D. 1464. Arnoldus That Antichrist would appear 1345. and that A. D. 1174. the Arabian Jewish and Christian Astrologers all agreed that the utmost Desolation of the World by Tempest would happen A. D. 1186. How false these Predictions were time hath shewn the World Sextus ab Heminga collected thirty Eminent Nativities Calculated by the best Rules of this lying Art and they proved all false by Experience sad Events happening to those on whom the Heavens by the Rules of Astrology smiled and happiness to such as they frowned upon Cardan and Gaurichius both Calculated the Nativity of Hen. 2. who was slain in his fortieth Year Causin Holy Court p. 360. by a Splinter of Mongomery's Launce though one of them said He should live to an happy old age and the other that if he survived the great Climaterick Year he should live gloriously to 70. Both did the like with Luther and were both alike mistaken Cardan who as Gassendus saith was a Man of the best Wit Brains and Learning of any Astrologer spent an hundred hours on the Birth of our Edward 6th and after all that Industry was scandalously mistaken in his Fate Gassend p 748. lib. 1 de quad c. 2. Sect. 13. for He died in his 16th Year who by the Astrologer's Calculation should not be sick till his 25th and after that die of a Flux and a Fever Si vis divinare contrarium ei ad unguem dicito quod Astrologi aut pollicentur aut minitantur was the saying of Martianus not only commended but verified by Cardan Who after all his Skill confest that scarce one of their Predictions in forty proved true Lib. de Judic cap. 6. Dâ— More Myst p. 356. So that the best of them can't forbear owning themselves no Wizards they all seem Infatuated and more under the Power of Witchcraft than above it J. R. Camerarius was as much out in his Judgment upon the Nativity of Henry 4th and Gassendus relates how much Nostradamus was mistaken in his Genethliacs on the Scheme of Suffredus his Nativity For to him all things happened quite contrary to the Lying Predictions of that famous Astrologer Now if such Masters in the Art had not Skill enough to avoid such gross Mistakes What can be expected from such half witted Astrologers as Merlinus Liberatus and Sidrophel who every Year expose themselves to this Censure And as for Friend John the humble Servant of Vrania all the many Calculations in his Collect. Genet are accused of Falshood by his Brother Partridge Opus Reformatum 7. Their not foreseeing the most remarkable Events sufficiently shows the Vanity of their Art and their own Ignorance This is manifest in the great Accidents of the last Thirty Years the Reslauration of King Charles II. the Plague and Fire of London the treble War 1666. Oates 's Plot the great Snow 1681. and the Frost 1683. the Death of King Charles and the Fate of his Brother the Stupendous Revolution 1688. the Death of Pope Innocent XI the Dukes of Newburgh and Lorrain who were the grand Pillars of the Confederacy and died in one Year the great and Marvellous turn of Affairs in Austria Hungaria and the Morea the many terrible Earthquakes in Jamaica Sicilia Naples Flanders and London and the Death of Queen Mary were things our Astrologers foreknew no more than Lilly could Divine who shit at his Door Think you that Sidrophel so cunning a Conjurer as he would be thought if he had foreseen the time of that great Ladies Death would have placed Lawrels on her Brow and told her of their being always green but the Year before they withered Against this Reflection I know but one Instance they have to object and that is the Hints Mene-Tekel gave of King James's Death a little before the Abdication Suppose but not granting that to be true too it doth not follow because once in an Age among a thousand false Prophecies one is fulfilled that they are true Prophets more than that the Devil is not a Lyer because he once spake truth The veracity of them both is the same in despight of a single Instance each have to the contrary One Swallow doth not make a Summer When Astrologers like the Father of Lyes commonly fail and err in their Predictions it 's to be supposed that Chance or some other Intelligence not the Stars put them so rarely into the right Children and Fools speak truth saith the Proverb And the Scriptures tell us that the Devil himself by the Miraculous Power of Christ had such a force put upon his Nature as to do it once when he acknowledged our Saviour to be the Son of God Astrologers may therefore be allowed to resemble them in this as they do in all things else though like common Lyers they are not to be believed till their Truth becomes apparent