pass in the year 1556. for the Countrey about Rome was vexed by the French Nation who went about then to take the places which the Duke of Alba had taken from the Pope and thereby caused those disorders which commonly are incident to War The second Verse saith the Countrey shall be too much vexed and not a little because Monluc whom the Author calleth the quick Gascon did continually torment the Enemies which could not be done without a great prejudice to the Countrey Moreover his Troops being for the most part Gascons and consequently active men the Soldiers did more harm than ordinary In the first Verse he saith that this Countrey about Rome was marked by an Augury to be the place upon which the sad effect of the Augury should fall which proved true for the first of March 1556. appeared a Blazing Star which did presage to that Countrey of Rome its disaster Roman Countrey in which the Augur did interpret that is to say which the Augur did signifie and presage should be vexed by the French Nation Afterwards the Author saith that the same French Nation or Celtique shall fear the hour when Boreas should drive to far the Fleet that is to say shall fear much when the Baron de la Garde was so troubled with the storm as we have said and in truth it was Boreas or the Northwind that drove him into St. Florents road C. French Dedans les Isles si horrible tumulte Rien on n'orra qu'une bellique brigue Tant grand sera des predareurs l'Insult Qu'on se viendra ranger a la grand ligue English In the Islands shall be so horrid tumults That nothing shall be heard but a Warlike surprise So great shall be the insult of the Robbers That every one shall shelter himself under the great League ANNOT. This is plain if by the the great League you understand the soundest and most powerful party THE PROPHECIES OF Michael Nostradamus CENTURY III. I. French APres Combat Bataille Navale Le grand Neptune a son plus haut beffroy Rouge adversaire de peur de viendra pasle Mettant le grand Occean en effroy English After the fight and Sea Battle The great Neptune in his highest Steeple The red adversary shall wax pale for fear Putting the great Occean in a fright ANNOT. I find no my stical sence in this unless by the red adversary he should understand the Pope because clothed in Scarlet Therefore I leave the explication to the judgement of every particular Reader II. French Le Divin Verbe donra a la substance Compris Ciel Terre or occult au lait mystique Corps Ame Esprit ayant toute puissance Tant sous ses pieds comme au Siege Celique English The Divine Word shall give to the substance Heaven and Earth and Gold hid in the mystical milk Body Soul Spirit having all power As well under his feet as in the Heavenly Seat ANNOT. I desire the judicious Reader and chiefly if he be given to the Hermetick Philosophy to take a special notice of this Stanza for in it is contained the secret of the Elixir or Philosophers Stone more clearly and plainly then in the Tabula Smaragdina of Hermes which to make appearent we shall expound it Verse by Verse The Divine Word shall give to the substance by the Divine word you must not understand the second person of the Trinity but a Doctor in Divinity or a Theologian called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Divine word who shall be an Adeptus a Disciple of Hermes and one that shall attain to the secret of the Philosophers stone That man shall give to the substance that is to Gold Heaven and Earth and gold hid in the mystical Milk Heaven and Earth that is all the Celestial and Terrestrial qualities lurking in the Gold which is hid in the mystical milk that is in the Azoth or Mercury of the Philosophers Body Soul Spirit having all Power that is the three principles of which the Philosophers say their stone is compounded viz. Body Soul and Spirit Having all Power that is having the power to transmute all Mettals into its kind as also having all the powers from above and below as Hermes saith Pater ejus est Sol Mater vero Luna Terra nutrix ejus Which is confirmed by the last Verse As well under his feet as in the Heavenly Seat III. French Mars Mercure Largent joint ensemble Vers le Midy extreme siccité Au fond d' Asie on dira Terre tremble Corinthe Ephese lors en perplexite English Mars and Mercury and Silver joyned together Towards the South a great drought In the bottome of Asia shall be an Earth-quake Corinth and Ephesus shall then be in perplexity ANNOT. After the Author hath in the foregoing Stanza expressed the mistery of the Philosophers stone he seemeth to give here a receit though Sophistical for the relief of the Inquisitors and as it were a Viaticum for them to subsist till they can attain to the perfection as Basilius Valentinus hath done since to his disciples He saith then that with Mars that is Iron Mercury and Silver joyned together some thing may be done if you beware