Merlin's Prophecies
"Merlin saith that in England shall be seen strange
things, as preaching of traitors, great rain and wind, great
hunger among the common people, great oppression of blood, great
imprisonment of many men and great battle; so that there shall
be few or no quiet place to abide in; the Prince shall forsake
men of the church, Lords shall forsake righteousness, counsel
of the aged shall not be set by; religious men and women shall
be thrust out of their houses; the common people for fear shall
not know which way to turn; parents shall be hated by their children,
men of worship shall have no reverence of others; adultery shall
abound among all; with more ill than I can tell of, from which
God us defend."
[From Sunday Prophecies of Merlin, Becket, and Others,
Author Unknown, published in London in 1652.]
"Luxury shall overspread the land, and fornication shall
not cease to debauch mankind. Famine shall then return, and the
inhabitants shall grieve for the destruction of their cities.
In those days the oaks of the forests shall burn, and acorns
grow upon lime trees! The Severn sea shall discharge itself through
seven mouths, and the river Usk burn for seven months! Fishes
shall die in the heat thereof, and from them serpents will be
born."
"The baths of Badon [hot springs of Bath] shall grow
cold, and their salubrious waters engender death! London shall
mourn for the death of twenty thousand, and the river Thames
shall be turned to blood! The monks in the cowls shall be forced
to marry, and their cry shall be heard upon the mountains of
the Alps."
"The seas shall rise up in the twinkling of an eye,
and the dust of the ancients shall be restored."
[From The History of the Kings of Britain, The Prophecies
of Merlin by Geoffrey of Monmouth.]
The cult of religion shall be destroyed completely, and
the ruin of the churches shall be clear for all to see. The race
that is oppressed shall prevail in the end, for it will resist
the savagery of the invaders.
The Boar of Cornwall shall bring relief from these invaders,
for it will trample the necks beneath its feet. The islands of
the Ocean shall be given into the power of the Boar, and it shall
lord it over the forests of Gaul. The House of Romulus shall
dread the Boar's savagery, and the end of the Boar will be shrouded
in mystery. The Boar shall be extolled in the mouths of its peoples,
and its deeds will be as meat and drink to those who tell tales.
Six of the Boar's descendants shall hold the sceptre after
it, and next after them will rise up the German Worm. The Sea-wolf
shall exalt the Worm, and the forests of Africa shall be committed
to its care. Religion shall be destroyed a second time and the
sees of the primates will be moved to other places. London's
high dignity shall adorn Durobernia, and the seventh pastor of
York will be visited in the realm of Armorica. Menevia shall
be dressed in the pall of the City of the Legions, and the preacher
from Ireland shall be struck dumb by a child still growing in
the womb.
A shower of blood shall fall, and a dire famine shall afflict
mankind. The Red One will grieve for what has happened, but after
an immense effort it will regain its strength. Calamity will
next pursue the White One, and the buildings in its little garden
will be torn down. Seven who hold the sceptre shall perish, one
of them being canonised. The bellies of mothers shall be cut
open, and babies will be born prematurely. Men will suffer most
grievously, in order that those born in the country may regain
power. He who will achieve these things shall appear as the Man
of Bronze, and for long years he shall guard the gates of London
upon a brazen horse. Then the Red Dragon will revert to its true
habits and struggle to tear itself to pieces. Next will come
the revenge of the Thunderer, and every one of the farmer's fields
will be a disappointment.
Death will lay hold of the people and destroy all the nations.
Those who are left alive will abandon their native soil and will
sow their seeds in the fields of others. A king who is blessed
will fit out a navy and will be reckoned the twelfth in the court
among the saints. The realm shall be deserted in the most pitiful
way, and the harvest threshing floors will be overgrown once
more by forests rich in fruit.
Once again the White Dragon shall rise up and will invite
over a daughter of Germany. Our little garden will be stocked
again with foreign seed, and the Red Dragon will pine away at
the far end of the pool. After that the German Worm shall be
crowned, and the Prince of brass will be buried. A limit was
set for him, beyond which he was powerless to pass. For a hundred
and fifty years he shall remain in anguish and subjection, and
then for three hundred more he shall sit enthroned. The North
Wind will rise against him, snatching away the flowers which
the West Wind has caused to bloom. There will be gilding in the
temples, but the sword's cutting edge will not cease its work.
