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ASTROLOGY
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ASTROLOGY , the See also:ancient See also:art or See also:science of See also:divining the See also:fate and future of human beings from indications given by the positions of the stars (See also:sun, See also:moon and See also:planets). The belief in a connexion between the heavenly bodies and the See also:life of See also:man has played an important See also:part in human See also:history. For See also:long ages See also:astronomy and astrology (which might be called astromancy, on the same principle as " See also:chiromancy ") were identified; and a distinction is made between " natural astrology," which predicts the motions of the heavenly bodies, eclipses, &c., and " judicial astrology," which studies the See also:influence of the stars on human destiny. Isidore of See also:Seville (d. 636) is one of the first to distinguish between astronomy and astrology; nor did astronomy begin to rid itself of astrology till the 16th See also:century, when, with the See also:system of See also:Copernicus, the conviction that the See also:earth itself is one of the heavenly bodies was finally established. The study of astromancy and the belief in it, as part of astronomy, is found in a See also:developed See also:form among the ancient Babylonians, and directly or indirectly through the Babylonians spread to other nations. It came to See also:Greece about the See also:middle of the 4th century B.c., and reached See also:Rome before the opening of the See also:Christian era. In See also:India and See also:China astronomy and astrology are largely reflections of See also:Greek theories and speculations; and similarly with From Exercises, by T. Blundeville. the introduction of Greek culture into See also:Egypt, both astronomy and astrology were actively cultivated in the region of the See also:Nile during the Hellenistic and See also:Roman periods. Astrology was further developed by the See also:Arabs from the 7th to the 13th century, and in the See also:Europe of the 14th and 15th centuries astrologers were dominating influences at See also:court. Even up to the See also:present See also:day men of intellectual See also:eminence like Dr See also:Richard See also:Garnett have convinced themselves that astromancy has a See also:foundation of truth, just as there are. still believers in chiromancy or other forms of See also:divination. Dr Garnett (" A. G. See also:Trent ") insisted indeed that it was a See also:mistake to confuse astrology with See also:fortune-telling, and maintained that, it was a " See also:physical science just as much as See also:geology," depending like them on ascertained facts, and grossly misrepresented by being connected with magic. Dr Garnett himself looked upon the study of See also:biography in relation to the casting of horoscopes as an empirical investigation, but it is difficult in practice to keep the distinction clear, to See also:judge by present-day See also:text-books such as those of Dr See also:Wilde (Primer of Astrology, &c.). Dr Wilde insists on there being " nothing incongruous with the See also:laws of nature in the theory that the sun, moon and stars influence men's physical bodies and, conditions, seeing that man is made up of a physical part of the earth." There is an obvious tendency, however, for astromancy to be employed, like See also:palmistry, as a means ‘ of imposing on the ignorant and credulous. How far the more serious claim is likely to be revived in connexion with the renewal of See also:research into the " occult " sciences generally, it is still too See also:early to speculate; and it has to be recognized that such a point of view is opposed to the generally established belief that astrology is either See also:mere superstition or See also:absolute imposture, and that its former See also:vogue was due either to deception or to the tyranny of an unscientific environment. But if the progress of physical science has not prevented the rehabilitation of much of ancient See also:alchemy by the later researches into chemical See also:change, and if See also:psychology now finds a See also:place for explanations of See also:spiritualism and See also:witchcraft which involve the See also:admission of the empirical facts under a new theory (as in the See also:case of the divining-See also:rod, &c.), it is at least conceivable that some new See also:synthesis might once more justify part at all events of ancient and See also:medieval astromancy, to the extent of admitting the empirical facts where provable, and substituting for the supposed influence of the stars as such, some deeper theory which would be consistent with an application to other forms of prophecy, and thus might reconcile the possibility of dipping into futurity with certain inter-relations of the universe, different indeed from those assumed by astrological theory, but underlying and explaining it. If this is ever accomplished it will need the patient investigation of a number of empirical observations by competent students unbiassed by any parti pris—a difficult set of conditions to obtain; and even then no definite results may be achieved. The history of astrology can now be traced back .to ancient Babylonia, and indeed to the earliest phases of Babylonian history, i.e. to about 3000 B.C. In Babylonia as well as in See also:Assyria asta See also:direct offshoot of Babylonian culture (or as we might also See also:term it " Euphratean " culture), astrology takes its place in the See also:official cult as one of the two See also:chief means at the disposal of the priests (who were called See also:bare or " inspectors ") for ascertaining the will and intention of the gods, the other being through the inspection of the See also:liver of the sacrificial See also:animal (see See also:OMEN). Just as this latter method of divination rested on a well-defined theory, to wit, that the liver was the seat of the soul of the animal and that the deity in accepting the See also:sacrifice identified himself with the animal, whose " soul " was thus placed in See also:complete