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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51903	The eighth and last volume of letters writ by a Turkish spy who lived five and forty years undiscover'd at Paris : giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe, and discovering several intrigues and secrets of the Christian courts (especially of that of France) continued from the year 1642 to the year 1682 / written originally in Arabick, translated into Italian, and from thence into English, by the translator of the first volume.	Marana, Giovanni Paolo, 1642-1693.; Bradshaw, William, fl. 1700.; Midgley, Robert, 1655?-1723.	1694 (1694)	Wing M565EA; ESTC R35024	164,847	384

the Scotch Privileges in France XI To Hebatolla Mir Argun Superior of the Derviches at Cogni in Natolia Page 197 A Panegyrick on the Messias XII To Kerker Hassan Bassa Page 202 He gives him a Character of Charles II. King of England Glances upon the Popish Plot And proves that some part of America was Planted by the Welsh XIII To the most Magnanimous and Invincible Vizir Azem Page 207 Of a Match between the King of Spain and the Daughter of France also of another in Agitation between the Dauphin of France and the Duke of Bavaria's Sister XIV To the Venerable Mufti Page 212 He begins his Epitome of the Roman History which he formerly promised XV. To William Vospel a Recluse of Austria Page 219 He gives him a short Account of his Religion XVI To Murat Bassa Page 224 Of the Marriage of the Dauphin of France with the Princess Anne Marie Victorie Sister to the Duke of Bavaria BOOK IV. LETTER I. TO Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire Page 227 He gives him an Account of Geneva with a short History of the War of this Republick with the Dukes of Savoy II. To Achmet Bassa Page 234 Of the French Huguenots and the Methods which the King took at that Time to Convert them III. To the Venerable Mufti Page 240 He proceeds in the Roman History to the Abolishing the Kingly Government IV. To Orchan Cabet Student in the Sciences and Pensioner to the Sultan Page 248 He entertains him with a Discourse of the Soul and its Separate State after Death From whence he falls into a pleasant Vein of Bantering V. To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire Page 257 He gives him an Account of the Republick of Venice with the Manner of Electing their Doge or Duke VI. To Osman Adrooneth Page 268 He informs him of a New Comet appearing in Europe From whence he Discourses of Comets in General and of the great Vncertainty there is among Astronomers VII To the Venerable Mufti Page 278 He continues the Roman History to the Decline of that Empire VIII To Dgnet Oglou Page 288 He acquaints him with a Quarrel he had in the Midst of Wine and Mirth with a French Priest on the Account of Astrology and Comets IX To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire Page 293 He discourses of Candia and Genoua X. To Dgnet Oglou Page 302 Of the Vanity and Deceitfulness of Astrology XI To Ibro Kalphaser Effendi a Man of Letters at Constantinople Page 313 He congratulates his Honour in being chosen by the Mufti to oversee the defign'd Universal History of the World sends him a Box of Manuscripts with a Model of the whole Work XII To the Wisest of the Wise the Key of the Treasures of Knowledge the Venerable Mufti Page 323 He accuses the Chronolngy of the Jews and Christians Discourses of the Egyptian Assyrian Indian and Chinese Records asserting That the Deluge of Noah was not Vniversal XIII To Cara Hali Physician in Ordinary to the Grand Signior Page 330 He acquaints him with his Maladies and Infirmities begging his Advice and Help XIV To Abdel Melec Muli Omar President of the College of Sciences at Fez. Page 336 Of the Causes of the different Colour in Blacks and Whites He proves that they cannot both be the Descendants of Adam but of a different Species Of a Ship found in a Mine in Switzerland fifty Fathom deep and of a Whirl-Pool in Moscovy forty Miles in Compass which swallows up Ships and whatever else comes near it XV. To the Kaimacham Page 342 Of the Discovery of a vast Number of Sorcerers and Magicians in France with the Diabolical Arts practised by them in poysoning bewitching c. With the King of France's Method of punishing them XVI To Nathan Ben Saddi a Jew at Vienna Page 348 Of the Apprehensions he is in because of a Letter from him writ by another Hand Of Count Tecli and the Hungarian League He highly extols Carcoa's Journal XVII To the Kaimacham Page 352 He tells him that he sent a particular Messenger to Vienna with a Letter to Nathan Ben Saddi and that he was not to be found With his Jealousies thereupon XVIII To Dgnet Oglou Page 355 He tells him plainly that he fears Nathan Ben Saddi is made away by some Order from the Port and that if so he himself is likely to