only bane of their Government nor must a Foreigner stir abroad without leave c. And lastly They are so Proudly conceited of their own Prudence that they think their Politiques the most perfect and absolute in the World No question he would lend his Hand against the Turk if for no other Cause than the Vindication of the Greek Church of which he is the sole Soveraign Protector but it is not Long enough and will not reach that distant Enemy but by the wayes aforesaid The present Emperours Name is Alexei Michalowich that is the Son of Michael which is all the Sir-name they use both Prince and People His Fathers Christian Name being Michael Fedorowitz the Son of Theodore who was Patriarch of Musco This Michael the Nobles having been twice imposed on by the Polanders who brought in two counterfeit Princes named Demetrius pretended Sons of Vasilowich the last Prince but one of the Royal Blood and in their quarrel subdued Mosco and almost ruined the Empire weary of their own Confusions and the intollerable oppression of the Poles unanimously chose for their Emperour who setled the State and managed it in a more constant way of Peace with the Turk Tartar Pole and Swede than any of his Predecessors had done before him He began his Reign in 1615. and died in 1646. much lamented and adored of his Slaves as well for his foreign Acts as those at home and for his Justice and Moderation And so we pass Westward to the Kingdom of Sweden SWEDEN OR Swethland THis Kingdom is bounded on the East with Muscovy on the West with great Hills which divide it from Norway on the North with the great Frozen Ocean and on the South with Donmark Livonia and the Baltique Sea For the quantity reckoning in Lapland it exceedeth France and Italy by 900. Miles and for fertility if you count Wells Stones Mountains and Lakes it excelleth them both likewise but Gothland and Finland are excellently well stored with all Necessaries and supply their Neighbours with Malt and Barley The Religion is Lutheran introducted by Gustavus Ericus or de Vasa descended from the last King Magnus who coveted the Revenues of the Church but kept up the Episcopal Dignity who have Voices in Parliament The Swedish Gentleman is a well-accomplish'd and gallant Person a good Souldier and a good Captain understands the Politiques and speaks most Languages They are something fierce and insolent on advantage but it is in War which excuseth it The People are naturally strong and active provident patient and industrious are very humble and hospitable to Strangers and in the Northern Parts so healthy that they live commonly to the Age of 130. or 140. years and this is imputed to the purity of the Air but sometimes over-cast with Foggs by reason the Inhabitants neglect the Water-courses of their miry standing Lakes Of no great note for Arts or Armes till that Gustavus Ericus who chased out the Danes under their King Christiern the 3d. and Gustavus Adolphus whose Conquests were admirable and his Conduct not to be matched by any Parallel They are exceeding apt to learn the Mechanick Arts so that every Souldier is his own Smith Cutler Carpenter c. They are very Valiant both their Horse and Foot as they have given good proof both in Germany Poland Russia and Denmark Their Religion is wholly Lutheran Bishops they have whom they call Surintendents and who retain their Voice in Parliaments but have no setled Church Revenue being paid and maintained by the King with an inconsiderable yearly Pension The whole Kingdom is divided into two Parts the one lying on the East the other on the West side of the Gulph or Bay of Bodner or Sinus Boddicus a spacious Branch of the Baltique Sea according to which division there are 1. the Province of Gottoland 2. Of Sweden lying on the West side And 3. Lapland on the North. 4. Bodden 5. Finland And 6. the Swedish Islands so that He is a Prince of no small Territory but like the Russian he is not very Populous by reason of those cold Regions which none but Savages inhabit under a certain tribute of Furrs of which this King hath his share from the Laplanders As for the Government it is Monarchical and Absolute to the King in Actu but the Senators pretend it to be Elective although the Son hath continually succeeded his Father in the Government which was made a Sanction by the States at the instance of the same Ericus who would not accept of the Crown urged upon him without such a Law and this hath prevailed ever since but in the Case of Sigismond beaten out of Sweden by the Faction of Charles Duke of Suderman his Uncle for we have seen the Infant Son of the late Charles Gustavus advanced immediately upon his Fathers death to the Throne And when the King is once seated there he governs pro imperio for he layes what Taxes he pleaseth as 5 6 7 8 Dollars yearly upon every Housholder according to his quality And that which is chief all Appeals for final Determination are made to him not to his Parliament or Council This Kings Revenue consisteth in four things the Tenths of Ecclesiastical Livings Mines Tributes and Customes 1. The Revenues of the Church arise to a great Summ consisting before the Reformation of seven Bishopricks and sixty Monasteries which enjoyed very great Possessions now incorporated into the Crown except only some small maintenance to the Bishops as abovesaid 2. His Mines a great deal more considerable for that his tenth part of three Copper Works almost a hundred years agoe yielded him 3000. Dollars whereby estimation may be made of his Silver and Gold And those Mines may be found in every place if the Country People bound to carry wood and do other servile work there did not hide and hinder the discovery Most fine Silver is found in the Province of Vestras were it not for the envy and jealousie of the Inhabitants either murmuring that Strangers should be employed or suspecting that they should be over-reached so that his Revenue is mightily hindred by this means 3. But his Taxes do far surpass all his other Incomes for he levyeth the Tenth of Rye Wheat Barley Fish Skins Oxen c. Of the Tenth of Oxen he hath gathered at some times 18000. Dollars with all which he maintaineth his Court Officers Navy and Armies In the time of War with Dane or Muscovite his Neighbours he alloweth his Souldiers Victuals which by his Taxes he provideth at easie Rates He giveth them likewise a Coat or Cassock every year which maketh them ever fully ready to obey his Commands The Marriage of the Kings Daughters is at the disposal of the Senate who give them for their Portion besides Silver Plate and other Gifts a 100000. Dollars Of the Uplandish People which pay not the Impost of Victuals the King is accustomed to exact of every Poll acording to his ability five Dollars or more yearly 4. His
