To his ROYAL HIGHNESS the PRINCE Of ORANGE.  
Great SIR,  
PRovidence the wise disposer of us all, sending me abroad to seek bread in a strange land, gave me the good fortune to be a spectator of some of the Heroic Actions of your Royal Highness, not only at the taking of Narden, and the Grave from the French, but at several other places; I have been also happy in living long in the Hague where for several years I had the opportunity of observeing, (or rather Admiring) your Highness' wise direction and Government in the several▪ Colleges of the States, where some times your Highness hath been pleased to Act the part of the pensionary during his Indisposition; But why do I speak of these things? All the world knows that your Highness hath wrestelled with and overcome the greatest Difficulties Imaginable, not feareing the frowns and unjust proceedings of some, who by force of Arms detain part of your Highness' soveranity and inheritance, nor could the large Proffers and Advantages offered to you by some, at any time shake that steadfastness and Princely resolution your Highness ever had to stand by and die for the Interest of the Commonwealth; No God hath certainly chosen your Highness to be a Moses to go in and out before his People, and to be a glory to the Royal Family of the Stewards. And now great Sir I want words to beg your Highness' pardon for the high presumption of Dedicating this small piece to your Highness. All I can say is that it would be an infinite joy to me if I could possibly do any thing to engage your Highness to look upon and accept of these Remarks, as coming in all submission, from him who shall never cease to implore the Throne of Grace to preserve your Highness to be the most eminent Instrument in his own hand, for the good of Church and Commonwealth; so prays,  
Your Highness' Most devote and Humble Servant W●L: CARR.   

To the READER.  
THere is nothing more odious (and I am sure nothing that I hate more) then to be recorded a fool in print, and yet I must be scribbling; But when I consider that the best of pens have met with the like misfortune, by being severely censured, by the Witt● of the Town, I am the more encouraged to stand their Shott. I know the Critics of the Age will take my remarkes in pieces, the one calling me a Commonwealths man will say, I have flattered the Government of Holland too much, others will say I have been to fevere in painting out the Defects of some Countries, and Governments: and there is yet another sort that will say I am an Opiniator of an English man, in praiseing so much mine own Country; To all which I shall answer, that I never designed to please the Wits of the time; what I have done hath been to Comply with the desires of some friends who designed to Travel, and therefore Engaged me to print some of the remarks I made in my Travels, Dureing my 16 years living abroad. This being the truth of the matter, I hope the courteous Reader will pass by any faults on the method I have used in discribing some Countries, which is all I beg, who am yours &c.  
W. C.   

Some Necessary REMARKS for such as Intend to TRAVEL Thro the Province of HOLLAND.  
AS they that confine themselves to their own country have not the opportunity to see and observe Rarities in other parts of the world: so such as go into foreign places, rather wander at Random than travel, who have not the Curiosity to Commit to memory or writing such things they meet with, both for their own and others Satisfaction, as may Demonstrate the fruits of their travels.  
I Confess all Travellers are not of alike Temper: Some delight themselves in contemplation of the curiosities of Arts, some are taken with the varieties of the works of nature, others speculate with a kind of Reverence the decays and ruins of Antiquity, others studiously inform themselves with the transactions of Modern times, others with thee Gouvernment and Polity, other speculate the strange customs and fashion of the places they pass thro'; To be short every one labours to entertain the reader with those objects and rarities of foreign parts, his Genius and inclination is most affected with.  
As to myself, although during the space of 16 yeaves travel, I might have enlarged, according to the curiosity and opportunity I have had in the rehearsal of many rare and exquisite things very observable: yet my chief aim was to make such remarks, as might most contribute to the common good of humane society and Civil life, in taking notice of the Government and polity of the several States and Dominions where I have been, viz. The United Provinces, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and other countries, whose natural temper and disposition seemed to me most to sympathize with our English nation, and thereby have an occasion to do some good to my own country. Expect not Reader alike punctualnes, as to all the forementioned places, because very many things which I might have observed, are much agreeing, and so may be referred, to what shall be spoken of the Polity and Government of Holland, which, for reasons I shall by and by hint at, is the Chiese End I aimed at in this treatise.  
We will begin then in the first place with the Commonwealth of Holland, and Dominions of the State's General which for some years hath been in a declining condition, and their forces exceedingly weakened, by reason of that fatal war it managed against England, France and the Bishop of Munster, unto which if we add the Intestime divisions of those two factions, the Prince of Orange and Lovestein, that Politic body was so tottered and torn, as did threaten its utter and total ruin.  
But as bodies whither natural or Politic, after that a violent fit hath sore shaken, dissipated and exhausted their spirits, may recover vigour and look-lively again, if so be the radical constitution and natural temper be not wholly changed and depraved: even so This Commonwealth of Holland hath visibly recovered strength again, and probaly may attain to its former force and Lustre, except some depravation in its vital humous should still keep it languishing, and obstruct its perfect cure.  
We will therefore make some remarks as to the defects and failings (observed not only by me but also by others) which that famous Commonwealth hath of late years been guilty of: which I shall do not out of any malice or design of reflection, the intention of writing this treatise being simply to insert those defaults, which the wisest of Authors have always Judged necessary not only for the reformation of this, but of all states whatsoever.  
This Commonwealth of Holland hath worthily been the wonder of all Europe during this last age, and perhaps not to be paralled in the records of former times: for if we consider how many years it was assaulted by the than most Potent Prince of Europe, who aspired to no les than the Universal Empire, and that how formidable soever he were, yet they not only maintained their pretensions, but with uninterrupted prosperity and succesfulnesse advanced their trade, and spread their conquests in all the four parts of the world.  
Rome itself though most famous and victorious, yet could not, as is believed, in so short a time do, what by this Commonwealth hath been effected. In India and Africa they soon forced the Spaniard, and Portugeses to yield to them most of their trade and posessions. And though England put in for a share, yet they were a long while vigorously opposed by the Dutch, and to this hour have enough to do, to keep what they have gotten: so that in less than an hundred years this Commonwealth by their industry and art in trading, are become so excessive rich and potent that they began to insult and would needs be Arbitraters to their neighbouring Princes and States, and encroach upon their Territories and Dominions.  
This drew upon them that fatal war before mentioned, by which they were sorely weakened and brought so low, that except God by a more than ordinary Providence had protected and appeared for them, they had certainly been ruinated and never able to recover themselves again, however their pride hereby was much abated: And as Luxury and lasciviousness are the sad effects of prosperity, as well as Pride, so such vices in a body Politic and Commonwealth, as do corrupt the radical humours, by abating the vigour of the Vital parts, do insensibly tend to the consumption and decay of the whole.  
That this Commonwealth hath much recovered its strength, may clearly appear, if we consider what great things they have effected, since the little time they have enjoyed peace: They have in less than 7 years built about 40 gallant ships of war; They have laid out vast sums of treasure in refortifying Narden, Mastricht, Breda, the Grave and many other places: They have paid vast sums of money to their Allies for their auxiliary troops, as also 200000 pound sterling to the King of England to Enjoy their peace with him. And besides all this their Increase in Riches and power may be guest at, by the many stately houses built within these 5 years in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and other places; to all which we may add, to what excessive height the Actions of the East and West-Indie Company are risen, and the obligations from the States are so esteemed as to security, that they Can get as much money as they please at 2 Per cent: not to speak, of the Exceeding increase of their subjects, occasioned by the French Kings tyranny against the distressed Protestants in France, Alsace and other parts of his Conquests, neither will we speak of other signs of the increase of this Commonwealth, as not Judging it convenient to commit them to paper, but will now proceed to show the Method of Living and travelling in the Dominions and places of the States, which if you do well consider you May see, how happy and easy the Government of England is, above that of other Nations.  
The Brill in Holland is the Usual place where the Packet and King's pleasure boats bring on such as come for to see the United Provinces: here be sure to furnish yourself well with money. From hence you take a boat to Maseland Sluice or Rotterdam, which if you go in Company with others, will only cost you 5 stivers: but if you take one for yourself, will cost 25. stivers for Maseland Sluice, and a Ducaton to Rotterdam. The Fifth part of which goes to the States for a tax, they call Passagie Gelt: and the other 4 parts are for the boat Men or Shippers, who also out of their gains must Pay a tax to the States, so that by computation you pay a fifth penny to the States for your travelling either in boats by water, or in wagons by land.  
As you pass by Maseland Sluice you'll see a very fair fishing village, to which belong near two hundred Herring Buisses, but if you go by the way of Rotterdam you sail by two old Towns Called Flardin and Schiedam: yet let me advise you before you depart from the Bril, to take a serious view of it, as being the city which in Queen Elisabeths' time was one of the Cautionary Towns pawned to England. The Brill had a voice among the States, but by reason Rotterdam hath got away their Trade, by which having lost its former lustre, is now become afishing town only.  
Rotterdam is the second City for trade in Holland and by some is called little London, as having vast traffic with England, in so much that many of the citizen's speak good English. There are in this city two considerable Churches of English and Scotch: and how great a trade they drive with the King of England's subjects is evident, for in the year 1674 at the opening of the waters after a great frost, there departed out of Rotterdam 300 Sail of Englesh, Scotch and Irish Ships at once with an Easterly wind: And if a reason should be demanded how it comes to pass, that so many English Ships should frequently come to that haven? It is easily answered, because they can ordinarily Load and unload, and make returns to England from Rotterdam, before a Ship can get clear from Amsterdam and the Texel: And therefore your English Merchants find it Cheaper and more commodious for trade, that after their goods are arrived at Rotterdam, to send their goods in boats Landward in, to Amsterdam.  
This city is famous as being the place where Great Erasmus was born, whose Statue of Brass stands erected in the Market place; And although the buildings here are not so superb as those of Amsterdam, Leyden or Harlem, yet the places worth the seeing, are, first the Great Church where Several Admirals Lay Stately Entombed, here you see their admirality, East Indie, and Stathouses together with that called, het Gemeen Lands Huis.  
From Rotterdam you may for 5 strivers have a boat to bring you to Delft, but before you come thither you pass thro' a fair village called Overschie, where the French and English youths are trained up in litterautre, as to the Latin and Dutch tongue, Book keeping, &c: from thence in the same boat you come to Delft which is famous for making of Porceline to that degree, that it much resembles the China, but only it is not transparent.  
In Delft is the great Magasin of Arms for the whole Province of Holland: Their churches are very large, in one of which are Tombs of the Princes of Orange, Admiral Tromp and General Morgan's Lady, and in the Cloister over against the Church you have an Inscription in a Pillar of Brass, showing after what manner William the 1, that famous Prince of Orange was Shot to death by a miscreant Jesuist, with his deserved punishment.  
Delft hath the 3d d voice in the States of Holland, and sends its Deputies unto the College of the State's General, and to all other colleges of the Commonwealth. They have also a Chamber in the East-Indie Company, as shall be more largely spoken to, when we shall come to treat of the State of the said Company.  
From Delft you may by boat be brought to the Hague for 2 Stivers and an half: Which is accounted the fairest Village in the world, both for Pompous buildings and the largeness thereof; Here the Princes of Orange hold their Residence: as also the State's General and the Council of State, Here you have the Courts of Justice, Chancery, and other Courts of Law. Here you see that Great Hall, in which many Hundreds of colors are hung up in Trophy, taken from the Emperor, Spaniard and other Potentates with whom they have waged war. There Council Chambers are admired by all that see them. Many fair Libraries they have belonging to particular men. The Prince's Palace is a most superb building, And there are many costly Gardens adjoining to the Hague, together with that to the Prince's house in the Woad, in which house are in a large Hall the most rare and costly Pictures of Europe, there also are those magnificent and unparalled Gardens of the Heer Bentham, of Amesland and others. I might here speak of the splendour of the Prince of Orange his Court, of his noble virtues and valour, of the most virtuous and Beautiful Princess his royal consort, but I dare not, lest I should infinitely fall short of what ought to be, and which others have already done before me: and therefore leaving the Hague, I shall only tell you that from thence you may for 7 Stivers have a boat to bring you to Leyden. Leyden is a fair and great city, and the University is very famous, being frequented by 1000 of Students from all parts, as Hungary, Poland, Germany, yea from the Ottomans Empire itself, who pretend to be grecians, besides the English, Scots and Irish, who this years were numbered to be above 80.  
The most remarkable things here to be seen, I shall summarily set down: As the place called the Bergh, formerly a Castle belonging to the Prince of Liege in Flanders: The Stathowse, the University Schools, specially that of the Anatomy, which excels all the Anatomy Schools in the world, a Book of the rarities whereof you may have for 6 Stivers, their Physic Garden, and the Professors Closet are all ravishing in rare Curiosities. But as to their Colleges, they are but two and very small, not to be compared with the smallest Hals in Oxford, neither have they any endowments, their maintenance being only from the charitable collections of the Ministers of Holland, neither are any Students to remain longer there, then till they attain the degree of Bachelors of Art: One of the Curators being demanded by me, why so rich a Commonwealth as Holland is, did not build and endow Colleges after the manner of Oxford and Cambridge, answered they had not so many able and public spirited men as are in England, and to deal plainly with you, said he, had we such Colleges, our Burgemasters and Magistrates would fill them with their own and their friends sons, who by leading a lazy and idle life would never become capable to serve the Commonwealth, and therefore he judged it much better to put them to Pension in Burghers houses, leaveing them to the care of the Professors, who are very diligent in keeping the Students at their exercises, both at Public lectures and in their private houses also, where they cause them Punctually at their appointed hours to come to their examinations and lectures, besides those they have in Public. Their churches are rare, so are the walks round the city, and the fortifications very pleasing to behold. Here you have the River Rhine running through the city and falling into it from Catwyckop Zee. Leyden is very famous in history, for the long Siege it held out against the Spaniard. From hence for twelve stivers and an half you are brought to Harlem by water, being twelve English miles.  
Harlem is famous in that Costor one of their Burghers, first invented the Art of Printing. This Costor being suspected to be a Conjurer, was fain to flee from Harlem to Cologne in Germany, and there Perfected his Invention, having in Harlem only found out the way of printing on one side of the Paper. The first book he ever printed is kept in the Stathouse, for those that are curious to see it. Here is one of the fairest and largest Churches of the 17 Provinces, in the walls whereof there remain to this day sticking canon Bullets, shot by the Spaniards during the Siege thereof. In this Church are three Organs, as also the model of the three Ships, that sailed from Harlem to. Damiater, seizing the Castle in which the Earl of Holland was kept prisoner, and brought him away to Holland: In the Tower of this Church hang two silver be●s which they also brought from thence, and now ring them every night at nine a clock.  
Harlem is renowned for making the finest linen cloth, Tyfinies Dammasks and silk Stufs; also Ribbons and Tapes; They have Mills by which they can wove forty and 50 Pieces at a time, they make the finest white thread and Tapes for lace in the whole world, there Bleacheries surpas all other whatsoever, their waters whitening cloth better than any in the seventeen Provinces: They have a most pleasant grove like a little Wood, divided into Walks where on Sondays and holly days the citizen's of Amsterdam and other places come to take their pleasure. Harlem is the second city of Holland and sends in Deputies unto all the Colleges of the Gouvernment. From hence you have a passage by boat to Amsterdam for six stivers, but when you are come half way you must step out of one boat to go into another, where you see a Stately Palace, where the Lords, called Dykgraves sit, Every one of these Lords hath his Apartment when he comes for the concerns of the Sea-dykes, and banks: here are also 2 large Sluices having gates to let in or out water from the Harlemmer Mere. Near this place about Ano: 1672 a part of the Seabanck was broken by a strong Northwest wind, drowning all the land betwixt Amsterdam and Harlem, which cost an incredible vast sum to have it repaired. They sunk in this breach 400 small vessels filled with earth and stones for a foundation to rebuild the well upon, and by unspeakable industry and charges at last repaired the Bank.  
