take the same notice of Dayes extraordinary Dies quidam apud Belgas our Neighbours of Brabant pluviarum atri infames sunt saith Fromond Meteor lib. 5. and he names us one viz. IV or July which he saith they call S t Martin the Dripper quem S. Martini bullientis aut pluvii appellant This Day I find not in every Kalendar but in our English only and not without the Inclination specified Fromond would have pleasured us therefore if he had named the Rest § 6. But the old Verses help us June VIII S. Medard's day Humida Medardi pluvias lux usque minatur And such dayes amongst us are St. John Baptist June XXIV St. Peter's Eve XXVIII Mary Magdal July XXII who is therefore said in the homely Country Proverb to wash S. James ' s Shift while dripping S. James himself saith the same Dialect Christens the Fruit. Add such are St. Bartholmew August XXIV St. Simon and Jude Oct. XXVIII with the day following XXIX the Powder-Treason Novemb. V. c. § 7. All which Dayes being Festival or notable for the Annex of some Mart Fair or other Solemnity could not chuse but come under notice with their Character § 8. Nor have our Ancestors given us days obnoxious to Moisture only we find other Constitutions also noted St. Mark 's day April XXV with his Neighbour St. Walburg's April XXVII and St. Philip and James are marked with an Obelisk for dangerous times of nipping Winds and Blasting Nunc caret aura fide nunc est obnoxia ventis saith one Verse and again Si friget segetes subeunt plerumque perîclum St. Margaret July the XX noted for Thunder Reboat mugitibus Aether St. Matthias for uncertain Air in this remarkable Distich Matthiae glaciem frangit si invenerit illam Ni frangat glaciem tum mihi crede facit As the Satyr thought it strange that a man should with the same breath blow hot and cold so the character of this Day seems as strange § 9. Yea the returns of Constitutions are not always confin'd to single dayes but to series of Dayes whence it comes to pass that some peculiar Dayes in this affair pass into Critical enabling to pronounce somewhat concerning the future Harvest Vintage or Winter for what have we to do with the frivolous Observation of the XII dayes in Christmass as if they were a compendious representation of the Months in the Year or with the Prognosticks on St. Paul's day sure no one Day can give crisis for a whole Year but for a month or a week a shorter term it may Four dayes then there are whose serenity gives fair hopes of a Vintage Vineent Apr. V. Vrban May XXV Assumption Aug. XV. and what Origanus interposes St. Bartholmew Aug. XXIV For Winter Purification Feb. II. and Cathed Petri Feb XXII are also Critical If it be fair on the former of these Major erit glacies post festum is in every bodies mouth if in the latter it freezeth the same constitution holds a Fortnight Again Rain on Mid-summer day speaks fears of a wet Harvest if on July II. Visit B. Virg. wet must be expected for a Month saith Origanus though the old Verse speaks more cautelous Si pluit haud poter is coelum spectare serenum Transivêre aliquot ni prius antè Dies If on St. Swithun's day the cry of England is it rains 40 dayes after if on St. Martin's day in Novemb. XI a wet winter is portended saith the Verse vid. Alsted Vranom p. 490. yea there is one critical Day recorded in Aetius the Physician 's time and that must be many hundred years ago concerning the then first day of Decemb. on which if it rained for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it held on for 37 dayes Petav. Vranolog p. 421. § 10. Some that shoot without aim may abandon these Observes for superstitious as that of St. Swithuns in Mr. Parkinson's judgment is but where there is Experience and innocent Reason there is no ground for superstitious conceits § 11. For the Experience we have said the most of these dayes were Festival and so observable for the annex of some Solemnity and thence came in the publick Experience for the reason we shall give it in due place in the mean while asserting the truth of St. Swithun's crisis for some dayes after more or less which the Vulgar made a shift to call fourty to hold good 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Greek Kalendars have it and That 's enough CHAP. V. The Sun the great â—ight justly admired Notwithstanding alone He is not the absolute cause of Heat no not of the Seasons of the Year or the Constitution of the Day Chance excluded An Objection solved § 1. THis is enough for Demonstration of the Fixed Returns of the Weather and those Returns father'd on the Heavens by reason and consent universal Now in the Heavens what but the SUN can produce these Effects in their respective Periods the Sun being so regular a Mover that some have scrupled to call him a Planet § 2. And who goes to debar the Sun of his due let not us that contemplate the Heavens be guilty of it Let Theologie it self teach us that the Sun is a great Minister the Light and Life of the World without it no difference of Clime or Season no Spring no Summer no Autumn All Time would be Winter Horrid Winter the Sea a Mountain of Ice the Land a Flint and Darkness would usurp his old Dominion over both But sure God hath amongst thousand of other Stars made the Sun appear and commanded him to run an eternal Race in his great Olympiques This Commission as if conscious of the Infinite God he jollily executes and Nothing in the Universe is hid from His Heat At his Rise the Morning-Cloud vanishes the Fog dissolves and the Dew gently exhales Toward Mid-day he bringhteth the Air into a chearful Saphir and guildeth the Borders of the very Clouds with a costly limbus All the Earth basketh in his Light while the Clay is calcin'd by his Heat When he pleaseth he imprinteth his Face on the Roscid Cloud and decircinates the Iris with his Pencil He draweth the Waters as through an Alembick and gageth the Depth with his Beam The Current of the Seas observe his Tekupha's and flock All to the place of his Residence Where he keepeth Court is the greatest conflux the Stream makes hast to kiss his feet He raiseth Thunders in his vertical strength and gives fire to the Priming of his Clouds He raiseth a gentle Brise in the Aestival Morn and fanneth the Husbandman in the cool of the Evening When he mounteth he banisheth the Frost and confineth it as by the power of his Spell to the Ends of the Earth The Flowers of the field open for his Entertainment and the Birds of the Air observe his Night-watches they give a signal as from their Watch tower and chaunt their Reveille to the Sons of the Night All the
It may Portend for all that They deny Apparitions of Armies Wherefore because they can give no account of them They may deny as well a Showr of Rain for any account they can give why it falls with the Circumstances of hic nunc Our Philosophy reaches those very Circumstances because we study God and His Motions the Accesses Recesses Stations Respects of those Moveables which He hath Cloathed with Light least we should say He hid such Knowledge from us Therefore tell me good Friend why it Rains now why every quarter of an Hour for so it haps sometimes Why it Snows in Summer and Thunders in Winter Prognosticate by your Mechanisms what shall be Seven Year hence Nay if there be a Natural Divination then there is a Providence then there is a God then there is a Law of Nature setled which he who is Skill'd in obtains the Gift of a kind of Prescience So does Hippocrates foretel the Fate of his Patient an Arab a Comet and Thales an Eclipse This Knowledge I have endeavour'd to settle and to render it perspicuous which must require some Prolixity where the Mountain of a Common Prejudice is to be removed Yet I will not justifie my self I might have been more contract perhaps I may add that I was never inclined to study the Arabs I fetched not this Knowledge from them When I saw I was engaged to consult them I knew here was a Meum Tuum even among them so I gave them their due I have often apolâ—gized in the following Papers for the Length of the Diaries inserted I labour'd to find the utmost of the Planetary Communication which I have shewn to be large That is the chief thing I pretend to and I hope if it brings its Conviction it will be kindly accepted To conclude I wish the Reader a discerning Spirit in all Truth he pursues not only in this but in a more Celestial Philosophy So far am I on all accounts his unfeigned and absolute Well-Wisher J. GOAD The Characters which are made use of in the following Papers are thus explained Planets Saturn ♄ Jove ♃ Sol ☉ Mars ♂ Venus ♀ Mercury ☿ The Moon ☽ Aspects Conjunction ☌ Sextile âš¹ Quartile â–¡ Trine â–³ Opposition ☠The XII Signs of the Zodiack Aries ♈ Taurus ♉ Gemini ♊ Cancer ♋ Leo ♌ Virgo â™ Libra ♎ Scorpio â™ Sagittary â™ Capricorn ♑ Aquary â™’ Pisces ♓ A. l. ante lucem A. m. ante merid m. p. most part d. t. die toto T. M. Terrae Motus or Earthquake R. Retrograde Dir. Direct ASTRO-METEOROLOGICA APHORISMS and Discourses concerning the Natures of the Bodies Celestial c. BOOK I. CHAP. I. God the First His Second Cause the Heavens Their admirable Power on the Sublunary World on the Air especially The Causes of Meteors ordinary or prodigious Angelick Powers § 1. GOD Almighty the Great and Wise Creator Blessed for ever for no legitimate Astrology can exclude Him is not only in Himself but even in his Works Incomprehensible § 2. Amongst His other infinitely various Operations He is admirably discovered in the constitution of the Air and its strange Vicissitudes which the Divine Word unquestionably produceth by a Second inferior Cause or Generant § 3. The Theatre on which these Alterations are hourly acted being the open Air Mankind hath more easily arrived at some little Apprehension of this Second Cause the