The German Dragon will find it hard to escape to its cavernous
lairs, for vengeance for its treason will overtake it. In the
end it will become strong again just for a short time, but the
decimation of Normandy will be a sorry blow. There shall come
people dressed in wood and in iron corselets who will take vengeance
on it for its wickedness. This people shall give their dwelling
back to the earlier inhabitants, and the destruction of foreigners
will be clear for all to see.
The seed of the White Dragon shall be rooted up from our
little gardens and what is left of its progeny shall be decimated.
They shall bear the yoke of perpetual slavery, and they will
wound their own mother with their spades and ploughshares. Two
more Dragons shall follow, one of which shall be killed by the
sting of envy, but the second will return under the cover of
authority.
The Lion of Justice shall come next, and at its roar the
towers of Gaul shall shake and the island Dragons tremble. In
the days of this Lion, gold shall be squeezed from the lily-Bower
and the nettle, and silver shall flow from the hooves of lowing
cattle.
They who have had their hair waved shall dress in woolen
stuffs of many colours, and the outer garment shall be an index
of the thoughts within. The feet of they that bark shall be cut.
Wild animals shall enjoy peace, but mankind will bewail the way
in which it is being punished. The balance of trade shall be
tom in half; and the half that is left shall be rounded off.
Kites will lose their ravenous hunger, and the teeth of
wolves will be blunted. The Lion's cubs shall be transformed
into salt-water fishes, and the Eagle of Mount Aravia shall nest
upon a summit.
Venedotia shall be red with the blood of mothers, and the
house of Corineus will slaughter six brothers. The island will
lie sodden with the tears of the night-time, and everyone will
be encouraged to try to do everything. Those who are born later
shall strive to fly over even the most lofty things, but the
favour given to the newcomers will be loftier even than that.
Piety will frown upon the man who has inherited goods from
the impious; that is, until he takes his style of dress from
his own father. Girded around with a wild boar's teeth, he shall
climb over the mountain summits and higher than the shadow of
the Helmeted Man.
Albany will be angry: calling her near neighbours to her,
she shall give herself entirely to bloodshed. Between her jaws
there will be found a bit which was forged in the Bay of Armorica.
The eagle of the Broken Covenant shall paint it with gold and
will rejoice in her third nesting. The cubs shall roar as they
keep watch; they will forsake the forest groves and come hunting
inside the walls of cities. They will cause great slaughter among
any who oppose them, and the tongues of bulls shall they slice
off. They shall load with chains the necks of the roaring ones
and live again the days of their forefathers. Thereafter, from
the first to the fourth, from the fourth to the third, from the
third to the second shall the thumb be rolled in oil.
The sixth shall throw down the walls of Ireland and transmute
its forests into a level plain. The sixth shall unite the different
parts into one whole, and he shall be crowned with the head of
a lion. His beginning will yield to his own unstable disposition,
but his end shall soar up towards those on high. He shall restore
the dwellings of the saints throughout the lands and settle the
pastors in places which befit them. Two towns shall he cover
with funeral palls and to virgins he will present virgin gifts.
By doing this he will earn the favour of the Thunderer, and he
will be placed among the blessed. From him there will emerge
a She-lynx, and this will nose its way into all things and strive
for the downfall of its own race. Because of the She-lynx Normandy
will lose both its isles and be deprived of its former dignity.
Then the island's inhabitants shall return to it, for a great
dissension will arise among the foreigners.
A hoary old man upon a mow-white horse shall divert the
River Periron, and above the stream he will measure out a mill
with his white rod. Cadwallader shall summon Conanus and shall
make an alliance with Albany. Then the foreigners shall be slaughtered,
and the rivers will run with blood.
The mountains of Armorica shall erupt, and Armorica itself
shall be crowned with Brutus' diadem. Kambria shall be filled
with joy, and the Cornish oaks shall flourish. The island shall
be called by the name of Brutus, and the title given to it by
the foreigners shall be done away with. From Conanus there shall
descend a fierce Boar, which will try the sharpness of its tusks
in the forests of Gaul, for it will lop down all the larger oak
trees, taking care to protect the smaller ones.
The Arabs shall dread this Boar and so shall the Africans,
for the impetus of its onslaught will carry it into the remotest
parts of Spain. Next after the Boar shall come the Ram of the
Castle of Venus, with golden horns and a beard of silver. It
will breathe such a fog from its nostrils that the entire surface
of the island will be overshadowed by it. In the days of the
Ram there shall be peace, and the harvests will be plentiful
because of the richness of the soil. Women shall become snake-like
in their gait, and every step they take will be full arrogance.
