1740, at Beckenham, in Kent. This remarkable person lived to sophers, and other adepts, attributed wonderful virtues, particuthe age of 109 years. She was one of the people called gipsies,|larly that of calling down celestial influences. The author of a and had the title of their queen. After travelling over various book, entitled " Talismans Justifies," pronounces a talisman to parts of the kingdom, during the greater part of a century, she be the seal, figure, character, or image of a heavenly sign, consettled at Norwood, a place notorious for vagrants of this descrip- stellation, or planet, engraven in a sympathetic stone, or on a tion, whither her great age and fame of her fortune-telling, metal corresponding to the star, &c. in order to receive its attracted numerous visitors. From a habit of sitting on the influences. The talismans of the Samothracians, so famous of ground, with her chin resting on her knees, the sinews at length old, were pieces of iron formed into certain images, and set in became so contracted, that she could not rise from that posture. rings, &c. They were held as preservatives against all kinds of After her death they were obliged to inclose her body in a deep evils. There were other talismans taken from vegetables, and square box. Her funeral was attended by two mourning coaches, others from minerals. Three kinds of talismans were usually a sermon was preached on the occasion; and a great concourse distinguished, viz., astronomical, which are known by the signs of people attended the ceremony. There is an engraved portrait or constellations of the heavens engraven upon them, with other of Margaret Finch, from a drawing made in 1739. Her picture figures, and some unintelligible characters; magical, which bear adorned the sign of a house of public entertainment in Norwood, very extraordinary figures, with words and names of angels; called the Gipsey house, which was situated in a small green, in and mixed, which consist of signs and babarous words, but have a valley, surrounded by woods. On this green, a few families of no superstitious ones or names of angels. It is maintained by gipsies used to pitch their tents, during the summer season. In rabbins, that the brazen serpent raised by Moses in the Wilderwinter they either procure lodgings in London, or take up their ness, for the destruction of the serpents that annoyed the Israelabode in barns, in some of the more distant counties. In a cot- ites, was, properly, a talisman. All the miraculous things tage that adjoined the Gipsey house, lived an old woman, grand- wrought by Apollonius Tyanæus are attributed to the virtue and daughter of Queen Margaret, who inherited her title. She was influence of talismans; and that wizard, as he is called, is even niece of Queen Budget, who was buried at Dulwich, in 1768. said to have been the inventor of them. Some authors take Her rank seemed, however, to be merely titular; nor do we find several Runic medals-medals, at least, whose inscriptions are in that the gipsies paid her any particular respect, or that she the Runic characters,-for talismans, it being notorious, that the differed in any other manner than that of being a householder, northern nations, in their heathen state, were much devoted to from the rest of her tribe." Their religion is always that of the them. M. Keder, however, has shown, that the medals here country in which they reside; and though they are no great spoken of are quite other things than talismans. frequenters either of mosques or churches, they generally conform to rites and ceremonies as they find them established. Grellman says that, in Germany, they seldom think of any marriage ceremony; but their children are baptized, and the mothers churched. In England their children are baptized and their dead buried according to the rites of the church; perhaps the marriage ceremony is not more regarded than in Germany; but it is certain they are sometimes married in churches. Upon the whole, we may certainly regard the gipsies as a singular phenomenon in Europe. For the space of between three and four hundred years they have gone wandering about like pilgrims and strangers, yet neither time nor example has made in them any alteration they remain ever and every where what their fathers were: Africa makes them no blacker, nor does Europe make them whiter. Few of the descendants of the aboriginal gipsies are to be found any where in Europe, and in England less than any where else. The severity of the police against this description of the degenerate vagabonds existing at the present day, have considerably thinned their phalanxes, and brought them to something like a due sense of the laws and expectations of civilised society. What remains of them, nevertheless, contrive one way or other