his name to a new earthlycontinent, so
Galileo has givenhis to a new celestialworld. As a philosopherand a
mystic,he urgesGalileonotto confinehimselfto merephysicalscience,
but to go beyondhis immediatepredecessors, and, followingthegreat
thinkersof the past-to Campanella, Aristarchus,Philolaus, Py-
thagoras-reveal a universalphilosophy.6" Even in his early letters,
in
written 1611,he rejoices in the factthat Galileo's tube has at last
proved conclusivelyto man not onlythat thereare otherplanetsas
importantas "thisstarourearth"butthattheseplanets,as ours,may
have their inhabitants,men perhapslike ourselves or, it may be,
greaterthanwe. What remainsformanis to attemptsome conclusion
as to the natureof these planetarydwellers.65Here, as we shall see,
64 Cf. Edmund Gardner, Tommaso Campanella and his poetry(Oxford, 1923). I shall
leave for discussion in later articles some of the implications which Campanella read into
the new astronomy. For the present it may be sufficientto point out that during the next
few years Campanella devoted his effortsto his attempt to force Galileo even furtherin his
development of philosophical implications..... In his Apology (E. Thomae Campanellae
.... Apologia pro Galileo .. . . Francofurti, 1622), he discusses in detail the charges
which have been broughtagainst Galileo, particularly the position of the orthodox that the
discoveries of Galileo were in contradiction to the teachings of Scripture. In time,however,
Rome overcame reason; and in 1638, in his Universalisphilosophia seu metaphysica,Cam-
panella interpolated a clause to the effectthat sentence had been passed, and the older
belief thereforeestablished. It is significant,however, that in his City ofthe sun (ed. Mor-
ley, p. 261) he says of his dwellers in Utopia, "They praise Ptolemy, admire Copernicus,
but place Aristarchus and Philolaus beforehim." He also indicates that his dwellersin the
sun are inclined toward the idea of a plurality of worlds though they are as yet uncertain
(ibid., p. 263): "They are in doubt whether there are other worlds beyond ours, and ac-
count it madness to say there is nothing."
a6 The following sentences from Campanella's letter of January 13, 1611, will indicate
his interest in this subject even at this time: ".... et num tanta sit caeli, omnia conti-
nentis, peripheria, ut cuiuscunque planetae habitores, quorum singulos oportet esse plenos
ut Cybeles seu tellus nostra stella, putent sese in mundi centro positos esse .... item,
qualem habent astrologiam et astronomiam singulorumincolae astrorum. ..... .Multa quo-
que disputanda sunt de flgurisfixarumet errantium,et de republica quam vivunt in astris
habitatores, sive beati, sive quales nos." Galileo himselfdenied the possibility of existence
Campanella prophesiedmoretrulythanhe knew;forthecenturythat

