This remarkable Prophecy has been carefully revised, corrected, and improved; also some account given of our author, Robert Nixon, who was but a kind of idiot, and used to be employed in following the plough. He had lived in some farmers" families, and was their drudge and their jest.
At last, Thomas Cholmondeley, of Vale-Royal, Esq., took him into his house, where he lived when he composed this prophecy, which he delivered with as much gravity and solemnity as if he had been an oracle; and it was observed that though the fool was a driveller, and could not speak common sense when uninspired, yet in delivering his prophecies, he spoke plainly and sensibly; how truly will be seen in the following pages.
As to the credit of this prophecy I dare say it is as well attested as any of Nostradamus"s or Merlin"s, and will come to pa.s.s as well as the best of Squire Bickerstaff"s; it is plain enough that great men in all ages had recourse to prophecy as well as the vulgar. I would not have all grave persons despise the inspiration of Nixon. The late French King gave audience to an inspired farrier, and rewarded him with an hundred pistoles for his prophetical intelligence; though by what I can learn he did not come near our Nixon for gifts.
The simplicity, the circ.u.mstances, and the history of the Cheshire Prophecy are so remarkable that I hope the public will be as much delighted as I was myself.
By the way, this is not a prophecy of to-day; "tis as old as the powder-plot, and the story will make it appear that there is as little imposture in it as the Jacobites pretend there is in the person it seems to have an eye to; but whether they are both impostures alike or not I leave the reader to determine.
J. OLDMIXON.
THE PROPHECY.
IN the reign of King James the First there lived a man generally reputed a fool, whose name was Nixon. One day, when he returned home from ploughing, he laid the things down which he had in his hands, and continued for some time in a seemingly deep and thoughtful meditation, at length he p.r.o.nounced in a loud hoa.r.s.e voice, "Now I will prophecy;" and spoke as follows;
"When a raven shall build in a stone lion"s mouth on the top of a church in Cheshire, then a King of England shall be driven out of his kingdom, and never return more.
"When an eagle shall sit on the top of the house, then an heir shall be born to the Cholmondeley family, and this heir shall live to see England invaded by foreigners, who shall proceed as far as a town in Cheshire; but a miller, named Peter, shall be born with two heels on one foot, and at that time living in a mill of Mr. Cholmondeley"s he shall be instrumental in delivering the nation.
"The person who then governs the nation will be in great trouble, and skulk about:-The invading King shall be killed, laid across a horse"s back like a calf, and led in triumph. The miller having been instrumental in it, shall bring forth the person that then governs the kingdom, and be knighted for what he has done; and after that England shall see happy days. A new set of young men, of virtuous manners, shall come, who shall prosper, and make a flourishing church for two hundred years.
"As a token of the truth of all this a wall of Mr. Cholmondeley"s shall fall, if it falls downwards, the church shall be oppressed, and rise no more; but if it fall upwards, next the rising hill on the side of it, then shall it flourish again. Under this wall shall be found the bones of a British King.
"A pond shall run with blood three days, and the Cross stone Pillar in the forest sink so low into the ground, that a crow from the top of it shall drink of the best blood in England.
"A boy shall be born with three thumbs, and shall hold three kings"
horses, while England shall be three times won and lost in one day."
The original may be seen in several families in the county, and in particular in the hands of Mr. Egerton, of Oulton, with many other remarkable things; as that Peckforton wind-mill should be removed to Ludington hill and that horses saddled should run about while their girths rotted away. But this is sufficient to prove Nixon as great a prophet as Partridge; and we shall give other proofs of it before we have done with him.
I know your prophets are generally for Raw-head and b.l.o.o.d.y-bones and therefore do not mind it much; or I might add that of Oulton mill shall be driven with blood instead of water, but these soothsayers are great butchers and every hall is with them a slaughter-house.
Now as for authorities to prove this prophecy to be genuine and how it has. .h.i.therto been accomplished, I might refer myself to the whole country of Chester, where it is in every one"s mouth and has been so these forty years. As much as I have of the ma.n.u.script was sent me by a person of sense and veracity and as little partial to visions as any body. For my own part I build nothing on this or any other prophecy; only there is something so very odd in the story and so pat in the wording of it that I cannot help giving it as I found it.
