{"collection":"ritual-magic","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_79378/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_79378","id":"gutenberg_79378","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/79378","summary":null,"tags":["Nostradamus, 1503-1566","Prophecies (Occultism)"],"text":"ORACLES OF NOSTRADAMUS\n\n                                    BY\n                              CHAS. A. WARD.\n\n        \u201cGentem quidem nullam video, neque tam humanam atque doctam,\n        neque tam immanem tamque barbaram, qu\u00e6 non significari futura,\n        et \u00e0 quibusdam intelligi pr\u00e6dicique posse censeat.\u201d\u2014CICERO, _De\n        Divinatione_, i. 2.\n\n                              [Illustration]\n\n                                  LONDON:\n                        The Leadenhall Press, E.C.\n\n              _Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd:\n            New York: Scribner & Welford, 743 & 745, Broadway._\n\n                         (_All rights reserved._)\n\n        \u201cQuorum potentia intellectualis immediate \u00e0 Deo agitata creditur,\n        prophet\u00e6 dicuntur; quorum voluntas hero\u00ebs; at quorum intellectus\n        et voluntas censetur agitata \u00e0 potentiis invisibilibus\n        dependentibus, appellantur magi.\u201d\u2014CHRIST. THOMASIUS, _in\n        Brunck, Hist. Phil._ v. 512.\n\n             [Illustration: THE LEADENHALL PRESS, LONDON, E.C.\n\n                                (T. 4543)]\n\n              \u201cTu te mocques aussi des proph\u00e8tes que Dieu\n              Choisit en tes enfants et les fait au milieu\n              De ton sein apparo\u00eetre, afin de te pr\u00e9dire\n              _Ton malheur \u00e0 venir; mais tu n\u2019en fais que rire_.\n              Ou soit que le grand Dieu l\u2019immense \u00e9ternit\u00e9\n              Ait de Nostradamus l\u2019enthousiasme excit\u00e9,\n              Ou soit que le d\u00e9mon bon ou mauvais l\u2019agite....\n              Comme un oracle antique, il a de mainte ann\u00e9e\n              Pr\u00e9dit la plus grand part de nostre destin\u00e9e.\u201d\n\n                                                RONSARD, _To Nostradamus_.\n\n\n\n\nTO MY MOTHER.\n\n\n        \u039f\u1f50\u03b4\u1f72\u03bd \u1f10\u03bd \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03ce\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9\u03c3\u03b9 \u03c0\u03b1\u03c4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bc\u03b7\u03c4\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f04\u03bc\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\n        \u1f1c\u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf, \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f41\u03c3\u03af\u03b7, \u039a\u03cd\u03c1\u03bd\u03b5, \u03bc\u03ad\u03bc\u03b7\u03bb\u03b5 \u03b4\u03af\u03ba\u03b7.\n\n                                    THEOGNIS, p. 16, ed. 1766.\n\n        \u201cBut higher far my proud pretensions rise,\u2014\n        The son of parents passed into the skies.\u201d\n\n                   COWPER, _On My Mother\u2019s Picture_, line 110.\n\n    IF THERE CAN BE ANYTHING IN A BOOK LIKE THIS WORTHY OF\n    DEDICATION TO A BEING SO NOBLE AS THOU IN LIFE WERT EVER, A\n    BEING NOW MORE ENNOBLED STILL BY THE HEAVEN-BLEACHED RAIMENT OF\n    IMMORTALITY PUT ON; TO THEE, PURE SOUL SERENE! TO THEE DOES THY\n    STILL LOVING SON, EARTH-HAMPERED, DEDICATE THIS THE BEST LABOUR\n    OF HIS HEART AND HEAD AND YEARS. THE BEST OF IT IS THINE INDEED\n    ALREADY; AND WERE THE REST WORSE HARVESTED THAN PERHAPS IT\n    IS,\u2014MORTALITY BEING ALLOWED FOR DULY,\u2014THY SOUL RECEIVING MUST\n    BE MUCH CHANGED BY EXALTATION, IF QUEEN-LIKE, IT CANNOT MAKE A\n    SORRY LOVE-GIFT RICH BY GOLDEN WELCOME GIVEN IT.\n\n    IF THINGS OF KITH BE KIN, GOD WILLING, WE SHALL MEET AGAIN ERE\n    LONG. TILL WHEN, FROM THIS BARE HEATH TERRENE AND HOMELESS, I\n    SPEED THE WORD ADIEU. DEAR ONE! FOR A LITTLE WHILE ADIEU.\n\n                                THY SON,\n\n                                                            C. A. W.\n\n\n\n\nTHREE PROPHECIES OF OLD TIME.\n\n\nThat Troy should triumph in Rome\u2014\n\n    \u039d\u1fe6\u03bd \u03b4\u1f72 \u03b4\u1f74 \u0391\u1f30\u03bd\u03b5\u03af\u03b1\u03bf \u03b2\u03af\u03b7 \u03a4\u03c1\u03ce\u03b5\u03c3\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd \u1f00\u03bd\u03ac\u03be\u03b5\u03b9,\n    \u039a\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03b1\u03af\u03b4\u03c9\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u1fd6\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2, \u03c4\u03bf\u03af \u03ba\u03b5\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03cc\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5 \u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n                                 _Iliad_, xx. 306.\n\nThat America should be discovered\u2014\n\n              \u201cVenient annis\n    S\u00e6cula seris, quibus Oceanus\n    Vincula rerum laxet, et ingens\n    Pateat Tellus, Tiphysque novos\n    Delegat orbes; nec sit terris\n    Ultima Thule.\u201d\n\n                            SENECA.\n\nFrench Revolution, 1788-89, predicted in 10th Century.\n\n    \u201cDes le X\u1d49 si\u00e8cle, Albumasar avait calcul\u00e9 que l\u2019ann\u00e9e _mil\n    sept cent quatre-vingt-neuf_ serait f\u00e9conde en r\u00e9volutions\n    sociales, \u00e0 cause de l\u2019une des grandes conjonctions de Saturne.\n    L\u2019astrologie est vanit\u00e9, erreur, mensonge, tout ce que vous\n    voudrez; mais enfin voil\u00e0 une pr\u00e9diction d\u2019une authenticit\u00e9\n    irr\u00e9cusable.\u201d\u2014ALBUMASAR, _De Magnis Conjunctionibus Tract._\n    ii., _Different._ 8. _Vide_ MIGN\u00c9, _Dict. des Proph\u00e9ties_,\n    ii. 339.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nThis is no doubt a strange book. An attempt to gather a meaning out of a\nfew of the involved, crabbed, and mystical quatrains of the great seer\nof France, the greatest perhaps that the world has ever seen, must of\nnecessity be strange. My treatment, too, may possibly seem to many no\nless strange than the subject-matter itself. I will speak specially as to\nthis latter point towards the close of the preface.\n\nIn last December, treating upon Nostradamus in the _Gentleman\u2019s\nMagazine_, I had occasion to remark that every honest man of awakened\npowers is a kind of prophet, and has to do with the future, or eternity,\nas it is usually styled. Since then I have come upon the same idea in the\nwritings of Philo Jud\u00e6us. He thinks that the Scriptures testify in some\nsort that every good man is a prophet:\n\n    \u201cFor a prophet says nothing of his own, but everything that he\n    says is strange, and prompted by some one else; and it is not\n    lawful for a wicked man to be an interpreter of God, as also\n    no wicked man can be properly said to be inspired; but this\n    statement is only appropriate to the wise man alone, since he\n    alone is a sounding instrument of God\u2019s voice.\u201d\u2014PHILO, _Heir of\n    Divine Things_, \u00a7 52, Bohn, ii. 146.\n\nAgain, at page 32 of this book, it will be seen that I have described\nthe faculty of anticipating the future, a thing so remarkably developed\nin Nostradamus, as being, if once we admit its existence in him, a\nperceptive endowment of the whole human race, that must be classified\nas a sixth sense. I have since found, with no little delight, that\nColeridge, in his \u201cTable Talk\u201d (ed. 1836, p. 19), designated such faculty\nas \u201can inner sense,\u201d for, speaking of ghosts and dreams, he says;\n\n    \u201cIt is impossible to say whether an inner sense does not really\n    exist in the mind, seldom developed, indeed, but which may have\n    a power of presentiment. All the external senses have their\n    correspondents in the mind; the eye can see an object before it\n    is distinctly apprehended; why may there not be a corresponding\n    power in the soul? The power of prophecy might have been merely\n    a spiritual excitation of this dormant faculty.\u201d[1]\n\nIn the matter of prophecy, Photius says, in his \u201cAmphilochia,\u201d that\nprophecy is by no means necessarily connected with virtue: for that\nHerod pre-announced, as it were, that the Gentile magi, Jud\u00e6a, and the\nworld were about to recognize Christ for King, and so he desired to make\naway with him. In this way he played the part of prophet to the whole\nhuman race. Caiaphas, he thinks, was not conscious of what he said; in\nthe mania of a desire to kill, his lips prophesied that it was right that\none should die to save the whole world. \u201cLet his blood be upon us and\nupon our children,\u201d is a foreboding instinct of the same description. In\nthe council of the Pharisees (John xi. 48), it was prophetic, \u201cIf we let\nhim alone, the Romans will come and take away our place and nation;\u201d and\nthough _they_ followed out their own counsel, this is just what happened.\n\u201cAnd see,\u201d he adds, \u201cthe ass in the Old Testament could forecast future\nthings.\u201d He was an heretical writer, Photius, but he was evidently not so\nfar away, as the world is now, from believing that prophetic endowment is\na sense widely distributed to humanity in general. These hints alone may\nfurnish us with food for useful meditation.\n\nNow, with all this a reader will very likely say, Supposing we grant you\nthe prophetic as a sixth sense, to be henceforth reckoned as a permanent\nthough generally latent endowment of the race, what is the good of such\na sense, supposing, with you, that your prophet can never be understood\ntill after the event has taken place, and then only when some drudging\ninterpreter has untwisted his tortuous language and thrown it into the\nintelligible vernacular?\n\nThere are several ways of replying to this. First, are there not\nthousands of objects in the domain of nature that man has not yet\ndiscovered the use of? Anatomists are still at a stand to tell us what\nis the use of the spleen. What naturalist can say for what reason the\nnoxious serpent is sent into the world? Why the Georgium Sidus was\nonly discovered by Herschel in 1781, instead of by Pythagoras, a much\ngreater man? Sensible men have commonly to content themselves with simply\nascertaining the existence of a fact, and they have to rest all the while\nin total ignorance of why this fact exists. Again, suppose you believe,\nas the majority do, in the Christian revelation; how can you account for\nthe multiplicity of sects who read the Bible each in its own way? Can\nyou account for a divine revelation that reveals one thing to one man\nand a contrary thing to another? Obviously, then, there are many things\nthat exist as facts, and yet no man living can assign the reason of\nthem. With regard to any fact that can be asserted, the first thing to\nestablish is, Is it a fact? That once settled, you may wait for the rest\nof it until you can get it.\n\nBut again, and with special regard to Nostradamus, you will see (and\nby referring to the index you may find the various places at which\nI treat of it) that he must have had the whole sequence of visions\npassing clearly before his eyes, with some vocal utterances occasionally\naccompanying them, by which the names of men and places and things were\nannounced to him. His method was to set this down in prose narration,\neither during the sitting or instantly afterwards. On inspection, at\ncooler intervals, and when he had descended from the heat and ecstasy of\nfatidical rapture, he would discern at once that the sequence must be\nbroken and the names concealed. If, as it stood in prose, it had been\nunderstood by the world, it would have fallen not as a prophecy but as\na thunderbolt; not as a thing in book-form, but as an earthquake, that\nmust have changed or shaken the face of Europe, and so have interfered\nperpetually with its own realization.\n\nSeeing this, he followed the practice of the elder oracles of Delphi,\nDodona, and the rest. He broke up the sequence, threw the utterances into\nmetre, mingled much learning linguistic to darken them, and obscured the\nnames, of the great men introduced, under the impenetrable mask of the\nanagram. Thus regarded, it is not a subject for wonder that he did this:\nit would have been akin to madness to have done anything else.\n\nIt now becomes desirable that I should furnish some clue to enable a\nreader to arrive rapidly at the pith of this book and its oracular\nforecasts, so that he may discern for himself in a few minutes, whether,\nor whether not, the topics treated of have for him a sufficient interest\nto lead him on to make a thorough study of the book, or to decline it\naltogether. There is a huge prejudice in this our day that sets in\nstrongly with the multitude against anything that endeavours to deal\nseriously, or by mystical insight, with things occult, spiritual, or\nfuture.\n\nThe reader, first of all, should glance over the life of Nostradamus.\nIt will be for him to determine whether my vindication of his name from\nimposture be adequate or not. Dr. Cobham Brewer is the most recent writer\nwho asperses him as a \u201ccharlatan\u201d (see his \u201cHistory of Germany,\u201d p.\n164). The reader will see that Nostradamus is of Jewish birth. Coleridge\nremarks (\u201cTable Talk,\u201d p. 31) that all other nations\n\n    \u201cSeem to look backwards, and also to exist for the present; but\n    in the Jewish scheme everything is prospective and preparatory;\n    nothing, however trifling, is done for itself alone, but all is\n    typical of something yet to come.\u201d\n\nFurther than this, Thomas Burnet, in his eloquent Latinity, tells us\n(\u201cArch\u00e6. Philos.\u201d Book I. chap. vii. p. 59, ed. 1727) that Apollonius\nsaid bitterly of the Jews that they were the most inept of barbarians,\nand never invented a single thing useful to mankind. That they were what\nBacon would call a people of \u201cno fruit.\u201d They taught nothing in their\nschools, says Burnet, of the circle of the sciences, \u201cad encyclopedi\u00e6\nstudia,\u201d as we do now, but that no race in the world so abounds with\nprophets, and men endowed with the celestial spirit, as \u201cthe Jews.\u201d\n\nThose who care anything for the occult processes, that incite to\nprophetic utterance, would now do well to read the chapter on magic,\ncommencing at p. 75. It gives a few hints as to the practices of adepts,\nand of the Roman superstitions about tripods, alphabetic interrogatories,\nand so forth; and it becomes tolerably clear from all this, that\nNostradamus was skilled in all the known methods of incantation, astral,\npharmaceutic, or electrical, and that he practised them in all their\nfulness, though with reticent circumspection, and very reluctant and\nenigmatic avowal. The account of the conspirators against Valens (p. 86)\nstrongly resembles the modern table-turning. But, as this chapter is more\ncurious by far than necessary, it may be passed over by all those who\nmerely wish to appraise quickly the value of Nostradamus as a figure in\nhistory with claims to prophetic faculty hanging on to it.\n\nFrom the Historical Fragments, commencing at p. 89, it will be seen\nthat he clearly prophesied the violent death of Henri II., to whom\nhe dedicates his \u201cLuminary Epistle.\u201d The historical context is very\ninteresting, as showing not only the exact fulfilment of the forecast\nof Nostradamus; but, that another astrologer, who was consulted by the\nking, had forewarned him in almost the same words of the same danger\nthreatening, that he should die \u201cin duel.\u201d We see the king adhering to\nthe literal word _duel_, and out of court etiquette feeling the manifest\nimpossibility of the prophecy being fulfilled. We get also the gossip of\nthe court about it, and about the value of horoscopes, from the Princesse\nde Cl\u00e8ves; furthermore, we learn about the obstinate blindness with which\nthe king forced on his own destruction at the very close of the day and\ntournament, by the indulgence of a pure whim against the advice and wish\nof everybody around him. The murder of Henri III., in like manner, is\nannounced, together with the death of his father, at p. 99; at p. 124 it\nis foreshadowed again as proceeding from the hand of a young monk; and\nat p. 125 the name of Cl\u00e9ment is hinted by a play upon the French words\nsignifying mild and clement. The massacre of St. Bartholomew\u2019s Day, at p.\n106, stands out in all its vivid horror, and as proceeding from the very\nhands of _le roi farouche_; but, compressed into four lines only.\n\nThe coming of Henri IV. to the French throne is introduced with the very\nname of his family, Vend\u00f4me, figured in the anagram Mendosus. Here we\nfind also (p. 132) the execution of the Marshal de Biron; his name is\nactually given as Robin, which yields it letter for letter in anagram.\nThis, too, is concerning a man not probably born when the stanza was\ndevised. The name of the marshal is disguised, because it would have\nmarked him out too distinctly when he came upon the stage of public life;\nbut, the name of Lafin is given, the subordinate individual who betrayed\nBiron to the King. It occupies pages to describe this event, but with the\nterseness, reappearing constantly, which is so remarkable a feature in\nthe style of Nostradamus, he compresses the whole event, and all that he\nhas to say upon it, into six lines.\n\nThe chapter on Louis XIV. (p. 150) teems with curiosities of the same\ninscrutable order; though less startling than what we have already\npointed out, yet is it quite sufficient to have made the reputation of an\nordinary man.\n\nWe may now pass to England (p. 166), and the quatrain relating to its\nseven governmental changes, throughout a period of two hundred and ninety\nyears; this is as startling as anything of the kind can well be. The\nnext instance, that on the Stuart Dynasty (p. 170), conveying, as it\ndoes, the struggle between Charles I. and Cromwell, is simply miraculous;\nand it should challenge the attention of a listening world. This would\nseem to be the inevitable result, unless the learned of all orders and\ndegrees can, singly or combined, do away with the interpretation put upon\nit. _Lonole_ is now for the first time pointed to as being the anagram\nof _Old Noll_, or Oliver Cromwell. But before this transpired, M. le\nPelletier had none the less applied the quatrain to Charles and Cromwell.\nIf this fails to convince a reader that he is in the presence of a seer\nand worker of wonders, I do not know what can bring recognition home to\nhim. The single line (p. 173)\u2014\n\n    \u201cSenat de Londres mettront \u00e0 mort leur Roy.\u201d\n\nhas, as presenting the execution of Charles I., made, in former but\nforgotten days, the round of the world, and from time to time has served\nto keep alive a sort of dumb admission that there had once been a\nfatidical diviner of note called Nostradamus. Burns remarks, what we all\nknow, that \u201cthe passion of prying into futurity, makes a striking part\nof the history of human nature.\u201d It does not look much like it, though,\nwhen such a prophecy as this has been allowed to pass out of memory; so\nthat few even of educated men could re-syllable it to you, or furnish\nyou with any better criticism on the man who penned it, than that he was\nan old French impostor and astrologer. They know ten times as much about\nMother Shipton, concerning whom little or nothing is authentic; whilst\nNostradamus\u2019s book has been probably in print for nearly three hundred\nand fifty years.\n\nThe next is a quatrain on Cromwell exclusively (p. 177), \u201cmore butcher\nthan king,\u201d as Nostradamus calls him; and he will be found to regard\nNapoleon (p. 236) in very much the same light. He gives England an\nascendancy of the seas (p. 181) for a stretch of more than three\nhundred years,\u2014a term which, I think, will be found to be on the point\nof expiring now. Of course his quatrains relating to England are, on\nthe whole, much inferior in interest to those relating to France. What\nstands collected under the heading of \u201cEngland\u201d will, nevertheless, well\nrepay perusal. The Battle of Dunbar, for instance (p. 205) is in its\nway as vivid, though conveyed in but four lines of verse, as Carlyle\u2019s\nfamous account of the engagement which is given in the Cromwell Letters.\nHe prophesies the death of Cromwell (p. 210) to fall on the 3rd of\nSeptember, seven years later than the battle of Worcester. It is true we\ngather this by implication, but with all the other wonders duly weighed,\na candid reader will admit this to be the probable intention and true\nmeaning here. The Fire of London is given as falling out in 1666 (at p.\n214).\n\nHis name for the French Revolution is _Le Commun Adv\u00e9nement_, which I\nrender The Vulgar Advent. This, right up to the very end, is the most\nastounding part of all that has been recorded by Nostradamus, or brought\ninto intelligibility by his commentators. This preface would run to far\ntoo great length were I to attempt even to touch upon all of the points\nof interest, that we here find to be so strangely dealt with. Take\nmerely the first stanza (p. 227). Napoleonism is spoken of, almost before\nit has been announced, as proscribed; and, to spring up again as it did\nin 1848; and then to sink finally seventy-three years after. At that\npassage (at p. 227) the reader may see how, out of the mouth of Napoleon\nhimself, the exact term of seventy-three years proves to be the correct\nperiod. This has never been so much as hinted before. If anything be\nmiraculous, in the accuracy of prevision, I think this may,\u2014and with but\nlittle superstition,\u2014be deemed to be so.\n\nThere is a remark to be made of some importance, to my thinking, because\nit establishes the subtle analogy that sometimes subsists in the relation\nbetween things, that are not generally reckoned to have any connection\none with the other. Now, the Vulgar Advent, of course, is signalized\nby the usurpation of government by the people; but is it not highly\nsignificant that, out of the natural fountain of speech, and with no\nparticular or conscious intention accompanying, the low proletarian\nrabble, that bring it about in blood, are spontaneously designated by\nthemselves and others as the _Rouges_? The abhorrent many, when they\nplay the despot, don the colour _red_, and doff for ever, as they hope,\nthe royal _purple_. They may hope what they please; but, when their\nvices ripen, they _must_ fall under the empire of one,\u2014who is iron-shod,\nsword-girt, and rat-eaten as to the heart,\u2014who will trample them into\norder. Call him Lonole, Olestant, or clement C\u00e6sar, which you will; a\nbeast from the abyss must arise to rule the bestial. This is the truly\nrepresentative man who emerges at the epochs. Rousseau, the red-head,\nwith the curse of Iscariot upon him, may begin the series. A red\nphilosopher first introduces his Pandemonium as order; secondly, _Les\nrouges rouges le rouge assomeront_ (p. 274); and thirdly, the destroyer,\nthe Napoleon, or Apollyon, introduces and then crowns himself with his\nown hand. A red series in a red sequel so sealed, so shuts the same.\n\nAs we are upon analogies, another curious one may here be noted. The\ncolours of the tricoloured flag symbolize revolution by the reversal of\nthe order of nature. The primary colours in the solar spectrum are, as\nwell as in the primary arc of the rainbow, red, yellow, blue (p. 331);\nwhilst in the tricolour the succession is blue, white, red. Out of this\nflag, or bow, in the political heavens there is no hope to come, for it\nyields no promise but that of a deluge,\u2014_rouge_.\n\nThe sanguinary death of Louis XVI. is foreshown at p. 241. In the\n\u201cLuminary Epistle\u201d to Henri II. (p. 69) the very year is given (1792)\nto which the quatrain of Louis\u2019s death refers. Take next the arrest at\nVarennes (p. 243), and then another miracle of precision shines forth;\nfor Saulce, the grocer\u2019s name in that little town, is pregiven (p. 248).\nThe Tuilleries are mentioned by name,\u2014a place where burnt a tile-kiln,\nwhen Nostradamus was inditing for us the prophecy.\n\nNow refer to the Napoleonic rule (p. 286). See Napoleon born in the west\nof Europe, and the way he could seduce, in a language not his own, is\npointed out to you; and, his name is to be a name that the Fates know (p.\n287).\n\nTake, again, that strange identification of the Gallic Hercules with his\nanalogue Napoleon. How, as a jay taught by Talma, he at the Tuilleries\napes the fine birds and court splendour of the old _r\u00e9gime_ (p. 294).\nThen read the quatrain at p. 297, where the simple soldier reaches\nempire, and so strikes close analogy again with Cromwell. Then read (p.\n300) that awful curse fulminated, when counsel shall die out of the\nshaven head; see Sclavonia gather (p. 303), and old Moscow burn, whilst\nthe eagle (p. 304) is beaten back with a swarm of birds, and hovers to\nits fall at Leipsic.[2]\n\nI do not deem it necessary to particularize any further; for if all this\ngathered into one conspectus is not enough to carry conviction home to\nthe mind of any one; and, make the reader know that at Salon, three\nhundred and odd years since, there lived a Frenchman, who saw all this in\nvisions of the night, interpretative speech accompanying, and set it down\nat first in too clear prose, and secondly in rhythmic riddles afterwards;\nwhy, then, I think that fifty times more evidence, thrown in upon the\ntop, could carry no conviction with it.\n\nI have said many things about science and its modern tendencies that will\nbe deemed foolish by some, and by others undeservedly severe, so that a\nfew words upon it seem necessary here. If the word \u201cscience\u201d merely means\nthe study of nature, it has my admiration as a pursuit. But if it means\n_knowledge_, I say it is an absolute misnomer. There is no true knowledge\nout of wisdom, and all that is wisdom in man is comprised in his\nveneration of Deity. \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d\nIt is evident, that what we call science in this day, does not tend that\nway at all.\n\nBut, to take it briefly another way, if you do not know the _first\ncause_ of anything, you can only attain to a knowledge of relativities,\nbut never of anything as it is in itself. Your methods can have neither\nbeginning nor end. Hence a man can only attain to relative knowledge\nwhich, in the strict meaning of words, is not knowledge at all. Thus\nscience is impossible.\n\nThose, who pretend to science, talk much now about an Atomic Theory.\nThey speak of their atom, contrary to its etymology, as being a thing\ninfinitely divisible. This they adopt as a subterfuge, that no one\nmay be able to drive them home. But if you leave them to their own\ndevices,\u2014their own chemical analyses, quantitative and qualitative,\nwhen they get beyond vapour, leave them in possession of a _nothing_\nto divide. It is then they approach Deity _in minimis_; but for the\ncloud upon their sight they cannot see Him. Such men apprehend nothing\nexcept through the intellect; but the perfect intellect yields only\nhalf the man. It can only deal with the subject-matter furnished to\nit by the senses. There is, high-placed above it, the spirit of life;\nwhich possesses a sense of its own, and by this the heart and head are\ninterlinked. When the ideas (for lack of a better word) of these two are\nthought into harmony,\u2014or, what Coleridge would call \u201cunity,\u201d\u2014then, and\nthen only, is the comment of the whole man perfect. Take this for an\naxiom: If you believe your sense, you may be right; if you believe your\nsenses, you are out of them.\n\n_Cogito ergo sum_ (\u201cI think therefore I am\u201d) has been accredited to\nDescartes as wisdom for a long time. It is nonsense. It is a proof\ngathered from the action of the intellect alone, and is a _critique_\nphysical, rather than metaphysical, and here can afford no proof of\nanything.\n\nAnother word about _Atoms_, and I must have done, or this will not be\na preface, but a metaphysical treatise; and though that may be greatly\nwanted, this is not the place for it. Yet, as I have arraigned science,\nit becomes advisable that I should furnish to the competent reader a\nspot or foothold, where being placed, he may, if he will, command my\nmeaning. In the Chaldaic oracles there occur two curious lines; I quote\nthem below that there may be no equivocation possible.[3] \u201cNow, these\nfabricate individual things (\u03c4\u1f70 \u1f04\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1, atoms), and sensible objects, and\ncorporeal things, and things classed under matter.\u201d The Neoplatonists\nsaid that ideas were an emanation of the divine fire. Plato said very\nmuch the same thing of the human soul itself. An atom thus becomes a\nfiery _individuality_ (atomic); not, observe, what the nonsensical\nchemist of to-day calls it,\u2014when by his terrene fire he has reached\nvapour,\u2014an infinitely divisible atom, but a particle indivisible; that,\nhaving traversed all the forms, goes out at the other end of matter; or\nback again in a chariot of fire to the idea it started from. The world\u2019s\nOpifex made it by fire, and the tradition of Elias is that it will be\ndissolved by fire at last; but what, friend, should it prove that it is\nevery day doing so always? A fiery idea began it, and in an idea of fire\nit ends. Also man\u2019s life is nothing but a leap through matter from fire\nto fire. The ordeal by fire was a type of this.\n\nThe professional critic and expert must, after this sketch, be left to\nhimself to judge of everything here set down according to the established\nrules of art, and the interests multifarious of the special literary\norgan he may write for and derive emolument from. I expect but little\nrecognition from such criticism; yet, as it is often the result of a\nlife devoted to study and of wide learning, its indifference, or even\nits hostility, is likely to prove useful,\u2014whether by its fault-finding\nor in its discovery of actual error. Whatever its sagacity may in this\nway show to be wrong, I hope to receive with equanimity and thankfulness,\nand to put right should a second edition be asked for. So much for the\nprofessional critics.\n\nWhat remains to be said touching my method of treatment will probably\nhave no interest whatever for such critic, nor yet for the general\nreader. It purely, and I think solely, concerns the thoughtful and\ncapable reader. The exceptional man, who finally, and all the world over,\nis the best friend of the true writer; and who, banded with others like\nhimself, determines solidly the value of, and ultimate position to be\ngiven to, every new book, that is a book at all, born into the world of\nletters.\n\nSuch a reader I would only forewarn against two preliminary objections,\nthat might at a hasty first glance tend to excite some prejudice in his\nmind. The episodes indulged in, and the apparent self-sufficiency of\nutterance exhibited on questions of moment, that seemingly wise men are\ndivided upon still; or that men of supposed authority have in general\nestimation settled long ago. Many such things will here be found to\nhave been laid bare again to the very roots, and challenged to show a\nreason. This is absolute arrogance everywhere in the estimation of the\nmultitude, learned and unlearned, Reader, gentle and capable, let me give\nyou my view on these two points: could I make it also your view, how well\nrewarded should I be.\n\nAs to episodes: my own view of a book is this, that it should furnish\na stimulus to thought if possible at every page; that nothing should\nenter into it for the sake of book-making; and that, so long as the\nsubject of the book is clearly and consecutively advanced, anything\nelse, that can vitally be thrown in without interruption, is so much the\nmore gained to the world in the study of itself, or, in other words,\nin the study of man; this Pope has, I incline to think rightly, ruled\nto be his proper vocation here. Very close and consecutive treatment\nof a difficult matter must always, when long continued, weigh down the\nspirits, and somewhat fatigue the attention of the reader. At such a time\nan interesting episode happily introduced will rally the spirits; and, by\na momentary diversion, will renew the attention, enabling the reader to\nattach himself again with vigour to the main thread. There are episodes\nof course, as there are other things, good and bad. The episode that is\ndull in itself and distracts attention is bad; that which is in itself\ninteresting and relieves fatigue, carrying the mind back to the main\nsubject refreshed, is entirely good. The episodes in the following pages\nthe reader will judge to be good or bad as they fall under the rule given\nabove or transgress it.\n\nThe charge of arrogancy is a little more difficult to deal with, and\nalso to rebut. But even here I do not despair of being exonerated by the\ncapable reader, whom alone, on this point, it is requisite to address.\nMany years ago I came upon a passage in Coleridge to the effect that\nhe had always pursued light, believing that it must lead to truth, and\ntruth to happiness; but that, let it consummate in joy or not, follow\nit he would, for truth\u2019s sake. Truth attracted, and he, in fact, must\ndraw to it. I shut the book up, and said, So will I; and, with certain\nfailures, much interruption by necessary duties, and innumerable\npersonal shortcomings, so I have. The result has been an ever-increasing\nsolitude,[4] until at last no eremite of the desert is more alone than I\nfor years have been. Thus placed, I have thought on many questions, with\nbooks and without them, caring but little what the greatest said, so only\nI kept moving onward towards that spot where the light of morning dawned,\nor where the still rathelier twilight promised dawning. My attention\nalways lay between things and thoughts, keeping clean aloof from vain\nopinion, which leads to nothing, though she be, according to Pascal,\n_Regina del mondo_. As no renown of genius could bring me to respect\nany man\u2019s opinion; so I strove that no self-seeking, nor hope out of\nsome novelty or strangeness to win originality, might bring me to adopt\nany principle soever that fell short of justness in the least, or of\nsacred truth anyhow attainable by man. As I sank others, so have I sunk\nmyself and all personal belongings, striving, if I might, to make myself\na trumpet of smooth passage or clear mouthpiece to the truth that lies\nbehind us all,\u2014behind every man that cometh into the world,\u2014though haply\nthere be but few who can allow it free enough scope and exit through\nthem. As in this way I have grown nearly dead both to myself and others,\nand want little of emolument and less of glory (accurrent from without),\nit seemed not unlikely that so epurated a voice-piece might utter more of\nless adulterate truth, than it falls in common to the lot of most to do.\nSo much am I a mere person (_persona_), mask, thing sounded through, as\nthat the voice at last seems scarcely to be mine at all, but something\nlarger, higher, better much, than I pretend to be. I do not even claim a\nperfect utterance, or out-put, for what remains of me,\u2014call it trumpet,\nmask, person, or what not,\u2014must remain, I know, always beset with some\nearth and earthiness that mars a pure transmission. Yet, weak as it may\nbe and is, the weak things of the world are those that most confound the\nmighty ones established of authority by man. Where is any boasting, I\nask, in this; or what of arrogance is here? Will any man spend thirty\nyears thus to become a voice-tube merely? None the less is it at last a\nvoice crying in the wilderness, \u201cDesolate are those who in the earth lack\nvision of wisdom, or call gold wealth.\u201d Capable and gentle reader, test\nthis prologue, and try it, believing, that if there be any good thing in\nit, solitude and The Alone have wrought it. With them, as by seraphic\nmarshalling,\u2014with tent pitched, or travelling on, under the night-star or\nby day,\u2014you may safely thread the pages following, assured that nothing\nbut good can issue or accrue therefrom to you. Most excellent reader,\nlet _Vale Valete!_ fall as the benediction of an eremite upon your ear\nto-day; as also upon your pilgrimage hereafter, till the hour vespertine\nof sleep drop down, that closes all for each.\n\n    WALTHAMSTOW, E., 1891.\n\n\n\n\n\u201cQuelle physique corpusculaire, quels atomes d\u00e9terminent ainsi leur\nnature? vous n\u2019en savez rien; la cause sera \u00e9ternellement occulte pour\nvous. Tout ce qui vous entoure, tout ce qui est dans vous, est une \u00e9nigme\ndont il n\u2019est pas donn\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019homme de deviner le mot.\u201d\u2014VOLTAIRE, _Dict.\nPhil._, s.v. _Occultes_.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                                          PAGE\n\n    LIFE OF NOSTRADAMUS                                      1\n\n    THE PREFACE OF MICHAEL NOSTRADAMUS TO HIS PROPHECIES    42\n\n    EPISTLE TO HENRY II.                                    55\n\n    MAGIC                                                   75\n\n    HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS                                    89\n\n    HENRI QUATRE                                           128\n\n    LOUIS XIII.                                            142\n\n    LOUIS XIV.                                             150\n\n    LOUIS XV.                                              164\n\n    ENGLAND                                                166\n\n    FRENCH REVOLUTION                                      227\n\n    LOUIS XVI.                                             241\n\n    THE NATIONAL CONVENTION                                272\n\n    PIUS VI.                                               280\n\n    NAPOLEONIC RULE                                        286\n\n    LOUIS XVIII. AND LOUIS PHILIPPE                        324\n\n    REPUBLIC, 1848, AND NAPOLEON III.                      337\n\n    APPENDIX                                               351\n\n\n\n\n    \u201cIn Nature\u2019s infinite book of secrecy\n    A little can I read.\u201d\n\n            _Anthony and Cleopatra_, i. 2.\n\n    \u201cI am Isaiah,\u2014be it spoken with all humility,\u2014to the\n    advancement of God\u2019s glory.\u201d\u2014LUTHER\u2019S _Table Talk_, Bohn, p. 12.\n\n    Yes, indeed, Luther, with quite Lutheran humility!\n\n              \u201cCanys gwn a fydd rhag llaw.\u201d\n    \u201cFor I know what has been, and will be hereafter.\u201d\n\n                                           TALIESSIN.\n\n    \u201cProphetia est solum futurorum contingentium, quia longe\n    distant ab humana cognitione; sed secundario ad eam pertinent\n    pr\u00e6terita et pr\u00e6sentia.\u201d\u2014ST. THO. AQUINATIS, _Summa_, p. 409.\n\n\n\n\nORACLES OF NOSTRADAMUS.\n\n\n\n\nLIFE OF NOSTRADAMUS.\n\n\nMichel de Nostredame was born in Provence, in the town of St. Remy, in\nthe year 1503, upon a Thursday, the 14th of December, about noon. Tycho\nBrahe (1546), D\u2019Herbelot (1625) the great Orientalist, and Bruce (1730)\nthe Abyssinian traveller, were all born on the same day of the month.\nCoincidences such as these are, perhaps, not worth much; yet, do they\ninterest us less than the rainfall of a month, or the precise pressure\nof the wind on Cleopatra\u2019s needle?\u2014which goes by the name of Cleopatra\nbecause Cleopatra had nothing whatever to do with it. Robert \u00c9tienne,\nthe great printer, was also born in 1503. What would, however, more have\naffected the family of Nostradamus is the expulsion of the French from\nNaples on October 31, 1503, after the famous battles in April, fought on\ntwo consecutive Fridays with disaster to the French; the battles namely,\nof Seminara and Cerignola. Many have said that the evil omen attaching to\nFriday dates from that period. If we had never heard of Good Friday we\nalso might have been of their opinion.\n\nHis father, like Milton\u2019s, a notary, was James Nostradamus, a name which\nis equivalent to _de N\u00f4tre Dame_.[5] Moreri calls his family \u201c_une\nfamille noble_,\u201d[6] others say that he was of Jewish descent, but of a\nfamily that had been converted to Christianity, and that he claimed to\nbe of the tribe of Issachar, deriving thence his gift of prophecy, for\nthey were \u201cmen that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel\nought to do\u201d (1 Chron. xii. 32); or, as in Esther i. 13, \u201cthe seven\nwise men that knew the times.\u201d It is true that but few of the orthodox\ncommentators interpret these passages as signifying astrological or\nprophetic forecast; but that may be, nevertheless, the real meaning (vid.\nPoole\u2019s \u201cSynopsis\u201d).\n\nHow could Nostradamus be of Issachar, as that was one of the lost tribes?\nwould be a natural inquiry enough; and one could only answer it, as the\nwit did, in a case somewhat similar, that He could only resemble Issachar\nin being a great, \u201cstrong ass\u201d (Gen. xlix. 14).\n\nHis mother\u2019s name was Ren\u00e9e de Saint Remy. Her ancestors by the father\u2019s\nand mother\u2019s side were men skilled in mathematics and medicine: one was\nphysician to Ren\u00e9, or Renatus, titular King of Jerusalem and Sicily,\nand Count of Provence; whilst the other was physician to John, Duke of\nCalabria, who was the son of King Ren\u00e9. Our author, in his Commentaries,\nsays that a knowledge of mathematics had traditionally descended (_de\nmain en main_) to him from his early progenitors; and, in the Preface\nto his \u201cCenturies,\u201d he adds: \u201c_Que la parole h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire de l\u2019occulte\npr\u00e9diction sera dans son estomac intercluse_.\u201d\n\nIt was his great-grandfather[7] who gave him, almost as in sport, a first\ntaste for the celestial sciences. After the death of this relative he\nwas put to school at Avignon, to study his humanity courses, and thence\nhe went to the university at Montpellier, to acquire philosophy and the\ntheory of medicine.\n\nMontpellier, the Mons Pessulanus of antiquity, contains the most famous\nschool of medicine in all France. It is ancient, and is said to have\nbeen founded by Arabian physicians when forced to fly from Spain\u2014Moreri\nsays in the year 1196, by the disciples of Averroes and Avicenna. Its\ninhabitants are reputed to be witty and most polite. It once had numerous\nnoble churches and many religious establishments, but since the Huguenots\nbecame masters of it, in 1561, they ruined all this, and made the city\nthe head-quarters of their party for a time. Louis XIII. besieged it\nin 1622, and took it. His first act was to rebuild the Cathedral of\nSt. Peter and the other churches; the desecration of all such edifices\nbeing the Puritan and Huguenot fashion there and everywhere. The town\nseems always to have been a fief of the Crown of France. But a number\nof kinglets, such as the King of Aragon and the King of Majorca, appear\nat different times to have had seignorial rights in Montpellier; and\nmany church councils have been held there. All these matters are of some\nslight interest, as furnishing in a filmy fashion a notion of those\ninfluences, mental and physical, that would have been floating around\nNostradamus when studying there. The seizure of the town by the Huguenots\nwould have occurred some years before his death. As he was a true\nChurchman, their successes would have embittered his mind, and may have\ninfluenced some of the visions contained in the \u201cSixains\u201d and \u201cPr\u00e9sages.\u201d\n\nIt may interest us as Englishmen to know that in the extensive botanical\ngarden at Montpellier lie the remains of Miss Temple, the Narcissa,\nwhose death and funeral are so vividly recounted by Young in the\n\u201cNight Thoughts.\u201d He appears to have considerably misrepresented the\ntransaction; but George Eliot has made up for it by a criticism upon him\nand his works, conceived, perhaps, in the grossest and worst taste that\ncriticism from a woman\u2019s pen has ever fallen into. She grows so angry\nthat she can hardly even see that Young is a poet in any sense of the\nword. She might easily have found out that he was, by comparing some of\nher own verses with his.\n\nAnother point of interest to us in regard to Montpellier is the reversal\nof public opinion touching the climate of the place. Brompton, sixty\nor eighty years ago, was, from the mildness and salubrity of its air,\ncoupled with its then semi-rural aspect, called \u201cthe Montpellier of\nLondon.\u201d The analogy could never have been very remarkable, as Brompton\nis about on a level with the River Thames, whereas Montpellier\u2019s splendid\npromenade of the Place de Peyron is 168 feet above the sea-level,\nwhilst the whole town runs up the hillside, as its name expresses.\nStill, the phrase testifies to the opinion then prevalent. Owing to\nthe brightness of its atmosphere and the beauty of its suburbs, the\ntown was long recommended by British physicians as a health-resort to\npatients suffering from pulmonary complaints; but the weather-vane of\nscience has now reversed that opinion entirely. Its climate is found to\nbe changeable, its sunshine is blazing, its atmosphere is charged with\ndust that is impalpable, all the while that it seems to be clear; and its\ncold mistral blasts do but portend a spot most singularly hurtful to the\nlungs. The fashion varies in localities, drugs, theories, and treatment,\nand as a health resort for English people the reputation of Montpellier\nhas passed away; but the \u201c\u00c9cole de M\u00e9decine\u201d still retains its ancient\nrenown as the central seminary of medical instruction in France.\n\nLearned and medical as it was in the days of Nostradamus, it could\nnot escape visitation by a great plague,[8] and Michael Nostradamus\nhad to retreat to Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux. In these towns he\ncommenced practice, when about twenty-two years of age, and four years\nlater he bethought him of returning to Montpellier for refreshment,\nand to take his Doctor\u2019s degree. This he got through very quickly,\nand in a manner that won him the admiration and applause of the whole\nCollege. In returning to Toulouse he passed through Agen, a town on\nthe Garonne, where he met with no less a person than the learned Jules\nC\u00e9sar Scaliger,[9] with whom he entered at once into the most intimate\nfamiliarity. This induced him to take up his permanent residence in the\ntown. But after a while their cordiality grew less, till rivalry and\npique sprang up between them, and they thenceforth stood aloof from one\nanother. Here he married a lady \u201c_une fort honorable demoiselle_,\u201d though\nhistory has not divulged her name. By her he had two children, who died\nyoung; she also died. Finding himself again companionless, he returned to\nhis natal soil of Provence. When he reached Marseilles, he was invited by\nthe Parliament of Provence to come to Aix, where he stayed three years,\nreceiving a salary from the city from the time the plague broke out, in\n1546. It seems to have raged fiercely, and it is said that he furnished\nto the Seigneur de Launay the reports which he has given in his book, \u201cLe\nTh\u00e9\u00e2tre du Monde.\u201d\n\nAfter the contagion passed away, the town, Moreri records, voted him\nfor several years following a considerable pension. His services must\nconsequently have been recognized as valuable. He has left us the\nformula of his plague powder in Chapter VIII. of his treatise \u201cDes\nFards.\u201d As a curious instance of the modesty of the women of Aix, he\nrecords that they began to sew themselves up in their winding sheets, as\nsoon as they were attacked by the contagion, that their bodies might not\nbe exposed naked after death (\u201cPenny Cyclop\u00e6dia\u201d). I suppose we may judge\nfrom this that the system of burial during the contagion was as gross and\nindecent as in the famous plague of London; or is this only a fanciful\nimitation of the story of the women of Marseilles in classical times?\n\nHe went thence to Salon de Craux, which lies midway between Avignon\nand Marseilles. Here he married for the second time. The lady\u2019s name\nis given by Garenci\u00e8res as Anna Ponce Genelle; Anne Poussart, says\nMoreri; others say Pons Jumel. (See the epitaph further on.) There is\nthe same incertitude as to his family. Jean Aimes de Chavigny, whom we\nare following, makes it to consist of six children, three boys and three\ngirls; while Garenci\u00e8res says three sons and one daughter.\n\nIt was here, relates our memoir, that, foreseeing great mutations were\nabout to affect all Europe, and that civil wars and troubles were so\nsoon to come upon the kingdom of France, he felt an unaccountable and\nnew enthusiasm springing up uncontrollably in his mind, which at last\namounted almost to a maddening fever, till he sat down to write his\n\u201cCenturies\u201d and other \u201cPresages,\u201d The first of these \u201cPresages\u201d is dated\n1555, and runs as follows:\u2014\n\n    \u201cD\u2019Esprit divin l\u2019ame presage atteinte,\n    Trouble, famine, peste, guerre courir;\n    Eaux, siccitez, terre et mer de sang teinte,\n    Paix, tresac \u00e0 naistre, Prelats, Princes mourir!\u201d\n\nHe kept them by him for a long time, half afraid to risk the publication;\nhe foresaw there was danger, and that it would lead to infinite\ndetraction, calumny, and backbiting, as indeed it finally fell out. A\nthing like this is like the fox stolen by the Spartan youth, that eats\nthe heart out, and is sure to get vent sooner or later. His memorialist\nsays, that at last, overcome by a desire to be useful to the public, he\nproduced them. No sooner had he done so than the rumour ran from mouth to\nmouth, at home and abroad, that something marvellous and admirable had\nappeared. One cannot see of what use they could be to the public, as they\ncould not possibly be understood till they were interpreted after the\nevent and by it. In some of the quatrains he says as much himself. He no\ndoubt published them because he felt an intense longing so to do; and,\nwhen the mind of a man reaches this stage of desire, it will not take\nhim long to find some excellent reason for carrying out the impulsion.\nPublic good, the advancement of religion, the sustentation of faith, the\npsychological inference as to the immortality of the human soul, or any\nother good phrase, will serve a man as a sufficient reason for doing\nwhat he wants to do. That man must be a great searcher into his own\nconsciousness, if he cannot readily assume that the motive assigned in\nsuch a case is the _causa causativa_ of the act of putting forth.\n\nMoreri\u2019s account is not exactly the same as that of our memoir. Moreri\ndescribes him as being invited to Lyons in 1547, but as returning very\nquickly to Salon, only to find that his popularity at the latter place\nhad greatly abated. The disappointment he experienced from this treatment\nmade him withdraw a good deal from society, and commit himself the\nmore to hard study. He tells us that he had for a long time previously\npractised divination; now he began to think himself to be directly\ninspired as to the future. From this time, as the lights occurred to his\nmind, he began committing them to writing at the moment. He set them down\nat first in plain prose, if you can call enigmatical sentences plain\nprose; at any rate, they were not written in verse.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res\u2019 version varies again. With him it is, that Nostradamus found\nby experience that the perfect knowledge of medicine is unattainable\nwithout the aid of astrology, to which he now addicted himself. It is\nan alluring science, and one towards the pursuit of which his natural\ngenius strongly disposed him, so that he made very rapid progress in it.\nHis first publications in this line consisted of almanacs, according\nto the custom of the time, for profit and recreation\u2019s sake; and in\nthese he so happily hit off the conjuncture of events that both he and\nhis publications became greatly sought after. It is somewhat curious\nthat so few of these almanacs appear to be now extant. One would have\nexpected that documents of such interest, once in type, would not perish\nentirely from all households and libraries. It may, however, be taken as\na proof of the maelstrom of time that engulfs everything, so that by the\nperiod when posterity grows interested in any event, all its belated\nquestionings are presented with a universal blank. The spirit of literary\npiracy, too, seems to have been rife in those early days. The success of\nhis work soon became a cause of discredit to him, as it led enterprising\nprinters and booksellers to vend, under his name, almanacs destitute of\neverything that had constituted the merit of his.\n\nWhen the work made its appearance, it divided the public. Some called\nthe prophet a simple visionary, or, in coarser phrase, a fool; others\naccused him of magic, and of being in too close treaty with the Devil to\nbe honest. A few held their judgment in suspense, and would pronounce\nno opinion on the subject. A vast number of the grandees and of the\nlearned, both at home and abroad, thought that he was endowed with a gift\nsupernatural; and amongst these were Henri II. and Catherine de Medici.\nIt remained to the _esprits forts_ and the ignorant public, who knew\nnothing of him but his name, to pronounce him a charlatan and impostor.\nThere is one thing certain, he felt much hesitation as to publishing at\nall; and, when he took that step at last, he addressed the book to his\ninfant son, and not to any public character, in the year 1555. At this\nperiod he would be fifty-two. This is not a time of life at which men\nusually commence a course of imposture. When he is summoned to the Court\nat Paris, loaded with honours and consulted on high matters (_de choses\nimportantes_), he displays nothing but moderation and good sense, and\nreturns contentedly to his modest home at Salon. Upon all ordinary lines\nof human judgment, such conduct seems to indicate genuineness; and this\nis strengthened, if not established, by his genuine gravity of deportment\nand serious religious sentiments. Nobody has denied the purity of his\nlife. Still, a certain Lord Pavillon, of his own day, wrote against him,\nor perhaps against this publishers\u2019 figment of a name, rather than his.\nFurther, we find the book led to the bitter epigrammatic distich of the\npoet Jodele, or as others say, of Beza,\u2014\n\n    \u201cNostradamus cum falsa damus, nam fallere nostrum est,\n      Et cum falsa damus, nil nisi nostra damus.\u201d\n\nThis can very easily be turned against the piratical almanac makers,\nthus:\u2014\n\n    \u201cVera damus cum verba damus qu\u00e6 Nostradamus dat;\n      Sed cum nostra damus, nil nisi falsa damus.\u201d\n\nIn spite of piracy and obloquy, the repute of Nostradamus grew, as we\nhave said, in influential quarters, until it came to the ears of Queen\nCatherine de Medici and Henri II., on the publication, in March, 1555, of\nthe first seven Centuries of his \u201cProphecies.\u201d The remaining Centuries,\nthe Sixains, and Presages, were not published till long after. In the\nfollowing year, 1556, they sent for him to attend the Court in Paris:\nthough Garenci\u00e8res says he left Salon on July 14, 1555, and reached\nParis on August 15th, a particularity which seems to indicate special\nknowledge.[10] The Lord Constable Montmorency attended him at his inn,\nand presented him to the king in person. The king showed him high\nfavour, and ordered him to be lodged at the palace of the Cardinal de\nBourbon, Archbishop of Sens, during his stay in the capital.\n\nWhen there a severe attack of gout seized him, that lasted ten or twelve\ndays. His majesty sent him two hundred crowns in gold (two hundred\n\u00e9cus d\u2019or; vid. Moreri) in a velvet purse, and the queen one hundred\ncrowns (Le Pelletier, i. 92). They then despatched him to Blois, to\nvisit their children, the royal princes, and give his astrological\nopinion. He repaired thither, and seems to have acquitted himself to\nthe satisfaction of the king. It is quite certain that he did not tell\nthem precisely what he thought,[11] for the princes were Francis II.,\nCharles IX., and Henri III., whose tragical fates he has correctly\nset out, and with unmistakable clearness, as may be seen (at pp. 84,\n86, 96) by the forecasts in his strange book. He, however, cast their\nhoroscopes and acquitted himself in this, as in all other transactions,\n_en homme d\u2019esprit_. He returned to Salon so much encouraged that he\nset to work and completed his \u201cCenturies,\u201d consisting of three hundred\nmore quatrains. These further quatrains he appears to have printed in\n1558, but Garenci\u00e8res says that he dedicated them to the king in 1557.\nThe only thing that is certain is that the Texte-type dates the epistle\nJune 27, 1558. This \u201cLuminary Epistle\u201d to the king, Garenci\u00e8res tells us,\ndiscovers future events \u201cfrom the birth of Louis XIV., now reigning, till\nthe coming of antichrist.\u201d[12]\n\nHenri II. was killed the following year, 1559, at the tournament of St.\nQuentin, as we shall see it fully set forth at Quatrain 35 in Century I.\n\nHe had now become quite a court favourite, for Emanuel, the Duke of\nSavoy, visited him at his house at Salon about this period, in the month\nof October; and, in the December following, the Princesse Marguerite\nde France, sister of Henri II, who by the treaty of peace at Cambresis\nwas to marry the duke, came also to Nostradamus, entertaining him very\nfamiliarly (Garenci\u00e8res and Moreri).\n\nCharles IX. made a progress through the kingdom in 1564, to quiet the\ncities that had mutinied; and when he came to Provence, on arriving at\nSalon, November 17th, he asked first of all for Nostradamus. Nostradamus\nwas in the suite of magistrates around the king, so that he was presented\non the instant, upon which the king made him his Physician in Ordinary,\nand honoured him with the title of Counsellor. He complained rather\nbitterly of the neglect with which his fellow-townsmen treated him. C\u00e9sar\nNostradamus reports this, saying, \u201c_Et de ce, me souviens fort bien, car\nje fus de la partie_\u201d (Moreri). On the return journey he again inquired\nfor Nostradamus, and gave him two hundred \u00e9cus. He was at this time over\nsixty, and with his health fast breaking under severe attacks of gout.\nHe died within about sixteen months of this period, and the salary and\nprofits of Physician in Ordinary must have greatly comforted the old man\nin his latter days. He enjoyed now the further satisfaction of being\nflocked to by learned men, grandees, and others, who resorted to him far\nand near, as to an oracle. \u201cAs St. Jerome remarks of Livy, so may we\nremark of him,\u201d says his biographer, Jean Aimes, \u201cthat those who came to\nFrance sought Nostradamus as the only thing to be seen there.\u201d\n\nThe closing scene is now drawing very near, and we find him much\nafflicted with his maladies, notably arthritic gout, as distinguished\nfrom podagra, which Dr. Cullen considers as the seat of idiopathic gout.\nHe awaited with firmness his climacteric, as they used to designate a\nman\u2019s sixty-third year. He died on the 2nd of July, 1566, a little before\nsunrise, having all his senses yet about him, for the arthritis turned\nto dropsy about eight days previously, and early on the second day of\nthe month suffocated him. Jean Aimes says that Nostradamus was well\nadvised of the time, even of the very day and hour, when his death must\ntake place. The prophet reminded him frequently towards the close of the\nprevious June that he had written with his own hand, in the Ephemerides\nof Jean Stadius, these words in Latin, _Hic prope mors est_ (\u201cHere is\ndeath at hand\u201d). \u201cThe day,\u201d continues this friend, \u201cbefore he exchanged\nthis life for a better, after I had spent many hours with him, and late\nat night was taking leave of him until the following morning, he said,\n\u2018You will not see me alive at sunrise.\u2019\u201d M. le Pelletier gives (i. 91)\nPresage 141 as a stanza pointing to his own death; but, as the \u201cPresages\u201d\nwere not printed till 1568, their authenticity may or may not be accepted\nas the reader feels inclined. The lines run thus, and are remarkable\nenough, if we admit that they were a genuine forecast; for, although\nthey assign no specific date, yet they sum up the principal facts rather\nfully:\u2014\n\n    \u201cDe retour d\u2019Ambassade, don de Roy mis au lieu;\n    Plus n\u2019en fera; sera all\u00e9 \u00e0 Dieu:\n    Parans plus proches, amis, freres du sang,\n    Trouv\u00e9 tout mort pr\u00e8s du lict et du banc.\u201d\n\nThe meaning given to this is, that on his return from Arles, whence he\nwas sent for, in 1564, by Charles IX., to see him a second time, after he\nhad safely put away the three hundred crowns given him by the king and\nqueen, his last transaction would be concluded, and he would then render\nhis soul to God. His nearest relatives, brothers, and friends would find\nhim dead near his bed, seated, as was customary with him, on the bench\nat its foot, as he could there breathe more freely.\n\nThis is the interpretation put upon it by M. le Pelletier. As I\nunderstand C\u00e9sar Nostradamus, the king did not send for him to Arles, but\nasked again for him on his majesty\u2019s return to Salon; and I should think\nthe word \u201cambassade\u201d must refer to some private mission the king had sent\nhim upon entirely apart from this, and for which he paid him. Be this\nas it may, the fact that Nostradamus assigns no date for his death, in\nthis presage, goes to establish its authenticity, one would incline to\nsay. For supposing it to have been foisted in, after his death, surely\na fabricator of the marvellous would first of all have made it to show\n_trois vingts et trois bis_, and twisted that into some colourable shape.\nHe would have been little likely to add as a prophetical feature that\nthe king\u2019s present had been put away in a safe place, as to do so seems\nanything rather than a supernatural instinct. It is a touch of prose\nmore than of the Python. On the whole, I should incline to take the\nverse for a genuine emanation from the pen of Nostradamus. Certainly he\nwould recognize, even medically, that, as he found himself to be growing\n\u201c_fort caduc et d\u00e9bile_\u201d towards his climacterical year, he would know\nthat his dissolution was at hand. A man\u2019s grand climacteric is generally\nconsidered to arrive at 63, though some place it at 81, that number being\ncomposed of 9 times 9. In either of these periods, if sickness occur, it\nis considered as especially likely to prove fatal.\n\nThere seems to be a diversity of opinion about this, for some say that\nthe _annus climactericus_ is 84, or 12 times 7. Aulus Gellius thinks the\nopinion to be of immense antiquity, running back to the Chaldeans; and no\ndoubt Pythagoras derived it from the East. Ficinus explains it by saying\nthat the body of man is ruled over by each planet in turn for the space\nof one year, and, Saturn being the most maleficent, every seventh year\nfalling to his presidency becomes extremely dangerous. This explanation\nwould shut out the nines, except in the sixty-third and eighty-first\nyear, but it would also vitiate the whole scheme of astrology, for the\nplanet under which a man was born (say he were born under Saturn) would\ndominate his body at birth, and be, one must suppose, the ruling planet\nthat year, and, if it were Saturn, would recur only on his eighth year.\nEighty-four would not be in favour generally, as it consists entirely of\neven numbers, though divisible by seven. Many held that only a number\nproduced by the multiplication of an odd number could be climacterical.\nAugustus thought it a subject of great rejoicing when he had passed\nover his sixty-third year.[13] Moreri will have eighty-one to be\nproperly speaking the climacteric, and he notes that at this age died\nPlato, Diogenes, Eratosthenes the geometer, and many other illustrious\npersonages. Some went so far as to say that political bodies had their\nclimacterical periods; and they certainly, judging from our own country,\nhave periods of fatal folly, whether or no the nines and sevens collide,\nor the stars fight against Sisera. But amongst other oddities of history\nmay be chronicled the fact that Henri Quatre was the sixty-third King of\nFrance, which made Malherbe talk of\u2014\n\n    \u201cLa vaine \u00e9tude s\u2019applique,\n    A trouver la climat\u00e9rique,\n    De l\u2019\u00e9ternelle fleur-de-lis\u201d\u2014\n\nthat _fleur-de-lis_ whose terrible withering up in the fatal year of \u201993\nNostradamus so powerfully forecasts.\n\nSuffice it to say that in this climacterical crisis Nostradamus succumbed\nin his sixty-third year to gout, which turned to dropsy.[14]\n\nNostradamus was interred at the church of the Franciscan Friars (Les\nCord\u00e9liers) at Salon, as it is noted, on the left-hand side of the\nchurch door (Garenci\u00e8res). His widow erected to him a marble tablet,\n\u201crepresenting his figure to the life, and his arms above it.\u201d The\nepitaph is as follows, made, they say, in imitation of that great Livy\naforenamed, the Roman historian:\u2014\n\n                                D. M.\n\n                           CLARISSIMI OSSA\n\n                        MICHAELIS NOSTRADAMI,\n\n                UNIUS OMNIUM MORTALIUM JUDICIO DIGNI,\n               CUJUS PENE DIVINO CALAMO TOTIUS ORBIS,\n                 EX ASTRORUM INFLUXU, FUTURI EVENTUS\n                          CONSCRIBERENTUR.\n               VIXIT ANNOS LXII. MENSES VI. DIES XVII.\n                     OBIIT SALONE AN. CI\u2183I\u2183LXVI.\n          QUIETEM POSTERI NE INVIDETE. ANNA PONTIA GEMELLA\n                      CONJUGI OPT. V. FELICIT.\n\n    TRANSLATION.\n\n    \u201cHere lie the bones of the illustrious Michael Nostradamus,\n    whose almost divine pen alone, in the judgment of all mortals,\n    was worthy to record, under the influx of the stars, the future\n    events of the whole world. He lived 62 years, 6 months, 17\n    days. He died at Salon in the year 1566. Posterity, disturb not\n    his sweet rest! Anne Ponce Gemelle hopes for her husband true\n    felicity.\u201d\n\nThe text of this epitaph is that given by Benoist Rigaud in the edition\nof Nostradamus published by him in 1568.\n\nIn stature he was somewhat undersized, of a robust body, sprightly, and\nvigorous. He had a broad and open forehead, a straight even nose, grey\neyes, of kindly expression, but in anger capable of flashing fire. The\ngeneral expression was severe, though pleasant, so that a grand humanity\nshone through the seriousness. Even in age his cheeks were rosy. He had a\nlong thick beard, and excellent health till nearly the close of life; he\nhad his senses, being alert and keen, up to the very last moment. He had\na good and lively wit, seizing with quick comprehension everything that\nhe wished to acquire. His judgment was very penetrating, his memory happy\nand retentive. He was taciturn by nature, thought much and spoke little;\nbut at the right time and occasion he could discourse extremely well. He\nwas quick, and sudden even to irascibility; but very patient where work\nhad to be done. He slept four or five hours only out of the twenty-four.\nHe practised freedom of speech himself and commended it in others. He\nwas cheerful and facetious in conversation, though in jesting a little\ngiven to bitterness. He was attached, so says De Chavigny, to the Roman\nChurch, and held fixedly the Catholic faith; out of its pale there\nwas for him no salvation. Though pursuing a line of thought entirely\nhis own, he had no sympathy with the Lutheran heretics of so-called\nFreethought. He was given to prayer, fasting, and charity. As far as\noutward observance was concerned, he might be classed with the highly\nrespectable and decent. Le Pelletier says, \u201cSa fin fut Chr\u00e9tienne;\u201d but\nhe adds a little further on that his style is very much more like that of\nthe Pagan oracles of Greece and Rome than of the canonical prophets of\nHebrew inspiration. He was very generous to the poor, and held it as a\nsort of maxim that in this sense it was legitimate to make friends with\n\u201cthe mammon of unrighteousness.\u201d\n\nJean Aimes de Chavigny, who seems to have come over from Beaune to play\nthe part of a Boswell to Nostradamus, and, after his friend\u2019s death,\nis said to have devoted twenty-eight years of his life to editing the\n\u201cCenturies\u201d with notes,[15] says that he collected twelve books of the\n\u201cCenturies,\u201d of which vols. vii., xi., and xii. are imperfect. These are\nin quatrains, and are classified as _Proph\u00e9ties_, and they extend to\nvery remote ages. The _Presages_, we are told, were written between 1550\nand 1567,[16] and were collected by Aimes and reduced into twelve books\nin prose, as he thinks them worthy of the attention of posterity. The\nfew _Presages_ that are in print run to only one hundred and forty-three\nquatrains in verse; so we must suppose that those written in prose have\nperished entirely.\n\nNostradamus left two brothers behind him: one named Bertrand; the\nother, Jean, who was his junior, and proctor to the Parliament at Aix,\ncomposed a History of Provence, and also wrote the lives of the Poets of\nProvence.[17]\n\nMoreri states that by his second wife he had six children, three boys\nand three girls. Of his sons, C\u00e9sar, the eldest, was a person of\ndemonstratively gay and kindly spirit. It was to him, when quite a child,\nthat Nostradamus dedicated the first seven of the \u201cCenturies\u201d published\nby him. These are the most authentic of all, and Moreri remarks that, if\nyou wish the quatrains to be without interpolation, you should secure\nearly editions. The reader will understand that to be now unnecessary,\ninasmuch as we have all along been dealing with the _Texte-type_. C\u00e9sar\nwas born at Salon, 1555, and died 1629. He, like his uncle Jean, was\nan author, and wrote upon the same topics, leaving in manuscript a\ncollection of the most remarkable things happening in Provence from\nthe year 1080 to 1494. In this he included the lives of the poets of\nProvence. Many years after his death, his nephew and namesake, C\u00e9sar\nNostradamus, who was Governor of Provence and gentleman in waiting upon\nthe Duc de Guise, found them, and himself worked at them, till, in\n1603, the Parliament of the province voted him three thousand livres to\nencourage him to complete the work, which he did; and they were finally\nprinted in Lyons in 1614, under the title of \u201cChroniques de l\u2019Histoire de\nProvence.\u201d He commences with the Celtic Gauls at the early date of the\nDeluge. This is worthy of a true scion of the tribe of Issachar. A very\nstrange story is told of C\u00e9sar by La Motte le Vayer in his \u201cInstruction\npour Monseigneur le Dauphin.\u201d He, like his father, Michel, had a taste\nfor forecasting the future, and had ventured to predict that Pouzin,\nwhich was besieged, would perish by fire; but it was taken by _coup de\nmain_. Whilst the pillage was going forward, the foolish prophet was,\nit is said, seen, match in hand, endeavouring to set it on fire. He was\ncaught; and Saint-Luc, the commander, asked him if he had prophesied\nanything for himself that day. He replied, \u201cNo!\u201d on which the general\nrode at him with his lance, and killed him on the spot. Moreri relates\nthis story somewhat differently. If either version were true, it would be\nclear that C\u00e9sar did not understand \u201c_la parole h\u00e9r\u00e9ditaire de l\u2019occulte\npr\u00e9diction_,\u201d and that the lancehead instead was \u201c_dans son estomac\nintercluse_.\u201d From other authorities, however, it would seem that he was\nbusy about his history long after the date thus assigned for his death.\nCharles, his brother, was very excellent in Proven\u00e7al poetry, and several\npieces of his are still extant. Michel\u2019s third son, whose name is not\ngiven us by Moreri, became a Capuchin.\n\nAn anecdote is related by Garenci\u00e8res, which he throws out as \u201ca merry\npassage\u201d to re-create his reader. Nostradamus was with Lord Florinville\nin Lorraine, at the Castle of Faim. He was attending medically his\nlordship\u2019s mother. In the yard where they strolled there were two little\npigs, one white and the other black. His lordship inquired of Nostradamus\njestingly what would be the fate of those pigs. \u201cWe shall eat the black\none, and the wolf shall eat the white,\u201d said he. Lord Florinville\nsecretly ordered the cook to get ready the white one for supper. When it\nwas spitted ready for roasting, the cook left the kitchen for something,\nand in his absence a young tame wolf came in and ate a part of it, so\nthat it could not appear at table. The cook immediately killed the black\none, and sent it up at the time appointed. His lordship, not knowing what\nhad happened, said to Nostradamus, \u201cWell, sir, we are now eating the\nwhite pig; how shall the wolf get it?\u201d \u201cI do not believe it,\u201d rejoined\nthe prophet; \u201cit is the black one that is upon the table.\u201d The cook was\nsent for, and by his confession the truth came out, much to the surprise\nof everybody present. Another story follows this, that Nostradamus had\nsaid that treasure was hidden in a little hill near Faim, that it would\nnot be found if sought for, but that, if the ground was dug for any\nother reason, it would. Garenci\u00e8res adds that there is great probability\nabout this, as it is the site of an ancient temple, and many times since\nantiquities have been unearthed here. He completes his cock-and-bull\nstory by saying that many such tales are told of Nostradamus all over\nFrance, but that he passes them by as being \u201cunwilling to write anything\nwithout good warrant.\u201d\n\nAmongst other nonsensical reports spread was one that he caused himself\nto be buried alive, and that he continued to write prophecies. This, no\ndoubt, was set afloat by those honest publishers who in life had done\nhim the honour to pirate his almanacs; at any rate, it made for their\ninterest. It has also been pretended that so many in Salon regarded him\nas an impostor, that for security\u2019s sake he was buried in the Franciscan\nChurch.\n\nThose who desire the Bibliography of the editions of Nostradamus up to\nthe year 1840 will consult that which has been admirably drawn up by\nEug\u00e8ne Bareste, Paris, 1840, in his work upon \u201cNostradamus.\u201d Or they may\nfind it copied textually, with all due acknowledgment of its excellence,\nin the first volume of Le Pelletier\u2019s edition of the \u201cOracles.\u201d\n\nThe works of Nostradamus, besides the \u201cProphecies,\u201d seem to have been\u2014\n\n    Several Almanacs, two of which were translated at once into\n    English, and are given by Watt, \u201cBib. Brit.\u201d\n\n    \u201cAlmanacke for 1559.\u201d London: 1559. 8vo.\n\n    \u201cAlmanacke et Prognostications.\u201d London: 1559. 8vo.\n\nMoreri gives further an\u2014\n\n    Almanac for country labourers, to mark the seasons favourable\n    for their work. A true predecessor, this, of Moore\u2019s _Vox\n    Stellarum_.\n\n    \u201cPredictions before 1558.\u201d London: 1691. 4to. This is named by\n    Watt, and may be a translation of the genuine first edition of\n    the \u201cSeven Centuries,\u201d but I have not met with it.\n\n    \u201cProphecies of the Kings and Queens of England.\u201d 1715. This is\n    the work by D. D. that we have largely quoted from.\n\n    \u201cAn excellent Treatise on Contagious Infirmities in 1559-60.\u201d\n    Translated into English. London: 1559.\n\n    \u201cTrait\u00e9 des Fardements.\u201d Lyon: 1552.\n\n    \u201cDes Confiteurs,\u201d etc. Anvers: 1557.\n\n    \u201cOpuscule de plusieurs exquises Receptes, divis\u00e9 en deux\n    parties.\u201d Lyon: 1572. 16mo. This contains both the above.\n\n    \u201cLa Rem\u00e8de tr\u00e8s utile contre la Peste et toutes Fi\u00e8vres\n    pestilentielles.\u201d Paris: 1651. 8vo.\n\n    \u201cParaphrase de Galien sur exhortation de Menodote aux \u00c9tudes\n    des Beaux Arts.\u201d Lyon: 1558. 8vo.\n\nTouching the prophecies of Nostradamus, Th\u00e9ophile de Garenci\u00e8res gives\nus an interesting fact, that, after the primer, it was the first book\nat school in which he learnt to read. It was the custom in France then\n(_i.e._ 1618) to initiate children by that book. They thought the crabbed\nand obsolete words, such as long survived in the English law, would give\nthe scholars some idea of the old French language; so that the book got\nrepublished from year to year like an almanac. He chronicles that many\nhave run mad from overstudying the prophecies. He dissuades readers from\ndoing this, because interpretation must always be a little uncertain\nwhere, like an ancient oracle, the author indulges in a double sense,\nwhich he thinks Nostradamus often does. Without a peculiar genius, he\ndoes not suppose it possible to get at a right understanding of the\nquatrain. Even when the prophecy is quite plain, as that the Parliament\nshould put King Charles to death, no reader, until it had happened, could\ntell when, or how, it would be brought about. Even his astrological signs\nwill not fix things, because the planets go and return again to the same\nbearings. Some of his reasons are very peculiar, one being that it is\nnot profitable for the _vulgar_ to have knowledge of the future, that\nGod reserves the knowledge of the times to Himself, and that it might\ntrespass upon \u201cbusiness of State\u201d to discover and lay open things which\nthe prudent wish to conceal; and he concludes, oddly enough, that \u201cfor\nthese reasons (dear Reader) I would not have thee entangle thyself in the\npretentions of knowing future things.\u201d\n\nHe conceives that there are many concurrent causes tending to diminish\nthe prophetic reputation of Nostradamus. The very ordinary manner in\nwhich he conformed to the rules and ritual of the Roman Catholic Church,\nwould lead no one to infer that he enjoyed any extraordinary favour\nfrom the Almighty; his proficiency in judicial astrology would furnish\nmatter of prejudice against him in the minds of many learned men; the\nvery devout suspected him of necromancy, and familiarity with the Angel\nof Darkness; finally, the inherent obscurity of his style, has been\nrendered still more difficult by the interminable faults introduced by\nthe copyists and the carelessness of printers. Now, it is admitted, he\nsays, and by its ablest defenders, that judicial astrology cannot enable\nits professor to foretell such particularities as proper names and other\ncircumstances that hang upon the freewill of men; and, as our author does\nforetell such things as these, he must have had recourse to the black\nart to obtain his results. Accordingly Lord Florimond de Raimond, in his\n\u201cBirth of Heresies,\u201d makes this charge against him; also Lord Spond, in\nthe third volume of his \u201cAnnals,\u201d in 1566, devised this epitaph for him.\n\u201cMortuus est hoc anno nugax ille toto orbe famosus _Michel Nostradamus_,\nqui se pr\u00e6scium et presagum eventuum futurorum per astrorum influxum\nvenditavit, sub cujus deinceps nomine quivis homines ingeniosi suas hujus\nmodi cogitationes protendere consueverent, in quem valde apposite lusit\nqui dixit: _Nostra damus_ cum falsa damus,\u201d etc.[18]\n\nProvoked thus, Garenci\u00e8res endeavours to prove Nostradamus to have been\nenlightened by the Holy Spirit. We shall not follow him in this matter\nany further than to avail ourselves of the facts we may light upon in the\ncourse of his arguments, and to record a few of the eulogies upon him\nthat Garenci\u00e8res gathers from eminent authors in times past. To these we\nmay add some authorities who in modern times have named him; but these\nmostly sum up his forecastings as springing from venality, vanity, and\nimposture.\n\nOf proper names, that Nostradamus has anticipated, the list is\nconsiderable. He names the Lord of Monluc; Captain Charry; Lord de la\nMole, Admiral of the Galleys to Henri II.; Entragues, beheaded by Louis\nXIII.; Clarepegne, the headsman; Sinan, the Pasha who destroyed Hungary;\nCl\u00e9ment, who murdered Henri III.; the Attorney David and Captain Ampus;\nRousseau, the Mayor of Puy; Louis, Prince of Cond\u00e9; Sixtus V., calling\nhim son of Hamont; Gabrielle d\u2019Estr\u00e9e; Lord Mutonis; Anthony de Sourdis,\nLord Chancellor of France; the Queen Louise; Antony of Portugal. Since\nGarenci\u00e8res\u2019 time other names have been identified: Narbon, the Minister\nof War; Saulce; Lethuille, for the Tuilleries; Lonole, for Old Noll,\nor Cromwell; Montmorency; Le Grand Chiren, anagram of Henri le Grand;\nMendosus, anagram of Vendosme; Norlaris, anagram for Lorrains; Robin,\nanagram of Biron; Rapis, anagram for Paris; Esleu Cap, for Capet, or\nLouis XVI.; Varennes, the place where Louis was arrested; the play\nupon _bour_ and _bon_, for Bourbon (Cent. vii. 44); Ergaste, anagram\nof Estrange for Marie Antoinette the Austrian; Mont Gaulfier, for\nMontgolfier, the \u00e6ronaut; the island of Elba, mentioned as \u00c6thalia, the\nancient name of Elba; Sainct Memire, anagram for Sainct Meri; and the\nplay on \u201cdort leans\u201d for Louis Philippe. This is a goodly list of names\nto guess at haphazard. Such chance as could so result would rival any\nprophecy in the miraculous nature of its elements.\n\nAgain, as regards the curious things he mentions, one might make out a\nlong list. The date of the Fire of London. The five hundred Marseillais\nthat led the attack upon the Tuilleries. The naming of the very year\n1792 for the French Revolution; the 22nd of September in that year being\nthe date from which the Republicans began to reckon anew their era. Many\nmore might so easily be gathered as to even weary the reader with their\nenumeration.\n\nHe mentions the birth of persons that were born after his death. Now,\njudicial astrology could give no help in such cases, since to commence\ncasting a nativity presupposes birth. In his epistle to his son C\u00e9sar\nwe shall see what he says of himself and the gifts he possessed; but\neven there he was obliged to be somewhat obscure, to protect himself\nfrom the ridicule of the world on the one side, and from the severities\nof the Church on the other. He tells his son to eschew the study of the\nfuture astrologically, to avoid magic, as prohibited by the Church and\nScripture, and that he himself had burnt some books that taught the art\nof prophesying, although it is pretty evident that he had first read them\nthrough very carefully himself. He relates that a mighty flame burst\nforth from them to the danger of his house, and this he interpreted\nto be the consequence of their falsity. But yet he seems to have gone\nthrough a good many of the magical forms when he was about to devote the\nnight to prophetical studies. He holds that inspired Revelation is \u201c_a\nparticipation of the Eternal Divinity_,\u201d though he scarcely lays claim to\nbeing a prophet in this sense of the word; in fact, he denies himself to\nbe such a prophet. But, failing to claim inspiration, and denouncing the\npractice of astrology and the pursuit of magic, one is left somewhat in\nthe dark as to what he really did profess to be the source of fatidical\nutterance possessed by him. That he had the gift in a marvellous potency\nthis book will show; and that he openly claimed to possess it his whole\nlife proves. It is, in fact, from this I should desire to establish that\nat least he was no impostor, for he only told others what he began by\nimplicitly believing himself.\n\nAs to his obscurity, he himself admits it as a thing to be cultivated\nboth in the times he lived in and in those that were to follow. No\none can truthfully deny that obscurity and prophecy seem to be almost\ninterchangeable and convertible terms. The prophecies in Scripture are\nof such ambiguity that Whitby was commended by many for concluding his\nCommentary on the Bible with the General Epistle of Jude, without a word\nbestowed upon the Revelations of St. John. There are those who will hold\nthat prophecies are useless, as they cannot generally be understood until\nthey have been fulfilled. It is obvious that many prophecies are of\nsuch a nature as that, if they were clearly understood previous to the\nevent, they would prevent their own fulfilment, and so cease to have been\nprophecies. What they foretold would never have occurred. The philosophy\nof history is supposed to show that Providence shapes the course of\nhuman events, how much soever humanity may seem at every instant to be\nfollowing out its own collective will. This theory is most in favour\namongst erudite modern thinkers, who incline very little towards\nacquiescence in the old Church doctrine of Predestination. Yet inspired\nprophecy is a collateral proof of the same principle as that which\nunderlies the philosophy of history. Both of them depend on the finger of\nGod shaping\u2014first shaping chaos into things, and then things into their\ncontinuous courses. The shaping is not needed more at the first creation\nthan it is at every successive stage, whether for preservation or for\nprogression. Again, the interest of uninspired prophecy is for mortal man\nnot much less vivid; for, if we have interpreted Nostradamus rightly, we\nfind in him a man living three hundred years ago talking intelligibly, if\nnot clearly, of things that are happening to-day. If there be a power in\nhuman nature,\u2014latent in the generality, but in a few alert and quick,\u2014to\nlink far centuries together in anticipatory thought, I take it to be\nquite clear, that that one fact must revolutionize the whole scheme of\nhuman philosophy as accepted now, whether it relates to life, to death,\nor to futurity. The fatidical capacity implies a spirit of immortality in\nman. With that once established, we re-enter upon the domain of faith;\nwe recognize that the earth is drossy and the body sin; we re-create the\nsoul, and laugh at the fool (or the philosopher) who doubts, denies,\nand ridicules it. It gives new ground to teach the immortality of man;\nit lifts us above the dirt-doctrine of gold; it renders poetry once\nagain possible to lips hallowed with Apollo\u2019s fire; it brings back a\npossibility of worship upon earth, and, with that, prayer, praise, and\npeace. Bates, the silver-tongued, says well, that for man \u201cit is as\nnatural to pray as to breathe.