all things were renewed and repaired againe as if there had never beene any such desolation Revenue of the Crowne of France exceeding great The Revenue of the Crowne of France is exceeding great by reason of the Taxes and Impositions which through the whole Kingdome are layd upon the subjects for their Sizes and Toules doe exceed all Imposts and tributes of all the Princes of Christendome in as much as there are few things there used but the King hath a commodity issuing out of them and not onely from matters of Luxury as in other States but from such things as be of necessity as Flesh Wood Salt c. It is supposed at this day that there be in the Kingdome thirty thousand men who are Vnder-officers and make a good part of their living by gathering of the Kings tribute This is much increased no doubt in these latter times but yet of old it was in so great measure which caused that speech of Maximilian the Emperour as Iohannes Aventinus witnesseth de Bello Turcico who said that the Emperour of Germany was Rex Regum meaning that his Princes were so great men The King of Spaine was Rex hominum because his people would obey their Prince in any reasonable moderation The King of England was Rex Diabolorum because the subjects had there divers times deprived their Kings of their Crownes and dignitie But the King of France was Rex asinorum in as much as his people did beare very heavy burthens of taxes and impositions In France the offices of Iustice bought and sold In this Kingdome of France is one great miserie to the subjects that the places and offices of Iustice are ordinarily bought and sold the beginning whereof was this Lewis the 12. who was called a Father of the Country began to pay the debts of his predecessour Charles the 7. which were very great and intending to recover unto France the Dukedome of Millaine and minding not to burden his people further than was need thought it a good course to set at sale all the Offices of the Crowne but with the places of Iustice he did not meddle But his successors after him tooke occasion also to make great profit of them witnesse the Author contra Machiavel lib. 1. cap. 1. By the customes of that Countrey The Custome of France for mustering and pressing Souldiers the King of France hath not that absolute power to muster and presse out Souldiers as in England and some other places of Christendome the Princes have But the manner is when the King will set forward any Military Service he sendeth abroad his Edicts or causeth in Cities and good Townes the Drum to be strucken up and whosoever will voluntarily follow he is enrolled Notwithstanding he wanteth few Souldiers because the Noble and Gentlemen of France doe hold it their dutie and highest honour both to attend the King unto the warres and to beare their own charges yearely for many moneths The person of the King of France hath in former time beene reputed so sacred that Guicciardine saith of them that their people have regarded them in that respect of devotion as if they had beene de mi-gods And Machiavel in his Questions upon Livie saith that they doted so upon their Kings that they thought every thing did become them which they did and that nothing could be more disgracefull than to give any intimation that such or such a thing was not well done by their King But this opinion is now much decayed the Princes of the bloud are in the next ranke under the King himselfe Paris the chiefe City of France There be many and very rich goodly Cities in France but the chiefest of all is Paris called Lutetia quasi Luto sita as some have merrily spoken which place is especially honoured first by the presence of the King most commonly keeping Court and residence there secondly by the great store of goodly houses whereof part belong to Noble men and part are houses of Religion thirdly by the Vniversity which is incomparably the greatest most ancient and best filled of all France fourthly in that it is the chiefe Parliament City of that Kingdome without the ratification of which Parliament at Paris Edicts and Proclamations comming from the King are not held authenticall fiftly by the great traffique of all kinde of Merchandize which is used in that place The Parliament Cities in France are places where their Termes are kept and in severall provinces are 7. unto which the causes of inferiour Courts within their distinct Provinces may be brought by appeale but the Parliament of Paris hath that prerogative that appeales from all Courts of the Kingdome doe lie there That which we call our Parliament in England is amongst them tearmed Conventus Ordinum or the States The kingdome of France divided into three parts France in ancient time as Casar reporteth in the first of his Commentaries was divided into three parts Aquitania which was towards the West Celtica towards the North and West and Belgica which is towards the North. Belgium is sometime called Gallia inferior and sometimes Germania inferior but wee commonly call it the Low-Countries the governement whereof at this day is not at all under France but Gallia Celtica and Aquitania are under the French King Gaules the ancient inhabitants of France The ancient inhabitants of this Countrey were the Gaules who possessed not onely all that we now call France being the greatest part of that the Romans called Gallia Transalpina but also a good part of Italy which they call Gallia Cisalpina a people whose beginnings are unknowne this of them is certaine that they were a Nation of valour for they not onely sackt Rome but also carried their conquering armes into Greece where they sate down and were called by the name of Gallogrecians or Galathians Some report also that they entred into Spaine and subdued and inhabited that part which was called Lusitania now Portugallia but howsoever their former victories and greatnesse they were by Julius Caesar subdued and made a province of the people of Rome and so continued under the Roman Empire till about foure hundred yeares after Christ when in the ruine and dismembring of the Roman Empire the French invaded Gaule and erected a Monarchie which hath continued to this day in the succession of sixty foure Kings of three severall races that is to say the Merovingians Carolovingians and Capevingians about twelve hundred yeares and now flourisheth under Lewis the 13. the now raigning King of France Although the French have done many things worthily out of their owne Countrey in the East against the Saracens although they have for a while held Sicily the Kingdome of Naples and the Dutchy of Millaine yet it hath been observed of them that they could never make good their footing beyōd the Alps France one of the strongest kingdomes in all Europe or in other forraigne Regions howbeit in it selfe France is one of the
strongest kingdomes in all Europe at this day That which wee commonly call the Low-Countries Of the Low Countries containing 17 severall Provinces containeth seventeene severall Provinces wherof the most part have severall Titles and Governours as the Dukedome of Brabant the Earledome of Flanders c. Of which the inheritance at severall times did fall on Daughters who being married unto the Heyre of some of the other Provinces did in the end bring the whole Country into one entire governement which was commonly called by the name of the Dukedome of Burgundy and yet so that in the uniting of them together it was by composition agreed that the severall Provinces should retaine their severall ancient lawes and liberties which is the reason yeelded why some of those Provinces in our age thinke themselves freed from obedience unto the King of Spaine Note unto whom by inheritance they did descend because he hath violated their liberties to the keeping wherof at the first composition he was bound When this whole Country did belong unto the Crowne of France the Dukedome of Burgundy was bestowed by Philip de Valois King of France unto Iohn de Valois a yonger sonne of his from whom by descent it came at last to Charles the Bold otherwise Proud Duke of Burgundy who left one onely daughter and she was married to Maximilian the Emperour of the house of Austria from whom the inheritance descended unto Charles the fifth Emperour who yeelding it over to his sonne Philip the second did charge him to intreat that people well which he forgetting to doe under