notwithstanding though she were maliciously Poysoned she was miraculously preserved and died in peace maugre all the malice of her enemies The Western Monarchs Wooden Horses Shall be destroy'd by the Drakes Forces By the Western Monarchs Wooden Horses is meant the King of Spains great Armado in the year 1588 by them termed Invincible though the success of it answered not the name being by Sr. Francis Drake and others brave Sons of Neptune and Soldiers of Mars met withal fought with and really vanquisht most of them sook and the rest destitute and scatter'd being chased by our Ships past the 57 degree of Northern Latitude and there left to be pursued by hunger and cold a victory so remarkable that time nor age will ever weare the remembrance thereof away Troy novant's Triumphant spire Shall be consum'd with Flames of Fire By Troy novant is meant London which in ancient writings is called Troy novant and the Triumphant Spire signifies Pauls-steeple which in the year 1561 the fourth of June strangly fell on fire burning for the space of five full hours in which time it melted all the Lead off the Church only the Stone Archer escaping the fury thereof sundry causes were attributed by sundry persons of this fire some that it was casually blasted with Lightning others that it was mischievously done by Art Magick and others which was most likely done by the negligence of a Plummer carelesly leaving his coals therein The Queen was much grieved for this mischance but by her bounty the Cities liberality and a Contribution from the Clergy it was afterwards repaired only the blunt Tower had not the top thereof sharpened into a spire as before More wonders yet a Widowed Queen In England shall be headless seen The Widowed Queen signifies the Queen of Scots the Mother of king James who was beheaded at Fotheringhay-Castle some say by the privity others to the great discontent of Queen Elizabeth A Lany of a sharp wit undaunted spirit comely person Beautiful face Majestick presence a fluent Orator and an excellent Poet as may appear by several things now extant amongst others of her Verses this was one which she wrote with a pointed Diamond in a window during her Imprisonment in Fortheringhay-Castle From the top of all my trust Mishap hath laid me in the Dust She was beheaded the _____ day of _____ Anno 1587 and was first buried in the Quire of Peterborough afterwards by her Son King James solemnly removed from thence to Westminster where in the South side of the Chappel of King Henry the seventh be exected a stately monument to her Memory The Harp shall give a better Sound The Harp signifies Ireland as being the Armes of that Country which Queen Elizabeth by reducing to a better obedience made it give a better Sound that is made it more civilized and profitable to the Exchequer then ever before 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 poeple two things which seldome come together and yet could not both of them protect him from the Scaffold but that thereon he left his Head Soon after shall the English Rose Unto a Male her place Dispose 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 the sirth King of Scotland as lineally descended from Margaret the Eldest Daughter to King Henry the seventh the issue Male failing by the death of Queen Elizabeth and here is to be remembred the Policy of King Henry the seventh who having two Daughters Married the oldest of them to the King of Scotland and the Youngest to the King of France that if his issue Male should happen'd 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 his coming to the English Crown for when King Edward the first baraced Scotland amongst other things he brought from thence their Ropal Chair still preserved at the Abby in Westminster upon which Chair these verses were writ If Fates go right where ere 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 CHAP. XIII The Prophesies of the Reign of King Iames his uniting England and Scotland his Peaceable Reign a learned time the Powder Treason the Marriage with the Prince Elector and Lady Elizabeth the Death of Prince Henry THe Northern Lyon over Tweed The Maiden Queen shall then succeed And joyn in one two mighty States Ianus then shall shut his Gates Mars shall yeild to Mercury All things tend to Prosperity Hells power by a fatall 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 mariage with the German Vine The Ninth to Death his power shall yeild Death Conquers all he winns the Feild Next follows the remarkable actions of King James's Reign predicted in the foregoing lines which may be thus explained The Northern Lyon over Tweed The Maiden Queen shall then succeed And joyn in one two mighty States By the Northern Lyon is meant King James and by the Maiden Queen Queen Elizabeth whom King James being King of Scotland succeeded in the English Crown joyned thereby the two Nations of England and Scotland which had been often attempted before not only by Conquest but by Marriage once by Conquest by King Edward the first who subdued their Armies took their strong places and made their Nobles yield him obeisance yet what they thus lost by him they recovered of his Son King Edward the second the other of Marriage was by King Henry the Eighth who endeavoured to have matched his Son Prince Edward with the Heiress of Scotland and had proceeded very far therein when Death cut him off and though afterwards attempted by the Duke of Somerset Lord Protector and the Scots beaten at Musselborough-field yet all would not prevail God having decreed their union to be afterwards in a more peaceable manner Janus then shall shut his Gates Janus was one of the gods belonging to the ancient Romans whose Temple was never shut but in the days of Peace which happened not above twice in the space of two thousand years King James his Reign being a very peaceable time when Swords rusted in their Sheaths for want of using them Mother Shipton in her Prophesse alludes thereto Mars shall yield to Mercury All things tend to prosperity War shall give place to Peace Fighting to pleading the Sword to the Gown the Pike to the Pen Barbarism to Learning c. this Peace shall cause Plenty Plenty work prosperity c. Hells power by a fatal Blow Shall seek the Land to overthrow Which by mistake shall be reverst
