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A34296
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The Congress at The Hague
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C. W.
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1691
(1691)
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Wing C5843; ESTC R1457
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28,593
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80
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the Horse Monfieur Zuilestein Master of the Wardrobe The Earl of Silkirke My Lord John Hamilton My Lord Dumlanerigh My Lord Angus Sir Staires c. Some of them are Persons of an extraordinary Presence and some especially being distinguish'd by the Garter they were as much reverenced by all Foreigners when they past through the Anti-chambers as the greatest Princes and Electors were by the English The Right Reverend Father in God Henry Lord Bishop of London was one of those that was most taken notice of His Great and Noble Extraction his Piety his obliging Behaviour towards all Persons and especially his untainted Zeal for their Majesties Interest and Person have rendered his Name dear to all that have the happiness to be Protestants Foreigners as well as English And they that have seen him in His Majesties Antichamber in his Velvet Gown as they could not feed enough their Eyes on so Reverend an Object so they all agreed that he was the truest and liveliest Representative of that great Church that has so vast a Reputation amongst and that is certainly one of the best ordered of all Protestant Churches in the World In his Habit they discovered that Ceremonious Decency that is so successfully observed and in the mild and benign Lineaments of his Face they read in Legible Characters that saving and peaceable Doctrine that according to the Rules of the Gospel is so much preacht up by the Church of England In fine they all concluded him to be one of the greatest and most deserving Sons of so blessed a Mother As to Matters of Ceremony that were observ'd amongst the German Princes and the English Noblemen there was no body put to the trouble to remove Difficulties They freely paid and received they received and paid their Visits with a mutual satisfaction and these Two generous Nations striving to overcome each other in Civility made a grateful Confusion of their different Characters The Right Honourable the Earl of Devonshire gave very frequent Visits to the Elector of Bavaria and his Electoral Highness did pay him every one of them It seems that as there is amongst some Nations in Europe the French and the Spaniards the Poles and the Moscovites the Swedes and the Danes either a Natural or Establisht Antipathy so there are no Nations in the World that sympathize more than the Germans and the English do The same Freedom of Humour the same Largeness of Soul the same Courage the same Complexion the same Vertues and I beg leave to say the same Vices too as they naturally incline and prompt them to a mutual Love and Friendship so those that are versed in History and know that the one did descend from the other seeing them together will hardly distinguish the Copy from the Original I conclude this Paper with the Pleasures and Diversions of the Hague There were every Day Two Plays acted in Two different Play-houses one of Dutch and the other of French Comedians The latter are in his Highness the Duke of Zell's Service by whose Order they were come to the Hague to divert that Illustrious Company The Princess of Saxen-Eysenach who was come to the Hague with the Prince her Brother kept a Cercle every Night and she being certainly one of the most beautiful and accomplisht Princesses in the World all Persons of the highest Quality came frequently to pay her Homage and the time was spent in pleasant Discourses Those that had a mind to play at Cards found that Diversion every Night at the Countess of Soissons her Lodgings This Lady has been a very great Traveller she has been in Paris Madrid London Brussels the Hague and is consequently so well known that I need not write her History She is one of Cardinal Mazarin's Nieces who married her to the Count de Soissons a Prince of the Royal Blood in France by whom she had Three Children the Count de Soissons the Heir of his Father's Estate Prince Philip who enjoys great Benefices in France to the value of Two Hundred Thousand French Livres a year and the brave Prince Eugene of Savoy who has so much signaliz'd himself in the Imperial Army and who now is one of the Generals of the Duke of Savoy's Forces The Currant Money at Play were English Guinea's the German Ducats being too weak and the Spanish Pistols too crooked to dare to appear within sight of them Hunting was also one of the Pleasures of that Illustrious Assembly His Majesty gave that Diversion several times to the Princes and I remember that when they were once at Honslardike there was a Partridge shot which being taken up by the King made a sudden escape out of his Hands and was lost in the Air. There were not wanting some that took it for a very bad Omen but other less superstitious and more wise said That if it was an Omen at all it was certainly a very good one and a lively Instance of the Happiness of those that fell into His Majesty's Hands In fine the Sixth Day of March did arrive that set a period to one of the greatest Assemblies the World ever saw His Majesty accompanied by their Highnesses the Dukes of Zell and Wolfembuttel parted from the Hague that Day about Eight a Clock in the Morning in order to go to Loo and his Electoral Highness of Bavaria who was some few Days before gone to Amsterdam was to meet them on their way The King was no sooner gone but every body did prepare for departure There was every moment seen some parting Coach or other with Six Horses thundering through the Streets and the mournful Hague seemed to be threatned to be turned into a Desart It was said His Majesty did intend to stay but Four or Five Days at Loo and then strait to return into England I could easily imagine that by reason of His Majesty's great and numerous Attendance it would be very difficult for me to get a passage in the Fleet that was to conduct him over and being inform'd that the Katherine and Soudike Yacht lay at Rotterdam waiting for my Lord Dorset and my Lord Monmouth I parted from the Hague March the 7th and arrived at Rotterdam at Night March the 8th hearing that their Lordships were arrived I went to the Captain of the Soudike Yacht belonging to my Lord Monmouth desiring him to intercede with his Lordship for my passage which upon the first word was freely and generously granted My Lord being come on Board about Two a Clock in the Afternoon we fell down the River and passing by the Katherine Yacht she saluted his Lordship with all her Guns March the 9th we had the unwelcome News that the Gorcum a Dutch Man of War that was design'd for our Convoy could not be ready in less than Six or Seven Days time We had a very clear Sky the Wind was fair and fairer perhaps than some of our Waiters wishes for whatever they were some of the Seamen of the Dutch Man of War were