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
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
named St. John and St. Mark 4. Cracovia in Lesser Poland once the Court of the Kings of Poland a wealthy and well-peopled City sited likewise upon the Weysel In it is remarkable an Academy of great Renown founded by King Casimir the First and supplyed at first with Professors from the Sorbonne of Paris 2. The Castle built upon the banks of the River of a great compass and of great state and magnificence although outwardly it appear rough and disproportioned the Cathedral is enclosed within it This City by way of Excellence is called the Rome of Poland and its University the Daughter of that at Paris The City of Casimir is built on the other side the water and will hardly forget the Swedish Arms. The Jews City which is Neighbour to it may for honours sake be called the principal and first Street of Hell it is so filthy c. Not to mention Vilna in Lithuania and Koningburgh in Prussia both Universities Dantzick and Cracow making up four in this Kingdom As for the other Towns as Grandentz Newamburg Culmen and the like they are meer Names of Cities and nothing else Pauperum Tabernae quatuor aut septem si sit latissima villa Seven or Eight Houses make a large Town As to the People and their Manners the Gentlemen are extraordinary large and strong of body and will skilfully manage a Shabel or Scymiter are well skill'd in foreign Languages are liberal Givers good Cavaliers and good Catholiques On the contrary and the reverse of the Medal they are much brutal superstitious fierce and proud and sacrifice to their own approbation of things and acknowledge no Soverain but their Liberty From whence have proceeded those Mischiefs which they have often suffered more mediately from the Tartars and Muscovites and by which means the late King of Sweden brought them to the utmost degree of Extremity followed with no more than 40. thousand men when as the Pole is able to bring a 100000. Horse into the Field This happened by that small power and authority which is allowed the King and that little good intelligence that was maintained between their Generalls and the divisions and revolts of their Troops An Apprentice a Novice will be thought a Master and a simple Gentleman who never saw a Battel The King of Polands Chiefest Praerogative but in picture will not want of confidence and presumption to believe of him self because he is born a Gentleman that he is able at the first Essay to manage and conduct the Forces of an Empire And in effect private Gentlemen are so frequently raised to Places of the greatest Office and Command which is the fairest flower of this Kings Prerogative and is legally vested in him as the Fountain of Honour that every man thinks himself of merit and capacity enough for the greatest Employments Besides they hold themselves all equal in blood and have the same Voices in their Diets and Assemblies the same Priviledges Rights and Franchises their Riches only distinguish them one from the other These Gentlemen for the defence of the Kingdom are bound to serve at their own charge which they do generally on Horseback gallantly furnished and attired in Cassocks and garnished with gold and silver and variety of other Colours they also adorn themselves with Eagles Plumes the Skins of Leopards and Bears with many Banners and parti-coloured Ensignes which distinguish them from the ordinary sort and strike terrour but sometimes covetous desires into their Enemies and most an end they carry like the Philosopher all they have about them It is reckoned that Poland after this manner can raise a 100. Lithuania 70. thousand Horse but not so good as the Poles whose best are very small yet nimble and far more couragious than the Dutch In this Cavalry consisting of Gentlemen and their Servants with their Auxiliaries as the Circassion the Cossacks they are so confident that they slight all Fortifications unless Frontiers And for the Country being all Champian is most and only fit for that service the Foot they have are borrowed of the Hungarians and Germans and for Camp Drudgery as Pioneers c. they use Tartars their Slaves Of Priests there is great store in this Country and they held in good esteem and veneration Of Merchants there are very few scarce worth mentioning But of all men the Boors and Pesants are the most miserable for they possess nor enjoy a Farthing and are meer Vassalls to their Lords which treat and use them with all the rigour and tyranny in the world A Gentleman in a slight matter among his Domestiques and Clowns hath and doth exercise the power of life and death The Government representeth rather an Aristocracy than a Monarchy and is a kind of medium betwixt both or both together It is Monarchical in that it acknowledges one Supremacy and King it is Aristocratical because the King is not an absolute Prince to do what he pleaseth and because the Nobility who have also the greatest Authority in the Diets do Elect Him They have neither Law nor Statute nor Form of Government written but it is all by Tradition as by meer Custom from the Death of one Prince to the Election of another the supreme Authority resides in the Arch-Bishop of Gesne who is alwayes President of the Council appointeth the Diet ruleth the Senate and proclaimeth the new Elected King Before King Stephen's time who erected new Bishops Palatines and Castellanes in Livonia there were but 14. Bishops 28. Palatines and 70. of the chiefest Castellanes that had Voices in the Election of a King who is Rector Senatus sed Regnantis Ruler of a raigning Senate Whereby he is obliged to comport with them in these things following In any Affair of Importance the King by his Chancellour sends Letters to the Arch-Bishops Bishops and Palatines which are called Instruction is Literae Letters of Instruction because they contain the account of that Business which His Majesty will propose to them at the Diet