A letter, containing a most briefe discourse apologeticall with a plaine demonstration, and feruent protestation, for the lawfull, sincere, very faithfull and Christian course, of the philosophicall studies and exercises, of a certaine studious gentleman: an ancient seruant to her most excellent Maiesty royall.

To the most Reuerend father in God , the Lord Archbishop of Canturbury , Primate and Metropolitane of all England , one of her Maiesties most honorable priuy Counsaile : my singular good Lord .

MOst humbly and hartily I craue your Graces pardon , if I offende any thing , to send , or present vnto your Graces hand , so simple a discourse as this is : Although , by some sage and discreet my friends their opinion , it is thought not to be impertinent , to my most needfull suites , presently in hand , ( before her most excellent Maiesty Royall , your Lordships good Grace , and other the Right honorable Lordes of her Maiesties priuy Counsaile ) to make some part of my former studies , and studious exercises ( within and for these 46 , yeeres last past , vsed and continued ) to be first knowne and discouered vnto your Grace , and other the Right honorable my good Lordes , of her Maiesties priuy Counsaile : And , Secondly , afterwardes , the same to be permitted to come to publique view : Not so much , to stop the mouthes , and , at length to stay the impudent attemptes , of the rash , and malicious deuisers , and contriuers of most vntrue , foolish , and wicked reports , and fables , of , and concerning my foresaid studious exercises , passed ouer , with my great , ( yea incredible ) paines , trauels , cares , and costs , in the search , and learning of true Philosophie ; As , therein , Só , to certifie , and satisfie the godly and vnpartiall Christian hearer , or reader hereof : That , by his own iudgement , ( vpon his due consideration , and examination of this , no little parcell , of the particulars of my foresaid studies , and exercises philosophicall annexed ) He will , or may , be sufficiently informed , and perswaded ; That I haue wonderfully labored , to finde , follow , vse , & haunt the true , straight , and most narrow path , leading all true , deuout , zealous , faithfull , and constant Christian students , ex valle hac miseriae , & miseria istius vallis : & tenebrarum Regno ; & tenebris istius Regni , ad montem sanctum Syon , & ad caelestia tabernacula . All thankes , are most due , therefore , vnto the Almighty : Seeing , it so pleased him , ( euen from my youth , by his diuine fauor , grace , and helpe ) to insinuate into my hart , an insatiable zeale , & desire , to knowe his truth : And in him , and by him , incessantly to seeke , and listen after the same ; by the true philosophicall method and harmony : proceeding and ascending , ( as it were ) gradatim , from things visible , to consider of thinges inuisible : from thinges bodily , to conceiue of thinges spirituall : from things transitorie , & momentanie , to meditate of things permanent : by thinges mortall ( visible and inuisible ) to haue some perceiuerance of immortality . And to conclude , most briefely ; by the most meruailous frame of the whole World , philosophically viewed , and circumspectly wayed , numbred , and measured ( according to the talent , & gift of God , from aboue alotted , for his diuine purposes effecting ) most faithfully to loue , honor , and glorifie alwaies , the Framer , and Creator thereof . In whose workmanship , his infinite goodnesse , vnsearchable wisdome , and Almighty power , yea , his euerlasting * * Paule to the Rom. Cap. 1. verse 19. 20. power , and diuinity , may ( by innumerable meanes ) be manifested , and demonstrated . The truth of which my zealous , carefull , and constant intent , and endeuour specified ; may ( I hope ) easilie appeare by the whole , full and due suruey , and consideration of all the Bookes , Treatises , and discourses , whose Titles onely , are , at this time , here annexed , and expressed : As they are set down in the sixt Chapter , of an other little Rhapsodicall Treatise , intitled , The Compendious Rehearsall , &c. written aboue two yeares since : for those her Maiesties two honorable Commissioners ; which her most excellent Maiesty had most graciouslie sent to my poore Cottage , in Mortlake : to vnderstand the matters , and causes at full ; through which , I was so extreamely vrged to procure at her Maiesties handes such honorable Surueiors & witnesses to be assigned , for the due proofe of the contents , of my most humble and pitifull supplication , exhibited vnto her most excellent Maiesty , at Hampton Court , An. 1592. Nouemb. 9. Thus therefore ( as followeth ) is the said 6. Chapter there , recorded .

