The works of that late most excellent philosopher and astronomer, Sir George Wharton, bar. collected into one volume / by John Gadbvry ...

To the Truly NOBLE, and Uni∣versally Learned (My much Ho∣noured Friend) Elias Ashmole, Esq

Worthy Sir,

WERE it not that in Common Civility I am bound upon this Occassion, as to acknow∣ledge my Infinite Obligations to you (that being the best Quality of a Bad Debtor, and even All a Christian Creditor should expect, where the Means of a juster Requital is wanting,) so to give you an Account of the present Work, unto which you first in∣cited Me:

Yet (Sir) the Rarity of the Subject, and the Gipsy∣like Esteem it hath amongst the Vulgar, would have necessarily enforced Me to shelter it under the Wings of none but an Absolute Mercurialist.

That you are no less, The Ingenious Works you have already Published, The Succinct and Learned Annota∣tions you have made upon some Part of those, (to ••••it what I know you have in Design;) your exquisite know∣ledge in Arithmetick, Geometry, Astrology, Natural Magick, and Physick: And in th••••e oth••r Infer••o•••• Objects of your Delight, viz. Linning, Engraving, Painting, and Musick. may and do abundantly mani∣fest: I shall not, I need not expatiate: (To instance the particular knowledge you have in ••hiromancy, w••re but Actum agere, in that Astrology (••efore mentioned) comprehends the same, as here it is apply'd; and your self Them both.)

Nor could I glory at all in the Name of a Greater Personage to Patronize this Piece: It is not the Blu∣string noise of an Empty Title, or the Frail Support of a Signal Birth, only, that can be a fit Champion for this or the like Mysterious Sciences: Learning is best Fortress'd of those by whom she is most understood: I confess her Admirers may wish her Happiness; yet they commonly fail her in Extremity.

And herein I follow the Example of mine Author, who made choice of the best Deserving in his Countrey, unto whom he Dedicated this Work in the Original: That is, unto such as were sober and skilful: Not to Men that were Mighty and Ignorant, or Learned and Malicious.

Nor yet have these any just cause to complain, unless for the want of Ingenuity; whereby they are Doom'd to an Absolute Depravation of that, whereby Wise Men daily Ascend, even to the Presence of God and his An∣gels; I mean the Knowledge of his Works: For it is not sufficient we hear a story of God in the Scriptures, unless also we read or see him in the large Volume of his Creatures: Neither do we Read Him by a bare Gazing upon the outward Form thereof, but by a narrow En∣quiry and search made into their hidden Nature and Disposition: For, In the Beginning (saith my Au∣thor) God adorned all things Created with Signatures, that so the Mind of an Ingenious Man might delight it self by a diligent searching into the Nature and Dis∣position thereof, and thence boldly acknowledging the Wonderful Works of God, and converting them to a right use, be chearfully constrained to the Love or G••d himself, and to Worship him with all his heart, for his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness.

Let us therefore beheld the Heaven, the Stars, and Coelestial Signs, the Animals, Plants, Roots, Stones,

Metals, &c. in and upon the Earth; and consider how wonderfully their various Signatures every where pre∣sent themselves unto us, and by a Tacite Language proffer us their Nature and Disposition! How exceed∣ingly the Seven wandring Stars (Vulgarly called Pla∣nets) do differ, not only in Magnitude and Motion, but also in the Brightness and Beauty of their Light! How variable an Influence is in each; what a Lively, Last∣ing Spirit, diversly Disposing, Moving, Animating, Producing, Signing, and Sustaining these Inferiours, according to their different Position in the Heavens, and the sundry Complications and Mixtures of Beams oc∣curring from other Stars!

The Philosophers of old have acknowledged, (and we shall willingly the same) Et in infimis Suprema, & in Supremis infima: There are in Heaven Earthly things, in respect of the Causes, and by a Coelestial manner, and Coelestial things in Earthly, but by a Terrestrial man∣ner: Whence indeed it is, That the Sun, the Moon, and other Stars are considered in the Earth, but that in re∣gard of a Terrene Quality; so also Plants, Stones, Me∣tals, &c. in the Heavens, but this in respect of a Heaven∣ly Nature, endued with Life-Intellectual. And this was the Reason why Heaven it self was depainted with sundry Images by the Ancient and Holy Fathers: And that he who had through his Ingenuity attained th••se Holy Mysteries of the World, was by the Hebrews truly named Rabbi, by the Latines, Magister; and by almost all other Nations, Magus: Nevertheless this Name is now so much suspected and hated, that some had rather forgo the Gospel it self, than receive it again into Favour: So wilfully Obstinate, Blind, and Stupid are the Masters this Age hath produced.

