l r i 
with the refult of her enquiry; hilt his majefty, in the 
mean time, after having eluded the vigilance of his guard, 
unfortunately took an oppofite direction, and placed him- 
felf in the power of colonel Hammond, in the I(le of 
Wight. But, though this project had been rendered abor¬ 
tive by the king’s unexpedted removal, the lame lady ap¬ 
plied to Lilly again, in 164.8, to confult him about a plan 
for his majelly’s efcape from Carilbrook-caftle, by fawing 
through the iron bars of a window to the room to which 
he was confined; upon which Lilly procured a-proper 
faw to be made by an ingenious lockfmith, and a bottle 
of aqua-fortis, which were both conveyed to the king. 
Gf thefe means his majefty made fuch ul'e, that he had 
foon an aperture fufficiently large for his purpofe; but he 
was, by fome accident, prevented from making his efcape. 
Lilly fays, that when the king had got out, with his legs 
foremoft, as far as his breaft, his heart failed him ; but 
the tradition at Carilbrook was, that he did aflually get 
out, and walked backwards and forwards on a bank un¬ 
der the window for fome time, in expectation of perfons 
who were to convey him away ; but they not coming, and 
the moon beginning to rife, he attempted to get in again, 
when he was difcovered by a centinel. Afterwards the 
fame lady came a third time to Lilly, in the king’s name, 
when commiffioners had been appointed by parliament to 
treat with his majefty at Newport. She now inquired 
about the iffue of the propofitions which were to be of¬ 
fered to his majefty, and the manner in which he lliould 
conduct liimlelf on that occafior*. Upon this, our aftro- 
loger fays, that, after peruling his figure, he informed her 
of the day when the commiflioners Would arrive in the 
iftand, and cliofe another day and hour for their recep¬ 
tion. He then advifed, “as loon as the propofitions were 
read, to fign them, and make hafte with all fpeed to come 
up with the commiflioners to London, the army being then 
far diftant from London, and the city enraged ftoutly 
againft theminfatuating that, if thefe directions were 
obferved, the ifl'ue would prove favourable. He adds, 
that the king promifed to follow them, but was perfuaded 
by lord Say to alter his purpole. 
While Lilly was promoting his own intereft by being 
thus ferviceable to the king’s defigns, he did fo likewile 
by rendering himfelf ufeful to the parliament party. Dur¬ 
ing the year 1648, while the parliament’s army was be- 
fieging the royalilts at Colchefter, he and Booker were 
fent to the camp, to encourage the foldiers by their pre¬ 
dictions of a fpeedy furrender of the place, which hap¬ 
pened accordingly. In the fame year, the council of ftate 
prefented him with- fifty pounds in calh, and an order for 
a penfion of one hundred pounds per annum, for furnifh- 
ing them “ with perfect knowledge of the chiefelt con¬ 
cernments of France.” This he obtained by means of a 
fecular jiriefl, with whom he had been formerly acquaint¬ 
ed, and who was now confefl'or to one of the French fe- 
cretaries. Lilly retained his penfion two years, and then 
threw it up in difguft, owing to an affront which he re¬ 
ceived from a principal miniiter in the council of ftate, 
and other caufes. In the year 1651, he publillied a trea- 
tife, entitled, “ Several Obfervations upon the Life and 
Death of Charles, late King of England;” which, if we 
overlook the aftrological nonfenfe, may be read with as 
much fotisfaflion as more celebrated hiftories, the author 
being not only very well informed, but difcovering great 
impartiality. About this time our author read public 
lectures on aftrology for the inltruCtion of young ftudents 
in that pretended art; and fucceeded fo well in his impo- 
fitions on the credulous and fuperftitious, that, in the 
years 1651 and 1652, he was able to lay out near two thou¬ 
sand pounds in the purchafe of fee-farm rents, and a 
houfe and lands at Herfham. Having in the year 1650 
written publicly that the parliament fhould not continue, 
but a new government arile; and having further aliened, 
in his almanac for the year 1653, that the parliamentary 
government flood but on a ticklifh foundation, and was 
in danger of infurreClions both among the people and in 
Vol. XII. No. 865. 
