slightly fortified to hold out against so powerful a Prince and so great an Army that brought Cannon before it I met with nothing remarkable between this and Basile except that I staid sometime at Bern and knew it better and at this second time it was that my Lord Advoyer d'Erlach gave order to shew me the Original Records of the famous Process of the four Dominicans upon which I have retoucht the Letter that I writ to you last year so that I now send it to you with the corrections and enlargements that this second stay at Bern gave me occasion to make Basile is the Town of the greatest extent of all Switzerland but it is not inhabited in proportion to its extent The Rhine maketh a crook before it and the Town is situated on a rising ground which hath a noble effect on the eye when one is on the Bridge for it looketh like a Theater Little Basile on the other side of the Rhine is almost a fourth part of the whole The Town is surrounded with a Wall and Ditch but it is so exposed on so many sides and hath now so dreadful a Neighbour within a quarter of a League of it the Fort of Huningh that it hath nothing to trust to humanly speaking but its Union with the other Cantons The maxims of this Canton have hindred its being better peopled than it is the advantages of the Burgership are such that the Citizens will not share them with strangers and by this means they do not admit them For I was told that during the last War that Alsatia was so often the seat of both Armies Basile having then a neutrality it might have been well filled if it had not been for this maxim And it were a great happiness to all the Cantons if they could have different degrees of Burgership so that the lower degrees might be given to strangers for their encouragement to come and live among them and the higher degrees which qualifie men for the advantagious Employments of the State might be reserved for the ancient Families of the Natives Basile is divided into sixteen Companies and every one of these hath four Members in the little Council so that it consisteth of sixty four But of those four two are chosen by the Company it self who are called the Masters and the other two are chosen by the Councel out of the Company and thus as there are two sorts of Councellers chosen in those different manners there are also two chief Magistrates There are two Burghermasters that Reign by turns and two Zunst-Masters that have also their turns and all is for life And the last are the heads of the Companies like the Roman Tribunes of the people The Fabrick of the Stadt-House is ancient there is very good Painting in fresco upon the Walls one Piece hath given much offence to the Papists though they have no reason to blame the Reformation for it since it was done several years before it in the year 1510. It is a representation of the Day of Judgement and after Sentence given the Devil is represented driving many before him to Hell and among these there is several Ecclesiasticks But it is believed that the Councel which sate so long in this place acting so vigorously against the Pope ingaged the Town into such a hatred of the Papacy that this might give the rise to this representation The more learned in the Town ascribe the beginning of the Custom in Basile of the Clocks anticipating the time a full Hour to the sitting of the Councel and they say that in order to the advancing of business and the shortning their Sessions they ordered their Clocks to be set forward an Hour which continueth to this day The Cathedral is a great old Gothick building the Chamber where the Councel sate is of no great reception and is a very ordinary Room Erasmus's Tomb is only a plain Inscription upon a great brass plate There are many of Holbens's Pictures who was a Native of Basile and was recommended by Erasmus to King Henry the VIII the two best are a Corpo or Christ dead which is certainly one of the best in the World There is another Piece of his in the Stadt-House for this is in the publick Library of about three or four foot square in which in six several Cantons the several parts of our Saviours Passion are represented with a life and beauty that cannot be enough admired it is valued at ten thousand Crowns it is in Wood but hath that freshness of Colour on it that seems peculiar to Holbens's Pencil There is also a Dance that he painted on the Walls of an House where he used to drink that is so worn out that very little is now to be seen except shapes and postures but these shew the exquisiteness of the hand There is another longer Dance that runneth all along the side of the Convent of the Augustinians which is now the French Church which is Deaths Dance there are above threescore figures in it at full length of Persons of all ranks from Popes Emperors and Kings down to the meanest sorts of People and of all Ages and Professions to whom Death appeareth in an insolent and surprizing posture and the several passions that they express are so well set out that this was certainly a great design But the fresco being exposed to the Air this was so worn out some time ago that they ordered the best Painter they had to lay new Colour on it but this is so ill done that one had rather see the dead shadows of Holbens's Pencil than this course work There is in Basile a Gun-Smith that maketh Wind-Guns and he shewed me one that as it received at once Air for ten shot so it had this particular to it which he pretends is his own Invention that he can discharge all the Air that can be parcelled out in ten shot at once to give a home blow I confess those are terrible instruments and it seems the interest of Mankind to forbid them quite since they can be imployed to assassinate persons