My labors and paines bestowed at diuers times , to pleasure my natiue Countrey : by writing of sundry Bookes , and Treatises : some in Latine , some in English , and some of them , written , at her Maiesties commandement . Of which Bookes , and Treatises , some are printed , and some vnprinted . The printed Bookes , and Treatises are these following : Propaedeumata Aphoristica , De praestantioribus quibusdam Naturae virtutibus . — Aphorismi . 120. Anno. 1558. Monas Hieroglyphica , Mathematicè , Anagogicéque explicata ; ad Maximilianum ( Dei gratia ) Romanorum , Bohemiae , & Hungariae , Regem sapientissimum an. 1564. Epistola ad eximium Ducis Vrbini Mathematicum ( Fredericum Commandinum ) praefixa libello Machometi Bagdedini , De superficierum Diuisionibus ; edito in lucem , opera mea , & eiusdem Commandini Vrbinatis ; Impressa Pisauri — Anno — 1570. The Brytish Monarchy ( otherwise called the Petty Nauy Royall : ) for the politique security ; abundant wealth , and the triumphant state of this kingdome , ( with Gods fauor ) procuring — Anno — 1576. My Mathematicall praeface annexed to Euclide , ( by the right worshipfull Sir Henry Billingsley Knight , in the English language first published ) written at the earnest request of sundry right worshipfull Knights , and other very well learned men . Wherein are many Arts , of me , wholy inuented ( by name , definition , propriety and vse , ) more then either the Graecian , or Roman Mathematiciens , haue left to our knowledge — Anno — 1570. My diuers & many Annotations , and Inuentions Mathematicall , added in sundry places of the foresaid English Euclide , after the tenth Booke of the same — 1570. Epistola praefixa Ephemeridibus Ioannis Felde Angli : cui rationem declaraueram Ephemerides conscribendi . 1557. Paralaticae Cōmentationis , Praxeosque Nucleus quidam . 1573 The vnprinted Bookes and Treatises , are these : some , perfectly finished : and some , yet vnfinished . THe first great volume of Famous and rich Discoueries : wherein ( also ) is the History of King Salomon , euery three yeeres , his Ophirian voyage . The Originals of Presbyter Ioannes : and of the first great Cham , and his successors for many yeeres following : The description of diuers wonderfull Iles , in the Northen , Scythian , Tartarian , and the other most Northen Seas , and neere vnder the North Pole : by Record , written aboue 1200. yeeres since : with diuers other rarities — Anno — 1576. The Brytish Complement , of the perfect Art of Nauigation ; A great volume : in which , are contained our Queene Elizabeth her Arithmeticall Tables Gubernauticke : for Nauigation by the Paradoxall compasse ( of me , inuented anno 1557. ) and Nauigation by great Circles : and for longitudes , and latitudes ; and the variation of the compasse finding most easilie , and speedily : yea , ( if neede be ) in one minute of time , and sometime , without sight of sunne , moone , or star ; with many other , new and needefull inuentions Gubernauticke — anno — 1576. Her Maiesties Title Royall , to many forrain Cuntries , kingdomes , and prouinces , by good testimony and sufficient proofe recorded : and in 12. Velam skins of parchment , faire written : for her Maiesties vse : and at her Maiesties commandement — anno — 1578 De Imperatoris Nomine , Authoritate , & Potentia : dedicated to her Maiesty — anno — 1579 Prolegomena & Dictata Parisiensia , in Euclidis Elementorum Geometricorum , librum primum , & secundum ; in Collegio Rhemensi — anno — 1550. De vsu Globi Caelestis : ad Regem Edoardum sextum . 