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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emerged. 91 Whilst Grund provides useful biographical and sociohistorical context for the<br />
‗Collections‘, he primarily focussed on the sources and linguistics <strong>of</strong> the treatise itself.<br />
Grund demonstrated that ‗Collections on Alchemy‘ consists primarily <strong>of</strong> a compilation <strong>of</strong><br />
earlier alchemical texts, especially the writings <strong>of</strong> George Ripley. However, while Grund<br />
has noted that both <strong>Cecil</strong> and Elizabeth were ―Two <strong>of</strong> the staunchest supporters <strong>of</strong><br />
alchemical experimentation‖ and that the treatise would have been written in this context,<br />
an attempt to situate Lock within <strong>Cecil</strong>‘s alchemical patronage was outside his remit. 92<br />
Lock‘s background still resists research. Apparently unrelated to the prominent<br />
London family <strong>of</strong> poets, merchants and travellers <strong>of</strong> the same name, Lock first emerges in<br />
1562 as the overseer, surveyor and chief carpenter at the construction <strong>of</strong> Upnor Castle in<br />
Kent. 93 In a letter to <strong>Cecil</strong> <strong>of</strong> 18 June 1562 regarding progress on the castle, Lock<br />
proposed that stone from the disused Rochester Castle could be used for the construction.<br />
He had clearly been in correspondence with <strong>Cecil</strong> for some time. 94 Lock effectively<br />
managed the construction project since it began in 1560, because the castle‘s designer, <strong>Sir</strong><br />
Richard Lee, the foremost English military engineer <strong>of</strong> the day, was preoccupied with the<br />
construction <strong>of</strong> the fortress at Berwick upon Tweed. 95 However, according to the accounts<br />
<strong>of</strong> the site manager Richard Watts, Lock‘s interest waned and he only visited the site twice<br />
after 1564. 96<br />
In 1567 Elizabeth sent Lock with others to Russia, in response to Tsar Ivan IV‘s<br />
request for an English architect who could ―make castiles, townes, and palaces‖. 97 Lock<br />
would later complain about his exile, and <strong>of</strong> false ―freendes [in England] that brought me<br />
91 Peter Grund, ‗―Misticall Wordes and Names Infinite‖: An Edition <strong>of</strong> Humfrey Lock‘s Treatise on<br />
Alchemy, with an Introduction, Explanatory Notes and Glossary‘, Unpublished PhD <strong>The</strong>sis, Uppsala<br />
University, 2004; Peter Grund, ―Misticall Wordes and Names Infinite‖ An Edition and Study <strong>of</strong> Humfrey Lock's<br />
Treatise on Alchemy, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, Tempe, Forthcoming 2010.<br />
92 Grund, "Misticall Wordes and Names Infinite".<br />
93 Humfrey Lock to <strong>Cecil</strong>, 16 June 1562, TNA, SP 12/23/42.<br />
94 Ibid.<br />
95 Marcus Merriman, ‗Lee, <strong>Sir</strong> Richard (1501/2–1575)‘, Oxford Dictionary <strong>of</strong> National Biography, Oxford, 2004<br />
[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/16303]<br />
96 A. D. Saunders, Upnor Castle, London, 1967, pp. 6-7.<br />
97 Quoted in Hamel, England and Russia, p 177, date <strong>of</strong> 1567 given in N. N. Rubtsov, History <strong>of</strong> Foundry Practice<br />
in USSR, <strong>The</strong> Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre (trans.), New Delhi, 1975, p. 44.<br />
66