An. 1672. July 15 16 17. among others 3 days hot together Whence comes the Heat The answer is made Oh it is usual for the time of the year But this answer is not Scientifical it renders not the Cause If a Philosopher enquire after the Nature of Sleep the cause is not assigned by saying It is usual or 't is the time of Night the gentle Unctuous cooling vapours to bemist and charm the Sensory is the Cause Feaverish and Famish'd Men sleep not for all the time of Night So be it never so much the time of the year place the Sun where you please there 's no necessity this day must be hot with Express or Excessive Heat Those 3 days of July though inclined to Heat as much almost as any are not always found under that Character If the Enquiry were whether a hot day in Summer were a Prodigy Such answer indeed were punctual No by no means 'T is usual and according to the time of the year But when the Question proceeds of Cause wherefore at that time of the year Nay wherefore on the very day which might have proved cold notwithstanding the time of the year We must look into a more secret and abstruse cause I must find a Reason from the very Constitution of the Primrose or Violet If I mean to answer the Question of its early Blossom The time of the year allows only an aptitude or Inclination The Argument doth not follow from the Power or Inclination to the Act This day is hot because it was probable it would What then Sir is the Cause The Astrologer reasonably urges Chance can not be it for what determines the Effect since all Events though never so casual are such not because they have no determinant but because 't is unknown § 71. Gassendus press'd with this Objection denies Chance Ore tenus while he tells us that the Sun Moon and Stars are the general Causes of many Phaenomena but beside these for he knew generals were indetermined He mentions other Inferiour Sublunar Causes Causes per se as he calls them Singular Special which determine them to Hic nunc Meteor Epicur p. 944. by which Cause if he means the nature of the place situation c. Subterraneous Fires and Eruptions of vapours we admit them heartily as well as he But certainly Place and Situation are Circumstances rather than Causes without which the Heavens can do nothing That we confess yet we deny that they may be called therefore Efficients Principal and Singular Causes The Fires Subterraneous seem to put on for Efficiency but we profess to believe that these Fires are not so Universal as I see is imagined by himself and others Agricola c. who have not kindness enough for the Aethereal § 72. Neither secondly is this Cause but general still and indeterminate as they say of our Heavens the Determinate is yet to seek For suppose the Fire sends forth the Vapours and the Vapours condense into Rain Stay May not the Cloud be barren The Vapour Dry Foggy yea Pellucid As in Serenity and Drought is seen seeing by the Testimony of the Baroscope the Serene and dryest Air makes the greatest pressure What then makes it a Cloud say I rather than Serenity The Sun shines and the Fires are at work and yet Serenity and Drought continues many times for the greater part of the year The answer is the Vapour is condens'd to Rain it gathers into a Cloud The◠for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if Cold be mentioned to the generation of Clouds or Rain we ask further What encourageth the Cold at that time Is it a Mid-Region We admit the Notion But then why doth it not always Rain or Cloud according to the Temper of the Region As long as Vapours ascend continually why don't they as continually descend What we say in an Alembic The Subterranean Fires work Day and Night Winter and Summer and the Mid-Region is never Free because the Superiour the more remote Region is never Free also Neither may it be said That there is variety in the Mid-Region as not always of the same Temper sometimes extream sometimes more remiss For so 't is true it may Rain when 't is remiss and Snow or Hail when 't is extream But in Frosty days I hope the Middle Region is extream Why don't it Snow then How comes so many Serene and pure Frosts as all natural and wholsom Frosts are Want of Supply cannot be pretended the Fires do their Duty and at all times alike for any thing they know whence is it that the Middle Region is Idle For that sometimes this Region is guilty of no Cold I suppose all that travel the Alps the Mountain Rhodope Taurus Libanus or our own Penmaur All who have heard of a perpetual Snow lying thereon will not consent Surely then the difference of the Temper of the Region defin'd to be sometimes moderate sometimese of an extream Cold lies not in any confus'd disorder or chance but in Vicissitudes Regular with Anomaly such as the Seasons themselves are capable of and no more a sign that they are governed by Ordinances of Nature excluding Casualties For if some Heat beside Solar and Subterranean governs the Tepor of the year as Cold is a privation at least it must be govern'd by the same Caelestial Cause nor can we rest till we have found that Cause in the Heavens § 73. To this the learned Man Objects thus If it rains to day it doth not rain again the same day 12 Month but sooner or later according as the matter is prepar'd To which I answer If I should have said that it rains not at a New or Full ☽ but sooner or later according as the matter is ripe I should have Fibb'd seeing 't is confessed that it usually raineth then whosoever ripens the matter And so I hope I may retort in our Aspect of ☉ ☿ that however matter is prepared at other times 't is usually disposed for Wind and Rain then But this objection concerns not Aspects of which in general enough hath bin said but is rather levell'd at the Annual Revolutions of Stated days No Question but the matter is prepared for Rain when it Rains but who prepared it so variously so uncertainly under such Difformity and Dissonance to comply with the Objection is the Question The Sun and Moon alone we have made good cannot be the Causes preparatory or determinant of a Showre c. nor can any matter possibly prepare it self as Ice cannot thaw it self the very Notion of matter being passive He must have excluded Other Requisites which he knew Gelestial Philosophy pretends to before he could justly infer so Universal a Negative It doth not rain again the same day 12 Month Ergo the Sun is not the Cause I allow it I will help the Argument and say it doth not rain again the same day 19 Year when as the Golden Number tea cheth us the Sun and Moon are
p. m. closing vesp open n. Wly 1683. Aug. 28. ♌ 26. Ab Aug. 13. ad Sept. 6. 13. Close a. m. s drisle open p. 14. Rain m. Rainy o. close hot wetting H. wind S W. 15. Foggy rainy m. p. m. a. m. High wind cold 16. Cool m. s drops a m. showr 5 p. Brisk rain 7 p. N W. 17. Misty m. some rain coasting o. 1 p. 18. Open cold wind m. sho o. Th. 3 or 4 Claps A Ratling Storm Some R. and Hail N W. 19. Cloudy wind audible open Wly 20. Some mist often clouding and close W. 21. Foggy m. close m. p. s drops 3 p. Sly 22. Foggy warm l. wd Wly Sly 23. s mist s clouds m. s wd hot p m. 24. Misty lowring very hot day l. wind Sly 25. s wetting 8 m. p. m. warm s wind S W. 26. Misty m. H. wd wetting 8 m. S W. 27. Mist m. high wind smart showr ante 4 p. s drops 6 p. S W. 28. Cloudy very high wind N W. W. 29. Cloudy very high wind N W. S W. 30. Cloudy windy open at night S W. 31. Mist m. close m. p. hottish Sly Sept. 1. Overcast open calm Wly 2. Fr. m. Fog Clouds Sly Wind Ely S E. 3. Cloudy a. m. with gusts Rain in S E. Foggy p. m. Wly Sly 4. Foggy m. a. m. cloudy vesp hottish then Ely wd Wly clouds 5. Lightning 3 Claps of Th. from the S. 10 p. R. S W. wind Ely die tot 6. Foggy m. soultry wd cool open p. m. closing vesp with Lightning ante 7 p. One Thunder-Clap dash of R. Sly Upon Second Thoughts and advice of Worthy Friends who value Experience upon Consideration that it is long in gathering and that 30 years gained are better than 30 years refused I have added this Table also in which we have Iris Sept. 20. 