Region in which they are presented being so neer and pervious § 4. As reasonable as it is to believe that the Sea comprehendeth all the Seminal Causes of Her Productions and the Earth of what is bred in Her Bowels also so natural is it to imagine that the Heavens are not Idle but rather give Spirit and Influence to all things under their Convexity viz. the Air and its Regions with the Globe of Water and Earth These being but minor Orbs all inclosed within the vast Embraces of the major even as the Foetus is embraced by the Womb and the Membranes that are agnate to it § 5. The World therefore in all Ages hath been convinced that the Heavens have no small Power on the premises and every Body within their respective Inclosures § 6. On the Air especially and its Phaenomena the Meteors as they are distinguished vulgarly into Real or Apparent § 7. Of these latter none go about to deny that the Heavens are the due Efficient whether Halo's Rainbows Parelia Paraselenae Chasms Clarities Nocturnal the Morning and Evening-Blushes of the Heavens to which may be added the rarer appearance of its seeming Conflagration unless That prove gather to be Real § 8. But no less are they the due Effective of the former the Real ones though some Well-meaners would fain deny it whether Clouds Rain Mist Dews Fiery Trajections Ignes fatui Lightning Thunder Blasting Frost Snow Hail Winds § 9. And of All these whensoever they happen whether in Measure or Excess Ordinary or Prodigious and they again whether Homogeneous such as those Dire Tempests called of old Ecnephiae Exhydriae Fistulae Plin. hist nat II. 48 49. known amongst us by the names of Sponts Huracans Tornados Travados c. or Heterogeneous as the Rains of Dusts Ashes Milk Blood c. § 10. No other is the Cause after all that can be disputed of that great phaenomenon the Comet and That not only Sublunar but Celestial § 11. The same also is most justly acknowledged the Cause of the motion of the Sea its Ebbs and Flowes which some great Artists would pin on the motion of the Earth others on the inward Principle of the Element § 12. Yea the Heavens though it may seem to be no less than a Contradiction are to be admitted Causes of Earthquakes Meteors as they are rightly called of the Subterranean Region § 13. Powers Angelical Good or Evil are no Causes solitary or such as do evacuate the proper Causality of the Heavens § 14. Stormy Winds therefore which are harmful to Countrey or Province are no Arguments whatsoever the vulgar are perswaded of Sorcery or Conjuration § 15. Hereby it is not intended to deny that Spirits can raise or bestow Winds or Tempests and that it may be by Arbitrary means though I see some are willing to excuse Lapland from such Inditement § 16. Showers of Stone Dust Ashes Blood Corn c. which I call Prodigious out of kind § 9. are generated first in the Air not elevated thither by any violent natural Spirit as some think so that if they may be fairly imputed to an Angelick Administration yet neither can the Heavens be wholly excluded § 17. Concerning prodigious Showres of Creatures Animate as Frogs c. although the more probable Opinion saith they are generated in the Region from whence they fall yet here I am not ingaged to undertake § 18. Noises and Apparitions of Armies with Military Equipage and Tumult can at no hand exclude an Angelic and that a Principal Cause CHAP. II. Meteors their Material Cause and that there is
the world yea and extant in the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 S. Matth. IV. whether it signifie Epileptick persons as is certain say Physicians from the Symptoms Matth. XV. or the Raving Melancholy distracted Persons as the Syriac expounds it see the Learned Martinius in Lexic such as we meet S. Matth. VIII and S. Marc. V. they are both sad Instances of the Lunar Dominion on Humour in general and the Humours of our Temperature Of the Epilepsie 't is confess'd of the Other also 't is as true by the testimony of the Syriack And though some of the Antients S. Hier. and Origen are jealous of this Notion ascribing all to Diabolical Ferity and Cunning lest we should raise an Evil Report and bring Infamy on God's good Creature if we should grant the Moon contributed any thing of disposition to the Distemper yet we answer in a conciliatory way with the Generality of the Learned avoiding Both Extremes thus To refer all to the Natural Cause is one Extreme to impute All to the Infernal Fiend is the Other There is more danger of Injury done to Religion in the denial of these Natural Evidences than of Infamy to God's Creature in admitting them It would be wrong to the Creature to say the contrary seeing This also Lunar Warmth is God's Creation Therefore the Arabick Translator owns the Philosophy and construes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be Those who are tormented and vexed in principiis Pleniluniorum whether he means Either or Both of the Distempers abovesaid is to be learned from the Arabian Physicians See Gul. Ader the pious Critick on the Diseases mentioned in the Gospels § 16. The Experience concerning the Shelfish and their fatness at the Interlunium is evaded by saying that the Tide recruits them the Fresh water that comes along with it But doth not the Moon conduce to the freshning i. e. rarifying and quickning of that Stream Doth it not immit a new or call up the native spirit from its recesses to the very surface of the Element The Lunar warmth hat a double Office not only quickning the Aliment but as the Philosopher saith comforting the Cold bloodless Feeder his words are these The Shel-fish thrive most at the Full Moon not because they feed more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quite contrary to the Answer given but because the Nights are warmer by reason of the Moon de part Animal IV. 5. For bloodless Creatures saith he are easily chill'd and rejoice therefore in warmth Now warmth we know nourisheth as well as Victuals as we see in Sleep not excluding the Food but distributing it Certainly the Lunar History gives Instances of its Power over those Bodies whose Nutrition is not so facile as Theirs seems to be who have a whole Sea to guzle in § 17. But at Cambaja it seems at Bengala Java Islands and elsewhere neither do the Tides appear at the New or Full but at the Quarters when the Shel-fish also make their Markets Answ Some Difficulties there are and who can expect otherwise that studies the Universe rais'd against the Moon 's Soveraignty which yet are found to vanish the nature of the place be it Sea or Shore once consider'd For whatsoever difference here is found no doubt is on the part of the Recipient according to that good Maxim Quicquid recipitur c. and that solves all doubts in this case even the various Fluxes of Euripus it self For let the Ocean flow in some places four hours and ebb eight as with us in others seven and ebb five as long as it flows once in 12 hours and twice a day we are secure Do these Spring-Tides observe the Quarters of the Moon invariably do they keep their times for the whole Periods twice a day with other Ports does the Succession keep to its Measure I mean happen 48 Minutes later every day The Moon is the cause even of those Quarterly Floods yea the Change and Full may be the Cause with Us while the Quadrate may be assigned for the Cause there the Quadrate being less powerful than the Conjunction but not utterly infirm or of no force as will be seen hereafter Who knows then but that the Quadrate the less in an Intemperate Zone may be equivalent to the greater in a Temperate we having defin'd that 't is not Heat in every degree but only a Kind and a Temper'd Warmth that is effectual The Conjunction and Opposition may be excessive in the Torrid Zone and so unfit to raise the Humid Spirits on which account we are taught that the smallest Tides are perceived under the Equator Be the Mystery what it will many Definitions are absolutely True confin'd to their Clime which universally cannot hold The Sun riseth and setteth in 24 hours in Greenland not so the South-wind blows from the Pole not in these Countreys the Absence of the Sun causeth Winter with us but Those under the Line have no Winter but when the Sun is nearest them § 18. I must not conceal that I have seen an Ingenious Manuscript concerning this Subject determin'd by the Hypothesis of a third motion of the Earth with great happiness solving many New Phaenomena but yet I who have not proceeded so far in Mathematicks as to espouse Any Thing of that Principle content my self with these vulgar Presumptions and think I have some reason so to do when I shall have ask'd these few Questions not determinable I fear by such Hypothesis 1. Why even in calm and dry weather the Tides from the Change to the Quartile from the Quartile to the Full yea the Two Tides of the same day keep not their proportional Increase or Abatement 2. Why the Spring-Tide about the Full of the Moon most commonly is less than That about the Change 3. Why the Moon 's Perigee swels the Tide more than the Apogee in as much as what Dr. Childrey my late worthy Friend hath observed All prodigious Floods have happen'd remarkable at that time 4. Why the Moon commonly loses nothing at her appulse to the Equinox at what time of the Month soever it happens 5. Why it gains in her Applications to either Tropick if in her utmost Latitudes Northern or Southern 6. Why the Moon on the day of the Last Quadrate decreasing makes as high a Water sometimes higher than at the First in the Increase 7. Why the Lunar Aspects even with the Rest of the Planets do advance the Tides yea and her Applications also to some of the Notable Stars amongst the Fixed § 19. It may not be amiss here to glance upon Sacred Authority where there is manifest Testimony of the Lunar Energy Per Diem Sol non percutiet te neque Luna per Noctem Psalm XXI That 's the First The other is in Deut. XXXIII where Joseph's Blessing is not compleat without the pretious things of Heaven the Dew c. yea not without the pretious Fruits brought forth by the Sun and the pretious Things put forth by the Moon Whatsoever
