Sixe strange PROPHESIES Predicting wonderfull events to betide these years of Danger in this Climate whereof some have already come to passe Well worthy of Note The first being found in the Reigne of King Edward the Fourth The other in the Reigne of King Henry the Eight Printed by a true Copy with new Additions Viz 1 Mother Shiptons Prophesies 2 Ignatius Loyolla 3 Sybilla's Prophesies 4 Merlins Prophesies 5 Otwel Bins Prophesies 6 M Brightmans Prophesies Mother Shipton Wolsey Printed for Francis Coles 1642. The first Prophesie by Ignatius IF Eighty eight be past then thrive Thou maist till thirty four or five After the E is dead a Scot Shall govern there and if a plot Prevent him not sure then his sway Continue shall till many a day The ninth shal die young and the first Perhaps shall reigne but oh accurst Shall be â—he time when thou shalt see To sixteen joyned twenty three For then the Eagle shall hava help By craft to catch the Lyons whelp And hurt him sore except the same Be cured by the Maidens name In Iuly moneth of the same yeare Saturn conjoyns with Iupiter Perhaps false Prophets shall arise And Mahomet shall shew his prize And sure much alteration Sha happen in religion Beleeve this truly if then you see A Spaniard a Protestant to beâ— The lines I confesse impartially are very mysterious and withall they are involved in a stupendious obscurity They seem as aenigmaticall as Sphynx his hidden Riddle yet I doubt not but that your judicious minds will prove as auspicious unto this as Oedipus did to his You may enucleate the genuine sence and signification of the words if you doe but seriously revolve them When the formidable Armado was dessipated in Eighty eight this Kingdome did flourish a long time in peace and prosperous tranquillitie unto one thousand six hundred and thrirty foure or five After Queene Elizabeth died King Iames came out of Scotland and inherited the imperiall Crown after her A plot all men know was most nefariously hatched in his Reign to wit the Gunpowder Treason which not preventing him hee swayed the Scepter very peacefully in a great succession of future time Prince Henry the Ninth of that name died young and king Charles the first of that name reigned next in Majesty whom God long preserve and protect from the wicked plots of his enemies The beginning of these petrilous times began in 1639 The next foure verses I wll leave to the exposition of the Reader hereof The Philosophers have given their unite a stipulation with all the Astrologians have affirmed in their solid assertions that when Saturne hath any conjunction with Iupiter great wars and bloody times shall ensue and I am sure their opinions have not proved falliblem this respect Many false Prophets are now risen amongst us and doe Prophesie false things to the people who dare presume to preach in Tubs to their Schismaticall Auditors whom they delude and suggest vaine imaginations unto them that they are sent from Heaven and have the Spirit of God when they have nothing but the Spirit of errour and false-hood Mahomet hath shewn indeed his prize sufficiently amongst us for too many I suppose in our times rather Mahometans than true Christians The alteration of Religion hath been very great and tossed to and fro by the various winde of every ones opinion The last two Verses I refer to the judgement of the Reader for I will nominate no man particularly This Prophesie is stupendious and as it includes a mstyery so it includes verity withall as by the former it is involved in obscurity so by the latter it is illuminated in apparent truth The demonstration of Prophetick Divinations predictates the future estate of a Kingdome and whatsoever hath been expressed in this lately mentioned is already fulfilled in exemplary relations But the distracted opinions of most men are still so promiscuous that wee want Prophets enough to exclaime against them for some they will not bear others they neglect others they in a despicable detestation do contemne But God of his infinite mercy grant that we may hereafter all make true use of the sincere Prophesie of him and his Gospell that these various mists of errours may be expelled these roaring waves of Schisme may be calmed and the distempers of the whole Realme cured perfectly The second Prophesie of Mother Shipton WHen she heard King Henrie the Eight should be King and Cardinall Wolsey should be at York she said that Cardinall Wolsey should never come to York with the King and the Cardinall hearing being angry sent the Duke of Suffolke and the Lord Darcy to her who came with their men disguised to the Kings House neere York where leaving their men they went to