and therein appoints them the time of their meeting These Letters being received every Senator examines the particular quality nature and consequences of the Proposition to which he hath free liberty to answer negatively or affirmatively and as he judgeth best either for the publick good or his particular advantage The King also sends his Letters to the respective Palatinates the Nobility whereof presently assemble together to chuse a Nuncio as they call it that is a Person of merit and sufficiency to be their Speaker and the manner of that Palatinate is to bring things to an universal consent and accommodation For if it should happen that any single Gentleman should dissent from what this Assembly hath concluded there is no further proceeding to be had the Nuncio must not depart to the Diet nor that Province have any Voice or Interest amongst the States General When the Provincial Assemblies are finished by the time appointed by the Kings Majesty the Senators and the Nuncio's come
only bane of their Government nor must a Foreigner stir abroad without leave c. And lastly They are so Proudly conceited of their own Prudence that they think their Politiques the most perfect and absolute in the World No question he would lend his Hand against the Turk if for no other Cause than the Vindication of the Greek Church of which he is the sole Soveraign Protector but it is not Long enough and will not reach that distant Enemy but by the wayes aforesaid The present Emperours Name is Alexei Michalowich that is the Son of Michael which is all the Sir-name they use both Prince and People His Fathers Christian Name being Michael Fedorowitz the Son of Theodore who was Patriarch of Musco This Michael the Nobles having been twice imposed on by the Polanders who brought in two counterfeit Princes named Demetrius pretended Sons of Vasilowich the last Prince but one of the Royal Blood and in their quarrel subdued Mosco and almost ruined the Empire weary of their own Confusions and the intollerable oppression of the Poles unanimously chose for their Emperour who setled the State and managed it in a more constant way of Peace with the Turk Tartar Pole and Swede than any of his Predecessors had done before him He began his Reign in 1615. and died in 1646. much lamented and adored of his Slaves as well for his foreign Acts as those at home and for his Justice and Moderation And so we pass Westward to the Kingdom of Sweden SWEDEN OR Swethland THis Kingdom is bounded on the East with Muscovy on the West with great Hills which divide it from Norway on the North with the great Frozen Ocean and on the South with Donmark Livonia and the Baltique Sea For the quantity reckoning in Lapland it exceedeth France and Italy by 900. Miles and for fertility if you count Wells Stones Mountains and Lakes it excelleth them both likewise but Gothland and Finland are excellently well stored with all Necessaries and supply their Neighbours with Malt and Barley The Religion is Lutheran introducted by Gustavus Ericus or de Vasa descended from the last King Magnus who coveted the Revenues of the Church but kept up the Episcopal Dignity who have Voices in Parliament The Swedish Gentleman is a well-accomplish'd and gallant Person a good Souldier and a good Captain understands the Politiques and speaks most Languages They are something fierce and insolent on advantage but it is in War which excuseth it The People are naturally strong and active provident patient and industrious are very humble and hospitable to Strangers and in the Northern Parts so healthy that they live commonly to the Age of 130. or 140. years and this is imputed to the purity of the Air but sometimes over-cast with Foggs by reason the Inhabitants neglect the Water-courses of their miry standing Lakes Of no great note for Arts or Armes till that Gustavus Ericus who chased out the Danes under their King Christiern the 3d. and Gustavus Adolphus whose Conquests were admirable and his Conduct not to be matched by any Parallel They are exceeding apt to learn the Mechanick Arts so that every Souldier is his own Smith Cutler Carpenter c. They are very Valiant both their Horse and Foot as they have given good proof both in Germany Poland Russia and Denmark Their Religion is wholly Lutheran Bishops they have whom they call Surintendents and who retain their Voice in Parliaments but have no setled Church Revenue being paid and maintained by the King with an inconsiderable yearly Pension The whole Kingdom is divided into two Parts the one lying on the East the other on the West side of the Gulph or Bay of Bodner or Sinus Boddicus a spacious Branch of the Baltique Sea according to which division there are 1. the Province of Gottoland 2. Of Sweden lying on the West side And 3. Lapland on the North. 4. Bodden 5. Finland And 6. the Swedish Islands so that He is a Prince of no small Territory but like the Russian he is not very Populous by reason of those cold Regions which none but Savages inhabit under a certain tribute of Furrs of which this King hath his share from the Laplanders As for the Government it is Monarchical and Absolute to the King in Actu but the Senators pretend it to be Elective although the Son hath continually succeeded his Father in the Government which was made a Sanction by the States at the instance of the same Ericus who would not accept of the Crown urged upon him without such a Law and this hath prevailed ever since but in the Case of Sigismond beaten out of Sweden by the Faction of Charles Duke of Suderman his Uncle for we have seen the Infant Son of the late Charles Gustavus advanced immediately upon his Fathers death to the Throne And when the King is once seated there he governs pro imperio for he layes what Taxes he pleaseth as 5 6 7 8 Dollars yearly upon every Housholder according to his quality And that which is chief all Appeals for final Determination are made to him not to his Parliament or Council This Kings Revenue