and hospitable to Strangers The People generally thrifty and diligent in their Callings and of very good converse and civility The Religion is altogether Lutheran but the Bishops have more Authority and better Maintenance here than in Sweden but I know not what they do for a Metropolitan since the Archi-Episcopal See of Londen in Schonen which was the Primacy of Denmark was assigned to the Swede In elder times this Church depended upon the Arch-Bishoprick of Bremen and then the eldest Son of the King of Denmark which was in use till the Treaty of Munster was stiled the Arch-Bishop of Bremen but that dependance was removed to London above 500. years since and whether it will be removed now is uncertain The Strength of this Kingdom is mostly Naval the Danes proving better Water than Land Souldiers and more affecting the Employment yet of modern times they have dared also by Land their Conquest of Sweden was not above 300. years agoe not to mention their old Conquests with Us in 1628. they enterprised upon the Emperour in behalf of the Liberty of Germany of which as Duke of Holstein he was a free Prince although unfortunately Nevertheless the Enemy could not but acknowledge the Gallantry of King Christiern and dealt with him accordingly Since which time they were willing to be at quiet till the opportunity of the Polish War invited this King Frederick the 3d. to revenge the injurious Violence done to his Country of Holstein by the Swedes in 1643. and 4. which was acted partly by the instigation of the Dutch who perceiving the Dane screwed up the Rate of the Toll Money in the Sound for which by an old Treaty those Netherlands were to pay but a Rose-Noble for every Ship without searching or visiting and this was paid because of the Lights Tuns and Marks at Sea kept and maintained by the King of Denmark which Payment from the time of their separation from Spain he had raised at his own pleasure searching the Ships and seizing the Goods under pretence of Contrebanda or prohibited Merchandise By a League made in 1640. with the Swede they insinuated this Grievance which also offended that Queens Subjects so that in conclusion the Dane betwixt the Swedes Land Forces and the appearance of the Dutch Fleet was forced to a new Agreement with the Hollander at a set easie rate for the Toll which afterwards in 1650. having made the like defensive League with the Dane they Farmed at 140000. Peices of 8. per annum for some term with a Proviso and Caution of not being searched for any Goods the Master only declaring what they were To return to an account of his Forces they may be thus computed First Such as the Nobility and Gentry are bound to raise for the publique service which are a considerable number And Secondly What the People furnish upon such occasions and these have formerly amounted to great Armies But the strength of the Kingdom is now exhausted and it is yet able to do little The preceding discourse leads me to consider of this Kings Revenue which chiefly consists in his Toll upon Ships aforesaid for he makes little of his own Customes Fish being his greatest Commodity and no great Port of Trade in all his Realm which hath fallen much since his late Agreement with the Dutch who have the sole Trade here almost and more by the Northern Passage to Russia found out many years since He had also a Toll of 50000. Oxen which went yearly out of North Jutland into Germany by Holstein but the Duke now receives that at his Toll-house erected at his Residence of Gottorp There are also some Crown Lands but they do not amount to any considerable Revenue The Interest of Denmark is by no means to dis-oblige the Emperour as his surest Friend against the Swede nor the Hollander unless upon insolent Encroachments against which he hath the King of England his nearest Ally to a sure Friend and Defence to watch and keep fair with the Swede his constant and natural Enemy and to that purpose to keep the Russian alwayes enjealousied of their Greatness to be at League with all the German Princes and make his Interest as strong with them as is possible to be perpetually Confaederated with the Pole Offensively and Defensively and so to cherish the French Kings Friendship as to keep him a Neuter betwixt the Swede and himself Lastly to love and respect the Crown of England above all other Friendships whatsoever With other Princes than these he hath no Concern only a civil Correspondence with Spain and Portugal in point of Trade and Commerce What he can do against the Turk or what Supply he can give the Emperour may appear by the preceding Discourse the late Wars having utterly disabled him so that besides his good will and his Prayers he can no way advantage the Christian Cause without much despoyling and injuring himself which that Occasion cannot expect and perchance will not need And it is most certain that the Turk took his Resolution of the late Invasion from the Embarassement and Difference between these two Northern Kings in which the Emperour the Pole and the Marquess of Brandenburg were so far engaged so that having suffered sufficiently and he being the only loser upon that account he may well be excused And so