mist the Southern winds will rage and if the Southern Ass be hidden from your sight then look for storms and tempests from the North or East 4. The Dolphin setting Acronycally produceth cold winds 5. Vindemiatrix rising Acronically causeth cold Northerly winds 6. The Cosmical Rising of the Pleiades is a sign of Westerly winds the Acronycal setting bringeth Southerly winds 7. Sirius setting Acronycally causeth South west winds and sometimes tempests 8. The Caniculare days bring the Easterly winds and the Cosmical setting Southerly weather and tempests the Heliacal rising or apparition of Sirius did begin the Graecian year 9. The Cosmical setting of the Eagle produceth Eastern winds 10. Regulus setting Acronycally doth cause Westerly winds lasting oftentimes for 9. days but seldome very violent 11. Vindemiatrix rising Cosmically produceth North-west winds and white frosts if the first day of September be fair it betokens a dry Autumn 12. The Cosmical rising of the Northern Crown produceth cold winds 13. Virgiliae setting Cosmically bringeth Northern-winds if at this time the Sky be dark or cloudy it foreshews a wet Winter and very cold if dry and clear 14. Arcturus setting Acronycally produceth Southerly winds and much rain to follow if it rains at his Heliacal setting or occultation Saturn ♃ ♂ ☉ ♀ or any one of these rising or setting with the Triangle with ♒ with the belly of the Southern Fish with the right shoulder of Auriga with the foremost head of ♊ with Praesepe and the two Asses with Orions Girdle or ♠the Crown Arcturus with Hereules or with the Ballance all these produceth winds and many times violent tempests especially the aforesaid Planets being stationary or retrograde 16. Mercurius doth produce winds if he riseth or setteth with the thigh of Pegasus with Auriga with the Triangle with the Rams head sharp and cold winds with the Pleiades wind and rain with ♊ with Orion tempests and often thunder and lightning and so likewise with Praesepe either Dog or Regulus the Hydras heart Arcturus and Spica ♠winds and cloudy weather and likewise rising or setting with the Vulture the Ballance the Eagle or the Dolphin ascending or descending the Horizon with ☿ causeth often winds and cloudy weather with the cloudy Stars of ♠lowring weather but with Acarner clear days and warm winds and usually so with most Stars of the nature of ♃ and so much for this Generall Aphorisms in Prognosticating storms and tempests selected out of Cardanus Maginus and Durret THe twelve Signes of the Zodiack doe contain the nature of the four Elements and these twelve Signes by transmutation of their places are divided into four Trigones each of them containing the temperature and qualities of one Element as was declared already in the Worlds Epitomy and being they are conceived to have their severall effects in producing of particular winds I will once again insert them v.z. ♈ ♌ ♠produceth Northwest winds ♊ ♎ ♒ produceth Northeast winds ♋ ♠♓ causeth Southwest winds ♉ ♠♑ raiseth Southeast winds and thus are the twelve Signs appropriated to the four points of the horizon equally between the four cardinall winds yet you must consider the nature of the fixed and wandring Stars ascending with them in every particular Horizon The presaging of the winds depends upon many causes and are as various as they be inconstant and besides all this you must know the winds are appropriated unto each proper Planet as the East to ♄ the North to ♃ the West to ♂ the South to ♀ and ☉ also to the East and ☽ to the West as for ☿ he is indifferent to the other six according to the conjunction of his rays with them For if he applies himself to ♄ he produceth great winds cloudy or rainy weather if to ♃ warm gales with some rain to ♂ or ☉ hot and corrupt winds and with ☿ or ☽ moist winds If ☿ changes his latitude it argues winds if stationary or retrograde or going from one sign and entring the other betokeneth great winds ♄ also doth alter the weather for many days together in his removing from any one sign into another especially being retrograde and having latitude towards the pole elevated and the Apogaeon or Perigaeon of the Planets is to be considered There is never any great mutation of the Air without the ☌ or aspect either of ♄ ♃ or ♂ by reason their motions are so slow great ☌ of Planets that are of contrary naures do cause contrary winds much rain hail or snow according to the season of the year hail is multiplied by the ☌ of hot Planets in fiery Signs the wandring Stars in their swift motions do beget drought and likewise if they be direct and Oriental but if slow retrograde or occidental they do produce rain excepting ♂ and stationary they do generally cause winds and ☿ instability of the Air and likewise many ☌ or Aspects of the Planets concurring at one time do pronounce great mutability of the weather and do usually very much distemper the Element in this Cardanus is oppugnant to Leupold Here we are arrived having past many ambiguous Meanders and obscure Laborinths of humane Hypothesis concerning the nature and effects of the fixed and wandring Stars through which I cannot guide you in a direct line with a thread but am forced to follow the observations of others and the rules by them prescribed and delivered to Astronomers by succession from one ensuing Age unto another yet with several opinions according to the diversity of men and the Countrys they lived in as Aegypt Italy Germany and the like These several temperatures of Climates have caused errors in our later observations whereas their rules were true perhaps in those Regions where they did inhabite I have therefore delivered some things twice to shew how several mens opinions do concur others again I have given you almost oppugnant yet may be in some things reconciled which to do I refer to your candid Judgement to choose correct or reject as you please I have shewn you rules and prognostications of the weather both for days years and the several seasons thereof as by the fixed Stars and Planets with the effects of their influences commixt according to humane conjectures And now I will place before your eyes predictions of the weather by mutual Aspects of the Planets only with themselves which way is generally held and approved for to be the best and most assured tract to follow as in things that depends upon so many and uncertain causes yet it is convenient to ponder in your judgement the former rules prescribed and those well weighed and considered I will leave it to your application and so proceed to the observations of Maginus with some diligent collections of my own annexed thereunto But first there ought to be considered whether either Planet were retrograde at the time of conjuction or in any other Aspect of which these are the chiefest and held of
being a Mother 316. Maxentius in the Eastern Countries raised a terrible Persecution putting all Christians to death that he could find and with severall kinds of tortures to force them from their allegiance and service to the Son of God This persecution constrained many to fly their Countries and divers for fear of Maxentius and his unhumane competitours obscured themselves in Caves of beasts in the Desarts where from savage Creatures they found more mercy then from Man But this Christ reveng'd persecuting the Tyrants with Plague and Famine which so consumed many Countrys that they were destitute almost of Men Women or Children until the Emperour had nothing but beasts to rule over and not many of them neither From the Birth of our Lord and Saviour 1346. there happned in that year three great conjunctions of the higher Planets viz. ♄ ♃ and ♂ and these three all in ☌ in ♒ this year produced one of the most universal and destructive Plagues that ever was inflicted upon wretched mortals this pestiferous infection took the original in the East Indies and past over the world no people safe either by Land or Sea the Air being generally contaminated as with a deadly poyson many that year went to Sea hoping by that means to avoid it but in vain for there they were surprised with their whole families this Epidemical disease was so dreadful that it banished all humanity and perverted man from being a sociable creature Friends forsaking their Friends and Alies Parents unnaturally forsook their Children and ungrateful Children their Parents This general disease continued 9. years in several Countreys and was as mortiferous and raging as ever was Plague in any Countrey Some writers affirm how that this Plague began from fiery Exhalations risen out of the Earth whose malignancy infected the Air and from those distempers begot raging Feavers in Men untill the sword made incision of their inflamed veins a remedy worse then the disease Others say this Plague took its sad Exordium from fire that fell from Heaven the most authentick Chronologers record it thus Lamech a City of Arabia now known by the name of Mecha the Metropolitan of the Antichristian Mahumetans superstition in this City it rained Bloud and Snakes the space of three days and nights together the Serpents soon after perished in such multitudes that the stench of their corrupted bodies contaminated the Air in all the adjacent Regions this stupendious storm raz'd Mahumets Temple to the ground and sever'd into many pieces the Sepulchre of that infernal Impostor The next year the Earth denyed her accustomed