Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > Jacobite relics of Scotland > [First series]

26G NOTES.
before the king. It is known, that in Queen Anne's time there
was much noise about French prophets. A female of that vocation
(for we know from Scripture that the gift of prophecy is not
limited to one gender) warned George I. to take care of his wife,
as he would not survive her a year. That oracle was probably
dictated to the French Deborah by the duke and duchess of Zell,
who might be apprehensive lest the duchess of Kendal should be
tempted to remove entirely the obstacle to her conscientious union
with their son-in-law. Most Germans are superstitious, even
such as have few other impressions of religion. George gave such
credit to the denunciation, that, on the eve of his last departure,
he took leave of his son and the princess of Wales with tears,
telling them he should never see them more. It was certainly
his own approaching fate that melted him, not the thought of
quitting for ever two persons lie hated.
* * , * * * *
" I do not know whether it was about the same period, that,
in a tender mood, he promised to the duchess of Kendal, that if
she survived him, and it were possible for the departed to return
to this world, he would make her a visit. The duchess, on his
death, so much expected the accomplishment of that engagement,
that a large raven, or some black fowl, flying into one of the
windows of her villa at Ilesworth, she was persuaded it was the
soul of her departed monarch so accoutred, and received and
treated it with all the respect and tenderness of duty, till the
royal bird or she took their last flight."
Here we see the superstition of potentates and their illustrious
associates, far outdoing those entertained by our own peasantry of
the same age, which our enlightened neighbours have so often
ridiculed. Concerning the prediction that related to the princess's
death, and that of King George I., her husband, Lockhart, with
all manner of gravity, tells the following extraordinary story.
" The circumstances of King George's death are terrible, and
worth the knowledge of all our friends. They are kept concealed
as much as possible even in Germany, so probably will be a secret
both in England and France. What was told me lately by a
person of superior rank, and of great esteem in these parts, I had