and Dominions where I have been viz. The Vnited Provinces Germany Denmark Sweeden and other countries whose natural temper and disposition seemed to me most to sympathise with our English nation and thereby have an occaâ—â—on to do some good to my own countrie Expect not Reader alike punctualness as to all the forementioned places because very many things which I might have observed are much agreeing and so may be referred to what shall be spoken of the Politie and Government of Holland which for reasons I shall by and by hint at is the Chief End I aimed at in this treatise We will begin then in the first place with the Common-wealth of Holland and Dominions of the States General which for some years hath been in a declining condition and their forces exceedingly weakned by reason of that fatal War it managed against England France and the Bishop of Munster that Politick body was so tottered and torn as did threaten its utter and total ruine But as bodies whisher natural or Politick after that a violent fit hath sore shaken dissipated and exhausted their spirits may recover vigor and look lively again if so be radical constitution and natural temper be not wholly changed and depraved even so This Common-wealth of Holland hath visibly recovered strength again and probably may attain to its former force and Lustre except some depravation in its vital humours should still keep it languishing and obstruct its perfect cure We will therefore make some remarks as to the defects and faylings observed not onely by me but also by others which that famous Commonwealth hath of late yeares bin guiltie of which I shal doe not out of any malice or disigne of reflection the intention of writing this treatise being simplie to insert those defaults which the wisest of Authors have alwayes Judged necessarie not onely for the reformation of this but of all states whatsoever This Commonwealth of Holland hath worthily bin the wonder of all Europe during this last age and perhaps not to be paralled in the records of former tymes for if we consider how many yeares it was assaulted by the then most Potent Prince of Europe who aspired to no les then the Vniversal Empire and that how formidable soever he were yet they not onely maintained their pretensions but with uninterrupted prosperitie and succesfulnesse advanced their trade and spread their conquests in all the foure parts of the world Rome it self though most famous and victorious yet could not as is believed in so short a time do what by this Commonwealth hath bin effected In India and Affrica they soon forced the Spaniard and Portugeses to yeeld to them most of their trade and posessions And tho England put in for a share yet they were a long while vigourously opposed by the Dutch and to this hour have enough to do to keep what they have gotten so that in lesse then an hundred years this Commonwealth by their industrie and art in trading are becom so excessive rich and potent that they began to insult and would needs be Arbitraters to their neighbourning Princes and States and encroach upon their Territories and Dominions This drew upon them that fatal war before mentioned by which they were sorely weakned and brought so low that except God by a more then ordiharie Providence had protected and appeared for them they had certainly bin ruinated and never able to recover themselves again however their pride hereby was much abated And as Luxurie and lasciviousnes are the sad effects of prosperitie as wel as Pride so such vices in a bodie Politick and Common-wealth as do corrupt the radical humors by abating the vigour of the Vital parts doe insensible tend to the consumption and decay of the whole That this Commonwealth hath much recovered its strength may clearly appeare if we consider what great things they have effected since the little time they have enjoyed peace They have in lesse then 7 yeares built about 40 gallant ships of war They have laid out vast sums of treasure in refortifying Narden Mastricht Breda the Grave and many other places They have payd vast sums of money to their Allies for their auxiliarie troopes as also 200000 pound sterling to the King of England to Enjoy their peace with him And besides all this their Encrease in Riches and power may be guest at by the many stately houses built within these 5 years in Amsterdam Rotterdam and other places to all which we may ad to what excessive hight the Actions of the East and West-Indie Companie are risen and the obligations from the Sates are so esteemed as to securitie that they Can get as much money as they please at 2 Per cent not to speak of the Exceeding encrease of their subjects occasioned by the French Kings tyrannie against the distressed Protestants in France Alsace and other parts of his Conquests neither wil we speak of other signes of the encrease of this Commonwealth as not Judging it convenient to commit them to paper but wil now proceed to shew the Method of Living and travelling in the Dominions and places of the States which if you do wel consider you May see how happie and easie the Government of England is above that of other Nations The Brill in Holland is the Usual place where the Packet and Kings pleasure boats bring on such as come for to see the United Provinces here be sure to furnish your self wel with money From hence you take a boat to Maseland Sluce or Rotterdam which if you goe in Companie with others wil only cost you 5 stivers but if you take one for your self wil cost 25. stivers for Maseland Sluce and a Ducaton to Rotterdam The Fifth part of which goes to the States for a tax they call Passagie Gelt and the other 4 parts are for the boat-Men or Shippers who also out of their gaines must Pay a tax to the States so that by computation you pay a fift pennie to the States for your travelling either in boats by water or in waggons by land As you passe by Maseland Sluce you 'l see a verie faire fishing village to which belong near two hundred Herring Buisses but if you goe by the way of Rotterdam you sail by two old Townes Called Flardin and Schiedam yet let me advise you before you depart from the Bril to take a serious view of it as beeing the citie which in Queen Elisabeths time was one of the Cautionarie Townes pawned to England The Brill had a voyce among the States but by reason Rotterdam hath got away their Trade by which having lost its former lustre is now become afishing town onely Rotterdam is the second Citie for trade in Holland and by some is caled little London as having vast traffick with England in so much that many of the citisens speak good English There are in this citie two considerable Churches of English and Scotch and how great a trade they drive with the King of
or take or sinck any other Shipp of the enimies also what pensions a wounded seaman shal have if maimd or disabled in the States service c. The Lords of the Admiralty follow the same methodes which the States General observe as to their land obligations goe throw this great charge by the good management of their Credit for tho it be true that they are indebted great summes of money yet they never want a supply nay Moneyes are often forced upon them by rich Merchants who send in their moneys and only take the Admyraltyes obligations with which they afterward pay their Customes when their Shipps arive at which tyme the Admiralty allowes them Intrest for the tyme they have had their money this is it that makes the Admiraltyes Obligations more valued then ready money for it saves the trouble of telling such is the Credit of the Admiralty that when they have occasion for any Goods the people strive to furnish them rather take their Obligations then money because they get Intrest all other assignments upon the Admiralty are very punctually payd without Exchequer Fees no they are sworne Officers who are forbid to receive any moneyes for fees being contented with the sallary they have of the States And their Methodes used at the Custome House for loading or unloading Shipps are very easy in so much that the Women Generally have the chargeing dischargeing the Shipps at the Custome House which is a great politie in the States to make Trade easy for the Incouragement of the Merchants And the Admiralty are very Gratefull Generous unto their Commanders if any of their Admiralls or Captains are Kild at sea have dove any Considerable service they then Eternise their memories with lasting Trophies of honor as you may see by those Stately Monuments of Trump Vpdam de Ruiter the Eversons others nor are they sparcing in bestowing large Gifts Pensions on the Widdowes Children of those as have served them faithfully Valiantly in the wars whilst the Treacherous Cowards meet with the severity they deserve I might here in the next place in large tel you of the Exellent methodes they have in building preserveing their Shipps when built but I shall refer you to that Exellent peece written by the Heer Witsen on that subject And shall now in the next place say some thing of their famous Company called the East-India Company of the Netherlands This Company is said to be a Commonwealth within a Commonwealth it is true if you consider the Soveraigne Power Priviledges they have granted them by the States General likewise consider their riches Vast Number of subjects the many Territories Colonies they possess in the East-Indies they are said to have 30000 men in constant pay above 200 Capital Shipps besides Sloopes Catches Yachts This Company hath by their Politick contrivances sedulons Industry possessed themselves of many Colonies formerly belonging unto the Spaniards Portugeeses diverse Indian Princes as good Christians have been at great Charge in Planting the Gospel of Christ in many parts there Printing in the Indian Language Bibles Prayer Bookes Catechismes for the Instruction of the Indians maitaineing Ministers Schoolemasters to inform those that are converted to the Christian faith And