William Lilly's History of His Life and Times by William Lilly
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William Lilly >> William Lilly\'s History of His Life and Times
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He had often, in his life-time, desired Mr. Ashmole to take care of his
funeral, and now his widow desired the same: whereupon Mr. Ashmole
obtained leave from Sir Mathew Andrews (who had the parsonage of Walton)
to bury him in the chancel of that church.
The 10th of June, his corse was brought thither, and received by the
minister (in his surplice) at the Litch Gates, who, passing before the
body into the church, read the first part of the _Office for the Burial
of the Dead_. In the reading desk he said all the evening service, and
after performed the rest of the office (as established by law) in the
chancel, at the interment, which was about eight o'clock in the evening,
on the left side of the communion table, Mr. Ashmole assisting at the
laying him in his grave; whereupon afterwards (9 July 1681) he placed a
fair black marble stone, (which cost him six pounds four shillings and
six-pence) with this inscription following:
Ne Oblivione conteretur Urna
GULIELMI LILLII
ASTROLOGI PERITISSIMI,
QUI FATIS CESSIT
Quinto Idus Junii Anno Christi Juliano
M DC LXXXI.
Hoc Illi posuit amoris Monumentum
ELIAS ASHMOLE,
ARMIGER.
Shortly after his death, Mr. Ashmole bought his library of books of Mrs.
Ruth Lilly, (his widow and executrix) for fifty pounds: he oft times, in
his life-time, expressed, that if Mr. Ashmole would give that sum, he
should have them.
* * * * *
The following Epitaphs (Latin and English) were made by George
Smalridge, then a scholar at Westminster, after Student of Christ-Church
in Oxford.
_In Mortem Viri Doctissimi Domini_ GULIELMI
LILLY, _Astrologi, nuper defuncti_.
Occidit atque suis annalibus addidit atram
Astrologus, qua non tristior ulla, diem
Pone triumphales, lugubris Luna, quadrigas;
Sol maestum picea nube reconde caput.
Illum, qui Phoebi scripsit, Phoebesq; labores
Eclipsin docuit Stella maligna pati.
Invidia Astrorum cecidit, qui Sidera rexit
Tanta erat in notas scandere cura domos.
Quod vidit, visum cupiit, potiturq; cupito
C[oe]lo, & Sidereo fulget in orbe decus.
Scilicet hoc nobis praedixit ab ane Cometa,
Et fati emicuit nuncia Stella tui
Fallentem vidi faciem gemuiq; videndo
Illa fuit vati mortis imago suo,
Civilis timuere alii primordia belli
Jejunam metuit plebs stupefata faniem
Non tantos tulerat bellumve famesve dolores:
Auspiciis essent haec relevanda tuis.
In cautam subitus plebem nunc opprimat ensis,
Securos fati mors violenta trahat.
Nemo est qui videat moneatq; avertere fatum,
Ars jacet in Domini funera mersa sui
Solus naturae reservare arcana solebat,
Solus & ambigui solvere jura poti.
Lustrasti erantes bene fina mente Planeta
Conspectum latuit stellata nulla tuum
Defessos oculos pensarunt lumina mentis
Firesias oculis, mentibus Argus eras.
Cernere, Firesia, poteras ventura, sed, Arge,
In fatum haud poteras sat vigil esse tuum
Sed vivit nomen semper cum sole vigebit,
Immemor Astrologi non erit ulla dies
Saecla canent laudes, quas si percurrere cones,
Arte opus est, Stellas qua numerare soles
Haereat hoc carmen cinerum custodibus urnis,
Hospes quod spargens marmora rore legat.
"Hic situs est, dignus nunquam cecidisse Propheta;
Fatorum interpres fata inopina subit.
Versari aethereo dum vixit in orbe solebat:
Nunc humilem jactat Terra superba virum.
Sed Coelum metitur adhuc resupinus in urnae
Vertitur in solitos palpebra clausa polos.
Huic busto invigilant solenni lampade Musaae
Perpetuo nubes imbre sepulchra rigant.
Ille oculis movit distantia Sidera nostris,
Illam amota oculis traxit ad astra Deus."
_An_ ELEGY _upon the Death of_ WILLIAM LILLY, _the Astrologer_.
Our Prophet's gone; no longer may our ears
Be charm'd with musick of th' harmonious spheres.
Let sun and moon withdraw, leave gloomy night
To shew their NUNCIO'S fate, who gave more light
To th' erring world, than all the feeble rays
Of sun or moon; taught us to know those days
Bright TITAN makes; follow'd the hasty sun
Through all his circuits; knew th' unconstant moon,
And more unconstant ebbings of the flood;
And what is most uncertain, th' factious brood,
Flowing in civil broils: by the heavens could date
The flux and reflux of our dubious state.
He saw the eclipse of sun, and change of moon
He saw, but seeing would not shun his own:
Eclips'd he was, that he might shine more bright,
And only chang'd to give a fuller light.
He having view'd the sky, and glorious train
Of gilded stars, scorn'd longer to remain
In earthly prisons: could he a village love,
Whom the twelve houses waited for above?
The grateful stars a heavenly mansion gave
T' his heavenly soul, nor could he live a slave
To mortal passions, whose immortal mind,
Whilst here on earth, was not to earth confin'd.
He must be gone, the stars had so decreed;
As he of them, so they of him, had need.
This message 'twas the blazing comet brought;
I saw the pale-fac'd star, and seeing thought
(For we could guess, but only LILLY knew)
It did some glorious hero's fall foreshew:
A hero's fall'n, whose death, more than a war,
Or fire, deserv'd a comet: th' obsequious star
Could do no less than his sad fate unfold,
Who had their risings, and their settings told.