fruits introducing a Famine more mortiferous then the former these direful calamities not moving man to repentance O incredulous and obdurate hearts but contemning those dreadful judgements were pleased with their enemies fall until they fell themselves Piety expulsed fled into exile while envy and confusion in Arms put the world in an uproar the sword licensed in the hands of Furies making a rude decimation of those who had espaced both Plague and Famine These three last deplorable afflictions were the most universal and destructive that the world ever felt or the Inhabitants groaned under since the general Deluge when in 40. days all living souls were destroyed from off the face of the Earth but what the Ark was fraighted withal whereby to replant the world again and those for many months were wafted over the angry waves that lav'd the Earth polluted with enormous crimes and transgressions of unbelieving licentious men only under the Law of Nature to which brute Beasts subject themselves This Ark represented the figure of Baptism 1 Pet. 3.20 21. And moreover St. Hierome calls it a Type of the Catholike Church the raging storms and tumultuous billows in opposition to one another resemble Herefies and Persecutions the Ark out-lived the fury of the Deluge and so shall the other to the worlds consummation all perished that were not in the first so I need say no more of the last Historiographers conjecture that more Men Women and Children perished in one of these Epidemical diseases then in the universal Flood the World being conceived more populous then in the days of Noah and the continuance much longer many will not believe these being but humane traditions and 't is not strange since they want faith in divine Records whereof some object that if the Deluge were 15. cubits above the highest Hills the superficies of the Waters on which the Ark floated was swell'd up to the middle Region of the Air in which no living creature can subsist besides they make queries from whence should these magazins of Waters be extracted the Fountains of the Earth they conceive not sufficient the Clouds are but thin dilated vapours the Waters mentioned above the Firmament could not descend so low in 100. years without a miracle To their objections I might answer 't was the providence of God which preserved them to whom nothing is impossible being sole Creator and Moderator of the Universe but since an Omnipotent and divine power condescended to make Mans preservation by a humane means humane reasons may be expected for which I refer the over curious unto the learned Expositors of Genesis yet not to leave them in a Sea at last something I will say not positively affirmed but conjecturally intimated only As for their Suppositions the whole Element of Air is held naturally hot and moist and the middle Region cold but by accident which frigid and restringent cause being chang'd the quality must cease and so the Air in general might convert to vapours innumerable and the waters in the Earth peradventure were dilated and so made more fluxible whose Fountains were opened for 40. continued days the Catarracts descending from their overburthned clouds which time to humane apprehension might encrease the inundation to submerge the terrestrial Globe 15. Cubits above the highest hills whereof 't is probable the Armenian mountains were most exalted above the Earths center and as the clouds were exonerated by the waters that fell 't is like this inferiour Air did ascend and assume the middle Regions Sphere and so made apt for all living creatures to breath in The Deluge ebbing Mount Ararat appear'd on whose firm foundation the Ark rested the Waters by an orderly summons retreated some to replenish the Earths entrails and exhausted veins others confin'd to channels of spacious Rivers ample Lakes and Oceans almost unterminated a great part by the influence of Stars might be sublim'd and reconverted to vapours thence rarifying to Air ascend their proper Orbs again the grosser parts sink to their seats of gravity and so will I this being above my Sphere yet pleased in recollecting my preservation past the hope of one in future transports my mind beyond a Deluge the landing Eternity A Compendium of Meteors and Signs observed in former Ages as at this present most prodigious in Nature stupendious to Mortals and portentious in their dismal events THe Symptomes of Natures distempers I have
Vera effigies THOMAE WILLSFORD Aetatis suae 46. Omnia videntur formata ratione Numerorum Boetius Mans shadow oft does first appeare And so does his Effigies heere Looke in his Bookes and there you 'l finde Him in the Mirrour of his Minde M Boteler Ro Vaughan sculp NATURES SECRETS OR The Admirable and wonderfull HISTORY Of the generation of Meteors Particularly describing The temperatures and qualities of the Four Elements the Heights Magnitudes and Influences of the fixt and wandring Stars the efficient and finall causes of Comets Earthquakes Deluges Epidemicall Diseases and Prodigies of precedent times Registred by the Students of Nature Their Conjecturall presages of the Weather from the Planets mutuall Aspects and Sublunary bodies with the proportions and observations on the Weather-glass with Philosophicall paraphrases rendred explicitely usefull at Sea and Land By the industry and observations of THOMAS WILLSFORD Gent. Venite videte opera Domini quae posuit prodigia super terram Psal 45. v. 8. LONDON Printed for Nath. Brook at the Angel in Cornhill 1658. A DEDICATION TO The Right Honourable the Lady Stafford Sister to the Lord Henry Stafford deceas'd Lineally descended from the eminent and ancient Earles thereof and sole Heir surviving the most illustrious Dukes of Buckingham Madam THe splendor of your renowned Family and the influence of Celestiall Graces illuminating the moral vertues you inherit attracts me and my Meteors as the Sun does Exhalations and Atomes although many have been observ'd more illustrious to vulgar eyes and more stupendious to common capacities gaz'd upon by the gaping Multitude with terror and admiration yet some of them now totally eclipst others prov'd but Ignes fatui the greatest and highest like enflamed Comets elevated on the wings of Ambition consume themselves with their own glory discover'd by their Horoscopes through the Perspectives of Reason Demonstrated by the Parallaxes of their Spheres and by Experience found that the most exalted are but Falling Stars whose coruscations shew their gross extractions something sublim'd from the faeces of the Earth whereas I look upon your Honour like a benevolent Planet Culminant which may be eclipst for some time and also set yet will rise again recover its former lustre and dissipate those Meteors that mask the face of little Stars and thus Serene Lady a smile from you by vertue of your Rays will calme the most rigid brow clear the frowns and cloudy aspects of malignant readers convert the aspersions of palli'd Envy into Pearls and scatter the misty Exhalations risen from splenitick bodies to obtenebrate the weaker inspection of others but if it be judg'd presumption to require so honourable a Protection in defence of so mean a Peece vouchsafe me leave to prostrate this at your Honours Feet whereby your shadow may prove as propitious and tutelary as the Laurel whose shade is held a Sanctuary against storms of Thunder and Lightning I have compendiously render'd here most auspicious Lady the prognostication of Meteors with sundry observations plaine and conspicuous as in a Mirrour in favour of your Sexe to whom I hope 't will be acceptable reflecting on the providence of Nature and in imitation of her dictates providing best for those who are in most danger to be damnified by the assaults and suddain incursions of angry storms and this her motherly affection not only visible in Sensitive Creatures but in all Vegetables vailing their bonners to salute the Sun while their blossoms receive his vivificating beams and if too hot for their natures their leaves fan the Air or their Husks make Vmbrelloes against the inflammation of his Rays and at other times contract them like traverse curtains whereby to shelter their infant Buds and tender Blooms from being storm'd or injur'd by the excesse or fury of the weather but the nobler Creatures endow'd with the use of Reason as your Honour with an ample portion fortifi'd with knowledge those are refer'd to search and argue the cause or by precursing signs deriv'd from the effects prefage the events as the collections of Experience Upon these animadversions in order to Natures Instincts I compos'd this treatise your tender and beautiful Sexe transcending her pleasant and odoriferous Flowers and since the better sort are often now expos'd to rude and boysterous storms by the abortive production of a more blustering uncivil Age the precepts of Gratitude obliged me to dedicate these Observations to your Honour as the Noblest in my eye that the World may witnesse my sincere and grateful intentions for sheltring me In testimony whereof it is sign'd by Your affectionate kinsman and most devoted servant Thomas Willsford A GENERAL PREFACE TO The Ingenious and Judicious speculators of Nature illustrating here the Antiquity of this Meteorological subject in prognosticating their effects Benevolent Reader I Shall present you here with a small compendium of a mighty subject