The Castle of Venus will be restored, and Cupid's arrows will
continue to wound. The source of the River Amne shall turn into
blood, and two kings will fight each other at the Ford of the
Staff for the sake of a Lioness. All the soil will be fruitful
beyond mans need; and human beings will fornicate unceasingly.
Three generations will witness all that I have mentioned,
and then the kings buried in the town of London will be disinterred.
Famine will return, and death, and citizens will grieve for their
townships. The Boar of Commerce shall come and call back the
scattered flocks to the feeding ground which they have forsaken.
Its breast will be as food to the hungry, and its tongue will
assuage the thirst of those who are dry. From its mouth shall
flow forth rivers which will water the parched gullets of men.
Then a Tree shall spring up on the top of the Tower of
London. It will be content with only three branches, and yet
it will overshadow the whole length and breadth of the island
with the spread of its leaves. The North Wind will come as the
Tree's enemy, and with its noxious breath it will tear away the
third of the branches. The two branches which are left will occupy
the place of the one ripped off: this until one of them destroys
the other by the very abundance of its leaves. This last branch
will fill the place of the other two, and it will offer a roosting
place to birds come from foreign parts. To birds native to the
country it will seem harmful, for through their dread of its
shadow they will lose their power of free flight.
The Ass of Wickedness will come next, swift against the
goldsmiths, but slow against the wolves' ravenous appetites.
In these days the oaks shall burn in the forest glades, and acorns
shall burgeon on the lime trees' boughs.
The Severn Sea shall flow forth through seven mouths, and
the River Usk shall be boiling hot for seven months. Its fish
will die because of the heat, and from them serpents will be
born. The baths shall grow cold at Bath, and its health-giving
waters shall breed death. London shall mourn the death of twenty
thousand, and the Thames will be turned into blood. Monks in
their cowls shall be forced into marriage, and their lamentation
will be heard on the mountain peaks of the Alps.
Three springs shall burst forth in the town of Winchester,
and the streams which run from them will divide the island into
three parts. Whoever will drink from the first will enjoy long
life and will never be afflicted by the onslaught of illness.
Whoever will drink from the second shall perish from insatiable
hunger: pallor and dread will be clear to see on his face. Whoever
will drink from the third shall die a sudden death. And it will
not be possible for his body to be buried. In their effort to
avoid so voracious a death, fit men will do their best to cover
it over from layers of different materials, but whatever structure
is placed on top will immediately take on the form of another
substance. As soon as they are placed there, earth will be turned
to stones, stones to liquid, wood into ashes, ashes into water.
However from a town in Canutes forest, a girl shall
be sent to remedy these matters by her healing art. Once she
has consulted all the oracles, she shall dry up the noxious springs
simply by breathing on them. Next, when she has restored her
own strength by some invigorating drink, she shall carry the
Forest of Caledon in her right hand, and in her left the buttressed
forts of the walls of London. Wherever she passes she shall leave
sulphurous footprints which will reek with a double flame. The
smoke from them will stir up the Ruteni and will provide food
for the creatures who live in the sea. Tears of compassion shall
flow from her eyes and will fill the island with her dreadful
cries. He that will kill her shall be a stag of ten tines, four
of which will bear golden coronets; the other six will be turned
into the horns of oxen, and these horns will rouse the three
islands of Britain with their accursed bellowing.
The Daneian Forest shall be wakened from its sleep and,
burst into human speech, it shall shout, "Kambria, come
here; bring Cornwall at your side! Say to Winchester, 'The earth
will swallow you up. Move the see of your shepherd to where the
ships come in to harbour. Then make sure that the limbs which
remain follow the head! The day approaches when your citizens
will perish for their crime of perjury. The whiteness of your
wool done you harm, and so too has the variety of their dye.
Woe to the perjured people, for their famous city shall come
toppling down because of them! The ships shall rejoice at such
a great increase, and each one of them will be constructed out
of the material of two.
A Hedgehog loaded with apples shall rebuild the town and,
attracted by the smell of these apples, birds will flock there
from many different forests. The hedgehog shall build a huge
palace and then wall it round with six hundred towers. London
will view this with envy and will increase her own fortifications
threefold. The River Thames will surround London on all sides,
and the report of that engineering feat will cross the Alps.
