This Dukedom yet the first in Europe for Dignity was piece-mealed by the Venetians the Florentine Mantuan and others while it was in Contest and embroyled by Pretenders It is the Garden of Italy and for the delights and pleasures thereof so striven for by France and Spain in whose possession it now is It 's Revenue is computed worth 300. thousand Pound a Year but that never served to defray the Expence of the Government during the War by reason of the number of Garrisons that were constantly maintained but since the Peace it yields some advantage to the Crown of Spain As to the War in Hungary this Province is the ready way for the Forces of Spain to march for the relief of the Empire but instead thereof such Forces as can be made ready are bending the other way to the Sea coast to be embarqued for the War in Portugall so that the House of Austria is mainly disappointed of their great support in a very fatal Juncture And so much for Millain MANTUA IT is bounded and surrounded with Millain on the West Romandiola the Marca and Parma seized from a tyrannical Lord thereof by Lewis de Gonzaga in a tumult at Mantua and conferred upon him afterwards by the Emperour and in his Family this Dignity continues The Spantard and the Emperour Ferdinand the 2d made opposition and would not admit of the Duke of Nevers of France the next Heir to the deceased Duke but Lewis the 13th although engaged in the Rochel business by an Army sent into Italy relieved Casal distressed by the Spaniard who had spoyled Mantua and stated the Duke in quiet possession which brave and admired Enterprise was worthily reckoned as one of the great Actions of that King The Territory of this Duke is very large but his Revenue not so great as amounting to 230. thousand Pound sterling He is the next Prince in Dominion to the Florentine but more easie to his Subjects for he might improve his Exchequer by Imposts but either the danger or the uncustomariness of the thing makes him forbear it Besides he hath no Trade nor Sea-Ports as the Tuscan Duke being altogether inland but with this Intrado he lives like a Prince indeed though like the rest of the Princes of Italy they have scarce a Foot of Land of their own As to the Turkish War the Princes of this Territory were farr readier as were all the rest of the Feudatories of the Empire to assist the Germans than now they are for William one of those Dukes in Person with 2000. Foot and 500. Horse assisted the Emperour Maximilian the Second at the same time the Duke of Florence sent 3000. Foot the Duke of Savoy 600. Curasiers the Duke of Ferrara in Person led 1500. Horsemen and Henry of Lorrain Duke of Guise commanded 300. Gentlemen the Common-wealths of Genoa and Lucca assisted him with Money and at the same time being the Year 1566. and when Solyman took Zigeth several English Gentlemen served as Voluntiers for whose Families Honour I will particularize some of their Names as Mr. Greenvile Mr. Champernoon Mr. Cotton Mr. Pudshall Mr. Smith Captain George an eminent and skillful Commander But all these Italian Aides are now quite disappeared and they think themselves scarce secure with what Force they can make for their own Defence such are the Jealousies now in Italy This Duke is very well affected to the Imperial House as being near allyed to it but except some Money it is supposed he will not supply him with any thing else unless if such be the ill Fate of the Empire things come to Extremity He hath no Piques or Feuds any where but is a Prince of very great Esteem and Reputation and allianced with the best Families in Europe and yet he is less in Demesn and perhaps Interest having lately sold to the deceased Cardinal Mazarine his Dutchy of Nevers of which before in France MONTFERRAT THis pleasant Region is seated betwixt Piedmont and Millain and belongeth to the Duke of Mantua it is the best Flower in his Garden and yields him more profit It is moreover the best security of his Estates for herein stands the famous Casal the jealousie of the French and Spaniard In former times this Marquisate suffered much by several Intruders but being finally setled by the Emperour with Mantua upon the Family of Gonzaga with which it remains combined under the same Laws and Privileges MODENA and REGGIO THese 2. little Dutchies are situate in that great and fertile Territory once called Lombardy as are all these we have mentioned hitherto and were assigned by Clement the 8th to Caesar de Este the Grand-son by a Bastard to Alphonso the last Duke of Ferrara in lieu of his claim or pretence to that Dutchy the Pope with an Army of 20000. Foot and 2000. Horse perswades the Duke to accept of these Conditions of the Exchange with this clause also that he should acknowledge the Pope as his supreme Lord and therewithall he seized the said Dutchy and City of Ferrara as an Escheat to the Church Now although this be a small Dutchy yet are the Dukes of good Renown especially the last who approved himself an excellent Captain in the late War betwixt France and Spain in Italy on the behalf of France which procured that match between the now Duke Alphonso and one of the Cardinals beloved Neeces and whom he dowried well and hath legacied her in the same manner By the late Treaty between France and Spain the Spaniard is reconciled unto him at the instance of the French King and both Kings joyntly are to use their endeavours and supplications with his Holiness the Pope for the restitution of the Valleys of Comachio to him of which such often mention hath been made in the publick week Books This Comachio is a District of Marish Ground for the most part lying in the Dutchy of Ferrara and was formerly the Title of the House of Este before they had that of Ferrara given them by the Emperour and was their proper demesne Estate and Inheritance now when Clement the 8. possessed himself of this Dutchy and agreed by Treaty that all Lands or what properly belonged to the said Family of Este he notwithstanding seized upon this Estate with the rest without any distinction and hereupon Complaints have since been made to the Apostolical Chamber reinforced by the instances of the French King in which he hath engaged the Spaniard and lately made it a Pique against his Holiness This Duke like the rest of the Princes of Italy desires to be at peace and live in quiet nor to see no Armes in Italy now enjoying a serene tranquillity after a most tedious harassing War He is fast in the embraces of his beautiful Lady and will hardly arm himself like his Predecessor in the Emperours Cause some supplyes he may chance to send him of Money and do as his Neighbours that are Feifs of the Empire like himself and some Moneys the Emperour hath
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
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
populous but the liberties of the said two Hanse Towns and the Danish part retrench the estimate of its force It was over-run by the Swedes in 1643. during the residence of this King Frederick the third as Duke thereof to the great surprisal of old King Christiern yet he so notably bestirred himself with the help of the Emperour both against them and the Dutch at Sea and Land that he brought the business to some advantage on his side had not the French King interposed his Authority in the very nick of a decision of it by Battel and did the Swede a notable kindness since when by the marriage of the late King of Sweden with the Daughter of this present Duke who is a lineal Descendant of John the younger Son of Christiern the 3d. King of Denmark it hath suffered in that War from the Dane and his Confaederates what it had formerly underwent by the Swede who to shew his Affection to his Father-in-Law had procured him some Concessions and Assignments by the Roschild Treaty which being afterwards violated by the Swede this Country paid for the Swedes undue courtesie by the forces of the Marquess of Brandenburgh and the Emperour notwithstanding in the last Treaty in the Leagure before Copenhagen it retained thus much that the Jurisdiction of Swabstadt together with half the Chapter of the Dutchy of Sleswick lying in North Jutland together with the soveraignty thereof was assigned and passed over to this Duke for ever So that this Dukes Interest is at present bound up in that of Sweden having countermarched its Ground being formerly more strictly tyed to the Dane but we see what Fate and Revolutions can do As to the Turk being he is exempt from the Decrees and Injunctions of the Empire it is not to be expected he will put himself forward for that he is none of the wealthiest Princes having not one Farthing of Customes by Sea but only his Toll for the 50000. Oxen above mentioned and some Patrimonial Lands belonging to the Dutchy We are now obliged to pass to Oldenburg because it had formerly the same Dependencies and Aspects to Denmark but because I will not trespass too far upon Germany we will leave it to its place there And so we pass by Sea to Holland and the seven United Provinces of the Netherlands THE NETHERLANDS OR The 7. Vnited Provinces OF HOLLAND c. THese Countries are bounded on the North and West with the German Ocean on the East with part of Germany and on the South with Flanders c. They were once under several Lords and State-holders who by the Power and their Interest with the Emperours of Germany made themselves absolute from whom by the Marriage of their Heirs General they devolved at last into the Soveraignty of the Dukes of Burgundy whose Daughter conveyed them to Maximilian Arch-Duke of Austria By his Grand-Son Charles the 5th they were designed to be made with the other ten Provinces one entire Kingdom but the Discrepancy of their Laws and Customes and the irreconcilable Contrariety thereof made him give over that Resolution About the Year of our Lord 1567. at what time the Duke of Alva raged against all these Provinces they shook off the Spanish Yoak and the Government of Philip the 2d Son of Charles the 5 th who setling himself in his Realm of Spain intended to govern them by a Stat-holder That Discontent together with the memory of their former Oppressions the Insolence of their present Governours the Contempt of their Laws and Priviledges together with the Decrees of the Council of Trent the revived Edict of the said Charles against Haeretiques and the Introduction of the Inquisition to which may be added the hated Administration of Perennot the Cardinal of Granvelle the Death of the Counts of Egmond and Horn and the tenth and hundredth Penny taxed by the Duke of Alva and his Cruelties thereafter so animated these People that they entred into a Confaederacy under the Conduct of William Prince of Orange Count of Nassau and in the year 1581. by a publique Instrument declared the said King to have rightfully fallen from the Dominion and Jurisdiction of these Provinces then united under the Profession of the Reformed Religion Nevertheless they are not yet nor are ever like to be an