of a drought in the South that is in the middle of the operation and this is concerning the two first Verses Those that shall desire to be better and further informed may come to me and they shall have all the satisfaction I can afford them The two last Verses have no relation to the first two and foretel onely a great Earth-quake in Asia by which those two Towns Corinth and Ephesus shall be in great perplexity IV. French Quand seront proches le defaut des Lunaires De l'un a lautre ne distant grandement Froid siccité dangers vers les frontieres Mesme ou l'Oracle a pris commencement English When the want of the Luminaries shall be near Not being far distant one from another Cold drought danger towards the Frontiers Even where the Oracle had his beginning ANNOT. The word near sheweth that the two Eclipses one of the Sun and the other of the Moon shall be near one another The Ephemerides of John Stadius teach us that in the year 1556 in the Month of November these two Eclipses did meet That of the Sun upon the first of November at 17 hours as the Astrologers reckon and 53 Minutes That of the Moon at 12 hours and 43 Scruples and thus the two last Verses are plain Concerning the other two Belleforest teacheth us two things the first that the same year was extraordinary dry in so much that from April to October it did not rain but only upon the Eve of St. John the Baptist and that the Vintage was made in August the Wine proving excellent The second is that in the Month of December began a horrid Frost which lasted a great while Thus there was Cold and drought Concerning the dangers towards the Frontiers Belleforest saith
'l give him again his salary ANNOT. The two first Verses are plain the third signifieth that these fearful ones being come out of their Galleys part of them shall be murdered and among them the Captain a renouncer of his Baptism or Renegado and the rest afterwards by an Ambuscado shall requite in the same Coin those that had used them so LXXX French Le Duc voudra les siens exterminer Envoyera les plus forts lieux estranges Par tyrannie Bize Luc ruiner Puis les Barbares sans Vin feront Vendanges English The Duke shall endeavour to exterminate his own And shall send away the strongest of them into remote places He shall also ruinate Bize and Luc The Barbarians shall make Vintage without Wine ANNOT. There is a great fault in the impression of the French Copy in this Stanza which maketh the sense altogether inexplicable it must then in stead of Bize and Luc be written Pise and Lucques which are two Towns in Italy near the Duke of Florence's Dominions one of these Towns viz. Pisa he hath taken already and from a Common-Wealth made it subject to himself the other though several times attempted by him hath preserved its liberty to this day The last Verse signifieth that after this is come to pass the Barbarians that is the Florentins shall make Vintage without Wine that is shall plunder and spoil at their pleasure LXXXI French Le Roy rusé entendra ses Embusches De trois quartiers Ennemis assaillir Un nombre estrange Larmes de coqueluches Viendra Lamprin du traducteur faillir English The crafty King shall hear of his Ambuscadoes And shall assail his Enemies on three sides A strange number of Friers mens Tears Shall cause Lamprin to desert the Traitor ANNOT. The only difficulty here is to know who that Lamprin should be who shall be diverted from following a Traitor which he meaneth here by the French word Traducteur and shall be diverted from it by the Tears of Fryers which are meant here by the ancient French word Coqueluches which signifieth a Fryers Cool or Capuchon LXXXII French Par le Deluge pestilence forte La Cité grande de long temps Assregée La Sentinelle Garde de main morte Subite prinse mais de nul outragée English The great City having been long Besieged By an Innundation and violent Plague The Sentinal and Watch being surprised Shall be taken on a sudden but hurt by no body ANNOT. This is very plain if by the great City you understand Paris who is subject to frequent Innundations and Plagues LXXXIII French Sol Vingt de Taurus si fort terre tremblera Le grand Theatre remply ruinera L'Air Ciel Terre obscurcir troubler Lors l'Infidele Dieu Saints voguera English The Sun being in the 20th of Taurus the Earth shall so quake That it shall fill and ruinate the great Theater The Air the Heaven the Earth shall be so darkened and troubled That the unbelievers shall call upon God and his Saints ANNOT. This famous Earth-quake having not yet happened in Europe it is like to happen within few years for our Authors Prophecies by his own confession do not extend further than the year 1700. LXXXIV French Roy exposé parfaira l'Hecatombe Apres avoir trouve son Origine Torrent ouvrir de Marbre Plomb la Tombe D'un grand Romain d'Enseigne Medusin English The King exposed shall fulfill the Hecatombe