1654. and 77. T. M. Apr. 4. 1672 Feb. 73. Shipwrack Apr. 74 Great Hail 77 78 82 Hurricane 81. Whale Ib. Meteors with Trains c. July 29 82. and so we proceed to the next Chapter CHAP. XI ☌ ♄ ☿ Conjunction of Saturn and Mercury § 1. ☿ a Planet of great Employment and therefore is swifter 2. Commonly Direct in this Aspect 3. It s Character for Wind and Rain 4. And for Dark Air. 5. The Influence proved for both Wet and Dark Air. 6. And for Cold. Yet a Saturnine △ cannot introduce a cold Season by its self 7. ☌ ♄ ☿ may introduce Frost but no such as may spoil Vintage Our monstrous Winters not only upon ♄ 's account Colds being variously dispersed by the Celestials 9 10. Why Octob. 1572. was tedious and Cold. 11. Notable difference between Frosts under ♄ ☿ and ♄ ♀ All Frost comes not with a Wind Mr. Hobbes there mistaken 12. ♀ and ☿ distinctive Character will be perceived by comparing their Tables 13. Effects of Planets distinguishable Some Showrs Saturnine some Martial c. 14. Contiguations of Clouds whether ascribed to ♄ ☿ Ground Mists 15. Are not the issues of the Earth without their cause from above 16. Slender Moisture 17. Variable Winds 18. Sometimes a Curious day and no Prejudice to the Character 19. Not given to Flouds whatsoever it may do in Arabia 20. The Table § 1. THe League between ♄ and ☿ though allowing some Effect between such Alliances cannot be thought to be of any great Moment because of their Immense Distance for What Influence can there be upon the Ocean on a supposed League between the Thames and the Straits of Magellan Mercury is a little Planet and a Nimble One thereby portending that he cannot be long of a mind supposing he doth confer to some Amity But we have labour'd before to possess the Enquirer that the very Swiftness and Agility of ☿ may not Lessen the Planet in account but rather aggrandise him seeing the Swiftness of his Motion in its Orb is a probable hint to us that he had most business to do which otherwise without such Agility could not be dispatched He must overtake the slower Planets He must return and Re-salute them again for for so it is order'd that his business goes on even while he goes backward Venus hath done so before with ♂ and ♄ and ☿ will not stand out § 2. Now as we said Venus not being bound to observe ♄ ☿ also is at the same Lock He meets with ♄ sometimes before the ☉ sometimes behind and that at farthest Distance with the ☉ his pace commonly is Direct but now and then slow yea sometimes Retrograde as Dec. A o 1662. the ☉ being gr 11. distant § 3. Yet all this signifies nothing except we obtrude a Character upon the World and fabber about an Influence of Wind and and Rain in Spring and Summer-time Wind and Snow in Winter Wind and Clouds in Autumn 'T is Maginus his Description which I see others willing to transcribe Adrian Vlack Ephem A o 1663. and others Nor is it amiss if we say Rain in the First place and then Wind seeing ♄ and ☿ yea and the Rest for the most part answer to Rain more frequently than to Wind. § 4. Maginus added wheresoever he had it some mention of Tenebrosus Aer originally from the Arabs no question and truly the very view of the Diary minded me of that which made me Prize Maginus the rather to whom Eichstad accords Turbulentum sub frigidum aerem saith he our Table oft-times speaks of Close sometimes Dark and Muddy Air and true as Truth is it that some Planets do contribute more than others to mask the Air and darken it at some special times but ♄ and ☿ seem to be more frequent so that I have reason to think that if ♄ were posited in ♂ 's Orb he would make more rainy Weather than ♂ because even at such distance he rouses up the Air and Frowns upon us § 5. And what should we say more when who pleases to account the Wet days with the Sum Total whether we allow 2 or 3 days or Twelve and more according to our Enlargement of the Prospect shall find that it will answer Expectation which must necessarily prove our Influence whether on the nearer account because of the Proxinity of the Effect to the Cause proposed or in a more enlarged account because no reason can be assigned why Communibus Annis in 500 days it shall rain every 2d Day since that Effect is not observed upon Equal Terms every other day secluding our Aspect Verily ♄ in his Station at least is noted by Eichstad to be a Tenebrous Planet Statio ♄ prima vel secunda tenebras aeris affert § 6. But they joyn Cold with dark Air and to that I say yea at time of the Year and under limitations some such as have bin mentioned Here our Predecessors give us a smart Note or two for the use of the Planter or Husbandman they tell us A o 1572. at the end of October there came a tedious Cold season as Appian
Influence of the Planets sed illorum Trium but especially of those Three who are the Procurers of Thunder Lo you they are our Three Superiours Saturn Jove and Mars Lib. 2. cap. 79. What News is it then to tell of Saturn and Jove Jove and Mars Saturn and Mars The Planets which the old Babylonians did mean or they meant nothing For let any be pleased to survey our Tables of Earthquakes under Saturn and Mars Jove and Mars laying Pliny before him he shall forthwith be convinced and how would he be overwhelmed with Evidence if we were Masters of so much Chronology and Calculation Astronomical as to name the first Earthquake from the Floud and assign the Aspect a Task which I have rendred the more easie if it were to be expected by enlarging or rather vindicating the Dominion of the Aspect of its own Nature so enlarged § 75. These Earthquakes says the Naturalist are made by the presence of the Planets aforesaid with the Sun or their Conjunction or if you will Congruency because I suppose the Old Babylonians included the Opposition to which our Tables bear plentiful Testimony Now This chiefly saith he happens Circa quadrata Mundi A great Note and means nothing else but the Cardinal Signs near the Tropick and the Equinox Who would not be proud to redeem such a glorious Truth from the Rubbish under which it hath bin buried so many thousand years in the neglected Fields of Antiquity Hippocrates hath long ago given us the same Note about Sickness and Maladies which the happy Roman Pen hath preserved to us about Earthquakes and yet We love to be in the dark Gemma saith the same of some Comets circa Tropos Equinoctia I. 112. and yet Astrologers forsooth speak not a Word of Sense But to proceed what he tells us from Aristotle Earthquakes appear only in Calms we don't find to be true in our Northern Regions Germany and the like Nearer the Mediterranean it may be true with Regard to the Wind though not with Regard to Lightning it being agreed on as Pliny states the Question neque aliud in terreno Tremor quam in Nube Tonitruum Earthquakes and Thunders are near a Kin. For whereas they take it for certain that Winds are the Cause of Earthquakes they must mean Spirits there is no other way to reconcile the Antients to Truth But Pliny tells us further that Earthquakes may be predicted So they were by Anaximander and Pherecydes He means Predictions Philosophical Conjectures taken from some certain Signs and that it may be is easie in places that are Obnoxious thereto But I don't hear any of his early Chaldeans have foretold it by Astrological Predictions by Arguments taken from the Cause though upon the Truth of their Principle they might He tells us in the next Chapter 80. of the Dire Effects Throwing down Swallowing up Raising Hills Letting out Streams Springing of Hot Baths Retreats of the Ocean Of which our Tables are not silent and might have made more Noise but Then to let pass the admirable account he gives of the several Noises that are heard according to the variety of the Event he tells us that they are felt oftner in the Night time then in the Day yet sometimes at Noon He mentions also Morning and Evenings for Critical Hours all which strongly declare a Celestial cause The Sun I mean and He you must know is never without his Retinue Consequently he tells us that Earthquakes happen many times