consisteth in four things the Tenths of Ecclesiastical Livings Mines Tributes and Customes 1. The Revenues of the Church arise to a great Summ consisting before the Reformation of seven Bishopricks and sixty Monasteries which enjoyed very great Possessions now incorporated into the Crown except only some small maintenance to the Bishops as abovesaid 2. His Mines a great deal more considerable for that his tenth part of three Copper Works almost a hundred years agoe yielded him 3000. Dollars whereby estimation may be made of his Silver and Gold And those Mines may be found in every place if the Country People bound to carry wood and do other servile work there did not hide and hinder the discovery Most fine Silver is found in the Province of Vestras were it not for the envy and jealousie of the Inhabitants either murmuring that Strangers should be employed or suspecting that they should be over-reached so that his Revenue is mightily hindred by this means 3. But his Taxes do far surpass all his other Incomes for he levyeth the Tenth of Rye Wheat Barley Fish Skins Oxen c. Of the Tenth of Oxen he hath gathered at some times 18000. Dollars with all which he maintaineth his Court Officers Navy and Armies In the time of War with Dane or Muscovite his Neighbours he alloweth his Souldiers Victuals which by his Taxes he provideth at easie Rates He giveth them likewise a Coat or Cassock every year which maketh them ever fully ready to obey his Commands The Marriage of the Kings Daughters is at the disposal of the Senate who give them for their Portion besides Silver Plate and other Gifts a 100000. Dollars Of the Uplandish People which pay not the Impost of Victuals the King is accustomed to exact of every Poll acording to his ability five Dollars or more yearly 4. His
Comines with the Forts of St. Amour Bleverans and Joux the Towns of Rocroy Catelet and Linchamp which is a small Restitution for the Acquists the French have made by this Treaty As to the Forces of these Provinces it is and hath appeared to be very redoubted the Walloons being excellent Souldiers both for Horse and Foot as they have approved themselves both at Home and Abroad nor are they less numerous besides the Gentry are very ready to the service of their Prince and Country and are most accomplish'd Persons speaking promptly six or seven Languages of which Latine very readily but this reputed to the continuance of the War which brought a Conflux of all Nations into those Parts As to maritime Affairs their Dunkirk Navigations sufficiently tell the World what they were able to do at Sea but now they have but two Port Towns Newport and Ostend and neither of a convenient Station or Harbour for Shipping being very narrow and difficult to come out of with some Winds notwithstanding they will serve well enough for Pyratical Conveniencies but to Fleets let Flanders bid adieu The Revenue of these Provinces was considerable were it not for the constant Charge which the King is at in maintaining them so that they have been said to be the Correlative of the West Indies during the late Wars when they spent and consumed all that Treasure and bankrupted the King of Spain besides And sure it will be a long time and there must be as long a Tract of Peace before their Incomes will ballance the Account and make the King of Spain a Saver However at present he is in hopes of being no further Loser and of reducing his Revenue to some settlement which the late times so perplexed and squandered and the Care and Frugality of the present Governour the Marquess Caracence hath made a fair progress therein already In former times these People would not be content without a Prince of the Blood to be their Governour which made King Philip the 2d send his Daughter Isabella Clara and afterwards invested her and her Husband Albert the Arch-Duke with the Soveraignty and since the Cardinal Infanta the Arch-Duke Leopold and Don John of Austria but such is the present acquiescence under this fair and amicable Government of the Marquess besides such is the paucity of the Princes of the Blood both of Spain and Austria that they willingly accept of soever the King sends but such is his aequality and evenness with the People that the States are interested in the Administration more than ever any Prince would in former times allow but now they are grown up into a mutual Confidence and right Understanding one of another The Marquess of Caracena is supposed to be upon his departure and the Marquess Castel Rodengo is appointed to succeed him As to their Interest it being conjoyned and depending upon that of Spain further than what the Ecclesiasticks will do voluntarily of themselves in this Grand Cause of Religion against the Turks Besides that this People and Clergy especially are mainly devoted to the Imperial Family we will consider it when we come to treat of the Kingdom of Spain FRANCE THe Kingdom of France hath on the East the River Aa the Alps which divide it from Italy the Rhosne which parts it from Savoy Sagona which separates it from Lorrain and the Dutchy of Luxemburg On the South the Mediterranean Sea and Pyrenean Mountains On the West the Atlantick Ocean And on the North the English Ocean The nearer to the North the narrower it is and narrowest of all near Calice The Figure thereof between round and square and therefore bigger than a man would take it It containeth many large Provinces as Picardy Normandy Britain Aquitayn Gascoyn by which Names the two last are better known to Us than by the modern Divisions of them by the French the Isle of France Champayn Auvergn the Dutchy of Burgundy Daulphia Province Languedoc c. The two last lying toward the Mediteranean Sea bringeth forth all sorts of Fruits like that of Italy whereas Picardy Brittain and Normandy bringeth forth little or no Wine and the rest aboundeth with it and other Fruits so that it is under great diversity and various temperature of Air. It containeth in length 520. Miles from