After he hath found out his Offspring A Torrent shall open the Sepulcher made of Marble and Lead Of a great Roman with a Medusean Ensign ANNOT. This Prophecie is divided into two parts The first two Verses are concerning a King who shall perform the Funeral Rites and Ceremonies to his Parents when he is come to the knowledge of them having been exposed for lost before The two last Verses are concerning an ancient Sepulcher of a Roman that shall be digged up and found out by a Torrent and the Arms of the said Roman shall be something like the head of Medusa whose Hairs were Serpents and was so fearful to behold that by seeing of it the beholders were turned into stones LXXXV French Passer Guenne Languedoc le Rhosne D' Agen tenants de Marmande la Reole D'Ouvrir par foy parroy Phocen tiendra son Throne Conflict aupres Saint Pol de Manseole English They shall pass over Gascony Languedoc and the Rhosne From Agen keeping Marmande and the Reole To open the Wall by Faith Phocen shall keep his Throne A Battle shall be by St. Paul of Manseole ANNOT. The whole of this Prophecie signifieth no more but that an Army shall pass through all these places and that at last there will be a Battle sought by that place called St. Paul de Manseole LXXXVI French Du Bourg la Reyne parviendront droit a Chartres Et feront pres du Pont Antony pose Sept pour la paix cauteleux comme Martres Feront entrée d'Armée a Paris clause English From Bourg la Reyne they shall come straight to Chartres And shall make a stand near Pont Antony Seven for Peace as crafty as Martres They shall enter in Paris besieged with an Army ANNOT. Bourg lai Reyne is a little town within six Miles of Paris Chartres is the chief City of the Province Beausse Pont Antony is a little Town between them both so that the sense of the whole is this that seaven men crafty like Martres which are those Russia Foxes that afford the richest Furres called Martres Zibellines shall go from Bourg la Reyne to Chartres making a little stay at Pont Antony and then shall come with an Army into Paris which shall be besieged at that time I believe this Prophecy is come to pass already in the time of the Civil VVars of France but for want of the History I could not quote the time LXXXVII French Par la Forest du Touphon essartée Par Hermitage sera pose le Temple Le Duc d' Estampes par sa ruse inventée Du Montlehery Prelat donra exemple English By the Forrest Touphon cut off By the Hermitage shall the Temple be The Duke of Estampes by his inventea trick Shall give example to the Prelat of Montlehery ANNOT. Here is a fault in the Impression for instead of Touphon it must be written Torsou which is a Forrest some 30 Miles from Paris towards Beausse near which is seated the Town of Montlebery in the the said Forrest is seated an Hermitage and not far from thence the City of Estampes which carryeth the Title of Dutchy so that the sense of it is this that this Forrest being cut off as it is now for the most part in the place where that Hermitage was shall be built a Church or Convent as it is now Coelestins friars called Marcoussy and that the said Hermitage shall be taken from the jurisdiction of the Town of Montlehery under which it was before LXXXVIII French Calais Arras secours a
to me with a daughter of Savoy that the King would receive me with all Kindness What then the goings to and fro of many the reasons of those who advised me to come and the Kings Letters were they all baits to catch me I am well served to have trusted to much upon his Word I could have sought and got other securities if I had not trusted to my Innocency I am come upon the confidence of my integrity since his pardon Ah! doth he not know that he hath forgiven me I have hâ—d some evil designs I have hearkened I have written I have spoken I confessed them all at Lyon he did assure me never to remember it and did exhort me that from hence forwards I should commit nothing that might compel me to have recourse to his clemency Nevertheless I am now accused of things that are blotted out by his pardon I have not offended him since unless it be in that I desired War rather than Peace because my humour is not peaceable had not the King at that time reason to approve of it if this Crime deserveth death I fly to his clemency I implore his Mercy The Queen of England told me that if the Earl of Essex would have humbled himself and asked forgiveness he should have obtained it I do being Innocent what he would not do being guilty Ah! shall all Mercy be put out for me those that have done worse have found Grace and Mercy I perceive what it is I am not the more guilty but the most unhappy and the King who hath been so sparing of his Subjâ—cts lives hath a mind to be prodigal of mine To conclude he forgot nother of what might be said by a Soul pierced with grief spite anger and violent threatning in exclamations and