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Page 20
That William Lilly, who, as we have seen, was twice called before
Parliament and questioned, attracted much attention elsewhere by his
prophecies and publications, there can be no doubt; and his books found
many readers. Their titles, so far as known to us, are as follows:
'Supernatural Insight;' 'The White King's Prophecy;' 'The Starry
Messenger;' 'A Collection of Prophecies;' an introduction to astrology,
called, 'Christian Astrology;' 'The World's Catastrophe;' 'The
Prophecies of Merlin, with a Key thereto;' 'Trithemius of the Government
of the World by the Presiding Angels;' 'A Treatise of the Three Suns
seen the preceding winter,' which was the winter of 1648; 'An
Astronomical Judgment;' 'Annus Tenebrosus;' 'Merlinus Anglicus,' a kind
of astrological almanac, published annually for many years, containing
many prophecies--a work which got extensive circulation, 'the Anglicus
of 1658 being translated into the language spoken in Hamburg, printed
and cried about the streets as it is in London;' and his 'Majesty of
Sweden,' of whom 'honorable mention' was made in Anglicus, sent to the
author of it 'a gold chain and a medal worth about fifty pounds.'
Of these books made by Lilly, we, having little knowledge, indeed none
at all of the most of them, do not propose to speak; but one who has
looked into the 'Introduction to Astrology' can say that it has
something of method and completeness, and he can readily conceive how
Lilly, studying astrology through long years very diligently, then
practising it, instructing other men in it, writing books about it,
could have himself some kind of belief in it; such belief at least as
many men have in the business they study, practise, and get fame and
pudding by. Consider, too, how his belief in his art must have been
strengthened and confirmed by the belief of other men in it; able men of
former times, and respectable men of his own time. Indeed we will say of
astrology generally that it is a much better thing than the spiritualism
of this present day, with its idle rappings and silly mediums.
We have named some of Lilly's friends--those only of whom we happened to
have some knowledge; but he had many friends, or many acquaintances--a
large circle of them. There were 'astrologers' feasts' in those days,
held monthly or oftener. Ashmole (called, by a more than ordinary
impulse of spirit, Elias) makes record in his Diary: 'Aug. 1, 1650, the
astrologers' feast at Painter's Hall, where I dined;' 'Oct. 31, the
astrologers' feast;' and other entries there are to the same effect.
Some ten years after, Lilly seems to have had these festivals, or
similar ones, in his own house; and on the 24th October, 1660, one
Pepys, well known to literary men, 'passed the evening at Lilly's house,
where he had a club of his friends.'[4]
Thus far, namely, to the year 1666, Lilly brought the history of his
life: and in the continuation of it by another hand, we learn that in
the country at Horsham, near London, 'he betook himself to the study of
physic;' and in 1670, his old and influential friend, Mr. Ashmole, got
for him from the archbishop of Canterbury a license for the practice of
it. '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 a
half crown, if they offered it to him; otherwise he received nothing;
and in truth his charity toward 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.' So William Lilly lived at
Horsham, publishing his 'astronomical judgments' yearly, and helping as
he could the poor there and in the neighborhood, till the 9th day of
June, 1681, when he died. The 'great agony' of his diseases, which were
complicated, he bore 'without complaint.' 'Immediately before his breath
went from him, he sneezed three times;' which, we will hope, cleared his
head of some nonsense.
In the judgment of his contemporaries, this William Lilly, astrologer,
was, as we can see, 'a respectable man.' Such judgment, however, is
never conclusive; for the time clement is always a deceptive one; and,
as all navigators know, the land which looms high in the atmosphere of
to-day does often, in the clearer atmosphere of other days, prove to be
as flat as a panecake: but we must say of Lilly, that though
unfortunately an impostor, he was really rather above the common level
of mankind--a little hillock, if only of conglomerate or pudding stone:
for, in his pamphlet entitled 'Observations on the Life and Times of
Charles I,' where he, looking away from the stars and treating of the
past, is more level to our judgment, he is still worth reading; and does
therein give a more impartial and correct character of that unhappy king
than can be found in any other contemporary writing; agreeing well with
the best judgments of this present time, and showing Lilly to be a man
of ability above the common. On the whole, we will say of him, that he
was the product of a mother who was good for something, and of a father
who was good for nothing, or next to that; that with such parentage, and
under such circumstances as we have seen, he became an astrologer, the
best of his kind in that time.
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