at Eclipses And have not we prov'd that the Moon New and Full has Influence on Thunders Aethereal Subterranean c. at which Congress if Eclipses and Earthquakes be more noted by so notable consent of Heaven and Earth whence the Creator is more Illustrated I reckon that That Providence hath its End § 76. In the next Chapter 81 he tells us that at Sea also they are sensible of Earthquakes that they feel the Stroke And where is it that in the Collection of this Table I meet with a Passage where a Ship in an Earthquake felt such an impulse that they thought she had struck on ground but when they heaved the Lead to explore the truth of their Suspicion the Author says they found no Bottom Purch p. I. p. 105. How wide yea how deep is the Train laid in recesses of the Earth which shall move a heavy dense Abyss so quick that it shall aemulate the hardness of a Rock What an Eruption would there have been if it had been in Sicco on a dry Surface How strange yea how incomprehensible are the penetrations of the Celestial Influences He tells us further of a certain Sign in the Air when a thin Cloud in a Serene Sky shall be stretch'd to a vast space the very Token by which Gemma predicted an Earthquake as Fromondus also noteth Where though Fromond perhaps justly maketh slight of this Token yet this I can say upon Recollection of my self that I who perhaps have observed that Token as often as Fromond do remember that there was more than ordinary to do among the Planets at such appearances and so they may be reckon'd Signs remote and in-adaequate as the Eclipses are confess'd to be § 77. In the 82. Chapter letting pass several Considerations for we write not a Treatise of this Subject He tells us an Earthquake may last Forty days nay some a year yea two year throughout The three Planets that the Chaldeans spoke of may be twin'd together so long ♄ and ♃ may appears by their slow dis-ingagements and many times by their fresh returns before they are absolutely Dis-engaged § 78. In the 83. Chapter He tells us of Smoke and Fire starting out between two Mountains in Mutina when Martius and Julius were Consuls manifesting the Kindred between the Flaming and the Quaking Mountain See Cap. 88. § 79. To proceed in the next Chapter 84. He informs us of Inundations and Earthquakes that they go together even as it may be noted in Aristotle himself which is no untruth and may be proved from the Premises whether the Inundation be as I may term it wet or dry caused by Rain and Wind or by Spirit and Inflation only As we have consider'd before when we treated of the Rarefaction of the Watry Element which in Flouds join'd with Earthquakes is most certain and in Flouds in distant Countrys must be presumed in some Proportion if not from the Heat below at least by the Heats from above whence the Sea is allowed to tumefie against every Storm by the Influence of the ☽ or other Planet § 80. Now if we may observe here what also we have before asserted that Comets go along with those Earthquakes and Inundations as being united in a common Efficient where matter is disposed though Pliny hath no such Hint we shall conclude Only I am sensible that here it will be said That this is old Stuff Earthquakes Inundations Comets and Pestilences I warrant to make them All hang on a Thread agrees
Feet swelling and shooting against Weather yea the Paroxysmes of the Gout and sundry other Ailments observed in the Hospital of our Bodies remember us thus of superior Alterations § 22. Yea farther all the Prognosticks taken from the Fire it self do note which may be strange some Dominion over Moisture the â—elestial Action terminating not on the Flame so much as the Fewel or the Body inflam'd hence comes the little diminutive sparkling of the Candle the spitting of the Fire from under the Embers the puffing and murmuring of the flaming Coal the concretion of Sparks and Knots in the Snuff Lucernarum fungi the Adhesion of Embers to the Hearth of the Live coal to the Pot-side all betokening some Alteration of the Moisture which betrays it self by concretion of things contiguous or by that little sparkling at the approach of the Flame which at other times burns quiet and cals for no Observation He that pleases may consult Aratus Virgil Pliny Plutarch of the Neotericks Fromond Vossius de Idololatr § 23. Rain and Wind therefore for they are not often severed or their existence to Warmth § 24. And 't is manifest whether Hail reduceth it self being the congelation of Rain As for Snow 't is of a nice crasis strangely consisting of a congeal'd vapour and some little degree of a warm Spirit which helpeth to resolve the continued congelation and make it fall into wafers § 25. Hence what is commonly observed whensoever it snows the Air remits of his rigor and again the greater is the Fleece the warmer is the Air and more bordering on a Thaw § 26. Next the Mist also belongeth to Cold seeing it is a vapor part moist part fuliginous congel'd just as the breath of our mouth by the Cold of Winter is a visible Mist Mists therefore do not arise from the Rivers brink as is commonly reckon'd but the Vapour which before rose invisibly being congel'd descends and by continual aggregation or conflux puts on a visible consistence § 27. Lightning and Thunder need no Herald to derive their Pedegree from Heat Celestial § 28. Comets Celestial have their consistence also from Expirations Celestial taking it for granted that the Sublunar consist of Expirations Terrestrial mingled with Celestial and inflamed thereby § 29. Blite and Blasting in some cases proceed from Heat as when Fruits are prejudiced by Lightning or burning Winds such as the East-winds are reckon'd in Holy Writ § 30. Again it oftentimes proceeds from Cold and Hoar-frosts as Pliny rightly with our Husbandmen define happening with us about May June yea in April March whensoever the Spring is obnoxious to the injury by its unhappy forwardness § 31. Of all these there is not the least piece of a Phaenomenon that is casual in respect of the Heavens though the Learned Kepler can allow it but the Heavens are conscious of its Original § 32. Nay as we shall see there is not the least puff of Wind though a Reflexion of a Blast indeed may be termed Casual but is Heaven-bred if we speak of the direct issue § 33. Howbeit so great and various is the inconstancy of the Winds especially with us on Shore that the Knowledge is abstruse and difficult though neither so pure a Contingent but that it may be lur'd to the Rules of Art § 34. Seeing Wind that we may come to its Definition is nothing else but the motion of an Earthy dry Exhalation and that moved not by Condensation or its own Gravity but by Impulse from Celestial Heat § 35. Some great Authors philosophize otherwise That Wind is made by Rarefaction and a Condensation succeeding the Air condensed tending downwards and acquiring its violence by the heights of its descent But 1. wheresoever it hapneth that there is such Condensation as in Clouds Dews Mists hazie Air Frosts there would be always some sense of Winds stirring but many Clouds and hazie days are calm yea nothing is more husht oft times than a Frost or Mist or more still and silent than the Dew 2. Winds are indifferent to all Seasons Winter Summer to all Weathers to all hours of the Natural Day none have their Quietus'es from it not Sun-rise nor Sun-set Mid-day nor Mid-night it owes not therefore its Existence to Rarefaction and Condensation seeing all Hours Seasons are not indifferent thereto for in a Cloudy day what place is there for Rarefaction In a bright hot Summers day what condenseth 3. Here let the Etesian speak hath not benign Nature provided that refreshing Air for the Aestival Heat and doth not it rise at 9 in the morning when the Heat increaseth and cease again at 4 in the Even 4. Whatsoever may be said in Spring and Autumn for the vicissitudes of Rarefaction and Condensation how comes Winter which even hath its denomination from Wind to be so unquiet when there are no such sensible vicissitudes Nay how