person, and to know by what engine of wit or ingenuity you came first to
think of this most excellent help unto astronomy, viz. the Logarithms;
but, my Lord, being by you found out, I wonder no body else found it out
before, when, now known, it is so easy.' He was nobly entertained by the
Lord Napier, and every summer after that, during the Lord's being alive,
this venerable man, Mr. Briggs, went purposely into Scotland to visit
him; _Tempora nunc mutantur_.
These two persons were worthy men in their time; and yet the one, viz.
Lord Marchiston, was a great lover of astrology, but Briggs the most
satirical man against it that hath been known: but the reason hereof I
conceive was, that Briggs was a severe Presbyterian, and wholly
conversant with persons of that judgment; whereas the Lord Marchiston
was a general scholar, and deeply read in all divine and human
histories: it is the same Marchiston who made that most serious and
learned exposition upon the _Revelation of St. John_; which is the best
that ever yet appeared in the world.
* * * * *
Thus far proceeded Mr. William Lilly in setting down the account of his
life, with some other things of note. Now shall be added something more
which afterwards happened during his retirement at his house at Hersham,
until his death.
He left London in the year 1665, (as he hath before noted) and betook
himself to the study of physick; in which, having arrived at a competent
degree of knowledge, assisted by diligent observation and practice, he
desired his old friend, Mr. Ashmole, to obtain of his Grace Dr. Sheldon,
then Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, a license for the practice of
physick; which upon application to his Grace, and producing a
testimonial (October 8, 1670,) under the hands of two physicians of the
college in London, on Mr. Lilly's behalf, he most readily granted, in
the manner following, viz.
'GILBERTUS providentia divina Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus totius Angliæ
Primas & Metropolitanus, dilecto nobis in Christo GULIELMO LILLY in
Medicinis Professori, salutem, gratiam, & benedictionem. Cum ex fide
digna relatione acceperimus Te in arte sive facultate Medicinæ per non
modicum tempus versatum fuisse, multisque de salute & sanitate corporis
verè desperatis (Deo Omnipotente adjuvante) subvenisse, eosque sanasse,
nec non in arte predicta multorum peritorum laudabili testimonio pro
experientia, fidelitate, diligentia & industria tuis circa curas quas
susceperis peragendas in hujusmodi Arte Medicinæ meritò commendatum
esse, ad practicandum igitur & exercendum dictam Artem Medicinæ in, &
per totam Provinciam nostram Cant' (Civitate Lond' & circuitu septem
milliarum eidem prox' adjacen' tantummodo exceptis) ex causis prædictis
& aliis nos in hac per te justè moventibus, præstito primitus per te
juramento de agnoscendo Regiam suprema potestatem in causis
ecclesiasticis & temporalibus ac de renunciando, refutando, & recusando
omni, & omnimodæ jurisdictioni potestati, authoritati & superioritati
foraneis juxta vim formam & effectum statui Parliamenti hujus inclyti
Regni Angliæ in ea parte editi & provisi quantum nobis per statuta hujus
Regni Angliæ liceat & non aliter neque alio modo te admittimus &
approbamus, tibique Licentiam & Facultatem nostras in hâc parte, tenore
præsentium quamdiu te benè & laudabiliter gesseris benignè concedimus &
elargimur. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum (quo in hâc parte utimur)
praesentibus apponi fecimus. Dat. undecimo die mensis Octobris, Anno
Domini 1670. Nostræque translationis Anno Octavo.
Sigillum
Radulph. Snowe }
ET } Registrarii.
Edm. Sherman }
S. Rich. Lloyd, Sur.
'Vicarii in Spiritualibus Generalis per Provinciam Cantuariensem.'
Hereupon he began to practise more openly, and with good success; and
every Saturday rode to Kingston, where the poorer sort flocked to him
from several parts, and received much benefit by his advice and
prescriptions, which he gave them freely, and without money. From those
that were more able, he now and then received a shilling, and sometimes
an half crown, if they offered it to him, otherwise he demanded nothing;
and, in truth, his charity towards poor people was very great, no less
than the care and pains he took in considering and weighing their
particular cases, and applying proper remedies to their infirmities,
which gained him extraordinary credit and estimation.
He was of a strong constitution, and continued generally in good health,
till the 16th of August 1674, when a violent humour discovered itself in
red spots all over his body, with little pushes in his head. This, in
the winter (18 December) following, was seconded by a distemper whereof
he fell sick, and was let blood in the left foot, a little above the
ancle.
