, a famous English astrologer, was born at Diseworth in Leicestershire,
, a famous English astrologer, was
born at Diseworth in Leicestershire, in 1602, and was put
to school at Ashby-de-la-Zouch, in the same county; but,
his father not being in circumstances to give him a liberal
education, as he intended at Cambridge, he was obliged to
quit the school, after learning writing and arithmetic. Being then, as his biographers inform us, of a forward temper, and endued with shrewd wit, he resolved to push his
fortune in London, where he arrived in 1620; and where
his immediate necessities obliged him to article himself as a
servant to a mantua-maker, in the parish of St. Clement
Danes. In 1624, he was assistant to a tradesman in the
Strand; who, not being able to write, employed him
(among other domestic offices) as his book-keeper. He
had not been above three years in this place, when, his
master dying, he addressed and married his mistress, with
a fortune of 1000l. In 1632, he turned his mind to astrology; and applied to one Evans, a worthless Welsh clergyman, who, after practising that craft many years in Leicestershire, had come to London, and, at this time, resided
in Gunpowder-alley. Here Lilly became his pupil, and
made such a quick progress, that he understood, in the
cant of his brethren, how “to set a figure
” perfectly in
seven or eight weeks; and, continuing his application with
the utmost assiduity, gave the public a specimen of his attainments and skill, by intimating that the king had chosen
an unlucky horoscope for the coronation in Scotland, 1633.