Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	great_a	place_n	1,905	5	3.9526	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51558	The use of the astronomical playing-cards teaching any ordinary capacity by them to be acquainted with all the stars in heaven, to know their place in heaven, colour, nature, and bigness. As also the poetical reasons for every constellation, very useful, and pleasant, and delightful for all lovers of ingeniety. By Joseph Moxon hydrographer to the Kings most Excellent Majesty.	Moxon, Joseph.; Hood, Thomas, fl. 1582-1598. aut	1692 (1692)	Wing M3027A; ESTC N66308	31,031	62

Diamonds and in the Hyemnal Colure are Clubs which are placed on the top at the left hand of every Card and the number of each suit is marked on the top of the Card close by it with Numerical Letters thus I II III IV V c. to X and the Kings Queens and Knaves of each suite are also depicted on the top in the middle of the Card. Of Via Lactea or the Milky-way This Circle is not set down on the Cards because it takes up the whole compass of Heaven but it is so plain to be seen every clear night that it needs no picture Yet I shall tell you what Constellations it passeth through so that you may easily find any part of it that is above the Horizon when you please VIA LACTEA or Circulus Lacteus by the Latines so called and by the Greeks Galaxia and by the English the Milkey way It is a broad white Circle that is seen in the Heaven In the North Hemisphere it beginneth at Cancer on each side the head thereof and passeth by Auriga by Perseus and Cassiopeia the Swan and the head of Capricorn the tail of Scorpio and the feet of Centaur Argo the Ship and so unto the head of Cancer Some in a sporting manner do call it Watling-street but why they call it so I cannot tell except it be in regard of the narrowness that it seemeth to have or else in respect of that great High-way that lyeth between Dover and St. Albans which is called by our men Watling-street Concerning this Circle as there are sundry opinions so there is great difference among some writers both touching the place matter and efficient cause thereof Aristotle dissenteth from all other both Philosophers and Poets in the place matter and cause of this Circle saying that it is a Meteor ingendred in the Air made of the vapors of the earth drawn up thither by the heat of the Sun and there set on fire But his opinion is of all men confuted First touching the place it cannot be in the Air whatsoever is in the Air is not seen of all men at all times to be under one and the same part of Heaven If we see it in the South they that are in the West shall see it under the East side of the Heaven and they that are in the East shall see it in the West part of the Heaven but this Circle is of all men seen always under the same part of Heaven and to be joined with the same Stars therefore it cannot be in the Air. Again for the matter it cannot be made of that which Aristotle nameth i. e the vapours of the Earth because of the long continuance of the thing and that without any alteration for it is impossible that any Meteor made of vapours drawn up from the Water or exhalations from the Earth should last so long as may be seen in Blazing Stars which though they have continued long as namely 16 months some more some less yet at the length they have vanished away whereas this Circle hath continued from the beginning unto this day Besides put case it were made of these exhalations whence will they infer the uniformity thereof The Comets do alter diversly both in the fashion of their Blazing and also in their several quantities whereas in this Circle there is nothing but the same part always of one form and of one bigness In the efficient cause thereof he must needs erre for if it be neither in the Air nor made of the exhalations of the Earth it cannot be caused by the Sun for the one is the place and the other the matter wherein and whereupon the Sun sheweth his power All other besides Aristotle agree in the place but differ in the efficient cause thereof and rhey are either Philosophers or Poets Both these affirm that it is in the Firmament i. e. in the eight Sphere but they disagree in the cause thereof The Philosophers and chiefly Democritus affirm the cause of the thing to be the exceeding great number of Stars in that part of Heaven whose beams meeting together so confusedly and not coming distinctly to the eye causeth us to imagine such a whiteness as is seen But the best opinion is this that this Milkey way is a part of the Firmament neither so thin as the other parts thereof are nor yet so thick as the Stars themselves If it were as thin as the other parts of the Heaven besides the Stars then could it not retain the light but the light would pass through it and not be seen if it were as thick as the Stars then would the light be so doubled in it that it would glister and shine as the Stars themselves do but being neither so thin as the one nor so thick as the other it becometh of that whiteness we see Thus far Dr. Hood But Our modern Philosophers conceive this Lactean whiteness