The 20th of December following, a humour descended from his head to his
left side, from eight o'clock at night till the next morning; and then
staying a while in the calf of his leg, at length descended towards his
toes, the anguish whereof put him into a fever. This humour fixed in two
places on the top of his left foot (one in that where he was let blood
two days before) which (upon application of pledgets) growing ripe, they
were (28 Dec.) lanced by Mr. Agar of Kingston, his apothecary (and no
less a skilful Surgeon:) after which he began to be at ease, his fever
abated, and within five months the cure was perfected.
The 7th of November 1675, he was taken with a violent fit of vomiting
for some hours, to which a fever succeeded, that continued four months:
this brought his body exceeding low, together with a dimness in his
eyes, which after occasioned him to make use of Mr. Henry Coley, as his
amanuensis, to transcribe (from his dictates) his astrological judgments
for the year 1677; but the monthly observations for that year, were
written with his own hand some time before, though by this time he was
grown very dim-sighted. His judgments and observations for the
succeeding years, till his death, (so also for the year 1682,) were all
composed by his directions, Mr. Coley coming to Hersham the beginning of
every summer, and stayed there, till, by conference with him, he had
dispatched them for the press; to whom, at these opportunities, he
communicated his way of judgment, and other astrological arcanas.
In the beginning of the year 1681, he had a flux, which weakened him
much, yet after some time his strength encreased; but now his sight was
wholly taken from him, not having any glimmering as formerly.
He had dwelt many years at Hersham, where his charity and kindness to
his poor neighbours was always great and hearty; and the 30th of May
1681, towards the evening, a dead palsy began to seize his left side.
The second of June, towards evening, he took his bed, and then his
tongue began to falter. The next day he became very dull and heavy:
sometimes his senses began to fail him. Henceforward he took little or
nothing, for his larinx swelled, and that impeded his swallowing.
The fourth of June, Mr. Ashmole went to visit him, and found he knew
him, but spake little, and some of that scarce intelligible; for the
palsy began now to seize upon his tongue.
The eighth of June he lay in a great agony, insomuch that the sweat
followed drop after drop, which he bore with wonderful courage and
patience (as indeed he did all his sickness) without complaint; and
about three o'clock the next morning, he died, without any shew of
trouble or pangs. Immediately before his breath went from him, he
sneezed three times.
He had often, in his life-time, desired Mr. Ashmole to take care of his
funeral, and now his widow desired the same: whereupon Mr. Ashmole
obtained leave from Sir Mathew Andrews (who had the parsonage of Walton)
to bury him in the chancel of that church.
The 10th of June, his corse was brought thither, and received by the
minister (in his surplice) at the Litch Gates, who, passing before the
body into the church, read the first part of the _Office for the Burial
of the Dead_. In the reading desk he said all the evening service, and
after performed the rest of the office (as established by law) in the
chancel, at the interment, which was about eight o'clock in the evening,
on the left side of the communion table, Mr. Ashmole assisting at the
laying him in his grave; whereupon afterwards (9 July 1681) he placed a
fair black marble stone, (which cost him six pounds four shillings and
six-pence) with this inscription following:
Ne Oblivione conteretur Urna
GULIELMI LILLII
ASTROLOGI PERITISSIMI,
QUI FATIS CESSIT
Quinto Idus Junii Anno Christi Juliano
M DC LXXXI.
Hoc Illi posuit amoris Monumentum
ELIAS ASHMOLE,
ARMIGER.
Shortly after his death, Mr. Ashmole bought his library of books of Mrs.
Ruth Lilly, (his widow and executrix) for fifty pounds: he oft times, in
his life-time, expressed, that if Mr. Ashmole would give that sum, he
should have them.
* * * * *
The following Epitaphs (Latin and English) were made by George
Smalridge, then a scholar at Westminster, after Student of Christ-Church
in Oxford.
_In Mortem Viri Doctissimi Domini_ GULIELMI
LILLY, _Astrologi, nuper defuncti_.
Occidit atque suis annalibus addidit atram
Astrologus, quâ non tristior ulla, diem
Pone triumphales, lugubris Luna, quadrigas;
Sol mæstum piceâ nube reconde caput.
Illum, qui Phoebi scripsit, Phoebesq; labores
Eclipsin docuit Stella maligna pati.
Invidia Astrorum cecidit, qui Sidera rexit
Tanta erat in notas scandere cura domos.
Quod vidit, visum cupiit, potiturq; cupito
C[oe]lo, & Sidereo fulget in orbe decus.
