longing the life of man for
several centuries, should pretend, at the same time, to foretell the
events which were to mark that preternatural span of existence. The world
would as readily believe that they had discovered all secrets, as that
they had only discovered one. The most celebrated astrologers of Europe,
three centuries ago, were alchymists. Agrippa, Paracelsus, Dr. Dee, and
the Rosicrucians, all laid as much stress upon their knowledge of the days
to come, as upon their pretended possession of the philosopher's stone and
the elixir of life. In their time, ideas of the wonderful, the diabolical,
and the supernatural, were rifer than ever they were before. The devil or
the stars were universally believed to meddle constantly in the affairs of
men; and both were to be consulted with proper ceremonies. Those who were
of a melancholy and gloomy temperament betook themselves to necromancy and
sorcery; those more cheerful and aspiring devoted themselves to astrology.
The latter science was encouraged by all the monarchs and governments of
that age. In England, from the time of Elizabeth to that of William and
Mary, judicial astrology was in high repute. During that period flourished
Drs. Dee, Lamb, and Forman; with Lilly, Booker, Gadbury, Evans, and scores
of nameless impostors in every considerable town and village in the
country, who made it their business to cast nativities, aid in the
recovery of stolen goods, prognosticate happy or unhappy marriages,
predict whether journeys would be prosperous, and note lucky moments for
the commencement of any enterprise, from the setting up of a cobbler's
shop to the marching of an army. Men who, to use the words of Butler, did

"Deal in Destiny's dark counsel,
And sage opinion of the moon sell;
To whom all people far and near
On deep importance did repair,
When brass and pewter pots did stray,
And linen slunk out of the way."

[Illustration: HENRY ANDREWS, THE ORIGINAL "FRANCIS MOORE."]

In Lilly's _Memoirs of his Life and Times_, there are many notices of the
inferior quacks who then abounded, and upon whom he pretended to look down
with supreme contempt; not because they were astrologers, but because they
debased that noble art by taking fees for the recovery of stolen property.
From Butler's _Hudibras_, and its curious notes, we may learn what immense
numbers of these fellows lived upon the credulity of mankind in that age
of witchcraft and diabl