inexhaustible. He enjoyed, moreover, what was ten thousand times more
solid and more valuable than riches--the love and veneration of his
subjects; and he had a beautiful young wife, in whose endearing
tenderness alone he could find happiness--if happiness could be found on
earth. All these advantages entitled Ibrahim to the appellation of the
Solomon of his age; and yet Ibrahim was not happy. A son was wanting to
crown his felicity. In vain did a heart formed for all the charities of
the wedded state, endeavour to supply the refusal of nature, by the
adoption of a son; in vain did gratitude endeavour to deceive his heart,
by caresses which any other would have thought to be the natural
effusions of filial sensibility, of filial piety and affection; that
heart incessantly perceived a solitude within itself. Even the
consolatory visions of hope began to grow less frequent, when heaven at
last heard his prayers, Alas! in the very instant that Fortune gratifies
our fondest wishes, she often betrays us; and her smiles are a thousand
times more fatal than her frowns. The birth of the prince was
celebrated throughout the empire by the customary public demonstrations
of joy. The felicity of Ibrahim was complete. He was perpetually
revolving in his mind the sentiments and hopes which the nation would
form of the royal infant. Scarce was he born, when paternal solicitude
embraced, as it were, his whole life. Impatient to know his destiny,
that solicitude plunged into futurity, determined, if possible, to wrest
from time, the secrets of which he was the hoary-headed guardian.

In Ibrahim's dominions were some sages particularly honoured with the
confidence of heaven. He commanded them to consult the stars, and to
report their answer. "Tremble," said the sages; "thou unfortunate
father, tremble! Never before have the skies presented such inauspicious
omens. Let him fly; let this son, too dear to you, fly; let him avoid,
if possible, the meeting with any savage beasts. His seventh year is the
fatal one; and if he should happen then, to escape the misfortune that
hangs over him, ah! do not wish him to live. His father, his very
father, will not be able to escape from the hand of a parricide."

This answer threw the sultan into the deepest consternation. He did not
sink, however, into absolute despondency; his courage soon revived. He
determined to take all the precautions which paternal tenderness could
suggest, to defeat the prediction of the astrologers. He, therefore,
caused a kind of subterranean palace to be made on the summit of a lofty
mountain. The labour and expense of the excavation was prodigious.
Extensive walks were formed, with a variety of apartments, in which
every thing was provided that could contribute to the conveniences, and
even the luxuries of life. In this magnificent cavern, Ibrahim, as it
were, inhumed his son, together with his governess, of whose care, and
fidelity he had no doubt. Provisions were constantly carried thither at
stated periods. The king forgot not a single day to visit the mountain
that contained his beloved treasure, and to be satisfied of his safety
with his own eyes. With what delight did he behold the growing beauties
of his son! With what pleasure and rapture did he listen to his
sprightly saillies of wit, his smart repartees, and those pretty
_nothings_ which a father, in particular, is fond to recollect and to
repeat; at which the most rigid gravity may smile, and which are worth
all the understanding of riper years. He was perpetually counting the
hours and minutes that he had to spend with his son; and he incessantly
reproached himself, for not seeing him more frequently.

Shah Abbas, for such was his name, at length reached his seventh year,
that fatal year, which Ibrahim would fain have delayed, even at the
expense of his crown. He would never leave his son a minute. But, alas!
is it possible to escape our destiny? Summoned one day to his palace by
affairs of the most pressing exigency, he left the mountain with extreme
reluctance. Never had Shah Abbas appeared wore amiable in his father's
eyes, never had Ibrahim appeared more affectionate to his son! Each was
tormented by an uneasy sensation, an unaccountable presentiment that
they were to meet there no more!

Some robbers were hunting wild beasts: the ardour of the pursuit brought
them to this mountain. A lion that fled from them, perceived the
subterraneous passage, and took refuge in it. The robbers, who durst not
follow him, waited, however, for the sequel of this adventure. On a
sudden, they heard a violent scream, and presently all was silent. This
silence suggested to them, that the cavern now contained, not a living
creature, but the lion. They threw down a quantity of stones, which soon
put an end to the existence of the formidable animal. They then
descended into the cavern, securing themselves from all further danger
from the lion by cutting off his head. Wandering through every part of
this subterraneous palace, they were astonished at the prodigious riches
which they beheld. They perceived a slaughtered woman: this was the
prince's governess. By her side lay a child covered with blood, who
shewed, however, some signs of life. They examined his wounds: they
found not one of them dangerous. The captain of these banditti, after
stripping the cavern of its valuable contents, dressed the young
prince's wounds himself, and effected a cure. The growing qualities of
Shah Abbas endeared him to the chief, who adopted him as his son, and
distinguished him as such by all the tenderness of a paternal heart.

