great Battles among many Kings In that Day shall be the Bloody Field in which the Lilly shall lose his Crown wherewith the Son of Man shall be crowned and in the fourth year many Battles shall be for the Faith The Head of the World shall be brought to the Earth And the Son of Man with the Eagle shall be exalted And there shall be Universal Peace over all the World And the Son of Man shall receive a wonderful Sign And there shall be great plenty of all Fruits of the Earth And he shall go into the land of the Cross I do not find that this Prophesie hath been taken notice of except by an inconsiderable and little regarded person Arise Evans in a Book entituled A Voice from Heaven printed Anno 1652. and though he did strangely foretell many things and particularly was always positive about his Majesties happy Restauration and with him of the Church of England then trampled under foot by the prevailing Sects and Factions yet mentioning this Prophesie he has both given so false a Translation and an Interpretation no less impertinent than ridiculous in some things making the Lilly to be Mr. Lily the Astrologer and some such things as look like the effects of a weak or shattered Brain Nor do I remember any Conjuncture of Affairs which have been in Europe to which this Prediction could possibly be applicable except the present to which it seems plainly and perspicuously to direct and to threaten France with an inevitable fall from that Glory and Prosperity which now she does seem to enjoy According to the manner of all Prophesies and even this as well as the rest is wrapt up in a mysterious confusion which leaves us no more to work upon than matter of Connexion and Conjecture But however according to the judgment of persons much conversant in Writings of this nature there seems to be an agreement in Opinion that by the Son of Man who carries the wild Beasts in his Arms is intended the King and Kingdom of England which is so distinguishing a difference as no other Prince besides him can pretend to the Description And possibly he calls him the Son of Man with a regard to his Exile alluding to that place in Scripture That the Foxes have holes and the Birds of the Air have Nests but the Son of Man hath not where to hide his head He having had in that extremity of his Fortune no place of security or retreat capable to shelter him from the malice of his implacable Enemies whilst he was hunted by them from one Kingdom to another his Reception being made a sufficient ground of War as his Banishment was always an Article of Peace And he seems farther to explain this when he tells us He shall pass many Waters Which is both literally and prophetically true for his present Majesty was forced for his security to pass and re-pass the Seas But in the Figurative sense by Waters is always in the prophetical dialect understood Afflictions Instability of Fortune Dangers and Hazards from the People Now all the world is witness that even from his Infancy his Majesty of Great Britain sailed through a most tempestuous Ocean of Adverse Fortune And he shall come to the Land of the Lyon By the Lyon is here meant the Leo Belgicus the Belgick Lyon as the United Provinces and Spanish Netherlands from the figure of the Country as it lies in the Maps and from their ancient Ensigns are called and by that Name commonly known from both which Countries his Majesty expected Protection and Assistance and did in some measure receive it looking for help from the Beasts of his own Country that is expecting Assistances from the Scottish Nation to some of which the Name he gives them did but too well agree with that part of them who endeavoured to make a prey of him as before they had done of his Royal Father This he further explains in the foregoing words telling us and he shall come with a multitude of People which shews his Restauration and that he should come that is to be received with the universal desire and consent of his People into his Kingdom which Kingdom is the Land of the Moon either because it is surrounded with the water of the Ocean over whose fluxes and re-fluxes the Moon has such absolute Soveraignty and Dominion or to signifie the great Changes and Alterations the ebbing and flowing of the Tydes of Faction and Rebellion which should be in that Kingdom and especially in Ecclesiastical Affairs of which the Moon is even in Holy Prophesies not an unusual Significatrix the Church being often figured by the Moon as shining by a borrowed light Luna quasi luce lucens aliena and being frequently under great Changes and Alterations and never more bright and conspicuous than in the darkest nights of Persecutions Which Kingdom of the Moon is to be dreaded throughout the World he does not say England which here he calls the Land of the Moon shall have dominion over all the Earth an Island being altogether incapable of such a design or Dominion but it shall be dreaded which may well be understood to be meant in regard of the great Maritime Power and Naval Exploits of the