Light in the Heaven was made for Illumination only few things in Nature are made for one single end For how many Ends was the Tongue given Us or the Wing given to the Fowl without it the Fowl cannot fight nor procreate nor keep its Bill warm as well as not fly without it For the Planets and other Lights are for half their time invisible they are with the Sun in the diurnal Hemisphere as well as in the necturnal and therefore were not made no not the Sun it self for a naked Illumination If the Moon were made for Illumination only she would never appear by day when there is no need of her Light nor ever disappear at night when there is need Sure Mercury so seldom seen unless in Southern Climes was not made for Illumination only on chiefly to say nothing of the Satellites properly so called If an Atheist should accuse the disorder of Nature and through that pretence deny the Wisdom of an Eternal Providence by urging the appearance of the Moon by day or the hiding of Venus Mercury Saturn c. and half the Numbers of the Fixed which were made for Lights I would teach him this Truth That no Star in Heaven was made for Illumination only they were made for Influences i. e for we are not enamoured with any occult Qualities the Distributions the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Heat as well as Light For § 3. Since All Bodies Celestial are Lucid either by an Innate or Reflex Light they must all of them have a Warmth more or less at least some quality that is homogeneous to it § 4. I said Hemogeneous because though Light and Heat do differ incredibly in their Expansions the Spheres of their Activity being so incomprehensibly disproportionable as we see by the measures of the Warmth and the Illumination the Illumination reaching as far as the Pyramid of its Visiolity which may be for four or five Mile while the Warmth extends not above so many Yards yet they are really and substantially the same spirit though differing formally as they may relate to several faculties sensitive the one to the Eye the other to the Touch. § 5. The Sun is the Fountain of Light the re◠of the Planets it may be are but Reflexions notwithstanding if they are no better those Reflex Bodies as is apparent in the Moon beside their Magnitude and Approximation to the Earth may have such Concavities and other Difformities of Solid Surface that even the Reflexion may conceive Heat sufficient for what Operation they are destined § 6. The Sun 't is true the Holy Scripture calls a Light but not a naked Light for Experience it self tells us that there is nothing hid from the Heat thereof the Peripatetick Fancy hath no foundation nor in one nor in the other nor Scripture nor Experience § 7. Mark then as the Sun hath his Diurnal and Annual motion from Tropique to Tropique so the rest of the Planets have their Diurnal Annual or other Periodical motion between the same termes Therefore all the rest have their Heat also For no other reason hath or can the World give why the Sun should move to and fro in the Obliquity of the Zodiack but for the application and substraction of his Heat which I call Influence It follows therefore that the rest of the Planets which are appointed to the same oblique motion must have some such Influence to distribute 't is a Demonstration à Fine and such we take supposing Providence to be good § 8. We have not without cause therefore justified the Astrologer on the Moon 's part when he makes us believe that according to her motion there is a kind of Lunar Spring Summer latter Spring Winter according to her Posse every month So though the Sun be the chief as the Rose in the Posie yet every little Pink hath his Sent and a little Sagacity will distinguish them § 9. Those of the longer Period ♄ ♃ ♂ to those that are Masters of Observation shall be found to bear the same Proportion making a Vernal Temper for their parts on the Aequinox an Aestival Temper in the Northern Signs and the contrary in the Southern For ♀ and ☿ it is clear that generally the later is the Spring when they are behind the Sun and the more early when they shoot before it § 10. But the Heavenly Bodies must be found of different Natures so far forth as to favour Cold as well as Heat and Dyrth as well as Moisture or else no Art can give a rational account of the Contrariety of the Constitutions depending thereon Thence all Astrology hath been forced to find one chiller and colder Planet than the rest And sure it is notwithstanding their Light and Radiance that they are not all of the same Energy or Operation CHAP. IX Natures of the Planets according to the Antients then according to Truth Not ♄ but ♃ the Coldest Planet Cold no Privation The Primum Frigidum How a Lucid Body can patronize Cold. Light is the Spirit of the Universe § 1. PTolemy hath not adjusted the Definitions or Properties of the Planets beyond Exception § 2. The greater misery is that they do not agree so much as I could wish with modern Experience let the Curious Naturalist enquire for the Planetary Definitions are the Fundamentals of All Astrology whether Legitimate or Suspicious § 3. Ptolemy and All Astrologers after him say thus First the Nature of the Sun consists in a moderate Warmth and Drought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. § 4. ☽ nature is Moistning with some degree of Warmth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 5. ♄ is the Cold Planet Cold and Dry the First in an intense the Latter in a more remiss degree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 6. ♂ is contrary Hot Dry and Burning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 7. ♃ of a temperate faculty warm and moistning but rather warming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 § 8. ♀ temperate as ♃ only with this difference that whereas ♃ warms more moistens less ♀ only contrary contributes to Warmth less and more to Moisture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. § 9. ☿ is indifferent as to Moisture or Drought sometimes for the one sometimes for the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elsewhere he saith somewhat dry 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary in that to ♀ § 10. Ptolemy his Evidences are from Sense and Reason the Difference of their sensible Magnitude the Difference of their Colour their Difference of Situation in respect of the Earth and Sun § 11. Now the Sun's Heat he argues because All Disputation is plausible in its first Theoremes from the Administration of the IV. Seasons the Approaches of the Sun to the Zenith witnessed as he saith also by his singular Magnitude § 12. The Neerness of the ☽ to the Earth being moderately warm by the Sun's irradiations draws up Moisture He doth not say draws it up even to the Lunar Sphere as if the ☽ were affected by the
are Lightning and Hail Fire and Freezing § 8. Hitherto must we bring All Turbulency since all Trouble in Nature proceeds from Contraries from Antipathies and Impatiencies mutual of Several Natures at the same time ingaged Thus shall we see a vast Cloud pregnant with Thunder bear up against the Wind and a Superior Cloud ride contrary to the Inferior such do I undertake all Constitutions are which are Droughty Soultry and yet serene the Serenity and the Drought being imputed to a cold Original mixt with the Contrary § 9. So that it is no miracle to observe white Frosty Mornings in May or July ushering in a soultry Day yea it is a known Prognostick of such a day to find a Fog proceeding from a cold Cause blinding our early Prospect in the Country That and hazy Air the first Lineaments of Mist or Fog we impute to the Influence of ♃ blended or configur'd with his Fellows § 10. Certainly is he justly defin'd the Resister of Moisture being the Parent of Serenity of such resistance that when he cannot prevail so far as to hinder a cloudy Sky he will and 't is a fine Experiment do his best then to make the Cloud Barren and Unfruitful who if it happen that he is overpowred so far as to admit a moist Constitution obtruded upon him yet he will maintain his power so as to choke up the Moisture with a Mist or niggardly crumble it into a Drisle § 11. And whereas it may be observed by the studious Inquirer into these things that our Principle of Cold may sometimes be deeply ingaged in Great and Violent Rains or dangerous Flashing Lightnings which are Moist and Warm Productions the Answer is legible in the Objection for violence in Nature many times presupposes some great Resistance which for a while staves it off 'till that Resistance like a Dam in a Stream being broken and overpowr'd admits the Danger to shew it self 'T is not often that One Planet is deeply ingaged deeply I said for there is a difference at such times but when such an Hour cometh the Violence may be really ascribed to Causes contrariant their Action Reaction Resistance and Counter-resistance one to the other All Lightnings are not alike Dangerous some play more remote out of harm's way some flash angrily and sudden near the Earth Experience of the Forge teacheth that a cold Infusion addes violence to the Flame This cold Activity is discernible also by Hail-stones at such times intermix'd howbeit suppose there is none because some Situations are no friends to that Meteor the Violence it self is no obscure token of contrary Action as we see commonly in Thunder-showers with extraordinary Copiousness