revilings against the King and his Parliament in reproaches against the Chancellor that he had more contributed to his condemnation than to his absolution in words that are not fit to be spoken nor related His words ran so falt that the Chancellor could not stop them Nevertheless he took occasion to tell him his passion suggested him many things without appearance of reason and against his own jadgment that no body had known his deserts better than he and that he could have wished his faults had been as unknown as dissembled that the knowledge of them had been so visible and apparent that his Judges had more ado to moderate his punishment than to inflict it That Sâ—ntence was given upon the proofs of several attemps he had made against the Kings Person and his Estate and for having kept intelligence and correspondency with the Enemies of the Kingdom of which he had been found guilty that if he had concealed the truth in the answers to his accusations he should now reveal it being so near to his end and that for these causes the King did ask his Order of Knighthood and his staff oâ— Marshal of France with which he had formerly honoured him He pulled the Order out of his Pocket and put it into the Chancellors hands Protesting and Swearing upon the Salvation of his Soul that he never had broken the Oath he made in receiving it that it is true he had desired War more than Peace because he could not preserve in Peace the reputation he had got in War as for the Staff he never carryed it Nevertheless by the Oath that the Knights of the Holy Ghost take they are bound to take no Pension Wages nor Money from forrain Princes and to engage themselves in no bodies service but the Kings and faithfully to reveal what they shall know to be for or against the Kings service Aâ—ter that the Chancellor exhorted him to lift up his thoughts from Earth to Heaven to call upon God and to hear patiently his Sentence My Lord said he I beseech you do not use me as other men I know what my Sentence beareth my accusations are false I wonder the Court would Condemn me upon the Evidence of the most wicked and detestable man that is alive he never came near me without Witchcraft nor never went from me till he had bewitched me he did bite my left ear off and made me drink inchanted waters and when he said that the King had a mind to rid himself of me he called me his King his Benefactor his Prince his Lord he hath communication with the Devils and hath shewed me a Wax Image speaking these words in Latine Rex impie morieris ungodly King thou shalt die If he hath had so much power by his Magick as to make an inanimate body to speak it is no wonder that he should make my Will conformable to his Here the Chancellor stopt him and told him that the Court had well considered his answers and his Letters that he ought not to find fault with his Sentence that it had done him the same Justice as a Father should do to his son if he had offended in the like manner He had scarce spoken these words when the other answered what Judgment I have been heard but once and had no time to tell the fiftieth part of my justification if I had been heard at large I could have made it clearly appear that la Fin is such a one as I say what Judgment upon the Evidence of a Bougerer of a Rogue that hath forsaken his Wife of a treacherous and perfidious man that had Sworn so many times upon the Holy Sacrament never to reveal what was between us of a Knave that hath so often counterfeited my Hand and Seal It is true I have written some of those Letters that were shewed me but I never intended to put them in Execution and the rest are falsified Is there not many that can counterfeit so well the Hand and Seal of others that themselves can scarce distinguish them It is well known that the Lady Marchioness of Vernevil hath lately acknowledged that to be her own hand which she had never written My Heart and my Actions have sufficiently countervailed the faults of my Hand and of my Tongue Besides the King hath forgiven me I do implore his Memory for a Witness You say I have been found guilty to have attempted upon the Kings Person that is false that never came into my mind and I knew nothing of it till that la Fin did propose it to me before St. Katherines Fort six or seven days after the Siege if I had been thus minded I could have easily brought it to pass I was the only man that hindred the King to go before the Fort If my services had been taken into consideration I should not have been thus condemned I believe that if you had not been present the Parliament would not have judged me so rigorously I wonder that you whom I thought to be prudent and wise have used me so cruelly it would have been more honourable for your quality and old age to implore for me the Kings Mercy than his Justice There is Dungeons here
