Witch, Warlock, and Magician Part 11

Terrified at this uncompromising malediction, the doctor handed over all the deceased conjurer's books and goods to Lilly, who in his turn handed them over to the widow; and in this way Poole's curse was eluded, and his widow got her rights.

The true name of this Dr. Arder, it seems, was Richard Delahay. He had originally practised as an attorney; but falling into poverty, and being driven from his Derbys.h.i.+re home by the Countess of Shrewsbury, he turned to astrology and physic, and looked round about him for patients, though with no very great success. He had at one time known a Charles Sledd, a friend of Dr. Dee, 'who used the crystal, and had a very perfect sight'--in modern parlance, was a good medium.

Dr. Arder often declared to Lilly that an angel had on one occasion offered him a lease of life for a thousand years, but for some unexplained reasons he declined the valuable freehold. However, he outlived the Psalmist's span, dying at the ripe old age of eighty.

A much more famous magician was John Booker, who, in 1632 and 1633, gained a great notoriety by his prediction of a solar eclipse in the nineteenth degree of Aries, 1633, taken out of 'Leuitius de Magnis Conjunctionibus,' namely, 'O Reges et Principes,' etc., both the King of Bohemia and Gustavus, King of Sweden, dying during 'the effects of that eclipse.'

John Booker was born at Manchester, of good parentage, in 1601. In his youth he attained a very considerable proficiency in the Latin tongue.

From his early years we may take it that he was destined to become an astrologer--he showed so great a fancy (otherwise inexplicable!) for poring over old almanacks. In his teens he was despatched to London to serve his apprentices.h.i.+p to a haberdasher in Lawrence Lane. But whether he contracted a distaste for the trade, or lacked the capital to start on his own account, he abandoned it on reaching manhood, and started as a writing-master at Hadley, in Middles.e.x. It is said that he wrote singularly well, 'both Secretary and Roman.' Later in life he officiated as clerk to Sir Christopher c.l.i.thero, Alderman of London, and Justice of the Peace, and also to Sir Hugh Hammersley, Alderman, and in these responsible positions became well known to many citizens who, like Cowper's John Gilpin, were 'of credit and renown.'

In star-craft this John Booker was a past master! His verses upon the months, framed according to their different astrological significations, 'being blessed with success, according to his predictions,' made him known all over England. He was a man of 'great honesty,' abhorring any deceit in the art he loved and studied. So says Lilly; but it is certain that if an astrologer be in earnest, he must deceive himself, if he do not deceive others. This Booker had much good fortune in detecting thefts, and was not less an adept in resolving love-questions. His knowledge of astronomy was by no means limited; he understood a good deal of physic; was a great advocate of the antimonial cup, whose properties were first discovered by Basil Valentine; not unskilled in chemistry, though he did not practise it.

He died in the sweet odour of a good reputation in 1667, leaving behind him a tolerable library (which was purchased by Elias Ashmole, the antiquary), a widow, four children, and the MSS. of his annual prognostications. During the Long Parliament period he published his 'Bellum Hibernicale,' which is described as 'a very sober and judicious book,' and, not long before his death, a small treatise on Easter Day, wherein he displayed a laudable erudition.

Lilly has also something to say about a Master Nicholas Fiske, licentiate in physic, who came of a good old family, and was born near Framlingham, in Suffolk. He was educated for the University, but preferred staying at home, and studying astrology and medicine, which he afterwards practised at Colchester, and at several places in London.

'He was a person very studious, laborious, of good apprehension, and had by his own industry obtained both in astrology, physic, arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, and algebra, singular judgment: he would in astrology resolve horary questions very soundly, but was ever diffident of his own abilities. He was exquisitely skilful in the art of directions upon nativities, and had a good genius in performing judgment thereupon; but very unhappy he was that he had no genius in teaching his scholars, for he never perfected any. His own son Matthew hath often told me that when his father did teach any scholars in his time, they would princ.i.p.ally learn of him. _He had Scorpio ascending (!)_, and was secretly envious to those he thought had more parts than himself. However, I must be ingenuous, and do affirm that by frequent conversation with him I came to know which were the best authors, and much to enlarge my judgment, especially in the art of directions: he visited me most days once after I became acquainted with him, and would communicate his most doubtful questions unto me, and accept of my judgment therein rather than his own.'