\u201d\n\nGarenci\u00e8res is of opinion that the writings of our prophet were for a\ncentury allowed to \u201cbe in darkness,\u201d but we have seen that in his own\nday Nostradamus attracted the notice of the learned, of the nobility,\nand of the king himself. Garenci\u00e8res says that the first book they gave\n_him_ at school after the primer was \u201cThe Centuries,\u201d so it was not\nneglected then; and M. le Pelletier remarks that Nostradamus\u2019s fame has\nnow been before the world for three hundred years, with an always growing\nreception. Of course, as time wanes, and as fresh quatrains become\ninterpreted after accomplishment, the series must shine with an ever\naugmenting brilliancy and splendour. The kings of France have never been\nquite indifferent to the Oracles, or at least to such of them as could\nbe shown to refer to them individually. It is reported of Charles Edward\nStuart, the Pretender, that he to the last conned[19] over the volume,\nanxiously hoping to find in it some stanza promising to his royal line\nrestoration to the throne of England, but in vain (Chambers\u2019 \u201cBook of\nDays,\u201d ii. 13).\n\nIn modern times prophecy is derided, and our seer, obscurely hinting\nhis strange forecasts, is voted incoherent, rhapsodial, or an impostor.\nAlmost every one has heard his name mentioned, but that is all. Few who\ncome across his work accidentally on a bookshelf can make head or tail\nof his Proven\u00e7al and half obsolete terms. Without special study you\ncannot understand him; and to study a work that lies under a general\nban of imposture, in a time when only lucrative study is pursued, is\na thing not to be thought of by a _litt\u00e9rateur_ of any intelligence.\nConsequently in England it is a name, floating far and wide it may be,\nthat nevertheless remains but a name and nothing more. I hope, however,\nwhen this book comes to be read by the competent few, it will be seen\nthat there exists far more than a mere name to be dealt with here;\nthat in Nostradamus we have the greatest fatidical seer, not divinely\naccredited, that the world has ever beheld; that if accepted as being\nendowed with a rare and curious foresight,\u2014after the severest inquiry\ninto what he has done has been instituted by grammarians, historians,\nand philosophic critics,\u2014it will next become necessary to try to look\ninto the causes, and so ascertain how he operated. If we cannot succeed\nin that, and yet cannot deny his work, we must add the faculty, so\nremarkably developed in him, to the perceptive powers of the human race,\nas a sixth sense,\u2014generally latent but sometimes developed,\u2014the faculty\nof anticipating the future. Science, so called, must enlarge its narrow\ncategories, and admit, though never so grudgingly, that a new faculty of\nvast import must henceforth be accredited to humanity; a faculty which\nthe superstitious and the profoundly religious alike have immemorially\nadmitted, but which philosophers, as such, have as persistently ignored,\ndenied, or even ridiculed. It has often been said by troubled thinkers,\nwith a pretentious flourish of baffled profundity, that \u201ctrue philosophy\nbegins in doubt.\u201d I would whisper it down the wind, but not in Gath,\nthat for the most part there it also ends. Anatomy cuts up a dead man to\nfind life. Analysis reduces final investigation to a _caput mortuum_.\nPhilosophy begins in doubt, and travels a wide circle to close in doubt\nagain. Perhaps, after all, the best basis might be faith. Beginning with\nfaith, haply a man might find God accompanying investigation with him\nstep by step through life, even in this world and its miraculous garden,\ntill the hour come for him to step, through the six-foot wicket, into the\nParadise of that glorious world that is adjacent to us but not seen,\nwhere sighs are not heaved, and whose glories are incorruptible.\n\nWhen we come to enumerate some few of the opinions that have been\nexpressed on the writings and character of Nostradamus, it will be seen\nthat a vast number of them condemn him for charlatanry and imposture,\nespecially as we approach our own day. For now what is denominated\nscience accepts nothing for true but what is deducible from the reason;\nit takes for granted that nothing can be known respecting the future,\nbeyond what cultivated prudence can gather from a politic acquaintance\nwith the past, coupled perhaps with a sagacious estimate of the\nprinciples now at work, and the fruit they are likely to engender. In\nfact, what the knowledge of a wise man can enable him to foresee, covers\nfor such theorists the whole extent and province of all prophecy possible\nto man,\u2014the sagacity of Mazarin, which detected the revolutionary element\nin the Cardinal de Retz whilst still a youth; or the prediction of Bishop\nButler, in 1741, that the _levelling spirit_ then visible, under the\ndirection of principles that were atheistic, threatened dangers that\nmight menace Europe. But to call this prophecy is to be ignorant of what\nthe word prophecy means. To state it thus, or so to limit it, is to deny\nthe existence of the prophetic faculty altogether. A direct denial of\nthe thing is better than a sceptical definition of it. Scepticism, then,\nin our day, not believing there can be such a thing as a true presage,\nconcludes that Mother Shipton and Nostradamus stand on precisely the same\nfooting. They read a quatrain of Nostradamus, only understand one line\nout of four, and say that, although that one may be intelligible, the\nSphinx itself could make nothing of the others, and that out of a number\nof such verses it would be marvellous if something curious were not\noccasionally let fall. The next inference is that the author set up for a\ngift that he did not possess, and soon found the imposture was far more\nlucrative than the dull routine of medical practice, as in those times\nthe superstition of the public was unlimited. The ignorance of the Middle\nAges is pointedly contrasted for us now with the wisdom and knowledge of\nour own day. What, prejudice apart, does this mean, if briefly summed\nup in an aphorism? Only this: that the wisdom of to-day gives us the\nNihilist of _no faith_, in place of the Astrologer of _too much_.\n\nWe ought to remember in all this that our author had reached the mature\nage of fifty-two before he printed one word of the work that we are\nspending time over. He tells us that for generations the family of\nNostradamus had inherited and transmitted some share of the prophetic\ngift (Garenci\u00e8res\u2019 Preface, p. 16), that it came to him as a natural\ngenius; in which it seems that his sons partially shared. He had\ncultivated it long for his private pleasure, and the request in which his\nalmanacs stood seems to have first led him to think he might more largely\nutilize the faculty. He never appears to have made any large sum of money\nthrough it. He supported himself and brought up his family by steady work\nin his professional calling. On the very brink of publicity, anticipating\nmalign influences, he still hesitated to take the final plunge; and,\nwhen he did take it, he was in his fifty-third year. Men seldom pass\nthough life performing all its duties with credit and decorum, earn\na competency, and at fifty-two enter upon a career of contemptible\nimposture. No; this is not according to human nature. We must acquit him\nof imposture.\n\nMichel Nostradamus was one of the most learned men of his day, the friend\nof Jules C\u00e9sar Scaliger. He knew many modern languages, and the Hebrew,\nGreek, and Latin. He had followed medicine from the age of twenty-two,\ntook his Doctor\u2019s degree at twenty-six, filled a professorial chair at\nMontpellier, and late in life devoted himself to judicial astrology;\nin which, and in an intuitive forecast beyond what that can bestow,\nhe has distanced by far all other competitors in the same line. Let a\nreader thoroughly acquaint himself with all that is here set before him\nas to Charles I. in England, and its bloody re-enactment in the French\nRevolution, letting all the rest stand aside; and, if he can rise from\nthe perusal, feeling that there is any kind of imposture discoverable\nthroughout those strange and wonderful revelations, then he himself\npossesses so miraculous a form of judgment, as to leave me without a word\nfurther to advance upon the subject.\n\nM. le Pelletier conceives that the _Commun Adv\u00e9nement_, or _l\u2019av\u00e9nement\nau r\u00e8gne des gens du commun_, which I have rendered \u201cThe Vulgar Advent,\u201d\nextending from the death of Louis XVI. to the reign of Antichrist,\nis the grand object of Nostradamus. It is to paint this lurid epopee\nthat he devotes three-quarters at least of his quatrains, according\nto le Pelletier. Myself, I think this proportion to be overstated.\nBut our prophet returns to it again and again, elaborates the most\nminute details, and concentres upon it as in a focus the brightest\nrays of his mystical genius. Some think that Catharine de Medici was\nlargely influenced in her firm and far-seeing policy by the counsels of\nNostradamus, whom she visited expressly at Salon de Craux, in 1564, with\nher son, Charles IX. This may have been so, but it is a great question\nwhether Nostradamus, for all his visions, curiously as they realize\nthemselves in time, could advise the queen or anybody else at all better\nthan any other wise man of elaborate culture could. His visions would\ncome to him as verses to a great poet, and when written down and the\nafflatus fled, he would drop back to the ordinary condition of humanity.\nHe would drop back to the level of reason and the discourse of science,\nwith nothing to specially distinguish him from other men well placed to\nlearn such wisdom and knowledge as this world has to bestow upon them.\nTo expect more of him is to expect with the commonalty that if you met\nMilton in Bread Street he would address you in blank verse, and strain\n\u201cGood morning\u201d into metre. Great men cut very plain figures in common\nbroadcloth. It is the impostor who is magisterial, and puts on the airs\nof a Cagliostro.\n\nNostradamus is sometimes a pillar of fire, but oftener is he a pillar of\ncloud. He is a past master in words, and depicts events with a terseness\nthat almost baffles parallel; but still his employment of these same\nwords is more practical than artistic, for he never rises to poetry. As\nan accepted visionary he is perhaps less swayed by the imagination than\nany man of at all kindred type that one can mention. With him words are\nas often used to veil as to unfold his meaning. His contempt for simple\npersons, the ignorant, is very broadly marked. Men of knowledge are to\nconstitute his audience; the heaven of prophecy is in his opinion a\nregion unfit for children. He, clean contrary to the example set forth\nin St. Mark (x. 14), will suffer none such to approach him.[20] He\nchiefly predicts the _evil_ to come; what is good only figures in his\npages incidentally, and at long intervals. But here it is to be observed\nthat the staple of true prophecy must always run parallel with that of\nhistory; whilst, as to the latter, it has grown into an axiom, \u201cHappy is\nthe country that has no history.\u201d He fatigues while he fascinates us amid\nthe variety of his combinations; yet a deeper examination will often end\nin clothing these riddling and vext allusions in a magical and floating\ninvestment that lifts them up into a calm sublimity.\n\nStill he is clearly no prophet in the old and Hebrew sense of the\nword\u2014like Isaiah, Daniel, David, John,\u2014a man who neither respects his\nown person as regards its safety, nor the person of other men as regards\ntheir position. You cannot say of him: \u201c_Scimus quia verax es, non enim\nrespicis personam hominum_\u201d (St. Matt. xxii. 16), which is the test-touch\nall the world over of a true prophet. Le Pelletier\u2019s summing-up is:\n_c\u2019est un artiste en pronostics_. There is a Pythic ring in all he\nwrites and says; a sub-flavour, too, of cabalistic lore far gathered from\nthose ancient compromising books which he saw fit to burn. The outward\nsigns of his procedure and methods are palpably magical, as set forth\nin the stanzas that open his first Century to the reader. If we know\nthat he professed Christian orthodoxy, equally we know that he practiced\njudicial astrology, and made unquestionable use of the Pagan ritual of\nincantation. These rites, uncomprehended by all the erudite in books who\nwrote about them, were by the divines and fathers of the early Church\nignorantly attributed to prestidigitation, Toledan art, and fraudulent\ncompact with the sable fiend. Perhaps they may turn out to have been\nmerely natural excitations, empirically discovered, tending to enable the\nsubject of them more fully to reach a state of semi-conscious ecstasy; to\nplace the cerebral light in the current of latent light that pervades all\nspace (if such an expression be permissible), and so elicit results that\nare ordinarily unattainable by man. Bouys, who wrote in 1806, plainly\nconsiders him to have been a clairvoyant. The animal magnetizers call\nhim a _crisiaque_. Possibly all these processes only served to place him\nin a position favourable to clairvoyance; but on all this, respected and\ngentle reader, construct your own opinion. Let the man be to you prophet,\nsorcerer, or clairvoyant. Call him what you will, so you free him from\nthe stigma of impostor. M. le Pelletier\u2019s judgment as to that ought to be\nregarded as final: \u201c_L\u2019ampleur de son g\u00e9nie, et la suret\u00e9 inimaginable de\nson coup d\u2019\u0153il, ne permettent gu\u00e8re de la croire._\u201d\n\nIt has been well said that the man and his works are an enigma.\nEverything in our author is ambiguous: the man, the thought, the style.\nWe stumble at every step in the rough paths of his labyrinth. Once we\nenter, jeering voices seem to deride us from behind each stanza, strophe,\nword. We try to interrogate, but grow silent before a man of emotionless\nnerve and of impenetrable mask. What are these \u201cCenturies\u201d? What is\nNostradamus? In them and him all may find something; but no man born of\nwoman can find _all_. The Sphinx of France is here before us; a riddler,\nriddling of the fate of men: a man at once bold and timid; simple, yet\nwho can plumb his depth? A superficial Christian, a Pagan perhaps at\nheart; a man rewarded of kings: and yet, so far as we can see, furnishing\nno one profitable hint to them that could make their life run smoother,\nor remove a single peril from their path. He leaves a book of things\nmalign, written by one who, albeit, never spoke a word that _\u00e0 tous ne\nseroit agr\u00e9able_. Behold this Janus of a double face; his very breath is\ndouble; the essence of ambiguity lies wrapped incarnate in him, and it\nmoulds the man, the thought, the style.\n\n\n\n\nPR\u00c9FACE \u00c0 MON FILS.\n\nTHE PREFACE OF MICHAEL NOSTRADAMUS TO HIS PROPHECIES.\n\n\nTo C\u00e6sar Nostradamus his son, life and felicity. Thy late arrival,[21]\nC\u00e6sar Nostradamus my son, has made me bestow much time, through nightly\nvigils, to leave you in writing a memorial to refer to, after the\ncorporal extinction of your progenitor, that might serve for the common\nprofit of mankind, out of what the Divine Being has permitted me to learn\nfrom the revolution of the stars. And since it has pleased the immortal\nGod that thou shouldst come into the natural light of this terrene abode,\nand shouldst say that thy years are not yet calculated astronomically,\nand thy March months are incapable to receive in their weak understanding\nwhat I must necessarily record [as to happen] after my time:\u2014seeing also\nthat it is not possible to leave thee in writing what might suffer\ninjury and be obliterated by time; for the inherited gift of occult\nprediction will remain confined to my own bowels:\u2014considering that events\nof human proposal are uncertain, whilst all is governed and directed by\nthe incalculable power of Heaven, guiding us, not by Bacchic fury, nor\nyet by Lymphatic[22] motion, but by astronomical assertion\u2014\u201c_Soli numine\ndivino afflati pr\u00e6sagiunt et spirito prophetico particularia._\u201d[23]\n\nAlthough for years past I have predicted, a long time in advance, what\nhas afterwards come to pass, and in particular regions attributing\nthe whole accomplishment to divine power and inspiration, also other\nunfortunate and fortunate occurrences have been pronounced with\naccelerated promptitude which have since happened in other parts of the\nworld,\u2014for I was willing to maintain silence and to pass over matters\nthat might prove injurious [if published] not only as relates to the\npresent time, but also for the most part of future time, if committed\nto writing, since kingdoms, sects, and religions will pass through\nstages so very contrary, and, as regards the present time, diametrically\nopposed,\u2014that if I were to relate what will happen in the future,\ngovernors, sectaries, and ecclesiastics would find it so ill-accordant\nwith [_si_] their auricular fancy, that they would go near to condemn\nwhat future ages will know and perceive to be true. Considering also\nthe sentence of the true Saviour, \u201c_Nolite sanctum dare canibus neque\nmittatis margaritas vestras ante porcos, ne forte conculcent eas pedibus\nsuis, et conversi dirumpant vos_\u201d [Matt. vii. 6].\n\nThis it is which has led me to withhold my tongue from the vulgar, and\nmy pen from paper. But, later on, I thought I would enlarge a little,\nand declare in dark and abstruse sayings in consideration of [_pour_]\nthe vulgar advent [vid. Le Pelletier, i. 163] the most urgent of its\nfuture causes, as perceived by me, be the revolutionary changes what\nthey may, so only as not to scandalize the auricular frigidity (of my\nhearers), and write all down under a cloudy figure that shall essentially\nand above all things be prophetical. Although \u201c_Abscondidisti h\u00e6c a\nsapientibus, et prudentibus, id est, potentibus et regibus, et enucleasti\nea exiguis et tenuibus._\u201d[24] By the grace of God and the good angels,\nthe Prophets have had committed to them the spirit of vaticination, by\nwhich they see things at a distance, and are enabled to forecast future\nevents. For there is nothing that can be accomplished without Him, whose\npower and goodness are so great to all His creatures as long as they put\ntheir trust in Him, much as they may be [exposed] or subject to other\ninfluences, [yet] on account of their likeness to the nature of their\ngood guardian angel [or genius] that heat and prophetic power draweth\nnigh to us, as do the rays of the sun which cast their influence alike\nupon bodies that are elementary and non-elementary. As for ourselves\npersonally who are but human, we can attain to nothing by our own\nunaided natural knowledge, nor the bent of our intelligence, in the way\nof deciphering the recondite secrets of God the Creator. \u201c_Quia non\nest nostrum noscere tempora, nec momenta_,\u201d[25] etc. Although, indeed,\nnow or hereafter some persons may arrive to whom God Almighty may be\npleased to reveal by imaginative impression some secrets of the future,\nas accorded in time past to judicial astrology, when [_que_ for _quand_]\na certain power and volitional faculty came upon them, as a flame of\nfire appears.[26] They grew inspired, and were able to judge of all\ninspiration, human and divine, alike. For the divine works, which are\nabsolutely universal, God will complete; those which are contingent, or\nmedial, the good angels direct; and the third sort come under the evil\nangels.[27]\n\nPerhaps, my son, I speak to thee here a little too occultly. But as\nto the hidden vaticinations which come to one by the subtle spirit of\nfire, or sometimes by the understanding disturbed, [it may even be,\nby] contemplating the remotest stars, as being intelligences on the\nwatch, even to giving utterance to declarations [that] being taken down\nin writing declare, without favour, and without any taint of improper\nloquacity, that all things whatsoever proceed from the divine power of\nthe great eternal Deity from whom all goodness emanates. Further, my son,\nalthough I have inserted the name of prophet, I do not desire to assume a\ntitle of so high sublimity at the present moment. For he who \u201c_Propheta\ndicitur hodie, olim vocabatur videns_;\u201d[28] for, strictly speaking, my\nson, a prophet is one who sees things remote from the knowledge of all\nmankind. Or, to put the case; to the prophet, by means of the perfect\nlight of prophecy, there lie opened up very manifestly divine things\nas well as human; which cannot come about, seeing that the effects of\nfuture prediction extend to such remote periods. Now, the secrets of God\nare incomprehensible, and their efficient virtue belongs to a sphere\nfar remote from natural knowledge; for, deriving their immediate origin\nfrom the free will, things set in motion causes that of themselves could\nnever attract such attention as could make them recognized, either by\nhuman augury, or by any other knowledge of occult power; it is a thing\ncomprised only within the concavity of heaven itself, from the present\nfact of all eternity, which comes in itself to embrace all time.\n\nStill, by the means of some eternal power, by an epileptic Herculean\nagitation, the causes by the celestial movement become known. I do\nnot say, my son, in order that you may fully understand me, that the\nknowledge of this matter cannot yet impress itself upon thy feeble brain,\nthat very remote future causes may not come within the cognizance of a\nreasonable being; if they are, notwithstanding, purely the creation of\nthe intellectual soul of things present, future things are not by any\nmeans too hidden or concealed. But the perfect knowledge of causes cannot\nbe acquired without divine inspiration; since all prophetic inspiration\nderives its first motive principle from God the Creator, next from good\nfortune, and then from nature. Wherefore the independent causes being\nindependently produced, or not produced, the presage partially happens,\nwhere it was predicted. For the human understanding, being intellectually\ncreated, cannot penetrate occult causes, otherwise than by the voice of\na genius by means of the thin flame (vid. page 76) [showing] to what\ndirection future causes incline to develop themselves. And further, my\nson, I implore you never to apply your understanding on such reveries and\nvanities as dry up the body and bring perdition to the soul and disturb\nall the senses. In like manner, I caution you against the seduction of a\nmore than execrable magic, that has been denounced already by the sacred\nScriptures, by the divine canons of the Church\u2014although we have to exempt\nfrom this judgment Judicial Astrology. By the aid of this it is, and by\ndivine revelation and inspiration, united with deep calculations, we\nhave reduced our prophecies to writing. And, notwithstanding that this\noccult philosophy was _not_ reproved by the Church, I have felt no desire\nto divulge their unbridled promptings. Although many volumes have come\nbefore me, which had laid hidden for many ages. But dreading what might\nhappen in the future, after reading them, I presented them to Vulcan,\nand as the fire kindled them, the flame, licking the air, shot forth an\nunaccustomed brightness, clearer than the light is of natural flame,\nresembling more the explosion of powder, casting a subtle illumination\nover the house as if the whole were wrapped in sudden conflagration.\u2014So\nthat at last you might not in the future be abused by searching for the\nperfect transformation, lunar or solar, or incorruptible metals hidden\nunder the earth, or the sea, I reduced them to ashes.\u2014But as to the\njudgment which perfects itself by means of the celestial judgment, that\nI am desirous to manifest to you: by that method you may have cognizance\nof things future, avoiding all fantastic imaginations that may arise,\nand limiting the particularity of the topics by divine and supernatural\ninspiration; harmonizing with the celestial figures these topics, and\nthat part of time, which the occult property has relation to, by the\npotential virtue and faculty divine, in whose presence the three aspects\nof time are clasped in one by eternity\u2014an evolution that connects in\none causes past, present, and future\u2014\u201c_quia omnia sunt nuda et aperta_,\netc.\u201d[29]\u2014\n\nFrom all which, my son, you can easily comprehend, notwithstanding\nyour tender brain, the things that are to happen can be foretold by\nnocturnal and celestial lights, which are natural, coupled to a spirit of\nprophecy,\u2014not that I would assume the name or efficacy of a prophet, but,\nby revealed inspiration, as a mortal man the senses place me no farther\nfrom heaven than the feet are from the earth. \u201c_Possum non errare, falli,\ndecipi_,\u201d[30] (albeit) I am the greatest sinner in this world, and heir\nto every human affliction. But being surprised sometimes in the ecstatic\nwork, amid prolonged calculation, and engaged in nocturnal studies of\nsweet odour, I have composed books of prophecies, containing each one\nhundred astronomic quatrains of forecasts, which I have tried to polish\nthrough obscurely, and which are perpetual vaticinations, from now to\nthe year 3797. It is possible that this figure will make some lift up\ntheir forehead, at such a vast extent of time, and variety of things to\ntake place under the concave journey of the moon; and this universal\ntreatment of causes, my son, throughout the earth, which, if you reach\nthe natural age of man, you will see in your climate, under the heaven of\nyour proper nativity, as things that have been foreseen.\n\nAlthough the everlasting God alone knows the eternity of the light\nproceeding from Himself, I say frankly to all to whom He has decreed\nin long and melancholy inspiration to reveal His limitless magnitude,\nwhich is beyond both mensuration and comprehension, that by means of\nthis occult cause divinely manifested, principally by two chief causes,\ncomprised in the understanding of the inspired one who prophesies. One is\nthat which comes by infusion, which clarifies the supernatural light, in\nhim who predicts by astral process, or forecasts by inspired revelation,\nwhich is practically a participation in the divine eternity, by which\nmeans the prophet comes to judge of that which his share of divine spirit\nhas given him, by means of communication with God the Creator, and the\nnatural endowment accorded him. It is to know that what is predicted is\ntrue, and has had a heavenly origin; that such light and the thin flame\nis altogether efficacious; that it descends from above, no less than does\nnatural clearness; and natural light renders philosophers quite sure of\ntheir principles, so that by means of the principles of a first cause\nthey have penetrated the profoundest abysses and attained the loftiest\ndoctrines.\n\nBut to this end, my son, that I may not wander too profoundly for the\nfuture capacity of thy senses, and also because I find that letters shall\nsuffer great and incomparable loss, and that I find the world before\nthe universal conflagration, such deluges and deep submersion, that\nthere will remain scarcely any land not covered with water, and that\nfor so long a period, that everything will perish except Ethnographies\nand Topographies. Further, after and before these inundations, in many\ndistricts the rains will have been so slight, and there will fall from\nheaven such an abundance of fire and incandescent stones, that scarcely\nanything will remain unconsumed, and this will occur a short time before\nthe last conflagration. Further, when the planet Mars completes its\ncycle, at the end of his second period, he will recommence his course.\nBut some will gather in Aquarius through several years, and others in\nCancer, which will be of still longer duration. Now that we are conducted\nby the moon, under the direction of the Creator, and before she has\nfinished her entire circuit the sun will come, and then Saturn. Now,\naccording to the celestial signs, the reign of Saturn shall come back\nagain, so that, all calculated, the world is drawing on towards its\nanaragonic revolution.\n\nFrom the time I am writing this, before 177 years 3 months and 11 days,\nby pestilence, long famine, and wars, and more still by inundations, the\nworld between this day and that, before and after, shall be diminished,\nand its population so reduced that there will hardly be hands enough to\nattend to agriculture, and the lands will be left as long without culture\nas they have been under tillage. This, so far as celestial judgment\nmanifests, that we are now in the seventh millenary, which completes all\nand introduces us to the eighth, where is the upper firmament of the\neighth sphere, which, in a latitudinary dimension, is where the Almighty\nwill come to complete the revolution, where the celestial figures will\nreturn to their courses, and the upper motion which renders the earth\nstable for us and fixed, \u201c_non inclinabitur in seculum seculorum_,\u201d[31]\nunless His will be accomplished, and no otherwise.\n\nAlthough by ambiguous opinions exceeding all natural reason by\nMahometical dreams, also sometimes God the Creator by the ministry of\nangels of fire, and missive flame, presents to the external senses,\neven of our eyes, the causes of future predictions, that indicate the\nfuture event which must manifest itself to him who presages anything.\nFor the presage which is made by the exterior light comes infallibly to\njudge partly with and by means of the exterior flame; although truly the\npart which seems to come by the eye of the understanding springs only\nfrom the lesion of the imaginative sense. The reason is too evident,\nthe whole is predicted by the afflatus of divinity, and by means of the\nangelic spirit inspired to the man prophesying, rendering him [as it\nwere] anointed with vaticinations, visiting him to illuminate him, and,\nstirring the forefront of his phantasy by divers nightly apparitions no\nless than daily certitude, he prophesies by astronomic administration\nconjoined with the holiest future prediction, taking nothing into his\nconsideration but the hardihood of his free courage.\n\nCome at this hour to understand, my son, that I find by my revelations\n[astral], and which are in accordance with revealed inspiration, that\nthe sword of death is on its way to us now, in the shape of pestilence,\nwar (more horrible than has been known for three generations of men),\nand famine, that shall fall upon the earth, and return upon it at\nfrequent intervals. For the stars accord with such a revolution, and with\nthe written word, \u201c_Visitabo in virg\u00e2 ferrea iniquitates eorum, et in\nverberibus percutiam eos._\u201d[32] For the mercy of God, my son, will not\nbe spread abroad for a time, till the major part of my prophecies shall\nhave been accomplished, and have become by accomplishment resolved. Thus\noftentimes in the course of these sinister storms the Lord will say,\n\u201c_Conteram ego, et confringam, et non miserebor._\u201d[33] And a thousand\nother accidents will come by waters and continual rain, as I have more\nfully and at large set forth in my other Prophecies, which are drawn\nout at length, _in solut\u00e2 oratione_;[34] (in these I) designate the\nlocalities, times, and terms prefixed, that all men who come after\nmay see, recognizing the circumstances that come about by infallible\nindications. As we have marked by the others where we speak more clearly,\nfor although they are covered with a veil of cloud, they are clear\nenough to be comprehended by men of good intelligence: \u201c_Sed quando\nsubmoventa erit ignorantia_,\u201d[35] the total will stand out with greater\nclearance still. Making an end here, my son, take now this gift of thy\nfather, Michael Nostradamus, hoping to expound to thee each several\nprophecy of these quatrains here given, beseeching the immortal Father\nthat He will endue thee with a long life of happy and prospering felicity.\n\n    From Salon, this 1st of March, 1555.\n\n\n\n\nEPISTLE TO HENRY II.\n\n\nTo the most invincible, very puissant, and most Christian Henry King of\nFrance the Second: Michael Nostradamus, his most humble, most obedient\nservant and subject, wishes victory and happiness.\n\nFor that sovereign observation that I had, O most Christian and very\nvictorious King, since that my face, long obscured with cloud, presented\nitself before the deity of your measureless Majesty, since that in that\nI have been perpetually dazzled, never failing to honour and worthily\nrevere that day, when first before it, as before a singularly humane\nmajesty, I presented myself. I searched for some occasion by which to\nmanifest good heart and frank courage, by the means of which I might\ngrow into greater knowledge of your serene Majesty. I soon found in\neffect it was impossible for me to declare it, considering the contrast\nof the solitariness of my long obnubilation and obscurity, and my being\nsuddenly thrust into brilliancy, and transported into the presence of the\nsovereign eye of the first monarch of the universe. Likewise I have long\nhung in doubt as to whom I ought to dedicate these three Centuries to,\nthe remainder of my Prophecies amounting now to a thousand. I have long\nmeditated on an act of such audacity. I have at last ventured to address\nyour Majesty, and was not daunted from it as Plutarch, that grave author,\nrelates in the life of Lycurgus, that, seeing the gifts and presents that\nwere made in the way of sacrifice at the temples of the immortal gods in\nthat age, many were staggered at the expense, and dared not approach the\ntemple to present anything.\n\nNotwithstanding this, I saw your royal splendour to be accompanied with\nan incomparable humanity, and paid my addresses to it, not as to those\nKings of Persia whom it was not permissible to approach. But to a very\nprudent and very wise Prince I have dedicated my nocturnal and prophetic\ncalculations, composed out of a natural instinct, and accompanied by a\npoetic fervour, rather than according to the strict rules of poetry. Most\npart, indeed, has been composed and adjusted by astronomical calculation\ncorresponding to the years, months, and weeks, of the regions, countries,\nand for the most part towns and cities, throughout Europe, Africa, and\na part of Asia, which nearest approach [or resemble] each other in all\nthese climates, and this is composed in a natural manner. Possibly some\nmay answer\u2014who, if so, had better blow his nose [that he may see the\nclearer by it]\u2014that the rhythm is as easy to be understood, as the sense\nis hard to get at. Therefore, O most gracious King, the bulk of the\nprophetic quatrains are so rude, that there is no making way through\nthem, nor is there any interpreter of them. Nevertheless, being always\nanxious to set down the years, towns, and regions cited, where the events\nare to occur, even from the year 1585, and the year 1606, dating from\nthe present time, which is the 14th of March, 1557.\n\nThen passing far beyond to things which shall happen at the commencement\nof the seventh millenary, deeply calculated, so far as my astronomic\ncalculus, and other knowledge, has been able to reach, to the time when\nthe adversaries of Jesus Christ and of His Church shall begin to multiply\nin great force. The whole has been composed and calculated on days and\nhours of best election and disposition, and with all the accuracy I could\nattain to. At a moment [blessed] \u201c_Minerva libera et non invita_,\u201d[36] my\ncalculations looking forward to events through a space of time to come\nthat nearly equals that of the past even up to the present, and by this\nthey will know in the lapse of time and in all regions what is to happen,\nall written down thus particularly, immingled with nothing superfluous.\n\nNotwithstanding that some say, \u201c_Quod de futuris non est determinata\nomnino veritas_,\u201d[37] I will confess, Sire, that I believed myself\ncapable of presage from the natural instinct I inherit of my ancestors,\nadjusted and regulated by elaborate calculation, and the endeavour to\nfree the soul, mind, and heart from all care, solicitude, and anxiety,\nby resting and tranquilizing the spirit, which finally has all to be\ncompleted and perfected in one respect _tripode \u00e6neo_ [by the brazen\ntripod]. With all this there will be many to attribute to me as mine,\nthings no more mine than nothing. The Almighty alone, who strictly\nsearches the human heart, pious, just, and pitiful, is the true Judge;\nto Him I pray to defend me from the calumny of wicked men. Such persons,\nwith equal calumny, will bring into question how all your ancient\nprogenitors the Kings of France have cured the evil; how those of other\nnations have cured the bite of serpents; others have had a certain\ninstinct in the art of divination, and other faculties that would be too\nlong to recount here. Notwithstanding such as cannot be restrained from\nthe exercise of the malignancy of the evil spirit, [there is hope that]\nby the lapse of time, and after my extinction here on earth, my writings\nwill be more valued than during my lifetime.\n\nHowever, if I err in calculation of ages, or find myself unable to please\nall the world, may it please your Imperial Majesty to forgive me, for\nI protest before God and His saints, that I purpose to insert nothing\nwhatever in writing this present Epistle that shall militate against the\ntrue Catholic Faith, whilst consulting the astronomical calculations to\nthe very best of my knowledge. For the stretch of time of our forefathers\n[_i.e._ the age of the world] which has gone before is such, submitting\nmyself to the direction of the soundest chronologists, that the first\nman, Adam, was about one thousand two hundred and forty years before\nNoah, not computing time by Gentile records, such as Varro has committed\nto writing, but taking simply the Sacred Scriptures for the guide in my\nastronomic reckonings, to the best of my feeble understanding. After\nNoah, from him and the universal deluge, about one thousand and fourscore\nyears, came Abraham, who was a sovereign astrologer according to some; he\nfirst invented the Chald\u00e6an alphabet. Then came Moses, about five hundred\nand fifteen or sixteen years later. Between the time of David and Moses\nfive hundred and seventy years elapsed. Then after the time of David\nand the time of our Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, born of a pure\nVirgin, there elapsed (according to some chronographers) one thousand\nthree hundred and fifty years.\n\nSome, indeed, may object to this supputation as not true, because it\nvaries from that of Eusebius. Since the time of the human redemption to\nthe hateful apostacy of the Saracens, there have been six hundred and\ntwenty-one years, or thereabouts. Now, from this it is easy to gather\nwhat time has elapsed if my supputation be not good and available for\nall nations, for that all is calculated by the celestial courses,\nassociated in my case with an emotion that steals over me at certain\nsubsecival hours from an emotional tendency handed down to me from a\nline of ancestors. But the injuriousness of our time, O most serene\nSovereign, requires that such secret events should not transpire, except\nin enigmatic sentences, having but one sense and one only meaning, and\nquite unmingled with calculation that is of ambiguity or amphibology.\nSay, rather, under a veiled obscurity from some natural emotional\neffusion, that resembles the sentential delivery of the thousand and two\nProphets, that have been from the Creation of the world, according to\nthe calculation and Punic Chronicle of Joel: \u201c_Effundum spiritum meum\nsuper omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii vestri, et fili\u00e6 vestr\u00e6._\u201d[38]\nBut this prophecy proceeded from the mouth of the Holy Spirit, which was\nthe sovereign power eternal, in conjunction with the celestial bodies,\nhas caused some of the number to predict great and marvellous events.\n\nAs to myself in this place, I set up no claim to such a title\u2014never,\nplease God. I fully confess that all proceeds from God, and for that\nI return Him thanks, honour, and immortal praise, and have mingled\nnothing with it of the divination which proceeds _\u00e0 fato_, but _\u00e0 Deo, \u00e0\nnatur\u00e2_,[39] and for the most part accompanied with the movement of the\ncelestial courses. Much as, if looking into a burning mirror [we see], as\nwith darkened vision, the great events, sad or portentous, and calamitous\noccurrences that are about to fall upon the principal worshippers. First\nupon the temples of God, secondly upon such as have their support from\nthe earth [_i.e._ by the kings], this decadence draweth nigh, with a\nthousand other calamitous incidents that in the course of time will be\nknown to happen.\n\nFor God will take notice of the long barrenness of the great Dame, who\nafterwards will conceive two principal children. But, she being in great\ndanger, the girl she will give birth to with risk at her age of death in\nthe eighteenth year, and not possible to outlive the thirty-sixth, will\nleave three males and one female, and he will have two who never had\nany of the same father. The three brothers will be so different, though\nunited and agreed, that the three and four parts of Europe will tremble.\nBy the youngest in years will the Christian monarchy be sustained and\naugmented; heresies spring up and suddenly cast down, the Arabs driven\nback, kingdoms united, and new laws promulgated. Of the other children\nthe first shall possess the furious crowned Lions, holding their paws\nupon the bold escutcheon. The second, accompanied by the Latins, shall\npenetrate so far that a second trembling and furious descent shall be\nmade, descending Mons Jovis [at Barcelona] to mount the Pyrenees, shall\nnot be translated to the antique monarchy, and a third inundation of\nhuman blood shall arise, and March for a long while will not be found in\nLent. The daughter shall be given for the preservation of the Christian\nChurch, the dominator falling into the Pagan sect of new infidels, and\nshe will have two children, the one fidelity, the other infidelity, by\nthe confirmation of the Catholic Church. The other, who to his great\nconfusion and tardy repentance wished to ruin her, will have three\nregions over a wide extent of leagues, that is to say, Roumania, Germany,\nand Spain, which will entail great intricacy of military handling,\nstretching from the 50th to the 52nd degree of latitude. And they will\nhave to respect the more distant religions of Europe and the north above\nthe 48th degree of latitude, which at first in a vain timidity will\ntremble, and then the more western, southern, and eastern will tremble.\nTheir power will become such, that what is brought about by union and\nconcord will prove insuperable by warlike conquest. By nature they will\nbe equal, but exceedingly different in faith.\n\nAfter this the sterile Dame, of greater power than the second, shall be\nreceived by two nations, by the first made obstinate by him who had power\nover all, by the second, and third, that shall extend his forces towards\nthe circuit of the east of Europe; [arrived] there his standards will\nstop and succumb, but by sea he will run on to Trinacria and the Adriatic\nwith his mirmidons. The Germans will succumb wholly and the Barbaric sect\nwill be disquieted and driven back by the whole of the Latin race. Then\nshall begin the grand Empire of Antichrist in the Atila and Xerxes, [who\nis] to descend with innumerable multitudes, so that the coming of the\nHoly Spirit, issuing from the 48th degree, shall make a transmigration,\nchasing away the abomination of Antichrist, that made war upon the royal\nperson of the great vicar of Jesus Christ, and against His Church, and\nreign _per tempus, et in occasione temporis_ [for a time, and to the end\nof time]. This will be preceded by an eclipse of the sun, more obscure\nand tenebrose than has ever been since the creation of the world, up to\nthe death and passion of Jesus Christ, and from thence till now. There\nwill be in the month of October a grand revolution [translation] made,\nsuch that one would think that the librating body of the earth had lost\nits natural movement in the abyss of perpetual darkness. There will be\nseen precursive signs in the spring-time, and after extreme changes\nensuing, reversal of kingdoms, and great earthquakes [_i.e._ wars].\nAll this accompanied with the procreations of the New Babylon [Paris],\na miserable prostitute big with the abomination of the first holocaust\n[death of Louis XVI]. It will only continue for seventy-three years seven\nmonths.\n\nThen there will issue from the stock so long time barren, proceeding from\nthe 50th degree, [one] who will renovate the whole Christian Church. A\ngreat peace, union, and concord will then spring up between some of the\nchildren of races [long] opposed to each other and separated by diverse\nkingdoms. Such a peace shall be set up, that the instigator and promoter\nof military faction by means of the diversity of religions, shall dwell\nattached to the bottom of the abyss, and united to the kingdom of the\nfurious, who shall counterfeit the wise. The countries, towns, cities,\nand provinces that had forsaken their old customs to free themselves,\nenthralling themselves more deeply, shall become secretly weary of their\nliberty, and, true religion lost, shall commence by striking off to the\nleft, to return more than ever to the right.\n\nThen replacing holiness, so long desecrated by their former writings\n[circulating slanders], afterwards the result will be that the great\ndog will issue as an irresistible mastiff [Napoleon?] who will destroy\neverything, even to all that may have been prepared in time past, till\nthe churches will be restored as at first, and the clergy reinstated in\ntheir pristine condition; till it lapses again into whoredom and luxury,\nto commit and perpetrate a thousand crimes. And, drawing near to another\ndesolation, then, when she shall be at her highest and sublimest point\nof dignity, the kings and generals [_mains militaires_] will come up\n[against her], and her two swords will be taken from her, and nothing\nwill be left her but the semblance of them. [The following paragraph\nI can make nothing of, so I give it in the words of Garenci\u00e8res and\nin inverted commas.] \u201cFrom which by the means of the crookedness that\ndraweth them, the people causing it to go straight, and not willing to\nsubmit unto them by the end opposite to the sharp hand that toucheth the\nground they shall provoke.\u201d Until there shall be born unto the branch\na long time sterile, one who shall deliver the French people from the\nbenign slavery that they voluntarily submitted to, putting himself under\nthe protection of Mars, and stripping Jupiter [Napoleon I.] of all his\nhonours and dignities, for the city constituted free and seated in\nanother narrow Mesopotamia. The chief and governor shall be cast from the\nmidst, and set in a place of the air, ignorant of the conspiracy of the\nconspirators [Fouch\u00e9, Duc d\u2019Otranto, etc.] with the second Thrasibulus,\nwho for a long time had prepared all this. Then shall the impurities and\nabominations be with great shame set forth and manifested to the darkness\nof the veiled light, shall cease towards the end of his reign, and the\nchiefs of the Church shall evince but little of the love of God, whilst\nmany of them shall apostatize from the true faith.\n\nOf the three sects [Lutheran, Catholic, and Mahometan], that which is\nin the middle, by the action of its own worshippers, will be thrown a\nlittle into decadence. The first totally throughout Europe, and the\nchief part of Africa exterminated by the third, by means of the poor in\nspirit, who by the madness engendered of libidinous luxury, will commit\nadultery [_i.e._ apostatize]. The people will pull down the pillar, and\nchase away the adherents of the legislators, and it shall seem, from\nthe kingdoms weakened by the Orientals, that God the Creator has loosed\nSatan from the infernal prisons, to make room for the great Dog and Dohan\n[Gog and Magog], which will make so great and injurious a breach in the\nChurches, that neither the reds nor the whites, who are without eyes and\nwithout hands [meaning the latter Bourbons, \u201cwho learn nothing and forget\nnothing\u201d], cannot judge of the situation, and their power will be taken\nfrom them. Then shall commence a persecution of the Church such as never\nwas before. Whilst this is enacting, such a pestilence shall spring up\nthat out of three parts of mankind two shall be removed. To such a length\nwill this proceed that one will neither know nor recognize the fields\nor houses, and grass will grow in the streets of the cities as high as\na man\u2019s knees. To the clergy there shall be a total desolation, and the\nmartial men shall usurp what shall come back from the City of the Sun\n[Rome], and from Malta, and the Islands of Hi\u00e8res [off Marseilles], and\nthe great chain of the port shall be opened that takes its name from the\nmarine ox [Bosphorus].\n\nA new incursion shall be made from the maritime shores, eager to give the\nleap of liberty since the first taking by the Mahometans. Their assaults\nshall not be at all in vain, and in the place where the habitation of\nAbraham was, it shall be assailed by those who hold the Jovialists\n[followers of Jupiter (Napoleon I.?)] in reverence. The city of Achem [in\nthe Island of Sumatra] shall be encompassed and assaulted on all sides\nby a great force of armed men. Their maritime forces shall be weakened\nby the Westerns. Upon this kingdom a great desolation shall come, and\nthe great cities shall be depopulated, and such as enter in shall come\nunder the vengeance of the wrath of God. The Holy Sepulchre, for so long\na period an object of great veneration, shall remain exposed to the\nblighting dew of evening under the stars of heaven, and of the sun and\nmoon. The holy place shall be converted into a stable for cattle small\nand large, and applied to other base purposes. Oh, what a calamitous\ntime will that be for women with child! for then the Sultan of the East\nwill be vanquished, driven for the most part by the Northern and Western\nmen, who will kill him, overthrow him, and put the rest to flight, and\nhis children, the offspring of many women, imprisoned. Then will come to\nits fulfilment the prophecy of the Royal Prophet, \u201c_Ut audiret gemitus\ncompeditorum, et solveret filios interemptorum._\u201d[40]\n\nWhat great oppression shall then fall upon the princes and rulers of\nkingdoms, even on those who are maritime and Oriental, their tongues\nintermingled from all nations of the earth! Tongues of the Latin nations,\nmingled with Arabic and North-African communication. All the Eastern\nkings will be driven away, overthrown, and exterminated, not at all by\nmeans of the kings of the North and the drawing near of our age, but\nby means of the three secretly united who seek out death and snares by\nambush sprung upon one another. The renewal of this Triumvirate shall\nendure for seven years, while its renown shall spread all over the world,\nand the sacrifice of the holy and immaculate wafer shall be upheld. Then\nshall two lords of the North conquer the Orientals, and so great report\nand tumultuary warfare shall issue from these that all the East shall\ntremble at the noise of these two brothers of the North, who are yet\nnot brothers. And because, Sire, by this discourse I almost introduce\nconfusion into these predictions as to the time when the event of each\nshall fall out; for the detailed account of the time that follows is very\nlittle conformable, if at all, to what I gave above, that indeed could\nnot err, being by astronomic rule and consonant with the Holy Scriptures\nthemselves.\n\nHad I wished to give to every quatrain its detailed date, it could\neasily have been done, but it would not have been agreeable to all,\nand still less to interpret them, Sire, until your Majesty should have\nfully sanctioned me to do this, in order not to furnish calumniators\nwith an opportunity to injure me. Always reckoning the years since the\ncreation of the world to the birth of Noah as being 1506 years, and\nfrom that to the completion of the building of the ark at the period\nof the universal deluge 600 years elapsed (let them be solar years, or\nlunar, or mixed), I hold that the Scripture takes them to be solar. At\nthe conclusion of this 600 years, Noah entered the ark to escape the\ndeluge. The deluge was universal over the earth, and lasted one year and\ntwo months. From the conclusion of the deluge to the birth of Abraham\nthere elapsed 295 years, and 100 years from that to the birth of Isaac.\nFrom Isaac to Jacob 60 years. From the time he went into Egypt until his\ncoming out of it was 130 years; and from the entry of Jacob into Egypt\nto his exit was 430 years; and from that to the building of the Temple\nby Solomon in the fortieth year of his reign, makes 480 years. From the\nbuilding of the Temple to Jesus Christ, according to the supputation of\nthe Hierographs, there passed 490 years. Thus by this calculation that\nI have made, collecting it out of the sacred writings, there are about\n4173 years and eight months less or more. Now, from Jesus Christ, in that\nthere is such a diversity of opinion, I pass it by, and having calculated\nthe present prophecies in accordance with the order of the chain which\ncontains the revolution, and the whole by astronomical rule, together\nwith my own hereditary instinct. After some time, and including in it the\nperiod Saturn takes to turn between the 7th of April up to the 25th of\nAugust; Jupiter from the 14th of June to the 7th of October; Mars from\nthe 17th of April to the 22nd of June; Venus from the 9th of April to the\n22nd of May; Mercury from the 3rd of February to the 24th of the same;\nafterwards from the 1st of June to the 24th of the same; and from the\n25th of September to the 16th of October, Saturn in Capricorn, Jupiter\nin Aquarius, Mars in Scorpio, Venus in Pisces, Mercury within a month\nin Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces; the moon in Aquarius, the Dragon\u2019s\nhead in Libra, the tail in her sign opposite. Following the conjunction\nof Jupiter to Mercury, with a quadrin aspect of Mars to Mercury, and the\nhead of the Dragon shall be with a conjunction of Sol with Jupiter, the\nyear shall be peaceful without eclipse.\n\nThen will be the commencement [of a period] that will comprehend in\nitself what will long endure [_i.e._ the vulgar advent of the French\nRevolution], and in its first year there shall be a great persecution of\nthe Christian Church, fiercer than that in Africa [by the Vandals from\n1439 to 1534], and this will burst out [_durera_] the year one thousand\nseven hundred and ninety-two; they will think it to be a renovation of\ntime. After this the people of Rome will begin to reconstitute themselves\n[in 1804, when Napoleon is emperor], and to chase away the obscurity of\ndarkness, recovering some share of their ancient brightness, but not\nwithout much division and continual changes. Venice after that, in great\nforce and power, shall raise her wings very high, not much short of the\nforce of ancient Rome. At that time great Byzantine sails, associated\nwith the Piedmontese by the help and power of the North, will so restrain\nthem that the two Cretans will not be able to maintain their faith. The\narks built by the ancient warriors will accompany them to the waves of\nNeptune. In the Adriatic there will be such permutations, that what was\nunited will be separated, and that will be reduced to a house which\nbefore was a great city, including the Pampotan and Mesopotamia of\nEurope, to 45, and others to 41, 42, and 47. And in that time and those\ncountries the infernal power will set the power of the adversaries of\nits law against the Church of Jesus Christ. This will constitute the\nsecond Antichrist, which will persecute that Church and its true vicar,\nby means of the power of the temporal kings, who in their ignorance will\nbe reduced by tongues that will cut more than any sword in the hands of a\nmadman.\n\nThe said reign of Antichrist will only last to the death of him who was\nborn near the [commencement] of the century, and of the other in the\ncity of Plancus [Lyons], accompanied by him the elect of Modena, Fulcy\nby Ferara, upheld by the Adriatic Piedmontese, and the proximity of the\ngreat Trinacria [Sicily]. Afterwards the Gallic Ogmion shall pass the\nMount Jovis [Barcelona], accompanied by so great a number that from\nafar the Empire shall be presented with its grand law, and then and for\nsome time after shall be profusely shed the blood of the innocent by\nthe guilty recently elevated to power. Then by great deluges the memory\nof things contained in such instruments shall suffer incalculable loss,\neven to the Alphabet itself. This will happen among the Northerns. By\nthe Divine Will once again Satan will be bound, and universal peace\nestablished amongst mankind, and the Church of Jesus Christ delivered\nfrom all tribulation, although the Azostains [debauched voluptuaries]\nwould desire to mix with the honey the gall of their pestilent seduction.\nThis will be near the seventh millenary, when the sanctuary of Jesus\nChrist will no longer be trodden down by the infidels who come from the\nNorth; the world [will be then] approaching its great conflagration,\nalthough by my supputation in my prophecies, the course of time runs much\nfarther on.\n\nIn the epistle that some years since I dedicated to my son C\u00e6sar\nNostradamus, I have openly enough declared some points without presage.\nBut here, Sire, are comprised many great and marvellous events to\ncome, which those who follow after us shall see. And during the said\nastrological supputation, harmonized with the sacred Scriptures, the\npersecution of the Ecclesiastics shall take its rise in the power of the\nkings of the North, united with the Easterns. And this persecution shall\nlast eleven years, or somewhat less, by which time the chief Northern\nking shall pass away, which years being run, a united Southern king\nshall succeed, which shall still more fiercely persecute the clergy of\nthe Church for the space of three years by the Apostolical seduction of\none who will take away all the absolute power from the Church Militant,\nand holy people of God who observe its ritual, and the whole order of\nreligion shall be greatly persecuted and so afflicted that the blood\nof true ecclesiastics shall float everywhere. To one of those horrible\ntemporal kings such praise shall be given by his adherents that he will\nhave shed more human blood of innocent ecclesiastics, than any could\ndo of wine. This king will commit crimes against the Church that are\nincredible. Human blood will flow in the public streets and churches,\nlike water after impetuous rain, and will crimson with blood the\nneighbouring rivers, and by another naval war redden the sea to such\na degree that one king shall say to another, \u201c_Bellis rubuit navalibus\n\u00e6quor._\u201d[41] Then in the same year and those following there will ensue\nthe most horrible pestilence and the most astonishing on account of the\nfamine that will precede, and such tribulation that nothing approaching\nit ever happened since the first foundation of the Christian Church;\nthis also throughout all the Latin regions, leaving traces in all the\ncountries under the rule of Spain.\n\nThen the third King of the North [Russia?], hearing the complaint of the\npeople from [whom he derives] his principal title, will raise up a mighty\narmy, and pass through the limits [_destroits_] of his last progenitors\nand great-grandfathers, to him who will [_qui_ for _lui qui_] replace\nalmost everything in its old condition. The great Vicar of the Cope shall\nbe put back to his pristine state; but, desolated and abandoned by all,\nwill return to the sanctuary [that was] destroyed by Paganism, when the\nOld and New Testament will be thrust out and burnt. After that Antichrist\nwill be the infernal prince. Then at this last epoch, all the kingdoms\nof Christianity, as well as of the infidel world, will be shaken during\nthe space of twenty-five years, and the wars and battles will be more\ngrievous, and the towns, cities, castles, and all other edifices will\nbe burnt, desolated, and destroyed with much effusion of vestal blood,\nmarried women and widows violated, sucking children dashed and broken\nagainst the walls of towns; and so many evils will be committed by means\nof Satan, the prince infernal, that nearly all the world will become\nundone and desolated. Before the events occur certain strange birds\n[imperial eagles] will cry in the air, \u201c_To-day! to-day!_\u201d and after a\ngiven time will disappear [June, 1815]. After this has endured for a\ncertain length of time [twenty-five years he has said before, 1790 to\n1815], there will be almost renewed another reign of Saturn, the age of\ngold [this might be the discovery of California, but for what follows].\nGod the Creator shall say, hearing the affliction of His people, Satan\nshall be precipitated and bound in the bottomless abyss, and then shall\ncommence between God and men a universal peace. There he shall abide for\nthe space of a thousand years, and shall turn his greatest force against\nthe power of the Church, and shall then be bound again.\n\nHow justly are all these figures adapted by the divine letters to visible\ncelestial things, that is to say, by Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars, and\nothers in conjunction with them, as may be seen more at large by some\nof the quatrains! I would have calculated it more deeply, and adapted\nthe one to the other; but, seeing, O most serene King, that some who are\ngiven to censure will raise a difficulty, I shall take the opportunity\nto retire my pen and seek my nocturnal repose. \u201c_Multa etiam, O Rex\npotentissime pr\u00e6clara, et sane in brevi ventura, sed omnia in h\u00e2c tu\u00e2\nEpistola, innectere non possumus, nec volumus, sed ad intellegenda qu\u00e6dam\nfacta, horrida fata pauca libanda sunt, quamvis tanta sit in omnes tua\namplitudo et humanitas homines, deosque pietas, ut solos amplissimo\net Christianissimo Regis nomine, et ad quem summa totius religionis\nauctoritas deferatur dignus esse videare._\u201d[42] But I shall only\nbeseech you, O most clement King, by this your singular and most prudent\ngoodness, to understand rather the desire of my heart, and the sovereign\nwish I have to obey your most excellent Majesty, ever since my eyes\napproached so nearly to your solar splendour, than the grandeur of my\nwork can attain to or acquire.\n\n                                           _Faciebat_ MICHAEL NOSTRADAMUS.\n                                           _Solon\u00e6 Petr\u00e6 Provinc\u00e6._\n\n    From Salon this 27th June, 1558.\n\n\n\n\nMAGIC.\n\n\nBefore we enter upon the historical application of those quatrains which\nadmit of interpretation, it will be well to devote a little attention\nto the views of magic entertained by Nostradamus, to learn from his\nown mouth what class of readers he proposed to address, and to gather,\nas far as we may be able, in what manner he proceeded to cultivate the\nspirit of prophecy and the divine gift with which he thought himself to\nbe endowed. Were he even as certainly an impostor as Cagliostro, this\ninquiry would have an interest of its own attaching to it; but if we can\nfor a moment suppose that he genuinely believed himself to be endowed\nwith a faculty of divination, the investigation of that assumption on\nhis part would present a considerable psychological interest merely as a\nhuman phenomenon. On the other hand, if he were a man truly gifted with\nforecast, I do not know that, in this age of scepticism as to things\nspiritual, anything more wholesome could be proposed to our contemplation\nthan a prophetic record fulfilling itself before the eyes of disbelievers\nand gainsayers; who, wishing to scoff and desiring to suppress such\nthings, find themselves utterly powerless to annul the harmony between\nthe vision recorded three hundred years ago and the event of yesterday.\nWhether such things are or not, it will be for the reader, when he has\ngone through the book, to say. At present we will only busy ourselves\nwith what Nostradamus says of himself. He is a notability and worthy of\ncriticism, be the final verdict for or against him.\n\nAt the end of Century VI. occur four Latin lines headed\u2014\n\n\nLEGIS CANTIO CONTRA INEPTOS CRITICOS. [I. 51.]\n\n    Qui legent hosce versus matur\u00e8 censunto,\n    Profanum vulgus et inscium ne attrectato,\n    Omnesque Astrologi, Blenni, Barbari procul sunto.\n    Qui aliter facit, is rit\u00e8 sacer esto.\n\nThe sense of these lines is much clearer than the prosody, but that\nmatters little.\n\n_Translation._\n\nAN INCANTATION IN ARREST OF INEPT CRITICS.\n\n    Let those who read these verses meditate them seriously!\n    Let the profane and ignorant vulgar not handle them! Let\n    astrologers, fools, and savages stand off! Who acts contrary to\n    this, let him be cursed according to the rites of magic.\n\nWe now come to the magic formula.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 1._ [I. 52.]\n\n    Estant assis de nuict secret estude,\n    Seul, repos\u00e9 sur la sele[43] d\u2019airain,\n    Flambe exigue sortant de solitude,\n    Fait prosp\u00e8rer[44] qui[45] n\u2019est \u00e0 croire vain.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Gathered at night in study deep I sate,\n    Alone, upon the tripod stool of brass,\n    Exiguous flame came out of solitude,\n    Promise of magic that may be believed.\n\n    Being seated at night and wrapt in secret study, entirely\n    alone, I placed myself on the brazen tripod of prophecy. A\n    still small flame came forth of solitude, helping me to realize\n    successfully what it will not prove vain to have believed.\n\nThe reader will here refer to the \u201cPr\u00e9face \u00e0 mon fils,\u201d p. 48.\n\n    \u201cL\u2019entendement cr\u00e9\u00e9 intellectuellement ne peut voir\n    occultement, sinon par la voix faicte au lymbe moyennant\n    la exigue flame, en laquelle partie les causes futures se\n    viendront \u00e0 incliner.\u201d\n\nThis passage conveys in prose what the last and the following quatrain\nconveys in verse.\n\n\nTHE MAGICAL CALL BY WATER. [I. 53.]\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 1._\n\n    La verge[46] en main mise au milieu de BRANCHES,\n    De l\u2019Onde il mouille et le limbe,[47] et le pied:\n    Un peur et voix fremissent par[48] les manches;\n    Splendeur divine, Le Divin pr\u00e9s s\u2019assied.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The rod in hand set in the midst of the Branches,\n    He moistens with water both the fringe and foot;\n    Fear and a voice make me quake in my sleeves;\n    Splendour divine, the God is seated near.\n\nTo make this entirely clear is almost impossible. But what we _can_\nget at is very curious, showing as it does, if nothing else, that the\nborder-land of the unseen world was actually contiguous with that of the\nworld of Nostradamus. They even overlapped, in his estimation, so as to\nform an intermediate neutral territory like the marches in the North,\nwhere the inhabitants of each district could meet and communicate. We\nare positive that this is all illusive, superstitious, demoniacal. It\nmay be so. But one effect it undeniably produces. It unites man more to\nthe universe, and less to the world; it makes death less strange and\nless cold, and furnishes to the soul, and the things of the soul, more\nnutriment than it can extract from modern life and culture.\n\nThe general meaning seems to be that he sat with a wand, branch, or\ndivining-rod of laurel, probably forked like the winchel rod of the\nwater-finders, one fork being held in each hand. This in some way had\npower to evoke his Genius (or _g\u00e9nie familier_, as Le Pelletier styles\nit). When he appeared, he moistened in the brazier that held water,\nhimself, the fringe of his robe (_limbe_), and his foot. The rod, held as\nI have suggested, then becoming electrical, caused fear with the sound of\na voice and a shuddering up to the elbows. Then shone forth the fatidical\nsplendour of a divine light, and the Deity is present, seated near to him.\n\nM. le Pelletier tells us that there was a pagan rite of the god Branchus\nthat corresponded with this fatidical ceremony practised by Nostradamus.\nHe even suggests that this very Branchus might have been the familiar\nspirit of our prophet. It must be admitted that in the _texte-type_, in\nthe words \u201c_au milieu de_ BRANCHES,\u201d _Branches_ is printed in capital\nletters, so that the probable reason for that peculiarity is that the God\n_Branchus_, as well as the _branches d\u2019un laurier_, is shadowed forth.\nBut to suppose that a pagan deity could ever be either the familiar\nor the guardian angel of a son of the Church of Rome makes such a\nRenaissance-jumble of the two religions that I think we had better not\nmeddle with it.\n\nAs to the assertion that there was a pagan rite of Branchus, I doubt it\nmuch; and, if there were, certain it is that Nostradamus speaks here far\ntoo covertly for us to assume from his writing that he was discharging\nany rite special to Branchus. He seems to be following out the usual\nmagical forms employed for establishing vaticinatory connection with\nthe other world, or setting up the counter analogy between mind and\nspirit, according to that beautiful esoteric verse in Ecclesiasticus\n(xlvii. 24), \u201cAll things are double, one against another; He hath made\nnothing imperfect.\u201d Were such things never to interlink, men might well\nsay, as they do now in the wisdom of science, that spirit and intellect\nare not doubles, and that no knowledge can be reached save by physical\nexperiment. In this case there will be a particular link missing if\nscience be right. The sage, _Estant assis de nuict secret estude_, will\nearnestly desire such assumption may prove to be erroneous. He will\nreadily formulate with St. Paul that the invisible things from creation\nmay be known from the visible; but also that the visible things can\nnever be understood but by the invisible. Recollect that the visible is\nnot visible to the visible, but to the invisible alone. The eye is the\nmachine of sight, but not sight; and who has seen the eye of the eye?\n\nThe Greek myth about Branchus, so far as I can see, is this, with sundry\nforms and variations. He was a youth of Miletus. The reputed son of\nSmicrus (_Lempriere_), or Macareus Varro says, but begotten by Apollo.\nThe mother dreamed that the sun entered her mouth, and, passing through\nher, the child at birth was named _Branchus_, or \u03b2\u03c1\u03cc\u03b3\u03c7\u03bf\u03c2, the throat.\nAfterwards he kissed Apollo in the woods, and became endowed with the\ngift of prophecy. He had a temple at Didyma, which Pausanias calls the\nTemple of Apollo; but Varro goes on to say that after the kiss of the\ngod he prophesied, but quickly after disappeared, when a grand temple\nwas jointly dedicated to him and to Apollo,\u2014_Philesius_, from \u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bd, to\nkiss. His oracles at Didyma were inferior to none but Delphi. The name\nDidymean, _double_ or _twain_, was from the double light of the sun and\nits reflection in the moonlight. Sun-touched and moon-struck madness and\ninspiration may in Branchus be said to meet, as out of one throat come\nthings good and evil. The name Didymean was changed to Branchid\u00e6 Strabo\n(Book xiv.) relates that the priests of this grand temple betrayed its\ntreasures to Xerxes, and accompanied him in his retreat to escape the\npunishment of their sacrilege. They had settled near to Sogdiana, when\nAlexander arrived there (Strabo, Book xi.); he destroyed them and their\ncity. This Byronical madman, who could see no iniquity in the slaughter\nof thousands to gratify the lust of a crack-brained ambition, thought\nto promote morals by slaughtering the descendants of traitors, they,\nthe descendants, being innocent of everything except being born. The\nMilesians had long ago rebuilt the temple of Branchus on such a scale\nthat in magnitude it surpassed all others in Greece. It was, in fact, too\nbig to be roofed in, being four or five stadia in compass. Those who wish\nto see more can consult Suidas, s. v., \u03b2\u03c1\u03b1\u03b3\u03c7\u03af\u03b4\u03b1\u03b9.\n\nThe gloss of M. le Pelletier on the quatrain is as follows: that\nNostradamus, wand in hand, touches the branches of the tripod, like\nthe priests of Branchus (this I have tried to expunge), and invokes\nhis familiar spirit, which appears to him in the vapour floating above\na basin of water, which he had consecrated beforehand according to\nprescribed magical rites, and in which he dips the fringe of his garment,\nand his feet. An involuntary shivering (_peur_) agitates his hand when\nabout to write from the dictation (_voix_) of the spirit. The fatidical\nlight shines, and the angel is seated at his side. Le Pelletier takes\noccasion here to remark that mediums at this day write under a spirit of\ndictation, to which they simply lend their arm as an instrument.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res\u2019 interpretation is that of most of the old commentators, even\ndown to the time of M. Bareste, 1840. The rod is a pen, in the middle of\nthe branches means his fingers, the water is the ink, and wetting limb\nand foot is covering the paper all but the four margins. It is hardly\nunfair to say that this is both nonsensical and ignorant, although not\ndevoid of ingenuity. I think it will fit the circumstances far better to\ntake it, as I have done, that the wand was a forked laurel branch that\ndipped forcibly, like the winchel rod, when Nostradamus held it over the\nwater, that it strained, as the hazel-rod does, almost to breaking; and\nthat at this invitation it is to be supposed that the spirit appears. The\nincantation being completed and successful, the operator must be supposed\nto set aside the winchel, and assume the pen, quaking with a solemn sense\nof the spiritual presence. This fear was, Garenci\u00e8res says, to prevent\nthe puffing up of pride, as we read in Daniel, John, and the 4th of\nEsdras.\n\nReaders who take no interest in this, and are consequently weary by this\ntime of the length we have run into in the investigation, will leap over\nwhat follows to get to the next quatrain.\n\nM. le Pelletier refers to Ficinus\u2019 translation of Jamblicus\u2019 \u201cDe\nMysteriis \u00c6gyptiorum,\u201d 1607. He gives the Latin and French. I will merely\nintroduce here the English translation, as the book is of easy reference\nto those who wish to examine further for themselves the sources which\nNostradamus had consulted, and from which he drew his summary exposition.\n\n    \u201cThe sibyl at Delphi received the god in two forms,\u2014either by a\n    subtle and fiery spirit, which burst forth upon any one through\n    the crevice of some cavern, or else sitting on a brazen seat of\n    four or three feet in the inner shrine, dedicated to the god,\n    and where she was exposed on two sides to the divine influx,\n    whence she was irradiate with a divine light\u201d (p. 66).\n\n    \u201cNow, the prophetess of Branchus either sits upon a pillar, or\n    holds in her hand a rod bestowed by some deity, or moistens\n    her feet or the hem of her garment with water, or inhales the\n    vapour of water, and by these means is filled with divine\n    illumination, and, having obtained the deity, she prophesies.\n    By these practices she adapts herself to the god, whom she\n    receives from without\u201d (p. 67).\n\n    \u201cPorphyrius says that the art [or magic] is not to be despised\n    which, out of certain vapours due to fire under favourable\n    stellar influences, forms the images of gods spontaneously\n    appearing in the air, in a certain degree like the gods\n    themselves, and possessing a very similar efficacy\u201d (p. 91).\n\n    \u201cFor amongst the demons there is one who is chief, and who\n    exercises influence at the moment of birth, and apportions to\n    each his demon (or familiar). After this there is present to\n    each one his own guardian, that develops a _cultus_ congruous\n    to his nature, and teaches him both his name and the most\n    suitable form of invocation (to bring him when required), and\n    this method is most congenial to the demons\u201d (p. 171).\n\nThese forms of Jamblicus are analogous to those employed by Nostradamus;\nbut there the person prophesying wets the feet and fingers, whilst\naccording to our version of the quatrains it is the demon or spirit\napplies them to himself: _Le Divin pr\u00e8s s\u2019assied_. In Jamblicus the one\nwho prophesies becomes possessed by entry of the spirit. Nostradamus\ndescribes an external and visible presence which corresponds to\nPorphyrius\u2019 account of _deorum idola in aere_.\n\n\nCORPOREAL DEMONS. [I. 59.]\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 42._\n\n    La dix Calendes d\u2019Avril de faict gotique\n    Resuscit\u00e9 encor par gens malins:\n    Le feu estainct, assembl\u00e9e diabolique\n    Cherchant les os du Damant et Pselin.[49]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The 10th of the Calends of April Gothic computation have\n    been again put in practice by sorcerers (_gens malins_). The\n    lights put out, the diabolic assembly searching for the Demon\n    [_Damant_ for _D\u00e9mon_] treated of by Michael Psellus.\n\nThe _texte-type_ is most corrupt in this quatrain; for _Damant et Pselin_\nread _D\u00e9mon e or ex Pselin_, the demon as treated of by Psellus.\n\nThe scholium of M. le Pelletier on this is\u2014The magical incantations,\nwhich were successful formerly when wrought on the night of Good Friday,\nwere re-introduced into practice by sorcerers of skill on the 10th Calend\nof April according to the ancient computation (_de faict gotique_). In\na note added he professes that the 10th Calend Old Style would be the\nlast day of March by the Gregorian, and he thinks it probable, that\nNostradamus here designates some particular year, when Good Friday fell\non the 31st of March. Garenci\u00e8res upon this notes that it falls on the\n23rd of March, called Gothic, because adhered to by the northern nations\nlong after the Gregorian had been adopted at Rome. I do not see how the\n10th Calend could ever fall on the 31st, nor indeed what the 31st has to\ndo with the matter. Those who are more familiar with such calculations\nmay perhaps explain. Like the witches\u2019 sabbath, these diabolic meetings\nwere accompanied by the lewdest rites, as will at once be seen by the\nfollowing passage from Psellus, which I leave untranslated. It is from\nthe Latin translation of Psellus by Marsilius Ficinus, and will be found\nin his collected works (ii. 884) in folio ed. 1641.\n\n    \u201cEuchet\u00e6 et gnosci, ut d\u00e6monia toto concipiant pectore,\n    nefanda sacrificia perpetrant. Conveniunt die quo passus est\n    Salvator,[50] vespere, statutum in locum, un\u00e0 cum puellis sibi\n    notis, et post qu\u00e6dam sacra extinctis luminibus,[51] mistim\n    co\u00ebunt, sive cum sorore, sive cum fili\u00e2, sive cum qu\u00e2libet\u201d\n    (_Psellus_ as above, p. 884).\n\n    \u201cThere is a further kind of vaticination by a basin, by means\n    of which rustics frequently predict. Just as there is a mode\n    of predicting by means of the air and the leaves of trees, so\n    there is a kind of predictive power in the basin, known and\n    practised by the Assyrians, which has a great similarity to\n    this incarnation or coupling of demons with matter. Thus those\n    about to prophesy take a basin full of water, which attracts\n    the spirits moving stealthily in the depths (_d\u00e6monibus\n    congruentem in profunda repentibus._) Le Pelletier translates\n    this, _appropri\u00e9 \u00e0 l\u2019usage des d\u00e9mons cach\u00e9s au fond des eaux_.\n    The basin then, full of water, seems in sort to breathe (or\n    move) as with sounds (_s\u2019il allait \u00e9mettre des sons_); it\n    seems to me that the water was agitated with circular ripples,\n    as from some sound emitted below. Now, this water diffused\n    through the basin differs but little in kind from water out of\n    the basin, but yet it much excels it from a virtue imparted to\n    it by the charms [that have been droned over it], and which\n    have rendered it more apt to receive the spirit of prophecy.\n    For this description of spirit is tetchy and terrene, and\n    much under the influence of composite spells. When the water\n    begins to lend itself as the vehicle of sound, he [the spirit]\n    also presently gives out a thin reedy note [of satisfaction],\n    but devoid of meaning; and close upon that, whilst the water\n    is undulating, certain weak and peeping sounds whisper forth\n    predictions of the future. A spirit of this kind is vagrant\n    everywhere, for he is endowed with the solar pass [so that our\n    terrestrial atmosphere lies everywhere open to him], and that\n    order of spirits, in the work appointed to it, speaks at all\n    times with a subdued voice, that by its indistinct obscurity\n    it may be less easy to seize the falsehoods that it utters\u201d\n    (Psellus as above, p. 885).\n\nFrom the mode in which Psellus describes the matter in hand, it is very\nperceptible that he was no great conjuror, and was merely speaking upon\nhearsay and report. If lies were the business of the spirit, he would be\nno prophet. Again, if he wished to circulate lies, he must still make\nthings clear enough to his votaries for them to circulate them and work\nmischief thereby. Are we to suppose that, like an abandoned human being,\nhe had some sense of shame left still, and, like Lord John Russell, would\nonly tell as few lies as possible? Psellus\u2019s demon is so foolish that he\nwould soon have been without any one to consult his shrine. He could not\nhave given a reason for his own conduct, in the past or present, and was\nthe last being that any one would resort to to anticipate intelligence\nof the future. Still the procedure might have been somewhat as Psellus\ndescribes it, although the reasons could not.\n\nAn historian of the fourth century, and a man of veracity, Marcellinus\nhas given us curious details of how prophetical tripods were considered\nby the Romans in his day. It comes out quite naturally in the judicial\nproofs investigating a conspiracy against the life of Valens the Emperor;\nwhat we should call a state trial. The conspirators were put to the\ntorture, and as an item in the indictment the figure of a little table\nbecomes prominent, as to which the accused were questioned by the judges.\nAt last one of them, Hillarius, broken by pain, revealed the secret in\nthese words:\n\n    \u201cHonoured judges, we constructed this unfortunate little\n    table that you see here after the fashion of the tripod\n    [or, more strictly, the cauldron[52]] at Delphi, with dark\n    incantations, out of branches of laurel; and with imprecations\n    of secret song, and numerous ceremonies repeated over daily,\n    we consecrated it by magic rites, till at last we put it in\n    motion. When it reached this capacity of movement, as often as\n    we wished to interrogate it by secret inquiry, we proceeded\n    thus.