now because I have said that this Company is so considerable as it were a Commonwealth apart I will demonstrate it to be so first by their power Riches strength in the Indies secondly what figure they make in Europe this verie briefly for if I should speake of every particular as to their posessions in the Indies it would swell into many Volumes But I will only begin with them at the Cape of de Bonne Esperance where they have built a Royall Fort in which they maintaine a Garrison of souldiers to defend their Shipps which come there to take in fresh Water from thence let us take a view of them in the Iland of Java where they have built a faire City called Battavia fortified it with Bastions after the Mode of Amsterdam This City is the place of Residence of their grand Minister of State called the General of the Indies he hath allowed him 6 Privie Councellers in Ordinary 2 extraordinary These governe the concernes of the Company throughout the Indies They make peace war send ther Ambassadors to all parts thereof as occasion requireth This General hath his Guards of Horse Foot all sorts of Officers servants as if he were a soveraigne Prince the whole Expence whereof is defraied out of the Companys stock This General hath much of the Direction of Bantam and other parts of the Iland of Java From whence let us take a view of them in their great possessions in the Moluceas Ilands those of Banda where they are become so formidable that they looke as if they aimed at the soveraingtye of the Southseas They have also a great Trade in China Japan from whence let us return to the Ilands of Sumatra on the coast of Bengale where they have several Lodges In Persia they have likewise great Commerce are so considerable that they wage war with that mlghty Monarch if he wrongs them in their trade They also have several Colonies Lodges on the coast of Malabar Cormandel in the Country of the Great Magul King of Galcanda But principally let us behold them in the rich Iland of Zylon where they are Masters of the plaine Country so that the Emperor or King of that Iland is forced to live in the Mountains whilst this Company possess the City of Colomba other the most considerable Garrisons of that Iland It is said that the Company hath there in their pay 3600 Souldiers at least 300 Gunus planted in their Forts Garrisons In a word they are not only masters of the Cinamon but of all other Spices except Pepper that they would also have had it bin for their Intrest to Ingrosle but they wisely fore saw that the English would be a Block in their way therefore they contented themselves to be masters the Mace Cynamon Cloves and Nutmegs with which they not only serve Europe but many places in the Indies I will say no more of them in the Indies But let us see what figure they make in Europe And first to begin with them in Amsterdam where they have two large Stately Palaces one being in the ould part of the City and the other in the new In that of the ould part of the City they keep their Court and there sits the Resident Committie of the Company where alsoe they make the sales of the Company goods There for six yeares the grand Councel or assembly of the 17 doe meet and after six yeares are expired the grand Councel of the 17 doe assemble at Middelburg in Zealand for two yeares and then againe returne
to Amsterdam The other lesser Chambers of Delph Rotterdam Horne and Enchusen never haveing the assembly of the 17 in their Chambers so that only Amsterdam and Zealand have the honour of that grand Councel I will therefore crave leave to describe unto you the Chamber of Amsterdam it being the most Considerable of the Chambers belonging to this famous Company In there house or Palace within the ould City are many large Offices or appartments as first on the Lower Floor is their Parlement Chamber where the 17 doe sit Next to this Chamber are several faire Chambers for the Committes to sit in They have also a Chamber of Audience where they do receive Princes or Ambassadors or other great men as have occasion to speak with them In one of these Chambers are the Armes of several Indian Princes they have Conquered On the same Floor is their Tresury Office where their Receivers sit and receive money and pay out the orders or assignments of the Company Neer to that Chamber sits their grand Minister the Heer Peter van Dam who is said to be a Second John de Wit for parts but he hath not one drop of John de Wits or Lovestine bloud against the good Prince of Orange This great minister is a man of Indefaigable Industry and labor night and day in the Companyes service He reads over twice the great Journal Bookes which come from the Indies and out of them makes minets to prepare matters of concerne necessary to be considered by the grand Councel of the 17 and by the Inferiour Committes of the Company and prepares Instructions and orders to be sent to their Chief Ministers in the Indies I could say many more things of his great worth and Virtues but shall for beare least I should be Judged a flatterer Overagainst this great Ministers Office sitt in a Chamber many Clarkes or under Secretaryes who receive from this Minister their Ordrs of dispatches in the affaires of Company and next to this Chamber is a Register Office where are kept the Journal bookes of the Indies where you may see the names of al the men and women that have ever served the Company in the Indies with the tyme of their death or departing the Companyes service Then next to that is a Councel Chamber where the Residing Chamber or Committe of the Company alwayes sitts Then assending up staires there sitt their Book-holders who keepe the accounts of all the Transactions of those that buy or sel actions of the Company and over against this office sitts the Heer Gerbrand Elias who is the second Advocate of the Company On this floore are several large Roomes in which are great stores of Packt Goods and also a Roome with all sorts of Drugs Tee and Wax Ambergreace and Musk and on the same floore is a Chamber where the Commissiners sitt who governe the Packhouses And next to them sitt their Clarks who keepe the Registers of the sales of the Company Goods And on the same Gallery or Floore is a Chamber where are kept the severall Bookes of Divinitie printed in the Indian Language that are sent to the several Colonies of the Company And at the end of this Gallery is a Magazine full of Medicaments and Instruments for Barber Chirurgions Chests to furnish the Companyes Shipps and Garrisons in the Indies Then assending up another paire of staires there are several large Magazins of Nutmegs Cloves Mace and Sinamond and in a long Gallery are many men at work sorting of Spices fitt for sale Then ascending up another paire of staires there are many Roomes full of Spices then desending into the Court-yard there is a Guard Chamber where every night the house keeper hath a Watch and on the other side of the Gate there is the Chymist who with his men prepares Medicaments for the Indies Adjoyning to this Court yard is their Way-house and Packhouse for Pepper and Grosle Goods But before I leave this house in the ould part of the City I must say some thing of the maner or method used in the Transactions of the Jewes and others who make a Trade of buyng and selling the Actions of the Company the which is a great mystery of Iniquitie and where it inricheth one man it ruins an hundred The Jewes are the chiefe in that Trade and are said to negotiate 17 parts of 20 in the Company These Actions are bought and sould 4 tymes a day at 8 in the morning in the Jewes street at a 11 on the Dam at twelve and at one a Clock upon the Exchange and at six in the evening on the Dam and in the Coledges or Clubs of the Jewes until 12 at midnight where many tymes the Crafty Jewes and others have Contrived to Coine bad newes to make the Actions fall and good newes to raise them the which craft of doing at Amsterdam is not taken notice of which is much to be wondered at in such a wise Government as Amsterdam is for it is a certaine trueth they many times spread scandalous reports touching the affaires of State which passe amongst the Ignorant for truth I shall now in the next place say some thing of their Pallace or Magazine in the new part of the City the which may more properly be called an Arsenal It is a building so superb that it lookes more like a Kings Pallace then a Magazin for Merchants I have measured the Ground on which this Arsenal stands which I find to be 2000 foot and square every way reckoning the Motes or Burgals about it I remember the Ingenious Sr. Joseph Williamsen measured the two Rope-allies by telling the stone figures in the wal found them to be 1800 foot long the like whereof is not to be seene in the world On the backside of this Rope-allie lyes a store of 500 Large Anchors besides small ones In this Arsenal they build the Ships belonging to this Chamber and here are al sorts of worke houses for the Artificers that serve the Company And in a Chamber next to the Joyners Office is a model of a Ship they now build their Ships by which cost 6000 Gilders When a man beholds the great stores of Tymber Cordage and the Provisions of war in their Magazin a man would think there were enough to furnish a whole Nation In this Arsenal the Ships unload their Goods layd up in several apartments in the grand Magazin and afterward is removed to the house in the ould part of the City as their is occasion for sale In the upper part of this large Pallace sit the saile Makers at worke but on the Lower part of this house is an appartment where the Bewinthebbers assemble upon occasion of Businesse This Arsenal is not to be seen by strangers without a Ticket from the Bewinthebbers Now al what I have spoaken of these two houses or Magazins doth only belong unto the Chamber of Amsterdam There are yet other Chambers of the Company who according to their Quota or stock
