One accent of the Holy Ghost The heedless world has never lost, and it is a truth which daily experience confirms. Where men's utterances have been true, and in proportion to their truth, there is resurrection for them. That which has once truly lived, lives for ever. For some years after the death of Giordano Bruno there was absolute silence about him. The eminent men who were his friends and fellow-students do not mention him in their letters or their books; the religious Order to which he belonged denied him, and erased his name from their archives; it is in vain we seek for it among the lists of Professors in the Universities where he had lectured and taught; and, out of the crowds assembled during the great jubilee in the year of our Lord 1600, no one spoke or wrote at the time of a spectacle which yet must have been a remarkable feature in it-the burning at the stake of the contumacious and relapsed heretic and heresiarch, Giordano Bruno.

Eight years afterwards-i.e. in 1608-Kepler, in a private letter to Dr. Brengger from Prague, tells him that Bruno was burnt in Rome, and that he endured his terrible fate with marvellous constancy; and in 1621 a letter from Scioppio, an eye-witness of the tragedy, to his friend Ritterhausen, was published for the first time. From the time of his execution, therefore, up to the date of these letters, no other trace, public or private, can be found of the cruel death of one of the boldest thinkers and most indefatigable students of the age.

Now, however, it is different. To all for whom the history of philosophy has interest the name of Giordano Bruno is familiar. That

which he was, that which he wrote, that which he suffered, is known. In F, Germany, and Italy his works have been minutely collected and re-published, his biography has been repeatedly written, and romances have been composed in which he figures as hero. And even to those who have little interest in metaphysical or philosophical study his fame is widely known as a martyr for freedom of thought and liberty of opinion.

It is not, however, the object of this paper to discuss what these thoughts and opinions were, but to narrate from authentic documents, especially from Berti's copious monograph, the life of a scholar of the sixteenth century. No portion of the world's history is more remarkable than that of the first century after the invention of printing. The world has never known a period which can compete with this in the strength and vitality of its growth; and it is on this account that the life of a scholar who was one of the foremost agitators of his time affords lessons so suggestive and valuable.

Filippo Bruno was born at Nola, in 1548. Nola was one of the old cities of Magna Grecia. Its people must have inherited some traditional Greek acuteness and brilliancy of intellect, for even at that date many of them had won European reputation for erudition and literary acquirements. Tansillo the poet, Ambrogio Leone the friend of Erasmus, Albertino Gentile, and Pomponio Algeri, &c., were Nolans. Algeri preceded Bruno by a few years only in his imprisonment at Venice and execution in Rome. He was condemned, too, for a similar crime-heresy.

The soft climate of Nola, the beauty of its position, the luxuriant fertility of its soil, were always re

membered with filial affection by Bruno. A strong yearning towards his native Italy, after his long exile, was the master motive which in duced him at last to leave Frankfort for Venice; and this home sickness was as fatal to him as to

Jacopo Foscari. Bruno was educated partly at Nola and partly at Naples. He attended the public classes of the college and the private lectures of the professors till the age of fifteen, when he became a novice in the Dominican monastery of San Domenico Maggiore, in Naples. He changed his baptismal name of Filippo for that of Giordano, and after his year's noviciate had expired took the monastic vows.

It was in the convent of San Domenico Maggiore that St. Thomas Aquinas had lectured on theology when the University of Naples had its seat there, and in one of its cells (still consecrated to his memory) he conceived his subtle system of religious philosophy, a system which was an armoury out of which future religious persecutors found weapons to destroy philosophical liberty. But the youth who now trod the cloisters still echoing with this great name, was of a totally different character from the angelic Doctor. Acute, bold, ardent, and impetuous, he grievously shocked his superiors by his daring questionings and incredulities. What,' said he to a young companion whom he found reading a mystic book called The Seven Joys of the Madonna, 'would it not be more practically useful for you to study the lives of the Holy Fathers?' He gave away all his relics and images of saints, and only kept his crucifix. Even before his noviciate had expired his conduct appeared so reprehensible to the authorities of the convent that an act of accusation was drawn up against him; but, in consideration of his extreme youth (he was only sixteen), this was set aside, and he was enrolled

Four years

among the brethren. after he had taken priest's orders, when in the twenty-fourth year of his age, another trial on account of infidelity and heresy was projected, but again set aside.