entire Common-Wealth while each retains its Soveraignty distinct and therefore it is a new Module of a Republique without any Pattern viz. Guelderland Holland Freizland Zeland Zutphen the Bishoprick of Utrecht and Groeningen Now the Cement and Principles of these Confaederate States and the Contracts by which they are Combined together and by which they have so gloriously subsisted come next under a brief Consideration The First of them is That they shall continue inseparably united nor shall act distinctly in the common Affairs 2. The Rights Priviledges and Franchises c. of each particular Province shall be continued inviolate 3. They shall strennuously assist one another and if any Difference arise between two Places they shall submit to the ordinary Course of Justice and shall attempt nothing to the prejudice of one another 4. They shall mutually aid and defend one another against the Armes of Spain and shall sympathize with one anothers Losses 5. The new Fortresses shall be made at the common Charge but the Frontiers at the particular Charge of each Province 6. Peace War or Truce not to be made without the common Consent of all the Estates and People 7. Liberty of Conscience shall be allowed 8. All Care shall be used by each particular Province and all of them in general that they give no Cause of Quarrel or Offence whereby they should become engaged in any other War than that of Spain These were the Originalls of this Republique and the Fundamental Laws thereof we will now see the Practice and Execution of them in the Administration and the Policy of the Government 1. Every City of these United Provinces acknowledges its particular Magistrate the Provincial Magistrate and the Colledge of the Lords the States-General By the Magistrate of the City are understood the Councellours whose total number is forty which are paid for their service and hold their Places for life because they may act freely without those resentments of a future private Condition these deliberate of the Affairs of the Province and inspect and choose all other Magistrates and are in effect the Peoples Servants as they will sometimes taunt them the Burgo-Masters and Sheriffs together with a Baily who judgeth absolutely in Criminal Causes but he holds his Place not longer than Durante Placito of the Council of the City The Provincial Magistracy is composed of a Councellour of every City of the Province whose Office is to Conserve its Priviledges and Immunities to this Court there lies an Appeal from the Sentence of the Sheriffs Court The Colledge or Assembly of the Lords States General is constituted of the Deputies of the Provincial Councils these make the Alliances and Treaties or
Discourse to these modern times Of Horse besides 12. Comets of Foreigners he had in Pay 240. Troops Cavaliers of his own Nation which in all amounted to above 30. thousand Of Foot he had 210. Regiments some few of them of 30. Companies and consisting of 90. Men in a Company not reckoning in the Switzers who make 6. or 7000. besides some Scots Irish Italians and Luyckers At Sea he had 30. Ships of War and 25. Gallyes and the number is now increased and their Lord Great Admiral the Duke of Vendosme which was before a meer Titulado with great Profit and Revenue become an Officer de facto and of great service in that Kingdom The Duke of Beaufort his Son commanding the Fleet before Algier The King hath four Guards the first of French Gentlemen in Place and Attendance like our Gentlemen Pensioners they are 200. in number their Pay 20. Crowns a Month. The second consists of Scots and they Gentlemen some attending on the Kings Person others appointed to other Offices in the Court and go alwayes armed either with the Halberd or Harquebuze those which attend on the Kings Person are 24. and receive yearly 400. Franks apiece the residue 300. and a Livery The third sort is of inferiour French and their Employment is such as the service of the Yeomen and the Guard in England The fourth consisteth of Switzers and they wait at the Court Gate in warlike manner This King retaineth the Switzers more to dis-engage them from their Respects to the House of Austria and that Families service than for any other reason though the long Correspondence maintained with those Cantons hath abated of that jealousie Now notwithstanding for the number of the Gentry which is infinite almost the greatness of the Offices goodliness of Towns and multitudes of Forces and store of Ammunition this Kingdom may seem to challenge Precedence before any Court in Europe yet for Majesty of the Prince Order of the Court Provision of the Courtiers and Entertainment of Strangers it may no way compare with that of England and this is not mine but a Foreigners judgement of them Both. As to the Government it is Monarchical to Excess as it was said of Caesar Voluntas Caesaris pro Lege habebatur so it is as true of the French Kings Their Will is the Law For though they have now nine Parliaments in the Kingdom and that of Pau in Bern added by Lewis the 13th yet are they no more such a Constitution as Ours than Our Late High Courts of Justice which were Persons pick'd for the Usurpers purpose The main work of these Parliaments is to ratifie the Kings Edicts which are sent to them with a Command that such is Our Pleasure Nor doth this Ratification when done signifie any thing to the Validity of the Kings Acts but is meerly for shew and to personate that Authority which was in the former Parliaments even till the time of Lewis the 13th By which means the King imposeth upon his Subjects what he lists and supplyes that want of Patrimony which is mostly aliened and is the great Blemish of this Crown which commands so fair and spacious a Territory and yet hath very few Mannours or Houses of its own except about Paris And for the better support of this way of Government the Nobility are most of them employed in Offices and Commands the whole Kingdom being divided into 12. Lieutenancies as Imperious altogether as our late Major Generalls and who enjoying the sweets of their Arbitrary Power help to awe the People to a stupid Acquiescence under their Oppression And these Governours continue during life and are sometime Haereditary so that not seldom they have disputed it with the King and stood upon their Terms The Interest of this Crown is of late very perplexed and very closely carried the late League with Spain seems to be zealously regarded and many good words are given the Emperour of Assistance and Friendship Greater Respect was never given nor higher Professions of Amity ever expressed towards the Crown of England The Pope and He seem to be reconciled and the Confirmation of the Friendship between them is now in Actu by the Popes Performance of the Conclusion made at Pisa for that Cardinal Chigi the Popes Legate for the greater solemnity of this Affair is on his way with the Satisfaction agreed on The Duke Crequy is ready to return to Rome where the Pyramis is erected in memory of the Fact of the Corsi and Don Mario the Popes Nephew upon his departure But when all this is done no man conceives the Christian World more assured or freed from those jealousies which it hath long conceived of the Potency of this King He hath lately made a motion in Germany about Colmar and Slecksladt and it is suspected they are the light Trepidations of some greater Rupture thereabouts for that the French have long aimed upon the Imperial Dignity is obvious to every eye and this Prince is supposed to be more ambitiously bent upon that design than any of his Predecessors He hath to the purpose baffled and terrified the Pope the Emperours left hand and scared him before hand and for his right hand the King of Spain besides the Peace between them he will not be remiss in fomenting the War with Portugal The Princes of the Empire therefore give him fair words and will oblige him by performing his Demands about those Towns He is sure of the Duke of Savoy so long as he enterpriseth not upon Italy for then he would become a Morsel between his Grinders As to the Princes of Italy they do not care to see him there but love him well enough in France We neither suspect nor dread this Riddle of Fate nor shall want a Sword to solve it if with the Dutch and any body else he could make a threefold Cord of it and so we leave him to the Revolution of Time His Kingdom of Navarre lying in Spain we shall mention it there SPAIN SPAIN is defended towards France on the North with Confines strengthened both by Nature and Art viz. by the Natural Height of the Pyrenean Mountains which separate the one Country from the other and by the Artificial Forts of Scialon Parpignian and Pampalone the Metropolis of Navarre on all other sides it is encompass'd with the Atlantick Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea Its Empire is divided into four Parts or Members but we shall mention one only here viz. 1. The Kingdomes of Spain 2. The States of Italy Sicily c. And 3. Flanders And 4. The Dominions of India Spain is by the Spaniards for the greater grace divided into 15. Kingdomes namely Castile Aragon Murcia Granada Gallicia Guypuscoa Biscay Oviedo Leon Corduba Toledo Navarre Catalonia Majorca Valentia and lastly Portugal but it being wrested from the Spanish Dominions as it was formerly and now is a distinct Soverainty we will treat of the other 14. together and of that by it self The Country it self is very