pretence of rooting out the profession of Religion did intangle himselfe and all that Country with a very long bloudy and wearisome warre The riches of the States in Generall There is no part of Europe which for the quantity of the ground doth yeeld so much riches and commodity as the Low-Countries doe besides their infinite store of shipping wherein they exceede any Prince of Christendome They were in time past accounted a very heavy dull people and unfit for the wars but their continuall combating with the Spaniards hath made them now very ingenuous full of action and managers of great causes appertaining to fights The names of the 17. Provinces either by Sea or Land The 17. Provinces are these Brabant Gelderland Artois Valencois Luxenburg Flaunders Henault Lile Namurce Holland Zeland Tornabum Tornacetium Mechlin Vtrecht and the East and West Freezeland France hath many petty governments that doe border upon it as the Dukedome of Savoy the State of the Switzers the Dukedome of Loraine the Burgundians or Walloons against all which the King is forced to keep his frontier Towns The Salike Law There is nothing more famous in this kingdome than the Salique Law whereby it is provided that no woman nor the heire of her as in her right shall injoy the Crown of France but it goeth alwayes to the heire male The author of the Commentaries against Machiavel reputeth it a great blessing of God that they have the Salique law in France and that not so much saith he because women by the infirmity of their sex are unfit to governe for therein many men who have enjoyed kingdomes have been and are very defective but because by that meanes the Crowne of France is never indangered by marriage of a forraigner to come under the subjection of a stranger And this is the opinion of Philip de Comines in the 8. Booke of his Commentaries This Law is very ancient among them so that it cannot certainly be defined when it was enacted but by vertue therof By this law Eâ—w the 3. King of England was put by the Crowne of France Edward the third King of England and his Heyres were cut off from inheriting the Crowne of France whereunto by marriage of a daughter hee was heire in generall And by reason of this Law Henry the fourth late King of France rather injoyed that Dominion than the Sonne of the Duke of Loraine who was neerer of bloud by descending from the Elder daughter of King Henry the second The Switzers government The Switzers are a people called in old time Helvetij who have no Noblemen or Gentlemen among them but onely the Citizens of their Townes the yearely Officers whereof and their Councell do governe their State 23 Cities or Cantons in Switzerland There are in Switzerland 23 Cities or Townes which they call their Canton although some rather thinke that name properly doth signifie the Rulers of those townes and of them some doe retaine to this day the Romish Religion but some others have embraced the Gospell The Countrey where they live is not very fertile and being far from any Seas they have no vent for their people but by sending them forth as hired Souldiers which for their pay doe fight oftentimes in Italy and France and sometimes in Germany Geneva Neare unto one part of them standeth Geneva which is challenged by the Duke of Savoy to have heretofore belonged to his Dominion but they pretend themselves to be a free City and by the helpe of Protestant Princes but especially by some of the Helvetians doe so maintaine it In this place there is a rare Law that if any malefactor A rare and excellent Law who hath fled out of his owne Country be convinced of any grievous crime he suffereth there as if he were in his owne Countrey which they are forced to doe because their Cities would be full of all sorts of Runnagates in as much as they stand on the Confines of divers Princes and States Of Germany THe next Countrey unto France on the East side is Germany Germany how bounded which is bounded on the West with France and the Low-Countries on the North with Denmarke and the Danish Seas on the East with Prussia Polonia and Hungary on the South East with Istria and Jllyricum on the South with the Alpe-hils and with Italy The Governour generall of this Country The Emprour governour of Germany Who be the 7. Electors is called the Emperour of Germany who is chosen by three spirituall Princes the Archbishop of Colen called Coloniensis the Archbishop of Ments called Moguntinus and the Archbishop of Trevers called Treverensis and three temporall Princes the Duke of Saxony the Marquesse of Brandenburge and the Count Palatine of Rhene which if they cannot agree as to make a Major part in their Election then thè King of Bohemia hath also a voyce whereof it commeth to be sayd that there be seven Princes Electors of the Empire His manner of Election The manner of the choise of the Emperour was established by a decree which is commonly called Bulla aurea which was made by Charles the 4. Emperour of Germany and King of Bohemia wherin he doth set downe all the circumstances of the Election of the Emperour and appointeth the King of Bohemia to be Sacri Imperij Archipincerna which is the Cup-bearer The 3.
might be Eastward or Southward and not Westward Mount Horeb. In the Desart of Arabia is the Mount Horeb which by some is supposed to be the same that is called Mount Sina where many think it was that Abraham should have offered up his Sonne Isaac But this is certaine that it was the place where God in the Wildernesse did give unto the people of Israel his Law of the ten Commandements in Thundring Lightning and great Earth-quake in most fearfull manner Of Africk and Egypt FRom Arabia and Palestina toward the West lyeth Africke Situation of Africk having on the North side from the one end of it to the other the Mediterranean Sea The greatest part of which Countrey although it hath beene ghessed at by Writers in former time yet because of the great heat of it lying for the most part of it under the Zona Torrida and for the Wildernesses therein it was in former time supposed by many not to bee much inhabited but of certainty by all to be very little discovered till the Portugals of late began their Navigation on the backside of Africa to the East Jndies So exact a description is therefore not to be looked for as hath beene of Asia and Europe The Countrey of Egypt Ioyning to the Holy Land by a little Isthmos is the Countrey of Egypt which is a Land as fruitfull as any almost in the world although in these dayes it doth not answere to the fertility of former times This is that which in the time of Ioseph did relieve Canaan with corne and the family of Iacob which did so multiply in the land of Aegypt that they were growne to a huge multitude when God by Moses did deliver them thence This Countrey did yeeld exceeding abundance of Corne unto the Citie of Rome Jts fertility whereupon Aegypt as well as Sicilia was commonly called Horreum populi Romani It is observed from all antiquity that almost never any raine did fall in the land of Aegypt Whereupon the raining with thunder lightning fire running on the ground was so much more strange when God plagued Pharaoh in the dayes of Moses But the flowing of the River Nilus over all the Countrey their Cities onely and some few Hils excepted doth so water the Earth that it bringeth forth fruit abundantly The flowing of Nilus The flowing of which River yearly is one of the greatest miracles of the World no man being able to yeeld a sufficient and assured reason thereof although in Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus many probable causes and opinions are assigned thereof That there doth not use any raine to fall in Aegypt besides other heathen testimonies and experiences of Travailers may bee gathered out of the Scripture for in the 10 chapter of Deuteronomy GOD doth make an Antithesis betweene the Land of Canaan and Aegypt saying that Aegypt was watered as a man would water a Garden of herbes that is to say by the hand But they should come into a Land which had Hils and Mountains and which was watered with the raine of Heaven and yet some have written that ever now and then there is mistes in Aegypt which yeeld though not Raine yet a pretty Dew It is noted of this River that if in ordinary places it do flow under the height of fifteene cubits that then for want of moysture the earth is not