be made a Sacrifice after the same Manner And therefore desires him to be Watchful on his Account and Pry into the Secrets of the Divan LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. VIII BOOK I. LETTER I. Mahmut the Arabian at Paris to Mehemet an Exil'd Eunuch at Grand Caire in Egypt WHether it be an Effect of thy Melancholy Letter or of my own ugly Constitution I know not but I am lately grown very Desperate and resolv'd upon Death I am tir'd with whatsoever I have yet enjoy'd in this World and I expect no greater satisfaction should I live a Thousand Years Every Pleasure appears but the same in different Forms and they all agree in leaving us afflicted with the same or greater Pain than they found us in Which is a sufficient Argument to a Man of Spirit that he ought to die in pursuit of his own Ease We walk here on Earth in an Enchanted Circle of Shadows and Mockeries Our whole Life is full of Vanity and Mistake Every Man's Fortune is but a Repetition of Ixion's We court Clouds instead of Divinities and our most charming Fruitions consist in Emptiness Indeed all this Visible World is but a Mighty Pageant a Pompous Emblem a Gaudy Type of that Invisible Region which is the Mother of Spirits Oh! that it were lawful for a Mortal to release his Soul from its long irksom Exile here Below and send it Home to its Native Country the Kingdom of Divine Ideas Then wou'd I soon launch forth into the unknown Abyss But we must be resign'd and not think much to bear our several Destinies and patiently wait for the appointed Hour of Transmigration For it is in vain to think of hastning or delaying our Fate Besides for ought we know the next Station may be worse than this Every thing is full of Mysterious Darkness And therefore prithee Mehemet let thou and I lay aside all fruitless Care and Sadness be as merry as will consist with the Wisdom of a Man and when thou findest this black Distemper approaching thee run away from it and shelter thy self in good Company Arm thy self with Wine and Musick against the sullen Daemon of Melancholy But I counsel thee to avoid Women for they 'l but encrease thy Malady 'T is one of that Sex has given me this fit of Grief a Woman that I have loved too much But she 's Ingrateful False and Cruel she takes a singular delight in cheating me with false shews of Love and Friendship and then in undeceiving me again The same Tongue which at some times will

whom I might insinuate on the score of Skill in translating Greek Sclavonick Arabick and other Eastern Languages Osmin the Dwarf is also Dead from whom I us'd to learn many Secrets Fate has also snatch'd away several Courtiers with whom I had intimate Converse Add to this that Eliachim grows Old and Crazy who was once as my Right Hand So prompt and dextrous in any Business of Difficulty Faithful also as my own Heart which never was tainted with the least Symptom of Disloyalty So that all things consider'd I cannot see what the Sublime Ministers can propose in retaining me at Paris I do not desire as formerly to travel into India or any other Region of the East I do not so much as Covet to see my own Native Country for which I have had such passionate Longings No every Place will be Arabia to me where I may rest from Businesses of State and shut up my latter Days in Quietness It is Time for me to bid Adieu to the Active Life and betake my self wholly to Contemplation I would fain abandon not only the actual Vanities of this fading World but the very remembrance and thoughts of them My Mind is nauseated with the Idea's of past Folly which Men falsly call Pleasure And I find no gust in any thing but the Meditation of Death and the unknown State of departed Souls All other Things are uncertain Toys and empty Trifles But that great change which no Mortal hath ever yet escap'd is stable permanent and fix'd by Destiny Fate has set the Period which winds up the Epocha of every Mans Life in this visible State and begins a new Hejira whereof we have no Computation in regard we have no Correspondence with that unknown World Neither are there any certain Histories extant which can rightly inform us The Flight of the Soul from the Body begins the Mysterious Date but where or when it will end is not known to us that stay behind This therefore alone is worthy of an Old Man's Thoughts how to prepare himself for Death since he cannot protract the Term of his Life beyond the Moment allotted by Heaven Neither can he be assur'd what will become of him afterwards Think not Serene Bassa that I am going to lay a Train for the Reputation of a Saint or wou'd set up all on a sudden for an extraordinary Pious Man No there 's nothing of that in 't I hate the rigid Hypocrisie of forc'd Penance and the Religious Lunacy of those who never think they do enough to atone for their Sins unless they outdo Humanity it self