The family of the Cholmondeleys is very ancient in this county and takes its name from a place so called near Nantwich; there are also Cholmton and Cholmondeston; but the seat of that branch of the family which kept our prophet Nixon is at Vale-Royal, on the river Weave in Delamere forest. It was formerly an abbey, {43} founded by Edward I. and came to the Cholmondeleys from the famous family of the Holcrofts. When Nixon prophesied this family was near being extinct, the heir having married Sir Walter St. John"s daughter, a lady not esteemed very young, who, notwithstanding, being with child, fell in labour and continued so for many days, during which time an eagle sat upon the house-top and flew away when she was delivered of a son.
A raven is also known to have built in a stone lion"s mouth in the steeple of the church of Over, in the forest of Delamere. Not long before the abdication of King James the wall spoken of fell down and fell upwards and in removing the rubbish were found the bones of a man of more than ordinary size. A pond at the same time ran with water that had a reddish tincture and was never known to have done so before or since.
Headless cross in the forest, which in the memory of man was several feet high, is now only half a foot from the ground.
In the parish of Budworth a boy was born about eighteen years ago with three thumbs; the youth is still living there and the miller Peter lives in Noginshire mill in expectation of fulfilling this prophecy on the person of Perkin: he hath also two heels on one foot and I find he intends to make use of them in the interest of King George, for he is a bold Briton and a loyal subject, zealous for the Protestant succession in the ill.u.s.trious House of Hanover, has a vote for the knights of the shire and never fails to give it on the right side: in a word, Peter will prate or box for the good cause that Nixon had lifted him in and if he does not do the business, this must be said of him, that no man will bid fairer for it; which the Lady Egerton was so apprehensive of, that wishing well to another restoration, she often instigated her husband to turn him out of the mill; but he looked upon it as whimsical and so Peter still continues there, in hopes of being as good a knight as Sir Philip his landlord was.
Of this Peter I have been told, that the Lady Narcliff of Chelsea and the Lady St. John of Battersea, together with several other persons of credit and fashion, have often been heard to talk and that they all a.s.serted their knowledge of the truth of our prophecy and its accomplishment, with many particulars that are more extraordinary than any I have yet mentioned.
The noise of Nixon"s Predictions reaching the ears of King James the First, he would needs see this fool, who cried and made ado that he might not go to court and the reason that he gave was, that he should there be STARVED.-(A very whimsical fancy of his, courts not being places where people are used to starve in, when they once come there, whatever they may have done before.)-The King being informed of Nixon"s refusing to come, said he would take particular care that he should not be starved and ordered him to be brought up. Nixon cried out, that he was sent for again; and soon after the messenger arrived, who brought him up from Cheshire.
How or whether he prophecied to his Majesty, no person can tell; but he is not the first fool that has made a good court prophet.
That Nixon might be well provided for it was ordered that he should be kept in the kitchen, where he grew so troublesome in licking and picking the meat, that the cooks locked him up in a hole; and the King going on a sudden from Hampton Court to London in their hurry they forgot the fool and he was really starved to death.
There are a great many pa.s.sages of this fool-prophet"s life and sayings transmitted in tradition from father to son in this county palatine; as, that when he lived with a farmer before he was taken into Mr.