so dextrously that neither noise nor sire will discover from what hand the shot cometh The Library of Basile is by much the best in all Switzerland there is a fine collection of Medals in it and a very handsome Library of Manuscripts the Room is Noble and disposed in a very good method Their Manuscripts are chiefly the Latine Fathers or Latine Translations of the Greek Fathers some good Bibles they have the Gospels in Greek Capitals but they are vitiously writ in many places There is an infinite number of the Writers of the darker Ages and there are Legends and Sermons without number All the Books that were in the seueral Monasteries at the time of the Reformation were carefully preserved and they believe that the Bishops who sate here in the Council brought with them a great many Manuscripts which they never carried away Among their Manuscripts I saw
Virgin after some endearments to himself extolling the merit of his Charity and Discipline told him That she was conceived in original sin and that Pope Julius the Second that then reigned was to put an end to the Dispute and was to abolish the Feast of her Conception which Sixtus the Fourth had instituted and that the Friar was to be the Instrument of perswading the Pope of the truth in that matter She gave him three drops of her Sons Blood which were thâ—ee tears of Blood that he had shed over Jerusalem and this signified that she was three hours in original Sin after which she was by his mercy delivered out of that State for it seems the Dominicans were resolved so to compound the matter that they should gain the main Point of her Conception in Sin yet they would comply so far with the Reverence for the Virgin with which the World was possessed that she should be believed to have remained a very short while in that State She gave him also five drops of Blood in the form of a Cross which were Tears of Blood that she had shed while her Son was on the Cross And to convince him more fully she presented an Hosty to him that appeared as an ordinary Hosty and of a sudden it appeared to be of a deep red colour The Cheat of those supposed Visits was often repeated to the abused Friar at last the Virgin told him that she was to give him such marks of her Son's Love to him that the matter should be past all doubt She said That the five Wounds of St. Lucia and St. Catharine were real Wounds and that she would also imprint them on him so she bid him reach his hand he had no great mind to receive a Favour in which he was to suffer so much but she forced his hand and struck a Nail through it the Hole was as big as a Grain of Pease and he saw the Candle clearly through it this threw him out of a supposed Transport into a real Agony but she seemed to touch his Hand and he thought he smelt an Oyntment with which she anointed it tho' his Coâ—fessor perswaded him that that was only an Imagination so the supposed Virgin left him for that time The next Night the Apparition returned and brought some linnen Cloaths which had some real or imaginary vertue to allay his torment and the pretended Virgin said they were some of the linings in which Christ was wrapped and with that she gave him a soporiferous draught and while he was fast asleep the other four Wounds were imprinted on his body in such a manner that he felt no pain But in order to the doing of this the Friars be took themselves to Charms and the Subprior shewed the rest a Book full of them but he said that before they could be â—ffectual they must renounce God and he not only did this himself but by a formal Act put in Writâ—ng signed with his Blood he dedicated himself to the Dâ—vil it is true he did not oblige the rest to this but only to renounce God The Composition of the Draught was a mixture of some Fountain-water and Chrisme the Hairs of the Eye-brows of a Child some Quick-silver some Grains of Incense somewhat of aâ— Easter Wax-candle some consecrated Salt and the Blood of an unbaptized Child This Composition was a Secret which the Subprior did not communicate to the other Friars By this the poor Friar Jetzer was made almost quite insensible When he was awake and came out of this deep sleep he felt this wonderful Impression on his Body and now he was raâ—ished out of measure and came to fancy himself to be acting all the parts of our Saviour's Passion He was exposed to the people on the great Altar to the amazement of the whole Town and to the no small Mortification of the Franciscans The Dominicans gave him some other Draughts that threw him into Convulsions and when he came out of those a Voice was heard which came through that Hole which yet remains and runs from one of the Cells along a great part of the Wall of the Church for a Friar spoke thro' a Pipe and at the end of the Hole there was an Image of the Virgins with a little Jesus in her Arms between whom and his Mother the Voice seemed to come the Image also seemed to shed Tears and a Painter had drawn those on her Face so lively that the People were deceived by it The little Jesus ask'd why she wept and she said it was because his Honour was given to her since it was said That she was born without sin â—n conclusion the Friars did so over-act this Matter that at last ev'n the poor deluded Frier himself came to discover it and resolved to quit the Order It was in vain to delude him with more Apparitions for he well nigh kill'd a Frier that came to him personating the Virgin in another shape with a Crown on her Head He also over-heard the Friers once talking amongst themselves of the Contrivance and Success of the Imposture so plainly that he discovered the whole matter and upon that as may be easily imagined he was filled with all the horror with which