Bard they list to wear to themselves Who with the Lillies soon shall wed Somewhat before King James his Death a marriage was concluded on betwixt Prince Charles and the Lady Henrietta Maria Daughter to that Martial Prince Henry the fourth King of France but before the Consummation thereof King James dyed not long after his Funerals were over she was brought into England and solemnly married to King Charles who is hereupon said to wed the Lillies the Lillies being the Armes of France Then shall a Peasants bloody Knife Deprive a great man of his Life This is spoken of the Duke of Buckingham the greated man in favour of those times and thereupon as it is most commonly seen most bated of the People who laid the blame of all miscariages in the State upon him right or wrong he was sure to undergo their censure Being made General for the Relief of Rochel then besteged by the French Forces before he Imbarked at Portsmouth he was most villanously Stabbed by one Felton a discontented Officer in his army who was so far from flying for the same that though be might have passed away undiscovered he holdly avowed himself to be the man that did it alledging that he had therein done his Country good service but before his Death was better Principled and made sensible of the beinousnes of the sin of Murther recanting his former erronious Principles and dying very Penitently being banged in Chains at Portsmouth Anno 1627. Forth from the North shall mischief blow And English Hob shall add thereto This Prophesie alludes to that ancient Proverb From the cold North all ill comes forth and may be understood of our troubles commencing in 1639 taking their original rise from Scotland and fomented by several Factions Spirits in England the Dagon of Presbytery beginning then to appear in its own colours the Kirk of Scotland having so high an opinion of its own purity that it participated more of Moses his Platform in the Mount than other Protestant Churches being a Reformed Reformation so that the practice thereof might be divertory to othere and she fit to give not take write not receive Copies from any neighbouring Church desiring that all others were like unto them save only in their afflictions Hereupon they stood so high upon their pantoffles that they refused the Common-prayer disclaimed their Bishops raised Lumults and under the pretence of defending the Scotish Kirk raised a War against the English State the benom of which Poyson so infected the veins of the English who followed this Scottish President that it brake forth into a most bitter War and ended not but with the deaths of many thousands of people Then shall the Council great assemble Who shall make great and small to tremble By the great Council is meant the long-lasting Parliament so known to all posterity for the remarkable transactions therein It began November the 3d 1640 and may more properly be said to be the Parliament that wrought wonders then that in the time of King Henry the Third which had the same appellation By them sell the wise Stafford and Reverend Laud by them was Episcopary voted down and Presbytery voted up by them was the common-prayer denyed and the Directory exalted they were the first that brought that strange Kiddle into the World that a man might fight for and against his King by them was the Dath Ex Officio condemned and the covenant fat worse applauded in sum by them was the Church and State turned topsey turvey but this cannot be reported of all amongst them many of them hated their doings dissented from them and suffered by them Mars shall rage as he were wood And Earth shall drunken be with blood To repeat all the Skirmishes Fights and Battles that have happened betwixt the Kings and Parliaments Forces here intended by this Prophesie would of its self require a Volume in some of which viz. that at Marston-more eight thousand men were killed at a time so that the Earth might well be said to be Drunken with their Blood and which is the more pity was shed by English men of one Country Citizens against Citizens Neighbours against Neighbours nay one Kinsman against another and prosecuted with the greatest bigor that might be according to that of the Poet. The highest fury reigns in Civil warr And Country men in fight most cruel are As was verified all a long during our unnaturall Civil War none holding out with more obstinacy fighting more eagerly nor in the execution more bloody than they The White King then O grief to see By wicked hands shall Murthered be Spoken concerning the Execrable Murther of that Pious Prince King Charles the First the most Renowned for Piety Prudence and Patience of all his contemporary Princes throughout the whole World of whom when all is said that can be spoken yet doth all come far short of his deserved praises I shall therefore sum up all with this Epitaph made on him by a learned Pen. He that can spell a Sigh and read a Tear Pronounce amazement and accent wild Fear Having all grief by Heart He only he Is fit to Write and Read thy Elegie Unvalued Charles thou art so hard a Text Writ in one Age not understood i' th Next CHP. XV. The Reign of King Charles the second the Usurpation of Cromwell the strange Confusions of a Democrital Government the Restauration of the King the great Sickness the Burning of the City of London THe White King dead the Wolf shall then with blood possess the Lyons den But Death shall hurry him away Confusion shall a while bear sway But Fate to England shall restore A King to Reign as heretofore Mercy and Justice too likewise Hein his time shall exercise Great Death in London shall be though And Men on tops of Houses go These Prophesies being all fulfilled in the memory of man and so well known unto the World we shall be the briefer in the explanation of them The White King dead the Wolf shall then With blood possess the Lyons den By the White King as we said before is meant King Charles the First and by the Wolf Oliver Cromwel so termed by reason of his bloody disposition that beast being judged most greedy and ravenous of all others and therefore fitly resembled to Cromwel whose ambition was such that he left no means unattempted until he had got into the Lyons den that is to say untill he had attained the sole Government which being done he then plucked the Stairs down by which he had mounted turning the Rump out of dores making them his Servants who had formerly been his Masters exercising his cruelty upon Cavailiers which he deemed double Policy as being thereby rid of his Enemies and enriching his Coffers with their Wealth though it were in effect but Murther and Robbery and Proclaimed him to be a Blood-thirsty-Lyrant But Death shall hurry him away Very remarkable was the day in which the Protector dyed being the Third
The Life and Death of Mother Shipton Being not only a true Account of her strange Birth and most important Passages of her Life but also all her Prophesies now newly Collected and Historically Experienced from the time of her Birth in the Reign of King Henry the Seventh until this present Year 1667 Containing the most Important Passages of State during the Reign of these Kings and Queens of England following Viz. Henry the Eighth Edward the Sixth Queen Mary Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles the First King Charles the Second Strangely preserved amongst other Writings belonging to an old Monastary in York-shire and now published for the Information of Posterity LONDON Printed for B. Harris at the Stationers Arms in Sweâ—things-Ally near the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1677. Beloved Countrey-men THe great Fame and general received Opinion of Mother Shipton with the Credit she hath obtained by those several Prophesies uttered by her which since in the greatest measure have come to pass These considerations I say put me upon a Resolution to search out by my best endeavour the Parents Place and Time wherein this Mother Shipton Flourished Many old Manuscripts and rusty Records I turned over but all in vain at last I was informed by a Gentleman whose Ancestors by the Gift of King Henry the Eighth enjoyed a Monastary in those parts that he had in his keeping some ancient Writings which would in that point satisfie my desire were they not so injured by Time as now not legible to Read however I not despairing to find out their meaning with much Importunity desired to have a sight of them which having obtained I