the Alps to the Atlantique or West Ocean and in breadth 584. from Marseilles to Calice The whole Land of France is fruitful and fertile and though the Apennine Hills spreading over almost all the South of Italy are barren yet in the Mountains of Auvergue which are the only of note and few else in France stand many good Towns richly seated where Cloathing is exercuted and a good part of the Kingdom served with Butter and Flesh of excellent relish the rest of the Kingdom is almost plain here and there garnished with fruitful Hills and green Valleys whose plenty doth contend with variety fertility with delicacy commodiousness of situation with the beautiful Fabricks and Structures of Cities And herein without controversie Italy giveth place to France for although some one Corner thereof affordeth exquisite Pleasure and delightful Prospects with happy Conveniences of Situation as Rovera d' Sala Campania the Territory of Croton Tarent and some other Cities of Calabria yet those are singular and few in Italy common and frequent in Fra ce especially in Burgundy Brie the Isle of France Turen Anjou Xaintong and Languedoc In each of which Provinces it seemeth that Nature hath set apart and as it were dedicated by allotment some Places to Ceres some to Bacchus some to Pomona and some to Pallas Yea it happeneth very often that the Western or North-west Wind arising from the Sea bringeth the Spring-tide before the Winter be fully expired so decking the Fields with Flowers and the Gardens with Herbs that the Inhabitants of Poitou Bourdeaux the Isle of France c. enjoy as forward a Spring as those of Jago d' Garda in Italy which is reckoned one of the most praecoce Frutages in Europe But there is nothing in France more worthy the noting than the number and pleasure of the Navigable Rivers whereof some as it were gird in the whole Realm as Sagona Rhosne and Mosel some other cut through the middle as the Sequan or Seyn Layre and Garon Into these Streams fall so many other Rivers some from the utmost bounds some from the inmost Parts of the Realm that it maketh the whole Country commodious for Traffique and Exchange of each others Wants Insomuch that by this facility of carriage and intercourse of Merchants all things may be said to be in common to the whole Kingdom In Anjou alone are forty Rivers great and small whereupon Q. Katherin de Medicis was wont to say That this Kingdom contained more Rivers than all Europe besides This indeed was an Hyperbolical Speech yet something of affinity to truth And we see that this easie and ready conveyance with the goodness and luxuriance of the Soyl hath been
Family of Brandenburgh but what the performance will be is not determinable though he hath not scrupled to detain the like intrusive Guardianships in lesser places as we have mentioned in Wittenberg and Alsatia As to the Revenue of this Principality it is computed worth some 35000 Crowns a year amounting to 10000 sterling but the force of this Province no way available for that it is every way encompassed with French Provinces and Avignion so that in effect it is a distinct Soveraignty but as long as that King pleaseth Concerning the County of Avignion It is seated to the Southward of Orange and bordereth upon the Mediterranean as Neighbouring Marseilles and was given in fee to the Popes of Rome who had a right of Possession before and had also had an actual Possession for some time by Queen Joan of Naples the rightfull Proprietor of this whole County of Province for the defence and assistance she had from Clement the 5th in restating her in the Kingdom of Naples whence she had been expelled by Lewis King of Hungary for her murtherous hanging of his Brother Andrew her Husband Not long after the same Pope removed the Papal Chair thither where it continued for 20 years while Italy was grown into so many factions and the Romans and they so disgusted against the Pope that Pope Gregory found it high time to return in the year 1377. since when it hath been governed by Vice-Legates till the year 1663. when the King of France took possession of it the manner whereof having been already published 't will be superfluous here to repeat But the Difference between the Pope and the French King concerning the affront given the Duke of Creque his Ambassadour at Rome being composed and reconciled by the agreement at Pisa But the French King hath a Governour there yet the said Town and County by vertue thereof was forthwith returned into the Popes hands as the French found it and there it remains The Dutchy of NEVERS or NEVERNOIS hath beyond memory continued absolute though in several Families although it be the smallest Province in France not to deduce the Princes or Dukes thereof from long antiquity we will look no longer than the last Century when in 1563. Henrietta the Daughter of Francis the 4th and Sister to Francis the 5th the last Duke hereof being the Heir General to this Estate married with Lewis second Son of Frederick Genzaga Duke of Mantua who in her right was invested in this Estate their Son Charles chose to succeed in Nevers and gave Mantua to his Cosen German Vincent whose Line failing it reverted to this House of Nevers placed there by the potent Armes of Lewis the 13th although then busied in several other Wars so that both Dutchyes were now united untill of very late Cardinal Mazarine to instate his Family in the Splendour of France purchased Nevers for his Nephew Mancini at a very considerable rate the Particulars whereof are extant in that Cardinals Will lately Englished by my self to which the curious Reader is referred In the same Soveraign condition stood Bearn till the time of Lewis the 13th an Estate governed distinctly by H. 4. their Soveraign as united to the Crown of Navarre some Descents before who with his Armes and his Presence reduced them under his Obedience and imposed a Parliament upon them of his own Nomination whose Residence is at Pau leaving them notwithstanding