in their cruel Mortifications These are Monsters in all good Divinity and their Example is not to be followed What I aim at in this Discourse is That as according to the Order of Nature and Will of Destiny we are born Men so we should take care to Live and Die And if we have suffer'd the former part of our Life to elapse without due Reflection on so important a Truth 't is but Reason that when we approach near the Grave when all our Senses Faculties and Members do the part of King Philip's Page putting us daily and hourly in Mind of our Mortality 'T is but Reason I say that then we should begin to recollect our selves and to think whereabouts we are that we may not be surprized by the Inevitable Decree of Fate when it comes to be put in Execution nor die less than our selves Besides there is another advantage in being thus prepar'd for the last things since it equally arms us against all intermediate Calamities supposing we shou'd live longer than we reckon He that can boldly stare Death in the Face will not easily turn his Back upon any Misfortune of this Inconstant Life But receiving all things with an even Temper renders himself happy in the midst of Troubles Losses Disgraces Pains Sicknesses and other Casualties which assault all that live on Earth Magnificent Bassa all that I have said is but a Prologue to my main purpose which is to desire thy Mediation with the First Vizier that I may be recall'd from an Employment wherein I cannot be so serviceable as I have been and which at the same Time by imposing on me a Thousand Cares takes from me the possibility of preparing as I ought to do for that Transmigration which in a little Time I must pass through In a Word Right Noble Kerker I desire the Priviledge to end my Days in Constantinople among the Moselmans under the Venerable Shade of Mosks and Minarets consecrated to the Service and Honour of the Eternal Vnity Let me not have worse Usage than the ancient Roman Souldiers had who when they had served in the Wars such a certain number of Years were discharg'd with an Honourable Pension This is all the Favour I request who have serv'd the Grand Signior faithfully and with Success these Eight and Thirty Years in a Country of Infidels But if my Superiors shall determine otherwise I am resign'd to their Pleasure and to the Will of Destiny Paris 22d of the 6th Moon of the Year 1674. LETTER VII To Ali Rustan Begh Serasquier in Dalmatia THou shalt hear how a famous Christian General the Mareschal de Turenne deported himself when he was lately challeng'd to a single Combat by the Prince Palatine of the Rhine It seems this later has been a great Sufferer by the present War between France and the Confederate Princes for his Country lying near the Rhine was expos'd to both Parties and the French first enter'd it There were some English Troops in the French Army who had conceiv'd an Implacable Revenge against the Subjects of the Palatine in regard many of their Comrades had been barbarously handled by them Wherefore they made great Devastation where-ever they came burnt Five and Twenty great Villages to the Ground and Five small Cities In a word they quite ruin'd in Fifteen Days Time the whole Country which is esteem'd the most pleasant and agreeable Part of Europe This put the Elector all in Choler and he wrote a sharp Letter to the Mareschal Turenne threatning him in a furious Manner and bidding him chuse the Place where he might fight with him in single Duel But the Sage Mareschal retaining his usual Moderation and not at all mov'd at the Palatines Letter answer'd it in these or the like Terms That the Proceedings of the English Regiments were without his Order or Approbation That he was infinitely troubled at the Violences which had been committed and that the chief Anthors had been punish'd Nevertheless he could not but Declare That the cruel Treatment which the English had met with had so exasperated their Companions that it was no wonder to see them execute their Revenge even on the very Inanimate Things And that in the first heat and transport of their Fury they had not leisure to examine who were guilty and who not He added likewise That if the Post which the King his Master had appointed him would

