Subterraneous water finding vent over-flowed the Neighbour Plaines We came afterwards to Egribugia where we again left the Plains and travelled over high rocky Hills to Sariggioâ—e Whence passing through the River Injecora we came to Sarvitza a noted Place built partly upon an Hill and partly in the Plain The Christians live most in the upper part the Turks in the lower there is also a Castle upon a very high Rock not far from hence we went through a passage cut through the Rocks like to a great Gate and a small River passing also through it which makes a fast Pass and commands the passage of this Country which put me in mind of la Chiusa in the Julian Alpes between Vensone and Ponteva which passage the Venetians shut up every night we took notice also in our Journey of the first Turkish Moschea which was built in these parts upon that place where the Turks first rested after they had taken the strong Castle and Passage of Sarvitza Here we also passed by a Hill of a fine red Earth whereof they make Pots and Vessels like those of Portugal Earth which are of esteem all about these Parts We proceeded over dangerous Rocks in narrow hanging ways still on Horse-back although we had little pleasure to look down the Precipices on one hand and see the Carkasses of Horses in some places which had fallen down and broke their necks Afterwards we had the Mount Olympus on our left hand till we came to Alessone or Alesswn a considerable place where there is a Greek Monastery and Monks of the Order of St. Basil The Monastery was of a different kind of building from any I had then seen From hence passing over a River we entered into a round Plain of about five Miles over with divers Towns pleasantly seated in it Then over an Hill again which is a Spur of Mount Olympus upon the top whereof an old Man stood beating of a Drum to give notice unto Passengers on both sides that those parts were free from Thieves From this Hill as we descended we had a good Prospect of the Plains of Thessaly and at the foot of it we turned to the left and passed over a River which runs from under a rocky Mountain not in small Springs but the whole body of the River together and then through Vineyards and Cotten Fields to Tornovo and from thence to Larissa where the Ottoman Court resided of which places we shall speak more hereafter In our return we left the road about Kaplanlih and turned unto Skopia a City of great Trade and the largest in these parts Scopia or Scupi of Ptolomy named Vscopia by the Turks is seated in the remotest parts of Maesia Superior or the Confines of Macedonia at the foot of Mount Orbelus upon the River Vardar or Axius in a pleasant and plentiful Country seated partly on Hills and partly on Plains It was first a Bishops afterwards an Arch Bishops See still a pleasant and populous place There are seven hundred Tanners in it and they Tann in great long Troughs of Stone and make excellent Leather wherewith they furnish other parts There are some handsom Sepulchral Monuments and many fair Houses as that of the Cadih and that belonging to the Emir or one of Mahomets Kindred whose Father was of great esteem in these parts In the Court-yard of the Emir's House stands a remarkable and peculiarly contrived Fountain in manner of a Castle set round with many Towers out of the tops whereof the Water springs forth Their best Houses are furnished with rich Carpets to tread upon and the Roofs divided into Triangles Quadrangles and other Figures fairly gilded and painted with several Colours but without any Imagery or Representation either of Animal or Vegetable Here is also a fair Bezestan covered with Lead many Streets covered over with Wood and divers places are fair both within and without the Town being set off by Trees and pleasant Hills and Dales There are a great number of Moschea's or Turkish Churches The fairest is on a Hill and hath a large Portico before it supported by four Marble Pillars near which is a Tower of Wood with a Clock and a Bell in it from whence I had a good Prospect of the City There is also an Arch which seems to be Ancient and a rivolet running under it A large Stone also which seems to be part of a Pillar with this Inscription SHANC A little way out of the City there is a noble Aqueduct of Stone with about two hundred Arches made from one Hill to another over the lower ground or Valley between which is a handsome Antiquity and adds to the honour of this place When Mahomet the First conquered this City he placed a Colony of Asiaticks in it which makes it the more Turkish Great Actions have been performed hereabouts in the time of the Romans particularly by Regillianus as is testified by Trebellius Pollio that he won so many Battles and carried on such mighty things at Scupi that he deserved a Triumph Hereabouts also stood Paraecopolis and Vlpianum The Sanziack of this Place is under the Begleâ—beg of Rumelia or Graecia A Trade is driven from hence to Belgrade and to Thessalonica or Salonichi and many other places I have been more particular concerning this City because Geographers pass it over in a few words and I could never meet with any who had been at it From hence we travelled to Catshanich a Fortress that commands the passage b tween the Hills and afterwards advanced so far as to enter the famous Plains of Cossova in Bulgaria which some take to be Campus Merulae a Plain not very much exceeding Lincoln Heath yet the Stage of great Actions Here the greatest Christian Army that was ever brought into the Field in Europe consisting of five hundred thousand men under Lazarus Despot of Servia fought with the Forces of Amurah the first and lost the day In which Battle Lazarus was slain and Amurah viewing the dead bodies was stabbed by Michael Cobilovitz a Christian Souldier left for dead in the Field Amurah hath in these Plains a Memorial Monument unto this day and that part is called the Field of the Sepulchre in the same Plains was also fought that remarkable Battle between Hunniades and Mahomet for three days together where Hunniades having very unequal Forces was at last over-thrown We proceeded forward to Prestina a good Town and where we expected good accommodation but having entered into a fair Room we found a man lying down in it sick of the Plague So we consulted our safety and stayed not long and having a Gypsie to our Guide we travelled through a Country thinly inhabited but fruitful and pleasant and were much refreshed with fair Cornelions which grew plentifully in the ways we passed also by an hot Bath a little on the right hand The Bath is an arched Room well built and very refreshing unto Travellers It hath a red Sediment and is impregnated with
the City afforded a pleasant Prospect The Sails of their Tents were so ordered that they came not within a yard of the ground so that the Air might freely enter into them where they commonly remained passing a great part of the day in Drinking Sherbet and Coffee The nearest considerable Port unto Larissa is that of Vollo or old Pagasa in the Sinus Pagaficus or Demetriacus or Gulf of Armiro not far from whence stood old Argos Pelasgicum from which place the Argonauts first set sail in that famous Voyage for Colchos by which way the Grand Seignior received intelligence from Candia and his Asian and African Dominions And not far from hence at the Promontory Septas there happened the greatest Shipwrack we read of when Xerxes lost five hundred Sail by a Tempest from an East-wind It was no hard matter to have a sight of the Grand Seignior at this place for he rode out often for his recreation of hunting and hawking with great number of Attendants and Huntsmen and Falconers in their proper habits and also went frequently to the great Mosched I had a full view of him as he came out of his Palace to go unto his devotion Before he came out divers brave Horses richly caparisoned were mounted by divers of his Attendants nobly attired and rode about the Court-yard so that he looking out of the window made choice of which he liked best and would then make use of At his first appearance abroad great acclamations were made low bowings from all both near and at a distance the Streets were made clean and a Janâ—ary was placed at every corner to provide that there might be no hinderance in the way The Chiauses rode before the Shatters or great Courtiers about Twenty four followed on foot and immediately on each side of his Horse walked two chief Janizaries with white Feathers set in an hollow Pipe before their Caps very large and spread and about a fathom high which shaking as they walked were high enough both to shade and fan his face as he rode Many brave Horses were led after him and divers persons followed carrying Cushions and Pillows to the Mofchea Before he came our of his Palace I observed many gallant Persons in the Porch which the Chiaus who walked with me told me were persons of the greatest quality in Turky The Grand Seignior was then under Thirty years of age well set somewhat short necked inclining to fatness his complexion fallow naturally and much heightned by frequent riding about in those hot Countrys He hath a very strong body and healthful and is a hard rider hath a stern look and yet would speak kindly unto persons and encourage the people abroad to approach him taking no delight in the cryes and frights and flying away of the Inhabitains at the sight of him or any of his Officers The Grand Visier carried divers Christian Chyrurgeons with him to Candia but I heard of no Physician of Note about the Grand Seignior The Sultan took great liking to a private Turkish Priest whom he met withal by chance in Thessaly and made him his Chaplain but the report was that a famours Priest was coming to him Achmet the Prime Visier being absent the Chaymacham of Deputy Visier dispatched all Affairs of State here and had the best House in the City The Emperour 's Refident had three Interpreters who upon all occasions were made use of in Addresses unto him and by whom we were informed of the most considerable Occurrencies they being civil persons and good Linguists The Sultana was also at Larissa much beloved by the Sultan by birth a Candiot little of stature somewhat marked with the Small Pox she was then with child and was to go to lye-in at Monaster a great and pleasant Town in Macedonia which being a place we were to pass proved a great convenience unto us for in order to her better Journey the High-ways were plained Hills made passable with Broad-ways and Bridges over Rivers to the great labour of the Inhabitants who notwithstanding were not unready to make a Bridge for such great Ones to pass out of their Country for at the first approach of the Grand Seignior a great number of the Greeks forsook their habitations for fear of him and his Attendants and left them unto the Turks but were recalled again by his command The Seignior's Son was also with him there about Six years old I went with Osman Chiaus to see the Chaymacham's house but especially to hear his Musick which was accounted the best in Turky Where I heard the loudest yet not unpleasant Musick I ever met with ten men at once playing in an open high Room upon large Wind-Instruments which they miss not to do at certain hours of the day In the Town I also heard some Turkish Songs but especially concerning Sabata Sevi the famous Jewish Impostor who had made a great noise in the World and how Cussum Basha so handled him that he was glad to turn Turk This Cussum Basha is a person much honoured by the Turks and cryed up for his great Skill and Practice in Physick an Art not much known amongst them He is now Visier of Erzrum in Asia is married to one of the Seignior's Sisters and lives with her and was formerly Visier of Buda and upon that account well known to the Germans Here I met also with a French Book concerning Michael Cigala another Impostor who had deceived the Emperour and the King of France and other Christian Princes Which the Interpreter to the Resident told me the Turks very much laughed at and that he was a Graecian born and not a Wallachian Of Paddre Ottomanno who was thought to be the Seignior's Brother now a Dominican Frier and whom I had seen at Turino I could hear nothing There were many Thousand Souldiers and Horses in and about the City and Five thousand Camels for the Service of the Grand Seignior which being of different magnitudes ages and the bunches on their backs of different shapes and in some variety of colours and treading soft and with little noise afforded me a pleasant sight when they were led by my lodging to watering at the River When we read that Mardonius the Persian General of the great Army of Xerxes wintered in Thessaly It is no small Testimony of the fruitfulness of that Country and though the number of men was here very great at this time yet was there no want of provision but all very cheap in a Victualling house I could Dine with roast and boyled and Sherbet for the value of Six pence and at an easie rate could oblige Turks and Christians with a meal which they would take very kindly The Place was also extraordinary populous there being at that time such a mixed multitude in it Yet was the City in very good order and quietness An Officer with a Club in his Hand accompanied with about twenty Persons walking about the Streets and punishing all Persons drunk quarelling
there is a noble monument the Tomb of William of Nassaw Prince of Orange together with his Wife and Son Prince Maurice his Statua is in armour with his Dog at his Feet and four Obelisks are supported by ten Marble pillars In a house of this Town there were shewn me in a Wall the marks of the bullets shot at Prince William who was thereby murthered 1584. and in another Church which was broad and spacious I saw a handsome Tomb for Sir Charles Morgans Lady and the Monument of Peter Hein the Admiral who took the Spanish Silver-fleet The Hague Haga Comitis the ancient place of Residence of the Counts of Holland and now of the States general is about an hours going distant from Delft in which passage at some distance we had a sight of two of the Prince of Orange's houses This place is well built the Princes Court handsome The Piazza by it full of green Trees many fair Houses The Course where the Coaches meet the Pall-mall the Wood the Park do much beautiâ—ie it and the way from hence to Scheveling from whence his late Majesty King Charles the Second returned into England is very remarkable it being a streight way cut through the Sand-hills and paved with Brick for three miles having on each hand four or five rows of Trees and Scheveling Steeple at the end of it The Hague and Madrid in Spain are accounted the greatest Villages or open unwalled places in Europe and the Hollanders have thought it more honour to be Masters of the greatest Village than of a place which if it were walled would come short of many Cities but this may prove a dangerous resolution for sormerly upon this advantage Martin van Rossem Captain to the Duke of Gueldres sacked the Hague and it was lately in the like danger when the French Forces lay at Vtrecht and Worden if they had forced a passage into that part of Holland Leyden is three hours or three Dutch miles from the Hague at present one of the neatest Towns in Europe Well built hath divers large Streets beautified with rows of Trees and the water passing through the middle of them and also well fortified after the modern way I took notice of that Antiquity called Hengist Castle or the Berg said to be built by Hengist the Saxon and went up to the top thereof Upon the top there is now an Arbour and a Maze or Labyrinth round it and a Well out of which they told us they took a Fish alive when the Town was almost famished during the Siege which was shewed to the Enemy over the Wall endeavouring to make their condition to appear better than it was and to dishearten the besiegers There are now handsome stairs from the top to the bottom and a good house built by it where they have their publick sales and entertainments But a nobler Antiquity lies under the Sea than any above ground not far from hence near Catwyck is a square fortress called Arx Britannica built by Caligula in the declining of the Roman Empire ruined in part by the Normans and afterwards neglected and overwhelmed by the Sea But in some years and great retire of the Sea the ruines have been discovered and many noble Antiquities brought from it some having this inscription Ex. Ger. Inf. ex Germania Inferiori The Stadthuise hath a fair front towards the Street In the Anatomy Schools are a very great number of Skeletons Two legs of an Elephant The Skeleton of a young Whale of a Horse Deer Cow Cat Fox and many other Animals divers Skeletons of Men and Women some bodies preserved with their Muscles and one intire the flesh skin and all parts defended from corruption I saw also here what Monsieur de Bils pretended towards the preservation of Bodies but more accurately afterwards at Dr. Ruisch his house at Amsterdam The Physick-garden although but small is well filled with Plants where are also many other both natural and artificial Curiosities to be seen and many sorts of Optick-glasses Near the garden are the Schools built of Brick with the Officina Elzeviriana on the top In the Churches I saw the Monuments of many famous men in the French Church is the Tomb of Joseph Scaliger with a large Inscription upon it and these few words which he himself desired might be placed there Josephus Justus Scaliger Jul. Caes Fil. Hic expecto Resurrectionem As also the Tomb of Carolus Clusius the great Herbarist Omnia Naturae qui munera pectore clusit Clusius herbifero clauditur hoc tumulo And with this following Non potuit plures heic quaerere Clusius herbas Ergo novas campis quaerit in Elysiis i. e. Clusius view'd all the Plants that this Earth yields And now is simpling in the Elysian Fields There is a Picture in the Chamber for the Burgermasters representing the day of Judgment drawn by Lucas van Leyden so much esteemed that it is said the Emperor Rudolphus would have given for it as many Ducats of Gold as would have covered it The Table also upon which John of Leyden wrought whilst he was a Taylor is a Curiosity because he proved afterwards so considerable a disturber of Germany and came to be King of the Anabaptists This City endured a hard siege by the Spanish forces and they were reduced unto great extremity but they saved themselves by overflowing the Country and so forcing the enemies to make away with great loss and afterwards coyned a memorial-Medal with this inscrption Vt Senacherib à Jerusalem sic Hispani à Leyda noclu fugerunt 1574. From Leyden I came to Haerlem a neat City pleasantly seated and having a Grove near it The great Church is esteemed the largest in Holland with a very high Lanthorn upon it Within are many Inscriptions and Monuments most of which are transcribed and set down in Gotfr Hegenitii Itinerarium Hollandicum In the Prince's house are all the Earls of Holland Painted upon the wall and in the Garden in the Summer-house the Picture of Laurentius Costerus who is said to have first invented the art of Printing in this Town but others attribute it to Johannes Gottenberg a German On the other side there is a Picture of a Ship with Saws in memory of the manner how Damiata in Egypt was formerly taken by those of this Town who as they report accompanied Frederick Barbarossa in an expedition against the Saracens and when the men of Pelusium or Damiata had chained up their Port by this invention of fastning strong Saws to the keels of their Ships they cut the chains in sunder and so took the Town In the rooms are very good Paintings by Hemskerk and Goltzius as his Prometheus and other Peeces but Cornelius van Haerlem most delighted me in his peeces of Herods killing the Innocent Children his feast of the Gods in which Vulcans foot is esteemed at a great rate and another Picture of a Frier and a Nun at a Collation not inferiour to
the rest among many Epitaphs in the great Church there is this Dutch one for a Man and his Wife Laet lopen die lopen luste Onse tiit is verlopen wy leggen hier in ruste Let them run that run will Our time 's run out and we lye still The old Mens house or an Hospital for sixty aged persons is large and handsome having a good Quadrangle and a Garden in it The Hospital also for the sick is very cleanly kept Here I first saw the manner of punishing Malefactors by whipping them with rods which is more severe than I imagined they lead them to a Post upon a Scaffold their hands tyed and by a Pully drawn up as high as can be extended and then an Iron fastned about their wast to keep them steady in which stretched-out posture they receive sometimes fifty or sixty stripes or more according to the merit of their offence Not far from this place there is a great Water or noted Lake called Haerlem Meere about twenty Miles in length which is frozen over in hard Winters and men swiftly travel over it by sliding or in sleds When Haerlem was besieged there was a Naval fight upon it The Dutch having about an hundred and fifty Vessels and the Spaniards not many fewer The Town was afterwards taken by Composition but such Cruelty was used by tho Spaniards that they have not yet forgot it From Haerlem I went to Amsterdam a City at present for Riches Trade Shipping fair Streets and pleasant habitations scarce yielding to any other of the World It is seated upon the River Ye and hath its name as 't is reported from a Castle appertaining long since to the Lords of Amstel to whom this place also belonged At the beginning the seat of a few Fishermen but afterwards increasing it received many Priviledges from the Counts of Holland and was made a Town or City by the favour of their Grants and Charters In the year 1470. it was walled about with a Brick-wall to defend it against the Citizens of Vtrecht they having been in great danger to have fallen into their hands if those of Vtrecht had pursued their Victories In few Months after also the whole Town was almost reduced to Ashes by fire but by the increase of their Traffick they easily overcame their losses waded through all difficulties and rendred good Services to their Counts and received the honour afterwards from Maximilian the Emperor to have the Imperial Crown over their Armes which arâ— three Crosses on a Pale About the year 1525. Gelen sent from the new King of Munster passed through Friesland and came to this City where having made a Party and communicated his design he resolved to surprize the Town by night at the time of the sounding of the Bell to which intent they were already entred the Market place had set upon the Town-house and cut in pieces those who resisted them When by great providence the rope to the great Bell was taken away the Magistrates had notice of it and caused all the Streets and Avenues leading to the Market-place to be stopped up with Wool-sacks and Hop-sacks whereby they were hindred in their design of taking the Town by night and the next morning their number being discovered to be inconsiderable they were set upon driven into the Stadthuis and defeated Of late years this City is mightily encreased and encompassed with a new Wall and fortified after the modern way The new Streets are large and uniform and the whole Town being in a low Marshy ground the water is let in through all the considerable Streets The River Amstel passes through the City being let in under a handsome well contrived Bridge of Eleven Arches which is so built as to make part of the Wall and Rampart and is 26 paces broad The whole Town is built upon Piles or high Firr-trees driven down perpendicularly into the Earth so thick together that nothing more can be forced in between them And by this means they build Houses in the Sea and lay Foundations strong enough to support the geatest Buildings whatsoever in places where no solid bottom is to be found But they must needs be at a great expence and labour before they can lay the first Stone And the number of Trees required to each Foundation is considerable since for the Foundation of one Tower or Steeple alone over against the Church of St. Katherine Mr. J. de Parivall who wrote Les Delices de la Hollande reckons that there was rammed into the ground a Forest as he calls it of Six thousand three hundred and thirty four great Trees About this manner of work for the fixing their Foundations I saw them employed in divers places particularly at the East-India-house and at a place where a Lutheran Church was then designed to be built So that it was not improbably said That if a man could see all under this City he could hardly behold a greater Forest The Stadthuis or Town-house is the noblest Building in all these Countries A Pile of Freestone of an hundred and ten paces in Front being larger than the Magnified Front of the Church of St. Peter's at Rome and eighty one paces deep or on the sides The Chambers in it the Pictures and Statues are worthy to be seen and admired The first Room on the right hand or Judgment-hall where the Malefactors receive their Sentence is adorned with large Statues hanging down their heads in mournful postures as if concerned or grieving at what was then pronounced The Floors are of Marble the Roofs are richly gilt and painted Upon the top of all stands Atlas or Columbus holding a Globe upon his Shoulder made of Copper of about ten foot Diameter which is as large perhaps as any Ball or Globe whatsoever employed to this ornamental use That upon St. Peter's at Rome as having been in it I judge to be less as likewise that at Florence The Turkish Ornament to the Tower of their Mosques is three Balls one above another and an half Moon over them but they are less by far at least such as I have seen and by relation from Eye-witnesses the largest of the three noble gilded Balls at Morocco are inferiour to this But I will say nothing more of this great building the Stadthuis since there is a peculiar description of it in Folio with Cuts and Figures of the most remarkable Curiosities in it The Exchange is fair and large and above it are Shops it is very well frequented and he that comes after twelve payeth six stivers Divers of their Churches are fair In the new Church the partition with Ballisters of Brass and the carved Pulpit are noble In the old Church the Tomb of Van Hâ—lse and Heemskerk are remarkable Heemskerk did his Country great Services in their first attempts upon India for the King of Spain having confiscated some of the Hollanders Ships who traded to his Dominions which were then the Staple for the India Trade It was