and the praeferring to Benefices The whole Revenues of the Clergy are valued at six Millions of Gold yearly Rent there being 34. Cathedral Churches all richly endowed some whereof having 50. some a 100. and some 200. Millions of yearly Revenue and in particular the Metropolitan Arch-Bishop of Toledo hath more than 300. Millions Neither do the Kings of Spain care to parcel these Churches to a greater number although over-grown with their plenty for then they should with more difficulty make use of the Revenues and Notes thereof when occasion required which is very often upon any disastrous Event As he likewise layes extraordinary Taxes upon the Laity in the like Occurrence for in the Kingdom of Castile alone Philip the 2d had nigh 8. Millions of Gold in one year reckonning hereto also the Profits which his Orders of Knighthood yield him viz. 200. Millions of Crowns so that here is Revenue more than enough were it not for the Canker of Interest at the Bank of Genoa nor are the Merchants of Antwerp without their share in the partition thereof and now the Amsterdammers also This Princes Coyn notwithstanding is the best in Europe since all their Neighbours make a gain of them as a Piece of Reals or 8. Six-Pences in our Money goeth in France for 4 s. 6 6. a Doublin in Gold that which is a Pistolet with them being 13. Shillings is in France and other Places 29. Reals which is 14 s. 6 d. of our Money Most of the Coyn that passeth for Wine Bread Fruit c. is of Brass which they call Quartas and Quartillas of their Maravedies 20. make three-pence but sometime the King enhanceth the Price of this Brass Money of a sudden and with a great deal of profit to himself brings a great loss upon Trade All their Meat Fruit and Bread are sold by the Pound and not except before an Officer which they call Alcalda so that no Stranger can be deceived in price or weight As to the Interest of these Princes it hath been evidently seen what it hath been but since the French mated them under Francis the First and held them to it till Lewis the 14th was too powerful for them since the Dutch baffled them and We triumphed over them they have been put to defend their own instead of over-running others Their Designes are now to secure their Estates and to draw from them that Revenue into their Coffers which was squandred away in the War without any account and yet to be as gentle a Soveraign as possible For all the late League the Spaniard nor French will ever joyn Interests or agree together more than they do in their Humours or Fashions In fine they really hate one another but more revengefully the Spaniard frets at the French as he that first put a stop to his Career of Ambition and therefore there 's nothing but Jealousie and Suspition between them however smoothed and oyled over with Court Artifices alike understood for such on both sides nor have their late frequent Consanguinities and Marriages any influences to draw them nearer to any amicable understanding With the Dutch he firmly keeps a good Correspondence as his very good Friends since Fate would needs have it so and useth them very respectfully as his good Neighbours and as security to his Estates in Flanders for the Dutch as was said do not love the Frenchmens vicinity For the King of England he cherisheth a more than usual respect testified by those publique Honours done his Ambassador Sr. Richard Fanshaw in that Kingdom and inviolably observeth the Peace betwixt us With the Duke of Savoy he is newly reconciled and certainly that Duke who hath the Citadel of Verceil restored him by this King by vertue of the late Treaty hath no great Antipathy against Him for he hath suffered twice more from the French than from the Spaniard who is as well able to Defend Him as he is conveniently scited to Offend him upon every displeasure The Duke of Parma is allyed to him and so sure to his Interest The Florentine is stiff but is aequal between the French and Him The Mantuan will be Neutral and the Pope his secret Friend The Prince of Modena will hardly engage any more against Him for in a manner he is the Umpire of all Quarrells between those Princes He is Patron also to the Common-Wealth of Luca. And for the States of Venice ever since the Dutchy of Millain came to the possession of this Crown they have set them down with great quietness rather looking to the strengthening of their own than attempting his and good reason too for our Ancestors have seen the Spanish favouring the Venetians when their Estate was dangerously hazarded by the Turk chearfully to have entred into the Actions of Cephalonia and Lepanto when nevertheless at the same instant they had at their own Doors Algier Tunis and other African Ports their dangerous Enemies The State of Genoa must favour the King of Spain and stand by him for he is their Protector and owes them vast summs which by any partiality of their side will be wholly lost With all the Catholique Princes of Germany he is in perfect Correspondence and how great a relation and necessity of mutual adhaerence there is between the Emperour and Him no man is ignorant confirmed now and more intimately contracted by the late Marriage of the Infanta With the King of Fez and Morocco his Catholique Majesty is in League but it is of no use or availment to him Of the Religion of Malta the King taketh a particular protection as that in like sort depends wholly upon his pleasure and doth readily execute his Royal Commandements serving him often in keeping the Coasts of Spain and the Kingdomes of Naples and Sicily from Incursions of Pyrates and that without one penny cost or charges to the King As to the Turk he maintains no intercourse nor useth any Trade with him and yet he hath neither Peace nor War with him Peace he pretends he ought not to have and the other he careth not for and the Turk is as unwilling to quarrel as he remembring what he suffered from him at Lepanto So that pivate Damages are privately made good and the Algier men do take upon themselves the Rupture if any louder Mischief happen of which the Spaniard will not complain It is thought that this King is Superiour to the Turk in Naval Furniture and Provision and the Courage and Ability of Seamen for his Biskayners and Catalonians are hardly to be paralleled for enduring of Winter weather and Tempests and the Turk is alwayes moared at home from October to March besides the convenience of his Coast for building of Ships and Gallies of which he hath a 100. in readiness and the Turk hath but two Places all along his African Coast viz. Algier and Tunis where he can build a Vessel Upon this account it was that Philip the 2d was advised to seize upon the Morea and
Greece those People being willing to embrace a Christian Defender against that unsupportable slavery which they suffer from the Turk but he considering his Fathers ill success in Africa though ascribable more to Tempest than to any other Cause would never cast his eye upon that Enterprize being bent upon far worse to the disturbance of Christendom so that it appears he is the only Prince that is able to give him a Potent Diversion were not his Fleets otherwise employed But withall this King at present is so exhausted that he is not in a Capacity to undertake such an Expedition without the assistance of other Christian Princes which the Venetians have a long while in vain implored and he cannot hope to expect it till the danger is more eminent and then hee 'l find wayes to defend himself This may be certainly concluded on he will do what in him lyeth to keep the Turk from swallowing the Haereditary Countries of the Emperour in which he hath an Expectation and Reversion and will spare him such Supplies however he pincheth for it as shall testifie his Zeal Affection and Care for the Imperial Family And so having finished this survey of Spain we will next take a short view of Portugall PORTUGALL INto this Kingdom of Portugall are reckoned as in Spain two other Kingdomes so teeming are these little Soveraignties of other Principalities namely the Kingdom of Algarve and that of the Isles of the Azores or the Terceras Portugall is bounded on the North with two Rivers which part it from Gallicia on the South with Algarve on the West with the Atlantique Ocean and on the East with the new and old Castile Extended on the Sea Coast from North to South reckoning in the Kingdom of Algarve 400. Miles in breadth not exceeding a 100. and in some places not 80. and 60. The Country is very destitute and unprovided of Corn but that supplyed by Wine Oyl Figgs and other Fruits as for Cattel they have no store nor have they much use of them as in Spain the People being naturally hot and dry and delighting in Fruits and Sallads as cooling and satisfying also This Kingdom is now governed by Alphonso the 6th who hath a Brother a very hopeful Gentleman named Don Pedro of the House of Braganza whose Claim against Philip the 2d descended of Mary fifth Daughter of Emanuel King of Portugal but immediate surviving Heir to Henry her Brother third Son of Emanuel Cardinal and King of Portugall was judged lost when the Crown came into his Fathers Possession for that his Ancestor had married Katherine the Daughter of Prince Edward fourth Son of Emanuel who dyed indeed before his Brother the Cardinal King Henry It is true the Prince of Parma had married Mary her elder Sister but against that the Civilians alleged that the Crown by a peculiar Law of that Kingdom passed in such Cases to such Heirs as were Natives of the Realm However the Title was the People were resolved the House of Braganza should have the Crown which was wonderfully accomplish'd in 1640. and of which we will discourse no further This Crown hath had wonderful Successes both in the East and West-Indies where they have wrested Brasile from the Hollanders and at Home also for though they be but a handful of People yet by immuring themselves in such strong Places as they took by Shipping and Naval Sieges from the Indians and venturing in all weathers to relieve one another to the disappointment of their Enemies who thought by Sieges at Land to recover the Places they had lost by the opportunity of such tempestuous seasons they have fixed themselves so in those Indies that they command a great part thereof and the best also till by our Assistance some forty Years agoe the Persian recovered Ormus the notedst Place of Trade then in the East and in defence whereof they defeated two Navies of the Turks who hath his City and Port of Aden in the same Sea but now the Turk and they have done and the Persian is in their room At Home he is engaged against the Spaniard but the War hath proved so fortunate to him that he hath rather got than lost by it however it is hoped it will be composed by a Peace although there are several Interests which do with-hold it all they can The French deserted them by the late general Treaty but it is conceived they would stick as close to them now The Dutch do no way care that the Portugalls should have Peace at home for their fingers itch at Brasile and they have been long quarrelling about it for Damages but they are in fear of Seconds besides that they are now in prosecution of a War in the East-Indies where also they have had some Successes It concerns Us that the King of Portugall our chief Ally should be advanced to a Condition of Prosperity and Grandeur and no wayes will be omitted conducing thereunto With other Princes and States this Kingdom hath not to do save with the Pope who hath at last promised the Confirmation of all Ecclesiastical Preferments and the Bishops other Clergy in that Kingdom Unless with some of the African Potentates which Affair is devolved upon our Shoulders by our Possession of Tangier as we are likewise of some Places in the Kingdom of Goa in the East-Indies By all which it may be guessed what a great loss happened to the King of Spain when this Kingdom and all its Dominions at the same day revolted from him The Force of this Kingdom is not very great the Commanders finding much adoe to bring 20000. Effectif Men into the Field against the Spaniard nor are those well provided or harnessed but such hath been their resolution and animosity against their old Enemy the Castilians that they have generally carried away the Victory and what Wings We have added to Her Fame hath already told the World As the Force but the Fortune of this Kingdom is little considerable so is the Revenue saving that the Patrimony of this Prince is of great value and yearly Intrado for as Duke of Braganza he possesseth more than one third of the Kingdom and there is a little belonging to the Crown The rest of his Revenues come by his Customes with this he maintains several Store-houses all along the Country a dayes march commonly from one another for the subsistence of the marching Army and the relief of the sick or travelling Souldiers with Passes as he doth Ships of War for security of his Trade that of Sugar bringing him in exceeding great Profit As to the Turk he hath no leisure to look towards him nor is he accommodated with Ships or Naval Apparel to engage him His Navy consisting chiefly of great and slow Gallions built for Burden and Defence and against swelling Seas and for other Coasts and the great deep Ocean so that they would soon perish in the windings of the Mediterranean and therefore we cannot consider him as any Help against