\n\n    \u201cIt was placed in the middle of a room (_in medio dom\u00fbs_)\n    purified throughout by Arabian perfumes; a round dish was\n    simply laid upon it, formed of a composite material of many\n    metals. On the phlange of its outer round were skilfully\n    engraved the scriptile forms of the alphabet separated into\n    as many exactly measured spaces. Over this basin (or dish)\n    a man stood clothed in linen garments and shod with linen\n    socks, his head bound round with a turban-like tuft of hair,\n    and bearing a rod of vervain, the prospering plant. After\n    we had favourably conciliated the deity, who is the giver\n    of all presage, with duly formulated charms and ceremonial\n    knowledge, he communicated a gentle movement to a ring that\n    hung suspended over the basin.... This was tied up by an\n    exceedingly fine Carpathian thread, which had been initiated\n    with mystical observances. This ring, moving by little leaps\n    or jumps, so as to alight upon the distinct intervals with the\n    separate letters inscribed, each in its compartment to itself,\n    gives out in heroic verse answers suitable to the inquiries\n    made, comprehended perfectly in number and measure; such as\n    are called Pythic, or those delivered by the oracles of the\n    Branchid\u00e6.\n\n    \u201cTo us inquiring who should succeed to the present empire,\n    because it had been already mentioned that it would be one\n    entirely suitable [to our aim and purpose], the leaping ring\n    had glanced upon the two syllables THEO. With the last addition\n    of a letter [that is, D], a man present exclaimed, \u2018THEODORUM,\u2019\n    the fatal necessity of the portent indicating as much.\n    Nothing further was sought upon this head; for it was agreed\n    amongst us that this was the individual we wanted\u201d (_Ammianus\n    Marcellinus_, Rerum Gestarum, xxix. 1).\n\nIn this case the ambiguity of the oracle is due to the precipitance of\nthe inquirers. The oracle was true as far as they allowed it to proceed,\nbut had they waited to spell it out they would have learned that the\nname was not THEOD_orus_, but THEOD_osius_ the Great, who was to be the\nsuccessor to Valens.\n\nThis is an authentic passage of high interest. It shows considerable\nanalogy with the table-turning of the moderns; it also gives insight\ninto singular and elaborate processes of divination by magic as being\nfrequently practised at Rome in the fourth century. Clearly the Pagans\nhad no notion in that century that oracles had at all finally ceased on\na Good Friday in the first century, or that Pan, the god of rumour, was\ndead. The sun still shone to them as the Apollo of prophecy, and they\nstill sought presage of a spirit who was made free of the solar order\n(_qui solarem ordinem est sortitus_).\n\n\n\n\nHISTORICAL FRAGMENTS.\n\n\nI shall now give a few detached historical fragments that relate to\nFrance, commencing with the Peace of Cateau-Cambresis, 1559, and running\ndown to the death of Louis XV., 1774, in chronological order, just as M.\nle Pelletier has found the counterpart to lie embedded in the quatrains\nof Nostradamus, in a fashion seemingly interpretable to him. This, for\nany but French readers, will probably be sufficient to indicate the style\nand value of the presages enveloped in the strange and fatidical diction\nof the quatrains. I doubt not but that, by original research instituted\nand by careful re-reading of the text throughout, a good many more of the\nmysterious stanzas might be unravelled and elucidated; also by collation\nof all that has been written by commentators on our author, a good deal\nof light might be thrown upon what they have done, even where their own\ninterpretation has fallen short of clearness. All that my book purposes\nto accomplish is,\u2014at least for England,\u2014to establish, without doubt,\nand at once, for all future time, that Nostradamus is no impostor, but,\nwhen rightly understood and unlocked, a very wonderful anticipator of\nevents to happen hereafter; and, farther than this, that his works are,\nto all intents and purposes, the most startling oracles ever put on\npaper by mortal man not professing divine inspiration. From immemorial\ntime instances of human prescience have occasionally been manifested.\nThe whole human race has an ardent and ingrain desire to search into and\nanticipate futurity. Very few individuals, however, have from time to\ntime been able to gratify and keep alive their passion in this respect.\nBut no one has done so in a degree that at all sets him on a par with\nNostradamus in the felicitous and reiterated coruscations whereby he has\nanticipated the more prominent points and epochs of time Future; and\nsometimes in minuteness he even mentions by name some individual who\nemerges though it be but for an instant from the general obscurity of his\nlife.\n\n\nTHE PEACE OF CATEAU-CAMBRESIS (APRIL 3, 1559). [I. 71.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 52._\n\n    La paix s\u2019approche d\u2019un cost\u00e9, et la guerre\n    Oncques[53] ne fut la poursuitte si grande:\n    Plaindre h\u00f4mes, femmes, sang innocent par terre,\n    Et ce sera de France a[54] toute bande.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Peace approaches on one side, and [as to] war\n    Never was the pursuit of it so great:\n    Men and women [have cause] to weep innocent blood on earth;\n    All through France it shall be from end to end.\n\nThe peace was that concluded with Spain at Cateau-Cambresis, whilst the\nwar, carried on with such hot pursuit, was the civil conflict that raged\nbetween Romanist and Calvinist. This it was made men and women lament\nthe blood spilt upon the earth in all parts of France, from north to\nsouth.\n\n\nDEATH OF HENRI II. (JULY 10, 1559). [I. 72.]\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 35._\n\n    Le lyon jeune le vieux surmontera\n    En champ bellique par singulier duelle:\n    Dans cage d\u2019or[55] les yeux lui crevera,\n    Deux classes[56] une,[57] puis mourir, mort cruelle.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The young lion shall overcome the old\n    On the field of war in single combat [duelle];\n    He will pierce his eyes in a cage of gold.\n    This is the first of two loppings, then he dies a cruel death.\n\nMontgomery, who at the moment of the narrative bore the name of Captain\nCoryes (Garenci\u00e8res, p. 25), afterwards became Earl of Montgomery,\noverthrew Henri II. (_le vieux lion_) in the tournay-lists or duel, and\npierced him above the eye through the gilt visor of his helmet. This is\nthe first of the two blows that will destroy the dynastic tree of the\nhouse of Valois. Henri II., wounded mortally, shall be the first to die a\nviolent death; whilst his son, Henri III., will be the second, who fell\nby the hand of Jacques Cl\u00e9ment.\n\n\nAugust 1. 1589.\n\nThis is a very celebrated quatrain. It is found in the earliest edition\nof the quatrains published at Lyons in 1555, containing merely 300\nquatrains. It lifted Nostradamus into celebrity at once. He had applied\nit to Henri II. several years before it happened, and had even announced\nit as a prediction to the King himself. He was well known to Henri II.,\nto whom he dedicated the last three Centuries, in a long and curious\nepistle, which we have already given in full. The King seems to have\nhad infinite confidence in Nostradamus, for he let him draw the royal\nhoroscope, as well as that of his two children, in 1556.\n\nThe story of this is curious, as given by Guynaud in his \u201cConcordance\ndes Proph\u00e9ties de Nostradamus,\u201d 1712,[58] pp. 86-91. Henri II., it\nwould seem, proclaimed a tournament in the Rue St. Antoine, the site of\nthe Bastille, then in the country, for July 1, 1559, in honour of the\nmarriage of his daughter Elizabeth of France with Philip II. of Spain. He\nlisted himself as one against all comers. The joust being nearly over and\nthe sun setting, the Duc de Savoie begged him to quit the running, as his\nside was already victorious; but the King wanted to break another lance\nover it, and commanded the young Comte de Montgommeri, captain of his\nScotch Guard, to run a tilt in conclusion. He excused himself, but the\nKing insisted and grew angry. Of course the young man then obeyed, put\nspurs to his horse, and struck the King upon the throat, below the vizor.\nHis lance shivered, and the butt raising the vizor, a splinter wounded\nthe King above the right eye, cutting several of the veins of the _pia\nmater_. The King swooned. He lived on, however, for ten days in terrible\nagony, as foretold in the prophecy, _Deux classes une, puis mourir, mort\ncruelle_. Nostradamus styles both of them lions, as they both fought\nunder that device. The King wore a gilt helmet, so that the _cage d\u2019or_\nwas literally fulfilled.\n\nThe strange part is that another astrologer, named Luc Gauric, had once\nbeen visited by the King in company with two other gentlemen, to whom\nhe feigned to give precedence; but the astrologer, perhaps knowing him,\ninsisted on addressing him first, and told him he would die in a duel. He\nalso prophesied a violent death to the King\u2019s companions, and managed to\ndisplease the whole trio. The King said of this, \u201cWe are making peace now\nwith the King of Spain, so it is not very likely that I shall challenge\nhim, and as a king I could in no other way be challenged, whatever may\nbe the fate of the other gentlemen.\u201d Guynaud quotes this story from\nthe Princesse de Cl\u00e8ves, who, in the second volume of her writings,\nrepresents the Court as discussing the credibility of astrologers, the\nprevalent opinion apparently being rather strong against them. Still,\nwe know that Henri II. greatly honoured Nostradamus. Prophetic warning\nis evidently futile, for the King had two separate warnings and heeded\nneither.\n\n\nPRINCESSE DE CL\u00c8VES. [II. 145.]\n\n    Quelques jours apr\u00e8s, le Roy \u00e9toit chez la Reine \u00e0 l\u2019heur du\n    Cercle; l\u2019on parla des Horoscopes et des pr\u00e9dictions. Les\n    opinions \u00e9taient partag\u00e9es sur la croyance que l\u2019on y devoit\n    donner. La Reine y ajo\u00fbtait beaucoup de foi; elle so\u00fbtint\n    qu\u2019apr\u00e8s tant de choses qui avaient \u00e9t\u00e9 pr\u00e9dites, et que l\u2019on\n    avait vu arriver, on ne pouvait douter qu\u2019il n\u2019eut quelque\n    certitude dans cette science. D\u2019autres so\u00fbtenaient, que parmi\n    ce nombre infini de pr\u00e9dictions, le peu qui se trouvaient\n    veritables, faisait bien voir que se n\u2019etait qu\u2019un effet du\n    hazard.\n\n    \u201cJ\u2019ai eu autrefois beaucoup de curiosit\u00e9 pour l\u2019avenir,\u201d dit\n    le Roy; \u201cmais on m\u2019a dit tant de choses fausses et si peu\n    vraisemblables que je suis demur\u00e9 convaincu que l\u2019on ne peut\n    rien savoir de v\u00e9ritable. Il y a quelques ann\u00e9es qu\u2019il devint\n    ici un homme d\u2019une grande reputation dans l\u2019Astrologie. Tout le\n    monde l\u2019alla voir, j\u2019y allai comme les autres, mais sans lui\n    dire qui j\u2019\u00e9tais, et je menai Monsieur de Guise et Descars, je\n    les fit passer le premier. L\u2019Astrologue neanmoins s\u2019addressa\n    d\u2019abord \u00e0 moi, comme s\u2019il m\u2019eut jug\u00e9 le maitre des autres:\n    Peut-\u00eatre qu\u2019il me connaissait; cependant il me dit une chose\n    qui ne me convenait pas, s\u2019il m\u2019eut connu. Il me predit que\n    je serai tu\u00e9 en duel. Il dit ensuite \u00e0 Monsieur de Guise,\n    qu\u2019il serait tu\u00e9 par derri\u00e8re, et \u00e0 Descars, qu\u2019il aurait la\n    t\u00eate cass\u00e9e d\u2019un coup de pied de cheval. Monsieur de Guise\n    s\u2019offensa quasi de cette pr\u00e9diction, comme si l\u2019on eut accus\u00e9\n    de devoir fuir. Descars ne fut guerre satisfait de trouver\n    qu\u2019il devait finir par un accident si malheureux. Enfin nous\n    sortimes tous tr\u00e8s malcontents de l\u2019astrologue. Je ne scais\n    ce qui arrivera \u00e0 Monsieur de Guise et \u00e0 Descars, mais il n\u2019y\n    a guerre d\u2019apparence que je sois tu\u00e9 en duel. Nous venons de\n    faire la paix le Roy d\u2019Espagne et moi, quand nous ne l\u2019aurions\n    pas faite, je doute que nous nous battions, et que je le fisse\n    appeller comme le Roy mon p\u00e8re fit rappeller Charles Quint.\u201d\n\nThe story, as told by the Princesse de Cl\u00e8ves, is fuller than I have\ngiven it, but does not correspond at all with the version given to Lord\nBacon when in France, as told to him by Dr. Penn, who said (Bacon\u2019s\n\u201cEssay on Prophecies\u201d) that the queen-mother, Catherine de Medici, was\ngiven to curious arts, and caused the King\u2019s nativity to be cast under a\nfalse name. The astrologer adjudged that he should be killed in a duel.\nThe queen laughed, supposing her husband to be above challenges to duel;\n\u201cbut he was slain upon a course at tilt, the splinters of the staff of\nMontgomery going in at his beaver.\u201d History, in events large or small,\nhath so many variants that any man, whose view of things is a little\nsinister, may well be allowed to say all history is a variant of truth,\nand all that is sure in it is that it cannot be relied upon at all. In\nthis case the astrologers were right, spite of the odds against them.\n\n\nARREST OF MONTGOMERY (MAY 27, 1574). [I. 73.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 30._\n\n    Celuy qu\u2019en[59] luitte[60] et fer au faict bellique\n    Aura port\u00e9[61] plus grand qui luy le prix,\n    De nuict au lict six luy feront la pique,\n    Nud, sans harnois, subit[62] sera surprins.[63]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    To him who in strife and armour in the warlike field\n    Shall have carried away the prize from one greater than himself.\n    By night in bed six men will stab him;\n    Unprotected he will be surprised naked and unarmed.\n\nThis means that Montgomery, who in joust (_au faict\nbellique_,\u2014_bellique_, we are told, means an engagement on horseback)\nwith lance in hand will have carried away the prize from Henri II. (_plus\ngrand que luy_) will be suddenly surprised in bed at night, naked and\nunarmed, by six men, who will deliver him into the vengeful hands of\nCatherine de Medici.\n\nSome say the dying King gave him free pardon; others report that he fled\nto England to save himself: but at any rate he came to England, and there\nembraced Protestantism. When he returned to France, he placed himself\nat the head of the revolted Huguenots in Normandy, and was besieged in\nDomfront by the Marshal de Matignon and a large force, to which he was\nobliged to surrender. The terms of the surrender guaranteed his life,\nbut by express command of Catherine he was arrested in his own castle\nof Domfront on the night of May 27, 1574, by six gentlemen of the royal\narmy, and carried to the Ch\u00e2teau of Caen, thence to the Conciergerie at\nParis, and there immured, where the great tower still goes by his name.\n\n\nTHE REGENCY OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI (1559-1574). [I. 74.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 63._\n\n    La Dame seule au regne demeur\u00e9e,\n    D\u2019unic esteint premier au lict d\u2019honneur;\n    Sept ans sera de douleur esplor\u00e9e,\n    Puis longue vie au regne par grand heur.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The lady shall remain to rule alone,\n    Her unique spouse dead, who was first in the field of honour.\n    She will weep for grief through seven long years,\n    And gifted with long life will reign long.\n\nCatherine de Medici did not put off her weeds till August 1, 1566, seven\nyears and a few days from the death of the King in July, 1559, on her\nreturn from a progress with her son Charles IX., in the course of which\nshe had visited all the mutinous cities throughout the kingdom, with a\nview to satisfy them. She survived till the year 1589, and practically\nretained the whole power during the reigns of her two eldest sons,\nFran\u00e7ois II. and Charles IX., but she entirely lost it on the succession\nof Henri III.\n\nThe quatrain applies to no one so well as to Catherine de Medici; and,\nif it be allowed to be realized as to her person, there is no denying\nthe singular exactitude of the prophecy. We have no evidence that the\nQueen applied the quatrain to herself, or that her contemporaries bore\nit in mind; but the second line is remarkable as assuming with reposeful\nconfidence the previous death of the King as predicted. The third line\nis a startling example of the precision with which our prophet can mark\nout the duration of a period: seven years the Queen is to wear mourning,\nand she does so all the time she is travelling. The sceptical will say\nshe did it to fulfil the prophecy; but it looks rather as if that had\nfallen quite out of remembrance, and as if it was due much more to\npolicy, and for the purpose of creating sympathy, during her state tour,\nthan to motives either of superstition or any singular attachment to her\ndeceased husband. The quatrain is most unobtrusively worded, and yet so\nconfidently assured and searching, that it seems to me, as if perfectly\nunbiassed and disinterested observers might take it as a kind of moral\nvoucher for the simple integrity of its author. I merely draw attention\nto it so far, and every reader will form his own judgment upon the point.\nI hold myself aloof from theory; but this is how the particular fact we\nare upon impresses my mind, and probably it may affect many others in\nthe same way.\n\n\nEXTINCTION DES VALOIS (1559-1589). [I. 77.]\n\n_Presage 40._\n\n    De maison sept par mort mortelle suite;\n    Gresle, tempeste, pestilent mal, fureurs:\n    Roi d\u2019Orient, d\u2019Occident tous en fuite,\n    Subjuguera ses jadis conquereurs.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The death of the house of seven by a suite of deaths,\n    Hail, tempest, pestilent evil, fury.\n    A king of the East will put all the West to flight,\n    And will subdue his at-one-time conquerors.\n\nThe house of Valois consisted of the seven children of Henri II. By the\ndeath of the fourth son, Henri III., in 1589, the whole of the seven were\ndead except Marguerite, who married Henri IV., so that the family may\nwell be said to have died out by a suite of deaths (_mortelle suite_).\nHeresy was rampant (_pestilent mal_) and civil war. Soliman II., called\nthe Magnificent, threatened all Christendom, and recovered all the Holy\nPlaces that the Crusaders had wrested from his predecessors.\n\n\nCIVIL WAR (1575, 1576). [I. 78.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 11._\n\n    Des septs rameaux \u00e0 trois seront reduicts,\n    Les plus aisn\u00e9s seront surprins[64] par mort,\n    Fratricider les deux seront seduicts,\n    Les conjur\u00e9s en dormans seront morts.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The seven branches when they shall be reduced to three,\n    And the four eldest shall have been surprised by death,\n    The two (males) shall entertain fratricidal aims,\n    And the conspirators sleeping shall be reduced to death.\n\nThis means that, when the seven are become but three (_i.e._ the three\nyoungest), Henri III. and the Duc d\u2019Alen\u00e7on will enter upon a fratricidal\nwar. In 1575 Alen\u00e7on escaped from the Court, where he was under\nsurveillance, and put himself at the head of the Malcontents, who were\nin alliance with the Huguenots. He was successful, and forced the edict\nof pacification, May 14, 1576, upon his brother the King. Daniel, in his\n\u201cHistory of France\u201d under Henri III., shows that they mutually sought\neach other\u2019s death by dagger and poison. The Guise (_les conjur\u00e9s_) and\nthe Leaguers will come by their deaths from indulging in a false security.\n\n\nTHE MURDER OF HENRI III. (1589). [I. 79.]\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 67._\n\n    Quand chef Perouse n\u2019osera sa tunique,\n    Sans au couvert tout nud s\u2019expolier.[65]\n    Seront prins[66] sept, faict aristocratique!\n    Le p\u00e8re et fils morts par poincte au colier.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When the chief of Perouse dare not risk casting off his tunic\n    Without stripping himself entirely naked,\n    The last of the seven taken, what an event in the upper circles!\n    Father and son killed by a stab in the throat.\n\nWhen Sixtus V. (_chef de Perouse_) will not dare to excommunicate Henri\nIII., having already lost England in 1534, and feeling he must not be\nentirely stripped by a further Gallican schism, will be rid of the\nposterity of Henri II. (_seront prins sept_) by a tremendous event in\naristocratic circles. Father and son will both perish by a thrust in the\nthroat.\n\n\nDEATH OF THE GUISE (DECEMBER 23, 24, 1588). [I. 80.]\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 60._\n\n    Les sept enfans en hostaine[67] laiss\u00e9s;\n    Le tiers[68] viendra son enfant trucider[69];\n    Deux par son fils seront d\u2019estoc perc\u00e9s;\n    Gennes Florence les viendra enconder.[70]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Seven children will be left in his house;\n    The _tiers \u00e9tat_ will come to murder his child;\n    Two will have been pierced by the sword of his son;\n    Genoa and Florence will come to disorder them.\n\nThis is, Henri II. at his death will leave seven children in his house.\nThe _Conseil des Seize_ (_le tiers_) will incite Jacques Cl\u00e9ment to go to\nSt. Cloud to assassinate Henri III., because he has caused Henri de Guise\nand the Cardinal to be slain by sword thrusts. Then Charles Emmanuel I.,\nDuke of Savoy (_le G\u00e9nois_), and Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (_le\nFlorentin_), General of Philip II., will come to make war on Henri IV.,\nwho will be compelled by Farnese to raise the siege of Paris (1590) and\nRouen (1592) with precipitation.\n\nParma was, originally, of Etruscan foundation (Bouillet, \u201cDictionnaire\nd\u2019Histoire\u201d _s.v._ Parme), and in this respect rises above Florence, the\ncapital of Modern Tuscany. This justifies Nostradamus in designating the\nDuke of Parma as _Florence_. Genoa, by synecdoche, may stand for Savoy,\nas being its more commercial emporium.\n\n\nBURIAL AT ST. DENIS OF THE LAST OF THE VALOIS (1589-1610). [I. 82.]\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 20._\n\n    Serpens[71] transmis en la cage de fer\n    O\u00f9 les enfans septains du Roy sont pris,\n    Les vieux et peres sortiront bas[72] de l\u2019enfer,[73]\n    Ains mourir voir de fruict mort et cris.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The coffin being lowered behind the grille of iron,\n    Where the seven children of the King are buried,\n    The ancestors of the Valois will rise from the depths of the tomb,\n    And cry out to see their withered fruit thus die.\n\nHenri III. was deposited, provisionally, in 1589, at Compi\u00e8gne, in\nthe Abbey of St. Corneille; and it was only in 1610 that his body was\nconveyed to the vaults of St. Denis, at the same time with the bodies of\nHenri IV. and Catherine de Medici. This quatrain is not very remarkable,\nbut the interpretation hangs pretty well together. It has perhaps this\nvalue, that it shows us one incident in a vast procession of historical\ndissolving views that seem to have passed before the eye of Nostradamus,\nand one would say in chronological sequence, which he must himself have\nbroken up purposely afterwards, fearing that the chronological clue would\noften render the prophecy too open to interpretation to be good for\neither his own safety or the public advantage.\n\n\nMARRIAGE OF FRAN\u00c7OIS II. AND MARY STUART (APRIL 24, 1558). [I. 84.]\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 39._\n\n    Premier fils vefve[74] malheureux mariage\n    Sans nuls enfants, deux Isles en discord,\n    Avant dix-huict incompetant \u00e2ge.[75]\n    De l\u2019autre pr\u00e8s[76] plus bas sera l\u2019accord.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The eldest son leaves, with his wretched marriage,\n    Widow, no children, and two isles in strife,\n    And dies before eighteen, incompetent of age.\n    The younger son will marry earlier still.[77]\n\nThe matter seems to stand thus. Fran\u00e7ois II., eldest son of Henri II.,\nshall die and leave his wife, Mary Stuart, a widow without children,\nafter an unhappy marriage that extends over less than two years, before\nhe is eighteen, or of competent age. The particularity of this detail\nis wonderful, and far more like history than prophecy, except as to the\nbrevity with which it is expressed. His enunciations amount to hints\nonly, but they are so pregnant that, when you fill in the indispensably\nconnected particulars, the statement reads like history. So here the\ninstant you recognize that Fran\u00e7ois II. is the subject of the lines, you\nrefer to history for his birth and death, January 19, 1543, December 15,\n1560\u2014that is, 17 years, 10 months, and 15 days, or a month and 15 days\nshort of 18 years. _Avant dix-huict_ is Nostradamus\u2019s phrase. Again,\nhis death establishes discord between Elizabeth of England and Mary of\nScotland (_deux Isles en discord_). Charles IX., his younger brother, was\naffianced to Elizabeth of Austria when still younger, at eleven years of\nage, though he did not marry till twenty. This is how M. le Pelletier\nharmonizes the line. But, as affiancing is not marriage, this cannot have\nany affinity at all with marrying at an incompetent age. I should propose\nto read the line thus. Of the younger one afterwards, and lower down,\nwill the concordance, account, or accord be given; and accordingly we\nshall have now to enter upon several stanzas that relate to Charles IX.\n\n\nCHARLES IX. (_Le roi farouche_). (1560-1574). [I. 86.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 66._\n\n    Le grand Baillif d\u2019Orleans mis \u00e0 mort\n    Sera par un de sang vindicatif:\n    De mort m\u00e9rit\u00e9 ne mourra ni par sort;\n    Des pieds et mains mal le faisoit captif.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great Bailiff of Orleans shall be put to death\n    By one of vindictive blood:\n    Not undeserved death shall he die, nor by fate;\n    For they will insecurely make him captive by feet and hands.\n\nJ\u00e9r\u00f4me Groslot shall be arrested November 9, 1561, and condemned by the\nInquisition to beheadal for delivering the city to the Calvinists. But\nhe will not suffer the death merited, nor undergo his fate; his keepers\nbeing bribed, he shall escape.\n\n\nDEFECTION OF ADMIRAL COLIGNY (1559-1567). [I. 87.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 75._\n\n    Le grand pillot[78] par Roy sera mand\u00e9,[79]\n    Laisser la classe[80] pour plus haut lieu atteindre:\n    Sept ans apr\u00e8s sera contreband\u00e9,[81]\n    Barbare arm\u00e9e viendra Venise craindre.[82]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    He who shall have been appointed admiral by the king,\n    Shall leave the fleet to take a higher post;\n    Seven years later, shall take the opposite side to the king;\n    Venice shall dread an army of barbarians coming.\n\nGaspard de Coligny, made grand-admiral by Henri II., in 1552, shall quit\nthe fleet in 1559, on the death of the King, and place himself at the\nhead of the Calvinist party. In 1562 he will be general of their forces,\nand in 1567\u2014that is, seven years after withdrawal from the fleet, he will\nhead the rebellion in the civil war. At the same moment Venice will dread\nthe armies of Selim II., that will wrest Cyprus from her in 1570. The\npeace between the Catholics and Protestants was signed at St. Germain in\nthis very year. The Venetians, however, in this year gained the naval\nvictory of Lepanto over the Turks in 1570.\n\n\nMURDER OF LOUIS DE BOURBON, PRINCE OF COND\u00c9 (MARCH 13, 1569). [I. 88.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 41._\n\n    Bossu sera esleu par le conseil:\n    Plus hideux monstre en terre n\u2019apperceu.\n    Le coup voulant crevera l\u2019\u0153il[83]\n    Le traistre au Roy pour fidelle receu.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Crookback shall be elected by the council:\n    A more hideous monster never seen on earth.\n    An intentional shot pierces the eye of the traitor\n    Who had sworn to be faithful to the king.\n\nPrince Louis of Cond\u00e9, the Humpback, shall be elected general-in-chief by\nthe council of notables of the Calvinists. Such a monster of wickedness\nwas never seen on earth. Montesquiou killed him with a pistol-shot in\nthe eye, who had twice escaped from his treasonous practices against\nthe King. Here Nostradamus\u2019 forecast is miraculously clear, although it\nhas baffled Guynaud to find its concordance with events. He here also\nexhibits his religious partisanship. A hunchback is always considered to\nbe morally as well as physically deformed; and, as Louis de Bourbon took\nthe side of the Calvinists, he became at once to our prophet _le plus\nhideux monstre en terre_. Evidently, however, he was a grand fighting\nfellow, and spent his life in camps, if we go no further than Moreri for\nhis history. He was condemned for a conspirator in 1560 to lose his\nhead. But the sentence was never carried out, as King Fran\u00e7ois II. died\nat the moment, and none was bold enough to see to it. When Charles IX.\nset him at liberty, the _Cour des Pairs_ found out that he was innocent,\nand declared him so. He perished at the battle of Jarnac. He had his leg\nbroken by the kick of a horse, and was seated at the foot of a bush when\nMontesquiou, captain of the Duke of Anjou\u2019s guards, saw him, and, for\nsome old pique, coolly, but like the veriest coward, shot the wounded\nCond\u00e9 in the eye with his pistol. The body was conveyed for burial to St.\nGeorge of Vend\u00f4me, either by chance or insult, on the back of a she ass,\nat Jarnac; which led to one of those impromptu epitaphial epigrams that\nthe French turn so prettily:\n\n    L\u2019an mil cinq cens soixante neuf,\n    Entre Jarnac et Chateauneuf,\n    Fut port\u00e9 mort sur une \u00e2nesse\n    Le grand ennemi de la Messe.\n\n                                (_v._ MORERI, _s.v._ _Louis de Bourbon_.)\n\n\nST. BARTHOLOMEW\u2019S DAY (AUGUST 24, 1572). [I. 89.]\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 47._\n\n    Le Noir[84] farouche, quand aura essay\u00e9\n    Sa main sanguine par feu, fer, arcs tendus,[85]\n    Trestous le peuple sera tant[86] effray\u00e9\n    Voir les plus grans par col et pieds pendus.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The savage king, when he shall have tried\n    His blood-stained hand with fire, sword, and bows,\n    All the people shall be terrified\n    To see the great hung by the neck and feet.\n\nWhen Charles IX. shall exercise his sanguinary hand with fire, the sword,\nand the arquebus, the people will be horrified to see the great Calvinist\nlords strung up by the neck and feet. One of the savage amusements of\nCharles, in hunting, was to cut off at a single blow the heads of any\nasses or pigs he came across on the way. During the very massacre he\nplaced himself at a window of the Louvre and took several shots with\na long arquebus at the Huguenots who fled from the other side of the\nSeine in the Faubourg St. Germain. The body of Coligny was dragged by\nthe populace, at the end of a rope, through all the mud of the kennels,\nand then hung up by one foot to the gibbet at Montfau\u00e7on. This 24th of\nAugust fell on a Sunday. The King himself died two years after, with some\nsuspicion of poisoning. He is said to have been a man of high courage\nand of a lively, quick wit, possessing a good share of eloquence; was\ngiven much to dissimulation; and full of oaths, unreasonably violent,\nand without self-control. He turned a verse well, and loved hunting.\nHis poems still remain, but I do not know they can ever command a\nsingle reader. In speaking of poets, he used to say they ought to be\nwell fed, like good horses, but not satisfied, or they become lazy. The\nworld in general prefers to starve them if they are first-rate, and\nenrich them if they are second-rate. We cannot expect people to reward\nwhat they cannot understand: though inevitable, we cannot but deplore\nthe arrangement. With good abilities, Charles had so little judgment\nthat his actions would always have been mischievous; the best thing\nthat could have happened was his death at twenty-four. He is said to\nhave remarked, when dying, that he was glad to die young and have no\nchildren, for he had sadly learnt, in his own case, how miserable is\nthe conduct of a prince who mounts the throne a child, and so governs\nthrough the ministry of others. This only shows a little recovery to\nsober reason, but none of the remorse that is attributed to him on his\ndeath-bed, as being the ostensible author of the blackest act that has\never disfigured Christianity or stained Europe. In perfidy and crime it\ncannot be surpassed, nor as the outcome of religious perversion. The\ncrimes of an atheistic democracy, perpetrated two hundred years later on\nthe same theatre precisely, have only been able to surpass it, in the\ncarnal lusts exhibited, in the inhuman degradation of the body of man,\nand in the ubiquity of iniquity, when the whole people are thirsting to\nsatiate their debased passions in sin. Nostradamus has elsewhere called\nParis the City of the Sword. It is the wine-press of the earth, fat with\nthe blood of man: Lutetia of mud and blood. Haussmann rebuilt it, but\nnothing can cleanse it. Their very guillotine is an instrument contrived\nto publicly gratify the populace in its tiger-taste for the reek of blood\nin the streets of the City of Blood. If you wish to see the disgrace of\nreligion, read Sully\u2019s description of the endeavour of the ferocious\npriests on that day to have _his_ blood. Look also on the medal of\nGregory XIII.,[87] struck rejoicingly to commemorate that awful crime.\nBonanni shows it; and, as a work of medallic art, the head of the Pope\nis of the very highest order of beauty and Italian grace. But, then, it\ncommemorates the blood of sixty thousand victims, he says. Ranke (ii. 69)\nputs it at fifty thousand. Take this number, if you like; it is enough\nto satisfy the successor to St. Peter, to whom the special mandate was\naddressed, \u201cFeed my sheep,\u201d\u2014as other shepherds do for the butcher, is\nthe Gregorian gloss. Tradesmen, however, have the decency to shut the\nshambles on the Sunday morning; but the _servus servorum_ is at home in\n_his_ ministrations on the Dominical day. That Sunday in August is indeed\na Saints\u2019 rubric! For that day there is no need of a calendar. Time,\ntill the world ruptures, can never forget it,\u2014nor forgive.\n\n_Le noir farouche_ of this quatrain is, by Guynaud, p. 113, said to stand\nfor Admiral Coligny, who is designated, according to him, very variously\nin the quatrains. The _noir farouche_ alludes to his rough and forbidding\nexterior. _Le grand Pillot_ (VI. 75) is another epithet; _le tiran_\n(Pr\u00e9sage III.) another. The conclusion of the quatrain is admitted,\nboth by Le Pelletier and Guynaud, to stand for Coligny. In the earlier\nportion, most will, I think, prefer to take _noir_ as the anagram of\n_Roi_.\n\nGuynaud gives a surprising account from the historians of Provence and\nFrance, of what happened to Coligny when he was at Angoul\u00eame in 1568. He\nset up a gibbet there, and on his own authority hanged upon it Michel\nGr\u00ealet, Guardian of the Cord\u00e9liers, and a most zealous preacher against\nthe heretics. In his dying speech on the scaffold, the latter said,\n\u201cAdmiral, you put me to death very unjustly. I am going to God now to\ngive account to Him of my actions; but remember, you and all the people\npresent here to-day, I predict that in a short time you will yourself be\nthrown from an upper window, and your body will be cut to pieces.\u201d The\nhistories go on to say that an Italian cut off Coligny\u2019s head to send it\nto Cardinal de Lorraine at Rome, whilst other men cut off his hands and\nother parts of his body; also that at about six in the morning the mob\nfound his body on a dunghill in a stable, dragged it to the Seine, and\nthrew it in. It was again fished out, and hung by the foot to the gibbet\nof Montfau\u00e7on, where it became blackened in the smoke of the fires that\nwere lighted below it. (Guynaud, \u201cConcord. Nostra.,\u201d p. 113.)\n\n\n_Sixain 52._ [I. 90.]\n\n    La grand\u2019 Cit\u00e9 qui n\u2019a pain \u00e0 demy\n    Encor un coup la Sainct Barthelemy\n    Engravera au profond de son ame:\n    Nismes, Rochelle, Geneve et Montpellier,\n    Castres, Lyon, Mars entrant au Belier,\n    S\u2019entrebattront; le tout pour une Dame.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great city that has bread at only half rations\n    Will have the further blow of Saint Bartholomew\n    Cut deep into its soul:\n    Nismes, Rochelle, Geneva, and Montpellier,\n    Castres, Lyons, with Mars entering the Ram,\n    Will fight one another; and all for the Queen mother.\n\nThe great city is, of course, Paris, and _une Dame_ is the Queen,\nCatherine de Medici. It has to be borne in mind that these sixains\nwere not published till thirty-three years after the massacre of St.\nBartholomew\u2019s. Naturally, the prediction loses all special authority\nin this case. It raises, however, a singular question: Why, if it was\nwritten after the event, it was not rendered more explicit, if those who\npublished it had an interest in augmenting the fame of the prophet? It\nlooks very much as if the testamentary duties were performed in perfect\ngood faith, mechanically, and without even understanding the purport or\nmeaning of the words.\n\nAnother passage relating to St. Bartholomew\u2019s massacre occurs in the text\nof 1605, and its authority is no greater than that of the sixain just\nquoted, as it was not published till after the event. It goes, however,\nto strengthen the remark I above made. Those who caused the work to be\nprinted seem to have been perfectly unconscious of the meaning of the\nstanzas; they regarded the whole procedure as a mere form of respect to\nthe memory of a celebrated relative. Their duty was clear to them, and\nthey performed it; but the writings were to them perfectly unintelligible.\n\nPresage III. (ii. 252) is dated as if written January, 1555, and for\nanything that I can see there is nothing whatever to make one doubt but\nthat it was so. Having made this point as clear as I can, the reader will\ntake it or reject it as he pleases.\n\n    Le gros airain qui les heures ordonne,\n    Sur le trespas du Tyran cassera:[88]\n    Pleurs, plaintes et cris, eaux, glace pain ne d\u00f4ne\n    V. S. C.[89] paix l\u2019arme passera.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The brazen bell that rings the daily hours\n    Will play full volley at the tyrant\u2019s death:\n    Tears, cries, and groans; the waters freeze up bread,\n    With son of Charles the Fifth a peace is made.\n\nThe tyrant here is interpreted by Guynaud (p. 107) as Coligny, and he\nappends some interesting remarks from Favin\u2019s \u201cHistoire de Navarre,\u201d\ntouching St. Bartholomew\u2019s Day in Paris. He says they marked the\nlodgings of the Huguenots that they might know where to find them in the\nhurry, and it was arranged that at the tocsin of the great bell at the\npalace, as well as that of the church of St. Germain de l\u2019Auxerrois, they\nwere to lay violent hands (_main-baisse_) on all the heretics. Two p.m.\nwas the hour appointed. The Catholics who went into the street were to\ndistinguish themselves by a white cross upon their hats. The bodies of\nthe slain were for the most part thrown into the river. Mezerai records\nthat the queen-mother hastened the signal by a full hour, and that it\nwas, contrary to arrangement, started by the bell of St. Germain de\nl\u2019Auxerrois, although that was immediately followed up by the big bell of\nthe palace.\n\nColigny was slain in bed, and flung out of window in his shirt only. His\nface, being covered with blood, the Duc de Guise coolly wiped it with his\nhandkerchief, to assure himself that it actually was Coligny. We shall\nshortly see this bloodthirsty villain himself murdered at Blois.\n\nThe massacre continued the whole week through, for seven days that is,\nbut the chief fury had spent itself by Tuesday night. The Janus Gallicus\nprofesses, though how Aim\u00e9 could have any certainty of it I cannot tell,\nthat Nostradamus, by _tyran_, alludes to Coligny, and says that the\nbell tolled so long that it broke. The quatrain does not necessitate\nthe supposal of any such thing, and I believe the fact is not elsewhere\nrecorded. Of course, if it be, it would be so literal a fulfilment that\nall the sceptical world would immediately take advantage of what I have\npointed out, that this is a prophecy _apr\u00e8s coup_. If so doing should\nrejoice anybody, I can only say that he has my consent. My business is\nto put the facts, without a shred of disguise, before the reader; he can\nweave them into theories for himself. If I at any time manifest what I\nthink, he will be pleased to accept it merely as a contribution towards\nthe same end.\n\nIn January, 1572, the river Seine was frozen over for a long time, and\nthe roads became almost impassable. This _may_ perhaps be thought to\ninterpret _eaux glace pain ne d\u00f4ne_, with such hieroglyphic symbolism\nof scarcity as oracular utterance delights in. It is pretty certain\nthat provisions did not enter Paris that winter with their usual flow.\nIn allusion to the army mentioned, Guynaud says that the Duc d\u2019Anjou\nmarched with fifty thousand men to the siege of Rochelle, where, after\nfiring thirteen thousand shots, they at last effected a breach. What they\nbattered down, oddly enough, was the Boulevard of the Gospel (_Boulevard\nde l\u2019\u00c9vangile_), but they could not storm it, and lost twenty thousand\nmen without taking the place.\n\nIn that eulogium on Catherine de Medici which de Brant\u00f4me (\u201cPanth\u00e9on\nLitt\u00e9raire,\u201d ii. 116) calls her Life, he relates that she died of a\nbroken heart, from grief at having consented to the massacre on this\nill-starred day, and that without intending it she (p. 133) had invited\nthe nobles and lords of the land to gather to it. The Cardinal de Bourbon\nsaid to her, \u201cMadam, you have brought us all to the butchery without\nintending it.\u201d This touched her to the quick; she took to her bed and\nnever left it again. One can only say this does not quite accord with\nMezerai and her sounding the tocsin an hour earlier by anticipation.\nFurther, as the massacre took place in 1572, and the queen-mother did not\ndie at Blois till 1589, seventeen years after, her heart resisted grief\nmuch as granite does vinegar. The lady must originally have possessed a\nvery good heart. De Brant\u00f4me says poison was talked of; but he considers\nthe broken heart more likely.\n\n\nCIVIL WAR UNDER HENRI III. (1559-1589). [I. 93.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 55._\n\n    En l\u2019an qu\u2019un \u0153il en France regnera\n    La Cour sera en un bien fascheux trouble:\n    Le Grand de Blois son amy tuera;\n    Le regne mis en mal et doute double.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    In the year when a one-eyed man shall reign in France\n    The Court shall be in very vexatious trouble:\n    The great one of Blois shall kill his friend;\n    The Kingdom, plunged into evil and doubt, shall divide in two.\n\nM. le Pelletier\u2019s version here seems to be a little forced. The one-eyed\nman he makes to be Henri II., whose eye was destroyed by Montgomery\u2019s\nlance. The Court is to be in great embarrassment. Henri III. (_le Grand\nde Blois_) will convoke at that place the States-General, and will\nthere assassinate the Duc de Guise, first taking with him, in Italian\nfashion, the Holy Communion, as a sign of entire reconciliation. Then the\ndesolated kingdom will divide into two camps\u2014the Royalists on one side,\nand the Leaguers on the other.\n\n\nREGENCY OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI (1537-1574). [I. 94.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 29._\n\n    La vefve[90] saincte entendent les nouvelles\n    De ses rameaux mis en perplex et trouble:\n    Qui[91] sera duict[92] appaiser[93] les querelles\n    Par son pourchas[94] des razes[95] fera comble.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The holy widow shall receive news\n    Of the difficulties that perplex and trouble her children;\n    He whom she calls home to quiet disturbances\n    Shall bring them to a crisis by his pursuit of shaven heads.\n\nThere is a little difficulty in applying the epithet _saincte_ to the\nqueen-mother, and Garenci\u00e8res supposes it to signify _Roma la Santa_;\nbut, if so, the rest will have no meaning. Nostradamus is so entirely\nfor Henri II., his wife, and the Romish Church, that in spite of his\ndesignating her son _le roi farouche_, he might think the term _saincte_\nnot inappropriate to her. She sent a private despatch to her son,\nHenri III., to hurry back from Poland, as we shall see him doing in\nthe next quatrain cited, that he may take the direction of the French\nGovernment. He enters into an alliance with Henri IV. and the Huguenots\nto counterbalance the Catholic League. Thence follows the murder of the\nCardinal, brother of the Duc de Guise, who was murdered by the King\u2019s\norder on December 24, 1588, one day after his brother. This is the\nprosecution of the Church (_pourchas des razes_), coupled with the\nrepression of the League, which culminates the crisis. The only jarring\nword in this concordance, when once it is comprehended, lies in the\nword _saincte_, to which I have already drawn attention, and which may\nbe explained by the devotion felt by Nostradamus to the crown of France\nand to Rome. It is evident that Brant\u00f4me was able to regard her as a\nmost admirable and lovable lady. The tocsin and the blood spoil our\nappreciation.\n\n\nHENRI III. RENOUNCES POLAND (JUNE 26, 1574). [I. 96.]\n\n_Century VII.\u2014Quatrain 35._\n\n    La grande Pesche[96] viendra plaindre,[97] plorer\n    D\u2019avoir esleu: tromp\u00e9s seront en l\u2019\u00e2ge:\n    Guiere[98] avec eux ne voudra demourer:\n    Deceu[99] sera par ceux de son langage.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great gambler[100] shall complain and weep\n    To have elected him: deceived in his age:\n    The duke had no desire to stay with them:\n    He will be slain by men of his own tongue.\n\nPoland, then, will deplore having elected the Duc d\u2019Anjou in 1573, for\nhe stayed only one year with them, and absconded on the 26th of June\nat night, at his mother\u2019s summons, to France. The Comte de Fanchin,\nthe Grand Chamberlain, was sent after him, and overtook him at Piesna,\na frontier town in Austria, but the duke was deaf to all intercession\n(Guynaud, p. 119). He never took the Polish throne because he wished it,\nbut because he was pressed by the Court of France; and now French affairs\ncalled him back. Guynaud thinks that the last line means that his friends\ndeceived him into taking it; but this is because he did not discover the\nLatin meaning in _deceu_. For certainly Nostradamus meant that he would\ngo home to die by Clement\u2019s hand, as he shows in as many words a little\nlater on. Guynaud says that Poland had been deceived as to the prince\u2019s\nage, and that he was represented to be much older than he really was.\n\n\nEDICT OF POITIERS (OCTOBER 3, 1577). [I. 97.]\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 72._\n\n    Pour le plaisir d\u2019edict voluptueux,\n    On mestera le poison dans la foy:\n    Venus sera en cours si vertueux,[101]\n    Qu\u2019obfusquera du soleil tout aloy.[102]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    To pass an edict of a sugared sort,\n    They\u2019ll mingle poison with our holy faith:\n    And Venus darken, in her course robust,\n    All law and light from out the sacred Sun.\n\nThe Sun, in Nostradamus, often stands for the Church or Christianity,\nby him believed to be within the palisade of Popery. It might also mean\nFrance, whose King\u2019s name was _Rex Christianissimus_. Louis XIV. assumed\nthe device of the sun, with the motto _nec pluribus impar_. Venus stands\nfor sensual pleasure\u2014the world triumphant over the Church. The edict of\nPoitiers, October 8, 1577, so far favoured the Protestants that they were\nauthorized to hold public services on the reformed footing. Calvinist\nministers might marry, and auricular confession was suppressed. Thus\ndid Henri III. mingle the poison of unchastity, etc., with the Catholic\nfaith. The licence of morals (_V\u00e9nus_) became unbridled and tarnished the\nlaw of Christendom (_Soleil_).\n\nGuynaud interprets with Le Pelletier in this, and considers the poison\nto consist particularly in freeing the Huguenots from the Sacrifice of\nPenance; in condemning the monastic orders; in encouraging unchastity,\nby allowing the Calvinist ministers to marry; in abandoning confession.\n_V\u00e9nus sera_ is a line showing that many monks will quit the cloisters\nto indulge in marriage and _other_ debauchery. The last line may be\nunderstood, that the glory of the King will be tarnished, and make him to\nbe ill thought of by the Catholics; or that it will obscure faith in the\nChurch (p. 122).\n\n\nJOURN\u00c9E DES BARRICADES (MAY 12, 1588). [I. 98.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 50._\n\n    La r\u00e9publique de la grande cit\u00e9\n    A grand rigueur ne voudra consentir:\n    Roy sortir hors par trompette cit\u00e9,\n    L\u2019eschelle au mur la cit\u00e9 repentir.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The Republic of the great city (Paris)\n    Would not submit itself to the very rigorous treatment;\n    The King summoned by trumpet to quit the city,\n    Which is called to repent by the ladder at the wall.\n\nThis quatrain and the event it prefigures are alike wonderful.\nGarenci\u00e8res is much puzzled over it. What city has a commonwealth? Is it\nVenice, Genoa, Geneva, Luca? He cannot tell. However, the \u201cgreat city\u201d\nin Nostradamus almost always stands for Paris. The League, mistress in\nParis, would not submit to the coercive measures of Henri III., and by\na call to arms\u2014perhaps the old tocsin of St. Germain de l\u2019Auxerrois\nsounding the while\u2014told him, as _par trompette_, he had better quit the\ncity with all speed. Trial and sentence in one word, \u201cTake yourself\noff,\u201d\u2014for the first time uttered to a king of the race Capetian, in some\neight hundred years of history. Later on, the drumming and trumpeting\ncrack-brained citizens, with nothing about them to be called sane\nbut their river, will feel themselves called to repentance when the\nescalading ladders are laid by Henri III. to the wall.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLet it be noted now that this _Day of the Barricades_ is very remarkable,\nand, as such, is not to be found at all in Bohn\u2019s \u201cIndex of Dates.\u201d\nIt was, however, repeated in the civil war of the Fronde, August 26,\n1648; in the three days\u2019 war, July 27, 28, 29, 1830, that set Philippe\nCitoyen on his rickety perch; and again in June 23, 1848. But close on\ntwo hundred years after, in 1789, when the philosophic Republic was at\nhand and the Bastille was taken; when another Capet was to be handled\nby the mob; offering _cul pour t\u00eate_ to the admiration of a wise world,\nthen was to be best discerned the result of this first reaction from St.\nBartholomew\u2019s Day; pretty well that tocsin of treason has rung alarum to\na world on fire. A further curious analogy demands attention here. The\nPopes of Rome were the earliest patrons of the principle of regicide, and\nCl\u00e9ment the monk, whom we shall soon introduce, was the first to practise\nit; here we see the Catholic League to be the first organized body to\nrepudiate kingship, to set up a republican form, and consecrate a day\nto revolt and insurrection, which has become memorable in history for\never, though forgotten by Bohn, as _la Journ\u00e9e des Barricades_. But what\nshall we say of this forecast by Nostradamus, fifty-three years before\nthe event happened? He is, I think, the first who ever put in type the\nword _Republic_, as representative of rebellion and revolt, throughout\nthe modern world. But here we have it,\u2014the dough of prophecy made out of\nthe ground wheat-seed of time, and baked by the oven of events into the\nbread of history; not Walpole\u2019s lies, nor the principles, mostly false,\nthat philosopher Hume finds so cleverly for us, but the facts divested of\nmotive,\u2014like a petrified coral reef of insect humanities concreted into\npermanence and solidity by the death of myriads. For those who can see,\nit lies all contained in that linear rune, _La r\u00e9publique de la grande\ncit\u00e9_.\n\n\nMURDER OF THE DUC DE GUISE (DECEMBER 23, 1588). [I. 99.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 51._\n\n    Paris conjure un grand meutre commetre,\n    Blois le fera sortir en plein effect:\n    Ceux d\u2019Orleans voudront leur chef remettre;\n    Angers, Troye, Langres leur feront un meffait.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Paris conspires to commit a great murder;\n    Blois will carry it into full effect:\n    The Orl\u00e9anois will try to place a Leaguer at their head;\n    Angers, Troye, Langres will try and undo this.\n\nHenri III. at Paris contrived the murder of the Duc de Guise, who had\nincited and led the Parisians on the day of the Barricades, when Henri\nwas compelled to fly to Chartres. Henri de Lorraine, Duc de Guise,\nwas murdered the day after the Cardinal, his brother, had been, at\nthe Convention of the Estates at Blois. The murder took place at the\nCh\u00e2teau de Blois. The Orl\u00e9anois, on learning this, rose against Balzac\nd\u2019Entragues, the governor of the town, and set Charles de Lorraine,\nChevalier d\u2019Aumale, at their head,\u2014he was one of the chiefs of the\nLeague,\u2014whilst Angers, Troyes, and Langres took the side of Henri III.\nIt is not very easy, says Le Pelletier, to distinctly prove the exact\nposition taken up by these three towns, but Nostradamus habitually puts a\npart to stand for the whole. In the divided interests various cities took\ndiffering sides. At the time he wrote there was nothing to show that such\ninternecine separations would take place. He clearly anticipated them,\nand, so far, is absolutely right. We cannot, it seems, prove him to be\nright in all the details; but equally, there is nothing to show him wrong.\n\n\nLE DUC DE MAYENNE (1589-1593). [I. 100.]\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 85._\n\n    Par la response de dame Roy troubl\u00e9,\n    Ambassadeurs mespriseront leur vie:\n    Le Grand ses freres contrefera doubl\u00e9\n    Par deux mourront ire,[103] haine, et envie.[104]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The King shall be troubled by the Queen-mother,\n    The deputies at risk of life remonstrate:\n    The Guise will act for both his brothers dead,\n    The two whom envy, hatred, malice slew.\n\nHenri III. will be troubled by the response of Catherine de Medici, who\ndisapproves of the murder of the Guise; the deputies (_ambassadeurs_)\nfrom both Paris and Blois make lively remonstrance at the peril of their\nlives. The Duc de Mayenne (_le Grand_), when proclaimed chief of the\nLeague, will take the title of Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom, and,\nas if doubled in authority, will represent his two brothers, Henri de\nGuise and the Cardinal de Lorraine, whom the envy, hatred, and malice\nof Henri III. and his Court had assassinated. We seem to have here a\nrepublic tempered by daggers, in place of what followed, a tyranny\ntempered with epigrams. This active forging of daggers, knives, and\nsword-cutlery in France, to carve out an idol of a republic, with its\nblood-stained heathen Phrygian cap; taken together with its repetition\nsixty years later, in the Barricades of the Fronde, August, 1648, was\nclearly generating the poison and concentrating its venom for the most\nstartling act of death known to mankind, but one, in all history,\u2014at\nWhitehall, on that wintry 30th of January, 1649,\u2014the venom, that by the\nsubtle inoculation of a Raleigh could, for a time, strike silly such a\nsoul as Milton\u2019s\u2014\u201cPsalmist of Paradise,\u201d\u2014who, but for this damned virus\nin the world, might have taught men how to realize a paradise on earth.\n\n\nCRIME OF JACQUES CL\u00c9MENT (AUGUST 1, 1589). [I. 102.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 36._\n\n    Un grand Roy prins[105] entre les mains d\u2019un Joyne[106]\n    Non loin de Pasque, confusion, coup cultre.[107]\n    Perpet,[108] captifs temps que foudre en la husne,[109]\n    Lors que trois freres se blesseront et murtre.[110]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A great King taken by a young man\u2019s hand\n    Close upon Easter, confusion, and a knife:\n    There\u2019s powder on the tower for captives then,\n    Three brothers perish; this death takes the last.\n\nHenri III., in his camp at St. Cloud, will be struck by the hand of a\nyoung monk,\u2014_Joyne_ might easily be a misprint for _Moyne_. Jacques\nCl\u00e9ment was twenty-five. He came straight from receiving the Communion\n(_non loin de Pasque_). He thought he did God service (_confusion_); he\nstruck him in the lower bowel with a knife. The crime will be committed\nwhen the Parisians are cut off (_captifs_) by the King beleaguering,\nand his vengeance is ready to fall upon their ramparts. This murder\ncompletes the violent deaths of the three sons, the issue of Henri II.\nand Catherine de Medici.\n\nThere is no occasion to call attention to the remarkable lucidity of this\nforecast, when once the linguistic difficulties of its conveyance have\nbeen studiously solved. The demilune towers projecting at intervals from\nthe wall, as at the Haute Ville, Boulogne, well enough represent the\n_husne_, or tower of vantage, in the quatrain, they need but a shield or\nbelvidere added.\n\n\nDEATH OF HENRI III. (AUGUST 2, 1589). [I. 103.]\n\n_Pr\u00e9sage 58._\n\n    Le Roy-Roy n\u2019estre, du Doux la pernicie,[111]\n    L\u2019an pestilent, les esmues[112] nubileux.\n    Tien[113] qui tiendra, les grands non letitie,[114]\n    Et passera terme de cavilleux.[115]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The twice King dies, by Clement hand is slain;\n    War and revolt make the year pestilent.\n    Hold who hold can, the great oppose not well,\n    Live laughter down and teach the cavillers.\n\nThis is a most singular prophecy. Henri III., King, first of Poland\nthen of France is quaintly called _Roy-Roy_. _Le Doux_ is an excellent\nsynonym for _Cl\u00e9ment_, all must admit. The year was harassed by civil\nand religious war, and the Leaguers (_les esmues_) begin to grow anxious\nabout the consequences. Let Henri IV. hold hard his own, the lilied\nsceptre: \u201cLet Curzon holde what Curzon helde\u201d be his motto. The time is\npassed for the Catholic grandees (_les grands_) to woo L\u00e6titia. The King\ncan laugh now at the laughers of the Guise; he laughs best who laughs\nlast.\n\nThe murder by Cl\u00e9ment of the anti-papal king, Henri III., followed very\nclose upon the setting up of Jesuit Clubs in Paris under papal sanction\n(Elliot\u2019s _Hor\u00e6 Apoc._, iii. 321). The pulpits also had been filled by\nclerical preachers of sedition and bloodshed. Precisely two hundred\nyears later the Bastille was taken, and in the Jacobin Clubs of that\nday were hung, says Alison, the pictures of Cl\u00e9ment and Ravaillac, in\nthe gloomy rooms of the old convent, in which they met like night-birds\nof ill-omen, and within little wreaths beneath each picture might be\nseen inscribed the words, \u201cHe was fortunate; he killed a king.\u201d This\nis so sentimental, petty, and petulant, that it would move to laughter\nany large good-natured mind, were it not for the slaver of malignity\nthat accompanies everything that drops from the tongues of that sack of\nreptiles gathered out of the Jacobin dunghill, as they crawled forth one\nby one poisoning and to poison.\n\n\n\n\nHENRI QUATRE.\n\n\nTHE COMING OF HENRI IV. (AUGUST 2, 1589). [I. 105.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 50._\n\n    Mendosus[116] tost viendra \u00e0 son haut regne,\n    Mettant arriere un peu les Norlaris:[117]\n    Le rouge blesme, la masle \u00e0 l\u2019interregne,\n    Le jeune crainte, et frayeur Barbaris.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Mendosus shall soon come to his high dominion,\n    Setting back those of Lorraine a little.\n    The old cardinal pale, the male of the interregnum,\n    The young man timid, and the barbarian alarmed.\n\nHenri IV. the heretic Vend\u00f4me, changed his religion thrice. Jeanne\nd\u2019Albert, his mother, brought him up a Protestant. To escape St.\nBartholomew\u2019s Day, he professed Catholicism, in 1572. In 1576, he\nturned to Protestantism, to head the Calvinist party. He declared\nhimself Catholic to take the throne of France. Through the Salic law\nhe ascended, to the exclusion of the Lorraine princes (_Norlaris_). In\nthis way, he shut out the old Cardinal de Bourbon, pale (_blesme_,) with\nage, the Duc de Mayenne, Lieutenant General of the kingdom during the\ninterregnum, the young Duc de Guise, and the barbarously savage Philip\nII. of Spain, who had pretensions to the crown through Elizabeth his\nwife, the daughter of Henri II.\n\nThe Cardinal is _rouge_ because of the dress of all cardinals. Philip\nallied himself with the Guises, and supported the Catholic League.\n\n\nTHE DEPRESSION OF THE DE GUISE FAMILY (1589-1593). [I. 107.]\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 18._\n\n    Le rang Lorrain fera place \u00e0 Vendosme,\n    Le haut mis bas, et le bas mis en haut,\n    Le fils de Mamon sera esleu[118] en Rome,\n    Et les deux Grands seront mis en defant.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The house of Lorraine yields to the Vend\u00f4me,\n    The high put low, the low put high instead,\n    The son of Mamon they elect at Rome,\n    And the Pretenders both are in default.\n\nThe house of Lorraine is now eclipsed by that of Vend\u00f4me. Mayenne, the\nchief, is put down, and _le petit B\u00e9arnais_, Henri IV., rises to respect\nand power. This heretic son of mammon is accepted by choice at Rome for\nKing of France, and neither of the Pretenders will ever be king.\n\nThe Cardinal de Bourbon had been actually proclaimed King by the League,\nas Charles X., but he was dead in 1590. Isabella, the daughter of Philip\nII., was incapable by the Salic law. So that the only two remaining were\nthe Duc de Mayenne and the young Duc de Guise. They were shut out by\nHenri IV. and never reached the throne.\n\n\nHENRI IV. ABJURES PROTESTANTISM (JULY 21, 1593). [I. 108.]\n\n_Presage 76._\n\n    Par le legat du terrestre et marin,\n    Le Grande Cape[119] \u00e0 tout s\u2019accommoder;\n    Estre \u00e0 l\u2019escoute tacite[120] Norlarin,[121]\n    Qu\u2019\u00e0[122] son advis ne voudra accorder.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Before the legate of the earth and sea,\n    Henry the Great will yield to all required:\n    Mayenne to all will listen and not speak a word,\n    And will grant nothing of his own free will.\n\nSixtus V. had boldly fulminated an excommunication against Henri Quatre,\nthe Great Capet, but the latter subscribes to all required by the legate\nof him who can bind and loose all on the earth and sea. He abjures\nProtestantism at St. Denis, on July 25, 1593, the Archbishop of Bourges\nofficiating. The Duc de Mayenne (the _Lorraine_), Lieutenant-General of\nFrance and Master of Paris for the League, will look on in silence, and\nas far as he can will prevent Paris from receiving the King. The city did\nnot open its gates to him till March 22, 1594, eight months after the\nabjuration.\n\n\nMARSEILLES TAKEN BY THE SPANIARDS (FEBRUARY 17, 1696). [I. 109.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 88._\n\n    De Barselonne par mer si[123] grand\u2019 arm\u00e9e,\n    Toute Marseille de frayeur tremblera:\n    Isles saisies, de mer ayde ferm\u00e9e,\n    Ton traditeur[124] en terre nagera.[125]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    From Barcelona a great fleet shall come,\n    And terror strike into the town Marseilles:\n    The isles are seized, and help by sea cut off,\n    But the betrayer is made swim on land.\n\nA Spanish fleet of a dozen galleys, commanded by Charles Doria, was sent\nby Philip II. to help the Leaguers. He took possession of the islands\nCh\u00e2teau d\u2019If and Ratonneau, and thus cut off all help to seaward. Charles\nde Casau (_le traditeur_) was consul, and proposed to place the city in\nthe hands of the Spaniards; Pierre Libertat, however, ran him through\nwith a sword, and the populace dragged the dead body through the muddy\nchannels of the streets.\n\nGuynaud refers to the same event as fulfilling this quatrain in the time\nof Henri IV., but by a misprint gives 1536 instead of 1596. The islands\nhe mentions are those of St. Honnorat and of St. Marguerite. Black\u2019s\npretentious _Imperial Gazetteer_ professes to give a plan of the town,\nand you see a number of nameless vermicelli streets running all about,\nbut not a single island off the coast is visible. One may suppose,\nhowever, that the islands are there, and that all the four were occupied\nby the Spaniards.\n\n\nBIRON\u2019S PUNISHMENT (DECEMBER 2, 1602). [I. 110.]\n\n_Sixain 6._\n\n    Quand de Robin[126] la traisteruse enterprise,\n    Mettra Seigneurs et en peine un grand Prince,\n    Sceu[127] par la Fin[128] chef on lui tranchera.\n    La plume au vent, amye dans Espagne,[129]\n    Poste[130] attrapp\u00e9 estant dans la campagne,\n    Et l\u2019escrivain dans l\u2019ea\u00fce se jettera.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When Biron\u2019s treason and disastrous act,\n    Shall put King Henry and his Lords in fear,\n    Lafin betrays him, and the King beheads.\n    Treason dispatched to Spain in amity,[131]\n    The carrier caught when he has entered France,[132]\n    And the scriv\u2019ner will throw himself into the water.\n\nOne thing has carefully to be borne in mind in relation to the Sixains,\nthat they were presented to Henri Quatre, and printed for the first time\nin 1605. That is to say, they first appeared three years after this had\nhappened. To the sceptically disposed they can furnish no authority, but\nto ordinary men, who only look for ordinary evidence, it will appear that\nthere is very little as to style that would not appropriately spring\nfrom the pen of Nostradamus; and further, that if they are forgeries,\nthe forgers have not taken advantage of their knowledge of the events\nto make the prophecies any clearer or more striking. These are quite as\nenigmatical as if our author had written them, and I think that common\nsense will generally be content to take them for what they are worth, and\nwill regard them as probably genuine \u201cchips of the old block\u201d and as such\nvery curious.\n\nGuynaud in his _Concordance_, p. 137, gives a full and interesting\naccount of Biron; chiefly extracted from Davila, Montluc, De Thou,\nMezeray, Le P\u00e8re Anselm, and so forth, where the reader can refer for\nfurther details, if interested. I may just note that I have copied the\ndate of December 2, 1602, from Le Pelletier, but that Moreri gives the\ndate of Biron\u2019s decapitation as July 31, 1602, in the Court of the\nBastille. The name of the messenger (_poste_) was Picot\u00e9, a native of\nOrleans, sold, as they say, to the King of Spain (Guynaud, p. 140).\n\nGarenci\u00e8res has (p. 464) a very elaborate annotation upon this stanza,\ngiving the whole history of Biron and Lafin in twenty-eight folio pages.\nBiron appears to have been a vain, a violent, and foolish man, though\nof great courage and audacity in war, which made him highly valued by\nHenri IV. After Amiens he refused to go to quiet the towns of Picardy,\nunless his statue were erected in brass before the Louvre. His sudden\nprosperity had turned his head. The treasonous proposals with Spain\nwere, that he was to have a daughter of the Duke of Savoy in marriage,\n500,000 crowns, and sovereign rights in Burgundy. These were negotiated\nthrough Lafin; and Lafin told the King. The whole trial is given, with\nBiron\u2019s defence in reply, which is audacious and eloquent, but much\nof it is highly contradictory. He was condemned and executed in the\ncourt of the Bastille, on July 31, 1602, which coincides with Moreri.\nThe superstitious, ignorant, violent, but able soldier comes out most\ncharacteristically. He shows in emergency great rapidity of thought,\ndecision, and presence of mind; but a deficient judgment, very little\nprinciple, and an overwhelming conceit, that, encouraged by success,\nalmost merged into madness. A man of this sort is always a compound of\ninconsistencies; accordingly he said to the Chancellor, in speaking\nof death, \u201cI have not been afraid of it these twenty years.\u201d And that\nwas true, when in war, a duel, or hot blood; but in the court of the\nBastille he was thought to show great fear of dying. In earlier life he\nhad wondered at himself for fearing nothing from the thrust of a sword,\nthough very nervous over the prick of a lancet, when he had occasion to\n\u201cbe let blood,\u201d as they used to phrase it. The fear of death is most\nin apprehension; but the apprehension is most, perhaps it may be said,\nof the wicked in cold blood, and of the good in violence, and when the\nblood is hot, if but the least pause give time for reflection to enter.\nGarenci\u00e8res notes that the greatest courage and stoutness of a man is\nnothing in comparison of the weakness of human nature.\n\nTwo of Biron\u2019s adventures with astrologers are so characteristic of the\nmanners of the time, as recounted by Guynaud [p. 137, etc.], that I\nthink the reader should not be deprived of them. Whatever is strange and\nrivets the attention must have something of humanity in it, and repay the\nrecord, though a few superior people may look down upon such trifling.\nI shall give them at the risk of running this annotation to too great\nlength.\n\nWhen at Court with his father, at the age of eighteen or twenty, he had a\nduel, and killed his man. He had to hide for this, till his father could\nsue out his pardon, through the Duc d\u2019Espernon, to whom fortunately the\nfather was known. He took the disguise of a letter-carrier, and in this\ngarb consulted an astrologer called La Brosse, who lived in a garret\nat the top of a house near the Luxembourg. He told the man that it was\nhis master\u2019s horoscope he had need of. La Brosse told him that one day\nhe would be a very great man, in fact, might almost be king, but for\na _caput algol_ that stood in the way. What this was the man would not\nexplain. Biron, however, continuing to press very hard, got him to say\nat last that he would be beheaded on a scaffold. Upon this, he burst out\nwith the want of judgment he showed all through his life (forty years\nin all) and beat the old man mercilessly, leaving him nearly dead. He\nlocked him maliciously into his room, took away the key with him, and\nkicked down the little ladder that gave access to the loft. But still he\nbelieved what had been communicated.\n\nOn another occasion he consulted C\u00e9sar, who was thought at the time to\nbe the most able astrologer in France. This man also affirmed that he\nwould have good fortune in almost everything. Except for a blow from a\nBurgundian from behind, he might even be king. But he could not get from\nhim a word more.\n\nWhen he was confined in the Bastille, a friend called on him, and\nBiron asked him to ascertain for him from what part of the country the\nexecutioner of Paris was; and when he came back and told him that he was\na Burgundian, Biron changed colour and said\u2014\u201cThere will be no reprieve\nthen; I am as good as dead.\u201d\n\nNow as to the fulfilment of the last two lines. It will appear that my\nrendering is right, and that the scrivener will throw himself into the\nwater. The scrivener turns out to be a man named Nicholas l\u2019Oste, born\nat Orleans, secretary to Lord Villeroy, Chief Secretary of State, who,\nfinding him a most capable person, confided much in him, and the more\nso that Oste\u2019s father had spent the greater part of his life in his\nservice. When Lord Rochepot was starting as ambassador for Spain, Oste\nbegged to accompany him as secretary. Villeroy immediately recommended\nhim, and he was engaged. In a few months\u2019 time he mastered the language\nto such perfection, and so thoroughly accommodated himself to Spanish\nmanners, that he might well pass for a true-born Spaniard. When Rochepot\nhad got the treaty at Vervins ratified, the King of Spain gave him rich\npresents\u2014a chain of jewels, and six gold chains valued at a hundred and\nfifty crowns apiece\u2014to distribute amongst his suite, as he thought fit.\nOste was so full of himself that he thought he ought to have one of them,\nbut his master thought otherwise; on which, says Garenci\u00e8res, \u201cthe Devil\ncrept into his soul,\u201d and, as he wanted money to supply his debaucheries,\nhe determined to betray the State secrets which passed through his hands.\n\nWith this in view, he applied to Don Fanchese, a Secretary of State, and\nmade his proposals, but the dignified Spaniard, for some reason or other,\nreceived him coolly. \u201cThe Catholic King was in good amity with the most\nChristian one, and required to know no more than the French Ambassador\nshould communicate to him.\u201d Nothing discouraged, our traitor hurries\noff to Don Ydiaques, another secretary, and there meets with excellent\nreception. He was presented to the Duke of Lerma, to whom he betrayed the\nAlphabet of Ciphers. He received twelve hundred crowns upon the spot,\nand was promised the like amount as a yearly pension. By his means the\nSpanish Council knew the contents of all French instructions as soon\nas the ambassador himself. When La Rochepot\u2019s mission ended, Oste got\nback into Villeroy\u2019s service, and so was able to maintain correspondence\nwith Spain. Tuxis was ambassador from Spain in Paris, and after him Don\nBaltazar de Caniga. With these men he established a close intimacy, so\nthat finally the Council in Spain got his letters before Des Barreaux at\nMadrid could receive those from Henri IV.\n\nDes Barreaux told the King that he was always now forestalled. Oste had\nlet a certain reprobate Raffis into his secret, and this fellow, who had\nbeen banished, in order to obtain a reprieve of sentence, betrayed Oste\nto Des Barreaux. When he got his pardon, he gave up the name of Oste.\nRaffis came to Paris to communicate with Villeroy, and orders were given\nto detain the two Spanish couriers that had reached the post-office.\nThey then kept a watch upon Oste, who was \u201cdoing his devotions at the\nCharter-house of Paris,\u201d\u2014excellent Catholic, plotter as he was. On\nreaching the post-office, he soon found he was betrayed; and Descardes,\nwho was to watch him, did not let him out of his sight until he brought\nhim to Villeroy\u2019s. When there, he thought his man was safe, and went to\nannounce his capture to Villeroy. Oste instantly ran down to the stable,\nwhere his horse stood, still saddled, and galloped away. A hue and cry\nwas soon raised. Oste got a Spanish disguise at De Cuniga\u2019s, and made\noff post-haste for Luxembourg. Postmasters were forbidden to let out\nhorses to any one; but at Meaux the postmaster had received the order\ntoo late, for Oste was already on horseback, but no sooner did he begin\nto gallop than his horse fell under him. His look of dismay impressed the\npostillion who accompanied him, and he told his master on his return. The\npostmaster told the sheriff, who came up with him at the second ferry of\n_la Ferte sous Jouare_; but he was already on the boat, and threatening\nthe ferryman\u2019s life, the man put him ashore, in spite of the sheriff\u2019s\ncommands, shouted to him from the bank. He rushed into the bushes and\nbrambles near the Marne, hoping to escape in the darkness of the night,\nthe sheriff scattered his men everywhere, raised the whole country side,\nand caused bonfires to be lighted in all directions. Oste crept from bush\nto bush, but, either accidentally or with intention, fell into the river\nMarne and was drowned. His hat was found next day, stopped between two\nposts, and his body two days later. So befitting a close to the career\nof a gifted dastard is a wholesome exemplar of retributive justice, and\nshould not easily be suffered to fall out of men\u2019s recollection. Horace\nthinks that lame-foot Justice always trips the sinner. No doubt, if we\ncould see both worlds; but, as we cannot, I wish that here the lame\nfoot were considerably less lame. In England law and the lawyers, her\ntwo crutches, seem to reduce Justice to a gouty incapable. With our new\nPalace of Justice the morals of a Court seem to have dawned upon us.\n\n\nPOPULARITY OF HENRI IV. (AFTER HIS DEATH). [I. 112.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 70._\n\n    Au chef du monde le grand Chyren[133] sera,\n    Plus outre apr\u00e8s aym\u00e9, craint, redout\u00e9;\n    Son bruit et los[134] les cieux surpassera,\n    Et du seul titre victeur[135] fort content\u00e9.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Chief of the world _Henri le Grand_ shall be,\n    More loved in death than life, more honoured he:\n    His name and praise shall rise above the skies,\n    And men will call him victor when he dies.\n\nFrench self-esteem has always appropriated to France a throne of\npre-eminence beyond all other thrones. If it were possible, they would\nset theirs above that of Jupiter. They pretend a most manly contempt\nfor kings. But the throne, you are to remember, is the work of _sans\ncullottes_, French cabinet-makers, and therefore the best thing of\nits kind in the universe, and so _chef du monde_. If Nostradamus is no\nprophet for you, you shall at least admit that he was a Frenchman. The\nFrenchman whips the old world, and the American whips creation. The rest\nof us may look forward to an eternity of corporal punishment in spite\nof the nominal abolition of slavery. Condillac will furnish the logical\ndistinction, that establishes the honour of the throne, when a manly\ncontempt has been duly engendered for the sanctity of the king\u2019s majesty.\nHonest Democrat! Do you read Condillac?\n\nOne of Voltaire\u2019s rhetorical squibs in the _Henriade_, which the French\nare so indulgent as to call not only verse, but poetry, runs\u2014\n\n    \u201cIl fut de ses sujets le vainqueur et le p\u00e8re.\u201d\n\n    \u201cHe was the papa and conquestor of his people.\u201d\n\nWhen our Charles II. was addressed as \u201cthe father of his people,\u201d he said\nhe thought that he might be of a good many of them. But Henri Quatre is\ntoo noble a creature for any good and wise man to wish to dwell long upon\nhis foibles. What a contrast between him and the Napoleons!\n\n\n\n\nLOUIS XIII.\n\n(1610-1643.)\n\n\nPUNISHMENT OF THE GREAT MONTMORENCY (OCTOBER 30, 1632.) [I. 113.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 18._\n\n    Le lys Dauffois[136] portera[137] dans Nanci\n    Jusques en Flandres electeur de l\u2019Empire;\n    Neufve obtur\u00e9e[138] au grand Montmorency,\n    Hors lieux prouv\u00e9s[139] delivr\u00e9[140] \u00e1 clere peyne.[141]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The Dauphin shall carry his lily standards into Nancy, just as\n    in Flanders the Elector of Tr\u00e8ves shall be carried prisoner of\n    the Spaniards into Brussels. A new prison will be given to the\n    great Montmorency, who will be delivered for execution into the\n    hands of Clerepeyne. This man will behead him in a spot not\n    devoted to executions.\n\nI have given this in prose, as it could only yield ingenious doggerel in\nverse.\n\nLouis XIII., of whom it may be remarked that he was the first who bore\nthe title of Dauphin de France since the publication of Century IX., in\n1566, entered Nancy on September 25, 1633, a day after his army. In 1635\nhe enters Flanders on behalf of the Elector, whom the Spaniards had, on\nthe 26th of March of that year, carried prisoner to Brussels. Nostradamus\nthen reverts to October 30, 1632, when the great Montmorency was executed\nfor rebellion, being first confined in the newly built (_neufve obtur\u00e9e_)\nHotel de Ville at Toulouse. In the courtyard of this building Clerepeyne,\na soldier, shall cut off his head, and not, as ought to have been the\ncase, at the place appointed for public executions, such as was _La\nGr\u00e8ve_ at Paris.\n\nIt so happens that Clerepeyne\u2019s name is fully attested by \u00c9tienne\nJoubert and by the Chevalier de Jant, both contemporary with the event.\nFurther than this, M. Motret has brought to light, after minute historic\nresearch, that the family, by solicitation of the King, could obtain\nonly two concessions of mere formality\u2014that the execution should be with\nclosed doors, and by a soldier in lieu of the common headsman. The _place\npublique_ or _march\u00e9_ would be the place mentioned in the official order.\n\nIf the reader will carefully give his attention to the full drift of\nthis quatrain, when the mere difficulty of verbal contortion has been\nresolved, he must feel that the prognostication has to be reckoned as\none of the most astounding of oracles ever set forth in history. A\nFrench King takes Nancy. The Elector of Tr\u00e8ves is bandied about between\nFrance and Spain, like a shuttlecock of State; and then, by name, comes\nthe execution of the great Montmorency, detailed with, it is true, the\nbrevity of Tacitus, but, when understood, with a singular felicity of\ndetail implied in the pregnant words _neufve obtur\u00e9e_, of the newly built\ntown hall. Not in the market-place is he executed, but in the central\ncourtyard. Let _clere peyne_ (_clara p\u0153na_) stand merely for celebrated\nattainder, the thing is still prodigious beyond all precedent. But when\nyou know, in addition, that a part of Nostradamus\u2019s prophetic method\nconsists in using every possible play of words, including paronomasia\nand anagram, and you find that the soldier who acted as headsman\u2014a man\ncalled upon by chance to gratify the almost absurd sensibilities of the\nfamily\u2014was _Clerepeyne_, a name that corresponds to a tittle with the two\nwords employed by the prophet, then, indeed, the marvel mounts into the\nstupendous. It cannot be paralleled out of the works of the individual\nwe are busy with. It is incredible, and yet you must believe it. It is\nnot to be understood, but it must be accepted. Joubert, de Jant, the\nCur\u00e9 de Louvicamp, and Motret, have all contributed to its historical\nconfirmation on independent lines. It was in print, beyond possibility\nof gainsaying, more than fifty years before any of the events occurred.\nClerepeyne could not have been even born at the time his name was being\nput through the printing press at Lyons. The mind that can realize all\nthese details, and then be content to fall back upon chance to explain\nthem, or upon the verbal fact that visions must be visionary\u2014an axiom\nquite as philosophic, by-the-bye, as Hume\u2019s \u201cEssay on Miracles\u201d is\nbuilt upon\u2014is a mind not at all to be envied. Such incredulity is more\nastounding than the prophecy itself. It is easier to believe the prophecy\nthan the philosopher who says he does not believe it. The Tower is below\nLondon Bridge. Has anybody ever asked \u201cwhy?\u201d This 18th quatrain of\nCentury IX. of Nostradamus is just as much a fact as the Tower of London\nis, and vastly more impregnable. Intelligent people will be amused by an\nexplanation; but the substantive fact can stand without any, till the\nday of Doom if necessary. It is only some human popinjay, Plato Pry,\nthe philosopher, who would like to gossip to us the _How_, and so sport\nanother borrowed feather in his feather-brain,\u2014or hum us with another bee\nfrom his bonnet; that hive of mad insects.\n\n\nTHE CONSPIRACY OF CINQ MARS (MARCH 13, 1642.) [I. 115.]\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 68._\n\n    Vieux Cardinal par la jeusne deceu,[142]\n    Hors de sa charge sa verra desarm\u00e9,\n    Arles ne monstres[143] double[144] soit apperceu;\n    Et Liqueduct[145] et le Prince embausm\u00e9.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The old cardinal is supplanted by a young man, and will see\n    himself deprived of his charge, and disarmed. [Le Pelletier\n    renders]: If Arles you do not show, in a manner that shall be\n    visible, a counterpart of the treaty, then the man who will\n    cause himself to be conveyed by water will be embalmed, and the\n    Prince also.\n\nThe above is the contortion to which Le Pelletier resorts to force out\nof it the sense it undoubtedly contains. My proposed reading reduces the\ndifficulty.\n\nThe old Cardinal Richelieu shall find himself supplanted by the young\nCinq Mars. He was but twenty-two when he achieved this bit of dexterous\nCourt intrigue against Richelieu,[146] the most _rus\u00e9_ fox in Europe, as\nrumour ran.\n\nCinq Mars was his own _prot\u00e9g\u00e9_, and no doubt threw him with a trick\nlearned from his master. A sprightly youngster of the apt breed can learn\nsuch things quickly. But when the cardinal was at Arles he learnt that a\ncertain treasonable treaty was negotiated with Spain by his rival in the\nname of the King\u2019s brother, and this made known brought Richelieu back to\npower straight. Now, if we read the line\n\n    Arles, le monstre double soit apperceu:\n\n    At Arles, let the monster diploma (treacherous treaty) be discovered,\u2014\n\nor Cinq Mars himself might be the double monster,\u2014it would be but a\ngentle emendation in a classic line, and it makes the sense run well.