present Emperor Leopoldus encompassed and supported with arms and Trophies with this Inscription Imp. Caesar Leopold 1. P. F. Augus P. P. Imperator Caesar Leopoldus Primus Pius Faelix Augustus Pater Patriae And on the reverse an Arm coming out of a Cloud over the City of Vienna which supports the Imperial Crown Sword Scepter and Globe with this Inscription Consilio et Industria The Second Medal hath high Dutch Inscriptions On the obverse the Seige of Vienna with this about it This is the Finger of God And on the reverse this Inscription The Turkish pride which streightned Vienna from the fourteenth of July to the twelfth of September 1683. was that day totally destroyed by the hand of the Lord. To these I have also added a noble Gold Medal of the Emperor Ferdinand the second These are all delineated bigger than they really are that they might appear the more plainly yet this last weighs above sixteen Guinneys and is no ordinary Piece A JOURNEY FROM VIENNA IN AUSTRIA TO HAMBURG TAking a farewel of the Imperial City of Vienna I ordered my Journey for Prague in Bohemia which is usually six days Journey by Coach in the Summer and eight in the Winter I went over the great Bridge of Vienna upon the large Stream of the Danube passing by the chappel of St. Bridget of an eight-square Figure This Bridge is a very great and massy work supported by many high Trees and Timber and hath between two and three thousand Trees laid upon it cross or side by side from one side of the Bridge to the other for the passage over it after the German manner of making Bridges At Ratisbone there is a handsome Stone-bridge over the Danube and between that place and Vienna divers of Wood but from Vienna to Belgrade I observed none but what were made with Boats Having passed the River I entred into the Trans-Danubian Austria or that part of Austria which lies between the Danube and the River Theya and came unto Corneuburg a pretty Town about which place the Emperor often hunts it is near the Hill Bisneberg which is opposite unto Kalenherg The Swedes advanced far when they took this place in the last wars and held it so well that they were not easily forced out of it From thence I came to Stockerau near the mouth of the River Mida where it runs into the Danube A place much noted for the death of St. Colman a Scotch Saint highly honoured in these parts From thence to Guntersdorff so to Colnedorff or Koldorff which although it be on the South of the River Theya is accounted the first Village of Moravia and then came unto Znaim In all this part of Austria which extends a great length on the North side of the Danube conceived to have been anciently inhabited by the Marcomanni and Quadi there are few or no Towns of antiquity largeness or note for the Romans made their Stations and Colonies upon the South-side of the Danube but the Country is full of Villages and populous One of the chiefest Towns is Crembs which some call Cremona Austriae which I saw as I came down the Danube A great part of this Country was notably harrassed and plundered by the Swedes The Soyl is light and easie to be ploughed Zanim is a handsome place with many Painted Houses in it and accounted the fourth chief Town in Mahren or Moravia Olmütz Brün and Iglaw being the other three this place is famous for the death of the Emperor Sigismund It is seated by the River Theya which divides Moravia from Austria and running at last into the River Marck affords accommodation of passage into the Danube From thence we passed by Vlverskirkeâ— Paulitz and Moravian Budweisse to Zimmaw and by Byrnitz came to Igla or Iglau upon the River Iglâ— which at last runs into the great River Marck a very pleasant place seated upon a Hill on the Frontiers of Bohemia It is well fortified à la moderna upon one side and hath one of the largest Piazza's that I have seen Moravia is a pleasant and fruitful Country affording plenty of necessaries for life the people are plain dealing stout and make good Souldiers It is commodiously furnished with Rivers the greatest whereof is the Mora or Marck which arising in the Northern part thereof runs quite through the Country and enters the Donaw by Teben not far from Presburg The other considerable Streams are the Theya or Thaisa the Swarta the Schwitta which run into the Marck In the last Turkish wars the Tartars having passed the Wag in Hungaria made incursions into Moravia and carried away some thousands of the Inhabitants Leaving Igla wee soon came into Bohemia first coming into Steâ—ken then to Teutchin Broda by the River Sacâ—ua formerly a strong place taken by Zisca the famous Bohemian General who then forced the Emperor Sigismund to fly out of Bohemia by the way of Igla From thence we came to Haberne and so to Janikaw At this place upon the 24 th of February 1643. was fought that memorable Battel between the Swedes commanded by Leonard Torstenson and the Imperialists under Count Hatzsield Goetz and other Commanders The Imperialists had the better at first but falling upon the Enemies Baggage and being two greedy of Booty they were defeated three thousand slain four thousand taken prisoners with their General Hatzsield and six or seven Colonels The success hereof gave the Swedes advantage to proceed further and into Silesia and Austria In this Town meeting with a Gentleman who came from Schaclitz which is not far from the Risgeburg or Mountain of Gya its about the Head of the River Elbe I enquired of him concerning the spirit Ribensal which is said to insest that Country but he could say nothing therein of his own knowledge and though he was confident that there was such a Spirit yet he confessed that for twelve years it had done no hurt In Hills Mounâ—ains and places of Mines such reports are ordinary It is reported that a Spirit haunts the Silver Mines of Brunswick and another to be in the Tinn Mine of Slackenwalde in this Country of Bohemia and to walk in the shape of a Monk who strikes the Miners sings and plays on the Bag-pipes and doth many such Tricks And Agricola in the latter end of his Sixth Book De re M tallica gives this for one reason why Mines or passages in Mines are given over From Janikaw I travelled to Czaslaw a good Town and the chiefest in the Czaslawer Circle In this place they say that Zisca was buried that famous Bohemian General he lost one Eye by an Arrow and was at length blind of both yet gave not over the war and proved successful in it He wished his Friends to make a Drum of his Skin which should serve to fright away their Enemies And though he cared not for any Sepulchral Monument yet he had one in this place From Czaslaw we came to
a piece Counts and Barâ—ns with three a Knight with two and a Gentleman with one The hour and place for the Turnamenâ— being appointed he that had a desire to break a Lance there came to the President 's Lodgings to have his Name written down which was done in the presence of three Heralds to whom the Champion delivered his Helmet and Sword and after he had been at confession presented himself in the Lists with one or more Squires according to his quality The Horses of the Combatants were to be without fault or exception the Caparisons and Furniture such as gave no offence their Saddles without any extraordinary rising before and behind and all things equal After which they performed all kind of Exercises on Horse back and after the Jousts were ended every man repaired to the President of his Nation to wait for the Sentence of the Judgâ—s and he that best deserved the Prize received it either from the hand of some Lady or from the Prince that gave it These Pastimes were afterwards disused upon the Emulation it caused between the Princes and Nobility who strove to outvy one another or upon wars in which there was no leisure for such Exercises or perhaps upon consideration that divers brave men lost their lives in these Encounters and no less a Prince than Henry the Second King of France neglecting to wear his Beaver down was slain in a Turnament And at Darmstadt also in the year 1403. at the Three and twentieth Turnament which was held in Germany the Gentlemen of Franconia and those of Hesse drew so much blood upon one another that there remained dead upon the place seventeen of the former and nine of the latter The Winter growing on called me to make haste to Hamburg from whence I intended to pass by Sea into England and therefore I took the advantage of the Stage-Coaches at Magdeburg and in four days came to Hamburg I traveled through a Country for the most part barren of little accommodation or scarce any thing very remarkable through part of the Elector of Brandenburg and then through the Duke of Lunenburg's Country passing by the City of Lunenburg a handsom walled City beautified with divers fair Churches with high Spires The Church of St. Lambert the Town-house and the Duke's Palace are fair Here are salt-springs in the Town very beneficial to the place and supplying the neighbour Countries The Town is commanded by a Hill near to it called Kalkberg which lies on the North-side In this Road through lower Saxony I could not but take notice of many Barrows or Mounts of Earth the burial Monuments of great and famous Men to be often observed also in open Countries in England and sometimes rows of great Stones like those in Wormius his Danish Antiquities And in one place I took more particular notice of them where three massy Stones in the middle were encompassed in a large square by other large Stones set up on end Hamburg is a fair City and one of the great ones in Germany it is seated in a Plain being populous rich and remarkably strong It is fortified according to the modern manner much after the way of Holland with works of earth but in no place yet covered or faced with brick or stone The Territory belonging to it is but small it is divided into the new and the old Town There are five Gates The Stone gate leading towards Lubeck the Dome-gate the Alten-gate or which leads unto Altenaw a place near the Town belonging to the King of Denmark where the Romanists and Calvinists have their Churches the Bridge-gate and the Dike-gate The Buildings of this City are handsom and commonly have a fair entrance into them The Senate-house is noble adorned with carved Statua's of the Nine Worthies The Exchange or place of meeting for Merchants was then enlarging it being too small to receive those Numbers which frequented it Many of their Churches are very fair with high Steeples covered with Copper The Front of St. Katherines is beautiful The Steeple of St. Nicholas is supported with great gilded Globes The other great Churches are the Dome-Church St. Peters St. Jacob the greater and less St. Michael the New-Church in the New town The lesser Churches are St. Gertrude St. Mary Magdalen and the Holy Ghost They have a Sermon every day as in other Lutheran Cities The River Alster runs through it into the Elbe and turns many Mills and the Tide comes up into divers Streets through Channels although it be distant eighteen German miles from the Sea or Mouth of the Elbe This place abounds with shipping and many of good Burden and is well seated for Trade as having an open passage into the Ocean and being but a days Journey from Lubeck on the Baltick Sea and being seated upon the long River Elbe the third great River of Germany whereby it may have Commerce with a great part of that Country and as far as Bohemia Hamburg is full of Strangers and Merchants of several Countries The English Company have good Privileges and a rich Trade and Ships come laden thither with Cloth to the value of an hundred thousand pounds sterling and they live here in good Reputation and to the honour of their Country they are Persons of worth courtesie and civility and I heartily wish them all success in their Affairs I must not omit the acknowledgment of my particular Obligation to that learned and worthy Person Mr. Griffin Preacher unto the Company Mr. Free the Treasurer Mr. Banks who hath been in many places of Natolia and the Holy Land Mr. Jenkinson and my very obliging Friends Mr. Catelin and Mr. Townly This place hath the happiness to be quiet when the great Princes of Europe are at war for it desires to hold a strict Amity with Princes and declines all Dissention with them I found a Ship at Hamburg bound for London and while it was fitting for Sail I made a short excursion into part of the King of Denmarks Country and returning to Hamburg again I ordered my affairs for England upon the first wind and hoped the next Tide to get over the Altenaw-sand and to pass the Blanckness but a cross wind prevented so that I left not Hamburg till the tenth of December and then I had the good company of Mr. Hoyle who came from Narva and set Sail in a new Ship but the days being at the shortest and the nights dark in the New-Moon the Tide falling also in the day time we were able to get no further the first day than Stadt or Stoade upon the River Zwingh a strong Town belonging to the King of Sweden where the Ships that come up the River pay Custom and where the English Merchants had formerly their Residence when they left Hamburg upon a Discontent December the 11 th we came by Gluckstadt belonging to the King of Denmark where the Castle the King's Palace and the Church are handsom and Anchored that night before
met with in one place made me think of Nero's admirable Fish-pond built in the like manner within the Earth We came out again near to a Convent upon the Banks of the River and returned by water to Maestreicht The next day we parted Company Mr. Newton Mr. Ettrick Mr. Grove Mr. Carlton and Mr. Newcomb went for Aken and Colen Mr. Bates and Mr. Daston went up the River again to Liege at which place staying a day or two to find a convenience to pass to Brussels we were nobly entertained at a Dinner with Venison Wild-boar and other Dishes by that worthy Person and Learned Mathematician Franciscus Slusius one of the great Canons of Liege who also continued his high Civilities to us to the last Minute we stayed in Town Leaving Liege we soon came in sight of Tongres or Tungrorum opidum the most ancient place in all these Countries Ortelius would have it to be called of old Atuatuca It was a strong hold before the coming of Julius Caesar into Gaul and was afterwards made a Roman Station and in process of time became so great that Attila the Hun destroyed an hundred Churches in it it being at that time a Bishops See which in the year 498 St. Servasius removed unto Maestreicht Many old Coins and Antiquities are still found here and part of an old Chappel said to be built by St. Maternus Disciple to St. Peter is still remaining When the King of France made his great inroad into the Low-Countries 1672. he borrowed this Town of the Elector of Cologne and then passed on to Maseick where crossing the Country to the Rhine by the sides of these great Rivers Rhine and Maes he made that notable Incursion and quitted not Tongres till he had taken Maestreicht the year following We dined this day at Borchloe and lodged at St. Truyn or St. Truden a handsome little Town so called from a Church and Abbey herein dedicated to that Saint The next day we dined at Tienen or Tilmont on the little River Geet once one of the chief Towns in Brabant but long since decayed In these Plain Countries in many places we saw small Hills or Sepulchral Eminences of the Ground And near unto the Walls of Tienen are three very remarkable ones said to be the Tombs of great Commanders In the Evening we came to Lovain Lovain is the chief City of that quarter of Brabant which comprehendeth Arschot Halen and Judoigne an ancient and large City pleasantly seated upon the River Dele it is of great Circuit and the compass of the wall accounted above four miles about but there are many void Spaces Hills Fields and Gardens within it which makes it very pleasant and delightful There are herein divers good Buildings Convents and Churches the chief whereof is the stately Church of St. Peter the Convent of the Carthusians the Hospital The publick Palace or Senate-house is also Noble It is the great Vniversity of these parts said to have had its beginning about 926. but endowed by John the Fourth Duke of Brabant and confirmed by Pope Martin the Fifth 1425. There are forty three Colleges in it wheâ—eof the four chief are Lilium Falco Callrum Porcus Goropius Becanus a Learned Man and Native of Brussels affirms That no Vniversity in Italy France Germany or Spain is to be compared unto it for its elegant and pleasant Situation The Vniversity is under the Government of a Rector who is in great esteem and honour among them This Vniversity hath produced many Learned Men But neither the Buildings of the Colleges nor their Endowments do equal those of our Vniversities and the Situation thereof seems not to exceed that of Oxford We travelled from hence to Brussels being most part of the way in the sight of the very high Tower of the Church of St. Rombald at Machlin Count Monterei was then Governour of the Low-Countries and resided at Brussels the ordinary Seat of the Governours of the Spanish Netherlands which City he had taken care to fortifie and to make it more tenable if it should be attempted by the French From Brussels we passed to Antwerp where we were handsomely treated by Mr. Wauters and Mr. Hartop and having visited some of our Friends the next day we passed the River Schelde and took Coach in the morning travelling through a fruitful plain flat Country set with rows of Trees in most places and arrived in the evening at Ghent Gaunt Gandavum or Ghent is esteemed to be the greatest City not only of Flanders but of all the Low-Countries and challenges a place amongst the greatest in Europe but at present it decreases and decays rather than encreases And if Charles the Fifth were now alive he could not put Paris into his Gant a greater Glove would not fit that City which is so much increased since his time In Ghent are many noble Convents among which the Jesuites is one of the fairest There is a Cloister also of English Nuns The Cathedral is stately and the Tower belonging to it being very high gives a prospect of a pleasant and fruitful Country round about it There are divers Piazza's large and fair in one of which stands a large gilded Statua of Charles the Fifth Emperor and King of Spain who was born in this City The whole Town is generally well built and the Streets are fair and clean The Inhabitants hereof have been taken notice of to be extreamly given to Sedition and for their sakes a great many other Cities in Europe are punished and have in a manner totally lost their Liberties For the Spaniards to curb the Seditious humour of the People of Ghent were put upon the Invention of building Cittadels in Cities whereby a few Souldiers are able to suppress any Commotion or beat down the Town so that here I saw the first Cittadel that was built in Europe by Charles the Fifth It is not large and the Bastions little and though of a Regular Figure yet not so convenient as those of latter days since that Art hath been improved From Ghent we passed by water about Twenty English miles to Bruges a very elegant large City and formerly a place of very great Trade being within three Leagues of the Sea so that from the tops of their highest Buildings the Ships under Sail are visible and at the same time a Fleet of Ships and a large Territory of a fruitful pleasant Country comes under your eye It is fortified with Works of Earth and deep Ditches The Convents are numerous The artificial Cuts of Water from this Town to all places makes it of easie access and though it hath no Port the Passage from hence to Ostend by water is short And they are at present upon a Design of bringing Ships up to this City Ostend is about Ten English miles from Bruges seated upon the waves of the German Ocean which wash it continually on one side And they have now contrived it so as to let
Evangelist of St. Matthias the Apostle of two of the Innocent Children of Prosdochimus the converter of these Countries to the Christian Faith and first Bishop of Padoa of Maximus their second Bishop and of Santa Giustina The Front of this Church looks into a spacious place called Prato della Valle where the Gentlemen meet in their Coaches in the Evening for their pleasure In a handsom room or burying place on the South-side of this Church is a round old red marble stone upon which the heads of many Martyrs were cut off and near to it a fine white marble Well called Pozzo d' Martiro or the Martyr's Well a place of great Devotion Where the Temple of Juno stood in old time there is now built a handsom Church dedicated to St. Augustin wherein are divers Monuments of the Family of Carrara the Tomb of Charlotta daughter to James King of Cyprus and of Petrus Aponensis a great Philosopher Il Ponte Molino where there are thirty Water-Mills together and the Castello delle munitioni both built by Ezzellin are worth the seeing La Corte del Capitanio is splendid and was the Palace of the Carraresi The Palazzo della Regione where the Courts of Justice are held is very large beautiful and highly considerable both without and within being built of Marble with rows of Pillars without and within there are Heads and Inscriptions for divers eminent Persons of this City the length hereof is 256 Foot and the breadth 86 without any Pillar or support in the middle The University of Padoa was founded in the Year 1220. by the Emperor Frederick the Second and the Schools are fair and large containing one Quadrangle with rows of Pillars above and below and besides handsom Schools on every side there is a very convenient Anatomical Theater The Physick Garden is large of a round Figure walled about and well stored with Plants The Prefects hereof have been Men of Note as Aloysius Mundella Aloysius Anguillara Melchior Guilandinus Jacobus Antonius Cortusus Prosper Alpinus and Joannes Veslingius The Arena or old Amphitheater at Padoa is an Antiquity very remarkable and the remains of some of the Arches are to be seen still in the Gardens backward but the Arena it self and the whole Podium are preserved intire free and empty And at one end thereof there is built a handsom Palace the Front of which looks directly into the open Amphitheater and is a portion of an Oval Figure and the whole area or Arena of the Amphitheater serves for the court to it in such manner that the entrance being now at the end directly opposite to the house the handsome prospect of it and the clear Avenue to it is extraordinarily surprizing and extreamly noble and I could not imagine that any Gentleman would ever desire to have a fairer Court-yard to his house than the spacious plain Arena of an old Roman Amphitheater nor a better Wall than a high intire handsom Podium the like to which perhaps is not at this day any where else to be seen And I must freely confess That of the Remains and Ruines of twelve old Amphitheaters which I have seen my self I have not met with any one that comes near it for in the Amphitheater at Douè in Poictou which is cut out of a Rock and being of a smaller dimension and part of the bottom being filled up there is no visible beauty of the Podiam the like may be said also of that at Nizza near the river Varus and that at Puzzuolo That at Nismes is filled up with dwelling houses in such manner that the upper seats only are distinctly visible The Amphitheaters of Bourdeaux Xainctes Arles Garigliano that at Rome near to the Church of Santa Croce in Gierusalemme and others are at present so much ruined that nothing of this nature distinguishable is to be expected nay even about the Arena at Verona and the great Colisseo or Domitian's Amphitheater at Rome the ground is now risen so high that the Podium is at present either buried or disfigured But as the Arena at Padoa is clear and evident in this part so is it wanting in all the rest and he that desires at this day to view all the Parts of an Amphitheater must not see one but many and by joyning them together in his thoughts he may collect the figure proportion and dimensions of this sumptuous sort of building of the old Romans From the Walls of Padoa there is a pleasant Prospect of a plain Country to the North East and South and of the Euganean Hills to the West which supply the Town with variety of Plants and great Number of Vipers At a few Miles distance are the hot Baths of Abano and the Mineral drinking Waters of Monte Ortone as also Obizzi's Country House which we saw with great delight it being well designed and accommodated with a good Armory a Theater for Comedies handsom Stables and a Tennis-court and nobly painted both within and without by that great Master Paulo Veronese Leaving the Ancient City of Padoa in the Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Fifth Year after its first Foundation according to their own compute and Travelling Eighteen Miles through a fruitful Country we came to the pleasant City of Vicenza a place worth the seeing by reason that Palladius hath here shown great skill in Architecture in his Rotunda in imitation of the Pantheon at Rome in his Theater exactly proportioned to the strict Rules of Building and other fair Houses in the Town There are also two Arches worth the observing one near the Gate behind which there is a noble ascent up to Santa Maria del Monte and another in campo Martio This City is filled with Nobility and Gentry and drives a great Trade in making Silk but is not of any considerable Strength The Piazza della Signoria is as beautiful a place as can well be contrived and besides its being large enough to receive all the Gentry in an Evening and to have Tilting and Turnaments performed in it it is beautified with the exquisite Front of the Palazzo della Ragione of the Capitanio's Palace and also with the Buildings of the Monte della Pietà where Money is lent out without use to the poorer sort Vicenza is a rich Bishoprick esteemed at twelve thousand Ducats a Year and in the Cathedral besides other Reliques are preserved the Bodies of Carpophorus and Leontius Martyrs of this Place but the most celebrated Relique of all is kept in the Church of the Santa Corona belonging to the Dominicans It is one of the Thorns of our Saviour's Crown given by Saint Lewis King of France to Bartolomeo Breganza a native and Bishop of Vicenza The City of Vicenza or Vicentia is watered with the River Bacchiglione and Rerone or Eretenus besides two other pretty Streams called the Astichello and Seriola which highly confer to its delightful Situation and Convenience but by reason that there are divers Hills very near it can
