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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yields <strong>of</strong> the Cumberland copper mines <strong>of</strong> the Company <strong>of</strong> Mines Royal, in which he was a<br />
major investor. Humfrey‘s pessimistic assessment <strong>of</strong> those mines had proved to be<br />
incorrect, forcing him to ―certify your honor how small credit was to be given to the yield<br />
[<strong>of</strong> his assay]‖, and to admit his inferiority to the Company‘s German miners. 119 <strong>The</strong><br />
backwardness <strong>of</strong> English metallurgical knowledge, as illustrated by Humfrey‘s ignorance <strong>of</strong><br />
continental metal working techniques, makes Medley‘s expertise all the more remarkable.<br />
<strong>The</strong> results <strong>of</strong> Medley‘s process mystified Humfrey. Medley insisted, reported<br />
Humfrey, that using his secret technique a hundredweight <strong>of</strong> iron could be ―transmuted by<br />
the water drawn from that earth‖ into a greater weight <strong>of</strong> copper. Humfrey, who had<br />
―neyther redd nor proved <strong>of</strong> any feasible knowledge that in anything coulde deliver a<br />
greater weight than himself and <strong>of</strong> a better substance then himself‖, skeptically declared the<br />
―matter is beyond the reason <strong>of</strong> all‖. 120 <strong>The</strong> explanation for this mystery is that the copper<br />
precipitated by Medley‘s process, had a greater atomic weight than the dissolved scrap<br />
iron. 121 Medley, as usual, did not help matters: he initially refused an inspection <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Parys Mountain works, fearing that Humfrey would ―depryve him <strong>of</strong> his arte and<br />
laboures‖. 122<br />
Within a few weeks <strong>Cecil</strong> had calmed the alchemist‘s fears. Medley allowed<br />
Humfrey to monitor a demonstration. Humfrey remained at first sceptical about the<br />
possibility <strong>of</strong> multiplying metals and had ―not therfor looked with creadit into such<br />
wourke‖. 123 However, Medley‘s demonstration <strong>of</strong> the efficacy <strong>of</strong> his technique convinced<br />
Humfrey that ―so honorable & marveilouse a wourke ought to be gardid and garnerd to<br />
the end that by your great wysdome it might be ordered to unspeakable benyfit‖. 124 Such<br />
119 <strong>William</strong> Humfrey to <strong>Cecil</strong>, 23 May 1565, TNA, SP 12/36/58.<br />
120 Lansdowne Vol. 18, f101-2.<br />
121 John Henry Pepper‘s <strong>The</strong> Playbook <strong>of</strong> Metals describes water being collected in ponds, scrap iron being cast<br />
into the pond, and ―when the usual change <strong>of</strong> places occurs‖ it dissolves with copper precipitating ―in a dark<br />
powdery mass‖. According to Pepper the process was ―conducted with pr<strong>of</strong>it at the Paris Mountain Mine, in<br />
the island <strong>of</strong> Anglesea‖, when he was writing in 1846. See John Henry Pepper, <strong>The</strong> Playbook <strong>of</strong> Metals: Including<br />
Personal Narratives <strong>of</strong> Visits to Coal, Lead, Copper, and Tin Mines, London, 1861, p. 274.<br />
122 Humfrey to <strong>Cecil</strong>, Lansdowne Vol. 18, No. 47.<br />
123 <strong>William</strong> Humfrey to <strong>Cecil</strong>, 22 December 1574, BL, Lansdowne Vol. 18, No. 48.<br />
124 Ibid.<br />
140