William Lilly's History of His Life and Times, from the Year 1602 to 1681 — Text and Context

Astrology as Political Practice

The catalog lists astrology as a subject, but the excerpts reveal that Lilly's practice was deeply interwoven with high-stakes political events. He does not merely calculate nativities in abstract; he erects a figure to determine where the king might be safe, and his judgment is taken seriously by a royal agent. The narrative treats astrology as a practical tool for decision-making, not a speculative philosophy. Lilly's tone is matter-of-fact: after setting up his figure, he tells Whorewood that the king could remain undiscovered about twenty miles from London in Essex. She, being of a sharp judgment, recalls a suitable house. The exchange suggests a collaborative, pragmatic use of astrological method.

The Editor's Presence and the Text's Provenance

Elias Ashmole, the editor, inserts footnotes that add a layer of personal testimony. In one footnote, Ashmole states he was well acquainted with a gentleman mentioned, having lived opposite him in Surrey for three or four years. This editorial voice confirms or supplements Lilly's account from Ashmole's own memory. The memoir thus becomes a joint document: Lilly's original manuscript, written to Ashmole, is later published with Ashmole's annotations. The reader encounters two seventeenth-century voices, one narrating and one corroborating, which gives the text an unusual double authority. The 1715 publication date and the 1822 reprint further indicate sustained interest in this collaborative record.

Matter-of-Fact Style Amid Extraordinary Events

Lilly's prose is notably plain and unadorned. He reports that his house was visited with the plague, that he buried a maid-servant from it, and that he told Whorewood he would not let her in for fear of infection—yet she replies, 'I fear not the plague, but the pox.' The dialogue is direct, even blunt. When describing the king's misfortunes, Lilly uses phrases like 'see the misfortune' and 'guided by his own approaching hard fate,' but he does not moralize at length. This restraint gives the narrative a documentary quality. The reader is left to infer the drama from the sequence of events, not from the narrator's commentary. The style matches the memoir's claim to be a straightforward history of his life and times.

Readers should attend to the footnotes, which often contain Ashmole's firsthand knowledge, and to the way Lilly moves between personal detail and national crisis. The excerpts cover only a portion of the memoir; the full work includes accounts of other astrological consultations and publications. The text rewards those interested in how a practitioner of a contested science narrated his own role in history, without the retrospective gloss of later biographers.