ariseth from a great number of little Stars constipated in that part of Heaven flying so swiftly from the sight of our eyes that we can perceive nothing but a confused light this the Telescope more lately found out doth evidently demonstrate to us by the benefit of which little Stars otherwise inconspicuous to our eyes are there clearly discerned About the Southern Pole are seen two white spots like little Clouds coloured like the Via Lactea One of which is trebble the latitude of the other some Mariners call them Nubeculae Magellani Here follows the ANCIENT STORIES Of the several Stars and Constellations Shewing the Poetical Reasons why such Various FIGURES are placed in HEAVEN Collected from Dr. HOOD And First Of the Northern Constellations URSA MINOR This Constellation hath the preheminence because it is nearest of all the rest unto the North Pole and is called of the Greeks Arctos whereupon the Pole is called the Pole Artick for that it is near unto this Constellation It is also called Helice minor because of the small Revolution which it maketh round about the Pole or rather of Elice a Town in Arcadia wherein Calisto the great Bear and Mother to the less was bred It is called Cynosura because this Constellation though it carry the name of a Bear yet it hath the tail of a Dog Last of all it is termed Phaenice because that Thales who first gave the name to this Constellation was a Phaenician And therefore the Phaenicians being taught how to use it in their Navigations did call it by the name of the Countrey wherein Thales was born It consisteth of Seven Stars which the Latines call Septentriones because by their continual motions those Seven Stars do as it were wear the Heaven The Spaniards do call them all Bosina that is an Horn because they may be very well brought into that form whereof that which is the end of the Tail is called the Pole-Star by reason of the nearness thereof unto the Pole of the World for it is distant according to the opinion

of them being in his hand let one of them fall upon his foot and being greatly tormented not only by the anguish of the Poyson working in the Wound but much more because he knew himself to be immortal and his wound not to be recovered by Medicine he was enforced to make request unto the Gods that he might be taken out of the World who pitying his case took him up into Heaven and made him one of the 12 Signs 10. CAPRICORNVS the Goat it consisteth of 28 Stars The Poets say that this was Pan the God of the Shepherds of whom they feign in this manner The Gods having War with the Gyants gathered themselves together into Aegypt Typhon the Gyant pursued them thither whereby the Gods were brought into a quandary that well was he that by changing his shape might shift for himself Jupiter turned himself into a Ram Apollo became a Crow Bacchus a Goat Diana lurked under the form of a Cat Juno transformed her self into a Cow Venus into a Fish Pan leaping into the River Nilus turneth the upper part of his body into a Goat and the lower part into a Fish Jupiter wondring at the strange device would needs have that Image and Picture translated into Heaven and made one of the 12 Signs In that the hinder part of this Sign is like a Fish It betokeneth that the latter part of the month wherein the Sun possesseth this Sign inclineth unto Rain 11. AQVARIVS the Waterman it hath 42 Stars whereof some make the Figure of the Man othersome the Water-pot and some the stream of water that runneth out of the pot This is feigned to be Ganimedes the Trojan the son of Oros and Callirhoe whom Jupiter did greatly love for his excellent favour and beauty and by the service of his Eagle carried him up into Heaven where he made him his Cup-bearer and called him Aquarius Others notwithstanding think it to be Deucalion the son of Prometheus whom the Gods translated into Heaven in remembrance of that mighty deluge which hapned in his time whereby mankind was almost utterly taken away from the face of the earth The unformed stars belonging unto this Sign are three 12. PISCES the Fishes these together with the line that knitteth them together contain 24 Stars The Poets say that Venus and Cupid her son coming upon a certain time unto the River Euphrates and sitting upon the bank thereof upon a sudden espied Typhon the Gyant that mighty and fearful enemy of the gods coming towards them upon whose sight they being stricken with exceeding fear lept into the River where they were received by two Fishes and by them saved from drowning Venus for this good turn translated them into Heaven Gulielmus Postellus would have them to be the two Fishes wherewith Christ fed the 5000 Men. The unformed Stars of this Constellation are four Thus have I briefly run over the Poetical reasons of the Constellations It remains now that I speak of the Milky Way VIA LACTEA or Circulus Lacteus by the Latines so called and by the Greeks Galaxia and by the English the Milkey Way It is a broad white Circle that is seen in the Heaven In the North Hemisphere it beginneth at Cancer on each side the head thereof and passeth by Auriga Perseus