Lands and Houses in their Dominions Then they have a Tax on Seal'd Paper and a Tax for Registering Land 〈◊〉 Houses likewise a Tax on Cows Horseâ— Calves and on all sort of Fruit. There are many other Taxes I could name as a Stiver for every Man that goes out or into any City after the Hour of shutting the Gates Also you pay for going over some Bridges and passing through Gates called Tolhek a Stiver for every Person but Coaches Wagons or Horses pay more These I have already named you will say are too many yet I may not forget to tell you that Milk first pays as Milk and again if it be made Butter yea the Buttermilk and Whay pays a Tax likewise for all which a Man would think that a People that stand so much upon maintaining of their Liberty should Mutiny and refuse payment But this seldom happens and if it doth the States punish them very severely I remember that in my time there was a Mutiny at Sardam about paying a new Tax whereupon the States sent a Regiment of their Souldiers and seized the Heads of the Mutineers and hanged up five or six of them at the Towns end and severely whipt eight under the Gallows And in the rich City of Amsterdam if any refuse to pay their Tax the Magistrates send their Officer to pull off their Doors and if they remain long obstinate they send and fetch away the lower Windows of their House and they dare not put up others until they have â—â—id the Taxes However this is observable 〈◊〉 if any Man will swear he is not worth 〈◊〉 he is taxed at then he is free But there are many so proud that they will not let the World know their Condition I knew a Merchant named Ornia who paid during the War for his 200th Penny and other Taxes for his and his Wives Children having had two Rich Wives 14000 Pounds Sterling I also knew an English Anabaptist Merchant who told the English Envoy in my presence That he had paid near 4000 l. Sterling to the War and yet the same Man did Grumble to pay his Majesties Consul a pityful Fee or Consulat-Money on his Ships The reason whereof I once asked him who answered me That the King could not raise a Penny in England without his Parliament and therefore much less could he do it in the States Country Thus these Phanaticks had rather make Bricks without Straw than pay the least Tribute to their Natural Prince's Officer Should we in England be obliged to pay the Taxes that are here imposed there would be Rebellion upon Rebellion And yet after all that is here paid no Man may bake his own Bread or grind his own Corn or brew his Beer nor dare any Man keep in his House a Hand-Mill although it be but to grind Mustard or Coffee I remember one Mrs. Guyn a Coffee-Woman at Rotterdam had like to have been ruined for grinding her own Coffee had not Sir Lyonel Jenkins employed his Secretary Doctor Wyn to intreat the States on her behalf and it was reckoned a grand favour that she was only fined and not banished the City and forfeiture made of all her Goods I remember also a Landlord of mine in Leyden bought a live Pig in the Market and innocently brought it home and kill'd it for which he had like to have been ruined because he did not first send to the Excisemen to excise it and also let the Visitors see that the Pig was free from Diseases At another time a Wine-Merchant coming to give me a Visit told me that he had the rarest Rhenish in the City and that if I would send my Maid to his Cellar with six Bottles they should be fill'd Whereupon I sent the Maid only with two Bottles and charged her to hide them under her Apron but such was her misfortune that the Scouts Dienaers met her and seized her and her Bottles and carried her to Prison which cost the Wine-Merchant 1500 Gilders and had it not been for the strongest Sollicitations made by us he had been ruined So sacred are Taxes here and must so exactly be paid And were they not here so precise it were impossible for so small a Country to subsist And therefore you may hear the Inhabitants generally say that what they suffer is for their Vaderland Hence the meanest among them are content to pay what is laid on them for they say all what is the Vaderlands is ours the Men of War are theirs the sumptuous Magazins Bridges and every thing what is the Vaderlands And indeed in a sense it is so for they have this to comfort them that if it please God to visit them with Poverty they and their Children have the Publick Purse to maintain them and this is one main Reason why they so willingly pay their Taxes as they do for there 's not a Soul born in the States Dominions that wants warm Cloaths and Dyet and good Lodging if they make their case known to the Magistrates And for the Vagabonds that rove up and down the Streets they are either Walloons or other Strangers as pretend to have been ruined by the late Wars I shall now in the next place let you know how excellently the Laws are here executed against Fraud and Perjury and the Intention of Murders which Laws were once much used in England as you shall hear hereafter when I speak of the Duke of Brandenburgh's Court. I shall here instance a few particulars that happened in my time There was a Spark that made false Assignments on the Admiralty who tho' related to many of the Magistrates of Amsterdam had his Head cut off and another who was a Clerk in the Merchants Bank who made false Posts in their Books and had his Head also cut off and all the Portions he had given with his Daughters the Husbands were forced to pay back and all his Houses and Goods were sold at his Door in the open Streets I knew a French Marquis who swore his Regiment was compleat and when the States knew that he had not half his Regiment he likewise had his Head cut off in the Prison in the Hague I also knew a French Pedagogue a Runagado Monk who designed to have Murdered his Master Major Cavellio and his two Pupils young Children of the Majors and afterward to set the House a Fire to colour the Murder he had his Head cut off and set upon a Post with his Body on a Wheel near the Hague I could Name you two other Cheaters who were severely whipt under the Gallows and two under Farmers who designed to run away with the States Money The Cheat of breaking with a full Hand is not so frequent in Holland as in England where some use it as a way to slip out of Business and then to live conveniently afterward upon the Estates of other Men because in Holland they are more severely punished when discovered than in England As on the contrary those that
for the Soldiers and Officers of all Degrees For Example if a Serjeant or Corporal be Drunk or negligent on Duty they are put into Armour and with three Muskets tied under each Arm made to walk two Hours before the Court of Guard yet for all the severity of Discipline used against the Soldiers they commit many Abuses in the Night time Robbing and sometimes killing Men upon the Streets in Stockholme where they have no Lights nor Guards as in Copenhagen In former times there have been at one time 35 Colonels besides General Officers in the Swedish Army all the Subjects of the King of Great Britain but at present there are few or none unless it be the Sons of some Scotish Officers Deceased nor did I ever see an English-Man in the Kings Guards Horse or Foot but one and the Son of Sir Edward Wood who hath since quitted the Service The King hath exceedingly won the Hearts of the common People not only by exempting them from the Tyrannical jurisdiction of the Nobility and Gentry who formerly would by their own private Authority punish and put to Death the Peasants at their pleasure which makes the Countries very willing to Quarter the Kings Soldiers but by his exactness in punishing Duels Murder and Robberies Perjury is Death here also as in Holland which makes the Magistrates in some parts of this Kings Territories enjoyn strange kinds of Oaths to deter Men from being forsworn As for instance in some places the Witness is set with a Staff in his Hand upon some Peeble Stones and Charcoal where he is to imprecate and pray that if what he Sweareth be not true his Land may become as barren as those Stones and his Substance be Consumed to Ashes like the Coals he stands on which as soon as he steps down are set on Fire This manner of Swearing so terrifies the People that they commonly tremble when they come to take their Oath The Religion of the Dominions of the King of Sweden as of those of the King of Denmark and of other Princes and States whom we have named is Lutheran who are more rigid to Roman Catholicks and Calvinists than the Protestants of Germany There is no Toleration allowed here to Calvinist Ministers and they take an effectual course to keep the Country clear of Priests and Jesuits by Guelding them whether they be young or old In Commemoration of the great Losses and Desolation sustained in the late War the Suedes strictly keep four Fasting Days in the Months of April May June and July on which days all Men are prohibited by Authority to kindle Fire in their Houses or to Eat till after Evening Service is done which in the Winter time could not be endured They delight much in Singing in their Churches which they constantly perform twice every day Morning and Evening In their Marryings Christenings and Buryings they are so prodigally extravagant that if all three happen in one year to a Man of a competent Estate it is enough to break him The Clergy of Sweden are neither so Rich nor Learned as those of Germany wanting both the opportunities of Study and of conversing with Learned Men that those of other Countrys enjoy though there be some Learned Men amongst them A Bishoprick in Sweden is no great Benefice if compared with some Parsonages in England for the Arch-bishop and Metropolitan hath not above 400 l. per Annum and some of the rest are not worth above 150 or 200 l. a year The inferiour Clergy are not so regular in their Lives and Conversation in the Countries distant from Stockholme as they are near the Court and the Reason is partly because they entertain Travellers that pass the Country there being no Inns in most