virtue and parts die neglected and poor in the eyes of the world though rich in the enioyment of a contented mind But this is a digression which the honour I have for the memory of that great man hath led mee into and therefore I hope will be pardoned by the Reader In the citadel of Manheim I saw some of the Records of that illustrious familie which without dispute is the most ancient of all the Secular Electors being elder to that of Bavaria which sprung from one and the same stock to wit two Emperours of Germany Many writers derive them originally from Charle le maigne by the line of Pepin King of France There have been severall Emperours of that race one King of Denmark and four Kings of Sweden one of which was King of Norway also besides many great Generals of Armies in Germany Hungary France and other Countries Since I can remember there vere five Protestant Princes heires to that Electorall dignity alive which now by their death is fallen to the Duke of Nowbourg a Roman Catholick whose Daughter is Empress of Germany and another of his Daughters maryed to the King of Portugall Being so neare Strasbourg I had the curiositie to goe see what figure that famous citie now made since it had changed its master for I had been thrice there before when it flourished under the Emperours protection with the liberty of a Hausiatick town And Indeed I found it so disfigured that had it not been for the stately Cathedrall Church and fair streets and buildings I could scarcely have know'n it In the streets and Exchange which formerly were thronged with sober rich and peaceable Merchants you meet with none hardly now but men in buff Coats and scarffs with rabbles of Soldiers their attendants The churches I confess are gayer but not so much frequented by the inhabitants as heretofore seing the Lutherans are thrust into the meanest churches and most of the chiefe Merchants both Lutherans and Calvinists removed to Holland and Hambourg Within a few years I beleeve it will be just such another city for trade and Richess as Brisac is It was formerly a rich city and well stockt with Merchants and wealthy inhabitants who lived under a gentle and easy government but now the Magistrats have litle else to doe in the government but onely to take their rules and measures from a citadell and great guns which are Edicts that Merchants least understand I confess Strasbourg is the less to be pityed that it so tamely became a slave and put on its chains without any strugling Those Magistrats who were instruments in it are now sensible of their own folly and bite their nails for anger finding themselves no better but rather worse hated than the other Magistrats who did what they could to hinder the reception of their new masters the French. I quickly grew weary of being here meeting with nothing but complaints of poverty and paying exorbitant taxes I therefore soon returned to my Petty-London Francfort and from thence went to Cassells the chiefe residence of the Landgrave of Hessen This Prince is a Calvinist as most of his subjects are very grave and Zealous in his religion He married a Princess of Courland by whom he hath an hopefull issue to wit three sons and two Daughters The late King was God father to one of his sons who was Christened by the name of Charles Captain William Legg Brother to the Lord Dartmouth representing his Majestie as his Envoy The court of this Prince does indeed resemble a well governed colledge or Religious Cloyster in regard of its modestie and regularitie in all things and especially in the houres of devotion He is rich in money and entertains about nine thousand men in constant pay under the command of Count van derlipp a brave and expert Soldier his Lieutenant Generall but can bring many more upon occasion into field This familie hath been very happy both in its progenie and alliances many wise Princes of both sexes having sprung from it and the mother of this present Landgrave may be reckoned amongst the illustrious women of the present and past ages After the death of William the 5. Landgrave of Hessen her husband she not only supported but advanced the war wherein he was engaged did many signall actions Enlarged her territories and at the conclusion of the peace kept under her pay 56 Cornets of horse in five Regiments 166 Companies of foot besides thirteen Companies of Dragons and 14 independent Companies in all 249 Companies of horse and foot she was a Princess extreamly obliging to strangers especially virtuous and learned divines I had the honour a good many yeares agoe to kisse her highnesses hand at which time she was mighty Zealous in promoting an accommodation amongst different Religions as the Roman Catholick Lutheran and Calvinist but especially betwixt the two latter and therefore entertained Doctor Duris at her court in Cassels who wrote severall pieces upon that subject of reconciliation and with some of his friends had a conference with a learned priest that came from Rome to forward the project whereupon the Doctor published his book of the Harmoney of Consent which is highly esteemed in Germany From this Princes court I directed my journey to Hanover taking Lambspring in my way a place where there is