"'It is known that the width of the rings diminishes with the age of the tree, until, at the latter part of its life, they are of very inconsiderable width, compared with those near the centre of the trunk.... Again, it is also known that the width of the rings differs according to season, being of course wider in those seasons most favourable to the action of the leaves, and the general processes of growth; but greatly diminished in seasons affected by blight, cold, or other causes of injury to the leaves. It also happens that the rings are often of unequal width on opposite sides of the trunk.... While, if the tree be so hollow as to have no portion of its centre remaining ... will expose the calculation to ... error. In reference, therefore, to the Cowthorpe Oak, we abandon all scientific pretension.'"
The foregoing is extracted from an account of the Cowthorpe Oak by C. Empson, Esq., 1842: Ackerman, Strand.
COKELY.
"Mirabilis Liber" (Vol. iv., p. 474.).
—I have a copy of this book, from which a "prophecy" is quoted in "N. & Q." p. 474., but the translation there given differs from the prophecy, as given in my book. I have therefore copied it out at length, and exactly as given in the original, with all the faults of barbarous Latin and want of stops.
My book is a small 8vo. without date: the first part in Latin, and the second in French, in Gothic characters. The colophon runs thus: "On les vend au roy David en la rue St. Jacques."[5]
[5] [For a notice of the various editions of this work, see Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, s. v. Mirabilis, tome iii. p. 401.—ED.]
The "prophet" is S. Severus not S. Cæsario.
"PROPHETIA SANCTI SEVERI ARCHIEPISCOPI.
"Propter incohabitationem doni tertii reviviscet scisma in ecclesiâ Dei tunc erunt duo sponsi unus verus alter adulter. Adulter vero videlicet pars diabolica quæ ecclesia appellatur erit tanta strages et sanguinis effusio quanta nunquam fuit ex quo gigantes fuerunt. Legitimus sponsus fugiet, ecce leo surget et aquila nigra veniens ex liguriâ et quasi fulgens eradicabit nido suos sexatioribus pennis et tunc incipient tribulationes et prælia terrena et marina et clamabitur pax et non invenietur: blasphemabitur nomen domini et non erit ratio in terrâ unusquisque opprimabitur potentiam suam. Væ tibi civitas gentium et divitiarum in principio. Sed gaudebis in fine. Væ tibi civitas philosophorum gaudeas. O terra filii Noe edificata quia prefatum habebis gaudium et totam dominaberis romandiolam. Væ tibi civitas philosophorum subdita erit. Væ tibi lombardiæ gens turres etiam gaudii tui dirimentur. Ecce leo magnus et gallicus obviabit aquilæ: et feriet caput ejus eritque bellum immensum et mors valida unus eorum amittet fugietque in thuciam illic reassumet vires.