was born Mantua Musarum domus atque ad sidera cantu Andino evectus Mantua the Muses dwelling all along But rais'd up to the Stars by th' Andine song The Palazzo del Te at no great distance from one of the gates of the City is well worth the seeing where the hall is painted with the history of the Gyants storming of heaven and so artificially roofed and vaulted that it makes a double whispering place where at the opposite corners of the room every little sight and whispering is distinctly heard and in no other place and he that stands between hears nothing of it I had formerly been in whispering places at Padoa Montpellier and elsewhere but those were single ones made by the contrivance of the roof upon this rule That the Angle of Incidence is always equal to the Angle of Reflection and the whole top of the room so proportioned as to reflect all to one point that comes from another opposite to it but these far exceed them all being contrived with a double and cross Arch and make a large double cross whispering place Threescore years before the Trojan war Eteocles and Polynices sons to Oedipus King of Thebes contending for the Soveraignty that City was invaded besieged and ruined by the Greeks when Mantho the great Theban Sorceress seeing that her Country was destroyed fled first into Asia where she built a Temple and dedicated it to Apollo then sayled into Italy and went to Tyberinus King of the Tuscans by whom she had a Son named Ocnus who alterwards passed the Apennines the Po built this City and called it after his Mothers name according to the Mantuan Poet. Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris Fatidicae Manthus et Tusci silius amnis Qui muros matrisque dedit tibi Mantua nomen The Galli Cenomani afterwards beat out the Tuscans and made Reto fly into that part of the mountains since called the Rhetian Alpes The Romans overthrew the Gauls and Mantua followed the various Fortune of the Western Empire till the Emperour Otho the second gave it to Tedaldo Count of Canossa Boniface succeeded and Beatrix his Countess then the Countess Mathildis who made great wars in Italy sided with the Pope against the Emperor and left large possessions and revenues to the Church The Family of the Bonacolsi in process of time obtained the Lordship of this City Passavino the last of that stock was slain in the market place by the people in the year 1328 under the command of Lodovico di Gonzaga the first Lord of Mantua of this Family that reigns at present Frederick the second of this line was made Duke of Mantua by Charles the fifth and Vincent the first was afterwards created Duke of Montferrat The present Duke is Carolus Ferdinandus Gonzaga Duke of Mantua and Montferrat and of Niveronis and Retelois in France perpetual Prince and Vicar of the holy Empire Marquess of Gonzaga Viadana Gazolo and Dozolo Count of Rodiga Lord of Luzara and chief of the order of the Knights of the Blood of Christ which order was instituted in the year 1608 by Vincent Duke of Mantua who had been three times in Hungary Austria and Croatia in the wars against the Turks From Mantua we travelled to the great River Eridanus Padus or the Po which arises from mount Viso or Mons Vesulus one of the highest mountains of the Alpes towards France and rowling down in divers branches at first without any fixed channel unites at the foot of the mountain and falls under ground and after a mile or two appears again and running with a swift course through Lombardy after it hath received thirty Rivers more which fall from the Alpes Apennine discharges it self by divers mouths into the Adriatick sea and this being by far the greatest River in Italy it is mightily magnified by the Latin Poets who would have it no less than the Nile and the Danube and mention it by the name of the King of Rivers and the greatest in the world And it must be confessed that it is a noble flood and that it is the only River that hath a place in Heaven or that hath the glory to be made a constellation and placed in the Chambers of the South near to the stormy tempestuous Orion andsince that it is adorned with thirty eight stars which shine visibly in the Firmament to be called Starry and Celestial are but its due Terms of honour but sure there are many Rivers upon earth in Europe Asia Africa and America that far exceed it The Po being very swift we passed it by boat not without some peculiar Contrivances and Engines and the kind assistance the sisters of Phaeton who mourn here for the dismal fall of their Brother when Jupiter struck him down from Heaven into the Po. Excipit Eridanus fumantiaque abluit ora Ediranus did his Limbs imbrace And wash'd his smoaking Sun-burnt face And having stood so long by thebanks of this River they may be though to be more conversant with its Course and Passages They tye ropes in this Country to the tops of high Poplars one end on one side of the River and the other on the other or build high Beacons or Posts like those made use of in the Strapado on each side of the River and upon a line fixed to them they put a running Pully to which they fix another long rope and to the further end of this rope the boat is tyed and by steering the head of the boat obliquely cross the River the force of the Stream makes the pully run from one side to another by which means we passed it without labour or trouble Sine Remig is ictu Concava Trajecto Cymba rudente vehit A rope drawn through a Pully soon convey'd Us cross the Po without the Rowers aid And a small boat without broad sayls and oars Did gently waft us to the neighbouring shores I had formerly passed the Po as high as Turin and at another time went by boat through a cut made out of the Po into the Athesis and once I travelled for some space together on horse-back at the bottom of a branch of this River where the banks being broken down it had forsaken its channel The next town we came to was Guastala belonging to a Soveraign Prince the Duke of Guastala a handsom small Town at present but formerly larger and more considerable when there were two General Councils held here one under Pope Vrban the second and another under Pope Pascal the second From Guastala we travelled by Gualtea to Brescello or Brixellum a compact close strong Town fortified after the modern way upon the side of the Po An old Roman place of habitation where the Emperor Otho staid in his journey against Vitellius when after the conflict at Labiuta then called Bebriacum he took a resolution of dispatching himself not out of any despair of overcoming all difficulties but rather out of
together with his Kingdom and to send him a Crown and other Royal Ornaments At the same time it fell out that Misca King of Polonia sent about the same Errant and a Crown was providing for him But Pope Benedict the Eight in the mean time was warned by an Angelical Apparition to send the Crown unto King Stephen which accordingly he did which probably begot that great Veneration and high Opinion they have ever since had of it The Crown it self is also singular in its Fashion and Figure for it is a low Crown with a Cross upon it with four Leaves or Turnings up about it one whereof is as large as the other three at least as two thereof It is no easic Favour to obtain a view of this Crown at Presburg but I saw a Model of it in the Treasure of the present Emperor Leopoldus which was a Crown of Gold adorned with many precious Stones exactly made after the fashion of the Hungarian Crown and perhaps richer than the exemplar Though the Hungarians want not Ingenuity Industry and sufficient parts for Learning and liberal Arts yet have they been more addicted unto Martial affairs than unto deep Learning Even the Bishops and Clergy-men proving stout Soldiers and no less than six Bishops were slain with their King Ludovicus in that fatal Battel of Mohatch Some report and others believe that the famous Poet Ovid died and was buried in Hungary at Sabaria seated at the confluence of the Rivers Guntz and Regnitz before they run into the Rab. Where it is reported that he having been banished unto Tomos near the Euxine Sea was at last recalled and in his return towards Italy died at Sabarta Where 't is said his Tomb was found with this Epitaph made by himself Hic situs est Vates quem Divi Caesaris Ira Augusti patriâ cedere jussit humo Saepè miser voluit patriis occumbere terris Sed frustrà hunc illi fata dedere locum Before I came into Hungary I observed no shadow or shew of the old Pyrrhical Saltation or Warlike way of Dancing which the Heyducks practice in this Country They dance with naked Swords in their hands advancing brandishing and clashing the same turning winding elevating and depressing their bodies with strong and active motions singing withal unto their measures after the manner of the Greeks The mighty Acts of Attila King of this Country together with the numerous Forces he brought out of these and the neighbouring parts are very remarkable whereby he over-ran a considerable part of Germany and a great part of Italy Sacked and Burnt Aquileia and fought that memorable Battel with Aetius the Roman General in Campis Catalonicis near Tholouse wherein 't is said were ten Kings present and about two hundred thousand slain and which is also observable the Generals on both sides were of these Parts for Attila was a Hunne and Aetius a Maesian or Servian of the neighbour Country And in succeeding Ages how far and widely the Kings of Hungary enlarged their Dominions besides many Historical Accounts is tellified at their Coronation by ten Banners carried by Great Persons wherein were represented ten Provinces of that Kingdom that is Hungaria Dalmatia Croatia Schlavonia Galisia Rascia Servia Bulgaria Bosnia and Ludomiria This Country has given the longest stop unto the Turkish Conquests and farther intrusion into the Western Parts of Europe For most which they have already obtained has been upon the advantage of the Hungarian Divisions and their own subtilty and false practises and Solyman by such false and low dealings surprized the Capital City of Buda And although the Turk has now obtained the best part of the Country yet almost a third part remains out of his Power and in obedience to the Emperor as King of Hungaria as almost all Vpper Hungary from Presburg unto Tokay and Zatmar And there are yet out of their hands the three notablest Bulwarks of Chrislendom Rab Komara and Leopoldstadt all which I had the advantage to fee. This last has been erected since the loss of Newheusell and made much after the same manner consisting of Six regular Bastions revestues It is seated on the West side of the River Waag over against Freistadt not far from the place where the Tartars passed over in the last War and destroyed a great part of the Country and carried away many Captives from those Parts and out of Moravia This Fortisication was begun in the year 1665 and was well advanced but not finished when I was there 1669. Count Souches the younger was then Governor thereof from whom I received great Civility in that place and a Guard of Foot Soldiers to convoy me through the Contribution Country towards Schemnitz Cremnitz and the other Mine Towns Many Roman Emperors have honoured these Quarters with their Presence Birth Death or great Actions For to omit Trajan Caracalla Galienus Constantius and many more the Emperors Aurelianus Probus Gratianus Maximianus had their Nativities at Sirmium and Claudius Gothicus died in it or near it Jovianus and Valentinianus were Born in Pannonia Ingenuus Governor of Pannonia was saluted Emperor by the Moesian Legions Vetranio likewise in the same Country And at Sirmium was held a General Council when Photinus was Bishop of that place The Roman Armies being much in this Country no wonder it is that so many Coins of Copper Gold and Silver are to be found in it Whereof I obtained no small number at Petronell or Old Carnuntum which was a Part of Pannonia And at Sene or Senia situated near the Danube I met with very many They are also to be found at Old Buda or Sicambria at Old Sirmium in the Country now called Schremnia at Mursa or Esseck and many other Parts An Armenian Merchant in whose House I lodged at Belgrade undertook to provide me with Roman Coins against my return which he might well do about those Parts as at Sirmium Samandria and other places And not far from thence Lysimachus King of Macedon and Thrace is conceived to have kept his abode at a Castle or Palace near Deva where that unparallel'd mass of Gold Medals was found as is particularly delivered by Monsieur Fumeé in his Account of the Wars of Hungary Near the Town of Deva or Devas was found great store of Treasure by the Peasants of the Country under an Ancient Castle or Palace all ruined and decayed The Rain continuing a long time and the Water running with a forcible current there was discovered an infinite company of Golden Medals upon one side of which was Coined the Image of Lysimachus on the other side a Victory every one weighing two or three Crowns The Storm and rage of water being past and the Sun shining on these made a marvellous glittering which perceived by the Peasants they remained ravished with joy and taking them up they also found a Golden Serpent which afterwards General Castalde sent unto Ferdinand with a part of these Ancient Medals This being an ancient
Party bathes Then if he be a Subject of the grand Seignior's or it be the Custom of his Country he hath his head shaved and if a young man his beard except the upper Lip next the Barber rubs his Breast Back Armes and Legs with an hair Cloth while he either sitteth or lieth with his face downward then washes his head with Soap and after throws cold Water upon him all over his Body and then he walks in the steam of the Bath for a time The Germans call this City Offen and some will have it founded by Buda the Brother of Attila the Famous King of the Hunnes And to speak the truth among all the numerous Countries and Places Conquered by that Warlike Nation they could not choose out indeed a nobler Seat to build a City in where besides the advantage of their natural Baths and Stoves this being placed upon the Banks of the greatest River in Europe where it runs in one entire Stream and the City rising up by degrees to the top of Hills affording from most Streets of the Town a Prospect of twenty Miles or more on the other side of the Danube as far as ones eye can reach with the view of Pest and the long Bridge of Boats and the beautiful fruitful Country about it renders it most exquisitely pleasant and delightful and was the Royal Seat of the Hungarian Kings and Queens till that Solyman the Magnificent entered it with his Sons Selimus and Bajazet on the Thirteenth of â—ugust in the Year One Thousand Five Hundred Forty One and made a Decree that Buda should be from that day kept by a Garrison of Turks and the Kingdom converted into a Province of the Turkish Empire and the Queen and her young Son be sent into the Country of Lippa beyond the River Tibiscus at a little distance from Buda or Offen there is another Place called old Offen conceived to be Sicambria of old where the Sicambrian Souldiers quartered in the time of the Romans and some Antiquities and Inscriptions have been taken notice of in that place Over against Buda upon the Eastern-shoar of Danubius stands the City Pest being Quadrangular and seated upon a Plain and by â—eason of its Wall and the Towers of the Mosches makes a handsom show from Buda It gives the name unto the County or Comitatus Pesthiensis Hungaria being divided into Counties like England between this place and Buda the handsom Bridge of Boats is above half a Mile long The habit of the Turkish Women seemed new and strange to me Breeches almost to their feet a kind of Smock over them and then a long Gown with their Head-dress which setches about covering their face except their eyes and makes them look like Penitents but it was not unpleasant unto me as taking away the occasion of Pride and Folly though otherwise it can have no good grace in a stranger's fancy During our Stay at Buda we went into a Turkish Convent where the Prior or Superior called Julpapa or Father of the Rose with some of his Brethren brought us into a large Room like a Chappel and entertained us with Melons and Fruit at parting we gratified them with some pieces of Silver which were kindly accepted The Julpapa had his Girdle or Ceinture embossed before with a whitish Stone bigger than the palm of my hand which was Galactites or Milk-stone whereof they have a great opinion because in their belief Mahomet turned a whole River in Arabia into this kind of Stone We lodged at an old Rascians house where we were well accommodated having from it a fair Prospect over the Danube the long Bridge and Pest and a good part of the Country Divers Turks and some Chiauses resorted unto us where they were treated to their content The Master of the House was thought to hold secret correspondence with a Franciscan Friar of Pest and to give intelligence of Occurrences unto the Ministers of State at Gomora Rab and Vienna he prevailed with me to pen a Letter in Latin and Italian wherein I was not unwilling to gratisie him because it contained nothing besides an account of some Prisoners and the encroachment of the Armenian Merchants upon the Trade As we were riding in the City divers of the common Turks murmured that we should ride where they went on foot But I was pleased to see many Turks to salute Seiginor Gabriel the Emperors Courrier in our Company and to take his hand and put it to their foreheads but was much more delighted with the courteous entertainment of Mortizan Ephendi a person of note and who had been an Envoy extraordinary at Vienna He received us in an handsom large Room and treated us with great kindness saying that he desired our company not to any Feast but to a Treat of Affection and Respect such as might declare that we had conversed like friends and eat and drunk together he called for a stool that I might sit down it being then uneasie to me to sit cross-legged and asked me whether I would learn the Turkish Language or whether I would go to the Port and how I liked Buda and among other questions asked what was the King of Poland's name and when I told him Michael Wisnowitski his reply was s mewhat strange unto me saying Michael that 's a good name that 's the name of the greatest Saint in Heaven except Mary and so having entertained us he dismissed us with good wishes At our return to this place after two days stay the Governor sent us with four and twenty Horse Souldiers into Christendom again these guarded us with great care a day and a night till they saw us safe at Dotis But now leaving Buda we travelled by Land Eastward and passing by the ruines of the King of Hungary's Mint-house by Ham Zabbi Palanka and by Erzin we came to Adom in Turkish Tzan Kurteran or anima liberata so named by Solyman the Magnificent because in his hasty retreat from Vienna he first made a quiet stop at this place and there could think himself secure from any pursuit of the imperial Forces This place was afterwards taken by Graff Palsi from thence we came to Pentole or Pentolen Palanka This or Adom is conceived to be the old Potentiana where the Hunnes invading those parts fought a bloody Battel with the Romans under the conduct of Macrinus and Tetricus but were overthrown From hence to Fodwar in sight of Colocza seated on the other side of the Danube in the road to Temeswar formerly an Arch-Bishops See whereof Tomoreus was Bishop whose rashness conferred much unto the loss of Hungary at the Battel of Mohatz Then by Pax or Paxi unto Tolna formerly Altinum or Altinium where the Hunnes being recruited fought a second Battel obtained the Victory and expulsed the Romans though not without the loss of forty thousand of their own men This hath been a very great place but burnt by the Christians The Hungarians and Rascians who inhabit here living in