the Common Enemy but must look upon his Quarrel as fatal to the Christian Cause and therefore we should pray that it would please God maugre all Opposition speedily to reconcile it And so we pass through the Alps to the States of Italy GENEVA GENEVA is an Imperial City in Savoy situated at the South end of the Lake Lemannus upon the brink of the said Lake It is in circuit about 2. English Miles very strong both by Nature and Art as well for that it is seated on a Hill which on the West is not easily accessible as also for that it is exceedingly well fortified with Ravelings Bulwarks and Platforms besides a deep Ditch the East and West parts thereof standing continually full of water the South part remains dry continually and is well defended with Casemates the better to scour the Curtayn The Town is so much the stronger for that it tandeth almost in an Island having the Lake aforesaid on the North the River Rhosne upon the West and the River of Arba upon the South being from the Town half a mile and by reason of the swiftness of the Current and great moveable Stones in the bottom which are violently carried down the River is not passable but with great danger The River Rhosne divideth the Town into 2. parts the one is called the High Town and the other St. Gervais It is well peopled some 20000. of all sorts Their Territories are small being no way above 2. Leagues and a half yet by reason the soyl is fruitful being well manured it bringeth Grain of all sorts and good store of Wine There are likewise many pasture and feeding Grounds by means whereof the Inhabitants are well provided of all sorts of good Flesh at a reasonable rate no want of good Butter and Cheese and of wild-Foul as Partridge Quayl Mallard c. There are also excellent Fruits the rarest Pear-mains in the World and the River and the Lake afford all manner of fresh Fish as Carp Tench Roach c. But above all the biggest Carps in Europe Besides they are served out of the Duke of Savoy's Country and the Canton of Bearn by the Peasants of each for that ready Money cannot be had else-where It standeth also convenient for and doth exercise Merchandise being the ordinary transport of Commodities out of Germany to Lions and so into France and back again by which means the Inhabitants are grown very rich As also for that the Savoyards and the said People of Bearn do resort hither to buy their Armour Apparel and other Necessaries the Citizens being for the most part Mechanicks and making excellent Muskets Carbines c. As also Satin Velvet and Taffaty though not so good as that of Italy The Merchants that are here are generally rich and of great Estates The Revenue of this Town is some 100000. Crowns which ariseth out of the Gabels of Merchandise Flesh their Demayn and Tithes which is conserved in the common Treasury and issued out thence to publick uses The Duke of Savoy pretends a Title to this Town as governed before the Reformation by a Catholique Bishop who being Lord thereof as his temporal Estate did homage for it to the said Duke that the Money the Bishop coyned bore his Inscription that the Dukes of Savoy had alwayes an Office there without acquaintance of which no sentence of Law could be executed that the power of pardoning Offenders remained in the said Dukes But the Genevois turn a deaf Ear to those Pretensions but do therefore bear him a perpetual grudge and hate him worse than all their Neighbours nor do they much fear him for neither the French nor Spaniard nor any of the Princes of Italy will suffer him or he or they suffer one another to possess themselves of this strong commodious and most convenient Fortress Insomuch that when any Design hath been formed against them they have had timely notice thereof besides Money to provide themselves with necessaries but such is the careful Government of the place that there is alwayes 6. Months Provision in the Store-houses and of Men and Munition they have enow within the Town no less than 20. Guns being mounted on their Bulwarks besides what they have in their Arsenal wherein are 10. or 12. Canons and Culverins with some lesser Ordnance with Powder Match and Ball proportionable to 4000. Muskets lodged in the same Arsenal they can also raise and maintain 2000. Men. The Town is governed by a Council of 200. called the Great Council out of which is chosen another Council composed of five and twenty and out of these 4. especial Men whom by a Greek term they call Syndiques that is Co-Judges who have the managing of the whole Common-wealth unless it be in some great matters wherein the whole State is concerned as in making of Peace or War Leagues offensive and defensive c. and then the whole Council is assembled They are governed by the Civil Law as generally the Germans are the Judge whereof is called a Lieutenant Criminal before whom all Causes are tried and from whom lyes no appeal but to the Council of two hundred They allow no refuge to any Offenders of other Countries but punish them as they should have been in the place where the Crime was committed I have been the more prolix in describing the Military and Secular Government with the site and strength of the Place because this is the Palladium and Original of Presbytery of whose Discipline and its share or influence in the Administration of this Common-wealth I purpose to speak more largely in the Conclusion and will now take in some other Observations It is for certain the Receptacle of divers English Transports who will or now can comply with the Geneva though not with the London Presbytery forsooth it is here in purity and hath not contracted the Pride and Covetousness of our Rabbies But among the rest here is that Illustrious Nothing or at least here he was not long since who was knaved into and was fooled out of his ridiculous Usurpation in England I mean Richard Cromwell the eldest Son of the late Oliver the Town he guessed could not but be civil to him for the great Expence his Fathers 3. Commissioners Mr. Pel. c. made here about the Composition of the Piedmont Troubles and out of respect to the Moneys which was deposited in their hands How he lived here is not discoverable for privacy hath enveloped the fond Glories of this short reign'd Usurper and obscurity is the best foyl to this once glittering Pibble but enough of this example to ambitious wretches And here out of hand is to be formed as it was most ingenuously and aptly represented a huge Army in aid and assistance of the Turk who will publiquely profess the Religion hereof as agreeing best with that Tyrannical Goverment But to proceed This Religion was introduced by Calvin 1541. the summ whereof was this viz. All Ministers to be equally great amongst
themselves 2. Lay-men out of the People to be joyned unto every Minister and these were called Elders the Ministers to continue for term of Life in this power but the Elders to be chosen every year which was very grateful to the Burgers who hoped each of them to come to the Administration of the Ecclesiastical Authority these together with other Parish Elders being met together to be called the Presbytery and to have power of Ordination Excommunication and Absolution and whatever else was done by their Bishop in times before whom he made the Genevois utterly to abjure and to receve this Platform as sent from Heaven But Nevertheless the People did not long like it but Calvin by his Authority and the awe of the Canton of Zurich kept it rigidly up during his life time after which the succeeding Ministers allowed the People the use of all manlike Exercises in the Morning and intervalls of Divine Service which something mitigated the Humour and like the Roman Sports took them off from quarrelling with their Ministers What they are like to do against the Turk the Passage above-mentioned declares 't was Luther that gave admittance I mean his Reformation to the Turk to invade Christendom that is to say he took advantage of those Divisions that reigned then and it may be now said that the troubles in the Roman temporal Estate have engaged him which the Romanists lay all upon the Heretique so that it comes to this Door at last or they will leave it there In fine They are able to do nothing and are the only Snayls in Europe They are confederate with the Canton of Bearn but 't is for their security Switzerland IN our passage from Geneva to the Switzers lyeth a Country called Wallisland governed by a Catholick Bishop and leagued with the 7. Catholick Cantons They are divided into 7. Resorts and 2. Districts or Provinces the lower and the upper they lye included betwixt Mountains out of which they seldom issue and therefore we bid adieu to them and make way to their Neighbours SWITZERLAND is bounded on the West with Mount Jour and Lake Leman on the North with Swevia in Germany on the South with Wallisland and the Alps and on the East with the Grisons and part of Tirol in Germany It is reported to stand upon the highest ground in Christendom yet hath it plenty of Rivers which it dispenseth in the greatest Chanels through the mightiest Provinces of Europe It hath many Lakes and abundance of fresh and excellent good Fish by which Lakes and Rivers there is good passage and conveyance there are also Medows as pleasant and as eminent for their fertility as their Mountains are prominent rough and sterile The whole Country contains in length 240. Miles and in bredth 180. The People rude and Military as all Mountainers use to be They were once under the Government of the House of Austria as Earls of Halspurg the Castle whereof is standing in this Country which gave Original and Title to that Family but rising for their Liberty provoked by the Rape of one of their Daughters they by 2. terrible Defeats given the Austrians shook off their Yoak and immediately 3. Cantons combined in a League with which after some Ages or Years all the 13. entred and in which they now continue The first thing they did in the beginning of this Confederacy was to root out all the Gentry and not leave a remain of them as those that were the Instruments of their slavery under the Austrians So