viii PREFACE. 



completely to his time. Hence it is that, as a philo- 

 sopher, he almost perished with it ; and for the last hun- 

 dred years his reputation has existed only as a legend. 



I was first attracted to the study of Cardan, from which 

 this work has arisen, by the individuality with which his 

 writings are all marked, and the strange story of his life 

 reflected in them. The book is twice as large as it was 

 meant to be, and still there was matter that might have 

 occupied another volume; for as I worked on, I found 

 that out of the neglected writings of this old physician it 

 was possible to re-construct the history of his career, with 

 much minuteness in the kind of detail that would make 

 it not only pleasant reading, but also, if rightly done, of 

 some use to the student of the sixteenth century. 



Pains have been taken to confine the narrative within 

 the strictest bounds. There is not in it an incident, how- 

 ever trivial, which has been created or transformed by the 

 imagination of the writer. I have kept rigidly to truth, 

 and, as was necessary from the nature of the work, have, 

 in treating the main subject, referred in notes to the 

 authority for every statement. If here and there a little 

 fact should happen not. to be so authenticated, I beg to 

 assure the reader that it was not set down lightly. I 

 have even preserved to a very great extent in my own 



