{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40962/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40962","id":"gutenberg_40962","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40962","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - British","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Prophecies"],"text":"This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler\n\n               [Picture: Great skill had they in palmistry]\n\n\n\n\n\n                                PROPHECIES\n                                    OF\n                              ROBERT NIXON,\n                             MOTHER SHIPTON,\n                                   AND\n                            MARTHA, THE GIPSY.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                     _PUBLISHED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n                                                             PAGE\nThe Life of Robert Nixon, commonly called The Cheshire               5\nProphet.\nThe Original predictions of Robert Nixon, as delivered by           18\nhimself.\nThe Following predictions of Robert Nixon are copied from           31\nold pamphlets.\nNixon\u2019s Cheshire prophecy at large, from Lady Cowper\u2019s              36\ncopy; with historical and political remarks, and many\ninstances wherein it has been fulfilled.\nThe Editor presents his Readers with a Copy of a printed            56\nPaper, which several aged Persons, residing near the\nForest, have vouched for the Authenticity of.\nProphecy of the French Revolution, from a publication by            61\nthe late Mr. Peter Jurieu, in 1687.\nExtracts from sermons by Dr. John Gill.                             69\nAn extraordinary prediction related by Mr. John Wesley.             95\nThe Life and Prophecies of Mother Shipton.                         103\nProphecies of Martha, the Gipsy.                                   197\nRemarkable fulfilment of a prediction.                             250\n\nTHE LIFE OF ROBERT NIXON,\nCOMMONLY CALLED\nTHE CHESHIRE PROPHET.\n\n\nTHE Prophecy of Nixon has so often given a name to the productions of\nauthors of different principles, that it is now almost become a doubt\nwhether such a person ever existed.  Passing through Cheshire lately,\ncuriosity led me to inquire what credit these legends bore among the\nnatives: and I was not a little surprised to find with what confidence\nthey related events which have come to pass within the memory of many of\nthe inhabitants; and how strictly they adhered to the notion that he\nwould not fail in the rest.  Amongst his number was a namesake and\ndescendant of the same family with this famous idiot, who, at this time\nlives not far from Vale-Royal, from whom I had mostly what follows, which\nhe said he had often heard his father and other ancient people in the\ncountry relate.  I also obtained a manuscript copy which seemed to bear\nthe appearance of antiquity.\u2014Mr. Gerrard, Mr. Grimes and many others of\nthe inhabitants of the forest of Delamere very obligingly told me what\nthey knew, and confirmed what was past.\n\nJohn, or Jonathan Nixon, the father of our prophet was a husbandman who\nheld the lease of a farm from the abbey of Vale-Royal, to this day known\nby the name of Bark, or Bridge-house in the parish of Over near\nNew-Church, and not far from Vale-Royal, on the forest of Delamere, which\nhouse is still kept up and venerated by the natives of Cheshire for\nnothing else that I could hear of but this extraordinary person\u2019s birth,\nwhich took place Whitsuntide, and he was christened by the name of\nRobert, in the year 1467, about the 7th year of Edward IV.; and from his\ninfancy he was remarkable for a stupidity and invincible ignorance, so\nthat it was with great difficulty his parents could instruct him to drive\nthe team, tend the cattle and such sort of rustic employments.\n\nHis parents at their decease left the farm and our Robert very young, to\nthe care of an elder brother with whom he first gave an instance of that\nforeknowledge which renders his name so famous.\n\nAs he was driving the team one day, whilst his brother\u2019s man guided the\nplough, he pricked an ox so very cruelly with his goad that the\nplough-holder threatened to acquaint his master; on which Nixon said, the\nox should not be his brother\u2019s three days hence; which accordingly\nhappened for a life drooping in the estate, the lord of the manor took\nthe same ox for an heriot. {7}\n\nDuring his residence here he was chiefly distinguished for his\nsimplicity, seldom spoke, and when he did it was with so rough a voice\nthat it was painful to hear him; he was remarkably satirical, and what he\nsaid had generally some prophetic meaning.  It was about this time that\nthe monk of Vale-Royal having displeased him he said in an angry tone,\n\n    When you the arrow come on high,\n    Soon a raven\u2019s nest will be;\n\nwhich is well known to have come to pass in the person of the last abbot\nof that place, whose name was Harrow.  Being called before Sir Thomas\nHolcroft he was put to death for denying the supremacy of King Henry\nVIII.  Having suppressed the abbey the King gave the domain to this\nknight and his heirs who bore a raven for their crest.\n\nAt another time he told them that Norton and Vale-Royal abbeys should\nmeet on Acton-bridge, a thing at that time looked upon as improbable; yet\nthose two abbeys being pulled down the stones were used for the purpose\nof repairing the bridge; and what was more improbable still a small thorn\ngrowing in the abbey-yard would become its door.  We may easily guess no\none thought this last would ever come to pass, and especially as it was\nunderstood by every one at that time of day that thorns never grew so\nlarge; but this shows the uncertain meaning of a prophecy, and that what\nwe understand one way is possibly meant quite different; so it happened\nin this case, for, at the Reformation the savage ravages under the\nsanction of religion sought nothing but rapine and plunder to enrich\nthemselves; and under the name of banishing superstition and pulling down\nidolatry, spared not even the most revered lineaments of antiquity, the\nmost sacred piles, the most noble structures, or most valuable records,\nbooks written by our most venerable forefathers and heroic ancestors.\nPieces of the nicest paint and figures of the best workmanship being all\nlost, irrecoverably lost in one common fit of destructive zeal which\nevery hue and cry is too apt to raise in the breast of a hot-headed\nbigot; whilst the truly religious, honest and learned men regret to this\nday the loss those destructive times have occasioned.  Whilst these\nreached Vale-Royal, this thorn amongst the rest, being cut down was cast\nin the door-way, to prevent sheep which grazed in the court from going\nin.\n\nBut the Reformation he declares in still plainer terms; for he says,\n\n    A time shall come when priests and monks\n    Shall have no churches nor houses,\n    And places where images stood,\n    Lined letters shall be good,\n    English books through churches are spread,\n    Where shall be no holy bread.\n\nIt is not my intention to recite every particular he is said to have\nforetold, which regard either private families or past occasions\u2014however,\nit may not be amiss to mention what is fresh in every one\u2019s memory who\nlives near Delamere forest and was vouched to me by several of the oldest\ninhabitants.\n\n    Thro\u2019 Weaver-hall shall be a lone {10}\n    Ridley-pool shall be sown and mown,\n    And Darnel-Park shall be hacked and hewn.\n\nThe two wings of Weaver-hall are now standing and between them is a\ncart-road; Ridley-pool is filled up and made good meadow land: and in\nDarnel-Park the trees are cut down and it is made into pasture-ground.\n\nI was also assured that he foretold the use of broad wheels, etc. and\nthat the town of Northwich now a considerable place of trade for salt\nwill be destroyed by water, which is expected to come to pass, by the\nnatives of Cheshire, as much as any other part of his prophecy has done;\nand some urge that the navigable cuts lately made is the water meant: but\nwhether a prejudice against those useful improvements may not have given\nrise to this notion, time only can determine.\n\nBut what rendered Nixon the most noticed was that at the time when the\nbattle of Bosworth-field was fought between King Richard the Third and\nKing Henry the Seventh, he stopped his team on a sudden and pointing with\nhis whip from one to the other cried, \u201cNow, Richard!  Now, Harry!\u201d\nseveral times; till at last, he said, \u201cNow, Harry, get over that ditch\nand you gain the day.\u201d  The plough-holder, amazed, related what had\npassed when he came home, and the truth of the prediction was verified by\nspecial messengers sent to announce the proclamation of King Henry of\nEngland on the field of battle.\n\nThe messenger who went this circuit related on his return the prediction\nof Nixon concerning the King\u2019s success; which, though it had been\nconfirmed by his arrival had made it no news to the natives of those\nparts; but Henry perhaps the wisest Prince of his time not willing to be\ndeceived, nor yet doubting the dispensations of Providence though by the\nmouth of a fool, sent the same messenger back to find Nixon, and to bring\nhim before him.  At the moment the King gave his orders our prophet was\nin the town of Over, about which he ran like a madman declaring the King\nhad sent for him and that he must go to court and there be _clammed_:\nthat is, be starved to death.  Such a declaration caused a great deal of\nlaughing in the town, to think that his Majesty so noted for his wisdom\nshould send for a dirty drivelling clown to court, and that being sent\nfor he should fear to be starved there; but how great was their surprise,\nin a few days after, when the messenger passing through the town demanded\na guide to find Nixon who (then turning the spit at his brother\u2019s at the\nBark-house) cried, \u201cHe is coming, he is now on the road for me!\u201d but the\nastonishment of the family can scarcely be imagined when, on the\nmessenger\u2019s arrival he demanded Nixon in the King\u2019s name; the people who\nbefore scoffed at his simple appearance and odd sayings, and had pointed\nto the very children to make him their sport were now confounded on\nfinding the most ridiculous of all he ever foretold (in their opinion)\nbecome a truth, which was vouched to their own eyes.  Whilst hurried\nthrough the country Nixon still loudly lamented that he was going to be\nstarved at the court.\n\nHe had no sooner arrived there than the cautious King willing to make\ntrial of his foreknowledge devised the following scheme to prove it.\nHaving had a valuable diamond ring which he commonly wore after the most\nseemingly strict inquiry made through the palace whether any one had seen\nit; he sent for Nixon, telling him what a loss he had sustained, and that\nif he could not help him to find it, he had no hopes left.  But how much\nsurprised was the King, when he got for answer that old proverb,\n\n    He who hideth can find;\n\nOn which he declared with a smile that he had done this only to try the\nprophet; but ever after ordered that what he said should be carefully put\nin writing.\n\nTo prevent Nixon\u2019s being starved his Majesty gave orders for him to have\nthe liberty to range through the whole palace and the kitchen was to be\nhis more constant dwelling.  Besides which, an officer was appointed to\ntake care that he was neither misused or affronted by the servants, nor\nat loss for any necessary of life.  Thus situated one would have thought\nwant would never have reached him; yet one day, as the King was going out\nto his hunting-seat Nixon ran to him crying and begged in the most moving\nterms that he might not be left, for that if he was his Majesty would\nnever see him again alive: that he should be starved; that now was the\ntime, and if he was left he must die.\n\nThe King whose thoughts were doubtless fixed on the diversion he was\ngoing to and supposing the matter so very unlikely to come to pass, only\nsaid that it was impossible and recommended him strongly to the officer\u2019s\ncare; but scarcely was the king gone from the palace-gate when the\nservants mocked and teased Nixon to such a degree, that the officer to\nprevent these insults locked him up in a closet and suffered no one but\nhimself to attend on him thinking that he should prevent this part of his\nprophecy coming true: but a message of great importance coming from the\nKing to this very officer, he in his readiness to obey the royal command\nforgot to set poor Nixon at liberty and though he was but three days\nabsent when he recollected his prisoner he found him at his return, dead\nas he had foretold of hunger.\n\nThus evidenced with what is past stands his prophecy in every mouth in\nCheshire; yet a greater affront cannot be given than to ask a copy from\nthe families said to be possessed of it.  Every possible means it is well\nknown has been used to smother the truth, perplex the curious, and even\nto abolish the very remembrance that such a one ever existed, but from\nwhat reason cannot appear except that it is foretold that the heir of O\u2014\nis to meet with some ignominious death at his own gate, {16} with other\nfamily events which, though no person or time being perfectly\ndistinguished may perhaps occasion this secrecy.\n\nI must also observe that the cross on Delamere forest, that is, three\nsteps and the socket in which the cross formerly stood are now sunk\nwithin a few inches of the ground, though all remember to have seen it\nwithin the memory of man nearly six feet above, the cross itself having\nbeen destroyed long since.  It is also remarkable that Headlets cross is\nmentioned by Merlin de Rymer and most other English and Scotch prophets\nas the last place in England on which it is supposed a decisive action\nwill happen; but as to any fixed period when the things will come to pass\nI cannot learn, being all mentioned with the greatest uncertainty.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ORIGINAL PREDICTIONS\nOF\nROBERT NIXON,\nAS DELIVERED BY HIMSELF.\n\n\n   When a raven shall build in a stone lion\u2019s mouth,\n   On a church top beside the grey forest,\n   Then shall a king of England be drove from his crown,\n         And return no more.\n\n   When an eagle shall sit on the top of Vale-Royal house,\n   Then shall an heir be born, who shall live to see great troubles in\n   England.\n\n   There shall be a miller nam\u2019d Peter,\n         With two heels on one foot,\n   Who shall distinguish himself bravely,\n         And shall be knighted by the victor:\n   For foreign nations shall invade England;\n         But the invader shall be killed,\n   And laid across a horse\u2019s back,\n         And led in triumph.\n\n   A boy shall be born with three thumbs on one hand,\n         Who shall hold three King\u2019s horses,\n   Whilst England three times is won and lost in one day.\n\n   But after this shall be happy days,\n         A new set of people of virtuous manners shall live in peace.\n   But the wall of Vale-Royal near the pond shall be the token of its\n   truth,\n         For it shall fall:\n            If it fall downwards,\n   Then shall the church be sunk for ever:\n   But if it fall upwards against a hill,\n   Then shall the church and honest men live still.\n\n         Under this wall shall be found the bones of a British King.\n   Peckforton-mill shall be removed to Ludington hill,\n   And three days blood shall turn Noginshire-mill.\n   But beware of a chance to the lord of Oulton,\n         Lest he should be hanged at his own door.\n\n   A crow shall sit on the top of Headless cross,\n         In the forest so grey,\n   And drink of the nobles\u2019 gentle blood so free;\n   Twenty hundred horses shall want masters,\n         Till their girths shall rot under their bellies.\n\n   Thro\u2019 our own money and our own men,\n         Shall a dreadful war begin;\n   Between the sickle and the suck,\n   All England shall have a pluck;\n   And be several times forsworn,\n   And put to their wits\u2019 end,\n   That it shall not be known, whether to reap their corn,\n   Bury their dead, or go to the field to fight.\n\n         A great scarcity of bread corn.\n   Foreign nations shall invade England with snow on their helmets,\n   And shall bring plague, famine, and murder in the skirts of their\n   garments.\n   A great tax will be granted but never gathered.\n\n   Between a rick and two trees,\n   A famous battle fought shall be.\n\n   London street shall run with blood\n         And at last shall sink,\n   So that it shall be fulfilled,\n   Lincoln was, London is, and York shall be\n         The finest city of the three.\n\n   There will be three gates to London of imprisoned men for cowsters.\n   Then if you have three cows, at the first gate fell one, and keep thee\n   at home,\n   At the second gate fell the other two, and keep thee at home.\n   At the last gate all shall be done.\n\n   When summer in winter shall come,\n   And peace is made at every man\u2019s home,\n   Then shall be danger of war;\n   For tho\u2019 with peace at night the nation ring,\n   Men shall rise to war in the morning.\n\n   There will be a winter Council, a careful Christmas, and a bloody\n   Lent.\n   In those days there shall be hatred and bloodshed,\n   The father against the son, and the son against his father,\n   That one may have a house for lifting the latch of the door.\n   Landlords shall stand, with hats in their hands,\n   To desire tenants to hold their lands.\n\n   Great wars and pressing of soldiers,\n   But at last clubs and clouted shoes shall carry the day.\n   It will be good in these days for a man to sell his goods, and keep\n   close at home.\n   Then forty pounds in hand\n   Will be better than forty pounds a year in land.\n   The cock of the North shall be made to flee,\n   And his feathers be plucked for his pride;\n   That he shall almost curse the day that he was born.\n\n   One asked Nixon, where he might be safe in those days? he answered,\n   In God\u2019s croft, between the rivers Mersey and Dee.\n\n   Scotland shall stand more or less,\n   Till it has brought England to a piteous case.\n   The Scots shall rule England one whole year.\n         Three years of great wars,\n         And in all countries great uproars.\n   The first is terrible, the second worse, but the third unbearable.\n\n         Three great battles;\n   One at Northumberland-bridge,\n   One at Cumberland-bridge,\n   And the other the south side of Trent.\n   Crows shall drink the blood of many nobles.\n   East shall rise against West, and North against South.\n\n   Then take this for good,\n   Noginshire-mill shall run with blood,\n         And many shall fly down Wanslow-lane.\n\n   A man shall come into England,\n   But the son of a king crown\u2019d with thorns\n   Shall take from him the victory.\n\n   Many nobles shall fight,\n   But a bastard Duke shall win the day,\n   And so without delay,\n   Set England in a right way.\n   A wolf from the East shall right eagerly come,\n   On the South side of Sandford, on a grey Monday morn,\n   Where groves shall grow upon a green,\n         Beside green grey they shall flee\n         Into rocks, and many die.\n   They shall flee into Salt strand,\n   And twenty thousand, without sword, shall die each man.\n   The dark dragon over Sudsbrown,\n         Shall bring with him a royal band;\n\n         But their lives shall be forlorn,\n   His head shall be in Stafford town,\n         His tail in Ireland.\n   He boldly shall bring his men, thinking to win renown:\n   Beside a wall in forest fair he shall be beaten down.\n   On Hine\u2019s heath they shall begin this bloody fight,\n   And with train\u2019d steed shall hew each others\u2019 helmet bright:\n   But who shall win that day no one can tell.\n\n   A Duke out of Denmark shall him dight,\n   On a day in England, and make many a lord full low to light,\n   And the ladies cry, \u2018Well away,\u2019\n   And the black fleet with main and might\n         Their enemies full boldly their assail.\n\n   In Britain\u2019s land shall be a knight,\n   On them shall make a cruel fight,\n   A bitter boar with main and might\n         Shall bring a royal rout that day.\n   There shall die many a worthy knight,\n         And be driven into the fields green and grey,\n   They shall lose both field and fight.\n\n   The weary eagle shall to an island in the sea retire\n         Where leaves and herbs grow fresh and green.\n         There shall he meet a lady fair,\n   Who shall say, \u2018Go help thy friend in battle slain:\u2019\n         Then by the counsel of that fair,\n   He eagerly will make to flee\n   Twenty-six standard of the enemy,\n   A rampant lion in silver set, in armour fair,\n         Shall help the eagle in that tide,\n         When many a knight shall die.\n\n   The bear that hath been long tied to a stake shall shake his chains,\n   That every man shall hear, and shall cause much debate.\n   The bull and red rose shall stand in strife,\n   That shall turn England to much woe,\n   And cause many a man to lose his life.\n\n   In a forest stand oaks three,\n         Beside a headless cross.\n   A well of blood shall run and ree,\n         Its cover shall be brass,\n         Which shall ne\u2019er appear,\n   Till horses\u2019 feet have trod it bare;\n   Who wins it will declare,\n   The eagle shall so fight that day,\n   That ne\u2019er a friend\u2019s from him away.\n   A hound without delay shall run the chase far and near.\n\n         The dark dragon shall die in fight.\n   A lofty head the bear shall rear,\n         The wide wolf so shall light,\n   The bridled steed against his enemies will fiercely fight.\n\n   A fleet shall come out of the North,\n         Riding on a horse of trees,\n   A white hind beareth he,\n         And there wreaths so free,\n   That day the eagle shall him slay,\n   And on a hill set his banner straightway.\n   That lion who\u2019s forsaken been and forced to flee,\n         Shall hear a woman shrilly say,\n         \u2018Thy friends are killed on yonder hill,\u2019\n         Death to many a knight this day.\n   With that the lion bears his banner to a hill,\n         Within a forest that\u2019s so plain,\n         Beside a headless cross of stone,\n   There shall the eagle die that day,\n   And the red lion get renown.\n   A great battle shall be fought by crowned Kings three;\n   One shall die and a bastard Duke will win the day.\n   In Sandyford there lies a stone,\n   A crowned King shall lose his head on.\n\n   In those dreadful days, five wicked priests\u2019 heads shall be sold for a\n   penny.\n   Slaughter shall rage to such a degree,\n         And infants left by those that are slain,\n   That damsels shall with fear and glee,\n         Cry, \u2018Mother, mother, I\u2019ve seen a man!\u2019\n\n   Between seven, eight, and nine,\n   In England wonders shall be seen.\n   Between nine and thirteen\n   All sorrow shall be done.\n         Then rise up Richard, son of Richard,\n   And bless the happy reign,\n   Thrice happy he who sees this time to come\n         When England shall know rest and peace again.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                    _End of the Original Prophecies_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nTHE FOLLOWING PREDICTIONS\nOF\nROBERT NIXON\nARE COPIED FROM OLD PAMPHLETS.\n\n\nThe famous Cheshire prophet Nixon, besides his prophecies relative to the\nfate of private families, also predicted much of public affairs, which we\nfind literally verified by the sequel.\n\nOn the Christmas before he went to court, being among the servants at Mr.\nCholmondeley\u2019s house, to the surprise of them all he suddenly started up\nand said,\n\n\u201cI must prophecy.\u201d  He went on, the favourite {32a} of a King shall be\nslain.  \u201cIf the master\u2019s neck shall be cleft in twain.  And the men of\nthe North {32b} shall sell precious blood; yea their own blood.  And they\nshall sacrifice a noble warrior {32c} to the idol, and hang up his flesh\nin the high places; and a storm shall come out of the North, which shall\nblow down the steeples of the South: and the labourer shall rise above\nhis lord, and the harvest shall in part be trampled down by horses, and\nthe remainder lie waste to be devoured by birds.\n\n\u201cWhen an oak tree shall be softer than men\u2019s hearts, then look for better\ntimes but they be but beginning.\n\n\u201cThe departure of a great man\u2019s {33a} soul shall trouble a river hard by,\nand overthrow trees, houses, and estates.  From that part of the house\nfrom whence the mischief came you must look for the cure.  First comes\njoy, then sorrow; after mirth comes mourning.\n\n\u201cI see men, women, and children, spotted {33b} like beasts, and their\nnearest and dearest friends affrighted at them.  I see towns on fire, and\ninnocent blood shed; but when men and horses walk upon the water, then\nshall be peace and plenty to the people, but trouble is preparing for\nKings; and the _great yellow fruit_ {33c} shall come over to this\ncountry, and flourish: and I see this tree take deep root and spread into\na thousand branches, which shall afterwards be at strife one with\nanother, because of their numbers: and there shall come a wind from the\nSouth, and the West, which shall shake the tree.  I see multitudes of\npeople running to and fro, and talking in a strange tongue.  And there\nshall be a famine {34} in the midst of great plenty, and earthquakes and\nstorms shall level and purify the earth.