ZADKIEL AND THE STARS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 104, 2 May 1879, Page 4

ZADKIEL AND THE STARS.

{rail Mall Gazette.) Considering how stoutly Zadkiel, the *»ell-known sixpenny prophet, stance up for tbe tiara, it is a obame that the fltars do not stand by Zedkiel better than they do. Repeatedly, while bp was preparing hta Almanac for tbe past year, they nppear to have neglected to supply him with information of events that wpre to come off. One woiiM have thought the death of a personage so prominent in European history as the late Pope wonld have been considered worth a limely and accurate notice. Bat not ono word did ony of the heavenly bodies condescend to say on the subject. Agiia, not only did (hey omit to give any bint of the death of the King of Italy, but, with culpable carelesene?*, they allow poor Zedkiel to go on prophesying all through the year about Victor Emmanuel — as if tbsy had not eettled he was to dio in the second week of January— and even permitted the misguided astrologer to eet oot the King's nativity in full, brinpine him down as far aa November the 30th. Nor did they convey any warning of the death of the Grand Duchess of Home, For the most part oar modern Partridge seems to have been fobbed off with paltry predictions ahout epidemic*, fires, and railway and mine accidents — a very cheap sort of vaticination wiih which the merest tyro may safety calculate on mtkfag a df oett score at any time. Io fact, it looks as if tbe planetary authorities when applied to for information about the crowned heads and course of events in Europe, Were in the habit of Baying, "Bother Z&dkiel ! Give him a oonple ofezploeioos and a railway collision, and send him about his business." Worst of all, when they do deign to givs him an astrological "tip" — if, without irreverence, tbe language of the turf may be applied to the transaction — it is far too often conveyed in snch a vngue and slovenly form that be mistakes its drift. Tbqb they led him completely astray about the result of tbe war in the "Eaat. ., It is true there was the difficulty of the exact time of the Sultan's birth being undiicoverable, but there wss no excuse for tbe stars misleading Ztdkiel into the belief that be was not goipg to be vanquished by Rusßia, and that they, especially. Mars •nd Saturn, wera dead against tbe Czar and the Grand Dpke Michael. . And tbe moon, who, as a comparatively near neighbor, ought to have been on batter terms with the prophet, is jaat as bad as any of them; for ebe encouraged him to sty that her eclipse in August " sgetks aloud to that potentate (the Citr) and bids him prepare for a great cbftDge."__ The only potentate spoken to aloud and told to prepare for a change about tbattime was Major O'Gorman, who was named by the Speaker and fold to mend his parliamentary manners; so that in this instance tbe noon clearly set the astrologer "barking,,, up* the , wrong jtree,'* as Colonel Crockett wooid have said. Again,, t "the met id i anal position of Mar*/' , in June induced Zidkiel to declare boldly, Without any equivocation dr hesitation, that " the Cabinet will lose one of its members by d,eath. ;> Observe the croejty of this mis-lustruc- | tion. Bat for tbe, fatal words, "by death/' Zadkiel might have cited this in hit Almanac for tbe present year among hief fulfilled predictions, alleging that Mara tod he meant tbe retirement of Lord Derby. To be sure be would have been some three months behind time; but that would not have mattered muob, for the thorough-going believers in astrology »nd his Almanac have a feminine contempt for punctuality. Then, Zadkie( .was made to say tn.at Parliament; <waa to meet- ia February j under exciting circumstances, when it , had been pre-ordaioed that it was to meet io the middle of January; and j even more indefensible yeas the joint action 'of, Mercury and Venus when they induced him to announce in September that " we,aßauredlyqpredict tbe advent of that improvement of trade for which -the- nation baa sighed so long,*' But what .shall we say for the planet-Mar,* agajc-toat told b,inVi|iat in January "Poland will shew a bold fro&i' to, her eneujitt, and many, « deed; of vtngeaoce will be perpetrated bf her sods?" ' Here we have a cynical disregard, for trot fa; which We should have ecazeely. expected, from the, Dog. •tar. ilf the members of the solar system have no regard 1 for their own reputation, they should have some consideration for t faithful servant, who for h&lf-a century has maintained their influence and authority in the teeth of ridicule; and who must per force take to indirect practices of prophetical "hedging" if they persist in giving him information that he cannot depend upon.. For themselves, they may not greatly care for t&a opinion of a "played-out" planet, as ours appears to be considered in astrological cirles (Ztdkielj we see, has a pamphlet jußt oo^on. the approaching destruction of the i earth); bat if they do, they should remember that these are not tbe times to trifle with a reputation like theirs, acquired in the Middle ; Ages. However, it may be with them, we can! •wore them soeptioism is abroad here; and that there are- many on this orb who hold that they are potentially hambugfrtM opnj|titationa^ly^-most of them-rfiltbbj' nebulosities. Noihlog; could be better calculated to strengthen a belief qf this sort than the hazy i incoherences they aljow Zidkiel to publish annually as the "Voice of the I ■tors/' Let Jtietu, therefore, look to i| trnlW' fe'are if yet time— as Zadkief fainuelf i»yi when Mara aad Saturn

appear to be concocting something unusually unpleasant for the Sovereigns of Europe,