Part 8

I had long before predicted the downfall of Presbytery, as you (most honoured Sir) in the figure thereof, in my _Introduction_, may observe; and it was upon this occasion. Sir Thomas Middleton of Chark Castle, enemy to Presbytery, seeing they much prevailed, being a member of the House, seriously demanded my judgment, if Presbytery should prevail, or not, in England? The figure printed in my _Introduction_, will best give you an account, long before it happened, of the sinking and failing of Presbytery; so will the second page of my _Hieroglyphicks_. Those men, to be serious, would preach well; but they were more lordly than Bishops, and usually, in their parishes, more tyrannical than the Great Turk.

* * * * *

OF THE YEAR 1660; THE ACTIONS WHEREOF, AS THEY WERE REMARKABLE IN ENGLAND, SO WERE THEY NO LESS MEMORABLE AS TO MY PARTICULAR FORTUNE AND PERSON.

Upon the Lord General Monk's returning from Scotland with his army into England, suddenly after his coming to London, Richard Cromwell, the then Protector's, authority was laid aside, and the old Parliament restored; the Council of State sat as formerly. The first act they put the General upon was, to take down the city gates and portcullisses, an act which, the General said, was fitter for a Janizary to do than for a General; yet he effected the commands received, and then lodged in the city with his army. The citizens took this pulling down of their gates so heinously, that one night the ruder sort of them procured all the rumps of beef, and other baggage, and publickly burnt them in the streets, in derision of the then Parliament, calling them that now sat, The Rump. This hurly-burly was managed as well by the General's soldiers as the citizens. The King's health was publickly drank all over the city, to the confusion of the Parliament. The matter continued until midnight, or longer. The Council of State, sitting at White-Hall, had hereof no knowledge, until Sir Martin Noell, a discreet citizen, came about nine at night, and then first informed them thereof. The Council could not believe it, until they had sent some ministers of their own, who affirmed the verity thereof. They were at a stand, and could not resolve what to do; at last Nevil Smith came, being one of them, and publickly protested there was but one way to regain their authority, and to be revenged of this affront, and to overthrow the Lord General Monk, whom they now perceived intended otherways than he had pretended; his council was, to take away Monk's commission, and to give a present commission to Major-General Lambert to be their General; which counsel of his, if they would take and put it speedily in execution, would put an end unto all the present mischiefs. The Council in general did all very well approve Nevil Smith's judgment; but presently up starts Sir Arthur Hazellrigg, and makes a sharp invective against Lambert, and concluded, he would rather perish under the King of Scot's power, than that Lambert should ever any more have command under the Parliament.

The Lord General suddenly after brings in the long excluded Members to sit in Parliament, being persons of great judgment, and formerly enforced from sitting therein by the soldiery, and connivance of those who stiled themselves the godly part of the Parliament. These honourable patriots presently voted his Majesty's coming into England, and so he did in May 1660. But because Charles the Second, now (1667) King of England, Son of Charles the First, grandchild to James the First, King of Great Britany, was so miraculously restored, and so many hundreds of years since prophesied of by Ambrose Merlin, it will not be impertinent to mention the prophecies themselves, the rather because we have seen their verification.

AMBROSE MERLIN'S PROPHECY WROTE ABOUT 990 YEARS SINCE.

He calls King James, The Lion of Righteousness; and saith, when he died, or was dead, there would reign a noble White King; this was Charles the First. The prophet discovers all his troubles, his flying up and down, his imprisonment, his death; and calls him Aquila. What concerns Charles the Second, is the subject of our discourse: in the Latin copy it is thus:

_Deinde ab Austro veniet cum Sole super ligneos equos, & super spumantem inundationem maris, Pullus Aquilæ navigans in Britanniam._

_Et applicans statim tunc altam domum Aquilæ sitiens, & cito aliam sitiet._

_Deinde Pullus Aquilæ nidificabit in summa rupe totius Britanniæ: nec juvenis occidet, nec ad senem vivet._

This, in an old copy, is Englished thus:

'After then, shall come through the south with the sun, on horse of tree, and upon all waves of the sea, the Chicken of the Eagle, sailing into Britain, and arriving anon to the house of the Eagle, he shall shew fellowship to them beasts.