doth Wind rise in Winter nights It cannot be said that the Night condenseth what the Day hath rarefied Alas the Day was all benummed in Frost and the windy Nights often introduc'd a Thaw How doth the colder Season rarifie how doth the warmer Season condense 5. Upon this Hypothesis the Wind would blow to not from the Points of the Compass and to many Points at once viz. coming from the Sun as from the Centre for the Air even as Water rising up in a Conical tumor when rarefied upon the recess of the Sun while it condenseth and recovereth its Gravity must needs fall indifferently from the vertex to all parts of the Circumference where it is not hindred i.e. to the East North and South at least if not to the West but the Wind blows not several ways at once nor is confined in the least but tends indifferently from the Sun aud to the Sun and on each side of the Sun through all the Points of the Compass § 36. Again Condensation can give no account of the Winds violence no not the thousandth part of its rage and fury as when it is known to rift up Trees demólish Buildings for admit the descent of Air to be as forcible as the descent of Water though there is some difference sure especially if Air be rarer than the Water by a 1000 degrees yet this will not prevail for in Noah's Floud it self the Cataracts of Heaven did not beat down the Trees as appears by the Story § 37. 'T is said that all Heavy Bodies the further they descend the more violence they acquire this is true in Bodies that have their fixed Dose of complete Gravity disproportioned to the medium as in Stones Metals c. and this by virtue of their Generation but in Condensation 't is otherwise the Body is not condensed at an instant all at once but at leisure and by gradual alteration Proportional thereto must the Gravitation be and as the body condenseth so must it subside in the same measure according as the Applications of the Causes condensing are gradual for as for instantaneous
Definitions have excluded and therefore are to be corrected but who understanding himself can exclude it the Ancients did not Pliny discoursing of the Tides puts the Sun in the first place and Ptolemy acknowledgeth the Sun as more absolute in all the productions ascribed whether to the Moon or any other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I. 2. § 9. For the very Nature of the Moon which is a Reflexion supposes the same the Moon being but a Sun reflex'd as they say of others also whose Full and the Change being the observable Phases are nothing else but eminent Relations to the Sun A Relation must include both its Terms the Sun therefore cannot be excluded the Author demonstrates the Sea would have such motion supposing there were no Moon but he may be pleased to enquire and he may find that the Moon cannot be spared spared I say as to that warmth which the Sun it self imparts for by Her the Warmth is modified temper'd increased remitted according to the variety of her Phases by Her this warmth is made so kindly so suitable to the humid Element that without it it cannot be governed Warmth will rarifie Water this Author hath excellently taught us and that the Moon hath a kind of warmth quatenus Lucid he justly defines so there is not much betwixt us every warmth Celestial we shall see hath Influence on the Waters § 10. We have as good Demonstration that the Ebbs and Flows depend on the Moon as that she borrows her Light from the Sun the diversity of the Phases according to her access and recess shew the one the suitable Increase and Decrease of the Tides according to those very Phases shew the other § 11. At the Quarters the Tides are lowest Neap tides at the Change and Full they are higher Spring-tides in the one the Moon is conjoin'd with the Sun in Diameter-line making no Angle in the Other making a Quadrate the utmost distance from the Conjunction and Opposition § 12. The 〈…〉 or supposing viz. that the Tides are lowest at the Quarters endeavours to shew how they come to spring against the Change and much truth without question he delivers but how comes it that Neap-tides happen just at the Quarters if the Moon have no Causality they might happen at the Full as well as at the Quarters and if those Low-Tides might have run through all phases of the Moon and a Fortnight after had boil'd into Spring-tides then I should have hearkned to the Demonstration so far as to exclude the Planet but when the Low-tide is confin'd to the Quadrate That creates Suspicion We that say the Moon communicates a greater yet still kindly warmth to the Air at the Change Full and a less at the Quarters may easily see why God at first ordered the Abatement of the Waters to the One and the Increase to the Other if it be true that the Sea works and purges every full Moon as at other set Times of the Year which accrue to the Sun's account § 13. 'T is an Illustrious Instance that is drawn from the Exuberance of the Tides at or neer the Aequinoctial Lunations taken notice of even by the Inhabitants on the Thames side below the Bridge at least yea of an elder Observation as to the Ocean in Strabo and Tacitus 'T is pretended that in our River they are observed in February and October rather than on the precise Months of March and September This Objection is not confident the very Neighbourhood of the Months February to March and October to September creates a Suspicion of some Truth in the Instance for That Difference is easily accounted for considering that Fall of Wet makes some addition and that This is notorious in February the Close of Winter nor unusual in October the Prologue thereto Let March or September put on the wet Masque of either of these Months and the Effect will be the same Secondly who knows not that the Tides swell not on the precise day of the Lunation but two or three dayes also before and after remembring then the motion of the Moon supposing it hath no Latitude 't is odds but within two dayes after after I say the Lunation in February the Moon will be found in the Equinoctial Sign ♈ as in October two dayes before it is found in ♎ But if Latitude as reason is may be observed the Moon may be found situate on the Aequator in either Month by a Southern Latitude in the One and a Northern in the other For 't is the whole Circle Aequinoctial not the Intersection only that is considerable in this Affair adding withall that the Aequinox Physically considered hath some Latitude as every Centre hath within which bounds the Effect proves even the same As therefore the Spring-Tides in general happening two dayes before and after are justly imputed to the Lunation in general so the aforesaid Equinoctial Exuberancies in February and October are with the same justice ascrib'd to the Equinox for if we calculate rightly the Interval between them is not as it seems a whole Month but only two dayes difference in as much as the Sun in a whole Months time gets no more ground than the Moon acquits in Two dayes where the Moon overtakes her Leader § 14. But the Retardation of the Tide parallel to the Moon 's coming to the South about 48 minutes later the only common motion as is acknowledged to the Planet and the Element is such an Argument For that Two motions from the Creation to This day should just jump together to so nice a Calculation of time and yet the Bodies moved have no dependance one on the other is not easily digested especially when one of the Bodies is fluid easily moved and as easily interrupted disturb'd by Inundations fury of Winds Droughts Frosts Earth-quakes Natural Motion we know once disorder'd will run false like the Index of a Watch 'till some good hand replace it Sometimes the Tides fail sometimes they pay us with superfoetation who restores Nature in this case the Sun keeps its course differing little from it self and its own Elevations a day or two after and yet the Water returns to its wont and forgets its disorder composing its self according to its measure warrantable by the Age of the Moon Here will it not suffice to say the Moon is an Index seeing it may be so and yet a Cause too as Excessive Heat of the Body is a Token of a Feaver or a Southern Sun an Index of Noon An Index of the Tides so may the Tides vice versa be Indices of the Lunar motion and Both be equally causes one of the other if the Moon be a meer Index i. e. not a Cause But the Moon is a warm Mover and That Influence reacheth yea penetrateth the Element insomuch that if the Sun be constituted the Motor of the Seas the Moon her History being attended can scarce without violence be excluded § 15. There is a Notion of Lunacy abroad in