Admiral in the Battle of Lepanto five Ships taken from the Spaniard by those of Diepe under Henry II. nine hundred thousands Mores that went out of Spain under Henry IV. three hundred and fifty thousands killed under Charles IX and Henry III. three saved at the taking of a Town in Hungary by the Turks nine separated from the company of Seditious that were to be put to death three Princes of Turky Massacred and the fourth being the youngest saved thirty Conspirators upon London Bridge against the Majesty of King Charles I. and such like Thirdly We find in these Prophecies the Prodigies that have no other causes in nature then the meer will of God such as Comets are the casting of monstrous Fishes by the Sea upon the Land the Armies in the Air the speaking of Dogs the birth of Monsters and such like Fourthtly We find in those Prophecies those actions that are purely indifferent for example that the King of England did appear upon a Scaffold without his Doublet that in the place where he was beheaded another man had been killed three days before that Libertat went a Hunting with a Greyhond and a Blood-hond that the two little Royals were conducted to St. Germain rather then to any other place and such like Fifthly We find the Birth of several particular persons that were born after his death Sixthly The Governments of Places given by the free will of Kings to such and such All these things cannot be known by judicial Astrology seeing that in Heaven there is neither Names nor Numbers nor extraordinary Prodigies seeing also that judicial Astrology presupposeth the Birth of persons that one may foretel their future actions the same things are also unknown to Satan for the Angelical species know nothing of individual things but under the notion of possible and not of future Whence I conclude with this irrefragable Argument that the Author hath known many several things that are not written in the Heavenly Book nor represented to him by Angelical Species therefore he hath known them from God himself The Author himself in his Epistle to his Son Caesar Nostradamus confesseth that he hath foretold many things by Divine Virtue and Inspiration And a little after he saith that the knowledge of those things which meerly depends from free will cannot be had either by humane auguries nor by any other humane knowledge nor by any secret virtue that belongeth to sublunary things but only by a Light belonging to the Order of Eternity This is not a small Argument to confirm what we have said and to prove that the Author hath evidently been conscious that his knowledge came from Heaven and that Gods goodness did him that grace for having rejected and abhorred other means that Impostors make use of for foretelling something He writteth all these things of himself First in his Liminary Epistle to his Son Caesar he conjureth him that when he should go about to study the foretelling of future things by Astrology to avoid all kind of Magick prohibited by the Holy Scripture and the Canons of the Church and to encourage him the more to it he relateth what happened to him viz. that having been Divinely enlightned and fully persuaded that God only can give the knowledge of future things which absolutely depends of the free will of men he did burn abundance of Writings wherein was taught the Art of Prophecying and as they were a burning there came out a great flame which was like he thought to burn his House all to ashes by which accident he understood the falsity of such Writings and that the Devil was vexed to see his plots discovered besides that he confesleth that being the greatest Sinner of the World nevertheless he got that favour from Heaven by a Divine Inspiration and because no body should doubt of it he learnedly expoundeth wherein consisteth that inspired Revelation he faith that it is A participation of the Eternal Divinity by which we come to judge of what the Holy Ghost imparteth to us by that participation of Eternity the Author doth not understand a communication of the continuance of the Divine being but a participation of the Divine knowledge measured by its Eternity as the Schools terms it Effectively the Author compareth this participation to a glistering flame which createth a new day in our understanding which flame proceeding from Gods infinite knowledge who seeth and comprehendeth what is Eternity doth impart unto us what is inclosed in the volubility of the Heavens After this testimony which wholly destroyeth the Sinister opinions that men had of his Prophecies he sheweth how Judicial Astrology may agree with the knowledge of that which proceedeth from a Prophetical Spirit It is true faith he that sometimes God imparteth this Light not only to the unlearned and to his Holy Prophets but also to those that are versed in Judicial Astrology making that instrumental for the confirmation of his inspired truths As we see that natural Sciences help the