some Villages and manur'd Grounds intermingled with the Woods At length we came on the other side where we could see Colen The Descent on this side was more gradual than our Ascent on the other the fall of the Ground being not so steep and sudden Towards the bottom of the Hills we turn'd out of the Road to some neighbouring Villages to find a better way cross the Valley which we did and had some Pleasure in this part of our Journey This Valley is I believe Four or Five Miles broad in the Place where we enter'd upon it and was in all our way plow'd and sown and open We went between some of the richest finest Crops of Wheat and Rye that I had I believe ever seen in my Life The Soil is a good Mould but perhaps a little of the driest whence this wet Season made the best of it Within a Mile of Colen we came into our miserable Road again and found it such as we had Reason to wish we could have gone still besides it I suppose the extream Badness of these Ways to be together with the ill Weather from their being much frequented with heavy Carriages which pass from Colen up into the Country with several sorts of Goods and I believe Aix la Chappelle is furnish'd besides other Places with many things from hence especially in the time of Year when those Baths are resorted to We saw in this part of our Journey some part of Three several Processions in the Villages we pass'd through for this was a great Day of Processions with the Romish Church as will be observ'd in the following Section COLEN We came to this City about Eleven a Clock I write the Name as we commonly speak it in England The Low Dutch call it Ceulen the People of the Country Coln the French Cologne The Latines have always call'd it Colonia Ubiorum and Colonia Agrippina which Names they give it with relation to the Beginnings of it These are briefly commemorated by Inscriptions in Latin over a large Portico at the Front and Entrance of their Senate-House I shall somewhat more largely relate what is said of the Original of this City Original as follows The Ubians a People of Germany on the other side of the Rhine who dwelt along the opposite Bank of it from Mentz down to this Place were grievously infested with the Incursions of some neighbouring People who were too strong for them The Inscription here calls them the Suevi who were thus troublesome Some call them the Chatti or Catti or Chassi They were seated beyond the Country of the Ubians from the Rhine and all along on their Borders The Ubians vexed and almost oppress'd by this People sought the Alliance of Julius Caesar and his Assistance against these their Enemies But whether they were assisted by the Romans or not they grew by this Disturbance a weary of their Country and in the time of Augustus Caesar were upon their Desire brought over the Rhine to this side under the Conduct of M. Vispanius Agrippa Consul The Chatti immediately fell into and took Possession of the Country which they left T is thought the Ubians pass'd the Rhine about this Place and that this was about Twenty or Twenty Five Years before our Saviour's Birth When they were come over some say they built this City for the Head of their Nation Others will have it that there was a City here before the Ubians came over and do carry up the Original of it into Obscurity as all that affect Antiquity do This Nation extended themselves on this side over the greatest part of the Dutchy of Juliers reaching to to the Banks of the River Roer forementioned and also over the greatest part of the Bishoprick of Colen After these things Julia Agrippina the Grand-Daughter of that Agrippa and the Mother of Nero having been born at Colen and being desirous to show the Power which she had by virtue of her second Marriage which was with Claudius the Emperor caused the Compass of the City to be enlarged and towards the Year of our Lord 48 C. Antistius and M. Suillius being Consuls she sent hither a Colony of Veterans to settle here Clouis the Great join'd this City and Nation to the Dominion of the Franks under which it was from thenceforth during the first Race of their Kings Under those of the second Race it became a part of their Dominion to whom Germany in the Division of the Franks Empire was allotted In the Year 88â— while Charles the Fat was on the other side of the Alpes Godefride and Sigifride the Kings of the Normans took and burnt it The Clergy and People of the Town sav'd themselves by timely flight from the Cruelty of these Barbarians who had that Year ruin'd Fifteen or Twenty of the best Cities of the Gallia Belgica The Emperor Otho the Great under whom it was restor'd and repair'd subjected it to its Prelates about the Year 950. Afterwards other Emperors restor'd it to its ancient Freedom Frederick I. gave it great Privileges and from that time it considerably encreas'd But it has chiefly grown to what it is and flourish'd from the Thirteenth Century when about the Year 1260 it enter'd into the League of the Hanse-Towns These were Hanse Towns call'd Hanse-Towns from a German Word which signifies a League or Confederacy Many Cities in several Parts of Europe came into this League It was a Confederacy among them made for the regulating of their mutual Trade At present there are none left in this Number which are considerable but Lubeck Hamburg Breme Rostock Dantzick and Colen It is call'd a Free and Imperial City is govern'd Government by a Senate which has great Resemblance with the old Senate of Rome They administer Civil Justice and exercise all Acts of Authority But in Criminal Cases they can indeed form the Process and try a Malefactor but they cannot condemn or pardon this being reserv'd to the Archbishop But he is bound not to come into this City but upon Occasions which absolutely require his Presence and then he may stay here no longer than till that Affair is at an end and he must come hither but with such a determinate Number of Guards Yet they take an Oath of Fidelity to the Archbishop but on the other side that Oath expresses a Condition which is If he does maincain all their Privileges and he solemnly and expressly promises to do so The Oath which they are said to take to the Archbishop is this We the free Burgesses of Colen for this Day and for ever do promise to A. B. Archbishop of Colen to be faithful and favourable to him so long as he shall maintain us in our Rights and Honours and our ancient Privileges we our Wives our Children and our City of Colen so Help us God and his Saints The Archbishop obliges himself to the City by a Writing in Form and Tenor following We A. B. by the Grace of God
the Sovereign of this and some Neighbouring Provinces It is encompass'd with a Wall but it seems that it cannot well be made defensible by Reason of the Hill that lies over it It stands very airy and has its Streets of a good breadth Our Lodging was in a handsome Street near the Reform'd or Calvinâ—â—t Church This is a lofty and large Brick Building We did not go into it having seen enough of the manner of those Churches in Holland and we were not told of any thing worth our Observation there But from our Lodging our way in ascending towards the Castle was through a large Stone Building which stands across that Street which they call the middle Port. This is pretended to have been built by Eumenius Rhetor who was the Roman Governour over the Gauls here This is said by an Inscription on the upper side of the Gate but there is no Date added to express the time of this Over the Inscription stands carv'd in the Stone the Effigies of this Eumenius His Habit is close to his Body down to his Waste from thence it hangs loose in Folds to his Feet The Sleeves of it are also close to his Arms and reach to his Wrists He has a Ferula in his Left Hand which was a Symbol of Authority and in his Right Hand he holds up a little Dish which seems heap'd full with Pieces of Gold From hence we still ascended very considerably to the Castle This is a very large Building Castle of Cleve and possesses a great deal of Ground We were told it contains of all sorts at least Three hundred and fifty Rooms We saw the best of them which did not amount to twenty The Audience-Chamber the Dining-Room the Bed-Chamber belonging to the Electour aâ—d several others The finest Rooms which they show'd us they call'd our King's Chambers these were his Bed-Chamber and his Audience-Chamber The outward Curtains of the Bed were blew Velvet the inward were white Satin curiously embroider'd with Silk with a Cover-lid and the top of the Bed of the same Here were the liveliest and the best Tapestry Hangings that I ever saw One Piece represented a Winter where one sees a Gentleman driving his Mistress in a Traino and others skateing upon the Ice In another there is a Feast in another a Landschape with Shepherds and Shepherdesses making merry by their Flocks All the Figures on these were so lively and so well shaded and proportion'd that it does not seem easie to excel them in a Picture The next Room to this is his Majesty's Audience-Chamber which is hung with excellent Tapestry too The State is Scarlet Velvet the Seams where the several Breadths of the Velvet are join'd are cover'd with a broad Gold Galoone The Fringe round the Canopy consisted of a multitude of little Knots of Gold Thread tied up in a great Number of Bows The Curtains over the Doors were of the same Velvet with a Gold Galoon and such Knots round at the Edge of them In these and the other best Rooms of the Castle we were divided between the Finery of the Furniture within and the Beauty of the Prospects out at the Windows Below are Gardens belonging to the Castle and beyond them one looks either towards the Hill above the City which is planted with Trees that stand in Rows up to the top from the View of the Castle or else one sees a great length of the Rhine with the Country about it From these Chambers we descended a little and went through a long Gallery and at length under a wide Arch we went down some Steps into a great Hall This Arch is of Marble of several Colours and the several Ranges of it severally wrought It seems to be old Work but intelligent People say it is not so old as is pretended For this was shown us as a Relick of the old Building of Julius Caesar On one side of it there stands a little Image in a Niche much defaced which seems to be just of the same Figure with that on the Gate foremention'd and I believe was made for the same Eumenius but the People told us this is the Effigies of Julius Caesar himself and over it accordingly there is this Inscription in the Wall Anno Urbe Romana condita Sexcentissimo Nonagessimo Octavo Caius Julius Caesar Dictator hisce partibus in deditionem redactis arcem Clivensem aedificavit Which tells that in the Year 698 after the City of Rome was built Caius Julius Caesar the Dictatour built the Castle of Cleve after he had brought these Parts of the Country into Subjection to the Roman People There are many very pleasant Sights about the City of Cleve such as Fountains Gardens Walks planted with Trees the beautiful Linden Boom or Lime Tree one of the fairest in the World And indeed I never any where saw this kind of Trees so fair and beautiful as they are here The Place seems to be peculiarly agreeable to them It were too long a Task to mention every thing particularlarly that is entertaining here but I must not omit the finest Prospect perhaps in the World which they have from the top of the Hill above the City which they call Sterrenberg We Sterrenbeâ—g mount about half a Mile above the City to the top of this It is a round Hill and from the top descends pretty quick almost every way It is all cloath'd with fine flourishing Lime Trees and though it be too steep in some Parts to be passâ—d up or down yet there it is cover'd with Mould and bears good Grass and these Trees Among the Trees planted here there are left Thirteen Alleys which run strait down the Hill and meet all in the Center at the top From thence these Alleys point and direct the view to some considerable Place in the Country round about And one sees all the beautiful Country round as far as the Eye can reach with a distinct View from Nimmeguen downwards to Wesel upwards with all the Valley upon the Rhine the Cities and Villages in that and upon the Hills which bound the Sight on the other side A finer Country cannot be seen and the Prospect is as much as the Eye can reach so that if any where in the World an Exception could be found to Solomon's Maxim it is here that the Eye must be satisfied with seeing At the bottom of this Hill where it stands as it were in Two Stories almost upright and shows its self from the bottom to the top cover'd with Trees that seem to hang over our Heads the Electour has chosen a Place to make some new Water-Works The Hill there affords a plentiful Spring of Water for the purpose There are but Two of the Designs finish'd In one of them the Water was drove up form'd into the Shape of a huge taper'd Drinking-Glass the Cavity is big enough if it were a Glass to hold I believe a Gallon of good Liquour and so affords a Speculation very
deriv'd from the Latin Batavia and shows this to be the Country which the Romans call'd by that Name At that Point of Land is a large and regular Fortification call'd Schenckenscans Schenckenscans This belongs to the States-General and lies so as it Commands both these Channels of the Rhine Nimmeguen is situated on the left Bank of the Wael It is a large City the Area of it something more then half a Circle It is encompass'd with a good Wall and a Ditch and fortified with a convenient number of Bastions It stands upon a Ground which rises considerably from the River but very gradually But at that side which is uppermost upon the River the Ground stands very high and comes a steep Cliff to the Water Upon that Place is built a large and strong Castle which commands the River upwards and downwards and some of the adjacent Country This Castle they pretend was built by Julius Caesar or rather restor'd and improv'd by him The Streets of this City are generally broad and airy they are strait and some of them very long It seems to be a very sweet and healthy Place to live in and to have a good Trade They brew here a soft Small Beer which is in great Repute all over the United Provinces under the Name of Nimmeguesce Mol. It becomes pretty clear even while it Mol. remains soft whereas their other sorts of Peer are commonly very thick while they are soft and by that time they are a little fin'd they grow hard But this Drink is too a crude and very flatulent Drink it is wholesomest to drink it mingled with a little dash of French White Wine or Rhenish and then it becomes very Diuretick We went to see Domini Smetius one of the Calvinist Ministerâ— of the City for the sake of his Collection of Rarities which consists I perceiv'd chiefly in Medals and Coins of which he says he has of all sorts about Ten Thousand He receiv'd us somewhat â—â—iâ—â—ly but at length condescended to shew us what he had The oldest piece of History represented on those we saw was that of the Rape of the Sabine Women by the Romans I much doubt however whether it were made at the time or not We saw one of Tâ—tus Vâ—spasiâ—â— on which was commemorated his Conquest of Judea it was but Copper He show'd us a Gold Medal of Queen Elizabeth of an Oval Form which commemorated our Deliverance from the Spanish Invasion design'd in 1588. Several other ancient and modern ones we saw but while we were very busie in this pleasing Entertainment some good Women of his Acquaintance came in a Coach and call'd him out whom we thought at that time very impertinent This broke us off at present and we had not an Opportunity to come again The great Church of the Town is a stately and magnificent Building It is dedicated to St. Stephen the Protomartyr It was formerly a Collegiate Church 'T is now possess'd and used by the Calvinists which is the Religion of the Magistrates here as in all the Dominions of the States General And if any of those Magistrates should pretend to such a Liberty of Conscience as to go to any one of the Religious Assemblies of any other sort that are tolerated amongst them he would soon be deposed from his Magistracy This City was formerly subject to the Archbishop of Colen in Ecclesiastical Matters The Profession and Exercise of the Popish Religion is tolerated here but they have no publick endow'd Churches There are here some Convents of the Religious Orders for Men and for Women And there is a Congregation of Protestants who are allow'd a publick Church Passage from Nimmeguen to Rotterdam THE next Day we took the Ship which went for Rotterdam at Eight a Clock in the Morning It was very full of Passengers We paid for each Person one Guilder two Stivers for our Passage and at going off they spung'd something of us for our Portmantle and for the Ship Servants We could not be in the Roof the most commodious Room in the Ship because there was one of the Magistrates of Rotterdam with some of his Family in it and though they did not fill it yet they would possess it all and when we found every Body else gave way to his Worship with the Deference due to a Petty Prince we were forced to do so too and stow'd our selves but inconveniently in the Skipper's Kitchin For it was a Day of excessive Rain and forced us to be under cover We paid four times Passage Money between this and Dort At Nimmeguen a Stiver for each Person at Tiel a Stiver and half at Bommel two Stivers at Gorcum two Stivers and an Oâ—tie that is a quarter of a Stiver We were forced at each of the three last mention'd Places to stop till an Officer came on board us to gather this and this stay lost us usually almost an Hour We had a Gale of Wind but it was directly against us at North West This made our Way long by Reason of the frequent Tacks it forced us to make Towards Night it fail'd us and we could advance no faster than as the Stream drove us yet we got down before Ten a Clock at Night to Dort The Tide gave us little or no Hindrance because at this time it did not come up so far as usually especially with a Westerly Wind by Reason of the great Force of the River which was exceedingly swell'd with the great Rains and Land-Floods In a dry Season with such a Wind we were told the Tide will mount to Gâ—rcum or beyond whereas now it came not so high On this Occasion I shall take notice of what I have observ'd and learnt concerning the lowness of this Province of Holland The Rain and Snow which falls in the Winter-time lies upon their Ground and covers all their Meadows all over the Country with Water so that the whole Country looks like a Sea and no â—â—y Ground appears but here and there where a Village or a City stands a little above the Water and where there are high raised Banks which they call Dykes to go upon between them This Water must in Spring-time be all thrown out of the Meadows by Mills These throw it into the great Canals which are the usual Passages about the Country These Canals communicate with the Rivers by Sluces which are open'd at a low Tide and then the Water which they are fill'd with from the Meadows will some of it fall off But if there be at the time of dreining a westerly Wind especially a strong one It keeps the Waters of the Rivers so high that the Canals will not empty themselves into the Rivers at all or but very little at the lowest of the Tide For this Reason when there is a westerly Wind the Mills are bound to observe a Water Mark. And when the Canal which they throw the Water into is risen to that Mark they must stop and and work
is so very plentiful that in time of Peace it affords Provision for the greatest Concourse of People In the time of the Emperour Charles the Fifth 't is said there came together at once to this City 7 Crown'd Heads besides several other lesser Sovereign Princes and all of them were attended with a great Retinue They were reckon'd to bring together 18000 Horses yet there was no want of Provision for this great Company Between the two Walls of the City are the Court or Palace with the Park belonging to it the Palaces also of several of the Nobility of these Countries besides Gardens of the Citizens and some Meadows which make the City the more Healthy and Pleasant The River Senne which rises in the Province of Hainault on that side next to Brabant runs through the lower part of this City It divides it self into two Channels a little before it enters the City and then comes in almost at an equal distance on each side the Port of Anderlecht It makes several Islands in the City uniting and dividing its Streams several times It runs on in Brabant to Vilvorde a little Town upon the Canal and from thence falls into the Dyle below Mechlin This little River affords the Water which furnishes the great Canal This City is plentifully furnish'd beside with Springs of Water which feed some publick Fountains and serve also the private Houses and it is as good Water as is to be met with perhaps in any of the Countries of Europe Brussels has long been and still is the Seat of the Chancery of Brabant The Office of Chancellor is a great Dignity and of great Importance for he is reckon'd in effect the Governour of Brabant and a sort of Deputy to the Duke himself Other Courts also to which all this Province come upon several Occasions are held here There is in this City likewise an Ecclesiastical Court for the Diocess of Cambray to which all Causes Ecclesiastical come which do happen within that part of the Diocess that runs into Brabant Besides these things which occasion many People to come hither in these latter times Brussels has been the Seat and usual Residence of the Governour of the Belgick Provinces who has here kept his Court which has occasion'd a Concourse of the Principal Nobility and Gentry of these Countries and the building so many Houses for them as there are here It has Fifty two Colledges as they are call'd of Tradesmen which we in London call Companies and these are distributed into Nine Parts which are called here the Nations At Brussels the Art of making Tapestry now flourishes and some of the best in the World is made here some of the choice of which is seen in the Elector of Bavaria's Apartments in the Palace It is thought worthy to be the Furniture also of some of the finest Rooms in the Palaces of other Princes of Europe The present Governour of the Spanish Dominions in the Belgick Provinces under Charles the Second King of Spain is Maximilian Emmanuel Duke of both the Bavaria's and of the Palatinate Archdapifer of the Sacred Empire Elector Count Palatine of the Rhine Landtgrave of Leuchtenberg c. A Prince of great Renown tho' but in the prime of his Years glorious for Martial Conduct and Valour of which he has given many eminent Proofs He is a person of unwearied Activity and Vigour of a great Spirit has large Dominions and perhaps much larger Hopes He was absent when we were here at his laborious Pleasures of Hunting in which he takes great Delight so we could not see him The Palace stands in some of the highest part of the City It is built round a very large Court Behind it is a Descent of a great many Steps to the Gardens which lie in a little Valley between that and the Park There is an open Gallery of a good length on this side along which stands several Stone-Statues which represent some of the Ancient Dukes of Brabant From the Garden-Wall the Ground rises very steep and shows the Park above it to the lowest Rooms of the Palace The Park is planted with Lime-Trees in Rows and stock'd with Dear there are in it some wild Grotto's of Rock-work and all together affords a very pleasant short prospect to the Rooms on this side of the Palace We went out of the Park into a Garden where the Water-works are shown those we saw are in a long Stone-Building which stands in the Form of a Piazza the inside of which with the Pillars and Arches on the Front of it are cover'd with Mother of Pearl Sea-shels pieces of cragged Stones Sea-plants and the like The Water in one Division within sets on work several sorts of Handicrafts men as a Smith a Carpenter a Brace of Sawyers and others In another there is a pretty Cascade of Water in one there is an attempt of a perpetual Motion which cannot be describ'd so as to give a just Idea of it to one that has not seen it In short there are two men set at the two ends of a Ballance he at the left end as they are before us is heavier than he who is at the right end Therefore he descends and lifts the other up The other when lifted up holds a little Bucket to a small Spout of Water which falls into it and when that is full this man becomes heavier by vertue of his Water than the other and thereupon weighs the other up but in descending he spills his Water and the other immediately brings him up again While the Water is filling his Buckeâ— a small Wooden Ball slowly descends three rows of Wires falling from one to the other and at last drops into the Lap of the lower man by that time it is there the man with the Bucket descends with the weight of his Water and then this man rising carries up the Ball and throws it upon the uppermost row of Wires there are two Balls and the matter is so order'd that one or other of them is always in motion In another Division a Duck drinks but without lifting her Head I saw her empty several times a Shell of Mother of Pearl which the Servant held to her full of Water There is one Machine casts out the Water in the common Figure of a Start Other Water-works there are which we could not see by reason of the Absence of the person that must show them The Stables belonging to the Palace are very Magnificent and capable of holding above an hundred Horses Over them is a large Chamber which they call the Armoury Here are kept the Weapons and Armour used in former times but all that is here belong'd to Princes Some to the Dukes of Burgundy who were the Sovereigns of these Provinces before they fell to the House of Austria There is the Armour of several Emperours some very fine Armour of the Emperour Charles the Vth the Armour of some of the Princes who govern'd these Countries under the
