When Colchester was besieged, Booker and Lilly were sent for by the parliamentarians to encourage the soldiers, by "assuring them the town would very shortly be surrendered, as indeed it was." When Cromwell was in Scotland, "the day of one of their fights, a soldier stood with Anglicus in his hand; and as the several troops passed by him, Lo, hear what Lilly saith; you are, in this month, promised victory, fight it out, brave boys'-and then read that month's prediction."

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The royalists were not behind hand with their opponents, in paying homage to the genius of Lilly; and, in affairs of the greatest moment, availed themselves of the prescience of the profound gymnosophist," who was by no means niggardly of his advice to any party that could afford to pay for it. When the king was meditating an escape from the soldiery at Hampton Court, a Mrs. Whorwood was despatched, with his concurrence, to Lilly, to learn in what quarter he might remain concealed, till he thought it prudent to declare himself. Lilly, having erected a figure, said, the king might be safely concealed in some part of Essex, about twenty miles from London: the lady happened to have a house, in that quarter, fit for his majesty's reception, and went away the next morning to acquaint him with it. But the king was gone away, in the night, westward, and surrendered himself, at length, to Hammond, in the Isle of Wight; and thus the project was rendered abortive. He was again applied to by the same lady, in 1648, for the same purpose, while the king was at Carisbrook Castle; whence, having laid a design to escape by sawing the iron bars of his chamber-window, Mrs. Whorwood came to our astrologer, and acquainted him with it. Lilly procured a proper saw, and furnished her with aqua fortis besides; by which means his majesty had nearly succeeded, but his heart failing, he proceeded no farther.

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"Whilst the king was at Windsor Castle, one walking upon the leads there, he looked upon Captain Wharton's almanack; My book,', saith he, 'speaks well as to the weather:' one William Allen standing by; what,' saith he, saith his antagonist, Mr. Lilly?' I do not care for Lilly,' said his majesty,' he hath been always against me,' and became a little bitter in his expressions. Sir,' said Allen, "the man is an honest man, and writes but what his art informs him.' 'I believe it,' said his majesty, and that Lilly understands astrology as well as any man in Europe.'

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While the parliament party retained its authority undiminished, Lilly continued to prophecy stoutly in its behalf, but, finding its influence on the wane, he ventured to predict, in his Anglicus, "that the parliament stood on a tottering foundation, and that the commonality and soldiery would join together against them."

My Anglicus was for a whole week every day in the parliamenthouse, peeped into by the Presbyterians, one disliking this sentence, another finds another fault, others misliked the whole; so in the end a motion was made, that Anglicus should be inspected by the committee for plundered ministers; which being done, they were to return them to the house, viz. report its errors.

"A messenger attached me by a warrant from that committee; I had private notice ere the messenger came, and hasted unto Mr. Speaker Lenthall, ever my friend. He was exceeding glad to see me, told me what was done; called for Anglicus, marked the passages which tormented the Presbyterians so highly. I presently sent for Mr. Warren the printer, an assured cavalier, obliterated what was most offensive, put in other more significant words, and desired only to have six amended against next morning, which very honestly he brought me. I told him my design was to deny the book found fault with, to own only the six books. I told him, I doubted he would be examined. 'Hang them,' said he,' they are all rogues. I'll swear myself to the devil ere they shall have an advantage against you by my oath.'

"The day after, I appeared before the committee, being thirty-six in number that day; whereas it was observed, at other times, it was very difficult to get five of them together. At first they shewed me the true Anglicus, and asked if I wrote and printed it. I took the book and inspected it very heedfully; and, when I had done so, said thus:

"This is none of my book, some malicious Presbyterian hath wrote it, who are my mortal enemies; I disown it.' The committee looked upon one another like distracted men, not imagining what I presently did; for I presently pulled out of my pocket six books, and said, These I own, the others are counterfeits, published purposely to ruin me.' The committee were now more vexed than before: not one word was spoke a good while; at last, many of them, or the greatest number of them, were of opinion to imprison me. Some were for Newgate, others for the Gate-House; but then one Brown, of Sussex, called the Presbyterian beadle, whom the company of stationers had bribed to be my friend, by giving him a new book of Martyrs ; he, I say, preached unto the committee this doctrine, that neither Newgate or the Gate-House were prisons unto which at any time the parliament sent prisoners: it was most convenient for the Serjeant at Arms to take me in custody.

