Clients of the Skie flock after him and retreat dishonourably at his retirement The life of Animals subsists by his Energy of our very Immortal Spirits he is the Union § 3. Notwithstanding This and a less Hymn I could not make on Him whose Lustre dazles us I say that the Sun alone this Glorious Creature cannot be the Cause the entire Cause of the Changes of the Air and its Vicissitudes § 4. Because the Sun consider'd alone All things rightly weighed requires those of his Fellow-Celestials to constitute even the Seasons of the Year The Seasons differ one from the other in length of Day or proportion of Light and the proportion of the Warmth the Sun alone is the Author of the First not of the Latter He is confess'd a Light All-sufficient but that it must therefore be a Heat All-sufficient is no warrant A Taper lights the Room which will not warm it for that the Sun carris the Name of Warmth That argues that he is indeed the Principal most Eminent not the sole Dispenser So the General carries the Glory of the Battel who is far from being the Sole though he be the Principal Souldier According to the tenor of which words must our piece of a Hymn on His or rather his Creator's praise be expounded § 5. The truth of this will be clear when we have considered that the Sun's approach and Exaltation encourageth the warmth of the Spring and keeps up the height of Heat in Summer being the Eminent Cause of Both. But yet neither Dayes nor Months do always increase in or stand or remit their warmth in proportion to the Solar access or recess from the Solstice This hath been urged by others and may be instanced fourty wayes It is notorious that the Aestival heat even increaseth as the Sun declines for the Month of July and part of August are usually more soultry than the Solstitial month of June § 6. Here it is answer'd with one accord that the Heats of July receives their intenser degree from the measure of the prae-existent warmth but this we have precluded before and add that the Heats of July have been found as intense when the precedent June hath been contrary affected every man's memory being able to prompt an Instance of an April May or June beyond expectation cold upon which the common comfort hath been from hopes that July and August would make amends Besides that this holds not in July alone the end of March may have more warmth than April and April than May November warmer than October as again January colder than December March than February we may here after name some Times when it proves generally so therefore the Sun is not the sole Administrator of Celestial warmth § 7. It may be said again as it is by some great men in things of this Nature that they are Casual But the word Chance in Causes Natural and determinate speaks our Ignorance and it may be something of Injury to the Creator But 2. a hot July is never casual being intended so by God's ordinary Providence for Harvest sake That great Providence which workes by the Great Machine of Second Causes 3. Nothing that is Prognosticable can be Casual § 8. Again if the Sun alone were the cause every fourth year would bring about the same Revolution of Winds and Weather the Sun being then exactly restored to the same place by the Intercalary day interposed but no such Revolution appears I find Eudoxus of old gave out indeed to this purpose Plin. II. 47. but no Experience confirm'd it from his time to Pliny's age he was only fond of his own Surmise If it had been so we had been weather-wise by this time without out consulting Star or Kalendar § 9. Considering what is behind it will not be very needful to say more here only to take away all Scruple I would answer a possible Objection The Returns of the Weather being fixed and determined 't is reasonable as you say that the Fixed cause be assigned the Author of That determination but the Sun and nothing else is the Determinate Cause for what else consines the Return to the same Day therefore it must be the Entire and Adaequate Cause The Answer is ready if all the Stars in the Firmament should conspire with the Sun into one Tempest they could choose no time but what the Sun the Lord of Time should determine It followeth not therefore that if the Sun be the Determinative Cause he is the Adaequate the Sun bearing two places Physical and Chronological in the first he helps to produce in the second he circumstantiates the Production But if the Identity of the Day 's constitution be press'd we answer that the Sun determineth That not absolutely and entirely for then the Return would be infallible but on supposition of the other Causes meeting these Concauses met do determine the Effect as it were Materially the Sun closing with them specisies the time Thus Disputers say the last Vnity is the form of Number a principal Cause but not an Adaequate CHAP. VI. The Lunar Influence and its History Hippocrates doctrine of the Tides Dissent from the Learned Vossius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle agrees with Hippocrates § 1. PRoceed we then and let us say that the Changes of the Air cannot be referr'd to the Sun taking in the Moon along with it though to give the Moon her due also she is of great Efficacy as Ptolemy tells us in that excellent II d Chapter of his first Book All things saith he animate and inanimate receive her impression the Rivers swell or abate according to Her light the Tides and Ebbes of the Ocean 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sway'd by his Rising and Setting Plants and Animals are in poor or better case as she waxes and wanes Upon which words I would we could comment we endeavour thus What the proper quality of the Moon is we find disputed Ptolemy and the Ancients define her to be Moist they mean or ought to mean that she is of a remiss warmth to such a degree as is no Enemy but rather friend to Moisture by Resolving it Calling it forth or otherwise Actuating it by her spirituous Ray according as that fluid and withall salt Element is capable of impregnation § 2. And to this one principle of Warmth will all the various Effects usually ascribed to the Moon be justly reducible For on this account the Sea it self ebbs and flows in all Rivers Creeks and Shores making a Full Sea precisely at what time the Moon comes to such a Point of the Compass falling back every day as many minutes about 48 as the Moon comes later to the same Point luxuriating in her Spring-tides about the Full and Change when she is direct with the Sun and flagging all the Quarters when she is at an oblique distance On this account it is that Flesh exposed to the Lunar Rayes sooner putrifies those which walk along by Moon-shine feel a Dose in their
that the Days are always or most part Character'd in their Constitution according to her accesses or recesses to the Sun or Tropicks Secondly the Mystery would have been kenn'd through the Observation of 2000 years at least seeing the Motions of the Sun and Moon are conspicuous but No body hath pretended to find any Specialties herein excepting three or four days in the month and those too of very remote and uncertain signification for the Moon is a Reflexion and Reflexions are tied to Laws According to the Angle of Incidence so is the Reflexion and the strength thereof but no Constitution of Air is tied and bound to these several Reflexions the Weather returns in such a Month when there is neither the same phasis nor an equivalent § 2. Nay Sun and Moon jointly are not the complete Causes of the Airs Alteration upon several grounds for if so every XIX years Revolution would bring with it the same state of the Year and we should be able to say what would be the Face of Heaven to morrow if we had observed 19 years ago without any great Conjuring § 3. Secondly we argue from the Duration the Same Constitution of Air sometimes lasts a whole week a month yea predominates the best part of a year while the Moon alass every 24 hours changes her phases in two days runs a twelfth part of the Heaven in a Month shifteth all her Schemes and Postures in relation to the Sun § 4. On the contrary we may consider the fickleness of the Weather In two hours yea in half an hours time the face of Heaven shall be Masked clear calm turbulent but in half an hours time the Sun and Moon vary not any considerable difference Sometime it shall rain and shine by Fits with such variety of surprize that if the Moon and Sun had run the Zodiaque in that 12 hours the variety could not have been greater § 5. Next may we take in the violence and extremity of Weather for Heat soultry melting fainting Air for Wind the Fury of Tempestuous blustering rocking the lofty Towers and shaking the best and lowest Architecture Of the extremity of the Heat the Moon supposing the Sun never so much cannot be the Cause the Moon being a Reflexion as was said and a single Reflexion but the Air is heated beyond the power of a single Reflexion as if there were some Anthelii one or two invisible Suns as some have imagined Antiselenae The vulgar impute all to the Sun and on a soultry day say the Sun is very hot but sure the Sun hath some Satellites some invisible Company or Guard that lie behind the Hyacinth-Hangings of the Heavens In the fury of Tempest the vulgar speak more feelingly when they say it Rains as if Heaven and Earth would meet and blows as if it would rend up all before it the Sun and Moon alone give them little supicion of such prodigious strength they rather believe a Devil raging in a Storm than impute such horrid Violences to so sober and civil a Pair as the Sun and Moon are accounted § 6. Add the contrariety of the state of the Air the Sun and Moon may be assigned some Cause of Warmth but who assigns a Cause of Cold the Sun by his oblique annual Accesses and Recesses in the Zodiac dispenses Summer and Winter as by his Diurnal motion he distributes Day and Night The Night and the Winter are acknowledged Both cold by reason of the Sun's Absence or Distance but whence comes the Day to be Cold an Aestival day to be chill Is the Sun the Cause the Cause of Contrarieties and that while Present The Sun cannot be the cause of Darkness when the Sun is present neither can it be the cause of Cold when it affords its presence When therefore a chill Hail-storm follows Lightning and Thunder I ask which of these Two congeles the Hail which kindles the Flash Doth the Moon congele the Storm It may be That 's a tepid Planet Is it the middle Region and the Antiperistasis then it would always Hail not Rain when it Thunders especially for the Hottest days the Fittest for the Antiperistasis but when the lower Region we find is chill'd also when it Thunders with Hail and that at Mid-summer who incourages this Cold what enlarges its Confines 't is too late to talk of Reliquiae Hremis at Mid-summer or in July nor to turn us off with the blind motion of the Matter For what is Uncertain and Confused is Casual and Casualty is inconsistent with Science so inconsistent that it is not to be pleaded by any Lovers of Learning § 7. Lastly the contrariety of the Accident to the Time when e. g. after a Set of close and muddy Days the Air takes its qu and clears up at Mid-night what removes that Curtain 'T is scarce the nature of any Night to remove Clouds her chill Constitution doth rather settle and fix if not seem to gather them the Moon hath not such power for supposing she be up the Sun sometime is hard put to it to take a Mist from the Earth much more the Moon The like we say for Winter the Absence or Depression of the Sun makes cold Weather but How come Winters to be warm warm ordinarily for a Month or more when the Daisie Anemone the Strawberry shall blow and proclaim a favourable Season The Moon for half the time is in Winter-signs as low and humble as the Sun Add when it happens thus that the Day and Night are ordinarily alike as to the Constitution yea the Winter-Nights have commonly most to do being tempestuous at least in the latter end of October and November nay sometimes soultry Nights are found in November as sometimes Thunder and Lightning at Christmas Many a Summer passes and it Thunders not can a Winter-Night be warmer than many a Summer can the Sun in its lowest Degree and Absence withall be more Potent than in Presence and Verticity 'T is more possible for the Sun to raise Thunder in the Frozen Zones if appearing above the Horizon than to play such Pranks in his Winter Nadir As for the Moon how can she by Night or Day operate when she is under the Horizon a Tempestuous Night continues and takes no notice of her Setting and it may Thunder and Lighten in the Winter-night before she rises the Moon as we said doth not so much as look as if she liked such Roister-company CHAP. VIII The other five call'd into the Militia Planets not made for Illumination only Light and Heat the same spirit All the Planets have their Influence Not all of the same Nature or Operation § 1. THere are therefore some Satellites which we spake of to be taken into consideration those five Lights which have been call'd of old by those Heathen Names of Saturn Jupiter Mars Venus Mercury notwithstanding which even by Scripture-precedent may be innocently used § 2. To our purpose 't is enough that they are Lights for no Star no
