Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-10-05
BY REV. join HALL. u. D., y. Y.

|
! invites attention at the head of this column.
We are bound to call her venerable by the
photograph on the copy OF her works now
lying before the writer, for which indeed 1t is
not expressly stated that she Snt IN Ms, at
which time she flourshcd though the i'm
plicit belief with which her predictions are
regarded 10y many in England would not be
mIch shaken Ly .hc intima,ion
This copy was purchased in Windsor, at
| TIE booksellers of the place. exactly oppo-
site the castle-gate of II. VI. Queen Victoria,
whose portrait in the window is rather cast
into the shade by Mother Shipton. And the
bookseller is not an adventurer of the day,
but respectable and eminently Trustworthy
man, as may appear from the fact that ii you
| buy his Guide to Windsor Castle" no few
er than twenty royal chambers will he open
| to your inspection that respond to no other
| appeal He sells Mother Shiptons Pro
phecies" with the aforesaid photograph. and
the impressive remark, quite wonderful,
aren't they"
An examination OF the 'Prophecits," how
ever, dispels the wonder in n good degree,
and shows how readily a prophetic assurance,
| conveniently vague in form, and confident in
tone, may command belief from those who
| eagerly look into the future. Here is
specimen of the predictions
Water shall yet more wonders do.
How strange, ct shall he true.
The world upside down shall be
And gold ieunG at the root OF tree.
Through hills men shall ride
And no horse ass BE- by their side
Under water men shall walk,
Shall ride, shall sleep, and talk
In the air men shall heseen,
In white, in black, and in green.
The exigencies of rhyme seem to have re-
quired the talk" and green" in this pas
sage, and, indeed, in some others. We have
English poetry of the fifteenth century. but
it varies in form OF words, AM. notably in
the spelling, from Mother Shipton. It as
the copy alleges, the prophecies were re
Gently discovered in the British Museum,
the finder must have been good enough to
modernize the style but he ought to have
told us so In the absence of the announce
ment one is tempted to think the predictions
as modern as the style
Some OF them indeed, might be made
with safety every year, OF even month as,
for example, the following detached an.
nouncemeHt
"A great man shall come and 90"
When are there not great men coming and
goingt So it would have been safe any time
during the last two centuries to predict
The British olive mex. shall twine
In marriage with the German yine,"
Tor the British Olive, ii that tree, quite un-
known to Britain, stands for the Royal house
hold, has long been wont To intcrtwine III
this iashlO:-. The career of France is de-
picted in language very unlike the fifteenth
century, but which n vivid fancy might easily
enough have suggested at much later date
Three times three shall lovely France
BE led 20 play a bloody dance
Before her people shall he tree
Three Tyrant Rulers she shall see;
Three times the peoples hope Is gone
Three rulers in succession see,
Each springs from different dynasty,
Then sball the worser fl ight be done
England and France shall be as one"
Just at what stage in this picturesque
drama France now is, it is difficult to state.
In one particular Mother Shipton hit the
mark, but III strain that it would puzzle
her most devoted believer to interpret fully
"England shall at last admit Jew
The Jew that was held in scOrn,
bhali OF a Christian lie born, and born"
We really think the authorities of the Alu-
scum should have the original examined
Did Mother Shipton really put down this has,
line? Or had the verse to be eked ont TO
rhyme with '.scorn?" And was it the re-
quirement of rhyme that obliged the good
woman to conclude her oruclc-for her whole
work is only of two pages III this fashion
THE world then to end shall come
In eighteen hundred and eighty one"
Seriously, one is ut loss to know il we
are as enlightened as We allege. We are
making progress, ii is true, IN some things.
Real American Crul'ers" are advertised in
the Strand. London. and Mr.. Barnum is lee
turing i'll the Royal Aquarium = hut how
intelligent can the people be who revere
Mother Shipton? And yet we must not for
get that eminent and religious men have
fixed definite dates for the end of the world,
some of which have passed
The human mind, in virtne OF It's own in
destructible being, projects itself into the
future, and Graves for glmpses OF what is TO
come. One Book gives rs much of such in
timatiun as sutiiccs TO establish its own cred
ibility and to give to man practical guidance,
and in the absence of revcrent and intelli- |
gent submission to it. sibylline leaves ora
cles, pythonesses. witches, Mother Shiptons.
and mediums OF every degree OF sincerity
and of knavery, will find an audience 1t
market.
Few things are more instructive than n |
comparison OF the prophetic announcements |
to the genuine and of the spurious kind. |
The former are intensely practical. They |
are followed by therefore" They give |
reasons for their existence. ''Such and such /
things will be- therefore do such and such |
things" The spurious are commonly with
out this use. Like the little boys that make |
wheels" on the streets, simply to show what |
they can do, and get pennies these ''dIyin- |
ers" only astOnish ; they do not teach. And |
their wonders all wonders We beg pardon |
of the Windsor booksellers are wonders |
only to the very ignorant, and the very su-
perstitious.