ruine and destruction to those great ones subversion of their ancient Families and ruine to their stately Buildings Cities Townes Towers and Castles That People shall be in most miserable and deplorable condition We see the Conjunction is in Taurus under which amongst other places Ireland is posited and that the signes Leo Scorpio and Aquary are sharers and must participate in this influence Famine Scarcity Plagues and terrible warfare shall happen to many places under those Signes If they expect ayd from Foraigne parts they will be frustrated Me thinkes I behold all the States of Europe involv'd in this Quarrell the French and Spaniard Matching the Hollander busie the POPE thundering his Bulls and Excommunications the Turke making great preparations so likewise the Germane Dane Swede Polonian Venetian nay what State in the Christian World is not disquieted If I should recount the Eclipses and great Conjunctions of the superior Planets in Signes to which most or all Countries in Europe are subjected and the events that have succeeded within these few yeares in these places I might rather make an History then a succinct discourse there were not long since two or three Eclipses of both the Luminaryes in the Signe Leo the effects of all which are strongly operating and for many yeares together will produce admirable and unexpected occurrences I believe the progresse of Saturne through the Signe Taurus out of which he will not fully free himselfe till the end of March 1648. will be very fatall to Ireland and most chiefely he will powre out his influence upon that place rather then any other For if we consider the present condition thereof since the Rebellion there broke forth The horrid Murthers and cruell slaughters by them committed upon many thousands of English Protestants whose bloud cryes for vengeance doe authorise me Astrologically to pronounce a fearefull doome of Fire Sword Plague and Famine to follow that bloudy Nation Let me tell the Spaniard French or what other Nation soever that is ayding or assisting them they must not escape the Divine vengeance which God by the Starres his Coelestiall Ministers doth menace them withall If the Pope send his Agents to prosecute their Designes he may chance loose his Triple Crowne in this unjust quarrell they have raised The Divell may rage for a season Sed si Deus nobiscum quis contra nos The fight from Heaven the Starre in their Courses fight against CaesAR Sisera I hope I shall speak truth if I tell the French Spaniard or any other friend the Irish or their Associates have that though they never made greater preparations yet with as like successe as that Invincible Armado in 88 had at what time fourescore of the Spanish Ships were lost with not so few as twenty thousand men The windes and Seas fighting at that time for England which was many yeares before threatned by the proud and insulting Spaniard This Armado consisted of 130 Ships nineteene thousand two hundred and ninty Souldiers eight thousand three hundred and fifty Mariners two thousand and fourescore Gally-slaves two thousand sixe hundred and thirty great Ordinance which Navy having been three yeares in preparing and at no small charge within one moneth was often beaten and at length put to flight and as I said 20000 of their men being slaine and not above one hundred of the English were missing the remainder of their Navy some in their slight were cast upon Scotland and some upon Ireland and those few that escaped returned with a great deale of dishonour into Spaine above 700 Souldiers and Seamen were cast upon the Scottish shore who were afterward sent over to the Low-Countries but those which by Tempest were driven upon Ireland found a harder measure for the wild Irish of their owne accord slew many of them I suppose their cruelty is not inferiour now to what it was then but suppose the French Spanish Irish Jesuite Popish Fryer Priest and the whole rabble of Antichristians in all the World were combined together against England let but an English man name 1588. or 1605. And without doubt the proudest and most cruellest of them all will be daunted and sink down with amazement so powerfull hath God showne himselfe in those times That in the first the King of Spaine himselfe acknowledged the misfortune that befell him to have been the handy worke of God and gave thanks to God and his Saints causing the like to be done throughout Spaine that it fell to be no worse And for that in 1605 certainly it was the eye of Gods Providence that discovered that horrid deed of darknesse the Gun-Powder Treason invented by the Divellish Papists to the destruction of the Parliament and so consequently to the whole Kingdome Let us looke back to the yeare 1587. In which yeare Mary Queene of Scots was beheaded for the position of Saturne and we shall finde that from the first of March that yeare to the middle of Aprill 1589 he walked through Taurus the Signe under which he now is c. under which Ireland is subjected as I said before In the moneth of August the 28 day was an ominous opposition of Mars from Scorpio to him in the 16 degree and if we observe this memorable yeare 1588. Upon the 28 of May Saturne and Mars were in Conjunction in the 19 degrees Taurus not farre from the place they now meete in not many dayes after which that Spanish Fleet was discovered on our English Coast If we examine our Chronicles we shall finde most Memorable Passages in divers parts of the World to have happened this yeare Was it not unusuall and strange that Polonia this yeare should have three Kings usurping the Title while the fourth viz. Stephen Battori was yet unburied Namely Sigismond the Sweden Maximilian the Emperours brother and Henry Valoys King of France of which three Maximilian in the beginning of this yeare was taken Prisoner his Army overthrowne by meanes thereof many thousands of men women and children carryed away Captives by the Tartars Thus saith Gallobelgicus and further that Suetia was all on fire with tumults and lost certain places of strength to the Muscovite The Muscovite himselfe ranne mad and lost his wits The King of Denmarke Frederick the second dyed In France the Barricados of Paris the flight of the King from thence The slaughter of the Duke of Guise and his brother the Cardinall of Lorrayne The death of the Queen Mother the poysoning of the Prince of Condee and the Overthrow which the King of Navarre gave unto Duke Mercury all which Les derniers troubles de Fraunce do testifie and gave that Kingdome sufficient cause to thinke that yeare 1588 to be an extraordinary yeere At the same time the Duke of Savoy prepared his Army and surprized Carmagmall the King of France his chiefe Magazine in Saluze The Turke suffered great overthrowes in Hungaria And in Constantinople by reason of false moneys wherewith the Jauizaryes were payd their wages they fell into a
