There lived in Houndsditch, about the year 1632, one Alexander Hart, who
had been a soldier formerly, a comely old man, of good aspect, he
professed questionary astrology and a little of physic; his greatest
skill was to elect young gentlemen fit times to play at dice, that they
might win or get money. Lilly relates that “he went unto him for
resolutions for three questions at several times, and he erred in every
one.” He says, that to speak soberly of him he was but a cheat, as
appeared suddenly after; for a rustical fellow of the city, desirous of
knowledge, contracted with Hart, to assist for a conference with a
spirit, and paid him twenty pounds of thirty pounds the contract. At
last, after many delays, and no spirit appearing, nor money returned,
the young man indicted him for a cheat at the Old Bailey in London. The
jury found the bill, and at the hearing of the cause this jest happened:
some of the bench inquired what Hart did? “He sat like an alderman in
his gown,” quoth the fellow; at which the court fell into a laughter,
most of the court being aldermen. He was to have been set upon the
pillory for this cheat; but John Taylor the water poet being his great
friend, got the lord chief justice Richardson to bail him, ere he stood
upon the pillory, and so Hart fled presently into Holland, where he
ended his days.[40]
[40] Autobiography, vol. ii, Lilly’s Life.