HUDIB. Part II. Canto iii. 631.
In 1583, they were both introduced to a certain Polish nobleman, then in England, named Albert Laski, palatine of Siradia, a person equally addicted to the same ridiculous pursuits. He was so charmed with Dee and his companion, that he persuaded them to accompany him to his native country. They embarked for Holland in Sept. 1583; and travelling over land, arrived at the town of Laski in February following. Their patron, however, finding himself abused by their idle pretensions, persuaded them to pay a visit to Rodolph king of Bohemia; who, though a credulous man, was soon disgusted with their nonsense. They were afterwards introduced to the king of Poland, but with no better success. Soon after this, they were invited by a rich Bohemian nobleman to his castle of Trebona, where they continued for some time in great affluence; owing, as they asserted, to their art of transmutation by means of a certain powder in the possession of Kelly.
Dee, now quarrelling with his companion in iniquity, quitted Bohemia, and returned to England, where he was once more graciously received by the queen;
who, in 1595, made him warden of Manchester college, in which town he resided several years. In 1604, he returned to his house at Mortlake, where he died in the year 1608, aged 81; leaving a large family, and many works behind him.—The black stone into which Dee used to call his spirits, was in the collection of the earls of Peterborough, whence it came to Lady Elizabeth Germaine. It was next the property of the late duke of Argyle, and is now Mr Walpole's. It appears upon examination to be nothing but a polished piece of cannel coal.—That Dee was a man of considerable acquirements, is beyond a doubt; his mathematical knowledge is generally allowed: but, unless we suppose him a wicked impostor, which is by no means improbable, we must transmit him to posterity as one of the most foolish superstitious necromancers of his time. Nevertheless, the celebrated Dr Hook, many years after Dee's death, took it into his head to prove that his journal, published by Casaubon, was entirely cryptographic, concealing his political transactions, and that he was employed by Queen Elizabeth as a spy.