See also:accord with that of the See also:god and therefore reflected the mind and will of the god, so astrology is based on a theory of divine See also:government of the See also:world, which in contrast to " liver " divination assumes at the start a more scientific or pseudo-scientific aspect. This theory must be taken into See also:consideration as a See also:factor in accounting for the persistent hold which even at the present day astrology still maintains on many minds. Starting with the indisputable fact that man's life and happiness are largely dependent upon phenomena in the heavens, that the fertility of the See also:soil is de-pendent upon the sun shining in the heavens as well as upon the rains that come from See also:heaven, that on the other See also:hand the See also:mischief and damage done by storms and inundations, to both of which the Euphratean Valley was almost regularly subject, were to be traced likewise to the heavens, the conclusion was See also:drawn that all the See also:great gods had their seats in the heavens. In that early See also:age of culture known as the " nomadic " See also:stage, which under normal conditions precedes the " agricultural " stage, the moon cult is even more prominent than sun See also:worship, and with the moon and sun cults thus furnished by the " popular " faith it was a natural step for the priests, who correspond to the " scientists " of a later day, to perfect a theory of a complete accord between phenomena observed in the heavens and occurrences on earth. If moon and sun, whose See also:regular movements conveyed to the more intelligent minds the conception of the reign of See also:law and See also:order in the universe as against the more popular notion of See also:chance and caprice, were divine See also:powers, the same held See also:good of the planets, whose movements, though more difficult to follow, yet ir- the course of See also:time came to be at least partially understood. Of the planets five were recognized—Jupiter, See also:Venus, See also:Saturn, See also:Mercury and Mars—to name them in the order in which they appear in the older See also:cuneiform literature; in later texts Mercury and Saturn change places. These five planets were identified with the great gods of the See also:pantheon as follows:—Jupiter with See also:Marduk (q.v.), Venus with the goddess See also:Ishtar (q.v.), Saturn with See also:Ninib (q.v.), Mercury with See also:Nebo (q.v.), and See also:Mars with See also:Nergal (q.v.). The movements of the sun, moon and five planets were regarded as representing the activity of the five gods in question, together with the moon-god See also:Sin (q.v.) and the sun-god See also:Shamash (q.v.), in preparing the occurrences on earth. If, therefore, one could correctly read and interpret the activity of these powers, one knew what the gods were aiming to bring about. The Babylonian priests accordingly applied themselves to the task of perfecting a system of See also:interpretation of the phenomena to be observed in the heavens, and it was natural that the system was extended from the moon, sun and five planets to the more prominent and recognizable fixed stars. Thatsystem involved not merely the movements of the moon, sun and planets, but the observation of their relative position to one another and to all kinds of peculiarities noted at any point in the course of their movements: in the case of the moon, for instance, the exact See also:appearance of the new See also:crescent, its position in the heavens, the conditions at See also:conjunction and opposition, the appearance of the horns, the See also:halo frequently seen with the new moon, which was compared to a " cap," the See also:ring See also:round the full moon, which was called a " See also:stall " (i.e. " enclosure "), and more of the like. To all, these phenomena some significance was attached, and this significance was naturally intensified in the case of such a striking phenomenon as an See also:eclipse of the moon. Applying the same method of careful observation to the sun and planets, and later to some of the constellations and to many of the fixed stars, it will be apparent that the See also:body of observations noted must have grown in the course of time to large and indeed to enormous proportions, and correspondingly the interpretations assigned to the nearly endless See also:variations in the phenomena thus observed. The interpretations themselves were based (as in the case of divination through the liver) chiefly on two factors:—(I) on the recollection or on written records of what in the past had taken place when the phenomenon or phenomena in question had been observed, and (2) association of ideas—involving sometimes merely a See also:play upon words—in connexion with the phenomenon or phenomena observed. Thus if on a certain occasion the rise of the new moon in a cloudy See also:sky was followed by victory over an enemy or by abundant See also:rain, the sign in question was thus proved to be a favourable one and its recurrence would be regarded as a good omen, though the prognostication would not necessarily be limited to the one or the other of those occurrences, but might be extended to apply to other circumstances. On the other hand, the appearance of the new moon earlier than was expected was regarded as an unfavourable omen--prognosticating in one case defeat, in another See also:death
among See also:cattle, in a third See also:bad cropsr--not necessarily because these events actually took place after such a phenomenon, but by an application of the See also:general principle resting upon association of ideas whereby anything premature would suggest an unfavourable occurrence. A thin halo seen above the new moon was pictured as a cap, and the association between this and the See also:symbol of See also:royalty, which was a conical-shaped cap, led to interpreting the phenomenon as an indication that the ruler would have a successful reign. In this way a See also:mass of traditional interpretation of all kinds of observed phenomena was gathered, and once gathered became a See also:guide to the priests for all times.