the exercise of their Religion as he did all the Protestant Towns and Cautionary Places viz. Rochel Montalban Saincterre c. who since their Calvinists Armes have been taken from them and their Forts dismantled enjoy their Conscience a great deal more securely and as priviledgely from the King as when they took upon them the quality of Free States and would all have been Sister Genevas We have next to consider the Revenue of this mighty Monarchy mighty for its Populousness and Chivalry mighty for its large and compact Territory as for its Fertility and convenience of Conveyance from Province to Province and for the In-land Fortresses and of late suspectful also for their Maritime Advancements while other Princes slept or regarded not that growing Mischief more potent also by many additions of Conquest of late years since Fortune hath turned her ballance and rejected the Spaniard so that the French King is absolutely the greatest Prince in the Continent of Europe And he aspires also now to the Sea by his late Projects of making Guilds and Companies for the East-India Trade where scarce a Ship of his hath been ever seen Trading But to return to his Revenue In the year 1643. the Taxes and Tallages alone amounted to five Millions Sterling The Impost of Salt amounts yearly to two Millions of Pounds Sterling which is an insuportable Burden upon the poor People who are forced to take such quantities yearly more than they can use at the Kings excessive Rates It is true that Henry the 4th had once designed to buy all the Salt Pits in Poitou and Brittany that were in particular mens hands and to have fold the Salt at those Places to the Merchants at a Price he should set and they to sell it over the Kingdom as Corn is in the Market without any Compulsion or Impost by which means twenty thousand Officers would be spared all which are paid at the Charge of the King and the poor Subject should have it four times cheaper than it is now sold and the King also put more Money in his Pocket with-not any trouble His next Revenue consists in his Customes of all Merchandises exported and imported which arose in the year 1648. as by Computation was found to the summ of ten Millions Sterling and his Customes do not grow less but greater every day but of all this Revenue scarce the tenth part comes and remains in the Kings Treasury Thus large is the Intrado or Income and the Issue is but little narrower The Kings Table stands him in 500000 l. yearly besides the Daulphins and the Queens Expences of Court The King hath every day nine Suits of Cloaths appointed to be made him but the Money designed thereto comes into the Lord Chamberlains Pocket this King not affecting too frequent shift Then in Pensions and yearly Interest there is paid seven Millions more And for many years together numerous Armies have been maintained although in such Cases the King extends his Prerogative and takes what he pleaseth Not to mention his Sale of Offices which amounts to very vast summs the Office of the Great Master of Artillery being worth 500000 l. Sterling nor his disposal of Ecclesiastical Benefices the right whereof is solely his without the Popes intermedling in the least and the Clergy possess there no less than 30. Millions Sterling of yearly Rent And because we have here instanced his Armies and touched before something of the Force of this Kingdom we will give a summary account of those Forces he had on foot in 1662. to bring down the
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
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
reckoned as a part of the fifth Circle of the Rhine and as a Feudatory thereof stickled hard in the late War for the Emperour to the loss of his Country and his almost undoing but by the Treaty of the general Peace he was restored to a great part of it It is bounded and circumscribed between the lower Palatinate Alsats Triers the Dutchy of Bar Burgundy and Luxemburg all of them fine Provinces nor is Lorrain inferiour to the most of them were it not for some dark and thick Forrests which intersperse the Country There were in it formerly some Imperial Towns as Metz Verdun and Thoul but Henry the 2d of France reduced them under his obedience and erected a Parliament there to make it a perpetual Province of France as it hath since proved Of late it hath lost some Ducal Towns and Provinces as the whole Dutchy of Bar taken from him by Lewis the 13th and County of Clermont viz. Moyenvic Stenay Dun and Jametz these three last belonging formerly to the Prince of Conde and restored to him by this Treaty and the Provost-ship of Merville Besides the Duke is at all times to give passage to the French Forces into Germany and to renounce all Leagues Alliances and Intelligences with any forein States or Princes to the prejudice of that Kingdom withall he was bound up to an acquiescence in whatsoever had passed by judicial proceeding gift or disposal of the Kings of France or Spain untill the date of the Treaty by which these Conditions were also agreed to be ratified by the Emperour This was a bad bargain but more could not be obtained so that the said Duke feeing himself thus exposed to the Armes of the French King and any sudden surprize upon pretence of passage besides many other Retrenchments of his Soveraignty did offer by a Treaty to surrender the same wholly into the hands of the King upon Condition his Family to be admitted as Princes of the Blood and to the succession of the Crown after those of Bourbon with some Provision of Money and Pension for the support of his Dignity and Family and this was highly talked of and near a Conclusion but it is not yet confirmed and accomplished As to his Interest we may guess how narrow it is and how he is pent up as to any Concern of his in Europe by that comprehensive Clause That he shall not hold Intelligence with any Prince to the prejudice of France which will be construed so if he send but a Complement to any of them The