'After, the Chicken of the Eagle shall nestle in the highest rock of all Britain: nay, he shall nought be slain young; nay, he nought come old.'

Another Latin copy renders the last verse thus:

_Deindè pullus Aquilæ nidificabit in summo rupium, nec juvenis occidetur, nec ad senium perveniet._ There is after this, _percificato regno omnes occidet_; which is intended of those persons put to death, that sat as Judges upon his father's death.

THE VERIFICATION.

His Majesty being in the Low-Countries when the Lord General had restored the secluded Members, the Parliament sent part of the Royal Navy to bring him for England, which they did in May 1660. Holland is East from England, so he came with the sun; but he landed at Dover, a port in the south part of England. Wooden-horses, are the English ships.

_Tunc nidificabit in summo rupium._

The Lord General, and most of the gentry in England, met him in Kent, and brought him unto London, then to White-hall.

Here, by the highest Rooch, (some write Rock,) is intended London, being the metropolis of all England.

Since which time, unto this very day I write this story, he hath reigned in England, and long may he do hereafter. 10th December, 1667.

Had I leisure, I might verify the whole preceding part concerning King Charles. Much of the verification thereof is mentioned in my _Collection of Prophecies_, printed 1645. But his Majesty being then alive, I forbore much of that subject, not willing to give offence. I dedicated that book unto him; and, in the conclusion thereof, I advised his return unto Parliament, with these words, _Fac hoc & vives_.

There was also a _Prophecy_ printed 1588, in Greek characters, exactly decyphering the long troubles the English nation had from 1641 until 1660; and then it ended thus:

'And after that shall come a dreadful dead man, and with him a Royal G.' [it is Gamma in the Greek, intending C. in the Latin, being the third letter in the alphabet,] 'of the best blood in the world, and he shall have the Crown, and shall set England on the right way, and put out all heresies.'

Monkery being extinguished above eighty or ninety years, and the Lord General's name being Monk, is the Dead Man. The Royal G. or C. is Charles the Second, who, for his extraction, may be said to be of the best blood in the world.

These two prophecies were not given vocally by the angels, but by inspection of the crystal in types and figures, or by apparition the circular way, where, at some distance, the angels appear, representing by forms, shapes, and creatures, what is demanded. It is very rare, yea, even in our days, for any operator or master to have the angels speak articulately; when they do speak, it is like the Irish, much in the throat.

What further concerns his Majesty, will more fully be evident about 1672 or 1674, or, at farthest, in 1676. And now unto my own actions in 1660.

In the first place, my fee-farm rents, being of the yearly value of one hundred and twenty pounds, were all lost by his Majesty's coming to his restoration: but I do say truly, the loss thereof did never trouble me, or did I repine thereat.

In June of that year, a new Parliament was called, whereunto I was unwillingly invited by two messengers of the Serjeant at Arms. The matter whereupon I was taken into custody was, to examine me concerning the person who cut off the King's head, viz. the late King's.

Sir Daniel Harvey, of Surry, got the business moved against me in great displeasure, because, at the election of new knights for Surrey, I procured the whole town of Walton to stand, and give their voices for Sir Richard Onslow. The Committee to examine me, were Mr. Prinn, one Colonel King, and Mr. Richard Weston of Gray's-Inn.