to elude the vigilance of the laws by different masked callings, under which they ostensibly appear to carry on their usual traffic. The modern gipsies pretend that they derive their origin from the ancient Egyptians, who were famous for their knowledge in astronomy and other sciences; and, under the pretence of fortunetelling, find means to rob or defraud the ignorant and superstitious. To colour their impostures, they artificially discolour their faces, and speak a kind of gibberish or cant peculiar to themselves. They rove up and down the country in large companies, to the great terror of the farmers, from whose geese, turkeys, and fowls, they take considerable contributions. TALISMANS. T is not long since we furnished an account of the ancient amulets which we traced to an antiquity beyond what has ordinarily been assigned them. Pursuing our researches among those scarce and valuable works which lie enshrouded by dust on the shelves of foreign museums, we find that an equally early origin may be claimed for the ancient devices of the Babylonians, which magical figures, engraven or cut under observances of the characterisms and configurations of the heavens, are called talismans; to which some astrologers, hermetical philo STANZAS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. PART I. We are the slaves of thought; the human mind All that we know of life; names, sounds, are whirled By us and in us. Grasping at the wind, We wander, all have wandered, in the vast maze of mind. Round which ideas eternal ebb and flow, Of new creations; where the soul's beams throw That shut out the invisible; where glow The chaos of the infinite, of beauty, and of God! Each spirit is a world, a separate sphere, That which we deem ourselves, the soul, the mind, Which future centuries will leave behind- To neither one, or all of them combined. Thousands of creatures breathe, the weak, the strong, Even each leaf the winds of heaven fan; Oh! who can tell what worlds may be among O. H. THE ORACLE OF DESTINY. In which all Questions from Correspondents are answered gratuitously, in accordance with the true and unerring principles of Astrological Science. TO OUR QUERISTS.-This department of our work involves the solution of "horary questions," so called from a figure of the heavens being erected for the hour in which the question is asked, and from the indications manifest in which the corresponding answers are derived. It will, therefore, be absolutely necessary for all correspondents to specify the exact hour and day on which they commit the question to paper for our judgment, and the replies will then be given accordingly. As this important feature of the starry science will necessarily occupy considerable time which he is willing to devote, without reward, to benefit the public, THE ASTROLOGER hopes that the liberality of his offer will protect him from the correspondence of those who desire adjudication upon frivolous subjects, or who are merely actuated thereto by motives of idle and foolish curiosity. All subjects on which they may be really anxious, can be solved with absolute certainty; and the election of favourable periods for marriage, speculation, or commencing any new undertaking with advantage, will be cheerfully and readily pointed out from week to week. All communications addressed to "THE ASTROLOGER" will be considered as strictly confidential, and the initials only given in the oracle. TO CORRESPONDENTS. I. H.-Your informant was correct in stating that 29 degrees of Scorpio was on the ascendant, but wrong in his position of the planets. The moon is sadly afflicted by Saturn, and the veriest tyro in the art could have told you that your life would be one of chance and change. We can see no prospect of any future benefits. GIULETTA CASTANG.-You are truly unfortunate in reposing faith in those totally unworthy of it. A scholastic profession will ruit and demand your energies; but be cautious and prudent in forming new connexions. EUDORA-Your wishes shall be acceded to the first opportunity, when a corresponding intimation shall be given in this work. With every anxiety to oblige we are compelled, occasionally, to draw upon the patience of our correspondents. Have not certain circumstances affecting your engagement occurred within the last week? PERENELLA FLAMEL.-Yes, you have everything to hope for, but be careful of the fifth year. Fortune is not necessarily brought by changing the place, rather rely on energy and discretion. MATILDA. You have given the month, but not the year. The party inquired after seems to have been married some time. To tell you where he is exceeds even our power. A DESPAIRING MAN.