such a Discovery could inspire him The Friers fearing that an Imposture which was carried on hitherto with so much success should be quite spoiled and be turned against them thought the surest way was to own the whole matter to him and to engage him to carry on the Cheat. They told him in what esteem he would be if he continued to support the Reputation that he had acquired that he would become the chief person of the Order and in the end they persuaded him to go on with the Imposture But at last they fearing lest he should discover all resolved to poyson him of which he was so apprehensive that once a Loaf being brought him that was prepared with some Spices he kept it for some time and it growing green he threw it to some young Wolves Whelps that were in the Monastery who died immediately His Constitution was also so vigorous that tho' they gave him Poyson five several times he was not destroyed by it They also prest him earnestly to renounce God which they judg'd necessary that so their Charms might have their effect on him but he would never consent to that at last they forced him to take a poisoned Hosty which yet he vomited up soon after he had swallowed it down that failing they used him so cruelly whipping him with an iron Chain and girding him about so strait with it that to avoid farther torment he swore to them in a most imprecating stile That he would never discover the Secret but would still carry it on and so he deluded them till he found an opportunity of getting out of the Convent and of throwing himself into the Hands of the Magistrates to whom he discovered all The four Friers were seised on and put in
name of Apenins though that is strâ—ctly given only to one that is the highest All the way to Florence this track of Hills continues though there are several bottoms and some considerable little Towns in them but all is up-hill and down-hill and Florence it self is just at the bottom of the last Hill The high-ways all along these Hills are kept in so very good case that in few of the best Inhabited Countries doth one find the high-ways so well maintained as in those forsaken Mountains but this is so great a passage that all that are concerned in it find their account in the expence they lay out upon it On the last of these Hills though in a little bottom in the midst of a Hill stands Pratolino one of the great Dukes Palaces where the retreat in summer must be very agreeable for the Air of those Mountains is extream thin and pure The Gardens in Italy are made at a great cost the Statues and Fountains are very rich and noble the Grounds are well laid out and the Walks are long and even But as they have no Gravel to give them those firm and beautiful walks that we have in England so the constant greenness of the Box doth so much please them that they preferring the sight to the smell have their Gardens so high sented by plots made within them that there is no pleasure to walk in them they also lay their walks so between hedges that one is much confined in them I saw first in a Garden at Vincenza that which I found afterwards in many Gardens in Italy which was extream convenient there went a course of Water round about the Walls about a foot from the ground in a channel of stone that went along the side of the Wall and in this there were-holes so made that a pipe of white Iron or Wood put to them conveyed the Water to such plants as in dry season needed watering and a cock set the Water a running in this course so that without the trouble of carrying Water one Person could easily manage the watring of a great Garden Florence is a beautiful and noble Town full of great Palaces rich Churches and stately Convents The streets are paved in imitation of the old Roman highways with great Stone bigger than our common pavement Stone but much thicker which are so hollowed in their joinings to one another that horses find fastning enough to their feet There are many Statues and Fountains in the streets so that in every corner one meets with many agreeable objects I will not entertain you with a description of the great Dukes Palace and Gardens or of the old Palace and the Gallery that joins to it and of the vast Collection of Pictures Statues Cabinets and other curiosities that must needs amaze every one that sees them the Plate and in particular the Gold Plate and the great Coach are all such extraordinary things that they would require a very copious description if that had not been done so often that it were to very little purpose to Copy what others have said and these things are so exactly seen by every traveller that I can say nothing that is more particular of these subjects then you will find in the common Itineraries of all Travellers The great Dome is a magnificent building but the Frontispiece to the great Gate is not yet made The Cupulo is after S. Peters the greatest and highest that I saw in Italy it is Three Hundred foot high and of a vast compass and the whole Architecture of this Fabrick is very singular as well as regular Only that which was intended to add to its beauty lessned it very much in my thoughts for the Walls that are all of Marble being of white and black Marble laid in different figures and orders looked too like a livery and had not that air of nobleness which in my opinion becomes so glorious a Fabrick The Baptistery that stands before it was a Noble Heathen Temple its Gates of brass are the best of that sort that are in the World There are so many Histories so well represented in bas reliefs in them with so much exactness the work is so natural and yet so fine that a curious Man could find entertainment for many days if he would examine the three Gates of this Temple