"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 congregations 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 enthusiasts, claimed the gift of prophecy: and we are indebted to members of the sect for many contributions to this branch of literature. Humphrey Smith was one of the most celebrated of the vaticinating Quakers. Little is known of his 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 Winchester gaol in 1662. The following passage, from a _Vision which he saw concerning London_ (London, 1660). is startling[4]: "And as for the city, herself and her suburbs, and all that belonged to her, a fire was kindled therin; 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 few 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 stuffe, 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. [Footnote 1: _Mémoires_, p. 155.: Paris, 1649.] [Footnote 2: _Defensative against the Poyson of supposed Prophecies_, p. 116.] [Footnote 3: "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 burning of London_: Lond. 1667, p. 34.] [Footnote 4: 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.]