[127] _Ibid.,_ p. 142. [128] p. 369. [129] The fame of Scots as judges of precious stones had spread to Italy before Cardan's time. In the _Novellino_ of Masuccio, which was first printed in 1476, there is a passage in the tenth novel of the first part, in which a rogue passes as "grandissimo cognoscitore" of gems because he had spent much time in Scotland. [130] _De Varietate_, p. 636. [131] _De Varietate_, p. 637. [132] _Ibid.,_ p. 637. [133] _Ibid.,_ p. 565. [134] "Peracto L anno quod stipendium non remuneraretur mansi Mediolani."--_De Vita Propria_, ch. iv. p. 15. [135] About this time he wrote the _Liber Decem Problematum_, and the treatise _Delle Burle Calde_, one of his few works written in Italian.--_Opera_, tom. i. p. 109. [136] Cassanate's letter is given in full (_Opera_, tom. i. p. 89). [137] The quotation from the _De Sapientia_ differs somewhat from the original passage which stands on p. 578 of the same volume. [138] _Opera_, tom. i. p. 89. [139] In a subsequent interview with Cardan, Cassanate modifies this statement.--_Opera_, tom. ix. p. 124. [140] "Accepique antequam discederem aureos coronatos Gallicos 500 et M.C.C. in reditu."--_De Vita Propria_, ch. iv. p. 16. [141] "Difficillimis causis victus venire non potui." The Archbishop's letter is given in _Opera_, tom. i. p. 137. [142] _Geniturarum Exempla_, p. 469. [143] He mentions this personage in _De Varietate_, p. 672: "Johannes Manienus medicus, vir egregius et mathematicaram studiosus." He was physician to the monks of Saint Denis. [144] The reception given to Cardan in Paris was a very friendly one. Orontius was a mechanician and mathematician; and jealousy of Cardan's great repute may have kept him away from the dinner, but the physicians were most hospitable. Pharnelius [Fernel] was Professor of Medicine at the University, and physician to the Court. Sylvius was an old man of a jocular nature, but as an anatomist bitterly opposed to the novel methods of Vesalius, who was one of Cardan's heroes. With this possibility of quarrelling over the merits of Vesalius, it speaks well for the temper of the doctors that they parted on good terms. Ranconet, another Parisian who welcomed Cardan heartily, was one of the Presidents of the Parliament of Paris. He seems to have been a man of worth and distinguished attainments, and Cardan gives an interesting account of him in _Geniturarum Exempla_, p. 423. [145] _De Vita Propria_, ch. xxix. p. 75. Cardan refers more than once to the generosity of the Archbishop. He computes (_Opera_, tom. i. p. 93) that his visit must have cost Hamilton four talents of gold; that is to say, two thousand golden crowns. CHAPTER VII