at 8 in the Evening From the 15 of September to the 11 of March at 8 in the Morning at 1 in the Afternoon and at 7 in the Evening And From Utrecht to Amsterdam at the same Hours From Amsterdam to Gouda or Tergoes as 't is corruptly called From the first of April to the last of September in the Morning at 7 and in the Evening at 8. In October November and March Morning and Evening at 8. From Gouda to Amsterdam In the Morning at 11 and in the Evening at 8. In December January and February no Boat goes in the Morning from either place and only one at 8 in the Evening From Tergoes you may go by Wagon to Rotterdam or from Rotterdam to Tergoes for about 12 or 14 Stivers which is a convenient Passage for Strangers there being the least shifting of Boats From Amsterdam to Rotterdam and from Rotterdam to Amsterdam The Market-Boat for carrying Goods goes off at 12 at Noon every Day From Amsterdam to the Hague and from the Hague to Amsterdam the same at 12 at Noon From Amsterdam through Muyden to Naerden In the Summer from the first of April to the last of September Morning at 6 8 and 10 Afternoon at 2 4 and 6. In the Winter Mornings at 7 9 and 11 Afternoon 1 3 and 5. This is a Fortification very well worth seeing From Naerden through Muyden to Amsterdam In the Summer at 5 7 and 9 Mornings and at 2 4 and 6 Afternoons In the Winter Mornings 7 8 and 10 Afternoons 1 3 and 5. From Leyden to Gouda Every Day a Boat goes at 11 in the Fornenoon and on Saturdays at 2 in the Afternoon From Gouda to Leyden Every Day at 11 in the Forenoon and on Thursdays at 12. From Leyden through Woerden to Utrccht In the Morning at 9 Afternoon at 12 1 2 and Evening at 9. From Utrecht through Woerden to Leyden Mornings at 8 and 12 Evenings at 8. From Rotterdam to Dort and from Dort to Rotterdam Every Day a Boat as the Tide serves as also to Antwerp the same It will be unnecessary to particularize any more these being all that Englishmen have occasion for for whom these Remarks are made though it will not be improper if I insert the Order for the Post-Wagons which some for Expedition make use of The Order of the Post-Wagons which go between Amsterdam and the Hague Every Day except Sundays from the 26 of February to the 29 of September there goes a Post-Wagon at 6 in the Morning From the first of October to the sixth of November at 7 in the Morning From the 8 of November to the 19 of January at half an Hour past 7 in the Morning From the 21 of January to the 24 of February at 7 in the Morning In the great Vacation of the Courts of Holland which is all the Month of August there goes no Wagon in the Morning At 12 at Noon there goes a Wagon every Day Sundays and all throughout the Year The Passage in the Post-Wagon for each Person is 4 G. 3 St. besides Passage-Gelt And if any hire a whole Wagon they may go at what Hour they please and pay 24 G. 18 St. and Passage-Gelt provided there be no more than 6 Persons And if you are set down by the way you shall be abated proportionably of the Passage but then you must give notice of it before Hand and be content to take your place after those that go quite out And now having said so much of the States Government and of Amsterdam in particular it will not be amiss to take notice of some bad Customs and Practices now in vogue in Holland and leave it to the Reader to judge what they may portend There are Tollerated in the City of Amsterdam amongst other abuses at least 50 Musick-houses where lewd Persons of both Sexes meet and practise their Villanies There is also a place called the Long-Seller a Tollerated Exchange or publick Meeting House for Whores and Rogues to Rendezvous in and make their filthy Bargains This Exchange is open from six a Clock in the Evening until nine at Night every Whore must pay three Stivers at the Door 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 very Citizens Wives and Daughters but it is well known that as Money does countenance so Discipline might suppress that abuse The old severe and frugal way of living is now almost quite out of date in Holland there is very little to be seen of that sober Modesty in Apparel Diet and Habitations as formerly In stead of convenient Dwellings the Hollanders now build stately Palaces have their delightful Gardens and Houses of Pleasure keep Coaches Wagons and Sleas have very rich Furniture for their Horses with Trappings adorned with Silver Bells I have seen the Vanity of a Vintners Son who had the Bosses of the Bit and Trapping of his Horse of pure Silver his Toot-Man and Coach-Man having Silver Fring'd 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 Countries affords and their Sons are so much addicted to Play that many Families in Amsterdam are ruined by it not that England is less extravagant then the Dutch who as I said before got such great Estates by their Frugality whilst they were not addicted to such Prodigality and Wantonness as the English are whose excess I cannot excuse nevertheless 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 Burghermaster desirous to convince his Amsterdammers of their dissolute kind of Life invited the 36 Magistrates and their Wives to a Feast who being come and the Ladies big with Expectation of some rare and extraordinary Entertainment sat down at Table where the first Course was Buttermilk boil'd with Apples Stock-fish Butter'd Turnips and Carrots Lettice Sallat and Red Herrings and only small Bear without any Wine at this the Ladies startled and began to whisper to their Husbands that they expected no such Entertainment but upon removing of the Dishes and Plates they found underneath Printed Verses importing That after that manner of living they began to thrive and had inlarged their City The Second Course consisted of Bocke de kooks Quarters of Lamb Roasted Rabbits and a sort of Pudding they call a Brother here they had Dort and English Beer with French Wine yet all this did not please the Dainty Dames
