pogee and Perigee). But does the Radical Club
itself know anything at all about Apogee and Perigee? He knew when some
"fine moderate weather" would come, when "winds enough for several"
would blow, when "bad weather for hoop petticoats" would be; and that
was on the 29th and 30th of January, 1727. Fearful weather, we may
believe; but he, the _Native_, knew. But alas for us! On the 2d, he puts
it down as "sloppy and raw cold." Now it so chances that W. S. has kept
his MS. notes against this day, and he has it "_Very fine and
pleasant_," and the next day, "_Dry and dusty._" Lamentable indeed for
the Native! But he is not to be shaken for all that; he prognosticates
through all the year just as if all was to come exactly right. One would
like to know what W. S. thought of his prognosticator, and if he kept on
studying and believing just the same as if all had come right. _I_ do
not doubt he did.

And now we come to some positive statements about Eclipses, and learn
what we may depend on in that quarter.

The Native goes on to say, "As to the effects, they chiefly affect those
Men that live by their Ingenuity; I mean Painters, Poets, Mercurialists,
&c." What is a mercurialist? Does he mean the worshippers of Mercury,
thieves, and that sort? "But"--and mark the cautious tone here--"but
whether it forbodes good or ill to them I shall not now determine; only
advise them to prepare for the worst!" Pretty good advice in all times
of eclipse; and in these days even when there is no eclipse. Mark his
modesty: "I do not pretend to Infallibility in my Conjectures, yet (as I
said last year) they many times come out too True to make a jest of."
Then he goes on: "I have read of a story which _Thaurus_ is said to
relate of _Andreas Vesalius_, a great Astrologer who lived in the reign
of _Henry the VIII._; to wit, that he told _Maximilian_ the Day and Hour
of his Death, who, giving credit thereto, ordered a great feast to be
made, inviting his Friends, sat and Eat [ate?] with them; and
afterwards, having distributed his Treasures among them, took leave of
them and Dyed at the time predicted." Most kind of this Maximilian, for
it must have secured a good patronage to the astrologers.

"Yet it does not from hence follow that a certain rule may be laid
down"--a very fine astrologer, you perceive, may fail--"whereby exactly
to discover the Divine appointments. But there are many concurring
Causes of Mundane Accidents of which Humanity must