\nRichelieu returned by water (_Liqueduct_) from Tarascon to Lyons, by the\nRhone, with his bed upon the boat, but sick unto death, carrying Cinq\nMars and De Thou prisoners along with him. In the same style he descended\nthe Seine from Fontainbleau to Paris, where he died, two months later, on\nDecember 4, 1642. Louis XIII. died on the 14th of the following May. Both\nwere embalmed, which was the practice then customary. The King when dead\nbecomes a Prince again, when the breath was out of the body that 4th of\nDecember. Le roi est mort, vive le Roy Louis XIV.\n\n\nIMPROVEMENT IN FIREARMS (1630-1671.) [I. 116.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 44._\n\n    Quand l\u2019animal \u00e0 l\u2019homme domestique,[147]\n    Apr\u00e8s grands peines et sauts viendra parler,\n    Le foudre \u00e0 vierge[148] sera si[149] malefique,\n    De terre prinse[150] et suspendue en l\u2019air.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When the dog,[151] after many trials, shall begin to leap and\n    speak, the powder loaded by ram-rod shall spread destruction\n    round (_sera tr\u00e8s malefique_.) Powder taken from the earth and\n    exploded in the air.\n\nWhen the firelock shall have been invented after many trials, and shall\nspeak through the mouth of the gun, with recoil [_sauts_, or kick],\nafter the powder-charge is well driven home with the ram-rod, it will\nbe most murderous by explosion in the air. The invention of the musket\ndates 1630. Troops, Le Pelletier says, were first armed with it in\n1671. Nostradamus, it is to be observed, anticipates by an ingenious\namplification and periphrasis the very name _chien_, by which the French\ndesignate this portion of the lock. It would not have served its purpose\nfor the name of the same thing in English. This anticipation of the slang\nterm of manufacture, a hundred years before the thing itself was used or\nnamed, seems to show an intimacy with what would be called matters of\nchance, that is inconceivable and beyond all comprehensibility.\n\nI cannot but append here a translation of Guynaud\u2019s remarks upon this\nquatrain. They are, I think, the funniest that occur in the whole book.\nHe says:\n\n    \u201cNostradamus warns us here that two prodigious things are\n    to occur at last: one, that the industry and care of man\n    will arrive at such a point that a domestic animal, such as\n    dogs are, will be got to speak. For to imagine that this can\n    be intended of birds is out of the question quite, as they\n    are excluded from the list of domestic animals created by\n    God for the service of man, as quadrupeds are. The words of\n    the two first lines of the prophecy are _Quand apr\u00e8s grande\n    peine l\u2019animal domestique viendra parler \u00e0 l\u2019homme et qu\u2019il\n    sautera_,\u2014just as dogs do in approaching their master. A\n    further thing is to happen that is no less astonishing: a demon\n    is to mingle himself with powder, and suddenly transport a girl\n    into the air, when she will remain suspended for possibly a\n    whole day long, according to these words: \u2018_La foudre \u00e0 vierge\n    sera si malefique; de terre prinse et suspendue en l\u2019air_.\u2019\n    The critics may suppose that to mean that the girl will be\n    hanged; but this is not so, in my opinion, because the word\n    _malefique_ is derived from the Latin _maleficus_, which in\n    itself indicates a maleficent spirit delighting to work evil,\n    as the devil always is.\u201d\u2014GUYNAUD, \u201cConcordances,\u201d p. 271.\n\n\n\n\nLOUIS XIV.\n\n(1643-1715.)\n\n\nCOMMENCEMENT OF HIS PERSONAL REIGN (MARCH 10, 1661). [I. 118.]\n\n_Quatrain added to the Xth Century._[152]\n\n    Quand le fourchu sera soustenu de deux paux,[153]\n    Avec six demy-corps[154] et six sizeaux ouverts,\n    Le tr\u00e8s puissant Seigneur, heritier des crapaux,\n    Alors subjugera sous soy tout l\u2019univers.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When a fork sustained by two stakes (_i.e._ V, _fourchu_,\n    sustained by two stakes upright, II. = M, a thousand,) and six\n    half horns and six scissors open (CCCCCC, XXXXXX). (Half horn\n    is the _cor de chasse_, or French horn cut in half, like a C,\n    making altogether 1600).\n\n    The very mighty King, inheritor of the toads, shall subjugate\n    to his power the whole universe.\n\nThese two first lines are clumsily employed in giving the date, but still\nwere in print fifty-five years before the date named.\n\nMazarin died on March 9, 1661. The following day Louis XIV. became full\ninheritor of the lilies, took the reins of government, and subjected\neverything to his will.\n\nUpon this Le Pelletier remarks that the toads, as emblematic of France,\nwere standards borne under the early kings of the Merovingian race.\nThe _fleurs-de-lys_ were of later introduction, under Clovis, son of\nChilderic I., the founder of the Christian monarchy of the Franks.\n\n\nTREATY OF WESTPHALIA, ETC. (1648-1661). [I. 119.]\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 7._\n\n    Le grand conflit qu\u2019on appreste \u00e0 Nancy;\n    L\u2019\u00c6mathien[155] dira, tout je soubmets;\n    L\u2019isle Britanne par[156] vin sel en soucy;\n    Hem-mi[157] deux Phi[158] longtemps ne tiendra Metz.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A great conflict will approach Nancy;\n    The \u00c6mathion will say, I submit all to me;\n    The isle of Britain will be agitated for lack of force and wisdom;\n    Metz will not hold out long against the two Philips.\n\nNancy was taken in 1660 by the French, when they razed the fortifications\nand united it with France. It appears to me that the first two lines of\nthis quatrain should have formed the last two, but how any such error as\nthat could have crept in is quite inexplicable. The reader will discern\nthat a difference of about twelve years exists between the dates involved\nin the two distichs, that, as they are given, they are contrary to\nchronology, and that for such disarrangement no reason is assignable. If\nthis is the way in which visions presented themselves to our seer, there\nis no reason to suppose, as I do, that he shook up the separate quatrains\npurposely to destroy a sequence that would have rendered them too easy of\ninterpretation. It might have been a printer\u2019s error.\n\nWe have already seen what is the classical meaning to be attributed\nto \u00c6mathion\u2014that it relates to the sun and to Alexander the Great. In\nNostradamus it refers to Louis XIV. (_Louis le Grand_). Of him it is\nto be remembered that he assumed as his emblem and that of France, the\nsun, with the motto _Nec pluribus impar_. Now, the sun, in the language\nof alchemists, stands for gold, and, in the metaphorical language\nof the Church, for Christianity. Gold is all the Christianity that\nmany Christians possess. _Les Solaires_, in Nostradamus, is used for\nChristians. It is especially connected with France, inasmuch as her\nKing is held at Rome, that centre of titles and of prelatical humility,\nto be _Christianissimus_. But this stout Capetian glorious King meant\nit of sovereignty. It was to signify, as Nostradamus has it, _tout je\nsoubmets_. What is this man\u2019s own choice of a posy, to be cut around his\nsignet? _Nec pluribus impar._ What is the axiom his blind self-pride\ninvents when the death of Mazarin emancipates him from tutelage, and\nhe grips the reins of France in his sole left hand (in 1661)? _L\u2019\u00c9tat,\nc\u2019est Moi._ Can insolence rise higher? Wait an odd century or so and\nsee a scaffold spring before your Tuilleries windows, see an \u00c6mathion,\nbut twice removed in blood, roll his head, red, gushing, spurting, and\nbounding on the sawdust-sprinkled planks there; its motto, could it\nspeak, would be your axiom recast fatally, _L\u2019\u00c9tat du Capet!_ (_Caput!_)\n\nWe have not quite concluded yet. When the treaty of Westphalia shall be\nagreed to between France and Philip IV. of Spain in 1648, and before\nthe war of Succession to seat Philip V., grandson of Louis XIV., on\nthe throne, Metz shall be ceded to France, and lose for ever its title\nof Imperial City, between the two Philips\u2014Philip IV. and Philip V.,\n_prot\u00e9g\u00e9_ of France.\n\nEngland about the same time, in revolution kindled by that imp of\nmalevolence, Richelieu, shall behead its king, 1649, and be in anxiety\nbecause of the want of force and wisdom (_vin et sel_). This symbol Le\nPelletier interprets thus: Wine is the symbol of force, because of its\n_heat_; and salt, because of its incorruptibility, is the symbol of\n_wisdom_. I think it clear that this is not to be the interpretation\nhere. He does not allude to _want_ of force and wisdom; but anxiety\n(_soucy_) is caused by force and wisdom (_\u00e0 l\u2019envers_, as he puts again\nin reference to England, Century IX. 49; vol. i. 141) applied in the\nwrong direction.\n\nThis, though a highly unsatisfactory quatrain, as I have shown above,\nis, nevertheless, one of the most remarkable of the whole series. The\ntime of the Westphalian treaty synchronises with the revolt in England\u2014a\nrevolt which we have seen to be fostered out of mere pique by the\nvulpine Richelieu; a Churchman plotting royal murder, taught by Rome\u2019s\nconsent that regicide was God\u2019s service, when a king (Henri III.) stood\nin her way; and when the Church once corrupted herself, baptizing her\nSt. Bartholomew whose emblem was a knife, in blood, she absolved Paris,\n[_cit\u00e9 au glaive_, i. 182] who in midsummer madness stained her kennels\nred. The example of Whitehall\u2014in re-enactment before the Tuilleries\n(_vin et sel \u00e0 l\u2019envers_), with force and wisdom converted into violence\nand democratic sensibility,\u2014next turned Paris _rouge_, and the blood\ncarnation burst into bloom at every street corner.\n\n    \u201cWhen nations are to perish in their sins,\n    \u2019Tis in the Church the leprosy begins;\u201d\n\nsays the wise, mild, thoughtful, but much underrated bard, Cowper, who\nhas done Gilpin inimitably, and Homer better than anybody else, by a long\nway.\n\n\nLOSS OF DE LA FERRI\u00c8RE\u2019S SQUADRON (1655). [I. 121.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 87._\n\n    Classe[159] Gauloise n\u2019approche de Corsegue,[160]\n    Moins de Sardaigne, tu t\u2019en repentiras:\n    Trestous mourrez frustr\u00e9s de l\u2019aide grogne;\n    Sang nagera, captif ne me croiras.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Approach not Corsica, thou fleet of France,\n    Nor yet Sardinia, lest thou rue the chance:\n    For ye no headland aids, ye all shall die,\n    The captive drown, for unbelieved am I.\n\nM. le Pelletier tells us of a French squadron, commanded by the Chevalier\nde la Ferri\u00e8re in 1655, that foundered in the Gulf of Lyons in coasting\nCorsica and Sardinia. All hands perished: they did not, he says, pass\nCape Pourceau. He points out that _Grogne_ is the synonym of Pourceau,\nwhich is a cape with a little port in the Mediterranean. This may have\nmore to support it than appears at first sight, but I think it much\nsimpler to take it for what it says. _Grogne_ is the same as _Groin_,\ncape, or headland which runs out into the sea. In other words: nothing\nwill put off to you from the headland where you founder; there will\nyou all be drowned; for what the better will your master pilot be for\nthis advertisement of mine? Jean de Rian was this master pilot, and _Le\nCaptif_ was his nickname, as he had been a slave.\n\nThough perfectly useless for interpretation, Garenci\u00e8res makes\nannotations on this quatrain, that have an interest of their own. He\ntakes the fulfilment to have been in 1555, just about the time when the\nquatrains were copied out for presentation to Henri II. But he remarks\nthat _Greigne_, which is the word in his reading, signifies _galley_ in\nthe Proven\u00e7al language, which was that of Nostradamus by his mother\u2019s\nside; and this makes very good sense: \u201cthey shall all founder without a\ngalley putting out to them from the shore.\u201d\n\nOf course Garenci\u00e8res knows nothing about Jean de Rian, or the curious\nprecision with which Nostradamus gives us his nickname _Captif_; but he\nappends to his \u201cPoor prisoner, thou shalt not believe me\u201d the following\ncomment that is worth recording, as it may furnish a link to some inquiry\nin the future:\n\n    \u201cWe find in this work many examples of those who went to\n    consult with the author concerning the success of their\n    undertakings, as did the Earl of _Sommerive_, before the\n    besieging of Bagnole; to whom he answered, that he should leave\n    the trees loaded with a new kind of fruit, that is to say, the\n    rebels, whom he caused to be hanged on the trees.\u201d\n\n\nFORTIFICATIONS OF VAUBAN AND THE CANAL OF LANGUEDOC (1659-1666). [I. 122.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 93._\n\n    Les ennemies du fort bien esloign\u00e9s,\n    Par chariots conduict le bastion,\n    Par sur les murs de Bourges esgrongn\u00e9s,[161]\n    Quand Hercules bastira l\u2019H\u00e6mathion. [162]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When the enemy are driven from French soil,\n    And earthworks or bastions are brought by carts;\n    When the walls of Bourges have crumbled by time,\n    Then will \u00c6mathion undertake a work of Hercules.\n\nWhen the peace of the Pyrenees, concluded with Spain in 1659, had removed\nthe enemy from the French frontiers, and Vauban had invented earthworks:\nat least so says Le Pelletier; Nostradamus only says he used them. Moreri\ntells us that the castle of Grosse Tour at Bourges was not repaired by\nLouis XIV., and was already partly ruined in 1651. This line seems to\nbe a whimsical, but special announcement of the fact. Then \u00c6mathion,\nor Louis XIV., will undertake the Herculean labour of constructing the\nCanal of Languedoc, which opened the Mediterranean to the ocean. It was\nbegun by Paul Riquet in 1666, and terminated in 1681. It cost thirty-four\nmillion francs. It is said that when Vauban visited it he gave some\nuseful hints that were acted upon with advantage. Vauban, like Turenne,\nwas a glory, not to France, but to mankind. He was truly great, for he\ndespised riches, and loved truth to indiscretion; yet his life shows that\nin judgment he much excelled those who loved truth less.\n\n\nPEACE OF THE PYRENEES (NOVEMBER 7, 1659). [I. 123.]\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 58._\n\n    Au temps du dueil que le felin[163] monarque,\n    Guerroyera le jeune \u00c6mathien:\n    Gaule bransler, perecliter la barque,[164]\n    Tenter[165] Phossen,[166] au Ponant[167] entretien.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When the court of France shall be in mourning, the cat-like\n    monarch shall make war against the young \u00c6mathien. France will\n    stagger; the bark of St. Peter be in danger. Marseilles will be\n    taken. Two great personages will meet in the West of France.\n\nMore at large this may be read, that at the death of Louis XIII., when\nthe French Court is in mourning, shrewd Philip IV. of Spain will make\nwar on the boy King. France will be greatly shaken (1648-1653) by the\ncivil war of the Fronde, whilst Rome will be endangered by the growth of\nJansenism. This is Le Pelletier\u2019s version. Garenci\u00e8res says that Paris\nis signified, as she carries a ship represented in her arms. The 2nd of\nMarch, 1660, Louis XIV. enters Phocea or Marseilles by a breach, after\nwhich it submits to him. He then hurries to the west of the Isle of\nConference on the Bidassoa, and there concludes the peace of the Pyrenees\nwith Philip IV., and marries his daughter, the infanta Maria Theresa, of\nAustria.\n\n\nTHE EXPEDITION TO IRELAND IN SUPPORT OF JAMES II. (1689-1691). [I. 125.]\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 68._\n\n    De l\u2019Aquilon les efforts seront grands,\n    Sur l\u2019Ocean sera la porte ouverte,\n    Le regne en l\u2019Isle sera reintegrand,\n    Tremblera Londres par[168] voilles[169] descouverte.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Ireland, on the north of England, shall make great efforts. The\n    door of the ocean shall be opened to the fleets of France; the\n    kingdom in the island of Ireland shall be set up again; London\n    shall tremble at the discovery of sails.\n\nWhen William III., in 1688, shall have established himself on the throne,\nwhen James II. absconded; Ireland will still be a stronghold, and the\nFrench fleets, commanded by Ch\u00e2teau Renaud and Tourville, will convoy the\nKing to Ireland, in spite of the combined fleets of England and Holland,\nin 1689-1690. They will become masters of the sea, and London will for\na moment tremble before the fleets of Louis XIV. This is Le Pelletier\u2019s\nstatement. After the fight off Beachy Head on June 30, 1690, it seems to\nhave been pretty much as he relates; for Smollett\u2019s account (ed. 1822, i.\n93) is that;\n\n    \u201cTorrington retreated without further interruption into the\n    mouth of the Thames; and, having taken precautions against any\n    attempts of the enemy in that quarter, returned to London, the\n    inhabitants of which were overwhelmed with consternation.\u201d\n\nThere is a most remarkable passage in the work of M. Bouys on this\nquatrain. He professes to apply it to the coming victory that was to\nconfer on Napoleon the coveted command of the seas, saying that you need\nnot always wait until after the event to interpret Nostradamus. His\nown conduct, however, in this very instance does but enforce the rule.\nHe pretends not to know anything of the fulfilment in 1689-1690. In\nfurtherance of the same view he cites Century VIII., Quatrain 37:\n\n    La forteresse aupr\u00e8s de la Thamise\n    Cherra pour lors le roi dedans serr\u00e9,\n    Aupr\u00e8s du pont sera vu en chemise,\n    Un devant mort, puis dans le fort barr\u00e9.\n\nThe word _cherra_ presents the only difficulty here as to the mere\nwords. It is the future of the verb _choir_, tomber, to fall. Of the\nprophecy I know of no interpretation. Garenci\u00e8res significantly quotes\nDan. iv. 10: \u201cThe dream be to them that hate thee, and the interpretation\nthereof to thine enemies.\u201d\n\n\nWAR OF THE CAMISARDS (1702-1704). [I. 126.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 38._\n\n    L\u2019entr\u00e9e de Blaye par Rochelle et l\u2019Anglois,\n    Passera outre le grand \u00c6mathien:\n    Non loin d\u2019Agen attendra le Gaulois,\n    Secours Narbonne deceu par entretien.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great \u00c6mathion shall pass out of the Garonne at Blaye,\n    the seaport of Bordeaux, no longer impeded by Rochelle and\n    the English; the Camisards shall look for aid from their\n    co-religionists on the side of Agen and Narbonne, but will be\n    disappointed by an arrangement.\n\nLouis XIV. shall pass out by the _P\u00e2t\u00e9_ de Blaye, a fort of that name,\nbuilt by him in 1689 to command the entrance of the Gironde against the\nEnglish and the Protestants of Rochelle. The Camisards in revolt in the\nC\u00e9vennes (_les Gaulois_) will wait at Agens and Narbonne for promised\nhelp, but quite in vain, after the submission of Jean Cavalier (1704) to\nMarshal Villars, at a Conference held at N\u00eemes. Louis XIV. was so beset\nby the enemies of France that he sent the Marshal into Languedoc to\npacify the districts he despaired of subduing by force.\n\nIn this quatrain, Garenci\u00e8res shows that there is some analogy between\n_\u00c6mathien_, which we are quite sure is Louis XIV. from the frequency of\nthe application to him, and the country of Macedon, so-called, where\nC\u00e6sar and Pompey fought their last battle in the field of Pharsalia; and\nhe quotes Lucan\u2019s line\u2014\n\n    Bella per \u00c6mathios plus quam civilia campos.\n\nIt is very probable that line was in the mind of Nostradamus at the\nmoment.\n\n\nWAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (1701-1713). [I. 127.]\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 2._\n\n    Par mort la France prendra voyage \u00e0 faire,\n    Classe[170] par mer, marcher monts Pyren\u00e9es,\n    Espaigne en trouble, marcher gent militaire;\n    Des plus grands Dames en France emmen\u00e9es.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    By reason of a death, France shall undertake a foreign\n    expedition. The fleet will go by sea, the troops will cross\n    the Pyrenees. Spain in trouble will march her military forces,\n    because great ladies have migrated to France.\n\nPhilip V., grandson of Louis le Grand, by will of Charles II., will\nascend the Spanish throne. But Austria, England, Holland, Prussia,\nPortugal, and Savoy will coalesce to support the pretensions of the\nArchduke Charles. The fleets of France will put to sea, her armies will\ncross the Pyrenees. Spain, in two camps, will be trampled by troops in\nevery direction: all springing out of Bourbon marriages with the two\nInfantas; one, daughter of Philip III. married to Louis XIII., the other,\na daughter of Philip IV., married to Louis XIV. This war lasted twelve\nyears, and was disastrous to France. Philip V. found himself chased from\nSpain by the Austrians. By the Peace of Utrecht, 1713, the Spanish\nmonarchy was dismembered, and some of his earlier conquests were snatched\nfrom Louis XIV.\n\n\nOVERTHROW OF PHILIP V., _GRANDSON OF LOUIS XIV_. (1706). [I. 129.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 64._\n\n    L\u2019\u00c6mathion passer monts Pyren\u00e9es,\n    En Mars Narbon[171] ne fera resistance,\n    Par mer terre fera si[172] grand men\u00e9e,\n    Cap[173] n\u2019ayant terre seure pour demeurance.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The \u00c6mathion is to pass the Pyrenean Mount;\n    In Narbo Martius no resistance shows;\n    By sea and land are greatest efforts made;\n    The Capet holds no foot of land is safe.\n\nLouis XIV. will leap the Pyrenees, and will treat (as we have before\nseen) with the Camisards of Narbonne. He will make desperate efforts by\nsea and land. But the Capetian, his grandson, Philip V., will be driven\nout of Spain by the Imperial forces, and not retain a foot of soil on\nwhich to live.\n\nIn all these passages of history, quite detached as they seem to be,\nwe find analogies springing up at all points: \u00c6mathion the Macedonian,\nand Louis le Grand; the Spanish succession which came up again in Louis\nPhilippe\u2019s time, even to uniting the very two names of Louis XIV. and\nhis grandson Philip V. in his own baptismal one. Louis wished to expel\na Charles, and Louis Philippe actually expelled Charles X. Leibnitz\nmade an express journey to Paris to persuade Louis XIV. to undertake a\ngrand expedition against Egypt. Napoleon, the next \u00c6mathion or Apollon\nleading France to mischief, was thrust into an Egyptian expedition, and\nentered into a desperate Spanish war to follow, that crippled France\nagain. History repeats itself, they say. It seems at every turn to\nbe perpetually engaged in a process of replaiting its old lines and\nonce-discarded threads.\n\n\n\n\nLOUIS XV.\n\n\nMINORITY OF LOUIS XV. (SEPTEMBER 1, 1715). [I. 131.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 15._\n\n    Coeur, vigueur, gloire, le regne changera.\n    De tous points contre ayant son adversaire:\n    Lors France enfance par mort subjuguera;\n    Un grand Regent sera lors plus contraire.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Heart, vigour, glory, change with change of reign,\u2014\n    At every point opposed by something cross:\n    An infant is set up in France by death;\n    And a great Regent helps the contrary.\n\nWith the death of Louis XIV., the splendour of his reign will pass away,\nand every point show contrary in his successor. By failure of direct\ninheritors of the throne, Louis XV., a child of five will rule, under\nPhilippe d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans (_un grand Regent_), whose vices will show him more\ncontrary to Louis XIV. than even to Louis XV.\n\n\nDECADENCE OF MONARCHY (1715-1774). [I. 132.]\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 38._\n\n    Ce grand monarque qu\u2019au mort succedera,[174]\n    Donnera vie illicite lubrique,\n    Par nonchalance \u00e0 tous concedera,\n    Qu\u2019\u00e0 la parfin faudra[175] la loy Salique.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    He who succeeds to the great monarch dead, will lead an evil\n    and illicit life. By his neglectful habit he will entrust\n    business to the management of others, so that at last (_\u00e0 la\n    parfin, per finem_) the Salic law will fail.\n\nIn other words, this is a plain announcement that the reign of Louis XV.\nwill serve as a simple prelude or introduction to the establishment of a\nRepublic; the annihilation of the Salic law; and of the French throne.\n\n\n\n\nENGLAND.\n\n\nCHANGES OF GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND (1501-1791). [I. 135.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 57._\n\n    Sept fois changer verrez gent[176] Britannique.\n    Teints en sang en deux cens nonante an;\n    Franche[177] non point, par[178] appuy Germanique;\n    Aries[179] doubte son pole Bastarnan.[180]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    You will see the British nation change seven times, stained\n    with blood, in two hundred and ninety years; but not so France,\n    thanks to the strength of its Germanic Kings [of the Capetian\n    race]. The sign of the Ram will not know (_doubte_) the\n    northern district (_son pole Bastarnan_), so changed will it be.\n\nEngland will change its government seven times in a period of 290\nyears, inundated with blood, says Le Pelletier,\u2014making this long run of\nyears commence at what he calls the Renaissance (1501-1791). Not so in\nFrance; thanks to the firmness of the Germanic kings, she will hold out\ntill 1792. I take this to be, in effect, a French endeavour to chalk\nout a grand epoch in French annals. Poland (_la Bastarnie_) will be\ndismembered. The first partition took place in 1772. There will arise\nin the north of Europe,\u2014Peter the Great ascending the Russian throne,\n1682, and Lutheranism triumphing in Germany, 1517,\u2014so that Aries cannot\nidentify the regions adjacent to its northern pole (_son pole Bastarnan_).\n\nM. le Pelletier gives an elaborate statement of what he conceives to\nbe the seven Revolutions in England (1501-1791). But starting from\nthe Renaissance, at the fancy date 1501, he vitiates the whole of the\ninterpretation as it relates to England; but for the last half of the\nquatrain he is excellent. His interpretation of the fourth line is\nmasterly. Garenci\u00e8res gives a lengthy annotation, to me in the main\nunintelligible, but he makes the period to run out about the year 1845;\nin which year I can see nothing to chronicle but the Maynooth Grant of\n\u00a326,000 per annum. He says the two first lines refer to England, and he\nleaves the English nation to interpret them. We shall shortly try to do\nso.\n\n(1) The Revolution Le Pelletier dates 1532, when Henry VIII. is\nproclaimed by Parliament the head of the Church; 1534 this should be. (2)\nRe-establishment of Popery under Queen Mary. (3) Elizabeth comes back\nto Protestantism. (4) Commonwealth follows upon death of Charles I. (5)\nRestoration under Charles II. (6) William III. takes the throne of James\nII. (7) The House of Hanover succeeds.\n\nThis is exceedingly faulty. It omits as one Revolution the most important\nof all, if consequences are to be regarded, that is, the lapse of the\nTudor race in Elizabeth and the succession of the Stuarts. Another very\nweak point is the commencing of the 290 years prior to the first issue\nof the quatrains. According to this, two of the Revolutions were already\nelapsed. A man does not prophesy of what is past. Nostradamus was writing\nin the reign of Queen Mary, so that the first Revolution would naturally\ncount from 1558, when Elizabeth re-introduced Protestantism.\n\nNow that we have contrived a firmer basis, let us see what this leads to.\n\nNo. 1. Elizabeth comes to the throne, November 17, 1558.\n\nNo. 2. James I. (Stuart succession), March 24, 1603. Queen Elizabeth dies\nexactly one hundred years after her namesake, Queen of Henry VII.\n\nNo. 3. Commonwealth on death of Charles I., January 30, 1649;\nProtectorate, Cromwell, December 16, 1653.\n\nNo. 4. Restoration, Charles II., May 29, 1660 (on his 30th birthday).\n\nNo. 5. William III. and Mary, November 5, 1668; Revolution (Gunpowder\nDay).\n\nNo. 6. Hanoverian succession, George I., May 21, 1714.\n\nNo. 7. Reform Bill, June 17, 1832. (Dulling the lustre of the Crown, as\nwe shall see the French King _mitr\u00e9_.)\n\nThose who wish to prophesy pleasant things can do away with the\ndisagreeable date of the Reform Bill, in part, because the No. 3\nRevolution can fairly be interpreted as two Revolutions. Cromwell\u2019s\nusurpation belied the pretended principles of his whole life and conduct\nprior to that assumption, and can be called a new order of things. This\narrangement will obviate the necessity of classifying the Reform Bill\nas the 7th Revolution. But the 290 years must end where they do, though\nyou can regard the matter in what light you please. But I look upon\nCromwell\u2019s treason, not to the King, but to himself as a man, as being\npractically part and parcel of the Commonwealth, or a horn growing out\nof the head of that rhinoceros or unicorn: nothing more. Given a popular\nrevolt, a self-seeking horn always grows out of the forehead of the\nbeast, till, with a ring in its nostril, it is driven whither its sublime\nliberties shall dictate.\n\nTake it either way, it seems to me quite beyond the reach of the ordinary\nhuman mind, simply left to its own resources, to strike out four lines\nso pregnant as these, and await silently, for three hundred years,\nan interpretation, so little forced or driven as this is. I may say\nthat to even pack into the space of four lines a mass of assertions so\npregnant with hints, is a feat in condensation that no poet has ever\nequalled. Tacitus, the tersest of historians, has never approached it. No\npr\u00e9cis writer of the most accomplished skill has ever reduced the facts\nfurnished to him in a well-drawn manuscript to such a compass. He could\nnot, and remain intelligible. To those who will merely look at it in this\nlight it may afford endless matter of reflection and curious study. As a\nforecast, its appearance to me is purely miraculous. Let any one explain\nit otherwise who thinks he can; we shall all be ready to learn.\n\n\nSTUART DYNASTY (1603-1649). [I. 138.]\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 40._\n\n    La jeunne[181] nay au regne Britannique,\n    Qu\u2019aura le pere mourant recommand\u00e9\n    Iceluy mort, Lonole[182] donra[183] topique,[184]\n    Et \u00e0 son fils le regne, demand\u00e9.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The young Prince of the Kingdom of Britain,\n    Whose dying father will have recommended him;\n    This one being dead, Lonole will perorate,\n    And snatch the kingdom from his very son.\n\nJames I. of England and VI. of Scotland was born June 19, 1566: the son\nof Mary Stuart and Henry Lord Darnley; who, before his assassination\nby Bothwell, had commended the young prince to the fidelity of the\nScotch lords. He ascended the throne of England in 1603, and under him\nEngland and Scotland were first denominated Great Britain (_au regne\nBritannique_).[185] When King James I. dies (_Iceluy mort_), _Lonole_\nwill seduce England with artificial rhetoric, and demand the kingdom and\nthe life of his son Charles I.\n\nLonole is the right reading, according to the _Texte-type_; others read\n_Doudl\u00e9_, and Garenci\u00e8res reads _Londre_. He also fancies that the\nprophecy concerns Charles II., because Charles I. commended him to the\npeople of England. It is rather curious that _Lonole_ should give the\nanagram of Olleon, or \u1f48\u03bb\u03bb\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd, as Napoleon does that of \u039d\u03b1\u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bb\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd and\nApollyon. Cromwell and he have many analogies and points of contact,\nwhether in history, character, or prophecy. But a further anagram, still\nmore wonderful, springs here into view, which, I believe, has hitherto\nescaped all the commentators. _Ole Nol_, or _Old Noll_, has always been\nthe Protector\u2019s nickname, and in the first form is letter for letter\n_Lonole_. It may stand for Apollyon also, and as such for \u201cOld Nick\u201d too.\n\nI ought not to pass away from this mass and congeries of singular\nhints and disclosures without pointing out the remarkable fact or link\nconnecting James I. with Nostradamus, and the particular quatrain we\nare now dealing with. James I. was born June 19, 1566, and thirteen\ndays after, July 2, 1566, Nostradamus breathed his last. This quatrain,\nonce understood, is one of the clearest and most extraordinary of the\nforecasts of Nostradamus. The commencing event, the birth of James I.,\njust touches his own death; and the last event, the death of Charles I.,\n1649, stretches to nearly a hundred years later.\n\nAnagram seems to have been once a passion with the people. We find the\nwhite cloth of Lincoln in the thirteenth century alluded to as \u201cDrap\nblanc de _Nicole_,\u201d that standing for _Lincoln_. [Le Roux de Lincy \u201cLivre\ndes Prov. Franc.\u201d i. 195.]\n\n\nFALL OF CHARLES I. (MARCH 31, 1646). [I. 139.]\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 80._\n\n    Du regne Anglais le digne dechass\u00e9,[186]\n    Le conseiller par[187] ire[188] mis \u00e0 feu,\n    Ses adherans iront si bas tracer,[189]\n    Que le bastard sera demy receu.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    He who had the right to reign in England, shall be driven from\n    the throne, his counsellor abandoned (_mis a feu_) to the fury\n    of the populace (_par ire_). His adherents will follow so low a\n    track that the usurper (_le bastard_) will come to be Protector\n    (_demy receu_, or half King).\n\nGarenci\u00e8res fancies this to relate to Charles II., and, that it is very\nclear. But evidently _le digne dechass\u00e9_ is Charles I. Strafford was\nsurrendered weakly to the unreasoning rage of the people (_par ire_).\nThe Scotch, his countrymen (_ses adherents_), will sell him for \u00a3400,000\n(Hume, vii. 76) to the Independents with unexampled baseness (_si bas\ntracer_). After this Cromwell (_le bastard_) will become Protector, or\nhalf king (_sera demy receu_).\n\nThis could scarcely be made more remarkable than it is, had it been\nwritten historically after the event, as history, than it is now before\nit, as prophecy. Look, again, at the overwhelming insight and terseness:\nthe King defeated, Strafford sacrificed, the Covenanters\u2019 money bargain,\nand the Protectorate chalked out in decisive outline nearly a century\nbefore the realization: and each event is contained in one metrical\nphrase.\n\n\nEXECUTION OF CHARLES I. (JANUARY 30, 1649). [I. 141.]\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 49._\n\n    Gand et Bruceles marcheront contre[190] Anvers,\n    Senat de Londres mettront \u00e0 mort leur Roy:\n    Le sel et vin luy seront \u00e0 l\u2019envers,\n    Pour eux avoir le regne en desarroy.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Gand and Brussels will march past Antwerp,\n    The Senate at London will put their King to death;\n    Salt and wine will be applied contrariwise,\n    So that they will set the whole kingdom in disarray.\n\nPhilip IV. in the Netherlands, being at war, will move Gand and Brussels\ntowards Antwerp against Holland in revolt. Holland had, in 1579, detached\nitself from the Low Countries. Thus Antwerp became the border town of the\nSpanish possessions. Philip claimed rights over her till the treaty of\nWestphalia, or Munster, of which we have Terburg\u2019s curious portraiture in\nthe National Gallery, concluded on October 14, 1648; three months only\nbefore the death of Charles I., so that the conjunction of the two events\nis extraordinarily definite and remarkable.\n\nThe second line is as definite and marvellous as anything that occurs\nin Nostradamus. By the treaty of Munster it fixes the date to within\nthree months. Garenci\u00e8res says: \u201cIt is the most remarkable of all those\n[prophecies] that ever Nostradamus was author of.\u201d He notifies also, what\nI think nobody else has, that the number of this quatrain, 49, gives the\nvery year of the occurrence in the seventeenth century. For though we in\nEngland then called it 1648-49, Nostradamus, by the Gregorian Calendar\nused in France, would reckon it as 1649. We need lay no stress whatever\nupon this, for the quatrain wants nothing to strengthen it. Yet, be it\nthe offspring of chance or intention, it is most singular. I have before\nsaid how much value lies in mere curiosities, and it is part of my\nbusiness to point one out whenever I am able.\n\nWe have already handled the phrase _vin sel_ at p. 151 and 153 [I. 119],\nbut from a French, and not English point of view; yet even there the line\nis\n\n    L\u2019Isle Britanne par vin sel en souci.\n\n\u2014showing the consistency with which the visions must have shaped\nthemselves in the mind of Nostradamus. The one we are treating of now\nappears in the ninth century of the prophet\u2019s quatrains, but the above\nline occurs in a quatrain of the tenth century. Still, what is said in\nthe one is consistent with what is said in the other. If we call this\nchance, we shall have to admit an axiom far from self-evident; namely,\nthat method is discernible in chance as well as in madness. Here, as at\ndisgraceful Old Pancras graveyard, there is clearly a slight derangement\nof epitaphs.\n\nBouys and nearly all the commentators treat the figure of _le vin et\nsel_, as representing force and wisdom, which were wanting to the\nKing of England. I think we are not at all necessitated to adopt this\ninterpretation. Supposing _salt_ and _wine_ in a good sense to symbolize\nwisdom and power, before we settle that to be their application here, we\nshall have to understand what _\u00e0 l\u2019envers_ means. In the first place, it\nis not the preposition _envers_, meaning _for_, or _in regard to_. It is\na noun substantive, masculine, and stands for the wrong side of a fabric,\nas contrasted with, or opposed to, the right side, called _l\u2019endroit_.\nIt means that wisdom and power will present their wrong aspect at\nthis juncture, and become intrigue and violence, and will so stand to\nhim (_lui seront \u00e0 l\u2019envers_), as that they will convert into their\nopposites, intrigue and violence. It has the old sense of _inversus_, as\nin the _Roman de la Rose_. A person is there told that on going to bed no\nsleep will come, but tossing from one side to the other:\n\n    Une heure _envers_ et l\u2019autre adens\n    Come cil qui a mal aus dens.\n\nHere it reads one hour on the _back_, another on the teeth. Moli\u00e8re says\nof a character (_l\u2019Et._ ii. 14):\n\n                        Vous serez toujours....\n    Un envers du bon sens, un jugement \u00e0 gauche.\n\nNothing can better describe the mockery in Westminster Hall of the trial\nof the King than _un jugement \u00e0 gauche_. The third line of the quatrain\nis the precise equivalent. _Vin_ so nearly resembles vis that it is\nsure to mean force, the two extremes of which are power and violence,\nlaw and lawlessness. We see this very distinctly in the old French word\n_vimaire_, force majeure (_vis major_) and the word further signified\nstorm, tempest, famine, and pestilence (_vide_ Roquefort, _s.v._). That\nwine does not at all definitely stand for power well directed, is plain\nenough from \u201cthe wine of fornication\u201d (Rev. xvii. 2); and that salt is\nnot to be taken as wisdom personified with fixity may be gathered, if\nfrom nothing else, from the sanctification of the sacramental elements in\nthe Church of Rome; where before salt is used, it is first exorcised, to\npurify it from the stain of original sin, that passed upon all creation\nat the fall (Auber\u2019s \u201cSymbolisme,\u201d iii. 394). Whatever wisdom Godwin,\nCarlyle, and other modern revolutionists may suppose themselves to have\ndiscovered in the character of Cromwell, Nostradamus certainly had formed\nno such notion of him, as we shall immediately feel assured by the next\nquatrain. Nostradamus\u2019s opinion of Cromwell may determine nothing at all\nas to the final estimate of that man. I adduce it only to help to settle\nwhat he meant by the words we are studying, _le sel et vin_. The next\nline is plain enough. The Independents set the whole kingdom by the ears.\n\nI think we have reached a point at which every line of this quatrain has\nbecome tolerably clear. A wiseacre, writing about it in the _Quarterly\nReview_ (vol. xxvi. p. 189) says: \u201c\u0152dipus himself could not give the\nsense of the whole verse.\u201d This is the way in which people treat a\ndifficult, abstruse, and intricate subject. It is so easy to say we have\nmade up our mind about a man; that he is unintelligible, a charlatan,\nan impostor; that his forecasts are oracular nonsense, meaning nothing,\nor that if at times they do light on something, chance has more to do\nwith it than seership or vision. You would certainly think that a sane\nman, finding in a book,\u2014that indubitably was in print,\u2014in 1558 a line\nprophesying the death of the King of England nearly a hundred years\nafter, \u201cSenat de Londres mettront \u00e0 mort leur Roy,\u201d would be struck with\nastonishment at the clearness of that, rather than with the difficulty of\nmaking sense of the other three lines. But this is what prejudice can do\nwith us all.\n\n\nCROMWELL\u2019S PROTECTORATE (1653-1658). [I. 142.]\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 76._\n\n    Plus Macelin[191] que Roy en Angleterre,\n    Lieu obscur nay[192] par force aura l\u2019empire,\n    Lasche sans foy sans loy saignera terre:\n    Son temps approche si pr\u00e8s que je souspire.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A Butcher more than king rules England. A man of no birth will\n    seize the government by violence. Of loose morals, without\n    faith or law he will bleed the earth. The hour approaches me so\n    near that I breathe with difficulty.\n\nHere we have a most remarkable forecast. It puts in a clear light what\nview Nostradamus had formed of Cromwell. There appears to have been\nvisually present to him the butcher-like face of Cromwell, with its\nfleshly conch and hideous warts. This seems to have struck him with such\na sense of vividness and horror, that he is willing to imagine that the\ntime is very near at hand. A full century had, however, to elapse; but he\nsighs as with a present shudder, and the blood creeps:\n\n    Son temps s\u2019approche si pr\u00e8s que je souspire.\n\nOne of the most remarkable features throughout the work of Nostradamus,\nis the general absence of any sense of time, apart from the mere\nenumeration of years as an algebraic or arithmetical formula; further\nthan this, he so regulates and controls his feelings as to appear almost\nimpassible; but this announcement is of such unparalleled and terrific\nimport that he departs from his usual practice and stands horror-stricken\nas in the presence of a fearful vision.\n\nIt was intended to treat here of the portraiture of Cromwell. To\ncomplete, however, my observations, I had to go to Chequers Court,\nthe Print Room, and the National Portrait Gallery. These and other\nnecessary steps occupied so much time that the printers had to commence\npaging; then, as the enlarged matter could not find room here, there\nwas no alternative but an Appendix, which will be found at p. 351. My\nremarks, which make so little show now that they are done, cost me far\nmore trouble than ten times the mere amount of writing would. The final\nsettlement depends on the cast at Florence, if still in existence. I have\ncleared the road for a decisive conclusion; which, though it is not much,\nis yet something.\n\nBouys specially comments (p. 109) upon the word _Lasche_ in this\nquatrain, and takes it to mean cowardly, the same as _l\u00e2che_ does in\nmodern French. Both forms of the word are alike deduced from the Latin,\n_laxare_, _laxatus_, and then it might well mean of _loose morals_, as\nI have rendered it. That the Latin may mean this Bailey\u2019s \u201cFacciolati\u201d\nshows, _s.v._ _Laxitas_: \u201cLiber membris cum mollibus fingitur, et\nliquoris feminei dissolutissimus laxitate\u201d; and Cromwell\u2019s dissolute\nlife in early youth has been insisted on by many, though, of course,\ncontradicted by others. Frederic Harrison is the last of these, and\npasses over the charge of vice with a very light hand, saying that \u201cSuch\ntestimony as theirs we cannot trust; but we cannot now refute it.\u201d\nSuffice it to say, I do not think cowardice was what Nostradamus meant to\nimpute to Cromwell.\n\nThe obscure birth requires a moment\u2019s consideration, as none of the\nFrench commentators allude in any way to it. The household of Robert\nCromwell, Oliver\u2019s father, in Huntingdon, was of the industrious,\njog-trot, somewhat over-professingly pious, middle-class order, common\nenough then in the Eastern counties. What is most remarkable, perhaps,\nis that the homestead, in which he was born, had been built upon the\nruins of a convent of Augustine Friars, and that the two estates which\ncame to him, one from his father and the other from his mother\u2019s\nbrother, consisted of old church-lands. Oliver\u2019s branch of the family\nhad rather fallen away from the county position which such inheritance\ninfers. But it was always the more prominent families that stole, or\npossessed themselves of, the church-lands at the spoliation, and thus\nthe Cromwells were married in and in with gentry. This scion of the\nrobbers of the Church was soon to develop, on his own account, into\na robber of the State; a man of violence and passion quite after the\nheart of Thomas Carlyle. Carlyle\u2019s notion of a hero, is a strong devil\nin a tantrum, mollifying, now and again, to the drone of a Psalm tune.\nCromwell\u2019s branch seems to have drifted from the more courtly side to\nCalvinistic burghers and narrow-souled Independents; whilst Milton, who\nwas born a London citizen, far away from gentry, was floated by his\ntastes and nature to the Court side of things, to the Bridgewaters,\nLudlow Castle (see his deathless Masque of Comus), until a lofty\nidea of principle,\u2014taken up by an unripe judgment, and dazzled by\nthat false illusion, Liberty,\u2014dashed him headlong into polemics, and\nirretrievably damaged the greatest poet ever born to England. They were\nexact opposites\u2014these two. Milton sacrificed himself to his principles,\nCromwell his principles to his person. Still, an old brewing concern\nat Huntingdon may well be designated by Nostradamus _lieu obscur_, as\ncontrasted with Whitehall, and a burial, if you please, in Westminster\nAbbey, so wastefully extravagant as that it might well break a nation\u2019s\ntreasury to meet it. Such prodigious pageantry belies the professions of\nthe life, and can in no way be harmonized with \u201cTake that bauble hence.\u201d\nSuch empty, worthless show has less, for me, of the saint and hero in it,\nthan of the froth of beer, and of the littleness and vanity of man. If\nthis is to be great, prythee, tell us, what is it to be little?\n\n\nBRITISH ASCENDANCY OF THE SEA (OVER THREE CENTURIES). [I. 143.]\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 100._\n\n    Le grand empire sera par Angleterre.\n    Le pempotam[193] des ans plus de trois cens:\n    Grandes copies[194] passer par mer et terre.\n    Les Lusitains[195] n\u2019en seront pas contens.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    England the Pempotam (\u03c0\u1fb6\u03bd _potens_) will rule the great empire\n    (of the waters) for more than three hundred years. Great armies\n    will pass by sea and land; the Portuguese will not be satisfied.\n\nThe French render this as meaning the destruction of England by large\nforces coming to overwhelm her by sea and land, but the reader will\nsee that it does not at all necessarily show this. If we altered the\ncolon, and put it at the end of the third line, it would simply mean\nthat, whilst she was \u201call powerful\u201d at sea, she moved large bodies of\ntroops by both elements. I do not think it is very clear what the last\nline intends. But the three hundred years\u2019 dominion of the sea is a very\npalpable and most important object. That it is now drawing to a close\nis a somewhat melancholy subject for the contemplation of Englishmen,\nwhen we consider the searching revolution introduced by steam. If it\nreally forebodes evil to England, it would involve dissatisfaction to\nthe Lusitanians, as, if England fell, Portugal would be overwhelmed\nsimultaneously by Spain.\n\nThe Invincible Armada of Philip II. was destroyed in 1588 by storms\nfirst, and the residue by Drake in Cadiz Bay. From that epoch we\nnaturally date the maritime supremacy of our country, which, according\nto Nostradamus, is to last for more than three centuries, but not four.\nNelson\u2019s death at Trafalgar in 1805 was the culminating event of our\nnaval history. Its salt-sea tale still stirs young hearts in far-off\nsea-board cottages on stormy nights in winter with a flush of heroism,\nand that yet more sacred thing, a solemn sense of duty. But the old\nsobriety and obedient spirit of reverence, that was common in English\nhomes last century is greatly decadent under the rotten knowledge\ndropping widely from the Upas Board Schools,\u2014with reverence banished\nand obedience lost. The bare three hundred years ended in 1888. What\nthe _plus_ may count for, with Revolt thus bred at every hearth, a wise\nEnglishman might ask with some emotion now.\n\nIt is said, in James\u2019s \u201cNaval History,\u201d that from 1793 to 1815\u2014I have\nnot referred to verify\u2014two hundred ships of the line, and three to\nfour hundred frigates were taken or destroyed of the fleets opposed to\nEngland; and of the sea as at the pouring out of the second vial, \u1f10\u03b3\u03ad\u03bd\u03b5\u03c4\u03bf\n\u03b1\u1f37\u03bc\u03b1 \u1f61\u03c2 \u03bd\u03b5\u03ba\u03c1\u03bf\u1fe6, it became as the blood of a dead man (Rev. xvi. 3). This\ncompletely crushed out all chance of Napoleon\u2019s descent upon England;\nbut, with the lying spirit that distinguished his administration at all\ntimes, he managed to disguise the fact from Frenchmen at the time; so\nthat we find Bouys, at p. 92, promising him\u2014out of two misinterpreted\nquatrains\u2014in 1806, when his fleet was annihilated, the empire of the sea\nand a conquest of England as complete as that of William the Conqueror.\nIt only proves once more how far from truth is the wish that is father to\nthe thought. Let him stand aloof who would read the future by the light\nof the lantern of his prejudices.\n\nWe are now at the end of the guidance of Le Pelletier. Nevertheless, I\nwill adduce several other quatrains to bring the English sequence down to\nthe succession of the House of Hanover. They will perhaps not be devoid\nof instruction, though they will not be so remarkable as those already\nadduced. Several quatrains, more or less intelligibly wrought out, are\nenumerated in a pamphlet of the year 1715 by D. D.[196] The first relates\nto Queen Mary.\n\n\nQUEEN MARY.\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 96._\n\n    La S\u0153ur aisnee de L\u2019Isle Britannique,\n    Quinze ans devant le fr\u00e8re aura naissance,\n    Par son promis, moyennant verrifique,\n    Succedera au R\u00e8gne de Balance.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The elder sister of the British Isle shall be born fifteen\n    years before her brother; true to her intervening promise, she\n    will succeed to the Kingdom of the Balance.\n\nThis means that Mary, elder sister of Edward VI., shall ascend the throne\nof England. She was not born fifteen years before him. Her birth took\nplace February 18, 1516, whilst Edward VI. was born October 12, 1537,\nover twenty-one years later. The fulfilment of her truthful promise\nlay in carrying out her vow to reinstate the Papists, causing even her\nsister Elizabeth to be imprisoned in the Tower on a charge of conspiracy.\n_Moyennant_ seems to refer to the temporary nature and duration of her\npapal restorations; _en la moyenne_, in the midst or interim, between the\nProtestantism of her young brother, and that of Elizabeth, who succeeded\nher. Mary\u2019s birth was an event actually contemporary with Nostradamus;\na very little inquiry, we may be sure, would have enabled him to have\nrendered it conformable to the facts of history. As exemplifying his\nmethod and procedure, it is very important to find that he took no\ntrouble whatever to do so. It is evident that our prophet acted quite\nindependently of external aids. He seems to have had methods and ways\nof his own, in which he had the most entire and implicit faith. In\nwhatsoever manner the impressions reached him, he laid himself open to\ntheir reception, a reception to all appearance of pure passivity: he took\nthe earliest moment of noting them down, more after the manner of an\namanuensis under dictation than as being personally at all responsible\nfor anything he committed to paper. The explanation of D. D. upon this\npassage is very singular, and implies somewhat of the insight of an\nadept into magical processes and fatidical language, of which we should\nbe glad to know more. We must, however, content ourselves with it as\nit is; and even this little glimpse will be valued by those who love to\nstudy the human mind in all its byeways, and who are qualified to do so\nby thrusting aside from their own mind all private prejudice and vain\nprepossession. He says with regard to the discrepancy:\n\n    \u201cBut, if he has not known it, then has he either overheard it\n    _in raptu_, whilst his genius dictated unto him one year and\n    three _Heptades_, or forgot it _post raptum_, and did write one\n    year and two _Heptades_. The _Lingua Demonum_ uses _Septenarios\n    in numerando_, as we do _Denarios_.\u201d\n\nWhere he gets this intelligence from I have no idea. What he heard _in\nraptu_, could not have been one year and three heptades, for that would\nhave represented twenty-two years, and we have to do with twenty-one\nyears. What he might have heard, supposing we are right as to the _lingua\ndemonum_, would be \u201cone, plus two heptades,\u201d meaning _three heptades_;\nand he might have supposed it to mean one year plus two heptades, or\nfifteen years. If not satisfactory, this at least, has something of\nplausibility about it.\n\nThe phrase _R\u00e8gne de Balance_ has much of importance attaching to it.\nGarenci\u00e8res translates the last line, \u201cShe shall succeed in the Kingdom\nof Libra,\u201d and he annotates that the princess, whom he does not recognize\nat all, born so long before her brother, shall be married to a King of\nFrance, which is signified by the \u201cKingdom of _Libra_.\u201d He also says that\nLouis XIII. was called _The Just_, because he was born under the sign\n_Libra_. I give this for the sake of its being curious, though quite\nbeside the mark, so far as I am able to see.\n\nThe phrase _R\u00e8gne de Balance_ is one of those pithy pregnant sentences,\never and anon dropping instinctively from the pen of Nostradamus, on\nall topics treated by him or glanced at. The whole bent of England\u2019s\npolicy, from Henry VII.\u2019s day to the Treaty of Vienna, has been to\nmaintain a European equipoise, and to provide that no State should grow\nso strong as to overwhelm the rest. The wise counsels of the statesmen\nof Elizabeth were all directed in the hope of fortifying it; and it was\nnever seriously infringed until the first partition of Poland in 1772,\nwhich was completed by the third in 1795. Napoleon\u2019s false profession\nto restore it in 1806 may count\u2014like all he said, \u201cas false as dicers\u2019\noaths\u201d\u2014for nothing. England\u2019s permission of that crime,\u2014that satanry of\nroyal crowns, struck her with judicial blindness;\u2014and hired publicists,\nthe venal reptiles that preceded the journalists, soon sprang up in\nabundance, to confuse and smoke-dry the moral sense of Europe. Poland had\nestablished that most unworkable of all governmental schemes, an elective\nmonarchy; an arrangement that insures periodical anarchy at every\nelection, and generally a wrong choice at last. The satanry of Split\nEagles gave out, that the Poles could not govern themselves. But the\nfourth article in Peter the Great\u2019s will shows that they were not to be\nallowed to govern themselves. They were to be kept in continual jealousy,\nwhilst the other powers were to be corrupted by gold, and a share of the\nplunder; till Russia could retake all. The bribers, the bribed, and the\npublicists succeeded so well that the very phrase \u201cBalance of power\u201d\nbecame, and still is, a topic of ridicule in common conversation. By\nthis means its obvious rationality is excluded from any chance of a fair\nhearing. The Navigation Laws, Corn Laws, and Protection, have all been\ntreated in the same way in our own time, and with the same revolutionary\nconsequences, and loss of English supremacy. The Marquis de Bouill\u00e9, in\nhis \u201cM\u00e9moires,\u201d ed. 1821, p. 8,\u2014one of the few modern men who is entitled\nto be called a statesman,\u2014says of England, that it is an empire whose\nsupport all other nations stand in need of, and that its happiness is\nintimately bound up with that of the world at large, but that if its\nthirst of gold should destroy its patriotism; or that bold demagogues and\norators should get power to meddle with its fundamental laws, it would\nsoon become chaotic and fall, leaving nothing behind it but another great\nghost of empire perished, to glimmer as an historical beacon through the\nnight of time. Again he says, at p. 24, that for thirty years (speaking\nabout 1783) she has been the happy rival of France, and in some sort the\narbitress of Europe. A little later on, when we crushed Napoleon by sea\nand land, and yet preserved France, we rose to our highest; but at Vienna\nthe _R\u00e8gne de Balance_[197] passed, probably for ever, from the sceptre\nof England; just twenty years after the final partition of Poland. Cursed\nare those who, with arms in their hands, stand by and allow evil to\nbe done! We repeated the cowardice when France was under the heel of\nPrussia. If no virtue remained, the common policy of equalization should\nhave weighed, to throw in aid to the weaker side.\n\n\nQUEEN ELIZABETH (1533-1603).\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 74._\n\n    La dechassee au regne tournera,\n    Ses ennemies trouvez des conjurez;\n    Plusque jamais son temps triomphera,\n    Trois, et Septante, la mort, trop asseurez.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The rejected one shall at last reach the throne, her enemies\n    found to have been traitors. More than ever shall her period be\n    triumphant. At seventy she shall go assuredly to death, in the\n    third year of the century.\n\nElizabeth was long withheld from the throne. When she reached it, of\ncourse all enemies were regarded as traitors, and no reign was ever more\ntriumphant. She proved a thorn in the side of popery; overthrew the\nArmada; and crippled the power of Spain, despoiling it of a large tract\nof land in America, which has been called after her Virginia; and under\nEssex, in 1596, inflicted on it a loss of twenty million ducats or pieces\nof eight, in the Bay of Cadiz. The next quatrain that we shall take seems\nto refer to the expedition by Essex.\n\nThe fourth line is a very singular one. It has no punctuation in the\nedition of 1558; so I introduce a comma between _trois_ and _septante_.\n_Septante_ is \u201cseventy,\u201d a good old word that has dropped out of French\nusage, but which many French scholars think infinitely preferable to\nthe clumsy circumlocution _Soixante dix_. _Trois_ stands for 1603.\nNostradamus often drops the thousands and hundreds from a date. We shall\nshortly come to a case in point, at the Fire of London, 1666. When\nNostradamus describes the doomed city, he writes: \u201cBrusl\u00e9 par fond, de\nvingt-trois les six.\u201d The nought in 1603 cannot be given, so that,\nomitting the figures in the tens, hundreds, and thousands, the _trois_\nremaining gives the date; so that the line remains \u201cIn the third year [of\nthe seventeenth century] and seventy years old, assured death comes.\u201d\nElizabeth was born September 7, 1533, and she died March 24 (April 3,\nN.S.), 1603; fulfilling to a nicety the conditions of the line as thus\nset forth.\n\n\nATTACK ON CADIZ BAY (1596).\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 94._\n\n    Devant le lac ou plus cher fut gett\u00e9\n    De sept mois, et son ost desconfit\n    Seront Hispans par Albanois gastez,\n    Par delay perte en donnant le conflict.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Before the lake, where much treasure (_plus cher_) was\n    stranded, after a seven months\u2019 voyage, and the host\n    discomforted, Spaniards shall be worsted by the English, by\n    time lost before giving battle.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res here takes _Albanois_ for Albanians, which of course prevents\nhim from reaching any conceivable meaning. It stands for English, as\nAlbanies, or Albions. The quatrain may reasonably enough be interpreted\nof the attack made by Essex, Howard, and Raleigh, June, 1596, on Cadiz\nBay. They destroyed there thirteen ships of war, and forty huge South\nAmerican galleons, part of the great \u201csilver fleet,\u201d or \u201cplate fleet.\u201d\nThey had got stranded in their own harbour. Had the Spaniards been\nalert, they might have unloaded the treasure-ships, and so saved the\ncargoes. If they had attacked the English at once, instead of awaiting\nthe onset, they might have beaten them off, or at least have kept them\nout of the harbour. But they were so supine that the Duke de Medina\nhad at last to fire the ships to prevent their capture. The Spartans\nand Spaniards have been noted as being of small despatch: _Mi venga la\nmuerta di Spagna_\u2014\u201cLet my death come from Spain, for then it will be\nsure to be long in coming\u201d (Bacon\u2019s Essay on Despatch). Collins does\nnot give this in his Spanish proverbs. But not only did Spaniards and\nSpartans procrastinate. \u201cBusiness tomorrow,\u201d said the Theban Polymarch,\nin Plutarch, as he laid under his pillow some despatches relating to a\nconspiracy, and was killed before he read them. Copyslip wisdom saith\n\u201cDelays are dangerous.\u201d\n\nThe bay and harbour of Cadiz may very well be called a lake, being twelve\nmiles one way, and at least six the other, whilst the entrance to it\nfrom Rota to the Castle of St. Sebastian is a good six miles. When Essex\ngot possession of the Castle of Puntales, he commanded the whole town\nand harbour. The idea of _lake_ is actually expressed in the very name\nof Cadiz, which is derived from the Punic word _Gaddir_, an _enclosed\nplace_. The Greeks corrupted this into \u03b3\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1, or \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b4\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03ae, \u201cneck of\nland.\u201d The Romans contracted either this or the Punic word into Gades,\nand the Spaniards into _Xerez_, by the help of their Arabic guttural.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 22._\n\n    Dedans la terre du grand temple celique,\n    Nepueu \u00e0 Londre par paix feincte meurtry:\n    La barque alors deviendra scismatique,\n    Libert\u00e9 feincte sera au corn\u2019 et cry.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    In the country of the great heavenly temple the nephew is\n    murdered [by her who comes] to London under a feigned truce.\n    The ship [of Peter] will then become schismatic, and feigned\n    liberty become the hue and cry.\n\nI cannot, I confess, altogether make this out. D. D. interprets it of\nthe murder of Henry Stuart, 1567, and the final establishment of the\nReformation. If it mean this, it will be a proof of the uncertainty, and\nalmost caprice with which forecasts are concerned. It is strange that\nHenry Stuart\u2019s murder should find any representation, when, so far as I\nyet know, nothing is recorded of the fate of Mary Stuart herself. The\nheavenly temple is, according to D. D., the kingdom of the _Angeli_,\nAngels, or Angles, meaning the English. We are by no means forced to\naccept this interpretation, for _Celique_ may stand for _luminous_,\naccording to Le Pelletier\u2019s Glossary, where he derives the word from the\nGreek \u03c3\u03af\u03bb\u03b1\u03c2, though I see no such word. _Celigue_ is generally considered\nto stand for _celeste_, _c\u00e6litus_, from _c\u00e6lum_. We might read it as a\nmisprint for Celtique. Then _la terre du grand temple Celtique_ would be\nthe island in which is placed the great Druid temple of Stonehenge\u2014the\nisland of Apollo, _Templum Solis_, as Bath is the fountain of the sun,\n_Aqua Solis_. I record these hints, not as possessing much value in\nthemselves, but as being possible aids towards future elucidation.\n\n_La Barque_, in Nostradamus, is no doubt usually to be interpreted of\nthe Popedom, the ship of St. Peter; but if, as I think, the general\nreference of the quatrain be to England and English affairs, then I\nshould interpret _La Barque_ as the Ship of State, becoming more and\nmore schismatical, and in which the Puritans, Independents, and other\nDissenters raise a great hue and cry about liberty, and liberty of\nconscience (_au corn\u2019 et cry_, or _\u00e0 cor et \u00e0 cri_, which is a variant of\nthe early edition). The Puritans were becoming most troublesome both in\nEngland and Scotland all through the reigns of Elizabeth and Mary Stuart.\nHere D. D. insists upon what it is the business of his book to establish;\nthat the accession of the House of Hanover to the throne of England is\none distinct topic of the prophecies of Nostradamus. James I. was the\ngreat-grandfather of George I. His daughter Elizabeth married Frederic,\nthe Elector Palatine, and had issue the Princess Sophia, Electress of\nBrunswick-Lunenberg, the mother of George I.\n\n\nENGLAND BECOMES GREAT BRITAIN (1603).\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 70._\n\n    La grand Bretaigne comprinse d\u2019Angleterre,\n    Viendra par eaux si[198] haut \u00e0 inonder\n    La Ligue neuve d\u2019Ausonne fera guerre,\n    Que contre eux ils se viendront bander.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Great Britain comprising England, will come to be inundated\n    very forcibly by the waters. The new League in Italy will make\n    war against all such as band together against any one of the\n    cosignatories.\n\nEngland was politically called Great Britain when Scotland was united to\nher at the accession of James I. in 1603. Still, in an indefinite way,\nthe term, or kindred terms, had often been employed. To go no further\nthan the \u201cFaerie Queene\u201d of Spenser (Book III. c. ii. \u00a7 7), we find:\n\n            Far fro my native soyle, that is by name\n    The Greater Brytayne, here to seeke for praise and fame.\n\nIn this passage, Church says, it means Wales, as distinguished from the\nLesser Brittany in France. The Greater Brytayne would hardly be Wales,\nbut England and Wales together before the Saxon Heptarchy. This, however,\nin no way interferes with the propriety of the distinction drawn by\nNostradamus. His allusion is clearly to the time of James I., who assumed\nthe title of \u201cKing of Great Britain\u201d on October 24, 1604.\n\nThe floods spoken of commenced about the end of January, 1607. The\nprincipal damage occurred in Somersetshire, where the sea broke down\nthe dykes, and overflowed the country for thirty miles in length and\nsix miles inland, to the destruction of all property and most of the\ninhabitants. Bristol suffered. The east coast by Norfolk suffered in like\nmanner, though not quite to so great an extent. A long account of it,\ngiving curious details of the calamity, was hunted up by Garenci\u00e8res, and\nfound in an old, almost-forgotten Latin book, entitled \u201cRerum in Galli\u00e2,\nBelgi\u00e2, Hispani\u00e2, Angli\u00e2, etc., _gestarum anno_ 1607,\u201d \u00e0 Nicolao Gotardo\nArtus Dantisco, VII., Book 2.\n\n_La Ligue neufve_, D. D. says, was a renewal of the _Liga Sancta_ first\nentered into in 1526 between the King of France, the Pope, and the\nVenetians. The renewal took place in 1606, and was simply defensive,\nprecisely as the quatrain puts it. Thus the quatrain stretches over\na space of three years, from October, 1604, establishing the title of\n\u201cGreat Britain;\u201d the ratification of the _Liga Sancta_ in 1606; and the\ninundations in Somerset and Norfolk in 1607. The alliance of 1526 goes\nby the name of the Treaty of Cognac (or _Holy League_). It was concluded\non March 22, 1526, between the Pope, Francis I., Venice, Henry VIII.,\nthe Swiss, and Florence. The second or defensive alliance, according\nto D. D., was between three only of the original signatories; France,\nthe Pope, and the Venetians. I do not find it mentioned, but presume\nhe is right. Garenci\u00e8res evidently writes in entire ignorance of both\nthese treaties; but he says that the League will be of Bordeaux, which\nis called _Ausone_, from Ausonius, the famous Latin poet, who was born\nthere. Here it certainly means Italy; but I mention it, as it is quite\nlikely that Nostradamus might so employ the word, though he does not on\nthis occasion. _Ausone_ occurs once again, at least, in Quatrain 22 of\nCentury VII., which I do not know that anybody has yet interpreted.\n\n\nCHARLES I.\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 93._\n\n    Soubs le terroir du rond globe lunaire,\n    Lors que sera dominateur Mercure:\n    L\u2019isle d\u2019Escosse fera un luminaire.\n    Qui les Anglois mettra \u00e0 deconfiture.[199]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Under the jurisdiction of the round globe of the moon, when\n    Mercury shall be lord of the ascendant: the island of Scotland\n    will produce a luminary (prince) that shall throw the English\n    into a great discomfiture.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res entirely misses the purpose of this, but remarks that the\nprophecy must of necessity relate to the past, for since the Union\nnothing of the kind has happened. Charles I. was born at Dunfermline\non November 19, 1600; in astrological language, when Mercury, lord of\nthe horizon, was combust and following Saturn cosmically with the sun:\nthe sun leaning to a conjunction with Mars, and the moon, in her worst\nlocation, in quadrature with Mars. He succeeded to the throne in 1625.\n\nD. D. translates the quatrain, oddly enough, as follows:\n\n    In regione a\u00ebris sublunari,\n      Mercurius shall govern,\n    When a light shall be born in Scotland,\n      Which will put England into great disorder.\n\nWe have here the stars in their courses fighting against King Charles,\nand, as soon as we had disposed of the historical remarks appended to the\nquatrain by D. D., our intention was to have thrown together some of the\nfatalistic signs of the time and the ill omens that attended this unhappy\nmonarch almost throughout life, but unfortunately this intention must be\nlaid aside for the present.\n\nIn 1609 James I. tried to induce the Scotch to conform to some sort of\nuniformity in Church ceremony, but he stopped short of endeavouring to\nthrust it down their throats. Archbishop Laud was less moderate. With the\nzealous persistency of a shard-borne beetle flying against a stone wall,\nhe, in 1637 advised Charles to introduce the English Liturgy into the\nchurches of Scotland, _auctoritate regis_. It was flying in the face of\nFate. _Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat._\n\nNext to the folly of establishing it, was the folly of its public\nwithdrawal in less than twelve months\u2019 time. It was established by\nroyal mandate, July 23, 1637, and by royal proclamation, June 20, 1638,\nwithdrawn; a further undertaking being given that no English ceremonies\nshould be thrust upon the Church of Scotland. Any tyro in statesmanship\nwould have known that this course was doomed to fail utterly. Having\ntaken the first inconsiderate step, it should have received no other\nimpulse from England; private instructions should have been communicated\nto the chief clergy that no proceedings would be taken to enforce the\nlaw, and it would have died down of itself. As it was, the concession\ncame too late, and gave the Scotch time to enter into a covenant never to\npermit the establishment of the English ritual; or, as they called it,\nthe English _Service Book_. The fault was committed that, over and over\nagain, the English commit as to Irish affairs; the yielding to outside\npressure. Contentious opposition should be crushed by force first, and\nthen conceded to as of grace. You will never get thanks from any party\nfor having yielded to their threats. This only cemented disaffection;\nand, in 1643, England, puritanically urged, went further still, and\nestablished the _Solemn League_ to like effect. This was a pure piece of\npolitical claptrap intended to secure general disaffection.\n\nIn 1641 the discontent had spread into Ireland, and, as usual in such\ncases, English reasoning and Scotch logic developed into bloodshed on the\nother side of St. George\u2019s Channel. The English often content themselves\nwith ink and oratory, but an Irish Celt prefers to record his dissent\nin a rubric of blood. During the first four months of antagonism, the\nrebellion under Phelim O\u2019Neil caused the massacre of 40,000 English\nProtestants in Ulster: D. D. says 150,000, massacred by Papists, and they\ncould be reckoned up by name. But where he got his list I do not know.\nHis comment on this is: _Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum_. His\nquotation is not correct; I hope the same may be said of his statistics.\n\nAs we all know, Laud expiated his mistake with his head on Tower Hill,\nand the King himself was to follow on five years later at Whitehall,\nafter being surrendered for money by the Scotch to the English. As\nNostradamus puts it [II. 53], _Du juste sang par pris damn\u00e9 sans crime_.\n\nKing Charles was only twenty-five when he ascended the throne, labouring\nin that respect under almost the same disadvantage as Louis XVI. Both\nof these kings could derive but little wisdom from the Council-table.\nCharles\u2019s early acts consequently were rash, and those of the French King\nspeculative rather than practical. Clarendon, in his History (i. 23, ed.\n1731), devotes a paragraph or two of great interest to the impeachment\nof the Earl of Middlesex (Lionel Cranfield). Clarendon admits him to\nhave been \u201ca man of great wit and understanding,\u201d and to have held every\nplace with great ability. He had been raised by Buckingham from a city\ntrader to a statesman, and in his success seems to have quite forgotten\nthe patron to whom he owed it. The rash Buckingham, on his return from\nthe Spanish Quixotism, influenced the House of Commons to impeach him;\naltogether overlooking the consequences of employing such a machinery\nto revenge a private pique, and he must needs drag in the young Prince\nCharles to help him. The King foresaw the evil. \u201cThe wise King,\u201d says\nClarendon, \u201cknew well enough the ill consequence,\u201d[200] and he sent\nfor these two,\u2014his son and Buckingham\u2014to lecture them if possible into\nwisdom. He pointed out that it wounded the Crown and shook his authority,\nas Ministers would thus have to look to the House, and not to the King\nalone, as heretofore. At last he burst out in choler: \u201cBy God, Steenie,\nyou are a fool, and will shortly repent this folly, and will find that,\nin this fit of popularity, you are making a rod with which you will be\nscourged yourself!\u201d He then turned to the prince, and told him: \u201cYou\nwill live to have your bellyfull of Parliament impeachments; and, when\nI shall be dead, you will have too much cause to remember how much you\nhave contributed to the weakening of the Crown by the two precedents\nyou are now so fond of,\u201d _i.e._ engaging the Parliament in the war, and\nthe prosecution of Cranfield. It was, indeed, to teach the many-headed\n(which is equal to no head) beast to taste blood. Here, indeed, a King\nturns prophet; foreseeing, from existing facts misdirected, what future\nevils will arise. This, of course, is quite different from Nostradamus.\n\u201cFlambe exigue sortant de solitude\u201d [I. 1], and all that can be got out\nof visions of the night by secret estude or otherwise.\n\n\nCHARLES II.\u2014CAPITULATION OF EDINBURGH (DECEMBER 12, 1650).\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 40._\n\n    Le sang du Juste par[201] Taurer la daurade,\n    Pour se venger contre les Saturnins\n    Au nouveau lac plongeront la maynade,\n    Puis marcheront contre les Albanins.\n\nThe above is the reading in the texte-type, 1558. D. D.\u2019s version runs as\nbelow:\n\n    Le sang du juste, par Tore et les Torads,\n    Pour se venger contre les Saturnins:\n    Au nouveau lac plongeront la Menade,\n    Puis marcheront contre les Albanins.\n\nHe translates thus\u2014\n\n    The blood of the righteous, for Torah and Torees\u2019 sakes, cries\n    for vengeance against the Saturnine rebels, who will plunge\n    the priestess of Bacchus, _la menade_, into the sea of their\n    novelties, and march afterwards against the Scotch.\n\nD. D.\u2019s idea of the interpretation of this is that, for the sake of the\nlaw-abiding people (the Torah and Torees), the King\u2019s blood cries for\nvengeance against the Saturnian Roundheads. The intoxicated people shall\nplunge into a new course of wickedness, and will then march against the\nHighlanders. He considers that this was fulfilled in 1650, when, after\nthe capitulation, as he calls it, with the Scotch at Breda, Charles II.\nlanded in Scotland on June 23, and joined the royal army, consisting\nmainly of Highlanders. About the same moment Cromwell reached London\nfrom Ireland, and General Fairfax retired from the army. Cromwell, at\nthis critical moment, jumps into his post, and, on June 29, heads the\nParliamentary army against the Scots.\n\nWithout at all insisting upon the accuracy of this interpretation,\nI think it furnishes sufficient of curiosity to make it worthy of\ninsertion. What follows, touching the Tories, I give in his own words:\n\n\u201cSome people stick to the Church of _England_ discipline, even to a\nsuperstition, and to their last breath. These people had the nickname\nof _Tories_, cast on them by the Cromwellites; which is as much as to\nsay some have the law of the Church put upon them, from the Hebrew\n_Torah_, which signifies the _law_, or the _law of the Church of God_.\nPerhaps did Cromwell himself, or some of his confident advocates and\nministers, designedly invent that cursed name; as it is likely from what\nhappened in the year 1651, when the Parliament ordered the law-books to\nbe translated out of _Latin_ into _English_, wherein the lawyers took a\ngreat deal of freedom by using the _verbalia passiva_ very frequently,\nand almost on all occasions, according to their own fancy and pleasure.\nAs, for instance, Apellans and Apellatus, they made an _Apealer_ and\nan _Apealee_; the _Arrestans_ and _Arrestatus_, the _Challenger_ and\nthe _Challengee_, as likewise the _Warranter_ and the _Warrantee_; the\n_Voucher_ and the _Vouchee_; the _Leaser_ and the _Leasee_; in which\nmanner they used likewise the terms of _Torer_ and _Toree_; a _Torer_,\nin the first place\u2014that is, a promoter of the Common Prayer and Church\nof England service; and an imposer of human traditions, instead of God\u2019s\nlaw; and, in the second place, a _Toree_; that is, one that submits\nand suffereth such laws to be imposed upon him. Which _nomina verbalia\npassiva_, so much in vogue amongst the English lawyers, are not at\nall English but mere French, and the _Participium Passivum_ itself;\nand more proper to the neat _French_ than the corrupted _Provincial\nDialect_; which last our Nostradamus very often mixes with his style;\nwherein they commonly used to say, _Les confirmads_, _les restads_, _les\nescilads_, instead of _les confirmez_, _les restez_, _les exilez_, etc.\nAnd according to this _Dialect_ one must say, LES TORADS, instead of LES\nTOREZ, and thus does our Poet.\u201d\n\nIf what he says above has any value, the _Toree_ would be the prelates\nand clergy; the _Torads_ the laity, who adhere to the Church of England\nand its discipline and ritual. This in the context would have a greater\nappropriateness than D. D. himself seems to be aware of, for the word\nit is contrasted with in the context is _les Saturnins_. This word in\nNostradamus is constantly used for pagans, in contradistinction to\n_Albanins_, Christians, robed in white _albus_. In this quatrain also\nthe men of Albany, if we take them for Scotch, are fighting on the side\nof Church and State against the Roundheads. _Saturne_ is often put for\nAntichrist by Nostradamus.\n\nThe French of this quatrain, as it stands, does not appear to be correct.\nThe first two lines require a verb understood to connect them: \u201cThe\nblood of the king [cries] for vengeance,\u201d etc. The third line has an\nembarrassed construction: \u201cThey will plunge the _Menade_ into a new\nlake.\u201d If _Saturnins_, again repeated, be understood, it is difficult to\nsee what plunging their mad priestess into the lake can effect. If it\ncould be read as _les Menades_, then the frantic Bacchantes would plunge\ninto a fresh sea of evil or troubles, and, in their wild intoxication,\nmarch northwards. If we could put any interpretation upon _Taurer_ that\nwould be applicable to the rendering, the whole quatrain might then apply\nto the French Revolution, and not the English. I think that the _sang du\nJuste_ furnishes thus much of certainty as to the interpretation. It must\nrelate to one of two periods; the death of Charles I. or Louis XVI. Then\nit would be that the Revolutionists, finding the Royalists to be seeking\nrevenge, declared against the Church, and plunged madly into a new order\nof things. The _Menade_ would be more appropriate to that period than to\nthe earlier one. Bad as they were in England, there was more of lust,\ninfidelity, and blood, corruption, vice, and madness, in France.\n\nMenade. The \u03bc\u03b1\u03b9\u03bd\u03ac\u03b4\u03b5\u03c2 were Bacchantes, the priestesses who celebrated the\nfestivals of Bacchus. Stephanus says that it is to be explained not only\nas Bacchic, but as frantic; and this is unquestionably the meaning here.\nThe Greek word appears to be connected with the Sanscrit _man_, to think;\nand thence the word _manyu_, anger, is said to be derived. They used to\nrun dishevelled, half-naked, and, brandishing the thyrsus; in their fury\nthey would kill and behead men whom they encountered by the way, and\ncarry off their heads, leaping with rage and joy. According to Nonnus,\nthey were virgins so careful of their chastity that they slept with a\ncincture of serpents. Juvenal attributes no great severity of virtue to\nthem, but their pretensions to such superlative purism renders them all\nthe fitter emblem of the canting Puritans who won Cromwell\u2019s battles for\nhim. In Le Pelletier\u2019s Glossary _maynade_ is given as a Romance word for\n\u201ca child of four or five years;\u201d but this throws no additional light on\nour difficulty.\n\n\nTHE BATTLE OF DUNBAR (SEPTEMBER 3, 1650).\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 56._\n\n    La bande foible la terre[202] occupera,\n    Ceux du haut lieu feront horribles cris:\n    Le gros trouppeau d\u2019estre coin troublera,\n    Tombe pres Dinebro descouvers les escrits.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The weak band shall occupy the knoll (or, if preferred, it\n    can be, occupy the ground or field [after the battle]). The\n    Highlanders (_Ceux du haut lieu_) shall raise horrible shouts\n    (before they engage, and also after their defeat). The large\n    force shall be hampered or cornered (_d\u2019estre en coin_), and\n    fall close to Edinburgh, their papers even falling into the\n    victor\u2019s hands.\n\nThis is a very important forecast indeed. The little band on the\nknoll\u2014for I prefer that reading\u2014is clearly enough Cromwell\u2019s small force,\nvery much in the condition he describes it to be in, in his letter to\nHaslerig at Newcastle, September 2, 1650 (Carlyle\u2019s \u201cCromwell Letters,\u201d\nii. 201):\n\n    \u201cWe are upon an engagement very difficult. The enemy hath\n    blocked up our way at the Pass at Copperspath, through which we\n    cannot get without almost a miracle.