Scilicet hoc nobis prædixit ab ane Cometa,
Et fati emicuit nuncia Stella tui
Fallentem vidi faciem gemuiq; videndo
Illa fuit vati mortis imago suo,
Civilis timuere alii primordia belli
Jejunam metuit plebs stupefata faniem
Non tantos tulerat bellumve famesve dolores:
Auspiciis essent hæc relevanda tuis.
In cautam subitus plebem nunc opprimat ensis,
Securos fati mors violenta trahat.
Nemo est qui videat moneatq; avertere fatum,
Ars jacet in Domini funera mersa sui
Solus naturæ reservare arcana solebat,
Solus & ambigui solvere jura poti.
Lustrâsti erantes benè finâ mente Planeta
Conspectum latuit stellata nulla tuum
Defessos oculos pensârunt lumina mentis
Firesias oculis, mentibus Argus eras.
Cernere, Firesia, poteras ventura, sed, Arge,
In fatum haud poteras sat vigil esse tuum
Sed vivit nomen semper cum sole vigebit,
Immemor Astrologi non erit ulla dies
Sæcla canent laudes, quas si percurrere cones,
Arte opus est, Stellas quâ numerare soles
Hæreat hoc carmen cinerum custodibus urnis,
Hospes quod spargens marmora rore legat.
"Hic situs est, dignus nunquam cecidisse Propheta;
Fatorum interpres fata inopina subit.
Versari æthereo dum vixit in orbe solebat:
Nunc humilem jactat Terra superba virum.
Sed Coelum metitur adhuc resupinus in urnæ
Vertitur in solitos palpebra clausa polos.
Huic busto invigilant solenni lampade Musaæ
Perpetuo nubes imbre sepulchra rigant.
Ille oculis movit distantia Sidera nostris,
Illam amota oculis traxit ad astra Deus."
_An_ ELEGY _upon the Death of_ WILLIAM LILLY, _the Astrologer_.
Our Prophet's gone; no longer may our ears
Be charm'd with musick of th' harmonious spheres.
Let sun and moon withdraw, leave gloomy night
To shew their NUNCIO'S fate, who gave more light
To th' erring world, than all the feeble rays
Of sun or moon; taught us to know those days
Bright TITAN makes; follow'd the hasty sun
Through all his circuits; knew th' unconstant moon,
And more unconstant ebbings of the flood;
And what is most uncertain, th' factious brood,
Flowing in civil broils: by the heavens could date
The flux and reflux of our dubious state.
He saw the eclipse of sun, and change of moon
He saw, but seeing would not shun his own:
Eclips'd he was, that he might shine more bright,
And only chang'd to give a fuller light.
He having view'd the sky, and glorious train
Of gilded stars, scorn'd longer to remain
In earthly prisons: could he a village love,
Whom the twelve houses waited for above?
The grateful stars a heavenly mansion gave
T' his heavenly soul, nor could he live a slave
To mortal passions, whose immortal mind,
Whilst here on earth, was not to earth confin'd.
He must be gone, the stars had so decreed;
As he of them, so they of him, had need.
This message 'twas the blazing comet brought;
I saw the pale-fac'd star, and seeing thought
(For we could guess, but only LILLY knew)
It did some glorious hero's fall foreshew:
A hero's fall'n, whose death, more than a war,
Or fire, deserv'd a comet: th' obsequious star
Could do no less than his sad fate unfold,
Who had their risings, and their settings told.
Some thought a plague, and some a famine near;
Some wars from France, some fires at home did fear:
Nor did they fear too much: scarce kinder fate,
But plague of plagues befell th' unhappy state
When LILLY died. Now swords may safely come
From France or Rome, fanaticks plot at home.
Now an unseen, and unexpected hand,
By guidance of ill stars, may hurt our land;
Unsafe, because secure, there's none to show
How England may avert the fatal blow.
He's dead, whose death the weeping clouds deplore,
I wish we did not owe to him that show'r
Which long expected was, and might have still
Expected been, had not our nation's ill
Drawn from the heavens a sympathetic tear:
England hath cause a second drought to fear.
We have no second LILLY, who may die,
And by his death may make the heavens cry.
Then let your annals, Coley, want this day,
Think every year leap-year; or if't must stay,
Cloath it in black; let a sad note stand by,
And stigmatize it to posterity.
_Here follows the Copy of an Indictment filed against Mr. Lilly, for
which see page 167 of his Life_.
