The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley
The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley
The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley
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eventually complained to the Emperor when his debts remained unpaid. 178 Kelley had fled<br />
Prague to avoid his angry creditors, it was suggested, rather than to evade a Court<br />
conspiracy or return to England to perform alchemy for the Crown. This and similar<br />
reports were unlikely to inspire confidence in the alchemically sceptical Robert <strong>Cecil</strong>.<br />
During the last months <strong>of</strong> Kelley‘s imprisonment <strong>William</strong> <strong>Cecil</strong> made one last<br />
attempt to ascertain the alchemist‘s intentions. <strong>Cecil</strong>‘s clerk recorded a payment to <strong>William</strong><br />
Hall to courier a message from the <strong>Lord</strong> Treasurer to Kelley on 28 August 1593. 179<br />
Unfortunately no record remains <strong>of</strong> the message‘s contents. Perhaps Kelley‘s response was<br />
not to his liking, as from this point onwards <strong>Cecil</strong> seems to have given up on the rogue<br />
alchemist. Whilst Robert <strong>Cecil</strong>‘s informants continued to pass on snippets <strong>of</strong> information<br />
detailing Kelley‘s fluctuating fortunes, English interest in his alchemical potential<br />
diminished. 180<br />
<strong>The</strong> exact circumstances <strong>of</strong> Kelley‘s demise are much debated. John Dee recorded<br />
Kelley‘s death on November 25 1595, whilst R.J.W. Evans cites Czech documents showing<br />
that Kelley was alive as late as 22 May 1597. 181 <strong>The</strong> muddled accounts <strong>of</strong> Kelley‘s death<br />
describe his death from injuries suffered during an attempted prison escape, and are <strong>of</strong>ten<br />
confused with tales <strong>of</strong> the death <strong>of</strong> the fictitious Scottish alchemist, Alexander Seton. 182 Jan<br />
Backlund suggests that these English accounts, uncorroborated by any Czech sources, may<br />
have been the result <strong>of</strong> deliberate misinformation, possibly from Kelley himself. 183<br />
Regardless, <strong>Cecil</strong>‘s expectations for the alchemical pr<strong>of</strong>its <strong>of</strong> Edward Kelley are<br />
nothing short <strong>of</strong> remarkable. He sincerely believed that Kelley‘s transmutation could be<br />
the key to saving England from Spanish aggression. This belief justified <strong>Cecil</strong> orchestrating<br />
178 Ibid.<br />
179 Wilding, ‗A Biography <strong>of</strong> Edward Kelly‘, p. 73.<br />
180 Seth Cocks to Robert <strong>Cecil</strong>, 8 April 1595, TNA, SP 881/1 f.221.<br />
181 Halliwell (ed.), <strong>The</strong> Private Diary, p. 54; Evans, Rudolf II, p. 227.<br />
182 See Rafal T. Prinke, ‗<strong>The</strong> Twelfth Adept: Michael Sendivogius in Rudolphine Prague‘ in John Matthews<br />
(ed.), <strong>The</strong> Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited, New York, 1999.<br />
183 Jan Backlund, ‗In the Footsteps <strong>of</strong> Edward Kelley‘, p. 298.<br />
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