Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

APPENDIX.

F

NOTE I. PAGE 4.

THE Egyptians worshipped a great number of animals, as the ox, the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the ibis, the cat, &c. Of all these, the bull Apis was the most famous. Magnificent temples were erected to him; extraordinary honours were paid him while he lived, and still greater after his death; Egypt went then into a general mourning. His obsequies were solemnized with such pomp as is scarcely credible. In the reign of Ptolemy Lagus, the bull Apis dying of old age, the funeral pomp, besides the ordinary expenses, amounted to upwards of 11,2507. sterling. Even leeks, onions, and vile insects, were acknowledged as deities, and were invoked in necessity, and depended upon for protection."-Rollin's Ancient History, vol. i.

66

Among the Greeks, ants were used in divination, and generally foretold good; bees were accounted an omen of future eloquence; locusts, snakes, and serpents,

were ominous. All marks upon the body, and spots resembling oil were omens of various signification. Sneezing too, according to the time of day, and other circumstances, was either lucky or unlucky. The unexpected meeting of an ape, a snake lying in the way, or a hare crossing the road, were unfortunate omens. The throwing down of salt, the spilling of water, wine, or honey, and various other accidents were deemed ominous."-Harward's Grecian Antiquities.

"The Romans also took omens from sneezing, the spilling of salt, and quadrupeds crossing the way, or appearing in an unaccustomed place. Cæsar, in landing at Adrumetum, in Africa, with his army, happened to fall on his face, which was reckoned a bad omen; but he, with great presence of mind, turned it to the contrary: for, taking hold of the ground with his right hand, and kissing it, as if he had fallen on purpose, he exclaimed I take possession of thee O Africa.' -Adam's Roman Antiquities.

[ocr errors]

"The Greeks, Romans, and Indians, believed that over every movement in the natural world, and over every function in civil or domestic life, even the most common and trivial, a particular deity presided."—Robertson on Ancient India.

66

II. PAGE 6.

In Zadkiel's Almanack for 1837, the Lieutenant, in. his notice of the total eclipse of the Moon in that year, says, In Ireland this eclipse will bring grief, sickness, and a sad want of provisions; a failing harvest, by means of rain and floods, moving bogs, &c. This eclipse will be felt in Ireland, from the 4th of May all through the summer. It will cause something serious in Ireland, and also in France, about the New Moon in May. In both

:

those countries many quarrels with their leading men, and the people; also great quarrels among themselves. A destructive epidemic may be feared, and sickness among the cattle in Ireland, &c. Much bloodshed and murder while the Sun is passing through Taurus and Leo, &c." Fontenelle, in his "Plurality of Worlds," has the following remarks upon eclipses -“Throughout the East Indies, when the Sun and Moon are eclipsed, the inhabitants believe that a great dragon, with his black claws, is going to seize those luminaries; and all the time the eclipse lasts, you may see whole rivers covered with the heads of these Indians, who have put themselves up to the throat in water, because, according to their notions, this is a very religious act, and will induce the Sun or Moon to defend itself bravely against the dragon. In America, it was thought that the Sun and Moon were angry when they were eclipsed, and every kind of absurdity was practised to regain their favour. The Grecians, too, who had arrived at such a height of refinement, did they not for a long time believe that the Moon was eclipsed by the power of sorcery; and that the magicians caused her to descend from the skies, and cast a baneful influence on the herbs? And were not we, thirty years ago,

likewise, in great alarm but two and [1654] at a total eclipse of the Sun? Did not an immense number of people shut themselves up in caves and cellars; and were they easily persuaded to leave them by the philosophers, who wrote so much to reassure them? Really, replied the Marchioness, all this is too ridiculous. There ought to be a decree passed to prevent any body from ever talking of eclipses, lest the memory of such follies should be perpetuated." Are the Lieutenant's notions more rational than those just quoted? In his Horoscope (page 51), he informs us that "Earth

quakes follow close on the heels of eclipses"; and also "Earthquakes may always be expected near the perihelion of great comets"!

III. PAGE 15.

Cicero says of Demosthenes, that "He could not pronounce the letter p (rho), but by exercise he caused himself to pronounce it very plainly. But if those things were produced and handed down from the stars [astro ingenerata et tradita essent], no circumstance could change them."

IV. PAGE 17.

It is remarkable that Dryden was a believer in ju dicial astrology. He calculated the nativities of his sons, and his prediction respecting his son Charles is said to have been accomplished.

66

V.-PAGE 23.

In the Horoscope (page 55), an answer is attempted to be given to the objection against astrology, as derived from the precession of the equinoxes. The Lieutenant there says · Ptolemy did not declare, nor does any subsequent astrologer declare, that it was the constellations which create the signs of the zodiac." But I reply, that there are twelve signs of the ecliptic, and twelve constellations of the ecliptic; and that the signs have the same names as the constellations: it is, therefore, certain that the connexion between them was anciently recognised.

VI. PAGE 27.

It was my original intention to give the Letters of Lieutenant Morrison in the Appendix, but as every thing

in the shape of argument advanced by him is fairly quoted, and as their insertion would have materially increased the bulk and price of the book, they are omitted. If the Lieutenant should think that their publication will reflect honour on himself and his cause, the press is open to him; and, as his pecuniary resources are far beyond mine, he can better afford to defray the expense of their publication.

VII.-PAGE 29.

"A voice for this world"-This is proved from the different works on astrology. However, it is admitted that some professors have gone a little farther. It has been affirmed that " He who hath Saturn happily constituted with Leo at his nativity, shall, when he departs this life, immediately return to heaven"; and that “ Any person happily placed under Mars, being in the ninth, shall be able to cast out devils by his presence only."

VIII. PAGE 38.

"All nations before the just length of the solar year was known, reckoned months by the course of the Moon; and years by the returns of winter and summer, spring and autumn; and, in making calendars for their festivals, they reckoned thirty days to a lunar month, and twelve lunar months to a year, taking the nearest round numbers; whence came the division of the ecliptic into 360 degrees."-Chronicle of the Greeks by Sir I. Newton.

Cicero says, 66

IX. PAGE 46.

I enquire whether all who fell at the battle of Cannae were born under one star? The end, indeed, of all of them was one and the same."

To this we

may add, that the troops of Emylius and Terentius Varro fought under the same aspects as those of Hannibal.

« AnteriorContinuar »