offer'd up to the glory of God and intended for your benefit in the description of the Heavens the Heights Magnitudes Periods and Aspects of the fixt and wandring Stars the natural qualities and greatness of the four Elements the generation of Meteors and Prognostications of the Weathers variable transmutations with the alterations of Sensitive and Vegetable Creatures in their dispositions and inclinations a subject into which the Wise and Learned of precedent Ages have made serious and diligent inquisitions omitting Catalogues of Philosophers from Aristotle and his Disciples on the speculative part continued by succession to these times and for the practical observations of many I will record a few Thales one of the Athenian Wise-men a grand contemplator of Nature and so judicious a proficient in this Art that he said he could be rich when he would by prognosticating Weathers temper in succeeding years from thence presaging plenty or scarcity of Fruits after him divers made observations of the Stars aspects and those grave Experience ratified as in relation to particular Countries or regions after a long tract of time this knowledge was made more universal by being contracted into general Rules and those again much illustrated by the industry of Ptolomaeus the Alexandrian whose fame survives his Funeral Since his time very many have writ of this Subject in a continual succession unto this present Age yet never render'd till now in our vulgar tongue And that I may please all Sexes and Ages the Ignorant and Learned diversity of predictions are here inserted from the Heavens to the Elements from the lofty Pine to the humble Shrub and little Vegetables from Birds and Beasts and Fishes in the deep down to the Minerals in the Earths pregnant womb besides ocular Demonstrations to preserve you from the injury or assaults of the Weather Yet some perhaps will bluster and make a noyse like Thunder without Lightning because dedicated to a Woman should I name her Vertues they would be calm'd or charm'd by their own Reasons to silence but 't will displease her Modesty so I will only intimate her Favours reflecting upon
3. or 4. Comets that their tails did stream or extend out directly contrary to the Sun as if it were by him inlightned But others do rather conceive from hence that these are Meteors whose matter is drawn together and set on fire by some Star or Planet which it follows and turns unto it by some attractive power and their bodies not round but dilated according to the matter Some do think that these Stars were not new but from the creation although unvisible to the world before as that observed by Hipparchus or that in the brest of the Swan in the year 1600. or that which appeared in the year 1604. in Sagittarius and these observed without parallaxes in the year of Christianity 1625. towards the latter end of August a bright Star did appear at noon-day to the admiration of the people in the City of Antworpe which Star many Astronomers did behold and affirmed that it was the Planet Venus From the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Anno 1630. May the 29. being the birth-day of Prince Charls there was a bright Star appeared at mid-day the decrees of just Heaven I dare not presume for to enter into So here I will end this discourse of blazing Stars the cause and their effects not being certainly known unto mortal man And thus writes St. Damascene lib. 2. cap. 7. Fidei Ortho. Cometae Dei imperio certis temporibus conflantur rursusque dilabuntur The middle Region of Air contains watry Meteors as Hail Snow and Rain but some conceives that those clouds which causeth rain to be the bounds unto the middle and lowest Region of the Air the midlemost is thought not to exceed four miles in depth and that the lowest is but so high as the Sun can reflect from the superficies of the terrestrial Globe so one of these regions must decrease by the increasing of the other and yet the lowest region when highest not to exceed two miles and when least or the lowest clouds not above an Italian mile for there be hills whose heads are perpetually covered with Snow and yet their perpendiculars are found by the observations of able Geometricians not to exceed a mile and a half that is 12. Stadiums or 1500. Geometrical Pases as was said before But some do urge that Tenariffe is higher then Pliny fains the Aspes to be others do affirm that 't is visible at Sea 4. degrees or 240. miles from whence Snellius would seem to demonstrate the perpendicular height for to be miles 9½ and others 4. miles There is a mountain in Pera called Periacqca by the Indians which hill Josephus Acostae in his History of the Indies doth advance so high in the description of it as he makes the Aspes in Italy for to seem but like mole-hills unto it and that the Air was so subtile on the tops of them that it was unapt to breath in and that he had almost vomited up his life And some erroneously do conceive the heads or tops of these mountains for to be exalted above the middle region of Air. Cradanus in his 17. Book De Subtilitatibus affirmeth the highest clouds not to exceed two miles and the lowest not above half a mile from the superficies of the terrestrial Globe being by common experience found to be under the tops of ordinary mountains Some would seem to prove it by thunder and lightning in this manner observe when a cloud breaks over your head the space of time between the flash of lightning and the clap of thunder for to be equal unto the firing of a Cannon and the report it gives at a miles distance neither is it heard much further then great Ordnances are as it hath been often observed in great tempests both of thunder and lightning that in 30. or 40. miles distance nothing hath been heard or seen but a fair day and tranquil Sky Some men do think the matter which causes this thunder and lightning to have an affinity with Gun-powder one being compounded by Nature and the other imitated by Art which opinions are various both in Philosophers and Chymists for Paracelsus and most of his disciples do affirm that it is caused by Sulphur and Salt-peter commixed with a great contrariety of Mercury unto either and these three they alledge to be the chief causes of Meteors Others do say that they are sulphurious exhalations confused in the clouds and by opposition of the vapours and coldnesse of the place it gets into a body where taking fire by antiparistasis it violently forces a passage through the condensed clouds with a roaring noise to the astonishment of mortalls Others do think that tempests are caused by the wicked condemned spirits and for this cause bells are hallowed and rung probable it is that it may be often times so permitted by the Creator as Psal 77. ver 49. and in the 7. of the Revelation yet all is in the power of God as Jer. 10.13 Psal 134.7 Qui producit ventos de thesauris suis Nothing in this world is certain or permanent opinions of men have their births periods coursees and revolutions as you may read in all ages where the opinions of Philosophers have been buried and again revived from their funerals armed with new demonstrations and fortified with arguments yet besieged and overthrown at last by the offspring of others which shews these are but disputations nothing being certain but the greatnesse of the Creator yet useful conclusions are derived from hence and necessary observations may be selected from humane conceptions although the essential part cannot be comprehended by us And here I will end this Introduction Ecclesiastes cap. 3. ver 11. Cuncta fecit bona in tempore suo mundum tradidit disputationi eorum ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus ab initio usque ad finem The second Part. A brief discourse of Meteors imperfect mixt bodies and their causes FIrst you ought to observe that the Fire Air Water and Earth which here we have for our use cannot be called pure Elements but rather Elementarie bodies for Fire and Water Air and Earth are oppugnant and irreconcileable one to another as they are contrary in their own natures and can neither generate nor corrupt simply of themselves but as mixt they doe for if these were pure Elements which here we have the Fire would be immoderate for our use the Air to subtile and not fit for living Creatures to breath in the Water would be without taste and not good to drink the Earth would be sterile and could neither bring forth nor cherish and we being all mixt bodies compounded of the four Elements could not be nourished or sustained with Simples Of the severall divisions and dispositions of the Air. THe Element of Air is divided into three several regions or distinguished in three several parts variously qualified in which are generated many imperfect and mixt bodies and these divisions are thus nominated the Vpper Middle and