if I find our ☌ of ☉ and ♀ in any reasonable Capacity acting at the same time To our Beauteous Conjunction will I ascribe the Continuance as perhaps we may find the like in some after Aspects who are of as slow a Motion § 12. On this account it is that we often times see Clouds as in several Stories Lofts or Scenes one over another I do not fix them on this Aspect only but specially I do such Contignations of the Clouds do shew that store of Rain is falling or ready to fall In all dire Tempests we may find such Bay of Buildings in the Regions above which when they fall on our Heads make a Ruina Caeli the First Heaven doth often tumble upon our Heads And in Loud Thunder these several Stories no doubt heighten the violence of the Eruption and helps to strike the Lightning downward which otherwise would fly as innocently as a soft silent Night-Flame sudden or shooting in the Hush't Night § 13. For High Winds whereof Ptolemy makes mention we have a competent Number which occur both in the Direct Conjunction and Retrograde I observe he doth not stick to attribute Winds to ♀ though he hath ascribed the same to ☿ before All that we shall say is and no body will perhaps gainsay us that there is reason why ☿ should be reputed of a more windy Influence than his Neighbour Planet because of his Vicinity yea and those more often Congresses with the Sun but notwithstanding this we shall see to be Truth that many times ♀ hath her Influence and no small Influence on many Tempests of which ☿ carries away the Name § 14. What more remains will come under the more Platique Consideration of this Aspect whose Grandure will not be conspicuous except we enter into a larger Field being not unwilling herein to spare our pains Here I find the Arabs Summ. Anglican speak of 12. degrees others of 15. which I must needs say is founded on Experience as hath bin shewn in part already in ☿ Nay some speak of the same Sign but of That we say little till we come to the Superiours At present we shall produce no Evidences but what comes within Compass of the first Moiety of the Sign the 15. degree and all on this side of it § 15. But we have not done our best for our Moisture yet Thus then notwithstanding we have said that 13. or 14 days produced for every Aspect in the Direct Table is a Prejudice to our accounts yet even so our Moist Days in the Table out-vie the Moiety of the Total This in the Direct but in the Retrograde which consists but of 3 days what is the Issue What But this that there is scarce one Aspect under that Stile but what finds us with Rain or Moisture Once if not Twice within the Triduum And if so pray remember us to Gassendus the reason we will tell you that in this Case i. e. when Venus is Retrograde Venus is nearer us than Mercury it self So doth Astrology demonstrate § 16. Let the Reader favour me so as to glance on these days following and then recur to the Table First Direct January 1679. die 22. February 1655. die 5. 8. April 1658. die 17 18 24. 1666. die 9 11 13 14 17. 1682. die 16. June 1653. die 21 26 29 30 1677. die 17. July 1653. die August 1664. die 29. 1672. die 20 28 31. Sept. 1. 16. 1656. die Septembr November 8. 1659. die 9 10. 1683. die 1 4 8. January 1671. die 28. Feb. 17. ib. 1655. die 26. Feb. 3. 1679. die 16. 23 24. February 1655. die 2. April 1658. die 21. 23. 1666. die 8. 13. 16. 1674. die 15. 21 22. 1682. die 14. July 1653. die 2. August 1664. die 31. Sept. 1 2. 1672. die 17 27 29. 31. November 1650. die 16. 1667. die 4. 18. 1682. die 8. § 17. I have read somewhat of the Treasures of Rain Hail Snow and so have you Good Reader if you please I will shew you one of them the ☌ ☉ ♀ is one of those Store-Houses for the First Columne of the Table presents you with Store of Rain according as was noted by Ptolemy The 2d with Rain for a considerable part of the day yea All the Day long an Effect I wis of some Consequence to be regarded by all those who believe a Providence and Convincing all those who believe it not For lo on such an Aspect precisely those Gluts of Rain do fall See the same from Keplers Table also ready to be produced least any should say 't is meerly Casual no 't is not so but it would perhaps never have bin discover'd but by our Method of enlarging our Aspect to a Fortnight or thereabout But how That 's the Question if it were an Apple we spoke of the Fairest yields most Moisture But is it so amongst the Stars I thought once to dispatch it thus that the Planets not Warmth only but its Motion also is to be consider'd Upon the Account of Warmth she is a Friend to Rain Upon the account of her Motion she keeps even pace with her Sun as it were to justifie and maintain the Constitution put up For all Constitutions are interrupted by the Separations of the Causes which help to produce them unless when equivalent Causes succeed These Causes are not separated so soon where the Motion is equal as in our Aspect is found Continued Rains are not found therefore so frequent in ☌ ☉ ☿ because ☿ by his swifter Motion bids adieu to the ☉ as ☽ also doth with a Motion much swifter That this is the Reason appears because these Rains whose duration last an entire day are found mostly in the Direct motion of our Planet under this Aspect where this equality holds In the Retrograde where the Sun and She moving to contrary Terms are suddenly parted we see no such Constitution happens With what justice now shall a genuine Astrology be counted a vain Pretence when 't is even demonstrative when it renders a reason of an Effect not contemptible à priori Making as good Demonstrations why Rains when they once Catch are apt to last by the equal motion of the Planets as there is Demonstration of a Lunar Eclipse by the Earths interposition § 18. There are some little Curiosities that if they deserve not our regard yet perhaps may be above our Contempt § 19. First Concerning the Clouds of which there appears these differences Flaxen Clouds Fleec'd Clouds some which I call Fritter Clouds all from their likeness other Striped or Streaked Clouds lying in strange Furrows as it were I have reason to think these belong to the Aspect because they are found all of them within the interval of three degrees and yet according to the general Nature of Clouds so diversified Compare this with Clouds in their Lofts or Contignations These are abatements of that Fulness Now all abatements do spring from the substraction of the Cause as in the
these Let it be remembred that we find melting Weather Anno 1658. 1667. Scalding Air Anno 1660. and excessive Heat Anno 1656. 1665. 1671. 1678. and where not Except once or so when the Wet hath palliated the Heat as 1679. or 1682. § 12. The Objection of what Cold occurs we have said ought not to move a Wise man for where is variety but in the Work of Nature Study it in what Topique you please and you shall find it This we say not as if we were hindred by the Objection for the rarity of the contrary is Argument enough for us as in the ☌ ☉ ♂ hath bin observed March 1654 June 1663. October 1679. What is Three to XXVIII Beside that 't is not for nothing that the Two last of those Months have foggy Air joyned with Frosts which shews an abatement of the Cold and a Similar Effect of a reserved Cause For when we say Heat we do not mean every Day should melt or scald us but some sensible degrees of the Quality more or less and rather for the more Therefore you hear that the Character of this Aspect speaks of Snow and Hail at the Seasons as well as Rain or Coruscations hence Rain and Snow which is next is not omitted by the Common Character § 13. This little Table I so term it because it stands upon a little Basis bears a competent Testimony to Rain For even here He who shall hunt for a dry Season as March 1654. August 1656. c. must wade through many a wet day to get thither As in our First and Second Instance of Feb. Anno 1652. Jan. Anno 1654. is visible March it self subornes two days Witness for us with Snow and Hail in one day and Rain in the other To make short we find 139. wet days Snow and Hail included of our 280. which being an absolute Moiety speaks its mind For the Flouds or Inundations the Effects of profuser Rains we shall speak in our Larger Account For though we find even here an Inundation or Two as that of Amsterdam Hague c. Anno 1675. Yet they are found more commonly unconfin'd to such a Scantling of a degree or Two of which alone this Home-Diary consists Hence that in Febr. 1661. about Tonbridge cannot be imputed to a Single day but to sveral precedent Days at a greater distance by two or three degrees more Of Flouds therefore in their proper place Eichstad I say refers Inundations to ♂ and ☿ which we shall find to be true but so that ♂ and ♀ put in too yea many times at the very Nick when ♂ and ♀ may seem to be the only Sluce-Openers § 14. This brings us to the Third considerable which I find is Fog observable for 18 days which though it come near a 20th part almost of the whole yet you know I reckon it not so much to the Influence of our Aspect as to the Half-Influence A Fog being nothing but a wet or dropping Constitution spoiled in the making The First Draught and Lineaments of a Showr drawn as it were in Cole not by a dropping but a more dry Pencil And hitherto do we reduce the Fila the Ropes on the Ground and the Floting Gossamere which I have observed to be the Product of Fog or Mist when that the moisture being exhaled the clammy part is left behind § 15. Winds I would take to be accidental to our Partil Aspect at least or not so suitable to the Influence as is found in others Though I acknowledge 90 Insâ—â—ces of which 42 are heard as High and Lofty In like manner as in ☉ aspected with ♀ we found not so much Wind as with ☿ But the Winds changing which I find Twenty times and upon a more attentive Watch believe it might have been trebled I am not going about to perswade notwithstanding that it belongs to this Aspect alone remembrieg what I have said already of the ☽ to some such purpose yet it may concern some certain Aspects more than others For the Solar Aspect with any Planet the ☽ excepted as we have said I reckon here to be excluded since they help to Fix the Wind antecedently to the Change For if they do not what else can be assigned The Sun and those which conspire with with him settle the Constitution if any other adventitious cause can alter it it may The Sun I say in Aspect or out of Aspect gives being to the Constitution the other which are concerned not with him but with one another exert their peculiar Strength in Weather and Winds provided that the Aspects of these different Planets lye at some distance from the ☉ for otherwise their Influence like Flames unite But if it so happen that the Sun being up These Aspects are not in hast to follow him because of their distance their Influence may be separated so far as to suffer a cooler Wind to blow which upon their Rising shall vere to a warmer point For observe it when you will if the Wind turns to a chiller part of the Compass There is some retreat of the Heavenly Bodies They either part One from the Other or leave the Horizon On the contrary when the Winds turn from a cold Quarter to a Warmer West or South c There is some new appearance above the Horizon or new Application of one to another And this it may be made Eichstad observe to us that the Wind changed often to the West under this Aspect which so far is true that it never changes from the Warm Quarter by virtue of this Aspect toward the warm Quarter it doth unless in State of Dereliction § 16. Verily 't is a pleasant piece of Art to be able to say as on some certain days we may while a Northerly Wind blows to assign I was going to say the Minute when the Wind shall turn I remember One Instance of that Nature I cannot say 't was this Aspect precisely that once according to observation expecting the Wind to turn I went up to the Battlements of the House and Lo Within half a quarter of an Hour the Vane of a Neighbour Church at a very little distance turned to the Point which I was aware of 'T is well I was alone for if any less curious Person had been with me to have attested the Event which is sober Truth I should have been suspected for a What d' ye call him This can the Observation of the Planets attain to as may be seen in the Chapter of the Rise and Setting of the Stars a part of this Treatise § 17. There is another appearance for which this Aspect hath a Fame and that is Iris Halo Parelia Of the former we have one great Instance from Leicestershire of the Later I fear I have met with more than are noted down Something I am sure we shall find though not proper to the Aspect perhaps nor again improper Kepler hath one remark under the name of Phasmata by which he means some
