e noise. Then shall she be slain by
the stag with ten antlers, of which six branches shall bear crowns of
gold, and the other six shall be changed into the horns of oxen; and
with a horrible sound they shall shake the Isles of Britain. The
forest of Denmark shall rise up and with a human voice say: 'Come,
Cambria, and take Cornwall unto thyself.'"[693]

[Footnote 693: _Trial_, vol. iii, pp. 340-342.]

In these mysterious words Merlin dimly foretells that a virgin shall
perform great and wonderful deeds before perishing by the hand of the
enemy. On one point only is he clear, or so it seems; that is, when he
says that this virgin shall come from the town of the Bois-Chenu.

If this prophecy had been traced back to its original source and read
in the fourth book of the _Historia Britonum_, where it is to be found
under the title of _Guyntonia Vaticinium_, it would have been seen to
refer to the English city of Winchester, and it would have appeared
that in the version then in circulation in France, the original
meaning had been garbled, distorted, and completely metamorphosed. But
no one thought of verifying the text. Books were rare and minds
uncritical. This deliberately falsified prophecy was accepted as the
pure word of Merlin and numerous copies of it were spread abroad.

Whence came these copies? Their origin doubtless will remain a mystery
for ever; but one point is certain: they referred to La Romee's
daughter, to the damsel who, from her father's house, could see the
edge of "Le Bois-Chenu." Thus they came from close at hand and were of
recent circulation.[694] If this amended prophecy of Merlin be not
the one that reached Jeanne in her village, forecasting that a Maid
should come from the Lorraine Marches for the saving of the kingdom,
then it was closely related to it. The two prognostications have a
family likeness.[695] They were uttered in the same spirit and with
the same intention; and they indicate that the ecclesiastics of the
Meuse valley and those of the Loire had agreed to draw attention to
the inspired damsel of Domremy.

[Footnote 694: Morosini, vol. iv, p. 324.]

[Footnote 695: Pierre Migiet weaves the two prophecies into one, which
he says he has read in a book, _Trial_, vol. iii, p. 133.]

As Merlin had foretold the works of Jeanne, so Bede must also have
predicted them, for Bede and Merlin were always together in matters of
prophecy.

The Monk of Wearmouth, the Venerable Bede, who had b