The minutes of both these projected trials were brought forward at the last fatal one, as proofs of early perversity. The Dominicans, however, did not carry out their intentions; their Order, like that of the Benedictines, and perhaps even in a still greater degree, appreciated intellectual power in all its manifestations. They had numbered artists and orators and mathematicians among their brethren, and were unwilling to use rigorous measures towards one from whom and through whom they yet hoped much honour and distinction might arise for what they considered God's cause, which they identified (by an euphuism common to all men in all ages) with their own. In spite, however, of persecutions and suspicions, Bruno pursued his studies with undiminished ardour. But the doubts which had gone hand in hand with his wider knowledge and deeper research made themselves heard more and more. They were no longer speculations, they were opinions; not theories with which to amuse his fancy, but truths with which to fortify his intellect. These doubts had been probably entertained before by other monks or priests, who yet were silent, as became their cowl and tonsure, and who recognised the prudence of not disseminating their differences with mother Church; but if Bruno committed the fatal error of taking vows with his lips against which his whole nature rebelled--an error which, like all error, brought its inevitable consequence, linking by an inextricable chain the rebellious brother of San Domenico with the contumacious heretic who suffered on the Piazza della Minerva-he expiated this early fault by a life

long assertion, with pen and tongue, of the truth-that which was truth to him, which he had made out for himself by honest search. Bruno's divergence from the tenets of his Church began with a point which, of itself, was not at first pronounced heretical, though for him it was the thin end of the wedge which was to break into fragments all his former beliefs. It was the adoption of the Copernican instead of the Aristotelian theory as to the motion of the earth. The doctrine of a plurality of worlds, the rejection of the received Scriptural notion as to the origin of mankind, doubts as to the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Atonement, convictions as to Infinity, as to the nature of God, all sprang from the admission of this scientific truth.

A third time the chiefs of his Order began an investigation as to his creed, and to escape it he left Naples and took refuge in Rome, in a convent of his own Order. It is probable that at this time Bruno was not unstained by the coarse dissipations of the day. Doubts as to the dogmas of his faith, coupled with disgust at those who could unite servile obedience to bigoted tenets with licentious wickedness in conduct, may have caused much cynical recklessness in his own life. Great coarseness of taste and gross indecency of manners pervaded the literature of the day; and in several of Bruno's comedies we find proofs of this taint. But, though under its dominion for a time, the best of his printed works, the titles of yet unfound MSS., the notes of his public lectures and private tuition, prove that by diligent application and steadfast work he emancipated himself from the slavery of sense.

He remained in Rome only a few days. The friends he left at Naples wrote to him that the minutes of accusation on the charge of heresy had been forwarded to Rome after him, and he resolved to fly. He

little thought as he turned his back upon it that the evil thing (this fatal charge) was still existent, biding its time, to destroy him more surely at last. And now commenced his series of wanderings, the Odyssey of a scholar's life, full of perils and escapes and fatigues, with an occasional glimpse of peace and a calm haven, but, unlike the story of Ulysses, to end miserably in the very city from which he had been at first driven. He paused for a few days at Genoa, but there he found no materials for his labours. There were no printing presses, consequently there was a scarcity of books. He went on to Noli, where he stayed five months.

Thrown entirely on his own resources, he earned his livelihood here by working as a schoolmaster. He taught grammar to the children and youths, and read and expounded learned works with the gentlemen. The study of astronomy was a popular one at the time, and Bruno was successful in interesting his pupils. But this sphere was too limited for him, and at the expiration of five months he left Noli. On his way to Venice, where he next resided, he passed through Turin, but his stay there must have been brief, and we find nothing of interest connected with it except the fact that another illustrious pilgrim, Tasso, must have taken refuge in that city at about the same time. The gloom which hung over Venice at the period of Bruno's arrival may have communicated its melancholy influence to his first impressions, and given an evil omen of the fate there to be, at a later period, fulfilled. Plague had decimated the population; fear, poverty, and abject squalor were depicted on every countenance. Paolo Sarpi was lecturing on philosophy in his convent, and Bruno may possibly have attended his teaching; but they were too much opposed both in doctrine and method

to meet on terms of fellowship, and we find no trace of Paul the friar's influence in Bruno's writings.

From Venice Bruno went to Padua. He taught in the University, and privately, with some success. Here he made another step in that descent at the foot of which death awaited him. On leaving Rome he had stripped off his monk's dress, and resumed his baptismal name of Filippo, casting aside every outward badge of the service he had abandoned. At Padua he was over-persuaded by some of his friends to resume the garb of a religion which both his intellect and heart disowned.

The period of Bruno's residence at Padua is uncertain. We only know that on leaving that city he went to Milan, and there first made the acquaintance of Sir Philip Sidney, an acquaintance which must have been a source of pleasure to both, and which was renewed and fostered during Bruno's subsequent visit to England.

The influence of Sidney, fresh from England, where religious vicissitudes had culminated in the substitution of the Royal supremacy for the Papal, may have added another item to Bruno's anti-papal tendencies, and may have strengthened him in that persistent struggle against orthodoxy, the idea of which was, perhaps, first excited by the cruel butchery of the unfortunate Waldenses which occurred during his youth at Nola, which overcast his studies in San Domenico with its grim shadow, and shook his faith in the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas.