places for the Accommodation of Persons of any Quality and so are obliged to drink with their Guests and partly because at Buryings and Christenings where there is commonly high Drinking the Pape or Parson is Master of the Ceremonies And here give me leave to tell a short Story of one of them A Pape coming to Christen a Child in a Church and finding a Scotch Man to be Godfather was so transported either with Zeal or his Cups that when he came to exorcise the Child which is a Rite used in their Office of Administring this Sacrament he neglected the Form prescribed by the Liturgy and in an extemporary Prayer begg'd that the Devil might depart out of the Child and enter into that Scottish Heretick for so they call the Presbyterians of that Nation The Prayer of the Pape so incensed the Scot that he vowed Revenge and watched the Pape with a good Cudgel next day as he crossed the Church-yard where he beat him and left him all in Blood lying on the Ground and crying out Murder For this Fact the Scot was had before the Justice who asking him How he durst be so bold as to lay his profane Hands upon the Man of God He who knew very well what use to make of the Devil he had got Foaming at the Mouth and cunningly acting the Demoniack made answer That the Pape might thank himself for what he had met with for since he had Conjured the Devil into him he spared no Body neither Wife nor Children nor would he spare the Justice himself and with that fell a mangling and tearing the Magistrate that he was fain to 〈◊〉 take himself to his Heels crying out O! the Devil save me and so the Scot marched home no Man daring to lay hold on him for fear of being torn to pieces by the Devil But the Justice recollecting himself sent for the Pape told him That the Scot was a cunning Rogue and bid him go home get a Plaister for his Head and be silent lest if the matter came to the Bishops Ears he might be Censured for going against the Rubrick of the Liturgy The Famous University where their Clergy are bred is Upsal 8 Swedish Miles from Stockholme There are commonly 150 or 200 Students there but no Endowed Colleges as in other Countries The Library is so mean and contemptible that the Libraries of many Grammar Schools and of private Men in England or Holland are far better stored with Books than it is Upon viewing of it and that of the Kings Palace I called to mind the saying of a French Man upon the like occasion That Swedeland came behind France and England in the knowledge of Men and Things at least 800 years yet some Swedes have been so conceited of the Antiquity of their Country as to brag that Paradice was seated in Sweden that the Country was turned into such heaps of Rocks for the Rebellion of our first Parents and that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel in a Country three Swedish Miles distant from Upsall A French Man standing by and hearing this Romantick Story as I was told fitted him with the like telling him that when the World was made in six days at the end of the Creation all the
Oppressorum After having done Glorious Things at home and abroad having made a most firm Alliance with other Princes He is become the Avenger of His own Peoples Wrongs and a Defender of the Oppressed Under this there is a Pannel on which is a great Picture in which several brave Men are described Fighting against a Dragon with this Motto Uniti Fortius obstant They make the firmer Resistance being United In the Second Space Mare Transvectus liberat Britanniam late Dominantibus Ornatus Sceptris in Patriam publicâ cum Laetitiâ receptus est Crossing the Seas he delivered Britain where being Honoured with Scepters of large extended Power He is received again into his own Country with publick Joy Underneath in the small Pannel there is a Ballance and in one Scale several Crowns in the other a Sword which outweighs the Crowns with this Motto Praemia non Aequant The Rewards do not equal the Merit In the Third Space Lugente Patriâ Maerente Europâ Afflictâ Antiquissimâ Nassaviorum Stirpe Heroum Imperatorum Principum Faecundâ His Country Mourning Europe Grieving the most autient Family of Nassau which was fruitful of Heroes Emperors and Princes Lamenting And in the Pannel there is described a burning Phoenix with a young one arising out of her Ashes and this Motto Praelucet Posthuma Proles His Posthumous Issue shines the brighter This is designed for William the Second who died without Issue leaving the Princess Royal with Child of His Majesty In the Fourth Space Gulielmum Posthumum Britannorum Arausionensium Tertium Patriae Spem Reipublicae Palladium William the Posthumous the Third of Britain and Orange His Countries Hope the Palladium of the Common-wealth His Birth is described upon the Picture and three Crowns with a Scepter upon the Pannel with this Motto Tenues ornant Diademate Cunae His tender Cradle adorns the Diadem On that side towards the inner Court there are on the Fronts four other Spaces In the First Space there is this Inscription Fatum Europae favens de Caelo dedit futuram portendens Majestatem admodum Puerum exemplar constituit A favourable Fate to Europe gave him from Heaven and portending future Majesty set Him for a pattern when he was yet very Young Underneath His Education is described with a young Eagle Soaring against the Sun Beams upon the Pannel with this Motto Tener adversis enititur alis Though Young he bears up against it with His Wings In the Second Space Qui Juventute Strenué Transactâ Funestis jactatâ bellis ac dissidiis in tanto rerum discrimine Who spent his Youth bravely whilst it was tossed about by Bloody Wars and Discords the publick being in such dangerous Circumstances Upon the Pannel there is a Castle standing upon a Hill with a Pike by it and two Lawrels springing out of it with this Motto Contorta Triumphos portendit VVhen wreathed together it portends Triumphs In the Third Space Nutantis Belgii quâ Mari quâ Terrâ admotus in Pristinum Decus Gubernaculi Gloriam Aras Focos asseruit He being Restored to His Antient Dignity and Government Defended the Religion and Properties of the tottering Low Countries both by Sea Land On the Pannel there is a Ship row'd by Men in Armour with this Motto Alter erit Typhis There shall be another Typhis In the Fourth Space Meritis Famam Superantibus Tropaeis Principi Atavis Regibus Editae Felicibus junctus Hymenaeis His deserved Trophies out doing even Fame He was happily joyned in Wedlock to a Princess descended from an Antient Race of Kings The Picture represents Their Majesties Marriage and there are also in the Pannel an Unicorn and a Lyon moving together and the Unicorn Goaring of Serpents and Vipers with this Motto Virusque Fugant Viresque Repellunt They both drive away the Poison and repel the Strength At the top upon the Pedestal of the Kings Statue before there are these Words Populi Salus The Peoples Happiness And behind Procerum Decus The Honour of the Nobility Upon the great Cupola there are four distinct Histories Painted in four Pannels The First has this Motto Refert Saturnia Regna He brings back the Saturnian Reign The Second this Novos Orbes nova Sceptra paramus We prepare new Worlds and new Scepters The Third this Superare parcere vestrum est It is your part to Conquer and to Spare The Fourth this Caetera Transibunt Other Things shall pass away Over the small Arch on both sides the Arms of England were placed with their Supporters Over the great Arch the Arms of Holland were placed with two flying Images of Fame blowing of Trumpets A Description of the Fire-works with their Representations IN the Canal behind the Court upon a large Scaffold there were very fine Fireworks prepared which were Lighted the Evening after His Majesty entred the Hague In the middle was the Kings Cypher with a Crown over it On the sides stood two high Pyramids a Lyon a Hercules and a Sun On each Corner of the Scaffold there were four Cases of Rockets four of which were much larger then the rest which represented the four Kingdoms of England Scotland France and Ireland with the Arms of those Kingdoms Round about there was Pallissado stuck with Rockets some Orange colour some white some blew placed alternately to the number of Three Hundered and Fifty They placed Fifteen Bulwarks round the Scaffold on which they had mounted Cannon and Mortar pieces Between which they had large Mortars made like Beehives and Pumps which were charged with several sorts of Fireworks About half an hour after Six in the Evenning the Fireworks were Lighted Just before Thirty pieces of Cannon that were planted upon the Wall of the Viver were discharged then follow'd Twenty five Mortar shot on both sides of the Scaffold and afterwards the Crown and Cypher WR which appeared like 350 Pearls shining in the Air. About the Pallissadoes they had planted several Devices Towards the States Chamber was one with these Words Triumphat semper Augustus He Triumphs always August On each side of this there was one planted One was Offensum metuunt Hostes His Enemies Dread him when he is Offended The other Carum venerantur Amici His Friends Worship Him who is so dear to them These shining very bright in the Air made a very pleasant show Over the Cipher and Crown was a Ship toss'd about as in a Storm with this Motto Ne metuas Caesarem vebis Fear not thou carriest Caesar This also was visible in the Air. When the Pyramids were Fired they gave a lowd buzzing Noise which was now and then Answered by the Mortars Then the Belgick Lyon and the Hercules play'd very wonderfully Hercules ' s Arms were Expanded firing with Eight several Pauses to denote his Labours which were 1. The Establishment of Religion and Liberty 2. The securing the Tranquillity of Europe 3. The Settlement of the Government upon a right Bottom 4. The Preservation of the Common Interests of