they were here expos'd to the Plunderings and Abuses of the French It belongs to these Nuns to censure the Lepers of Louvain and Heverlee a place near it and those whom they find to be Lepers they are bound to lodge in their House and to attend them till they are cur'd or die In this Nunnery the Duke of Brabant was bound to take an Oath to the City of Louvain upon his coming to his Dignity before he might enter the City and besides he was to hear Mass at the Altar of St. George here and leave a good Offering which tho' the Saint if there were such an one has no need of yet the Nuns knew what to do with it LOUVAIN ABout two of the Clock After-noon as hath been said we arriv'd at Louvain this is the Name which the French call it by the Latines call it Lovanium and the people of the Countrey Loven The reason of this Name which the learned and famous Lipsius gives is the most fair and probable There is on the East-side of this City an Hill and a Wood call'd Lo at the bottom of which and near the City lies a plain Tract of Meadows out of which they dig Turf for Fuel such a sort of place in the Language of these Countries is call'd a Veen whence the place was call'd the Veen of Lo or Lo-veen and the City the City of Lo-veen The same learned Man thinks this City was built or that the place became an enclos'd wall'd City in the times of the Norman Invasions of these Countries The Name of it says he is observable in History before the Year 740. In the times of Charlemagne Carloman and Charles the Fat this Country was much infested with the Incursions of these Barbarians At length the Emperor Arnulph gain'd a great and glorious Victory over them somewhere near this City and from thenceforth freed this Country from them This City also has two Walls the one much within the other which shows that it was at first a much less City than it is at present The first Wall and the innermost begun to â—e built in the time of Godfrey III. Emperour in the Year 1154. The outermost Wall which is at present the Defence of it was begun in the Year 1354. was finish'd in 4 years time In the year 1427. says Guicciardinâ— the compass of this Wall was measur'd together with that of 4 other Cities which were then thought the biggest of Europe on this side the Alpes and it was sound that the Compass of Loven exceeded that of Ghenâ— 3 Roods that of Liege 8 that of Paris without the Suburbs 8 also and that of Colen 18. The Rood or Perch is reckon'd at 20 Roman Feet The same Author says he upon Examination found that the Compass of the Walls within was 6 Miles which he reckons two hours but the Compass of the Wall and Diâ—ch on the outside was 8 Miles There are on this Wall 53 Towres strong built The most remarkable one is that set on some of the highest Ground about the City which is call'd The Tower of Expences lost The Citizens built this at the common Charge and design'd 7 such for Watch-Towres but the Charge of this was so great and some Calamities following they were discouraged from attempting any more From this Tower they say in a clear day may be seen the City of Antwerp It was built in the Year 1364. the inside of it is Brick and the outside Stone it stands round and of an equal bigness from the Bottom to the Battlements at the top Between this outward Wall and the other are several spacious Fields Orchards and Gardens The Form of the City is round and so 't is the more capacious The River Dyle runs through this City divided into several Branches and so is service able to several parts of it but it enters the City in one Channel and unites its several Channels again into one before it goes out of it At the pâ—ace where this River enters the City there is a great Sâ—â—ce concerning which Lipsius relates that in the Year 1573 a sudden Thaw with a great Rain came upon a mighty Snow which was then lying on the Ground the Keeper of this Sluce not foreseeing the Danger and neglecting to open the Gates of the Sluce in time the River swell'd and rose almost to the height of the VVall then with its weight it broke in and with a mighty Flood drove through the â—â—ty beat down several Houses carried away many People and Cattel and did besides a great deal of Damage to Goods and Houshold-stuff It is united at a good distance within the Wall on the lower side where it goes out of the City and within this space lie the Ships that come up hither For the River is navigable for good big Vessels up hither but no further I saw 8 Vessls lying there and there was room for more By virtue of this River this City is capable of managing a good Trade and it has had a very considerable one formerly tho' now 't is declin'd and gone The Trade of the Wollen Manufactory was very considerable here 't is said that in the year 1350. there were above 3 thousand Shops or Houses employ'd in this Trade and in each House there were 30 or 40 persons doing the several parts of it so that 't is said there were ordinarily an hundred thousand persons employ'd in this Work within this one City Civil Broils were the ruine of this vast Trade Civil Dissentions and put an end to the Prosperity of this City which now looks old and decay'd and too big for its Inhabitants The occasion of this Mischief was this The City had always been govern'd by the Families of the Nobility who govern'd it in the Form of a Senate but when Trade had made the Commons rich they disdain'd to be govern'd and grew so proud that they would needs have a Share in the Government After many Insurrections and Seditions to this purpose they alter'd the ancient Government and obtain'd that an equal Number of Commons should sit in the Senate-House with the Nobility and with equal Authority Then they had broken the Power of the Government and it became too weak to hinder them from doing Mischief to one another they were divided into Parties and Factions which often fell together by the Ears Once in the Senate House they fell out and threw one another headlong out at the Windows who falling were receiv'd on the Pikes of others that stood below and barbarously murder'd When things were at this pass there was no Authority that any one stood in awe of they had Liberty enough now to destroy one another as Malice or Envy or Covetousness or Ambition set them on there was no Order no Safety and a multitude of themselves discourag'd by these ill Effects of their own Folly left their Countrey with their Goods and Effects and came for England Thus this People disdaining the
was dedicated to Hercules as appears by the Effigies over the Gate The Church which is here now is dedicated to the Virgin Mary an Ancient building He mentions and refutes the Opinion of Hubertus Thomas whom he calls a learned Man and who was a Native of this Country who says that in former times the Sea came up to the Walls of Tongeren This Guicciardine reasonably enough asserts to be an impossible thing and most certainly false the nearest part of the Sea is at least an hundred Mile distant from this City and all the whole Provinces of Flanders Zeland and Brabant must have been in the bottom of that Sea which should reach hither It is however certain that this has been a Great Populous and Royal City It was sackt by the Cruel Attila King of the Huns when he Invaded these Countries He put to the Sword as History tell us all that he found in it and threw down among other Buildings more than an Hundred Churches by which we may judge of the bigness of it at that time Being somewhat recover'd and rebuilt after this Calamity tho' it could never attain its former Grandeur it was destroy'd again by the Incursions of the Barbarous Normans in the time of Charles The Bald. This destruction it never recover'd and has now no remains of its former greatness but only in Venerable ruines which show themselves many without and some within the present City Such miseries are the common attendants of War when the just Providence of God le ts loose the Rage and Fury of Men to execute his Vengeance upon one another they prove the most destructive and mischievous things that are And this City should be lookt upon as an Instance of the Uncertainty of this World and the mighty changes which the greatest things on Earth are liable to Tongeren was the first City of all Gaul or Germany that embrac'd the Christian Faith This it did chiefly by the care and Preaching of St. Maternus about the Year of our Lord 101. This Person was born in Lombardy he came hither to Preach the Gospel was the first Bishop of the place and died in the Year 138. The last and 9th Bishop of the Tongriens was Valentinus He died in the Year 308 From which time St. Servatius transfer'd the Episcopal See from hence to Maestricht from thence again it was transfer'd as we shall see hereafter by St. Hubert to Liege in the Year 713. This Afternoon we pass'd through an open Champion Country and pretty high for the most part and from whence we could see Maestricht for a good while before we came to it The Soil is all good an excellent Mold and fit for Corn some was Plough'd and Sown but it was evident that the use of the Country had been neglected for some time And accordingly tho' this is a Corn Country we met several Carts loaden with Corn that were coming up from Maestricht to serve the Country From thence too they are furnisht with Coals for there seems to be little Wood in these parts In these wide Fields we met with frequent little buildings of Brick about the bigness of such as are built sometimes over a Ditch for an occasion not to be mention'd In these we could see through a Grate stood an Altar and over it an Image of the Virgin Mary To these in passing by the People paid their respects By every one of these we should see at least one fair flourishing Tree tho' there was not perhaps another in several Miles round about so that we knew and could expect before we came to it that we should after a while see a Chappel by seeing at first only the top of the Tree This way of honouring a Sacred place with Trees which were Sacred too is an old custom deriv'd from the Heathens who in their notions of the matter had corrupted Religion for they pretended that a sort of Deities were lodg'd in those Trees and dwelt there as long as the Trees lasted For which and perhaps other Corruptions God forbid the Jews the planting any Trees about his Altars The Sky grew dismal black upon us while we were in these naked Fields and Rain'd hard upon us all the way to Maestricht to which we came about half an hour after six It continued raining so that we could not stir out that Evening from our Lodging MAESTRICHT THIS City call'd in Latin Trajectum ad Mosam in the Language of the Country Maestricht deriv'd its name undoubtedly from hence that this was a common place of Passage over the Maese It stands upon this great River which is here much wider than the breadth of the Thames at London and of a depth sufficient to bring up loaded Vessels of a good Burden Writers say that here was formerly a Bridge over this River when it was broken down I know not but at present there is none fixed They make use of what is call'd a Pont Volant but more properly a swimming Bridge which is a sort of great Ferry laid upon several great Boats it carries over many People with Horses and Carriages together I saw it actually going off and People were hurrying down at the time which I suppose may be fixed to take the Opportunity This City is seated within the Bishoprick of Leige but is with some compass about it reckon'd a part of Brabant and as such did formerly belong to the Dukes of Brabant who divided it with the Bishop and Prince of Leige The ground and occasion of this odd division is this Porus Count of Louvain gave part of this City to St. Servatius when he was Bishop of it to be held with some acknowledgment of the Gift for it was He as hath been said who transferr'd the Episcopal Seat from Tongeren hither after he had been Instrumental to Convert the People here to the Christian Faith When after this the See was transfer'd to Leige the right which the Bishop had when he resided here was reckon'd to belong to him when he was remov'd to Leige and does so still But now the Dominion of the City is divided between the States General of the United Provinces and the Bishop of Leige the former being in Possession of the rights of the Duke of Brabant This double Jurisdiction is still continued in the City and as formerly without any distinction by bounds or limits so that the Subjects of one and the other Government lie intermix'd about the City In the same Street there are Subjects to the different Governments A custom has been formerly observ'd and I think is still here That if à Man who is a Subject of one Government takes a Wife that is a Subject of the other His Children by her must all be Subjects to that Government that she was under It is also said that if any Stranger comes to settle in this City he must in the first place chuse which of the two Governments he will be under and must so remain as long as
he is here There are two distinct Burgomasters in the City and other Magistrates to govern the distinct People but in common concerns of the City they meet and join together in determining matters The Duke of Brabant was notwithstanding this Sate of the City reckon'd the chief Soveraign of it and at present the States General seem to have the greatest power here There was now a great Garrison in the Town consisting of Ten Thousand Men which we were told were all in the States pay They then by consequence have the Command of the Gates the Fortifications and the Amunition This City is extreamly well fortified besides a strong Wall and a broad deep Ditch there are several Bastions round it which are well planted with Cannon there are also many strong out-works with cover'd ways to them and all these are provided of Mines ready made There is an Hill on the South East side of the Town which lies somewhat near and within reach to annoy it considerably but against that they have rais'd a Bastion there to a great height which is a good defence to the Town and this is within the Walls This is altogether a fine City the buildings are good after the common manner of these Countries and really all things look in a thriving flourishing Condition the Streets are generally very broad The chief Church in the City is dedicated to Popish Churches St. Servatius the Bishop before mention'd It is now possess'd and used by the Papists The peice of Painting over the high Altar represents him with the marks of a Bishop It is a Collegiate Church as it was and formerly the Duke of Brabant now the King of Spain as Duke of Brabant is one of the Chanoines There is by it a large Cloyster which goes round a good piece of ground for a Garden but it is now neglected This St. Servaâ— as the Vulgar language calls him died they say in the Year 395 and after him the Episcopal See continued here to the time of St. Lamberi who made the 20th in Succession from St. Servaes but he did not fix here but remov'd the See to Leige upon what occasion he did this will be said when we come to Leige There is besides this a Church dedicated to St. Nicholas in Possession of the Papists They have also a large Church dedicated to the Virgin Mary Over the great door of this Church stand 3 large Images one represents an old Man next to him at his right Hand stands a Woman at her right Hand is a young Man the two Men are made holding a Crown in their Hands as putting it upon the Head of the Woman 't is well enough known what they of the Church of Rome mean by such a Representation but ought not to be mention'd without the utmost detestation and Horrour Within the Church are Altars and Images as usual There is one Altar to St. Roch by which stands a strong Box lockt with a hole to put in Money by and by it is an Inscription which says Give here your Charity to St. Roch or honour him with your Charity that God may divert from us the Pestilence For this Sain talso is address'd to by the Roman Church as a Friend at need against the Plague Story says of him that he heal'd several People sick of the Plague in Italy by making the sign of the Cross over them and they say Heaven show'd that his Intercession should be a remedy against that distemper by this evident token to wit that he himself at last died of the Plague I think a Man must have Roman Spectacles to see the Evidence of this There are several Convents of Friers and Nuns in this City The Jesuits have a College Convents here We saw their Chappel which was but mean The High Altar is dedicated to Xaverius who is there said to have been Apostle of the Indies and Martyr At the East end of the Isle on the right side of the high Altar is an Altar to the Virgin Mary there are about the Church a few Pictures of the Saints of their Order I doubt if there were to be the Pictures of none but true Saints they would be yet fewer but it must be confess'd the Gallows and the Scaffold between them have made a pretty many Saints of that Order such as they were and yet most People believe not so many by far as they should have done Here is also a House of Capucines which has yeilded lately tho' unwillingly a considerable man to the Reformation M. Loefs a Convere of the Reformation He was one of the best Preachers that the Papists had in this City had long been dissatisfied with many things in the Roman Church travell'd into France Spain and Italy to see if he could meet with any thing that might reasonably confirm him in his Religion instead of that he saw every where abundant evidence of the monstrous corruption of the Church of Rome he found it almost every where much worse than in this his own Country and saw more reason still to leave it He return'd to Maestricht with this resolution and took his opportunity to put himself under the protection of the States General who have receiv'd him into their protection and allow him a Pension He has printed a good Book which is a comparison of the Beliefs of the Roman and Reform'd Churches His name is Michael Lâ—efs The Dominicans have also a Convent here we saw their Chappel which was the finest that we saw in this City but had nothing in it particular or worth taking notice of The Calvinist Religion is that which the Calvinists States â—stablish and encourage here and that which their Magistrates profess They have in pay here 6 or 8 of their Ministers but they have but two Churches which are call'd by the Names of St. Martins and St. Johns this latter we fell into it is not a large Church it was Reform'd after the Calvinist modell One sees there a Pulpit to Preach in and a great many seats for People to sit on and hear but no conveniency to kneel and pray nor any provision for the Celebrating of the Lord's Supper or Baptism The truth is this part of the Reformation have generally brought all the business of Publick Worship almost to only the Ministers exercising his Gifts and Parts in Prayer or Preaching Indeed all of them beyond Sea have composed Forms for publick Prayer before and after Sermon and for administration of Sacraments and condemn such of our Dissenters who will have this unlawful There is also here a Church and Congregation of Protestants as they call the Lutherans in all Protestants these Countries and in Germany as distinct from the Calvinists who call themselves Reform'd The Hill before mention'd on the South-East Quarries side of this City yeilds a very pleasant prospect to it in time of Peace and when they expect no mischief from thence It is all cover'd with
wears as well as for other parts of buildings Sometimes where the Hill was very high and steep it was yet cover'd with mold and that all Planted with Vineyards from the top almost to the bottom these were new dress'd and stuck all over with the little Stakes which the Wires of the Vines were to lay hold on and so to hold up the Grapes a little from the Ground There are a great many of these Vineyards in the way and about Leige it self This had been an extream pleasant passage if we could have been sure of good weather and could have stood in the open part of the Boat for we had but little Windows in the Roof to look out at LEIGE THIS City call'd in Latin Legia Leodium and Leodium in Dutch Luyck and by the French Liege is Head of a large Bishoprick and Principality which is reckon'd a part of the Empire included within the Circle of Westphalia It lies along the Maese for the Bishoprick of Leige most part and on both the sides of it On the North and West it bounds upon the Dutchy of Brabant running a great way beyond Maestricht North-wards On the East it has on one part the River Maese for its boundary on another the Dutchy of Limburg Southward it borden upon Champaign and the Dutchy of Luxemburg It enjoys generally a very good Healthy Air and a good Soil it is plentifully furnisht with Corn Fruits Hops and has a great many Vineyards It makes a great deal of Wine but the most part of that is but small We drank the best Beer at Leige that we met with in all our Journey it is not inferiour to the best in England There are many Hills especially in the Upper part of this Principallity and they contain Mines of Lead of Iron in great abundance and they have also Veins of Vitriol and Brimstone They yeild also a great abundance of Coal which is plentifully burnt in this City Coâ—ls and the Country about from hence is Maestricht and other places upon the Maese furnisht with this fuel It is a very good black and shining Coal We observed both here and at Maestricht and at Aix la Chapelle a frugality in the use of this Coal which seems worth taking notice of The most of it is in great peices it being as it were hewn out of a Rock but in the working of these out and in the removing them from place to place there will be a great deal of Coal dust made This dust they carefully preserve and use it thus They take a certain sort of a fat Clay which looks somewhat of the colour of brick Earth and make it into a Morter working it with a convenient quantity of Water being thus prepar'd they mingle the Coal-dust with it as much as it will receive and work the whole Mass well together When they have done so they with their hands make up the mingled stuff into Oval balls somewhat lesser than Bricks These they lay to dry and harden and then they burn them They seem to take fire but slowly and to need for this the mixture of some of the pure Coal among them but when they are well kindled they give a great heat and they hold fire a long time They look of the colour of Bricks when burnt and cold again At Aix la Chapelle we observ'd they stuck this stuff up against the Wall in Cakes to dry there and there it would stick very fast till they beat it down for their use The Coal Mines which are chiefly used at present here are said to be very rich and not above a League distant from the City They afford besides what is spent here and in the Neighbouring parts enough to sell to other Countries at a cheap rate for an hundred thousand Crowns Yearly By vertue of the many Veins of Iron in this Country they cannot want Chaly beat Waters Accordingly within this Principallity is the famous Spaa which lies in the Marquisate of Spaa of Francimont not far from the City of that Name Distant from Leige on the East side of the Maese 5 Leagues from Limburg but one and a half To these Waters there is Yearly a great concourse of People from the Neighbouring and remoter Countries The Company begin to come together in the Month of July and continue there all the Hot weather The Bishopâ— of Leige stiles himself Bishop and Prince of Leige Duke of Bullion Marquiss of Francimont and Count of Lootz and Hasbain These are places to which these Titles belong under his Jurisdiction This Principallity contains 24 Wall'd Cities above 1200 Villages many Baronies and Toparchies We must take notice of Bouilson for the sake of the great and famous Godfrey of Bouillon so renown'd in the Holy War Godfrey of Bouillon There is now but the Castle or Fort on the top of a Hill which belong'd to that Family which by its Scituation and the works about it is judg'd Impregnable At the bottom of the Hill is a large Village where formerly stood a larger wall'd City of this Name This Castle has a Jurisdiction over a little Compass about it which has been Anciently Honour'd with the Title of a Dutchy and is still call'd the Dutchy of Bouillon from the Old City which was the Metropolis of it It in cludes a Tract of Villages intermingled with some limbs of the Great Forrest of Ardenne Bouillon lies upon the River Semoy which runs into the Maese a little below Chasteau Regnault It is distant from Sedan upon the Maese not above two Leagues This Dutchy was the Hereditary Patrimony of Duke Godfrey aforesaid This brave Man with his two Brothers Eustathius and Baldwin offer'd himself among the first for the Expedition to recover the City of Jerusalem and the Holy Land out of the Hands of the Mahometans in the Year 1096. In order to furnish himself the better for this Enterprize his Zeal to the Undertaking was so great that he sold this Dutchy to Audebert then Bishop of Leige with greater glory says my Authour to the Seller than to the Buyer In this War he and his Brothers gave eminent proofs of great Valour and Conduct So that in the Year 1099 Jerusalem was taken from the Infidels Duke Godfrey himself was the first Man that mounted the Walls and was followed by his Brother Eustathius This being observ'd when the Action was over Duke Godfrey was by an Unanimous Vote of the Army made King of Jerusalem He accepted the Honour and took the Government of it but refused to be Crown'd saying He would never think of wearing a Crown of Gold in that City where his Saviour had worn a Crown of Thorns He died within a Year after this and his Brother Baldwin was Crown'd King who is therefore reckon'd the first Christian King of Jerusalem There was in the Time of Guicciardine a Bishop of Leige Bishop of Leige whom he calls the most Reverend and Serene Prince and Lord
