first appearance of the Comet in Decemb 1652. And what incredible tempests were the two last years on the coasts of England France Spain Holland and Germany in the Atlantique Ocean and Baltique Seas the Owners of the Navies thereby scattered and of the many ships goods and men that were lost and therein miserably perished have cause to remember Neither do ye wholly neglect the Rule of Eudoxus which Pliny tells of lib. 2. ch. 47. viz. That in the space of foure yeares not only the winds but all other tempests for the most part returne to what they were before For although that Rule of his depends only upon this foundation That at the end of foure years next following the Leap-yeare the Politicall yeare agrees almost with Astronomicall in respect of time the rising setting and mediation of the fixed Stars with the Sun howbeit the motion of the Moone and the other Planets be far different yet because the power of the Sun and fixed Stars is so great in stirring up of tempests and the Moone not far distant from the place opposite unto that wherein she was 4. years before it is probable that almost the same tempests may return I confess I never observ'd it But touching the Mansions of the Moone I do not regard them as remembring what Cardan admonishes 7. Aph. 57. Mansiones Lunae nè inspicias est Lunae vis à loco suo à loco in signifero à Lumine Planetis Fixis And these are the Rules I thought fit to communicate concerning the change of the Weather Of the Diseases this Yeare NOw as touching the Diseases of this yeare although it be true That a drie year is wholsomer than a moist yet according to Cardan 3. Aph. 7. Praedominante siccitate Febres acutae generantur when siccity prevailes acute Feavers are generated Excitantur etiam morhi tabisici Opthalmiae Capitis Articulorum dolores difficultates Intestinorum Urinae 3. Aph. 10. Diseases also are excited that lead to Consumptions Inflammations of the Eyes griefs of the Head and Joints Diseases and pains of the Entralls with stoppage of the Urine More particularly the Winter shall abound with Head-aches Coughs Hoarsness and Rheums which according to Gallen be symptomes of a full head The Spring with diseases and death of aged men The Summer with Abortive births and dissenteries or bloody flixes amongst such as be of a Flegmatick complexion Nevertheless a Summer colder than usual is very favourable to them that be melancholike or châ—llerike though to such this Autumn will be very obnoxious for it brings with it dry diseases of the Eyes acute and durable Feavers Compressions of the Breast and Exuberances of Black Cholar yet shall it be beneficial to women and such as are of a Flegmatike complexion Moreover I greatly fear that England will this yeer suffer by the Plague or Pestilence Howbeit we cannot I confess judge thereof by the face of the heavens only as Cardan himself affirmeth 2. Aph. 132. and therefore saith Origanus Ex Historiâ—s experientia petendum erit quibus periodis Regionem aliquam inficiat We must gather from Histories and Experience in what number of yeers it is usually wont to infect any Nation Countrey or City it being certain that in some places there are set times and periods in which the Plague rageth For the same Origanus tells us how at Francofurt they have found by experience that about every ten yeers the seeds of the Pestilence hath shewed it self As in 1506. being the first yeer of their Academy when Saturn was in the Lyon in 1516 when he was in Sagittarie and in 1526. when in the Ram the like he proves of other yeers Peucerus also informs us that whensoever Saturn was in the Lion or in Aquary the countrey of Wirtenberge hath been infested with Pestilent diseases and moreover that the same have been intended of exasperated by the Conjunction or Opposition of Mars unto him And I remember it was the observation of our learned Countrey-man Mr. Camâ—den That Saturn never passes through a Sign of the Fiery Triplicity but be afflicts the City of London with a Plague or Pestilence or some other Epidemical disease And I willingly agree therein with him for having consulted Historie for the yeers in which any great Mortality or Plague afflicted us I find That Saturn at or about the beginning thereof in London was ever in Aries Leo or Sagittary Signs of the Fiery Trigon I will instance a few for better satisfaction He was in Aries when that universal Pestilence first began in London in the 22. of Edw. 3. He was in Sagittary when the sweating sickness began in the first yeer of Henry 7. and in Leo when that other sweating sickness began in the 22. of his Reign He was again in Sagittary upon that third sweating sickness in the 9 of Hen. 8. and in Aries at the beginning of the fourth in the 20. of Hen. 8. He was also in Sagittary in the 36. of Hen. 8. when that great plague began in London which adjourn'd the Term to St. Albanes He was in Leo when in the 6. of Eliz. the Pestilence began in London after the return of the Army from Newhaven And again in Leo in the 36. of her Reign whilest that great Plague raged in London which