Books Fatal to Their Authors | Page 6

in 1566, and educated by the Jesuits. He was learned in history
and in science, and was the first to discover the cause of the rainbow,
his explanation being adopted and perfected by Descartes. The Jesuits

obtained for him the Professorship of Mathematics at Padua, and of
Logic and Rhetoric at Brescia. After his ordination he became a
popular preacher and was consecrated Bishop of Segni, and afterwards
Archbishop of Spalatro in Dalmatia. He took a leading part in the
controversy between the Republic of Venice and the Pope, and after the
reconciliation between the two parties was obliged by the Pope to pay
an annual pension of five hundred crowns out of the revenues of his see
to the Bishop of Segni. This highly incensed the avaricious prelate,
who immediately began to look out for himself a more lucrative piece
of preferment. He applied to Sir Dudley Carleton, the English
Ambassador at Venice, to know whether he would be received into the
Church of England, as the abuses and corruptions of the Church of
Rome prevented him from remaining any longer in her communion.
King James I. heartily approved of his proposal, and gave him a most
honourable reception, both in the Universities and at Court. All the
English bishops agreed to contribute towards his maintenance. Fuller
says: "It is incredible what flocking of people there was to behold this
old archbishop now a new convert; prelates and peers presented him
with gifts of high valuation." Other writers of the period describe him
as "old and corpulent," but of a "comely presence"; irascible and
pretentious, gifted with an unlimited assurance and plenty of ready wit
in writing and speaking; of a "jeering temper," and of a most grasping
avarice. He was ridiculed on the stage in Middleton's play, The Game
of Chess, as the "Fat Bishop." "He was well named De Dominis in the
plural," says Crakanthorp, "for he could serve two masters, or twenty, if
they paid him wages."
Our author now proceeded to finish his great work, which he published
in 1617 in three large folios--De Republicâ Ecclesiasticâ, of which the
original still exists among the Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library at
Oxford. "He exclaims," says Fuller, "'in reading, meditation, and
writing, I am almost pined away,' but his fat cheeks did confute his
false tongue in that expression." In this book he shows that the
authority of the Bishop of Rome can easily be disproved from Holy
Scripture, that it receives no support from the judgment of history and
antiquity, that the early bishops of that see had no precedence over

other bishops, nor were in the least able to control those of other
countries. He declares that the inequality in power amongst the
Apostles is a human invention, not founded on the Gospels; that in the
Holy Eucharist the priest does not offer the sacrifice of Christ, but only
the commemoration of that sacrifice; that the Church has no coercive
power, that John Huss was wrongfully condemned at the Council of
Constance; that the Holy Spirit was promised to the whole Church, and
not only to bishops and priests; that the papacy is a fiction invented by
men; and he states many other propositions which must have been
somewhat distasteful to the Pope and his followers.
James rewarded De Dominis by conferring on him the Mastership of
the Savoy and the Deanery of Windsor, and he further increased his
wealth by presenting himself to the rich living of West Ilsley, in
Berkshire.
In an unfortunate moment he insulted Count Gondomar, the Spanish
Ambassador, who determined to be revenged, and persuaded the Pope
to send the most flattering offers if he would return to his former faith.
Pope Gregory XV., a relative of De Dominis, had just ascended the
Papal throne. The bait took. De Dominis, discontented with the non
multum supra quadringentas libras annuas which he received in
England, and pining after the duodecim millia Coronatorum promised
by the Pope, resolved to leave our shores. James was indignant. Bishop
Hall tried to dissuade him from his purpose. "Tell me, by the Immortal
God, what it is that can snatch you from us so suddenly, after a delay of
so many years, and drive you to Rome? Has our race appeared to you
inhospitable, or have we shown favour to your virtues less than you
hoped? You cannot plead that this is the cause of your departure, upon
whom a most kind sovereign has bestowed such ample gifts and
conferred such rich offices." The Archbishop was questioned by the
Bishops of London and Durham, by order of the king, with regard to
his intentions, and commanded to leave the country within twenty days.
He was known to have amassed a large sum of money during his
sojourn