no good agreement Thence to Jeni Palanka where we passed the River Sarvizza formerly Vrpanus a handsom River arising near Vesprinium and passing Alba Regalis or Stullweissenburg the ancient place of Sepulture of the Hungarian Kings which makes a triangle with Buda and Strigonium and running into the Danube below From thence by Setzwar to Botoseck where we travelled by night and had a Horse-guard of Spahies till we came to Setz a large Town where I observed the ruines of an old Castle and a round Palesado upon the Hill Here is also a new Chan or Caravansara then to Mohatz Before we came to this place we passed by a small Bridge over the Brook Curasse which upon great rains over-flows the Neighbour parts near which Ludovicus the unfortunate King of Hungary perished being stifled in a muddy place where his Horse plunged after the Battel fought with the Forces of Solyman on the other side of the Town We went to see the place where so noble a Prince lost his life and an inconsiderate Battel lost the Crown of Hungary This Battel was fought the 29th day of October in the Year 1526. Cotriscus who was near the King's Person when he was drowned related the manner of it to the Hungarians and shewed them the place where he fell in from whence the King's Body was afterwards taken up entire and carried to Alba Regalis where with great Solemnity it was buried among the Sepulchres of the other Kings of Hungary his Predecessors Hereabouts we met with a Caravan of two or three hundred Persons some going to a place of Devotion and having Janizaries with them to guard them others intending by permission to seat themselves in other parts of Hungary And in divers places I met with numerous droves of Oxen driven towards Vienna upon the account of the Eastern Company of that City who furnish that place and Country about and are permitted to pass free by the Grand Seignior This day we leâ—t Quinque Ecclesiae and Zigeth on the right hand this last is a strong place seated by the side of a Fenn in which there is an Island and beyond that a Castle Count Sereni defended this Place against the Turks with unparalleled Bravery and when he had lost the Town retired into the Island and last of all into the Castle and when there were but four and twenty of them left alive they all Sallied out together choosing rather to die every man than to give Solyman the Magnificent who besieged them any pretence to the Town by their Surrender and Solyman himself died likewise in the Camp and hath a Sword hanging by his Tomb in Constantinople as a peculiar honour to him in regard that he did not only spend a great part of his life but also died in War From hence by Barinowar Darda or Draza unto Esseck or Osseck conceived to be old Mursa or not far from it It is seated low and the Streets are planked with Trees Upon one side of the Gate is part of a Roman Inscription M. AELIAN c. on the other side a Maids head in a Stone there is also a Dyal which is not ordinary brought from Serinwar and the greatest piece of Ordnance which I saw in all those parts not lying upon a Carriage but upon Bodies of Trees But that which is most remarkable here is the well contrived Bridge of Wood made partly over the River Dravus and partly over the Fenns adjoyning being five Miles long being rayled and having Towers at every quarter of a Mile that part over the River Dravus was burnt down by Count Nicolas Serini in the last Wars and another built since He that beholds this Bridge the Towers of Wood upon it the strong rayles and floar and the numerous supporters of it cannot but wonder how they should be supplied with Wood to build it or maintain it But hereof I speak elsewhere this is the greatest Passage in Hungary from Servia and the Turkish Dominions Had this been well defended when Solyman invaded Hungary he had not probably obtained so easie a March unto Buda And to hinder the Supply of the Grand Visiers Army from other parts of Turky Count S rini burned down that part which was built over the Dravus and in his return burnt Quinque Ecclesiae or the City of five Churches which lieth Westward from Esseck From thence we came to Valcovar where there is a handsom wooden Bride over the River Walpo or Valpanus plentiful of Fish and upon which to the Westward stands the Town of Walpo taken by the Turks in the Year 1545. by the Treachery of the Dependants after that it held out three Mâ—nths under the Command of Perennus's Lady and Friends and the Garrison was notwithstanding put to the Sword Then by Sotzin Palanka and Towarnick or Tabornick to Metrouitza a large Town and a great place for a Fair strengthned by the adjacent Lake So to Simonovitz leaving at a good distance on the right hand the famous old Sirmium now an inconsiderable place whereof I have also said somewhat elsewhere They call this Country Schremnia and that more near the Dravus Bossega In this Country many Families and the Inhabitants of divers little Towns live all under ground I had formerly read of Troglodytes and subterraneous Nations about Aegypt but I was much surprized to see the like in this place and could not but say unto my self Now I believe the Troglodytes of old Whereof Herodotus and Strabo told Since every whâ—re about these parts in holes Cunicular men I find and humane Moles Near these Habitations are Wells to supply them with Water which they draw up like Dyers and Brewers and Dogs come out upon Strangers As we travelled by them the poor Christians would betake themselves to their holes like Conies So that to satisfie our curiosities we were fain to alight and enter their houses which we found better than we expected divided into partitions with Wooden Chimneys and a Window at the farther end a little above the ground and all things as neatly disposed as in other poor houses aâ—ove ground although but meanly after the fashion of those parts Their Speech is a Dialect of the Schlavonian Then travelling on between the Danubius and the Savus we came to Zemlin upon the Danul e from whence we had a fair Prospect of Belgrade into the Castle of Zemlin Stephen the usurping King retired and died From hence we passed by Water unto Belgrade Belgrade Taurunum Alba Graeca Greek-Weissenburg or Nandor Alba as the Hungarians call it it is a large strong populous and great Trading City in Servia or Moesia Superior seated at the Confluence of the River Savus and Danubius having the first on the West the other on the North. The Danubius is here very broad runs â—uriously and seems to cut off the Savus as the Rhosne doth the Soane by Lyon in France The Water of the Danube seems more white and yellow troubled and more confused Turbidus
a succus lapidescens and makes a gray Stone It is within two hours going of Bellacherqua or Cursumnè where I observed a Convent and an old Church with two handsom Towers From whence passing over the Hill Jasnebatz we came to Eshelleck between the two Morava's and so by a Castle upon a Hill near unto which is a noted Convent wherein is kept the body of Kenez Lazarus and the body of St. Romanus and so proceeded But I must not forget to say something of Larissa THE DESCRIPTION OF LARISSA AND THESSALY LARISSA is the chief City of Thessaly seated by the River Peneus the chief River of that Country Upon the North it hath the Famous Mountain Olympus and on the South a Plain Country It is now inhabited by Christians Turks and Jews hath fair Bezestens divers Turkish Moschea's and Christian Churches in it It is pleasantly seated and upon a rising ground on the upper part whereof stands the Palace of the Grand Seignior which he hath made use of during his residence in this place it is contrived with jetting large Windows on four sides near which he took his repast and pass-time according as the Wind served or afforded the best ventilation It is also an Arch-Bishop's See having divers Suffragan Bishops under it The Reverend Father Dionysius was then Arch-bishop The Church of St. Achilleus is the Cathedral where I heard Divine Service the Arch-bishop being present and standing in his Throne in his Episcopal habit and his Crosier in his hand when three or four of us Strangers came into the Church he sent one to fume us with Incense and â—weet Odours The Grand Seignior kept his Court in this place for some years in order to his Affairs in Candia and for the great convenience of Hunting and Hawking wherein he exceedingly delights When I came away it was said that he would go to Negroponte but he remained at Larissa some months after until he removed to Saloniâ—hi and afterwards to Adrianople The Greeks who are forward to magnifie the Concerns of their Country speak highly of Mount Olympus and Homer would have it to be the habitation of Jupiter and the Gods and to be without Clouds but unto me some part of the Alpes seem much higher and I have seen Clouds above it and in September there appeared no Snow upon it which the high Peaks in the Alpes Pyrenaean and Carpathian Mountains besides many others in Europe are never without And Olympus also was plentifully supplied with it upon the first Rain that fell in that Country it not being unknown to you I suppose that when it rains upon the Valleys at the same time it snows upon high Mountains and this Hill I must confess to be visible at a great distance for I beheld it from Eccisso Verbeni in Macedonia seventy miles from it and it consists not of one rising Peak as it is sometimes described but is also extended a great way in length and makes good the Epithere of Homer Longum tremere fecit Olympum If the word be there taken nor only for high but long This Hill chiefly extending from East to West makes the Inhabitants at the foot of the North and South sides to have a different temper of Air as if they lived in Climes much distant which makes the expression of Lucan very Emphatical Nec metuens imi Borean habitator Olympi Lucentem tot is ignorat noctibus Arcton Paulus Aemylius the Roman Consul winding about this Hill by the Sea-side overcame King Perseus and so conquered Macedonia When King Antiochus besieged Larissa Appius Claudius raised the Siege by great fires made upon part of Mount Olympus the King apprehending thereby that the whole force of the Romans were coming upon him But the Exploit of the Consul Martius upon this Hill was most remarkable and unparallel'd by any since who being sent against King Philip the last of that Name brought his Souldiers over Olympus by passages unknown and such difficult ways that his men were fain to wallow and make hard shift down and his Elephants by strange contrived Engines somewhat like draw-Bridges one under another were let down into the Plains as Sir Walter Rawleigh hath more largely described the same And as the Grand Seignior hath honoured Larissa by a long aboad in it so King Philip of Macedon the last of that Name did the like for we find he passed the Summer at Larissa the same Year when Hannibal took Saguntus in Spain Whether Xerxes were here when his great Army passed through Thessaly towards Thermopylae Histories do not declare But King Philip Father unto Alexander the Great after he had quieted the Illyrians and Pannonians bent his mind upon Greece in order whereto he took the City Larissa upon the River Peneus and thereby got so good footing in Thessaly that he made great use of the Thessalians in the following Wars with Greece Before the Battle of Pharsabia as Caesar delivers Scipio lay with a Legion in this City and this was the first place unto which Pompey retired after his Overthrow according to that of Lucan Vidit prima tuae testis Larissa ruinae Nobile nec victum fatis caput And not staying there he went along the River and taking Boar went out to Sea and was taken in by great Ship then ready to weigh Anchor The River Peneus which runs by Larissa is the chiefest in Thessaly and into which most of the other Rivers run arising from Mount Pindus and running into the Sinus Thermaicus or Gulf of Salonichi passing by the famous Valley of Tempe and running between Mount Olympus and Ossa into the Sea In that famous Expedition against the Graecians Xerxes would have made his entrance by this way for Herodotus delivers that he failed from Thermae now Salonichi unto the mouth of the River Peneus to observe if there were any passage or any could be made to enter into Thessaly and finding upon enquiry that the River had no other passage and that it could not be turned he said That the Thessalians had done wisely to yield and make their peace with him for by stopping of the River Peneus Thessaly might have been drowned I found the Epithete of Homer very agreeable unto this River for it hath a clear stream and bottom and the Fable of Apollo and Daphne the Daughter of Peneus who was turned into a Bay-Tree had a proper Scene in this place for on the Banks of the River Bay-trees grow plentifully unto this day There is an handsome Stone Bridge over this River consisting of Nine Arches and peculiarly contrived with holes and passage in the solid parts between the Arches to afford some passage unto the water when it is high and hinder the bearing down of the Bridge in high waters and great floods The City being full many Turks had their Tents in the Fields by the River side and lower Grounds which being of various colours and not far from a large Moschea and
Voygats New-Holland West-Friesland Cape d' Hyver c. but I have since met with a Book which doth somewhat contradict this entituled A Voyage into the Northern Countries by Monsieur Martiniere who went in one of the three Ships belonging to the Northern Company of Copenhagen in the year 1653. and by that means had occasion to converse with the Norwegians Islanders Laplanders Kilops Borandians Siberians Zemblians and Samojedes who are Neighbours to the Tartars and Tingorses in his 46 Chapter he expresses himself after this manner There having fallen into my hands several Geographical Charts of sundry eminent and much celebrated Authors I am much amazed to see how they are mistaken in the position of Zembla which they place much nearer the North Pole than really it is they divide it likewise by the Sea from Greenland and place it far distant from it when as indeed those two Countries are Contiguous the Coasts of Greenland butting upon the Coasts of Zembla so as did not the great quantity of Snow and the violence of the cold render those Borders uninhabitable the passage would be very easie by Land from Greenland to Zembla and from Zembla passing the Pater-noster Mountains to enter into Samojedia from thence into Tartary or Muscovy as one pleased I was amazed likewise to see they had described the Streight called Voygat not above ten French Leagues in length whereas it contains above five and thirty Dutch Leagues which is six times as much Again they would perswade us that through that Streight our ships might pass into the great Tartarian Ocean which is a mistake And although they indeed do affirm that in the time of Prince Maurice of Nassaw a Dutch Vessel passed that way into that Ocean yet it is a manifest error that Streight being bounded as I said before by the Pater-noster Mountains which are half a League high and the tops of them covered with perpetual Snow which never dissolves And of this I can give a positive testimony having been my self in that Streight under those Mountains in the Dog-days which is the hottest time of the year From the Steeple of the old Church of Amsterdam I had a good Prospect of the Town and the great number of Ships lying upon one side of it like a Wood and all the Towns about it The Roofs of the Houses being sharp it is a most uneven Town to be looked upon downward as it is a handsome one to be looked on upward and is not so divertising or pleasing to the sight as some Towns in France and Italy which have flatter Roofs or else are covered with a fine black Slat or Ardoise Upon this and all other Towers of the Town a Trumpet is sounded at Midnight and in other parts of the City at six a Clock night and morning At eleven a Clock the time of going on to the Exchange there is good Musick at the Stadthuis given by the Earl of Leicester They make good Harmony also every hour in playing upon their Chimes and Bells in most Steeples And there is a Musick-house or Entertaining-house where any one is admitted for a Stiver hears most sorts of Musick sees many good Water-works and divers motions by Clock-work Pictures and other Divertisements During my stay at Amsterdam I had the opportunity of seeing divers Learned Men and Persons of Note Dr. Ruish shewed us many Curiosities in Anatomy as the Skeletons of young Children and Faetus's of all Ages neatly set together and very white the Lymphatick vessels so preserved as to see the valves in them A Liver excarnated showing the Minute vessels all shining and clear The Muscles of Children dissected and kept from corruption entire Bodies preserved the face of one was very remarkable without the least spot or change of colour or alteration of the lineaments from what might be expected immediately after death he had then kept it two years and hoped it would so continue Dr. Swammerdam shewed us divers of his Experiments which he hath set down in his Treatise De Respiratione and a very sair Collection of Insects brought from several Countries a Stagg-fly of a very great bigness an Indian Scolopendria or Forty-foot a fly called Ephemeron and many other Curiosities Old Glawber the Chymist shewed us his Laboratory And we received much civility from Blasius the Physick Professour who hath wrote a Comment upon Veslingius The Jews live more handsomly and splendidly here than in any other place Their chief Synagogue is large adorned with Lamps of Brass and Silver We happened to be there at the Feast of their New-year so that there blowing of Horns shouting and singing was not omitted Some of them understand divers Languages I saw one Moses di Pas a Learned young Man and Orobio a Physician of Note And I was sorry to see divers here to profess themselves publickly Jews who had lived at least reputed Christians for a long time in other places One who had been a Franciscan Friar thirty years and another who had been Professour some years at Tholouze and before that Physician to the King of Spain Juda Leo a Jew hath taken great pains in making a Model of the Temple of Solomon of Solomon's House the Fort of the Temple the Tabernacle the Israelites encamping and other Curiosities I was present at the Circumcision of a Child which is performed by thrusting a Probe in between the Glans and Praeputium and separating it or dilating the Praeputium so as the inward Skin may be drawn forward as well as the outward then by applying an Instrument joynted like a Carpenters Rule or a Sector the Skin is held fast beyond the Glans and with a broad Incision-knife or Circumcision-knife the Foreskin is cut off close to the Instrument and what remains of Skin is immediately put back the blood stopped with Powders and a Plaister applyed the Relations and Acquaintance singing all the while whereby the cries of the Infant are less heard Leaving Amsterdam I passed by a peculiar Burial-place of the Jews who are not permitted to interr their dead within the Walls by Overskerk Bamburg and in six or seven hours arrived at Vtretcht in a Boat drawn with Horses through artificial Cuts of Water which is the way of Travelling in Holland Vtretcht and divers other Provinces of the Low-Countries Vtrecht is an ancient large handsome City and chief of the Province of the same name called formerly Antonina and afterwards Vltrajectum Long famous for its Episcopal See founded by Dagobert King of France who endowed it richly with Lands and Possessions Willebald or Willebrode an Englishman was their first Bishop who converted these Countries unto Christianity and the following Bishops grew so powerful that they were able to bring many thousand men into the field and to wage great Wars against the Counts of Holland Their Succession also continued for above Nine hundred years It is now an University founded by the States in the Year 1639. I shall not trouble you with the
Names of the Professors the Learned Mr. Ray whom I had the honour to meet in divers places abroad having already caused to be printed the Series Lectionum of this and many other Universities in the Low-Countries Germany and Italy in his Observations Topographical Moral Physiological set forth 1673. The great Church hath a very high Tower or three Steeples one above another From the highest of which I had not only a good sight of the Town it self which lay under mine Eye like a Platform but of many others also Vtretcht being in a plain slat Country and so well seated and encompassed with so populous a Country that in a days Journey a man may go from hence to any one of fifty walled Towns and Cities The English Church here is an ancient Building the Pillar in the middle of it whose Foundation could not be laid but upon Bulls-hides is much taken notice of It was built 1099. and hath the Picture of a Bull upon it with this Inscription Accipe Posteritas quod per tua saecula narres Taurinis cutibus fundo solidata columna est There is an old Library belonging to this Church which contains divers old Books and Manuscripts A large Bille in six Volumes painted and gilded after a very ancient manner Two Idols taken in time of War long since in Germany and given to this place by the Emperor Henry the Fourth are worth the seeing not so much for their neatness as their Antiquity and odd shape As also a Horn made out of a Tooth said to be given at the same time There are also three Vnicorns Horns little differing in length the longest being five foot and an half I drank out of one of them the end being tipp'd with Silver and made hollow to serve for a Cup. These were of the Sea-Vnicorn or the Horn or long wreathed Tooth of some Sea-Animal much like it taken in the Northern Sea of which I have seen many both in Publick Repositories and in Private Hands Two such as these the one Ten foot long were presented not many years since to the King of Denmark being taken near to Nova Zembla and I have seen some full fifteen foot long some wreathed very thick some not so much and others almost plain Some largest and thickest at the End near the head others are largest at some distance from the Head Some very sharp at the end or point and others blunt My honoured Father Sir Thomas Brown had a very fair piece of one which was formerly among the Duke of Curland's Rarities but after that he was taken Prisoner by Douglas in the Wars between Sweden and Poland it came into the hands of my Unckle Colonel Hatcher of whom my Father had it he had also a piece of this sort of Vnicorns Horn burnt black out of the Emperor of Russia's Repositorie given him by Dr. Arthur Dee who was Son to Dr. John Dee and also Physician to the Emperor of Russia when his Chambers were burned in which he preserved his Curiosities I have seen a walking Staff a Scepter a Scabbard for a Sword Boxes and other Curiosities made out of this Horn but was never so fortunate as from experience to confirm its Medical Efficacy against I oisons contagious Diseases or any other evident effect of it although I have known it given several times and in great quantity Mr. Charlton hath a good Vnicorns Horn Sir Joseph Williamson gave one of them to the Royal Society The Duke of Florence hath a fair one The Duke of Saxony a strange one and besides many others I saw eight of them together upon one Table in the Emperors treasure and I have one at present that for the neat wreathing and Elegant shape gives place to none But of these Vnicorns Horns no man sure hath so great a Collection as the King of Denmark and his Father had so many that he was able to spare a great number of them to build a Magnificent Throne out of Vnicorns Horns I had the honour to see divers Persons of Note in this City as D. Cyprianus ab Oesterga Dr. Regius Voetius the only Member then left alive of the Synod of Dort and others but missed the sight of the learned Anna Maria Skurman who was then gone out of Town and was forced to content my self with beholding her Picture well drawn by her own hand with this Inscription of hers under it Cernitis hic picta nostros in Imagine vultus Si negat aâ—sformam gratia vestra dabit The Painters Hall is considerable wherein are many good pieces to be seen of several Masters Amongst which there are good Heads by Van Colen and Tuart Land-skips by Soft-lever and good Drapery especially in some Turkish Habits by Vander Mere. This Town is also beautified with a fair Piazza or Market-place divers long Streets and a Pall-mall with five rows of Trees on each side In the Church of St. Katherine is the Tomb of my Lord Gorge Though I had seen France and Italy and the Noble Cities thereof which are worthily admired by all yet I was much surprized upon the first sight of the Vnited Provinces especially of Holland and the adjoyning places He that hath observed the easie accomodation for Travel therein both by Land and Water their excellent order and regular course in all things the number of Learned Men the abundance of Varieties in all kinds the industry frugality and wealth of the People their numerous good Towns their extraordinary neatness in their Buildings and Houses their proper Laws and administration of Justice and their incredible number of Shipping and Boats will think it an omission to rest in the fight of other Countries without a view of this A Country of little extent and soon travelled over but so replenished with People with good Cities fair Towns and Villages as not to be met with upon so little a compass of ground except perhaps in China From Vtrecht in two hours I came to Friswick and passed over the River Leck to Vianen where there is little remarkable besides the House and Gardens of Count Brederode one of the Ancient Nobility of Holland or according to common esteem of the most Noble Family of all the Family of the Egmonds being formerly esteemed the Richest the Wassenaer's the most ancient and the Brederodes the Noblest The Mount in this Garden serves for the Rampart to the Town and on a round Bullwark are divers small brass Guns planted The Statua's of the twelve Caesars of Aristotle the Pyramids and Partitions with the Paintings upon the wall are the rest of its Ornaments From hence I passed still by Boat through the Land of Arkel some say derived from Hercules belonging formerly to the Lords of Gorchom and Arkeland till by Mary daughter to the last Lord of Arkeland it fell to John Lord of Egmond and was afterwards sold to William the sixth Earl of Holland I arrived this night at Gorchom a Town well seated near three Rivers the