Learned Vossius to the Sun The later must be ascribed to the Aspects some not ordinary Constitution Celestial For if the Heavens are the Cause of the Original Motion of the Sea and its acceleration which at several times is acknowledged to differ Then it must be the Cause also of that Motion which results from the Original the Sire or Mother of the Currents The like in the Winds For though I see some difficulty there and though I acknowledge the Air to be of an easier Agitation then is imagined yet I cannot think that the Monsoon though in part it is is nothing in the World but a Consent of Motion with the Stream excluding the Heavens So am I sure the Stormy Winds proceed from a new Coition of the Celestial Bodies and thereupon constantly upon its Approach the Monsoon for the while changes § 70. The rest of the Instances abroad let us dispatch and we have done The year 1520. tells a Tale of a Frost which hurt the Vineyards even in September Eichstad imputes it to an ☠♄ ♂ in ♑ and ♋ Platique and the rest of the Aspects mingling with ♄ which we will not dispute A o 1599. Cold and Dry April and May ☠in ♈ and ♎ April 25. impute it to ♄ and ♂ so opposed and withal deserted A o 1607. June 12. A Midsummer Frost on the precise day of the Summer Solstice Fromond reckons it rare and the Truth is ☉ ♂ and ♀ are all three in the towring height of ♋ Yea ♄ from the Opposite Sign irradiates between ♂ and ♀ so posited 'T is the more observable not for any Miracle but to shew ♄ 's chilness viz. his distance If the ☽ which is nearer had been in ♄ 's place it would scarce have been For Heat ♄ and ♂ are noted to cause a great Heat at Lisbon even in Dec. A o 1528. Purch A o 1540. Hot Summer upon the account of our Planets in ♎ when as ♋ ♌ ♠were possessed which Peucer weakly refers to an Eclipse April 5. which in Truth is neither Cause or Sign A o 1558. Great Heat ☉ vertical May 11. ☉ was Vertical but ☉ was strengthned in his Verticity by the Neighbourhoods of other Planets ♂ among the rest platiquely opposing ♄ who also is strengthned by a Friend in the same Sign A o 1589. â Febr. 3. ad March 6. Extream hot Our Aspect helps an ☌ Platique in ♉ and ♠but there is besides other Aspects in extraordinary Circumstance of slowest Motion A o 1585. August very hot ☠in ♈ ♎ 'T is plain to Sence for all the Signs that should be taken up for hot Weather are sped A o 1607. Great Heat ☠♄ ♂ in Trop I was honest when startled even now at the surprizing Difficulty of a Frosty Morning on the Solstice the Planets said I being so posited You see my scruple had some ground for this following Month had Warmth enough A o 1608. Aestas Calidissima noted even when our ☌ is in a Winter Sign viz. ♒ Well that comes accidentally if the Summer Sign ♌ and its Neighbours will shew all the Cards in their Hands and out-face or oppose the Winter-Gentlemen Rare though it be 't is no Miracle A o 1615. Aug. 2. ad 27. Warmer than at any time of the year Impute it to the Approach of the ☠of ♂ to ♄ in ♎ then and there considered with c. § 71. We have some few Fireworks belongs to us some only Shew others mischievous A o 1520. Fax ardens Sept. 4. Lyc. ☠in ♑ and ♋ Platic A o 1546. Chasme Febr. 10. Lyc. ☌ ♄ ♂ in fine ♠A o 1548. Febr. 10. again Fiery Meteors ☌ in ♑ 13. A o 1559. Sept. 1. London Terrible Thunders ☠in ♊ ♠gr 19. dist There are milder Aspects to be observed but even ours also shoots from far and Frights us A o 1595. Pasch April 20 Thunder Lightning yet very cold and so continued to the Months end ☠in ♌ and ♒ the Cold may be reduced to its place A o 1598. Sept. 5. Harmful Thunder at London flew some Men Stow ☌ in ♎ Of Halo's Irides Parelii c. § 72. Halo's are sometimes colour'd like Iris and the Parelia are always striped with Irides which that they depend on our Principle appears as elsewhere we have contended in the like case from the Multiplicity the busie time in Heaven from the frequency of Aspects not of ordinary Concourse I shall instance in one not mentioned in the following of strange Parelia seen at Norimberg March 22. on a Good-Friday I mention that to secure the true day and year where no less than 8 ☌ s or ☠s are found in a Fortnights time A o 1554. First 1514. Jan. 12. in Ducatum Witebeiengensi hor. 3. P. M. 1520. Viennae Jan. 5. ♑ 14. ♂ ♋ 24. ♄ ☌ 1523. May 2. Parelia at Zurich ♄ ♂ within gr 6. of Opposition ♠♓ ♃ is in ☌ with ♄ only gr 9. between them 'T is strange if accidental to the Effect that these should be counter-link't within 9 degrees but the like occurs May 18. 1627. Kepl. Iris die 29. Yea Paraselenae April 9. 1554. 1532. At Venice April 11. Parelia Fromond Lyc. ☌ in ♊ 26. 'T is as strange again that our Planets should meet in Partile Conjunctions and know nothing of the Spectacle 1554. March 6. Ingolstad't circ 8. 9. morn Lyc. ☌ in ♓ 20. 1550. March 30. Palmarum in ♒ 9. ♄ ♓ 7. ♂ 1554. April 9. Paraselenae at Sumerfield ♓ 24. ♄ ♈ 17. ♂ 1555 Febr. 10. Parelia at Vinaria Lyc. ☌ ♄ ♂ ♓ and ♠in fine Nay now 't is probable that our Aspect can make such Counterfeits Heavenly Counterfeits Hypocritical Suns here are three Witnesses 1556. Dec. 6. Parelia ♄ and ♂ in ♈ and ♎ gr 11. dist either the Platique Aspect hath Influence or else neither Partile nor Platique and if neither then we poor Men spend our time finely In the mean while 't is a pleasant Cheat and we are loath to be disabused A o 1569. Die May 21. Paraselenae Bunting ♎ 4. ♄ ♈ 29. ♂ A o 1573. Parelia cum Iridib May 11. Gem. ♄ ♠23. ♂ ♊ 3. A o 1557. July 28. in Suntgoy ♉ 8. ♄ ♠8. ♂ So before die 21. ejusd mens A o 1585. July 19. Rainbows ♄ ♂ ☠in ♈ and ♎ gr 14. dist A o 1552. Febr. 19. ☉ with Halo and Iris Lyc. we mean a dry Iris such as are seen with Parelia ☌ in ♒ gr 3. dist A o 1551. May 21. Paraselenae counterfeit Moons and Irides ♄ and ♂ in ♌ and ♒ gr 11. dist A o 1569. March 12. hor. 12. Iris Nocturna Gem. ♄ ☉ and ☿ are plainly eugaged in the Beginning of ♈ and ♎ yea and our Platic though here at a mannerly distance for all its modesty is guilty of the appearance the hour 12. at Night shews the ☉ hath to do though from the Opposite Hemisphere and ♄ hath
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
Hail you shall seldom hear of two though little Distances of place that will agree in its Admission § 3. We acknowledg this Variety is admirable when God Himself hath pleas'd to give it as a remarque of his Power that He causes it to rain on one City and not on another that which our Eyes in a beautiful prospect are sometimes witness of But sober Philosophy is not confounded at the Contemplation of this wonder as the Astrologer Himself was who observing once at Tubing some Heat and a little Rain onely but elsewhere lower in the Countrey Tonitrua horrida breaks out into this self-killing Conclusion frustrà istas Meteororum formationes à positu Astrorum exigas Kepler Ephem Anni 1625 ad mens Jun. Philosophy is rather excited to give some account of the Divine Power and Wisdom which though invisible in themselves are and in all Ages of the world have been discoverable by such contemplation and scrutiny § 4. Wiser therefore was the Conclusion of the same good man who upon the like collation of the various Constitution of the Heaven at Lusatia first observing only black Clouds and at Glogaw scarce a days journey from thence having had intelligence of terrible Thunder spake like Himself in Wonderment but not Confusion Ecce quid Coelum quid Terra quid Loca possunt Kepl. ad mens Sept. Anni 1629. § 5. For without all peradventure this variety of the Airs Constitutions whether permanent or transient must be referr'd to the Heavens above and their Difference hereafter to be consider'd joyn'd with the Situation of the Place together with the Parts adjacent and the manifold Differences there also to be alledged By reason of which Thebes differs from Athens Rome from Tibur Athenis tenue Coelum crassum Thebis Thus the Mountains Acroceraunii in Epire famous of old for frequent Thunders as the Sierra Leona in Africk witnessed to this day by the Portuguez Mariners who hear as much at 50 Miles distance Thus in Rome and Campania Winter-Thunders are heard sometimes in other parts of Italy never as Pliny hath noted II. 50. The instance from Peru is notable though far fetch'd where Acosta tells us that in the Plains ten Leagues bredth from the Sea coast it never Rains nor Thunders upon the Sierra's and Andes two ridges of Hills at 50 Leagues distance running parallel to each other it rains sufficiently on the first from September to April on the latter almost continually But nearer home the Cities of Heidelberg in the Palatinate and the Ancient Triers in Germany from the Heavens disposition to Rain have it seems a like slabby character so the German City is by some call'd saith D r Heylin the common Sewer of the Planets Cloaca Planetarum § 6. This Diversity say I must be referr'd to the Quality and Site of the Place whether it be neer the River Lake Sea whether it be Hill or Dale Sands Clay Mine and some say Forrest which All contribute to the Individual Constitution of Hot Cold Fresh Pure Dry Gross Moist Foggy by way of Cause Material or reduced to the Efficient § 7. First for the Sea 't is a granted case the Maritim places are more subject to Fog Rain and Winds witness the East part of Lincolnshire by reason of the Fens and certainly all the prodigious Tempests of this our Island noted by our Ancestors are found to lay their Scene in our Maritim Countreys as Lancaster Somerset Dorset Hampton in the West Lincoln York to the North-east but especially the Counties of Essex Kent Suffolk Norfolk Cambridge § 8. So gloriously true is That which God Himself taught us long ago by the mouth of his Holy Prophet that He gathers the Waters from the Sea and poureth them on the face of the Earth § 9. The Sea ministers Matter not only for Rain and Wind but for Thunder also if Nitre and Sulphur be ingredients thereto As for Hail we know that it falls at its season in most places but note it for certain that all Prodigious Hailstones whose ambit reaches five six seven Inches is found to have faln on places at no great distance from the Sea the Cause is obvious § 10. Rivers then must bear their proportion as Fogs so Dashes of Rain are the sorer by how much the nearer to them The Showre the Seamen say observes the River and flows along with it as in its own alveus The Greater Rivers make the moister Air as the Air of Austria because of the Danow Kepler ad Sept. Anno 1627. Upon which account London I observe hath her share in Chronicle for Tempest because of her Thames and the Southern-side of the City hath complain'd most as the Tower Bow-Church poor S. Pauls now Tempest-free I wis Westminster because of their vicinity to the River when what I have seen my self tall Spires of Churches have rock'd to and fro as if they were at liberty and strong Iron Bars have hung the head like a broken Stalk by meer stress of weather § 11. Next the Nature of the Soil Kepler hath admonished us of a certain place neer Vlm in Suâ—via often struck with Thunder the Reason he rightly guesses from the Slate-Quarrâ—es and other Minerals there about which are discerned by the Mineral-waters there in use ad mens Maii Anno 1627. Those about Bath should inform us of this matter which if I misremember not is perform'd in the Transactions Philosophical For my part I always suspected that Horrible Thunderbolt which came into the Church of Wells Anno 1596 to have ow'd somewhat of its Extraction to the Place This we shall find that All places more subject to Lightning are also subject to Earthquakes but Earthquakes we know proceed from Mineral Sulphur c. incensed Rome and Campania which were noted but now for â—inter-thunders I am sure are Tracts not exempted from Earthquake § 12. This is so certain that in those uncouth showres of Milk and Bloud it becomes probable that the Mines of Chalk and Vermilion contribute also at least to the distinction of their borrowed Tincture § 13. The difference of the Hill and Vale is as conspicuous the Hill contributing more Cold than the Vale yeilding therefore for the most part a later Herbage In the Mountains of Bohemia the Corn at S. James tide was blowing when in the Plains of Lusatia it was ready for Harvest saith our constant Kepler Here note that in respect of the Heaven Lusatia lies the more Northward of the two therefore the Difference arises from the difformity of the parts of the Earth amongst themselves of Hault or Bate How cold the Tops of the Alps are is not unknown of whom 't is noted that the Snow melts first at the foot of the Hill § 14. In observation of Weather the Hill many times puts bounds and limits to the moisture of the Vale. Instance of This I have had the hap to observe what I have also heard from the Chiltern Hills in the County of