by experience and that God wot will be but seldom If it be a good Argument to prove the Truth of Astrology that some Predictions have been verified by the same sort of Logick it 's to be proved false because their Divinations are oftener so than otherwise as is confessed by Cardan and proved by Picus Heminga Gassendus Chambers and many others Mene-Tekel not only got the Author a great Name but patcht up the decayed Credit of Astrology among the Populace because they could not see the Spirit by which he Divin'd But wiser Men knew he Predicted by Intelligence with the Contrivers not the Planets The Stars that presignified it to him dwelt on Earth not in the Twelve Houses of Heaven And they perhaps did not err who lookt on the whole thing as a Political Device to dispose the Minds of People to that great Change We all know that he fail'd in the Death of King James the Employment of his Gallows and many other particulars And he that knew the great and universal discontent in the Nation at the Management of Affairs under that unfortunate Prince and how many were engaged to dethrone him might without Astrology foresee as much as he I know a Great Man who although no Conjurer told me as much and as soon as Mene-Tekel did of that business The Laplanders may easily foretel a Storm they are about to raise and he that is the Instrument of Mischief is best able to Predict the consequence of his Design Like those Skilful Poysoners Naturalists * Theophr Hist Plant. l. 9 c. 6. Boyl Nat. Phil. p. 264. Medela Medie p. 103. Ramsey of Poyson p. 10. and Travellers tell us of who contrive the fatal Dose so that the Victim shall not die in many Years after taking it and then not miss an hour Such a Pandora may easily turn Astrologer as well as Poysoner and foretel the time of the Patient's Exit more certainly than any Genethliac by the Nativity We are told that the Indians have and Caesar Borgia had this pernicious Skill and it 's suspected that there were in England some who without Astrology
knew many days before King Charles was sick when he should die By the same way Dr. Bates Cromwell's Physician became a truer Prophet than Thomas Goodwin his Chaplain the Dose the one gave being too hard for the Prayers the other made for that Vsurper Though they were alike confident the one of his Death the other of his Recovery yet the former went on the surest grounds as appeared in the Event Thuanus Scaliger and Gassendus say that Cardan lost his Life to save his Credit for having Predicted the time of his own Death he starved himself to verifie it Magastrom p. 173. Dr. More Myst p. 358. or else being sure of his Art He took that to be his fatal day and by those apprehensions made it so And I do not want a learned Author to back my belief that great men have untimely died by some Artifice of the Astrologers for the same reason Domitian having Decreed to banish all the Astrologers they conspired his Death and one of them Ascletarion Sueton. lib. 12. Sect. 15. told him when it should be The time appointed happening while Apollonius Tyanaeus was Disputing in the Schools at Ephesus he suddenly stopt and cryed out well done Stephanus Kill the Tyrant And then told the Audience that the Emperor was wounded This contributed highly to the Fame of that Impostor although it prov'd him such no more than the Duke of Braganza or one of the Priests who contrived and managed the Revolt of Portugal if they had foretold it A Son of Nostradamus told the Men of Friuli that he was sent by his Father to premonish them of the ruin of their City by Fire such a Night They believing the Oracle and watching narrowly to prevent the Conflagration found him and his Accomplices scattering Fire-Balls in divers parts of the Town Pope Hildebrand was one who Studied and Practised this Art and yet had so little Skill or Confidence in it that he hired several Ruffians to Murther the Emperor Hen. 4. at the time he Predicted his Death Acts and Mon. Vol. 1. p. 199. Vol. 2. p. 170. This we are told by Cardinal Beno of his own Religion Beside Fox and others of ours Ollerius Barcinonensis foretold the Assassination of Hen. 4. of France by Ravaillac from a secret Intimation of the Design known to some Grandees of Spain and others of the Court of Rome who were no Astrologers The Author of the Turkish Spy tells us that Fr. Corvinus the famous Italian Astrologer the Night before that Murther said on the top of his House in Florence That to morrow the greatest King in Europe would be kill'd But says the Intelligence he had was from Earth not Heaven or the Stars And Merlinus Liberatus will not allow