we pass to the Dutchy of Holstein HOLSTEIN THis Dutchy of Holstein ought to have been referred to the Survey of Germany of which this Duke is a Prince although he never comes to the Imperial Diets nor is subject to any impositions or Taxes laid upon the Empire only in case of Appeal some Causes have been carried to the Rix-Chamber at Spiers which are now discontinued because of its former dependance to the Crown of Denmark to which it was annexed some Ages since by the Election of Christopher Count of Oldenburgh Heir to Adolph last Duke hereof and hath remained as the Title and posseson of the eldest Son or the younger brothers of the said Crown we will not dis-joyn it from this entire view of both together It is seated in the Southern part of the Cimbrick Chersoness or the Peninsula made by the Baltique Sea on the German shore and is divided from the Danish Provinces of Jutland by the River Eydore It contains four Provinces viz. Heagerland in west near the Sea and the fall of two Rivers Lubeck is seated a famous Hanse Town neatly built and well traded but of more estimation in former times 2ly Stormarsh whereupon the Elbe stands Hamburgh another Hanse Town and of late more famed than Lubeck by reason of the English Staple of Cloath for its greatness of commerce 3ly Ditmarsh and 4ly Holstein properly so called The whole Peninsula is but 75 miles in length and 60 in breadth with the 2 Jutlands belonging to the King of Denmark so that this Dutchy can be reputed of little force although it consist of a great number of walled Cities and Towns and is very
of the peaceful and saving Gospel by the ineffectual operation whereof we are not only like to become a Prey but are already the scorn and reproach of Turks and Infidels Me thinks I hear that of Lucan in his elegant flattery to Nero given as true counsel and advice in the Courts of some Princes and States Librati pondera Coeli Orbe tene medio To get so high that they may govern and ballance the World and overlook the Affairs of the Universe which Elevation to so ticklish a point of Grandeur and Felicity as it hath been fancied by some is so incapable of persistency that the Fate of Phaeton hath attended their ambitious Designs and cast their Dominions into Flame and Combustion Not to deny but that a just Temperature of a formidable power and greatness ought to be nicely regarded when the vicinity of so many united Dominions and Soveraignties unequally distributed may give suspicion of Encroachment but when such Discourses are like the story of 88. antiquated and very unpracticable and the very Umbrages of those things disappear and are vanished for that the Spanish Monarchy and the House of Austria whose great accessions of Territory gave rise to those Observations on which the Policy of the last Age was founded are concluded to be consumptive and to stand meerly on the defensive part the present divisions of Europe in this unhappy Juncture cannot be palliated or covered with this fig-leaf As if the Toss of Ambition be in the other Bucket which in counterpoize of the formers aspiring glories hath strugled through a War of almost a 100. years duration but hath now interchanged Aimes and Designes by Conversion intending the self-same advantages of a Purse and Puissance the said Differences are more enviously calamitous and are so far from Colour of Excuse that they give the World to see that they do not act by the Rule of what they ought but what they may or can do and that the longest Sword hath no measure but its Scabbard to which once drawn it seldom returns Such as these may be the occult cause of our Differences not imputing it to the present War between the Muscovite and the Pole which is an Haereditary and National Quarrell about the Lands of their Dominions conterminate and confining upon one another or to some small mis-understandings in Germany not considerable but for this Juncture of both which we shall treat in its place more amply but there is a kind of Evil which hath attended every grand and happy Revolution in Christendom that is assignable as the principal and general Motion to these present Troubles Fortune was never yet so respectful and officiously kind but that her Train was very chargeable nor doth she in her greatest Indulgence but faenerate and commute her Favours The late general Peace was not given Gratis nor those Palladian Semblances of Accommodation without armed force in the womb of those concealed Designes which yet amuse Christendom and it is most true that the Pope his Holiness who in the beginning of his Papacy laid about him so much for the Reconciliation of the two Crowns was not over-pleased when he saw it was finished and yet not out of any pique with the Cardinal Mazarine who attributed to himself the glory of the Affair by timing it to his own Notes as hath been supposed but because he prudently foresaw that the over-grown power of that King would be dangerous to the Ecclesiastical State So that Peace and War are like Generation and Corruption they follow one another naturally and commonly the greater the pacification is and the more things seem to be stilled and composed the more vehement and violent the rupture for War is like an Earthquake presaged by a serene Sky and a quiet gentle Air sooner than by any other prognostick or sign whatsoever And so much less sufficient is the state of Christendom to provide against the suddenness of such a calamity for that the scale of Politiques as was hinted before is quite altered and of a different and various administration the power being circulated to another Corner and with the Wind may blow where it list while the Eastern Torrent or Inundation carries all before it Having thus glanced at these Causes which have embroyled Europe we come now to the Effects in the description and account thereof for the plain and perfect Elucidation of the premises and first we consider Europe in General where we content our selves with the survey