Master Besley to Yorke and desired him to goe with them to Mother Shiptons house where when they came they knocked at the doore she said Come in Master Besley and those honourable Lords with you and Master Besley would have put in the Lords before him but she said come in Master Besley you know the way but they do not This they thought strange that shee should know them and never saw them then they went into the house where there was a great fire and she bade them welcome calling them all by their names and sent for some Cakes and Ale and they drunk and were very mery Mother Shipton said the Duke if you knew what we came about you would not make us so welcome and she said the messenger should not bee hang'd Mother Shipton said the Duke you said the Cardinall should never see Yorke yea said she I said he might see Yorke but never come at it But said the Duke when he comes to York thou shalt bee burnt Wee shall see that said she and plucking her Handkerchieffe off her head she threw it into the fire and it would not burne then she tooke her staffe and turned it into the fire and it would not burne then shee tooke it and put it on againe Now said she I might have burned Mother Shipton quoth the Duke what thinke you of me my Love said shee the time will come you will be as low as I am and that is a low one indeed My Lord Piercy said and what say you of me My Lord said she shooe your horse in the quick and you will doe well but your body will be buried in York pavement and your head shall be stoln from the Bar and carried into France Then said the Lord Darcy and what thinke you of me Shee said you have made a great Gun shoot it off for it will doe you no good you are going to warre you will paine many a man but you will kill none so they went away Not long after the Cardinall came to Cawood and going to the top of the Tower he asked where Yorke was and how far it was thither and said that one said hee should never see York Nay said one shee said you might
see Yorke but never come at it He vowed to burne her when he came to Yorke Then they shewed him York told him it was but eight miles thence he said that he would soone be there but being sent for by the King he dyed in the way to London at Leicester of a Lask And Shiptons wife said to Master Besley yonder is a fine stall built for the Cardinall in the Minster of Gold Pearle and precious stones goe and present one of the pillars to King Henry and he did so Master Besley seeing these things fall out as shee had foretold desired her to tell him some more of her Prophesies Master said shee before that Owes Bridge and Trinitie Church meet they shall build on the day and it shal fall in the night untill they get the highest stone of Trinitie Church to be the lowest stone of Owes Bridge then the day will come when the North shall rue it wondrous sore but the South shall rue it for evermore When Hares kindle on cold hearth stones and Lads shall marry Ladies and bring them home then shall you have a yeare of pining hunger and then a Dearth without corn A wofull day shall be seene in England a King and Queene the first comming of the King of Scots shall be at Holgate Towne but hee shall not come through the Barie and when the King of the North shall be at London Bridg his Tayle shall be at Edenborough After this shall water come over Owes Bridge and a Windmill shall be set on a tower and an Elm-tree shall lye at every mans door at that tiâ—e women shall weare great Hats and great bands and when there is a Lord Major at Yorke let him beware of a stab When two Knights shall fall out in the Castle yard they shall never be kindly all their lives after When all Colton Hag hath borne Crops of Corne seven yeares after you shall heare newes there shall two Judges goe in and out at Mungate Barre Then wars shall begin in the Spring Much woe to England it shall bring Then shall the Ladyes cry well-away Tâ—at ever we liv'd to see this day Then best for them that have the least and worst for them that have the most you shall not know of the war over night yet you shall have it in the morning and when it comes it shall last three yeers betweene Cadron and Ayre shall be great warfare when all the World is as lost it shall bee called Christs Crost when the Battel begins it shall be where Crookback Richard made his fray they shall say to warfare for your King for halfe a crown a day but stir not shee will say to warfare for your King on paine of hanging but stir not for he that goes to complaine shall not come back againe The time will come when England shall tremble and quake for feare of a dead man that shall be heard to speake then will the Dragon give