\u201d\n\nAfter these sayings, which every one, with the slightest knowledge of our\nhistory will instantly apply to those events which they so wonderfully\nforetold, Nixon was silent, and relapsed into his wonted stupidity: from\nwhich he did not recover until many weeks after, when he became again\ninspired, and gave vent to those remarkable predictions which were\nrecollected by Mr. Oldmixon.  Those which we have just now related were\ntaken down from the prophet\u2019s mouth by the steward, in pursuance of the\norders of Mr. Cholmondeley himself; and the original manuscript is now in\nthe hands of a gentleman in Shropshire.\n\n\n\n\nNIXON\u2019S CHESHIRE PROPHECY AT LARGE,\nFROM LADY COWPER\u2019S COPY;\nWITH HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL REMARKS, AND MANY INSTANCES\nWHEREIN IT HAS BEEN FULFILLED.\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nThis remarkable Prophecy has been carefully revised, corrected, and\nimproved; also some account given of our author, Robert Nixon, who was\nbut a kind of idiot, and used to be employed in following the plough.  He\nhad lived in some farmers\u2019 families, and was their drudge and their jest.\n\nAt last, Thomas Cholmondeley, of Vale-Royal, Esq., took him into his\nhouse, where he lived when he composed this prophecy, which he delivered\nwith as much gravity and solemnity as if he had been an oracle; and it\nwas observed that though the fool was a driveller, and could not speak\ncommon sense when uninspired, yet in delivering his prophecies, he spoke\nplainly and sensibly; how truly will be seen in the following pages.\n\nAs to the credit of this prophecy I dare say it is as well attested as\nany of Nostradamus\u2019s or Merlin\u2019s, and will come to pass as well as the\nbest of Squire Bickerstaff\u2019s; it is plain enough that great men in all\nages had recourse to prophecy as well as the vulgar.  I would not have\nall grave persons despise the inspiration of Nixon.  The late French King\ngave audience to an inspired farrier, and rewarded him with an hundred\npistoles for his prophetical intelligence; though by what I can learn he\ndid not come near our Nixon for gifts.\n\nThe simplicity, the circumstances, and the history of the Cheshire\nProphecy are so remarkable that I hope the public will be as much\ndelighted as I was myself.\n\nBy the way, this is not a prophecy of to-day; \u2019tis as old as the\npowder-plot, and the story will make it appear that there is as little\nimposture in it as the Jacobites pretend there is in the person it seems\nto have an eye to; but whether they are both impostures alike or not I\nleave the reader to determine.\n\n                                                              J. OLDMIXON.\n\n\n\nTHE PROPHECY.\n\n\nIN the reign of King James the First there lived a man generally reputed\na fool, whose name was Nixon.  One day, when he returned home from\nploughing, he laid the things down which he had in his hands, and\ncontinued for some time in a seemingly deep and thoughtful meditation, at\nlength he pronounced in a loud hoarse voice, \u2018Now I will prophecy;\u2019 and\nspoke as follows;\n\n\u201cWhen a raven shall build in a stone lion\u2019s mouth on the top of a church\nin Cheshire, then a King of England shall be driven out of his kingdom,\nand never return more.\n\n\u201cWhen an eagle shall sit on the top of the house, then an heir shall be\nborn to the Cholmondeley family, and this heir shall live to see England\ninvaded by foreigners, who shall proceed as far as a town in Cheshire;\nbut a miller, named Peter, shall be born with two heels on one foot, and\nat that time living in a mill of Mr. Cholmondeley\u2019s he shall be\ninstrumental in delivering the nation.\n\n\u201cThe person who then governs the nation will be in great trouble, and\nskulk about:\u2014The invading King shall be killed, laid across a horse\u2019s\nback like a calf, and led in triumph.  The miller having been\ninstrumental in it, shall bring forth the person that then governs the\nkingdom, and be knighted for what he has done; and after that England\nshall see happy days.  A new set of young men, of virtuous manners, shall\ncome, who shall prosper, and make a flourishing church for two hundred\nyears.\n\n\u201cAs a token of the truth of all this a wall of Mr. Cholmondeley\u2019s shall\nfall, if it falls downwards, the church shall be oppressed, and rise no\nmore; but if it fall upwards, next the rising hill on the side of it,\nthen shall it flourish again.  Under this wall shall be found the bones\nof a British King.\n\n\u201cA pond shall run with blood three days, and the Cross stone Pillar in\nthe forest sink so low into the ground, that a crow from the top of it\nshall drink of the best blood in England.\n\n\u201cA boy shall be born with three thumbs, and shall hold three kings\u2019\nhorses, while England shall be three times won and lost in one day.\u201d\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nThe original may be seen in several families in the county, and in\nparticular in the hands of Mr. Egerton, of Oulton, with many other\nremarkable things; as that Peckforton wind-mill should be removed to\nLudington hill and that horses saddled should run about while their\ngirths rotted away.  But this is sufficient to prove Nixon as great a\nprophet as Partridge; and we shall give other proofs of it before we have\ndone with him.\n\nI know your prophets are generally for Raw-head and bloody-bones and\ntherefore do not mind it much; or I might add that of Oulton mill shall\nbe driven with blood instead of water, but these soothsayers are great\nbutchers and every hall is with them a slaughter-house.\n\nNow as for authorities to prove this prophecy to be genuine and how it\nhas hitherto been accomplished, I might refer myself to the whole country\nof Chester, where it is in every one\u2019s mouth and has been so these forty\nyears.  As much as I have of the manuscript was sent me by a person of\nsense and veracity and as little partial to visions as any body.  For my\nown part I build nothing on this or any other prophecy; only there is\nsomething so very odd in the story and so pat in the wording of it that I\ncannot help giving it as I found it.\n\nThe family of the Cholmondeleys is very ancient in this county and takes\nits name from a place so called near Nantwich; there are also Cholmton\nand Cholmondeston; but the seat of that branch of the family which kept\nour prophet Nixon is at Vale-Royal, on the river Weave in Delamere\nforest.  It was formerly an abbey, {43} founded by Edward I. and came to\nthe Cholmondeleys from the famous family of the Holcrofts.  When Nixon\nprophesied this family was near being extinct, the heir having married\nSir Walter St. John\u2019s daughter, a lady not esteemed very young, who,\nnotwithstanding, being with child, fell in labour and continued so for\nmany days, during which time an eagle sat upon the house-top and flew\naway when she was delivered of a son.\n\nA raven is also known to have built in a stone lion\u2019s mouth in the\nsteeple of the church of Over, in the forest of Delamere.  Not long\nbefore the abdication of King James the wall spoken of fell down and fell\nupwards and in removing the rubbish were found the bones of a man of more\nthan ordinary size.  A pond at the same time ran with water that had a\nreddish tincture and was never known to have done so before or since.\n\nHeadless cross in the forest, which in the memory of man was several feet\nhigh, is now only half a foot from the ground.\n\nIn the parish of Budworth a boy was born about eighteen years ago with\nthree thumbs; the youth is still living there and the miller Peter lives\nin Noginshire mill in expectation of fulfilling this prophecy on the\nperson of Perkin: he hath also two heels on one foot and I find he\nintends to make use of them in the interest of King George, for he is a\nbold Briton and a loyal subject, zealous for the Protestant succession in\nthe illustrious House of Hanover, has a vote for the knights of the shire\nand never fails to give it on the right side: in a word, Peter will prate\nor box for the good cause that Nixon had lifted him in and if he does not\ndo the business, this must be said of him, that no man will bid fairer\nfor it; which the Lady Egerton was so apprehensive of, that wishing well\nto another restoration, she often instigated her husband to turn him out\nof the mill; but he looked upon it as whimsical and so Peter still\ncontinues there, in hopes of being as good a knight as Sir Philip his\nlandlord was.\n\nOf this Peter I have been told, that the Lady Narcliff of Chelsea and the\nLady St. John of Battersea, together with several other persons of credit\nand fashion, have often been heard to talk and that they all asserted\ntheir knowledge of the truth of our prophecy and its accomplishment, with\nmany particulars that are more extraordinary than any I have yet\nmentioned.\n\nThe noise of Nixon\u2019s Predictions reaching the ears of King James the\nFirst, he would needs see this fool, who cried and made ado that he might\nnot go to court and the reason that he gave was, that he should there be\nSTARVED.\u2014(A very whimsical fancy of his, courts not being places where\npeople are used to starve in, when they once come there, whatever they\nmay have done before.)\u2014The King being informed of Nixon\u2019s refusing to\ncome, said he would take particular care that he should not be starved\nand ordered him to be brought up.  Nixon cried out, that he was sent for\nagain; and soon after the messenger arrived, who brought him up from\nCheshire.\n\nHow or whether he prophecied to his Majesty, no person can tell; but he\nis not the first fool that has made a good court prophet.\n\nThat Nixon might be well provided for it was ordered that he should be\nkept in the kitchen, where he grew so troublesome in licking and picking\nthe meat, that the cooks locked him up in a hole; and the King going on a\nsudden from Hampton Court to London in their hurry they forgot the fool\nand he was really starved to death.\n\nThere are a great many passages of this fool-prophet\u2019s life and sayings\ntransmitted in tradition from father to son in this county palatine; as,\nthat when he lived with a farmer before he was taken into Mr.\nCholmondeley\u2019s family, he goaded an ox so cruelly that one of the\nploughmen threatened to beat him for abusing his master\u2019s beast\u2014Nixon\nsaid, \u201cMy master\u2019s beast will not be his three days.\u201d  A life in an\nestate dropping in at that time, the lord of the manor took the same ox\nfor a heriot.  This account whimsical and romantic as it is was told to\nthe Lady Cowper in the year 1670, by Dr. Patrick late Bishop of Ely then\nchaplain to Sir Walter St. John; and that lady had the following further\nparticulars relating to this prophecy and the fulfilling of many parts of\nit from Mrs. Chute, sister to Mrs. Cholmondeley of Vale-Royal, who\naffirmed that a multitude of people gathered together to see the eagle\nbefore-mentioned and the bird was frightened from her young; that she\nherself was one of them and the cry among the people was, Nixon\u2019s\nprophecy is fulfilled and we have a foreign King.  She declared that she\nread over the prophecy many times when her sister was with child of the\nheir who now enjoys the estate.  She particularly remembers that King\nJames the Second was plainly pointed at and that it was foretold he\nshould endeavour to subvert the laws and religion of this kingdom, for\nwhich reason they would rise and turn him out: that the eagle of which\nNixon prophecied perched in one of the windows all the time her sister\nwas in labour.  She says it was the biggest bird she ever saw; that it\nwas in a deep snow and it perched on the edge of a great bow-window,\nwhich had a large border on the outside and that she and many others\nopened the window to try to scare it away, but it would not stir till\nMrs. Cholmondeley was delivered; after which it took flight to a great\ntree over against the room her sister lay in, where having stayed about\nthree days it flew away in the night.  She affirmed further to the Lady\nCowper, that the falling of the garden wall was a thing not to be\nquestioned, it being in so many people\u2019s memory that it was foretold that\nthe heir of Vale-Royal should live to see England invaded by foreigners\nand that he should fight bravely for his King and Country: that the\nmiller mentioned is now alive and expects to be knighted and is in the\nvery mill that is foretold: that he should kill two invaders who should\ncome in, the one from the West and the other from the North: that he from\nthe North should bring with him of all nations, Swedes, Danes, Germans,\nand Dutch; and that in the folds of his garments he should bring fire and\nfamine, plague and murder: that many great battles should be fought in\nEngland, one upon London-bridge, which should be so bloody, that people\nwill ride in London streets up to their horses\u2019 bellies in blood; that\nseveral other battles should be fought up and down most parts of\nCheshire; and that the last that ever would be fought in England should\nbe on Delamere forest: that the heir of Oulston, whose name is E\u2014 and has\nmarried Earl Cholmondeley\u2019s sister, should be hanged up at his own gate.\n\nLastly, Nixon foretells great glory and prosperity to those who stand up\nin defence of their laws and liberties; and ruin and misery to those who\nshould betray them.  He says, the year before this would happen, bread\ncorn would be very dear and that the year following more troubles should\nbegin which would last three years; that the first would be moderate, the\nsecond bloody, and the third intolerable; that unless they were shortened\nno mortal could bear them; and that there were no mischiefs but what poor\nEngland would feel at that time.  But that GEORGE the SON of GEORGE, {51}\nshould put an end to all.  That afterwards the church should flourish,\nand England be the most glorious nation on earth.\n\nLady Cowper was not content to take these particulars from Mrs. Chute,\nbut she enquired of Sir Thomas Aston, of the truth of this prophecy and\nhe attested it was in great reputation in Cheshire and that the facts\nwere known by every one to have happened as Nixon said they would;\nadding, that the morning before the garden wall fell, his neighbour Mr.\nCholmondeley, going to ride out a hunting, said \u201cNixon seldom fails but\nnow I think he will; for he foretold that this day my garden wall would\nfall and I think it looks as if it would stand these forty years;\u201d that\nhe had not been gone above a quarter of an hour before the wall split and\nfell upwards against the rising of the hill, which as Nixon would have\nit, was the presage of a flourishing church.\n\nAs to the removal of Peckforton-mill, it was done by Sir John Crew, the\nmill having lost its trade there, for which he ordered it to be set upon\nLudington hill; and being asked if he did it to fulfil the prophecy, he\ndeclared he never thought of it.  I myself have inquired of a person who\nknows Mr. Cholmondeley\u2019s pond as well as Rosamond\u2019s in St. James\u2019s Park\nand he assured me the falling of the wall and the pond running blood, (as\nthey call it) are facts which in Cheshire any one would be reckoned mad\nfor making the least question of them.  As there are several particulars\nin this prophecy which remain unfulfilled; so when they come to pass,\nsome other circumstances may be added, which are not convenient to be\ntold until accomplished.\n\nIf I had a mind to look into the antiquities of this county, I might find\nthat prodigies and prophecies are no unusual things there.  Camden tells\nus that at Brereton not many miles from Vale-Royal which gave name to a\nfamous, ancient, numerous, and knightly family, there is a thing as\nstrange as that of the eagle, or the falling of the wall, which he says\nwas attested to him by many persons and was commonly believed; that\nbefore any heir of this family dies there are seen, in a lake adjoining\nthe bodies of trees swimming upon the water for several days together.\nHe likewise adds that near the abbey of St. Maurice in Burgundy there is\na fish-pond in which a number of fish are put equal to the number of\nmonks of that place; and if any one of them happens to be sick, there is\na fish seen floating on the surface of the water; and in case the fit of\nsickness proves fatal to the monk, the fish foretells it by its death\nsome days before.  This the learned Camden relates in his description of\nCheshire and the opinion of the trees swimming in the lake near Brereton,\nprevails all about the county to the present day, only with this\ndifference, that some say it is one log only that swims and some say\nmany.\n\nLancashire, which is not far off, has been famous for witches and I am\nafraid Cheshire is a little infected by its neighbourhood.  Those that\nwill not believe our prophecy may leave it alone; but if hope is a good\nhelp to faith, I shall not be long among the incredulous.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_The Editor presents his Readers with a Copy of a printed Paper_, _which\nseveral aged Persons_, _residing near the Forest_, _have vouched for the\nAuthenticity of_.\n\n\n\n\nA true and particular Account of a strange and surprising Vision, that\nwas seen in the Forest of Delamere, in Cheshire, on the 4th of last\nMonth.\n\n\nAS Nixon, in the reign of King James the First, prophesied of many\nstrange and wonderful things that should come to pass, such as an heir\nbeing born to Lord Cholmondeley\u2019s which at that time there was little\nreason to expect, but which came to pass; and that the eldest son or\nyoung Lord Cholmondeley should have the misfortune to break his neck by\nriding a hunting, which accident really did happen; and several other\nthings already come to pass according to the said prophecy, but, in\nparticular, of a wonderful battle or engagement that should be fought in\nthe forest of Delamere; and as it is now fully expected that we shall\nhave an invasion from our natural and inveterate enemies the French, it\nis also thought it will be in the North of England and in all probability\nthe said Forest of Delamere may be the place of action or engagement: and\nwhat strengthens the belief more is the vision that was seen in the said\nforest on the 4th, as follows:\n\nAs two ancient persons were walking over the said Forest, to their great\nsurprise, they saw at a distance before them an army rise out of the\nground drawn up with their proper officers and their commanders in front\nof them, and whilst they were looking at and ruminating upon so strange a\nsight, to their most wonderful surprise and amazement there arose also\nanother army out of the ground, at a small distance from the first, and\nfarther in the forest, which army was headed or commanded by a man in\nroyal apparel, who, after having drawn up his army, marched to meet and\nengage the first; upon which a most bloody battle ensued with firearms,\nand many appeared to be killed on both sides; but, being so near each\nother, they laid down or grounded their arms and took to their swords,\nwith which great slaughter was made; and then came to such close quarters\nthat they put up their swords and fought with their hands; all of which\nengagements continued more than three quarters of an hour, during which\ntime the said two ancient people were spectators; and at last the remains\nof the army that first appeared retreated towards the sea, and vanished\ndirectly out of their sight; whilst the other army which was commanded by\nthe man in royal apparel marched victorious out of the field as far as it\nwas possible to see them.  These ancient people having spoken of the\nabove vision it came to the ears of several gentlemen, who sent for, and\nexamined them concerning the truth of it, which they were ready to make\noath of for their satisfaction.\n\nOn the 6th of the same month, as seven men were going to Cheshire over\nthe said forest, about the middle of it they saw to their astonishment, a\nvision much resembling that which was on the sixth as above described;\nonly with this addition that the victorious army had many slain to all\nappearance, yet they resumed life again and joined their own army; all\nwhich is looked upon as a good omen, that if in case England is invaded\nby her enemies though the nation be seemingly dead and in great division,\nyet on the approach of the enemy they will all in one general heart and\none mind exert themselves to repel our most inveterate enemies.\n\nAs Nixon\u2019s Prophecies are by some persons thought fables, yet by what has\ncome to pass it is now thought and very plainly appears that most of them\nhave or will prove true; for which reason we have all occasion not only\nto exert our utmost might to repel by force our enemies, but to return\nfrom our abandoned and wicked course of life, and make our continual\nprayers to God for protection and safety.\n\n\n\n\nPROPHECY\nOF THE\nFRENCH REVOLUTION,\nFROM A PUBLICATION BY\nTHE LATE MR. PETER JURIEU,\nIN 1687.\n\n\n                                 Rev. xi. 13.\n\n    _And the same hour there was a great earthquake_, _and the tenth part\n    of the city fell_, _and in the earthquake were slain of men seven\n    thousand_, _and the remnant were affrighted_, _and gave glory to\n    God_.\n\nNOW what is the tenth part of the city which shall fall? in my opinion we\ncannot doubt that it is France.  This kingdom is the most considerable\npart or piece of the ten horns, or states, which once made up the great\nBabylonian city: it fell; this does not signify that the French Monarchy\nshall be ruined: it may be humbled; but in all appearance Providence does\ndesign a great elevation for her afterwards.  \u2019Tis highly probable that\nGod will not let go unpunished the horrible outrages which it acts at\nthis day.  Afterward, it must build its greatness upon the ruins of the\npapal empire and enrich itself with the spoils of those who shall take\npart with the papacy.  They who at this day persecute the protestants\nknow not whither God is leading them: this is not the way by which he\nwill lead France to the height of glory.  If she comes thither it is\nbecause she shall shortly change her road.  Her greatening will be no\ndamage to protestant states; on the contrary, the protestant states shall\nbe enriched with the spoil of others and be strengthened by the fall of\nAntichrist\u2019s empire.  This tenth part of the city shall fall, with\nrespect to the papacy; it shall break with Rome and the Roman religion.\nOne thing is certain, that the Babylonian empire shall perish through the\nrefusal of obedience by the ten Kings, who had given their power to the\nbeast.  This thing is already come to pass in part.  The kingdoms of\nSweden, Denmark, England and several sovereign States in Germany have\nwithdrawn themselves from the jurisdiction of the Pope.  They have\nspoiled the harlot of her riches.  They have eaten her flesh, i.e. seized\non her benefices, and revenues, which she had in their countries.  This\nmust go on and be finished as it is begun.  The Kings who yet remain\nunder the empire of Rome must break with her, leave her solitary and\ndesolate.\n\nBut who must begin this last revolt? it is most probable that France\nshall.  Not Spain, which as yet is plunged in superstition and is as much\nunder the tyranny of the clergy as ever.  Not the Emperor, who in\ntemporal matters is subject to the Pope and permits that in his states\nthe Archbishop of Strigonium should teach that the Pope can take away the\nImperial crown from him.  It cannot be any country but France, which a\nlong time ago hath begun to shake off the yoke of Rome.  \u2019Tis well known\nhow solemnly and openly war hath been declared against the Pope by a\ndeclaration of the King (ratified in all the parliaments) by the\ndecisions of the assembly of the French Clergy, by a disputation against\nthe authority of the Pope, managed in the Sorbonne, solemnly and by order\nof the court.  And to heighten the affront the theses were posted up even\nupon the gates of his Nuncio.  Nothing of this kind had hitherto happened\nat least in a time of peace and unless the Pope had given occasion by his\ninsolence.\n\nBesides this superstition and idolatry lose their credit much in\nFrance.\u2014There is a secret party, though well enough known, which greatly\ndespiseth the popular devotions, images, worship of saints, and is\nconvinced that these are human inventions: God is beforehand preparing\nfor his great work.\n\nTo this it may be objected that for the last hundred and fifty years the\nPope\u2019s empire hath not been made up of ten Kings, because the Kings of\nEngland, Sweden, Denmark, etc., have thrown off his government; and\nconsequently, France is not at this day the tenth part of the Babylonian\nempire; for it is more than a tenth part of it.  But this is no\ndifficulty; for we must know, that things retain the names which they\nbore in their original (without regarding the alterations which time does\nbring along.)  Though at this day there are not ten kingdoms under the\nBabylonian empire, it is, notwithstanding, certain, that each kingdom was\ncalled, and ought to be called in this prophecy, the tenth part, because\nthe prophet having described this empire in its beginning, by its ten\nhorns, or ten kings, it is necessary for our clear understanding, that\nevery one of these Kings and kingdoms, should be called one of the ten\nKings, or of ten kingdoms, with respect to the original constitution of\nthe Antichristian empire.