CARDAN, as he has himself related, arrived at Edinburgh on June 29, 1552.
The coming of such a man at such a time must have been an event of
extraordinary interest. In England the Italy of the Renaissance had been
in a measure realized by men of learning and intellect through the reports
of the numerous scholars--John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, Henry Parker,
Lord Morley, Howard Earl of Surrey, and Sir Thomas Wyat, may be taken as
examples--who had wandered thither and come back with a stock of histories
setting forth the beauty and charm, and also the terror and wickedness, of
that wonderful land. Some echoes of this legend had doubtless drifted down
to Scotland, and possibly still more may have been wafted over from
France. Ascham had taken up his parable in the _Schoolmaster_, describing
the devilish sins and corruptions of Italy, and now the good people of
Edinburgh were to be given the sight of a man coming thence, one who was
fabled to have gathered together more knowledge, both of this world and of
that other hidden one which was to them just as real, than any mortal man
alive. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Cardan should
have been regarded rather as a magician than as a doctor, and in the
_Scotichronicon_[146] it is recorded that the Primate was cured of a
lingering asthma by the incantations of an astrologer named Cardan, from
Milan. Cardan in his narrative speaks of Edinburgh as the place where he
met his patient, and does not mention any other place of sojourn, but the
record just quoted goes on to say that he abode with the Primate for
eleven weeks at his country residence at Monimail, near Cupar, Fife, where
there is a well called to this day Cardan's Well.
Cardan, as it has been noticed already, refused to commit himself to any
opinion as to the character of the Archbishop's distemper over the
dinner-table where he and Cassanate had been entertained by the French
King's physicians. Cassanate had set forth his views in full as to the
nature of the asthma which had to be dealt with in his letter to Cardan,
and it is highly probable that he would again bring forward these views in
the hearing of the Paris doctors. It is certain that some of the French
physicians had, previous to this, prescribed a course of treatment for the
Archbishop, probably without seeing him, and that the course was being
tried when Cardan arrived in Edinburgh.[147] For the first six weeks of
his stay he watched the case, and let the treatment aforesaid go
on--whether it differed from that which Cassanate recommended or not there
is no evidence to show. But no good result came of it. The Archbishop
wasted in body and became fretful and disturbed in mind, and, at last,
Cardan was obliged to let his opinion of the case be known; and, as this
was entirely hostile to the treatment which was being pursued, the
inevitable quarrel between the doctors burst forth with great violence.
The Archbishop was irate with his ordinary medical attendant, probably the
physician who was left in charge during Cassanate's absence--and this man
retaliated upon Cardan for having thus stirred up strife. Cardan's
position was certainly a very uneasy one. The other physicians were full
of jealousy and malice, and the Archbishop began to accuse him of dilatory
conduct of the case, redoubling his complaints as soon as he found himself
getting better under the altered treatment. So weary did Cardan become of
this bickering that he begged leave to depart at once, but this
proposition the Primate took in very ill part.
Cassanate in his first diagnosis had traced the Archbishop's illness to an
excess of coldness and humidity in the brain. Now Cardan, on the other
hand, maintained that the brain was too hot. He found Cassanate's
treatment too closely fettered by his theory as to the causes of periodic
asthma, but he did not venture to exhibit his own course of treatment till
after he had gained some knowledge of the Archbishop's temper and habits.
He came to the conclusion that his patient was overwrought with the cares
of State, that he ate too freely, that he did not sleep enough, and that
he was of a temper somewhat choleric. Cardan set forth this view of the
case in a voluminous document, founding the course of treatment he
proposed to pursue upon the aphorisms of Galen. He altogether rejected
Cassanate's view as to the retention of the noxious humours in the head.
The Archbishop had the ruddy complexion of a man in good health, a
condition which could scarcely co-exist with the loading of the brain
with matter which would certainly putrify if retained for any long time.