their Miridians or midnight-sted But those that are in Anian and Quivira shall have the Moon to set Eclipsed now for that the Sun is above the Horizon when this Eclipticall full Moon happeneth being the 17. of July and because the Eclipse is past when the Sun setteth the Moon then rising There is no such doubt to be made as this Irish Almanack would possesse his Country-men withall notwithanding that Kingdom of Ireland amongst many other places shall partake of the effects of that Eclipse and of some others as well Lunar as Solar lately passed whose effects now most strongly operate together with a notable Conjunction of the two Malignant Planets Saturn and Mars which happeneth this yeer on Friday the 12. of June forty minutes past seven of the clock in the afternoon in the longitude of 17. degree and a half and latitude 53. degrees and a half agreeing neerest to that of Dublin being the chief City in Ireland the position of the Heavens there at that time being as followeth A Coniuction of Staturne Mars on friday the 12 of Iune 1646 at Dublin in Ireland IN the yeer 1419. there was a Quadrate Aspect of Mars and Saturn Mars in the latter degrees of Taurus and Saturn in the latter degrees of Leo the supposed Sign under which Bohemia among many other places is and there was that yeer on the 26. day of March a little before noon a great Eclipse of the Sun in the 15. degree of ♈ Aries ♂ Mars being governour thereof After which followed a great tumult in Bohemia Joannes Ziska a noble Captain and a man descended from a great Family one very ingenuous and skilfull in Military Affairs favouring the Hussites being sore grieved for the death of John Hus and Hierom of Prague raised a mighty Army to the number of 40000. whom he called Thaborites almost possest himself of all Bohemia subverted the Monasteries and Idolatrous Temples pulling down and breaking in pieces the Images and Idols driving away the Priests and Monks which he said were kept up in their Cloysters like Swine in their Styes to be fatted His Army encreased and in the yeer 1421. having lost before one of his eyes lost his other eye by a Shaft when he besieged the Town of Raby but from hence being carried to Prague was cured of his wounds and would not though he was blind forsake his Army and the next yeer defeateth the Emperour and was Victor in many battles against the Pontificians and in the yeer 1424. he was striken with sicknesse and dying he gave order that a Drum should be made of his skin to terrifie the enemy Now others suppose that Kingdom to be under ♋ Cancer because that in the yeer 1424. there was a great Eclipse of the Sun the 26. day of June in the 14. degree of Cancer in the evening the effects succeeded the next yeer viz. 1425. at what time three powerfull Armies from Saxony Franconia and Bavaria entred into Bohemia in three severall places but they all fled without sight of an enemy and left their Tents to the Bohemians In like manner Saxony and the maritine Cities neer there are supposed to be under the Sign ♑ Capricorn because after some great Eclipse or unfortunate Aspects of the superiour Planets being in the same afflicted some notable calamity hath happened thereunto so in the yeer 1548. there was a Conjunction of ♄ Saturn and ♂ Mars in ♑ Capricorn in the Moneth of February foreshewing the many troubles that happened soon after in Saxony So also the City of Venice is said to be subject to the Sign ♋ Cancer for that many wonderfull events have happened to that City when an Eclipse or great Aspect of the superiour Planets hath happened in that Sign or in the □ Quadrate or ☠Opposite Aspect thereof so in the time of Maximilian the first Emperour in Germany 1505. who made peace with the Venetians there was a ☌ Conjunction of the higher Plante◠in ♋ Cancer they were extreamly put to it and suffered much by him and he by them And 1508. the Emperour Pope and the French enter in League at Cambray against the Venetians and the next yeer after they took divers places in Forum Julij and other places from the Venetians and in few yeers after strange transactions of Affairs happened between the Pope and them the French and them sometimes on one side sometimes on the other as Historians relate In like manner the famous City of Noremberg amongst many others although the time is uncertain of the first foundation thereof yet from notable events and admirable unusuall accidents which have happened unto the same it is strongly conjectured to be under the Sign II Gemini for when a notable Conjunction happened in ♠Virgo which doth afflict the Sign II Gemini by a □ Quadrate and ☿ Mercury be unfortunate then some ominous matter hath happened thereunto and so likewise if any Eclipse be in the said Signs as in the yeer 1448. the 29. of August was an Eclipse of the Sun in the 15. degree of ♠Virgo in □ Quadrate to ♊ Gemini with whom ♄ Saturn mixed his malicious influence Marchio Albertus Sir-named the Achilles of Germany fought nine battles with the Norembergers and was Victor in eight of them with great destruction to the Citizens So likewise in the yeer 1551. was a great Eclipse of the Sun in 17. degrees of ♠Virgo ♂ Mars being elevated in the middle of Heaven above the Eclipse but placed in his Detriment in ♎ Libra a little while after which Albertus Marchio the son of Casimir besieged the City the Suburbs were spoiled and the Citizens were compelled to dishonourable conditions of peace So likewise in the yeer 1560. another Eclipse of the Sun happened in the eighth degree of ♠Virgo in Quadrate to ♊ Gemini in which Sign of Gemini ♄ Saturn was in 22. degrees very much afflicting ☿ Mercury who was Lord of the said Eclipse in 22. degrees of Virgo by which means the evil foreshewn by the Eclipse was duplicated or much encreased and the effects continued to the yeer 1563. in which space of time many thousands of the Norembergers were swept away with the plague I might reckon up many other places which Historians make mention of but I shall much exceed my intentions I will only remember some few Observations concerning England and all or most Astrologers think it to be under the Sign ♈ Aries for that when any Eclipse or great Conjunction happeneth in that Sign or the opposite Sign ♎ Libra or the □ Quadrate Signes ♋ Cancer or ♑ Capricorn some memorable occurence hath befallen that Kingdom as in the yeer 1345. there was a totall Eclipse of the ☽ Moon the 18. day of March about 9. of the clock in the night in the 6. degree of ♎ Libra opposite to ♈ Aries in which yeer such unusuall tempests and violent winds with great rains and inundations happened throughout the whole Summer
and nature It deales not with mans will simply and directly but accidentally it doth It deales with mens inclinations dispositions temperature affections and humours It meddles not with miraculous workes nor with fatall necessity except some contingency be joyned with it nor with Gods secrets It is necessary for Physicke Policie Husbandrie Navigation Military Discipline for health It can yeeld reasons which other Arts cannot as in Clymactericall yeares Criticall dayes Why children borne in the eighth month most part are not vitall Of Tides Why Customes Rites Manners Lawes and Temperaments be divers in people inhabiting in severall Clymates Why certaine Seasons be turbulent Why some yeares be dangerous And many other things which may be read in that great Booke of the most wise God the Heavens The Stars therein differing in glory and brightnesse one from another but whose motions are most wonderfull Regular and Harmonious which stares like severall letters some being capitalls and others of lesse size being as it were set together A man endued with an apt Genius and Knowledge therein may not onely spell but in some reasonable measure reade the admirable Worke of God therein in their influentiall and secondary government of all sublunary Creatures Faelices anima quibus hac cognoscere primum Inque Domus Superas scandere cura fuit On the other side I doe pitty the blinde ignorance of some others who thinke themselves as learned as wise that not knowing the motions of the Planets and starres if they chance to see a starre in the day time doe wonder at the same possessing themselves with some strange conceit of some great matter to ensue such an Apparition So it was in the yeare 1625 when a little before the death of King James the glorious Planet Venus being occidentall of the Sun and in her greatest distance from him was thought to have beene a Comet or some nova stella being Sunday in the Afternoone the Moone and she seemed to touch one another or that as Kepler sayes she did quasi haerere in sinistro Cornu Lunae which I my selfe being at Yorke then with some others observed in the West part of the Heavens So likewise what great wonder and amazement there was in the yeare 1630 at that time when Prince Charles was borne the same starre Venus being then in great distance from the Sun and orientall or rising before him was seen to goe before the Sun all day for the most part I will set downe the words of Johannes Johnstonius in his Thaumatagraphia Capite 3. Admirand Coeli Artic. 