their Industry and Art in Trading are become so excessive Rich and Potent that they began to Insult and would needs be Arbitrators to their Neighbouring Princes and States and encroach upon their Territories and Dominions This drew upon them that fatal War before-mentioned by which they were sorely weaken'd and brought so low that except GOD by a more than ordinary Providence had protected and appeared for them they had certainly been ruinated and never able to recover themselves again however their Pride hereby was much abated And as Luxury and Lasciviousness are the sad Effects of Prosperity as well as Pride so such Vices in a Body Politick and Commonwealth as do corrupt the Radical Humours by abating the Vigour of the Vital Parts do insensibly tend to the Consumption and Decay of the whole That this Commonwealth hath much recovered its Strength may clearly appear if we consider what great Things they have effected since the little time they have enjoyed Peace They have in less than 7 Years built about 40 gallant Ships of War They have laid out vast Sums of Treasure in refortifying Narden Maestricht Breda the Grave and many other Places They have paid vast Sums of Money to their Allies for their Auxiliary Troops as also 200000 l. Sterling to the King of England to Enjoy their Peace with him And besides all this their Encrease in Riches and Power may be guessed at by the many stately Houses built within these 5 Years in Amsterdam Rotterdam and other Places to all which we may add to what excessive height the Actions of the East and West-India Company are risen and the Obligations from the States are so esteemed as to Security that they can get as much Mony as they please at 2 per Cent. Not to speak of the exceeding Encrease of their Subjects occasioned by the French King's Tyranny against the distressed Protestants in France Alsace and other parts of his Conquests neither will we speak of other Signs of the Encrease of this Commonwealth as not judging it convenient to commit them to Paper but will now proceed to shew the Method of Living and Travelling in the Dominions and Places of the States which if you do well consider you may see how happy and easy the Government of England is above that of other Nations The Briell in Holland is the usual place where the Pacquet and King's Pleasure-boats bring on such as come to see the United Provinces but of late Helvoet-Sluys is the place the Pacquet comes to as being the more convenient Port Here be sure to furnish your self well with Money From hence you take a Boat to Maesland-Sluys or Rotterdam which if you go in Company with others will only cost you 5 Stivers but if you take one for your self will cost 25 Stivers for Maeseland-Sluce and a Ducatoon to Rotterdam The fifth part of which goes to the States for a Tax they call Passagie Gelt and the other four parts are for the Boat-Men or Schippers who also out of their Gains must pay a Tax to the States so that by Computation you pay a fifth Penny to the States for your Travelling either in Boats by Water or in Wagons by Land As you pass by Maseland-Sluce you will see a very fair Fishing Village to which belong near Two hundred Herring Busses but if you go by the way of Rotterdam you Sail by two old Towns called Flardin and Schiedam Yet let me advise you before you depart from the Briell to take a serious view of it as being the City which in Queen Elizabeth's time was one of the Cautionary Towns Pawned to England The Briell had a Voice among the States but by reason Rotterdam hath got away their Trade by which having lost its former Lustre is now become a Fishing Town only Rotterdam is the Second City for Trade in Holland and by some is called Little London as having vast Traffick with England insomuch that many of the Citizens Speak good English There are in this City two considerable Churches of English and Scotch And how great a Trade they drive with the King of England's Subjects is evident for in the year 1674 at the opening of the Waters after a great Frost there departed out of Rotterdam 300. Sail of English Scotch and Irish Ships at once with an Easterly Wind And if a Reason should be demanded how it comes to pass that so many English Ships should frequently come to that Haven It is easily answered because they can ordinarily Load and Unload and make returns to England from Rotterdam before a Ship can get clear from Amsterdam and the Texel And therefore your English Merchants find it Cheaper and more Commodious for Trade that after their Goods are arrived at Rotterdam to send their Goods in Boats Landward into Amsterdam This City is Famous as being the place where great Erasmus was Born whose Statue of Brass stands erected in the Market-place And although the Buildings here are not so superb as those of Amsterdam Leyden or Haerlem yet the places worth the seeing are first the great Church where several Admirals lie stately Entombed here you see their Admiralty East-India and Stadt-Houses together with that called Het Gemeen Lands Huis From Rotterdam you may for five Stivers have a Boat to bring you to Delft but before you come thither you pass through a fair Village called Overschie where the French and English Youths are trained up in Litterature as to the Latin and Dutch Tongue Book-keeping c. From thence in the same Boat you come to Delft which is Famous for making of Porceline to that degree that it much resembles the China but only it is not Transparent In Delft is the great Magazin of Arms for the whole Province of Holland Their Churches are very large in one of which are Tombs of the Princes of Orange Admiral Tromp and General Morgans Lady and in the Cloister over against the Church you have an Inscription in a Pillar of Brass shewing after what manner William the First that Famous Prince of Orange was shot to Death by a Miscreant Jesuit with his deserved Punishment Delft hath the third Voice in the States of Holland and sends its Deputies unto the College of the States General and to all other Colleges of the Commonwealth They have also a Chamber in the East-India Company as shall be more largely spoken to when we shall come to Treat of the State of the said Company From Delft you may by Boat be brought to the Hague for two Stivers and an half which is accounted the fairest Village in the World both for pompous Buildings and the largeness thereof here the Princes of Orange hold their Residence as also the States General and the Council of State here you have the Courts of Justice Chancery and other Courts of Law Here you see that great Hall in which many Hundreds of Colours are hung up in Trophy taken from the Emperor Spaniard and other Potentates with whom
the Prisoner can free himself whereas the Custom in England encouraged by those Varlets the Pettyfoggers and Catchpoles of turning a Man into a Prison for a Crown or it may be for nothing at all if he cannot find Bail he may lie and Starve there is an abominable abuse as also that of Suborning false Witnesses which is extreamly cried out against beyond Sea And now because I am Speaking of Petty-foggers give me leave to tell you a Story I met with when I lived in Rome going with a Roman to see some Antiquities he shewed me a Chapel Dedicated to one St. Evona a Lawyer of Britain who he said came to Rome to intreat the Pope to give the Lawyers of Britain a Patron to which the Pope replied That he knew of no Saint but what was disposed of to other Professions at which Evona was very sad and earnestly beg'd of the Pope to think of one for them At last the Pope proposed to St. Evona that he should go round the Church of St. John de Latera Blindfold and after he had said so many Ave Maria's that the first Saint he laid hold of should be his Patron which the good old Lawyer willingly undertook and at the end of his Ave Maria's he stopt at St. Michael's Altar where he laid hold of the Devil under St. Michael's Feet and cry'd out This is our Saint let him be our Patron so being unblindfolded and seeing what a Patron he had chosen he went to his Lodgings so dejected that in few Months after he Died and coming to Heavens Gates knockt hard whereupon St. Peter asked Who it was that knockt so boldly he replied That he was St. Evona the Advocate Away away said St. Peter here is but one Advocate in Heaven here is no room for you Lawyers O but said St. Evona I am that honest Lawyer who never took Fees on both sides or ever pleaded in a bad Cause nor did I ever set my Neighbours together by the Ears or lived by the Sins of the People Well then said St. Peter come in This news coming down to Rome a witty Poet writ upon St. Evona's Tomb these words St. Evona un Briton Advocat non Larron Hallelujah This Story put me in mind of Ben. Johnson's going through a Chruch in Surrey seeing Poor People weeping over a Grave asked one of the Women Why they wept O said she we have lost our precious Lawyer Justice Randal he kept us all in Peace and always was so good as to keep us from going to Law the best Man that ever lived Well said Ben. Johnson I will send you an Epitaph to write upon his Tomb which was God works Wonders now and than Here lies a Lawyer an honest Men. And truly old Ben. was in the right for in my time I have observed some Gentlemen of that Profession that have not acted like St. Evona or Justice Randal I will say no more of them but wish them as great Fees and as much encouragement as the Lawyers have in Switzerland I now come to Speak something of the three Taxes I mentioned in the former part of my Remarks on Taxes of which the first ought rather to be called an useful and publick Invention like to that of the Insurance Office in London then a publick Tax seeing no Man needs contribute to it unless they please and find his profit by it but the other may be called Taxes because the Subjects are obliged to submit to them but then they are so easie that what the publick gets thereby not only lessons extraordinary Subsidies which many times occasions clamour when because of their Rarity and the urgency of Occasions they must needs be great Yet it is sufficiently Compensated by the advantage and security in the Estates which private Persons who are obliged to pay it reap thereby daily I am confident that if the King and