Cardan maintained that the serous humour descended into the lungs, not by
the passages, but by soaking through the membranes as through linen.[148]
After describing the origin and the mode of descent of this humour, he
goes on to search for an auxiliary cause of the mischief, and this he
finds in the imperfect digestive powers of the stomach and liver. If the
cause lay entirely in the brain, how was it that all the cerebral
functions were not vitiated? In fine, the source of the disease lay, not
in the weakness of the brain, but in an access of heat, caused possibly by
exposure to the sun, by which the matter of the brain had become so
rarefied that it showed unhealthy activity in absorbing moisture from the
other parts. This heat, therefore, must be reduced.
To accomplish this end three lines of treatment must be followed. First, a
proper course of diet; second, drugs; and third, certain manual
operations. As to diet, the Archbishop was ordered to take nothing but
light and cooling food, two to four pints of asses' milk in the early
morning, drawn from an ass fed on cooling herbs, and to use all such foods
as had a fattening tendency; tortoise or turtle-soup,[149] distilled
snails, barley-water and chicken-broth, and divers other rich edibles. The
purging of the brain was a serious business; it was to be compassed by an
application to the coronal suture of an ointment made of Greek pitch,
ship's tar, white mustard, euphorbium, and honey of anathardus: the
compound to be sharpened, if necessary, by the addition of blister fly, or
rendered less searching by leaving out the euphorbium and mustard. Cardan
adds, that, by the use of this persuasive application, he had sometimes
brought out two pints of water in twenty-four hours. The use of the
shower-bath and plentiful rubbing with dry cloths was also recommended.
The purging of the body was largely a question of diet. To prevent
generation of moisture, perfumes were to be used; the patient was to sleep
on raw silk and not upon feathers, and to let an hour and a half come
between supper and bed-time. Sleep, after all, was the great thing to be
sought. The Archbishop was counselled to sleep from seven to ten hours,
and to subtract time from his studies and his business and add the same to
sleep.[150]
Cardan's treatment, which seems to have been suggested as much by the man
of common-sense as by the physician, soon began to tell favourably upon
the Archbishop. He remained for thirty-five days in charge of his patient,
during which time the distemper lost its virulence and the patient gained
flesh. In the meantime the fame of his skill had spread abroad, and
well-nigh the whole nobility of Scotland flocked to consult him,[151] and
they paid him so liberally that on one day he made nineteen golden crowns.
But when winter began to draw near, Cardan felt that it was time to move
southward. He feared the cold; he longed to get back to his sons, and he
was greatly troubled by the continued ill-behaviour of one of the servants
he had brought with him--"maledicus, invidus, avarissimus, Dei
contemptor;" but he found his patient very loth to let him depart. The
Archbishop declared that his illness was alleviated but not cured, and
only gave way unwillingly when Cardan brought forward arguments to show
what dangers and inconveniences he would incur through a longer stay.
Cardan had originally settled to return by way of Paris, but letters which
he received from his young kinsman, Gasparo Cardano, and from Ranconet,
led him to change his plans. The country was in a state of anarchy, the
roads being infested with thieves, and Gasparo himself had the bad fortune
to be taken by a gang of ruffians. In consequence of these things Cardan
determined to return by way of Flanders and the Empire.
It was not in reason that Cardan would quit Scotland and resign the care
of his patient without taking the stars into his counsel as to the future.
He cast the Archbishop's horoscope, and published it in the _Geniturarum
Exempla_. It was not a successful feat. In his forty-eighth year, _i.e._
in 1560, the astrologer declared that Hamilton would be in danger of
poison and of suffering from an affection of the heart. But the time of
the greatest peril seemed to lie between July 30 and September 21, 1554.
The stars gave no warning of the tragic fate which befell Archbishop
Hamilton in the not very distant future. For the succeeding six years he
governed the Church in Scotland with prudence and leniency, but in 1558 he
began a persecution of the reformers which kindled a religious strife,
highly embarrassing to the Catholic party then holding the reins of
power. His cruelties were borne in mind by the reformers when they got the
upper hand. In 1563 he was imprisoned for saying mass. In 1568 Mary, after
her escape from Loch Leven, gave the chief direction of her affairs into
the hands of the Archbishop, who was the bitter foe of the Regent Murray.