Bucks separating That from its Neighbour Oxfordshire whose Dust hath been scarce laid above while Oxfordshire below hath been glutted with Wet § 15. That these Considerations exclude not the Heavens even from hence is manifest because this Diversity of Habit or Proneness thereto is bottom'd on the difference of the Influence Celestial and its Reflexion For if the Solar Heat be of any Concern in this Affair the Reflexion and Refraction of the Ray by which the Heat is multiplied and advanced are not to be overlook'd See the Astronomia Optica for this matter if the common Burning-glass be not Evidence sufficient The Vale reflects and refracts the Beams being the grosser Air the Head of the Mountain for the Descent is reckoned into the Vale reflects less being Drier and Purer Thus the Pendle in Lancashire a high Hill which when a Cloud sits neer the Top always gives a sure Watch-word for Wet approaching as Camden also takes notice is accounted for the Hill not as the Natives will have it in their false Hypothesis breaking the Cloud but rather ripening it § 16. This disposition of the Air to Wet c. is yet more evident where there is a concurrence of the Premises as where a Place happens to be situate neer a Hill together with a River The Acroceraunii are neer the Sea the Sierra Leona not far from the Ocean Heidelberg and Triers have Rivers and Hills for their Neighbours the former being hemm'd in round as they say with Hils only on one side open § 17. This Observation begets another concerning the Winds and its Difformity in respect of the Point of the Compass from whence it blows In several parts of the world from Sea-Journals I have observed the contrary Points possess'd For in the year 1662 Apr. 9 in England the Wind was found Southwest and at Madera North-East In the year 1668 May 1 the Wind at London Northerly under the Equator then was noted a Southern Blast § 18. Yea and in respect of the Temperature there is a confess'd Difformity in the same species The East-wind Dry with us but in most parts of Italy Moist Cardan in Ptol. lib. 2. yea at Virginia saith Captain Smith § 19. The West-wind moist not so in Italy § 20. The North-wind in most places dry and fair therefore call'd Boreas and Argestes in the Netherlands Cloudy and Moist as Fromond saith he hath found by long Experience § 21. The South warm and moist in most places in Holland notwithstanding it oftner brings Frost than the North-west saith the Learned Isaac Vossius § 22. The Ground is the same viz. the Difference of Places from which they breath The South-wind is serene in Afric saith Pliny good cause why It blows from the Desert and the Sands and the dry North is there Rainy because it blows from the Seas all Winds as the abovesaid Author de Motu Marium c. hath taught us which blow from the Sea are warmer and from the Land are cooler § 23. Here a concurrence of Circumstances makes work also the Circius the North-west Wind so pernicious to the Gascoigners as elsewhere the Huracan ows its Extremity not to the Mountains only as Scaliger will have it but to the Seas also which just on the North-west side spred into a vast Bay as I may call it between France and Spain the situation of Gascoign § 24. But what because of these proper peculiar Dispositions is there no Footing for Science because oft-times we may discover a Showre shadowing a Village afar off when the rest of the Hemisphere is bright and serene are all Pretences to a Prescience grounded on Nature delusory and impossible When Rain falls in one place is there no nexus in nature which may warrant us to pronounce it falls also elsewhere And again is not the Heaven as often wholly clouded the Air close gross heavy setled for Wet extending it self through the whole Hundred Riding County or Counties yes verily a little Intelligence will acquaint us that seldom any Rain considerable happens in one determinate place but the like happens elsewhere Eastward or Westward to the North or the South with difference only in the time or measure Niceties hereafter to be enquired § 25. The like may be said for Wind Frosty Air Remission of Cold Heat Drought Serenity seldom confin'd to one place and therefore may be called General Constitutions § 26. The more rare Constitutions General are Those who produce Lightning Thunder Hail Fog in as much as These more visibly are forged as I may call it in the Mold of the Place yet we find several Dayes wherein Lightning and Thunder have not been confined to one Quarter several dayes wherein Fog though it chooses to nestle in a by-Vale yet sometimes it spreads it self like Egypt's Darkness and hovers over a whole Province § 27. However it may be it is not to be passed by that in case of failure if a Fog for Instance happens not in several Quarters there is something cognate to it a little Frost perhaps or thin Overcast Where Thunder is not heard as in other places there may be found soultry Air angry Clouds sometimes fiery Trajections and Passant Meteors at Even Yea Hail it self which most rarely hits in several places points to cold Rain or Snow which are but one Remove with chil Evenings observable elsewhere § 28. To General Constitutions even in a positive sense so called the World can be no stranger which so often hath felt raging Tempests whose Fury hath by Land rooted up Trees demâ—lished Edifices which at the same time have caused fatal Shipwrecks and vast Inundations Arguments that will extort Confession from us That such General Constitutions are no more to be denied than prevented Oft I say hath the World with impatience felt droughty Summers sharp pinching Winters wet unseasonable Summers Harvests such as brought a fear at least of Penurie Security or Plenty doth evince a Generality of the Airs Constitution as to a Kingdom or Country upon which account we justly are upon Tempestuous Winds concern'd for all that navigate on the Seas that are neer us whether British or Irish § 29. The State of the Air doth not as most think depend on the shifting of the Winds but contrary the Wind alters or shifts according to the Alteration of the Air Hence I find that even in those places where the Brize is constant and perpetual yet when the Weather alters the Wind shifts there is a priority of Nature in the Constitution it self in respect to the Winds that attend it § 30. When it is said therefore that the South-wind brings Rain or the North-wind driveth it away understand it of the Constitution as the Cause of both reckoning the Wind only to be a Sign only or attendant on the Effect The North-wind drives away Rain i. e. Rain is driven away while the North-wind blows and that only for such a Country Palestine c. but not all places universally as
hath been noted already § 31. The precedent Constitution of the Air helpeth nothing to the Continuation of the same unless the Heavens conspire for the Air being of a thin Body as it is of an easie receptivity for all sorts of Impressions so it easily parts with them unless continued or renewed by a Cause permanent or suppletory § 32. In the defect of which we perceive oft-times to admiration the Constitution vary from one Excess to the other the Wind bloweth where it listeth CHAP. IV. A certain Prescience attainable Prognosticks vulgar The Husbandman's Prognosticks § 1. AS it is the Goodness of God to vouchsafe us Natural Prognosticks of Constitutions ordinary and violent so hath he pleased not to deny a more Noble Artificial Prognostick of the same § 2. For though no finite Knowledge can be comprehensive of an Effect great or small in every minute Intrigue of Nature or Providence yet so certainly hath God suspended the Constitutions of the Air upon the Heavens that we must assert there is more than a Conjectural fore-knowledge of the changes of the Air by Day or Night attainable upon Contemplation of Causes Celestial and that without Vanity and Superstition or the least shadow of either rather attended with a plerophory of cogent Demonstration § 3. This Kowledge may be exercised in fore-pronouncing the vicissitudes of the Constitution yea and of the Winds also I had almost said to an Hour § 4. The same Knowledge may reach to the Perception of Comets Earth-quakes and Pestilences as having all unquestionable dependance on the Heavenly Bodies though these three last deserve Treatises by themselves § 5. Prognosticks of Husbandmen and others from Birds and Beasts before mentioned as they are useful and delightful so they do not supersede our Inquisition seeing they pronounce from Arguments extrinsecal Effects or Signs and not from Causes § 6. Prognosticks from Apparences in the Air from the Halo Iris colours of the Sun-rising c. Clouds and their differences prognosticks from the Moon at three dayes old from fiery Trajections as they are not to be neglected because of some accidental Connexion so they ought not to be trusted upon their single report yet some are more special as fiery Trajections when frequent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shooting of the Stars Ptol. II. 14. do usually speak some Tempest at hand or if not excess of Heat § 7. The Comet also signifieth infallibly some Excess and that lasting but whether that prove as to Wind or Drought or Wet they do not determine that Determination belongeth to no one Apparence § 8. Nay Comets many times have nothing to do with Prognosticks being a sign of Wet or Drought or Wind and that a consequent sign teaching us to look backward only on the antecedent past Excess § 9. Vulgar Prognosticks and those Other of a genuine Astrology i. e. Art and Experience stand not on even Ground for they reach only Constitutions immediately subsequent pronounce for to morrow or next day the Other pronounces at distance at a large prospect and that if need be concerning a whole Season The most sagacious Birds can give no certain aim at a whole Winters Constitution come they or go they sooner or later They come upon a natural Presumption of the Regularity of the Season in which the Poor things are sometimes deceived as Pliny quotes the year where an After-winter destroy'd many but the Theory of Art foretells both the irregular Interruptions of a Season with the Restitutions and that many Cycles of Years before the Arrival § 10. Prognosis Astrological that is genuine floteth not on uncertain Principles but knoweth whereupon it ought to fix § 11. Tempestatam rerúmque quasdam statas esse causas manifestum est Plin. II. 39. This is the Principle on which it fixeth for certainly the Annual Revolution or recurrence of the same Constitution or Inclination thereto doth uncontrollably evince some Fixed Cause which maketh the same Revolution to meet with the Effect § 12. Wherefore to all Noble Prognostick Experience must be premised Observation being laid up in store for some years before hand of the daily and sometimes hourly Alterations CHAP. IV. Some Determinate Dayes which have a peculiar Character and Disposition produc'd from the Antient Kalender Some Critical Dayes The Observation upon S. S within no Superstition § 1. THE Ancient Diary of the Egyptians Chaldees yea the Ancient Philosophers and Mathematicians of the Greeks and Latines Democritus Meton Euctemon Eudoxus Calippus Conon Hipparchus Caesar Columel Pliny and Ptolemy for the Africanes do incourage us in our Principle For as we see some Months Regularly and therefore Naturally incline to Cold Warm Dry Moist in like manner some Dayes of the Month even of the same Month have their proper individual Inclination to Cold Drought Moisture Heat of which the Kalendars inform us not yet out of Date to our purpose § 2. We will consider the Excesses of Weather throughly noted therein e. g. Much Rain Dec. XVII Much Wind Jan. XXII Great Heat Aug. XV. Horrid Tempest from the South Oct. ult From the North Dec. XI 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. windy Weather stormy Constitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. None of which could pass into observation upon a single Accident § 3. But least a single Accident should be pleaded as unreasonable as it is the frequency of the Constitution with its Contrary is happily expressed as in Febr. X. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 West-wind sometimes but otherwise Jan. IX for the most part South-winds and Dec. I. for the most part Turbulent See Ptolem. opusc de stell sign In the Vranologion of Petavius pag. 71. where you also meet with Geminus his Diary for the whole year according to the Degrees of the Zodiac That Geminus we care not who knows it who disputes against our Pretensions even in Him notwithstanding occur these Memorands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad ♠19 fair for the most part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cold Winds and ruffling for the most part ad ♠4. So at ♈ 23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hail often and ♠16 it uses to thunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as ♠4 also it uses to blow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agreeable to this is That in Columel X Cal. Sept. Tempestas plerumque oritur pluvia and all these Kalendar-men whenever they speak absolutely without terms of Diminution there they are to be understood as to the most part otherwise the Observation were ridiculous § 4. Shall we take Observation nearer Home and that from an Enemy within less than 200 years Mirandula himself hath given us some account of Dayes confessed Hazardous at Sea contr Astrol III. c. 13. p. 482. such as Feb. VI. XII XV. XVII XIX XX. Mart. I. VII XV. XVII XIX XXV April II. for so it should be read V. VI. XII XX. § 5. Yea not Italians or Seamen only but all Nations and Functions have so much Interest in seasonable Weather that they