1550 The Art of Logicke , in English — anno — 1547. The 13. Sophisticall Fallacians , with their Discoueries , written in English meter — anno — 1548. Mercurius Caelestis : libri — 24. written at Louayn — 1549. De Nubium , Solis , Lunae , ac reliquorum Planetarum , immò ipsius stelliferi Caeli , ab infimo Terrae Centro , distantijs , mutuisque interuallis , & eorundem omnium Magnitudine liber 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 , ad Edoardum Sextum , Angliae Regem . Anno — 1551. Aphorismi Astrologici — 300. — anno — 1553. The true cause , and account ( not vulgar ) of Fluds and Ebbs : written at the request of the right honorable Lady , Lady Iane , Duchesse of Northumberland — anno — 1553. The Philosophicall and Poeticall Originall occasions , of the Configurations , and names of the heauenly Asterismes — written at the request of the same Duchesse . Anno. 1553. The Astronomicall , & logisticall rules , and Canons , to calculate the Ephemerides by , and other necessary accounts of heauenly motions : written at the request , and for the vse of that excellent Mechanicien Maister Richard Chauncelor , at his last voyage into Moschouia — anno — 1553. De Acribologia Mathematica ; volumen magnum : sexdecim continens libros — anno — 1555 Inuentum Mechanicum , Paradoxum , De noua ratione delineandi Circumferentiam Circularem : vnde , valde rara alia excogitari perficíque poterunt problemata . An. 1556. De speculis Comburentibus : libri sex — Anno — 1557. De Perspectiua illa , qua peritissimi vtuntur Pictores . 1557. Speculum vnitatis : siue Apologia pro Fratre Rogerio Bachone Anglo : in qua docetur nihil illum per Daemoniorum fecisse auxilia , sed philosophum fuisse maximum ; naturaliterque & modis homini Christiano licitis , maximas fecisse res , quas indoctum solet vulgus , in Daemoniorum referre facinora — Anno — 1557. De Annuli Astronomici multiplici vsu — lib. 2 — Anno. 1557. Trochilica Inuenta — lib — 2 — Anno — 1558. 〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉〈◊〉 — lib — 3 — Anno — 1558. De tertia & praecipua Perspectiuae parte , quae de Radiorum fractione tractat — libri — 3 — Anno — 1559. De Itinere subterraneo — libri — 2 — Anno — 1560. De Triangulorum rectilineorum Areis — libri — 3 — demonstrati : ad excellentissimum Mathematicum Petrum Nonium conscripti — Anno — 1560. Cabalae Hebraicae compendiosa tabella — Anno — 1562. Reipublicae Britannicae Synopsis : in English — Anno. 1565. De Trigono Circinóque Analogico , Opusculum , Mathematicum & Mechanicum — libri — 4 — Anno — 1565. De stella admiranda , in Cassiopeae Asterismo , caelitus demissa ad orbem vsque veneris : Iterumque in Caeli penetralia perpendiculariter retracta , post decimum sextum suae apparitionis mensem — Anno — 1573. Hipparchus Rediuiuus — Tractatulus — Anno. 1573. De vnico Mago , & triplici Herode , eóque Antichristiano . Anno — 1570. Ten sundry and very rare Heraldical Blasonings of one Crest or Cognisance , lawfully confirmed to certaine auncient Armes — lib. 1. — Anno — 1574. Atlantidis , ( vulgariter , Indiae Occidentalis nominatae ) emendatior de scriptio Hydrographica , quàm vlla alia adhuc euulgata — anno — 1580. De modo Euangelij Iesu Christi publicandi , propagandi , stabiliendique , inter Infideles Atlanticos : volumen magnum , libris distinctum quatuor : quorum primus ad Serenissimam nostram Potentissimamque Reginam Elizabetham inscribitur : Secundus , ad summos priuati suae sacrae Maiestatis consilij senatores : Tertius , ad Hispaniarum Regem , Philippum : Quartus , ad Pontificem Romanum — anno 1581. Nauigationis ad Cathayum per Septentrionalia Scythiae & Tartariae litora , Delineatio Hydrographica : Arthuro Pit , & Carolo Iackmanno Anglis , versus illas partes Nauigaturis , in manus tradita ; cum admiraendarum quarundam Insularum annotatione , in illis subpolaribus partibus iacentium — anno — 1580. Hemisphaerij Borealis Geographica , at que Hydrographica descriptio : longè a vulgatis chartis diuersa : Anglis quibusdam , versus Atlantidis Septentrionalia litora , nauigationem instituentibus , dono data — anno — 6583 The Originals , and chiefe points , of our auncient Brytish , Histories , discoursed vpon , and examined — anno — 1583. An aduise & discourse about the Reformation of the vulgar Iulian yeere — written by her Maiesties commandement , and the Lords of the priuy Counsaile — anno — 1582. Certaine considerations , and conferrings together , of these three sentences , ( aunciently accounted as Oracles ) Nosce te ipsum : Homo Homini Deus : Homo Homini Lupus . 1592 De hominis Corpore , Spiritu , & Anima : siue Microcosmicum totius Philosophiae Naturalis Compendium — lib. 1 — 1591

