a wizard
and professor of the black art. How did you obtain information of these
fatal events?"

"By a careful study of the heavenly bodies, sire," replied Lilly, "and
by long and patient calculations, which, if your majesty or any of your
attendants had had leisure or inclination to make, would have afforded
you the same information. _I_ make no pretence to the gift of prophecy,
but this calamity was predicted in the last century."

"Indeed! by whom?" asked the king.

"By Michael Nostradamus," replied Lilly; "his prediction runs thus:--

'La sang du juste a Londres fera faute,
Bruslez par feu, le vingt et trois, les Six;
La Dame antique cherra de place haute,
De meme secte plusieurs seront occis.'[1]

And thus I venture to explain it. The 'blood of the just' refers to the
impious and execrable murder of your majesty's royal father of blessed
memory. 'Three-and-twenty and six' gives the exact year of the calamity;
and it may likewise give us, as will be seen by computation hereafter,
the amount of habitations to be destroyed. The 'Ancient Dame'
undoubtedly refers to the venerable pile now burning before us, which,
as it stands in the most eminent spot in the city, clearly 'falls from
its high place.' The expression 'of the same sect' refers not to men,
but churches, of which a large number, I grieve to say it, are already
destroyed."

[Footnote 1:

'The blood of the just shall be wanting in London,
Burnt by fire of three-and-twenty, the Six;
The ancient Dame shall fall from her high place,
Of the same sect many shall be killed.']

"The prophecy is a singular one," remarked Charles, musingly "and you
have given it a plausible interpretation." And for some moments he
appeared lost in reflection. Suddenly rousing himself, he took forth his
tablets, and hastily tracing a few lines upon a leaf, tore it out, and
delivered it with his signet-ring to Lord Argentine. "Take this, my
lord," he said, "to Lord Craven. You will find him at his post in
Tower-street. A band of my attendants shall go with you. Embark at the
nearest stairs you can--those at Blackfriars I should conceive the most
accessible. Bid the men row for their lives. As soon as you join Lord
Craven, commence operations. The Tower must be preserved at all hazards.
Mark me!--at all hazards."

"I understand your majesty," replied Argentine--"your commands shall be
implicitly obeyed. And if the conflagration has not gone too