English which has already made their name terribly known to all the world and which is to be hoped such care will be taken to increase and incourage that Power as well as to abate that of our Rivals and Enemies as in future Ages shall render England not only considerable but formidable to all the Earth so as to be able if not to give Laws yet to hold the Great Ballance so as to make England terrible to her Enemies who shall therefore dread their great Naval Power in regard of their Ability thereby to make sudden Invasions and Discents into the Maritime Countries of their Enemies and to stop their Trade and Commerce abroad Thus far the Prophesie appears plain and easie Events having in a great measure given us a clear Interpretation of it Now Affairs thus standing the Son of Man who bears the Wild-beasts in his Arms whose Kingdom is the Land of the Moon which is to be dreaded throughout the World being come through many Waters with a multitude of People he comes to discourse of the Lilly By the Lilly they interpret France whose Ensigns are the Lillies as they themselves discourse it by their Salique Law when they tell us the Lillies spin not excluding thereby the Distaff from all hopes of enjoying the Scepter Rather to destroy the pretensions of the English than that they are able to shew any such original and fundamental Law of their Crown The Lilly saith he shall remain in the better part that is France shall be in great Peace Glory Plenty and Prosperity which has been exactly verified ever since the conclusion of their last Domestick Wars by the Policy of that great Minister of State Cardinal Mazarin during the minority of the present King of
France Lewis the Fourteenth ever since which time France has enjoyed a constant current of Greatness and uninterrupted Prosperity which as it has infinitely augmented their Trade Navigation People and the Treasure of the Prince into the Sea of whose Coffers all the several Streams of Money in France do finally discharge themselves so it has elevated their minds to high Attempts Pride being the usual Companion of Prosperity and a vast Treasure the greatest spur to the thoughts of Ambitious Princes The Lilly standing in these terms shall be moved against the Seed of the Lyon that is as before we took notice against the United Provinces and Spanish Netherlands who are altogether called the Leo Belgious and give the Lyon for their Ensigns This likewise needs no great matter of explaining it being so visible and fresh in remembrance how the French began to quarrel with the Dutch Though upon what real or solid grounds since they never yet told the world we are left to the liberty of our Conjectures and may therefore judge it was the Child of their Pride and Ambition Riches and Prosperity with which unbounded desire of Greatness and Soveraignty some of their late Ministers have travelled long and had they not strangely miscarried 't is more than probable they would have brought that Embrio of slavery which they had conceived in their brains to a perfect birth And he shall stand on one side amongst the Thorns of his Kingdom whose Kingdom is the Land of the Moon that is at the beginning of this War betwixt Lilly and the Lyon England shall stand upon the part of the Lilly against the Lion though not without Difficulties by reason of the Thorns of his Kingdom by which Thorns they understand the uneasiness of his People occasioned by this confederation with France by reason of their Apprehensions of whose growing Greatness and Power both at Sea and Land and his dangerous Vicinity they are said to stand upon Thorns according to our English Proverb of expressing any thing which gives us a trouble or which we cannot long endure And by his adding the Kingdom of the Moon may further be meant that this Confederation shall not be lasting but shall change as it has done from Friendship to a cold Neutrality from Neutrality to open and violent because necessary Hostility Then shall come the Eagle out of the East with his wings spread with the Beams of the Son of Man Here is plainly decipher'd his Imperial Majesty of Germany whose Ensign is the Eagle displaid and his wings being spread with the Beams of the Son of Man denotes the Confederation between England and the Empire which Confederation shall influence warm and revive the drooping Spirits of the Imperial Party adding new life to their endeavours and fresh vigour to their enterprises as the kind Beams of the Sun impregnates the Plants and Herbs with a new Life and Growth There shall be destrdyed Castles upon the Thames Whether this may not have reference to the action of Chattam or to the conflagration of London or to some other great Sea action in which the English may lose some Ships which he calls Castles upon the Thames and which may probably happen if there be Naval Engagements with the French I will not undertake to determine but as before was observed there is no method or exact order observed in these Prophetick Discourses and I am rather inclinable