SOLIDITY OF CARDAN'S REPUTATION. 123 



was by no means content to part with his good friend and 

 helper. Jerome remained in Edinburgh thirty-five days 

 after the commencing of his own treatment of John 

 Hamilton ; but his fame as a practitioner was near its topmost 

 height, and his skill was not bestowed on the archbishop 

 only. Scottish nobles flocked to him, and paid so liberally 

 for his advice, that, as he tells us, he made out of two of 

 his prescriptions only, nineteen gold crowns in one day 1 . 

 His chief patient, also, was a princely paymaster. Then 

 there came to Cardan letters from Ranconet to tell of 

 nobles whom his fame had brought to Paris. Many were 

 coming in from the provinces that they might have the 

 good fortune to be in the capital and obtain advice from the 

 illustrious physician as he passed through to Milan. There 

 were forty nobles who arrived in Paris on that errand, 

 and there was a prince there offering a thousand gold 

 crowns as his consultation fee, rather than lose the chance 

 of profiting by Cardan's counsel. So Jerome was told 

 afterwards; but all the tempting report sent to him by 

 Ranconet was sent in vain. He had despatched Gaspar 

 Cardan to France, and Gaspar, who had himself fallen 

 among thieves, sent an ill report of the condition of the 

 country. It was overrun by bands of robbers, bred out 



1 De Libris Propriis (1557), p. 181, for what follows, except the 

 specification of the presents, for which see the last book De Libris. 

 Opera, Tom i. p. 137. 