ready to boil especially if it be put in any thing that is bright and shining and the Surface of the Water rises in these Pits just as Water does when 't is ready to boil over the Fire I doubt not to say that the Water here is actually boiling hot There was at each of these Pits a Place where we could put a Finger to the Water but could no more endure a Hand or Finger in it than in Water that boils over the Fire These Waters are certainly as hot as Water can be They will boil Eggs in a little time and the People take them up from these Springs and use them as Nature has fitted them upon Occasion to scald the Hair off from a Swine or Feathers from a Fowl All the Waters both here at Porcet and in the City have this Property that in the Throughs and Passages of Stone or Wood through which they run they leave in a little Time a great Quantity of heavy sandy Stone The People are forced to how this very often out of those Passages otherwise they would be quite stopp'd up The Porcetan Waters are reckon'd to have the most of this Quality and to have it from hence that they carry along with them somewhat more of that fine Sand which is the matter of this Stone though as I said these Waters are so clear and clean that no such thing can be discern'd in them 'T is judg'd that this Stone comes from the mixture of these little Grains of Sand together with the Particles of Salts that are in these Waters and which are coagulated by the cold Air. This Stone gathers no where but where the cold Air together with the Coldness of the Stone or wooden Troughs which the Water runs through do chill it And they say the least calcining and almost the laying them by a hot Fire reduces this Stone to a meer loose Sand again presently the Saline Particles being taken out by the Fire These Baths at Porcet are chiefly frequented for Pleasure by People that are well who may tumble in them as long as they please without any harm The Circumstances would not permit us to try this Pleasure We were here led into a House to see what they call een Druogh Bade that is a dry Bath We went into a little close Room which was laid over a hot Spring All the Furniture in it was a wooden Chair and a Tin Pipe of about Three or Four Inches in Diameter It consisted of several Joints to be taken off or put on as it was requir'd to be shorter or longer That which was to be always uppermost of these was crook'd to a right Angle In the middle of the Floor of this Chamber was a round Hole fit for the Pipe to set in this was stopp'd with a leaden Plugg We felt the Chamber very hot at our first Entrance but when the Plugg was taken out and the Steam ascended it quickly grew so hot that we could not endure it We put our Hands to the Hole whence it came up but could not endure to hold them there the Steam came up so very hot This Steam is by that Pipe and the crooked end of it directed to any particular Part of the Body that is disaffected that the force of the Heat may fall chiefly upon that Part. Next this Chamber was another little one with a Bed in it which they go into from hence to lie warm and Sweat some time There are several of this sort of Steam-Baths here and in Aix Passage from Aix to Juliers BEing straitned in time we were forced hence before we could be aweary of so pleasant and diverting a Place On the 27th of May we took a Charrette which we had hired to our selves to carry us from hence to Colen we had therefore in our Charrette but one Horse but a stout one and we paid for this Passage Three Guilders for each Person though it was reckon'd it would take us up Two good Days travelling by Reason that the Ways were become very bad with much Rain which had fallen We were to have gone from hence at Ten a Clock but staid for our Foreman till One who hid himself and loiter'd to see if the Rain would hold up it being an extream wet Morning When we went again to our Lodging and he thought he should lose the carrying us he soon after came to us with his Charrette We spent a good Hour in crossing the Valley of Aix as we may call it because that City stands at one side of it Our way through it was upon a broad pitch'd Causway It was much broken and out of repair and we went on very slowly On the other side of the Valley from Aken we met a little Brook swell'd into a River with the Rains it was ting'd of a reddish yellow Colour by the Grounds that it came from Here we pass'd through a large Village and soon after mounted a Hill the pitch'd way went along with us still to the top of Hill and there left us to lament the want of it though it was none of the best for we were no sooner from it but we expected every length of the Charrette almost to be thrown into some Slough of Mud. A great part of our Way from hence towards Juliers was through a very rich Country full of good Enclosures and furnish'd with Orchards Pasture-Grounds Corn-Fields and Hop-Grounds but some of the dirtiest Countries that ever I saw in my Life We went through a great many Villages in this way to Juliers and it seems a Country well peopled but the Houses of these Villages were the wretchedest that we had met with in all our Journey They were large indeed but the Walls of them were of Clay unwhited They are built with Timber and are loftier than our common Cottages which are of the same Colour in England Some of them had a Glass Window which might be cover'd with a quarter of a Yard of broad Ribbon and a great many had none at all They usually stood with their end to the Road and in that end there is in the middle two great Gates like our Barn Doors in England a little way from that is a little House Door They commonly look like the meanest sort of Barns in England They were covered with a very thick covering of Thatch and Clay together which must require good Timber to bear it We were now within the Province or Dutchy of Juliers one of those which makes Dutchy of Juliers up the Circle of Westphalia and were within the Dominions of the Duke of Neubourg who is at present Elector Palatine The Dutchy of Juliers goes in some part of it to the Rhine on the East where it also meets and bounds upon the Bishoprick of Colen it goes to the Maese with some part of it on the West where 't is bounded with that and the Bishoprick of Liege On the South its Limits are the Dutchies of Luxemburg and Limburg On
which is a great Brick Building like the common Seats of the Barons of these Countries which are commonly call'd Castles Several of which we met with in our Journey and after the Model of some of our old Mannours in England and the whole is encompass'd by a broad deep Moat which was almost big enough to have serv'd for a Town Ditch We may say it is deep because it was of a great depâ—â— From the top to the Water that was in it The Foundation of this Tower down to the Water and somewhat above Ground was made of great square Free-Stone above this all the Building is Brick I do not remember that I saw any where in the Wall on the outside of the Court any Places to let in Light or from whence any could look out It is built very high but in Three Parts The lowest part goes up of an equal bigness to about the height of Three or Four good Stories round the top of that there seem'd to be a Battlement The second part above this is somewhat less than this lower one and stands as within it a little That also like the first goes up all of a bigness and seems as tall as the lower and to have a Battlement at the top The third and highest part is set a little within the second seems not so tall as the other and has Battlements at the top The whole Building seem'd compleat and sound and had no appearance of any ruine or decay about it The Building about the Court look'd decay'd We purposed it being now almost dark to come the next Morning and examine it a little further but our Foreman hurried us away very early and so disappointed us From the Circumstances of the Place I judge this must have been a Watch-Tower or a sort of Castle to view and command here a considerable Pass between it and the Rhine We left this wretched Place betimes in the Morning on the 3d. June and pass'd on for Emmerick The first part of our Journey for about an Hour and a half was over a vast wet moorish Common there were some Cattle feeding in it here and there up to the mid-leg in Water and it seem'd that the Places where the Water stood so were the best for them for these look'd the greenest Our Path through it was sunk a little below the rest sometimes and then full of Water After we left this Common our Way was but indifferent till we had pass'd about Two Thirds of our Journey towards Wesel and then we had a dry Way upon some Downs When we came to the River Lippe that and the Riuer Lippe Rhine were so swell'd with Rains that we could not use the ordinary Ferry here nor go the direct and usual Way to Wesel We waited a great while therefore for a Naken which could carry us where the Ferry-Boat could not and which was on the other side the Lippe and almost a quarter of a Mile above our Place When that was come we hung our Charrette at one end of it stow'd our Two Horses and above a Dozen People in it and mounted the Stream of Lippe which was now very broad till we came to the convenient landing Place This River call'd by Tacitus Luppia comes down from the Dutchy of Westphalia where it has upon it the City of Lipstadt It falls into the Rhine on the right side We had near an English Mile to go from the Place where we landed of this River to Wesel It is they say navigable a great way up into the Country Wesel call'd in Latin Vesalia is one of Wesel the chief Cities in the Dutchy of Cleve It stands upon the right Bank of the Rhine and the more convenient for Trade by reason of the Neighbourhood of the Lippe which is navigable up into the Country This City has been several times taken and retaken between the Armies of the Spaniards and of the States General At last Frederick Henry Prince of Orange Commander of the Armies of the States took it by Stratagem and Surpise in the Year 1629 in the Quarrel between the Marquis of Brandenburg and the Duke of Neubourg fore-mention'd It remain'd with several other Cities in the Dutchy of Cleve in the Possession of the States as a Pawn for Money lent the Electour of Brandenburg in that War And being thus as it were between Two Masters it was not so well look'd to or provided for as it should have been and so was easily taken by the French in the Year 1672 when they made their sudden and unexpected Invasion into Holland But this with the other Cities were restor'd to the Electour of Brandenburg by the Treaty of Nimeguen since which time it has remain'd under that Prince And now it seems better look'd too As we enter'd into it we observ'd a good Fortification about it There is a good Garrison of Soldiers in it they examin'd us strictly at the Gate what we were and whither we were bound The Streets are fair and large the Houses well built much after the Holland Fashion There appear'd in it abundance of Shops and they plentifully stor'd with all sorts of Commodities Many People were passing in the Streets and every thing look'd in a good Condition so that in general it seems at present to be rich populous and flourishing It seems to be chiefly inhabited by those of the Reform'd Religion We passed through a great part of it and saw no where any Marks of the Romish Superstion in publick Yet the Papists have here some of those they call Religious Houses and this is a pleasant and convenient Place for them We did not stay here but just long enough to eat a little Breakfast which we needed the more for having travell'd this Morning three or four Hours and for being disappointed of a Supper the Night before by reason of the Nastiness of the Provision that had been made for us so we had no Opportunity to view much or make any Enquiries concerning this Place Our Way from hence was through a low A Dyke on the Rhine rich Country all enclosed and used The bigger half of our Way to Emmerick was upon a high-rais'd Causway which runs along this part of the Country at some Places at a good Distance from the Rhine at some places just upon it We came upon it about an hour before we came to Rees For the most part as we pass'd this Dyke we had a great deal of Water on our left Hand which was from the Swelling of the Rhine which at this time covered along here some thousands of Acres of good Land some Meadows and some plough'd Ground In some places it came to the very Dyke so deep that it left nothing but the Tops of the Willows which run along by the Divisions of the Meadows to be seen And at the same time we were so far off the Channel that we could not see any thing like it Oftentimes we found the Land
pro se suis V. S. L. L. M. This Altar was dedicated to Fortune by the Person nam'd who was now a Veteâ—ane oâ— the 30th Legion for the Prosperity of â—im and his Relations he had first solemnly vow'd and now most willingly erected it and perform'd his Vow One Inâ—cription had these Words plain upon it Dea H. Ludaniae Sacrum Another by the Words Herculi Sacrum shew'd that it belong'd to an Altar dedicated to Hercules With much regret I found the Inscriptions so worn out that I had much ado to make out what I have mention'd tho' perhaps those who have better studied this Part of Learning and who would spend a little more time about them then we could do might understand more of them In this Valley of Bergendale stands a vast Tomb the biggest that I ever saw It is all of it Iron and encloses the Body of the Great Man who made this Collection He was certainly a Person of a Great and most Excellent Genius It was he who built that Noble Fabrick at the Hague which stands at the Corner of the Pond call'd the Viver and is on the Left Hand as one enters the Court from the Pleyn from him they call it Prince Maurice his House it makes the best show of any one in the Hague it is now commonly us'd by the States when they entertain Foreign Embassadours On the side of this Great Tomb near the Ground there are Two Lines of Words which were cast with the Iron which run round the Tomb and contain the following Account of this Great Man Johannes Mauritius Nassoviae Princeps Comes Cattimelboci Ulandae ac Deciae Dominus in Beilstein Ordinis S. Johannnis Hierosolymitani per Marciam Saxoniam Pomeraniam ac Vandaliam Magister antehac in Brasilia Per Octennium Terra Marique Praesectus Generalis Ducatus Clivensis Principatus Mindensis ac Comitatuum Markae Ravensbergae Gubernator Ut Ordinum General Uniti Belgii Aequitatu s Praefectus Generalis Vesaliae Guberichi Gubernator c. This Tomb was erected and he was interr'd therein in the Year 1663. He design'd to have built a Chappel here to have been buried in but was prevented by Death In the little House which he built here he died Returning from hence we went a lower way through the Meadows to the City again and had all along a near view of the steep Cliff which gives name to the Place The Hill butts upon the Meadows with a very steep Fall of the Ground for a long way together But the side of it is cover'd with Mold and Green and in some places beset with Trees We design'd to have gone from hence directly without stopping any where to Rotterdam our time being spent To that purpose we got up very early the next Morning having hired a Charrette for Nimeguen They pretended to carry us thither soon enough to take the Ship which goes off from thence for Rotterdam at Eight a Clock in the Morning as there does every Day one We were to have given a Guilder for each Person for this Passage It cost us also Six Stivers to have the Gates of the City open'd for us so soon Our way was all very good from hence it being upon the Hill and that a dry Sand It had rain'd very hard all Night and rain'd hard during all the Four Hours of our Journey our Shelter was not very good and we were well wetted But our Foreman or Chariotteer loiter'd so much in getting out and in his way that he brought us not to Nimmeguen till half an Hour after the Ship was gone off So against our Will we had good part of a Day to acquaint our selves a little with Nimmeguen for now there was no way to get from hence onwards of our Journey till Eight a Clock the next Morntng NIMMEGVEN Nimmeguen as the Dutch call it is call'd by the Latines Noviomagum It is certainly a very Ancient City it was very considerable in the Time of Charlemaigne but was built before That Emperour made it the Second in Dignity after Aix among his Three Imperial Residences It was always a Free Imperial City And tho' it came to belong to Otho the 3d. Count of Guelderland about the Year 1248 being yielded to him by the Emperour for a Summ of Money which he had borrow'd of the Count yet it always retain'd its Ancient Privileges and Perogatives which had been granted it by several Emperours these being constantly confirm'd by Countâ— and Dukes of Guelderland Among those Rights they have had the Power of making and changing their own Laws of levying Taxes of coining Money of raising Souldiers and of banishing in some Cases from the whole Empire There is a small Territory belonging to this City from the former Times it runs downs on the same side of the River that Nimmeguen stands on till it reaches the Province of Holland it is still call'd the Kingdom of Nimmeguen because the City has been a Royal Residence Nimmeguen had its share in the Miseries and Confusions which attended the Revolt of these Provinces from the Crown of Spain it was in those Times often taken and retaken between the Spaniards and the Confederate Provinces at last it became join'd to the latter and so remains to this Day It is now said to be govern'd by Six Burgomasters or Consuls who are such for Life But they govern or act in their Office but Two at once and for the space of a Year and so take turns These Burgomasters chuse out of the Senate Two Schepins or judges who having taken their Oaths chuse Two more and they when sworn chuse Two more and this is done till they have made up the Number of Twelve The Senate consists of Thirty Two Persons who are assembled by the Consuls upon extraordinary Occasions only This City has had an Ancient Right of being Free from paying Toll at any Place upon the Maese And at Liege they have been wont to give a small Acknowledgement of this which is said to be still continu'd Once a Year about the Sunday next after Easter they send a Person to Liege with Two pair of white Doe-skin Gloves such as Faulconers use and Two Pounds of Pepper These are presented to the Magistrates of Liege and this Confirms their Privilege This City stands upon a great Branch of the Wael River Rhine call'd by the Country the Wael by the Latins Vahalis The Rhine being grown very large by the receiving so many Rivers as run into it in its long Course from the Alpes disdains as we may say to confine it self within one Chanel And therefore a little above Nimmeguen it divides it self and makes from thence Two great Rivers One Chanel which runs by Arnhem is still call'd the Rhine but this which comes by Nimmeguen is call'd the Wael It is very broad and deep and carries large Vessels This Division is made at a Point of that Land which is call'd the Betuwe which is a Word
the sake of a little River which rises not far above the City in the Countrey of Brabant runs by the City and somewhat below it falls into the Eastern Schelde Bergen-op-Zoom is now a Place of some Trade which it could not get while Antwerp flourish'd it is under the Jurisdiction of the States General who are at present upon a Design of improving the Fortifications of it We passed by here with a good Wind and came betimes this Morning to Lillo This is a little Place very strongly fortify'd Lillo on the left side of the Schelde as one sails up it upon the Countrey of Brabant it belongs to the States General of the United Provinces tho' it be within three Leagues of Antwerp it is always possess'd by a good Garrison of Souldiers it was formerly the Seat of a Barony and belong'd to a Family that were nam'd Van-dale The People of Antwerp fortify'd this Place well sometime before the Year 1534. and put in Garrison here some of their chosen and most trusty Citizens to keep it for the Security of their Trade and Navigation In the time of the Rebellion of these Countries against the Spanish Government this Fort was besieg'd by the Duke of Parma who lay before it for some time lost 2000 of his Men saw there was no hope of making himself Master of it and therefore quitted the Siege After this some time it became united to the Confederate States and they took and have kept Possession of it ever since in which time 't is grown from a Fort to a little Town Here we were forc'd to stop to be search'd and to pay a Toll which the Dutch here take of all Ships that pass by Our Skipper was also to have produced a Passport but he had neglected to take one at Rotterdam and so his Ship was stopt for that he had no other way now to be furnish'd with one but by sending to the Dutch Commissary residing at Antwerp who had Power to grant him one but he could not tell whether he would do it or not When we found him under this Confinement and Uncertainty we left him and went on board another Dutch Vessel belonging to Harlem which was loaden with Rye and was bound for Brussels whose Skipper undertook to carry us to Antwerp for Four Stivers each Person We sat in the Skipper's Cabbin which was Bed-chamber Kitchin and Parlour and almost fill'd with Four Persons Here sat the Skipper's Wife who kept it very neat and clean she shew'd her self a hearty Friend to our good King and spoke with a great deal of Veneration and Esteem of our late incomparable Queen and so render'd her Conversation very agreeable to us The Skipper crowded himself among us for a little while to eat his Breakfast for here was the Store of Provisions too and he sed heartily upon the Remainders of a Hough of Bacon generously offering us to partake with him We sail'd with a good Wind but now had a strong Tide against us We came up to Fort St. Mary which is I think about two Hours above Lillo just after Twelve a Clock This is a Fort which belongs to ' the Spaniards and stands on the right side of the Schelde upon the Countrey of Flanders Here also we must stop to be search'd and to pay a Toll But the Gates of the Fort were shut according to custom and would continue so a whole Hour so it was one a Clock before the Officer could come out to us We were soon dismiss'd when he came and sail'd on to Antwerp where we arriv'd in good time in the Afternoon ANTWERP THE first Beginnings of this City as well Original as of many others in these Parts are obscure which is an Evidence that they are very ancient and had their Beginning while the People were yet so barbarous and unlearned as not to mind or not to be able to transmit their History to Posterity There is however a Tradition still kept up in this City by several things which relates to some of the first times of it which I shall take notice of here They say that about the times of Julius Caesar there was here a strong Castle or Fort which was held by a mighty Giant to whom some give the Name of Druon some of Antigonus he was Governour of the People hereabout and a barbarous Tyrant He was wont to require of all Ships which pass'd upon the River by this Place the one half of the Goods which they carry'd or the Worth of it and if he found that any endeavour'd to defraud him of any Part of this which he reckon'd his Due their Punishment was That he would cut off one of their Hands and throw it into the River From this Story they derive the Reason of the City's Name making Antwerp out of these two Words Handt and Werpen which signifie to throw the Hand And indeed the true Dutch spelling of the Name is Handtwerpen We call it Antwerp and the French Anvers the Latine Name is Antwerpia This Story is commemorated as I said in this City several ways As we enter the City from the River we see over the Gate in Stone-work a large Image of a Man of a fierce Look with a great drawn Sword in his Right-hand and holding in his Left another Hand as cut off from some Person They put also in the Arms of this City two Hands as cut off together with a Castle They have also a Custom of carrying in one of their solemn Processions once a Year a certain great Statue of a Man which is design'd to represent this Giant which is follow'd by some People who are so drest as that they seem to have each of them a Hand cut off This Ceremony we were told was to â—e perform'd the next Week following that in which we were there which would be Whitson-Week according to the New-Stile It was also said it would be more than ordinarily pompous and fine because it had been omitted for some Years during the late War but our time would not permit us to stay to see it This City is seated in a large Plain on the Situation Right side of the Schelde as it runs towards the Sea which is here and somewhat upwards as well as down to Zeeland the Boundary between Brabant and Flanders Antwerp is distant from the Sea if one follows the River about 17 Leagues but if one goes the shortest way by Land it is but 13. The River is capable of bringing great Ships loaden up to the Wharf of the City The Tide rises here perpendicular 12 Feet the common Depth of the River by the City is about 50 Feet At a place between Antwerp and Lillo where I think it seems no broader than here it is reckon'd to be 2400 Feet in breadth and at Low-water it is there 60 Feet in depth There it was that the Duke of Parma in the time of the Civil Wars built his Bridge when he came to
