THE Aftrologer's Magazine; AND PHILOSOPHICAL MISCELLANY, FOR SEPTEMBER, 1793. ASTROLOGICAL CONJECTURES ON THE CONTINENTAL Media inter prælia femper Sideribus, cælique plagis, fuperifque vacavi. Amid the storms of war, with curious eyes, I trace the planets and furvey the skies. MR. EDITOR, THE poet Lucan, fays Dr. Johnfon, with hiftorical veracity, makes Cæfar relate of himself, that he noted the revolutions of the stars, in the midft of preparations for battle. This quality of looking forward into futurity seems the unavoidable condition of a being, like map, whofe motions are gradual, and whofe life is progreffive; as his powers are limited from the firft ftage of his existence, he is perpetually varying the horizon of his profpects, discovering new motives of action, new excitements of fear, and allure. ments of defire. The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleasure to pleasure, but from hope to hope; and there would be few enterprizes of great labour or hazard undertaken, if we had WAR. not the power of magnifying the ade vantages which we perfuade ourselves to expect from them. When the Knight of La Mancha gravely recounts to his companions, the adventures by which he is to fignalize himself in fuch manner that he fhall be fummoned to the fupport of empires, foli cited to accept the heiress of the crown which he has preserved, have honours and riches to fcatter about him, and an island to beftow on his worthy fquire; very few readers amidst their mirth or pity can deny that they have admitted vifions of the fame kind, though they have not perhaps expected events equally ftrange, or by means equally inadequate. When we pity him we reflect on our own disappointments; and when we laugh, our hearts inform us that he is not more ridicu lous than ourselves, except that he tells us what we have only thought. The understanding of man is natu rally fanguine; and it frequently happens that by indulging the raptures of fuccefs, we forget the measures neceffary to fecure it, and fuffer the imagiG nation 52 Duke of York to the Commandant of Dunkirk nation to riot in fome poffible good till the time of obtaining it has slipped away. Thefe reflections were recalled to mind by confidering the figure of Heavens, erected in confequence of an attentive* perufal of the fubjoined fummons to the commandant at Dunkirk, which came to our hands the 5th of September, 1793, 5 hours, 20 min. P. M. a few hours after we had been viewing, with an excellent telescope, the late eclipie of the Sun; a view which confirmed us in the opinion that from time to time we have caused to be announced to the public, SIR, through the channel of this Magazine, particularly in that for the month of March laft, p. 269, and also that for the following month (fee the back of the title page, addreffed to Corref pondents) viz. That the wretched foreign mercenaries, who, for fome time, against justice, and without provocation, have been fhedding oceans of blood, and fpreading devaftation and terror on the Frontiers of the Republic of France, would shortly have reason to exclaim, "Our fated hour is come, "And the fell powers of Vengeance are abroad!" Head Quarters of the Combined Army before Dunkirk, August 23, 1793. I give you notice that the army I command is at your gates: your city, deftitute of any real defence, [it is a great misfortune to be fhort-fighted] can oppofe no refiftance to the victo rious arms which I might inftantly bring against it, if I did not with to avoid the total ruin of a flourishing city, and if humanity and generofity did not render me defirous of sparing human blood. I therefore fummon you, Sir, to furrender the City of Dunkirk to his Bri tannic Majesty, before I display against it the very confiderable forces at my difpofal; apprizing you, however, that I will liften to any propofitions you may make, provided they be fuch as are not injurious to the confideration and the honour of the British arms, the interefts of Great Britain, and her Allies. I give you twenty-four hours to deliberate on this fummons. (Signed) FREDERICK DUKE OF YORK, Commander of the Combined Army before Dunkirk, To which the following modeft but firm Answer was returned: GENERAL, Dunkirk, August 23, Second Year of the French Republic, one and indivifible. Invested with the confidence of the French Republic, I have received your Summons to furrender an important city ;-I anfwer, by affuring you, that I fhall defend it with the brave Republicans I have the honour to command. (Signed) O'MEARA. General O'Meara is by extraction an Irishman; he ferved as Lieutenant in the Batta. lion of Walsh, belonging to the Irish Brigade in France; fince the Revolution he was made a Major of a legion. He is a very fine lufty man, (very perfectly defcribed by in and the luminaries within m) full fix feet high, and was always beloved as a good Officer, and efteemed as a man of general knowledge. He married a young Lady at Dunkirk, with a fortune of 80,000 livres. He is about forty years of age. He has four brothers, all officers, and fine men. The father, feventy-fix years of age, is a native of Ireland, and supposed to be with his fon at Dunkirk, † Austria and Pruffia had entered into a folemn covenant to deftroy by force of arms, and Mr. Burke exerted all the powers of his hollow eloquence, to excite all the people of Europe to confpire for the overthrow of that Conftitution of French Government, which the British Government, by their agent at Toulon, has now folemnly recognized. IN refolving this question, we are to confider that the afcendant and lord thereof fignifies the querent or perfons befieging the city, or fortrefs, and the fourth houfe, with the lord thereof, the place befieged; the fifth house fignifies the ammunition, affiftance, and provifion of the perfons befieged. Here the lord of the fourth is lord of the fifth alfo, located in the weftern angle in his domal dignities, and the difpofitor of the luminaries: the lord of the fourth houfe is alfo principally the ruler of the feventh, or houfe of open enemies; while Saturn, A the fignificator in this fcheme of his Royal Highness, is cadent, peregrine, and retrograde, oppreffed by the square of Mars from an angle, Mars and Ve nus alfo oppofing the afcendant and Part of Fortune, while Cauda, or the Dragon's Tail, alfo afflicts the affailant: the Moon, lady of the fixth house, afflicted by the Sun's beams, is the fignificator of the British soldiery; that planet, in a friendly trine to Saturn, who is received in Taurus, the house of her exaltation, fhews a good underftanding between the troops and their Generaliffimo: the Moon is, however, in her march to the eighth houfe, 54 Embarkation of the British Troops at Blackwall. house, and in about 35, 45, and 50 days from the time of the queftion, en counters very unpropitious rays of , , and h. Hence it is obvious to the verieft tyro in this art, that his Royal Highness could not poffibly fuceeed in this enterprize: five planets strong in the feventh houfe, prove at the first glance, that his adverfaries were very numerous, and must be fuccefsful; nay, it is probable, that nothing but the friendly trine of the Sun to Saturn discovered to the Duke the danger that he would obviously incur of being taken prifoner, had he tarried but two hours longer-Accord ingly, the 6th in the evening, the French made a fortie from Dunkirk, and killed and wounded several hundred of the befiegers; in that fatal rencontre we loft, befides many other gallant and lamented officers, Colonel Moncrief. The 8th, the Sans Culottes attacked the Auftrians, under Marshal Freytag, and killed and wounded 2000 of the army under his command. As during that week approached nearer the fquare of Saturn, the British troops made a precipitate and retrograde motion, (Cauda in the afcendant fhews it was done with great trepidation) leaving upwards of forty pieces of fine ordnance, and all their ftores, to the enemy. The Duke of York and the troops first fent to the continent, embarked at Greenwich, Monday the 25th of February laft-In the Magazine for March, we observed, that it was a moft inaufpicious time, on account of the near approach of a lunar eclipfe-In the Magazine for April, we obferved, that the English troops would in a few days be engaged with thofe of the new Republic; accordingly it happened that the French, having attacked the Pruffian army, would effectually have routed them but for the fuccour given by the English: alas! how many of our countrymen perished in the wood of St. Amand, the understandings of those who led them there being blinded by the effects of the eclipfe. To the fame caufe may be attributed the fatal 24th of Auguft, when the English, in approaching Dunkirk, were repulfed with great lofs, and efpecially of General Dalton and Colonel Eld: the latter went abroad with the first British troops who were fent on this war of Adventures; the Moon was that night fix digits eclipfed, hence we have reafon to believe that not half the number of those who were fo unfortunately fent abroad at that time, will ever return: Colonel Eld was killed on St. Bartholomew's, a day me◄ morable in hiftory for the barbarous murder of many thousands of unof fending proteftants, under the fanction of he old papiftical and deteftable government of France-Ill-fated man!" deftined to fight against a people now contending for liberty! who, upon the principles of liberty and reciprocal kindness, would be glad to hail us as brethren, and who have freely granted to all perfuafions complete exemption from religious perfecution. Eld's career, and that of many other brave Englishmen, were closed by death, exactly as the Sun approached within fix degrees of an oppofition to his place,, when the Moon was eclipfed in February, which must be allowed to be a notable proof of the reality of planetary influence. In fine, although we have reafon to be. lieve that Dunkirk might have been tak en a few weeks ago, we may now fairly infer from this fcheme of the Heavens, that neither the courage of the Duke of York, nor the bravery of our countrymen, now serving under his com mand, can be expected, at least for a few months, to command-SUCCESS. His Royal Highness's friends, al lies, counsellors, or affociates, we find fignified by 24 in m, located in Dalton was a papift, and therefore, confiftently enough, fell in his endeavours to perpetuate Delpotifm and Popish superstition. the Public Spirit an Inducement to study Aftrology. the ninth houfe. Jupiter is there peregrine, and denotes perfons of a middle ftature, fat, and of a fwelled face: complexion fwarthy, hairs of a fad brown; difpofition lofty, proud, am bitious of rule, ill natured, covetous, and guilty of much fubtility in their tranfactions. The first ten days of October, the last week of that, and the beginning of the following month, will be diftinguifhed by fome very decifive rencounters. But, Mr. Editor, left thofe who are fceptics as to the truth of aftrology, may be difpofed to tell us that the preceding obfervations did not meet their notice (it was impoffible, from the time that the fubject became a matter of our confideration, that it fhould) till after the fiege of Dunkirk was abandoned, I request your infertion of two schemes of Heaven refpecting another maritime fortrefs, which has lately attracted the public notice, from whence it is impoflible, that, at the time of our penning the following discourse, that we could have received any information not generally known, except what is fupplied by the rules of art; and though I am aware that fome intelligent aftrologers, knowing how few, and how general are the maxims fuggefted by experience for our guide, becaule, confidering the brevity of human life, and the rare recurrence of the fame polture of public affairs, which being often influenced by the peculiar habits, customs, jurifprudence, national character, and climates of dif. ferent countries, it is fo extremely difficult to form a criteria for predicting of mundane affairs, that those who are anxious for the honour of the celeftial philofophy, may be apprehenfive of 55 our incurring the charge of rashness ; yet, Sir, when we call to mind that our countrymen have often been too readily ravished by "the din of war ;" when we reflect that it is with nations as with individuals, that an over ruling destiny often controuls and baffles the plaufible projects of both; and that there are certain plans which can be accomplished, and certain objects that can be attained; and that there are others, which, though ap. parently practicable, cannot poffibly fucceed; and that too, from causes fo remote, or hindrances fo unexpected, that they can neither be foreseen nor imagined, but by the contemplation of the planetary worlds, whofe aspects, tranfitions, and influences, the Omnipotent Ruler of the Universe hath ordained to govern, by their agency, many of the most important concerns of this fublunary sphere. When we confider how often the counfellors of Kings have betrayed the honour of their masters, and the peace and the interefts of nations, by commencing, and by perfiting in war, merely to extend their patronage; to intrench themselves in powers to provide for their dependants places or penfions, or jobs; or to fill their own or the pockets of their creatures, dexterously fleecing the public, even while they fatten upon its bounty, by all the nefarious arts of stock-jobbing : when we reflect, farther, that not only thefe mifchiefs have formerly occurred but that perfons have been known to pave their way to the highest honours of the ftate, by hiring out their venial tongues, to recommend perfeverance in the most destructive and inglorious: war*, in which till now this country was ever involved; as we refpect the' happiness In France they have thought it expedient to pass fevere decrees to check the depredations of that fpecies of locufts. In England, when one of thofe expenfive but useless armaments was preparing, either againit Spain or Ruffia, Lord Powchefter forgetting, or not believing that PITT and PURITY are like Cator and Pollux, or the Twins in Gemini, infeparable, noticed, in fhong language to the House of Lords, fome fpeculations, carried on with fuch prudence and kill, that the parties, who it was infi nuated |