the Mareshall de Crequi prisoner he is extreamely obliging to strangers and hath severall brave Scottish Officers under his pay as Major General Erskin Graham Coleman Hamilton Melvin and others His Lieutenant General is one Chavot a Protestant of Alsatia an excellent and experienced commander who did mee the honour to treat mee three days at his house where with all his Scottish and English Officers whom he had invited wee liberally drank to the health of our present King having as he told us served under his Majestie when duke of York both in France and Flanders where he gained the reputation both for skill and conduct in the wars not onely from Mareshall Turin a competent Judge but also from all other General Persons who had the honour to know him that fame hath made better know'n in the world than the encomium which that generous Gentleman ingenuously gave and which heere I spare to relate I shall adde no more concerning this Prince his Officers or Countrey but that he with the other two Princes of the house of Lunenbourg Hanover and Wolfenbottel can upon occasion bring into the field 36000 Soldiers whom they keep in constant pay and such men as I never saw better in my life After some stay at the Court of the duke of Zell I went to Hambourg a famous Hansiatick town It is a republick and city of great trade occasioned partly by the English Company of Merchant adventures but much more by the dutch Protestants who in the time of the Duke of Alba forsook the low Countries and seltled here and the Protestants also who were turned out of Cologne and other places in Germany who nevertheless are not now allowed publick Churches within the citie but at a place called Altena a village belonging to the King of Denmark a quarter of an houres walk distant from Hambourg This Commonwealth is Lutheran and governed by four Burgemasters twenty four Radtsheres and a common Council of all the Burghers who have above 40 schellings per annum free hold The symbole or Motto under their Armes is da pacem domine in diebus nostris and in their Standart are these letters S. P. Q. H. The people here grone under heavy taxes and impositions The State becaus of continuall Alarms they have from the King of Denmark or other neighbours and the intestine broiles that frequently happen here as well as at Cologne where the Burgemasters are often in danger of their lives from the mutinous mobile being sorced to maintain six or seaven thousand men in pay besides two or three men of war to guard their havens from pirats I shall not name all the wayes of imposing taxes which this Commonwealth uses becaus in most they imitate the methods of the States Generall as to that which have bin mentioned before I shall onely take notice of some peculiar customes they have wherein they differ from Holland When a Barber shoe maker or any other Artizan dies leaving a widow and Children another of the same trade is not admitted to set up for himself as a master unless he compound with the widow for a piece of money or else marry her or a daughter of hers with her consent If any man cause another to be arrested for debt or upon any other suit the plaintif must goe along with the Officer who arrests the party and stay by him untill the prisoner be examined by the sheriff so that if the sheriff be not to be spoken with that night the plaintiff must tarry with the prisoner all night untill the sheriff examine the matter and see cause of discharging or committing the party but this a plaintiff may doe by a procuration Notariall If a prisoner be committed for debt the plaintiff must maintain him in prison according to his qualitie and if the party lye in prison during the space of six yeares at the expiration of that time the prisoner is discharged and if during the time of his imprisonment the plaintif doe not punctually pay the prisoners allowance at the months end the prisoner is set at liberty and nevertheless the plaintiff must pay the Gailer the last months allowance This state is severe in the execution of Justice against thieves murders and cheats There is no pardon to be expected for murder and a Burgemaster himself if guilty cannot escape The punishment for Murder is here as in Sweden breaking malefactors on the wheele pinching their breasts and Arms with hot Pincers speeting them in at the fundament and out at the shoulder they have also cruel wayes of torturing to make prisoners confess And are very carefull not to be cheated in their publick revenue their accisemen and collectors being punished as in Holland They take a very good course not to be cheated in their accise for all the mils of the Countrey are in the hands the State so that no baker nor brewer can grind his own corn but must have it ground at the States mills where they pay the accise There is a Generall tax upon all houses and that is the Eight penny which nevertheless does not excuse them from chimney money The States here as at Genoa in Italy are the publick vintners of whom all people must buy their wine which they buy from the Merchants or otherwise import it in their own ships In their ceremonies of burying and Christening they are ridiculously prodigall as for instance If one invite a Burgemaster he must give him a ducat in gold if a Raedtsheer that is an Alderman a Rixdollar to every Preacher Doctor of Physick Advocat or Secretary halfe a Rixdollar and to every Schoolmaster the third part of a Rixdoller The women are the inviters to Burialls weddings and Christenings who weare an Antick Kind of a dress having mitered caps as high again as the Miter of a Bishop The Churches here are rich in revenues and ornaments as Images and Stately Organs wherein they much delight They are great lovers of Musick in so much that I have told 75 masters of severell sorts of Musick in one Church besides those who were in the Organ gallery Their Organs are extraordinarely large I measured the great pipes in the Organs of St. Catharins and St. James's Churches and found them to be 3 foot and 3 quarters in circumference and 32 foot long in each of which Organs there are two Pipes 5 foot and 8 inches round The wealth and trade of this citie encreases dayly They send one year with another 70 Ships to Greenland and have wonderfully engrossed that trade from England and Holland and it is beleeved that small and great there are belonging to this Commonwealth five thousand sayl of Ships After Amsterdam Genoa and Venice their bank is reckoned the chiefe in credit but in trade they are accounted the third in Europe and come next to London and Amsterdam Hambourg is now become the Magazine of Germany and of the baltick and northern seas They give great priviledges to the Jewes and to all
againe united in love and affection as they are bound to be in duty and Intrest and would they be as willing to contribute to their own hapines as heaven hath been kind and liberal in bestowing the meanes of it with a good and gratious Prince solicitous for preserveing the same to them could wee be so blest as wee have great reason to Expect wee may under the Auspicious reigne of him whose royall Virtues are dreaded by none either at home or a broad but such as are the disturbers of publick and lawfull Authoritie Having made this digression I return to Berlin It is a city lately enlarged with fair streets and palaces The Magistrates of the place are Lutherans which is the publick established Religion in all the Electors dominions though he himself and his Children be Calvinists He is lookt upon to be so true to that persuasion that he is reckoned the Protector of the Calvinists and indeed he sollicited the Emperour very hard for a toleration of the Protestants in Hungary His chaplains as most of the Lutheran ministers also endeavour to imitate the English in their way of preaching and his highness is so much taken with English divinity that he entertains divines for translating English books into the German tongue as the whole duty of man and severall others He has a large and Srately palace at Berlin and therein a copious library enriched with many manuscripts medalls and rarities of Antiquity He may compare with most Princes for handsome guards being all of them proper well bodied men and most part Officers who ride in his guards of horse As he is know'n in the world to be a valiant and warlick Prince so he maintains in pay an Army of 36000 men besides five or six thousand horsmen who in time of war are modelled into troopes with which body during the late war with Sweden his highness in Person beat the Swedes out of his Countrey Hee keeps his forces in strickt Discipline obliging all the Officers if Protestants on Sundays and holy days to march their severall Companies in order to Church but if a superiour Officer be of a contrary persuasion then the next in commission supplies his place This custome is Religiously observed by all his highnesses garrisons whilest he himself with his Children being five sons two Daughters and two Daughters in law goe constantly to the Calvinist Church adjoyning to the Court. Amongst other acts of publick pietie and charitie this Prince hath established and endowed some Religious houses or Nunneries for Protestant young ladies where they may live virtuously and spend their time in devotion as long as they please or otherwise marry if they think fit but then they lose the benefit of the Monastery There is one of these at Herford in Westphalia where I was and had the honour to wait upon the Lady Abbess the Princess Elisabeth eldest sister of the Elector Palatine and Prince Rupert who is since dead Nothwithstanding the late wars with Sweden and that by the prevalency of France in that hasty treaty of peace concluded at Nimwegen his Electorall Highness was obliged to give back what he had Justly taken from that crown yet his subjects flourish in wealth and trade his highness having encouraged manufactures of all sorts by inviting Artizans into his dominions and estalished a Company of tradeing Merchants