that no man there pretends to be gentilely descended for thereby he is made uncapable of any Office in the Common-wealth yet there are some noble Spirits that prefer their blood to such slovenly Magistracies where the Butcher and the Shooe maker takes his turn in the Government and is in his Town the supreme Ruler and to this module they yet keep Their Exemption of themselves in this manner from the House of Austria made them notable in the World which they were not since Julius Caesar but their defeat and slaughter of Charles Duke of Burgundy and their renue for the Duke of Millain against the French made them terrible and famous until finding their own strength they began to play fast and loose with their Confederates and to become open Mercenaries losing Millain which they had preserved and serving the French and Spanish King the Venetian and others at the same time under certain secret Pensions which the chief Counsellours do receive at this day so that all the Honour that is left them which they might have blazoned by many Conquests upon their Neighbours is borrowed from their attendance as Guards to the Person of the French King and Sedan-men or some such Office about the Pope Nevertheless it is to be confessed that they are very good Infantry and will stand a shock firm and in good order which is a main security to the French Foot that can hardly endure an easie impression Their Government at home is divided into 3. Members 1. The 13. Cantons being 7. Roman and 6. Protestant 2. The States and Cities confederate as the Abbot of St. Gall Multiuse a free City c. And lastly The Praefectures or several Lordships and Towns which they possess in the Alps in the Dutchy of Millain c. which are a distinct part of the Common-wealth but are subject to the Cantons and obey their Decrees without any Vote in their Councils as Subjects and of these Towns and Lordships they have some number which yields the best of their Revenue The Regiment or Magistracy is altogether Popular and consists in a Great Council summoned upon any great and emergent Occasion and yet the particular Cities and Resorts or Hundreds in number 148. are governed by one Officer So hath every Canton a supreme Mastistrate called the Ungman or single Person who is assisted with a Council in Cases of Importance The Diets are held commonly at Baden for the beauty and commodiousness of the Place where all things concerning Peace and War Embassies Leagues and the like are alwayes determined Their Revenue is very inconsiderable for having no Commerce with Strangers they have no Customes nor have they any Manufactures Cutlery is a great Trade What they raise is by Impost upon Wine and those Taxes laid upon their Prefectures whom yet they use very tenderly besides the yearly Pensions they receive from the Crowns of France and Spain are brought into the publick Treasury save what comes privately into the hands of the Grandees and those that manage the State one of the greatest blemishes and prejudices to their State but as 't is no shame to be mercenary in the Field so 't is no blame to be a Mercenary in Council As to their Force it far excceds their Revenue for upon occasion they can bring 30. thousand Foot into the Field besides what the confederate Cities will add thereunto As for Horse they are of no use in those hilly Countries nor
immediately squandered away by the succeeding Pope such is the successive variation of Humour and Temper of these Potentates that men imagine they do purposely run Counter to one anothers designs This considered the Papacy seems in this present condition to goe below it self the Pope one of the Prudentest that ever sate in the Chair all things composed Money enough but hinc illae Lachrymae No Friends or Backers The Church of Rome are very tenacious of their Forms and it s supposed they will be now held to one the untunable Recantation of their Injury to the French The Pomp and Triumph of the Legates Entry is intended to dazle the eyes of his good Catholiques and the Affair is excellently well cloathed but the World sees the nakedness of it and that the Church of Rome hath not this first time yielded to the will of her Sons like a kind and indulgent Mother when her Chastisements cannot reach them In the mean time her bosome hath been opened to her eldest Child the Emperour of Germany and she raised her Levies to his assistance to the same proportion as the forwardest and without question hath not been wanting either in her Advice or Purse THE Republique OF VENICE VENICE of whom it is written by a well known Author That were it within the reach of humane society to prescribe Rules for fixing a society and succession of People under the same species of Government as long as the World lasts that Republique were the fittest Pattern on Earth both for Direction and Imitation a Place of that strong constitution in point of Government that in spight of all the Powers of Europe and Asia of the Eastern and Western Empire bears up her Liberty and Authority for well nigh 1100. Years being still in case to make good Thuanus his Prophesie Venetiae non nisi cum rerum naturâ mundi machinâ periturae It is bounded Southward with Ferrara and the remainders of Romaniola Northward with a great part of the Alps Eastward with the Adriatique and the River Arsia on the Ceast of the Schavonian Province Liburnia Westward with Millain Containing these Estates and Places viz. 1. Histria a woody barren and sickly Peninsula in the Adriatique a Nest of Thieves formerly troublesome to Rome till Manlius Cl. Pulcher Sempronius and Augustus Caesar reduced it And as troublesome to the Venetians Duke Petro Candiano An. 938. and Duke Henry Dondolo An. 1190. made it tributary and serviceable for Timber Marble and a Passage to Hungary 2. Friuli a pleasant and fruitful Country 50. Miles square lying between the Marque of Treviso the German Alps and the Adriatique 3. The Marque of Treviso parted Southward by the Po and Athesis from Ferrara and the rest of Romania Westward by the Rivers Mineiris and Sarla from Millain Eastward adjoyning to Friuli and the Gulf of Venice And Northward divided by the Alps from Tirole in Germany A most temperate and fruitful Country 4. The Adriatique a Gulf extending 700. Miles in length and 140. in bredth under the command of Venice The Duke whereof marrieth every Ascension Day with a Ring thrown in very solemnly in token that it must be subject to them as the Wife is to the Husband As on every Epiphany Day it is Baptized by the Bishop of Zant in token that it shall continue Christs faithful Souldier and Servant against the Infidels for ever The Principal Islands whereof under their Jurisdiction on this side being 1. Mala mollo 2. Torcellan 3. Muriano 4. Chioggia 5. Bovegia 6. Judaeha and 7. a shot of 72. little Islets near the main Land of Friuli whereon stands Venice her self with 4000. Bridges and 10000. Boats to pass from one part of it to another 8. Milies in compass containing 1300000. Inhabitants built within the Adriatique in the midst of salt Lakes for 90. Miles round and deep Marshes for 5. Miles several Monasteries and Churches as Forts and Castles lying between it and the Ports of Italy not under its obedience whence its impregnable and not to be taken but by an Army that extends 150. Miles in compass On the other side the Adriatique she hath Briscia Bergamo Verona Crema and towards Dalmatia 1. Corfu within a Mile of Albania 120. Miles in compass a craggy and mountainous place whose Castles are the Keyes to the Adriatique Gulf. 2. Zant 60. Miles round where they have no use for Currants but to dye cloaths or fatten Hoggs with them 3. Candia that noble Isle in the Mediterranean 270. Miles in length and 50. in bredth so opportunely situated that Aristotle would say She was made to be Mistress of the Sea An 100. Miles distant from Syria and Aegypt and 300. from Caramania Cyprus and Albania Neither doth the situation of the Seignory more befriend it than the Nature of the Inhabitants both close and reserved the People being so much advantaged by a native gravity that in a Book called Le Treature Politique it s recommended for the great School of it to all publick Ministers Bodin himself saying thus of them Quae de consilii capiendi ratione diximus nusquam sanè meliùs quam Venetiis fieri consueverunt The great Maximes they proceed upon are these 1. To be Umpires and Spectators in the troubles of the World rather than Actors to embroyl all other States and say as their Motto Pax tibi Marte none being more reputed for their open Intercessions for Peace none more suspected for their clandestine Incitations to a War for as they stole at first so they must stand at last a Republique only because of the common troubles But being addicted to Peace Trafique Wealth and Repose the first and fundamental Maxim they propose to themselves is to maintain common freedom and live secure 2. To ballance the Powers of Europe keeping them all out of Italy In pursuit of which Principle many have been its Contests with the French and Spaniards being as famous for varying Counsell Alliancies Dependencies abroad as for keeping close to her Constitution and Government at home where the Rule is the Venetians deliberate long before they decree any thing but when it is once seriously decreed it is as irrevocable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians 3. To understand all the Intrigues of Europe whence it is that they observe this method in the Employment of their Ambassadors First They send a man to Switzerland thence they employ him in Holland from thence they transmit him to England and from England to France from France to Spain from Spain to Germany and from Germany to Constantinople and are said to expend 140000 l. per Annum in Intelligencies 4. To keep their People in a perfect state of Obedience alwayes ignorant how to dispute always knowing how to obey their Superiours Orders which they will endure no Jesuite or any other Ecclesiasticks to discourse or cavil at and therefore are out with the Court rather than Church of Rome most commonly because it propagates a Religion that is