succeeding the Flash or Crack Tantae molis erat so many and so potent are the Celestial Instruments used by Providence in the Alterations over head the Sun the Moon and the Rest as it seems of the Number § 12. When therefore God is pleased to call the Luminaries and in Them the Rest also by the Name of Signs he is far from denying his own Ordinance whereby he hath made them not Signs and Siphres but Authors and Causes of Inferior Mutations giving them Rule Gen. I. a signal Dominion over the Earth Dominion seeming to be a very Aegyptian word from whom Moses in all probability borrow'd it nay there are no less than three words signifying the same literally and properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Hebr. and Chaldee so that there is no arguing from the signs in Gen. I. unless we can find in our heart to aver that the ☽ is a Sign of the Month and the Sun a Sign of Spring and Summer c. a bare Sign § 13. As weak is the Argument drawn by Learned men Picus Petavius c. the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used as we have seen by the Ancient Astrologers when they treat nevertheless of the Effects since every Cause not hidden but incurring into Sense is apt to signifie as Rains signifie Flouds and Turbulent Winds a great Sea Nor could the Ancient Observers be imagin'd to watch the Celestial Motions with such care and diligence but with hopes of obtaining the Cause in which they knew they had made no small progress when after a little Observation they concluded the Sign CHAP. XI Aspects the Old justified the New rejected They depend not on Harmonical Proportion Their Revolution Duration and unquestionable Significancy The single Aspects no absolute Cause but only Causa sine qua non A large Soul required to the due Contemplation of the Bodies Celestial The Certainty of the Moon 's Natural Warmth That being admitted the Congresses with Her make way for discovery of the Rest § 1. PLanetary Aspects are no vain Terms of a Bawbling Art but are Mysterious Schematisms of a secret Force and Power toward the Alteration of the Sublunar World especially the Air and those Great Issues that depend thereon according to the Natures of the Influences and the Influenced § 2. Planets therefore without such Habitude must of necessity have their Energy for on what shall the Efficacy of the Combination be founded if the Terms combin'd be utterly insignificant Complication of Ciphres make no tale § 3. Besides 't is unreasonable to deem that Two in Configuration should be Active and twice two without such Combination be ineffective § 4. The new Aspects though the Diligent Kepler after his Tutor Mich. Moestlin ascrib'd much to them are not much to be regarded unless perhaps the Quincunce and Semisextile § 5. The Quincunce Kepler reduces to the Opposition by the same reason one would think may the Semisextile to the Conjunction both differing 30 degrees from their Principals on each side yet the Parity holds not § 6. Sometimes the Quintile makes a shew and if That have ought in it the Biquintile will look for some Respect and if so then the Vigintile and Quindecile and Decile c. will also look to be courted while we hope we go on such Principles that we shall never be forced to own such Driblets of Aspects § 7. These when they happen with notable Concurrence it may seem that their Testimony is not to be refused but they very seldom so happen and when they do meet there may be found a sufficient Activity without them As Aug. XX. A o 1621 in Kepler there is a Record of a grand Effect Dashing Rains and Places struck with Thunder to which there are assigned beside the Old Aspects Lunar and other two Quintiles and a Biquintile here say I this Notable Effect may be accounted for without these Quintiles c. The Concurrence of such New Devises move not because upon supposal of even feigned Causes even those pretended vain Causes may by Accident concur § 8. Yea Astrologers are sick of these New Aspects when referr'd to the ☽ and That not without Reason since the Lunar Sextile one of the Old Aspects is scarce of a discernible Efficacy whatsoever is less sure is Imperceptible The
the two yet once I found it made me chill in my Bed well fenced and guarded against the injuries of the Air though in the Month of March An. 1671. ten days after the Equinox 〈◊〉 March XX. And the year following on the very day of the Equinox we had Ice even Bearing brought to that consistence in 3 days which we say belong or border on the Trine Just as in Octob. Anno 1677. we had Three Winter days absolute Winter within the same confine § 13. Consonant to this we may have occasion to speak of a notable indisposition of which in our seven years we met with Two Instances we call them Tusses Epidemicae of which the first is noted in our Fugitive Table Jan. 16. 1673. the other was noted all Europe over Octob. 27. An. 1675. Concerning which being interrogated by a GREAT Person what might be the Cause I answered Him with all Respect but with all Assurance also that it depended on the Heavens an Universal Cause in this sense but little thought I then I confess that this Lunar Radiation might have any Finger in it which now appears probable from a redoubled instance yea and from the Mysterious Change of a Pungent Heat to a Stupefactive Cold observable here in this Radiation and others also which our Bodies or rather our Spirits may be sensible of when our unwary attendance on our selves can give no Minute Account of it Some Physitians did impute it I remember to the Change of the Wind over night toward the North which was very true but they will give me leave to advert that there may be more in it so several more hidden Celestial Causes for every Change of the Wind to a cold part brings not an Universal indisposition over all Europe of which we can assign no more as proper to this place but the Lunar △ Radiation among the Rest § 14. We have a double instance which may be glanced upon we shall speak of the store of Rain presently but this is the Singularity expressed by a Great Drop more than ordinary more than once Great Hailstones which in Tables of observation of a wider Latitude do occur a 3d. a 4th a 5th time c. arguing in my judgement a different degree of Heat struck up at that time as in the generation of Hail commonly is seen though encountred 't is true with a contrary Activity § 15. Of the same stamp is the next considerable in the Water-Floods of our River the Thames where a High Tide is noted not only in the ☌ or ☠but sometimes under our Trine also August 1676. and Decemb. 1672. That of the First this of the Later Trine That of Dec. being as High a Tide as ever was known in the Memory of Man being ready to run into Westminster Hall as I my self can attest It had bin a time of Frost and Snow and therefore we shall allow the consideration but withall shall sue out our Title for the Aspect seeing upon review of Tide-Observations for some years I find to my surprize the Tides start as frequently in each Trine to a new degree of Height sometime to equal the Change and Full. But I will not press this too much because it may occasion a Brangle upon consideration of the Tides great variety upon Droughts Rains sudden Thaws and stiff Winds intervening so that even the Sextile and Quadrate the Neaptide Aspect is found at times to usher in exuberant Flouds always provided that we may renew our Plea when time serves and that I may not think it fortuitous I found an extraordinary low Ebb with us at London noted on the same Aspect where so great a shelf appeared at so many places that the River look't not like it self when some curious Persons were invited thereupon to waft thither and to pace the Dimensions of the Terra Firma August 25. 1672. Now the use that I make of this is this the moderate low Ebb in one part doth argue a proportionable height in another Rye suppose or Winchestea 'T is true the Ferrimen imputed this low Ebb to the Western Wind which I reckoned was a careless Answer from such as are not inquisitive Persons because I could not observe any such briskness at that time from the Western Quarter Nor do many Winds from that Quarter leave the River so naked § 16. Come we now to the Wind the Singularity here in my Judgement is very entertaining the Wind not only changing for so it may under all Aspects and less here than elsewhere but want only playing so that as I have often with Pleasure observed the Index hath whiffed round all the points of the Compass from whence I observed by virtue of a Sic parvis the Tornados and Whirlwinds may well depend on the Heavens when an ordinary Linar Aspect shall shew us that variety So May XXIV and Oct. XXVIII 1675. April VIII 1672. Septem VII Octob. VI. 1677. June XII An. 1674. This take along with you that when the Wind so shifts and plays about 't is a sign of Weather approaching in the Horizon or actually existent at the same time somewhere else § 17. Now if the Reader please to like our former Representation of the frequency of the Effect Rain I mean in the Quartile Aspect as it is plain and not unprofitable the like we are ready to present him here  ☉ ☽ Revol Success Jan. ♒ ♊ VIII 7. Feb. ♓ ♋ VII 5. March ♈ ♌ VII 7. April ♉ ♠VIII 4. May. ♊ ♎ VII 5. June ♋ ♠VIII 6. July ♌ ♠VII 5. Aug. ♑ ♑ VIII 7. Sept. ♎ ♒ VII 7. Oct. ♠♓ VII 4. Novemb. ♠♈ VII 6. Decemb. ♑ ♉ VII 7. Jan. ♒ ♎ VII 6. Febr. ♓ ♠VII 7. March ♈ ♠VII 7. April ♉ ♑ VII 4. May. ♊ ♒ VIII 8. June ♋ ♓ VII 4. July ♌ ♈ VII 5. Aug. ♠♉ VIII 6. Sept. ♎ ♊ VIII 8. Oct. ♠♋ VII 7. Novemb. ♠♌ VII 6. Decemb. ♑ ♠VI. 6. § 18. Not unprofitable whereas before you see all Aspects are not alike responsible in every Month no nor in the same Month. Some speed but 4 or 5 times some 6. the Happyest compleat their Number be it VII or VIII Hence it follows that there are different properties of the Zodiacal Signs A Lunar Trine in ♈ ♌ and ♈ ♠you see keeps touch so far I can speak for the Fiery Triplicity and pray overlook not the other A Trine in ♉ ♑ will deceive a blunt Astrologer which speeds but four Times in VII so the rest yet this is somewhat out of place § 19. Yea but the main Singularity to come to that at last is concerning Stress of Weather hinted at already if that be true which we have asserted or rather commended to observation that the shifting of Winds argues Commotions somewhere We have said that the Phasis of the Trine looks with some deformity and the Character △ seems to be Mysterious and Magical if there be such Power
