The Bickerstaff-Partridge Papers | Page 6

of the
clock in the afternoon; and last till nine at night with great obstinacy,
but no very decisive event. I shall not name the place, for the reasons
aforesaid; but the commanders on each left wing will be killed. -- I see
bonfires, and hear the noise of guns for a victory.
On the 14th there will be a false report of the French king's death.
On the 20th Cardinal Portocarero will die of a dysentery, with great
suspicion of poison; but the report of his intention to revolt to King
Charles, will prove false.
July. The 6th of this month a certain general will, by a glorious action,
recover the reputation he lost by former misfortunes.
On the 12th a great commander will die a prisoner in the hands of his
enemies.
On the 14th a shameful discovery will be made of a French Jesuit,
giving poison to a great foreign general; and when he is put to the

torture, will make wonderful discoveries.
In short this will prove a month of great action, if I might have liberty
to relate the particulars.
At home, the death of an old famous senator will happen on the 15th at
his country-house, worn with age and diseases.
But that which will make this month memorable to all posterity, is the
death of the French King, Lewis the fourteenth, after a week's sickness
at Marli, which will happen on the 29th, about six o'clock in the
evening. It seems to be an effect of the gout in his stomach, followed
by a flux. And in three days after Monsieur Chamillard will follow his
master, dying suddenly of an appoplexy.
In this month likewise an ambassador will die in London; but I cannot
assign the day.
August. The affairs of France will seem to suffer no change for a while
under the Duke of Burgundy's administration; but the genius that
animated the whole machine being gone, will be the cause of mighty
turns and revolutions in the following year. The new King makes yet
little change either in the army or the ministry; but the libels against his
grandfather, that fly about his very court, give him uneasiness.
I see an express in mighty haste, with joy and wonder in his looks,
arriving by break of day on the 26th of this month, having travell'd in
three days a prodigious journey by land and sea. In the evening I hear
bells and guns, and see the blazing of a thousand bonfires.
A young admiral of noble birth, does likewise this month gain immortal
honour by a great achievement.
The affairs of Poland are this month entirely settled: Augustus resigns
his pretensions which he had again taken up for some time: Stanislaus
is peaceably possess'd of the throne; and the King of Sweden declares
for the Emperor.
I cannot omit one particular accident here at home; that near the end of
this month much mischief will be done at Bartholomew Fair, by the fall
of a booth.
September. This month begins with a very surprizing fit of frosty
weather, which will last near twelve days.
The Pope having long languish'd last month, the swellings in his legs
breaking, and the flesh mortifying, will die on the 11th instant; and in
three weeks time, after a mighty contest, be succeeded by a cardinal of

the imperial faction, but native of Tuscany, who is now about sixty-one
years old.
The French army acts now wholly on the defensive, strongly fortify'd in
their trenches; and the young French King sends overtures for a treaty
of peace by the Duke of Mantua; which, because it is a matter of state
that concerns us here at home, I shall speak no farther of it.
I shall add but one prediction more, and that in mystical terms, which
shall be included in a verse out of Virgil,
Alter erit jam Tethys, & altera quae vehat Argo. Delectos heroas.
Upon the 25th day of this month, the fulfilling of this prediction will be
manifest to every body.
This is the farthest I have proceeded in my calculations for the present
year. I do not pretend, that these are all the great events which will
happen in this period, but that those I have set down will infallibly
come to pass. It will perhaps still be objected, why I have not spoke
more particularly of affairs at home, or of the success of our armies
abroad, which I might, and could very largely have done; but those in
power have wisely discouraged men from meddling in publick
concerns, and I was resolv'd by no means to give the least offence. This
I will venture to say, That it will be a glorious campaign for the allies,
wherein the English forces, both by sea