BOY- AUTHOR. 27 



needs sit down at once to write a treatise, and so make 

 the best beginning that he could of the career to which 

 his aspirations tended, there was no subject that lay 

 nearer to his mind than the geometry he gathered from 

 his father's teachings and his father's books. The boy, 

 therefore, worked diligently at a little book in his own 

 language, since he could write no Latin, wherein he 

 taught how and why, the latitude and longitude of two 

 places or stars being known, their true distance from each 

 other may be calculated 1 . This little treatise was divided 

 into chapters, and was chiefly founded on a book of 

 Geber's 1 . Having achieved this his first work, Jerome 

 was rather proud to lend it to a friend, Agostino Lavi- 

 zario, of Como. To the disappointment of posterity, and 

 the chagrin of the author, Lavizario died of plague, and 

 Jerome's manuscript could never be recovered 3 . 



But the zeal of the young aspirant for immortal honours 

 had not been content with labour on a single work 3 ; 

 another book had been commenced about the same time, 

 more original in its design, and more ambitious, more 

 peculiarly characteristic. As Cardan grew, his restless- 

 ness increased. He felt aggrieved when, at the age of 

 eighteen, full of strong powers and strong passions, he 

 still found himself compelled into a half-menial position, 



1 De Libris Propriis (ed. Lugd. 1557), p. 9. 



~ De Libris Propriis (ed. 1557), pp. 9, 10. DeL.P. Liber ult. Opera, 

 vol. i. p, 96. 



3 De SapientiaLibri V. &c. &c. (ed. Norimb. 1543) p. 431. 



