hath given him a crown, I will give him a noble.’ At Dudley's command he wrote an astrological calculation respecting the choice of a fit day for the coronation. This appears to have recommended him to Elizabeth. She promised him the mastership of the hospital of St. Katharine-by-the-Tower, upon the removal or death of Dr. Mallet; but when the vacancy occurred the post was conferred on Thomas Wilson, LL.D. After waiting a long time in vain for the fulfilment of the queen's promises, he went to Antwerp about December 1562 to make arrangements for the publication of some of his works. Writing on 16 Feb. 1562–3 he asks Cecil whether he is to return to England or to remain to print his works in Germany and make further researches among Dutch scholars and books. Dee states that already he had purchased one book for which a thousand crowns had been vainly offered by other persons. This was the ‘Steganographia’ of the abbot John Trithemius. It is the earliest elaborate treatise on writing in cipher, an interesting subject to Cecil. Dee had evidently acquired a manuscript copy, the first printed edition being probably that which appeared at Frankfort in 1606. Cecil, in a certificate dated 28 May 1563, testified that Dee's time beyond the seas had been well bestowed (Philobiblon Society's Miscellanies, vol. i. No. 18; J. E. Bailey, John Dee and the Steganographia of Trithemius, 1879). In 1563 Dee visited Venice, where he became acquainted with Thomas Ravenna, author of ‘De Vita Hominis ultra 120 annos protrahenda.’ At some period of his life Dee visited St. Helena, and wrote an account of his voyage (Ayscough, Cat. of MSS. p. 873; Cotton MS., Appendix xlvi, 2 parts).
In September 1563 he again travelled to Presburg in Hungary in order to present his work entitled ‘Monas Hieroglyphica’ to the Emperor Maximilian II, to whom he had dedicated it. On his return to England Elizabeth deigned to become his pupil, and he disclosed to her at Greenwich in June 1564 some of the secrets of his mysterious book. In the course of his journey from Hungary he had rendered important services to the Marchioness of Northampton, at whose request the queen on 8 Dec. 1564 granted to Dee the deanery of Gloucester, and a caveat was entered on his behalf, but John Man, warden of Merton College, Oxford, obtained the preferment. Not long after this Dee's friends made suit at court for the provostship of Eton College. Favourable answers were given, but no vacancy in that office occurred for many years. About 1566 Archbishop Parker granted him a dispensation to hold for ten years the rectories of Upton and Long Leadenham, with any other benefice which he might acquire within that period. On 11 Jan. 1567–8, by the advice of Sir William Cecil, he engaged the Earl of Pembroke to present to the queen his ‘Propædeumata Aphoristica,’ which was graciously received, and the earl himself on being presented with a copy of the work gave the author 20l. On 16 Feb. 1567–8 the queen had very gracious talk with him in her gallery at Westminster concerning the ‘great secret’ to be disclosed for his sake to her majesty by Nicholas Grudius Nicolai, sometime one of the secretaries to the Emperor Charles V. Dee was most persistent in his endeavours to obtain a substantial pecuniary reward for his studies, but he was usually put off with fair promises that were never fulfilled. At one period the queen made him an offer of any ecclesiastical dignity, such as a deanery or a bishopric, that might become vacant. He replied that he was terrified at the idea of accepting any preferment with the cure of souls annexed to it.
In 1570 Henry Billingsley [q. v.] brought out his English translation of Euclid, with a long and learned preface by Dee. Dee refers to the popular belief that he was a conjuror, and asks whether a modest christian philosopher ought, on account of marvellous feats naturally wrought and contrived, to be condemned as ‘a companion of the helhounds, and a caller, and a conjuror of wicked and damned spirits.’ This preface is dated on 9 Feb. 1569–70, from his house on the bank of the Thames at Mortlake, Surrey, where he studied diligently for many years and collected a noble library of the most curious books in all sciences, and a large number of valuable manuscripts.
After returning from a journey to the duchy of Lorraine in 1571 he was attacked by a dangerous illness. The queen sent to him from Hampton Court Dr. Edward Atslowe [q. v.] and Mr. Balthorp, two of her physicians. She also sent Lord Sidney with messages about his health and ‘divers rarities to eat’ The appearance of a new star in November 1572 gave Dee an excellent opportunity of displaying his skill in astronomy, and Camden in noticing the phenomenon speaks of Dee's performance with great respect (Annales, ed. Hearn, ii. 272). On 3 Oct. 1574 Dee addressed to Lord Burghley a remarkable letter, complaining that he had not gained the rewards to which twenty years of hard study entitled him. He declares that ‘in zeale to the best lerning and knowledg, and in incredible toyle of body and mynde, very many yeres, therfore onely endured, I know most
