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
in the Carabrian Earthquakes A o 1626. and 1638. July XI in both which years ♃ and ♀ were so near the same Position that a Candid Reader will startle at the Observation For how saith he a 2d Earthquake at the end of 12 years which is known to be ♃ 's Period Then 't is likely that ♃ is one of the Instruments of that Motion And withal doth it happen saith he to be in the same place in both years Then 't is probable again that ♀ in such a degree of the Zodiack conspiring with certain others is endued with the same motive faculty § 39. To see how Truth will justifie it self not only as to the General that these Tremors of the Earth are imputable to the Heavens but that these Aspects wherein we are at present engaged are their Causes Efficient for the News from Naples in the Gazet. Octob. 1685. the Instant on which I write tells us that Sept. 23. Oct. 3. their Mountain Vesuvius within these few days began to burn again casting out Flames and Ashes with a Terrible noise and the last moiety of the Month What are the Aspects but a ☌ of ♃ ♀ and ☿ Shall I gratifie our Friends Les Scavans in Paris and so close this tedious discourse 'T is not much out of the way they tell us that the City of Paris owns but two Earthquakes the First April 6. 1580. and the other May 12. St. N. 1682. In the first Earthquake ☉ and ☿ are at the end of ♈ and ♀ is upon the Pleiades In the Second ☿ is at the end of ♈ and ☉ and ♀ very near the Pleiades I could make an absolute Rule of it but this place don't allow me to run upon the rest of the Parallel In 102 years somewhat of the same Revolution may come about § 40. Concerning the Parelia though we shall see them happen under other Aspects yet the Revolution of this Aspect co-incident with the Variety of the Appearance doth bespeak the curious to make further enquiry we cannot here digress about the matter which reflects the Light whether the Vapor be Dry or Icy as Des-cartes justly imagines only we say the Lustre reflected is not meerly Solar but borrow from some other Astral Radiations for though the Secondary Suns must by course of Nature be less brave and bright than the chief Luminary yet it doth not always prove so they say Upon no other account sure but upon that of other Luminous Bodies which help to advance the weaker Reflexion § 41. And such was that at Venice of which Cardan gives an account A o 1532. And who knows but Mathematicians may find considering the Situation of the Suns in the Vertical Circle that the brighter of the Parelia belongeth to ♀ the other to ☿ Certainly ♀ and ☿ were much about the same distance from the Sun One to the West the Other to the East § 42. That of Jan. 2. 1586. I have no reason to believe but that our Opposition was Influential He who shall read Rothman's Description in Fromundus how close the Parelia lay on each side of the Sun may probably suspect the near Conjunction also of ♂ and ☿ to help to such Impressions § 43. That of 1550. seen in the Dutchy of Brunswick finds ♃ and ♀ within 6 degrees one of the other and if there be any thing in that ♃ in the same place now where we found ♀ A o 1532. vice versa and ♀ in the same place now where we found ♃ 1586. interchangeably Something there must be for consulting my Notes I found Clouds strangely colour'd with Rain-bow Tincture May 15. in Gem. A o 1556. where ♂ is in the very same degree c. but that belongs to the succeeding Aspect it is true yet we see how the Heavens will answer if they be spoke to § 44. I confess I seem to talk at random as Men are wont to do that are arm'd with a strange Fancy and lull themselves in a Security that one will undertake the trouble of their Confutation Yet I must needs own the further I go I like my self the better For the Instance of Sep. 25. A o 1560. where you meet with a Parelium and a reverst Iris what can I say different from what is said when we shall contemplate with or without Gemma's Figure ♀ and ☉ newly risen together to say nothing of ☿ 's readiness to peep and ♃ setting in the West Can this Arcus and Parelium arise from any other Concourse of Causes It arises from the ☉ alone the Ante-blanetary will say but will he nil he ♀ is within 2 degrees of this all-doing ☉ Science must not speak vulgarly the Shadow that my Body casts under a ☌ of ☉ and ♀ vulgarly would be called the ☉ 's Shadow only but exactly to speak it is not so for 't is known ♀ can cast a Shadow by her self But then why an inverst Shadow I could speak to that but I wonnt grasp too much