\u201d\n\nBefore sunrise Lesley sends down on Monday his horse to cross the small\nBrocksburn. Whoso wishes to attack must first cross this little brook, in\nits deep _ditch_, as they then called it (the picturesque tourist would\nnow say _glen_), forty feet deep. Lesley\u2019s army comes out and places\nitself in \u201crather narrow ground,\u201d says Carlyle (p. 202) in 1846; _d\u2019estre\nen coin_, says Nostradamus in 1558; or 1546, if you like to have it so,\nfor it was probably on paper a clean three hundred years before Carlyle\ncommented; you may even translate him, \u201ctakes the trouble to put itself\ninto a corner.\u201d \u201cHampered in narrow, sloping ground,\u201d says Carlyle again\n(p. 206).\n\nThe reader who wishes for it can here leave off to peruse Carlyle\u2019s very\ncelebrated prose lyric, as they call it, about this \u201cDunbar Battle,\u201d with\nits \u201cmoon\u201d that \u201cgleams out, hard and _blue_, riding among hail-clouds;\u201d\nwhatever \u201ca blue moon\u201d may mean, or not mean. Carlyle makes Nol there, as\nthe level sun shoots up over St. Abb\u2019s Head and across the sea, quote the\nsixty-eighth Psalm, in Rous\u2019s doggerel:\n\n    \u201cLet God arise, and scattered\n      Let all His enemies be;\n    And let all those that do Him hate\n      Before His presence flee!\u201d\n\nObserve here that it is the _Saturnins_, in a frenzy of antichrist,\nwho do this, according to Nostradamus. But you can take which side you\nplease. \u201cThe Lord General made a halt,\u201d says Hodgson, \u201cand sang the\nhundred-and-seventeenth Psalm\u201d at the foot of Doon Hill; to the tune of\nBangor or other, says Carlyle, \u201cstrong and great against the sky,\u201d this\ngrand strain arises, in which the metre, like the Lord General himself,\nmakes a halt too:\n\n    \u201cO give ye praise unto the Lord,\n      All _nations_ that be;\n    Likewise ye people all, accord\n      His name to magnify\u201d\u2014\n\nwhich, to eke out the measure, has to be read, _nay-shy-ons_, and, for\nthe rhyme\u2019s sake, _magnifee_. This energy is really not dramatic, but it\n_is_ stagey; on the border-land of sublimity, it curls the lip of humour\nto a smile.\n\nThe poor Highlanders taken prisoners were sold, \u201cnot,\u201d says Cotton, \u201cto\nperpetual servitude, but for six, or seven, or eight years, as we do our\nown\u201d (blessed are they who are of the household of faith); \u201cwhich is\nreally a mild arrangement,\u201d in the estimation of \u201cthe Sage of Chelsea\u201d\n(p. 358).\n\nBut now back to our exegesis let us go. Cromwell captured, on this\noccasion, the whole of the papers of the Scotch War Office, as well\nas the Great Seal of Scotland, which he sent forward as a trophy to\nLondon. Cromwell\u2019s letter to Speaker Lenthall excuses his making \u201cno more\nfrequent address to Parliament,\u201d but \u201cit hath now pleased God to bestow a\nmercy upon you worthy of your knowledge;\u201d and so he goes on, for a space\noccupying eight closely printed pages 8vo. He says he wishes to treat the\nScotch very kindly, for that \u201cGod hath a people here fearing his name,\nthough deceived;\u201d and he concludes, in the dirty language of the godly of\nhis century, that he has \u201coffered much love unto such, in the bowels of\nChrist.\u201d His bowels, to the Highlanders made prisoner, awarded slavery,\nnot _perpetual_, but for eight years only. Here are tender mercies and\nbowels commiserate for contemplation! sufficient, as we have seen, to\nmake Nostradamus shudder at their approach.\n\n    Son temps s\u2019approche si pr\u00e8s que je souspire (viii. 76, p. 177).\n\nAll that was done here, however, could not prevent Charles from being\ncrowned on January 1, 1654, at Scone, in Scotland. In the next summer he\npenetrated into England, and was pursued by Cromwell and his Ironsides.\n\nD. D. follows up the Quatrain 56, which we have just treated, with\nCentury VIII., Quatrain 57, which stands next to it:\n\n    De Soldat simple parviendra en Empire. [II. 171.]\n\nD. D. interpreting it of Cromwell, as was most natural at that\ntime. Garenci\u00e8res does the same, saying, \u201cI never knew nor heard of\nanybody to whom this stanza might be better applied than to the late\nusurper Cromwell;\u201d but unless it be a type of two handles, of the old\necclesiastical sort, I think it will apply still better to Napoleon;\nand I shall so apply it further on, giving the reasons why it is more\nappropriate to him than to the Protector. Further than this, as a general\nrule in regard to the succession of the quatrains in Nostradamus, they\nhave no more affinity to each other than that they lie together, as one\nbean touches another in a bushel measure. Still, the next we shall treat\nis in sequence with the two preceding.\n\n\nCHARLES II. AFTER THE BATTLE OF WORCESTER. (SEPTEMBER 3, 1651).\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 58._\n\n    Regne en querelle aux fr\u00e8res divis\u00e9,\n    Prendre les armes et le nom Britannique:\n    Titre Anglican sera tard avis\u00e9,\n    Surprins de nuict mener \u00e0 l\u2019air Gallique.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When a kingdom in quarrel divided between two brothers takes\n    up arms, and the name of Great Britain: The King (_Titre\n    Anglican_) too late advised, surprised at night (is forced) to\n    seek the air of France.\n\nIt is rather harsh, but to make sense of this we shall be forced to\nunderstand the two brothers to be England and Scotland, or simply civil\nwar. When Charles at last made up his mind to visit Scotland and fight\nfor his crown, it was already too late. The Parliamentary side had\ndeveloped a strength that he was never equal to cope with. The loss of\nthe battle of Dunbar was a disaster that settled the question. He might\nas well have quitted the field to Cromwell at once. Instead of that, on\nthe 3rd of September\u2014ominous day! being the anniversary of the Dunbar\nfight\u2014he engages him again at Worcester. Charles was completely routed\nand his cause hopelessly broken. He managed, under the cover of night,\nto escape from the city of Worcester, and, flying from place to place\nfor weeks, as most romantically chronicled in the Boscobel Tracts, he at\nlast, on the 20th of October, got well shipped for Dieppe, and finally\nrejoined his mother safely at St. Germain.\n\n\nDEATH OF CROMWELL (SEPTEMBER 3, 1658). KING CHARLES II.\u2019S FLIGHT AND\nRESTORATION (SEPTEMBER 3, 1651-1660).\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 4._\n\n    Sur la minuict conducteur de l\u2019arm\u00e9e\n    Se sauvera, subit esvanouy,\n    Sept ans apr\u00e8s la fame non blasm\u00e9e;\n    A son retour ne dira onc ouy.[203]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Upon the stroke of midnight, the leader of the army (King\n    Charles II.) shall save himself (by flight), and suddenly\n    evanish. For seven years longer that is, to a day, till the\n    death of Cromwell, his reputation will survive unchallenged; at\n    his Restoration no one will say anything but yes.\n\nIn other words, Nostradamus tells King Charles II. to continue to hope\non, for that though he will have to fly by night from Worcester, his\nmemory will be preserved without diminution till the death of his victor,\nseven years later to a day. Further, that when the day of his Restoration\ndoes come round, he will be received back with universal acclaim. Had it\nbeen given as _neuf ans_, it would have been more complete as regards\nCharles II. personally. But, as it is, the date to a day coinciding with\nthe death of Cromwell, makes one suppose it to have been given to point\nto that interesting coincidence. It would have been no more wonderful\nthan are many others amongst the quatrains, had this been intended; but\nwhether it shall be so allowed or not rests with the reader,\u2014now that he\nknows exactly how it stands,\u2014to accept or to reject.\n\nThe French used always to engage in a battle willingly on St. Louis\u2019s\nDay, April 11, and the English upon St. George\u2019s Day, April 23. But\nSeptember 3, St. Mansuetus\u2019s Day, was ruinous to the Royalists and\nprosperous to Cromwell. The Battle of Worcester, so decisive in its\nconsequences, was commenced at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon on\nSeptember 3, 1651; and at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon of September\n3, 1658, Cromwell died on what has been called his _Fortunate Day_:\n\u201cNature herself,\u201d says his last chronicler in the ninth edition of\nthe \u2018Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica,\u2019 \u201cseeming to prophesy, in the voice of\nthe great tempest that swept over England, that a great power had\npassed away.\u201d[204] It was a tremendous tempest no doubt, and men at\nthe time said the Devil had run away with Old Noll. Some say he died\nbroken-hearted, when the last Parliament convened by him in January,\n1658, refused to acknowledge his House of Peers. So great a burden \u201cdrank\nup his spirits,\u201d said Maidston.\n\n\nCROMWELL DECLARED PROTECTOR (DECEMBER 16, 1653).\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 22._\n\n    Pour ne vouloir consentir au divorce,\n    Qui puis apr\u00e8s sera cogneu indigne,\n    Le Roy des isles sera chass\u00e9 par force:\n    Mis \u00e0 son lieu qui de Roy n\u2019aura signe.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The King will agree to the divorce of his crown, which would\n    afterwards have been regarded as an unworthy action, and hence\n    will by force be expelled from the island. One who will have no\n    sign of kingship will be put in his place.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res was alive to the true sense of this and its fulfilment. The\nRepublicans murdered the king, gave the government, if not the crown, to\nCromwell, and drove Charles II. into France.\n\n\nCROMWELL THE FOX.\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 41._\n\n    Esleu sera Renard, ne sonnant mot,\n    Faisant le saint public, vivant pain d\u2019orge,[205]\n    Tyrannizer apr\u00e8s tant[206] \u00e0 un cop,[207]\n    Mettant \u00e0 pied des plus grands sur la gorge.[208]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A Fox shall be elected, uttering not a word, playing saint in\n    public and helping himself to other people\u2019s property, in order\n    to tyrannize after a while by a _coup d\u2019\u00e9tat_, placing his foot\n    on the throat of the greatest.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res thinks this to apply to some Pope, but D. D. refers it\nmuch more aptly to Cromwell. If my proposed readings are allowed, the\nquatrain can fit no one so well, especially as it follows Quatrain 40,\nwhich we already have interpreted of the Commonwealth. D. D. reminds\nus that the Protector was a great Chiliast and Fifth Monarchy man, and\ncertainly _Faisant le saint public_; even so as to gull, in this our\nlate day, Thomas Carlyle, who allowed the heroism of violence, in this\ncase, to dazzle him into the belief that the hypocrisy of Saintship was\nGodfearing. As to Cromwell, D. D. says truly, that he was moderate in\ndiet. This he says to strengthen the barley bread, though I feel very\nstrongly that it is differently intended. It might even mean that he got\nhis bread by barley, or John Barleycorn, from the Huntingdon brewery. He\nwas more given to ambition than to pleasure, says D. D., as is the case\nwith men of his saturnine complexion. This may, by such as choose to use\nit so, connect him with Quatrain 40 and _les saturnins_. \u201cHis fortunate\nstar, Mars,\u201d writes D. D., \u201chad brought him the glory of a valiant hero\nand general.\u201d\n\nHere D. D. entertains us, somewhat at large, upon his notion of a\n\u201c_wig_, or _trimmer_, that is, a wavering man or hypocrite, from the\noriginal words to _wag_ and to _trim_ about.\u201d We, however, know that this\netymology is not worth very much.\n\nOur next is a sequence of three quatrains, all of which seem to refer to\nEnglish affairs.\n\n\nTHE FIRE OF LONDON\u2014DUTCH WAR\u2014PLAGUE (1665-1667).\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrains 51, 52, 53._\n\n    Le sang du juste \u00e0 Londres fera faute,\n    Brulez par foudres[209] de vingt trois les six;\n    La dame[210] antique cherra[211] de place haute,\n    De mesme secte[212] plusieurs seront occis.\n\n    Dans plusieurs nuits la terre tremblera:\n    Sur le printemps deux effors suite:\n    Corinthe, Eph\u00e8se aux deux mers nagera,\n    Guerre s\u2019esmeut par deux vaillans de luite.[213]\n\n    La grand peste de cit\u00e9 maritime\n    Ne cessera, que mort ne soit veng\u00e9e\n    Du juste sang par pris damn\u00e9 sans crime,\n    De la grand dame[210] par feincte n\u2019outrag\u00e9e.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The blood of the just shall be required of London, burnt by\n    fireballs in thrice twenty and six; the old Cathedral shall\n    fall from its high place, and many (edifices) of the same sort\n    shall be destroyed.\n\n    Through many nights the earth shall tremble; in the spring two\n    shocks follow each other; Corinth and Ephesus shall swim in the\n    two seas, war arising between two combatants strong in battle.\n\n    The great Plague of the maritime city shall not diminish\n    till death is sated for the just blood, basely sold (for\n    \u00a32,000,000), and condemned for no fault. The great Cathedral\n    outraged by feigning (saints).\n\nThe first quatrain deals most remarkably with the great fire of London;\nnoting the precise year, the burning of St. Paul\u2019s, and other injury to\nthe Protestant interest.\n\nThe second shows that a bloody sea-war shall rage, the earth quaking\nunder the cannonade from the ships, shaking the cliffs. There was such\na war in 1665, 1666, and 1667, between England and the seven united\nprovinces of the Netherlands. Cruising within the narrow seas, he\nlikens to the \u00c6gean waters between Corinth for England, and Ephesus for\nAntwerp. He describes them as they really occurred, commencing afresh\nwith every ensuing spring,\u2014_sur le printemps_. D. D. remarks that they\nwere so obstinately contested, all these fights, that they would last\nfor days on a stretch, or, as Nostradamus says, _nights_: _plusieurs\nnuits la terre tremblera_, according to the English custom of reckoning\nby a _fortnight_, and not fourteen days. Now the French reckon the\nfortnight as a _quinzaine_, that is, up to the fifteenth day, which\nof course contains only fourteen nights; and you might say _la terre\ntremblera_, for the cannon reverberating between the cliffs would move\nthem perceptibly. D. D. thinks that _la grande dame_ in the last quatrain\nis the great city of London, the metropolis, or mother-city; an Eastern\nway of speaking. In his learned way, he adds: \u201cThe great fire has only\nmetamorphosed the city\u2014_ex Ligne\u00e2 in Lateritiam_,\u201d converting it from\nwood to brick.\n\nThe distance at which sounds may be heard seems variable. Captain Parry,\nin his \u201cThird Voyage,\u201d p. 58, relates, it is said, that at Port Bowen\na conversation could be carried on distinctly at 6696 feet, which is\nover a mile. Dr. Clark, in his Travels (iii. 331), whilst sailing from\nthe Gulf of Glaucus to Alexandria, heard the firing of the English\nupon the fortress of Rachmanie, upon the Nile. All on board heard it,\nat a distance of 130 miles. The earthquake at Sumbawn, in 1815, was\nheard 970 miles away (Elliot\u2019s \u201cHor\u00e6 Apoc.,\u201d iv. 218). In Dereham\u2019s\n\u201cPhysico-Theology\u201d (i. p. 185, ed. 1786), a Dr. Hearn is quoted as\ncertifying that guns fired at Stockholm in 1685 were heard at a distance\nof 180 English miles; and in the above Dutch war, 1672, the guns were\nheard above two hundred miles (_vide Philosophical Transactions_, No.\n113.) I remember reading, though I have not noted where, that the\nguns employed at Waterloo were heard, at Hythe in Kent, on the Sunday\nmorning, so that it was known Wellington and Napoleon had engaged in\nbattle somewhere; the fact was confirmed by intelligence shortly after.\nThe buzz of London traffic in 1820 could be heard by putting the ear to\nthe ground on the top of Putney Hill, as Sir Richard Phillips relates\nin his \u201cMorning\u2019s Walk to Kew\u201d (p. 152). But the whole south of Thames\nwas then tricked out rurally in Nature\u2019s emerald vest, and, herself at\nease, the earth could transmit vibrations from the troubled town; but\nnow she shudders with a like palsy of her own, and Putney is as rural\nas Clerkenwell Green. Much of the conveyance of sound depends upon the\nwind, no doubt. J. P. Malcolm (\u201cLondinium Redivivum,\u201d iii. p. 117) has\nsome interesting remarks upon St. Paul\u2019s bell. He lived in Somer\u2019s Town,\nand with a strong north-east wind he could hear every hour tolled as\nclear as if only a quarter of a mile distant, but with the wind east,\nsouth-west, or north, not a sound could be heard. Now Somer\u2019s Town is\nnorth-north-west from St. Paul\u2019s, which, in a straight line, is two miles\nand a half away; so that a north-east wind should convey the vibrations\nto Lambeth. He found that this wind carried away all the smoke, and\nso left the air free for the sound to travel through it. A south wind\noverwhelmed him with noise. He could distinctly hear the guard at St.\nJames\u2019s Park beat the tattoo at eight, nine, ten, and eleven, to each\ndistinct roll of the drum. One would judge from this that the wind was\nblowing nearly due east at Waterloo on that famous Sunday, the 18th of\nJune. It was an east wind at Baalzephon that ruined Pharaoh. I have dwelt\nthus episodically upon sound to show, if possible, that this _tremblement\nde terre_ was an effect of sound arising on the waters but vibrating upon\nland, and not the convulsion of an earthquake.\n\nQuatrain 80 of Century III. we have already treated of by the help of\nLe Pelletier, and interpreted it of Charles I., and we there made the\nbastard to stand for Cromwell. D. D. takes the alternative reading of\n_l\u2019indigne_, and understands James II. The bastard then is naturally the\nDuke of Monmouth, natural son of Charles II.; but he was never _demy\nreceu_; and had it been intended to portray him, he would not have been\nmentioned after, but before, the abdication. Hence we to prefer to leave\nit as we placed it at first.\n\n\nWILLIAM III. AND THE REVOLUTION (1688).\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 89._\n\n    Trente de Londres secret conjureront,\n    Contre leur Roy, sur le pont l\u2019entreprise:\n    Leuy, satalites l\u00e0 mort de gousteront,[214]\n    Un Roy esleut[215] blonde, natif de Frize.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Thirty of London shall conspire secretly against their King;\n    upon the bridge the plot shall be devised. These Satellites\n    shall taste of death. A fair-haired King shall be elected,\n    native of Friesland.\n\nD. D. reads for _trente_, _trained_. Had the true reading been _trained_\nit would have been very wonderful, because the trained bands of London\nhad not been thought of in Nostradamus\u2019s time. Garenci\u00e8res interprets\nthe quatrain to refer to Charles I., and says it is well known that\nthe plotters used to assemble at the _Bear at the Bridge foot_. This\nwas a celebrated inn on the south side of London Bridge. It was pulled\ndown 1761, when the houses were removed from London Bridge (_Public\nAdvertiser_, December 26, 1761), \u201cHist. Sign.,\u201d p. 154.\n\nThe _Quarterly Review_ (xxvi. 189), in some very disparaging remarks\non Nostradamus, says of this particular quatrain that it predicts \u201cthe\nRevolution of 1688 with tolerable clearness,\u201d resting upon the last line,\nwhich it prints in _italics_. As, however, William III. was born at the\nHague, he was not born in what is called Friesland, but South Holland.\nI do not know whether it formed a part of Friesland in Nostradamus\u2019s\ntime. D. D. is puzzled with the word _blonde_, and suggests that perhaps\nWilliam had fair hair in his youth, \u201cor it might be an allusion to his\nname, Guillaume, because (_sic?_) of _cil_, signifying _eyebrows_.\u201d This\nvermicular wriggle must be permitted to our highly excellent cleric,\nwho is manifestly unable to get the quatrain to say what he wants it\nto say. We have had numerous quatrains that, when properly understood,\nhave appeared to be clear enough, and which are disparaged as \u201cperplexed\nverses\u201d by the _Quarterly_. But this which they find expressed with\n\u201ctolerable clearness,\u201d I do not find clear at all. I find no plot of\n_thirty_, no meeting of conspirators at the Bear at the Bridge foot, or\nat any other bridge, nor satellites who are executed, nor of a _blond_\nking, nor of a native of Friesland.\n\n\nMARLBOROUGH AND THE CARDINAL DE BOUILLON.\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 53._\n\n    Le grand Pr\u00e9lat Celtique \u00e0 Roy suspect,\n    De nuict par cours sertira hors de regne:\n    Par Duc fertile \u00e0 son grand Roy Bretaine,\n    Bisance \u00e0 Cypres et Tunes insuspect.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great Celtic Prelate suspected by the King,\n    Shall post with haste by night out of the realm,\n    Through Bisance, Ypres, and Bethune, undiscovered,\n    By aid of the duke fertile (in conquest) to the great King of Britain.\n\nThis refers to the Cardinal de Bouillon, Great Almoner of France,\nwho was misrepresented to the French King to such an extent that he\ncould not appear at Court. After some years he threw up his charge and\ndetermined to quit France. He was related to Prince Eug\u00e8ne, who was with\nMarlborough, near Arras. The Cardinal came over to them under cover of\nnight, precisely as described by Nostradamus, under the protection of\na strong convoy, sent by Marlborough to protect him from the scouts of\nYpres and the other places named. When he reached Antwerp, he simply\nsent in his ribbon of the Order to the French Court, accompanied with\nhis resignation. He is called \u201cPrelat Celtique\u201d as the Duchy of Bouillon\nis in Gallia Celtica. D. D. holds that _grand Roy_ is an abbreviation of\n_Royaume_. But the sense is better if taken literally as it stands.\n\nI transcribe for the curious reader from D. D. the following passage; it\nis too singular to be neglected:\n\n    \u201cBut the allusion on the Duke of Marlborough is still prettier.\n    Had his [Nostradamus\u2019s] genius dictated unto him _Marnebourg_,\n    he might have understood and written down without hesitation,\n    for the English _Marl_ and the French _Marne_ are one and the\n    same. The D\u00e6mons speak all sorts of languages, but Nostradamus\n    did not understand the English, whence it came that at the\n    hearing of the name Marlborough, he startled, and thought,\n    \u2018_Qu\u2019est-ce que Marl?_\u2019 Thereupon it was inspired to him,\n    \u2018_C\u2019est une terre fertile et graisse_,\u2019 whereby he is ascribing\n    to him both _Nomen_ and _Omen_ at once: the Duke, by whose\n    indefatigable zeal and incomparable valour the Kingdom of Great\n    Britain should be fertile in conquests.\u201d\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 68._\n\nThis has already been treated by Le Pelletier (i. 125) under Louis XIV.,\nas fulfilled in the endeavour to re-establish James II. in Ireland.\nBut D. D. refers it to March 23, 1708, when the Pretender cast anchor\nbefore Edinburgh, and nobody came out to him. He sailed away, narrowly\nescaping the English fleet. On this account an Act of Parliament was\npassed, declaring him a rebel, and setting a reward upon his head. D.\nD. says that from this time forth Nostradamus always designates him by\nthe title of Rebel. As this quatrain, which we are upon, does not refer\nto the Pretender, the above remark would only show that Nostradamus\nalways speaks of the Pretender as a rebel. Bouys interprets this, as we\nhave said before, of Napoleon\u2019s victories at sea; as also that Bouys\nwas blindly prophesying after the battle of Trafalgar, and in ignorance\nthat such a decisive engagement had been fought. Garenci\u00e8res interprets\nit as fulfilled in Charles II.\u2019s times: so that with four interpreters\nwe have four interpretations. Sceptics can employ this fact how they\nlike; I am pleased to furnish them with the opportunity. The total of\nthe interpretations seems to me so astounding that we can well afford to\nsubmit to deductions such as this. Besides which, I am not endeavouring\nto establish any point; I wish the facts to establish themselves. What\nthey finally show to be tenable, let us adopt.\n\n\nGEORGE I.\u2019S SUCCESSION (OCTOBER 20, 1714).\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 64._\n\n    On ne tiendra pache aucune arrest\u00e9,\n    Tous recevans iront per tromperie:\n    De paix et trefue, et terre et mer protest\u00e9.\n    Par Barcelone classe prins d\u2019industrie.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    They will keep no treaty fixedly (arrested). All who have\n    gained by cheating will go (free). Peace and truce are\n    proclaimed by land and sea. Barcelona captured by the\n    perseverance of the fleet.\n\nThis quatrain is exceedingly obscure, and very difficult even to\ntranslate adequately. D. D., who is writing only a year after the actual\nevents,\u2014the publishing date of his book being 1715,\u2014makes sense of it\nthus: George I. is proclaimed King, October 20, 1714, and Nostradamus\nnotifies that there shall be a general liberation of all prisoners for\ndebt. But it is hard to extract that sense out of the first two lines,\nespecially as not a word occurs about England, a king, or a throne. The\nother two lines approach the period well enough. The Peace of Utrecht\nwas concluded in 1713, and the peace between Germany and France at\nRadstadt followed in March, 1714. The war between France and Spain also\nwas concluded before King George ascended the throne; even Barcelona was\ntaken, before he was crowned (October 20), by the French fleet for the\nKing of Spain, September 12, 1714. At the intercession of Great Britain,\nhonourable terms were conceded to the Catalonians in Barcelona, so that\nthe mention of that city by Nostradamus comes with much felicity and\nappropriateness, if we decide that he refers to George I. at all here.\nD. D.\u2019s book must have been written before October 20, 1714, as he says\nit is hoped that on the _Coronation Day_ the King will empty most of the\nprisons.\n\n\nGEORGE I. (1714.)\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 87._\n\n    Apr\u00e8s viendra des extr\u00e8mes contr\u00e9es,\n    Prince Germain, dessus le throsne dor\u00e9;\n    La servitude et eaux rencontr\u00e9es,\n    La dame serve, son temps plus n\u2019ador\u00e9.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Afterwards shall come, from a distant land, a German prince\n    upon the gilded throne. The slavery and waters shall meet. The\n    lady shall serve, her time no more adored.\n\nD. D. considers this to relate to King George, and he remarks that the\nKing exercised a stronger control than it was possible for Queen Anne to\ndo. The German prince ascending the throne of gold certainly seems to\npoint to George I. But Brunswick is not a very far country. It might be\nsaid that modern constitutional government was established first by the\nGeorges, so serfdom and _les eaux_, or the people and their so-called\nrights, met together, but then you would have to interpret figuratively\nthe last line: authority (_la dame_) serves, or is to become subordinate\nto, the phantom of Freedom, the time of reverence and good feeling having\ngone by. This, I say, might be so interpreted, but it does not carry much\nmore conviction with it than does the meaning found by Garenci\u00e8res. He\nwill have it to be a prophecy relating to Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden,\ncalled German because of German ancestry. His gilded throne was the\ngilded ship he sailed in. He made slavery and waters meet, because\non landing he began to conquer Germania,\u2014that lady who was no more\nworshipped afterwards as she had been before.\n\n\nGEORGE I. AND PEACE (1714-1727).\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 42._\n\n    Le regne humain d\u2019Anglique geniture,\n    Fera son regne paix union tenir:\n    Captive guerre demy de sa closture,\n    Longtemps la paix leur fera maintenir.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The human throne of English geniture will make its rule to\n    maintain peace and union. War will be captive, or at least\n    confined to half its usual area. (George will contend only with\n    Spain. Peace abroad and an endeavour to maintain union at home,\n    against the Pretender\u2019s efforts.) Thus peace will be secured to\n    the country for a long stretch of years.\n\nWe have already given our interpretation to D. D.\u2019s next quatrain (III.\n57, p. 166). He discovers from it that George shall never want for an\nheir to the throne up to the Day of Judgment. Myself I see nothing of the\nkind to be warranted out of Nostradamus. He seems here to be contrasting\nthe numerous changes in Britain with the happy stability of France. I\nshould have made no reference to this, but for the opportunity it affords\nof introducing some of D. D.\u2019s curious remarks upon the astrological\nportion of the verses.\n\nAt the Creation the Gemini stood in the house or sign Aries, near the\nequinoctial colure, which has but its own one pole; but they are now in\nthe fourth house called Cancer, near the solstial colure, which has a\ndouble pole, viz. _Mundi et ecliptic\u00e6_. _Basharion_ is an Arabic word,\nand denotes _Humanus_. _Bashar_, a substantive _Caro, hominis cutis,\nhomo_. In the three signs, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, which have successively\nformed the Caput Zodiaci, none but Gemini is of human figure; that sign\nmust be intended by the word _Basharion_ (especially as the word is not\n_Basharion_ at all, but _Bastarnan_); so that, till the age of the world\nis six or seven thousand years old, _i.e._, till the Day of Judgment,\nthis will last; and when the great day comes there will be found a direct\ndescendant of that great king sitting on the English throne.\n\nHe has taken no notice of the _Pempotam_ and its duration of three\nhundred years, as a sort of measure of the seven changes, and Nostradamus\nnowhere says that the seventh change shall endure to the end of time.\nLike almost all interpreters, D. D. reads his own imagination into the\nprophecy.\n\nThe reader who cares about such explanations as these will find a\ngreat deal more of the same sort in Garenci\u00e8res\u2019 annotations upon this\nquatrain. He remarks that the sign of Aries doth govern France, and\nthat by doubling his pole is meant his returning a second time to the\nsame place, so that the stars do promise France a long continuance\nin exaltation. He adds that if he were a great astrologer himself he\nshould work out exactly the whole calculation, and he thinks Aries\nshould come to that pole in the year 1845. But Garenci\u00e8res seems to have\nhad no inkling whatever of the French Revolution of 1789, as forecast\nby Nostradamus; nor yet of the second Revolution of 1848, though he\ntranslated all the quatrains into English.\n\n\n\n\nFRENCH REVOLUTION.\n\n\nTHE VULGAR ADVENT. [I. 160.]\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 74._\n\n    La dechass\u00e9e[216] au regne tournera,\n    Ses ennemies trouv\u00e9s des conjur\u00e9s:\n    Plus que jamais son temps triomphera,\n    Trois et septante \u00e0 mort trop asseur\u00e9s.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    She who was proscribed will return to the kingdom,\n    Her enemies will be treated as conspirators;\n    More than ever her time (or empire) will triumph;\n    Seventy-three years its deathly domination is assured.\n\nThe Revolution (_la dechass\u00e9e_), repressed in 1816, shall again obtain\nthe government. Its enemies will be treated as conspirators, and it will\nbe stronger than ever. Seventy-three years are assured to its death-like\nrule. I give this as M. le Pelletier does, but I see no reason whatever\nto think that it is correct. Garenci\u00e8res makes it apply to Charles II.\nof England, and the seventy-three put to death are those who abetted\nthe murder of his father. This is very vague. Garenci\u00e8res reads _Le\ndechass\u00e9_. Here we may remark that Napoleon himself [p. 289] dates his\nnobility from the battle of Montenotte, 1797. Seventy-three years added\nto this yields us the remarkable date of the fall of his dynasty at\nSedan, 1870.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 3. (September 22, 1792.)_ [I. 162.]\n\n    Quand la lictiere du tourbillion vers\u00e9e,[217]\n    Et seront faces de leurs manteaux[218] couvers,\n    La republique par gens nouveaux vex\u00e9e,[219]\n    Lors blancs et rouges jugeront \u00e0 l\u2019envers.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When the litter is turned topsy-turvey by the typhoon,\n    Men will mask their faces with the cloak of hypocrisy.\n    The republic will be troubled by new-risen men;\n    The white and red will judge by contraries.\n\nThis means that the royalists (_les blancs_) and the republicans (_les\nrouges_) will judge of everything from utterly opposed points of view.\nWhat was top will become bottom, when the blast blows the litter over;\nand, new men rising to power, the rest will cover their faces with\nhypocrisy, as men do with their cloaks in a storm. Compare the phrase _\u00e0\nl\u2019envers_ with p. 175.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 30._ [I. 163.]\n\n    Un qui les dieux d\u2019Annibal infernaux\n    Fera renaistre, effrayeur des humains.\n    Oncq\u2019[220] plus d\u2019horreur ne[221] plus pire journaux\n    Qu\u2019avint viendra par Babel aux Romains.[222]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    There will be one who will revive the infernal gods\n    Of Hannibal, a terror to mankind.\n    Never arrived by Babel more horror\n    Nor worse day\u2019s work than will fall upon Roman Catholics.\n\nThe meaning is, Napoleon shall arise, who will reawaken the solemn\ncurse on Rome uttered by Hannibal, when he called the infernal gods\nto witness his hatred to her, to the terror of all mortals. Not Babel\nat the dispersion brought on the world more horror, nor days of more\nevil-ploughing for the present or seed-sowing for the future than shall\nfall upon the Roman world by him. This is much better than to limit it to\nan ecclesiastical area merely. We shall see that Charles V. is a sort of\nprototype of Napoleon, and Garenci\u00e8res adduces Charles V. as fulfilling\nthis prophecy. Hannibal is also a prototype of Napoleon in attacking\nItaly by crossing the Alps.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 14. (1789-1793.)_ [I. 164.]\n\n    De gent esclave chansons, chants et requestes\n    Captifs par[223] Princes et Seigneur aux prisons,\n    A l\u2019advenir par idiots sans testes\n    Seront receus par[224] divines oraisons.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Songs, chants, and refrains of the slavish mob,\n    Whilst the Princes and King are captive in prison,\n    Shall be received in the future as oracles divine\n    By headless idiots deprived of judgment.\n\nSongs\u2014such as the Marseillaise while the King and Princes are imprisoned\nin the Temple,\u2014songs of the mob (_gent esclave_) are received by\nbrainless fools for divine utterances, even prayers (_divines oraisons_).\n_Vox populi, vox Dei_, is always the fools\u2019 blasphemous formula, when\nswine chose Barabbas for Pontifex or Generalissimo. A cruelly entreated\npeople; whose burdens are aggravated by wickedness in high places\nneedlessly, above and beyond the grief, which every man is born to\nby the act of birth into a world of sickness, sorrow, and injustice;\nsighs heavily at this unduly heaped-up burden, and that sigh, that _vox\npopuli_, runs upward like a lightning conductor to elicit fire from\nthe clouds, coming back charged with electricity and thunder,\u2014a _vox\nDei_ of terrible divinity. But when scum rises to the direction, as\nwith the Revolutionists, and is followed by some brutalized _sabreur_\naggrandizing himself as king of chaos and disorder, with shouts of\nsubservient applause from the smutty mob, saying, \u201cHerod, thou art\na god,\u201d the _vox populi_ that split the welkin once, is _now_ the\n_vox infernorum demonum_, the whole upspring and outcome of which is\nbestiality and lawlessness enthroned in defiance of the decalogue and\nheaven. Thenceforth the appeal of all good men and sane is, \u201cYe who\nworship God, good and alone from eternity, down with them.\u201d The men must\nwork and serve. This fiat is in the air, is in the sea, is on the earth.\nIt is the _vox natur\u00e6_, in comparison with which the people\u2019s voice, _vox\npopuli_, is nothing, beyond a momentary troubling of the silences.\n\nThe following quatrain I give for what it may be thought worth. M. le\nPelletier thinks it to relate to the creation of assignats, December 19,\n1789. It would be a pity to lose sight of his identification, if even\nsome should presume it to be incorrect.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 53. (December 19, 1789.)_ [I. 165.]\n\n    Las! qu\u2019on verra grand peuple tourment\u00e9,\n    Et la loi saincte en totale ruine;\n    Par autres loix toute la Chrestient\u00e9;\n    Quand d\u2019or d\u2019argent trouv\u00e9 nouvelle mine.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Alas! how great a people shall tormented be,\n    And holy law in utter ruin laid:\n    By newer laws all Christendom is vexed,\n    With a new mine of gold and silver found.\n\nWe shall see, alas! the French people (_grand peuple_) agitated, the\nCatholic religion (_la loy saincte_) totally ruined, all Christendom put\nunder new laws, when the National Assembly decrees that four hundred\nmillion assignats shall be issued (_nouvelle mine d\u2019or_, etc.), secured\non the property of the clergy, in the interests of the Revolution.\n\nOlder commentators applied this to the paper-money schemes of Law\n1716; and Garenci\u00e8res finds the fulfilment in the discovery of the\nSpanish-American gold and silver mines.\n\nA properly regulated paper-money issue, based on the taxation of a\nState, having absolutely no intrinsic value whatever in itself, could\nundoubtedly be converted into a circulating medium that would work more\nsmoothly than any metallic one can, because the market value of the ore,\nemployed as now in coinage, is perpetually introducing a fluctuation of\nvalues that conflicts with the nominal standard of the coin, so that the\nstandard is never uniform. The currency required would never amount to a\ntenth part of the taxation leviable. Paper could therefore be destroyed\nat the Bank of England, or issued exactly according to the needs of trade\nand commerce. Fluctuation in the market value of metals would no longer\naffect the circulating medium in the least. Thus might one cause of\nrecurrent panics be removed for ever. But can bank directors or ministers\nbe trusted with such a responsibility? This hinges on honesty, and there\nis none to spare.\n\n\n_Century VII.\u2014Quatrain 14. (1789-1793.)_ [I. 166.]\n\n    Faux exposer viendra topographie,\n    Seront les cruches[225] des monumens ouvertes.\n    Pulluler secte, sancte philosophie,\n    Pour blanches noires, et pour antiques vertes.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Topography will soon be falsified,\n    The urns and sepulchres stand violate,\n    Sects swarm, and babbling sentiment\n    Black put for white, and green fruit for the ripe.\n\nThe curse be on them for changing old landmarks. The provinces turned\ninto departments (by decree of the Assembly, December 22, 1789). The\nsepulture of Kings violated at St. Denis. Unholy sects will swarm, and a\nsentimental philosophy, of Rousseau and other maddened sophists, usurping\nthe office of religion, black will stand for white, and green, crude\nfruit be substituted for the ripe.\n\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 24._\n\n    Ouy soubs Terre Sainte Dame[226] voix feinte,\n    Humaine flamme pour Divine voit luire:\n    Fera des s\u0153urs de leur sang terre tainte,\n    Et les saints temples par les impures destruire.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Hear from the ground a voice of Halidom,\n    A human flame pretending light divine.\n    The blood of sisters stains the earth to red,\n    And holy temples the impure destroy.\n\nThis, I think, refers to the sentimental advocacy of the Rights of man,\nas substitutionary of religion and faith in the literary movement of\nthe eighteenth century. It would comprise Rousseau\u2019s gospel of dirt\nand sentimentality, Voltaire\u2019s substitution of wit for wisdom, and the\nscience of the encyclop\u00e6dists floating disoriented upon the waters of\nuncertainty, in lieu of the deep thought of the solitary thinkers that\npreceded them. These last were men who, heretofore walking humbly and\nwithout association in conspiracy, interrogated the universe, divinely\nsown with riddles in great abundance by a hand invisible, until they fell\nasleep into that hand, and awoke to the illuminated answers.\n\nThe blood of sisters was the wholesale slaughter of women that\ndistinguished the Revolution, whilst church altars were desecrated\nby naked women, set there to personate the goddess of impure reason,\nfeigning _la sante dame_.\n\nThe quatrain 25 that follows this in the text of Nostradamus I now give;\nbut this verse 24, so far as I have seen, has never been commented upon\nnor has the connection been pointed out. Yet this stanza furnishes the\nreasons why the stars became overclouded to a people that were benighted,\n_par ces raisons_, as the reader will perceive by the second line that\nsucceeds this.\n\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 25._ [I. 167.]\n\n    Corps sublimes[227] sans fin \u00e0 l\u2019\u0153il visibles,\n    Obnubiler[228] viendront par ces raisons.\n    Corps front comprins,[229] sens[230] chief[231] et invisibles.\n    Diminuant les sacr\u00e9es oraisons.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The infinite stars are links that light to doubt,\n    And drop the pall of night upon the soul:\n    The eye and front of man,\u2014and soul,\u2014grown cerebral,\n    God and His host withdraw; and with them prayer!\n\nM. le Pelletier considers that Nostradamus attributes these effects to\nthe reasonings hostile to the faith that improved optical instruments\nwill introduce, as they suggest a plurality of worlds. I quite admit that\nin many minds this has been the tendency. Almost any discovery, giving\na new hint as to infinitude, launches a number of inferior but vigorous\nbrains into new lines of reasoning. We then get great multiplication of\nsecondary volumes, which supply minced Aristotle or chaff to represent\nany amount of sausage-meat required by the reading public. Of course the\nfurther you can see by the telescope the further you put heaven away\nfrom the earth-dweller, and he loves it the less; for it is the near\nthings we love, and not the remote. The heart is not universal, and\ncannot be stretched to it. I look upon the telescope, to an ordinary\nman, as a drain-pipe, through which he can run off and lose the moisture\nof his soul and live the worse for it afterwards; to the multitude of\nmen, useless; to the scientific man, a means of inflation and puffing\nup; and to the really serious and isolated thinker, as the threshold\nof infinitude that may, though it has hardly yet done so, answer a few\nout of the ten million astral riddles sown in space. The last-named\nindividual alone may benefit a little by it. But I question if anything\nat all of this was present to Nostradamus.\n\nHe seems to me, in these two closely interlinked quatrains, to enlarge\nmuch upon the theme of St. Paul (Rom. i. 28) that, as at the French\nRevolution, \u201cthey did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave\nthem over to a reprobate mind;\u201d or one void of judgment, \u201cto do things\nwhich are not convenient.\u201d So that the earth gave out deceptive voices to\nthem, and false lights for Divine light, to slay women and desecrate the\ntemples; and then that the very stars visible to the eye, which should\nteach faith to all, will for these reasons veil themselves and leave\nnothing to mankind but the darkness of night. Pure materialism follows,\nGod and His host withdraw, and prayer is no more heard upon the earth.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 60._ [I. 168.]\n\n    Un empereur naistra pr\u00e8s d\u2019Italie,\n    Qui \u00e0 l\u2019Empire sera vendu bien cher:\n    Diront avec quels gens il se ralie,\n    Qu\u2019on trouvera moins prince que boucher.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    An emperor shall be born near Italy,\n    Bought by the Empire at a bankrupt rate:\n    You\u2019d say the herd, he gathers to himself.\n    Denote him butcher rather than a prince.\n\n    An emperor shall be born in Corsica\u2014Napol\u00e9on Bonaparte.\n    His advent to the throne of France will prove prodigiously\n    costly to her. It is enough to make one say, from the tribe\n    he surrounds himself with, that he is more like a butcher\n    far, with the steel dangling at his side, and slaughterman\n    apprentices, than a prince.\n\nIt is natural that Bouys, who has hunted Nostradamus for quatrains\nthat will serve for adulation of Napoleon, has passed this over, _sub\nsilentio_, entirely. Garenci\u00e8res, speaking of this, says it is a prophecy\nfor the future, for that until now (1672) no such emperor has been heard\nof, born near Italy, that cost so much and proved a butcher.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 23._ [I. 169.]\n\n    D\u2019esprit de regne munismes[232] descri\u00e9s,\n    Et seront peuples esmeus contre leur Roy:\n    Paix, sainct nouveau, sainctes loix empir\u00e9es,\n    Rapis[233] onc[234] fut en si tr\u00e8sdur arroy.[235]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The rampart of tradition battered down,\n    The people rise against their King anoint\u2019:\n    Peace, a new Saint, and sacred laws made worse,\n    Paris was never in such disarray.\n\nThe traditions of the French monarchy are thrown to the ground and\nthe people rise against the King, Louis XVI. Peace will succeed the\nanarchy when Napoleon comes to power. Pius VII., to flatter the Emperor,\nwill interpolate the ritual on the 15th of August with a new saint,\nthe f\u00eate of St. Napoleon,[236] who was martyred under Diocletian. The\nEmperor\u2019s interference will hurt the Church greatly, and foreign armies\n(1814-1815) will reduce Paris to extremities she has never before\nundergone.\n\nAs to the f\u00eate of St. Napoleon, the story runs that when it was first\ninstituted its impropriety, if not blasphemy, was much discussed in\nCatholic circles. An Irish priest from Rome was one day communicating\nthe strange fact at a dinner-table in Dublin, when an Irish gentleman\nexclaimed with vehemence, \u201cWhat d\u2014d impudence!\u201d \u201cNo, no!\u201d said the\npriest, \u201cwhat you mean to call it is the Blessed Assumption,\u201d for that\nday falls on the 15th of August.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 31._ [I. 170.]\n\n    Tant[237] d\u2019ans en Gaule les guerres dureront,\n    Outre[238] la course du Castulon[239] monarque:\n    Victoire incerte[240] trois grands couronneront,\n    Aigle, Coq-lune, Lyon-soleil en marque.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    War draws her length in Gaul for many a day,\n    Beyond the course of Castula the Queen;\n    Uncertain victory will crown three thrones,\n    The Eagle, Cock-moon, Lion-sun, on coin.\n\nCivil war and foreign will last in France long after the ephemeral\nRepublic has perished. Victory, always uncertain, will crown three\nhouses in succession. They will coin money with the Imperial eagle of\nNapoleon; the revolutionary Gallic cock appearing with the house of\nOrleans, instituted by revolution, and adding the crescent of Mahomet for\nsuccesses in Algeria; whilst the Lion represents Louis XVIII. and Charles\nX. of the Capetian Monarchy, with the sun representing Catholicism. Le\nPelletier says the _Sun_ symbolises Christianity, and the moon Mahomet\nor Antichrist. Myself I think it would be best to consider the _sun_ as\nthe symbol of Christ; the _moon_ as the symbol of atheistic democracy or\nAntichrist.\n\nThis Garenci\u00e8res thought to be interpretable in his time. He reads the\nsecond line,\n\n    \u201cOutre la course du Castulon monarque,\u201d\n\nas, after the death of the King of Spain a Castilian monarch. The eagle\nas Charles V. [a further analogy with Napoleon], Henry II., contemporary\nwith Nostradamus, and Soliman, which three crowns met under Leo with\nuncertain odds in war.\n\nThe quatrain that follows this is:\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 32._\n\n    Le grand Empire sera tost translat\u00e9,\n    En lieu petit qui bientost viendra croistre,\n    Lieu bien infime d\u2019exigue comt\u00e9,\n    O\u00f9 au milieu viendra poser son sceptre.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great Empire will soon be translated into a little place\n    that quickly will expand. An unworthy spot, a mere county, from\n    the midst of which he will come to lay aside his sceptre.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res interprets this of Charles V., who, three years before his\ndeath, resigned Spain and the Low Countries to Philip II., his son,\nand the empire to his brother Ferdinand. He then shut himself up in the\nEscurial, in Castile, a monastery; which the son afterwards enlarged\ninto a grand palace, accounted by Spaniards as the eighth wonder of the\nworld. But I am not aware that any one has yet pointed out that it fits\nNapoleon as patly just as it can Charles. His empire was cramped into\nElba\u2014\u00c6thalia, the soot island (_lieu bien infime_); a mere countship was\nhis monarchy there. It soon grew again into an empire, but he only came\nout of its midst to resign his sceptre a second time and for ever.\n\nAfter these prelusory flourishes relating to the Vulgar Advent and French\nRevolution, we are now to enter upon a more special theme; the murder of\nthe King, and the ragged beggars\u2019 festival and brawl, called the First\nRepublic of the Sans Culottes.\n\n\n\n\nLOUIS XVI.\n\n\nWe enter now upon the lamentable period comprised in the reign of Louis\nXVI.\u2014a period whose only parallel in history is the false and illegal\ntrial of Charles I. of England; the perfectibility of man being evinced\nonly by the increased savagery and augmented moral turpitude exhibited at\nthe later period. The first quatrain that has been adduced as pertaining\nto this period in the Centuries of Nostradamus is that of:\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 57._ [I. 173.]\n\n    Par[241] grand discord la terre[242] tremblera,\n    Accord rompu dressant la teste au ciel,\n    Bouche sanglante dans le sang nagera,\n    Au sol la face ointe de laict et miel.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    By reason of great discord the earth shall quake.\n    Revolt destroys the old order and lifts its head to heaven.\n    The [King\u2019s] mouth will swim in its own blood,\n    And his front, anointed with milk and honey, roll upon the sod.\n\nTremblement de terre is earthquake, and from the time of Virgil, and much\nearlier than that, has been always taken to forebode convulsions of the\nState; disturbance of all things rooted and firm, and typifying upheavals\nof the populace. That it is the King\u2019s mouth shall swim in blood is\nshown unmistakably by the fourth line that follows, where the face is\nsaid to be anointed with the milk and honey of the holy ampulla. The\nKings of France were crowned at Reims with the oil that was kept there\nin _la sainte ampoule_ for this purpose. The milk and honey is merely a\nfigurative expression; oil and wine, milk and honey, equally represent\nthe fatness of the land.\n\nUpon this quatrain, about the meaning of which he manifestly could know\nnothing, Garenci\u00e8res na\u00efvely says: \u201cThe words and sense are plain, and\nI cannot believe there is any great mystery hidden under these words.\u201d\nWords put a slight upon men\u2019s minds to think they understand what they\nsee written; from this it is clear that you may understand the words, and\nyet comprehend nothing from understanding them. Orators please take note.\n\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 59._ [Bouys, 55.]\n\n    Barbare empire par le tiers usurp\u00e9.\n    La plus grand part de son sang mettra \u00e0 mort.\n    Par mort s\u00e9nile par lui le quart frapp\u00e9;\n    De peur que sang par le sang ne soit mort.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The rude empire is usurped by the third estate (tiers \u00e9tat).\n    It will put to death the greatest part of his [the Royal] family.\n    A quarter [of the kingdom] is struck with senile death;\n    For fear of retribution of death, from children of those murdered.\n\nThis must relate to 1789, as in no country but in France had the third\nestate usurped exclusive power to itself. Since that period the House of\nCommons in England has pursued the same lines, in a more covert, gradual,\nand, as some would say, lawful manner. In the Lyons edition, 1558, the\nsecond line reads _mettra \u00e0 mort_, which makes better sense, though\nit spoils the rhythm, unless the _a_ in _mettra_ may suffer elision\nin old French prosody\u2014a question I lack knowledge to determine. The\nquarter being destroyed, as old age withers a man, is to be understood\nanalogically of the lives of citizens removed by terror, or emigration,\nor spoilation of property, or revolutionary taxation, or by imprisonment.\n\nBouys tells us that _sang_ is to be understood in Nostradamus of\nchildren, family, relatives, so that _que sang par le sang_ here would\nmean, lest the families of the injured should rise against the assassins\nof their flesh and blood. Such a reaction actually took place in the\nSouth, in spite of all the truculent precautions taken. The quatrains\nexhibit no kind of method or chronological order in their arrangement. So\nthat, out of the thousand and more that exist of them, the commentator\nmust hunt at large until he comes upon something salient that enables\nhim to attach the passage to some event, when often he will be led to\nthe most extraordinary results. The usurpation by the _tiers \u00e9tat_\nhere, with all but the very phrase supplied, and with the results that\nwould follow from the usurpation so unmistakably set forth, fixes the\npertinency of the quatrain almost as perfectly as if it had been headed\n_French Revolution_. Yet a reader of less observance and care than is\nrequisite to stay the attention which leads to discovery, might readily\npass it over as jargon and mere nonsense. But, once you have deciphered\nthe quaint phrases and their connection, you cannot doubt the meaning,\nnor the author\u2019s vivid gift of expression in conveying ideas, with\na terseness more than Tacitean, if less artistic. You discover that\nNostradamus can hint in a phrase of three words what would require a\nlong paragraph to make it explicit in an ordinary way. This is truly the\nlanguage of prophecy. It becomes legible in the light of the event it\nprefigures, as characters written in milk upon paper become visible at\nthe fire, or when placed in the hot light of the sun.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 36._ [_Bouys, 56._]\n\n    Tard le monarque se viendra repentir,\n    De n\u2019avoir mis \u00e0 mort son adversaire;\n    Mais viendra bien \u00e0 plus haut consentir,\n    (\u00e0 ce) Que tout son sang par mort fera d\u00e9faire.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The monarch shall too late repent\n    That he hath not put to death his adversary;\n    But he will have to permit later on,\n    That all his family shall suffer for it by death.\n\nTaking this to be the meaning, it is clear that the adversary is the Duke\nof Orleans,\u2014that centre of all plotting and intrigue against Louis,\u2014who\nhad so forgotten himself as, at a public bed of justice, in 1788, to\nshake his fist in the King\u2019s face with a most threatening expression\nof countenance. For this he was only sent into exile when he ought to\nhave suffered death. In the last line _sang_ again stands for family\nand relatives. This could scarcely be plainer if the names were given;\nbut, had Nostradamus here deviated from the secret idiom of prophetic\nlanguage, he would have prevented the accomplishment of what he was\nasserting. Things like this may be happened on by chance, if you choose\nto say so, but the theory reels under the constant repetition of such\nchances. Men whose names are prominently before the world can hardly be\nintroduced into prophecy. But we shall see shortly that Nostradamus is\nable to assign names with precision where the individuals are of a lesser\nrank, and that their names may so pass unobserved until history has\nrecorded them with her iron pen.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 20. (June 20, 1791.)_ [I. 174.]\n\n    De nuict viendra par le forest de Reines,\n    Deux pars, vaultorte, Herne la pierre blanche,\n    Le moyne noir en gris dedans Varennes:\n    Esleu Cap. cause tempeste, feu, sang, tranche.\n\n_Translation._ [II. P., I. 174.]\n\n    By night shall come through the forest of Reines\n    Two parts, face about, the Queen a white stone,\n    The black monk in gray within Varennes.\n    Chosen Cap. causes tempest, fire, blood, slice.\n\nIn the translation of this, Garenci\u00e8res leaves the two words _vaultorte\nHerne_ as in the original French, and does not attempt the translation.\nHe also mistakes Reines for Rennes, the chief town in Little Brittany.\nHe evidently has no conception whatever of the meaning of the quatrain.\nBouys and Le Pelletier differ on minor points in rendering these words.\n_Forest_, Le Pelletier reads, in Latin, as _fores_, gate, that is, by\nthe Queen\u2019s gate, and he quotes Thiers to show (\u201cHist. R\u00e9vol. Fran.\u201d i.\n309) that the Queen made sure of a secret gate out of the Tuileries, by\nwhich they escaped. But Bouys takes it for the forest of Reines, which is\non the road to Varennes. _Deux pars_ is husband and wife; _voltorte_, or\n_vaultorte_, is a cross-road, or a divergent road; _vaulx_, a valley, and\n_torte_, tortuous, says Le Pelletier. One does not quite see how to educe\ncross road from this. Roquefort gives _volt_ for face, and _torte_ would\nbe turned, which seems to me more likely. However, it stands for the road\nthrough St. Menehould, on the way to Montm\u00e9di. This, it seems, they were\nforced into by posting arrangements. Prudhomme (\u201cRevol. de Paris,\u201d No.\n102, p. 542) sets the divergence down to vacillation or change of orders.\nIf that be the correct statement, then my etymology of _face about_ for\n_vaultorte_ fits it best. _Herne_ is _Reine_, by metaplasm of _h_ for\n_i_. It was permissible in anagrammatic writing to change one letter\nin a word, but not more than one. The reader can refer for this to the\n\u201cDictionnaire de Tr\u00e9voux,\u201d under _Anagramme_. The white stone stands\nfor this royal or precious stone, the Queen, who was dressed in white.\nThe King was dressed in grey. Prudhomme, in the work mentioned above\n(p. 554), says he wore a round hat, which hid his face, and had on an\niron-grey coat (_gris de fer_), so he appeared like a Carmelite.\n\nThere are nearly fourteen octavo pages of small print (p. 411) of De\nBouill\u00e9, which it might be well to print, called \u201cD\u00e9tails du voyage du\nroi et de la reine \u00e0 Montm\u00e9dy et leur arrestation \u00e0 Varennes dans le\nClairmontais, le 22 juin, 1791,\u201d full of interesting particulars.\n\n\nVAULTORTE.\n\n    \u201cMais on verra que les circonstances chang\u00e8rent enti\u00e8rement\n    jusqu\u2019au moment de l\u2019ex\u00e9cution de son projet; et ce qui \u00e9tait\n    possible au mois de janvier 1791, ne l\u2019\u00e9tait plus au mois de\n    juin.\u201d\u2014\u201cM\u00e9moires du Marquis de Bouill\u00e9,\u201d p. 195, ed. 1821.\n\n    \u201cIl [le roi] m\u2019informait qu\u2019il partirait, avec sa famille, dans\n    une seule voiture qu\u2019il ferait faire expr\u00e8s. Dans la r\u00e9ponse\n    que je fis au roi, je pris la libert\u00e9 de lui repr\u00e9senter\n    encore une fois que la route par Varennes offrait de grands\n    inconv\u00e9niens, \u00e0 cause des relais qu\u2019il fallait y placer pour\n    suppl\u00e9er \u00e0 la poste.... J\u2019engageai donc Sa Majest\u00e9 \u00e0 prendre la\n    route par Reims, ou celle de Flandre, en passant par Chimay, et\n    en traversant ensuite les Ardennes pour se rendre \u00e0 Montm\u00e9dy.\n    Je lui repr\u00e9sentait les inconveniens de voyager avec la reine\n    et ses enfants, dans une seule voiture _faite expr\u00e8s_, et qui\n    serait remarqu\u00e9e de tout le monde,\u201d etc.\u2014\u201cM\u00e9moires du Marquis\n    de Bouill\u00e9,\u201d p. 217.\n\nThis flight occurred on June 20, 1791. On the following day the National\nAssembly suspended Louis XVI. from his functions. On the 1st of September\nthey passed another decree, that should the King surrender to the will of\nthe people and become a Constitutional King he might do so. This he duly\nsigned and attested on the 14th of the same month; so _Capet fut esleu_.\nThe title of King of the French, instead of the King of France, had been\nestablished since October 16, 1789 (\u201cCyclop\u00e6dia of Universal History\u201d),\nwhich virtually was the same thing. But yet strictly it was not until\nafter the flight that he became _Esleu Cap_. Madame Campan, in the\n\u201cM\u00e9moires de Marie-Antoinette,\u201d ii. 150, relates that the Queen\u2019s hair\nhad become white in a single night and she had had a lock of her white\nhair mounted in a ring for the Princesse de Lamballe, inscribed _Blanchis\npar le malheur_. She had become _la pierre plus blanche encore_. Her\ndress was white, and her complexion too. The _tranche_ stands for the\nslice, or _couperet_, of the guillotine. Bouys was amongst the first to\nexplain this quatrain in print, and he says he owed the explanation to M.\nde Vaudreuil, of Nevers, who has written upon Nostradamus.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 34._ [I. 177.]\n\n    Le part[243] solus,[244] mary[245] sera mitr\u00e9\n    Retour: conflict passera sur le thuille,\n    Par cinq cents: un trahyr[246] sera[247] tittr\u00e9[248]\n    Narbon: et Saulce par coutaux avons d\u2019huille.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The husband alone afflicted will be mitred on his return. A\n    conflict will take place at the Tuileries by five hundred men.\n    One traitor will be titled\u2014Narbon; and (the other) Saulce,\n    grandfather oilman, will [hand him] over to the soldiery.\n\nThe harness broke at Montmirail, and detained them two hours (p.\n247). The King showed himself at Chalons, and was recognized by the\npostmaster, who held his tongue. Everything went wrong owing to the\nchange of date and loss of time on the road. At St. Menehould he was\nrecognized again, and Drouet the postmaster\u2019s son, rode on to Varennes to\nbetray him.\n\nOn the 15th of June the Marquis de Bouill\u00e9 received a letter from the\nKing, saying his departure would be delayed till the 20th, at midnight;\nthat he could not take the Marquis d\u2019Agoult, recommended to him by\nBouill\u00e9 (as an \u201chomme d\u2019esprit, ferme et courageux, qui peut se montrer\nsi les circonstances l\u2019exigaient,\u201d p. 217), because Madame de Tourzel,\nthe governess of the children, insisted on her right of place never to\nquit them; and this consideration carried the decision. As if the King\ncould not have let them follow in another vehicle! Anything rather than\nbe forced to show himself on the road as he did (p. 256).\n\nHow it all miscarried will be best understood by reading the whole of\nDe Bouill\u00e9\u2019s account. His arrangements seem to have been masterly, like\nthe noble soldier and statesman that he was; the King\u2019s arrangements\nvacillating, foolish, and even perverse. In this account Monsieur Saulce\nis not seen at all.\n\nThis is to be filled in as follows. Louis XVI. alone, without his wife,\nwill suffer the disgrace of being crowned with the red cap of Liberty,\ncalled the Phrygian bonnet or mitre, from its being the head-dress of\nthe priests of Mithras. The five hundred Marseillais led the attack upon\nthe Tuileries, a palace begun by Catherine de Medici (1564) on the site\nof the tile-kilns (_le thuille_), and not in existence when Nostradamus\nwrote this (1555). The Count de Narbonne, Minister of War, was of the\nnoblesse, and Saulce, father, son, and grandson, were chandlers and\ngrocers, or oilmen, of Varennes. The father was _Procureur-syndic_ of his\ncommune. These oilmen betrayed him to the populace, and he was arrested\n_per custodes_. These sneaks stand as typical or representative traitors\nof the two classes of _noblesse_ and _bourgoisie_ paying cowardly court\nto the _prol\u00e9taire_ class.\n\nThe Madame Campan before alluded to (ii. 158) relates that their\nMajesties alighted at the grocery shop of the Mayor of Varennes, Saulce;\nand he could have saved the King. The Queen was seated in the shop\nbetween two high-piled stacks of candles, and was talking to Madame\nSaulce.\n\nThe _Gazette Nationale_, June 25, 1791, reporting what took place in the\nAssembly the night before, announces that M. Martinet, in addressing the\nHouse, described Saulce\u2019s conduct as wise and _heroic_, replying as he\ndid to the promises and caresses of the King and Queen, \u201cJ\u2019aime mon roi;\nmais je resterai fid\u00e8le \u00e0 ma patrie.\u201d The result of his heroism was that\ntwo months later on the Assembly voted him twenty thousand livres as the\nreward of his exalted _vertue citoyenne_. Whether, in the scramble that\nso soon followed, he ever received the wasteful and ridiculous Judas-gift\nthere is nothing to show; but the bulletin recording the vote of these\nnew-fledged statesmen, liberal of money not their own, still exists. We\nhave here \u201c_un Brute Fran\u00e7ais_,\u201d apeing the Roman, who loved C\u00e6sar well,\nbut blood better.\n\nThiers\u2019 account of the attack upon the Tuileries, June 20, 1792 (\u201cR\u00e9vol.\nFran.,\u201d ii. 152), furnishes a pathetic picture of the afflicted King\n(_marri mitr\u00e9_) of the red nightcap, in which he was day-dreaming. The\npalace was evacuated at about seven in the evening by the populace,\nwhich had effected its entry by main force; but, when the crowd had now\nwithdrawn peaceably and in good order, the King, Queen, his sister, and\nthe children, all met together, shedding a torrent of tears. The King\nseemed stunned by what had taken place; the red cap was still upon his\nhead; he now, for the first time for several hours, noticed it, and flung\nit aside with indignation.\n\nAs to the five hundred men named by our oracle, the historian of the\nFrench Revolution again comes to our aid (ii. p. 209), saying that\nBarbaroux had promised the Jacobins the co-operation of his Marseillais,\nwho were on the way to Paris. The project was to assemble at the\nTuileries and depose the king (ii. p. 235). They arrived on June 30,\n1792, and were five hundred men. Ils \u00e9taient _cinq cents_.\n\nThose who care to see how Narbonne acted against the King, can refer\nto the \u201cHistoire de la R\u00e9volution,\u201d by Bertrand de Molleville, for\nsatisfaction.\n\nThis stands out certainly as one of the most startling of all the\nthousand quatrains of our strange seer. It will henceforth and to the\nend of time speak for itself without comment, if we merely enumerate the\nhistoric facts as here anticipated in four lines. The horror of the king\nat finding himself _mitr\u00e9_. The god Mithras is depicted on coins in this\nvery cap, and his priests made it their head-dress; further, it furnishes\nthe lively etymology of the word _mitre_ itself. It was for ages, before\nthe French took it up, the received emblem of that frantic crime that has\nbeen called _Liberty_. I will not say the result of this is, as poetry,\nartistically beautiful; but, as a phrase of intense expression, it is so\nterse that at a stroke, beyond that of hydraulic power, it seems able\nto compress a truss of hay so as it may lie in a husk of beech-mast. I\ndo say, nevertheless, that, thus regarded, Dante and Shakespeare can\nhardly furnish between them three sentences of such compressed force;\nthe matter in it seems to be condensed to adamant. _Mari sera mitr\u00e9_,\nas it has been just explained, will be found, the more profoundly it is\nthought upon, to be an original miracle in phraseology. It is an actual\nand an awful prophecy in itself, but to devise a phrase to so convey the\nidea by human speech to the human mind of another is miraculous. It may\nsleep for centuries, as this has done, for lack of interpretation; but,\nwhen duly interpreted it cannot be resisted; it storms the understanding;\nand, as a phrase, seems to be a miracle begotten expressly to become\nthe vehicle in which to convey another miracle. This horror of the King\nmitred is one distinct forecast. The second point is his return to Paris.\nThere is, thirdly, the conflict of the five hundred. Fourthly, the\nspot, the Tuileries,\u2014at Nostradamus\u2019 time, a thing of thin air, where\nthe tiles were still baking, fire-hot to roof houses with, whilst the\npen was writing this. Here again, if it is not poetry, it performs the\npoet\u2019s function, which gives to airy nothing a local habitation and a\nname. Fifthly, comes a titled name\u2014Narbonne. Sixthly, that of Saulce; and\nfinally, the handing over to the custodians. Here are seven distinct\nprophecies of events historical: two of them, names of men yet to be born\nat a period two hundred years removed. And, behold, these seven facts are\nput before you in four lines!\n\nThere is a point of particular interest to be noted in that first line.\nBouys (p. 62) remarks that, first line though it be, it should be the\nlast, as the mitre was the closing act of the entire drama; and he\nsupposes that Nostradamus wanted to make the treachery most prominent to\nthe mind of the reader. That is to talk like a chronologer. The first\ncause and the final are, in spiritual matters, one. The life and death\nof man are reduced to two points, and epitaphs give enough about most of\nthe lives of mortal men when they chronicle the birth and death dates.\n\u201cAlone he returned and was mitred.\u201d How, step by step, it all came about,\n_follows_ necessarily; and that is how Nostradamus puts it to us. If\nhe had weighted himself with what science calls method, he would have\ndestroyed his own instinct; as science does, just as Saturn ate up the\noffspring of his proper loins. The soul that does this must grope to its\nresults, but can never jump to them by prophecy.\n\nBefore we go to the next quatrain it may be instructive to note\nGarenci\u00e8res\u2019 treatment of the pregnant forecast we have just traversed.\nHe translates thus:\n\n    \u201cThe separated husband shall wear a mitre,\n    Returning, battle, he shall go over the tyle,\n    By five hundred one dignified shall be betrayed,\n    Narbon and Salces shall have oil by the quintal.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe verse signifieth, that some certain man who was married shall be\nparted from his wife, and shall attain to some great ecclesiastical\ndignity. The second verse is that, coming back from some place or\nenterprise, he shall be met and fought with, and compelled to escape over\nthe tiles of a house. The third verse is that a man of great account\nshall be betrayed by five hundred of his men. And the last that, when\nthese things shall come to pass, Narbon and Salces, which are two cities\nof Languedoc, shall reap and make a great deal of oil.\u201d\n\nThis shows some skill, but what an unintelligible total we reach. I\nmerely set it down to prove to the sceptical, and those who incline to\nclass Nostradamus authoritatively amongst impostors whose jargon is not\nworth the pains of interpreting, that they may look at this and learn\nfrom it two facts: First, that before the event forecast has happened,\nall the keys of interpretation are wanting, the prophecy looks like\njargon, and is so for all practical purposes; but that, secondly, once\nit has happened, or as we may say kissed sunlight, the keys appear with\nit, the light and the understanding awaken together. There is light in\npotence or _in posse_ now; but even then they will not unlock secrets,\nif the keys remain in the hands of ignorant or scientific persons [or\nself-sufficient, which is nearly the same thing as scientific], or in\nthe hands of romance-readers and lazy dullards. You will not unravel\n\u201cthe words of the wise and their dark sayings\u201d by reading a quatrain\nonce through. The interpreter must approach the work in a simple,\nunprejudiced manner; he must get light from history how he can,\u2014from\nmemoirs, letters, books,\u2014and learn by the success and failure of past\ncommentators. He must be content to work very hard all the while, and\nwith little encouragement from others; and then at last he may so do\nsomething, that even his neighbours may allow his work to be,\u2014according\nto the bent or water-pent of the particular mind of each,\u2014some a\ndiscovery, some a revelation. He himself may probably feel that a supreme\npatience has had more to do with bringing the thing to pass than any\nother faculty that could easily be named. Things of the spirit must, of\ncourse, be spiritually discerned, and all talk about faculties when the\nindividual soul is treated of must sound a little paradoxical. To divide\nthe unique and indivisible unity of the soul into parts and pieces,\nbetrays in the proposer himself perhaps some \u201cwant of parts.\u201d But from\nthe earliest time until now, this has been the scientific way of treating\nthe human understanding; so let us consider that it is right enough. The\nsoul has almost always been cut into three, and then left to wriggle and\nwriggle, and at last to join itself together again, as best it can, like\na worm in a garden. If this be according to Aristotle, let all Sorbonne\nprofess it for right. What does it matter how we treat _one_ thing, if\nonly our method be perfectly scientific and in accordance with all the\nrest of the universal phenomena, and with a right interpretation of\nnature? What can it matter about the invisible, if only our eyes know how\nto take account of the things that are seen; that is, of the only things\ntruly subject to the cognizance of man?\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 92._ [Bouys, 64.]\n\n    Le roi voudra en cit\u00e9 neufue entrer.\n    Par ennemis expugner l\u2019on viendra.\n    Captif lib\u00e8re faux dire et perp\u00e9trer,\n    Roi dehors estre, loin d\u2019ennemis tiendra.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The King would enter into the city.\n    (By enemies expelled, France will obtain it [or] they will arrive\n        there;)\n    It will be false to say and reiterate that the captive is free,\n    [And] that the King who is out [of Paris] will keep aloof from\n        enemies.\n\nM. le Pelletier does not touch this quatrain. M. Bouys gives his\ninterpretation, which is not very convincing, and I thought of passing\nit by altogether. But the _captif lib\u00e8re_ so links it with the journey\nto Varennes of the Royal family, that it seemed preferable to include\nit, and leave it to the reader to reject or accept it, as he might think\nfit. Another determining influence was from my noticing that the _cit\u00e9\nneuve_, or Montm\u00e9di, which the King desired to reach, was not French\nwhen the quatrain was penned. The VIII., IX., and X. Centuries were not\npublished with the first seven, but were issued at Lyons from the same\npress, namely that of Pierre Rigaud. Moreri states that Nostradamus felt\nencouraged by the reception accorded to the seven Centuries to publish\nthree more (_i.e._ VIII, IX., and X.), in 1558. There is a copy now\nin the Biblioth\u00e8que Royale, to which the authorities give the date of\n1558. Pierre Rigaud\u2019s name appears on the title, but no date, which is\nremarkable, as the first volume of 1555 has this imprint: \u201c_Ce present\nlivre a \u00e9t\u00e9 achev\u00e9 d\u2019imprimer le IIII\u1d49 jour de may MDLV_,\u201d giving a\ndate as if for a nativity. M. le Pelletier demurs to the accuracy of\nthe pretended date, and thinks it must belong to the edition of 1566,\nby Pierre Rigaud. If so, these three Centuries scarcely appeared in\nthe lifetime of Nostradamus, though they are dedicated to his patron,\nHenry II.,\u2014who died in 1559,\u2014in an elaborate and interesting epistle\ndedicatory. In opening this, Nostradamus says he has long been in doubt\nas to whom he should devote (_consacrer_) these three Centuries, but at\nlast took courage to lay it at the feet of royalty. Now, the edition of\n1566 particularly states that the prophecies _n\u2019ont encore jamais est\u00e9\nimprim\u00e9es_. One cannot read the Dedicatory Epistle without feeling sure\nit was written for the eye of the King, and therefore at least as early\nas 1558, but probably earlier by a year or two. I therefore assume that\nhe presented them to the King in a fair manuscript, and that having done\nthat he remained content, and that the family at his death, finding the\noriginal manuscript, put it in Rigaud\u2019s hands to be printed.\n\nMy reason for thus inquiring into the dates is this: that the\ninvestigation makes it extremely likely the above quatrain was written\nbefore 1557, the year in which Montm\u00e9di was taken by France, and, if so,\nit explains the line that I have thrown into a parenthesis in a manner in\nwhich it has never been interpreted before. _Expugner_ is not French now;\n_expugnable_ is all that now remains of it in the language. So that\n\n    Par ennemis expugner l\u2019on viendra\n\nmay, I think, be regarded as a parenthetic explanation referring to the\n_cit\u00e9 neuve_, which was not yet French territory, though on the point\nof becoming so,\u2014_l\u2019on viendra par ennemies expugner_, by expulsion of\nthe enemy, in 1557. If this rendering be thought valid, it furnishes\none reason the more for explaining this quatrain as one of the series\nbelonging to the Revolutionary epoch, and one more redeemed from the maze\nof Nostradamus.\n\nIt would appear from Bouys, though he does not produce his historical\nauthorities, that immediately the King escaped, France was flooded\nwith announcements that the captive was free, and had their consent to\nhold himself aloof\u2014_loin d\u2019ennemis tiendra_. If this be established,\nit becomes certain that we can in the main determine this quatrain\naccurately. (\u201cHistoire de la R\u00e9volution, par deux amis de la Libert\u00e9,\u201d in\n7 vols., vol. vii. p. 126.)\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 87._ [I. 179.]\n\n    Mort conspir\u00e9e viendra en plein effect,\n    Charge donn\u00e9e et voyage de mort:\n    Esleu, cr\u00e9\u00e9, receu par siens, deffait.\n    Sang d\u2019innocent devant soy par[249] remort.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Death hatched by treason will take its full effect,\n    A charge imposed, voyage made to death.\n    Elected, created, received by his own, and undone by them.\n    The blood of Innocency (rises) before them in remorse (eternal).\n\nBouys thinks by the last line Nostradamus intended to convey, that the\nKing felt poignant grief at the innocent victims his overthrow would\nleave without protection to the tender mercies of the States-General.\nThe other is better, connecting it, as it does, with that case\nanalogous, where the mob cursed themselves out of their own mouth, and\nsaid \u201cHis blood be upon us, and on our children\u201d (Matt. xxvii. 25).\n\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 43._ [I. 180.]\n\n    Le trop bon temps,[250] trop de bont\u00e9 royale,\n    Fais et deffais, prompt, subit, negligence,\n    Legier[251] croira faux d\u2019espouse loyalle,\n    Luy mis \u00e0 mort par[252] sa benevolence.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Too much of good fortune, a too lax Royalty,\n    That makes and unmakes [appointments] sudden, hasty, negligent;\n    Lightly believes his loyal Consort false,\n    And bids good nature lead the way to death.\n\nThis is a picture to the life of the fat-making King Louis Seize. The\nbrush of a Velasquez, as it cannot paint the moral, could hardly so well\nplace him before the eye, as in life. He is no picture well-framed,\nhanging for inspection in a gallery of pictures, but flesh and blood\nlike one\u2019s self alive, and moving with us in the gallery a spectator and\nobserver like ourselves. We have here Louis XVI. before us in the flesh.\n\n\u201c_He makes and unmakes appointments_; yes, indeed.\u201d In a little more than\neighteen years, sixty-seven ministers take office and relinquish it. Here\nthey are alphabetically, as Bouys enumerates them. Amelot, Barentin,\nBertrand de Molleville, Boyne, Breteuil, Brieune, Brogli, Beaulieu,\nCahier de Gerville, Calonne, Castries, Champion de Cic\u00e9, Clavi\u00e8res,\nChambonas, Clugny, Dabancourt, Danton, de Grave, Delessart, de Crosne,\nde Joly, d\u2019Ormesson, Dabouchage, Dumourier, Duportail, Duport-Dutertre,\nDuranton, Foulon, Fourgueux, Fleurier\u00e8s, Joly de Flemy, Lacoste, la\nGalaisi\u00e8res, Lailliac, la Jarre, la Luzerne, Lamoignon, Lambert,\nLaporte, Latour-Dupin, Lenoir, Liancourt, Leroux, Malesherbes, Maurepas,\nMiromeuil, Montmorin, Montbarrey, Mourgues, Narbonne, Necker, Pastoret,\nPuys\u00e9gur, Roland, Sartines, S\u00e9gur, Servan, Saint-Germain, Saint-Priest,\nSainte-Croix, Taboureau, Tarb\u00e9, Terrier-Monceil, Thevenard, Turgot,\nVergennes, Villedeuil. Several of these served twice, and Necker was in\nthree times; so that the number of ministries in the time mentioned is\nseventy-two\u2014a thing not to be paralleled in history as a course of doing\nand undoing, of _fais and deffais_.\n\nHis temper was ungovernable and sudden, extending even to rough bathos,\nbut was soon over. Maurepas always said, you must let the King have his\nfirst fling of humour out, and then he will soon recover. Secondly, his\nnegligence let everything drift, finance included, till ruin brought\ncollapse. You might think his economists had drawn their singular axiom\nfor statesmanship, _Laissez faire_, from the example of their royal\nmaster. He fell at once into the intrigue of the diamond necklace\nbelonging to Marie Antoinette, which was conveyed by the Countess of La\nMotte to the Cardinal de Rohan. Report runs that he even placed his wife\nunder arrest in her own chamber for several days. \u201cLui mis \u00e0 mort par sa\nb\u00e9n\u00e9volence\u201d displays a most wonderful forecast, and it is open to read\nit now LOUIS _mis \u00e0 mort_.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 92._ [I. 182.]\n\n    Prince de beaut\u00e9 tant[253] venuste,[254]\n    Au chef men\u00e9e, le second faict,[255] trahy.\n    La cit\u00e9 au glaive de poudre face[256] aduste,[257]\n    Par trop grand meurtre la chef[258] du Roi hay.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The prince of very comely beauty (shall be)\n    Led to the head, and then betrayed to a second (place).\n    The city of the sword, with powder-torch, burns\n    The head of the King, hated on account of his illegal murder.\n\nThe edition 1558 gives the reading as above, but the line does not scan;\nit wants two syllables. Bouys, without comment, reads _Prince sera_;\nLe Pelletier understands _men\u00e9e_ as a synonym for _intrigues_. But I\nshould read it rather as a misprint for _men\u00e9_. The city of the sword\nis a graphic name for Paris, where the guillotine was first erected on\nSeptember 25, 1792, having been perfected by Guillotin, the doctor, whose\nname was given to it. Roquefort gives the word _adust\u00e9_ as _br\u00fbl\u00e9_; but\nNostradamus uses it as a verb, _aduster_, in the third person of the\npresent indicative. Paris burnt the king\u2019s head with a powder-torch, or\nburning powder, that is to say with quicklime; and, as having done him\nwrong, the people hate him, and wish to obliterate the traces of the\nmurder perpetrated.\n\nThe body and head of the King were placed in a basket of wicker-work, and\ncarried, according to De Montgaillard (\u201cHistoire de France,\u201d iii. p. 415.\nJanvier, 1793[259]) to the cemetery of the Madeleine, and thrown into a\ntrench twelve feet deep, which had been spread with quicklime; more was\nthrown in upon the top of the body, so that decomposition would follow\ninstantly. When the grave was reopened some twenty-four years after, to\nbestow a more decent burial on the relics, nothing remained but a few\nfragments of calcined bone.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res reads _Princesse de beaut\u00e9 tant venuste_, which will not\nscan any better than the line of the edition of 1558; but he translates\n_au chef men\u00e9e_, I find, as \u201cshall be brought to the general,\u201d and the\nfeminine termination is then right. This helps to confirm my rendering\nabove. His annotation says that the only difficulty about the quatrain is\nas to what city is meant. As, however, he suggests no historical allusion\nwhatever, he leaves every difficulty unsolved.