Parliament thought fit to introduce some or all three of these Taxes into England the publick charge of Government might be defrayed with more ease and with less repining and clamour than when it must be done by new and high Impositions however our Governors are the proper Judges of that The first then is an House called the Merchants Bank which is governed by divers Commissioners Clerks and Book-keepers likewise an Essay-Master who judgeth of the Gold and Silver that at any time is brought into the Bank uncoined The security given for preservation thereof are the States and Magistrates of Amsterdam Now if you have a mind to put Money into the Bank suppose 1000 l. less or more you must go to the Clerks and ask a Folio for your Name and then pay in your Money at three or four per Cent. according as the rate of the Bank-Money is high or low or you may buy it of those called Cashiers or Brokers then get the Clerks to set down in the Folio what you bring in having done so you may draw this Sum or sell it in what parcels you please but then if you let your Money lie seven years in the Bank you receive no Interest for the same If you ask Where then is the Advantage for the Merchants I answer first you have your Money ready at all times for answering Bills of Exchange and making other Payments You are at no charge for Bags or Portage at no loss by false tale or bad Money in no danger of Thieves or unfaithful Servants or Fire and above all you have the Accounts of your Cash most punctually and justly kept without any trouble or running the risk of Goldsmith or Cashierers breaking in your Debt for such is their care that twice a Year or sometimes oftner they shut up the Bank for 14 Days and then all that have Concerns therein must bring in their Accounts to the Clerks who a few Days after having viewed the Books acquaint such as have brought in wrong Accounts with their Mistakes desiring them to return to their Books and rectifie their Error not telling them wherein the mistake lies So that I have known Merchants in my time sent back three or four times with their wrong Accounts But if they begin to grow impatient and say that they will stand to their Accounts then they pay a Mulct to the Clerks upon their convincing them of their Mistakes either by charging too much upon the Bank or forgetting or omitting what was their due I knew two Merchants who having forgot the one 750 l. and the other 220 l. in their Accounts were honestly rectified by the Clerks so that they sustained no Loss Besides this care of the Clerks in keeping and stating the Accounts the Bank is obliged for 5 l. a Year to send to every Merchant that desires it their Accounts every Morning before Exchange-time of the Moneys written of by them in in the Bank the Day before upon any Merchants Account and what Sums are written of by others upon their Accounts So that the Merchants may compare the Banks
and receives an Oath from him It is much decayed within these Hundred Years having been much Priest-ridden a Misfortune that hath undone many other great Cities The Jesuits have had so great Influence upon the Magistrates that they prevailed with them to banish all Protestants who removed to Hambourg and Amsterdam so that Cologne is become so dispeopled that the Houses daily fall to ruine for want of Inhabitants and a great deal of Corn and Wine now grows within the Walls upon Ground where Houses formerly stood I dare be bold to affirm that there is twice the Number of Inhabitants in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields as there is in Cologne and yet it contains as many Parish-Churches Monasteries and Chappels as there are days in the Year The Streets are very large and so are the Houses also in many of which one may drive a Coach or Wagon into the first Room from the Streets But the Streets are so thin of People that one may pass some of them and not meet Ten Men or Women unless it be Church-Men or Religious Sisters The most considerable Inhabitants of the City are Protestant Merchants though but few in Number and they not allowed a Church neither but at a place called Woullin a Mile without the City the rest of the Inhabitants who are Lay-men are miserably poor There are no less than 3000 Students in Cologne taught by the Jesuits gratis who have the privilege to beg in Musical Notes in the Day-time and take to themselves the liberty of borrowing Hats and Cloaks in the Night But if in the Jesuits Schools there be any Rich Burghermasters Sons who have Parts they are sure to be snapt up and adopted into the Society Formerly before the Matter was otherwise adjusted in the Dyet of Ratubonne there have been Designs of Voting Protestant Magistrates into the Government again but so soon as the Jesuits came to discover who of the Magistrates were for that they immediately preferred their Sons or Daughters and made them Canons Abbots or Canonesses and so diverted them by Interest It 's pity to see a City so famous for Traffick in former times now brought to so great a decay that were it not for the Trade of Rhenish-Wine it would be utterly forsaken and left wholly to the Church-Men The continual Alarms the Magistrates have had by Foreign Designs upon their Liberty and the Jealousies fomented among themselves as it is thought by the Agents and Favourers of France and especially the Bishop of Strasbourg have for several years kept them in continual disquiet and necessitated them to raise great Taxes which hath not a little contributed to the impoverishing of the People especially the Boars round about who tho' the Country they live in be one of the most pleasant and fertile Plains of Germany yet are so wretchedly poor that Canvas Cloaths Wooden Shoes and Straw to sleep on in the same room with their Beasts is the greatest worldly Happiness that most of them can attain unto The Elector of Cologne is Bishop of four great Bishopricks viz. Cologne Prince of Liege Munster and Heldershime To speak of all the Miracles of the three Kings of Cologne and the vast number of Saints who were removed out of England and interred there would be but tedious and perhaps incredible to the Reader as well as wide of my design I shall therefore proceed FRom Cologne I took Water on the Rhine and advanced to the City of Bon and so forward to Coblentz the Residence of the Elector of Trier Over-against this City on the other side of the Rhine stands that impregnable Fort called Herminshine built on a high rocky Hill as high again as Windsor-Castle and on the North-side of it the River Moselle falls into the Rhine over which there is a stately Stone-Bridge This Prince governs his Subjects as the other Spiritual Electors do that is both by Temporal and Spiritual Authority which in that Country is pretty absolute The chief Trade of this Country is in Wine Corn Wood and Iron THE next Country I came to was that of the Elector of Mayence or Mentz who is likewise both a Secular and Ecclesiastical Prince and governs his Subjects accordingly He is reckoned to be wholly for the Interests of the French King who notwithstanding of that pretends a Title to the Cittadel of Mayence As I was upon my Journey to Mayence by Land I made a turn down the Rhine to visit the famous little City of Backrack and some Towns belonging to the Landtgrave of Hesse but especially Backrack because Travellers say it much resembles Jerusalem in its Situation and manner of Buildings The Burghermaster of this City told me that the whole Country about Backrack does not yield above 200 Fouders of Wine a year and yet the Merchants of Dort by an Art of Multiplication which they have used some years furnish England with several thousand of Fouders Here I shall take the Liberty to relate a strange Story which I found recorded in this Country tho' I know it to be mentioned in History There was a certain cruel and inhuman Bishop of Mayence who in a year of great scarcity and Famine when a great number of poor People came to his Gates begging for Bread caused the poor Wretches Men Women and Children to be put into a Barn under pretext of relieving their Necessities but so soon as they were got in caused the Barn Doors to be shut Fire set to it and so burnt them all alive And whil'st the poor Wretches cried and shrieked out for Horror and Pain the barbarous Miscreant said to those that were about him Hark how the Rats and Mice do cry But the just Judgment of GOD suffered not the Fact to pass unpunished for not long after the cruel Bishop was so haunted with Rats and Mice that all the Guards he kept about him could not secure him from them neither at Table nor in Bed at length he resolved to flee for Safety into a Tower that stood in the middle of the Rhine but the Rats pursued him got into his Chamber and devoured him alive so that the Justice of the Almighty made him a Prey to Vermin who had inhumanly reckoned his Fellow-Christians to be such The Tower which I saw to this day is call'd the Rats-Tower and the Story is upon Record in the City of Mayence On my Journey from thence I came to the little Village of Hockom not far distant famous for our Hockomore-Wine of which though the place does not produce above 150 Fouders a year yet the ingenious Hollanders of Dort make some thousand Fouders of it go off in England and the Indies FRom Hockom I proceeded to Francfort a pleasant City upon the River of Maine called formerly Teutoburgum and Helenopâ—lis and since Francfort because here the Franconians who came out of the Province of Franconia foarded over when they went upon their Expedition into Gallia which they conquered and named it France
