the hour of one o'clock
He brought also plenary authority from the French king , under the great Seal of France , authorizing Monsieur l'Abbé du Boise to sign , execute , and deliver the treaty on the part of France and to receive in return the treaty to be executed by the English king . He also bore authority to make and deliver to King Charles a bill of exchange on Backwell , the goldsmith , for the purchase money of Dunkirk . Thus all would be ready for immediate conclusion the moment King Charles accepted the French king 's offer . That night near the hour of one o'clock , Lilly called by appointment to see me at De Grammont 's house , coming from Whitehall , where he had been closeted with the king for three or four hours , explaining to his Majesty the message of the stars as read by the light of two thousand pounds . `` I explained to his Majesty , '' said Lilly , `` that in all my calculations and observations , Mars intruded with alarming persistency in conjunction with King Louis 's star . I tried to show him that the recurrences of this untoward conjunction were so rapid and constant as to denote war at a very early date if conditions were not affected at once by the intervention of the messenger , Mercury , whose sign fortunately accompanied each unfortuitous conjunction . The king , though pretending to be learned in the noble art of astrology , asked me to translate my solution , and I did so , almost in the words of Monsieur l'Abbé this afternoon . ''