with a critical exactness The Annunciata S. Marks S. Croce and S. Maria Novella are Churches of great beauty and vast riches but the Church and Chappel of S. Laurence exceeds them all as much in the riches within as it is inferior to them in the out-side which is quite flea'd if I may so speak but on design to give it a rich out-side of Marble In a Chappel within this Church the Bodies of the great Dukes lie deposited till the famous Chappel is finished But I was much scandalized to see Statues with nudities here which I do not remember to have seen any where else in Churches I will not offer at a description of the Glorious Chappel which as it is without doubt the richest piece of building that perhaps the World ever saw so it goes on so slowly that though there are always many at work yet it doth not seem to advance proportionably to the number of the hands that are imployed in it Among the Statues that are to be in it there is one of the Virgins made by Michael Angelo which represents her grief at the Passion of her Blessed Son that hath the most life in it of all the Statues I ever saw But the famous Library that belongs to this Convent took up more of my time than all the other Curiosities of Florence for here is a collection of many Manuscripts most of them are Greek that were gathered together by Pope Clement the VII and given to his Country There are very few Printed Books mixed with them and those Books that are there are so rare that they are almost as curious as Manuscripts I saw some of Virgils Poems in old Capitals There is a Manuscript in which some parts both of Tacitus and Apeuleius are written and in one place one in a different hand hath writ that he had compared those Manuscripts and he adds a date to this in Olibrius's time which is above Twelve hundred Years ago I found some Dipthongs in it cast into one Letter which surprized me for I thought that way of writing of them had not been so ancient but that which pleased me most was that the Library-keeper assured me that one had lately found the famous Epistle of St. Chrisostomes to Cesarius in Greek in the end of a Volume full of other things and not among the Manuscripts of that Fathers Books of which they have a great many He thought he remembred well the place where the Book stood so we turned over all the Books that stood near it but I found it not He promised to look it out for me if I came back that way But I changing my
a little beard and Paulus is written by his head there is another reaching him a Garland and by his head Laud is written and this is repeated in another place right over against it In another place I found a cross Painted and about the upper part of it these Letters J. C. X. O. and in the lower part N J K A are Painted A learned Antiquary that went with me agreed with me that the manner of the Painting and Characters did not seem to be above six hundred years old but neither of us knew what to make of these Letters The lower seemed to relate to the last word of the Vision which it is said that Constantine saw with the Cross that appeared to him But tho the first two Letters might be for Jesus it being ordinary in old Coins and Inscriptions to put a C. for an S. and X. stands for Christ yet we knew not what to make of the O. unless it were for the Greek Theta and that the little line in the bosom of the Theta was worn out and then it stands for Theos and thus the whose Inscription is Jesus Christ God overcometh Another Picture in the Wall had written over it S. Johannes which was a clâ—ar sign of a barbarous Age In another place there is a Picture high in the Wall and three Pictures under it that at top had no Inscription those below it had these Inscriptions S. Katharina S. Agape and S. Margarita these Letters aâ—e clearly modern besides that Margaret and Katherine are modern names and the addition of ta a little above the S. were manifest Evidences that the highest Antiquity that can be ascribed to this Painting is six hundred years I saw no more Painting and I began to grow weary of the darkness and the thick Air of the place so I staid not above an hour in the Catacombs This made me reflect more particularly on the Catacombs of Rome than I had done I could imagine no reason why so little mention is made of those of Naples when there is so much said concerning those of Rome and could give my self no other account of the matter but that it being a maxim to keep up the reputation of the Roman Catacombs as the Repositories of the Reliques of the primitive Christians it would have much lessened their credit if it had been thought that there were Catacombs far beyond them in all respects that yet cannot be supposed to have been the work of the primitive Christians and indeed nothing seems more evident than that these were the common burying places of the ancient Heathens One enters into them without the Walls of the Towns according to the Laws of the twelve Tables and such are the Catacombs of Rome that I saw which were those of S. Agnes and S. Sebastian the entry into them being without the Town this answers the Law tho in effect they run under it for in those days when they had not the use of the needle they could not know which way they carried on those works when they were once so far ingaged under ground as to lose themselves It is a vain imagination to think that the Christians in the primitive times were able to carry on such a work for as this prodigious digging into such Rocks must have been a very visible thing by the Mountaines of Rubbish that must have been brought out and by the vast number of hands that must have been employed in it so it is absurd to think that they could hold their Assemblies amidst