took of the best Galls I could get beat them grosly and laid them to steep one day in good white-Wine that done I distilled them with the Wine and with the distilled Water that came off them I wetted handsomly the old Letters whereby they seemed as fresh and fair as if they had been but newly written here did I find her Life and Prophesies copied out by an impartial hand which I have in this Book presented to thy view together with an Exposition upon her Prophesies for the better understanding of them and which may serve to them whose leisure will not permit to read or want of money forbid to buy more Voluminous Authors this I say may serve to them instead of a Chronicle wherein they may find related the chiefest matters performed in each King and Queens Reign since the time wherein she flourished much more might be added but least I should exceed the bounds of an Epistle and like the Citizens of Mindium make my Gates too bigg for my City I shall here break off abruptly wishing thee as much pleasure in the Reading thereof as I had in the VVriting of it and so Farewel R. Head POSTSCRIPT COurteous Reader let me desire thee Candidly to pass over some seemingly Impossibilities in the first sheet allowing the Author Licentia Poetica in her description and some Actions performed in her Minority and only to weigh the more serious parts of her Prophesies wherein if thou bee'st rational I doubt not but thou wilt receive ample satisfaction The Contents CHAP. I. WHat her Father and Mother were and what wonderful things happen'd at her Birth as also the place of her Nativity CHAP. II. How the Devil constantly visited her in what forms and shapes what strange things she did to those that offended her harming some and making sport with others CHAP. III. How Agatha Shipton was apprehended and brought before a Justice what her Confession was her Mittimus being made to be sent to Prison how she escaped by the help of her friend the Fiend she is retaken and found with Child is bail'd CHAP. IV. What kind of shape Mother Shipton had when she was born how she was put to Nurse at the charge of the Parish and what strange things were seen in the house where she was Nurst during the space of four years CHAP. V. How Mother Shipton whilst but very young at Nurse was daily visited by Spirits in divers shapes and forms and what prancks they plaid during her abode there CHAP. VI. How Mother Shipton was put to School learning more in a day than other Children could in a Month how she was jeer'd by her School-fellows for having such a monstrous long Nose and what prancks she plaid upon them by way of Revenge she now growing very famous CHAP. VII How several persons came to Mother Shipton for her Predictions and how a rich Heiress being deceived by her Maid fell sick and dyed CHAP. VIII Mother Shipton's Prophesies concerning Henry the Eighth's journey into France of Gardinal Woolsey and other things CHAP. IX Her Prophesies to the Abbot of Beverly concerning the downfal of Abbyes Nunneries Priories c. with other things CHAP. X. Her Prophesies concerning King Edward the Sixth the Rebellion of the Commons the Death of the Duke of Somerset with other things CHAP. XI Her Prophesies concerning the Death of Jane Grey the burning of the Martyrs of Wyats Rebellion the Death of Queen Mary and Cardinal Pool CHAP. XII Her Prophesies concerning the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the change of Religion the attempts of the Papists upon the Queen the Spanish Invasion the burning of Pauls Steeple the death of the Queen of Scots the reducing of Ireland the beheading the Earl of Essex c. CHAP. XIII The Prophesies of the Reign of King James his uniting England and Scotland his peaceable Reign a Learned time the Powder Treason the Marriage with the Prince Elector and Lady Elizabeth the Death of Prince Henry CHAP. XIV The Prophesies of the Reign of King Charles the First his Marriage with France the Murther of the Duke of Buckingham the Scottish troubles of the long Parliament Bloody Warr ensuing after the Execrable Murther of the King CHAP XV. The Reign of King Charles the Second the Vsurpation of Cromwel the strang Confusion of a Democratical Government the Restauration of the King the great Sickness the Burning of the City of London THE LIFE and DEATH OF MOTHER SHIPTON CHAP. I. What her Father and Mother were and what Wonderful things happened at her Birth as also the place of Her Nativity IN the Second Year of King Henry the Seventh which was in the Year of our Lord One thousand Four hundred Eighty and six there lived a Woman called Agatha Shipton at a place called Naseborough near the Dropping-Well in York-shire She came of poor Parentage who died and left her to shift for her self at the Age of fifteen After their decease she still inhabited in the Old House but being now deprived of those helps she formerly enjoyed conducible to a lively-hood she was constrained to seek relief from the Parish which she did but with so much regret and grief that she seemed in her begging rather to command Alms then in an humble manner to desire it At length she arrived to that pass that she was upon the matter
Shiptons and knocking at the door she being within called to him and said come in Mr. Abbot for you are not so much disguised but the For may be seen through the Sheeps skin it is not those Cloaths makes you a Lay-person no more than a Long-Town makes a man a Lawyer come take a stool and sit down for you shall not go away unsatisfied of what you destre and thereupon she began to utter forth her Prophecys in this sort When the Cow doth ride the Bull Then Priest beware thy Soul And when the lower Shrubs do fall The great Trees quickly follow shall The Miter'd Peacocks lofty Pride Shall to his Master be a Guide And one great Court to pass shall bring What was neer done by any King The Poor shall Grieve to see that Day And who did Feast must Fast and Pray Fate so Decreed their Overthrow Riches brought Pride and Pride brought Woe These Prophesies were thus Explained by the Cow was meant King Henry who gave the same by reason of the Earldom of Richmond which was his Inheritance and the Bull betokeneth Mrs. Anne Bulloign whome the King took to Wife in the room of Queen Catharine her Father gave the Black Bulls head in his Cognizance and was his Beast and when the King had married Queen Anne then was fulfilled the second line of the Prophecy viz. Then Priest beware thy Scul for what a number of Priests Religious and Secular lost their heads for offending of those Laws made to bring this matter to pass And when the Lower Shrubs do fall The great Trees quickly follow shall The Miter'd Peacocks lofty pride Shall to his Master be a Guide Cardinal Wolsey who is here intended by the Miter'd Peacock in the height of his Pride and vastness of his undertakings intending to erect two fair Colledges one at Ipswich where he was born the other at Oxford where he was bred and finding himself unable to endow them at his own Charges be obtained License of Pope Clement the Seventh Anno 1525 to suppress forty small Monasteries in England and to lay their old Lands to his new Foundations which was done accordingly and the poor People that lived in them turned out of doors many of the Clergy were very much against this action of Wolseys especially John Fisher Bishop of Rochester alledging for the