French King hath had a longing envious eye upon his Country as dis-joyning his Conquests from his other Countries and therefore he lives here but precariously and as a Tenant at will As to the Turks he concludes there are no such Infidels as the French Ministers of State who laid all wayes to entrap him and finally forced him to take Armes against France as a desperate remedy Besides he is extremely poor although his Revenue is said to amount to 700000. Crowns a good part whereof ariseth from his Salt made here which the French King hath bargained to be afforded to Metz and Alsatia c. a price current and cannot lend a Stiver nor raise a Hand against them in his present Condition the result of his barbarous plunderings in which his Forces exceeded those very Tartars and Turks and like to like was seldom opposed We proceed next to Alsatia 6 Alsatia or Elsas whose boundaties are these briefly On the East the Rhine with Baden on the North the Palatinate on the South part of Switzerland and on the West Lorrain divided by the Mountain Voyesus a fine and pleasant Country d vided into three parts the Lower and the Higher and the third called Zuricgaw bordering upon Switzerland the two last Divisions by the Treaty of Munster being assigned over to the French King in the name of the whole on Condition only of paying 30000 l. Sterling to the Arch-duke of Inspruck the Province before belonging to the Imperial Family for his Expences in the preceding War of the Lower Alsatia The Bishop of Strasburg or Argentina the chief City seated therein is yet Lord and Governour There are in it besides many Imperial Cities free from the Jurisdiction of the French so that he hath little more than the modern Strengths and Command of the Country and yet so much in that by his free passage into Germany that he is well recompenced for troubling it having Philipsburg a most strong Town in the Palatinate and the County and Town of Brisac added to the bargain There is some Difference arisen by some pretences of the French to admit the Governours of the two Imperial Cities of Colmar and Slechstadt both antient and strong Towns and this Duke Mazarini demands by his right as the Governour of the Province and the King intends to effect by force which makes many men think there are some Designes that way upon this quarrelling Punctilio but the free Cities will assuredly not suffer any such intrusion or violence upon their Privileges and the Princes will brook it as little Considering this and other the like Piques in other places in this Juncture it seems as if there were a Conspiration of those little Mischiefs like the appearance of the small Cloud that will condensate and overspread Christendom at last and shower it with abundance of blood and misery What this Country signifies against the Turk is easily resolvable for hinc Dolor hinc Lachrymae here was the fatal Jealousie lodged that rendred the Emperour so impotent and feeble against the Barbarians This if any thing is one of the great Remoras that retarded the quick work which would have been made with that Enemy by the German Princes and therefore we will put down this Province for a Cypher if it be not already reckoned with some large numeral Figure by the other side The Palatinate lyes next to this with which it is bounded on the South 7. Palat. on the East with the Dukedom of Wittenberg and some part of Franconia and on the West with Triers And because this Country somewhat concerns us by the alliance of this Prince Elector to the Crown of England we will be a little larger for full satisfaction and information of the Reader in the whole series of the late Affairs of that Family than we have hitherto been but according to proportion the Lower Palatinate which is all the Dominion of this Prince being in bredth but 90. Miles and in length 72. It is one of the most pleasant Countries of Germany and affords the best Rhenish Wires the Princes alwayes till this late misfortune reputed the wisest as who had enlarged their Estates and from the beginning raised it from nothing being meer Courtiers or great Officers at first although else acknowledged to be the Descendents of Charlemaign In this Grandeur these Princes continued till the Year 1620. when the Family seemed to have received the greatest accession and
accrument of Felicity by the Marriage of Frederick the 5th Nephew to Prince Maurice by his Sister Louisa married to Frederick the 4th with our Princess Elizabeth Daughter of King James some time before and his Investiture in the Crown of Bohemia by the Election of those States who indeed by the Concession of many Princes of the House of Austria themselves Letters reversate they call them and by their own Customes and Privileges had right thereunto but the choice and acceptation thereof being not so free and voluntary on his part for that some affronts were like to be put upon him by the Chamber of Spires who were ready to proceed to Sentence against him for his demolishing Udenheim which the Bishop of Spires whose Town it was was then a fortifying which Spinola afterwards took in hand and finished and called it Philipsburg now in the possession of the French The Reader is here to understand that in this Lower Palatinate there are several famous Imperial Towns and Bishopricks as Worms Spires although Feudatories for the most part of their Estates to the Princes Electors No sooner was the Palatine King of Bohemia but the War began to flame in Germany portended by a fearful Comet in 1618. in the first Battel whereof at Prague the King of Bohemia assisted by Bethlem Gabor's Transylvanians and Hungarians was totally routed by Count Bucquoy the young Prince of Anhalt slain a great slaughter made and Prague soon after taken This Battel was fought on the 5th of November 1620. and thereupon the King as he was then called fled to Breslaw in Silesia where he secured himself committing the care of his Estate to the Marquess of Anspach who was General of the Confederate Protestant Princes but being corrupted by Spinola's Gold who was sent for out of the Low Countries to attaque the Palatinate basely sold it and the Prince's Interest by which means Spinola shortly after reduced Manheim and Frankendale Garrisoned by the English but hopeless of relief Soon after King Frederick withdrew into Holland expecting some new undertake of his Quarrel and the Protestant Interest of which Ferdinand the 2d Emperour was a most violent and bitter Enemy And here he heard the issue of the Danish War more to his disadvantage till the Swede entred Germany when he followed that King and was by him upon some hard terms restored to his Estates which he enjoyed not long deceasing at Mentz November 29. 