besiege Antwerp There is now no Bridge any where hereabout over the River but Boats and a Ferry-pass from this City to a Village on the other side call'd the Head of Flanders Antwerp was formerly the Head of one of the Four Quarters of Brabant and is so still for so much as remains of that part under the King of Spain It had under its Jurisdiction the Cities of Bergen op-Zoom Breda Lier Herentals and Steenberg the two former of which and I believe the last are under the Dominion of the States of the United Provinces at present it still retains however the Title of a Marquisate of the holy Empire There are still remaining some Appearances of the first Wall which was the compass of the Castle or the Fort foremention'd which takes in the Church of St. Walburg commonly call'd the Burg-Church which was in former times they say a Heathen Temple This compass is distinctly mark'd in the Map of this City In the Year 1201. there was an Enlargement of the City begun and a Wall of a bigger Compass made Again another Enlargement it had which was begun in the Year 1314. The last of all and that which it has at present was begun in the Year 1543. at which time the City flourish'd mightily in Trade and was in hopes of growing yet greater A Remembrance of which one sees carved in the Stone-work on the out-side of one of the Gates I think it is the George's-Gate where are these Words Plus ultra relating to that matter And there is a large Compass mark'd out among the Gardens adjoyning to the City which was intended for the next Addition to it The Encreases of this City were due to the Prosperity great Privileges granted it by the Dukes of Brabant which drew and encouraged a mighty Trade here to and from all parts of the World Several Fairs in a Year were furnish'd with all manner of Goods that the neighbouring parts of the World could vend But the greatest Improvement of its Trade and Grandure was the making it for a while the common Mart of the Commodities of the East-Indies for Germany and the Northern parts of Europe This Trade began about the Year 1503 and 1504. at which time the Portugueze having found out the Navigation round Africa to the East-Indies brought the Riches of those Countries by Sea into Portugal and from thence they were convey'd to this City for the Service of these parts of the World Several Princes had Stock in Trade here manag'd by Factors appointed by them as the King of Spain the King of Portugal and Queen Elizabeth whose Factor was Sir Thomas Gresham He when he return'd home built the Royal Exchange in London after the Model of the Burse at Antwerp the Queen her self laying the first Stone and honouring the Building with that Name In the Year 1564. it was observ'd that at Easter there came to the Sacrament at the several Churches 80600 Persons In the Year 1561. 't is said the Inhabitants were number'd and made up between Strangers and Citizens above 200000. It was then usual to have 25000 Ships lying about this City at a time and 500 in a day to come and go Waggons loaden with Goods brought from Germany Lorrain and France 2000 in a Week came to this City And of the Boors and Countrey People there were commonly reckon'd 10000 Carts that came laden every Week with what they could bring to the Markets Twice a day at certain hours there was wont to be a Concourse of about 5000 People to the Burse or Exchange These things must needs seem very strange to those who are acquainted with the present Solitude and Silence of this noble City In the time of the late War when there were continually many Strangers here that had business relating to the Armies it seem'd then but very thin of People in Proportion to its Room and Grandeur and to have but very little business but when we came there now it was an Amazement to see how much more solitary it appear'd It looks now methinks much like one great Cloister where one can neither hear nor see any body almost but at certain Hours at the Chappel Here one sees no Companies of People but at the Church at proper Seasons It is really a matter of Wonder that a place so commodious for Habitation and Trade should be so deserted as it is It is situated upon a firm dry Soil and stands Commodiousness very airy and well for the Health of the Inhabitants The Countrey about it is fit for Gardens and Houses of Pleasure where there have been many such belonging to rich Citizens and there are some still remaining The Countrey affords all things in plenty that the Earth can yield in our Climate for the Service of Human Life The noble River brings them great Plenty and Variety of Fish We walk'd on a Thursday-Morning in the Fish market which is worth a Strangers while to do we saw there a great number of large Cod-fish fresh some Turbouts so big as it would hardly be believ'd by every body if we should represent it The Fishmongers were cutting out some of them to sell in pieces the Jowl of one if we may so speak which was cut off but a little below the Gills was big enough to fill a good large dish There lay several large Salmons upon the Stalls this Fish they have in plenty here and reasonably cheap and very good There was not a whole Sturgeon then in the Market but such are often brought thither I have been told by those that have seen it of a Sturgeon brought into this Market upon a large Plank that has been Load enough for half a dozen Men to bring it conveniently We saw three large pieces of one lie there which had been cut up the day before they were cut through the Body of the Fish and seem'd bigger than the biggest Fillet of Veal that I ever saw in London They lay somewhat in that shape There was a great Quantity of large Plaice as big as any I ever saw at Tunbridge or elsewhere and great plenty of the lesser sorts of Fishes alive in Water This River affords Anchovies which they sometime dress and eat fresh they have a very rich high taste but it is accounted feverish Food The Fish which they chiefly admire is a large Fish about the bigness of a Salmon and of the same shape but the flesh of it is white this comes often to Market and is sold at the dearest Rates they call it here an Ellebut 't is very firm and of a rich pleasant taste The City is furnish'd with small Wines from France which come down the Scheld and by Sea it can have any of the richer more generous sorts of other Countries They have plenty of Wood for Fuel and at a reasonable Rate which the Countrey affords them by the help of the River No Place in Europe can be better stor'd with all things which
Gardens can yield for the Service of a Family than this They have in the Seasons excellent good Flesh-Meats of all sorts The People are some of the most generous and sincere in their Dealings that one can easily meet with yet is this place so forsaken There are on the Ramparts several large Bastions planted with rows of tall Lime-trees which give a wholsome and pleasant Shade All the rest of the Ramparts are so planted round the City and in some parts they are so broad that they have two broad Walks run parallel upon them and both of them have on each side a Row of tall Trees which by mingling their Boughs at the top make a very pleasant Arbour which is strait and of a good length These Ramparts are rais'd so high that we have from them a good large Prospect over the adjoyning Countrey where one sees a very pleasant mixture of Corn-fields Villages Rows of Trees Gardens Meadows and Woods which lie in the Countrey about Indeed all the Countrey about looks like a Garden the Roads and waste Places are adorn'd with Rows of Trees and the near Husbandman dresses up his Corn-field just as if it were a Garden They make the Ridges very high and broad and form the Furrows at last when 't is plow'd and sown with a Spade so that the Ridges look like the Beds of a Garden The Compass of this City is reckon'd to be Extent about 4700 Paces and if the Plain which leads to the Cittadel be taken in with that also the whole Compass amounts to about 6000 Paces The Area of the whole City is about half of a Circle the Diameter of which is the River and the Wall the Circumference The largest Reach of it from side to side is along the River which is reckon'd to be beginning at the Slyck-Port on the North-side and ending at the Bridge which goes into the Cittadel on the South 1800 Paces It is reckon'd to have in it 220 Streets great and small some of them are very long and straight and broad the Mere is the broadest and is a very stately Street In the broadest part of it stands upon a large Pedestal a great Crucifix gilded all over to which one shall often see Devotions paid by those who pass by On the left side Burse of this is one of the Passages on to the Burse or Exchange which is near There are Four short Passages into it from other Streets which enter about the middle of the four sides of it the Area is almost square and seems as big as ours at London if not bigger It has a Piazza round it which is on the out-side supported with Marble Pillars these were curiously wrought but the Beauty of them is now much decay'd by Time and Weather The chief Trade of this City now seems to be in Lace the making of which employs some thousands of People In the time of its Prosperity was built at the Charge of the City their Magnificent Stadt-House which has a large and stately Town-house Front adorn'd with several Marble Pillars and Statues among which that of the Virgin Mary is Eminent and Conspicuous This Building shews it self upon a very spacious open place which they call The great Market near the Cathedral-Church There are several Canals which enter the City out of the River and rise and fall with the Tides the largest of these is towards the North-side of the City which is big enough to entertain a Hundred good Merchants Ships Near this stands a great Building call'd The Oosterling or Easterling-House it stands about a large Court round about it on the out-sides are several great Doors for the Entrances of Warehouses within the Court below are some Rooms for Habitation and above at the first Story there is an open Gallery which goes round the Court and lets in to the several large Lodging Rooms This House was built by Merchants of Denmark and the Hanse-Towns of Germany whose Factors dwelt here together and kept here their Stores of Goods and Effects This now begins to decay tho' there is a Family in it to look after it and the same Towns are still at the Charge to support it as if they were in hopes that a time might come to use it again as before The occasion of the great Alteration in this Decay City is said to be this In the beginning of the Reformation when many People were disturb'd for falling in with it in Germany and France and England they fled many of them hither thinking to live unobserv'd in such a great heap and concourse of People or to be quiet and safe by reason of the great Privileges which the City enjoy'd But these People recommended and spread their Opinions here and in the neighbouring places This was observ'd and would not be endur'd by the Government which was then under the Direction of a Prince very zealous for the Church of Rome Among other things done with a Design to prevent the spreading of the Reformation Philip King of Spain their Sovereign as Duke of Brabant publish'd an Edict about the Year 1565. importing That all Hereticks should be put to death without Remission That the Emperor's Edicts and the Council of Trent should be publish'd and observ'd and commanding that the utmost Assistance of the Civil Power should be given to the Inquistion This and other things which disgusted the Nobility of these Provinces were done by the Government and all Orders of this sort were rigorously executed by the Duke D' Alva which things put the whole Seventeen Provinces under the Spanish Dominion into a Commotion it came to a bloody Civil War and ended in the total Defection of the present United Provinces from Subjection to Spain In the times of these Troubles many Merchants went away with their Goods and Effects to places where they could be more safe and quiet many to be undisturb'd in their Religion went to Amsterdam and to London Queen Elizabeth being now come to the Throne and so the Fall of this City was a means of the Grandeur of those two It is said That an Account was taken in those times and it was found that at once within the space of a few days an hundred thousand Men had forsaken this and other Trading Cities of these Provinces with all that they could carry away with them to avoid the Rigours and Severities of the Government and the greater Hazards and Dangers of Losses and Mischief from the Confusion and License of the Civil Wars There is no publick Exercise or Profession of Religion permitted here but what is conform'd and subject to the Practice and Authority of the Church of Rome The Church of this Diocese is govern'd by Johannes Ferdinandus de Berghem who is the present Bishop of Antwerp and has his dwelling there He is a very grave and venerable Person exemplary in his Conversation and in great Reputation for his Charity and Zeal But in Conjunction with the Archbishop
and we went on board the Boat at Four a Clock in the Afternoon knowing that we could come to the Canal of Brussels with Light enough to see that end where we should enter upon it and so to see what it is for 't is all alike At going on Board this Boat we paid for each person eighteen Stivers and receiv'd a small Leaden Ticket mark'd with A for Antwerp and a Figure signifying the day of the Month. We had the Wind very fair but there was but little of it Our Course up the Schelde continued almost half the way to Dendermond We observ'd the Country on our right side as we went up the River which is Flanders to lie all flat and it afforded us no Prospect but of some rows of Trees at a distance In some places our sight on that side was confin'd by a high Dyke or Bank rais'd to defend the Country within from the Inundations of the River But on the other side which is the Province of Brabant we had a very pleasant Prospect For the Ground rises gradually and pretty high in some places and so shews it self to a great distance And it shows a rich enclos'd Country divided into Pastures Corn-fields Gardens and Orchards When we left the Schelde we turn'd Rupell R. on our left-side into another River call'd the Rupell over against a place in Flanders which from its being opposite to the Mouth of this River is call'd Rupelmonde The Rupell is a conjunction of three little Rivers of Brabant the Neethe the Dyle and the Demer The Dyle coming down from Louvain joins the Demer between Louvain and Mechlin They run together under the Name of the Dyle to a littile Village call'd Rumpst below Mechlin where they joyn the Neethe and from thence the whole Stream to the Schelde has the Name of the Rupell In this we sail'd upwards almost as far as it bears that Name to a Village called Willibroeck where the Canal of Brussels enters this River and where we were to leave this our Sailing-Vessel and to go into the Trech-Schuyt or Drawn-boat which passes upon that Canal About Sun-set we arriv'd at this place Canal of Br. went on Board the Trech-Schuyt and in less than a quarter of an Hour went on This is a very large and long Boat divided into several Rooms I believe we could not be less than an hundred Passengers in the several parts of it We thought it necessary to be under cover in the Night and did not care to be of the Company in the common part of the Boat and therefore we went into the Roof which is a clean convenient Room at the Stern end of the Boat where we sate among the cleanest of the Passengers But for this we paid at several times in the several Boats reckoning among them I think what we paid in the Sailing-Ship to Willibroeck for each person seven Stivers and a half We chang'd our Boat on the Canal four times for there are on it five Sluces One is at the entrance of it into the Rupell and the rest were in our way The Canal is planted with rows of Trees on the sides of it It runs always strait for a good way together We had sometimes a very considerable Ascent to mount at the Sluces we came to when we walk'd from one Schuyt to another The several parts of it run level but the Ascents are at the Sluces And there is so much Ascent in the whole that 't is reckon'd the Surface of the Water of the Canall at Brussels is forty Feet higher in a direct perpendicular than it is at Willibroeck The Sluces are not open'd for these Trech-Schuytes because they carry only Passengers who can convey themselves from one Schuyt to another But they are open'd for Ships loaden with Goods of which a great many come up through this Canal to Brussels We pass'd by and met several in our Passage The chief Author or at least the Promoter of this Magnificent and most useful Work is said to have been Johannes Locquenginius Locquenginii Berchemii quelbergiae Dominus The Judge for that time of the Civil Causes at Brussels The Design was form'd by his Ancestors in the time of Margaret of Austria the Aunt of Charles the Fifth whom that Emperour made Governess of these Countries But it was not set about till towards the time of Philip the Second King of Spain and was finish'd in the Year 1560. The Charge of it is reckon'd to amount to about Five hundred thousand Crowns We were five Hours on this Canal and the length of it is reckon'd to be so many Leagues We went the length of three Mile English in an Hour which is the common pace of the Trech-Schuyts and were drawn with two Horses When we came to Brussels we deliver'd our Tickets and were dismiss'd without farther payment We lay down in a House without the City till Morning because the Gates were shut and none could be admitted to go in BRUSSELS THis City by the Latins call'd Bruxella by the French Bruxelles and by the People of the Country Brussel is also very Ancient and the beginnings of it are obscure and unknown It pretends to have been a City from about the Year of our Lord 974 and to have had its utmost encrease and present extent from the Year 1369. It is situate part of it on the side of a little Hill which it runs up to the top of and part in a Valley The encrease of it from what it was at first is very evident by the Remainders of the old and first Wall which with some of its Ports is still standing and appears in several places of the City The outermost Wall was begun to be built in the Year 1357 and was finish'd in the Year 1369. The Compass of this Wall is said to be less than of that of Louvain by 200 Paces but this City within is more built than that and therefore is reckon'd to contain more People It seems indeed to be very full of People The newest Wall has seven Ports and on that side which is at the top of the Hill is a high round Brick Building which is a Watch-Tower from whence they can look over all the City and far about in the Country The Bombarding of the French in the Year 1695 fell most upon the Inner City though indeed it destroy'd the greatest part of that We according to our Design lodg'd not far from the Court near a large and good old Building which belongs to our King and is call'd the Palace of Nassau This is included in the Inner City but escap'd the Bombarding This City is situate in a rich and plentiful Country and stands very Airy and Healthy There is on one side of it a large Tract of Meadows but 't is chiefly encompass'd with Hills that rise gently up and have upon them wide open Fields of Plough'd Ground the Soil ' being very fit for Corn. The Country here