a convent of English Monks and there I met with a very aged worthy and harmeless Gentleman St. Thomas Gascoigue a Person of more integrity and pietie then to be guilty so much as in thought of what miscreants falsly swore against him in the licentions time of plotting the Lord Abbot and severall of the Monks I had seen there formerly This monastery is very obliging to all strangers that travell that way as well as to theire own Countreymen and is highly respected by the neighbouring Princes of all persuasions as the Princes of the house of Lunenburg the Landgrave of Hessen and Elector of Cologne who as Bishop of Hildersheim is their ordinary The town of Lambspring is Lutheran though under the government of the Lord Abbot and his chapter who constantly choose Lutheran Magistrats and Officers for the civill administration and live together in that love and unitie that as yet there hath never the least debate happened amongst them and indeed this harmoney is now to be observed in most parts of Germany where different Religions are professed When I considered so many goodly faces both of Monks and students in that Abbey I could not forbeare to make a serious reflexion on the number of the English whom I had seen in the colledges and Cloysters abroad as at Rome Rattesbonne Wirtzburg in Lorraine at Liege Louvain Brussels Dunkerk Ghent Paris and other places besides the severall Nunneries and withall on the loss that both King and Kingdome suffered thereby when so many of our natives both men and women should be constrained to spend their own Estats and the benevolence of others in a strange Land which amounts
ould Burgemaster had for his kind and Chargable Entertainment in thus feasting his Countrymen was to be sloutted 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 Victorious 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 more cruell Tradigie and worse then ever did Turk for they Generally save 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 of their Citty and other Cittyes too for they had neither fortifications nor Souldiers to man their walls Thus the whole Country and Cittyes of Rhineland were like to fall under the Crueltyes and Tyranny of the French but God a second tyme sent these people reliefe from Heaven first by giveing such undanted Courage to that great States man Pensionarie Fagel that he forced Koningsmark to Rally his Troopes together and to make a Stand neare Leyden offering himselfe to dye at the head of them if there were occasion but God reserved him for a furder good to the Commonwealth by sending such a sudden Thaw as was never seen before for in less then ten howers the Ice so sunk and such Floods of snow came downe from the high lands that the French were fain to make a very disorderly retreat Marching up to the middel for hast because on the Banks there could not march above four men a brest so they were constrained to leave behind them the greatest part of the Plunder they had robed from the Innocent Country people and the nimble Duch men on their Scaâ—ses so long as the Ice would beare them did shoot downe the French like Ducks diving under water so that it cost Luxenburgs Armie deare tho they had the pleasure to burne the poore people of which the French afterward wickedly made their boast The third was as wonderfull as the two others and although I doe not believe miracles as doe the Papists yet I say nothing I ever observed looked more like a Miracle then this to wit when the English and French Fleet lay before Scheveling with a designe to land and the French ready on their March to joyne with the English and other French as soon as they should land at the same tyme the Bisshop of Munster lyeing before Groeningen and the French before Gorcom so that now all things looked with a dreadfull face for the States yet at this very tyme God sent a 3d reliefe by sending such Mists and wonderfull sorts of Tydes as so separated the two Fleets that the English were forced to quit Scheveling shore and were driven on the side of the Texel
Roade from whence they were constrained by the season of the yeare to retire home and such were the sudden great showers of raine that the Bisshop of Munster was forced in disorder to raise his siege at Groeningen and the French to quit Gorcom I could ad many more observations of the Providences of God to these people as the preserveing the Prince of Orange from the many treacherous designes contrived against him from his Cradel but Moses must be preserved to goe in and out before his people certainely never young Prince Indured so many fatigues as did his Highnes in his tender yeares of which I was an eye witnes and had his Highnes had the yeares and Experience and such a good disciplinde Armie as now he hath in the yeare 1671 when the French Entered the Country his Highnes had given them as good a welcome as he did at Bergen I will say no more of this subject only this that the peace at Nimwegen was also a very wonderful thing for that not above 8 dayes before the peace was signed most of the Plenipotentiaries did believe the war would have continued another yeare first because the King of Denmark and Duke of Brandenburg prospered Exceedingly against