which was drawn up by Father Nicolo Riccardi, a former pupil of Galileo's, who will often be mentioned in the sequel, then examiner, and afterwards even Magister Sacrii Palatii—was as follows:—
"By command of the Master of the Palace I have read the work, 'Il Saggiatore,' and not only have I detected nothing in it which is contrary to good morals, or deviates from the divine truth of our religion, but I have found in it such beautiful and manifold observations on natural philosophy, that I think our age will not have to boast merely of having been the inheritor of the labours of earlier philosophers, but also of having been the discoverer of many secrets of nature which they were not able to penetrate, thanks to the subtle and solid researches of the author, whose contemporary I think myself happy to be, for now the gold of truth is no longer weighed wholesale and with the steelyard, but with the delicate scales used for gold.[1]
The commencement of the printing was again delayed till the beginning of May,[2] and then proceeded but slowly, for it was not until 27th May that Ciampoli sent the first two sheets of the "Saggiatore" to the author, in order to prove to him the falseness of a report which had meanwhile gained currency, that the printing of the work had been prohibited.[3]
An event then took place which seemed likely to produce a great change in Galileo's relations with Rome; indeed in the whole attitude of ecclesiastical authority towards the free progress of science. At all events, as we shall see, Galileo flattered himself with this hope, and not without some justification. On 8th July, 1623, Gregory XV. succumbed to age and infirmity in the second year of his pontificate. The man who at the age of fifty-five was now elevated to the papacy, not only did not in the least resemble his immediate predecessors, but his tendencies were in striking contrast to theirs. He was previously Cardinal Maffeo Barberini, and now ascended the papal throne as Urban VIII.