2. de stellarum luce c. Nona denique Junii hujus Anni visa una in Anglia ante meridiem cum Gratia Deo propter nativitatem Principis Walliae agerentur visam eandem codem tempore Diepae in Gallia a Gallis quibusdam accepimus That is the ninth day of June in the forraigne account the 30 of May being Sunday in the English account of this yeare one was seene in England before noone when thanks were given to God at Pauls Church in London for the birth of the Prince of Wales And we received intelligence from certain French men that the same Starre the same time was seen at Diep in France But by leave of this Learned Gentleman I doe not accompt this a wonder for it is usuall with Venus once or twice in the yeare to shew her selfe in the day time being in her greatest distance from the Sun either when she is orientall or riseth before the Sun or occidentall and setteth after him and this may be easily demonstrated out of her Theory If she presignified any thing she was the prodromus of the miseries that since have ensued to this Kingdome And now at this very time the Royall party in some places as I am informed flatter and promise themselves strange matters by reason this Starre Venus none of them having so much Astronomy as to discover what she is appears so bright and glorious in the West after Sun-setting if she betoken any thing I suppose she appears to our gallant Generall and the rest of the Commanders Souldiers now in the West as a bright lamp to discover the darke blinde corners of the West the unknown wayes of the enemy there and in Wales to reduce that miserable wasted Country which God be thanked is in a good forwardnesse I never observed or read that the simple appearance of any Star in the day time foreshewed any thing except what Hieronomus Cardanus in lib. 14. de varietate rerum cap. 70. mentions whose words I will set down as they are there Stellas quoque die sereno bis vidisse Mediolani me memini cum tota Civitate alteram splendidissimam Anno 1511. cum pulsi sunt Galli aliam Anno 1535. subobscuram cum mortuus est Franciscus Sfortia secundus sed tunc quod sine filliis mortuus fuerit mutatus est princeps transiitque in Carolum Imperatorem Civitatis Regnum variato rerum statu that is I remember my self twice to have seen Stars in a cleer day at Millain the whole City being spectators one very bright Anno 1511. when the French were expulsed and the other Anno 1535. somewhat obscure or dark when Francis Sfortia the second dyed but then he dyed without Sons the Prince was changed and the government of the City passed over to the Emperor Charles with a various state of affairs I know not whether if God have so ordered the motion of the Stars that Stars appearing in the day time should foreshew any thing for my part I beleeve it not in that simple apparition it is not proper for the Stars to shine or appear in the day God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser to rule the night he made also the Stars and God set them in the Firmament to give light upon the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darknesse and God saw that it was good Gen. 1.16 17. verses This I am sure of that they work by their influence incessantly day and night upon all creatures Nay in many places of Scripture God would not tell us of the dominion of the Stars upon the earth and the creatures therein if they had no force power and influence in many places therein they are called the Host of Heaven and the Armies of Heaven therein amplifying the most wonderfull divine power and might of God by the force influence and energeticall operation of these glorious creatures in some places God expresly distinguisheth between the sweet influence of the Pleiades or the seven Stars and the binding influence of Orion under which two Constellations being of clean opposite nature and effect God comprehends all the rest of the Stars and as it were by the figure of Locution he puts the part for the whole thereby manifestly giving us so much understanding as to conceive all the other Stars of
The Explanation of the Frontispeece MArke and behold yee bloudy Irish Nation This Heavenly Figure where my contemplation Hath beene implyoyed Your horrid deedes mee thought Would into question in short time be brought Bloud cries for Bloud mee thinks I feare each houre God will his vengeance on that Island powre See Meger Palefac'd Saturne Furious Mars In Taurus Irelands Signe most dismall Starres By God appointed for to doe his will Fire Famine Sword the Plague of bloud their fill Shal be their portion Phalaris did frame A brazen Bull But when the burning flame Had heate the Engine He himselfe first felt The cruell torments which he would have dealt To others Irelands case is farre more worse The children yet unborne that folke will curse Though Spaine and France The Pope that man of sin With his adherents you to ayde begin And bring you succour Vengeance cries aloud T is heap'd as raine into a fearefull cloud Vnlesse that God restraine Heavens menaceing This sad position will your ruine bring A BLOODY IRISH ALMANACK OR Rebellious and Bloody IRELAND Discovered in some Notes Extracted out of an ALMANACK Printed at Waterford in IRELAND For this Yeare 1646. East South West North Whereunto are annexed some Astrologicall Observations upon a Conjunction of the two Malignant Planets SATVRNE and MARS in the midle of the Signe TAVRVS the Horroscope of IRELAND Upon Friday the 12. of June this Yeare 1646. with memorable Praedictions and Occurrences therein By JOHN BOOKER InenarranDVs DeVs est operIbVs sVIs qVI transfere regna atqVè eXCIDIt ea Printed at London for JOHN PARTRIDGE 1646. To the Reader BEing for some yeares late past publikely imployed on behalfe of the Common-wealth of this Kingdome I could not attend my Study of Astrology with that earnestnesse and paines I desired or with that former industry I for many years had under gon and indeed I was almost discouraged in prosecuting the Writing of my Annuall Prognostick when as in Licensing the same half my Astrology or what was most pertinent to the present times was most maliciously expunged so that I ever appeared a lame deficient Person ambiguous and not easily to be apprehended the fault not being mine who desires to benefite my Native Country but those peevish Episcopall Chaplaines who had sole Licence either to permit or disanull my Writings But the errors of that misty Faction being now by divine Providence cleared and liberty given by the Noble Parliament now resident at Westminster for advance of any humane learning