Murray having defeated the Queen's forces at Langside, Hamilton took
refuge in Dumbarton Castle, which was surprised and captured in 1571, when
the Archbishop was taken to Stirling and hanged. In the words of the
_Diurnal of Occurrants_: "as the bell struck six hours at even, he was
hangit at the mercat cross of Stirling upon a jebat."[152] His enemies
would not let him rest even there, for the next day, fixed to the tree,
were found the following verses:
"Cresce diu, felix arbor, semperque vireto
Frondibus ut nobis talia poma feras."
To return to Cardan. Having at last won from his patient leave to depart,
he set forth laden with rich gifts. In Scotland, Cardan found the most
generous paymasters he had ever met. In recording the niggard treatment
which he subsequently experienced at the hands of Brissac, the French
Viceroy, he contrasts it with the liberal rewards granted to him in what
must then have been the poorest of the European kingdoms;[153] and in the
Preface of the _De Astrorum Judiciis_ (Basel, 1554) he writes in
sympathetic and grateful terms of the kind usage he had met in the
North.[154] It must have been a severe disappointment to him that he was
unable to revisit Paris on his way home, for letters from his friend
Ranconet told him that a great number of illustrious men had proposed to
repair to Paris for the sake of meeting him; and many of the nobles of
France were anxious to consult him professionally, one of them offering a
fee of a thousand gold crowns. But Cardan was so terrified by the report
given by Gasparo of the state of France, that he made up his mind he would
on no account touch its frontiers on his homeward journey.
Before he quitted Scotland there had come to him letters from the English
Court entreating him to tarry there some days on his way home to Italy,
and give his opinion on the health of Edward VI., who was then slowly
recovering from an attack of smallpox and measles. The young King's
recovery was more apparent than real, for he was, in fact, slowly sinking
under the constitutional derangement which killed him a few months later.
Cardan could hardly refuse to comply with this request, nor is there any
evidence to show that he made this visit to London unwillingly. But he
soon found out that those about the Court were anxious to hear from him
something more than a statement of his opinion as to Edward's health. They
wanted, before all else, to learn what the stars had to say as to the
probable duration of the sovereign's life. During his stay in Scotland
Cardan would certainly have gained some intelligence of the existing
state of affairs at the English Court; how in the struggle for the custody
of the regal power, the Lord High Admiral and the Lord Protector, the
King's uncles, had lost their heads; and how the Duke of Northumberland,
the son of Dudley, the infamous minion of Henry VII. and the destroyer of
the ill-fated Seymours, had now gathered all the powers and dignities of
the kingdom into his own hands, and was waiting impatiently for the death
of Edward, an event which would enable him to control yet more completely
the supreme power, through the puppet queen whom he had ready at hand to
place upon the throne. An Italian of the sixteenth century, steeped in the
traditions of the bloody and insidious state-craft of Milan and the
Lombard cities, Cardan would naturally shrink from committing himself to
any such perilous utterance: all the more for the reason that he had
already formed an estimate of the English as a fierce and cruel people.