"Mr. Strickland, who had for many years been the parliament's ambassador or agent in Holland, when he saw how they inclined, spoke thus:

"I came purposely into the committee this day to see the man who is so famous in those parts where I have so long continued: I assure you his name is famous all over Europe: I come to do him justice. A book is produced by us, and said to be his; he denies it; we have not proved it, yet will commit him. Truly this is great injustice. It is likely he will write next year, and acquaint the whole world with our injustice; and so well he may. It is my opinion, first to prove the book to be his, ere he be committed.'

"Another old friend of mine, Mr. Reynolds, spoke thus:

"You do not know the many services this man hath done for the parliament these many years, or how many times, in our greatest distresses, we applying unto him, he hath refreshed our languishing expectations; he never failed us of comfort in our most unhappy distresses. I assure you his writings have kept up the spirits both of the soldiery, the honest people of this nation, and many of us parliament men; and now at last, for a slip of his pen (if it were his) to be thus violent against him: I must tell you, I fear the consequence urged out of the book will prove effectually true. It is my counsel, to admonish him hereafter to be more wary, and for the present to dismiss him.'

"Notwithstanding any thing that was spoken on my behalf, I was ordered to stand committed to the Serjeant at Arms. The messenger attached my person, said I was his prisoner. As he was carrying me away, he was called to bring me again. Oliver Cromwell, lieutenantgeneral of the army, having never seen me, caused me to be produced again, where he stedfastly beheld me for a good space, and then I went with the messenger; but instantly a young clerk of that committee asks the messenger what he did with me, where's the warrant? until that is signed, you cannot seize Mr. Lilly, or shall. Will you have an action of false imprisonment against you? So I escaped that night, but next day obeyed the warrant. That night, Oliver Cromwell went to Mr. Reynolds, my friend, and said, 'What, never a man to take Lilly's cause in hand but yourself? None to take his part but you? He shall not be long there.'

That the fame of our English Merlin was not confined to his own country, appears by the evidence of Mr. Strickland in the preceding extract, and he subsequently received from the King of Sweden, a present of a gold chain and medal, in requital of the honourable mention he had made of his majesty in his Anglicus.

"In 1655, I was indicted at Hicks's-Hall by a half-witted young woman. Three several sessions she was neglected, and the jury cast forth her bill; but the fourth time, they found it against me: I put in bail to traverse the indictment. The cause of the indictment was, for that I had given judgment upon stolen goods, and received two shillings and sixpence.-And this was said to be contrary unto an act in King James's time made.

"This mad woman was put upon this action against me by two ministers, who had framed for her a very ingenious speech, which she could speak without book, as she did the day of hearing the traverse. She produced one woman, who told the court, a son of her's was run from her; that being in much affliction of mind for her loss, she repaired unto me to know what was become of him; that I told her he was gone for the Barbadoes, and she would hear of him within thirteen days; which, she said, she did.

"A second woman made oath, that her husband being wanting two years, she repaired to me for advice: that I told her he was in Ireland,

and would be at home at such a time; and, said she, he did come accordingly.

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"I owned the taking of half a crown for my judgment of the theft; but said, I gave no other judgment, but that the goods would not be recovered, being that was all which was required of me: the party, before that, having been with several astrologers, some affirming she should have her goods again, others gave contrary judgment, which made her come unto me for a final resolution.