The Hedgehog will hide its apples inside Winchester and will
construct hidden passages under the earth. In that time the stones
shall speak.
The sea over which men sail to Gaul shall be contracted
into a narrow channel. A man on any one of the two shores will
be audible to a man on the other, and the land mass of the island
will grow greater. The secrets of the creatures who live under
the sea shall be revealed, and Gaul will tremble for fear.
Next a Heron shall emerge from the Forest of Calaterium
and fly around the island for two whole years. By its cry in
the night it will call all winged creatures together and assemble
in its company every genus of bird. They will swoop down on to
the fields which men have cultivated and devour every kind of
harvest. A famine will attack the people, and an appalling death
rate will follow the famine. As soon as this terrible calamity
has come to an end, the accursed Bird will transfer its attention
to the Calabes Valley and rise it up into a lofty mountain. On
its highest peak the heron will plant in an oak, and on the branches
of the oak it shall build its nest; three eggs shall be laid
in the nest, and from them will emerge a Fox, a Wolf, and a Bear.
The Fox will devour its mother and then put on an Ass's head.
Once it has assumed this monstrous guise, it will terrify its
brothers and drive them away to Normandy. In that country they
will in their turn stir up the tusky Boar. Back they will come
in a boat, and in that way they will meet the Fox once more.
As it begins the contest, the Fox will pretend that it is dead
and will move the Boar to pity. Soon the Boar will go up to the
Fox's corpse. and, standing over it, will breathe into its eyes
and face. The Fox, not unmindful of its ancient cunning, will
bite the Boars left hoof and sever it completely from the
Boars body. Then the Fox will leap at the Boar and tear
off its right ear and its tail and slink off to hide in the mountain
caves. The deluded Boar will then ask the Wolf and the Bear to
restore to it the parts which it has lost.
Once they have agreed to support the Boar, they will promise
it two feet, two ears and one tail, from which they will manufacture
a truly porcine member. The Boar will agree to this and will
stand waiting for the promised return of its parts. Meanwhile
the Fox will come down from the mountains and will metamorphose
itself into a Wolf. Under the pretense of holding a conference
with the Bear, it will approach that animal craftily and eat
it up. Then the Fox will change itself into a Boar and stand
waiting for its brothers, pretending that it, too, has lost some
of its members. As soon as they come, it will kill them with
its tusk without a moments delay and then have itself crowned
with a Lion's head.
In the days of the Fox, a Snake shall be born, and this
will bring death to human beings. It will encircle London with
its long tail and devour all there who pass by. A Mountain Ox
will put on a Wolf's head and grind its teeth white in the Severn's
workshop. The Ox will collect round itself the flocks of Albany
and those of Wales, and their company will drain the Thames dry
as it drinks.
An Ass shall call to itself a long-bearded Goat and then
will change shapes with it. As a result the Mountain Bull will
lose its temper: it will summon the Wolf and then transfix the
Ass and the Goat with its horn. Once it has indulged its savage
rage upon them, it will eat up their flesh and their bones, but
the Ox itself will be burned up on the summit of Urianus. The
ashes of its funeral pyre shall be transmuted into swans, which
will swim away upon dry land as though in water. These Swans
will eat up fish inside fish and they will swallow men inside
men. When they grow old they will take the shape of sea-wolves
and continue their treacherous behaviour beneath the sea. They
will sink ships and gather together quite a treasure house of
silver.
Then the Thames shall begin to flow again. It will gather
together its tributaries and overflow the confines of its bed.
It will submerge nearby towns and overturn the mountains in its
course. It will join to itself to the Springs of Calabes, filled
as they are to the very brim with wickedness and deceit.
As a result, a number of mutinies will occur, and these
will encourage the Venedoti to make war. The oaks of the forest
shall band together and come into conflict with the rocks of
the Gewissei. A Raven will fly down with the Kites and eat up
the bodies of the dead. An Owl will nest on the walls of Gloucester,
and in its nest will be hatched an Ass. The Snake of Malvern
will nurture this Ass and teach it many deceitful tricks. The
Ass will put on a crown and then clamber above all that is most
lofty and terrify the people with its hideous braying. In the
days of the Ass the Pacaian Mountains shall totter, and the country
districts shall be deprived of their forest lands, for there
shall come a Worm which will puff forth fire, and this Worm will
burn up the trees with the breath which it exhales.