God's providence appeared very much for me that day, for walking in Westminster-Hall, Mr. Richard Pennington, son to my old friend Mr. William Pennington, met me, and enquiring the cause of my being there, said no more, but walked up and down the hall, and related my kindness to his father unto very many Parliament men of Cheshire and Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumberland, and those northern countries, who numerously came up into the Speaker's chamber, and bade me be of good comfort: at last he meets Mr. Weston, one of the three unto whom my matter was referred for examination, who told Mr. Pennington, that he came purposely to punish me; and would be bitter against me; but hearing it related, viz. my singular kindness and preservation of old Mr. Pennington's estate to the value of six or seven thousand pounds, 'I will do him all the good I can,' says he. 'I thought he had never done any good; let me see him, and let him stand behind me where I sit:' I did so. At my first appearance, many of the young members affronted me highly, and demanded several scurrilous questions. Mr. Weston held a paper before his mouth; bade me answer nobody but Mr. Prinn; I obeyed his command, and saved myself much trouble thereby; and when Mr. Prinn put any difficult or doubtful query unto me, Mr. Weston prompted me with a fit answer. At last, after almost one hour's tugging, I desired to be fully heard what I could say as to the person who cut Charles the First's head off. Liberty being given me to speak, I related what follows, viz.

That the next Sunday but one after Charles the First was beheaded, Robert Spavin, Secretary unto Lieutenant-General Cromwell at that time, invited himself to dine with me, and brought Anthony Peirson, and several others, along with him to dinner: that their principal discourse all dinner-time was only, who it was that beheaded the King; one said it was the common hangman; another, Hugh Peters; others also were nominated, but none concluded. Robert Spavin, so soon as dinner was done, took me by the hand, and carried me to the south window: saith he, 'These are all mistaken, they have not named the man that did the fact: it was Lieutenant-Colonel JOICE; I was in the room when he fitted himself for the work, stood behind him when he did it; when done, went in again with him: there is no man knows this but my master, viz. Cromwell, Commissary Ireton, and myself.' 'Doth not Mr. Rushworth know it?' said I. 'No, he doth not know it,' saith Spavin. The same thing Spavin since had often related unto me when we were alone. Mr. Prinn did, with much civility, make a report hereof in the House; yet Norfolk the Serjeant, after my discharge, kept me two days longer in arrest, purposely to get money of me. He had six pounds, and his Messenger forty shillings; and yet I was attached but upon Sunday, examined on Tuesday, and then discharged, though the covetous Serjeant detained me until Thursday. By means of a friend, I cried quittance with Norfolk, which friend was to pay him his salary at that time, and abated Norfolk three pounds, which we spent every penny at one dinner, without inviting the wretched Serjeant: but in the latter end of the year, when the King's Judges were arraigned at the Old-Bailey, Norfolk warned me to attend, believing I could give information concerning Hugh Peters. At the sessions I attended during its continuance, but was never called or examined. There I heard Harrison, Scott, Clement, Peters, Hacker, Scroop, and others of the King's Judges, and Cook the Sollicitor, who excellently defended himself; I say, I did hear what they could say for themselves, and after heard the sentence of condemnation pronounced against them by the incomparably modest and learned Judge Bridgman, now Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England.

One would think my troubles for that year had been ended; but in January 1662, one Everard, a Justice of Peace in Westminster, ere I was stirring, sent a Serjeant and thirty four musqueteers for me to White-Hall: he had twice that night seized about sixty persons, supposed fanaticks, very despicable persons, many whereof were aged, some were water-bearers, and had been Parliament-soldiers; others, of ordinary callings: all these were guarded unto White-Hall, into a large room, until day-light, and then committed to the Gate-House; I was had into the guard-room, which I thought to be hell; some therein were sleeping, others swearing, others smoaking tobacco. In the chimney of the room I believe there was two bushels of broken tobacco-pipes, almost half one load of ashes. Everard, about nine in the morning, comes, writes my mittimus for the Gate-House, then shews it me: I must be contented. I desired no other courtesy, but that I might be privately carried unto the Gate-House by two soldiers; that was denied. Among the miserable crew of people, with a whole company of soldiers, I marched to prison, and there for three hours was in the open air upon the ground, where the common house of office came down. After three hours, I was advanced from this stinking place up the stairs, where there was on one side a company of rude swearing persons; on the other side many Quakers, who lovingly entertained me. As soon as I was fixed, I wrote to my old friend Sir Edward Walker, Garter King at Arms, who presently went to Mr. Secretary Nicholas, and acquainted him with my condition. He ordered Sir Edward to write to Everard to release me, unless he had any particular information against me, which he had not. He further said, it was not his Majesty's pleasure that any of his subjects should be thus had to prison without good cause shewed before. Upon receipt of Sir Edward's letter, Everard discharged me, I taking the oaths of allegiance and supremacy. This day's work cost me thirty-seven shillings. Afterwards Everard stood to be Burgess for Westminster; sent me to procure him voices. I returned answer, that of all men living he deserved no courtesy from me, nor should have any.