his Friend John to have any other foresight of the Prince of Wales his Birth than by the Transactors of that Mysterious Affair that is by the same way and means himself knew what he Published in his Mene-Tekel For without the help of Satan or the Stars any one may Predict Events if they are in the Contrivance or have Intelligence with those that are so 8. Their Ignorance of their own Affairs Misfortunes and Fates before they happen proves them unable to foretell that of other Men. Astrologers saith Agrippa while they gaze on the Stars for direction c. fall into Ditches Wells and Gaols and like Thales become the Sport and Derision of silly Women and Slaves Astra tibi Aethereo pandunt sese omnia Vati Omnibus quae sunt fata futura monent Omnibus ast Vxor quòd se tua publicat id te Astra licet videant omnia nulla monent was an Epigram made by Sir Tho. More R. Castro Med. Polit. l. 2. c. 2. and I fancy our witty Hudibras was as sharp upon Sidrophel and Wachum in English as the other was in Latin Quoth Hudibras the Stars determin You are my Prisoners base Vermin Could they not tell you that as well As what I came to know foretel By this what Cheats you are we find Who in your own Concerns are blind The Learned Mr. Purchas tells us that the Death of Hagag a Sarazen King Pilgrim p. 226. was foretold by an Astrologer who did not foresee his own for as soon as he made his Prognostick of the King his own Head was struck off Sir John Chardin in the History of his Persian Voyage Page 40. 131. 132. Appen 25. tells us That Astrologers are in very great esteem among that People And that they alway crown their Kings in the minute they direct And if after that the King be unhappy he is crowned again on a new chosen time Causin Holy Court as Solyman the Third was so crowned while he was in that Country But the Astrologers often mistake and are as often put to Death King Hen. 7. understanding that an Astrologer had foretold the punctual time of his Death sent for him and enquired where he the Conjurer should keep his next Christmas He answered that he knew not Then quoth the King I do without Astrology tell you it shall be in Gaol And thither he sent and kept him long enough to see by Experience that the King was a truer Prognosticator than himself J. Galeazus Duke of Milan treated another Impudent Astrologer with more severity for having Predicted that he should long survive that Prince he Ordered the Wretch to be immediately hanged Such another Story is in the Anthologia of Diophantes the great Astrologer Gassend done in Verse Gaurichius did not foresee by the Stars that he was to suffer on the Rack nor Cardan that his Son was to be hanged for Poysoning his Wife I was personally acquainted with Dr. W. Ramsey who publickly boasted of Skill enough in Astrology to foreknow a Mans Fate particularly whether he were born to die rich Chr. Astrology cap. 6. Sect. 6 be fortunate in Marriage c. and depended so much on it as to assure himself of great Wealth and happy Nuptials who yet died poor in a Gaol after he had Marry'd such a Wife as provoked him to write that Satyr against Matrimony called Conjugium Conjurgium That Beelzebub of Astrologers W. Lilly was wholly Ignorant of the Restauration when he wrote those Trayterous Libels which forfeited his Neck to the Gallows Friend John was so certain that Popery would prevail Opus Reform p. 85. and eradicate the Northern Heresy and so Ignorant of the late Revolution that he not only persuaded a Gentleman to turn Papist for these Reasons but embarkt himself in that Interest and thereby drew such a Storm on his Head as he would have avoided if his Art had given him the least Prospect of the right way or had not led him into the wrong Would Sidrophel think you have undergone the hazard and trouble of a Voyage to America to repair a broken Fortune if the Stars had let him see that he should have returned no wiser nor
not suffer their Reputations and Interest to be so overborn and trampled on by such a Swinish Adversary but stop the Career of his Brutish Pen by such means as Law and Learning have put into their Hands in assurance of which my Remarks on his Libel shall be the shorter There is lately Published by a free thinking Republican a Book wherein one whole Chapter is employed to prove Theol. and Polit. Disc cap. ult That Men under such a Free Government as ours ought to have the liberty of thinking as they please and writing what they think Sidrophel seems by his Practice to be of his Opinion for he sets no bounds to his Thoughts nor limits to his Pen but like a true Libertine Libeller le ts both fly at