Intercession with God for the Province and City committed to her Patronage And the People are willing enough to believe it If this Shrine be as efficacious in causing Rain when there is a Drought as the Inhabitants of Paris affirm it may nor unfitly be compared to the Lapis Manalis of the Ancient Romans This was a certain great Stone which in Time of Excessive Dryness the Romans us'd to draw into the City with vast Ropes by the Gate Capena whilst the Priests of the God Mars danc'd before it and all the Vestals left the Sacred Fire to follow the Procession They drew the Stone to the Temple of the Goddess Flora where they strew'd upon it a Handful of wither'd Flowers and Herbs Then immediately it began to Rain and they let the Stone lye there as a Memorial before the Temple of the Goddess till they had enough of that sort of Weather to secure the Growth and Maturity of the Vegetables and then they drew it back again in the same manner as before only each Vestal now carried some of the Sacred Fire in an Earthen Vessel whereas before they carried none Whether there be any real Efficacy in those Religious Ceremonies or no is not in my Power to determine But 't is certain that every Nation consides much in the Mysteries taught them by their Priests The Force of Education prevails on most Men even to old Age in regard they think it an Impiety to examine or question the Traditions of their Fathers especially when Heaven it self confirms their Implicite Faith by seeming to regard and answer their Religious Addresses in so peculiar a Manner as these foremention'd Instances describe Sage Effendi Tell me whether it be Heresie to affirm That God has sent Prophets into all Nations each furnish'd with Instructions and Doctrines agreeable to the Genius of the People whom they were to teach And that he is not displeas'd at the various Rites and Ceremonies by which every distinct Region and Climate adore his Divine Vnity Satisfy me in this and then thou shalt be more than Apollo in my Esteem for I am full of Doubts Paris 10th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1675. LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. VIII BOOK II. LETTER I. To Dgnet Oglou SOmetimes I could wish my self without a Spleen it overwhelms me in such deep Melancholies Yet when I consider the same Vital is a necessary Instrument of Mirth and Laughter I reverse that Wish again Not that I am fond of a Levity which makes us resemble Apes rather than Men tho the Philosophers say the contrary But I correct my Partial Thoughts which would lay the fault on my Body when my Mind● is chiefly to Blame For he that is Master o● his Reason r●ed ●ot fall into either Extreme to be always a grinning like Democritus or howling with Heraclitus Resignation and Tranquility are the Golden Mean And he that steps over this Line on one side or other falls into the same Vanity which he bemoans or ridicules in the rest of Mortals I have studied to know this World and the Nature of all Things but am never the Wiser after so many Years of search I have perus'd many Books and convers'd with more Men yet none of them all can inform me of a certainty what I am my self How then should I be able to comprenend the Essences of Other Things Henceforth I 'll lay aside this Inquisitive Folly and be careless till Death shall either quite extinguish so troublesome a Passion or fully satisfy it with new Discoveries In that separate Stare I hope to see in open Light the Naked Forms of Things without the Interposition of a Veil or Gless to thicken and dusk the Prospect Whereas in this Life we are fain to peep into the World through the close Windows of our Senses which are so o'rlaid and darken'd with the Dust our Passions raise besides the Natural Dullness of their Composition That we are fain to run from Pannel to Pannel and use the Opticks of Philosophy to help our Sight Yet after all we still are purblind and so are like to be during this Mortal Life But when once this Prison of ours shall be demolish'd by a Tempest of Misfortune or by some sudden Disaster or it shall moulder away through Sickness Age and Native Weakness thus crumbling to its primitive Dust then shall the Soul expand it self and fly at large in the open Firmament of Wisdom Light and Science My Dgnet Let thou and I be content to bear the Inconveniences of these Earthly Cages for a while and in a little Time we shall be consign'd over to Eternal Liberty I design'd to have said more but I ●ell thee I 'm too Melancholy Therefore Adieu for the Present Paris 19th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1675. LETTER II. To Hamet Reis Effendi Principal Secretary of the Ottoman Empire IT is above Ten Years ago since I gave thee an Account of the Renowned Mareschal de Turenne Wherein I did not pretend his compleat History or present thee with his full Character but only to inform thee of some remarkable Passages in his Life and to draw an imperfect Idea of his Vertues Which though they were very great yet were not sufficient to skreen him from the Chance of War and the Stroke of a Violent Death On the Six and Twentieth of the Moon of July this great General having given all necessary Orders for a Battel with the Imperialists in Alsatia was surveying a certain rais'd Ground near Strasbourg on which he design'd to plant a Battery when a Cannon Shot from the Town guided by Fate more than by the Gunners Aim or Skill came grazing along on the Earth and in its Carcer