same an Apologue out of Aesop that the Iron Head of the Axe craved a handle of the Wood of Oaks only to cut off the seere boughs of the Tree but when it was a compleat instrumental Axe it felled all the Wood applying it That the suppressing of those smaller Houses would in fine prove Destructive to all the rest which came to pass accordingly for King Henry seeing the Cardinals power to extend so far as to suppress these lower Shrubs be thought his Prerogative might stretch so far as to fell down the Great Trees and soon after dissolved the Priory of Christ's Church nigh Aldgate in London now known by the Name of Dukes-place and which was the richest in Lands and Ornaments of all the Priories in London or Middlesex and which was a fore-runner of the Dissolution of all the rest and which not long after came to pass And one great Court to pass shall bring What was ne're done by any King By the Great Court is meant the Parliament the Supreamest Court of England who in the Twenty seventh of King Henry's Reign Anno 1539. To support the Kings States and supply his wants contented on the Crown all Religious Houses which were not able clearly to expend above two hundred pounds a year the great ones not long after following the same fortune of the smaller which was ne're done though attempted by any King before The Poor shall Grieve to see that day The Abbots and Priors being most bountiful House-keepers relieving all comers and goers got themselves much reputation for their Hospitality And who did Feast must Fast and Pray By the Dissolution of these Houses many thousands were driven to seek their fortunes in the wide World and become utterly exposed to want when Monkish profession was without possession many a young Nun proved an old Beggar and were forced to fast for want of Victuals who formerly had it provided for them to their hands Fate so Decreed their overthrow Riches brought Pride and Pride brought woe The great Riches and Pride of the Monks and Eryers was no doubt the main cause of their overthrow for whatsoever was the pretence questionless profit was the Rope which pulled these Religious Houses down All these things coming to pass before such time as this Abbot died caused him to have a great esteem of Mother Shipton and to value her Prophecys more than ordinary conjectures though at the first he could not tell what to make of her Ambiguous Lines which like the Oracles formerly delivered at Delphos rather brought one into a Labyrinth of confused conjectures then satisfied the expectation until by the Clue of Time the Riddles were manifest and that which at first seemed so hard now appeared to the understanding as easie However be at present kindly thanked Mother Shipton and liverally rewarded her Maid who else would have put him in mind of his neglect much admiring that she should be so clear-sighted as to see through his counterfeit Dress resolving afterwards to be more informed by her concerning future events be at that time took his solemn leave of her and returned home CHAP. X. Her Prophecys concerning King Edward the Sixth The Rebellion of the Commons The Death of the Duke of Somerset with other things NOt long had the Abbot been at home but his Abby was visited by some Instruments employed by the Lord Cromwel for that purpose He who knew what was intended by this Complement thought it not safe to strive against the Stream and therefore quietly surrendred his Monastary into the Kings hands And now perceiving Mother Shiptons Prophecy plainly fulfiled in the downful of those Houses which were judged Impregnable against all the assaults of Malice and time Considering the strange Revolutions of so short a space he was very desirous to be more fully informed of the future In this Resolution be repairs again to Mother Shiptons whom he now accosts more familiarly than he did before making himself plainly known unto her telling her that as what she had formerly spoken he had found to be true in the event so his Iudgment perswaded him she was not ignorant of those things which were for the future to ensue and therefore desired her she would not be nice in imparting of this her fore-knowledg unto him for which so great favour though it were more than his deserts could command yet should there never in him be wanting a grateful tongue to acknowledge and a grateful heart to be thankful unto her for so great a favour Mr. Abbot said she leave off Complementing as more fit for Courtiers and Lovers and not agreeable to an old Woman who will
neither flatter nor be flattered by any and for what you came about I shall not be squeamish to fulfil your request let me therefore desire you to lend me your attention and thereupon after some short pause she thus began A Prince that never shall be Born Shall make the Shaved Heads forlorn Then shall Commons rise in Armes And Womens Malice cause much harmes O deadly Pride O hateful Strife Brothers to seek each others Life Ambition shall so deadly spread The Griffin fierce shall lose his Head Soon after shall the Lyon die And mildness usher Cruelty These ten lines being prophecies of the Actions in King Edwards Reign for the Readers benefit before we proceed any further in her Predictions we will unfold the meaning of them by themselves that we may not too much burthen their memory but by variety add a pleasure to the reading of them A Prince that never shall be born Shall make the Shaved Heads forlorn By the Prince that never shall be born is meant King Edward the Sixth of whom all reports do constantly run that be was not by Natural Passage delivered into the World but that his Mothers Body was opened for his Birth that she died of the Incision the fourth day following and by the Shaved Heads is understood the Monks Fryers c. who are said to be become forlorn the Reformation beginning with the beginning of King Edwards Reign and the Popes Priests put down as his Supremacy was before Then shall commons rise in Armes King Edward having set out certain Injunctions for the Reformation of Religion as the Commissioners passed to divers places for the establishing of them many scorns were cast upon them and the farther they went from London as the people were more uncivil so did they more rise into insolency and contempt for in Cornwal the Commons flocked together having killed one of the commissioners and albeit Iustice was done upon the offenders the principal of them being Executed in several places yet could not their boldness be beaten down with their severity but that the mischief spread farther in Wiltshire and Somerset-shire where the people supposeing that a Common-wealth could not stand without Commons beat down Inclosures and said Parks and Fields Champion The like Commotions followed in Sussex Hamp-shire Kent Glocester-shire Warwickshire Essex Hartford-shire Lecester-shire Worcester-shire and Rutland-shire but the greatest of all was in Devon-shire and Norfolk the one Headed by Henry Arundel Esquire Governour of the Mount in Cornwal the other by Robert Ket a Tanner of Windham in Norfolk Those of Devon-shire were accounted above ten thousand who with a close and smart Siege Surrounded the City of Exeter which they brought to extream misery having a potent Foe abroad and Famine sorely rageing within insomuch as they were fain to bake Bran and Meal moulded up in Clothes for otherwise it would not stick