The Whole Prophecies of Scotland, England, Ireland, France & Denmark/Chapter 1
1 SCOTLAND be ſad now and lament
thy child whom thou haſt loſt,
Bereft of kings, falſely undone,
by thine unkindly hoſt.
2 Alas! the free is bound become,
and deceit is thy fall;
The falſehood of the Britiſh race,
has brought thee into thrall.
3 The grave of the moſt noble prince,
to all is great regret,
Not ſubject to law, who doth leave
the kingdom and eſtate.
4 O anguiſh great! where every kind
and age doth lament,
Whom bitter death has ta'en away,
ſhall Scotland sore repent.
5 Lately a land of rich increaſe,
a nation ſtout, and true,
Has loſt her former dear eſtate,
which they did hold in due.
6 By hard conflict, and by the chance,
of mobile Fortune's force,
Thy hap, and thy proſperity,
is turned into worſe.
7 Thou wont to win, now is ſubdu'd
and come in under yoke;
A ſtranger reigns and doth deſtroy
what likes him, with ſword's ſtroke.
8 The Engliſh race, whom neither force
nor manner do approve,
Woe is to thee: by guile and flight
is only win above.
9 This mighty nation was tofore
invincible and ſtout,
Has yielded low to deſtiny,
great pity is no doubt.
10 In former age the Scots renown
did flouriſh goodly gay:
But now, alas! is over-clad
with a great dark decay
11 Then mark and ſee what is the cauſe
of this ſo wonderous fall,
Contempt of faith, falſehood, deceit,
the wrath of God withal.
12 Unſatiable greed of world's gain,
oppreſſion, cries of poor,
Perpetual a ſlanderous race,
no juſtice put in Ure.
13 The haughty pride of mighty men
of former vice chief cauſe,
The nutriture of wickedneſs,
an unjuſt match of laws:
14 Therefore this caſe the prophets old
of long time did preſage,
As now has happened every point
into your preſent age.
15 Since fate is ſo, now Scotland learn
in patience to abide,
Slander, great fears, and ſudden plagues,
and Dolours more beſide,
16 For out of thee ſhall people riſe,
with divers happineſs;
And yet a pen can ſcarcely write
thy hurt, skaith, and diſtreſs:
17 And yet beware thou not diſtruſt
although o'erwhelm'd with grief,
Thy ſtroke is not perpetual,
for thou ſhalt find relief.
18 I do ſuppoſe, although too late,
old prophecies ſhall hold,
Hope thou in God's goodneſs ever,
and mercies manifold.
19 For thou that now a patient is,
and ſeemeth to be bound,
At liberty ſhall free be ſet,
and with empire renown'd.
20 From high above shall grace come down:
and thy ſtate, Scotland, be
In letter end more proſperous
nor former age did ſee.
21 Old prophecies fortel to thee
a warlike heir bee's born,
Who ſhall recover now his right,
advance his kingdom's horn:
22 Then ſhall the Scots' ſword ſweet with blood,
and ſlaughter which they make,
The king himſelf revenger ſhall
the guilty troops down wrack.
33 The Engliſh nation ſhall invade,
but not eſcape a plague,
With ſword, with thirſt, with tears and peſt,
with fears and ſuch like ague.
34 And after en'mies bee's thrown down,
and maſtered by war,
Then Scotland, in peace quietly,
paſs joyful days for ever.
When HEMPE is come and alſo gone,
Scotland and England ſhall be one.
|
K. Henry, the VIII. |
K. Edward, the VI. |
Q. Mary, |
K. Philip, of Spain. M's Husb. |
Q. Elisabeth. Q. |
Praiſed be God alone, for Hempe is come and gone,
And left us old Albion, by peace join'd in one.
Tempora patet oculata veritas.
In time appeareth hidden Truth.
MERLING ſays in his book, who will read it right,
Although his ſayings be uncouth, they ſhall be true found.
In the ſeventh chapter, read whoſo will
One thouſand and more after Chriſt's birth:
When the Chalnalider of Cornwall is called,
And the wolf out of Wales is vanguiſhed for aye.
Then many farlies ſhall fall, and many folks ſhall die.
Many selcouth ſhall be ſeen in all chriſtian lands,
In the moon and the ſea, and ſigns in the ſun,
And in all planets plainly that appears to the ſky;
Then ſhall the lion the beaſt in the broad north,
And a fellon flaw ſhall fall ſoon after,
And a ſheding of blood within ſhort time:
Both the moon and the mernes great dool ſhall make,
And all Mar ſhall mourn many days after.