caused the Term to be again holden at St. Albanes He was in Sagittary in the first yeer of King Iames when that great Plague began in London which devoured so many thousands And was he not again in Leo in the first of King Charls when that other great Plague began in London which removed the Parliament to Oxford Was he not in Sagittary in the eighth nineth and tenth years of King Charls when the Pestilence again raged in so many parts of England What strange and unheard of Pestilential diseases reigned iâ—London Oxford and other places of the Nation during Saturn's progress through Aries in the nineteenth and twentieth years of the same King And have we had other or less the most part of the three years he was last in Leo Many more I could have instanc'd for I have them all by me but I suppose that these few may satisfie the intelligent Reader if therein he be but half so impartial as I have been curiously inquisitive But the chief Coelestial Causes or Signs threatning the Pestilence or other violent diseases this year are the Comet in Decemb. 1652. and the great Eclipse of the Sun in August last whose point Deficient was within 3. scruples of the Revolutional degree and minute ascending this year 1655. the dire effects whereof began on S. Andrews day the last of November 1654 this being the 120th day from that of the Eclipse agreeable to 4h 57′ the Interval or space of time betwixt the Sun-rise on the second of August and the middle-time of the then visible conjunction of the Luminaries and continue in force two whole years four moneths and four days proportionable
Prodigies precurring and concurring the death of Caesar And such were all those published by Garibus in his Book de Phaenomenis ostentis from the yeare of Christ 1641. to the yeare 1650. amongst which the second Systeme observed in the East Febr. 24. 1642. under the Constellation of Orion concerned this Nation not a little as hath beene found by long and wofull experience Johannes Tackius a German Doctor of Physick and a learned Astrologer now living in his Coeli Anomalon informes us that in the Earledome of Arctois this Comet extended forth an arme and brandished a flaming sword towards the North and West parts of the Earth He sayes likewise there were seene in Germany many other Prodigies and some he instances viz. Horrible Winter-Thunders and the pregnant soyle labouring of a Dropsie i. e. an indundation The miraculous suddaine rising of a Fountaine A Mountaine cleft asunder in the Country of Thuringia in the Province of Saxony and which one part severing from the other removed to another place In another Territorie Chasmata or Disruptiones that is great gapings or openings in the Heavens In some places terrible flames of Fire Jn others Voices were heared in the Aire And that to such as dwell near the Mountaines of Wetteravia a Starre was seene which shewed at the first with very bright Beames but soone after assumed the shape of the bowed Moone but greater then she is wont to be casting out Flames from the middle cavity thereof a sad spectacle and hurtfull to the eyes of those that beheld it And that although the face of this mock moone was fiery yet it cast so clear a light upon the Earth that the hedges were perceived to be waxing greene At last saith he it tooke the shape of a â—ithe or sikle destitiute of a handle and without any flames in which manner it vanished And this he sayes happened on the 12. Calends of Febr. 1653. Luna ferâ— silente The same Tackius likewise instanceth Letters hee received from Persons of credit wherein hee had notice given of a Rainbow that appeared about the same time the night being cloudie and a great murmuring or noise heard in the Clouds which Rainbow was not of sundry colours as it usually appeares but exceeding white and projecting a clear light upon the Countrey of Alsfeld which that it was not the light of the Moone being so near the time of the New moone may be safely concluded without any more adoe Other Prodigies he saith there were every where observed almost throughout all Germany but that for brevities sake he omitted them Now what else should this Sickle signifie but the excision of Men and Nations who in respect of their sius are as a field of Corno ready for Harvest see Rev. 14 v. 14. and so to the end What the renting and removing of Mountaines but the Discords of Kingdomes and the Minds of great Personages departing or differing one from another â—ot what are Mountaines but Great men set in the Highest places and lifting their Heads above other Mortalls What else signifie Inundations or the Over-flowing of Rivers but the entrance of strange People into the Landâ— The waters which thou sawest where the Whore fitteth are Peoples and Multitudes and Nations and Tongues Rev. 17-15 See the learned Hammond's Paraphrase upon the Text And the Appearance of a decoloured Rainbow what is it but a token of the wrath of God This Author further tells us That in Autumne 1652 they had a monstrous growth of Mast or Acorner in many places of Germany resembling the Heads and Teguments