Resuming his own life-story, Lilly records an important purchase which he made in 1634--the great astrological treatise, the 'Ars Notaria,'

a large parchment volume, enriched with the names and pictures of those angels which are thought and believed by wise men to teach and instruct in all the several liberal sciences--as if heaven were a scientific academy, with the angels giving lectures as professors of astrology, medicine, mathematics, and the like! Next he describes how he sought to extend his fame as a magician by attempting the discovery of a quant.i.ty of treasure alleged to have been concealed in the cloister of Westminster Abbey; and having obtained permission from the authorities, he repaired thither, one winter night, accompanied by several gentlemen, and by one John Scott, a supposed expert in the use of the Mosaical or divining rods. The hazel rods were duly played round about the cloister, and on the west side turned one over the other, a proof that the treasure lay there. The labourers, after digging to a depth of six feet, came upon a coffin; but as it was not heavy, Lilly refrained from opening it, an omission which he afterwards regretted. From the cloister they proceeded to the Abbey Church, where, upon a sudden, so fierce, so high, so bl.u.s.tering and loud a wind burst forth, that they feared the west end of the church would fall upon them. Their rods would not move at all; the candles and torches, all but one, were extinguished, or burned very dimly.

John Scott, Lilly's partner, was amazed, turned pale, and knew not what to think or do, until Lilly gave command to dismiss the demons.

This being done, all was quiet again, and the party returned home about midnight. 'I could never since be induced,' says Master Lilly, with sublime impertinence, 'to join with any in such-like actions. The true miscarriage of the business,' he adds, 'was by reason of so many people being present at the operation; for there were about thirty, some laughing, others deriding, _so that if we had not dismissed the demons, I believe most part of the Abbey Church had been blown down_!

Secrecy and intelligent operators,' he adds, 'with a strong confidence and knowledge of what they are doing, are best for this work.' They are, at all events, for conspiracy and collusion.

In reading a narrative like this, one finds it not easy to satisfy one's self how far it has been written in good faith, or how far it is compounded of credulity or of conscious deception--how far the writer has unwittingly imposed upon himself, or is knowingly imposing upon the reader. That Lilly should gravely transmit to posterity such a record, if aware that it was an audacious invention, seems hardly credible; and yet it is still less credible that a man so shrewd and keen-witted should believe in the operations of demons, and in their directing a blast of wind against the Abbey Church because they resented his search for a hidden treasure, to which they at least could have no claim! As great wit to madness nearly is allied, so is there a dangerous proximity between credulity and imposture, and the man who begins by being a dupe often ends by becoming a knave. Perhaps there are times when the axiom should be reversed.

Lilly's astrological pursuits appear to have affected his health: he grew lean and haggard, and suffered much from hypochondria; so that, at length, he resolved to try the curative effects of country air, and removed, in the spring of 1636, to Hersham, a quiet and picturesque hamlet, near Walton-on-the-Thames. He did not give up his London house, however, until thirty years later (1665), when he finally settled at Hersham as a country gentleman, and a person of no small consideration.

Having recovered his health in his rural quarters, our great magician returned to London, and practised openly his favourite art. But a secret intelligence apprising him that he was not sufficiently an adept, he again withdrew into the country, where he remained for a couple of years, immersed, I suppose, in occult studies. We may take it that he really entered on a professional career in 1644, when a 'happy thought' inspired him to bring out the first yearly issue of his prophetical almanac, or 'Merlinus Anglicus Junior.' In his usual abrupt and disjointed style he gives the following account of his publication: 'I had given, one day, the copy thereof unto the then Mr.

[afterwards Sir Bulstrode] Whitlocke, who by accident was reading thereof in the House of Commons. Ere the Speaker took the chair, one looked upon it, and so did many, and got copies thereof; which, when I heard, I applied myself to John Booker to license it, for then he was licenser of all mathematical books.... He wondered at the book, made many impertinent obliterations, formed many objections, swore it was not possible to distinguish betwixt King and Parliament [O shrewd John Booker!]; at last licensed it according to his own fancy. I delivered it unto the printer, who being an arch Presbyterian, had five of the ministry to inspect it, _who could make nothing of it_, but said that it might be printed, for in that I meddled not with their Dagon. The first impression was sold in less than one week. When I presented some [copies] to the members of Parliament, I complained of John Booker, the licenser, who had defaced my book; they gave me order forthwith to reprint it as I would, and let me know if any durst resist me in the reprinting or adding what I thought fit: so the second time it came forth as I would have it.'