But let us Instance a few Examples, and first, of the Coelestial Bodies: You know that the Image of the Ser∣pent

hath the Nature of a Serpent; that is, it causeth death by Poyson, so oft as the Lord of the Geniture, or the Moon is therewith unhappily Posited at the Birth: The like of the Scorpion; For even the same Images drive away and kill Serpents and Scorpions, Spiders and Flyes, they expel Poyson and the Plague, being deduced from Heaven upon the Terrestrial Chaos, at an observed time: Leo makes Men Bold; Virgo, Do∣cile; Taurus, Robust; Aquila procures Honours; Lyra instills the love of Musick, and the Study of Poesie: Sagittary addicteth to Hunting; and much more of that Nature, marked with their proper Signatures.

Next, let us contemplate the Animals of the Earth, how every one beareth its own Nature; and how we know the same in most of them by their Effigies, [viz. by their Countenance] Voyce, Gesture, Habit, often by their Colour. The Horse by his Gesture bewrays his Pride: The Ass his Slowness: The Lyon (by the Face and Gesture) his Courage: The Bear his Fierceness; The Cock his Chearfulness: The like are every where obvious in other Creatures, unto any but such as regard the knowledge of nothing. Now by observing the out∣ward Forms of Beasts, ariseth Physiognomy in Man: For look what Beasts a Man resembles most, either in Face or Proportion, he is truly said to possess the Dis∣position and Nature thereof.

If now we descend to Plants and Roots, we shall there enter a Theatre of Signatures worthy our Con∣templation. For Example: Solatrum vesicatorium (bar∣barously termed Alkakenge) shuts up its Husks so soon as the Vessels thereof are filled with Juice, and reple∣nished with little Stony-Grains, as if intimating unto us by a Tacite Language, That therein resides a ver∣tue of Purging the Bladder, and of Diminishing the Gravel and Stone therein.

Chelidonia, not only Blushes with a certain Bloody Moisture, and therewith stains the Hands of him that Touches it, but in the Root it also shews a Cavity much like the Ventricles in the Heart of Man: whereby is intimated that its vertue is to Purge the Blood, to quicken the Vital Spirit, and to free the Heart from the Injuries of Poyson.

Cynosbatus, as also Mespylus, fill the Belly with little Stones, that break in pieces the Stone in the Bladder.

Carduus offends the Fingers of those that touch it by prickles, yet such is the secret vertue thereof, that it consumes and Expels all pricklings and stingings in the Body of Man.

The Numulariae resembles in the Leaves th••reof the Epiglossis, and heals the Inflammation of the Throat.

Nux Juglans and Moscara r••present in the Faces thereof the Composure of the Brain and Head, and are therefore comfortable to both.

Orchis in the Root thereof, resembles the Testicles, and therefore is Venus excited by it.

The Hypericon and Persicaria are notoriously known to Operate according to their proper Signatures.

Many Hundreds more might be instanc'd of Flowers, Seeds, Leaves, and Roots. The Signatures are most apparent in such Herbs as are least endued with Odour: Those that are Sweeter, Evidence their Vertues unto us (notwithstanding we were Blind) by their Smell. So also in the Leaves of Trees, in Rinds and Barks, in Wood and Roots, we find such Signatur••s, as do ma∣nifest the hidden Vertues thereof, and thereby learn to apply them to Humane use, or the Healing of Diseases. The like we see in Stones and Metals.

If this then be so clear in the Stars and Signs of Hea∣ven, if so in Animals, Plants, Roots, Stones, and Me∣tals: Who but a Mad-man, or Fool dare say, That the

like Signs in the Hand of Man are Idle and Vain? Man is he for whom all things were made, and where∣in all things of the Greater World are comprehended, although with a Face more Occult. Man only Rejoy∣ceth in this Honour [that he hath a Resemblance, Ope∣ration, and Conversation with all things in the World:] He symbolizeth (as I may say) with the Matter in the Proper Subject, with the Elements in their Four∣fold Composure of Body, with the Plants in the Ve∣getative Vertue, with the other Animals in the Sensi∣tive, with the Heavens in the Sydereal Spirit; that is, in the Motion and Influence of the Superiour Bo∣dies upon these Inferiour, with the Angels in the In∣tellect, Wisdom, and Speech; with God himself in the Containing Power of all things. And therefore we cannot imagine the Signs so variously Pourtray'd in the Hand of Man are in vain: But that they are there placed by Nature, with intent to make known unto us the Inscrutable Works of GOD, if Job (Chapter 37.) may be Credited.