the annoyance of so much corruption I found the steams so strong that tho I am as little subject to vapours as most men yet I had all the day long after I was in them which was not near an hour a confusion and as it were a boiling in my head that disordered me extreamly and if there is now so much stagnating Air there this must have been sensible in a more eminent and insufferable manner while there were vast numbers of bodies rotting in those niches But besides this improbability that presents it self from the nature of the thing I called to mind a passage of a Letter of Cornelius that was Bishop of Rome after the middle of the third Century which is preserved by Eusebius in his sixth Book Chapter 43. in which we have the State of the Church of Rome at that time set forth There were forty six Presbiters seven Deacons as many Sub-deacons and ninety four of the Inferiour Orders of the Clergy among them there were also fifteen hundred Widows and other poor maintained out of the publick Charities It may be reasonably supposed that the numbers of the Christians were as great when this Epistle was writ as they were at any time before Constantine's dayes for as this was writ at the end of that long peace of which both S. Cyprian and Lactantius speak that had continued above a hundred years so after this time there was such a succession of Persecutions that came so thick one upon another after short intervals of quiet that we cannot think the numbers of the Christians increased much beyond what they were at this time Now there are two particulars in this State of the Clergy upon which one may make a probable estimate of the numbers of the Christians the one is their poor which were but fifteen hundred now upon an exact survey it will be found that where the poor are well looked to their number rises generally to be the thirtieth or fortieth part of mankind and this may be well believed to be the proportion of the poor among the Christians of that Age For as their Charity was vigorous and tender so we find Celsus Julian Lucian Porphiry and others object this to the Christians of that time that their Charities to the poor drew vast numbers of the lower sort among them who made themselves Christians that they might be supplied by their Brethren So that this being the State of the Christians then we may reckon the poor the thirtieth part and so fifteen hundred multiplied by thirty produce five and forty thousand And I am the more inclined to think that this rises up near to the full sum of their numbers by the other Character of the numbers of the Clergy for as there were forty six Presbyters so there were ninety four of the inferior Orders who were by two more then the double of the number of the Priests and this was in a time in which the care of Souls was more exactly looked after then it has been in the more corrupted Ages the Clergy having then really more work on their hands the instructing of their Catechumenes the visiting their Sick and the supporting and comforting the weak being tasks that required so much application that in so vast a City as Rome was in those dayes in which it is probable the Christians were scattered over the City and mixed in all the parts of it we make a conjecture that is not ill
at once as the Italians do upon the Building and Finishing of their Palaces and Gardens and that afterwards bestow so little on the preserving of them another thing I observed in their Palaces there is indeed a great series of Noble rooms one within another of which their apartments are composed but I did not find at the end of the apartments where the Bed Chamber is such a disposition of rooms for back-stairs dressing-rooms closets servants rooms and other conveniences as are necessary for accommodating the Apartment It is true this is not so necessary for an apartment of State in which Magnificence is more considered then convenience but I found the same want in those apartments in which they lodged so that notwithstanding all the riches of their Palaces it can not be said that they are well lodged in them and their Gardens are yet less understood and worse kept then their Palaces It is true the Villa Borghese ought to be excepted where as there is a prodigious collection of bas reliefs with which the Walls are as it were covered all over that are of a vast value so the statues within of which some are of Porphiry and others of Touchstone are amazing things The whole grounds of this Park which is about three miles in compass and in which there are six or seven lodges are laid out so sweetly that I thought I was in an English Park when I walked over it The Villa Pamphilia is better scituated upon a higher ground and hath more Water-works and twice the extent of the other in Soil but neither doth the House nor Statues approach to the riches of the other nor are the grounds so well laid out and so well kept But for the Furniture of the Palaces of Rome the publick apartments are all covered over with Pictures and for those apartments in which they lodge they are generally furnished either with red Velvet or red Damask with a broad gold Galloon at every breadth of the stuff and a gold Fringe at top and bottom but there is very little Tapistry in Italy I have been carried into all this disgression from the general view that I was giving you of the Popes Palace I named one part of it which well ingage me into new digression as it well deserves one and that is the Library of the Vatican The Case is great but that which is lodged in it is much greater for here is a collection of Books that filleth a mans eye There is first a great Hall and at the end of it there runs out on both sides two Galleries of so vast