by Sax Rohmer
“Her Majesty (An. 1583 Julii ultimo) being informed by the Right Honourable Earl of Leicester, that whereas the same day in the morning he had told me that his honour and the Lord Laski would dine with me within two daies after, I confessed sincerely unto him that I was not able to prepare them a convenient dinner, unless I should presently sell some of my plate or some of my pewter....”
Elizabeth listened to the favourite, and immediately sent to Dr. Dee a present of twenty pounds.
On the day appointed for the visit Count Laski arrived, attended by a numerous and magnificent retinue. He expressed his warm admiration at the wonderful accomplishments and attainments of his host; and so profuse was he in compliments to Dee that the latter, being a very modest man, was almost speechless in his embarrassment. The wealthy Pole no doubt appealed to Kelly in quite a different manner; and already the brain beneath the black skull-cap was at work upon a scheme whereby profitable use could be made of the stranger’s enthusiasm.
During the days which followed, the Count was a constant visitor at Mortlake, and much of his time was taken up in the company of Dr. Dee. Now and again Kelly would point out to his friend the necessity of interesting this man in their experiments; and he suggested that Dee, during one of his conversations with the visitor, should throw out hints of the philosopher’s stone and the elixir of life, and if Laski displayed deep interest in the subject, should turn their discussions to the spirits, telling him that by their means they were able to look into the book of the future.
After much debate Dee decided to approach the Count in the manner suggested by Kelly, and Laski, on being informed of the results attained both in alchemy and in communion with the spirits, fell an easy victim to the lure of the Unseen. He inquired with much eagerness if he might be allowed to be present at one of their séances, or, better still, be admitted himself into conversation with the angel Uriel.
Dee, possibly prompted by Kelly, did not at first agree to the desire of his new acquaintance; it may be that the earless notary desired to whet the appetite of the Pole. He explained that it was difficult and even dangerous to summon the spirits in the presence of a stranger; for how could they know whether he was really sincere, or whether he had no other motive than that of gratifying idle curiosity? Dee himself relates:
“I and E. K. (Edward Kelly) sat together, conversing of that noble Polonian Albertus Laski, his great honour here with us obtained, and of his great liking among all sorts of the people.”
(He adds a note, which, considering what we have seen of the doctor’s character, is at least extremely curious:)
“Suddenly there seemed to come out of the oratory a spiritual creature, like a pretty girl of seven or nine years of age, with her hair rolled up before and hanging down behind, attired in a gown of silk, of changeable red and green, and with a train. She seemed to play up and down, and seemed to go in and out behind the books; and as she seemed to go between them, the books displaced themselves and made way for her.”
In the dark places which abound throughout these records, we find ourselves looking, not to Dee, but to Kelly, for the key to the labyrinth; and rarely do we look in vain; Whatever the scene, his shadow lies upon it; from somewhere in the background peers out the malignant face. Be our subject deep in his books, bending to his retorts, studying the heavens above, always over the shoulder of the doctor of Mortlake we may catch a glimpse of the black skull-cap.
But the apparition recorded above sets us looking toward Kelly, and looking, it would seem, in vain. He may have deceived Dee respecting the spirits, and lied to him concerning the Glastonbury manuscript and the ivory caskets, but, short of hypnotic suggestion, how may we satisfactorily account for the “spiritual creature”? That it was a fabrication of Dee’s I am not prepared to admit; for I can find nothing in the character of the man to justify such an assumption. Therefore, I shall invite you to seek your own solution.
At last the Pole was admitted to their mysteries. During the séances Kelly would place himself at some distance from the magic crystal and gaze steadily and intently into it, whilst Dee, as the recorder of the revelations, took his place in a far corner of the room.
Kelly, having worked himself into a state of great excitement, would again become quiescent, and, after a time, utter the prophecy. On occasions he is represented as predicting to the Pole that he should become the fortunate possessor of the philosopher’s stone; that he should live for centuries, and be elevated to the throne of Poland; that, having become King, he would gain many great victories over the Saracens, and cause his fame to spread throughout the world.
