1554. Cardan's life for the six years which followed was busy
and prosperous, but on the whole uneventful. The Archbishop of St. Andrews
wrote to him according to promise at the end of two years to give an
account of the results of his treatment. His letter is worthy of remark as
showing that he, the person most interested, was well satisfied with
Cardan's skill as a physician. Michael, the Archbishop's chief
chamberlain, was the bearer thereof, and as Hamilton speaks of him as
"epistolam vivam," it is probable that he bore likewise certain verbal
messages which could be more safely carried thus than in writing. A
sentence in the _De Vita Propria_,[165] mixed up with the account of
Hamilton's cure, seems to refer to this embassy, and to suggest that
Michael was authorized to promise Cardan a liberal salary if he would
accept permanent office in the Primate's household. Moreover, Hamilton
writes somewhat querulously about Cassanate's absence abroad on a visit to
his family, a fact which would make him all the more eager to secure
Cardan's services. His letter runs as follows--"Two of your most welcome
letters, written some months ago, I received by the hand of an English
merchant; others came by the care of the Lord Bishop of Dunkeld, together
with the Indian balsam. The last were from Scoto, who sent at the same
time your most scholarly comments on that difficult work of Ptolemy.[166]
To all that you have written to me I have replied fully in three or four
letters of my own, but I know not whether, out of all I have written, any
letter of mine has reached you. But now I have directed that a servant of
mine, who is known to you, and who is travelling to Rome, shall wait upon
you and salute you in my name, and bear to you my gratitude, not only for
the various gifts I have received from you, but likewise because my health
is well-nigh restored, the ailment which vexed me is driven away, my
strength increased, and my life renewed. Wherefore I rate myself debtor
for all these benefits, as well as this very body of mine. For, from the
time when I began to take these medicines of yours, selected and
compounded with so great skill, my complaint has afflicted me less
frequently and severely; indeed, now, as a rule, I am not troubled
therewith more than once a month; sometimes I escape for two months."[167]

In the following year (1555) Cardan's daughter Chiara, who seems to have
been a virtuous and well-conducted girl, was marri