Part IL T ravels into the Levant. 105 
^ CHAP. XIL 
I'he continuation of the Obfervations of Ilpahan. 
Of Jftrologers^ a Cornet^ an EcUpfe; and of the 
Super/lition of tjpe Perfians. 
Since there are Aftrologers at thé Court of Terfta^ who have their quality of 
ordinary Officers, by the name of Mumdgim^ I thought it might not béamifâ 
to fay fonnething of them, after I had Treated of the Court. 
Aftrology is in fo great vogue in Terfia^ that there it degenerates in Superftition, 
and not only the Learned and men of Letters foUicitoufly apply themfelves to it, 
but even the common people and Soldiers tamper with it, and if a man can but 
Read, he fails not dayly to obferve the difpofition of the Planets, their Afpeâs, 
and their Conjundion or Oppofition > that he may feem to be fomewhat amongft 
thofe who have not the fame knowledg. Jn Converfation all their Difconrfe is of 
Spheres, Apogees, Perigees, Excentricks, Epicycles i and other fuch hard names, 
whereby they pretend to diftinguifli themfelves from the Vulgar. It is very pro- 
bable that this paffion among the people, proceeds not only from the Genius of the 
Nation ■•> but alfo from a defire of imitating' the Great ones : who are known to 
have always had in that Country a great propenfity to thofe kinds of Sciences, 
whether that their mind bent that way, Policy engaged them, or thofe that pro- 
feffedthem, impofed upon their credulity or weaknefs, for their own interefts. 
However it be, The Kings of Per^^'make great account of Aftrologers, and 
thefe men who have a chief refiding at Court, coft them yearly vaft fums of mony : 
and indeed, they undertake nobufinefs till firft they be informed by them of the 
lucky minute of fome favourable Gonftellation, when they are to fet about it, and 
if a King hath had bad fuccefsin any Affair, wherein he had notconfulted them, 
all attribute thecaufe of it to the negligence of the Prince who omitted to nick 
the happy minute of the Aftrologers. This cuftom hath taken fych root at Court, 
that thefe Gentlemen are become as neceffary as any other Officers thereof i and i£ 
the King have fenfe enough not to give credit to all their raveries, yet he muft 
feem at leaft to rely much upon them i becaufe under pretext of the good or bad 
minute, he orders his Affairs at his pleafurc, and no body murmurs at it, no not 
Strangers, with whom he never wants a fair pretext of refufing or granting their 
defires, telling them, (if they complain,) that it is thefuperiour power of the Stars 
which obliges him to a6t fo or fo. 
Now I amfpeakingof Aftrology, I remember there appeared a Cometwhilftt A Comet «R 
was at Jfpahan: The Reverend Father John Baptijia, z Ùapucin^ difcovered h^P^k'^h 
on Jlmrjday, the eleventh of December, one thoufand fix hundred and fîxty four, 
about Five a Clock in the Morning, in the Sign o( Virgo. It had a Tail, and 
moved from E^if/J to JVeft : I fawiton Monday the fifteenth of the fame Month, 
about half an hour after five in the Morning, when it -was almoft in the Meridian, 
and about two degrees beyond the Sign of Virgo : its Tail appeared to the view 
about the length of a Fathom : Sonne days after the Tail of it pointed betwixt 
the JVefi and the North. It paft from Virgo to Libra-, and the one and twentieth of 
December^ when it entered into Leo, tliere was a Conjundlion of the Sm and 
Saturn i after that its Tail pointed Eafirvard. 
Friday the fîxteenth of January., i66% there happened an Eclipfe of ihe Sm, 
which began a little after eight of the Clock in the Morning, and lafted almoft 
till half an hour after Eleven, and two thirds of the Sun were well near Edipfed. 
The Mahometans have no pub!ick Superftition for an Eclipfe of the Sm i they 
only fay a Prayer made on purpofe -, w herein they Pray God to avert all Calami- 
ties from them : But it is not the fame in Eclipfos of the Moon., during which, as 
I have already faid, they fpare not their Kettles. However it were no great mat- 
ter, if the Perfians were only Superftitious in relation to the Stars i they are fo 
P alfo 
