Chapter XIX: French

Lors que Serpens viendront circuir l’Air,
Le sang _Troien_ versé par les _Espagnes_,
Par eux: grand nombre en sera fait tare,
Chef fuit, caché aux Marets dans les saignes.

English.

When Serpents shall come to encompass the Are,
The _Trojan_ blood shall be vexed by _Spain_,
By them, a great number shall perish,
Chief runneth away, and is hid in the rushes of the Marishes.

ANNOT.

By the _Serpents_, the Author being a Roman Catholick, meaneth the Protestants, who then began to appear numerous in the Reigns of _Francis_ the I. and _Henry_ the II. in whose time the Admiral _Coligny_ was the chief among them, for his great feats in War.

These Serpents or Protestants begun to encompass the _Are_, that is to say, the Church and the Altar, which in Latin is called _Ara_.

And that happened when _the Trojan-blood was vexed by Spain_. By the _Trojan-blood_, the Author meaneth the _French_ blood, according to the vulgar opinion, that the _French_ are descended from the _Trojans_. The _French_ were then vexed by the _Spaniards_, at the Battle of St. _Laurence_, and at the taking of St. _Quentin_, and other places in the Year 1557.

The third Verse saith _by them_, that is, by the Protestants _a great number shall perish_, that is to say, a great number of _French_. Among whom the Admiral of _Chatillon_ having done what was possible to be done at the defence of St. _Quentin_, and seeing the Town taken, run away with three more, and hid himself among the Rushes that are in the Boggs about the Town, where he was found, and carried Prisoner to the Duke of _Savoy_, who received him very honorably, according to his valour and deserts.

Observe that the word _Saignes_ here signifieth in old _Provencal_ a _Marish_.

XX.

French.

_Tours_, _Orleans_, _Blois_, _Angers_, _Renes_ & _Nantes_,
Cités vexées par soudain changement,
Par Langues estranges seront tendues Tentes,
Fleuves, Darts, Rennes, Terre & Mer tremblement.

English.

_Tours_, _Orleans_, _Blois_, _Angers_, _Renes_, and _Nantes_,
Cities vexed by a sudden change,
By strange Languages Tents shall be set up,
Rivers, Darts, _Rennes_, Land, and Sea shall quake.

ANNOT.

All the Cities mentioned in the first Verse are seated by the River of _Loire_, and are threatned here of a sudden change, and that some strangers shall set up their Tents against them, and chiefly at _Rennes_, there shall be an Earth-quake felt both by Sea and Land.

XXI.

French.

Profonde argile blanche nourrit rocher,
Qui d’un abysme istra l’acticineuse,
En vain troublez ne l’oseront toucher,
Ignorant estre au fond terre argileuse.

English.

A deep white clay feedeth a Rock,
Which clay shall break out of the deep like milk,
In vain people shall be troubled not daring to touch it,
Being ignorant that in the bottom there is a milky clay.

ANNOT.

It is a Rock in the middle of the Sea, whose Roots are fed by a white clay, which is at the foot of this Rock, in the bottom of the Sea, and therefore called deep.

This clay being softned, and dissolved by the Sea-water, shall appear upon the superficies of it like milk about the Rock. Those that shall see this wonder, _being ignorant that in the bottom there is a milky clay_, shall in vain be troubled at it, and shall not dare to touch it.