That he urged Laski to take himself and Dr. Dee back to Poland; that the two fastened, octopus-like, upon the Count, and plundered him mercilessly, is the view of more than one biographer: but I doubt if it can be justified. Certainly, a very short time later we find Dee and Kelly, together with their wives and families, en route for Poland.
Four months were occupied in the journey to the neighbourhood of Cracow, where were situated the Pole’s estates. During the journey they denied themselves no pleasure, and spent money in a most lavish and extravagant fashion. Once, however, settled in the Count’s palace, they immediately commenced the great hermetic operation of the transmutation of base metal into pure gold. Of course, Laski bore the enormous expense involved in these experiments; and although their hopes always were disappointed at the very moment when it seemed that success was assured — failures which only impelled them in recommencing t their work upon a larger and still more extravagant scale — the Count never lost hope. His lands brought him a rich revenue, and he had recovered from the terrific expenses he had incurred during his stay in England; so he was not afraid in these early stages to sink his thousands in the venture, firmly believing as he did that he would be repaid a hundred-fold.
Weeks passed, months flew by; and still they toiled in vain. Even Laski’s purse began to feel the strain, and, in order to keep the ravenous furnaces going, he was compelled to raise money on his estates. Matters then went from bad to worse, and ruin actually stared him in the face. The families of Dee and Kelly had to be maintained, which constituted no small item of his expenditure.
It was during his sojourn in Cracow that Dr. Dee had news of the destruction of his library at Mortlake by a fanatical mob, which, raising the cry of “Wizard,” had wrecked his house. In the August of the same year, 1584, the party left Cracow. Hostile critics have represented that, like satiated leeches, they dropped off from the unfortunate Laski and proceeded in quest of a fresh victim.
Since there is no record of the circumstances of their parting — save that it was not unkindly, for they bore letters of introduction to the Emperor Rudolf — I cannot accept that view as fair and unprejudiced. I prefer to think that Count Laski, though remaining confident of Dr. Dee’s good faith, found Edward Kelly’s overbearing temper and ill-veiled roguery no longer supportable, and determined, moreover, to abandon the quest of the great hermetic secret ere absolute financial ruin overtook him.
At any rate, accompanied by their wives and Dee s family, our alchemistical nomads set out upon their journey to Bohemia, whither I shall ask you to follow them.
IV. THE EXCHANGE OF WIVES
Alchemy was the one topic of Prague. Men spoke of it in the market-place, in the highways and the byways. By day, this process and that furnished subject for debate; by night, the glow of a thousand furnaces told of the quest pursued. It was even said that an apartment of the Imperial palace was fitted up as an alchemical laboratory.
We can imagine the reception here accorded to the possessor of St. Dunstan’s powders!
Very shortly, indeed, all Prague was burning with a fever of excitement; for it was noised abroad, indeed was accepted as verity from palace to hovel, that the great English Adept, Edward Kelly, was transmuting with absolute success.
One of these operations is reported to have taken place at the house of the Imperial physician, Thaddeus de Hazek, and Kelly also is sa
id to have initiated high officers of State into the secret. Whatever of truth be discoverable in all this, there certainly remains one outstanding fact. The whole party was suddenly translated from abject poverty to extraordinary affluence. Their extravagance became unbounded, and wherever they went they were attended by magnificent retinues.
In fact, this phase of our subject’s career must always be an enigma and a stumbling-block in the path of inquiry. Contemporary authorities speak of Kelly’s experiments, certainly, but with a halting voice for the most part, and in terms which conflict one with another.
There seems to be little doubt, however, that they were invited to the Court of Rudolf II, but in what measure the kindly offices of Count Laski served them here we cannot hope to learn. Whereas there seems to be good evidence to show that Kelly was created a Marshal, one authority actually tells us that Dee and Kelly met with but little consideration during their sojourn in Prague, and that the Emperor Rudolf, at the end of a few months, gave orders that they should quit Bohemia within twenty-four hours; this, as an alternative to a dungeon or the stake.