With many other bookes , pamphlets , discourses , inuentions , and conclusions , in diuers Artes and matters : whose names , need not in this Abstract to be notified : The most part of all which , here specified , lie heere before your Honours vpon the table , on your left hand . But by other bookes and writinges , of an other sort , ( if it so please God , and that he wil grant me life , health , and due maintenance thereto , for some ten or twelue yeares next ensuing ) I may , hereafter make plaine , and without doubt , this sentence to be true , Plura latent , quàm patent .

Thus far ( my good Lord ) haue I set downe this Catalogus , out of the foresaid sixt Chapter , of the booke , whose title is this : The Compendious rehearsall of Iohn Dee , his dutifull declaration and proofe of the course and race of his studious life , for the space of halfe an hundred yeeres , now ( by Gods fauor and helpe ) fully spent , &c.

To which compendious rehearsall , doth now belong an Appendix , of these two last yeeres : In which I haue had many iust occasions , to confesse , that Homo Homini Deus , and Homo Homini Lupus , was and is an Argument , worthy of the decyphering , & large discussing : as may , one day , hereafter ( by Gods helpe ) be published , in some maner very strange . And besides all the rehearsed books , & treatises of my writing , or handling hitherto , I haue iust cause , lately giuen me to write & publish a Treatise , with Title , De Horizonte Aeternitatis : to make euident , that one Andreas Libauius , in a booke of his , printed the last yeere , hath vnduly considered a phrase of my Monas Hieroglyphica : to his misliking : by his own vnskilfulnes in such matter : and not vnderstanding my apt application thereof , in one of the very principal places , It may now be here also remembred , that almost three yeeres after the writing of this letter , I did somewhat satisfie the request of an honorable friend in Court , by speedilie penning some matter concerning her maiesties Sea-soueraigntie : vnder this title Thalattocratia Brytannica . of the whole book . And this booke of mine , ( by Gods help and fauour ) shall be dedicated vnto her most excellent maiesty Roiall : And this Treatise doth containe three bookes ,

Siue ,

De Brytanico Maris Imperio , Collectanea Extemporanea : 4. dierum Spacio , celeri conscripta calamo . Anno. 1597. — Septemb. 20 , Mancestriae .

The first intitled , De Horizonte : liber Mathematicus & Physicus . The Second , De Aeternitate : liber Theologicus , Metaphysicus & Mathematicus . The Third , De Horizonte Aeternitatis : liber Theologicus , Mathematicus , & Hierotechnicus .