Out of the Worm shall come seven lions malformed with goats
heads. With the fetid breath from their nostrils, they will corrupt
married women and cause wives so far faithful to one husband
to become common prostitutes. The father shall not know his own
son, for human beings will copulate wantonly as cattle do. Then
indeed shall come a very Giant of wickedness who will terrify
everyone with the piercing glance of his eyes. Against him will
arise the dragon of Worcester, which will do its best to destroy
him; but when they come to grips, the Dragon will be worsted
and overwhelmed by its conqueror's wickedness, which will terrify
everyone.
The Giant will climb on the Dragon, throw off all his clothes,
and then ride upon it naked. The Dragon will rear the Giant up
in the air and lash his naked body with its erected tail, but
the Giant will recover his strength and cut the Dragons
throat with his sword. Finally, the Dragon will become entangled
in its own tail and die of poison.
The boar of Totnes shall succeed the Giant and will oppress
the people with grievous tyranny. Gloucester shall send a lion
which will harass the raging Boar in a series of battles. This
Lion will trample the Boar under foot and terrify it with its
open maw. Finally the Lion will be at odds with all in the kingdom
and climb up on the backs of the nobles.
A Bull will pursue the Lion through all the narrow byways
of the kingdom, but in the end it will break its horns against
the walls of Oxford. The Fox of Caerdubalum will wreak vengeance
on the Lion and tear it up with its teeth. Then the Adder of
Lincoln will coil round the Fox and announce its presence to
the assembled Dragon with a terrifying hiss.
The Dragons will attack each other and tear each other
to pieces. A Dragon with wings will overwhelm the Dragon without
wings, driving its venomous claws into the others muzzle.
Two more Dragons will join the battle, and the one will kill
the other. A fifth Dragon will replace the two dead ones and
will destroy the two left alive by various stratagems. It will
climb on the back of one, holding a sword in its claws, and hack
its head away from its body. Then it will cast its slough and
climb on the second one with its opponent's tail in its right
and left claws. Naked, it will overwhelm the other; when fully
covered, it will achieve nothing. It will torment other Dragons
by climbing on their backs and will drive them round the kingdom.
Then a roaring Lion will intervene, terrifying in its monstrous
cruelty. This Lion will reduce fifteen portions to a single entity,
and by itself it will hold the people in its power. A Giant,
snow-white in colour and gleaming bright, will beget a radiant
people.
Soft living will enervate the leaders, and those under
their command will be changed into beasts. In their number will
arise a Lion, fat with human blood. A Man with a Sickle will
act as the Lion's helper in the harvest, but when the man is
perplexed in his mind, the Lion will destroy him.
The Charioteer of York will soothe the people. He will
throw his master out and climb up into the chariot which he is
driving. He will draw his sword and threaten the East, and he
will fill with blood the ruts made by his wheels. Next he will
turn himself into a Sea-fish and mate with a Snake which has
attracted him by its hissing. As a result, there shall be born
three Bulls, which will glitter like lightning. They will eat
up their pasture lands and then be turned into trees. The first
Bull will carry a whip made of vipers, and it will turn its back
on the one born second. The second Bull will struggle to snatch
the whip from the first, but the whip will be seized by the third.
They will avert their gaze from each other until they have thrown
away the poison cup.
A Farmer from Albany shall take their place, and down his
back a Snake shall hang. He will spend his time ploughing the
earth, so that the harvests of his homeland may grow white, but
the Snake will busy itself in scattering poison to prevent the
green corn from ever coming to harvest.
The population shall decrease through some deadly calamity,
and the walls of the towns will come tumbling down. The City
of Claudius will be proposed as a source of remedy, and this
city will put forward the Foster-daughter of the Scourger. She
shall come bearing a saucer of medicine, and in next to no time
the island will be restored.
Two men shall hold the sceptre, one after the other, and
a Horned Dragon will serve them both. The first man will come
clad in iron and riding upon a flying Serpent. He will sit astride
its back, with his body naked, and he will grasp its tail in
his right hand. The seas will be made turbulent by his cry, and
he will strike terror into the second man. As a result, the second
man will make an alliance with a Lion, but a quarrel will ensue,
and they will fight. Each of the two will suffer greatly from
the other's blows, but the animal's ferocity will enable it to
win.