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 Scottish-Men whom I saw at Copenhagen The Soldiers as well as Courtiers are quartered upon the Citizens a Custom which is likewise practised in Sweden and tho' somewhat uneasie yet not repined at by the People who by the care and good Government of the King find Trade much advanced For his Majesty 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 Trading Families to Copenhagen and by the measure he hath taken for setling Trade in prohibiting the Importation of Foreign 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 Wagons Ploughs and all real and personal Estates which amount to considerable Sums of Money the People live very well and contented There are commonly about 8000 Men in Garison in Copenhagen 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 Hautboys make a very fine shew His Majesty hath caused several 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 Scottish-man The Queen of Denmark is a most virtuous Princess Sister to the present Landtgrave of Hesse Cassel and in Perswasion a Calvinist having a Chapel allowed her within the Court though the publick Religion of the King and Kingdom be Lutheran The Clergy 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 Scottish-man But seeing it is my design rather to observe the condition of the People than to be punctual in describing all the Rarities that are remarkable in the Countries I have been in I shall conclude what I have to say of Denmark by acquainted the Reader that the People of that Country live far better than the Swedes and as well as most of their adjoyning Neighbours and that there are several places both there and in Norway which have the Names of English Towns as Arundale Totness London c. When I first began to write this Treatise I had some thoughts of making Observations upon the several 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 Design so inconsiderable that by doing so I found I could neither satisfie the Curious by adding any thing material to those many who have already obliged the Publick by the Remarks of their Travels in those Places or make my discontented Country-men more averse than 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 Property though 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 always 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 Capital Cities of Europe it is the biggest and most populous and so prove consequentially that England for the generality of People is the best Country 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 do it I hope it will please the Reader as much as if I gave him a particular account of other Countries and Governments and leave it to his own Reflection to state the Comparison Though London within the Walls cannot vye for bigness with many Cities of Europe yet take the City and Suburbs together according as it hath been survey'd by Mr. Morgan in breadth from St. George's Church in Southwark to Shoreditch 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 than any City in Europe whatsoever This I shall demonstrate first by comparing 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 Alphabetical Order with the number of the Houses they severally contain When London and Suburbs was surveyed some years ago by Mr. Morgan there were reckoned to be in it 84000 Houses besides Hospitals Alms-houses and other Buildings that paid 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 contain 100000 Houses nay 't is believed 120000 which truly considering the extraordinary Additions that have been made lately is not improbable I know the French vapour and would perswade the World that Paris is much bigger than London And the Hollanders will scarce believe that London hath more Houses than the 18 Cities in Holland that have Voices in the States for say they Amsterdam stands upon 1000 Morgans of 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 several hundreds of Monasteries Churches Colleges and Cloisters some of them having 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 City the Houses have scarce a Yard big enough to set a Pump or House of Conveniency in but the Weekly Bills of Mortality will decide this Question and plainly give it to London and so doth Monsieur la Cour and Sir William Petty in his last Essays dedicated to the King making it appear that London is bigger than Paris Roan and Rochel altogether and as for Amsterdam I do appeal to all knowing Men that have seen it that although it be true that it stands upon 1000 Morgans of Land yet there is not above 400 Morgans built and this I prove thus that the large Gardens on the Heeregraft Kysersgraft and Princegraft and the Burghwalls of Amsterdam take up more than a third part of the City then reckon
AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE United Netherlands And of the most considerable Parts of Germany Sweden Denmark CONTAINING A succinct Account of what is most Remarkable in these Countries And Necessary Instructions for Travellers Together with an Exact RELATION Of the ENTERTAINMENT of His Most Sacred Majesty King WILLIAM At the HAGUE Written by an English Gentleman LONDON Printed for Timothy Childe at the White-Hart in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. THE PREFACE HAVING often Observed that Relations of Travels Voyages c. are generally very Acceptable to the Genius of the English Nation I judged that it might not be altogether Impertinent to give a brief Account of some remarkable Observations made during my Abode in Foreign Countries especially having Travelled for the space of Sixteen Years through Holland Germany Sweden Denmark and other considerable Parts of Europe I easily foresee that it will be soon Objected that after so great a Man as Sir William Temple who hath already Published a full and incomparable Description of the Policy and Government of the States of the United Provinces it would be a vain Presumption to attempt any farther on that Subject However without derogating from his Honour I have here inserted divers particular Remarks not mention'd by him but such as Travellers may make Use of to very good purpose for whose Information this small Essay is chiefly design'd And it will be the more eminently Useful at this time in respect of the great number of English Gentlemen that now Travel that way Wherefore I doubt not but this will be a sufficient Plea to cover me from the Imputation of Vanity and to make it appear that what I have here perform'd is only intended for the publick Service in general and the particular Assistance of those Gentlemen who shall hereafter Travel through these Countries The Lists of the Passage Boats and Wagons in Holland with the Hours of their going off which I have inserted the Traveller will find extreamly Useful As for the Relation of the Kings Voyage to Holland annexed at the end I Confess indeed That it deserves to be Written by an abler Hand but being at that time at the Hague I was induced by Curiosity to take an exact Account of this so extraordinary a Solemnity which I did at first for my own private Use but have now Published it through the importunity of some Friends The Prospects of the Triumphal Arches Pyramids c. are exactly Copied from the Original Draughts taken at the Hague and are the true Representations of them A DESCRIPTION OF HOLLAND With some Necessary DIRECTIONS FOR Such as intend to Travel through the Province of HOLLAND GERMANY c. AS they that confine themselves to their own Country have not the opportunity to see and observe Rarities in other Parts of the World so such as go into Foreign Places rather Wander at Random than Travel who have not the Curiosity to commit to Memory or Writing such Things they meet with both for their own and others Satisfaction as may demonstrate the Fruits of their Travels I confess all Travellers are not of alike Temper some delight themselves in Contemplation of the Curiosities of Arts some are taken with the Varieties of the Works of Nature others speculate with a kind of Reverence the Decays and Ruins of Antiquity others studiously inform themselves with the Transactions of Modern Times others with the Government and Polity others speculate the strange Custâ—â—â— and Fashions of the Places they pass through to be short every one labours to entertain the Reader with those Objects and Rarities of Foreign Parts his Genius and Inclination is most affected with As to my self although during the space of 16 Years Travel I might have enlarged according to the Curiosity and Opportunity I have had in the rehearsal of many rare and exquisite Things very observable yet my chief Aim was to make such Remarks as might most contribute to the common Good of Human Society and Civil Life in taking notice of the Government and Polity of the several States and Dominions where I have been viz. The United Provinces Germany Denmark Sweden and other Countries whose natural Temper and Disposition seemed to me most to sympathize with our English Nation and thereby have an occasion to do some good to my own Country Expect not Reader a like punctualness as to all the forementioned places because very many things which I might have observed are much agreeing and so may be referred to what shall be spoken of the Polity and Government of Holland which for Reasons I shall by and by hint at is the chief End I aimed at in this Treatise We will begin then in the first place with the Commonwealth of Holland and Dominions of the States General which thô for some years were in a declining condition and their Forces exceedingly weakened by reason of that fatal War it managed against England France and the Bishop of Munster unto which if we add the intestine Divisions of those two Factions the Prince of Orange and Lovestein that Politick Body was so totter'd and torn as did threaten its utter and total Ruine But as Bodies whether Natural or Politick after that a violent Fit hath â—ore shaken dissipated and exhausted their Spirits may recover vigor and look lively again if so be the Radical Constitution and Natural Temper be not wholly changed and depraved even so this Commonwealth of Holland hath visibly recovered Strength again and attained its former Force and Lustre We will therefore make some Remarks as to the Defects and Failings observed not only by me but also by others which that famous Commonwealth hath of late years been guilty of which I shall do not out of any Malice or design of Reflection the intention of writing this Treatise being simply to insert those Defaults which the wisest of Authors have always judged