and in time it will lose its saltnesse being but accidental As for the ebbing and flowing of the Seas the cause is assigned unto the Moon her influence having power over all waterish bodies and besides the Tides are observed to alter as she does in her course if not hindered or furthered by accidental causes as winds land flouds or the like She coming later every day unto the Meridian by 48. minutes or very neer and those Seas which flows when she is above the Horizon of that place will cause greater Tides then when she is depressed in the opposite Hemisphere and when she hath latitude and declination towards the pole elevated the force of her influence is the greater and the waters will flow the higher and rage the more violently in all indraughts especially at the new Moon or ful which are usually called Spring-Tides but the full Moon and three Tides after are much the greater her power then predominating most over all waterish and phlegmatick bodies and requires time to bring in greater supplies of water into the Land Of Earth-quakes and their causes from whence they do proceed THe causes of these are exhalations hot and dry generated by the vertue of the Sun and Stars inclosed within the concaves and hollow places of the Earth yet they cannot break forth by reason of the vapours grosnesse and the close compactednesse of the Earth which involves them and there increasing till it cannot be contained and not finding a passage out it strives to force one and so violently shakes the Earth that it causes a trembling which often hath swell'd up mountains and overturned others and ruinated many Cities making mens houses their sepulchres and whole Towns involved in a grave overwhelmed with their ruines the continuance of Earth-quakes is uncertain from a minute to a day and a longer time according to the greatnesse of the vapour inclosed and the firmnesse and solidity of the Earth which contained it Here I have shewed you the weak and supposed reasons of men in the wonderful and stupendious frame of Heaven and Earth all which are subjected and do obey the commands of the Immense Creator Eternal God and Author of Nature to whom be all Honour Praise and Glory world without end Amen AN INTRODUCTION TO The Third Part. Predictions of the Weather TO Prognosticate or foretel the alteration of the Weather there hath been in all Ages diligent observers of Nature who have prescribed rules and prenotations of the Airs mutability grounded on judicial signs collected from the Stars and the four Elements the principles of all sublunary bodies Of these Predictions there be several kinds both general and particular established by humane reason some derived meerly from old experience yet many of them true divers observations are ascribed to some particular Place Country Province or lesse proportion of this our habitable world being oftentimes confined within the precincts of a parish as by fogs or mists ascending from some meer or morish grounds or descending from the tops of hills high exalted places and low depressed dales some men do observe domestick and particular beasts as the story of the Herds-man c. But as for all such presages as are not general or warranted by some seeming reason I will quiâ—e reject and leave them at home for to observe the smoak of their own chimneys for it is my real intention at least my desire to direct my serene instructions to the benefit of the tender vigilant or distressed travellers whereby they may avoid the danger or inconvenience of foul and tempestious weather by presaging the Airs alteration and the inundation of the lower Regions menacing the Earth with their over-charged exhalations and vapours in tumults ready to descend to avoid these ensuing storms is the scope of my intentions in this Treatise and the better to enable you to do it I have prostrated to your view The Worlds Eprtomy and the several risings settings apparitions and occultations of the Stars with the natures of those celestrial Orbs the four Elements and all Meteors in general the secondary causes under God of heat cold wet and dry weather from whose excesse proceeds want disâ—â—â—d all corporal distempers and from their â—â—â—cord plenty crowned by the blessing of Hâ—â—ven with health and happinesse That the Stars have their influences upon sublunary bodies it is not denied by any learned men and affirmed undoublably by many of the most famous Philosophers Astronomers and Divines as witnesse Aristotle Ptolomaeus and St. Augustine lib. 13. Cap. 4. de Trin. and multitudes more which I have omitted fearing to incumber this volume with testimonies and approbations of that which seems demonstrated unto reason and confirmed by experience and according to Hippocrates with the consent of many others Thunder Lightning Hail Snow Rain Storms and all alterations of the weather may be predicted by the rising and setting of the fixed Stars with the aspects of Planets their natures and qualities considered with the climate region and season of the year The Stars being supposed of several natures and each constellation mixt their influencies may cause diversity of effects as heat cold moisture or drought which are the four qualities of the Element and as for the Planets they do alter according to their aspects which many learned Phisitians do diligently observe in administring Physick and in the time of their Patients falling sick calling the 7. day critical the 14. c. Their reasons are the Moon having dominion over all humors and waterish bodies and in her motion swift doth passe in 7. days and a little more from one sign into another of a contrary nature and quality as from ♎ hot and moist into ♑ cold and dry and the like of others from whence the Doctors do judge of the malignity of the disease with the hopes of life or danger of death and of this you may read in Gallen lib. 3. de diebus Criticis rather then in me And in prognostication of the Weather these judicial days would be observed in the beginning of drought Rain Snow Frost or the like and there would be considered the latitude and aspects of the Planets the nature of the signs they are in passing under the fixed Stars especially where they are mixt with the nature of those Planets Consider the season of the year as Hale or Rain in the Spring or Autumn Thunder and Lightning in Sommer Frost and Snow in Winter Ponder also the rising and setting of the fixed Stars with the Planets the Eclipses Comets and all fiery Meteors and such as these accompanied by nature are justifiable for God hath given man knowledge and understanding in the course of natural things and signs in the Heavens whereby to avoid inconveniencies not with a certain but a conjectural science by the Asterisms or celestial configurations and the four Elements from whence may be presaged distempers of the Air causing contagious diseases sterility and the like as Aristotle writeth of Thaletes
this season will be beautiful and pleasant but if these 5. be retrograde then will the Sommer be vehemently hot for the Planets do heat the Air when retrograde in their courses and when direct they cool and this is general except when ♃ is in ☠to the Sun Planets in their swift motion do increase the heat but when Stationary if they be hot they do inflame the Air if cold they cool it if moist they do beget Rain and those by nature dry do cause at that time much drought and Planets combust in this Sommer quarter do cause much Thunder and Lightning Leupold Tract 6. cap. 2. Autumn Fiery Planets in this season and in our Northern Countries do cause both cold and moisture if in this quarter the 5. Planets be retrograde there will be much drought in every Country and climate and when the ☉ enters into the 18. degree of ♠if ♀ be in a watery Sign expect excessive rains with inundations Leupold 3. Winter Fiery Planets in the beginning of this quarter do produce clouds and Southern winds if that ♀ in his season be direct and the morning Star in the beginning of Winter she will produce some rain and in the latter end much wet unlesse it be hindred by some other Planet of neer affinity to the Sun and the contrary when ♀ is retrograde and Lucifer expect then very much rain in the beginning of this quarter and in the end of Winter but little or none at all This general conclusion Haly doth propound thus Cap. 4. part 1. If ♀ be retrograde in this quarter it doth presage a moist and rainy Winter one Planet retrograde when in ☌ with ☉ argues drought especially at the end of this season going out of ♒ into ♓ if there be two Planets retrograde it prognosticates temperate but moist weather but if three an abundant deal of wet and if four Planets be in their motions retrograde it will presage a deluge And here ends the observations upon the four Seasons or quarters of the year the Sun entering any of the four Cardinal points as ♈ ♋ ♎ and ♑ Leupold The names of the most tempestuous and remarkable Asterismes and Stars observed in former Ages as at this present THe most tempestuous Constellations are these Orion Arcturus and the Northern Crown the most windy are the Goat and Kids in Erichtonius the most watery are the Hyades and the 7. Stars called the Pleiades the causers of violent heat are Regulus or the Lions heart and both the Dog-stars as Sirius and Procyon These are the chief and principal Asterismes observed in presaging the Airs mutability yet there be many more Constellations of note in this kind although not so general in their effects being of much more doubtfull and promiscuous qualities but being part of the Astrologers Calender they shall be inserted and according to their Cosmical ascentions for this latitude of 52. degrees beginning at the feast of Christ-mass and so in order with the Suns revolution in his proper course through the 12. Signs as in this manner following The head of Capricornus Andromeda Canda ♑ Pisces ♓ the Rams head the Bulls eye the heads of Gemini Aselli the Asses Praesepe or the