In June, 1644, Lilly published his 'Supernatural Sight,' and also 'The White King's Prophecy,' of which, in three days, eighteen hundred copies were sold. He issued the second volume of his 'Prophetical Merlin,' in which he made use of the King's nativity, and discovering that _his ascendant was approaching to the quadrature of Mars about June, 1645_, delivered himself of this oracular utterance, as ambiguous as any that ever fell from the lips of the Pythian priestess:

'If now we fight, a victory stealeth upon us--'

which he afterwards boasted to be a clear prediction of the defeat of Charles I. at Naseby, and, of course, would equally well have served to have explained a royal victory. Whitlocke, in his 'Memorials of Affairs in his own Times,' states that he met the astrologer in the spring of 1645, and jestingly asking him what events were likely to take place, Lilly repeated this prophecy of a victory. He remarks that in 1648 some of Lilly's prognostications 'fell out very strangely, particularly as to the King's fall from his horse about this time.'

But it would have been strange if a man so well informed of public affairs, and so shrewd, as William Lilly, had never been right in his forecasts. And a lucky coincidence will set an astrologer up in credit for a long time, his numerous failures being forgotten.

In this same memorable and eventful year he published his 'Starry Messenger,' with an interpretation of three mock suns, or _parhelia_, which had been seen in London on the 29th of May, 1644, King Charles II.'s birthday. Complaint was immediately made to the Parliamentary Committee of Examination that it contained treasonable and scandalous matter. Lilly was summoned before the Committee, but several of his friends were upon it, and voted the charges against him frivolous--as, indeed, they were--so that he met with his usual good fortune, and came off with flying colours.

All the English astrologers of the old school seem to have been startled and confounded by the innovations of this das.h.i.+ng young magician, with his yearly almanacks and political predictions and self-advertis.e.m.e.nt, especially a certain Mr. William Hodges, who lived near Wolverhampton, and candidly confessed that Lilly did more by astrology than he himself could do by the crystal, though he understood its use as well as any man in England. Though a strong royalist, he could never strike out any good fortune for the King's party--the stars in their courses fought against Charles Stuart. The angels whom he interviewed by means of the crystal were Raphael, Gabriel, and Ariel; but his life was wanting in the purity and holiness which ought to have been conspicuous in a man who was favoured by communications from such high celestial sources.

A proof of his skill is related by Lilly on the authority of Lilly's partner, John Scott.

Scott had some knowledge of surgery and physic; so had Will Hodges, who had at one time been a schoolmaster. Having some business at Wolverhampton, Scott stayed for a few weeks with Hodges, and a.s.sisted him in dressing wounds, letting blood, and other chirurgical matters.

When on the point of returning to London, he asked Hodges to show him the face and figure of the woman he should marry. Hodges carried him into a field near his house, pulled out his crystal, bade Scott set his foot against his, and, after a pause, desired him to look into the crystal, and describe what he saw there.

'I see,' saith Scott, 'a ruddy-complexioned wench, in a red waistcoat, drawing a can of beer.'

'She will be your wife,' cried Hodges.

'You are mistaken, sir,' rejoined Scott. 'So soon as I come to London, I am engaged to marry a tall gentlewoman in the Old Bailey.'

'You will marry the red gentlewoman,' replied Hodges, with an air of imperturbable a.s.surance.

On returning to London, Scott, to his great astonishment, found that his tall gentlewoman had jilted him, and taken to herself another husband. Two years afterwards, in the course of a Kentish journey, he refreshed himself at an inn in Canterbury; fell in love with its ruddy-complexioned barmaid; and, when he married her, remembered her red waistcoat, her avocation, and Mr. Hodges 'his crystal.'

An amusing story is told of this man Hodges.

A neighbour of his, who had lost his horse, recovered the animal by acting upon the astrologer's advice. Some years afterwards he unluckily conceived the idea of playing upon the wise man a practical joke, and obtained the co-operation of one of his friends. He had certainly recovered his horse, he said, in the way Hodges had shown him, but it was purely a chance, and would not happen again. 'So come, let us play him a trick. I will leave some boy or other at the town's end with my horse, and we will then call on Hodges and put him to the test.'

This was done, and Hodges said it was true the horse was lost, and would never be recovered.

'I thought what fine skill you had,' laughed the gentleman; 'my horse is walking in a lane at the town's end.'

Whereupon Hodges, with an oath, as was his evil habit, a.s.serted that the horse was gone, and that his owner would never see him again.

Ridiculing the wise man without mercy, the gentleman departed, and hastened to the town's end, and there, at the appointed place, the boy lay stretched upon the ground, fast asleep, with the bridle round his arm, but the horse was gone!

Back to Hodges hurried the chap-fallen squire, ashamed of his incredulity, and eagerly seeking a.s.sistance. But no; the conjurer swore freely--'Be gone--be gone about your business; go and look for your horse.' He went and he looked, east and west, and north and south, but his horse saw never more.