A man shall come with a drum and a lute, and he will soothe
the Lions savageness. The various peoples in the kingdom
will be pacified as a result, and they will encourage the Lion
to take the saucer of medicine. As it sits in the dwelling allocated
to it, it will examine the dose, but it will stretch out its
hand toward Albany. The regions of the north will be saddened
by this, and they will throw open the gates of their temples.
A Wolf will act as standard bearer, and it will coil its
tail round Cornwall. A soldier in a chariot will resist the Wolf
and transform the Cornish people into a Boar. As a result the
Boar will devastate the provinces, but it will hide its head
in the depths of the Severn.
A man shall wrestle with a drunken Lion, and the gleam
of gold will blind the eyes of the onlookers. Silver will shine
white in the open space, causing trouble to a number of wine
presses. Men will become drunk with the wine which is offered
to them; they will turn their backs on Heaven and fix their eyes
on the earth. The stars will avert their gaze from these men
and alter their accustomed course. The harvests will dry up through
the stars anger, and all moisture from the sky will cease.
Roots and branches shall change their places, and the oddness
of this will pass for a miracle.
Before the amber glow of Mercury the bright light of the
Sun shall grow dim, and this will strike horror into those who
witness it. The planet Mercury, born in Arcady, shall change
its shield, and the Helmet of Mars shall call to Venus. The Helmet
of Mars shall cast a shadow, and in rage Mercury shall overrun
its orbit. Iron Orion shall bare its sword. The watery Sun shall
torment the clouds. Jupiter shall abandon its preordained paths,
and Venus desert its appointed circuits. The malice of the planet
Saturn will pour down like rain, killing mortal men as though
with a curved sickle. The twelve mansions of the stars will weep
to see their inmates transgress so. The Gemini will cease their
wanton embraces and will dispatch Aquarius to the fountains.
The scales of Libra will hang awry until Aries props them up
with its curving horns. The tail of Scorpio shall generate lightning,
and Cancer will fight with the Sun. Virgo shall climb on back
of Sagittarius and so let droop its maiden blossoms. The Moons
chariot shall run amok in the Zodiac; the Pleiades will burst
into tears. None of these will return to the duty expected of
it. Ariadne will shut its door and be hidden within its enclosing
cloud banks.
In the twinkling of an eye the seas shall rise up, and
the arena of the winds shall be opened once again. The winds
shall do battle together with a blast of ill-omen, making their
din reverberate from one constellation to another.
MERLIN'S LAST PROPHECY
by
GEORGE DARLEY
"Come ye from far, wild Ocean Daughters!
Shell-borne on the dangerous sea,
With pearly oars that ply the waters,
Say, bright Strangers, whence ye be?"
From a far Isle in unknown waters
Fleeting like mist the windswept sea,
We come--wise Merlin's potent Daughters,
Morgain-le-fay's handmaidens we!
Wide our gossamer sails unfurling,
With coral prow we stem the spray,
Our crisp shell behind us curling
Keeps the plashy surge away.
Fear not baleful charms or chidings,
Sweet our words as dropping balm,
Peace we bring and gentle tidings,
Keep thy heart in holiest calm.
The wild winds lull to our harps' soft numbers,
Lo! when music meet our hands,
Even the restless Ocean slumbers
Hugely on his bed of sands.
Lo! how swift our notes of pleasure
Sparkle along the golden strings,
While in rapturous mood and measure
Her dulcet verse each Maiden sings.
We o'er your land, like Guardian Spirits,
From our far isle of Avalon,
Watch, and o'er all that here inherits,
Beautiful daughter and brave son.
Favour to One grew strong and stronger,
Who from her bright looks aye hath been
Our Princess Fair-star: now no longer,
But Britain's fair and starry Queen.
Say to that young and sovran Beauty
This message hymned to thee alone,
Offering these gifts with proudest duty
At the bright foot which gems her throne.
Morgain to Britain's Queen commendeth
This magic Trident, virtue-stored;
Pendragon's Son, fair greeting, sendeth
Caliburn, his enchanted sword.
Rapt Merlin sings: "where a strengthless Woman
This sceptre holds with a firm strain,
That Land, maugre East and Western foeman,
Shall rule both East and Western main.
Where, with the same small clasp and slender,
This sword pale Resolution draws,
That Land need pray nought else defend her
But grace of God and her good Cause!"
Farewell!--the mortal arms that kept her
Safe, thro' the Past, its rage might quell,
But 'tis no common sword and sceptre
Shall sway Futurity!--Farewell!
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