An. 1672. July 15 16 17. among others 3 days hot together Whence comes the Heat The answer is made Oh it is usual for the time of the year But this answer is not Scientifical it renders not the Cause If a Philosopher enquire after the Nature of Sleep the cause is not assigned by saying It is usual or 't is the time of Night the gentle Unctuous cooling vapours to bemist and charm the Sensory is the Cause Feaverish and Famish'd Men sleep not for all the time of Night So be it never so much the time of the year place the Sun where you please there 's no necessity this day must be hot with Express or Excessive Heat Those 3 days of July though inclined to Heat as much almost as any are not always found under that Character If the Enquiry were whether a hot day in Summer were a Prodigy Such answer indeed were punctual No by no means 'T is usual and according to the time of the year But when the Question proceeds of Cause wherefore at that time of the year Nay wherefore on the very day which might have proved cold notwithstanding the time of the year We must look into a more secret and abstruse cause I must find a Reason from the very Constitution of the Primrose or Violet If I mean to answer the Question of its early Blossom The time of the year allows only an aptitude or Inclination The Argument doth not follow from the Power or Inclination to the Act This day is hot because it was probable it would What then Sir is the Cause The Astrologer reasonably urges Chance can not be it for what determines the Effect since all Events though never so casual are such not because they have no determinant but because 't is unknown § 71. Gassendus press'd with this Objection denies Chance Ore tenus while he tells us that the Sun Moon and Stars are the general Causes of many Phaenomena but beside these for he knew generals were indetermined He mentions other Inferiour Sublunar Causes Causes per se as he calls them Singular Special which determine them to Hic nunc Meteor Epicur p. 944. by which Cause if he means the nature of the place situation c. Subterraneous Fires and Eruptions of vapours we admit them heartily as well as he But certainly Place and Situation are Circumstances rather than Causes without which the Heavens can do nothing That we confess yet we deny that they may be called therefore Efficients Principal and Singular Causes The Fires Subterraneous seem to put on for Efficiency but we profess to believe that these Fires are not so Universal as I see is imagined by himself and others Agricola c. who have not kindness enough for the Aethereal § 72. Neither secondly is this Cause but general still and indeterminate as they say of our Heavens the Determinate is yet to seek For suppose the Fire sends forth the Vapours and the Vapours condense into Rain Stay May not the Cloud be barren The Vapour Dry Foggy yea Pellucid As in Serenity and Drought is seen seeing by the Testimony of the Baroscope the Serene and dryest Air makes the greatest pressure What then makes it a Cloud say I rather than Serenity The Sun shines and the Fires are at work and yet Serenity and Drought continues many times for the greater part of the year The answer is the Vapour is condens'd to Rain it gathers into a Cloud The◠for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For if Cold be mentioned to the generation of Clouds or Rain we ask further What encourageth the Cold at that time Is it a Mid-Region We admit the Notion But then why doth it not always Rain or Cloud according to the Temper of the Region As long as Vapours ascend continually why don't they as continually descend What we say in an Alembic The Subterranean Fires work Day and Night Winter and Summer and the Mid-Region is never Free because the Superiour the more remote Region is never Free also Neither may it be said That there is variety in the Mid-Region as not always of the same Temper sometimes extream sometimes more remiss For so 't is true it may Rain when 't is remiss and Snow or Hail when 't is extream But in Frosty days I hope the Middle Region is extream Why don't it Snow then How comes so many Serene and pure Frosts as all natural and wholsom Frosts are Want of Supply cannot be pretended the Fires do their Duty and at all times alike for any thing they know whence is it that the Middle Region is Idle For that sometimes this Region is guilty of no Cold I suppose all that travel the Alps the Mountain Rhodope Taurus Libanus or our own Penmaur All who have heard of a perpetual Snow lying thereon will not consent Surely then the difference of the Temper of the Region defin'd to be sometimes moderate sometimese of an extream Cold lies not in any confus'd disorder or chance but in Vicissitudes Regular with Anomaly such as the Seasons themselves are capable of and no more a sign that they are governed by Ordinances of Nature excluding Casualties For if some Heat beside Solar and Subterranean governs the Tepor of the year as Cold is a privation at least it must be govern'd by the same Caelestial Cause nor can we rest till we have found that Cause in the Heavens § 73. To this the learned Man Objects thus If it rains to day it doth not rain again the same day 12 Month but sooner or later according as the matter is prepar'd To which I answer If I should have said that it rains not at a New or Full ☽ but sooner or later according as the matter is ripe I should have Fibb'd seeing 't is confessed that it usually raineth then whosoever ripens the matter And so I hope I may retort in our Aspect of ☉ ☿ that however matter is prepared at other times 't is usually disposed for Wind and Rain then But this objection concerns not Aspects of which in general enough hath bin said but is rather levell'd at the Annual Revolutions of Stated days No Question but the matter is prepared for Rain when it Rains but who prepared it so variously so uncertainly under such Difformity and Dissonance to comply with the Objection is the Question The Sun and Moon alone we have made good cannot be the Causes preparatory or determinant of a Showre c. nor can any matter possibly prepare it self as Ice cannot thaw it self the very Notion of matter being passive He must have excluded Other Requisites which he knew Gelestial Philosophy pretends to before he could justly infer so Universal a Negative It doth not rain again the same day 12 Month Ergo the Sun is not the Cause I allow it I will help the Argument and say it doth not rain again the same day 19 Year when as the Golden Number tea cheth us the Sun and Moon are
some other Cause which we shall evidence in ♃ suppose or by indisposition of the Clime Thus All that Tract of Land or Sea under the Torrid Zone where 't is known Rain cometh but at one or two Months of the year I reckon is generally Indisposed whose reasons are not here to be displayed And thus ♂ comes to be so fam'd abroad for Drought c. as Syrius of old which in our remoter Clime is not so terrible § 17. For ♂ his Heat in Summer Seasons and elsewhere we have beside his Tokens of blue Smoky Mist Lightning Trajections c. an express of above an 100 days and what more might have bin justly noted Yet I must not nor doth our own Diary seem to give leave that I should crow after the Antients and say that ♂ is hotter than ☉ least I should pull the World about my Ears but I say 't is in vulgar way of speaking a more violent Star than the Sun it it self This will be proved not only in this but also in the ensuing Chapters § 18. This raises expectation which we will endeavour to satisfie when we have answered one Objection First that 't is absurd to make a Reflexion a Minor Planet more Potent than the Major 2ly That 't is uncertain whether our Planet hath any such heat or no for if so we should not sure find Hard Sharp Frosty Cold Seasons whensoever our violent Planet is conjoyned to the Sun § 19. To the First 'T is absurd if we consider the Reflexion by its self singly and disjunct from the Direct But if we suppose the Direct Radiation as in Nature it doth then Two is more than one the Direct and the Reflex is greater than the Direct alone So in vulgar speaking as we say sometimes the Son is Finer than the Father whereas all the Finery he wears comes out of the Fathers Purse ♂ is a more violent Star because his Aspects with the ♀ ☿ are more violent than those of the ☉ with the same How comes that to pass unless ♂ may be violent Thus a Conjunction of ♂ and ♀ latently includes ☉ A ☌ ☉ ♀ doth not include ♂ wherefore if Three be more than two a ☌ ♂ ♀ is greater than a ☌ ☉ ♀ This in strict Philosophy may not be said seeing the Minor hath its Energy from the Major but for Doctrines sake we suppose ♂ to be as it were sui juris independent of the Sun § 20. To the 2d we say Let 's see them let 's see the Frosts they are not more than what are found under ☌ ☉ ☿ or ☌ ☉ ♀ and yet they were Spit-Fires Thunderers and Flashers had their Heats and Droughts and Violences too § 21. We see One or Two in our own Diary let 's see the Rest First To run back no further than King Henry the Eighths time Anno 1536. We are told that Ice on the Thames hindred the Kings passage at Greenwich Dec. 24 while ♂ is within gr 2. or 3. of his Syzygie Anno 1598. Dec. 1. ad diem 11. Thames nigh froze at London Bridge the Frost began for all as I see with a ☌ ☉ ♂ in ♠Dec. 1. Anno 1630. From Dec. 21. Three Weeks Frost presently after the Partile ☌ of ♂ and ☉ Kyr Anno 1662. The Thames caked with Ice in 4 Nights die 31. and was scarce passable and this within two days of the Partile ☌ as is seen in the Tables Anno 1665. The end of February and part of March Frosty Weather commensurate to the ☌ ☉ ♂ in ♓ 24. This Frost is memorable from the Dire Pestilence ensuing so that we need not marvail at some stricture of Frost occurring in our Sept. Anno 1658. In Novemb. 