Astrology in this its earliest stage is, however, marked by two characteristic limitations. In the first place, the movements and position of the heavenly bodies point to such occurrences as are of public import and affect the general welfare. The individual's interests are not in any way involved, and we must descend many centuries and pass beyond the confines of Babylonia and Assyria before we reach that phase which in medieval and See also:modern astrology is almost exclusively dwelt upongenethliology or the individual horoscope. In Babylonia and Assyria the cult centred largely and indeed almost exclusively in the public welfare and the See also:person of the See also: Hence in liver " divination, as in astrology, the interpretations of the signs noted all have reference to public affairs and events and not to the individual's needs or desires. In the second place, the astronomical knowledge presupposed and accompanying early Babylonian astrology is essentially of an empirical See also:character. While in a general way the reign of law and order in the movements of the heavenly bodies was recognized, and indeed must have exercised an influence at an early See also:period in leading to the rise of a methodical divination that was certainly of a much higher order than the examination of an animal's liver, yet the importance that was laid upon the endless variations in the form of the phenomena and the equally numerous apparent deviations from what were regarded as normal conditions, prevented for a long time the rise of any serious study of astronomy beyond what was needed for the purely See also:practical purposes that the priests as " inspectors " of the heavens (as they were also the " inspectors " of the sacrificial livers) had in mind. True, we have, probably as early as the days of Khammurabi, i.e. c. 2000 B.C., the combinations of prominent See also:groups of stars with outlines of pictures fantastically put together, but there is no See also:evidence that See also:prior to 700 B.C. more than a number of the constellations of our See also:zodiac had become part of the current astronomy. The theory of the See also:ecliptic as representing the course of the sun through the See also:year, divided among twelve constellations with a measurement of 300 to each See also:division, is also of Babylonian origin, as has now been definitely proved; but it does not appear to have been perfected until after the fall of the Babylonian See also:empire in 539 B.C. Similarly, the other accomplishments of Babylonian astronomers, such as their system or rather systems of moon calculations and the See also:drawing up of planetary tablets, belong to this See also:late period, so that the See also:golden age of Babylonian astronomy belongs not to the remote past, as was until recently supposed, but to the Seleucid period, i.e. after the See also:advent of the Greeks in the See also:Euphrates Valley. From certain expressions used in astrological texts that are earlier than the 7th century B.C. it would appear, indeed, that the beginnings at least of the calculation of sun and moon eclipses belong to the earlier period, but here, too, the chief See also:work accomplished was after 400 B.C., and the defectiveness ofearly Babylonian astronomy may be gathered from the fact that as late as the 6th century B.C. an See also:error of almost an entire. See also:month was made by the Babylonian astronomers in the See also:attempt to determine through calculation the beginning of a certain year.
The researches of Bouche-Leclercq, Cumont and See also:Boll have enabled us to See also:fix with a considerable degree of definiteness the middle of the 4th century B.C. as the period when Babylonian astrology began its triumphal See also: The spread of astrology beyond Babylonia is thus concomitant with the rise of a truly scientific astronomy in Babylonia itself, which in turn is due to the intellectual impulse afforded by the contact with new forms of culture from both the See also:East and the West.