Sweedland and totally refused the propositions of France and secondly because the French King writ such Bitter letters against the States Generall yet 8 dayes after drest a letter unto the States in which he calles them his good friends and old Allyes offering them not only Mastricht but every foot of ground they could lay claime to in the world also giveing them new Termes and Conditions as to their priviledges in France by way of Trade Neither can I forget how speedilie and as strangly the mighty French King did quit his Conquered Townes after the Valiant Prince of Orange took Naerden which was the first step to the Frenchs ruine in the States Dominions I come now according to promess in the beginning of this book to give the reader some Remarkes I made in other Countries where I have been during my sixteen years travels To give a full account of all that might be observed in so many Countries is not a taske for one man nor a subject for so small a book I shall onely therefore briefely take notice of some remarkable matters which may in some measure satisfie the curiositie of my Country men who have not been in the said places and convince if possible all of them that no Countrey that ever I was in afords so great conveniencies for the generalitie of people to live in as the Kingdome of England doth Though I have twice made the grand tour of Germany Hungary Italy and France and after my return back to England travelled a third time through Holland as for as Strasbourg and so back by Francfort to Denmark and Sweden yet the reader is not to expect I should follow a Geographicall method and order in speaking of the places I have been in that is to be lookt for in the map and not in travels but onely that I mention places as I found them on my rode according as busines or curiositie led mee to travel The first considerable place I then met with after I was out of the dominions of the States General was Cleave the capital citie of the Province so called a fair and lovely citie standing upon the Rhine and the rivers Wall and Leâ—k This Province much resembles England in rich soyl and pleasantness of its rivers The inhabitants of the Countrey would have mee beleeve that they were originally descended of those Saxons who made a descent in to England and conquered it and to convince the truth of this they shew'd mee a cloyster standing on a hill called Eltham from which they say our Eltham in Kent had its name I was made to observe also two places standing upon the Rhine neare Emmerick called Doadford and Gronâ—wich which according to them gave the names to Dedford and Greenwich in England but many such analogies and similitudes of names are to be found in other places of Germany but especially in uper Saxony and Denmark The greatest part of this Province of Cleave and part of the duchy's of Julieres and Berg and of the Provinces of Marke and Ravensbourg belongs to the Elector of Brandenbourg the rest belonging to the Duke of Newbourg now Elector Palatine and the Elector of Cologne The inhabitants are partly Roman Catholicks partly Lutherans and partly Calvinists who all live promiscuously and peaceably together both in city and Countrey The citie of Cleave is the out most limit of the territories of the Elector of Brandenbourg on this side of Germany from whence his Electorall Highness can travel two hundred dutch miles out right in his own Dominions and never sleep out of his own Countrey but one night in the territories of the Bishop of Osnabrug From Cleave I went to a small town called Rhinberg but a very strong fortification belonging to the Elector of Cologne which dies at two miles distance from the citie of Wesel that belongs to the Elector of Brandenbourg Through Disseldorpe scituated on the Rhine and the Residence of the duke of Newbourg I went next to Cologne a very large city called by the Romans Colonia Agrippina and the French Rome d'Allemagne Cologne is an Imperial citie and a Republick though for some things it does Homage to the Elector of that name and receives an oath from him It is much decayed within these hundred years having been much priest ridden a misfortune that hath undone many other great cities The Jesuits have had so great influence upon the Magistrats that they prevailed with them to banish all Protestants who removed to Hambourg and Amsterdam so that Cologne is become so dispeopled that the houses dayly fall to ruine for want of inhabitants and a great deal of corn and wine now grows within the walls upon ground where houses formerly stood I dare be bold to affirm that there is twice the number of inhabitants in the parish of St. Martins in the fields then there is in Cologne and yet it contains as many parish churches monasteries and chappels as there are days in the year The streets are very large and so are the houses also in many of which one may drive a Coach or waggon into the first room from the streets but the streets are so thin of people that one may pass some of them and not meet ten men or women unless it be Church men or Religious sisters The most considerable inhabitants of the citie are Protestant Merchants tho but few in number and they not allowed a Church neither but a place called Woullin a mile without the citie the rest of the inhabitants who are lay men are miserably poor There are no less than 3000 Students in Cologne taught by the Jesuits gratis who have the priviledge to beg in musicall notes in the day time and take to them selves the liberty of borrowing hats
