Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/387

 A S H M O L E. affairs being now grown dcfperate, after the furreruler c;arrifon of Worcelk'r, Mr. Afhmole retired again to Chi-fhire, ^ where he continued till October, and then returned to Lon- don : upon his arrival in town, he became acquainted with Lilly's Hift. the great aftiologers, fir Jonas Moore, Mr. Lilly, and Mr. of jj Life ..., i i ti j and Fimci. Booker, who received him into their fraternity, and elected him Reward of their annual feaft. In 1647, he went down into Berkfhire, where he lived an agreeable and retired life, in the village of Enslefield. It was here that he became Diary, p.ij, O O acquainted with the lady Alainwaring, to whom he was mar- ried on the i6th of November, 164.9. Soon after his mar- riage, he went and fettled in London, where his houfe was frequented by all the learned and ingenious men of that time. Mr. Afhmole was a diligent and curious collector of manu- fcripts. In 1650, he published a treatife written by Dr. Ar- thur Dee, relating to the philolopher's ftone ; together with another trael: on the fame fubjeir, by an unknown au- thor [A!. About the fame time he was bulled in preparing for ("A] He puhliffied thefe pieces under a fictitious name ; the title runs thus : " Fafciculus chemicus ; or Chymical Collections expreffing the Ingrefs and Egrefs of the feciet hermetic Science, out of the choiceft and moft famous au- thors: whereunto is added the Arca- num or grand Secret of hermetic Philo- fophy, boh made Englifh by James Halolle, cfq. rjui eft Mercuriophilus Anglicus. Lonaort, 1650,* duodecimo. In his prolegomena he fpeaks thus : " I here prefent you with a fummary ' colleSion of the choiceft flowers " growing in the hermetic gardens, " forted and bound up in one complete " and lovely pofy ; a way whereby " psinful inquifitors avoid the ufual " discouragements met with in a tedi- " ous wandering through each long " ftances wherewith envious philofo- " phers have enlarged their labours, " purpofely to puzzle or weary the moft " refolved undertakings. It is true, " the manner of delivery ufed by the " ancients upon this fubj ..}, is very " far removed from the common path " of d.fcourle ; yet 1 believe they were 4i conflrained (for the wei-ht and ma- " jefty of the fecret) to invent thofe " metaphors, paraboks, and figwes." Before the arcanum there is an hie- roglyj)hical frontifpiece, in feveral compartmentf. At the top is Phoebus, fitting on a lion, holding the fun in his hand j and oppome Co him Diana, with the moon in one hand and an arrow in the other, fitting on a crab : between them is Hermes, on a tripod, with a fcheme of the heavens in one hand, and his caduceus in the other? in the middle of the page is an altar, with the buft of a man, his head being covered by an aftrological fcheme, drop- ped by a hand from the clouds; in the middle of the fcheme are the!e words," " Aflra regunt homines," i. e. The ftars govern mankind ; on the- altar are theft word?, " Mercuriophilus Anglicus," i. e. The Englifh lover of hermetic philofophy : on the right fide of the frontifpiece is the fun, moon, andcrofs in conjunction, and from them hangs down a fcroll, with thefe words, " Quod " eft fupcrius, eft ficut inferius, i. e. What is above is as what is beneath :'* under this fcroll is a tree, and a crea- ture gnawing the root. On one fide is a pillar, adorned with mufical inftru- montj, rules, compafi'es, and mathe- matical fchemes ; on the other, a pillar of the like kind, wiih all forts of mar- tial mufic and inftrun-ents of war. At the bottom of the pag: ftands the fol- lowing tetraftic : Thcfc
 * walk, or winding maze, which are
 * the ordinary and guileful circum-
 * occult kind of expreffions in aeiiigmas