I come now to speak of Amsterdam, which having been the place of my abode for several years, I shall give a more large and punctual account thereof then I do of other places; It is esteemed by Intelligent men the second city in the world for trade, and not inferior to any in wealth. Certainly Amsterdam is one of the beautifullest cities in the world, their buildings are large, their streets for the most part pleasantly planted with trees & paved so neatly, as is to be found no where else in any other Country, save in some of the 17 Provinces. And although, as I have already said, Amsterdam may Justly be taken for the second or third city after London and Paris, yet it hath neither Courtnor University, as they have. And now in treating of all the excellencies and virtues of Amsterdam, I shall not hyperbolise, or flatter: for before I have done you shall see, I shall also faithfully declaim against the evils, mistakes and vices in it.  
Amsterdam stands upon a thousand Morgan's of Land, encompassed with a very strong wall and Bastions most pleasant to behold, with a very large Burgaval or Gracht as they call it, for the defence of three parts of the city, the fourth being secured by the sea or Ty. There are 13 Churches in this city for those of the reformed religion (called dutch Presbiterians) to meet and worship in, with two Frencb, one Highdutch and one English, all Presbiterian Churches, who only are allowed Bells, and whose Ministers are maintained by the Magistrate. All these Churches or congregations make up only a third part of the Inhabitants of the city: The Papists who have eighty five houses or Chapels to meet in for their worship, make another third part, and have a long square of houses for their Nuns to live in, who are not shut up in Cloisters, as in Papists countries they are wont to do, but may go in and out at their pleasure, yea and marry also if they grow weary of a Nunnish life: These Churches of the Papists have no bells allowed them, being looked upon as conventicles, and are many times shut up, and again opened at the Scouts pleasure. The other third part of the city is made up by Jews, Lutherans, Arminians, Brownists or English Independents, Anabaptists and the Quakers: None of which, as was also said of the Papists, have bells allowed them, but are accounted Conventicles: and all that marry amongst them, must first be married by the Magistrate, and then if they pease among themselves in their own assemblies, neither are any of them admitted unto any Office in the Government, but only such as are of the reformed or Presbiterian profession.  
The Jews who are very considerable in the trade of this city have two Synagogues, one whereof is the Largest in Christendom, and as some say in the world, sure I am, it far exceeds, those in Rome, venice, and all other places where I have been: Within the Court yard where their Synagogue stands, they have severa● Rooms or schools, where their children are taught Hebrew, and very carefully, to the shame of Christians negligence, brought up and instruckted in the Jewish principles.  
Amsterdam for the wise Statesmen it hath produced, is said to be a second Athens: others make it the Storehouse or Magasin of Europe, for that it hath such great store of Corn, wherewith it furnishes many other nations. And secondly for the exceeding great Magasin of Spices, which in ancient times the Venetians brought by land, furnishing all parts of Europe, but now is done by the East-Indie Company which not only supplies Europe therewith, but many places in the Indies also. Thirdly it hath inconceivable store of all manner of provisions for war, In so much that England and divers other nations send to Amsterdam to buy Arms, Bufcoats, Belts, Match &c: yea here are several Shopkeepers who can deliver Arms for 4000 or 5000 men, and at a cheaper rate than can be got any where else, and this they can do by reason of their great Industry in the Engrossing most of the Iron works on the Rhine and other Rivers which run into Holland. fourth Amsterdam hath more store of sawed and prepared Timber for shipping then can be found in any one Nation in the world, and this is the reason why her Neighbour town Sardam is made capable of Building ships 20 per cent cheaper than they can do in England or France: So that both France, and Spain do many times buy them in Holland: as lately the King of Spain bought 10 Capital Ships of the two Brothers the Melts Merchants in this city. Fifthly Amsterdam is the staple where the Emperor sells his Quicksilver not only to the Spaniard, to use in his mines in the Indies, but for the making of Cinoprium or vermilion, with which Amstrerdam furnisheth not only Europe, but many places in the Indies.  
Sixtly Amsterdam is the Market where the French King bought his Marble for Versellis Lovure, and other of his Palaces in France: There are such Vast Magasins in Amsterdam that a man would think, that sees them, there were Quaries of Marble near the City Gates. Seaventhly Amsterdam hath the most considerable Bank that now is in the whole World; I have compared the Bank of Venice with that of Genua and both their Banks write not of so much money in two days as Amsterdam doth in one: further I have compared the Bank of Venice with Hamburg and find both those Banks fall very much short with the bank of Amsterdam. There are many other particulars I could name▪ as Arguments to prove the great Riches & Trade of Amsterdam, as those vast Quantities of Wynes, & Brandewynes they sell in the North & Eastseas, & those vast Countries adjoining thereunto, from whence they bring Hemp, Pitch & Tar, & furnish France, Italy & Spain with the same, & they likewise have much Ingrossed the Copper & Iron of Sweedland. I will say no more of her stores & Magazines, but shall in the next place say some thing of her Churches & Charity to the Poor. I will not speak much of her Churches, but only that they are in General large and well built: In one of them the States have Spared no cost to exceed the whole world in 3 things (Viz) an Organ with sets of Pipes that counterfeit a Corus of Voices, it hath 52 whole stops besides half stops, & hath 2 rows of Keys for the feet, and three rows of Keys for the Hands; I have had people of Quality to hear it play, who could not believe but that there were men or Women above singing in the Organ, until they were convinced by going up into the Organ Room. The second is such a large Carved Pulpit & Canopy as cannot be found elsewhere in the world; The third is a Screen of brass.  
The Stathouse in this City is a wonderful superb Building, on the uppermost part of which is a large Magazine of Arms. The Copper Statues that stand on top of the Stathouse are very large & pieces Exellently cast, Especially that called Atlas, who hath a Globe of the world on his back that will hold 30 Barels of water, for me to speak of the several rarities of Pictures, Carved works & marble in this Stathouse, & of the Globes Celestial & Terrestrial that are on the floor of the great Hall, would make▪ Book of itself; I therefore will speak of their Almshouses & of the Government of the poor, of their Prisons & houses of Correction. This City is said to have 20000 poor Every day at Bed & board. The Almshouses are many & look more like Prince's Palaces than Lodgings for poor people; First there are houses for poor Ouldmen & Women, than a large square Palace for 300 Widows, than there are Hospitals for Boys & Girls, for Burgher's Children & for stranger's Children, or those called Foundtings, all these boys & girls have Every sunday & other days of Worship 2 doites given them by the Fathers of these Houses, the which the Children put into the Deacons sack when they gather for the Poor in the Churches; Then there is an Hospital for fools, & a Bedlam: There are Houses where Common Beggars & Gamesters & frequenters of Taphcuses are Kept hard at work: There is also a House called the Rasphouse where petty thieves & such as flash one another with Knives, such as beg with cheating devises, women with feigned great Bellies, men pretending to have been taken by the Turk, others that pretend wrack at sea, & such as beg with a Clapper or a Bell, as if they could not speak or hear, such as these are kept hard at work, Rasping Every day 50 pounds between 2 of them, or Else are beaten with a Bulls Pissel, & if yet thy rebel & wont work, they are set in a Tub where if they do not pump the water will swell over their heads; Then there is a House where whores are Kept to work, as also disobedient Children who live Idle & take no course to maintain themselves, likewise Women commonly drinking themselves drunk, and scolds; All these sorts of Hospitals & Almshouses are Stately Buildings richly adorned with Pictures & their Lodgings very neat & clean. In some of the Boys & Girls Hospitals there are 1500, in some 800 & in some 500 in a House; Then they have Houses where a man or a Woman may have their Diet, washing & Lodging for his life, giving a small sum of money: These are called Brouders houses, the Alms Children of this city are held in such Veneration & respect that a man had as good strike a Burgemasters Child as one of them. These Children are permitted to travel in any of the Treckscuts freely without money; These Hospitals are Governed by Men & women, as are of an unspotted life & reputed to be rich, devout & pious, it is very observable that the Women Govern their Women Hospitals better than the men do theirs yea it is a General observation in this Country, that where the Women have the direction of the purse & Trade, the husband seldom prove Bankrupts, it being the property of a true borne Hollands-wife presently after marriage to apply herself wholly to her Business; but I forbear to say any more of the Dutch Housewives, for fear of displeasing our English Dames, not so much addicted, at least not so Generally bred up to Industry; but to return to the Acts of Charity of Amsterdam; the which is so Extraordinary that they surpas all other Cities in the World, for they are daily & hoverly giving to the poor, Every House in Amsterdam hath a Box hanging in a Chain on which is written Think on the Poor, so that when any merchant sells Goods they commonly conclude no bargain, but more or less is put in the Poors Box; These Boxes art Locked up by the Deacons, who once a quarter go round the City & take the Money out of the Boxes. Then twice a week there are men belonging to the Hospitals that go round the City & ring a bell at every House to Know what the Master or mistress of the House will give to the Box, who Generally give not less than 2 stivers. Then every first Wedensday of the month the Deacons in their turn go round the City from House to House to receive what every house Keeper will give to the Poor, Then on the week before the Sacrament is given, a Minister with an Elder goes round the City to every House where any members of the Presbiterian Religion live, & there ask if any Differences be in the family, offering their service to reconcile them, alsoe to Instruct & prepare such as are to receive the Sacrament; At this time a Minister may be seen to go into a Taphouse or Tavern for which at another time he would be counted a wine biber & the worst of Reprobates; At this time while these Ministers & Elders go about the City on their Visiations the people take an Occasion to give to the Poor. And here I ought not to omit telling you of their great Charity to the distressed French Prosestants, who are here in great Numbers. They maintain no less than 60 French Ministers, & unto many handicraft Tradesmen and makers of stuffs, & Cloth, they lend sums of Money without Interest to buy Working Tools & materials for their work, but this is no other than they formerly did to the Poor distressed Protestants of Ireland & Piedmont, & their Charity was not a little that they gave to Geneve towards the building their Fortifications; And here give me leave to tell you what King Charles the second said of the Charity of Amsterdam, when the Duke of Lotherdal hearing that the Prince of Orange's Army was not able to oppose the french from advanting so near to Amsterdam, the Duke Jeareingly said that Oranges would be very scarce in Holland, after Amsterdam should fall into the french hands to plunder, to which his Majesty said that he was of opinion that God would preserve Amsterdam from being destroyed if it were only for the great charity they have for the Poor, the which put the Duke out of Countenance; I will say no more of their Charity, only this that they leave no stone unturned to bring monies into the Poors stock, they make the stage players pay 80000 Gilders a year to the Poor: thert is not a Ropedancer, puppetplayer or any of that sort of unnecessary Vermin which frequent fairs, but pay the 3d penny to the Poor, which is carefully looked after by placing an Almsman at the door of the Booths, to see that they cheat not the Poor of their share; I shall now in the next place say some thing of the Clergy, I mean those called the State's Clergy, for the States are absolutely head of their Church, & when any synod of Divines meet, two of the States, are always present to hear that they debate nothing relating or Reflecting on the Government, or Governors, if they do, presently the States cry ho lafoy mij● Heeren Predicanten●, & if their Minister's meddle with any thing relating to the Government in their Pulpits they send them a brief (which some call a pair of shoes) to quit the City, & some times Impriprison them to boot: but if they behave themselves quietly & well, as they ought to do, they th●n are respected by the people as Gods upon earth; They have a form of prayer sent them, how they shall pray for the States & Prince of Orange, nor must they meddle with any other Religion in the Country, because all sorts are Tolerated, at least connived at by the Magistrates; All those called the Presbeterian Ministers or State's Clergy are obliged under a forfiture to have done preaching & praying by eleven of the Clock in the forenoon on Sundays, because then the Schepens go to the Stathouse, to marry the Jews Papists & Lutherans & others that may not marry after the calvinistical form, & the reason why the States thus marry them first according to law, is to render their Children Legitimate, but they may marry again afterward as they please themselves: none may marry until they have made their appearance at the Stathouse before the Lords, where if the parties be agreed, the Preachers marry the Calvinists, & the Schepens marry all the rest, who differ from the Religion established by Law.  
When one dies the friends dare not burry the Corpse until it hath lain three days open in the Coffin, that the friends & relations of the deceased may be satisfied that the party hath not been murdered or reported to be dead when alive, after 3 days the corpse must be brought to the church before the Delceaseth tolling, which is at two for if you Keep the body until half three then the Church doors are locked & for the first half hour must be paid 25 Gilders, & for the second 50, & so until six, than they may amers you as much as they please.  
There are many rich people who make that default on purpose, that they may have solemn occasion of giving to the Poor, as I Knew once an English merchant did.  
The next thing I shall speak of is the method which the States observe in ordering their Maritime affairs, one of the greatest mysteries in their Government; The States Generally divide their Admiralty into five Courts, which they call Chambers: The first is Rotterdam (which is the chamber called the Maze) which hath the Admiral's Flagg.  
Then Amsterdam which hath the Vice-admirals' Flagg, & Zealand hath the rear Admiral Flagg, the other two Chambers are those in North Holland & Friesland: Each of these five Chambers have their Admirals, Vice Admirals & rear Admirals apart from the State's General's Flags, so that when the States have occasion to set out a fleet of an 100 Ships more or less, every Chamber Knows the number they must provide for their proportion, though in regard of its Opulencye Amsterdam frequently helps her neighbours & adds two or more Ships than their share comes to; These Chambers have lately built 36 men of war, & now are building of 7 more and all this is done without noise, every one building their proportion, & they have admirable methods in preserving their Ships when Built, & their Magazines are in good order every Ship having an apartment to lay up all its Equipage in, & on the Top of their Magazines are Vast Cisterns, which are Kept constantly full of water which have pipes into every apartment to let down water upon any accident of Fire, & there is in their Magazines a Nursery Room, where a Woman keeps an Office to feed at certain hours of the day a great number of Cats, which afterward hunt among the stores for Mice & Rats; This great Magazine in Amsterdam was built in the time of Cromwell in the space of 9 months & 14 days, in which time the Lords of the Admiralty gave the workmen drinkgelt as they call it, to encourage them to work more than at an ordinary rate. At this time the biggest man of war the States had was the Amelia, in which the famous Amiral Trump was Killed, she was a Ship of no more than 56 Guns, afterward made a fire Ship. But the States quickly discovered their want of great Ships, and therefore built the same year 20 men of war, from 50 to 80 Guns. But the great Ships built at Amsterdam had like to have proved of no use, had not theingenious pensionary de Wit found out a devise to carry them over the Pampus, betwixt those they call Water Ships;  
The Admiralty have an Excellent Method in setting out their Fleets, they neither press soldiers nor seamen, all go Voluntary at the beating of à Drumb, each Captain providing men & Provisions for his Ship, who after they have received orders from the Lords to the Equipagemaster to Equipe out their Ships, & receive the Povisions of war, than the States send a board each Ship a Chaplin, & Check Master, who take care of the provision of war, & see that the seamen have the State's allowance & wholesome food, & great care is taken by the Lords that both Captains & Seamen receive their pay punctually for the time they are in the State's service, & for the Encouraging their seamen there is plastered on a Board hanging by the foremast, the several rewards to such as either take or fire a Flagshipp or take or sink any other Ship of the enemies, also what pensions a wounded seaman shall have if maimed or disabled in the State's service etc.  