\n\nI think that most readers will be inclined to allow that this is a very\nextraordinary forecast, and that _La cit\u00e9 au glaive_ as a name for Paris,\nand what has been perpetrated there, is both poetic and terrific in a\nvery high degree\u2014a sobriquet that, once heard, is likely to cling in\nthe memory for ever. To devise epithets of this simplicity and force\nconstitutes an author at once master of utterance; no matter what may be\nthe shortcomings of the adjacent text. But, when you find these startling\nfelicities perpetually recurring to illustrate facts historical,\u2014facts\nthat will not come into mortal ken for centuries after the death of the\nwriter,\u2014stiff, indeed, must be the reader\u2019s neck if he cannot bow it a\nlittle, as to a man of God passing by; or, if he would rather have it\nso, to the occasional divinity shining through man\u2019s nature, that will\nnot, cannot wholly die when death has done its worst. From Hecla to the\ntropics all rational creatures should rejoice at such a fact. What is the\nnew world of Columbus to this? Why, nothing but a new hemisphere of dirt.\nA spirit, that can read time future, must be a spirit whose habitation\nis Eternity. It is this hope kindles as we decipher, in the stillness of\nnight, rune upon strange rune of the oracular sage of Salon.\n\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 17._ [I. 184.]\n\n    La Royne Ergaste[260] voyant sa fille blesme\n    Par un regret dans l\u2019estomach enclos:\n    Cris lamentables seront lors d\u2019Angolesme,\n    Et au germain mariage forclos.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The stranger Queen, seeing her daughter fading\n    By reason of the deep regret she endured inwardly:\n    The cries of Angoul\u00eame will be lamentable,\n    And the marriage with her cousin-germain foreclosed.\n\nThe Princess did marry the Duc d\u2019Angoul\u00eame in 1799, but there was no\nissue,\u2014_mariage forclos_. The Queen wished to marry her daughter to a\nGerman Prince: hence all the grief. The Abb\u00e9 Torn\u00e9-Chavigny (\u201cL\u2019Histoire\npr\u00e9dite et jug\u00e9e par Nostradamus,\u201d ii. 28) had the merit, M. le Pelletier\nsays, of this learned interpretation. I cannot quite see this, as M.\nBouys gave the same interpretation as far back as 1806, though with a\nparticularity a little less minute. The prophecy thus unravelled is the\nmore wonderful, as the event seems so little worth recording. There is\nthe same exactitude and precision shown as where a kingdom is at stake.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 77._ [I. 185.]\n\n    Le regne prins[261] le Roy convicra,\n    La dame prinse \u00e0 mort jur\u00e9s \u00e0 sort,\n    La vie a Royne fils on desniera,\n    Et la pellix[262] au fort de la consort.\n\nPierre Rigaud\u2019s edition reads _conjurera_ for _convicra_, and that,\nat least, makes the line scan, which _convicra_ does not. Bouys says\nthat some ancient editions read _conviera, commitari per viam_, and\nthen it would mean to arrange the funeral cort\u00e8ge of the King. I think\n_conjurera_ the best reading, for that might be taken to mean that they\ncondemned the King by jurors, or jury, as the Queen was in the next line.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The assembly will condemn the King taken,\n    [And] the Queen taken to death by jurors sworn by lot;\n    They will deny life to the Dauphin (_\u00e0 Royne fils_),\n    And the prostitute at the fort will partake of the same fate.\n\nUpon the word _jur\u00e9s_, in the second line, M. le Pelletier remarks\nthat the Convention, erecting itself into a supreme court of justice,\nproceeded to condemn the King to death. But the judgment upon\nMarie-Antoinette was passed by the _Tribunal r\u00e9volutionnaire_, newly set\nup, which proceeded by jurors chosen by lot, _jur\u00e9s \u00e0 sort_. He further\nsays that this _jury_ is an institution borrowed from England, and he\nerroneously fancies that it had been first introduced into England at the\nRevolution, and had no existence there, even by name, during the lifetime\nof Nostradamus. This shows how little a Frenchman, when even well read,\ncares about English institutions. Pettingal almost proves that the Roman\n_judices_, and Greek \u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03af, were jurors. There has been great and\nprofitless dispute, as to whether the Anglo-Saxons had juries, or whether\nthey came in at the Conquest. If they did it would be strange, for they\ndied out in Normandy. If the practice be Roman, it would have prevailed\nin England as in Normandy, both having been under Roman law forms. Coke,\nBlackstone, and many others, confidently maintain its existence here\nprior to the Conquest. If Anglo-Saxon it would still be Roman. Were\nit Scandinavian in origin, or were it Teutonic, it would equally have\nprevailed here before the Conquest. So that the whole discussion has\nan interest merely arch\u00e6ological; and leaves the _trial by jury_, no\nmatter what its origin, a thing of immemorial usage in these islands. You\nmight as well try, by chemical analysis, to ascertain when oxygen first\nentered as a component part into the air men breathe. If you could settle\nthe question it would be no use; whilst the time lost in discussing it\nmight otherwise be well employed. But the forensic usage was not so in\nFrance itself, as modern Frenchmen think, for in old Glossaries, like\nRoquefort\u2019s, you find _jurie_, not _jur\u00e9e_: \u201cAssise o\u00f9 l\u2019on prononce sur\nle rapport des jur\u00e9s.\u201d\n\nThey delivered the poor Dauphin to the _cordonnier_ Simon, with orders to\nlet him die slowly. The inhuman villains seem to have felt they could not\ncondemn a child to public execution; so they give orders to a murderer to\nmake away with him by ill usage and starvation, a process that would have\nrendered the guillotine welcome and a boon.\n\nThe last line admits of three interpretations. M. le Pelletier takes the\n_pellix_ to stand for the National Convention itself, saying that it had\nprostituted justice in condemning an innocent prince over whom it had no\njurisdiction. But clearly it had no jurisdiction over the King or Queen.\nHe then takes the fort to be the _Conciergerie_, to which it consigned\nits own members, _consorts_, as an introduction to the scaffold. This is\nvery striking, but the quatrain does not appear to me to threaten members\nof the Assembly at all. The unity of conception is best maintained\nby limiting its meaning to the fate of Royalty; and Bouys places an\nexcellent and forcible interpretation upon it without breaking the unity\nof purpose. He says that it relates to the Dubarri, the King\u2019s courtesan,\nand that the fort is her palace of Luciennes, which had anciently been a\nstrong place or fort. This is good, if the Ch\u00e2teau de Luciennes bears it\nout; but the _fort_ may so easily be _sort_ with the old _s_ type, which\nis scarcely distinguishable from an _f_, that I think we might very well\nsubstitute it. We should then construe the last line\n\n    \u201cAnd [consign] the prostitute to the fate of the Queen consort.\u201d\n\nThis interpretation requires less force to be employed upon the line, and\nless explanation than any of the others. The forms of the _s_ and _f_ are\nnearly identical. The reading that brings simplicity with it, and removes\nstumblingblocks out of the way, usually proves the safest and the best.\nHere we remove the complication introduced by the word _fort_, which\notherwise requires explanation, and it runs: _The courtesan shares a like\nfate with the Queen_. It is now for the reader to select the best.\n\n\n_Sixaine 55._ [I. 186.]\n\n    Un peu devant ou apr\u00e8s tr\u00e8s-grand\u2019 dame,\n    Son ame au ciel, et son corps soubs la lame,\n    De plusieurs gens regrett\u00e9e sera,\n    Tous ses parens seront en grand\u2019 tristesse,\n    Pleurs et souspirs d\u2019une dame en jeunesse,\n    Et \u00e0 deux Grands la deuil delaissera.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A little before or after a very great lady,\n    The soul [of Madame Elizabeth shall rise] to heaven, her body under\n        the blade,\n    She will be grieved for by many persons;\n    All her family connections will be cast into deep sorrow,\n    One lady very young [Duchesse d\u2019Angoul\u00eame will shed] tears and sighs,\n    And two great ones will be depressed with mourning.\n\nThis can be mistaken for no one but Madame Elizabeth, the sister of Louis\nXVI., her niece, the Duchess d\u2019Angoul\u00eame, and the two brothers of Madame\nElizabeth, the Count of Provence and the Count of Artois. This is not\none of the very striking stanzas, but the forecast is still notable, and\noccupies its position very well as one in a considerable series.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 58._ [I. 187.]\n\n    Tranch\u00e9 le ventre naistra avec deux testes\n    Et quatre bras: quelques ans entiers vivra,\n    Jour qui[263] Alquiloye[264] celebrera ses festes,\n    Fossen, Turin, chef Ferrare suivra.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The belly cut shall spring again with two heads\n    And four arms: _Aquiloye_ shall live several years,\n    In great force (_entiers_) what (_jour qui_) time he holds.\n    Fossen, Turin, Ferrara shall fall under his domination (_suivra\n        chef_).\n\nThis is a very crabbed, but very wonderful quatrain.\n\nThe elder branch of the Bourbons was cut short in the person of\nMarie-Antoinette (_le ventre tranch\u00e9e_); shall spring up again in two\nheads, Louis XVIII. and Charles X. The two heads being crowned, the\nfour lesser princes are called arms and uncrowned. They are counted\nthus: The Duc de Normandy, who died in the Temple, June 8, 1795; the\nDuc de Berri, assassinated January 13, 1820; the Duc d\u2019Angoul\u00eame; and\nthe Duc de Bordeaux, exiled August 16, 1830, who, though he had so many\nclose chances, died without the crown,\u2014an arm only, not a head, a hand\ntenaciously to the last holding to its white handkerchief as a flag.\nZurich and Fossano stand, by synecdoche, for Piedmont, and Ferrara for\nthe Papal States.\n\nThis brings us to the end of the Louis Seize series. Let us, before\npassing on to a fresh series, just give a glance at the ground we have\ntraversed; and endeavour to estimate the value of the historical facts\nprefigured for us by Nostradamus in his book more than two hundred years\nbefore the earliest of them began to take effect upon the stage of\nactuality.\n\nFirst, we beheld a section of the nation, the third estate, usurping\nthe sole authority of government, and bringing down upon the whole the\ndesolation that was witnessed in Europe in 1789. Then the intriguing\nDuc d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans was portrayed, and the poor King was seen repenting that\nhe had not, when insulted by him, publicly punished him by death. The\nnext picture was that of the remarkable flight to Varennes, in which\nthe very travelling habits of the King and Queen, to their respective\ncolours even, were minutely given, and the precise name hinted of the\nfallen Capet on the road,\u2014fallen, though elected by the people, _esleu\ncap_. At the very last moment we are told their destination was changed\nby the King, where changing meant his destiny. He was then depicted as\nbetrayed. He had run into the jaws of death, and the very names of the\ntraitors, Narbonne and Saulce, were given; with the further detail, that\nhe was taken back to Paris and mitred with the Phrygian cap, in the\ndesecrated Tuileries, at the dictation of five hundred Marseillais. In\nanother quatrain that journey is called a voyage of death, and in one\nline is laid before us all that happened to Louis the Unfortunate. He is\nelected, created king, received by his own people, and undone. To this\nsucceeds that extraordinary picture of the King himself: his best friend\ncould scarcely have portrayed the man so truly to us. Too prosperous at\nthe outset, too good-natured a royalty, sudden in temper, yet dilatory in\nact, making and unmaking ministries quarterly, and finally done to death\nby his own benevolence. We then have a stanza devoted to him. We see him\nas a beautiful youth made chief, then deposed, and his head rolling from\nthe scaffold in the City of the Glave, even to his burial in quicklime\nat the Madelaine, a procedure so unheard of in the case of kings. Then\nthat curious reference to _La Royne Ergaste_ and the little incident\ntouching her daughter\u2019s marriage to D\u2019Angoul\u00eame. Then follows the Queen\u2019s\ndeath, brought about by a jury, a novelty imported from England by the\ninnovators of that period; crowned by cruelty to the Dauphin. There\nfollows a more or less curious sixaine, conveying the fate of Madame\nElizabeth, the King\u2019s sister; till we close with a brilliant quatrain\nthat exhibits, in a symbolical fashion, the Napoleonic interregnum, when\nthe severed Bourbon race puts out again its last two crowns, above the\nEagle-law or _Alquiloye_,\u2014probably the last appearance it will ever make\nupon the stage of history. I think we may agree, that it would not be\neasy to parallel such a series of verified forecasts relating to the most\nstriking historical incidents, that bear upon a single reign, from any\none book existing in the world.\n\n\n\n\nTHE NATIONAL CONVENTION.\n\n\nWe now reach a fresh division, and shall treat of the National\nConvention,\u2014a period of about three years.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 17._ [I. 189.]\n\n    Les bien ais\u00e9s subit[265] seront desmis;\n    Par les trois freres le monde mis en trouble.\n    Cit\u00e9 marine saisiront ennemies;\n    Faim, feu, sang, peste, et de tous maux le double.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The well-to-do [members] shall be suddenly dismissed,\n    On account of three brothers the world shall suffer trouble.\n    Enemies shall take possession of the marine city;\n    Hunger, fire, slaughter, plague, of evils all the double.\n\nPrivilege is to be abolished suddenly. The three brothers who trouble the\nworld are the Royal trio, Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., and Charles X. Toulon\nis the maritime city. We shall come upon it again, further on, in Century\nVII. 13, where it is treated of more fully. M. le Pelletier interprets\n_feu_ as being war, and _peste_ as standing for irreligion. As goods were\nall doubled to Job, so here all evils are to be doubled. On the night\nof August 4, 1789, feudal privilege was abolished suddenly (_subit_).\nThe clergy and nobility were dispossessed of property and title. Toulon,\ntaken by the English, is the _Cit\u00e9 marine_. It was retaken, in the\nname of Louis XVII., on August 23, 1793, by the French; on the 19th\nof December, Marie-Antoinette and \u00c9galit\u00e9, Duc d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, being both\nexecuted during the British tenure.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 17._ [I. 191.]\n\n    Le tiers[266] premier pis que ne fit Neron,\n    Vuidez[267] vaillant que[268] sang humain respandre!\n    R\u00e9difier fera le forneron,[269]\n    Siecle d\u2019or mort, nouveau Roy, grand esclandre!\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The third become first does worse than Nero,\n    See how much valiant human blood it squanders!\n    It will rebuild the old tile kilns,\n    The age of gold is dead, a new dynasty, and great scandal.\n\nThis interprets itself. M. le Pelletier explains the rebuilding of the\nkilns as setting up the scaffolds to consume the clergy and nobility. I\ndo not myself see the force or necessity of this. The age of gold yields\nto that of iron or the sword; the new dynasty (the Napoleonic) is a vast\nscandal, and reintroduces pomp and ceremonial at the Tuileries.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 19._ [I. 192.]\n\n    A[270] soustenir la grand\u2019 cappe[271] troubl\u00e9e,\n    Pour l\u2019esclaircir les rouges marcheront:\n    De mort famille sera presque accabl\u00e9e,\n    Les rouges rouges la rouge assommeront.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    They will _not_ sustain the great but troubled Capets,\n    The reds will take steps to purge their number,\n    They will almost exterminate the family with death,\n    The red of reds will overwhelm the red.\n\nThis very forcibly announces the Reign of Terror to have set in. The\nreds will do what in them lies to crush the Capets, till they have\nalmost annihilated the family in death; and, then the reddest reds\nwill guillotine the reds,\u2014the Montagnards the Girondists. Bouys does\nnot allude to this, though one would have thought it must strike every\nreader as far as what is said relating to the conduct of the double-dyed\nreds against the moderate reds. Garenci\u00e8res\u2019 mistakes serve to show\nhow impossible it was to guess at the meaning of a quatrain in the\nseventeenth century. He fancies this to refer to some conspiracy of red\nCardinals against a Pope, to be designated the Red one.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 69._ [I. 193.]\n\n    La piti\u00e9 grand\u2019 sera sans loing tarder,\n    Ceux qui d\u00f4noyent seront contraints de prendre:\n    Nuds, affam\u00e9s, de froid, soif, soy bander,\n    Les monts passer commettant grand esclandre.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A sight of pity will not long delay,\n    The almoners will soon be forced to beg:\n    Hungered, athirst, naked, proscribed, and cold.\n    In bands they cross the Alps, a scandal to be seen.\n\nThis conveys a forcible picture of the calamitous emigration the\nclergy of France would undergo between 1792 and 1801. Once the clue is\nsupplied, it leads so naturally, that one almost finds insight from it\ninto the manner in which these representations presented themselves to\nNostradamus. One feels, that he must have seen the events passing before\nthe field of sight as visions, sometimes accompanied with uttered words;\notherwise how could he get intimation of names? But, if it was thus\nthat intuition came to him, the quatrains, that he now scattered up and\ndown throughout the Centuries in utter disorder and disconnection, must\nhave come to him in a sequence, rendering them comprehensible; more or\nless, indeed, in the very order probably into which the chronology of\nhistorical record enables the careful student to replace them now, as\nsoon as they are understood by him. If this be so, a rather curious fact\npresents itself, in a form approaching to something like a certainty,\nwhich is this: disorder must have been the method of the book. We know\nthat generally his practice was to write down the matter in prose, and\nat leisure convert this into separate quatrains rhymed; these he must\nafterwards have shaken up in a bag or hat, and when inextricably mixed\nhave counted them out into hundreds. I think it quite possible that he\nfound his forecasts became too intelligible when put together in their\nnatural order, and in the sequence of events. No doubt, with regard to\nthose events of his own time and to be soon fulfilled, he first began to\nperceive the necessity for inverting or displacing the order. Consecutive\nand interlinking stanzas would form a kind of commentary, and throw\nmutual light one upon the other; so that the adoption of disorder would\nfollow as a measure of personal security. He thought that his sayings\nshould be dark, as becometh the words of the wise; and that it would be\nquite time enough, should they grow clear when fulfilled to a reader,\nwho would take sufficient trouble to elucidate them and bring out their\nmeaning.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 44._ [I. 194.]\n\n    En bref[272] seront de retour sacrifices,\n    Contrevenans seront mis \u00e0 martyre;\n    Plus ne seront moines, abb\u00e9s, ne[273] novices,\n    Le miel sera beaucoup plus cher que cire.\n\nThis quatrain exhibits the suppression of the Catholic worship in France,\nwhich took place November 10, 1793. What they called the worship of the\ngoddess of Reason was set up; and a return to Paganism is what the first\nline means.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    For a short time there will be a return to [Ethnic] sacrifices,\n    And those who oppose will suffer martyrdom:\n    There will be no more monks, clergy, nor novices;\n    Honey will fetch more than wax.\n\nThe last line means that wax will be cheapened, as none will be consumed\nin the churches. The rest explains itself. Garenci\u00e8res can see the\nmeaning of the last two lines; but the first two he considers to have\nbeen fulfilled in the time of Henry V. of France and Henry VIII. of\nEngland.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 8._ [I. 195.]\n\n    Temples sacr\u00e9s[274] prime[275] fa\u00e7on Romaine,\n    Rejetterons les gofres[276] fondements,\n    Prennant leurs loix premieres et humaines,\n    Chassant non tous des saincts les cultements.[277]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The temples consecrated in the fashion of early Rome,\n    They will reject the deep foundations [of Christianity],\n    Returning to their first and human laws,\n    They will not entirely abolish all saint-worship.\n\nThis M. le Pelletier explains to be a forecast of the _F\u00eate de l\u2019\u00catre\nSupr\u00e8me_, which was appointed by decree of the Convention May 7, 1794,\nand celebrated on the 8th of June of the same year with great pomp.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 33._ [I. 196.]\n\n    Des principaux de cit\u00e9 rebell\u00e9e.\n    Qui tiendront[278] fort pour libert\u00e9 r\u2019avoir,\n    Detranch\u00e9s[279] masles, infelice[280] mesl\u00e9e,\n    Cris, hurlements, \u00e0 Nantes piteux voir!\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The chief citizens of the revolted city,\n    Who will struggle hard to recover liberty.\n    The men beheaded, an unhappy mixture,\n    Cries, howlings, at Nantes piteous to see.\n\nThis was realized at Nantes, in Brittany, under the Proconsulate of De\nCarrier. The town had, in 1793, become the focus of the Vendean reaction\nagainst the National Convention. The men were beheaded generally, but\nmany men and women were stripped naked. They were then tied together, a\nman to a woman, in couples, or pairs, which their fiendish tormentors\nstyled \u201crepublican marriages.\u201d In this diabolic connection (_infelice\nmesl\u00e9e_) they were precipitated helplessly into the Loire, amidst\nheartrending cries and howlings. No viler crime was ever committed on\nthis earth, nor can ever be; the infamy of man and the revengeful filth\nof lust can no further go. From that extraordinary coinage and coupling\nof words, _infelice mesl\u00e9e_, you know, or seem to know, that Nostradamus\nbeheld the horrid spectacle in vision\u2014\n\n    Estant assis de nuict secret estude (Century I. 1).\n\nThose who believe this to be a recital at haphazard are of a\nbrain-formation singularly constituted.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 88._\n\n    Dans la Sardeigne un noble Roy viendra,\n    Qui ne tiendra que trois ans le royaume.\n    Plusieurs couleurs avec soy conjoindra,[281]\n    Luy mesme apr\u00e8s soin sommeil marrit[282] scome.[283]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    In Sardinia a noble King shall come,\n    Who will only hold the kingdom during three years.\n    The tricolour will annex him [the King] to itself;\n    He after much pains will sleep afflicted and ridiculed.\n\nThis is Charles Emmanuel IV. The Republic of the tricolour, \u201cle drapeau\ntricolor,\u201d will despoil him of his continental estate; and he will\nwithdraw to his island, ruling for three years, 1798-1802. He then\nabdicates to his brother, Victor Emmanuel I., and, _apr\u00e8s soin_ much\ncare, will sleep [as regards governing], and, residing at Rome, sad and\nhumiliated, will assume the Jesuit robe, and die in 1819.\n\n\n\n\nPIUS VI.\n\n\nThe next four quatrains refer to Rome and Pope Pius VI.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 57._ [I. 199.]\n\n    Istra[284] de mont Gaulfier[285] et Aventin,\n    Qui[286] par le trou advertira l\u2019arm\u00e9e.\n    Entre deux rocs sera prins[287] le butin.\n    De SEXT[288] mansol[289] faillir la renomm\u00e9e.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When a [French] army shall go from Mont Gaulfier to the Aventine,\n    There will be a man advising them from under the hole.\n    The booty shall be seized between the two rocks,\n    And the glory of the sixth celibate shall wither.\n\nThis is a very curious stanza. The name of Montgolfier, the \u00e6ronaut,\nis visible enough in the two separate words, _mont Gaulfier_. M. le\nPelletier calls it the grammatical figure of metaplasm; but it is not\nstrictly so. Metaplasm is the forming of cases from a non-existent\nnominative. This is making two words for things non-existent to\nrepresent a proper name. But there is a still greater singularity in the\nemployment of it here. For Nostradamus, as I understand him, makes this\nfictitious mountain contrast with the real Mount Aventine. He makes it\nstand, as I think, for one of the two rocks between which the booty is\nsecured. The brothers Montgolfier were paper-makers at Annonay Ard\u00e8che,\nand they gave their own name to their discovery, which dates June 5,\n1783. Their balloons opened at the bottom to be filled, so that a man\nplaced in them was under the hole, _par le trou_. I do not know at what\npoint the Montgolfier was floated to furnish military information to\nthe French, but I suppose on the Italian side of the Alps, so that from\nthat rock or mountain to the Aventine rock would be the points between\nwhich the booty was seized. But the former of these Nostradamus seems\nto me to designate by the man\u2019s name, which lends itself to a play upon\nthe word, rather than by a peak of the Alps. M. le Pelletier says that\nthe two rocks refer to Peter, _pierre_ being _rock_. One is Avignon, in\nFrance, and the other Rome, in Italy, and the booty was obtained by the\ntreaty of Tolentino, under date of February 19, 1797. By this the Pope\nlost Avignon and Venaissin in France, Bolognia, Ferrara, and the Romagnia\nin Italy, and this he calls the two rocks. The balloon was first used\nto reconnoitre the position of the Austrians at the battle of Fleurus,\nJune 16, 1794. Almost immediately after the treaty, the Pontiff was\ndragged from Italy to die at Valence: thus was fulfilled the prophecy of\n_faillir la renomm\u00e9e_. Interpret how you may, the mention of the name of\nMontgolfier so appropriately in this connection, must always stand as\nproof of the most solid kind that Nostradamus\u2019s foresight was miraculous.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 30._ [I. 201.]\n\n    Tout \u00e0 l\u2019entour de la grande cit\u00e9\n    Seront soldats log\u00e9s par champs et villes:\n    Donner l\u2019assaut Paris Rome incit\u00e9,[290]\n    Sur le pont[291] lors sera faicte grand pille.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Compassing all round the great city\n    There shall be soldiers camping in the fields and towns:\n    A Frenchman [Paris will take] Rome excited;\n    There will then be perpetrated on the Pope a great pillage.\n\nThe Executive Directory, in defiance of the Constitution which formally\nforbade it, encamped troops around Paris, _la grande cit\u00e9_, on September\n4, 1797. This was to quell, or keep in awe, the counter revolution. A\nFrenchman [_Paris_], General Berthier, took Rome by assault, February\n10, 1798, the pretext being that General Duphot had lost his life in an\n_\u00e9meute_ [_dans Rome incit\u00e9_]. Pope Pius VI. was dispossessed of his\nstates, arrested in his palace, and subjected to general pillage.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 46._ [I. 202.]\n\n    Pol[292] mensole[293] mourra trois lie\u00fces du Rosne;\n    Fuis[294] les deux prochains[295] tarasc[296] destrois:[297]\n    Car Mars[298] fera le plus horrible trosne\n    De Coq, et d\u2019Aigle, de France Freres trois.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The grand Celibate shall die three leagues from the Rhone;\n    The two dejected brothers shall fly tumult:\n    For war shall make a most horrible throne\n    For the three brothers of France by the Cock and Eagle.\n\nThe Pope, that is, shall die at Valence, a few leagues from the Rhone.\nThe two brothers [afterwards Louis XVIII. and Charles X.], alarmed at\nthe movement of the populace, take flight. War inflicts sad havoc on the\nthrone of the three brothers [Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., Charles X.] by\nthe Orleans Cock, and Napoleonic Eagle.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 99._ [I. 203.]\n\n    Terroir Romain qu\u2019interpretoit Augure[299]\n    Par gent[300] Gauloise par trop sera vex\u00e9e:\n    Mais nation Celtique craindra l\u2019heure,\n    Boreas[301] classe[302] trop loing l\u2019avoir pouss\u00e9e.[303]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The Roman territory that the Pope governed\n    The French will cruelly vex:\n    But that Celtic nation should fear the hour\n    When it has advanced its army too far to the north.\n\nI render this in the main in accordance with M. le Pelletier; but perhaps\nsome may think that the Pope cannot be called an augur without great\nviolence. _Interpr\u00e9toit_ can hardly stand for spiritual government. It\nis also difficult to make _classis_ into army. _Classis_ represented the\norders of the people of Rome; that divided them into bands and companies\nfor governmental and electoral purposes, not for war. The only _classis_\nof war was the _fleet_, and Garenci\u00e8res renders it by _navy_, although\nhe is entirely abroad in every other respect in his interpretation of\nthe quatrain. Though he forces a fulfilment upon it in the time of Henry\nII. of France, still, evidently Rome is meant, whatever the Augur may\ninterpret. The Roman territory was twice trampled on by the French: first\nby General Berthier against Pius VI, and again by General Miollis, who\nin 1809 removed Pope Pius VII. The closing couplet is clearly a forecast\nof Napoleon\u2019s defeat in Russia. That will not be affected by the manner\nin which we interpret _classe_; but I cannot imagine for a moment that\nNostradamus would employ the Latin _classis_ so erroneously for an\n_army_, which no Roman would ever use it for. _Certamen classicum_ is\na sea-fight, but never employed for engagements on land. The result of\nthis minute verbal inquiry will, I think, end by establishing the more\nremarkably the prescience and forecast of this consummate seer. He uses\nthe word _classe_ in one of its late eighteenth, or early nineteenth\ncentury acceptions, for that body of young men, which is called out\nevery year in France by lot to serve in the army; or all those called\nto the colours, who are drawn for service in the same year. It is an\nadministrative word, that sprang into use out of the conscription, and\nwhich will die out again when that fraud, passed upon the nations of\nEurope, has been detected and abolished; that institution which fosters\nwar and makes its otherwise intermittent evils permanent and perpetual\nupon humanity. To enlarge the area of this view is to doom conscription\nto death and sure oblivion. Conscription is an invention of Beelzebub,\nwhen seeking his bath of blood, under the euphonic guise of a patriotic\ndefence of the mother soil. _Mourir pour la patrie_ is the glozing lie\nof Roget de l\u2019Isle, that supplements, or drowns, the true cry of \u201cBlood\nfor Moloch.\u201d So we will read, for the first time now, the passage thus:\nBut let the Celtic nation beware the hour when her _conscript columns_\nare pushed too far to the Boreal north-east. In brief, beware of Moscow.\nIf this sixteenth century anticipation of a nineteenth century idiom be\nnothing, then let the Alps be called a molehill, and the hollow sea a\ncup. Here we close the prefiguration of the Papal torment appropriately\nenough; it closes with a terrible hint to its tormentor.\n\n\n\n\nNAPOLEONIC RULE.\n\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 35._ [I. 205.]\n\n    Du plus profond de l\u2019Occident d\u2019Europe,\n    De pauvres gens un jeune enfant naistra,\n    Qui par sa langue seduira grande troupe,\n    Son bruit au regne d\u2019Orient plus croitra.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    In the Southern extremity of Western Europe\n    A child shall be born of poor parents,\n    Who by his tongue shall seduce the French army;\n    His bruit shall extend to the kingdom of the East.\n\nIn the island of Corsica was born, of an ancient but impoverished family,\na child, Napoleon Bonaparte, whose proclamations electrified the French\ntroops. His expedition, by order of the Directory, to Egypt, which was\nmeant to ruin his career, conferred upon him a world-wide renown. This\nman was not eloquent as orators are eloquent; verbosity is their gift.\nEven the endowment of Cicero lay much in words; and in their multitude,\nwhich wanteth not folly: Solomon says sin. A plethora of words becomes\nthe apoplexy of reason. But this man\u2019s phrases are all portable, made for\nthe knapsack: they fly to the lip as lightning does to metal; poetry,\npassion, and energy are in them, but fused to an aerolite, till they fall\nlike a luminous bolt, only to burn in man\u2019s memory for ever after. They\nare not winged, but lightning-shod. Fulminants are matter etherealized\nto an interlinking with spirit. But this man\u2019s words are spirit itself,\nand burn their niche in Time, to last as long as that will. Take two of\nthem: \u201cSoldiers, forty centuries look down upon you!\u201d and again, \u201cBehold\nthe sun of Austerlitz!\u201d When you speak, speak thus to men; such words\nare deeds; and come not as from one who beateth the air to the pitchpipe\nof the tibicen Ciceronical, but as the bullet to its butt; speak\nsword-points, that press between the joints and marrow. But I will stop\nhere, to escape oratory. That may still fetch its price, and seduce the\nzebra troup in the courts of legal falsity, or in the Babel-room down by\nthe river-Minster.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 76._ [I. 206.]\n\n    D\u2019un nom farouche tel profer\u00e9 sera,\n    Que les trois seurs[304] auront fato[305] le nom;\n    Puis grand peuple par langue et faict dira,[306]\n    Plus que nul autre aura bruit et renom.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Of a savage name there shall be such publishing\n    That the three sisters shall have by Fate the same name:\n    Then he will lead a great nation by tongue and deed,\n    And have more glory and fame than any other.\n\nHere M. le Pelletier takes _le profer\u00e9_ for a thing placed before, and\nunderstands it as being the prenomen of Bonaparte, viz. Napoleon. But\nI cannot see how that is shown to be the meaning of _profer\u00e9_. That\nword, if from the Latin _proferre_, never was used for _cognomen_ or\n_pr\u00e6nomen_. One of the meanings of _proferre_ is _palam facere_, to make\npublic or publish, and I think it would be safer to render it as I have\ndone. It will still equally draw attention to the name Napoleon, in\ncontradistinction to the name of Bonaparte; because, when he mounted the\nthrone as Emperor, he adopted the new name and abandoned the previous\none. This selection of a new name seems to be a natural instinct of\nhumanity on entering upon a new phase of life. The popes take a new\nname on assuming the pontifical rank; monks and nuns do so on entering\nthe religious life; commoners leave their name behind when created\npeers; women do so when they marry; and here Napoleon does it. But I\ndo not think it desirable to consider this to be indicated by the word\n_profer\u00e9_. Nostradamus says that it is such a fatal name that the Parc\u00e6\nthemselves will adopt it. He then repeats that he will lead,\u2014I think it\nshould be seduce (_s\u00e9duira_),\u2014the _grande nation_ by speech and deeds,\nand raise a name unrivalled in the universe. This was certainly true, and\nthe prefiguration of it is, beyond the denial of prejudice, marvellous.\n\nWe have now to deal with the word itself, which will furnish to\ninvestigation a few interesting hints. Of course some may think them\nintricate and far-fetched. There is no great importance to be attached\nto them perhaps, but they must interest the curious; and curiosity that\nis innocent has a value of its own. Who could see in Sloane\u2019s strange\nChelsea gallery the shape, dimension, and value of the museum of\nBloomsbury and its affiliations?\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 33._ [I. 208.]\n\n    Hercules Roy de Rome et D\u2019annemarc,[307]\n    De Gaule trois Guion[308] surnomm\u00e9,\n    Trembler l\u2019Italie et l\u2019unde[309] de Sainct Marc,\n    Premier sur tous monarque renomm\u00e9.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Hercules, King of Rome and Denmark,\n    Surnamed the triple Giant of France,\n    Shall make Italy tremble and the wave of St. Mark,\n    First in renown of all monarchs.\n\nThere was a Celtic Hercules fabled to draw men by their ears: _Par\nlangue et faict il conduira_, as we have just seen, so that this\nHercules means the Napoleonic dynasty. As to King of Rome, Napoleon\nactually assumed that title, and later on he conferred it upon his son\nby Marie Louise. In the \u201cM\u00e9morial de Sainte-Hel\u00e8ne,\u201d 1840 [i. 79], by\nLas Cases, it is said that during his consulate somebody published a\ngenealogy connecting his family with the ancient kings of the north. This\nNapoleon ridiculed in the public journals, stating that his nobility\ndated only from Montenotte or the 18th Brumaire. Things were not yet\nripe for royal pretensions. The Bonaparte family in Italy can trace to\nthe thirteenth century. One branch was settled at Treviso, the other at\nFlorence, and both held an honourable position; a third was at Sarzana,\nin Genoa. A Charles Bonaparte settled in Corsica in 1612, and lived in\nobscurity, says Le Pelletier, till this family of kings was born. Taine\nhas discovered that the family was of _condottiere_ stock, and De Sta\u00ebl\nand Stendal had, before that, both of them found Napoleon\u2019s character\nmore analogous to that, than to any other type known to them. Taine\nfinds him to be a Sforza or a Malatesta born belated by three centuries.\nHe is as unscrupulous, searching, and ambitious as Macchiavelli; and,\ncuriously enough, the only book[310] he is known to have ever annotated\nprofusely is Macchiavelli\u2019s \u201cPrince,\u201d which was found in his baggage at\nWaterloo, and has since been published; and an intensely interesting\nbook it is; enormously wicked and shrewd, but diabolically wise in the\nDevil\u2019s gay antics. It is a scientific treatise on government without\nGod in the world. Its moral axiom would seem to be that even murder\nshould be directed by good sense in the hands of a craft-master. In\nthis respect I think it is even superior to the clemency of C\u00e6sar. The\n\u201cPrince\u201d evidently fascinated him deeply. He treats his author quite\nimperially, as Bentley or any other great critic might do, and points\nout condescendingly where the priest is but a theorist and errs for want\nof knowledge, such as can only be gained from the practical handling\nof affairs by a man of the Napoleon calibre. I don\u2019t know that you can\nread so deep into the very spirit (for I will not mention heart in the\nsame breath with Napoleon) of the man of blood and brain, as you may by\nthe pencil interlineations by him jotted down in this his Italian _vade\nmecum_; from time to time as he recurs to the book, enlarging in view\nfrom general to first consul, and from first consul to emperor. You seem\nto sit with him, as in a magical cave, with terrible writings that come\nand go upon the wall before you, writings which are the words of this\nbook, and are lit up with a lurid phosphoresence, the light of which\nemanates from his own putrescent brain.\n\nIt is not historically true to say, as M. le Pelletier does, that\nthe family lived in obscurity in Corsica. The house at Ajaccio was\nthe largest in the place, a palace even as compared with the other\nresidences. The title of King of Rome was precious to Napoleon, as it\nenabled him to claim succession to the Empire of Charlemagne. Although\nGarenci\u00e8res, in his interpretation, fails of attaching any individual\nfulfilment to the words, he is able, from this title, to say that whoever\nit belongs to will attain to the Roman Empire.\n\n_Guion_ is equivalent to Terr\u00e6filius or Earthborn, and means giant;\nin fact, it almost seems a variant of _g\u00e9ants_; but why _three\ngiants of France_? I do not know that this has ever been explained.\nHercules mythologically was distinguished by three symbols (Martinii,\n\u201cEtymologicon,\u201d _s.v._ _Hercules_),\u2014a lion\u2019s skin, key, and three apples.\nThe three apples were, not to get angry, not to love money, not to\nlove pleasure. This need only be mentioned for the sake of the double\ntriplication and as marking so far the propriety of the term Hercules.\nMaster of Rome, _i.e._ Italy; of Venice, _i.e._ Austria; of Paris, _i.e._\nFrance; as ruled over by Napoleon as General, Consul, Emperor. That he\nwas \u201cthe first of monarchs over all renowned\u201d needs no elucidation.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 61._ [I. 209.]\n\n    Jamais par le descouvrement du jour\n    Ne parviendra au signe[311] sceptrifere[312]\n    Que tout ses sieges[313] ne soyent en sejour,[314]\n    Portant au coq[315] don du TAG[316] armifere.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Never shall he in broad daylight\n    Reach to the symbol of sceptre-bearing rule.\n    Of all his positions none will be of a settled permanency,\n    Conferring on the Gallic cock a gift of the armed Legion.\n\nIn other words, the Emperor will never enjoy a settled seat of firmly\nestablished government, and he will confer upon France, either the\nruinous legacy or bequest or gift of the legionary conscription, which\nconverts Europe into an armed camp,\u2014an evil gift, indeed; or those who\nprefer it, may render it as the gift to France of a huge burial-place in\nSpain and Portugal, where so many thousands of men, her best blood, fell.\nBut conscription is of the wider issue, and the more permanent evil, as\nit affects Europe to this hour. It makes peace an interlude to war, and\nvery little less costly than war.\n\nOur next quatrain is a great rarity, for it seems to be in pure\nProven\u00e7al, and extremely pleasing it is, a great deal more honied, to\nthe ear in sound than the present French language; which is excellent\nfor conversation and the _salon_, where society grimaces, but where true\nsouls are struck dumb and poetry has ceased to be possible; or only\npossible to rebellion, such as that of Victor Hugo.\n\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 26._ [I. 211]\n\n    Lou grand eyssame se l\u00e8vera d\u2019abelhos,\n    Que non sauran don te siegen venguddos.\n    De nuech l\u2019embousq. Lou gach dessous les treilhos,\n    Ciutad trahido per cing langos non nudos.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great swarm of bees shall rise,\n    That none can tell from whence they came.\n    Night\u2019s ambush. The jay[317] beneath the tiles,\n    City betrayed by five tongues not naked.\n\nThe bees stand for the Bonapartist army and the Empire. The second line\nis understood, by M. le Pelletier, to refer to the origin of the family,\nand it may be so; but I think it refers to the surprising suddenness with\nwhich the rouges, _sans-culottes_, and republicans,\u2014in pretended love\nwith equality and freedom,\u2014were found to welcome tyranny and Rule of\nOne, that used to be spoken of as Monarchy. Guillotined in that form,\nFrenchmen hailed it as a sword-saviour in the new dictator. It seems to\nme to be the sudden conversion of such opposed principles to Bonapartism\non the night of the 18th Brumaire [November 9, 1799],\u2014_De neuch\nl\u2019embousq_, an ambuscade of night,\u2014that startles Nostradamus. Certainly\nthere was no doubt whatever whence the Napoleon family sprang; a family\nwith a history more or less traceable for five hundred years can scarcely\nbe described with propriety as one \u201cwhose origin is _lost_ in the night\nof time.\u201d Yet this is the meaning M. le Pelletier would have us put upon\nit.\n\nNext, like the jay in the fable, tricked out in peacock feathers and\nspoils of the Capetian kings, Napoleon makes their palace of the\nTuileries [_Treilhos_] his head-quarters. The city is given over to him\nby _cinq langos_, five prodigious talkers of the long robe. Far from\nnaked as to words or clothing were they, but as to principles very nude\nand bare, quite unable to cope face to face with the audacity of this\nunscrupulous cut-throat, this gunner of Ajaccio.\n\nThe men of no principles and no practice were simply ciphers before this\nman of practice, _par langue et faict_; this ethnic Hercules of tongue\nand sword; this servant, as Daniel has it, of \u201cthe God of Forces;\u201d this\nfly-pest Beelzebub, man of _Vespres et mouches_, grown to a dynamic King.\nWhere men have lost their virtue, the poor sceptics are given over to\nbelieve a lie of their own making; tongues have they to lie withal, but\nnever a hand amongst them to furnish help at need.\n\n\n_Century VII.\u2014Quatrain 13._ [I. 213.]\n\n    De la cit\u00e9 marine et tributaire\n    La teste rase[318] prendra la satrapie:\n    Chasser sordide[319] qui puis[320] sera contraire;\n    Par[321] quatorze ans tiendra la tyrannie.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The short-haired man shall assume authority\n    In maritime Toulon tributary to the enemy:\n    He will afterwards dismiss as sordid all who oppose him;\n    And for fourteen years direct a tyranny.\n\nThe English had seized Toulon in the name of Louis XVII., and held it\na few months till Bonaparte retook it. He overturned the Directory\n(_sordide_), and suppressed its partisans with the Republic, and enjoyed\nthe tyranny for fourteen years, from 18th Brumaire, November 9, 1799, to\nApril 13, 1814. We have already seen (p. 272) that the _cit\u00e9 marine_ is\nToulon. Garenci\u00e8res fancies this to have been fulfilled when Richelieu\nmade himself governor of _Havre de Grace_, where he kept his treasure and\ntyrannized for about fourteen years.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 57._ [I. 214.]\n\n    De soldat simple parviendra en empire,\n    De robbe courte parviendra \u00e0 la longue:\n    Vaillant aux armes, en Eglise, o\u00f9 plus pire,\n    Vexer[322] les prestres comme l\u2019eau fait l\u2019esponge.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    From a simple soldier he will rise to the empire,\n    From the short robe he will attain the long:\n    Able in arms, in Church government he shows less skill;\n    He raises or depresses the priests as water a sponge.\n\nThis is a very remarkable quatrain, that Bouys and Le Pelletier, and\nI suppose all French commentators, pronounce to belong to Napoleon;\nand it certainly fits him very well. But, with almost as little injury\nto historical fact, it may be applied to Cromwell, and accordingly\nGarenci\u00e8res does so apply it. He writes:\n\n    \u201cI never knew nor heard of anybody to whom this stanza might be\n    applied, than to the late usurper Cromwell; for from a simple\n    soldier he became to be Lord Protector, and from a student in\n    the University he became a graduate in Oxford, he was valiant\n    in arms, and the worst Churchman that could be found; as for\n    vexing the priests, I mean the prelatical clergy, I believe\n    none went beyond him.\u201d\n\nThe circumstances of the French Revolution and the English Commonwealth\ntimes are so much alike in many respects that it is not surprising that\nsuch a description as this of a soldier who seized power and afflicted\nthe clergy should fit both the usurpers, Napoleon and Cromwell, almost\nequally well.\n\nNapoleon was a plain lieutenant in 1785, Consul for life in 1799, and\nEmperor from 1804 to 1814. He changed the short robe for the long,\nis understood by M. le Pelletier as being the consular robe for the\nimperial. There is no need to interpret thus. The military dress or that\nof the civilian is the short robe. Nostradamus takes but little heed, so\nfar as we have yet seen, of the consular dignity. In the last quatrain\nhe designates the duration of the tyranny, not as one of ten years,\nwhich would represent the Empire, but of fourteen, which regards the\nconsulship and empire as one period. If we take Cromwell\u2019s protectorate,\nhowever, from the death of Charles I. to the death of Cromwell, the term\nwill correspond with Napoleon\u2019s imperial career. But the interregnum in\nEngland was a period of twelve years, and that in France under Napoleon\nwas of fourteen (_quatorze ans_); hence this quatrain must not be applied\nto Cromwell, though it in other respects is as true of him as of Napoleon.\n\nValiant in arms, but in ecclesiastical matters less successful, still\nhe thoroughly vexes them, penetrating into every place and corner, as\nwater does into a sponge. We cannot accept M. le Pelletier\u2019s rendering of\n_vexare_ as meaning to raise and cast down. It was used in the sense of\nto trouble, _cruciare_; to anger, _commovere_; or to harass with care,\n_curarum \u00e6stu fluctuare_; but never to alternately swell and depress, as\nin filling or squeezing out a sponge.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 69._ [I. 215.]\n\n    Le Roy Gaulois par la Celtique dextre,[323]\n    Voyant discorde[324] de la grand Monarchie,\n    Sur les trois parts fera florir son sceptre,\n    Contre la Cappe[325] de la grand Hierarchie.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The Gallic King by means of the Celtic sword-hand,\n    Seeing the discord of the great monarchy,\n    Shall make his sceptre flourish by restoring the three parts,\n    As against the Capets, and the Popedom.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res understands as \u201cthe Cap of the great Hierarchy,\u201d Spain in the\nNetherlands, which was the great upholder of the Popedom. His application\nof this to history is of no value. But if we understand Cap as Capet,\nand the ancient connection of the French crown with the Papal Hierarchy,\nI think we elicit a better sense than that of M. le Pelletier, which\nmakes the Capet and the Hierarchy one. The three parts restored, M. le\nPelletier makes to consist of clergy, nobility, and tiers \u00e9tat. I feel\nthat the three parts under Napoleon were Emperor, Senate, and Chamber\nof Deputies, which would be head (or Caput instead of Capet), Senate\nrepresenting the higher classes, and the Chambers the people. That would\nconstitute _les trois parts_ of the quatrain.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 88._ [I. 216.]\n\n    Le divin mal surprendra le grand Prince,\n    Un peu devant aura femme espous\u00e9e:[326]\n    Son appuy et credit \u00e0 un coup[327] viendra mince,[328]\n    Conseil mourra pour la teste ras\u00e9e.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    He shall have married a woman just before\n    The divine wrath falleth on the great Prince;\n    And his support shall dwindle in a sudden atrophy;\n    Counsel shall perish from this shaven head.\n\nThis divine evil that surprises the Prince a little after his marriage\nwith Marie-Louise of Austria and his mean-spirited repudiation of\nJosephine, is most excellently rendered by Garenci\u00e8res as \u201c_the falling\nsickness_, called by the Greeks _Epilepsia_, and by the Latins _Morbus\nsacer_.\u201d Garenci\u00e8res was a Fellow of the London College of Physicians,\nand a man versed in the medical nomenclature of his day; so that _le\nmal divin_ should here be rendered epilepsy. It has never yet been so\nrendered, except by Garenci\u00e8res, and he has no application to make of\nit whatever, though, as a mere matter of translation, he says, \u201cthe\nconstruction of the whole is easie.\u201d It strikes me that this forecast,\nthus interpreted, will throw light from Nostradamus on what history has\nheretofore overlooked, and will necessitate the re-writing of Napoleon\u2019s\nlife from the date of his wicked prostitution of the marriage rite.\nNapoleon, Cromwell, Mahomet, C\u00e6sar, were all epileptic, and probably\nAlexander. But this particular scoundrel first committed, from the purely\nsordid motive of self-aggrandisement, a moral crime, and that brought on\nthe convulsion of the brain, that practically discharged for ever the\nmighty Leyden jar or electric battery, with which this potent brain-fiend\nhad dealt out merciless torpedo-shocks to Europe, and death as from the\nhot wind Samyel. Inflated vanity, the epileptic stroke, the reaction of\nexternal forces on the weakened centre, made the cerebral pap, still of\ngigantic power, entertain new phantasms huger than ever, with a terribly\ndiminished power of reason, to bring them to birth by the practical\nhandling of circumjacent facts and time-tendencies. Now, said the fool\nof this western parable, now am I master of events, and may swim against\nthe sea,\u2014not with it, as I and common mortals heretofore have done, but\nagainst it, and to win. Well, he did carry the big dream into Russia,\nand as far as the nightmare of Borodino. He also still found a mighty\nutterance of lurid glory, with which to pin that evil minute in letters\nof fire and phosphorus upon the curtain of eternity, \u201cBehold the sun of\nAusterlitz!\u201d The looming _mot d\u2019ordre_, the old work, the old guards,\nand the old drillings, guided once again to a Pyrrhic victory; two such\nwill damn a kingdom. Reader, read S\u00e9gur [Comte de S\u00e9gur, \u201cNapol\u00e9on et\nla Grande Arm\u00e9e,\u201d liv. vii. ch. viii. p. 179], and there perceive the\ngiant unbrained and drivelling about his bastard boy called \u201cKing of\nRome,\u201d and what else belongs to _mon \u00e9toile effac\u00e9e_. \u201cAll the supports\ndwindle,\u201d says Nostradamus, \u201cand counsel will perish from the shaven\nhead.\u201d Garenci\u00e8res is right, and the diagnosis true. It is the falling\nsickness. It is not Jove fulminant that strikes the reeling Pagod from\nwithout, as with C\u00e6sar \u2019twas, but an epileptic withdrawal of electricity\nfrom within, backwards. Emperor and empire will soon roll together in the\ndust; man\u2019s posthumous analysis, and that of all the evil works wrought\nby him, though the good live after.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 4._ [I. 127.]\n\n    Par[329] l\u2019univers sera faict un monarque\n    Qu\u2019en[330] paix et vie ne sera longuement:\n    Lors se perdra la piscature barque,\n    Sera regie en plus grand detriment.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Throughout the universe a monarch shall arise,\n    Who will not be long in peace nor life;\n    The bark of St. Peter will then lose itself,\n    Being directed to its greatest detriment.\n\nThe Emperor Napoleon, reviving pretensions to the old Roman empire or\nuniverse, will neither enjoy peace nor life for very long. In his time\nthe Holy Seat, _la piscature barque_, shall so guide itself to greatest\ndetriment as to be cast away and lost (under Pius VII.).\n\nPope Pius was made a prisoner by General Miollis, July 6, 1809, and\ncarried to Savone, then to Fontainebleau, and kept under strict guard by\nNapoleon till March 10, 1814, when he was set at liberty. Garenci\u00e8res\ninterprets this as being fulfilled in the time of Henri II. of France,\nwho was slain by Montgomery in the tilt yard. Through all his reign he\nwas at war with the Emperor Charles V. This Emperor sacked Rome, and Pope\nClement VII. was made a prisoner (_vide_ Garenci\u00e8res, \u201cTiber,\u201d p. 77).\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 60._ [I. 218.]\n\n    Par teste rase viendra bien mal eslire,\n    Plus que sa charge ne porte[331] passera;\n    Si grande[332] fureur et rage fera dire\n    Qu\u2019\u00e0 feu et sang tout sexe tranchera.[333]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    In the shorn head France will have made so bad a choice;\n    It will be heavier than its force will enable it to endure.\n    So great fury and rage will make men say\n    That he will exterminate the male sex by fire and sword.\n\nThe period of the fulfilment of this event M. le Pelletier gives as\nextending from 1813 to 1815. It asks no further interpretation than that\nafforded by the translation.\n\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 82._ [I. 219.]\n\n    Amas s\u2019approche venant d\u2019Esclavonie,[334]\n    L\u2019Olestant[335] vieux cit\u00e9 ruynera,\n    Fort desol\u00e9e verra sa Romanie,\n    Puis grande flamme esteindre ne scaura.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A troop approaches, coming through Sclavonia;\n    The destroyer will ruin an old city;\n    He will see all Romania desolated,\n    Nor will he know how to extinguish such a blaze.\n\nA mass of troops is wending from Sclavonia. The destroyer, Napoleon,\nwill ruin old Moscow altogether, and see Roumania desolated; such a\nconflagration he will not know how to extinguish. It was Rostopchin, in\n1812, fired Moscow to prevent the French from wintering there, and it\nsettled the fate of the campaign.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 44._ [I. 220.]\n\n    L\u2019aigle pouss\u00e9e[336] entour[337] de pavillions,\n    Par autres oyseaux d\u2019entour[338] sera chass\u00e9e,\n    Quand bruit des cymbres[339] tube,[340] et sonnaillons[341]\n    Rendront le sens de la dame insens\u00e9e.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The eagle, drifting in her cloud of flags,\n    By other circling birds is beaten home.\n    Till war\u2019s hoarse trumpet and the clarion shrill,\n    Recall her senses to th\u2019 insensate dame.\n\nThis is one of the few quatrains that lend themselves freely to a poetic\nrendering. The Napoleonic eagle driven back to France with all its\nretreating flags about it, or chased by a surrounding of other eagles,\nAustrian, Russian, Prussian. The din of cymbals, trumpets, and clarions\nrestore France to reason, the insensate dame.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res\u2019s annotation here is extremely funny, and should not be\nunrecorded. He says: \u201cIt is an eagle driven from the tents by other\nbirds, when a mad lady shall recover her senses by the noise of cymbals,\ntrumpets, and bells.\u201d\n\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 86._ [I. 221.]\n\n    Comme un gryphon viendra le Roy d\u2019Europe,\n    Accompagn\u00e9 de ceux d\u2019Aquilon,[342]\n    De rouges et blancs conduira grand[343] troupe,\n    Et iront contre[344] le Roy de Babylon.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Like a griffin the King of Europe will come,\n    Accompanied with those of the north.\n    Of red and white there will be a great number,\n    And they will go against the King of Babylon.\n\nThe King of Europe is Louis XVIII.; shall come like a griffin (Griffon,\n\u03b3\u03c1\u03cd\u03c8, \u03b3\u03c1\u03cd\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2, a fabulous animal, with hooked beak: _v._ Liddell and\nScott; _v._ _Griffe_, No\u00ebl; _Griffeau_, Roquefort, Littr\u00e9, Gwillim,\nBrunet, etc.), accompanied with those of the north. He will conduct\ngrand battalions of red and white uniforms, _i.e._ English and Austrian,\nand they will march as one against the King of Babylon, which is Paris.\nLouis, as the descendant of Hugh Capet, may be styled the first of\nEuropean Kings. The King of Paris is Napoleon, who ruled the Revolution\nthere, and brought order to confusion or Babel. But we can bring it home\nto Paris even more intimately than this, for the old name of Paris was\nLutetia, or mud-place, where the toads, _crapauds_, or Frankish frogs\ndwelt, and out of whose mud, or _bourbe_, came the Bourbon family. So\nthat Paris, their chief city, _en calembour_, yields _Bourbe ville_,\n_Babyl_, _Babel_.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res thinks to see Gustavus Adolphus here as the most eminent King\nof Europe in his day, and he came from Aquilon, the north, and warred\nupon the Emperor, who was King of Babylon, from propping the popedom,\nor from the Babel of confusion. He had regiments red, white, blue, and\nyellow and green, in the hope of creating emulation amongst them. If he\nhad only had regiments red and white we might have hesitated, and gone\nfurther to examine where the clue would lead to. But what begins by\nproving too much is like other overshooting, and misses the mark entirely.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 89._ [I. 222.]\n\n    Entre deux cymbes[345] pieds et mains attach\u00e9s\n    De miel face oingt et de laict substant\u00e9,\n    Guespes et mouches, fitine,[346] amour, fach\u00e9s,\n    Poccilateur[347] faucer[348] Cyphe[349] tent\u00e9.\n\nWe have now rather laboriously cleared the way for a\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Between two prisons, bound hand and foot,\n    With his face anointed with honey, and fed with milk,\n    Exposed to wasps and flies, and tormented with the love of his child,\n    His cupbearer will false the cup that aims at suicide.\n\nM. le Pelletier renders this: Napoleon, after being consecrated by Pius\nVII., and anointed from the sacred ampulla with honey and milk, underwent\na double imprisonment in Elba and St. Helena. The imperial bees\u2014for so\nhe translates the wasps and flies\u2014are desolated as to their love for the\nchild, and his surgeon, Yvan (_pocillator_), has falsified the death by\npoison, on the night of April 12 to 13, 1814. Now, as it was not his\nown soldiers that tormented him, I think we ought to read it _fach\u00e9_:\nhe was desolated by wasps, flies, his child, and love. His soldiers are\ncalled _abeilles_ before, never _gu\u00eapes_; these are the enemy tormenting,\nwho will not let him abdicate in favour of his son (\u03c6\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd). We shall\ndo better here to follow Garenci\u00e8res\u2019s example, drawn from the life of\nArtaxerxes, King of Persia. The Persians used to punish poisoners by\nlaying them between two troughs, here called boats, with their face\nuncovered, bedaubed with honey to attract the wasps and flies, and fed\nthem with milk to prolong the torment, which if they refused, they ran\nneedles into their eyes most persuasively, and then left them till vermin\nate them up. So that it means: he was tormented between two prisons\nbodily and mentally, with the ruin of his family, insomuch that he would\nhave been glad to have escaped it all by poison. Whenever Napoleon was\nthoroughly frustrated in his plans, he evidently tried to fall back upon,\nwhat he had never deserved, human sympathy; which in prosperity he had\nnever thought of nor desired. He first showed this softening, rather of\nthe brain than heart, at Borodino, as we have said before.\n\nWe will now take the substance of what happened at the abdication, as\ngiven by M. le Pelletier from the _Manuscrit de 1814_, by the Baron Faim.\nHe abdicated [here may we say, \u201cWoe unto him that buildeth a town with\nblood\u201d (Habakkuk, ii. 12)] at Fontainebleau April 4, 1814, reserving the\nRegency for the Empress Marie Louise, and his son. He was thrown into\ndespair when he found the allies to be masters of Paris, and to reject\nany such conditions. Baron Faim was his private secretary, and describes\nwhat occurred on the night of the 12th and 13th of April, before the day\nof his unconditional abdication. Fontainebleau really became a prison\nunder the surveillance of strangers. There were no terms left to him to\nsave even his life. Still he let the day close without yielding.\n\nFor some days previously he had seemed altogether preoccupied in\nrevolving some design. His conversation turned always upon the voluntary\ndeath that the great men of antiquity courted when in situations such as\nhis. The Empress had reached Orleans on her way to rejoin him, but he had\ngiven orders not to allow her to do so. He dreaded such an interview as\nlikely to unman him for the resolution he meditated.\n\nIt was a terrible night of suspense; the long corridors of the palace\nresounded with the footsteps of servants going and coming, the candles\nwere burning in the private apartments. Doctor Yvan is suddenly called\nupon to attend, the Duc de Vincence is sent for, and they hurry to fetch\nthe Duc de Bassano from the Chancellory; they are all taken to the\nbedroom as they drop in one after another. Sobs and sighs escape, but\nnot a word is yet dropped to satisfy curiosity. On a sudden the doctor\nleaves the apartment, descends to the courtyard, finds a horse ready\nsaddled, and quits the place at a hand-gallop.\n\nAll that transpires on the occasion is that, at the retreat from Moscow,\nNapoleon had provided himself with a means of escape, should he fall\nalive into the hands of the enemy. Yvan, his surgeon, had given him a\npacket of opium, which he had ever since carried round his neck. The\nvalet heard him rise in the night, and saw through the half-opened door\nthat he mixed something in a glass of water, drank it off, and returned\nto bed. He quickly felt that his end was approaching, and had his most\ntrusted followers called to his bedside, Yvan amongst the rest; but, when\nhe heard Napoleon complain that the action of the poison was too slow, he\nprecipitately quitted Fontainebleau, as we have seen.\n\nA very heavy slumber supervened, accompanied with profuse perspiration,\nand when he awoke the symptoms had disappeared, the dose having proved\nof insufficient quantity, or time had deprived it of its efficacy.\nNapoleon, astonished at the failure, simply exclaimed, \u201c_Dieu ne le veut\npas!_\u201d and professing, perhaps for the first time in his life, to yield\nto Providence, resigned himself quietly to his new destiny. On board\nthe _Northumberland_ he strongly reprobated suicide. It would have been\ninstructive to have heard the arguments employed by this intellectual\ngiant, merely as a mental acrobat exhibiting, and as showing how far the\nintellect may be effective in illustrating the path of duty. But on\nnothing could Napoleon\u2019s opinion be worth so little as on a question of\nmorals, where the soul\u2019s instinct is chief guide. The rats ate his heart,\nit is said, in an interim of the medical dissection. I doubt it; he had\neaten it himself long before he left Brienne.\n\nOn the morning of the 13th, Napoleon rose and dressed as usual. His\nobjections had vanished, and his next act was to ratify the treaty\u2014a\nsolemn act, which he took the earliest opportunity that offered to betray\nand break.\n\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 24._ [I. 227.]\n\n    Le captif prince aux Itales[350] vaincu\n    Passera Gennes par mer[351] jusqu\u2019a Marseille,\n    Par grand effort des forains[352] survaincu,\n    Sauf[353] coup de feu,[354] barril liqueur d\u2019abeille.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The captive prince, conquered, is sent to Elba;\n    He will sail across the Gulf of Genoa to Marseilles.\n    By a great effort of the foreign forces he is overcome,\n    Though he escapes the fire, his bees yield blood by the barrel.\n\nHe ran the blockade, March 1, 1815, and landed at Cannes, close to\nMarseilles, crossing the Gulf of Genoa, till defeated at Waterloo on the\n18th of June, \u201cseeking death,\u201d says Le Pelletier, \u201cwithout being able\nto find it,\u201d (_o\u00f9 il sera sauf de coups de feu_). When the smoke rises\nfrom the bottomless pit, \u201cshall men seek death and not find it; and shall\ndesire to die, and death shall flee from them\u201d (Rev. ix. 6). Napoleon\ncomes out of the island \u00c6thalia, or metallic smoke, and escapes the\nmurderous artillery that kills his men, though it were far fitter he\nshould die. His beehive is not burned with fire, but other liquor than\nhoney flows freely,\u2014the life-blood of his bees.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 70._\n\n    Le dard du ciel[355] fera[356] son estandue,[357]\n    Morts en parlant, grande execution.\n    La pierre en l\u2019arbre, la fiere gent[358] rendue,\n    Bruit humain monstre[359] purge expiation.\n\nThe third and fourth lines will neither of them scan. _La fiere gent_\nshould be written _la fier\u2019 gent_, _fier_ being read as one syllable.\n\n_Bruit_, in the fourth line, is to be read as one syllable. Garenci\u00e8res\nhas _Brait_, which, though it have no meaning, shows perhaps that it was\none syllable.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The thunderbolt shall strike his standard;\n    He shall die speaking proud words, great is the execution.\n    The stone is in the tree, the proud nation yields,\n    The monster purges his human fame by expiation.\n\nThe thunderbolt from heaven shall strike down his standard, and he fails\nor dies[360] uttering haughty words. There is terrible execution done.\nThe stone[361] is in the tree. The proud nation yields. The hero purges\nby expiation his human renown.\n\nIn spite of all these doubts interposed, this yields us a quatrain of a\nsufficiently clear sense, in conveying two leading ideas; a providential\nand mighty overthrow of a giant leader and braggart of swelling words;\nand of a proud nation split in battle, as a tree is by thunder-stroke.\nThe forcible picture is not unworthy of Waterloo or the Battle of Mont\nSaint-Jean, as the French call it; even though it may not be impossible\nto find some other battle since the death of Nostradamus that it might\nrepresent almost as well, if not quite so fully, as the tremendous day\nof Waterloo, June 18, 1815. Englishmen seem half afraid now to mention\nthe day with pride, for fear of hurting French susceptibilities. To\nmention it insultingly, or in a hostile spirit, is unpardonable; but to\nspeak of it modestly and thankfully, and of Wellington as a great soldier\nand benefactor to us, is only manly and proper. The man who has not the\ncourage to do this firmly and inoffensively in the company of Frenchmen\nis only one of the many cowards amongst us, who lead the French to think\nthat, however great things our fathers may have done in the past, the\nspirit has fled from us that would repeat them in the future.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 86._ [I. 230.]\n\n    Du Bourg la reyne parvi\u00eadront droit \u00e0 Chartres,\n    Et feront pr\u00e8s du pont Anthoni pause:\n    Sept pour la paix cauteleux comme martres,\n    Feront entr\u00e9e[362] d\u2019arm\u00e9e a Paris clause.[363]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    From Bourg la Reine they shall march on Chartres,\n    They shall camp close to Pont Anthony:\n    Seven chiefs for peace, cautious as martens,\n    Shall enter Paris cut off from its army.\n\nThe generals of the seven nations coalesced shall, under pretext of\npeace, but really out of jealousy of France, says M. le Pelletier, and in\nvirtue of the capitulation of the 3rd of July, enter Paris; now cut off\nfrom her army (_clos d\u2019arm\u00e9e_), which retreats upon Chartres, passing by\nBourg la Reine and Pont d\u2019Anthony, where it camps. The quatrain does not\nat all obviously read so, but we must suppose that it is the French army\nwhich goes to Chartres. We are not, however, bound to believe that the\nmarten-like and cunning seven only pretended to establish peace out of\njealousy to France. All Europe and France herself sighed for peace; and\nif, when victorious, the enemies were inclined to take back what France\nhad robbed them of severally, that would not be very wonderful. The seven\nnations signatory to the treaties of 1815 were England, Austria, Prussia,\nRussia, Spain, Sweden, and Portugal.\n\nThis is a very remarkable forecast, and shows that although Nostradamus\nis a national prophet of France, and nearly all his one thousand\nquatrains turn upon her and her interests, he seldom exhibits a particle\nof partisanship, and you would not know he was a Frenchman from any\nword that he lets fall. He strictly limits himself to the utterance of\nhis vision in the tersest phrase, and the most forcible words that he\ncan bring to bear for that purpose. I think there is no other instance\nknown of such inviolable temperance. A man sits down in his study\nand prophecies; commits his visions to paper in prose; turns them\ndeliberately afterwards, and in cold blood, into the pithiest poetry he\nknows how; shakes up in a hat, as we have previously remarked, all the\nquatrains together, and, when he has effectually destroyed all sequence\nand order, counts them out into even hundreds; then, without a word of\nnote or comment, he sends them forth in type into the world to sink or\nswim; be ridiculed or admired, be understood or mistaken, perish or\nendure; until such period as their fulfilment in the centuries of time is\nrealized, and the sleeping world awakens to the miracle, that has slept\nalso, beside the sleeping world, till light arose to make both clear at\nonce.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 67._ [I. 232.]\n\n    Le blonde au nez forche[364] viendra commettre[365]\n    Par[366] la duelle[367] et chassera dehors:\n    Les exil\u00e9s dedans fera remettre,\n    Aux lieux marins commettant[368] les plus fors.[369]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The light-haired one will come to blows with the hooked nose\n    For the second time, and chase him out:\n    The exiled will replace him within,\n    Consigning the strongest of the party to a fortress in the sea.\n\nLouis XVIII. is designated _Le blond au nez fourchu_ according to Le\nPelletier. _Le blond_ is, no doubt, the sign of the Capets, as shown\nby several other stanzas in Nostradamus, but not the aquiline nose, I\nthink; that, I believe, is intended for Napoleon. So that Louis XVIII.\ncomes to blows with the hooked nose, or Napoleon, for the second time and\ndrives him out; he who was exiled before now replacing him within. The\nstrongest, that is Napoleon and his officers, are committed _aux lieux\nmarins_; which either means to the English, who go down to the sea in\nships, or else to St. Helena, a prison in the sea.\n\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 90._ [I. 233.]\n\n    Cent fois mourra le tyran inhumain;\n    Mis \u00e0 son lieu s\u00e7avant et debonnaire:\n    Tout le senat sera dessous sa main,\n    Fasch\u00e9 sera par malin[370] temeraire.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The inhuman tyrant shall die a hundred times;\n    A learned and debonnaire King shall take his place:\n    All the senate shall be under his control,\n    And he shall be grieved by a bold criminal.\n\nNapoleon is the inhuman tyrant to die a hundred deaths: one his suicidal\nattempt; another Elba, with its cinerary and fuliginous ashes; another\nWaterloo; and lastly St. Helena, with its ten times ten remorseful\nhours, regrets, and studious falsifications of the history of his life.\n_Debonnaire_ is, with Nostradamus, an epithet of the Capet family, and\nstands doubtless for Louis XVIII. put into his place. The King finds the\nSenate quite submissive to his will, but he is cut to the heart by the\ndaring attempt of the criminal Louvel upon the Duc de Berri, February 13,\n1820.\n\nThis is the excellent interpretation of M. le Pelletier. Bouys (p. 80),\nwriting in 1806 under the full influence of the demon of Napoleon,\ngives it a very different reading. The inhuman tyrant with him can be\nnobody but Robespierre, who, with a pistol shot, endeavoured to put an\nend to himself ineffectually, but blew away half his face, suffering\nthirty hours of fearful torment, and finally was dragged to the place\nof execution amidst the maledictions of the populace. The _s\u00e7avant et\ndebonnaire_ to Bouys is, of course, Napoleon. The _malin tem\u00e9raire_ is\na forgotten Georges, whose conspiracy gave a little momentary anxiety\nto Napoleon. Here terminate the oracles assigned to Napoleon by M. le\nPelletier. But Bouys adduces several others, which sufficiently relate\nto the Emperor to be enumerated here. It is painful to see how men\nmanipulate these things to suit their theories. We will give now a\nquatrain that Bouys cites, as he thinks it favourable to Napoleon; but\nhe carefully omits the one next to it in the same Century, purely, as it\nseems, because it is unfavourable to Napoleon.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 29._ [Bouys, 82.]\n\n    L\u2019oriental sortira de son si\u00e8ge,\n    Passer les monts Apennons voir la Gaule:\n    Transpercera le ciel, les eaux et neige,\n    Et un chacun frappera de sa gaule.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The oriental will quit his post,\n    To cross the Apennines and see after Gaul:\n    He will transfix the heaven, the mountain ice and snows,\n    Striking each of them with his magic wand.\n\nThe Oriental, _i.e._ Napoleon in Egypt, will leave his army behind there,\nafter almost turning Mahometan; return and cross the Apennines and Alps\nto look after the Directory and their doings in France. He will soon even\nsubdue the elements and Nature by his marvellous roads over the mountains\nof ice and snow, and will strike each as with the rod of Moses, or the\nwand of a magician; for the archaic and unusual word _gaule_ may mean\nthat, as well as a riding switch. Bouys misses the plainer meaning of the\nfirst line, but is determined it shall represent Napoleon, so he takes\n_Oriental_ to be Corsica, as being east of Toulon. The passage of Mont\nSt. Bernard with cavalry and artillery he gives rightly enough; the Alps\nhave to be introduced for the Apennines. The quatrain following next to\nthis he passes _sub silentio_, for the reason above assigned, though it\nis pregnant with meaning; and how this should have been overlooked by M.\nle Pelletier, I cannot quite understand; but so it is.\n\n\n_Century II.\u2014Quatrain 30._ [II. 45.]\n\n    Un qui les dieux d\u2019Annibal infernaux,\n    Fera[371] renaistre, effrayeur des humains.\n    Oncq\u2019 plus d\u2019horreur ne plus pire journaux,\n    Qu\u2019avint[372] viendra[373] par Babel aux Romains.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    One whom the gods of Hannibal from the lower regions\n    Shall cause to be born again [shall be], a terror to mankind.\n    Never will more horror, nor more evil days,\n    Come upon the Romans. The confusion will be like that before from\n        Babel.\n\nHannibal and Napoleon are the only great generals who ever forced their\nmilitary way over the Alps successfully; Hannibal, with his _acetum_,\nvinegar, or hatchet, as some have interpreted Livy; and Napoleon for\ncavalry and heavy pieces of artillery. He seemed to be the marvellous\nCarthaginian born again out of the shades of Hades, a scourge and flail\nof men: Babel itself not worse in the confusion that fell upon Rome,\nand the Church of Rome through him. We have given this before, at p.\n228, but repeat it here with further enlargement, as it belongs more to\nNapoleon than to the Revolution. Garenci\u00e8res thinks it was fulfilled when\nCharles V. sacked Rome. If we consider, as I do, that the two stanzas are\ninseparable, they will fit only Napoleon.\n\nWe come now to a quatrain that M. le Pelletier has overlooked, but which\nBouys (p. 83) with some reason attributes to Napoleon.\n\n\n_Century IV.\u2014Quatrain 54._\n\n    Du nom qui onque[374] ne fut un Roi Gaulois\n    Jamais ne fut un foudre si crantif.\n    Tremblant l\u2019Italie,[375] l\u2019Espagne et les Anglois,\n    De femme estrangiers[376] grandement attentif.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Of a name that never belonged to Gallic king,\n    Never was there so terrible a thunderbolt.\n    He made Italy tremble, Spain and the English.\n    He wooed a foreign lady with assiduity.\n\nBouys introduces into his interpretation of this a good deal of foolish\nadulation of Napoleon; pretending that he was not only _crantif_ towards\nhis enemies, which we must render _a cause of terror_, but also that\nhe was himself _crantif_, very tender of the lives of his troops. To\nprove this monstrous proposition, he quotes the claptrap uttered by him\nbefore the battle of Austerlitz: \u201cI regret to think how many of these\nbrave fellows I shall lose. I feel for them as if veritably they were my\nown children. Indeed I sometimes reproach myself for this sentiment of\ntenderness; I sometimes fear it may end in rendering me unfit to carry on\nwar.\u201d This was, indeed, an heroic fear, says Bouys. We are content to let\nits heroism wrestle with its hypocrisy; we foresee which will come by the\nfirst fall.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res translates that the warrior, whoever he may be, will follow\nafter strange women; and that would fit Napoleon, though not specially.\nBut we think it better to render it with Bouys as indicating the Empress\nJosephine, who was of Creole blood, and therefore foreign; or Marie\nLouise, equally foreign. If the latter, _Estrange_ would stand for\nAustrian (_v._ Century I., Quatrain 83).\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 53._ [I. 269.]\n\n    Dedans Bolongne voudra laver ses fautes,[377]\n    Il ne pourra au temple du soleil\n    Il volera faisant choses si[378] hautes,\n    En hierarchie n\u2019en fut oncq un pareil.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    In Boulogne he would make up for his shortcomings,\n    But cannot penetrate the temple of the sun.\n    He hastens away to perform the very highest things.\n    In the hierarchy he never had an equal.\n\nThis is a singularly interesting quatrain. It has received three\ndifferent interpretations; all three somewhat curious. Garenci\u00e8res opens\nthe ball. He says there are two towns called _Bolloin_, one in Italy,\none in France; that is, Bologna in Italy, and Boulogne in France. He\nthinks Boulogne is intended, and that Richelieu, a man of high things,\nand beyond the hierarchy, vowed, a little before his death, that if\nhe recovered he would make a pilgrimage to Boulogne; to the Temple of\nMiracles there, dedicated to the Virgin, here described as the _Sun_,\nfrom that passage in the Revelation, \u201cAnd there appeared a woman clothed\nwith the sun;\u201d but the cardinal took the road of death, which led, not\nthrough Boulogne, to the shades below, and certainly not to the Temple\nof the Sun. This has an interest of its own, but, as an interpretation,\nis utterly wide of the mark. Richelieu on a repentant pilgrimage to the\nTemple of the Sun would have been admirable as a caricature in Rabelais;\nbut, would be no fitter subject for Nostradamus\u2019s pen, than if a lady of\ntitle went to Aix-les-Bains to take the waters there. And observe, he had\nto invent a Temple of the Sun to send him to, for never was there such a\ntemple at Boulogne.\n\nWe have also Le Pelletier trying his hand, and he realizes it in Louis\nNapoleon, in his escapade of 1840. When he was made Emperor, his Italian\nexploit is represented as a flight to the _Temple of the Sun_. But how he\ncould suppose _that_ inferior mortal, to be referred to in _n\u2019en fut oncq\nun pareil_, I cannot divine.\n\nBouys and others attribute it to Napoleon, and his intention to descend\nupon England from Boulogne in the flotilla. Is there not a column\nthere, ridiculously built to commemorate the failure? Is there not\nalso a Boulogne medal struck (Ford\u2019s \u201cSpain,\u201d i. 272) with one of the\nNapoleonic falsehoods (an endless series) imprinted on its face, which\nruns, \u201cDescente en Angleterre frapp\u00e9 \u00e0 Londres\u201d? These are the ridiculous\ntouches; but now let us enter on the serious interpretation and see what\nthat will yield us.\n\nAt Boulogne the Emperor will endeavour to blot England from the map of\nEurope, and so redeem all his previous shortcomings in that direction. He\npromises himself the satisfaction of dictating his terms in London, and\npossibly entertained, in that strange brain of his, some dream that he\nwould be crowned on that royalty-confirming stone of Scone in Westminster\nAbbey; where, tradition tells, the Temple of Apollo was shaken down by\nearthquake, A.D. 154, the Temple of the Sun. But _Il ne pourra au temple\ndu soleil_, says Nostradamus: and history has thought fit in this as on\nso many other occasions to endorse the forecast of the prophet. Bouys\nadds, \u201cNapol\u00e9on finira par faire la conqu\u00eate de l\u2019Angleterre;\u201d but Bouys\nis not Nostradamus; and Napoleon, like Richelieu, went to the shades\nbelow from St. Helena, and did not go to the Temple of the Sun nor to\nthe Stone of Scone. He went away, however, from Boulogne to very great\nthings, as men count greatness; and was quite without an equal in the\nhierarchy of kings.\n\n\n\n\nLOUIS XVIII. AND LOUIS PHILIPPE.\n\n\nWe now come to the Restoration of Louis XVIII.\n\n\n_Presage 38._ [I. 235.]\n\n    Roy salu\u00e9 Victeur,[379] Impereateur,[380]\n    La foy fauss\u00e9e. Le Royal fait[381] congnu:[382]\n    Sang[383] Mathien[384] Roy fait[385] supereateur,[386]\n    De gent[387] superbe humble[388] par[389] pleurs venu.[390]\n\nThis is a very crabbed quatrain.