in and where the Prince came over into the Town The Gallery the Garden the Walks and Dials are worth the seeing the Town is handsomly built populous and generally hath a great Garrison in it Leaving Breda we soon came by Land to St. Gertruydenberg the last Town on the North of Brabant where it joyned to the Province of Holland a small place but a good Town for fishing lying upon a Hill near the great broad Water called de Waert made by the falling of the Maes and many other Rivers into it This Town is fortified and Garrisoned The Church and Steeple have been Large and fair and the ruines of the Latter are observable in regard that this Steeple was shot down by a Stratagem of the Prince of Orange while the Governor and chief of the Town were upon it to observe a false alarm in the Prince's Camp and so lost themselves and the Town We passed from hence over a large Water which hath overflow'd a great part of the Country upon one side of it no less than seventy two Parishes being drowned at once the Village of Ramsdun only escaping and so by an old Tower called the house of Murvey to the Maiden Town of Dort or Dordrecht Dordracum so called by some from Duri or Dureti forum at present Dort being seated in the Waves of those great Lakes made by the Maes and Waal is not unaptly from its situation compared to a Swans nest it is reckoned the first and chief Town of South Holland in respect of its antiquity as having served to secure Odocer in his retreat almost eight hundred years since and also in respect of its Privileges in having the Mint here and being the Staple for Rhenish wine and English Cloth In this Town are many fair houses and pleasant Gardens The great Church is large the Steeple 312 steps high the top thereof being made of four large Dyalls There is also an Exchange or Place for Merchants to meet The English have two Churches and the French one The Key or Head to the water side is handsome and the Country about very pleasant we saw the Chamber wherein the Synod of Dort was assembled 1611. a large fair room and took a collation in the same house in a high turret overlooking the Town and Country Our seats Moving round about the Table continually so as the diversity of the prospect made it more delightful The great Vessels round-bellied which trade between Coln and this City seemed strange as also the long Luyck or Liege-boats and the number of People that continually live in them At my going away from hence I embarked in a Vessel bound for the Island of Walcheren sayling by most of the Islands of Zealand and in sight of divers good Towns as Willemstadt Zirickzee Tergoes observing in some places where the Sea had overflow'd the Land and in others where the Industry of the Inhabitants still keep it out by keeping up their banks and thatching the Shoars of the Sea We Landed at Ter-Vere where there is a good Haven and Harbour for Ships the Walls were built in the year 1357 towards the Sea are round towers The Piazza is long The Scotch have had a Factory here for above two hundred years and the Marquiss of this Place did formerly make one of the three States by which Zealand was Governed The Abbot of St Nicholas in Middleburg representing the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction and the Towns of Middleburg Zirickze Ter-Vere Flussing Tolen Martins-dike Romerswal and Tergoes supplying the Third over against this place where a Town had formerly sunk into the Sea the Steeple only remains to be seen From hence to Middleburg the way is Paved with Brick as it is also from Town to Town in most places of Holland Middleburg is the chief Town in the Island Walachria seated almost in the middle of it being well built large rich and Populous it is the fourth Port for the East-India trade hath a large broad Water within the Town and a streight cut through the Land to carry Vessels out to Sea the whole is very well Fortified the Officers here are chosen by strangers or Foreigners the Churches are many and remarkable the new Church is of an eight-square figure with a Cupola the Tower of the old great Church very high the Stadthuise with the old statua's about it the round Piazza and many private buildings are Considerable and the whole Country about it is fruitful either divided into Gardens and Orchards or Planted with Madder Pompions or Grain and Fruits The Zealanders are generally addicted to the interest of the Prince of Orange and great Lovers of his Person I found them not a little delighted that the Prince had been with them some days before and was made Premier Noble or chief of the States of Zealand which was chiefly brought about as I was informed by Pensioner Hubert le Sage Duvelaer and Vriebergen formerly no great friends to the Prince especially Vriebergen who was the most earnest of any to bring him in in despite to the Hollanders for General Wâ—rts his sake who being set over the Zealand forces by those of Amsterdam lately affronted Vriebergen's Son who was a Colonel at the Head of his Regiment I was entertained at Middleburg very courteously by Mr. Hill the Minister who also sent his Kinsman with me to Flussing Flissinga or Vlussing hath Stone-Walls towards the Sea and Mudworks towards the Land a very good Port and a strong Town the waves of the Sea washing it walls it was one of the first Towns which the Low Country men took from the Spaniards in the year 1572 and was made Cautionary to Queen Elizabeth together with Rammaki ns and the Briel 1585. The renowned Sir Philip Sidney being the first Governor of it and surrendered by King James to the United states 1616. The Sea shoar here abouts is not only faced with rushes flaggs and reeds staked down as high as the Tide usually arises but it is also strongly bound over with Osiers and hurdles and great Posts driven in to break the force of the Water and secure the Piles which make the Harbour or Havens mouth The Town-house is handsomly built standing in the Piazza having three rows of Pillars in the Front one above another the Lower Dorick the second Ionick and the highest Corinthian and on the top there is a Gallery or Balcony to Discover ships at Sea This is the third Port for the East India trade Amsterdam and Rotterdam being the first and second here lay many great ships in the middle of the Town and considerable men of War as the St. Patrick and the Admiral of Zealand we saw them also building of divers ships and when the Prince was here they lanched one to divertise him to which he gave the name of William Frederick they also presented him with a Golden Bottle that being the Arms of the Town the Prince Landed at Armuyden and went from thence to Tergoes
and thence to Breda they reported his entertainment in Walcheren amounted to fifty thousand Guldens The Women in this Island wear most of them red Cloth and straw-Hats if a Man dies a great bundle of Straw is laid at the Door if a Boy a little one if a Woman the straw lies on the left side of the Door when any woman is brought to bed they fasten a piece of Lawne to the ring and rapper of the Door and make it up into a little baby or puppet finely pleated and in such manner as to distinguish of what sex the young Child is Returning to Middleburg by Land I observed there was a row of Trees round the Town between the moat and rampart where ordinarily there is only a breast-work or a hedge and embarked at Middleburg again and passed down the River by the fort Rammakins and so for the Schelde Sayling up that noble River till we had passed the Fort Frederick Henrick and came to Lillo where we stayed till the Vessel was searched Over against Lillo lies another Fortification called Lifgens hoek the Fort de la croix is the last that belongs to the Hollanders and lies on the North side of the River the Banks are cut nigh to it and the Country drowned for its greater Security The Spanish Forts hereabouts to defend the Frontiers are the Philip the Pearl and the Maria. The River Scaldis or Scheld mentioned by Caesar is a gallant River affording plenty of Fish and convenience for Navigation and passage unto several noted places It arises in the Country of Vermandois passing to Cambray Valencienne so to Tournay or Dornick Oudenard Gaunt Rupelmond and Antwerp and pursuing its course is afterwards divided into two streams whereof the Southern is called the Hont the other runs by Bergen ap Zome and afterward into the Sea between the Isles of Zealand The next day morning we went on our Voyage still up the Scaldis or Schelde and arrived at Antwerp Where I had the good fortune to see Mr. Hartop one very well known in all those parts and of high esteem for his personal strength and valour A Gentleman also so courteous that he makes it his business to oblige strangers he shew'd me many curiosities in this City carrying me with him in his Coach The Walls of Antwerp are very large faced with Brick and Free-stone having divers rows of Trees upon them broad walks and conveniences for the Coaches to make their tour upon The Bastions are not so large as generally they build now a dayes yet after the modern way The Ditch is very broad and deep the Country about it all Gardens The Cittadel is a regular Fortification of five Bastions wherein lies always a Garrison of Spanish Souldiers upon every curtain there are two mounts or Cavaliers and between them below a row of building or lodgings for the Souldiers the ears of the Bastions are cut down and Casamates made or Case matte and Palisado's set round upon the Esplanade the Walls are lined with excellent Brick and Stone nor is there any where a more regular beautiful Fortification of five Bastions that is finished it commands the City the River and the Country besides this Cittadel there is another Fort within the Town near the Schelde to command the River having eight Guns in it called St. Laurence Fort. The Exchange is handsome supported by 36 Pillars every one of a different carving four streets lead unto it so that standing in the middle we see through every one of them The Meer or Largest street is considerable for the water running under it and for the meeting of Coaches upon it every evening to make their tour through the streets of the City which are clean and beautiful at one end of it stands a large Brass Crucifix upon a Pedestal of Marble The Jesuites Church goes far beyond any of that bigness that I have seen out of Italy The Front is noble with the Statua of Ignatius Loyala on the top A great part of the inside of the Roof was painted by Rubens and some of it by Van Dyke there be many Excellent peices of flowers done by Segers a Jesuite the Carving and gilding of all the works is exquisite The Library of the College is great and the Books disposed handsomely into four Chambers the Founder hereof was Godfridus Houtappel whose Monument together with his Wife and Children are worth the seeing in a Chappel on the South side of this Church In the Church of the Carmeli tes is a large Silver Statua of our Lady and models of Cities in stone Onser Lieven-Vrowen Kerck or the Church of our blessed Lady is the greatest in the City and the Steeple one of the fairest in World five hundred foot high one of their feet is eleven of our inches so as it is 459 of our feet In this Church there is much carving and a great number of Pictures highly esteemed among which one piece is much taken notice of drawn by Quintin at first a Smith who made the neat Iron work of the Well before the West door and afterwards to obtain his Mistress he proved a famous Painter his head is set up in Stone at the entrance of the Church with an inscription and this verse Connubialis amor de Mulcibre fecit Apellem I was at the famous Abby of St. Michael pleasantly seated upon the Schelde where among other curiosities I saw a glass which represented the Pictures of our Saviour and and the Virgin Mary collected from the putting together of divers other heads One was represented from a Picture wherein were thirteen faces and another from one of twelve over the blessed Virgin was this Inscription Diva nitet varis expressa Maria Figuris The Countess of Brabant's Tomb who was drowned and her Statua as also the Monument of Ortelius are here shewn Marcarius Simoneus was then Abbot the Monks 63. Near unto the Wharf-gate is the Church of St. Walburgis an English Saint who contributed much towards the conversion of these Countries The Town-house is fair the House built for the East-country Merchants is very stately and large but runs now to ruine in this I saw among other curiosities divers strange Musical instruments which at present are not understood or at least not made use of The Hessen house hath been also formerly considerable The water which they make use of in Brewing is brought by an Aqueduct from Herentall about thirty miles distant from hence and is conveyed into the Town by a large Channel peculiarly walled in by it self where it passes the Ditch in this City are many good collections of Pictures both Ancient and Modern and excellent Miniature or Liming by Gonsol one fine piece which I saw was peculiarly remarkable it being the work of 35 several Masters From Antwerp I passed to Brussels by water changing Boats five times and going through divers locks by reason the Country is so much higher about Brussels and the water
above two hundred foot lower at Antwerp At Fontaine a league and half from Brussels three Rivers cross one another one of them being carried over a bridge The Piazza of Brussels is fair and oblong in figure upon one of the longest sides stands the Town-house and over against it the Kings-house where upon a Scaffold hanged with Velvet Count Egmond and Horne were â—â—headed the whole Piazza being hanged with Black Cloth Upon the top of the Town-house stands St. Michael the Patron of the City in Brass Count Marsin's house formerly belonging to the Prince of Orange hath a fair Court and overlooks a good part of the City but a quarter of it is ruined by Lightning The Thunderbolt or Stone which they affirm to have effected it is bigger than two Mens heads and hangs up upon the door at the entrance The Jesuites Church is handsom and in it the fair white Tower is beautifully gilded at the top The Carmelites Church hath a noble Altar and near unto the Church is the Statua of a pissing boy which is a continual Conduit The Armory was well furnished as we were informed before the Governors of the low Countries sold the Arms and Cassel Roderigo the Governor left it very bare There remains the Armour of Charles the fifth of Duke Albert of the Prince of Parma Ernestus and of the Duke d'Alva and of the Duke Alberts horse who being shot saved his Master and died the same day twelve month Spears for the hunting the wild Boar one with two Pistols The Armour of Cardinal Infante and of an Indian King A Polish musket which carries six hundred paces Charles the Fifth's Sword for the making the Knights of the Golden Fleece and Henry the Fourth's Sword sent to declare war Good Bucklers for Defence and some well wrought especially one with the Battel of Phrrhus and his Elephants and banners taken with Francis King of France at the Battel of Pavia Somewhat like Godfrey of Bouillons shooting the three Pigeons near the Tower of David is the shot which Infanta Isabella made when with an Arrow she killed a Bird in memory whereof a Bird pierced with an Arrow is set upon the top of a Tower in the Court which is large and if the New Buildings and Design were continued it would be very handsome Before the Court stands five brass Statues The Park is pleasant with Trees set in order and adorned with Grotto's Fountains and Water-works which come very near the Italian one piece somewhat imitating Frascati in which all Musical Instruments are imitated and a perpetual motion attempted and on the Front of the Buildings stand the Caesars heads But the Echo is most remarkable which may perfectly be distinguished to ten or twelve Replies The greatest Church is that of St. Gudula in which is her Statua the Devil striving to blow out the Light of her Lanthorn The two Chappels therein are remarkable the one built by Leopoldus very fair on the out-side the other towards the North hath been visited by five Kings in which is the Host which bled being stabbed by the Jews In the Dominican Church is the Monument of the Duke of Cleve and his Dutchess in Corinthian brass But for a New Church that of the Begennes or Pious Maids is very considerable there being Eight hundred of them in this City who have a particular place allotted to them where they have built this milk-white Church The Plague was much in this place at that time three hundred Houses being shut up and Garlands placed on the doors in the middle of which was written IH †S. I saw the English Nunnery and other considerable Buildings And after I had refreshed my self at the Fish-Tavern which is worth the seeing especially for two Rooms in it furnished from top to bottom with very good Pictures I returned to Antwerp Octob. 4. I travelled through an open Country and lodged at Molin brusle The Spanish Souldiers met us upon the Road this day some of them well mounted and armed and begged of us and were well satisfied with a small Benevolence The next day we entred the Country of Liege and passed great Heaths and on the Sixth in the morning arrived at Maestreicht Trajectum ad Mosâ—m or Maestreicht is a strong Town seated upon the Maes four Leagues below Liege The Out-works are very considerable the Wall is old Towards the South-east lies a Hill which arises gently and overlooks part of the Town Under this Hill is one of the noblest Quarries of Stone in the World To secure the Town from the disadvantage it might receive from this Hill there was formerly a Fort built upon it but it hath been long since slighted and they have made out an Horn-work within Musket-shot of it and the Bastion answering to it is made very high to cover the Town On the other side of the River stands Wicke very well fortified also and rather stronger than Maestreicht into which they might retire if the Town should be taken by Storm it being united to Maestreicht by a handsom Bridge over the Maes consisting of Nine Arches All about Wicke the Country is flat there are many Inhabitants in it and a handsom Glass-house The private Houses of Maestreicht are generally covered with a black Slat or Ardoise otherwise not very beautiful The Town-house is fair seated in one of the Piazza's built of white Stone it hath Nine large Windows in a row on each side and within is very well painted by Theodorus van der Schuer who was Painter to the Queen of Sweden In another Piazza is a Fountain rows of Trees and the great Church This Town was besieged and taken from the King of Spain by the Confederate States in the year 1632. October the Seventh I dined at Gollop a small place and came that night to Aken Aix la Chapelle or Aquisgrane an ancient noble City the Inhabitants Courteous and much frequented by reason of its hot Baths of which I shall speak more particularly in my Journey from Colen to London Leaving Aken I travelled towards Juliers or Gulick but it being late before we arrived the Gates were shat up so as we went only under the Walls leaving it on our right hand Near unto Gulick runs a shallow swift River called the Roer At the Mouth of it where it falls into the Maes is seated a considerable Town called Roermonde through which I passed in the year 1673. when Sir Lioncl Jenkens and Sir Joseph Willamson were sent Plenipotentiaries to Cologne in our Journey from Antwerp to that City We then pasâ—ed the Country of Brabant by the way of Thornhaut Weert Roermonde and the next Night passing by Erkelens lodged at Castro or Caster in Gulickland where there are still the remains of an old Castle formerly built for the Defence of that part of the Country Roermonde is seated upon a rising Hill near the River Roer hath a Colledge of Jesuits in it a handsome Piazza and an
old Abby with divers Monuments very ancient founded by Gerard Earl of Guelderland From this Town their Excellencies were saluted with the Guns from their Walls charged with Bullets The Spaniards in most places striving to express the highest of their respects From Gulick I travelled to Cologne where I arrived October the 10 th 1668. A JOURNEY FROM COLEN TO VIENNA COlen Coln or Colonia Agrippina was anciently the Capital City of the Vbii a people who were at first possessed of the Countries now called Berg and March but being over-run by the Germans next to them Agrippa Lieutenant of Gallia received them into protection and placed them upon this side of the Roman shoar of the Rhine where they built this place and called it Opidum Vbiorum and the Romans seating themselves here for the defence of the Country in Honour of Agrippina daughter to Germanicus and wife to Claudius whose Birth place it was gave it afterwards the Name of Colonia Agrippina It is at present one of the largest if not the greatest of any City in Germany secured towards the Land by a high Wall and two deep Trenches and towards the Water by a Wall of Stone The Rhine renders it delightful upon one side and divers rows of Trees enclose the Town towards the Land They have some Out-works as Half-moons and Ravelins but their best security is in the great number of men which they are able to raise within themselves Many of the Streets are broad and paved with broad stones It received the Christian Faith very early and Maternus was their Bishop above 1350 years since who subscribed amongst others to the Council of Arles They have a great number of Churches and well endowed which take up a great part of the Town the Prebends and Canons Houses having in many places Vincyards and large Gardens adjoyning Towards the North end of the Town the Church of St. Kunibald is considerable The Convent of the Dominicans is fair and newly built with a Garden in the Court and all the Chambers uniform The Jesuites Church is well built and stored with rich Copes Altar-pieces and other Ornaments In the Church of St. Gereon a Saint of great name here martyred about Colen in the time of Maximianus are about a thousand Saints heads and on each side of the Altar a large Statua whereof one is of a Moor and under the Quire another Church The Convent of the Carmelites is also considerable wherein the Treaty of Peace was held with good accommodation in it though with no success in the year 1673. In the Church of St. Vrsula is her Tomb and the Tombs of divers of the Eleven thousand Virgins martyred by the Huns. Upon the Monument of St. Vrsula is this Inscription Sepulchrum Sanctae Vrsulae indicio Columbae detectum Upon many of the Tombs which are old are Crosses and Lamps Many Bones and Heads of the Martyrs are also kept in this Church The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter and is very large but not finished The Body of the Church hath four rows of Pillars within it The Quire is handsome and very high behind it are believed to be the Tombs of the three Wise men which came from the East to worship our Saviour or the Kings of Arabia of whom it was prophesied that they should bring Gifts commonly called the three Kings of Colen Melchior who offered Gold Gaspar Frankincense and Balthasar Myrrh Their Bodies as the account goes were first removed to Constantinople by Helena the Mother of Constantine the Great then to Milan by Eustorsius Bishop thereof and they have now rested at Colen for above five hundred years being translated from Milan hither by Rainoldus Bishop of Colen in the year 1164. There are also divers other Monuments of Bishops and Noble Persons in Brass and Stone and one in the shape of a Castle with six Towers The Canons of this Church are all Noblemen among whom the Duke of Newburg who ordinarily resides at Dusseldorff about twenty English miles below this City upon the Rhine hath two Sons In a Church dedicated to all the Apostles they shew us a Tomb which being opened by Thieves intending to plunder it the Woman buried in it arose up and went home and lived with her Husband divers years after In one of the Streets is a Tower or rather one Tower upon another which seems to be ancient now made a Prison Upon another Ruine also in the Streets lies a Tomb made out of one Stone of which sort of Tombs there are many in this City and other places but the greatest number of them I ever saw was at Arles in Provence The Senate House is Noble having a fair Tower upon it from whence there is a good prospect over the City Upon the Front of the Senate House is a Man in Basso relievo fighting with a Lyon who as it was related to me was formerly one of the Consuls who having had a contest with some Clergy-men about the Government of the City on a suddain they caused a Lyon to be let in upon him upon which occasion he behaved himself so well as he delivered himself and slew the Lyon The Elector or Archbishop of Colen hath two Places in the City but by agreement between him and the Town he is not to stay here above three days together Only this present Archbishop upon the coming down of the Imperial Forces and his loss of Bonna took Sanctuary here in the Convent of St. Pantaleon where he continued a great while The City is Imperial and Free and yet it doth Homage to the Elector much after this Form We free Citizens of Colen promise to the Archbishop to be faithful and favourable unto him as long as he preserves us in Right and Honour and in our ancient Pivileges Vs our Wives our Children and our City of Colen Most of the City are of the Roman Church and the whole Town so full of Convents Churches Church-men and Reliques that it is not undeservedly styled the Rome of Germany The Lutherans have also a Church within the Walls and the Calvinists at Malheim half a League down the stream on the other side of the Rhine Over against Colen lies Dutz a small Village inhabited chiefly by Jews The Vessels which come out of tho Low-Countries hither are long round bellied and of great burden Near to the Wall of the Town upon the Quay or Key is a kind of Harbour made for them into which they may be drawn and escape the Injuries they would otherwise suffer by the Ice in Winter Besides the rich Clergy there are many wealthy Citizens and Merchants here and they maintain a Traffick and Correspondence with divers Countries especially by the convenience of the Rhine They speak not the best High-dutch but Latin and French are understood by many Divers Hosts in Inns speak Latin and the Servants French which proves a good help unto Travellers It was made an University about the year 1388. Besides the General