fruitfull and if it doe flow above seventeene Cubits that there is like to be a dearth by reason of the abundance of moysture the Water lying longer on the Land than the inhabitants doe desire It is most probably conjectured that the falling and melting of Snow from those Hils which bee called Luna Montes doe make the increase of the River Nilus And the custome of the people in the Southerne parts of Arabia is that they do receive into Ponds Dams the water that doth hastily fall and the same they let out with Sluces some after some which causeth it orderly to come downe into the plaines of Aegypt For the keeping up of these Dammes the Countrey of Aegypt hath time out of minde paid a great tribute to Prester John Which when of late it was denyed by the Turke Prester John caused all the Sluces to bee letten goe on the sudden whereby hee marvellously annoyed drowned up a great part of the Country of Aegypt Learning very ancient in Egypt In Aegypt learning hath bin very ancient but especially the knowledge of Astronomy and Mathematickes whereof before the time of Tullâ—e their Priests would report that they had the discent of 1500. yeares exactly recorded with observations Astrologicall which as it is a fable unlesse they doe reckon their yeares by the Moone as some suppose they did every Moneth for a yeare so it doth argue knowledge to have beene among them very ancient Their Priests had among them a kinde of writing and describing of things by picture which they did call their Hicroglyphica This in times â—past was a Kingdome Their Pyramides one of the Wonders of the world and by the Kings thereof were built those great Pyramides which were held to be one of the seven wonders of the world being mighty huge buildings erected of exceeding height for to shew the magnificence of their founders There is part of two or three of them remaining unto this day Divers learned men are at this day of opinion that when the children of Israel were in Aegypt and so oppressed by Pharaoh as is mentioned in the beginning of the booke of Exodus that their labour in burning of Bricke was partly imployed to the erecting of some of those Pyramides but the Scripture doth onely mention walling of Cities The Founders of these Pyramides were commonly buried in or under them and it is not unfit to remember that the Kings and great men of Aegypt had much cost bestowed upon them after they were dead For in as much as Arabia was neere unto them whence they had most precious Balmes and other costly Spices they did with charge embalme their dead and that with such curious art that the flesh therof and the skin will remaine unputrified for divers hundred yeares and all learned men thinke thousands of yeares Whereof experiments are plentifull at this day by the whole bodies hands or other parts which by Merchants are now brought from thence and doth make the Mummia which the Apothecaries use the colour being very blacke and the flesh clung unto the bones Moses doth speake of this when he saith that Iacob was embalmed by the Physicians after the manner of embalming of the Aegyptians But this manner of embalming is ceased long since in Aegypt The Citie Memphis In Aegypt did stand the great Citie Memphis which at this day is called Caire one of the famous Cities of the East Here did Alexander build that Citie which unto this day is of his name called Alexandria being now the greatest Citie of Merchandize in all Aegypt of which Amianus
Barbarie hath in old time beene called Mauritania which was divided into two parts the East part whereof next to Africa minor was called by the Romanes Mauritania Caesariensis as the other was called Mauritania Tingitana In Mauritania Caesariensi was the Countrey of Numidia the people whereof were used in the Warres of the Carthaginians as Light-horsmen and for all nimble services were very active In the East part of this Countrey standing in the Sea was that famous Citie of Carthage Carthage a famous City supposed to be built by Dido who came from Tyrus This City was it which for the space of some hundred yeares contended with Rome for the Empire of the World In the Romane Histories are recorded the great Warres which the people of Rome had with the City of Carthage In the first warre of the three the contention was for the Iles of Cicilia Corsica and Sardinia when the victory fell to the Romans and the Carthaginians were glad to redeeme their peace with the leaving of those Ilands The second warre was begun by Hannibal who brake the League and after he had taken some part of Spain from the Romanes and sacked Saguntum a Citie of their Friends came first over the Pyrenay hils to France then over the Alpes to Italy where hee overthrew the Romanes in three great Battels and much endangered their estate hee continued in Italy with his Army sixteene yeares till Scipio attempting on Carthage forced Hannibal to returne to rescue his owne Countrey There was Hannibal overthrowne and his City put to a great pension by Scipio who for his victory there was named Africanus In the third Warre because the people of Carthage still brake the League their City was razed to the very ground by the earnest and continuall counsell of Cato the Elder fearing evermore so dangerous a Neighbour though Scipio Nasica counselled to the contrary fearing lest if the dread of that enemy were taken away the Romans would grow either to idlenesse or civill dissention which after they did It is reported of Cato that hee never spake his judgement of any thing in the Senate but his conclusion was thus Thus I think for this matter and withall that Carthage is to be razed down And Scipio Nasica would reply in his conclusion Thus I thinke for this matter and withall that Carthage is not to bee razed down Livie reporteth that the way whereby Cato prevayled that Carthage should be razed downe was this while the question was very hot hee bringeth into the Senâ—te house greene Figges and let the Senatours understand that the same day three weeks those Figges were growing in Carthage Town wherby hee made manifest unto them that it was possible that an Army might be conveyed from Carthage to Rome in so short a time as that they would not be able on a suddaine to resist and so Rome might be surprized whereby they all concluded that it was no safety for their City to have a bad Neighbour so neer unto them In this Countrey toward the West not farre from Carthage stood Vtica whereof the younger Cato was tearmed Cato Vticensis because hee killed himselfe there in the civill warres betwixt Caesar and Pompey because he would not come within the hands of his enemy Caesar Not farre from thence westward standeth Hippo which was the City where S. Augustine was Bishop This whole Countrey at this day is called the Kingdome of Tunis the King whereof is a kinde of stipendary unto the Turke the people that inhabit there are generally Saracens and doe professe Mahumet Some doe write that Tunis standeth in the very place where olde Carthage was which is not so but is situated very neere unto the old ruines of the other Against the king of Tunis Charles the fift had some of his warres by Sea Of Mauritania Tingitana THe other part of Barbary that lyeth along the Mediterranean farthest into the West was called in old time Mauritania Tingitana The people of which Countrey were those which almost in al the old Histories were called by the name of Mauri Those of the other Mauritania being rather termed Numidae Into the North-west part therof did Hercules come and there did set up one of his pillars which answereth to the other in Spain they both being at the straits of Gilbralter in times past called Fretum HerculeuÌ„ On the South part thereof lay the * The kingdome of Bocchus kingdom of Bocchus which in the time of Marius had so much to doe with the Romans In the west part of this Mauritania standeth the Hill called Atlas minor Atlas minor Atlas major on the South part is the great Hill called Atlas major whereof the maine Ocean which lyeth betweene Mauritania and America is called Mare Atlanticum This hill is so high that unto those who stood on the bottome of it it seemed to touch heaven with his shoulders This Countrey hath beene long inhabited by the Saracens who from thence finding it to be but a short passage into Spaine did goe over now seven hundred yeares agoe and possessed