Mercurius cœlicus: or, a caveat to all people of the kingdome, that now have, or shall hereafter happen to reade the counterfeit, and most pernicious pamphlet written under the name of Navvorth: or, A new almanacke, and prognostication for the yeare of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 1644. (Said in the title page thereof to be) printed at Oxford by His Majesties Command.

Mercurius cœlicus: or, a caveat to all people of the kingdome, that now have, or shall hereafter happen to reade the counterfeit, and most pernicious pamphlet written under the name of Navvorth: or, A new almanacke, and prognostication for the yeare of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 1644. (Said in the title page thereof to be) printed at Oxford by His Majesties Command.

Table of contents

Title page

Mercurius Coelicus, OR A Caveat to all the People, &c.

[Page]

Mercurius Coelicus, OR A Caveat to all the People, &c.

I Suppose you are all furnished withYours have furnish'd but a few this yeare. Almanacks and Prognostications for this whole yeare ensuing, before this time; At leastwise, I hope you will not bestow your mony on so lying a Pamphlet, or spend your time so vainely in reading so notorious Ʋntruths as this counterfeitSpell my name, and confesse your Ignorance. Naworth would fain perswade you to beleive. As for the Chronologicall part thereof, which he stiles thus, With a breife Chronology of the most remarkable Occurrences since the beginning of this Rebellion: Calculated exactly for the Latitude and Meridian of the famous Ʋniversity and City of Oxford; I must intreat you to beleive me; for the veryLondon Truth, whereto you had need beg assent. truth is. All that Infamous Chronology is nothing else but a Collection of Ʋntruths, raked out of the Dunghill of Mercurius Aulicus his abominable lying Legend; which, like the Infections Disease now raging at Oxford, and other the Westerne parts of the Kingdome, had like to have poysoned all the people thereof, had not his Anti-Mercury, our freind Britannicus, seasonably given them an Antidote to purge and cure the Melancholly gotten by that malignant Aulicus. I beleive he hath calculated it exactly for the Meridian of Oxford; for it can serve no other place of the Kingdome: TheYes they daily tell you (in plaine English) you are Rebels and Traitors to His Majesty. people there, dare not speake truth; And how then, thinke you, dare they write? His reckoning up of (fained) Victories at this and that place, are all false Calculations: Methinks the veryYou mistake. The sight of them could not. thought of Keynton, Edge-hill, or Newbury, should strike him dead. I could tell him ofReckon up you gaines, and spare your Thanksgivings. Alton, Gainsborough, Arundell, &c. If h Nay I'le try if you can doe that, you have seene the way. he would but tell us of their (our enemies) true Losses, as well as of their fainedVictories are ours, Fictions yours. Victories, in which (to their perpetuall [Page] shame) they so much boast, the Kingdome would be more sensible of the bloud thatThey at Westminster. they have caused to be spilt, & unanimously rise to suppresse their cruell Tyranny,l Remember your purchase of Eccleshall-Castle, and Arundell. 'Tis easier with you to purchase, then conquer. their bloudy and inhumane cruelties. How dares he write of Victories? If ever they (for whom that Almanack was calculated) got any, it was by Treachery. As for the word Rebell he so often mentions in that lying Chronology, surely (if I be not mistaken in my Figure (which I seldome do) he meanes himselfe, and those that live in that Clymate where he calculated his Erra-Pater (for he is of very neere kindred toNow you honour mee. Mercurius Aulicus, who is the sonne of Pater Errorum) together with those inhumane bloudyThose that your pretended [...]ouses sent over to suppresse the Rebellion there, (whil'st themselves had raised a worse here) are now return'd to secure His Majesty from their more Bloody hands. Irish Rebells, who before and since the Cessation in that unhappy Kingdome of Ireland, are come over, and joyned with the Atheisticall and Papisticall people of that, this, and other Kingdoms, To destroy the King and Parliament, subvert our Religion, Lawes, and Liberties; To bring in Tyranny, Slavery, Popery, and all the misery that ever this Nation suffered: Surely, if ever there were Rebels these are they, Of the off spring of Cain, very Cannibals: I have gotten these base words by reading of him; And therefore, lest I be infected with this Oxford-Malady, I send him hisIt seemes they have wrought, For since you tooke my Dose, you have vomited filthy [...] Humours. I hope e're long to cure you. words againe, which he shall never claw off till he amend his Calculation and begI need none, if I did▪ it might be drawne at London, but must be seal'd at Oxford. pardon of the King and Parliament for his so grossely abusing them, and endeavouring to seduce the whole Kingdome; But, I doubt, A great Seale, which he sayes (falsly) is at Oxford will do them little good: And for the other the Great Seale, which Yes truly, the King and His Chancellor be at London, by the Statute of Articuli super Chartas An 28. E. 1. Ch. 5 But as they are both here, and you have counterfeited another Seale there Read at leasure (and for your comfort) that other Statute. An. 25. E. 3. truely is here, I hope the Parliament will make such use of it, that all those whom I named before (Rebells) shall, ere long, receive their just reward. Reader, beleeve it, There was never so many Lyes heaped together in so short and few lines, since the word Almanack was used

