When the Funeral
was over, Mr. Charles sent a Challenge to Lord Jeffreys, who refusing to
answer it, he sent several others, and went often himself, but could
neither get a Letter deliver'd, nor Admittance to speak to him, that he
resolved, since his Lordship refused to answer him like a Gentleman, he
would watch an Opportunity to meet him, and fight off hand, tho' with
all the Rules of Honour; which his Lordship hearing, left the Town, and
Mr. Charles could never have the satisfaction to meet him, tho' he
sought it till his death with the utmost Application.'
Dryden was, perhaps, the last man of learning that believed in
astrology; though an eminent English author, now living, and celebrated
for the variety of his acquirements, has been known to procure the
casting of horoscopes, and to consult a noted 'astrologer,' who gives
opinions for a small sum. The coincidences of prophecy are not more
remarkable than those of star-telling; and Dryden and the author I have
referred to were probably both captivated into belief by some fatuitous
realization of their horoscopic predictions. Nor can we altogether blame
their credulity, when we see biology, table-turning, rapping, and all
the family of imposture, taken up seriously in our own time.
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