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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alchemical skills to create gold for the Queen. 185 Aside from Ryrie, only G. B. Harrison, in<br />
his attempt to create ―a record <strong>of</strong> those things most talked <strong>of</strong> during the years 1591-1594‖,<br />
gives any detail <strong>of</strong> Peterson‘s <strong>of</strong>fer. 186 Historians have overlooked an episode that not only<br />
reveals the Elizabethan attitude towards alchemy, but also England‘s relationship with the<br />
German principalities and city states.<br />
Peterson‘s letter claimed that an Englishman named Clement Oldfield had come to<br />
lodge in his house, where he laboured ―night and daye to the practize <strong>of</strong> the noble science<br />
(as he namede it) <strong>of</strong> true Alchemy‖. 187 Coming within six months <strong>of</strong> perfecting his work,<br />
Oldfield fell ill, and on his deathbed revealed to Peterson the secrets <strong>of</strong> alchemy,<br />
which consestethe in the knowledge <strong>of</strong> the grene and rede Lion from<br />
wheure a fyry nature is to be felt which the Philosophers do call prima<br />
materia: man and woman: Mercury and Sulphur in a homogenall nature 188<br />
Oldfield left Peterson three glass vessels containing the alchemical preparation <strong>of</strong> Sol,<br />
Luna, and Mercury, on the condition that they were <strong>of</strong>fered to the Queen <strong>of</strong> England<br />
before all others. Claiming to be merely fulfilling Oldfield‘s dying wish, Peterson invited<br />
the Queen to send a man skilful in the alchemical arts to examine them. 189<br />
Robert Smith <strong>of</strong> Great Yarmouth delivered Peterson‘s letter to the Privy Council.<br />
Smith <strong>of</strong>fered to assuage the Queen‘s doubts by bringing ―both the body <strong>of</strong> the said<br />
Rowlyffe yf he lyve and thes glasses or bodes before hir highnes to be examined and<br />
proved as to hir wysdome shall seame best‖. 190 So confident was Smith in the value <strong>of</strong> the<br />
materials, he believed that even if the Queen refused them, other European sovereigns<br />
would pay a huge sum for them. Smith, therefore, promised on the peril <strong>of</strong> his head to sell<br />
them and ―bringe fortey thousand dollars [£8,000 contemporary] in to hir majesties c<strong>of</strong>eres<br />
for thes glasses or bodies without one peney <strong>of</strong> hir highnesses expense‖. 191<br />
185 Alec Ryrie, <strong>The</strong> Sorcerer’s Tale, Oxford, 2008, p. 120.<br />
186 G. B. Harrison, An Elizabethan Journal, Volume 1, London, 1928, pp. 277-8, 282, 287, 325.<br />
187 Peterson to Elizabeth, SP 12/245/130.<br />
188 Ibid.<br />
189 Ibid.<br />
190 Robert Smith to Queen Elizabeth, 2 February 1594, TNA, SP 12/247/36.<br />
191 Ibid.<br />
108