For the Irides our Forein Diary speaks sufficient § 45. I shall not please my self in speaking to the Currents under this Aspect but shall refer it to a Further place Only my Idle Head asks the question about the White Milky-Waters what may be the Reason and because I confess I have a Months mind to impute its appearance to the Heavens For First it is but an appearance though lasting for a Night or so at Day Light it vanisheth If it were any mixture of any Whitish Ferment it would be sensless to think of an Aetherial Procurement But the Field is too large for any such Mixture the Ship being under Sail all the time of its Observation hence there is no thinking of any such Salvo We shall therefore consider next whether this appearance is observed at any times more remarkable than others as to the Heavenly Positions and if that proves we may next consider whether it be Nonsense to say That the Heaven may own such Effects on the Water as it hath in the Air The Sun can Guild the Clouds and the ☽ can paint them with a Pale hue The others we see can make their Irides and Halo's yea help to the Colouring of a Solar and Lunar One Why may not this Wheyish hue of the Water be an Impression from ♃ and ♀ and others analogically to the appearance of the Halo As for the Position ♃ and ♀ are extraordinarily circumstantiated by relation one to the other and by the Station of Venus each of the 3 days specified A o 1617. Yea A o 1616. I have met with the same appearance before ♃ and ♀ not in ☠'t is true but in a □ Aspect which is a chance that calls for our Attention ♃ and ♀ have Brightness enough to make a Nectiluca of the Sea and all agreeable to those Principles which the Notable Author of that Discourse advanceth We shall see further it may be and if I speed here I shall begin to suspect that our Aspect
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
April 21. Dir. 65. May 15. Retr 66. July 14,15,17 Dir. 68. June 11. Dir. 16  Octob. 1. Retr 1670. May 12. Dir. Aug. 27. Retr 71. April 30. Dir. Aug. 9. Dir. 72. July 7. Retr 76. May 24. Dir. July 25. Retr  27.  Sept. 6. Dir. 77. July 7. Retr  8.  78. May 21. Retr July 18. Retr Aug. 3. Dir. 79. July 17. Retr 80. May 6. Retr July 3. Dir. 81. Aug. 13. Retr 82. Aug. 6. Retr The Norimberg Diary makes braver sport but we need it not § 50. Even Keplers Ephemerides brings us An. 1622. April XXV ventus pluit Fulgura An. 1623. Jan. V. Aestus tonuit VII Calor Fulgura venti Aug X. Tonitrua ventus magn Pluv. XI Tonitru Grando multa XII Tonitrua continua An. 1625. Fulgura Matutina Detonuit cum Imbre July V. Nebula Pluit Fulgura Aug. XXI Aestus tempestas XXII Tonuit Pluit An. 1626. Jun. XV. Imber Tonuit Pluit XVI Aestus procella Pluvia Larg XVII Nebula Tonitrua Pluvia Aug. 11. Aestus Procella Tonitrua An. 1627. Aug. XVIII XIX XX. Imbres Tonitrua Aestus vapidus Noctu Tonitrua An. 1628. May I. III. IV. Aestuosum tonitrua XXV Iris. July IV. Nebula Aestus tonuit pluviae continuae An. 1629. Jun. XV. Grando Tonitrua § 51. This may serve for a Tast and when I was so far entered I remembred withal the Limits of his distance from the Sun and this use I made of it that whatsoever Effect the Sun is guilty of our Planet must have a special hand in it for he is always found in the Sun's Company and therefore must be suspected when any mischief is done The Instrument that we most frequently use is most Ministerial Verily in 5. or 6 years Scrutiny I saw that of all the 28 gr which meet out the distance of ☿ from ☉ there is not one of them but is found to raise this Tumult though with some difference and if there should be any Secret in that in time I hope it will be made out The difference then is thus After the exact Conjunction the distance of gr 2 6 8 12 14 15 17 18 20 21 23 25 26. And this whether ☿ be before or behind the Sun of the two the rather before it § 52. The next Instance must be Earthquakes for I shall never forget Ptolemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith he some instances we have met with too many to be baffled in perusal of Weekly Papers from the Empire beside what in the late turbulent Hurrys flew up and down our Metropolis And we are in a fair way having laid this for a certain Rule That whatever causes the Thunder yea or Storms is apt to cause an Earthquake more or less Not for that the noise of the Thunder shaketh the Earth and maketh the House to Tremble as what every hurrying Coach can do but because the Subterranean Vulcans are imitated in their supposed Shops at the same time as the very Cyclops are that