SS/1 ys CIVIL AND MORAL. 59 



(f.-tlbn, &quot;Tn quoquc, Galba, dcgustabis imperium.&quot; In Vespasian s 

 time there went a prophecy in the east, that those that should come 

 forth of Judea, should reign over the world ; which though it may be 

 was meant of our Saviour, yet Tacitus expounds it of Vespasian. 

 Domitiun dreamed, the night before he was slain, that a golden head 

 was growing out of the nape of his neck : and indeed the succession 

 that followed him, for many yiars made golden times. Henry the 

 sixth of England said of Henry th-j seventh, when he was a lad, and 

 gave him water ; &quot; This is the lad that shall enjoy the crown for which 

 we strive.&quot; \\ hen I was in Fiance, I heard from one Dr. Pena, that, 

 the queen-mother, who was given to curious arts, caused the king her 

 husband s nativity to be calculated under a false name: ; and the astro 

 loger gave a judgment, that he should be killed in a vluel ; at which the 

 queen laughed, thinking her husband to be above challenges and 

 duels : but he was slain, upon a course, at tilt, the splinters of the staff 

 of Montgomery going in at his beaver. The trivvil prophecy, which I 

 heard when 1 was a child, and when queen Klix.abei.ii was in the flower 

 of her years, was ; 



When Hcmpc is spun, 



England s donne. 



Whereby it was generally conceived, that after the princes had 

 reigned, which had the principal letters of that word Hcmpe, which 

 were Henry, Kdward, Mary, Philip, and Elizabeth, England should 

 come to utter confusion ; which, thanks be to God, is verified only in 

 the change of the name, for that the king s style is now no more of 

 England, but of Britain. There was also another prophecy before the 

 year eighty-eight, which I do not well understand : 



There shall be seen upon a day, 

 lietween the bauyli and the May, 

 The black fleet of Norway. 

 When that is come and gone, 

 Kngland build houses of lime and stone, 

 For after wars shall you have none. 



It was generally conceived to be meant of the Spanish fleet that came 

 in eighty-eight. For that the king of Spain s surname, as they say, is 

 Norway. The prediction of Rcgiomontanus, 



Octogesimus octavus mirahilis anmis : 



was thought likewise accomplished, in the sending of that great fleet, 

 being the greatest in strength, though not in number, of all that ever 

 swam upon the sea. As fo: Clcon s dream, I think it was a jest : it 

 was, that he was devoured of a long dragon ; and it was expounded of 

 a maker of sausages, that troubled him exceedingly. There arc num 

 bers of the like kind ; especially if you include dreams, and predictions 

 of astrology. Jhit I have set do\.n these few only of certain credit, for 

 example. My judgment is, that they ought all to l&amp;gt;c despised, and 

 ought to serve but for winter talk by the fire-side. Though when 1 

 say despised, I mean it as for belief: for otherwise, the spreading or 

 publishing of them, is in no sort to be despised; for they have done 