there the Kingdome of Granado on the South side of Spaine till they were thence expelled by Ferdinandus and Elizabeth or Isabel King and Queene of Castile In this Countrey since that time have the Spaniards taken some Cities and Holds and so also have the Portugals which by the divers event of victory have often beene lost and won by them Here it was that the Emperour Charles the Fift had divers of his great Warres against the Moores as well as in the Kingdome of Tunis For the assistance of one who claymed to bee King of a part of this Countrey did Sebastian the King of Portugale goe with all his power into Africa in the Yeare 1578. where unadvisedly bearing himselfe hee was slaine together with two other the same day who claymed to be Kings so that there it was that the Battell was fought whereof it was said that * Three Kings slaine in one day at the battle of Aleazar three Kings died in one day which battell is called the battell of Aleazar and was the ruine of the Kingdome of Portugale and the cause of the uniting it to the Crowne of Spaine Astrologers did suppose that the blazing Starre which appeared the Yeare before did signifie that ill event This whole Countrey doth maintaine in it besides some Imperiall Government two absolute Kingdomes * The kingdome of Fezâ— the one of Fezza or Fez which lyeth on the North part toward the Mediterranean and Spain the other is the Kingdome of * The kingdome of Morocco Morroco which lyeth from above the Hill Atlas minor to the South and West part of Mauritania These are both Saracens as be also their people holding true League with the Turke and with some other Christian Princes a League onely for Traffick and Merchandize It may be doubted whether it was in this Mauritania Tingitana or rather but neere unto it in Mauritania Caesariensi
that they were the Sonnes of some God and not borne of mortall seed but sent downe from Heaven unto them and this conceit was the stronger in them because at the first in such conflicts as they had with them they could kill few or none of them the reason whereof was partly the Armour of the Spaniards and partly the want of Iron and Steele upon the Arrowes which the Americans did shoot but they were not very long of that opinion that they were immortall but reformed their errour both by seeing the dead corpes of some of the Christians and by trying an experiment upon some of them also for they tooke of them and put their heads under the water and held them till they were choaked by which they knew them to be of the same nature as other men * They admired and feared a Letter Among other points which did shew the great ignorance and unlettered stupidity of these Indians this was one that they could not conceive the force of writing of Letters in so much that when one Spaniard would send unto another being distant in place in India with any Provision and would write a Letter by him what the fellow had received from him The poore Indian would marvell how it should bee possible that hee to whom hee came should bee able to know all things which either himselfe brought or the sender directed And thereupon divers of them did thinke that there was some kinde of Spirit in the Paper and marvellously stood in feare of such a thing as a Letter was This Countrey yeeldeth great abundance of strange Herbes the like whereof are not to bee found in other parts of the World * Some very rare Beasts as also some very rare Beasts as one among the rest who by Peter Martyrs description hath some part like an Elephant some part like an Horse and divers other parts like divers other Beasts Nature having studied to expresse a great many severall Creatures in one There are also found at the Sea or within some Rivers * The Sea Crocodiles Crocodiles but not of that hugenesse as those that breed in Aegypt in the River Nilus whereof some are described by Plinie to bee at the least foure and twenty Cubits in length which argues the Crocodile to bee the greatest Creature in the World that comes of an Egge * Some rare stones There are also thereabouts some extraordinary Stones growing in the Land as above others the Bloud stones wherof there are great store but especially there is one thing of great beauty and worth that is the abundance of Pearles which are taken in Shell fishes and are of as great quantity as any that be in the Seas neere to the East Judies so that the true cause of the plenty of Pearle in Europe in this our age beyond that incomparably which hath beene in the dayes of our Fore-fathers is to be ascribed to the Discovery of these New-found Lands * Divers trees not else-where found There are also here divers trees which are not to bee found elsewhere and many Roots which serve for divers purposes * The abundance of Kine and Buls Among other things whereof there is great plenty in those Westerne parts is the abundance of Kine and Buls whereof they report that there is such store in Cuba and Hispaniola that there are killed downe divers thousands every yeare whereof the Spaniard maketh no other use but to take the Tallow or the Hide which serveth them in their shipping and for divers other purposes but the flesh of the most part of them they suffer for to putrifie as making little account of it partly because of the heate of the Countrey wherein they eat little flesh and partly because they have great store of Hennes and other more dainty meate whereupon together with fish they doe very much feed It may seeme a kind of miracle unto him who looketh no higher than the ordinary rules of Nature and doth not respect the extraordinary and unlimited power of God that whereas a great part of America doth lye in the Zona torrida in the selfe-same Climate with Aethiopia and the hottest parts of the East Jndies where the Inhabitants are not onely tawny as all bee in Aegypt and in Mauritania but also cole-blacke and very Negroes here there should bee no man whose colour is blacke except it bee those which are brought out of Africa but that the people should bee of a reasonable faire complexion which is to be ascribed onely unto Gods peculiar Will and not to that which some foolishly have imagined that the generative seed of those people should be white and that other of the Aethiopians blacke for that is untrue in as much as the Aethiopians case doth not differ from the quality of other men The Spaniards did find the people to be here most simple * The condition of the people of America without fraud giving them kinde entertainment according to their best manner exchanging for Knives and Glasses and such like toyes great abundance of Gold and Pearle It is certaine that by the very light of Nature and by the ordinary course of humane shape there were among this people very many good things as affabilitie in their kinde Hospitalitie towards strangers which had not offended them according to their ability and open and plaine behaviour * Their Religion yea and in some parts of the West Indies there was an opinion in grosse that the soule was immortall and that there was life after this life where beyond certaine Hils they know not where those which dyed in defence of their Countrey should after their departure from this life remaine in much blessednesse which opinion caused them to beare themselves very valiantly in their fights either striving to conquer their enemies or with very good contentment enduring death if it were their hap to be taken or slaine in as much as they promised themselves a better reward else-where * Tet many grieuous sins by them committed But withall as it could not choose but be so there were many other grievous sinnes amongst them as Adoration of Divels Sodomie Incest and all kinde of Adultery Ambition in very high measure a deadly hatred each to other which proceeded all from the Fountaine of ignorance wherewith Satan had blinded their eyes yet there were among them some which by a kinde of blinde Witch-craft had to evill purpose acquaintance and entercourse with foule spirits * Their Attire The manner of their Attire or beautifying themselves which divers of these people had severally in severall parts did seeme very strange unto them who came first into that Countrey For some of them did adorne themselves with the shels of Fishes some did weare Feathers about their heads some had whole Garments made of Feathers and those very curiously wrought and placed together of divers colours to which purpose they did most use the Feathers of Peacockes or