excepted I have wondred often at Winter-time to see Relenting Air in the Sun-shine and freezing in the Shade I concluded two things both that Cold had its Activity and that the very Solar-light was no Enemy to it not the secundary Light whatsoever it does if in its primary or more perpendicular § 76. Here it will be argued how comes ♃ Light to be the chief favourer of Cold since All Light at such a distance from the Centre doth the same What shall we say If ♃ were the remotest from the Earth we had some pretence but ♄ hath that plea for his Title If we shall say from the difference of his Fabrick and Spirit therein lodged and this argued from its whitish Light then ♀ will put in an equal claim Resp ♄ is most remote but the Consistence and the Spirit is different ♃ is brisker to all appearance ♄ glows darkly and sullenly ♃ and ♀ are bright and flaming Comet-like neer to sparkling and Scintillation this argues a quick Spirit while ♄ glows within the Profundity of his Globe Unless you will extort from us a confession that we do believe that the Reason of the crude Light that appears in ♃ to lie in the crude Spirit placed there by Nature which we are not forced to avow in the mean time sufficiently salving the instance from ♀ which we make not equally crude by her vicinity to our Globe of the Earth as also to the Sun The best of it is that Both these ways of Explication are hugely reconcileable seeing a Spirit will secretly pass along with a Beam yea with a Flame too So the Sublunar Cold shall be martial'd upon a double account the Agile nature of Light and the Homogeneity of the Spirit convey'd by it as if it should be thus with the ☽ she should be the Lady of Moisture upon the same twofold respect viz. the Tepor of her Beam and the Sympathy of the Sublunar Moisture with the Lunar Surely this doth not substitute violence instead of Nature when we say that the Cold Spirit may be acted ab extrinseco by the Celestial Light because All Light so for want of words we call that Innominate Spirit is of the same nature the Light Celestial with the Light or Spirit inbabiting the Sublunar Body and by reason of this Homogeneity One is naturally governable by the other the Inferior by the Superior so is Iron naturally not violently though ab extrinseco attracted by the Magnet CHAP. X. The five Planets added to the Luminaries salve the Phaenomena Winds blowing where they list hinder not their Prognostick Turbulency of Air from contrary Causes Jupiter again a resister of Moisture The Planets not Signs only but Causes Dominion ascrib'd to them in Scripture SO have we indeavour'd toward the settling of a Characteristic of All the Planetary Bodies constituting some of a hot Spirit and They either in a more Intense degree as ☉ ♂ ☿ or Remiss as ☽ ♀ ♄ all Procurers of Sublunar Moisture one and but one how Lucid soever yet either indued with a Cold and Dry Spirit or at least befriending it no Procurer but a Resister of Moisture § 1. And now All Variations of Air reduc'd to the Laboratories of Cold and Heat may be safely imputed to the Bodies Celestial since they appear of so distinct so contrary Energies e. g. not only Rains and Thunders to Moist and Warm but the Frosts and Winds to Cold Productives the Winds I say to Cold Causes mixt with warmer if with an equal Mixture then the Winds are Dry if with an unequal portion of the warm Spirit then Rain commonly is join'd with them § 2. And whereas our Principles profess to give Reason concerning the very Determination of the Winds what hinders for when our Lord saith that the Wind blows where it listeth He is far from making them Animate He means that the Winds were indued only with an Interpretative Freedom thereby excellently declaring the Freedom of Divine Grace which often chooseth its Province where to blow He doth not deny its Emblem a Natural Cause either of Existence or Determination He only tels us the Origin of the Wind is Invisible and the Range of it uncertain not fix'd or bound to any one Point from whence or any Coast on which it blows we know not whence it comes nor whither it goes we see not the first Head-Spring of the Invisible Cataract nor how far it runs on drift He doth not intend to deny that the Heavens are the Cause of it as in the Trade-winds and Monsons are manifest which God bringeth in their Seasons out of his Treasures as the Psalmist speaks Psal C V. nay he maketh use of the very Prognostick of foul Weather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek which in its Definition includeth Wind as well as Rain from the Angry face of the Heavens S. Matth. XVI § 3. These things thus established former Arguments that lay against the Assignment of the Sun and Moon alone find their Solution when we asked if the Account of the Constitution lay only on them Two whence came the Storm the Violence it was scarce rationally imputable to two Stars only but to Five more as Potent every whit as They well it may § 4. We ask'd again whence came the Duration of the Constitution for the space of a Week Month c not from the two Luminaries alone but from the Other Auxiliaries seeing ♂ sometimes is found to keep his Posture for a week unchanged the like may ♀ and ☿ a Week said I yea a Month almost as ♃ ordinarily doth yea ♄ may hover about one and the same part of the Zodiac almost for the space of 8 Months in his Stations Retrograde Courses c. § 5. Next as to the Vnsuitableness of the Constitution to the Season or the Time of the day If nor Sun nor Moon alone can produce Warmth in the Night the Rest conspiring with Him or Them may easily If the Sun cannot raise Thunder in the Winter-Solstice or at Christmas ♄ ♃ ♂ may be so posited as to play such Gambols § 6. Lastly whereas we justly demanded of Those that make the Luminaries the sole Arbitrators of the Changes of the Air Vnde frigus a Question that exercises the Naturalist as much as Vnde malum did the Christians of old we have indeavoured to find it a Terrestrial Spirit call it what you please Nitrous Salt c. Shis Terrestrial Spirit regulated according to its vicissitudes from the Modification of the Light Celestial chiefly among the Planets by the Radiance of ♃ by ♃ I say who for the most part is found by Experience to incourage Cold by his Presence the others rather by their Absence § 7. And this cold Cause I have confess'd Astrology is bound to find since there are Constitutions of the Air existent which manifestly argue Contrariant causes even at the same time for what else are Nocturnal Lightnings about Autumn often in Cold Air What else