I have assumed liberty to appeare againe in the World not in an Almanack the least thing I ever intended but in a notable and eminent way of Prediction upon the famous Conjunction of the two Malevolent Planets Saturne and Mars I am herein much incouraged by those Labours of my Friend Mr. Lilly not onely Printed in these times but made more memorable in the successe I have observed hath followed his Astrologicall Predictions a few of which I will repeate that the misguided in fancy against Astrology may not be destitute of sufficient testimony in his onely Writings of the verity of that Art by which Art at this time I write the ensuing Discourse I omit his Anglicus 1644 and shall relate some Observations out of his Propheticall Merlin Printed 1644. See fol. 43 upon his Judgement of the Comet 1618. In 1645 let those Princes that live neare the Mordway Tartar looke to themselves c. Is not the Kingdome of China bordering thereon almost destroyed by the sudden attempt of the Tartar 1645. But we will come home to England See fol. 98 and so it may be hoped towards the later end of 1645 we shall have great likelihoode of being in a better condition then now we are in we were in a sad condition when he wrote that Booke in 1644. but in Decemb. 1645 the whole Kingdome knowes the words exactly verified by the continuall successes of our Parliaments Generall and the inestimable losses of his Majestie and his partakers Againe in the same fol. In 1646 all the Planets except Mercury saluting each other with one benevolent aspect or other do most undoubtedly declare that the misery of the afflicted English do draw neere to a period and this is like to be so See againe fol. 100. Indeede in 1646 Jupiter in the Figura Mundi being in the ascendant c. Matters are not yet ripe and perfectly setled yet better then formerly some Prince either fled or captivated c. whether things are not farre better and yet not rightly setled and whether of late the Prince missed not of being captivated but since is fled the Kingdome we all know Let who will please examine his whole Discourse upon the conjunction of Saturne and Jupiter there in that Booke handled and they shall see Astrology is not either vain or an unnecessary Study Let us observe some passages in his Starry Messenger Published 12 June 1645 fol. 23 in his Premonition to Princes Your Generalls shall quake and tremble and prove men of no courage c. Hath not Prince Rupert fulfilled this c. at the delivery of Bristoll c. Againe Your confederates shall faile in reall performances Observe the good hand of God not any man of his Majesties Friends hath supported him with a man or money since that Prediction no not the beloved Irish Catholicks In the same fol. Your Children shall wander as banished people all over the world How like this may be truth let all wise men judge for Prince Charles is fled and so may the rest for ought I know Againe fol. 43. in answer to that Bifronted Bussard Wharton he sayth it upon that opposition of Saturne and Mars in Septemb we knock not our enemies soundly God is angrie with us I thinke we bastinadoed them soundly neere that time at Sherburne and at Rowten more So that it appeares as Mr. Lilly wrote God is not or was angry with us But in his Postscript of his Starry Messenger in answer to lying Wharton who published the Kings March from Oxford on the last side published the same the 12 of June there are his words verbatim But let me tell you such shall be our victories before the time limited by you be halfe come viz. Novemb. 1645 that me thinks I heare the many cursed oathes the Dam-boyes spue out both against God man Oh what sculking sneaking running into Corners mouse-holes sawpits Cunny-berries tossing and tumbling the ungodly out of one Country into another doe I foresee face abâ—ut Gentlemen sayes one for our honour as you did at Newberry that is with a good paire of heeles or all 's lost I say Oh the way to Bristoll from thence to Exceter then into Cornwall thence into a sase harbour if any can be found for Malignants Gods Providence hath made those words true for dâ—d we not first take Bristoll then beleaguer Exceter and now this present March have we not in Cornwall unhorsed these pure Swash-buckling Cavaliers
till this yeares end -1646 Yeares The full Sum from the Creation to this yeares end is 5092 Yeares This Irish Chronologer hath computed by his false Arithmetick the abovesaid numbers of yeares to be 5595 as he sets down both in the Frontispice of his Almanacke and in this place but both are equally erroneous It is true Non levis inter viros Doctos rerum historicarum annotationibus existit controversia That is There is no small controversie amongst learned men in their Annotations of Historicall matters Truely there is great diversity amongst them in many memorable Chronologicall Computations But never any that ever I read of computed lesse then 1656 yeares from the Creation to the Flood So that this Irish account is short of the truth in this very particular no lesse then 596 yeares now if we adde these 596 yeares to 5092 they will make in all 5688 which is too many by 93 yeares so that there is no truth at all in this compendious Chronology Methinks when I see 88. I call to minde that Annus ominosus fatalis The Spanish Invasion Cum formidabilis illa Classis Hispanica profligatur ab Anglis Duce Francisco Drake That terrible Armado The lively portraiture whereof is represented in those curious Works in the Lords House now in Parliament at Westminster But as that Armado then was Ventorum Ludibrium and was by Gods providence totally defeated by the English So the Irish Rebellion will have like successe Then follows the remainder of this Compendious Chronology with Since the destruction of Troy 2830 yeares This may be something neere truth for all Writers agree that it was before Christ 1183 yeares now if we adde 1646 being the yeares since Christ Birth to 1183 the yeares before his Birth they will make 2829 since the destruction of Troy Then followes since Bartholenus entred this Island of Ireland 4235 yeares who this Bartholenus I cannot learne but it seemes he came in the yeare of the world 1360 which was 296 yeares before the Flood which I prove thus If you substract 4235 yeares from 5595 there will remaine 1360 and if you substract this 1360 from 1656 the yeare of the World when the Flood was there will remaine 296. I beleeve he was one of the Off-spring of Cain though Camden relates in his description of Ireland fol. 64. that the Irish Historiographers say that he was a Scythian and then he came of Magog who descended from Japeth and that he fought right doughty Battells with Gyants In these times men lived many hundreds of yeares but when the Flood came all the People of the Earth were drowned save eight Persons which were Noah and his wife with his three sonnes Sâ—m Ham and Japeth and their Wives Now amongst all these there was never a Bartholènus and if there had been any such a one doubtlesse he had perished amongst the rest in the Flood If he came not from Cain before the Flood surely he descended from Ham who was the Father of Canaan after the Flood from these three sonnes of Noah all the Earth was overspread now Noah cursed Canaan and said a Servant of Servants shall he be unto his brethren To what purpose this Bartholenus is mentioned to have entred Ireland or who he was it much matters not neither if the Irish came from him or from whom else this I am sure of they are now a People farre exceeding the most