Contents - BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD - INDEX TO CHAPTERS - INDEX TO BIBLIOGRAPHIES - INDEX TO AUTHORS

The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume VII. Cavalier and Puritan.

IX. Historical and Political Writings

§ 5. William Lilly

A word should, perhaps, be added as to Secret Observations on the Life and Death of Charles King of England, by William Lilly, “student of Astrology,” which forms part II of a larger tract entitled Monarchy, or no Monarchy in England (1651). In part I, various prophecies are in good faith treated as fulfilled—especially Ambrose Merlin’s famous prophecy of the white king, dating nine hundred years back. Part II is a historical account of the life of Charles I from his childhood to his death, which is fair to certain sides of his character, though the animus of the whole is anti-episcopalian and anti-royalist. As a matter of course, no important occasion is allowed to go by without a horoscope.