of its Extent and Definition Of Europe in General IT is reputed one and the chief Quarters of the World though far less than any of the other three whom it as far exceedeth in Magnificence Nobleness Number of People Armes Arts Prudence and Prowess and the result of all these Fame and Renown It is bounded on the North with the North Ocean or Deucalidon Sea on the South with the Mediterranean on the East with the River Tanais and a Line drawn from thence to the Scythian or Frozen Sea which hath been unknown to our modern Geographers who supposed the Tanais to be of a longer and further derived Current than in truth it is and on the West with the Western or American Seas It containeth 28. Kingdoms reckoning those petty Royalties of Spain and the Hereditary Dominions of the Empire The Principal Provinces are Germany France Spain Belgium Italy Slavonia Greece Hungary Poland Lituania Moscovia and that large Territory towards the North called Scandia being its general name but divided into the Kingdoms of Norway Denmark and Sweden with their Provinces of Jutland Finland Lapland c. The Islands are Great Brittain containing the Kingdoms of England and Scotland Ireland and Zeland Holland Engroveland in the Northern Ocean In the Mediterranean are Sicily Candy Corsica Sardinia Majorca Minorica Nicropont Malta Corfu and many other in the Archipelago The Air is excellently good wholesom and Temperate and the Soyl Fertile which qualities appear in the Constitution and good Temper of the Natives by which they have excelled all other Nations in Courage Arts sharpness of Wit and all other Gifts of Nature to the perfection whereof it is stored with many famous and learned Universities the peculiar Dignity and Advantage of this quarter of the World In former and more antient times it commanded Asia and Africk under the Greek and Roman Empires the last obscured in the House of Austria and the other as much if not more renowned in the Ottoman Family whose present Armes are the Terrour of the Whole It is also solely famous for Navigation and the great acquisitions made thereby upon vaster Regions of the unknown World So that it may be reckoned the Mother of one of the biggest and largest quarters of the Universe to wit America Having thus briefly described the whole we come to a particular view of the distinct Regions their Site Advantages Government and present Interest and that we may take the Round the more commodiously for the purpose of this
EUROPAE Modernae SPECULUM OR A VIEW of the Empires Kingdoms Principalities Seignieuries and Common-wealths OF EUROPE IN Their present State their Government Policy different Interest and mutual Aspect one towards another from the Treaty at Munster Anno 1648. to this present year LONDON Printed for Peter Parker and are to be sold at his Shop in Popes-head-Alley next Lombard-street 1666. By Order and appointment of the Right Honourable Mr Secretary Morrice let this be Printed JOHN COOKE To the READER WHen the whole World stands amazed suspecting its own Fate and most of the Kingdoms of Europe are a Riddle to themselves When the wiser sort of Mankind discourse Events and the rest dread them When Men apprehend Things by piece-meals and discourse Business by parcells A clear compleat and impartial State of Affairs such as this representing all Europe in one entire View must needs be as Vseful in the Perusal as it was Plausible in the Vndertaking Especially since 1. It contains such Discourses as were not the Author 's Reading but his Observation of Things that happened not only since he remembred but since he observed too 2. It 's not only Lumen Siccum I mean such an Account of Things as is not steeped in either Humour or Interest 3. It 's not only a Superficial Relation of Affairs but a deep and solid Inquisition into their Grounds and Bottomes Not a short Gazet of 1665. but prudent Reflections on the State of most Kingdomes since the Peace at Munster 1648. With what Content the Politician here may observe the Interests and Pretensions of Europe With what Satisfaction the Curious may here discern the Fate of Empires With what Pleasure the Gentleman notes here the Successions Alliances and Relations of Christendom With what Gust the Novelist gains here the Ground and Reason of most Vndertakings Transactions Successes and Miscarriages With what Delight the Retired Man looks in one View on the several Aspects of each Kingdom one towards the other and expects in silence the issues of Grand Counsels and Revolutions looking wisely into the dark but pleasing Prospect of Futurity upon the Concerns of late Posterity Is not so easily expressed as experienced it being the issue of calm Reason in large Breasts that are not content to Inhabit the World only but to Understand it too To see the Grandeur and Glory of France the Decaying and Infirmities of Spain the fatal Resolutions of Holland the uncertain Fortune of the Empire the Troubles and Disorders of Poland the Settlement and Strength of England Sweden and Denmark the general Design of Europe for Free-Trade the old Claims Pretensions and Titles of States and Kingdomes the Riches Power Sea Land-Forces and Policies of each Government the Failures Over-sights Errours and Defects of most Potentates the Plots Designs and Inclinations of each Common-wealth the Situations Dependencies Respects and Confederacies of most Nations in one entire Prospect is such a Satisfaction to inquisitive and reasoning Spirits as may excuse this publication of a Posthumous work whereof the Author saw two third Parts printed especially since that next to Authors and Composers of Books their Conservators and Guardians deserve most Thanks and Commendations We think we owe a great deal to such as Photius and Stobeus and the publick-spirited Sirmondus of the late Times through the industry of whom we do enjoy many things which but for them we might have lost How comes it to pass that we have nothing unless meer Fragments and arrant