1660. In May 1667. In Oct. 1675. in our Tables for the Case is plain ♂ burns sometimes with a Cold Iron § 22. 'T is so but doth this take from the Martial Influence any more than you see it doth prejudice the Solar to admit Frosts sharp and tedious Astrologers do usually speak of Debilities All Planets in Winter Signs are but in a low condition as to Northern site so remote from the Winter Tropick the Setting Sun is weak and cool as a Glow-Worm and Planets in the Winter Tropic are setting even at Noon as it were by their near approach to the Horizon Apply this to ♂ and the rest as in the Winter at Muscovy Anno 1681 when the Polish Souldiers suffered by the Cold Calvis All the Planets were in deep Winter Quarters Howbeit even thus in his Weak Estate our Planet bears some Testimony to himself by Snows amongst the Frost or by Remission of the Cold which may be worth an Observers notice when the Pladding Countryman overlooks such Vicissitudes of Nature if short and temporary For so I hope none can object to us the cruel Winter noted by Gemma Anno 1568. Secuta est saith he Hyems asperrima but he speaks of no great Frost until the middle of March which concerns not a ☌ celebrated ten Weeks before And what was the Asperity Winds and Rains Churches strook with Lightning and Floods Jan. 3. before our ☌ was expired No nor that of September 1590. which was saith Stow a very cold Month with Snow and Sleet but the same Month brought Wind Rain Lightning and Thunder to speak for the ☌ § 23. Add that these cold Examples are very rare and that the ☌ ☉ ♂ commonly brings milder Winter Air so as whensoever Frost appears you may observe that ♂ is at a distance from the Sun about a Sign or two or three c. wherein if Communication be interrupted which keeps it out the Cold breaks in not but that the distant Aspects have their Force the Sextile Quadrate c. but they are not so Potent nay nor so durable as ☌ or ☠§ 24. In this case then the Opposition more than the Conjunction proclaims the Planetary Heat in as much as an opposal of ♂ and the ☉ very seldom fails of its warm thawing Breath Put the ☉ in the Winter Tropique and let ♂ face him in the Summer though the Planet so posited shall be hid under the Earth you shall see what Fire he will save you on a Winters day whereas if ♂ be about the Quincunx of Sol a Sign distant from the Oppositional Line he is in a chill posture and so found in those Frosty days or Seasons which happen at that determinate time some abatement being reckoned for the Northern side of our Clime § 25. The Planet may be violent in his hour for all this and is it not upon that account that the Divine Goodness hath retarded his Motion that ♂ his Configurations with the Sun and other Planets the ☽ excepted being less frequent the World should be less distracted Suppose therefore we should allow which indeed we cannot that Great Britain our dear Country c. felt not the Smart of this Aspect if other Countries do the Divine Superintendency hath its end
2. then besure ♃ ♂ are within Terms also note his ☌ with ♀ would be scarce Innocent But this is not all To see that our Aspect will be owned as we have more then once observed the Aspect which entred about the middle of Aug. runs through ♋ ♌ and falls not till almost August enters again conecting the Pestilences of those years and twisting them into one Thrid though the Winter perhaps be a little more Slender and the Aestival more Cable-like in my mind who Plead for co-existence of Causes with Effects This is considerable others may enjoy their Principles where I poor Grosse-Test can find no Footing Alass Who can walk upon the Water 1649. Sickly London Graunt ☌ ♃ ♂ in July c. That is too pat I list not to speak of the Pest at Amsterdam and Harlem because they fall not under any Aspect of the Superiors For as considerable as they are they do not exhaust all the Doctrine of the Causes of Pestilence over-head They are to be produc'd in a Planetary Tract rather Only this agrees and suits with what is before deliver'd that on September the 27th which proved the Highest Week we can point out one that is guilty and scarce flies for the same A □ though not ☌ ♃ ♂ 1658. Sickly City in London Grant I want the Weekly account here and perhaps there is no need of it ♃ ♂ together in ♋ at the beginning of Summer which least they should cool in June and July are renewed by a deputy Congress of ☿ instead of ♂ ☿ Stationary or Retr we have said is as Malefique as any ♂ of them all 1661. In ♄ 's Table it may be objected that the Bill did not start up in to 500. c. till ♄ and ♂ were expired be it so But have we not said even now that ♀ Stationary is equivalent to ♂ and that is entred upon a ☌ with ♃ before the Start and lasts till ☌ ♄ ♂ comes in at October who are met in ♠But that ☌ is innocent in comparison of what we advance ☌ ♃ ☿ Stationary in ♠the highest Week whose Total was 600. Aug. 27. under the said ☌ ♃ ☿ Stationary 1665. There remains A o 1665. A 100000. Persons more it may be than are born in a years time throughout England I am not pleased with Aug. 1690. nor perhaps July 91. nor May c. 92. but I hope London will never tast the like There were Councils of War and Parties and Ambushes and Retreats 't is a wonder to see the Military Discipline There were ♄ ♀ in Tropic ☠in May. There was ♄ and ☿ in the same ☠There we had ♄ opposing ♀ ☿ both Stationary in June Do you hear or understand our Terms There was ♄ ♀ opposing ♀ ☿ still Stationary in July where ♄ got into Opposition with ♂ and now the Thousands are blown up into a Swelling Total ♃ ♂ inflames the Mortality Bill to 7000. when ☠♃ ♂ mingles which begins according to us in the midst of Aug. In September ♃ ♂ with ♀ holds up the Malignity And Oh unhappy but too true observation at the time of the ☠think you the Bill was at highest after it pleas'd God it decreased And How many think you Even 1800. in the next Week because the Aspect after the Congress is Weaker in the Recess than in the Access as in other cases hath bin said but the succeding Week proved not so the measure of abatement was not half the former Sum to shew it is not the Declension of the Sun only or the Time of the year in general for then it would have abated in Proportion but 't is some other more particular disposition of that Woful year 1665. Howbeit in the midst of October it remitted by 1800 again in ☠though still yet upon leaving the Aestival Sign ♌ which Signs Aestival are the Life of the Death the Vigour and Sting next to Sin is the cause of all Here I observed that if it had abated a 1000 per week by Novembers midst there should have been but two hundred or say 3. or 460. Funerals but in the midst of Nov. we find 1300. and the following 900. because in my opinion the Aspect was not disengaged till that time Then it was and lo the Week was content with a pretty reasonable and ordinary Sum of 500 and odd To them be it who make ill use of these Discourses who can believe a Prime Cause and yet admit no second or will not Worship him unless he acts by Miracle No man seems to magnifie the Deity more than an Enthusiast but the Sober Principle resisting no Light Loves and fears God as He is and as he shews himself not ridiculous either to Christians or Heathens Thus doth the Pestilence walk in Darkness the Sickness destroys at the noon day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not two Evil Angels as the Talmudists yea the Chaldee Paraphrase Septuagint consenting but the Striking Influence Diurnal Nocturnal Those Arrows from Heaven that fly by Day and Those Mortal surprizes that ensnare us by Night whence the Psalm is called a Song of Evil Occurrents for as the Prime Cause makes his Sun to Shine on the Just and the Unjust so he makes his Planets and Fixed Stars to burn us where he pleaseth For no body tells us that in Contagious Diseases Nights are more easily passed than the days the Celestial Influence being equal as in the Chasme Motion of the Seas Tempests and Earthquakes is apparent Where upon I was apt to think that Those Hebrew Doctors for their imperfect Notices of things increased by a glimpse perhaps of the Wasting Spirit in the Word there used might construe it of Spirits which was to be interpreted of Influences So I say that whatsoever Truth there may be in the Jewish Glosses of That and other Places in Holy Writ seeing it owns a Destroying Angel and Evil Angels are more busie not only in Temptations but also Ministerial Executions of Wrath I must whatsoever becomes of Tempests not be engaged to discharge our Influences The year 1665. was generally noted for a Dry Misty year if the Influences caused that Constitution they had a hand in the Malady Currents under ♃ and ♂ § 69. For Currents c. I am aware that I may seem like a Horse used to the Road and cannot get out but when I consider that I do hereby advance a Stock toward the Discovery of the Cause whether Celestial or no I shall find some Mitigation of Censure Here we have but a few to trouble the Reader as 1609. Febr. 19. High Water at London-Bridge when it should have been Dead Low Childrey p. 95. ♉ 10. ♂ 11. ♃ 1616. Aug. 7. Calm and strong Current ♠18. ♃ ♋ 4. ♂ ☌ ♀ ☿ 1618. Dec. 19. Great Current fell the Admiral in danger of Shipwrack ♠4. ♃ ♎ 2. ♂ ☌ ☉ ☿ □ ♄ ♃ 1620. March 5. A Current ♈ 13. ♂ 19. ♃ May the 8. A
