The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-09-09 00:00:00

LITIOURr GLEAM:I'GL

No. XXV.
OF PROPHECIES.

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I mean not to speak of divine prophecies, nor of heathen
wicks, nor of natural predictions ; but only of prophecies
that have been of certain memory, and from hidden causes,
pith the Pythonissa to Saul, " To-inorrow thou and thy
on shall be with me i" Virgil bath these verses from
Homer :
At damns .Eness eunctus dominabitur oils,
Et MO natorum, et qui nascentur ob lilts."
..En. lii. 97.
A prophecy as it seems of the Roman Empire. Seneca
the tragedian bath these verses :
Venient annie
trecula eerie, quibus °emus
Vincula return lattet, et ingens
latest tellus, Tiphyaque novas
Lietegat ortits ; nee sic testis
Ultima Thule
a prophecy of the discovery of America.
Henry the Sixth of England said of Henry the Seventh,'
when he was a lad, and gave him water, " This is the lad
that shall enjoy the crown for which we strive." When I
was in France, I beard from one Dr. Pena, that the queen-
pother, who was given to curious arts, caused the King
her husband's nativity to he calculated under a false name ;
and the astrologer gave a judgment that he should be killed
in a duel, at which the Queen laughed, thinking her hus-
band to be above challenges and duels ; but he war slain
upon a course at tilt, tl• et splinters of the staff of kfotitgo-
Awry going in at his beaver. The trivial prophecy which
I hesnl when I was a child, and Queen Elizabeth was in
the flower of her years, was—
•• 11 hen hetnpe is spun,
England's done :"
*hereby it was generally conceived, that after the Princes
had reigned which had the principal letters of that word
hempe (which were Henry, Edward, Mary, Philip, and
F.iizabedt), England should come to utter confusion ;
which, thanks be to God. is verified in the change of the
name ; for that the King's style is now no mere of' England
but of Britain. There was also another prophecy before
the year of eighty-eight, which I do not well understand.
" There shall be seen upon a day,
Between the Baugh and the May,
The black fleet of Norway.
When that is come and gone,
Eoglscd build houses of limo and stone,
Tor atter wars sball 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.
There are numbers of the like kind ; especially if you
include dreams, and predictions of astrology ; but I have
set down these frw only of certain credit, for example.
bey judgment is, that they ought all to be despised, and
ought to serve but for winter talk by the fire-side. Though
when I say despised, I mean it as for belief ; for other-
wise, the spreading or publishing of them is in no sort to
be despised; for they have done much mischief ; and I
see many severe laws made to suppress them. That, that
bath given them grace and some credit, consisteth in three
things. First, that men mark when they hit, and never
mark when they miss ; as they do, generally, also of
dreams. The second is, that probable conjectures, or ob-
scure traditions, many times turn themselves' into prophe-
cies; while the nature of man, which covereth divination,
thinks it no peril to foretel that which indeed they do but
collect; as that of Seneca's verse : for so much was then
subject to demonstration, that the globe of the earth had
great parts beyond the atlantic, -which might be probably
conceived not to be all sea ; and adding thereto the tradi-
tion in Plato's Timms, and his Atlanticus, it might en-
courage one to turn it to a prediction. The third and last
(which is the great one), is that almost all of them, being
infinite In number, have been impostures, and by idle and
crafty br.sins,'merely contrived and feigned, after the event
paned.—Lord Bacon.

FAREWELL.
Farewell ! if ever fondest prayer
For other's weal availed on high,
Thine will not all be lost in air,
But waft thy name beyond the sky.
'T were vain to speak, to weep, to sigh :
Oh ! more than tears of blood can tell,
When wrung from guilt's expiring eye,
Axe in that word—farewell !—farewell !
• These lips are mute, these eyes are dry;
But in my breast, and in my brain,
Awake the pangs that pass not by,
The thought that ne'er shell sleep again.
My soul nor deigns, nor dares complain,
Though grief and passion there rebel ;
1 only know we loved in vain,
I only feel—farewell !—farewell !
Brltow.

Sir Racism's) MoatsoN used to say—think a minute
&tore you speak, and an hour before you promise.

Anthony Henley's former dying of an asthma, said—
" Well, if I ever get this breath once out, I'll take care
it shall never get in spin."

The reason why PO few marriages are happy is, because
young ladits spend their times in making nets, not in
making cages.—Stoff?.

I wish I were by that dim lake,
Where sinful souls their farewell take
Of this vain world, anti halt-way lie
In death's cold shadow, ere they die,
There, there, far from thee,
Deceitful world, my 'mine should be—
Where, come what might of gloom and pain,
False hope should ne'er deceive again !
The lifeless sky, the mournful sound
Of unseen waters felling round—
The dry leaves, quieting o'er rrky head,
Like man, unquiet ev'n when dead--
These—eye—these should wean
DI y lieu' from life's deluding some.
And turn each thought each wish I hove,
Like willows, downward tow'rds the rave.
At they, who to their couch at night
ould welcome sleep, first quench the light,
ho must the hopes, that keep this breast
Awake, be qucnch'd, ers it can rest.
Cold, cold, my heart must grow,
Unchang'd by either joy or woe,
lake fuming founts, where all that's thrown
Within their current turns to stone.
Irish Md. No. IX.

" People of real genius hare strong passions ; people of
strong passions hare great partialities : such u Mr. Pope
for Lord Bolingbroke, Itc. Persons of slow parts have
languid par.ions, and persons of languid passions have
little partiality. They neither love, nor hate, nor look,
nor move, with the energy of a man of sense. The faults
of the former should be balanced with their excellencies ;
and the blameltemeu of the latter should be weighed with
their inaignificancv. Ilappiness and virtue are, perhaps,
generally dispentid with moreequality than we are aware.
Extreme volatile and sprightly tempers seem inconsistent
with any great enjojment. There is too much time wasted
is the mere transition from one object to another. No
Nom for those deep impressions, which are made alone by
the duration of an idea ; and are quite requisite to any
i'tong sensation, either of pleasure or of pain. The bee to
collect honey, or the spider to gather poison, must abide
upas the weed or flower. They whose fluids are'
olatik, seem rather cheerful than happy men.
:r above described is oftener the lot of wits than
of great abilities.
re no persona more solicitous shout the preserve-
tk than those who have no rank at all. Observe
turf of a country christening, and you will find
in christendom so ceremonious as the quality of
.—Shen3l,,ne.

ILADE.—During the week before last a plot of
Is cleared at Sandbach, for the purpose of erect.
r silk rnanufsqory in that town. It is reported
:r is likely to be erected shortly. Branches of the
foollen manufactures, on a large scale, are about
Incrd into 6 latgow. The cotton trade is still doll
ugh the late speculation has done its worst.

:urilay two singular insects were found in a
bed, in the garden of E. B. Pateshall, Esq. of
e, in this county. They are about four inches
•Iv as thick u a mans middle finger, arc fur-
It twelve feet or feelers, eight of them homey
I have six joints or scales on their bodies. In
somewhat resemble the large centipedes of the
lies, but arc evidently harmless. The one ix a
r variegated brilliant orange colour, situ the other
grren.—llesfjiod 4foar•44.

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