Turks slain and the Captain Admiral of the Port Amurath Bassa mortally wounded These two successful Victories the industrious Venetians pursued with the old Design of Dissentions and Tumults in Constantinople that cost the Prime Vizier his Life and had almost cost the Grand Seigniour his Empire the Bassa of Aleppo upon their suggestions revolting and all Asia falling off had not the generous Bassa of Damascus the present Prime Vizier nobly met the approaching Fate with singular Prudence and Conduct and notwithstanding the Venetians Treaty with the Persian made a League with Persia setled Asia overthrew the French Auxiliaries of Venice under Prince Almeric de Este of the House of Modena in Candia upon intelligence given him from France which the Venetians have thought fit to cut off by a more strict Alliance with that most Christian Kingdom Recovered Tendos lost An. 1655. after the great Fight in the Dardanells under Mollenique who got a stern of the whole Turkish Navy and so hemm'd them in that 40. Galleys were taken 28. Ships burnt 9000. Men lost 9. Mahones scattered the Captain Bassa only saving himself and 14. Galleys and he well deserved his Chain of Gold worth 2000 l. and the Generals Place But this Government aims at the Commendation of Wariness rather than Valour practising with Money rather than Armes and contenting themselves more with their first Title of Fishermen or their second of Merchants than that of Warriours Besides that it is their general Interest to keep the Peace of Italy to which as things stand yet they are able to give Law It s no wonder that their Agents are so busie in Mediations for Peace over the Christian World as in Spain France Holland and where-ever else any Controversies are like to arise since that Enemy that astonished all Christendom is like to fall now entirely on this Republique excluded the late Peace and notwithstanding the late Opportunity of ingratiating her self upon the French Rupture likely to be deserted by the Pope who by her Entrenchments upon his Jurisdictions her Affronts to his Nuncioes and Clergy particularly his Jesuites to whom she gave a bitter farewell Andate minte Pigliate may returnate Goe your wayes take nothing and never return and her readiness to comply with the French for a Passage into Italy is so far disobliged that he seemeth intent upon the Peace of the World to bring down that City having no other Design doubtless 1. in his Connivance at the Turkish Arsenal built in Candia 2. in his strange submission to the French King 3. in his obstinate refusal of those advantages that might serve in this Conjuncture than the settlement of the Church in Italy whereby a man may guess how much a Courtier Don Mario was when he told the Venetian Ambassador It was not reasonable that the discontent for particular Affairs should cause a prejudice to that which concerneth the general which is to maintain the Grandeur of that State meaning Venice inseparable with the Splendour of Italy Though yet the Venetians have done wisely in this that they have involved their Neighbour States in the same Premunire against the Church with themselves having wrought on the covetous humour of the Tuscan and that more ambitious of the Genoan to retrench the Papal Encroachments so far that they are concluded within the same jealousie and obnoxious to the same displeasure as only secured by the Favour of Spain as Venice may be by the Power of France Her great defect as the wisest have a soft place whereon they may be hit lyeth in this compass viz. that being so near the Turk that upon any affront from the Christians they must make War with him And yet so near him too that for want of Provisions of their own they cannot live without him for all her Territories afford her not Bread to eat to which I may add the distance of her Territories from her and from one another she doth not either engage the Christian Princes more vigorously against him or engage him more closely to her a Particular more worthy of her consideration 1. In regard that all the Isles Coasts and Maritime Places which the Seignory possesseth do confine with some part of the Ottoman Empire where she may be easily invaded and surprized 2. In regard that being the best peopled City in Italy she cannot support her self without the Friendship of the Mahumetan and his plentiful Country 3. In regard a War in the Levant stops Trade the chief Stay of that Mercantile Town THE Republique OF GENOA NExt to Venice in Reputation and Tuscany in Situation lyeth the Common-wealth of Genoa between two Rivers commanding formerly the Islands of Corsica Sardinia and the Baleares in the Mediterranean Lestos and Chio with some others in the Ionian Capha or Theodosia in the Taurican Chersonese Pera and a considerable Portion of Tuscany and thereby able to arm as they did once 58. Galleys and 8. Phamphyli Vessels of 140. Oars a piece for present service in 3. dayes time but now confined to Liguria and the Isle of Corsica by their Intestine Divisions and Forein Defeats particularly by Venice which hath brought them to live by Usury Retail and Mechanical Trades under the Protection of the King of Spain or the Vice-Roy of Millain who value it the more because its Metropolis or chief City Genoa is so seated that it is esteemed one of the Keyes of Italy being much courted by the Pope out of envy to the Venetians and as much by the Italian Princes for fear both of France and Spain It s Interest seemeth to be as much limited as its Situation for it hath but 6. things to do First To exclude the Nobility and keep the Common-wealth even by a restraint upon all Excesses of Power Riches Honour or Popularity Secondly To assist with Men and Money in all the Wars round about them at that rate maintaining their own Peace Thirdly To be the Bank of Spain and other Kingdomes where they take Money at that excessive rate that the Revenues of Millain and Naples goe to pay Use Money the Common-wealth of Genoa so obliging the Spaniards more to its self than all the Powers of Enrope could do Though Charles the 5th and his Son Philip thought by borrowing their Money to weaken and engage them rather to himself which they might do the better since France attempted the reducement of the Seignory to its old Yoak shaken off 1528. by Augustine Flisci and his Family who seized their Navy slew their Captain John Dorya but leaping from one Galley to another to secure all stumbled and fell into the Sea where he and his ambitious Treasons were both drowned together Fourthly To keep 12000. Men in Armes to guard their Territories and 30. Galleys at Sea to keep their Trade together with some Auxiliaries to serve their Protector of Spain which they may well maintain considering their Revenue amounteth to no less than 44000. Crowns per Annum besides their Bank of
Island forbidding any man upon pain of death to appeal to the Court of Rome insomuch that Baronius in his 11th Tome writes against him and he hath forbidden the Importation of that Book into either Naples or Sicily upon pain of Banishment to Noblemen and the Galleys to the common People Indeed since that Author hath taught the Court of Rome the supposititiousness of the Bull whereby Spain holds this Place it 's high time to exclude the Power of that Court and deny their Authority to dispose of it to any since they find not the Grant whereby it was bestowed on it But now the Affairs of Spain are so weak it were well the Jesuites were banished Sicily lest upon King Philip's death they solemnly divide what he as they alleged unlawfully united viz. the Temporal and the Spiritual Dominion and give to Caesar the things which are Caesars and the Pope the things that are the Popes making the Vice-Roy a King under the Emperour and the Bishops Dependents on the Pope To which Design the severity of the Governours a Spanish Errour here will contribute as much in Sicily as the Indulgence of the Emperour in Germany THE Kingdom OF NAPLES WHen we reflect on the State of this Kingdom the frequent Seditions in it were a Wonder considering the Settlement of the Spanish Reiglement but for Spains 2. Over-sights in Government alterations of Vice-Royes and oppression of Subjects and the present Peace were a Miracle considering the subtilty and restlessness of the Inhabitants but for Spains two politique Diversions the one more serious an hourly Devotion the other more jocund a daily Comedy they would revenge their being so poor but that they are kept so as well by their own vanity which is wisely humored as their Governours Impositions which are necessarily exacted besides the two Securities for their Peaceableness viz. 1. That the Commonalty thinketh all Employment above them but the Plough 2. That the Gentry judge all Business below them but their Pleasure the first of which humours will keep them too low and the second too bare to be troublesome to which I may add two more 1. Their Perfidy and Treachery that makes it impossible for them to trust one another in a Design 2. Their Rudeness Ignorance whereby they are capable of managing nothing but the great Horse Were not half the Neapolitan Clergy Dependents on the King Spain might be jealous of Rome and did not half hold of the Pope Rome might distrust Spain and because they were wholly neithers both might fear did not that in this last Age set up for the Spiritual Monarchy of this and this for the Temporal one of that The Fate of Italy is it 's only security against the French and that of Europe against the Turk while this last had often invaded it as they did 1433. had it not been the Key of Christendom and the first had often surprized it as they intended under Lewis the 12th but that is an Inlet into the Papacy though the People would out at the Back-door under the Saracen as formerly but that they choose slavery as they call their duty rather than barbarism And at the Fore-door under the French but that that is not an Escape but a change of pressures The Emissaries of Richlieu and Mazarine had often embroyled this Place had not those more numerous from the Pope secured it The Horse bestowed on his Holiness keeping the King of Spain in the Saddle and the Caution that the Church puts in at that Ceremony that she be not prejudiced in her Right is the best ground Of the other the King of Spain puts that he be not disturbed in his Power especially since the Duke of Modena could do the French against Arragon as much right as Gon Salvo did Arragon against France did not Millain bestir it's self on the one hand and had not the Pope diverted the French on the other Although the modern ambition of the Nepolitan Noblemen is more dangerous at this time than the antient pretension of the French King albeit bottomed on the Duke of Anjou's Adoption Pope Clement the 7th's Confirmation the last Will of the Duke of Main and the Agreement between Lewis the 12th and Ferdinand of Castile nothing obstructing but the Popes gift of it upon Spain did not the Spanish Preferment divide and the Castilian Army of 6000. Foot and 2000. Horse awe them and their King prove too hard for them I know not whether more by drayning 22000. Neapolitans into the Spanish Garrisons or by drawing 4000. Germans into the Neapolitan Besides that every second House maintains a foot Souldier a Janizary extraordinary sent out of Spain or Germany 1. Which together with the Spaniards firm League with the Pope 2. their Confederacy in Italy 3. their Impoverishing of the Nobility 4. their Indulgence to the Commonalty 5. their strong Navy at Sea 6. the Jealousies of France and Germany 7. the Largesses bestowed on the Clergy and 8. the Fears of Venice the 8. Branches of their Interest of State may secure the Peace of that unquiet Place for this Age if it escapes an alteration upon the death of the King of Spain whose Treasure is more