Man the blessed Alanus de Rupe a Dominican had a Revelation of them from the Virgin Mary her self who to confirm the truth of these things in his Book Entituled The Reviv'd Work says All these things hath the most B. Virgin Mary the Mother of God related to a certain Religious Person meaning himself good Man but out of modesty concealing his Name assuring him that they were most evidently and sensibly true The which Religious Person she chose to be her Bridegroom giving him a Wedding Ring some say a Rosary or string of Beads but which soever it was she had very curiously wove it up of her own Hair This methinks were a precious Relick if in being but I do not find that they any where pretend to have it among them which yet they might as justly pretend to as to many other things of that sort Some Directions about Reading the Rosary The People are exhorted to take care that they do this not only with the Mouth but also with the Heart and with serious attention to which purpose they are directed to begin their Tasks of Devotion with this Preface to the Virgin Fill my Mouth with the Grace of your sweetness O Mary and enlighten my Understanding Oh thou who art full of Grace Stir up my Tongue and Lips with chearfulness of Heart to sing your Praises Vouchsafe that I your humble Servant may with Pleasure say Ave c. A pretty good beginning and we shall find the rest agreeable They tell the People that 't is good and profitable to read the Rosary with Meditations on the 15 Mysteries by which they mean the principal parts of the History of our Saviour to which they have added some Fictions concerning the Virgin to make up the Number When they do thus then to every ten Ave Mary's and a Pater Noster there comes a Meditation and this is attended with an Address either to the Virgin Mary alone or to Jesus Christ and the B. Virgin ane she is for the most part the Principal Person applied to some of these for a Specimen I shall here produce Upon the Resurrection of Christ the Prayer begins to Jesus and then is soon turn'd to the Virgin in these words Also I beg of you O the Glory of Jerusalem the Joy of Israel Mother and Matd Mary Awaken me from the Grave of Ill Customs in the which I have lain buried and obtain for me the Spirit of Divine Grace c. Upon the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven they have this Prayer to be join'd with the Rosary I beseech you Oh most H. Virgin Mary who in Soul and Body are gloriously advanced into Heaven Qbottomless pit of all Grace my most sweet and glorious Lady I pray you through the unspeakable Comfort which you have felt in the hour of your Death that you will not for sake me at the end of my Life but stand by my Soul as a sure Defender as a sweet Refuge and a gracious Mother that I being encompass'd with your overflowing Merits may fear no Snares or Temptations of the Enemy but that I may be found worthy to be introduced with Joy and presented in the presence of your Blessed Son with whom you Reign for ever and ever Upon the Crowning of Mary in the Heavens which they commonly set the adorable Trinity a doing in their impious Pictures and Images they have this Prayer I beseech you Oh most excellent Queen of Heaven who by your singular Beauty do adorn and make glad the whole City of God! I intreat you by the Love of your Bridegroom that you will make us poor Exiles in this vale of Tears Partakers of the abundant Bliss which you enjoy in your Native Country above Arise Oh Advocatress Turn towards us your merciful Eyes and after that this our banishment is over shew â—s the blessed Fruit of your Body Jesus Give Ear to us Oh Gratious Hear us Oh kind Give us what we ask Oh sweet Virgin Mary Upon the Visitation of Elizabeth by the Virgin this Prayer following is directed to be used in the reciting of the Rosary Oh Glorious and always Blessed Maid Mary I present you these Salutations meant of the Ave Mary's to the Honour and Remembrance of that great Joy which fill'd your Virgin Heart when after your Conceiving in your Virgin Body you went into the Hill-Country of Judea and did there visit and salute your Cousin Elizabeth By this your Joy and Rejoycing I beseech you to account me worthy that you come to my Soul and to visit that with your gracious Presence And grant me the favour that I may faithfully serve you all the days of my Life The form of Blessing the Beads of a Rosary This string of Beads are consecrated before they are to be used as a Rosary and for that purpose they make use of this following Prayer Almighty and most merciful God who through the immense Love wherewith thou hast loved us wast willing that thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ should descend from Heaven upon the Earth and according to the Angels Message should take flesh in the most Holy Womb of the most Blessed Virgin Mary our Lady and should undergo the Cross and Death and on the Third Day gloriously rise again from the Dead that thou mightest rescue us from the Power of the Devil We beseech thy immense Clemency to bless ✚ and san ✚ ctifie here two Crosses are made over the Beads these signs of the Rosary dedicated by thy faithful Church to the Honour and Praise of the same Parent of thy Son and infuse into them such a Vertue of the Holy Spirit that whoever carries any of these about him and reverently retains them in his House and does according to the Rules of the Brotherhood devoutly pray to thee upon them contemplating at the same time the Divine Mysteries he may abound in saving and persevering Devotion and be a Partaker of all the Graces Privileges and Indulgences which have been granted to the said Society by the Holy Apostolick See and may be deliver'd from every Enemy visible and invisible always and every where in this Life and in the Life to come and may deserve to be presented to thee full of good Works by the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mother of God her self by the same our Lord Jesus Christ c. This Prayer being said the Beads are to be sprinkled with Holy Water The Brotherhood of the Holy Rosary The Honour of Instituting this is also given The Brotherhood of the H. Rosary to Dominick who is said to have done it at the Revelation and upon the Charge of the most H. Virgin Mary She willing hereby to multiply her Graces and Favours to the World Commanded her beloved Bridegroom St. Dominick to found this Brotherhood which she order'd should be call'd The Brotherhood of our Lord Jesus Christ and of the most Holy Virgin Mary From hence it is the peculiar Privilege of the Dominicans to have Authority
Rosary was at first found out by Mary her self and through her Command instituted and order'd by St. Dominick and was at the first Institution and Beginning of it attended with such miraculous and wonderful Signs at Tholouse 2. Whoever is enter'd in this Brotherhood will be a Partaker of innumerable Merits that is to say of all the good Works Fasts Vigils Prayers Alms-deeds Martyrdoms Disciplines Sermons Masses and the like which are perform'd by the whole Order of the Dominicans which consists of so many Religious and of those also which are done by so many millions of Persons as are enter'd in this Brotherhood Certainly you would be happily provided for if it were so that there were but only one H. person that would at all times pray for you But now in this far renown'd Brotherhood there are a great many holy and perfect persons in whose Merits and prayers you might be a Partaker 3. You can no way take a more effectual care that your Soul may be helped in Purgatory with many Prayers and Indulgences than by entring your self into this Brotherhood for I dare say and can assure you that there is no King nor Emperour nor Pope nor any Monarch whatever that has so many Prayers said for his Soul as one departed Brother or Sister of the holy Rosary which may be very easily made appear from all the Masses and annual Solemnities which are perform'd and observ'd for the Brothers of this Society For you must know and it is a matter well worth Observation that through the whole World in all Places Cities Corporations and Villages where this Society is erected there is always every year at four Seasons a Mass perform'd for the deceased Brothers and Sisters This has been mention'd before with the times of it Now all these being added together and reckon'd according to the multitude of places where this Brotherhood is maintain'd as well in all the Kingdom of Spain as in France Poland Italy Germany the Netherlands c. would make out every year more than twelve hundred thousand Masses To which may be added all the Rosaries and Vigils that are read and observ'd every Week and also all the good Works that are daily done in the whole Order of the Dominicans consisting of so many thousand Religious and in this Society also wherein are so many millions of Brothers and Sisters All which good Works and Prayers come to the account of the Souls enter'd in the Society and do extend to the making Satisfaction for them I think what Comfort and Consolation this is for a poor Soul the which otherwise perhaps might be left lying in the Fire of Purgatory without having any person to say one Pater Noster for itâ— 4. In the last place it is greatly to be esteem'd that in this Society there is no Obligation or Burden and that so great a Treasure may be obtain'd as it were without labour by reading only once a Week a whole Rosary that is one hundred and fifty Ave Maries and fifteen Pater Nosters which may be divided into three Garlands each containing five of the aforesaid and these may be said in any time of the Week as men will either going standing sitting c. Thus is this recommended here as a fine easie way to Heaven and yet the easiness of it is forgotten when these Tasks of Devotion are enjoyn'd as Penance and Mortification In truth these things are easier to humane Nature than the necessary Care and Endeavour to lead a truly good a virtuous Life and this is the real Disparagement of them that are devised and used to excuse such Care and Endeavour and pretend to bring Men to Heaven by another and an easier way Further He that has forgotten or neglected to say his Rosary in one Week may say it in the Week following the which if he does he shall perfectly recover his Loss And if any man will not do that and so will let slip one reading of his Rosary he does not sin in transgressing the Rule of the Society So that no man can excuse himself for not entring into this Society and for neglecting so great good and depriving his Soul of so great Indulgences and Privileges Note All sorts of Persons young and old may be enter'd herein and also the dead provided any one will perform the due Task and read weekly a whole Rosary for them And no man is bound to continue this longer than he pleases but so long as he does continue to do it he makes the deceased person Partaker of all the good Works which the living Brothers perform and shall obtain for him all the Indulgences of this Society per modum Suffragii that is no one knows how A world of Indulgences are granted to this Society to draw them to the Chappels of the Rosary and drop their Offerings often in a Year I shall not trouble my self or my Reader with the mention of any of them for I think it now high time to direct to somewhat else The Jesuits have here a Colledge and a School they were in the year 1604. encreas'd from small Beginnings to the number of 70 persons Their House escaped the Bombs or perhaps the Bombs avoided that We shall meet these People wherever we come and if we meet them they will not take it well if we do not take notice of them Passage from Brussels to Louvaine WE were somewhat straitned in time and and were willing to see as many places as we could therefore we went from Brussels the next day but were not fully resolv'd whether we would return thither or not to go from thence to Namur This we design'd to see but could not go from hence till three days after this time and we could not afford to spend so many days here The Waggons go from hence for Namur only twice â—a Week that is on Tuesdays and Fridays On Saturday Morning then being the 17th of May we took our places in the Waggon that goes for Louvain there goes one every day from hence thither and one every day comes from Lovain to Brussels This Waggon is very long and drawn with four Horses that go two and two a-breast There is a sort of Coach in the middle but capacious enough to hold ten People and at least four more may be disposed in the Baskets at the two ends We paid for our Carriage to Louvain each person 26 Stivers It is reckon'd a Journey of 4 Leagues or Hours but we made more of it because the way was much broken by reason of some Rain there had been We set out at 8 a Clock in the Morning staid to refresh our selves an hour by the way and came to Lovain about two After-noon Our Road was upon a high Country for the most part Champion with wide Fields plow'd and bearing Corn. The common Mould of the Countrey is a good fat Clay a little yellowish We saw several Villages at a distance but went through I think not
one we past however by many scattering Houses that had been very ill used in the time of the War and were become uninhabitable On the way to Louvain we see on the Left-hand at a distance from us and somewhat below us the City of Mechlin which is too considerable Mechlin a place not to be taken notice of in this Relation since it can be said we saw it as we did for a good part of our way tho' our intended Progress directed us from going to it This is one of the chief Cities of the Low-Countries or the Belgick Provinces and a very ancient one Tho' it is seated almost in the middle of Brabant yet it is reckon'd with a Compass about it subject to its Jurisdiction distinct from Brabant and to be one of these 17 Provinces It is said to be a very neat City it seem'd of a considerable bigness It is strongly fortify'd and surrounded with a very good Ditch It stands upon the River Dyle foremention'd and and Tide runs through the City and rises to a League above it There are reckon'd here 17 Colledges of Tradesmen who have right to sit in the Senate and to vote in matters deliberated The Supreme Power is exercised by 12 Schepins six of which are chosen from the Gentry and six from the Colledges of Tradesmen The Trade of Tanning has been very great in this City their Company was honour'd with Noble Priviledges among others with the Freedom of Hunting and Fowling Here was formerly a great Woollen Manufacture and then there were reckon'd at once 3200 Shops of Weavers in this City The Founders Trade was here considerable also and formerly there was a great Magazine of all things necessary for War At present the trifling Trade of making Lace employs many People here as well as in other Cities hereabout But tho' we in England have given the name of Mechlin-Lace to the best it is not here that better is made than in other places of this Country The City is favour'd with a very good Air and is very healthy In it were educated Philip the first King of Spain and his Son Charles who was afterwards Emperour under the Name of Charles V. Because in those times as it had been for some time before this City was the ordinary Seat of the House of Burgundy The Lady Margaret of Austria Aunt of Charles V. Emperor when he made her Governess of the Low Countries made this the place of her Residence and kept her Court here till she died which was in the Year 1530. The great Council Royal have their Seat here still which was instituted in the Year 1473. by Charles the last Duke of Burgundy who was kill'd before Nancy It consisted at first of 30 persons including the Prince but has been somewhat alter'd since these Countries became subject to the King of Spain This City is the Seat of an Archbishop who has a large Jurisdiction he who fills it at present calls himself Gulielmus Humbertus à Precipiana a Man of more Zeal than Wisdom and who has suffer'd himself to be drawn into ridiculous Extreams in opposition to the Phantom of Jansenism These Provinces formerly in Ecclesiastical Matters were under the Jurisdiction of Bishops who liv'd at a distance from them and who therefore took the less care of them and had the less Influence among them The Archbishop of Cologne had Authority in Nimeguen and the Jurisdiction belonging to it The Bishop of Utrecht had Authority in some other parts and was the only Bishop that had his Residence among them The Bishop of Liege had Authority in Roermonde and the Countrey about that and he with the Bishop of Combray divided the Province of Brabant The Bishop of Munster had some Authority in the Province of Zutphen This State of the Church here was thought an Advantage to the spreading of the Reformation among these People and therefore to prevent this the King of Spain resolved to establish several Bishops among them Accordingly in Conjunction with Pope Paul IV. he erected three Archbishopricks which were Cambray Utrecht and this Mechlin under these he set several Bishops For Brabant there was one at Antwerp and one at Hertogen-bosch For Guelderland there was a Bishop set at Roermonde For Flanders there were Bishops at Ghent and Ipres at which last place the first Bishop was the famous Gornelius Jansenius the Restorer of the Doctrine of St. Augustine in the Church of Rome tho' cruelly persecuted in his Memory since his Death and in his Friendâ— and Followèrs by the new Pelagians the Jesuits upon that Account For Holland there was a Bishop to have been at Haeâ—lem For Zeeland at Middleburg For Over-Yssel at Daventer Then also were Bishops establish'd at Groninguen Namur Tournay and Audomar for the Provinces and Country about them The Cathedral Church at Mechlin is dedicated to St. Rumbold whom the Legend makes to have been the Son of David King of Scots who by Prayers had obtain'd of Heaven this Son but could not keep him when he had him For when he was grown up nothing would serve him but to be a Priest he left his Father despising his Crown and Kingdom and was guided by an Angel into Ireland where he became Bishop of Dublin When his Father was dead it was now known where he was and the People attempted to take him by force and make him their King but he slipt through their Fingers and was again guided by an Angel to Rome From thence he came into Brabant preach'd the Gospel here and was the Apostle or Converter of these Countries He by his Prayers they say obtain'd a Son for Count Ado and when the Child was grown up and drown'd he brought him to Life again He was busie in building a great Church when some wicked Fellows kill'd him thinking he had by him a great Hoard of Money for the Work he was about They took what he had and threw his Body into the River But the Body discover'd it self there and shin'd in the Dark like rotten Pork found by the Glory that it cast it was taken up by Fishermen This tho' but a silly Story and not well agreeing with it self is yet a very modest one in comparison to a multitude of others which the Papists tell of the Lives and Miracles of their Saints who by the lying Wonders they have shamm'd upon the World have imitated and serv'd the Father of Lyes more than the God of Truth and by feign'd Stories of Saints and Miracles evidently false have discredited the true ones which the Church has really been furnish'd with so have they disparag'd and weakned by this means some of the great Confirmations of Christianity and promoted Atheism-and Infidelity in the Christian Church When we came near Louvain we pass'd by a large and magnificent Building which is a Augustine Nuns House of the Augustine Nuns they were now upon the Peace return'd to it again but liv'd in the City during the War because
it because this House has been Honour'd with the Presence of our King who several times lodg'd here during the late War Through all this Journey to Maestricht we often saw the miserable Effects of War A Country of a rich and Arable Soil fit to bear Corn but much of it untill'd Many Houses ruin'd and others made uninhabitable And it seem'd to me that the Country is much exhausted of its People It may be supposed that during the War many were forced into the Armies on one side and the other and in them destroy'd and many of the People might be fled into other Countries for the safety of their Lives and be still begging or working there for their lively-hood This Country is generally open Champion Country and but too Commodious for the marching of Armies as the poor Inhabitants have had reason to think About the middle of this Days Journey we came to Thienen or Tilmont which is a little Thienen City scituate upon the River Gheet This Câ—ty to go round it by the Wall is they say about a Mile in compass The Wall seem'd at present but in a ruinous condition we also saw many Ruines within and many Houses almost so The River runs through this City they say under 12 Bridges There are 7 distinct Markets that is Market-places for several things according to the manner of this Country and the City stands in a rich fruitful Country which is able to afford it all things necessary to Humane Life It has been formerly a City of Great Trade and was the Head City of one of the Quarters of Brabant but that dignity has been long transferr'd from hence to Hertogen-bosch and now this City is within that Quarter which acknowledges Louvain for Head of it There are two Churches observable in it which are Stately and Magnificent buildings the only remaining signs perhaps of its former Grandure One is dedicated to the Virgin Mary which stands upon a very wide open place It is not fine within for without doubt the City is but poor There had been a Procession on that day or perhaps on Whitsunday wherein had been carried the Image of the Virgin Mary and that of a Bishop whom I suppose to be St. Germain These Images stood in the Church on the things by which they carry them on mens shoulders They were but little Images but dress'd very fine their upper Garments were both the same of Scarlet-Sattin with many and large flowers of Gold wove in with it By their standing still in the Church I concluded they were to be carried again on some other day of the Octave which is that they sometimes do I went also into the Church of St. Germain who is said to have been Bishop of Paris Here is a Quire wherein they were singing Vespers it seem'd very naked and mean within At some of the Altars in the other part of the Church the Ornament set before them was good fresh Silk with large and frequent Gold Flowers upon it We staid here but an Hour went through the City passing by the end of one Street we saw it wide and the Houses in a pretty good condition but those in our way were all very miserable When we were gone a little way out of Thienen Our Lady of the Stone we saw a Chappel built of Brick with the Rubbish and Ruines of some other building about it This Chappel has an Image of the Virgin Mary call'd Notredame de Pierre or Our Lady of the Stone which is in great Veneration and Esteem with the People of this Country our Honest foreman rode by it with his Hat in his lap for a good way together As we were passing our Company all concurr'd in giving us this following account of this Image It was at first found ready shaped and form'd in a Rock but I asked and they could not tell me when this was But when found first it was not above a span long but it has grown ever since and does grow still for it seems it is not yet got to the full bigness of an ordinary Woman tho' as they represented it she was grown a very great Girl They told us she grows almost an Inch in height every Year and then they did well not to say when she was first found for at that rate of growing if she had been long there the little Chappel would not have held her To this Image People come for relief against the Stone or Gravel and in time of Peace this Chappel is much frequented especially upon particular Days at which times I suppose some Indulgences are the Lure to draw People to it They told us that on Easter Monday last the Country now being quiet there were reckon'd 7000 People who came to pay their Devotions here This silly Story was told us with a great deal of gravity and seriousness and we to encourage them to give us such accounts of things as we pass'd receiv'd it with as much gravity and seeming admiration Upon which a good Man in the Company who came from Berg St. Winoc and was going to the â—aths of Aix told us They have at Bullen an Image of the Virgin Mary which came thither in a Ship alone The same Man when the rest of the Company were telling that it was good to Pray at this Image against the Stone said Yes yes she is the Mother she cannot fail intimating that which 't is without doubt the People generally imagine that she as a Mother may still pretend to have some Authority and Regard with our Saviour Indeed they must needs be betray'd into this Opinion by the extravagant Prerogatives which are given to the Virgin Mary in the Devotions to her which the Priests teach them and by seeing our Saviour for the most part represented as a Child in her Arms As if he were still in a condition of subjection to Her who is now possest of all power in Heaven and Earth and is Head over all things But by the esteem of this Image it is easie to judge whether the Church of Rome reckons there is any Vertue in Images or not and whether or no the Papists put any trust in them Can it be said they believe there is no vertue in this Image when they pretend it Cures the Stone And do they put no trust in it who come an hundred Mile perhaps to this place in hopes to be Cur'd here of this Distemper And can we find any Instances of Veneration paid by the Heathens to their Images beyond what is practised and taught in the Church of Rome The Arch-Bishop of Mechlin in his Pastoral Letter directs That the Images of the Virgin Mary especially those that are famous for Miracles should be frequented that they be carried about after the manner of our Ancestours says he in publick Processions that they be illustrated with lighted Flambeaus and honour'd with stated Eauds Litanies and Prayers A direction which would far better have become a Heathen