while in hast of their Work Hence Kepler fancyed the Earth to be an Animal sometimes sweating sometimes shaking by the Impressions and Commotions of the Ambient Aether as may be seen in his accounts of May and August 1621. and 1629. § 53. But is it likely any whit probable such a squirting Planet as ☿ a Lacquey of the Sun who seldom shews his Head in these parts as if he was in Debt not responsible for any such great Production We may cease to wonder being to be ordered by our Sence and Reason rather than by our Conjectural Presumption Besides let ☿ be a small Lucid Globe his Conjunction with the Sun I hope is not of small Consideration Make up the defect of the one by the sufficiency of the other § 54. Is it certain then that our Aspect is able to raise a storm or Peal us with a Showr Then 't is certain that he can blow up the Subterranean Fires An Aetna Vesuvius Hecla in Sicily Italy Friezeland 'T is now above an 100 years that our Mariners had experience of this Truth Hecla flaming was always a Sign of foul Weather Purch p. 817. ad Annum 1610. Well then for Earthquakes do we not always or for most part find Foul Weather Storms Lightning either upon the Spot the place which Heaves and Trembles or in remoter parts we shall shew some Instances from whence we learn the Great Power of the Heavens over the Earth confessed by the Soberest men who do not despise these Instances Let what Thuanus hath left upon record be read in Court ad Annum 1557 where after the mention of Tybers prodigious inundation Sept. 14. another at Florence another in France he adds these Words Eadem rerum facies plerisque Nos per Europam eodem anno quasi occulta quâdam Caelestis ordinis confessione lege consensione etiam in remotissimis Orientis partibus fuit nam apud Sinas in Sanuari à regione tanta diluvies ex proximis montibus defluxat ut Lacum ingentem effecerit quo VII Urbes absorptae sunt Pecudum Mortalium ingens numerus periit puero unico tantum in trunco arboris raro fortunae beneficio servato Thuan. p. 278. 379. § 55. Now the most indubitable Original Fund and cause of Earthquakes are those vast Fires Subterranean which work and wamble in the Bowels of the Earth and break out many times where there is no vent always without fail where there is or near the time of the Earth's Tremor The want of this consideration made the Worthy Kepler and those which follow him to run to an Occult Cause Subterranean for his Meteors when he was at a loss for his Caelestial Causes when as nothing is more plain and less lyable to exception then that the Subterranean causes Fires or other Evaporations are subject to and naturally do observe and obey the Causes Caelestial § 56. Howbeit let the Reader expect with all his prejudices so he will be pleased to examine what comes now to be proposed in that business of this Mercurio-Solar Meeting I don't know but I find such an Accident as an Earthquake in Basil December Anno 1533. three times it was shook in that Month. Once if I may guess and the reason of my guessing I will shortly tell you must be December 11. when there was a ☌ of ☉ and ☿ and what if ♂ opposed we are not about the Denyal of our Kindred Other Aspects must be taken in too but that ☌ ☉ ☿ is one Again Anno 1538. Jan. 20. the same Swiss-Town shook with an Earthquake ☌ ☉ ☿ ☿ being if I mistake not scarce 9 degrees distant In September again Anni ejusdem a Famous Terrae-motus mentioned by Fromondus die 27 28 29. the distance of our Planet is 7 degrees Yea since Italy shook as Fallopius notes for 15 days together a ☌ ☉ ☿ must happen amongst 4 or 5 of those days Come we to England in the year 1551. we find our
servant upon occasion went down into a Well belonging to the Family stifled with a Damp groan'd his last And a second descending to the relief of the First underwent the same Fate the Third not daring to be so charitable as to descend to either Now that the Heavens were set at both these times so to provoke Nature appears by this that in both these we shall find Aspects of ♄ yea and at both times ♄ posited in the Tropic The First in the Winter Tropic and the Later in the Summers This is the second Story § 77. There is a Third Story of a Damp at the Fatal Sessions in the City of Oxford not arising so much from the Prisoners Frouzy Bodies which might be imagined as from the Earth at such a critical time No less than 300. are recorded in Stow to have perished some on the Spot others in a short time after An. 1557. who will reveal to us the cause of such a Fatal Damp then and there arising