of their Governour * Their beastly basâ—â—esse Besides that they are men immoderately given to the lust of the Flesh making no conscience even at home even to get Bastards in their young dayes and reputing it no infamy unto them to frequent Harlots and Brothel-houses but when they are abroad especially in Warlike Services they are very outragious impudently and openly deflowring mens wives and daughters It may easily then be guessed what disorder they kept in the West Indies where the Countries are hot and the Women were not able to resist their insolencies and how they did tyrannize over the poore unarmed people making them to drudge for them not onely like slaves but bruit beasts which grosse oversight of theirs was at the first so apparant that all of good mindes did complaine thereof as appeareth by Peter Martyr himselfe who in his Writing to the Pope and other Princes doth much deplore the ill usage of them who in name were Christians towards those simple Infidels And certainly it caused many of them to * Note their 1 â—â—maâ—ity blaspheme the Name of GOD and of Christ and to renounce their Baptisme whereunto they were either forced or intreated when they measured the God of the Christians by the actions of his Servants whom they found to be Blasphemers and Swearers riotous and great Drunkards ravenous tyrannous and Oppressours unsatiable covetous Fornicators beyond measure given to incredible Wantonnesse and exercising even among themselves all kinde of envy contention murthers poysonings and all sort of inhumane behaviour Not long after the arrivall of the Spaniards there The Fryers complaint of their cruelty there were certaine Fryers and religious men who mooved with some zeale to draw the people there to the Christian Faith did travell into those parts that so they might spread abroad the Gospell of Christ and when they came there beholding the intemperance of their Countrymen which turned many away from the profession of Religion they were much mooved in their hearts and some of them by Writings and some other of them by travelling personally backe againe into Spaine did informe the King and his Court how dishonourable a thing it was to the Name of Christ that the poore people should be so abused and how improbable it was that those courses being continued any of them would hardly embrace the Faith The earnest Petition of these caused Charles the Fift the Emperour and the King of Spaine by his Edict and open Proclamation published in the West Indies to give liberty unto the Inhabitants and Naturals of the place that they should be in the state of Freemen and not of bond * Note but his Subjects were so inured proudly to domineere over them that this did little amend the condition of the people Since these dayes notwithstanding the blind zeale of the Spaniards hath beene such as that the Kings have beene at some cost and other men also have beene at great charge to erect divers Monasteries and Religious Houses there and many have taken the paines to go out of Europe as they think for Christs sake to reside as Monkes and Fryers in America There be established some Bishoprickes there and other Governments Ecclesiasticall and the Masse is there published and Latine Service according to the custome of the Church of Rome labouring to roote out their infidelitie but mingling the Christian Religion with much Popish Superstition By reason that the Countrey is exceeding rich and fruitfull the Spaniards with great desire did spread themselves towards the North where they found some more resistance although nothing in comparison of Wariours but the greatest of their labour was to conquer the Kingdome of Mexico * Mexico described which Mexico is a Citie very great and as populous almost as any in the World standing in the middest of a great Marsh or Fen. The Conquerour of this was Ferdinandus Cortesius so much renowned in Spaine unto this day If there were any thing at all in these West Indies which might sauour of civility or any orderly kind of government it was in the Kingdome of Mexico where it appeared unto the Spaniards that there is a certaine setled state which was kept within compasse by some decrees and customes of their owne and which was able to make some resistance as it may be termed if it be compared with the other Inhabitants of America although little if it bee conferred with the courses of Christendome But the policie of the Spaniards was that by private meanes they came to understand of a King that confined neere unto Mexico who as hee was of good strength so was hee of exceeding malice towards these his Borderers and by his Forces and intelligence Ferdinandus Cortesius and his Company came to have their will upon Mexico * A great Lake In this Countrey there standeth a very great Lake which at the one end is very large and almost round but towards the other end doth contract it selfe againe into a narrow roome and then spreadeth wide againe and round onely about the third part of the compasse of the greater end In the lesser of the two there are set some Houses in foure or five severall places which represent our Villages but in the greater part of the Lake standeth Mexico it selfe being a Citie built of Bricke to a good and elegant proportion where the water issueth into divers streets of it as it is in Venice and from some part whereof there are divers Bridges unto the mayne Land made also of Bricke but from the other sides men doe come by Boats wherof there is abundant store continually going in that Lake The Writers do record that there is to be found in this Citie abundance of all kind of Provision but especially Fruits and other delightfull things which are brought in from other parts of the Country * Mexico the chiefe City of all those quarters This was the chiefe City of all those quarters before the arrivall of the Spaniards there and in subjection thereunto were many large Provinces extending themselves every way so that the King of this place was a Prince of great estate and accordingly thereunto the Spaniards at this day have made it their chiefe and Royall Citie where the King keepeth his Viceroy of Mexico for the West Jndies as hee hath his Vice-roy at Goa for the East Indies but from thence have all the parts of America but especially that which they call Hispania nova their directions and hence they fetch their Lawes Ordinances and Determinations unlesse it be such great causes as are thought fit to bee referred to the Councell of Spain The Gulph of Mexico The Sea which confineth neerest unto this City is called the Gulph of Mexico where as in divers other Bayes or Gulphes the Streame or Current is such that Shippes cannot passe directly to and fro but especially out of the Gulph but they are forced to take their course either high to the North or
computation is onely by the Sunne and Moone who they hold to be of a Divine nature and although they know nothing truly concerning God yet they have a darke opinion that the soule doth live after the separation from the body * Their apparell The men and women thorowout the whole Countrey doe goe starke naked even very few of them having any thing on to cover their Privities only some of them doe pull some kinde of ornaments thorow their eares and the most of them have their lower-lip bored thorow with a great hole therein putting some device or other * The proportion of the Inhabitants They looke very disguisedly but they are all wonderfull straight of limbe and proportion insomuch that the Author writeth that in all the time wherein hee lived among them hee saw not one crooked backt or mishapen in any part whereof seeking to give a reason hee ascribeth it to this that their Children are never swathed nor bound about with any thing when they are first borne but are put naked into the bed with their Parents to lie which beds are devised of Cotton wooll and hung up between two trees not farre from the ground in the which slagging downe in the middle men and their wives and their children doe lie together But whether this bee the true reason of the straightnesse of their bodies it may bee doubted from the authority of Saint Hierome who in one of his Treatises mentioning that the Children of the noblest and greatest