Some years had elapsed since Ibrahim had first deplored the loss of a
son, who, having been constantly ignorant of the name and titles of his
father, had been unable to explain his origin to the robbers, was soon
to become their chief. Such were the unaccountable caprices of fortune,
which led to the completion of the prophecy, that had destined him to
become one day a parricide. Ibrahim was wont to divert his grief by the
pleasures of the chase; and this exercise soon became almost his only
occupation. One evening that he had strayed, with a very slender escort,
into the defiles of a very solitary mountain, a troop of robbers rushed
upon him. The combat for sometime was furious. An arrow pierced the
king; it excited the spirit of vengeance in his attendants, and they
fought, determined to conquer or die. They were soon victorious. The
murderer was taken, and conducted to the metropolis, that he might
undergo the punishment due to his crime.

Ibrahim, on the bed of death, summoned the astrologers to attend him,
and thus addressed them: "I was to have perished, you told me, by the
hand of a son; but it is the hand of a robber that has inflicted the
blow."--"Sire," answered the sages, "forbear to seek an explanation. The
robber"... They proceed no further. The young robber appears, and
relates his history. Ibrahim, while he bowed in submission to God, and
adored His inscrutable decrees, blessed Him also for having restored his
son; and the tears which he saw flow from the eyes of Shah Abbas, were a
consolation in his dying moments.


APPLICATION OF ASTROLOGY TO THE PROLONGATION OF LIFE, &C.

Astrology was also made subservient to the means of prolonging human
life; but how an art which determines the fate of mortals, and
ascertains the impassable limits of the grave, could consistently be
made subservient to such a purpose, we are rather at a loss to conceive,
unless accounted for as follows. The teachers of divination maintained,
that not only men, but all natural bodies, plants, animals, nay even
whole countries, including every place and family, were under the
government of some particular planet. As soon as the masters of the
occult science had discovered by their tables, under what constellation
the misfortune or distemper of any person originated, nothing farther
was required, than that he should remove to a dwelling ruled by an
opposite planet, and confine himself exclusively to such articles of
food and drink as were under the influence of a different star. In this
artificial manner they contrived to form a system, or peculiar
classification of planets, namely, Lunar, Solar, Mercurial and the
like--and hence arose a confused map of dictated rules, which, when
considered with reference to the purposes of health, cleanliness,
exercise etc. form remarkable contrasts to those of the Greeks. But this
preventive and repulsive method was not merely confined to persons who
suffered under some bodily disorder: even individuals, who enjoyed a
good state of health, if an unlucky constellation happened to forebode
a severe disease, or any other misfortune, were directed to choose a
place of residence influenced by a more friendly star--or to adopt such
aliment only, as being under the auspices of a propitious star, might
counteract the malignant influence of its antagonist.

It was also pretty generally believed and maintained, that a sort of
intimate relation or sympathy subsisted between metals and plants: hence
the names of the latter were given to the former, in order to denote
this supposed connexion and affinity. The corresponding metals were
melted into a common mass, under a certain planet, and were formed into
small medals, or coins, with the firm persuasion, that he who carried
such a piece about his person, might confidently expect the whole favour
and protection of the planet, thus represented.[78] Thus we perceive how
easy the transition is from one degree of folly to another; and this may
help to account for the shocking delusions practised in the
manufacturing and wearing of metallic amulets of a peculiar mould, to
which were attributed, by a sort of magic influence, the power and
protection of the respective planet: these charms were thought to
possess virtue sufficient to overrule the bad effects presaged by an
unlucky hour of birth, to promote to places of honour and profit, and to
be of potent efficacy in matters of commerce and matrimony. The German
soldiers, in the dark and superstitious ages, believed that if the
figure of Mars, cast and engraved under the sign of the Scorpion, were
worn about the neck, it would render them invulnerable, and insure
success to their military enterprises--hence the reason why amulets were
then found upon every soldier, either killed in battle or taken
prisoner.

