Phillip Stubbes's Anatomy of the abuses in England in Shakspere's youth, A.D. 1583 / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall.

  • Stubbs, Philip, active 1581-1593.
Date:
1877-1882
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Phillip Stubbes's Anatomy of the abuses in England in Shakspere's youth, A.D. 1583 / edited by Frederick J. Furnivall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Tho God secs that some men will come to a bad end, he doesn’t fore-or- dain them to it. [‘ Sig. I 5, back] Serve God, and He’ll preserve you. Some say that the 12 Signs of the Zodiac and the 7 Planets and their Aspects fix men’s natures and fates. Sig. I 6] But what a drunken reason they give for it! Because a Bull is a yokc'beast here, thrre/ore a man borne under him shall he a bond'slave! ^4 tolly of tho Zoclictccil Si^tis iTifluGuciTig non, it is, that God by his prouideuce, & prefcience, doth forefee that fuch a man through his wickednes fliall come to fuch an ende. yet did not the Lord foreordeine, or foreappoint him to the fame, ^but rather dehorteth him from comitting that wickednes, which may purchafe Inch an end. Wherefore to conclude. Seing it is finne that bringeth man and woman to lliamefull ends, and neither fate, deftonie, birth- ftar, figne or planet, conftellation, nor anything elfe whatfoeuer, let euerie one endevourhiinfelfe to ferue his GOD truelie, in fingleneffe a,nd purenetle of heart, and himfelfe to Hue well and vprightlie. Walking in the lawes, and commandements of the Lord; and I warrant him for euer comming to anie euill end or delHnie. Thai God whom he hath ferued, will keepe him as he kept Sidrach, Mifaac, and Ahednago, from the rage of the fire, Sufanna from the flake, Daniel from y' chawes of the greedie lions, & manie others that ferued him in feare. Theod. I haue hea[r]d fome that woulde take vpon them to tell a man whither he llioulde be poore or rich, a feruant or a lord, a theefe or a true man, cruell or gentle, and what kinde of trades he fliould haue profperous fuccefle in : how flioulde they doe this ? Ampfiil. I will tell you how they pretende to doe it. There are (as they faye) certeine fignes in the element (but yet I maruell what Apollo tolde them fo, when they were there, and fawe them, or how they knew the ftiape ^and proportion of them) as Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Pifees, with their planets, and afpedls, as Sol, Luna, Mars, Mercurie, lupiter, Venus, and Saturne. Now fay they, he that is borne vnder Aries, (which is a figne in the Nufquam region. Like to a ramme, or flieepe vpon earth) fliall be a riche man and too too wealthie. And whie fo ? Marke their droonken reafon. Forfooth becaufe the rame is a fruitfull beaft vpon earth, and yeldeth to his mafler two or three fleeces a yeere. Againe, he that is borne vnder Taurus (which is a figne (fay thefe liers) in the element like vnto a bull, vpon earth); now fir, he that is borne vnder him, fliall be pore, & a bondflaue all his dales. And why fo ? Mary, fay they, bicaufe the bull on earth is a beafl vfed to the yoke, and to much llauerie & drudgery. He that is borne vnder Leo (which is a figne quoth thefe iuglers like to a lion) flial be ftrong, couragious, & feared of