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
many a fair Experiment making up Her History to which I know the more Curious can add more that I may not say 't is apparent if watch'd at some opportunity even to sense A Perspective of IV 1 2. Foot taking the Rise of the Moon after the Full in August a warm day preceding that the Air may not be Counter-disposed shall sensibly present the Planet's warmth to the Eye The like have I found in a Summer-Even sitting in a Southern Chamber that the Moon being eight or nine dayes old when approaching the Meridian hath infused a sensible warmth into the Chamber though the Sun were set § 37. ♂ is found to be endued with a Heat if the Effect may judge equal nay to all seeming superiour to the Sun yet seeing he acts by dependance on Him as all the Rest do we must compare None of them to their Maintainer § 38. ☿ hath a warmth more remiss than ♂ or ☉ more intense than ♀ § 39. ♀ her Warmth is so remiss and slack that she seemeth to befriend a Cold Influence § 40. There is only left ♄ and ♃ and it is very convenient that the cold Planet assigned should be One of these Two It may be somewhat for Ptolemies reason as also because None of the Planetary Bodies which pretend to Cold except these Two can raign I mean shine all Night the most fit opportunity for Cold ♀ shines but part of the Night and the ☽ is too warm for the purpose § 41. This supposeth I confess that the Nocturnal Cold is ordered and managed by the Celestial Bodies which is most certain and will be evidenc'd hereafter § 42. ♄ indeed who can outface so Ancient and Loud Tradition goes for the Coldest Planet He is indeed of a Tepor so low and indiscernible that he may and must be reckon'd as a Favourer of Cold and so far Experience justifies the Tradition § 42. But ♃ 't is well he hath obtained the Character of Temperate as well as ♀ is oh let the Paradox be pardoned the Principal Cold and crude Planet All the Rest are warm and moist though in different measure only ♃ cold and dry or a Resister of Moisture I know 't is a great Paradox and therefore to some will be offensive but it is such as wanteth neither Apology nor Proof § 44. Not Apology for what must we in earnest submit to every Tradition in Natural Science There 's nought I hope in Philosophy but what appeals to Posterity as to Sense and Reason and will abide the Test of Natural Scrutiny Philosophy is too ingenuous to impose upon us to offer to deceive us by Authority I grant the Authority of our Ancestors is Greater than is allowed by the Junior Inceptors of these dayes Many are despised by Us whose Wisdom we shall never attain to But yet our Ancestors themselves have fixed Bounds to their Authority They swear us indeed not to corrupt their Books they do not swear us to believe All they deliver We must tast before we swallow especially in that part of Philosophy which lies beyond the Moon abstruse Theorems at a vast prospect and distance In these I ought not to follow them hood-winkt to take All for granted as if They were First Principles or from Infallible Dictates They teach us concerning Heaven but they came not from thence I cannot give them their Due Praise unless I examine their Theses I shall be a lazy unwise person if I do not I shall be loath to betray the Generations of the World to Security and Error What Liberty the Antients have taken in a modest dissent from their Predecessors is left to us for a Legacy Ptolemy himself differs from His Seniors the Egyptians § 45. Not Proof no not from the Antients themselves For first though They declare him to be Moist yet they teach us also that He is a Raiser of Winds Ptol. I. 20. which by nature are a Dry Exhalation and Cold too 2. ♃ is the only Aeolus that blows up the North-wind say both Antients and Moderns and they say truly a second Argument that ♃ is the Coldest 3. With one mouth also They truly and consequently affirm that He is the Parent of Serenity but if the Cause of Clouds and Vapor be Heat the Cause of Serenity is Cold the Cleansing Spirit of Cold. Add that we shall see hereafter how No Aspect Planetary causes Dryth but every one of them more or less incline to Moisture except ♃ be one therefore if Cold be the Author of Dryth Dryth I mean in the Constitution of the Air ♃ is that Colder Planet Yea so manifestly is He the favorer of Dryth that he shews this Influence not only in Serene and open Air but in Cloudy and dark Air where many times he suspends the Moisture and as the Vulgar speak when in Cloudy Air a Dry Wind blows It keeps up the Rain Nor is it to be conceal'd that in All Fogs and Mists ♃ hath Influence which argues a dry fuliginous Exhalation mixt with Moisture That Moisture which is found and maintained at the Cost of the Rest of the Planets § 46. Colder and Dryer is ♃ than ♄ it self as much as the North-wind is colder than the East for though the East be cold and dry compared to the West it obtaineth no such character compared with the North. But ♃ is confessed Parens Aquilonis Raiser of the North-wind while ♄ contents himself with the East § 47. And for Dryth Aspects of ♄ are not found to resist Moisture to cause Serenity to raise dry Winds to cast a Fog a Cool Constitution it may profess but with inclination to Moisture for admit it causeth Snow I desire it be consider'd that 't is one thing to cause Snow and another to cause it to fall and the Distinction will be admitted by them that consider that how bitter soever the Weather is when Snow hangs in the Air as they call it yet the Weather relents in a sensible degree at the fall of Snow ♄ then may concur to the Solution of that Cold Mass which ♃ or some other hath created but none contests so much for Cold as ♄ ♃ therefore is the Coldest And let thus much at present serve for the 〈◊〉 § 48. Toward the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how ♃ or any other Celestial Body can be the Parent of Cold we are willing to declare First what is the Nature of Cold whether positive or meet Privation 2. If Positive what is the Primum Frigidum Earth or any other Body 3. What relation a Body Celestial can have to Cold if Cold prove to be a terrestrial Emanation § 49. Though some Philosophers have said that Cold is a Privation and it seems to agree to what Ptolemy would say concerning the Quality attributed to ♄ the remotest of all from the Sun yea though I think it manifest that some things called Positive Qualities are no better than Privations as Siccity Diaphaneity Softness c. yet I
bear us Witness who brings more hot days than all of them only on this account that she keeps near as within call to the Sun and â—ets not till the Sun himself declines in his strength even in the cool of the day This Sextile shews us 36 warm days for her Brother Sextiles 20. I see other doubts perhaps desire admittance as why the First Sextile should not be parile to the Later c. But besides that this may be answered by what hath bin formerly noted concerning the East and West Angles I think it not prudence having so far to go to wait on every puny Scruple § 9. The Hot Nights we meddle not with they are but Rarities and have their dependances more material than on the Two Luminaries The Trajections we speak not to because we cannot Imagine they should be duly and constantly observed No one man can do it It requires the attendance of a Society and an Observatory maintain'd for that and the like Notices Only 't is strange the Second âš¹ should be so brisk to equal the ☌ and the â–¡ 's Trajections being 19. under the ☌ 20 under the Later â–¡ and 21 under the âš¹ This we gain by it It proves the Aspects are not wholly devested of Influence when under the Horizon as the second âš¹ must needs be with both its terms when nocturnal Trajections are conspicuous Only we may note that the Number 4. under the Full ☽ speaks but low because the Plenilunar Lustre envies us their more frequent notice In the mean time those few must be look'd upon as Eruptions of Flame greater than ordinary who discover themselves even while the Air is possessed of so bright a presence and in the aestival season besure speak a glowing constitution § 20. Immediate to this we may view the Coruscations and Thunders under several Titles because many times they are found separate These may be rather consider'd in that their Tale must be just and certain And Lo the New Moon brings but two The Full Four The Quadrates 4. with one or two Mute Coruscations The Later â–³ brings 7. The Later Sextile 6. So the Later â–³ is considerable and we have seen 't is a busling Aspect in Thunders as well as Storms of Wind. Howbeit the Sextiles have a great kindness for Flashing without noise so that it may be we did well to consider Lightnings or Coruscations with Thunder and without apart by themselves Verily the Later Sextile which brought 6 Thunders which Sum is as high as any bating one unite is observed to have brought over and above 5 Lightnings And the first Sextile how Low soever in its Thunders has brought notwitstanding 7 Instances of Flashes Shall we supersede the Enquiry into the Reasons for hasts sake Only take notice of a semblable Parallel between Lightnings here and Trajections before under the Sextile the Later Sextile exceding all the rest here as there if we can make out a probable reason of the One it may hold in the Other And we would venture but that the First Sextile comes in with VII Lightnings and so makes a shift to equal the Later Some inclination no question it bears to it and let the Curious mark whether or no Lightning hath not its several Arks and Segments of a Circle according to the Diversities of the Aspects 'T is more than probable a Sextile may flash through two Signs A â–¡ to the Midheaven a â–³ beyond it an Opposition it may be but one Sign a Semisextile Aspect being reduc'd thereto This is commended to future Observation remembring that I speak of the Signs as they run oblique in the Zodiaque not of the Equinoctial Dodecatemories The Planets indeed in the Sextile Aspect lie so near one to the other that if any cause shall set it self upon making Celestial Fire-Works the Two Planets will be very apt to catch and to keep them alive throughout its allotted interval of spaâ— or time § 11. Let it be noted also that this may agree to the Sextiles in Genere not Lunar only though we must assert the ☽ also to have an Aetna in her according to the New Selenography or a force for Lightning provided that no man construes this to obscure the Powers of the greater Celestial Bodies § 12. Stormy Winds we have spoke to before the Full ☽ here bears away the Bell When the other Hover about the Number of 40. the ♂ ☉ ☽ alarmes two Elements of the Air and Sea about 60 times and possibly more Every gust we have not reckon'd nor every brisk gale nor every Windy Constitution when as if we could have hearkned out many of those days in the Seamans Journal I speak of our Brittish Seas only might have bin noted for Rough and Rugged the Cause is not intricate and hath bin touch'd already remembring that the Full ☽ bears precedence as to frequency of Storms For as to Fury the Trine we have said seems to go beyond it 13. Now for Winds variously Shifting and Frisking we have cryed up the Later â–³ But the Table tells us the Full ☽ holds its own there also so be it then if the â–³ equal it she is content § 14. To the more setled Change of the Wind we have brought in our Quota under every Aspect the Wind may Change we know every Hour but with a Specialty upon the Hour of the Suns leaving us Ventus cum Sole reliquit saith the Poet and accordingly in our Diaries the Evening-Hour most usually presents you with such an alteration 'T is to be imputed to the Aspect according as it appears in the Hemisphere or Disappears and that again as it is whole and entire or as intercepted by the Horizon about its Ascent or Descent And this is worthily remarkable therefore in the First Square which changes the Wind about 70 times when the Rest shew such Feats not much above 50 40 or 30. For that Winds come from the Stars Oh 't is a plain case in all their Periodical Revolutions as the Royal Philosopher tells us Eccles Cap. 1. Yea and in all its variations It deserves the attention of the young Philosopher how apt the Wind is to change Morning Noon Even Midnight under our Quadrate which measures out the Heaven into those equal parts whereby the One Planet follows the Other with a punctual Uniformity as to the Transits by the Horizontal Line and the Meridian And this rather in the First than the Later Quadrate for some such like Reason in proportion as we have rendred before of some difference in the Later â–³ from the Former To clear this you shall find as the Table informs that the ☌ ☉ ☽ admits the fewest Changes of the Winds because there is no difference of the Luminaries concern'd who rise together set together culminate together so that if she can hold her own after the Hour of their joynt descent or disappearing she keeps the Wind at her point for that entire Natural day whereas in the