We shall so far conclude these observations on the chimera of astrology
and medicine with the following remarks in the words of Chamber against
Knight's work,[79] which defends this fanciful science, if science it may
be called. "It demonstrates nothing while it defends every thing. It
confutes, according to Knight's own ideas: it alleges a few scattered
facts in favour of astrological productions, which may be picked up in
that immensity of fabling which disgraces history. He strenuously
denies, or ridicules, what the greatest writers have said of this
fanciful art, while he lays great stress on some passages from obscure
authors, or what is worse, from authors of no authority."--The most
pleasant part, however, is at the close where he defends the art from
the objections of Mr. Chamber by recrimination. Chamber had enriched
himself by medical practice, and when he charges the astrologers by
merely aiming to gain a few beggarly pence, Sir Christopher catches
fire, and shews by his quotations, that if we are to despise an art by
its professors attempting to subsist, or for the objections which may be
raised against its vital principles, we ought by this argument most
heartily to despise the medical science, and medical men; he gives all
here he can collect against physic and physicians, and from the
confessions of Galen and Hippocrates, Avicenna and Agrippa, medicine is
made to appear a vainer science than even astrology itself.

Lilly's opinions, and his pretended science, were such favourites of
the age, that the learned Gataker[80] wrote professedly against this
popular delusion. At the head of his star-expounding friends, Lilly not
only formally replied to, but persecuted Gataker annually in his
predictions, and even struck at his ghost, when beyond the grave.
Gataker died in July 1654, and Lilly, having written in his almanack for
that year, for the month of August, the following barbarous latin line--

Hoc in tumbo, jacet presbyter et nebulo!
Here in this tomb lies a presbyter and a knave,

had the impudence to assert, that he had predicted Gataker's death! But
the truth is, it was an empty epitaph to the "Lodgings to let:" it stood
empty, reader, for the first passenger that the immortal ferryman should
carry over the Styx.

But hear that arch imposter Old Patridge of more modern date whose
_gulleries_ appear to have no end. "The practice of astrology is divided
into speculative and theoretical." (Astronomy and judicial astrology).
The first teaches us how to know the stars and planets, and to find
their places and motions. The second directs us to the knowledge of the
influence and operations of the stars and planets upon sublunary bodies,
and without this last the former is of little use. Astronomy cannot
direct and inform us of the secret influences and operations of the
stars and planets, without the assistance of' the _most sublime_ art of
astrology. For astronomy is conversant about the subject of this art,
and doth furnish the astrologer with matter whereon to exercise his
judgment, but astrology disposes this matter into predictions, or
rational conjectures, as time and occasion require.

"The practice again is subdivided into two parts, or quadripartite, as
Ptolomy (lib. 2) declares: the first considers the general state of the
world, and from eclipses and comets, great conjunctions, annual
revolutions, quarterly ingressions and lunations, also the rising,
culminating, and setting of the fixed stars, together with the
configurations of the planets both to the sun and among themselves,
judgment is deduced, and the astrologer doth frame his annual
predictions of all sensitive and vegetative things lying in the air,
earth, or water; of plague, plenty, dearth, mutations of the air, wars,
peace, and other general accidents of countries, provinces, cities, etc.

"The second of these subdivided parts, in particular, respects only the
private state of every single man and woman, which must be performed
from the scheme of the nativity, the knowledge of which is of most
excellent use to all persons. Therefore let the nativities of children
be diligently observed for the future, that is to say, the day, hour,
and minute of birth as near as can be, which will be of use to the
astrological physician, for the most principal conjecture of the
malignity of the disease, whether it be curable, or shall end with
death, depends upon the knowledge of the nativity; and very rarely any
disease invades a person, but some unfortunate direction of the
luminaries or ascendant to the body, or beams of malignant planets
preceded the same, or did then operate, or at least some evil
revolution, profection or transit, which cannot be discovered by any
other way but by astrology. Moreover, it would be convenient that the
true time of the first falling sick be observed precisely, and by that,
together with the nativity, be judiciously compared, the physician shall
gain more credit than by all his other skill; and herein, the
astrologer's foresight shall often contradict the judgment of the
physician; for when the astrologer foretells a phlegmatic man, that at
such a time he shall be afflicted with a choleric disease, the doctor
will perceive by his physical symptoms, the astrologer, from his
knowledge in more secret causes of nature, hath excelled him in his art.