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The King is saluted victor and dominator,\n    The oath falsified: The King makes himself known again:\n    Grandson of Louis XIV. becomes King,\n    Is called back by the proud people humiliated to tears.\n\nLouis XVIII. is proclaimed King, May 3, 1814, but the people take up\nNapoleon from Elba, March 1, 1815, thus breaking faith. Louis XVIII. (Le\nRoyal) is again recognized, July 8, 1815; the grandson of Louis XIV.\n(_sang \u00c6mathien_), a name conferred by Nostradamus on Louis XIV., who\nassumed the emblem of the Sun, \u00c6mathien being son of Aurora, who opens\nthe gates of the morning sun. This grandson becomes now undisputed King,\nthe humiliated French nation recalling him with tears.\n\n\n_Century X.\u2014Quatrain 16._ [I. 236.]\n\n    Heureux au regne de France, heureux de vie,\n    Ignorant sang, mort fureur et rapine,\n    Par nom flateur[391] sera mis en envie:\n    Roy desrob\u00e9,[392] trop de foye en cuisine.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Happy in the kingdom of France, happy in life,\n    Free from blood, violent death and angry rapine,\n    He will have a flattering name, and be an object of desire:\n    A King retired, with too much faith in the kitchen.\n\nHere we are to take Louis XVIII. as restored to the throne of France:\nhis life passes happily, without violent experiences of blood, death,\nrage, or rapine. The flattering name was given to him of _D\u00e9sir\u00e9_, that\nis prophetically hinted in the words \u201c_il sera mis en envie_.\u201d He will\nnot devote sufficient attention to his public duties, so that he may be\ndescribed as _desrob\u00e9_, retired or retained at home; and he will be too\nmuch addicted to enjoyments of the table,\u2014_trop de foye en cuisine_. The\ngastronomy was proverbial; the obesity consequent upon it made him grow\ninert, so that he gradually let the affairs of State drift without giving\nthem due attention.\n\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 96._ [I. 238.]\n\n    Chef de Fossan[393] aura gorge coupp\u00e9e\n    Par le ducteur[394] du limier et levrier;\n    Le faict patr\u00e9[395] par ceux du mont Tarp\u00e9e,[396]\n    Saturne en Leo[397] 13 de Fevrier.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A prince of Fossano shall have his throat cut\n    By the keeper of his hounds and greyhounds:\n    The attempt will be made by those of the Tarpeian rock,\n    Saturn being in Leo on 13th February.\n\nFossana is put, by synecdoche, for Sardinia. A prince, therefore, of\nSardinia shall be stabbed by the Keeper of the Kennel, instigated by\nRepublicans, when Saturn is in opposition to the sign of the Lion, on\nFebruary 13, 1820. M. le Pelletier, who seems somewhat learned in the\nhouses of the stars, says that Saturn was in opposition to, and not in\nconjunction with, Leo on this occasion. But Nostradamus leaves it open.\nThe Tarpeian rock is figuratively employed to signify the _Mountain_,\nor the demagogues and the Republicans generally. The Mons Tarpeius was\nfirst named from murder, and was for ages a scene of murder. Tarpeia,\nwho betrayed the Capitol to the Sabines, was crushed by their shields\nat the gate, and her father, Spurius Tarpeius, was thrown over the\nbattlements by order of Romulus. Children ill-formed at birth were flung\nfrom its heights. It was better known as Capitolinus, so called (_caput\nToli_) from the head of Tolus, found there when digging foundations for\nthe Temple of Jupiter: thus the place of the skull, a Golgotha from the\nbeginning of Rome. Later on criminals were sentenced to be thrown from\nit. Many of these deadly associations were, no doubt, present to the\nmind of Nostradamus, and made this mountain of death seem to him fit to\nforeshadow the death that should emanate from the French mountain. To\ndwell upon this is of physiological interest, as showing how very closely\nthe natures of the poet and the prophet overlap each other; so that, as\nin the rainbow colours, there is no line to be drawn as to where one\nbegins or another ends:\u2014they may be seen, but not severed.\n\nThe Duc de Berri was the son of Marie Ther\u00e8se of Savoy, married to the\nComte d\u2019Artois, she being the daughter of Victor-Am\u00e9d\u00e9e III., King of\nSardinia. This Sardinian was to have ruled France, and, with but one\nintervening, to have followed the Corsican in the occupation of the\nthrone. Louvel, the murderer, stabbed him coming from the opera, and wore\nthe King\u2019s livery at the moment of the attempt. The forecast is again\nwonderful in prefiguring every particular short of the names of the two\nindividuals. The nationalities are given, the calling of Louvel, and the\nday of the month. If all this be Chance, some hare-brained few would\nprefer it to what they know of Certainty.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 4._ [I. 240.]\n\n    Le gros mastin de cit\u00e9 dechass\u00e9,[398]\n    Sera fasch\u00e9 de l\u2019estrange[399] alliance:\n    Apr\u00e8s aux champs avoir le cerf chass\u00e9,[400]\n    Le loup et l\u2019ours se donront[401] defiance.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The great mastiff chased from the city\n    Will be afflicted by the strange alliance:\n    When the stag is driven to the fields,\n    The wolf and bear will commence to mistrust each other.\n\nThe Duc de Bordeaux is the great mastiff, dethroned August 9, 1830, by\nLouis Philippe, in the dog-days, when the star _Sirius_ is in opposition.\n_Le Grand Chien_ burning in the horizon is a synonym for the _gros\nmastin_; the city, of course, is Paris. Charles X., who was fond of the\nchase, is turned from the great huntsman to the stag. The wolf is Louis\nPhilippe, a name which lends itself to Lou. P. The bear represents,\naccording to M. le Pelletier, _la Montagne_, in the assembly, because\nbears make their lair in the highest situations. We need not insist on\nthis resemblance or characteristic pointed out by Le Pelletier.\n\nThere are six quatrains devoted by Le Pelletier to the Duc de\nBordeaux,\u2014the Henri Cinq that was never to be,\u2014that Royal Prince whom\nall the Princes should see to be heaven-descended. But as we, who are\nnot royal, have seen that nothing came of him; and that, being now dead,\nnothing can come of him, we shall pass over the six quatrains in silence.\nThe quatrains of Nostradamus lend themselves most kindly to elucidation\nonce you find the clue, but they most persistently refuse to have a\nmeaning read into them from without.\n\nM. le Pelletier has elaborated the meaning of the six quatrains, about\nLouis Philippe with so much ingenious learning that we must give the\nwhole of them, and let the reader take them at his own valuation.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 84._\n\n    Celuy qu\u2019en[402] Sparte Claude[403] ne peut regner,\n    Il fera tant par voye seductive,\n    Que du court, long le fera araigner,[404]\n    Que contre Roy fera sa perspective.[405]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    He who will cause that the lame cannot reign in Paris,[406]\n    He will effect so much in his seductive way\n    That from the short to long he will attain,\n    Who has brought to bear his deception against the King.\n\nThe meaning of this is that Louis Philippe d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans will cause the\nDuc de Bordeaux to be unable to hold the reins of government in Paris.\nThe anagrammatic substitution of Sparte for Paris is doubly ingenious,\ninasmuch as Lycurgus at Sparta established a double kingship so-called.\nOf course the office could not be that of king at all, but there was the\nname if not the fact, and that suffices for this prince of dexterous\nanalogists, Nostradamus. Louis Philippe will achieve this by the\nbyeways of seduction, and will usurp successfully his nephew\u2019s throne\n(araigner), putting himself in opposition, says Le Pelletier, to his\nlawful King. _Faire sa perspective_ he renders opposition. I do not think\nthis is the meaning of the phrase. There is an extract from Fontenelle\n(I cannot refer to it in his works at present), in which he speaks of\na perspective that will make an emperor or a beggar out of the same\nfigure, according to the point of view from which you regard it. That is\nan optical illusion. Descartes, in his \u201cL\u2019Homme,\u201d mentions the pictures\nplaced at the end of corridors to cheat the eye agreeably, and adds,\n\u201cL\u2019exemple des tableaux de perspective montre combien il est facile de\ns\u2019y tromper.\u201d And then there were those perspectives that Holbein and\nhis contemporaries used to introduce into their pictures, of a skull, or\ndeath\u2019s head, so painted that you could not quite tell what it was till\nyou reached the right point of view, when it would suddenly contract\nand draw its elongated self together to a true skull by a process the\nreverse of foreshortening. By the words _sa perspective_, I conceive\nthat Nostradamus meant that Louis Philippe brought his deception to bear\nagainst the King.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 69._ [I. 250.]\n\n    Plus ne sera le Grand en faux sommeil,\n    L\u2019inquietude viendra prendre repos:\n    Dresser phalange[407] d\u2019or, azur, et vermeil,\n    Subjuger Afrique, la ronger jusques os.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Le Grand will pretend no longer a false sleep;\n    His disquietude will now lull itself in security,\n    Arrange his army under gold, blue, and red,\n    Subjugate Africa, gnawing it to the very bone.\n\nLouis Philippe, now King, and so become _le Grand_, says M. le Pelletier\n(though, as applied to the individual, it looks quite like a misnomer),\nwill now unmask his designs, and take his repose in security. He will\nadopt the tricolour of the Revolution and complete the conquest of\nAlgeria; Pelissier roasting the refugees in caves, to the very bone.\nEverything but the word _Grand_ justifies the interpretation to a nicety.\n\n\n_Century I.\u2014Quatrain 39._ [I. 251.]\n\n    De nuict dans lict le supresme[408] estrangl\u00e9,\n    Pour avoir trop sejourn\u00e9 blond esleu,\n    Par trois[409] l\u2019Empire subrog\u00e9[410] exancl\u00e9[411]\n    A mort mettra carte[412] et pacquet ne leu.[413]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When France shall be dominated by three parties,\n    The last of the family shall be strangled at night in bed,\n    For having lent too much to the fair Capet.\n    Put to death because a paper and packet were not read.\n\nWhen France is dominated by three alternately (Orleanists, Republicans,\nBonapartists), the Prince de Bourbon, Cond\u00e9, last of his race, shall\nbe strangled, at night in his bed, for desiring to follow in the suite\nof the Duc de Bordeaux. A new will, duly sealed up, in favour of the\nBourbon, but not read, is the cause of his death. The \u201cnot read\u201d means,\nnot read by the Duc de Bordeaux, in whose favour it was drawn. The\nBaronne de Feuch\u00e8res, whose interests were allied to those of Louis\nPhilippe, defeated this by the murder. M. le Pelletier acquits Louis\nPhilippe of complicity in the crime, but he remarks that the interest of\nthe baronne was incidentally that of the King. Her crime was incited by\nthe desire to do away with the new will, by which she would be a heavy\nloser. It is curious that Garenci\u00e8res considers this quatrain to have\nbeen fulfilled in Philip II. of Spain, who had his own son, Don Carlos,\nstrangled in bed. The coincidence of the name Philip is singular, but the\nremaining two lines he does not attempt to interpret.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 42._ [I. 253.]\n\n    Par avarice, par force et violence\n    Viendra vexer les siens chef d\u2019Orleans;\n    Pr\u00e8s Sainct Memire[414] assaut et resistance,\n    Mort dans sa tante,[415] diront qu\u2019il dort leans.[416]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    By cupidity and abuse of power, force, and violence,\n    The chief of Orleans will come to vex his own;\n    Near St. Memire resistance will be made;\n    Dead in his palace he will ever after sleep.\n\nAvarice was always the fault of Louis Philippe. By extortion and abuse\nhe raised resistance at Saint Meri; in and near the church he forced\nthe republicans to submission, _dort leans_ a play upon the name, never\nagain showed energy, but slept a sleep as of death in his palace (_dans\nsa tente_). The insurrection that was quelled took place on June 5 and 6,\n1832.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 89._ [I. 254.]\n\n    Sept ans sera Philipp; fortune prospere:\n    Rabaissera des Arabes l\u2019effort;\n    Puis son midy perplex[417] rebors[418] affaire,\n    Jeune Ognion[419] abismera son fort.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Seven years will Philip\u2019s fortune prosper well;\n    He will defeat every effort of the Arabs;\n    In his embarrassed middle period all goes against the grain,\n    Young Ogmion will overwhelm his fort.\n\nFortune will favour Louis Philippe for the first seven years. He will\nrepress the Arabs. But in the middle of his reign the Eastern question\nwill spring up, and cover him with disgrace (this culminated July 15,\n1840). For the next seven years all will go against the grain, and the\nnew Republic (_jeune Ogmion_) will overturn his throne and his Bastille;\nthe Paris he thought he had so strongly fortified.\n\nGarenci\u00e8res again introduces Philip II. of Spain, and there seems to\nexist some analogy between these two kings. The Spaniard also was\nprosperous for some seven years, and in the person of his brother, Don\nJuan of Austria, beat the Turks in the Battle of Lepanto. Garenci\u00e8res\nreads _Barbares_ for Arabs. Later on he had to put his son to death,\nand was opposed by young Ogmion; the King, Henri Quatre, of France and\nNavarre.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 92._ [I. 255.]\n\n    Apr\u00e8s le siege tenu dix-sept ans,\n    Cing changeront en tel revolu terme:\n    Puis sera l\u2019un esleu de mesme temps,\n    Qui les Romains ne sera trop conforme.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    After the throne has been held for seventeen years,\n    Five shall change when that term has run out:\n    Then, at the same time, one shall be elected,\n    Who will not be very conformable to the wishes of the Romanists.\n\nAfter the reign of Louis Philippe, during seventeen years, five of his\nsons lost the throne with himself; and with much man\u0153uvring have never\nbeen able to reapproach it. They were the Comte de Paris, representative\nof Chartres, Duc de Nemours, Joinville, Montpensier, and Duc d\u2019Aumale.\nThe election that followed was that of Louis Napoleon, whose mixed,\nor no policy, suited neither the Revolutionary party nor the Roman\nCatholics. There is nothing here but the seventeen years to connect this\nwith Louis Philippe. For the five who changed with the revolt would be\nsix if Louis Philippe himself were counted, and he certainly ought to\nbe. The concluding two lines are very vague, and may or may not belong\nto Louis Napoleon. I merely cite it, as one of the ingenuities of M. le\nPelletier.\n\nThere are three prophecies cited relating to the Duc de Chartres, which\nseem fairly well interpreted; and very wonderful they would be if they\nstood alone or related to any one whose fate was of any importance in the\nopening scroll of history. All the little interest of Louis Philippe is\ncentred in himself, and therefore I omit the three quatrains relating to\nhis son, not because they are not curious, if rightly interpreted of the\nson, but that, even supposing them to be so, the Duc de Chartres is a\nperson and a character not deserving of serious mention in history. The\ngossip of a barber\u2019s shop in Nostradamus\u2019s own day would be even more\ninteresting to any rational investigator of human affairs.\n\n\n\n\nREPUBLIC, 1848, AND NAPOLEON III.\n\n\n_Century IX.\u2014Quatrain 5._ [I. 261.]\n\n    Tiers[420] doigt du pied au premier semblera,\n    A un nouveau monarque de bas haut:[421]\n    Qui[422] Pyse et Luques tyran occupera,\n    Du precedent coriger le deffaut.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The third[423] shall be a stepping-stone to the throne,\n    To a new monarch from low position to the top;\n    He will as tyrant have taken a military post in Tuscany,[424]\n    And will seek to correct the defects of his predecessor.\n\nThe National Assembly of 1848 shall serve as a foot to Louis Napoleon to\nstep from private life into a conspicuous position. He had in his youth\nbeen concerned in the Revolution of Tuscany, and purposed correcting the\ndefect of his predecessor.\n\nThis might mean that he purposed to guide France better than Louis\nPhilippe had done, or than in four years the Republic had done, or, which\nis most probable from his _Id\u00e9es Napol\u00e9oniennes_, to carry to completion\nthe policy of his uncle Napoleon I. I cannot think it refers to Napoleon\nII., Duc de Reichstadt. The entire application of the quatrain is neither\nvery clear nor very important.\n\nThe quatrain on Cavaignac, I think, is hardly made out satisfactorily, so\nI omit it.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 43._ [I. 265.]\n\n    Par le decide[425] de deux choses bastards,\n    Nepveu du sang[426] occupera le regne:[427]\n    Dedans Lectoyre[428] seront les coups de dards,\n    Nepveu par peur pliera l\u2019enseigne.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    By the fall or ruin of two bastard things\n    The nephew by blood will occupy the empire;\n    In Lectoyre there will be deaths by arrow,\n    The nephew will fold up his standard for very fear.\n\nBy the overthrow of Louis Philippe and the Republic, two bastard\ngovernments, Louis Napoleon will now succeed to the throne, a nephew by\nblood of Napoleon Bonaparte; and, what is not generally known, he was\nthe only one of the Bonaparte family born in the Palace of the Tuileries.\nIn battle afterwards at Lectoyre (_coups de dards_ must be taken simply\nas battle) the nephew will furl his standard through fear.\n\nWriting in 1866, M. le Pelletier particularly remarks that the epoch\nis left undetermined, and, as to the enigma of _Lectoyre_, nothing can\nbe known till the event has transpired. It may then be interpreted,\nhe thinks, in some of the idioms known to Nostradamus\u2014Greek, Hebrew,\nLatin, Celtic, Languedoc, etc. He considers the standard to present a\nfurther enigma, and asks \u201cWhat standard?\u201d This difficulty I do not quite\nrecognize. The imperial standard that is adopted by him, whatever it\nmay be. To furl a standard is to close and shut it up, so that no one\nwill rally to it any more. It symbolizes that the cause it represents is\nbrought to the ground finally, and that it is no longer flying.\n\nAs to the word _Lectoyre_, we now know that, if it is to be interpreted\nat all, it will have to be found in connection with Sedan,\u2014the noblest\nreminiscence connected with which is that it was the birthplace of that\ngreat soldier and greater man, Marshal Turenne. He may well be called\n_La gloire de Sedan_, whilst as appropriately may Napoleon the Little be\ndesignated as _C\u00e9dant de la gloire_, with that furled ensign, _qu\u2019il par\npeur pliera_.[429]\n\nAfter much difficulty and searching I have at last come upon two old\nmaps, printed at Amsterdam by Blaeuw; the one dated 1620 and the other\n1650, styled \u201cLes Soverainetez de Sedan.\u201d In both of these the embattled\ntown of Sedan is given, as seated on the right bank of the river Meuse,\nwhilst on the left bank is shown an extensive territory named _Grand\nTorcy_ and _Petit Torcy_. In another map it is given as _Torsy_. These\nmaps give no indication of the points of the compass. But from another\nmap, indicating them, the river-bend on which the town is seated appears\nto run from east to west; and, if so, Torcy lies south or south-west\nof Sedan. In a more modern map it appears as _Le Grand Torcy_ and\nis described as lying \u201csur la route imp\u00e9riale de Mezieres \u00e0 Sedan.\u201d\nEvidently therefore we are entitled to place _Le Torcy_ at Sedan. The\nFrench must determine for themselves, by their military bureau, whether\nthe French camp was pitched in the meadows of _Le Torcy_; but nothing\ncan alter the great fact, as now for the first time made plain, that the\n_Nepveu du sang_ furled his standard for ever at Sedan or _Lectoyre_,\nas the oracle gives it. Now _Lectoyre_ is the precise anagram, letter\nfor letter, of _Le Torcey_, though the commoner spelling is without\nthe second _e_, _Le Torcy_. If we are to reckon this as being a chance\ncoincidence, my only further comment will be, that such chance as this is\nquite as miraculous as any miracle in the world could be.\n\nAs regards the words \u201c_nepveu du sang_,\u201d there was a caricature very\npopular in France at the time of the candidature for the French\npresidency, consisting of two pictures. In one the Prince de Joinville\nwas commending himself to the French people for election, having the\nyoung Comte de Paris by the hand, and saying, \u201cI am the uncle of my\nnephew.\u201d On the other side Louis Napoleon presses his suit by pointing\nto a statuette of Napoleon Bonaparte and uttering the words, \u201cI am the\nnephew of my uncle;\u201d showing how characteristically _nepveu du sang_\ndesignates Prince Louis Napoleon. He may almost be said to have chosen it\nhimself as a cognomen.\n\n\n_Century VIII.\u2014Quatrain 44._ [I. 267.]\n\n    Le procr\u00e9e naturel d\u2019Ogmion[430]\n    De sept \u00e0 neuf du chemin destorner:\n    A roy de longue amy et[431] au my hom[432]\n    Doit \u00e0 Navarre fort de Pau prosterner.\n\nI propose here to make the meaning as clear as I can without a\ntranslation.\n\nNapoleon III. (_le procr\u00e9e_), the natural offspring of the French\nRepublic (Ogmion), will turn from the right road for seven or nine years\nbefore his fall. Le Pelletier interprets otherwise. He says that the war\nin Italy began in the seventh year of the Empire, 1869, and from that\ndate throughout the nine following years he changed his policy. I think\nthe line means that from seven to nine years before the end of his reign\nhe changed his policy. That is to say, from seven years previous to\nthe close of his reign, when Charles August Louis, Duc de Morny, died,\n_i.e._ in 1865; and even for two years previously to that, things took a\ndifferent turn. De Morny no longer exercised active control, and his was\nthe head that had guided all along. When he died, all ran to distruction.\nThe _roi de longue_ and his friend _my hom_, Le Pelletier states to be\nVictor Emmanuel and Garibaldi; one of long race and one of low birth,\nthe tallow-smelter. I think it is Frederic William, _de longue vie_,\nand Bismarck, the _bi-valve man_, which it becomes, if we read it as\n_my-homme_. I have a great idea that _\u00e0 Navarre_ is a misprint for _le\nnepveu_. Whether _fort de Pau_ may mean with his health re-established\nby staying at Pau or not, I cannot say. But, anyhow, I think that the\ntwo last lines are to be read together, and that he is to prostrate\nhimself to the King and his friend. Louis Napoleon\u2019s whole reign must be\nrepresented as a failure, if you read it with Le Pelletier; mine makes it\na failure during the last seven to nine years. My King and friend bring\nabout the catastrophe far below the date that his will do. My emendation\nto _le nepveu_ certainly clarifies the meaning. The explanation of Pau is\nnot quite so comprehensible as I could wish; had _Ham_ been a variant it\nwould have spoken for itself.\n\nThe Quatrain 53 of Century VIII., which I have already explained as the\nflotilla of Napoleon Bonaparte, M. le Pelletier fixes as the ludicrous\nBoulogne expedition of Louis Napoleon, and the Italian campaign after he\nbecame Emperor; but I think he entirely fails in reading the symbols.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 8._ [I. 270.]\n\n    Sera laiss\u00e9 feu vif, mort cach\u00e9,\n    Dedans les globes, horrible espouvantable,\n    De nuict a classe[433] cit\u00e9 en poudre lasch\u00e9,\n    La cit\u00e9 \u00e0 feu, l\u2019ennemy favourable.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Live fire, hidden death, shall be left\n    In bombs, a horrible and frightful thing:\n    By a band at night the city shall be fired with powder;\n    The city seems on fire, it helps though intended to destroy.\n\nFulminating mercury (_feu vif_) in bombs in terrible explosion contains\ndeath hidden. The city, Paris, will be startled with powder liberated\n(_lasch\u00e9_, loosed) by assassins by night. The city will seem on fire. But\nthe enemy (in spite of himself) will prove favourable to Napoleon. This,\nof course, is Orsini\u2019s attempt of January 14, 1858.\n\nThe next verse follows up the thread.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 9._ [I. 271.]\n\n    Jusques au fond la grand arq[434] demolue[435]\n    Par chef captif l\u2019amy anticip\u00e9,[436]\n    Naistra de dame front, face chevelue,\n    Lors par astuce duc[437] \u00e0 mort atrap\u00e9.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    When the peristyle is thoroughly demolished\n    By the chief prisoner, the friend being taken before,\n    A plot born of the woman, long beard and hairy face;\n    Then by cunning the leader caught will be executed.\n\nThe peristyle (_la grand arq\u2019_) of the opera shall be completely\nshattered. Pieri, the friend of Orsini, the chief captive, is seized\nbeforehand by H\u00e9bert, head of the detective service, who recognized\nhim in the crowd. The plot was conceived in the secret lodges of the\nDemagoguy [_de Dame_], whose members wear the beard and hair long.\nOrsini, the leader of the whole, will be surprised astutely by the\nconfessions of Gomez at the restaurant Broggi, whither he had fled, and,\nbeing taken, will be sentenced to death.\n\nI do not feel very confident as to this interpretation, but give it much\nas I find it in M. le Pelletier.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 10._ [I. 272.]\n\n    Un[438] chef Celtique dans le conflict bless\u00e9,\n    Aupr\u00e8s de cave[439] voyant siens mort abbatre,\n    De sang et playes et d\u2019ennemis press\u00e9,\n    Et secours par incogneus[440] de quatre.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    The Celtic chief is wounded in the strife,\n    Seeing death strike down his friends near the theatre,\n    Surrounded with blood and wounds and pressed by enemies,\n    He escapes the four[441] assassins, by unknown aid.\n\nThe Emperor, slightly struck in the eye by a fragment of glass, shall\nsee his people strewn in death about the entrance of the Grand Opera.\nPressed by the conspirators, four in number, he will receive unknown\nhelp; whether of angels or pure spirits, M. le Pelletier cannot quite\nsay. We now know that he had still to see Sedan; but it would be curious\nif pure spirits had interested themselves greatly to protect the\ncold-blooded murderer of the Champs de Mars and Coup d\u2019\u00c9tat.\n\n\n_Century VI.\u2014Quatrain 4._ [I. 273.]\n\n    Le second chef du regne D\u2019annemarc,[442]\n    Par ceux de Frize[443] et l\u2019Isle Britannique,\n    Fera despendre[444] plus de cent mille marc,[445]\n    Vain exploicter voyage en Italique.\n\nThe second of the Napoleonic race in power will cause England and Hanover\nto expend 100,000 marks in fortifications and war material. Fearing\ninvasion after the Orsini effort, he will then exploit the Italian\ncampaign, though vainly, as he will not reap the results he looks for.\n\nThis corresponds so clearly with what happened that probably most will\nagree that it is a very remarkable forecast.\n\n\n_Century III.\u2014Quatrain 37._ [I. 274.]\n\n    Avant l\u2019assaut l\u2019oraison[446] prononc\u00e9e,\n    Milan prins[447] d\u2019Aigle par embusches deceus,[448]\n    Muraille antique par canons enfonc\u00e9e,\n    Par feu et sang \u00e0 mercy peu receus.\n\n_Translation._\n\n    Before assault a harangue is pronounced;\n    Lombardy is taken by the eagle, being cut off by ambuscade.\n    An ancient wall driven in by cannon,\n    Fire and blood, but little mercy shown.\n\nBefore the declaration of war, the Emperor will pronounce (January 1,\n1859), in the presence of the diplomatic corps, a threatening discourse\nagainst Austria. Lombardy (Milan, part for the whole) will be ceded by\nAustria at the Treaty of Zurich (October 17, 1859); Austria, an old wall,\nwill yield to cannon, fire, and blood.\n\n\n_Century V.\u2014Quatrain 20._ [I. 275.]\n\n    De l\u00e0[449] les Alpes grande arm\u00e9e passera\n    Un peu devant naistra monstre vapin,[450]\n    Prodigieux et subit[451] tournera[452]\n    Le grand Tosquan \u00e0 son lieu plus propin.[453]\n\n_Translation._\n\n    A great army will pass beyond the Alps,\n    A little before a prodigious scamp will come to power;\n    He will drive the grand Duke of Tuscany\n    To his nearer home with astounding suddenness.\n\nIn 1859 Napoleon III.\u2019s army will pass the Alps. A little before a\nprominent scamp will have come to the front, who will suddenly and in a\nmost startling fashion drive the Grand Duke of Tuscany to seek refuge in\nAustria (_son lieu le plus propin_).\n\nWe have to note here that Nostradamus, whenever he emerges from the\nimpassibility of the _secret estude_, it is to exhibit a profound\nhostility to the genius of Democracy and Revolution. There is therefore\nlittle doubt but that the powerful epithet here employed of the _monstre\nvapin_ relates to the red-shirted Garibaldi.\n\nWe have now reached the point which covers the last of the Oracles\nof Nostradamus that commentary has yet been able to lay before the\nworld with its meaning rendered transparent by the correspondence of\ninterpretation with an event in history. The number of such correlations\nof occurrence with forecast falls immensely short of the number of the\nquatrains themselves. In fact, only about one hundred and fifty-one, out\nof a thousand. The rest give no scintillation as yet, but lie without\nsign of existence traceable, dead as a flint, till the iron stroke of\nTime\u2019s heel shall develop the spark. _Lateat scintillula forsan._ One or\ntwo Presages and two or three Sixains have been also resolved. Enough,\nwe trust, has been opened up to show what a treasure-house it is that\nwe have entered into, how rich in curiosity, if in nothing more. What\nmay still lie perdu in the bulky remainder of eight hundred and fifty\nit is impossible to say; whether, though unidentified, they have been\nrealized already, or are yet to bud in the future. If nothing more be\never done with Nostradamus than this book gives, still the work must\nfor one reason or other hereafter stand out as the most wonderful book\nof its kind that was ever written or printed in this world. It has now\nto go forth and take its chance, good or evil, of notice or of neglect\namongst the mass of printed matter, largely rubbish, that deluges our\nlife. It is certainly calculated, so far as it can secure any attention\nwhatever, to severely shock the prejudices now prevalent amongst mankind.\nThe half-educated will find it troublesome to read, and disturbing,\nperhaps, to think about; whilst the scientific may even denounce it as a\nlocust-cloud of darkness medi\u00e6val in its tendency. Undoubtedly it must\nhave the effect that Nostradamus in his preface to his son (see p. 50)\nsays very graphically it will have, \u201cque possible fera retirer le front \u00e0\nquelques uns.\u201d Although, as he says again, the forecasts may be clouded,\nthey will be understood by men of sense, and they will grow clearer as\nignorance dies out (see p. 54); which should be our care now.\n\nTo all objectors I rejoin, gentlemen, investigate, please, all the points\nin question as searchingly as you can; find every fault in my work, and\nin that of the other Nostradamic commentators, that you can; expose all\nthat is weak or illusive, wherever you find it to be so. Let us see,\nthen, how far all the learning and acuteness you can bring to bear,\ncoupled with whatever established prejudice, and its rancour at being\ndisturbed in comfortable somnolency, can suggest, to overthrow what other\nmen heretofore, and I now, have taken so much pains to bring together and\ngive shape to. Consciously I have not set down a single word with any\nother desire than that the truth should prevail; and if your criticism\ncan establish the opposite, I shall still repeat, \u201cLet truth prevail.\u201d\nBut I do not think you can do this: and if not, there is only one other\nthing, open to the learned and the wise that can be done,\u2014that is, to\nrewrite their philosophies, so as to make room for the reception of this\nrather awkward piece of truth that has here got in the way of our old\ntheories, and cannot be got out of the way again. To the really competent\nand candid reader I have nothing whatever to add beyond begging him to\nrefer back to the closing words of my preface, as to him they will be\nfound to contain my whole and entire message.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n_Referred to at p. 178._\n\n\nThe genuine and spurious portraits of Cromwell are numerous to such a\ndegree, that they may almost be called innumerable; for they can never be\ncounted, as no one man can get at them all to reckon them up. Their main\nauthority is said to depend upon the works of four artists, Lely, Cooper,\nWalker, Faithorne. Samuel Butler, the author of the ever-marvellous\n\u201cHudibras,\u201d is thought to have painted a likeness, but it counts for\nnothing, as it is not now to be identified as existing in any collection.\nThe first-named three are painters, the fourth is a great engraver.\n\nIn all these, Mr. Frederic Harrison professes to discover \u201csingular\nresemblance\u201d [\u201cCromwell,\u201d p. 32,] but considers that Cooper\u2019s is the\nmost successful of them all. I find the first to be a most misleading\nstatement, and one that may be disproved by anybody who will compare\nCooper\u2019s likeness, as given in Carlyle\u2019s \u201cCromwell Letters\u201d with the\npicture by Walker in the National Portrait Gallery. They differ in\nevery particular,\u2014in character, feature, temperament, and conformation.\nScarcely do they agree even in the wart. There is nothing to identify\nthem as representing the same individual. Either Lely copied Cooper, or\nCooper copied Lely, and they accordingly, of course, correspond with each\nother; but truth is too much sacrificed to flattery by both these courtly\npainters, for us to suppose that their work corresponds very accurately\nwith the sitter. Such examples of Faithorne as are readily accessible in\nthe Print Room at the Museum convey no adequate idea of the man. Neither\ndo they resemble Cooper, Lely, nor Walker\u2019s work. There is a profile\nprint by Houbraken, an excellent performance, which is interesting as\nshowing that both the chin and forehead receded greatly. There is also a\nvery peculiar engraving of Thomas Simon\u2019s medal, which is very beautiful\nas a work of art. But here again the facial angle is simply villainous,\nwith very mean diminutive eyes, and the dress almost clerical. The\nengraving from the Cooper at Sidney College gives the wart on the left\nbrow instead of the right.\n\nFrom such discrepant things it seems to me next to impossible to derive\nany correct notion regarding the face of Cromwell, except that the facial\nangle of the side face must have been unusually bad. Yet Mr. Harrison is\nable to express himself as follows:\u2014\n\n\u201cNo human countenance recorded is more familiar to us than that broad,\nsolid face with the thick and prominent red nose; the heavy gnarled brow,\nwith its historic wart; eyes firm, penetrating, sad; square jaw, and\nclose-set mouth; scanty tufts of hair on lip and chin; long loose brown\nlocks flowing down in waves on to the shoulder. His whole air breathing\nenergy, firmness, passion, pity, and sorrow.\u201d Carlyle\u2019s fancy version is\ngiven below.[454]\n\nThis being derived from a falsity, must itself be false. But is it not\nsomewhat curious that friends and foes of Cromwell should alike sit down\ncontentedly before this admirably executed miniature of Cooper\u2019s without\ndevoting a second thought to its representative value as a portrait of\nthe man in question? Its artistic felicity should be as nothing to\nthe historical inquirer. Taken as a mere portrait, this Cooper is as\nvalueless as Veronese\u2019s presentment of Alexander the Great; or as any\nfancy portrait of Oliver would be, if sent in by some skilled modern hand\nto the next May show at Burlington House.\n\nOur sense of surprise increases, when we come to remember that we possess\nan authentic original to go by, in the shape of a mask still extant that\nwas taken at death. Historians draw up rigmarole pen-and-ink portraits\nof their own, but are all silent about this, or make only casual mention\nof it as \u201cthe mask at the Statuaries,\u201d just as though it corresponded\nin every particular with Samuel Cooper\u2019s exquisite pigment-figment.\nRomancists delight in coloured detail gathered from history; and\nhistorians revel in romance when it saves them from searching into\ndry detail. In this case historical gossip slips in to illustrate the\nstringent veracity of Cromwell. When Lely was to take his portrait, he\nis said to have ordered him to be faithful in representing every blemish\nand defect, to paint warts and all, or he would not be paid. Lely knew\nwhat this meant, and acted accordingly. All portrait-painters flatter,\nthey must to secure a practice; but, they ought to select the best aspect\npossible, for so far it is what it professes to be, a likeness. Now the\nstrong point with your court painter is, to throw in skillfully what is\nnot there. In this Lely and Cooper have succeeded to admiration.\n\nWalker, in his several portraits, gives us another set of varieties. His\npicture in the Portrait Gallery [Granger, \u201cBiog. Hist.,\u201d iii. p. 290.]\nwith Cromwell\u2019s son Richard as page tying on the father\u2019s scarf, has been\nfinely engraved by Pierre Lombart. In this picture, which is a little\nwooden, we get an average-looking gentleman going to battle. A man we\nshould have to look at three or four times before we should individualize\nhim at all in the memory. Mr. Nobody riding to nowhere particular is\nthe impression derived. Of the engraving, however, Evelyn says, and he\nknew Cromwell perfectly well, \u201cthat it gives the strongest resemblance\nof him.\u201d He therein physiognomically discovers \u201ccharacters of the\ngreatest dissimulation, boldness, cruelty, and ambition, in every stroke\nand touch.\u201d I can say nothing of this, for I have not seen the Lombart\nengraving. The picture does not convey the idea.\n\nHow pliantly subservient art was in those days, is well illustrated in\nanother Cromwell engraving by the same Lombart. This artist had done,\nafter Vandyke, a \u201cCharles on horseback,\u201d from which he erased the face,\nand substituted that of Cromwell. The slender figure of the king had to\ndo duty for the heavy-built brewer of Huntingdon. But times change, and\nwe with them. So Peter reinstated the king. There must be impressions of\nthis turn-face print in its three states; for no doubt copies were sold\nat every stage. The King is dead. God save the Protector! The Protector\nis dead. God save the King! The dead lion is never so good for the crowd\nas the live ass; irrespective of the latter creature being far more\nrepresentative. A quality much sought after in modern governors.\n\nThere is a portrait of Cromwell affixed to Isaac Kimber\u2019s \u201cLife of Oliver\nCromwell,\u201d which he published anonymously [Granger, iii. 297]. This is\npronounced in the \u201cLetters of Mr. Hughes\u201d to be most like the authentic\nfamily pictures of Cromwell. Vertue engraved it in 1724 for Rapin\u2019s\n\u201cHistory of England,\u201d and when Granger wrote the picture was in the\npossession of Sir Thomas Frankland of Old Bond Street. I suppose this to\nbe still in the hands of the Frankland-Russells of Chequers Court, who\nalso possess a plaster cast of Cromwell\u2019s face. By the courtesy of the\nfamily I have been permitted to examine this; but it seems to me of no\nvalue, and it has no history.\n\nWe come now to the terra-cotta bust by Edward Pierce, which is in the\nNational Portrait Gallery, said to be taken from life. Pierce was an\nartist in the second generation. His father, of the same christian name,\nwas a painter, and assistant of Vandyke. Our Edward was trained for a\nstatuary, and became the pupil of Edward Bird: he also acted as assistant\nto Sir Christopher Wren, and is said to have built St. Clement Danes\nunder him. He did a bust of Wren, for the theatre at Oxford, and also one\nof Newton. He died at Surrey street in the Strand, and was buried at the\nold Savoy. This bust of Cromwell was, to all appearance, modelled by him\nfrom a cast taken from life, and must therefore, as to measurement and\nbulk, be of life size.\n\nI was kindly permitted by Mr. George Scharf, of the National Portrait\nGallery, to take the dimensions of this bust by measurement, but\npractically they are not very useful, inasmuch as the head has a great\nabundance of short curly hair, which of course in terra-cotta becomes\nperfectly solid, and thereby increases the circumference of the head by\nmany inches.\n\n  The circumference, hair and all, at his brow is       28\u00b2\u2044\u2088 inches.\n  Nape of neck to frontal bone, where it unites\n    with nose                                           15\u2074\u2044\u2088   \u201d\n  Breadth from ear to ear at level of the central\n    hole of each ear as near as can be approximated      6\u00b2\u2044\u2088   \u201d\n\nThis last measurement is, I believe, correct, but it is a dimension\nthat only a large forceps could take with perfect certainty. It is so\nsmall, however, that I feel sure that the other two dimensions must be\nvery far from giving the true osseous formation, so that several inches\nwill have to be allowed off them for the hair. Again, the measurement\nbetween the tip of nose and back of head (9\u215d inches) would also require\nthat deductions be made for a wad of hair at the back. This measurement\nwhen reduced, and coupled with the third measurement given, indicates an\nundersized skull for a broad-built man of five feet eleven in stature.\n\nAs for the physiognomy, the nose, though far from fine, is somewhat\naquiline, and the best of all the features of the face. The forehead is\nlow, ill-formed, and mean. The mouth firm, cruel, deceitful. The jowl\nand chin sensual and gross almost to brutality. It is the face of a\nman of low passions, possibly ambitious, but of great duplicity, of a\nlow-bred type, the type as of one sprung from a lower stratum of society\nthan his history indicates him to have sprung from; and you may readily\nsuppose that in exchanges of course buffoonery with the roughest trooper\nof his corps, he would have been quite within his own province and at\nhome. His mother\u2019s portrait shows her also to have been a very masculine\ncoarse-featured woman.\n\nIt is well perhaps to mention here a bust that Grose in a letter to\nGranger in 1774, calls \u201ca masterly and spirited bust of Oliver Cromwell\nby one Bannier.\u201d It was then in Mr. Gostling\u2019s collection. He says it is\nlike that engraving given in Rapin\u2019s \u201cHistory.\u201d I imagine it therefore to\nbe a fancy rendering, and of very small historic value.\n\nThe expert historians, and of course the general public together with\nthem, are perfectly satisfied with the Cromwell presented to them by\nSamuel Cooper. I confess that I think it a most laughable presentment,\nand of quite impossible credence. I do not think Pierce\u2019s bust to be\nsatisfactory, but I most certainly consider that it is the only likeness\nI have had the opportunity of examining that conveys even a hint of\nwhat can be supposed to be the real appearance of the man. There is\nbut one way now remaining to settle this question. It is very much to\nbe regretted that, with so much pretence of a desire for historical\naccuracy, we should have allowed two hundred and fifty years to elapse\nwithout making the least attempt to settle this question.\n\nWe learn from Breval\u2019s \u201cTravels\u201d that at the Old Palace at Florence there\nis a cast preserved of Oliver Cromwell. The mould was obtained from\nCromwell\u2019s face _a few minutes after his decease_, \u201cthrough the dexterous\nmanagement of the Tuscan resident in London.\u201d This, or a cast from it,\nought immediately to be secured for our National Portrait Gallery. A copy\nof it would cost very little in either time, money, or trouble to secure;\nand when secured three or four should be cast in bronze, and placed in\ndifferent museums so that one fire could not destroy all of them at once.\n\nI feel almost sure that it will be found to confirm the bust of Pierce,\nas being more like Cromwell than anything else that we possess. And\nfurther, as Pierce\u2019s work is by no means a grand achievement in the\nsculptor\u2019s art, I should hope to find in the Florence cast characteristic\nindications that are absent from Pierce\u2019s work. Grandeur of soul is\nincompatible with such a face as Pierce gives us. But I confess that I\nsee no grandeur whatever that could be expressed by a man whose history\nis that of Oliver. His base success the world may worship if it will. I\ndespise success if it must be obtained by Cromwell\u2019s methods. I observe\nthat the great in history are always mean in fact; and I well know that\nyou must say to all the men who have been triumphant, let no probing\nmoralist come near you. Pitiable and contemptible is the man who can envy\nthe great in the greatness of their crimes. I do not expect that the\ncast, if procured, will make the reading any better for Cromwell; but,\nif it should, I am quite ready to give him all the advantage of it. At\npresent I hold that the face is villainous, like the man.\n\n                        \u201c... ducitur unco,\n    Spectandus: gaudent omnes. Qu\u00e6 labra? Quis illi\n    Vultus erat? Nunquam, si quid mihi credis, amavi\n    Hunc hominem.\u201d\n\n                                                           JUVENAL, x. 66.\n\nStill, love or no love, we have reached the end; and if we should confirm\nPierce, the flesh and bones of the man thus revived will also confirm\nthe epithets of Nostradamus, which first induced me to enter upon this\ninvestigation.\n\n\n\n\n    \u201cSir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.\u201d\u2014_John_ iv. 19.\n\n    \u201cQuod est ante pedes, nemo spectat: c\u0153li scrutantur\n    plagas.\u201d\u2014CIC., _Divin._, ii. 13.\n\n    This granted, a pig is nearest wisdom.\n\n    \u039c\u03ac\u03bd\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u1f04\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03c2, \u1f44\u03c3\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2 \u03b5\u1f30\u03ba\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bb\u1ff6\u03c2.\u2014WITSIUS, _Miscel._, p. 14.\n\n    The best analogist is the best prophet.\n\n    \u201cL\u2019observation des analogies universelles a \u00e9t\u00e9 neglig\u00e9e, et\n    c\u2019est pour cela qu\u2019on ne croit plus \u00e0 la divination.\u201d\u2014LEVI,\n    _Clef des Myst\u00e8res_, p. 216.\n\n    \u039c\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u1fd6\u03bf\u03bd, \u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c7\u03b5\u03af\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03b9 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9\u03c2, \u1f10\u03bd \u03b4\u1f72 \u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9 \u03bf\u1f50 \u03bc\u1f74 \u03c0\u03bb\u03b1\u03bd\u03b7\u03b8\u1fc7 \u03c4\u1f78\n    \u03c3\u03c4\u03cc\u03bc\u03b1 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6.\u2014_Prov._ xvi. 10, LXX.\n\n    There is divination on a king\u2019s lips, and judgment fails not in\n    his mouth.\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n[1] This noble and enlarged thought is worthy of Coleridge, who is\nthe greatest thinker of our century, whether you take him as poet or\nphilosopher. Nobody has yet claimed for him the pre-eminence which, I\nbelieve, to be his. The peculiar, nay, unique frailties of the man have\nblinded the men of his own time to the super-eminent, intellectual,\n_practical_, and imaginative endowments with which he was so affluently\nfurnished. By the middle of next century, some hundred or so years from\nhis death, the fact will have dawned upon the world, if not before. It\nwill then be recognized that such a personality as his, was \u201ca great\nbirth of time,\u201d and to be registered as such in the deathless calendar of\ngenius. Saint, seer, and sage was that man. Not \u201cspoilt in the making,\u201d\nas the witty Lamb put it, with all the lambent malice of a friend jocose.\nWe must admit, of course, some damage that hindered general currency, as\nalso the attainment of such now worthless cash-results as fell to beings\ndistinctly inferior to himself, such as Byron, Southey, Wordsworth,\nMoore, great as some estimate them to be; and this failure shut Coleridge\nout from social success,\u2014that success which most of us so ignorantly\nand greedily covet here, because it makes the present comfortable. But\nthe chief reason, of any shortcoming hurtful to success, that may be\nobservable in Coleridge, no doubt arose from his being far too great to\nbe adequately measured by any of his fellow-men. Many of them were, it is\ntrue, highly capable men as the world goes. Even Carlyle, however, who\nhas disparaged him, when placed beside him, dwarfs to a man of Lilliput.\nWe have to bear in mind always that excellent remark of La Bruy\u00e8re,\n\u201cCelui qui ne pr\u00e9voit rien, est souvent dupe; celui qui pr\u00e9voit trop, est\ntoujours malheureux.\u201d This is true of all prophets, and especially true\nof Coleridge.\n\nBut, another thing there is that helps to diminish Coleridge in the\ngeneral estimation. He has not completed work enough, in well set and\nfixed form, for posterity to be quite able to render him adequate, that\nis to say, resplendent justice. His unexampled conversational gifts have\nsomewhat barred the way to a due appreciation of his equally unexampled\nliterary potentialities. His conversational aptitudes have perished in\nthe moment of their triumphant display. Being without record in this\nrespect, he suffers precisely as the greatest actor does. Triumphs of\nthe table and the salon are like the triumphs of the stage, we can only\nrevive them in spirit, on the basis of some felicitously appreciative\nsentence, chance embalmed in print, that some competent contemporary\nhas ejaculated. I, for instance, know the overwhelming power of Kean\nonly through my mother, and the burning phrases left behind by Byron and\nColeridge. But the next generation can have no cognizance of him beyond\nthose phrases. It is for this precise reason I indite so long a note as\nthis on Coleridge, out of the pure respect I bear him for his stupendous\nintelligence and incommensurable soul. I have, indeed, tried to put on\nrecord elsewhere my impression of his poetry; but, I have not yet been\nable to get it printed. Should it ever be so, it would at least acquire\nsome value from the fact of its representing, in a limited and qualified\ndegree, Coleridge\u2019s vivid influence upon one who may partially stand on\nthe footing of a contemporary. Coleridge is a spirituality in the world,\nand his modes of revealing himself are such as lead the run of mankind to\nesteem him visionary; but it will be found that it is they, not he, that\nmust be reckoned \u201csuch stuff as dreams are made of.\u201d\n\n[2] Touching this curse to fall on Napoleon, a somewhat singular analogy\narises in comparing with it the axiom laid down by Thomasius, quoted in\nBruncker\u2019s \u201cHist. Crit. Philos.,\u201d v. 488. He says that the spirit is, as\nit were, resident in the centre of all bodies, and thence emits rays, so\nextending matter. But where it draws back the rays from the circumference\nof the material to the centre, it soon dissolves and corrupts the body.\n_Si vero radios ex circumferentia materi\u00e6 spiritus attrahat ad centrum,\nresolvitur corpus et corrumpitur._ If we suppose this to have taken\nplace at the epileptic seizure of Napoleon, the mental attack becomes an\nimage or antitype of the battle of Leipsic, when the swarm of birds beat\nback the eagle. An interpreter, such as Joseph, could have told him the\nmeaning of the dream or swoon. The defeat was first of all rehearsed in\nthe soldier\u2019s own brain.\n\n[3]\n\n    \u039f\u1f31 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c4\u1f70 \u1f04\u03c4\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03b1\u1f30\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7\u03c4\u1f70 \u03b4\u03b7\u03bc\u03b9\u03bf\u03c5\u03c1\u03b3\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c3\u03b9\n    \u039a\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c3\u03c9\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u03b5\u03b9\u03b4\u1fc6 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b1 \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u1f55\u03bb\u03b7\u03bd.\n\n                                    STANLEY\u2019S \u201cHist. Chald. Phil.,\u201d p. 43.\n\n[4] To get one thing, one must always forego some other. Jupiter did not\ngive prescience to Tiresias till Juno had struck him blind. And for our\nown great Milton it was necessary he should have wisdom at one entrance\nquite shut out, before, in \u201cParadise Lost,\u201d he could make men\u2019s memory a\nprisoner to his name for ever, in a willing though perpetual serfdom.\n\n[5] The facts for this life are taken, where no other reference is given,\nfrom a scarce work, entitled, \u201cLa premi\u00e8re face du Janus Fran\u00e7ois, par\nJean Aimes de Chavigny Beaunois, 1594.\u201d It is found in the Library at\nParis; but not in the British Museum. Fortunately M. le Pelletier gives\nan almost literal transcript of this \u201cBrief discours sur la vie de M.\nMichel de Nostredame.\u201d\n\n[6] \u201cArchives du Magnetisme Animal,\u201d vol. viii. \u201cTous deux\u201d (_i.e._\nfather and mother) \u201cappartenaient \u00e0 une famille Juive,\u201d converted in\nthe sixteenth century, and of the tribe of Issachar (\u201cNouvelle Biog.\nG\u00e9n\u00e9rale\u201d [Le Pelletier, i. 16 n.]).\n\n[7] His grandfather, Moreri tells us.\n\n[8] Moreri assigns this to the year 1525.\n\n[9] He calls Scaliger in the heyday of friendship \u201ca Virgil in poetry,\na Cicero in eloquence, a Galen in medicine,\u201d and declares that to him\nhe is indebted for his scientific attainments (\u201cPenny Cyclop\u00e6dia,\u201d s.v.\n_Nostradamus_).\n\n[10] \u201cThat the great bulk of French society of his day was impressed by\nhis effusions there can be no doubt\u201d (Chambers\u2019 \u201cBook of Days,\u201d vol. ii.,\np. 13).\n\n[11] Moreri says that nobody knows what his report was.\n\n[12] Garenci\u00e8res, as we have shown, says Nostradamus dedicated the\n\u201cLuminary Epistle\u201d to Henri II. in 1557. M. le Pelletier holds (i. 10)\nthat Henri II. never knew of the dedicatory epistle written to him by\nname, and that, as the events referred to do not concern the House of\nValois, they could have had no interest for him had he known of the\nepistle. M. le Pelletier adds a most singular note to this remark, that\nthe epistle is dedicated \u201c_A l\u2019invictissime, tr\u00e8s puissant, et tr\u00e8s\nchrestien Henry Roy de France Second_.\u201d This epigraph he maintains not\nto be addressed to Henri II., for he remarks that he was no longer alive\nwhen it made its appearance. Now, this is not so; for the dedicatory\nletter was dated in print June 27, 1558, and the king\u2019s death only took\nplace in 1559, so that the document was even in print before his death.\nBut, had it not been so, there is no reason whatever why Nostradamus\nshould not have supplied the king with a copy of the letter and quatrains\nin manuscript long before either of them had been committed to type.\nJean de Roux, Cur\u00e9 de Louvicamp, wrongly suggests that it was intended\nas a prophetical dedication to Louis le Grand or XIV. M. le Pelletier\nthinks it was not even dedicated to the great Henri Quatre, but to a\n\u201c_Henry, Roy de France Second_\u201d\u2014_second_ being the Latin _secundus_, or\nprosperous, _i.e._ some king not less illustrious than Henri Quatre,\nwhose reign is to arise in the future. This it is which furnishes to\nthe reader the secret purpose of Le Pelletier\u2019s book, which is to set\nforth the claims of the Duc de Bordeaux, who would have ascended the\nFrench throne as Henri Cinq. Accordingly, in the body of the book, he\nhas interpreted five quatrains and one sixain of the prophecies of\nNostradamus as referring to this glorious King _Henri Second_, who has\nnever arrived, and who, being now some years dead, never can. We have\nseen that the Cur\u00e9 de Louvicamp could even suppose that Louis XIV. could\nstand for \u201cHenry, Roy de France Second.\u201d M. F. Buget, in his \u201c\u00c9tude\nsur Nostradamus,\u201d has the same idea, that he does not address Henri\nII., because he was not of a character sufficiently great to merit the\nattribution of such spiritual authority to him by our prophet, as if the\nflattery of a dedication was to be interpreted _au pied de la lettre_.\nIt could only be addressed, he thinks, to a really great man, a saint.\nM. Buget, in his book of 1862, evidently was another of those who made\nthe fatal error of interpreting Nostradamus out of the future, instead\nof carefully following the enigmas thrown out by him to find their\nfulfilment in the past. These gentlemen, if they had assiduously read the\nEpistle itself, instead of consulting their imaginative faculties, would\nhave perceived plainly enough that Nostradamus was writing to the only\nking he knew, before whom he had personally presented himself, and whom,\nas he says, he had highly reverenced from \u201c_iceluy jour que premierement\ndevant icelle je me presentay_.\u201d The concluding words of the Dedication\nare equally plain, and show that he is addressing a king whom he has\nindividually seen with his own eyes: \u201c_depuis que mes yeux furent si\nproches de vostre splendeur solaire_.\u201d All the rest is to be set down to\nthe strain of courtly flattery that was customarily addressed to kings,\nthen and down to a period full two hundred years later, especially on\noccasion of penning royal dedications. The purpose of this long note is\nto establish, once and for all, I trust, that \u201c_Henry, Roy de France\nSecond_,\u201d stands, without any subtlety at all, simply for King Henri II.,\nand nothing more. It is vain to endeavour to make millstones transparent\nthat we may shoot unexpected rays of light through them. They will answer\ntheir purpose by being left in the dark, and will grind grain the better\nfor it. Transparency will in such cases represent frangibility.\n\n[13] Aulus Gellius, \u201cNoctes Attic\u00e6,\u201d xv. 7.\n\n[14] It was really in the sixth month of his sixty-third year that he\ndied.\n\n[15] _Temple Bar_, xli. p. 87, authority for the term of years.\n\n[16] How any could have been written in 1567, I know not, as Nostradamus\ndied in 1566. But, however this may be, there are twelve _Presages_, or\none for each month throughout the year 1567. The last one is that which\nwe have already given, as relating to his own death.\n\n[17] The book was entitled, \u201cLes vies des plus c\u00e9l\u00e8bres et anciens po\u00ebtes\nprovensaux, qui ont floury du tems des comtes de Provence\u201d (Lyon, 1575);\na book still sought for, and rather rare.\n\n[18] \u201cIn 1566 died that trifler, so famous throughout the world, Michael\nNostradamus, who boasted while he lived that he knew and could foretell\nfuture events by the influence of the stars, in whose name afterwards\nmany ingenious men have put forth their imaginings, justifying him who\nsaid so aptly, \u2018Nostra damus,\u2019 etc.\u201d\n\n[19] Bouys does the same for Napoleon I.\n\n[20] See the ban he utters in Century VI., at the close\u2014\u201c_Barbari procul\nsunto._\u201d He shows a quite Horatian and heathen antipathy to the _profanum\nvulgus_.\n\n[21] C\u00e6sar Nostradamus was born at the beginning of 1555, so he was\nbut a few weeks old when his father dedicated to him the first four\n\u201cCenturies,\u201d published for the first time in 1555, by Mac\u00e9 Bonhomme,\nthe printer at Lyons. In the name of this son the epistle is really\na dedication to his spiritual sons; that is, to his interpreters and\nstudents in all future ages.\n\n[22] Lymphatics, Garenci\u00e8res (p. 16) tells, were anciently those who were\nmad for love; and he absurdly adds that the sign of it was, that such\npersons threw themselves into the water,\u2014_lympha_ meaning water. Varro\nsays that in Greece those who were mad were called \u03bd\u03c5\u03bc\u03c6\u03bf\u03bb\u03ae\u03c0\u03c4\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2, which\nmeans caught by nymphs. Festus, to fit this, thinks that men went mad by\nseeing the image of nymphs in the water fountains. Others have it that\nthey were afraid of water, as if it were hydrophobia that possessed them.\nBut _nympha_ and _lympha_ approach each other so nearly, that when a man\nis once caught by a nymph he is, for the time being, mad to all intents\nand purposes,\u2014\u201cit is not given to a man to love and to be wise.\u201d Leaving\nall this to be settled as it may, there is no question but in the medical\ntechnology of Nostradamus a deep melancholy is what was understood by the\nLymphatic motion,\u2014melancholy being the temperament most apt for study,\npoetry, and vaticination. Garenci\u00e8res invents a word for the occasion, or\nuses one that has since grown obsolete. He employs the verb _lymphatize_.\n\n[23] \u201cSuch alone as are inspired by the divine power can predict\nparticular events in a spirit of prophecy.\u201d\n\n[24] \u201cThou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, _i.e._\nfrom the powerful and from kings, and hast revealed them to the small and\nweak.\u201d This is Nostradamus\u2019s gloss upon Matt. xi. 25.\n\n[25] Acts i. 7.\n\n[26] Nostradamus seems, whenever he alludes to this appearance of flame\nas preceding vaticination, to have in his mind the descent of tongues\nof fire at Pentecost (Acts ii. 3), \u03b4\u03b9\u03b1\u03bc\u03b5\u03c1\u03b9\u03b6\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9 \u03b3\u03bb\u1ff6\u03c3\u03c3\u03b1\u03b9 \u1f61\u03c3\u03b5\u1f76 \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1\u03cc\u03c2.\nA flame of fire, be it observed, conveys a double symbol: it resembles\na tongue in form. Its luminousness and its purifying tendency express\nthe celestial nature of spirit, as contrasted with matter, and also\ninspiration. So that intrinsically and extrinsically it represents\nprophetic utterance. Grotius contributes an unusually good note upon this\npassage, pointing out that as in Genesis (xi. 9), confusion of tongues\nscattered mankind, so here (Acts ii. 3) the gift of tongues was to bring\nmen again into one brotherhood.\n\n[27] This passage is very difficult to bring to a clear sense in\ntranslation. Garenci\u00e8res has simply evaded it. It seems to mean that\nGod operates all the great effects in the universe; that, as He is the\nMaker, so is He the perpetual operator in the world,\u2014its cause and life;\nbut that the guardian angels are good and bad, and are charged with some\nsort of duty and office, not as affecting the mechanic frame of the\nworld, but in respect of mankind. This is in conformity with the Cabala\nand Hermetical teaching; but what he precisely means cannot, I think, be\nquite absolutely stated.\n\n[28] \u201cHe who is called prophet now, once was called seer.\u201d\n\n[29] \u201cFor all things are naked and open.\u201d\n\n[30] \u201cI am able not to err, fail, or be deceived.\u201d\n\n[31] \u201cWhence it shall not deviate from age to age.\u201d\n\n[32] \u201cI will visit their iniquities with a rod of iron, and with blows\nwill strike them.\u201d This somewhat resembles a passage in the Psalms (ii.\n7), but it is not a quotation.\n\n[33] \u201cI will trample them and break them, and not show pity.\u201d This\nresembles Isai. lxiii. 3.\n\n[34] In prose, and not in verse, as the quatrains are. These prose\nforecastings have, I am afraid, been altogether lost.\n\n[35] \u201cWhen the time arrives for the removal of ignorance.\u201d\n\n[36] \u201cWhen Minerva was free and favourable.\u201d\n\n[37] \u201cThere can be no truth entirely determined for certain which\nconcerns the future.\u201d\n\n[38] See Joel ii. 28.\n\n[39] Which proceeds from fate, but from God, and nature.\n\n[40] \u201cLet the sighing of the prisoner come before thee, to release the\nchildren of death\u201d (Ps. lxxviii. 11).\n\n[41] \u201cThe sea blushed red with the blood of naval fights.\u201d\n\n[42] \u201cMany things, O most potent king of all, of the most remarkable kind\nare shortly to happen, that I neither could nor would interweave them\nall into this epistle; but in order to comprehend certain facts, a few\nhorrible destinies must be set down in extract, although your amplitude\nand humanity towards all men is so great, and your piety to the gods, and\nthat you alone seem worthy of the grand title of the most Christian King,\nand to whom the highest authority in all religion should be deferred.\u201d\n\n[43] Romance tongue, _sele_ for _selle_, tripod seat, _tripode \u00e6neo_,\nsuch as the priestess of Apollo or Pythia sat on to deliver oracles.\n\n[44] Latin, _prosperare_, to succeed, or realize an experience.\n\n[45] _Qui_ for _ce qui_.\n\n[46] Latin, _virga_, branch or wand.\n\n[47] Latin, _limbus_, hem, border, fringe.\n\n[48] Latin, _per_, in, or through.\n\n[49] Ex Michaele Psello, _de D\u00e6monibus_. Works of Marsilius Ficinus, ii.\n884, ed. 1641, folio.\n\n[50] This refers to some Good Friday evening on the 10th Calend of April\nOld Style, as set forth in the first line of this quatrain.\n\n[51] This is exhibited in the third line of the quatrain: _Le feu\nestainct, assembl\u00e9e diabolique_.\n\n[52] \u00c6neid, iii. 92 and vi. 347.\n\n[53] Old word for _jamais_, never.\n\n[54] Latin, _a_, by.\n\n[55] Bouys [_Oracles_, p. 103] says that the King alone had the right to\na visor of pure gold. I believe this to be pure nonsense. It would be\nlittle stronger than lead. It merely means a gilt casque, and I think\nsome of the accounts say so in as many words. If Bouys were right, the\nKing courted death.\n\n[56] Greek, \u03ba\u03bb\u03ac\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, breaking or lopping.\n\n[57] Latin, _una_, the one or first.\n\n[58] See also Brant\u00f4me, _Vie des hommes illustres de son temps_.\n\n[59] _Qu\u2019en_, for _qui en_.\n\n[60] Romance, for _lutte_.\n\n[61] _Port\u00e9_, pour _remport\u00e9_.\n\n[62] Latin, _subito_, suddenly.\n\n[63] Romance, _surprins_ for surpris.\n\n[64] Romance, _surprins_ = _surpris_.\n\n[65] Latin, _exspoliare_, totally despoiled.\n\n[66] Romance, for _pris_.\n\n[67] Romance, _hostaige_, maison, house, palace.\n\n[68] Romance, _tiers_, third.\n\n[69] Latin, _trucidare_, cut the throat.\n\n[70] Latin, _inconditus_, dispersed.\n\n[71] Greek, \u03c3\u03ac\u03c1\u03c0\u03bf\u03c2, wooden case, coffin.\n\n[72] _Sortiront bas_, for _d\u2019en bas_.\n\n[73] Latin, _infernus_, subterranean.\n\n[74] Romance, _vefve_, veuve. The word is made here to apply to the wife,\nMary Stuart, whom he leaves a widow without children. The grammatical\neffort is somewhat violent; but _vef_ or _veuf_ is the masculine form, so\nthere is very little choice given.\n\n[75] In the quatrain this ought to be written _eage_, as it stands in the\n_texte-type_, or the line will not scan.\n\n[76] _Pr\u00e8s_, for apr\u00e8s.\n\n[77] This is how M. le Pelletier renders the last line.\n\n[78] Italian, _piloto_, pilot.\n\n[79] Latin, _mandatus_, appointed to a charge.\n\n[80] Latin, _classis_, fleet.\n\n[81] Romance, _contreband\u00e9_, marching in a contrary band.\n\n[82] _Ordo_ is, _Venise craindra une arm\u00e9e de barbares qui viendra_.\n\n[83] This line is a foot short. Garenci\u00e8res reads:\n\n    Le coup volant luy crevera un \u0153il.\n\n[84] _Noir_, anagram of roi, cutting off _n_.\n\n[85] _Arcs tendus_, arquebus.\n\n[86] Latin, _tantum_, much.\n\n[87] The family name of Pope Gregory XIII. was Hugo Buon-Compagni. On\nMay 13, 1572, he was made Pope. He assumed the name of Gregory out of\nrespect to St. Gregory Nazianzen. He caused the Church to encourage the\nmurder of refractory kings; he promoted the massacre of St. Bartholomew\u2019s\nDay, which Sir Paul Rycaut, the historian of the Popes, does not so\nmuch as mention in the life of Gregory. He only says towards the end\nthat \u201che may be numbered amongst the good Popes.\u201d As Buon-Compagni was\na good lawyer before he became a good Pope, he was pre-qualified for a\nvirtuous career in any line of life. He re-confirmed the excommunication\nof Queen Elizabeth; he rectified the Calendar which goes by his name,\u2014the\nGregorian. The Jesuits\u2019 College was finished by him at Rome, dedicated so\noddly\u2014\n\n                        Religioni et bonis Artibus.\n\nIn his day Japan was, by Jesuit missionary effort, brought within the\npale of the Church: on which a wit remarked that Japan varnish was\nintroduced into Europe, and Christian varnish into Japan. He died at\neighty-three, and to the last could almost mount on horseback without the\nhelp of his servants. His place of retirement, Rycaut says, was Frescati,\nabout ten miles distant from Rome, where the Borghese Palace now is, and\nwas then called _Monte Dragone_\u2014a most fit name for the residence of the\n_Old Worm_ of St. Bartholomew\u2019s massacre.\u2014_V._ Paul Rycaut, \u201cLives of the\nPopes,\u201d ed. 1688, vol. ii. p. 163.\n\n[88] Will sound in full volley.\n\n[89] These letters are interpreted by the old commentators and Guynaud\n(p. 107) as meaning the peace concluded with Philip II. of Spain: V.,\ncinq, S., sucesseur, C., Charles\u2014_i.e._, Successor to Charles Quint.\n\n[90] Romance, _vefve_ = veuve, widow.\n\n[91] Latin, _qui_, celui qui.\n\n[92] Latin, _ductus_, led.\n\n[93] _Appaiser_, for pour apaiser.\n\n[94] _Pourchas_, old word, pursuit, active intrigue (_proquassatio_).\n\n[95] Razes, tonsured priests and monks (_t\u00eates ras\u00e9es_).\n\n[96] Greek, \u03c0\u03b5\u03c3\u03c3\u03b9\u03ba\u03cc\u03c2, draught-playing, or gambling. The word was applied\nto gaming by the Greeks, as we find a story in Plutarch [Liddell and\nScott, Lex.], exhibiting Hermes as playing draughts (on the \u03c0\u03b5\u03c3\u03c3\u03b5\u03c5\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd)\nwith Selene, and winning five days, which he adds to the year. Guynaud\n(p. 119) reads _poche_, which I take to be an abscess, wolf, or devouring\nulcer; both he and Le Pelletier interpret it as meaning Poland.\n\n[97] _Plaindre_, for se plaindre.\n\n[98] _Guiere._ Nobody explains this word, and yet it seems to stand much\nin need of it. It is given by Roquefort, as from _gubernator_, a general.\nLeader, or we may say _dux_, for the Duc d\u2019Alen\u00e7on. It is really _guides_\nor guide. _Guber_, _govern_, _guide_, being all three cognate.\n\n[99] Latin, _decisus_, cut off, severed.\n\n[100] This term is applied to Poland by Nostradamus in allusion to its\nelective throne, which became purely venal\u2014a thing at last coming to be\nplayed for as a hazard at dice. But, curiously enough, the less authentic\nreading _poche_ is almost equally descriptive\u2014a burning ulcer eating into\nthe body politic till it destroys it.\n\n[101] Latin, _virtuosus_; according to M. le Pelletier \u201cvigorous.\u201d\nClassical Latin has no such word, and the lower Latin means _probus_,\n_bonis moribus et virtute pr\u00e6ditus_. Nostradamus probably meant\n_vertueux_, in old French, to be equivalent to _robuste_.\n\n[102] _Aloi_, the quality of the substance of a metal. The battle of\nFrench etymologists is very instructive over this word, as may be seen in\nLittr\u00e9. Of course, however, it comes from _\u00e0 loi_, conformable to law.\nBut I think there is a misprint, and that we ought to read _toute loi_\n= _toute la loi_. Guynaud (p. 122) reads _loi_ in the second line for\n_foy_. We might suppose that that variant had been introduced to correct\nthe fourth line, and was only by a \u201cdevil\u201d carried to the second instead,\nby which that imp of mischief contrived to leave two errors in place of\none. In confirmation somewhat of this, the _texte-type_ reads _tout \u00e0\nloy_.\n\n[103] Latin, _ira_, anger.\n\n[104] Ordo, deux mourront par ire, etc.\n\n[105] Romance, _prins_, pris.\n\n[106] Romance, _joyne_, jeune homme.\n\n[107] Romance, _cultre_, couteau.\n\n[108] Latin, _perpetratio_.\n\n[109] _Husne_, a small tower, or belvidere.\n\n[110] Romance, _murtre_, meurtre.\n\n[111] Latin, _pernicies_, destruction.\n\n[112] Romance, _esmues_, \u00e9mus, seditious.\n\n[113] _Tien_, for _tienne_.\n\n[114] Latin, _L\u00e6titia_, joy, pleasure, and play on _Lutetia_, Paris.\n\n[115] Romance, _cavilleux_, cavillers.\n\n[116] _Mendosus_, anagram of _Vendosme_ (the _u_ standing for _v_ of\ncourse). The _texte-type_ reads _Mandosus_; but as _Mendosus_ is the\nperfect anagram of Vendosme, and makes also the Latin word\u2019s meaning\n_full of faults_, it is best to read _Mendosus_.\n\n[117] _Norlaris_, anagram for Lorrains the patronymic of the Guise family.\n\n[118] Romance, _esleu_, _\u00e9lu_, chosen.\n\n[119] _Cape_, for _Capet_, a descendant of Hugh Capet.\n\n[120] Latin, _tacite_, silently.\n\n[121] _Norlarin_, anagram for _Lorrain_; here it represents the Duc de\nMayenne.\n\n[122] _Qu\u2019\u00e0_ for _qui \u00e0_.\n\n[123] Romance, _si_ for _tr\u00e8s_, very.\n\n[124] Latin, _traditor_, traitor.\n\n[125] His body shall be dragged through the streets in the mud of the\ngutters.\n\n[126] _Robin_, anagram for _Biron_.\n\n[127] Romance, _sceu_ for _su_, known.\n\n[128] _Lafin_ was the name of the secretary, the accomplice of Biron.\n\n[129] The ordo here is _dans l\u2019Espagne amye_ which means, then at peace\nwith Henri IV.\n\n[130] Romance, _poste_, messenger, postillion.\n\n[131] _La plume au vent_ is supposed by le Pelletier to stand for\n_currente calamo_. I should rather think it means the feather (wing) to\nthe wind. It was written with a quill, and started on its way as a bird\nflies; but _irrevocabile semel emissum_. We are to understand this line\nto relate to l\u2019Oste\u2019s treasonable complicity with Spain, of which an\naccount will be given further on. Also, _l\u2019escrivain_, in the closing\nline stands for the same individual.\n\n[132] We shall see that the two Spanish couriers were arrested at the\npost office in Paris. Le Pelletier confuses all this from not happening\nto know that l\u2019Oste is the scrivener, so he applies it to the affair of\nLafin, whose messenger, when carrying Spanish despatches, had thrown\nthem into the river when he found himself pursued. Unfortunately, when\nhe finds himself in the difficulty which this involves him in, he glozes\ntill he has forced the words to fit his erroneous view. He had far better\nhave stated the difficulty, and said that he could not harmonize the\ntext. But he very rarely trips thus.\n\n[133] _Le Grand Chyren_ is the anagram of _Henri le Grand_. Before\nmounting the throne, he bore the name of Vendosme, from his father\nAntoine de Bourbon, Duke of Vend\u00f4me and King of Navarre. In the first\nQuatrain of the series, _Henri Quatre_, _Vendosme_ was anagrammatically\ngiven as Mendosus; as to _Chiren_ it is the precise anagram of _Henri_,\nas spelt in the old language _Henric_, from the Latin _Henricus_.\nNumerous etymologies have been assigned to Henry. Camden derived it from\n_honore_, Verstegan from the Teutonic _Han_, a haven, and _Rice_, Saxon\nfor rich. Killian writes it _Heynrick_, or _Heymrick_, rich home. This is\nvery nearly right, but now it is generally considered that _rick_ stands\nfor powerful; so chief of a house or district.\n\n[134] _Los_, old word for glory. Latin, _laus_.\n\n    \u201cA la sainte divinit\u00e9,\n    Soit _los_, honeur, et potest\u00e9.\u201d\n\n                                       _Le Myst\u00e8re des Actes des Ap\u00f4tres._\n\n[135] Latin, _victor_, conqueror.\n\n[136] _Dauffois_, for _Dauphinois_ synonym, for _Dauphin_.\n\n[137] _Portera_, for supportera, says Le Pelletier. For my part, it seems\nbest to leave it to its natural rendering, that he will carry his colours\ninto Nancy.\n\n[138] Latin, _obturare_, to shut up in.\n\n[139] _Prouv\u00e9s_ is for approuv\u00e9s.\n\n[140] _Delivr\u00e9_, is for livr\u00e9.\n\n[141] This is a play upon words, unrecognized by Garenci\u00e8res, as he\ndid not know that _Clerepeyne_ was the name of the man who cut off\nMontmorency\u2019s head, although, of course, Garenci\u00e8res is quite alive\nto the fact that the quatrain refers to Louis XIII. and the great\nMontmorency. In Latin _clara p\u0153na_ means celebrated punishment. Here is\nanother instance of the mention of a name of an obscure individual that\nhistory for a moment flashes light upon, and then drops him back into the\nmud of oblivious ooze for ever,\u2014emblem apt of Fame! This was written, if\nnot printed, a good eighty years before Clerepeyne became the midge-mote\nof a sunbeam upon that late autumnal day in history, when the night\nstruck chilly on high roofs in Dauphiny.\n\n[142] Latin, _decisus_, suppressed cut off.\n\n[143] _Ne monstres._ I think there is a printer\u2019s error here in the\n_texte-type_, and that we should read _le monstre_.\n\n[144] _Double_, diploma, or duplicate of a treaty.\n\n[145] Latin, _ille aqu\u00e2 ductus_, he that is taken by water.\n\n[146] Richelieu, if you examine him by Philippe de Champagne\u2019s splendid\ntriple portrait of him, hanging in our Gallery, may be read as if in life\nby any physiognomist who pleases to devote the time to it. I have gazed\nmany a time, through long years, with gifted friends and others, and\noftener still alone, into those heartless eyes, attracted irresistibly (I\nonly now see why) by the vast discrepancy between the world-wide renown\nof this French Minister, and his cynically petty face\u2014sly, vulpine,\nunfeeling, unprincipled, spiteful, a coxcomb of feminine manners, of an\negotism and paltry vanity inordinate, but of a refinement, showing the\nhighest social culture, a tongue that could gloze with ladies; he might,\nby _lettre de cachet_, have shut up a French Walsingham in the Bastille\nto prevent his own overthrow; but as to coping with him or a Burleigh as\na statesman, as an equal in any powerful cabinet in Europe, by force of\ncharacter, he could not have done it. Artifice, backed by the force of\nFrance, then rising into unity of action, or helped by circumstances that\ntied the hands of his antagonist, he might even throw a giant unawares.\nRichelieu was an artificial contriver, not a born ruler, if a mature face\nof fifty be any index to the volume or memoir of a man\u2019s life.\n\n[147] Arrange these words, _l\u2019animal domestique \u00e0 l\u2019homme_, i.e. _the\ndog_.\n\n[148] Latinism, _fulmen \u00e0 virg\u00e2_, saltpetre; that is, the powder and\nram-rod.\n\n[149] Romance, _si_, synonym of _tr\u00e8s_, very.\n\n[150] Romance, _prinse_, _prise_, taken, brought.\n\n[151] The _chien_ is the cock or hammer of the lock.\n\n[152] Added to the text in the edition of 1605.\n\n[153] _Paux_, plural of _pal_, _pieu_, a term of blazonry, stake.\n\n[154] Read _cors_, horns.\n\n[155] \u00c6mathien, or Emathion, Le Pelletier says, son of Cephalus and\nAurora, who opened the gates of the morning to the sun. I do not find\nthis account of him anywhere. Cephalus is the chaste Joseph of mythology,\ntempted by Aurora. But Hesiod makes him father of Phaeton by her.\nPossibly M. le Pelletier has mistaken \u00c6mathion for Phaeton. Generally,\nEmathion is reckoned as son of Titan and Aurora, and a king of Macedonia.\nHis connection in some way however with the sun is certain, and this\nsuffices for the use made of his name by Nostradamus. \u1f28\u03bc\u03b1\u03b8\u03af\u03c9\u03bd is given\nby Suidas as a proper name. Now, \u1f28\u03bc\u03ac\u03b8\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 is _daily_, with but the change\nof one letter. Further than this \u1f28\u03bc\u03ac\u03b8\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2 is Macedonian, and Alexander is\ncalled _Emathius dux_, as in Milton, \u201cthe Emathian conqueror bid spare;\u201d\nimplying that Louis le Grand should be a counterpart to Alexander the\nGreat, an impostor who also pretended birth from Apollo. By which flight\nof ambition he bastardized himself by choice, dishonoured his mother,\nand put his father outside the door. Shakespeare says, \u201cBy this sin fell\nthe angels;\u201d but a too prosperous fool seems equally ready to annihilate\nhimself by it, and all belonging to him, of his own act.\n\n[156] Latin, _per_, through.\n\n[157] Romance, _emmy_, entre, between.\n\n[158] _Phi_, for Philip.\n\n[159] Latin, _classis_, fleet.\n\n[160] _Corseque_, Romance for Corsica.\n\n[161] Romance, _esgrongn\u00e9_, or _esgrun\u00e9_, pulverised.\n\n[162] Turn this; when \u00c6mathion shall build Hercules.\n\n[163] Latin, _felinus_, like a cat.\n\n[164] _La barque_ of St. Peter, the Holy Seat, Rome.\n\n[165] Latin, _tentare_, to assail.\n\n[166] _Phocen_ is another reading. Marseilles, founded by the Phocians,\nA.C. 660.\n\n[167] Old word for west, or sundown.\n\n[168] Latin, _per_, because of.\n\n[169] _Voiles_, for vessels.\n\n[170] Latin, _classis_, fleet.\n\n[171] Latin, _Narbo Martius_, Narbonne, in the department de l\u2019Aude, said\nto be so called from its founder _Martius_. [See p. 160, IX. 38.]\n\n[172] Romance, _si_, very.\n\n[173] _Cap_, for Capet.\n\n[174] Ordo. He who shall succeed to the great monarch dead.\n\n[175] _Faudra_, future tense of _faillir_, fail, or disappear.\n\n[176] Latin, _gens_, nation.\n\n[177] _Franche_, for _gent Franche_, French nation.\n\n[178] Latin, _per_, by reason of.\n\n[179] Latin: _Aries_ sign of the Ram.\n\n[180] _Bastarnie_, corresponding to ancient Poland.\n\n[181] Romance, _nay_, _n\u00e9_, born.\n\n[182] _Lonole_, anagram for \u1f48\u03bb\u03bb\u03cd\u03c9\u03bd, destroying, from the verb \u1f40\u03bb\u03bb\u03cd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, to\ndestroy. Destroyer.\n\n[183] _Donra_, for donnera, will give.\n\n[184] _Topique_, flowers of rhetoric, oratory.\n\n[185]\n\n    When hempe is sponne,\n    England\u2019s done.\n\nWhen Elizabeth was in the flower of her age, Bacon remembered well to\nhave heard the above; hempe standing for Henry, Edward, Mary and Philip,\nand Elizabeth. \u201cWhich,\u201d says he, \u201cthanks be to God, is verified only in\nthe change of name; for that the King\u2019s style is now no more of England\nbut of Britain.\u201d Observe the wonderful propriety of the words used by\nNostradamus. He noted at the right spot and instant a national change of\nname; a point of precision that nine out of ten lettered Englishmen would\nfail to reply to correctly, in answer to the sudden question, When was\nEngland first called Great Britain? It would be interesting to know the\nhistory of this \u201ctrivial prophecy\u201d as his lordship calls it, for it has a\ngood deal of the true spirit of forecast in it. It certainly was genuine,\nas it evidently was known to the narrator as being in circulation before\nit was accomplished.\n\n[186] Romance, _dechass\u00e9_, simply _chass\u00e9_.\n\n[187] Latin, _per_, by reason of.\n\n[188] Latin, _ira_, anger.\n\n[189] Romance, _tracer_, follow a road, track.\n\n[190] _Contre_, \u00e0 c\u00f4t\u00e9 de, opposite, or near to.\n\n[191] Italian, _macellaio_, butcher, from Latin _macellum_.\n\n[192] Romance, _nay_, n\u00e9, born.\n\n[193] _Pempotam_, a shocking word made out of Greek and Latin\n\u03c0\u1fb6\u03bd\u2014_potens_, all powerful.\n\n[194] Latin, _Copia_, military forces.\n\n[195] Latin, _Lusitani_, Portuguese.\n\n[196] The full title runs: \u201cThe Prophecies of Nostradamus concerning the\nfate of all the Kings and Queens of Great Britain since the Reformation,\nand the succession of his present Majesty King George, and the\ncontinuation of the British Crown in his most serene Royal House to the\nlast day of the world. Collected and explained by D. D., 1715.\u201d This book\nis in the British Museum. I do not know whether it is scarce or not. It\nis not common, for I never meet with it in booksellers catalogues.\n\n[197] Hume has very ably handled this important question in his Seventh\nEssay (Hume\u2019s \u201cPhilosophical Works,\u201d iii. 373, Edinburgh, 1826). He\nthere sets out that it is no modern invention as some have maintained,\nfor the Asiatics combined against the Medes and Persians, as Xenophon\nshows in his \u201cInstitutions of Cyrus.\u201d Likewise Thucydides exhibits the\nleague formed against Athens, which led to the Peloponnesian war, as\nbeing grounded on this principle. Afterwards, when Thebes and Laced\u00e6mon\ndisputed the supremacy, Athens always threw her strength into the lighter\nscale to preserve the balance. She was for Thebes against Sparta till\nEpaminondas won at Leuctra, and then she immediately changed sides, as\nof generosity, but really jealous to preserve the balance. If you will\nread Demosthenes, he says, in the Oration for the Megapolitans you may\n\u201csee the utmost refinements on this principle that ever entered into the\nhead of a Venetian or English speculatist.