TO THE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF GREAT BRITAIN.
I Am not unacquainted, that, ever since this Book was first promis'd by way of Advertise∣ment to the World, it was greedily co∣veted by a great many Persons of any Tempers, for the same reason, that it has been condemn'd by those of a more Page 4 formal Class, who thought it was cal∣culated partly to introduce a great ma∣ny new and diverting Curiosities in the way of Superstition, and partly to di∣vulge the secret Intrigues and Amours of one part of the Sex, to give the other part room to make favourite Scan∣dal the Subject of their Discourse; and so to make one half of the fair Species very merry, over the Blushes and the Mortifications of the other half. But when they come to read the following Sheets, they will find their Expecta∣tions disappointed, (but I hope I may say too) very agreeably disappointed. They will find a much more elegant Entertainment than they expected. In∣stead of making them a Bill of Fare out of patchwork Romances of polluting Scandal; the good old Gentleman who wrote the Adventures of my Life, has made it his Business to treat them with a great variety of entertaining Passa∣ges which always terminate in Morals, that tend to the Edification of all Rea∣ders Page 5 of whatsoever Sex, Age, or Pro∣fession. Instead of seducing young, in∣nocent, unwary Minds into the vicious delight, which is too often taken in reading the gay and bewitching Chi∣meras of the Caballists, and in per∣using the inticing Fables of new-invent∣ed Tricks of Superstition, my ancient Friend, the Writer, strikes at the very Root of these Superstitions, and shews them, how they may be satisfy'd in their several Curiosities, by having re∣course to time, who by the Talent of the Second-sight (which he so beauti∣fully represents, how Nature is so kind frequently to implant in the Minds of Men born in the same Climate with myself) can tell you those things na∣turally, which when you try to learn your selves, you either run the Hazard of being impos'd upon in your Pockets by Cheats, Gypsies and common Fortune∣tellers, or else of being impos'd upon, in a still worse way, in your most last∣ing Welfare, by having recourse to Page 6 Conjurers or Inchanters that deal in Black Arts, and involve all their Con∣sulters in one general Partnership of their execrable Guilt; or lastly, of imposing worst of all on your own selves, by getting into an Itch of practising and trying the little Tricks of Female Superstition, which are often more officiously handed down, by the Tra∣dition of credulous Nurses and old Wo∣men, from one Generation to another, than the first Principles of Christian Doctrine, which 'tis their Duty to instil early into little Children. But I hope when this Book comes to be pretty generally read among you La∣dies, (as by your generous and numerous Subscriptions, I have good reason to expect) that it will afford a perfect Remedy and a thorough Cure to that Distemper, which first took its Rise from too great a Growth of Curiosity, and too large a Stock of Credulity nur∣sed prejudicially up with you in your more tender and infant Years.