if I find our ☌ of ☉ and ♀ in any reasonable Capacity acting at the same time To our Beauteous Conjunction will I ascribe the Continuance as perhaps we may find the like in some after Aspects who are of as slow a Motion § 12. On this account it is that we often times see Clouds as in several Stories Lofts or Scenes one over another I do not fix them on this Aspect only but specially I do such Contignations of the Clouds do shew that store of Rain is falling or ready to fall In all dire Tempests we may find such Bay of Buildings in the Regions above which when they fall on our Heads make a Ruina Caeli the First Heaven doth often tumble upon our Heads And in Loud Thunder these several Stories no doubt heighten the violence of the Eruption and helps to strike the Lightning downward which otherwise would fly as innocently as a soft silent Night-Flame sudden or shooting in the Hush't Night § 13. For High Winds whereof Ptolemy makes mention we have a competent Number which occur both in the Direct Conjunction and Retrograde I observe he doth not stick to attribute Winds to ♀ though he hath ascribed the same to ☿ before All that we shall say is and no body will perhaps gainsay us that there is reason why ☿ should be reputed of a more windy Influence than his Neighbour Planet because of his Vicinity yea and those more often Congresses with the Sun but notwithstanding this we shall see to be Truth that many times ♀ hath her Influence and no small Influence on many Tempests of which ☿ carries away the Name § 14. What more remains will come under the more Platique Consideration of this Aspect whose Grandure will not be conspicuous except we enter into a larger Field being not unwilling herein to spare our pains Here I find the Arabs Summ. Anglican speak of 12. degrees others of 15. which I must needs say is founded on Experience as hath bin shewn in part already in ☿ Nay some speak of the same Sign but of That we say little till we come to the Superiours At present we shall produce no Evidences but what comes within Compass of the first Moiety of the Sign the 15. degree and all on this side of it § 15. But we have not done our best for our Moisture yet Thus then notwithstanding we have said that 13. or 14 days produced for every Aspect in the Direct Table is a Prejudice to our accounts yet even so our Moist Days in the Table out-vie the Moiety of the Total This in the Direct but in the Retrograde which consists but of 3 days what is the Issue What But this that there is scarce one Aspect under that Stile but what finds us with Rain or Moisture Once if not Twice within the Triduum And if so pray remember us to Gassendus the reason we will tell you that in this Case i. e. when Venus is Retrograde Venus is nearer us than Mercury it self So doth Astrology demonstrate § 16. Let the Reader favour me so as to glance on these days following and then recur to the Table First Direct January 1679. die 22. February 1655. die 5. 8. April 1658. die 17 18 24. 1666. die 9 11 13 14 17. 1682. die 16. June 1653. die 21 26 29 30 1677. die 17. July 1653. die August 1664. die 29. 1672. die 20 28 31. Sept. 1. 16. 1656. die Septembr November 8. 1659. die 9 10. 1683. die 1 4 8. January 1671. die 28. Feb. 17. ib. 1655. die 26. Feb. 3. 1679. die 16. 23 24. February 1655. die 2. April 1658. die 21. 23. 1666. die 8. 13. 16. 1674. die 15. 21 22. 1682. die 14. July 1653. die 2. August 1664. die 31. Sept. 1 2. 1672. die 17 27 29. 31. November 1650. die 16. 1667. die 4. 18. 1682. die 8. § 17. I have read somewhat of the Treasures of Rain Hail Snow and so have you Good Reader if you please I will shew you one of them the ☌ ☉ ♀ is one of those Store-Houses for the First Columne of the Table presents you with Store of Rain according as was noted by Ptolemy The 2d with Rain for a considerable part of the day yea All the Day long an Effect I wis of some Consequence to be regarded by all those who believe a Providence and Convincing all those who believe it not For lo on such an Aspect precisely those Gluts of Rain do fall See the same from Keplers Table also ready to be produced least any should say 't is meerly Casual no 't is not so but it would perhaps never have bin discover'd but by our Method of enlarging our Aspect to a Fortnight or thereabout But how That 's the Question if it were an Apple we spoke of the Fairest yields most Moisture But is it so amongst the Stars I thought once to dispatch it thus that the Planets not Warmth only but its Motion also is to be consider'd Upon the Account of Warmth she is a Friend to Rain Upon the account of her Motion she keeps even pace with her Sun as it were to justifie and maintain the Constitution put up For all Constitutions are interrupted by the Separations of the Causes which help to produce them unless when equivalent Causes succeed These Causes are not separated so soon where the Motion is equal as in our Aspect is found Continued Rains are not found therefore so frequent in ☌ ☉ ☿ because ☿ by his swifter Motion bids adieu to the ☉ as ☽ also doth with a Motion much swifter That this is the Reason appears because these Rains whose duration last an entire day are found mostly in the Direct motion of our Planet under this Aspect where this equality holds In the Retrograde where the Sun and She moving to contrary Terms are suddenly parted we see no such Constitution happens With what justice now shall a genuine Astrology be counted a vain Pretence when 't is even demonstrative when it renders a reason of an Effect not contemptible à priori Making as good Demonstrations why Rains when they once Catch are apt to last by the equal motion of the Planets as there is Demonstration of a Lunar Eclipse by the Earths interposition § 18. There are some little Curiosities that if they deserve not our regard yet perhaps may be above our Contempt § 19. First Concerning the Clouds of which there appears these differences Flaxen Clouds Fleec'd Clouds some which I call Fritter Clouds all from their likeness other Striped or Streaked Clouds lying in strange Furrows as it were I have reason to think these belong to the Aspect because they are found all of them within the interval of three degrees and yet according to the general Nature of Clouds so diversified Compare this with Clouds in their Lofts or Contignations These are abatements of that Fulness Now all abatements do spring from the substraction of the Cause as in the
1517. ☠circa March 4. ♓ ♠Febr. 23. Foul Weather Hakl Edit 1. Very great Storm Hakl p. 224. Edit 1. Marca 1. Storm at N. continued 3 or 4 days Mr. Cavendish Voyage 1593. ☠circa Aug. 30. ♠♓ Comet July 01. ad August 21. Hevel Quere in ☠♂ ☿ 1595. ☠circa octob 31. ♠♌ Octob. 26. Storm separated the Fleet Sir Francis Drake apud Hakl 1600. ☠Circa June 16. ♒ ♋ Starr in Cygni pectore in ♒ 18. Lat. 55. N. Kepler de N. Stella Jan. 20. The Thames almost froze in Seven-nights Howes Stormy Purch 1. 75. Jan. 2. ad 8. continual Rains Id. pag. 73. 1602. Febr. 13 14. St. Vet. Terrae Motus W. High Winds Transact 2065. ☠cum ☌ ♀ ☿ 1604. ☠circa March 27. ♈ ♎ April 4. 1608. ☠circa July 22. ♌ ♒ July 26. Great Thunder Lightning Rain Calvis cum ☠♄ ♀ 1640. ☠circa October 6. ♎ ♈ Sept. 26. Winds drive us to the shelter of a Rock The Tramontana from the Black Sea brings often with it such Storms Sept. 10 ad Oct. 10. Current Purch ☠♂ ♀ ☿ ☉ which Aspects being spent the Currents were lost 1612. ☠circa Nov. 28. ♠♊ Nov. mens Terrae motus in Westphalia per. integr mens Calv. I. Nov. Dec. Continual Flouds and Rains at Siam Purch 322. cum ☠♄ ♃ 1615. ☠circa Jan. 7. ♑ ♋ fine Jan. 18. Lat. S. 8. degr Violent Current set us an hundred Leagues back Purch p. 1. 525. Jan. 1. In Thuringia when other places were frozen Storms Lightning Thunder Calvis 1617. ☠circa Febr. 7. ♒ ♌ Febr. 6. much Foul Weather in the Downs Purch 631. Jan 29. Tonitu Fulgur Terrae Motus Kepl. A Steeple rent with Thunder at Spelhurst Strasburg Tower at the same time Kepl. 6621. ☠circa April 24. ♉ ♠April 22. Pluit tonuit in Suevia Kepl. where he commends some of his poor Aspects whereas our ♂ lies within 2 days of it Febr. 7. March Very foul Weather Purch 1. 655. 1623. June 23. Formidable Tempest at Strasburg Fired their Magazin of Powder Calvis Kyrian June 24. 1625. ☠circa Sept. 12. ♌ ♑ 1625. Chasma Kyr 1629. ☠circa Nov. ♠♊ Nov. 14. Heimlichen Erdheben Kyriander 1629. ☠circa Dec. 22. ♑ ♋ Jan. 1. 1630. Here began exceeding wet M. S. 1632. ☠circa Jan. 26. ♒ ♌ The American Fleet routed by Tempests 1636. ☠circa April 7. ♈ ♎ April 7. Heat Rain Thunder Lightning Kyr June 11. Thunder and Earthquake in Culabria 1637. May 28. Much Thunder and dashing Kyr 1640. Aug. 11. ♌ ♒ Heat vesp Thunder Kyr 1642. ☠circa Jan 22. ♈ ♉ Octob. 15. Iris Matutina Kyriander 1647. ☠circa Jan. 13. ♌ ♒ 7. St. Vet. Comme toute la nuit it plu tonte la pour avec tourmente gresle esclaiers Moncon Voyage d' Egypte p 151. so die 8 9. 