followed,in England as in Italy, was to findin this idea a new-old
themeforromance,forphilosophy,fortheology.
Campanella was not the onlygreatthinkerof the day who was to
seize upon the implicationsof the Galilean astronomyand to carry
themfartherthan Galileo himself.It is too earlyto enterhereupon
the profoundquestion of the stimuluswhichGalileo's observations
gave to the philosophicalidea ofinfinity whichwas to re-emerge in the
seventeenthcenturywithnew argumentsand new reality.Although
Kepleruntiltheend was unableto accepttheidea ofinfinite space and
infinityof worlds,66 whichthe revolutionary Bruno67enthusiastically
adopted even beforethe inventionof the telescope,he foundno dif-
ficultyin believingthat otherplanetsbesides our own are inhabited.
As Kepler had been Galileo's predecessorin the earlierideas we have
thathe shouldhave carriedto ultimatecon-
considered,so it is fitting
clusionthe later discoveries.From the beginning,with a generosity
whichdoes him credit,he accepted Galileo's conclusionswithonly
praiseforhis contemporary, in spite of the factthat Galileo had dis-
proved many of his fondesthypotheses.Like Campanella, he urged
Galileo to carryfartherthe implicationsof his discoveries,and he
himself,as mightbe expected,stroveto adapt hismysticalphilosophy
to thetelescopicdiscoveries.Immediatelyuponreceiptofthe Sidereus
nunciushe wroteto Galileo: "I am so farfromdisbelievingthe four
of inhabitants of the moon, as is clear froma letter to Giacomo Muti on February 28, 1616
(quoted by Fahle, pp. 135-36). He did not commit himselfon the possibility of habitation
of the planets, writingto Prince Cesi, January 25, 1613, "If the question be put to me, I
will answer neither yes nor no" (Fahle, p. 134 n.). A note of Burton's in the Anatomyof
melancholy(II, 64) is interestingin this connection: "Thomas Campanella, a Calabrian
Monk, in his second book de sensu rerumrn, cap. 4, subscribes to this of Kepler: that they are
inhabited he certainly supposeth, but with what kind of creatures he cannot say, he la-
bours to prove it by all means and that there are infiniteWorlds, having made apology for
Galileo." I am discussing this whole matter in a later paper.
6*Years beforethe invention of the telescope Tycho Brahe in a letter to Kepler (Kepler-
opera omnia, ed. Frisch, I, 47) raised serious objections to the idea of the inevitable expan-
sion of the universe implicit in the new astronomy. Kepler discusses the question of in-
finity in his De stella nova in pede Serpentarii (1606). Burton's comment in the Anatomy of
melancholy (II, 63) is again of interest: "Kepler (I confess) will by no means admit of
Brunus' infinityof worlds or that the fixedstars should be so many Suns, with their com-
passing Planets, yet the said Kepler, betwixt jest and earnest .... seems in part to agree
with this and partly to contradict." Galileo, in his Dialogue of the world system,argued
against the dangers he feltin Bruno's conception of the infinityof space, though he feltits
fascination. He wrote in a letter to F. Ingoli: "Reason and my mental powers do not en-
able me to conceive of either ftnitudeor infinitude" (William Boulting, Giordano Bruno,
p. 141).
*7I am purposely omitting consideration of Bruno's theories here, since I shall later
discuss his possible effectupon English thought.
circumjovialplanets,that I long fora telescopeto anticipateyou, if

possible,in discoveringtwo roundMars, as the proportionseems to
require,six or eightroundSaturn,and perhapsone each roundMer-
curyand Venus."'6 In August,1610,Kepler procureda telescopeand
immediatelystartedupon his own observations,whichverifiedGali-
leo's. But Kepler, even more than Galileo, was interestedin the
principleof the telescope. In the edition of the Sidereus nuncius
whichKepler at once proceededto make,69he took occasionnot only
to praisehis contemporary, and to make clearto his own countrymen
the significanceof the work,but he wenteven fartherthan had Gali-
leo withthe principlesof opticswhichlay behindthe developmentof
the instrument.As a resultof his interestin these problemsKepler
producedhis Dioptrice,71whichlaid the foundationformoderntele-
scopic instruments and foryears remainedthe greatestauthorityin
the fieldof dioptrics.
The later historyof Kepler, as of Galileo, has been told so often
that,withone exception,it need not detainus here. One minorwork
of Kepler's-the last he wrote-belongs to the realm of imaginative
literature,and, like these earlierworksof Galileo and Kepler, was to
stimulateliteraryimagination.Kepler spenthis last days in poverty
and personalmisery.In thelast yearofhis life,desperatein financial
need, he set himselfto the compositionof a philosophicalromance,
which contained in it interestingreflectionsof the new science, of
Galileo's discovery:of the natureof the moon,of Kepler's and Cam-
panella's ponderingsupon the incolaeastrorum.In its way, this little
workmay well have seemed to be governedby the evil stars whose
existenceKepler questioned; the orthodox,who had exulted when
68 Quoted, W. Carl Rufus, "Kepler as an astronomer." in Johann Kepler, etc., p. 24.
One of Galileo's letters to Kepler, writtenAugust 19, 1610, fromPadua (Le opere,X, 421-
23) suggests the half-humorousexasperation of both of at the reception of the Side-
reus nuncius by the orthodox, many of whom refused,as tl-em
Galileo here suggests, even to look
through the telescope: "Quid igitur agendum? cum Democrito aut cum Heraclito stan-
dum? Volo, mi Keplere, ut redeamus insignem vulgi stultitiam. Quid dices de primarils
huius Gimnasii philosophis, qui, aspidis pertinacia repleti, nunquam, licet me ultro dedita
opera millies offerente,nec Planetas, nec [lunam], nec perspicillum, videre voluerunt?"
89 Dissertatio cum nuncio sidereo nuper ad mortales misso a Galilaeo Galilaeo .... (Flor-
entiae, 1610); another edition, Joannis Kepleri mathematici caesarei, Dissertatio cum nun-
cio sidereo nuper ad mortales misso a Galilaeo Galilaeo mathematico palavino .... (Pragae,
1610); another edition, Francofurti, 1611. E. S. Carlos, with his English translation of the
Sidereus nuncius referredto above, has included part of Kepler's continuation of the work
with letters from Galileo.
70oJoannis Kepleri .... mathematici Dioptrice, seu demonstratio corum quae visui et
visibilibus propter conspicilla non ita pridem inventa accidunt .... (1611).
Kepler's own motherwas accused of sorcery,may have seen herean