barbarous Caniballs and inhumane bloudy men that ever I read of in any History Here may be moved a question why Canaan being cursed he should possesse the most fertile place and part of the World a Land flowing with milke and Honey so may I say of Ireland why such a good Country should be bestowed on so wicked a People I much wonder at it it rather shewes a blessing then a curse and that they should rather be Lords then servants but as one sayes Cum Israelitae deletis omnibus istis gentibus viz. Sidoniis Tyriis Hethaeis Jebusaeis Amorhaeis Gergesaeis Hevaeis Cannanaeis c. terram Cananaeam ingrederentur tunc sauè manifestata est veritas maledictionis Nohae dederuntque paenas impietatis suae ejecti excisi per populum Dei quem tandem triumphare oportet It is just the State and Condition of Ireland as then of Canaan And they must looke for the like measure of punishment by the English and Scotish Nation as Canaan did by the Israelites Then follows since the building of the City of Waterford by Sitaracus 1491 yeares This Sitaracus it seemes was about the yeare of Christ 155. About which time Valentinian an Egyptian that damnable Heretique spread his wicked Tenents and about this time lived Higinus the first that stiled himselfe Pope of Rome This City by the Irish is called Porth-Largy as Camden sayes in his description of Ireland fol. 79. And was built by certain Pyrates of Norway But I make a great question of the Antiquity of it neither is it to purpose Onely it is observable that Pyrates were the founders of Waterford I am sure of it Printing was not then used but it seemes now they have got a Printing Presse there Whether it and the materials came from Rome Doway Rhimâ—s or any such other Popish place I know not But they there and at Oxford of late and now print base and railing Pamphlets and lying Almanacks and in them most grossely abuse the Parliament and Kingdome of England who no doubt ere long will suppresse their Presses Now followes since the building of the City of Rome 2397 yeares about the yeare of the world 3198. It is a great dispute amongst Chronologers and Historiographers when Rome was built Some of them as Berosus and Râ—usner say The first foundation was layde in the yeare of the World 2341 by Roma daughter to Atlas or Kitim King of Italy about thirty yeers before the Birth of Moses Some yea the most thinke that it was built by Romulus and Remus as Livy Dion and others relate The Story is thus Procas King of Latium or the Latines having left his Kingdome after he had raigned three and twenty yeares to his two Sonnes Amulius and Numitor to rule by yearely turnes Amulius having gotten possession keepes the Kingdome by strong hold and causeth Numitor his Brother to live privately And because Amulius would not live in feare of Numitors issue he enticed Lausus or Egestus Numitors Sonne to goe hunt with him and then and there slew him And caused his daughter Rhea or Ilia to become a Vestall Virgin to keepe her from marriage or children But he was deceived For in the fourth yeare of his raigne which was as some suppose in the yeare of the World 3158. She was great with childe by an unknowne man but many thinke by Amulius himselfe in disguise because he knew she should dye if the breach of her Vow appeared by a great belly and was delivered of Romulus and Remus at a Birth For which she was buried quick
or beaten to death with Rods. But Dion saith she was saved at the request of Amulius his daughter but Romulus and Remus were delivered to some to be cast into Tiber in a cradle which could not be effected because the River was overflowne So they were left upon a Banke Faustulus the chiefe Shepheard to Amulius being at Court having heard their doome Followed Found and carried them to his wife Acca Laurentia called by the people for her lust and the Stewes of her Lupanaria Lupa Hence arose this Fiction That they were nursed by a Shee-Woolse She delivered them to a woman that had lost a childe a little before of her owne At the age of eighten yeares these Brothers fell out with Numitors Shepheard about feeding of their Flocks But when Romulus was absent Remus was carried before Amulius who upon their Complaint delivered him to Numitor to put him to death but Faustulus perceiving the danger revealed their birth to Romulus who reputed Faustulus till that time to be his Father and to Numitor upon a consultation they assaulted Amulius slew him and restored Numitor to the Kingdome who gave leave to them to build Cityes Romulus chose the Mount Palatine and built Rome and this was Anno Mundi 3198 as the Irish Computator reckons I will not much trouble my selfe concerning the truth of this Story Onely it is observable that Rome was built founded by Bloud Murther Lust Treachery c. And I know not why I may not suppose the Irish Nation to come from that Lupa For they are all of them of the same Religion with those nay of Rome the Whore of Babylon That Countrey of Ireland hath had many Wolves in it but never more then now And Camden in his description of Ireland Fol. 83. sayes some of the Irish and such as would be thought worthy of Credit doe affirme that certaine men in the County of Tipperary are yearely turned into Wolves Whether it be a meere fable or no I matter it not Unlesse that malignant humour of unkind Melancholy predominate in them and so cause that disease which Physicians call Lycanthropia and so they imagine themselves to be transformed into Wolves However that malignant humour hath reigned amongst them above this foure yeares That now the people are become more salvage and bloudy then Wolves or any other creature whatsoever But this Parliament the Physician that can under God cure all distempers of Church and State will cure Ireland of its Lycanthropia England was many yeares ago rid of Wolves by destroying them And I have read that King Edgar imposed a taske upon Ludwall a Prince in Wales to present yeerely to him three hundred Wolves or their skins for a Tribute which he did for three yeares together But the fourth yeere he gave over protesting he could find no more What King Edgar did I know not but thankes be to God there are no Wolves in England but of the Irish breed Though there hath beene an endeavour to bring over hath beene and now are and are daily expected some Wolvish Irish in England This I am sure of This Parliament hath passed an Ordinance of the 24 of October 1644 That no Quarter shall be given to any Irish man nor to any Papists whatsoever borne in Ireland which shall be taken in hostility against the Parliament either upon the Sea or within this Kingdome or Dominion of Wales But that they shall be excepted out of all Capitulations Agreements or Compositions with the Enemy And every such person to be put to death Nay any Officer by Sea or Land that shall be remisse or negligent in the observing the Tenor of this Ordinance shall be reputed a Favourer of that Bloody Rebellion in Ireland and shall be liable to such condigne punishment as the Justice of both Houses of Parliament shall inflict upon theâ— I trust this Ordinance will be throughly and duly prosecuted and then I hope both Kingdomes will shortly be cleared of the Wolves of Ireland or the Wolvish Irish After the building of Rome comes since the Captivity of Babylon by Cyrus 2284 yeares This should seeme to be in the yeere of the world 3311 as the Irish Computator reckons But herein severall Chronologers have their diversitie of Opinions This cannot possibly be true for Cyrus began to rule over Persia in the first