William Lilly followed in the wake of, and was even a more successful
impostor than the Reverend Dee. He was first known in London as a
book-keeper, whose master, dying, gave him the opportunity of marrying his
widow and her snug little fortune of one thousand pounds. The wife died in
a few years, and Lilly set up as an astrologer and fortune-teller.
His first great attempt at a public demonstration of his art was about
1630, which was to discover certain treasures which he claimed were buried
in the cloister of Westminster Abbey. Lilly had studied astronomy with a
Welsh clergyman, and doubtless may have been sufficiently "weather-wise"
to anticipate a storm; but however that might have been, on the night of
the attempt, there came up a most terrific storm of wind, rain, thunder
and lightning, which threatened to bury the actors beneath the ruins of
the abbey, and his companions fled, leaving Lilly master of the situation.
He unblushingly declared that he himself allayed the "storm spirit," and
"attributed the failure to the lack of faith and want of better knowledge
in his companions."
"In 1634 Lilly ventured a second marriage, with another woman of property,
which was unfortunate as a commercial speculation, for the bride proved
extravagant beyond her dowry and Lilly's income. In 1644 he published his
first almanac, which he continued thirty-six years. In 1648 he therein
predicted the "great fire" of London, which immortalized his name. While
Lilly was known as a cheat, and was ridiculed for his absurdities, he
received the credit for as lucky a guess as ever blessed the fortunes of a
cunning rogue.
"In the year 1656," said his prediction, "the aphelium of Mars, the
signification of England, will be in Virgo, which is assuredly the
ascendant of the English monarchy, but Aries of the kingdom. When this
absis, therefore, of Mars shall appear in Virgo, who shall expect less
than a strange _catastrophe_ of human affairs in the commonwealth,
monarchy, and kingdom of England?"
He then further stated that it would be "_ominous to London, unto her
merchants at sea, to her traffique_ at land, to her poor, to her rich, to
all _sorts of people inhabiting her or her liberties, by reason of fire
and plague_!" These he predicted would occur within ten years of that
time.
The great plague did occur in London in 1665, and the great fire in 1666!
The fire originated by incendiarism in a bakery on Pudding Lane, near the
Tower, in a section of the city where the buildings were all constructed
of wood with pitched roofs, and also a section near the storehouses for
shipping materials, and those of a highly combustible nature. It occurred
also at a time when the water-pipes were empty.
This fearful visitation destroyed nearly two thirds of the metropolis.
Four hundred and thirty-three acres were burned over. Thirteen thousand
houses, eighty-nine churches, and scores of public buildings were laid in
ashes and ruins. There was no estimating the amount of property destroyed,
nor the many souls who perished in the relentless, devouring flames.
If this great fire originated at the instigation of Lilly, in order to
demonstrate his claims as a foreteller of events, as is believed to be the
case by nearly all who were not themselves believers in the occult
science, what punishment could be meted out to such a villain commensurate
to his heinous crime? Curran says, "There are two kinds of prophets, those
who are inspired, and those who prophesy events which they themselves
intend to bring about. Upon this occasion, Lilly had the ill luck to be
deemed of the latter class." Elihu Rich says in his biography of Lilly,
"It is certain that he was a man of no character. He was a double-dealer
and a liar, by his own showing, ... and perhaps as decent a man as a
_trading_ prophet could well be, under the circumstances." Lilly was cited
before a committee of the House of Commons, not, as was supposed by many,
"that he might discover by the same planetary signs _who_ were the authors
of the great fire," but because of the suspicion that he was already
acquainted with them, and privy to the supposed machinations which brought
about the catastrophe. At one time, 1648-9, Parliament gave him one
hundred pounds a year, and he was courted by royalty and nobility, at home
and abroad, from whom he received an immense revenue. He died a natural
death, in 1681, "leaving some works of interest in the history of
astrology," which, in connection with the important personages with whom
he was associated, and the remarkable events above recorded, have
immortalized his name.
Respecting the prediction of the plague, I presume that if any prominent
personage should, at any time, predict a great calamity to a great
metropolis, to take place "_within ten years, more or less_," there
necessarily would be something during that time, of a calamitous nature,
that might seem to verify their prediction. Besides, we should take into
consideration how many predictions are never verified. Dr. Lamb, Dee,
Bell, and others prophesied earthquakes to shake up London at various
times in 1203, 1598, 1760, etc., which never occurred, to any great
extent.
Supposing a great tidal wave should devastate our coast, within ten years
even, would not Professor Agassiz be immortalized thereby, although he
never predicted it, except in the imaginative and mulish brains of certain
individuals, who will have it that he did so predict?