The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

honor of presenting us bothe‖. 165 Like many before him, Page knew that alchemical
knowledge would have strengthened his chances of patronage from Cecil and the Queen.
The mercury samples did not placate the suspicious Lord Treasurer; he demanded
that Page clarify exactly what he had been doing in Europe and what business he had with
Kelley. Whilst Page‘s reply is undated and incorrectly catalogued in the Public Records
Office under 2 July 1576, its contents clearly reveal that it was written some time in 1591. 166
Page claimed that, having spent a large portion of his estate in a court case, he had travelled
to Prague to convince Kelley ―to be a favourer of the attempt of a true dyscoverye for
China or the northe and east parte therof otherwyse called Cat[h]ayes‖. 167 There is no
other record of any attempt to involve Kelley in the discovery of the mythical north-west
passage, which took on alchemical connotations during the Frobisher voyages, as detailed
in Chapter four. Wilding suggested that ―Perhaps the English hoped to draw on Kelly‘s
new found wealth to invest in it‖. 168 In any case, whilst Kelley greatly commended the
exercise he was ―perswaided the contrarye and it became to be suspended upon better
delyberatyon as allso hys owne secret beysnes‖. 169
Page had apparently been at Kelley‘s house in Prague when the alchemist had fled,
and ―amongst the tempest betoke me to my best escape that I could which I thank god I
performed‖. 170 Attempting to explain his rather hurried escape from Prague, just at the
time of Kelley‘s arrest, Page claimed to have been travelling ―wythe as much speed as i
coulde‖ to comfort Kelley‘s mother in England. 171 Whilst it is possible that Page had a
closer relationship to Kelley and his family than has been realised by historians, the rather
weak explanation creates suspicion about Page‘s real motives.
165 Ibid.
166 Thomas Page to Cecil, undated, TNA, SP 12/108/51.
167 Ibid.
168 Wilding, ‗A Biography of Edward Kelly‘, p. 69.
169 Page to Cecil, SP 12/108/51.
170 Ibid.
171 Ibid.
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