Kings of Sweden have no Tombs and Monuments as in England and other Countries but are put into Copper Coffins with Inscriptions on them and placed one by another in Vaults adjoyning to the Gray-Friers Church These Vaults are about eight in Number having Turrets over them with Veins of Copper gilt carved into the Cyphers of the several Kings who give them their Names by being the first that are interred in them The Vault of the late King is not yet finished no more than the Fabricks above-mentioned which perhaps may be imputed to the late Troubles of Swedeland The Number of the Inhabitants of Stockholm are also much decreased within these few Years partly by reason of the removal of the Court of Admiralty and the Kings Ships from that City to Charles-Crown a new Haven lately made about 200 English Miles from thence which hath drawn many Families belonging to the Fleet and Admiralty from Stockholm to live there And partly because many of the Nobility Gentry and those that depended on them are as I said before withdrawn from Stockholm to a retired Life in the Country Nevertheless the ordinary sort of Burghers who still remain are extreamly poor seeing the Women are fain to work like Horses drawing Carts and as Labourers in England serving Masons and Bricklayers with Stone Bricks and Mortar and unloading Vessels that bring those Materials some of the poor Creatures in the Summer-time toiling in their Smocks without either Shooes or Stockings They perform also the part of Watermen and for a small matter will Row Passengers 40 Miles or more if they please The Court here is very thin and silent the King living frugally and seldom Dining in publick He Eats commonly with the two Queens his Mother and Consort who is a Virtuous Princess Sister to the King of Denmark She is the Mother of five Children three Sons and two Daughters with whom she spends most of her time in Retirement The King is a goodly Prince whom God hath Blessed and Endowed with Accomplishments far beyond what might have been expected from his Education wherein he was extreamly abused being Taught little more than his Mother Tongue He is Gracious Just and Valiant constant at his Devotion and utterly averse from all kind of Debauchery and the unfashionable Vanities of other Courts in Plays and Dancing His sports are Hunting and Exercising of his Guards and he rarely appears publickly or gives Audience to Strangers which is imputed to his Sense of the neglect of his Education He is a Prince that hath had a very hard beginning in the World which hath many times proved fortunate to great Men and indeed if we consider all the circumstances of his early Misfortunes how he was slighted and neglected by his Nobles who would hardly vouchsafe to pay him a visit when he was among them in the Country or to do him Homage for the Lands they held of the Crown and how by the pernicious Counsels of the French and the weakness or treachery of his Governors he was misled into a War that almost cost him his Crown having lost the best of his Territories in Germany and Schonen and most of his Forces both by Sea and Land If I say these things be considered it will probably appear that hardly any Prince before him hath in a shorter time or more fully setled the Authority and Prerogative of the Crown than he hath done in Sweden for which he stands no ways obliged to France as he was for the Restauration of what he lost during the War He is now as absolute as the French King and makes Edicts which have the Force of Laws without the concurrence of the Estates of the Kingdom He hath erected two Judicatures the one called the College of Reduction and the other of Inspections the first of which hath put his Majesty in Possession again of all Lands alienated from the Crown and the other called to account all Persons even the Heirs and Executors of those who had cheated the Crown and made them refund what they or their Predecessors had appropriated to their own use of the publick Revenue These two necessary Constitutions as they have reduced many great Families to a pinch who formerly lived splendidly upon the Crown Lands and Revenues and obliged them to live at home upon their ancient and private Patrimony in the Country which is one great cause that the Court of Sweden is at present so unfrequented so have they enabled his Majesty without burdening of his Subjects to support the Charges of the Government and to maintain 64000 Men in pay The Truth is his other Revenues are but small what arises from the Copper and Iron Mines one Silver Mine the Pitch and Tar the Customs and Excise amounts to no extraordinary Sum of Money and the Land Tax in so barren a Country scarcely deserving to be named The Customes and Excise I confess are very high and the rigorous manner of exacting them pernicious to Trade As for instance If a Ship come to Stockholme from London with a hundred several sorts of Goods and those Goods assigned to fifty several Men more or less if any of those fifty do not pay the Custom of what belongs to him though it be for a Barrel of Beer the Ship shall not be unladen nor no Man have his Goods out though he hath fully pay'd the Customs for them till this last Man hath pay'd his There are several other silly Customs in Swedeland that discourages Men from Trading there as if any Stranger Die there a third of his Estate must go to the City or Town where he Traded No Foreign Merchant in Stockholme can Travel into any Country where there is a Fair without a Passport And at present seeing there is no Treaty of Trade betwixt England and Sweden though the English bring as considerable a Trade to that Kingdom as any other Country whatsoever yet they are very unkindly used by the Officers of the Custom-House whereas the Dutch in Lubeck and other Cities have new and greater Privileges allowed them Nor would I Counsel an English-man to go to Law with a Swedish Burgher in Sweden especially if he be a Whiggish Scot who hath got his Freedom in Stockholme for those are a kind of Scrapers whom I have observed to be more inveterate against the English than the Native Swedes Of all the Swedish Army of 64000 Men the King keeps but 12 Companies of 200 Men a-peice with some few Horse Guards in Stockholme who are not upon Duty as Sentinels at the Court Gates as at the Courts of other Princes The rest are dispersed into Quarters and Garisons upon the Frontiers which are so far distant in that large compass of Land which his Territories take up that it would require a hard and tedious work to bring them together to a general Muster They are however kept under very strict Discipline and those that lie near often viewed by the King They have odd sort of Punishments
Rubbish that remained was thrown together into a Corner which made up Sweden and Norway And indeed the French seem to have no great liking to the Country whatever kindness they may have for the People for a French Ambassador as an Author of that Country relates being by order of Queen Christina Treated in a Country House four Swedish Miles from Stockholme and upon the rode going and coming with all the Varieties and Pleasures that the Country could afford on purpose to make him have a good Opinion of the same made answer to the Queen who asked him upon his return What he thought of Sweden That were he Master of the whole Country he would presently Sell it and Buy a Farm in France or England which under Favour I think was a little Tart and Sawcy Having stayed a considerable time in Swedeland and most part at Stockholme I set out from thence to go to Elsenbourg by Land and went a little out of my way to see a small City called Eubrone Famous for a Coat of Arms which it got in this manner A certain Masculine Queen of Denmark who had Conquered a great part of Sweden coming to this City asked the Magistrates What was the Arms of their City Who having her that they had none she plucked up her Coats and squatting upon the Snow bid them take the mark she left there for their Arms its pity she did not give them a suitable Motto to it also What that Figure is called in Blazonery I know not but to this Day the City uses it in their Arms and for marking their Commodities This Queen came purposely into Sweden to pay a visit to a brave Woman that opposed a King of Swedeland who in a time of Famine would have put to Death all the Men and Women in his Country above 60 years of Age. The Country all the way I travelled in Swedeland is much of the same quality of the Land about Stockholme until I came near the Province of Schonen which is called the Store-house and Kitchin of Sweden where the Country is far better It was formerly very dangerous to Travel in this Province of Schonen because of the Snaphances who were a kind of Bloody Robbers now utterly destroyed by the King so that it is safe enough Travelling there Entering into Schonen I saw 29 of these Rogues upon Wheels and elsewhere in the Country ten and twenty at several places The King used great severity in destroying of them some he caused to be broken upon the Wheel others Spitted in at the Fundament and out at the Shoulders many had the Flesh pinched off of their Breasts and so were fastened to Stakes till they Died and others again had their Noses and both Hands cut off and being seared with a hot Iron were let go to acquaint their Comrades how they had been served The King is very severe against Highway-Men and Duellers In above a 100 Miles Travelling we found not a House where there was either French Wine or Brandy which made me tell a Swede of our Company who was Travelling to Denmark that I would undertake to shew any Man 500 Houses wherein a Traveller might have Wine and other good Accommodation in the space of an Hundred Miles upon any rode from London There are several small Towns and fertile Land in this Country of Schonen lying upon the Sâ—undt at the narrowest part whereof lies Elsenbourg burnt down by the Danes in the last War Here I crost over to Elsenore the passage being but a League broad The King of Denmark has a Castle at Elsenore which commands the narrow passage of the Soundt where all Ships that enter into or come out of the Baltick Sea must pay Toll Having visited this Castle and staid about a Fortnight with the English Consul and Sir John Paul late Resident at the Court of Swedeland I went to the Danish Court at Copenhagen COpenhagen is the Capital City of Zecland Jutland or Denmark and place of Residence of the King It stands on a Flat encompassed