1632. But soon after his death and the King of Sweden's at the Battel of Lutzen the Imperialists over-ran the Country again having routed and broke the Swedish Power at the Battel of Nordlingen and although some Efforts were made by Prince Rupert with some Forces out of Holland in which service my Lord Craven and other English Gentlemen were engaged yet were they finally vanquished and driven out of the Country and hardly put to it by swimming to make their escapes So that the Country continued sequestred from the young Prince Elector till the Treaty at Munster by which he was restored to the Lower Palatinate and made an 8th Elector with the Office of Arch-treasurer for that his former Electoral Office together with all the Appurtenances of it and the County of Cham besides was conferred upon his Counn of Bavaria of the Gulielmin Line this being the Elder and called the Rodulphin but the Younger is farr more rich and powerful and the greatest Enemy to the other This Dignity and Estate being given the Bavarian for his assistance of the Emperour with Men and Money in this War By the same Treaty the Emperour was likewise to give the Elector's younger Brothers and Sisters their Portions in ready Money which Pro benevolo Caesareo affectu in domum Palatinam as the words run he did assent to and punctually pay and perform This Prince now quietly enjoyes what he had by that Treaty and hath been highly carressed by the present Emperour He hath married a Daughter of the House of Hassia between which Family and his there have been frequent Marches As to his Interest it lyes in a general Peace and Amity with all Princes but especially with the Emperour and next the Protestant Party and principally those of the Calvinian way which is the Religion professed in his Country and of which he was the Chief and Head in Europe His Alliance leads him to respect the Kings of England and Denmark and this King of Sweden's Father was born of his Aunt The Family of Nassaw and he are likewise near in Blood his Grandmother being the Sister of Prince Maurice and Daughter of Prince William so that he stands secure and may in time repair his fortunes Against the Turk he is at his proportionable Charge assessed upon him by the Decree of the Dier We come next to a brief view of the Upper Palatinate transferted with the County of Cham to the House of Bavaria whose Duke Ludovicus Emperour also of Germany upon the partition of Estate resigned it for ever some Ages since to Rodulphus his elder Brother who in right of his Mother Gertrude the Daughter and sole Heir of Henry Count Palatine of the Rhine was invested in all those Dominions and Dignities In this Province is seated Newburg the Title of the second Branch of the House Palatine and Duke of Cleve in share with the Marquess of Brandenburg Here is also the City of Noremberg famous for its rate workmanships a fine and beautiful Town yet no River near it but the curious Industry of the People supplyes that defect The Country very near as bigg as the Lower but nothing so pleasant and fruitful being chiefly mountainous and barren except in Mines of Iron and some of Siver one of which is very considerable So that it is a great retrenchment and dismembring of the Palatine Patrimony but what cannot be cur'd must be endur'd And so we pass to Bavaria It is bounded on the North with the Upper Palatinate 8. Bavaria on the West with Schwaben and on the East and South with Austria Tirol and Carinthia divided into three parts the Higher the Lower and the Bishoprick of Saltzburg a District and distinct Jurisdiction of it's self The Country generally overspread with Woods and cold and barren but the Lower somewhat more fruitful and abundantly more pleasant In the Higher is seated Munchen famous for it's seizure by the King of Sweden who found infinite Treasure therein and for that it is the Residence of the Dukes of Bavaria In the Lower Ingolstadt farr more famous for that it put the first affront upon the King of Sweden in Germany and made him give over the siege thereof 2. Regensburg or Ratisbone famous for the Diets held there being a most beautiful and pleasant Fabrick and Passaw as eminent in former times for divers Consultations held there by the Princes and for the notable Diet made there by Charles the 5th in favour of the Protestants As to the District of Saltzburg it is a barrener Country