all Games mounting his filly Railery at the most Eminent for Art and Learning in the Three Kingdoms if not in the whole World What it is that exasperates him to this Barbarous Outrage against them besides the common Antipathy and natural Enmity of Ignorance to Art and Empiricism to an Academick Education I am to seek unless his Soul be that of Culpeper Transmigrated I find he Wheedles and Cajoles the Apothecaries but that 's like the Algerines putting out Christian Colours to Delude and Captivate His Compassion is feigned and his Alarm false He endeavours to make them believe the College design to ruin the greatest part of the Apothecaries in London while he above any Man except his Learned Friend G. H. hath made it his business to destroy all that are in England What the College did was in their Favour to ease them of unprofitable Patients and too many poor miserable and distressed Complainants and gave good Reason for it But his endeavours have been constant to deprive them of the Rich as well as Poor Customers by teaching their Art to all who can read English directing and encouraging the People to make their own Medicines Publishing Swarms of Receipts in Almanacks and Popular Pamphlets magnifying Nostrums Arcanums recommending Medicines and crying up to Sale Remedies of his own silly Invention Composition and Preparation which is the utmost any Man can do to ruin their Trade So that Maugre all his Soothing and Clawing he is so far from being their Friend and Advocate as he pretends that he really is the most notorious and most mischievous Enemy they have in the World next to Health How much then like a Crocodile is he to lament the Chimerical ruine of so many Families to whom his own devouring Practice is destructive And what a Sycophant is he thus to upbraid the College and accuse them of a Wickedness he so notoriously commits and hath so long Practised If his Design be to engross that Pious Work of ruining so necessary a Trade he had cause to be angry with them for medling in his Business and taking Work out of his Hands but then he ought in good Manners to have told them so To the Surgeons he likewise pays great Compliments and makes high Court The Master of the Hall he Dubs Honourable and makes them all better Men than the Doctors gives their art the Preference both for Worth and Antiquity and accounts a Surgeon so necessary to compleat a Physician that he pronounces all such as are not excellent in that Art to be ignorant of the other If this be the Only and True Character of a Physician pray what is Sidrophel who is neither Surgeon nor Apothecary much less a Physician but a Railing Fool who is notoriously ignorant how muâ—h the Company of Surgeons have been obliged to the College of Physicians for their Improvement even in their own Art nor yet the Advantages which all the Members of the College of Physicians do happily enjoy for their Improvement in Surgery For it cannot be deny'd but that the most considerable Anatomical Improvements made in our Profession are chiefly owing to the Learned Members of the College such as Dr. Harvey Tern Scarburgh Croon c. And so sensible the College hath been hereof that they passed a Statute forbidding any of their Members to read any Publick Lectures even in Surgeons-Haâ— unless the Master and Wardens did first ask the President 's leave giving this Reason in their Statute Quippe aequum ratioâ—i consentaneum arbitramur ut qui per Collegam aliquem prâ—sâ—iunt ii Collegio ipsi aliquod grati animi Officium praestant And I may be bold to say That the College have so great Advantages both as to Anatomical and Chirurgical Improvements that no Society in Europe hath the like there being no less than Three different Lectures founded in that Honorable Body One a Fellows Lecture whereby every Fellow at his Admission is obliged publickly to Dissect a Human Body at such time as the President shall appoint A Second is a Lecture Founded by the Learned Dr. Coniston Anno 1635. which is to be read Yearly by one of the Four Youngest Doctors of the College upon two three or more such Diseases â—as the Censors of the College shall Appoint or Direct A Third and the most considerable of all both for Antiquity and Usefulness is a Chirurgical Lecture founded in the 24th of Q. Eliz. by the Right Honourable John Lord Lumley and Dr. Caldwall to restore Surgery to her Perfection by procuring an Excellent Reader who shall read openly in the House of the College of the Physicians in London in good Order all the whole Course of the Art and Science of Surgery which hath been most Learnedly performed not only as