In the hands of the Greeks and of the later Egyptians both astrology and astronomy were carried far beyond the limits attained by the Babylonians, and it is indeed a See also:matter of surprise to observe the harmonious See also:combination of the two See also:fields--a See also:harmony that seems to grow more complete with each age, and that is not broken until we reach the See also:threshold of modern science in the 16th century. To the Greek astronomer See also:Hipparchus belongs the See also:credit of the See also:discovery (c. 130 B.C.) of the theory of the precession of the equinoxes, for a knowledge of which among the Babylonians we find no definite See also:proof; but such a See also:signal advance in pure science did not prevent the Greeks from developing in a most elaborate manner the theory of the influence of the planets upon the fate of the individual. The endeavour to trace the horoscope of the individual from the position of the See also:planet s and stars at the time of See also:birth (or, as was attempted by other astrologers, at the time of conception) 'represents the most significant contribution of the Greeks to astrology. The system was carried to such a degree of perfection that later ages made but few additions of an essential character to the genethliology or drawing up of the individual horoscope by the Greek astrologers. The system was taken up almost bodily by the Arab astronomers, it was embodied in the Kabbalistic See also:lore of See also:Jews and Christians, and through these and other channels came to be the substance of the astrology of the middle ages, forming, as already pointed out, under the designation of judicial astrology," a pseudo-science which was placed on a perfect footing of equality with " natural astrology " or the more genuine science of the study of the motions and phenomena of the heavenly bodies.
Partly in further development of views unfolded in Babylonia, but chiefly under Greek influences, the See also:scope of astrology was enlarged until it was brought into connexion with practically all of the known sciences, See also:botany, See also:chemistry, See also:zoology, See also:mineralogy, See also:anatomy and See also:medicine. See also:Colours, metals, stones, See also:plants, drugs and animal life of all kinds were associated with the planets:and placed under their tutelage. In the system that passes under the, name of See also:Ptolemy, Saturn is associated with See also:grey, See also:Jupiter with See also: By this curious See also:process of combination the entire See also:realm of the natural sciences was translated into the See also:language of astrology with the single avowed purpose of seeing in all phenomena signs indicative of what the future had in store. The fate of the individual, as that feature of the future which had a supreme See also:interest, led to the association of the planets with parts of the body. Here, too, we find various systems devised, in part representing the views of different See also:schools, in part reflecting advancing conceptions regarding the functions of the See also:organs in man and animals. In one system the seat of Mercury, representing divine intelligence as the source of all knowledge—a view that reverts to Babylonia where Nebo (corresponding to Mercury) was regarded as the divine power to whom all wisdom is due—was placed in the liver as the primeval seat of the soul (see OMEN), whereas in other systems this distinction was assigned to Jupiter or to Venus. Saturn, taking in Greek astrology the place at the See also:head of the planets which among the Babylonians was accorded to Jupiter-Marduk, was given a place in the See also:brain, which in later times was looked upon as the centre of soul-life; Venus, as the planet of the See also:passion of love, was supposed to reign supreme over the genital organs, the belly and the See also:lower limbs; Mars, as the violent planet, is associated with the bile, as well as with the See also:blood and kidneys. Again, the right See also:car is associated with Saturn, the See also:left See also:ear with Mars, the right See also:eye in the case of the male with the sun and the left eye with the moon, while in the case of the See also:female it was just the See also:reverse. From the planets the same association of ideas was applied to the constellations of the zodiac, which in later phases of astrology are placed on a par with the planets themselves, so far as their importance for the individual horoscope is concerned. The fate of the individual in this combination of planets with the zodiac was made dependent not merely upon the planet which happened to be rising at the time of birth or of conception, but also upon its See also:local relationship to a See also:special sign or to certain signs of the zodiac. The zodiac was regarded as the prototype of the human body, the different parts of which all had their corresponding See also:section in the zodiac itself. The head was placed in the first sign of the zodiac—the See also:Ram ; and the feet in the last sign—the Fishes. Between these two extremes the other parts and organs of the body were distributed among the remaining signs of the zodiac, the See also:neck being assigned to the See also:Bull, the shoulders and arms to the See also:Gemini (or twins), the See also:breast to See also:Cancer, the flanks to See also:Leo, the See also:bladder to See also:Virgo, the buttocks to the See also:Balance, the pubis to the See also:Scorpion, the thighs to See also:Sagittarius, the knees to Capricorn, and the limbs to See also:Aquarius. Not content with this, we find the late See also:Egyptian astrologers setting up a See also:correspondence between the See also:thirty-six decani recognized by them and the human body, which is thus divided into thirty-six parts; to each part a god was assigned as a controlling force. 
