Life
Ripley studied in Italy for twenty years, becoming a great favourite of Pope Innocent VIII. He returned to England in 1477 and wrote his work The Compound of Alchymy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone (Liber Duodecim Portarum), dedicated to King Edward IV and highly appreciated by him. The Cantilena Riplaei is one of the very first poetic composition on the subject of alchemy. 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 in his Worthies of England, describes a reputable English gentleman who reported having seen a record in the island of Malta which stated that Ripley gave the enormous sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling annually to the Knights of that island and of Rhodes to support their war against the Turks.
Ripley was at some time 'Canon of Bridlington'. He spent his later years as an anchorite near Boston (Yorkshire).
Read more about this topic: George Ripley (alchemist)
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“Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle, curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what’s going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)