Cholmondeley"s family, he goaded an ox so cruelly that one of the ploughmen threatened to beat him for abusing his master"s beast-Nixon said, "My master"s beast will not be his three days." A life in an estate dropping in at that time, the lord of the manor took the same ox for a heriot. This account whimsical and romantic as it is was told to the Lady Cowper in the year 1670, by Dr. Patrick late Bishop of Ely then chaplain to Sir Walter St. John; and that lady had the following further particulars relating to this prophecy and the fulfilling of many parts of it from Mrs. Chute, sister to Mrs. Cholmondeley of Vale-Royal, who affirmed that a mult.i.tude of people gathered together to see the eagle before-mentioned and the bird was frightened from her young; that she herself was one of them and the cry among the people was, Nixon"s prophecy is fulfilled and we have a foreign King. She declared that she read over the prophecy many times when her sister was with child of the heir who now enjoys the estate. She particularly remembers that King James the Second was plainly pointed at and that it was foretold he should endeavour to subvert the laws and religion of this kingdom, for which reason they would rise and turn him out: that the eagle of which Nixon prophecied perched in one of the windows all the time her sister was in labour. She says it was the biggest bird she ever saw; that it was in a deep snow and it perched on the edge of a great bow-window, which had a large border on the outside and that she and many others opened the window to try to scare it away, but it would not stir till Mrs. Cholmondeley was delivered; after which it took flight to a great tree over against the room her sister lay in, where having stayed about three days it flew away in the night. She affirmed further to the Lady Cowper, that the falling of the garden wall was a thing not to be questioned, it being in so many people"s memory that it was foretold that the heir of Vale-Royal should live to see England invaded by foreigners and that he should fight bravely for his King and Country: that the miller mentioned is now alive and expects to be knighted and is in the very mill that is foretold: that he should kill two invaders who should come in, the one from the West and the other from the North: that he from the North should bring with him of all nations, Swedes, Danes, Germans, and Dutch; and that in the folds of his garments he should bring fire and famine, plague and murder: that many great battles should be fought in England, one upon London-bridge, which should be so b.l.o.o.d.y, that people will ride in London streets up to their horses" bellies in blood; that several other battles should be fought up and down most parts of Cheshire; and that the last that ever would be fought in England should be on Delamere forest: that the heir of Oulston, whose name is E- and has married Earl Cholmondeley"s sister, should be hanged up at his own gate.
Lastly, Nixon foretells great glory and prosperity to those who stand up in defence of their laws and liberties; and ruin and misery to those who should betray them. He says, the year before this would happen, bread corn would be very dear and that the year following more troubles should begin which would last three years; that the first would be moderate, the second b.l.o.o.d.y, and the third intolerable; that unless they were shortened no mortal could bear them; and that there were no mischiefs but what poor England would feel at that time. But that GEORGE the SON of GEORGE, {51} should put an end to all. That afterwards the church should flourish, and England be the most glorious nation on earth.
Lady Cowper was not content to take these particulars from Mrs. Chute, but she enquired of Sir Thomas Aston, of the truth of this prophecy and he attested it was in great reputation in Cheshire and that the facts were known by every one to have happened as Nixon said they would; adding, that the morning before the garden wall fell, his neighbour Mr.
Cholmondeley, going to ride out a hunting, said "Nixon seldom fails but now I think he will; for he foretold that this day my garden wall would fall and I think it looks as if it would stand these forty years;" that he had not been gone above a quarter of an hour before the wall split and fell upwards against the rising of the hill, which as Nixon would have it, was the presage of a flourishing church.
As to the removal of Peckforton-mill, it was done by Sir John Crew, the mill having lost its trade there, for which he ordered it to be set upon Ludington hill; and being asked if he did it to fulfil the prophecy, he declared he never thought of it. I myself have inquired of a person who knows Mr. Cholmondeley"s pond as well as Rosamond"s in St. James"s Park and he a.s.sured me the falling of the wall and the pond running blood, (as they call it) are facts which in Cheshire any one would be reckoned mad for making the least question of them. As there are several particulars in this prophecy which remain unfulfilled; so when they come to pa.s.s, some other circ.u.mstances may be added, which are not convenient to be told until accomplished.
If I had a mind to look into the antiquities of this county, I might find that prodigies and prophecies are no unusual things there. Camden tells us that at Brereton not many miles from Vale-Royal which gave name to a famous, ancient, numerous, and knightly family, there is a thing as strange as that of the eagle, or the falling of the wall, which he says was attested to him by many persons and was commonly believed; that before any heir of this family dies there are seen, in a lake adjoining the bodies of trees swimming upon the water for several days together.
He likewise adds that near the abbey of St. Maurice in Burgundy there is a fish-pond in which a number of fish are put equal to the number of monks of that place; and if any one of them happens to be sick, there is a fish seen floating on the surface of the water; and in case the fit of sickness proves fatal to the monk, the fish foretells it by its death some days before. This the learned Camden relates in his description of Cheshire and the opinion of the trees swimming in the lake near Brereton, prevails all about the county to the present day, only with this difference, that some say it is one log only that swims and some say many.
Lancashire, which is not far off, has been famous for witches and I am afraid Cheshire is a little infected by its neighbourhood. Those that will not believe our prophecy may leave it alone; but if hope is a good help to faith, I shall not be long among the incredulous.
