Kepler, eight years afterwards, informed his correspondent Breugger that Bruno had been really burned: 'he bore his agonizing death with fortitude, abiding by the asseveration that all religions are vain, and that God identifies himself with the world, circumference and center.' Kepler, it may be observed, conceived a high opinion of Bruno's speculations, and pointed him out to Galileo as the man who had divined the infinity of solar systems in their correlation to one infinite order of the universe.[117] [Footnote 117: Doubts have recently been raised as to whether Bruno was really burned.

But these are finally disposed of by a succinct and convincing exposition of the evidence by Mr.R.C.Christie, in _Macmillan's Magazine_, October 1885.

In addition to Schoppe and Kepler, we have the reference to Bruno's burning published by Mersenne in 1624; but what is far more important, the _Avviso di Roma_ for February 19,1600, records this event as having occurred upon the preceding Thursday.

To Signor Berti's two works, _Documenti intorno a G.Bruno_ (Roma, 1880), and _Copernico e le vicende_, etc.

(Roma, 1876), we owe most of the material which has been lucidly sifted by Mr.R.C.
Christie.] Scioppius was a German humanist of the elder Italianated type, an elegant Latin stylist, who commented indifferently on the _Priapeia_ and the Stoic philosophy.