Priest than a Christian Bishop After about two hours Travel more we came Leeuwe to another little City call'd Leeuwe We went to this for a good way upon an old broken pitch'd Cause-way The ground about this City is flat and low At a distance the Meadows seem very wet and soft which is the reason of this made way but as we came nearer the City the wet seem'd to encrease and about the City there seems to be a perfect Morass or Bog There were some out-works set here and there upon some dry spots in it We found the Gates ruin'd the Walls in a very ruinous condition and many heaps of Rubbish about in the Town within It is now whatever it may have been formerly a very wretch'd place This City is within the Quarter of Louvain but just upon the Borders of it for soon after we were gone from this place we entred upon the Dominions of the Prince of Leige There was a Spanish Garison now in the Town who had deckt their Guard house with Boughs and hung their Colours out at the Windows We found also the Streets strow'd with fresh Greens which things were the signs of a Procession that had been there this Day A good big Bell was calling People to Church and they were hastening to catch I suppose the Benediction at Compline We did not alight nor stop here When we were out of the City we past by a pretty large Lake which was on our left hand at a little distance from us and lies very near the Walls of the City on that side Near this City at the distance of about two Hours was fought the famous Battle of Landen in the Year 1693 in which Luxemburg the French General in his last Campaign won the Field and lost his Army he might indeed pretend some right to it when it was strow'd with the Dead Bodies of his best and boldest Troops who were chiefly his Switzers And he had reason to be very pertinacious in the Case tho' he expos'd his men to a Prodigious slaughter sor the double number which he had to that of the Confederates would have doubled his shame at least if he had suffer'd himself to be beat off He therefore push'd on his own men to be kill'd as long as the Ammunition of the Confederates lasted and then those he had left kept the Field About an Hour after we left Leeuwe we came St. Tryden to St. Truyden which was to be our resting place for this night This was they say in ancient times the chief City of those Gauls whom Julius Caesar calls Centrones and of whom he has much to say This perhaps may be the occasion of the corrupted name which some in late times have given to this City calling it St. Tron The name of St. Truyden it has from the Monastery of St. Trudo which is here It is a Monastery of the Benedictines This City with a Territory about it almost to the Gates of Leeuwe is subject to the Prince of Leige But half the City is the revenue of the Abbot of this Monastery and when the Magistrates of the City are chosen this Abbot chuses an equal number with the Prince We came late to Town and all Churches were shut the doors of this Monastery were just then shutting so we could see nothing within Indeed the mean appearance of the outside of all things here made us the less curious or desirous to see the Inside of any Places One Church there was whicâ— had its Steeple down to the ground a great deal of rubbish lay about it A Wall was set up to close the West end but that seem'd in danger of falling too yet the Windows of the Church were whole and I suppose it is used Almost all the Houses we saw here lookt old and ruinous We lodg'd in a House that seem'd to have a good deal of room but it was very ill accommodated Our Chamber had 4 pittiful Beds in it and all of them were possess'd We willingly left this wretched place betimes Borchloen the next Morning and took our way for Maestricht through the Cities of Borchloen and Tongeren both within the Principallity of Leige Borchloen commonly call'd Lootz has some Jurisdiction over the neighbouring Villages in a little compass And these are known to have belong'd to it up as high as to the time of Charlemaigne and before that It was formerly with those Villages call'd the County of Drostein from the Lords of that name to whom the whole belong'd It appear'd now a miserable poor and ruinous place and to have nothing worth observing We past through it without stopping We went on to Tongeren and there staid an hour or two to refresh our selves This City is Tongeren miserable old and small now but was worthy if we could have staid to have been well view'd and consider'd for the old ruines that are about it We observ'd several pelces of great Stone Walls which evidently enough show'd that they had belong'd to something more Magnificent than the sorry buildings that now depend upon them Having a little time after Dinner I went out and observ'd a great deal of this in going to the Church which I would have seen but it was shut There is now a Wall about the City but ruinous as well as the Gates of it and of but little compass It lies upon a little River call'd the Jecker which comes down from Borchworm having had its rise not far above that and from Tongeren it runs down to Maestricht where it enters the Maese This City has its name as Munster says tho' some give it a much higher Original from a People of Germany call'd Tungri who were the first of them that pass'd the Rhine They pass'd it seems the Maese too and possessing a vast Country here about built here their Chief or Head City Many Cities in Brabant either built by this People or Conquer'd by them were subject to this It has been the Seat of a Race of Kings who had a great extent of Dominion Those Princes call'd the Pepins from whom descended the famous Charlemagin deriv'd themselves from the Race of these Kings It is very probable that this Dominion extended it self over great part of Brabant the County of Namur and even to Cologne The Memorials of which are thought to be several Towns scatter'd about in this Tract of Land whose names resemble that of Tongeren As Tongerheim near Colen Tongerloo a Town far from hence in Brabant near Herentals And Tongrin in the Province of Namur It is not to be doubted but Pliny in his Natural History speaks of the Spaa Water which he puts within the Dominion of this City and which lies in the Province of Leige between the Maese and the Rhine Guicciardinâ— tells us there is to be seen at Tongeren as what I suppose was remaining in his time tho' we heard nothing of it an Ancient Heathen Temple 't is but little says he and
the Lord Ernest who was Brother to the Elector and Duke of Bavaria and Arch-Bishop of Cologne The present Prince and Bishop of Leige Joseph Clement is also Arch-Bishop of Cologne and Brother to the present Elector of Bavaria the Governour of the Spainsh Netherlands The common Revenue of the Bishop and Prince of Leige is said to be more than 30.000 Ducats per An. Besides which he that gains the Love of his People is assisted in extraordinary exigences with considerable Subsidies And he has in his Gift many Prebends and other Ecclesiastical Benefices He is chosen by the Members of the College of St. Lambert approv'd by the whole Body of the People and as all other Bishops of the Roman Church in a slavish subjection must be confirm'd by the Bishop of Rome The Episcopal See being transfer'd as has been said from Tongeren to Maestricht by St. Servatius it continued there under a long Succession of Bishops to the time of Lambertus In his time one Hubert of Aquitaine a Son they say of a Lord of that Country left his Country and came to visit Brabant led by the same of the prosperous Condition of Christian Religion in these parts He went to Maestricht and there contracted an intimate Friendship with the good Bishop Lambert After some time he had a desire to see Rome also which he went to fulfill While he was there news came to Rome that the People of Maestricht had Murder'd Bishop Lambert upon which the Pope of that time who was Sergius created Hubert Bishop of Maestricht and sent him thither It so happen'd that he was receiv'd by the Citizens with great appearances of kindness and Civility But he was so distated with the Murther of his good Friend their Bishop Lambert that he apply'd his thoughts from the very first to the removing of the Episcopal Seat to some other place And after some time the necessary preparations being made by Laws and the Approbation of the Pope being obtain'd he did in the Year 713 remove the Episcopal Chair to the City of Leige carrying with him thither the Body of his Friend St. Lambert He built the Noble Church which bears the name of S. Lambert and founded the College of Cannons belonging to it and liv'd the rest of his Life here in great Reputation for Piety and Vertue and since his Death he is thought worthy of that Veneration which the Church of Rome pays to some of the departed Saints and to those whom they account such The Pallace of the Bishop is a stately and Magnificent Pallace Structure It goes round 3 Courts the innermost of which is a Garden but I believe in no good Condition at present We would have seen the inside of the Pallace but they said the Rooms were unfurnish'd and we perceiv'd they had no mind to let us see what condition it was within from whence we supposed there was now nothing fine or worth showing to Strangers The usual Residence of this Prince he being Arch Bishop of Cologne is at Bonne upon the Rhine which may occasion this Pallace to be neglected The outermost Court of the Pallace is commonly pass'd through It is an Area bigger than that of the Royal Exchange in London and surrounded like that with a Piazza which is supported on the outside with a great number of Pillars Under the Piazza are Shops The beginnings of this Noble Building were made by the Excellent Erardus à Marca Bishop of Leige and Cardinal of whom more will be said anon The City of Leige is seated for the greatest City part of it on the West side of the Maese which runs along by it a great way The River makes here a very short turn in two Channels One of which and the lesser of the two compasses a good large Island which is all built and must be accounted part of the City to which it is join'd by several Bridges The bigger Channel of the Maese turns short of the other and runs between this Island and the place call'd the Wyke another part of the City which lies on the East side of the Maese It is a large place well built containing several Streets and seem'd to have its proportion of Trade with the rest of the City to which it is join'd by a good Stone Bridge cross the Maese which has 6 Arches under it A great number of Vessels lay all along by the City on both sides of the River We went along a good way by the Water side to observe what the Ware-houses there are stor'd with The greatest number were of those stockt with Iron and Iron-Utensils Some had great numbers of Bars of Iron others Iron Pots Backs for Chimneys Stoves Frying-pans Nails c. There were also great Stores of Marble squar'd for Floors many great Stores of Coals Some of Butter and Cheese some with Pitch and Tar and Cordage for Ships This City is very large and very full of People and seems to have a great Trade It stands part of it in a flat about the Maese aad a great deal of it runs up some very steep Hills The bigness of it cannot well be judged of by the sight though one can take several prospects over it all as we did with a great deal of pleasure because it hides it self from the sight in several steep Hollows and Descents There are some Vineyards above the City at the top and on the steepest part of the Hill within the compass of the Wall The Streets of the City have no beauty they are very narrow and few of them strait the buildings are much like the Old City of London They are commonly 3 or 4 Stories in height but those Stories are not very high ones The New buildings which are the repair of the Mischief which the Mareschal de Boufflers did with his Bombs in the late War are generally built after the common new Fashion and like our new buildings in London they are mostly built with Brick or Stone It was but a very small part of the Town which was hurt in proportion to the whole It is chiefly a little tract from St. Lamberts Church down to the Water-side and along by the Water somewhat above and below the Bridge to the Wyke The City House was ruin'd The front Wall of it is good part standing it does not seem by the remainders to have been a very great or Magnificent Building It stood upon the Great Market as it is call'd which is indeed the widest and most spacious place that we saw in this City but not very big We went up a very long Street and a steep Hill to the Cittadel which stands above the whole City Where having ask'd leave of the Corporal who was then in Duty there we were permitted to walk upon the brow of the Hill which overlooks the whole City and views the Country for a good way about upwards and down the River Here we could see the short turn which the River makes Our
prospect was for the most part bounded with Hills that were near enough for us to view distinctly what is upon them We saw some which show'd at the steep sides of them the Rocks which lifted them so high But the greatest part of our prospect presented to our sight a rich and useful Country The sides of the Hills cover'd with Vineyards the tops with Corn Fields the lower grounds were divided between Meadows Hop-grounds of which we saw many and Orchards and Gardens we see all this intermixed with many Houses and some little Villages it is certainly one of the most various and delightful prospects that which we had here VVe lookt down from hence over the tops of the Steeples in the City If our time and the fear of Rain would have permitted we could willingly have staid a great while here We went down from hence into the City another way on purpose to go through a Vineyard which we saw below us to observe something of the manner of such a thing which was new to us and went down a very steep descent by it which was made something the more easie by steps of Stone laid into the Hill but not without some care for our Necks This City is plentifully furnisht with curious Springs of delicate Water These feed some publick Fountains which run continually Many private Houses have a good Spring to serve them In Leige there are 8 Collegiate Churches 34 Parochial Churches and of those belonging to religious Houses so many as to make the number amount to above an Hundred in all The great Church of the City is Dedicated Church and Treasury of St. Lambert to St. Lambert who was mention'd before and he is honour'd as the Patron or Protector of the City There is by it a large Cloyster which goes round a Garden-Platt that is now neglected The Arch'd Roof of one side of the four that the Cloyster consists of was beat with the Bombs The Church is very large but has little Finery in it At the West end is a Chappel to St. Lambert at the bottom of the broad middle Isle with the Altar set within against the Partition We got Admission into the Quire upon our desire to see there the Treasure of St. Lambert What was shown us for this is as follows After they that show'd it had taken away from above the Altar at each end a Silk Curtain and behind that two boards there appear'd two things in Silver which were wrought into the form of a Church they were set one over another and seem'd to be all the four about 3 Feet long and a Foot and half in height One of them had a blew Enamel as I suppose for we kept with other Viewers a due distance in several Partitions upon it They did not stir these from the Places and they were set so that if they had Ends or another side of Silver we could not see it and therefore I do not doubt but we saw all of them that was to be seen There were three Men about the showing of these one with a Surplice on and the other two in Scarlet Gowns such as they wear when they attend at Divine Service Some People besides us that saw them fell upon their Knees at the appearance of the two first Pieces and continued so till the last were shown and all were cover'd again There hung up a large Silver Lamp before the High Altar by four times 3 good big Silver Chains and they very long ones too The Piece of Painting over the Altar represented the pretended Assumption of the Virgin Mary Over the Altar and over those things foremention'd at the bottom of the Picture stood four Farge and tall Silver Candlesticks with long Tapers of Yellow Wax in them In the middle of these upon a large Pedestal which seem'd to be Silver stood a very tall Cross which appear'd to be Silver gilt the Body upon it was Silver The Quire here is very large In the middle of it stands a large Tomb all of Brass On the West end of the Tomb is the Effigies of a Man as big as the Life in a Bishops habit kneeling upon a Cushion with his hands joyn'd and lifted up in a praying Posture and with his Face towards the Altar At the other end stands a Skeleton to represent Death who is put looking towards him and in the Posture of beckening to him and calling him between these two and upon the aforesaid Tomb lies a Chest which is somewhat roundish both in the upper and lower Parts of it along by this lies a Bishop's Brosier and â—all this work is in Brass Round the top of the Tomb there is an Inscription in Latin which signifies That Erard à Marca who govern'd this Diocess 36 Years built this Tomb for himself while he was yet aliveâ—nd in Health He has left behind him the repute of every good Man and is remembred with great Veneration and esteem as a great Benefactor to his Diocess He repaird many things in this City which were fallen to decay He rebuilt some necessary Castles from the Ground and the Walls of some of the Cities belonging to this Principallity he died much lamented in the Year 1538. We went into the Church of St. Andrew which is on the great Market-place at the time of Compline There hung up about the Church many Coats of Arms painted upon little Wooden Shields Under one was written with a Name these words Pastor hujus Paroechiae under another with a Name Captain of this Parish under another Lieutenant of this Parish There is a great deal of Marble in this Church about the Altar Pieces and well polisht of curious sorts and very handsomely built up and much of the flower'd Work of it was guilt with Gold The High Altar of the Church was very finely adorn'd we could not conveniently go up near enough to see what the Painting over it contain'd At the top of the Work about it and near the top of the Church was set up a very large Canopy of Scarlet Velvet as I remember with a Gold-galoon up on the Seams and a deep Gold-fringe round at the lower edge of it In the middle of this was an Embroidery of Silver to represent a Dove with Raies of Gold embroider'd all about as darting from it This was put up for the sake of Whitsontide we saw in some other Places the like thing upon this Occasion The Ornaments before the Altars here were very rich being of Scarlet and other colour'd Silks with many broad Gold-flowers upon them and some of them had a deep Gold-fringe laid across from one end to the other about a Foot distant from the top according to the usual manner At the East end of the North Isle was an Altar which had over it a piece of Painting that I shall take notice of In the upper part of it there is set their common absurd and impious Representation of the Holy Trinity towards the middle of
We saw here also a Book of a small Quarto size with I believe about Forty Leaves in it or more of Chiness Writing It was a large black Character but made very distinct and clear Some of the Characters had about them a great many Lines and some Points I suppose each Character stood for a Word for they were set equally distant from one another They were extreamly various yet some we could observe were often repeated The Lines went from the top to the bottom of the Leaf and between every Two Lines of Characters there was drawn a small Line of Ink. The Paper was very thin somewhat brownish soft as Silk The Characters though very black and written on both sides the Leaf did not confound one another He said that none of their Fellows in this House could understand it I was sorry that I could not He did not offer to shew us the Chapel or any other part of the House and so we did not ask for it They have he said in this House between Three and Fourscore Students and all of them English except Two or Three who are of that Country Their present Rector he said is one Mr. Cullison a Lancashire-man who upon his Profession chang'd his Name into Parker These People are well belov'd in this Place and â— Gentleman of the Princes Court gave them the Character of very good Folks Another Gentleman told us that there are some Congregations of Protestants or Lutherans in this City who are tolerated here as the Papists are in Holland He told us this as a Reproach to us for our Cruelty to them in England as we are represented in this Country For we found every Body from Brussels hither that we talk'd with possess'd with this that there were a multitude of Papists in England but now by a new Law made since the Peace the King has banish'd them all from thence and will not suffer any of them to stay upon Penalty of forferting their Lives if they are found there I inform'd this Gentleman as I had done others that this was but a false Report and a malicious Slander that we have indeed but few of that Religion in England but those of them that will live quietly might do so and that there is no new Law in England made to banish any Persons but such as have been in Correspondence during the War with the Enemies of their Country and that this reaches any others as well as Papists who have been found thus guilty With this they seem'd to be satisfied I confess'd to several that there is a Law this Year made in Ireland to banish thence all the Monks and Friars but the Secular Priests of their Religion I told them are tolerated there This no Body found fault with for indeed all sensible People among them look upon those Societies as so many Companies of useless Drones and a Burden to the rest of the World Passage from Liege to Aix la Chapelle WE had found the Passage up the Maese so tedious in coming up hither and knew the River to be still extreamly swell'd by more Rain that we laid aside the Thoughts of going to Namur and resolv'd to cross the Country to Colen and in our way to see Aix la Chapelle There are no fixed Carriages here for Aix tho' this was the time of Concourse to those Baths We were directed to the Water-side near the Bridge to the Wyke where there stand Foremen ready to be hired who are notorious by their blue Frocks We found if we would have a Charrette for us two the lowest Price must be three Pattacoons which is four Guilders four Stivers but if we had any Company tho' it were but one Person more we might go for a Pattacoon each Person and this was the lowest Price for each that would be taken if the Company were more If the Company does not exceed four Persons they will put but one Horse in the Charrette if there be six they will put in two if eight Persons three Horses and so many is the most these Chariots will hold Our Foreman or Charioteer had muster'd together six Persons and so put into the Chariot two good stout Horses We left Liege about seven a Clock in the Morning and travel'd the first two Hours in a Valley full of Villages and Houses along the way on the same side of the River that Liege mostly stands on that is the West side This Valley was not very broad between the River and the Hills The Hills were planted with Vineyards and the Valley had abundance of Hop-grounds and great Orchards in it and Gardens and fields and Pasture-grounds every thing look'd as if the Soil were very rich and good About an Hour after we came from Liege we were in with a large scattering Village call'd Herstal A Burgher of Liege Herstal in our Company told us that the Prince of Orange our King is Owner of this Place and that he has lately given the People leave upon their Request to build them a Town-House This Town lies upon the Maese and may conveniently manage some Trade This Place was famous in the History of France under the second Race of their Kings It has been call'd by some Heristel by others Heristal It is from hence that Pepin Master of the Palace and Father of Charles Martel a Prince of the Franks had the Sirname of Heristal Some think that Pepin King of France was born here 'T is certain that Prince pleased himself so much in this Place that he caused a very magnificent Palace to be built here wherein he made his Abode very often Many of his Successors enjoy'd it a long time after as appears by Charters and Grants dated from this Place One in particular is mention'd of Charles the Simple which takes notice that this King was in Possession of it But it was afterward destroy'd by the Normans and since that the Place is become but a mean Village and has no Remainders of any former Greatness The Church we saw look'd in a good Condition on the out-side it is a losty and great Building We pass'd through the Place without stopping and so could see nothing but what was in our way We went on still on this side the River till we came almost over-against the upper end of Viset or Weset where we were to cross the Maese We came to a Village where there are several Stores of Timber and many People employ'd in building Merchant-Vessels for this River We crossed the Maese here with our Charrette after a manner that was absolutely new to us They had a long narrow Boat call'd a Naken the ends of it were just alike A Naken and tapering somewhat but not to a point the breadth in the middle part is just enough for a good large Horse to stand across it They took our Horses out of the Charretre and thrust it down to the Water then the Boat was push'd with one end ashoar where it