The Lords of the Admiralty follow the same methodes which the State's General observe, as to their land obligations, & go throw this great charge by the good management of their Credit, for though it be true that they are indebted great sums of money, yet they never want a supply, nay, Monies are often forced upon them by rich Merchants, who send in their, moneys and only take the Admyraltyes obligations, with which they afterward pay their Customs, when their Ships arrive, at which time the Admiralty allows them Interest for the time they have had their money, & this is it that makes the Admiraltyes Obligations more valued then ready money, for it saves the trouble of telling, & such is the Credit of the Admiralty that when they have occasion for any Goods, the people strive to furnish them, & rather take their Obligations then money, because they get Interest; & all other assignments upon the Admiralty are very punctually paid, & without Exchequer Fees, no they are sworn Officers who are forbid to receive any monies for fees, being contented with the salary, they have of the States. And their Methodes used at the Custom House for loading or unloading Ships are very easy, in so much that the Women Generally have the chargeing & dischargeing the Ships at the Custom House, which is a great polity in the States to make Trade easy for the Encouragement of the Merchants; And the Admiralty are very Grateful & Generous unto their Commanders, if any of their Admirals, or Captains are Killed at sea & have dove any Considerable service, they then Eternise their memories with lasting Trophies of honour, as you may see by those Stately Monuments of Trump, Vpdam, de Ruiter, the Eversons, & others, nor are they spareing in bestowing large Gifts & Pensions on the Widows, & Children of those as have served them faithfully & Valiantly in the wars, whilst the Treacherous & Cowards meet with the severity they deserve; I might here in the next place in large & tell you of the Excellent methodes they have in building & preserveing their Ships when built, but I shall refer you to that Excellent piece written by the Heer Witsen on that subject. And shall now in the next place say some thing of their famous Company called the East-India Company of the Netherlands, This Company is said to be a Commonwealth within a Commonwealth, & it is true if you consider the Sovereign Power & Privileges they have granted them by the State's General, & likewise consider their riches & Vast Number of subjects, & the many Territories & Colonies they possess in the East-Indies, they are said to have 30000 men in constant pay, & above 200 Capital Ships, besides Sloopes, Catches, & Yachts. This Company hath by their Politic contrivances & sedulons Industry possessed themselves of many Colonies formerly belonging unto the Spaniards, & Portugeeses, & divers Indian Princes, & as good Christians have been at great Charge in Planting the Gospel of Christ in many parts there, Printing in the Indian Language Bibles, & Prayer Books & Catechisms, for the Instruction of the Indians, maitaineing Ministers & Schoolmasters to inform those that are converted to the Christian faith; And now because I have said that this Company is so considerable & as it were a Commonwealth apart, I will demonstrate it to be so, first by their power, Riches & strength in the Indies, secondly what figure they make in Europe, & this very briefly, for if I should speak of every particular as to their posessions in the Indies, it would swell into many Volumes, But I will only begin with them at the Cape of de Bonne Esperance where they have built a Royal Fort, in which they maintain a Garrison of soldiers to defend their Ships which come there to take in fresh Water; from thence let us take a view of them in the Island of Java where they have built a fair City called Battavia & fortified it with Bastions after the Mode of Amsterdam. This City is the place of Residence of their grand Minister of State, called the General of the Indies, he hath allowed him 6 Privy Councillors in Ordinary & 2 extraordinary, These govern the concerns of the Company throughout the Indies, & They make peace & war, send their Ambassadors to all parts thereof, as occasion requireth. This General hath his Guards of Horse & Foot & all sorts of Officers & servants as if he were a sovereign Prince, the whole Expense whereof is defrayed out of the Companies stock. This General hath much of the Direction of Bantam and other parts of the Island of Java: From whence let us take a view of them, in their great possessions in the Moluceas Lands & those of Banda where they are become so formidable that they look as if they aimed at the soveraingtye of the Southseas: They have also a great Trade in China & Japan, from whence let us return to the Lands of Sumatra & on the coast of Bengale, where they have several Lodges; In Persia they have likewise great Commerce & are so considerable that they wage war with that mighty Monarch if he wrongs them in their trade. They also have several Colonies & Lodges on the coast of Malabar & Cormandel, & in the Country of the Great Magul, & King of Galcanda, But principally let us behold them in the rich Island of Zylon where they are Masters of the plain Country, so that the Emperor or King of that Island is forced to live in the Mountains whilst this Company possess the City of Colomba & other the most considerable Garrisons of that Island: It is said that the Company hath there in their pav 3600 Soldiers, & at least 300 Gunus planted in their Forts & Garrisons. In a word they are not only masters of the Cinnamon, but of all other Spices except Pepper & that they would also have, had it been for their Interest to Engross, but they wisely fore saw that the English would be a Block in their way, therefore they contented themselves to be masters the Mace, Cinnamon, Cloves and Nutmegs with which they not only serve Europe, but many places in the Indies; I will say no more of them in the Indies, But let us see what figure they make in Europe. And first to begin with them in Amsterdam, where they have two large Stately Palaces, one being in the old part of the City, and the other in the new; In that of the old part of the City they keep their Court, and there sits the Resident Committie of the Company, where alsoe they make the sales of the Company goods. There for six years the grand Council or assembly of the 17 do meet, and after six years are expired, the grand Council of the 17 do assemble at Middelburg in Zealand for two years, and then again return to Amsterdam: The other lesser Chambers of Delft, Rotterdam, Horn and Enchusen never having the assembly of the 17 in their Chambers, so that only Amsterdam and Zealand have the honour of that grand Council. I will therefore crave leave to describe unto you the Chamber of Amsterdam, it being the most Considerable of the Chambers, belonging to this famous Company; In there house or Palace within the old City are many large Offices or apartments, as first on the Lower Floor is their Parliament Chamber, where the 17 do sit: Next to this Chamber are several fair Chambers for the Commits to sit in. They have also a Chamber of Audience, where they do receive Princes or Ambassadors, or other great men as have occasion to speak with them. In one of these Chambers are the Arms of several Indian Princes they have Conquered. On the same Floor is their treasury Office, where their Receivers sit and receive money, and pay out the orders or assignments of the Company, Near ●o that Chamber sits their grand Minister the Heer Peter van Dam, who is said to be a Second John de Wit for parts, but he hath not one drop of John de Wits or Lovestine blood, against the good Prince of Orange; This great minister is a man of Indefaigable Industry and labour night and day in the Companies service; He reads over twice the great Journal Books which come from the Indies, and out of them makes minets to prepare matters of concern necessary to be considered by the grand Council of the 17, and by the Inferior Commits of the Company, and prepares Instructions and orders to be sent to their Chief Ministers in the Indies, I could say many more things of his great worth and Virtues, but shall forbear lest I should be Judged a flatterer: Overagainst this great Ministers Office sit in a Chamber many Clerks or under Secretaryes, who receive from this Minister their Ordrs of dispatches in the affairs of Company, and next to this Chamber is a Register Office where are kept the Journal books of the Indies, where you may see the names of all the men, and women that have ever served the Company in the Indies, with the time of their death, or departing the Companies service; Then next to that is a Council Chamber where the Residing Chamber or Commit of the Company always sits Then ascending up stairs, there sit their Book-holders, who keep the accounts of all the Transactions of those that buy or sell actions of the Company, and over against this office sits the Heer Gerbrand Elias who is the second Advocate of the Company: On this floor are several large Rooms in which are great stores of Packed Goods, and also a Room with all sorts of Drugs, Tee, and Wax, Ambergreace, and Musk, and on the same floor is a Chamber where the Commissioners sit who govern, the Packhouses; And next to them sit their Clarks who keep the Registers of the sales of the Company Goods; And on the same Gallery or Floor is a Chamber where are kept the several Books of Divinity, printed in the Indian Language that are sent to the several Colonies of the Company: And at the end of this Gallery is a Magazine full of Medicaments and Instruments for Barber Surgeons Chests, to furnish the Companies Ships and Garrisons in the Indies. Then ascending up another pair of stairs, there are several large Magazines of Nutmegs, Cloves, Mace and Cinnamon, and in a long Gallery are many men at work sorting of Spices fit for sale. Then ascending up another pair of stairs there are many Rooms full of Spices, then descending into the Court-yard there is a Guard Chamber where every night the house keeper hath a Watch, and on the other side of the Gate there is the Chemist, who with his men prepares Medicaments for the Indies; Adjoining to this Court-yard is their Way-house and Packhouse for Pepper and Gross Goods; But before I leave this house in the old part of the City, I must say some thing of the manner or method used in the Transactions of the Jews and others, who make a Trade of buyng and selling the Actions of the Company, the which is a great mystery of Iniquity, and where it inricheth one man, it ruins an hundred. The Jews are the chief in that Trade, and are said to negotiate 17 parts of 20 in the Company; These Actions are bought and should 4 times a day, at 8 in the morning in the Jews street, at a 11 on the Dam, at twelve and at one a Clock upon the Exchange, and at six in the evening on the Dam, and in the Coledges or Clubs of the Jews until 12 at midnight, where many times the Crafty Jews, and others have Contrived to Coin bad news to make the Actions fall, and good news to raise them, the which craft of doing at Amsterdam is not taken notice of, which is much to be wondered at, in such a wise Government as Amsterdam is, for it is a certain truth they many times spread scandalous reports touching the affairs of State, which pass amongst the Ignorant for truth; I shall now in the next place say some thing of their Palace or Magazine in the new part of the City the which may more properly be called an Arsenal; It is a building so superb that it looks more like a King's Palace, than a Magazine for Merchants; I have measured the Ground on which this Arsenal stands which I find to be 2000 foot, and square every way, reckoning the Motes, or Burgals, about it; I remember the Ingenious Sr. Joseph Williamsen measured the two Rope-allies by telling the stone figures in the wall, & found them to be 1800 foot long, the like whereof is not to be seen in the world. On the backside of this Rope-allie lies a store of 500 Large Anchors besides small ones; In this Arsenal they build the Ships belonging to this Chamber: and here are all sorts of work houses for the Artificers that serve the Company. And in a Chamber next to the Joiner's Office, is a model of a Ship, they now build their Ships by, which cost 6000 Gilders. When a man beholds the great stores of Timber, Cordage, and the Provisions of war in their Magazine, a man would think there were enough to furnish a whole Nation; In this Arsenal the Ships unload their Goods laid up in several apartments in the grand Magazine, and afterward is removed to the house in the old part of the City, as their is occasion for sale: In the upper part of this large Palace sit the sail Makers at work, but on the Lower part of this house is an apartment where the Bewinthebbers assemble upon occasion of Business; This Arsenal is not to be seen by strangers without a Ticket from the Bewinthebbers; Now all what I have spoken of these two houses, or Magazines doth only belong unto the Chamber of Amsterdam; There are yet other Chambers of the Company, who according to their Quota, or stock in the Company, have the like houses and Magazines, as the Chambers of Zealand, Delft Rotterdam, Horn and Enkusen. And now I have named the six Chambers of which the Company is composed, I shall say some thing of their constitution, which is from an Octroy, or Act of the State's General, by which they have sovereign power over their servants in the Indies, yea their Authority reacheth their servants in all Territoryes of the State's General Donions; It is Death for any of the States subjects to be Interlopers against this Company, nor may any of what nation soever that lives in any of the Companies Territories as Burghers or servants, return into Europe without leave from the Company, only those called Freemen may depart without askeing leave to remove; The Grand Council of this Company is the Assembly of the Seventeen, which are Elected out of the several Chambers before named, that is, eight from Amsterdam, and four from Zealand: Delft, Rotterdam, Horn and Enkusen send one a piece, which makes sixteen, and the five lesser Chambers by turns chose the seventeenth. In the Chamber of Amsterdam there are 20 Bewinthebbers in ordinary, who are for life, and have 1000 Ducatones a year and spices at Christmas, and their travelling charges, when they go upon the Companies service. The next Chamber is Zealand which hath twelve Bewinthebbers, who have about 250 L. a year and travelling Charges, and Spices at Christmas; The next is Delft which hath seven Bewinthebbers, who have only 120 L. a year and Travelling Charges and Spices at Christmas: The other Chambers of Rotterdam, Horn and Enkhusen have seven Bewinthebbers a piece, and the like salary, with travelling Charges and Spices at Christmas, as the Chamber of Delft hath. These Bewinthebbers are Elected or chosen out of those Adventerers called the high Participanten of the Company; They generally chose such as are rich and men of parts, and wisdom, most of them being of the Magistratie of the Country. No man is capable of being Elected a Bewinthebber who hath not a 1000 L. stock in the Company. In a word this grand Council of the Seventeen make laws for the governing the Company, both in India and Europe. It is they that appoint the days of Sale and what number of Ships each Chamber must send to the Indies: and likewise order the building of Ships, and all other grand concerns. This Company is worthily Esteemed a wise, Politic, deserving Company, spareing no cost to get good Intelligence of affairs, sending Messengers and Expresses over land to the East-Indies: They have their Spies and Correspondents in all the considerable Trading parts of the world; They have been so industrious as to gain the Spice Trade, not only from the Venetians, Spaniards, Portuguese, French, Danes and other Europian nations, but have also Ingrossed all the Spices, so that, as I told you before, they sell spices to the Indians themselves: but this I must say for them that they are a Generous Company and gratefully paying respects where it is due, as lately they have Complemented his Royal highness the Prince of Orange with an Annual sum out of the profits of their Company, to make him their, friend and Protector. Neither are they backward in bestowing presents upon strangers that have obliged them, as I could instance in some of our own Nation: They are also very charitable to the Poor giving them the 1000th Gilder of all the goods they sell; And to all the reformed Ministers in Amsterdam they send Spices at Christmas, to pray every Sunday for the welfare and prosperity of the Company. To conclude this Company is a Buckler and defence for the Commonwealth upon all urgent occasions: and truly our English East-India Company might be the same to our King, if the Differences between the two Companies were composed: Especially now they have such a great King to protect them, and that the Interlopers are destroyed. And now it is high time I should tell you the methodes a stranger must take if he hath occasion to Keep house in Amsterdam: If a man will higher an house, he must take a lease upon sealed paper, for which you must pay a Tax to the States, and pay the Broker that makes the bargain, but before you can buy a house you must be in a capacity to be made a Burger. To this purpose it is usual to take with you to the Stathouse your Broker or any two Securityes, and there before the Burgemasters take the oath of Burgerschap, which is to be faithful to the City, to the Magistrates and Goverment etc. but if you buy either Land or Houses, and lodge privately you will find your case much worse, Than you must pay a Legion of Taxes to the mills that drain your Lands, and for maintaining the Banks and Sluices, and if the States have occasion to build a Fortification on your Lands, or to drowned them in the time of war, you must be contented with the States Terms, and if your house or houses stand Empty without Tenants, yet you must pay the State's Taxes on that house or houses; Thus much for the method how you are to be advanced to be a Burger of Amsterdam, and to give you a taste what you are to pay for houses or Land, if you settel there, and if you have either purchased or hired an house than comes an Officer from the Stathouse with a printed sealed paper, who tells you, you must pay as followeth: first a pole tax for every male and female servant in the house above 8 yares old, six Gilders a year.  
