The inevitable result soon followed. The Holy Office got wind
of the business, and the book was at once put on the Index. In Naples
and Bologna it was publicly burned, and in Modena a professor of the
University who was found to have a copy in his possession was fined and
removed from his chair.
In Milan, where the strong liberal faction among the nobility, and the
comparative leniency of the Austrian rule, permitted a more unrestrained
discussion of political questions, the Origin of Civilisation was
received with open enthusiasm, and the story of the difficulties that
Fulvia had encountered in its publication made her the heroine of the
moment. She had never concealed her devotion to her father's doctrines,
and in the first glow of filial pride she may have yielded too openly to
the desire to propagate them. Certain it is that she began to be looked
on as having shared in the writing of the book, or as being at least an
active exponent of its principles. Even in Lombardy it was not well to
be too openly associated with the authorship of a condemned book; and
Fulvia was suddenly advised by the police that her presence in Milan was
no longer acceptable to the government.
The news excited great indignation among her friends, and Count
Castiglione and several other gentlemen of rank hastened to intervene in
her behalf; but the governor declared himself unwilling to take issue
with the Holy Office on a doctrinal point, and privately added that it
would be well for the Signorina Vivaldi to withdraw from Lombardy before
the clergy brought any direct charge against her.
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