the Bull a great snap and when the one is downe they will goe to London Towne Then there will be a great Battell betweene England and Scotland and they will be pacified for a time and when they come to Brammamore they fight and are againe pacified for a time then there will be a great Battell between England and Scotland at Stoknmore Then will Ravens sit on the Crosse and drinke as much blood of Nobles as of the Commons then woe is me for London shall be destroyed for ever after Then there will come a woman with one eye and she shall tread in many mens bloud to the knee and a man leaning on a staffe by her and she shall say to him what art thou and he shall say I am the King of Scots and shee shall say goe with me to my house for there are three Knights and he will goe with her and stay there three dayes and three nights then will England be lost and they will cry twice a day England is lost Then there will be three Knights in Petergate in Yorke and the one shall not know of the other there shall be a childe borne in Pomfret with three thumbs and those three Knights will give him three horses to hold while they win England and all Noble bloud shall be gone but one and they shall carry him to Sheriffe Nuttons Castle sixe miles from Yorke and he shall dye there and they shall chuse there an Earle in the field and hanging their horses on a thorne And rue the time that ever they were borne to see so much blood shed Then they will come to Yorke to besiege it and they shaâ—l keepe them out three dayes and three nights and a penny loafe shall be within the Bar at halfe a Crown and withouâ— the Bar at a penny And they will sweare if they will not yeeld to blow up the Town Walls Then they will let them in and they will hang up the Major Sheriff's and Aldermen and they will goe into Crouch Church there will three Knights goe in and but one come out againe and he will cause Proclamation to be made that any man may take House Tower or Bower for twenty one yeares and whilst the World endureth there shall never bee warfare againe nor any more Kings or Queens but the Kingdome shall bee governed by three Lords and then Yorke shall be London And after this shall be a white harvest of Corne gotten in by women Then shall bee in the North that one woman shall say unto another Mother I have seene a man to day and for one man there shall be a thousand women there shall be a man sitting upon St. Iames Church hill weeping his fill And after that a Ship come sayling up the Thames till it come against London and the Master of the Ship shall weepe and the Marriners shall aske him why he weepeth being he hath made so good a voyage and he shal say Ah what a goodly Citie this was none in the world comparable to it and now there is scarce left any house that can let us have drinke for our money Vnhappy he that lives to see these dayes But happy are the dead Shiptons Wife sayes In th'worlds old age this woman did foretel Strange things should hap which in our times have fell The Prophesie of old Sybilla WHen Scotlands hundreth and ninth unconqâ—er'd King The sixteen hundred thirty nintâ— yeare Into his age of thirty nine shall reigne Then shall the Popâ—ll overthrow appeare Which all the Arts of Europe shall admire For Scotland shall that blessed worke begin Then shall the whore of Babel we had her Be baniâ—ht quite which Bishops did bring in Then thou brave England whiâ—h was led so blinde By their perverse Episcopapall pride And Irelands shamelesse superstitious sinne Shall be supprest who cruelly have cryed So that that sacred Prophetesse Sybilla Shall shortly come to passe she tells â—om Milla. And Tom tells me and I must tell 't agaiâ—e Thrâ—ugh Scotland England Ireland France
and Spaine Merlins Prophesie ON Boreas wings then hither shall bee borne Throuâ—h Week ore Tweed a Princely Vnicorne Who brought into the world his owne faire Crest A rampant Lyon figur'd on his breast And to his Arms 6 Lyons more shall quarteâ— With six French flowers inviron'd with the Garter â—oyning by Fates unchangeable dispose The Northern Thistle to the Sâ—utherne â—ose He shal the true Apostolike Faith maintain With pious zeal during his blessed reigne That Lincolne was thaâ— London is that Yorke shall be Brave London prayes those dayes she ne're may see Master Brightmans Prophesies WHen Englands Church grows Englands shame Full of lukewarmnesse glory vaine The worst in works and outward forme And with contrary factions torne When Romish Rites by reformation Shall be exlpell'd out of this Nation Lord beggar Bishops then shall come To ruine and be overthrowne The Priests shall bee vile to each wight Their downfall read with