VII.
“When Neptune’s back with stripes is red,
The sickly Lion shall hide his head.
VIII.
“When seven and six shall make but one,
The Lion’s might shall be undone.”
Verse 1.—The settlement of America by a civilized nation is very clearly alluded to in the first line. The frantic mother is Britain. America still feels the wounds she has received from her.
Verse 2.—The Cock is France, the Dove is America, Columbia; their union is the epocha when America shall cease to love Britain.
Verse 3.—In many parts of Europe there are subterranean works carried on by persons who never see the light of day. But perhaps the solution may more particularly be referred to the siege of York, in Virginia, where the approaches were carried on by working in the earth. In the second line there is another equivoque. We are told by Mr. Addison, in his “Spectator,” that a lion will not hurt a true maid. This, at first view, seems to be contradicted by the prophecy; but, on examination, the epocha referred to, the virgin, Columbia (or, perhaps, Virginia, by which name all North America was called in the days of Queen Elizabeth), shall wound the lion,—that is, Britain,—which shows the precise time when the oracle should be accomplished.