CHAPTER IV. 



RUDOLPH AND DR. DEE. 



"He will show you the Devill in. a Christal, calculate the na- 

 tivity of his gelding, talk of nothing but Gold and Silver, 

 Elixir, calcination, augmentation, citrinatibn, cementation; 

 and swearing to enrich the world in a month he is not able 

 to buy himself a new Cloake in a whole year." 



|N entering the gorgeously decorated and spacious 

 hall which was crowded with a rich collection of 

 antiquities and art-treasures, Doctor Dee was met 

 by the Vice Chancellor Curtius, whose duty it was 

 to present invited guests to the Emperor. Passing through 

 a corridor, hung with paintings, into a private room, Dee was 

 received by Rudolph, who x was seated on a table on which 

 lay a copy of "Monas Hieroglyphica," the book that Dee 

 had dedicated to Rudolph's imperial father many years before, 

 together with the letters Dee had written to his Majesty 

 soliciting the privilege of an audience. These were auspicious 

 omens and forshadowed the affable manner in which the 

 Emperor received the Englishman, who knelt humbly before 

 him; he bid Dee not to kneel and soon set him at his ease. 

 The personal appearance of the Emperor of the German 

 nation was not at all imposing; he was rather below the 

 average height and slight in body; his face was pallid and 

 his cheeks sunken; his large lips were somewhat irregular, 

 being slightly twisted to the right side; his hair was curly 



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