(g) This is yet unacted. (h) All old Prophecies do intimate a final subversion of the Monarchy in England.

After this, shall be a white Harvest of Corn gotten in by women. Then shall be in the North, that one woman shall say to another, Mother, I have seen a man to day. And for one man there shall be a thousand women. There shall be a man sitting on Saint James church hill, weeping his fill.

The time will come when England shall tremble and quake for fear of a (i) Dead-man, that shall be heard to speak: Then will the Dragon give the Bull a great snap; and when this battel is done they will all go to London Town.

(i) This Dead-man hath not yet appeared, but is at hand doubtless.

Here follow other Prophecies she uttered, which because they concern Future Times we shall leave to the Interpretation of the reader.

I.

The Fiery Year as soon as o’er,
Peace shall then be as before;
Plenty everywhere is found,
And men with Swords shall plough the Ground.

II.

The time shall come, when seas of Blood,
Shall mingle with a greater Flood.

III.

Great noise there shall be heard, Great Shouts and Cries,
And Seas shall Thunder louder than the Skies;
Then shall three Lions fight with three, and bring,
Joy to a People, Honour to their King.

Mother Shipton, the authoress of these Prophecies, continued for years esteemed as the Sybil or Oracle of her time; and though she was generally believed to be a Witch, yet all persons that either saw or heard of her, held her in great esteem, and her memory is much honoured by those of her own country, especially in Yorkshire. A long time before her death, she foretold the day and hour she was to take her departure; and the time approaching which she had Prophecied, and which was in the year 1561; she took solemn leave of her friends, who were all greatly attached to her, laid down on her bed, and died, at the good old age of 75 years. Many more “Prophecies” are current in Yorkshire as of her utterance, but the Publisher being unable to find them either properly authenticated, or in any old works, they have been omitted, being desirous of not adding anything which might tend to destroy her sterling reputation.

A stone was erected to her memory near Clifton, about a mile from the city of York, upon which was the following inscription:

Here lyes she who never ly’d
Whose skill often has been try’d;
Her prophecies shall still survive,
And ever keep her name alive.

PROPHECIES
OF
MARTHA, THE GIPSY.

London may appear an unbefitting scene for a story so romantic as that which I have here set down: but, strange and wild as is the tale I have to tell, it is true; and, therefore, the scene of action shall not be changed; nor will I alter or vary from the truth, save that the names of the personages, in my domestic drama shall be fictitious.