THE ENGLISH BOY. 149 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE PHYSICIAN AT THE SUMMIT OF HIS FAME. 



WHEN fairly across the sea, Cardan discovered that the 

 English boy should have been left behind. He was not 

 the son of poor parents. His paternal roof soon after- 

 wards was thought worthy of sheltering Queen Mary and 

 Philip of Spain, and he had been sent with the great 

 philosopher under the impression that he would return to 

 his own soil another Theophrastus 1 . But there were no 

 means of communicating with him otherwise than by 

 signs. He could speak only English, and the only 

 English that could be made available in his case it 

 belonged to the store of one of Jerome's followers was in 

 vain put into requisition. He could have been sent back by 

 one of the physician's friends, Gianangelo Anono, who 

 offered to take charge of him if needful; but it was 

 Jerome's wish that he should go back of his own accord. 

 1 De Morte. In the dialogue. 