"Now if God Almighty do not countermand or check the ordinary course of
nature, or the matter of elementary bodies here below be not
unproportionable, and thereby unapt to receive their impressions, there
is no reason why, in a natural and physical necessity, astrological
predictions should not succeed and take effect, and by how much the
knowledge which we have by the known causes is more demonstrative and
infallible than that which we have either by signs or effects, so much
by this companion doth Astrology appear worthy to be preferred before
Physic." Cardan, who was an excellent physician saith: "If by the art of
Astrology he had not better attained to the knowledge of his diseases,
than the physician that would have administered to him by his skill, he
had been assuredly cured by death, rather than preserved alive by
physic. (Vide his Comment. upon Ptol. Quidrepart.) From hence it appears
it is necessary that the physician should be skilful in astrology, but
on the contrary, _ex quovis legno non fit Mercurius_, every astrologer
cannot be a physician; if the nativity be but precisely known, or if,
but _tempus ablatum_ or _suppositum_, and withal some notable accidents
of sickness, danger of drowning, peril by fire, marriage, or other, the
like accidents may be foreseen."

The astrologers were a set of cunning, equivocal rogues; the more
cautious of whom only uttered their prognostications in obscure and
ambiguous language, which might be applied to all things, times,
princes, and nations whatever. An almanack maker, a Spanish friar,
predicted, in clear and precise words, the death of Henry the Fourth of
France; and Pierese, though he had no faith in star-gazing, yet, alarmed
at whatever menaced the life of a beloved sovereign, consulted with some
of the king's friends, and had the Spanish almanack laid before his
Majesty, who courteously thanked them for their solicitude, but utterly
slighted the prediction: the event occurred, and in the following year,
the Spanish _Lilly_ spread his own fame in an new almanack. This
prediction of the friar, was the result either of his being acquainted
with the plot, or from his being made an instrument for the purposes of
those who were.

Cornelius Agrippa rightly designates astrologers "a perverse and
preposterous generation of men, who profess to know future things, but
in the meantime are altogether ignorant of past and present; and
undertaking to tell all people most obscure and hidden secrets abroad,
at the same time, know not what happens in their own houses."

But this Agrippa, for profound
And solid lying, was renown'd:
The Anthroposophus, and Floud,
And Jacob Behmen, understood;
Knew many an amulet and charm
That would do neither good nor harm.
He understood the speech of birds
As well as they themselves do words;
Could tell what subtlest parrots mean
That speak and think contrary, clean;
What member 'tis of whom they talk,
Why they cry, rope and--walk, knave, walk.
He could foretell whatever was
By consequence to come to pass;
As death of great men, alterations,
Diseases, battles, inundations:
All this without th' eclipse o' th' sun,
Or dreadful comet, he hath done
By inward light, a way as good,
And easy to be understood:
But with more lucky hit than those
That use to make the stars depose
As if they were consenting to
All mischief in the world men do:
Or like the devil, did tempt and sway 'em
To rogueries, and then betray 'em.

We shall conclude our astrological strictures with the following
advertisement, which affords as fine a satirical specimen of quackery as
is to be met with. It is extracted from "poor Robin's" almanack for
1773; and may not be without its use, to many at the present day. We
will vouch for it being harmless, but as we are not in the secret of all
that it contains, our readers must endeavour to get the information that
may be wanted, on certain important points, from other quarters. It will
shew, however, that the almanack astrologers did not live upon the best
terms, but like their predecessors, were constantly abusing and
attacking each other.


ADVERTISEMENT.

"The best time to cut hair. How moles and dreams are to be interpreted.
When most proper season to bleed. Under what aspect of the moon best to
draw teeth, and cut corns. Pairing of nails, on what day unlucky. What
the kindest sign to graft or inoculate in; to open bee-hives, and kill
swine. How many hours boiling my Lady Kent's pudding requires. With
other notable questions, fully and faithfully resolved, by me Sylvester
Patridge, student in physic and astrology, near the Gun in Moorfields."

"Of whom likewise may be had, at reasonable rates, trusses, antidotes,
elixirs, love-powders. Washes for freckles, plumpers, glass-eyes, false
calves and noses, ivory-jaws, and a new receipt to turn red hair into
black."

Old Robin's almanack was evidently the best of the time, and free from
all the astrological cant with which Patridge's Merlinus Liberatus was
filled; against which Poor Robin did not a little declaim. The motto to
his title runs thus:--

"We use no weather-wise predictions
Nor any such-like airy fictions;
But (which we think is much the best)
Write the plain truth, or crack a jest:
And (without any further pretence)
Confess we write, and think of the pence:
For that's the aim of all who write,
Profit to gain, mixed with delight."

