302 JEROME CARDAN. 



to fade away; she did not live to see her husband's 

 utmost hope of fame accomplished. She lived out the 

 long struggle, and (perhaps worn down by the succession 

 of anxieties), just when the years of triumph were at hand, 

 the young wife died. Married in girlhood, she could 

 have been scarcely more than thirty-three years old when 

 Cardan lost her tender ministrations. 



Jerome had gone to Pavia with his wife, where, in spite 

 of deserted lecture-rooms, and the great loss of income suf- 

 fered in war times by the university, he did on the whole 

 maintain his position; but to Lucia the change seemed 

 no success. In the second year of office money was de- 

 ficient, and in the year 1546, there being no funds at 

 all in the hands of the senate, public salaries could 

 only be regarded as bad debts. The house which had 

 belonged to his mother, and which had fallen down, 

 having in the mean time been rebuilt, Jerome returned 

 with his family to Milan. In the next year the difficulty 

 was removed ; that year, however, the failing Lucia did 

 not live to see. 



The return to Milan caused a year of forced leisure 

 and care. Cardan had to rely mainly on his pen, and 

 spent six months in writing without intermission. It 

 was then that he amused his anxious mind by writing 

 his Encomium on Gout, to whom he was just pledged as 

 a subject; thereto incited, perhaps, by the authority of 



