1530, page 39. I set it down word for word in the old orthography, and shall take leave to subjoin a few explanatory notes.
Seven and Ten added to nine,
Of Fraunce her Woe this is the Sygne,
Tamys Rivere twys y:frozen,
Walke sans wetyng Shoes ne Hozen.
Then comyth foorthe, Ich understonde,
From Towne of Stoffe to fattyn Londe,
An herdie Chyftean, Woe the Dorne
To Fraunce, that eber he was born.
Then shall the fyshe beweyle his Bosse;
Nor shall grin Berrys make up the Losse.
Yonge Symnele shall again miscarrye:
And Norways Pryd again shall marry.
And from the Tree where Blosums feele,
Ripe fruit shall come, and all is wele,
Reaums shall daunce Honde in honde,
And it shall be merrye in old Inglonde,
Then old Inglonde shall be no more,
And no man shall be sorie therefore,
Geryon shall have three Hedes agayne,
Till Hapsburge makyth them but twayne.
EXPLANATORY NOTES.
Seven and Ten, This line describes the year when these events shall happen. Seven and ten make seventeen, which I explain seventeen hundred, and this number added to nine, makes the year we are now in ; for it must be understood of the natural year, which begins the first of January.
Tamys Rivere twys, &c. The river Thames frozen twice in one year, so as men to walk on it,
is
