Sir George Ripley was a famous English author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 and alchemist

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

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Ripley studied for twenty years in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 where he became a great favourite of Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII

Pope Innocent VIII , born Giovanni Battista Cybo , was Pope from 1484 until his death.-Early years:Giovanni Battista Cybo was born at Genoa of Greek extraction...

. He returned to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1477 and wrote his famous work The Compound of Alchymy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone, dedicated to King Edward IV and highly appreciated by him. His twenty-five volume work upon alchemy, of which the Liber Duodecim Portarum was the most important, brought him considerable fame.

Being particularly rich, he gave the general public some cause to believe in his ability to change base metal into gold. For example, Thomas Fuller

Thomas Fuller

Thomas Fuller was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his Worthies of England, published after his death...

 in his Worthies of England, describes a reputable English gentleman who reported having seen a record in the island of Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

 which stated that Ripley gave the enormous sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling annually to the Knights of that island and of Rhodes

Rhodes

Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...

 to support their war against the Turks

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

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Ripley was at some time 'Canon of Bridlington

Bridlington Priory

Priory Church of St. Mary, Bridlington, , commonly known as Bridlington Priory Church is a parish church in Bridlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, in the Diocese of York...

'. He spent his elder years as an anchorite

Anchorite

Anchorite denotes someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, and—circumstances permitting—Eucharist-focused life...

 near Boston (Yorkshire)

Boston Spa

Boston Spa is a village and civil parish in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, south of Wetherby, on the banks of the River Wharfe...

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The Vision of Sir George Ripley

A commentary upon Ripley's works was written in a series of treatises by the English alchemist Eirenaeus Philalethes

Eirenaeus Philalethes

Eirenaeus Philalethes was a 17th century alchemist and the author of many influential works. These works were read by such luminaries as Isaac Newton, John Locke, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz...

. Ripley's Vision, written in the Twelve Gates, became the subject of a very famous exposition by Eirenaeus published in 1677 in London. The English form of the Vision gives a fair sample of the allusive style.

When busie at my Book I was upon a certain Night,

This Vision here exprest appear'd unto my dimmed sight:

A Toad full Ruddy I saw, did drink the juice of Grapes so fast,

Till over-charged with the broth, his Bowels all to-brast:

And after that, from poyson'd Bulk he cast his Venom fell,

For Grief and Pain whereof his Members all began to swell;

With drops of Poysoned sweat approaching thus his secret Den,

His Cave with blasts of fumous Air he all bewhited then:

And from the which in space a Golden Humour did ensue,

Whose falling drops from high did stain the soil with ruddy hue.... (etc.)

Canonical works

• George Ripley, Cantilena Riplaei
• George Ripley, Opera omnia chemica. Kassel, 1649.
• George Ripley, Liber duodecim portarum, also contained in J.J. Mangetus, Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa (Geneva 1702), Vol. II, pp 275–285.
• AEyrenaeus Philalethus, Ripley Reviv'd; or, An Exposition upon Sir George Ripley's Hermetico-Poetical Works (London 1678).

The 'Ripley Scrowle'

• London, British Museum, MS Add. 5025, Four scrolls drawn in Lubeck 1588.
• ref. also version of Ripley Scrowle by James Standysh, 16th century, B.M. London Add. MS 32621.