144 JEROME CARDAN 



by Berne to Zurich. He must have crossed the Alps 

 by the Splugen Pass, as Chur is named in his itinerary, 

 and he also describes his voyage down the Lake of Como 

 on the way to Milan, where he arrived on January 3, 

 1553. Cardan was a famous physician when he set out 

 on his northward journey ; but now on his return he 

 stood firmly placed by the events of the last few months 

 at the head of his profession. Writing of the material 

 results of his mission to Scotland, he declares that he is 

 ashamed to set down the terms upon which he was 

 paid, so lavishly was he rewarded for his services. The 

 offers made to him by so many exalted personages to 

 secure his permanent and exclusive attention would 

 indeed have turned the heads of most men. There was 

 the offer from the King of Denmark ; another, in 1552, 

 from the King of France at a salary of thirteen hundred 

 crowns a year ; and yet another made by the agents of 

 Charles V., who was then engaged in his disastrous 

 attack upon Metz. All of them he refused : he had no 

 inclination to share the perils of the leaguer of Metz, 

 and his sense of loyalty forbad him to join himself to 

 the power which was at that time warring against his 

 sovereign. He speaks also of another offer made to him 

 by the Queen of Scotland of a generous salary if he 

 would settle in Scotland ; but the country was too 

 remote for his taste. There is no authority for this 

 offer except the De Vita Propria, and it is there set 

 down in terms which render it somewhat difficult to 

 identify the Queen aforesaid. 1 



As soon as he entered Milan, Ferrante Gonzaga, the 



1 De Vita Propria, ch. iv. p. 16 : "cum Scotorum Regina cujus 

 levirum curaveram." Cardan had probably prescribed for a brother 

 of the Due de Longueville, the first husband of Mary of Guise, 

 during his sojourn in Paris. 