-You are unhappy, and we condole with you; in debt, and we sympathise; in perplexity, and we share it. What will be the result? Insolvency? No! Friends generally come with fortune. You know this well. In another month you will have the pleasure of receiving them. J. A. A.-"Human Frailty" is a bad subject pleasantly handled, and shall receive an early niche. The doctrine inculcated by Pythagoras had more of a poetical than a literal meaning. The soul may be infused-so as to throw an influence-into another, and as such, we believe in it; but it cannot go beyond the species. Love is only a phase of transmigration. C. SMITH.-The fair Eliza has received the rings and gloves with a gratitude which, though your friends disapprove, should teach you the fortitude of a Grecian. As a surveyor of your destiny we cannot draw checks on fortune's bank. In east and west you will find much to wonder and admire. J. MARTYN. You may expect some pecuniary and other benefits from that source. Time only can solve the other question; but there is no indication of any birth at all. It will be the restraint upon your fature actions that you have to fear. We have no time for the calculations you require, at present. A. B. C.-Your husband appears to be still there, and you will soon hear of him. THOMAS M. W.-The one in the country will be most productive, and a stranger will share your future happiness. Give up, however, the encouragement of hopes where you do not intend to realise them. LIBRA. Wait till you hear from your friend and do not voyage on speculation. The money will not be returned. You will receive the watch. Study our Self-instructor. W. H. P.-You will receive the property sooner than you anticipate, and the person inquired after still lives. The period of its attainment appears to be August next. W. CLARK.-The malevolent Saturn has a strong restraint just now by the auspicious rays of Jove. You will succeed in the accomplishment of your wishes through a friend, and may look forward to a career of comparative happiness. O. S. (Gosport).-Showers and sunshine chase each other through life. Your future fate will present no exception. The present year will see the fulfilment of your early hopes. The number has been sent as requested. F. W. (Southsea).-It is in having to acknowledge such kindness as that proffered by our obliging correspondent that we feel the inadequacy of words. The accession of a true votary of the sublime art to our wide range of readers, is the highest compliment that could be tendered, aud the offer we accept with thanks as hearty and sincere as the spirit in which the letter is written. E. R-There can be no doubt that a change of employment would benefit yourself, but do not decide upon it hastily, as there is some prospect of the difficulty alluded to in the first question being removed. W. H. M. The Astrologer feels much pleasure in accepting the proposed extracts from the works mentioned, as their scarcity materially enhances their value. From the courtesy exhibited by our numerous astrological correspondents, we shall be in a position shortly to supply the places of the planets for the last two hundred years, and can thereby materially assist the operations of the student. ADELE-Are beauty and accomplishments, then, no shield for the arrows of disappointment? Must the growth of hopes within the human heart ever be retarded by misfortune, and blighted as they approach fruition? Believe it not. You have the protection of one who has an ardent desire to see you successful. Second those wishes with your own exertions, and you will triumph over all difficulties." W. E.-Travel not-be patient-and avoid the uncertainties of specu lation. KATE. We would recommend resignation, but we know you have practised it; however, still hope. You have lost him you would have once chosen-it is now too late. INQUIRENDO.-You have already passed the Rubicon-the field of conquest lies before you. Do not by mental irritation avert the benefits that fortune now extends with willing hand Tranquillity of mind is a duty which you owe to others as well as to yourself. M. C-g. You may communicate one question weekly, and it shall be solved. See our early numbers for full directions how to act. C. TEMPEST.-Do not deceive yourself with a belief that trouble is so soon over. From the same cause it will return. The sun in Leo and Mars rising will account for your passionate and headstrong temper. Unless that is reformed you will never obtain a patriarchal longevity. RECEIVED.-T. J. C. (Persevere and prosper).-T. WooDs (Stop and you will thrive) -C. S. I. (Continue your medical avocations).-A. M. Z. (The legacy will be paid in a few months).-R. H. (Brass seems in the ascendant).-B. J. (Yes. unquestionably).-W. B. (You will, happily, have no occasion to emigrate).-A. B. (Manchester) (He will continue but for a short time longer. Fear not).-SAIREY GAMP (It is a delicate point, and we do not like to interfere)-VERITAS (Yes! see calendar for day).-M. K. (In the course we recommend for adoption. Let him avoid extravagance)-M. M. (Through a previous engagement). -MARTHA R. (We cannot answer the first. A change of residence).B. B. (Yes).-O. N. E (Circumstances will improve.-Is THE SOUL PROPHETIC? (Not in your case).-P. B. S. (Chiusurrah) (Yes, it will take place in the autumn).-CONSTANCY (You have long to wait, but it wil: occur at last).-R. V. G. (Stop, but marry not).-B. S. U. (Ten months).-S. PAGE (A situation).-J. GoUGH (In a week).-C. P. W. (You may expect to be in office soon).-PYTHON (She will return).-MARY Boz (Yes, in three years).-LUCY ANN (Your swain will return in six months).-R. N. (Your project will be a most fortunate oneROSA (Advertise next week and he will succeed)-VISCOUNT (Wait awhile).-T. H. W. (Ditto).-CLARA (NO).-. B. (Pan is the emblem of a joyous bacchanalian Let him go to Alsatia).-AUSTIN (17th day of April next).-R. PHIPPS (Herschel retrograde in the sixth).-X. Y. Z. (Touch not, taste not, handle not.) Others in our next. Many letters have been received, which, after bearing complimentary testimony to the accuracy of our replies, promise that the writers will support and extend the sale of our periodical amongst their friends and acquaintances To such we can only thus generally offer our grateful acknowledgements; as to do so individually would occupy a space greater than can be conveniently spared. .. All querists not answered this week must consult our next Oracle for their replies, as the requisite calculations, will, in many instances, take considerable time. We have now 200 letters to answer weekly. Part I. of " The Astrologer is now ready, in a handsomely embellished Wrapper, with numerous Illustrations, price Sixpence; and may be obtained through every Bookseller in town and country. All letters and communications are requested to be addressed to "The Astrologer," 10, Wellington-street North, Strand, London. London: Printed by S. TAYLOR, George-yard, Drury-court, Strand. Published by G. Vickers; and sold by Strange, Cleave, Berger, Purkess, Clements, Barth, and all Booksellers. bids the rest vibrate, is the spell of the Spirit of the Beautiful. Her voice is heard upon the hills, in the breeze and in the storm; her form is mirrored on the green earth and the boundless ocean; her footsteps can be traced on the sward by the flowers that spring up in her path; the tangled leafiness of the woods, and the glowing symmetry of the female form, have alike been moulded by her hands. Her works pervade all nature; her throne, “ clad in the beauty of a thousand stars," is in the summer heaven at midnight. We bow down and worship, and she repays us with the experience of joys which only the bliss of seraphs can excel. Homage to the Spirit of the Beautiful! It is the tribute of man's nobility to the Higher Power, by which he is everywhere surrounded. From our dark spirits. Such the sun, and moon, This is the rich imagery of one whose soul was susceptible of the faintest and most delicate of her influences. Even in its perusal. we feel fluttering on our mind the overshadowing pinion of her whom we have named-THE SPIRIT OF THE BEAUTIFUL ! Being latent in every human breast, it is the duty of all to elicit and cherish the feeling thus evoked. The most uneducated unconsciously obey this principle when they select, for the endow- THE HARMONY OF THE UNIVERSE. ment of love, youth in preference to age-fair features instead of repulsive and unsightly forms. The lover, who winds his arm affectionately round the glowing waist of his betrothed, looks into her full and lustrous eyes, and there finds the spirit of which he is in search. The enthusiast, wrapt in reveries of ecstacy, evokes the spirit in his dreams of joy, and she obeys his call. The poet looks with rapture upon the great and magnificent world which has been given him for a dwelling-place, and he finds her everywhere. It is the true aim and end of poetry to instil a perception of her omnipresence into the hearts of the multitude, and rouse them to a sense of the boon which it is only to ask to be rendered capable of receiving. Virtue and the intellectually ennobling qualities which we should all strive to possess, were it only for the enjoyment they yield in possession, are the talismans by which she may be summoned. Unlike the more transitory pleasures of our mundane life, the bliss she diffuses is permanent. It perishes not even with the frail carcase that enshrouds our immortal essence, but conducts us to her own sphere, where we may become her companion for ever. Ye who would know the enduring rapture she bestows on her votaries, listen to the inspired lines of one who knew her and loved her well. The imperishable vitality of his language has already in itself realised the truth of the opening sentence, which is the concentration of many poems in one line. It would be cruelty to abridge the passage, though it be familiar to many, for the words, steeped in music, blend and mingle with an indivisible harmony. Hear, then, the wooing of one John Keats, who, in his twenty-third year, thus coined the highest feelings into the most thrilling language :— "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever; Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. UNDER this title Mr. G. T. Mulder has propounded, in Utrecht, a theory, which we beg, from a recent number of the "Medical Times," to transfer to our pages in such portions as opportunity will allow. This interesting subject is most ably treated by the system does not exist, but in its place an enormous mass of eleGerman philosopher, who says, "Let us imagine that our planetary ments, which never were in contact, and reduced to a finelydivided state, occupies the space which stretches beyond the orbit of Uranus, the planet most distant from the Sun; a mass resembling a fog, or vapour, of a lenticular form, or presenting the appearance of a disc, wandering in space, containing the however, in a condensed state, but every particle in the condition elements of the Sun, the planets and their sattellites, nothing, in which it was created; this is, undoubtedly, simple, finely divided, neither physically nor chemically united with others, but endowed with forces which they possess up to the present time. Let us imagine, in other terms, a haze to exist in the sky, such a one as in some parts is, indeed, in our days, found in space; a haze constituted in the middle of an absolute cold, composed of particles so small as mutually to attract themselves in the distances in which they exist; a haze containing all the matters which the sun, planets, and secondaries now contain. This haze may have wandered millions of years in the state in which it was originally constituted, changing, however, its posi tion in space, as everything made of matter changes its place, and turning round its axis, to maintain its single particles in equilibrio. In this mass of vaporiform matter not only reside forces which may lead to condense, solidify, be put together and form masses, but forces, likewise, requisite to disengage is merely wanted to excite these forces, and bring them into heat, and to produce thousands of chemical phenomena. A cause activity, like iron, which must be approached by a magnet, or influenced by electricity to become magnetic, that is, not to receive a new force, but to excite that which was latent in the iron. The cause, then, which in the finely-divided mass of the haze is to excite activity, must be of a homogeneous nature with nature, that equals may produce their equals. Dormant chethe forces which it is to excite, according to the general rule of mical forces must be excited in the masses of the vapour; the exciting cause must, therefore, be a chemical one, such which emanates from exchange of matter. This cause was probably the approach of a celestial body-a fiery globe-such as are innumerably observed in the universe; or a mass which, hurried away near the haze, or, though at a distance, might have so far influenced it as to heat its particles to a certain extent, which, up to that time, were constituted in an absolutely cold medium, to raise them to a temperature sufficient to displace the particles, to dispose the most active ones placed near each other mutually to combine. Sir John Herschel counted 2,500 hazes of this kind, which are visible in the south of England.-Phi!. Trans., 1833. From this moment the expanded hazy mass is disturbed from the state of repose-disturbed for centuries; no, for a hundred thousands of centuries-for ever, perhaps, as long as the matter exists. Homogeneous forces, which, like those that first emanated from the most active particles, were dormant in all others, excite similar forces in the whole mass. The movement of the particles changes the respective distances; those, then, approach and attract one another. What is situated in the centre of the whole condenses first into small masses, which, by the chemical power of the elements, are brought into a state of ignition; these small masses condense into one whole, which in its turn may excite into activity the remaining hazy mass. All, placed near around or at a distance, hurries together, forming larger or smaller masses, invariably attended by violent phenomena of chemical action. The turning motion of the haze is communicated to all condensed masses, and the nucleus of the whole formed of the parts of haze formerly constituted in its centre, becomes the axis round which the rest is thrown. This hypothesis of the creation of our planetary system has been already promulgated, though somewhat modified, by philosophers and astronomers. The first traces of it were found in the atomistical system of the Grecians, but Kant has lately based it on philosophical grounds. Herschel inferred it from the progressive development of stars from hazy spots which in our days exist, and which by the authority of Laplace obtained credit. We endeavoured to develop it by chemical reasoning. It is well known that, in our planetary system, besides planets, satellites, and comets, another mass of matter revolves round the sun. Each day in the year, on an average, two foreign masses fall on our earth. Last year two such bodies fell near our town-masses which sprung from the universal space. These meteoric masses contain no traces of any other substances than those which occur on our earth. Agreeably to the probable opinion of Van Rees, they are masses which revolve around the sun in the manner of small planets-masses enveloped in an atmosphere of vaporous substances, which, on arriving in our atmosphere, undergo combustion. Let us not forget that the meteoric masses do not originate from our earth, and yet contain merely substances which are met with on our .earth, endowed with the same properties, and of the same composition-nay, according to Rammelsburg's important observations, with the same arrangement of elements. If this, of itself, does not fully establish that all planets and satellites of our planetary system entirely consist of the same substances of our earth, the hypothesis is rendered highly probable by the circumstance that in the space of the universe, totally beyond the regions of our globe, substances occur which are completely identical with those of which our earth is composed." THE MYSTERIOUS LAWS OF MATTER.-It is a fundamental law of nature, ascertained by Sir Isaac Newton, that every atom or particle of matter has a tendency to approach or to be attracted towards another atom or particle. Experience and observation demonstrate that this power of mutual attraction pervades all material things, and though unseen, except in its results, is ever present with us; is the cause of particles of matter adhering to each other, and forming solid masses; of these masses assuming in many instances a round or globular form of the falling of bodies to, and their stability on, the earth; and, indeed, is one of the causes of the whole of the planetary bodies moving in their paths in the heavens. -FANCY AND FLOWERS.-Beautiful, most beautiful, is the language the heart has given to these fair children of the forest and field-bright and living links to bind the heart to nature, and lift it to Him whose hand makes our earth so fair. As the scent from some favourite blossom steals over our senses, how magic is its power to recal the lost, the absent, in scenes of home and happiness, to which the weary spirit takes wing, and, flitting over past years of sorrow, lights on some bright spot of memory, conjuring up voices, and smiles now silent for us, and, freeing the aching mind from the trammels of the world, reposes like a ray of light upon the green sward. For childhood's simple pleasures, what is so meet as flowers? As offerings of affection, none are so dear. Do they not league, in their sweet language, looks and tones, what the heart will alone besides record? STANZAS FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. PART II. What is there in the ocean? There may be May people the extreme and farthest zone The deep recesses of the watery food, The air is full of life and worlds, where dwell God is around us, or he may permit The earth contains inhabitants, the gloom In the eternity that passed away Ere we drew breath, what creatures may have been! What shall exist hereafter, who can say, Peopling in distant times life's unknown scene! Behold and tremble; through the long array Of coming years, what shadows intervenePhantoms of future worlds that shall appear From the abyss, as we have done, who now are here. 'Tis pleasant to anticipate-to dream, In sleepless musings of those scenes that shall Over earth's surface at some period gleam! See how the visions round about us fall, Like moonbeams on a river's glassy stream! Shadowy and indistinct are one and all The new economies that shall spring from The shattered old ones as destructions come. These one by one shall pass away-from whose What has been in past years. The future gapes To other eyes, as age by age escapes As dust from his Omnipotence, destroying while he makes. Life, space, and nature, are all infinite, Impenetrable, uncircumscribed, unbound. Man cannot find a refuge, cannot rest, Till he ascends to the Eternal Cause The Omnipotent, shadowing what its own light reveals. |