HOROSCOPES - CHARLES II, KING OF ENGLAND There are an enormous number of horoscopes of Charles II. Among the pictorial series is that given by Ebenezer Sibly, A New and Complete Illustration of the Occult Sciences (1790), which unfortunately contains one or two errors. The chart reproduced here is cast to the adjusted New Style, 8 June 1630, at 01:03 pm, in London. The portrait of Charles II is a hand-coloured engraving, of circa 1890, based on the miniature by Samuel Cooper, in the Royal Collection at Windsor. The sigillization in the present chart is typical of the seventeenth century: manuscript versions are to be found in Ann Geneva, Astrology and the Seventeenth Century Mind: William Lilly and the Language of the Stars (1995): for example, p. 200. It was recorded by Edward Matthew that, on the day after Charles' birth on 29 May 1630, his father went to St. Paul's Cross to offer prayers of thanksgiving. At that moment, a miraculous event took place in the skies, for the Pleiades were observed to be shining brightly, although it was midday. It was as a direct consequence of this experience that Charles adopted the star, which was such an important symbol, throughout his life. For the story, see Geneva op. cit. p. 206.