\n\nSeeing the tenth part of the city that must fall, is France, this gives\nme some hopes that the death of the two witnesses hath a particular\nrelation to this kingdom.  It is the street or place of this city, i.e.\nthe most fair and eminent part of it.  The witnesses must remain dead\nupon the street and upon it they must be raised again.  And as the death\nof the witnesses and their resurrection have a relation to the kingdom of\nFrance, it may well fall out, that we may not be far distant from the\ntime of the resurrection of the witnesses, seeing the three years and a\nhalf of their death are either begun, or will begin shortly.\n\nAnd in the earthquake were slain seven thousand; in the Greek it is seven\nthousand names of men, and not seven thousand men.  I confess that this\nseems somewhat mysterious: in other places we find not this phrase, names\nof men, but simply men.  Perhaps there is a figure of grammar, called\n_hypolage casus_, so that names of men are put for men of name, i.e. of\nraised and considerable quality, be it on account of riches, or of\ndignity, or of learning.  But I am more inclined to say, that here these\nnames of men, must be taken in their natural signification and do\nintimate that the total Reformation of France shall not be made with\nbloodshed, nothing shall be destroyed but names; such as are the names of\nMonks, of Carmelites, of Augustines, of Dominicans, of Jacobins, of\nFranciscans, Capuchins, Jesuits, Minimes and an infinite company of\nothers, whose number it is not easy to define and which the Holy Ghost\ndenotes by the number seven, which is the number of perfection, to\nsignify that the orders of monks and nuns shall perish for ever.  This is\nan institution so degenerated from its first original, that it is become\nthe ruin of Antichrist.  These orders cannot perish one without the\nother.\n\nThese great events deserve to be distinguished from all others; for they\nhave changed, or shall change, THE WHOLE FACE OF THE WORLD.\n\n\n\n\nEXTRACTS\nFROM\nSERMONS\nBY\nDR. JOHN GILL.\n\n\nTHERE are some times fixed in prophecy, which by diligence, attention,\nand application men may arrive to some understanding of.  There are\nindeed some times and seasons, the knowledge of which is not to be\nattained unto; and it would be wrong, as well as in vain, curiously to\nsearch into them.  _It is not for us to know the times or the seasons_,\n_which the Father hath put in his own power_; for he has _determined the\ntimes before appointed_, when every thing that he has purposed or\npromised shall come to pass; and he has fixed a _time for every purpose\nunder the heaven_, for the performance of every thing he has designed\nshall be; _a time to be born_, _and a time to die_, and for every\nintermediate event; but these times are not known beforehand, until\nthings are brought into execution.  There are others and very remarkable\nevents, the times of which are pointed at in prophecy; and which with\ndiligence and application, a knowledge of them may in some measure be\nattained unto: as for instance, the first coming of Christ into this\nworld to save men: the time for it was not only agreed upon and settled\nbetween the Father and the Son, called _the fulness of time_, but there\nwere several prophetic hints of it; nay, not only was it described by\nsome general circumstances, as that it should be before the second temple\nwas destroyed, since he was to come into it and while the sceptre was in\nthe tribe of Judah; but the precise time was fixed by Daniel\u2019s seventy\nweeks, or four hundred years, which were to commence from a date given\nhim; and before the expiration of which the Messiah was to come: and so\nas he by reading Jeremiah\u2019s books knew the time when the Babylonish\ncaptivity should end; another by reading his prophecies might know when\nthe Messiah would come; and accordingly about the time when those weeks\nwere drawing near to an expiration, there were many that were looking for\nthe Messiah and redemption by him, as knowing that it was about the time\nby these weeks that he should come.  There is a time set for the second\ncoming and God in his times will show him, or cause him openly to appear;\nand though he will come in an hour we know not of, yet there are some\ncircumstances pointed out in the word of God by which it may be known\nthat it is nigh at hand; as that the day when the Son of man shall be\nrevealed shall be as the days of Noah and Lot, when men indulged\nthemselves in pleasure, lived in great security, unaware of the ruin\ncoming upon them; and that when the Son of man cometh, faith will not be\nfound in the earth; whether this be understood of the grace or doctrine\nof faith, or of faith with respect to Christ\u2019s coming: and when we\ncompare these things with the present times, and consider the luxury,\nlove of pleasure, carnal security and infidelity that abound among us, we\nmight conclude that the coming of Christ is just at hand, were it not\nthat there are many things which require time yet to be fulfilled\nprevious to it, as the destruction of Antichrist, the conversion of the\nJews, and the bringing in of the fulness of the Gentiles.  So the last\njudgment which will take place at the second coming of Christ, and is\nmost certain, being early known and often spoken of.  Enoch, the seventh\nfrom Adam, prophecied of it, and of Christ\u2019s coming to it; the day is\nappointed when it will come on, though of that day and hour knoweth no\nman, not the angels in heaven, but the Father only: but then the\nprincipal things that should come to pass, relative to the church,\nbetween the first and second coming of Christ to judgment, are signified\nto us in the book of the Revelation.\n\n                                         _Sermon from_ 1 _Chron._ xii. 32,\n                                                  _preached Jan._ 1, 1752.\n\nThe destruction of Antichrist is the grand leading event to the glories\nof this state.  This is hinted at in the epistle to the church at\nPhiladelphus, the emblem of the spiritual reign; it will be the last\nstruggle of the beast that will cause that _hour of temptation which\nshall come upon all the world to try_ the inhabitants of it: when the\nseventh trumpet will be sounded, which will bring on the spiritual\nkingdom of Christ throughout the world, he will destroy them which\ndestroy the earth; meaning the Papists, who have destroyed the\ninhabitants of the earth with their false doctrine, superstitious\nworship, and with those bloody wars, murders, and massacres they have\nbeen at the bottom of.  And till this is done the spiritual reign cannot\ntake place, especially in its full compass, and in all its branches, for\nso long as Antichrist reigns, the church will be more or less in an\nafflicted state: the date of the church\u2019s troubles, and of the reign of\nAntichrist are alike, and will expire together: the power given to the\nbeast is to continue forty and two months; wherefore there can be no\ntruly good and happy days, till these dates are ended.\n\nThe destruction of Antichrist will be by the spirit of Christ\u2019s mouth,\nand the brightness of his coming; that is, by his coming in a spiritual\nway; or through the word of his mouth, his gospel attended by his spirit\nand power; which will shine out with so much lustre, splendour, light,\nand glory, as will chase away the darkness of popery, and enlighten the\nminds of people, to see into all the fopperies, absurdities, and\nwickedness of that religion and cause them to cast it off: yea, even to\nopen the eyes of the kings and princes of the earth, to behold and loath\nthe abominations of the whore of Rome they have committed fornication\nwith; and fill them with wrath and indignation against her, as to hate\nher, make her bare and desolate, and burn her with fire.\n\nThis work will be greatly effected by the pouring out of the seven vials\nof God\u2019s wrath, or the inflicting the seven last plagues upon the\nanti-Christian states, upon the western and eastern Antichrist, the Pope\nand Turk; who must be both removed to make way for the spiritual reign of\nChrist.  These seven vials will be poured out, or those plagues inflicted\nby Angels; by whom we are to understand protestant kings, and princes,\nand generals of armies; and these will be given them by one or the first\nof the four beasts, or living creatures, the emblems of gospel ministers;\nwho having some notice of the time of antichrist\u2019s destruction being at\nhand, will stir and animate the christian princes and potentates to take\nthis work in hand; and who are therefore said to go forth from the\ntemple, the church, the place of divine and spiritual worship, and where\nthey themselves are worshippers; and from whence they have orders to go\nforth and do their work.\n\nThe first five of these vials concern the western Antichrist, and his\ndominions: between which, and the trumpets, there is a great\ncorrespondence, though they respect different times and persons.  The\nfirst vial will be poured out upon the earth, and designs those popish\ncountries which are upon the continent, as France and Germany, especially\nthe latter; and as the first trumpet brought the Goths into Germany, so\nthe first vial will bring great distress upon the popish party in the\nempire, and issue in a reformation from popery.  The second vial will be\npoured out upon the sea, and may intend the maritime powers belonging to\nthe see of Rome, particularly Spain and Portugal; and as the second\ntrumpet brought the Vandals into these places, so this vial will effect\nthe same, and bring wars and desolations into them, and make a change in\ntheir religion.  The third vial will be poured out upon the rivers and\nfountains of water, which may point to those places adjacent to Rome, as\nItaly and Savoy; and as the third trumpet brought the Huns into those\nparts; so this vial will bring in large armies hither, which will cause\nmuch bloodshed, and a great revolution in church and state.  The fourth\nvial will be poured out upon the sun, which must denote some person or\npersons of great dignity and influence, and as the fourth trumpet brought\ndestruction upon the Emperor of Rome, the sun of the empire, and upon\ngovernors under him, signified by the moon and stars; this vial will\nbring on the ruin of the pope of Rome, the sun of the antichristian\nempire, with all his cardinals, bishops, priests, etc.  The fifth vial\nwill be poured out upon the seat of the beast, which is Rome, the seat\nthat the devil gave to the beast, and will produce great darkness in his\nkingdom; though as yet it will not be utterly destroyed, which is\nreserved to the seventh vial.  Now these several vials as they will be so\nmany plagues on the western Antichrist, and make so many breaches and\nruins upon his states and dominions, so they will be so many gradual\nsteps to the advancement of the glory and kingdom of Christ, and issue in\nthe reformation of these places from popery.  The sixth vial will be\npoured out on the river Euphrates, which designs the Turkish empire, in\nthe midst of which that river is; and as the sixth trumpet let loose the\nfour angels, or heads of the Ottoman family into Europe, so this vial\naffects the same empire and brings destruction on it, signified by the\ndrying up of the waters of that river, as Babylon\u2019s destruction is\nexpressed by the drying up of her sea, Jer. li. 36, which will make way\nfor the king, or kingdoms of the East; the kingdoms of Persia and Tartary\nand others, to receive and embrace the Christian religion: this is the\nsecond, or Turkish woe, which shall pass away; when the kingdoms of this\nworld will become Christ\u2019s and his dominion will be from sea to sea, from\nthe Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Sea; and from the river Euphrates to\nthe ends of the earth.  The seventh vial will be poured out upon the air,\nthe whole kingdom of Satan, in all the branches of it, who is the prince\nof the power of the air; and this vial will clear the whole world of all\nthe remains of Christ\u2019s enemies, pagan, papal, and Mahometon, which the\nother vials left or did not reach; and now will Christ\u2019s kingdom be in\nits full glory.  Now the heathens, papists, pagans and Mahometans, will\nperish out of this land and these sorts of sinners will be consumed out\nof the earth and such wicked ones will be no more.\n\nGod will make a short work in righteousness, upon the enemies of his\nchurch: as yet I take it, none of them are poured out, though some great\nand learned men have so thought; as yet there have been no such\ndevastations on the continent, as in France and Germany, as to produce\nthe above effects; nor in the countries of Spain and Portugal; nor in\nItaly and Savoy, and like the places near Rome, nor in the seat of the\nbeast, Rome itself; nor on the Pope and his cardinals; the river\nEuphrates is not dried up; the Ottoman empire is yet in being; the\nTurkish woe is not passed away; and much less the world cleared of all\nthe enemies of Christ and his church; no, before this work is done, the\nouter court must be given to the Gentiles, and the witnesses must be\nslain.  Had they begun to be poured out at the time of the reformation,\nas some have thought, in all likelihood they would have been finished\nbefore now; and Antichrist would have been destroyed, and better times\nthan we are now in would have succeeded; but, however, this we may be\nassured of, that as the plagues in Egypt issued in the destruction of\nPharaoh, and in the deliverance of the Israelites, so these vials will\nend in the ruin of Antichrist, and in the salvation of the church of\nChrist.  As soon as these things will take place, nay, as soon as you\nhear of those seven plagues, immediately you hear of persons on a sea of\nglass, triumphing over Antichrist, having the harps of God, and singing\nthe song of Moses and the Lamb: and no sooner it is said, that Babylon is\nfallen, but voices are heard in heaven ascribing salvation, glory, honour\nand power to God, for his judgments on the great whore; declaring that\nthe Lord God omnipotent reigneth; that the marriage of the Lamb is come;\nand his bride made ready; and proclaiming them happy that are called to\nthe marriage-supper of the Lamb; all which respect the spiritual reign of\nChrist, now introduced by the ruin of Antichrist.\n\nThere will be very large conversions every where, in the several parts of\nthe world: in all popish countries and antichristian states; even the ten\nkings that have given their kingdoms to the beast, have been associates\nof Antichrist and reigned with him, shall withdraw from him; they and\ntheir subjects shall revolt from him, and be converted, and embrace the\npure gospel: as it will be the christian princes and potentates that will\npour out the seven vials on Antichrist, they will carry the gospel with\nthem wherever they go; or, however, the ministers of it will follow\nclosely at their heels, way being made by the former for them; whose\nministry will meet with great success every where, and those that escape\nthe judgments of God in these nations, will not only be affrighted at\nthem, but will be truly converted by the gospel and give glory to the God\nof heaven.  In the Mahometan nations, the Turkish woe being past and that\nempire being destroyed and way made for the gospel to be carried into the\neastern kingdoms, great and large conversions will be made by it; there\nis a most glaring prophecy of this in Isa. lx. 7., which whole chapter\nconcerns the spiritual and personal reign of Christ; all the flocks of\nKedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall\nminister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar and\nI will glorify the house of my glory.  Now Kedar and Nebaioth were the\nsons of Ishmael, Gen. xxv. 13., who settled in Arabia, the country now\npossessed by the Turks; so that this is a prophecy of the conversion of\nmultitudes in those parts, whereby the interest of Christ will be\nincreased and his church glorified.  Moreover, in all Pagan countries the\ngospel will make its way, and be successful; the covering and veil of\nblindness and ignorance, cast and spread over all people and nations,\nwill be removed by it; not only the darkness of popery and Mahometanism,\nbut the gross darkness of paganism shall flee away at the light and\nbrightness of Zion\u2019s rising; the Gentiles shall come to it; the fulness\nand forces of them shall be brought into the church, being converted by\nthe word: and not only vast multitudes of the common people but great\npersonages also; kings shall be enlightened by it; these shall come to\nChrist, fall down before him and worship him; these shall come into his\nchurch and become members of it; kings shall be nursing fathers and\nqueens nursing mothers to his people; they shall bring their riches,\nhonour, and glory into his house; and his saints shall suck the breasts\nof kings, be enriched, honoured and protected by them.  This will be the\ntime when the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under\nthe whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most\nHigh; not that there will be any change or alteration in the form and\norder of civil government, which will be the same as now; there will be\nkings and queens then, as at this time, as these prophecies show, it will\nnot be until the personal reign of Christ takes place, that all rule,\nauthority and power, will be put down: civil magistracy in the spiritual\nreign will continue as it is; only it will change hands, it will be\nentirely in the hands of christian kings and princes all the world over;\nand no doubt but it will be better exercised, be more orderly and\nregular; and that truth and righteousness will prevail every where.  But\nI must not forget the conversion of that considerable body of people the\nJews, who have been preserved a distinct people for several hundreds of\nyears for this purpose; the conversion of these people will be sudden and\nof them altogether a nation shall be born at once.  It looks as if their\nconversion would be like that of the apostle Paul, and he seems to hint\nthat it will, when he says, that he, in obtaining mercy, was a pattern to\nthem which should hereafter believe; meaning, perhaps, his own countrymen\nthat should believe in Christ in the latter day, whose conversion would\nbe similar to his; that as his conversion was sudden, in the midst of all\nhis ignorance, unbelief, and rebellion, and without the word, by the\nimmediate power and grace of God, so will theirs be in like manner: nor\nis it likely that their conversion should be by means of the word, since\nthere is such an aversion in that people to the hearing of it; and a rare\nthing it is to see a Jew in a Christian assembly.  But, however, all\nIsrael shall be called, converted, and saved; there is a famous prophecy\nof this in Hos. iii. 4, 5., in the first of these verses it is said, the\nchildren of Israel shall abide many days without a king and without a\nprince; without any civil government of their own, the sceptre having\ndeparted from them many hundred years ago; and without sacrifice; daily\nor yearly, or on any occasion: they believing it to be unlawful to\nsacrifice any where but in their own land, and at Jerusalem, and on the\naltar of God there; and without an image, and without an ephod, and\nwithout seraphim; without any manner of idols, or idol-worship; they\nbeing not addicted to idolatry, since their return from the Babylonish\ncaptivity: and now as all these things are exactly fulfilled in them, so\nwill in like manner that which follows: afterwards shall the children of\nIsrael return: by faith and repentance, from their evil way, from their\nimpenitence and unbelief, and rejection of the Messiah, and seek the Lord\ntheir God, and David their king; the Messiah, the son of David, their\nking, as their own _Targum_ paraphrases it; and shall fear the Lord and\nhis goodness in the latter days; in the spiritual reign of Christ; and it\nis hinted as in the Philadelphian state, Rev. iii. 9, then will the\nchildren of Israel appoint themselves one head, which is Christ, whom\nthey will own and acknowledge to be their head, lord, and king; and they\nshall come out of the land, or countries where they are, to their own\nland, and great shall be the day of Jezreel: and this will make a\nconsiderable part of the glory of Christ\u2019s spiritual kingdom.\n\nThe light of the gospel, both in the preachers and professors of it, will\nbe very great, clear, and distinct; the light of the moon, as in the\npresent dispensation to which it may be compared, shall be as the light\nof the sun, to which that dispensation shall be like; and the light of\nthe sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: as if the light\nof seven days were collected together, and shone out at once;\nhyperbolical expressions, setting forth the exceeding greatness of gospel\nlight in those times: not only the watchmen, ministers of the word, shall\nsee eye to eye, all truths clearly and distinctly, but their ideas and\nsentiments shall be regular and uniform; there will be an entire harmony\nand agreement between them; and even private Christians, common members,\nshall all know the Lord, and the things of the gospel, in a very clear\nand comfortable manner, even from the least of them unto the greatest of\nthem; when God shall lay Zion\u2019s stones with fair colours, and her\nfoundation with sapphires, make her windows of agates, and her gates of\ncarbuncles, and all her borders of pleasant stones; then all her children\nshall be taught of God, to such a degree as they never were before, so\nclearly, fully and universally.\n\nBrotherly love, which is now waxed cold, will be in its height and glory,\nagreeable to the name of this state, Philadelphia, which signifies\nbrotherly love: there will be no more contentions, animosities, and\nquarrels: Ephraim shall not envy Judah on account of pre-eminence of\noffice, gifts and grace; and Judah shall not envy Ephraim, by any haughty\nor overbearing carriage, or with wrangling debates and opprobrious\nlanguage: the two sticks of Ephraim and Judah shall be one in the hand of\nthe Lord; there will be perfect harmony and love, nothing to disturb,\ndistress, and make uneasy, or tend to alienate the affections of one from\nanother; there will be no pricking briars nor grieving thorns among them;\nthey will be like the first Christians, of one heart and of one mind, and\nof one judgment, all studying to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond\nof peace.\n\nHoliness, which becomes the house of God for ever, will now adorn every\nmember in it; nor will there be such immorality in the world as at this\npresent time: holiness will be as common as profaneness is now; in that\nday there shall be upon the bells of the horses holiness to the Lord\u2014yea,\nevery pot in Jerusalem and in Judah, shall be holiness unto the Lord of\nhosts: Christ therefore takes his titles in writing to the church at\nPhiladelphia, the emblem of the spiritual reign, suitable to its state;\nas truth and holiness shall then prevail, he addresses it thus, these\nthings saith he that is holy, he that is true; truth and holiness go\ntogether; truth influences the heart, and that the life and conversation.\n\nThere will be great peace and prosperity of all kinds, inward and\noutward, spiritual and temporal; in these days of the Messiah\u2019s spiritual\nreign, shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as\nthe moon endureth: as the saints will enjoy great peace of conscience and\ntranquillity of mind so they will have nothing to disturb them without;\nthere will be no more persecution; there will be none to hurt or destroy\nin all the Lord\u2019s holy mountain, as there will be no discord among\nthemselves, so no distress from any enemies, violence shall no more be\nheard in their land, nor wasting and destruction within their border.  O\nhappy, halcyon days!  I go on to observe,\n\nThere will be a personal appearance of the Son of God, and a glorious one\nit will be: he will personally appear; the Lord himself shall descend,\nnot by his spirit, or by the communication of his grace, or by his\ngracious presence, as before; but in person he will descend from the\nthird heaven, where he is, in our nature, into the air, where he will be\nvisible; every eye shall see him, when he cometh with clouds, or in the\nclouds of heaven, which will be his chariot; he will descend on earth et\nthe proper time; and his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives; on that\nspot of ground from whence he ascended to heaven.  Job seems to have this\ndescent of his in view when he says, he shall stand at the latter day\nupon the earth; which seems to respect not so much his first coming as\nhis second; since it is connected with the resurrection of the dead.\n\nThis appearance of Christ will be a very glorious one: it is called the\nglorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.\n\nHappy are those that belong to this city, who are fellow-citizens with\nthe saints, and of the household of God; whose citizenship is in heaven,\nand they have a right to enter in through the gates into the holy city,\nthe new Jerusalem; but miserable will these be that will be without, for\nwithout are dogs: and then he that is unjust, will be unjust still; and\nhe that is filthy, will be filthy still; and he that is righteous, will\nbe righteous still; and he that is holy, will be holy still.\n\n_Sermon from Psalm_ lxxxvii. 3, _preached Dec._ 27, 1752.