went under the Axletree of the Charrette which lodg'd upon it It was then put off and the other end turn'd ashoar for another Chariot to ride upon it this done they turn'd aside ashoar and took in our two Horses and two more Thus was this Boat sufficiently loaded and we with other Passengers went over in another We landed near half a Mile above Viset Viset or Weseâ— This is a small City belonging to the Principality of Liege with a Wall about it It stands upon the side of a Hill and so makes a good show to the Water but 't is a very little Place and has nothing in it remarkable that we could learn As soon almost as we were within the Wall our way was right up the Hill so we could not see but one end of it which look'd well enough When we were through the other Gate and gone out again which was soon done we still mounted a pretty steep Hill which runs up far above the Town we walk'd to ease our Horses above an English Mile ascending This Passage from hence to Aix is all through a hilly Country we were almost continually ascending or descending some great Hill the largest Plains were usually upon the tops of the Hills All these Hills appear'd a very good Mould that which was plain at the top we found constantly till'd for Grains and saw upon them very good and promising Crops of Wheat and Rye the Barly was but just sown and very little of it was come up The steep sides of these Hills were either cover'd with Wood or else were good green Downs for Sheep As we came near to Aix the Hills were cover'd extreamly thick with a white Stone like a Lime-stone which lay upon a Mould somewhat darker than Fullers-Earth but which seem'd such a sort of Substance Some Grounds were almost cover'd with it and at a distance look'd white yet was all plow'd and sown In some we saw Barly just coming up very thick among the Stones On some pieces of Ground next to those that appear'd so full of these Stones we saw good Crops of Wheat and Rye a coming which were so thick and cover'd the Ground so well we could not see a Stone upon them tho' we had reason to believe they were of the same sort with their Neighbours On some of these Grounds they were laying good heaps of Stable-Dung and they laid them very thick We stay'd to refresh our selves at a little Village call'd Gulpe upon a Brook of the same Name but the People pronounced the Names of both Gallop We were now in the Dutchy of Limburg which cannot be very broad here since we crossed it in half a Day 's Journey at a very slow rate of travelling This Brook runs here in a small deep Valley between two ridges of high Hills and therefore swells sometimes enormously with the Rains It had been a Day or two before unpassable and now was very full About two Hours before we came to Aix the Company said Now we enter into the Territory of Aix We had then a Coppice on our Left Hand which run from us down the side of the Hill This they said was much infested with the French Parties in the time of the War When we enter'd the Territory of Aix we enter'd also the Dutchy of Juliers within the Compass of which this Territory is contain'd just upon the Frontiers between Juliers and Limburg Dutchies We could not reach Aix till between 8 and 9 a Clock through the unevenness and heaviness of the way AIX LA CHAPELLE It is agreed to have been a very ancient City but the Beginnings of it are somewhat Original disputed Munster will have it to be built by Granus a Brother of Nero the Roman Emperor but it is not found that Nero had ever a Brother of that Name Some think that Serennius Granus built it in the time of the Emperor Adrian 'T is certain that the Romans while they made War upon the Germans had frequent Settlements and Fortifications in these Countries between the Maese and the Rhine and those were in many Places the first beginnings of what grew to be Cities in following Times The Romans make mention of these Baths and always call'd the Place Aquisgranum or Aquae Grani. The Low Dutch call the City Aken the Germans Aach and the French Aix contracted from Eaux which in their Language signifies Waters They have added the Words la Chapelle by reason of the Famous Chapel built there by Charlemaigne and to distinguish it from an Aix in their own Country which is the head City of Provence There also are hot Baths which because the City about them was built by Sextus a Roman Consul the Latines have been wont to call them Aquae Sextiae This Aix which we are now speaking of must without doubt have been a considerable City in their Times It was utterly ruin'd by the Goths and Huns when they broke in upon the Empire under the Leading of Attila that prodigious Man of Mischief some time after the Year of our Lord 400 and after this these Baths were neglected and forgotten It came to be restor'd again they say after this manner The Emperor Charlemaigne as he was hunting here observ'd that his Horses Hoofs spirted up some Water which smoak'd upon examination of the matter he found that there were hot Springs here He consider'd and was mightily pleas'd with the Situation of the Place which indeed is very pleasant and convenient and thereupon built himself here first a Palace and soon after the Chappel which is still standing tho' the Palace is down He being thus setled here and spending commonly his Winters in this Place when he was retir'd from his Wars this occasion'd a Concourse of People and many sorts of Tradesmen built Houses and settled here and thus it grew again into a City in his Time This is the City which is included within the inner Wall for there are two here also which is still remaining and has in it ten Gates which are the Passages through â—â— We were shew'd within this an old Stone Wall encompassing a little spot of Ground which look'd indeed by the Window-holes like a Church Wall and were told that this had been the first Church of this City If this were so there must have been Christianity planted and profess'd here in the Times of the Romans and before it was ruin'd by the Goths and Huns. This inner City call'd from Charlemaigne St. Charles his City for the Papists have canoniz'd him was utterly destroy'd again by the barbarous Normans about the Year of our Lord 882 under the Leading of Godfride and Sigefride They ruin'd the stately Palace of the Emperor which there are now no Remains of About the Year 1172 by the Command of the Emperor Frederick the First it was invested with the second and outermost Wall After several Conflagrations that it has suffer'd there hapned the most terrible one of all in the Year 1656
about a Dozen of them follow'd with Surplices and Copes upon them these were immediately follow'd by the Host which was carried in a gilt Remonstranter under a Canopy of Silk by a Carme in a very rich Cope of Cloth of Silver with Embroidery about it After him came a great Company of Men in Disorder There were no Flambeaux's this time nor any Men but the Monks that march'd before the Host We had not so much Devotion to the Scapulary as to Honour it in following the Procession and therefore while they were going their Procession we viewed the Church which was well dress'd smelt very strong of Incense and had a great many Wax-Tapors lighted and set in Siver Candlesticks about the High Altar the piece of Painting over that was the Representation of the feign'd Assumption of the Virgin Mary There was nothing particular to be observ'd here We came to the Dominicans Church after this which is handsome and large there were very few People at this Church now The Monks were signing their Devotions in a Place behind the High Altar where they were not to be seen A Rail at the East end of the North Isle enclos'd a Chapel which I suppose is dedicated to St. Willibroerd St. Willibroerd because on the Wall at the side of the Chapel was a Picture of a Bishop at full length and under it this Inscription in Latin Caput sancti Willibrordi miraculis hominum visitatione Celebre It seems they pretend to have the Head of St. Willibroerd It did not appear and therefore is shown but at certain times perhaps only on a particular Holy-day and with a solemn Mass and so it makes a gaudy Day to the Monks of this Convent He was 't is said the first Bishop of Utrecht and the great Instrument of converting the Heathen Franks there who possess'd the Country at that time having driven out the Romans Our Historian Bede says of him he was an Anglo-Saxon and died in the Year of our Lord 636. He is a Saint of great Repute in all these Countries and one shall frequently meet with at least an Altar and Chapel dedicated to him At a Village near Antwerp there is a Church which goes by his Name as dedicated to him which is there the Parish Church The Jesuites have at Aix a very large and Jesuites commodious House and they are making it larger We went first into their Chapel Over the Door of this on the out-side in Letters of Gold is written Sancte Michael Sancte Joseph Orate pro nobis By an Inscription on the inside over the Portal of another Door is signified that this Chapel was consecrated in the Year of our Lord 1628. by Petrus Aloysius Caraffa Episcopus Inicarensis under the Name of Saint Michael and all Angels The Form of this Chapel the same with that of all the Jesuites Chapels that I have seen is Oblong with Galleries over the two side Isles which run the whole length of the Isles and are supported by the Pillars which stand up on each side the middle Isle to the top of the Church and support the Roof of it This Fashion is very convenient and looks very magnificent and handsome The Organ and Musick have a Gallery which goes across the West end of the Chapel The East end wherein the High Altar stands is a large Semi-circle the Diameter the whole breadth of the middle Isle and without a Rail or any Partition before it The Wall round this at the bottom of the great Windows is curiously carv'd for about the depth of Six Feet in the Representation of Vines and Flowers The matter is Stone I cannot tell whether Marble or not for it was all richly gilded with Gold The Altar Piece represents the laying our Saviour as dead into his Sepulchre the Figures and the Faces concern'd are extreamly well drawn This Piece is surrounded by a very beautiful Architecture of Marble a great deal of which in convenient Places is gilded There are Two Chapels at the Two Sides of this Semicircle to which one enters by little Doors and they are perfectly enclos'd They are extreamly neat and fine both of them that on the North side is dedicated to some one of the pretended Saints of their Order I think it to be Ignatius Loyola their Founder In the other is an Altar-piece which I think woâ—th taking particular notice of There is painted an old Man with a Triple Crown on his Head in the Clouds but as come down to the middle almost of the Piece and with Angels about him He with his Arms spread addresses himself to a Woman in a manner of Courtship who is sitting a little below with a Child in her Lap. Another Man sits at her Right Hand they both look very pleasantly on the old Man neither of them are in a Posture of Adoration Over the Head of the Woman and pretty near her is a Pigeon in the Posture of flying towards her with a green Garland in its Bill which he directs as designing to drop it upon her Head Now without a very distinct and impious Interpretation too one would think this Business design'd to represent an old Man some Pope or other designing to borrow of another Man with his consent the use of his Wife and in his Preâ—ence and with his Consent courting her to his Will I doubt not but this is the most innocent and safe Interpretation of this Picture I must confess the sight of it would make a Man fall to his Prayers but my Prayer upon this Occasion would be this Good Lord bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred and are deceived and to that end be pleased to deliver in thy due Time all that bear the Name of Christians from the Vile Instructions of such impious blasphemous and idolatrous Books After this we went to see the House which was shown us very particularly we having with us a Friend of theirs We went up Two Stories in each of which is a long Gallery with lodging Rooms all on one side of it At one end of the first Gallery stood a Concave Steel polish'd and of about Twelve or Fourteen Inches Diameter before this a Lamp is set which when 't is lighted this Concave Steel by Reflection so encreases the Light that it reaches to good purpose to the further end of the Gallery though it be a very long one In this lower Gallery between the Doors of the Chambers are hung up some sorry little Pictures in Frames the most of them representing the pretended Saints and Martyrs of their Order Among others there is the Picture of a Man to the Waste with a remarkably broad Butcher's Knife drawn as stuck into the middle of his Breast this made us take notice of and read the Inscription at the bottom of the Picture The Inscription signifies that this is Thomas Harcourt who was put to Death at Tyburn in England for the true Faith Thus they make a
Juliers to Colen COnsidering them we got up very early the next Morning having a long and tedious Journey as the Ways were to reach to Colen We passed through a Valley for about the space of half an Hour upon a pav'd Cusway from Juliers between rich Pastures and Corn-Fields Then we gradually mounted to a higher Country but the Soil being a sort of Clay it was very wet still Soon after our ascending we enter'd a vast Wood which our Foreman or Charioteer call'd the Wood of Steintrasse from a Village of that Name which Steintrasse we pass'd through at the edge of it There was a very broad Track through the Wood which is the Road and it is pretty strait so that we commonly could see some Miles before us but as broad as the Road was we could hardly pick out a tolerable Path the Ground was every where so soft and full of Water The tall Wood was chiefly Oak and Beach there was a great deal of Underwood for the most part and that was Alder chiefly which grows on moist Grounds best all the Wood seem'd very flourishing and large in its kind There were cut in this Wood many Thousands of Pallisado's I suppose design'd by the Government for the Improvement of some Fortifications In all this Passage which was of several Hours through this Wood we saw to wild Beast though without doubt there are of several sorts here only one Deer walk'd cross the Road at a distance before us We spent I believe at our slow Rate of travelling Three Hours in and by this Wood. This Village of Steintrasse was all over Mud and Dirt. The People trod almost to the mid-Leg in Dirt when they stept out of their Houses The Walls of their Houses were unwhited Clay and the Cover Thatch and Clay mingled We saw on one side some plough'd Grounds belonging to the Village About Eleven a Clock before Noon we came to the River Erpe or Erffe which we Erpe River were to pass to Berghem on the other side of it This River rises on the Frontires of this Dutchy Southward and runs into the Rhine by Nuys in the Bishoprick of Colen It was now exorbitantly swell'd by the Rains and put us in some Care how we should get over it There is a Foot Causway rais'd a little through the Meadows which goes to a small bridge over the River but now Bridge and Causway both were cover'd with Water And though it was common for Charrettes with their Passengers to ford it conveniently enough we could not have done this now without being wet even in our Charrette almost to the Waste and besides our Horse who must for sometime swim would have been hard put to it to have had any thing more to draw besides the Charrette and Driver We therefore with the Company of Two other Charrettes went into a sorry Naken to be ferry'd over The River run very fierce but we went cross on the lower side of the Foot Causway which somewhat defended us from the force of the Stream We got over safe Thanks be to God and went to our Dinner at Berghen while we left our Foreman and his Horse to take theirs on the other side This is a small wall'd City but seems poor and inconsiderable but is the head of a small Jurisdiction about it Here is a Synagogue of Jews publickly tolerated After Dinner we pursued our Journey tho' very slowly because our Horse fell sick And besides this after we had gone a little way upon a Level we began to mount the Hills which we saw when we were on the other side of the River We could see this Ridge of Hills for a great length together both upwards and down the River and it seem'd to go on both Ways beyond our sight Northward and Southward It lies along very steep on this side towards this River which occasions a sudden shoot of the Water from it and by consequence the great swelling of this River These Hills are however in many Places such as that they are plow'd and sown and there are Orchards and Pasture-Grounds upon them to serve the Villages which are thick set upon them And these are shelter'd by frequent Woods which possess the steepest Parts of the Hills When we had mounted upwards above an Hour and observ'd that the Country rose still above us and that our Horse grew more faint we took pity upon him and contented our selves since we could not possibly get to Colen with him this Night to rest here that he might not be too far spent and might be the better able to carry us on the next Morning We were the rather induced to this because the Weather was now clear'd up and we were in hopes the rest of the Afternoon would be fair and we were got a good way up the Western side of the Hill on which the Sun now shone very pleasantly we could have a large Prospect about the Country and were upon a good dry Place for walking And to all this after we had enquired at several Houses in this scattering Village and were denied at length we came to one which promis'd us a Bed It was a new House too and so we supposed might not be so nasty as the old ones seem'd to be Besides we were promis'd here that if our Horse should not be able to travel next Morning the House would furnish us with a good Ichendorp one that should do our Business The Name of this Village is Ichendorp It lies scatter'd about in several Patches of Houses distant from one another on this side of the Hill They have a handsome large Church built of Brick I had a mind to see both the Country Parson and his Church It cost me a Mile's walk to find his Dwelling I came to a sorry House where they told me he lodg'd but he was not within so I could see neither I spent some time of the Afternoon in walking among the Woods which were near our Lodging and from thence had a large View of the Country Here Nightingales and other singing Birds abound and at this time fill'd the Woods with their charming Musick We went by Day-light to our Bed which we found a very sorry one and therefore lay down in our Cloaths as in like Cases we were often forc'd to do in this Journey We had one Relief in the Badness of our Lodging that if we could not sleep we were entertain'd with the Nightingales in the neighbouring Woods who sung sweetly all the Night We roused betimes and found our Horse somewhat recruited and thought able to carry us to Colen and in the space of Six Hours he brought us thither with much ado From our Lodging we ascended a good while Towards the top of the Hill we found our selves in a Wood and had several successive Ascents in that We were some Hours upon this Ridge of Hills before we came to look down on the other side of it and we pass'd through
and Foot The Suffragans of this Archbishoprick are the Bishops of Leige Munster Osnabrug to which were formerly added Utrecht and Minden which Two last being now seculariz'd by the Reformation there remain to him but the Three former Minden is a Hanse-Town of Germany in the Dutchy of Westphalia a Bishoprick and Principality Charlemaigne founded there an Episcopal See about the Year 780. The Bishop was Lord of it but since the Peace of Munster it belongs to the Electour of Brandenburg The Archbishop of Colen is Grand Chancellour of the Empire in Italy and pretends to crown the Emperour when it is done within the Extent of his Diocess He is one of the Three Ecclesiastical Electors of the Empire the other Two are the Archbishops of Treves and Mentz The City of Colen is situate on the left City Bank of the Rhine as it descends in a large open Valley and is encompass'd with a Country plentiful in Corn and Wine and all things needful for humane Life It lies something like a half Moon has a modern Fortification about it with a strong Wall that has Eighty three Towers in it and a triple Ditch to defend it besides some necessary Out-works It is reckon'd one of the biggest Cities in Germany The Streets are generally broad and airy many of them strait for a good length The Houses are very well built of Freestone and good Timber but they are not very Uniform and they have the old Fashion of peaked Tops generally It is said there are in this City Eleven Collegiate Churches Four Abbies Nineteen Parochial Churches Seventeen Monasteries of Men and Nineteen Nunneries An Academy was instituted here by the Acalâ—my Senate or reviv'd as some say in the Year 1388 it makes no Noise at present I enquir'd whether they had now any great or famous Men of Learning among them and was answer'd No. I was inform'd that a great many of the Books which pretend to be printed at Colen perhaps never come there Many of the French Books are printed in Holland and the Greek are printed at Lipswyck I must confess I thought to have seen the Press here which reprints the Paris Editions of the Greek Fathers in Greek and Latin and to have heard of some learned Men that were the Inspectors of the Work but one of the chief Booksellers of the Town told me they are all done at Lipswyck and that being a Protestant University they set the Name of Colen to them to give them the more Reputation in the World I confess they may have the more Reputation for that Name but it must be be with those that do not know the common State of the Roman Church for the Roman is the Latin Church too and seems resolv'd to keep up that Character by neglecting generally the Greek Tongue and it is well known that at present the Knowledge of this Language flourishes chiefly among the Protestants and perhaps more than any where else in England In several Places where I have been searching the Stocks of the Bookselleâ—s in Cities of the Roman Communion I have seen indeed vast Stocks of Books but all in Latin even the Writings of the Greek Fathers are to be found amongst them only in Latin And in Colen they print these but no Greek They had newly finish'd when I was there the Theologia Dogmatica Moralis of Natalis Alexander a Dominican of Vienna in Two large Volumes in Folio We came to Colen upon a very great Holy-Day with those of the Church of Rome that is what they call Sacraments-Day or the Feast of the Holy Sacrament For they Sacraments Dâ—y and the Processions do yearly on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday as this was with them commemorate the Institution of the Lord's Supper And we came hither in a good time to see the Processions of this Day which are some of the greatest and most solemn Processions of the whole Year As we were going to our Inn we met one which staid us almost an Hour to see it pass by The Virgin Mary march'd foremost in this Procession carried and attended by Queasils singing if it be proper to call an Image her which yet we may do when we are giving an Account of their Matters because they themselves do so and an Image in any Place is call'd the Virgin Mary of that Place The Image of her at Loretto is as famous among them under the Name of our Lady of Loretto as that of Diana at Ephesus was under the Name of Diana of the Ephesians But may it not be said that this Phrase implies plainly that they believe the Image not only a Representation of the Saint but a Symbol of her Presence in such a Place This Image was but small about the height of a Child of Three or Four Years old but drest very fine with a Robe of Cloth of Silver a Crown on her Head and a Scepter in her Hand After this several other Images were carried of He and She-Saints intermix'd with Banners which are commonly long taper'd Flags with a Picture of some Saint in the broad part of them At the end of the Pole they hang upon is commonly fastned a good large Cross of Silver There were several Images of the Virgin Mary carried one of which as big as a Child of Two Years old seem'd and was said to be all massy Silver that was carry'd by Six Men. There attended this Procession Two Religious Orders of Men the Franciscans and the Auguctines these last sung as they went along Many Men and Women of good Fashion appear'd in this Train After all the Images came the Men who honour'd the Hostie by carrying lighted Flambeaux's before it They march'd Two and Two in great Order and were a great while a going by I doubt not there were several Hundreds of them Several genteel little Boys went ringing their Silver Bells before the Hostie The Canopy over that was of Silk with a rich Gold and Silver Fringe hanging down from it A Secular Priest carried the Hostie in his Surplice and Cope his Cope richly embroider'd with Gold and Silver The Remonstranter was large with a great deal of Work in it and of Silver gilt Let us make a few Reflections upon these Matters before we pass on to other things The Council of Trent has establish'd and authoriz'd these Things It says The Worship due to the True God ought to be given to the most Holy Sacrament And it is a Custome very piously and religiously brought into the Church That every Year on a certain particular Festival-Day this Eminent and Venerable Sacrament be celebrated with singular Veneration and Solemnity and that it be reverently and honourably carried about in Processions through the Streets and publick Ways and it curses those who shall contradict and condemn these Things But we shall venture to do this however being assur'd that the Curse causeless will not come As for this Festival they do themselves The Festival confess