necessary not only for the Reformation of this but of all States whatsoever This Commonwealth of Holland hath worthily been the Wonder of all Europe during this last Age and perhaps not to be parallell'd in the Records of former Times for if we consider how many years it was assaulted by the then most Potent Prince of Europe who aspired to no less than the Universal Empire and that how formidable soever he were yet they not only maintained their Pretensions but with uninterrupted Prosperity and Succefsfulness advaâ—â—ed their Trade and spread their Conquests in all the four Parts of the World Rome it self though most famous and victorious yet could not as is beâ—ieved in so short a time do what by this Commonwealth hath been effected In India and Africa they soon forced the Spaniard and Portugueses to yield to them most of their Trade and Possessions And thô England put in for a share yet they were a long while vigorously opposed by the Dutch and to this hour have enough to do to keep what they have gotten so that in less than 100 years this Commonwealth by
by sending such a sudden Thaw as was never seen before for in less than ten hours the Ice so sunk and such Floods of Snow came down from the Highlands that the French were fain to make a very disorderly retreat marching up to the middle for haste because on the Banks there could not march above four Men a-breast so they were constrained to leave behind them the greatest part of the Plunder they had robb'd from the Innocent Country People and the nimble Dutch-men on their Scates so long as the Ice would bear them did shoot down the French like Ducks diving under Water so that it cost Luxemburg's Army dear though they had the pleasure to burn the poor People of which the French afterward wickedly made their boast The third was as wonderful as the two others and although I do not believe Miracles as do the Papists yet I say nothing I ever observed looked more like a Miracle than this to wit when the English and French Fleet lay before Scheveling with a design to land and the French ready on their March to joyn with the English and other French as soon as they should land at the same time the Bishop of Munster lying before Groeningen and the French before Gorcom so that now all things looked with a dreadful face for the States yet at this very time God sent a third relief by sending such Mists and wonderful 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 Road from whence they were constrained by the season of the Year to retire home And such were the sudden and great Showers of Rain that the Bishop of Munster was forced in disorder to raise his Siege at Groeningen and the French to quit Gorcom I could add many more Observations of the Providences of God to these People as the preserving the Prince of Orange His present Majesty of Great Britain from the many treacherous Designs contrived against him from his Cradle but Moses must be preserved to go in and out before his People Certainly never young Prince endured so many Fatigues as did his Highness in his tender Years of which I was an Eye-witness and had his Highness had the Years and Experience and such a good Disciplined Army as now he hath in the Year 1671. when the French entred the Country his Highness had given them as good a Welcom as he did at Bergen I will say no more of this Subject only this That the Peace at Nimeguen was also a very wonderful thing for that not above eight Days before the Peace was signed most of the Plenipotentiaries did believe the War would have continued another Year 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-General Yet eight Days after drest a Letter unto the States in which he calls them his Good Friends and Old Alleys offering them not only Maestricht but every Foot of Ground they could lay claim to in the World also giving them new Terms and Conditions as to their Privileges in France by way of Trade Neither can I forget how speedily and as strangely the French King did quit his Conquered Towns after the Valiant Prince of Orange took Naerden which was the first step to the French's Ruine in the States Dominions I come now according to promise in the beginning of this Book to give the Reader some Remarks 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 Task for one Man nor a Subject for so small a Book I shall only therefore briefly take notice of some remarkable Matters which may in some measure satisfie the Curiosity of my Country-men who have not been in the said places and convince if possible all of them that no Country that ever I was in affords so great Conveniencies for the generality of People to live in as the Kingdom of England doth Though I have twice made the grand tour of Germany Hungary Italy and France and after my return back to England travelling a third time through Holland as far as Strasbourg and so back by Francfort to Denmark and Sueden yet the Reader is not to expect I should follow a Geographical 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 only that I mention Places as I found them on my Road according as Business or Curiosity led me 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 City of the Province so called a fair and lovely City standing upon the Rhine and the Rivers Wall and Leck This Province much resembles England in rich Soil and pleasantness of its Rivers The Inhabitants of the Country would have me believe that they were Originally descended of those Saxons who made a descent into England and conquered it