The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

patience was clearly wearing thin. He warned Dyer that if Kelley would not return, he
would, ―contrary to my present good opinion of hym‖, be forced to think him either a fake
or a traitor. 143 Cecil did, however, propose another possibility: if Kelley could not come
home then surely he could
send to hir majesty, for a token, some such portion, as might to hir a some
reasonable to defray hir charges for hir navy, which even now we are
preparing to the seas to withstand a strong Navy of Spayn, discovereyed
uppon the cost betwin britany and Cornwale within these ii days 144
This letter reveals the true magnitude of Cecil‘s hopes for Kelley. If a mere ‗token‘ of the
philosopher‘s stone could defray the costs of England‘s navy, the extent of Cecil‘s final
expectations must have been truly massive. Cecil may have also had personal hopes for
Kelley‘s abilities. The Queen was in the midst of a ten day visit to his Hertfordshire
mansion, Theobolds—at a cost to him of £998.13s.4d.—which Cecil ―wold be contented
might have bene tripled, if I had but one corn of Sir Edw Kellyes powder‖. 145
Cecil‘s caution in communicating with Kelley proved well founded, as tension in
Prague had finally come to a head. Even while drafting his letter to Dyer, Cecil received
reports that Kelley had fled from Prague, although the circumstances were unclear. 146 A
steady trickle of information regarding the alchemist‘s troubles, often ambiguous about
Kelley‘s circumstances or whereabouts, began to reach Cecil. Even the well informed
Palavicino could not determine whether Kelley was attempting to return to England at
Dyer‘s instigation, or merely escaping from debt. 147 Edward Wotton forwarded Cecil a 15
May letter he had received from an English merchant recently returned from Prague,
almost certainly his half brother Henry Wotton, detailing the swirling rumours surrounding
143 Ibid.
144 Ibid.
145 Ibid; A. G. R. Smith, ‗Lord Burghley and his Household Biographers: John Clapham and Sir Michael
Hickes‘, in Croft (ed.), Patronage, Culture and Power, p. 262.
146 Cecil to Dyer, Cotton Titus B. II, no. 110.
147 Horatio Palavicino to Cecil, 6 May 1591, TNA, SP 81/6 f.205r.
100