Endnote 38
Part II, §4, l. 21.  In the English Cyclopædia, art. Astrology, a quotation is given from an astrological work, in reply to the question whether the `querent' should succeed as a cattle-dealer.  It contains some words very similar to Chaucer's.  `If the lord of the sixth be in quartile, or in opposition to the dispositor of the part of Fortune, or the Moon, the querent cannot thrive by dealing in small cattle.  The same if the lord of the sixth be afflicted either by Saturn, Mars, or the Dragon's Tail; or be found either retrograde, combust, cadent, or peregrine. [See l. 33.]  The Dragon's Tail and Mars shew much loss therein by knaves and thieves, and ill bargains, &c.; and Saturn denotes much damage by the rot or murrain.'  The evil influence of the Dragon's Tail is treated of in the last chapter of `Hermetis Philosophi de revolutionibus nativitatum', fol. Basileæ; n.d.