A pronostication [sic] for the yere of our Lord God M.CCCCC.xliiii practysed by the right expert doctour in astronomy and phisycke Maister Cornelys Scute ...

¶ To the Reder.

BEfore I begin to come to my principall Pro∣nosticatiō of this yere I haue taken in hand fyrst to rebuke the pro¦heme of a certayne Pronosticatiō in the yere of our lorde a thousand fyue hundreth xliii. last past / made by one maister Henry swart / of A∣sperne: which dyd his vttermost to make the people beleue that the scy¦ence of Astronomye is nothynge worth / but euyll: and the same is also a gret hyndraunce to the helth of mans body / and that some Phi¦sytions do ascribe the cause of syc∣nesses (agaynst all reason) to come by the heauens / Starres / Plane∣tes / Eclipses and Comettes. & cet. Sayeng / that if so be that this de∣uelisshe cōnyng had not ben taken

vp / many one shuld yet haue lyued longer. Cōmaundyng by his Pro¦nostication to all Phisitions / that they shuld leue this connyng of A∣stronomye / alonely to practyse the right bokes of surgery. And also more iniury hath he done agaynst this excellent cōnyng / which were to longe here to expresse. Now to come to euery poynt afore wrytten only to testifye / that the same con∣nyng of Astronomy is nedefall / & principally for Phisytions to my∣nister by to them that haue nede of it / for to helpe and cure the body of man. So it is of a truth / that Hi∣pocrates / whose auctorotye and ex¦cellency in surgery he can not deny by reason / all this sayenge in the Greke tonge / now tourned in to Englysshe: who that shall gyue himself

•…•…ing of the sicknes shalbe of vomy¦tynge coller or wamblynge of the mawe. All such lyke sycknes shall be apte to take all colde congealed maters: for as moche as the mone is not shadoed w^t any other good Planetes / the man shall dye in the first quadrāt / that is to wyt / whan the mone shall come the thyrd syne folowyng: But if the mone be sha¦doed with any good planets / than shall the man ouer comme it in the first quadrant: that is to wyt / with in. vii. or. viii. days after. Also Gallene sayth in the ende of the sa∣me boke ī this maner: that a good Phisytion oughte to haue euer in his remembraunce the scyence of Astronomy / and that with all his endeuer ought to enquyre the day and tyme whan the sycknes began

or what tyme the hurte or fall / or o∣ther such lyke chaunsed / and must loke than after what sorte the he∣uens & starres stode at that tyme / consydring that here in this world chaunseth nothing / but by the pro∣curement of the heuen aboue.

Also the gret lerned man Hermes Termegiscus / speketh after this maner: A good Phisytion whiche shall helpe a man by cōnyng / must beholde the constitution or inclina¦tion of heuē / with the starres / how they agre togither. Also Aristotle sayth / in the fyrst boke and second chapiter. Also Auicen Doctrina. i••. cap, vii, Secundum res celestes & res terrestres eueniūt, ille uero que res secuntur celestes, sunt sicut ea que stella••ū causa accidunt, est enim cū¦multe ex stellis in uno coniungitur

loco et coniungitur soli, et prouenit ex hoc califactio multa. Item Ab∣homeron / Abinzoer / an excellent Phisytion sayth. libro primo cap. vii. in epilepsia paroxismi: Fieri cō¦sueuerunt ex operatione super cele∣stium corporum que a deo uiuo & ue¦ro parfectionem & influentiam habe¦re & resipere sciuntur. To this he putteth to thuetoritie of Arnoldus de uilla noua and Rasys and other lerned Phisytions / whose wordes here to declare wolde be to longe / remembryng also that here is wyt¦nessed ynough agaynst the contra∣ry sayeng of the aforesayd maister Henry: that the Scyence of Astro∣nomy is a godly connynge & nede∣full for Phisitions to know.

Item where as the aforesayd M. Henry sayth / that the Pronostica∣tions

saye not euer trew / is made answere ynough by Ptolome quin to ecētenis enuntiato. And also by Iohan Pontanium in the coment there vpon made / And also in pro∣hemio libri su••. ii. de rebus celestib{us}. it wold be to longe to reherse word for word in this lytell boke. Item this M. Henry sayth in the same Prouosticatiō (without discretiō) of a chylde of. xii. yeres. slepyng na¦turally / goyng and standyng / that within two yeres had neither eten nor drōken / sayeng that euery one learned in that naturall connynge ought to applye them selues to ma¦ke a naturall answer or reasō there vnto / the whiche he hoped to do a∣fore her face: whiche is a straunge vnderstandyng to gyue there vnto a naturall reason / which is befall

contrary agaynst all nature / folo∣wynge the sentence of Hipocrates in Aphoris. 14. where he sayth that it is agaynst goddes commaunde∣ment to gyue confydence to the pro¦nostication: so say I that it is true that we shall not beleue it so fayth∣fully as the word of god in the gos¦pell or by the prophetes which can not lye in no wyse / but must be euē as they be spoken iuxta illud, Mat. xxiiii. but it may be lauful to gyue such credence there vnto as we gy∣ue to phisycke & other. We none o∣therwyse doo dispose than the na∣turall sygnes do declare / beholdīg that the workes be wonderous ex∣ceding all iudgementes of nature. And ye shall vnderstand that I ha¦ue not sayd this before mencyoned not in derisyon or to shame the a∣foresayd

maister Henry / but alon∣ly for his vnlauful opinion that he had to argue vpon agaynst thexel∣lent connyng of Astronomy.