Читать книгу Prophecies of Robert Nixon, Mother Shipton, and Martha, the Gypsy - Anonymous - Страница 5

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The famous Cheshire prophet Nixon, besides his prophecies relative to the fate of private families, also predicted much of public affairs, which we find literally verified by the sequel.

On the Christmas before he went to court, being among the servants at Mr. Cholmondeley’s house, to the surprise of them all he suddenly started up and said,

“I must prophecy.” He went on, the favourite [32a] of a King shall be slain. “If the master’s neck shall be cleft in twain. And the men of the North [32b] shall sell precious blood; yea their own blood. And they shall sacrifice a noble warrior [32c] to the idol, and hang up his flesh in the high places; and a storm shall come out of the North, which shall blow down the steeples of the South: and the labourer shall rise above his lord, and the harvest shall in part be trampled down by horses, and the remainder lie waste to be devoured by birds.

“When an oak tree shall be softer than men’s hearts, then look for better times but they be but beginning.

“The departure of a great man’s [33a] soul shall trouble a river hard by, and overthrow trees, houses, and estates. From that part of the house from whence the mischief came you must look for the cure. First comes joy, then sorrow; after mirth comes mourning.

“I see men, women, and children, spotted [33b] like beasts, and their nearest and dearest friends affrighted at them. I see towns on fire, and innocent blood shed; but when men and horses walk upon the water, then shall be peace and plenty to the people, but trouble is preparing for Kings; and the great yellow fruit [33c] shall come over to this country, and flourish: and I see this tree take deep root and spread into a thousand branches, which shall afterwards be at strife one with another, because of their numbers: and there shall come a wind from the South, and the West, which shall shake the tree. I see multitudes of people running to and fro, and talking in a strange tongue. And there shall be a famine [34] in the midst of great plenty, and earthquakes and storms shall level and purify the earth.”

After these sayings, which every one, with the slightest knowledge of our history will instantly apply to those events which they so wonderfully foretold, Nixon was silent, and relapsed into his wonted stupidity: from which he did not recover until many weeks after, when he became again inspired, and gave vent to those remarkable predictions which were recollected by Mr. Oldmixon. Those which we have just now related were taken down from the prophet’s mouth by the steward, in pursuance of the orders of Mr. Cholmondeley himself; and the original manuscript is now in the hands of a gentleman in Shropshire.