of the 55 Olimpiade which was Anno Mundi 3390. So that here is 89 yeeres difference of this Computation And in the yeere of the World 4409 Cyrus invaded Babylon and conquered it c. And in Anno Mundi 4420. being the end of the 70 yeeres Captivity as Scaliger and others thinke he was in a second battell with 200000 men defeated by Tomiris Queene of the Scythians where himselfe lost his life Tomiris cut off his head and threw it into a vessell of blood And now let the Irish remember her saying to dead King Cyrus After blood thou didst thirst and with blood thou shalt be satisfied Next ensues since the desolation of the Temple of Salomon 2251 yeares This should be in Anno Mundi 3344. In which yeare there was no such thing done It is true the Prophet Jeremiah Anno Mundi 3340 foretold of the destruction of the City Hierusalem and Temple which came to passe twenty yeares after For Anno Mundi 3360 Nebuchadnezzar tooke it and destroyed it as Helvicus c reckons Then comes since Augustus Caesar began his Empire 1686 yeers And this after the Irish Accompt was Anno Mundi 3909. But here are seven years errour For all Authors begin it Anno Mundi 3902. And then the fourth Monarchy began in Julius Caesar who ruled Emperour but five yeares After him came Augustus Caesar Anno Mundi 3906 and reigned 56 yeares and in the 41 yeare of his reigne which was Anno Mundi 3947 Our Saviour Christ was borne Or as the received opinion is Anno Mundi 3949. Now if we adde this 3949 to 1646 They will make 5595 The yeares since the Creation as our Irish Chronology reckons After this followes since Hierusalem utterly destroyed by Vespatian 1563 yeares This should have beene Anno Christi 83. But then there was no such matter for it was in Anno Christi 70 So that there is an errour of thirteene yeares defective then there will be since Vespatians destruction of Jerusalem 1576 yeares as most Authors agree After this followes since Ireland first received the Catholicke faith by the preaching of the glorious Saint Patrick 1221 yeares And this was Anno Christi 425. About this time this Patrick lived Caelestine the first being Pope of Rome The Nestorian heresie was much spread abroad Many strange things have beene reported of this Patrick In memory of whom the 17 of March the Irish celebrate as a Festivall But I shall take a course to crosse him out of the Calendar Hiberniae fuit Episcopus primus imago illius exprimitur Serpentibus ad ejus pedes abjectis quoniam Divina illius virtute hoc
mirabiliter fieri traditur ut nulla venenata bestia ibi vivat Petrus Galasinius ex Beda lib. 1. cap. 1. Histor Angl. That is He was the first Bishop of Ireland and his Image is portrayed with Serpents cast under his feete for that by his divine vertue it wonderfully came to passe that no venemous Beasts can live there This is a miracle indeed if it be true Surely Panrick extracted all the Venome of Serpents Toades and such like odious creatures then in Ireland And by his preaching infused the same into the people There were before Patrick came such like creatures there and there be now in Ireland more Venemous and Serpentine people then the very creatures themselves can be in any other Countrey in the world which this late Horrid Rebellion doth sufficiently evince But I hope there will be a Reformation there as well as here more glorious preaching then that of Patrick or all Popish Bishops Priests Jesuites c. And the Faith Catholicke indeed not in a Popish sence Though I conceive this Manapian should have said since Ireland first received the Popish Catholicke faith c. This had beene to purpose and then I should not have excepted against it The next Chronologicall Observation is Since England first received the Catholicke Faith 1463 yeeres If he had said since England first received the Christian Catholicke Faith c. it had beene somewhat neere truth For King Lucius beginning his rule over the Brittaines hearing of divers miracles wrought by the Christians and amongst the rest of the plenty of Water in time of distresse and want thereof as of the great Victory obtained Anno Christi 173 for the Emperour Marcus over the Marcomanni Quadi by the prayers of the Christian Legion which he called Fulminatrix sent to Eleutherius then Pope of Rome to send him some learned men into Brittaine to instruct the people in the Faith whereupon he sent Damianus and Fugatius who Baptized King Lucius and his people He was the first Christian King of Brittaine and lived neere the time of Christian Religions Primitive purity when Popish Catholicke Religion was not heard of If any of the Popes were ought this Pope Elutherius was none of the worst He prohibited the superstitious refusall of eating any thing which was mans meate Et primus erat Episcoporum Romanorum qui non periit morte violenta King Lucius built Peters Church in Cornhill London about 430 yeeres before Pauls Church which was built by King Ethelbert who began his raigne Anno Christi 596. After follows since Henry the second arrived at this City of Waterford and the first Major of it 474. yeers This is neer an historicall truth for Anno Christi 1170. or thereabout at what time that ambitious turbulent fiery spirited Arch-bishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket was slain This King Henry the second had wars with Ireland and the next yeer he subdued it and I suppose King Henry the second at his comming to Waterford made it a Major Town and indeed as most men that have been there report it to be the second City in all Ireland and that the Kings of England have granted great priviledges to the same Who this Major was our Irish Chronologer doth not name I beleeve he was an English not an Irish man for I cannot conceive otherwise but they were then rebellious as now so that there is greater necessity of correcting their present rebellion by a new supply of valiant English men who if they land at Waterford the present Major may chance to be displaced and the Citizens lose their liberty The next is since the use of Guns invented in Germany and the first making of Powder by a Fryar Bartholdus Swartz 263. yeer This doth not much differ from the supposed time of their known use in Christendom although I have read that in the time of Charles the great who flourished about the yeer of Christ 800. Camoscus Frisiae Rex Slopeti ictu Hollandiae Comitem cum duobus filijs transuerberavit and Roger Bacan our famous Historian who flourished about the yeer or Christ 1280. makes mention of Gun-powder and I beleeve what Petrus Maffeus writes that Guns were of great antiquity and known in China many Centuries of yeers before they were used in Christendome However let us suppose that Bartholdus Niger vulgo Swartz Monachus Franciscanus Alchymista usum Bombardae vulgavit pro ut nunc est anno Christi 1380. as Alsteed sayes in his Chronologie Orig. var. pag. mihi 256. I think the Adage Turdus sibi malum cacat or as we in England have it he hath made a rod for his own breech will be exactly verefied this yeer Look to it all ye Irish Popish Fryars Monks Jesuits c. and the rest of that rabble of Locusts there are new Guns new Ordnances inventing preparing that will purge and cleer the three Kingdoms of all of you Now this Irish Chronologer Bellarmine like spets forth venome and rores out which since Lutheranism Calvinisme and such like heresies began in Germany 128. yeers he that would be throughly satisfied touching this worthy Doctor Martin Luther this Malleus Paparum Papistarum may be pleased to peruse the second Tome of