Books Fatal to Their Authors | Page 3

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--No?l 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--Fran?ois Haudicquer--Fran?ois 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--Fran?ois 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--Fran?ois 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--No?l 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 Latin, and together with a treatise on The Daily Communion was printed with this title: A Spiritual Manual, releasing the soul and leading it along the interior way to the acquiring the perfection of contemplation and the rich treasure of internal peace. In the preface Molinos writes: "Mystical theology is not a science of the imagination, but of feelings; we do not understand it by study, but we receive it from heaven. Therefore in