Cribbe both in ♋ the Lions head the Hydras heart Vindemiator and Spica Virginis or the ear of Corn both in ♠the Vulture with the Harp the Serpent with Aeschylapius Lucida Lancis or the bright Star in ♎ the Eagle the Scorpion heart or Antares the Dolphin c. There are many other Stars observed but not so remarkable which you shall see in the following Predictions of the Weather There are divers other Constellations towards the antartick pole not vifible in our Hemisphere as the Stern of Argonavis with multitudes more whose natures and effects are not known and howsoever not for our observations in prognoflicating the weather and so they are purposely omitted The Cosmical and Acronycal rising and setting of the Stars observed in presaging the Airs Vicissitude as in former Ages by Pliny and at this present time FIrst you are to note that the nature of the fixed Stars and their influences are increased or diminished by the association of the Planets or wandring Stars either by oppugnant or united qualities as ♀ approaching any Stars of her own nature causeth cloudy and fickle weather rain or much moisture ☿ uniting his rays with Stars of his unconstant and subtile nature causeth winds and a great mutability of the weather ♂ joyned or commixing his rays with Stars of his fiery nature increaseth them much more and inflames the Air being prone unto all combustions as ♂ with Sirius and the rage of the Dog-star is mittigated by the approach of ♃ and ♀ the Planet ♄ also lesseneth the heat and causeth dark weather and cold showres when his rayes are united with fixed Stars of his own cold and melancholy disposition and thus judge of the rest The influences of the fixed Stars to be more or lesse effectual according to the Planets united with them or ascending the Horizon of any place together the time of year and sign considered and the nature of Meteors pondered in your judgement with what hath been already specified and so to proceed 1. The Star Arcturus when he sets Acronycally denotes cold winds and with the rays of ♂ tempests and conjoyned with ♄ hail snow winds or cold rain according to the season 2. Aselli and Praesepe if conjoyned with the rays of ♀ or ☽ it presages rain or moist and misty weather 3 The Cosmical rising and Acrouycal setting of the Hyades d notes rain and if instigated by the approach of ♂ expect winds both by Land and Sea 4 Virgiliae or the Pleiades setting Cosmically produceth rain and storms if joyned with ♂ and the Sky at the same time be cloudy it argues a wet Winter especially if ♀ be with it and if the Heavens be clear it foreshews a sharp and cold Winter 5. Sirius with his Cosmycall rising maketh the Seas rough and stupifie the Fishes in this I have partly followed Pliny Observations of the weather by Ptolomy collected from the ascentions of the fixed Stars with the Sun 6. ORions Girdle setting Cosmically causeth a turbulent Air and if Sourtherly winds then rain will immediately follow after 7. The Dolphine setting Acronycally causeth both Winds and Snow 8. The Rams head rising Cosmically Presigeth hail or cold rain 9. The Hyades rising Cosmically prenoteth wet and showry weather and setting Cosmically frost snow or cold rain 10. The Eagle setting Cosmically produceth violent hot weather 11. Arcturus rising Cosmically doth predict some showres to follow quickly after within a few days from hence the Swallows take their leaves and repairs to their Winter-quarters The observations of Maginus selected from the Ascentions of the Sun and fixed Stars 12. THe Asses and Praesepe rising Cosmically often presageth a suddain alteration of the Air with thunder lightning and rain 13. The Eagle the tail of ♑ or
the head of Medusa rising Cosmically produceth Snow 14. Libra rising Cosmically causeth rain with some wind 15. The Eye of ♉ or Orion rising Cosmically doth cause rain disturbeth the Air and sometimes produceth thunder and lightning the Acronical setting of these Stars causeth the same effects with suddain showres 16. Andromeda the Whale the head and tail of ♈ the belly of ♓ and Fomahand in ♒ rising Cosmically do all presage moist weather and a turbulent Air. 17. The Sun entering the cloudy Stars of ♌ Orion or ♠causeth lowring weather and likewise the Hydras heart and head of ♠18. The Cosmical ascention of the shoulder of Pegasus and the tail of ♑ produceth snow cold or cloudy weather 19. The Acronical setting of the Vulture with the Harp predict a moist cold and cloudy time 20. Virgiliae or the Pleiades rising Cosmically foresheweth wet and cloudy weather and suddain storms to ensue 21. The Star Regulus rising Cosmically is a sign of showres with thunder and lightning 22. Sirius rising Cosmically prenoteth hot weather with thunder and lightning the Cosmical setting foresheweth warm weather but inclining to wet 23. The Sun rising with any Star of Jupiters nature and not commixed with ♄ or ♂ argues warm clear and temperate weather with those of ♄ nature cold and cloudy weather and sometimes snow with those of ♀ moist and inclining to rainy weather ascending the Horizon with those of ♂ it argues tempests with thunder and lightning with Stars of his own nature or of ☿ winds with those of the ☽ great flouds and tumultuous billows at Sea and if the Sun doth rise with fixed Stars of mixed natures as ♄ and ♂ it argues in Sommer time a hot and suffocating day these last signs are general according to Maginus Observations of the weather by the influence of the fixed and wandring Stars united and collected by Na. Durret 24. SAturn rising with the head of Medusa prognosticateth for some days cold and moist weather according to the season or time of year 25. ♄ with the Stars of the Whale the tail of ♈ the horn of ♑ and the belly of ♓ causeth a cold cloudy and troubled Air sometimes with rain or snow 26. ♄ with the Pleiades a dark and troubled Air inclining to rain or snow 27. ♄ with the Stars of Orion produceth showres and sometimes cold storms 28. ♄ with the Virgins ear of Corn causeth suddain alterations of the Air with often showres 29. ♄ with Arcturus produceth winds and cold showres 30. ♄ with the Dolphin the Crown or the tail of ♑ produceth moist and cloudy weather and often snow and cold showres 31. ♄ with the Hyades the Asses and the Manger causeth clouds and rain with thunder and lightning sometimes 32. ♄ with Regulus causeth cloudy and unconstant weather in Sommer-time thunder in Winter temperate 33. ♄ with the great Dog causeth rainy and windy weather with tempests of thunder and lightning 34. ♃ ascending the Horizon with Regulus in Winter causeth fair weather and lessens the cold but in Sommer it produceth heat and prone to thunder 35. ♂ rising with the tail of ♑ makes the Air in hot weather temperate in winter snow and so with the heart of ♠causing the same effects 36. ♂ with Arcturus ascending doth produce thunder lightning rain and furious tempests 37. ♂ rising with the Eagle causeth snow in Winter and cold weather and in Sommer rain 38. What hath been said of the ☉ these Planets will effect but ♃ with much more mildnesse and ♂ with more violence and fury and thus ♀ with the Pleiades causeth rain and with the Eagle in Winter snow or cold rain and so likewise ☿ ascending the Horizon with these fired Stars causeth very great alteration of the Air as rising with Orion the Hyades Regulus the great and little Dog the Herp Spica ♠c. All these in their ascentions with ☿ do produce hail snow rain and causeth the Air to be troubled and maketh many alterations and often times produceth thunder and lightning and violent tempests the ☽ with the fixed Stars doth often cause mutations of the Air but those are soon over her motion being so very swift And here note that in all signs of stormy weather the predictions given are most prevalent and do last the longer if they happen at the time of any Eclipse or the ☌ of the two luminaries Prognostications of the winds collected from the observations of Pliny and Maginus THe word Wind is derived from the instability of it and signifies to turn as for their natures and temperatures in general they are hot and dry exhalations got together in multitudes yet do retain part of the qualities from whence they are extracted as from earth cold and dry from water cold and moist vapours some of these are called Anniversary winds as blowing at some certain time or season of the year others are called Provincial winds so termed as from particular Provincies no wind being general in all places by Sea and Land and some caused by great and high mountains in these Countrys others derived from Lakes Rivers Seas c. and denominated often from thence as the Levant or Subsolanus called also the East-wind how they have been anciently divided and nominated See Pliny lib. 2. cap. 47. of his natural History There may be as many winds as there be supposed divisions in the Horizon which the Sea-men to avoid confusion do divide into 32. points represented by the Compass distinguishing those points and parts of the Horizontal circle by several and peculiar names and so also the winds answering to those points whereof in this I will use but eight being sufficient for prognostication and the chiefest that are observed And first the four principal or cardinal points are these North South East West dividing the Horizon into four quadrants or 90. degrees asunder and those equally divided by four points more all the eight being 45. degrees from one another and are these North east and North-west South-east and South-west As for the temperatures of these particular winds they are so uncertain in every Country that I will write nothing of them more but refer you to the second part of this Book for in these Countrys the North-wind is cold and dry the South-winds warm and moist making our bodies generally dull and causeth moist weather and pains in the head whereas in the Southern parts of America and the East-Indies the effects of these winds are quite contrary participating of that nature from whence those exhalations were extracted But the signs presaged by the Stars and derived from the observations of learned men are these following 1. Orions girdle rising Acronycally presageth South-west winds and ofttimes great tempests both by Sea and Land 2. Aselli and Praesepe as Pliny sayes lib. 18. cap. 35. that if in a fair and clear night the Manger be not visible expect some storms or winterly weather 3. If the Northern Ass be observed with any