With his character as a magician to maintain he could scarcely keep entire
silence, so he wrote down for the satisfaction of his interrogators a
horoscope: a mere perfunctory piece of work, as we learn afterwards. He
begins by reciting the extraordinary nature of the King's birth, repeating
the legend that his mother was delivered of him by surgical aid, and only
lived a few hours afterwards; and declares that, in his opinion, it would
have been better had this boy never been born at all. "Nevertheless,
seeing that he had come into this world and been duly trained and
educated, it would be well for mankind were he to live long, for all the
graces waited upon him. Boy as he was, he was skilled in divers tongues,
Latin, English, and French, and not unversed in Greek, Italian, and
Spanish; he had likewise knowledge of dialectics, natural philosophy, and
music. His culture is the reflection of our mortal nature; his gravity
that of kingly majesty, and his disposition is worthy of so illustrious a
prince. Speaking generally, it was indeed a strange experience to realize
that this boy of so great talent and promise was being educated in the
knowledge of the affairs of men. I have not set forth his accomplishments,
tricked out with rhetoric so as to exceed the truth; of which, in sooth,
my relation falls short." Cardan next draws a figure of Edward's
horoscope, and devotes several pages to the customary jargon of
astrologers; and, under the heading "De animi qualitatibus," says: "There
was something portentous about this boy. He had learnt, as I heard, seven
languages, and certainly he knew thoroughly his own, French, and Latin. He
was skilled in Dialectic, and eager to be instructed in all subjects. When
I met him, he was in his fifteenth year, and he asked me (speaking Latin
no less perfectly and fluently than myself), 'What is contained in those
rare books of yours, _De rerum varietate_?' for I had dedicated these
manuscripts to his name.[155] Whereupon I began by pointing out to him
what I had written in the opening chapter on the cause of the comets which
others had sought so long in vain. He was curious to hear more of this
cause, so I went on to tell him that it was the collected light of the
wandering stars. 'Then,' said he, 'how is it, since the stars are set
going by various impulses, that this light is not scattered, or carried
along with the stars in their courses?' I replied: 'It does indeed move
with them, but at a speed vastly greater on account of the difference of
our point of view; as, for instance, when the prism is cast upon the wall
by the sun and the crystal, then the least motion of the crystal will
shift the position of the reflection to a great distance.' The King said:
'But how can this be done when no _subjectum_ is provided? for in the case
you quote the wall is the _subjectum_ to the reflection.' I replied: 'It
is a similar effect to that which we observe in the Milky Way, and in the
reflection of light when many candles are lighted in a mass; these always
produce a certain clear and lucent medium. _Itaque ex ungue leonem_.'
"This youth was the great hope of good and learned men everywhere, by
reason of his frankness and the gentleness of his manners. He began to
take an interest in the Arts before he understood them, and to understand
them before he had full occasion to use them. The production of such a
personality was an effort of humanity; and, should he be snatched away
before his time, not only England, but all the world must mourn his loss.
"When he was required to show the gravity of a king, he would appear to be
an old man. He played upon the lyre; he took interest in public affairs;
and was of a kingly mind, following thus the example of his father, who,
while he was over-careful to do right, managed to exhibit himself to the
world in an evil light. But the son was free from any suspicion of such a
charge, and his intelligence was brought to maturity by the study of
philosophy."
Cardan next makes an attempt to gauge the duration of the King's life, and
when it is considered that he was a skilled physician, and Edward a sickly
boy, fast sinking into a decline, it is to be feared that he let sincerity
give way to prudence when he proclaimed that, in his fifty-sixth year the
King would be troubled with divers illnesses. "Speaking generally of the
whole duration of his life he will be found to be steadfast, firm,
severe, chaste, intelligent, an observer of righteousness, patient under
trouble, mindful both of injuries and benefits, one demanding reverence
and seeking his own. He would lust as a man, but would suffer the curse of
impotence. He would be wise beyond measure, and thereby win the admiration
of the world; very prudent and high-minded; fortunate, and indeed a second
Solomon."
Edward VI. died on July 6, 1553, about six months after Cardan had
returned to Milan; and, before the publication of the _Geniturarum
Exempla_ in 1554, the author added to the King's horoscope a supplementary
note, explaining his conduct thereanent and shedding some light upon the
tortuous and sinister intrigues which at that time engaged the ingenuity
of the leaders about the English Court. Now that he was safe from the
consequences of giving offence, he wrote in terms much less guarded as to
the state of English affairs. It must be admitted that his calculations as
to the King's length of days, published after death, have no special value
as calculations; but his impressions of the probable drift of events in
England are interesting as the view of a foreigner upon English politics,
and moreover they exhibit in strong light the sinister designs of
Northumberland. Cardan records his belief that, in the fourth month of his
fifteenth year, the King had been in peril of his life from the plottings
of those immediately about him. On one occasion a particular disposition
of the sun and Mars denoted that he was in danger of plots woven by a
wicked minister, nay, there were threatenings even of poison.[156] He does
not shrink from affirming that this unfortunate boy met his death by the
treachery of those about him. As an apology for the horoscope he drew
when he was in England, he lays down the principle that it is inexpedient
to give opinions as to the duration of life in dealing with the horoscopes
of those in feeble health, unless you shall beforehand consult all the
directions and processes and ingresses of the ruling planets, "and if I
had not made this reservation in the prognostic I gave to the English
courtiers, they might justly have found fault with me."