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 mighty 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 pav 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 Ingrosse 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 â—o 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 forbeare 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
live me viz that if ever this great Prince come to be King of England he will alter all the Measures of Europe and possible become the Arbiter thereof After which discourse the Burgemaster said let me now present you mijn Heer Consul with a Glasse of Rhenith wyne to his Highnes health and pray when you have an Opportunitie to speake with his Highnes assure him that he 〈◊〉 in Amsterdam a true and faithfull freind and moreover he said when I speake next with our Statholder the Prince of Orange and our Pensionarie Fagel I will doe his Highnes Justice and thus wee parted but the civil deportment of this Burgamaster was not all for other great ones of the Citty did their part also as Vice-Admiral de Ruiter with at least 30 Captains of the Admiralty Chamber of Amsterdam attended his Highnes to shew him the Men of warr and Magazins of the Admiralty likewise Sir Dirick Tulp and the Heer Peter van Dan◠and others the Bewinthebbers of the East-India Company attended his Highnes to the East-Indie House where was spread a Banquet of Sweetmeats and rich Wines and they offered his Highnes a present but his highnes would not accept of any only two large Bookes in which were Painted all the Beasts Fishes and Foules and likewise all the Plants Flowers and Fruites of the East-Indies and because his Highnes had tasted the Mum in the East-Indie Magazine and liked it the Company caused twelve Caskes to be neatly hoopt and gave me them to be sent after his Highnes to Brussels And I know it was the resolution of the Bewinthebbers to have spared no cost if his Highnes would have accepted of a Treat in their house by all which you see that the Magistrates and chiefe men in Amsterdam were not guilty of Rudenes to his Highnes but it was the Canalie And now haveing said so much good of the States Government and of Amsterdam in particular it will not be amisse to take notice of some Bad customes and practises now in vogue in Holland and leave it to the reader to Judge what they may portend There are tollerated in the Citty of Amsterdam amongst other abuses at least 50 Musick houses where lewd Persons of both sexs meet and practise their villanies There is also a place called the Longseller a Tollerated Exchange or publick meeting house for whores and Rogues to Rendevous in and make their filthy Bargains This Exchange is open from six a clock afterdinner untill nine at night Every whore must pay three stivers at the dore for her entrance or admission I confess the Ministers preach and exclaim from the pulpit against this horrible abuse but who they be that Protect them I know not yet I have heard some plead for the tolleration of these wicked meetings upon pretext that when the East-India fleets come home the Seamen are so mad for women that if they had not such houses to bait in they would force the verie Cittyzens wives and Daughters but it is well known that as money does countenance so Discipline might suppress that abuse The ould severe and frugall way of Liveing is now allmost quite out of Date in Holland there is very littell to be seene of that sober modestie in Apparell Diet and habitations as formerly In stead of Convenient Dwellings the Hollandtrs now build Stately palaces have their delightfull Gardens and houses of pleasure keep Coaches waggons and sleas have very rich furniture for their horses with Trappings-adorned with silver Bells I have seen the Vanitie of a Vintners sonne who had the bosses of the bit and Trapping of his horse of pure silver his footman and Coachman having silver fringd Gloves yea so much is the humour of the women altered and of their Children also that no Apparel can now serve them but the best and richest that France and other Countryes affoards and their sonns are so much adicted to play that many families in Amsterdam are ruined by it not that England is lesse Extravagant then the Duch who as I said before got such great Estates by their frugalitie whilest they were not addicted to such prodigalitie and wantonesse as the English are whose excesse I can not excuse neverthelesse the grave and sober people of Holland are very sensible of the great alteration that now is in their Country and as they say Paracelsus used to cure his patients of their disease with a full belly so a good Burgemaster desirous to convince his Amsterdammers of their dissolute kind of lif◠invited the Thirty six Magistrates and their wives to a feast who being come and the Ladyes big with Expectation of some rare and Extraordinary Entertainment sat down at table where the first course was Buttermilk boild with Appells Stockfish Buttered Turnips and Carrots lettice Salade and red Herrings 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 removing 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 ex quo Paupertas Roman a perit with an Excellent 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