For a Coach if you keep one 75 Gilders a year.  
For a Coach without wheels 50 Gilders a year.  
For soap as the Number of the family is:  
The like for salt:  
For wine as your Quality is:  
To the rattle watch as your house is in Greatness.  
To the Lanterns as the largeness of the house is.  
For Butter every 20 pound seven stivers.  
For Beens half as much as you pay for the beens.  
For Turf every Tun five stivers.  
For every 20 Gilders in wood six Gilders.  
For Flesh the Tax often changeth:  
There is also a Tax on the Bread.  
Then there is a Tax called the 200ste penny, and a Tax called the 8th: then there are many Taxes in Trade, as that no man can weigh or measure out his own Goods if sold in gross, but the State's Officers must do it, Then the States have a Tax called the Verpounding on all Lands and Houses in their Dominions; Then they have a Tax on sealed paper, and a Tax for Registering Lands or houses, likewise a Tax on Cows, Horses, Calves, and all sort of Fruit. There are many other Taxes I could name, as a stiver for every man that goes out or into any City after the hover of shutting the Ports, also you pay for going over some Bridges, and passing thro' Gates called Tolhek, a stiver for every persons, but Coaches, Wagons or Horses pay more; These I have already named; you will say, are to many, yet I may not forget to tell you, that Milk first pays as Milk, and again if it be made Butter yea the Buttermilk, and whey pays a Tax likewise, for all which a man would think that a people that stand so much upon maintaining of their liberty should mutiny and refuse payment. But this seldom happens, and if it doth the States punish them very severely. I remember that in my time there was a mutiny at Sardam about paying a new Tax, whereupon the States sent a Regiment of their Soldiers, and sealed the heads of the Mutineers and hanged up 5 or six of them at the Town's end, and severely whipped 8 under the Gallows; And in the rich City of Amsterdam if any refuse to pay their Tax, the Magistrates send their Officer to pull of their Doors, and if they remain long obstinate, they send and fetch away the lower Windows of their house, and they dare not put up others, until they have paid the Taxes; Howerer this is observable that if any man will swear he is not worth what he is taxed at, than he is free: but there are many so proud, that they will not let the world Know their Condition, I Knew a Merchant named Ornia, who paid during the war for his 200ste penny and other Taxes for his and his wives Children, (having had two rich wives) 14000 pound sterling: I also knew an English Anabaptist Merchant who told Mr. Envoye Sidney in my presence, that he had paid near 4000 L. sterling to the war, and yet the same man did Grumble to pay his Majesty's Consul a pitiful fee or Consulat money on his Ships: the reason whereof I once asked him, who answered me that the King could not raise a penny in England without his Parliament, and therefore much less, could he do it in the State's Country: Thus these fanatics had rather make bricks without straw, then pay the least tribute to their Natural Prince's Officer: should we in England be obliged to pay the Taxes that are here imposed, there would be Rebellion, upon Rebellion: and yet after all that is here paid no man may bake his own bread, or grind his own corn, or brew his beer, nor dare any man keep in his house a hand Mil, althought it be but to grind Mustard or Coffy. I remember one Mistress Guyn a Coffy woman at Rotterdam had like to have been ruined for grinding her own Coffy, had not Sir Lyonel Jenkins employed his Secretary Doctor Wyn to entreat the States on her behalf, and it was reckoned a grand favour that she was only find, and not banished the City, and forfiture made of all her Goods; I remember also a Landlord of mine in Layden bought a live Pig in the market and Innocently borough it home, and Killed it, for which he had like to have been ruinated, because he did not frist send to the accisemen to accise it, and also let the Visitors see that the Pig was free from diseases. At an other time a wine Merchant coming to give me a Visit, told me that he had the rarest Rhinish in the City, and that if I would send my maid to his Cellar with six Bottles they should be filled: whereupon I sent the maid only with two bottles, and charged her to hide them under her apron, but such was her misfortune that the Scouts Dienaers met her and seized her and her bottles, and carried her to Prison, which cost the Wine Merchant 1500 Gilders, and had it not been for the strongest solicitations made by us, he had been ruined: so sacred are Taxes here and must so exactly be paid. And were they not here so precise, it were Impossible for so small a Country to subsist: And therefore you may hear the Inhabitants generally say, that what they suffer is for their Vaderland, hence the meanest among them are content to pay what is laid on them, for they say all what is the Vaderlands is ours the men of war are theirs, the sumptuous Magazines, Bridges and every thing what is the Vaderlands. And indeed in a sense it is so for they have this to Comfort them, that if it please God to Visit them with Poverty, they and their Children have the public purse to maintain them, and this is one main reason why they so willingly pay their Taxes as they do, for there's not a soul borne in the State's Dominions that wants warm clothes and Diet; and good lodging, if they make their case known to the Magistrates; and for the Vagabonds that rove up and down the streets, they are either Walons or other strangers as pretend to have been ruinated by the late wars. I shall now in the next place let you know how Exellently the laws are here executed against Fraud and perjury, and the Intention of Murders, which laws were once much used in England, as you shall hear hereafter when I speak of the Duke of brandenburg's Court. I shall here Instance a few particullars that happened in my time: There was a Spark that made false assignments on the Admiralty, who though related to many of the Magistrates of Amsterdam, had his head cut of; and another who was a Clerk in the Merchant's bank, who made false posts in their Books, and had his head also cut of, and all the Portions he had given with his Daughters, the Husbands were forced to pay back, and all his houses and Goods were sold at his door in the open streets; I knew a french Marquis who swore his Regiment was Complete, and when the States knew that he had not half his Regiment, he likewise had his head cut of in the Prison in the Hague. I also knew a french Pedagogue a Runagado Monk who designed to have murdered his master Major Cavellio, and his two pupils young Children of the Majors, and afterward to set the house a fire to colour the murder, he had his head Cut of and set upon a Post with his body on a Wheel near the Hague; I could name you two others Cheaters, who were severely whipped under the Gallows: and two under Farmers who designed to run away with the State's money.  
The Cheat of breakeing with a full hand is not so frequent in Holland as in England (wheresome use it as a way to Slip out of Business and then to live conveniently afterward upon the Estates of other men) because in Holland they are more severely punished when discovered, then in England: as on the contraty those that fall to decay throw losses and unavoidable accidents which they could not prevent, find a more speedy and easy way of Compounding and finishing matters with their Creditors if they be over strict, than the Custom or law of England, doth aford, for the suing out of Statutes of Bankrupts in England doth prouve many times so pernicious both to Creditor and Debtor throw the tediousness of the proceedings and the expensivenes of Executing the Commissions, that what by Commissioners fees, Treatises and other incident charges, the Creditors are put to such Expenses as to be utterly disappointed of their Debt, and the Poor Debtors for ever ruinated and undone; I shall therefore in this place give a short relation of the method used in Amsterdam in the case of Bankrupts, which perhaps may be taken notice of by our King and Parliament for the preventing disorders and sad abuses that daily happen in Executing the Statutes of Bankrupts; The Magistrates of Amsterdam every year name Commissioners for Bankrupts, out of those that make up a Judicature, like to our courts of Aldermen in London; These meet certain days in the week in a distinct Chamber in the Stathouse over whose door is cut in marble the Emblem of Fortune flying away with wings, and round chests turned up side down, with mice and Rats eateing the money Baggs, Pens, Inkhorns and Paperbookes. There they receive Petitions from Debtors and Creditors, and as occasion requireth summon the parties to appear before them, and to lay open the true State of the matter: This done they either by authority seize the Bankrupts Books and Effects, or Else without any stir and noise leave all remaining in the Debtors houses, and send thither two Commits to examine the Books, and make an inventory of the Estate; with power to compose the matter, without giving much trouble to the parties. If the Commissioners find that the Debtor is come to decay by unexpected losses and unavoidable accidents, to which he did not at all contribute, it is their usual way to propose to the Creditor such amicable and easy terms, as the poor man may be able to perform, alloting some times the halfe of the Estate left to the Debtor, some times a third part, and some times persuading the Crediteurs to advance to the poor man a sum of money to help him up again in Trade, upon condition that he do oblige himself to pay the Creditors all he oweth them, when God shall be pleased to make him able; but on the Contrary if the Commissioners find that a Trader hath dealt Knavishly and broken with a design to defraud and cheat his Creditors, as if it appear that a Bankrupt hath kept false books, and counterfitted bills of Exchange, Bills of Loading, or pretended Commissions from foreign parts; In such a case they are very severe and not only seize all the Books and Effects of the Bankrupt, but also Imprison him, and also punish him Corporally, and if the cheat be of an heinous nature, sentence him sometime to death, whereas if the Debtor be only unfortunate and no ways knaveish, than the Commissaries use all the Power they have to force the Creditors to accept the Poor man's terms, the which is better for the Creditors then to use the Rigour of the law, in committing the Poor man to Prison, seeing in that case the Creditors must maintain him in Prison according to his quality, where if he lies a certain time, and the Creditors be not able to prove 〈◊〉 Prisoner hath an Estate, than the Debtor is admitted to his oath to swear he is not worth 40 Gilders besides his weareing clothes, and working Tools, and then he is set at liberty, but in the mean time let the Prisoner have a care not to make a false Oath, for than he is punished without mercy, an Instance of which happened in my tyme.  
The States having admitted a certain Jew to come and make such an Oath before them, were at the same time Informed▪ by the Gaoler that this Jew had been seen throw the chinks of the Door, quilting Ducats of Gould and some Diamons in his clothes, to the Value of 5000 Gilders The States hereupon admonished the Jew to take heed to what he was about to swear, because the law was very strict against such as made false oaths before them, and at the same time caused the oath and the Law to be ●ead unto him, nevertheless the Jew oftered to take the oath, but the Lords not suffering him to swear, because than he must die by Law, caused him to be taken out into another room and searched, where they found about him the Ducats and Diamonts: this being told the Lords they sent for him in, and then Sentenced him to have 60 lashes under the Gallows and to be banished the Country, yet because the Jew had many Children, they gave a 3d part of what was taken about him to his wife and Children, and a third to the Poor, and the other 3d to the Creditors, which was enough to pay them their Debt; These Commissiorers are paid by the States and have not a doit from Debtors, or Creditors for all what they do. These Commissioners are also much to be commended for their readiness to do good Offices to those Poor Merchants, Who having lived honestly, are brought to decay by losles and Crosses in their Trade: who when they find any such so Poor that they can neither pay their Creditors, nor maintain the charge of their Families, it is their constant Custom, to take their Children from them, and maintain and bring them up in their Hospitals, yea often also soliciting the Burgemasters on their behalf to bestow some small Office upon them for their Relief, and Subsistance; And here I must not omit to acquaint you, that as the Compounding of matters in Holland betwixt Debtor and Creditor so as hath been said, is very easy and equitable, so is also their way or method of sueing for Debts very favourable, which is after this manner, In the first place a note or summons is left at the Debtors house, and if he neglect to appear, a second summons is sent, but than if he neither appear himself, or send his Proctor, the sheriffs order an arrest against him, and at last when he it brought before them, if the matter be difficult it is referred to two or three Goodmen of the City, and time given him, but if the plaintiff make Oath that he apprehends the Debtor hath a design to run away, then must the Prisoner either give bail or return to Prison. It is a remark that I have made in my Travels, that excepting France and Flanders I never saw in any Prison above 40 Prisoners for debt at one time, and in some great Towns as in Harlem and other, some times not one; And the reason hereof is plain, for you cannot lay a man in Prison for an Action or debt, small, or great, but you must maintain the Prisoner, so that many times the charges exceed the principal Debt, and after all the Prisoner can free himself; Whereas the Custom in England encouraged by those Varlets the Pettyfogers and Catchpoles of turning a man into Prison for a Crown, or it may be for nothing at all, if he cannot find Bail, he may lie and starve there, is an abominable abuse, as also that of suborning false Witnesses, to much in use in England, which is Extremely cried out against Beyond sea. And now because I am Speakeing of Pettyfogers, give me leave to tell you a story I met with when I lived in Rome, going with a Roman to see some Antiquityes, he showed me a Chapel dedicated to one St Evona a Lawyer of Brittany who he said came to Rome to Entreat the Pope to give the Lawyers of Brittany a Patron, to which the Pope replied that he knew of no Saint but what was disposed of to other Professions, at which Evona was very sad and earnestly begged of the Pope to think of one for them: At the last the Pope proposed to Saint Evona that he should go round the Church of St. John de Latera blind fold, and after he had said so many Ave Maria's, that the first Saint he laid hold of, should be his Patron, which the good old Lawyer willingly undertook, and at the end of his Ave mary's, he stopped at St. Michel's Altar, where he laid hold of the Devil, under St. Michel's feet, and cried out, this is our Saint, let him be our Patron, so being unblindfolded and seeing what a Patron he had chosen, he went to his Lodgings so dejected, that in few months after he dieed and coming to heaven's Gates knocked hard, whereupon St Peoter asked who it was that knocked so boldly, he replied, that he was St. Evona the Advocate, Away, away said St. Peter here is but one Advocate in heaven, here is no room for you Lawyers, O but said St. Evona, I am that honest lawyer who never took fees on both sides, or ever pleaded in a bad Cause, nor did I ever set my Naibours together by the Ears, or lived by the sins of the people; well then said St. Peter, come in; This news coming down to Rome a witty Poet writ upon St. Evonas' Tomb these words: St. Evona us Briton, Advocate non Larron, Haleluiah. This Story put me in mind of Ben: Johnson going throw a Church in Surry, seeing Poor people weeping over a Grave, asked one of the women why they wept, Oh said she, we have lost our precious Lawyer, Justice Randall, he kept us all in peace, and always was so good as to keep us from going to law, the best man ever lived, well said Ben Johnson I will send you an Epitaph to write upon his Tomb, which was, 
God works wonders now and than,  
Here lies a Lawyer an honestman.   
And true old Ben: was in the right, for in my time I have observed some Gentlemen of that profession that have not Acted like St. Evona, or Justice Randal, I will say no more of them, but wish them as great fees, and as much encouragement as the Lawyers have in Switserland.  
I now come to speak some thing of the three Taxes I mentioned in the former part of my remarks on Taxes, of which the first ought rather to be called an useful and public invention, like to that of the Insurance Office in London, than a public Tax, seeing no man needs contribute to it unless they please, and find his profit by it, but the other may be called Taxes because the subjects are obliged to submit to them, but then they are so easy, that what the Public gets thereby not only lessons Extraordinary subsidies, which many times occasions clamour, when because of their rarity and the urgency of occasions, they must needs be great.  
Yet it is sufficently compensated by the advantage and security in the Estates which private persons, who are obliged to pay it, reap thereby daily; I am confident that if the King and Parliament thought fit to introduce some or all three of these taxes into England, the public charge of Government might be defrayed with more ease and with less repining and clamour, then when it must be done by new and high Impositions, how ever our Governors are the proper Judges of that.  