From the same source we learn that both families now suffered the utmost privation until chance threw in their path a new and wealthy patron in the shape of King Stephen of Poland. From the Court of Stephen, their dealings with whom are but poorly substantiated, they proceeded to Trebona, where they were sumptuously entertained by one Count Rosenberg.
According to a frankly hostile historian, their stay at the palace of this new patron lasted nearly four years. Rosenberg appears to have been more ambitious than avaricious, for he was an extremely wealthy man and allowed his guests an almost unlimited command of his money. He cared little for the amount of gold which the philosopher’s stone would pour into his coffers, but desired its possession on account of the new and extensive lease of life which would thereby be assured to him. Kelly told him, says our authority, that he would become King of Poland, and promised that he would attain to the age of five hundred years to enjoy this dignity, provided that he supplied them with sufficient money to carry on their experiments!
Whatever was the nature of the dealings between Dee, Kelly, and the Count Rosenberg of Trebona, it was during their stay under the roof of this nobleman that quarrels between the two philosophers became frequent, resulting finally in complete rupture. The success which rewarded the schemes of Kelly so stimulated the arrogance of his nature that his manner towards Dr. Dee became overbearing to an intolerable degree. Even Dee’s pacific soul was compelled to revolt against the man who once had been his assistant only, but who now asserted, and asserted with unspeakable insolence, his superiority over his partner, and over all who engaged in alchemical research.
Whilst full credit is due to the doctor of Mortlake for his conscientious and honest attempts to leave and work independently of his knavish partner, he seems at this time to have fallen so completely under the influence of the latter as to lack the courage to sever the knot. In fact, the sinister Kelly was so persuaded of his hold upon Dee as to threaten his colleague that he would forsake him entirely; and whenever this threat was uttered poor Dee seems to have been brought to his knees.
We come to the most singular episode in the history of the pair, an episode which reveals the character of Dr. Dee in all its fixity and all its weakness, and which illuminates the mind beneath the black skull-cap, enabling us to study its libidinous activity, as a torch might cast its light into some noisome dungeon.
Kelly’s wife was an ill-natured and far from prepossessing person, apparently, while Dee’s was attractive and amiable. What other traits were hers events will show. And now Kelly determined to gratify a passion long nurtured in secret — in secret from Dee, as I understand the matter, but that Kelly had preserved his secret from Madame Dee I cannot believe. In fact, I find it impossible to doubt, despite the “fasting, vows, and prayers for enlightenment” — Faithful Relation, pp. 16, 17, “Acta Tertia” — that a liaison existed between these two; and the difficulty of conducting such a guilty amour under the very eyes of the wronged husband probably led Kelly to adopt the plan which I am about to mention. Its unparalleled audacity is such that for all time it must remain a mystery why Dr. Dee did not strike down the man who conceived it.
One day, whilst consulting the crystal, Kelly declared to Dee that he could not acquaint him with the message because of the nature of the suggestions being made by the mysterious beings. He remained stanch in his refusal to impart their words to his companion, but Dee, whose curiosity was thus naturally aroused, insisted, and at length Kelly, who had carefully and patiently awaited favourable opportunity, told him that a naked woman had appeared to him and directed that in future they were to have their wives in common!
At first Dee, in view of the numerous quarrels which had already taken place between them, thought that the message was in the nature of an exhortation to cease their useless squabbles and live together in harmony and goodwill. But he was soon disillusioned by the sinister being in the skull-cap, who, having questioned the naked spirit anew, declared that she insisted upon a literal interpretation of her words.
The unfortunate Dee no longer doubted; but it formed no part of Kelly’s plan to insist at present upon carrying out the dictates of the spirit. He even gave it as his conviction that the phantom being who had made the extraordinary suggestion could have been none but a satellite of the Evil One, and that in consequence he refused to give ear to such instructions.