Scraps of such as Berosus Citesius Megastenes Theopompus Eughorus Callisthenes and Timuus Or that we want so many Books of Diodorus Siculus Polybius Livius and Dion Cassius But because there were not in all Times Men of faithful industrious and publick Souls that looked on themselves as Citizens of the World and could not enjoy a thought of their own but what they made as we do these Discourses common to Mankind Vale. Europae Modernae Speculum OR A VIEW OF THE Empires Kingdoms Principalities Seigneuries and Common-Wealths OF Europe In their Present State WITH Their Distinct Interests Policies and Concerns THere was once but one uniform simple and genuine Reason the sure Guide and unerring Rule of all humane Counsels until the depravity of Mans Nature by its Luciferian Arrogance would needs exalt Sense above her and sought out many devices to accomplish it One of the chief Projections hereto was the deriving and slucing out that comprehensive and capacious receptacle the conservation of the publick good lodged in the depths of wisdom into manifold branches and oblique narrow windings and Maeanders of private advantages which so drained and exhausted that first Bed and copious source of all those blessings which the first Age of the World enjoyed that it is now become a meer shallow conception and like the Springs of the River Nilus more in Notion and Speculation than of any certain Existence And this hath been the labour and industry of all Persons in all ages the Populacy and the Vulgar as guilty of the Innovation as those Potentates whom they implead of a most injurious Usurpation of their right all times concurring in their suffrage against this first Law seeking nothing else in the changes and vicissitudes of so many Governments but their temporary ease and some particular Emoluments to themselves although they have vainly pretended that those their restless Agitations and irregular confused wayes to the perturbation of the publique were nothing else but natural tendencies how violent soever to that common Center the Good of the Whole That Principle of Common Good how iluded By which means it hath come to pass that the World hath put on another dress and hath been disguised in various shapes of Policies such as would best sute the Humour and Genius of People without consulting that first and perpetual Principle which in this crazy declension of all things must needs be supposed to abate and lose of its vigour And to help out this Position Men have invented an Artifice by placing such and such Nations under such such Climes Temperatures which either do so rarefact and attenuate it in some sharper and serener Aires of Europe that it is as good as lost or else condensate it in some thicker and grosser Regions that it is as difficult to be found And under these or the like Capricies are the Europeans rendred obnoxious to one another by natural Antipathies framed to keep them in mutual abhorrence as if wise Nature when she framed but one Man in the beginning out of whose Loyns all Nations should proceed had composed him to their very purpose of inconsistent and unsociable Qualities and Materials which hath been fomented also by two of the most powerful Passions Jealousie and Ambition the Effects whereof in sundry National Quarrells have almost extinguished both the Combatants But Jealousie is the uncurable Disease which hath made Christendom to languish under a tedious and wasting Consumption in spite of all cure and remedy even
to Court where the King attended by the Chancellor having again declared to them the Subject and the Cause for which he summoned them receives and hears their advice and so the Affairs are ended Nemine contradicente nemine dissentiente Otherwise the Diet is dissolved every one departs and the Proposalls so far advanced return again to their Idaeas The ordinary Matters are decided by those Judges that are established in every Province It is reported that all sorts of Persons are admitted to enter and to hear that which is proposed in the Provincial Assemblies but not in the General ones so that the meanest Pesant may divulge that which ought not to pass the Cabinet of the Prince If they treat of War the Enemy having news of it stands upon his Guard and oftentimes prevents that whfch after long debate is concluded for the Conduct of their Troops Every man knows how many men shall make the Vantguard or the Reserves what Provisions Advantages or Dis-advantages and in fine every thing relating to the menage of the War When this is considered and these Maximes of State examined with the slowness and the difficulty of concluding any thing together with the bounded power of the King and the licence and caprices and ignorance of the Subject as to a particular Person whose No spoils all And lastly those Engines which move this Empire it may be assuredly affirmed that the Policy thereof cannot be much advantagious to the Publique and that the Being thereof depends more upon the Valour than the Prudence of the Poles unless in Matters meerly Military and in Action and in the General 's Disposal And that the Allies of this Crown shall never receive any advantage or succour from it for that this way of Government was solely invented for the subsistance of poor Gentlemen who render themselves necessary and considerable by this liberty of their Vote and Suffrage Notwithstanding this Liberty of Election and Voice it was never known that the States passed by any of the Children or Descendants of these Princes in their Elections and when the direct Line of them hath failed commonly chuse no Strangers though the Tartar hath put in for this Scepter as could be instanced in the present King Casimir and his Predecessors and the former Election of Stephen Bathory Prince of Transylvania who married the Sister of Sigismond the 2d excepting Henry of France as now the Duke of Enguien Son of the Prince of Conde is like to succeed the present King who hath no Issue