Alexis

, a Piedmontese, the reputed author of a book of “Secrets,” which was printed at Basil 1536, in 8vo, and | translated from Italian into Latin by Wecher it has also been translated into French, and printed several times with additions. In the preface Alexis informs us, that he was born of a noble family; that he had from his most early years applied himself to study; that he had learned the Greek, the Latin, the Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Arabian, and several other languages; that having an extreme curiosity to be acquainted with the secrets of nature, he had collected as much as he could during his travels for 57 years; that he piqued himself upon not communicating his secrets to any person: but that when he was 82 years of age, having seen a poor man who had died of a sickness which might have been cured had he communicated his secret to the surgeon who took care of him, he was touched with such a remorse of conscience, that he retired from the world and ranged his secrets in such an order, as to make them fit to be published. They appeared accordingly at Venice in 1557, 4to, and have been translated and published in every European language; and an abridgement of them was long a popular book at the foreign fairs. Haller says that his real name was Hieronymo Rosello. ¹