Rathbone and others who were charged with having conspired to set fire to London, it was stated that 3 Sept. 1666 was the day selected for the attempt, because Lilly had designated it in his published predictions ‘a lucky day’ for such a deed (Pepys, Diary, iii. 28). The fire of London broke out on 2 Sept. 1666. Thenceforward Lilly resided at Hersham, and studied medicine with such success that his friend, Elias Ashmole, induced Archbishop Sheldon to grant him a license to practise it on 11 Oct. 1670. After that date he combined the professions of physician and astrologer, and every Saturday rode over to Kingston, where ‘the poorer sort flocked to him from several parts.’ In 1677 Henry Coley [q. v.] entered his service as an amanuensis, and during the remainder of Lilly's life spent the summer with him in the preparation of his almanac. Lilly died of paralysis at Hersham on 9 June 1681, and was buried in the chancel of Walton Church, where Ashmole set up a black marble monument, with a Latin inscription to his memory. William Smalridge, then a Westminster scholar, afterwards bishop of Bristol, wrote at Ashmole's request an elegy in Latin and English.
Lilly's will, dated 5 Jan. 1674–5, is printed in ‘Wills from Doctors' Commons’ (Camd. Soc. pp. 131–2). To his wife Ruth he left his extensive estates, with remainder to Carleton, son of his friend, Bulstrode Whitelocke. All his personal property, including his books, went to his wife. To each of his six servants he bequeathed 20s.; 10l. he divided equally between the poor of Walton-on-Thames and of Hersham and Burwood. A brother Robert, a nephew William (Robert's son), and a sister Susan Beufoy, with a few friends, also received small legacies. On 29 Sept. 1681 administration was renounced by the widow, and was undertaken by Carleton Whitelocke. His astrological apparatus ultimately passed into the hands of John Case (fl. 1680–1700) [q. v.], the astrologer, who succeeded to his London practice. Before his death Lilly gave to Coley the copyright of his almanac, and Coley continued it under its original title, adding the words, ‘according to the method of Mr. Lilly.’ In 1683 Coley issued ‘The great and wonderful Predictions of that late famous Astrologer, William Lilly, Mr. Partridge, and Mr. Coley,’ for the current year. Lilly's library, with his letters and papers, his widow sold to Ashmole for 50l., and they are now among the Ashmolean MSS. at the Bodleian Library at Oxford. They include the original manuscript of his autobiography, his books of astrological practice, with the names of his clients (1644–9 and 1654–6), commonplace books of astrology, medical receipts, Lilly's letters to Ashmole, Booker, and Charles Gustavus of Sweden, and letters to Lilly from Sir Thomas Browne, Sir Richard Napier, Sir Edward Walker and many others.
Lilly figures as Sidrophel in Butler's ‘Hudibras’ (bk. ii. canto iii. ll. 105 sq.), and is described as one
That deals in destiny's dark counsels,
And sage opinions of the Moon sells.
His predictions were, as a rule, so vaguely worded as to be incapable of any practical interpretation, but comets and eclipses gave him opportunities of terrifying credulous patrons (cf. Evelyn, Diary, iii. 144), and he occasionally stumbled in his numerous prophecies on something that had plausible relations with the truth. Two printed letters addressed to him by clients—one from Roger Knight, jun. (8 Sept. 1649), inviting Lilly's opinion as to the success of a love-suit, and enclosing eleven shillings, and another (28 July 1650) from Vincent Wing [q. v.], the mathematician, making an inquiry respecting some stolen property, and begging one line of commendation for his ‘Harmonicon Celeste’ in the ‘Anglicus’ for 1651—curiously illustrate the confidence reposed in him (Letters from the Bodleian, ii. 151–8). Wood boldly describes him as an impostor (Lives and Times, ed. Clark, ii. 543). Pepys relates how he and his friends laughed at Lilly's prophecies (Diary, 14 June 1667, iii. 156). His published writings mainly consist of astrological predictions and of vindications of their correctness, in answer to the attacks made upon them by rival practitioners of his art, like Heydon, Wharton and Gadbury. His ‘Christian Astrology’ (1647) was long an authority in astrological literature, and was reprinted as an ‘Introduction to Astrology,’ with a preface by Zadkiel [i.e. Richard James Morrison, q. v.], in 1852. His chief non-professional work is his ‘True History of King James I and King Charles I’ (1651), which was reissued, with his autobiography, in 1715, as ‘Several Observations upon the Life and Death of Charles I, late King of England.’ It is a bare sketch of the events of the reign, with occasional excursions into astrology, and some interesting comments on the king's character. The bias distinctly inclines against the king, and Sir Edward Walker wrote ‘A full Answer’ at the Hague in 1652, which was first published in Walker's ‘Historical Discourses,’ 1705, pp. 227–87. In 1715 appeared ‘The History of Lilly's Life and Times,’ written by himself, and addressed to his friend Ashmole. It was prepared for publication by Charles Burman. It is a dis-
