One of the earliest known uses of the phrase in English was by a Captain L. Brinckmair in 1638, whose report "The Warnings of Germany" during the Thirty Years' War cautioned that the violence there could soon spill over to England. "The writing on the wall" is also sometimes referred to by the use of some combination of the words "Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin", as they were written on the wall in the tale of Belshazzar's feast. The metaphor has consistently made appearances in various works of literature and media as a foreshadowing device ever since Brinckmair's report.