Page 7 Whatever young Maid hereafter has an innocent but longing Desire to know who shall be her Husband, and what time she shall be marry'd, will, I hope, when she has read in the fol∣lowing Sheets of a Man that can set her right in the Knowledge of those Points, purely by possessing the Gift of the Second-sight, sooner have re∣course innocently to such a Man than use unlawful Means to acquire it, such as running to Conjurers to have his Figure shewn in their inchanted Glasses, or using any of those traditio∣nal Superstitions, by which they may dream of their Husbands, or cause visionary Shapes of them to appear on such and such Festival Nights of the Year; all which Practises are not ordinarily wicked and impious, but downright diabolical. I hope that the next twenty ninth of June, which is St. John Baptist's Day, I shall not see the several Pasture Fields adjacent Page 8 to this Metropolis, especially that be∣hind Montague House, throng'd, as they were the last Year, with well drest young Ladies crawling busily up and down upon their Knees, as if they were a parcel of Weeders, when all the Business is to hunt superstitiously after a Coal under the Root of a Plan∣tain, to put under their Heads that Night, that they may dream who should be their Husbands. In order to shame them out of this silly but guilty Practice, I do intend to have some Spies out on that Day, that shall dis∣cover who they are, and what they have been about; and I here give notice to the Publick, that this ill-acted Co∣medy (if it be acted at all this Year) must begin according to the Rule of their Superstition, on that Day precisely at the Hour of Twelve. And so much for the pretty Weeders: But as you (Ladies) have had several Magical Traditions deliver'd to you, which, if you put in Exercise and Practice, will Page 9 be greatly prejudicial to your Honour and your Virtue; let me interpose my Counsels, which will conduct you inno∣cuously to the same end, which some Ladies have labour'd to arrive at by these Impieties. Give me leave first to tell you, that tho' what you aim at may be arriv'd to by these Means, yet these Means make that a miserable Fortune which would have been a good one; because in order to know human Things beforehand, you use preterna∣tural Mediums, which destroy the Goodness of the Courses, which Nature her self was taking for you, and an∣nexes to them diabolical Influences, which commonly carry along with them Fatalities in this World as well as the next. You will therefore give me your Pardon likewise, Ladies, if I relate some other of these Practices, which bare relation of it self, after what I have said before, seems to me sufficient to explode them.
Page 10 Another of the Nurses Prescriptions is this. Upon a St. Agnes's Night, the 21st Day of January, take a Row of Pins and pull out every one, one after another, saying a Pater noster, or Our Father, sticking a Pin in your Sleeve, and you will dream of her you shall marry. Ben Johnson in one of his Maskes makes some mention of this.
There is another Prescription, which is as follows: You must lie in another County, and knit the left Garter about the right-legg'd Stocking (let the other Page 11 Garter and Stocking alone) and as you rehearse these following Verses, at eve∣ry Comma knit a Knot.
Page 12 Mr. Awbrey of the Royal Society says, a Gentlewoman, that he knew, confessed in his hearing that she used this Method, and dreamt of her Hus∣band whom she had never seen: About two or three Years after, as she was one Sunday at Church, up pops a young Oxonian in the Pulpit; she cries out presently to her Sister, this is the very Face of the Man I saw in my Dream. Sir William Somes's Lady did the like.
Another way is to charm the Moon thus, (as the old Nurses give out) at the first Appearance of the Moon after New-years-day, (some say any other New Moon is as good) go out in the Evening, and stand over the Sparrs of a Gate or Stile, looking on the Moon (here remark that in Yorkshire they kneel on a Ground-fast Stone) and say,
But a great many of the wittiest part of your Sex laugh at these common Superstitions; but then they are apt to run into worse: They give themselves up to the reading of the Cabalistical Systems of Sylphs, and Gnomes, and Mandrakes, which are very wicked and delusive Imaginations.
I would not have you imagin (La∣dies) that I impute these things as In∣firmities and Frailties peculiar to your Sex. No; Men, and great Men too, Page 14 and Scholars, and even Statesmen and Princes themselves have been tainted with Superstitions; and where they in∣fect the Minds of such great Persona∣ges, they make the deeper Impression, according to the stronger and more man∣ly Ideas they have of them. Their greater degree of Strength in the In∣tellect only subjects them to greater Weaknesses; such was even the great Paracelsus, the Wonder and Miracle of Learning in the Age wherein he liv∣ed, and such were all his Followers, Scholars, Statesmen, Divines, and Princes that are Talismanists.