together at last the Rebels were routed from thence by the Lord Privy Seal with the loss of a Thousand of their Number and soon after totally routed at a place called Clift-heath These of Norfolk were judged to be more dangerous both because their strength was great being estimated to be above Twenty Thousand as also the City of Norwich was a friend unto them or at least wished them no harm This rude rout Encamped on Monshold-hill a place Impregnable in some sort being neer to Norwich against whom was sent the Marquess of Northampton and afterwards the Carl of Warwick who made many Sallies upon the Rebels with various success had the Rebels kept in this Fort they might have tired out the Earl his Horse being useless against them but they relying on an old prophecy came down into Dassin Dale and quitted the Fort the words of the prophecy were these The Country Knuffs Hob Dic and Hic With Clubs and Clouted Shone Shall fill up Dassin-Dale with Blood Of slaughtred Bodies soon Which they Interpreted to be of their Enemies Bodies though it proved of their own for the Earl setting upon them after a stout resistance they were overcome two thousand stain upon the place Ret with his Brother and nine others Executed the rest taken unto mercy And Womens malice cause much Harms Lamentable was the effects occasioned by the malice of two Women in this Kings Reign which that you may the better understand we shall declare the Original grounds thereof The King had two Unkles Brothers to Queen Jane his deceased Mother Edward Duke of Somerset Lord Protector c. and Thomas Lord Seymor Baron of Sudly High Admiral of England The Lord Sudly had taken to Wife Katherine Parr Queen Dowager last Wife to King Henry the Eighth The Duke had Married the Lady Ann Stanhope a Woman for many Imperfections intollerable This Woman did bare such invincible bate first against the Queen Dowager for light causes and Womens quartels especially for that she had Precedency of place before her that albeit the Queen Dowager dyed by Child-birth yet would not her malice either die or decrease but hated the Lord Sudly for her sake and left buzzing fears and jealousses in her Husbands Pate who was of an easie belief that within few days the Lord Sudley was arrested and sent to the Tower and in very short time after Condemned by Act of Parliament and within few days after his Condemnation a Warrant was sent under the hand of his Brother the Duke whereby his Head was delivered to the Axe which verified what was before predicted O deadly Pride O hateful Strife Brothers to seek each others Life O Wives the most sweetest Poyson the most destred Evil in the World certainly as it is true as Syracides faith that there is no Malice to the Malice of a Woman so no Mischief wanteth where a Malicious Woman beareth sway a Woman was first given to Man for a Comforter but not for a Counseller much less a Controler and Director and therefore in the first sentence against Man the cause is exprest Because thou obeyest the voice of thy Wife And doubtless the Protector by being thus ruled to the Death of his Brother seemed with his left hand to have cut off his right for hereby he left himself now unguarded from the Malice of his Enemies the Earl of Warwick etc. who being ambitious of ingrossing all power into his own hands soon wrought the confusion of the Duke as it follows in the Prophecy Ambition shall so deadly spread The Griffin fierce shall lose his Head For the Earl of Warwick espying opportunity shewing himself and knowing that in troublesome times the obedience of great persons is most easily shaken drew about eighteen of the Privy Council to knit with him against the Lord Protector These he did to wind up his purpose that they withdrew from the Court fell to private Consultations and so ordered the matter that at length they brought the Protector upon the Scaffold wherein fine he had his Head cut off figured here by the name of the Griffin Soon
is nothing here will harm you To be short the Nurse was so continually terrified by these apparitions that she resolved to complain to the parrish and having made known the truth of what had past in commiseration to the woman almost distracted they removed Mother Shipton to another place where she was put to School being of an age now fitting for it CHAP. VI. How Mother Shipton was put to School learning more in a day then other Children in a Moneth How she was jeered by her School-fellows for having such a monstrous long Nose and what pranks she plaid upon them by way of Revenge growing now very famous MOther Shipton was now grown a lusty Girl and as she was left to the care of the Parish so the Parish took care that she should have the common sort of Learning that is to say Reading and Writing bestowed upon her Comming to School her Mistriss began to instruct her as other Children beginning with the Cris-cross-row as they call'd it showing and naming only three or four Letters at first but to the amazement and astonishment of her Mistris she exactly pronourced every Letter in the Alphabet without teaching Hereupon her Mistris shewed her a Primmer which she read as well at first sight as any in the School and so proceeded in any Book was shown her As this produced wonder in her School-Mistris so hatred and enby in her Comrades some flouted her for her monstrous long Nose others endevoured to heat her and all strove to mischief her but she valued them not revenging her self upon every one of them that intended her harm Some were pinch't and yet no hand seen that did it others struck speechless when they were about to say their Lessons not being able to utter a word and none escaped from being served one scurby trick or other This so inraged the Parents of these Children looking on Mother Shipton the sole cause hereof that she was discharged the School and so lest to the wide World She hath been often seen when alone to laugh hartily at other times to talk by her self uttering very strange riddles which occasioned some of the more sober sort to converse with her receiving such strange things from her as required a long study to find out the meaning Never a day passed wherein she related not something very remarkable and required the most serious consideration And now it was that people flockt to her far and near her fame was so great to be resolved of their Doubts all returning wonderfully satisfied in the Resolution of their questions CHAP. VII How several persons came to Mother Shipton for her Predictions and how a Rich Heire being deceived by her Maid fell sick of Grief and dyed ANd now Mother Shipton beginning to grow Famous in the World for her notable Iudgment in things to come There reforted to her House a number of people of all sorts both old and young rich and poor Especially of the Female Sex viz. Young Maids and Wenches who have alwaies a great Itching desire to know when they shall be Married as also what manner of Husbands they shall have to which she gave such satisfactory answers both for the Persons and time that no sooner could a young Maid get into the Teens but She would presently Trott to Mother Shiptons to be resolved of her doubt Now though she were not Mercenary her self but refused great Gifts when proffered unto her yet did she keep a young Wench who rather then fail if they forgot to open their purse to her she would remember