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_An Extraordinary Prediction relating to the Downfall of the House of\nBourbon and the House of Austria_.\n\n\n\n\nRELATED BY MR. JOHN WESLEY.\n\n\nA LITTLE before the conclusion of the late war in Flanders, one who came\nfrom thence gave us a very strange relation; I knew not what judgment to\nform of this, but waited till John Haim should come over, of whose\nveracity I could no more doubt than of his understanding.  The account he\ngave was this; Jonathan Pyrah was a member of our society in Flanders, I\nknew him some years, and knew him to be a man of an unblameable\ncharacter.  One day he was summoned to appear before the Board of General\nOfficers; one of them said, What is this we hear of you? we hear you have\nturned Prophet, and that you foretell the downfall of the bloody house of\nBourbon, and the haughty house of Austria; we should be glad if you were\na real Prophet, and if your prophecies came true; but what sign do you\ngive to convince us you are so, and that your predictions will come to\npass?  He readily answered, Gentlemen, I give you a sign: to-morrow, at\ntwelve o\u2019clock, you shall have such a storm of thunder and lightning as\nyou never had before since you came into Flanders.  I give you a second\nsign: as little as any of you except any such thing, as little appearance\nof it as there is now, you shall have a general engagement with the\nFrench within three days.  I give you a third sign: I shall be ordered to\nadvance in the first line; if I am a false Prophet I shall be shot dead\nat the first discharge, but if I am a true Prophet I shall only receive a\nmusket-ball in the calf of my left leg.  At twelve the next day there was\nsuch thunder and lightning as they never had in Flanders; on the third\nday, contrary to all expectation, was the general battle of Fontenoy; he\nwas ordered to advance in the first line, and at the very first discharge\nhe did receive a musket-ball in the calf of his left leg.\n\nWhen the war was over he returned to England, but the story was got here\nbefore him, in consequence of which he was sent for by the countess of\nStair, and several other persons of quality, who were desirous of hearing\nso surprising an account from his own mouth.  He could not bear so much\nhonour; it quite turned his brain.  In a little time he went stark mad,\nand so he continues to this day, living still, as I apprehend, on Wibsey\nMoor Side, within a few miles of Bradford.\n\nSo much for this military Prophet.  Mr. Wesley remarks in a note that he\nis since dead; but we are not able to ascertain whether there be any\naccount of him and his predictions in the papers or other periodical\npublications of that time.  If any gentleman is in possession of\ninformation on this subject, the intelligence is worth communicating to\nthe public.\n\nPart of this prophecy being fulfilled, the objects in view to be obtained\nby a publication are, what was the exact prophecy? whether the several\ncircumstances mentioned did take place.\n\n\n\n\nPROPHECIES\nOF\nMOTHER SHIPTON,\nAND\nMARTHA,\nTHE GIPSY.\n\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                     _PUBLISHED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE\nLIFE AND PROPHECIES\nOF\nMOTHER SHIPTON.\n\n\nIN the second year of the reign of Henry VII., which was the year 1486,\nthere lived a woman called Agatha Shipton, at a place called\nKnaresborough, in Yorkshire.  She came of poor parentage, who died and\nleft her, at the age of fifteen, destitute.  After their decease, she\nstill lived in the old house; but being now deprived of those helps she\nformerly enjoyed, she was obliged to seek relief from the parish; which\nshe did, but with so much regret and grief, that she seemed in her\nbegging rather to command alms, than in a humble manner to desire it.\n\nSatan looked on her poverty to be great, and knowing her evil inclination\n(for you must understand that Satan is a good scholar), and perceiving\nthat she was willing to accept of any proposition to change her\ncondition, he, one time, as she was sitting melancholy under a tree by a\nriver side, accosted her in the form of a very handsome young man.\n\u201cPretty maid,\u201d said he, \u201cwhy so sad? thy age is too tender for thy head\nto be troubled with the cares of the world; come, tell me what is the\nmatter, and if it lie within my power to assist thee, as I am sure it\ndoth, thou shalt not want a friend of me.\u201d\n\nAgatha cast up her eyes, and seeing a face so lovely, could not suspect\nSatan hid in that comely shape, whereupon, in a lamentable tone, she\nexpressed all that troubled her, informing him of her great wants, and\nthat, not knowing how to work, she could not provide what her necessities\nrequired.  \u201cPish,\u201d said Satan \u201cthis is nothing; be ruled by me, and all\nshall be well.\u201d  She told him she would.  Hereupon, he ordered her to\nmeet him at the same place the next day, and he would bring some friends\nalong with him; for he told her he resolved to marry her.  She promised\nhim she would; and accordingly they met.  He came riding upon a stately\nhorse, with a pillion behind him for his spouse, attended by a great many\ngallants (as they appeared), well mounted, and in a noble equipage.\n\nSatan\u2019s attendants soon conveyed his mistress behind him; she not in the\nleast doubting the reality of all she saw.\n\nThey needed neither switch nor spur to hasten them forward, the horses\nwere fiery enough of themselves, and ran with that swiftness, that the\nwind could not overtake them in their full speed: soon they arrived at\ntheir journey\u2019s end, where seemed to be a very stately house, with a pair\nof great gates, which, at their approach, was opened by a porter in his\nlivery gown.  Alighting, she went in, where she saw a great many\nservants, who seemed, at the sight of her and their master, to show much\nrespect and obeisance.\n\nNow did Satan command rich garments to be brought, which she was\nimmediately clothed with; and being thus richly attired, she was ushered\ninto a great hall, where was a long table, furnished with all the\nvarieties the whole world could afford; at the upper end of which table\nshe was placed, next to her intended husband: all the rest of the guests\nplaced themselves as they thought fit.  As they had the choicest cheer,\nso they had the best of wines, and sweetest music.\n\nDinner being ended, they fell to dancing; and now Satan told her he was\nno mortal, but spirit, immaterial, and not burdened by a body, nor\nhindered by any material thing; \u201cSo that I can, when I please, pierce\nthrough the earth, and ransack its treasures, and bring what precious\nthing I please from thence to bestow on those that serve me.  I know all\nrare arts and sciences, and can teach them to whom I please.  I can\ndisturb the elements, stir up thunders and lightnings, destroy the best\nof things which were created for the use of man, and can appear in what\nshape or form I please.  It will take too long to describe my power, or\ntell you what I can do; but I will only tell thee what thou shalt do.\nThat being done, I will give thee power to raise hail, tempests, with\nlightning and thunder; the winds shall be at thy command, and shall bear\nthee whither thou art willing to go, though ever so far off, and shall\nbring thee back again when thou hast a mind to return.  The hidden\ntreasures of the earth shall be at thy disposal and pleasure, and nothing\nshall be wanting to complete thy happiness here.  Thou shalt, moreover,\nheal or kill whom thou pleaseth; destroy or preserve either man or beast;\nknow what is passed, and assuredly tell what is to come.\u201d  Here note, by\nthe way, Satan is a liar from the beginning, and will promise more by ten\nmillions than he knows he is capable of performing, to the intent that he\nmay ensnare a soul.\n\nThis poor ignorant wretch easily believed what this grand deceiver of\nmankind told her, and being ravished with the thoughts of being so highly\npreferred, she condescended to all Satan would have her do, whereupon he\nbid her say after him in this manner: _Raziel ellimiham mir amwish\nziragia Psonthonphanchia Raphaelel have run a tapinot am becaz mitzphecat\njarid cuman hapheah Gabriel Heydon turris dungeonis philonomostarkes\nsophecord hankim_.  After she had repeated these words after him, he bid\nher say after him again: _Kametzeatuph Odel Pheraz Tumbag in Gall\nFlemmugen Victow Denmarkeonto_.  Having finished his last wicked speech,\nwhich even the chief of his minions understood not, and of which none but\nSatan himself can pick out the meaning, it thundered so horridly that\nevery clap seemed as if the vaulted roof of heaven had cracked, and was\ntumbling down on her head; and withal, that stately palace, which she\nthought she was then in, vanished in a thrice; so did her sumptuous\napparel: and now her eyes being opened, she found herself in a dark\ndolesome wood, a place, which, from the creation, had scarce ever enjoyed\nthe benefit of one single sun-beam.  Whilst she was thinking in what\ncourse to steer, in order to return, two flaming fiery dragons appeared\nbefore her, tied to a chariot, and as she was consulting with herself\nwhat was best to be done, she was insensibly hoisted into it, and with\nspeed unimaginable, conveyed through the air to her own poor cottage.\n\nBeing come home, the neighbours flocked around her, having missed her for\ntwo or three days, shrewdly suspecting some mischief had befallen her;\nbut when they beheld her face, they were all amazed to see such a strange\nalteration in her countenance in so short a time!  Before she met Satan\nshe looked healthy, but now that red plumpness had vanished, there was\nnothing to be seen but a pale shrivelled skin on her cheek, which, for\nwant of flesh seemed to fall into her mouth, to be devoured by her\nhunger-starved jaws.  Those about her, who were charitable-minded, pitied\nher, comforted, and gave her money, which, with a great deal of disdain\nand scorn, she threw at them, saying, she wanted not, nor stood in need\nof their alms, \u201cfor here,\u201d said she, \u201cis money enough,\u201d plucking her hand\nout of her pocket; the people near her discovered that what was in her\nhands was nothing else but some aspen-leaves, and notwithstanding they\nendeavoured to persuade her that she was mistaken in supposing that to be\nmoney, yet she would not believe them, so strong a power had Satan gotten\nover her already.\n\nIn fine, she bid them all begone, for now she began to take little\ndelight in human society; it was not long that they had left her, before\nSatan came in to see her, in the same handsome young form as he first\nappeared unto her, telling her that he came to supply the company of\nthose she had wisely dismissed; that she needed not the society of any\nhuman creature, for he would not fail to be constantly with her: always\nbringing with him what should not only serve for a bare livelihood, but\nbe her delight, pleasure, and satisfaction: hereupon, by Satan\u2019s command,\nthere instantly seemingly appeared a complete noise of music, with a\ngreat variety of dishes of meat of the choicest and most pleasing sort,\nwhich so ravished Agatha that she fell to the ground in a profound and\ndeep trance.  One of the neighbours coming in at this time, wondered to\nsee Agatha lying on the floor motionless; however, out of pity, she\nendeavoured to awaken Agatha; but using what means she could, it all\nsignified nothing; she shook and pinched her, yet still she lay\ninsensible.  This woman being strangely amazed, ran out among the rest of\nthe neighbours, crying out poor Agatha Shipton was suddenly struck dead,\nand desired them to go into the house with her, and be eye-witnesses of\nthe truth; whereupon several went, and found what this woman said to be\nseemingly true; but one wiser than the rest, stooped down, and perceiving\nthat she breathed, said, \u201cFriends, ye are all mistaken; Agatha is not\ndead, but in a trance, or else she is bewitched.\u201d  She had scarcely\nuttered these words before Agatha began to stir, and soon after, raising\nherself on her legs, cried out in a very distracted tone, \u201cWhat do you\nhere, vile wretches!  Cannot I enjoy my pleasures, but ye must be\neaves-dropping?  Get ye gone, ye have nothing to do here;\u201d and hereupon\nshe fell a dancing; which they wondered at because they could hear no\nmusic.  At length, Agatha turned about, and seeing they were not gone,\nsaid, \u201cIf you are resolved thus to disturb me, and will not go, I will\nmake ye.\u201d  This somewhat affrighted them, for they now verily believed\nshe was a witch, and as they were hastening away, with all imaginable\nspeed, a sudden strong wind hoisted them to a great height into the air,\nfalling all to the ground again without the least harm, the men were like\novergrown goats, with large horns on their heads, and the women riding on\ntheir backs, which sight, as they produced inexpressible wonder, so\namidst their amazement they could not but burst out into excessive\nlaughter.\n\nThis wonderful and unexpected exploit was instantly noised all about the\ncountry, and occasioned a great resort of people to the place where\nAgatha lived; which so perplexed her by their undesired visits, that she\nresolved within herself to be revenged on some of them; which by Satan\u2019s\nhelp she effected: one had a horse that died suddenly, and being opened,\nthere was found in his stomach fish-hooks and hair, instead of hay and\noats; another going to sit down at table with persons of good quality, at\ndinner-time, and thinking himself very spruce and fine, had in an instant\nhis ruff pulled off his neck, and the seat of a house of office clapped\non in its place: he that sat next to him breaking out in a great laughter\nat the sight thereof, was served a little better, for his hat was\ninvisibly conveyed away, and the kitchen pan put on instead thereof; a\nmodest young gentlewoman, who did sit at the table at that time, and was\ncome on no other errand but to see this young witch, which was so much\ntalked of, looking on these two worthy spectacles of laughter,\nendeavouring all she could to refrain from laughing, but could not for\nabove a quarter of an hour: this made them all laugh so extremely, that\nthe master of the house was alarmed, and being desirous to share with his\nguests in their mirth, came running upstairs as fast as his legs could\ncarry him; when about to enter the door, he could not, and no wonder,\nsince the oldest man living never saw a larger pair of horns than he had\non his head.\n\nWhilst they were gazing one on another, more than half distracted, they\nwere reduced to the same condition they were in before; after which there\nfollowed a noise, as if a hundred persons were laughing together, but\nnothing at all was seen.\n\nThese persons fearing something worse might befall them if they stayed\nany longer, made all the haste they could to be gone.  Agatha knowing\ntheir intent, resolved to take her farewell of them by serving them one\ntrick more, which was this: As they were about to mount on horseback,\nthey were pelted with rotten apples and filth.  As they rode through the\ntown, such as thought they rode singly, were all observed to have behind\nthem, each man, a deformed old woman; and as their faces differed all one\nfrom another, so did their habits, which were all tattered and ragged,\nand patched with a hundred colours.  Fear, shame, and the hooting of the\npeople, made them put spurs to their horses, neither did they forbear the\nwhip, nor anything that might add speed to their horses\u2019 heels, so that\nit may be said, they rather flew than rode.\n\nComing home, they declared what wonderful things they had seen performed,\nthough by a young one, yet as they believed, the greatest witch in the\nworld.  This news being so generally spread, came at length to the ears\nof the justices, who now thought it high time to question and bring to\nexamination a person that was so much talked of, and might, if let alone,\ndo a great deal of mischief.  Accordingly two stout fellows were\ndespatched for her; they soon found her, and nothing daunted by her\nwitcheries, they resolutely carried her before the justice, where being\nbrought, she, not a jot daunted, told him that she had more authority\nthan he, and that notwithstanding his power, she could command one that\ncould overrule him; that she was a princess, and could have at her back a\nthousand spirits of the air, and as many of the earth and water; that she\ncould raise a tempest presently that should overturn his house about his\nears, \u201cand that you may know it lies not in your power to detain me,\nthree words will procure my liberty.\u201d  Hereupon, she said, \u201cUpdraxi, call\nStygician Helluox!\u201d  She had scarce uttered the last word, before there\ncame in a horrid winged dragon, which immediately took her up, and\ncarried her away from the amazed justice and the attendants about him,\nhalf dead with fear.\n\nThis so affrighted all that heard of it, that none would undertake to\nmeddle with her more, so that she had a considerable time of respite.\nBut she now began to be more admired than before, being discovered to be\nenceinte.  The people could not tell what to think, or who could be the\nfather.  While people were generally passing their verdict on Agatha, she\nwas once taken and brought before a justice, and amongst other questions,\nwas asked, whether she was enceinte?  She acknowledged it; nay, further,\nthat the father was no mortal wight.  The justice gave no credit to what\nshe said, as looking on her as an ignorant seduced woman; and so asked\nher what bail she could produce, intending to defer the business until\nshe was delivered.  In this very nick of time, two gentlemen, as they\nappeared by their habits, voluntarily proffered themselves, but as soon\nas accepted for bail, vanished; however, Agatha had permission to go\nhome.\n\nIn course of time was born, Mother Shipton, which proved the conclusion\nof her miserable life.  But her entry into the world was such a terror to\nall that beheld her, that several credible person then presented, have\nseveral times confessed that they have never beheld the like: such\nstrange and horrible noises, that the persons about her could scarcely\nfind so much courage in themselves as to continue in the place where she\nwas; much less when they beheld the strange and unparalleled physiognomy\nof the child, which was so misshapen, that it is altogether impossible to\nexpress it fully in words, or the most ingenious to describe her in\ncolours, though many persons of eminent qualifications in that art have\noften attempted it, but without success; therefore, according to the best\nobservations of her, take this true, though not full, account of her\nfeatures and body.  She was of an indifferent height, but very morose and\nbig-boned; her head very long, with very great goggling, but sharp and\nfiery eyes; her nose of an incredible and unproportionable length, having\nin it many crooks and turnings, adorned with many strange pimples of\ndivers colours, as red and blue mixed, which, like vapours of brimstone,\ngave such a lustre to the affrighted spectators in the dead time of the\nnight, that one of them confessed several times, that her nurse needed no\nother light to assist her in the performance of her duty: her cheeks were\nof a black swarthy complexion, much like a mixture of the black yellow\njaundice, wrinkled, shrivelled and very hollow; insomuch that as the ribs\nof her body, so the impression of her teeth was easily to be discerned\nthough both sides of her face, answering one side to the other, like the\nnotches in a valley, excepting only two of them, which stood quite out of\nher mouth, in imitation of the tusks of a wild boar, or tooth of an\nelephant, a thing so strange in an infant, that no age can parallel: her\nchin was of the same complexion as her face, turning up her mouth; and\nshrieks being heard from an unknown cause, as if there had been more than\nan ordinary correspondence between her teeth and it.  Her neck was so\nstrangely distorted, that her right shoulder was forced to be a supporter\nto her hood, it being propped up by her chin, so that the right side of\nher body stood lower than her left, like the reeling of a ship that sails\nwith a side wind; again, her left side was quite turned the contrary way,\nas if her body had been screwed together piece after piece, and not\nrightly placed; her left shoulder hanging just perpendicular to the\nbottom of the back.  Her legs were very crooked and misshapen; the toes\nof her feet looking towards her left side, so that it was very hard for\nany person (could she have stood up) to guess which road she intended to\nsteer her course, because she never could look that way she resolved to\ngo.\n\nAfter she had remained under the care of the nurse for a space of a month\nor thereabouts, she was put out to nurse at the charge of the parish to a\npoor woman hard by in the town, where she continued for the space of half\na year or thereabouts, the house not being in any way disturbed at all,\ntill at last her nurse having been abroad with the chief of the\nparishioners, either to procure something of their charity for her\nsubsistence and the maintenance of her family, or else to fetch her money\nfrom the overseers of the poor for nursing the child; and returning home\nto her house she found her door wide open, at which she, much amazed and\naffrighted, ran to her next neighbour and acquainted her she was quite\nundone, for her house was broken open and robbed.  The man immediately\nrose from his dinner, accompanied by his wife and also a labouring man.\nApproaching the door, they endeavoured to enter, but before they could\nall get in a very strange noise was heard in the next room to them, as if\nit had been a concert of cats, which so affrighted them that they all ran\ntowards the door, endeavouring to get out again, but in vain; for at\ntheir approach there were great long yokes put about their necks, in the\nform of a cross or turnstile, so that they could not possibly return; and\nwhile they were thus striving and crying out for help, their yokes at\nlast fell off, and a staff was laid upon the men\u2019s shoulders, upon which\nan old woman presented herself, sometimes hanging by the heels and\nsometimes by the toes.  These sports continued for the space of half an\nhour, so that the poor men were never more tired nor less pleased at\nanything than in being constrained to humour this piece of activity.\n\nAfter they had got a discharge from this their new employment, the house\nbeing now quiet, and they had a little recovered their senses, missing\nthe woman they ran further into the house, where they found them in a\nroom in which stood a pair of yarwingles made in the form of a cross.\nThe two women were forced to take the four ends thereof in their hands,\nand so danced round about one after the other until they were almost\ntired to death, carrying upon their shoulders an imp in the likeness of a\nmonkey or ape, which hung close upon them; and whenever they slacked\ntheir pace, these spirits pricked them forward, continuing this for a\nconsiderable time, till at length they vanished quite out of sight,\nleaving these poor wretches no less weary than astonished, and who,\nperceiving themselves at liberty, ran to several of the neighbours,\nacquainting them with what had happened, and causing great amazement\namongst them; and immediately the whole town was in an uproar.  The\nminister and several of the most eminent of the inhabitants consulted\ntogether upon the occasion what to do in the business; some of them\nthreatening the informers, others thinking they were distracted, but at\nlast they resolved to go to the house; yet when they came near there\narose a dispute who should first enter, which at last was agreed upon;\nand the parson, with his congregation attending him in the rear, entered\nthe door quivering and shaking, whereupon there was suddenly a noise like\nthe treading of people on stones, though the house had no other but an\nearthen floor; and very sweet musical harmony of several notes was heard,\nand all presently vanished again.  The minister and inhabitants entered,\nand searching the house, missed the child; one of them looking up the\nchimney, saw the cradle wonderfully hanging up, three yards high, without\nany support; this was as strangely conveyed down again.  They encouraged\nthe nurse, left her in the house (though affrighted), and departed.\n\nMother Shipton\u2019s nurse was, after this, sometimes in great perplexity,\nnot knowing what was become of her for days together; but when she was in\nher greatest scare after her, she saw her oftentimes drop suddenly\nthrough the roof of the house.  Going out, upon her return she many times\nfound her child stretched out to a prodigious length, taller than the\ntallest living, and at other times as much shortened.  The poor woman\u2019s\nwork for the major part, was only to rectify what these spirits\ndisordered about her house.  The chairs and stools would frequently march\nup stairs and down, and they usually played at bowls with the trenches\nand dishes: sometimes at dinner the meat would be removed before she\ncould touch a bit; which things, as they much troubled the nurse, so they\ngave great satisfaction to Mother Shipton, as it appeared by her\nmonstrous smiles.  Now and then, to pacify her nurse, when she saw her\nmuch vexed, she would say, \u201cBe contented; there is nothing here that will\nharm you.