\u201d On the rise of the crafty\nMacedonian he again bugled the alarm to Greece, which brought the banners\ntogether that fell at Ch\u00e6ronea. The principle was right, but the too\ngreat delay had knit Fate\u2019s smile into a frown. Envy (if you like to call\nit so, but I call it a jealous prudence) must in a community of States\nprevent any one from overtopping, as Athenian ostracism expelled the\ncitizen who grew too lush and vigorous for a communion in equality. Hume\npoints out with perspicuous beauty how England went too far. Her emulous\nantagonism to France made her so alert to defend her allies that they\ncould count upon her as a force of their own. The expenses consequent\nupon this imprudent course led to funding, _i.e._ the _National Debt_;\nand that has led us into an absurd meekness, a dread of war, and the\npeace barkings of the Quaker Bright; so that England dares not fire a\nhowitzer when Russia, contrary to her most solemn pledges, annexes Merv,\nBokara, and Khiva, and cannot find one word to say when Germany has her\nfoot on the throat of France. Blunders in extravagant advocacy, blunders\nin parsimonious neglect of a principle, do not diminish its importance;\nthey only emphasize it. With a prophecy out of dry reason Hume says it\nwill become \u201cmore prejudicial another way, by begetting, as is usual,\nthe opposite extreme, and rendering us totally careless and supine with\nregard to the fate of Europe.\u201d That is how we now stand. In a very recent\nFrench cyclop\u00e6dia, _l\u2019\u00e9quilibre Europ\u00e9en_ is said to be quite a modern\nidea, with nothing corresponding to it in antiquity. The writer pretends\nthat it originated with the Church, and that Podichad the King of Bohemia\nsent Marini to Louis XI. to point out the necessity there was for a\n_Parliament of Kings_ to adjust matters between the Church and people.\nThis may be the first form of a Congress. Francis I. carried on the same\npolicy, and Henri IV. extended it to an idea of a Christian republic of\nfederated nations, as against a universal monarchy. This idea enabled\nCromwell to meddle as European arbiter, whereas he ought only to have\nacted as moderator and equalizer of parties. Leibnitz called the House\nof Hapsburgh a continual conspiracy against the rights of the people,\nand Richelieu got the _equilibrium_ established and introduced at the\nTreaty of Westphalia, as a principle of the law of nations, though with\nthe concomitant of _Congresses_. The princes so assembled plotted against\nPoland, as might have been anticipated, and in the course of seventy\nyears they were enabled entirely to break up the Balance of Power in\nEurope. Cromwell, Richelieu, Napoleon, and Bismark, by force, finesse,\nchicane, and brutal bluntness, have overturned the very groundwork of\nthe principle. The English, having at first stirred up war by means of\nsubventions, have now tumbled, only too laxly, into the stupid doctrine\nof non-intervention. Congresses should never have been allowed. These\n\u201cParliaments of Kings\u201d can only do mischief, as they have no controlling\npower to refer to. They lack a _King_ above the Parliaments, and as that\nis _impossible_, Congresses can only meet for evil. The strongest are\nirresistible in such congregations. The weaker can get no justice and\nno sympathy. If they take the field, everybody is against them; if they\nsubmit, they are despoiled without hope of a remedy: whereas, formerly,\na wrong done might excite a feeling of justice in a neighbour, and so\ninduce him to help; or, where justice was weak, fear of similar treatment\nmight opportunely bring forth the required aid.\n\n[198] _Si_, for tr\u00e8s.\n\n[199] Read, _Qui mettra les Anglois en d\u00e9confiture_.\n\n[200] Observe here how very different is Clarendon\u2019s estimate of James I.\nfrom the trash that Sir Walter Scott indulges in at the King\u2019s expense,\nin those romances of his from which half the world draw their notions of\nhistory.\n\n[201] Latin, _per_, during.\n\n[202] Variant, _le tertre_, the knoll or rising ground.\n\n[203] D. D. reads here _ne dira t-on qu\u2019ouy_, and I think the sense\nrequires it.\n\n[204] Historical discrepancies ought to be chronicled, for they confuse\nall investigation, and force every conscientious new comer to commence\nthe whole work over again. A writer in the \u201cBook of Days\u201d pretends to\nbe particularly accurate (ii. 309), noting that \u201cthe storm in reality\nhappened on Monday, August 30, and must have been pretty well spent\nbefore the Friday afternoon, when Oliver breathed his last.\u201d Rosse, in\nhis \u201cIndex of Dates,\u201d says (v. _Storms_) that there was one on September\n3. Carlyle (\u201cCromwell Letters,\u201d iii. 457) chronicles the stormy Monday,\nbut not the stormy Friday. Hume says a violent tempest \u201cimmediately\nsucceeded his death.\u201d Clarendon, who may be supposed to know better than\nany of them, writes (v. 648, ed. 1731:) \u201cAnd this now was a day (_i.e._\nthe Friday) very memorable for the greatest storm of wind that had ever\nbeen known, for some hours before and after his death.\u201d\n\n[205] This, of course, is \u201cliving on barley bread,\u201d as everybody\ntranslates it. I think, however, it has reference to the phrase _faire\nses orges_, to enrich one\u2019s self unscrupulously at the expense of others.\nIf that be so, it becomes excellently applicable in the present context.\n[No\u00ebl.] He had sown his wild oats, and now began _\u00e0 faire ses orges_.\n\n[206] _Tant_, should, I think, be _temps_.\n\n[207] Greek, \u03ba\u03cc\u03c0\u03c4\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, to strike = _coup_; it may even stand here for a\n_coup d\u2019\u00e9tat_. [Borel.]\n\n[208] Construction is _mettant \u00e0 des plus grands le pied sur la gorge_.\n\n[209] _Foudre_ metaphorically, saltpetre, here fireballs. The belief at\nthe time was that the fire was the work of incendiaries, and it has never\nbeen disproved, though it has been ridiculed by those who set up for\nliberty and enlightenment. The Illuminati will not allow London to have\nbeen thus burnt by others; and it is quite certain that they themselves\nwill never set the Thames on fire. What Nostradamus asserts here, history\nhas asserted. That is enough for the present purpose.\n\n[210] _La dame._ Garenci\u00e8res takes this for St. Paul\u2019s, once dedicated to\nDiana, who is the ancient dame. We may take it for the mother Church, if\nwe like; and it would not be using much violence if we read _le dome_,\nfor that might very well mean, as in the Latin, _doma_, house or church,\nas St. Jerome uses it\u2014_Domus Dei_, in fact.\n\n[211] _Cherra_, future of the verb _choir_, tomber, to fall.\n\n[212] _Secte._ By this Garenci\u00e8res thinks is meant the eighty-seven\nchurches that were burnt with St. Paul\u2019s, belonging to the same\nProtestant sect. We might read _sorte_.\n\n[213] _Luite_, Romance for _lutte_, battle.\n\n[214] Variant, _Luy, satallites la mort degousteront_.\n\n[215] Esleut, or _esleu_.\n\n[216] Romance, _dechass\u00e9_, driven away.\n\n[217] _Vers\u00e9e_, for _renvers\u00e9e_.\n\n[218] In this high-wind of revolution men will mask their countenances\nwith the cloak of hypocrisy.\n\n[219] Latin, _vexata_, troubled.\n\n[220] _Oncques_, never, _nunquam_.\n\n[221] Romance, _ne_, _ni_, nor.\n\n[222] The order is \u201c_Qu\u2019avint oncq\u2019_ plus d\u2019horreur ni plus pire \u00e0\nBabel qu\u2019il n\u2019adviendra aux Romains par les journaux.\u201d This is M. le\nPelletier\u2019s reading, and he interprets it of Voltaire, the encyclopedists\nand journalists of the seventeenth century, who assailed the faith and\nthe Church of Rome. But surely the one like Hannibal was Napoleon, and\nthe _journaux_ in this old speech does not stand for _journals_ and\nnewspapers that had no existence, and therefore no name in the time of\nNostradamus. _Journal_ meant a day\u2019s work, such as could, in ploughing,\nbe done by a man with two oxen.\n\n[223] Latin, _per_, whilst.\n\n[224] Latin, _pro_, for.\n\n[225] _Cruches_ = urns, Cinerary urns. Garenci\u00e8res read _urnes_.\n\n[226] _Sainte Dame_ I take to be equivalent to our English _Halidom_,\nconsisting of _Holy_ and _Dome_\u2014a terminative seen in kingdom and\nChristendom, and signifying rule or lordship. It has also been written\nas _Holidame_, as if referring to the Virgin Mary. Of course, if that\nwere the correct etymology, it would furnish the exact rendering of\n_Sainte Dame_: but, as it is, it is equivalent. A voice feigning that\nof the Blessed Virgin may well be represented by a voice feigning\nthat of religion and faith. I take this from Garenci\u00e8res, and not the\n_texte-type_.\n\n[227] _Sublimis_, high, elevated.\n\n[228] Latin, _obnubilare_, to cloud, obscure.\n\n[229] Romance, _comprins_, _compris_, contained in.\n\n[230] _Sens_ = _sans_, without.\n\n[231] _Chief_ = _chef_, God.\n\n[232] Latin, _munimen_, rampart.\n\n[233] Rapis, anagram, for _Paris_.\n\n[234] Latin, _nunquam_, never.\n\n[235] _Arroi_, for _desarroi_, disorder.\n\n[236] \u201cOn d\u00e9signe quelquefois sous ce nom un habitant d\u2019Alexandrie dont\nle v\u00e9ritable nom est N\u00e9opol, qui fut martyris\u00e9 sous Diocl\u00e9tien. Outre\nce Saint, dont la vie est compl\u00e8tement inconnue, les bollandistes font\nmention d\u2019un Napol\u00e9on, brillant cavalier, neveu de Cardinal Fossa-Nuova,\nqui se tua en tombant de cheval \u00e0 Rome en 1218. Saint Dominique, temoin\nde la douleur du pauvre cardinal, ressuscita le jeune homme. Napol\u00e9on\nreconnut ce bienfait en menant une vie fort chretienne et, quand il fut\nmort pour tout de bon, l\u2019\u00c9glise le b\u00e9atifia. Toutefois, il n\u2019avait pas\nsa place fixe dans le calendrier. Ce fut Pie VII. qui lui assigna pour\nsa f\u00eate la date du 15 ao\u00fbt, dans le but sans doute de plaire \u00e0 Napol\u00e9on\nBonaparte.\u201d\u2014\u201cGrand Dictionnaire Universel du dixneuvi\u00e8me Si\u00e8cle,\u201d par M.\nPierre Larousse, tom. xi. p. 804. Paris: 1874.\n\n[237] Latin, _tantum_, so much.\n\n[238] Romance, _outre_, beyond.\n\n[239] Latin, _castula_, tunic. It was a kind of petticoat worn by women\nnext the skin, and fastened under the breasts, which it left exposed. It\nstands here for the goddess of Republican Liberty, which is generally\nrepresented in this dress of the Roman virgins.\n\n[240] Latin, _incerta_, uncertain.\n\n[241] _Par_ = _per_, Latin, by reason of.\n\n[242] A variant is _trombe_. We are told that the modern commentators\nfind in this word the anagram of _Rome_, by syncope of _t_ and _b_. So\nyou might in _rompu_, by substitution of _e_ for _p_ and the elision of\n_u_. But as no good comes of doing either, I should suggest to leave them\nalone.\n\n[243] _Le part_ is the same word as in the last quatrain, and stands here\nfor the husband.\n\n[244] _Solus_, Latin for _seul_.\n\n[245] _Mary_, or _marri_, is from the old word _Marrir_, _s\u2019affliger_,\nand means afflicted, full of grief.\n\n[246] _Trahyr._ _Trahitor_, _trahiter_, from Latin _traditor_ =\n_tra\u00eetre_, English traitor.\n\n[247] _Coutaux_ M. Le Pelletier takes as soldiers. _Par coutaux_ = _per\ncustodes_. They betrayed him into the hands of guards. I think it may\nalso mean _coustiller_, a soldier armed with the _coustille_, a short,\nstraight cutlass.\n\n[248] _Avons_ = _avus_, grandfather.\n\n[249] A variant reads _pour_.\n\n[250] Construe _Trop de bon temps_.\n\n[251] _Legier_, for l\u00e9g\u00e8rement. Romance language.\n\n[252] _Par_, for Latin _per_, because of.\n\n[253] _Tantum_, Latin, very.\n\n[254] _Venustus_, Latin, comely.\n\n[255] _Faict_, Latin, _factus_ made.\n\n[256] _Face_, Latin, _fax_ torch.\n\n[257] _Aduste_, Latin, _adustus_ burnt.\n\n[258] _Chef_, head.\n\n[259] \u201cLe corps et la t\u00eate plac\u00e9s dans un panier d\u2019osier sont \u00e0 l\u2019instant\nm\u00eame port\u00e9s au cimeti\u00e8re de la Madeleine, jet\u00e9s aussit\u00f4t dans une fosse\nprofonde de douze pieds, ouverte de six, garnie et recouverte de chaux\nvive, et dissous imm\u00e9diatement. On l\u2019inhume aupr\u00e8s des personnes qui\navaient p\u00e9ri le 20 mai, 1770, jour de la f\u00eate donn\u00e9e par la ville de\nParis, \u00e0 l\u2019occasion de son mariage, et aupr\u00e8s des Suisses morts dans la\njourn\u00e9e du 10 ao\u00fbt.\u201d\n\n[260] _Ergaste_ is _estrange_ in Pierre Rigaud\u2019s edition. \u1f18\u03c1\u03b3\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03ae\u03c1 is a\nworkman, and M. le Pelletier says _Ergaster_ is Latin. It may be, but\nI do not find it in Facciolati, though _ergastulum_, a workhouse, is\nthere given. When Marie Antoinette was in the Temple, she was reduced\nto working with her hands, like a workwoman (_ergaste_). But _ergaste_\nis the anagram of _estrange_, the one letter _n_ excepted. Probably\n_estrange_ is the preferable reading, inasmuch as Marie Antoinette was an\nAustrian, and so _\u00e9trang\u00e8re_.\n\n[261] _Prins_, Latin, _prensus_, taken, captive.\n\n[262] _Pellix_, Latin, _pellex_, prostitute.\n\n[263] Qui = Latin _cui_, to which.\n\n[264] Alquiloye = _Aquil\u00e6 lex_, law or rule of the Imperial Eagle.\n\n[265] _Subit_ stands for _subito_, suddenly.\n\n[266] _Tiers_ = third.\n\n[267] _Vuidez_ = Latin, _videte_, see.\n\n[268] _Que_ = how much.\n\n[269] _Forneron_ = Latin, _fornax_, furnace.\n\n[270] _A_ is the Latin _a_, privative.\n\n[271] _Cappe_, is put for _Capet_.\n\n[272] _En bref_, _temps_, understood.\n\n[273] _Ne_, again used for _ni_.\n\n[274] _Sacr\u00e9s_, for _consacr\u00e9s_.\n\n[275] _Prime_, Latin, _prima_, first.\n\n[276] _Gofres_ is deep, profound.\n\n[277] _Cultements_, Latin, _cultus_, worship.\n\n[278] _Tiendront fort_, will struggle hard.\n\n[279] _Detranch\u00e9s_, Romance for _tranch\u00e9s_, _t\u00eate_ understood.\n\n[280] _Infelice_, Latin, unhappy.\n\n[281] _Le_ to be understood before _conjoindra_.\n\n[282] _Marrit_, afflicted.\n\n[283] _Scome_, Latin, _scomma_, gibe, taunt.\n\n[284] _Istra_ = _ira_, will go, or will go forth.\n\n[285] _Mont_golfier, the inventor of \u00e6rostatics.\n\n[286] _Qui_, Latin for who, a man who.\n\n[287] _Prins_, taken.\n\n[288] _Sext_, for _sextus_.\n\n[289] _Mansol_, _man_, _sol_. _Manens solus_ means celibate, or priest\nunder vows.\n\n[290] Latin, _incitatus_, agitated.\n\n[291] _Pont_, pour Pontificat, or Pontifex.\n\n[292] \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03cd\u03c2, grand, considerable.\n\n[293] _Man. sol._, _manens solus_, as before.\n\n[294] The ordo is, les deux prochains destrois fuiront le tarasc.\n\n[295] _Prochain_ = proche parent, who partakes in a heritage.\n\n[296] \u03c4\u03b1\u03c1\u03b1\u03c7\u03ae = tumult.\n\n[297] Romance, _destrois_, afflicted, dejected.\n\n[298] _Mars_, god of war.\n\n[299] _Augur_, for Roman priest.\n\n[300] _Gens_ is Latin for _nation_.\n\n[301] _Boreas_ is north wind, or north.\n\n[302] _Classis_, Latin, is a body of men, used here as army.\n\n[303] The ordo is, [o\u00f9 elle] aura pouss\u00e9 son arm\u00e9e trop loin vers le nord.\n\n[304] _Seur_ = s\u0153ur.\n\n[305] _Fatum_, Latin, fate, destiny.\n\n[306] _Duira_, for conduira.\n\n[307] \u0394\u03b1\u03bd-\u03b1\u03c1\u03c7\u03ae, Princedom of Dan. The old Kings of Denmark pretended to\nderive from Dan, seventh son of Jacob, it is said.\n\n[308] \u0393\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03c5\u1f31\u03cc\u03c2, son of earth. _Terr\u00e6filius_, giant.\n\n[309] _Unda_, wave, _onde_.\n\n[310] The title of this book is \u201cMachiavel Comment\u00e9 par N\u1d52\u207f Buonaparte,\u201d\n1816, published by H. Nicolle, 12, Rue de Seine. I have a copy, but there\nis none in the British Museum. The Preface and the Introductory Discourse\non Macchiavelli are full of ability. The translation of the \u201cPrince\u201d in\nFrench occupies the left-hand column of each page, and seems well done;\non the right-hand column are given the emperor\u2019s annotations, where they\noccur, otherwise it stands blank. They are severally initialled G., R. C.,\nor E\u2014General, Republican Consul, Emperor,\u2014according to the period at\nwhich Napoleon may be supposed to have written them. Some of the remarks\nare clever, but perhaps scarcely show the grip of Napoleon; which,\nwhether right or wrong, was always that of an iron vice. I now imagine\nit to be an ingenious forgery, but it is quite curious enough to merit\nfurther inquiry. This footnote, it will be seen, does not correspond with\nwhat I have said in the text. I wrote that under the impression that the\ndocument was genuine, and it would be just, if the book were true. But\nI leave it as it is, though it tells slightly against myself, as the\ncontrast, between the first and second thoughts seems to me instructive.\nIt shows that, let a man walk by right faith or by wrong, he must steer\nby the belief that is present with him.\n\n[311] _Signum_, ensign, standard, or perhaps symbol of rule or domination.\n\n[312] _Sceptrum ferre_, sceptre-bearing, reigning.\n\n[313] _Si\u00e9ge_, position, situation.\n\n[314] _En s\u00e9jour_, permanent, durable.\n\n[315] _Coq_, the Gallic cock.\n\n[316] _Tago_, or _tango_, to touch or take, le Pelletier says; but\nit does not yield very good sense. Perhaps \u03c4\u03ac\u03b3\u03bc\u03b1, a regular body of\nsoldiers, in Dion Cassius it stands for the Roman _legion_. Garenci\u00e8res\nreads here TAG _\u00e0 mis\u00e8re_, \u201cThe _tag_ to misery,\u201d and says it is\nwretchedness to come from Portugal to France, _Tag_ being the _Tagus_,\non which Lisbon is situated. This might be interpreted well to mean the\nmischief arising to the empire from the successes of Wellington in the\nPeninsular war.\n\n[317] The jay, of course, is Esop\u2019s Fable of that bird, tricked out in\nfiner feathers than its own. The elegant rendering by La Fontaine [iv.\n9, Ed., 1838] of _Le Geai par\u00e9 des plumes du Paon_ had, when Nostradamus\nwrote, not then taken shape. The original is so accessible, that it may\nsuffice to give here the English version.\n\n    \u201cA peacock moulted, and a jay.\n      Assumed the feathers fine,\n    And, strutting in a peacock-way,\n      Thought \u2018now I look divine.\u2019\n\n    \u201cThe first who met him laughed outright;\n      Others he found to sneer;\n    The peacocks voted him a fright,\n    His brother jays all quizzed \u2018the sight,\u2019\n      But none would have him near.\n\n    \u201cOf biped jays like this, there are\n    Thousands from here to Zanzibar;\n      We call them \u2018plagiarist!\u2019\n    But hush! For setting souls ajar\n      Is not my line, I wist.\u201d\n\n[318] This curious phrase manifestly points to Napoleon wearing short\nhair, in military fashion, as distinguished from the flowing locks of\nthe line of Capet,\u2014shaven as contrasted with bewigged. This is one of\nthe many coincidences that connect the Commonwealth of England with the\nFrench repetition of it at the Revolution. Croppies, or Roundheads,\ndistinguished the sanctimonious insurgents of the Commonwealth from the\ncavaliers with their flowing locks. The Tory cavaliers wore wigs; the\nWhigs undermined the bewigged.\n\n[319] _Sordide_ should be written _sordid\u2019_, and _teste_, _test\u2019_, if we\nwish the line to scan.\n\n[320] _Puis_, for _depuis_.\n\n[321] Latin, _per_, pendant.\n\n[322] Latin, _vexare_, raise, inflate, according to Le Pelletier; but\nFacciolati gives no such meaning. \u201cVexed Bermoothes\u201d gives it.\n\n[323] _Dextera_, Latin, right hand, or sword hand.\n\n[324] _Discorde_ should be _discord\u2019_, or the line will not scan. These\nmay be minor matters, but those who think them unimportant are not wise.\nIt is an excellent rule in literature to let nothing remain wrong that\ncan be set right by a little scholarship and industry. In the world it is\nvery different; there you should never put anything right, for everything\nwrong has a host of latent friends, that will fight very savagely in its\ndefence.\n\n[325] _Cappe_, for Capet, says M. le Pelletier. The texte-type gives a\nvariation here as _la Chappe_. This yields no help at all, except as\nshowing by the variant that there is something wants altering. The line\nwill not scan as it is. I think it should be altered to _le Cap_. If\nit stands for Capet it is masculine, and when it occurred before, in\nQuatrain 20 of Century IX., it was given as _Esleu Cap_.\n\n[326] These two lines furnish an hyperbaton and will be best transposed,\nthat the great Prince will have married a woman before the divine wrath\nfalls upon him.\n\n[327] This is equivalent to _tout d\u2019un coup_, suddenly.\n\n[328] This line is too long by a foot; _appuy et credit_ mean the same\nthing, and one should be omitted. The line should be corrected thus:\n\n    Et son appuy \u00e0 un coup viendra mince.\n\n[329] Par is Latin, _per_, throughout.\n\n[330] Equals _qui en_.\n\n[331] The texte-type furnishes _porter_, with _porte_ as a variant. M. le\nPelletier embodies this in his text. I should replace the word that he\nexcludes. Further, I should regard _passera_ as being a form of the Latin\n_patior_, and the French _p\u00e2tir_, and therefore read _p\u00e2tira_. _Porter\np\u00e2tira_ will then mean suffer it to bear. _Charge_, for the scansion,\nshould be _charg\u2019_.\n\n[332] _Grande_ should be _grand\u2019_, for the scansion.\n\n[333] _Tranchera_ should read _il tranchera_.\n\n[334] _Esclavonie_ is put for modern Hungary.\n\n[335] _Olestant_ is another variation of the nom fatidique de Napoleon,\np. 171, from \u1f44\u03bb\u03bb\u03c5\u03bc\u03b9, to destroy, \u1f40\u03bb\u03ad\u03c3\u03b8\u03b1\u03b9.\n\n[336] _Pouss\u00e9e_, for _repouss\u00e9_.\n\n[337] _Entour_ should be _entour\u2019_, for _entour\u00e9_.\n\n[338] _Entour_ here is for _entourage_.\n\n[339] _Cymbres_, \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03b7, cymbals.\n\n[340] _Tube_, _tuba_, trumpet.\n\n[341] _Sonnaillons_, literally, bell-ringing, but perhaps clarion may\nserve.\n\n[342] This line cannot be scanned; we must read _de l\u2019Aquillon_.\n\n[343] This requires, for both grammar and scansion, _grande_.\n\n[344] The _E_ in _contre_ must suffer elision, thus: _contr\u2019_. It is\nright in Garenci\u00e8res\u2019s.\n\n[345] \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03b7, is a cup, usually, in Greek. M. le Pelletier gives \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2 as\na cavity or precipice. I find no such meaning as precipice. There is a\ngreat difficulty to settle the meaning here. \u039a\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03b7 means a cup, a boat,\na wallet, and also, is like \u03ba\u03cd\u03b2\u03b7, the head. We should perhaps simplify\nthe issue by confining ourselves strictly to the Latin word, _Cymba_,\nwhich is boat or skiff. Always a light boat, as in the Georgics, i. 136,\nwhere the little boats were made of _alnos cavatas_, the riverside alders\nhollowed out. It is rather a craft for a small lake than for the sea; as\nOvid charmingly puts it:\n\n    \u201cNon ideo debet pelago se credere, signa\n    Audet in exiguo ludere cymba lacu.\u201d\n\nBut, then, what sense would it yield, \u201ca man being between two boats,\ntied hand and foot?\u201d Between two abysses, M. le Pelletier interprets;\nbut, then, we do not find that, either in Greek or Latin, the word\nyields that meaning. He interprets it of Elba and St. Helena. But was\nan island ever called an abyss; I think as seldom as ever \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03b7 meant\none. Hesychius gives \u03ba\u03bf\u1fd6\u03bb\u03bf\u03c2 \u03bc\u03c5\u03c7\u03cc\u03c2, a hollow recess, the penetralia of\nthe women\u2019s apartments, and he adds also \u03b2\u03c5\u03b8\u03cc\u03c2, the depth of the sea, to\nexplain \u03ba\u03cd\u03bc\u03b2\u03bf\u03c2. In Martinius\u2019s \u201cLexicon Etymol.,\u201d there is a very curious\nquotation from Isidore, Bk. 19., which makes the _cymba_ to be the space\noccupied by a ship in the displacement of the water beneath it. I think\nout of all this we may extract a meaning for the _deux cymbes_. As two\nplaces, or recessed prisons, hollowed out of the sea, he shall be put,\nbound hand and foot. The line, to scan correctly, should have the word\n_et_ left out.\n\n[346] _Fitine_, \u03c6\u03c5\u03c4\u03cc\u03bd, plant, scion, child.\n\n[347] _Pocillator_ is cupbearer.\n\n[348] _Faucer_ is fauser, to trick.\n\n[349] _Scyphus_, cup. There is a singular appropriateness in this word,\nwhether intended or not by Nostradamus, for Athenaeus describes the\nB\u0153otians as first using huge silver drinking-cups, or scyphi, which were\ndenominated Herculean, because Hercules, who was very fond of feasting,\nused such, and first invented the cry of \u201cno heel taps!\u201d _ut libantes\nnihil in calice vini relinquerent_. The reader will bear in mind the\n_Hercules de Gaule_ of a former quatrain.\n\n[350] _Itales_, _\u00c6talia_, Elba.\n\n[351] _Par mer_, Gulf of Genoa.\n\n[352] _Forains_, Latin, _foris_, strangers.\n\n[353] _Sauf_, Latin, _sabous_, English, safe.\n\n[354] _Sauf de_ coup de feu.\n\n[355] _Le dard du ciel_ is the thunderbolt.\n\n[356] Latin, _ferire_, to strike.\n\n[357] _Estandue_ is standard.\n\n[358] Latin, _gens_, nation.\n\n[359] Latin, _monstrum_, prodigy.\n\n[360] _Morts_ should be read _Meurt_, perhaps, as referring to Napoleon,\nwho showed great delight, it is said, when he found that Wellington\nintended to fight him. It cannot refer, as Le Pelletier would have it to\ndo, to the celebrated _mot_ of Cambronne or General Michel, as it has\nbeen proved that it was never uttered at all, but manufactured by a wit\n_apr\u00e8s coup_.\n\n[361] The stone is in the tree. Le Pelletier would here understand\n_silex_, the flint axe of primitive ages. This seems to me to be very\nfar fetched, and I would rather read, with Garenci\u00e8res, the stone into\nthunderstone or aerolite, which seems to be far less forced.\n\n[362] Hyperbaton: the construction is _feront entr\u00e9e a Paris clos\nd\u2019arm\u00e9e_.\n\n[363] Latin, _clausus_, shut, cut off from the French army.\n\n[364] _Forche_, fourchu, or forked. Latin, _furca_, hooked.\n\n[365] _Commettre_, ellipsis for _se commettre_, to come to blows with any\none.\n\n[366] Latin, _per_, through, or by means of.\n\n[367] Latin, _duo_, a second repetition.\n\n[368] Consigning.\n\n[369] _Plus fors_, read _plus forts_.\n\n[370] _Malignus_, Latin, a criminal.\n\n[371] _Fera_ should be _feront_, I think.\n\n[372] _Avint_ I take to mean _avant_.\n\n[373] _Viendra_ for _viendront_.\n\n[374] _Onque_ should be _oncq\u2019_, to scan.\n\n[375] _Italie_ is the reading of the _texte-type_. Bouys reads _Itale_,\nand then the line will scan.\n\n[376] _Estrangiers_ was probably pronounced as of two syllables only, but\nit is difficult to make this line scan.\n\n[377] _Fautes_, to be taken as shortcomings.\n\n[378] _Si_\u2014very.\n\n[379] Latin, _victor_, conqueror.\n\n[380] Latin, _Imperator_.\n\n[381] Latin, _factum_, action, act.\n\n[382] _Congnu_ = connu, known.\n\n[383] _Sang_, son or grandson.\n\n[384] _Mathien_, \u00c6mathien.\n\n[385] Latinism, _factus_, made, become.\n\n[386] Latin, _superator_, rule, dominator.\n\n[387] Latin, _gens_, nation.\n\n[388] _Humble_ = humiliated, perhaps _humbl\u00e9e_.\n\n[389] Latin, _per_, by reason of.\n\n[390] The order is, \u201cvenu \u00e0 cause des pleurs de la superbe nation\nhumili\u00e9e.\u201d\n\n[391] The original text is corrupt here, but this yields the best sense.\n\n[392] _Desrob\u00e9_, withdrawn, or shut up.\n\n[393] Fossano is the alternative reading, a town in the Sardinian States.\n\n[394] Keeper of the hounds and greyhounds.\n\n[395] Latin, _patratus_, done, committed.\n\n[396] The Tarpeian rock at Rome.\n\n[397] Latin, _Leo_, the astronomical sign of the Lion.\n\n[398] _Dechass\u00e9_ = chass\u00e9, chased away.\n\n[399] _Estrange_ has again the meaning of foreign, or out of the family.\n\n[400] The order is _apr\u00e8s avoir chass\u00e9 le cerf aux champs_.\n\n[401] _Donront_ = _donneront_.\n\n[402] _Celuy qu\u2019en_ = _Celuy qui fera qu\u2019en_.\n\n[403] Latin, _Claudus_, lame. This Le Pelletier has before endeavoured,\nwith surprising dexterity, to show to be the Duc de Bordeaux.\n\n[404] This whole line is difficult. _Araigner_, in the Romance language,\nis said to mean to plead and gain a cause against another. The _court_\nand _long_ we had before, in Century VIII., 57, applied to Napoleon, as\nrising from a soldier to the long-robed Emperor; here he had to refer to\nTalma to teach him how to carry it. Now, again, it means the rise from a\nmere dignitary to Kingship.\n\n[405] Latin, _qui_.\n\n[406] _Sparte_ = Paris. The letters _te_ may be considered as one letter,\nthe _e_ being mute. It will then convert, according to the rule of the\nanagram.\n\n[407] _Phalange_, flag, standard, writes M. le Pelletier. As far as I\ncan discover anything, this statement appears to be entirely erroneous.\nThe word \u201cphalanx,\u201d as connected with matters military, always signifies\na body of men in military order. It may in the plural even stand\nindefinitely for armies. In the singular it is very confusing. It may\nstand for a party of twenty-eight men or eight thousand (Potter\u2019s\n\u201cAntiquities,\u201d ii. 56). Danet says six thousand men. Gibbon introduces\none of his constantly recurring slovenly phrases about it,\u2014absurd in\nfact, but philosophic in form. He is comparing the legion with the\nphalanx (i. 22), and tells us, \u201cIt was soon discovered by reflection, as\nwell as by the event,\u201d that it could not contend with the legion. It is\nobvious here, that if it had been discovered by reflection it would never\nhave been tried by the event. This somewhat justifies the sarcasm of\nPorson, that schoolboys ought to be set to translate Gibbon into English.\nAs a pleasing variety, Smith sets the number when complete at about\nsixteen thousand men. One feels inclined to say that these classical\nguides are conveying us to that ditch, which is never far to seek,\nwhen the blind are leading the blind. Martinius, in his curious \u201cLex.\nPhil.,\u201d cites Pliny to show that the Africans first fought the Egyptians\n_fustius_, with staves, which they called _phalanges_ in the plural, or\n_phalanx_ in the singular, so that it is an African word. \u200e\u200f\u05e4\u05dc\u05d2\u200f\u200e, in\nHebrew _phalag_, is a staff. Also there is a spider called _phalangion_;\nand as the pikes of the first five ranks in a _phalanx_ were interlaced,\nthey were somewhat like a web of staves. Many may regard all this as\nextremely useless; perhaps they will concede that it is curious; if so, I\nshall consider it to be useful. I have long found that whatever is very\ncurious is useful. It sets the mind agreeably in movement, and often\nthrows a new light on things that previously had no interest and seemed\nobscure. At any rate, we have now established that _phalange_ is not to\nbe rendered _standard_, but troops, army.\n\n[408] Latin, _supremus_, the last.\n\n[409] The order is, \u201cQuand l\u2019Empire sera exancl\u00e9 par trois subrog\u00e9s.\u201d\n\n[410] Latin, _subrogatus_, substituted; read _subrog\u00e9s_.\n\n[411] _Exancillatus_, subdued to, under the yoke of.\n\n[412] Latin, _charta_, paper.\n\n[413] Romance, _ne leu_, not read.\n\n[414] _Sainct Memire_ is the anagram of S\u2019Meri. To make this pass, M. le\nPelletier drops one _m_ and one _e_.\n\n[415] _Tante_ is to be read _tente_.\n\n[416] _Leans_ is an old word for _l\u00e0 dedans_.\n\n[417] Latin, _perplexus_, troubled.\n\n[418] _Rebors_ = _rebours_; _\u00e0 rebours_ is against the grain.\n\n[419] _Ognion_ is _Ogmius_, the Celtic Mercury or Gallic Hercules. It has\nfigured in 1792, 1848, and again after the German war, 1872. At the two\nfirst periods they put the figure of this Hercules on their five franc\npieces, with that idle exergue, _Libert\u00e9, \u00c9galit\u00e9, Fraternit\u00e9_. This\nvocable, _Ogmion_, is equivalent to _Oignon_, onion, or bulbous root of\nthe lily. If there could be any doubt at all about this, Nostradamus has\ntaken care to remove it, calling it _le grand mercure d\u2019Hercule fleur de\nlys_, in Century X. 79.\n\n[420] _Tiers_, pour _le tiers_ \u00c9tat. The third order now claiming to\ngovern itself.\n\n[421] _De bas haut_, for _de bas en haut_ elevated from a low to a higher\nand conspicuous position.\n\n[422] Latin, _qui_, he, who.\n\n[423] The third estate will serve, as a toe of the foot to the first\nrank, a stepping-stone to place.\n\n[424] Lucca and Pisa stand for all Tuscany, where, in 1831, Louis\nNapoleon and Charles Bonaparte, his elder brother, had, with one cannon\nserved by himself and a few Italian partisans, possessed himself of\n_Civita-Castellana_, in the Pontifical States.\n\n[425] Latin, _decidium_, a word not of classical usage, signifying ruin,\nor a fall.\n\n[426] Romance _sang_, family.\n\n[427] Latin, _regnum_, empire.\n\n[428] _Lectoyre_, a town in France, in the department of Gers.\nGarenci\u00e8res adopts the variant Lectoure, which he says is a town in\nGascony. The word occurs again, Century VII. 12, and there he says it is\na city of Guyenne. _Lectora_ was the Latin name. It was a place of great\nstrength, and picturesque; but, unless we can find it to be an anagram,\nthere is nothing to connect the town in any way with the fortunes of\nLouis Napoleon.\n\n[429] The word _pleira_, is of course, only an archaic transposition\nof _pliera_. The line here can in no way be made to scan, being two\nsyllables or one whole foot short. I would suggest it be read Nepveu (du\nsang) par peur pleira l\u2019enseigne.\n\n[430] _Ogmion_ has been explained already to be the symbol of the French\nRepublic.\n\n[431] The _texte-type_ reads _et amy au_.\n\n[432] _My-hom_, Le Pelletier says, is _demy-homme_, a man of low birth,\nand Roy _de longue_ = _de vielle race_. I prefer to read _de longue\nvie_, and understand the King of Prussia; and _my-hom_ I take to be the\nbivalve-man, or Bismarck.\n\n[433] Latin, _classis_, band; \u00e0 classe, by a band [sic?]. It might be\nbetter here to render _classe_ as \u201ccrash,\u201d \u03ba\u03bb\u03ac\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, _brisure_. _De nuict\nla classe_, a crash by night.\n\n[434] Latin, _arca_, chest, or dam.\n\n[435] Latin, _demolitus_, demolished.\n\n[436] Latin, _antecaptus_, seized beforehand.\n\n[437] Latin, _dux_, leader.\n\n[438] Latin, _unus_, the first.\n\n[439] Latin, _cavea_, theatre.\n\n[440] Romance, _incogneus_, unknown.\n\n[441] The four were Orsini, Pieri, de Rudio, and Gomez.\n\n[442] Greek, \u0394\u03b1\u03bd-\u1f00\u03c1\u03c7\u03ae, as we had it before (_v._ p. 289).\n\n[443] _Frise_, Hanover.\n\n[444] Latin, _dependere_, to weigh out, spend.\n\n[445] M. le Pelletier calculates that the golden mark was equal to 250\ngrammes, or 100,000 marks = 10,000,000 francs.\n\n[446] Latin, _oratio_, harangue.\n\n[447] Romance, _prins_, _pris_, taken.\n\n[448] Latin, _decisus_, cut off.\n\n[449] _Del\u00e0_, for _au del\u00e0_.\n\n[450] Italian, _vappa_, scamp.\n\n[451] Latin, _subito_, suddenly.\n\n[452] _Il tournera_, for _il fera tourner_.\n\n[453] Latin, _propinque_, at hand, near.\n\n[454] \u201cStands some five feet ten or more; a man of strong solid\nstature, and dignified, now partly military carriage: the expression\nof him valour and devout intelligence,\u2014energy and delicacy on a basis\nof simplicity. Fifty-four years old, gone April last; ruddy-fair\ncomplexion, bronzed by toil and age; light brown hair and moustache are\ngetting streaked with grey. A figure of sufficient impressiveness;\u2014not\nlovely to the man-milliner species, nor pretending to be so. Massive\nstature; big massive head, of somewhat leonine aspect, \u2018evident workshop\nand storehouse of a vast treasury of natural parts.\u2019 Wart above the\nright eyebrow; nose of considerable blunt aquiline proportions;\nstrict yet copious lips, full of all tremulous sensibilities, and\nalso, if need were, of all fierceness and rigours; deep loving eyes,\ncall them grave, call them stern, looking from under those craggy\nbrows, as if in life-long sorrow, and yet not thinking it sorrow,\nthinking it only labour, and endeavour:\u2014on the whole, a right noble\nlion-face, and hero-face.\u201d (Carlyle, \u201cCromwell Letters,\u201d ii. p.\n435).\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\u201c\u2019Tis the compass that you steer by through a book.\u201d\u2014\u039f\u1f54\u03c4\u03b9\u03c2.\n\n\n  A\n\n  Abb\u2019s Head, St., 206\n\n  Abraham, astrologer, 59\n\n  \u2014\u2014, habitation of, 65\n\n  Achem in Sumatra, 66\n\n  Adriatic, _Austria_, 69\n\n  Advent, _v._ _Vulgar_\n\n  \u00c6mathion, 151, 156, 157, 160, 162\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Napoleon, 163\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Louis XVIII., 324, 325\n\n  \u00c6talia Elba, 248;\n    Itales, 311\n\n  Africa, 321\n\n  Agen, 6\n\n  Agoult, Marquis de, 249\n\n  Aix, 9\n\n  Ajaccio, 291\n\n  Albanins, 201, 203\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Albanois, 191\n\n  Albert, Jeanne de, mother of Henri IV., 128\n\n  Alexander, 80;\n    son of Apollo, 151\n\n  Algeria, 332\n\n  Algol Caput, 136\n\n  Almanacs, 9, 36\n\n  Aloi, 118\n\n  Alphabet, 70\n\n  Alps, 346\n\n  Alquiloye, 268, _v._ _Aquilon_\n\n  American, the, 141\n\n  Amiens, 134\n\n  Ampulla, 242, 308\n\n  Anagram used as mask, xiii.;\n    various, 29\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Anagramme Herne, 246\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Nicole = Lincoln, 172\n\n  Angels, evil, 46;\n    angeli, 193\n\n  Angles, 193\n\n  Angoul\u00eame, Duc de, 264, 269\n\n  Anthoni pont, 313\n\n  Anti-Christ, reign of, 12, 37;\n    empire of, 62\n\n  \u2014\u2014, second antichrist, 76;\n    infernal prince, 72\n\n  \u2014\u2014, moon symbol of, 239\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Saturne, 203, 206, _v._ _Faith_\n\n  Antwerp, 173\n\n  Apennines, 318\n\n  Apollo Philesius, 80\n\n  Apollyon, 171\n\n  April, Calends of, 83\n\n  Aqua solis, 193\n\n  Aquilon, 305, _v._ _Alquiloye_, _v._ _North_\n\n  Arabs, 334\n\n  Aristotle minced, 235;\n    understanding, 255\n\n  Arles, 146, 147\n\n  Armada, 182, 190\n\n  Arras, 220\n\n  Artaxerxes, 308\n\n  _Artiste en pronostics_, 40\n\n  Artois, Comte de, 327\n\n  Assembly, _v._ _National_\n\n  Assignats, 231\n\n  Astrologers too much faith, 36;\n    astrologi, 76;\n    astrologue, 94\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Gauric, 93\n\n  \u2014\u2014, La Brousse, 135\n\n  \u2014\u2014 C\u00e9sar, 136\n\n  Astrology needful to medicine, 9;\n    judicial, 30, 48\n\n  \u2014\u2014, nocturnal calculations, 56\n\n  \u2014\u2014, revolution of stars, 42, 235\n\n  Atheism, atheistic democracy, 239\n\n  \u2014\u2014, levelling spirit of, 35, _v._ _Fifth Monarchy_\n\n  Atomic theory, xxiii.\n\n  \u2014\u2014 atoms, xxiv.\n\n  Augur = Pope, 283\n\n  Augustus, climacteric, 18\n\n  Ausonius, poet, 196\n\n  Ausonne, League at, 194\n\n  Austerlitz, sun of, 287;\n    Borodino, 302;\n    claptrap, 320\n\n  Austria, 346\n\n  Austrians, white, 305;\n    Adriatic, 69\n\n  Aventine, 280\n\n  Av\u00e9nement, commun, _v._ _Vulgar Advent_\n\n  Averroes, 3\n\n  Avicenna, 3\n\n  Avignon, Nostradamus, at school, 3, 281\n\n  Azostains, 70\n\n\n  B\n\n  Baalzephon, 217\n\n  Babylon, Paris, 305;\n    new Babylon, 63\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Babel, 306, 319\n\n  Bacchantes, 204;\n    fury, 43\n\n  \u2014\u2014 la maynade, 201\n\n  Bacon, Lord, death Henri II., 94;\n    hempe, 170\n\n  Balance of power, regne de, 183, 185\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Hume on, 187\n\n  Balloon, 281\n\n  Bannier bust, Cromwell, 355\n\n  Barabbas, 230\n\n  Barbaroux, 251\n\n  Barcelona, Mons Jovis, 61\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Barselonne, 131;\n    George I., 222\n\n  Barque of St. Peter, 193, 302\n\n  Barreaux, Des, 138\n\n  Barricades, quatrain on, 120\n\n  Bartholomew\u2019s Day, St., quatrain on, 106;\n    Favin on, 112\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Henri IV., 128;\n    knife of, 154\n\n  Bassano, Duc de, 309\n\n  Bastard, Cromwell, 172\n\n  Bastarnan, Poland, 166;\n    Basharion, 225\n\n  Bastille tournament, 92, 121, 126;\n    Louis Philippe, Paris, 335\n\n  Bates on prayer, 32\n\n  Beachy Head, 159\n\n  Bear at Bridge Foot, 218\n\n  B\u00e9arnais, 129\n\n  Beelzebub, 295\n\n  Bees, 294;\n    Abeilles, 308;\n    liqueur des, 311, _v._ _Wasps_\n\n  Bernard, Mont St., 318\n\n  Berri, Duc de, 269, 317, 327\n\n  Berthier, General, 282\n\n  Bethune, 220\n\n  Beza epigram, 16\n\n  Bibliography of Nostradamus, 25\n\n  Bird, Edward, 354\n\n  Birds, strange; Imperial eagles, 73\n\n  Biron, sixain, 132\n\n  Bisance, 219\n\n  Bismarck, 189, 341\n\n  Black for white, 232\n\n  Blaye, 160\n\n  Blois, 12;\n    Ch\u00e2teau de Blois, 122\n\n  Bonanni, 109\n\n  Bonaparte, 287;\n    family, thirteenth century, 289\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Charles, 290, 337\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _v._ _Napoleon_\n\n  Books burnt by Nostradamus, 48\n\n  Bordeaux, Duc de, 269, 328;\n    gros mastin, 328, 330\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Claude, 329, 333\n\n  Bordeaux, Ausonne, 196\n\n  Boreas, 283, _v._ _North_\n\n  Borodino, 301, 308\n\n  Boscobel, 209\n\n  Bosphorus, 65\n\n  Bouill\u00e9, Marquis de, 187, 246, 249\n\n  Bouillon, Cardinal, 219\n\n  Boulogne, 321;\n    medal struck, 322\n\n  Bourbon, Cardinal de, 12;\n    _mot_, 114\n\n  Bourg la reyne, 313\n\n  Bourges, 156\n\n  Bottomless pit, 311\n\n  Bouys, 159, 175, 178, 182, 236, 243, 253, 317, 323\n\n  Bowels, 207\n\n  Branchid\u00e6, 87\n\n  Branchus, 77, 82\n\n  Brant\u00f4me, 114\n\n  Breda, 201\n\n  Breval\u2019s Travels, 356\n\n  Brevity, 38, 102, 144, 169, 244;\n    mitr\u00e9, 252, 315\n\n  Bright, Quaker, 188\n\n  Britain, 151;\n    Great Britain, 170;\n    quatrain, 194\n\n  Brocksburn, 206\n\n  Broggi Restaurant, 344\n\n  Brompton, 4\n\n  Brosse, la, 135\n\n  Brumaire, 289, 295, 296\n\n  Brussels, 143, 173\n\n  Brutus, 250\n\n  Burnet, Thomas, xiii.\n\n  Butler, Samuel, 351\n\n  Buckingham, Duke, 199\n\n  Buget, F., 13\n\n  Burns, xvii.\n\n  Butcher, Cromwell, 177;\n    Napoleon, 236\n\n  Butler, Bishop Thomas, 35\n\n\n  C\n\n  Cadiz, Bay, 191;\n    Gaddir, 192\n\n  C\u00e6sar, 297, 301, 302\n\n  Cagliostro, 38\n\n  Caiaphas, x.\n\n  Calendar, Gregorian, 84;\n    rectified, 109\n\n  California, 73\n\n  Cambresis Treaty, 14, 89\n\n  Cambronne, 312\n\n  Campan, Madame, 247, 250\n\n  Camisards, War of, 160\n\n  Caniga, Don B. de, 138\n\n  Cannes, Napoleon lands at, 311\n\n  Cap. le grand, 130;\n    \u00c9tat du Caput, 153;\n    Cap. Esleu, 245, 274;\n    Capet, 299, 306;\n    blonde, 217;\n    Debonnaires, 317;\n    Fair Capet, 332\n\n  Capitolinus, 327\n\n  \u201cCaptif,\u201d 155\n\n  Carlyle less than Coleridge, ix., 176;\n    hero, 180, 206, 213\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Cromwell portrait, 352\n\n  Carlos, Don, strangled, 333\n\n  Carpathian thread, 87\n\n  Casau, Charles de, 131\n\n  Cases, Las, 289\n\n  Castulon, 239\n\n  Catholics, Roman, 229, _v._ _Church_\n\n  Cavalier, Jean, 160\n\n  Cavaignac, 338\n\n  Causes, knowledge of, xxiii., 47\n\n  Celibacy, mansol, 280, _v._ _Marriage_\n\n  Celique, 193\n\n  Celtique for France, 283\n\n  \u201cCenturies\u201d begin, 7\n\n  C\u00e9sar, Astrologer, 136\n\n  Chaldaic oracles, xxiv.\n\n  Champagne, Philippe de, 146\n\n  Chance, 174, 245, 278;\n    Duc de Berri, 327, _v._ _Coincidence_\n\n  Charlemagne, 291\n\n  Charles I., xvi., 37, 171;\n    quatrain on, 172, sold, \u00a3400,000\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Quatrain, execution, 173;\n    trial, 175;\n    quatrain, 196\n\n  Charles II., wit, 141, 171;\n    Breda, 102;\n    crowned (1654), 208;\n    Worcester, 209;\n    restoration, 210\n\n  Charles V., Emperor, 94, 229, 239;\n    sacks Rome, 303, 319\n\n  Charles IX., 14, 96;\n    quatrain, 103;\n    Cond\u00e9, 106;\n    character, 107\n\n  Charles X., 268, 283;\n    he hunts, 328\n\n  Charles X., Cardinal Bourbon, 129\n\n  Charms, 85;\n    rites, 87\n\n  Chartres, 313;\n    Duc de, 336\n\n  Chavigny, J. Aimes de, 2;\n    studies Nostradamus twenty-eight years, 21\n\n  Chequers Court, 354\n\n  Cherra, 159\n\n  Chien, or gun hammer, 148\n\n  Children excluded from prophecy, 39\n\n  Christianity of gold, 152\n\n  Chronology, _v._ _Time_\n\n  Church persecuted, 71;\n    clergy, 275;\n    state of, 63\n\n  \u2014\u2014 suppressed, 276;\n    monks, 276;\n    temples, 277\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Priests, 297;\n    Napoleon, sponge, 297, 298\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _v._ _Catholics_\n\n  Cicero, 286\n\n  Cinq Mars Conspiracy, 145\n\n  Cipher, 137\n\n  Civil War (1557), 98, 115\n\n  Civita-Castellana, 337\n\n  Clairvoyance, 40, 81, _v._ _Table-turning_\n\n  Clarendon, Earl, 200\n\n  Classis, 283\n\n  Clement VII., 303\n\n  Clement Danes, St., 354\n\n  Cl\u00e9ment, Jacques, 100;\n    quatrain, 124;\n    le doux, 106\n\n  Clerepeyne, 142\n\n  Cl\u00e8ves, Princesse de, 93\n\n  Climacteric, 17, 18\n\n  Cock-moon, 238;\n    Cock, 283\n\n  \u201cCogito ergo sum,\u201d xxiii.\n\n  Cognac, Treaty of, 196\n\n  _Corn\u2019 et cry_, 192\n\n  Coincidences, 1;\n    Henri IV., 19;\n    Philip II., 162, 335\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Le Torcey, 340, _v._ _Chance_\n\n  Coleridge as poet, viii.;\n    on Jews, xiii.;\n    on Truth, xxvii.\n\n  Coligny, Admiral, 104, 110, 112\n\n  Colours, red and purple, xix.;\n    French flags, xx.;\n    green, 233, _v._ _Flag_, _v._ _Red_\n\n  Commun Av\u00e9nement, _v._ _Vulgar Advent_\n\n  Communion, Henri III., 115;\n    Cl\u00e9ment, 125;\n    traitor at prayers, 138\n\n  Compi\u00e8gne, 101\n\n  Confession, auricular, 119\n\n  Conciergerie, 96, 266\n\n  Cond\u00e9, Prince, 105;\n    strangled, 333\n\n  Congress, 189\n\n  Conspiracy, 64;\n    Cinq Mars, 145\n\n  Conscription, 285;\n    Tag, 292;\n    Classis, 283\n\n  Convention, 277\n\n  Cooper, Samuel, Cromwell, 351\n\n  Copperspath, Pass at, 205\n\n  Corinth, 214\n\n  Corsica, 155;\n    Charles Bonaparte, 290;\n    Napoleon born, 236, 286\n\n  Covenanters, \u00a3400,000, 173;\n    Service-book and Solemn League, 198\n\n  Cowper, 154\n\n  Cranfield, Lionel, 199\n\n  Cretans, the two, 69\n\n  Crisiaque, 40\n\n  Critics, xxv.;\n    lines on, 76\n\n  Cromwell, xvi., xvii.;\n    belies himself, 168;\n    Lonole, 170;\n    bastard, 172;\n    Nostradamus on, 176;\n    Protectorate, 177;\n    butcher, 177;\n    portraiture of, 178, 351;\n    dissolute, 179;\n    well-born, 179;\n    Church lands, 179;\n    funeral, 180;\n    arbitrates, 189, 202;\n    slaves, 207;\n    _soldat simple_, 208, 297;\n    death quatrain, 210;\n    Protector, 212;\n    Fox, 212;\n    saint, 212;\n    epileptic, 301;\n    bust, 354;\n    success, 356\n\n  Cromwell, Robert, father of Protector, 179\n\n  Curious, the, xxvi.;\n    astrology of D. D., 224, 288\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Macchiavelli\u2019s \u201cPrince,\u201d 290\n\n  \u2014\u2014 strangeness, 135, 174, 186, _v._ _Coincidences_\n\n  \u2014\u2014 episode, sound, 217;\n    phalanx, 332\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Book of Oracles, a curiosity, 347\n\n  Cymbes, 306\n\n  Cyphe, 307\n\n  Cyprus, 104\n\n\n  D\n\n  Dame, the great, 60;\n    St. Paul\u2019s, 214;\n    Sainte Dame, 233;\n    Government, 223;\n    insensate dame, 304\n\n  \u2014\u2014, republic, 343\n\n  Dantisco, N. G. A., \u201cRerum in Galli\u00e2,\u201d 195\n\n  Death sought and not found, 311;\n    fear of, 135\n\n  Debonnaire, Capets, 317\n\n  Dedications, 14;\n    to his son, 42;\n    \u201cLuminary Epistle,\u201d 65\n\n  Deluge, 51\n\n  Democracy, beast, xx.;\n    atheistic, 239;\n    Nostradamus, 347\n\n  Demons corporeal, 83;\n    _lingua demonum_, 185;\n    speech of, 220;\n    _v._ _Guardian_\n\n  Demosthenes, 188\n\n  Denis, St., 101;\n    violated, 233\n\n  Denmark, 289\n\n  Departments for Provinces, 232\n\n  Descardes, 138\n\n  Descars, 94\n\n  Descartes, _cogito_, etc., xxiii., 330\n\n  Diamond necklace, 260\n\n  Didyma, 80\n\n  Directory, 282, 296, 318\n\n  Disorder, method of the book, 275\n\n  Doon hill, 206\n\n  Doria, Charles, 131\n\n  Drake, Cadiz Bay, 182\n\n  Dubarri, 267\n\n  Dunbar battle, 205\n\n  Duphot, General, 282\n\n  Dutch war, 214\n\n\n  E\n\n  Eagles, Imperial, 73, 186, 238, 283;\n    aigle pouss\u00e9e, 304\n\n  Earthquake, 242\n\n  East wind, 217;\n    Napoleon, 286;\n    l\u2019oriental, 318;\n    Sultan of, 66\n\n  Eastern kings, 66;\n    Soliman II., 98;\n    Eastern Question, 334\n\n  Ecclesiasticus, 79\n\n  Ecstasy, 40\n\n  Edinburgh quatrain, 201, 205\n\n  Education, board schools, 182\n\n  Edward, VI., 184\n\n  \u00c9galit\u00e9, Duc d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, 273\n\n  Egypt, 163;\n    Oriental, 318\n\n  Elba, 240, 308;\n    place of the air, 64, 307;\n    Itales, 311\n\n  Elias, tradition of, xxiv.\n\n  Eliot, George, 4\n\n  Elizabeth, Queen, 103;\n    excommunicated again, 309, 168;\n    quatrain, 190\n\n  Elizabeth, Madame, 268\n\n  Embalming, 147\n\n  Emmanuel, Duke Savoy, 14\n\n  \u2014\u2014 I., Victor, 279, 342\n\n  \u2014\u2014 IV., Charles, 279\n\n  Emperor, 236\n\n  Encyclop\u00e6dists, 233\n\n  England, xvi.;\n    chapter on, 166;\n    seven governments, 166;\n    Bouill\u00e9 on, 187\n\n  English red, 305\n\n  Envers \u00e0 l\u2019, 173, 175, 228\n\n  Epaminondas, 188\n\n  Ephesus, 215\n\n  Epigram on Cond\u00e9, 106\n\n  Epilepsy, Herculean, 47;\n    in general, 300;\n    _divin mal_, 300\n\n  Episode, _v._ _Curious_\n\n  \u201cEpistle, Luminary,\u201d to Henri II., 12, 13, 55, 257\n\n  Ergaste, 263\n\n  Escurial, 240\n\n  Essex, Lord, 191\n\n  Estrange, 320;\n    Austrian, 321\n\n  _\u00c9tat l\u2019, c\u2019est moi_, 153\n\n  Eternity, 47, 49\n\n  _\u00catre Supr\u00e8me_, 277\n\n  Eug\u00e8ne, Prince, 220\n\n  Evelyn, Cromwell portrait, 353\n\n  Evil predicted, 39\n\n  Eye is not sight, 80, 255, _v._ _Soul_, _v._ _Visible_\n\n\n  F\n\n  Fact, xii.\n\n  Faithorne, 351\n\n  Faim, Castle of, 24;\n    Baron Faim, 309\n\n  Fairfax, General, 202\n\n  Faith, 34;\n    Nihilist, 36, _v._ _Antichrist_\n\n  Fame, 58\n\n  Fanchese, Don, 137\n\n  Fate, Fates, 287\n\n  Feuch\u00e8res, Baronne de, 333\n\n  Ferrare, 268\n\n  Ferri\u00e8re\u2019s, la, squadron, 155\n\n  Ferte sous Jouare, la, 139\n\n  Fifth Monarchy, 213, _v._ _Atheism_\n\n  Fire, flame of, 45;\n    subtle, 46;\n    fire, 51;\n    of London, 214\n\n  Firearms, 148\n\n  Fireballs, 214\n\n  Flag, tricolour, xx., 279;\n    eagles, 304;\n    phalange, 331;\n    white, 269;\n    gold, blue, red, 332, _v._ _Colours_\n\n  Flame, thin, 48, 50;\n    flambe exigue, 76;\n    of fire, 45;\n    missive, 52;\n    human flame, 233\n\n  _Fleurs-de-lis_, 15, 151;\n    Ognion, 334\n\n  Fleurus, 281\n\n  Floods (1607), 195\n\n  Florence, 100, 101;\n    Bonaparte family, 289;\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Bust of Cromwell, 356\n\n  Fontaine, la, 294\n\n  Fontainebleau, 302;\n    abdication at, 309\n\n  Fontenelle, 330\n\n  Forces, God of, 295\n\n  Forehead, lifted up, 50\n\n  Fossan, Sardinia, 326\n\n  Fossen, 269\n\n  France, kingdom of Libra, 185;\n    dame insens\u00e9e, 304\n\n  Francis I., 196\n\n  Fran\u00e7ois II., 102\n\n  Frankland, Sir Thos., 354\n\n  Frederic William, 342\n\n  French vanity, 140, 141;\n    Rex Christianissimus, 153;\n    _grand peuple_, 231;\n    language, 293;\n    _fi\u00e8re gent_, 312;\n    gent superbe, 324\n\n  Friday, Cromwell dies, 211\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Good, 80, 84\n\n  Fronde, 158\n\n  Futurity, _v._ _Prophecy_\n\n\n  G\n\n  Gaddir, Cadiz, 192\n\n  Gallic, Ogmion, _v._ _Ogmion_\n\n  Garenci\u00e8res\u2019 primer, 26\n\n  Garibaldi, 342;\n    vapin, 346\n\n  Gand, 173\n\n  _Gauche, jugement \u00e0_, 175\n\n  Gaul for France, 283\n\n  Gaule, switch, 318\n\n  Gauric, Luc, 93\n\n  Genelle, Anne Ponce, second wife, 7\n\n  Genius, guardian, 83;\n    familiar spirit, 78\n\n  Genoa, 100;\n    Gulf of, 311\n\n  _Gentleman\u2019s Magazine_, Nostradamus, vii.\n\n  George I., James I. his great-grandfather, 194\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Quatrain on, 222, 223;\n    peace, 224\n\n  George\u2019s, St. Day, 211\n\n  George, conspiracy, 317\n\n  Gibbon, 331\n\n  Girondists, 274\n\n  Glaive, cit\u00e9 au, 261\n\n  God withdraws, 234;\n    in history, 31;\n    operating, 46\n\n  Godwin, 176\n\n  Gog and Magog, 65\n\n  Gold, Christianity, 152;\n    corruption by, 186;\n    England, 187;\n    wealth, xxix., _v._ _Riches_\n\n  Golden Age, 273\n\n  Golgotha, 327\n\n  Gomez, 344\n\n  Gospel, Boulevard of Rochelle, 114\n\n  Gostling, 355\n\n  Government ends with George I., 223 (La Dame)\n\n  _Grand peuple_, French, 231\n\n  _Grande cit\u00e9_, _v._ _Paris_\n\n  Gr\u00ealet, Michel, 110\n\n  Great Britain, _v._ _Britain_\n\n  Green colour, 233\n\n  Gregory XIII., 108, 109\n\n  Greigne, 156\n\n  Grogne, 155\n\n  Griffin, 305\n\n  Grose, Captain, 355\n\n  Groslot, J\u00e9r\u00f4me, 104\n\n  Grotius, 46\n\n  Guardian angel, 46, 83, _v._ _Demon_\n\n  _Guespes et mouches_, 307, _v._ _Vespres_\n\n  Guillotin, Dr., 261;\n    _couperet_, 248\n\n  Guion, 289, 292, _v._ _Ogmion_\n\n  Guise, death of, 100, 113, 116;\n    quatrain, 122;\n    family, 129\n\n  Gustavus Adolphus, 224, 306\n\n  Guynaud, \u201cConcordance Nostradamus,\u201d 92;\n    queer criticism, 149\n\n\n  H\n\n  Hair white in a night, 247\n\n  Halidom, 233\n\n  Hannibal, 229;\n    Napoleon, 319\n\n  Hanover, House of, 183\n\n  Hapsburgh, House of, 189\n\n  Harrison, Frederic, 179, 351\n\n  Haslerig, 205\n\n  Head shaven, 116, 296, 300, 303\n\n  H\u00e9bert, 344\n\n  Hegira (A.D. 621), 59\n\n  Helena, St., 307, 308, 316\n\n  Hempe, 170\n\n  Henri II., xv.;\n    a patron, 10;\n    killed, 13;\n    \u201cLuminary Epistle,\u201d 55;\n    death, 91, 239\n\n  \u2014\u2014 III., xv., 97;\n    murder, 99;\n    civil war, 115;\n    Poland, 116;\n    quatrain, 117;\n    death, 125\n\n  \u2014\u2014 IV., xv., 19;\n    B\u00e9arnais, 129;\n    popularity, 140;\n    Ogmion, 335;\n    chapter on, 128;\n    abjures, 130;\n    sixains, 133\n\n  \u2014\u2014 V., 13, 328\n\n  Henriade, 141\n\n  Henry VIII., 196\n\n  Heptades, 185\n\n  Hercules, Celtic, 289, 292;\n    Scyphus, cup, 307;\n    _v._ _Ogmion_\n\n  Herne, 245\n\n  Hero, Carlyle\u2019s, 180, 213\n\n  Herod, a sort of prophet, x.;\n    a god, 230\n\n  Herschel, xi.\n\n  Highlanders, 207;\n    _haut lieu_, 205;\n    Royal Army, 202\n\n  Hi\u00e8res, Island of, 65\n\n  Historical fragments, 89\n\n  History, Philosophy of, 31;\n    happy country, 39;\n    predicts evil, 39;\n    lies, 122;\n    re-written to meet Nostradamus, 300\n\n  Hodgson, 206\n\n  Holbein, 330\n\n  Holland, 173\n\n  Holy Spirit, 28\n\n  Honesty, 232\n\n  Honnorat, St., Island, 131\n\n  Houbraken\u2019s Cromwell, 352\n\n  House of Commons, 243;\n    Babel-room, 287\n\n  Howard, Lord, 191\n\n  Hughes, Letter of Mr., 354\n\n  Hume, on balance of power, 187;\n    miracles, 145\n\n  Hungary, 303\n\n  Husne, tower, 129\n\n\n  I\n\n  Id\u00e9es Napol\u00e9oniennes, 338\n\n  If, Ch\u00e2teau d\u2019, 131\n\n  Ignorance, letters will suffer, 51, 54\n\n  Immortality of man, 263\n\n  Impeachment, 200\n\n  Imposture, 36, 40, 89\n\n  Inspiration, 30, 43;\n    melancholy, 50, 90\n\n  Interpretation, no interpreter of the quatrains, 56\n\n  \u2014\u2014, more might be interpreted, 89;\n    mode of, 254\n\n  Ireland, 158;\n    discontent, 198\n\n  Isle, Roget de l\u2019, 285\n\n  Itales, Elba, 311\n\n  Italy, Ausonne, 194;\n    emperor born, 236\n\n\n  J\n\n  Jacobine Clubs, 126\n\n  Jamblicus, 82\n\n  James I., 171;\n    great-grandfather George I., 194;\n    wisdom, 200\n\n  \u2014\u2014 II., 158, 218\n\n  Jansenism, 158\n\n  Jant, Chevalier de, 143, 144\n\n  Janus Gallicus, 113\n\n  Japan, Christian, 109\n\n  Jarnac, 106\n\n  Jay, fable of, 294;\n    Talma teaches Napoleon, 329\n\n  Jesuit College motto, 109;\n    Jesuit clubs, 126;\n    Charles Emmanuel IV., 279\n\n  Jews, Coleridge, xiii.;\n    prophets, xiv.\n\n  Jodele epigram, 11\n\n  Joel, Punic chronicle of, 60\n\n  Joinville, Prince de, 341\n\n  Josephine, 300, 321\n\n  Joubert, \u00c9tienne, 143, 144\n\n  Jovialists, 66\n\n  Journaux, 229;\n    simply days, 319\n\n  Jury, 265\n\n  Justice, Court of, 265\n\n\n  K\n\n  Kean, Edmund, ix.\n\n  King\u2019s evil, 58;\n    parliament of kings, 189;\n    king of French, 247\n\n  Kimber, \u201cLife of Cromwell,\u201d 354\n\n\n  L\n\n  Lafin, 132\n\n  Lamballe, Princesse de, 248\n\n  Landmarks, 232\n\n  Languedoc Canal, 137\n\n  Lasche, 179\n\n  Latin race to triumph, 62;\n    world, 72\n\n  Launay, Seigneur de, 6\n\n  Laud, Archbishop, 197\n\n  Laurel, forked rod of, 82\n\n  Law, the speculator, 231\n\n  Law Courts, 287\n\n  Lawyers, 109, 139;\n    Gregory XIII., 109\n\n  League, 194, 195\n\n  Lectoyre, 338\n\n  Leibnitz, Egypt, 163;\n    House of Hapsburgh, 189\n\n  Lely, Sir P., 351;\n    \u201cWarts and all,\u201d 353\n\n  Lenthall, Speaker, 207\n\n  Lepanto, 105, 335\n\n  Lerma, Duke, 137\n\n  Lesley, General, 206\n\n  Levelling spirit, 35\n\n  Libertat, Pierre, 131\n\n  Liberty, leap of, 65, 180;\n    of conscience, 194;\n    phantom, 223;\n    Castulon, 238;\n    cap of, 249, 252;\n    Nantes, 278;\n    tyranny, 294\n\n  Libra, France, 185\n\n  Light, cerebral and latent, 40\n\n  Lion-sun, 238\n\n  Liturgy, English, 197\n\n  Livy, 15, 19\n\n  Lombardy, 346\n\n  Lombart, Pierre, 353\n\n  Long and short robe, 297, 329\n\n  London, 158;\n    senate of, 173;\n    fire of, 214;\n    thirty of, 218\n\n  Lonole, Cromwell, 170\n\n  Los, _laus_, glory, 140\n\n  Louis XIII., Montpellier, 3;\n    chapter on, 142;\n    death, 147;\n    the Just, 185\n\n  \u2014\u2014 XIV., son, 119;\n    king, 147;\n    chapter on, 150;\n    Canal, Languedoc, 157;\n    _v._ _\u00c6mathion_\n\n  \u2014\u2014 XV., chapter on, 164\n\n  \u2014\u2014 XVI., xx. (1792), 69;\n    people rise, 237;\n    chapter on, 241;\n    flight, 247;\n    mitr\u00e9, 251;\n    Captif lib\u00e8re, 256;\n    quatrain portrait, 259;\n    quicklime, 261\n\n  \u2014\u2014 XVII., Toulon taken in name of, 273, 296\n\n  \u2014\u2014 XVIII., 268, 283;\n    Roy d\u2019Europe, 305;\n    blond, 316;\n    Duc de Berri, 317;\n    chapter on, 324;\n    D\u00e9sir\u00e9, 325;\n    _foye en cuisine_, 325\n\n  Louis, St., Day, 211\n\n  Louis Philippe, coincidence, 162, 335;\n    chapter on, 324, 330;\n    wolf, 328;\n    six quatrains, 329;\n    seventeen years, 335, 338\n\n  Louvicamp, Cur\u00e9 de, 144\n\n  Louvel, 317, 327\n\n  Love of near things, 235\n\n  Luc, St., 23\n\n  Luciennes, Ch\u00e2teau de, 26\n\n  Lucky day, Cromwell, 211\n\n  \u201cLuminary Epistle,\u201d 12, 13;\n    translation, 55, 257\n\n  Lusitanians, 181;\n    _v._ _Portuguese_\n\n  Lymphatics, 43\n\n  Lyons, Plancus, 70\n\n\n  M\n\n  Macchiavelli, Prince, 290\n\n  Macelin, Cromwell, 177\n\n  Madelaine, 262\n\n  Magic, occult process, xiv.;\n    books burnt, 30, 48;\n    chapter on, 75;\n    formula, 76\n\n  Mahomet, 301;\n    Mahometical dreams, 52\n\n  Malta, 65\n\n  Mammon, 21, 129\n\n  Mansol, 280, 282\n\n  Mansuetus, St., Day, September 3rd, 211\n\n  Marlborough, Duke, 219, 220\n\n  Marcellinus, 86\n\n  Marguerite, St., Island, 131\n\n  Marie Louise, 300, 309, 321\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Ther\u00e8se, 158, 327\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Antoinette, 247, 265, 268;\n    death, 273\n\n  Marine cit\u00e9, 272 (Toulon), 296\n\n  Maritime cit\u00e9 (London), 214\n\n  Mark\u2019s, St., Venice, 289\n\n  Marriage, 119, 120;\n    republican, 278\n\n  Mars, heroical, 213\n\n  Marseilles, St. Hi\u00e8res, 65;\n    taken by Spain, 131;\n    Phocen, 157;\n    Napoleon\u2019s return, 311\n\n  Marseillaise sung, 230;\n    de l\u2019Isle, 285\n\n  Mary, Queen, 183, 184\n\n  Massacre of Protestants, 199\n\n  Mastiff, 63;\n    mastin le gros, Sirius, 328\n\n  Materialism, 236\n\n  Mathien, _v._ _\u00c6mathion_\n\n  Maurepas, 269\n\n  Mayenne, Duc de, 123, 129\n\n  Maynooth grant, 167\n\n  Mazarin, 35, 150\n\n  Medici, Catherine de, 38;\n    curious arts, 94;\n    quatrain on, 96, 111;\n    death, 115;\n    regency, 116;\n    Guise, 123\n\n  Medina, Duke of, 192\n\n  Menade, 201, 204\n\n  Mendosus, 128\n\n  Menehould, St., 246, 249\n\n  Meri, St., 333\n\n  Mesl\u00e9e, infelice, 278\n\n  Mesopotamia, 69\n\n  Metaplasm, 280;\n    Herne, 246\n\n  Method, 253;\n    disorder, 275;\n    _v._ _Order_\n\n  Metz, 151\n\n  Michel, General, 312\n\n  Middle Ages, 36\n\n  Milk and honey, 242\n\n  Millenary, seventh, 57\n\n  Milton, xxvii., 38, 124;\n    contrary to Cromwell, 180\n\n  Minerva, favouring, 57\n\n  Mines, Spanish-American, 231\n\n  Ministers, 67;\n    in eighteen years, 259\n\n  Miollis, General, 284, 302\n\n  Miracle on Miracle, 252\n\n  Mirror, 60\n\n  Mithras, 249, 251\n\n  Mitre, 249\n\n  Mob, triumphant, 230, 259, _v._ _People_\n\n  Moli\u00e8re, 175\n\n  Monarchy, decline of French, 164;\n    Fifth, 213\n\n  Monks, 276, _v._ _Church_\n\n  Mons Jovis, 61, 70\n\n  Mont, St. Jean, 313\n\n  Montagnards, 274\n\n  Montagne, la, 328;\n    Tarpeian rock, 326\n\n  Montenotte, 228, 289\n\n  Montesquiou, 105, 106\n\n  Montfau\u00e7on gibbet, 111\n\n  Montgaillard, de, 262\n\n  Montgolfier, 280\n\n  Montgomery, Earl, 91, 92;\n    arrest, 95\n\n  Montm\u00e9di, 246, 256\n\n  Montmirail, 248\n\n  Montmorency, Lord Constable, 11;\n    the great, 142\n\n  Montpellier, 3\n\n  Moon, blue, 206\n\n  Morals, soul\u2019s instinct, 311\n\n  Morny, Duc de, 342\n\n  Moscow, 285, 304, 310\n\n  Motret, M., 143\n\n  Munster, Terburg, 173\n\n  My-hom, 341\n\n\n  N\n\n  Names anticipated, 28, 90;\n    new names, 288;\n    names of rank, 245\n\n  Nancy, 142, 151\n\n  Nantes, 277\n\n  Napoleon, abdication, 309\n\n  \u2014\u2014, \u00c6mathion, 163\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Analogues, Charlemagne, 291\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Charles V., 229\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Cromwell, 208\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Hannibal, 229, 319\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Apollyon, Olleon, 171\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Destroyer, xx.\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Guion, 289, 292\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Hercules, Gallic, xxi., 289\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Bonaparte, dropped for Nap, 288\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Brumaire, 295\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Butcher, 236\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Condottiere stock, 290\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Conspiracy, Georges\u2019, 317\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Consecration and torment, quatrain, 306\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Eagle, 304\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Epilepsy, 300\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Epithets, butcher, 236\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Jupiter, 64\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Mastiff, 63\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Hercules, _v._ _Apollyon_ above\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, King of Babylon, 305\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014 Nom farouche, 287\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, Oriental, l\u2019, 318\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014 T\u00eate ras\u00e9e, 296, 303\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _\u00c9toile mon_, 302\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Guespes et mouches, 307\n\n  \u2014\u2014, male sex destroyed, 303\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Bouys, 159, _v._ _Bouys_\n\n  \u2014\u2014, chapter on his rule, 286\n\n  \u2014\u2014 family, thirteenth century, 289, 290\n\n  \u2014\u2014, King Paris, 306\n\n  \u2014\u2014, King Rome, Denmark, 289\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Lieutenant, Consul, Emperor, 297\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Napoleonism seventy-three years, xix.\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Nobility, Montenotte, 289\n\n  \u2014\u2014, quatrain on, 302;\n    a weight on France, 292\n\n  \u2014\u2014, rats eat his heart, 311\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _soldat simple_, 208, 297\n\n  \u2014\u2014 _Nez fourchu_, 316\n\n  \u2014\u2014, pyramids, forty centuries, 287\n\n  \u2014\u2014 sympathy, 308\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Talma, 329\n\n  \u2014\u2014 _Vespres et mouches_, 295\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Waterloo quatrain, 312\n\n  \u2014\u2014, St., August 15th, 237;\n    anecdote, 238\n\n  \u2014\u2014 II., Duc de Reichstadt, 338\n\n  \u2014\u2014 III., Boulogne, 322, 336\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Id\u00e9es Napol\u00e9oniennes, 338\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Nepveu du sang, 338, 340\n\n  \u2014\u2014 quatrain, 337\n\n  \u2014\u2014, St., August 15th, 237\n\n  Narbon Camisards, 162;\n    Count, 248\n\n  National Assembly, 231, 247\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Assignats, 231\n\n  \u2014\u2014 departments, 233\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Saulce, 250\n\n  National Convention, 266\n\n  \u2014\u2014, chapter on, 272\n\n  \u2014\u2014 decree, 277\n\n  Nature, voice of, 231;\n    overcome, 318\n\n  Navarre, 341\n\n  Nelson, _rubuit \u00e6quor_, 72;\n    Trafalgar, 182\n\n  N\u00e9opol, St., 237\n\n  Nepveu du sang, 338\n\n  Nero, 273\n\n  Newton, Sir Isaac, bust, 354\n\n  Nicole = Lincoln, 172\n\n  Neil, O\u2019Phelim, 199\n\n  N\u00eemes, 160\n\n  Noll, old, Cromwell, 171\n\n  Non-intervention, 189\n\n  Norlaris, 128\n\n  Normandy, Duke of, 268\n\n  North, two Lords of, 67\n\n  \u2014\u2014, boreas, 283, _v._ _Aquilon_\n\n  \u2014\u2014, ignorance of the, 70\n\n  \u2014\u2014, kings of, 71\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Russia, 66, 72\n\n  Nose, a curious phrase, 56\n\n  Nostradamus Almanacs, 9\n\n  \u2014\u2014, appearance, personal, 20\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _artiste en pronostics_, 40\n\n  \u2014\u2014 birth, 1\n\n  \u2014\u2014 brevity, 169, 244, _v._ _Brevity_\n\n  \u2014\u2014 brothers, 22\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Charles IX., 14\n\n  \u2014\u2014 dates, mode of stating, 190\n\n  \u2014\u2014 death, 15\n\n  \u2014\u2014, democracy against it, 347\n\n  \u2014\u2014, equal he has none, vii., 90\n\n  \u2014\u2014 epitaph, 19, 28\n\n  \u2014\u2014 fame, future, 58\n\n  \u2014\u2014 familiar spirit, 81\n\n  \u2014\u2014 family, Jewish, 2\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Gold, two hundred crowns, 12\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Gout, 12\n\n  \u2014\u2014, history to be re-written for, 300\n\n  \u2014\u2014, horoscope princes, 12\n\n  \u2014\u2014 imposture, xiii., 36, 89, 177\n\n  \u2014\u2014 integrity, 97;\n    good faith, 111\n\n  \u2014\u2014 made celebrated by Henri II.\u2019s death, 92\n\n  \u2014\u2014 marriage, second, 7\n\n  \u2014\u2014 medicine, 36, 37\n\n  \u2014\u2014 method, xii., 184;\n    sequence, 102, 243, _v._ _Order_\n\n  \u2014\u2014 name known, 33\n\n  \u2014\u2014 oracles published, 256\n\n  \u2014\u2014, opinions on, have been omitted, 35\n\n  \u2014\u2014, passivity of, 184, 347;\n    no partisan, 314\n\n  \u2014\u2014 primer, oracles used as, 26\n\n  \u2014\u2014 prophecy begun, 7;\n    not like Hebrew, 39\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014 presage, capable of, 57\n\n  \u2014\u2014 \u2014\u2014, pig prophecy, 24\n\n  \u2014\u2014 psychological interest, 75\n\n  \u2014\u2014, publish, slow to, 36\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Sommerive, Earl, 156\n\n  \u2014\u2014, spirit, his, described, 38\n\n  \u2014\u2014 spiritual sons, 42\n\n  \u2014\u2014 style, 144, 263, _v._ _Method_ above\n\n  \u2014\u2014, time, no sense of, 178\n\n  \u2014\u2014 visions, see by, 275\n\n  \u2014\u2014 year (3797), 50\n\n  Nostradamus C\u00e9sar, 22;\n    pr\u00e9face \u00e0 mon fils, 42\n\n\n  O\n\n  Obedience, veneration, 223\n\n  \u2014\u2014, reverence in England, 182\n\n  \u2014\u2014, must work and serve, 230\n\n  \u2014\u2014, revolt under Louis XVI., 241\n\n  Obscurity and prophecy one, 31\n\n  \u0152dipus, 176\n\n  Ognion, _v._ _Ogmion_\n\n  Oignon, 334, _v._ _Ogmion_\n\n  Ogmion, Gallic, 70, 334;\n    Henri IV., 335, 341\n\n  Olestant, Olleon, xix., 171, 303, _v._ _Pit_\n\n  Olleon, xix.;\n    Cromwell, 171\n\n  Omens not done, 197\n\n  O\u2019Neil, Phelim, 199\n\n  Opinions on Nostradamus not treated of, 35\n\n  Oracles, French king\u2019s study Nostradamus, 33\n\n  \u2014\u2014 ceased not on Good Friday, 88, 151, 347\n\n  Oratory, Napoleon\u2019s, 286\n\n  \u2014\u2014, England beware of, 187\n\n  \u2014\u2014, orators, 242, _v._ _Speech_\n\n  Order, sequence, 102, 158, 174, 243, 315\n\n  \u2014\u2014, method, 253;\n    disorder, 275\n\n  Orges _faire ses orges_, 212\n\n  Orleans, Duke of, 244;\n    death, 273, 333;\n    _dort leans_, 333\n\n  Orsini, 343\n\n  Oste, l\u2019, Nostradamus, 132, 136\n\n  Oxygen, 266\n\n\n  P\n\n  Pagan tendency of Nostradamus, 40, 41\n\n  Pampotan, 69;\n    England, 181\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _rubuit \u00e6quor_, 27\n\n  Pan is dead, 88\n\n  Pancras, Old, 175\n\n  Paper money, 231\n\n  Paris, siege (1590), 100;\n    city of sword, 108, 261\n\n  \u2014\u2014, great city, 120, 282\n\n  \u2014\u2014, cit\u00e9 \u00e0 feu, 343;\n    Jesuit clubs, 126\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Babylon, New, 63, 305;\n    in disarray, 237\n\n  \u2014\u2014, assault of, 282;\n    entered, 314;\n    dechass\u00e9, 328\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Sparte, 329;\n    Bastille, 335\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Rapis, 237;\n    ship, emblem of, 158\n\n  \u2014\u2014, allies in, 309\n\n  Paris, Comte de, 341\n\n  Parma, 101\n\n  Parliament, impeachment, 200\n\n  Pascal on opinion, xxviii.\n\n  Patience of an interpreter, 255\n\n  Pau, 341\n\n  Paul\u2019s, St., burnt, 214\n\n  Pavillon, Lord, 11\n\n  Peace, the great, 63\n\n  Pelissier, 332\n\n  Pelletier, M. le, secret purpose of book, 13\n\n  Pellix, 264, 266\n\n  Pempotam, 181;\n    Pampotan, 69\n\n  Penance, 119\n\n  Pentecost, 45\n\n  People \u201cblood be on us,\u201d 259\n\n  \u2014\u2014, democracy, antichrist, 239;\n    revolution, 347\n\n  \u2014\u2014 eaux, 223;\n    idiots, 229\n\n  \u2014\u2014 earthquake, 242;\n    intoxicated, 201\n\n  \u2014\u2014, many-headed, 200\n\n  \u2014\u2014, mob, 230\n\n  \u2014\u2014, tyrant comes, 169\n\n  Perouse, chef, Sixtus V., 99\n\n  Perspective, 330\n\n  Peter the Great, 167;\n    his will, 186\n\n  Peter, St., ship of, 193;\n    Pierre, 281;\n    piscature, 302\n\n  Phalanx, 231\n\n  Philip II., 92, 130, 131;\n    coincides with Louis Philippe, 333\n\n  \u2014\u2014 III., 161\n\n  \u2014\u2014 IV., 153, 158, 173\n\n  \u2014\u2014 V., 153, 161;\n    overthrown, 162\n\n  Philippe d\u2019Orl\u00e9ans, 164\n\n  Philippe, _v._ _Louis Philippe_\n\n  Philo Jud\u00e6us, vii.\n\n  Philosopher, Plato Pry, 145\n\n  Philosophy in doubt, 34;\n    in history, 31\n\n  \u2014\u2014, sentimental, 233, _v._ _Rousseau_, _v._ _Science_\n\n  Phocen, Marseilles, 157\n\n  Photius \u201cAmphilochia,\u201d ix.;\n    heretical, x.\n\n  Phrygian bonnet, 249\n\n  Piedmont, Adriatic, 70\n\n  Pierce, Edward, 354\n\n  Pierre, en l\u2019arbre, 312\n\n  Pillar pulled down, Vend\u00f4me?, 65\n\n  Piracy, literary, 10\n\n  Pit, bottomless, 311\n\n  Pius VI., chapter on, 280\n\n  \u2014\u2014 VII., 237, 284, 302\n\n  Plague, 5;\n    powder, 7;\n    plague London, 214, 215\n\n  Plancus, Lyons, 70\n\n  Poetry, 39;\n    poets to be well fed, 107;\n    poet and prophet, 327\n\n  Poitiers edict, 118\n\n  Poland and Henri III., 116, 117, 118;\n    Bastarnan, 166;\n    partition, 186, 189\n\n  Polymarch, the Theban, 192\n\n  Ponant = west, 157\n\n  Pont = pontificate\n\n  Pope, vicar of cope, 72, _v._ _Pius_ VI., and others under name;\n    deposed, 282;\n    augur, 283\n\n  \u2014\u2014 regicide, 121, _v._ _Peter, St._\n\n  Porphyrius, 83\n\n  Porson on Gibbon, 331\n\n  Portrait painters, 353\n\n  Portraiture, Cromwell, 178;\n    Appendix, 351\n\n  Portuguese, 181\n\n  Pourceau, Cape, 155\n\n  Prayer, 234\n\n  Pr\u00e9face \u00e0 mon fils, 42\n\n  Prejudices, or auricular fancies, 44\n\n  Press, _journaux_, 229\n\n  Pretender, rebel, 221;\n    Charles Edward Stuart reads \u201cOracles,\u201d 33\n\n  Prince, a child, 108\n\n  Privilege abolished, 272\n\n  Profer\u00e9, 287\n\n  Proper names anticipated, 28\n\n  Prophecy, astral, 53\n\n  \u2014\u2014, afflatus, 52\n\n  \u2014\u2014, by basin, 85\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Bouys, 159, 183\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _cit\u00e9 au glaive_, 262\n\n  \u2014\u2014, desirable, 75\n\n  \u2014\u2014, emotional effusion, 59\n\n  \u2014\u2014, evil, like history, 39\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Gr\u00ealet\u2019s, 110\n\n  \u2014\u2014, hempe spun, 170\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Henri II., 26\n\n  \u2014\u2014, honest man a prophet, vii.\n\n  \u2014\u2014, imaginative impression, 45\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _infelice mesl\u00e9e_, 278\n\n  \u2014\u2014, inherited gift, 57\n\n  \u2014\u2014, lies, 86\n\n  \u2014\u2014, maddens, 26\n\n  \u2014\u2014, mitr\u00e9, 252\n\n  \u2014\u2014, millenary, seventh, 57\n\n  \u2014\u2014, more might be interpreted, 89\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Nostradamus not a prophet, 30, 46, 49, 60, 90\n\n  \u2014\u2014, obscure always, 31\n\n  \u2014\u2014, patience interprets, 255\n\n  \u2014\u2014, power of, 45\n\n  \u2014\u2014, reasoning it is not, 35\n\n  \u2014\u2014, secret idiom of, 245\n\n  \u2014\u2014, sixth sense, viii., 34\n\n  \u2014\u2014, spirit of, 43\n\n  \u2014\u2014, tripod, 86\n\n  \u2014\u2014, true prophecy, 39, 43\n\n  \u2014\u2014, \u2014\u2014 language of, 244\n\n  \u2014\u2014, unintelligible before event, 8;\n    Pretender, 33;\n    to relatives of Nostradamus, 112\n\n  \u2014\u2014 year (3797); up to, 50\n\n  \u201cProphecies of Nostradamus by D. D.,\u201d 183\n\n  Prose, _solut\u00e2 oratio_, 53\n\n  Protectorate, 177\n\n  Proven\u00e7al quatrain, 293\n\n  Providence shapes history, 31\n\n  Pry, Plato, 145\n\n  Prussia, King of, 341\n\n  Psalm, 117, 206\n\n  Psellus, 84\n\n  Punic chronicle of Joel, 60\n\n  Puntales Castle, 192\n\n  Puritans, 194\n\n  Purpose of this book, 89\n\n  Pyramids, battle of, 287\n\n  Pyrenees, peace of, 157;\n    crossed, 161\n\n  Pythagoras, xi.\n\n\n  Q\n\n  _Quarterly Review_, 176, 219\n\n  Quatrains, Nostradamus would like to give dates to, 67\n\n  Quicklime, Louis, xvi.;\n    head, 261\n\n\n  R\n\n  Radstadt, peace of, 229\n\n  Raimond, Lord Florimond de, 27\n\n  Raleigh, 124, 191\n\n  Rapin\u2019s, \u201cHistory,\u201d 354, 355\n\n  Rapis = Paris, 237\n\n  _Ras\u00e9e, t\u00eate_, 296, 303\n\n  Ratonneau, 131\n\n  Ravaillac, 126\n\n  Reader, the capable, xxv.\n\n  Reason, goddess of, 234, 276\n\n  \u2014\u2014, human understanding, 35, 48\n\n  \u2014\u2014, words an apoplexy of, 286, _v._ _Science_\n\n  Rebel, Pretender, 221;\n    new fruit, 156\n\n  Red, rouges republicans, 228\n\n  \u2014\u2014 cardinals, 274\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Cardinal de Bourbon, 129\n\n  \u2014\u2014, English red-coats, 305\n\n  \u2014\u2014, kill each other, 274\n\n  \u2014\u2014, reds and whites, 65\n\n  \u2014\u2014, rouges abandon purple, xix., _v._ _Colours_\n\n  Regicide popes, 121, 154\n\n  Religion, loi saincte, 231\n\n  Renatus or Ren\u00e9 king, 3\n\n  Ren\u00e9e, Nostradamus\u2019s mother, 2\n\n  Republic, beggars brawl, 240\n\n  \u2014\u2014 of 1848, chapter on, 337\n\n  \u2014\u2014, philosophic, 121\n\n  \u2014\u2014, tempered by daggers, 124\n\n  Restoration (1660), 210\n\n  Retz, Cardinal de, 35\n\n  Revelation, inspired, 30\n\n  Revolution, French, earthquake, 242\n\n  \u2014\u2014, 1688, 218\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _tiers \u00e9tat_, 243\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Vulgar Advent, xvii., 37, 69\n\n  Rheims, 242\n\n  Rian, Jean de, 155\n\n  Richelieu, Cardinal, Boulogne, 321;\n    Cinq Mars, 146;\n    congress, 189;\n    Havre de Grace, 296;\n    malevolent, 153;\n    vulpine, 154\n\n  Riches despised, 157;\n    love not, 292, _v._ _Gold_\n\n  Rights of man, 233;\n    phantom, 223\n\n  Riquet, Paul, 157\n\n  Robespierre, 317\n\n  Rochelle, 160\n\n  Rochepot, Lord, 137\n\n  Rod magic, 77\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Moses, 318\n\n  \u2014\u2014, sibyl, 82\n\n  \u2014\u2014, winchel, 78\n\n  _Roman de la Rose_, 175\n\n  Rome, city of the sun, 65\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Golgotha, 327\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Hannibal\u2019s curse, 229\n\n  \u2014\u2014, King of, 291\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Napoleon, King of, 289, 302\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Pius VI., 280\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Romanie, 304\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Romains, 39\n\n  \u2014\u2014, sacked by Charles V., 303\n\n  \u2014\u2014 taken, 282\n\n  Rosne, or Rhone, 283\n\n  Rostopchin, 304\n\n  Rota, 192\n\n  Rouen, 130\n\n  Rouges, _v._ _Red_\n\n  Roundheads short hair, 296\n\n  Rousseau, red-head, xx., 233\n\n  Roux, Jean de, 13\n\n  Roy-Roy, Henri III., 126\n\n  Russia, 72, 188, 284\n\n  Russell, Lord John, 86\n\n  Rhythm, 56\n\n\n  S\n\n  Saints, Cromwell, 212;\n    Napoleon, 237;\n    saint worship, 277\n\n  Salic law, 165\n\n  Salon de Craux, 7\n\n  Salt exorcised, 176\n\n  Samuel, 301\n\n  _Sang_, 243, 244\n\n  Sardinia, 155, 278;\n    Fossan, 326\n\n  Sarzana, 290\n\n  Saturn, age of gold, 73, frenzy, 206;\n    saturnine, 213\n\n  Saturnians, 201, 203;\n    _v._ _Antichrist_\n\n  Saulce, 248\n\n  Sauts, kick of gun, 141\n\n  Savone, 302\n\n  Savory, Strand, 354\n\n  Scaliger, J. C., 6, 37\n\n  Sceptics, haphazard, 278, _v._ _Science_\n\n  Scepticism, 35, 75;\n    interpretation, 254, _v._ _Atheism_\n\n  Scharf, Mr. George, 354\n\n  Schools, board, 182\n\n  Science, 34;\n    encyclop\u00e6dists, 233\n\n  \u2014\u2014 illuminati, 214\n\n  \u2014\u2014 method, 253\n\n  \u2014\u2014, Montpellier, 5;\n    self-sufficiency, 254, _v._ _Sceptics_\n\n  \u2014\u2014, study of nature, xxii. _v._ _Reason_\n\n  \u2014\u2014, telescope, 253, _v._ _Philosophy_\n\n  \u2014\u2014, wisdom of, 79\n\n  Scotch, 172;\n    Scotland, 196;\n    Church of Scotland, 198\n\n  Scone, 208, 323\n\n  Scott, Sir W., 200\n\n  Sea, the, Pempotam, 181\n\n  Sebastian, St., Castle, 192\n\n  Sedan, 228, 339, 340\n\n  S\u00e9gur, Comte de, 301\n\n  Seine, 114\n\n  _Sele_ = selle, tripod seat, 76\n\n  Sense, a sixth, 34;\n    anticipatory thought, 32\n\n  Sentiment, _v._ _Religion_, 233\n\n  Senate of London, 173\n\n  Septante, 190;\n    Septenaries, 185\n\n  Sepulchre, Holy, 66\n\n  Sequence, _v._ _Order_\n\n  Serfdom, George I., 223\n\n  _Servus servorum_, 109\n\n  Seventeen-92 (1792), 69\n\n  Seventy-three years, 63, 227\n\n  SEXT, 280\n\n  Sforza, 290\n\n  Ship of St. Peter, 158, 193, 302\n\n  Shipton, Mother, xvii.\n\n  Short robe, 297\n\n  Sibyl, 82\n\n  Sicily, Trinacria, 70\n\n  Sidney College, 352\n\n  Simon, _cordonnier_, 266\n\n  Simon, Thomas, Cromwell, 352\n\n  Sixains, presented to Henry IV., 133\n\n  Sixth sense, viii., 34\n\n  Sixtus V., 99, 130\n\n  Slaves, Highlanders sold for, 207\n\n  _Solaires, les_, Christians, 152\n\n  Solar pass, 85;\n    order, 88\n\n  Soldat simple, 297\n\n  Solemn League, 198\n\n  Soliman II., 98, 239\n\n  _Solis Templum_, 193\n\n  Solitude, 233, 235\n\n  Sommerive, Earl, 156\n\n  Somer\u2019s Town, 217\n\n  Sons, spiritual, 42\n\n  Soul, comfort to, 78\n\n  \u2014\u2014 eye, 80;\n    eye and soul, 234\n\n  \u2014\u2014 immortal spirit, 263\n\n  \u2014\u2014, indivisible unity of, 255\n\n  \u2014\u2014 morals, 311\n\n  \u2014\u2014 prophecy, 253, _v._ _Immortality_\n\n  Sound, conveyed, 216\n\n  South, King of, 71\n\n  Spain, 72;\n    Spanish succession, 161;\n    slow, 192\n\n  Sparta slow, 192;\n    _Sparte_ = Paris, 329\n\n  Speech, Napoleon, 286;\n    five talkers, 295, _v._ _Oratory_\n\n  Spirit of man, 263;\n    drawn to centre, xxi., _v._ _Soul_\n\n  Spiritual sons, 42\n\n  Spond, Lord, 27\n\n  Sponge, Church treated as, 297\n\n  Stael, Madame de, 290\n\n  Stars, revolution of, 42;\n    intelligence, 46;\n    withdrawal, 234\n\n  Stendal, 290\n\n  Stomach, _estomac intercluse_, 23;\n    Kitchen, 325\n\n  Stonehenge, 193\n\n  Storm, 211\n\n  Stafford, Earl, 172\n\n  Stuart dynasty, 170\n\n  Stuart, Henry, 193\n\n  Stuart, Mary, 102, 170\n\n  Success, despicable, 356\n\n  Suicide, Napoleon, 306, 310\n\n  Sully, Duc de, 108\n\n  Sumatra, Isle of, 66\n\n  Sun = Church or Christianity, 119;\n    Louis XIV., 152;\n    temple of, 221\n\n  Sunlight kissed, 254\n\n  Surrey Street, Strand, 354\n\n  Sword-saviour, 295;\n    _sabreur_, 230;\n    Paris, city of, _Cit\u00e9 au Glaive_, 262\n\n  Symbol, double, 45\n\n  Sympathy, craved, 308\n\n\n  T\n\n  Table-turning, xiv., 88;\n    little table, 86, _v._ _Clairvoyance_\n\n  TAG, 292;\n    Tagus, 293\n\n  Taine, 290\n\n  Talma, 329\n\n  Tarasc, 282\n\n  Tarpeian rock, 326\n\n  Telescope, 335\n\n  Temple, Miss, 4\n\n  Temples, desecrated, 233, 277;\n    celique, 192\n\n  Temple, Paris, 230\n\n  Terburg\u2019s, Munster, 173\n\n  Terseness, _v._ _Brevity_\n\n  Teste rase, 296, 303\n\n  Thames, 159\n\n  Theodorus, 87\n\n  Theodosius, 88\n\n  Thiers, 250\n\n  Thinkers, solitary, 233, 235\n\n  Thomasius, spirit drawn to the centre, xxi.\n\n  Thou, de, 147\n\n  Thrasibulus, 64\n\n  Tiers \u00e9tat, 242\n\n  Time, Nostradamus no sense of, 178, 208;\n    date quatrains, 67\n\n  \u2014\u2014, future = past, 57\n\n  \u2014\u2014, _Neron_, 337\n\n  \u2014\u2014, order, 276\n\n  Tiresias, xxvii.\n\n  Toledan art, 40\n\n  Tolentino, 281\n\n  Tongue, 286\n\n  Torcy, le, 340\n\n  Torn\u00e9-Chavigny, Abb\u00e9, 264\n\n  Torrington, 159\n\n  Tory, Taurer, 201;\n    Tories, 202;\n    Tory cavaliers, 296\n\n  Toulon, 272, 296\n\n  Toulouse, Hotel de Ville, 143\n\n  Tourzel, Madame de, 249\n\n  Trafalgar, 182\n\n  Tranche, guillotine, 245;\n    Dr. Guillotin, 261\n\n  Tr\u00e8ves the Elector, 142\n\n  Treviso, 289\n\n  Tr\u00e9voux, Dictionnaire de, 246\n\n  Tricolour, 279, _v._ _Flag_\n\n  Trimmer, 213\n\n  Trinacria, Sicily, 70\n\n  Tripod, 57, 81, 86\n\n  Truth, Vauban, 157;\n    let it prevail, 348;\n    Coleridge, xxvii.\n\n  Tuilleries, 154;\n    secret gate of, 246;\n    stormed, 248;\n    rebuilt, 273;\n    Napoleon, 295;\n    Napoleon III. born in, 339;\n    Treilhos, 294\n\n  Turenne, Marshal, 339\n\n  Turin, 268\n\n  Turk, Sultan, 66;\n    Byzantine sails, 69;\n    Soliman II., 98;\n    Lepanto, 105, 335\n\n  Tuscany, 337;\n    Duke of, 347\n\n  Tuxis, ambassador, 138\n\n  Tyranny, 294;\n    Olestant, xix., _v._ _Liberty_ (same thing)\n\n\n  U\n\n  Utrecht, peace of, 162, 222\n\n  Unity, to divide it, 255\n\n\n  V\n\n  Valence, 281, 283\n\n  Valens, Emperor, 86\n\n  Valois, extinction of family, 98\n\n  _Vapin monstre_, 347\n\n  Varennes, 245\n\n  Vauban, 156, 157\n\n  Vaudreuil, de, 248\n\n  Vaultorte, 245, 247\n\n  Vend\u00e9e, la, 278\n\n  Vend\u00f4me (pillar pulled down?), 65\n\n  Veneration, _v._ _Obedience_\n\n  Venice, 69, 104;\n    St. Marks, 289\n\n  Venus, 118\n\n  Vervain, the prospering plant, 87\n\n  _Vespres et mouches_, 295\n\n  Vicar of the cope, pope, 72\n\n  Vienna, treaty of, 187\n\n  Villars, Marshal, 160\n\n  Villeroy, 136, 151\n\n  _Vin et sel_, 153, 174\n\n  Vincence, Duc de, 309\n\n  Virgil, earthquake, 242\n\n  Virgin Mary, 233\n\n  Virginia, 190\n\n  Visible world, 78, _v._ _Eye_\n\n  Visions, 38;\n    dissolving views, 101;\n    of night, 201;\n    names heard, 275\n\n  Voltaire, Henriade, 141, 233\n\n  _Vox populi_, 230\n\n  Vulgar Advent, 37, 44, 69;\n    _vulgus_, 39;\n    dogs, 44;\n    chapter on, 227\n\n\n  W\n\n  Walker, Cromwell, 351;\n    likenesses vary, 353\n\n  Wasps and flies, 307\n\n  Water magical, 77;\n    basin, 85;\n    waters = people, 233\n\n  Waterloo, quatrain, 312;\n    Napoleon\u2019s baggage, 290\n\n  Wax, 276\n\n  Wellington, 293, 312, 313\n\n  West, Napoleon, 66, 98, 286\n\n  Westminster Abbey, 323\n\n  \u2014\u2014 Hall, King\u2019s trial, 175\n\n  Westphalia treaty, 151, 173\n\n  Whig, 213\n\n  Whitby omits \u201cBook of Revelation,\u201d 31\n\n  White, _blancs_ (royalists), 228;\n    Austrians, 305;\n    whites, 65;\n    black for white, 232\n\n  Whitehall, 124, 154, 199\n\n  William III., 159;\n    revolution, 218\n\n  Wine, 71;\n    _sel et vin_, 154, 173\n\n  Winchel-rod, 78, _v._ _Rod_\n\n  Wit, on Japan, 109;\n    on Assumption, 238\n\n  Witches\u2019 sabbath, 84\n\n  Women Aix, modest, 7;\n    s\u0153urs, 233;\n    naked, 234, 278\n\n  Worcester, battle, 209\n\n  Words, master in, 38;\n    loquacity, 46;\n    not understood, 242\n\n  World, age of, 58;\n    creation, 67;\n    unseen, 78\n\n  Wren, Sir Christopher, 354\n\n  Wrong to be let alone, 299\n\n\n  Y\n\n  Young, Dr., poet, 4\n\n  Ydiaques, Don, 137\n\n  Ypres, 220\n\n  Yvan, 308, 309, 310\n\n\n  Z\n\n  Zurich, treaty of, 346\n\n\n\n\nENVOY.\n\n\n\u201cHe that knows anything worth communicating and does not communicate it,\nlet him be hanged by the neck.\u201d\u2014_Talmud, Sucah_, p. 58.","title":"Oracles of Nostradamus","tradition":"ritual-magic","translated_text":null,"word_count":106754}