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shall be exalted. Piety shall hurt the possessor of things got by impiety,
till he shall have put on his Father: therefore, being armed with the teeth
of a boar, he shall ascend above the tops of mountains, and the shadow
of him that wears a helmet. Albania shall be enraged, and, assembling
her neighbours, shall be employed in shedding blood. There shall be put
into her jaws a bridle that shall be made on the coast of Armorica. The
eagle of the broken covenant shall gild it over, and rejoice in her third
nest. The roaring whelps shall watch, and, leaving the woods, shall hunt
within the walls of cities. They shall make no small slaughter of those
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that oppose them, and shall cut off the tongues of bulls. They shall load
the necks of roaring lions with chains, and restore the times of their
ancestors. Then from the first to the fourth, from the fourth to the third,
from the third to the second, the thumb shall roll in oil. The sixth shall
overturn the walls of Ireland, and change the woods into a plain. He
shall reduce several parts to one, and be crowned with the head of a lion.
His beginning shall lay open to wandering affection, but his end shall
carry him up to the blessed, who are above. For he shall restore the seats
of saints in their countries, and settle pastors in convenient places. Two
cities he shall invest with two palls, and shall bestow virgin-presents
upon virgins. He shall merit by this the favour of the Thunderer, and
shall be placed among the saints. From him shall proceed a lynx
penetrating all things, who shall be bent upon the ruin of his own nation;
for, through him, Neustria shall lose both islands, and be deprived of its
ancient dignity. Then shall the natives return back to the island; for there
shall arise a dissension among foreigners. Also a hoary old man, sitting
upon a snow-white horse, shall turn the course of the river Periron, and
shall measure out a mill upon it with a white rod. Cadwallader shall call
upon Conan, and take Albania into alliance. Then shall there be a
slaughter of foreigners; then shall the rivers run with blood. Then shall
break forth the fountains of Armorica, and they shall be crowned with
the diadem of Brutus. Cambria shall be filled with joy; and the oaks of
Cornwall shall flourish. The island shall be called by the name of Brutus:
and the name given it by foreigners shall be abolished. From Conan shall
proceed a warlike boar, that shall exercise the sharpness of his tusks
within the Gallic woods. For he shall cut down all the larger oaks, and
shall be a defence to the smaller. The Arabians and Africans shall dread
him; for he shall pursue his furious course to the farther part of Spain.
There shall succeed the goat of the Venereal castle, having golden horns
and a silver beard, who shall breathe such a cloud out of his nostrils, as
shall darken the whole surface of the island. There shall be peace in his
time; and corn shall abound by reason of the fruitfulness of the soil.
Women shall become serpents in their gait, and all their motions shall be
full of pride. The camp of Venus shall be restored; nor shall the arrows of
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Cupid cease to wound. The fountain of a river shall be turned into blood;
and two kings shall fight a duel at Stafford for a lioness. Luxury shall
overspread the whole ground; and fornication not cease to debauch
mankind. All these things shall three ages see; till the buried kings shall
be exposed to public view in the city of London. Famine shall again
return; mortality shall return; and the inhabitants shall grieve for the
destruction of their cities. Then shall come the board of commerce, who
shall recall the scattered flocks to the pasture they had lost. His breast
shall be food to the hungry, and his tongue drink to the thirsty. Out of
his mouth shall flow rivers, that shall water the parched jaws of men.
After this shall be produced a tree upon the Tower of London, which,
having no more than three branches, shall overshadow the surface of the
whole island with the breadth of its leaves. Its adversary, the north
wind, shall come upon it, and with its noxious blast shall snatch away the
third branch; but the two remaining ones shall possess its place, till they
shall destroy one another by the multitude of their leaves; and then shall
it obtain the place of those two, and shall give sustenance to birds of
foreign nations. It shall be esteemed hurtful to native fowls; for they
shall not be able to fly freely for fear of its shadow. There shall succeed
the ass of wickedness, swift against the goldsmiths, but slow against the
ravenousness of wolves. In those days the oaks of the forests shall burn,
and acorns grow upon the branches of tell trees. The Severn sea shall
discharge itself through seven mouths, and the river Uske burn seven
months. Fishes shall die with the heat thereof; and of them shall be
engendered serpents. The baths of Badon shall grow cold, and their
salubrious waters engender death. London shall mourn for the death of
twenty thousand; and the river Thames shall be turned into blood. The
monks in their cowls shall be forced to marry, and their cry shall be
heard upon the mountains of the Alps.Ó
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Chapter 4. The continuation of the prophecy.
ÒThree springs shall break forth in the city of Winchester, whose
rivulets shall divide the island into three parts. Whoever shall drink of
the first, shall enjoy long life, and shall never be afflicted with sickness.
He that shall drink of the second, shall die of hunger, and paleness and
horror shall sit in his countenance. He that shall drink of the third, shall
be surprised with sudden death, neither shall his body be capable of
burial. Those that are willing to escape so great a surfeit, will endeavour
to hide it with several coverings: but whatever bulk shall be laid upon it,
shall receive the form of another body. For earth shall be turned into
stones; stones into water; wood into ashes; ashes into water, if cast over
it. Also a damsel shall be sent from the city of the forest of Canute to
administer a cure, who, after she shall have practiced all her arts, shall
dry up the noxious fountains only with her breath. Afterwards, as soon
as she shall have refreshed herself with the wholesome liquour, she shall
bear in her right hand the wood of Caledon, and in her left the forts of
the walls of London. Wherever she shall go, she shall make sulphurous
steps, which will smoke with a double flame. That smoke shall rouse up
the city of Ruteni, and shall make food for the inhabitants of the deep.
She shall overflow with rueful tears, and shall fill the island with her
dreadful cry. She shall be killed by a hart with ten branches, four of
which shall bear golden diadems; but the other six shall be turned into
buffaloÕs horns, whose hideous sound shall astonish the three islands of
Britain. The Daneian wood shall be stirred up, and breaking forth into a
human voice, shall cry: Come, O Cambria, and join Cornwall to thy side,
and say to Winchester, the earth shall swallow thee up. Translate the seat [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]