of his own This King is the second Son of Sigismond who valiantly repelled Sultan Osman 1622. Crowned at Cracovia in 1587. in consideration of Katherine Jagello his Mothers right who was the Daughter of Sigismond the 1st right Heir to the Crown of Sweden as Son of John eldest Brother to Charles the Sons of Gustav Ericus who chased the Danes out of Sweden in 1560. by vertue of which Primogeniture the Poles laid claim to the said Kingdom of Sweden As to the present Aspect of the Crown of Poland something hath been hinted as it is now engaged in a War with the Muscovite the ordinary and usual Employment of its Armes which have the Great Duke and sometimes the Tartar for their continual Enemy in the same nature as the Scots and We before the Union The old Quarrel is the detainer of the Dutchy and City of Smolensko and the Province of Moloch taken first from the Pole to whose Dutchy of Lithuania they were annexed by Ivan Vasilowich the great Russian Tyrant in the Reign of Sigismond Augustus and after many Changes and Vicissitudes subdued again by this present Emperour in 1654. when the Swedes threatned Poland on the other side Both Armies are now in the Field for neither of them value the weather but the Russian will hardly put it to a decision by Battel keeping himself encamped unless upon great Advantages but they are now upon Treaty The Pole is otherwise at perfect Peace with all his Neighbours having the Tartars and Cossacks very various of adhaerence to his assistance in this War and he is pretty well assured at home the Nobility having so sorely smarted for their Pride and Dissentions by the Swede and the late Army of the Confaederates notwithstanding the Grudges thereof are wholly disbanded but this course is taken to vent the Humour abroad But he doth ill requite the House of Austria who undertook his assistance in 1657. when the Emperour sent an Army of 16000. Men into Poland in denying any aid or supply or to concern himself in the Quarrel against the Turk from the constant Precedent and Policy of the former Kings who lying so obnoxious to the Tartars alwayes ready at the Beck of the Grand Seigniour might endanger their own Estates There is something to this purpose a memorable Saying of King Stephen to the Emperours Ambassadors Let me see the Princes of Christendom at Peace and Unity and I will not be backward in appearing against the Common Enemy This Kingdom hath indeed suffered much by the Turk as confining upon his Dominions but how he will save his Stake when he comes to be his nearer and more potent Neighbour by his designed Conquest of Hungary Time must determine At present he is resolved not to meddle or make with the barbarous Enemy but await the issue and keep his League with them duly and inviolably This Casimir the 5th succeeded his eldest Brother Uladislaus the 7th after whose Death the Kingdom was dangerously afflicted with the Factions of the Nobility and by the mutinous and rebellious Cossacks who bordering Eastward upon Lithuania and Podolia being part of the Cireassians but Christianized according to the Greek Profession of which there are several Bishops in Poland have for some Ages since submitted to the Crown of Poland but upon all occasions are ready to revolt and to side with the Tartar Russian or any other People for their advantage as living chiefly upon spoyl being a murderous and wild People Nor will the Mischiefs caused by Chimelinsky their General in the years 50 1 2 3. be easily forgotten The Wife of this Casimir formerly an Ecclesiastique and of the Order of Jesuites in his Brothers Reign is a Daughter of the House of Mantua and Nevers unto which Family the Duke of Enguien is Married which will have a great influence upon the Crown of Poland The Revenues of this King are Computed at 600000. Crowns per annum arising chiefly out of Salt and some Mines of Silver which the King disposeth either by making Portions for his Sons or Kindred for as to his Daughters they are married at the Charge of the Kingdom The War neither stands him in a Farthing of his own Treasure for the Expence thereof is levyed upon the People by Excise or Taxes as his Court Expences are born by the respective Places of his Residence all the Provinces partaking alike of the same Priviledges and Honours with Poland especially so called which
Customes that are paid in the Haven Towns the Chief whereof in Sweden are Caymare Lodhuys and Stockholme where at some times four hundred Ships of Burden lye at Anchor Also Auge Revel Riga Parnovia and the Narve But these Customes are much improved since the Confirmation of his Acquists in Germany by the Munster Treaty 1648. by which he had the Upper Pomerania the Inheritance of the Marquess of Brandenburg with the City of Wismar in the Dutchy of Mecklenbury and Isle of Rugia with the Bishopricks of Bremen and Verden c. bordering along the other side of the Baltique Sea by which he hath a wide inlet into Germany given him in recompence of those Places he had Conquered in the more inward Parts so that this great addition of Territory hath made him a far more considerable Prince than ever he was and the Dane by sad Experience found as much in that War he managed against him in 1658. when by the Conjunction and Contiguity of those German Provinces he speeded without Obstruction out of Poland to stop the Progress of the Danish Armes and with speedy success reduced that King by the Agreement at Rosckeild to a very petty and pittant Soveraignty for thereby as good as one half of his Kingdom was passed over to the Swede the Principal Member whereof was Schoneland one of the fruitfullest Provinces but formerly belonging to Sweden with some other Places particularly the great Bayliwick of Drontheim in Norway which would have dis-membred that Kingdom and rendred the Dane but a precarious Prince of the rest But this and divers other former Concessions by that Treaty were annihilated or retrenched by the succeeding Agreement in