Edward Kelley

otherwise Talbot was born in the City of Worcester, at about 4 of the clock in the afternoon, on the first day of Aug. in 1555. (3 of Q Mary) whose Nativity being afterwards calculated, it did appear that he was born to be a man of clear understanding, quick apprehension, of an excellent wit, and of great propensity to Philosophical studies and the mysteries of Nature. This Person, being about 17 years of age, at which time he had attained to a competency of Grammar Learning at Worcester and elsewhere, he was sent to Oxon, but to what House I cannot tell. However I have been informed by an ancient Bach. of Divinity, who in his younger years had been an [•] manuensis to Mr. Tho. Allen of Gloucester Hall, that he (Kelley) had spent some time in that House: Whereupon I recurring to the Matricula, could not find the name of Kelley, only Talbot of Ireland, three of which Name were Students there in 1573,—74, &c. about which time Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Davies was instructed in the Mathematicks by the said Allen. But this relation having been somewhat dubiously delivered to me, I must tell you, that Kelley having an unsettled mind, left Oxon abruptly, without being entred into the Matricula, and in his rambles in Lancashire, committing certain soul matters, lost both his Ears at Lancaster, and about that time caused, by his incantations, a poor Man that had been buried in the yard belonging to Law-church, near to Walton in the dale, to be taken out of his grave, and to answer to such questions that he then proposed to him. The story of which, being to me incredible, I shall refer you to the Writer (o)(o) Jo. Weever in his Discourse of ancient Funeral Monuments. Lond. 1631. fol. p. 45, 46. of it, who is too credulous in many matters. About that time our author Kelley became intimate with Dr. John Dee the famous Mathematician, with whom continuing several years in Philosophical Studies, and Chymical Experiments, they both became very famous among Scholars, and therefore noted by Persons of high and noble extraction, one for the Mathematicks, and the other for Chymistry; for though Dee was the most eminent man in his time for the first, yet Kelly went far beyond him in the latter, as by the sequel it will appear. ’Tis reported by a certain (p)(p) Elias Ashmole in his Theatrum Chemicum Britannicuam. Lond. 1652. qu. p. 481. Rosacrucian that they were so strangely fortunate, as to find a very large quantity of the Elixir in some part of the ruines of Glastenbury Abbey, which was so incredibly rich in virtue, that they lost much in making projection, by way of tryal, before they found out the heighth of that medicine. In the beginning of 1583. Dr. J. Dee having contracted with certain Spirits to act and converse with them, he appointed his Friend Kelley to be his Seer or Skryer, or Speculator, that is to take notice what the Spirits said, and to tell it to Dee, while he wrote down in a Book what was dictated to him. Soon after Dee and Kelley being made known to, and acquainted with, the learned and most noble Polonian, named Albert Alaskie Prince of Sirad, who was come into England. to see the fashions of the Court, and to admire the Wisdom of the Queen, he thereupon had so great respect for them, (himself being a Mathematician,) that in Sept. following when he left England he took them and their Wives with him in the same Ship, and travelling with him afterwards by Land, he saw them safely conveyed to Cracaw in Poland. Where continuing for some time, they removed to Prague; and at length, in Sept. 1586. to Trebona in Bohemia: at all which places tho Kelley was several times troublesome, inconstant, and false to Dee, yet he mostly performed the office of Skryer. And further, that notwithstanding Dee took the said Spirits to be Angelical, yet Kelley not, but rather meer delusions of the Devil, which hath been since confirmed by Dr. Meric Casaubon, who published the Relation of Dr. Dee’s conversing with Spirits. At Trebona Kelley (q)(q) Ibid. made projection 9. Dec. 1586. with one small grain of the Elixir (in proportion no bigger than the least grain of sand) upon one ounce and a quarter of common Mercury, and it produced almost an ounce of most pure Gold. At another time he made projection upon a piece of mettal cut out of a Warming-pan, and without his touching or handling it, or melting the metal, (only warming it in the fire,) the Elixir being put thereon, it was transmuted into pure Silver. The said Warming-pan and piece were sent to Q. Elizabeth by her Embassador then residing at Prague, that by fitting the piece, with the place whence it was cut out, it might exactly appear to be a part of the said Warming-pan. At another time Kelley, who was openly profuse beyond the modest limits of a sober Philosopher, did give away in Gold-wyer-rings (or rings twisted with three Gold-wyers) at the Marriage of one of his Maid Servants, to the value of 4000 l. but this I think was acted after Dee had left him at Trebona, (which was in May 1589.) otherwise it had not been done, and so consequently Rodolph 2. Emperor of Germany (who had a great respect for him and Dee) would not for his Prodigality, or open management of the secret, or rather, as some say, for a chymical cheat put upon him, have committed him to close custody. The Writings of Kelley that are made publick are these,

Poem of Chymistry.—Pr. in Theat. Chemic. Britannicum. an. 1652.

Poem of the Philosophers-Stone.—Written to his Friend G. S. Gent. Printed there also.

De lapide Philosophorum, Hamb. 1676. in oct. Qu. Whether this be not falsly fathered on him. He hath also several Lat. and Engl. discourses in a Book intit. A true and faithful relation of what passed, for many years, between Dr. Joh. Dee and some Spirits, &c. Lond. 1659. fol. Published by Dr. Meric Casaubon before-mentioned. At length our author Kelley (who had been Knighted by the Emperor, as it seems) being imprisoned the second time (at Prague) by the aforesaid Emperor, after he had been at Liberty for some Months, and in a manner had crept into his favour, attempted an escape out of an high Window by tying his sheets together, after he had divided each into two parts at least; but he being too weighty for them, he fell to the ground before he was half way down; so that bruising his Body and breaking his Legs, he (r)(r) Ibid. dyed soon after in Octob. as it seem, in fifteen hundred ninety and five; 1595 for on the 25. Nov. following the news of his death came to Dr. Dee then in England, which he inserted in his Diary thus, Nov. 25. an. 1595. news that Sir F. K. was slain. Jo. Weever before quoted tells (s)(s) In his Discourse before-mentioned. us otherwise. viz. That Q. Elizabeth sent very secretly Capt. Peter Gwinne with some others, to perswade Kelly to return back to his Native Country; which he was willing to do; and thinking to escape away in the night, by stealth, as he was clambering over a wall in his own House in Prague, (which bears his name to this day, and which sometimes was an old Sanctuary,) he fell down from the battlements, broke his Legs, and bruised his Body, of which hurts within a while after he dyed, &c. Thus Weever before-mentioned, a Lancashire man born, educated in Queens coll. in Cambrige, under the tuition of Dr. Rob. Pearson Archdeacon of Suffolk, afterwards a great traveller beyond the Seas, and collector of several Epitaphs of English-men that he met with in his rambles. Soon after his return, he travelled though most parts of England, for the obtaining of English Antiquities, and through some of Scotland, being encouraged thereunto by those excellent Antiquaries Sir Rob. Cotton and Joh. Selden. At length after he had arrived to the 56 years of his age, his little body being then in a manner worn out with continual motion, he yielded to nature in his house in Clerkenwelclose near to London, an. 1632. Whereupon his body was buried towards the west end of the Church of St. James in Clerkenwel. As for Edw. Kelley before-mention’d you may see more of him before, in Franc. Puccius, and afterwards (under the year 1651.) in Arth. Dee.