not always respected, by every student of Astrology; though here again the artist hand is strong; the Oracle is not loquacious, he is carefully non-committal, he does not interrupt the action by provoking wonder as to how he got his mysterious information.
If Malone was justified in maintaining that Shakespeare did not write the first part of “Henry VI” and that too especially on account of allusions therein contained, it is noteworthy “that the planetary references were not included. They were probably common to all writing at the time, Bedford begins at the very outset:—
“Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night,
Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,
And with them scourge the bad, revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry’s death.”
Shortly afterwards he invokes the spirit of the king to “combat with adverse planets in the heavens” (compare “the stars in their courses fought against Sisera”), his whole attitude in the scene being an impressive one in this respect. The second scene affords an opportunity to note the progress made by Astronomy since Shakespeare’s time; though it may be doubted whether even now we have all the information possessed by the ancient Egyptians and Chaldeans; Joseph‘s reading of Pharoah's dream, for instance, being evidently based on the movements of Uranus, which we regard as discovered little more than a century ago. “Mars” says Charles, “his true moving, even as in the heavens, so in the earth, to this day is not known. Late did he shine upon the English side; now we are victors, upon us he smiles.” That is to say, we are not certain either as to his precise movement in the leavens or to the effect he has upon the earth.
Act IV., Sc. 5 of the same play introduces further evidence of the care with which the author (or his imitator) worked out such matters to their logical conclusion. Talbot cries to his son:—“I did send for thee to tutor thee; but, oh malignant and ill-boding stars, now thou art come to the feast of death, a terrible and unavoided danger.” The commentators read this as meaning unavoidable; but unavoided is clearly meant; that is, astrologically speaking, a danger to which you are liable and which you have made no effort to avoid, Talbot speaks as if suddenly impressed by a planetary call to aid his son; but the