The first than is an House called the merchant's Bank which is governed by divers Commissioners, Clarks and Book keepers, likewise a Essaymaster who Judgeth of the Gould and Silver, that at any time is brought into the Bank uncoined, the security given for preservation thereof, are the States and Magistrates of Amsterdam. Now if you have a mind to put money into the Bank, suppose a 1000 L. less or more, you must go to the Clarks and ask a folio for your name, and then pay in your money at three or four per cent according as the rate of the Bank money is high or low, or you may buy it of those called Cashiers or Brokers: then get the Clarks to set down in the folio what you bring in, having done so you may draw this sum, or sell it in what parcels you please, but than if you let your money lie seven years in the Bank, you receive no Interest for the same. If you ask where then is the advantage for the Merchants? I answer first you have your money ready at all times for answering bills of Exchange, and making other payments: you are at no charge for bags or portage, at no loss by false tale or bad money, in no danger of Thiefs or unfaithful servants, or fire, and above all you have the accounts of your cash most punctually and Justly kept without any trouble or running the risk of Goldsmith or Cashieres breaking in your Debt; for such is their care that twice a year, or some times oftener they shut up the Bank for 14 days, and then all that have concerns therein must bring in their accounts to the Clerks, who a few days after, having viewed the Books, acquaint such as have brought in wrong accounts with their mistakes, desiring them to return to their books, and rectify their Error, not telling them wherein the mistake lies, so that I have known Merchants, in my time sent back three or four times, with their wrong accounts: but if they begin to grow Impatient and say that they will stand to their accounts, than they pay a mulct to the Clerks upon their Covincing them of their mistakes, either by chargeing to much upon the Bank, or forgetting or omitting what was their due. I knew two Merchants, who having forgot the one 750 L. and the other 220 L. in their accounts, were honestly rectified by the Clerks, so that they susstained no loss; besides this care of the Clerks in keeping and Stating the accounts, the bank is obliged for five L. a year to send to every Merchant, that desires it, their accounts every morning before Exchange time, of the monies written of by them in the Bank the day before upon any Merchant's account, and what sums are written of by others upon their accounts: so that the Merchants may compare the Banks notes with their books and so save much of the charges of Book kee- Now if it be objected that though this be an advantage to the Merchants, yet what can the Public gain thereby, seeing the Charges of paying Officers, Clarks etc. must needs be very considerable? I answer, that indeed it is a mystery to those who understand not the thing, but if it were once known and practised, the advantage of it would appear; For among other things which might be said, The Magistrates of the City take out of the Merchant's Bank a Sufficient stock of money to supply the Lumbert, a Bank that Lends out money, and is Governed by 4 Commissioners chosen out of the Magistrates, who sit in Court every day in the Lumbert, which is a large pile of Building 300 foot long, containing several Chambers and magazines under one Roof, in these several Chambers the Commissioners have Officers sitting tolend money upon all sorts of Goods even from a pairs of shoes to the richest Jewel etc. This is a great convenicence for Poor people, yea for Merchants also, who some times may want money to pay a bill of Exchange, and prevents the Cheatting and Extraordinary Extortion used by the Pawn brokers in England, France and other Countries. And besides the Poor have their Pawns safely and well preserved, neither are they punctually sold when the year is out or denied under the pretext of being mislaid, as the Poor are often times served by the wicked Pawn brokers. There is also another convenience in this Lumbert viz, an Excellent way they have of discovering Thiefs, and the stolen goods; They publish two general open sales of the Goods pawned twice a year, that such as will, may redeem their goods and paying the Interest may have them although the time be relapsed. Thus much as to the Lumbert. I was once according to my duty to wait upon our present King at the Bank of Merchants, where showing his Majesty the way of keeping the Journal Book of the Bank which is of a prodigious bigness, his Majesty was Extremely pleased with the Contrivance of preserveing it from fire; saying that the course they took might be of great use for the preserving Patents and the deeds of Nobleman's Estates; This contrivance which perhaps may be thought useful or imitable, I shall therefore describe it, It is a large firestone shaped like a Chest, and set upright in a stone wall having a large brass door of a Vast thickness with flops to fall over and Cover the Lock and Hinges, into this chest the Book is drawn upon Rolls, it being of such a Bulk and weight as cannot be handed in by a man, and there it is so securely preserved that although the house should be burnt, the Book in all probability would be safe; Should I here give an account of the Vast sums of money that daily are written of in this Bank, I might probably be thought to speak at Random, but this I may boldly affirm that it far Exceeds all the Banks in Europe, both for Riches and Business, and their Credit is such that the Italians, French, Germans and English have great sums in the same, neither was ever any man refused his money in the worst of times.  
A second Tax is what ariseth from the just and laudable Establishment of a Register, A Tax which I think most men will be willing to submit to, Except such as design to cheat and defraud their Naibours, and live by such like sins and Confusion, and for the most part die with the curse of the people; This Register in Holland begitts such assurance and Safety in dealing, that in purchasing of houses or land, a Child though overreached in the Value yet cannot be cheated as to the title: The methodes of which Register. I have by me for the use of our King and Parliament when they please to Command it.  
The third and last Tax is that of sealed paper as it is practised in Holland. The Method of which I likewise keep by me for his Majesty and Parlements Commands. There are many other things might be spoken, as to the Government of Amsterdam, but I may not tire your patience. However one considerable thing I would not pass by touching the Melitia; There are in Amsterdam 60 Companies of Foot, the least of them having 200 men, some 300, which in a modest account, amounts, at least to 15000 men, in which number neither Jews nor Anabaptists who carry no Arms are reckoned, only they are obliged to Contribute to the maintenance of the 1400 Soldiers who are kept in Constant pay, as a Guard for the City, and towards the night watch or Ratelwatch, who walk the streets the whole night to keep good Orders, and tell us every half hour what a Clock it is. There are also upon every Church Tower, Trumpeters who sound every half hour, and if any fire breaks out in the City they give a Signal on which side of the City the fire is, and ring the Firebell, and they have Excellent ways on a sudden in such sad accidents to Quench Fire: but I may not enlarge any longer, but hasten out of Holland. And yet before I leave Amsterdam I must vindicate her from a malicious aspersion cast upon her by the Ignorant, they accuse her to have very rudely and uncivilly affronted the Duke of York being there. Anno 1681 All which is very false, True the English fanatics of Amsterdam were so maliciously wicked as to spread several lies of his Sacred Person, and stirred up the Canalie as much as they could to affront his Highness, but as for the Magistrates they paid him very great respects; first sending me to the Hague to know what day his Highness would please to honour their City with his presence, that thereby they might be prepared to receive his Royal person with all the honour emaginable, being resolved to Treat his Highness in their Stathouse, and that the Burghers should be in their Arms, also giving out orders for Coaches and the Admiralties Yagts to attend his Highness, when ever he pleased to come, but his Highness, by Colonel werden let me know that I should attend the Burgemasters, and thank them for their kind presentation, but his Highness was resolved to see their City incognito and therefore desired the Burgemasters not to put themselves to any manner of Trouble; Notwithstanding the Magistrates Commanded their Yatchts to lie ready the halfeway Harlem, and Vice Admiral de Ruiter, Dirick Tulp, and others went out in their Coaches to meet his Highness, and conduct him into the City, at which time our English fanatics Especially those called Monmouths twelve apostles did all that they could to stir up the rude multitude to affront his Highness, crying out to them, This is he that brought the last war upon you, and with his Jesuits would cut all the Protestants Throats; But the next day after his Highness was come into the City Burgemaster Valkenier the great Solon of Amsterdam, sent for me and could me that although the Burgemasters which are the Sovereigns of the City give no Visits to strange Princes, unless they be Crowned heads, yet said he I have a great Ambition to pay a Visit to the Duke of York, upon several respects, first as being the brother of so great a King, and as he is our Statholders Vnckell and Father in law, and therefore said he you shall procure me Audience in the privatest manner imaginable: for I design to go with you to him without so much as a footman attending me; here upon I waitted upon the Earl of Peterborow and Colonel Werden and Colonel Porter to desire them to acquaint his Highness with the Burgemasters design, whereupon his Highness turned to me, and said Mr. Carr when the Burgemaster pleaseth, whereupon I went immediately to the Burgemaster and attended him to his Highness' quarters, the news whereof coming to the Citizens, they gathered together in great Multitudes to see whether this great man their Petty God did humble himself so far, as to pay a Visit to his Highness, whereas the other Burgemasters only sent a Secretary and one of there Pensionaries to Visit the Duke of Monmouth, and all Ambassandors have no other Compliment but by Secretaries or Pensionaries; After the Burgemaster had had a long hour's Audience with the Duke in a Room a part, I attended the Burgemaster to his Daughter Pelicorns house, the which was near his Highness' Lodgings, for the Tumult of the Burghers was so great, that the Burgemaster did not care to pass by them, and being come into his daughter's Parlour, he began to speak to me after this manner, Sir, I never in all my life met with a Prince so generally Experienced in all things, a Prince that hath far penetrated into the affairs of Europe, and hath the right measures of the present State of our Country, and discourses as if he sat in our Council, but above all I was mightly pleased to hear him declare himself so freely touching Liberty of Conscience commending the wisdom of our State in Opening their Gates to all tender Consciences, and that is it, said his Highness, that makes you so considerable and enticeth the Rich Merchants of other places to come & live amongst you, whereas the folly of the Spanish Inquisition hunts away the chiefest of their Traders the Jews and others; For my part said his Highness, I never was for oppressing tender Consciences in England: for nothing more disturbs the peace and quiet thereof then forcing men by Pe●d Laws to become all of one Religion, To conclude, said the Burgemaster do but, Remark this one thing and remember it, if you out live me, viz, that if ever this great Prince come to be King of England he will alter all the Measures of Europe, and possible become the Arbiter thereof: After which discourse the Burgemaster said let me now present you, mijn Heer Consul. with a Glass of Rhenith wine to his Highness' health, and pray when you have an Opportunity to speak with his Highness, assure him that he 〈◊〉 in Amsterdam a true and faithful friend, and moreover he said, when I speak next with our Statholder the Prince of Orange, and our pensionary Fagel, I will do his Highness' Justice; and thus we parted: but the civil deportment of this Burgamaster was not all, for other great ones of the City did their part also, as Vice-Admiral de Ruiter, with at least 30 Captains of the Admiralty Chamber of Amsterdam attended his Highness to show him the Men of war and Magazines of the Admiralty: likewise Sir Dirick Tulp and the Heer Peter van Dan● and others the Bewinthebbers of the East-India Company attended his Highness to the East-Indie House, where was spread a Banquet of Sweetmeats, and rich Wines, and they offered his Highness a present, but his highness would not accept of any, only two large Books in which were Painted all the Beasts, Fishes, and Fowls, and likewise all the Plants, Flowers, and Fruits of the East-Indies, and because his Highness had tasted the Mum in the East-Indie Magazine, and liked it, the Company caused twelve Casks, to be neatly hooped, and gave me them to be sent after his Highness to Brussels; And I know it was the resolution of the Bewinthebbers to have spared no cost if his Highness would have accepted of a Treat in their house, by all which you see that the Magistrates and chief men in Amsterdam were not guilty of Rudeness to his Highness, but it was the Canalie. And now having said so much good of the State's Government, and of Amsterdam in particular, it will not be amiss to take notice of some Bad customs and practices now in vogue in Holland, and leave it to the reader to Judge what they may portend; There are tolerated in the City of Amsterdam, amongst other abuses, at least 50 Music houses, where lewd Persons of both sexes meet and practise their villainies. There is also a place called the Longseller a Tolerated Exchange or public meeting house for whores and Rogues to Rendezvous in, and make their filthy Bargains: This Exchange is open from six a clock afterdinner until nine at night; Every whore must pay three stivers at the door for her entrance or admission; I confess the Ministers preach and exclaim from the pulpit against this horrible abuse, but who they be that Protect them I know not, yet I have heard some plead for the toleration of these wicked meetings upon pretext, that when the East-India fleets come home, the Seamen are so mad for women, that if they had not such houses to bait in, they would force the very Cittyzens wives and Daughters: but it is well known that as money does countenance, so Discipline might suppress that abuse. The old severe and frugal way of Living is now almost quite out of Date in Holland, there is very little to be seen of that sober modesty in Apparel, Diet, and habitations as formerly: In stead of Convenient Dwellings the Hollandtrs now build Stately palaces, have their delightful Gardens, and houses of pleasure, keep Coaches, wagons and sleas, have very rich furniture for their horses with Trappings-adorned with silver Bells, I have seen the Vanity of a Vintner's son, who had the bosses of the bit and Trapping of his horse of pure silver, his footman and Coachman having silver fringd Gloves; yea so much is the humour of the women altered and of their Children also that no Apparel can now serve them but the best and richest, that France and other Country's affoards, and their sons are so much addicted to play, that many families in Amsterdam are ruined by it not that England is less Extravagant than the Dutch, who as I said before got such great Estates by their frugality, whilst they were not addicted to such prodigality and wantonness as the English are, whose excess I can not excuse, nevertheless the grave and sober people of Holland are very sensible of the great alteration that now is in their Country, and as they say Paracelsus used to cure his patients of their disease with a full belly, so a good Burgemaster desirous to convince his Amsterdammers of their dissolute kind of lif● invited the Thirty six Magistrates and their wives to a feast: who being come and the Lady's big with Expectation of some rare and Extraordinary Entertainment, sat down at table; where the first course was Buttermilk boiled with apples, Stockfish, Buttered Turnips and Carrots, lettuce Salade and red Herrings, & only small bear without any Wine; At this the Ladies startled and began to whisper to their husbands, that they Expected no such Entertainment, but upon removing of the Dishes and plates they found underneath printed verses Importing that after that manner of living they began to thrive, & had enlarged their City.  
The second course consisted of Bocke de kooks, quarters of Lamb, roasted Rabits and a sort of pudding they call a Brother here they had Dorts and English bear with French wine yet all this did not please the dainty Dames: but upon removing away the plates another Dish of poetry appeared, which acquainted them that after that modest and sober way of Living, they might keep what they had got, and lay up some thing for their Children.  
Then comes in the third course made up of all the rarities of the season, as Patridges, Pheseants and all sorts of foul and English pasties, with plenty of Rinish and other sorts of wine, to moisten them, this put the ladies in a frolic and Jolly humour, but under their plates was found the use and Application in verses, telling them that to feed after that manner was Voluptuous and Luxurious, and would Impair their health and waste their Estates, make them neglect their Trade, and so in Time reduce their Stately and new built flourishing City to their old fishing town again. After this was brought in a Banquet of all sorts of sweet meats piled up in pyramids and delicate fruit with plenty of delicious wines, and to conclude all a set of Music and maskers who danced with the young Ladies; but at parting like the hand writing to Belteshazzar upon the wall, every one had a printed paper of moralities put into their hand showing them the causes of the ruin of the Roman Commonwealth, according to that of the Poet.  