He next remarks that he had spent much time in framing this
horoscope--albeit it was imperfect--according to his usual practice, and
that if he had gone on somewhat farther, and consulted the direction of
the sun and moon, the danger of death in which the King stood would
straightway have manifested itself. If he had still been distrustful as to
the directions aforesaid, and had gone on to observe the processes and
ingresses, the danger would have been made clear, but even then he would
not have dared to predict an early death to one in such high position: he
feared the treacheries and tumults and the transfer of power which must
ensue, and drew a picture of all the evils which might befall himself,
evils which he was in no mood to face. Where should he look for protection
amongst a strange people, who had little mercy upon one another and would
have still less for him, a foreigner, with their ruler a mere boy, who
could protect neither himself nor his guest? It might easily come about
that his return to Italy would be hindered; and, supposing the crisis to
come to the most favourable issue, what would he get in return for all
this danger and anxiety? He calls to mind the cases of two soothsayers who
were foolish enough to predict the deaths of princes, Ascletarion, and a
certain priest, who foretold the deaths of Domitian and Galeazzo Sforza;
and describes their fate, which was one he did not desire to call down
upon himself. Although his forecast as to Edward's future was incomplete
and unsatisfactory, he foresaw what was coming upon the kingdom from the
fact that all the powers thereof, the strong places, the treasury, the
legislature, and the fleet, were gathered into the hands of one man
(Northumberland). "And this man, forsooth, was one whose father[157] the
King's father had beheaded; one who had plunged into confusion all the
affairs of the realm; seeing that he had brought to the scaffold, one
after the other, the two maternal uncles of the King. Wherefore he was
driven on both by his evil disposition and by his dread of the future to
conspire against his sovereign's life. Now in such a season as this, when
all men held their tongues for fear (for he brought to trial whomsoever he
would), when he had gained over the greater part of the nobles to his side
by dividing amongst them the spoil of the Church; when he, the most bitter
foe of the King's title and dignity, had so contrived that his own will
was supreme in the business of the State, I became weary of the whole
affair; and, being filled with pity for the young King, proved to be a
better prophet on the score of my inborn common-sense, than through my
skill in Astrology. I took my departure straightway, conscious of some
evil hovering anigh, and full of tears."[158]
The above is Cardan's view of the machinations of the statesmen in high
places in the English Court during the last months of Edward's life.
Judged by the subsequent action of Northumberland it is in the main
correct; and, taking into consideration his associations and environment
during his stay in London, this view bears evident traces of independent
judgment. Sir John Cheke, the King's former preceptor, and afterwards
Professor of Greek at Cambridge, had received him with all the courtesy
due to a fellow-scholar, and probably introduced him at Court. Cheke was a
Chamberlain of the Exchequer, and just about this time was appointed Clerk
to the Privy Council, wherefore he must have been fully acquainted with
the aims and methods of the opposing factions about the Court. His
fellow-clerk, Cecil, was openly opposed to Northumberland's designs, and
prudently advanced a plea of ill health to excuse his absence from his
duties: but Cheke at this time was an avowed partisan of the Duke, and of
the policy which professed to secure the ascendency of the anti-Papal
party. Cardan, living in daily intercourse with Cheke, might reasonably
have taken up the point of view of his kind and genial friend; but no,--he
evidently rated Northumberland, from beginning to end, as a knave and a
traitor, and a murderer at least in will.
