288 JEROME CARDAN. 



tory, Mechanics, Speculative Philosophy, embracing in 

 fact almost the whole wide range of study to which his 

 intellect had been devoted. The task it implied was a 

 final heaping up before he died of all the chips that re- 

 mained in his workshop. He wrote also at this time 

 many shorter essays and dialogues, of a purely ethical 

 character. A strong spirit of meditation was upon him, 

 and it is certain that he relied in his books more practically 

 for consolation and support upon the doctrines of Epictetus 

 than upon those of the Church. That may have been the 

 scholar's tendency, but it is very noticeable, and the fact 

 is important in its bearing upon the events next to be 

 told. 



In the year 1565, on the 21st of January 1 , a new 

 governor came to Bologna. During the night Cardan's 

 bed was on fire, and the boy, who slept on a chair-bed in 

 his room, roused him and told him of his danger. Jerome 

 awoke in anger, thinking the boy drunk; but seeing that 

 he spoke truth he got up, and assisted in smothering the 

 fire. Then being very tired, he fell asleep again; and on 

 awaking found that more of his bed had been burnt. The 

 painted quilt had not been injured, nor the leather cover- 

 ing, nor any of the hangings, and only a small part of the 

 linen had been touched ; but the blankets (there w T ere three) 

 were burning. The fire was not easily conquered ; there 

 1 Paralipomenon, Lib. iii. cap. 52, for the following. 



