The Alchemical Patronage of Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley

of a dedicatory epistle to Cecil, followed by a lengthy technical treatise on transmutational
and medicinal alchemy.
As most of the treatise has been identified as reproducing a range of earlier
alchemical authorities, the marginal notes and dedicatory epistle provide more interesting
information on Lock‘s intentions. From the outset Lock made the aim of his suit obvious,
to return ―him that now is far away, from his owne native lande, that wolde might gladly he
were there, to labour with his hands‖. 110 A marginal note in the treatise proper firmly
establishes that Lock was referring to his time in Russia.
For when I compiled it I ment to have sent it into Ingland as a present &
mediator to help me home out of Russia, wherfor I made it the more darke
that I might the sonner be sente for home for to doe it myselfe 111
This note, one of the few that can definitely be ascribed to Lock, also demonstrates that he
had understood that an alchemical treatise, written in obscure language, would be a suitable
gift for Cecil. Lock anticipated that Cecil would find it sufficiently enticing to bring him
home from Russia to fulfil his ―darke‖ promises. The epistle also stressed the need for
Cecil to bring Lock back to England to ―put in practise the same things, that are written in
this booke‖. 112
Lock sought to differentiate himself from the other alchemists whom Cecil had
patronised. He hoped that Cecil would ignore other alchemical proposals and be ―from
evil men protect, That runne abought deceiving such, As in them put there trust‖. 113 Lock
professed concern at Cecil‘s patronage of alchemical charlatans who, unlike himself, did
not know ―natures waies‖ or the ―secret workings of the [philosopher‘s] stone‖. 114 Like
many alchemists of the period Lock tried to separate himself from the stereotype of the
alchemical charlatan, arguing that those swindlers did not understand true alchemical
philosophy. However, it also indicates that Lock was aware of Cecil‘s other alchemical
110 Lock, ‗Dedicatory Epistle‘.
111 Humfrey Lock, Quoted in Grund, ‗―Misticall Wordes and Names Infinite‖‘, Unpublished PhD Thesis, p.
11.
112 Lock, ‗Dedicatory Epistle‘.
113 Ibid.
114 Ibid.
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