with a pleasant and delightful Country much resembling England The Streets of the City are kept very neat and clean with Lights in the Night time for the convenience and safety of those who are then abroad a Custom not as yet introduced into Stockholme where it is dangerous to be abroad when it is dark The Kings Men of War lie hear very conveniently being orderly ranged betwixt Booms after the manner of Amsterdam and near the Admiralty House which is a large pile of Building well furnished with Stores and Magazins secured by a Cittadel that not only commands the City but also the Haven and entry into it The Court of Denmark is splendid and makes a far greater figure in the World than that of Sweden though not many years ago in the time of Carolus Gustavus the Father of the present King of Swedeland it was almost reduced to its last when the Walls of Copenhagen saved that Crown and Kingdom That Siege was Famous carried on with great vigour by the Swede and as bravely maintained by the Danes The Monuments whereof are to be seen in the Cannon Bullets gilt that still remain in the Walls of some Houses and in the Steeple of the great Church of the Town The Royal Palace in Copenhagen is but small and a very ancient Building but his Majesties House Fredenburg is a stately Fabrick of Modern Architecture and very richly Furnished Denmark is at present a flourishing Kingdom and the King who hath now made it Hereditary surpasses most of his Predecessors in Power and Wealth He hath much enlarged his Dominions as well as Authority and by his Personal and Royal Virtues no less than the eminent qualities of a great many able Ministers of State he hath gained the Universal Love of his Subjects and the esteem of all Foreign Princes and States The Court is much frequented every day but especially on Sundays where about Eleven of the Clock in the Morning the Nobility Foreign Ministers and Officers of the Army assemble and make a glorious Appearance There one may see many Knights of the Order of the Elephant of Malto but I never saw any Order of the like Nature as that of Sweden that King rarely appearing in his George and Garter but on days of publick Audience I have observed at one time above 150 Coaches attending at the Court of Denmark which are ten times more than ever I saw together at that of Sweden The King is affable and of easie access to Strangers seen often abroad by his Subjects in his Gardens and Stables which are very large and well furnished with all sorts of Horses He is a great lover of English Horses and Dogs and delights much in Hunting as his Eldest Son the Prince with his Brothers do in Cock-â—ighting insomuch much that the English Merchants cannot make a more acceptable present to those Princes than of English Game-Cocks The standing Forces of Denmark are
the Bastions and the space of Ground between the Wall and the Houses and all the Ground unbuilt from the Utricks-Port to the Wesoper-Port Muyer-Port and 〈◊〉 the Seaside and you will find it to be near 〈◊〉 Morgans of Land There are two Parishes in the Suburbs of London viz. Stepney and St. Martins in the Fields the latter being so big that the Parliament divided it into four Parishes either of them have more Houses than Rotterdam or Haerlem and there are several other great Parishes as St. Margarets Westminster St. Giles in the Fields St. Olaves and St. Mary Saviours the which if they stood apart in the Country would make great Cities we reckon in London and the Suburbs thereof to be at least 130 Parishes which contains 100000 Houses now if you reckon 8 Persons to every House then there are near 800000 Souls in London but there are some that say there is a Million of Souls in it I shall now set down the Cities Alphabetically and their number of Houses as they were given to me not only from the Surveyors and City Carpenters but from the Books of the Hearth-Money and Collectors of the several Taxes in the respective Cities And first I shall begin with the 18 Cities that have Voices in the States of Holland Cities in HOLLAND Cities Houses 1. DOrt 5500 2. Haerlem 7250 3. Delft 2300 4. Leyden 13800 5. Amsterdam 25460 6. Rotterdam 8400 7. Gouda 3540 8. Gorcom 2460 9. Schiedam 1550 10. Briell 1250 11. Schonehoven 2200 12. Alckmaar 1540 13. Horn 3400 14. Enckhuysen 5200 15. Edam 2000 16. Monekendam 1500 17. Medenblick 850 18. Purmerent 709 Total 88909 Cities in GERMANY and in the Seventeen Provinces Cities Houses 1. ANtwerp 18550 2. Aix la Chapelle 2250 3. Arford 8440 4. Berlin 5200 5. Bon 410 6. Brisack 1200 7. Breme 9200 8. Breda 3420 9. Bolduke 6240 10. Bergen op Zome 2120 11. Brussels 19200 12. Cologne 12000 13. Cleave 640 14. Coblentz 420 15. Castels 1520 16. Dresden 6420 17. Disseldorpe 620 18. Dunkirk 2440 19. Emden 2400 20. Francfort 10200 21. Groningen 8400 22. Guant 18200 23. Harford 1420 24. Hanouer 1850 25. Heidelberg 7520 26. Hambourg 12500 27. Lubeck 6500 28. Lovain 8420 29. Lypsick 3242 30. Lunenburg 3100 31. Lewardin 5860 32. Mayence 2420 33. Malin 8000 34. Middelburg 6200 35. Madelburg 1120 36. Mastricht 5600 37. Munster 1240 38. Nurenburg 18240 39. Osenburg 2200 40. Osburg 8420 41. Oldenburg 620 42. Praag 18640 43. Passaw 560 44. Ratisbonne 6540 45. Strasbourg 8560 46. Spire 540 47. Stockholm 6480 48. Salsburg 12460 49. Uytrick 8240 50. Vienna 4520 51. Vean 340 52. Wormes 1200 53. Westburg 2420 Total 314460 Cities in FRANCE Cities Houses 1. AVignion 12400 2. Amiens 5200 3. Bullion 1400 4. Bomont 800 5. Burdeaux 8420 6. Callis 1324 7. Caine 2147 8. Chalons 1850 9. Diepe 1920 10. Lyons 16840 11. Montrevil 820 12. Montpeiller 5240 13. Marselles 9100 14. Nantes 4420 15. Nismes 3120 16. Orleans 10200 17. Orange 354 18. Paris 72400 19. Rochel 4200 20. Roan 11200 21. Tolouze 13200 22. Valence 458 Total 187013 Cities in ITALY Cities Houses 1. BOlonia 12400 2. Florence 8520 3. Genoua 17200 4. Luca 1650 5. Legorne 3560 6. Milan 18500 7. Naples 17840 8. Pisa 2290 9. Padua 8550 10. Rome 31200 11. Sena 1820 12. Venice 24870 13. Veterba 620 14. Valentia 1520 Total 155040 Cities in SAVOY Cities Houses 1. CHambray 852 2. Salé 320 3. Turin 8540 4. Nice 500 5. St. John de Lateran 420 6. Remes 340 7. Moloy 270 Total 11242 Cities in SWITZERLAND Cities Houses 1. BErne 4270 2. Bale 5120 3. Geneva 4540 4. Losana 2100 5. Solure 500 6. Zurick 6200 7. Morge 210 8. Vina 320 9. St. Morrice 300 Total 23560 Cities in DENMARK Cities Houses 1. COpenhagen 8220 2. Elsenore Total Cities in SWEEDLAND Cities Houses 1. NOrthoanen 600 2. Stockholme 7500 3. Upsal 8200 Total 16300 AN EXACT RELATION OF THE ENTERTAINMENT Of His Most Sacred Majesty WILLIAM III. KING of England Scotland France and Ireland Hereditary Stadtholder of the United Netherlands c. At the HAGVE Giving a particular Description of His MAJESTY's Entry there Jan. 26. 169â—-â— And of the several Triumphant Arches Pyramids Pictures c. with the Inscriptions and Devices Illustrated with Copper Plates of the whole Solemnity exactly drawn from the Original By an English Gentleman LONDON Printed in the Year M. DC XCL AN Exact Relation Of the ENTERTAINMENT of His Most Sacred Majesty WILLIAM III. At the HAGVE Kings Voyage to Holland pag 2 'T was expected that the King would have lain here this Night and so have entred the Hague by day light but on the contrary His extraordinary Desire of entring immediately upon Business would not let Him give Himself so much as one Nights ease And His Majesty after a very short Refreshment here departed for the Hague attended with five or six Coaches with six Horses In His own Coach accompanied Him the Earl of Portland and the Lord Overkirk arriving at the Hague about half an hour after five in the Evening where though he was not that Night expected there wanted not the general Acclamations of the People of all sorts who run by His Coach crying out Long Live King William Welcom Welcom c. His Majesty Rode through the Triumphant Arches Erected by the Lords of the Hague and the Honourable the Lords Committee of the Council of Holland of which we shall give an exact Description in their proper Places directly to the Court where being arrived and the Gates shut to keep out the extraordinary press of People thirty peices of Cannon which were planted upon the Vyverberg were thrice discharged Publick Thanksgivings were made in all the Churches and the Bells rung with great Joy and throughout the Town almost all the Houses were Illuminated with great numbers of Candles in their Windows whilst all the People Rich and Poor Old and Young made all Demonstrations of their inexpressible Joy for His Majesties most happy Arrival That Evening the Earl of Berka Envoy Extraordinary from the Emperor waited upon His Majesty and was a long time in private with Him and the next day several Members of the States and divers Persons of Quality came to Compliment His Majesty and Congratulate His Arrival The Ministers of the several Confederate Princes who upon the Kings arrival had sent Expresses to their respective Masters assembling themselves in Congress immediately after their breaking up the Imperial Spanish and Brandenburgh Envoys came to wait upon His Majesty as also the Council of State and the Lords of the General Accounts with all their Members to Congratulate and Complement Him The King immediately applied Himself to the Affairs of State and taking first into His Consideration the Sea Affairs gave the Command of the Dutch Fleet to the Heer Cornelius Van Tromp with the Title of Vice-Admiral of Holland who gratefully accepted the same and immediately beat up his Drums for Seamen who flocked to