That the Explanation of these Signs is named Chiro∣mancy, I need not acquaint you: Nor what Canons the Ancient and Modern Philosophers have written con∣cerning the same: Only this I shall tell you, My Author hath not only (in this small Tract) Reduced all to a Concise and Methodical Discourse, and added divers others of his own Observations: But also Illustrated the Practick Part thereof with sundry Notable Examples, whereby he hath manifested an Astrological Consent and Harmony betwixt the Hands and Genitures of all Men. A work not attempted by any before him. And whereas the Masters in this Science have not Assigned the Tubercula, or Mounts of the Hand to the Planets, without some Successive Discrepancy: Nor although all of them deliver it for a general Rule [That by how

much every one hath a Planet more Dignified at the Hour of his Birth, by so much more Evident the Cha∣racters and Signs will appear upon the Region appro∣priated to the same Planet,] yet hath not this been ap∣proved untill by this Author, who hath hereby abolished all former Doubts, and clearly demonstrated the Truth of that Doctrine.

Nor hath He thereby (in my Judgment) restor'd the Art of Chiromancy to more certainty, than he hath confirmed the Grounds and Credit of Astrology, and dash'd in Pieces the Bug-bear Arguments of all the Enemies of either: For what more Convincing to the Judicious, than if (by Inspection made into the Hand of any Man) I truly pronounce this or that Planet Es∣sentially Dignified or Angular in his Geniture, or in such or such a Position with other Planets or Stars: Another Infortunate, Afflicted, or Dejected? Or if (on the contrary) by looking first into the Geniture, and considering therein the several Positures of the Pla∣nets, and their Configurations one to another, and with other Stars; I tell him (and that distinctly and truly) the Lines and Signatures engraven in his Hand: What (I say) is or can be more satisfaction than this to Ratio∣nal M••n, as touching the Power and Influence of the Planets and Stars upon these Inferiours, and consequently of the Lawful use and verity of the Sciences of Astro∣logy and Chiromancy, betwixt whom there is such a secret Coherence and Harmony? And this I dare un∣dertake to perform for the Honour of these Sciences, to the shame of all Malicious and Pestilent Detractors.

Indeed (I confess) we cannot by Chiromancy so ex∣actly determine the time of any Accident, as by Astro∣logy, where the Arch of Direction may be Resolv'd in∣to the most Scrupulous Parts of Days: I suppose Chiro∣mancy was not so much Ordained by Providence for the

use of such whose Purer sights can penetrate the Coele∣stial Spheres, and there exactly read their own, or others Fate, in those Golden Letters of the Stars: But rather for the Benefit of such that be of a Grosser Genius, and whose Dimmer Eyes cannot Discern the Decrees of Na∣ture at so great a Distance. Yet are not these Signa∣tures wanting in any Man (more, or less) lest he should prove wanting to himself in the Accomplishing of a Higher Scrutiny.

As touching the Version it self, I have done it with all Integrity: And if in some places I may seem to differ from the Original, it is but where I find the Author abounding more with Elegance, than Variety of Mat∣ter, and even forsaking the Terms of Art, rather than he will miss of an Eloquent Expression: For perhaps I have herein sometimes Contracted him, yet still re∣tained his Genuine Sense. In other Places I have only Corrected the Errors of the Press, the which indeed were many more than the Author's Errata specified, and very Gross ones besides: And therein have done no more than I desire others may do for Me. For any thing else I know not that I have exceed••d the Laws of Transla∣tion, unless it be in retaining the Terms of Art, and that I did purpos••ly, lest in Abolishing them, I should therewith abolish the Art also: Nevertheless in the first Seven Pages I have given the English thereof, and that (I hope) is suffici••nt.

The End proposed, is, That h••reby all Persons, who are not acquainted with the Latine, might in plain English Read and understand their own Destiny: And (if possible) Avert (at least-wise Mitigate) the Mis∣chiefs Threatned them: Or with comfort attend, and (by Humane Prudence) Cherish and Augment the Good portended: Whereby they may greatly be enabled to give God thanks for his Infinite Mercy and Good∣ness;

at least-wise Glorifie him in the midst of their greatest Afflictions.

And this is the first Tract (of this Nature) that ever appeared in the English Tongue; and I may confidently say in any Language whatsoever, (the Latine excepted;) wherein the Author writ no less Learnedly, than Ele∣gantly: And I heartily wish (and d••sire, Sir, you will joyn with me in it) That some one or other of our ablest Astrologers, (who have better Encouragements than my self,) would pursue this Design of the Authors, it being (in my Opinion) the best and only way of bring∣ing this Science the nearest to Perf••ction.

Sir, I have now but a little to say, and that is, First, to give you Thanks for all the variety of Favours you have conferred upon me ever since the first Hour of our (to me) Happy Acquaintance: Next, to assure you (in a short time) Ptolomy himself, in the English Tongue, which so long hath be••n expected from me, yet still retarted by Reason of the many Discourage∣ments and Cross-grain'd Events I have Laboured under for some Years past, begging your kind Acceptance of this in the Interim: Then to crave your Pardon for this Prolixity: And Finally, the Continuance of your wonted Affection and Opinion of Him, who unfeignedly am,

Feb. 18. 1651/2.

Sir,

Yours in the utmost of all True Love and Friendship, Geo. Wharton.