I will back Tiptree farm against Coltonhagge;
and as to the way in which the judges
went out of York, look at the way in which
they now " goe " in— a fly from the railway
station conveys all the dignified horse-hair
and ermine.

It is not easy to determine whether Mr.
Besly, in this place, asked Mother Shipton to
favour him with a song; but, if he did not she
gave him one of her own accord, breaking
out into the following doleful strain:

"Then Warre shall begin in the spring,
Much woe to England it shall bring;
Then shall the ladies cry well-away,
That ever we liv'd to see this day."

But she soon resumed her customary
rhythmical prose:

"Then best for them that have the least,
and worst for them that have the most; you
shall not know of the warre overnight, yet
you shall have it in the morning; and when
it comes it shall last three yeares; between
Carden (Calder?) and Aire shall be great
warfare; when all the world is lost, it shall
be called Christ's Croft. When the battell
begins, it shall be where Crookback Richard
began (ended?) his fray." Chorus interpolates
in this place, " Neare Leicester, where
Richard the Third was slaine in battell, there
Colonel Hastings was one of the first in
armes, endeavouring to seise the commission
of array in opposition to others that were
settling the militia."

But the prophetic fury is on the sibyl, and
this is her descant:

"They shall say to warfare for our king
for half-a-crowne a-day, but stirre not (they
will say) to warfare for your king on pain of
hanging, but stirre not; for he that goes to
complaine shall not come back againe. The
time will come when England shall tremble
and quake for feare of a dead man that shall
be heard to speak. Then will the dragon
give the bull a great snap, and when the one
is downe, then they will goe to London
towne. Then there will be a great battell
between England and Scotland, and they will
be pacified for a time, and when they come
to Brammamore they fight, and are againe
pacified for a time, then there will be a great
battell between England and Scotland at
Stockmore. Then will a raven sit on the
cross and drinke as much bloud of nobles as
of the comons, then woe is me, for London
shall be destroyed for ever after." Chorus
remarks here: "It is to be noted and admired
that this cross," (Which cross? It is
as indefinite as "this Turk" in Lord Bateman's
ballad) "in Shipton's days, was a tall
stone cross,which ever since hath, by degrees,
been sinking into the ground, and now is
sunke so low, that a raven may sit on the
top of it, and reach with her bill to the
ground." Chorus, however, says nothing
about the utter destruction of London. Pro-
bably it had not occurred in his time.

I can fancy—still not so vividly as I could
wish —the awe-stricken astonishment of Mr.
Besly as he listened to what follows:

"There will come a woman with one eye,
and she shall tread in many men's blood to
the knee; and a man leaning on a staffe by
her, say to him 'What art thou?" And he
shall say, 'I am the King of Scots,' and she
shall say, 'Goe with me to my house, for
there are three knights,' and he will goe with
her and stay there three dayes and three
nights; then will England be lost, and they
will cry twice a day 'England is lost!' " (As
popular orators continue to cry, though
somewhat oftener than twice a day.) "Then
there will be three knights in Petergate in
Yorke, and (this is terrible) the one shall not
know the other; there shall be a child born
in Pomfret with three thumbs,"—(allow
Chorus to make an observation on this pro-
digy: "There is a child not many yeares
since born at Pomfret with three thumbs!")
—"and those three knights shall give him
three horses to hold while they winne
England" (Chorus does not verify this part
of the prediction), "and all noble blood shall
be gone but one  and they shall carry him to
Sheriff Hutton's castle, six miles from Yorke,
and he shall dye ther, and they shall chuse
an earle in the field, and hanging their horses
on a thorne, will rue the time that ever they
were borne— to see so much blood shed." (I
picture to myself Mr. Besly bursting into
tears at this juncture; but Ursula goes on
implacably.) "Then they will come to Yorke
to besiege it, and they shall keep them out
three days and three nights" (this is surely a
civil war between the parts of speech)" and
a penny loafe shall be within the bar at half-
a-crown, and without the bar at a penny;
and they will sweare if they will not yeeld"
(who are these turbulent parties?) "to blow
up the town walls; then they will let them
in, and they will hang up the mayor, sheriffs,
and aldermen," (Thank heaven, "they" have
hold of something substantial at last!) "and
they will goe into Crouch church; there will
be three knights goe in, and but one come
out againe, and he will cause proclamation
to be made, that any one may take
house, tower, or bower for twelve yeares, and
while the world endureth there shall never
be warfare againe," (here Mr. Besly wipes
his eyes) "nor any more kings or queenes;
but the kingdom shall be governed by the
lords, and then shall Yorke be London."
(Perhaps the editor of Notes and Queries
will kindly say whether the familiar expression,
"York, you're wanted! " has any relation
to these coming events, for at present
they have not yet happened.) "And after
this shall be a white harvest of corne gotten
in by women. Then shall be in the north
that one woman shall say unto another,
' Mother, I have seene a man to-day,' and for
one man there shall be a thousand women.
Then shall be a man sitting on St. James's