and cloaks in the night but if in the Jesuits Schools there be any rich Burgemasters sons who have parts they are sure to be snapt up and adopted into the societie Formerly before the matter was otherwise adjusted in the diet of Ratisbonne there have been designs of voteing Protestant Magistrats into the government again but so soon as the Jesuits come to discover who of the Magistrats were for that they immediately preferred their sons or daughters and made them chanons abbots or chanonesses and so diverted them by interest It 's pity to see a city so famous for traffike in former times now brought to so great a decay that were it not for the trade of Rhenish wine it would be utterly forsaken and left wholy to the Church men The continuall alarms the Magistrats have had by forreign designs upon their liberty and the jealousies fomented among themselfs as it is thought by the Agents and favourers of France and especially the Bishop of Strasbourg have for severall yeares kept them in continuall disquiet and necessitated them to raise great taxes which hath not a litle contributed to the impoverishing of the people especially the boars round about who tho the Countrey they live in be one of the most pleasant and fertile plains of Germany yet are so wretchedly poor that canvas cloaths wooden shoes and straw to sleep on in the same room with their beasts is the greatest worldly happiness that most of them can attain unto The Elector of Cologne is a venerable old man Bishop of four great bishopricks viz Cologne Liege Munster and Heldershime He divides his time betwixt his devotion and experimental studies being punctuall in saying of mass every morning and constant in his Elaboratory in the afternoon for he is much addicted to chymistry and leaves the administration of Government to his Cozen the Bishop of Strasbourg To speak of all the miracles of the three Kings of Cologne and the vast number of saints who were removed out of England and interred there would be but tedious and perhaps incredible to the reader aswell as wide of my designe I shall therefore proceed From Cologne I took water on the Rhine and advanced to the citie of Bon and so forward to Coblints the residence of the Elector of Trier over against this city on the other side of the Rhine stands that impregnable fort called Herminshine built on a high rocky hill as high again as Windforcastle and on the north side of it the River Mosel falls into the Rhine over which there is a Stately stone bridge This Prince governs his subjects as the other Spirituall Electors doe that is both by temporall and spirituall authority which in that Country is pretty absolute The chiefe trade of this Countrey is in wine corn wood and Iron The next Countrey I came to was that of the Elector of Mayence who is likewise both a secular and Ecclesiasticall Prince and governs his subjects accordingly He is reckoned to be wholely for the Interests of the French King who notwithstanding of that pretends a title to the citadel of Mayence As I was upon my Journey to Mayence by land I made a turn down the Rhin to visit the famous litle city of Backrack and some towns belonging to the Landgrave of Hessen but especially Backrack because Travellers say it much resembles Jerusalem in its scituation and manner of buildings The Burgemaster of this city told mee that the whole Country about Backrack does not yield above 200 fouders of wine a year And yet the Merchants of Dort by an art of multiplication which they have used some years furnish England with severall thousande of fouders Here I shall take the liberty to relate a strange story which I found recorded in this Countrey tho I know it to be mentioned in History There was a certain cruel and inhumane Bisshop of Mayence who in a year of great scarcity and famine when a great number of Poor people came to his gates begging for bread caused the Poor wretches men women and children to be put into a barn under pretext of relieving their necessities but so soon as they were got in caused the barn doors to be shut fire set to it and so burnt them all alive And whil'st the poor wretches cried and shreeked out for horrour and pain the Barbarous miscreant said to those that were about him harke how the Rats and mice doe crie But the just Judgement of God suffered not the fact to pass unpunished for not long after the cruel Bishop was so haunted with Rats and mice that all the guards he kept about him could not secure him from them neither at table nor in bed At length he resolved to flee for safetie into a tower that stood in the middle of the Rhine but the Rats pursued him got into his chamber and devoured him alive so that the Justice of the Almighty made him a prey to vermine who had inhumanely reckoned his fellow Christians to be such The tower which I saw to this day is called the Rats-tower and the story is upon record in the city