At the present time a belief in
such subjects can only exist with those who may be said to have no
belief at all; for mere traditional sentiments can hardly be said to
amount to a belief.
It was astronomy that gave rise to judicial astrology, which, offering
an ample field to enthusiasm and imposture, was eagerly pursued by many
who had no scientific purpose in view. It was connected with various
juggling tricks and deceptions, affected an obscure jargon of language,
and insinuated itself into every thing in which the hopes and fears of
mankind were concerned. The professors of this pretended science were at
first generally persons of mean education, in whom low cunning supplied
the place of knowledge. Most of them engaged in the empirical practice
of physic, and some through the credulity of the times, even arrived at
a degree of eminence in it; yet although the whole foundation of their
art was folly and deceit, they nevertheless gained many proselytes and
dupes, both among the well-informed and the ignorant.
About the middle of the seventeenth century, the passion for horoscopes
and expounding the stars prevailed in France among people of the first
rank.
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