gave this Heroe a Mortal Blow on the Breast of which he instantly died without speaking a Word There was an Officer of the Artillery in his Company who spied the Course of the Bullet at a Distance and happily started out of the Way He reports that Monsieur Turenne saw the same but whether out of the Greatness of his Spirit which would not suffer him to appear timerous of Death or whether his extream Thoughtfulness on the approaching Battel kept him from providing for his own Safety 't is certain he stood Immoveable and sustain'd the Fatal Stroke which cost him his Life The Court of France laments his Death with extraordinary Demonstrations of Sorrow And so does all the Kingdom Indeed they have Reason France having never sent into the Field a Man more accomplished with all the Vertues and Heroick Qualities requisite in a great General They relate Two or Three remarkable Passages of his Life which either happen'd since I wrote my former Letter to thee about him or at least they came not to my knowledge at that Time One was a little after his Brother the Duke of Bouillon's Death when he was seen to weep very affectionately tho he endeavour'd to hide his Passion from the Observation of others

no Narrow-Soul'd Jew who confines Salvation to the Lineage of Jacob and lays an Hereditary Claim to Heaven because for the Wickedness of his Execrable Race he is not allow'd to possess a Foot of Land on Earth Who to strengthen his Title produces the Scheme of his Genealogy proving that he descended in a Right Line from one of those Parricides who murder'd the Messias And for that Reason avouches that Paradise is entail'd to him among the rest of his Brethren on the Score of his Fore-fathers Merit Neither am I a Christian-Hypocrite who mocks himself and All that see him with his Empty Formalities Who constantly calls upon Jesus every Morning to sanctifie his Resolution of Sinning against God before Night Who tires out the Patience of the Saints and Angels with the Crambe of his Vain Repetitions His Ave Maria's Ora pro Nobis's and the rest of his Religious Jargon Who goes to Church that he may get the Whip-hand of the Devil and meeting him on Holy Ground may whisper Treason against God Almighty over his Beads or his Prayer-Book as the Germans do against the Emperor over their Bottles sub Rosa without any Observators or Tell-tales I am no Worshipper of Images Pictures Old Rotten Worm-eaten Bits of Wood or other Pretended Relicks of Christ and his Saints I cannot be persuaded that God is well pleas'd to see me make a Fool of my self and Trot up and down in Pilgrimage to Honour Five or Six Sham-Heads of St. John the Baptist for in so many several Places do they pretend to shew that one Sacred Relick which cannot be Multiplied Neither can I believe the Miraculous Vegetation and Constant Growth of the Cross which they pretend to shew Whole and Entire at Caesarea whilst it is exhibited also in Millions of Pieces throughout Christendom So that there is scarce a Christian Gentleman of any Quality in Europe Asia Africa or America who does not boast his Share of this Wonderful Relick If all which Pieces were put together they would probably make a Thousand such Crosses as that which is kept in Palestine for the supposed True Cross whereon Jesus suffer'd Death and yet they are all said to be cut off from That Indeed Father William I have no Great Stomach to swallow down these Great Wooden Fables The very Chips are enough to choak me But then comes the Milk of the Blessed Virgin to my Relief with which I may rinse my Unbelieving Throat almost in every Parish or Monastick Church I come at For I dare say there 's more of this to be found in such Places than an Hungarian Cow would give in Seven Years together But it Curdles in my Stomach and makes me Sick The very Idea of these Child-Absurdities is as Operative as the Draught of an Antimonial-Cup It would be too tedious to turn up all the Negative Side of my Religion and explain in an Hundred more Particulars what I am not Let us now therefore reverse the Tablet and see what I positively am And here I am at a Loss for a Compendious Title or Name to give my self saving that of a Christian For I know not to what more Particular Predicament I belong As for the Distinguishing Characteristicks of Papist Protestant Lutheran Calvinist Socinian c. I esteem 'em no otherwise than the Brands of so many Religious Factions in the Church And the Particular Title of Roman-Catholick looks like a Soloecism in Common Sense I would therefore be taken for a Christian who neither makes Parties nor sides with any But honouring Jesus as our Common Lord and Master I endeavour to obey his Laws peaceably and like a Loyal Subject I lay for a Foundation of all my Practice toward Men this Golden Rule which He gave us Not to do that to Another which I would not have done to my Self Upon this Basis is built the whole Fabrick of Human Justice I endeavour to regulate my own Passions and to bear with those of Others To be angry with my self for the least Peccadillo but to frame Excuses for the Errors and Offences which my Neighbour commits Here rises the Superstructure of all Vertues supported by Patience Hope and Faith cemented by Charity Meekness and Temperance and adorn'd all over with Good Works In a Word Father William The Sum and Substance of my Religion consists in these few Rules To Fear God Serve my King Honour and Obey my Parents Love my Friends and To do Justice to all Men Without troubling my self about Empty Formalities and Needless Ceremonies Or being concern'd in what Nation Climate or Society of Christians I live Since God regards not one Man more than another for these Exterior Differences Reverend Monk Adieu And from what I have said conclude me a Catholick in the Properest Sense Paris 26th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1680. LETTER XVI To Murat Bassa THey are extremely Merry here in Paris Nothing but Dancing Singing Roaring Drinking Ringing of Bells making of Bonfires and other Illuminations Shooting of Guns Flirting about Squibs Crackers Serpents Rockets and all manner of Gunpowder Compositions If it should hold but Two Hours longer I believe they wou'd be in Danger of running all Mad. This is the Hour of Mid-night and yet they are in the Height of their Jollity which is not customary in these Western Parts tho no Wonder in the East I wish there were an Army of Ottomans near us I 'd give 'em the Signal and shew them the Way when and how to enter the Town and take Possession of the Richest City in France For they suspect Nothing and the very Guards themselves are all drunk 'T were an easie Thing to Surprize 'em and take 'em Napping But there is a Time and a Chance for all Things under the Moon And this is their lucky Season Would'st thou know the Occasion of all this Joy and Security 'T is double Of one Side the News comes rowling from Spain of the New Queen found there and on the other Hand they are transported with the Marriage of Monseigneur the Dauphine of France with the Princess Ann Marie Victoire Sister to the Duke of Bavaria I mention'd the Advances were made in Order to this Match the latter End of the foregoing Year The same was compleated in all its Ceremonies on this very Day The French King parted from Versailles about the beginning of this Moon with the Dauphin his Son to meet the Princess Their first Interview was at a Place called Vitry As soon as the Dauphiness for so we must call her now saw the King alight from his Horse she leap'd out of her Coach and threw her self upon her Knees But he soon rais'd and embrac'd her with Royal Caresses expressing the mighty Joy he felt at this first Sight of her on whom rested the Hopes of France for Heirs to the Crown Then he presented the Dauphin to Her who also was not wanting on his Part to discover the Sentiments he had for a Princess of so great

Judicial Astrology differ so extremely in one and the same Subject That there is no Encouragement for a Thinking Man to hope ever to make a True Judgment by their Rules unless he be Divinely inspir'd within and have a certain Natural Instinct which suggests to him the Knowledg of Future Things Or he is possess'd by some Presaging Daemon whose Whispers direct him what Judgment to choose among the many that may be made upon the Sight of a Scheme according to the Variety of Rules that have been given And this is the Opinion of the Learned Hali my Countryman who has had many Followers So that after all this boasted Science will rather deserve the Name of Sortilogy than Astrology whilst all its Dictates depend on pure Conjecture or the Extempore Affections of the Mind or which is worst of all on the Afflatus of Busy Interessed Spirits Genii or Daemons of the Air who have some Design of their own to pursue and make Men their Tools to execute it Undoubtedly they both deceive others and are deceiv'd themselves who practise this Vain Art for the Sake of Filthy Lucre. For if there was any thing of Truth in it how came they to fail so often and so egregiously in their Predictions Or why do they always couch their Prognostications in such Ambiguous Terms that like the Delphick Oracle may be taken in which Sense you please and applyed to any Nation Prince Time or Person as the Astrologer shall please to comment after something of what he has said at random may have happen'd For from that infinite Variety of Stars and Aspects it is very easie for a Bold Sophister in this Art to cull out such for his Turn as shall be proper to convince Ignorant People that he was in the Right when he promis'd them Long Life Health Honours Riches Children Friends Power Victory the Enjoyment of their Loves and such like or threatned the quite contrary even just as they fall out But if at any Time they were catch'd in an apparent Falshood then they either complement a Man into a good Opinion of them by telling him A Wise Man has Dominion over the Stars or they insult over him by a Thousand Conrempts of his suppos'd Folly which they say resisted the Influence of the Stars and hinder'd their good Effect Yet these Sort of People are in Chiefest Request among the Princes and Potentates of the Earth especlally in the East where there 's nothing to be done either in Peace or War without first consulting the Astrologer Though really there is not a more unprofitable not to say a more pestilent Race of Men in a Commonwealth Cornelius Tacitus a grave Author complain'd of 'em in Old Time So did Varro with other Sincere Writers And it was a Custom in Alexandria formerly for Astrologers to pay a certain Tribute which they call'd Fools-pence because it was taken from the Gain which the Astrologers made by their own Ingenious Folly and the Credulous Dotage of their Admirers My Dgnet if our Lives and Fortunes depend upon the Stars what Reason have we to be afraid of any Thing Why are we solicitous and full of Needless Cares Let us leave all Things to God And the Heavens which cannot err nor transgress the Decrees of Fate will be our Guarantees till Death But if our Lives and Fortunes are altogether Independent of the Celestial Bodies let us bid good-Night to Astrology as the Vainest Ape or Mimick of a Science that ever Buffoon'd the World 'T was said of Old by the Sages of Chaldaea That God had committed the Disposal of Days to Moses and of Hours to Jesus the Son of Mary but That he had reserv'd the Moments to himself and his last Favourite Let us therefore every Minute of our Lives wait on him the Father of all things with an entire Resignation But there is a sort of Puny-Spirited Men so timorous and void of True Faith That they will rather believe any Thing though the most Incongruous Fictions of Hobgoblins Ghosts c. than the Dictates of Solid Reason They tremble at the Report of Things which have no Existence in Nature and whose very Idea is full of Impossibilities and Contradictions Yet they will stand the Brunt of Truth with Brazen Foreheads and resist the Dint of Rational Arguments like so many Colossus's Hence it comes to pass That whereas one Lie is apt to take away the Reputation of any Honest Man so that he shall not be believ'd when he speaks true On the contrary here in our Case if an Astrologer in his Random-Predictions by mere Chance hits upon remarkable Truth it procures him Credit for all the Lies that ever he has or can be guilty of Impertinent and preposterous sort of Fellows who whilst they pretend to know and foretel Future Things are ignorant of that which is Past or Present and when they are impudently asserting their Familiarity with the Houses of the Twelve Signs in the Zodiack know not what is done in their own Homes and Beds As this Epigram says Astra tibi aethereo pandunt sese omnia Vati Omnibus quae sint Fata futura monent Omnibus ast Vxor quòd se tua publicat id te Astra licèt videant Omnia nulla monent But that which appears most strange is That they ascribe the very Gift of Prophesie to the Stars also the Origin of Religions the Secrets of Conscience the Power of working Miracles and Casting out Devils the Efficacy of Prayers and even our Immortal Happiness or Misery after this Life Thus they assert That when Gemini is the Ascendant and in Conjunction with Saturn and Mercury under Aquarius in the Ninth House a Prophet is Born at that Time And therefore Jesus the Messias was endu'd with so many Matchless Gifts and Abilities because he had Saturn in his Configuration with Gemini Thus they distribute the Various Sects of Religion that are on Earth into their distinct Classes according to the different Asterisms Above Jupiter being suppos'd the General Patron of all Religion Upon this Ground they ascribe the Religion of the Jews to Jupiter and Saturn of the Chaldaeans to Jupiter and Mars of the Egyptians to Jupiter and the Sun of the Arabians to Jupiter and Venus of the Christians to Jupiter and Mercury And that Religion or Irreligion of Antichrist which is to come they ascribe to Jupiter and the Moon They say also that Moyses prescrib'd the Observation of the Sabbath from Astrological Grounds it being dedicated to Saturn They ascribe the Deluge to the Influence of the Stars and the Law given on Mount Sinai is in their Divinity owing to the same Original They attribute the Conception of Jesus the Son of Mary to Venus and his supposed Death to Mars They affirm that the Messias himself was the greatest Astrologer of his Time That he made a particular Choice of Hours wherein to work his Miracles and to pass through the Streets of Jerusalem without receiving Damage