With human anatomy thus connected with the planets, with constellations, and with single stars, medicine became an integral part of astrology, or, as we might also put it, astrology became the handmaid of medicine. Diseases and distrubances of the See also:ordinary functions of the organs were attributed to the influence of planets or explained as due to conditions observed in a See also:constellation or in the position of a See also:star; and an interesting survival of this See also:bond between astrology and medicine is to be seen in the. use up to the present time of the sign of Jupiter 2i, which still heads medicinal prescriptions, while, on the other hand, the influence of planetary lore appears in the See also:assignment of the days of the See also:week to the planets, beginning with See also:Sunday, assigned to the sun, and ending with Saturday, the day of Saturn. Passing on into still later periods, Saturn's day was associated with the Jewish See also:sabbath, Sunday with the See also:Lord's Day, Tuesday with Tiw, the god of See also:war, corresponding to Mars of the Romans and to the Nergal of the Babylonians. Wednesday was assigned to the planet Mercury, the See also:equivalent of the Germanic god See also:Woden; See also:Thursday to Jupiter, the equivalent of See also:Thor; and See also:Friday to Friga, the goddess of love, who is represented by Venus among the Romans and among the Babylonians by Ishtar. Astrological considerations likewise already regulated in ancient Babylonia the distinction of lucky and unlucky days, which passing down to the Greeks and Romans (See also:dies See also:fasti and nefasti) found a striking expression in See also:Hesiod's See also:Works and Days. Among the Arabs similar associations of lucky and unlucky days directly connected with the influence of the planets prevailed through all times, Tuesday and Wednesday, for instance, being regarded as the days for blood-letting, because Tuesday was connected with Mars, the lord of war and blood, and Wednesday with Mercury, the planet of humours. Even in modern times travellers relate how, when an auspicious day has been proclaimed by the astrologers, the streets of See also:Bagdad may be seen See also:running with blood from the barbers' shops. It is unnecessary here to give a detailed See also:analysis of the methods of judicial astrology as an art, or directions for the casting of a horoscope, or "nativity," i.e. a See also:map of the heavens at the See also:hour of birth, showing, according to the See also:Ephemeris, the position of the heavenly bodies, from which their influence may be deduced. Each of the twelve signs of the zodiac (q.v.) is credited with its own characteristics and influence, and is the controlling sign of its " See also:house of life." The sign exactly rising at the moment of birth is called the ascendant. The benevolent or See also:malignant influence of each planet, together with the sun and moon, is modified by the sign it inhabits at the nativity ; thus Jupiter in one house may indicate riches, fame in another, beauty in another, and Saturn similarly poverty, obscurity or deformity. The calculation is affected by the " aspects," i.e. according as the planets are near or far as regards one another (in conjunction, in semi-sextile, semi-square, sextile, quintile, square, trine, sesqui-quadrate, bi-quintile, opposition or parallel acclination). Disastrous signs predominate over auspicious, and the various effects are combined in a very elaborate and complicated manner. Judicial astrology, as a form of divination, is a concomitant of natural astrology, in its purer astronomical aspect, but mingled with what is now considered an unscientific and superstitious view of world-forces. In the Janua aurea reserata quatuor linguarum (1643) of J. A. See also:Comenius we find the following See also:definition:—" Astronomers siderum meatus seu motus considerat: Astrologus eorundem efficaciam, influxum, et effectum." See also:Kepler was more cautious in his See also:opinion; he spoke of astronomy as the See also:wise See also:mother, and astrology as the foolish daughter, but he added that the existence of the daughter was necessary to the life of the mother. Tycho See also:Brahe and Gassendi both began with astrology, and it was only after pursuing the false science, and finding it wanting, that Gassendi devoted himself to astronomy. In their numerous allusions to the subtle mercury, which the one makes when treating of a means of measuring time by the efflux of the See also:metal, and the other in a See also:treatise on the transit of the planet, we see traces of the school in which they served their first See also:apprenticeship. See also:Huygens, moreover, in his great See also:posthumous work, Cosmotheoros, seu de terris coelestibus, shows himself a more exact observer of astrological symbols than See also:Kircher him-self in his her exstaticum. Huygens contends that between the inhabitants of different planets there need not be any greater difference than exists between men of different types on the earth. " There are on the earth," continues this rational interpreter of the astrologers and chiromancers, " men of See also:cold temperament who would thrive in Saturn, which is the farthest planet from the sun, and there are other spirits warm and ardent enough to live in Venus. Those were indeed See also:strange times, according to modern ideas, when astrologers were dominant by the terror they inspired, and sometimes by the martydom they endured when their predictions were either too true or too false. Faith, to See also:borrow their own language, was banished to Virgo, and rarely See also:shed her influence on men. See also:Cardan (1501-1576), for instance, hated See also:Luther, and so changed his birthday in order to give him an unfavourable horoscope. In Cardan's times, as in those of See also:Augustus, it was a See also:common practice for men to conceal the day and hour of their birth, till, like Augustus, they found a complaisant astrologer. But, as a general See also:rule, medieval and See also:Renaissance astrologers did not give themselves the trouble of See also:reading the stars, but contented themselves with telling fortunes by faces. They practised chiromancy (see PALMISTRY), and relied on afterwards drawing a horoscope to suit. As physiognomists (see See also:PHYSIOGNOMY) their See also:talent was undoubted, and according to See also:Vanini there was no need to See also:mount to the house-See also:top to See also:cast a nativity. " Yes," he says, " I can read his See also:face; by his See also:hair and his forehead it is easy to guess that the sun at his birth was in the sign of See also:Libra and near Venus. See also:Nay, his complexion shows that Venus touches Libra. By the rules of astrology he could not See also:lie."