Some thought a plague, and some a famine near;
Some wars from France, some fires at home did fear:
Nor did they fear too much: scarce kinder fate,
But plague of plagues befell th' unhappy state
When LILLY died. Now swords may safely come
From France or Rome, fanaticks plot at home.
Now an unseen, and unexpected hand,
By guidance of ill stars, may hurt our land;
Unsafe, because secure, there's none to show
How England may avert the fatal blow.
He's dead, whose death the weeping clouds deplore,
I wish we did not owe to him that show'r
Which long expected was, and might have still
Expected been, had not our nation's ill
Drawn from the heavens a sympathetic tear:
England hath cause a second drought to fear.
We have no second LILLY, who may die,
And by his death may make the heavens cry.
Then let your annals, Coley, want this day,
Think every year leap-year; or if't must stay,
Cloath it in black; let a sad note stand by,
And stigmatize it to posterity.
_Here follows the Copy of an Indictment filed against Mr. Lilly, for
which see page 167 of his Life_.
The jurors for the Lord Protector of the commonwealth of England,
Scotland, and Ireland, &c. upon their oaths do present, that William
Lilly, late of the Parish of St. Clements Danes, in the County of
Middlesex, Gent. not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being
moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, the 10th day of July,
in the Year of our Lord, 1654, at the Parish aforesaid, in the County
aforesaid, wickedly, unlawfully, and deceitfully, did take upon him, the
said William Lilly, by inchantment, charm, and sorcery, to tell and
declare to one Anne East, the wife of Alexander East, where ten
waistcoats, of the value of five pounds, of the goods and chattels of
the said Alexander East, then lately before lost and stolen from the
said Alexander East, should be found and become; and two shilling and
sixpence in monies numbred, of the monies of the said Alexander, from
the said Anne East, then and and there unlawfully and deceitfully, he,
the said William Lilly, did take, receive, and had, to tell and declare
to her the said Anne, where the said goods, so lost and stolen as
aforesaid, should be found and become: And also that he, the said
William Lilly, on the said tenth day of July, in the Year of our Lord,
1654, and divers other days and times, as well before as afterwards, at
the said Parish aforesaid, in the County aforesaid, unlawfully and
deceitfully did take upon him, the said William Lilly, by inchantment,
charm, and sorcery, to tell and declare to divers other persons, to the
said jurors, yet unknown, where divers goods, chattels, and things of
the said persons yet unknown, there lately before lost and stolen from
the said persons yet unknown, should be found and become; and divers
sums of monies of the said persons yet unknown, then and there
unlawfully and deceitfully, he the said William Lilly did take, receive,
and had, to tell and declare to the said persons yet unknown, where
their goods, chattels, and things, so lost and stolen, as aforesaid,
should be found and become, in contempt of the laws of England, to the
great damage and deceit of the said Alexander and Anne, and of the said
other persons yet unknown, to the evil and pernicious example of all
others in the like case offending, against the form of the statute in
this case made and provided, and against the publick peace, &c.
_Anne East,
Emme Spencer,
Jane Gold,
Katherme Roberts,
Susannah Hulinge_.
_Butler's Character of_ WILLIAM LILLY.
* * * * *
"A cunning man[20], hight SIDROPHEL.
That deals in destiny's dark counsels,
And sage opinions of the moon sells;
To whom all people, far and near,
On deep importances repair;
When brass and pewter hap to stray,
And linen slinks out of the way:
[Footnote 20: _A cunning man, hight_ Sidrophel. 'William Lilly,
the famous astrologer of those times, who in his yearly
almanacks foretold victories for the parliament with as much
certainty as the Preachers did in their sermons; and all or most
part of what is ascribed to him by the Poet, the reader will
find verified in his "Letter," (if we may believe it) wrote by
himself to Elias Ashmole, Esq.' For further curious information
respecting William Lilly, the reader may consult _Dr. Grey's
Notes to Hudibras_, vol. ii. page 163, &c. Edition 1819, in 3
vols, 8vo.]
When geese and pullen are seduc'd,
And sows of sucking pigs are chous'd:
When cattle feel indisposition,
And need th' opinion of physician;
When murrain reigns in hogs or sheep,
And chickens languish of the pip;
When yeast and outward means do fail,
And have no power to work on ale;
When butter does refuse to come,
And love proves cross and humoursome;
To him with questions and with urine,
They for discov'ry flock, or curing.
* * * * *
He had been long t'wards mathematics,
Opticks, philosophy, and staticks,
Magick, horoscopy, astrology,
And was old dog at physiology:
But, as a dog that turns the spit,
Bestirs himself, and plies his feet
To climb the wheel, but all in vain,
His own weight brings him down again;
And still he's in the self-same place,
Where at his setting out he was:
So, in the circle of the arts,
Did he advance his nat'ral parts:
Till falling back still, for retreat,
He fell to juggle, cant, and cheat:
For as those fowls that live in water
Are never wet, he did but smatter:
Whate'er he labour'd to appear,
His understanding still was clear,
Yet none a deeper knowledge boasted,
Since old Hodge Bacon, and Bob Grosted,
* * * * *
Do not our great _Reformers_ use
This SIDROPHEL to forebode news?
To write of victories next year,
And castles taken yet i'th' air?
Of battles fought at sea, and ships
Sunk, two years hence, the last eclipse?
A total o'er throw giv'n the KING
In Cornwall, horse and foot, next spring?
And has not he point-blank foretold
Whatso'er the _Close Committee_ would?
Made Mars and Saturn for the _cause_,
The Moon for _fundamental laws_;
The Ram, the Bull, the Goat, declare
Against the _Book of Common Prayer_;
The Scorpion take the _Protestation_,
And Bear engage for Reformation;
Made all the _royal stars_ recant,
Compound, and take the covenant."
THE END.
* * * * *
MAURICE, PRINTER, FENCHURCH STREET.
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