^ibcrttBtment. I m I THE U8C recently made of Astrology in the poetical machinery of certain works of genius (which are of the highest popularity, and above all praise), seems to have excited in the world at large a desire to learn^something of the mysteries of that science which has, in all former ages, if not in these days, more or less engaged reverence and usnrped belief. The apparent existence of such a general desire has caused the completion of the following Translation, and its presentation to the public; although it was originally undertaken only in part, and merely to satisfy two or three individuals of the grounds on which the now neglected doctrines of Astrology had so long and so fully maintained credit

F^RfiFA-Cfi. OF all sciences, whether true or false, which have at any time engaged the attention of the world, there is not one of which the real or assumed principles are less generally known, in the present age, than those of As- trology, The whole doctrine of this science is com- monly understood to have been completely overturned ; and, of late, people seem to have satisfied themselves with merely knowing the import of its name. Such con- tented ignorance, in persons, too, sufficiently informed in other respects, is the more extraordinary, since Astro- logy has sustained a most conspicuous part throughout the history of the world, even until days comparatively rec^t. In the East, where it first arose, at a period of very remote antiquity*, and whence it came to subjugate the intellect of Europe, it still even now holds sway. In * Sir Isaac Newton has the following remarks in regard to the origin of Astrology : — " After the study of Astronomy was set on " foot for the nse of navigation, and the ^Egyptians, by the heliacal " risings and settings of the stars, had determined the length of the "solar year of 365 days, and by other observations had fixed the " solstices, and formed the fixed stars into asterisms, all which was " done in the reigns of Ammon, Sesac, Oros, and Memnon," (about 1000 years before Christ,) "it may be presumed that they continued " to observe the motions of the planets, for they called them after the " names of their gods ; and Nechepsos, or Nicepsos, King of Sais,'* [772 B.C.] "by the assistance of Petosiris, a priest of Mgypt, in- a