sted between him and his mother were now
removed, for he took her to live with him, the household being made up of
himself, his wife, his mother, a friend (a woman), a nurse, the little
boy, a man- and maidservant, and a mule.[63] Possibly Chiara brought her
own income with her, and thus allowed the establishment to be conducted on
a more liberal scale. The Plat lectureship would scarcely have maintained
three servants, and Jerome's gains from other sources must have been as
yet very slender. His life at this time was a busy one, but he always
contrived to portion out his days in such wise that certain hours were
left for recreation. At such times as he was called upon to teach, the
class-room, of course, had the first claims. After the lecture he would
walk in the shade outside the city walls, then return to his dinner, then
divert himself with music, and afterwards go fishing in the pools and
streams hard by the town. In the course of time he obtained other
employment, being appointed physician to the Augustinian friars. The Prior
of this Order, Francesco Gaddi, was indeed his first patient of note. He
tells how he cured this man of a biennial leprosy after treating him for
six months;[64] adding that his labour was in vain, inasmuch as Gaddi died
a violent death afterwards. The refusal of the College of Milan to admit
him to membership did not forbid him to prescribe for whatever patients
might like to consult him by virtue of his Paduan degree. He read
voraciously everything which came in his way, and it must have been during
these years that he stored his memory with that vast collection of facts
out of which he subsequently compounded the row of tomes which form his
legacy to posterity. Filippo Archinto was unfailing in his kindness, and
Jerome at this time was fortunate enough to attract the attention of
certain other Milanese citizens of repute who afterwards proved to be
valuable friends; Ludovico Madio, Girolamo Guerrini a jeweller, Francesco
Belloti, and Francesco della Croce. The last-named was a skilled
jurisconsult, whose help proved of great service in a subsequent
litigation between Jerome and the College of Physicians.

All his life long Cardan was a dreamer of dreams, and he gives an account
of one of his visions in this year, 1534, which, whether regarded as an
allegory or as a portent, is somewhat remarkable. "In the year 1534, when
I was as it were groping in the dark, when I had settled naught as to