Poor old Robin attacked the astrologers of his day with no little
vehemence: "How different a task is it," says he, "for man to behave so
in this world as to please all the people that inhabit it! A man who
makes use of his best endeavours to please every body is sure to please
but very few, and by that means displease a great many; which may very
possibly be the case with poor Robin this year. But (be that as it will)
_old Bob_ is sometimes well pleased, when rogues, prick-eared coxcombs,
fools, and such like, are the most displeased at him: be it therefore
known, that it is only men of sense and integrity, (whether they have
much money or no money) that he has any, (the least) regard for: I see
very plainly, that an humble man is (generally) accounted _base_; if
otherwise, he is esteemed _proud_; a bold look is looked upon as
_impudence_; if modest, (then to be sure) he must be _hypocritical_; if
his behaviour is grave, it is owing to a _sullenness_ of temper; if
affable, he is but _little_ regarded; if strictly just, then _cruel_
must be his character; but, if merciful and forbearing, then (of
consequence) a silly, sheepish-headed fool! Now, I challenge all the
ASS-TROLOGERS and CONJURERS, throughout the whole kingdom, to
demonstrate that all the whimsey-headed opinions which different men
retain of different actions, together with their being so vastly
different at different times, one from another; I say, I call upon them
ALL to prove, that they are (wholly) owing to the STARRY influences!
There being, (I believe) in general as many different ideas and
conceptions in the mind of mankind, as there are variety of complexions
and countenances."

His observations on the four _unequal_ quarters of the year, as he terms
them, are no less satirical, humorous, and full of truth, and so much in
"opposition" with others of the trade, that poor old Robin, in good
sense and trite remarks, carries away the palm from all his predecessors
and contemporaries; indeed, he is so little of an astrologer, that,
instead of consulting the angles, aspects, conjunctions and trines, of
the planets, he is vulgar enough to attach more importance to the
substantials and doings of this nether world. We present our readers
with the following as a specimen, which, though in his usual way, a
little rough-mouthed, occasionally is free from that almanack-cant which
characterises the vocations of his fellow-labourers in the same field.


SPRING,

which, being the most delightful season in the whole year, as it comes
the next after a long and cold winter makes it as welcome as it is
delightful; for now the lengthening days afford full time for every body
but drunkards and watchmen to finish their respective day's works by
day-light, besides some time to spare to walk abroad, to see the fine
new livery with which Dame Flora has now decked out Mother Earth. In the
opening of the Spring, when all nature begins to recover herself, the
same animal pleasure which makes the bird sing, and the whole brute
creation rejoice, rises very sensibly in the hearts of mankind. This
quarter will bring whole shoals of mackerel, and plenty of green pease;
likewise gooseberries, cherries, cheese-cakes, and custards.

But, let us now moralize,--and improve these vernal delights into real
virtue; and, when we find within ourselves a secret satisfaction arising
from the beauties of the creation, may we consider to whom we stand
indebted for all these various gratifications and entertainments of
sense; who it is that opens thus his hand, and fills the world with
good! But so soon as this quarter is ended; i.e. there, or then, or
thereabout, for in this case a day or two can break no great squares--I
say this quarter (as usual) will be followed by the


SUMMER,

when, and at which time the days will have attained their greatest, and
consequently the nights the shortest lengths. June, in which month this
quarter is said to begin, will retain some likeness, if not exhibit the
perfections of the Spring; but the two next succeeding months will
perhaps have less vigour, but a greater degree of heat; for, as they
pass on, they will be ripening the fruits of the earth; whilst the Dog
star is shooting his rays amongst, the industrious farmer will have
business enough upon his hands: for now he expects to be reaping and
gathering together the returns of his labour; but then he must expect,
nevertheless, to bear the heat and burthen of the day.

This quarter very justly represents a man in the full vigour of health
and strength; the beauty of the Spring is gone! The strength of Summer
is of short continuance! It will very soon be succeeded by Autumn: thus,
and thus (O reader) do then consider, hast thou seen the seasons, two,
three, or four times return in regular succession: remember that the
time is coming, when all opportunities of this sort will be for ever hid
from thine eyes: remember if forty years have passed thee, I say, I
would have thee remember, that thy spring is gone, thy summer almost
spent! Have then, therefore, a very serious retrospective view of thy
past, and, (if it please God) a fixed resolution to amend thy prolonged
life: then being now arrived almost on the eve of


AUTUMN

which begins this year (as usual) when, or then, or thereabouts, the
time the Summer quarter ends--namely, when the nights begin to grow
longer and the days shorter: this is the time when the barns are filled
with wheat, which soon must be thrashed out, in order to be sowed again.
This also is the time when the orchards abound with fruits of the kind,
and consequently the properest time to make cider.