Cassiopeia the Swan and the head of Capricorn the tail of Scorpio the feet of Centaur Argo the Ship and so to the head of Cancer Some in a sporting manner do call it Watling-street but why they call it so I cannot tell except it be in regard of the narrowness that it seemeth to have or else in respect of that great high way that lyeth between Dover and St. Albons which is called by our men Watling-street Ovid saith it is the great Causey and High-way that leadeth unto the Pallace of Jupiter but he alledgeth not the cause of the whiteness belike he would have us imagine that it is made of White Marble Others therefore alledg these causes Jupiter having begotten Mercury of Maia the daughter of Atlas brought the child when he was born to the breast o● Juno lying asleep But Juno awaking threw the child out of her lap and let the milk run out of her breast in such abundance that spreading it self about the Heaven it made that Circle which we see Others say that it was not Mercury but Hercules and that Juno did not let the milk run out of her breast but that Hercules suckt them so earnestly that his mouth run over and so this Circle was made Others say that Saturn being desirous to devour his children his wife Ops presented him with a stone wrapped in a clout instead of his Child This stone stuck so fast in Saturn's Throat as he would have swallowed it that without doubt he had therewith been choaked had he not been relieved by his wife who by pressing the milk out of her breasts saved his life the milk that missed his mouth whereof you must suppose some sufficient quantity fell on the Heavens and running along made this Circle Dr. Hood Commenting upon Constellations saith the Stars are brought into Constellations for Instruction sake things cannot be taught without names to give a name to every Star had been troublesome to the Master and for the Scholar for the Master to devise and for the Scholar to remember and therefore the Astronomers have reduced many Stars into one Constellation that thereby they may tell the better where to seek them and being sought how to express them Now the Astronomers did bring them into these Figures and not into other being moved thereto by these three reasons first these Figures express some properties of the Stars that are in them as those in the Ram to be hot and dry Andromeda chained betokeneth imprisonment the head of Medusa cut off signifieth the loss of that part Orion with his terrible and threatning gesture importeth tempest and terrible effects The Serpent the Scorpion and the Dragon signifie Poyson The Bull insinuateth a melancholy passion The Bear inferreth cruelty c. Secondly the Stars if not precisely yet after a sort do represent such a Figure and therefore that Figure was assigned them as for example the Crown both North and South the Scorpion and Triangle represent the figures which they have The third cause was the continuance of the memory of some notable Men who either in regard of their singular pains taken in Astronomy or in regard of some other notable deed had well deserved of Mankind The first Author of every particular Constellation is uncertain yet are they of great antiquity we receive them from Ptolomy and he followed the Platonicks so that their antiquity is great Moreover we may perceive them to be ancient by the Scriptures and by the Poets In the 38 Chapter of Job there is mention made of the Pleiades Orion and Arcturus Mazzaroth which some interpret the 12 Signs Job lived in the time of Abraham as Syderocrates maketh mention in his

the Law of the Arcadians it was death for any man to come For as much therefore as they must of likelihood be both slain Calisto by her Son and he by the Law Jupiter to avoid this mischief of meer pity took them both up into Heaven Unto this Constellation belongeth but one Star unformed and it is between the legs of Bootes and by the Grecians it is called Arcturus because of all the stars near the great Bear named Arctos this star is first seen near her tail in the evening The Poetical invention is thus Icarus the Father of Erigone having received of the God Bacchus a Flagon of Wine to declare how good it was for mortal men travelled therewith into the Territoires of Athens and there began to carouse with certain shepheards they being greatly delighted with the pleasantness of the wine being a new kind of Liquor began to draw so hard at it that er'e they left off they were past one and thirty and in the end were fain to lay their heads to rest But coming unto themselves again and finding their brains scarce in good temper they kil'd Icarus thinking indeed that he had either poysoned them or at the least-wise made their brains intoxicate Erigone was ready to dye for grief and so was Mera her little dog But Jupiter to allay their grief placed her Father in Heaven between the legs of Arctophilax 6. CORONA BOREA the Northern Garland consisteth of Eight Stars yet Ovid saith that it hath nine This was the Garland that Venus gave unto Ariadne when she was Married unto Bacchus in the Isle Naxus after that Theseus had forsaken her which garland