light of the Faith and make a certain disposition in the mind fitter then ordinary to receive those Divine impressions Thus saith he in the beginning of the Epistle God did supernaturaly inspire me not by any Bacchick fury nor by Lymphatical motions as he did the Sybilles but by Astronomical assertions that is to say that God gave him that grace not by any Extasy but by studying those rules which Astrology teacheth The same things he saith again a little after in this manner the Astrologer being in his Study and consulting the Astronomical Rules upon the motions of the Heavens the Conjunction and several Aspects of the Planets he guesseth at some future events of which being not certain this Divine Light riseth in his mind and imparteth clearly to him what he knew before only Aenigmatically and obscurely and in the shade of that natural light Sometimes also saith he this Light cometh the first into the Astrologers mind and he afterwards comparing the thing revealed unto him with the Astronomical rules he seeth that they do wholly agree together and this is the method that he hath made use of to know whether the inspired truths were agreeing with the Astronomical Calculations a method that he hath made use of some times but not always for he hath foretold many things which he could not read in the Heavens By these testimonies of the Author himself every one may see how he made use of Judicial Astrology and wherefore he studied it so much how far his knowledge did extend the glory he giveth to God alone for his Prophetical knowledge what horrour he hath always had against unlawful means to attain unto it how much he did value that Grace considering his unworthiness and the manner how the Lord was pleased to gratifie him CHAP. VII Answer to the first Objection against Nostradamus which pretendeth to rank him among the false Prophets LEt us see now what calumny pretendeth for the obscuring this Prophet of our days the knowledge of
Seont ouis au Ciel les Armes battre Celuy an mesme les Divins ennemis Voudront Loix Saintes injustement debatre Par Foudre guerre bien croians a mort mis. English There shall be heard in the Air noise of Weapons And in that same year the Divines shall be enemies They shall unjustly put down the Holy Laws And by the Thunder and the War true believers shall die ANNOT. There is no obscurity in this XLIV French Deux gros de Mende de Rhodez Milland Cahors Limoges Castre malo sepmano De nuech l'intrado de Bmrdeaux an cailhau Par Perigort au toc de la Campano English Two great ones of Mende of Rhodez and Milliaud Cahors Limoges Castres an evil week By night the entry shall be from Bourdeaux one cailhau Through Perigort at the ringing of the Bell. ANNOT. This Stanza is half French and half Provencal language All the Cities named here Mende Rhodez Milliaud Cahors Limoges Castres Bourdeaux Perigort are Cities of France bordering upon Provence which is the Countrey wherein our Author was born The meaning of it is that all those Cities shall rise against the Collectors of the Kings Taxes and shall set upon them by the sound of the Bell which is already come to pass and may come to pass yet XLV French Par conflict Roy Regne abandonera Le plus grand Chef faillira au besoing Morts profligez peu en rechapera Tous destrenchez un en sera tesmoin English By a Battle the King shall for sake his Kingdom The greatest Commander shall fail in time of need They shall be killed and routed few shall escape They shall be cut off one only shall be left for a witness ANNOT. This is a Prognostication of a great Battle by the loss of which a King shall forsake his Kingdom his chief Commander having deserted him in time of need The slaughter shall be so great that none shall be left but one for a witness XLVI French Bien defendu le fait par excellence Garde toy Tours de â—a proche ruine Londres Nantes par Rheims fera defence Ne passes outre au temps de la bruine English The fact shall be defended excellently well Tours beware of thy approaching ruine London and Nantes by Rhemes shall stand upon their defence Do not go further in foggy weather ANNOT. Tours is the chief City of a Province in France called Touraine which is commended here for having resisted excellently well but is forewarned to look to her self after that and to beware of her approaching ruine XLVII French Le noir farouche quand aura essayé Sa main sanguine par feu fer arcs tendus Trestout le peuple sera tant effrayé Voir les plus grands par col pieds pendus English The wild black one after he shall have tryed His bloody hand by fire Sword bended Bows All the people shall be so frighted To see the greatest hanged by the neck and feet ANNOT. It is a description of a Tyrant who after he shall have tryed his bloody hand by Fire Sword and bent Bows shall cause his chies men to be hanged by the neck and feet Since the Author did write there had