Prophecies of Robert Nixon, Mother Shipton, and Martha, the Gypsy Part 7

When the battle of warfare begins, it shall be where Crookback Richard made his fray.

It was near Leicester where Richard the Third was slain in battle. There Colonel Hastings was one of the first in arms at the commencement of the civil war. Or it may thus be understood-That as King Richard began his march from Nottingham when he first set out against the Earl of Richmond, so also should these wars take rise from thence. And indeed at Nottingham, on Aug. 25th, 1640, Charles I. set up his standard, and there continued it to little purpose.

They shall say to warfare for your King for half-a-crown a day, but stir not. They will say to warfare for your King on pain of hanging, but stir not.

At the time of the Civil War in 1642, many Lords promised two shillings and sixpence a day for each horseman who would join the King's service.

For he that goes to complain, Shall not come back again.

This seems to refer to the Welsh and the Irish serving the King, for very few lived to return back again to their own country.

_The following Prophecies by Mother Shipton_, (_extracted from Lilly's collection_, _with his remarks_,) _being rather quaint in the composition_, _are left for the reader to decypher_.

(_a_) There will be a great battel between England and Scotland, and they will be pacified for a time; and when they come at (_b_) Bramma-moore they fight, and are again pacified for a time: Then there will be a great battel between England and Scotland at (_c_) Knavesmore: Then they will be pacified for a while: Then there will be a great battel between England and Scotland at (_d_) Storktonmore; then will Ravens sit on the (_e_) Crosse, and drink as much blood of n.o.bles as of the Commons. Then wo is me, for London shall be destroyed.

(_a_) G.o.d I hope will prevent this threatened mischief. (_b_) Brammish is a river in Northumberland. (_c_) I conceive it should be Knaresborough, by which the river Nidd runs. (_d_) Storkton I conceive mistaken for Stanemore, in Richmondshire. (_e_) It is to be noted and admired, that this Crosse in the North in Mother Shipton's days, was a tall stone Crosse which ever since hath been by degrees sinking into the ground, and is now (1640) sunk so low, that a Raven may sit upon the top of it and reach her bill to the ground.

Then will come a woman with one eye, and she shall tread in men's blood to the knee; and she shall meet a man leaning on a staff, and shall say to him, What art thou? and he shall say, I am King of the Scots. And she shall say, Go with me to my house, for there are three Knights. And he will go up with her, and stay there three days and three nights. Then will England be lost; and they will cry twice in one day, England is lost. Then there will be three Knights in Petergate in York, and the one shall not know of the other. There shall be a child born in Pomfret with three thumbs, and these three Knights will give their horses to this (_f_) child with three thumbs to hold, whilst they win England again: then come in Clubs and Clouted shoes, and they with the three Knights win England again: and all n.o.ble blood shall be gone but one, and they shall carry him to Sheriff Hutton's Castle, six miles from York, and he shall die there; and they shall chuse their Earl in the field, and hang their horses on a thorn, and rue the time that ever they were born to see so much blood shed.

(_f_) There was a child not many years since born at Pomfret with three thumbs, and credibly reported.

(_g_) Then they will come to York to besiege it; and they shall keep them out for three days and three nights: and a peny-loaf shall be within the Bar at half a Crown, and without the Bar at a peny; and they will swear, if they will not yield, to blow up the Town-walls.

Then they will let them in: and they will hang the Maior, Sheriffs, and Aldermen. There will three Knights go into Crouch-Church, and but one of them come out again; and he will cause Proclamation to be made, That any man may take House, Tower, or Bower, for One and twenty yeers. And while the world endureth, there shall never be warfare again, nor any more (_h_) Kings or Queens; but the Kingdom shall be governed by three lords; then York shall be London.

(_g_) This is yet unacted. (_h_) All old Prophecies do intimate a final subversion of the Monarchy in England.

After this, shall be a white Harvest of Corn gotten in by women.

Then shall be in the North, that one woman shall say to another, Mother, I have seen a man to day. And for one man there shall be a thousand women. There shall be a man sitting on Saint James church hill, weeping his fill.

The time will come when England shall tremble and quake for fear of a (_i_) Dead-man, that shall be heard to speak: Then will the Dragon give the Bull a great snap; and when this battel is done they will all go to London Town.

