in manufacturing and repairing art- treasures for the Imperial 

 Cabinet and Galleries. 



Living in a palatial mansion situated in a more aristo- 

 cratic neighborhood, was the court physician and director 

 of alchemical laboratories, Dr. Thaddeus von Hayek, whose 

 spacious parlors were the rendezvous not only of the residents 

 of Gold Alley, but also of the poor journeymen alchemists who 

 wandered through Europe earning a precarious living by 

 pretence of transmutation. Dr. von Hayek was educated in 

 the sciences and in medicine having taken his degree at the 

 University of Bologna, where through friendship with the 

 learned Geronimo Cardano he had imbibed fondness for mathe- 

 matics and astrology. He is even credited with the discovery 

 of a new star in 1572. Being in charge of the Imperial labo- 

 ratories, Dr. von Hayek examined alchemists who sought 

 positions at this singular court as to their proficiency before 

 recommending them to the Emperor. Shortly after his arrival 

 at Prague Dr. Dee took pains to make the acquaintance of 

 this important functionary. 



The two English adventurers reached Prague in mid- 

 summer and found lodgings at the "Golden Ball," a popular 

 inn whose landlord Zdenko was one of the greatest gossips 

 in Bohemia. Dee at once presented his letters of introduction 

 to the Imperial Vice Chancellor, Jacob Curtius, one of the 

 most influential persons at the court of Rudolph, although 

 but thirty-one years of age. Curtius, being a bigoted adherent 

 of the Jesuit party, was not very cordial to the English 

 Protestant, but made him acquainted with Dr. yon Ha3'ek, 

 of whom Dee rented a small house in Gold Alley. As soon 

 as Dee and Kelley were settled in their new home, the Doctor 

 resumed his conferences with Uriel by aid of the shew-stone 

 and his unscrupulous "skryer." The Spirits informed him 

 that he must make a demonstration in proof of spagyric 



21 