to the West-Indies which will much advance navigation amongst his subjects And in all humane probabilitie they are like to continue in a happy condition seing by the alliances his highness hath made with the Protestant Princes of the Empire and especially the house of Lunenbourg they are in no danger of being disturbed by their neighbours I told you before that the Prince of Brandenbourg was married to the Daughter of the duke of Hanover so that so long as that alliance holds the families of Brandenbourg and Lunenbourg will be in a condition to cast the ballance of the Empire they both together being able to bring into the field 80000 as good men as any are in Europe When I parted from Berlin I made a turn back to Lunenbourg in my way to Swedland where I found severall of my Countrey men Officers in the garison who shew'd mee what was most remarkeable in the city as the Saltworks which bring in considerable summes of money to the duke of Lunenbourg the Stathouse and Churches in one of which I saw a communion table of pure ducat gold From thence I went into the Province of of Holstein and at a small sea port called Termond of which I spake before I embarked for Sweden He that hath read in the histories of this last age the great exploits of Gustavus Adolphus and his Swedes perhaps may have a fancy that it must be an excellent Countrey which hath bredsuch warriours but if he approach it he will soon find himself undeceived Entering into Sweedland at a place called Landsort wee sailed forwards amongst high rocks having no other prospect from Land but mountains till wee came to Dollers which is about four Swedish that is twenty four English miles from Stockholm the capitall citie of the Kingdome upon my comeing a shore I confess I was a litle surprised to see the poverty of the people and the litle wooden houses they lived in not unlike Soldiers huts in a leaguer but much more when I discovered litle else in the Countrey but mountanous rocks and standing lakes of water The Reader will excuse mee I hope if I remarke not all that I may have taken notice of in this Countrey seing by what I have already written he may perceive that my designe is rather to observe the manner of the inhabitants living then to give a full description of every thing that may be seen in the Countrey they live in However I shall say somewhat of that too having premised once for all that the ordinary people are wretchedly poor yet not so much occasioned by the Publick taxes as the barrenness of their Countrey and the oppression of the nobles their Landlords and immediate superiours who till the present King put a stop to their violences tyrannically domineered over the lives and fortunes of the poor peasants From Dollers I took waggon to Stockholm changing horses three times by the way by reason of the badness of the rode on all hands environed with rocks that hardly open so much as here and there to leave a shred of plain ground At two miles distance upon that rode the citie of Stockholme looks great becaus of the Kings palace the houses of Noblemen and some Churches which are seated upon rocks and indeed the whole citie and suburbs stand upon rocks unless it be some few houses built upon ground gained from the rivers that run throw the town Stockholme has its name from a stock or logg of wood which three brothers threw into the water five miles above the city making a vow that where ever that stock should stop they would build a
castle to dwell in The stock stopt at the Holme or rock where the palace of the King now stands and the brothers to be as good as their word there built their castle which invited others to doe the like so that in process of time the other rocks or holmes were covered with buildings which at length became the capital citie of the Kingdome It is now embellished with a great many Stately houses and much emproved from what it was 400 yeares agoe as indeed most cities are for the Stathouse then built is so contemtible and low that in Holland or England it would not be suffered to stand to disgrace the nation The Council Chamber where the Burgemaster and Raedt sit is two rooms cast into one not above nine foot high and the two rooms where the sheriffs and the Erve colledge which is a Judicature like to the Doctors Commons in England sit are not above eight foot and a halfe high The Kings Palace is a large square of stone building in some places very high but an old and irregular fabrick without a sufficient quantitie of ground about it for gardens and walks It was anciently surrounded with water but some yeares since part of it was filled up to make a way from the castlegate down into the old town In this Palace there are large rooms but the lodgings of the King Queen and Royall familie are three pair of stairs high the rooms in the first and second story 's being destin'd for the Senat Chamber and other courts of Judicature The Kings library is four pair of stairs high being a room about fourty six foot square with a closet adjoyning to it not half the dimensions When I considered the appartments and furniture of this Court I began to think that the French Author wrote truth who in his Remarks upon Swedland sayes that when Queen Christina resigned the Crown to Carolus Gustaphus the father of this present King she disposed of the best of the furniture of the Court and gave away a large share of the Crown lands to her favorites in so much that the King considering the poor condition she had left the Kingdome in and seeing the Court so meanely furnished said that had he know'n before he accepted the Crown what then he did he would have taken other measures There are many other Stately palaces in Stockholme belonging to the nobilitie but many of them for want of repairs and not being inhabited run to ruine severall of the nobles who lived in them formerly having lost the estates that maintained their ancient splendour as wee shall see hereafter being retired unto a Countrey life There are also some other magnificent structures begun but not finished as that Stately building intended for a Parliament house for the nobles and two or three Churches but what I most wonder at is the vault wherein the late King lies buried is not as yet covered but with boards for it is to he observed that the Kings of Sweeden have no tombs and monuments as in England and other Countries but are put into copper coffins with inscriptions on them and placed one by another in vaults adjoyning to the Gray Friers Church These vaults are about Eight in number having turets over them with vains of Copper gilt carved into the ciphers of the severall Kings who give them their names by being the first that are interred in them The vault of the late King is not yet finished no more then the fabricks above mentioned which perhaps may be imputed to the late troubles of Swedland The number of the inhabitants of Stockholme are also much decreased within these few yeares partly by reason of the removal of the Court of Admiraltie and the Kings Ships from that citie to Charles-crown a new haven lately made about 200 English miles from thence which hath draw'n many families belonging to the fleet and Admiralitie from Stockholme to live there and partly becaus many of the nobilitie gentry and those that depended on them are as I said before withdraw'n from Stockholme to a retired life in the Countrey Nevertheless the ordinary sort of Bourghers who still remain are extreamly poor seing the women are fain to worke like horses drawing carts and as labourers in England serving masons and bricklayers with stone bricks and mortar and unloading vessells that bring those materials some of the poor creatures in the summertime toyling in their smocks without either shoes or stockings They performe also the part of watermen and for a small matter will row passengers 40 miles or more if they please The Court here is very thin and silent the King living frugally seldome dining in publick He eats commonly with the two Queens his mother and consort who is a virtuous Princess sister to the King of Denmark She is the mother of five Children three sons and two daughters with whom she spends most of her time in retirement The King is a goodly Prince whom God hath blessed and endowed with accomplishments far beyond what might have been expected from his education wherein he was extreamly abused being taught litle more than his mother tongue He is gracious Just and valiant constant at his devotion and utterly averse from all kind of debauchery and the unfashionable vanities of other courts in playes and danceing His Sports are hunting and exerciseing of his guards and he rarely appeares publickly or gives audience to strangers which is imputed to his sense of the neglect of his education He is a Prince that hath had a very hard beginning in the world which hath many times proved fortunate to great men and indeed if wee consider all the circumstances of his early misfortunes how he was slighted and neglected by his nobles who would hardly vouchsase to pay him a visit when he was among them in the Countrey or to doe him homage for the lands they held of the Crown and how by the Pernicious councels of the French and the weakeness or treachery of his governours he was misled into a war that almost cost him his Crown having lost the best of his territories in Germany and Schonen and most of his forces both by sea and land If I say these things be considered it will probably appeare that hardly any Prince before him hath in a shorter time or more fully setled the Authority and prerogative of the Crown then he hath done in Sweden for which he stands no wayes obliged to France as he was for the restauration of what he lost during the war He is now as absolute as the French King and makes Edicts which have the force of Laws with out the concurrence of the Estates of the Kingdome He hath erected two Iudicatures the one called the colledge of Reduction and the other of inspections the first of which hath put his Majesty in possession again of all lands alienated from the Crown and the other called to account all persons even the heires and executors of those who had
