THEIR MYSTICISM. 223 



any true ruie ; and it is well known how long, in spite of facts, false 

 and groundless rules (as the dependence of the weather on the moon) 

 may keep their hold on men's minds. When the facts are such loose 

 and many-sided things as human characters, passions, and happiness, 

 it was hardly to be expected that even the most powerful minds should 

 be able to find a footing sufficiently firm, to enable them to resist the 

 impression of a theory constructed of sweeping and bold assertions, 

 and filled out into a complete system of details. Accordingly, the con- 

 nection of the stars with human persons and actions was, for a long 

 period, undisputed. The vague, obscure, and heterogeneous character 

 of such a connection, and its unfitness for any really scientific reason- 

 ing, could, of course, never be got rid of; and the bewildering feeling 

 of earnestness and solemnity, with which the connection of the heav- 

 ens with man was contemplated, never died away. In other respects 

 however, the astrologers fell into a servile commentatorial spirit ; and 

 employed themselves in annotating and illustrating the works of their 

 predecessors to a considerable extent, before the revival of true science. 



It may be mentioned, that astrology has long been, and probably is, 

 an art held in great esteem and admiration among other eastern na- 

 tions besides the Mohammedans : for instance, the Jews, the Indians, 

 the Siamese, and the Chinese. The prevalence of vague, visionary, 

 and barren notions among these nations, cannot surprise us.; for with 

 regard to them we have no evidence, as with regard to Europeans we 

 have, that they are capable, on subjects of physical speculation, of ori- 

 ginating sound and rational general principles. The Arts may have 

 had their birth in all parts of the globe ; but it is only Europe, at par- 

 ticular favored periods of its history, which has ever produced Sciences. 



We are, however, now speaking of a long period, during which this 

 productive energy was interrupted and suspended. During this period 

 Europe descended, in intellectual character, to the level at which the 

 other parts of the world have always stood. Her Science was then a 

 mixture of Art and Mysticism ; we have considered several forms of 

 this Mysticism, but there are two others which must not pass unno- 

 ticed, Alchemy and Magic. 



We may observe, before we proceed, that the deep and settled in- 

 fluence which Astrology had obtained among them, appears perhaps 

 most strongly in the circumstance, that the most vigorous and clear- 

 sighted minds which were concerned in the revival of science, did not, 

 for a long period, shake off the persuasion that there was, in this art, 

 some element of truth. Roger Bacon, Cardan, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, 