¶ Truly I haue great cause to praise and thanke God , for your graces verie charitable vsing of me : both in sundry points else , & also in your fauorable yelding to , yea & notifying the due meanes for the performance of her Sacred Maiesties most gracious and bountifull disposition , resolution , and very royall beginning , to restore and giue vnto me ( her Ancient faithfull seruant ) some due maintenance : to leade the rest of my old daies , in some quiet and comfort : with habilitie , to retaine some speedy , faire , and Orthographicall writers , about me ; and the same skilfull in Latine and Greeke ( at the least : ) aswell for mine owne bookes , and workes , faire and correctly to be written ( such I meane , as either her most excellent Maiestie , out of the premisses will make choise of , or command to be finished or published : or such of them , as your grace shall thinke meete or worthy for my farther labor to be bestowed on : ) as else for the speedy , faire , and true writing out of other ancient Authors their good and rare workes , in greeke or Latine : which by Gods prouidence , haue been preserued from the spoile made of my Librarie , & of all my moueable goods here : &c. Anno. 1583. ✚ ✚ Although thát my last voyage beyond the Seas , was duly vndertaken ( by her Maiesties good fauour and licence ) as by the same words may appeare in the Letter , written by the right honourable Lord Threasorer , vnto your grace in my behalfe , and her most excellent maiestie willing his honor so to do . Anno. 1590. the 20. of Ianuarie . In which Librarie , were about 4000 bookes : whereof , 700. were anciently written by hande : Some in Greeke , some in Latine , some in Hebrue : And some in other languages ( as may by the whole Catalogus thereof appeare . ) But the great losses and dammages which in sundry sorts I haue sustained , do not so much grieue my hart , as the rash , lewde , fond , and most vntrue fables and reports of me , and my studies philosophicall , haue done , & yet do : which commonly , after their first hatching , and diuelish deuising , immediatly with great speede , are generally all the Realme ouerspread ; and to some , seeme true ; to other , they are doubtfull : and to only the wise , modest , discreet , godly , and charitable ( and chiefelie to such as haue some acquaintance with me ) they appeare , and are knowne to be fables , vntruths , and vtterly false reports , and sclaunders . Well , this shall be my last charitable giuing of warning , and feruent protestation to my Countrimen and all other in this case :

Before the Almighty our God , A feruent protestation . and your Lordships good grace , this day , on the perill of my soules damnation ( if I lie , or take his name in vaine herein ) I take the same God , to be my witnesse ; That , with all my hart , with all my soule , with all my strength , power , and vnderstanding ( according to the measure thereof , which the Almighty hath giuen me ) for the most part of the time , from my youth hitherto , I haue vsed , and still vse , good , lawfull , honest , christian , and diuinely prescribed meanes , to attaine to the knowledge of those truthes , which are meet , and necessary for me to know ; and wherwith to do his diuine Maiesty such seruice , as hee hath , doth , and will call me vnto , during this my life : for his honor and glory aduancing , and for the benefit , and commoditie publique of this kingdome ; so much , as by the will , and purpose of God , shall lie in my skill , and hability to performe : as a true , faithfull , and most sincerely dutifull seruant , to our most gratious and incomparable Queene Elizabeth , and as a very comfortable fellow-member of the body politique , gouerned vnder the scepter Royal of our earthly Supreame head ( Queene Elizabeth ) and as a liuely sympathicall , and true symetricall fellow-member , of that holy and mysticall body , Catholicklie extended and placed ( wheresoeuer ) on the earth : in the view , knowledge , direction , protection , illumination , and consolation of the Almighty , most blessed , most holy , most glorious , comaiesticall , coëternall , and coëssentiall Trinity : The head of that body , being only our Redeemer , Christ Iesus , perfect God and perfect man : whose returne in glory , we faithfully awaite , and daily , do very earnestly cry vnto him , to hasten his second comming , for his electes sake : iniquity doth so on this earth , abound , and preuaile , and true faith with charity , and Euangelicall simplicity , haue but colde , slender , and vncertaine intertainement , among the worldly-wise men of this worlde .

Therefore ( herein concluding ) I beseech the Almighty God , most aboundantly to increase and confirme your graces heauenly wisdome , and endue you with all the rest of his heauenly gifts , for the relieuing , refreshing , and comforting , both bodily and spiritually , his little flocke of the faithfull , yet militant here on earth . Amen .

