went abroad to escape the
bad temper of his wife; another that he wanted to enrich himself. Another
story--and that not an unlikely one--is, that he was jealous of the
rising reputation of his pupil Fallopius, then professor of anatomy at
Venice. This distinguished surgeon, as I said before, had written a
book, in which he had added to Vesalius' discoveries, and corrected
certain errors of his. Vesalius had answered him hastily and angrily,
quoting his anatomy from memory; for, as he himself complained, he could
not in Spain obtain a subject for dissection; not even, he said, a single
skull. He had sent his book to Venice to be published, and had heard,
seemingly, nothing of it.

He may have felt that he was falling behind in the race of science, and
that it was impossible for him to carry on his studies in Madrid; and so,
angry with his own laziness and luxury, he may have felt the old sacred
fire flash up in him, and have determined to go to Italy and become a
student and a worker once more.

The very day that he set out, Clusius of Arras, then probably the best
botanist in the world, arrived at Madrid; and, asking the reason of
Vesalius' departure, was told by their fellow-countryman, Charles de
Tisnacq, procurator for the affairs of the Netherlands, that Vesalius had
gone of his own free will, and with all facilities which Philip could
grant him, in performance of a vow which he had made during a dangerous
illness. Here, at least, we have a drop of information, which seems
taken from the stream sufficiently near to the fountain-head: but it must
be recollected that De Tisnacq lived in dangerous times, and may have
found it necessary to walk warily in them; that through him had been
sent, only the year before, that famous letter from William of Orange,
Horn, and Egmont, the fate whereof may be read in Mr. Motley's fourth
chapter; that the crisis of the Netherlands which sprung out of that
letter was coming fast; and that, as De Tisnacq was on friendly terms
with Egmont, he may have felt his head at times somewhat loose on his
shoulders; especially if he had heard Alva say, as he wrote, "that every
time he saw the despatches of those three senors, they moved his choler
so, that if he did not take much care to temper it, he would seem a
frenzied man." In such times, De Tisnacq may have thought good to return
a diplomatic answer to a fellow-countryman concerning a third
fellow-countryman, especially when that co