Romanes in his time were very crooked when other which were bred of meaner parents were not so imputeth it to this cause that the Gentlewomen of Rome in a kinde of wantonnesse did not suffer their Infants to bee so long swathed as poorer people did and that thereby their joynts and members not being tied and restrained within compasse did flye out of proportion Certainely howsoever there may be some reasons naturally given of these things it is much to be ascribed to the immediate will of God who giveth and taketh away beauty at his pleasure * Note The men of these parts are very strong and able of body and therefore either give sound strokes with their Clubs wherewith they fight or else shoot strong shoots with their Bowes whereof they have plenty and if any of them bee taken in the Warres after they have beene crammed of purpose to bee eaten of their enemies they are brought forth to execution wherein marvellous willingly they doe yeeld themselves to death as supposing that nothing can be more honourable unto them than to bee taken and to dye for their Countrey He therefore who is to kill the other doth with very much insolencie pride insult over him which is to be slaine saying thou art he which wouldst have spoyled and destroyed us and ours but now I am to recompence thee for thy paines and the other without all feare replies Yea I am hee that would have done it would have made no spare if I had prospered in mine intent and other such sutable words shewing their resolution to conquer or willingly to dye in the common cause of themselves and their people * The Canibals or man-eaters which is the Countrey custome It is strange to see the inhumane and unnaturall custome which many of the people of the West Indies have for there are whole Ilands full of such Canibals as doe eate mans flesh and among the rest these Tovonpinambaltij are famous that way who when they are disposed to have any great meeting or to have any solemne feast they kill some of their adversaries whom they keepe in store for that purpose and cutting him out into collops which they call Boucan they will lay them upon the coles and for divers dayes together make great mirth in devouring them wherein they have this fashion very strange that so long as they are in their eating banquet although it continue divers dayes they doe never drinke at all but afterwards when they are disposed to fall to drinking of a certaine liquor which they have amongst them they will continue bousing at it for two or three whole dayes and in the meane time never eate In many parts both of Hispania nova and Peru as also in the Ilands neere adjoyning they have an herbe wherof they make great use of which some is brought into divers parts of Europe under the name of * Their great use of Tobacco Tobacco Paetum or Nicosiana although we have also much counterfeit of the same the people of those parts doe use it as Phisicke to purge themselves of humours and they apply it also to the filling of themselves the smoake of it being received through a leafe or some such hollow thing into the nostrils head and stomacke and causing the party which receiveth it to lie as if he were drunke or dead for a space needing no food or nourishment in the meane while Whereof it cannot be denied but that it is possible that by prescript of Physicke it may be serviceable for some purposes among us although that also it be very disputable in as much as they who speak most highly of it must and doe confesse that the force of it is obstupefactive and no other whereby it produceth his owne effects and wisemen should be wary and sparing in receiving of such a thing But when we doe consider the vaine and wanton use which many of our Countrymen have of late taken up in receiving of this Tabbaco not onely many times in a day but even at meat Note and by the waâ— to the great waste both of their purse and of their bodies wee may well deplore the vanitie of the Nation who thereby propose themselves as ridiculous to the French and other our Neighbours And certainly if it were possible that our worthy warlike and valiant Progenitors might behold hold their manners who doe most delight therein they would wonder what a generation had succeeded in their roomes who addict themselves to so fond and worse then effeminate passion Benzo who lived among them of the West Indies doth call the smell of it a Tartarus and hellish savour And whosoever looketh into those Bookes which our Christians travelling thither have written concerning those West Indies shall finde that the Inhabitants there doe use it most as a remedy against that which is called Lues Venerea whereunto many of them are subject being uncleane in their conversation and that not onely in Fornication and Adultery with Women * Note this yee Tobacoonists but also their detestable and execrable sinne of Sodomie After that the Spaniards had for a time possessed Hispania Nova for the desire of Gold and Pearle some of them travailed toward the South and as by water they found the Sea West-ward from Peru which is alwaies very calme and is by them called the South-Sea as the other wherein Cuba standeth is tearmed the North-Sea so by land they found that huge mighty
and so to the Molucco Ilands then homeward from the East by Africke did in a devise give the Globe of the Earth with this word or motto Primus me circumdedisti which is not simply to be understood that never any had gone round the World before him but that never any of fame for Magellane himselfe was slaine as before is noted or else he did doubt of the truth of that narration that the Ship called Victoria did returne with safety into Spaine The Maps which were made at first concerning America Peru did so describe the Westerne part of Peru as if when a man had passed Magellane Straits and did intend to come upwards towards Nova Hispania on the further side he must have borne much West by reason that the Land did shoot out with a very great Promontory and bending that way But our Englishmen which went with Sir Francis Drake did by their owne experience certainely finde that the Land from the uttermost end of the Straits on Peru side did goe up towards the South directly without bending to the West and that is the cause wherefore all the new Maps and Globes especially made by the English or by the Dutch who have taken their directions from our men are reformed according to this new observation When the Spaniards had once found an ordinary passage from the South Sea towards the Moluccoes they never ceased to travaile that way and discovered more and more and by that meanes they have found out divers Ilands not knowne in former Ages as two for example sake a good distance from the Moluccoes which because * Insulae Latronum they be inhabited by men which do steale not only each from other but doe pilfer away all things that they can from such strangers as doe land thereabouts they are called Insulae Latronum They have also descryed some other neere unto the East Indies which they now tearme * Jnsulae Solomonis Insulae Solomonis But the most renowned of all are those of whom the name is given * Philippinae Philippina in remembrance of Philip the Second King of Spaine at whose cost they were discovered * Their Richâ—s These Philippinae are very rich and from thence is brought abundance of costly Spices and some other rich Merchandize yea and Gold too There were also some other Ilands descryed by Magellanus himselfe which he called * Insulas infortunatas Insulas infortunatas as being of quality contrary to the Canaries which are tearmed the fortunate Islands for when hee passing thorow the South Sea and meaning to come to the Moluccoes where hee was slaine did land in these Ilands thinking there to have furnished himself with victuals and fresh water hee found the whole places to be barren and not inhabited Of the Countreys that lie about the two Poles HAving laid downe in some measure the description of the olde known World Asia Africa and Europe with the Islands adjoyning unto them and also of America which by some hath the title of New-found-world it shall not be amisse briefly to say something of a fift and sixt part of the Earth the one lying neer the South Pole and the other neer the North which are places that in former times were not known nor thought of When Magellanus was come downe to the