The great bear with his tuſks the field ſhall loſe,
A fell ſhower of the ſouth ſhall ſad him for ever,
And that leid ſhall his life loſe in another land.
Then ſhall a freik be foſtered far in the ſouth,
And to the Kyth ſhall he go that he came from,
With much wealth and worſhip ſhall he go home,
And inhabit Albany unto the end.
Both the iſles and Arran at his own will,
Many men ſhall laugh when he home comes,
But much selcouth ſhall be ſeen within ſhort time,
At his own kind blood there ſhall begin,
Chooſe of the chiefeſt, and chop off their heads.
Some harled in ſleds and hanged on high,
Some put in priſon and much pain abide.
The crab ſhall be out of his clift along time,
With unkind blood, and yet ſhall recover;
And other beirns in whole baniſh for ever.
Covetice ſhall be his name, the King of that Kyth,
For both his heart and his head, ſhall be of flint forged,
No Lord ſhall live in that land but himſelf alone:
But they are bereaved of bliſs to keep them in baile,
Yet ſhall a man of more vail mar him for ever;
For ſuddenly he ſhall go down and die in a fen.
There ſhall no king come in that Kyth for along time,
But a figure of a flower, the faireſt of the ſixth,
The white flower and the red ſo ſhall be call'd.
In the mouth of Arran a selcouth ſhall fall,
Two bloody hearts ſhall be taken with a falſet rain,
And derſly ding down without any doom;
Ireland, Orkney, and other lands many;
For the death of theſe two, great dool ſhall make.
Then much ſorrow is ſeen within ſeven years,
Both the crab and the cock ſhall eſcape,
For more harm at that time ſhall they not have,
When the ravan roups many ſhall rue!
From Cornwell to Caithneſs they ſhall his cry hearǃ
When the gled in his clift is clim to the height,
He counts not the lion that he is kind Lord:
When the griap would govern all and gapes thereafter
With great gifts of gold the flower would he get,
Come he once in his clooks, he covers him never!
Then would a poor captive be keeper of the Kyth,
Yet ſhall it fail the freit that the fool thinks,
When the cock crows, keep well his comb:
For the fox and the fulmaſt they are falſe both,
When the raven and the rook is rounded together,
And the kid in his clift ſhall accord to the ſame,
Then ſhall they be bold, and ſoon to bail after;
Then ſhall the buck in belling-time make a great bear:
It is but wind that waits, for he is but away:
Then ſhall waken up a war and much woe after:
Then the birds of the raven rugs and reaves,
And the leil men of Lothian be luppen on their horſe;
Then ſhall the poor people be ſpoiled full near,
And the Mers ſhall mourn many days after.
And all the abbies truly that ſtands on Tweed,
And all Lothian ſhall live on their lives after,
They ſhall burn and ſlay, and great reif make,
There dare no poor man ſay whoſe man he is.
Then ſhall the land be lawleſs, for love there is none,
And falſehood ſhall have foot, fully five years,
And truth truly ſhall be tint, and none ſhall truſt other:
The couſin once ſhall not truſt the other,
Nor the ſon the father, nor the father the ſon,
For to have his goods he would have him hanged.
Then ſhall they a counſel call for peace of the Kyth,
To make love among Lords but that ſhall not laſt:
For thoſe barons and batchelors that will not obey,
That will not keep to their cry, nor come to their call.
Then ſhall men be marked for their miſdeeds,
That ſhall turn them to tein within a while after
When 14 are paſt, and twice three threep is at end,
And over a water he ſhall, fair and ſee for himſelf,
And in a fair foreſt ſhall an ern big.
Many men ſhall loſe their life in the mean time;
For they ſhall pitch a field and fiercely fight;
Upon a broad muir a battle ſhall be.
Beſide a ſtock croſse that ſtands in the north,
It is covered with dead corpſe and all of a Kythe,
That the crow may not know where the croſſe ſtood.
The wolf ſhall be watchman and keep many ways,
And ſhall be leil to the lion his own kind Lord,
Holy church is cumbered with the beſt of the Kyth,
With languages that live not by Chriſt, but that ſhall not laſt.
From Balcomy to the Baſſe on the broad ſea,
And from Ireland to the forth ſhall be a fair fight;
Of barges and billingers, and many broad sail;
With 3 liberties, and the flower ⟨de⟩ luce fair upon height.