ironicevidenceof the existenceofevil spirits.For Kepler died during
its composition,leaving his wifeand fivechildrenalmost penniless;
and Kepler's son-in-law,who attemptedto preparethe manuscript
forpublication,died in his turnwhileengagedupon it. His brother
Louis Kepler, finallycompletedthe work,and in 1634, fouryears
afterthe author'sdeath, appeared the Somnium,7a lunar dream,of
mingledfactand fancy,a charmingcompositeofold moon-legend and
moon-knowledge. Here, cast in the formof a dream,we findone of
the firstofthe modern"voyagesto themoon" whichtheseventeenth
centuryloved,and in which,evenmorethanKepler,theyadded to an
old themenew astronomicalknowledge.
So faras literaryhistoryis concerned,theSomniumis thelast ofthe
importantworksof Kepler and Galileo. In those which have been
discussedweretheelementsofmuchoftheimportantliteratureofthe
following century.In England,as in Italy,we mayfindtheimmediate
response poets and prose-writers
of both to the Sidereusnunciusand
to the telescope,may findthe "opticktube" becomingthe noveltyof
the day, and see how popular interestled both to satire and to en-
thusiasm.We may findthe same figuresof speech whichhave been
used by Galileo's contemporaries, as wellas manyothers;maywatcha
"new realism" emerging in astronomical description,and see theolder
classical conceptionsof the sun, moon,and stars givingway in some
cases to anotherlanguage. We findthefascinationof moon-literature
and moon-voyages, and see howin one generationan old themeceased
to be fantasy,as in the handsofLucian, and became a serioussugges-
tionofthepossibilityofflightto themoonby scientific methods.The
influenceof the telescope is to be foundin both major and minor
writers;if,on the one hand, it causes novel figuresof speech,on the
otherit has much to do withthe vast canvas of Paradise lostand of
the cosmicpoems whichfollowed.Most of all, we finda new aware-
ness of the expanded universewhichthe telescope opened to man's
eyes and his imagination,and see theresponseofhumanityin charac-
71 Joh. Keppleri mathematici olim imperatorii Somnium, seu
Opus posthumus de astrono-
mia lunari, Divulgatum a iM. Ludovico Kepplero filio, medicinae candidato (1634). The
Somnium has never been translated into English and little study has been made of it. The
only modern version I have found is in German: Traum oder nachgelassenes werk icber die
astronomie des mondes: LUbersetztund kommentiert von Ludwig Gitnther (Leipzig, 1898). It
is difficultto tell how much of it is Kepler's work and how much that of his successors.
That the work owes something to the Somnium Scipionis is clear.
260 MARJORIE
NICOLSON
teristicways. A new dread of themagnitudeofthe universe,withthe