Southerne end of Peru he found on the further side of the Straits a maine and huge land lying towards the South-Pole which some of his name called since * Regio Magellanica Regio Magellanica and that so much the rather because he touched upon it againe before he came to the Moluccoes Since his time the Portugales travelling towards Calecut and the East Indies there have some of them bin driven by tempest so far as to that which many now call the South Continent and so divers of sundry Nations have there by occasion touched upon it It is found therefore by experience for to goe along all the degrees of longitude and as in some places it is certainely discovered to come up so high towards the North as to the Tropicke of Capricorne so it is conjectured that towards the South it goeth as farre as to the Pole The ground whereof is that never any man did perceive the Sea did passe thorow any part thereof nay there is not any great River which hath yet beene described to come out of it into the Ocean whereupon it is concluded that since somewhat must fill up the Globe of the Earth from the first appearing of this land unto the very Pole and that cannot be any Sea unlesse it should be such a one as hath no entercourse with the Ocean which to imagine is uncertaine therefore it is supposed that it commeth whole out into the Land to the Antarticke Pole which if it should be granted it must needs be acknowledged withall that this space of Earth is so huge as that it equalleth in greatnesse not only Asia Europe and Africa but almost America being joyned unto them Things memorable in this Countrey are yet reported to be very few only in the East part of it over against the Moluccoes some have written that there bee very waste countries and wildernesses but we find not so much as mention whether any do inhabit there or no. And over against the promontory of Africke which is called Caput bonae spei there is a Countrey which the Portugals called * Psittacorum Regio Psittacorum regio because of the abundant store of Parrots which they found there Neere to the Magellane straits in this South part of the world is that land the Spaniards call Terra del fuego * Terra del fuego those also which have touch'd at it in other places have given to some parts of it these names Boach Eucach Maletur but we have no perfect description of it nor any knowledge how or by whom it is inhabited * A description of the people About this place the said Portugals did at one time saile along for the space of 2000. Miles and yet found no end of the land And in this place they reported that they saw inhabitants which were very faire and fat people and did goe naked which is the more to be observed because we scant read in any writer that there hath bin seen any people at all upon the South-coast More towards the East not far from the Moluccoes there is one part of this countrey as some suppose although some doubt whether that be an Iland or no which commeth up so high towards the north as the very Aequinoctial line and this is commonly called * Nova Guinea Nova Guinea because it lieth in the same climate and is of no other temperature then Guinea in Africke is I have heard a great Mathematician in England finde fault both with Ortelius and Mercatâ—r and all our late Makers of Maps because in describing this Continent they make no mention of any Cities
Bishops of Colen Ments and Trevers to bee the Archchancellours of the three severall parts of the Empire the Count Palatine of the Rhene to be Sacri Imperij Archidapifer which should have the setting on of the first dish the Duke of Saxony to be Sacri imperij Archimariscallus whose office is to beare the sword and the Marquesse of Brandenburg to be Sacri Imperij Archi-Camerarius or great Chamberlaine all which offices they supply on the day of the Emperours Coronation The Empire went sometimes by succession and sometimes by election It appeares by all the Romane Stories that in times past the Empire went sometimes by succession as unto the sons of Constantine and Theodosius sometimes by election and that either of the Senate or of the Souldiers who oftentimes also in mutiny did elect men unworthy yet such as fitted their purpose But now of late the Electors do choose some Prince of Christendome who hath otherwise a Dominion of his owne which may helpe to back out the Empire and therein of late hath appeared the great cunning of that which we call The house of Austria whose greatest title within this 300. yeares was to be a meane Count of a meane place namely the County of Haspurg But since that time they have so planted and strengthened themselves that there have beene seven or eight Emperours lately of that family but the Empire is not tyed unto them as may appeare by the possibility which the Duke of Saxony and Francis the great King of France had to ascend to that dignity When Charles the fift was chosen Emperour one of the meanes whereby the possession hath beene continued to that house hath beene the electing of some one to bee Rex Romanorum whilest another of his Family was Emperour which Charles the fift effected in his life time for his brother Ferdinandus who after succeeded him Ferdinand Emperour and that hath been the attempt of Albertus late Cardinall and now Archduke of Austria that he might be established in the hope of the Empire during the life of his brother Rodolphus the Second now Emperour and King of Bohemia Rex Romanorum is he who is farre already invested in title to the Empire so that upon the death resignation or deposition of the then being Emperour he is immediatly to succeed Hee who is now Emperour of Germanie is called Caesar or Romani Imperij Imperator Caesar or Romans Imperij Imperator but very improperly in as much as the case is farre different from that which was when the Romane Empire did flourish for then the Territories thereof were very great all under the regiment of one man unlesse it pleased him to associate to himselfe some other The Empire divided by Theodosius But Theodosius did divide the Empire into two Soveraignties which were called the East and West Empires and made Constantinople to be the chiefe Seat of Arcadias one of his Sonnes and Rome to be the principall Citie of Honorius the other which Westerne Empire continued in his glory but a while for the Gothes and Lombards and other barbarous people did both over-run it and as good as extinguish it in the which case it continued to the dayes of Charles the Great who revived it againe but although there was some shew of Dominion belonging unto him in Italy yet his principall residence was in France and his Successours after him removed it into Germany A great policy in the Bishops of Rome so that properly he is now to be called Imperator Germanorum It was a great policy of the Bishops of Rome that the Emperour was wrought to leave Jtaly and keepe himself in Germany for the Popes did not like to have a strong Neighbour so neer who might at his pleasure chastise or depose them if hee saw good And the cunning of those Popes was such also that they weakned the State of the Emperour exceeding much in Germany by giving great exemptions to the Princes thereof Munsters complaint in so much that Munster rightly complaineth The Emperour beareth the Spread-Eagle with two heads noting the East and West Empire but saith hee one of the heads is quite pulled off and so be almost all the Feathers and in the other Head although life remayneth yet there is little spirit or vigour Surius in his Commentaries of the yeare 1530 reporteth that to the Emperour of Germany belongeth three Crownes the one of Silver which intendeth the Kingdome of Germany the second of Iron which is for the Kingdome of Lombardy and the third of Gold Most of the Princes of Germany take on them as absolute Governours which is for the Sacred Romane Empire In Germany all are at a kinde of commandement of the Emperour but most of the Princes otherwise take on them as absolute Governours in their Dominions so that they have liberty of Religion they do make Lawes they do raise souldiers they doe stampe money with their owne Pictures as absolute Princes so doth the Duke of Saxony the Archbishop of Colen the rest The Princes of Germany came to that great strength of theirs by meanes of a base and inferiour man How they came by that great strength who