of the Street were two more which I suppose might be some of the modern Languages or in the vulgar Tongue Each Frame contain'd some scores of Copies but the Copies were set in rows and the joyning of one Paper to another was cover'd with a slip of gilt Leather The crowd and hurry was so great that we could not then read them and the next day they were gone The School which the Jesuits have here is opposite to their Chappel and College in the same Street it is a great Building and stands on three sides of a large Square which has a high Wall to inclose it from the Street In the middle of this Square stands an Obelisk with the Virgin Mary at the top of it about the Pedestal are many fulsom Motto's among others this Maria flos florum to answer which there were Pots of Flowers set at the four Corners of the Pedestals The Attributes and Honours here given to the Virgin Mary do not well answer the Inscription upon the Arch over the Gate of this Court where they have set in Latin that Text of Scripture a little alter'd Come ye Children hearken unto me and I will teach you the fear of the Lord. The Chief Church of this City and the Cathedral they call the Dome It is dedicated Dâ—me to St. Peter It appears a very Noble and Magnificent Design tho' it is not yet finish'd nor have they been at Work upon it for several Years The Quire end is quite finish'd the Body of the Church has its Walls and Pillars I think rais'd to the height intended but the Arches over the Pillars are not yet made there is a Roof of Timber laid over this part for the present The Steeple I believe is not above half finish'd we went up to the top of it to take a view of the City and saw in it two or three very large Bells from the top going round we could see the whole City and the Country about it only when we look'd towards the Quire the height of that somewhat confin'd our Prospect upon the City Over the High Altar in the Quire one sees through a Lettice twelve Images standing six and six on each side of a Crucifix They are I believe about two Feet long and are said to be of Silver gilt with Gold they are made to represent the twelve Apostles The Cross in the middle is gilt also but the Body upon it is Silver ungilt The Crucifix is somewhat taller than the Images The Altar is I think dedicated to St. Engelbert There lies at full St. Engelbert length over the Images of the Apostles an Image of a Bishop carv'd in white Marble which is design'd to represent St. Engelbert It is said of him he was an Archbishop of Colen who was murder'd by Frederick Count of Issenburg and his own Uncle for defending the Liberties of his Church about the Year 1225. He is recommended by the Legend as having fasted in honour of the Virgin Mary constantly on every Wednesday Certainly a great Commendation and an Instance of singular Christian or rather Marian Piety The Body of the Church has very few Altars in it and they are I think only at the upper End there are two at the Entrance of the Quire from thence that on the left hand as one stands towards it is an Altar to Mother Mother Anna. Anna as the Papists call the Mother of the blessed Virgin Over it there is for an Altar-Piece a carv'd Work of white Marble not very big where are seen two Women one of them holds a Child in her lap another with a Cover over her head somewhat like that the Nuns throw over them as a short Veil puts an Apple or an Orange into the Child's hand which he seems much pleas'd with Under these things is blindly and with much abbreviation written in the Marble this following Stanza one word of which I could not possibly make out but suppose it might be Paris Anna quae sobolem decoram Et fovâ—s dulci gremio Nepotem Fac tuum supplex Populus Levamen Sentiat usque A very distinct and particular application to St. Anna her self and alone for her help and assistance without any mention of her Intercession with God For it prays that she would make the praying People always sensible of her Relief At the North Door of the same Church An Altar to our Saviouâ—'s Humanity on the left hand as one comes in is an Altar over which our Saviour is represented as on a Cross instead of an Altar-Piece there is a tall Crucifix of Wood set up Besides some long Complements to the Cross in Latin which I could not remember there is written at the top of the Work about it Sacro sanctae individuae Trinitati at the bottom are these words Domini nostri Jesu Christi humanitati This expresses the Dedication of the Altar They may indeed as well erect an Altar to the human Nature of our Saviour distinctly and seperately consider'd from his divine Nature as to any of the Saints but certainly this is a divine Honour which is not due and ought not to be paid to any Creature and tho' the Person of our Saviour might be and was justly ador'd while he was on Earth because he is God as well as Man yet 't is to be believ'd no one did distinctly worship his human Nature so as that he might have express'd what he did in such words as these Jesu I adore thee as God for thy divine Nature and I adore thee as Man too or I give divine Honour to thy human Nature which is the true and evident meaning of this Inscription Here were hanging up about this Crucifix many Hands Arms Hearts and little Images in Wax-work which were the Memorials of Favours obtain'd at this Altar as the poor People understood Not far from hence and as on that side one enters the Passage which goes round the An Image of the blessed Virgin Quire is set up at the Corner against a Pillar an Image of the Virgin Mary I think without any Altar at her feet The Image is so monstrously dress'd as a Curtizan or Coquet would be when one might say of her for having more Cloaths than Woman Minima pars est ipsa Puella sui For we could hardly see a little Face for the Ornaments about her Head and her other Habit of Sky-colour'd Silk lac'd with Silver was very large downwards How fitly this represents the mean Condition and the Modesty and Contempt of the World and Humility of that blessed Virgin whom the Son of God chose to take his human Nature of is easie enough to judge This Image we saw was mightily resorted to while we waited for the Opportunity to see the three Kings Many People came directly hither when they were entred the Church and here fell down and perform'd their Devotions some longer some shorter and then went out at the next Door or staid to be
so much coveted and valued it is for a pretence of Indulgences to those who shall visit them and they are granted for the sake of Offerings for 't is always understood even when 't is not express'd that no Man obtains any Indulgence by being present at a Mass at any Altar or Chappel whatever unless he drops there his Offering great or small and which must be given according to his ability Against a Pillar on the other side of this Church is a Picture of a Man at full length which is pretended to be a true Picture of St. Francis and drawn as I remember from the Life it has a pale meagre look which perhaps he could not help but it is melancholy and peevish too which is a Fault in one that is pretended to be a mighty Saint to their commendation be it spoken these his Children look much better Under the Picture is written what is pretended to be the Blessing which St. Francis used over the People to deliver them from Plagues and Diseases It is all of it the same word for word which Moses by God s Direction taught the Jewish Priests to use but I think it is not the whole of that I must not lanch into the Praises of St. Francis or which is all one go about to give an account of his Life this is an Ocean in which if I had one of these Brothers for Pilot I should yet be in danger of being lost as others have been I shall therefore refer my Reader to the Liber Conformitatum Sancti Franscici cum Jesu Christo in Fol. written by a worthy Minorite wherein he shall see how little St. Francis came below Jesus Christ in his Life or â—iracles if the Author may be believ'd But I would have him read too the Alcoran of the Minorites that he might be disposed to say Glory be to the God of Truth and eternal Shame to the Father of Lies and his Children This Commonwealth City will suffer the Lutherans at Colen profession and publick exercise of no other Religion in it but their own that is the Roman and Popish Religion Some few Lutherans dwell among them but are forced when they will go to publick Worship to cross this vast and rapid River the Rhine and go about half an hour's Journey on the other side to the City of Mulheim which is in the Dutchy of Bergen or Mons and under the Jurisdiction of the Duke of Neubourg whom we are now coming to visit Passage from Colen to Dusseldorp VVHEN we came to Colen we projected to have gone down the Rhine by Water but upon enquiry they told us That at present no Boats went downwards The reason of which was that the Rhine was so swell'd with the great Rains and had so overflow'd the Neighbouring Country that they could not well find the Course of the Channel and if any high Wind should rise it would be very dangerous This put us who could not stay upon a necessity of Travelling by Land all the way down this River from hence Our Passage upon this account was more chargeable and I doubt not more tedious too for this very swift River would I believe have carried us much faster than we went by Land at our slow rate of Travelling We were resolv'd however to see the chief Cities downwards from hence which stand upon the Rhine and by our Land-travel had the better Opportunity of seeing what the Country is all the way On the 31st of May then we hired our Passage in a Charrette for Dusseldorp we paid but a Gilder for each Person as I reckon'd it was in the Money of the Country thirty Stivers Money They reckon sixty of their Stivers in their Rix-Dollar but a Rix-Dollar Spanish or Dutch which is otherwise call'd a Pattacoon and goes ordinarily for forty eight Stivers in the Netherlands they reckon'd worth seventy two of their Stivers To set down therefore our Expences as exactly as I could while we were in these Parts in a just proportion to the Netherland Money I consider'd the proportion between seventy two and forty eight and found the former number exceed the latter just one third part Therefore when I set down our Expences in this Money which I did till I came to Nimmeguen I reckon'd in our Account two thirds of the number of Stivers which they had of us But it may be observ'd that altho' we had the same propottion to observe after this yet the Money of Colen would go no further than in the Jurisdiction of the Duke of Neubourg and the Money of Colen and Neubourg would not afford us the value we took it at in the Country of the Electour of Brandenburg but we chang'd but little of our Gold at a time and so suffer'd the less loss The Gold we carried was French Louis d' Or 's which yielded us the same Rate through all our Journey We had but one Person in our Charrette besides two of us and so had but one Horse to draw us It is reckon'd a Passage of six or eight Hours by Land after this manner of Travelling I believe we were near twelve Hours in passing two of which were spent where we baited Our Journey was for the greatest part of it on the same side of the Rhine that Colen standâ— on and also within the Bishoprick of Colen All our way was through a till'd Corn Country and open Fields The ways of this day's Journey were very good as the Weather was and we had some pleasure in our Passage I believe the goodness of the way not so much due to two dry days as to this that the Ground of this whole Passage was somewhat lighter and less a Clay than that we had in crossing the Country but had in it very good Crops of Wheat and Rye and I believe the chief Reason of it to be that this way is not so much frequented or travell'd as the other by reason that for the most part People may pass upon the Rhine to be sure 't is freed from heavy Carriages which do most harm to the ways and which the Conveniency of the River frees these from The Valley seems on this side to be four or five Miles wide between the Hills we came over and the Rhine and it seem'd to be a flat on the other side as far or farther In our way this morning we met a flock of foolish Pilgrims they were Men Women and Children Our Road was for the most part at a good distance from the Rhine and out of sight of it We pass'd by Wering in the morning leaving it at a distance on the right Hand it seems a good large Town and stands on the Bank of the Rhine in the Bishoprick of Colen About the middle of our way we staid to refresh our selves at a Village call'd Dormagen this with some other Dormagen little Villages with a small compass about them on this side of the Rhine are reckon'd to the
Dutchy of Mons and so are under the Dominion of the Duke of Neubourg The Houses of this Village look well and seem as good as those in the common Villages of England After this we pass'd above Zons a little City upon the Rhine on this side which is also in the Bishoprick of Colen We did not go down so far as Nuys on this side but within a near view of it and saw that it is a pretty large and a fortified City When we came to the River there were other Companies had just fill'd and were gone off with the Ferry-Boat so we were forced to be contented with a Naken It was a great deal of trouble to stow upon this three Charrettes one at each end and one in the middle with their Horses This done the Passengers went into another Boat which was fastned to the Naken and so we were conducted over by two sturdy Women and an old Man Each Person paid for himself two Slivers for his Passage The violent Stream carried us I believe almost a Mile down the River in crossing it we got in at a very inconvenient and troublesome place to land at and our Charretes were longer a getting out than in This Passage cost us near two Hours We were glad and thank'd God when we were got safe over this very broad and rapid River in a sorry Boat and with a great deal of encumbrance We had from our Landing-place but an Hour and half to Dusseldorp DVSSELDORP Upon our entrance into this City we were examin'd by the Officer at the Gate he ask'd us several Questions to know what we were and why we came thither We gave him for a general Answer that we were English Men and Students and were travelling only to see the Country He sent a Musquetier with us to the place where we lighted from our Charrette who took us along with him to the Corps du Garde he gave the Officer the Account which we had given at the Gate the Officer talk'd with us in â—ow-Dutch ask'd a few impertinent Questions and then dismiss'd us having first taken notice at what Inn we intended to â—odge This City is situated in a large Plain upon the right side of the Rhine as it descends tho' we left the River as soon as we had cross'd it which makes a turn here it is at this City I believe not much broader than the Thames at Gravesend but this is recon'd one of the narrowest places of the Channel by consequence the Stream runs here very swift and it is they say of a depth like a Sea Dusseldorp in Latin Dusseldorpium has this City Name from a small River call'd the Dussel which runs through it and here falls into the Rhine The Addition of Dorp which signifies a Village seems to intimate that it was at first but such It is now a wall'd City and has a good Fortification 'T is the head City of of the Dutchy of Mons or Berg so call'd from the high and steep Mountains which they say 't is full of I speak thus because we met with none of them in our way We pass'd thro' a plain Country to it and from it full of Corn Fields which prov'd the goodness of the Soil by the richness of the Crops which stood upon it We saw no Hills but at a distance beyond the reach of a distinct view where indeed the Country seem'd to rise very high and the ridge appear'd to us as we were on the other side the Rhine upon that ridge of Hills from whence we look'd down upon Colen We could there see it run as it were parallel to that which we were upon a great way Northward and Southward all the way continued and it seem'd to run both ways beyond our sight This Dutchy of Berg is a part of the Circle of Westphalia it is but of a small extent it lies along the Rhine on the East side between the Country of Mark and the Bishoprick of Colen This City is little at present and so are the Houses they are built some of Timber some of Brick and generally but low a new Street of Brick Houses is lately built with the top of the Fronts after the new Fashion and the Houses are uniform and of an equal height It is likely this will be the Fashion of all the new Buildings intended For 't is said the City at present is too little for its Inhabitants it seem'd indeed pretty full of People but I believe it may cheifly be too little for the Vanity of the Prince He is therefore at present upon the Design of making it bigger The Enlargement will not be round it but on one side The Ditch is already almost finish'd which is to enclose the new Part it is begun at the Rhine upwards from the old Wall and so runs up into the Country as far as the former City reaches with some compass and then turns towards that It seems to include a space as big as that which the present City stands upon We easily walk'd the Compass of the present City almost in half an Hour The Family which has now the Sovereignty Family of the Electors here are but lately come to this Principality They are a Branch of the House of Bavariaâ— and were call'd Dukes of Neubourg from a City of that Name within the Dukedom of Bavaria By Marriage with the House of Cleve they came to pretend to a right to succeed to the Estates belonging to that House upon the Death of John William the last Duke of Cleve Mons and Juliers as hath been said at Juliers and the utter extinction of that Family The Grand-father of the present reigning Prince who was Wolfgang William Duke of Neubourg was the first of the Family that came hither His Father Philip Lewis a zealous Assertour and Friend of the Ausburg Confession bred him in the same way but when he came to contend with the Electour of Brandenburg as has been said about Succession to the Estates of the Duke of Cleve finding the necessity of Assistance from the Spaniards and being supported by them in complaisance to them and to secure them to his Interest he chang'd his Religion and turn'd Papist and made his first publick Profession of his Change in the City of Dusseldorp in the Year 1614 to the great Grief of his Father who was yet living at Neubourg and died in the same Year The Brandenburger on the other side being supported by the States-General of the United Provinces in complaisance to them and to confirm them to his Interest left the Ausburg Confession and turn'd Calvinist This Wolfgang William being chang'd himself fiercely set himself to force all his People who had embrac'd the Reformation to return also to the Follies and Idolatries of the Church of Rome being instigated to this by the Jesuit Reihingius His Son follow'd him in his Religion and Zeal for it and in the Year 1663 went about to Banish all that profess'd
no more till it is sunk below it again But if there be a good easterly Wind that drives the Waters of the Rivers so much out that the Mills are not bound to observe their Mark because every fall of the Tide will let out Water enough to empty the Canals sufficiently but at such a time I have seen the Canals Brim full by that time the Tide would give leave to open the Sluces and let the Water out Somewhat above Gorcum on our Left Hand as we come downwards we see the famous Castle of Lovenstein It is a very solitary Place Lovenstein and has no other Building â—ear it It stands on a small point of Land between two great Rivers This Castle is the Place where the States confine any considerable Persons who are condemn'd to be Prisoners for Life At this narrow point of Land the Maese comes into the Chanel call'd the Wael and from this Place the united Streams were anciently call'd the Merwe down to Ulaarding which is below Rotterdam and almost at the Sea but now the Name of the Maese prevails in common Use When we were near Gorcum we took notice of that large Track of Ground which suffer'd by an Inundation the last Winter in Innundations frosty Weather in which some People and many Cattle were drown'd The Water of the Maese being swell'd by a Bank of Ice which clogg'd the River it run over the Dyke on the right side a little above Gorcum at two Places and run over a great Compass of the Country within for with running over the Dyke it wore it away It was some time before the Mischief could be cured by clearing the Chanel of the River and a dangerous Work to go about it but the City of Gorcum were necessitated to adventure the Danger of it to save themselves from the Inundation which would soon have been at least in all their lower Rooms The Occasion of the stopping of the broken Ice at this Place seems to have been an Island which lies here in the middle of the River a good spot of which appear'd above the Water cover'd with Grass notwithstanding that at this time the River was extreamly swell'd The Breaches of the Dyke still remain'd when we came by which was at the beginning of June and the Water appear'd to lie all over the Country so that of Necessity the Ground must be lost for this Year and I cannot tell whether or no it will ever be recover'd A little below this a great deal was lost long since by an Innundation near Dort which is not recover'd to this Day When we came near Dort between several little Plats of Ground which have nothing on them but Grass we saw on the Left Hand of us that broad Water call'd Den Bies Bos which is all of it an old Inundation which happen'd in the Year 1421 at a time I suppose of a great Land-Flood meeting with a Spring-tide and that drove in from the Sea perhaps with a high westerly Wind which things concurring are very dangerous to these Countries The Wael and the Maese swell'd to that degree that they broke in upon this Country between Brabant and Holland and drowned Seventy Populous Villages and in them more than an Hundred thousand Persons The Tradition of the Country says there was no Person sav'd but a Child in a Cradle with a Cat and that the Cat help'd to save the Child by flying from one side to the other of the Cradle as the Waves threatned to overturn it Upon one of those Plats of Ground foremention'd there stands a piece of a tall Brick Wall the Remains of a great House which formerly stood there Some of the Lands adjoining to Dort have been since recover'd but far the greatest part remain still under Water We reach'd but to Dort this Day but we came time enough to get in and lodg'd in the City At six a Clock next Morning we set Sail again it was almost a Calm The breath of Wind that did move was against us We advanced so slowly that we fear'd we should make a Day of this Passage therefore as others did we went into a Boat with Oars which call'd on purpose at ours and at other Ships for such Passengers as were in hast We gave them six Stivers each Person for our Passage were about an Hour and half in their Boat and got to Rotterdam by ten a Clock some Hours before our Ship could arrive so I had by that time dispatc'd some Business I had to do and was ready to return to the Hague the same Day We were very thankful to Almighty God as we had Reason for the favourable Assistance and Protection of his Good Providence through this Journey which was such that we were never so much as in fear of being robb'd or abus'd by Thieves in a Journey of several Hundred Miles And though we sometimes apprehended several other Dangers yet we escap'd them all without suffering any unlucky Accident Deo O. M. Conservatori sit Laus et Gloria in Secula Seculorum Amen FINIS THE TABLE A. AIX la Chappelle Conveniency and Charge of passing from Liege thither with some Account of the Country between Page 246. It s Original 251. and Description ibid c. The Manufacture of Needles there 257. Religion there ibid. An Account of the Hot Springs and the use of them 279 Altar to our Saviour's Humanity expressly 325 Anna the Mother of the Blessed Virgin an Altar to her with an Altar-Piece and Inscription observable 325 Angels the Worship of them censur'd 131. How practised in the Church of Rome 134 c. Fraternity of the Guardian Angels in order to a happy Death 135 c. Antwerp Original 10. Situation 12. Prosperity and whence 13. Commodiousness for Habitation 15. Present Extent 17. Decay and the Causes of it 19. Practices of Religion there 21 c. The Conveniency and Rate of passing from thence to Brussels by Water 122 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin how represented 49. The Story censur'd 50 c. Publication of the Festival 52. Devotions on the Day 55 B BElls the Superstitious Use and Consecration of them 293 Benediction of the Holy Sacrament how perform'd 82 and 320 Borromeus St. Charles his Story 204. Patron against the Plague 205. To be honour'd with Alms for that purpose ibid Bouillon A Dutchy belonging to the Bishop of Liege and how it came to pass 232 Brandenburg Estates of the Electour 357 Brussels Canal of Brussels 123 c. City its Original and present Extent 125. Commodiousness 126. Civil State 127. Electour's Palace 128 c. New Buildings 131. Religion there 132 c. C MOunt Calvary imitated 32 Carmelites the Brothers of our Lady 81. Their present Contest with the Jesuites ibid. Rich Chappel and Image of the Virgin at Antwerp 83. Their House at Aix an Account of the Scapulary and the Brotherhood of it belonging to them 206 c. Charlemaigne his Residence and Chappel at Aix 276