But stay Master G. N. I have not done with you yet, in your Astronomicall Observations. If you be the same Naworth of West Aukland, that wrote an Almanack for the yeares 1641. and 1642. and referred it to the Latitude of Durham, I honour you, and now give you thanks for your Remembrance (in one of them I then saw before it was printed) of some Observations I made upon the Eclipse of the Sun in May, 1639. which you had published to [Page] the whole world, had not some of the Bishops Chaplaines, Baker, Bray, Wikes, Heywood, or some of their fellowes, made an Index Expugatorius thereof, as they usually did in my Almanacks. But me thinkes you should not be he that then wrote; for in the yeare 1642. you understood your selfe very well when in that years Revolution, and the Effects of the two Eclipses of the Moon, you said thus (for I will use your ownYou doe well in rehearsing of them: For they deeply concerne your Pretended 2. Houses, and City: as being the Authors of all the Miseries therein meant, and since verified. words) Mixing the Effects of the Eclipses with the Lunateous, & other powerfull Aspects which the Embassadors of Heaven pronounce unto us, The Conjunction of Jupiter & Mars, the 15 of May, And of Saturne and Mars the 30; VVe cannot cleer our selves in generall or particular of many strange Accidents, (which will amaze and distract divers;) for the Moon is (at the middle of either Eclipse) in the eighth House of the Heavens, in domo mortis, &c. Mars is Almuten, or cheif Ruler at the first Eclipse of the Moon; And Mercury of the second; And both of them in Signis humanis: If therefore we escape sharpe tertian Feavers, War, Famine, Pestilence, House-breakings, Rapes, Depopulations, Man-slaughters, secret Sediditions, Banishments, Imprisonments, violent and unexpected deaths, Robberies, Thefts, and pyraticall Invasions; If also Libellers, and Distempered Letters be forestalled and intercepted. Let the Glory be to God, For when Villany is unmasked, Vertue shineth: Busie tongues, and variable Rumours will seduce or induce many; but nothing for their good, &c. Thus far are your owne words: And now, Master Naworth, let me intreat you to remember what I mentioned at that Conjunction of Mars and Iupiter the same 15 of May you speake of, 1642, in these words, Praefectos bellorum cautos hic esse decebit, quod Res ipsa loquetur. About which time the Illegall Commission of Array was put in execution; And at, or near the same time, the Militia of the Kingdome was setled by the happy Councell and Advice of thisFor 1. Murther: 2. Sacriledge & 3. Robbery, &c. Thrice honoured (never to be forgotten) Parliament: As likewise that other Conjunction of Saturne and Mars in the end of May, where I used these words, Circa hoc Tempus Bellica Stratagemata audientur: Just at that time when Hull was sorely threatned; but (blessed be God) it is yet, and I hope will be kept out of the Enemies possession. Though there hath been used much Art and Subtilty for the betraying thereof, to, and by them, to whose Care and Trust it was [Page] then committed; In due timeYou mean the two Hothams. First, hang them for being Traitors to His Majesty, and then do what you please with them for their Treachery to you. they will be dealt with as they deserve. You may please to remember the 23 of October 1641 (which with you 1642 is called. The grand Rebellion) It is very true, the 23 of October, 1641, The unparallel'd Grand Rebellion of Ireland burst forth, for which God punisht you that very day twelve-moneth, over against which very day and time in my Almanack for that year 1642, I had noted thus much upon the Opposition of the Sun and Mars, Ventorum murmura generabit aura inquieta, Caedes quo (que) cruentae & lites atrae hinc inde per [...]rebescent. That very time you lost so much Noble Blood you speak of; And were so soundly beaten betweenYou made them 2 Battles when you spoke of your Victories. P. 2. lin. 2. Keinton and Edge hill, by the truely Valiant Robert Earle of Essex, The Parltaments Lord Generall, &c.

