Brighton.
_Why Dr. Dee quitted Manchester._--A correspondent (No. 14. p. 216.) of
yours wishes to know the reason why Dr. Dee resigned his wardenship and
left Manchester. I would refer him to the interesting "Life of Dee," by
Dr. Cooke Taylor, in his _Romantic Biography of the Age of Elizabeth_,
who writes:
"But in his days mathematics were identified with magic, and
Dee's learned labours only served to strengthen the imputations
cast upon his character by the Fellows of his College in
Manchester. He was so annoyed by these reports that he presented
a petition to King James, requesting to have his conduct
judicially investigated; but the monarch, on the mere report
that Dee was a conjuror, refused to show him the slightest
favor. Indignant at the injurious treatment he continued to
receive, he quitted Manchester with his family in the month of
November, 1604: it is uncertain whether he renounced his
wardenship at the same time, but he seems to have received no
more of its revenues; for, during the remainder of his life,
{285} which was passed at Mortlake, he suffered severely from
the pressure of poverty."
He died in 1608. Dr. Taylor, I suppose, writes on the authority of Dee's
MSS. and Journal, edited by Dr. Isaac Casaubon.