Marvellous Merling that many men of tells,
And Thomas ſayings comes all at once:
Thongh their ſayings be ſelcouth they shall be ſooth found
And there shall our glading be;
The crow shall fit upon a ſtone,
And drink the gentle blood ſo free:
Take of the ribs, and bear to her birds:
⟨As⟩ God hath ſaid ſo muſt it be.
Then shall ladies lads wed,
And brook caſtles ⟨and⟩ towers high,
Beid hath berieved in his book and Banneſter alſo,
Marvellous Merling, and accords in one:
Thomas the true, that never ſpake falſe,
Conſents to their ſaying, and the ſame terms has taken,
Yet shall there come a keen Knight over the ſalt ſea,
A keen man of courage, and bold man of arms,
A duke's ſon doubted, a born man in France,
That shall our mirths amend, and mend all our harms,
After the date of our Lord 1513, and thrice 3 thereafter,
Which shall brook all the broad iſle to himſelf.
Betwixt 13 and thrice 3, the threep shall be ended;
The Saxons shall never recover after.
He shall be crowned in the Kyth, in the caſtle of Dover,
Which wears the golden garland of Julias Cæſar,
More worship shall be win of greater worth,
Then ever Arthur himſelf had in his days.
Many doughty deeds shall he do thereafter,
Which shall be ſpoken of many days better.
The Prophecies of Thomas Rymer.
STILL on my ways as I went,
Out through a land beſide a lee,
I met a bairn upon the way,
Me thought him ſeemly for to ſee.
I aſked him wholly his intent?
Good ſir if you will be,
Since that ye bide upon the bent,
Some uncouth tidings tell you me!
When shall theſe wars be gone,
That leel men may live in lee?