Lamentable now must be the case of those poor women who, in this
quarter, happen to long for green pease or strawberries; for I dare
assure them, upon the _honest word_ of an astrologer, that they can get
none on this side of next Easter. Some now-abouts under the notion of
soldiers, shall sally out at night upon _Pullen_, or perhaps lie in
embuscade for a rope of onions, as if they were Welsh freebooters. Loss
of time and money may be recovered by industry: but to be a fool-born,
or a rogue in nature, are diseases incurable.

Remember that in any quarter of the year, this is almost always a
certain presage of a wedding, when all parties are agreed, and the
parson in readiness; and then you must be sure to have money in
readiness too, or your intended marriage may happen to prove a
miscarriage. But those who are able to pay for tying the knot, when it
is fairly tied, may go home to dinner and be merry; go to the tavern and
be merry; go to supper and be merry; rise next morning and be merry: and
let the world know, that a married life is a plentiful life, when people
have good estates; a fruitful life when they have many children; and an
happy life, when man and wife love each other as they ought to do, and
never quarrel nor disagree.


OF THE WINTER QUARTER.

But now comes on the cold, dirty, dithering, pouting, rainy, shivering,
freezing, blowing, stormy, blustering, cruel quarter called winter; the
very thoughts of it are enough to fright one; but that it very luckily
happens to be introduced (this year) by a good, fat merry Christmas: yet
it is the last and worse, and very much resembles extreme old age
accompanied by poverty; this quarter is also pretty much like Pharoah's
lean kine; for it generally (we find) eats up and devours most of the
produce of the preceding seasons: now the sun entering the southern
tropic, affords us the least share of his light, and consequently the
longest long nights: yet, nevertheless, in this uncomfortable quarter,
you may possibly pick up some crumbs of comfort, provided you have good
health, good store of the ready Rhino, a good wife, and other good
things about you: and especially a good conscience: for then the starry
influences must necessarily appear very benign, notwithstanding the
inclemency of the weather; for in such cases there will be frequent
_conjunctions_ of sirloins and ribs of beef; _aspects_ of legs and
shoulders of mutton, with _refrenations_ of loins of veal, shining near
the watery triplicity of plumb-porridge--together with trine and sextile
of minced pies; collared brawn from the Ursus major, and sturgeon from
Pisces--all for the honour of Christmas: and I think it is a much
pleasanter sight than a Covent-Garden comedy, to see a dozen or two of
husbandmen, farmers, and honest tenants, at a nobleman's table (who
never raised their rents) worry a sirloin, and hew down, (I mean cut up)
a goose like a log: while a good Cheshire cheese, and plenty of nappy
ale, and strong March beer, washes down the merry goblets, sets all
their wit afloat, and sends them to their respective homes, as happy as
kings.

And now, kind loving readers, every one,
God send y'a good new-year, when the old one 's gone.


FOOTNOTES:

[75] The following prediction, and the verification of it are of so
recent a date, that we cannot resist giving it a place in our pages. In
the account of the late Captain Flinder's voyage of discovery, is the
melancholy relation of the loss of the master, Mr. Thistle, with seven
others, in a boat, on the inhospitable shores of Terra Australia. To
this narrative, the following note is subjoined, which we shall here
quote in Captain Flinder's own words: "This evening, Mr. Fowler, the
lieutenant, told me a circumstance which I thought very extraordinary,
and it afterwards proved to be more so. While we were lying at Spithead,
Mr. Thistle was one day waiting on shore, and having nothing else to do,
went to a certain old man, named Pine, to have his fortune told. The
cunning man informed him that he was going on a long voyage, and that
the ship, on arriving at her destination, would be joined by another
vessel. That such was intended, he might have learnt privately; but he
added that Mr. Thistle would be lost before the other vessel joined. As
to the manner of his loss the magician refused to give any information.
My boat's crew, hearing what Mr. Thistle said, went to consult the wise
man, and after the prefatory information of a long voyage, they were
told that they would be shipwrecked, but not in the ship they were going
out in; whether they would escape and return to England, he was not
permitted to reveal. This tale Mr. Thistle often told at the mess-table;
and I remarked, with some pain, in a future part of the voyage, that
every time my boat's crew went to embark in the Lady Nelson, there was
some degree of apprehension amongst them, that the time of the predicted
shipwreck was arrived. I make no comment, (says Capt. Flinders,) upon
this story, but to recommend a commander, if possible, to prevent any of
his crew from consulting fortune-tellers."--It should be observed that,
strange as it may appear, every particular of these predictions came
exactly to pass, for the master and his boat's crew were lost before the
Investigator was joined by the Lady Nelson, from Port-Jackson; and when
the former ship was condemned, the people embarked with their commander
on board the Porpoise, which was wrecked on a coral reef, and nine of
the crew were lost.