Nullum crimen abest, facinusque libidinis ex quo,  
Paupertas Roman a perit.  
with an Excellent advice to them that if they did not quit the Buffoneries and apish modes of the French, and return to the Simplicity, plaineness and modesty of their Ancestors and founders, their Commonwealth could not long last; but all the thanks the good old Burgemaster had for his kind and Chargeable Entertainment in thus feasting his Countrymen, was to be sloutted at, and pasquild, The sparks of Amsterdam saying in all places, that the old man being now past the years of pleasure himself, would have none others to take theirs; And here I shall put a period to what I thought fit to observe of the States of the United Provinces only I will beg leave, to say something to the Hollander by way of advise viz, That now they are in a prosperous condition, Rich and at ease, They would look back and remember what God in his Infinite goodness & mercy did for them in the days of their greatest calamities; for my own part I cannot but admire the great providence of God in preserveing them from being devoured by their many Enemies they had in the last war, besides their enemies at home, some of which particulars as they then happened, give me leave to relate. At the time when the French came to Invade the Territoryes of the State's General, it than looked as if God had marked out the way for the French to March, by sending such a wonderful dry season that the Rivers of the Rhine, Beta, Wall, and other Rivers were fordable, so that the French only waded throw, and became so Victorious, that in a little space of time (what by the Treasons of some, and the Ignorance, and cowardice of others Entrusted with the Militia, and Garrisons) the French became Masters of above 40 Cities and Garrisons, at which time there was nothing to be heard of in the State's Dominions but confusion and misery, even in the strong and rich City of Amsterdam itself, who at this time beheld the French Army like a mighty Torrent coming within sight of the City, and at the same time wanting water in their Canalls, and Burgwalls to ply their Sluices, and such was the scarcity of Rain that a pail of fresh water was worth 6 pence; Thus heaven seemed to frown on them as well as the French Army, by the shutting up as it were the Conduits of Heaven, and yet a worse thing had like to have fallen out, for at the same time the Divisions grew so high amongst the Magistrates in the Stathouse, that it was putting to the Question whether or no they should not go and meet the French King with the Keys of their City, to save it from fire, and Plunder, now nothing in all probability could save this rich City from falling into the hands of the French, but an immediate hand from Heaven, and it had undoubtedly come to pass, had not providence caused the French to make a stand at Muyden, two hours from Amsterdam, at what time the Valiant Roman of Amsterdam Scout Hasselaer like a true father of his Country opposed the French party in the Council, calling out to the Burghers from the Stathouse to take Courage and rather choose to die like old Battavians with their swords in their hands, then tamely and Treacherously to yield up their City to the mercy of the French, as some of the Magistrates were about to do, this so Encouraged the Burghers that with great Courage they mand' the walls, and heaven then assisting them with a suden and plenty full rain, that they plyd their sluices, and drowned the Lands round the City 3 and 4 foot high, in some places, which caused the Victorious French Army to make a quick retreat, as far as Utrick, else the Monsieur had paid dear for seeing of Amsterdam; Thus was Amsterdam delivered by the hand of Heaven.  
A second was, when that Bloody Duke of Luxenburg, who gloryed and thanked God that he was borne without pity or remors of Conscience, took the opportunity of an exceeding hard frost to march his Army over the Ice as it had been dry ground, burning in his way the three fair Villages of Bodygrave, Swammerdam and Goudse-sluys. Acting there a more cruel Tradigie and worse than ever did Turk, for they Generally save the Country people for Ransom, but this cruel Prince caused strong Guards to surround the villages, and burned men, Women and Children together, Thus he began his march with a design to burn Leyden, Hague, Rotterdam, Delft and all the rich Country of Rhineland: and this he might have done in all probability, for first the Governor of Newsluce who commanded the post that should have stopped the French, Treacherously delivered up the fort without firing a Gun, and the handful of Troops then under General Koningsmark were so Inconsiderable that they joined to the Soldiers under Pain and Vincentio the Governor of new Sluice were not Able to make head as could oppose Luxenburgs Army, and at the same time the good Prince of Orange was with the State's Army at Charle le Roy. Now was Leyden ready to meet the French with the Keys of their City, and other Cities too, for they had neither fortifications nor Soldiers to man their walls; Thus the whole Country and Cities of Rhineland were like to fall under the Crueltyes and Tyranny of the French, but God a second time sent these people relief from Heaven, first by giving such undaunted Courage to that great State's man pensionary Fagel that he forced Koningsmark to Rally his Troops together and to make a Stand near Leyden, offering himself to die at the head of them if there were occasion, but God reserved him for a further good to the Commonwealth by sending such a sudden Thaw as was never seen before, for in less than ten hours the Ice so sunk and such Floods of snow came down from the high lands that the French were fain to make a very disorderly retreat, Marching up to the middle for haste, because on the Banks there could not march above four men a breast, so they were constrained to leave behind them the greatest part of the Plunder they had robed from the Innocent Country people, and the nimble Dutch men on their Scarves so long as the Ice would bear them, did shoot down the French like Ducks diving under water, so that it cost Luxenburgs Army dear, though they had the pleasure to burn the poor people, of which the French afterward wickedly made their boast.  
The third was as wonderful as the two others, and although I do not believe miracles, as do the Papists, yet I say nothing I ever observed looked more like a Miracle than this, to wit, when the English and French Fleet lay before Scheveling with a design to land, and the French ready on their March to join with the English and other French as soon as they should land, at the same time the Bishop of Munster lying before Groeningen, and the French before Gorcom, so that now all things looked with a dreadful face for the States, yet at this very time God sent a 3d relief by sending such Mists, and wonderful sorts of Tides, as so separated the two Fleets, that the English were forced to quit Scheveling shore, and were driven on the side of the Texel Road; from whence they were constrained by the season of the year to retire home, and such were the sudden & great showers of rain that the Bishop of Munster was forced in disorder to raise his siege at Groeningen, and the French to quit Gorcom; I could add many more observations of the Providences of God to these people, as the preserveing the Prince of Orange from the many treacherous designs contrived against him from his cradle, but Moses must be preserved, to go in and out before his people, certainly never young Prince Endured so many fatigues as did his Highness in his tender years, of which I was an eye witness, and had his Highness had the years and Experience, and such a good disciplined Army (as now he hath) in the year 1671 when the French Entered the Country, his Highness had given them as good a welcome as he did at Bergen. I will say no more of this subject only this, that the peace at Nimwegen was also a very wonderful thing, for that not above 8 days before the peace was signed, most of the Plenipotentiaries did believe the war would have continued another year; first because the King of Denmark and Duke of Brandenburg prospered Exceedingly against Sweedland, and totally refused the propositions of France, and secondly because the French King writ such Bitter letters against the State's General: yet 8 days after dressed a letter unto the States in which he calls them his good friends, and old Allies, offering them not only Mastricht but every foot of ground they could lay claim to in the world, also giving them new Terms, and Conditions as to their privileges in France, by way of Trade; Neither can I forget how speedily and as strangely the mighty French King did quit his Conquered Towns after the Valiant Prince of Orange took Naerden, which was the first step to the Frenchs' ruin in the State's Dominions. I come now, according to promesses in the beginning of this book, to give the reader some Remarkes I made in other Countries where I have been during my sixteen years' travels. To give a full account of all that might be observed in so many Countries, is not a task for one man, nor a subject for so small a book; I shall only therefore briefly take notice of some remarkable matters which may in some measure satisfy the curiosity of my Country men who have not been in the said places, and convince, if possible, all of them, that no Country that ever I was in, affords so great conveniencies for the generality of people to live in, as the Kingdom of England doth. Though I have twice made the grand tour of Germany, Hungary, Italy and France, and after my return back to England traveled a third time through Holland as for as Strasbourg, and so back by Francfort to Denmark and Sweden; yet the reader is not to expect I should follow a Geographical method and order in speaking of the places I have been in; that is to be looked for in the map, and not in travels; but only that I mention places as I found them on my road according as business or curiosity led me to travel.  
The first considerable place I then met with, after I was out of the dominions of the State's General was Cleave the capital city of the Province so called, a fair and lovely city standing upon the Rhine and the rivers Wall and Le●k. This Province much resembles England in rich soil and pleasantness of its rivers. The inhabitants of the Country would have me believe that they were originally descended of those Saxons who made a descent in to England, and conquered it; and to convince the truth of this, they showed me a cloister standing on a hill, called Eltham, from which they say our Eltham in Kent had its name. I was made to observe also two places standing upon the Rhine near Emmerick called Doadford, and Gron●wich, which according to them, gave the names to Dedford and Greenwich in England; but many such analogies and similitudes of names are to be found in other places of Germany, but especially in uper Saxony and Denmark. The greatest part of this Province of Cleave, and part of the duchy's of Julieres and Berg, and of the Provinces of Mark and Ravensbourg belongs to the Elector of Brandenbourg, the rest belonging to the Duke of Newbourg now Elector Palatine, and the Elector of Cologne. The inhabitants are partly Roman Catholics, partly Lutherans, and partly Calvinists, who all live promiscuously and peaceably together both in city and Country. The city of Cleave is the out most limit of the territories of the Elector of Brandenbourg on this side of Germany; from whence his Electoral Highness can travel two hundred dutch miles out right in his own Dominions, and never sleep out of his own Country but one night in the territories of the Bishop of Osnabrug.  
From Cleave I went to a small town called Rhinberg, but a very strong fortification belonging to the Elector of Cologne; which dies at two miles' distance from the city of Wesel that belongs to the Elector of Brandenbourg. Through Disseldorpe: situated on the Rhine, and the Residence of the duke of Newbourg, I went next to Cologne a very large city, called by the Romans Colonia Agrippina, and the French Rome d'Allemagne.  
Cologne is an Imperial city and a Republic, though for some things it does Homage to the Elector of that name, and receives an oath from him. It is much decayed within these hundred years, having been much priest ridden, a misfortune that hath undone many other great cities. The Jesuits have had so great influence upon the Magistrates, that they prevailed with them to banish all Protestants, who removed to Hambourg and Amsterdam, so that Cologne is become so dispeopled, that the houses daily fall to ruin for want of inhabitants, and a great deal of corn and wine now grows within the walls, upon ground where houses formerly stood. I dare be bold to affirm that there is twice the number of inhabitants in the parish of St. Martin's in the fields, than there is in Cologne; and yet it contains as many parish churches, monasteries and chapels, as there are days in the year. The streets are very large, and so are the houses also, in many of which one may drive a Coach or waggon into the first room from the streets; but the streets are so thin of people, that one may pass some of them and not meet ten men or women, unless it be Church men or Religious sisters. The most considerable inhabitants of the city are Protestant Merchants, though but few in number, and they not allowed a Church neither, but a place called Woullin a mile without the city: the rest of the inhabitants who are lay men are miserably poor. There are no less than 3000 Students in Cologne taught by the Jesuits gratis, who have the privilege to beg in musical notes in the day time, and take to themselves the liberty of borrowing hats and cloaks in the night: but if in the Jesuits Schools there be any rich Burgemasters sons who have parts, they are sure to be snapped up and adopted into the society. Formerly, before the matter was otherwise adjusted in the diet of Ratisbonne, there have been designs of voteing Protestant Magistrates into the government again; but so soon as the Jesuits come to discover who of the Magistrates were for that, they immediately preferred their sons or daughters, and made them canons, abbots or chanonesses, and so diverted them by interest. It's pity to see a city so famous for traffic in former times now brought to so great a decay, that were it not for the trade of Rhenish wine it would be utterly forsaken, and left wholly to the Church men. The continual alarms the Magistrates have had by foreign designs upon their liberty, and the jealousies fomented among themselves, as it is thought, by the Agents and favourers of France, and especially the Bishop of Strasbourg, have for several years kept them in continual disquiet, and necessitated them to raise great taxes which hath not a little contributed to the impoverishing of the people especially the boars round about; who though the Country they live in be one of the most pleasant and fertile plains of Germany, yet are so wretchedly poor that canvas clothes, wooden shoes, and straw to sleep on in the same room with their beasts, is the greatest worldly happiness that most of them can attain unto. The Elector of Cologne is a venerable old man, Bishop of four great bishoprics, viz Cologne, Liege, Munster, and Heldershime. He divides his time betwixt his devotion and experimental studies, being punctual in saying of mass every morning, and constant in his Elaboratory in the afternoon; for he is much addicted to chemistry, and leaves the administration of Government to his Cousin the Bishop of Strasbourg. To speak of all the miracles of the three Kings of Cologne, and the vast number of saints who were removed out of England and interred there, would be but tedious and perhaps incredible to the reader, aswell as wide of my design. I shall therefore proceed.  
From Cologne I took water on the Rhine and advanced to the city of Bon and so forward to Coblints the residence of the Elector of Trier. over against this city, on the other side of the Rhine stands that impregnable fort called Herminshine, built on a high rocky hill as high again as Windforcastle, and on the north side of it the River Mosel falls into the Rhine, over which there is a Stately stone bridge. This Prince governs his subjects as the other Spiritual Electors do, that is, both by temporal and spiritual authority, which in that Country is pretty absolute. The chief trade of this Country is in wine, corn, wood and Iron.  
The next Country I came to was that of the Elector of Mayence who is likewise both a secular and Ecclesiastical Prince and governs his subjects accordingly. He is reckoned to be wholly for the Interests of the French King; who notwithstanding of that, pretends a title to the citadel of Mayence. As I was upon my Journey to Mayence by land, I made a turn down the Rhin to visit the famous little city of Backrack, and some towns belonging to the Landgrave of Hessen, but especially Backrack, because Travellers say it much resembles Jerusalem in its situation and manner of buildings. The Burgemaster of this city told me that the whole Country about Backrack does not yield above 200 fouders of wine a year; And yet the Merchants of Dort by an art of multiplication which they have used some years, furnish England with several thousand of fouders. Here I shall take the liberty to relate a strange story which I found recorded in this Country; though I know it to be mentioned in History. There was a certain cruel and inhuman. Bishop of Mayence, who in a year of great scarcity and famine when a great number of Poor people came to his gates begging for bread, caused the Poor wretches, men, women and children to be put into a barn▪ under pretext of relieving their necessities; but so soon as they were got in, caused the barn doors to be shut, fire set to it, and so burnt them all alive: And whilst the poor wretches cried and shrieked out for horror and pain, the Barbarous miscreant said to those that were about him, hark how the Rats and mice do cry. But the just Judgement of God suffered not the fact to pass unpunished; for not long after the cruel Bishop was so haunted with Rats and mice, that all the guards he kept about him, could not secure him from them, neither at table nor in bed, At length he resolved to flee for safety into a tower that stood in the middle of the Rhine; but the Rats pursued him, got into his chamber and devoured him alive; so that the Justice of the Almighty made him a prey to vermin who had inhumanely reckoned his fellow Christians to be such. The tower which I saw, to this day is called the Rats-tower, and the story is upon record in the city of Mayence.  
On my Journey from thence I came to the little village of Hockom not far distant, famous for our Hockomore wine, of which though the place does not produce above 150 fouders a year; yet the Ingenious Hollanders of Dort make some thousand fouders of it go of, in England and the Indies.  