't is such such a Chance as has chanced before my scantling time For how came the Arabians to dream of it But enough of that Go we backward have we known any Comet about 1644. Verily none appears we must be content then Let us retreat to the year 1625. where ♄ and ♃ are but a Sign distant which to me is as good as if they were about half a Sign or XII degrees distant seeing there is difference of Communication of one Planet to another according to the difference of their Station in the Firmament We have ventur'd to say the Influence runs beyond 30 degrees sometimes of which we may perhaps in due place give some account 'T is a Wonder and no Wonder None because a Comet is not accomplished without the concurrence of the Inferiours and yet a Wonder because ♄ and ♃ carry such a stroke with them that they seldom are without such Issue being more as we say than half the Fathers of it § 34. What a Drudgery 't is to convince an Adversary Come for his sake let us begin at the first Stage of the last Century At the end of A o 1503. there was a notable ☌ of the Three Superiours In June 1504. it came to the turn of ♄ and ♃ to meet alone about the end of ♋ I am not so zealous for my Crony Aspects as to put up 3 Comets or 4 in the year 1504. 1505. 1506. That of 1504. though extant in Hevelius and Lubieniec to the best of my discretion must be discarded proceeding from the Mis-understanding of Niphus his Words quoted by Cardan who tells us not of any Comet appearing A o 1504. the very year of that Triple ☌ ♄ ♃ ♂ but only referreth a Comet of 1506. to that marvellous ☌ precedent though 2 years after For Mizaldus saith not with Hevelius his leave that Heller observed any such Comet in that year For if that very Authors Preface be consulted found in the same Volume with Mizald. his Cometography he manifestly distinguisheth the 3 years as I have said and only tells us that the Comet in August 1506. was that Cujus Halitum prioris Anni Eclipsis 1505 magna Conjunctio contraxisse putantur The confess'd Comet we dispatch first and say with those Old Good-fellows who made up the Putantur that it is a Product of the Congress of ♄ and ♃ Not of the Partile Conjunction working at two years distance but of the self-same ♄ and ♃ at the distance wherein they are found at the time of the appearance which the Ephemeris gives us at scarce 30 degrees at which Distance we have seen they operate as well as at nearer approach Now let me ask this Comet of Aug. where did it appear In the Signs ♋ ♌ â™ here above Ursa Major After under it as Hevelius gives us satisfactory Testimonies Let me see where was the Planets ♄ and ♃ in the year 1682. when the Comet appear'd about the same Constellation Were they not in the same Signs This Comet was call'd Cauda Pavonis We are not arrived as yet to so much exactness as to expect the same Figure at several times the same Celestial Station is pretty well proportion'd to our Pretences But there was another in April for 5 days at least which was drawn out by Werner of Norimberg If there were which I do not much question beside ♄ and ♂ do countenance it with a Partile Aspect ♄ and ♃ are nearer than they were in Aug. But was there no Comet in 1505. then There was and that in Sept. about New ☽ at Michaelmas Note the Planets One in ♋ two in ♌ two in â™ two in ♎ Oh! that they had been so good as to have communicated the place to Posterity I have said enough for the production of it as ♂ was within 30. grad of ♄ so ♄ was within 20. grad of ♃ So much for our first entrance of ♄ and ♃ in defence of the Truth of our Arabian Brethren only note that the first of these Comets was look'd upon to be attended with Siccity § 35. Now taking a XX. years Leap to the next ☌ which happened about the 10. degree of ♓ and near the beginning of Febr. I st us see whether our Arabs are always Lyars Nay we have Rockenbach to assure us yea and Mizaldus too brought in by the diligence of Hevelius who testifies that there was such a Saturnine Comet as he calls it and that Famine and Pestilence did for two years space afflict his Countrymen But it is left at large they do not tell us Day nor Month. I do not know ♄ and ♃ were in due Distance April 1522. And if that but answer 't is enough But A o 1523. we have more satisfaction for there about the end of October or Novembers Entrance a Comet was justified by a great Inundation saith Lycosthenes and Praetorius Great Inundation That is but a little Word a Dire Inundation of 32. Miles Men and Cattle innumerable swept away in the Kingdom of Naples Quarto Kal. Nov. ♄ and ♃ 10. grad distance a Dire Congress and a Dire Effect The Partile of this ☌ happened about ♓ 11. Febr. 1524. I would this were the only Dire Effect that belongs to our Aspect my Fears have not been â—ain we shall not find it so § 36. The next Partil ☌ falls in Sept. 1544. about the end of â™ Now whether 1543. shew us a Comet or anything like it for by our Principles we are indifferent will be seen from Lycosthenes followed by Sennert and Fromond who tell us that IV. Nonas Maii in the Marquisate of Baden was seen bor 4. P. M. A Fiery business as big as a Milstone the Tail of which or some other Meteor so call'd descended and swoop'd up a River the likelyhood of which descent Scnliger is call'd in to attest Exerc. 79. the Reader sees we acquiesce with Lubieniec and while we stand not for the strict acceptation of the Word but a remarkable effect we think must be own'd by some Cause or other the Distance within bounds of ♄ and ♃ are ♎ 20. â™ 16. And by the way Comets and Fiery Meteors are cognate § 37. For A o 1535. if there were any Comet as from Rockenbach they take it up and Hevelius brings somewhat of confirmation from Camerarius I shall not stand upon it seeing it seems to be like the precedent with the Story of Ignis Cadens and no time is specified but if there were we have ♄ and ♃ in â™ will stand for Witness § 38. So move we on to 1564. and it s ☌ of ♄ and ♃ in April ♋ 28. and here we meet a Comet on the Feast of St. James July 25. no more is said of it § 39. Another Step brings us to ☌ ♄ ♃ A o 1583. in ♓ 22. the year 83. hath no Comet but 82. fails us not They give it out to be of immense Magnitude they mean the Train May 14. between North and South after ☉
remote of all the Planets if it be true what the Diary says that on November 14. November is a Flouding Month Umb diese zeit in Hispanien am Fluss Ebro ein grosser regen und ergiessung einkommen daruber an die 4000. Soldaten elendiglich ersoffen And about the end of November from the River Poo a terrible Inundation of Waters wherein many Thousands of Men were drown'd in Italy Kyr This Kyriander acknowledges to be from ☌ ♄ ♃ in ♓ so far he is an Astrologer But what shall he do The Partile ☌ comes not till February next year Oh! but it is an Anticipation of ♄ and ♃ which Philosophy I have pityed already not derided for he who reads these Stories can be in no laughing Vein My Heart aked for fear I should meet more of these uneasie Narratives and I Divine I think I should find the like in the Netherlands Jan. 4 1642. where the Diary tells us that such a Flouding time hath not been observed as men judge for many 100 years before whereby I believe they note the monstrousness of the Phaenomenon shall I call it rather than consult the Universal History of the World I have reason to believe our Reports to be as true and may be as great some of them and how great in the mean while is the Cause the Cause from whence they Spring So that now our Heart is hardned and we can take notice of a Grosse Wasser yet again in December 1643. § 66. That ☠in the next decade 1653. brings no Flouds with it unless you will reckon that in Glocestershire at Dodminton June 20. mention'd by Dr. Childrey p. 66. for the Truth is Those were dry Years in which nothing hinders but there may be an Anomalous Floud or Glut of Wet in some places and I am glad of it § 67. For all as I see the ☌ of 1663. is the like I meet with Violences of Fiery Meteors c. but no Flouds can I set Eyes on if there be any 't is our Gain If not Admire with me the all wise disposition of the Heavenly Motions which are made not only to Punish at the time appointed but sometimes to give us respite 'T is the Divine goodness to send no Flouds where he pleases to order a Pestilence In wrath he remembers Mercy Howbeit my Diary upon perusal informs me that even there A o 1663. May 5. There arose Flouds at Northampton A place it seems more apt for such Waters then others And see Febr. 28. 1673. we had News of great Flouds at Thoren Thuringia in Germany on the breaking up the Ice But not only so But in Summer beside a Spout seen to break at Harwich near Land-guard-Fort Jan. 24. 