been such a Tyrant in the world namely John Basilides great Duke of Russia in the year 1572 Read Panl Osburne in his Life XLVIII French Planure Ausone fertile spacieuse Produira taons tant de sauterelles Clarte solairé deviendra nubilense Ronger le rout grand peste venir delles English The Plain about Bourdeaux fruitful and spacious Shall produce so many Hornets and so many Grasphopers That the light of the Sun shall be darkened They shall crap all a great plague shall come from them ANNOT. I cannot find in History that this hath yet happened since the writing of these Prophecies therefore I reckon it de future XLIX French Devant le peuple sang sera respandu Qui du haut Ciel ne viendra esloigner Mais d'un long temps ne sera entendu L'Esprit d'un seul le viendra tesmoigner English Before the people blood shall be spilt Who Shall not come far from the high Heaven But it shall not be heard of for a great while The Spirit of one shall come to witness it ANNOT. This Prophecie is concerning some just person that shall be murdered openly His blood shall cry to Heaven but shall not be heard for a good while till at last is shall be discovered by some body L. French Libra verra regner les Hesperies De Ciel Terre tenir la Monarchie D' Asie forces nul ne verra peries Que sept ne tiennent par rang la Hierarchie English Libra shall see Spain to Reign And have the Monarchy of Heaven and Earth No body shall see the forces of Asia to perish Till seven have kept the Hierarchy successively ANNOT. Libra is one of the twelve signs of the Zodiack which is favourable to Spain so that the meaning of this is that Libra shall see Spain to Reign And besides that to have the Monarchy of Heaven and Earth that is to have the command of the Pope and of the best part of Europe So that no Asian or Turkish forces shall receive damage by the Christians till seven Popes of the Spanish faction have Reigned successively and one after another LI. French Un Duccupide son ennemy poursuivre Dans entrera empeschant la Phalange Hastez a pied si pres viendront poursuivre Que la journée conflite aupres du Gange English A Duke being earnest in the pursute of his enemy Shall come in hindering the Phalange Hastened on foot shall follow them so close That the day of the Battle shall be near Ganges ANNOT. A Phalange in Latine Phalanx is a Squadron of Souldiers which word was antiently proper only to the Macedonians Ganges is a River in India LII French En Cité obsesse aux murs hommes femmes Ennemis hors le chef prest a soy rendre Vent sera fort encontre les gens darmes Chasfez seront par chaux poussiere cendre English In a besieged City men and women being upon the walls The enemies without the Governour ready to surrender The Wind shall be strong against the Souldiers They shall be driven away by lime dust and ashes ANNOT. This is a peculiar and remarkable accident wherein the besiegers of a City shall be driven away from their enterprise by Lime Dust and Ashes scattered and dispersed against them by a mighty wind LIII French Les fugitiss bannis revoqués Peres Fils garnissant les hauts puits Le cruel pere les siens suffoquez Son Fils plus pire submergé dans le puits English The runnaways and banished men being recalled Fathers and Sons garnishing the high wells The cruel father and his retinue shall be suffocated His Son being worse shall be drowned in the Well ANNOT. The words are plain out of which every one may
cry because of a horrid beard ANNOT. By the Eagle is meant the Emperour and by the Cock the King of France the rest is easie X. French Punateur grande sortira de Lausane Qu'on ne scaura l'origine du fait L'on mettra hors toute la gent loingtaine Feu veu au Ciel peuple estranger deffait English A great stink shall come forth out of Lausane So that no body shall know the of spring of it They shall put out all the Forreiners Fire seen in Heaven a strange people defeated ANNOT. Lausane is a City situated in Savoy by the Lake of Geneva but now as I take it in the possession of the Switzers XI French Peuple infiny paroistre a Vicence Sans force seu brusler la Basilique Pres de Lunage des fait grand de Valence Lors que Venise par morte prendre pique English Infinite deal of people shall appear at Vicence Without force fire shall burn in the Basilick Near Lunage the great one of Valence shall be defeated When Venice by death shall take the pique ANNOT. Vicenza is a Town in Italy under the dominion of the Venetians Basilick is the name of the biggest sort of Canons or pieces of Ordinance As for Valence there is three Cities of that name one is Spain the second in France and the third in Italy instead of Lunage it must be Lignago which is a Town in Italy XII French Apparoistra aupres du Bufalore L'haut procere entré dedans Milan L'Abbé de Foix avec ceux de Saint Maure Feront la fourbe habillez en vilain English Near the Bufalore shall