Part 9

“An Earl without a head be found.” This was spoken of the Earl of Essex, one who was the favourite of the queen and darling of the people (two things which seldom come together), and yet could not both of them protect him from the scaffold, but thereon he lost his head.

By the “English Rose” is meant Queen Elizabeth, as we said before, by whose death the right and title to the crown came to James VI., King of Scotland, as lineally descended from Margaret, eldest daughter to King Henry VII., the male issue failing by the death of Queen Elizabeth; and here is to be remembered the policy of King Henry VII., who having two daughters, married the eldest of them to the King of Scotland, and the youngest to the King of France, that if his male issue should happen to fail, as it afterwards did, then Scotland might wait upon England as the greater kingdom, and not England upon France as the lesser. Besides, there was an old prophecy which intimated King James coming to the English crown; for when King Edward I. harassed Scotland, amongst other things he brought from thence their royal chair (still preserved at the Abbey, in Westminster), upon which chair these verses were written:

“If Fates go right, where’er this chair is pight, The regal race of Scots shall rule that place.”

Which by the coronation of King James there performed, made good the words of the prophecy.

“The Northern Lion over Tweed, The maiden Queen shall then succeed, And join in one, two mighty States; Janus then shall shut his gates; Hell’s power, by a fatal blow, Shall seek the land to overthrow, Which by mistake shall be reverst, And heads from shoulders be disperst. The British Olive next shall twine In marriage with the German Vine.”

Next follows the remarkable actions of King James’s reign, predicted in the foregoing lines, which may be thus explained:

By the “Northern Lion” is meant King James, and by the “maiden Queen,” Queen Elizabeth, whom King James, being King of Scotland, succeeded to the English crown, joining thereby the two nations of England and Scotland, which had often been attempted before.

The lines “Hell’s power,” etc., have reference to the Gunpowder Plot, which was planned to blow up the Parliament House with gunpowder—king, princes, peers, bishops, judges, knights, and burgesses, being all designed to destruction. To bring the purpose about, a vault was hired under the Parliament House, wherein were stowed thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, with several iron bars, to make the force of the fire more effectual, all which were covered with billets and coals. The 5th of November, the day of Parliament first sitting, was the time appointed to put this design in execution; but Providence had ordered it otherwise, that those who intended mischief should taste the effects of it. In the evening before, Lord Monteagle received a strange letter from an unknown hand, without date or name to it, and which, when it was opened, was even still sealed. The letter being communicated to the king, he commanded the rooms under the Parliament House to be searched, where the mystery of iniquity was quickly discovered. Some of the traitors were taken in London, others in the country; the hands of justice overtaking them, they became its examples, and tasted of that cup which they intended others should have drunk of.

By the “British Olive” is meant the Lady Elizabeth, daughter of King James; and by the “German Vine” the most illustrious Prince Frederic, Count Palatine of the Rhine. This Lady Elizabeth was enriched with all the endowments of both body and mind which make to the completing of a princess; most dearly beloved of the English, as one that deserved well of all. They were married with great solemnity at Westminster, February 14, 1602.

Mother Shipton having proceeded thus far with her prophecies, broke up abruptly with a deep sigh, the tears trickling down her cheeks, accompanied by a wringing of her hands, as if some extraordinary mischance had befallen her. The abbot wondered greatly what should be the cause of this sudden alteration, having observed all along before a settled composedness in her countenance, and now to break out in such exclamations. He therefore said unto her, “Mother Shipton, it is more than some extraordinary matter which hath made you break out into this sudden passion; and if it may not be troublesome unto you, I shall desire that, as hitherto you have not been scrupulous in revealing those secrets unto me, which have wrought in me both wonder and amazement, so that you will not so abruptly break off as to leave me in suspense of the cause of your sorrow.” “Ah! Mr. Abbot,” said she, “who can with dry eyes repeat what must next ensue, or but think upon it without a heart full of agony? to see virtue trampled on, and vice exalted; beggars on horseback, and princes on foot; the innocent condemned, and the bloodthirsty go scot free; but since my promise binds me to fulfil your request, I shall proceed from where I left off:

“The crown then fits the White King’s head, Who with the Lilies soon shall wed; Then shall a peasant’s bloody knife Deprive a great man of his life. Forth from the North shall mischief blow, And English hob shall add thereto. Then shall the Council great assemble, Who shall make great and small to tremble, The White King then (O grief to see!) By wicked hands shall murdered be.”