There is yet another influence which must not be overlooked if we would trace the workings of Bruno's mind. Raymond Lullo, who had been dead more than a hundred and fifty years, was regarded by him as a worshipped master; and though it was far from Lullo's

VOL. III.-NO. XV. NEW SERIES.

intention to weaken the hold of the Roman Church upon the minds of men, still the reasonings of this great apostle and metaphysician must, if fairly carried out, have led his disciple's steps far onward in the path of heresy.

Bruno appears to have remained but a short time in Milan. Probably neither in Lombardy nor in Piedmont could he find that scope for his acquirements, or those materials for his studies which he required. Moreover, such erudition and keen logic enrolled in the ranks inimical to Holy Church, would strike with terror most of those who listened to his lectures, few of whom could follow the mathematical and metaphysical processes by which he arrived at conclusions so alarming, and to them so novel. Doubts of the Pope's power to bind or to loose, doubts of his infallibility, doubts of election and grace, of the efficacy of works, &c., were understood, and occupied theologians. unceasingly at this time; but doubts built on the new Copernican discoveries as to the earth's motion, were a marvel and a shock.

From Milan Bruno went to Chambéry, but the Savoyard monks were far too ignorant and bigoted for him to remain with them, and he soon left Chambéry for Geneva, where he arrived in 1576.

Immediately on his arrival at Geneva he was visited by an Italian refugee (there were several of the denomination called Evangelical in the city), who enquired why he had left Italy, and if he had any intention of becoming a Calvinist. Bruno replied, that he only came to Geneva to study in peace and freedom, and that as to Calvinism he knew not what it was. His friend accepted his answer, but advised him earnestly before he appeared publicly to change his monastic dress. Bruno frankly confessed he had but one suit, and no money to purchase another. He contrived, however,

C C

his

to make a pair of breeches out of and several of his coungown, trymen (also refugees for opinion's sake in Geneva) presented him with hat and cloak, and all the necessary equipment of a citizen.

What a curious picture this circumstance gives of the simplicity of the habits of the time! What generosity in bestowing favours; what dignity in receiving them! Above all, with what a disinterested love was Philosophy then served! If she brought riches and honours, well; if she did not, it was well also. The one vital thing was to know.

The chief personage among these Italian refugees, who were content for the truth's sake to live under the iron rule of Geneva, was Galeazzo Caracciolo, a noble Neapolitan, whose father had married a niece of Pope Paul IV., and who had severed himself from all ties of blood and connection, had abandoned his home, his possessions and his country, to abjure Catholicism and be a disciple of Calvin at Geneva. If Calvinism had admitted homage to saints, Caracciolo would have been canonised, and what is more, would have deserved it. Calvin had died about twelve years before Bruno's arrival, but the terror of his rule prevailed still. Though a large portion of the exiled Italians had wholly embraced his tenets, some permitted themselves to differ from him. To avoid all fluctuation of doctrine, a catechism had been drawn up at his instigation which all his followers were obliged to sign. Those who did not were persecuted to the death. The execution of Servetus had paralysed most of his opponents, and they fled. Ocheno, an old man of seventy-six years of age, took refuge in Poland. Some went to Tübingen, some as far as Turkey. Valentino Gentile, after having been condemned to do penance in Geneva, was beheaded in Berne. Lelio Soci

nus escaped to Zurich, and Fausti Socinus to Poland.

One of the favourite heresies of the time and the most abhorred and castigated by the spiritual heads of all the Churches, whether Catholic or Protestant, and which has been since produced and reproduced in later years, was, that there was still another development of God's will as to mankind which was yet to be made. The Jewish dispensation was inspired by God the Father, the Christian dispensation by God the Son, but the manifestation of the Holy Spirit was yet to come.

Bruno, the tendency of whose mind was rather destructive than constructive in matters of creeds and churches, and who considered all creeds but the temporary symbols, the mere alphabets, of that natural religion into which they would all fuse and eventually find place, found the intolerance of the Calvinists disagreeable and even dangerous to him. Beza, Calvin's faithful disciple and ally, and who was to him what Melancthon was to Luther, detested Bruno's opinions; and had not the latter left Geneva, a repetition of the tragedy of Servetus would have been imminent.

Bruno proceeded from Geneva to Lyons, where he remained but a short time, and then went on to Toulouse about the middle of the year 1577.

The fair city of the gay science and the floral games was in its zenith of prosperity at this date. Its University numbered ten thousand scholars, and though the bloody and fratricidal religious wars which had so lately convulsed France were scarcely over, the zeal and fervour of the youth of the city in seeking instruction were as fresh and unabated as in a time of peace. After some private teachings and readings, finding there was a vacancy in the office of Public Lecturer to the University, Bruno tried for it, and was elected.