Bernardino Ochino, of Siena - A Contribution Towards the History of the Reformation #267520

When the work of Dr. Benrath first came into my hands, before completing the reading of it, I said - This is a book that will make its way into our language and into others, and in each new language it will make its way to the favour of many readers. Already it has made its way into English. It is sure to do so into other tongues, and that simply by its force of interest. In the interest of the book, the central force, ever present and ever sensible, is that of an original and picturesque personality; a personality now gleaming like a meteor among summits, now cast out as the filth and offscouring of the earth, leading us through changing emotions of admiration and compassion, constantly keeping alive curiosity, often awakening surprise. Around this central interest revolve other interests, emerging turn by turn, each with its attraction for different classes of readers, - a literary interest and a historical one, a polemical and a religious.<br><br>The first notice of the book I saw in print was from Professor Giuseppe de Leva, of the University of Padua. The Italian scholar, though a Catholic, cordially thanked the German one for presenting Italy with this recovered portrait of one of her shining orators and purest ecclesiastics, whose features had for centuries been hidden under the blot with which the Inquisition covers all heresy. The world thought that those features had been effaced, and that they could never be traced again.