But Dee was somewhat fallen
from this high and dangerous celebrity. He was become querulous and
ill-tempered. Never satisfied with his present condition, but always
aiming at some greater thing, he generally contrived to lose what he
already possessed. At one time, to control the destinies and acquire the
supreme direction of affairs, either as the High Priest or the Grand
Lama of Europe, was not beyond the compass of his thoughts or the scope
of his ambition. Now, he was petitioning the Queen for a small increase
to his worldly pittance, and an opportunity of clearing himself before
her Majesty's council from the foul and slanderous accusations by which
he was continually assailed. Yet he had not abandoned his former
projects. Though failing in his mission aforetime to the Emperor of
Germany, the King of Poland, and others, to whom he evidently went for
political purposes, and with offers of his aid, through the
foreknowledge and spiritual intercourse by which he thought himself
favoured, yet he still cherished the hope of promotion by such visionary
follies. That chimera of the imagination, the invention of the
philosopher's stone, still haunted him, and he did not yet despair of
one day becoming a ruler among princes, the supreme arbiter and
depositary of the fate of nations.
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