beholding to the Gabals of Naples that come to 4. Millions of Crowns the People paying there for every thing they enjoy to their very Sallets than to the Mines of India that cost them more THE Republique OF RAGUSA THE Command of this puny State is of little Extent the Soyl very unfruitful and steril without any River and the City situated among abrupt Hills and many mighty Neighbours and nevertheless this Republique for some hundreds of Years when as other greater Soveraignties of Senia Bosnia Hungary c. were destroyed by the Turk hath not only preserved her self but advanced her Subjects in Wealth and Reputation She commands in the Dalmatian Coast from Cape Cumeno to Castelnuovo about 4. Miles into the Land as also over these 4. Islands Agosta Melada Inpana Calamita The City lying long-wayes is yet no more than 2000. Paces in it's Circumference and cannot be made greater or enlarged because of one side it lyeth against a Rock which commands it and on the other against the Sea And because Merchandise and Peace have flourished here so long it is built very narrow with high Houses and is full of Inhabitants who being necessitated to spread themselves among the adjacent Lands when they have gotten Estates fix at home It is fortified with Walls and quadrangular Towers ramm'd and filled with Earth but the impregnable Castle standing upon the aforesaid Rock and encompassed in a manner with the Sea commands both it and the Haven No man but a Gentleman of Ragusa hath any thing to do in the Government and he that marries with an under Degree loseth his Gentility by which means there are now but 24. Families All Gentlemen aged 20. are Members of the Great Council and of these Gentry there were lately in number 317. In all
is reckoned as Honourable as any in Germany and of a considerable Interest among all the Princes of the Empire especially of those of the Protestant Union and is in good terms with all forein Princes Thus have we surrounded Germany by a Circumambulation and finished the Survey by bringing it to the Point where we set out THE Arch-Dukedom OF AVSTRIA THE Arch-Dukedom of Austria being allyed to the Empire alwayes its Arch-Dukes descending as some think from Charles the Great in a direct Masculine Line was very strong and united to it now is much stronger as Commanding Hungary which bounds it on the East Obliging Bavaria that encloseth it on the West Possessing Bohemia and Moravia that lye on the North of it Awing Istria and Friuli that stand on the South and seeing nothing round about it but it s own Territories Whether we reflect on its Interest abroad 1. In strong Obligations upon the Pope since the kindness of the Emperours Phocas and Rodolphus the First 2. On the now useful Title to the 17. Provinces by the Marriage of Maximilian of Austria with Mary Daughter of Burgundy 3. In the many Inter-Marriages with the Kings of Spain since the time of Charles the Great Or on its Condition at home plentifull for all manner of Provision and so strong with all manner of Strong-Holds that as Count Hohenlo delivered himself at Regensburg if Tyrol were well-fortified on the Alps towards France Walkinstein Lints Ens Ipnewstad and other Towns upon the Danube and Dravus well-strengthened towards Sclavonia Stiria or Stiermark well-guarded towards Hungary If Liberty of Conscience were allowed and the Privilege of Princes were abated this Dukedom might be well called as Solyman the Magnificent termed it The Rampire of Christendom For 1. Wien or Vienna its Metropolis on the Banks of the Danube as strong as it 's stately hath a mighty Wall that gave the aforesaid Sclyman such a repulse as that of 200000. Men he brought before it he carried away but an 118000. from it 2. The Alps with a few Forts secure it on the one hand and the Danube with the Dravus wall it on the other this from Turkey that from France Here is 320. Miles in Land and yet none of this holding of the Arch-Duke 4. Earls 23. free Barons and none of these enfeoffed of the Empire insomuch that Austria is of late shrunk in its Power for the Vastness of its Estate and eclipsed in its Glory for the Honour of its Subjects Yet 223000 l. it will afford in Revenue 14000. Foot and 4000. Horse it can raise in Forces Four Years Provision it yields in Necessaries Furniture and Armes for 60000. Foot and 24000. Horse it keeps up in Magazines Four Councils it holds one at Vienna for Austria properly so called another at Insbruck for Tyrol another at Grets under a Chancellour for Stiermark and another at Gertun for Carinthia and Carniola for War and Peace The Interest of Austria Carniola and Carinthia is to secure their Bulwarks Tyrol and Stiermark and the Interest of Tyrol and Stiermark is to second Count Serini in fortifying upon the Mur and Dravus near Gratzpruch Steckaw Petaw and Canisia against another Incursion of the Mahumetans and to follow the Duke of Insbruch in strengthening Trent towards Italy Hall Swaz and Malh towards the Alps to check the Transalpines from passing to Germany till the next time they have need of them It were not amiss likewise that Anstria left its State-pretences of Liberty under a Christian Emperour urged by it so long till it was almost enslaved to an Infidel That it ceased limiting its Arch-Dukes Authority to Command it before he lose his Power to Protect it That it quit its Fears and Jealousies touching Religion and Privileges before it have none to be afraid or jealous of It being never likely to be well in Germany till the Princes and the free Cities agree who shall Obey the Emperour and the Princes consent who shall Command the Catholiques and Protestants set down what is Christianity Obedience otherwise being likely to become a Snare Authority a Name and Christianity a State of Infidelity Besides that the Arch-Dukes hereof branched since into three most considerable Interests viz. that of the Emperour the King of Spain and the House of Burgundy rising as it is observed at the same time with the Ottoman Family to restrain the growing Greatness of that Empire should as the first Emperour of that House since the last Interruption keep a strict Correspondence with the Potentates of Asia and Africa that border on that dreadful Monarch to invade the Turk from Europe when he lyeth too hard on either Asia or Africa and to annoy him from those Coasts when ever he looked towards Europe as the King of Carmania did in Asia when Amurath invaded Hungary and the Hungarians did when that Surly Musulman turned short upon the King of Caramania HVNGARY HUNGARY lying 300. English Miles in length 290. in bredth from Presburg along the Danube to the Borders of Transylvania is all along in danger of the Oppressions of the Empire from Stiria and Austria that lye on the West of it from the Turmoyles of Poland and Swedeland that border the North of it from the Turkish Power of Sclavonia Dacia Wallachia and Transylvania that limit the East and South of it A Country that can endure neither its Miseries nor the Remedies of them neither the wasting War of the Mahumetan nor the suspected Peace of the Empire especially since the People here are so long used to War that they know not how to live in Peace being so lazy that they cannot work they will be so troublesome as to fight for their Livelyhood and when the Turk doth not make it necessary for the Emperour to defend himself the Hungarians make it more than necessary for him to offend others A rich but troublesome Clergy they had which Maximilian the Emperour brought to Stipends and Pensions Great Privileges they boasted of since King Andrew's time but they are undone if they lose them not for while they are disputing whether Elective or Hereditary whether they have not Power to oppose their King in case he wrongs them they are hardly a Nation worth the enjoying or a People worth the governing the Turk having swallowed up almost two Parts of three While they are angry with their Master the Emperour that they had not the pleasure to laugh at his ruine and their own for some People had rather be undone than governed he having clapped up so sudden a Peace it 's well they have so much Wit in their Anger as yet to fortifie their Borders Particularly 1. Raab on the meeting of the Danube with the River Raab 2. Castlenovo 3. Gomorrha an Island encircled by the Danube 4. Fyleck the Place that cost Solyman the Magnificent and Amurath the 3d. 300000. Men 5. Lippe a Fort that commands the Passes to Transylvania and 6. Tockay a Strong Hold of vast service Lentulus would
much Discourse concluded That though it be honourable for the Soveraign to aggrandize his best-deserving Subject yet ought he to be very circumspect in the distribution of Favours if he would not lose that honour and respect which his Inferiours owe him especially if there be an Opportunity left too by a pretence of Election to be the Soveraigns Competitor A Pretence however plausible hath cost Germany Poland Hungary and Bohemia more blood and treasure than would have made their respective Princes Universal Monarchs Wherefore it 's expected Hungary and Bohemia would make it part of their Interest utterly to exclude it and set up Succession a way least obnoxious to Disorder and Anarchy to Encroachments and Usurpations to Feuds and Animosities to Charges and Impositions with many other Inconveniencies this last Age is so sensible of that another will not venture the Experiment But allow the 1200000. Imperial raised from the Mines and other Revenues to the Emperour for its peace and safety whose Power is the more firm by the last shaking and more rich by the last Confiscation For there was something in Gondomar's humour though failing in the instance it was occasioned by who upon the famous Revolt of the Portuguez upon Christmass Day 1640. went to his Master and challenged Allobricias that is a Reward for good News who asking what it was he told him very seriously that Portugal was fallen off And his Majesty standing amazed both at the News and the Relator the strangeness of the one and the impudence of the other Nay said he Sir be not amazed for now the whole Realm is your own every man hath forfeited his Estate and stands at your mercy What People soever goe to disturb a Monarchy settle it as giving advantage to that Power which in the ordinary times of Peace was limited in those extraordinary of War to become boundless And provoking that Authority which by the Constitution of it is regular in its own and the Publicks defence to become arbitrary As it must needs be here where there is no hope of flourishing again untill Bohemia is divided now as it was formerly by Charles 12. into 12. Parts under 12. Governours like the Bashaws of Turkey and the Major Generals of England TRANSYLVANIA TRANSYLVANIA into which 1. The Turk hath so easie an entrance by Moldavia on the East of it 2. The Emperour by Upper Hungary on the West of it 3. The Polander Muscovite and Swede by Russia Nigra and Wallachia on the North of it And all by the