Eighteene hundred thirty-five,
Which of us shall be alive?
Many a king shall ende his reign;
Many a knave his ende shall gain;
Many a statesman be in trouble;
Many a scheme the worlde shall bubble;
Many a man shall selle his vote;
Many a man shall turne his coat.
Righte be wronge, and wronge be righte,
By Westminster's candle-lighte.
But, when from the top of Bow
Shall the dragon stoop full low.
When from church of holy Paul
Shall come down both crosse and ball.
When all men shall see them meete
On the land, yet by the Fleet.
When below the Thamis bed
Shall be seen the furnace red;
When its bottom shall drop out,
Making hundreds swim about,
Where a fishe had never swum,
Then shall doleful tidings come.
Flood and famine, woe and taxe,
Melting England's strength like waxe;
Till she fights both France and Spain,
Then shall all be well again!
I shall have an infinite respect for Mother Shipton in future. All
was amply verified. The repairs of St Paul's, in the year stated,
required that the cross and ball should be taken down, which was
done accordingly. Bow Church, whose bells are supposed to thrill
the _intima præcordia_ of every Londoner's memory in every part of
the globe, happening to be in the same condition, the dragon on
the spire was also taken down, and cross, ball, and dragon, were
sent to a coppersmith's, in Ludgate Hill, beside the Fleet prison,
where they were to be seen by all the wondering population, lying
together. The third feature of the wisdom of Mother Shipton was
fulfilled with equal exactitude. The Thames Tunnel had been pushed
to the middle of the river's bed, when, coming to a loose portion of
the clay, the roof fell in; the Thames burst through its own bottom,
the Tunnel was instantly filled, and the workmen were forced to
swim for their lives. The remainder of the oracle, partly present,
is undeniable while we have an income tax, and the _finale_ may be
equally relied on, to the honour of the English Pythonness.
RECENT ROYAL MARRIAGES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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