to open her mouth to them and tell them that her Dame Shipton nor she could not be maintained with thanks but that the belly required meat to feed it and that it was money which made the Mare to go One day there came a certain young Heir thither whose Father was sick to be resolved by her whether he should live or die but Mother Shipton could by no means be wrought upon to tell him any thing whereupon he proffered the Maid great store of Money if she could by any means perswade her Dame to fulfil his request the Wench greedy of Money promised him fair and that if he would come the next Morning he should be certain to be resolved in the mean time she importuned her Dame with the most cunning Rhetorick that she could invent but she was deaf to all entreaties and would by no means be induced thereto whereupon the Wench resolved with her self rather than to lose the money to give him an answer of her own intention which the next morning she performed in these words The Grave prepared hath a Room Prepare for Death thy hour is Come The young Gentleman having received this answer went home joyfully hoping presently to reap the Golden Crop which his Father had sown and to be in an instant possessed of all his vast estate but the sequel proved quite contrary for by that time he came home great hopes of amendment appeared in his Father who each day grew better and better so that in a short time he became perfectly well This unexpected recovery of the old man struck such a dump in our young Heir that he presently took his Bed fell extream sick and in a short time grew extraordinary ill that all the symptoms of a dying man appeared in him The old man who had carked and cared all his life time for his Son having no more Children but he was very desious of his life and to know whether be should recover whereupon he sent to Mother Shipton about the same who knowing by her Art what her Maid bad done sufficiently did chide her for the same threatning upon such another offence to turn her out of her service In the mean time the Messenger was come to her House who having delivered his errant was turned back with this answer For others Deaths who do gape out Their own unlook't for comes about Earth he did seek e're long shall have Of Earth his fill within his Grave The old man having received this answer was much troubled as thinking his own Death predicted thereby not imagining in the least what his Son had done but he was soon quit of that suspicion for within two daies the young man dyed when by a Servant who knew the passages he was informed the truth of the whole matter CHAP. VIII Mother Shipsons Prophecies concerning King Henry the Eighth's journey into France of Cardinal Wolsey and other things ABout this time some differences arising betwixt King Henry the Eighth and the French King great preparations of War were made in England the Drums beating in every County to summon Voluntary Valour to express it self indefence of their King and Country Many Heroick Spirits who made Honour their Aime not dreading any dangers for the attaining thereof now listed themselves Bellona's followers so many appearing under Mars his Banner that he who was furnished with Limbs and an Estate to decline the Service was adjudged
after shall the Lyon die And Mildness Usher Cruelty By the Lyon is meant King Edward who survived his Unkie the Duke of Somerset nor above two years grief for his death as it is generally conceived bringing him into a Consumption though some have reported him to be poysoned soon after his death Mass and Popery was restored again by Queen Mary for which cause many afterwards fryed in the flames berifying the last verse And Mildness Usher Cruelty CHAP. XI Her Prophecys concerning the Death of Lady Iane Grey the burning of the Martyrs of Wyats Rebellion the Death of Queen Mary and of Cardinal Pool BY Parents too ambitious Pride The Scaffold shall with Blood be Di'de A Vertuous Lady then shall die For being raised up too High Her death shall cause anothers joy Who will the Kingdom much anoy Miters shall rise Miters come down And streams of Blood shall Smithfield drown England shall joyn in League with Spain Which some to hinder strive in vain The Lyoness from Life retires And Pontificial Priest expires This Prophery is peruliarly applyed to the Reign of Queen Mary and may be interpreted after this manner By Parents too ambitious Pride The Scaffold shall with Blood be Di'de This is meant by the Lady Jane Grey daughter to the Duke of Suffolk who having Married the Lord Gilford Dudly Son to the Duke of Northumberland the ambition of Northumberland was so great that be practised much on King Edwards tender years who now was much weakned with sickness that excluding his two Sisters the Lady Mary and Lady Elizabeth He conveyed the Crown to the Lady Jane by that which we may call the Testament of King Edward and the Will of the Duke of Northumberland But the Commons taking part with the Lady Mary notwithstanding the Duke went with great forces against her yet his Souldiers differting him he was forced to tach about and with an unwilling mind Proclaim her Dueen whom in his heart be hated above all others A Vertuous Lady then shall die For being raised up too high The Lady Jane Grey who out of dutifulness to her Parents assuming the Title of Queen upon her for her offence lost her head This Lady Jane was a woman of most rare and incomparable perfections for besides her excellent beauty adorned with all bariety of bertues as a clear sky with Stars as a princely Diadem with Iewels she was the mirror of her time for her Religion and Education in the knowledg of the Liveral Sciences and skill in Languages for in Thealogy in Phylosophy in all the Liveral Arts in the Latine and Greek Longues and in the Vulgar Languages of divers near Nations she far exceeded all of her Sex and every one of her years Her Death shall cause anothers joy Who will the Kingdom much anoy The Death of the Lady Jane was supposed to be a rejoycing to Queen Mary and who by restoring Popery and the Persecutions that the Professors of the Gospel suffered in her time is said to bring the Kingdome to anoy Miters shall rise Miters come down And streams of Blood shall Smithfield drown By the Miters are meant the Bishops who in the Change of Religion found great Change very few of them keeping their Seats wherein they had been seated by King Edward the sixth the names of the Bishops thus put down were these Cranmer Arch Bishop of Canterbury Ridly Bishop of London Poynet Bishop of Winchester Holgate Arch-Bishop of York Bush Bishop of Bristol Bird Bishop of Chester Hoopen Bishop of Worcester and Glocester Barlo Bishop of Bath and Wells Scory Bishop of Chichester Ferrar Bishop of St. Davids Coverdale Bishop of Exeter Taylor Bishop of Lincoln and Harley Bishop of Hereford in the room of these Bishops thus put down several Bishops were raised as Cardinal Pool made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Bonner Bishop of London Gardiner Bishop of Winchester Heath Arch-Bishop of York Holeman Bishop of Bristol Gotes Bishop of Chester Brook Bishop of Glocester Pates Bishop of Worcester Bourn Bishop of Bath and Wells Christopherson Bishop of Chichester Morgan Bishop of St. Davids Turbervile Bishop of Exeter White Bishop of Lincoln and Parfew Bishop of Hereford And streams of Blood shall Smithfield