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
account of a Month or six Weeks according as an Aspect may happen or as it may march its way by leasure So Captain Smith tells us from Feb. to March 18. the West-Indies were stormy Anno 1620. the Aspect happening Feb. 23. So Stow tells us Anno 1594. It rained continually June and July the Aspect following on July 12. And the same hand again tells us of the Month of September Anno 1590. out of order for two contrary qualifications Thunder and Snow the Aspect not shewing it self till the beginning of the next Month. Yea the same year Mr. Purchas tells us of no Fair VVeather till March the Aspect will answer for its share for happening on Jan. 14. the midst of the Month it may very well answer for all that Month as many a year before viz. 1524. happening on Febr. 15. it may answer for that also § 24. But it is all one whether the Month be Stated or Arbitrary if it gives an account for 30 Days immediately consequent 'T is the same thing § 25. Nay it may so happen by accident at the Station or Reg ress of Planets the Aspect may be answerable for 60 or 70 Days at what time we shall discern a Partile Aspect repeated like a Verse in Musique whereby the Song extends its Entertainment to the Ear. So Anno 1654. the Aspect may be questioned as accessary to all the Weather that appears on the Stage for all Feb. and March and An. 1665. from July 5. to Sept. 18. In which Instances and in so many more they do not only stand answerable as I said but also have wherewithall to make good what they are charged with out of their own proper Stock and help of Good Friends This may be seen by our two Tables when united if we supply Asterisques of the Larger with the Notes of the smaller Table For we were unwilling in different places to repeat the same Diary And no wonder can this be to those who shall observe that even in our Less Table ☌ ♂ ♀ shall last a Fortnight and all that while be found within 2 degrees distance Nay in June 1678. almost 3 Weeks Now least any man should think two Degrees too much to be allotted to this Aspect as Kepler himself doth in his Notes on March An. 1629. Nam Conjunctio ipsa ♂ ♀ cum ultra gradum dissideant saith he parum potest nisi c. Yet within 7 days after when he came to give account of Thunder day 9. which is Feb. 27. Old Style he is forced to impute it to two Aspects whereof the one is expired and the other not yet inchoate Yea Mark I pray to the Neighbourhood Viciniae of ♂ and ♀ when ♂ by his own Calculation then differs much about 2 Degrees § 26. Nor is there any inconvenience that a long-lived Aspect should prejudice the many shorter which intervene for we have everted that Objection by admitting what help and Assistance offers its self Neither doth one extinguish the other no more than the Sun extinguishes the Light of a Nocturnal Meteor It is so far from that if we speak of Extinguishing that it helps to kindle it One Aspect like one Souldiers presence animates the other § 27. Before we leave this we must observe that although we have met with Violences before yet we have not so many Tuffons before How terrible soever they be they are and have been frequent abroad Familiar even in the Holy Story and St. Paul's Voyage Thrice we have the Word which the East Countrys have preserved to us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 surely what the Mariner calls a Devil there is a Divinity in them To hurry a great Ship downright in a Dismal Gyre down into the deep a Ship perhaps whose Neighbour not far off is in a Calm Who will not see a Planet Yea more than a Planet surely God speak not to Job but he speaks to us all in a Whirlwind and teacheth us to admire him in his his Armies Celestial whilst we trembling adore the Maker seeing Winds and Storms fulfill but his Word § 28. As to our Glutts of Rain and their Consequences the Flouds they speak violence enough for a Martial Aspect and so doth Hail as seldom as it appears it denotes an unquiet Constitution a violence in its very make Snow is a pacifique Emblem it makes no Noise Hail Rattles and Destroyes Snow can but bury us but Hail may kill If a great Drop argues a violent Cause Hail doth the same This Cause Efficient is ♂ amongst the rest and if ♀ have any reserve for Cold rather than ♀ ♂ and ♀ united are as proper as any other § 29. Let us now proceed then to our Lightning and Thunder of which occur 21. And for this part of our Larger Table you see it Lighten in your Faces from several Quarters Anno 1520. June 15. Great Rain and Thunder Purch 1027. gr 15. ♠6. Sept. 23. Basil Thunder c. and so on as in the Table before § 30. Thunder-Months are commonly from April to October and if you please to see the Months have their Load view once again and you shall see November Dec. Febr. March All but January discharging one piece for the Hour of ♂ and ♀ Nay if it Thunder once in Febr. upon our pretended Aspect you have heard prejudice it self in the Learned Kepler confess the Presence of our Planets But 't is not the only time there hath bin Thunder heard in February Anno 1652. Febr. 21. I remember two Claps ♂ ♀ at gr 5. distance That I may not go so far as Cape Vincent where Feb. 17. 1558. it Lightned and Thundred all Night ♂ and ♀ at gr 14. Distance § 31. We have distinguished in the Entrance of this Work of Blite or Blasting One proceeding from Cold the Other from Heat Want of Rural Opportunities make us not so ready for the difference But the Later kind from Heat may be referred to Lightning for the Word seems to come from the German Blits which signifies Lightning And our Instance I find communicated from the Country But 't is but once and therefore may belong to some other Aspect § 32. One particular I must speak to observable in the Degrees of distance and that seems a strange one that in this Head of Lightning the Number VII seems remarkable when at such Distance it seems to Lighten more than at others We take notice of all things that may minister Wonder or upbraid our Ignorance § 33. For Comets the more I enquire I find no Planets forge more than ☉ and ☿ ♂ therefore and ☿ must in proportion do the like yet ♂ and ♀ stand not off but sometimes produce otherwhile prolong the Productions of others We will present the Instances of both § 34. Anno 1511. Comet in Aegypt and Arabia voic'd for Terrible in ♌ from May 3. ad July 3. Hevelius ☌ ♂ ♀ 6. Anno 1590. Comet from Febr. 13. ad Mart. 6 Linschoten Purch 1675. ☌ ♂
might be the Cause of the Whitness the extraordinary Whiteness for ordinary is not to our purpose it may be as some have observed long ago in Hail whiter than ordinary which proves to fall under our Aspect Howbeit to the Whiteness of the Sea pray look back to what is noted in the Diary A o 1541. § 46. What we have to say of Phasmes and Apparitions in the Air which we do meet with in unquestionable Records whatsoever may be expected we shall say but little Des-Cartes we see ascibes all such Stories to the Fancies of Superstitious People and so some other Learned of our Men who have followed him But we who heartily believe Spiritual Substances Good and Bad believe said I Nay we say in the Name of Mankind we account the Evidence such that whosoever resists it while he denies Truth confirms it Why so Will you say Even because Humane Nature cannot I think acquire such a proud Antipathy to a confess'd beside Divine Truth without some black Veil cast over their Eyes We I say who admit these Substances considering the report of Heathen Jewish and Christian History can easily admit such appearances as Armies Camps Ships Noses Trumpets so far forth that the Truth is They come not under our Cognizance no more than other Pranks of Daemons do unless as is confessed in Lunacies the Spirits of the Air who no disgrace to natural Science are better Philosophers than our selves know the times and Seasons fitted to their use by the admirable variety of the Course of Nature And this I avow to be highly probable as shall be made good in the Close of this Discourse Here under ♃ and ♀ we meet with that of July 19. 1550. seen at Trebinium in Saxony not far from Wittemberg Armies and Noises heard with Bloud spilt Lycosth Fincelius Our Aspect beside that of ☉ and ♄ is paramount here ☌ ♃ ♀ Partile about ♊ 20. or 21. Another such Spectacle in Saxony again I would He had named the proper place he gives us of a Hearfe seen and Mourners and Trumpets heard Oct. 1. 1541. here to say nothing of III. in ♎ before as observable in rare Effects our Planet ♃ from ♓ 3. oppose ♀ in ♠27. There 's a Third 1554. Aug. 5. 9. P. M. near Stolpen Armies with shooting and Lightning between whiles which though I put no stress upon because the Adversary may be apt to say the Military Noise was nothing but disguised Thunder I answer if History spoke only of Noise c. They said something But when they add Instances of Fighting Bloud Shouting Trumpets which are not so easily represented by Thunder When they add Horses Naval Forces c. as in that before the Spanish Invasion mentioned by Fromond seen by thousands we must not allow that Truth in part shall pass for the whole Truth The whole Truth implys both Physical and Hyphysical Agents in the Affair But of this hitherto only for the Truth of the Phaenomenon if you desire the Jewish History you have the Maccabees Story If the Heathen you have besides the Poets Pliny Appian Valerius Maximus and others And for Christian you have among the Antients S. Gregory if the Moderns Melanchtan Fincelius and Snellius Where we don't introduce Hyperphysical Causes to defeat Natural but only unite them and make them agree thereby confirming us in the Rational belief of that good Record which tells Stories of Spirits making use of Nature for natural Eftects such as Whirlwinds c. What Angel was that what Visible Angel which Jerusalem's King saw slaying his Subjects And what Motto was that which Constantine saw written in or near the Solar Body Are they not hitherto to be reduced A Supenatural Power cloathed in Nature may be Legible as Visible § 47. Let us shut up this Aspect with Frost 't is not enough it may be to say that an Aspect of ♃ and ♀ is found in all obstinate Frosts as in that severe Winter which they say kill'd up the Birds and Beasts A o 1502. though ♄ and ♂ were in Play before yet in February came in ♃ and ♀ So A o 1581. a Winter which in Poland Gangreen'd the Bodies of Military Men Calvis ☌ ♂ ♄ ☌ ♃ ♀ A o 1520. in the Month of May which was so cold that all the hopes of Vintage was nipt in the Bud notoriously upon the account not of ♂ and and ♀ conjoined but of ♃ being opposed to both A o 1572. in Octob. early long and untimely Frost Eichstad p. 39. upon ♄ ☿ long Conjunction for a Month together with ♃ and ♀ in ♈ and ♎ opposed Which Frost by the way introducing the new Star in Cassiopeia Evidences that It also was of the Nature of Comets which not seldom are produced in Frosty Seasons A o 1587. So in the Months out of Winter quarter do we meet with a Hyemal Constitution June 19. A o 1557. and ♃ opp ☉ ♀ ☿ Sept. 4. 1587. When it Freez'd Bluster'd Hail'd Snow'd saith our English Annals upon the account chiefly I confess of ♄ and ♂ in ♉ and ♠but also on the account of our ☌ ♃ ♀ even in ♌ A o 1597. May again Cold and Dry Stow and Hakl Part. 3. p. 195. tells us of extream Cold Weather manifest on ♃ in ☌ with ☉ ♀ ☿ Yet for all this on the other side the same Planets strongly assisted may contribute to Heat So the Seamen complain they were half rosted the 10th of June A o 1660. Lat. North 65. while ♃ and ♀ were in ♊ And June is not July also A o 1645. on near the same accident is recorded for a Hot Season The First being in ♊ the Second in ♋ but within Bounds The Reason of Frost and Cold we have declared to be either the Restraint of the Planets to few Signs 3 or 4. Or 2ly an Hiatus in their order or which is equivalent a width or distance above the Signal Term viz. grad 30. Note that the opposite Sign coming in place instead of the co-opposite is next door to an Hiatus One or more of these Conditions are found in every one of these Chill Years unless there be some Mystery in the Positure of ♄ and ♃ to be mentioned in due place § 48. ♃ ☿ are not so notable because of shorter Comprehension Yet they also minister some occasion to speak a Word of this Constitution We have both kinds here Cold and Hot. For he is no Astrologer who cannot swallow such seeming Contradiction that establisheth both upon the same Cause in several Circumstances viz. When Solitary and When in Consort If Snow and Storms Nov. 18. 1644. If Snow for 4 days in March be any Argument If Snow a. Foot deep found at London at the end of April can move us If extreme Snow at Chery Isle on May 16. A o 1607. Purch 5. 526. or if Snow with Internal Cold as the Mariner calls it Purch 3. 504. if an extreme Cold March and April and May to boot