An Epilogue .

Good my Lord , I beseech your grace , to allowe of my plaine and comfortable Epilogus , for this matter at this time . Seeing , my studious exercises , and conuersation ciuile , may be aboundantly testified , to my good credit , in the most partes of all Christendome : and that , by all degrees of Nobility , by al degrees of the learned , and by very many other , of godly and Christian disposition , for the space of 46. yeeres triall : ( as appeareth by the Recordes lately viewed by two honourable witnesses , by Commission from her Maiesty , ) And seeing , for these 36. yeeres , last past , I haue beene her most excellent Maiesties very true , faithfull , and dutifull seruaunt ; At whose royall mouth , I neuer receiued any one word of reproch ; but all of fauor , and grace : In whose princely countenance , I neuer perceiued frowne toward me , or discontented regard , or view on me : but at all times fauorable , and gracious : to the great ioy and comfort of my true , faithfull , and loyall hart . And ( thirdly ) Seeing , the workes of my handes , and wordes of my mouth ( heere before notified , in the Schedule of my bookes , and writings ) may beare liuely witnesse of the thoughts of my hart , and inclination of my minde , generally , ( as all wise men do know , and Christ himselfe doth auouch ) It might , in manner , seeme needlesse , thus carefully ( though most briefely and speedily ) to haue warned or confounded the scornefull , the malicious , the proud , and the rash in their vntrue reports , opinions , and fables of my studies , or exercises Philosophicall : but that , it is of more importance , that the godly , the honest , the modest , the discreet , graue , and charitable Christians ( English or other , ) louers of Iustice , truth , and good learning , may , hereby , receiue certaine comfort in themselues ( to perceiue , that Veritas tandem praeualebit ) and sufficiently be weaponed and armed with sound truth , to defende me against such kinde of my aduersaries : if hereafter they will begin afresh , or hould on , obstinately , in their former errors , vaine imaginations , false reportes , and most vngodly sclanders of me and my studies . ¶ Therefore , ( to make all this cause , for euer , before God and man , out of all doubt : ) Seeing , your Lordships good grace , are , as it were , our high Priest , and chiefe Ecclesiasticall minister , ( vnder our most dread and Soueraigne Ladie , Queene Elizabeth ) to whose censure and iudgement , I submit all my studies and exercises ; yea all my bookes , past , present and hereafter to be written , by me ( of my own skill , iudgement , or opinion , ) I do , at this present time , most humbly , sincerelie , and vnfainedly , and in the name of Almighty God , ( yea for his honor and glory ) request , and beseech your Grace , ( when , and as conueniently you may ) to be well and throughlie certified of me , what I am , Intus & in cute : Reuerendissime in Christo Pater , & Dignissime Archipraesul , cognosce & agnosce vultum tàm internum , quàm externum pecoris tui : And wherein I haue vsed , doe or shall vse , pen , speech , or conuersation , otherwise then as it appertaineth to a faithfull , carefull , sincere , and humble seruant of Christ Iesu , That your grace woulde vouchsafe to aduertise me . So , I trust , Vltima respondebunt primis : in such sort , as this Authentick Recorde in latine annexed ( ad perpetuam rei memoriam , ) doth testifie : hauing neuer , hitherto , had occasion to shewe that , in any place of Christendome : to testifie better of me , then they had proofe of me , themselues , by my conuersation among them . ( The Almighty , therefore , be highly thanked , praised , honored , and glorified , for euer and euer , Amen . )

But nowe , in respect of the generall intent of this briefe discourse , I most humbly , and reuerently , exhibit to your graces view , and perusing , the originall monument , and Authenticke Record , before mentioned , faire written in parchment , with the seale whole , and perfect , duly appendant : as I haue 46. yeeres , and somewhat longer , preserued it . The true copy wherof , your grace doth see , to be verbatim , as followeth .