2"'i S. VII. May 14. '69.] 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



397 



donian general. (Ammian. Marcellin. xxxi. 14. 

 8. ; Zonaras, xiii. 16. ; Cedrenus, Hist, vol. i. p. 

 549., ed. Bonn. Concerning Mimas, the mountain, 

 see the note of Spanheim, ad Callim. Del. 67.) 

 Nothing is known of any historical person named 

 Mimas. The name seems to be purely mythical. 

 The death of Valens took place in 378 a.d. 



11. An ambiguity of a somewhat similar nature 

 occurred in the prediction of the Delphic oracle 

 to the Emperor Nero, which warned him to be- 

 ware of the seventy-third year. He referred this 

 prediction to his own age ; but it was interpreted 

 of his successor Galba, who was seventy-three 

 years old when Nero was killed. (Suet. Ner. 

 40.) 



To these examples, which, whatever may be 

 the credibility of the accounts, are taken from 

 the historical age, the following mythological 

 story may be subjoined. 



Apollo, in compliance with the Sibyl's entreaty, 

 promised her immortality upon condition that she 

 should leave the island of Erythrse, where she 

 dwelt, and never see it again. She removed to 

 GumsB ; but after a time her body wasted away, 

 until nothing remained but her voice. The in- 

 habitants of Erythrte addressed her a letter upon 

 her unfortunate condition, which was sealed after 

 the ancient fashion with chalk. As soon as she 

 saw this portion of the soil of the island she ex- 

 pired. (Serv. -^n. vi. 321.) It may be observed 

 that Erythrse was a town on the coast of Asia 

 Minor, but that there was no island of this name. 

 (See Strab. xiv. 1. 34.) 



It may be added that English history presents 

 another prophecy of this class, besides that of the 

 death of Henry IV. before mentioned. 



From the detailed contemporary account in the 

 Paston Letters, it appears that William De la 

 Pole, Duke of Suffolk, being with two ships off 

 Dover in April, 1450, was taken prisoner by the 

 master of a large ship, called. Nicholas of the 

 Tower, sent in search of him. 



" He asked the name of the ship ; and when he knew 

 it, he remembered Stacy had said, if he might escape the 

 danger of the Tower he should be safe; and then his 

 heart failed him, for he thought he was deceived." 



He was then removed into a boat, where his 

 head was cut off with six strokes of a rusty 

 sword. His body was afterwards laid on the 

 sands of Dover, with his head on a pole near it 

 (vol. i. p. 40.). 



A similar account of the death of the Duke of 

 Suffolk, though without any mention of the pro- 

 phecy, is given in William of Worcester, p. 469. ; 

 Hist. Croyland. p. 525. ; Stow, Chron. p. 388. 

 (ed. 1615); Fabyan, p. 622. (ed. 1811); Grafton, 

 vol. i. p. 640. ; Hall, p. 218. ; Holinshed, vol. iii. 

 p. 220. These writers agree in stating the name 

 of the ship to have been the Nicholas of the 

 Tower. Stow says that it belonged to the Duke 



of Exeter, Constable of the Tower of London, 

 which probably explains the origin of the name. 



In this story the equivocation is made to de- 

 pend upon the word Tower : the saying of Stacy 

 evidently referred to the danger which the Duke 

 had incurred of being sent as a prisoner to the 

 Tower of London. The version of this prophecy 

 followed by Shakspeare, a century and a half 

 afterwards, is quite different. In the Second Part 

 of Henry VI. (Act I. Sc. 4.), the spirit raised by 

 the exorcists makes the following reply, when ques- 

 tioned respecting the death of the Duke of Suffolk : 



" Baling. Tell me what fates await the Duke of Suffolk. 

 Spirit. By water shall he die, and take his end." 



In Act IV. Sc. 1. the Duke of Suffolk is repre- 

 sented as a prisoner, having been taken at sea by 

 pirates, and as being given by the captain to one 

 Walter Whitmore, who immediately declares that 

 he will put Suffolk to death. The following dia- 

 logue thereupon ensues : — 

 " Cap. Be not so rash, take ransom, let him live. 



Suf. Look on my George, I am a gentleman ; 

 Eate me at what thou wilt, thou shalt be paid. 



Whit. And so am I ; my name is Walter Whitmore. 

 How now ? Why start'st thou ? What, doth death af- 

 fright ? 



Suf. Thy name affrights me, in whose sound is death. 

 A cunning man did calculate my birth. 

 And told me that by water I should die : 

 Yet let not this make thee be bloody minded ; 

 Thy name is Gualtier, being rightly sounded. 



Wfiit. Gualtier or Walter, which it is, I care not ; 

 Ne'er yet did base dishonour blur our name, 

 But with our sword we wiped away the blot." 



Suffolk is shortly afterwards led away by Whit- 

 more, who cuts off his head, and returns with the 

 lifeless body. 



The same version of the prophecy is also alluded 

 to in Drayton's Epistle of Queen Margaret to the 

 Duke of Suffolk : — 



" I pray thee, Pool, have care how thou dost pass : 

 Never the sea yet half so dangerous was. 

 And one foretold by water thou should'st die. 

 Ah, foul befall that foul tongue's prophecy." 



Vol. iv. p. 324. 



The fluctuating character of this story is shown 

 in the wide discrepancy between its two versions. 

 There is a similar variation in the story respecting 

 the death of Daphnitas, related above. No. 7. The 

 origin of Shakspeare's version is obscure. It does 

 not appear in any of the chronicles above cited. 



The prophecies which Macbeth receives in the 

 witches' cave, from the apparitions, namely, that 

 he would not be killed by anyone born of woman, 

 and that he would not be conquered until Birnam 

 wood came to Dunsinane, are represented as 

 having been fulfilled by similar unforeseen am- 

 biguities of meaning. When Macbeth hears that 

 the enemy are marching from Birnam with boughs 

 in their hands, he exclaims, — 



" I pall in resolution, and begin 

 To doubt th' equivocation of the fiend. 

 That lies like truth." 



