order to make thoſe who did not enjoy the favour of the church aſcend the funeral pile, or to let them feel the dreadful pains of torture, which a ſecretly-nurtured revenge would not otherwiſe dare to do. Men who diſtinguiſhed themſelves by a particular erudition, and amongſt them again thoſe who occupied themſelves in natural ſciences, which are up to this day hated by catholiciſm, were put on trial and ſentenced as ſorcerers. How impartially the perſecutors acted in this reſpect is manifeſted from the fact that after his death they made a ſorcerer of Pope Sylveſter II. diſtinguiſhed by his learning. The famous mathematician, Roger Bacon, was obliged to appear twice in Rome for an examination of his inſtruments. Arnoldus de Villa Nova was in his eightieth year condemned to ſuffer death by fire, and the Biſhop of Regenſburg, Albertus Magnus, was ſuſ-