Swedland I went to the danish Court at Coppenhaguen Copenhaguen is the capitall city of Zeeland Jutland or Denmark and place of residence of the King It stands on a flat encompassed with a pleasant and delightfull Countrey much resembling England The streets of the city are kept very neat and cleane with lights in the night time for the convenience and safetie of those who are then abroad a custome not as yet introduced into Stockholme where it is dangerous to be abroad when it is dark The Kings men of war lye here very conveniently being orderly ranged betwixt Booms after the manner of Amsterdam and neare the Admiralty house which is a large pile of building well furnished with stores and Magazines secured by a citadell that not onely commands the city but also the Haven and entrey into it The Court of Denmark is splendid and makes a far greater figure in the world then that of Sweden tho not many yeares agoe in the time of Carolus Gustaphus the father of the present King of Swedland it was almost reduced to its last when the walls of Copenhagen saved that Crown and Kingdome That siege was famous caried on with great vigour by the Swede and as bravely maintained by the Danes The monuments whereof are to be seen in the canon bullets gilt that still remain in the walls of some houses and in the steeple of the great Church of the town The Royall palace in Copenhaguen is but small and a very ancient building but his Majesties house Fredenburg is a stately fabrick of Modern Architecture and very richly furnished Denmark is at present a flourishing Kingdome and the King who hath now made it hereditary surpasses most of his predecessours in power and wealth He hath much enlarged his dominions aswell as Authority and by his personall and Royall virtues no less then the eminent qualities of a great many able ministers of State he hath gained the universall love of his subjects and the esteeme of all forreigne Princes and States The Court it much frequented every day but especially on Sundays where about eleven of the clock in the morning the Nobility forreigne Ministers and Officers of the Army assemble and make a glorious appeareance There one may see many Knights of the order of the Elephant of Malto but I never saw any order of the like nature as that of Sweden that King rarely appearing in his George and garter but on days of publick audience I have observed at one time above 150 coaches attending at the Court of Denmark which are ten times more than ever I saw together at that of Sweden The King is affable and of easy access to strangers seen often abroad by his subjects in his gardens and stables which are very large and well furnished with all sorts of Horses He is a great lover of English horses and dogs and delights much in Hunting as his eldest son the Prince with his brothers doe in cockfighting in so much that the English Merchants can not make a more acceptable present to those Princes then of English game-cocks The standing forces of Denmark are well disciplined men and commanded by good Officers both natives and strangers both French and Scots as Major General Duncan and Major General Veldâ—n both Scottishmen whom I saw at Copenhaguen The Soldiers aswell as courtiers are quartered upon the citizens a custome which is likewise practised in Sweden and tho somewhat uneasy yet not repined at by the people who by the care and good government of the King find trade much advanced For his Majestie by encouraging strangers of all religions to live in his dominions and allowing the French and dutch Calvinists to have publick Churches hath brought many tradeing families to Coppenhaguen and by the measure he hath taken for settling trade in prohibiting the importation of forreigne manufactures and reforming and new modelling the East and West India Companies hath much encreased commerce and thereby the wealth of his subjects so that notwithstanding the new taxes imposed upon all coaches waggons Ploughs and all reall and personall estates which amount to considerable summs of money the people live very well and contented There are commonly about eight thousand men in garison in Coppenhaguen and his Majesties Regiment of foot guards who are all cloathed in red with cloaks to keep them warm in the winter time is a very handsome body of men and with the horse guards who are bravely mounted and have their granadeers and Hoboyes make a very fine shew His Majestie hath caused severall new fortifications to be built upon the Elb and other rivers and hath now in his possession that strong Castle called Hilgueland at present commanded by a Scottishman The Queen of Denmark is a most virtuous Princess sister to the present Landgrave of Hessel-Cassel and in persuasion a Calvinist having a chappell allowed her within the Court though the publick religion of the King and Kingdome be Lutheran The Clergie here are learned many of them having studied at Oxford and Cambridge where they learnt the English language and amongst the Bishops there is one Doctor King the son of a Scottishman But seing it is my designe rather to observe the condition of the people then to be punctuall in describing all the rarities that are remarkeable in the Countries I have been in I shall conclude what I have to say of Denmark by acquainting the Reader that the people of that Countrey live far better then the Swedes and aswell as most of their adjoyning neighbours and that there are severall places both there and in Norway which have the names of English towns as Arundale Totness London c. When I fist began to write this treatise I had some thoughts of making observations upon the severall governments of other States and Dominions where I had travelled some years before I was in the Countries I have been speaking of as of the rest of Germany Hungary Switzerland Italy and France but that was a subject so large and the usefulness of it to my present designe so inconsiderable that by doeing so I found I could neither satisfie the curious by adding any thing materiall to those many who have already obliged the publick by the remarks of their travells in those places or make my discontented Countrey men more averse then they are already from removing into those Countries where I think few of them will chuse to transport themselves for the sake of liberty and Propertie tho England were even worse than they themselves fancy it can be All that remains to be done then is to conclude this treatise with an obvious and popular remark that those Countries where cities are greatest and most frequented by voluntary inhabitants are alwayes the best to live in and by comparing the city of London with all other cities of Europe and demonstrating by the surveys I have made which I think will hardly be contradicted or confuted that of all the capitall cities of Europe
Magistrates of the Citty take out of the Merchants Bank a Sufficent stock of money to supply the Lumbert a Banck that Lends out money and is Governed by 4 Commissioners chosen out of the Magistrates who sitt in Court every day in the Lumbert which is a large pile of Building 3â—0 foot long containing several Chambers and magazines under one Roof in these several Chambers the Commissioners have Officers sitting to lend money upon all sorts of Goods even from a paires of shooes to the richest Jewell c. This is a great convenicence for Poore people yea for Merchants also who some tymes may want money to pay a bill of Exchange and prevents the Cheatting and Extraordinary Extortion used by the Pawne brokers in England France and other Countryes And besides the Poore have their Pawns safely and well preserved neither are they punctually sould when the yeare is out or denied under the pretext of being mislaid as the Poore are often tymes served by the wicked Pawn broakers There is also another convenience in this Lumbert viz an Exellent way they have of discovering Thieves and the stollen goods They publish two generall open sales of the Goods pawnd twice a yeare that such as will may redeeme their goods and paying the Intrest may have them although the time be relapsed Thus much as to the Lumbert I was once according to my duty to waite upon our present King at the Bank of Merchants where shewing his Majestie the way of keeping the Journall Book of the Bank which is of a prodigious bigness his Majestie was Extreamly pleased with the Contrivance of preserveing it from fire saying that the course they tooke might be of great use for the preserving Patents and the deeds of Noblemens Estates This contrivance which perhaps may be thought usefull or imitable I shall therefore discribe it It is a large firestone shaped like a Chest and set upright in a stone wall having a large brass doore of a Vast thicknes with flops to fall over and Cover the Lock and Hinges into this chest the Booke is drawn upon Rouls it being of such a Bulk and waight as cannot be handed in by a man and there it is so securely preserved that although the house should be burnt the Booke in al probabilitie would be safe Should I here give an account of the Vast summes of money that dayly are written of in this Bank I might probably be thought to speake at Random but this I may bouldly affirme that it farr Exceeds all the Bankes in Europe both for Riches and Business and their Credit is such that the Italians French Germans and English have great summes in the same neither was ever any man refused his money in the worst of times A second Tax is what ariseth from the just and laudable Establishment of a Register A Tax which I think most men will be willing to submit to Except such as designe to cheat and defraud their Naibours and live by such like sins and Confusion and for the most part die with the curse of the people This Register in Holland begitts such assurance and Safetie in dealling that in purchasing of houses or land a Childe tho overreached in the Value yet cannot be cheated as to the title The methodes of which Register I have by me for the use of our King and Parlement when they please to Command it The third and last Tax is that of sealed paper as it is practised in Holland The Method of which I likewise keep by me for his Maiestie and Parlements Commands There are many other things might be spoken as to the Government of Amsterdam but I may not tyre your patience However one considerable thing I would not passe by touching the Melitia There are in Amsterdam 60 Companyes of Foot the least of them haveing 200 men some 300 which in a modest account amounts at least to 15000 men in which number neither Jews nor Anabaptists who carry no Armes are reckned only they are obliged to Contribute to the maintenance of the 1400 Souldiers who are kept in Constant pay as a Guard for the Citty and towards the night watch or Ratelwatch who walke the streets the whole night to keepe good Orders and tell us every halfe houre what a Clock it is There are also upon every Church Tower Trumpetters who sound every halfe houre and if any fire breakes out in the Citty they give a Signall on which side of the Citty the fire is and ring the Firebell and they have Exellent wayes on a suddain in such sad accidents to Quench Fire but I may not inlarge any longer but hasten out of Holland And yet before I leave Amsterdam I must vindicate her from a malitious aspersion cast upon her by the Ignorant they accuse her to have very rudely and uncivilly affrouted the Duke of York beeing there Anno 1681 All which is very false True the English Phanaticks of Amsterdam were so malitiously wicked as to spread severall lyes of his Sacred Person and stird up the Canalie as much as they could to affront his Highnes but as for the Magistrates they payd him verie great respects first sending me to the Hague to know what day his Highnes would please to honor their Citty with his presence that thereby they might be prepared to receive his Royall person with all the honor emaginable being resolved to Treat his Highnes in their Stathouse and that the Burgers should be in their Armes also giveing out orders for Coaches and the Admiraltys Yagts to attend his Highnes when ever he pleased to come but his Highnes by Collonel werden let me know that I should attend the Burgemasters and thank them for their kind presentation but his Highnes was resolved to see theit Citty incognito and therefore desired the Burgemasters not to put themselves to any maner of Trouble Notwithslanding the Magistrates Commanded their Yatchts to lye ready the halfeway Harlem and Vice Admiral de Ruiter Dirick Tulp and others went out in their Coaches to meet his Highnes and conduct him into the Citty at which tyme our English Phanaticks Especially those called Monmouths twelve Apostels did all that they could to stir up the rude multitude to affront his Highnes crying out to them This is he that brought the last war upon you and with his Jesuits would cut all the Protestants Throats But the next day after his Highnes was com into the Citty Burgemaster Valkenier the great Solon of Amsterdam sent for me and tould me that although the Burgemasters which are the Soveraignes of the City give no Visits to strange Princes unless they be Crouned heads yet said he I have a great Ambition to pay a Visit to the Duke of York upon severall respects first as being the brother of so great a King and as he is our Statholders Vnckell and Father in law and therefore said he you shall procure me Audience in the privatest maner imaginable for I designe to goe
only smale beare without any Wyne At this the Ladies startled and began to whisper to their husbands that they Expected no such Entertainement but upon removeing of the Dishes and plates they found underneath printed verses Importing that after that manner of liveing they began to thrive had inlarged their Citty The second course consisted of Bocke de kooks quarters of Lamb rosted Rabits and a sort of pudding they cal a Brother here they had Dorts and English beare with French wyne yet all this did not please the dainty Dames but upon removing away the plates another Dish of poetrie appeared which acquainted them that after that modest and sober way of Liveing they might keep what they had gott and lay up some thing for their Children Then comes in the third course made up of all the rarities of the season as Patridges Pheseants and all sorts of foule and English pasties with plenty of Rinish and other sorts of wyne to moisten them this put the ladyes in a frolick and Jolly humour but under their plates was found the use and Application in verses telling them that to feed after that manner was Voluptuous and Luxurious and would Impaire their health and wast their Estates make them neglect their Trade and so in Tyme reduce their Stately and new built flourishing Citty to their ould fishing towne againe After this was brought in a Banquet of all sorts of sweet meats piled up in piramides and delicate fruite with plenty of delitious wynes and to conclude all a set of Musick and maskers who danced with the young Ladyes but at parting like the hand writing to Belteshazzar upon the wall every one had a printed paper of moralities put into their hand shewing them the causes of the ruine of the Roman Commonwealth according to that of the Poët Nullum crimen abest facinusque libidinis exquo Paupertas Romana perit with an Exellent aduice to them that if they did not quit the Buffoneries and apish modes of the French and returne to the Simplicitie plaineness and modestie of their Ancestors and founders their Common-wealth could not long last but all the thanks the good ould Burgemaster had for his kind and Chargable Entertainement in thus feasting his Countrymen was to be floutted at and pasquild The sparkes of Amsterdam saying in all places that the ould man being now past the yeares of pleasure himselfe would have none others to take theirs And here I shall put a period to what I thought fitt to observe of the States of the Vnited Provinces only I will beg leave to say something to the Hollander by way of advise viz That now they are in a prosperous condition Rich and at ease They would looke back and remember what God in his Infinite goodnes mercy did for them in the dayes of their greatest calamities for my owne part I cannot but admire the great providence of God in preserveing them from being devoured by their many Enimies they had in the last warr besides their enimies at home some of which particulars as they then happened give me leave to relate At the tyme when the French came to Inuade the Territoryes of the States General it then looked as if God had markd out the way for the French to March by sending such a wonderfull drye season that the Rivers of the Rhine Beta Wall and other Rivers were fordable so that the French only waded throw and became so Victtorious that in a little space of tyme what by the Treasons of some and the Ignorance and cowardise of others Intrusted with the Militia and Garrisons the French became Masters of above 40 Cittyes and Garrisons at which tyme there was nothing to be heard of in the States Dominions but confusion and miserie even in the strong and rich Citty of Amsterdam it self who at this tyme beheld the French Armie like a mighty Torrent comeing within sight of the Citty and at the same tyme wanting water in their Canalls and Burgwalls to ply their Sluces and such was the scarcity of Raine that a payle of fresh water was worth 6 pence Thus heaven seemed to frowne on them as well as the French Armie by the shutting up as it were the Conduits of Heaven and yet a worse thing had like to have fallen out for at the same tyme the Divisions grew so high amongst the Magistrates in the Stathouse that it was putting to the Question wheather or no they should not goe and meet the French King with the Keyes of their Citty to save it from fire and Plunder now nothing in all probabilitie could save this rich Citty from falling into the hands of the French but an immediate hand from Heaven and it had undoubtedly come to passe had not providence caused the French to make a stand at Muyden two howers from Amsterdam at what time the Valiant Roman of Amsterdam Scout Hasselaer like a true father of his Country opposed the French party in the Councell calling out to the Burgers from the Stathouse to take Courage and rather choose to dye like old Battavians with their swords in their hands then tamely and Treacherously to yeald up their Citty to the mercy of the French as some of the Magestrates were about to doe this so Incouraged the Burgers that with great Courage they mand ' the walls and heaven then assisting them with a suden and plenty full raine that they plyd their sluces and drouned the Lands round the Citty 3 and 4 foot high in some places which caused the Victorious French Armie to make a quick retreat as farr as Utrick else the Monsieur had payd deare for seeing of Amsterdam Thus was Amsterdam delivered by the hand of Heaven A second was when that Bloody Duke of Luxenburg who gloryed and thanked God that he was borne without pitty or remors of Conscience took the opportunitye of an exceeding hard frost to march his Armie over the Ice as it had been drye ground burning in his way the three faire Villages of Bodygrave Swammerdam and Goudse-sluys Acting there a move cruell Tradigie and worse then ever did Turk for they Generally fave the Country people for Ransom but this cruell Prince caused strong Guards to surround the villages and burnd men Women and Children together Thus he began his march with a designe to burne Leyden Hague Rotterdam Delph and all the rich Country of Rhineland and this he might have done in all probabilitie for first the Governor of Newsluce who commanded the post that should have stopt the French Treacherously delivered up the fort without firing a Gunn and the handfull of Troopes then under General Koningsmark were so Inconsiderable that they joyned to the Souldiers under Pain and Vin the Governer of new Sluce were not Able to make head as could oppose Luxenburgs Armie and at the same tyme the good Prince of Orange was with the States Armie at Charle le Roy. Now was Leyden ready to meet the French with the Keyes