drown Great was the number of Martyrs burned in Smithfield in this Queens Reign under the Bloody bands of Bonner Bishop of London and Dr. Story Dean of St. Pauls the first persecuting by wholesale the second by retail the names of all those who in this place thus restified their Faith by the loss of their Lives would be too long here to recite the chief of them were Mr. John Rogers Mr. John Bradford Mr. Robert Glover c. England shall joyn in League with Spain Which some to hinder strive in vain Queen Mary intending to match her self with Philip King of Spain the bruit thereof being spread amongst the people was by them ill resented as dreading to be under the yoak of a stranger to hinder the same amongst others Sir Thomas Wyat a Kentish Knight took Armes with a great party assisting him The Queen bearing of his Commotion sent a Herald to him to desist which be refusing to do she resolves upon force sending the Duke of Norfolk with five hundered Londoners against him but these Souldiers bearing more affection to Wyats cause than the Queens forsook their Leader and their Loyalry together and joyned themselves to Wyats Faction who much elated with this supply presently resolves for London promising to himself easte entrance into that City and hearty entertainment therein but contrary to his expectation coming to Southwark he found all the Lowers of the Tower and the tops of the square Steeples neer the Bridg-foot on the other side planted with Ordnance against him so that both Church and State threatned his ruine so that seeing no good to be done there with a swift March having the Darkness of the Night for his Coverture he hasteth to Kingston passeth the River and comes to Knights-Bridg before almost any had notice of his Motion Here he divides his Army into two parts Five hundred of them wheels down towards White-Hall but could not force their passage into it Himself with the rest of the Army went directly to Charing-Cross where he met with some opposition but nothing daunted thereat he marched directly down the Strand and Fleet-street and coming to Ludgate promised himself entrance into the City but finding the Gate close shut and well fortified against him with Men and Ammunition his hopes then began to fail him retreating to Temple-Bar he was faced with some Norse where after a short Fight he submitted himself Prisoner being first carried to White-Hall to be examined from thence to the Tower and soon after to the Scaffold where he received the rewards of his Revellion The Lyoness from life retires And Pontificial Priest Expires By the Lyoness is meant Queen Mary who having Reigned five years and some odd months dyed of a Dropsie though others say of Grief for the
absence of her Husband King Philip and others again for Calice taken not long before and that she should say if after she was dead they ripped her up they would find Calice written on her heart The Pontificial Priest signified Cardinal Pool who expired within sew hours after the death of Queen Mary This prelate was of princely extraction his Mother Margaret being Daughter to George Duke of Clarence when he was young be was brought up together with Queen Mary and being a zealous Catholick during King Edwards Reign suffered a voluntary exile for the same when the marriage with Prince Philip and Queen Mary was made up be returned into England was made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury more moderate than some othes of his fellow Bishops having a favourable inclination towards the Protestants He survived the Queen but few hours and was buried in his own Cathedral at Canterbury with this short and modest Epitaph on his Monument DE POSITUM CARDINALIS POLI. CHAP. XII Her Prophecys concerning the Reign of Queen Elizabeth the change of Religion the attempts of the Papists upon the Queen the Spanish Invasion the burning of Pauls Steeple the death of the Queen of Scots the reducing Ireland the beheading the Earl of Esser c. THe Lyon fierce being dead and gone A Maiden Queen shall Reign anon Those who sighed then shall sing And the Bells shall Changes Ring The Papal power shall bear no sway Roms trash shall hence be swept away The Locusts sent from the seven Hills The English Rose shall seek to kill The Western Monarks Wooden Horses Shall be destroyed by the Drakes forces Troy novant's Triumphant Spirâ— Shall be consum'd with flames of Fire More wonders yet a Widowed Queen In England shall be headless seen The Harp shall give a better Sound An Earle without a Head be found Soon after shall the English Rose Unto a Male her place dispose These lines being a Prophecy of the most remarkable Actions during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth are to be interpreted after this manner The Lyon fierce being dead and gone A Maiden Queen shall Reign anon Queen Mary is here meant by the fierce Lyon so called not so much for the Cruelty done by Her as by the Bishops and Priests was done under her for take her in her self secluded from bloody Counsellors and she was a most Merciful Pious Iust Princess but in respect of the Blood that was shed and the persecutions then suffered she is here Termed a fierce Lyon After whom is said A Maiden Queen to Reign Anon meant by Queen Elizabeth one who was the Mirrour of her Set and Age who for above forty years to the admitation of enby it self mannaged the affairs of this Kingdom having when she began few friends that durst help and leaving no Foes when she died that could hurt her acting her part so well whilest here she Reigned that History canscarcely afford us one Prince to be matched to her Fame in all considerable particulars Those who sighed then shall sing And the Bells shall changes Ring Many who sat and sighed in the daies of Queen Mary by reason of the hot persecution being forced to forsake their Houses because they should not forsake their Religion now that Queen Elizabeth began to Reign their mourning was turned into joy their sighing into singing returning from their etile with Psalmes of thanksgiving in their mouthes where their Bells rang such Changes in Religion that the Mass was put down and the Common prayer set up Popery banished and reformation established the Ministers of the Bospel advanced and the Schaveling Priests Monks and Fryers depressed The Papal Power shall bear no sway Roomes trash shall hence be swept away Soon after the Queens coming to the Crown a Parliament began at Westminster wherein the Laws of King Henry the eighth against the See of Rome were renewed and those of King Edward the sixth in favour of the Protestants revived and the Laws by Queen Mary made against them repealed Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of Sacraments was enacted with a Restitution of first Fruits and Tenths to the Crown and the Queen acknowledged to be the only and Supream Governour of her Kingdomes The people in each place beating down Superstitious Pictures and Images which blind and misguided zeal had set up The Locusts sent from the seven Hill The English Rose shall seek to kill By the Locusts are meant the Priests Fryars and Iesuits who spread all the World over in greater numbers than the Locust did in the Land of Egypt and by the seven Hills is meant Rome which is built upon seven Hills and by the English Rose is signified Queen Elizabeth whom the Priest and Iesuits by their Instruments