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Part 16

William Lilly's History of His Life and Times, From the Year 1602 to 1681 · William Lilly — chapter 16 of 16 · ~331 words · public domain

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When geese and pullen are seduc'd, And sows of sucking pigs are chous'd: When cattle feel indisposition, And need th' opinion of physician; When murrain reigns in hogs or sheep, And chickens languish of the pip; When yeast and outward means do fail, And have no power to work on ale; When butter does refuse to come, And love proves cross and humoursome; To him with questions and with urine, They for discov'ry flock, or curing.

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He had been long t'wards mathematics, Opticks, philosophy, and staticks, Magick, horoscopy, astrology, And was old dog at physiology: But, as a dog that turns the spit, Bestirs himself, and plies his feet To climb the wheel, but all in vain, His own weight brings him down again; And still he's in the self-same place, Where at his setting out he was: So, in the circle of the arts, Did he advance his nat'ral parts: Till falling back still, for retreat, He fell to juggle, cant, and cheat: For as those fowls that live in water Are never wet, he did but smatter: Whate'er he labour'd to appear, His understanding still was clear, Yet none a deeper knowledge boasted, Since old Hodge Bacon, and Bob Grosted,

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Do not our great Reformers use This SIDROPHEL to forebode news? To write of victories next year, And castles taken yet i'th' air? Of battles fought at sea, and ships Sunk, two years hence, the last eclipse? A total o'er throw giv'n the KING In Cornwall, horse and foot, next spring? And has not he point-blank foretold Whatso'er the Close Committee would? Made Mars and Saturn for the cause, The Moon for fundamental laws; The Ram, the Bull, the Goat, declare Against the Book of Common Prayer; The Scorpion take the Protestation, And Bear engage for Reformation; Made all the royal stars recant, Compound, and take the covenant."

THE END.

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MAURICE, PRINTER, FENCHURCH STREET.

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