When he quitted England in the autumn of 1552 Cardan did not shake himself
entirely free from English associations. In an ill-starred moment he
determined to take back to Italy with him an English boy.[159] He was
windbound for several days at Dover, and the man with whom he lodged seems
to have offered to let him take his son, named William, aged twelve years,
back to Italy. Cardan was pleased with the boy's manner and appearance,
and at once consented; but the adventure proved a disastrous one. The boy
and his new protector could not exchange a word, and only managed to make
each other understand by signs, and that very imperfectly. The boy was
resolute to go on while Cardan wanted to be rid of him; but his conscience
would not allow him to send him home unless he should, of his own free
will, ask to be sent, and by way of giving William a distaste for the life
he had chosen, he records that he often beat him cruelly on the slightest
pretext. But the boy was not to be shaken off. He persisted in following
his venture to the end, and arrived in Cardan's train at Milan, where he
was allowed to go his own way. The only care for his training Cardan took
was to have him taught music. He chides the unhappy boy for his
indifference to learning and for his love of the company of other youths.
What with his literary work and the family troubles which so soon fell
upon him, Cardan's hands were certainly full; but, all allowance being
made, it is difficult to find a valid excuse for this neglect on his part.
William grew up to be a young man, and was finally apprenticed to a tailor
at Pavia, but his knavish master set him to work as a vinedresser,
suspecting that Cardan cared little what happened so long as the young man
was kept out of his sight. William seems to have been a merry,
good-tempered fellow; but his life was a short one, for he took fever, and
died in his twenty-second year.[160]
Besides chronicling this strange and somewhat pathetic incident, Cardan
sets down in the _Dialogus de Morte_ his general impressions of the
English people. Alluding to the fear of death, he remarks that the
English, so far as he has observed, were scarcely at all affected by it,
and he commends their wisdom, seeing that death is the last ill we have to
suffer, and is, moreover, inevitable. "And if an Englishman views his own
death with composure, he is even less disturbed over that of a friend or
kinsman: he will look forward to re-union in a future state of
immortality. People like these, who stand up thus readily to face death
and mourn not over their nearest ones, surely deserve sympathy, and this
boy (William) was sprung from the same race. In stature the English
resemble Italians, they are fairer in complexion, less ruddy, and broad in
the chest. There are some very tall men amongst them: they are gentle in
manner and friendly to travellers, but easily angered, and in this case
are much to be dreaded. They are brave in battle, but wanting in caution;
great eaters and drinkers, but in this respect the Germans exceed them,
and they are prone rather than prompt to lust. Some amongst them are
distinguished in talent, and of these Scotus and Suisset[161] may be given
as examples. They dress like Italians, and are always fain to declare that
they are more nearly allied to us than to any others, wherefore they try
specially to imitate us in habit and manners as closely as they can. They
are trustworthy, freehanded, and ambitious; but in speaking of bravery,
nothing can be more marvellous than the conduct of the Highland Scots,
who are wont to take with them, when they are led to execution, one
playing upon the pipes, who, as often as not, is condemned likewise, and
thus he leads the train dancing to death." Like as the English were to
Italians in other respects, Cardan was struck with the difference between
the two nations as soon as the islanders opened their mouths to speak. He
could not understand a single word, but stood amazed, deeming them to be
Italians who had lost their wits. "The tongue is curved upon the palate;
they turn about their words in the mouth, and make a hissing sound with
their teeth." He then goes on to say that all the time of his absence his
mind was full of thoughts of his own people in Italy, wherefore he sought
leave to return at once.
FOOTNOTES:
[146] _Scotichronicon_, vol. i. p. 286 [ed. G. F. S. Gordon, Glasgow,
1867]. Naudé, in his _Apologie pour les grands hommes soupçonnez_ de
Magie, writes: "Ceux qui recherchoiant les Mathématiques et les Sciences
les moins communes étoient soupçonnez d'être enchanteurs et
Magiciens."--p. 15.