A few salient facts may be added concerning the astrologers and their predictions, remarkable either for their fulfilment or for the ruin and confusion they brought upon their authors. We may begin with one taken from See also: Tycho Brahe was from his fifteenth year devoted to astrology, and adjoining his See also:observatory at Uranienburg the astronomer-royal of See also:Denmark had a laboratory built in order to study alchemy, and it was only a few years before his death that he finally abandoned astrology. We may here See also:notice one very remarkable prediction of the See also:master of Kepler. That he had carefully studied the See also:comet of 1577 as an astronomer, we may gather from his adducing the very small See also:parallax of this comet as disproving the assertion 'of the Aristotelians that a solid sphere enveloped the heavens. But besides this, we find him in his character of astrologer drawing a singular prediction from the appearance of this comet. It announced, he tells us, that in the See also:north, in See also:Finland, there should be See also:born a See also:prince who should See also:lay See also:waste See also:Germany and vanish in 1632. Gustavus See also:Adolphus, it is well known, was born in Finland, overran Germany, and died in 1632. The fulfilment of the details of this prophecy suggests that Tycho Brahe had some basis of See also:reason for his prediction. Born in Denmark of a See also:noble See also:Swedish See also:family, a politician, as were all his contemporaries of distinction, Tycho, though no conjuror, could foresee the advent of some great See also:northern See also:hero. Moreover, he was doubtless well acquainted with a very ancient tradition, that heroes generally came from the northern frontiers of their native See also:land, where they are hardened and tempered by the threefold struggle they wage with soil, See also:climate and See also:barbarian neighbours. Kepler explained the See also:double See also:movement of the earth by the rotation of the sun. At one time the sun presented its friendly See also:side, which attracted one planet, sometimes its adverse side, which repelled it. He also peopled the planets with souls and genii. He was led to his three great laws by musical analogies, just as See also: At the birth of See also: In England See also:Swift may fairly claim the credit of having given the death-See also:blow to astrology by his famous See also:squib, entitled Prediction for the Year 17o8, by See also:Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq. He begins, by professing profound belief in the art, and next points out the vagueness and the absurdities of the philomaths. He then, in the happiest vein of See also:parody, proceeds to show them a more excellent way:—" My first prediction is but a trifle, yet I mention it to show how ignorant these sottish pretenders to astrology are in their own concerns: it refers to See also:Partridge the See also:almanac-maker. I have consulted the star of his nativity by my own rules, and find he will infallibly See also:die upon the 29th of March next about eleven at See also:night of a raging See also:fever. Therefore I advise him to consider of it and See also:settle his affairs in time."
Then followed a See also:letter to a person of quality giving a full and particular See also:account of the death of Partridge on the very day and nearly at the hour mentioned: In vain the wretched astrologer protested that he was alive, got a See also:literary friend to write a pamphlet to prove it, and published his almanac for 1709. Swift, in his reply, abused him for his want of See also:manners in giving a See also:gentleman the lie, answered his arguments seriatim, and declared that the evidence of the publication of another almanac was wholly irrelevant, " for Gadbury, Poor See also:Robin, See also:Dove and Way do yearly publish their almanacs, though several of them have been dead since before the Revolution." Nevertheless a See also: The Latin ex augurio appears in the See also:Italian sciagura, sciagurato, softened into sciaura, sciaurato, wretchedness, wretched. The influence of a particular planet has also left traces in various See also:languages; but the French and English jovial and the English saturnine correspond rather to the gods who served as types in chiromancy than to the planets which See also:bear the same names. In the case of the expressions bien or See also:mat tune, well or See also:ill mooned, avoir un quartierde tune clans la te"te, to have the See also:quarter of the moon in one's head, the See also:German mondsuchtig and the English moonstruck or lunatic, the fundamental idea lies in the strange opinions formerly held about the moon. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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