ASTROLOGY - HUDIBRAS Engraving by William Hogarth depicting Hudibras beating Sidrophel and his man Whacum, from the series of illustrations to Samuel Butler's Hudibras, 1726. Hudibras has visited the pseudo-astrologer Sidrophel to find a way of gaining the hand of a weathy widow, whom he is courting. The horoscope which Sidrophel has cast (visible on the table) is by no means an accurate chart, yet it is designed to reveal the anger of Hudbras, with dark Saturn and violent Mars in opposition. The sheet of paper on the floor may resemble a horoscope chart, but it is the drawing of a magical circle, designed to protect the operator intent on raising demons or spirits. Such an operator would make use of the knife lying on this sheet, which has, inscribed on the blade, the magical acrostic, AGLA. Visible on the celestial globe are the first six signs of the zodiac: the symbolism of the globe being covered by a cloth is probably meant to indicate the astrology is (so far as Sidrophel is concerned) a truely hidden science. Only Ursus Major, the Greater Bear, is visible on the globe: no doubt, a visual parody of the bear mentioned in the text quoted at the foot of the print.