While the memory of those who were instrumental in the persecution of this great man is regarded with pity, contempt, or hatred, it is acknowledged that there is no one to whom physical science is more indebted for its general progress than the courtly and accomplished Tuscan, or whose name is associated with a larger number of important discoveries. He was the scion of a decayed patrician family, whose members had, in its days of greatness, held high rank and filled important civic offices in Florence. But, in his time, they seem to have experienced rather more than a full share of adverse fortune. His father. Vincenzo, was a man of considerable accomplishments, refined taste, and great musical talents, of which, he has left a monument his "Discourse on the Music of the Ancients and Moderns," published in 1581; but his income was small and his family large, so that the young Galileo was brought up in that chill kind of poverty which would often make his thoughts wander from the: sad realities of his father's circumstances to the position occupied by his Florentine ancestors, and thus perhaps engender the spirit of defiance which afterwards brought upon him the wrath of professors and the vengeance of the Inquisition.

Galileo Galilei was born at Pisa, on the 15th of March, 1564, his mother being a lady of noble birth; and he soon gave evidence of not being in the roll of ordinary boys. He busied himself with making various miniature models, and repairing the toys which the rough and careless usage of his playmates had damaged, thus gaining great popularity with the children in the neighbourhood. His young brain was early exercised with thought, and it has been well said, that while those of his age were whipping their tops he was scientifically considering the cause of their motion. He was early sent to an academy at Florence, but only for a short time. His father's narrow circumstances rendering it necessary to practise the most rigid economy, he was soon recalled, to be educated under the paternal roof. Thus he had the advantage of con-stant and affectionate intercourse with a man of intellectual pursuits, exquisite taste, and cultivated mind, at the very time when his was receiving its earliest impressions. Especially to a highly-gifted boy, this must ever be of immense consequence, and ought not to be lightly valued by any. In this case the charming fruits soon appeared in Galileo's accomplishments in painting, poetry, music, and song. He also took great delight in the classics, and manifested his anxious desire to arrive at the truth of any subject, by that habit of deep and resolute inquiry which afterwards led to his brilliant discoveries. His character in boyhood, as in more mature years, was amiable and generous, so that as his fame for talent grew and became the theme of conversation in his native city, the admiration for his social qualities increased in proportion. No youth on the fruit-abounding banks of the Arno received so much praise, or was regarded with more hope; and, as time passed on, it added to the interest he excited, and the love he inspired. He had his name on every tongue — his image in every heart.

Vincenzo was, with good reason, proud of his son's talents and graces, but his limited income at first precluded the idea of his being put into any path of life in which they might be effectually exercised. The brilliant Galileo was therefore de-stined for commerce, his parents, perhaps, vainly anticipating that he might thereby, Solon-like, re-build the shattered fortunes of the Galilei. How-ever, the studious disposition of the boy, his great promise, and the advice of friends, at length convinced his father that sacrifices must be made; and conceiving the interests and happiness of his son to be at stake, he reluctantly arrived at the determination of parting with a portion of his re-maining substance, for the purpose of securing Galileo the education essential to qualify him for a liberal profession. Accordingly he was, at the age of seventeen, sent to the University of Pisa to study medicine, and thus enabled to fit himself for a walk of life which held out the prospect of pecuniary profit. In taking this step, Vincenzo, who had doubtless learned worldly wisdom from sharp experience, was probably influenced to the considera-tion that ere long his son's undoubted abilities would win him such a celebrity as might cast its rays on, and prove advantageous to, his other chil-dren in their progress through life. How little did he foresee the dark stain by which the splendour of that celebrity was to be tarnished!

Galileo entered the university with a strict injunc-tion not to neglect his medical duties for the more fascinating pursuit of literature, or the attractive study of philosophy; but, in spite of all warnings, he showed no inclination to devote himself to the details of the profession for which he was intended. In fact, the established system of education was opposed to all his ideas, being utterly at enmity with that spirit of free inquiry by which he had always been animated and guided. He did not relish the thought of being forced to move in a circle like the mill-horse. Disdaining to be tamely and slavishly led by such opinions as were then predominant, Galileo first questioned and then denied their correctness. This caused great annoyance to the professors, who were not accustomed to have the opinions they delivered discussed; but they had now to do with a youth whose high spirit disdained the idea of tamely submitting to the dictation of blind guides.

At this period Galileo's taste for geometry was developed by overhearing a lesson given to the pages of the Grand Duke by the Abbe Ricci, who, happening to hear of his progress, and being a friend of his father, encouraged him to persevere, and admitted him to his class. Galileo entered upon it with de-votion; the study of Euclid was succeeded by that of Archimedes; and Vincenzo found all efforts to recall his son's attention to his professional pursuits quite futile. Under such circumstances, and considering, perhaps, that he had done something towards invoking the genius which he could not control, he was fain to allow the young philosopher to follow the bent of his own inclination. He was unable, however, to maintain him at the university, and, being disappointed in his application for a bursary, Galileo was obliged to leave without taking his doctor's degree. While yet a student, he had remarked the isochronism of the pendulum. At that time he was nineteen, and it happened in this wise. At the western extremity of the town stands the ancient cathedral of Pisa, magnificently adorned with statues, paintings, carvings, and mosaics, the works of some of the most famous artists who adorned the Italian republics in their best and most glorious days. Walking in its lofty aisle, Galileo was struck with observing the oscillation of one of the lamps suspended from the ceiling. Viewing and examining it with the eye of a diligent inquirer, and experimenting repeatedly and carefully, the keen workings of his mind led him to the discovery of the law of oscillation, and the most perfect measure of time we yet possess. Engaged, as he then was, in medical studies, his discovery was first applied to ascertain the rate of the pulse. In mature age he intended to make use of the pendulum as the regulator of clock-work; but he was ignorant of the theory of isochronism as first developed by Huyghens.