being dark before we came to Mospach the Peasants conducted us from Village to Village with bundles of lighted Straw The next day we came to Poxberg where there is an old Castle and in the afternoon reached Morkenthal or Mergetheim the Seat of the Grand Master of the Herrhn Deutchern or the Teutonick Order The Town is well built hath a fair Piazza with a large Fountain in it and a Statue of one of the Grand Masters with a long Corridore from his Palace This Order hath been of great Fame and hath had large Possessions as may be seen in the exact Account of the Teutonick Knights of Prussia made out from the best Authors by my worthy honoured Friend Mr. Ashmole in his Noble Description of the Order of the Garter and as Lewis du May Counsellor unto the Duke of Wirtenberg hath set it down For the Knights Templers and of St. John having fought prosperously against the Infidels raised an Emulation in some German Gentlemen who waited upon the Emperor Frederick the First in his Expedition to the Holy Land to take the Croisado And because they were installed in the Church and Hospital of St. Mary at Jerusalem they were called Marianites Their Order differed nothing from those above-mentioned but in the form and colour of their Cross and was approved by Pope Celestin the Third Afterwards when Jerusalem was taken by Saladin those Knights betook themselves to Ptolemais from whence the Emperor Frederick the Second sent them back into Germany and employed them against the Prussians and Livonians who at that time were still Pagans But by the Valour and Piety of those Knights their Souls were brought into subjection to Christ and their Bodies to the Order which began that War in the year 1220. a little while after these Knights found themselves Masters of a Country of very large Extent which obeyed the Order till the year 1525. at which time Sigismond King of Poland gave the investiture of Prussia unto Albert Marquess of Brandenburg In the year 1563. the Great Master became Secular again and took a part of the Lands subject to the Order with the name of Duke of Curland And Livonia having been the Subject and Theatre of many Wars between the Polanders Muscovites and Swedes these last did at length become Masters of it and have it in possession still So that there is no more remaining of the Teutonick Order but some Commanderies scattered here and there in Germany And the Great Master hath his Seat and Residence at Mergenthal They wear on a white Matle a plain black Cross The Dignity of Grand Master is generally held by some Great and Honourable Person and in the Great Assembly he takes place of al Bishops The present is the Baron of Amring and the Grand Master before him was Leopold William only Brother to the Emperor Ferdinand the Third From hence we travelled to Lauterbach near which we passed through a Wood and found a Noble Church upon the top of a high Hill which being much frequented by Pilgrims they have made handsome stone Stairs from the bottom to the top then to Rotenburg and lodged at Burgperner and the next day by Schantzbach we came to Nurenberg Rotenburg is an Imperial City which some have likened unto Jerusalem for its Situation upon hilly places and many Turrets in it It is Situated near the head of the River Tauber which may be accounted the second River of Franconia passing by Rottingen Lander and Werthaim where it runs into the Main Nurenberg is the fairest City that I saw in Germany the Houses most of them of Free-stone very high and divers of them painted on the outside and adorned with gilded Balls on the top many are of six or seven Stories high Der Herr Peller hath one of the fairest The City is very populous and full of Trade although it stands in a barren Country and wants a Navigable River The three best Churches are the Hospital Church lately built very fair St. Laurence which is very large with two high Steeples in the Front and St. Sebald the best of the three The Body of St. Sebald being laid upon a Cart drawn with Oxen in that place where the Oxen stood still they buried the Body and erected this Church in his Memory In this Church is a Crucisix of Wood very well carved and esteemed at a high rate The Crucisix without the Church is very great and of a black colour and some fancy that the Raht Herrn or Magistrates of the Town have reposited a Treasure within it The Pulpit is well carved and gilded and the whole Church so stately that it may pass in the first rank of Lutheran Churches that Religion being here practised in its splendour The Priest every morning reads the Scripture to the people for half an hour or preaches a Sermon The Town-house is well worth the seeing In it the Hall is spacious as also the Chambers and furnished with good Pictures and Stoves well gilded and painted with white and gold green and gold dark coloured and gold and the like There is one Picture of most of the Great Persons in Germany entertained in the Great Hall another of the three Brothers of Saxony one of an Elephant as big as the life a piece of St. John and St. Mark and another of St. Peter and St. Paul both by Albert Durer but the most rare piece is that of Adam and Eve by the same Master with this Inscription Albertus Durer Almang faciebat post Virginis partum 1507. Another excellent one is that of St. Luke drawing the Picture of our Saviour and the blessed Virgin Over the Gate at the entrance of the Shambles is a large Oxe carved in Wood and painted over with this Inscription Omnia habent ortus suaque incrementa sed ecce Quem cernis nunquam Bos fuitâ—â—ic Vitulus The Castle stand upon a high Hill from whence the Town makes a handsome show In it are observable a very deep well the Emperors Chappel his Picture and the Pictures of the Electors good Night pieces and one of a man behind a white Curtain transparent very well expressed The Armour of Hebbele van Gailinghen the great Sorcerer is here shown and in the Wall of the Castle the marks of his Horses feet when he leaped from thence over the Town ditch The new Fountain was not then finished but the Statua's in Brass made for it were excellent the Sea Horses large the Sea-Nymphs much bigger than the life and N ptune who was to stand on the top is above three yards and a halfhigh When I came first into this place I was not a little surprized to behold the fairness of the Houses handsome Streets different Habits industrious People and neatness in all things more than I had observed in German Cities before and no place hath greater number of curious Artificers in Steel Brass Ivory Wood wherein they work at an extraordinary cheap rate and there are Officers to
the Court and in the City but the Common Country people seemed to speak grumblingly and besides their accent have divers words different from other parts They have a Custom upon St. Nicholas-day to put some small Gift into the Childrens shooes among other things they put in Medals and Dollars made of paper and flour gilded and silvered over yet scarce worth a penny They sell Trochies or Tablets in the markets made of the pulp of the Fruit of Hip-briar made sharp with Spirit of Sulphur very refreshing Some carry about them a Thunder-stone as a defence against Thunder and they rub their Childrens Gums with a Wolf's tooth instead of Coral When I was at Venice in the time of the Carnival I observed many Recreations and Shews as Rope-dancing flying down the Rope cuting off Bulls-necks with Swords and many other But at Vienna a notable trick which I saw there pleased me much A man of a middle Stature laid down upon his back and a heavy Anvil was placed upon his Breast as much as two men could well list then two other men with great Hammers laid on until they had given almost an hundred blows and cut in sunder a great Horshooe of iron about half an inch thick Here is no Christian Religion publickly permitted but the Roman and therefore those of the Protestant and Reformed Religion are fain to resort to Presburg Forty miles off for which they have some convenience by the Danube and a Coach which goes every day In the time of Maximilian the Second they were permitted the Exercise of their Religion in the Church of the Holy Cross in the City of Vienna But afterwards were prohibited by Rodolphus the Second The Emperor Matthias gave them permission to meet at Hernals a little more than an English mile from Vienna and gave leave to their Ministers to come into the City and there to christen marry baptize and visit the sick From which time they encreased very much till Ferdinand the Second returning from the Battel of Prague banished their Minister from Vienna and Arnolds sent the Freyherr Jorger to whom the Castle of Arnolds belonged Prisoner unto Lintz and never gave over till he had taken away their Privileges and Freedom of meeting publickly in any part of lower Austria But here are no small number of Jews who have a distinct Habitation assigned them over the Water They have also a Street allowed them in the City for the day time but they must all depart at night beyond the River into the Suburbs They are much distasted by the Citizens and Tradesmen and the Scholars agree but ill with them While I was at Vienna there was a quarrel between them to an high degree For the Scholars assaulted the Jews Town beat wounded and threw divers of them into the River Divers Scholars were wounded some killed and also some Souldiers who were commanded out to compose the Fray and the Jews Town was guarded many days by the Souldiers of the City This begot such ill Blood and Complaints that a good number of the Jews were to be banished at a certain day The Jews to ingratiate with the Empress then with Child presented her with a noble Silver Cradle but she would not receive it and there was great danger of the general banishment of them when I left that City which was afterwards effected they being severely prohibited from living not only at Vienna but in any part of Austria where there were formerly whole Villages of them so as they were forced to betake themselves into the Dominions of the Turk unto Venice into Poland and Bohemia They being not permitted to dwell in the Neighbour Countries of Hungary subject to the Emperor Styria or Carinthia But many of them went to Buda and were besieged there in the year 1684 and becoming obstinate haters of the Germans they assisted the Turks with their Purses and with what else they were able to maintain the Town against the Imperial Forces I must confess they seemed useful to Vienna for ready accommodation of any thing either by sale or exchange but the people looked with an ill eye upon them as taking away much of their Trade and Employment They also looked upon them as useless to them in war for the defence of the place as Souldiers and were not without some jealousie that they held Correspondence with the Turks and gave them Intelligence of their Affairs Yet the Souldiery dealt much with them and Captains for the suddain habiting furnishing and accommodating of their Companies And dining one day with a Commander at a Jew's House amongst other Discourse I asked the Jew concerning the ten Tribes and where they were He said they were far off in Asia b yond a great Lake which was continually stormy and scarce passable but upon their Sabbath-day upon which days the Jews do not willingly travel I have seen their Circumcision at Rome Padua and other parts Their Physicians ordinarily profess great skill in Vrines and the common people resort unto them rather than unto Christians and are so credulous and have such an opinion of them that they might be made to believe they have some old Receipts of King Solomon There are many Jews in Italy yet they seem to me to be in greater numbers in Germany In Amsterdam they are also grown very numerous At Franckfurt they told me there were seven thousand of them which seemed scarce credible At Colen they are in great numbers at Hamburg not a few But the greatest number surely is in Prague Though they be permitted in many Countries yet divers Christian Princes and States have assigned them some mark in their Habits to distinguish them In Avignon their Hats are yellow In Italy their Hats are covered over with Taffate In Germany they wear Ruffs and Gowns with great Capes In Holland I observed no distinction But the Jews there most of them having come out of Portugal there may be some suspicion of them from their complexion Lastly when I consider the old strength of Vienna consisting in an old wall and a deep Ditch I cannot much wonder that Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary took this City And I must ascribe it under God unto the singular valour and resolution of the Defendants that Solyman the Magnificent with two hundred thousand men was not able to take it and though he made large breaches could never enter it but lost some thousands at an Assault and departed at last with the loss of a great part of his Army But this place is now in a far better condition strongly fortified and able to resist the greatest Forces of Turky The houses are cleared from the wall and yet for better security when I was there Count Souches advised the Emperor to pull down part of the Suburbs upon the other side of the nearest branch of the Danube left the Turks might take advantage to play upon the two Bastions on that side The first hath on the obverse the head of the
a Marble Pillar between each Horse and for every Horse there is placed in a niche of the Wall a Rack of Steel and Manger of Marble and over his Head hangs a Picture of the Horse as big as the Life with his Name under it Among the rest I observed that a Bay-horse had for his Name Monte d'Oro a Mare Bel a donna another Espagnoletta and his most beloved Horse was named Mas Queride Some have thought that the best high German is spoken in this part of Prague and there living so many of the Nobility and great Persons it is not to be wondred at that their Language is better than ordinary But the common Language of Bohemia is a Dialect of the Sclavonian though very many speak also High dutch as we found in all our passage through that Country Koningsmark being with his Forces on the Frontiers of Bohemia a discontented Colonel of the Imperialists came unto him making it probable that he might surprize Hratschin and the lesser side of Prague which he suddainly attempted and so successfully that he surprized many Officers and old Colaredo in his Bed getting so great a Booty that he could scarce carry it away A Part of Prague is inhabited by Jews and called the Jews Town there are no small number of them and many rich as trading in all Commodities and have good skill in Jewels and several sorts of Stones digged out of the Mines in Bohemia I bought some Bohâ—mian Topazes of them neatly cut and well-figured and some which were very large and clear were at the rate of seven or eight Dollars During my sâ—ay here I had a great desire to have saluted Johannes Marcus Marci a famous Physician and Philosopher of Prague and also to have induced him to a Correspondence with the Royal Society but I understood that he had left this World to the great grief of Learned Men in these and other parts Many here do speak still of John Huss and Jerome of Prague and I have seen Silver Medals of them They were surely very notable men and I shall only set down what Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pius the Second said of them Johannes aetate major authoritate doctrinâ â—acundiâ— superior Hieroâ—ymus pertulâ—runt ambo constanti animo necem quasi ad Epulum invitati ad incendium properarunt nullam emittentes vocem quae miseri animi posset â—erre ind cium ubi ardere ceperunt hymâ—um cecinere quem vix â—lamma fragor ignis intercipere potuit nemo Philosophorum tam forti animo mo tem pertulisse tradiâ—ur â—uam isti incendium In Hist Bohemica John was of greater years and authority Jerome of more Eloquence and Learning both of them endured their Death with great constancy and went unto the fire as though invited to a Banquet when they began to burn they sung an Hymn which the flame and fire could scarce intercept None of the old Philosophers endured their death with such a courageous mind as these the fire The same Author compares Prague unto the City of Florence in Tuscany wherefore having seen both places I cannot omit to say something I had a view of the City of Florence from the top of the Domo or Cathedral and of Prague from the Church of St Veit upon the Hill in the lesser Town Prague seemed to my eye to contain a far greater Circuit than Florence it seemed also more populous and to exceed it very much in the number of People the Streets larger and the Windows of Palaces and fair Houses being of Glass looked not so tatter'dly as the ragged Paper Windows of Florence The River Arno which runs through Florence is not to be compared with the Muldau at Prague having run about an hundred miles from its Head The large massy long Stone-Bridge exceeds any of if not all the four Bridges of Florence The Emperors Palace also upon the Hill is very stately But as for the well-paved Streets of Florence the Domo or Cathedral with black and white Marble with a Cupola second only to that of St. Peters of Rome for the incomparable Chappel of St. Laurence and the Dukes Gallery and Rarâ—ties I must confess I saw not any thing in Prague which aâ—swered them At Wissenberg or the White Hill near Prague that deciding Battel was fought Novemb. 8 1620. between Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine elected King of Bohemia and the Forces of the Emperor â—erdâ—nand the Second which such a deep blow unto the Protestant Party wherein so many of Frederick's Forces were slain and drowned in the River in their flight wherein also that famous Commander Papenheim was found lying among the dead who notwitstanding died not of his wounds but was reserved to end his days with the King of Sweden in the memorable Battel of Lutzen From Prague I designed to pass by water down the Muldau which unites with the Elbe about Melniâ—k and so down the Elâ—e unto Hamburg But the Winter advancing and the Weather proving cold the Boats did not go as in Summer and therefore I took my Journey by Land and leaving Prague and the Muldau on the right hand I passed the first day to Zagethal the next to Weluerne and so to Budin and Labasitz upon the Elbe Having passed over the Egra a considerable River arising not far from the City of Egra and at last running into the Elbe the next by the Castle of Kriegstein or Warrestone seated upon a high steep Rock I came to Ausig a small City not far from the Elbe having little remarkable in it like many other small Cities of Bohemia and so forward to Nolndorff where we lodged upon Mount Kninsberg the day after we entred into Misnia passing by Peterswald and Hellendorff the first Village in Misnia and Kisibel where are Iron Mines about eighteen Fathomsdeep and Iron works We now understood that Bohemia was a larger Country than we expected it lies round and some say it is three days postage over others that the Diameter extends two hundred miles From Igla upon the Conâ—ines unto Hellendorff it took me nine days Journey in November by Coach not reckoning the time I staid at Prague In many places there are very ill Passages and so rudely mended with great Trees laid side by side that they are often very troublesome to pass We travelled afterwards towards Dresden in a fruitful Country wherein were many Deer in most parts of the way in sight of the Castle of Pilnitz a strong place and seated high I could not but cast an eye on the Rocks behind us in the Forest of Bohemia which looked like the Ruines of a Wall which formerly enclosed Bohemia which Country is described with a Forest or Woods round about it But I confess I did not really perceive that there was such a Wood round about it as is commonly set forth in Mapps only both within and also in many parts of the Borders there are great Woods which are conceived to have been