- L Y. fop 
the army; he received a fummons to attend and anfwer 
for his conduCt. Before the arrival of the meflenger, how¬ 
ever, he had notice that complaints were lodged again ft 
Him, ajid applied to Mr. Speaker Lenthall, who was al¬ 
ways his friend, by whom the paftfages which had given 
offencq were pointed out to him. Thefe he immediately 
altered, and, by the aftiftance of a printer of the cavalier 
party, was enabled to attend the committee on the follow¬ 
ing morning with fix copies printed differently from the 
firft impreilion, and which alone he acknowledged to be 
his. The others he maintained to be fpurious, and pub- 
lifhed by fome malignant enemies, in order to ruin him. 
By this trick he came off with only being detained thir¬ 
teen days in the cuftody of the ferjeant at arms- In the 
fome year he made a fcurrilous attack upon the Rev. Tho¬ 
mas Gataker, for expofing the vanity and abf'drdity of 
the pretended fcience of judicial aftrology, as already no¬ 
ticed in the life of that learned naan. See vol. lyii. p. 273. 
In 1655, Lilly had a bill of indictment preferred againft 
him at Hicks’s-hall, for giving his opinion in a cafe of 
ftolen goods; but, upon trial, lie was acquitted. Four 
years afterwards ke received, from the king of Sweden, a 
prel'ent of a gold chain and medal, worth more than fifty 
pounds, on account of his having mentioned that monarch 
with great refpeft in his almanac for 1657. Soon after 
the reftoration of Charles II. in 1660, it being well known 
that he had maintained an intimacy with fome of the moll 
obnoxious of the republican party, and being fuppofed to 
be mafter of their lecrets, he was taken into cuftody by 
order of the parliament, and examined by a committee 
concerning the perfon who had aflually cut off the head 
of the late king; when he declared, that he had been in¬ 
formed by Mr. Robert Spavin, fecretary at the time to 
Cromwell, who dined with him loon after the fact, that 
it was Joyce who performed the part of the executioner. 
Soon after this examination, Lilly fued out his pardon un¬ 
der the great feal; and in 1665, when the plague raged 
in London, he’ removed to Herfham. Here he applied 
himfelf to the ftudy of phyfic, and obtained a licence to 
practife it from archbifhop Sheldon, through the inter¬ 
vention of his friend Elias Afhmole. At the fome time 
he continued to practife his aftrological impofitions ; and 
Dr. Halley frequently related, that, after the reftoration, 
he applied to the miniltry to employ him as their pro¬ 
phet, as thofe who poflefted authority juft before them had 
done; but, to his mortification, met with a refufal. In 
the committee appointed by parliament to examine into 
the caufe of the great fire of London in 1666, fome of the 
members, fufpefting that, from the hieroglyphical deco¬ 
rations of one of his trails publiflied before that event, he 
might have it in his power to throw- light on their enqui¬ 
ries, moved that he fhould be fent for and examined. 
Accordingly he was called before them, and took that op¬ 
portunity of infinuating his pretenfions to prediftive fkill, 
by aflerting, that he certainly had forefeen that London 
would be afflicted with luch a calamity, but without as¬ 
certaining or endeavouring to afcertain the time when it 
fhould happen. He added, that, with refpeit to the»caufe, 
“ though he had taken much pains in the fearch, he could 
not give himfelf the leaft fotisfaflion therein ;” conclud¬ 
ing, “ it was only the finger of God ; but what inftru- 
ments he ufed thereunto I am ignorant.” The com¬ 
mittee, being fatisfied with this prudent anfwer, very ci¬ 
villy difmifled him. After this occurrence, we have lit¬ 
tle information concerning him, excepting that a fhort 
time before his death, he adopted for his ion, by the name 
of Merlin junior, one Henry Coley, a tailor by trade ; and 
at the fame time gave him the impreflion of his almanac, 
which had then been printed fix-and-thirty years fuccef- 
fively. This Coley was afterwards famous as an aftrolo- 
ger, and publifhedj in his own name, almanacs and aftro. 
logical treatifes. Lilly died of a paralytic attack in 1681, 
when about feventy-nine years of age ; and Mr, Afhmole 
fet a monument over his grave in the church of Walton- 
upon-Thame«. All his magical inftrnments became tha 
8 8 propertj 