You'l say, It was pretty well ghest, Good wits may from off a Ladder yours may. Iumpe, I do not love to rub the Gall'd Horse back, you know my meaning (as well there, as in many other places of my Almanack) well enough; But you are turn'd Court-parasite, you, and I must part Kinred; Yet me thinks we should agree about the Effects of the last Great Conjunction of Saturne and Iupiter, which happened on theOriganus tels you the 20. sixteenth of February the last year: You calculate Had you done it rightly forwards, you had saved me that Labour. Backwards, of things done, and past: I tell you of what's to come (which is the true end of Almanacks) Hath the small difference of latitude between Oxford and Durham, so much altered you? Sure you came by Sea, for feare the Scots shouldLook to your Money, they' [...] first catch that. catch you, Et sic Animum mutâsti: I must tell you in that Great Conjuction. If II can prove you doe neither. understand my Authors, or my selfe, Iupiter was predominant, as you say about (Malignant) Saturne (a name properly given to your selfe, and your frinds.) And no doubt as Messahala an Author, I know as well as your selfe, who sayeth, Cum Iupiter fortior fuerit Saturno, significabit bonum in eadem Conjunctione (as in this Conjunction he is)Remember your Title pag. I agree with you, and that it portends much good to England, and all other the places you speak off; But England, and all other those places, &c. must first beHis Majesty intends it no doubt: purged of the Malignant humours, before the Benigne & Wholsome can come in their stead. I told you what Alsted had foretold many years since upon that Great Conjunction, I laid it was a Fore-runner of aI told you so too, in my Prognostication for this yeare P. ult. l. n. 16. through Reformation; And he said Hujus [Page]Conjunctionis Ignis consumet omnes scorias & Faeces Vrbis Romae; you see since that Conjunction what Effects it hath wrought; Remember Did Alsted tell you of the demolishing of Cheap-side-Crosse? Cheapside-Crosse, Anno Dom. 1643. On that day you call Inventio Crucis; And let me tell you what was done the eighteenth day of Ianuary, this very year, upon that very place, where Cheapside-Crosse once stood, There was many Idolatrous and Superstitious Pictures, and Images, Crucifixes, Crosses, Popish Bookes, Whips, and other your Roman-Archi-Episco-Papisticall Trinkets• in a flame; The Witnesses (besides many thousand other People) were no lesse then the Parliament, The Honourable the Lords and Commons, the Lord Generall, the Lord Admirall, with many other Colonels and Commanders, the Reverend Assembly of Divines, the Scotch Commissioners, the Lord Maior, Aldermen, and Common-Councell of London, passing fromThose that founded that Church and dedicated it to Christ, thought not of demolishing the Crosse. Christ Church, to Merchant Taylors Hall, guarded by the Regiments of the Trained Bands of London; I say, That day many Popish Reliques were consumed to ashes, which (no doubt, though it willIn earnest I tell you the Popes glad of it, and will be a gainer by it. displease the Pope; yea, and your Friends at Oxford, and elsewhere), It will be acceptable to God, and all good men; Such a sight and day, you had not atThey are better taught and implored there, then to pull down Crosses, deface Churches, or to rake amongst the ashes of the dead for Treasure, as many of your Hellish crue have done. Oxford, nor ever was there such a day, since Inventio Crucis; you see now to what heighth theThat fire hath been long a comming to Oxford, (yea, before that Conjunction happened) yet came never nigher then Tame. fire of this Conjunction flames, it is comming to Oxford very shortly; you had best shift for your selfe, For beleeve it, the Ʋniversities must beThat's done already. We have not a Rogue (like your selfe) left (that dare show his head) in a [...] the Citie. purged, you see what a necessary Element fire is, Newcastle-Coale is comming; you would fain perswade and seduce the people to beleeve that this Conjunction, which Authors call Conjunctio Planetarum maxima, Quippe Let Latine alone, you see you cannot spell it. qua reguntur leges Imperia Regiones, and that it doth Praemonstrare res magnas & mirandas venturas in mundo, yet you say it hath no signification of Warre; I thinke it had not of this Warre which you and your friends (our Enemies) at Oxford) have raised; For there was many yeers before, strange Terrestriall, Ecccesiasticall, Politicall Conjunctions, Conspiracies, Confederacies, I know not what to call them; you know Causa praecedit effectum, and who were the Planets that ruled in those times, and what a Malignant Influence they had over this Kingdome, Ireland, Scotland, &c. And [Page] what they have producced from other Forraigne States; But I must tell you again, That this late Coelestiall Conjunction hath got the predominancie, & all the Christian World will feel the effects thereof, more & more euery day. Shall I tell you what I thinke of that Great Conjunction you speak of, which was at Westminster the third of November 1640. The which God be blessedThey cannot continue long: They are in a Cadent House already, you know the Tearme. continues yet; though some Stars of the first Magnitude have fallen since, & others have proved Errant indeed, yea, & though the Terrestriall Moon hathSirra, Meddle not with Eclipses: You want Arithmetick, Geometry, and the Opticke. The Terrestriall Moon, (by which you mean the Qu. Majesty) she is as much above your malice as your slaunders. Eclipsed our Sun, for as Solest Rex Planetarum, so Rex est Sol Parliamenti) & other Stars, Stellae peregrina, nebulosae have mixed their Beams, & deprived us of the sweet & ordinary Benefit we use to receive by His presence: yet it will check your Opposition at Oxford, that I hope the Kingdome shall not be hurt one jot by the Malignant Influence thereof; I meane your Anti-Parliament there, will prove a meer Meteor, an Ignis Fatuus, A nothing. And though you may there force Ʋotes to Murther the Kings Liege People; Commit Perjuries, Prophane the Sabbath, Assemble all the false Priests, Papists, Atheists, and Iesuites, in the Kingdome; Keep the King from comming to His Parliament; Yet I trust that conjunction which was in Novemb. at Westminster, co operating with that other of February, will worke a Through Reformation indeed, throughout this Realme, by a timely purging it, of all Atheists, Papists, Iesuites, Bloody Irish Rebels, and others, the enemies of God, and true Religion; and bring the Authors of this bloody War they have raised, to condigne punishment. And as the Starres of Heaven in their Courses fought against Sisera, so no question, But these Stars at Westminster (where that more notable and more greater Conjunction was, you speake of) though they have a sharpe Combate with cruell Enemies, they shall have a Noble and Glorious Victory.