part of the Hercinian Forest The Bohemians are a strong stout and hardy People make good Souldiers and have made wars both at home and abroad and Histories are full of their warlike Exploits The chief Magazine of the King is at Egra a strong City accounted the Second of Bohemia The Country affords also lusty and strong Horses The common sort of People are boysterous rough and quarrelsome especially in drink whereto they are too much addicted The Nobility and Gentry are civil and kind unto Strangers There are many great Families of tâ—e Nobility among which that of Rosenberg and Popel is ancient and of high esteem Since the unhappy accepting of the Crown by Frederick Count Palatine and the ill success upon it there hath been a great alteration in this Country both as to People and their Manners for thereupon many thousands left the Kingdom and many who remained turned their Religion And the Emperors have used the like severity upon others in their Hereditary Dominions The next considerable place we came unto was Dresden in Misnia as well worth the seeing as almost any Town in Germany Dresden is the Sâ—at and Residence of the Elector of Saxony seated upon the River Elbe over which there is a very noble Stone-bridge of Seventeen Arches The City is very well fortified after the Modern way the Bastions covered or lined with Brick and in each Bastion a Cavallier It hath also a large Trench or Ditch about it in some places double and the River Elbe adds unto its strength The Walls are very strong and they say that when the first Stone was laid to build them there was placed in the Earth a Silver Cup gilded a Book of the Laws and another of Coyns and three Glasses filled with Wine It hath also three Gates The places most worth the seeing are these The Italian Garden in the Suburbs the Hunters House in the old Town beyond the River the Electors Palace his House for wild Beasts his Stable-house and Arsenal of which I shall set down some things observable in their kind In the Electors Palace the Hall is very large and handsomly painted with Cities Gyants and the Habits of several Nations and set out with seven large branched Candlesticks But that which affords the greatest delight is his Kunstkammer Art-Chamber or Collection of Rareties both of Art and Nature In the first Partition are to be seen all manner of well made Instruments belonging to most Trades as Joyners Turners Barbers Smiths Chirurgeons and other Artificers Instruments to force open Doors Chests c. In the other Chambers these and the like are observable A Tube-glass four Ells long A large blew Turkish-glass Variety of Coral and artificial Works of it Fowls made out of Mother of Pearl Drinking Cups in the shape of Dragons Elephants c. Castles of Gold and Mother of Pearl Many Fowls and Cups made out of Nautili and other Shells and out of Oestrich-eggs A fine Oestrich made out of its Egg with the Feathers of Gold A Cup made out of the Ball taken out of an Oxes Stomach richly set about a foot long A Stone as big as my fist like a Bezoar-stone taken out of a Horse A Purse made out of the Linum Incombustible Silver Ore from the Mines of Freiberg almost pure in strings and shoots A Natural Cross of Silver Ore One hundred and twenty one Heads carved on the outside of a Cherry-stone A Religious Man or Friar of Japan carved in Box. A Chrystal Cabinet sold by Oliver Cromwell wherein is kept a Ring which hath Stones in it in the shape of a Castle His Majesty King Charles the Second on Horse-back carved out of Iron A Head of King Charles the First A Glass Organ Topazes unpolished ten Inches in Diameter A Cup out of a Topaze Emeralds an inch in Diameter as they grow in the Rock resembling the Vitrioâ—um Nativum as I saw it in Paradise-hill by Schemnitz in Hungary Stones named Thunder-stones smelling of Fire Rocks made out of all sorts of Ore and the names of the places written upon them from whence they were digged The Figures of Fishes in Stones out of Mansfield the Stones are dark-coloured but the Fishes of a Gold or Copper colour All sorts of Stones which are to be found about Saxony and Misnia polished Two large pieces of pure Virgin Gold out of the Mine A Cabinet of all sorts of Apothecaries Instruments and chief Druggs A Hart with a Cabinet made in his side containing all Medicines taken from a Hart. A white Hart as big as the Life made out of the shavings and filings of Harts-horn and looking like Plaister Figures printed in Trees A Spur in part of a Tree Horns in Trees A Chamber of all manner of Mathematical Instruments and Charts A good Library of Mathematical Books An Vnicorns-horn which they will have to be of a Land Vnicorn being neither wreathed nor hollow A Dart of Vnicorns-horn Among the Pictures in the same Chambers these seemed remarkable A Picture by Colier of the Siege of Jerusalem with great number of Figures and highly esteemed Four Heads of the Elements made out of the Creatures which belong to them in Caricatura A painting of Merchants Letters stuck behind green Tapâ— A Storm by Rubens Two Nuns by Lucas van Leyden A Picture of Dr. Luther in the Cloyster in his Gown and after his Death There is also great variety of excellent Clockwork and an attempt for a perpetual motion by a rowling bullet A Cuckow sings by Clockwork a Horseman rids a Ship sails an old Woman walks a Centaur runs and shoots a Crab creeps upon a Table so well as to amaze and delight but among all the Crab seems to be most naturally imitated In the Stable-house besides the extraordinary noble Stable of Horses wherein every Horse eats out of a Rack of Iron and Manger of Copper and on a Pillar by him his Comb Bridle and Saddle and other Necessaries hang besides a handsome Window with a Curtain before him There are observable a very fair Fountain and pond set about with handsome Ballisters where the Horses are watered A long walk arched and painted with Horses over which is a Gallery with the Pictures of all the Dukes and Electors of Saxony both in their Military and Electoral Habits Two Beds of Marble Drinking Cups which seem not great yet so coâ—trived as to hold divers quarts A Spring which causes a Horseman in Silver to come riding in bringing a Cup of Wine in his hand A pair of noble Pistols with all the Stories of the New and Old Testament upon them A Glass Gun A Gun which shoots off Forty times without charging again A Piece which shews the manner of the first invention of striking Fire in Guns A Lock without a cock A Chamber of rich Sleds for Horses made use of in Jollity and pompous Courses upon the Snow A white Bears skin stuffed Tigers and Lyons Skins A Cassowares Skin Good Armour for
Men and Horses Many sorts of Indian Money Duntans and other sorts A Picture of Laplanders and their Customs A Lapland Drum with Figures to conjure by A Chamber of all Hunting Arms and Nâ—cessaries The Armamentarium-Armory or Arsenal is a long square Building wherein are about Four hundred brass Pieces of Ordnance great number of Muskets and Armour in the upper Room Silver Coats of Male. Pieces of Ordnance to be charged behind Retorts and Alembicks in the shape of Granados The Steeple of the chief Chuâ—ch was lately burnt by Lightning and the Canon melted which were upon it In the Hunting-house in the old Town are fifteen Bears very well provided for and looked unto They have Fountains and Ponds to wash themselves in wherein they much delight And near to the Pond are high ragged Posts or Trees set up for the Bears to climb up and Scaffolds made at the top to sun and dry themselves where they will also sleep and come and go as the Kâ—eper calls them The Horn Gallery is also remarkable in this place out of which there are three Chambers one painted with several sorts of Hunting another with all sorts of Fowl and a third with great variety of Beasts In the House for wild Beasts I took notice of a Marian which is a four-footed Beast that hangs upon Trees by the Tail Also a wild or Mountain-Cat of a large size Five young Bears Five old black Bears A white Bear very large the feet the head and the neck are longer than those of the black but not so thick Two Lyons Ten Luekses very fine Beast in bigness colour and shape between a Tygâ—r and a wild Cat the tips of their Ears and Tails are black their Eyes lively their Skin Lyon-coloured and spotted especially about their Eyes The Italian Garden and Summer-house in the Suburbs is very noble wherein are two Obelisks two gallant Fountains a Theatre and good Landskips This Garden and Summer-house were built by two of the Prince Elector's Eunuchs and afterwards sold unto the Prince for six and twenty thousand Dollars The Elector of Saxony his Beare Garden at Dresden in Misnia Oliâ—er Fâ— Dr. Luther's Holiday was kept when I was there The chief Church is very fair They preach every morning at seven a Clock The Lutheran women mourn in white as others do in Black and the woman of the House doth ordinarily say Grace instead of the man The best High-dutch is spoken in this place and other parts of Misnia which is a very pleasant fruitful Country and full of good Towns and Villages Leaving this noble place I took not the nearest Road but turned out of the way unto Freiberg a place noted for Silver Mines whereof I had read something in Agricola and heard very much in these parts About an English mile or two from Freiberg there are many remarkable Mines I took notice of three of them One called Auff den hohen berg or upon the high Hill which is the deepest in these parts as being seventy seven of their Fathoms deep each of their Fathoms contains twelve of their Ells and three of their Ells makes one of our Fathoms So that the depth of this Mine exceeds any of those wherein I was in Hungary There is another Mine called Himmelfurst or the Prince of Heaven wherein not long since there was Ore found so rich as in an hundred pounds weight to contain an hundred and thirty Marks of Silver or sixty five pounds in the hundred but there was not much of it And where the Veins are richest they are observed to be thinnest about two fingers broad but the ordinary Ore is but poor holding an ounce or an ounce and half in an hundred pounds weight and if it holds but half an ounce they work it Nor is this much to be wondered at for in the vast rich Mines of Peru and Chili they will work the Silver Ore which contains four or five ounces in a hundred pound weight and ten or twelve ounces is the ordinary rate of the common Ore of that rich Mountain of Potosi out of which Hill alone if we believe Albero Alonso Barba Curate of the Parish of St. Bernard in that City there hath been more Silver taken than would cover all Misnia over and over For thus he saith Potosi hath already yielded between four and five hundred Millions of pieces of Eight A quantity sufficient to make such another Hill of Silver It is hard to form a conception equal unto so exorbitant a heap of Riches but the better to help our imagination herein I know that if the Ground were covered with so many pieces of Eight laid as close to one another as is possible they would take up the space of sixty Leagues square Here at Freiberg they have many ways to open the Ore whereby it may be melted as by Lead and a sort of Silver Ore which holds Lead in it They have also Sulphur Ore found here which after it is burned doth help much towards the susion of Metals And besides these Slich or pounded and washed Ore and Slacken which is the Dross or Cake or Skum taken out of the Vortiegel or Pan which receives the melted Minerals let out at the bottom of the melting Furnace Their Treibshearth or driving Furnace where the Litharge is driven off agrees better with the Figure of it in Agricola than those of Hungary Some of the Litharge is green Their Buck-work and their Engines which pound the Ore the Coal and Clay are also very neat Much of their Ore is washed especially the poorest and that which is mixed with stones quarts or sparrs This is peculiar in their working that they burn the pounded and washed Ore in the Roasthearth before they melt it in the Smeltzoven or melting Furnace At those Mines of Hungary where I was they used not the Virgula divina or forked Hazel to find out Silver Ore or hidden Treasure in the Earth and I should little depend thereon but here they have an esteem of it And I observed the use thereof and the manner how they did it But I shall omit the Description of it because it is set down in divers Books and it cannot be so well described as shown to the Eye I saw also another Mine called Auff der Halsbrucker about eighty of our Fathoms deep and much worked They have divers sorts of Ore but they contain either Silver and Copper Silver and Lead or all three but they work them only for Silver They have divers damps in these Mines where it is deep The Mines are cold where the outward Air comes in but where not warm The greatest trouble they have is by dust which spoils their Lungs and Stomachs and frets their Skins But they are not so much troubled with water and have very good Engines to draw the water out The Sulphur or Brimstone Ore which is found here is also rich it is hard and stony as other Ores are that
wherein their manner of hunting and working may be observed A Picture of our Saviour the Hatches of which are writing or written and contain the story of his Passion Bevers taken in the River Elbe A Picture of the murther of the Innocents done by Albert Durer Pictures of divers strange Fowls A Greenland Boat The Skins of white Bears Tigres Wolves and other Beasts And I must not omit the Garter of an English Bride with the story of it of the Fashion in England for the Bridemen to take it off and wear it in their Hat which seemed so strange to the Germans that I was obliged to confirm it to them by assuring them that I had divers times wore such a Garter my self Leaving this busy and trading City of Leipsick I directed my Journey unto Magdeburg and travelled through a plain Country between the River Sala and the Elbe by Landsberg nigh to Petersdorff where there is a small Hill which overlooks all the Country next to Koehten the Residence of the Prince of Anhalt then to Caln and over the River Sala before it runs into the Elbe which arising at Mount Fichtelberg now hastens towards it Fichtelberg is a considerable Mountain near which are divers Mines Baths and Mineral-waters of which Gasper Bâ—uschius hath written a Description And from it arise four Rivers running to the four quarters of the World The Maine or Maenus towards the West the Nab or Nabus towards the South the Aeger towards the East and the forementioned Sala towards the North. These four afterwards fall into the three greatest Rivers of Germany the Danube the Rhine and the Elbe Then to Sals or Saltz a place noted for Salt-springs and that night to Magdeburg Parthenopolis or Magdeburg is seated by the River Elle formerly the Metropolitan City of Germany now under the Marquiss of Brandenburg of very great Circuit but little more than half built again since it was sacked and burnt by Tilly and Thirty six thousand persons put to the Sword and destroyed I could not but observe the ruinous and destructive effects of the late wars in many parts of Germany but not in any so great and flourishing a place as this And a man might think that after this great destruction of Houses and People this place should not be able to stand a Siege yet a few years after it was besieged by General Hatzfield unto whom Bannier the Swede not being able to relieve it it was yielded The Cathedral Church is very fair and built like an English one by the Emperor Otho the First and his Empress Editha an English Woman Daughter unto King Edmund whose Effigies in Stone I saw in the Church with nineteen Tuns of Gold by her which she gave thereto And to say the truth English money hath done great things in Germany for hereby or with a good part thereof this Church was built or endowed Leopoldus Duke of Austria built the old Walls of Vienna with the ransom of King Richard the First whom he detained in his return through Austria from the Holy Land King Edward the First sent a great Sum of Money unto the Emperor Adolphus for the raising of Souldiers in Germany which the Emperor employed in purchasing a great part of Misnia for himself The Lutheran Churches are handsom and their Pulpits are extraordinary noble and richly set off as I observed through all Saxony Norimberg and where they are Masters of the Places and have not their Churches only by permission here they shewed me in the Cathedral Church of St. Maurice the Statua's of the five wise Virgins smiling and of the five foolish Virgins lamenting which are very well expressed They shewed me also two odd Reliques which they still kept as Rareties that is the Bason wherein Pilate washed his hands when he declared himself free from the Blood of our Saviour and the Ladder whereon the Cock stood when he crowed after St. Peter's denying of Christ In the Ruines of the Cloister of the Augustines there is still to be seen Luther's Chamber his Bedstead and Table and upon the Door are these German Verses Dis war Lutheri Kammerlin Wan er in 's Clâ—ster kam herin Gedachnis halb wird noch itzund Herin gesehen sein Bettespund i. e. Luther did lodge within this little Room When first he did into the Cloister come In memory whereof we still do keep The Bedstead within which he us'd to sleep I lodged at Magdeburg in an old man's House who would tell me many stories of the burning of the Town the cruelties and bloody usage of the people who were destroyed without exception The Nuns many of them being drowned in the River Elbe Alter which some observed that Count Tilly never prospered in his Wars He told me also that Dureus lodged with him who was employed by King Charles the First to endeavour a reconciliation between the Lutherans and Calvinists in Germany and to unite them if possible We were now in the Territory of the Elector of Brandenburg Fridericus Wilhelmus Great Chamberlain of the Empire who is in effect possessed of Magdeburg and next unto the Austrian Family is the most potent Prince in Germany being able to raise great Armies and his Dominions so large that they are reckoned to extend two hundred German miles in length from the further part of Prussia unto Cleve but they lay not together but interspersed with many other Princes Countries Howsoever a Horse-man may so order his Journey as to lie every night in one of the Electors Towns in travelling from one end of his Territories to another I had now left the pure German Language behind me for at Magdeburg comes in another kind of German called Plat-Deutch Broad-Dutch Niedersachsische or the Language of lower Saxony a great Language spoken in the North part of Germany They speak it at Hamburg Dantzick â—ubeck and many great Cities But they can converse with the other High-dutch and with some difficulty also with the Netherlanders the one speaking in his Language and the other replying in his At this City of Magdelurg was performed the first Turnament that was in Germany which was opened in the year 635. by the Emperor Henry Surnamed the Fowler who coming from the War of Hungary exceedingly satisfied with the Nobility would oblige them to exercise themselves in handling their Arms and managi g their Horses and therefore instituted these Sports whereby the Nobility was powerfully attracted to Valour and Gallantry and induced to perfect and accomplish themselves in all kind of Chevalry No new Nobility no Bastard no Vsurper none guilty of High Treason no Oppressor of Widows and Orphans none born of Parents whereof one was of base Extraction and Ignoble no Heretique Murderer Traytor no Coward that had run away from the Battel nor indiscreet Person that had given offence to Ladies by word or deed were admitted to this Honour nor above One of the same Family at a time Princes came into the Lists with four Squries
consumption by wars abroad when they be at peace at home few wars being made in other parts of Europe wherein there are not some Regiments of Germans the People being naturally Martial and persons well descended very averse from a Trading course of Life While I read in Tacitus of the old barbarous and rude State of Germany how poorly they lived that they had their Houses at a distance from one another how ignorant they were in Arts and it was doubted whether their Country afforded Mines that they lived by exchange of things making little or no use of money and the like I may justly wonder to behold the present advance and improvement in all commendable Arts Learning Civility splendid and handsome Cities and Habitations and the general face of things incredibly altered since those ancient times and cannot but approve the expression of a Learned Man though long since That if Ariovistus Civilis and those old famous men of Germany should revive in their Country again and look up to Heaven beholding the Constellations of the Bears and other Stars they might probably acknowledge that these were the same Stars which they were wont to behold but if they should look downward and well view the face of all things they would imagine themselves to be in a new World and never acknowledge this to have been their Country A JOURNEY FROM COLEN IN GERMANY TO LONDON DUring the Treaty of Peace at Colen in the year 1673. between the Vnited States of the Netherlands the King of Great Britain and the French King many English Gentlemen having accompanied their Excellencies the Lords Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries in their Journey had a desire also to view some of the Neighbouring Territories and to divertise themselves during the heat of the Summer at the Spaa the Baths of Aken and other places Having therefore in order to our Journey obtained a Pasport for our Safety from Count Blondel one of the Spanish Plenipotentiaries and from their Excellencies Sir Joseph Williamson and Sir Leoline Jenkins we left Colen on Monday the Fourth of July and upon the Road overtook my Lord of Peterborough who had been at Dusseldorp at the Duke of Newburg's Court and went afterwards into Italy to Modena and brought over the present Queen of England We dined at a small walled Town called Berckem which some think to be a name corrupted from Tiberiacum where we stayed a great part of the Afternoon to accommodate an unlucky Accident which happened A Servant of one of the English Gentlemen having casually shot a Horse which belonged to a Commander under the Duke of Newburg lying at that time with a party of Horse at this Town so that we travelled in the Evening through the Woods and came late to a place called Steinstrasse and the next day morning we went to Juliers Gulick or Juliers is a small Town by the River Roer but very ancient and called by the Romans Juliacum conceived to have been founded by Julius Caesar the Seat sometimes of the Dukes of Gulick before the uniting hereof with Cleve and since the dissolution of that Estate possessed by the Vnited Provinces and then again by the Spaniards but at present is in the hands of the Duke of Newburg It being agreed at the conclusion of Peace between the Spaniards and the Hollanders That the Marquess of Brandenburg should have Marck and Cleve and the Duke of Newburg Gulick and Berg. This is a handsome well fortified Town the Streets streight and the Houses of Brick The Cittadel consists of four Bastions of a regular Fortification within which is the Princes Palace The Piazza in the Town is handsome and the whole considerable for its beauty and strength July the 5 th we came to Aken or Aquisgranum five Leagues distant from Gulick the French call it Aix la Chapelle from a Chappel in the great Church much visited by Pilgrims from many parts and famous for the great number of Reliques preserved therein When the Romans made War upon the Germans they possessed themselves of divers places between the Rhine and Maes And Granus a noble Roman being sent into these parts of Gallia Belgica about the year of our Lord Fifty three discovered among the Woods and Hills these hot Springs which to this day are highly celebrated in many parts of Europe who aâ—terwards made use of them and adorned them after the manner of the Roman Baths and built a noble Habitation near them part of which the Inhabitants would have still to be standing retaining the name of Turris Grani an old Tower at the East-end of the Town-house a noble Antiquity But the manner of its building gives suspicion it cannot be so old Hence these Thermae from their Discoverer have been named Aquae Graniae and came to be frequented and the Town of Aquisgrane built and flourished till Attila the King of the Huns or Hungarians destroyed it About four hundred years after Charles the great riding out a hunting in these parts as he passed through the Woods his Horses Foot strook into one of these Hot-springs near which he also took notice of the Ruines of ancient Palaces and Buildings long before forsaken and being still more and more delighted with the pleasant Situation of the place and conveniency of these hot Rivolets he renewed and adorned the Baths built his Royal Palace near them and appointed that the King of the Romans should be crowned with an Iron Crown here as with a Silver one at Milan and a Gold one at Rome He also built a noble Collegiate Church dedicated to the blessed Virgin in the presence of many Princes and Bishops in the year 804 and endowed it with Revenues for the maintainance of Canons who lived together in a College at first but at present separately in the manner of Probends He built also the old or inward Wall of the City so that it flourished till the year 882. at which time it was again ruined by the Fury of the Normans and the Emperors Palace burnt to the ground This City besides these Devastations from the Irruptions of the Huns and Normans hath been divers times since destroyed by Fire as in the year 1146. which loss it overcame in such manner that Twenty six years after it recovered not only its former greatness but was so much increased that the large outward Wall was built by the command of the Emperor Frederick the First In the year 1224. happened another great Fire in which not only the Buildings but many of the Inhabitants perished And the Roof of the Church was burnt in another Fire 1236. And now of late for it is not long since it hath recovered its losses by the Fire in the year 1656. when twenty Churches and Chappels and about five thousand private Houses were destroyed The Town-house or Senate-house was built 1353. being all of Free-stone handsomly adorned with the Statues of the Emperors The first and second Story of this Building is divided into
