Charnock, Thomas

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

Alchemist. (1524? - 1581). Comparatively little biographical matter concerning this English alchemist is forthcoming, but it is recorded that he was born somewhere in the Isle of Thanet, Kent; while as to the date, this is revealed inasmuch as one of his manuscripts, dated 1574, is stated by the writer to have been penned in "the fifty yeare of my age." As a young man he travelled all over England in search of alchemistic knowledge, but eventually he fixed his residence at Oxford, and here he chanced to make the acquaintance of a noted scientist. The latter, greatly impressed with the youth's cleverness, straightway appointed him his confidant and assistant in general; and, after working in this capacity for a number of years, Charnock found himself the sole legatee of his patron's paraphernalia, and likewise of the various secrets written in his note-books. Armed thus, he proceeded to devote himself more eagerly than ever to the quest of gold-production; but in 1555, just as he imagined himself on the verge of triumph, his hopes were frustrated by a sudden explosion in his laboratory; while in 1557, when he again thought that success was imminent, the press-gang arrived at his house and laid violent hands on him, being anxious for recruits wherewith to swell the English army then fighting the French. The alchemist was bitterly chagrined on being kidnapped in this wise, and, lest his secrets should be discovered by prying eyes, he set himself to destroy all his precious impedimenta. " With my worke made such a furious faire That the gold flew forth in the aire,”— so he writes concerning this iconoclasm, and, subsequent to this event, he proceeded to France as a soldier, and took part in the disastrous campaign which culminated in the English being worsted at Calais by the Duc de Guise. How Charnock fared during the expedition is not known, and it is likely that he found small pleasure in the rough life; but be that as it may, he returned to England safely, and in 1562 he was married to one Agnes Norton. Thereafter he settled at Stockland, in the county of Somerset, and here he continued to pursue scientific researches, apparently unmolested by further visitations from the military powers. Nor would it seem that the clergy molested him either, or looked askance on his alchemistic studies; for on his death, which occurred in 1581, his mortal remains were duly interred at Otterhampton Church, Bridgwater. That facetious antiquary and historian, Anthony Wood, in his Athenæ Oxoniensis, credits Charnock with a considerable amount of writing, and it is possible that several items enumerated are in reality from some other pen than the alchemist's. However, there are certain books which the latter undoubtedly wrote, notably Ænigma ad Alchimiam, issued in 1572; while no less interesting than this is the Breviary of Natural Philosophy, which is couched in verse, was published originally in 1557, and was subsequently reprinted in the Theatrum Chemicum of Elias Ashmole.