138 JEROME CARDAN 



Sforza ; and describes their fate, which was one he did 

 not desire to call down upon himself. Although his 

 forecast as to Edward's future was incomplete and 

 unsatisfactory, he foresaw what was coming upon the 

 kingdom from the fact that all the powers thereof, the 

 strong places, the treasury, the legislature, and the fleet, 

 were gathered into the hands of v one man (Northumber- 

 land). " And this man, forsooth, was one whose father l 

 the King's father had beheaded ; one who had plunged 

 into confusion all the affairs of the realm ; seeing that he 

 had brought to the scaffold, one after the other, the two 

 maternal uncles of the King. Wherefore he was driven 

 on both by his evil disposition and by his dread of the 

 future to conspire against his sovereign's Ijfe. Now in 

 such a season as this, when all men held their tongues 

 for fear (for he brought to trial whomsoever he would), 

 when he had gained over the greater part of the nobles 

 to his side by dividing amongst them the spoil of the 

 Church ; when he, the most bitter foe of the King's title 

 and dignity, had so contrived that his own will was 

 supreme in the business of the State, I became weary of 

 the whole affair ; and, being filled with pity for the young 

 King, proved to bq a better prophet on the score of my 

 inborn common-sense, than through my skill in Astrology. 

 I took my departure straightway, conscious of some evil 

 hovering anigh, and full of tears." 2 



The above is Cardan's view of the machinations of the 

 statesmen in high places in the English Court during the 

 last months of Edward's life. Judged by the subsequent 

 action of Northumberland it is in the main correct ; and, 

 taking into consideration his associations and environ- 

 ment during his stay in London, this view bears evident 



1 Edmund Dudley, the infamous minister of Henry VII. 



2 Geniturarum Exempla^ p. 412. 



