and 1663. These agree closely with each other in their details, the variations being few and unimportant. They appear to have been written seriously and with a desire for truth, in which they differ marvellously from the Shipton literature of the last 200 years.
A critical examination of the oldest record, reprinted in full in Chapter III, reveals indications that the first part was written by one man, and the second part by another; the former was the most able of the two. The latter part consists of Besley's statements, evidently made originally in doggerel verse, but set by the printer, for the most part, in prose. The rhymes can be traced.
Lilly's 1645 version is the best of the three, and it preserves more of Master Besley's rhymes in their original form. For instance, the 1641 edition contains the following lines:—
Then Warres shall begin in the spring,
Much woe to England it shall bring:
Then shall the Ladyes cry well-away,
That ever we liv'd to see this day.