"At last my enemy began her before-made speech, and, without the least stumbling, pronounced it before the court; which ended, she had some queries put unto her, and then I spoke for myself, and produced my own Introduction into court, saying, that I had some years before emitted that book for the benefit of this and other nations; that it was allowed by authority, and had found good acceptance in both universities; that the study of astrology was lawful, and not contradicted by any scripture; that I neither had or ever did use any charms, sorceries, or inchantments, related in the bill of indictment, &c.

"She then related, that she had been several times with me, and that afterwards she could not rest a-nights, but was troubled with bears, lions, and tygers, &c. My counsel was the Recorder Green, who after he had answered all objections, concluded, astrology was a lawful art.

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Mistress,' said he, what colour was those beasts that you were so terrified with?'

"I never saw any,' said she.

re

"How do you then know they were lions, tygers, or bears,' plied he. This is an idle person, only fit for Bedlam.' The jury, who went not from the bar, brought in, No true bill."

His second wife dying, to his great joy, he the same year ventured on a third, who, he says, "is signified in my nativity by Jupiter in Libra; and she is so totally in her conditions, to my great comfort."

After the restoration, being taken into custody and examined by a committee of the house of commons, touching the execution of Charles I.; he declared that Robert Spavin, then secretary to Cromwell, dining with him soon after that event, assured him that it was done by Cornet Joyce. Having sued out his pardon under the broad seal of England, he continued to labour in his vocation, unmolested by the ruling powers, until the fire of London took place, when he was brought before a committee to depose what he knew respecting the cause of that calamity.

"Sir Robert Brooke spoke to this purpose:

"Mr. Lilly, This committee thought fit to summon you to appear before them this day, to know, if you can say any thing as to the cause of the late fire, or whether there might be any design therein. You are called the rather hither, because in a book of yours long since

printed, you hinted some such thing by one of your hieroglyphicks.' Unto which I replied,

"May it please your honours,

"After the beheading of the late king, considering that in the three subsequent years the parliament acted nothing which concerned the settlement of the nation in peace; and seeing the generality of people dissatisfied, the citizens of London discontented, the soldiery prone to mutiny, I was desirous, according to the best knowledge God had given me, to make enquiry by the art I studied, what might from that time happen unto the parliament and nation in general. At last, having satisfied myself as well as I could, and perfected my judgment therein, I thought it most convenient to signify my intentions and conceptions thereof, in forms, shapes, types, hieroglyphicks, &c. without any commentary, that so my judgment might be concealed from the vulgar, and made manifest only unto the wise. I herein imitating the examples of many wise philosophers who had done the like.'

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"Sir Robert,' saith one, Lilly is yet sub vestibulo.'

"I proceeded further. Said I, having found, sir, that the city of London should be sadly afflicted with a great plague, and not long after with an exorbitant fire,* I framed these two hieroglyphicks as represented in the book, which in effect have proved very true.'

"Did you foresee the year,' said one?

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'I did not,' said I, or was desirous of that I made no scrutiny.' I proceeded

"Now, sir, whether there was any design of burning the city, or any employed to that purpose, I must deal ingenuously with you, that since the fire, I have taken much pains in the search thereof, but cannot or could not give myself any the least satisfaction therein. I conclude, that it was the only finger of God; but what instruments he used thereunto, I am ignorant.'

"The committee seemed well pleased with what I spoke, and dismissed me with great civility."

In his latter years, Lilly applied himself to the study of physic, and continued to practise that art, as well as astrology, at Hersham (where he had purchased an estate) till his death, which was occasioned by a paralytic attack, in 1681. He was

* Our astrologer well knew how to "lie like truth." His Monarchy or no Monarchy, has an appendix of sixteen pages of wood-cuts, representing in Ænigmatical Types, Formes, Figures, Shapes, the future condition of the English Nation and Commonwealth for many hundred of yeares to come; of which, had the curtesie of the times deserved it, the reader had seen an explanation." The graves and winding sheets are represented on the eighth page, and the burning city on the thirteenth; whereas, Lilly would have us believe, that the one was on the next side to the other, that they might tally with the Plague and the Fire, which occurred in 1665 and the following year.