1 32 JEROME CARDAN 



1554) he writes in sympathetic and grateful terms of the 

 kind usage he had met in the North. 1 It must have 

 been a severe disappointment to him that he was unable 

 to revisit Paris on his way home, for letters from his 

 friend Ranconet told him that a great number of 

 illustrious men had proposed to repair to Paris for 

 the sake of meeting him ; and many of the nobles of 

 France were anxious to consult him professionally, one 

 of them offering a fee of a thousand gold crowns. But 

 Cardan was so terrified by the report given by Gasparo 

 of the state of France, that he made up his mind he 

 would on no account touch its frontiers on his homeward 

 journey. 



Before he quitted Scotland there had come to him 

 letters from the English Court entreating him to tarry 

 there some days on his way home to Italy, and give his 

 opinion on the health of Edward VI., who was then 

 slowly recovering from an attack of smallpox and 

 measles. The young King's recovery was more apparent 

 than real, for he was, in fact, slowly sinking under the 

 constitutional derangement which killed him a few 

 months later. Cardan could hardly refuse to comply 

 with this request, nor is there any evidence to show that 

 he made this visit to London unwillingly. But he soon 

 found out that those about the Court were anxious to 

 hear from him something more than a statement of his 

 opinion as to Edward's health. They wanted, before all 

 else, to learn what the stars had to say as to the probable 

 duration of the sovereign's life. During his stay in 

 Scotland Cardan would certainly have gained some 



1 " Scoticu nomen antea horruera, eorum exemplo qui prius cce- 

 perunt odisse quam cognoscere. Nunc cum ipsa gens per se human- 

 issima sit atque supra existimationem civilis, tu tamen tantum illi 

 addis ornamenti, ut longe nomine tuo jam nobilior evadat." De 

 Astrorum Judiciis, p. 3. 