[147] "Curam agebat Medicus ex constituto Medicorum Lutetianorum."--_De
Vita Propria_, ch. xl. p. 137. Cardan makes no direct mention of any other
physician in Scotland besides Cassanate; but the Archbishop would
certainly have a body physician in attendance during Cassanate's absence.
[148] "Per totam tunicam sicut in linteis."--_Opera_, tom. ix. p. 128.
[149] "Accipe testudinem maximam et illam incoque in aqua, donec
dissolvatur, deinde abjectis corticibus accipiantur caro, et ossa et
viscera omnia mundata."--_Opera_, tom. ix. p. 140.
[150] Another piece of advice runs as follows: "De venere certe non est
bona, neque utilis, ubi tamen contingat necessitas, debet uti ea inter
duos somnos, scilicet post mediam noctem, et melius est exercere eam ter
in sex diebus pro exemplo ut singulis duobus diebus semel, quam bis in una
die, etiam quod staret per decem dies."--_Opera_, tom. ix. p. 135.
[151] "Interim autem concurrebant multi, imo pené tota
nobilitas."--_Opera_, tom. l. p. 93.
[152] _Scotichronicon_, vol. i. p. 234. Larrey in his _History of England_
seems to have given currency to the legend that Cardan foretold the
Archbishop's death. "S'il en faut croire ce que l'Histoire nous dit de ce
fameux Astrologe, il donna une terrible preuve de sa science à
l'Archevêque qu'il avoit gueri, lorsque prenait congé de lire, il lui tint
ce discours: 'Qu'il avoit bien pu le guerir de sa maladie; mais qu'il
n'étoit pas en son pouvoir de changer sa destinée, ni d'empêcher qu'il ne
fût pendu.'"--Larrey, _Hist. d'Angleterre_, vol. ii. p. 711.
[153] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxxii. p. 101.
[154] "Scotic[u=] nomen antea horruer[a=], eorum exemplo qui prius
coeperunt odisse quam cognoscere. Nunc cum ipsa gens per se humanissima
sit atque supra existimationem civilis, tu tamen tantum illi addis
ornamenti, ut longe nomine tuo jam nobilior evadat."--_De Astrorum
Judiciis_, p. 3.
[155] Cardan evidently carried the MS. with him, for he writes (_Opera_,
tom. i. p. 72): "Hoc fuit quod Regi Angliæ Edoardo sexto admodum
adolescenti dum redirem a Scotia ostendi."
[156] "Cumque ibi esset nodus eti[a=] venenum, quod utin[a=]
abfuerit."--_Geniturarum Exempla_, p. 411.
[157] Edmund Dudley, the infamous minister of Henry VII.
[158] _Geniturarum Exempla_, p. 412.
[159] In the prologue to _Dialogus de Morte_, Opera, tom. i. p. 673, he
gives a full account of this transaction. Of the boy himself he writes:
"hospes ostendit mihi filium nomine Guglielmum, ætatis annorum duodecim,
probum, scitulum, et parentibus obsequentem. Avus paternus nomine
Gregorius adhuc vivebat, et erat Ligur: pater Laurentius, familia nobili
Cataneorum."
[160] _Opera_, tom. i. p. 119. Cardan here calls him "Gulielmus _Lataneus_
Anglus adolescens mihi charissimus." In the _De Morte_, however, he speaks
of him as "ex familia Cataneorum" (see last page).
[161] Cardan writes (_De Subtilitate_, p. 444) that Suisset [Richard
Swineshead], who lived about 1350, was known as the Calculator; but
Kästner [_Gesch. der Math._ I. 50] maintains that the title Calculator
should be applied to the book rather than to the author, and hints that
this misapprehension on Cardan's part shows that he knew of Suisset only
by hearsay. The title of the copy of Suisset in the British Museum stands
"Subtilissimi Doctoris Anglici Suiset. Calculationes Liber," Padue [1485].
Brunet gives one, "Opus aureum calculationum," Pavia, 1498.