appear The high and tall come into Milan The Abbot of Foix with those of Saint Maure Shall make the trumpery being cloathed like rogues ANNOT. Bufalore is a barbarous word Foix is a Countrey in France and St. Maure a little Town in the said Countrey XIII French Le croisé Frere par amour effrenée Fera par Praytus Bellerophon mourir Classe a mil ans la femme forcenée Beu le breueage tous deux apres perir English The crossed Brother through unbridled love Shall cause Bellerophon to be killed by Praytus Fleet to thousand years the woman out of her wit The drink being drunk both after that perish ANNOT. Bellerophon and Praytus are two supposed and fictitious names XIV French Le grand credit d'or d'argent l'abundance Aveuglera par Libide l'honneur Cogneu sera d'adultere l'offence Qui parviendra a son grand deshonneur English The great credit the abundance of Gold and Silver Shall blind honour by lust The offence of the Adulterer shall be known Which shall come to his great dishonour ANNOT. This is easie to be understood for it is frequently seen that Honour is made blind by lust and chiefly if that lust be propped up with credit and abundance of Gold and Silver XV. French Vers Aquilon grands efforts par hommasse Presque l' Europe l'Univers vexer Les deux Eclipses mettra en telle chassé Et aux P'annons vie mort renforcer English Towards the North great endeavours by a manly woman To trouble Europe and almost all the world She Shall put to flight the two Eclipses And shall re-inforce life and death to the Pannons ANNOT. By the Pannons is meant the Hungarians The rest is easie XVI French Au lieu que Hieson fit sa nef fabriquer Si grand Deluge sera si subite Qu' on n'aura lieu ne Terre sattaquer L'onde monter Fesulan Olympique English In the place where Jason caused his Ship to be built So great a Flood shall be and so sudden That there shall be neither place nor Land to save themselves The Waves shall climb upon the Olympick Fesulan ANNOT. Jason was Son to King Aeson who built a Ship called Argos in which he went to Colchos to Conquer the Golden Fleece Fesulan here is to be understood of some high and eminent place which therefore he calleth Olympick from Olympus a high Mountain in Grecias The place where Jason builded his Ship XVII French Les bien aisez subit seront desmis Le monde mis par les trois freres en trouble Cité Marine saisiront ennemis Faim feu sang peste de tous maux le double English Those that were at ease shall be put down The world shall be put in trouble by three Brothers The Maritine City shall be seized by its enemies Hunger fire blood plague and the double of all evils ANNOT. It is not easie to tell what them three Brothers have been or shall be nor that Maritine or Sea City therefore we leave it to the liberty of every ones judgement the words being plain enough XVIII French De Flore issue de sa mort sera cause Un temps devant par jeusne vieille bueyre Car les trois lis luy feront telle pause Par son fruit sauve comme chair crüe mueyre English Issued from Flora shall be the cause of her own death One time before through fasting and old drink For the three Lillies shall make her such a pause Saved by her fruit as raw flesh dead ANNOT. This is one of those wherein the Author would not be understood and may be did not understand himself XVIX French A soustenir la grand cappe troublée Pour l'esclaireir les rouges marcheront De mort famille sera presqu'accablée Les rouges rouges le rouge assommeront English To maintain up the great troubled Cloak The red ones shall march for to cler it A family shall be almost crushed to death The red the red shall knock down the red one ANNOT. This seemeth to carry no other sense than a conspiracy of the Cardinals called here by the name of the Red the Red against the Pope who is called the Red one XX. French Le faux message par election feinte Courir par Urbem rompue pache arreste Voix acheptées de sang chappelle teinte Et a un autre qui l'Empire conteste English The contract broken stoppeth the message From going about the Town by a fained election Voices shall be bought and a Chappel died with blood By another who challengeth the Empire ANNOT. This was so falsely printed and so preposterously set in order that I had much ado to pick out this little sense of it which amounteth to no more than that by reason of an agreement broken the Messenger that went to publish a saigned election it seemeth of the Empire shall be hindred and that one of the Competitors to the said Empire shall be killed in or near a Chappel that shall be soiled by his Blood XXI French Au port de Agde trois fustes entreront Portant infection avec soy pestilence Passant le pont mil milles embleront Et le pont rompre a tierce resistance English Three Galleys shall come into the harbour of Agde Carrying with them infection and Pestilence Going beyond the Bridge they shall carry away