and to convince the truth of this they shew'd me 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 near Emmerick called Doadford and Gronewich 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 upper Saxony and Denmark The greatest part of this Province of Cleave and part of the Dutchies of Juliers 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 Country The City of Cleave is the utmost Limit of the Territories of the Elector of Brandenbourg on this side of Germany from whence his Electoral Highness can Travel Two Hundred Dutch Miles out-right in his own Dominions and never sleep out of his own Country 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 lies at two Miles distance from the City of Wesel that belongs to the Elector of Brandenbourg Through Dusseldorpe situated 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 City and a Republick though for some things it does Homage to the Elector of that Name
the Neighbouring Princes of all Perswasions as the Princes of the House of Lunenburg the Landtgrave of Hesse 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 chuse Lutheran Magistrates and Officers for the Civil Administration and live together in that Love and Unity that as yet there hath never the least debate happened amongst them and indeed this Harmony 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 forbear to make a serious Reflection on the number of the English whom I had seen in the Colleges and Cloisters abroad as at Rome Ratisbonne Wirtzburg in Lorrain at Liege Louvain Brussels Dunkirk Ghent Paris and other places besides the Nunneries and withall on the loss that both King and Kingdom suffered thereby when so many of our Natives both Men and Women should be constrained to spend their own Estates and the Benevolence of others in a strange Land which amounts 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 me here as if I Espoused or Pleaded for any particular Party no I plead only 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 Country I am as much 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 do in Holland Germany and other Countries for give me leave to say it I love not that Religion which in stead of Exalting destroys the Principles of Morality and human Society I have met with honest Men of all Perswasions 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 forbear to love the Men without embracing their Religion for which they themselves are to account to their great Master and Judge In my progress towards Hanouer I touched at Hildersheim a City whose Magistrates are Lutheran though Roman Catholicks have the Cathedral Church and several Monasteries there The Court of Hanouer makes another kind of Figure than that of Cassels it being the Court of a great Prince who is Bishop of Osnaburg Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg Hanouer c. Here I had the Honour to Kiss the Hands of the Princess Royal 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 Mistress of the Italian French High and Low Dutch and English Languages which she speaks to Perfection Her Husband has the Title of the Gentleman of Germany a graceful and comely Prince both a Foot and on Horseback Civil to Strangers 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 〈◊〉 his Troops which without Controvâ—â—â—â—â— are as good Men and Commanded by as expert Officers as any are in Europe Amongst his Officers I found brave Steel-Hand Gordon Colonel of an excellent Regiment of Horse Grimes Hamilton Talbot and others of our Kings Subjects God hath blest the Prince with a numerous Off-spring having six Sons all gallant Princes of whom the two Eldest signalized themselves so bravely at the raising of the Siege of Vienna that as undoubted proof of their Valour they brought three Turks home to this Court Prisoners His eldest Son is Married to a most beautiful Princess sole Heiress of the Duke of Lunenburg and Zell's Elder Brother as the lovely Princess his Daughter is Married to the Duke of Brandenburg 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 a Lutheran but as his Subjects are Christians of different Perswasions 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 go many times to Church with the Princess who is a Calvinist and join with her in her Devotion His Country is good having Gold and Silver Mines in it and his Subjects live well under him as do those also of his Brother the Duke of Lunenburg and their Cozen the Duke of Wolfembuttel which are the three Princes of the House of Lunenbourg of whom it may be said that they have always 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 Family This Prince is called the Mighty Nimrod because of the great delight he takes in Horses Dogs and Hunting He did me the honour to let me see 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 several 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 took Trieves from the French and made the Mareschal de Crequi Prisoner He is extreamly obliging to Strangers and hath several brave Scotish Officers under his Pay as Major-General Erskin Graham Coleman Hamilton Melvin and others His Lieutenant-General is one Chavot a Protestant of Alsatia an excellent and experienced Commander I shall add no more concerning this Prince his Officers or Country but that he with the other two Princes of the House of Lunenbourg Hanouer and Wolfembuttel 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 Adventurers but much more by the Dutch Protestants who in the time of the Duke of Alba forsook the Low-Countries and settled 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