greatest power in altering the Airs temperature viz. ☌ hath the most force and the effects of longest continuance the next is ☠and then the â–¡ the â–³ and âš¹ much weaker and seldome observed in prognostication of the weather except in ♄ and ♃ or when the others are stationary or else ♀ ☿ ☽ any one of these parting with ♃ to joyn with ♄ or ♂ portends a turbulent air and stormy weather neer at hand also in ☠or ill aspected will effect the same or worse Prognostications of the weather by the mutual Conjunctions and Aspects of the Planets according to Maginus Argoll c. Saturn conjoyned or aspected with Jupiter SAturn and ♃ in ☌ âš¹ â–¡ â–³ or ☠are according to the nature of the Signs as in fiery Signs they generally cause drought in moist Signs rain hail with winds and great mutations of the Air both before and after if other causes do not interpose Particularly causing in the Spring a troubled or moist Air in Sommer hail and thunder in Autumn winds or rain in Winter frost or snow a turbulent Air and durable storms Saturn conjoyned or aspected with Mars SAturn and ♂ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do produce these effects for some days both before and after especially if ♂ be in his slow motion and properly hail in his â–¡ or ☠rain with lightning and tempests in moist Signs cloudy and dark weather corrupteth the Air and is generally hurtful but more or lesse as aspected with the fixed Stars Particularly in the Spring rain or thunder in Sommer time hail or thunder in Autumn wind or rain and in Winter remisse cold yet sometimes snow Saturn conjoyned or aspected with the Sun SAturn and ☉ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do cause generally rain hail and cold weather both before and after especially in watry Signs or in â™ and ♑ and is called Apertio portarum or opening the Cataracts of Heaven Particularly their effects in the Spring are cold showres in Sommer producing much thunder and storms of hail in Autumn rain and cold in Winter snow or moist dark and cloudy weather and oftentimes frost Saturn conjoyned or aspected with Venus SAturn and ♀ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠begetteth cold showres especially in watery Signs with sometimes hail but not much yet unconstant weather generally Particularly producing in the Spring cold rains in the Sommer season suddain showres in Autumn cold storms and in Winter it portends snow sleet or rain Saturn conjoyned or aspected with Mercury SAturn and ☿ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do generally produce cold winds in moist Signs rainy and cloudy weather in dry Signs drought in aiery Signs great winds in earthly Signs cold and drought hurtful to all vegetables Particularly in the Spring season these aspects do cause winds with some rain in Sommer lesse wet but some wind in Autumn it begetteth clouds and in Winter snow and often violent storms Saturn conjoyned or aspected with the Moon SAturn and ☽ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠in moist Signs do cause cold and cloudy weather in aiery Signs and in â™ or in ♑ it increases the cold and often causeth hail especially at the full and at the new Moon drought in dry times she causeth frosts or dark and obscure clouds yet sometimes pleasant quiet and gentle showres but with some cold and withal she does much at these times increase the Tides Particularly in the Spring these conjunctions or aspects do cause a troubled and moist Air and likewise in the Sommer with remisse heat and sometimes hail in Autumn cloudy weather with some frosts in Winter cloudy and venemently cold weather especially if either of them be aspected with ☿ Jupiter in conjunction or aspected with Mars JVpiter and ♂ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do properly foreshew thunder lightning flashes of fire and rain in moist Signs thunder corruscations and rain in fiery Signs scorching heat and if rising with any of the tempestuous Stars it may cause hail in Winter and if otherwise storms and snow Particularly in the Spring and Autumn whirlewinds in Sommer thunder tempests and combust heat in Winter remisse cold and a temperate Air. Jupiter in conjunction or aspected with the Sun JVpiter and ☉ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do generally produce wholesome winds or gales fair clear warm and temperate weather especially in aiery Signs in watery or moist Signs it begetteth fertile showres in fiery Signs it increaseth heat and assures us constant fair weather but in earthly Signs lesse Particularly in the Spring and in Autumn winds in the Sommer season thunder and lightning and in Winter remisse cold and a temperate Air. Jupiter in conjunction or aspected with Venus JVpiter and ♀ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do beget a wonderful pleasing tranquile calm and temperate Air with grateful fair weather in watery Signs gentle and wholesome showres and in other Signs generally pleasing gales and clear weather much fertility plenty of fruits wholesome weather in any quarter of the year according to the season Jupiter in conjunction or aspected with Mercury JVpiter and ☿ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do generally generate winds and often great tempests without rain in fiery Signs drought and warm winds in airy Signs fair weather and pleasant gales winds are usually his effects in every quarter or season of the year Jupiter in conjunction or aspected with the Moon JVpiter and ☽ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠doth generally groduce serene weather propitious and favourable winds in ♄ and â™ white clouds spreadeth over the Skyes but in all quarters of the year it affordeth usually fair and temperate weather and very calm Mars in conjunction or aspected with the Sun MArs and ☉ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠do usually cause thunder lightning rain hail with vehemency and hurt especially in Sommer in fiery Signs it begetteth heat and drought in airy Signs a dark Sky and spissious clouds and many diseases it produces especially in the Spring Particularly in the Spring and Sommer they cause whirlewinds and drought especially if the Signs did participate of both their natures the effects will be diseases and cause cloudy weather in Sommer time vehement heat with thunder and lightning and in the winter it lessens the cold Mars in conjunction or aspected with Venus MArs and ♀ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠in watery Signs causeth much rain opening the floud-gates of Heaven in other Signs lesse rain generally Particularly in the Spring and Autumn they generate rain in Sommer often showres and makes the winter season not very cold but alters the present state of the weather Mars in conjunction or aspected with Mercury MArs and ☿ in ☌ â–¡ or ☠in fiery Signs do declare heat and excessive drought in watery Signs rain and often showres in airy Signs warm winds and those usually violent Particularly do generate hail and cloudy winds in Autumn in the Spring and Winter snow in the Sommer tempests of thunder lightning and hail and often violent storms Mars in conjunction or aspected with the Moon MArs and ☽ in ☌ â–¡ or â˜