♄ ♉ 11 ♂ Norwich 1630. Octob. Great Shipwracks by Storms ☌ in princ ♠1631. May 18 19. Thunder Plashing Rain Kyr ☠♉ ♠gr 12. June 14. Thunder and Plashing Rain Kyr ☠gr 11. Hamburgh 1632. Oct. 11. Inundation Norimberg Ephem 1634. Octob. 11. Inundation Kyr ☌ ♠gr 10. where 6133 men were lost Calv. Append. Oct. 11 12 13 14. were nothing but rainy Kyr 1635. May 19. Plashing Rain and Thunder ☠♊ ♠gr 5. dist June 27. Great Tempest of Hail c. Kyr July 26. Thunder Lightning Rain August 10 m. Lightning ab Oriente ☠sive QV. 1636. Octob. 22. Tempest lasted 5 days at Astrachan Olear ☌ in ♑ 9. ♃ and ♀ ☌ in ♠26. Kov 11. Tempest Olear 188. 13. Tempest continues 14. Tempest abated a little it grew again we lost our Anchor Rudder and Mast Ib. 1637. June 15. Thunder then a Showr Kyr 1638. Octob. 21. Dry Tempest of Thunder and Lightning 1639. Aug. 29. We had those Storms call'd Travado's which are quickly over Olear Mandeslo's Voyage ♄ ♂ in ♒ ♌ 1640. May 17. Harmful Thunder and Lightning Sept. 23. Storm of Wind and great Water-Gust ☌ ♄ ☌ ♒ Octob. 18. Chasmata 1641. Aug. 25. Audib Thunder ☠♠♓ gr 5. 1643. Sept. 2. ad 6. Much Rain Kyr ☠gr 5. 1644. April 23. 24. ad 30. Frost and Snow ☌ ♄ ♂ gr 25. in ♓ May 3. Chasma Kyr 16 17 18. Thunder Harmful ☌ in ♈ gr 10. 23. Men slain with Thunder ☌ in ♈ gr 6. 1645. Sept. 4. Extreme Wet Fairfax's Soldiers and Horses dyed Sprig 9 ☠gr 19. in ♎ ♉ Oct. Extreme Wet the Ways unpassable for Military Carriages Sprigg ☠♠8. gr 18. 1646. May 4. Thunder Harmful Kyr 26. Thunder and Hail Kyr June 23. Terrible Thunder July 11 19. Thunders 1647. Nov. 11. Dark and Tempestuous Night when his Majesty Charles the I. escaped from Hampton Court ☠in ♉ gr 18. 1648. Nov. 9 19. Near Andros Isle a Spout near a quarter of an hour ☠♄ ♂ 1660. Oct. 30. In Hertfordshire Caelum ardens ☌ ☠♂ supra in ♃ ♀ 1668. Dec. 17. R. Hail Th. Lightn ♒ 11. ♄ 27. vide sapra in ♃ ♀ § 26. Great is our Subject and great must be the Care and Pains to Master it We travers'd the World the Reader sees to display our Aspects Greatness We could wish we had Circumnavigated the Globe and taken Observation all the way Great use in the mean while may be made of the Mariners Journal to teach us to look up to the Stars and Bright Asterisms to learn not so much their Number as their Power Note in the mean time the Table presents the Opposition mostly for Brevities sake § 27. We have already labour'd to preclude all Objections that we suspect may be brought against these Tables their Imperfection or their Prolixity 'T is in vain to struggle with the Libyan Hercules we lift our Adversary up into the Air and he must expire § 28. As to our large extent of the ☌ even to a Semisextile Let it take its Fate let the Censurer of these Papers as in some Tradesmen's Bills abate what seemeth unreasonable so he allows us something for our Pains 'T is not the first time we have done so yea we are required to allow so much in some grand Effects Eichstad upon his own Observation I see hath abetted the Quincunx whose Influence when he found he was in hast to attest it and thereupon inserted though out of place a Notandum at the end of his Calculation A o 1644. We have not given you our Word here but some Evidence also though not so often as we might both for the one and the other We might do as much for the Semisextiles § 29. And now what shall I say What New Thing comes under Observance Storms are no News nor Thunders nor Rains The Effects are common spread over the Face of the Earth But the Man of Experience with the Man of Science the Mariner and the Student knows not that ♄ and ♂ are many times the Signal Causes of such Effects yea and have some Causality more or less according to their Stage so that wheresoever they be in Aspect or out of Aspect within 30 degrees or without they know they are engaged as sure as the Sun knows his going down § 30. And this is visible in our Table to those who will please to ponder the frequency of the Fits of the Weather that return within a Months time As in 1540. 1550. c. in Febr. 1556. In Jan. June 1557 or shall weigh the Obstinate Constancy of a Churlish yea sometimes of a Savage Constitution as in June 1549. In June and July 1557. Add 1585. where July August and September are troubled with Cold or May and June 1588. which year the English and the Spaniard will never forget where in we would not be thought to derogate from the First Cause but only as we are now engaged do assert his Wisdom by not abrogating the Second created and assumed by himself § 31. Nor do we stay here For March and April 1589. April and May 1591. August and September 1596. April and May again 1597. Sept. and Octob. 1598. May and August 1606. June 1607. are extant in the Table And what need I wade further § 32. 'T is Want of this made Kepler at a stand when he professes he understood not the Cause of Wind Rain Storm and Thunder in the beginning of Aug. 1626. Initium saith he cui ascribam non habeo When as there are sundry Causes some nearer some remote Amongst the remote the distance of ♄ and ♂ 18 degrees at furthest and is it not reasonable to think so When he finds ☿ near upon as distant from ♂ on one side as ♄ is on the other Such Curiosity there is in the Planetary distances as we have before admonish'd The like loss he is at for his Pluit tota nocte July 3. Anni ejusdem For though ♄ and ♂ be 27. degrees distant they are not excluded from their Share in the Effect for they find several ways of Union as in our Natural Body it happens not so obvious to be remarked Little thought he of the ☠of ♂ and ♀ but at 6 degrees distance Little thought he of the Moon 's application to the Opposite of ♄ in process of the whole Night In fine Little thought he of the numerous Fixed then and there posited which connects ♂ and ♄ between ♌ 14. and ♠11. § 33. Shall I give you one Instance more in A o 1627. We find Lightning and Rain and Cataracts for 40 dayes in the Months of May and June in which while Thunder and Lightning 14 times Amongst other Aspects we find our ☠of ♄ and ♂ Kepler whom I never mention without an Interiour Honour flies to the Nature of the Soil to the exudations of Oily Plants and Minerals and Fossiles which he saith are full of Vitriol c.
for Sickly Seasons Accute Diseases c. which Maginus adds Let the Learned World pardon me if I do again averr it and strike the Nail homer yet than I have done already with all safety to our most Holy Religion and the blessed Author of it § 16. For is it not a Childish Argument to say God made all things Good i. e. conformed to his own Idea therefore there is no Malefique Creature Not to enquire curiously what should have been the natural Course in the Innocent State we suppose our Apostacy and Rebellion towards God and so we believe with Siracides that Fire and Teeth of Wild Beasts and Stings of Serpents were made for Vengeance that the Sun may now burn us by Day and the ☽ annoy us by Night that the Stars of Heaven may be Worm-wood and have a bitter and unkind Influence The ☉ conduces to Feavers and the ☽ to Frenzies and Epilepsies § 17. And verily This Observation found me when I thought it not came dress'd to me in its own Light while I was attending to the various Shapes and Changes of the Air no suggestion to my remembrance of any Astrologers Antient or Modern taught me to suspect what I afterwards found that the Distempers of the Season depend upon what the Season it self depends the Aspects and Positions of the Celestials Galen also so long ago saying the same Feavers Catarrhs Small Pox Fluxes Pestilence c. according to the difference of the Clime and the Patient do annoy us when the Heavenly Bodies Transit or take up Station in such Parts of the Zodiack There is no denyal of it § 18. Kepler in his Diary hath observed it seems amongst his Germans Catarrhs and Coughs At Lintz A o 1621. April 20. Coughs at Saganum in Silesia Febr. V. A o 1629. Catarrhs Who would suspect such a Malady had any relation to the Planets above Cold Air and a Moist Brain c. These are Physical Causes internal of Catarrhs But of late strange Experience taught us in London yea all Europe that saving all such internal and proximate Efficiency some strange Aspect Single or Complicate disturbs the Humour For the Case was of one Night even of One wherein a manifest barking Cough had seiz'd the generality of Young and Old Octob. 26. 1675. Verily there was an Aspect of ♀ and ♂ with an ☠of ♄ which occurring as rarely as its pretended Effect may be suspected for some Cause of it However this was ♄ then but the Catarrhs of Germany no body is so fit to acquaint us herein as Kepler belong to our Jove-Martial-Aspect In both these several years and Months we shall find a ☌ ♃ ♂ the First Jan. 22. the Second Febr. 10th and that you may suspect here also they were a Cause you shall find no other Coughs or Catarrhs elsewhere specified § 19. To proceed these Catarrhs are noted to have happened within a day or Two if not the very day of the Configuration where I desire the good Readers favour while He observeth that we labour after a Determinate Punctual Prognosis even of Maladies as well as Constitutions of the Air we do not pronounce indeterminately and leave the Determination of the Event to its proper unknown Cause and Father it when it happens upon its pretended Assignation That is the Vulgar imperfect way but we match the Effect to the Cause acknowledging no Postuâ—â—ous Brood in our Midwifry Then and there appeared the Effect not sooner nor later Aestival Part. A o 1652. June 37. ♑ ♋ 6. A June 23. ad July 2. 23. Cloudy clear s wd 24. Cloudy store of Thund showrs at n. 25. Cloudy rain s Thund 26. Windy and cloudy at n. 27. Clouds s rain wdy 28. s rain wdy cloudy at n. 29. Showrs high wds 30. Showrs and wdy July 1. Clear wdy A o 1654. Sept. 19. ad 28. ♓ ♑ 16. 19. Winds b. d. dark cloudy 20. Cloudy m. clouds overc 21. Cloudy s fits of wet weather 22 Flying clouds heat wind at n. 23. Winds dark cloudy Th. at midn 24. Rain 25. Rain m. s store of R. 26. Cloudy m. clear d. audible wds r. suspicious 27. Misty m. warm A o 1661. April 28. ♎ ♈ 5. 24. Cloudy sometimes showry clear even 25. Cloudy wdy 9 m. showry wet day even cloudy 26. Cloudy wdy a sad rainy day 37. Cloudy misty m. p. even cloudy s rain 28. Cloudy a showr at night bright m. p. even cloudy s rain m. n. 29. Cloudy rain threatning o. s drops 30. Cloudy somewhat misty p. m. s Sun A Starry even May 1. Cloudy dry p. m. somewhat clear and Sun-shine 2. Frost l. fog clear m. Hot May weather A o 1663. June 29. ♠♊ 5. 26. Close wet m. coasting showrs 3 p. 6 p. Hail 27. Rain 7 m. storm thunder hail p. m. rain at 7 p. m. 28. Fog m. clear up cloudy p. m. clear might 29. Bright m. cloudy toward o. violent storms of Hail dropping 6 p. 30. Fair dry some flashing clouds overc 10 p. July 1. Rain Sun rise s dashing o. fair and heat p. m. 2. Dry warm blushing quarters H. p. m. 3. Close m. p. A o 1663. Sept. 18. â™’ ♌ 12. 13. Frost fair cool wd warm Sun shine overcast n. 14. Frost close m. p. dry 4 p. gentle rain m. p. 15. 16. Notable frost fair cool cloudy 17. Storms of Rain and wd 18. Very cool h. wd suspicious about Noon coasting showrs vesp and Sun set 19. Hail frost m. doubtful cloudy close winterly s rain 2 3 4 p. 20. Calm close s showrs at Sun rise weeting mist all day 21. Close m. p. s dropping rain 5 n. 22. Some dewing morn hottish close 23. Moon shine b. d. overcast rain A o 1675. March 13. ♠♊ 19. 7. Frost overcast stiff wds 8. Fair a. m. storm of hail 4 p. and drisling cold n. 9. Rain much a 2 m. dark 7 m. a storm of snow misle 1 p. h. wd 10. H. wind fair a. m. and cold warm n. 11. Frost mist fair a. m. offer p. m. 12. Frost ice fair mist windy 13. Frost ice yielding p. m. and close wds 14. Frost ice white clouds as for snow o. close at Sun rise 15. Frost ice snow hail a. m. cloudy dark close yielding p. m. 16. Offer close m. p. s snow 8 p. 17. Close mist wetting 5 p. coldest about o. 18. s drisle 7 m. fog m. p. misling at n. 19. Close misling 2 p. 9 p. 20. Close m. p. misty drisle 6 p. A o 1677. June 15. â™’ ♌ 27. 10. Close fog m. ad o. open and no mist Meteor 10 p. in the earth and Air. 11. Showrs a. m. 9 m. n. m. 12. Windy n. floating clds 9 m. s dropping and offering 1 p. 4 p. showr 6 p. 13. Warm open overcast 1 p. open overcast 9 p. 14. Fair m. cloudy 10 m. pregnant clouds warm 15. Fair a. m. much lowring 2 p. offering 4 p. drops 6 p. soultry even thick c. 16. Floating white clouds 9
