Preface

The original of tiiis bool tine Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924100581911
GIORDANO BRUNO
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLICS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. By J. C. L. SiSMONDi. Translated, supple- mented and edited, with a Memoir of the Author, by Dr. William Boulting. Demy 8vo, buckram, 5j. net.
GIORDANO BRUNO
HIS LIFE, THOUGHT, AND MARTYRDOM
BY
WILLIAM BOULTING
AUTHOR OF 'TASSO AND HIS TIMES" "^NEAS SYLVIUS," ETC.
" To love Truth for Truth's sake is the principal part of human perfection in this world, and the seed-plot of all other virtues." — Locke.
London
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. Ltd.
BROADWAY HOUSE. 68-74 CARTER LANE, E.C.
New York : E. P. BUTTON & CO.
1 : ! .
PREFACE
The life of Bruno has been written in English more than once, and he has had many excellent commentators. No one can now write about him without availing himself very largely of the solid and scholarly work done by Tocco, Fio- rentino, Berti, Brunnhofer, Mclntyre and others. The apology for the appearance of the present work must be that some facts, unrecorded in England, have come to light of late years, and also that a few usual, almost unavoidable in- accuracies require correction. Moreover, I have tried to follow the development of Bruno's thoughts in the order in which he declared them ; and, on one or two points, I find myself compelled to differ from the conclusions of this or the other commentator.
Most of Bruno's works have been published in the editions of Wagner, Lagarde, and Gfrorer, well edited for their day. Different libraries contain different editions, when any are to be found in them. Even the British Museum, although it possesses a fine collection of rare, original impressions, does not contain all the volumes of the complete State Edition, and lacks that one which contains the works which were discovered in manuscript. To give the paging of any particular edition might therefore prove less convenient than the plan I have adopted of giving those indications for re- ference which are supplied by the subdivisions of the works themselves, except in the case of the published manuscripts.
VI GIORDANO BRUNO
Those who wish to verify a reference will thereby readily do so and may discover that reading the context is not a wholly unprofitable task. I have given minuter detail as to other works from which I have drawn or which throw light on the subject-matter.
W. B.
CONTENTS
Preface