JEROME CARDAN 39 



from the bad air of the city almost as severely as 

 before, and Lucia, who was at this time pregnant, mis- 

 carried at four months, and shortly afterwards had a 

 second misfortune of the same kind. His mother's 

 temper was not of the sweetest, and it is quite possible 

 that between her and her daughter-in-law there may 

 have been strained relations. Cardan at any rate found 

 that he must once more beat a retreat from Milan, 

 wherefore, at the end of April 1533, he made up his 

 mind to remove to Gallarate. 



This town has already been mentioned as chief place 

 of the district, from which the Cardan family took its 

 origin. Before going thither Jerome had evidently 

 weighed the matter well, and he has set down at some 

 length the reasons which led him to make this choice. 

 " Thus, acting under the reasons aforesaid (the family 

 associations), I resolved to go to Gallarate, in order that 

 I might have the enjoyment of four separate advantages 

 which it offered. Firstly, that in the most healthy air 

 of the place I might shake off entirely the distemper 

 which I had contracted in Milan. Secondly, that I 

 might earn something by my profession, seeing that 

 then I should be free to practise. Thirdly, that there 

 would be no need for me to pine away while I beheld 

 those physicians, by whom I reckoned I had been 

 despoiled, flourishing in wealth and in the high esti- 

 mation of all men. Lastly, that by following a more 

 frugal way of life, I might make what I possessed last 

 the longer. For all things are cheaper in the country, 

 since they have to be carried from the country into the 

 town, and many necessaries may be had for the asking. 



ego, ut alias testatus sum, bis a medicorum Patavino, toties filius 

 meus natu major, a Ticinensi, uterque a Mediolanensi rejecti 

 sumus." Opera, torn. i. p. 94. 