Let us next hear what Lilly has to tell us of Dr. Napper, the parson of Great Lindford, in Buckinghams.h.i.+re, the advowson of which parish belonged to him. He sprang from a good old stock, according to the witness of King James himself. For when his brother, Robert Napper, an opulent Turkey merchant, was to be made a baronet in James's reign, some dispute arose whether he could prove himself a gentleman for three or more descents. 'By my soul,' exclaimed the King, 'I will certify for Napper, that he is of above three hundred years' standing in his family; all of them, by my soul, gentlemen!' The parson was legitimately and truly master of arts; his claim to the t.i.tle of doctor, however, seems to have been dubious. Miscarrying one day in the pulpit, he never after ventured into it, but all his lifetime kept in his house some excellent scholar to officiate for him, allowing him a good salary. Lilly speaks highly of his sanct.i.ty of life and knowledge of medicine, and avers that he cured the falling sickness by constellated rings, and other diseases by amulets.

The parents of a maid who suffered severely from the falling sickness applied to him, on one occasion, for a cure. He fas.h.i.+oned for her a constellated ring, upon wearing of which she completely recovered. Her parents chanced to make known the cure to some scrupulous divines, who immediately protested that it was done by enchantment. 'Cast away the ring,' they said; 'it's diabolical! G.o.d cannot bless you, if you do not cast it away.' The ring was thrown into a well, and the maid was again afflicted with her epilepsy, enduring the old pain and misery for a weary time. At last the parents caused the well to be emptied, and regained the ring, which the maid again made use of, and recovered from her fits. Thus things went on for a year or two, until the Puritan divines, hearing that she had resumed the ring, insisted with her parents until they threw the ring away altogether; whereupon the fits returned with such violence that they betook themselves to the doctor, told their story, acknowledged their fault, and once more besought his a.s.sistance. But he could not be persuaded to render it, observing that those who despised G.o.d's mercies were not capable or not worthy of enjoying them.

We do not dismiss this story as entirely apocryphal, knowing that, in the cure or mitigation of nervous diseases, the imagination exercises a wonderful influence. There are well-authenticated instances of 'faith healing' not a whit less extraordinary than this case described by Lilly of the maiden and the ring. It would be trivial, perhaps, to hint that a good many maidens have been cured of some, at least, of their ailments by _a ring_.

In 1646 Lilly printed a collection of prophecies, with the explanation and verification of 'Aquila; or, The White King's Prophecy,' as also the nativities of Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford, and a learned speech, which the latter intended to have spoken on the scaffold. In the following year he completed his 'Introduction unto Astrology,' or 'Christian Astrology,' and was summoned, along with John Booker, to the head-quarters of Fairfax, at Windsor. They were conveyed thither in great pomp and circ.u.mstance, with a coach and four horses, welcomed in hearty fas.h.i.+on, and feasted in a garden where General Fairfax lodged. In the course of their interview with the general he said to them:

'That G.o.d had blessed the army with many signal victories, and yet their work was not finished. He hoped G.o.d would go along with them until His work was done. They sought not themselves, but the welfare and tranquillity of the good people and whole nation; and, for that end, were resolved to sacrifice both their lives and their own fortunes. As for the art that Lilly and Booker studied, he hoped it was lawful and agreeable to G.o.d's Word: he himself understood it not, but doubted not they both feared G.o.d, and therefore had a good opinion of them both.'

Lilly replied:

'My lord, I am glad to see you here at this time. Certainly, both the people of G.o.d, and all others of this nation, are very sensible of G.o.d's mercy, love, and favour unto them, in directing the Parliament to nominate and elect you General of their armies, a person so religious, so valiant.

'The several unexpected victories obtained under your Excellency's conduct will eternize the same unto all posterity.

'We are confident of G.o.d's going along with you and your army until the great work, for which He ordained you both, is fully perfected, which we hope will be the conquering and subversion of your and the Parliament's enemies; and then a quiet settlement and firm peace over all the nation unto G.o.d's glory, and full satisfaction of tender consciences.

'Sir, as for ourselves, we trust in G.o.d; and, as Christians, we believe in Him. We do not study any art but what is lawful and consonant to the Scriptures, Fathers, and antiquity, which we humbly desire you to believe.'

They afterwards paid a visit to Hugh Peters, the famous Puritan ecclesiastic, who had lodgings in the Castle. They found him reading 'an idle pamphlet,' which he had received from London that morning.

'Lilly, thou art herein,' he exclaimed. 'Are not you there also?'