Darke Hierogliphicks: Alchemy in English Literature from Chaucer to the Restoration

384 Pages·1996·51.62 MB·English

by  Stanton J. Linden

STUDIES IN THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE
John T. Shawcross, General Editor
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DARKE
HIEROGLIPHICKS
Alchemy in English Literature
from Chaucer to the Restoration
STANTON]. LINDEN
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY
Copyright © 1996 by The University Press of Kentucky
Paperback edition 2008
The University Press of Kentucky
Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth,
serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre
College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,
The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College,
Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University,
Morehead State University, Murray State University,
Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,
University of Kentucky, University of Louisville,
and Western Kentucky University.
All rights reserved.
Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008
www.kentuckypress.com
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Linden, Stanton J., 1935–
Darke hieroglyphics : alchemy in English literature from Chaucer to the
Restoration / Stanton J. Linden.
p. cm. — (Studies in the English renaissance)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-10: 0-8131-1968-5 (alk. paper)
1. English Literature—Early modern, 1500–1700—History and Criticism.
2. Alchemy in literature. 3. English literature—Middle English, 1100–1500—
History and criticism. 4. Chaucer, Geoffrey, d. 1400—Knowledge—Occultism.
5. Renaissance—England. I. Title. II. Series.
PR428.A44L56 1996
820.9'37—dc20 96-14574
ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-1968-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8131-9212-3 (pbk. : alk. paper)
This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting
the requirements of the American National Standard
for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Member of the Association of
American University Presses
Contents
List of Illustrations Vll
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 ''A Clew and a Labyrinth':' Backgrounds, Definitions, and
Preliminaries 6
2 "concluden everemoore amys": Chaucer and the Medieval Heritage
of Alchemical Satire 37
3 Posers and Impostors: Sixteenth-Century Alchemical Satire 62
4 The Reformation of Vulcan: Francis Bacon and Alchemy 104
5 ''Abstract riddles of our stone": Ben Jonson and the Drama
of Alchemy 118
6 "a true religious Alchimy": The Poetry of Donne and Herbert 154
7 "that great & generall refining day": Alchemy, Allegory, and
Eschatology in the Seventeenth Century 193
8 "Under vailes, and Hieroglyphicall Covertures": Alchemy in the
Poetry of Vaughan and Milton 224
9 "Teutonick Chimericall extravagancies": Alchemy, Poetry, and
the Restoration Revolt against Enthusiasm 260
10 Cauda Pavonis 294
Notes 294
Bibliography 344
Index 361
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Illustrations
1. Laboratory and Oratory, Heinrich Khunrath, Amphitheatrum
sapientit£ (1609) 9
2. Library and Laboratory, Michael Maier, Tripus aureus (1618) 10
3. The Four Elements Symbolized, Petrus Bonus, Pretiosa margarita
novella (1546) 18
4. Nature and Art, Michael Maier, Symbola auret£ Menst£ (1617) 20
5. Fludd's Universal Correspondence Theory, Utriusque cosmi
historia (1617, 1619) 22
6. The Earth as Nurse, Michael Maier, Atalanta fogiens (1617) 25
7. Itinerant Seller of Medicines, engraving by T. Kitchin (fl. 1750)
after David Teniers 28
8. Alchemical Master and Disciple, Elias Ashmole, Theatrum
Chemicum Britannicum (1652) 32
9. Outdoor Scene, Hieronymus Braunschweig, Liber de arte
Distillandi de Compositis (1512) 41
10. Ellesmere MS Canon's Yeoman 46
11. Satan, Alchemist and Antichrist, Antichristus (1480?) 51
12. Temptress-Woman, Devil, Alchemist, engraved by A. Matham
(c. 1599-1660) 51
13. The Fall of Icarus; Against Astrologers, Alciati, Les Emblemes
de Maistre Andre Alciat (1540) 66
14. Alchemists, Alexander Barclay, translation of Sebastian Brant,
Ship ofF ools (1509) 69
15. Athena's Birth, Jove and Danae, Michael Maier, Atalanta
fogiens (1617) 129
16. Rudolph II in the Laboratory of his Alchemist, painting by
W. Brozik (1881) 135
17. "Le Marchand d'orvietan de Campagne" by Bonnet (19th century),
after P. Careme (1734-1796) 137
Vlll Illustrations
18. Mercurius, Basil Valentine, Duodecim Claves, in Must£um
Hermeticum (1678) 141
19. Alchemist following Nature, Michael Maier, Atalantafugiens (1617) 152
20. Alchemical Laboratory (sixteenth century[?]) 161
21. Conjunctio, Rosarium Philosophorum (1550) 177
22. Entombed King and Queen, Johann Mylius, Philosophia Reformata
(1622) 177
23. Stages in the Alchemical Process, Andreas Libavius, Alchymia
(1606) 178
24. Symbolic birds, Book ofL ambspringk, in Must£um Hermeticum
(1678) 180
25. Salamander, Michael Maier, Atalanta fugiens (1617) 188
26. Tympanum, Nicolas Flamel, Exposition oft he Hieroglyphicall
Figures (1624) 209
27. Resurrected Christ, Rosarium Philosophorum (1550) 221
28. Last Judgment, Elias Ashmole, Theatrum Chemicum
Britannicum (1652) 258
Acknowledgments
During the long labor of writing this book, I have received help from many indi
viduals, libraries, and institutions whose assistance I wish to acknowledge. To the
staffs of the Huntington Library, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Wellcome
Institute for the History of Medicine, the Bodleian Library, and, especially, the
North Room of the British Library, I am grateful for supplying the many books
and manuscripts that I have requested. Travel for research has been supported in
part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of
Learned Societies, and Arts and Humanities Travel Awards from Washington State
University. Washington State granted me a sabbatical leave for the 1992-93 aca
demic year, during which writing and much of the revision was completed; the
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts has also provided funds for the illustrations.
Parts of chapters 4, 5, 7, and 8 have appeared in different versions in Ambix
and the Journal oft he History ofI deas, whose editors I wish to thank for permis
sion to reprint these materials. Chapter 9-indeed, much of my thinking about
relationships between the hermetic and scientific worldviews-was clarified
through invited participation in an interdisciplinary symposium at the Herzog
August Bibliothek at Wolfenbiittel, Germany, in October 1992.
The late Gordon W. O'Brien of the University of Minnesota first kindled
my interest in Renaissance hermeticism, and Allen G. Debus, Michael J .B. Allen,
Thomas S. Willard, and many others, have helped sustain it. Thanks are due and
gratefully given to John Shawcross for his extremely thorough and incisive read
ings of early and late drafts of the manuscript. For help in obtaining illustrations,
I would like to thank Laila and Miro Vejwvic of Washington State University,
Timothy D. Murray of the Special Collections Department of the University of
Delaware Library, and the staffs of the Huntington Library and Wellcome Institute.
Thanks are also due to the editorial and production staffs of the University Press
of Kentucky for the care and efficiency they have shown in producing this book.
My debt to the following Washington State colleagues and friends who have
contributed to this book is large, of long standing, and too complex to order and
particularize: Rhonda Blair, Thomas Faulkner, Diane Gillespie, Virginia Hyde,
Nicolas Kiessling, Louise Schleiner; and Winfried Schleiner of the University of
California at Davis. Finally, for continuing encouragement and support, lowe
very special thanks to my wife Lucy and son Steve.
IX