Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1911-06-22

81; ;: s.: 60; 6. ): :; ; ;;; s: !:
lish history, both
prior to and after the Revolu-
ton. The name of Merlin is given
as the author Of the mystic
rhymes, which date back to the ff-
teenth century and run in couplets
fraught with double meaning, and
seeming to be the work of some sooth-
sayer or student of the stars who fore
saw, or fancied he foresaw, in the
heavenly bodies strange portents of
the days to come.
The lines can be found in the works
of Dean Swift, edition of 1865, page
PA, volume 3. They were also print
ed in the United States in September,
1856, three years after peace with Eng
land had been declared, and published
in a few foreign journals; but the ear
Hest appearance of the poem was in
an ancient English work edited and
produced in London in the year 1880.
In complete form 1t runs as follows:
when the savage is meek and mild
The frantic mother shall stab her child.
When the Cock shall WOO the Dove
The Mother shall cease the child to love.
When men like moles work underground
The Lion a Virgin true shall wound.
When the Dove and the Cock the Lion
shall fight
The Lion shall crouch beneath their
might. +
When the Cock shall guard the Eagles
nest
The stars shall rise-all in the West.
When ships above the clouds shall sail
The Lions strength shall surely fail.
When Neptune's back with stripes is red
The sickly Lion shall hide his head.
When seven and six shall make but one
The Lions might shall be undone."
Many diverse opinions are held as
to the ability of mere man to peer
into the future. but without entering
Into an argument on the subject, it
IL at least interesting to note how
curiously certain of the prophecies
made by the dead and forgotten rhym-
ster coincide with the march of act
ual events when submitted to the proc
ess of deduction.
We a take the first couplet as re-
ferring to the history of America,
and mor particularly to the colonial
period. The white settlers had plant
ed civilization, by means of De Soto's
sword, Champlain's guns and the mis-
~sfonaries' prayers, deeply in the for
est, and the Indians may be said to
have become temporarily subdued
through awe of these combined ele-
ments. The red man was subjected to
meek and mild influences by the tact
and religious examples of such men
as Roger Williams and William Penn,
whose kindness is a part of Indian
tradition to this yer day. Hence,
when the savage evidently the
North American Indian) lis meek and
mild, the frantic mother (meaning
England) shall stab her child" (the
American %colonies).
When and how England enacted this
needs scant comment other than that
the courts of the colonies, just prior
to the Revolution, used the sword OF
Justice to destroy the rights of the
American subjects of the crown. AT
this point England actually and not
fguratively stabbed her children.
when the Cock shall WOO the Dove
The mother shall cease the child to love-
Now, the cock for ages has beer
emblematic of France, as the Lion has
of England, and the cartoonists O.
early days invariably designated the
French "as proud as the cock" Ii
France, victory at arms or civic tri
umphs were always, as at the presen'
time, proclaimed by the display of the
rooster. The dove referred to wa.
undoubtedly intended for Columbia, Of
the United States or colonies. TIL,
word Columbia means "Dove-like' O,
"Columbo," the original meaning O
Columbus, the noun base of the prop
er adjective Columbia, but accepted b!
Americans as a proper noun-
Our colonial history abounds will
illustrations as to how eagerly Franc,
courted the good will of the American
colonies, and an equally emphatic tai,
In the drama is the jealousy Of Eng
land at the display Of any colonia
regard for the French government
This second couplet is especially vel
illustrated in the continental congress