[76] In 1670, the passion for horoscopes and expounding the stars,
prevailed in France among the first rank. The new-born child was usually
presented naked to the astrologer, who read the first lineaments in its
forehead, and the transverse lines in its hands, and thence wrote down
its future destiny. Catherine de Medicis carried Henry IV, when a child,
to old Nostradamus, who antiquaries esteem more for his Chronicle of
Provence than for his vaticinating powers. The sight of the revered
seer, with a heard which "streamed like a meteor in the air," terrified
the future hero, who dreaded a whipping from so grave a personage.

[77] The Chaldean Sages were nearly put to the route by a quarto pack of
artillery, fired on them by Mr. John Chamber, in 1691. Apollo did not
use Marsyas more inhumanly than his scourging pen this mystical race;
and his personalities made them sorely feel it. However, a Norwich
knight, the very Quixote of Astrology, arrayed in the enchanted armour
of his occult authors, encountered this pagan in a most stately
carousal. He came forth with "A Defence of Judicial Astrologye, in
answer to a treatise lately published by Mr. John Chamber. By
Christopher Knight. Printed at Cambridge, 1693."

[78] Vide Amulets passim.

[79] Lilly's work, a voluminous quarto monument of the folly of the age,
was sold originally for four guineas; it is entitled "Christian
Astrology," modestly treated, in three books, by William Lilly, student
in Astrology, 2nd. edition 1659. Every page is embellished with a
horoscope which, sitting on the pretending tripod, he explains with the
utmost facility. There is also a portrait of this arch rogue and
star-gazer, an admirable illustration for Lavater. As to Lilly's great
skill in prophecy, there goes a pleasant story related by a kinsman of
Dr. Case, his successor--namely--that a person wanting to consult him on
a certain point coming to his house one morning, Lilly himself going to
the door, saw a piece of filthy carrion which some one, who had more wit
than manners, had left there: and being much offended at its unsightly
appearance wished heartily he did but know who had treated him in that
manner by leaving such an unwelcome legacy, as it were, in his very
teeth, that he might punish them accordingly; which his customer
observing when the conjurer demanded his business, "Nothing at all,"
said he, "for I'm sure if you can't find out who has defiled your own
door, it is impossible you should discover anything relating to me," and
with this caustic remark he left him.

[80] The Reverend and learned Thomas Gataker, with whom Lilly was
engaged in a dispute, in his Annotations on the tenth chapter of
Jeremiah and 10th verse, called him a "blind buzzard," and Lilly
reflected again on his antagonist in his _Annus Tenebrosus_. Mr.
Gataker's reply was entitled Thomas Gataker, B.D. his Vindication of the
annotation by him published upon these words, "thus saith the Lord,"
(Jer. x. 2) against the scurrilous aspersions of that grand impostor
William Lilly; as also against the various expositions of two of his
advocates Mr. John Swan, and another by him cited but not named. Together
with the Annotations themselves, wherein the pretended grounds of
judiciary astrology, and the scripture proofs produced to it, are
discussed and refuted. London, 1653, in 4th part 192. Our author making
animadversions on this piece in his English Merlin, 1654 produced a
third piece from Mr. Gataker, called a Discourse apologetical, wherein
Lilly's lewd, and loud lies in his Merlin or Pasquil for 1654, are
clearly laid open; his shameless desertion of his own cause further
discovered, his abominable slanders fully refuted, and his malicious and
_murtherous_ mind, inciting to a general massacre of God's ministers,
from his own pen, evidently known, etc. London 1654.




CHAPTER X.


ONEIROCRITICAL PRESENTIMENT, ILLUSTRATING THE CAUSE, EFFECTS, PRINCIPAL
PHENOMENA, AND DEFINITION OF DREAMS, ETC.

As we shall have to speak of the art practised through the medium,
termed incubation, of curing diseases, it may be proper to say something
previously on the interpretation of dreams through whose agency these
events were said to be realized.

Oneirocritics, or interpreters of dreams, were called conjecturers, a
very fit and proper name for these worldly wise men, according to the
following lines, translated from Euripides--

He that conjectures least amiss
Of all, the best of prophets is.