of the Turks That the Comet was attended with great and destructive Fires in many places as at Paris Constantinople and elsewhereâ— so also that Jserloo a towne in the County of Marchia and the Prison at Rudelsâ—ad with many other Houses perished by Fire I could wish no honest Men had cause to complaine of the like here in England But that which I read in him with greatest admiration is that hee reports out of Gaspar Lib. 3. viz. That in the year 1554. not farre from the Citie of Harmstad in Transilvania this following writing was observed in Heaven in faire and legible Characters I. N. R. I. M. D. L. V. I. I. A. R. E. I. N. E. N. D. E. D. I. S. E. S. R. E. I. C. H. S. And that at Freiburge the same year on a very faire day Dn. nostrum Jesum Christum Iridi insidentem conspectum fuisse Our Lord Jesus Christ was beheld sitting upon a Rainebow as if upon his Tribunall to denounce the universall Judgment Now what I pray you should such signes beheld 100 years ago signifie but that like as our Fathers before the Floud whom God had indulged or respited 120. yeares for their conversion and doubtlesly no lesse forewarned by Prodigies wee might be exhorted to repentance and amendment of liâ—e and with pious lamentation and mourning unto God divert or extenuate the calamities approaching upon the World But to draw somewhat nearer our own times it may here be not unworthy our notice That within the space of 55. yeares last past this present being included there have beene no fewer then 212. Eclipses of the Luminaries viz. 125. of the Sun and 87. of the Moone whereof 71. wee the Inhabitants of Europe the other 141. they of Asia Affrica India and about the Antartique Pole not without great Horror have observed Besides two great Conjunctions two now Starres and six Comets And what signifyed those Clashings and strange Apparatioâ—s in the Heavens and those gapings of the Clouds Anno 1644. those Parelii or Mock-suns the same and the 3 following yeares here it England but the troubles and changes which have since followed What that irruption of Waters at Amsterdam in the beginning of the year 1650 What that Inundation at Bilbo in Spain the following yeare 1651. but Populorum et Gentium bostilium adventum The Inroades of People and Nations their Enemies into those parts Cardan Lib. 14. de Rer. var. pag. 703. What the unseasonable antedated growth of Apples and other Fruits The breeding of Rooks three Moneths before their accustomed time which my selfe can testifie upon my owne knowledge three years ago in the Place where I dwell but the too soon and untimely accesse of mean and unworthy persons such were many of the last dissolved Parl. to Nests or Places of Honour and Trust and the abortive issue of their too too prominent Designes and Actions What the three yeares last past whilest the Heavens were as Brasse and the Earth as Iron Deut. 28. v. 23. but Inopiam diram Necessitatem A Dearth and dire Necessity to ensue Card. lib. 11. de Rer. var. What the warm-blood that rained at Poole in Dorsetshire Iune 20. 1653. those dreadful claps of Winter-Thunder and Lightning Decemb. 19. 1653. and the fierie Leamings soon after the following Spring observed in the Heavens for severall nights together but that which I must be silent in I find recorded
in Suetonius a very memorable Accident occasioned by a Flash of Lightning which struck out the first Letter of Caesar Augustus his name inscribed upon his Statue wherupon the Augures divined Centum solos dies posthac victurum That he was to live but just 100. dayes after which number the Numerall Letterâ— betokened and that it would come to passe that he should be registred among the Gods because AESAR the residue of the Name C AESAR in the Tusean Language signified God But to proceed What else should be portended by that Prodigy seene in March 1654 in the Northerne parts of England viz. Two Armies encountering one another but the Warres Bloodshed and Slaughter that hath and is to succeed within these Dominions of England and Scotland Not fearing to get up not falling downe Diverts the thoughts of câ—â—ming to a Crowne Great things and things incredible are they That Catalin attempts to make His way The greatest Evills He can the blackest Sin What not to make Him more then Catalin Nor shall gray haires despairing of successe Repose in quiet or adventure lesse Galba's stiffe-Limbs when aged seventy three And buckled up in warlike Armory To gaine an Empire stoutly durst withstand The treacherous blâ—wes of Otho's bloody hand And lastly but not the least to be taken Notice of what the two prodigious Swarmes of Bees those Monarchicall Creatures that came murmuring through the Aire as if offended at all Governments but their own one the 13. of Iune the last year 1654. in London the Metropolis of England where it fixed upon a man as he passed the streets in Covent-Garden The other upon the 21. of the same Moneth and in the same Citie which clung to the end of a Cart near Somerset House in the Strand but what these times will never indure to heare of Such Conjectures for