1673. Flouds for certain in Oxfordshire and Bristol not the like for many years with great Loss say my Observations There remains but of That 1682. for whose sake we waded so far or else we had let down our Sluces § 68. The ☌ of 1682. The First is from Iceland Great Flouds in most parts This is Sept. 29. ♄ and ♃ grad 7. distant ♃ in ♋ 17. to meet again with good Kepler who was wiser From Waymouth such a Floud that the Waves were scarce possable Nov. 2. ♃ is where he was Dec. 18. at Dinnot in France Before that from the Hagâ—e 〈◊〉 by a strong Wind broke the Banks and laid 2400 Acres of Land under Water Dec. 10. and from Copenhagen the Sea by reason of a Storm rose so high that it is the Wonder of the Age saith my Intelligence and hath done great Harm But this year being expired I would the Aspect would be satisfied with this Hearken to the French Account From Bruxels This is but t'other day Jan. 27. St. Vet. Vingt cinq des principaux Villages de Flandre aut estè sumbergez From Amsterdam Des dommages extraordinaires que les vents les de hordemen des eaux ont causez en Flandre dans le Brabant en Hollande Zealand Quelques Uns asseurent que ces dommages à nostre ègard montent a plus de cinquante Millions We can see only the Steeple le Clocher de la Ville de Tolen de la ville de Bommene c. c'est le plus triste spectacie qui se soit vû de puis plusieurs siècles Where is ♃ but in ♋ higher than he was before nearer the Tropical Height in ♋ 11. before he was in ♋ 17. In May our Domestique Intelligence tells us the Country is so floated there is no Travelling no access to London Travelling Coaches perished At Deal the Sea overwhelmed the Banks Drowned much Cattle May 16. 1682. News also from Scicily of Torrents breaking down Trees Villages destroyed by the Flouds May 28. Gazet 1742. July 7. with us at Shropshire much Dammage at a Village 7 Mile from Boudley the Floud run in from Jan. 30. to July 4. the like not within Memory Floud also 6 Mile from Coventry In Aug. 18. there was a Water-Spout near Harwich in the Shape of the Monument at London-Bridge mounting up in the Air then fell down with a most incredible force made the Sea smoke Thompson's Intelligence Yea all the time of the Dreadful Adamant Frost Remember and Jan. 1683. 84. 'T is for certain by Merchants Letters that there were great Rains and Flouds in the Guadalquivir the River in Andalusia § 69. We shall now have done for A o 1684 Sept. 10. we hear of Flouds in Leopol Russia In Nov. 9. St. N. A Floud neer the Isles of Oberon Rhee Broage beyond Memory of Man as we have it in the extraordinary Relation from Germany I acknowledge that there were strong Aspects heretofore noted mix'd with our great ☌ in some parts of this Drowning Season but the Astrological Reader must do right and with me acknowledge the Line of the ☌ stretch'd over these 3 or 4 years Those Countries therefore which shall think it worth the while must watch these great ☌ s and their Mixtures Nor would it be an unwise part if amongst other Learned Professors at the University of Leyden or elsewhere there were a meet maintainance order'd for a Professor of Astronomy mixed with Astrology if any should fancy such an Union of Science to give some it may be more than probable warning of such Infandous Cataclysmes Pictures and Assurances of Noah's Floud that at least the life of Thousands may be saved For as I remember we had an account of twenty thousand Carcases Wreck's of Mortality Floating on the Remorsless Deep Upon which account if it be Feasible 't is worth the while but I must leave it to discretion These Papers shew I hope that our Speculation is not a Vanity since the Flouds hold on and keep pace from Month to Month and from year to year with our violent Conjunctions Mark that They hold and keep pace starting out at their Opportunities in the Winters yea in the Summers I do acknowledge there may be Flouds when our Aspect
Physitians every where proclaiming it then there must be something in it because 't is observed some years more than others They 〈◊〉 Rabbi Moses noting the Sicilian Women Quodam annosaetus deformes 〈◊〉 â—â—cipites peperisse Schottus Lib. V. Cap. 2. Such a kind of year was the third of Queen Elizabeth as Sir Richard Baker hath noted and the year 1615. in Germany as Calvisius hath noted And do not we perceive some years to be more Fruitful of these Anomalies than others we have as good as named them twice rather than fail A o 1503. 1514 1536 1537 52 54 56 93. But further the probability of this may appear 〈…〉 these years the same Deordination is found in Animai◠〈◊〉 Hares Calves whose Examples I forbear to multiply I might add some Monstrosity in Vegetables of which here and there Examples will occur But now to come a little nearer that I may explicate my self I consider the Fornaces of Aegypt and the known manner of hatching of Chickens not by incubation of any Female but by hiding them in Dung whose Warmth is supplyed by the Fornaces and which is much to our purpose seeing Warmth applyed by Art can hardly observe the even Hand and the gradual Methods of Nature many of these Chickens proved Monstrous redundant or defective in Leg or Bill c. Now the Heats or Influences of these Years where our Planets are concerned may be nay 't is plain are unkind unsuitable if not intemperate the only second Cause as far as I understand that matter of Pestilent Contagion Where I can Imagine no reason there my Astrologers lead me not as in the case of Fires notwithstanding some unlucky co-incidences of the pretended Effect of the Martial Aspect But where we have some Semblance of Reason we propose our Thoughts and submit them to the Learned § 24. 'T is no question but over the Body it hath Power yea over Inanimals Metals will not run sometimes so freely and Quick-silver will not work Those who are concerned wondring at the Reason We besure tell them 't is an Aspect to get Credit to our Principle As for the Animal Let any observe our Diary of ☉ and ☿ As many as fall into this our Aspect they present us with Aches Distempers Hysterical Fits in some special Signs at least But we have further to go The Mind and its Faculties are liable to be disturbed by a Celestial Meeting All grant it possible I remember by the Intimacy of the Faculty with the Spirit and the Propinquity of that to the Body Now if I mistake not I have observed various Alterations and Emotions of Spirit under ♄ ♃ Visible in Melancholly Griefs Distractions Phrensies Lunacies c. Not that the Stars cause Frensie or Distraction Heaven forbid but because our Minds Sickly and Crazy and Distemper'd by our natural Weakness or willful self-Corruption Antecedent to the Celestial Energy the secret judgment of God not interposing are not able to stand under the harsher temptations of the Planets This being the true solution of crazed Intellects as the Midsummer Moon as they call it our Heart like a sore part cannot endure to find it self touched or treated so rudely by Natural Agents who have no power to check themselves but act according to the utmost of their Strength I have no other proof but what is drawn from Observation of the Weekly Bills which though I know looks as Baleful as the sight of a Spectre in a dark Night walking over the Graves of the Dead yet even the Melancholly Secrets of Nature may be pryed into if perhaps we can reach them Those unhappy Felo's de se that make away themselves by what kind soever I do suspect are the worse in the Sence now explained through the Potency of the configuration as the Physitian knows the Delirium of his Feavourish Patient is heightned by the Intemperance of the Weather And this is a Demonstration to them who easily Infer that if the Celestial Bodies are the Causes of the one Intemperance They have some unhappy share in the other the Intemperance of the Planets But what can be observed from the Bills of Mortality where the Periods of Men are only mention'd You do well not to ask You grant it seems that there are some Fatal Diseases of the Mind there recorded Then say I the Periods of those Persons betoken the height of their Passion under which they labour and struggle and are thrown at last I observe then that many times Distractions and Lunacies from several Quarters meet at the Grave the same Week which mentions a poor Melancholic that hath laid violent hands on himself shall mention the Disease of a Lunatick and another who dyed with Grief and let no man call me cruel I pity them as much as any But I must confess I reckon Immoderate Grief under which Head too many are found in the Bill to be a kind of Distraction That Grief Lunacy and the Melancholly Desperado are carryed forth in the same Weekly Sheet to be buryed And what if we shall meet sometimes not only more than a single Instance in one Week but a sad pompous Succession of such fatal Exits for a Month or more together Thus in the year 1680. in the last Week of March we find one self-murtherer with the Knife the first Week of April by Poyson the second by the Noose the week which is dated from the 20th day the Noose or Fatal Knot from day 27. the like with a Lunatick beside From May 4. Grief and the Halter from 11. the same with a Lunatick yea from the 18th the same again The Succession holds entire for one Month together and if it had not been dis-continued by a single Intermission it had held out Two I cannot deny but that other Aspects may sometimes be unhappy but I chance to observe it first in ♄ ♃ the Potency the Name of that great Congress call'd me to look toward some materiate Cause if Religion and Philosophy will bear the Speculation I took notice of two Lunacies in the Diary of ☉ ☿ in the Month of Febr. 1682. two together struck me I referr'd them with a reserve notwithstanding for a more strict enquiry to the Co-incidence of that Solar Aspect to ♄ ♃ I am sorry I am at a loss for the Mortality-Bills even of that Year but in the year 1681. I have Instances from May 17. of killing Grief from May 24. of self-murther from May 31. of Grief and self-murther from June 21. Lunacy and self-murther Afterward these black Exits came not so thick till October 18. there we meet with all these self-murther Grief and Lunacy in the next week October 25. a Lunatick again the first of Nov. self-murther What Rule can we give when we may fear and prevent I speak to those who have Catholic or Universal Charity such fatal Events Consider to keep to our Aspect when ♄ ♃ are in ☌ when a third Planet joins with either or approaches the Equinox