to believe it does relate to the Affair of Chattam in which the English Ships were destroyed with the great pleasure if not by the Instigation of France There shall be great Battles among many Kings This is not only already verified no so many Combats as during this War have happened between the Emperor the Crowns of France Spain England Sweeden and Denmark but in great probability that still there will be more and greater for the Power of France is too great to be the Trophie of one Day and there appears no safety to any Neighbouring Crowns but by abating the Luxury of the Lillies In that Day shall be the Bloody Field This is spoken exegetically as if one particular remarkable and Decissive Day wherein shall be a most Bloody Battle the end of which shall terminate in a most notable Victory in which the Lilly that is France shall be subdued wherewith the Son of Man shall be crowned In the fourth year many Battles shall be for the Faith This seems to intimate as if during this War and before the final conclusion of it by the great Battle which he calls the Bloody Day France finding her self straitned should excite the Grand Signior the Capital Enemy of the Christian Faith to enter into the Christian Territories according to the Example of Francis the first of France and the present Commotions in Hungary supported in a probability both by the French and Ottomans underhand render the conjecture not much void of the Mark. This War between the Christians and Turks shall continue some time after the Power of France is humbled and shall occasion many Battles for the Faith that is against the Mahometans but at last Victory shall declare her self for the Christians Caput mundierit ad terram I can easily make of this better sense than Latin The head of the World shall be brought to the Ground which may be meant either of the Pope or Turk who both pretend to that Title of Vniversal Head the one as Temporal and the other as Spiritual Monarch of the World and I leave it to the Opinion of the Reader and to Time the surest Interpreter of Predictions to declare upon which of these Heads this Vengeance shall fall so heavy as to lay them in the Dust After this The Son of Man and the Eagle that is the King of England and the Emperor shall be exalted that is they shall be in great Honour Dignity and Power upon which there shall succeed Universal Peace and as the Natural Effect of it all manner of Plenty As for the last Clause where 't is said The Son of Man shall receive a marvellous Sign and shall go to the Land of the Cross I confess I want an Oedipus to furnish me with a Conjecture and will not therefore undertake it in regard that Voyage has been out of fashion with all Princes since they understood that it was an Intrigue of Ambitious Popes to send Princes to the Holy War whilst they in the mean time made a Prey of their Prerogatives and Subjects at home Thus far Mr. Truswel's Prophesie which because it may be thought the work of an English-man and may therefore be supposed in favour of the Nation let us hear a Prophet of their own Nostradamus the great Favourite of three Kings Henry the 2. Francis the 2. and Charles the 9. and if he be a Prophet he will it may be confirm the Truth of the former Predictions applying his rugged Verses to the present Circumstances of the time Naples Palerme Sicile Syracuse Noveaux Tyrants
fulgures seu Calestes Force de Londres Gand Bruxels Suse Grand Hecatombe Triomphe fair Festes In ENGLISH Naples Palermo Sicily and Siracuse new Tyrants like Heavenly Lightning The Arms of London Ghent Bruxels and Suse a great Hecatomb Triumph and making of Feasts Here are Naples Palermo Sicily and Siracuse by name threatned with new Tyrants who should feise upon them like Lightning which I think was most truly acted by the French who did unexpectedly surprise Messina and a great part of Sicily And the famous Sea-Action of the French at Palermo does even literally expound the Verses nothing being so like the heavenly Lightning as the thundring Cannon which never before did so terribly enlighten the Trinacrian shore And let the Sicilians speak whether the French have not been great as well as new Tyrants since that place which was wont to be the Horreum Romani Imperii the Granary of the Roman Empire is now obliged to beg supplies from the rest of the world But then follows The Arms or Power of London Ghent Bruxels and Suse by Suse he must mean the Empire Susa being the Capital City of the Persian and Assyrian Monarchies and it being a common blind with Nostradame to put old Names to new things Those Powers of England Germany and the Netherlands being confederated together shall occasion a great Hecatomb that is a great slaughter a Hecatomb being a Sacrifice of an hundred Oxen this slaughter shall to the Victors glory produce a great Triumph and much Feasting But you will say here is the Devil of Delphos Aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse I say the Son of the Aeacides the Romans may overcome Who shall be