\u201d\n\nTo be short, the nurse was so continually terrified by these apparitions,\nthat she resolved to complain to the parish; and, having made known the\ntruth of what had passed, in commiseration to the almost distracted\nwoman, they removed Mother Shipton to another place, where she was put to\nschool, being of an age fit for it.\n\nBy this time Mother Shipton was grown a lusty girl, and as she was left\nto the care of the parish, so the parish took care that she should have\nthe common sort of learning, that is to say, reading and writing,\nbestowed upon her.  Coming to school her mistress began to instruct her\nas other children, beginning with three or four letters at first; but to\nthe amazement and astonishment of her mistress, she exactly pronounced\nevery letter in the alphabet without teaching; her mistress then showed\nher a primer, which she read at first sight as well as any in the school,\nand so on with every book that was shown her.\n\nAs this produced wonder in her schoolmistress, so it caused hatred and\nenvy in her comrades; some flouted her for her monstrous long nose,\nothers endeavoured to beat her, and all strove to harm her; but she\nvalued them not, revenging herself on every one of them that intended her\nharm.  Some were pinched, and yet no hand seen that did it; others struck\nspeechless when they were about to say their lessons, not being able to\nutter a word; none escaped from being served one scurvy trick or other.\nThis so enraged the parents of these children, looking on Mother Shipton\nas the sole cause thereof, that she was discharged from the school, and\nso left to the wide world.  The singularities of Mother Shipton now began\nto be talked of everywhere; she was often seen, when alone, to laugh\nheartily; at other times to talk to herself; uttering very strange\nriddles, which occasioned some of the more sober sort to converse with\nher, receiving such strange things from her, as required a long study to\nfind out the meaning.\n\nNever a day passed, wherein she related not something very remarkable,\nand that required the most serious consideration.  And now it was that\npeople flocked far and near (her fame was so great), to be resolved of\ntheir doubts, all returning wonderfully satisfied in the explanations she\ngave to their questions.\n\nAnd now Mother Shipton, beginning to grow famous in the world for her\nnotable judgment in things to come, there resorted to her house a number\nof people of all sorts, both old and young, rich and poor, especially\nyoung maidens, who have always a great desire to know when they shall be\nmarried, as also, what manner of husbands they shall have, to which she\ngave such satisfactory answers, both for the person and time, that no\nsooner could a young maid get into her teens, but she would presently\ntrot to Mother Shipton\u2019s, to be resolved of her doubt.  Now though she\nwas not mercenary herself, but refused great gifts when proffered unto\nher; yet did she keep a young wench, who, rather than fail, if they\nforgot to open their purse to her, would remember to open her mouth to\nthem, and tell them, that neither Dame Shipton nor she could be\nmaintained with thanks, but that the belly required meat to feed it; and\nthat it was money that made the mare to go.  One day, there came a\ncertain young heir thither, whose father was sick, to be resolved by her\nwhether he should live or die; but Mother Shipton could by no means be\nwrought upon to tell him anything; whereupon he proffered the maid great\nstore of money, if she could by any means persuade the dame to fulfil his\nrequest; the wench, greedy of money, promised him fair; that if he would\ncome the next morning, he would be certain to be resolved; in the\nmeantime, she importuned her dame with the most cunning rhetoric that she\ncould invent; but she was deaf to all entreaties, and would by no means\nbe induced thereto, whereupon the wench resolved with herself, rather\nthan lose the money, to give him an answer of her own invention; when the\nnext morning came she performed her part in these words:\u2014\n\n    \u201cThe grave provided hath a room:\n    Prepare for death, thy hour is come.\u201d\n\nThe young gentleman having received this answer, went away very joyful,\nhoping presently to reap the golden crop which his father had sown, and\nto be in an instant possessor of all his vast estate; but the sequel\nproved quite contrary; for by the time he came home, great hopes of\namendment appeared in his father, who each day grew better and better, so\nthat in a short time he became perfectly well.  This unexpected recovery\nof the old man struck such a damp into the young heir, that he presently\ntook to his bed, fell extremely ill, and in a short time grew so much\nworse that all the symptoms of a dying man appeared in him; the old man\nhaving no more children, was very desirous of his life; and to know\nwhether he should recover, he sent to Mother Shipton, who, knowing by her\nart what her maid had done, severely chid her for the same, threatening\nto turn her out of her service.  In the meantime the messenger was come\nto her house, who having delivered his errand returned back with this\nanswer:\u2014\n\n    \u201cFor other\u2019s death who do gape out,\n    Their own, unlook\u2019d for, comes about.\u201d\n\nThe old man having received this answer, was much troubled, thinking his\nown death predicted thereby, not imagining what his son had done: but he\nwas soon quieted of that suspicion, for within two days the young man\ndied; when a servant (who knew the circumstance) informed him of the\ntruth of the whole matter.\n\nAt divers other times, when persons of quality came to visit her, she\ndelivered the following prophecies:\n\n\u201cBefore the Ouse Bridge and Trinity Church meets, they shall build it in\nthe day and it shall fall in the night, until they get the highest stone\nof Trinity Church the lowest stone of Ouse Bridge.\u201d\n\nThis came to pass; for Trinity steeple in York was blown down with a\ntempest, and Ouse Bridge broken down with a flood, and what they did in\nthe day time in repairing the bridge fell down in the night, till at last\nthey laid the highest stone of the steeple for the foundation of the\nBridge.\n\n\u201cA time shall happen when a ship shall come sailing up the Thames, till\nit comes against London, and the master of the ship will ask the captain\nwhy he weeps, since he has made so good a voyage.  And he will say, and\nwhat a good city this was, none in the world comparable to it, and now\nthere\u2019s scarce a house left, that can let us drink for our money.\u201d\n\nThese last words were sadly verified after the dreadful fire of London in\n1666, when there was not a house left along the Thames side from the\nTower to the Temple.\n\nAbout this time, some differences arising betwixt King Henry VIII. and\nthe French king, great preparations for war were made in England, the\ndrums beating in every county to summon voluntary valour to express\nitself in defence of their king and country.  Many heroic spirits who\nmade honour their aim, not dreading dangers, now came forward, and\nindeed, so many appeared under Mars\u2019 banner, that he who was furnished\nwith limbs and an estate, and declined the service, was called a coward.\nThere was then living in the North a young heir, who was newly come to\nhis estate; one whose tongue was all fire, and his heart all ice; who\nwould kill thousands by his words, but durst not venture to do anything\nin deeds; this gallant being by some of his equals pricked on to make his\nappearance in the field of Mars, and not to lie sleeping at home, when\nfame summoned him forth to action, knew not what to do in this case;\nloath was he to lose his loved life; and yet the aspersion of a coward,\neven to a coward himself, is of all things most odious; he therefore\npromised that none should be more willing than he to spend his blood in\nthe quarrel of that country from whence he received his dear life; but\nyet he resolved within himself not to set one step forward in that path\nof danger till he had first consulted with Mother Shipton, concerning\nwhat success he should have in his journey; if it was bad, he resolved by\na feigned sickness to evade it; thinking it no good policy for a man to\npart with that life in an instant, which with great cost and care had\nbeen many years in bringing up.\n\nHereupon he hastened to our Northern Prophetess, acquainted her with his\ncondition, and very earnestly desired of her (as she to whom nothing was\nhid) that she would unfold to him whether good or bad fortune should be\nhis attendant in this his expedition.  Mother Shipton, though she\nperceived his sheepish courage to be very unanswerable to that of a\nsoldier, yet foreknowing what would come to pass, returned him the\nfollowing answer: which without more ado, fully satisfied him to proceed,\nand performed what he had promised.\n\n\u201cWhen the English Lion shall set his paw on the Gallic shore, then shall\nthe Lilies begin to drop for fear.  There shall be much weeping and\nwailing amongst the ladies of that country: because the princely Eagle\nshall join with the Lion, to tread down all that shall oppose them; and\nthough many sagittaries shall appear in defence of the Lilies, yet shall\nthey not prevail; because the dull animal of the North shall be put to\nconfusion; and though it be his will, yet shall cause great shame unto\nthem.  Now shall the mitred Peacock first begin to plume, whose train\nshall make a great show in the world for a time, but shall afterwards\nvanish away, and his honour come to nothing; which shall take its end at\nKingston.\u201d\n\n\n\nExplanation.\n\n\nBy the \u201cEnglish Lion\u201d was meant the King of England; and by setting his\n\u201cpaw on the Gallic shore,\u201d the landing of his army in France; by the\n\u201cLily beginning to drop for fear,\u201d was signified the great trouble and\nperplexity of the French, the Lilies being the arms of France; the\n\u201cweeping and wailing amongst the ladies of that country,\u201d denotes the\nmiseries and destruction incident to war; by the \u201cprincely Eagle joining\nwith the Lion, and treading down all that shall oppose them,\u201d is meant\nthe German Emperor (whose arms were the Eagle) who joined in amity with\nKing Henry, and served him in his wars; by the \u201csagittaries that appeared\nin defence of the Lilies,\u201d were meant the French cavalry, the chief\nstrength of France, consisting of horsemen, who appeared like\nsagittaries, that is to say, half men and half horses; and whereas it was\nsaid, \u201cyet they should not prevail,\u201d it fell out so accordingly; for\nnotwithstanding all the opposition of the French armies, King Henry\nproceeded on vigorously, conquering and taking several towns of\nimportance.  But to come to that which most nearly concerns the matter,\nviz., the success of our young heir in his expedition, which was hinted\nforth unto him in these words: \u201cBecause the dull animal of the North\nshall put them to confusion, and though it be against his will, yet shall\ncause great shame unto them;\u201d by the dull animal of the North was meant\nthis fresh-water soldier, who, according to the Prophecy, put the\nFrenchmen to confusion and great shame; for passing the seas with King\nHenry, being mounted on a stately horse, as both armies confronted each\nother, he being at the head of the battle, just before the charge,\nsomebody striking his horse, he carried him upon the enemy with such\nviolence, as put their front in some disorder, which being perceived by\nour men, they presently so seconded him that the French ran away, leaving\nthe English a glorious victory, purchased with little cost.\n\nBy this means was Mother Shipton\u2019s predictions fulfilled, to the disgrace\nof the French, and great praise to the young gallant; for the rest of the\nProphecy the interpretation runs thus:\u2014\n\nBy the \u201cmitred Peacock,\u201d was intended Cardinal Wolsey, signified by that\nbird, because of his great pride, who, being but a poor butcher\u2019s son of\nIpswich, in Suffolk, grew to such a height, that he thought himself\nsuperior to the chief nobles of the land, living in such splendour as not\nto be paralleled; according to the new Prophecy, \u201cwhose train shall make\na great show in the world;\u201d and whereas it is said, \u201cthe peacock should\nthen begin to plume,\u201d so it was, that when King Henry had taken the city\nof Tournay, in France, he made Wolsey bishop thereof, who soon after rose\nto the highest degree of honour a subject could be capable of, which\nafterwards (as the Prophecy says) \u201cvanished away, and his great honour\ncame to nothing.\u201d  And lastly, whereas it said, he should \u201chave his end\nat Kingston.\u201d  The cardinal being told of this prophecy, would never pass\nthrough the town of Kingston, though lying directly in the road from his\nown house to the court; but afterwards being arrested for high treason,\nby the Earl of Northumberland, and Sir Anthony Kingston, the Lieutenant\nof the Tower, sent unto him, his very name (remembering the prophecy)\nstruck such a terror to his heart that he soon after expired.\n\nMother Shipton had now got a name far and near for a cunning woman, or a\nwoman of foresight, that her words were counted oracles, nor was she\nvisited only by private persons, but advised with by people of the\ngreatest quality.  Among which number at that time was Cardinal Wolsey;\nwhen it was reported that he intended to live at York, she publicly said,\n\u201cHe should never come thither,\u201d which, coming to his ears, and being\noffended, he caused three lords to go to her, who came disguised to\nDringhouses, near York, where leaving their men, they took a guide to\nMother Shipton\u2019s, and knocking at the door, she called from within, \u201cCome\nin, Mr. Besley (the guide), and these noble lords with you,\u201d which\nsurprised them, that she should know them; for when they came in she\ncalled each of them by their names, and treated them with ale and cakes;\nwhereupon, said one of the lords, \u201cIf you knew our errand you would not\nmake so much of us; you said the cardinal should never see York.\u201d  \u201cNo,\u201d\nsaid she, \u201cI said he might see York but never come at it.\u201d  \u201cWell,\u201d said\nthe lords, \u201cwhen he does come thou shalt be burnt.\u201d  Then, taking off her\nlinen handkerchief from her head, she said, \u201cIf this burns,\u201d and\nimmediately flung it into the fire, but it did not burn; and after it had\nlaid in the flames a quarter of an hour, she took it out again not so\nmuch as singed.  One of the lords then asked her what she thought of him.\n\u201cMy lord, the time will come when your lordship will be as low as I am,\nand that is low indeed,\u201d which proved true, for shortly after he was\nbeheaded.\n\nNor was her speech of the cardinal less verified; for coming to Cawood,\nhe went to the top of the tower and asked where York was, which being\nshown him, he inquired how far it was thither.  For, quoth he, \u201cThere was\na witch said I should never see York.\u201d  \u201cNay,\u201d said one present, \u201cyour\neminence is misinformed; she said, you might see it, but never come at\nit.\u201d  Then he vowed to burn her when he came there, which was but eight\nmiles distant; but, behold, he was immediately sent for back by the king,\nand never returned.\n\nMother Shipton\u2019s prediction coming thus effectually to pass, spread her\nfame far wider than it was; insomuch that many who before looked upon her\nas a crack-brained woman, now began to admire her, and to esteem her\nwords as oracles.  And as the nature of English people is rather to\ndesire to know what is to come, than to seek to rectify aught that is\ndone amiss, so the greatest part of her visitants came only to be\nacquainted with what she knew would come to pass; of which number was the\nAbbot of Beverley, who fearing the downfall of religious houses, and a\nchange of the religion then professed, putting on counterfeit clothes,\ncame to Mother Shipton\u2019s, and knocking at the door, she being within,\ncalled to him, and said: \u201cCome in, Mr. Abbot, for you are not so much\ndisguised but the fox may be seen through the sheep\u2019s skin.  Come take a\nstool and sit down, for you shall not go away unsatisfied of what you\ndesire,\u201d and thereupon she began to utter forth her Prophecies in this\nsort:\u2014\n\n    \u201cWhen the cow doth wive the bull,\n    Then, oh! priest, beware thy skull!\n    And when the lower shrubs do fall,\n    The great trees quickly follow shall.\n    The mitred Peacock\u2019s lofty pride\n    Shall to his master be a guide.\n    And one great court to pass shall bring\n    What was ne\u2019er done by any king.\n    The poor shall grieve to see that day,\n    And who did feast, must fast and pray.\n    Fate so decreed their overthrow,\n    Riches brought pride, and pride brought woe.\u201d\n\nThese prophecies were thus explained: by the \u201cCow,\u201d was made King Henry,\nby reason of the Earldom of Richmond, which was his inheritance; and the\n\u201cBull,\u201d betokened Anne Boleyn, whom the king took to wife in the room of\nQueen Catherine; her father gave the black bull\u2019s head in his cognizance;\nand when the king had married Queen Anne, then was fulfilled the second\nline of the prophecy, viz., \u201cThen, oh! priest, beware thy skull!\u201d for\nwhat a number of priests, religious and secular, lost their heads, for\noffending against the laws, made to bring this matter to pass.\n\nCardinal Wolsey (who was intended by the \u201cmitred Peacock\u201d), in the height\nof his pride and vastness of his undertakings, intending to erect two\ncolleges, one at Ipswich, where he was born, the other at Oxford, where\nhe was bred; and finding himself unable to endow them at his own charge,\nhe obtained licence of Pope Clement VII. to suppress forty small\nmonasteries in England, and to lay their old lands to his new\nfoundations, which was done accordingly, and the poor people that lived\nin them were turned out of doors.  Many of the clergy were very much\nagainst this action of Wolsey, especially John Fisher, Bishop of\nRochester, alleging for the same an apologue of \u00c6sop, that \u201cthe iron head\nof the axe craved a handle of the wood of oaks, only to cut off the\nboughs of the trees: but when it was a complete axe it felled all the\nwood;\u201d applying it, that the suppressing of those smaller houses would\nprove destructive to all the rest, which came to pass accordingly; for\nKing Henry, seeing the cardinal\u2019s power to extend so far as to suppress\nthese lower shrubs, he thought his prerogative might stretch so far as to\nfell down the great trees; and soon after dissolved the priory of Christ\nChurch, near Aldgate, in London (now known by the name of Duke\u2019s Place),\nthe richest in lands and ornaments of the priories in London or\nMiddlesex; which was a forerunner of the dissolution of the rest; and\nthat not long after came to pass.\n\nBy the \u201cGreat Court,\u201d is meant the Parliament, the supremest court of\nEngland; which, in the twenty-seventh year of King Henry\u2019s reign, to\nsupport the king\u2019s states, and supply his wants, conferred on the crown\nall religious houses which were not able clearly to expend above two\nhundred pounds a year; the great ones not long after following the same\nfortune of the smaller, which was not done (though attempted) by any king\nbefore.\n\nBy the dissolution of these houses, many thousands were driven to seek\ntheir fortunes in the wide world, and became utterly exposed to want;\nwhen monkish profession was without possession, many a young man proved\nan old beggar, and many forced to fast for want of victuals, who formerly\nhad it provided for them to their hands.\n\nThe great riches and pride of the monks and friars, was, no doubt, the\nmain cause of their overthrow; for whatsoever was the pretence,\nquestionless profit was the rope which pulled these religious houses\ndown.\n\nAll those things coming to pass before the abbot died, caused him to have\na great esteem of Mother Shipton, and to value her prophecies more than\nordinary conjectures; though at first he could not tell what to make of\nher ambiguous lines, which, like the oracles delivered at Delphos, rather\nbrought one into a labyrinth of confused conjectures than satisfied the\nexpectation, until by the clue of time, the riddles were manifest; and\nthat which at first seemed so hard, now appeared to the understanding as\neasy; however, he at present kindly thanked Mother Shipton, and liberally\nrewarded her maid, much admiring that she could be so clear-sighted as to\nsee through his counterfeit dress; resolving afterwards to be more\ninformed by her concerning future events, he at that time took his solemn\nleave of her, and returned home.\n\nNot long had the abbot been at home, but his abbey was visited by some\ninstrument employed by the Lord Cromwell for that purpose.  He who knew\nwhat was intended by this compliment thought it not safe to strive\nagainst the stream, and therefore quietly surrendered his monastery into\nthe king\u2019s hands.  And now perceiving Mother Shipton\u2019s prophecies plainly\nfulfilled in the downfall of those houses, which were judged to be\nimpregnable against all the assaults of malice and time, considering the\nstrange revolution of so short a space, he was very desirous to be more\nfully informed of the future.  In this resolution he repairs again to\nMother Shipton, whom he now accosts more familiarly than he did before,\nmaking himself plainly known unto her; telling her that as what she had\nformerly spoken he had found to be true in the event, so his judgment\npersuaded him she was not ignorant of those things which were in the\nfuture to ensue; and therefore desired she would not be nice in imparting\nher foreknowledge to him; for which great favour, though it were more\nthan his deserts could command, yet should there never in him be wanting\na grateful tongue to acknowledge, and a grateful heart to be thankful\nunto her, for so great a favour.\n\n\u201cMr. Abbot,\u201d said she, \u201cleave off complimenting, as it is more fit for\ncourtiers and lovers, and not agreeable to an old woman, who will neither\nflatter nor be flattered by any; and for what you came about, I shall not\nbe squeamish to fulfil your request; let me therefore desire you to lend\nme your attention;\u201d and thereupon, after some short pause, she thus\nbegan\u2014\n\n    \u201cA prince that never shall be born,\n    Shall make the shaved heads forlorn,\n    Then shall commons rise in arms,\n    And woman\u2019s malice cause much harms.\u201d\n\nThese lines being prophecies of the actions in King Edward\u2019s reign, for\nthe reader\u2019s benefit we will unfold the meaning of them by themselves,\nthat we may not too much burden his memory; but by variety add a pleasure\nto the reading of them.\n\nBy the \u201cPrince that never shall be born,\u201d is meant King Edward VI., of\nwhom all reports agree that he was not naturally delivered into the\nworld, but that his mother\u2019s body was opened for his birth, that she died\nof the operation the fourth day following: and by \u201cshaved heads,\u201d is\nunderstood the monks, friars, etc., who are said to become \u201cforlorn;\u201d the\nReformation beginning with the commencement of King Edward\u2019s reign.\n\nKing Edward set out certain injunctions for the reformation of religion;\nas the commissioners passed to divers places for the establishing of\nthem, much scorn was passed upon them, and the farther they went from\nLondon, as the people were more uncivil, so did they the more rise into\ninsolence and contempt; for in Cornwall, the commons flocked together,\nhaving killed one of the commissioners, and although justice was done\nupon the offenders (the principal of them being executed in several\nplaces), yet could not their boldness be beaten down by that severity,\nbut that the mischief spread farther.  In Wiltshire and Somersetshire,\nwhere the people, supposing that a Commonwealth could not stand without\ncommons, beat down enclosures, and laid parks and fields bare.  The like\ncommotions followed in Suffolk, Hampshire, Kent, Gloucestershire,\nWarwickshire, and Rutlandshire, but the greatest of all was in\nDevonshire, and Norfolk.\n\n    \u201cA virtuous lady then shall die,\n    For being raised up too high;\n    Her death shall cause another\u2019s joy,\n    Who shall the kingdom much annoy.\n    Mitres shall rise, mitres come down,\n    And streams of blood shall Smithfield drown.\n    England shall join in league with Spain,\n    Which some to hinder strive in vain,\n    The Lioness from life retires,\n    And pontifical priest expires.\u201d\n\nThe Lady Jane Gray, assuming the title of Queen upon her, for her offence\nlost her head.  This Lady Jane was a woman of most rare and incomparable\nperfections; for besides her excellent beauty, she was the mirror of her\ntime for religion and education, in the knowledge of the liberal sciences\nand skill in languages; and far exceeded all of her sex and years.\n\nThe death of the Lady Jane was supposed to be a rejoicing to Queen Mary,\nand who, by restoring Popery, and the persecutions that the professors of\nthe Gospel suffered in her time, is said to bring the kingdom to much\nannoy.\n\nBy the \u201cMitres,\u201d are meant the bishops, who in the change of religion\nfound great change; very few keeping their seats wherein they had been\nseated by King Edward VI.