The present volume contains two curious documents concerning Dr. Dee,
the eminent philosopher of Mortlake, now for the first time published
from the original manuscripts. I. His Private Diary, written in a very
small illegible hand on the margins of old Almanacs, discovered a few
years ago by Mr. W. H. Black, in the library of the Ashmolean Museum at
Oxford. II. A Catalogue of his Library of Manuscripts, made by himself
before his house was plundered by the populace, and now preserved in the
library of Trinity College, Cambridge.
The publication of this Diary will tend perhaps to set Dee's character
in its true light, more than any thing that has yet been printed. We
have, indeed, his "Compendious Rehearsall," which is in some respects
more comprehensive, but this was written for an especial purpose, for
the perusal of royal commissioners, and he has of course carefully
avoided every allusion which could be construed in an unfavourable
light. In the other, however, he tells us his dreams, talks of
mysterious noises in his chamber, evil spirits, and alludes to
various secrets of occult philosophy in the spirit of a true believer.
Mr. D'Israeli has given a correct and able view of his character in his
"Amenities of Literature," which is remarkably confirmed in almost every
point by the narrative now published. "The imagination of Dee," observes
that elegant writer, "often predominated over his science; while both
were mingling in his intellectual habits, each seemed to him to confirm
the other. Prone to the mystical lore of what was termed the occult
sciences, which in reality are no sciences at all, since whatever
remains occult ceases to be science, Dee lost his better genius."
I shall refer the reader to this popular work instead of attempting
an original paper on the subject, which would necessarily be greatly
inferior to that drawn by the masterly hand of the author of the
"Curiosities of Literature."
The Catalogue of Dee's Library of Manuscripts, although long since
dispersed, is valuable for the notices which it preserves of several
middle-age treatises not now extant. He is said to have expended on this
collection the sum of three thousand pounds, a very large sum in those
days for a person of limited income.
J. O. H.
35, Alfred Place,
March 15th 1842.