Note 64 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Dr. Dee, who was born in 1527, was a man of superior attainments, and a clever mathematician. He took his degree as Master of Arts in 1548 at Cambridge. Being suspected as a sorcerer, he left England in the same year, but returned in the reign of Edward VI, who took a great fancy to him. Under Mary, he was imprisoned for attempting the queen’s life by witchcraft. After Elizabeth ascended the throne, he became such a favourite with her that she sent her own doctors to him when he was ill; and she also despatched him to investigate the recently discovered American territory. In 1583 he went to live in Bohemia with a Polish nobleman, who was likewise suspected of necromancy, and the two succeeded in imposing on a great many people on the Continent. Dee eventually returned to England, was made Chancellor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and died at Mortlake in 1608. He possessed a magic mirror in which Elizabeth placed great faith and which she frequently consulted.