a length that tho the half of them is already furnished with Books yet one would hope that there is room left for more new Books then the World will ever produce The Heidelberg Library stands by it self and filleth the one side of the Gallery as the Duke of Vrbins Library of Manuscripts filleth the other But tho these last are very fair and beautiful yet they are not of â—â—ch Antiquity as those of Heidelberg When it appeâ—red that I was come from England King Henry the VIIIs Book of the seven Sacraments with an inscription writ upon it with his own hand to Pope Leo the X. was shewed me together with a collection of some Letters that he writ to Ann Bolen of which some are in English and some in French I that knew his hand well saw clearly that they were no forgeries There are not many Latin Manuscripâ—s of great Antiquity in this Library some few of Virgils I saw writ in Capitals But that which took up almâ—st half of one day that I spent at one time in this place related to the present dispute that is on foot between Mr. Schelstrate the Library-keeper and Mr. Maimbourg concerning the Council of Constance The two points in debate are the words of the decree made in the fourth Session and the Popes confirmation In the fourth Session according to the French Manuscripts a Decree was made subjecting the Pope and all other persons whatsoever to the Authority of the Council and to the Decrees it was to make and to the Reformation it intended to establish both in the Head and the Members which as it implies that the Head was corrupted and needed to be reformed so it sets the Council so directly above the Pope that this Session being confirmed by the Pope putteth those who assert the Popes infallibility to no small straits For if Pope Martin that approved this Decree was infallible then this Decree is good still and if he was not infallible no other Pope was infallible To all thiâ— Schelstrate answers from his Manuscripts that the words of a Reformation in Head and Members are not in the Decree of that Session and he did shew me several Manuscripts of which two were evidently writ during the sitting of the Council and were not at all dashed in which these words were not I know the hand and way of writing of that Age too well to be easily mistaken in my judgement concerning those Manuscripts but if those words are wanting there are other words in them that seem to be much stronger for the superiority of the Council above that Pope For it is Decreed that Popes and all other persons were bound to submit to the decisions of the Council as to Faith which words are not in the French Manuscripts Upon this I told M. Schelstrate that I thought the words in these Manuscripts were stronger then the other siâ—ce the word Reformation as it was used in the timâ— of that Council belonged chiefly to the correcting of abuses it being often applied to the regulations that were made in the Monastick-Orders when they were brought to a more exact observation of the rule of their Order So tho the Council had decreed a Reformation both of Head and Members I do not see that this would import more than that the Papacy had fallen into some disorders that needed a Reformation and this is not denied even by those who assert the Pope's infallibility but a submission to points of Faith that is expresly asserted in the Roman Manuscripts is a much more positive evidence against the Pope's Infallibility and the word Faith is not capable of so large a sense as may be justly ascribed to Reformation But this difference in so main a point bâ—tween Manuscripts concerning so late a Transaction gâ—ve me an occasion to reflect on the vast uncertainty of Tradition especially of matters that are at a great distance from us when those that were so lately Transacted are so differently represented in Manuscripts and in which both those of Paris and Rome seem to carry all possible evidâ—nces of sinc rity As for the Popes confirmation of that Decree it is true by a General Bull Pope Martin confirmed the Council of Constance to such a period but besides that he made a particular Bull as Schelstrat assured me in which he enumerated all the Decrees that he confirmed and among
Copious Account both of your person and Studies to those in whom your curious discoveries had kindled that esteem for you which all the World payeth both to you and to your immortal enquiries into nature which are among the peculiar blessings of this Age and that are read with no less care and pleasure in Italy then in England This was so well received that I found the great advantage of this Honour I did my self in assuming the glorious Title of one of your friends and I owe a great part of that distinction which I met with to this favourable character that I gave my self so that if I made any progress in the enquiries that so short a stay could enable one to make I owe it in so a peculiar a manner to you that this return that I make is but a very small part of that I owe you and which I will be endeavouring to pay you to the last moment of my life BOOK III. THE FIFTH LETTER From Nimmegen the 20. of May 1686. SIR I Thought I had made so full a point at the conclusion of my last Letter that I should not have given you the trouble of reading any more Letters of the Volume of the former But new Scenes and new Matter offering themselves to me I fancy you will be very gentle to me if I Engage you again to two or three Hours reading From Civita Vecchia I came to Marseilles where if there were a Road as Safe as the Harbour is covered and if the Harbour were as large as it is convenient it were certainly one of the most important places in the World all is so well defended that it is with respect