As for that Homo trium Literarum, which I bid the Kingdome beware of, if you have not Erasmus his Adages, you may please to search in some of the Colledges (if the Books be not pawned) be sure you may have it in Bodleys Library; and therein in his Title De contemptu & Vilitate, you shall finde these words. Homo trium Literarum; Per Ironiam dici potest in eum qui generosus ac ingenuosus Videri cupiat, Inde natum, quod olim ingenui nomen, praenomen,[Page]& Agnomen in literis aut Insignibus suis tribus literis notare soleant; Ʋt pro Quinto Valerio Maximo. Q V M. Plautus in Aulularia jocum aliò detersit, nempe in servum Furacem, Subjicit enim: F V R trifurcifer: In this sense I understood it, And thereby meant your Cavaliers would turne Theeves and Robbers, as you may easily understand, by the residue which follows my Premonition; But because you have corrupted the Text, (as you use to do) and have construed Homo trium Literarum, to be You are used to Lye, I construed it to be Say or Pym. Rex; I shall heartily desire, and pray God, That His Maiesty would not hearken any longer to you at Oxford, but return to Nathaniell Fiennes ha [...]h another exposition. His Parliament at London; and then that place of Scripture you mention as a Donation to him (at the end of your Legend in December) will be performed; But till that be done, I shall tell you of an (Ablation) another place of Scripture, Proverbs 25. 5. Take away the wicked from before the King, and his Throne shall be established in Righteousnesse. I say, till this be done, I do not foresee that honourable Greeting, which you say, Paulus Iovius saluted Charles the Great with, will happen this Revolution to our King Charles. And therefore Master G. N. because you and your friend Aulicus may not any longer abuse the Kingdome; you by your lying Almanack, and he by his lying Pamphlet. I will give you both one Character; you shall find it in the same Erasmus, a litle before Homo trium Literarum, your Companion Homo Trioboli, pro Homine nequissimo, planeque nullius pretii: The English whereof, is truely your name, No worth, or a Man worth nothing. And so I wish you leave calculating for Oxford, and return to Durham, where theDurham wi [...]h its Neighbours will make the Scots return. Scots are approaching; and upon your submission, they may happily remit you your Errours; But beleeve me, if they'Twere good you were as well resolv'd as wee are. take You, & Aulicus together at Oxford, you cannot receive the Benefit of the Seal, you say is there; For the truth is, you are both impardonable.