In this year 1660, I sued out my pardon under the Broad Seal of England, being so advised by good counsel, because there should be no obstruction; I passed as William Lilly, Citizen and Salter of London; it cost me thirteen pounds six shillings and eight pence.

There happened a verification of an astrological judgment of mine in this year, 1660, which, because it was predicted sixteen years before it came to pass, and the year expressly nominated, I thought fit to mention.

In page 111 of my _Prophetical Merlin_, upon three sextile Aspects of Saturn and Jupiter, made in 1659 and 1660, I wrote thus--

'This their friendly salutation comforts us in England, every man now possesses his own vineyard; our young youth grow up unto man's estate, and our old men live their full years; our nobles and gentlemen root again; our yeomanry, many years disconsolated, now take pleasure in their husbandry. The merchant sends out ships, and hath prosperous returns; the mechanick hath quick trading: here is almost a new world; new laws, new Lords. Now my country of England shall shed no more tears, but rejoice with, and in the many blessings God gives or affords her annually.'

And in the same book, page 118, over-against the year 1660, you shall find, A bonny Scot acts his part.

The long Parliament would give Charles the Second no other title than King of Scots.

I also wrote to Sir Edward Walker, Kt. Garter King at Arms in 1659, he then being in Holland--

_Tu, Dominusque vester videbitis Angliam, infra duos annos_.--For in 1662, his moon came by direction to the body of the sun.

But he came in upon the ascendant directed unto the trine of Sol and antiscion of Jupiter.

And happy it was for the nation he did come in, and long and prosperously may he reign amongst us.

In 1663 and 1664, I had along and tedious law-suit in Chancery, M.C. coming to quartile of Saturn; and the occasion of that suit, was concerning houses; and my enemy, though aged, had no beard, was really saturnine. We came unto a hearing Feb. 1664, before the Master of the Rolls, Sir Harbottle Grimston, where I had the victory, but no costs given me.

My adversary, not satisfied with that judgment, petitioned that most just and honourable man, the Lord Chancellor Hyde, for a re-hearing his cause before him.

It was granted, and the 13th June, 1664, my M.C. then directed to quartile of Venus and Sol. His Lordship most judiciously heard it with much attention, and when my adversary's counsel had urged those depositions which they had against me, his Lordship stood up, and said,

'Here is not one word against Mr. Lilly.'--

I replied, 'My Lord, I hope I shall have costs.'

'Very good reason,' saith he; and so I had: and, at my departure out of court, put off his hat, and bid 'God be with you.'

This is the month of Dec. 1667, wherein, by misfortune, he is much traduced and highly persecuted by his enemies: is also retired, however not in the least questioned for any indirect judgment as Chancellor, in the Chancery; [but in other things he hath been very foul, as in the articles drawn up by the Parliament against him, it appears. Which articles I presume you have not seen, otherwise you would have been of another mind, A W] for there was never any person sat in that place, who executed justice with more uprightness, or judgment, or quickness for dispatch, than this very noble Lord. God, I hope, in mercy will preserve his person from his enemies, and in good time restore him unto all his honours again: from my soul I wish it, and hope I shall live to see it. Amen: _Fiat oh tu Deus justitiæ_.