\n\nGreat was the number of martyrs burned in Smithfield in this queen\u2019s\nreign, under the bloody hands of Bonner, Bishop of London, and Dr. Story,\nDean of St. Paul\u2019s; the first persecuting by wholesale, the second by\nretail; the names of all those who in this place thus testified their\nfaith by the loss of their lives, would be too long here to recite; the\nchief of them were Mr. John Rogers, Mr. John Bradford, Mr. Robert Glover,\netc.\n\nQueen Mary intended to match herself with Philip, King of Spain; the news\nthereof of being spread amongst the people, was by them ill-resented, as\ndreading to be under the yoke of a stranger; but all to no purpose, for\nsoon afterwards they were married, to the mortification of the English.\n\nBy the \u201cLioness\u201d is meant Queen Mary, who having reigned five years and\nsome odd months, died of a dropsy.\n\nThe \u201cpontifical priest\u201d signifies Cardinal Pole, who expired within a few\nhours after the death of Queen Mary.  This prelate was of princely\nextraction, his mother, Margret, being daughter to George Duke of\nClarence; when he was young, he was brought up together with Queen Mary,\nand being a zealous Catholic, during King Edward\u2019s reign, suffered a\nvoluntary exile for the same; when the marriage between Prince Philip and\nQueen Mary was made up, he returned into England, and was made Archbishop\nof Canterbury, but was more moderate than some of his fellow bishops,\nhaving a favourable inclination towards the Protestants.\n\n    \u201cThe Lion fierce being dead and gone,\n    A maiden Queen shall reign anon.\n    The Papal power shall bear no sway,\n    Rome\u2019s creed shall hence be swept away.\n    The western monarch\u2019s wooden horses\n    Shall be destroyed by the Drake\u2019s forces.\n    More wonders yet! a widowed Queen\n    In England shall be headless seen.\n    The Harp shall give a better sound.\n    An Earl without a head be found.\n    Soon after shall the English Rose\n    Unto a male her place dispose.\u201d\n\nThese lines being a prophecy of the most remarkable actions during the\nreign of Queen Elizabeth, are to be interpreted after this manner:\n\nQueen Mary is here meant, not so much for the cruelty done by her, as by\nthe bishops and priests under her; in respect to the blood that was shed,\nand the persecutions then suffered, she is here termed a fierce \u201cLion;\u201d\nafter whom is said, \u201cA maiden Queen to reign anon,\u201d meant by Queen\nElizabeth, one who was the mirror of her age and sex, who for above forty\nyears managed the affairs of this kingdom; having, when she began, few\nfriends that durst help, and leaving no foes when she died that could\nhurt her; acting her part so well whilst here she reigned, that history\ncan scarce afford us one prince to be matched to her fame in all\nconsiderable particulars.\n\nSoon after the queen coming to the crown, a Parliament began at\nWestminster, wherein the laws of King Henry VIII. against the see of\n\u201cRome\u201d were renewed, and those of King Edward VI. in favour of the\nProtestants revived, and the laws by Queen Mary made against them,\nrepealed.\n\nUniformity of prayer and administration of sacrament were enacted, and\nthe queen acknowledged to be the only and supreme governor of her\nkingdom.  The people in each place beating down superstitious pictures\nand images, which misguided zeal had set up.\n\nBy the \u201cwestern monarch\u2019s wooden horses,\u201d is meant the King of Spain\u2019s\ngreat Armada, by them termed invincible, though the success of it\nanswered not the name; being by Sir Francis Drake and others fought with\nand really vanquished; most of it sunk, and the rest, destitute and\nscattered, being chased by our ships into the northern latitudes, and\nthere left to be pursued by hunger and cold; a victory so remarkable,\nthat neither time nor age will ever wear the remembrance thereof away.\n\nThe \u201cwidowed Queen\u201d signifies the Queen of Scots, the mother of King\nJames, who was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle, some say by the privity,\nothers say to the great discontent of Queen Elizabeth; a lady of sharp\nwit, undaunted spirit, comely person, beautiful face, and majestic\npresence; a fluent orator, and an excellent poetess, as appears by\nseveral things of her writing now extant; she was beheaded on the 8th of\nFebruary, 1587, and was first buried in the choir of Peterborough; and\nafterwards by her son, King James, solemnly removed from thence to\nWestminster, where, in the south side of the chapel of King Henry VII. he\nerected a stately monument to her memory.\n\n\u201cThe Harp\u201d signifies Ireland, as being the arms of that country, when\nQueen Elizabeth, by reducing it to a better obedience, made it give a\nbetter sound, that is, made it more civilized and profitable to the\nexchequer than it ever was before.\n\n\u201cAn Earl without a head be found.\u201d  This was spoken of the Earl of Essex,\none who was the favourite of the queen and darling of the people (two\nthings which seldom come together), and yet could not both of them\nprotect him from the scaffold, but thereon he lost his head.\n\nBy the \u201cEnglish Rose\u201d is meant Queen Elizabeth, as we said before, by\nwhose death the right and title to the crown came to James VI., King of\nScotland, as lineally descended from Margaret, eldest daughter to King\nHenry VII., the male issue failing by the death of Queen Elizabeth; and\nhere is to be remembered the policy of King Henry VII., who having two\ndaughters, married the eldest of them to the King of Scotland, and the\nyoungest to the King of France, that if his male issue should happen to\nfail, as it afterwards did, then Scotland might wait upon England as the\ngreater kingdom, and not England upon France as the lesser.  Besides,\nthere was an old prophecy which intimated King James coming to the\nEnglish crown; for when King Edward I. harassed Scotland, amongst other\nthings he brought from thence their royal chair (still preserved at the\nAbbey, in Westminster), upon which chair these verses were written:\n\n    \u201cIf Fates go right, where\u2019er this chair is pight,\n    The regal race of Scots shall rule that place.\u201d\n\nWhich by the coronation of King James there performed, made good the\nwords of the prophecy.\n\n    \u201cThe Northern Lion over Tweed,\n    The maiden Queen shall then succeed,\n    And join in one, two mighty States;\n    Janus then shall shut his gates;\n    Hell\u2019s power, by a fatal blow,\n    Shall seek the land to overthrow,\n    Which by mistake shall be reverst,\n    And heads from shoulders be disperst.\n    The British Olive next shall twine\n    In marriage with the German Vine.\u201d\n\nNext follows the remarkable actions of King James\u2019s reign, predicted in\nthe foregoing lines, which may be thus explained:\n\nBy the \u201cNorthern Lion\u201d is meant King James, and by the \u201cmaiden Queen,\u201d\nQueen Elizabeth, whom King James, being King of Scotland, succeeded to\nthe English crown, joining thereby the two nations of England and\nScotland, which had often been attempted before.\n\nThe lines \u201cHell\u2019s power,\u201d etc., have reference to the Gunpowder Plot,\nwhich was planned to blow up the Parliament House with gunpowder\u2014king,\nprinces, peers, bishops, judges, knights, and burgesses, being all\ndesigned to destruction.  To bring the purpose about, a vault was hired\nunder the Parliament House, wherein were stowed thirty-six barrels of\ngunpowder, with several iron bars, to make the force of the fire more\neffectual, all which were covered with billets and coals.  The 5th of\nNovember, the day of Parliament first sitting, was the time appointed to\nput this design in execution; but Providence had ordered it otherwise,\nthat those who intended mischief should taste the effects of it.  In the\nevening before, Lord Monteagle received a strange letter from an unknown\nhand, without date or name to it, and which, when it was opened, was even\nstill sealed.  The letter being communicated to the king, he commanded\nthe rooms under the Parliament House to be searched, where the mystery of\niniquity was quickly discovered.  Some of the traitors were taken in\nLondon, others in the country; the hands of justice overtaking them, they\nbecame its examples, and tasted of that cup which they intended others\nshould have drunk of.\n\nBy the \u201cBritish Olive\u201d is meant the Lady Elizabeth, daughter of King\nJames; and by the \u201cGerman Vine\u201d the most illustrious Prince Frederic,\nCount Palatine of the Rhine.  This Lady Elizabeth was enriched with all\nthe endowments of both body and mind which make to the completing of a\nprincess; most dearly beloved of the English, as one that deserved well\nof all.  They were married with great solemnity at Westminster, February\n14, 1602.\n\nMother Shipton having proceeded thus far with her prophecies, broke up\nabruptly with a deep sigh, the tears trickling down her cheeks,\naccompanied by a wringing of her hands, as if some extraordinary\nmischance had befallen her.  The abbot wondered greatly what should be\nthe cause of this sudden alteration, having observed all along before a\nsettled composedness in her countenance, and now to break out in such\nexclamations.  He therefore said unto her, \u201cMother Shipton, it is more\nthan some extraordinary matter which hath made you break out into this\nsudden passion; and if it may not be troublesome unto you, I shall desire\nthat, as hitherto you have not been scrupulous in revealing those secrets\nunto me, which have wrought in me both wonder and amazement, so that you\nwill not so abruptly break off as to leave me in suspense of the cause of\nyour sorrow.\u201d  \u201cAh! Mr. Abbot,\u201d said she, \u201cwho can with dry eyes repeat\nwhat must next ensue, or but think upon it without a heart full of agony?\nto see virtue trampled on, and vice exalted; beggars on horseback, and\nprinces on foot; the innocent condemned, and the bloodthirsty go scot\nfree; but since my promise binds me to fulfil your request, I shall\nproceed from where I left off:\n\n    \u201cThe crown then fits the White King\u2019s head,\n    Who with the Lilies soon shall wed;\n    Then shall a peasant\u2019s bloody knife\n    Deprive a great man of his life.\n    Forth from the North shall mischief blow,\n    And English hob shall add thereto.\n    Then shall the Council great assemble,\n    Who shall make great and small to tremble,\n    The White King then (O grief to see!)\n    By wicked hands shall murdered be.\u201d\n\nBy the \u201cWhite King,\u201d is meant King Charles I., so called not only in\nrespect of the purity and uprightness of his life, signified by white;\nbut also at the time of his coronation he was clothed in white.  He had,\nprevious to the death of King James, married the Lady Henrietta Maria,\ndaughter of Henry IV., King of France; who is hereupon said to wed the\n\u201cLilies,\u201d the lilies being the arms of France.\n\nBy the \u201cgreat man,\u201d who was to lose his life by a bloody knife, was meant\nthe Duke of Buckingham, the greatest man in favour of those times, and\n(as is commonly seen) most hated of the people, who laid the blame of all\nmiscarriages in state upon him; being made general for the relief of\nRochelle (then besieged by the French forces), before he embarked at\nPortsmouth, he was stabbed by one Felton, an officer in his army; who, so\nfar from flying for the same, though he might pass away undiscovered,\nboldly avowed himself to be the man that did it.  He was hanged in chains\nat Portsmouth, in the year 1627.\n\nThe next part of this prophecy alludes to that ancient proverb, \u201cFrom the\ncold \u2018North\u2019 all ills come forth,\u201d and may be understood of our troubles\ncommencing in 1630, taking their original rise from Scotland, and\nfermented by several factious spirits in England, the venom of which\npoison so infected the veins of the English, that it broke forth into a\nmost bitter war, and ended not but with the deaths of many thousands of\npeople.\n\nBy the \u201cgreat Council\u201d is meant the long-lasting Parliament, as known to\nall posterity for the remarkable transactions therein.  By them fell the\nwise Strafford, and Reverend Laud; by them was Episcopacy voted down, and\nPresbytery voted up; by them was the common-prayer denied, and the\nDirectory exalted; by them was the Church and State turned topsy-turvy;\nbut this cannot be reported of all amongst them; many of them hated their\ndoings, dissented from them, and suffered by them.\n\nThe \u201cWhite King by wicked hands,\u201d etc., alludes to the beheading of King\nCharles I., who was the principal victim of these savage wars.\n\n    \u201cThe White King dead, the Wolf shall then\n    With blood possess the Lion\u2019s den.\n    But Death shall hurry him away;\n    Confusion shall awhile bear sway;\n    But Fate to England shall restore\n    A king to reign as heretofore.\n    Great death in London shall be though,\n    And men on tops of houses go.\u201d\n\nBy the \u201cWhite King,\u201d as we said before, is meant King Charles I., and, by\nthe \u201cWolf,\u201d Oliver Cromwell, whose ambition was such that he left no\nmeans unattempted until he had got into the \u201cLion\u2019s den,\u201d that is to say,\nuntil he had attained the sole government.\n\n    \u201cBut Death shall hurry him away.\u201d\n\nVery remarkable was the day in which the Protector died, being September\n3, 1658, wherein the wind was so violent, that it overthrew many houses,\ntore up many trees by the roots, tumbled down chimneys, and unroofed\nbarns and stables; but it is a very ill wind that blows none good, so\nwith all the hurt this wind did, it made recompense to some folks who had\nlost their estates in the civil wars, by blowing this Oliver away.\n\n    \u201cBut fate to England shall restore\n    A king to reign as heretofore.\u201d\n\nWhich part of the prophecy was fulfilled in the restoration of King\nCharles II., which put a period to all the Commonwealth, and restored the\nland to its ancient government.\n\n\u201cGreat death in London,\u201d verified by the great plague in London, in 1665,\nwhich, for number, was the greatest that hath been known in these latter\ncenturies of years.\n\n\u201cAnd men on tops of houses go.\u201d  This was suddenly fulfilled in that\ngreat conflagration of fire which happened in London, September 2, 3, and\n4, 1666, by which so many houses were destroyed, that men afterwards, in\nthe ruins, went on the tops of those houses whose lofty structures not\nlong before seemed to brave the sky.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\nIt will be observed that some of the following prophecies of Mother\nShipton relate to the present time, while others more closely concern the\nfuture.  We will leave them to the reader\u2019s own interpretation:\u2014\n\n                                      I.\n\n    Ploughed with swords the earth shall be,\n    And blood will mingle with the sea.\n\n                                     II.\n\n    Soon as the fiery year has passed.\n    Peace again shall come at last.\n\n                                     III.\n\n    Great accidents the world will fill,\n    And carriages without horses go;\n    Whilst, in the twinkling of an eye,\n    Around the world our thoughts shall fly.\n\n                                     IV.\n\n    In England, now will come to pass\n    A house that shall be built of glass.\n\n                                      V.\n\n    State and State, in most deadly strife,\n    Will fight and seek each other\u2019s life;\n    Then, when the North divides the South,\n    The Eagle will build in the Lion\u2019s mouth.\n\n                                     VI.\n\n    Three tyrant rulers France shall see,\n    And each of a different dynasty.\n    But when the greater fight be done,\n    France and England shall be as one.\n\n                                     VII.\n\n    In the water shall iron float,\n    The same as now a wooden boat.\n    More wonders still shall water do,\n    And England yet admit a Jew.\n\n                                    VIII.\n\n    Gold and riches will be shown\n    In a land that\u2019s not now known.\n\n                                     IX.\n\n    Under rivers man shall walk,\n    Shall ride, shall sleep, and shall talk.\n\n                                      X.\n\n    A river and a town shall be on fire.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_The following remarkable Prophecy_, _which is known as_ \u201c_Mother\nShipton\u2019s prophecies_,\u201d _was first published in 1448_,_ and republished\nin 1641_.  _It will be seen that the events it predicts have come to\npass_, _except that contained in the last two lines_, _which is still in\nthe future_.\n\n                                     XI.\n\n    Over a wild and stormy sea,\n    Shall a noble {184} sail,\n    Who to find, will not fail,\n    A new and a fair countree.\n    From whence he shall bring\n    A herb {185a} and a root {185b}\n    That all men shall suit,\n    And please both the ploughman and the king.\n    And let them take no more than measure.\n    Both shall have the even pleasure.\n    The world to an end shall come\n    In eighteen hundred and eighty-one.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_Here follow other Prophecies which Mother Shipton stated at various\ntimes in her life to different persons_:\u2014\n\n    The first coming in of the King of the Scots (James I.) shall be at\n    Holgate Town, but he shall not come through the bar.  And when the\n    King of the North shall be at London Bridge, his tail shall be at\n    Edinburgh.\n\nThis was fulfilled in the following manner\u2014When King James arrived there\nwas such a multitude of people at Holgate bar to behold him, that to\navoid the danger of the crush he was forced to ride another way.  When\nKing James was at London, his children were at Edinburgh, preparing to\ncome into England.\n\n    Water shall come over Ouse Bridge, and a windmill shall be set upon a\n    Tower, and a Elm Tree shall lie at every man\u2019s door.  At that day\n    women shall wear great hats and great bands.\n\nThis was verified by the conducting of water into York streets through\nbored Elms; and the Conduit-house had a windmill on the top that drew up\nthe water.\n\n    When there is a Lord Mayor living in Minster-yard in York, let him\n    beware of a stab.\n\nA Lord Mayor, whose house was in Minster-yard, was stabbed by an assassin\nin three places, which caused his death.\n\n    When two Knights shall fall out in the York Castle-yard, they shall\n    never live kindly all their after lives.\n\nSir Thomas Wentworth and Sir John Savile in choosing Knights for the\nShire in the Castle-yard at York, did so fall out, that they were never\nafter well reconciled.\n\n    When all Colton-hag hath borne crops and corn for seven years; seven\n    years after that you shall hear news.\n\nColton-hag in Mother Shipton\u2019s time was a woodland ground full of trees,\nwhich some long time after her death was cultivated and bore crops and\ncorn for seven years; and the seven years after that, was the year of the\ncoming in of the Scots, and their taking of Newcastle.\n\n    You shall have a year of pining hunger, and then a dearth without\n    corn.  You shall not know of the war over-night, yet you shall have\n    it in the morning; and when it comes it shall last three years.\n\n    Between Calder and Aire\n    Shall be great warfare,\n    When all the world is aloft,\n    It shall be called Christ\u2019s Croft.\n\nCalder and Aire are two rivers in Yorkshire; and this Prophecy relates to\nthe Civil War in the time of Charles I.\n\n    When the battle of warfare begins, it shall be where Crookback\n    Richard made his fray.\n\nIt was near Leicester where Richard the Third was slain in battle.  There\nColonel Hastings was one of the first in arms at the commencement of the\ncivil war.  Or it may thus be understood\u2014That as King Richard began his\nmarch from Nottingham when he first set out against the Earl of Richmond,\nso also should these wars take rise from thence.  And indeed at\nNottingham, on Aug. 25th, 1640, Charles I. set up his standard, and there\ncontinued it to little purpose.\n\n    They shall say to warfare for your King for half-a-crown a day, but\n    stir not.  They will say to warfare for your King on pain of hanging,\n    but stir not.\n\nAt the time of the Civil War in 1642, many Lords promised two shillings\nand sixpence a day for each horseman who would join the King\u2019s service.\n\n    For he that goes to complain,\n    Shall not come back again.\n\nThis seems to refer to the Welsh and the Irish serving the King, for very\nfew lived to return back again to their own country.\n\n_The following Prophecies by Mother Shipton_, (_extracted from Lilly\u2019s\ncollection_, _with his remarks_,) _being rather quaint in the\ncomposition_, _are left for the reader to decypher_.\n\n    (_a_) There will be a great battel between England and Scotland, and\n    they will be pacified for a time; and when they come at (_b_)\n    Bramma-moore they fight, and are again pacified for a time: Then\n    there will be a great battel between England and Scotland at (_c_)\n    Knavesmore: Then they will be pacified for a while: Then there will\n    be a great battel between England and Scotland at (_d_) Storktonmore;\n    then will Ravens sit on the (_e_) Crosse, and drink as much blood of\n    Nobles as of the Commons.  Then wo is me, for London shall be\n    destroyed.\n\n(_a_) God I hope will prevent this threatened mischief.  (_b_) Brammish\nis a river in Northumberland.  (_c_) I conceive it should be\nKnaresborough, by which the river Nidd runs.  (_d_) Storkton I conceive\nmistaken for Stanemore, in Richmondshire.  (_e_) It is to be noted and\nadmired, that this Crosse in the North in Mother Shipton\u2019s days, was a\ntall stone Crosse which ever since hath been by degrees sinking into the\nground, and is now (1640) sunk so low, that a Raven may sit upon the top\nof it and reach her bill to the ground.\n\n    Then will come a woman with one eye, and she shall tread in men\u2019s\n    blood to the knee; and she shall meet a man leaning on a staff, and\n    shall say to him, What art thou? and he shall say, I am King of the\n    Scots.  And she shall say, Go with me to my house, for there are\n    three Knights.  And he will go up with her, and stay there three days\n    and three nights.  Then will England be lost; and they will cry twice\n    in one day, England is lost.  Then there will be three Knights in\n    Petergate in York, and the one shall not know of the other.  There\n    shall be a child born in Pomfret with three thumbs, and these three\n    Knights will give their horses to this (_f_) child with three thumbs\n    to hold, whilst they win England again: then come in Clubs and\n    Clouted shoes, and they with the three Knights win England again: and\n    all Noble blood shall be gone but one, and they shall carry him to\n    Sheriff Hutton\u2019s Castle, six miles from York, and he shall die there;\n    and they shall chuse their Earl in the field, and hang their horses\n    on a thorn, and rue the time that ever they were born to see so much\n    blood shed.\n\n(_f_) There was a child not many years since born at Pomfret with three\nthumbs, and credibly reported.\n\n    (_g_) Then they will come to York to besiege it; and they shall keep\n    them out for three days and three nights: and a peny-loaf shall be\n    within the Bar at half a Crown, and without the Bar at a peny; and\n    they will swear, if they will not yield, to blow up the Town-walls.\n    Then they will let them in: and they will hang the Maior, Sheriffs,\n    and Aldermen.  There will three Knights go into Crouch-Church, and\n    but one of them come out again; and he will cause Proclamation to be\n    made, That any man may take House, Tower, or Bower, for One and\n    twenty yeers.  And while the world endureth, there shall never be\n    warfare again, nor any more (_h_) Kings or Queens; but the Kingdom\n    shall be governed by three lords; then York shall be London.\n\n(_g_) This is yet unacted.  (_h_) All old Prophecies do intimate a final\nsubversion of the Monarchy in England.\n\n    After this, shall be a white Harvest of Corn gotten in by women.\n    Then shall be in the North, that one woman shall say to another,\n    Mother, I have seen a man to day.  And for one man there shall be a\n    thousand women.  There shall be a man sitting on Saint James church\n    hill, weeping his fill.\n\n    The time will come when England shall tremble and quake for fear of a\n    (_i_) Dead-man, that shall be heard to speak: Then will the Dragon\n    give the Bull a great snap; and when this battel is done they will\n    all go to London Town.\n\n(_i_) This Dead-man hath not yet appeared, but is at hand doubtless.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n_Here follow other Prophecies she uttered_, _which because they concern\nFuture Times we shall leave to the Interpretation of the reader_.\n\n                                      I.\n\n    The Fiery Year as soon as o\u2019er,\n    Peace shall then be as before;\n    Plenty everywhere is found,\n    And men with Swords shall plough the Ground.\n\n                                     II.\n\n    The time shall come, when seas of Blood,\n    Shall mingle with a greater Flood.\n\n                                     III.\n\n    Great noise there shall be heard, Great Shouts and Cries,\n    And Seas shall Thunder louder than the Skies;\n    Then shall three Lions fight with three, and bring,\n    Joy to a People, Honour to their King.\n\nMother Shipton, the authoress of these Prophecies, continued for years\nesteemed as the Sybil or Oracle of her time; and though she was generally\nbelieved to be a Witch, yet all persons that either saw or heard of her,\nheld her in great esteem, and her memory is much honoured by those of her\nown country, especially in Yorkshire.  A long time before her death, she\nforetold the day and hour she was to take her departure; and the time\napproaching which she had Prophecied, and which was in the year 1561; she\ntook solemn leave of her friends, who were all greatly attached to her,\nlaid down on her bed, and died, at the good old age of 75 years.  Many\nmore \u201c_Prophecies_\u201d are current in Yorkshire as of her utterance, but the\nPublisher being unable to find them either properly authenticated, or in\nany old works, they have been omitted, being desirous of not adding\nanything which might tend to destroy her sterling reputation.\n\nA stone was erected to her memory near Clifton, about a mile from the\ncity of York, upon which was the following inscription:\n\n    Here lyes she who never ly\u2019d\n    Whose skill often has been try\u2019d;\n    Her prophecies shall still survive,\n    And ever keep her name alive.\n\n\n\n\nPROPHECIES\nOF\nMARTHA, THE GIPSY.\n\n\nLondon may appear an unbefitting scene for a story so romantic as that\nwhich I have here set down: but, strange and wild as is the tale I have\nto tell, _it is true_; and, therefore, the scene of action shall not be\nchanged; nor will I alter or vary from the truth, save that the names of\nthe personages, in my domestic drama shall be fictitious.\n\nTo say that I am superstitious would be, in the minds of many wise\npersonages, to write myself down an ass; but to say that I do not believe\n_that_ which follows, as I am sure it was believed by _him_ who related\nit to me, would be to discredit the testimony of a friend, as honourable\nand as brave as ever trod the earth.  He has been snatched from the\nworld, of which he was a bright ornament, and has left more than his\nsweet suffering widow and his orphan children affectionately to deplore\nhis loss.\n\nIt is, I find, right and judicious most carefully and publicly to disavow\na belief in supernatural visitings: but it will be long before I become\neither so wise or so bold as to make any such unqualified declaration.  I\nam not weak enough to imagine myself surrounded by spirits and phantoms,\nor jostling through a crowd of spectres, as I walk the streets; neither\ndo I give credence to all the idle tales of ancient dames, or frightened\nchildren, touching such matters: but when I breathe the air, and see the\ngrass grow under my feet, I cannot but feel that HE who gives me ability\nto inhale the one, and stand erect upon the other, has also the power to\nuse for special purposes such means and agency, as in his wisdom he may\nsee fit; and which, in point of fact, are not more incomprehensible to us\nthan the very simplest effects which we every day witness, arising from\nunknown causes.\n\nPhilosophers may pore, and in the might of their littleness, and the\nerudition of their ignorance develope and disclose, argue and discuss;\nbut when the sage, who sneers at the possibility of ghosts, will explain\nto me the doctrine of attraction and gravitation, or tell me why the wind\nblows, why the tides ebb and flow, or why the light shines\u2014effects\nperceptible to all men\u2014then will I admit the justice of his\nincredulity\u2014then will I join the ranks of the incredulous.  However, a\ntruce with my views and reflections: proceed we to the narrative.\n\nIn the vicinity of Bedford-square lived a respectable and honest man,\nwhose name the reader will be pleased to consider Harding.  He married\nearly: his wife was an exemplary woman, and his son and daughter were\ngrown to that companionable age, at which children repay, with their\nsociety and accomplishments, the tender cares which parents bestow upon\ntheir offspring in their early infancy.\n\nMr. Harding held a responsible and respectable situation under the\ngovernment, in Somerset House.  His income was adequate to his wants and\nwishes; his family a family of love: and, perhaps, taking into\nconsideration the limited desires of what may be fairly called middle\nlife, no man was ever more contented, or better satisfied with his lot\nthan he.\n\nMaria Harding, his daughter, was a modest, unassuming, and interesting\ngirl, full of feeling and gentleness.  She was timid and retiring; but\nthe modesty which cast down her fine black eyes could not veil the\nintellect which beamed in them.  Her health was by no means strong; and\nthe paleness of her cheek\u2014too frequently, alas! lighted by the hectic\nflush of our indigenous complaint\u2014gave a deep interest to her\ncountenance.  She was watched and reared by her tender mother, with all\nthe care and attention which a being so delicate and so ill-suited to the\nperils and troubles of this world demanded.\n\nGeorge, her brother, was a bold and intelligent lad, full of rude health,\nand fearless independence.  His character was frequently the subject of\nhis father\u2019s contemplation; and he saw in his disposition, his mind, his\npursuits, and propensities, the promise of future success in active life.\n\nWith these children, possessing as they did the most enviable\ncharacteristics of their respective sexes, Mr. and Mrs. Harding, with\nthankfulness to Providence, acknowledged their happiness, and their\nperfect satisfaction with the portion assigned to them in this transitory\nworld.\n\nMaria was about nineteen, and had, as was natural, attracted the regards,\nand thence gradually chained the affections, of a distant relative, whose\nample fortune, added to his personal and mental good qualities, rendered\nhim a most acceptable suitor to her parents, which Maria\u2019s heart silently\nacknowledged he would have been to _her_, had he been poor and penniless.\n\nThe father of this intended husband of Maria was a man of importance,\npossessing much personal interest, through which George, the brother of\nhis intended daughter-in-law, was to be placed in that diplomatic\nseminary in Downing-street, whence, in due time, he was to rise through\nall the grades of office, (which, with his peculiar talents, his friends,\nand especially his mother, was convinced he would so ably fill,) and at\nlast turn out an ambassador.\n\nThe parents, however, of young Langdale and of Maria Harding were agreed,\nthat there was no necessity for hastening the alliance between their\nfamilies, seeing that the united ages of the couple did not exceed\nthirty-nine years: and seeing, moreover, still, that Mrs. Langdale, who\nwas little more than six-and-thirty years of age herself, had reasons,\nwhich she also meant to be private, for seeking to delay as much as\npossible a ceremony, the result of which, in all probability, would\nconfer upon her, somewhat too early in life to be agreeable to a lady of\nher habits and propensities, the formidable title of grand-mamma.\n\nHow curious it is, when one takes up a _little bit_ of society (as a\ngeologist crumbles and twists a bit of earth in his hand, to ascertain\nits character and quality,) to look into the motives and man\u0153uvrings of\nall the persons connected with it; the various workings, the\nindefatigable labours, which all their little minds are undergoing to\nbring about divers and sundry little points, perfectly unconnected with\nthe great end in view; but which for private and hidden objects, each of\nthem is toiling to carry.  Nobody, but those who really understood Mrs.\nLangdale, understood why she so readily acquiesced in the desire of her\nhusband to postpone the marriage for another twelvemonth.  A stranger\nwould have seen only the dutiful wife according with the sensible\nhusband; but I knew her, and knew that there must be something more than\nmet the eye, or the ear, in that sympathy of feeling between her and Mr.\nLangdale, which was not upon ordinary occasions so evidently displayed.\n\nLike the Waterman who pulls one way and looks another, Mrs. Langdale\naided the entreaties and seconded the commands of her loving spouse,\ntouching the seasonable delay of which I am speaking; and it was agreed,\nthat immediately after the coming of age of Frederick Langdale, and not\nbefore, he was to lead to the hymeneal altar the delicate and timid Maria\nHarding.\n\nThe affair got whispered about; George\u2019s fortune in life was highly\nextolled\u2014Maria\u2019s excessive happiness prophesied by everybody of their\nacquaintance; and already had sundry younger ladies, daughters and nieces\nof those who discussed these matters in divan after dinner, began to look\nupon Miss Harding with envy and maliciousness, and wonder what Mr.\nFrederick Langdale could see in her: she was proclaimed to be insipid,\ninanimate, shy, bashful, and awkward: nay, some of her female friends\nwent so far as to discover that she was absolutely awry.\n\nStill, however, Frederick and Maria went loving on; and their hearts grew\nas one; so truly, so fondly were they attached to each other.  George,\nwho was somewhat of a plague to the pair of lovers, was luckily at\nOxford, reading away till his head ached, to qualify himself for a\ndegree, and the distant duties of the office whence he was to cull the\nbunches of diplomatic laurels, and whence were to issue rank and title,\nand ribbons and crosses innumerable.\n\nThings were in this prosperous state, the bark of life rolling gaily\nalong before the breeze, when as Mr. Harding was one day proceeding from\nhis residence, to his office in Somerset-place, through Charlotte-street,\nBloomsbury, he was accosted by one of those female gypsies who are found\nbegging in the metropolis, and especially in the particular part of it in\nquestion: \u2018Pray remember poor Martha, the gipsy,\u2019 said the woman: \u2018give\nme a halfpenny for charity, sir, pray do.\u2019\n\nMr. Harding was a subscriber to the Mendicity Society, an institution\nwhich proposes to check begging by the novel mode of giving nothing to\nthe poor: moreover, he was a magistrate\u2014moreover, he had no change; and\nhe somewhat sternly desired the woman to go about her business.\n\nAll availed him nothing; she still followed him, and reiterated the\npiteous cry, \u2018Pray remember poor Martha, the gipsy.\u2019\n\nAt length, irritated by the perseverance of the woman\u2014for even\nsubordinates in government hate to be solicited importunately\u2014Mr.\nHarding, contrary to his usual custom, and contrary to the customary\nusages of modern society, turned hastily round, and fulminated an oath\nagainst the supplicating vagrant.\n\n\u2018Curse!\u2019 said Martha; \u2018have I lived to this?  Hark ye, man\u2014poor, weak,\nhaughty man!  Mark me, sir\u2014look at me!\u2019\n\nHe did look at her; and beheld a countenance on fire with rage.  A pair\nof eyes blacker than jet, and brighter than diamonds, glared like stars\nupon him; her black hair dishevelled, hung over her olive cheeks; and a\nrow of teeth whiter than the driven snow displaying themselves from\nbetween a pair of coral lips, in a dreadful smile, a ghastly sneer of\ncontempt which mingled in her passion.  Harding was riveted to the spot;\nand, affected partly by the powerful fascination of her superhuman\ncountenance, and partly by the dread of a disturbance in the street, he\npaused to listen to her.\n\n\u2018Mark me, sir,\u2019 said Martha; \u2018you and I shall meet again.  Thrice shall\nyou see me before you die.  My visitings will be dreadful; but the third\nwill be the last!\u2019\n\nThere was a solemnity in this declaration which struck to his very heart,\ncoming too as it did only from a vagrant outcast.  Passengers were\napproaching; and wishing, he knew not why, to soothe the ire of the angry\nwoman, he mechanically drew from his pocket some silver, which he\ntendered to her.\n\n\u2018There, my good woman\u2014there,\u2019 said he, stretching forth his hand.\n\n\u2018Good woman!\u2019 retorted the hag, \u2018Money now?  I\u2014I that have been cursed!\n\u2019tis all too late, proud gentleman\u2014the deed is done, the curse be now on\nyou.\u2019  Saying which, she huddled her ragged red cloak about her\nshoulders, and hurried from his sight, into the deep and dreary recesses\nof St. Giles\u2019s.\n\nHarding experienced, as she vanished from his eye, a most extraordinary\nsensation: he felt grieved that he had spoken so harshly to the poor\ncreature, and returned his shillings to his pocket with regret.  Of\ncourse, fear of the fulfilment of her predictions did not mingle with any\nof his feelings on the occasion; and he proceeded to his office in\nSomerset-place, and performed all the arduous official duties of reading\nthe opposition newspapers, discussing the leading politics of the day\nwith the head of another department, and signing his name three times,\nbefore four o\u2019clock.\n\nMartha the gipsy, however, although he had \u2018poophoohed\u2019 her out of his\nmemory, would ever and anon flash across his mind; her figure was\nindelibly stamped upon his recollection; and though, of course, as I\nbefore said, a man of his firmness and intellect could care nothing, one\nway or another, for the maledictions of an ignorant, illiterate gipsy,\nstill his feelings\u2014whence arising I know not\u2014prompted him to call a\nhackney-coach, and proceed _en voiture_ to his house rather than run the\nrisk of again encountering the metropolitan sibyl, under whose forcible\ndenunciation he was actually labouring.\n\nThere is a period in each day of the lives of married people, at which, I\nam given to understand, a more than ordinarily unreserved communication\nof facts and feelings takes place; when all the world is shut out, and\nthe two beings, who are in truth \u2018but only one,\u2019 commune together freely\nand fully upon the occurrences of the past day.  At this period, the else\nsacred secrets of the drawing-room coterie, and the _tellable_ jokes of\nthe after-dinner convivialist, are mutually interchanged by the fond\npair, who, by the barbarous customs of uncivilized Britain, have been\nseparated during part of the preceding evening.\n\nThen it is, that the husband informs his anxious consort how he has\nforwarded his worldly views with such a man\u2014how he has carried his point\nin such a quarter\u2014what he thinks of the talents of one, of the character\nof another; while the communicative wife gives _her_ views of the same\nsubjects, founded upon what she has gathered from the individuals\ncomposing the female cabinet, and explains why she thinks he must have\nbeen deceived upon this point, or misled upon that.  And thus, in\nrecounting, in arguing, in discussing, and descanting, the blended\ninterests of the happy pair are strengthened, their best hopes nourished,\nand perhaps eventually realized.\n\nA few friends at dinner, and some refreshers in the evening, had\nprevented Harding from saying a word to his beloved Eliza about the\ngipsy; and perhaps, till the \u2018witching time\u2019 which I have attempted to\ndefine, he would not have mentioned the circumstance, even had they been\nalone.  Most certainly he did not think the less of the horrible vision;\nand when the company had dispersed, and the affectionate couple had\nretired to rest, he stated the circumstance exactly as it had occurred,\nand received from his fair lady just such an answer as a prudent,\nintelligent, and discreet woman of sense would give to such a\ncommunication.  She vindicated his original determination not to be\nimposed upon\u2014wondered at his subsequent willingness to give to such an\nundeserving object, particularly while he had three or four soup tickets\nin his pocket\u2014was somewhat surprised that he had not consigned the bold\nintruder to the hands of the beadle\u2014and, ridiculing the impression which\nthe hag\u2019s appearance seemed to have made upon her husband\u2019s mind,\nnarrated a tour performed by herself and some friends to Norwood, when\nshe was a girl, and when one of those very women had told her fortune,\nnot one word of which ever came true\u2014and, in a discussion of some length,\nanimadverting strongly upon the weakness and impiety of putting faith in\nthe sayings of such idle creatures, she fell fast asleep.\n\nNot so Harding: he was restless and worried, and felt that he would give\nthe world to be able to recall the curse which he had rashly uttered\nagainst the poor woman.  Helpless as she was and in distress, why did his\npassion conquer his judgment?  Why did he add to the bitterness of\nrefusal the sting of malediction?  However, it was useless to regret that\nwhich was past\u2014and, wearied and mortified with his reflection, he at\nlength followed his better half into that profound slumber, which the\nlength and subject of his harangue had so comfortably ensured her.\n\nThe morning came, and brightly beamed the sun\u2014that is, as brightly as it\never beams in London.  The office-hour arrived; and Mr. Harding\nproceeded, _not_ by Charlotte-street, to Somerset-house, such was his\ndread of seeing the ominous woman.  It is impossible to describe the\neffect produced upon him by the apprehension of encountering her: if he\nheard a female voice behind him in the street, he trembled, and feared to\nlook round, lest he should behold Martha.  In turning a corner he\nproceeded carefully and cautiously, lest he should come upon her\nunexpectedly; in short, wherever he went, whatever he did, his actions,\nhis movements, his very words, were controlled and constrained by the\nhorror of beholding her again.\n\nThe malediction she had uttered rang incessantly in his ears; nay, such\npossession had it taken of him, that he had written the words down, and\nsealed the document which contained them.  \u2018Thrice you shall see me\nbefore you die.  My visitings will be dreadful, but the third will be the\nlast.\u2019\n\n\u2018Calais\u2019 was not more deeply imprinted on our Queen\u2019s heart, than these\nlines upon that of Mr. Harding; but he was ashamed of the strength of his\nfeelings, and placed the paper wherein he had recorded them at the very\nbottom of his desk.\n\nMeanwhile Frederick Langdale was unremitting in his attentions to Maria;\nbut, as is too often the case, the bright sunshine of their loves was\nclouded.  Her health, always delicate, now appeared more so, and at times\nher anxious parents felt a solicitude upon her account, new to them; for\ndecided symptoms of consumption had shown themselves, which the faculty,\nalthough they spoke of them lightly to the fond mother and to the gentle\npatient, treated with such care and caution, as gave alarm to those who\ncould see the progress of the fatal disease, which was unnoticed by Maria\nherself, who anticipated parties, and pleasure, and gaieties, in the\ncoming spring, which the doctors thought it but too probable she might\nnever enjoy.\n\nThat Mr. Langdale\u2019s \u2018punctilio,\u2019 or Mrs. Langdale\u2019s excessive desire for\napparent juvenility, should have induced the postponement of Maria\u2019s\nmarriage, was, indeed, a melancholy circumstance.  The agitation, the\nsurprise, the hope deferred, which weighed upon the sweet girl\u2019s mind,\nand that doubting dread of something unexpected, which lovers always\nfeel, bore down her spirits, and injured her health; whereas, had the\nmarriage been celebrated, the relief she would have experienced from all\nher apprehensions, added to the tour of France and Italy, which the happy\ncouple were to make immediately after their union, would have restored\nher health, while it ensured her happiness.  This, however, was not to\nbe.\n\nIt was now three months since poor Mr. Harding\u2019s rencontre with Martha;\nand habit, and time, and constant avocation, had conspired to free his\nmind from the dread she at first inspired.  Again he smiled and joked,\nagain he enjoyed society, and again dared to take the nearest road to\nSomerset House; nay, he had so far recovered from the unaccountable\nterror he had originally felt, that he went to his desk, and selecting\nthe paper wherein he had set down the awful denunciation of the hag,\ndeliberately tore it into bits, and witnessed its destruction in the\nfire, with something like real satisfaction, and a determination never\nmore to think upon so silly an affair.\n\nFrederick Langdale was, as usual, with his betrothed, and Mrs. Harding\nenjoying the egotism of the lovers, (for, as I said before, lovers think\ntheir conversation the most charming in the world, because they talk of\nnothing but themselves) when his curricle was driven to the door to\nconvey him to Tattersall\u2019s, where his father had commissioned him to look\nat a horse, or horses, which he intended to purchase; for Frederick was,\nof all things in the world, the best possible judge of a horse.\n\nTo this sweeping dictum, pronounced by the young gentleman himself, Mr.\nHarding, however, was not willing to assent; and therefore, in order to\nhave the full advantage of two heads, which, as the proverb says, are\nbetter than one, the worthy father-in-law elect, proposed accompanying\nthe youth to the auctioneer\u2019s yard at Hyde-Park Corner, it being one of\nthose few privileged days when the labourers in our public offices make\nholiday.  The proposal was hailed with delight by the young man, who, in\norder to show due deference to Mr. Harding, gave him the reins, and\nbowing their adieus to the ladies at the window, away they went, the\nsplendid cattle of Mr. Langdale prancing and curvetting, fire flaming\nfrom their eyes, and smoke breathing from their nostrils.\n\nThe charioteer, however, soon found that the horses were somewhat beyond\nhis strength, even putting his skill wholly out of the question, and in\nturning into Russell-street, proposed surrendering the reins to\nFrederick.  By some misunderstanding of words in the alarm which Harding\nfelt, Frederick did not take the reins which he (perfectly confounded)\ntendered to him in great agitation.  They slipped over the dashing iron\nbetween the horse, who thus freed from restraint, reared wildly in the\nair, and plunging forward, dashed the vehicle against a post, and\nprecipitated Frederick and Harding on the curbstone; the off-horse kicked\ndesperately as the carriage became entangled and impeded, and struck\nFrederick a desperate blow on the head.  Harding, whose right arm and\ncollar-bone were broken, raised himself on his left hand, and saw\nFrederick weltering in his blood, apparently lifeless before him.  The\ninfuriated animals again plunged forward with the shattered remnant of\nthe carriage, and as this object was removed from his sight, the wretched\nfather-in-law beheld, looking upon the scene with a fixed and unruffled\ncountenance\u2014MARTHA, THE GIPSY.\n\nIt was doubtful whether the appearance of this horrible vision, coupled\nas it was with the verification of her prophecy, had not a more dreadful\neffect upon Mr. Harding, than the sad reality before him.  He trembled,\nsickened, fainted, and fell senseless on the ground.\n\nAssistance was promptly procured, and the wounded sufferers were\ncarefully removed to their respective dwellings.  Frederick Langdale\u2019s\nsufferings were much greater than those of his companion, and, in\naddition to severe fractures of two of his limbs, the wound upon his head\npresented a most terrible appearance, and excited the greatest alarm in\nhis medical attendants.\n\nMr. Harding, whose temperate course of life was greatly advantageous to\nhis case, had suffered comparatively little: a simple fracture of the\narm, and dislocation of the collar-bone (which was the extent of his\nmisfortune,) were, by skilful treatment and implicit obedience to\nprofessional commands, soon pronounced in a state of improvement; but a\nwound had been inflicted which no doctor could heal.  The conviction that\nthe woman, whose anger he had incurred, had, if not the power of\nproducing evil, at least the power to foretell it, and that he had twice\nagain to see her before the fulfilment of her prophecy, struck deep into\nhis mind; and although he felt himself more at ease when he had\ncommunicated to Mrs. Harding the fact of having seen the gipsy at the\nmoment of the accident, it was impossible for him to rally from the shock\nwhich his nerves had received.  It was in vain he had tried to shake off\nthe perpetual apprehension of again beholding her.\n\nFrederick Langdale remained for some time in a very precarious state.\nAll visitors were excluded from his room, and a wretched space of two\nmonths passed, during which his affectionate Maria had never been allowed\nto see him, nor to write to, nor to hear from him.  While her\nconstitution was gradually giving way to the constant operation of\nsolicitude and sorrow.\n\nMr. Harding meanwhile recovered rapidly, but his spirits did not keep\npace with his mending health; the dread he felt of quitting his house,\nthe tremor excited in his breast by a knocking at the door, or the\napproach of a footstep, lest the intruder should be the basilisk Martha,\nwere not to be described; and the appearance of his poor Maria did not\ntend to cheer the gloom which hung over him.\n\nWhen at length Frederick was sufficiently recovered to receive visitors,\nMaria was not sufficiently well to visit him: she was too rapidly sinking\ninto an early grave, and even the physician himself appeared desirous of\npreparing her parents for the worst, while she, full of the symptomatic\nprospectiveness of disease, still talked anticipatingly of future\nhappiness, when Frederick would be sufficiently re-established to visit\nher.