say of the Hungarians then called Pannonians antiently That they were so unconstant that there was no governing them but by Cittadels so unruly that they knew no other Kings but their Landlords that they understood no Duty but towards a General and that they owned no Religion but Liberty And I may add of Hungary what they say of Scotland That as long as the People hang so much on the Nobility and the Priesthood neither Nobility nor Priesthood will stick to the King Since they are so subtile and proud it 's well they are so voluptuous and that their wit and malice is softned by their pleasures It 's some security that a Faction is deboished especially here where none comes to undoe the Common-wealth but a Sober Man it being an Hermit that first taught Hungary that dangerous way of Marrying Noblemens Children as soon as born and entring them in a Combination as soon as they are matriculated Christians It 's a wonder the Emperour cannot as well be rid of the Palatine of Hungary as the King of Spain is of the Justice of Arragon both whom pretending a Power between King and People usurped an Authority over both not easily checked unless as Albertus Arch-Duke of Austria got the Title to the Kingdom by marrying the King's Daughter 1431. so his Successors may keep Possession by marrying the Palatine's The Hungarians and the Welshmen agreeing in this that they would willingly be governed by none but their own Natives But rather than insist on these Niceties it becomes these desolate People 1. To fix upon some Principles that may unite these divided States 2. That they promote the general Peace of Christendom 3. That they provide good Shipping upon the Danube 4. That they Victual and Garrison the Frontier Towns already erected and erect more 5. That they set up the Profession of Religion in so decent a way as may work upon their Neighbour Turks a Reverence at least of if not a Respect for it 6. That they observe those Dissentions that grow among the Infidels and make use of their Discontents to weaken their Power A Lesson they might well learn from the very Turks themselves who have invaded Hungary now 8. times upon no other Encouragement than the Contests that they have had among themselves about Religion and the Quarrels with their Liege Lords about Liberty 7. That they prosecute the Mines that yield the Emperour 162000 l. and employ 10000. idle men that might be worse busied And encourage Tillage where Wheat is higher than a man's head Vines over-top the Trees Grass groweth up to the Knees and the Woods threaten the Clouds And 8. That they train their Foot to as much Expertness as they do their Horse that the Bandi may be as eminent amongst them as their Heyduchs to which purpose a veterane Army of 3000. Horse and Foot such as t ey raised Anno 1561. were not amiss since the Emperour holds but one Part of this Country and the Great Turnk two BOHEMIA BOHEMIA lyeth open to the same Dangers with Hungary from Greece alwayes obnoxious to Invasions and from Germany alwayes lyable to Pressures only it receives not less advantage from Calvinism than the Neighbour Countries have done from Lutheranism For the Emperour had been absolute e're this and all the Privileges contended for here and elsewhere swallowed up had not the Reformers put in a new stickling Principle into the People and made those who were ready to forgoe their Liberties stand fast for their Religion The Italians saith a Statesman who are very clear-sighted in Matters of State have perceived this long since And Bocalini when he brings in Apollo making answer to Sir Thomas More That all People will be Catholiques when the King of Spain will be content with Castile and the Emperour with the County of Hasburgh Makes it evident That Religion is the Bulwark of their Liberty and that which upholdeth all other States secures this It was a great weakness in the Bohemians to cast off the Emperour whose Power raised them to a Kingdom and whose Hereditary Estates surrounds them And it were a greater now to dispute with him since it lyeth so open to the Mahumetan by the way of Moravia lying on the West of it and to the Swede by the way of Silesia lying on the North. In which Places were Olmualz on the River Mark Brin on the River Schwatz Swaein on the Teia on the one stand Glatz with Noiste on a River of that name Breslaw and Glogaw on the River Odera well guarded with Forts Redoubts and Lines of Communication the 200000. Foot and the 32000. Horse that Dubravi saith the Emperour could raise here taking only a tenth man might make such an impression upon the debauched and divided State of the Turk as might alter the present settlement and fear of the World Only the Cavalry here are not so excellent by reason of the generous freedom allowed their Gentlemen as the Foot are unserviceable by reason of the despicable dejectedness impressed on their common People Otherwise this King of Bohemia might bid for the Eastern Empire as fairly as Sigismond of Luxemburgh another King thereof did for the Western of whom it 's said that being in the Diet for the Choice of an Emperour after the Death of Robert of Bavaria spoke the first according to the Custom and saying That he knew no man more worthy of the Empire than he was named himself whereupon the rest of the Electors his Colleagues admiring his freedom and generosity unanimously gave him their Voices An Interest as easily made had this Emperour three Lay-Counsellours and three Clergy-men of his Council Bohemians by Birth as that had who might give such safe Counsells in the grand Points of Religion and Liberty as might accommodate all the Pretences of both kinds those Bohemians made against the Emperour Mathias Provided alwayes That that Emperours mistake be avoided and than no Person there be advanced so farr that he hath nothing more to be ambitious of save his Power that advanced him For I shall never forget how Theodosius Duke of Braganza and the richest Lord in Portugal being displeased with Philip the 3d. his Liege Lord because he was not permitted to walk side by side with him withdrew from Court and how the Courtiers fore-seeing the danger of so great a Person 's discontent in so unsetled a Kingdom intreating his Majesty to satisfie him before he went home the King sent for him and upon his approach with an extraordinary sweetness said to him Pedid Duque Ask what you would have my Lord The Duke swelled with his Grandeur answered Senor los Mayores de vuestru Majestad que tanbien han sido los mios hizieron tautas mercedes a mâ—â—â—sa que no me queda nada que pedir Sir Your Majesties Ancestours who were mine also have bestowed so many favours and bounties upon my House that there remains nothing for me to ask Whereat the whole Court was surprized and after
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