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Page 16
Master Wright did not continue long a widower, but took to himself
another wife, and a younger, who was of 'brown ruddy complexion,' and of
better disposition than her predecessor in the household. Master Wright
was probably a happy man for a time; but only for a short time; for in
May, 1627, he died, and the estate, by agreement of the parties in it,
was assigned to Lilly for payment of its debts. The trust was not
misplaced; the debts were all paid, and the remainder of the estate,
except an annuity of twenty pounds, which his master had settled on
Lilly, he returned to the executors.
Mistress Wright, the widow, 'who had twice married old men,' had now
many suitors; 'old men, whom she declined; some gentlemen of decayed
fortunes, whom she liked not, for she was covetous and sparing;'
'however, all her talk was of husbands,' and, in short, William Lilly
became the happy man; made happy within four months of the death of the
old master. 'During all the time of her life, which was till October,
1633, we lived very lovingly; I frequenting no company at all; my
exercises were angling, in which I ever delighted; my companions, two
aged men.' 'I frequented lectures, and leaned in judgment to Puritanism;
and in October, 1627, I was made free of the Salters' company of
London.'
Up to this time, therefore, the history of William Lilly, so far as he
has made it known, is briefly this: Born poor, the grandfather and
father having wasted the family estates, he was sent by his mother, who
intended him from his infancy for a scholar, to the school of
Ashby-de-la-Zouch; where, at one time, he was in trouble about his soul
and the souls of his parents; and he 'frequently wept, prayed, and
mourned, for fear his sins might offend God.' But the mother died, the
father got into prison for debt, and poor Lilly, who had made himself
the best scholar in the school, could not go up to the university as he
had hoped to do, but after a wretched year at his father's house, where
he was accounted useless and an encumbrance, he had to become the
servant of one who could neither read nor write, doing all kinds of
drudgery. Serving faithfully, the much-enduring young man won the love
and confidence of the old master and mistress, and at last married the
young widow, who was a wholesome-looking woman, of brown ruddy
complexion, and had property, which served, among other things, to make
Lilly 'free of the Salters' company.' Not a bad history, certainly, if
not one of the best: he was a thriving young man, not a complaining one;
but one who accepted the conditions under which he was placed, and made
the best of them; which is what all young men ought to do.
And now Lilly--being a man of some property and standing, without any
profession or regular business, but with an inclination to the occult
arts, begot in him probably by the folly of old Mistress Wright--tells
us how he 'came to study astrology.' 'It happened on one Sunday, 1632,
as myself and a justice of peace's clerk were, before service,
discoursing of many things, he chanced to say that such a person was a
great scholar; nay, so learned that he could make an almanac, which to
me was strange: one speech begot another, till at last he said he could
bring me acquainted with one Evans, who lived in Gunpowder alley, who
formerly lived in Staffordshire, that was an excellent wise man, and
studied the black art. The same week (after) we went to see Mr. Evans.
When we came to his house, he, having been drunk the night before, was
upon his bed--if it be lawful to call that a bed whereon he lay.' 'He
was the most saturnine man my eyes ever beheld either before I practised
(astrology) or since: of middle stature, broad forehead, beetle browed,
thick shoulders, flat nosed, full lips, down looked, black, curling,
stiff hair, splay footed;' 'much addicted to debauchery, and then very
abusive and quarrelsome; seldom without a black eye, or one mischief or
another.' A very good description this, save that the shoulders of it
are between the brow and nose: not a handsome man, certainly; a kind of
white negro, we should say, and not the better for being white:
nevertheless men of high rank came to see him, and readers who have made
acquaintance with Sir Kenelm Digby will not be astonished to learn that
he was one of them. He came with Lord Bothwell, and 'desired Evans to
show them a spirit.' But 'after some time of invocation, Evans was taken
out of the room, and carried into the fields near Battersea causeway,
close to the Thames:' taken by the spirits, because the magician 'had
not at the time of invocation made any suffumigation;' for spirits must
always be treated gingerly. 'Sir Kenelm Digby and Lord Bothwell went
home without any harm;' which was better than they deserved.
Lilly, after many lessons given him by this Evans, was doubtful about
the black art, as he might well be; but, he says, 'being now very
meanly introduced, I applied myself to study those books I had obtained,
many times twelve or fifteen or eighteen hours a day and night: I was
curious to discover whether there was any verity in the art or not.
Astrology at this time, viz. 1633, was very rare in London; few
professing it that understood anything thereof.' Lilly gives us next
some account of the astrologers of his time; but the reader need form no
further acquaintance of this kind; acquaintance with Lilly, who was the
best of them, will be enough for him.
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