Meteors seldome seen little observed in prognostication of the weather and so I shall lead you no further until a better discovery of their natures be made and their effects better known which are generally held unwholesome and so let them pasle as Ignes fatui By terrestial fires 49. WHen our common fires do burn with a pale flame they presage foul weather 50 If the fire do make a huzzing noise it is a sign of tempests neer at hand 51. If the flame of a candle lamp or any other fire does wave or wind it self where there is no sensible or visible cause expect some windy weather 52. When candles or lamps will not so readily kindle as at other times it is a sign of wet weather neer at hand 53. When the fire sparkleth very much it is a sign of rain 54. If the ashes on the herth do clodder together of themselves it is a sign of rain 55. When candles or lamps do sparkle and rise up with little fumes or their wicks swell with things on them like mushrums are all signs of ensuing wet weather 56 When pots are newly taken off from the fire if they sparkle the soot upon them being incensed it presages rain 57. When the fire scorcheth and burneth more vehemently then it useth to do it is a sign of frosty weather but if the living coals do shine brighter then commonly at other times expect then rain 58. If wood or any other fuel do crackle and break forth wind more then ordinary it is an evident sign of some tempestuous weather neer at hand the much and suddain falling of soot presages rain A Paraphrase THe natural cause of these as I suppose is this the Air in the lower Region being apt for either heat or cold does alter according to the inclination of the weather whether it be disposed to heat cold rain or wind the Air thus altering when it becomes waterish makes the flaming fire appear pale candles nor lamps apt to light their cotten-wicks to swell with tumors upon them like horse-shooes or mushrums the moist air being got into them which by opposition makes the fire to sparkle or being cold inclining to frost it causes it to scorch the Air which does infuse it self into the pores of the fewel being moist and rarified by the fire turns into wind and so wanting room breaks a passage forth which makes the wood to crackle the flame to wave and sparkles to fly and this in brief is the cause of them so far as I conceive our fewel being commixed of the four Elements and so by opposition or participation these effects are caused and this makes the soot in chimneys for to fall being by nature dry and loosned by the moistnesse of the Air. By Air Winds Clouds and Mists THe Air in which we breath being commixt and no pure Element doth generate several Meteors as was said already in the second part and the presages these if the Air seem dusky hotter then ordinary and unapt to breath in expect then thunder and lightning 60. When the ringing of Bells or other sounds are heard more plain then at other times and if by intervals it shews the Air to be dilated and disturbed which presages either wind or rain if not both 61. A sharp and cold wind after rain foresheweth more to come the exhalation or vapour not being spent in the former showre 62. Winds that do continue long in any one point will cause the weather for to be generally the same whether it be fair or soul but if it shifts often in changing the place it presages rain quickly after to ensue but in times of frost it is a sign that the weather will break 63. Whirlwinds do predict approaching storms usually of rain or hail these you may foresee by raising the dust or any such light materials and and oftentimes these whirlwinds are forerunners of great tempests for it is a windy exhalation driven obliquely upon the horizontal plain and forced down by the coldnesse or moisture of the present Air in the lower Region this repercursion of the Air causeth chimneys to smoak more then usually they do at other times presaging rain or great winds 64. Sometimes these whirlwinds are caused by the meeting of one another and so raising light things as in contention hurling them to and fro at the pleasure of the prevailing party and such as these do usually presage tempests as you see when the clouds are moved several ways at once and from the same cause above as it is below 65. It is probable that there is also many exhalations which do suddenly break out of the Earth and do produce these whirlwinds which are by nature held hot and dry the cause how these do predict storms and tempests is conceived this against rain or any wet weather the pores of the Earth does naturally open and so gives a passage to them they being hot and dry do strive for to ascend and so much the more then the exhalation being opposed by the moistnesse and the coldness of the Air infused into the Earth which changes as the Element does 66. These whirlwinds are precursors of tempests when the Air inclosed in the Earth is apt for to convert it self into these windy exhalations and there increasing so as it cannot be contained yet not so restrained as to cause an Earth-quake but finds an easie passage through the pores of the Earth whereby to evaporate and free it self from restraint into the open Air. 67. These exhalations when they happen for to be frozen in with extream cold weather in winter and venting themselves in waterish places as in the bottome of great ponds meers or rivers where by Antiperistafis or opposition of the cold waters it does congeal the bottome when the outward air cannot freeze the top or superficies of the water by reason of the motion but in the deeps where it is still and quiet these are called anchor or subterranean frosts they are not usual neither will they endure long but when they do happen it is most commonly extream cold weather and little or no snow these are generally held very hurtful unto plants and destructive to the fishes and by freezing up the channels make the rivers overflow 68. When the Air is dilated or rarified it is a sign of much heat or against rain which by your smelling you may know when shoars nasty places or things corrupted are more offensive then at other times 69. When the clouds be dark deep and very spissious it is a sign of rain and sometimes tempestuous weather 70. Many scattering clouds wandering in the Air and moving swiftly argues wind or rain and from the North or South it is the worse but if the racke rides both wayes it foreshews a tempest 71. If the racke in the forenoon rides in the Air from the East westward it argues rain at night but if from the West it does foreshew a cloudy morning if not rain and at any
Captain James searching for the N. W. passage into the South Sea This last discovery was attempted without success in the Raign of Charls the first of England Some would seem to demonstrate this by a round glass like a globe which fill'd with water and suspended in a dark room where placing a candle under it and then t' will represent the form thereof upon the sealing or place the light above and some water underneath it Or in a room made very dark cause an augure hole to be bored through into the open air and so as that the Sun may shine in or upon it Take a globe glass fill'd with fair water and hold it at the hole thus perforated and within the room by reflection of this you shall see many rays representing the form of a Blazing Star or fiery impression and this some thinks to be a sufficient demonstration that Comets are but illuminated parts of the darkned Air or condensed parts of the enlightned Spheres Rothmannus conceives that Comets are really enflamed Meteors and that they are moved by Angels as for a terrour unto mortals but as for this supposition God does commonly use and employ natural means unto natural causes but yet an Omnipotent Creator not confined to one nor the other Galilaeus doth suppose these Comets for to consist of a Celestial nature and generated in the Spheres but dilated as are the clouds Lodovicus Molina in his 5. disputation of the Worlds Creation would seem to gather from thence and out of Genesis that the Heavens both in Species and Matter do agree with sublunary things and Thomas Fiennus inclines to this as by his writings concerning the Comet which appeared in the year of Christ 1618 whereby he urges that there may be matter in the Heavens both to generate and corrupt and that there is daily permutations in the Spheres although not visible to our weak sights and this his erroneous opinion seems something to be confirmed by divers apparitions of new Stars that have been made visible in sundry Ages since the Creation as they instance who incline to him in the Constellation called the Pleiades accounted but 6 Stars before the Trojan Wars and since as now commonly known by the name of the seven Stars This some Historiographers do testifie and likewise Homer Pliny and thus Ovid lib. 4. Fast derived from a false conception of the sight Pleiades incipient humeros revelare pateruos Quae septem dici sex tamen esse solent After many and great conjunctions of the Planets Comets and fiery impressions are often seen which moveth some to suppose them to be the cause in raising the exhalation which produceth the Meteor and according to the Matter it riseth the higher and by the vertue of the fixed Stars it may be drawn up above the Planets even to the Firmament But if this were granted it must require an extraordinary time to elevate the Matter to that height when as a stone let fall from the Firmament and supposed continually to descend 100 miles an hour this stone could not fall to the ground in 70 years And as for these Comets which are sublunary if they be enlightned by the Sun they would at some time happen of necessity to be eclipsed moving within the conical shadow of the Terrestrial globe if their motions be caused or attracted by any one Star or constellation they could not have contrary motions to them as we have said already in the second part of this Book nor could these Meteors change their places so much nor be so violently swift as they are observed Some moving parallel with the Horizon and others in the Azimuths rather then describing parallels with the Aequator which the Stars doe Some fiery Meteors have seem'd fixt and many so rapide in their stupendious accelerated motions that they cannot be attracted by the Stars nor Planets As the Comet in the year of Grace 1618. did passe from one Tropick to another that is from ♑ to ♋ in the space of 10 natural days which the ☽ that is the lowest Planet cannot perform in lesse then 13 days 15½ hours and