(_i_) This Dead-man hath not yet appeared, but is at hand doubtless.

_Here follow other Prophecies she uttered_, _which because they concern Future Times we shall leave to the Interpretation of the reader_.

I.

The Fiery Year as soon as o'er, Peace shall then be as before; Plenty everywhere is found, And men with Swords shall plough the Ground.

II.

The time shall come, when seas of Blood, Shall mingle with a greater Flood.

III.

Great noise there shall be heard, Great Shouts and Cries, And Seas shall Thunder louder than the Skies; Then shall three Lions fight with three, and bring, Joy to a People, Honour to their King.

Mother Shipton, the auth.o.r.ess of these Prophecies, continued for years esteemed as the Sybil or Oracle of her time; and though she was generally believed to be a Witch, yet all persons that either saw or heard of her, held her in great esteem, and her memory is much honoured by those of her own country, especially in Yorkshire. A long time before her death, she foretold the day and hour she was to take her departure; and the time approaching which she had Prophecied, and which was in the year 1561; she took solemn leave of her friends, who were all greatly attached to her, laid down on her bed, and died, at the good old age of 75 years. Many more "_Prophecies_" are current in Yorkshire as of her utterance, but the Publisher being unable to find them either properly authenticated, or in any old works, they have been omitted, being desirous of not adding anything which might tend to destroy her sterling reputation.

A stone was erected to her memory near Clifton, about a mile from the city of York, upon which was the following inscription:

Here lyes she who never ly'd Whose skill often has been try'd; Her prophecies shall still survive, And ever keep her name alive.

PROPHECIES OF MARTHA, THE GIPSY.

London may appear an unbefitting scene for a story so romantic as that which I have here set down: but, strange and wild as is the tale I have to tell, _it is true_; and, therefore, the scene of action shall not be changed; nor will I alter or vary from the truth, save that the names of the personages, in my domestic drama shall be fict.i.tious.

To say that I am superst.i.tious would be, in the minds of many wise personages, to write myself down an a.s.s; but to say that I do not believe _that_ which follows, as I am sure it was believed by _him_ who related it to me, would be to discredit the testimony of a friend, as honourable and as brave as ever trod the earth. He has been s.n.a.t.c.hed from the world, of which he was a bright ornament, and has left more than his sweet suffering widow and his orphan children affectionately to deplore his loss.

It is, I find, right and judicious most carefully and publicly to disavow a belief in supernatural visitings: but it will be long before I become either so wise or so bold as to make any such unqualified declaration. I am not weak enough to imagine myself surrounded by spirits and phantoms, or jostling through a crowd of spectres, as I walk the streets; neither do I give credence to all the idle tales of ancient dames, or frightened children, touching such matters: but when I breathe the air, and see the gra.s.s grow under my feet, I cannot but feel that HE who gives me ability to inhale the one, and stand erect upon the other, has also the power to use for special purposes such means and agency, as in his wisdom he may see fit; and which, in point of fact, are not more incomprehensible to us than the very simplest effects which we every day witness, arising from unknown causes.

Philosophers may pore, and in the might of their littleness, and the erudition of their ignorance develope and disclose, argue and discuss; but when the sage, who sneers at the possibility of ghosts, will explain to me the doctrine of attraction and gravitation, or tell me why the wind blows, why the tides ebb and flow, or why the light shines-effects perceptible to all men-then will I admit the justice of his incredulity-then will I join the ranks of the incredulous. However, a truce with my views and reflections: proceed we to the narrative.

In the vicinity of Bedford-square lived a respectable and honest man, whose name the reader will be pleased to consider Harding. He married early: his wife was an exemplary woman, and his son and daughter were grown to that companionable age, at which children repay, with their society and accomplishments, the tender cares which parents bestow upon their offspring in their early infancy.

Mr. Harding held a responsible and respectable situation under the government, in Somerset House. His income was adequate to his wants and wishes; his family a family of love: and, perhaps, taking into consideration the limited desires of what may be fairly called middle life, no man was ever more contented, or better satisfied with his lot than he.