Acts and Monuments or the Book of Martyrs written by that reverend and learned man Master John Fox p. 60 61. deinde of the last Impression 1641. he shall have his life and doctrine at large described he flourished in the yeer of Christ 1515. c. This is he of whom John Hus at the time of his Martyrdom prophesied 1415. Centum Revolutis annis Deo Respondebitis and Hierom of Prague 1416. at his Martyrdom who said Post Centum annos omnes vos Cito now 100. yeers after Martin Luther began first to write against the Pope which was exactly verified Reformation began in his time he opposed the Popes supremacy writ against his pardons Decrees Buls and so stoutly defended himself against them that he was excommunicated by the Pope and men hired to kill him nay the Devil the Pope the Emperour and almost all the Christian world were against him and by open force and secret fraud sought his destruction yet God miraculously preserved him for about thirty yeers space in despight of them all and at last he dyed in hia bed in peace at Islebia in Germany the 18. of Febr. 1546. from whence his body was removed to Wittenberg and there was buried the 22. of February 1546. it being just 100. yeers since this Febr. 1646. at what time I write this and now I may adde a third Prophesie or prediction to cite all Irish Priests and popish Fryars c. Quod post centum annos Luthero respondebitis this Chronologer most falsly accusing him of heresie whose sound doctrine hath so confuted the errours of those ignorant times that to this day the Papists could never answer him but most maliciously traduce him As for Master Calvin he was a most reverend orthodox man and
Mutiny and compelled the Emperour of the Turks to deliver unto them his chiefest Favourites to be put to death and that likewise they might remove his Officers at their pleasure yet they were not coment herewith they set fire on the Jewes Houses spoyled their goods and by that meanes above twelve thousand of their Houses were burnt downe to the ground in the same City The Hungarians were continually molested with the the incursions of the Turkes The Sophy of Persia dyed And if I may use the words of Gallobelgicu◠ab ortu Solis usque ad occasum nullus firmè remansit locus in quo non miratu dignum aliquid hoc Anno contigerit That is from the rising of the Sunne to the going downe thereof there was scarce any place in which something worthy Memory did not happen This yeere Regiomontanus foretold a little before his death at Rome viz. 1475. one hundreth and thirteen yeares before it came to passe to his effect The Translation whereof as I have read in Dutch is thus Tausen funfhundert achtzitchtacht Das ist das iar das ich betracht Geth in dem de weltnixt under Geschicht doch groz merklich wunder Post mille expletos a partu Virginis Annos Et post Quingentos rursus ab Orbe datos Octogesimus octavus mirabilis Annus Ingruet is secum tristia Fataferet Si non hoc Anno totus malus occidet Orbis Si non in nihilum terra fretumque ruet Cuncta tamen mundi sursum ibunt atque retrorsum Imperia Luctus undique grandis erit Which is thus done into English by me From Christs Birth count a thousand yeares compleate And adde five hundred more with eighty eight That yeare approaching All men will affright With woefull Terrours which on them will light If the whole World to ruine do not run Or into nothing Land and Seas be done At least most Kingdomes topsy-turny turne And men on all sides grievously shall mourne I mention this Astrologicall Prediction and these many occurrences that happened this yeare yet in the memory of man to the end remembring what having already bin passed we may in some measure conjecture of the like Accidents to happen in these our dayes It is true Saturne passeth through a signe once in two yeares and a halfe so that in thirty yeares he runneth through the Zodiaque or the twelve Signes And as often as he returneth to his place Quadrate or opposite Aspect for the most part there happeneth extraordinary mutations in many parts of the World according to the diverse and various positions of the other Planets to him and amongst themselves and the Ingresse of the Sun to the Cardinall poynts with Eclipses c. if we looke in our Chronicles for the yeare 1593 in which year Saturne was in Leo in Quadrate to Taurus and so to the end of 1595 and upward we shall finde the Irish to rebell The story wherof is at large in Mr. Camden and others And if we come neerer to our time viz. In the years 1600 1601 and 1602 all which time Saturne was in Scorpio we shall finde not onely them to rebell againe but the Spaniards then landed and had got footing in Ireland but were with great losse to them driven out with many other remarkable Passages worthy memory by all true spirited English men I could much inlarge my selfe in these Historicall observations and make them very fitly applicable to the Coelestiall Motions of the superiours Starres and Planets I suppose what hath already been spoke will suffice to informe any man of understanding I do not say that because there hath such such things happened to such and such places when such and such Conjunctions and Aspects of the Planets or Eclipses have been that the like must necessarily happen there againe at the like Congresse of the Heavenly bodyes No. Ipse Opifex Rerum voluit haec ordinatissima Coelicorpora esse in Signa tempora dies Annos God the Creator of all things willeth that these orderly Heavenly Bodyes shall be for Signes times dayes and yeares Rideat igitur qui velit cum suo detrimento summo cum periculo conjuncto abiiciat securè superbè contemnat has qualescunque significationes Coelestes Deus se derideri non patietur Phryx non emandatur nisi plagie Prudentiores facilè hinc haud dubie Divinitus admoneri se animadvertent ut discant matura poenitentia vera conversione ardenti pietate ad Deum confugere antevertere praecavere Iram Dei horrendam adversus nostra multiplicia peccata paenarum futurarum gravitatem The Irish have ever beene most rebellious and treacherous to the English Nation and of late have most barbarously and inhumanely murthered many thousand innocent soules Now they are at the height of their cruelty and God is powring out his overflowing cuppe of wrath and vengeance upon them and their adherents Jamque securis ad radicem posita est ut in frugisera arbor excidatur in ignem conjiciatur When God threatens a Nation People or Family he divers wayes forewarnes them before he sends his Judgements upon them sometimes in the sea upon the land in monstrous births in the fire by strange apparitions unusuall tempests sometimes by Comets in blazing Starres very often by Eclipses of the Sun and Moone and more usually by the Configurations of the Planets amongst themselves and the Hebdomaticall Lunations which if men would search into they might observe most excellent matters to contemplate upon and raise their thoughts to an exceeding height of Admiration of the most wonderfull workes of the omnipotent Creatour I doe much wonder at the harsh unadvised censure of many men Divines and otherwise learned enough that say nothing can be foreseene by the starres or their configuration I must tell them Astrology is as ancient as our first Parents but the Antiquity of it doth not alone worke upon me that it is allowed by Universities Princes Sages Philosophers from the first Infancie of the world to this very time and will be admired as long as the Sun Moone and Stars move in the Heavens It depends upon as good grounds as any Art It deales not by signes and effects but by causes whereof the motions configurations and positions of the Heavenly Bodyes are grounded upon Mathematicall demonstrations and the propertyes or virtue of the Heavenly Influence upon the observation or knowne experience of great learned men even from the beginning of the world And if the Divine will doe not counterchecke the ordinary course of nature or the matter of those Elementary Bodies here beneath be not unproportionable and thereby unapt to receive their impressions there is no reason why in a naturall and physicall necessity Astrologicall Predictions made according to Art should not succeede and take effect It deales not with rare contingents unknowne or undeterminate But with these things which fall out for the most part such as are performed by Art
