ckedness, of
that wonderful land. Some echoes of this legend had doubtless drifted down
to Scotland, and possibly still more may have been wafted over from
France. Ascham had taken up his parable in the _Schoolmaster_, describing
the devilish sins and corruptions of Italy, and now the good people of
Edinburgh were to be given the sight of a man coming thence, one who was
fabled to have gathered together more knowledge, both of this world and of
that other hidden one which was to them just as real, than any mortal man
alive. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Cardan should
have been regarded rather as a magician than as a doctor, and in the
_Scotichronicon_[146] it is recorded that the Primate was cured of a
lingering asthma by the incantations of an astrologer named Cardan, from
Milan. Cardan in his narrative speaks of Edinburgh as the place where he
met his patient, and does not mention any other place of sojourn, but the
record just quoted goes on to say that he abode with the Primate for
eleven weeks at his country residence at Monimail, near Cupar, Fife, where
there is a well called to this day Cardan's Well.

Cardan, as it has been noticed already, refused to commit himself to any
opinion as to the character of the Archbishop's distemper over the
dinner-table where he and Cassanate had been entertained by the French
King's physicians. Cassanate had set forth his views in full as to the
nature of the asthma which had to be dealt with in his letter to Cardan,
and it is highly probable that he would again bring forward these views in
the hearing of the Paris doctors. It is certain that some of the French
physicians had, previous to this, prescribed a course of treatment for the
Archbishop, probably without seeing him, and that the course was being
tried when Cardan arrived in Edinburgh.[147] For the first six weeks of
his stay he watched the case, and let the treatment aforesaid go
on--whether it differed from that which Cassanate recommended or not there
is no evidence to show. But no good result came of it. The Archbishop
wasted in body and became fretful and disturbed in mind, and, at last,
Cardan was obliged to let his opinion of the case be known; and, as this
was entirely hostile to the treatment which was being pursued, the
inevitable quarrel between the doctors burst forth with great violence.
The Archbishop was irate with his ordinary medical attendant, probably the
physician who was left in c