1649. ☠circa Febr. 15. ♓ ♠Febr. 10. Ignes Cadentes at Bristol Hitherto do I conceive the Earthquake at Messina the Flouds at Riga and the Flames of Vesuvius in Calvisias are to be reckoned May 10. Terrible Storm at N E. 1659. ☠circ Nov. 31. ♠♊ Nov. 17. Sad dark rainy day 1674. ☠circa Febr. 3. ♒ ♌ 24. Febr. 11. Lightning Thunder 1666. ☠circa March 8. ⚹ ♠March 3. Maculae in the Body of ♂ by Mr. Hook Trans p. 240. 1670. July 12. Great Thunder and Rain dashing 3 m. 1674. ☠circa Nov. 3. ♠♉ 21. Mercury in the Baroscope fell an inch me inspectante circa hor. 5. 1679. Jan. 20. Terrae Motus according to prediction which happenned in Guelderland throughout cum Fulmine Tonitru Lond. Gazet numb 138. Jan. 12. A dismal dark Sunday morning Jan. 29. Terrae motus at Fort Saint-George C. W. Limbry 1681. ☠circa Febr. 22. ♓ ♠14. Febr. 25. Another Comet seen at London from South-East ab 8. ad p. broader than the last Febr. 7. Terrae motus at Mentz Francfort according to Prediction Lond. Gazet. March 3. Cometa iterum Hagae eodem fere loco § 12. As the Full ☽ and New agree in Influence so do our ☠and ☌ of ☉ ♂ Did the ☌ raise Storms separating Fleets So doth the ☠Doth the ☌ contribute to a Fiery Meteor So doth the ☠Is there a Comet hovering about the ☌ So also an ☠helps to such an Impression Inundations I do not find break in upon us so much but Comets and Earthquakes are frequent enough to gain the Readers Opinion Bate now the New Star in Cygni pectore I am not yet ripe for that One or Two exceptions will not spoil a Rule Yet our Currents also at Sea do correspond in some measure it may be not so often as in the ☌ § 13. Our Maculae do begin to bring in their Witness For that Spot in the Body of ♂ observed by Worthy Mr. Hook falls in under the Verge of our ☌ § 14. As to our Currents see them brought home to our Very Doors when the Thames flowed thrice in 9 Hours Dec. 17. 1550. Will I say you then offer to ascribe that Prodigious appearance to our ☠I think I may safely especially if we met any such like accident under our ☌ before as Feb. I. 1680. For what though it be prodigious as acknowledged by Fromond and others Prodigious Events have natural Causes is as much confessed And I am jealous there is much in the Sign which whether it prove or not must be considered in due place seeing there are no instances abroad of thu same Nature § 15. To draw to a Conclusion I have taken notice of a pretty accident Anno 1674. concerning the quick motion of the ☿ in the Barometer which at such an hour of the day fell while I looked on hor 5. an Inch of the Sudden Fell I say in the Tube but rose in the Curveture the Air being of a sudden levitated to such a measure Let the Learned bear with me in my Folly we have adventured on the Currents Marine I have found a Current in the Air proportionable to that in the Water For the Currents in the Sea as all Tides are made by Levitation of the Humid Body made by way of Tumour which is always Lighter and more puffy than when the Humour subsides unfermented From whence having received the Notion of the Air gravitating I am by this petty appearance confirmed in the opinion Learning withall that it is the Celestial Bodies which according to their various positions do ferment or flatten the Air gaining also into the bargain that the Air is of the same Lineage cognate to Water and though in the day of its Creation it was rarified so far as 1000 times they say as that no natural cause shall reduce it again yet still it hath a common Nature and Affection with it § 16. I would take notice of the Obscurity of the Heavens sometimes appearing more than others and that
II. Warm wet 3 p. N E. III. Warm close mist Field and City N E. IV. Close m. p. some wet 4 p. Nly Iterum ♋ 15. May 21. ♀ R. V. Drisle once or twice cool N E. VI. Drisle 6 p. cool day some wind N V V. VII Very cold m. Nly VIII Rain 10 m. brisk wd N E. IX Coasting showr 8 p. N E. X. Some wet overcast N. XI Clouds clearing some Rain or Hail 2 p. N. XII Gentle rain 1 p. 5 p. 7 p. very cold night XIII Wet p. m. tot S V V. clouds ride Nly XIV Wetting m. offer p. m. Nly XV. Showry 3 p. 5 p. N E. XVI Rain m. brisk wind XVII Brisk wind N E. XIX Temperate blew mist N. XX. Windy offering mist taken up S W. Parelii at Womondham in agro Leicest XXI some showrs 9 m. S W. XXII s showrs at o. and vesp Sly XXIII Showrs coasting and towards midnight XXIV Showr ante 1 m. 4 m. smart at o. dash at 2 p. N W. XXV Windy wetting ante 9 m. Thunder at Warwick Lightning Rain in the S W. at ♃ rise showrs ♀ South S W. XXVI Showring 10 m. offer p. m. windy S W. June 24. 1625. ☠circa Sept. 12. ♌ ♑ 1625. Chasma Kyr 1629. ☠circa Nov. ♠♊ Nov. 14. Heimlichen Erdheben Kyriander 1629. ☠circa Dec. 22. ♑ ♋ Jan. 1. 1630. Here began exceeding wet M. S. 1632. ☠circa Jan. 26. ♒ ♌ The American Fleet routed by Tempests 1636. ☠circa April 7. ♈ ♎ April 7. Heat Rain Thunder Lightning Kyr June 11. Thunder and Earthquake in Culabria 1637. May 28. Much Thunder and dashing Kyr 1640. Aug. 11. ♌ ♒ Heat vesp Thunder Kyr 1642. ☠circa Jan 22. ♈ ♉ Octob. 15. Iris Matutina Kyriander 1647. ☠circa Jan. 13. ♌ ♒ 7. St. Vet. Comme toute la nuit it plu tonte la pour avec tourmente gresle esclaiers Moncon Voyage d' Egypte p 151. so die 8 9. 1649. ☠circa Febr. 15. ♓ ♠Febr. 10. Ignes Cadentes at Bristol Hitherto do I conceive the Earthquake at Messina the Flouds at Riga and the Flames of Vesuvius in Calvisias are to be reckoned May 10. Terrible Storm at N E. 1659. ☠circa Nov. 31. ♠♊ Nov. 17. Sad dark rainy day 1674. ☠circa Febr. 3. ♒ ♌ 24. Febr. 11. Lightning Thunder 1666. ☠circa March 8. ⚹ ♠March 3. Maculae in the Body of ♂ by Mr. Hook Trans p. 240. 1670. July 12. Great Thunder and Rain dashing 3 m. 1674. ☠circa Nov. 3. ♠♉ 21. Mercury in the Baroscope fell an inch me inspectante circa hor. 5. 1679. Jan. 20. Terrae Motus according to prediction which happenned in Guelderland throughout cum Fulmine Tonitru Lond. Gaze numb 138. Jan. 12. A dismal dark Sunday morning Jan. 29. Terrae motus at Fort Saint-George C. W. Limbry 1681. ☠circa Febr. 22. ♓ ♠14. Febr. 25. Another Comet seen at London from South-East ab 8. ad p. broader than the last Febr. 7. Terrae motus at Mentz Francfort according to Prediction Lond. Gazet. March 3. Cometa iterum Hagae eodem fere loco § 12. As the Full ☽ and New agree in Influence so do our ☠and ☌ of ☉ ♂ Did the ☌ raise Storms separating Fleets So doth the ☠Doth the ☌ contribute to a Fiery Meteor So doth the ☠Is there a Comet hovering about the ☠So also an ☠helps to such an Impression Inundations I do not find break in upon us so much but Comets and Earthquakes are frequent enough to gain the Readers Opinion Bate now the New Star in Cygni pectore I am not yet ripe for that One or Two exceptions will not spoil a Rule Yet our Currents also at Sea do correspond in some measure it may be not so often as in the ☌ § 13. Our Maculae do begin to bring in their Witness For that Spot in the Body of ♂ observed by Worthy Mr. Hook falls in under the Verge of our ☌ § 14. As to our Currents see them brought home to our Very Doors when the Thames flowed thrice in 9 Hours Dec. 17. 1550. Will I say you then offer to ascribe that Prodigious appearance to our ☠I think I may safely especially if we met any such like accident under our ☌ before as Feb. I. 1680. For what though it be prodigious as acknowledged by Fromond and others Prodigious Events have natural Causes is as much confessed And I am jealous there is much in the Sign which whether it prove or not must be considered in due place seeing there are no instances abroad of thu same Nature § 15. To draw to a Conclusion I have taken notice of a pretty accident Anno 1674. concerning the quick motion of the ☿ in the Barometer which at such an hour of the day fell while I looked on hor 5. an Inch of the Sudden Fell I say in the Tube but rose in the Curveture the Air being of a sudden levitated to such a measure Let the Learned bear with me in my Folly we have adventured on the Currents Marine I have found a Current in the Air proportionable to that in the Water For the Currents in the Sea as all Tides are made by Levitation of the Humid Body made by way of Tumour which is always Lighter and more puffy than when the Humour subsides unfermented From whence having received the Notion of the Air gravitating I am by this petty appearance confirmed in the opinion Learning withall that it is the Celestial Bodies which according to their various positions do ferment or flatten the Air gaining also into the bargain that the Air is of the same Lineage cognate to Water and though in the day of its Creation it was rarified so far as 1000 times they say as that no natural cause shall reduce it again yet still it hath a common Nature and Affection with it § 16. I would take notice of the Obscurity of the Heavens sometimes appearing more than others and that in Martial Aspects It may be the dark and dismal Sunday in the Morning is not yet forgotten It happen'd not far from an ☠☉ ♂ whatsoever else frown'd at that time upon us § 17. To speak of the Cold upon occasion of the years 76. 