Saturn and Jupiter In the yeer 1584. there was fourteen Conjunctions of the Planets in Aries and the Sun and Moon Eclipsed ih Taurus In the yeer 1586. there will be thirteen Conjunctions of the Planets in Aries and one in Taurus of the Sun and Mercury and afterwards in the yeer 1588. twelve Conjunctions of the Planets in divers Signs without doubt after these Conjunctions will follow or succeed mischievous villanous and wicked Counsels and detestable Acts commotions or troubles seditions wars slaughters or killing in Cities Kingdoms and Provinces unknown or unheard of diseases the plague death of great Kings and Lords Infinite dissentions and new diversities of opinions in Religion and to conclude very great calamities in all the Countries of the world as many skilfull men in coelestiall matters suppose gathering these things from the events which are to follow these forepast Conjunctions now rehearsed I shall hereunto adde some particular predictions out of the same Rantzovius pag. 99. Friderici secundi imperatoris Astrologus ab eo interrogatus cur tantum honoris Rudolpho Haspurgensi Comiti pauperi in Aula sua tunc versanti exhiberet respondit mortuis tuis filiis quorum adhuc decem supersunt ipse posteri ejus ad tua Regna pervenient Author Albertus Argentinensis quod exitus ipse probavit Nam Anno Christi 1273. Calend. Octob. Rudolphus a Germanis principibus Francofurti in Regem Romanum eligetur cum Basiliam obsideret hodierno adhuc die videmus Rudolphi posteros Regnum Neopolitanum Ducatum Austriae Sueviae una cum Imperio Regno Neopolitano obtinere Modernus nam Imperator Rudolphus ab eo nomen ditiones haeditario jure accepit Philippus Hispaniae Rex ex eodem natus Regnum Siculum Neoplitanum nactus est That is The Astrologer of the Emperour Frederick the second being asked by him why he showed so much respect to Rudolph the poor Earl of Habspurg then frequenting his Court To whom the Astrologer answered Thy Sonnes being dead of whom ten are yet living He and his Posterity shall attaine to thy Kingdoms which the event proved for in the yeer of Christ 1273. the first of October Rudolph besieging of Basill was elected by the Princes of Germany at Frankeford to be King of the Romans and to this day we see the posterity of Rudolph to enjoy the Kingdom of Naples the Dukedoms of Austria and Suevia together with the Empire and Kingdom of Naples for the late Emperour Rudolphus by hereditary right received from him both his name dominions and Empire and Phillip King of Spain proceeding from him obtained the Kingdom of Scicily and Naples This Frederick the second was elected 1212. he raigned 38. yeers he dyed 1250. the Empire was void 22. yeers though Conrade his Son and Richard brother to Henry the third King of England who was Earl of Cornwall were elected in the interim and in the yeer 1273. this Rudolph was elected Emperour and so continued seventeen yeers nine moneths and sixteen dayes it being sixty yeeres before this prediction came to passe for ought I read to the contrary In pag. 97. in the same Rantzovius thus I find Magister Christianus Astrologus Pragensis Ladislaum Jagellonem Regem Poloniae per Sacerdotem praemonuit ut mortem sibi imminentem praecaveret quod multi Planetae conjungerentur fieret Eclipsis Lunae sub Terra mortuus autem nihil ominus est eo Anno qui fuit Annus Domini 1434. Anno Aetatis 49. That is Master Christian an Astrologer of Prague admonished Ladislaus Jagello King of Poland by his Priest that he should beware of imminent death for that many Planets were conjoyned this yeer and there would be an eclipse of the Moon under the earth notwithstanding that premonition he dyed that yeer of our Lord which was 1434. in the 49. yeer of his age In the same page the next adjoyning observation is thus Joannes Picus Mirandulae Comes edidit Librum adversus Astrologos hi inter quos fuerunt Bellantius Senensis Antonius Sirigatus Florentinus Angelus de Catastivis Carmelita ut Artem veram ostenderent illum annum aetatis 33. non transgressurum predixerunt ex directione Ascendentis ad Martem quemadmodum hinc inde editis constat that is Joannes Picus Earl of Mirandula published a Book against Astrologers These men that is to say the Astrologers amongst whom were Bellantius of Sena Antonius Sirigatus a Florentine and Angelus de Catastivis a Carmelite that they might shew it Astrology to be a true Art they foretold the said Picus that he should not escape the 33. yeer of his age by reason of the direction of the Ascendant to the body of Mars as it appears in the writings published upon this occasion I mention this the rather for that it is most appaâ—â—nt these three men were Astrologers and by Astrology foretold to this Picus the time of his death who flattering himselfe with a false comfort as if he could wrangle away Death by writing against Astrology indeavouring to prove the Art vaine his death concurring exactly with the time predicted confirmed the same Art to be true and more actually confuted that which he had written against it then if all the world besides had conspired to answer him I have rehearsed these things and been the larger upon them though I could shew above one thousand examples of rare observations Astrologicall and many of my owne experiment to cure that Episcopomania or An examination of Sir Christopher Heydons Defence of Astrology For would any man but a man not well in his wits T. V.B. of D. publish and Print that the Astrologer foretelleth that is true by the helpe of Satan that Astrologicall predictions depend not upon naturall Causes that Astrologicall predictions stand not by learning but by some instinct that Astrology considereth the fortunes onely of Fooles and wicked men that the first Inventor of Astrology was the Divell that the Astrologer attaineth not to his intended end in a Prediction without the helpe of Magicke with many other absurd Tenents I will tell you a story of himself as he writes it in his Epistle Dedicatory where he says thus That those predictions doe not always fall out jump and true as they would bear us in hand but that either the Devil doth misse sometimes or that his Instrument doth mistake his informations this I am able to justifie and make good by a plain story of my self when I was a child and went to School at Carleil where I was born there came an odde fellow about the Country he was reputed a cunning man and so called for that he took upon him to tell fortunes the fellow was dumb or at least faigned himself speechlesse but certain it was he had an instinct or familiarity with some Spirit This fellow being on a time in my Fathers house there were some there more simply honest then religiously wise made signs unto him to shew what should be my