ment; remedies wrapped up in scarlet cloth; ear-rings, and common rings made of ostrich's bones. Reginald Scot states, that if a Jasper be set in silver, and worn as a ring on the finger, its virtues are reported to be great and various, of which he gives the following summary, in a quaint translation from Marbodeus, by Abraham Fleming.

Seven kinds and ten of Jasper-stones

Reported are to be;

Of many colours this is known

Which noted is by me,
And said in many places of

The world for to be seen
Where it is bred; but yet the best
Is through the shining green,
And that which proved is to have
In it more virtue plac'd;
For being born about of such
As are of living chaste,
It drives away their Ague fits,
The Dropsy thirsting dry,
And put upon a woman weak
In travail which doth lie,
It helps, assists, and comforts her
In pangs, when she doth cry.
Again it is believ'd to be

A safeguard frank and free,
To such as wear and bear the same;

And if it hallow'd be,

It makes the parties gracious,

And mighty too that have it;
And noisome fancies (as they write
That meant not to deprave it)
It doth displace out of the mind:
The force thereof is stronger,
In Silver if the same be set,

And will endure the longer.

In the sixteenth century, we have Amulets worn round the neck against pestilence, made of arsenick; and warehoused in large quantities. One item says, "A hundryth wight of amletts for the neke, xxxs iiijd."-The author of the "Vulgar Errors" tells us, that hollow stones, called in

the North holy stones, are hung up in stables to prevent the night-mare, or ephialtes; and the Rev. Mr. Shaw, in his account of Elgin, &c. (See Appendix to Pennant's Tour,) informs us, that at the full moon in March, they cut withes of the misletoe, or ivy, make circles of them, keep them all the year, and pretend to cure hectics and other disorders by them. The reader who wishes to pursue the subject, may find ample opportunity in perusing old Reginald Scot's rare and curious work, entitled, The Discovery of Witchcraft, London, 1665, folio, in which, whilst he acknowledges the existence of witches and the influence of many kinds of divination, of which he gives, what he regards, incontrovertible instances, he also endeavours to expose the fallacy and fraud in the practices of many pretenders to the arts of divination, necromancy, and witchcraft, and warns the magistrates to be cautious in receiving the evidence preferred against persons accused of witchcraft and similar arts; and to exercise mercy in their judicial sentences.-"Surely their charms," saith he, "can no more reach to the hurting or killing of men or women, than their imaginations can extend to the stealing and carrying away of horses and mares. Neither hath God given remedies to sickness or griefs, by words or charms, but by herbs and medicines, which He himself hath created upon earth, and given men knowledge of the same; that he might be glorified for that therewith He doth vouchsafe that the maladies of men and cattle should be cured: and if there be no affliction nor calamity, but is brought to pass by Him; then let us defy the Devil, renounce all his works, and not so

* Fosbrooke's Encyclopedia of Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 207, 208, 223. London, 1825, 4to.-Wotton's Miscellaneous Discourses, relating to the Traditions and Usages of the Scribes and Pharisees, &c. vol. ii. p. 49. London, 1718, 8vo.-Scot's (R.) Discovery of Witchcraft, B. xiii. Chap. vii. p. 169.— Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities, Chap. ix. p. 97, and Appendix p. 380. London, 1810, 8vo.

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TALISMANS AND TALISMANIC FIGURES.

much as once think or dream upon the supernatural power of witches. Neither," adds he, writing at a period when persons suspected of witchcraft were frequently put to death, "let us prosecute them with such despight, whom our fancy condemneth, and our reason acquitteth: our evidence against them consisting in impossibilities, our proofs in unwritten verities, and our whole proceedings in doubts and difficulties." (Address to the Readers.)

DISSERTATION IX.

ON

JUDICIAL ASTROLOGY.

ASTROLOGY is the science of Planetary Influence, in general. NATURAL ASTROLOGY Comprehends the predicting of natural effects; as the changes of weather, winds, storms, hurricanes, thunder, floods, earthquakes, &c.-JUDICIAL or JUDICIARY ASTROLOGY is that which pretends to foretel moral events, or such as have a dependence on the free-will and agency of man, from the aspects and positions of the heavenly bodies.

Judicial Astrology was probably invented in Chaldæa, and thence transmitted to the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans; though some ascribe it to the Ethiopians, and others to the Arabians or Egyptians.*-The professors of it maintain, “That the heavens are one great volume or book, wherein God has written the history of the world; and in which every man may read his own fortune, and the transactions of his time.-The art, they say, had its rise from the same hands as astronomy itself. While the ancient Assyrians, whose serene unclouded sky favoured their celestial observations, were intent on tracing the paths and

* Stanley's History of Philosophy: Chaldaick Philosophy, pp. 757, 763, 774, London, 1743, 4to.-Bergier, Dictionnaire de Theologie, tom. i. p. 282 -Astrologie Judiciaire, Toulouse, 1819. 8vo.-Young, On Idolatrous Corruptions in Religion, vol. ii. p. 135.

periods of the heavenly bodies, they discovered a constant settled relation of analogy between them and things below; and hence were led to conclude these were the Parca, the destinies, so much talked of, which preside at our births, and dispose of our future fate. The laws, therefore, of this relation being ascertained, by a series of observations, and the share each planet has therein; by knowing the precise time of any person's nativity, they were enabled, from their knowledge in astronomy, to erect a scheme or horoscope of the situation of the planets, at that point of time and hence, by considering their degree of power and influence, and how each was either strengthened or tempered by some other, to compute what must be the result thereof."*"The way in which the Chaldeans observed the horoscope of any nativity was, that a Chaldean sat in the night-time on some high promontory, or lofty observatory, contemplating the stars: another sat by the woman till she was delivered. As soon as she was delivered, it was signinied to him who was on the promontory or observatory, which as soon as he heard, he observed the sign then rising for the horoscope; but, in the day, he attended to the ascendants and sun's motion."t

Such is Astrology as presented to us by its advocates and apologists; yet with all its lofty pretensions it can neither afford certainty to the enquirer, nor happiness to the adept. It is erroneous in its principles, and uncertain in its data it affects a knowledge beyond the reach of human intellect, assumes positions inconsistent with Revelation, and infers conclusions contradicted by the common experience of mankind.

1. Astrological investigations proceed upon the possibility of ascertaining a knowledge of the contingencies of

* Encyc. Perth.-Astrology.

+ Stanley's Chaldaick Philosophy, ut sup. p. 778.-Landseer's Sabaan Researches, p. 54.