the Swedes Leageur before Copenhagen after their Defeat in the Assault of that Town by the Mediation and Guaranty of the English Dutch and French Ambassadors in May 1660. nevertheless Schoneland remained to the Swede with some of the Baltique Islands and other Places not to be particularized in this Discourse All which Estates being laid and joyned together in some manner it were supposable at first view that he might easily render himself Master of the Baltique Sea but when it is again considered of what strength the Dane the Hanse Towns are as Lubeck Hamborough Dantzick together with the Interest of the Dutch in the Trade therein it will seem a tougher matter and too big for his Naval strength which yet of it self is very considerable No doubt the Swede hath chawed deliciously upon the Design but could never digest it it sufficeth him at present that his Ships are Toll free as they pass the Sound and that he enjoyeth other Priviledges which the Violence of his Armes have purchased him of the Princes his Neighbours As to the Force of this Kingdom it hath been perceived of what Effect and Puissance it is by that War it carried on under the late King Charles Gustavus against the Pole the Dane and the Muscovite at one and the same time But truly I cannot tell whether I may ascribe those Numbers of Men with which they have enterprised so much lately either to the Production of their own Country or their Fortune which hath drawn so many Foreigners into their service in which there is a certainty of Pay and general good respect had to them if they prove men of desert It is certain that in the late Danish War he had above sixty thousand men in Pay which is a number that few Princes can long maintain together and yet such is the good luck of these Martial Princes that they have been served faithfully without any Pay for many Months together as certain of Satisfaction somewhere either by the Swede or from the Enemy who is looked upon as very good Security in all the Undertakings of this Prince As to the Policy of this Kingdom having touched before that the Government is Monarchical we will briefly describe the menage of it Matters of Peace and War of Embassyes and Alliances are proposed by the King to the Senate for their Resolution which the Senators deliver with an entire Liberty and most Voices carry it but if it happen that the Vote be contrary to the Kings purposes he will assemble the States General to obtain of them what he cannot of the Senate These Estates are composed of the Nobility of the Clergy of Merchants and of the Peasants of the King that is to say Peasants that serve not Gentlemen in English Yeomen but subsist of themselves The Nobles that sit in such Parliaments or Estates General are of the eldest of their Families the Church sends two Priests of every Community or Diocess the Cities two Merchants and every Shire two of its Inhabitants These four Bodies consider of the Kings Will and Demand and by the major Voice determine of it if their Voices be equal the King makes the Election himself and gives the casting Voice for his own Designes and Interest All other Matters are referred to one of these seven Councills viz. The Council of Justice where presides the Lord Chief Justice assisted by four Senators six Gentlemen and six Doctors 2. The Council of War where presides the Constable assisted by four Senators Marshalls 3. The Council of the Admiralty where presides the High Admiral with four Senators Vice-Admiralls 4. The Chancery where presides the High Chancellour assisted with four Senators and the Secretaries of State 5. The Council of the Revenue where presides the High Treasurer assisted by four Senators These five Officers are called the five great Lords and are Tutors of the King and govern the Kingdom absolutely during his Minority being now in the 8th year of his age 6. The Council of Trade where a Senator is President assisted by four more of the same rank and order 7. The Council of the Mountains as we have of the Marshes where sit the same number and quality of Persons as in the Council of Trade The whole Kingdom into which are reckoned the late Acquists is divided into five Governments General viz. Of Finland of Ingermanland of Liefland of Pomerania and Schonen and obeys four great Presidents of Justice He of Finland holds Judicatory at Obo He of Ingermanland and Schonen at Norkopin the third of Liefland at Dort and of Pomerania at Wismar and acknowledges twenty nine Lieutenant Generalls Governours of Provinces for the King The Interest of Sweden is to keep and maintain Peace with the Muscovite to alarum equally and to divide Poland and Denmark not to quarrel by any means with the Hollander and to esteem and highly respect their strict Confaederacy with France and to seek all occasions of a War in Germany to be therein assisted with the French Money and Supplies not to neglect the friendship of the King of England who can when he pleaseth interest himself in any Difference in the Baltique Sea by a potent Umpirage Touching the Turk they are not over-forward in that service as expecting nothing but blows for other mens sakes nevertheless