these triumphant Conquerors I answer that the Victory shall not fall to the French of which the Prophets silence is a convincing Argument for he would certainly have given some intimation of it and whoever reads his Writings where any sense can be made out shall find that he is not sparing to proclaim any good Fortune to his Nation and it may be some things in his Book and some Discourses with some of the French Kings have not given them a little encouragement in their great Undertakings But let him explain himself Burdeaux Rouan la Rochelle joints Tiendra autour la Grand Mer Oceane Anglois Bretons les Flamans conjoints Les chasseront jusque aupres de Rouane In ENGLISH Burdeaux Rouan and Rochelle being joined together shall rove abroad upon the great Ocean Sea the English Britons and Hollanders united shall chase them as far as Rouan I would gladly be satisfied in what Kings Reign of France till now they were in a capacity to range the Ocean or to oblige the Dutch and English to join for their common safety against them And if the man be a Prophet here is like to be some work at Sea as well as Land but it is to be hoped the French will pay the Charges of the War And if the Dutch and English chase them as far as Roan they must chase them off the Seas and I cannot imagine when such a pursuit shall be that the Armies of France shall be in a good posture in Flanders So that one wedge must drive out another and this later Prophesie applyed to the Circumstances of time and the Confederations now on foot seem to explain the Riddle of the former In another place he tells us Par la Guyenne infinite D'Anglois Occuperront par nom D'Angle Aquitaine In ENGLISH An Infinite Number of English shall possess Guyenne by the name of English Aquitaine And this I am sure there was yet never any attempt to do since the time that Nostradamus lived nor any considerable War betwixt the two Nations till this present in which if the English should land possibly the French might receive them as their welcome deliverers from slavery rather than as insulting Conquerors But that which has often surprised me with the most pleasant Imaginations in the World as the most ridiculous of all those Prophesies is that which now is as much the occasion of my wonder Celuy qut la Principaute Tiendra par grade cruauté Ala fin verra grand Phalange Par Coup de feu tres dangereux Par accord pourroit fair mieux Autrement boira suc D'Orenge In ENGLISH He who shall with great Cruelty hold the Principality in the Conclusion shall see a great Army ruin'd by a most dangerous Fire-blow he might do better to make an Accord otherways he shall drink the juice of Orange Here is first a plain description of the French Dominion which is certainly carried on with the greatest Cruelty and managed with the most horrible Oppression where ever their Arms have made a Conquest and for their own People they are most absolute Slaves One may say of France as of the Grand Signior where-ever his Horse sets his Foot the Grass will not grow again in seven Years So great are the Desolations of Germany especially Alsace and all that pleasant populous and fertile Country along the Rhine that there is scarce an Inhabitant or a Village left for many Leagues together to make complaint of the barbarous inhumanity of the French Armies who have left behind them unexampled Instances of their Cruelty in such spoils and ravage as makes the Country look like the Fields of Sodom when first covered with the Ashes of those flaming Cities Such Cruelties of War as exceed all the most salvage proceedings of the Ottoman Family and the most barbarous Conquerours amongst the Heathens But he shall see his great Army ruin'd by the most dangerous blow of Fire Not improbable Heaven often measures by the Lex Talionis Fire shall destroy those who have destroyed so many innocent millions by fire But by this Fire he seems to intimate the force of Powder the now common and terrible Fewel of the horrid Engines of War He might do better to make an accord Certainly this would have been wholsom counsel for France who doubtless might have had honourable terms of Peace had they prosecuted it in good earnest and not rather as a Blind to lull some of her Neighbours asleep whilst she might more easily cut the Throats of others though how safe such a Peace as must have left France in the Possession of so great Conquests or any part of them must have been to the rest of the European Princes and States I leave it to the Determination of Polititians But since France hath refused those Proposals it follows That he must drink the juice of Orange This is what I have often laught at but now it seems to carry in it not only a very serious but significant meaning For by the Orange must of necessity be meant the most illustrious William of Nassau Prince of Orange that great though young General and by the juice of Orange must be meant the force power and vertue of that Princes Valour Courage and Conduct which speak him an old Souldier though a
