Books Fatal to Their Authors | Page 3

proofs of this work. It was my intention to dedicate this book to Mr.
John Walter, but alas! his death has deprived it of that distinction. It is
only possible now to inscribe to the memory of him whom England
mourns the results of some literary labour in which he was pleased to
take a kindly interest.
P. H. D.
BARKHAM RECTORY, November, 1894.

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THEOLOGY.
Michael Molinos--Bartholomew Carranza--Jerome
Wecchiettus--Samuel Clarke-- Francis David--Antonio de
Dominis--Noël Bède--William Tyndale--Arias Montanus--John
Huss--Antonio Bruccioli--Enzinas--Louis Le Maistre--Caspar
Peucer--Grotius--Vorstius--Pasquier Quesnel--Le
Courayer--Savonarola-- Michael Servetus--Sebastian Edzardt--William
of Ockham--Abélard.
CHAPTER II.
FANATICS AND FREE-THINKERS.
Quirinus Kuhlmann--John Tennhart--Jeremiah Felbinger--Simon
Morin-- Liszinski--John Toland--Thomas Woolston--John
Biddle--Johann Lyser-- Bernardino Ochino--Samuel Friedrich

Willenberg.
CHAPTER III.
ASTROLOGY, ALCHEMY, AND MAGIC.
Henry Cornelius Agrippa--Joseph Francis Borri--Urban Grandier--Dr.
Dee-- Edward Kelly--John Darrell.
CHAPTER IV.
SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY.
Bishop Virgil--Roger Bacon--Galileo--Jordano Bruno--Thomas
Campanella--De Lisle de Sales--Denis Diderot--Balthazar
Bekker--Isaac de la Peyrère--Abbé de Marolles--Lucilio Vanini--Jean
Rousseau.
CHAPTER V.
HISTORY.
Antonius Palearius--Caesar Baronius--John Michael Bruto--Isaac
Berruyer— Louis Elias Dupin--Noel Alexandre--Peter
Giannone--Joseph Sanfelicius (Eusebius
Philopater)--Arlotto--Bonfadio--De Thou--Gilbert Génébrard-- Joseph
Audra--Beaumelle--John Mariana--John B. Primi--John Christopher
Rüdiger--Rudbeck--François Haudicquer--François de
Rosières--Anthony Urseus.
CHAPTER VI.
POLITICS AND STATESMANSHIP.
John Fisher--Reginald Pole--"Martin
Marprelate"--Udal--Penry--Hacket--
Coppinger--Arthington--Cartwright--Cowell--Leighton--John
Stubbs--Peter Wentworth--R. Doleman--J. Hales--Reboul--William

Prynne--Burton—Bastwick --John Selden--John
Tutchin--Delaune--Samuel Johnson--Algernon Sidney-- Edmund
Richer--John de Falkemberg--Jean Lenoir--Simon Linguet--Abbé
Caveirac--Darigrand--Pietro Sarpi--Jerome Maggi--Theodore Reinking.
CHAPTER VII.
SATIRE.
Roger Rabutin de Bussy--M. Dassy--Trajan Boccalini--Pierre
Billard--Pietro Aretino--Felix Hemmerlin--John Giovanni
Cinelli--Nicholas Francus--Lorenzo Valla--Ferrante
Pallavicino--François Gacon--Daniel Defoe--Du Rosoi-- Caspar
Scioppius.
CHAPTER VIII.
POETRY.
Adrian Beverland--Cecco d'Ascoli--George Buchanan--Nicodemus
Frischlin-- Clement Marot--Gaspar Weiser--John
Williams--Deforges--Théophile--Hélot-- Matteo Palmieri--La
Grange--Pierre Petit--Voltaire--Montgomery--Keats-- Joseph Ritson.
CHAPTER IX.
DRAMA AND ROMANCE.
Sir John Yorke and Catholic Plays--Abraham Cowley--Antoine
Danchet--Claude Crébillon--Nogaret--François de Salignac Fénélon.
CHAPTER X.
BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS.
The Printers of Nicholas de Lyra and Caesar Baronius--John
Fust--Richard Grafton--Jacob van Liesvelt--John Lufftius--Robert
Stephens (Estienne)-- Henry Stephens--Simon Ockley--Floyer

Sydenham--Edmund Castell--Page--John Lilburne--Etienne
Dolet--John Morin--Christian Wechel--Andrew Wechel-- Jacques
Froullé--Godonesche--William Anderton.
CHAPTER XI.
SOME LITERARY MARTYRS.
Leland--Strutt--Cotgrave--Henry Wharton--Robert
Heron--Collins--William Cole--Homeric victims--Joshua Barnes--An
example of unrequited toil-- Borgarutius—Pays.
INDEX

BOOKS FATAL TO THEIR AUTHORS.
CHAPTER I.
THEOLOGY.
Michael Molinos--Bartholomew Carranza--Jerome
Wecchiettus--Samuel Clarke-- Francis David--Antonio de
Dominis--Noël Bède--William Tyndale--Arias Montanus--John
Huss--Antonio Bruccioli--Enzinas--Louis Le Maistre--Gaspar
Peucer--Grotius--Vorstius--Pasquier Quesnel--Le
Courayer--Savonarola-- Michael Servetus--Sebastian Edzardt--William
of Ockham--Abélard.
Since the knowledge of Truth is the sovereign good of human nature, it
is natural that in every age she should have many seekers, and those
who ventured in quest of her in the dark days of ignorance and
superstition amidst the mists and tempests of the sixteenth century
often ran counter to the opinions of dominant parties, and fell into the
hands of foes who knew no pity. Inasmuch as Theology and Religion
are the highest of all studies--the aroma scientiarum--they have
attracted the most powerful minds and the subtlest intellects to their

elucidation; no other subjects have excited men's minds and aroused
their passions as these have done; on account of their unspeakable
importance, no other subjects have kindled such heat and strife, or
proved themselves more fatal to many of the authors who wrote
concerning them. In an evil hour persecutions were resorted to to force
consciences, Roman Catholics burning and torturing Protestants, and
the latter retaliating and using the same weapons; surely this was, as
Bacon wrote, "to bring down the Holy Ghost, instead of the likeness of
a dove, in the shape of a vulture or raven; and to set, out of the bark of
a Christian Church, a flag of a bark of pirates and assassins."
The historian then will not be surprised to find that by far the larger
number of Fatal Books deal with these subjects of Theology and
Religion, and many of them belong to the stormy period of the
Reformation. They met with severe critics in the merciless Inquisition,
and sad was the fate of a luckless author who found himself opposed to
the opinions of that dread tribunal. There was no appeal from its
decisions, and if a taint of heresy, or of what it was pleased to call
heresy, was detected in any book, the doom of its author was sealed,
and the ingenuity of the age was well-nigh exhausted in devising
methods for administering the largest amount of torture before death
ended his woes.
Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
Liberty of conscience was a thing unknown in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries; and while we prize that liberty as a priceless
possession, we can but admire the constancy and courage of those who
lived in less happy days. We are not concerned now in condemning or
defending their opinions or their beliefs, but we may at least praise
their boldness and mourn their fate.
The first author we record whose works proved fatal to him was
Michael Molinos, a Spanish theologian born in 1627, a pious and
devout man who resided at Rome and acted as confessor. He published
in 1675 The Spiritual Manual, which was translated from Italian into