In the time of the civil wars, astrology was in high repute. The
royalists and the rebels had their astrologers as well as their
soldiers; and the predictions of the former had a great influence over
the latter. When Charles the first was imprisoned, Lilly, the famous
astrologer, was consulted for the hour that should favour his escape;
and in Burnet's History of his own Times, there is a story which
strongly proves how much Charles II was bigotted to judicial astrology,
a man, though a king, whose mind was by no means unenlightened. The most
respectable characters of the age, Sir William Dugdale, Elias
Ashmole,[77] Dr. Grew, and others, were members of the astrological club.
Congreve's character of Foresight, in Love for Love, was then no
uncommon person, though the humour, now, is scarcely intelligible.
Dryden cast the nativities of his sons; and what is remarkable, his
prediction relating to his son Charles, was accomplished. The incident
being of so late a date, one might hope that it would have been cleared
up; but, if it be a fact, it must be allowed that it forms a rational
exultation for its irrational adepts.
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