young Man And by France drinking the juice of Orange if an Accord be not made cannot be meant any other thing but that to her disadvantage she shall feel the Force and Power of that young Hero design'd for Greatness and Wonders And to animate that Illustrious Prince I will subjoyn but one more of the Prophecies of Nostradamus which shews that he shall have good Assistance Le grand D'Hongrie ira dans la Nacelle Le Noveau ne feraguerre novelle A son voisin qu'il tiendra assiegé Et le Noireau avec son Altesse Ne souffrira que par trop on le presse Durant Trois ans ses Gens tiendra rangé In ENGLISH The great one of Hungarie shall go to the Boat the new one shall not make a new War against his Neighbour whom he shall besiege on every side And the black one with his Highness shall not suffer him to be over-pressed During three Years he shall keep his People in order By the great one of Hungarie is meant the Emperor by his going into the Boat is meant his imbarquing in the Confederation By the new one is meant a new King of France that is such a one as France never had before He shall not make a new War with his Neighbour that is it shall not be a new War but the old claim to Elaunders revived His Neighbour is the Spaniard whom he shall besiege on every side viz. in the Netherlands Catalonia Messina c. But the Black one that is the King of England according to the old Prophesie Rex ater in albo with his Highness that is his Highness the Prince of Orange being confederated together by the alliance of a happy match shall not suffer him that is the Spaniard to be over-pressed During three Years he shall keep his People in order but after that let France look for nothing but Domestick Insurrections and Rebellions from a People overladen with the intollerable burden of a War which might have been happily ended long before if the obstinacy and ill Genius of some great men driven headlong by their Destiny had not prevented it I might add to render these Conjectures more probable many other Rational Arguments as that old and so often verified Prophesie of the Poet Adgenerum Cereris sine caede sanguine pauci Descendunt Reges nec sicca morte Tyranni Ambitious Princes rarely go Vnbloody to the Shades below And the dreadful Instances of Philip of Spain and the three Henrys Second Third and Fourth of France who all aimed at the Monarchy of the West are fatal Examples of the Tragical End of vain Ambition after unlawful Soveraignty and Empire And certainly they who will sacrifice the Blood and Treasure of so many Innocents and the Interests of all other Princes and States to their own inordinate desires of Ruling cannot in common Reason believe but that they have almost as many Enemies as there are men in the World and cannot expect a mild or gentle Destiny For there is in all Mankind Princes and People a natural love for their Liberty Life Property and Religion and when they apprehend that all these are in danger of being invaded and ravisht from them by the force of Arms they will not only combine pro Aris focis and resolutely dispute the Quarrel with their Lives and Fortunes And they live in a perpetual fear of a Scaevola or a Ravaillac to endeavour by a sudden blow to free the World as well as themselves from the danger of Slavery and to revenge those Murders Rapines Miseries and Desolations which have been the Results of such Ambitious Attempts which brings into my mind another of the Prophesies of Nostradamus Tard arrive l'Execution fait Le vent contrare lettres au chemin princes Les Conjurez quatorze d'une secte Parle Rousseau seront les Entreprinses In ENGLISH Arriving late the Execution done by reason of the contrary Winds Letters taken by the way The Conspirators fourteen of a Sect by the Red-haird Man this Enterprise shall be undertaken I will leave this to the probability of what may be according to what has been To conclude I wish all prosperity to the Arms of the present Confederation and that by their Union amongst themselves they may disappoint the Designs of their Enemies and that they would lay aside their Private Animosities Heats and Quarrels which who-ever in such a Conjuncture shall refuse to do cannot be the Friends of their Countries Interest Liberty or Glory but will lye under the vehement suspicion of being corrupted and dazled with the Lustre of Gold to side with the Common Enemy and betray their Country nor will their Clamours against the French be able to protect them from so just a suspicion but rather increase the jealousie nothing being a more common Blind than to look one way whilst men Row another since it is most certain that no persons can oblige an Enemy though with their personal assistance to that degree as they may by sowing Jealousies in a Confederation and by crossing the Designs that may be formed for the Common Security which is in short to unbind the Faggot that it may more quickly be burnt Let the Malice of these Predictions be to the Enemies of Peace and to the Authors of this miserable War Pax queritur Bello FINIS