MERLIN Reviv'd: OR, An Old PROPHECY Found in a Manuscript in Pontefract Castle in York-shire.

MDCL.—1650.
WHen MDC shall joyn with L,
In England things will not go well;
A Body shall without an Head,
Make all the Neighbouring Nations dread.
The Lyon's Whelps shall banish'd be,
And seek their prey beyond the Sea.
MDCLX.—1660.
But when that X the rest shall joyn,
Restor'd shall be the Royal Line:
Through England joy shall flow amain,
To see the Lyon's Whelps again,
MDCLXVI.—1666.
M joyn'd to th' number of the Beast,
Let London then beware the Priest;
Ignatius Brood disguis'd shall burn,
The City and it to Ashes turn:
Then some shall weep, others admire,
To see the Vengeance of the Fire.
MDCLXXX.—1680.
E're time two X's more doth add,
Things will in England grow but bad:
Those who before were well content,
Shall moan their folly, and repent.
A Man of Cole shall Plots design,
And with the Jesuits Brood shall joyn;
But the effect they ne're shall see,
But die upon a Triple-Tree.
When Janock and the Truckle-Couch,
With Horse-pride shall the same things vouch,
And when the Valley of the Breast,
Shall help to witness with the rest,
Then Hellish Plots shall be made known,
And th' Arts of wicked Rome be shown.
The Son of Jane shall first relate,
The Lyes that dying men create:
An Officer to tell his Tale,
In Wooden House shall hither sail:
Through Loop-hole shall a Lawyer look,
And Vulcan's Son shall write a Book:
A Willow to a Field shall change,
And shew things Dangerous and strange,
Then shall a Price be strongly prest,
To buy the Valley of the Breast:
And Mother-Midnight shall declare,
She for Religion will make War.
Janock shall go nigh to be slain,
And Knockt down in a dirty Lane:
But Janock shall escape at last,
And see the dangers he had past.
Superstition shall have a fall,
It's Trinkets hung out on a Wall:
The Whore of Babylon's Attire,
Shall by the Wall be burnt i'th' Fire.
The Lyon to the North shall go,
And the Lov'd Knight himself shall shew:
Great Joy his sight to some shall bring,
Yet some shall mourn, whilest others sing;
In every place great stir shall be,
Members and Head shall disagree:
The Sun Eclipsed from our sight,
Shall give a weak and sickly light;
The Moon shall be bestain'd with Blood,
And Venus by the Sun be trod;
Then from these three there shall arise,
A flaming Meteor in the Skies,
Which shall to England threat much woe,
And down the Miter overthrow.
MDCLXXXII.—1682.
E're to the Letters writ before,
Time shall have added two I's more,
Two I's shall rise and shall contend,
And for the Crown their Force shall bend;
A Senate then shall end the strife,
And Atropos shall cut a Life:
Rome then from England fast shall fly,
And Laws shall long imprison'd try:
Under the Ax great men shall bleed,
And others shall at last be freed.
The Church and Crown shall flourish then,
And happy Peace restor'd agen,
The Flower de-luce shall lose a Stem,
And the Old Eagle loud shall scream:
The Half Moon shall Victorious grow,
And trample on a Northern Foe:
The Orange shall begin to bear,
Then Hogen to your selves beware:
A Triple-League shall then be made,
And Rome of England be afraid:
And he who lives till Eighty Three,
All this to come to pass shall see.

To the READER.

THough at the first View this Prophecy may seem to be an Invention of a late date, and not Written till time did Interpret it; yet upon strict search and Inquiry into the reality thereof, we have found convincing Evidence that it was certainly written many years before it came to pass; which for your satisfaction we shall briefly give an account of. The Widdow of an eminent Doctor of Physick, now living at Guilford in Surrey, hath affirmed to several Persons of good Credit and Repute, that her Father when he was a Student in Oxford, had a Copy of this Prophecy in his Study; which by an exact Computation of Time, appears to be full Threescore years since: Likewise upon occasion of a Discourse concerning the late Comet at a Coffee-house in Guilford, a Gentleman now dwelling there, said, he had a Paper in his house ten years past, which he Judged of some concernment, and at the request of some present, went and fetched this Prophecy, and read it to them, Further, there are several persons at Reading in Berk-shire, who justifie, that they had the Copy thereof above seven years past: Some others also at Newberry affirm the same; and a Gentleman at Battersea says he had this very Prophecy seven years ago: A Minister in London likewise gives an Account that he hath seen a Copy of it several years since: Lastly a Person of Quality, one Sir R. B. Kt. of known Reputation in and about this City assures us, that as near as he can remember he hath seen a Prophecy exactly like this Copy above twenty years ago; So that we would desire the Reader to believe that there is no design of imposing on his Judgment; but since this was certainly given out so many years since, we may judge the Person was influenced by some extraordinary Power, and that what is yet unfulfill'd ought not to be disregarded.

FINIS.

LONDON, Printed for S. S. 1681.

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