consequentinsignificanceofman,lies behindGeorgeHerbert'sverses:
Although thereweresomeforty heavensormore,
Sometimes I peerabovethemall;
Sometimes I hardlyreacha score;
Sometimes to hellI fall.
0 rackmenotto sucha vastextent;
Thesedistances belongto thee:
The world'stoolittleforthytent,
A gravetoobigforme.72
At the otherextremeis the exultationof such a poet as HenryMore,
who,havingbecomeimaginativelyaware of the conceptionofinfinite
space,'3writesin a minorpoem:
My mightie wingshighstretch'd thenclappinglight,
I brushthestarresandmakethemshinemorebright.
Thenall theworksofGod withcloseembrace
I dearlyhugin myenlarged arms.'4
Betweenthesetwo extremesare many otherpoets,now fascinated
by the new conceptof space, now drawingback, half-afraid, as
Beforetheireyesin suddenviewappear
The secretsofthehoarydeep.
Indeed, we may, withoutmere rhetoricor exaggeration,see in that
majestic picturein Paradise losta symbolicscene of the seventeenth-
centuryattitudetowardthenewawarenessofspace whichthetelescope
caused. As Satan stands at the massive gates, peeringout into the
chaos whichhe faces,he,like manyanothervoyagerin strangeseas of
thought,"look'd a whilePonderinghis voyage." For a momenteven
his intrepidspiritis appalled by whathe sees; but ifhe is symbolicin
his hesitationbeforespace, he is no less so in the courage--evenin the
curiosity-withwhich he makes his decision. Like the intellectual
adventurersof the seventeenthcentury,his decisionmade,
At lasthissail-broad vans
He spreadsforflight, andin thesurging smoke
Uplifted spurnstheground.
MARJORIE NICOLSON
COLLEGE
SMITH
72 "The
Temper" in The Temple (1633).
7sIn Democritus Platonissans: or an essay on the infiniteof worlds (1646).
7' Cupid's conflict,pubUshed with the foregoing. See Philosophical poems of Henry
More, ed. GeoffreyBullough (1931), p. 113.

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The Telescope and Imagination

Author(s): Marjorie Nicolson

Yet somethingin the "new astronomy"did lead to both optimism

Such passagesas thesearenotthedirectresultof"Copernicanism,"

themergingofGalileanideas withthosealreadynativethere,and then

saw and studiedthe new light,"Tycho's star" it was, and "Tycho's

In 1596 Keplerpublishedthefirstofhisgreatworks,the Mysterium

Kepler to come to Prague "as a welcome friend,"and aftersome

one star,as Tycho and Keplerhad done,but starsinnumerable, a new

whoseexperiments, made about 1550,seem to provethat he had dis-

overnightbecame "Galileo's tube," and such it remained to the

Galileo himselfmentionsthe proposedpublicationof his epoch-

"absolute novelty"of his discoveries.He himselfhas suggested,in

part of the workhad exceededhis expectations.38On the same day

as later in England. Amongthe complimentary verses in whichthe

He calls downblessingsupon the tube ofGalileo whichbringsmento

Galileo, says Mercury,will be to futureages a "novello Endimion,"

Many of the verses on the subject belong,as one mightexpect,

of Andrea Salvadore, to whomGalileo had written

He hails the new heavens, the new philosophyto be born of them,

Campanella prophesiedmoretrulythanhe knew;forthecenturythat

circumjovialplanets,that I long fora telescopeto anticipateyou, if

Kepler's own motherwas accused of sorcery,may have seen herean

teristicways. A new dread of themagnitudeofthe universe,withthe

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