either to Storms or Enemies the securest Port that can be seen any where The Freedoms of this place though it is now at the mercy of the Cittadel are such and its scituation draweth so much Trade to it that there one seeth another appearance of wealth then I found in any Town of France and there is a new street lately built there that for the beauty of the buildings and the largeness of the street is the Noblest I ever saw There is in that Port a perpetual heat and the Sun was so strong in the Christians week that I was often driven off the Key I made a Tour from thence through Provence Languedoc and Dauphinè I will offer you no account of Nismes nor of the Amphitheatre in it or the Pont du Gar near it which as they are stupendious things so they are so copiously described by many and are so generally known to the English Nation that if you have never gone that way your self yet you must needs have received so particular a relation of them from those that have seen them on their way to Montpelier that I judge it needless to enlarge upon them Nor will I say any thing of the Soil the Towns or any other remarkable things that I found there I have a much stronger inclination to say somewhat concerning the persecution which I saw in its rage and utmost fury and of which I could give you many instances that are so much beyond all the common measures of barbarity and cruelty that I confess they ought not to be believed unless I could give more positive proofs of them than are fitting now to be brought forth and the particulars that I could tell you are such that if I should relate them with the necessary circumstances of time place and persons these might be so fatal to many that are yet in the power of their Enemies that my regard to them restrains me In short I do not think that in any Age there ever was such a violation of all that is sacred either with relation to God or Man And what I saw and knew there from the first hand hath so confirmed all the Idea's that I had taken from Books of the cruelty of that Religion that I hope the impression that this hath made upon me shall never end but with my life The applauses that the whole Clergy give to this way of proceeding the many Panegyricks that are already writ upon it of which besides the more pompous ones that appear at Paris there are numbers writ by smaller Authors in every Town of any note there and the Sermons that are all flights of flattery upon this subject are such evident demonstrations of their sense of this matter that what is now on foot may be well termâ—d the Act of the whole Clergy of that Kingdom which yet hath been hitherto esteemed the most moderate part of the Roman Communion If any are more moderate than others and have not so far laid off human nature as not to go in entirely into those bloody practises yet they dare not own it but whisper it in secret as if it were half Treason but for the greater part they do not only magnifie all that is done but they animate even the Dragoons to higher degrees of rage and there was such a heat spread over all the Country on this occasion that one could not go into any Ordinary or mix in any promiscuous conversation without finding such effects of it that it was not easie for such as were toucht with the least degree of compassion for the miseries that the poor Protestants suffered to be a witness to the Insultings that they must meet with in all places Some perhaps imagine that this hath not been approved in Italy and it is true there were not any publick rejoycings upon it at Rome no Indulgences nor Te Deums were heard of And the Spanish faction being so prevalent there it is not strange if a course of proceedings that is without an example was set forth by all that were of that interest in its proper colours of which I met with some instances my self and could not but smile to see some of the Spanish Faction so far to forget their Courts of Inquisition as to argue against the Conversions by the Dragoons as a reproach to the Catholick Religion Yet the Pope was of another mind for the Duke d'Estrées gave him an account of the Kings proceedings in this matter very copiously as he himself related it Upon which the Pope approved all and expressed a great satisfaction in every thing that the King had done in that matter and the Pope added that he found some Cardinals as I remember the Duke d'Estrées said two were not pleased with it and had taken the liberty to censure it but the Pope said they were to blame The Duke d'Estrees did not name the two Cardinals though he said he believed he knew who they were and it is very likely that Cardinal Pio was one for I was told that he spoke freely enough of this matter I must take the liberty to add one thing to you that I do not see that Great Monarch is to be so much blamed in this matter as his Religion is which without question obligeth him to extirpate Hereticks and not to