aspiring to the Empire wherof hee was unworthy was content to release unto the Princes almost all kinde of their service and dutie so that their subjection since that time is little more than Titulary yeelding onely very small maintenance to the Empire either in Tribute Souldiers or otherwise and albeit sometimes they refuse not to come by themselves or their Agents to the Diets and Parliaments holden by the Emperour yet that is as much for the safeguard of themselves from the invasion of the Turke who is not farre from them as for any other respect and the pay which they allow in such cases is rather held by them to be a contribution than any impositiō to be admitted by duty and yet there is extant a Book where the particulars are mentioned how the Princes and free Cities are bound to maintaine upon their owne charge three thousand eight hundred forty two Horses and sixteene thousand two hundred Foot for the service of the Emperour when he shall see cause but how small a triffle is that in respect of the strength of so huge a Countrey The Princes themselves are so strong many of them that they dare encounter with any who oppugne them insomuch that whereas Charles the Fift was doubtlesse the greatest Emperour that had beene from the dayes of Charles the Great yet the Duke of Saxony The strēgth of the Princes of Germany and the Lantsgrave of Hassia with some few Cities which were confederate with them did dare to oppose themselves against the said Charles and entring the field with him did oftentimes put him to great inconveniences yea it is supposed by some that howsoever hee had a hand upon these two yet his inability to match the ruffling of some of those Princes was
not the least cause why hee resigned the Empire to his Brother Ferdinando The manner of Germany is that the Title of Nobility which is in the Father The titles of their Nobility commonly is imparted to all the sonnes so that every Sonne of a Duke of Saxony is called Duke of Saxony and every Childe of the Count of Mansfield is honoured by the name of Count or Countesse of Mansfield but in the eldest House the chiefe livelihood doth remayne for keeping upright the dignity of the Family Free States and Cities There are also free States and Cities which have the same authority as Argentine Frankeford and other This is to be noted of the Germanes that they may boast this above other more Westernly Nations of Europe A note worthy of observation that they are an unmixed Nation for whereas the Lombards and Gothes at severall times have set downe in Italy and mixed themselves with the people thereof the Gothes Vandals and Saracens in Spaine the Francks in Gaule or France and the Normans also the Saxons Angles Danes and Normans in Great Brittaine they have beene free from such inundation and mixture yea many of the people that have inflicted and inhabited these other Nations have come from thence so that therein Germany hath an advantage of these other Nations that have been subject hereunto Of Italie ON the South side of the Alpes and Germany lyeth Jtaly Situation of Italy stretching it selfe out at length toward the South East It hath on the Southside the Iland of Sicilia on the East that part of the Mediterranean which is called Mare Adriaticum or Mare superum which severeth Italy from Graecia on the Westside that part of the Mediterranean which is called Mare Tyrrhenum or Mare Inferum and the upper or more Northerne part of it neere Liguria Mare Ligusticum This Country for the figure therof is by some likened unto a long leafe of a tree It hath in the middle of it which goeth all in length a mighty Mountain named Mons Apenuinus which is likened unto the Spina or Ridge-bone of the backe Out of this Hill springeth divers Rivers which run on both sides of it into the Adriatick and Tyrrhene or Tuscane Seas As in other Countries so in Italy in times past there were divers severall people and severall Provinces Jtaly divided into foure parts like our Shires in England and so there be at this day but the mayn division of Italy is properly into â—oure parts as in our age we do account it The first Lombardy which â—yeth to the North. The second Tuscane which boundeth toward â—he Mediterranean Sea which way Corsica the Iland lyeth The third is â—he Land of the Church which is the Territory of the Bishop of Rome â—nd containeth in it that which is â—alled Romania The fourth is Naâ—les and in this division now is all â—taly comprehended The North part of this Italy is that which in ancient time was called Gallia Togata or Gallia Cisalpina â—nhabited then by Frenchmen It is â—ow called Longobardia or Lomâ—ardy wherein stand many rich GovernmeÌ„ts vernmeÌ„ts as the Dukedom of Millain of Mantua of Florence and other It is for the pleasantnesse therof in respect of the soyle ayre waters and great variety of wines and fruits Lombardy the Garden of God likened now by some to Paradice or the Garden of God In this Italy which was heretofore one entire government in the flourishing estate of the Romans are now many absolute States and Princedomes by the great policy oâ— the Bishop of Rome The policy of the Bishops of Rome who thoughâ— it the best way to make himself great to weaken the Empire So hâ— hath not onely driven the Emperouâ— out of all Joaly into Germany buâ— hath diminished his Majesty iâ— both by making so many petty governments which hold themselueâ— soveraigne Rulers without relatioâ— to any other The States of Venice As there are many States in Italy so one of the chiefest are the Venetians called Resp Venetorum or thâ— State of Venice because they are noâ—â— governed by any one but by theâ— Senate Gentlemen although they have a Duke with whose stampe their mony is coyned and in whose name all their executions of Iustice are done But this Duke is every way limited by the State City of Venice This City of Venice which joyneth to a corner of Lombardy standeth in Aestuarium or shallow of earth in the North part of the Adriaticke Sea so safely that it is held invincible There is in it but one street of firme Land into the other the Sea doth flow at every tide They have been a great rich State not onely â—ossessing much in Italy as Padua their Vniversity and other things which still they do but a great part of Illiricum many rich Ilands in the Mediterraneum as Candy called commonly Creta Cyprus Zazinâ—hus and other But Cyprus was taken from them a â—ittle before that fight at Sea wherin Don Iohn of Austria together with â—he Venetians had so renowned a viâ—tory against the Turk at the fight â—eer Lepanto The Venetians impoverished The impoverishing of their State hath partly bin by the incroching of the Turk but especially by the decaying of that traffique which they had to Alexandria in Egypt for their Spices and other riches of Persia Arabia and the East Indies since the course of the Portugals to those Eastern Countries hath been by Sea by the backside of Africa These Venetians which in time past were great warriours do now altogether decline enmity or hostility with all other Princes adjoyning and therfore by all means do take uâ— quarrels and cease controversies bâ— wisdome and patience temporizinâ— with the Turk the King of Spain and the Emperour who are mosâ— like to offend them The manner of their governmenâ— and the excellent course which theâ— have in chusing their Duke is written by Contarenus The excelleney of their government and some otheâ— of their Countrymen When theâ— do make any warres they seldomâ— send forth any General of their own but entertaine some Prince of Italy who is renowned for the warres In Lombardy standeth Millain In Lombardy standeth also the Dukedom of Millain a most rich pleasant thing which sometime had beene governed by a Duke of their own but of late hath been possessed by the Spaniard sometime by the French and is now in the government possession of the K. of Spain Tuscany Flo ence In Tuscany the chiefe City and Commander of all the rest is Florence where is supposed to be the best language of Italy called the vulgar Italian and the most circumspect policy of all the governments of Christendome which hath much bin increased since the time of Machiavel who was Secretary or Recorder to that State This was in times past a free City but of late by the policy of the Family of the Medices it is brought under the subjection