pleasant Journey to the Spaa In the way we saw where the French Army had passed the Country towards Metz having lain about a Fortnight at Vichet after the taking of Maestreicht Spà is a neat Village in the Forest of Ardenna seated in a bottom encompassed on all sides with Hills and on the North with steep Mountains So that it happening to rain while we were there the place was in some hours time filled with water the Hay washed out of the Meadows the falls in the River made even and Pohunt one of the Mineral Fountains was drowned There was not much Company when we were there although it were in the hottest time of the year which is most seasonable for drinking the waters by reason of the wars and the danger of coming through the Country to them But in Spà it self all people are free from danger all the Neighbouring Princes protecting it and would count it very dishonourable to disturb a place which by the virtue of its Mineral Springs is so beneficial to Mankind These Waters are not only drunk upon the place but are also sealed up in Bottles and sent into many parts of Europe And Mr. Coquelet at whose House we lodged told me that he sent it as far as Saragossa in Spain and that he had at that time Thirty thousand Bottles empty and waited for a good season to fill them which is the hottest dryest time of the Summer and the hardest Frost in Winter at which times the water is strongest sparkling and brisk The chiefest of these Mineral Fountains are these Geronster Saviniere Tonnelet and Pohunt Geronster is in the middle of a thick Wood about an English mile and a half Southward of the Spà it is the strongest of any and the best adorned being built up with stone and a Pavilion over it supported with four handsom stone Pillars There is a green place cleared in the Wood near to it and a little House for the Patients to warm themselves in early in the morning or in cold weather The Arms of Sr. Conrade Bourgsdorff who adorned this Fountain are placed over on two sides and on the other two this Inscription in French and High-dutch in a handsom Oval Le Reverendissime Excellentissime Sr Sr Conrade Bourgsdorff Grand Chamberlan premier Conseiller d'Estat Colonel Gouverneur General de tous les Forts Forteresses du Serenissime Electeur de Brandebourg dans son Estat Electoral Grand Prevost des Eglises Cathedrales d' Halberstadt Brandebourg Chevalier de l'Ordre de St. Jean Commandeur du Baillage de Lagow de gros Machenau Golbeck Bouckow Oberstorff c. c. c. This Fountain smells very strong of Brimstone and causes vomiting in a great many yet passes chiefly by Vrine as they do all and strikes a purple with Nut-galls more inclining to red than the waters of Tunbridge The Sediment is of a light blew in the Fountain but of a dark dirty red every where else Not far from this is another large Spring in the Wood much like it but not as yet built and beautified Saviniere is another Fountain almost as far from the Spà Eastward and built after the manner of a Tower the Acidulae are not so strong as the former There is another Fountain hard by this almost the same held to be particularly good for the Stone and Gravel The third is Tonnelet arising in the Meadow and built up with stone But being there are no Trees nor Shades about it it is not so delightful as the others And Henricus ab Heer 's in his Spadacrene saith that this is more nitrous than the rest and causes such a coldness in the mouth and stomach that few can drink of it The fourth is Pohunt in the middle of the Town from whence most of the water is drawn which is sent abroad if no particular one be sent for This was beautified with handsome Stone-work by the Bishop of Liege to whom this place belongs and this Inscription set over it Sanitati Sacrum It is also called the Fountain of St. Remaclus to whom it was dedicated and these Verses are likewise engraven upon it Obstructum reserat durum terit humida siccat Debil fortificat si tamen arte bibis Being at the Spà we visited Franchimont one Afternoon passing through a thick Wood there is an old Castle and good Brimstone and Vitriol works the same Stone affording both and I presume may also make the Spà -water under ground or at least be a principal Ingredient in it We saw the manner here how they melted and cast their Brimstone first into great Pails the florid and clear parts remaining at the top and middle the thick and more obscure subsiding and adhering to the bottom and sides and is that which is sold for Sulphur Vivum We saw also the manner of casting the Brimstone into Rolls or Magdaleons And near unto this place a smoaking burning little Hill which is thus caused They throw out the burnt Pyrites out of which Brimstone hath been distilled and the Vitriol drawn out by infusion upon this Hill which consists all of the same matter and ferments in time grows hot smoaks and burns perpetually and withal drinks in a new Vitriol into its self From the Spà we crossed over to Frapont a Village seated upon the pleasant River Vta or Ourte where we took Boat and went down a rapid Stream yet one of the pleasantest I ever saw winding and turning between many green Hills in part of the Forest of Arduenna We descended afterwards thirty or forty small Falls in a long Boat made on purpose The Oar or Paâ—dle being only a square piece of Board fixed to the end of a Pole the Pole standing perpendicularly in the middle of it The delightful River Vesa or the Wesdret soon met us and joyning together we fell down with them into the Maes near Liege Upon the Banks of these Rivers all the Arms Guns and other Instruments are made for which the Country of Liege is remarkable Liege Luick Leodium or Augusta Eburonum Learned Men think this City to be seated near that Vally wherein two Legions of Julius Caesar under Sabinus and Cotta were destroyed by Ambiorix chief Commander of the Eburones It is seated upon the River Mosa which entring with two Streams makes some pretty Islands Three other small Rivers arising in the Forest of Ardenna are also here received into the Maes whereby they have plenty of Fish and other Conveniencies The City is very populous and so it hath been in former Ages when as Charles Duke of Burgundy sacked it and destroyed an hundred thousand of the people It abounds with fair Churches stately Convents and Religious Foundations richly endowed so that it hath been called the Paradise of Priests and is in that kind the most notable in all these parts The Palace of the Bishop is a noble Fabrick built by Cardinal Erardus Bishop of
the Sea in almost round the Town for a great space whereby it is become much more strong and defensible than before For when I looked upon it and considered what it was when it was besieged by Arch-duke Albertus and taken by Marquiss Ambrosius Spinola 1604. with an honourable Surrender after three years Siege I cannot but ascribe very much unto their Supplies from England and the obstinate Valour of the Defendants especially the English under Sir Francis Vere Sluys being in the hands of the States of the Vnited Provinces and Dunkirk under the French The Spaniards possess no other Port in Flanders but this and Newport and this being the most considerable they are now making the Haven large and are upon a considerable Work in order to the carrying of their Ships over into that Cut which goes from Ostend to Bruges out of their Harbour by the means of a very great Lock or Receptacle of Water which is to communicate with both which when it is finished may be very advantageous to the Traffick of the Spanish Netherlands This Town stands very low but the Streets are straight large and uniform From hence I went all along upon the Sea-shoar to Newport a handsom Town with large fair Streets but low built There were then a great number of small Ships in the Harbour This place is famous for the Battel of Newport fought here by Albertus and Count Maurice wherein the Spanish Forces lost the day and much of the honour of the Field was due unto the English under Sir Francis Vere since which time although there hath been much bloud shed in these Quarters yet there hath not been so considerable a Battel ever since although the English had also the fortune to do great Service hereabout at a fight called the Battel of the Sandhils when a part of the Army of French and English which besieged Dunkirk fought with the Spanish Forces by Newport and overthrew them From Newport we put to Sea sailing out of the Harbour and intending for England but the wind being very high and contrary after having been at Sea all the night and had leisure to take notice of the great number of Sands upon that Coast in the morning we put into Mardike where at present there is only a Fort of Wood just above the High-water mark with some few Guns mounted The other Fort more into the Land being demolished Dunkirk is much increased of late and the King of France hath not spared money to render it considerably strong He hath very near finished a noble Cittadel begun by the English while this Town was in their possession which hath the Sea on one side of it the Haven on another and the Sandhills towards the Land which when the wind is at South-west doth somewhat annoy it To prevent which the French have made divers Cuts and Channels through the Sands into which the Sea entring doth moisten and fix the Sand so as they are not so apt to fly And every Bastion is sprucely kept and covered within with green Turf Beyond the old Wall of the Town there are now great Works drawn which encompass so large a space of Ground that the Town is made bigger by half And in this part stands the English Nunnery and many handsom Buildings The new Fortifications are very large and the Bastion towards the North the most stately The Port is large and capable of receiving a grâ—at number of Ships but at low water it is almost dry and there are so many Sands before it that at that time the Sea comes not in any depth within a mile of it From Dunkirk we travelled by Land to Graveling where the Works are of Earth large and high the Church stately the Streets broad but the Houses low and at present not populous The Marquis de Bel fonds with the French and my Lord Ruterford with his Scotch and English came before Graveling upon the sixteenth of August 1658. and carried the place in twelve days time Don Christopher de Manguez yielding it upon the twenty eight on the same terms that it was delivered up by the French to the Spaniards 1652. From Graveling I came to Calais from whence setting Sail in the morning we came to Dover and the same day to London A JOURNEY FROM VENICE TO GENOA I Travelled some years since between Venice and Genoa through many Countries of early Civility seated in the middle of the temperate Zone in a fruitful and happy Climate affording plentifully all Necessaries for Life and through Countries which have not only been considerable for their copious production of Corn Fruit Silk Wine and Oyl but also for having been very fortunate in all Ages for bringing into the World Persons of great Fame and Renown who have rendred this Tract of Earth more than ordinarily remarkable for great Actions in all times The memory of which is still preserved not only in their Writings but also in their splendid Buildings and Antiquities though no parts have tasted more deeply of the dangerous variety of fortune these having suffered the frequent Incursions of many fierce and warlike Nations Having therefore formerly enjoyed such variety of observable Objects I could not remember this Journey without some considerable satisfaction especially having at the same time had the good luck to travel a great part of it with my worthy friends Sir William Trumbull Mr. Soames Dr. Palman Dr. James and Mr. Dashwood which makes me bold upon the opportunity of this second Impression to add further this short Account We passed from Venice to Padoa by water up the stream of the pleasant River Brent having all day long Houses of Pleasure and well built Palaces on each hand of us We entered this River near Lizafusina five Miles from Venice where formerly a Wheel or Engine was placed to convey the Vessels into the River The Venetians having long since stopped up the entrance of the Brenta lest that by the continual Descent of the Water the Stream and Channel might be diminished lost or altered and the passages for their Vessels rendred dangerous or inconvenient but this is otherwise contrived at present and four large Locks or Sostegni are made use of both to keep up the water and to facilitate the passage of the Vessels These are placed at Stra Dolo Mira and Moranzan and are very remarkable considering that the River in these places is locked up and the Vessels which are to pass are brought in between great Gates and the water let in or out as they have occasion to pass up or down the River The landing-place at Padoa is handsomly set off with stone steps continued for a long space along the side of the River after the manner of the landing-place at Ghent and some other elegant Cities of the Low Countries The outward Wall is strong being well fortified according to the Modern Rules of Fortification in the time of Leonardo Loredaro Duke of Venice and to render
sharp pointed Sword Who could contrast with such a cunning strong and active combatant Quis Myrmilloni componitur aequimanus Thrax The Thracian fighter would often engage with him and the Retiarius many a time and would come up to him with his Net in his hand singing this Non te peto piscem peto Quid me fugis Galle Another sort of Gladiators were named Samnites whose armour is described by Livy Their shields were inlayed engraven and imbossed with Silver and with Gold One end of their shield with which they guarded their breast was flat broad streight and even the other end next their shoulder was narrower that it might be turned and moved with more ease besides which they had a long strong Sword a Breast-plate a Helmet with Feathers upon the Crest and a Boot upon their left leg These Gladiators were in great request in Campania from whence the Romans learned many of their Amphitheatrical sports and exercises and they fought against the Pinnirapi and the Provocatores Besides these there were others called Dimachaeri who fought with two Swords and others named Laquearii these were dangerous fellows that fought with Sword and Halter and had two ways with them to entangle and destroy their Enemies The Meridiani were a bold desperate Crew who came rushing into the Amphitheater at Noon when the Gladiators had concluded and the Spectators were dismissed and with their drawn Swords ran at one another without Order Art or Armour and scorning to make use of Head-pleces Shields and such like Hindrances and Delays of Death butchered one another presently But that which is still more strange the tender Female Sex was not exampted from these sharp rude exercises Hos inter fremitus novosque lusus Stat Sexus rudis insciusque ferri Et pugnas capit improbus viriles They picked out the most beautiful comely lovely young Women that could be found and put them to School to a Lanista or Master of Defence to be instructed in the Art of Fighting where a tender young Gentlewoman that had scarce strength enough to exercise at a carving School must be fencing every Morning with a great Fellow and be set such rude Lessons as these None of your shifting Gallick play Great Caesar likes the Samnite way Come close strike home and you 'll one day Bear your Foes life and Fame away And if you miss of Victory In graceful postures learn to dye For those who were put to a Lanista in the most severe way were bound to be burnt whipped and fall by the Sword Igne uri virgis caedi ferroque necari Now to see one of these fine young Women fight well dressed with her golden Shield and her fair Plume of Feathers the Emperor himself could not forbear commending and crying out sometimes Well played fair Lady or as Xerxes said when he beheld from a high Hill the Sea-fight at Salamis and Artemisia had sunk one of his own Ships instead of one of the Enemies well fought Queen Artemisia my Women fight like Men and my Men like Women However we have very good Authority to assure us that the Women fought stoutly To see oâ—e of those spruce Dames lay it on Like any right bred raging Amazon You 'd think your self near to fierce Thermodon Credas ad Tanaim ferumque Phasim Thermodenâ—iacas calere turbas And that they generally fought after the manner of the Samnites we may learn from Juvenal where he takes notice what a fine Credit it would be for a man to cry out at a publick Sale of his Wives Goods who gives most for my Wives Boots who bids Money for her Corselet Helmet Gauntlets Quale decus rerum si conjugis auctio fiat Baltheus Manicae Cristae Crurisque sinistri Dimidium tegmen But Domitian the Emperor went still beyond this when he set his Gladiators together in the night and made his Dwarfs fight those little Pygmaean Creatures But we need say no more of them for it may be thought by some that Whether they slew or whether they were slain They'd both make but one Morsel for a Crane And indeed it is high time to leave this omnium Daemonum templum as Tertullian calls it altogether and pass forward to more pleasing objects Parting therefore from Verona in the Morning we travelled through a delightful plain Country 24 Miles and came early in the Afternoon to Mantua Mantua is pleasantly seated in a Lake like to the Description of the situation of the great City Mexico This Lake of about five Miles long is made by the opening of the River Mincius or Mentzo a delightful stream which runs slowly spreads it self wide and bears its name high amongst the noted Floods of this Region Frondentibus humida ripis Colla levant pulcher Ticinus Addua visa Caerulus velox Athesis tardusque meatu Mincius And again Volucres quas excipit amne quieto Mincius This River runs into the Po and rises out of the Lacus Benacus and is so full of Reeds in many places especially near Mantua that I cannot omit Virgil's proper elegant way of mentioning his own Country Rivers Hinc quoque quingentos in se Mezentius armat Quos patre Benaco velatus arundine glaucâ Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu The entrances into Mantua over the lake are made good by strong Causeys of five or six hundred paces long having Draw-bridges at each end and that over which we passed called Ponte di St. Giorgio hath a covered Bridge for a great space together and a Tower in the middle The Ponte de' Molini hath twelve Mills in the Arches called the twelve Apostles which afford the Duke a considerable Revenue The Streets are large strait and clean Here are eight Gates eighteen Parishes and forty Monasteries The Domo or Cathedral is built after the design of Giulio Romano the Roof of which is painted with Azure and Gold in this Church they preserve the Body of St. Anselm Bishop of Luca in the Church of St. Andrew is the Body of St. Longinus the Martyr together with some drops of the Blood of our Saviour which are said to be brought hither by that holy man The Duke's Palace is stately and magnificent and was the best furnished of any in Italy till the Imperial Army plundered it in the time of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second in the year 1630. There are three Suburbs which appear like to so many distinct little Towns Porto Forteze Borgo di St. Giorgio and Il Te. The Duke hath also divers Country Houses as that of Marmirola in the way to Verona which is nobly furnished hath Royal Apartments good Gardens Fountains and Water-works La Favorita is upon the side of the Lake and hath about a hundred Rooms in it La Virgiliana is another pleasant Country House with a Farm adjoyning to it called thus by reason that it is near to the Village of Petola formerly called Andes where Virgil
it more strong the Rivers of Brenta and Bacchiglione are let into the Town Ditch The inward Wall is now most considerable for its Antiquity and for retaining the name of its Founder it being still called Antenor's Wall It contains a far less space of ground than the former Padoa being built in this respect like to the City of Aix la Chapelle or Aken having own Town within another That Patavium or Padoa is one of the oldest Cities of Europe built presently after the Trojan War is confessed by Ancient Writers and so generally believed of old that Livy lays it down for the Ground-work of his History beginning in this manner Jam primum omnium satis constat Troja capta c. i. e. In the first place it is sufficiently manifest that Troy being taken the Grecians executed the utmost of their rage upon the Trojans Aeneas and Antenor only excepted by reason of their ancient friendship with the Greeks and in respect that they had always endeavoured to make Peace and restore Helena After various fortunes Antenor brought a great Number of the Heneti who having lost their King Pylemon at the Wars of Troy and being driven out of Paphlagonia by a Faction were now seeking new Seats and a Captain to lead them and came along with them to the bottom of the Adriatick Gulf drove out the Eugenians who inhabited between the Sea and Alpes and established the Trojans and the Heneti in those Countries Martial also saluting Flaccus a Padoan Poet calls him Flacce Antenorei spes Alumine Laris. And that you may more firmly give credit to it you may further also have the authority of a Goddess for it for Venus is introduced expostulating in these terms with Jupiter in the behalf of Aeneas Quem das finem Rex magne malorum Antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achivis Illyricos penetrare sinus atque intima tutus Regna Liburnorum et fontem superare Timavi Vnde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis It mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit Teucrorum et genti nomen dedit armaque fixit i. e. What time great King shall terminate our woes Safe could Antenor break through all his foes Pierce to the bottom of the Illyrian bay View Kingdoms where Liburnian Princes sway Pass the nine mouths of fierce Timavus waves Which rores upon the hills and o'er the valleys raves And there could fix and on that foreign ground Great Padoa's tow'rs for after ages found New name the people and free from all alarms Hang up in peace his consecrated arms In those days when the art of Navigation was but in its infancy and the Mariners very unwillingly parted with the sight of land Antenor was forced to keep close and creep along the Coast of Peloponnesus and Epirus and then sail by the Illyrian and Liburnian Shoars which are very uneven and troublesom to deal with being full of Creeks unsafe Bays and Rocks besides very many Islands of various shapes Whereas if he had crossed over to the Italian coast he had had a nearer voyage and sayled with pleasure all along an even bold brave shoar The people of Padoa are well pleased with the thoughts of their Ancient founders and Progenitors and they still preserve the tomb of Antenor near to which at present stands the Church of Saint Lawrence and in their publick shows they will still be representing something of Troy and the old Trojans and in one place I saw a horse of wood about twenty foot high in imitation of the old Trojan horse but I suppose nothing near so big as the first original Yet when I consider that above eleven hundred years after the destruction of Troy when Towns and Buildings were very much amplified and improved Pompey coming in Triumph could not enter even the great Triumphal gates of Rome it self in a chariot drawn by Elephants an Animal that seldom or never comes to be so high as this Horse it may well be supposed that they could not have received even this poor model of the first great one into the old town of Troy without pulling down their walls The Tâ—mbâ— of Antenor The Buildings at Padoa both publick and private are very considerable for most of the City is built upon Arches making handsom Portico's or cloysters on each side of the street after the manner of the houses in the Piazza of Convent Garden which at all times afford a good defence against the Sun and Rain and many of the houses are painted on the outside with very good History-Painting in Fresco their Churches are fair and divers well adorned The Domo or Cathedral Church is large seated near the middle of the City endowed and mightily enriched by the Emperor Henry the fourth whose Empress Berta lies buried here The Revenues of this Church at present are reckoned to amount to a hundred thousand Crowns a Year and besides the Monuments of many eminent persons they preserve here the body of St. Daniel of Cardinal Pileo da Pratta and of Cardinal Francesco Zabarella The Church of St. Antonio is visited by persons far and near and the exquisite Design artificial Carving in Marble the handsom Quire and rich Ornaments make it worth the seeing The top of the Church is made up of six Cupola's covered with lead the Chappel of St. Antonio is nobly set out with twelve marble pillars and a rich roof Between the Pillars are carved the miracles of this Saint who lies interred under the Altar upon which stand seven Figures made by Titian Aspetti a good statuary of Padoa and behind the Altar there is a most excellent Basso relievo done by Sansovinus Tullius Lomburdus and Campagna Veroneâ—sis Over against the Chappel of St. Antonio stands the Chappel of Saint Faelix and his tomb nobly wrought with coloured marble and the whole splendidly adorned with the paintings of the highly celebrated Giotto The chief Reliques in this Church are the Tongue and Chin of St Antonio a Cloth dipped in the blood of our Saviour Three thorns of his Crown and a piece of the wood of the Cross some of the hair and milk of the blessed Virgin and some of the blood of the marks of St. Francis Before the Front of the Church there is a handsom brass Statue on Horse-back representing the great Venetian General Gattemela St. Antâ—nio lived six and thirty years dyed upon the thirteenth of June 1231 and was canonized by Pope Gregory the ninth in the City of Spoleto 1237. The convent of the black Monks of St. Benedict may compare with most in Italy and their Church dedicated to Santa Giustina built by Palladio is one of the fairest in Europe Saint Giustina was a Virgin and Martyr daughter to Vitaliano of this City she suffered Martyrdom in the time of Maximianus the Emperor In this Church there are still preserved as they say the body of St. Luke the