Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	age_n	life_n	old_a	5,148	5	5.6715	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30463	Some letters, containing an account of what seemed most remarkable in Switzerland, Italy, some parts of Germany, &c. in the years 1685 and 1686 written by G. Burnet, D.D. to the Hoble. R.B. ; to which is added, An appendix, containing some remarks on Switzerland and Italy, writ by a person of quality, and communicated to the author ; together with a table of the contents of each letter.	Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715.	1688 (1688)	Wing B5920; ESTC R21514	187,788	260

had not forgotten their Interest so palpably in suffering the French to become Masters of the Franche Counte one would think that they would not be capable of suffering Geneva to be toucht For all that can be done in fortifying the Town can signifie no more but to put it in case to resist a surprise or scalade since if a Royal Army comes against it to besiege it in form it is certain that unless the Switzers come down with a force able to raise the siege those within will be able to make a very short resistance From Geneva I went through the Countrey of Vaud or the Valley and Lausanne its Chief Town in my way to Bern. The Town of Lausanne is situated on three Hills so that the whole Town is ascent and descent and that very steep chiefly on the side on which the Church stands which is a very noble Fabrique The South-wall of the Cross was so split by an Earthquake about 30. years ago that there was a rent made from top to bottom above a foot wide which was so closed ten years after by another Earthquake that now one only sees where the breach was This extravagant situation of the Town was occasioned by a Legend of some miracles wrought near the Church which prevailed so much on the credulity of that age that by it the Chur●h and so in consequence the Buildings near it were added to the old Town which stood on the other Hill where there was a Town made on the high-way from the Lake into Switzerland to which the chief priviledges of the T●wn particularly the judicature of life and death do still belong Between G●neva and this lies the Lake which at the one end is called the Lake of Geneva and at the other the Lake of Lausanne I need not mention the dimensions of it which are so well known only in some places the depth has never been found for it is more than 500 Fathom the Banks of the Lake are the beautifullest plots of ground that can be imagined for they look as if they hath been laid by art the sloping is so easie and so equal and the grounds are so well cultivated and peopled that a more delighting prospect cannot be seen any where the Lake is well stockt with excellent Fish but their numbers do sensibly decrease and one sort is quite lost it is not only to be ascribed to the ravenousness of the Pikes that abound in it but to another so●t of Fish that they call Moutails which were never taken in the Lake till within these six years last past they are in the Lake of Neuf-Chastel and some of the other Lakes of Switzerland and it is likely that by some conveyance under ground they may have come into Channels that fall into this Lake the Water of the Lake is all clear and fresh It is not only a great pond made by the Rhosne that runs into it but does not pass through it unmixt as some Travellers have fondly imagined because sometimes a so●t gale makes a curling of the Waters in some places which runs smooth in the places over which that soft breath of Wind does not pass the gale varying its place often But it is believed that there are also many great Fountains all over the L●ke These Springs do very probably flow from some vast cavities that are in the neighbouring Mountains which are as great Cisterns that discharge themselves in the Valleys which are covered over with Lakes And on the two sides of the Alpes both North and South there is so great a number of those little Seas that it may be easily guessed they must have vast sources that feed so constantly those huge ponds And when one considers the height of those Hills the chain of so many of them together their extent both in length and breadth if at first he thinks of the old Fables of laying one Hill upon the top o● another he will be afterwards apt to imagin according to the ingenious conjecture of one that travelled over them oftner than once that these cannot be the primary productions of the Author of Nature but are the vast ruins of the first World which at the Deluge broke here into so many inequalities One Hill not far from Geneva called Maudit or Cursed of which one third is alwayes covered with Snow is two miles of perpendicular height according to the obs●rvation of that incomparable Mathematician and Philosopher Nicolas Fatio Duilier who at 22. years of age is already one of the greatest Men of his age and seems to be bot● to carry learning some sises beyond what it has yet attained But now I will entertain you a little with the State of Bern for that Canton alone is above a third part of all Switzerland I will say nothing of its beginning nor History nor will I inlarge upon the Constitution which are all well known It has a Council of 200. that goes by that name tho it consists almost of 300. and another of 25 as Geneva The Chief Magistrates are two Advoyers who are not annual as the Sindics of Geneva but are for life and have an authority not unlike that of the Roman Con●uls each being his year by turns the Advoyer in office After them there are the four Bannerets who answer to the Tri●unes as the People in Rome then come the two Bursars or Treasurers one for the ancient German Territory the other for the French Territory or the Country of Vaud and the two last chosen of the 25. are called the Secrets for to them all secrets relating to the State are discovered and they have an authority of calling the 200. together when they think fit and of ac●using those of the Magistracy the Advoyers themselves not excepted as they see cause tho this falls out seldom There are 72. Bailiages into which the whole Canton of Bern is divided and in every one of those there is a Bailif named by the Council of 200. who must be a Citizen of Bern and one of the 200. to which Council no man can be chosen till he is married these Bailiages are imployments both of Honour and profit for the Bailif is the Governour and Iudge in that Iurisdiction since tho he has some Assessors who are chosen out of the Bailiage yet he may by his Authority carry matters which way he will against all their opinions and the Bailiff● have all the Confiscations and fines so that drinking being so common in the Countrey and that producing many quarrels the Bailif makes his advantage of all those disorders and in the 6 years of his Government according to the quality of his Bailiage he not only lives by it but will carry perhaps 20000. Crowns with him back to Bern on which he lives till he can carry another Bailiage for one is capable of being twice Bailif but tho some have been thri●e Bailifs this is very extraordinary The Exactions of the Bailifs are the only Impositions

