upon tht* accessipn of queen Elizabeth, at the desire of Lord Ro- 
bert pudley, afterwards earl of Leicester, he delivered somewhat upon 
the principles of the ancient astrologers, about the choice of a fit 
day for the coronation of the queen, from whom he received many 
promises.; nevertheless, his credit at court was not sufficient to over- 
come the public otlium against him, on the score of magical incanta- 
tions, which was the true cause of his missing several preferments. 
He was by this time become an author ; but, as we are told, a little 
unluckily, for his books were such as scarcely any pretended to under- 
stand, written upon mysterious subjects, in a very mysterious manner. 
In the spring of 1564 he w ent abroad again, to present the book vvhicl\ 
he dedicated to the then emperor Maximilian, and returned to England 
the same summer In 1568, he engaged the earl of Pembroke to pre- 
sent the queen with his Propaedumata Aphoristica ; and two years 
after Sir Henry Billingsley’s translation of Euclid appeared, w ith Dee’s 
preface and notes; which did him more honour than all his perform- 
ances, as furnishing incontestable proofs of a more than ordinary skill 
in the mathematics. 
In 1571 vve find him in Lorrain , where, falling dangerously sick, 
the queen was pleased to send him two pliysicians. After his return 
to England, he settled himself in his house at Mortlake ; where he 
prosecuted his studies with great diligence, ^‘nd collected a noble 
library, consisting of four thousand volumes, of which above a fourth 
part were MSS. a great number of mechanical and mathematical in- 
struments, a collection of seals, and many other curiosities. His 
hooks only Were valued at 20001. It was upon his leaving the king- 
dom in 1583, that the populace, who always believed him to be one 
who dealt with the devil, broke into his house at Mortlake ; where 
they tore and destroyed many things, and dispersed the rest in such 
a manner that the greater part of them were irrecoverable. 
In 1572 a new' star appeared in Cassiopeia’s chair, which gave Dee 
an opportunity of distinguishing himself in his own way. March 1575, 
queen Elizabeth went to his house, to see his library; but having 
buried his wife only a few hours before, he could not entertain 
her in the manner he would have done, nor indeed did she enter the 
house ; but he brought out to her ma jesty a glass of his, w hich had 
occasioned much discourse, shewed her the properties of it, and ex- 
plained the causes, in order to wipe off the aspersion under which 
he had so long laboured, of being a magician. In 1577 a comet 
appearing, the queen sent for him to Windsor, to consult him upon it, 
and was pleased with his conversation, and promised him her royal 
protection, notwithstanding the vulgar reports to his prejudice. The 
year after, her majesty being greatly indisposed, Dee was sent abroad 
to confer with the German physicians upon the nature of her com- 
plaint. The queen, hinting her desire to be thoroughly informed 
as to her title to countries discovered in different parts of the globe 
by subjects of England, Dee applied himself to the task with great 
vigour, so much so, that October 3, 1580, which was not three weeks 
after, he presented to the queen, in her "garden at Richmond, two large 
rolls, in which those countries were geographically described and 
historically explained ; with the addition of all the testimonies and 
