the directs the hunters to their prey, and the warriors to the enemy, and is rewarded with a fhare of the fpoils; but the unhappy female who aspires to this dignity, and whose prefages are fallacious, (for there are frequently rivals) never efcapes without a fevere beating. These circumftances recall to the mind Cæfar's account of the ancient Germans, and they are not the only ones in which the Indians ftrongly refemble the Celts. A perfuafion fo general and fo permanent must depend on affociations not more remote than those enumerated, but when we trace it, through the viciffitudes of governments, and alterations of manners, to the very close of the last century; when we discover that fome of the firft men in rank and abilities, of fo late a period, fupported it, and that fober and learned writers have defended it a few years back, we must admit the influence of longestablished custom, and the dignity of antiquity to have powerfully affifted this delufion. Artifice and credulity have also confpired to its permanency; and the Aftrological phyficians, founding their opinions on fome phænomena in the courfe of difeafes, which later observations feem to extend *, had their full fhare in this operation. Cardan was one of the most celebrated medical aftrologers, and boasts with much fatisfaction, that on being informed of the fymptoms for which Hamilton, Archbishop of St. See Dr. Balfour's Obf. Andrews Andrews, wished to confult him, he declared without hefitation the exact fituation of the planets at his nativity, which he afterwards verified, by calculating his horofcope. Several hiftorians relate that after curing the Archbishop, he foretold the manner of his death; but the truth of this affertion is extremely doubtful, for Cardan, who was not difpofed to conceal his own excellence, would not have failed to boast of so extraordinary a circumftance, yet we find no trace of the prediction in his works, though he published Hamilton's Horoscope, among others, with a commentary. Porta and Fernelius followed Cardan in combining medicine with astrology. Paracelfus, by supposing a spirit derived from fome conftellation to refide in every human being, rendered the connection still more intimate. Severinus and Hartmann followed his opinions. Horftius believed not only that certain conjunctions of the stars produce epidemics, but that evil aspects produce miafmata*. The grave and fagacius Lommius fuppofes that the appearance of comets prefages the plague+. At length, the Cartefian Philofophy produced inquiries that terminated in more rational conclufions refpecting medicine; the influence of fome of the planetary bodies on the human frame was allowed, as far as they could be fuppofed to affect the ftate of the atmosphere, but the effect of their • Page 258. + Obf. Med. p. 31. afpects afpects was denied. But the opinion was not fo speedily difcredited among other claffes of men, as with phyficians. Some of the first characters in France were infatuated with their belief in pretended prophets. Wierus* fays they were remarkable in his time on this account. Sully declares that one of the confiderations which kept him faithful to his master, in the most unpromising state of his affairs, was a prediction of La Broffe, that Henry would make his fortune†; Henry himself was very uneasy, before his affaffination, on account of fome propheciest. The aftrologer Morin directed Cardinal Richlieu's motions in fome of his journies §. In this country prophecies were always eagerly attended to: Commines fays, that in his time, an Englishman was never without a prophecy in his mouth. The ftatute of Queen Elizabeth againft falfe prophecies, was occafioned by the disturbances they excited in the ftate; the Earl of Northampton, in his Defenfative, afferts that they had produced many civil commotions, and this affertion is repeated by Sir Edward Coke. During the reign of James I. the fashionable opinions encouraged every species of delufion : Lilly was an ufeful tool to the Long Parliament, and if we may truft his own reprefentation, con * De Preftig. Demon. + Memoir. § Bayle Art. Morin. fidered fidered by them with refpect; aftrologers and prophets fwarmed at that time, and the credit given to them will ceafe to furprize, when we recollect that the predictions of Rice Evans, who lived then, have found defenders in Warburton and Jortin*. To these we may add the names of Cudworth and Morhoff; the former defended prophecies in general, the latter the quatrains of Noftradamus †. It was in 1707, when this nation was advancing rapidly in the career of fcience, as well as of arms, that the French prophets appeared among us. They spoke Latin and Greek without understanding either, as they pretended (E). It must be confeffed that these infpired paffages are extremely barbarous, but they made noife enough to attract the notice of government, and the prophets finished their miffion in Bridewell. A fact deferving more attention, is that at this time, when the extenfion of knowledge and reafon is fo proudly boafted, and in this ifland of philofophers, as fome delight to term it, the poffeffion of a prophetic faculty is believed in fome of the northern parts of the kingdom; and that fupported by evidence fo ftrong, as nearly to convince one of the most acute philofophers of the age, in his vifit to thofe regions. This fpecies * See the Appendix to the first vol. of Jortin's Ecclef. Hift. Polyhift. lib. I. cap. X. tom. I. of of divination, fecond fight, or Taifh as it is called by the natives, confifts in a day-vifion as I know no better defcription of it than Thomson's, I fhall borrow his words. As when a fhepherd of the Hebride ifles, A vaft affembly moving to and fro; Then all at once in air diffolves the wond'rous fhow. CAS. OF INDOLENCE, C. I. A very diftinct view of the Second Sight may be found in Martin's Hiftory of the Weftern Inlands, with a large collection of narrations, furnished chiefly by the author's friends; feveral communicated by the Seers themselves. The vifions are frightful, and uneafy to the Seer, who thinks himself unfortunate in poffeffing this faculty. His appearance to the fpectators, during a vision, (for he alone perceives it) is, as described, fomething like that of a patient in catalepfy; he becomes immoveable, his eyes are fixed, and the eye-lids fometimes reverted. However if another Seer be prefent, the first can make him participate the vifion, if he has prefence of mind enough to touch him. They do not always understand the meaning of what VOL. III. D they |