13. is not needdful specially if we remember that ♂ as we have said sits uneasie so that the state of the Air stands upon a ticklish point when ♂ and ☉ are with one and the other in a Frosty Season and conclude to bring in a Thaw as Dec. 21. in the year 1676. as is noted in the Diary For though an ☠be chill of Nature as touched before and weaker Signs must be debilitudes yet ♠♑ ♒ ♓ are very mutable from one extream to the other when they are conscious they have a Friend at the other Hemisphere in the opposite Sign For this is mysterious as in the Chess-board An Aspect bare and naked may do little but alass
20. ☿ 21. ♃ ♑ 7. ☉ ♌ 17. ☽ December is a Tropical Month as March is an Equinoctial accordingly we have ☉ ☿ ♃ Tropical ♀ in the Equivalent about ♠21. If 3 △ s of of the ☽ conduce any thing let others Enquire Howbeit ♄ ♂ are but 6 degrees distant from an Opposition § 66. But hath not the Learned Author of the Treatise de motu Mar. Ventorum opened our Eyes in the Doctrine of Currents and solved them all without recourse had to Aspects or Influences the Sun excepted Resp To do that Author right I must acknowledge it is a Great Piece shewing the Diligence the Sagacity the Judgement of an excellent Pen. A Work that will make him great to all Posterity who shall have any thing to do with Philosophy or Commerce He who shall find the so much desired Longitude shall not oblige the World more than he hath done And what Returns his Countrymen have made him I know not I do envy them the use that They make of his Work the manifold Advantages in Navigation that thereby accrue to those who will learn what he hath pleased to Dictate not only to them but to the World Though I do believe therefore that the Ocean under the Torrid Zone in its Diurnal Motion moves from East to West round the World with some Inclination Northward or Southward according to the Suns Declination Though I do believe a 3d. Motion contrary to those viz. from North to East to make restitution at the same time for the Stream which hath forsaken his Shore by his Western Progress and thank Him for it I do believe further that this Back sliding Motion is that which gives Life and Being to though he scorn to take notice of it what is vulgarly called the Current But I cannot hear him when he excludes the ☽ or as in his Epistle the Starry Influences The Motion of the Sea would be such as it is Situation of Land consider'd whether there were ☽ Starry Influences or no saith he For how rash is that Hypothesis to make the Sun alone sufficient without the Starry Assistance When the Sun in incircled with so many Stars when the Stars are so many Suns more or at least Reflexions of that Solitary Agent If Reflexions from below the Earth it self contribute to Tempests c. Why not Reflexions from above The Sun may carry the Credit of it as we have said in a Conquest the General is cryed up but if you enquire more minutely into the Affair Many a Brave Officer doth his part And this hath in part appeared not only in Tempests and somewhat else but also in the Motions of Tides Some what hath bin spoken of a Moon of a Mercury c. § 67. 'T is the Sun assisted with the Stars which makes the Sea to move 'T is by their Influence that he spreads the most of its Motive Power on the Equinox and 40 degrees on either side of it And if we speak of Vegetation and Animal Life 40 degrees yet further even to the Frozen Zone What 's a little Glimmering To save Nature's Credit there must be some more abstruse Virtue then what is obvious to the First Sensation more abstruse and of more Moment Shall I say that Nature hath made Wine only to warm the Tongue yea 't is made to little purpose unless it chears the Heart also The very Piss-bed a Star though it be in its kind is made to little Purpose if it only resembles our Heavenly Body Beside This therefore 't is known to have a greater Virtue as the Endive and Succory to be refrigerant But the Number the Vastness the Mystical Order of the Stars I am amazed at a World of Wonder arising thence Why on the Equinoctial Why on each side of it Why on the Tropick Why on the Arctick and Arctarctique Circles Why near the Poles 'T is acknowledged that the Sun can do much posited on the Equinox Cap. 28. Doth the Sun arrive thither alone The Author knows that ♀ and ☿ cannot be far from him Besides that are there no Stars there He acknowledges it to hold rather in the Autumnal Equinox He may please to observe that there are more of the Fixed in the Autumnal Equinox then in the Vernal There is the Asterism in ♌ of one side and ♠on the other When in the other Hemisphere ♓ and ♈ are more naked Signs The Motion of the Winds and Motion of the Sea are Consequent one to the other Let it be so so the Motion of the Heavens be antecedent in Nature and Co-incident in time Which on the Sea's part he seems to grant Cap. 21. Notwithstanding elsewhere He ascribes the Turbulencies of the Air to the turning of the Ocean which Nature then labours with In like manner the Navigators Ascribe those Turbulencies to the shifting of the Monsoons those Winds which with the Waters turn an oblique Course toward the Sun neither of which do I understand Collision of Seas or Winds instigated by different or Contrary Causes I grant may make some Bustle as in the Tornado is evident where the Winds blow from all parts of the Compass But here is no Collision here no contrariety the Sun is not contrary to its self A Conversion there is and a Change of the Stream But a Gradual Change may be performed in Tranquility for all that I know i. e. if the Sun in the Tropic Cause the greatest Inclination of the Stream the nearer he comes to the Equinox the more should he incline to an Indifferency to be determined to one part according to the Solar recess from it § 68. To the Stars therefore in the Plural Those Motions of Seas and Winds will be imputed which he will find himself obliged to believe if we shall produce Reasons from the Asterism of Heaven and shew the very Causes the true primary Causes of all those brave Enquiries which he by his Principle resolves Why Hurricanes are perceived yearly almost near the Coasts of America Why again in that Sea which flows between the Northern part of China and Japan c. I could add why the time of the year is Stormy in any part of the Ocean Why it rains so constantly and excessively as to find the great Nilus and its overflowing Why Magellanus was becalmed 70 days together The Reasons and Causes of which being seen will be the very Light speak the Truth of our Assertion and the Ineffable Glory of the Creator § 69. Currents then may be distinguished into Substance and Circumstance as they are Streams distinct and severed from the General Waters or as they run with such a degree of Swiftness as is more than Ordinary with Noise or without Noise deceiving the Mariner sometimes 20 Leagues in 24 Hours or keeping him back with a Stream insuperable when if they cannot stem the Tide though under a stiff Gale the former is to be imputed to the Heavens in its ordinary Constitution or to speak with the