inhabited in proportion to its extent The Rhine maketh a Crook before it and the Town is scituated on a rising ground which hath a noble effect on the Eye when one is on the Bridge for it looketh like a Theater Little Basil on the other side of the Rhine is almost a fourth part of the whole the Town is surrounded with a Wall and Ditch but it is so exposed on so many sides and hath now so dreadful a Neighbour within a quarter of a League of it the Fort of Hunningen that it hath nothing to trust to humanely speaking but its Vnion with the other Cantons The Maxims of this Canton have hindred its being better peopled than it is the Advantages of the Burgership are such that the Citizens will not share them with Strangers and by this mean● they do not admit them For I was told that during the last War that Alsatia was so often the Seat of both Armys Basil having then a Neutrality it might have been well filled if it had not been for this Maxim. And i● were a great Happiness to all the Cantons if they could have diffecent Degrees of Burgership so that the lower Degrees might be given to Strangers for their Incouragement to come and live among them and the higher Degrees which qualifie Men for the advantagious Imployments of the State might he reserved for the Ancient Fa●ilies of the Natives Basil is divided into six●een C●mpa●ies and every one of these hath four Members in the little Council so that it consisteth of six●y four But of those ●our two are chosen by the Company it self who are called the Masters and the other two are chosen by the Council out of the Company and thus as there are two sorts of C●un●ellors chosen in those different manners there are also two chief Magistrates There are two Bur●ermasters that Reign by turns and two Zunft Ma●ters that have also their turns and all is for life and ●he last are the Heads of the C●mpanies like the Romans Tribunes of the People The Fabrick of the State House is ancient there is very good paintin● in fresco upon the Walls one piece hath given much offence to the Papists ●ho they have no Reason to blame the Reformation for it since it was done several years before it in the year 1510. ●t is a Representation of the Day of Iudgement and after Sentence given the Devil is represented driving many ●efore him to Hell and among these there is a Pope and ●everal E●clesiasticks But it is believed that the C●un●il which sate so long in this place acting so vigorously ●gainst the Pope ingaged the Town into such a hatred of the P●pacy thas this might give the rise to this Repre●entation The more learned in the Town ascribe the be●inning of the Custom in Basil of the Clocks anticipating ●he time a full Hour to the sitting of the Council and ●hey say that in order to the Advancing of business and ●he shortning ●heir S●ssions they ordered their Clocks to be set forward an Hour which continueth to this day The Cathedral is a great old Gothick Building the Cham●er where the Coun●il sate is of no great reception ●nd is a very ordinary Room Erasmus's Tomb is only ● plain Ins●ription upon a great Brass Plate There are many of Holbens's Pictures here who was a native of Basil and was recommended by Erasmus to King H●nry the VIII the two best are a Corpo or Christ Dead which is certainly one of the best Pictures in the World There is another Piece of his in the Stadt-House for this is in the publick Library of about three or four foot square in which in six several Cantons the several parts of our Saviours Passion are represented with a life and beauty that cannot be enough admired it is valued at ten thousand Crowns it is on Wood but hath that Freshness of colour still on it that seems particular to Holbens's Pencil There is also a Dance that he painted on the Walls of an House where he used to drink that is so worn out that very little is now to be seen except shapes and Postures but these shew the exquisiteness of the Haud There is another longer Dance that runneth all along the side of the Convent of the Augustinians which is now the French Church which is Deaths Dance there are above threescore Figures in it at full length of Persons of all ranks from Popes Emperors and Kings down to the meanest sorts of Peopl● and of all Ages and Professions to whom Death appeareth in an insolent and surprizing posture and the several Passions that they express are so well set out that this was certainly a great design But the Fresco being exposed to the Air this was so worn out some time ago ●hat they ordered the best Painter they had to lay new Colours on it hut this is so ill done that one had rather see the dead shadows of Holbens's Pencil than this course work There is in Basil a Gun-Smith that maketh Wind-Guns and he shewed me one that as it received at once Air for ten shot so it had this peculiar to it which he pretends is his own Invention that he can Discharge all the Air that can be parcelled out in ten shot at once to give a home blow I confess those are terrible Instruments and it seems the interest of mankind to forbid them quite since they can be imployed to Assassinate Pe●sons so dextrously that neither Noise nor Fire will discover from what hand the Shot comes The Library of Basil is b● much the best in all Switzerland there is a fine collection of Medals in it and a very handsome Library of Manuscripts the Room is Noble and disposed in a very good Method Their Manuscripts are chiefly the Latin Fathers or Latin Translations of the Greek Fathers some good Bibles they have the Gospel in Greek Capitals but they are vitiously writ in many places there is an infinite number of the Writers of the darker Ages and there are Legends and Sermo●s without number All the Books that were in the several Monasteries at the time of the Refor●ation were carefully preserved and they believe that the Bishops who sate here in the Council brought with them a great many Manuscripts whi●h they never carried away Among their Manu●cripts I saw four of Huss's Letters that he writ to the Bohemians the day before his death which are very devout but excessively simple The Manuscripts of this Library are far more numerous than those of Bern which were gathered by Bongarsius and left by him to the publick Library there they are indeed very little considered there and are the worst kept that ever I saw But it is a Noble Col●ecti●n of all the ancient Latin Authors they have some few of the best of the Roman times writ in great Characters and there are many that are seven or eight hundred Years old There is in Basil one of the best collections of Medals that