From Hockom I proceeded to Francfort a pleasant city upon the river of Maine, called formerl●y Teutoburgum and Helenopolis and since Francfort, because here the Franconians who came out of the Province of Franconia forded over, when they went upon their expedition into Gallia, which they conquered and named it France: and I thought it might very well deserve the name of Petty-London, because of its Privileges, and the humour of the citizens. It is a Hansiatick and Imperial town and Commonwealth, the Magistrates being Lutherans which is the public established Religion; though the Cathedral church belongs to the Roman Catholics who also have several monasteries there. The city is populous and frequented by all sorts of Merchants, from most parts of Europe, & part of Asia also, because of the two great fairs that are yearly kept there, Many Jews live in this city, and the richest Merchants are Calvinists, who are not suffered to have a Church in the town, but half an hour's journey out of it, at a place called Bucknam, where I have told seventy four Coaches at a time all belonging to Merchants of the city. It was in ancient times much enriched by Charle le maigne and hath been since by the constitution of the Golden bull: amongst other honours & Privileges its appointed to be the place of the Emperor's Election, where many of the ornaments belonging to that August ceremony are to be seen. It is strongly fortified having a stately stone bridge over the Main that joins it to Saxe-housens the quarter of the great master of the Toutonick order. The government is easy to the people, they not being taxed as other cities are, and had it not been for the Alarms the French gave them during the last war, they had not been much troubled, but being forced to keep three or four thousand men in constant pay to defend their fortifications, the Magistrates were constrained to raise money by a tax. Besides that of the Emperor, they are under the protection of some neighbouring Princes, as of the Landgrave of Hessen- Cassells, Landgrave of Armestadt, the Count of Solmes and the count of Hanau, who are either Lutherans or Calvinists, amongst whom the Late Elector- Palatine was also one; but whether the present who is Roman Catholic be so or not, I cannot tell. This city takes great care of their poor, and in their charity to poor travellers exceed Holland. I have seen a list of seven thousand whom they relieved in one year. Their great hospital is a large court or palace, where the English Merchants formerly lived, in the time of Queen mary's persecution of the Protestants, who when they were recalled by Queen Elisabeth were so generous as to give the whole court, with all their Packhouses and lands to the poor of the city. It was my fortune to be there in that cold Winter in the year 1683. and saw a ceremony performed by the Wine coopers of the city, who are obliged by law, that when ever the Main lies fast frozen over for eight days together, to make a great Fouder fat, Hoops and Staves; and set it up complete upon the Ice. It was very good diversion to see so many hands at work, and to observe the jollity and mirth of the many thousands of spectators who wanted not plenty of Rhenish wine to carouse in.  
I had the curiosity afterward to go to the court of the Landgrave of Armestadt a Lutheran Prince who lives in part of the richest soil in Germany. His Highness is a very courteous and obliging Prince to Strangers, and his subjects are in a pretty good condition again, though they have been great sufferers by the last war between the Landgrave of Hessen and this family.  
From thence I went to Heidelberg a city I had been formerly in, in the life time of that wise though unfortunate Prince Elector elder brother to Prince Rupert. Here I had the Honour to pay-my dutiful respects to the Elector the son of that great Prince, whose commissary I had the honour to be for two years together in Amsterdam. This Prince, since my being there, is lately dead, and left behind him the reputation of having been a Zealous through paced Calvinist, and so constant a frequenter of the church, that some Sundays he went thrice a day to Sermon; but never failed, if in health, to be once a day at least at the garrison-church; where he took particular notice of such officers as were absent. He was married to a most virtuous lady the Royal sister of the King of Denmark and his brother Prince George. During his life time the university of Heidelberg flourished exceedingly, so that the number of students was so great that Chambers and lodgings in the city were scarce, and Spanhemius was about quitting Leyden to return to his professors place in Heidelberg, but how matters stand since his death, I am as yet ignorant. This Country is called the paradise of Germany for its fruitfulness in wine, corn, and all sorts of fruit. I myself have seen growing in one plain at the same time, vines, corn, chestnuts, almonds, dates, figs, cherries, besides several other sorts of fruit. And as the Country is fertile in yielding the fruits of the Earth, so the people are careful in providing store room for them. This I take notice of because of the prodigious Rhenish wine fats which are to be seen there, amongst which there are seven, the least whereof holds the quantity of 250 barrels of Beer as I calculated; but the large and most celebrated fat is that which goes by the name of the great Tun of Heidelberg, and holds 204 fouders of wine, and cost 705 L. Sterling in buildiug, for which one may have a very good house built. This fat I have seen twice, and the first time was, when the Elector treated the French Ambassadors that came to conclude the match betwixt his daughter and Monsieur the French Kings brother, who married her after the death of our King's sister his first wife: at which treat there happened an adventure that I shall here please the Reader with. In a gallery that is over this fat the Elector caused a table to be placed in the middle, exactly above the bunghole of this Monstrous vessel, and to be covered with a costly banquet of all sorts of sweet meats: The day before, all the wine being emptied out of this Tun into other Fats, a little before the Ambassadors with other foreign Ministers and Persons of quality mounted the stairs to come to the place of entertainment; The Elector caused twelve drummers with as many Trumpeters, some Kettledrums and other music to be lodged in the belly of the Tun, with orders to strike up upon a signal given, when the Elector drank the French Kings health. All being sat down at table and merrily feeding, the Elector drank the health, and the signal was given; whereupon the music began to play its part with such a roaring and uncouth noise out of that vast cavity below, that the French and other Persons of quality who were unacquainted with the design, looking upon it to be an infernal and ominous sound, in great astonishment began to cry out Jesus Marie. The worlds at an end, and to shift every one for himself in so great disorder and confusion, that for haste to be gone they tumbled down stairs one over another. All that the Elector could say to compose them, was either not heard or not valued, nor could any thing satisfy and reassure them, till they saw the Actors come marching out of their den. Had not many Persons of quality and travellers seen this Fat as well as myself who know that what I say of its incredible bigness to be true, I should be afraid the Reader might think I imposed upon his credulity.  
From Heidelberg I went to see that impregnable Fort or citadel of Manheim alias Fredericks-berg built by the Elector Frederick brother to Prince Rupert, a Prince of as good a head as any Germany afforded, who though some have too partially Judged of him by his misfortunes, yet by the wisest of the age was acconnted the Cato of Germany. The wisest and best-men of the world have been unfortunate, which makes some to be of the opinion that God in his wisdom thinks fit it should be so, lest otherwise they might attribute their prosperity rather to the wise direction of their own conduct, than his all seeing Providence: and indeed, daily experience seems to evince the truth of this, since we see knaves and fools advanced to preferment and richesse, when men of virtue and parts die neglected and poor in the eyes of the world, though rich in the enjoyment of a contented mind. But this is a digression which the honour I have for the memory of that great man hath led me into, and therefore I hope will be pardoned by the Reader. In the citadel of Manheim I saw some of the Records of that illustrious family, which without dispute is the most ancient of all the Secular Electors, being elder to that of Bavaria which sprung from one and the same stock, to wit, two Emperors of Germany. Many writers derive them originally from Charle le maigne, by the line of Pepin King of France. There have been several Emperors of that race, one King of Denmark and four Kings of Sweden, one of which was King of Norway also, besides many great Generals of Armies in Germany, Hungary, France and other Countries. Since I can remember there vere five Protestant Princes heirs to that Electoral dignity alive; which now by their death is fallen to the Duke of Nowbourg a Roman Catholic, whose Daughter is Empress of Germany and another of his Daughters married to the King of Portugal. Being so near Strasbourg, I had the curiosity to go see what figure that famous city now made since it had changed its master; for I had been thrice there before, when it flourished under the Emperor's protection, with the liberty of a Hausiatick town: And Indeed I found it so disfigured, that had it not been for the stately Cathedral Church, and fair streets and buildings, I could scarcely have known it. In the streets and Exchange which formerly were thronged with sober rich and peaceable Merchants, you meet with none hardly now but men in buff Coats and scarves with rabble's of Soldiers their attendants. The churches I confess are gayer, but not so much frequented by the inhabitants as heretofore, seeing the Lutherans are thrust into the meanest churches and most of the chief Merchants both Lutherans and Calvinists removed to Holland and Hambourg. Within a few years, I believe it will be just such another city for trade and Richesse as Brisac is. It was formerly a rich city and well stocked with Merchants and wealthy inhabitants, who lived under a gentle and easy government; but now the Magistrates have little else to do in the government, but only to take their rules and measures from a citadel and great guns, which are Edicts that Merchants lest understand. I confess Strasbourg is the less to be pitied that it so tamely became a slave, and put on its chains without any struggling. Those Magistrates who were instruments in it, are now sensible of their own folly, and bite their nails for anger, finding themselves no better but rather worse hated than the other Magistrates, who did what they could to hinder the reception of their new masters the French. I quickly grew weary of being here, meeting with nothing but complaints of poverty, and paying exorbitant taxes; I therefore soon returned to my Petty-London Francfort, and from thence went to Cassells, the chief residence of the Landgrave of Hessen. This Prince is a Calvinist, as most of his subjects are, very grave and Zealous in his religion: He married a Princess of Courland, by whom he hath an hopeful issue, to wit, three sons and two Daughters. The late King was God father to one of his sons, who was Christened by the name of Charles. Captain William Legg Brother to the Lord Dartmouth representing his Majesty as his Envoy. The court of this Prince does indeed resemble a well governed college, or Religious Cloister, in regard of its modesty and regularity in all things, and especially in the hours of devotion. He is rich in money, and entertains about nine thousand men in constant pay, under the command of Count van derlipp, a brave and expert Soldier his Lieutenant General; but can bring many more upon occasion into field. This family hath been very happy both in its progeny and alliances, many wise Princes of both sexes having sprung from it; and the mother of this present Landgrave may be reckoned amongst the illustrious women of the present and past ages. After the death of William the 5. Landgrave of Hessen her husband, she not only supported but advanced the war wherein he was engaged, did many signal actions, Enlarged her territories, and at the conclusion of the peace kept under her pay 56 Cornets of horse in five Regiments, 166 Companies of foot, besides thirteen Companies of Dragons, and 14 independent Companies, in all 249 Companies of horse and foot; she was a Princess extremely obliging to strangers: especially virtuous and learned divines. I had the honour a good many years ago to kiss her highnesses hand; at which time she was mighty Zealous in promoting an accommodation amongst different Religions, as the Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Calvinist, but especially betwixt the two latter, and therefore entertained Doctor Duris at her court in Cassels who wrote several pieces upon that subject of reconciliation, and with some of his friends had a conference with a learned priest that came from Rome to forward the project; whereupon the Doctor published his book of the Harmoney of Consent, which is highly esteemed in Germany.  
From this Prince's court I directed my journey to Hanover, taking Lambspring in my way, a place where there is a convent of English Monks; and there I met with a very aged worthy and harmless Gentleman St. Thomas Gascoigue, a Person of more integrity and piety then to be guilty, so much as in thought, of what miscreants falsely swore against him in the licentions time of plotting; the Lord Abbot and several of the Monks I had seen there formerly. This monastery is very obliging to all strangers that travel that way, as well as to their own Countrymen, and is highly respected by the neighbouring Princes of all persuasions, as the Princes of the house of Lunenburg, the Landgrave of Hessen, and Elector of Cologne, who as Bishop of Hildersheim is their ordinary. The town of Lambspring is Lutheran though under the government of the Lord Abbot and his chapter, who constantly choose Lutheran Magistrates and Officers for the civil administration, and live together in that love and unity, that as yet there hath never the least debate happened amongst them; and indeed this harmoney is now to be observed in most parts of Germany where different Religions are professed. When I considered so many goodly faces both of Monks and students in that Abbey, I could not forbear to make a serious reflection on the number of the English whom I had seen in the colleges and Cloisters abroad, as at Rome, Rattesbonne, Wirtzburg in Lorraine, at Liege, Louvain, Brussels, Dunkirk, Ghent, Paris, and other places, besides the several Nunneries, and withal on the loss that both King and Kingdom suffered thereby, when so many of our natives both men and women should be constrained to spend their own Estates and the benevolence of others in a strange Land, which amounts to more money than at first one may imagine; and this thought, I confess, made me wish it were otherwise. I would not have the Reader to mistake me here, as if I espoused, or pleaded for any particular party; No, I plead only for the sentiments of humanity, without which our nature degenerates into that of brutes, and for the love that every honest man ought to have for his Country. I am as much a friend to the Spanish Inquisition, as to the persecuting of tender Conscienced protestants, provided there be no more but Conscience in the case; and I could heartily wish that Papists and Protestants could live as lovingly together in England as they do in Holland, Germany, and other Countries; for give me leave to say it, I love not that Religion which in stead of exulting, destroys the Principles of morality and humane society. I have met with honest men of all persuasions, even Turks and Jews, who in their lives and manners have far exceeded many of our Enthusiastic professors at home; and when ever this happened, I could not forbear to love the men without embracing there Religion, for which they themselves are to account to their great master and Judge.  
In my progress towards Hanover I touched at Hildersheim a city whose Magistrates are Lutheran, though Roman Catholics have the Cathedral Church, and several monasteries there. The court of Hanover makes another kind of figure than that of Cassels, it being the court of a greater Prince, who is Bishop of Osnaburg, duke of Brunswick Lunenburg, Hanover etc. Here I had the honour to kiss the hands of the Princess Royal Sophia youngest sister to the late Prince Rupert. Her highness has the character of the Merry debonnaire Princess of Germany, a lady of extraordinary virtue and accomplishments, and mistress of the Italian, French, High and low dutch and English languages, which she speaks to perfection. Her husband has the title of the Gentlemen of Germany, a graceful and comely Prince both a foot and on horseback, civil to stronger's beyond compare, infinitely Kind and beneficent to people in distress, and known in the world for a valiant and experienced Soldier. I had the honour to see his troops which without controversic are as good men, and commanded by as expert Officers as any are in Europe: Amongst his Officers I found brave Steel-hand Gordon Colonel of an Excellent Regiment of horse, Grimes, Hamilton, Talbot and others of our King's subjects. God hath blest the Prince with a numerous offspring, having six sons all gallant Princes; of whom the two eldest signalised themselves so bravely at the raising of the siege of Vienna, that as an undoubted proof of their valour they brought three Turks home to this court prisoners. His Eldest son is married to a most beautiful Princess sole heiress of the duke of Lunenbourg and Zell his elder brother; as the lovely Princess his daughter is lately married to the Electoral Prince of Brandenbourg. He is a gracious Prince to his people, and keeps a very splendid court, having in his stables for the use of himself and children no less than fifty two sets of coach horses. he himself is Lutheran, but as his subjects are Christians of different persuasions, nay and some of them Jews too, so both in his court and army he entertains Gentlemen of various opinions and Countries, as Italian abbots, and Gentlemen that serve him, and many Calvinist French Officers: neither is he so bigoted in his Religion but that he and his Children go many times to Church with the Princess who is a Calvinist, and join with her in her devotion. His Country is good, having gold and silver mines in it, and his subjects live well under him; as do those also of his brother the duke of Lunenbourg, and their Cousin the duke of Wolfembottel, which are the three Princes of the house of Lunenbourg; of whom it may be said that they have always stuck honestly to the right side, and befriended the interests of the Empire; so that no by respect, neither honour nor profit, could ever prevail with them, as it has with others, to make them abandon the public concern.  
From this Prince's court I went to Zell the residence of the duke the elder brother of the family. This Prince is called the mighty Nimrod because of the great delight he takes in horses, dogs and hunting. He did me the honour to let me she his stables, wherein he keeps 370 horses most of them English, or of English breed. His dogs which are also English, are so many, that with great care they are quartered in several apartments according to their Kind and qualities, there being a large office like a brewhouse employed for boiling of malt and Corn for them. It is this valiant Prince who took Tieves from the French, and made the Mareshall do Crequi prisoner: he is extremely obliging to strangers, and hath several brave Scottish Officers under his pay, as Major General Erskin, Graham, Goloman, Hamilton Melvin and others. His Lieutenant General is one Chavot a Protestant of Alsatia an excellent and experienced commander; who did me the honour to treat me three days at his house, where with all his Scottish and English Officers, whom he had invited, we liberally drank to the health of our present King, having, as he told us, served under his Majesty, when duke of York, both in France and Flanders, where he gained the reputation both for skill and conduct in the wars not only from Mareshall Turin a competent Judge, but also from all other General Persons who had the honour to know him, that fame hath made better known in the world than the encomium which that generous Gentleman ingenuously gave, and which here I spare to relate. I shall add no more concerning this Prince, his Officers, or Country; but that he with the other two Princes of the house of Lunenbourg Hanover and Wolfenbottel, can upon occasion bring into the field 36000 Soldiers whom they keep in constant pay, and such men as I never saw better in my life.  