as the King is a Prince of the Empire He is also a Prince and Member of the Circle of the Rhine made so by the aforesaid Treaty at Munster he is obliged and hath accordingly sent away his Aides into Hungary but so unwelcome is the Nation to the Germans that they had like to have been engaged and set upon in their passage near Erford by those whom they came to assist so that they have little encouragement to that service Besides He is in League or some rude manner of Friendship with the Tartar who merited of him well in the Polish War and he himself is so great an Invader and Souldier of Fortune that Religion or its Interest weighs little with him however our Puritans cried up the Great Gustavus for a Zealot All therefore that will be done by him in this Affair will be more out of necessity and the Laws and Decree of the Empire and the Example of other Princes than his own Choice and Generosity And so we pass to his Neighbour the Dane DENMARK DENMARK is bounded on the East and South with the Baltique Sea On the North with Norwey bounded on the West and North with the German and Frozen Sea and Sweden and on the West the said German Ocean The entire Body of this Kingdom was made up principally in form of three Parts The First is the Realm of Denmark containing both the Jutlands part of Scandia adjoyning upon the Swedes Country as Halland and Schonen which is now in the Swedes possession and the Islands of the Baltique Sea 2. Norwey To which must be added the Islands of Iceland and Freezeland in the Northern Ocean where such abundance of Cod is taken by the Dutch the Danes and Us of large extent but of little benefit to this Crown 3. The Dukedome of Holstein containing 4. Provinces but now exempt from the Kingdom and other Jurisdictions added to the said Dukedom which are likewise aliened from Denmark of which more hereafter The Kingdom of Denmark lyeth partly in the Cimbrick Chersoness adjoyned to the Dukedom of Holstein as both the Jutlands out of which some part is newly borrowed to adde to the said Dutchy divided into several Districts and partly in Scandia but principally in the Islands As for the Dutchy of Holstein it hath of late years been unfortunate to the Danes being over-run by the Imperialists in 1628. in the Reign of Christiern the 4th but honestly restored by the Emperour upon easie Conditions Then it was harrassed by the Swede in 1643. and 4. and now finally freed by them from the Crown of Denmark only the best part of Jutland remaines in its pristine obedience In Scandia Schonen being gone Halland and Blecking is all he holds there and indeed they are fine Provinces but the unkind separation of their Sister of Schonen which signifies Beautiful renders them a little unpleasant to the Kings view and prospect So that his chiefest strength of his Dominions lies in the Islands in number 35. two of which Zeland and Fuenen or Fionia are most considerable and made more eminently famous by the late Swedish War the Latter for the Passage of the King of Sweden over to it upon the Sea on the Ice with Horse Foot and his great Artillery with the loss only of two Troops and the Defeat of his Forces there afterwards by the Confaederate Armies The Other for the Castle of Cronenburg that guards the Sound and Copenhagen the Royal Residence of the Kings of Denmark and which for almost two years space withstood a most perrillous Siege and finally beat off the Swedes with great loss and thereby overthrew all their Designes which proved in effect the death of that King It is a low Town ordinarily built and hath nothing of Magnificence in it but the Spirit of the Inhabitants the Kings Palace being no extraordinary Building save that its covered with Copper The Kingdom of Norway toward the North is separated from Lapland by high and craggy Rocks and the Eastern and Western Parts are hard to travel for the same reason The Land is not very fruitful of Corn and therefore the Inhabitants the meaner sort eat Stockfish which transported into other Parts is exchanged for Corn. The Inhabitants are naturally honest and not a Thief among them and very Civil to Strangers and formerly very Martial for these People were first called Normans and were Ancestors to our Conquerours but such is the hard Condition under which they are kept by the Danes though in appearance Fellow Subjects ever since the Union of the two Kingdomes by the Marriage of Aquinus in 1359. with Margaret the Daughter and Heir of Waldemar the 3d. of Denmark the Issue of which Marriage died and left this Kingdom to the Usurpation of his Mother Margaret whose Successors have continued it to this day that the Norwegians have wholly lost their Courage and former Valour not being suffered to go out of the Kingdom to traffique their own Commodities which besides Fish are rich Furrs Tallow Butter Tann'd Leather Train Oyl Pitch Clap-board Masts Deal-boards and Fire-wood from the Custom whereof ariseth the Kings greatest Profits being received for him at Bergen and Wardhouse but this Revenue is very inconsiderable The whole Realm is divided into five Lieutenancies or Governments which in this uncultivated remote Country will not concern us in any particulars no more than the appendixed Islands above mentioned Having thus summarily discoursed of the Parts of this Kingdom we will briefly mention the Government which having been placed in an Haereditary Monarchy from the Foundation of this Estate was challenged as Elective by the Usurped Power of the Nobles and People by their Deposing of Ericus about 1420. and Electing his Cosen Christopher Count Palatine of the Rhine who dying without Issue they again chose Adolph Duke of Holstein who excusing himself by reason of his age by his advice they chose his Nephew Christiern Earl of Oldenburg who brought both those Estates to this Crown Since when they continued the fashion of an Election but never passed by the next Heir until the year 1660. when in consideration of this Kings extraordinary Care Valour and Vigilance in defence of his People against the Swedes they resolved to restore what they had so long detained by returning the Government into the old Channel and making it again Haereditary in the Family of this Prince although with much reluctancy and discontent of many of the Grandees By which change so lately made there can no perfect account be given of the present administration being solely at the Kings disposal as it is with other absolute Monarchs As to the Nobles they are reputed the most antient of all Europe and the Gentry the like and to preserve and maintain that honourable Esteem they never match into Plebeian Families but keep their Blood unmix'd and pure in its first Current The Gentry are neither so fierce nor so subtle as their Neighbours and are very generous