By the “White King,” is meant King Charles I., so called not only in respect of the purity and uprightness of his life, signified by white; but also at the time of his coronation he was clothed in white. He had, previous to the death of King James, married the Lady Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV., King of France; who is hereupon said to wed the “Lilies,” the lilies being the arms of France.

By the “great man,” who was to lose his life by a bloody knife, was meant the Duke of Buckingham, the greatest man in favour of those times, and (as is commonly seen) most hated of the people, who laid the blame of all miscarriages in state upon him; being made general for the relief of Rochelle (then besieged by the French forces), before he embarked at Portsmouth, he was stabbed by one Felton, an officer in his army; who, so far from flying for the same, though he might pass away undiscovered, boldly avowed himself to be the man that did it. He was hanged in chains at Portsmouth, in the year 1627.

The next part of this prophecy alludes to that ancient proverb, “From the cold ‘North’ all ills come forth,” and may be understood of our troubles commencing in 1630, taking their original rise from Scotland, and fermented by several factious spirits in England, the venom of which poison so infected the veins of the English, that it broke forth into a most bitter war, and ended not but with the deaths of many thousands of people.

By the “great Council” is meant the long-lasting Parliament, as known to all posterity for the remarkable transactions therein. By them fell the wise Strafford, and Reverend Laud; by them was Episcopacy voted down, and Presbytery voted up; by them was the common-prayer denied, and the Directory exalted; by them was the Church and State turned topsy-turvy; but this cannot be reported of all amongst them; many of them hated their doings, dissented from them, and suffered by them.

The “White King by wicked hands,” etc., alludes to the beheading of King Charles I., who was the principal victim of these savage wars.

“The White King dead, the Wolf shall then With blood possess the Lion’s den. But Death shall hurry him away; Confusion shall awhile bear sway; But Fate to England shall restore A king to reign as heretofore. Great death in London shall be though, And men on tops of houses go.”

By the “White King,” as we said before, is meant King Charles I., and, by the “Wolf,” Oliver Cromwell, whose ambition was such that he left no means unattempted until he had got into the “Lion’s den,” that is to say, until he had attained the sole government.

“But Death shall hurry him away.”

Very remarkable was the day in which the Protector died, being September 3, 1658, wherein the wind was so violent, that it overthrew many houses, tore up many trees by the roots, tumbled down chimneys, and unroofed barns and stables; but it is a very ill wind that blows none good, so with all the hurt this wind did, it made recompense to some folks who had lost their estates in the civil wars, by blowing this Oliver away.

“But fate to England shall restore A king to reign as heretofore.”

Which part of the prophecy was fulfilled in the restoration of King Charles II., which put a period to all the Commonwealth, and restored the land to its ancient government.

“Great death in London,” verified by the great plague in London, in 1665, which, for number, was the greatest that hath been known in these latter centuries of years.

“And men on tops of houses go.” This was suddenly fulfilled in that great conflagration of fire which happened in London, September 2, 3, and 4, 1666, by which so many houses were destroyed, that men afterwards, in the ruins, went on the tops of those houses whose lofty structures not long before seemed to brave the sky.

* * * * *

It will be observed that some of the following prophecies of Mother Shipton relate to the present time, while others more closely concern the future. We will leave them to the reader’s own interpretation:—

Ploughed with swords the earth shall be, And blood will mingle with the sea.

II.