_The Editor presents his Readers with a Copy of a printed Paper_, _which several aged Persons_, _residing near the Forest_, _have vouched for the Authenticity of_.
A true and particular Account of a strange and surprising Vision, that was seen in the Forest of Delamere, in Cheshire, on the 4th of last Month.
AS Nixon, in the reign of King James the First, prophesied of many strange and wonderful things that should come to pa.s.s, such as an heir being born to Lord Cholmondeley"s which at that time there was little reason to expect, but which came to pa.s.s; and that the eldest son or young Lord Cholmondeley should have the misfortune to break his neck by riding a hunting, which accident really did happen; and several other things already come to pa.s.s according to the said prophecy, but, in particular, of a wonderful battle or engagement that should be fought in the forest of Delamere; and as it is now fully expected that we shall have an invasion from our natural and inveterate enemies the French, it is also thought it will be in the North of England and in all probability the said Forest of Delamere may be the place of action or engagement: and what strengthens the belief more is the vision that was seen in the said forest on the 4th, as follows:
As two ancient persons were walking over the said Forest, to their great surprise, they saw at a distance before them an army rise out of the ground drawn up with their proper officers and their commanders in front of them, and whilst they were looking at and ruminating upon so strange a sight, to their most wonderful surprise and amazement there arose also another army out of the ground, at a small distance from the first, and farther in the forest, which army was headed or commanded by a man in royal apparel, who, after having drawn up his army, marched to meet and engage the first; upon which a most b.l.o.o.d.y battle ensued with firearms, and many appeared to be killed on both sides; but, being so near each other, they laid down or grounded their arms and took to their swords, with which great slaughter was made; and then came to such close quarters that they put up their swords and fought with their hands; all of which engagements continued more than three quarters of an hour, during which time the said two ancient people were spectators; and at last the remains of the army that first appeared retreated towards the sea, and vanished directly out of their sight; whilst the other army which was commanded by the man in royal apparel marched victorious out of the field as far as it was possible to see them. These ancient people having spoken of the above vision it came to the ears of several gentlemen, who sent for, and examined them concerning the truth of it, which they were ready to make oath of for their satisfaction.
On the 6th of the same month, as seven men were going to Cheshire over the said forest, about the middle of it they saw to their astonishment, a vision much resembling that which was on the sixth as above described; only with this addition that the victorious army had many slain to all appearance, yet they resumed life again and joined their own army; all which is looked upon as a good omen, that if in case England is invaded by her enemies though the nation be seemingly dead and in great division, yet on the approach of the enemy they will all in one general heart and one mind exert themselves to repel our most inveterate enemies.
As Nixon"s Prophecies are by some persons thought fables, yet by what has come to pa.s.s it is now thought and very plainly appears that most of them have or will prove true; for which reason we have all occasion not only to exert our utmost might to repel by force our enemies, but to return from our abandoned and wicked course of life, and make our continual prayers to G.o.d for protection and safety.
PROPHECY OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, FROM A PUBLICATION BY THE LATE MR. PETER JURIEU, IN 1687.
Rev. xi. 13.
_And the same hour there was a great earthquake_, _and the tenth part of the city fell_, _and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand_, _and the remnant were affrighted_, _and gave glory to G.o.d_.
NOW what is the tenth part of the city which shall fall? in my opinion we cannot doubt that it is France. This kingdom is the most considerable part or piece of the ten horns, or states, which once made up the great Babylonian city: it fell; this does not signify that the French Monarchy shall be ruined: it may be humbled; but in all appearance Providence does design a great elevation for her afterwards. "Tis highly probable that G.o.d will not let go unpunished the horrible outrages which it acts at this day. Afterward, it must build its greatness upon the ruins of the papal empire and enrich itself with the spoils of those who shall take part with the papacy. They who at this day persecute the protestants know not whither G.o.d is leading them: this is not the way by which he will lead France to the height of glory. If she comes thither it is because she shall shortly change her road. Her greatening will be no damage to protestant states; on the contrary, the protestant states shall be enriched with the spoil of others and be strengthened by the fall of Antichrist"s empire. This tenth part of the city shall fall, with respect to the papacy; it shall break with Rome and the Roman religion.