of Mayence On my Journey from thence I came to the litle village of Hockom not far distant famous for our Hockomore wine of which though the place does not produce above 150 fouders a year yet the Ingenions Hollanders of Dort make some thousand fouders of it goe of in England and the Indies From Hockom I proceeded to Francfort a pleasant city upon the river of Maine called formerlâ—y Teutoburgum and Helenopolis and since Francfort becaus here the Franconians who came out of the Province of Franconia foarded over when they went upon their expedition into Gallia which they conquered and named it France and I thought it might very well deserve the name of Petty-London because of its Priviledges and the humour of the citizens It is a Hansiatick and Imperiall town and Common-wealth the Magistrats being Lutherans which is the publick established Religion though the Cathedrall church belongs to the Roman Catholicks who also have severall monasteries there The citie is populous and frequented by all sorts of Merchants from most parts of Europe part of Asia also becaus of the two great faires that are yearely kept there Many Jews live in this city and the richest Merchants are Calvinists who are not suffered to have a Church in the town but half an houres journey out of it at a place called Bucknam where I have told seventy four Coaches at a time all belonging to Merchants of the city It was in ancient times much enriched by Charle le maigne and hath been since by the constitution of the Golden bull amongst other honours Priviledges its appointed to be the place of the Emperours Election where many of the ornaments belonging to that August ceremonie are to be seen It is strongly fortified having a stately stone bridge over the Maine that joynes it to Saxe-housen the quarter of the great master of the
to more money than at first one may imagine and this thought I confess made me wish it were otherwise I would not have the Reader to mistake mee here as if I espoused or pleaded for any particular party No I plead onely for the sentiments of humanity without which our nature degenerates into that of brutes and for the love that every honest man ought to have for his Countrey I am asmuch a friend to the Spanish Inquisition as to the persecuting of tender Conscienced protestants provided there be no more but Conscience in the case and I could heartily wish that Papists and Protestants could live as lovingly together in England as they doe in Holland Germany and other Countries for give mee leave to say it I love not that Religion which in stead of exulting destroys the Principles of morality and humane societie I have met with honest men of all persuasions even Turks and Jews who in their lives and manners have far exceeded many of our Enthusiastick professors at home and when ever this happened I could not forbeare to love the men without embraceing there Religion for which they themselves are to account to their great master and Judge In my progress towards Hanover I touched at Hildersheim a city whose Magistrates are Lutheran though Roman Catholicks have the Cathedrall Church and severall monasteries there The court of Hanover makes another kind of figure than that of Cassels it being the court of a greater Prince who is Bishop of Osnaburg duke of Brunswick Lunenburg Hanover c. Here I had the honour to kiss the hands of the Princess Royall Sophia youngest sister to the late Prince Rupert Her highness has the character of the Merry debonnaire Princess of Germany a lady of extraordinary virtue and accomplishments and mistriss of the Italian French High and low dutch and English languages which she speaks to perfection Her husband has the title of the Gentlemen of Germany a gracefull and comely Prince both a foot and on horseback civill to strongers beyond compare infinitely Kind and beneficent to people in distress and known in the world for a valiant and experienced Soldier I had the honour to see his troops which without controversic are as good men and commanded by as expert Officers as any are in Europe Amongst his Officers I found brave Steel-hand Gordon Collonel of an Excellent Regiment of horse Grimes Hamilton Talbot and others of our Kings subjects God hath blest the Prince with a numerous offspring having six sons all galant Princes of whom the two eldest signalized themselves so bravely at the raising of the siege of Vienna that as an undoubted proofe of their valour they brought three Turks home to this court prisoners His Eldest son is married to a most beautifull Princess sole heiress of the duke of Lunenbourg and Zell his elder brother as the lovely Princess his daughter is lately married to the Electorall Prince of Brandenbourg He is a gracious Prince to his people and keeps a very splendid court having in his stables for the use of himself and children no less than fifty two sets of coach horses he himself is Lutheran but as his subjects are Christians of different persuasions nay and some of them Jews too so both in his court and army he entertains Gentlemen of various opinions and Countries as Italian abbots and Gentlemen that serve him and many Calvinist French Officers neither is he so bigotted in his Religion