To the delusion of dreams not a few of the ancient philosophers lent
themselves. Among these were Democritus, Aristotle, and his follower
Themistius, Siresius the Platonic; who so far relied on dreams which
some accident or other brought about, that they thence endeavoured to
persuade men there are no dreams but what are founded on realities. For,
say they, as the celestial influences produce various forms and changes
in corporeal matter, so out of certain influences, predominating over
the power of the fancy, the impression of visions is made, being
consentaneous, through the disposition of the heavens, to the effect
produced; more especially in dreams, because the mind, being then at
liberty from all corporeal cares and exercises, more freely receives the
divine influences: it happens, therefore that many things are revealed
to them that are asleep, which are concealed from them that are awake.
With these and such reasons it is pretended that much is communicated
through the medium of dreams:

When soft sleep the body lays at ease,
And from the heavy mass the fancy frees,
Whate'er it is in which we take delight,
And think of most by day we dream at night.

The transition from sleep is very natural to that of dreams, the
wonderful and mysterious phenomena of that state, the ideal transactions
and vain illusions of the mind. According to Wolfius, an eminent
philosopher of Silesia, every dream originates in some sensation, and is
continued by the succession of phantoms; but no phantasm can arise in
the mind without some previous sensation. And yet it is not easy to
confirm this by experience, it being often difficult to distinguish
those slight sensations, which give rise to dreams, from phantasms, or
objects of imagination.[81] The series of phantasms which thus constitute
a dream, seems to be accounted for by the law of the imagination, or
association of ideas; though it may be very difficult to assign the
cause of every minute difference, not only in different subjects, but in
the same, at different times, and in different circumstances. And hence
M. Formey, who adopts the opinion of Wolfius, concludes, that those
dreams are supernatural, which either do not begin by sensation, or are
not continued by the law of imagination.[82]

The opinion is as old as Aristotle, who asserted, that a dream is only
the [Greek: Phantasma] or _appearance_ of things, excited in the mind,
and remaining after the objects are removed.[83] The opinion of
Lucretius, translated in our motto, was likewise that of Tully.[84] Locke
also traces the origin of dreams to previous sensations. "The dreams of
sleeping men," says this profound philosopher, "are all made up of the
waking man's ideas, though for the most part oddly put together."[85] And
Dr. Hartley, who explains all the phenomena of the imagination by his
theory of vibrations and associations, says, that dreams are nothing but
the imaginations or reveries of sleeping men, and that they are
deducible from three causes--viz, the impressions and ideas lately
received, and particularly those of the preceding day, the state of the
body, more especially of the stomach and brain, and association.[86]

Macrobius mentions five sorts of dreams. 1st. vision--2nd. a discovery
of something between sleeping and waking--3rd. a suggestion cast into
our fancy, called by Cicero, _visum_,--4th. an ordinary dream--and
fifth, a divine apparition or revelation in our sleep; such as were the
dreams of the prophets, and of Joseph, as also of the Eastern Magi.


CAUSE OF DREAMS.

Avicen makes the cause of dreams to be an ultimate intelligence moving
the moon in the midst of that light with which the fancies of men are
illuminated while they sleep. Aristotle refers the cause of them to
common sense, but placed in the fancy. Averroes, an Arabian physician,
places it in the imagination; Democritus ascribes it to little images,
or representations, separated from the things themselves; Plato among
the specific and concrete notions of the soul; Albertus to the superior
influences, which continually flow from the sky, through many specific
channels.

Some physicians attribute the cause of dreams to vapours and humours,
and the affections and cares of persons predominant when awake; for, say
they, by reason of the abundance of vapours, which are exhaled in
consequence of immoderate feeding, the brain is so stuffed by it, that
monsters and strange chimera are formed, of which the most inordinate
eaters and drinkers furnish us with sufficient instances. Some dreams,
they assert, are governed partly by the temperature of the body, and
partly by the humour which mostly abounds in it; to which may be added
the apprehensions which have preceded the day before; and which are
often remarked in dogs, and other animals, which bark and make a noise
in their sleep. Dreams, they observe, proceed from the humours and
temperature of the body; we see the choleric dreams of fire, combats,
yellow colours, etc. the phlegmatic of water baths, of sailing on the
sea; the melancholies of thick fumes, deserts, fantasies, hideous faces,
etc. they that have the hinder part of their brain clogged, with viscous
humours, called by physicians Ephialtes incubus, dream that they are
suffocated. And those who have the orifice of their stomach loaded with
malignant humours, are affrighted with strange visions, by reason of
those venemous vapours that mount to the brain and distemper it.


POETICAL ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF THE IMAGINATION IN DREAMS.