notable or Eminent Contributors toward the same for who can exclude the Sun Who ♂ ♀ ☿ or ☽ it self In Branching Comets 't is clear the Sun hath to do by the Projection of the Tail therefrom We have heard something of the Rest also having seen Comets appear at the Triple ☌ of ♄ ♃ ♂ in that great year 1524. when the ☽ in 30 hours space made her Transit through them all the like whereof saith Kepler perhaps was never known and we presume the Arabians did not deny such explication of their mind But 2ly we have a greater Reserve To the Erratick we add All the Fixed that are affected by such Erraticks and how many These are within the Zodiack our former Discourses adventure to shew the Fixed are quite other things plainly Immense Globes of Light shining with their own Native Flame and big enough upon irritation of the Planets which is always necessary to make Stars as great as themselves Thousands can make a product equal to any Singular more must not be said in this place but the very Roving of the Comets shew the one and the Fixedness also infers the same The New-Star does not Budge from the Stars in Ophiuchus It argues their intimate connexion Shew me a New Fixed Star in a bare place and we shall demurr but that in 1572. was not nor that in 1603. § 48. There remains no more to be said on this head I take it for to meddle with the ☌ ♄ ♃ which are call'd Maximae and the Distinctions of the Fiery Watry c. Trigons performed in 794 years space with the Great Mutations of the World pretended to be introduced thereby The Foyle of our great Sire The Days of Enoch The Floud The Law of Moses The Foundation of Rome our Blessed Saviour Charlemaign c. as they seem to be fine Speculations exhibited after the Arabians had muster'd some such observables in Kepler and Ricciolus I do with all deliberation leave them as I found them in as much as my ambition is rather to contribute a Mite toward the advancement of the Celestial Philosophy and the Student whatsoever who shall think fit to take so useful a Theory into his Encyclopaedy On which account I list not to enter a dispute or to pass my Judgement of the Star at the Epiphany of our Lord though Kepler fixed it upon a ☌ of ♄ ♃ de Nova Stella My Employ is about matter great enough for my undertaking without Soaring so high as Alliaco and other Professors § 49. With what face can an Astrologer who lately contended for Drought now talk of Flouds but we have said 't is no contradiction for the rule is Idem qud idem But now the case is altered and you will please to remember the Oracles which spoke of Droughts mentions Flouds also We have been dipt in Flouds before but there is no avoiding them They return upon us again in the name of ☌ ♄ ♃ The First Floud we find is in the Kingdom of Naples usher'd in as Junctine will have it by a Comet V. Kal. Nov. 1523. the Flud it seems following the Summer after 1524. in which time the Summer being full of Cataracts as Alsted hath it a dire Inundation reach'd and made Havock of Houses Villages Men Cattle as far as the reach of 32. Italian Miles Lycosth and others The Constitution of the Summer so Violent and so portracted shews a Commensurate Cause which can be no other but the Long-Spun Aspect of ♄ and ♃ with the Hits of the Rest For in August they lye within 20 degrees one of the other In June but 15. in both distances apt enough though a good Diary of that Drowning Summer would be worth Money § 50. A o 1534. Lyc. notes Flouds in Poland he notes the same thing twice I suppose p. 553. 555. In the later page he takes notice that All Europe beside labour'd under Drought Inund Max. fuere Caeteris terris per Europam arescentibus Not unlikely this for ♃ is opposed to ♄ in in such a qu that it may bring forth a Drought that is out of question with us that this Drought may not in some places obtain is as unquestionable with Observers Now the others may believe what the Learned say in this Matter that a Drought in some places is a Sign of a Tempest in another more especially a rapid not a temperate Drought So much may places differ Now this you must know is an ☠But the same Author reports before Dire Inundations as he calls them in Flanders about Antwerp c. A o 1533. ♄ in fine ♋ ♃ in ♑ princip he is not distinct for the time but difference of Position changes the Influence And the Truth is Drought is the natural product of this Aspect for many days Flouds from Rain excessive or Hail are but the Exacerbations as we have said of Nature caused not from our Planets but by the mixture of such Potent Influences with others set and prepared for such Effect whereuppon give me leave to note the One as well as the Other ☠as well as ☌ as they take place or behold the next Opposition of our Planets newly entred Peucer tells us that there was such a Drought after the end of Aug. that very Ponds were dryed up and the Fruits of the Earth mourned p. 382. He imputes it Good Man to the Solar Eclipse Aug. 31. A o 1551. But it were worth knowledge whether the Drought was not extra suas causas before the Eclipse if but a day or two before 't is enough for whatsoever Cardan somewhere fancies that such Effects may anticipate their Causes Credulity it self cannot believe it Though it be then the ingress of of our Aspect this year yet 't is January following 1552. we hear of many Flouds Lycosth and it was day Jan. 12. saith Gemma Flouds in January may come by a Wet Weather or by Snows dissolv'd True but excess of Wet and Flouds come not no not in Winter without some Exteriour Cause or Conspiracy of Causes Conspiracies said I I look'd upon the Ephemeris and I found the Luck of my Expression for here if ever there was a Conspiracy of ☉ ♀ ☿ ♂ All in ♑ and ♃ in ♋ All the Inferiours engaged against ♃ whose Moisture while he resists he enforceth or increaseth Now if these be allowed of one hand opposing ♃ then ♄ must be allowed on the other hand lying at the same Posture and Distance on his side as ♂ ☉ ♀ ☿ do on theirs Nay if you here confess five of the Planets you must confess the Rest For ♃ is 't is true Superiour but ♄ is Higher See the Truth of our Pretensions ♄ ♃ of themselves cause Drought mix'd and engag'd over Head and Ears cause Flouds § 51. I cannot in conscience call for those manifest Overflows which happen'd at Whitsontide the precedent year which Stanhurst says Non sine lacrymis vidimus though I do believe ♄ and ♃ in immediate Signs
20. ☿ 21. ♃ ♑ 7. ☉ ♌ 17. ☽ December is a Tropical Month as March is an Equinoctial accordingly we have ☉ ☿ ♃ Tropical ♀ in the Equivalent about ♠21. If 3 △ s of of the ☽ conduce any thing let others Enquire Howbeit ♄ ♂ are but 6 degrees distant from an Opposition § 66. But hath not the Learned Author of the Treatise de motu Mar. Ventorum opened our Eyes in the Doctrine of Currents and solved them all without recourse had to Aspects or Influences the Sun excepted Resp To do that Author right I must acknowledge it is a Great Piece shewing the Diligence the Sagacity the Judgement of an excellent Pen. A Work that will make him great to all Posterity who shall have any thing to do with Philosophy or Commerce He who shall find the so much desired Longitude shall not oblige the World more than he hath done And what Returns his Countrymen have made him I know not I do envy them the use that They make of his Work the manifold Advantages in Navigation that thereby accrue to those who will learn what he hath pleased to Dictate not only to them but to the World Though I do believe therefore that the Ocean under the Torrid Zone in its Diurnal Motion moves from East to West round the World with some Inclination Northward or Southward according to the Suns Declination Though I do believe a 3d. Motion contrary to those viz. from North to East to make restitution at the same time for the Stream which hath forsaken his Shore by his Western Progress and thank Him for it I do believe further that this Back sliding Motion is that which gives Life and Being to though he scorn to take notice of it what is vulgarly called the Current But I cannot hear him when he excludes the ☽ or as in his Epistle the Starry Influences The Motion of the Sea would be such as it is Situation of Land consider'd whether there were ☽ Starry Influences or no saith he For how rash is that Hypothesis to make the Sun alone sufficient without the Starry Assistance When the Sun in incircled with so many Stars when the Stars are so many Suns more or at least Reflexions of that Solitary Agent If Reflexions from below the Earth it self contribute to Tempests c. Why not Reflexions from above The Sun may carry the Credit of it as we have said in a Conquest the General is cryed up but if you enquire more minutely into the Affair Many a Brave Officer doth his part And this hath in part appeared not only in Tempests and somewhat else but also in the Motions of Tides Some what hath bin spoken of a Moon of a Mercury c. § 67. 'T is the Sun assisted with the Stars which makes the Sea to move 'T is by their Influence that he spreads the most of its Motive Power on the Equinox and 40 degrees on either side of it And if we speak of Vegetation and Animal Life 40 degrees yet further even to the Frozen Zone What 's a little Glimmering To save Nature's Credit there must be some more abstruse Virtue then what is obvious to the First Sensation more abstruse and of more Moment Shall I say that Nature hath made Wine only to warm the Tongue yea 't is made to little purpose unless it chears the Heart also The very Piss-bed a Star though it be in its kind is made to little Purpose if it only resembles our Heavenly Body Beside This therefore 't is known to have a greater Virtue as the Endive and Succory to be refrigerant But the Number the Vastness the Mystical Order of the Stars I am amazed at a World of Wonder arising thence Why on the Equinoctial Why on each side of it Why on the Tropick Why on the Arctick and Arctarctique Circles Why near the Poles 'T is acknowledged that the Sun can do much posited on the Equinox Cap. 28. Doth the Sun arrive thither alone The Author knows that ♀ and ☿ cannot be far from him Besides that are there no Stars there He acknowledges it to hold rather in the Autumnal Equinox He may please to observe that there are more of the Fixed in the Autumnal Equinox then in the Vernal There is the Asterism in ♌ of one side and ♠on the other When in the other Hemisphere ♓ and ♈ are more naked Signs The Motion of the Winds and Motion of the Sea are Consequent one to the other Let it be so so the Motion of the Heavens be antecedent in Nature and Co-incident in time Which on the Sea's part he seems to grant Cap. 21. Notwithstanding elsewhere He ascribes the Turbulencies of the Air to the turning of the Ocean which Nature then labours with In like manner the Navigators Ascribe those Turbulencies to the shifting of the Monsoons those Winds which with the Waters turn an oblique Course toward the Sun neither of which do I understand Collision of Seas or Winds instigated by different or Contrary Causes I grant may make some Bustle as in the Tornado is evident where the Winds blow from all parts of the Compass But here is no Collision here no contrariety the Sun is not contrary to its self A Conversion there is and a Change of the Stream But a Gradual Change may be performed in Tranquility for all that I know i. e. if the Sun in the Tropic Cause the greatest Inclination of the Stream the nearer he comes to the Equinox the more should he incline to an Indifferency to be determined to one part according to the Solar recess from it § 68. To the Stars therefore in the Plural Those Motions of Seas and Winds will be imputed which he will find himself obliged to believe if we shall produce Reasons from the Asterism of Heaven and shew the very Causes the true primary Causes of all those brave Enquiries which he by his Principle resolves Why Hurricanes are perceived yearly almost near the Coasts of America Why again in that Sea which flows between the Northern part of China and Japan c. I could add why the time of the year is Stormy in any part of the Ocean Why it rains so constantly and excessively as to find the great Nilus and its overflowing Why Magellanus was becalmed 70 days together The Reasons and Causes of which being seen will be the very Light speak the Truth of our Assertion and the Ineffable Glory of the Creator § 69. Currents then may be distinguished into Substance and Circumstance as they are Streams distinct and severed from the General Waters or as they run with such a degree of Swiftness as is more than Ordinary with Noise or without Noise deceiving the Mariner sometimes 20 Leagues in 24 Hours or keeping him back with a Stream insuperable when if they cannot stem the Tide though under a stiff Gale the former is to be imputed to the Heavens in its ordinary Constitution or to speak with the