four of Huss's Letters that he writ to the Bohemians the day before his death which are very devout but excessively simple The Manuscripts of this Library are far more numerous than those of Bern which were gathered by Bongarsius and left by him to the publick Library there They are indeed very little considered there and are the worst kept that ever I saw But it is a Noble collection of all the ancient Latine Authors they have some few of the best of the Roman times writ in great Characters and there are many that are seven or eight hundred years old There is in Basile one of the best collections of Medals that ever I saw in private hands together with a Noble Library in which there are Manuscripts of good antiquity that belong to the Family of Fesch and that goeth from one Learned Man of the Family to another For this Inheritance can only pass to a Man of Learning and when the Family produceth none then it is to go to the publick In Basile as the several Companies have been more or less strict in admitting some to a Freedom in the Company that have not been of the Trade so they retain their priviledges to this day For in such Companies that have once received such a number that have not been of the Trade as grew to be the majority the Trade hath never been able to recover their interest But some Companies have been more cautious and have never admitted any but those that were of the Trade so that they retain their interest still in Government Of these the Butchers were named for one so that there are always four Butchers in the Council The great Council consisteth of Two Hundred and Forty but they have no power left them and they are only assembled upon some extraordinary occasions when the little Council thinketh fit to communicate any important matter to them There are but six Baliages that belong to Bazile which are not Employments of great advantage for the best of them doth afford to the Bailif only a Thousand livres a year They reckon that there are in Basile Three Thousand Men that can bear Arms and that they could raise Four Thousand more out of the Canton so that the Town is almost the half of this State and the whole maketh Thirty Parishes There are Eighteen Professors in this University and there is a Spirit of a more free and generous Learning stirring there then I saw in all those parts There is a great decency of habit in Bazile and the garb both of the Counsellers Ministers and Professors their stiff Ruffs and their long Beards have an Air that is August The appointments are but small for Counsellers Ministers and Professors have but a Hundred Crowns a piece It is true many Ministers are Professors so this mendeth the matter a little But perhaps it would go better with the State of Learning there if they had but half the number of Professors and if those were a little better incouraged No where is the rule of St. Paul of Women having on their heads the badge of the authority under which they are brought which by a phrase that is not extraordinary he calleth power better observed than at Bazile for all the Married Women go to Church with a coif on their heads that is so folded that as it cometh down so far as to cover their eyes so another folding covereth also their Mouth and Chin so that nothing but the nose appears and then all turns backward in a folding that hangeth down to their midleg This is always white so that there is there such a sight of white heads in their Churches as cannot be found any where else The unmarried Women wear hats turned up in the brims before and behind and the brims of the sides being about a foot broad stand out far on both hands This fashion is also at Strasburg and is worn there also by the Married Women I mentioned formerly the constant danger to which this place is exposed from the neighbourhood of Huninghen I was told that at first it was pretended that the French King intended to build only a small Fort there and it was believed that one of the Burgo-masters of Bazile who was thought not only the wisest man of that Canton but of all Switzerland was gained to lay all Men asleep and to assure them that the suffering this Fort to be built so near them was of no importance to them but now they see too late their fatal error For the place is great and will hold a Garrison of Three or Four Thousand Men it is a Pentagone only the side to the Rhine is so large that if it went round on that side I believe it must have been a Hexagone the Bastions have all Orillons and in the middle of them there is a void space not filled up with earth where there is a Magazine built so thick in the Vault that it is proof against Bombs The Remparts are strongly faced there is a large Ditch and before the Cortine in the middle of the Ditch there runs all along a Horn-work which is but Ten or Twelve foot high and from the bottom of the Rampart there goeth a Vault to this Horn-work that is for conveying of Men for its defence before this Horn-work there is a half Moon with this that is peculiar to those new Fortifications that there is a Ditch that cuts the half Moon in an Angle and maketh one half Moon within another beyond that there is a Counter-Scarp about Twelve foot high above the Water with a covered way and a glacy designed though not executed There is also a great Horn-work besides all this which â—uns out a huge way with its out-works towards Bazile there is also a Bridge laid over the Rhine and there being an Island in the River where the Bridge is laid there is a Horn-work that filleth and fortifieth it The Buildings in this Fort are beautiful and the Square can hold above Four Thousand Men the Works are not yet quite finished but when all is compleated this will be one of the strongest places in Europe There is a Cavalier on one or two of the Bassions and there are half Moons before the Bastions so that the Switzers see their danger now when it is not easie to redress it This place is scituated in a great Plain so that it is commanded by no rising ground on any side of it I made a little Tower into Alsace as far as Mountbelliard the Soil is extream rich but it hath been so long a Frontier Country and is by consequence so ill peopled that it is in many places over-grown with Woods In one respect it is fit to be the seat of War for it is full of Iron-works which bring a great deal of Money into the Country I saw nothing peculiar in the Iron-works there except that the sides of the great Bellows were not of Leather but of Wood which saves much Money