AMONG THE PROPHETS.

Grey River Argus, Volume VII, Issue 498, 25 March 1869, Page 3

AMONG THE PROPHETS.

—^_ — ( From the London Review. ) The horoscope of 1869 ha 3 been cast ; and a very pretty year it is likely to be. Such bloodshed, rapine, and plunder ; such epidemics, conflagrations, and famines ; such storms, fires, and robberies, as it is to witness have never been heard of before. The prospect would be simply appalling but for two reasons. First, it is a habit of prophets to prophesy: evil things, in obedience to the cynical maxims, " Expect the worst, and you won't 'be disappointed." Second, the prophets are not agreed .among themselves. Not only does the sacred oracle givo forth a doubtful sound, but we can hear the voices behind the holy fane, squabbling in ignominious conflict. Dodona quarrels with Olympia, and Delphi denounces them both as imposters. In a preface to one of those almanacs which picture forth the state of Europe during the ensuing year, the vates makes merry over Ihe defeat of his rival. The latter, it appears, was challenged to enter the lists with this new prophet ; but, instead, he retreated in a somewhat despicable fashion, " struck out tlft* monthly astrological predictions, and substituted for them accounts of the institution of the various saints' days." What a pitiable apology for real vaticinations, to leap back half a dozen centuries, and reach the region of the mythical the wrong way ! " Our readers will observe that the catalogue of fulfilled predictions in 1868," says the victorious and pugnacious prophet, "is superior to that of any of our contemporaries — including, as it does, the Spanish Revolution (foretold to the exact date of its occurrence), the fearful earthquakes and floods in Peru," &c. Turning to the prediction of the Spanish Revolution, in last yeai*'s almanac, we are confronted by the startling announcement that " Spain will suffer seriously from the long stay of Saturn in Sagittarius (viz. , from December, 1867, to December, 1870). The unhappy Queen of that ill-fated country will have need of the wisest counsels of her Ministers, and of the services of her army, to counteract the revolutionary movements which will be made by her subjects and to retain her throne." But the Queen did not know of this wise man of the east of London, and so she failed to retain her throne — a catastrophe which might have been averted had she sent him L 5 ss, which is the prophet's charge for a full description of all the good and evil likely to happen in one's life. Our prophet been very successful of late. True, one has to accept his explanations of the prophesies before they can be squared with the results ; but we do not blame him for the stupidity of his readers. They were probably unable to tell what he meant by his prophesies ; but now the unmistakeable bull's-eye of fact glares down upon the lines, and solves the portentous conundrums. "The Prince of Wales," says the prediction of" last year, "will be busily employed in State affairs in March and April, and from April to July he will be under the happiest influences, which cannot fail to exalt him to station and wealth. In July another prince will, probably, be born to him." It is true that "being employed in State affairs" is rather vague, and one might be puzzled to say what the Prince was about to do. However, the prophet is not answerable for our blindness ; for here is the response made to him by events : — "The Prince, accompanied by his amiable Princess, paid a state visit to Ireland in April, and was installed, with great pomp and ceremony, Knight of St. Patrick. In July a princess was born to him." We confess that our prophet does not shine in this testimonial of his abilities whicli he offers. Perhaps the Prince of Wales was exalted in station by becoming a Knight of St. Patrick ; but how about the wealth, .which, if one might venture to say so, would perhaps have been as acceptable to his Royal Highness ? Then about the young prince — it is given to persona who are not prophets to foretell, under certain circumstances, the birth of a baby, and where the prophet ought to have stepped in authoritatively was in predicting the sex of the Royal infant. But our prophet is of less account in his own country than when he deals with Spain or Ecuador ; and so it is to his foreign predictions for next year that the apprehensive and awe-struck farmer may turn with most safety. It is scarcely any surprise that we learn from our prophet that Louis Napoleon's doom is sealed. Still, he heed not have heaped horror upon horror on the unhappy Emperor's head. Troubles are to increase upon him ; his domestic peace will suffer ; " female intrigue and scandal will annoy him;" wars are to crowd upon him, in which he will be unsuccessful ; the streets 'of Paris shall stream with blood. Indeed, the prophet seems to be moved by personal desire of vengeance upon Louis Napoleon. "In June, October, and December he will find it extremely difficult to retain his position as Emperor. If at (and this is scarcely doubtful), he will meet with defeat in the field in June and October ; and moreover, the ' influences ' seem to point to revolutionary movements in his capital at these periods, which may compel him to abdicate. In December he will have to guard against an attempt to poison him, should he have survived the fatal months before mentioned." Nor does the King of Italy fare much better ; but, in his case, we meet with an awkward contradiction in the prophesies. The ancient oracles pot into disgrace through the wretchedly bad hexameters they turned out, before they sought refuge in prose ; and he would urge upon our modern prophet the advisability of being consistent. In the predictions for, February, 1869, he remarks, with regard to the King of, Italy, that "his checkered life seems now to be drawing to a close."

Afterwards, in casting up the King's Nativity, he remarks that, on the whole, the year will be a favorite one for the King of Italy. Now, in ordinary cases, it might perhaps bo aaid that the year in which a man dies is fayo-able to him ; but we must not fovgot that the Kin.,' of Italy was excommunicated by the Pope. Under such circumstances, it is so uncertain what death may lead to. ; Among the predictions of the prophet fin 1 next year, there are several which are .already irrefutable. That "young ladies will receive offers of marriage" is' probable, seeing that the bloodshed ahtl murder cannot "wholly ciit off .the ingenuous youths of Europe ; and that persons bom on the 30th of November, "should be very careful of taking cold this winter" is a useful warning which might apply to persons who were not born on the 30th of November. That the King of Bavaria will suffer from dysentry is only a contingency ; but there will be a good many fires and a good many robberies in London in January next we regard as tolerably certain. That "people buy these prophetical almanacs, and believe in their predictions, is beyond all doubt ; and their doing so can only be regarded as one of the many symptoms of a vast substratum of superstition which underlies all education, or even common sense, in the country districts. Constantly in, police courts and elsewhere we are obtaining glimpses of this wonderful and oqcitlt power ; and it is greatly to be regretted that, from time to time, collections are not made of the charms and mysteries which crop up in the newspapers. Only last week two cases occurred ; in the first a certain "Jimmy the Wizard" undertook to prevent a girl, who was "begrudged" by a man in Australia, from coming to any further harm ; in the second a woman, who was not a professional witch at all, endeavored to cure a scald by pronouncing a charm, which ran in this wise : — " There were two angels came from the north, one of them being fire, and the other frost; in frost, but fire, &c." But the witch who expects good to arise from her charms , is placed at, a disadvantage when compared with the prophet who demands evil to fulfil his predictions. Sometimes the charm does appear to cure ; sometimes the prophet prophesies good, and does not blunder. But prophets, as a rule, are safer in prophesying evil, and. they know it; and thus we have a view of 1869 which, were it possible to believe in its truth, might tempt Europe to commit suicide, and have done with her woes at once.