Let others search into the Nature of the Soyl As to the Circumstance of time why then Oh! if ♄ could be found again at or near the Tropic then we might draw some conclusion Verily no otherwise ♄ was then then also on the Winter Tropic opposing ☿ at or near the other See the Ephemerides so apparent is it that an Aspect can trouble the Universe Pardon good Reader the Digression 't is only out of place a little we should have troubled you elsewhere with it § 78. Now after all premising but one Postulate I shall ask a Question the Postulate is that the same day 12 Month vulgarly so called is not the same day in Astrological Notion which is defined by the same degree and its Revolution This degree answers not to that day next year This Supernumerary Bissextile Day introding dispossesses the degree of its Room in the Bed and thrusts it so far that it lies half out and half in dividing it self between two that I may not say three days Gassendus then should have obviated this and have said I know that by reason of the Intercalary Day while it is in Fidai the same vulgar day answers not adequately to the same degree and different Days may be concern'd in considerable parts of the same degree but neither at One or the Other doth it rain again the next Twelvemonth Ergò the Heavens are not the Cause But he was not so provided I confess it doth not always rain the same day 12 Month if it had Gassendus had bin an Astrologer and reconciled to good Learning Now for my Question What If we produce some days wherein it doth often Rain next Revolution of Twelve Months and by much the most part if we consider the Identity of the degree So that I wonder what day Gassendus doth pitch upon And whether he consulted his own observation or some other Diary It may be he observed a year or two and when it did not prove the 2d yea and a 3d. time he concluded But how hard that is hath bin shewn already especially when after a 2d or 3d. failer it holds as in the New ☽ hath bin observed for 7 continued years after Had he followed his blow and said that All days are indifferent and alike inclin'd and for this appeal'd to the Diaries then he had routed us But we Challenge all the World to shew that or any thing near it For beside the Antient Diaries which by the equal Judicious are not to be questioned Gassendus might have seen to the contrary in Keplers and every Modern Diary will confirm § 79. It must be time now to name some days if we can for a Tast thus I do it An. 1621. Ephemerid Kepler I find Wind and Rain Jan. XII An. 1622. die eod Wind and Snow What would Gassendus have said if he had pitched upon this day The 3d. year An. 1623. Snow An. 24. High Winds on one of the Days for here are two concerned in the same degree and Snow on the other An. 1625. Much Rain Lo For Five years together Rain or Snow An. 1626. I find neither but warm weather But An. 1625. Some Snow An. 1628. Stiff Winds for one of the Days And the Ninth year An. 1629. It snow'd Rain or Snow VII years in IX So have we one Day I have a second Feb. 26. the degree is ♓ 18. where it Rain or Snows believe me VIII times in IX years It may be worth the Describing in his own Words February XXVI 1621. Pluit Noctu 1622. Pluvia Nix Frigus Nix 1623. Neb. Nix 1624. Gelu venti Nimbi Niv 1625. Obscur Nix 1626. Venti Ning Pluviose 1627. Ningebat Continenter 1628. Turbid Vernat 1629. Ning Venti Tonuit § 80. We need no more when Thunder gives his voice for us when the Heavens themselves speak out for Astrology And the Reader may think this pretty feasible if what is true every degree in it self as it speaks but it self it s own 60 integral Minutes so it respects two more one on each side as the Liberties of the Mid-Degree to which the Terms of the said Degree do not reach but the Influence does So within Temple-Bar I am within the City of London within the Jurisdiction of it though without the Walls Our Aspect we grant doth not so much as we see the Sun and some of the Fixed can the reason is evident viz. that Mercury is but one and some Fixed may be many a notable part of an Asterism but it is effectual enough to evince a strong inclination and thereby by Gassendus's leave declare the Nature of a Planet For excepting the Luminaries saith he they cannot know the Nature of any Planet nor ascertain any Prediction thereby for which he appeals to experience which teacheth us that be the Prediction what it will the Event brings as many yea more Experiments to the contrary and therefore good Night Astrology Scientia Futilis vana nulla There 's nothing in it § 81. This we know is the grand popular objection which Cries not reasons us down For those Gentlemen who please to make use of this Objection I desire them to consider again for we are forc'd to repeat that while they go to overthrow a most useful Speculation Will they Nill they They establish it For the Words of the Objection are these The contrary to the Prediction happens as often or more often than the Prediction If the contrary happens but as often and sometimes though but rarely more often Is not there a great inclination of the Planet And doth not the prediction come near and hover about the Truth Verily he hath a great Aim that draws the Bow so dextrously that it hits the White as often as he misses it A Prediction of Art is far from nothing though it comes but to even terms Probable it must be when it succeeds as often as Fails as it must do if it fails but as often as it succeeds § 82. We have
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
p. m. closing vesp open n. Wly 1683. Aug. 28. ♌ 26. Ab Aug. 13. ad Sept. 6. 13. Close a. m. s drisle open p. 14. Rain m. Rainy o. close hot wetting H. wind S W. 15. Foggy rainy m. p. m. a. m. High wind cold 16. Cool m. s drops a m. showr 5 p. Brisk rain 7 p. N W. 17. Misty m. some rain coasting o. 1 p. 18. Open cold wind m. sho o. Th. 3 or 4 Claps A Ratling Storm Some R. and Hail N W. 19. Cloudy wind audible open Wly 20. Some mist often clouding and close W. 21. Foggy m. close m. p. s drops 3 p. Sly 22. Foggy warm l. wd Wly Sly 23. s mist s clouds m. s wd hot p m. 24. Misty lowring very hot day l. wind Sly 25. s wetting 8 m. p. m. warm s wind S W. 26. Misty m. H. wd wetting 8 m. S W. 27. Mist m. high wind smart showr ante 4 p. s drops 6 p. S W. 28. Cloudy very high wind N W. W. 29. Cloudy very high wind N W. S W. 30. Cloudy windy open at night S W. 31. Mist m. close m. p. hottish Sly Sept. 1. Overcast open calm Wly 2. Fr. m. Fog Clouds Sly Wind Ely S E. 3. Cloudy a. m. with gusts Rain in S E. Foggy p. m. Wly Sly 4. Foggy m. a. m. cloudy vesp hottish then Ely wd Wly clouds 5. Lightning 3 Claps of Th. from the S. 10 p. R. S W. wind Ely die tot 6. Foggy m. soultry wd cool open p. m. closing vesp with Lightning ante 7 p. One Thunder-Clap dash of R. Sly Upon Second Thoughts and advice of Worthy Friends who value Experience upon Consideration that it is long in gathering and that 30 years gained are better than 30 years refused I have added this Table also in which we have Iris Sept. 20. 1654. and 77. T. M. Apr. 4. 1672 Feb. 73. Shipwrack Apr. 74 Great Hail 77 78 82 Hurricane 81. Whale Ib. Meteors with Trains c. July 29 82. and so we proceed to the next Chapter CHAP. XI ☌ ♄ ☿ Conjunction of Saturn and Mercury § 1. ☿ a Planet of great Employment and therefore is swifter 2. Commonly Direct in this Aspect 3. It s Character for Wind and Rain 4. And for Dark Air. 5. The Influence proved for both Wet and Dark Air. 6. And for Cold. Yet a Saturnine △ cannot introduce a cold Season by its self 7. ☌ ♄ ☿ may introduce Frost but no such as may spoil Vintage Our monstrous Winters not only upon ♄ 's account Colds being variously dispersed by the Celestials 9 10. Why Octob. 1572. was tedious and Cold. 11. Notable difference between Frosts under ♄ ☿ and ♄ ♀ All Frost comes not with a Wind Mr. Hobbes there mistaken 12. ♀ and ☿ distinctive Character will be perceived by comparing their Tables 13. Effects of Planets distinguishable Some Showrs Saturnine some Martial c. 14. Contiguations of Clouds whether ascribed to ♄ ☿ Ground Mists 15. Are not the issues of the Earth without their cause from above 16. Slender Moisture 17. Variable Winds 18. Sometimes a Curious day and no Prejudice to the Character 19. Not given to Flouds whatsoever it may do in Arabia 20. The Table § 1. THe League between ♄ and ☿ though allowing some Effect between such Alliances cannot be thought to be of any great Moment because of their Immense Distance for What Influence can there be upon the Ocean on a supposed League between the Thames and the Straits of Magellan Mercury is a little Planet and a Nimble One thereby portending that he cannot be long of a mind supposing he doth confer to some Amity But we have labour'd before to possess the Enquirer that the very Swiftness and Agility of ☿ may not Lessen the Planet in account but rather aggrandise him seeing the Swiftness of his Motion in its Orb is a probable hint to us that he had most business to do which otherwise without such Agility could not be dispatched He must overtake the slower Planets He must return and Re-salute them again for for so it is order'd that his business goes on even while he goes backward Venus hath done so before with ♂ and ♄ and ☿ will not stand out § 2. Now as we said Venus not being bound to observe ♄ ☿ also is at the same Lock He meets with ♄ sometimes before the ☉ sometimes behind and that at farthest Distance with the ☉ his pace commonly is Direct but now and then slow yea sometimes Retrograde as Dec. A o 1662. the ☉ being gr 11. distant § 3. Yet all this signifies nothing except we obtrude a Character upon the World and fabber about an Influence of Wind and and Rain in Spring and Summer-time Wind and Snow in Winter Wind and Clouds in Autumn 'T is Maginus his Description which I see others willing to transcribe Adrian Vlack Ephem A o 1663. and others Nor is it amiss if we say Rain in the First place and then Wind seeing ♄ and ☿ yea and the Rest for the most part answer to Rain more frequently than to Wind. § 4. Maginus added wheresoever he had it some mention of Tenebrosus Aer originally from the Arabs no question and truly the very view of the Diary minded me of that which made me Prize Maginus the rather to whom Eichstad accords Turbulentum sub frigidum aerem saith he our Table oft-times speaks of Close sometimes Dark and Muddy Air and true as Truth is it that some Planets do contribute more than others to mask the Air and darken it at some special times but ♄ and ☿ seem to be more frequent so that I have reason to think that if ♄ were posited in ♂ 's Orb he would make more rainy Weather than ♂ because even at such distance he rouses up the Air and Frowns upon us § 5. And what should we say more when who pleases to account the Wet days with the Sum Total whether we allow 2 or 3 days or Twelve and more according to our Enlargement of the Prospect shall find that it will answer Expectation which must necessarily prove our Influence whether on the nearer account because of the Proxinity of the Effect to the Cause proposed or in a more enlarged account because no reason can be assigned why Communibus Annis in 500 days it shall rain every 2d Day since that Effect is not observed upon Equal Terms every other day secluding our Aspect Verily ♄ in his Station at least is noted by Eichstad to be a Tenebrous Planet Statio ♄ prima vel secunda tenebras aeris affert § 6. But they joyn Cold with dark Air and to that I say yea at time of the Year and under limitations some such as have bin mentioned Here our Predecessors give us a smart Note or two for the use of the Planter or Husbandman they tell us A o 1572. at the end of October there came a tedious Cold season as Appian
♄ ♉ 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.
Febr. 22. March 15. April 17. but before that from May 22. to Aug. 2. when They come within 8 degrees in Summer Months where the Aspect doth not seem so much for our turn the Critical Position as it uses altering the Case Well it will yield us the more Instances under the Style of Heat Moisture Storms c. Yet even here we meet with the German Diary Frost at the end of May Hart Reif Cool Weather yea Cold on June 21 25 27. with Snow or Clouds ready for Snow if I read the Dutch right Kait Wind Schnee Wolken so hard is it an for Aspect in the Various Changes of the Celestial Motions not to shew its Teeth See Kyrianders Diary § 18. But the next ☌ of 1662. is quite for our turn and the next 20 years after too much for our turn when first that of 1662. brought Cakes of Ice in the Thames at the end of November December's beginning about a Fortnights time and Renew'd then a 2d time at December's end at what time the River was scarce passable At it again A o 1663. where extreme Frost and hard Winterly Weather in the Close of January brought much Ice a third time upon the River when besides Frosts in the mean space appear'd Cold and Chill Winds pinching the Spring at the end of March April too was much upon an Easterly Wind by the same token that my Memorial tells me on May 2. I saw ♄ and ♃ within two degrees I suspected something even then that they were some Cause of that Constitution following whatsoever I thought of the Cold preceding The Truth is the Aspect lasts all the year within 8 degrees Compass and Tokens thereof may be discerned in its Cold Influence I mean in the Frost of Aug. die 11 13 20 21 22 28 29 30. in September October December § 19. But That of 1682. according to my terms of grad 8. begins about July 10. and ends not till a year after Aug. 24. 1683. By my Notes I find a Cold Night in the midst of July 1682. yea and Frosty Cold Pinching Mornings besides the Day time August 3. and 4. and so Signal was it two Months before Christmass that I remember according to my Notes Gentlemen got on their Upper Coats and Cloaks in spight of the Cuerpo mode to defend their Shoulders from the Cold. But in November of the year 1683. There There began the Winter which told us a heavy tale and lasted with a small Interruption of 4 or 5 days till the New ☽ after Candlemass 1684. That is the Winter under which we groan'd a Twelve-month after whose farewell had a Sting for bringing a dry Summer after it a Badge of ♄ and ♃ when they are not master'd the Markets forgot their Plenty of Flesh and Fish the later being kill'd by the Frost and the former by the Drought Cattle being pinch'd in their Pasture the poor Vegetable perish'd scarce a Sallard to be seen the Grape intercepted and the Artichoke destroyed Rosemary and Bays became new Exolick Plants This was the Winter that clos'd up the Thames and made it Terra Firma when his Majesty of Happy Memory being Sollicitous for Ice at the end of November before was told His Swans would have Ice enough before that Winter was over the Wizard intimating That Frost which upon the Position of ♄ and ♃ he saw would be so severe The Truth of it is the Planets are not within the compass of 8 degrees Alass we stated that number for Rudiment and Introduction sake we confin'd our selves to it at first only to introduce not to exclude the greater Distance Know therefore that at this ☌ They were both in ♠above twice 8 degrees distance and the better Artist must consider them both nearer and further the one sometimes at other times the other taking place And it is no News for thus we find in Keplers Diary Forty years ago when the two Planets met in ♌ Honest Kepler is at a loss for the reason of a Cold Winter especially of the Hyemal Cold in March 1621. Alass Good Man how doth he turn every Stone How doth he conjure for it out of the Earth but it answers not The Superiour Aspects have been in Play for two year before as we could prove from his own Annotations the short is March proved so Cold that it minded the Goodman of his Country Proverb which counsels the Old Men to put on their Swords to defend them from the sharp Assaults of the Air. ♄ and ♃ are but 10 degrees distant but he not dreaming of such Martialists hath recourse to the Nature of the Month. But what is the Nature of the Month 'T is he himself who asks the Question and 't is a worthy Question Quae potest esse natura partis anni aut quae est substantia temporis what Body hath time which is indued with such Working Faculties 'T is the Sun Characters a Month in specie and the rest with the ☉ characters it in individuo He imputes it to the melting of the Snow on the Alps which causeth he saith those Cold Winds which bring the Winter Frost But why is it constantly so every March There 's Snow on the Alps every Winter We find not A o 1621. A o 1622. 1623. 1624. we find ♄ and ♃ A o 1626. we find no such thing again As for the rest we must remember there are other Cool Aspects of ♃ besides ♄ and ♃ Nay 2ly I could never disgest the pretence of Cold Winds from melting of Snow Flouds and Waters I understand and a Crude Air but that melting of Snow on the Mountains should cause Frost and Snow in the Valleys I pretend not to understand For Wind formally consider'd rises not from the moistned Earth nor falls by its own Weight the Cold is its own Property which it lendeth and borroweth not Again in Snow its self Air relents how much less does it Freez when the Snow Thaws Motion is the Formality of Wind but Motion requires an Application of a new Cause There is Master I grant in the Atmosphere Plenty when Snow melts as there is in the Bellows deducted but there wants an impulse an Aspect a Constellation as we have defin'd it at the beginning to make a Wind. § 20. Now why may not I look back into the former Century I do amiss in sparing the Labour in the year 1563. 1564. you shall find a Frost parallel to that of ours 120 years after about Christmas as with us it was unsupportable the Ears of the Poor their Hands and other parts gangreen'd the Nut the Pear the Peach the Rose-Tree the Vines all but Root utterly extinguish'd Death of Man and Beast Dearth of all things folfowed Gemma Cosmoc 2 44. And would you know now where our Planets were You will find them upon the matter in the same places One in ♌ the other in ♠then and Both in ♠now ♄ being but newly entred § 21. Pass we now from