more they must not now be called as have antiently been passed upon the like Prodigies and their Issue Virgil informes us of Aeneid lib. 7. Of the State or Condition of Man AS touching the Condition of Man forasmuch as we daily see some Men of all Qualities to flourish at one time and at another time to be pressed with mis-fortunes and adversities yet this not alwaies through their own circumspection or evill doings but by a coelestiall cause and inclination not obvious to all I say that the persons signified by Mars Lord of the Revolution are they that shall this year weare the Feather namely the Princes and others ruling by Tyranny and Oppression new-Conquerors and Vsurpers Generalls of Armies Colonels Captains and Commanders all manner of Souldiers Physitians Apothecaries Chirurgions Alchimists Gunners Marshals Serjeants Balliâ—â—s Smiths Armourers Cutlers and the like See my worthy frieâ—d M. Lilly's Introduction Pag. 67. Those signified by Jupiter Combust of the Sun shall be as Haly saith like to Captives Quorum vires sunt vinctae â—gatae whose strength is in chains and fetters Such be even all Iudges and Senators in the worst sense Churchmen Bishops and Priests in the best sense Also those that call themselves Ministers or Teachers of Non-sense Chancellors Counsellors and Civilians all manner of Lawyers and young Students c. But let some of these be of good cheare The time is at hand and it is but waiting the leisure of Heaven for every one to have His Right either in Person or by Proxy In Anni Revolutionibus si Luna debilis peregrina applicuerit infortuniis Saturno vel Marti potentibus denotabitur Populâ— infaelicitas depressio impedimentum in negotits defectus victus lucri multaeque infirmitates Populum affligent If in the yeares Revolution the Moone being weake and peregrine apply to either of the infortunate Planets Saturne or Mars in a powerfull Positure then shall Infelicitie Depression Impediment in their affaires want of Provision and Gaine be denoted to the People and many infirmities will afflict them And this the rather because of the Proximity of the Dragons Tayle to the Cuspe Ascending which hath likewise signification upon the Common-People or generall state of the Nation For the Head and Tayle of the Dragon although they be not Starres but only Intersections of the Eccliptique yet have they the vertue of Starres and sometimes greater then they The reason is because that in these Intersections the Eclipses of the Luminaries alwayes happen by meanes whereof they doe marvailously contribute in the Changes of things when joyned with the Planets especially and accordingly alter the Quality of the yeare as hath been observed by long Experience Therefore not now to be questioned Thus farre have wee briefly touch'd what I judged necessary or safe to be taken notice of in this Revolution and the Causes or Signes preceding and concerning it I know much more may be read in the Figure but this I 'm resolved shall suffice for now it is high time wee reflect upon The Eclipses 1655. PTolomy and the Ancients very seldome or never gave judgment upon Eclipses Great Conjunctious or the like before they happened and that first they had observed by Instrument the precise times thereof Nor indeed could they very well the contrary wanting the many curious Observations later Ages have made and the benefit of those excellent Tables Astronomicall built upon that Foundation And to deale candidly I could wish it were drawne into Custome to doe yet no otherwise our selves For although iâ— be true there can no considerable error be committed in the Degrees deficient or the places of great Conjunctions and the like yet as to the true Times of all or any of these the hazard is obvious whilst depending upon Tables requiring Reduction wee know not how happily wee can performe it beforehand So that erring in the moment of Eclipses or other Configurations we cannot but the like in the Times their Effects begin and continue Howbeit the Effects of the Eclipses this yeare but a little concerning us nor the Guerdon otherwise incouraging it shall suffice that we rest contented for the present with what the Tables afford us The Inhabitants of this Earthly Starre shall twice this yeare be deprived of a part of the Sun's Light by the Moons Interposition Once the 27. of January 33. min. after High-Noone but not to the Quantitie of one Digit in any part of England To other Regions which incline more to the South-West in France Italy Spaine the Fortunate Island c. it will appeare much greater and in the South Latitude of 3° 23′ viz. in the Countreys that adjoyne upon the South Coasts of Affrique the Sun shall be almost totally darkened in the 1â—° 54′ of Aquary It threatens Astrologically Publique Thefts or what wee modestly call Plundering c. Robberies Rapes Earthquakes ' in the Countreys naturally subject thereunto and Famine with Monopolies and other ungodly Devises of pilling and polling the Over-ridden People The second time on the 23. of Iuly 24′ past one in the Morning but not visible in any part of