the People 5. The Preservation of Unity amongst the Neighbouring Princes 6. The clearing of the Sea and the increasing of Trade 7. The Advancement of the Glory of this State 8. The concluding of a firm and lasting Peace While the Fire play'd so finely the Air was full of the crackling Noise and the Buzzes of the several sorts of Fireworks and they continued so very thick that it did in a good measure dispel the Fog which was then very thick At times they lighted Water-Balls Water-Candles Water-Bullets Water-Boats Water-Morters Rats and Dolphins in a Vessel upon the Canal which sputtering and crackling upon the Water gave an Entertainment so great that several Ingenious Men who understood these Matters owned that they had never seen any Thing like it They kindled also some Hundreds of pitch Barrels set round the Scaffold which encreased the light whereby the other Works which play'd all the while were discerned the better It lasted till about Eight and was ended with Twenty five Mortar-shot after which the Cannon were several times discharged The whole was done without any Mischance save only the loss of one Gunner who sweeping a Cannon lost both his Hands and died of his Wounds When His Majesty came to Court the Militia stood in order in the outer Court before the Triumphal Arch viz. Baron Friesem's Regiment of Foot Baron Heyde's Regiment of Horse who having discharged all together went to the Viverbergh to give way to the Train Bands in Arms. Several of the Lords of the States were in the Council Chamber to Countenance this publick Joy The Count de Berka and the Heer Colomma the Imperial and Spanish Ministers testified their Satisfaction by Illuminations before their Lodgings Mijn Heer Schuylenbergh did the same at his own House upon the Viverbergh with Noble Illuminations beautified with several Devices As Regi Gulielmo Reduci To King William returned again Transitque feritque He passes by and strikes Imperat Augustus Augustus Governs Superat Coelestibus alis He mounts with Heavenly Wings Generosus ab Ortu Noble from his Birth These were to be seen some time after Others also gave other instances of their Satisfaction every Man after his own Fancy This was also graced with so vast a resort of People as had never before been seen at the Hague Some coming to see the Solemnity others to see the King once more returned again and Crowned with so much Honour The King well satisfied with all these their Demonstrations of Esteem and Reverence immediately applied himself to Business having first given Audiences of Congratulation to all the Colleges and Deputies of the Cities and to some great Lords and publick Ministers The Elector of Brandenburgh and two Princes of the House of Anspach who came two days before the publick Entry were often with the King and sometimes the Ministers of the other Allies joyned with them It was said That three Ruffians were sent from the French Court to cut off the King and that there were particular Informations given in of their Persons February the 7th in the Afternoon the King went into the Assembly of the States General and took his place as Stadtholder and Captain General and made an Oration to them to this purpose That when His Majesty was last in Council he acquainted their High and Mightynesses with His Intention to go over into England with the Assistance which they were pleased to give Him to deliver that Nation from their Impending Dangers and which in part had befallen them And that God Almighty had so far Blessed Him as that He had brought His Affairs to a Happier Issue then at first He could possibly Wish for for which Reason they offered Him the Crowns of Great Britain and Ireland which He accepted of not out of any Ambition for He was not to be Corrupted with that or Money but only to preserve Religion and Liberty in those Kingdoms and to be able to give the Allies a vigorous Assistance against the Power of France which he had given before in a more particular manner if the Affairs of Ireland had not diverted Him which being now better settled than they were before He was now come over not only to take such Measures with their High and Mighty Lordships as should be most for the advantage of the Confederates but also to perform the Duty of Captain General And that from His tenderest Years He had always a High Regard for that State and should always be ready to give greater Proofs if it were possible how ready He should be to promote their Welfare for which he would joyfully hazard His Life if it might be a means to preserve the Liberty of Europe and to encrease the Felicity of the United Provinces And finally He Recommended Himself to the good Wishes of their High and Mighty Lordships Hereupon the Lord President Thanked His Majesty in their Lordships Name for the Honour which was done unto them by his appearing once more in Person amongst them And he assured him that they were highly sensible of those Obligations which he had Conferred upon them from time to time by engaging in so great dangers so readily for their Sakes And further that they should always Thankfully Acknowledge how much He had done for them wishing Him all Happiness in all His Undertakings promising their Concurrence with His Majesty to the utmost and that they should contribute whatever they were able to advance the common Interest and His Majesties Satisfaction He afterwards made a Speech to the State of Holland and was answered much to the same purpose The Evening before the King visited the Princess of Nassaw Lady to the Hereditary Stadtholder of Friezeland as also the Princess Radzevile and the Princess of Saxe-Eysenach The next day the King Treated the Elector of Brandenburgh the Duke of Norfolk and several other Lords at the House in the Wood and returned in the Evening again to the Hague The Ninth in the Morning the Heer Prielmeyer the Envoy of the Elector of Bavaria had Audience of His Majesty he was Conducted from his Lodgings about Ten a Clock by the Master of the Ceremonies with some Coaches and Six Horses and was received at the Stair-foot by the Swiss Guards placed in Order and received by their Officer at the end of the Guard Room and thence conducted through the Anti-Chamber into the Presence where after he had paid the accoustomed Reverences he made a Harangue in French to this purpose That he was sent by the Elector his Master to Congratulate His Majesties happy Successes and that his Master had begun his Journey as soon as ever he had heard that His Majesty had begun His so that he expected him every Hour to be ready upon the spot to assure His Majesty of his Readiness to serve the common Cause and particularly to second those Glorious Undertakings which His Majesty had so happily begun And for his part he only farther begg'd That his Person might not be unacceptable
as had on the 27th the Sieur Haxhuysen from the Elector of Saxony March the 5th the Earl of Devonshire Treated the Elector of Brandenburgh the Landtgrave of Hesse the Prince Commercy and divers other Persons of Quality with great Magnificence where His Majesty was pleased to Honour his Lordship with His Presence On the 11th the Duke of Zell arrived at the Hague and the Duke of Wolfembuttel on the 14th During all this time the Congresses had been held almost every day with great Secrecy His Majesty always Honouring them with His Presence when at last the matters being fully Concerted and all Things agreed upon to the mutual Satisfaction of all the Princes this great Council broke up and the Princes returned to their respective Homes to put in execution the Designs here agreed upon the good Effects whereof we doubt not but to see this Campagne notwithstanding the unhappy accident of the loss of Mons. His Majesty having given Orders to all the Troops to be in a readiness to take the Field by the first of April was pleased on the 16th to depart for Loo being accompanied with the Duke of Zell who Rid in the same Coach with Him and lay that Night at the House of Monsieur Zullestein where he was met by the Elector of Bavaria who likewise accompanied His Majesty to Loo where they arrived the next Evening having been Complemented as they passed along with all Demonstrations of Respect and Affection by the City of Utrecht and the several Towns he pass'd through and accompanied every where with the loud Acclamations of the People who were almost overwhelm'd with Joy at the extraordinary Honour they received by the Presence of this most illustrious Monarch But His Majesty had not been long there before he received the unwelcome Tidings of the Siege of Mons an Express arriving at the Hague on the 16th in the Evening that the French Troops had suddenly invested the Town of Mons their Horse having taken Possession of all the Avenues on the 15th of March and that the Foot were marching up with all Diligence The Prince of Steeâ—huysen and the Marquis Bedmar being sent from the Governor of Flanders arrived at the Hague the 17th and after a short Conference with Prince Waldeck went Post to Loo to give His Majesty an account of the State of the Affair Who being resolved Himself to Head the Army in order to raise the Siege returned to the Hague from whence having dispatched Prince Waldeck with necessary Orders for Flanders set forward Himself the 26th for Brussels the Army in the mean time preparing with all imaginable diligence to Muster at Hall whither His Majesty went on the 6th of April intending to have marched the next day at the Head of the Army which consisted of 30000 Foot and 16000 Horse with a Train of Artillery of 71 pieces of Cannon and 14 Mortars But the Carriages not being all come up was obliged to defer His March for two or three days The French had all this time very vigourously attacked the Outworks of the Town but were as vigourously repulsed by the Besieged to the great loss of the Enemy who paid dearly for what he gained insomuch that it was not doubted but the Town would have been able to have held out till the Army came up to its Relief but the French King who was himself all the while at St. Gislain near the Camp the Dauphin Commanding in Chief according to his old Methods had found means of gaining a Party among the Burghers and Clergy in the Town who prevailing upon the rest by the terrifying Destruction the Bombs and Cannon made in their Houses and persuading them that by a timely Surrender of the Town they might obtain Honourable Conditions made them basely desert the publick Good and altogether unexpectedly even to the