The science of the stars / by Alfred J. Pearce.

  • Pearce, James Alfred, 1805-1862.
Date:
1881
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The science of the stars / by Alfred J. Pearce. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    33/228 (page 21)
    MUNDANE ASTROLOGY—Continued. THE PROGRESS OF THE FIXED STARS THROUGH THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC. That eminent fixed star the “ Bull’s North Horn ” (j3 Taicri), of the second magnitude, and of the nature of Mars, arrived at 17° 54' of the sign Gemini (the exact ascendant of London), in 1665-6, when the plague and fire of London took place. William Lilly, the celebrated astrologer, foretold, fifteen years beforehand, those momentous events, from that transit of the martial star. No doubt Lilly had observed the coincidence of the outbreak of plague in London in 1625 (the year of accession of Charles I.), to which no less than 35,417 persons fell victims, with the approach of the Bull’s North Horn to the ascendant of the metropolis, for it had then reached 17° 20' of Gemini. It is worthy of remark that the civil war coincided with this approach of the martial star to the ascendant of the capital, and that in 1649, when it had arrived at 17° 40' of Gemini, the king was beheaded. Nostradamus, also, foretold the fire of London, in the following lines:1—■ Le sang du juste a Londres fera faute, Bruslez par feu, de vingt et trois, les six. La dame antique cherra de place haute, De meme secte plusieurs seront occis.” 1 At the British Museum Library a copy may be seen of “Michel de Nostradame the elder; the true prophecies of,” translated by F. de Garencieres, London, 1672. Also a copy of Lilly’s hieroglyphic of the plague and tire of London.