to the Anatomical but Chirurgical Part of our Art by those Great and Learned Men Dr. Foster Dun Harvey Scarburgh c. so that Sidrophel hath little Reason to charge them with Ignorance in our Profession And yet after all this Deference and Ceremony to the Surgeons he doth them also all the Mischief he can and strives to Ruin them by the same Method he doth the Apothecaries Teaching as well as he is able every Body to cure themselves but the Curst Cow hath short Horns His Design of Prostituting and Exposing our Art to the Vulgar doth us little harm partly because he is unable to teach it but chiefly because it 's not to be Learnt by Words or Writing Experience is our Master And to that he is a Stranger and so we become secure and safe from the Damage his Pen doth the Doctors Apotheâ—â—â—â—â— and Chyâ—ists To the Physicians especially those of the College he behaves himself with the same Rudeness and abominable Scurrility Culpeper did before him Some Passages I have Collected and Exposed which is Refutation enough meer shewing such a Monster being sufficient to render him odious I know none of his Dirt can stick upon Men so much above the reach of such a Virulent Malicious Rayler although he labours hard with all imaginable Affronts to provoke and abuse them Seplasium Ars Chirurg Rebuke Some times he charges them with Falshood Murther and the Death of Thousands and makes the late Queen a Victim of their Ignorance and Male-Practice Sometimes he prefers the Apothecaries as Men more useful and having more Skill in Physick and Advantages of learning it than they And affirms No Man can be a good Doctor till he hath served Fifteen Years with an Apothecary as if cleaning Shops Shooes Streets Skillets and Glyster-Bags running of Errands beating Diapente and ringing Quevedo's Passing-Bell were of more use in Learning the Art of Physick than Studying Books Hearing Lectures Visiting Hospitals and Conversing with Learned and Skilful Men in the Universities If so I would ask this Pretender to the Skill and Title of a Doctor with what Apothecary he served his two Apprenticeships If with any one of that Trade he can pretend to no other Character by Law than his Master had If with none then by his own Confession he hath not been duly Educated in Physick and is unfit for the Practice of it The Billingsgate Language the Bedlam Sense of his Libel is obvious to every Man of Manners and Understanding the Vain-glorious Part of it is no less palpable in the many occasions he takes to magnifie himself and vilify others Boasting of Great Practice Great Success Great Skill Great Charity a Great House and a Great Library and all but a Great Nothing As to the Law Part his Ignorance and Error are no less manifest Dr. Ch. Gooda's Vindâ—e cap 1. And his R. Coliege Founded by Law as a Learned Member of the College hath long since demonstrated and he will speedily find to his Cost all his Objections against their Authority and the Acts Establishing it are by that Worthy Person fully Anticipated and Confuted If any Man of Puncto be so over nâ—ce to think I Treat this Rude Adversary two severely or uncivilly and not like a Man of Breeding I beg the Favour of him to consider the Provocation which he hath given not to me only but likewise to the Royal College and other his Superiors whom he Ridicules and Banters Affronts and Reviles without any Regard to their Degree and Character How much like an abandoned Clown he Bespatters them in divers of his Libels and in one little Pamphlet he doth over and over call them Lyars Quacks Empiricks Knaves Villains Fools Thieves Robbers Scounderels Pitiful Mean Fellows Sneaking Envious Malicious ' Ignorant Iroud Fresumptous no Doctors and then let him tell me whether he Deserves better usage than I give him or ought to be treated with Civility who hath so Abdicated it and like a Beast of Prey forfeited all Right to Law To conclude this loathsom Employment I have read a great many Libels with which the Liberty of late Times hath Poyson'd the Nation but in none found such a mixture of Brutish Ignorance Sawcy Rudeness and a want of Sense or Truth as in this many False and Dangerous Things have been set off with a good Grace and Cloathed in an Eloquent Civil Stile with an Air or Semblance of Reason c. But in this we meet nothing like it No Manners Sense Wit Learning Truth or Reason but down-right Ribaldry Slander Falshood Folly and Rudeness as I will shortly make evident if not prevented by some more Concerned and better able to Vindicate the Learned College and Expose this Odious Clamorous Witling than J.Y. December 2. 1698. FINIS