Then ſhall a hunter in haſte come forth of the ſouth,
With many ratches in row ruled full right,
And ſhall go on his foot over the water of Forth:
And in Fife ſhall he fight and the field win:
And the chiftains ſhall die on either ſide.
When the man in the moon is moſt in his might,
Then ſhall Dumbarton turn up that is down,
And the mouth of Arran both at one time,
And the Lord with the lucken hand his life ſhall he loſe,
For covetouſneſs and treaſon that loſes the land.
When the craigs of Tarbet is tumbled in the ſea,
At the next ſummer after ſorrow ſhall be.
Beid's book have I ſeen, Banneſter's alſo,
Marvellous Merling, and all accords in one.
Marvellous Merling is waſted away,
With a wicked woman woe might ſhe be:
For ſhe hath cloſed in a craig on Cornwall coaſt.
When the cock in the north hath builded his neſt,
Buſked his birds, and bowned him to flee:
Then ſhall Fortune his friend the gates up caſt,
And right ſhall have his free entry.
Then riſe ſhall the moon in the north-weſt,
In a cloud as black as the bill of a crow;
Then is looſed a lion, the boldeſt and the beſt,
That was born in Britain ſince Arthur's day:
Then ſhall a dreadful Dragon drive him from his den,
To help the lion with his great might;
A bull and a baſtard ſpurs ſhall ſpend,
To abide with the bear, to reckon his rights.
A libbered engendered of native kind,
With the ſtern of Bethlehem ſhall riſe in the ſouth,
An horſe and Anthelop, boldly ſhall abide,
A bear and a brock, with berns ſo bright,
A proud prince in pries lordly ſhall light,
With bold barrons in buſhment to battle ſhall wend,
Then ſhall the prophecie prove that Thomas of tells,
Many comely knight is caſt under foot,
That ſhall make maiden's mourn that in bowre dwells,
The dreadful day of deſtiny ſhall drive to the night:
Shall make maidens and wives in mourning be brought.
Then they meet in the morning with the moon light:
Betwixt Seton and the ſea ſorrow ſhall be wrought;
There the lion ſhall be hurt and not perceived:
Then ſhall be braid to the beſt that him the hurt wrought,
And many ſtern in has found ſhall fold to the free;
And the proudeſt in the preis to bail ſhall be brought,
The fey fox and the fulmart in arms are taken,
And led to the lion law to abide;
The pyper and the pye ſhall ſuffer in the ſame;
All the friends of the fox ſhall be fey made;
Then ſhall troy untrue tremble for dread,
For dreador of the deadman when they hear him ſpeak,
All the commons of Kyth ſhall caſt him the keys,
The buſhment of Beverlaw therewith ſhall break.
Then war men and woods away went,
And every ſeed in his ſeaſon laindly is ſet,
And right well ruled, and falſehood is fled!
Then ſhall be plenty of peace when laws have no let,
The ſpouſe of God ſhall ſing with a joyful ſong,
Thanking God thereof and the Trinity,
And all grace and goodneſs ſhall grow us among:
And every fruit ſhall have plenty by land and by ſea:
Then the ſun and the moon ſhall ſhine bright,
That many days afore dark have been;
And keep their courſe both day and night,
With more mirth than men have ſeen,
As Berlington's books and Banneſter's tells.
Merling, and many more that with marvels mells,
And alſo Thomas Rymer in his tales tells.
They ſay the Saxons ſhall chooſe them a lord,
That ſhall make them greatly to fall under:
The dead man ſhall riſe, and them accord,
And this is much wonder and ſlight,
That he that was dead, and buried in fight,
Shall riſe again and live in the land.
In comfort of a young knight,
That Fortune hath choſen to be her huſband,
The wheel ſhall turn to him full right,
That Fortune hath choſen to be her sire,
In Surry ſhall he ſhow a fight.
In Babylon bring many a bern or brier,
Fifteen miles from Jeruſalem the Holy Croſs win ſhall he;
The ſame lord that bears the lyon,
At Stanfoord wan the gree,
Fortune hath granted him the victory,
Since firſt that he arms bear:
For without treaſon or treatorie,
Deſtiny ſhall not him deir,
While of age til him drive,
For every man on mold muſt die,
But end he ſhall in the land of Chriſt,
And in the vale of Joſaphet ſhall he be.