Maria Harding, his daughter, was a modest, una.s.suming, and interesting girl, full of feeling and gentleness. She was timid and retiring; but the modesty which cast down her fine black eyes could not veil the intellect which beamed in them. Her health was by no means strong; and the paleness of her cheek-too frequently, alas! lighted by the hectic flush of our indigenous complaint-gave a deep interest to her countenance. She was watched and reared by her tender mother, with all the care and attention which a being so delicate and so ill-suited to the perils and troubles of this world demanded.

George, her brother, was a bold and intelligent lad, full of rude health, and fearless independence. His character was frequently the subject of his father's contemplation; and he saw in his disposition, his mind, his pursuits, and propensities, the promise of future success in active life.

With these children, possessing as they did the most enviable characteristics of their respective s.e.xes, Mr. and Mrs. Harding, with thankfulness to Providence, acknowledged their happiness, and their perfect satisfaction with the portion a.s.signed to them in this transitory world.

Maria was about nineteen, and had, as was natural, attracted the regards, and thence gradually chained the affections, of a distant relative, whose ample fortune, added to his personal and mental good qualities, rendered him a most acceptable suitor to her parents, which Maria's heart silently acknowledged he would have been to _her_, had he been poor and penniless.

The father of this intended husband of Maria was a man of importance, possessing much personal interest, through which George, the brother of his intended daughter-in-law, was to be placed in that diplomatic seminary in Downing-street, whence, in due time, he was to rise through all the grades of office, (which, with his peculiar talents, his friends, and especially his mother, was convinced he would so ably fill,) and at last turn out an amba.s.sador.

The parents, however, of young Langdale and of Maria Harding were agreed, that there was no necessity for hastening the alliance between their families, seeing that the united ages of the couple did not exceed thirty-nine years: and seeing, moreover, still, that Mrs. Langdale, who was little more than six-and-thirty years of age herself, had reasons, which she also meant to be private, for seeking to delay as much as possible a ceremony, the result of which, in all probability, would confer upon her, somewhat too early in life to be agreeable to a lady of her habits and propensities, the formidable t.i.tle of grand-mamma.

How curious it is, when one takes up a _little bit_ of society (as a geologist crumbles and twists a bit of earth in his hand, to ascertain its character and quality,) to look into the motives and manuvrings of all the persons connected with it; the various workings, the indefatigable labours, which all their little minds are undergoing to bring about divers and sundry little points, perfectly unconnected with the great end in view; but which for private and hidden objects, each of them is toiling to carry. n.o.body, but those who really understood Mrs.

Langdale, understood why she so readily acquiesced in the desire of her husband to postpone the marriage for another twelvemonth. A stranger would have seen only the dutiful wife according with the sensible husband; but I knew her, and knew that there must be something more than met the eye, or the ear, in that sympathy of feeling between her and Mr.

Langdale, which was not upon ordinary occasions so evidently displayed.

Like the Waterman who pulls one way and looks another, Mrs. Langdale aided the entreaties and seconded the commands of her loving spouse, touching the seasonable delay of which I am speaking; and it was agreed, that immediately after the coming of age of Frederick Langdale, and not before, he was to lead to the hymeneal altar the delicate and timid Maria Harding.

The affair got whispered about; George's fortune in life was highly extolled-Maria's excessive happiness prophesied by everybody of their acquaintance; and already had sundry younger ladies, daughters and nieces of those who discussed these matters in divan after dinner, began to look upon Miss Harding with envy and maliciousness, and wonder what Mr.

Frederick Langdale could see in her: she was proclaimed to be insipid, inanimate, shy, bashful, and awkward: nay, some of her female friends went so far as to discover that she was absolutely awry.

Still, however, Frederick and Maria went loving on; and their hearts grew as one; so truly, so fondly were they attached to each other. George, who was somewhat of a plague to the pair of lovers, was luckily at Oxford, reading away till his head ached, to qualify himself for a degree, and the distant duties of the office whence he was to cull the bunches of diplomatic laurels, and whence were to issue rank and t.i.tle, and ribbons and crosses innumerable.

Things were in this prosperous state, the bark of life rolling gaily along before the breeze, when as Mr. Harding was one day proceeding from his residence, to his office in Somerset-place, through Charlotte-street, Bloomsbury, he was accosted by one of those female gypsies who are found begging in the metropolis, and especially in the particular part of it in question: 'Pray remember poor Martha, the gipsy,' said the woman: 'give me a halfpenny for charity, sir, pray do.'