something more But le ts return to the final cause and fatal events of stupendious Meteors delivered by reverend Antiquity Of fiery Impressions SOzomenus writes of a Blazing Star as it were uspended in the Air with one end extending almost down unto the Earth this was visible over the City of Constantinople Some again have been seen to fall from the Heavens of these Scaliger affirms one in his time that did descend From the falling of the fiery Meteors is derived as some conceives the poetical fiction of Phaeton but Tertullian otherwise Of these fiery precipitated impressions thus writeth Claudian lib. Praeceps sanguineo delabitur igne Cometes Prodigiale rubus Pliny lib. 2. cap. 35. writeth how Licinius Syllanus did see a sparkle falling from the Heavens and in its descent to encrease unto the bignesse of the Moon and this Meteor again drawn up appeared like a lamp or burning torch About the year of Grace 1450 being 3 years before the barbarous Turks invaded Vrope and took the famous City of Constantinople there appear'd a fiery impression representing the form of a two-hand Sword which passing under the Moon then at full obscur'd her light about this time divers Countries under the Patriark of Greece were miserably infected with the most diabolical herefie against the incomprehensible and Sacred Mystery of the ever blessed Trinity which errour soon after put a period to that Empire and brought all those Countries into a miserable captivity and their servile necks to the yoke of a heathenish Tyrant Many dreadful apparitions in the Air are recorded in the Books of Machabees lib. 2. cap. 5. how for 40 days there was seen over the City Jevusalem horse-men running in the Air having golden robes with spears like armed bands charging one another in order and manner of a fight as hand to hand motions of bucklers multitudes of glittering helmets drawn swords throwing of darts splendor of golden armes and coats of Maile This shewed the forerunning miseries of the Jews persevering in their disobedience to God and neglecting his just Precepts until left unto the pleasure of the insulting foe Antiochus giving Commission to his Souldiers to slay whomsoever they should meet sparing neither Men Women nor Children where there was killed in three days space the number of 80000 40000 put in bands and sold Besides this they committed sacriledge and violently took away the vessels and ornaments of the Temple with their profane and polluted hands and left governours there more barbarous then himself There were also strange portentious apparitions in the Air before the Destruction of this City of Titus Vespatian as a fiery sword hanging over Jerusalem the space of a whole year with many other prodigious visions of which you may read in Josephus There happened in the Isle of Britain many portentious signs presaging the effusion of much bloud and
far to seek l. 29 r. did abrogate or alter p. 57. l. 9. r. it is p. 51. l. 31. as r. thus p. 60. l. 10. r. and they p. 58. l. 14. garment r. garland l. 32. reflection r reflect on p. 71. l. 22. r. rising from low p. 73. l. 11. r. Elements p. 75. l. 19. 18 r. 28 p. 82. l. 29 r. warm at my time p 88. l. 15. r. stupifies p. 99. l. 7. r. from ♃ p. 104. l. 5. ♄ r ♈ l. 16. Sommer r. Autumn p. 110. l. 3. r. levity p. 112. l. 26. r. forced p. 113. l 27. is r. are l. 31. r. dissipates p. 114. l. 14. warm r. wan p. 126. l. 20. r. levity p. 136. l. 7. in r. to p. 139. l. 20. to r. in p. 140. l. 22. r. This is p. 147. l. 31. r. without comparison p. 149. l. 16. r. humidus p. 164. l. 28. r. usually p. 171. l. 28. r. by Titus p. 172. l. 20. r. protestation p. 180. l. 30. r. Romans intestine tumults predicted p. 185. l. 23. this r. his p. 189. l. 4. r. punishments Reader These Books following are Printed for Nath. Brook and are to be Sold at his Shop at the Angel in Cornhil 1. TImes Treasure or Academy for the Gentry for their accomplishment in arguments of discourse habit fashion summed up all in a Character of Honour By R. Brath Esq 2. B. Morton on the Sacrament in Folio 3. That excellent Piece of Physiognomy and Chiromancy Metoposcopy the Symmetrical Proportions and signal Moles of the Body the subject of Dreams To which is added the Art of Memory By R. Sanders Fol. 4. Theatrum Chemicum Britanicum containing several Poetical pieces of our famous English Philosophers which have written the Hermetick Mysteries in their ancient language By the truly noble Elias Ashmole Esq 5. Chiromancy Or the Art of Divining by the Lines engraven in the hand of Man by Dame Nature in 19. Genitures with a learned Discourse of the soul of the World By Geo. Wharton Esq 6. Catholick History collected and gathered out of Scripture Councils and ancient Fathers in answer to Dr. Vanes lost sheep returned home By Edward Chesenbale Esq 7. Tactometrica or the Geometry of Regulars after a new manner in Solids with useful Experiments never before extant for Gauging a work usefull for all that are imployed in the Art Metrical By John Wyberd Dr. in Physick 8. An Astrological Discourse with Mathematical Demonstrations proving the influence of the Planets and fixed Stars upon Elementary bodies By Sir Chr. Heyden Knight 9. Magick Astrology vindicated by H. Warren 10. Catastrophe magnatum by N. Culpepper 11. Ephemerides for the year 1652. by N. Culpepper 12. Lux Veritates Judicial Astrology vindicated and Demonology confuted By W. Ramsey Gent. 13. The History of the Golden Asse 14. The painting of the Ancients the beginning progress and consummating of that noble Art 15. Israels Redemption or the Prophetical History of our Saviours Kingdom on earth By R. M. 16. An introduction to the Teutonick Philosophy being a determination of the original of the Soul by C. Hothans Fellow of Peter-house in Cambridge 17. Teratologia Or a Discovery of God's Wonders manifested by bloody Rain Waters by J.S. 18. Fons Lachrymarum or a Fountain of Tears with an Elegy on Sir Charls Lucas by J. Quarles 19. Oedipus or a Resolver of Secrets in Nature resolution in amorous natural Problems by C. M. 20. The Celestial Lamp enlightning every distressed soul from the depth of everlasting darknesse by T. Fetisplace 21. Nocturnal Lucubrations with Epigrams and Epitaphs by R. Chamberlaine 22. The unfortunate Mother a Tragedy by T.M. 23. The Rebellion a Comedy by T. R. 24. The Tragedy of Messalina by N. Richards 25. A Treatise of Contentation fit for these sad and troublesome times By J. Hall B. of Norwich 26. The grand Sacriledge of the Church of Rome in taking away the sacred Cup from the Laity at the Lords Table by D. Featley D. D. 4. 27. The cause and cure of Ignorance Errour and Prophaneness or a more hopefull way to Grace and Salvation by R. Young 8. 28. A Bridle for the Times tending to still the Murmuring to settle the wavering to stay the wandring to strengthen the Fainting By J.B. of Yarm 29. Comforts against the fear of Death wherein are several evidences of the work of Grace by J.C. 30. Jacobs Seed or the excellency of seeking God by Prayer By Jer. Burroughs 31. The zealous Magistrate a Serm. by T. Threscot 32. Britanma Rediviva a Sermon before the Judges Aug. 1648. By J. Shaw Minister of Hull 33. The Princess Royal a Sermon before the Judges March 24. 1650. By J. Shaw Min. of Hull 34. New Jerusalem in a Sermon for the Society of Astrologers Aug. 1651. 35. Quakers cause at second hearing being a full answer to their Tenets 36. Divinity no enemy to Astrology a Sermon for the Society of Astrologers for the year 1653. by Dr. Th. Swadling 37. Historical Relation of the first planting of the English in New England in the year 1628. to the year 1653. and all the material passages happening there exactly performed 38. Select Thoughts or Choice Helps for a pious spirit beholding the excellency of her Lord Jesus by J. Hall B. of Norwich A new piece 39. The holy Order or Fraternity of Mourners in Zion To which is added Songs in the night or Chearfulness under affliction by J. Hall Bishop of Norwich A new piece 40. History of Balaam Jonah and John the Baptist in Verse with other Poems by J. Harvie Esq 41. Re-assertion of grace Vindiciae Evangelii or the Vindication of the Gospel Or a reply to Mr. Anthony Burghess Vindiciae Legis and to Mr. Rutherford by Robert Town 42. All the Works of Astrology of Mr. W. Lilly Gent. 43. Anabaptists anatomiz'd and silenc'd or a dispute with M. Tombs by M. J. Crag where all may receive satisfaction in that controverfie the best extant 44. The sum of practical Divinity or the grounds of Religion in a catechistical way by Mr. Christopher Love late Min. of the Gospel a useful piece 45. The Yorkeshire Spaw or the vertue and use of those waters in the curing of desperate diseases with rules necessary to be known by all that repair thither 46. That compleat piece called The exact Surveyor of Land shewing how to plot all manner of Grounds and to reduce and divide the same also Irish measure reduc'd into English statute measure useful for all that either sel or purchase by J. Eyre 47. Judgment set Books open'd Religion tried whether it be of God or Men by M. Webster 48. Milk for children or a plain easie method teaching to Read to Write with brief Rules for School-masters to instruct their Schollars in and Masters to instruct their families in by Dr. Thomas 49. Culpepper's last Legacies left to his Wife for the publick good being the choicest most profitable Secrets