French themselves on the 8th of April beat a Parley and sent out three Officers as Hostages for three French Offices who immediately entred the Town to Treat upon Articles of Surrender the Governor the Prince de Bergue oppos'd the Surrender and refus'd to deliver the Gate to the French as the Burghers had agreed endeavouring to disswade them from this their Resolution alledging he could still hold out till the Relief came but all would not do the Burghers wre resolved and they being stronger than the Garison who were all employed in the Outworks the Honourable Governor was forced to submit and about Midnight the Capitulation was Signed on both sides and the next day April the 9th a Gate of the Town was deliver'd up to the French Guards and on the 10th the Garison marched out being about 4000 Foot and 400 Horse with Arms Baggage Drums beating Colours flying six pieces of Cannon two Mortars c. and were conducted to Tubiese a few Miles from Mons towards Brussels The King having received this surprizing News just as he was ready to march to their Relief was forced to alter his Measures and understanding that the French King had seperated his Troops and dispos'd 'em into Garisons and that he with the Dauphin c. were return'd to Versailles broke up the Camp and having sent Reinforcements to Charleroy Aeth Namur and the other Frontier Garisons went to Brussels and from thence to the Hague where he was pleased to Honour the Duke of Zell who was likewise return'd thither from the Camp with the Noble Order of the Garter who was invested with the Garter and George by the King Himself assisted by the Dukes of Norfolk and Ormond and the Earl of Devonshire This was perform'd privately in the Kings Bed-Chamber the 18th of April And the next day Garter King at Arms presented to his Highness the rest of the Ensigns with the whole Habit and Ornaments of the Order which his Highness having Received was pleased to make a very Noble Present to the King at Arms and to all the Retinue he had brought with him upon this Occasion April the 22d His Majesty having taken leave of the States General and been Complimented by them with all the Expressions of sincere Affection took Shiping in the Maese in order to his Return for England and the Wind being fair the next Morning made the English Shore and that Evening viz. April the 13th 1691. O. S. about Eight of the Clock landed at Whitehall having been Saluted by the Fleet as he passed along with all their Guns and the repeated Huzza's of the Seamen who Demonstrated the most extraordinary Joy imaginable and by the Guns of the Forts of Tilbury Gravesend and the Tower also by the Ships that lay in the River and the Joyful Acclamations of the People who crowded in great Numbers upon the Shore and in Boats to see His Majesty and express their Joy upon his happy Return continually Repeating God Save King William and Queen Mary and Prosper their Arms by Sea and Land Thus have we finished our short Journal of His Majesties Voyage into Holland wherein we have been as particular as was convenient and as brief as possible we have all along carefully avoided all manner of Reflections and Animadversions of our own and given only a true Relation of the matter of Fact as it occur'd wherein if we have the good Fortune to please the Reader we have our End FINIS * A Fouder contains 4 Hogsheads
the Princess Elizabeth eldest Sister of the late Elector Palatine and Prince Rupert Notwithstanding the late 〈◊〉 with Sweden and that by the prevalency 〈◊〉 France in that hasty Treaty of Peace coâ—â—â—â—ded at Nimâ—guen his late Electoral 〈…〉 was obliged to give back what he had 〈…〉 taken from that Crown yet his 〈…〉 flourished in Wealth and Trade his 〈…〉 having encouraged Manufactures of 〈…〉 by inviting Artizans into his Dominâ—â—◠〈◊〉 established a Company of Trading 〈…〉 to the West-Indies which will 〈◊〉 advance Navigation amongst his Subâ—â—â—â—â— And in all humane probability they are 〈◊〉 to continue in a happy condition seeing by the Alliances his Highness hath made with the Protestant Princes of the Empire and especially the House of Lunenbourg they are in no danger of being disturbed by their Neighbours I told you before that the Elector of Brandenbourg was Married to the Daughter of the Duke of Hanouer so that as long as that Alliance holds the Families of Brandenbourg and Lunenbourg will be in a condition to cast the Balance of the Empire they both together being able to bring into the Field 80000 as good Men as any are in Europe WHen I parted from Berlin I made a turn back to Lunenbourg in my way to Swedeland where I found several of my Countrymen Officers in the Garison who shewed me what was most remarkable in the City as the Saltworks which bring in considerable Sums of Money to the Duke of Lunenbourg the Stadthouse and Churches in one of which I saw a Communion-Table of pure Ducat-Gold From thence I went into the Province of Holstein and at a small Sea-port called Termond of which I spake before I embarked for Sweden HE that hath read in the Histories of this last Age the great Exploits of Gustavus Adolphus and his Swedes perhaps may have a fancy that it must be an excellent Country which hath bred such Warriors but if he approach it he will soon find himself undeceived Entering into Swedeland at a place called Landsort we sail'd forward amongst high Rocks having no other prospect from Land but Mountains till we came to Dollers which is about four Swedish that is twenty four English Miles from Stockholm the Capital City of the Kingdom Upon my coming ashore I confess I was a little surprized to see the Poverty of the People and the little Wooden Houses they lived in not unlike Soldiers Huts in a Leaguer but much more when I discovered little else in the Country but Mountainous Rocks and standing Lakes of Water The Reader will excuse me I hope if I remark not all that I may have taken notice of in this Country seeing by what I have already written he may perceive that my Design is rather to observe the Manner of the Inhabitants living than to give a full Description of every thing that may be seen in the Country they live in However I shall say somewhat of that too having premised once for all that the ordinary People are wretchedly poor yet not so much occasioned by the Publick Taxes as the Barronness of their Country and the Oppression of the Nobles their Landlordâ— and immediate Superiours who till the preâ—â—â—t King put a stop to their Violences tyâ—â—â—nically domineered over the Lives and 〈◊〉 of the poor Peasants 〈◊〉 Dâ—llers I took Waggon to Stockholm 〈…〉 Horses three times by the way 〈…〉 of the badness of the Rode on all 〈…〉 with Rocks that hardly 〈…〉 as here and there to leave a 〈…〉 Ground At two Miles distance upon that Road the City of Stockholm looks great because of the King's Palace the Houses of Noblemen and some Churches which are seated upon Rocks And indeed the whole City and Suburbs stand upon Rocks unless it be some few Houses built upon Ground gained from the Rivers that run through the Town Stockholm has its Name from a Stock or Log of Wood which three Brothers threw into the Water five Miles above the City making a Vow that where-ever that Stock should stop they would build a Castle to dwell in The Stock stopt at the Holm or Rock where the Palace of the King now stands And the Brothers to be as good as their word there built their Castle which invited others to do the like so that in process of time the other Rocks or Holms were covered with Buildings which at length became the Capital City of the Kingdom It is now embelished with a great many stately Houses and much improved from what it was 400 Years ago as indeed most Cities are for the Stadthouse then built is so contemptible and low that in Holland or England it would not be suffered to stand to disgrace the Nation The Council-Chamber where the Burghmasters and Raedt sit is two Rooms cast into one not above nine Foot high and the two Rooms where the Sheriffs and the Erve College which is a Judicature like to the Doctors Commons in England sit are not above eight Foot and a half high The King's Palace is a large Square of Stone-building in some places very high but an old and irregular Fabrick without a sufficient quantity of Ground about it for Gardens and Walks It was anciently surrounded with Water but some Years since part of it was filled up to make a Way from the Castle-Gate down into the old Town In this Palace there are large Rooms but the Lodgings of the King Queen and Royal Family are three Pair of Stairs high the Rooms in the first and second Stories being destin'd for the Senate-Chamber and other Courts of Judicature The King's Library is four Pair of Stairs high being a Room about forty six Foot square with a Closet adjoyning to it not half the Dimensions When I considered the Apartments and Furniture of this Court I began to think that the French Author wrote Truth who in his Remarks upon Swedeland says That when Queen Christina resigned the Crown to Carolus Gustavus the Father of this present King she disposed of the best of the Furniture of the Court and gave away a large share of the Crown-Lands to her Favorites in so much that the King considering the poor Condition she had left the Kingdom in and seeing the Court so meanly furnished said That had he known before he accepted the Crown what then he did he would have taken other Measures There are many other stately Palaces in Stockholm belonging to the Nobility but many of them for want of Repairs and not being inhabited run to ruine several of the Nobles who lived in them formerly having lost the Estates that maintained their ancient Splendor as we shall see hereafter being retired unto a Country Life There are also some other Magnificent Structures begun but not finished as that stately Building intended for a Parliament-House for the Nobles and two or three Churches But what I most wonder at is the Vault wherein the late King lies buried is not as yet covered but with Boards for it is to be observed that the