Deathly Divinations

On a September evening in the mid 1500s, Jean Forman, the wife of the astrologer, Simon, teased him over supper. Could he tell which of them would die first, she asked? He was 58, she 30 years his junior. His reply was simple: she would bury him within a week. This was a Thursday. On Friday nothing happened. On Saturday nothing happened. By Wednesday the astrologer’s skill was happily in question. But on Thursday, as Forman set off by boat from Lambeth to London he fell down, shouted ‘An impost, an impost’ and died. Some years later Jean told this story to William Lilly (1602-81), then England’s most famous astrologer, which is how we know about it today.

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