, Agrippa had invitations from Henry VIII. king of England, from the chancellor of the emperor, from an Italian marquis, and from Margaret of Austria, governess of
He now resolved to remove to the Low Countries; this
he could not do without a passport, which he at length obtained, after many tedious delays, and arrived at Antwerp
in July 1528. The duke de Vendome was the principal
cause of these delays; for he, instead of signing the passport, tore it in pieces in a passion, protesting he would never sign a passport for a conjuror. In 1529, Agrippa had
invitations from Henry VIII. king of England, from the
chancellor of the emperor, from an Italian marquis, and
from Margaret of Austria, governess of the Low Countries:
he preferred the last, and accepted of being historiographer
to the emperor, which was offered him by that princess.
He published, by way of introduction, the “History of
the Coronation of Charles V.
” Soon after, Margaret of
Austria died, and he spoke her funeral oration. Her death
is said in some measure to have been the life of Agrippa,
for great prejudices had been infused into that princess
against him: “I have nothing to write you (says he in one of his letters) but that I am likely to starve here, bein
entirely forsaken by the deities of the court; what the great
Jupiter himself (meaning Charles V.) intends, I know not.
I now understand what great danger I was in here: the
monks so far influenced the princess, who was of a superstitious turn, as women generally are, that, had not her
sudden death prevented it, I should undoubtedly have been
tried for offences against the majesty of the cowl and the
sacred honour of the monks; crimes for which I should
have been accounted no less guilty, and no less punished;
than if I had blasphemed the Christian religion.
” His
treatise, “Of the Vanity of the Sciences,
” which he published in Of the Occult Philosophy,
” afforded them fresh pretexts for defaming his
reputation. Cardinal Campej us, the pope’s legate, however,
and the cardinal de la Mark, bishop of Liege, spoke in his
favour; but could not procure him his pension as historiographer, nor prevent him from being thrown into prison at
Brussels, in the year 1531. When he regained his liberty,
he paid a visit to the archbishop of Cologn, to whom he
had dedicated his Occult Philosophy, and from whom he
had received a very obliging letter in return. The inquisitors endeavoured to hinder the impression of his Occult
Philosophy, when he was about to print a second edition
with emendations and additions; however, notwithstanding
all their opposition, he finished it in 1533. He staid at
Bonne till 1535; and when he returned to Lyons, he was
imprisoned for what he had written against the mother of
Francis I.; but he was soon released from his confinement,
at the desire of several persons, and went to Grenoble,
where he died the same year. Some authors say, that he
died in the hospital; but Gabriel Naude affirms, it was at
the house of the receiver-general of the province of Dauphiny.
, an Italian marquis, and a learned mathematician, was born at Padua
, an Italian marquis, and a learned mathematician, was born at Padua in 1683. He was appointed
professor of astronomy and mathematics in the university of
his native city, and filled that post with high reputation.
In three instances he gained prizes from the Royal Academy of Sciences, and in 1739 he was elected an associate
of that body. He was also a member of the academy of
Berlin, a fellow of the London Royal Society, and a member of the Institutes of Padua and Bologna, and contributed
many valuable mathematical and astronomical papers to the
Memoirs of these Societies. As he was celebrated for his
skill and deep knowledge of hydraulic architecture, he was
nominated by the Venetian government, superintendant of
the rivers and waters throughout the republic; other states
also applied to him for advice, in business belonging to
the same science. He was sent for by pope Benedict XIV.
to survey the state of St. Peter’s church at Rome, and drew
up a memoir on what he conceived necessary to be done.
He died at Padua in 1761, at the age of 7S. He appears
to have acquired very distinguished reputation in his day,
and was the correspondent of many learned contemporaries,
particularly sir Isaac Newton, Leibnitz, the Bernoulli’s,
Wolff, Cassini, Gravesande, Muschenbroeck, Fontenelle,
and others. Nor was he more esteemed as a mathematician than as an antiquary, and the learned world is indebted
to him for a valuable supplement to the collections of Graerius and Gronovius, Venice, 1737, 5 vols. fol. but these
volumes are rather scarce. Among his other most valued
publications are, “Exercitationes Vitruvianae, seu Commentarius Criticus de Vitruvii architectura,
” Venice, Dissertazione sopra al Tempio di Diana di
Efeso,
” Rome,