In 1663 and 1664, I was made churchwarden of Walton upon Thames, settling as well as I could the affairs of that distracted parish, upon my own charges; and upon my leaving the place, forgave them seven pounds odd money due unto me.

In 1664, I had another law-suit with Captain Colborn, Lord of the manor of Esher, concerning the rights of the parish of Walton. He had newly purchased that manor, and having one hundred and fifty acres of ground, formerly park and wood ground lying in our parish, conceived, he had right of common in our parish of Walton: thereupon, he puts three hundred sheep upon the common; part whereof I impounded: he replevins them, and gave me a declaration. I answered it. The trial was to be at the Assizes at Kingston in April 1664. When the day of trial came, he had not one witness in his cause, I had many; whereupon upon conference, and by mediation, he gave me eleven pounds for my charges sustained in that suit, whereof I returned him back again fifty shillings: forty shillings for himself, and ten shillings for the poor of the parish he lived in.

This I did at my own cost and charges, not one parishioner joining with me. I had now M.C. under quartile of Venus and Sol--both in my second, ergo, I got money by this thing, or suit. Sir Bolstrode Whitlock gave me counsel.

Now I come unto the year 1665, wherein that horrible and devouring plague so extreamly raged in the city of London. 27th of June 1665, I retired into the country to my wife and family, where since I have wholly continued, and so intend by permission of God. I had, before I came away, very many people of the poorer sort frequented my lodging, many whereof were so civil, as when they brought waters, viz. urines, from infected people, they would stand purposely at a distance. I ordered those infected, and not like to die, cordials, and caused them to sweat, whereby many recovered. My landlord of the house was afraid of those poor people, I nothing at all. He was desirous I should be gone. He had four children: I took them with me into the country and provided for them. Six weeks after I departed, he, his wife, and man-servant died of the plague.

In _Monarchy or no Monarchy_, printed 1651, I had framed an Hieroglyphick, which you may see in page the 7th, representing a great sickness and mortality; wherein you may see the representation of people in their winding-sheets, persons digging graves and sepultures, coffins, &c. All this was performed by the more secret _Key of Astrology_, or _Prophetical Astrology_.

In 1666, happened that miraculous conflagration in the city of London, whereby in four days, the most part thereof was consumed by fire. In my _Monarchy or no Monarchy_, the next side after the coffins and pickaxes, there is a representation of a great city all in flames of fire. The memorial whereof some Parliament men remembering, thought fit to send for me before that Committee which then did sit, for examination of the causes of the fire; and whether there was no treachery or design in the business, his Majesty being then in war both with the French and Dutch. The summons to appear before that Committee was as followeth.

'_Monday, 22d October_, 1666.

'At the Committee appointed to enquire after the causes of the late fires:

'ORDERED,

'That Mr. Lilly do attend this Committee on Friday next, being the 25th of October, 1666, at two of the clock in the afternoon, in the Speaker's chamber; to answer such questions as shall be then and there asked him.

'ROBERT BROOKE.'

By accident I was then in London, when the summons came unto me. I was timorous of Committees, being ever by some of them calumniated, upbraided, scorned, and derided. However I must and did appear; and let me never forget that great affection and care yourself (Oh most excellent and learned Esquire Ashmole) shewed unto me at that time. First, your affection in going along with me all that day; secondly, your great pains and care, in speaking unto many worthy Members of that Committee your acquaintance, that they should befriend me, and not permit me to be affronted, or have any disgraceful language cast upon me. I must seriously acknowledge the persuasions so prevailed with those generous souls, that I conceive there was never more civility used unto any than unto myself; and you know, there were no small number of Parliament men appeared, when they heard I was to be there.

Sir Robert Brooke spoke to this purpose: