hâ—nce that Trade is not discouraged in Danmark p. 81. since by his Confesâ—â—â—on Courtierâ— and great men become Undertakers It is certain likewise that in Danmark several Manufactures have succeeded very well others indeed have noâ— had the same success not because property is not secur'd but because they can have the same Commodities cheaper from Holland Spain or England The making Silks and Drinking Glasses though these latter are made in great perfection in Copenhagen did not turn to account because there is no property in Danmark Should you Sir take Sir Robert Viners House in Lombardstreet and set up a Manufacture for the making Tacks at three pence a thousand and employ about 500 Smiths to furnish London with 'em and this project should not turn to one per cent must I attribute this misfortune to the unsecureness of the English property or rather to the discretion of the Ironmongers who can have them about II d. in the Shilling cheaper if they will but send to Brumigham Who thinks his Estate to have the worse title because he sees People daily fling their Money away in Stock-jobbing There being an impossibility of having Manufactures introduc'd into Danmark p. 84. trading Towns and Villages are all fallen to decay Kioge once a flourishing little Sea-Port Town lent Christian IV. two hundred thousand Rixdollars but upon occasion of the late Poll Tax the Collectors were forced to take Featherbeds Brass Pewter c. in lieu of Money That trading Towns should fall to decay when Trade encreases will scarce gain belief As for Kioge that Town lying within four Leagues of Copenhagen 't is no wonder if the Trade is in some measure decreased since the flourishing of that City We have this Authors word for it that Kioge raised so much money in four and twenty hours time Two hundred thousand Rixdollars and those as was said before equivalent to English pounds is a good round summ for a little Town to lend in a days time they lent so much then that it is no great wonder they have no great plenty now However it was no such great sight in England even in King Charles's time to see a sturdy fray between a Collector of Chimney-money and an Old Woman in behalf of her Porridge Pot and batter'd Pewter Dish the only Ornament of her Cupboard And yet I suppose the Author does not take us to have been undone then though such an instance which he has only by hear-say p. 85. is enough to prove all the Danes to be ruin'd If this be the Case of the Gentleman and Burgher what can be expected to be that of the poor Peasant p. 86. What indeed In Sealand they are all as absolute Slaves as the Negroes are in Barbadoes but with this difference that their fare is not so good For indeed every body knows that there is great care taken by the Planter throughout all the West Indies to provide dainties for their Negroes which consist of Pork very seldom and Potato's always The Author is to bâ— excused for his mistakes in this paragraph because they cannot so easily be rectified without the Danish Law which I suppose he never consulted It must be known that from immemorial time in Sealand there has been a Law about Vornede as they are called in Danmark that is Vassals the â—â—â— whereof is that a Boor born upon a Landlord's Land is obliged to stay there and not to leave his Service except he is freed by his Landlord But first what he says that neither they nor their Posterity to all Generations can leave the Land to which they belong p. 86. is far from being true for the Landlord may make them free when he pleases which is often practised Or they may obtain their freedom for a small summ of money which is done commonly Or if it happens that a Vassal comes away and stays ten years in a City or twenty in the Country any where without his Landlords ground he is free from his claim Secondly That Gentlemen count their Riches by their stocks of Boors as here with us byour stocks of Cattle p. 86. is of the same stamp As we say such a Gentleman has so many Tenants by which we mean so many Farms so throughout all Danmark they say he has so many Boors not that he has many head of Boors as we would say of Cattle Thirdly That in case of Purchase they are sold as belonging to the Freehold just as Timber Trees In England when a Mannor is sold all the services due to the Mannor are sold with it and it is no otherwise in Danmark Further the Landlord cannot go for the Law says the Landlord may make his Vassal free but he must by no means sell him to another if the Vassal be sold then he 's free both from him that sold and bought him Neither fourthly Do the Boors with all that belongs to them appertain to the Proprietor of the Land For such a Vassal owes nothing more to his Landlord than that he shall stay on his Land till his Ground and pay him his Rent which when it is done reasonably the Landlord can require nothing more of him so that this Law of Vassals in Sealand was principally introduc'd that the Landlords might not want Tenants These Vassals may be transplanted from one Farm to another The Vornede are only in Sealand and the King would have given them freedom there since the Alteration but that he was shewed there would have been several inconveniencies attending it As to the condition of the Country People throughout the rest of Danmark and Norway it is just like that of the Farmers in England paying their Rent and Due to the Landlord or leaving his Farm when they cannot agree together They do indeed â—â—arter Souldiers but it is in the manner before described And they are bound to furnish Horses and Waggons for the Kings Baggage and Retinue when he travels These are provided by an Officer in the nature of our Constable who takes care that there shall be an equal share for every Peasant throughout Sealand and other Provinces where the King of Danmark travels so that it does not come to the same Boors turn above once a year for not only they that live near the Road but those likewise who lye farther off must attend in their order This seemed to our Author to be the greatest hardship imposed on these poor Peasants He has seen 'em so beaten and abus'd by Lacqueys that it has often mov'd his pity and indignation to see it p. 90. Tender hearted Gentleman There was no Provocation on the Boors side I warrant you They are generally better bred than to give ill language If you were so touched with this how would your Pity Sir have been mov'd had you seen a Dane's head broke in a violent Passion because he could not leta Draw-bride down soon â—nough or had you seen one of the Kings Huntsmen cut over the pate by a Footman
rather inclines to Luxury three or four Dishes of several Meats is but a common Dinner for the middle People and generally their Supper equals it Nay the very Boors throughout all Danmark and Norway will not be satisfied if they have not their three Meals a day and those commonly of warm Meat so that when the Countryman in England is contented with his Bread and Cheese to Supper the Danish and Norsh Peasants must have their Pot on the fire or else they will go to their Feather-beds than which our Author says no man can have better p. 88. with great uneasiness 'T is true Meat and Fish when salted is more acceptable to the Danes as well as other Northern People and agrees better with their constitution and it would be a hardship instead of a delicacy to them to have so much fresh Meat as is customary in England But was the Diet of the Burghers even as hard as he describes it yet I am credibly informed that the Servants of a Publick Minister there who shall be nameless would have been very glad to partake of it since their Masters house-keeping was so far from abounding that they found too frequent occasions to complain openly And whereas the Author of the Account says p. 10 11. that if the Inspectors of the English Markets should come to those of Copenhagen they would find the Victuals had enough to be sent only to the Prisons those poor Servants would have been infinitely obliged should they in pity have commanded an Officer to stop and set his Basket down now and then at his Excellency's Their Peasants live as plentifully as in other Countries they have good Flesh and salt Fish white Meats Roots c. but what signifies all this according to our Author p. 11. since necessary fresh Fish is wanting I could heartily condole their condition if my Tenants in Northampton and Leicestershire would not take exception for if they found me once so indulgent to the Peasants of another Nation they would certainly expect a double barrel of Colchester Oysters by the next Carrier and without a Cods-head Smelts or Turbet I might e'ne go to plow my self for Hodge and Sawney But what is most admirable to me is that there can be any thing fit to eat throughout all Danmark since according to this Author's description p. 11. it seems to be exempted from part of the common promise which God made to Noah and Mankind that while the Earth remaineth Seed-time and Harvest and Cold and Heat and Summer and Winter and Day and Night shall not cease Gen. 8. 22. For he says p. 11. that at Copenhagen and in all Denmark they never have Spring and seldom Autumn This assertion could proceed only from such a one as in his preface he calls a very Traveller or at least an ill natur'd and unthinking Person since so many People are able to confute him as have ever lived there but a twelve-month Then for those three months of June July and August which he calls Summer he has provided sufficient Plagues for them first the interposition of thick vapours c. p. 11. which upon examination will be found to be only Clouds in his own understanding Secondly his plague of Flies of which he has seen whole Bushels swept together in one Room p 12. A BushelSir if of Winchester measure will hold a great many Flies and what makes this seem more incredible is that Domitian the Imperial Fly-killer though in Italy a very hot Country when he had taken his half peck thought he had had very plentiful game The City of Copenhagen does not more abound in Flies than it is on the contrary wanting in Fish for the Author p. 12. never knew a Sea Town of that consequence worse served with it the Baltick indeed is not so well stored with Fish as some other Seas but yet in Copenhagen there is Sea Fish asCod Flounders c. brought from other places and sold there very cheap the reason why it is not still cheaper by being brought thither as it might be in greater plenty is because their fresh-water fish is in vast quantities and as he says p. 92. makes full amends there being the best Carp Tench Perch and Craw-fish that are to be found any where He now leads us to a Description of the City of Copenhagen p. 12. for it seems when he has done that he shall have little more to say of any other in the King of Danmark's Dominions there being no other belonging to him much better than our Town of St. Albans Perhaps the Gentleman did not Travel much in the Country and so speaks only as to his own Knowledge but other People who have seen more are of Opinion and think that Ribe Aarhuus Aalborg Odense c. besides several Cities in Norway and other of the Kings Dominions as Bergen Trundhiem Christiania Gluckstadt Flensborg Hadersleben c. if they were allotted an Impartial Surveyor would appear to be much better than our Town of St. Albans which at present stands so fair in this Authors good graces But though Copenhagen is the best place belonging to the King as Danmark Yet it is no Antient City nor a very Large one it comes nearest to Bristol and increases in buildings daily p. 12. Copenhagen was founded in the twelfth Century Anno 1168. and as to its largeness it may most properly be compared with Dublin which is the second City in the King of England's Dominions He is just to the Port of Copenhagen in about a Page and an half p. 13 14. but it is that he may find the greater faults with the other things that belong to it The Air he says is bad by reason of the stink of the Channels which are cut through the City p. 14. In the 8th Page he attributes the badness of the Air to the Fogs and low Scituation but here to the Channels which are indeed rather an Ornament and Convenience to it than otherwise Heretofore there might some small offence proceed from them when they were in the nature of Fleet-ditch in London But now by the Order of his present Majesty they are cut quite through the City the Sea going in on one side and out at the other and are so very large that a stout Man of War may ride cross the City and round the Castle The Works of the Town he says are only of Earth and Sods p. 14. So much the better Stone Walls we know are of no great strength against Cannons And when he tells us ib. These Works are in tolerable good repair he should in common justice have said something of the extraordinary good order they are kept in The Buildings as he describes them ib. are generally mean being Cage-work not considering that Cage-work is more in esteem there than Plaister as being more convenient and durable and contrived generally so as to appear very handsome not but that there are abundance of very good Brick Houses that are
with Sealand where he says there are few Meadows and yet no want of good Hay p. 8. that the air is but indifferent and yet there are no colds p. 8 9. That the Cattle is lean p. 10. because their feeding when in the house is partly Hay and partly Brewers Grains and Roots c. p. 10. So having given an Account of the miserable state of Sealand he proceeds to set forth that of the other Islands in this manner Funen has plenty of Corn Hogs Woods c. p. 27. and yet has nothing for the Merchants to export but a few Horses As it is certain and notorious that abundance of Corn Bacon and other Commodities are sent from thence to Holland Norway and other places so it is as certain like wise that these things must go to Holland or Norway from this Island by Land-carriage unless the Author will give them leave to be exported What does he think of the Apples which yearly are the sole Lading of several Ships Their Cyder and their Mead which is the best in the World is likewise carry'd abroad and more especially a sort of Wheat call'd in Danish Boghuede in Latin Fagopyrus of which the Danes make their so much talkt of Grout that resembles the English Hasty-Pudding which is in very great plenty throughout the whole Island Now it cannot possibly enter into my head that the people who have Corn Bacon Apples Cyder Mead and Boghuede to be exported should have only a few Horses to be exported The chief Town is Odensee formerly a flourishing little City but now fallen to decay p. 27. It is not so flourishing now as when the King resided there but it is in a very good condition still He takes no notice of several other good Towns that are in the Island as Nyborg Assens Middlefart c. which are all bigger than St. Albans I suppose that he might make his Reader imagine that nothing but Villages were to be found in Danmark except those few Towns he mentions This Island is oblig'd to him for declaring the true name of its Stifts-Ampt or chief Governour which is Mr. Winterfelt whereas in Laaland and Jutland he is mistaken in the Names and has given us none of those in Sealand whither for want of Information or other more prevailing Reasons he can best inform his Reader Laaland has met with better quarter from this Author than other places and is commended for its plenty of Corn however he has forgot the great abundance of extraordinary good Pease which grow there and for which it is famous I hope it is no reflection upon Copenhagen that it is supply'd with Wheat from thence p. 28. and it may the rather be excused because the Dutch in the midst of their Plenty and Liberty come hither for it too So London is at present supply'd from the North as Rome heretofore from Sicily and Egypt He is mistaken in the Governours name which is Mr. Gior and this small error is the more to be taken notice of because he says he resided a long time in England in a publick Character and so probably his name might be the better known there Nor is he less mistaken in the name of another person which if he were any ways inquisitive he might have known for he places Monsieur Edmund Scheel among the Stifts Ampts of Jutland this I suppose he does only to let his Country men see that they need not go so far as Danmark to find out his errors For Monsieur Scheel a Person considerable for his Parts Learning and the Characters he has sustain'd at home and in Foreign Courts besides that of England where he lately rended at Envoy Extraordinary in that very Memorial he gave in to the King of England about this Authors account has wrote his Christian name Magnus as he doth without any abbreviation upon all occasions After having named three Stifts Ampts in Jutland an c. comes in for the fourth Which the Author upon the least inquiry might have found to be Mr. Mejercrone now the King of Danmark's Envoy at the French Court The four principal Governments which he has not mentioned are called Ribe Aarhus Wiborg and Aalborg It contradicts it felt that Jutland wants good Sea-ports towards the Ocean p. 30. and yet the Hollanders transport a great quantity of Cows and Oxen from thence which makes it unnecessary to repeat the Sea-towns mentioned elsewhere besides which there are several others by the Western Islands Silt â—isler and Roâ—me near the Cities of Ribe and Tonder where the Hollander's Smacks and Oxen-Ships as they call them enter without difficulty and so export those Commodities which though the writer calls Lean Cow's and Oxen p. 3â— yet they are not so in themselves but only in regard of that extraordinary bigness they grow to when they come into the Dutch Soil Otherwise the Cattle of Jutland as of most part of Denmark is not of the smallest though it be left in its own Country Nor need the Inhabitants of this plentiful Province desire any fatter Beef than what they can have when they please at home Jutland also affords Corn not only insufficient quantity for the use of its own people p. 30. but in such a superabundance that all the want of Norway in this case is yearly supply'd in the greatest measure from this Province neither can this chuse but be a vast quantity considering the many Populous Sea Towns lying all along upon the shores of that Country Nay in the very Year 1692. in which this Author pretends to describe this Country there was such a crop reaped there that it was upon frequent desires allowed to the Hollanders by the King of Danmark to export no less then 30 thousand barrels of Corn each Danish barrel containing four Bushels besides what privately under this permission was stolen out and all besides the necessary provisions for Norway Let now the Reader judge if no more can be said of Jutland's fertility than that it affords Corn in sufficient quantity for the use of its own People But what 's the reason of this plenty and fertility does it proceed from the goodness of the Soil and the Industry of the Inhabitants or from any Natural Moral or else some Political Account why indeed the Reason that they have so many Oxen to sell is because the King keeps his Court far from thence Procul a Jove Procul a Fulmine p. 30. says our Author Corn grows in any Country where the Farmer is careful and the Soil agreeable and where the meadows produce good grass there will be good cattle and this Nature will do whither it be in Monarchys or Commonwealth I have reserved the Island of Amack or Amager in Danish to conclude with because it is the Authors darling This Island as he says p. 28 29. is very plentiful and therefore commonly called the Kitchen Garden of Copenhagen but the Inhabitant's are not all of them North Hollanders there is but one
for Larwick which this Author would advance to be a Stifts Ampt it is but a County belonging separately to his high Excellency Count Guldenlew as Tousborg is another belonging to Count Wedel Truly Sir had we taken your Account Zarwick had been but a small equivalent for Wardohus and Christiansand though a principal Government had been quite embezel'd Little indeed may come to be said of a Country when a Writers will omit such principal parts of it When he comes to tell us who are Governors he names Guldenlew and Mr. Stockfleet and passes the rest over with an c. Sir I should be glad to know from you a little more of this matter and whether this c. be put here for brevity sake and to spare your Readers trouble or else to palliate your own ignorance Had you nam'd us four Governours we should have been content and not have been so hard as to put you upon assigning a Stifts Ampt to the fifth Province of Norway which never came to your knowledge It is a very barren Country c. p. 36. Norway hath never pretended to be so fertile in Corn as Danmark However it is observable that where the Ground is fit to be till'd it yields a greater Crop than the Soil of the richest Countries If Norway had not so many Sea Towns very populous and full of Strangers the Corn growing there would be sufficient without any Importation to feed its own Inhabitants There are some districts up in Norway as Hedemarâ—en Todten Gulbrandsdalen c. which in Fertility and good Corn do not yield to any part of Danmark It will not be improper here to remark two things which the Author formerly advanced in which Norway clearly convinces him to the contrary First p. â—1 There is no other Town or City belonging to the King of Danmark much better than St. Albans whereas Norway is full of large Sea Towns such as Bergen Christiania Christiansand Trundhiem Frideriksstadt c. Secondly he says p. 34. That the King of Danmark has not in all his Dominions one Navigable River for Vessels But in Norway are abundance of great Rivers and Friths running far into the Country as Sarp near Frederickstadt â—ramen Lomen Aggers-Elf near Christiania Nideren near Trundhiem c. One might have expected likewise that one who treated of Norway should have spoken something of the great fresh Lakes which are every where in that Country One of which call'd Mios is a league broad and near twenty leagues long And I should the rather have suppos'd that he would have mentioned these Lakes because he seems so mightily taken with the places where the Countrymen have good store of fresh Fish for in these Lakes there is such abundance and variety of Fish that the Peasants thereabouts have enough not only to salt dry and carry down to the Seaside but likewise to eat fresh as often as they have a mind to it He acknowledges there are Silver Mines in Norway but he questions whether they turn to account p. 39. He needed not to have questioned it for he might have been informed that they have of late years yielded more than they did formerly or could reasonably be expected from them There is indeed p. 36. an Account of the Commodities from thence exported but he forgets the many Furs and Skins of Mart Zabel Beavers c. which are sent from thence yearly As also Copper and small Nuts of which quantities are shipt out and come towards the end of Winter to London The beginning of the Character he gives the Norsh is very well viz. p. 39. that they are a hardy laborious and honest sort of People and that they are esteem'd by others yet for all this alas they must have their share of Scandal too and the vice of self conceitedness is laid to their Charge Vincit Amor Patriae it seems may be their Motto as well as our Authors for he says iâ— they esteem themselves much superior to the Danes whom they call upbraidingly Jutes Were such a thing true as that the Norsh thought themselves superior to the Danes it might be apt to breed some discord between them On the contrary no two Sister Nations can love one another better Any one who has been in those Northern Countries knows that none is welcomer in Danmark then a Norsh man or in Norway than a Dane So that it is wonderful to see two Nations not conquer'd one by the other but joyn'd by the Marriage of Princes agree so very well together As for the name of Jutes it was given the Danes as a spightful nick-name by the Swedes in the late Wars but the Norsh no more call them upbraidingly Jutes than the Danes when they Travel call themselves Holsteiners Island and Feroe he says p. 39. are miserable Islands forCorn will not grow there Misery consists not always in want of Corn since they may have that from other places Fish and Cattle they enjoy in great abundance We see Holland which is a most happy place in this Authors opinion fetches all three of them from Danmark and Norway The Inhabitants of these Islands are great player at Chess and our Author says p. 40. would be worth some curious mans enquiry how such a Studious and Difficult game should get thus far Northward and become so generally used So we see that notwithstanding their misery they have leisure for their Sports and have Parts able to surmount that game which being difficult must require Study This curious man need not make very far inquiry about their playing at Chess it is easily known from reading any of the Northern Antiquities which the Islandish writers abound with and have the most plain simple and uncorrupted that Chess has been the proper game of the three Northern Nations Now the Islanders having preserv'd the old Tongue and Manners of the Goths old Danes Norsh and Swedes it is no wonder they have also kept this Gothick game and their Ease and Plenty together with the great Colds in the Winter inclining them to sedentary lives make them follow it and from thence arrive to its Perfection As to the Kings Factories in both Guinea and the Indies they are esteem'd of little consideration p. 40. yet he has seen several East India Ships return home well laden but whether the lading were the lawful product of Trade or acquired by other means will in time be worth the enquiry of those Kingdoms and States whose Interest it is to preserve in the Indians and Persians a good opinion of the honesty and fair dealing of the Europeans I shall always think that such Factories as send home ships well laden are both of good worth and consideration and I am the more confirm'd in these thoughts because p. 40. most of the men of Quality are the Adventurers The looking into the fairness of their Traffick and Merchandise may be let alone at present for I suppose no European Prince will concern himself with the affairs
in the Government the present Author would make us believe that strange Miseries happened and as a very astonishing one says p. 47. That the value of Estates in most parts of the Kingdom is fallen three fourths 'T is true the value of Estates did fall but nothing near the proportion he speaks of the true reason was the want of Money in the Commonalty which had been exhausted by the War for the Commons if they had had wherewithal would have been glad to buy Estates which they were not permitted to do before this alteration Then it must be considered that before this the price of Estates was extravagant and far beyond the intrinsick value for then none but a Nobleman could purchase Lands and if by a Mortgage or any other occasion Lands happened to fall into the hands of other People they were obliged to proffer them to sale to the Nobility who still purchased in Envy and Emulation of one another Trade and Commerce being little at that time the Money was chiefly laid out in buying of Estates but since the Nobles have not the former eagerness for buying up the Land as before and Shipping is so much encreased of late every one rather chuses to employ his Money that way than to purchase Lands at such an extravagant rate as formerly And yet it is to be observed according to the Relation of a Gentleman lately arrived out of Danmark the value of Land is now raised considerably so that in a little time it will come to be very near equal to what it has been heretofore For it is to be considered that Danmark and Norway being since the alteration become Masters of a very great Trade their Money must encrease likewise In other Reigns it was a rarity to see some few Ships from Copenhagen and the most considerable Cities go to France and Spain Now Copenhagen alone has above 50 large Ships that trade to France c. and other parts have 'em proportionably besides those bound for Spain the Streights Guinea and the East and West-Indies c. And in Norway little Sea Towns that formerly had either one or two or no Ships at all but sold their Timber to the English and Dutch that came thither the Dutch especially being as it were their Factors carrying out their Goods and supplying them with all sorts of French and Spanish Wares which the Inhabitants never fetched themselves These very Towns which are not one or two but most Sea-towns in Norway being in abundance all along the Sea-coasts now send yearly to England France and Holland 10 20 30 or 40 large Fly-boats and Ships of other Building as can be testified by the Merchants who trade to those parts With this encrease of Trade the reputation of Danmark in respect of its interest with other Princes of Europe is of late years so far advanced as that Crown never yet made so great a figure in Christendom as it does at present not even in the time of Canutus when we may suppose it in its greatest prosperity So that although an absolute Monarchy with the additional term of arbitrary Power sounds harsher in the Ears of an Englishman than most other Nations His present Majesty of Danmark shows us that even in an absolute Monarchy which in its own nature may be under several inconveniencies in respect of the People and temptations of encroachment as to the Prince yet a wise and good King may so order his conduct as to make his Subjects easy and himself glorious To conclude I take this Chapter to be our Authors Masterpiece particularly his character of an old Danish King it gives us the very image of the Describers own thoughts and inclinations and shows us what sort of King a Commonwealths man may perhaps condescend to make and then how many particular ways and means he can find out to dispatch him CHAP. VII The Manner how the Kingdom of Danmark became Hereditary and Absolute IT is astonishing to consider says our Author p. 48. how a free and rich people for so the Danes were formerly should be perswaded intirely to part with their Liberties It is more astonishing to me to see a man write without considering For in what did these former Riches consist In a Country exhausted by the Taxes p. 50. or in the want of Money to discharge the Arrears due to the Army p. 49. or in the miseries attending the War ibid. which had in a manner ruined the People In the next place where was their Freedom when the Senator Otto Craeg tells the Commonsâ— p. 52. they were no other than Slaves and these very words made them deliberate how to get rid of such an odious Name and Character Lastly how were they perswaded intirely to part with their Liberty when they gave this power to the King on express purpose to gain it For the King upon the first News of the Resolution of the Commons did often openly promise that he would in gratitude and recompence declare them all free assoon as it lay in his power by the Gift they were about to make him p. 58. Which promise he perform'd accordingly and put the Commons of Danmark into the State they are at present which is far from Slavery It will be necessary here to show how all sorts of people stood in Danmark before the alteration which will easily make the true grounds of it appear and how it came to be effected with a consent so general and with so little trouble The King had his power curb'd by the Nobility to a great measure p. 54. and as the Kings found these encroachments they did endeavour to prevent them to secure their Prerogative therefore in the latter ages they often made their Sons be elected and sworn whence they were in Danish called Hylded during their life time and have Homage done them both in Danmark and Norway Frederick the third who was King at this conjuncture had done so by Prince Christian the present King he was then admir'd by his Subjects for his conduct and valour p. 54. they had seen him with an admirable Patience and Constancy bear all his Calamities he had often exposed his person for the sake of his Subject and they therefore thought they could never do enough to show their gratitude towards him The Nobility were very numerous and diffusive all the lands were in their sole possession their estates resembled our Mannors of which they were Lords and took their Titles from thence and as they increased in Wealth and consequently in Lands they had additional titles from thence and these accrued either by Purchase which as has been said before none could make but themselves or else by Marriages which they always contracted among one another for when a Nobleman died his pedigree was declared to the eighth Generation upwards both by Fathers and Mothers side to have been noble To them alone belong'd and does belong the honour of a Coat of Arm 's others may make use of Cyphers
and indeed with reason for among the living Tongues there is none that for its abundance the propriety of the Expression the fitness and agreeableness to Poetry and Numbers can pretend to surpass it I shall finish the Remarks upon this Chapter with a recapitulation of what the Author has delivered in it Was ever any man so Planet-struck as this Writer to pronounce a People the most miserable in one Page and to sill the next with the Grandeur and Equipage p. 83. of the Gentry the plenty of their Tables p. 92. Their retreats for pleasure in fruitful and delightsom Gardens p. 92. at the same time declaring that the Burghers Servants and even Peasants have change of Lining and are neat and cleanly 93. What Country can boast of more than Plenty and Neatness He begins with telling us that in former times when the Nobility and Gentry were the same thing p. 76. That is during the times that the Nobles had an excess of Power p. 76. in their hands they liv'd in great Affluence and Prosperity ibid. which he takes much pains to describe and every body will easily be induced to believe Then the Commons were willing in a great measure to be directed by them ibid. that is because they depended on them ibid. were forced like Slaves p. 52. to truckle to them whither they would or no. But in process of time the Liberties of the whole Country were lost p. 76. By which alteration the Nobles were reduced to some bounds and the Commons delivered from a Tyrannical Aristocracy p. 73. This change forsooth creates in them all a kind of laziness and idle dâ—spondency setting them beyond hopes and fears insomuch that even the Nobility are now desirous p. 78. to procure Employments Civil Strange and Military Wonderful Civil I suppose without hopes and Military without fears Under these Circumstances 't is easily imagin'd the present condition of such a People in all ranks is most deplorable p. 75. Their Nobility and Gentry sunk very low and diminishing daily both in number and credit p. 76. they are forced to live meanly and obscurely in some corner of their ruinous Palaces and patiently endure their Poverty at home their Spirits for there was not so much as a Song or Tune made in three years p. 96. as well as Estates grown so mean that you would scarce believe 'em to be Gentlemen by their Discourse and Garb. The truth of all which foregoing Assertions is seen in nothing more plainly than in what he fully delivers to us concerning the extravagant expences which the Danes are at in Coaches Retinue â—loaths c. p. 83. They ride abroad it seems poor Gentlemen in their Coaches with great Eâ—â—ipage to show how patiently they endure their Poverty in some obscure corner of their ruinous Palaces They go so very sine in their Dress after the French Mode p. 93. and are so prodigal in their Cloaths p. 83. that you would scarce believe 'em to be Gentlemen by their Garb. Their Tables are so well furnished with Dishes p. 92. and their Gardens afford them Fruit in so great perfection that they are forced to seek Employmentsâ— that they may eat a piece of bread p 81. p. 79. But if they have a mind to carouse or be excessive in their Drinking they have Rhenish and French Wines p. 93. to do it with and upon a merry bout even a Boor can drop a Rixdollar for a chirupping dose of Brandy p. 84. And though he has neither Plate nor Silver Spoon in his Cottage p. 88. yet can be as merry as a Prince and has clean Linnen p. 93. poor Slave p. 86. and a good Fâ—ather-bed p. 88. poor Negro p. 86. to go home and lye down on To conclude When any of the Gentry dye they leave such Estates behind them as that their Children think themselves oblig'd to make Costly Burials and raise Sumptuous Monuments p. 94 to their Memory Such is their Misery when Living such their Ignominy when Dead CHAP. IX Of the Revenue LEt us in this Chapter follow the Authors advice p. 102. and Measure Hercules by his Foot If what has gone before does not suffice let us at least from hence take the height of his fancy and the level of his understanding He does indeed throughout the whole persue his first design which is to multiply the Taxes and yet afterwards to lessen the Revenue with what Art he does it and with what respect to Truth the following Instances may convince the Reader Consumption or Excise upon things consumable is the first Tax he mentions p. 100. The Danes perhaps took their pattern for this from Holland But here the Author to multiply the Taxes makes three of one for the says ibid. There are besides smaller Taâ—es as thirdly upon Marriages where every couple marrying pay so much for their â—icence according to their Qualities this is pretty â—â—gh and comes in some Cases to 30 or 40 Rixdollars This is only a branch of the consumption where it is decreed that every couple that marries shall pay a small matter to the King noâ— is this pretty high for iâ— seldom amounts among the Commoâ— People higher than from half a Rixdollar to a whole one but paying for Licences for Marriage is quite another thing People of Quality that will not have the publick Banes thrice proclaimed in the Churches and besides desire to be married at home in their Houses privately buy Licences and commonly pay 10 Rixdollars for them That Tax for Brewing Grinding c. is nothing else but the Consumption paid by Brewers or Millers Poll Money he says p 101. is sometimes raised twice a year This is more than the Danes know of or if it might have happened is extreamly rare and in raising this Tax more proportion is observed in Danmarkâ— between the substance of one and another than any whâ—re else wherefore it is very far from truth that it is only guess'd at Fortification Tax or Money raised for or upon pretence of maâ—ing Fortiâ—â—cations p. 101. was never raised but once which was three years ago nor was it done then upon pretence but expended upon the Fortifications of Croneborg Rensborg c. and then to ease the Subject the Pole Tax was not gathered that Year Marriage Tax for a Daughter of Danmark is raised upon occasionâ— as in â—thâ—r placesâ— but that under this Name occasion is taken to raise more than the Portion is more than any one can pretend to demonstrate Trade-Money p. 101. where every Tradesman is taxed for the exercising his Trade and moreover obliged to quarter Soldiers is a Tax never heard of except what a Tradesman pays to his Company in the Cities where he begins to exercise his Trade and this is very unjustly called a Tax to the King and then he is obliged to quarter Souldiers not as a Tradesman but a Burgher Ground Rent he says p. 102. is paid for all Houses in Copenhagen or any other Towns in Danmark which