A notable character in the time of Queen Elizabeth was Dr. Dee, alchemist and astrologer. The career of this man, who was more a charlatan than aught else, was one of extraordinary vicissitude. A Welshman by birth, he was educated at Oxford, and then travelled throughout Europe, claiming that he had discovered the elixir of life and the philosopher’s stone. He was a man of overweening ambition, and delighted to hear himself called “Most Excellent”. In company with a man named Kelly, it is said he discovered a quantity of the elixir in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey; this they at once annexed and carried off to Poland, accompanied by a nobleman of that country. After travelling from one Court to another, where he is said to have performed wonderful feats with his elixir, he returned to England and settled at Mortlake, where Elizabeth often visited him to consult him on astrology, and he even ventured to predict her death.[3] He was a great favourite at Court in 1595, and the Queen made him Chancellor of Paul’s and Warden of Manchester, but he died in great poverty. [3] Lilly’s _Autobiography_, 1774. [Illustration: AN ALCHEMIST. From an engraving dated 1576.] The illustration represents an alchemist of the sixteenth century in an ante-room of his laboratory, engaged in fixing a portion of his apparatus. On the table is his luting box and knife. Through one window a view of the laboratory with stills of varied size is obtained, while through the other the sun looks with becoming gravity on the operation. THE SYMBOLS OF THE ALCHEMISTS. As in modern science chemists write their formulæ and work out their processes by means of symbols, so the alchemists used signs and hieroglyphics to represent the then known elements, metals, and other articles in common use. The so-called elements—fire, air, water, earth—were represented by special symbols, here represented. The metals were supposed to be influenced by the planets to a certain degree, and were represented by their corresponding signs. Various other articles also had their symbols, which served as a means of shorthand at a period when caligraphy was little known or employed. [Illustration: Symbols for: Fire. Air. Water. Earth. Lead. Tin. Iron. Gold. Copper. Mercury. Silver. Antimony. Arsenic. Aqua Vitæ. Borax. To Purify. Cinnabar. Caput Mortuum. An Oil. Saltpetre. A Magnet. Sal Ammoniac. Sulphur. Tartar. A Covered Pot. To Sublime. To Precipitate.] [Illustration: Symbols for: Spirit of Wine. Roman Symbol for Denarius. To Digest. To Distil. Aqua Fortis. Aqua Regalis. A Brick. To Calcine. Camphire. Ashes. Cerusse. Lime. Quicklime. Cinnabar. Wax. Hartshorn. A Crucible. Crystal. A Gum. Oil. Steel Filings. Litharge.] [Illustration: Symbols for: To Lute. Sublimated Mercury. Precipitated Mercury. Nitre. Realgar. Sand. Soap. Sal Alkali. Sal Ammoniac. Salt. Talc. Vinegar. Verdigris. Vitriol. Urine. Day. Night.] CHAPTER VII. THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE.