In soul and body, and instil
All future good and future ill;
Which in their dark fatal'ties lurking, 945
At destin'd periods fall a working,
And break out, like the hidden seeds
Of long diseases, into deeds,
In friendships, enmities, and strife,
And all th' emergencies of life: 950
No sooner does he peep into
The world, but he has done his do,
Catch'd all diseases, took all physick,
That cures or kills a man that is sick;
Marry'd his punctual dose of wives,[1] 955
Is cuckolded, and breaks, or thrives.
There's but the twinkling of a star
Between a man of peace and war;
A thief and justice, fool and knave,
A huffing off'cer and a slave; 960
A crafty lawyer and pick-pocket,
A great philosopher and a blockhead;
A formal preacher and a player,
A learn'd physician and man-slayer:
As if men from the stars did suck 965
Old age, diseases, and ill luck,
Wit, folly, honour, virtue, vice,
Trade, travel, women, claps, and dice;
And draw, with the first air they breathe,
Battle, and murder, sudden death.[2] 970
Are not these fine commodities
To be imported from the skies,
- ↑ "Punctual dose" is the precise number of wives to which he was predestined by the planetary influence predominant at his birth. An old proverb says, the first confers matrimony, the second company, the third heresy.
- ↑ This is one of the petitions in the litany, which the dissenters objected to; especially the words sudden death. See Bennet's London Cases abridged, ch. iv. p. 100.
accident, so accelerated or retarded, that it fell in with the predominance of a malignant constellation, this momentary influence would entirely change its nature, and bias it to all contrary ill qualities. See a fine banter on this foolish notion, in Hotspur's reply to Glendower's astrology, in Henry the Fourth, Part I. Act iii.
