It was Ben Jonson, too great a man to
be one of his detractors on this score, who wrote of him:
"He is built like some imperial room
For that[1] to dwell in, and be still at home.
His breast is a brave palace, a broad street,
Where all heroic ample thoughts do meet;
Where nature such a large survey hath ta'en
As other souls to his, dwelt in a lane."
[Footnote 1: All virtue.]
There was nothing singular in his interest in astrology and alchemy. Lilly
and Booker, both of them among his acquaintances, were ordered to attend
the parliamentary army at the siege of Colchester, "to encourage the
soldiers with predictions of speedy victory." Still--though he believed in
greater absurdities--his attitude towards such matters was that of his
chosen motto, _Vacate et Videte._ "To rely too far upon that vaine art I
judge to be rather folly than impiety." As with regard to spirits and
witches, he says, "I only reserve my assent." That he was not altogether
absorbed in the transmutation of metals in his laboratory practice, and yet
that he dabbled in it, makes him historically interesting.
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