Differences between its seven free Cantons hath its Concerns reduced into a narrow Compass having no more to do than to submit to a great Master that may awe its Neighbours to Civility and its self to a Peace by an Army of its own Natives who so populous a Place it is seldom appear under 70000. Men and these so fierce and warlike that if leaving a competent number to manage their rich and fertile Country they were employed especially the Heyduchs or Horsemen abroad would rescue the Liberties of Christendom while with Intestine Animosities they lose their own Especially since the Princes of that Country are guilty of the same over-sight with the Bishop of Rome permitting as he doth some pretendingly Noble Families who have no other visible subsistence than those Pensions allowed them by their respectively Royal Patrons to observe the Defects and disturb the Peace of the Places they live in Which yet they attempted in vain as long as Clausenburgh was well fortified Alba Julia is secured Waraden is furnished and the wild Province Zaculiria is reduced to any order or civility Which being but once happily done Moldaviaes plentiful Wilderness that lyeth on the West of it 300. Miles round might be recovered Wallachiaes barbarous Country that runs 500. Miles in length and 120. in bredth might notwithstanding its woody Mountains that environ it be subdued Poor Rascia that lyeth 80. Miles Northward of it might be peopled Rich Servia that lyeth on the East of this Place and Upper Hungary and its Mines might be seized Bulgaria and its Hills might be attaqued the Danube might be commanded But I leave these things to those mighty Emperours of the East and West who having spent most of their own and their Neighbours ill humours in the late War have now both security and leisure to settle their Dominions and improve them Only we may observe one great Defect in the Policy of both these Potentates that they transplant not the Natives into other Countries and settle Strangers here to keep these unquiet People in some order who can endure neither Liberty or Servitude and know as little how to Command themselves as to Obey others What the Emperour may do who hath Waruden Enguiden and such Places on the one hand and the Polander who hath Zilhali and Gela on the other we shall see when the Succession of Spain and Poland is setled and the Discontents between the Turk and Constantinople are heightened In the mean time if Abell shews not his Superiours a Trick he is no Calvinist CROATIA IT were a Wonder why the Grand Seigniour 1663. as soon as he had set up his Standard at Constantinople should command the Prime Vizier and the main Body of his Army to so inconsiderable a Place as Croatia did not the World since understand that it is the Habitation of the Serinies and the Croates the best Commanders and Souldiers this day in the Christian World who not only kept this Place against the Impressions of Windischland on the North of it Bosnia on the East Cantado de Zura on the South being assisted only by Carniola on the West but also threatned as much mischief to the Mahumetans on the Christians side as the Cossacks or Tartars did the Christians on the Mahumetans Especially since they have the Hungarians to assist them under a pretence of right in one part of Sclavonia on the one hand and the Venetians pretending to another part of it on the other The House of Austria having a ready passage into it from their part of Winchesland one way and the Serene Republique the like by the way of Dalmatia another Only the Republique of Ragusi having its Peace of the Turk on Condition to distract the Christian doth unfortunately interpose ever and anon upon which account it 's thought the Interest of Christendom that there were no such thing as a Common-wealth in it but that the whole were guided by the same Principles in order to the same grand Interest Only the mischief of it is the Venetians command Zara the chief City of Contado de Zara for which they and the Hungarians had such long Wars as the Key into Ragusi Croatia and Hungary it self Which Inconvenience yet the Serinies and other brave Gentlemen would remedy did it stand with the Interest of Germany their Religion with Armes or their Popularity with Power Of those Parts OF EVROPE That are under THE TURK HItherto of the Christendom of Europe
do well Favours are derived to merit and Preferments to worth and a man may be as good as he will and as great as he deserveth The Honour of Religion and its Clergy is asserted the Levity and Petulancy of the Populacy is restrained and every one knoweth his own place where they serve one God in one Faith by one Baptism in one Spirit in one hope of one common Salvation Its Fourth Interest is Unity the Head whereof is an excellent Prince made up of power and sweetness who is feared and loved whose Veins swell with all the Royal Blood of this Kingdom and whose Soul is thronged with all the Virtues of its Kings so that his Right is as undoubted as his Possession and his Merit as his Right And the awe upon all men arising from the three Wonders of his Escape 1651. His Restauration 1660. and his Success ever since Great is our happiness in him multiplyed it is in Relations Uno avulso non deficit alter Aureus On his Throne he sits with a Gracious Queen on his right hand his Excellent Mother before him his Royal Brother on his left hand his Grave and Honourable Council at his Feet his Reverend Bishops about his Throne his Loyal Nobility near his Person his Unanimous Gentry attending his Pleasure and that August Council called a Parliament made up of all these as one man reconciling his Prerogative and his Peoples Liberties to the Envy of most Neighbours and the Amazement of all Look we into their Debates they are dutiful into their Counsells they are rational loyal and resolute into their Expedients they are seasonable into their Supplyes they are honourable and into their Unanimity and as one man they are resolved to live and dye with their dear and dread Soveraign If we return to the Court it 's full thrifty wary and strict If to the Exchequer it 's full with a Revenue double that of former Kings 1200000 l. per Annum besides the Resolution of the People to spend their Lives and Fortunes for the defence and honour of the King and in him of the Kingdom and themselves If to the Courts of Justice they are filled with most reverend and famous Men. If to the Church it 's full of venerable learned and prudent Churchmen If to the Officers of State they are honourable and experienced If to the Cabals there was never Prince or Council since the Constitution of Empires a safer Preserver of secrets and yet none whose secrecy and silence we less may fear where the chief Prelates cast Reverence and the chief Nobility of both Kingdoms Dignity and all knowing in Forein Affairs abroad and Domestique Constitutions at home If into the Church Disputations are silenced Pulpits are modest Presses are regulated Learning is encouraged Debauchery is discountenanced Faction is suppressed and Schism is made ridiculous If into the City the Lord Mayor and Major General are active and vigilant the Aldermen and Common Council are liberal and free 200000 l. at at time the Companies Officers and Vestries are setled If into the Country the Forts Strong Holds and Havens are secure the Militia is setled and reduced to excellent Rules for the ease and service of the Country the Lords Lieutenants and their Deputies are powerful and honest made up of the choicest Gentry the Sheriffs that command the Power of the Country faithful and well affected the Justices of Peace Men of Estates Wisdom Interest Repute and known Integrity who execute Justice regulate Disorders discover Plots disperse Conventicles promote the honour and security of the Kingdom and these hold some their Estates others their Places and all their Honour of his Majesty under whom Tillage and Husbandry prospereth Manufactures are encouraged Native Commodities are promoted all People are employed in the Necessities or Conveniencies of the Kingdom every man under his own Vine every one under his own Figtree If we look back upon the Pretences Methods or Principles of the former Rebellion they are cut off by Acts of Parliament If forward on the Opportunities for a future Disturbance they are all vacated by Acts of State If men pretend Religion for Disturbance England knoweth it's Hypocrisie If Liberty our People is too sensible it is Licentiousness If Propriety we have been taught that the meaning of that is Taxes Plunder and Free-quarter If Conscience English Men have learned to Obey and not Disobey for Conscience sake If Oppression none to that of Disorder Universal Liberty and a standing Army If Looseness in Manners every man among us saith It cannot be so bad as when there is no King in Israel and every man may do what is good in his own Eyes If the Errours of a Statesman we see men aim at the Kings head through the Statesmens sides No colour for Disturbance among us and all reason for Peace in a Nation to the Government whereof the grave learned and prudent Persons of all sides submit wherein no man doth or suffereth but what he consenteth to himself We hear indeed of War upon the Borders of the Empire but we have Peace in our Borders being walled in first with the Ocean and that Ocean secured by as strong a Navy as is this day in Christendom We read of mutual Challenges of Right between Spain and Portugal but we are the People to whose Land none so much as pretendeth Right save our dread Soveraign We observe others failing in their Designs upon forein Parts we great in our own Possessions maintain our own Right to the full and forbear others equally famous for our Justice and our Power They talk of Kingdoms like to expire in their dying Princes when we are secured in a Royal Family not more a Blessing to us that it is good than that it is numerous If Neighbour States have provoked the World we pity them for we are at Peace with it If other Princes throw away their People with vain and ambitious Attempts we are onely employed to secure our own Borders to promote our own Interests and Honour Some Republiques have the miserable choice of either an intollerable War or an unworthy Peace we give the Law to Africa and Europe in utrumque parati a prosperous War or an honourable Peace We stand to no Nations Courtesie having made our Friendship and our Enmity the most Considerable this day in the World Our Kingdom is Populous our Ground Fertile our Gentry Expert our Yeomen Trained our Scholars Learned our Noblemen Active our Magazines Full our Money Ready our Court Vnanimaus our Genius Warlike and in a word every Particular amongst us sensible of the Concerns of the Whole Prayeth for His most Excellent Majesty the Breath of our Nostrils that his Counsels may prosper his just Cause may succeed his Enemies may be ashamed and upon his Head his Crown may Flourish All that love their King and Country saying AMEN FINIS