Rubbish that remained was thrown together into a Corner which made up Sweden and Norway And indeed the French seem to have no great liking to the Country whatever kindness they may have for the People for a French Ambassador as an Author of that Country relates being by order of Queen Christina Treated in a Country House four Swedish Miles from Stockholme and upon the rode going and coming with all the Varieties and Pleasures that the Country could afford on purpose to make him have a good Opinion of the same made answer to the Queen who asked him upon his return What he thought of Sweden That were he Master of the whole Country he would presently Sell it and Buy a Farm in France or England which under Favour I think was a little Tart and Sawcy Having stayed a considerable time in Swedeland and most part at Stockholme I set out from thence to go to Elsenbourg by Land and went a little 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 coming to this City asked the Magistrates What was the Arms of their City Who having her that they had none she plucked up her Coats and squatting upon the Snow bid them take the mark she left there for their Arms its pity she did not give them a suitable Motto to it also What that Figure is called in Blazonery I know not but to this Day the City uses it in their Arms and for marking their Commodities This Queen came purposely into Sweden to pay a visit to a brave Woman that opposed a King of Swedeland who in a time of Famine would have put to Death all the Men and Women in his Country above 60 years of Age. The Country all the way I travelled in Swedeland is much of the same quality of the Land about Stockholme until I came near the Province of Schonen which is called the Store-house and Kitchin of Sweden where the Country is far better It was formerly very dangerous to Travel in this Province of Schonen because 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 29 of these Rogues upon Wheels and elsewhere in the Country ten and twenty at several places The King used great severity in destroying of them some he caused to be broken upon the Wheel others Spitted in at the Fundament and out at the Shoulders many had the Flesh pinched off of their 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 go to acquaint their Comrades how they had been served The King is very severe against Highway-Men and Duellers In above a 100 Miles Travelling we found not a House where there was either French Wine or Brandy which made me 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 several small Towns and fertile Land in this Country of Schonen lying upon the Sâ—undt 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 Soundt where all Ships that enter into or come out of the Baltick Sea must pay Toll Having visited this Castle and staid about a Fortnight with the English Consul and Sir John Paul late Resident at the Court of Swedeland I went to the Danish Court at Copenhagen COpenhagen is the Capital City of Zecland Jutland or Denmark and place of Residence of the King It stands on a Flat encompassed with a pleasant and delightful Country much resembling England The Streets of the City are kept very neat and clean with Lights in the Night time for the convenience and safety of those who are then abroad a Custom not as yet introduced into Stockholme where it is dangerous to be abroad when it is dark The Kings Men of War lie hear very conveniently being orderly ranged betwixt Booms after the manner of Amsterdam and near the Admiralty House which is a large pile of Building well furnished with Stores and Magazins secured by a Cittadel that not only commands the City but also the Haven and entry into it The Court of Denmark is splendid and makes a far greater figure in the World than that of Sweden though not many years ago in the time of Carolus Gustavus the Father of the present King of Swedeland it was almost reduced to its last when the Walls of Copenhagen saved that Crown and Kingdom That Siege was Famous carried on with great vigour by the Swede and as bravely maintained by the Danes The Monuments whereof are to be seen in the Cannon Bullets gilt that still remain in the Walls of some Houses and in the Steeple of the great Church of the Town The Royal Palace in Copenhagen 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 Kingdom and the King who hath now made it Hereditary surpasses most of his Predecessors in Power and Wealth He hath much enlarged his Dominions as well as Authority and by his Personal and Royal Virtues no less than the eminent qualities of a great many able Ministers of State he hath gained the Universal Love of his Subjects and the esteem of all Foreign Princes and States The Court is much frequented every day but especially on Sundays where about Eleven of the Clock in the Morning the Nobility Foreign Ministers and Officers of the Army assemble and make a glorious Appearance 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 easie access to Strangers seen often abroad by his Subjects in his Gardens and Stables which are very large and well furnished with all sorts of Horses He is a great lover of English Horses and Dogs and delights much in Hunting as his Eldest Son the Prince with his Brothers do in Cock-â—ighting insomuch much that the English Merchants cannot make a more acceptable present to those Princes than of English Game-Cocks The standing Forces of Denmark are