After this we are led to believe that a further quarrel took place, for Kelly was sorely displeased that on all occasions when eminent persons came to consult them Dee was accorded by far the larger share of homage and consideration. Kelly, then, abruptly left his associate, telling him that he would see him no more.
Dee was now thrown upon his own resources, and in his unsettled state of mind could not decide upon which way to look for a suitable person to act as “skryer” in the place of Kelly. Ultimately, he fixed upon his own son, Arthur, then a boy of about eight or nine years of age, and impressed upon the child’s mind the awful nature of the duties he was to perform.
As a medium, Arthur Dee proved a hopeless failure, for he had neither the imagination nor understanding for so mysterious a subject. Obedient to his father’s instructions, he looked deeply and intently into the crystal, but nothing could he see, and nothing could he hear. Dee’s disappointment was genuine and intense, for he really believed, after the results attained by and through Kelly, that it was possible to hold intercourse with the angels, and that his son was imbued with the same mystic sense as his late colleague, though perhaps not in the same degree. The boy, however, could only tell his father that he perceived a vague, indistinct shadow — an experience common to us all after long, fixed staring at a particular object.
In ever-increasing despair, Dee’s thoughts constantly turned to Kelly. Keenly did he regret the rupture between them; he was utterly miserable now that he found it impossible to commune with intelligences of the other world, for these experiments had become a part of his life. His shrewd partner had foreseen this, and, having allowed sufficient time to elapse, he suddenly and unexpectedly returned, to Dee’s amazement and genuine relief.
Kelly entered the room where the séances usually took place and found the doctor’s son gazing in vain into the crystal for something to appear. In his journal Dee remarks the welcome return of Kelly as a “miraculous fortune” and a “divine fate,” adding, that, having taken the place of his son Arthur, his colleague was immediately able to communicate with the spirits which had refused to appear to the boy. Such now was the fatuity of Dee, that when Kelly reported that the spirit which had previously appeared to him repeated the command that they should use “their two wives in common,” the unfortunate philosopher bowed to the unkind fate which could insist upon so cruel an arrangement.
As the result of this “revelation” a solemn covenant was drawn up between Dr. Dee, Edward Kelly, Jane Dee, and Joan Kelly, as may be read in the Faithfu
l Relation. Further comment upon this amazing incident could serve no useful purpose; but I may add that the original rough draft, much interlineated, of this unique document, in Dee’s own handwriting, is still extant.
V. THE LAST ACT OF THE DRAMA
We now find the party established once more in Prague, and engaged in desperate experiments with the red and white powders of St. Dunstan. These, however, were seriously diminished by excessive projection, indeed were almost exhausted. In their efforts to increase the quantity of the tinctures they merely succeeded in destroying that which remained.
It is evident that the Emperor had believed the claims of Kelly (though he may nevertheless have thought him a rogue), who had everywhere boasted that he was an Adept — not merely the heir of the Stone, but an enlightened and proficient master. So great was Rudolf’s faith in the ability, if not in the honesty, of the man now become his guest — and whom he had promoted to the dignity of a Marshal of Bohemia — that the failure of Kelly to produce the alchemical powders was attributed, not to impotency, but to obstinacy.
The Royal alchemist became so furious with the wearer of the black skull-cap as to cast him into a dungeon of the Castle of Zobeslau; but, always a man of resource, he regained his liberty by undertaking to manufacture the Stone, on condition that he was allowed to return to Prague and consult Dr. Dee, who, throughout this time, appears to have been left unmolested, and, indeed, to have been regarded with much respect.
Kelly returned to Prague — under escort. The house in which he stayed was practically turned into a prison, for he was never for one moment unguarded. All further experiments in manufacturing the powder were as futile as his earlier attempts, and the alchemist, at last, gave up in despair and made a desperate effort to escape. In his fury he succeeded in murdering one of his guards, but was eventually overpowered, and sent to the Castle of Zerner.