\n\nAt length, however, the doctors suggested a change of air\u2014a suggestion\ninstantly attended to, but, alas! too late; the weakness of the poor girl\nwas such, that upon a trial of her strength it was found inexpedient to\nattempt her removal.\n\nIn this terrible state, separated from him whose all she was, did the\nexemplary patient linger, and life seemed flickering in her flushing\ncheek; and her eye was sunken, and her parched lip quivered with pain.\n\nIt was at length agreed, that on the following day Frederick Langdale\nmight be permitted to visit her;\u2014his varied fractures were reduced, and\nthe wound on the head had assumed a favourable appearance.  The carriage\nwas ordered to convey him to the Hardings at one, and the physicians\nadvised by all means that Maria should be apprized of and prepared for\nthe meeting the day previous to its taking place.  Those who are parents,\nand those alone, will be able to understand the tender solicitude, the\nwary caution with which both her father and mother proceeded in a\ndisclosure, so important as the medical men thought to her recovery\u2014so\ncareful that the coming joy should be imparted gradually to their\nsuffering child, and that all the mischiefs resulting from an abrupt\nannouncement should be avoided.\n\nThey sat down by her\u2014spoke of Frederick\u2014Maria joined in the\nconversation\u2014raised herself in her bed\u2014by degrees, hope was excited that\nshe might soon again see him\u2014this hope was gradually improved into\ncertainty\u2014the period at which it might occur spoken of\u2014that period again\nprogressively diminished: the anxious girl caught the whole truth\u2014she\nknew it\u2014she was conscious that she would behold him on the morrow\u2014she\nburst into a flood of tears and sank down upon her pillow.\n\nAt that moment the bright sun, which was shining in all its splendour,\nbeamed into the room, and fell strongly upon her flushed countenance.\n\n\u2018Draw down the blind, my love,\u2019 said Mrs. Harding to her husband.\nHarding rose and proceeded to the window.\n\nA shriek of horror burst from him\u2014\u2018She is there!\u2019 exclaimed the agitated\nman.\n\n\u2018Who?\u2019 cried his astonished wife.\n\n\u2018She\u2014she\u2014the horrid she!\u2019\n\nMrs. Harding ran to the window and beheld, standing on the opposite side\nof the street, with her eyes fixed attentively on the house\u2014MARTHA, THE\nGIPSY.\n\n\u2018Draw down the blind, my love, and come away; pray come away,\u2019 said Mrs.\nHarding.\n\nHarding drew down the blind.\n\n\u2018What evil is at hand?  What misery is impending?\u2019 sobbed Harding.\n\nA loud scream from his wife, who had returned to the bedside, was the\nhorrid answer to his painful question.\n\nMaria was dead!\n\nTwice of the thrice he had seen this dreadful fiend in human shape; each\nvisitation was (as she had foretold) to surpass the preceding ones in its\nimportance of horror.\u2014What could surpass this?\n\nThere, before the afflicted parents, lay their innocent child stretched\nin the still sleep of death; neither of them believed it true\u2014it seemed\nlike a dreadful dream.  Harding was bewildered, and turned from the\ncorpse of his beloved to the window he had just left.\u2014Martha was gone\u2014and\nhe heard her singing a wild and joyous air at the other end of the\nstreet.\n\nThe servants were summoned\u2014medical aid was called in\u2014but it was all too\nlate! and the wretched parents were doomed to mourn their loved, their\nlost Maria!  George, her fond and affectionate brother, who was at\nOxford, hastened from all the academic honours which were awaiting him,\nto follow to the grave his beloved sister.\n\nThe effect upon Frederick Langdale was most dreadful: it was supposed he\nwould never recover from a shock so great, and at the moment so\nunexpected; for, although the delicacy of her constitution was a\nperpetual source of uneasiness and solicitude, still the immediate\nsymptoms had taken rather a favourable turn during the last few days of\nher life, and had re-invigorated the hopes which those who so dearly\nloved her entertained of her eventual recovery.  Of this distressed young\nman I never indeed heard anything, till about three years after, when I\nsaw it announced in the papers that he was just married to the only\ndaughter of a rich west-country baronet, which event, if wanted to work\nanother proverb here, would afford me a most admirable opportunity of\ndoing so.\n\nThe death of poor Maria, and the dread which her father entertained of\nthe third visitation of Martha, made a complete change in the affairs of\nthe family.  By the exertion of powerful interest, he obtained an\nappointment for his son to act as his deputy in the office which he held,\nand having achieved this desired object, resolved on leaving England for\na time, and quitting a neighbourhood in which he must be perpetually\nexposed to the danger which he was now perfectly convinced was\ninseparable from his next interview with the weird woman.\n\nGeorge, of course, thus checked in his classical pursuits, left Oxford,\nand at the early age of nineteen commenced active official life, not\ncertainly in the particular department which his mother had selected for\nhis _deb\u00fbt_; and it was somewhat observable, that the Langdales, after\nthe death of Maria, not only abstained from frequent intercourse with the\nHardings during their stay in England, but that the mighty professions of\nthe purse-proud citizen dwindled by degrees into an absolute\nforgetfulness of any promise, even conditional, to exert an interest for\ntheir son.\n\nSeeing this, Mr. Harding felt that he should act prudentially, by\nendeavouring to place his son where in the course of time, he might\nperhaps attain to that situation, from whose honourable revenue he could\nlive like a gentleman, and \u2018settle comfortably.\u2019\n\nAll the arrangements which the kind father had proposed, being made, the\nmourning couple proceeded on a lengthened tour of the continent; and it\nwas evident that his spirits mended rapidly, when he felt conscious that\nhis liability to encounter Martha had decreased.  The sorrow of mourning\nwas soothed and softened in the common course of nature, and the quiet\ndomesticated couple sat themselves down at Lausanne, \u2018the world\nforgetting, by the world forgot,\u2019 except by their excellent and exemplary\nson, whose good qualities, it seems, had captivated a remarkable pretty\ngirl, a neighbour of his, whose mother seemed to be equally charmed with\nthe goodness of his income.\n\nThere appeared, strange to say, in this love affair, no difficulties to\nbe surmounted, no obstacles to be overcome; and the consent of the\nHardings (requested in a letter, which also begged them to be present at\nthe ceremony, if they were willing it should take place,) was presently\nobtained by George; and at the close of the second year, which had passed\nsince their departure, the parents and son were again assembled in that\nhouse, the sight of which recalled to their recollection their unhappy\ndaughter, and her melancholy fate, and which was still associated most\npainfully in the mind of Mr. Harding with the hated Gipsy.\n\nThe charm, however, had, no doubt, been broken.  In the two past years,\nMartha was probably either dead or gone from the neighbourhood.  Gypsies\nwere a wandering tribe\u2014and why should she be an exception to a general\nrule?\u2014and thus Mrs. Harding checked the rising apprehensions and renewed\nuneasiness of her husband; and so well did she succeed, that when the\nwedding-day came, and the bells rang, and the favours fluttered in the\nair, his countenance was lighted up with smiles, and he kissed the\nglowing cheek of his new daughter-in-law with warmth, and something like\nhappiness.\n\nThe wedding took place at that season of the year when friends and\nfamilies meet jovially and harmoniously, when all little bickerings are\nforgotten, and when, by a general feeling founded upon religion, and\nperpetuated by the memory of the blessings granted to the world by the\nAlmighty, an universal amnesty is proclaimed; when the cheerful fire, and\nteeming board, announce that Christmas is come, and mirth and gratulation\nare the order of the day.\n\nIt unfortunately happened, however, that to the account of Miss\nWilkinson\u2019s marriage with George Harding, I am not permitted, in truth,\nto add, that they left town in a travelling carriage and four, to spend\nthe honeymoon.  Three or four days permitted absence from his office,\nalone, were devoted to the celebration of the nuptials, and it was agreed\nthat the whole party, together with the younger branches of the\nWilkinson\u2019s, their cousins and second cousins, etc., should meet on\ntwelfth-night to celebrate, in a juvenile party, the return of the bride\nand bridegroom to their home.\n\nWhen the night came, it was delightful to see the happy faces of the\nsmiling youngsters: it was a pleasure to behold them pleased\u2014a\nparticipation in which, since the highest amongst us, and the most\naccomplished prince in Europe, annually evinces the gratification he\nfeels in such sights, I am by no means disposed to disclaim.  And merry\nwas the jest, and gaily did the evening pass; and Mr. Harding, surrounded\nby his youthful guests, smiled, and for a season forgot his care; yet, as\nhe glanced around the room, he could not suppress a sigh, when he\nrecollected, that in that very room his darling Maria had entertained her\nlittle parties on the anniversary of the same day in former years.\n\nSupper was announced early, and the gay throng bounded down stairs to the\nparlour, where an abundance of the luxuries of middle life crowded the\nboard.  In the centre appeared the great object of the feast\u2014a huge\ntwelfth-cake; and gilded kings and queens stood lingering over circles of\nscarlet sweet-meats, and hearts of sugar lay enshrined with warlike\ntrophies of the same material.\n\nMany and deep were the wounds the mighty heap received, and every guest\nwatched with a deep anxiety the coming portion, relatively to the\nglittering splendour with which its frosted surface was adorned.\nCharacter cards, illustrated with pithy mottoes, and smart sayings, were\ndistributed; and by one of those little frauds which, in such societies,\nare always tolerated, Mr. Harding was announced as king, and the new\nbride as queen; and there was such charming joking, and such harmless\nmerriment abounding, that he looked to his wife with an expression of\ncontent, which she had often, but vainly, sought to find upon his\ncountenance, since the death of his dear child.\n\nSupper concluded, the clock struck twelve, and the elders looked as if it\nwere time for the young ones to depart.  One half-hour\u2019s grace was begged\nfor by the \u2018King,\u2019 and granted; and Mrs. George Harding on this night was\nto sing them a song about \u2018poor old maidens\u2019\u2014an ancient quaintness,\nwhich, by custom and usage ever since she was a little child, she had\nannually \u2018performed\u2019 upon this anniversary; and, accordingly, the promise\nbeing claimed, silence was obtained, and she, with all that show of\ntucker-heaving diffidence which is so becoming in a pretty plump\ndowny-cheeked girl, prepared to commence the venerable chaunt, when a\nnoise resembling that produceable by the falling of an eight-and-forty\npound shot, echoed through the house.  It appeared to descend from the\nvery top of the building, down each flight of stairs rapidly and\nviolently.  It passed the room in which they were sitting, and rolled its\nimpetuous course downwards to the basement.  As it seemed to leave the\nhall, the parlour door was forced open, as if by a rude gust of wind, and\nstood ajar.\n\nAll the children were in a moment on their feet, huddled close to their\nrespective mothers in groups.  Mrs. Harding rose and rang the bell to\ninquire the meaning of the uproar.  Her daughter-in-law, pale as ashes,\nlooked at George; but there was one of the party who moved not, who\nstirred not; it was the elder Harding, whose eyes first fixed steadfastly\non the half-opened door, slowly followed the course of the wall of the\napartment to the fire-place;\u2014there they rested.\n\nWhen the servants came, they said they had heard the noise, but thought\nit proceeded from above.  Harding looked at his wife; and then turning to\nthe servant, observed carelessly, that it must have been some noise in\nthe street, and desiring him to withdraw, entreated the bride to pursue\nher song.  She did; but the children had been too much alarmed to enjoy\nit, and the noise had in its character something so strange and so\nunearthly, that even the elders of the party, although bound not to admit\nanything like apprehension before their offspring, felt extremely well\npleased when they found themselves at home.\n\nWhen the guests were gone, and George\u2019s wife lighted her candle to retire\nto rest, her father-in-law kissed her affectionately, and prayed God to\nbless her.  He then took a kind leave of his son, and putting up a\nfervent prayer for his happiness, pressed him to his heart, and bade him\nadieu with an earnestness which, under the common-place circumstance of a\ntemporary separation, was inexplicable to the young man.\n\nWhen Harding reached his bed-room, he spoke to his wife, and entreated\nher to prepare her mind for some great calamity.\n\n\u2018What it is to be,\u2019 said Harding, \u2018where the blow is to fall I know not;\nbut it is over us this night!\u2019\n\n\u2018My life!\u2019 exclaimed Mrs. Harding, \u2018what new fancy is this?\u2019\n\n\u2018Eliza, love!\u2019 answered her husband, in a tone of unspeakable agony, \u2018I\nhave seen her for the third and last time.\u2019\n\n\u2018Who?\u2019\n\n\u2018MARTHA, THE GIPSY.\u2019\n\n\u2018Impossible,\u2019 said Mrs. Harding, \u2018you have not left the house to-day.\u2019\n\n\u2018True, my beloved,\u2019 replied the husband; \u2018but I have seen her.  When that\ntremendous noise was heard at supper, as the door was supernaturally\nopened, I saw her.  She fixed those dreadful eyes of her\u2019s upon me; she\nproceeded to the fire-place, and stood in the midst of the children, and\nthere she remained till the servant came in.\u2019\n\n\u2018My dearest husband,\u2019 said Mrs. Harding, \u2018this is but a disorder of the\nimagination!\u2019\n\n\u2018Be it what it may,\u2019 said he, \u2018I have seen her.  Human or\nsuperhuman\u2014natural or supernatural\u2014there she was.  I shall not strive to\nargue upon a point where I am likely to meet with little credit: all I\nask is, pray fervently, have faith, and we will hope the misfortune,\nwhatever it is, may be averted.\u2019\n\nHe kissed his wife\u2019s cheek tenderly, and after a fitful feverish hour or\ntwo fell into a slumber.\n\nFrom that slumber never awoke he more.\u2014He was found dead in his bed in\nthe morning.\n\n\u2018Whether the force of imagination, coupled with the unexpected noise,\nproduced such an alarm as to rob him of life, I know not,\u2019 said my\ncommunicant; \u2018but he was dead.\u2019\n\nThe story was told me by my friend Ellis in walking from the City to\nHarley-street late one evening; and when we came to this part of the\nhistory we were in Bedford-square, at the dark and dreary corner of it\nwhere Caroline-street joins it.\n\n\u2018And there,\u2019 said Ellis, pointing downward, \u2018is the street where the\ncircumstance occurred.\u2019\n\n\u2018Come, come,\u2019 said I, \u2018you tell the story well, but I suppose you do not\nexpect it to be received as gospel.\u2019\n\n\u2018Faith,\u2019 said he, \u2018I know so much of it that I was one of the\ntwelfth-night party, and heard the noise.\u2019\n\n\u2018But you did not see the spectre?\u2019 cried I.\n\n\u2018No,\u2019 replied Ellis, \u2018I certainly did not.\u2019\n\n\u2018Nor anybody else,\u2019 said I, \u2018I\u2019ll be sworn.\u2019\u2014A quick footstep was just\nthen heard behind us.\u2014I turned half round to let the person pass, and saw\na woman enveloped in a red cloak, whose sparkling black eyes, shone upon\nby the dim lustre of a lamp above her head, dazzled me.\u2014I was\nstartled\u2014\u2018Pray remember old MARTHA, THE GIPSY,\u2019 said the hag.\n\nIt was like a thunder-stroke.\u2014I instantly slipped my hand into my pocket,\nand hastily gave her three from a five-shilling piece.\n\n\u2018Thanks, my bonny one,\u2019 said the woman, and setting up a shout of\ncontemptuous laughter she bounded down Caroline-street towards\nRussell-street, singing, or rather yelling a wild air.\n\nEllis did not speak during this scene\u2014he pressed my arm tightly, and we\nquickened our pace.  We said nothing to each other till we turned into\nBedford-street, and the lights and passengers of Tottenham-court-road\nre-assured us.\n\n\u2018What do you think of _that_?\u2019 said Ellis to me.\n\n\u2018_Seeing is believing_,\u2019 was my reply.\n\nI have never passed that dark corner of Bedford-square in the evening\nsince.\n\n\n\n\nREMARKABLE FULFILMENT OF A PREDICTION.\n\n\nA certain German author relates the following:\n\nIn my younger days, there was a dinner given in the _Florenburg\nWestphalen_, where I was born, on the occasion of a baptism to which a\nclergyman was invited.  During dinner, the conversation turned upon the\ngravedigger of the place, who was well known on account of his\nsecond-sight; for, as often as he saw a corpse, he was always telling\nthat there would be a funeral from such and such a house.  Now, as the\nevent invariably took place, the inhabitants of the house he indicated\nwere placed by the man\u2019s tale in the greatest anxiety.\n\nThis man\u2019s prophecying was an abomination to the clergyman.  He therefore\nforbade him, but all to no purpose; for the poor dolt, although he was a\ndrunkard, and a man of low and vulgar sentiments, believed firmly that it\nwas a prophetic gift of God, and that he must make it known, in order\nthat the people might still repent.  At length the clergyman gave him\nnotice that, if he announced one funeral more, he should be deprived of\nhis place, and expelled from the village.  This availed\u2014the gravedigger\nwas silent from that time forward.  Half a year afterward, in the autumn\nof 1745, the gravedigger came to the clergyman, and said to him: \u2018Sir,\nyou have forbidden me to announce any more funerals, and I have not done\nso since, nor will I do it any more; but I must tell you something that\nis particularly remarkable, that you may see that my second sight is\nreally true.  In a few weeks a corpse will be brought up the meadow,\nwhich will be drawn on a sledge by an ox.\u2019  The clergyman seemingly paid\nno attention to this, but listened to it with indifference, and replied:\n\u2018Only go about your business, and leave off such superstitious follies.\nIt is sinful to have anything to do with them.\u2019\n\nSome weeks after a strong body of Austrian troops passed through the\nvillage on their way to the Netherlands.  While resting there a day, the\nsnow fell nearly three feet deep.  At the same time, a woman died in\nanother village of the same parish.  The military took away all the\nhorses out of the country to drag the waggons.  Meanwhile the corpse lay\nthere, no horses came back; the body began to putrify; they were,\ntherefore, compelled to make a virtue of necessity\u2014to place the corpse\nupon a sledge, and harness an ox to it.\n\nIn the meantime the clergyman, and the teacher with his scholars,\nproceeded to the village to meet the corpse; and, as the funeral came\nalong the meadow in this array, the gravedigger came up to the clergyman,\npulled him by the gown, pointed with his finger toward the sledge, and\nsaid not a word.\n\nSuch was the tale as related by the clergyman.  I was well acquainted\nwith the good man, and he was incapable of telling an untruth, much less\nin a matter which contradicted all his principles.\n\n\n\n\nPROVIDENTIAL FOREBODING.\n\n\nIN the \u2018Museum of Wonders,\u2019 Vol. II., page 153, there is a striking\npresentiment related, which Madame de Beaumont received from the lips of\na credible person.  This individual had a friend in the country, who,\nbeing unmarried, committed his domestic concerns to the care of an\nhousekeeper who had been with him for many years.  When his birthday\narrived, he made many preparations for celebrating it, and told his\nhousekeeper in the morning to clean out a certain arbour in the garden,\nwhich he named, because, as the weather was fine, he intended to pass the\nday in it with his guests.  She seeming quite amazed at this, told and\nentreated him to receive his guests in a room, for she had last night in\nher dream a presentiment that the arbour would that day be struck by\nlightning.  He laughed at the assertion, as there was no appearance of a\nstorm coming on that day, and he told her not to mind her foolish dream,\nand to prepare the arbour for the reception of his guests.  She did as\nshe was ordered, the guests arrived, and as the day was fine, made\nthemselves merry.  But in the meantime clouds gathered in the distant\nhorizon and were at last powerfully driven to that place by the wind.\nThe company were so intent on their entertainment that they did not in\nthe least observe it: but scarcely was the housekeeper aware that the\nstorm was approaching, than she begged her master to leave the arbour\nwith his company, for she could not divest herself at all of the idea of\nthe lightning striking it.  At first they would not listen, but at last,\nwhen she continued her entreaties and the thunder commenced to approach\nwith great violence, they suffered themselves to be induced to leave the\narbour.  Hardly had they reached the room when they heard a heavy crash\nof thunder, and the quick following lightning struck the arbour and\ndashed everything that had been left in it to pieces.\n\n\n\n\nWONDERFUL PRESENTIMENT.\n\n\nMadame Beaumont relates the following:\n\nMy whole family still remember an accident from which my father was\npreserved by a presentiment of danger.  On one occasion, he agreed with a\nparty to sail to Port St. Osmer.  When it was time to go on board, an\naunt of my father\u2019s, who was deaf and dumb, uttered a kind of howl,\nplaced herself at the door, blocked up the way with her arms, struck her\nhands together, and gave him, by signs, to understand that she conjured\nhim to stay at home.  My father, who had promised himself much pleasure\nfrom this excursion, only laughed at her entreaties; but the lady fell at\nhis feet, and manifested such signs of poignant grief, that he at length\ndetermined to yield to her entreaties, and postponed his excursion to\nPort St. Osmer until some other day.\n\nHe therefore endeavoured to detain the rest also; but they laughed at him\nfor being so easily persuaded, and set sail.  Scarcely had the vessel\nproceeded half the distance, before those on board of it had the greatest\nreason to repent that they had not followed his advice.  Some serious\naccidents happened to the vessel, so that it broke to pieces; several\nlost their lives, and those who saved themselves by swimming were so much\nterrified at their narrow escape, that they, with difficulty, got the\nbetter of it.\n\nBy some written statements the dumb afterwards made, it was shown that,\nin the night preceding, she had an awful and life-like dream, in which it\nseemed that the excursion-boat, which would set sail on the following day\nfor Port St. Osmer, would be wrecked; and that most of the persons on\nboard would either get drowned or barely escape.  The warning angel found\nthat he could influence no one more effectually than the deaf and dumb\naunt; he therefore selected her for the execution of his commission.  My\nfather, all his life, was profoundly thankful, both to her and the\nguardian angel, for this providential warning and foreboding.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                       PRINTED FOR THE BOOKSELLERS.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\nNOTES.\n\n\n{7}   Or acknowledgment, which, by the tenure of some estates, is given\nto every new lord of a manor.\n\n{10}  The term used in this country for a lane.\n\n{16}  A few years ago, (since the above was written) Mr. E of O\u2014, was\nkilled by a fall from his horse, at his own gate, as he was returning\nfrom hunting.\n\n{32a}  The Duke of Buckingham (favourite of James and Charles I. who was\nbeheaded) assassinated by J. Felton.\n\n{32b}  The Scots, who sold their King, Charles I. for a large sum of\nmoney, to the English rebels.\n\n{32c}  Supposed to have been the Marquis of Montrose.\n\n{33a}  Supposed to have been Oliver Cromwell, at whose death the greatest\nstorm of wind happened that had been known in England.\n\n{33b}  The plague and fire of London were here plainly foretold.\n\n{33c}  The Great Yellow Fruit, supposed to have been the Prince of\nOrange, King William III.\n\n{34}  This was said in the book whence the PREDICTIONS were extracted, to\nmean oppression of the poor.\n\n{43}  It is reported that there is a room in this house the door and\nwindows of which are kept closely fastened, and no one is ever permitted\nto enter the same except the next heir, when he attains his twenty-first\nyear, at which time he goes in alone and when he returns it is shut up as\nbefore.\n\n{51}  The original prophecy says, \u201cRichard the son of Richard.\u201d\n\n{184}  Sir Walter Raleigh.\n\n{185a}  Tobacco.\n\n{185b}  The Potatoe.","title":"Prophecies of Robert Nixon, Mother Shipton, and Martha, the Gypsy","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":34917}