Both Uses of
prophecy
in
King Lear
- —I'll speak a prophecy ere I go:— When priests are more in word than matter; When brewers mar their malt with water; When nobles are their tailors' tutors; No heretics burn'd, but wenches' suitors; When every case in law is right; No squire in debt nor no poor knight; When slanders do not live in tongues; Nor cutpurses come not to throngs; When usurers tell their gold i' the field; And bawds and whores do churches build;— Then shall the realm of Albion Come to great confusion: Then comes the time, who lives to see't, That going shall be us'd with feet.†
Scene 3.2prophecy = prediction of the future
- This prophecy Merlin shall make; for I live before his time.†
Scene 3.2 *
Definition:
a prediction of the future (usually said to be obtained in a supernatural way)