Dabblers in Alchemy

17th May, 1653. My servant Hoare, who wrote those

exquisite several hands, fell of a fit of an apoplexy,

caused, as I suppose, by tampering with mercury about

an experiment in gold.

John Evelyn’s servant, Richard Hoare, appears to be engaged in alchemy, based on what Evelyn recorded in his diary.  Evelyn doesn’t  describe Hoare’s features, but as his diary makes clear, he is clearly impressed with Hoare’s  abilities.  Walter Scott includes some bits of alchemy in “The Antiquary”:

CHAPTER SECOND.

                          --And this Doctor,

             Your sooty smoky-bearded compeer, he

             Will close you so much gold in a bolt's head,

             And, on a turn, convey in the stead another

             With sublimed mercury, that shall burst i' the heat,

                      And all fly out in fumo.--

                                        The Alchemist

And:

CHAPTER NINETEENTH.

                 Here has been such a stormy encounter

                 Betwixt my cousin Captain, and this soldier,

                 About I know not what!--nothing, indeed;

                 Competitions, degrees, and comparatives

                          Of soldiership!--

                                    A Faire Qurrell.

The attentive audience gave the fair transcriber of the foregoing legend

the thanks which politeness required. Oldbuck alone curled up his nose,

and observed, that Miss Wardour's skill was something like that of the

alchemists, for she had contrived to extract a sound and valuable moral

out of a very trumpery and ridiculous legend. "It is the fashion, as I

am given to understand, to admire those extravagant fictions--for me,

                            --I bear an English heart,

             Unused at ghosts and rattling bones to start."

Anne of Denmark Crowned Queen of Scotland

'George Heriot, the son, pursued his father's occupation of a goldsmith, then peculiarly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-broker. He enjoyed the favour and protection of James, and of his consort, Anne of Denmark...'

Sir Walter Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel" is set during the reign of James I and VI, and being James' goldsmith and banker, George Heriot is an important person.  Presumably, James' Queen, Anne of Denmark, was important as well.  The two were married by proxy on August 20, 1589, James not being present, with an in-person follow-up the following November in Oslo.  It took until May 1590 before the couple reached Scotland, and Anne was crowned Queen of Scotland on May 17, 1590.

Talleyrand

Charles Maurice De Talleyrand-Perigord was a French diplomat who worked for five French rulers, covering perhaps the most turbulent time in French history.  Talleyrand served under Louis XVI, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe.  Talleyrand died on May 17, 1838.  Walter Scott mentions Talleyrand several times in his "The Life of Napoleon Buonaparte", including:

INSTRUCTIONS BY NAPOLEON TO TALLEYRAND, PRINCE OF BENEVENTUM.


Volume V. page 57.


This very singular memorandum contains the instructions given by Napoleon to Talleyrand, concerning the manner in which he wished him to receive Lord Whitworth, then about to quit Paris, under the immediate prospect of the war again breaking out. He did not trust, it seems, to that accomplished statesman the slightest circumstance of the conference ; " although," as Talleyrand himself observed, as he gave to the Duke of Wellington the interesting document, in Napoleon's own hand-writing, " if I could be trusted with any/thing, it must have been the mode of receiving and negotiating with an Ambassador." From the style of the note, it seems that the warmth, or rather violence, which the First Consul had thrown into the discussion at the levee, did not actually flow from Napoleon's irritated feelings, but was a calculated burst of passion, designed to confound and overwhelm the English nobleman, who proved by no means the kind of person to be shaken with the utmost vehemence. It may be also remarked, that Napoleon, while he was desirous to try the effect of a cold, stern, and indifferent mode of conduct towards the English Minister, was yet desirous, if that should not shake Lord Whitworth's firmness, that Talleyrand, by reference to the pleasure of the First Consul, should take care to keep open the door for reconciliation...