much delight For God will not them guiltles hold That neither have beene hot nor cold The Scotch Church shall be in condition A virgin free from superstition They shall be joyn'd in covenant Gainst which the world shal boast and vaunt But Englands Church must feele the storme Vntill she truely her sâ—lfe reforme Such burly burly and such stir No forme of Church shall remaine in her But reformation must take breath From the raigne of Queene Elizabeth The Prophesie of old Otwell Bins kept by M. Smith Vicar of Hudderfield 40 yeâ—res Then Iames shall seeke a second crowne In pulling Pope and Papists downe But Iames shall vanish from their face At halfe Elizabeths royall race Then using forraine policies Grudgings and discontents arise Yet shall they assemble at the seat Of Parliament for a worke most great But strange opinions there shall sow Dissentions that too high shall grow And Laodicea's Englands Church Of grace and beauty some shall luâ—ch And Smiths of policie shall invent To cast molds of new government While vulgar birds of weakest wing Grow stout against their Eagle King Whose just integrouâ— heart shall prove The Adamant of subjects love Then pride shall some in prison lock And lop a head off on a block By honest power they shall bring downe An Aspirer that assum'd a Crowne That he whose power did Lawes contemne Might find a grave no Diadem Some Comick Scenes shall then be acted By vulgar players much distracted The Gospel from a tub or tun Shall broached by Mechanicks run Petticâ—ats shall in pulpits Preach And women be allowed to teach And in those gloomy dogged daies They shall teare off the Muses Bayes Thus strife and fury shall encrease And Round-heads shall disturbe the peace Of Religion while they it tosse In blanketts and pull downe the Crosse The Brownists shall no old prayers brooke Sermons shall drowne the Service-booke Then all men in those times shall see Great troubles and calamitie Then on the Irish bogs and heath Many a man shall tast of death The Souldiers wages shall increase Till wars at last in conquest cease To such as are good Land-lords knowne In hostile times some love is showne Buâ— for all such as have great store Th' are in lesse safety than the poore Then twenty pounds of coyne in hand Is worth so much of yearely land From Ireland then there shall come one Must loose his head upon a stone But when England doth swim inflouds Of plenâ—y and growes proud of goods Then from their sleep they shall be waked To know themselves both blinde and naked Christs Church must know some miserie There shall be a dolefull tragedie The Lord abroad his sword will send unlesse they warning take t' amend Yet Germany Fraunce and Brittanny This last act of your tragedy Good dayes will follow bad ones cease There shall be plenty and great peace The whore of Romes nose shall be slit And of her proud attire be stript In the meane time Bishops shal be Throwne downe from all their dignitie Their Hâ—erarchie and their traine shall ne're recover strength againe Nor is Romes Citie onely Rome But all the Popes Dominion So that Rome feeles her selfe annoy'd While shee in Ireland is destroy'd In fortie one by computation The Pope shall fall by reformation A clergy man shall then suffice His pride with one poore benefice Then Cambridge and the Oxonian Shall be scorn'd by the Rotundian And some that cannot say noâ— sing Shall drink much at a troubled spring And Coblers then shall leave their lâ—st In Sermons up their gall to cast Magpies and Parrats then shall prate Both of the Eagle and the State Vntill they bring things in conclusion To much disorder and confusion Rebels and men most seditious Shall make the times prove pernicious Rich men shall doe things unbefitting An upright Iudge be scarce found sitting Vpstart honour shall seeme dreams And Bishops Seas prove little streams While many feather'd fowle shall flie Beyond the Seas for Ieopardie Rumors shall bee of wars and Armes And there shall be of Sects great swarmes A sort of mad rude common people Shall pull the crosse from every steeple The King while they doe thus presume Vnto this Realme that right shall doome He shall this Kingdome wisely guide And other Kingdomes more beside Then Peeres and Commons shall elect Whose Lawes shall ever take effect No mans shal Lawyers councel crave For men their right at home shall have And Officers each Towne within Shall right their wrongs and punish sin Worthies be nine and reckon we And this the tenth and last shall be The Moone obscur'd full Sixety yeare Shall then gett light and shine full cleare While England then for joy shall sing And blesse the raigne of their good King FINIS