Bacchus placed in the Heaven as a token of his love Novidius will have it to be the Crown of the Virgin Mary 7. ENGON ASIS This Constellation hath the name because it is expressed under the shape of a man kneeling upon the one knee and is therefore by the Latines called Ingeniculum It containeth 29 Stars and wanteth a proper Name because of the great diversity of Opinions concerning the same For some will have it to be Hercules that mighty Conqueror who for his 12 Labours was thought worthy to be placed in the Heaven and nigh unto the Dragon whom he overcame Others tell the tale thus That when the Tytans fought against the Gods they for fear of the Gyants ran all unto the one side of the Heaven whereupon the Heaven was ready to have fallen had not Hercules together with Atlas set his neck unto it and stayed the fall and for his Desert he was placed in Heaven 8. LYRA the Harp it containeth 10 Stars whereof thus goeth the Fable The River Nilus swelling above his banks over-flowed the Country of Egypt after the fall whereof there were left in the fields divers kinds of living things and amongst the rest a Tortoise Mercury after the flesh thereof was consumed the sinews still remaining found the same and striking it he made it yield a certain sound whereupon he made an Harp like unto it having Three strings and gave it unto Orpheus the Son of Cassiopea This Harp was of such excellent sound that Trees Stones Fowls and Wild Beasts are said to follow the sound thereof After such time therefore that Orpheus was slain by the Women of Thrace the Muses by the good leave of Jupiter and at the request of Apollo placed this Harp in Heaven Novidius will have it to be the Harp of David where by he pacified the Evil spirit of Saul This Constellation was afterwards called Vultur Cadens the falling Grype and Falco the Falcon or Timpanum the Timbrel 9. OLOR or Cygnus the Swan called of the Chaldaeans Adigege it hath 17 Stars of this Constellation the Poets Fable in this manner Jupiter being overtaken with the love of Laeda the wife of Tyndarus King of Oebabia and knowing no honester way to accomplish his desire procured Venus to turn her self into an Eagle and himselfe he turned into the shape of a Swan Flying therefore from the Eagle as from his natural Enemy that earnestly pursued him he lighted of purpose in the lap of Laeda and as it were for his more safety crept into her bosom The Woman not knowing who it was under that shape but holding as she thought the Swan fast in her arms fell asleep In the mean while Jupiter enjoyed his pleasure and having obtained that he came for betook him again unto his wings and in memorial of his purpose attained under that form he placed the Swan among the Stars Ovid calleth this Constellation Milvius the Kite and telleth the Tale thus The Earth being greatly offended with Jupiter because he had driven Saturn his Father out of his kingdom brought forth a monstrous Bull which in his hinder parts was like a Serpent and was afterwards called the Fatal Bull because the Destinies had thus decreed that whosoever could slay him and offer up his Entrails upon an Altar should overcome the eternal Gods Briareus that mighty Gyant and ancient enemy of the Gods overcame the Bull and was ready to have offered up his Entrails according to the decree of the Destinies but Jupiter fearing the event commanded the Fowls of the Air to snatch them away which although to their power they endeavour'd yet there was none of them found so forward and apt to that action as the Kite and for that cause he was accordingly rewarded with a place in Heaven Some call this Constellation Orvis that is the Bird others call it Vultur Volans the Flying Grype It is called Gallina the Hen. Unto this Constellation do belong two unformed Stars 10. CASSIOPEIA She consisteth of 13 Stars This was the Wife of Cepheus and the mother of Andromeda whom Perseus married and for his sake was translated into Heaven as some write others say that her beauty being singular she waxed so proud that she preferred her self before the Nereides which were the Nymphs of the Sea for which cause unto her disgrace the example of all others that in Pride of their hearts would advance themselves above their betters she was placed in the Heaven with her head as it were downwards so that in the revolution the Heavens she seemeth to be carried head-long 11. PERSEVS he hath 26 Stars This was the Son of Jupiter whom he in the likeness of a Golden-shower begat upon Danae the daughter of Acrisius This Perseus coming unto mans estate and being furnished with the Sword Hat and Wings of his brother Mercury and the Shield of his Sister Minerva was sent by his Foster-father Polidectes to kill the Monster Medusa whom he slew and cutting off her head carried it away with him But as he was hasting homewards flying in the Air he espied Andromeda the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopea for the pride of her mother bound with a Chain unto a Rock by the Sea side there to be devoured by a Whale Perseus taking notice and pity of the case undertook to fight with the Monster