80 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 169. 



And again : 



" Methinks I see you bringing pick-axes to dig 

 downe your owne walls, and kindling sparks that will 

 set all in a flame from one end of the city to the other." 

 — P. 214. 



And afterwards, in a strain of rough eloquence : 



" This goodly city of yours all in shreds, ye may seek 

 for a threshold of your antient dwellings, for a pillar 

 of your pleasant habitations, and not find them ; all your 

 spacious mansions and sumptuous monuments are then 

 gone . . . Wo unto us, our sins have pulled down our 

 houses, shaken down our city ; we are the most har- 

 bourlesse featlesse people in the world . . . Foxes 

 have holes, and the fowls of the air nests, but we have 

 neither ; our sins have deprived us both of couch and 

 covert. What inventions shall ye then be put to, to 

 secure yourselves, when your sins shall have shut up 

 all the conduits of the city, and suffer only the Liver 

 conduit to run * ; when they allow you no showers of 

 rain, but showers of blood ; when ye shall see no men 

 of your incorporation, but the mangl'd citizen ; nor 

 hear no noise in your streets but the crys, the shrieks, 

 the yells and pangs of gasping, dying men ; when, 

 amongst the throngs of associates, not a man will own 

 you or come near you," &c. — Pp. 221. et seq. 



After alluding to the epidemics of former ages, 

 he thus alludes to the coming plague : 



" It will chase men out of their houses, as if there 

 was some fierce enemy pursuing them, and shut up 

 shop doors, as if execution after judgment was served 

 upon the merchants ; there will then be no other music 

 to be heard but doleful knells, nor no other wares to 

 be born up and down but dead corpses ; it will change 

 mansion houses into pest-houses, and gather congre- 

 gations rather into churchyards than churches . . , The 

 markets will be so empty, that scarce necessaries will 

 be brought in, a new kind of brewers will set up, even 

 apothecaries to prepare diet drinks." — P. 255. 



The early Quakers, like most other religious en- 

 thusiasts, claimed the gift of prophecy : and we are 

 indebted to members of the sect for many contri- 

 butions to this branch of literature. Humphrey 

 Smith was one of the most celebrated of the vati- 

 cinating Quakers. Little is known of liis life and 

 career. He appears to have joined the Quakers 

 about 1654 ; and after enduring a long series of 

 persecutions and imprisonments for the sake of his 

 adopted creed, finally ended his days in Winches- 

 ter gaol in 1662. The following passage, from a 

 Vision which he saw concerning London (London, 

 1660), is startling t : 



* " It was a great contributing to this misfortune 

 that the Thames Water House was out of order, so 



that the conduits and pipes were almost all dry." 



Observations on. the Bnrning of London: Lond. 1667, 

 p. 34. 



f For a sight of this extremely scarce tract, I am 

 indebted to the courtesy of the gentleman who has the 

 care of the Friends' Library in Devonshire House, 

 Bishopsgate. 



" And as for the city, herself and her suburbs, and 

 all that belonged to her, a fire was kindled therein ; 

 but she knew not how, even in all her goodly places, 

 and the kindling of it was in the foundation of all her 

 buildings, and there was none could quench it . . . And 

 the burning thereof was exceeding great, and it burned 

 inward in a hidden manner which cannot be described. 

 . . All the tall buildings fell, and it consumed all the 

 lofty things therein, and the fire searched out all the 

 hidden places, and burned most in the secret places. 

 And as I passed through her streets I beheld her state 

 to be very miserable, and very ie'vr were those who were 

 left in her, who were but here and there one : and 

 they feared not the fire, neither did the burning hurt 

 them, but they walked as dejected mournful people . . 

 And the fire continued, for, though all the lofty part 

 was brought down, yet there was much old stufle, and 

 parts of broken-down desolate walls, which the fire 

 continued burning against . . . And the vision thereof 

 Remained in me as a thing that was showed me of the 

 Lord." 



Daniel Baker, Will Lilly, and Nostradamus, I 

 shall reserve for another paper. T. Sternberg. 



3S0TES AND QUERIES ON BACON S ESSAYS, NO. II. 



(Vol. vii., p. 6.) 



Essay I. p. 2. " One of the fathers." Who, and 

 where ? 



Ditto, ditto. Tiie poet. Lucretius, ii., init. 

 " Suave mari raagno," &c. 



Ditto, p. 3. (note i). Plutarch. Does Montaigne 

 allude to Plutarch, De Liberis educandis, vol. ii. 

 (ed. Xyland.) 11 C. : "t5 70^ \pev5f(T0ai Sov\oirpeiris 



/C.T.A."? 



Essay II. p. 4. " You shall read in some of the 

 friars' books," &c. Where ? 



Ditto, ditto. "Pompamagis,"&c. Does Bacon 

 quote this from memory, referring to "ToUe 

 istam pompam, sub qua latcs, et stultos territas " ? 

 (Ep. XXIV. vol. ii. p. 92. : ed. Elzev. 1672.) 



Ditto, p. 5. " We read," &c. Tac. Hist, ii. 49. 

 "Quidam militcs juxta roguni interfecere se, non 

 noxa neque ob metum, sed semulatione decoi-is et 

 caritate principis." Cf. Sueton. Vit. 0th., 12. 



Ditto, ditto. " Cogita quamdiu," Sec. Whence 

 is this ? 



Ditto, ditto. " Augustus Cajsar died," &c. Suet. 

 Vit Octav., 99. 



Ditto, ditto. " Tiberius in dissimulation." Tac. 

 Ann., vi. 50. 



Ditto, ditto. "Vespasian." Suet. Fi7. F(?sp«5., 23. 



Ditto, ditto. " Galba." Tac. Hist, i. 41. 



Ditto, ditto. "Septimus Severus." Whence is 

 this? 



Ditto, p. 6. (notem). "In the tenth Satire of 

 Juvenal." V. 357., seq. 



Ditto, ditto. " Extinctus amabitur idem." Hor. 

 Epistu. 1. 14, 