but that he and his Children goe many times to Church with the Princess who is a Calvinist and joine with her in her devotion His Countrey is good having gold and silver mines in it and his subjects live well under him as doe those also of his brother the duke of Lunenbourg and their Cozen the duke of Wolfembottel which are the three Princes of the house of Lunenbourg of whom it may be said that they have alwayes stuck honestly to the right side and befriended the interests of the Empire so that no by respect neither honour nor profit could ever prevail with them as it has with others to make them abandon the publick concern From this Princes court I went to Zell the residence of the duke the elder brother of the familie This Prince is called the mighty Nimrod becaus of the great delight he takes in horses dogs and hunting He did mee the honour to let mee she his stables wherein he keeps 370 horses most of them English or of English breed His dogs which are also English are so many that with great care they are quartered in severall apartments according to their Kind and qualities there being a large office like a brewhouse employed for boyling of malt and Corn for them It is this valiant Prince who tooke Tieves from the French and made the Mareshall do Crequi prisoner he is extreamely obliging to strangers and hath severall brave Scottish Officers under his pay as Major General Erskin Graham Goloman 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
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 〈◊〉 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 Government 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 Government 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 parcent 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 againe united in love and affection as they are bound to be in duty and Interest 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
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 vouchsafe 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 cheated the Crown and made them refound what they or their predecessors had appropriated to their own use of the Publick revenue These two necessary constitutions as they have reduced many great families to a pinch who formerly lived splendidly upon the Crown lands and revenues and obliged them to live at home upon their ancient and private Patrimonie in the Countrey which is one great cause that the Court of Sweden is at present so unfrequented so have they enabled his Majestie without burdening of his subjects to support the Charges of the government and to maintain 64000 men in pay The truth is his other Renues are but small seing Queen Christina enjoys the best of his territories as her allowance and that what arises from the Copper and Iron mines one Silver mine the Pitch and Tar the customes and excise amounts to no extraordinary summ of money the land tax in so barren a Countrey scarcely deserving to be named The customes and excise I confess are very high and the rigorous manner of exacting them pernicious to trade as for instance Iâ— a ship come to Stockholme from London with a hundred severall sorts of goods and those goods assigned to fifty several men more or less if any of those fifty doe not pay the custome of what belongs to him though it be for a barrel of Beer the Ship shall not be unladen nor no man have his goods out though he hath fully payed the customes for them till this last man hath payed his There are severall other silly customes in Swedland that discourages men from tradeing there as if any stranger die there a third of his Estate must goe to the city or town where he traded No forreigne Merchant in Stockholm can travell into any Countrey where there is a faire without a passport and at present seing there is no treaty of trade betwixt England and Sweden though the English bring as considerable a trade to that Kingdome as any other Countrey whatsoever yet they are very unkindly used by the Officers of the custome house whereas the Dutch in Lubeck and other cities have new and greater Priviledges allowed them Nor would I Counsel an Englishman
to goe to law with a Swedish Burgher in Sweden especially if he be a Whiggish Scot who hath got his freedome in Stockholme for those are a kind of skrapers whom I have observed to be more inveterate against the English then the native Sweeds Of all the Swedish army of 64000 men the King keeps but 12 Companies of 200 men a peece with some few horse guards in Stockholme who are not upon duty as sentinels at the Court gates as at the Courts of other Princes The rest are dispersed into quarters and garrisons upon the fronteers which are so far distant in that large compass of land which his territories take up that it would require a hard and tedious worck to bring them together to a generall muster They are however kept under very strick discipline and those that lye neare often viewed by the King. They have od sorts of punishments for the Souldiers and Officers of all degrees for example if a Serjeant or Corporall be drunk or negligent on duty they are put into armour and with three muskets tied under each arm made to walke two hours before the Court of guard