did often attempt to kill so that if we seriously consider her Reign we shall scarcely find any Prince whose life was so often attempted as hers of which to give you some examples would not be impertinent to our purpose and first in her Sisters Reign Stephen Gardiner Bishoy of Winchester and other Romanists offended with her Religion so wrought with Queen Mary suggesting that she was consenting to Wyats insurrection that she was sent prisoner to the Tower and as it is said a Warrant intended to be sealed for her execution had not king Philip interceeded After she came to the Crown she was as incident to troubles as the Month April is to showres Spain France and Scotland combining against her Pope Plus Quintus by his Bull deposes her in prosecution whereof the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland rise up in Rebellion being to have been assisted by the Duke D'alva out of the Low-Countries but out of these troubles she was delivered by their Confussion After these Leonard Dakers second San to William Lord Dakers of Gellesland endeavoured to bring her into trouble being intrusted by her with competent forces which he intending to have imployed to her detriment failed in his hopes and Power and brought both shame and ruine to himselfe Next did Thomas and Edward Stanley younger Sons to the Earl of Darbey with several others plot against her all which ended in their Ruine and her safety These failing Captain Stukley promised to perform wonders against her but his mountaines proved not so much as mole-bills he being stain in Barberry his design failed But to speak of personal attempts against her one Somervile drew his Sword in the Court to have slain her Doctor Parry a Spaniolized Italian intended to have Pistoled her as she walked in her privy Garden Savage Windsor Salisbury Tilney and others conspired to kill her the which they waited several times to effect one William Stafford by the instigation of the French Ambastador undertook to kill her Doctor Laper one of her sworn Physicians for a sum of money engaged to Poyson her and to conclude all one Edward Squire formerly belonging to her Stable with a mortifferous confection Poysoned the Pomel of her Saddle when she was riding out from all which
of September Anno 1658 wherein the wind was so violent that it overthrew many Houses tore up many Trees by the Roots tumbled down Chimneys and unreav'd Barns and Stables but as it is a very ill wind that blows none good so with all the burt this wind did it made some recompence in blowing this bloody Tyrant away which made the people so little sensible of their losses that they thought their private harms not to stand in competition with this general good Confusion shall a while bear sway Spoken in respect of the Confusion of Governments we then had First a Rump Parliament then a Protector next a Rump Parliament agen then a Fools Bauble called a Committee of safety afterwards a Rump Parliament agen now thus then that a great many Governments and none good But Fate to England shall restore A King to Reign as heretofore This was fulfilled in the happy Restoration of King Charles the Second which put a period to all those Oligarchical Confusions and Restored the Land to its Ancient pristine Government which till then groaned under the pressurers of a Company of Mechanical and therein the worst sort of Lyrants Mercy and Justice too likewise He in his time shall exercise Of this many are the examples which might be produced how many though notorious Delinquents received to Mercy Life given to those who would have taken his life away few only suffering but such whose offences were so Capital as could not come well within the Verge of a Pardon or stood upon Iustification of their former execrable Actions Such rotten members deserving to be cut off from the body of the Common-wealth who otherwise would have been very Obnoxious and prejudicial to those that were found Great Death in London shall be though Verified by the great Plague in London 1665 which for number was the greatest that hath been known in these latter Centuries of years and which if not any thing else might convince our Sectaries how necessary that prayer in the Letany is for to be used From Plague Pestilence and Famine good Lord deliver us And Men on tops of Houses go This was suddenly fulfilled in that great Conflagration of Fire which happened in London Sept. 2. 3. and 4. Anno 1666. by which so many Houses were destroyed that men afterwards in the Kuins went on the tops of those Houses whose lofty Structures not long before seemed to brave the Skie and which would dazle weak eyes to look up and behold the tops of them The Fiery year as soon as o're Peace shall then be as before A Phenix City in strange wise Shall out of fatal Ashes rise These predictions were exactly accomplisht by the Peace concluded with the Dutch soon after 1666 called here properly the Fiery year and the wonderful Rebuilding of the City of London to greater Magnificence than ever in so short a space When Mars again unsheaths his Sword Your Treacherous Friends small Aid afford Great noise there shall be heard great shouts and cries And Seas shall thunder louder than the Skies This alludes to the second Dutch War wherein the French pretended to be Friends to the English but afforded them small Aid but in truth basely deserted them in the Engagements at Sea where the Canons were louder than Thunder A Boat a Boat look twart the Thames The Southern Pile is all on Flames This can be understood of nothing but the great Fire in Southwark wherein the best part of the Burrough which She calls the Southern Pile was Consumed The World 's in Arms and ill at ease Another World looks on in Peace The happy Isle shall freely Trade While Blood and horror mighty Realms invade This was happily as to England verified in the year 1677. when she only stood looking on in Peace and enjoyed freedom of Trade whilst all the rest of Europe were fiercely engaged in War Here follow other Prophestes she uttered which seem to foretel the overthrow of the French or some great disaster to that Nation with several other Revolutions but because they concern future times we shall leave the Interpretation to Time and the Intelliligent Reader I. The Eagle Droops and Moults his Wings And fewds shall grow between Northern Kings Holland is threatned Spain doth pine And Blood shall swell the Rapid Rhyne II. When once the Orange and the Rose Unite beware old Englands Foes III. 'T is done no more shall Monsteurs pride Triumphant over Nations Ride The Meteor falls and scarce shall have A mourning Tear or Christian Grave IIII. The Lillies now bewail their loss And serve but to Adorn the Cross V. The work 's begun but would you see The Harvest Ripe joyn eight to three The Northern Star at last appears And an All-conquering Banner rears VI. Howl howl you miscreants all your deeds Shall now receive their worthy Meeds But long e're this poor Shipton Sleeps In her safe Grave and Europe weeps This Mother Shipton the Authoress of these and the foregoing Prophesies lived till she was of an extraordinary Age and though she was generally believed to be a Witch yet all persons whatsoever that either read or heard her Prophestes have esteemed them little less than Oraculous and her Memory to this day is much Honoured by those of her own Country FINIS