Chiromancer

The ſcumme of the people partake of the Chyromancer; they will ſee the hand, to judge the heart: but how many are there who preſent themſelves before God with hands of gold, and hearts of clay?

Hippocrates Prince of Phyſick, ſayes, that the Phyſician cannot be accompliſhed in his Art, if he have not the knowledge of Aſtrologie; ſo I may ſay that the Chiromancer is not perfect nor accompliſhed if he have not Phyſiognomie, which is Scienta quâ natura hominum ex aſpectu corporis judicatur, […]

There are many other inconstant folds, or markings of the skin, in this region [of the hand], which, to the surgeon, are of little import, but which present a book of mystic lore to the gipsy and the cheiromancer, wherein (when opened by the necessary charms) they discern the future destinies of all that seek to be enlightened by them.

Chiromancers divide the hand into several regions, each presided by a planet. The thumb belongs to Venus, the index to Jupiter, the middle finger to Saturn, the annulary to the Sun, the auricular to Mercury, the centre of the hand to Mars, the remainder to the Moon. The direction of the line of life is still undecided by chiromancers; some placing it between the thumb and index, traversing the centre of the palm; […]

It was considered blasphemous to forestall Providence, as most chiromancers and metoposcopists did, by predicting future events in everyday life from sundry bodily signs; and this accounts for the widespread belief throughout those centuries that physiognomy was a kind of black magic.

Now this chiromancer, when he understood the king's wish, took hold of his hand and examined with the greatest care all the lines he could trace there. After considering them diligently, one and all, he stood silent and his face grew pale.