yet for all the severitie of discipline used against the Soldiers they commit many abuses in the night time robbing and sometimes killing men upon the streets in Stockholme where they have no lights nor guards as in Coppenhaguen Informer times there have been at one time thirty five Collonels besides Generall Officers in the Swedish Army all the subjects of the King of great Britain but at present there are few or none unless it be the sons of some Scottish Officers deceased nor did I ever see an Englishmen in the Kings guards horse or foot but one and the son of Sr. Eduard wood who hath since quitted the service The King hath exceedingly won the hearts of the common people not onely by exempting them from the tyrannical Jurisdiction of the nobilitie and gentry who formerly would by their own private authority punish and put to death the peasants at their pleasure which makes the Countries very willing to quarter the Kings Soldiers but by his exactness in punishing duels murder and robberies Perjury is death here also as in Holland which makes the Magistrates in some ports of this Kings territories enjoyns strange kinds of oaths to deter men from being forsworn As for instance in some places the witness is set with a staff in his hand upon some peeble stones and charcoale where he is to imprecate and pray that if what he sweareth be not true his land may become as barren as those stones and his substance be consumed to ashes like the coals he stands on which as soon as he steps down are set on fire This manner of swearing so terrifies the people that they commonly tremble when they come to take their oath The Religion of the dominions of the King of Sweden as of those of the King of Denmark and of other Princes and states whom wee have named is Lutheran who are more rigid to Roman Catholicks and Calvinists than the Protestanrs of Germany There is no tolleration allowed here to Calvinist ministers and they take an effectuall course to keep the Countrey clear of priests and Jesuits by guelding them whether they be young or old In commemoration of the great losses and desolation iustained in the late war the Swedes strictly keep four fasting days in the months of April May June and July on which days all men are prohibited by Authority to kindle fire in their houses or to eat till after Evening service is don which in the winter time could not be endured They delight much in singing in their Churches which they constantly performe twice every day morning and evening In their maryings Christenings and buryings they are so prodigally extravagant that if all three happen in one yeare to a man of a competent estate it is enough to breake him The clergy of Sweden are neither so rich nor learned as those of Germany wanting both the opportunities of study and of conversing with learned men that those of other Countreys enjoy though there be some learned men amongst them A Bishoprick in Sweden is no great benefice if compared with some Personages in England for the Archbishop and Metropolitan hath not above 400 L. per ann and some of the rest are not worth above 150 or 200 L. a yeare The inferiour Clergy are not so regular in their lives and conversation in the Countries distant from Stockholme as they are neare the court and the reason is partly becaus they entertain travellers that pass the Countrey there being no Ins in most places for the accommodation of persons of any qualitie and so are obliged to drink with their guests and partly becaus at buryings and Christenings where there 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 Countries 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 speeted 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 castle 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 castle and stai'd about a fortnight with the English Consul and Sr. John Paul late resident at the Court of 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 if 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 accels 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 Veldun 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 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 Amsterdam 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 Burgavalls 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 Seasido and you will find it to be near 300 Morgens land There are 2 Parishes in the Suburbs of London viz Stepuey and St. Martins in the fields 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 fields 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 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 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 Salsburg 12460 Vtrick 8240 Viana 4520 Vean 340 Wormes 1200 Westburg 2420 Cittyes in France 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 Cittyes in Italy 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 CHambray 852 Salé 320 Turin 8540 Nece 500 St. John de Latteran 420 Remes 340 Moloy 270 Cittyes in Switserland BErne 4270 Ball. 5120 Geneve 4540 Losana 2100 Solure 500 Zurick 6200 Morge 210 Vina 320 St. Morrice 300 Cittyes in Denmark COpenhagen 8220 Elsenore  Cittyes in Sweedland NOrthoanen 600 Stockholme 7500 Vpsall 8200 FINIS