Iohn Booker.

24 Ianuary. 1643-44

§

§

[Page]

Mercurius Coelicus: OR, A CAVEAT To all people of the KINGDOME, That now have, or shall hereafter happen to reade the counterfeit, and most pernicious Pamphlet written under the name of NAWORTH: OR, A New Almanacke, AND Prognostication For the yeare of our Lord and Saviour IESUS CHRIST 1644. (Said in the Title Page thereof to be) Printed at Oxford by His Majesties Command.

London, Printed by J. Raworth, for John Partridge.

Information about this book

Title statement

Mercurius cœlicus: or, a caveat to all people of the kingdome, that now have, or shall hereafter happen to reade the counterfeit, and most pernicious pamphlet written under the name of Navvorth: or, A new almanacke, and prognostication for the yeare of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 1644. (Said in the title page thereof to be) printed at Oxford by His Majesties Command.

Wharton, George, Sir, 1617-1681.

Edition statement

1644

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A96281

ID [STC]

Wing W1550

ID [STC]

Thomason E35_12

ID [STC]

Thomason E35_13

ID [STC]

ESTC R12223

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99859238

ID [PROQUEST]

99859238

ID [VID]

154622

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Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A96281)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 154622)

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— Mercurius cœlicus: or, a caveat to all people of the kingdome, that now have, or shall hereafter happen to reade the counterfeit, and most pernicious pamphlet written under the name of Navvorth: or, A new almanacke, and prognostication for the yeare of our Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ 1644. (Said in the title page thereof to be) printed at Oxford by His Majesties Command., Wharton, George, Sir, 1617-1681., Booker, John, 1603-1667. Mercurius cœlicus., Wharton, George, Sir, 1617-1681. Mercurio-cœlico mastix..

Extent

[2], 6, [2], 4 [i.e. 14] p.

Printed by J. Raworth [i.e. H. Hall], for John Partridge,. London [i.e. Oxford] :: [1644]. (In two parts. Part 1 is an Oxford H. Hall reprint of John Booker's Mercurius cœlicus, with sarcastic marginal notes by George Wharton (who used the pseudonym Naworth). Part 2, Wharton's Mercurio-cœlico mastix, has a separate dated title page and separate pagination; register is continuous.) (Page 14 is misnumbered 4.) (This edition of part 1 has no title page border.) (Annotation on Thomason copy: "March 4th 1643".) (Part 2 (Thomason E.35[13]) = Wing W1550, though it was not issued separately (cf. Madan).) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

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