Secondly, that, while I am unwilling to allow the Pope to be the last head on the ground of his temporal supremacy never having been acknowledged by the sovereigns of the Roman empire, I find no difficulty in supposing the Emperor to be this last head, notwithstanding his temporal supremacy, except so far as conceding to him a mere empty precedence, is as little allowed by any of the great powers as that of the Pope himself―Thirdly, that the imperial dignity of Charlemagne and his successors even to the present day, is nothing more than a continuation of the sixth head; and therefore that it cannot be esteemed a new and distinct head-These three objections shall be answered in their order.

(1.) It is undoubtedly true, that I denied the possibility of the Exarchate being typified both by a head and a horn of the same beast; but I denied it on this account, and I see no reason to retract my opinion in the case of that government, the same power is represented by Bp. Newton, as being, in the selfsame capacity, both a head and a horn of the Roman beast, which is a manifest unnecessary repetition; whereas Charlemagne was not both a head and a horn, in the same capacity, but, like all his successors, in two entirely different capacities. As king of France, he was a horn of the beast; as emperor of the Romans, he was its last head*. It is evident, indeed, that, since the

septimo

* The Pope might undoubtedly have been a horn of the beast in bis ecclesiastical capacity, and a head, in his temporal, if he had

septimo-octave head was to spring up when the empire was in a divided state, there would be, as. it were, no room for it among the ten horns, unless it were, although a distinct thing itself, in some manner attached to one of them. Accordingly, the Carlovingian imperial dignity, although generally attached to one of the ten horns, is yet so perfectly distinct from them all, that the French successors of Charlemagne continued to be kings of France when they ceased to be Emperors of the Romans; and the imperial dignity itself was afterwards sometimes borne by one family and sometimes by another, each however, so long as it enjoyed it, claiming and being allowed precedence *. Hence

ever been, what Bp. Newton styles him, a king of kings as well as a bishop of bishops: but this, as I have already shewn from history, he never was; and yet this is the only way, in which it is possible for him to be the last head as well as the little horn. Mr. Mede's language is very inaccurate. He represents the little horn as being absolutely the same as the last head-" the "Antichristian horn with eyes and mouth; that is, qui cum 66 revera cornu tantum sit, pro capite tamen sese gerit, cujus est 66 proprium os et oculos habere." Works. B. iv. Epis. 24.

* The imperial title lately assumed by General Buonapartè, even supposing it to be something different from the regal title, no more affects the present scheme of interpretation, than the division of the Old Roman empire into its eastern and western branches does the universally acknowledged opinion that the sixth head is the ancient imperial dignity. The present title however of that usurper is manifestly no more than that of king. Whatever he may please to style himself, France is still only one of the ten horns of the beast. But should he at some future period be allowed by Providence to tread in the steps of

Hence it appears, that I am guilty of no inconsistency in supposing, that Charlemagne, in his two different capacities of king of France and Emperor of the Romans, may be considered as being at once both a horn and a head of the beast.

(2.) The second objection, that the Emperor can no more be esteemed the last head of the secular beast than the Pope, because his temporal supremacy is no more allowed than that of the Pope, will speedily vanish, if we consider the nature of symbolical prophecy and the history of the first rise of the Carlovingian empire. Now it is manifest, that, in a prophecy symbolically delivered, the symbols themselves cannot be represented as perpetually. varying with the ever-varying revolutions of nations. The great outlines of facts, whether past, present, or future, must alone be attended to: and the different members of a symbolical beast must unavoidably be exhibited as stationary and permanent, when in reality they are by no means so. St.

of Charlemagne, to subvert the imperial honours of Germany, and to re-annex to France the title and authority of Emperor of the Romans: in that case he would doubtless become the septimo-octave head; in that case the imperial dignity would only revert to France, as it was before transferred from France to Germany: it would still be the same last head of the beast. How far such an event is probable, the reader must judge for himself, when more is said hereafter upon the subject of yet unfulfilled prophecies.

Since this was written, the usurper has been permitted to tread in the steps of Charlemagne, and to erect again the empire of the West. His government is now plainly the representative of the Carlovingian head of the beast. June 1. 1806.

John

John himself gives us a clue to the right interpretation of his own prophecy. "Five of the heads," says he, "are fallen, and one is, and the other is "not yet come:" nevertheless the beast still appears with all his seven heads, notwithstanding, when he arose out of the sea of Gothic invasion, five of them were no longer in existence, and one of them was as yet future. In a similar manner, the sixth head, which at its first rise reigned paramount, like each of its five predecessors, over the whole beast, is still, no less than when it first arose, considered as the sixth head; even when its empire was overrun by the barbarians of the North and the Saracens of the South, when its fairest provinces were rent away from it, and when many independent kingdoms were erected which acknowledged not its supremacy. If then the sixth head be esteemed a head, from its first rise to its final dissolution, when cooped up by the Turks within the narrow limits of a single city; we must evidently adopt the same mode of considering the last head: that is to say, it will matter little, so far as the completion of the prophecy is concerned, whether the temporal supremacy of the present representative of the last head be acknowledged or not, provided only it was once acknowledged. We have merely therefore to inquire, whether this was ever the case with the Carlovingian monarchy; for such acknowledgment seems necessary, in the mind of the prophet, to complete the character of a head of the beast. R

He

VOL. II.

He is silent respecting the first six heads, because they all arose before the empire was broken, and therefore it was unnecessary to specify that they were severally the whole beast: but he particularly informs us, that the last should likewise be the whole beast, because such a circumstance, however essential to the character of a head, seemed very improbable after the empire had branched out into ten horns*. This however precisely came to pass. Allowing for the space occupied by the yet existing sixth head, the last head at its first rise was commensurate, either by actual sovereignty or acknowledged supremacy, with the whole beast. Charlemagne really possessed what the Popes only ineffectually claimed. The greatest part of the Western Empire was immediately subject to him: he possessed ample territories without its limits: and the petty kings of Britain and Spain, the only provinces not directly under his controul, implored the honour and support of his alliance, and styled him their common parent, the sole and supreme Emperor of the West t. The result therefore of

the

"The beast, that was, and is not, even he is the eighth "(king or head), and is of the seven."

The reader will find a statement of the extent of the Car lovingian empire, in the Hist. of the Decline and Fall. vol. ix. p. 180-187; which affords the best comment upon the pro phetic declaration that the last head should be the whole beast. Respecting Charlemagne and his empire Mr. Gibbon justly re marks, that "the dignity of his person, the length of his reign, "the prosperity of his arms, the vigour of his government,

" and