The jurors for the Lord Protector of the commonwealth of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, &c. upon their oaths do present, that William
Lilly, late of the Parish of St. Clements Danes, in the County of
Middlesex, Gent. not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being
moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, the 10th day of July,
in the Year of our Lord, 1654, at the Parish aforesaid, in the County
aforesaid, wickedly, unlawfully, and deceitfully, did take upon him, the
said William Lilly, by inchantment, charm, and sorcery, to tell and
declare to one Anne East, the wife of Alexander East, where ten
waistcoats, of the value of five pounds, of the goods and chattels of
the said Alexander East, then lately before lost and stolen from the
said Alexander East, should be found and become; and two shilling and
sixpence in monies numbred, of the monies of the said Alexander, from
the said Anne East, then and and there unlawfully and deceitfully, he,
the said William Lilly, did take, receive, and had, to tell and declare
to her the said Anne, where the said goods, so lost and stolen as
aforesaid, should be found and become: And also that he, the said
William Lilly, on the said tenth day of July, in the Year of our Lord,
1654, and divers other days and times, as well before as afterwards, at
the said Parish aforesaid, in the County aforesaid, unlawfully and
deceitfully did take upon him, the said William Lilly, by inchantment,
charm, and sorcery, to tell and declare to divers other persons, to the
said jurors, yet unknown, where divers goods, chattels, and things of
the said persons yet unknown, there lately before lost and stolen from
the said persons yet unknown, should be found and become; and divers
sums of monies of the said persons yet unknown, then and there
unlawfully and deceitfully, he the said William Lilly did take, receive,
and had, to tell and declare to the said persons yet unknown, where
their goods, chattels, and things, so lost and stolen, as aforesaid,
should be found and become, in contempt of the laws of England, to the
great damage and deceit of the said Alexander and Anne, and of the said
other persons yet unknown, to the evil and pernicious example of all
others in the like case offending, against the form of the statute in
this case made and provided, and against the publick peace, &c.
_Anne East,
Emme Spencer,
Jane Gold,
Katherme Roberts,
Susannah Hulinge_.
_Butler's Character of_ WILLIAM LILLY.
* * * * *
"A cunning man[20], hight SIDROPHEL.
That deals in destiny's dark counsels,
And sage opinions of the moon sells;
To whom all people, far and near,
On deep importances repair;
When brass and pewter hap to stray,
And linen slinks out of the way:
[Footnote 20: _A cunning man, hight_ Sidrophel. 'William Lilly,
the famous astrologer of those times, who in his yearly
almanacks foretold victories for the parliament with as much
certainty as the Preachers did in their sermons; and all or most
part of what is ascribed to him by the Poet, the reader will
find verified in his "Letter," (if we may believe it) wrote by
himself to Elias Ashmole, Esq.' For further curious information
respecting William Lilly, the reader may consult _Dr. Grey's
Notes to Hudibras_, vol. ii. page 163, &c. Edition 1819, in 3
vols, 8vo.]
When geese and pullen are seduc'd,
And sows of sucking pigs are chous'd:
When cattle feel indisposition,
And need th' opinion of physician;
When murrain reigns in hogs or sheep,
And chickens languish of the pip;
When yeast and outward means do fail,
And have no power to work on ale;
When butter does refuse to come,
And love proves cross and humoursome;
To him with questions and with urine,
They for discov'ry flock, or curing.
* * * * *
He had been long t'wards mathematics,
Opticks, philosophy, and staticks,
Magick, horoscopy, astrology,
And was old dog at physiology:
But, as a dog that turns the spit,
Bestirs himself, and plies his feet
To climb the wheel, but all in vain,
His own weight brings him down again;
And still he's in the self-same place,
Where at his setting out he was:
So, in the circle of the arts,
Did he advance his nat'ral parts:
Till falling back still, for retreat,
He fell to juggle, cant, and cheat:
For as those fowls that live in water
Are never wet, he did but smatter:
Whate'er he labour'd to appear,
His understanding still was clear,
Yet none a deeper knowledge boasted,
Since old Hodge Bacon, and Bob Grosted,
* * * * *
Do not our great _Reformers_ use
This SIDROPHEL to forebode news?
To write of victories next year,
And castles taken yet i'th' air?
Of battles fought at sea, and ships
Sunk, two years hence, the last eclipse?
A total o'er throw giv'n the KING
In Cornwall, horse and foot, next spring?
And has not he point-blank foretold
Whatso'er the _Close Committee_ would?
Made Mars and Saturn for the _cause_,
The Moon for _fundamental laws_;
The Ram, the Bull, the Goat, declare
Against the _Book of Common Prayer_;
The Scorpion take the _Protestation_,
And Bear engage for Reformation;
Made all the _royal stars_ recant,
Compound, and take the covenant."
THE END.
* * * * *
MAURICE, PRINTER, FENCHURCH STREET.