These Talismans that Paracelsus pretends to owe to the Excogitation and Invention of honest Art, seem to me to be of a very diabolical Nature, and to owe their Rise to being dedicated by the Author to the Heathen Gods. Thus the Cabalists pretending to a vast Penetration into Arts and Sciences (tho' all their Thoughts are Chimeras and Page 15 Extravagancies, unless they be help'd by preternatural Means) say they have found out the several Methods appro∣priated to the several Planets: They have appropriated Gold to the Sun on the Sunday, Silver to the Moon on the Monday, Iron to Mars on the Tues∣day, Quicksilver to Mercury on the Wednesday, Tin to Jupiter on the Thursday, Copper or Brass to Venus on the Friday, and Lead to Saturn on the Saturday. The Methods they take in forming these Talismans are too long to dwell upon here. But the Properties which they pretend belong to them are, that the first Talisman or Seal of the Sun will make a Man beloved by all Princes and Potentates, and cause him to abound with all the Riches his Heart can wish. The se∣cond preserves Travellers from Dan∣ger, and is favourable to Merchants, Tradesmen, and Workmen. The third carries Destruction to any place where it is put; and 'tis said that a certain Page 16 great Minister of State order'd one of these to be carry'd into England in the Times of the Revolution of Govern∣ment caused by Oliver Cromwell. The fourth they pretend cures Fevers and other Diseases; and if it be put under the Bolster, it makes the Pro∣prietor have true Dreams, in which he sees all he desires to know. The fifth, according to them, renders a Man lucky and fortunate in all his Businesses and Undertakings. It dissi∣pates Melancholy, drives away all importunate Cares, and banishes pa∣nick Fears from the Mind. The sixth, by being put into the Liquor which any one drinks, reconciles mortal Enemies, makes them intimate Friends; it gains the Love of all Women, and renders the Proprietor very dextrous in the Art of Musick. The seventh makes Women be easily brought to Bed without Pain; and if a Horseman carries it in his left Boot, himself and his Horse become invulnerable.
Page 17 This Paracelsus and his learned Followers say is owing to the Insluence of the Stars; but I can't help argu∣ing these Acts of diabolical Impiety. But as these Arts are rarely known a∣mong the midling part of Mankind, I shall neither open their Mysteries, nor inveigh against them any farther.
The Persons, who are most to be avoided, are your ordinary Fortune∣telling Women and Men about this Town, whose Houses ought to be a∣voided as a Plague or a Pestilence, either because they are Cheats and Impostors, or because they deal with Black Arts, none of them that I know having any Pretensions to the Gift of a Second-sight. Among many, a few of the most notorious, that I can call to mind now, are as follow. The first and chiefest of these mischievous For∣tune-tellers is a Woman that does not live far from the Old Bailey. And Page 18 truly the Justice Hall in that Place is the properest Place for her to appear at, where, if she was try'd for pre∣tending to give Charms written upon Paper with odd Scrawls, which she calls Figures, she would be probably convicted, and very justly condemn'd, and doom'd to have her last Journey from the Old Bailey to Newgate, and from Newgate to Tyburn. The other is a Fellow that lives in Moor∣fields, in which Place, those who go to consult him, ought to live all their Life-times at the famous Palaces of the senseless Men: He is the Successor of the famous Dr. Trotter, whose Widow he marry'd; and from being a Taylor and patching Mens Garments, he now cuts Fl〈7… letters〉 with his Sheers upon 〈◊〉, considers the Hea∣vens as a Garment, and from the Spangles thereupon, he calculates Na∣tivities, and sets up for a very pro∣found Astrologer. The third is an ig∣norant Fellow that kaws out strange Page 19 Predictions in Crow-Alley, of whose croaking Noise I shall here take no Notice, he having been sufficiently mawl'd in the most ingenious Specta∣tors. These and such Counterfeits as these I would desire all Gentlemen and Ladies to avoid. The only two really learned Men, that I ever knew in the Art of Astrology, were my good Friends Dr. Williams and Mr. Gad∣bury; and I thought it necessary to pay this Esteem to their Manes, let the World judge of them what it will. I will here say no more, nor hinder you any longer, Gentlemen and Ladies, from the Diversion which my good old Friend, who is now departed this Life, has prepared for you in his Book, which a young Gentleman of my Ac∣quaintance revised, and only subscribe my self,
Yours, &c. DUNCAN CAMPBELL.