strangers whatsoever Especially the English Company of Merchant Adventurers whom they allow a large building where they have a Church and where the deputy governour Secretary Minister and the other Officers of the Company live to whom they yearly make present of Wine Beere Sheep Salmond and Sturgeon in their seasons And so much of Hambourg From Hambourg I went to Lubeck which is also a Commonwealth and Imperiall town It is a large well built city containing ten parish Churches the Cathedrall dedicated to St. Peter being in length 500 foot with two high spires all covered with brass as the rest of the Churches of that ciry are In former times this city was the place where the deputies of all the Hansiatick towns assembled and was once so powerfull as to make war against Denmark and Sweden and to conquer severall places and Islands belonging to those two Crowns nay and to lend Ships to England and other Potentates without any prejudice to their own trade wherein they vied in all parts with their neighbours but it is now exceedingly run into decay not onely in territories but in wealth and trade also And the reason of that was chiefely the inconsiderate zeal of their Lutheran Ministers who perswaded the Magistrates to banish all Roman Catholicks Calvinists Jews and all that dissented from them in matter of Religion even the English Company too who all went and setled in Hambourg to the great advantage of that city and almost ruine of Lubeck which hath not now above 200 Ships belonging to it nor more territories to the State than the city it self and a small part called Termond about eight miles distant from it The rest of there territories are now in the possession of the Danes and Swedes by whom the burghers are so continually allarmed that they are quite tired out with keeping guard and paying of Taxes The city is indeed well fortified but the government not being able to maintain above 1500 Soldiers in pay 400 Burghers in two Companies are obliged to watch every day They have a large well built Stathouse and an Exchange covered on the top whereof the globes of the world are painted This Exchange is about fifty yards in the length and but fifteen in breadth over it there is a Roome where the skins of five Lions which the Burghers killed at the city gates in the year 1252 are kept stuft The great market place is very large where a monumentall stone is to be seen on which one of their Burgemasters was beheaded for running away without fighting in a sea engagement The people here spend much time in their Churches at devotion which consists chiefely in singing The women are beautifull but disfigured with a kind of Antick dress they wearing cloaks like men It is cheap living in this town for one may hire a palace for a matter of 20 L. a year and have provisions at very reasonable rates besides the air and water is very good the city being supplied with fountains of Excellent fresh water which Hambourg wants and good ground for cellerage there being cellars here fourty or fifty foot deep I had the curiosity to goe from Lubeck to see the Ancient city of Magdeburg but found it so ruined and decayed by the Swedish war that I had no encouragement to stay there I therefore hastened to Berlin the chiefe residence of the Elector of Brandenbourg at whose Court I mett with a very Ingenuous French Merchant who tould me that he and divers other Merchants were designed to have lived in England but were discouraged by a letter sent from London by a French man that was removeing from thence to Amsterdam for these following reason which I coppied out of his Letter First because the Reformed Religion is persecuted in England as it is in France the which I tould him was a great untruth for it is apparent that they have been all along graciously admitted and received into his Majesties Dominions without interruption allowed the free exercise of their owne forme of worship according to the Doctrine discipline of the Churches of France nor can they who converse with the French Ministers either in France or Holland be Ignorant that the chiefest part if not all those Ministers are willing to complye with the Church of England and it is Evident that most of the Dutch and French Protestants so called in Holland make use of Organs in their Churches A second thing was that both the bank of London and the Bankers Gouldsmiths were all broak the which I tould this Frenchman was not true altogether for there are many able Bankers whome I named as Alderman Fowles Alderman Hornbey Alderman Duncomb Alderman Founs Mr. Thomas Cook Mr. Rob Vyner Mr. Childe Mr. Endes Mr. Evans and others well known to the world by their solid dealling neyther was the Bank as he called the Chamber of London broak only it had been under the management of a bad Person whose designe was to bring it into disgrace besides there is the East-India Company an unquestionable securitie for those as have money to dispose of together with another undeniable securitie which is Land Thirdly he saith that in England there is no Register and therefore many frauds in purchases morgages which begett teadious suites and renders both dangerous to trust Fourtly that if a man would purchase land he cannot being an Alien untill Naturalized Fiftly that in England there are so many plots and Confusions in Goverment that the Kingdome is hardly quiet twenty yeares together Sixtly that false wittnesses were so common in England and the crime of perjury so slightly punished that no man could be safe in life or Estate if he chanced to be in trouble Lastly he said that the English are so restless and quarrelesome that they not only foment and cherish Animosities amongst one another but are Every foot contriving and plotting against their lawfull soveraign and the Goverment By such surmises and insinuations as these the French and Germans are scared from trusting themselves and fortunes in England and therefore settle in Amsterdam Hamburg and other Cittyes where there are Banks and Registers This I say is one cause why there are now to be seene at Amsterdam such vast numbers of French and Germans who have much inriched that Citty and raised the rents of the houses 20 percent and the silkeweavers grow also verie rich keeping so many Almes Children to doe their work and having all their labour without any charge only for the teaching them their trades which hath lessened the revenues of the French crown and will in tyme greately increase the number of the States subjects and advance ther publick Incomes To say the truth the inconstancy and wantonnesse of the English nation especially of late tymes when no other cause could be given for it but to much ease and plenty is not only wondered at but reflected upon by foreigners yet I am morally certaine that could the people of England be once
is commonly high drinking the Pape or Parson is master of the Ceremonies And here give mee leave to tell a short story of one of them A Pape comeing to Christen a Child in a Church and finding a Scottish man to be Godfather was so transported either with Zeal or his cups that when he came to exorcise the Child which is a rite used in their Office of Administring that Sacrament He neglected the forme prescribed by the liturgie and in an extemporary prayer begg'd that the devill might depart out of the Child and enter into that Scottish Heretick for so they call the Presbyterians of that nation The prayer of the Pape so incensed the Scot that he vowed revenge and watched the Pape with a good cudgell next day as he crossed the Church yard where he beat him and left him all in blood lying on the ground and crying out murder For this fact the Scot was had before the Justice who asking him how he durst be so bold as to lay his profane hands upon the man of God He who knew very well what use to make of the devill he had got foaming at the mouth and cunningly acting the demoniack made answer that the Pape might thank himself for what he had met with for since he had conjured the devill into him he spared no body neither wife nor Children nor would he spare the Justice himself and with that sell a mangling and tearing the Magistrat that he was fain to betake himself to his heeles crying out O! the devill save mee and so the Scot marched home no man daring to lay hold on him for fear of being torn to peeces by the devill But the Justice recollecting himself sent for the Pape told him that the Scot was a cunning rogue and bid him goe home get a plaister for his head and be silent least if the matter came to the Bishops ears he might be censured for goeing against the rubrick of the liturgie The famous Universitie where their Clergy are bred is Vpsall eight Swedish miles from Stockholme There are commonly 150 or 200 Students there but no endowed colledges as in other Counrries The library is so meane and contemptible that the libraries of many Grammar Schools and of privat men in England or Holland are far better stored with books then it is Upon viewing of it and that of the Kings Palace I called to mind the saying of a French man upon the like occasion That Swedland came behind France and England in the knowledge of men and things at least 800 yeares yet some Swedes have been so conceited of the antiquity of their Countrey as to bragg that Paradice was seated in Sweden that the Countrey was turned into such heaps of rocks for the rebellion of our first parents and that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel in a Countrey three Swedish miles distant from Vpsall A French man standing by and hearing this Romantick story as I was told fitted him with the like telling him that when the world was made in six days at the end of the creation all the Rubbish that remained was throw'n together into a corner which made up Sweden and Norway And indeed the French seeme to have no great likeing to the Countrey what ever kindness they may have for the people for a French Ambassadour as an author of that Countrey relates being by order of Queen Christina treated in a Countrey house 4 Swedish miles from Stockholme and upon the rode goeing and comeing with all the varieties and pleasures that the Countrey could affoard on purpose to make him have a good opinion of the same made answere to the Queen who asked him upon his return what he thought of Sweden that were he master of the whole Countrey he would presently sell it buy a farme in France or England which under favour I think was a litle tart and sawcy Having stayed a considerable time in Swedland and most part at Stockholme I set out from thence to goe to Elsenbourg by land and went a litle out of my way to see a small city called Eubrone famous for a coat of Arms which it got in this manner A certain Masculine Queen of Denmark who had conquered a great part of Sweden comeing to this city asked the Magistrates what was the Arms of their city who having told her that they had none she plucked up her coats and squatting upon the Snow bid them take the marke she left there for their Arms It 's pity she did not give them a suitable motto to it also What that figure is called in blazonerie I know not but to this day the city uses it in their Armes and for marking their commodities This Queen came purposely into Sweden to pay a visit to a brave woman that opposed a King of Swedland who in a time of famine would have put to death all the men and women in his Countrey above sixty years of age The Countrey all the way I travelled in Swedland is much of the same qualitie of the land about Stockholme untill I came neare the Province of Schonen which is called the store house and Kitchin of Sweden where the Countrey is far better It was formerly very dangerous to travell in this Province of Schonen becaus of the Snaphances who were a kind of bloody robbers now utterly destroyed by the King so that it is safe enough travelling there Entering into Schonen I saw twenty nine of these rogues upon wheeles and elsewhere in the Countrey ten and twenty at severall places The King used great severitie in destroying of them some he caused to be broken upon the wheele others spceted in at the fundament and out at the shoulders many had the flesh pinched off of there breasts and so were fastened to stakes till they died and others again had their noses and both hands cut off and being seared with a hot Iron were let goe to acquaint their camerades how they had been served The King is very severe against Highway-men and duellers In above a hundred miles travelling wee found not a house where there was either French wine or brandie which made mee tell a Swede of our Company who was travelling to Denmark that I would undertake to shew any man 500 houses wherein a traveller might have wine and other good accommodation in the space of an hundred miles upon any rode from London There are severall small towns and fertile land in this Countrey of Schonen lying upon the Sound at the narrowest part whereof lies Elsenbourg burnt down by the Danes in the last war Here I crost over to Elsenore the passage being but a league broad The King of Denmark has a casâ—le at Elsenore which commands the narrow passage of the Sound where all Ships that enter into or come out of the Baltick sea must pay toll Having visited this casâ—le and stai'd about a fortnight with the English Consul and Sâ— John Paul late resident at the Court of
it is the biggest and most populous so prove consequentially that England for the generality of people is the best Countrey in the world especially for its natives to live in Now this being an observation for what I know not hitherto made good by induction and instance as I intend to doe it I hope it will please the Reader as much as if I gave him a particular account of other Countreys and governments and leave it to his own reflexion to State the comparison Though London within the walls cannot vie for bigness with many cities of Europe yet take the city and suburbs together according as it hath been surveyed by Mr. Morgan in breadth from St. Georges Church in Southwarke to Shore ditch and in length from Limehouse to petty France in Westminster and it is in a vast proportion larger in compass of ground and number of houses then any city whatsoever in Europe This I shall demonstrate first by compareing it with some cities of Holland and then with the most considerable cities of the other Countries of Europe which I shall set down in an alphabeticall order with the number of the houses they severally contain When London and suburbs was surveyed some years agoe by Mr. Morgan there were reckoned to be in it 84000 houses besides hospitalls Almeshouses and other buildings that payed no chimney money to the King Now if those were added and the vast number of new houses that have been built since that survey upon modest computation London may be reckoned to countain 100000 houses I know the French doe vapour and would perswade the world that Paris is much bigger then London And the Hollanders will scarce believe that London hath more Houses then the 18 Cittyes in Holland that have voyces in the States for say they Amsterdam Stands upon a 1000 Morgens land and London Stands but upon 1800 To both which I answer that it is very true that Paris takes up a great spot of ground but then you must consider that in Paris there are severall hundreds of Monasteries Churches Coledges and Cloysters some of them haveing large Gardens and that in Paris there are 7500 Palaces and Ports for Coaches which have likewise great Gardens whereas London is very thick built and in the Citty the Houses have scarce a Yard big enough to sett a Pump or House of conveniency in but the weekely bills of Mortality will decide this Question and plainely give it to London and so doth Mons la Cour and Sir William Pette in his last Essayes dedicated lately to our King makeing it appeare that London is bigger then Paris Rhoan and Rochell altogether and as for Amflerdam I doe appeale to all knowing men that have seen it that although it be true that it Stands upon 1000 Morgens Land yet there is not above 400 Morgens built and this I prove thus that the large Gardens on the Heeregraft Kysersgraft and Princegraft and the Burgwalls of Amsterdam take up more then a third part of the Citty then reckon the Bastions and the space of Ground betweene the Wall and the Houses and all the Ground unbuilt from the Vtricks-Port to the Wesoper-Port Muyer-Port and so to the Seaside and you will find it to be near 300 Morgens land There are 2 Parishes in the Suburbs of London viz Stepney and St. Martins in the feilds the later being so big that the last Parlement divided it into 4 Parishes either of them have more Houses then Rotterdam or Harlem and there are severall other great Parishes as St. Margrets Westminster St. Giles in the feilds Toolyes and St. Mary Overs the which if they stood apart in the Country would make great Cittyes wee reckon in London and the Suburbs thereof to be at least 130 Parishes which containe 100000 Houses now if you reckon 8 persons to everie house then there are neare 800000 soules in London but there are some that say there is a million of soules in it I shall now set downe the Cittyes Alphabetically and their number of Houses as they were given to me not only from the Surveyours and Citty Carpenters but from the Bookes of the Herthmoney and bookes of the Verpoundings where such Taxes are payd and first I shall begin with the 18 Cittyes that have Voyces in the States of Holland Cittyes Houses DOrt 5500 Harlem 7250 Delph 2300 Leyden 13800 Amsterdam 25460 Rotterdam 8400 Tergoe 3540 Gorcom 2460 Schiedam 1550 Brill 1250 Schonehoven 2200 Alckmaar 1540 Horn. 3400 Enckhuysen 5200 Edam 2000 Monekendam 1500 Medenblick 850 Purmerent 709 Cittyes in Germany and in the 17 Provinces Cittyes Houses ANtwerp 18550 Aix la Chapell 2250 Arford 8440 Berlin 5200 Bonn. 410 Bresack 1200 Breme 9200 Breda 3420 Bolduke 6240 Bergen op Zome 2120 Brussels 19200 Cologne 12000 Cleave 640 Coblins 420 Castells 1520 Dresden 6420 Disseldorpe 620 Dunkirk 2440 Emden 2400 Francford 10200 Groningen 8400 Guant 18200 Harford 1420 Hanover 1850 Heidelberg 7520 Hamburg 12500 Lubeck 6500 Louain 8420 Lypsick 3240 Lunenburg 3100 Cittyes in France Cittyes Houses AVinion 12400 Amiens 5200 Bullion 1400 Bomont 800 Burdeaux 8420 Calis 1324 Cane 2147 Chalon 1850 Diepe 1920 Lyons 16840 Montruill 820 Monpiller 5240 Marsellis 9100 Nantes 4420 Nemes 3120 Orlians 10200 Orange 354 Paris 72400 Rochell 4200 Roan 11200 Tolonze 13200 Valance 458 Lewardin 5860 Mayance 2420 Malin 8000 Middelburg 6200 Madelburg 1120 Mastricht 5600 Munster 1240 Nurenberg 18240 Osenburg 2200 Osburg 8420 Oldenburg 620 Praag 18640 Passaw 560 Ratisbone 6540 Strasburg 8560 Spire 540 Stockholme 6480 Solsburg 12460 Vtrick 8240 Viana 4520 Vean 340 Wormes 1200 Westburg 2420 Cittyes in Italy Cittyes Houses BOlonie 12400 Florance 8520 Janua 17200 Luca. 1650 Legorne 3560 Milan 18500 Napells 17840 Pesa 2290 Padua 8550 Rome 31200 Sena 1820 Venetia 24870 Veterba 620 Valentia 1520 Cittyes in Savoy Cittyes Houses CHambray 852 Salé 320 Turin 8540 Nece 500 St. John de Latteran 420 Remes 340 Moloy 270 Cittyes in Switserland Cittyes Houses BErne 4270 Ball. 5120 Geneve 4540 Losana 2100 Solure 500 Zurick 6200 Morge 210 Vina 320 St. Morrice 300 Cittyes in Denmark Cittyes Houses COpenhagen 8220 Elsenore  Cittyes in Sweedland Cittyes Houses NOrthoanen 600 Stockholme 7500 Vpsall 8200 FINIS