After some stay at the Court of the duke of Zell I went to Hambourg a famous Hansiatick town. It is a republic and city of great trade, occasioned partly by the English Company of Merchant adventures, but much more by the dutch Protestants who in the time of the Duke of Alba forsook the low Countries and seltled here, and the Protestants also who were turned out of Cologne and other places in Germany; who nevertheless are not now allowed public Churches within the city, but at a place called Altena a village belonging to the King of Denmark, a quarter of an hours walk distant from Hambourg. This Commonwealth is Lutheran and governed by four Burgemasters, twenty four Radtsheres, and a common Council of all the Burghers who have above 40 schellings per annum free hold. The symbol or Motto under their Arms is, da pacem domine in diebus nostris, and in their Standart are these letters S. P. Q. H. The people here groan under heavy taxes and impositions; The State because of continual Alarms they have from the King of Denmark or other neighbours; and the intestine broils that frequently happen here, as well as at Cologne, where the Burgemasters are often in danger of their lives from the mutinous mobile; being forced to maintain six or seven thousand men in pay, besides two or three men of war to guard their havens from pirates. I shall not name all the ways of imposing taxes which this Commonwealth uses, because in most they imitate the methods of the State's General as to that, which have been mentioned before: I shall only take notice of some peculiar customs they have, wherein they differ from Holland. When a Barber, shoe maker, or any other Artisan dies, leaving a widow and Children, another of the same trade is not admitted to set up for himself as a master; unless he compound with the widow for a piece of money, or else marry her, or a daughter of hers with her consent.  
If any man cause another to be arrested for debt or upon any other suit, the plaintif must go along with the Officer who arrests the party and stay by him until the prisoner be examined by the sheriff; so that if the sheriff be not to be spoken with that night, the plaintiff must tarry with the prisoner all night, until the sheriff examine the matter, and see cause of discharging or committing the party; but this a plaintiff may do by a procuration Notariall.  
If a prisoner be committed for debt, the plaintiff must maintain him in prison according to his quality: and if the party lie in prison during the space of six years, at the expiration of that time the prisoner is discharged; and if during the time of his imprisonment, the plaintiff do not punctually pay the prisoners allowance at the month's end, the prisoner is set at liberty, and nevertheless the plaintiff must pay the Jailer the last month's allowance.  
This state is severe in the execution of Justice against thiefs, murders and cheats. There is no pardon to be expected for murder, and a Burgemaster himself if guilty cannot escape. The punishment for Murder is here as in Sweden, breaking malefactors on the wheel, pinching their breasts and Arms with hot Pincers, speeting them in at the fundament and out at the shoulder, they have also cruel ways of torturing to make prisoners confess; And are very careful not to be cheated in their public revenue; their accisemen and collectors being punished as in Holland. They take a very good course not to be cheated in their accise; for all the mills of the Country are in the hands the State; so that no baker nor brewer can grind his own corn, but must have it ground at the State's mills, where they pay the accise. There is a General tax upon all houses, and that is the Eight penny, which nevertheless does not excuse them from chimney money. The States here as at Genoa in Italy are the public vintners, of whom all people must buy their wine, which they buy from the Merchants, or otherwise import it in their own ships. In their ceremonies of burying and Christening, they are ridiculously prodigal; as for instance. If one invite a Burgemaster, he must give him a ducat in gold, if a Ra●dtsheer, that is, an Alderman, a Rixdollar, to every Preacher, Doctor of Physic, Advocate or Secretary half a Rixdollar, and to every Schoolmaster the third part of a Rixdoller. The women are the inviters to Burials, weddings and Christen, who wear an Antic Kind of a dress, having mitered caps as high again as the Mitre of a Bishop. The Churches here are rich in revenues, and ornaments, as Images and Stately Organs wherein they much delight. They are great lovers of Music; in so much that I have told ●5 masters of several sorts of Music in one Church, besides those who were in the Organ-gallery. Their Organs are extaordinarily large. I measured the great pipes in the Organs of St. Catherine's and St. James' Churches, and found them to be 3 foot and 3 quarters in circumference and 32 foot long; in each of which Organs there are two Pipes 5 foot and 8 inches round. The wealth and trade of this city increases daily: They send one year with another 70 Ships to Greenland, and have wonderfully engrossed that trade from England and Holland, and it is believed that small and great there are belonging to this Commonwealth five thousand sail of Ships. After Amsterdam, Genoa, and Venice their bank is reckoned the chief in credit; but in trade they are accounted the third in Europe, and come next to London and Amsterdam. Hambourg is now become the Magazine of Germany and of the baltic and northern seas. They give great privileges to the Jews, and to all strangers whatsoever, Especially the English Company of Merchant Adventures, whom they allow a large building, where they have a Church, and where the deputy governor, Secretary, Minister, and the other Officers of the Company live, to whom they yearly make present of Wine, Beer, Sheep, Salmond and Sturgeon in their seasons. And so much of Hambourg.  
From Hambourg I went to Lubeck, which is also a Commonwealth and Imperial town. It is a large well built city containing ten parish Churches; the Cathedral dedicated to St. Peter being in length 500 foot, with two high spires all covered with brass as the rest of the Churches of that city are. In former times this city was the place where the deputies of all the Hansiatick towns assembled, and was once so powerful as to make war against Denmark and Sweden, and to conquer several places and Islands belonging to those two Crowns, nay and to lend Ships to England and other Potentates, without any prejudice to their own trade, wherein they vied in all parts with their neighbours; but it is now exceedingly run into decay not only in territories, but in wealth and trade also. And the reason of that was chiefly the inconsiderate zeal of their Lutheran Ministerꝰ who persuaded the Magistrates to banish all Roman Catholics, Calvinists, Jews, and all that dissented from them in matter of Religion, even the English Company too, who all went and settled in Hambourg, to the great advantage of that city and almost ruin of Lubeck, which hath not now above 200 Ships belonging to it, nor more territories to the State; than the city itself and a small part called Termond about eight miles distant from it. The rest of there territories are now in the possession of the Danes and Swedes, by whom the burghers are so continually alarmed, that they are quite tired out with keeping guard and paying of Taxes. The city is indeed well fortified; but the government not being able to maintain above 1500 Soldiers in pay, 400 Eurghers in two Companies are obliged to watch every day. They have a large well built Stathouse, and an Exchange covered, on the top whereof the globes of the world are painted. This Exchange is about fifty yards in the length; and but fifteen in breadth; over it there is a Room where the skins of five Lions which the Burghers killed at the city gates in the year 1252 are kept stuffed. The great market place is very large where a monumental stone is to be seen, on which one of their Burgemasters was beheaded for running away without fight in a sea engagement. The people here spend much time in their Churches at devotion, which consists chiefly in singing. The women are beautiful but disfigured with a kind of Antic dress; they wearing cloaks like men. It is cheap living in this town; for one may hire a palace for a matter of 20 〈◊〉 a year, and have provisions at very reasonable rates: besides the air and water is very good; the city being supplied with fountains of Excellent fresh water, which Hambourg wants; and good ground for cellarage, there being cellars here forty or fifty foot deep.  
I had the curiosity to go from Lubeck to see the Ancient city of Magdeburg, but found it so ruined and decayed by the Swedish war, that I had no encouragement to stay there. I therefore hastened to Berlin the chief residence of the Elector of Brandenbourg, at whose Court I met with a very Ingenuous French Merchant who told me that he and divers other Merchants were designed to have lived in England, but were discouraged by a letter sent from London, by a French man that was removeing from thence to Amsterdam, for these following reason which I copied out of his Letter; First because the Reformed Religion is persecuted in England as it is in France, the which I told him was a great untruth, for it is apparent that they have been all along graciously admitted, and received into his Majesty's Dominions, without interruption, & allowed the free exercise of their own form of worship, according to the Doctrine & discipline of the Churches of France, nor can they who converse with the French Ministers either in France or Holland be Ignorant, that the chiefest part, if not all those Ministers are willing to comply with the Church of England, and it is Evident that most of the Dutch and French Protestants (so called;) in Holland make use of Organs in their Churches;  
A second thing was that both the bank of London and the Bankers. Gouldsmiths were all broke, the which I told this Frenchman was not true altogether, for there are many able Bankers whom I named as Alderman Fowls, Alderman Hornbey, Alderman Duncomb, Alderman Founs, Mr. Thomas Cook, Mr. Rob: Vyner, Mr. Child, Mr. Ends, Mr. Evans and others well known to the world by their solid dealing: neither was the Bank (as he called the Chamber of London) broke, only it had been under the management of a bad Person whose design was to bring it into disgrace; besides there is the East-India Company an unquestionable security for those as have money to dispose of, together with another undeniable security which is Land. Thirdly he saith, that in England there is no Register, and therefore many frauds in purchases & mortgages, which beget tedious suits, and renders both dangerous to trust; Fourtly that if a man would purchase land he cannot, being an Alien, until Naturalised. Fiftly that in England there are so many plots and Confusions in Government that the Kingdom is hardly quiet twenty years together.  
Sixtly that false witnesses were so common in England and the crime of perjury so slightly punished, that no man could be safe in life or Estate if he chanced to be in trouble. Lastly he said that the English are so restless and quarrelesome, that they not only foment and cherish Animosities amongst one another, but are Every foot contriving and plotting against their lawful sovereign and the Government. By such surmises and insinuations as these the French and Germans are scared from trusting themselves and fortunes in England and therefore settle in Amsterdam, Hamburg and other Cities, where there are Banks and Registers; This I say is one cause why there are now to be seen at Amsterdam such vast numbers of French and Germans who have much enriched that City and raised the rents of the houses 20 parcent, and the silkeweavers grow also very rich keeping so many Alms Children to do their work and having all their labour without any charge only for the teaching them their trades; which hath lessened the revenues of the French crown, and will in time greatly increase the number of the States subjects, and advance there public Incomes.  
To say the truth the inconstancy and wantonness of the English nation, especially of late times, when no other cause could be given for it, but to much ease and plenty, is not only wondered at but reflected upon by foreigners; yet I am morally certain that could the people of England be once again united in love and affection as they are bound to be in duty and Interest, and would they be as willing to contribute to their own happiness as heaven hath been kind and liberal in bestowing the means of it, with a good and gracious Prince solicitous for preserveing the same to them, could we be so blest as we have great reason to Expect we may under the Auspicious reign of him whose royal Virtues are dreaded by none either at home or a broad but such as are the disturbers of public and lawful Authority.  
Having made this digression, I return to Berlin, It is a city lately enlarged with fair streets and palaces. The Magistrates of the place are Lutherans, which is the public established Religion in all the Electors dominions; though he himself and his Children be Calvinists. He is looked upon to be so true to that persuasion, that he is reckoned the Protector of the Calvinists; and indeed he solicited the Emperor very hard for a toleration of the Protestants in Hungary. His chaplains, as most of the Lutheran ministers also, endeavour to imitate the English in their way of preaching: and his highness is so much taken with English divinity, that he entertains divines for translating English books into the Germane tongue, as the whole duty of man and several others. He has a large and Srately palace at Berlin and therein a copious library enriched with many manuscripts, medals, and rarities of Antiquity. He may compare with most Princes for handsome guards, being all of them proper well bodied men, and most part Officers who ride in his guards of horse. As he is known in the world to be a valiant and warlike Prince, so he maintains in pay an Army of 36000 men; besides five or six thousand horsemen, who in time of war are modelled into troops; with which body during the late war with Sweden, his highness in Person beat the Swedes out of his Country. He keeps his forces in strict Discipline, obliging all the Officers, if Protestants, on Sundays and holy days to march their several Companies in order to Church, but if a superior Officer be of a contrary persuasion, than the next in commission supplies his place. This custom is Religiously observed by all his highnesses garrisons; whilst he himself with his Children, being five sons, two Daughters, and two Daughters in law, go constantly to the Calvinist Church adjoining to the Court. Amongst other acts of public piety and charity, this Prince hath established and endowed some Religious houses or Nunneries for Protestant young ladies, where they may live virtuously and spend their time in devotion as long as they please, or otherwise marry, if they think fit, but then they lose the benefit of the Monastery. There is one of these at Herford in Westphalia, where I was and had the honour to wait upon the Lady Abbess the Princess Elisabeth, eldest sister of the Elector Palatine and Prince Rupert, who is since dead. Notwithstanding the late wars with Sweden and that by the prevalency of France in that hasty treaty of peace concluded at Nimwegen, his Electoral Highness was obliged to give back what he had Justly taken from that crown; yet his subjects flourish in wealth and trade, his highness having encouraged manufactures of all sorts, by inviting Artisans into his dominions, and established a Company of tradeing Merchants to the West-Indies, which will much advance navigation amongst his subjects. And in all humane probability they are like to continue in a happy condition, seeing by the alliances his highness hath made with the Protestant Princes of the Empire, and especially the house of Lunenbourg, they are in no danger of being disturbed by their neighbours. I told you before that the Prince of Brandenbourg was married to the Daughter of the duke of Hanover, so that so long as that alliance holds, the families of Brandenbourg and Lunenbourg will be in a condition to cast the balance of the Empire; they both together being able to bring into the field 80000 as good men as any are in Europe.  
When I parted from Berlin I made a turn back to Lunenbourg in my way to Swedland, where I found several of my Country men Officers in the garrison, who showed me what was most remarkable in the city, as the Saltworks (which bring in considerable sums of money to the duke of Lunenbourg) the Stathouse, and Churches, in one of which I saw a communion table of pure ducat gold. From thence I went into the Province of of Holstein, and at a small sea port called Termond, of which I spoke, before, I embarked for Sweden.  
He that hath read in the histories of this last age the great exploits of Gustavus Adolphus and his Swedes, perhaps may have a fancy that it must be an excellent Country which hath bredsuch warriors; but if he approach it, he will soon find himself undeceived. Entering into Sweedland at a place called Landsort, we sailed forwards amongst high rocks having no other prospect from Land but mountains till we came to Dollars, which is about four Swedish, that is, twenty four English miles from Stockholm, the capital city of the Kingdom: upon my coming a shore I confess I was a little surprised to see the poverty of the people; and the little wooden houses they lived in, not unlike Soldiers huts in a leaguer; but much more, when I discovered little else in the Country but mountainous rocks and standing lakes of water. The Reader will excuse me, I hope, if I remark not all that I may have taken notice of in this Country, seeing by what I have already written, he may perceive that my design is rather to observe the manner of the inhabitants living, then to give a full description of every thing that may be seen in the Country they live in. However I shall say somewhat of that too, having premised once for all that the ordinary people are wretchedly poor; yet not so much occasioned by the Public taxes, as the barrenness of their Country, and the oppression of the nobles their Landlords, and immediate superiors, who till the present King put a stop to their violences, tyrannically domineered over the lives and fortunes of the poor peasants. From Dollars I took waggon to Stockholm, changing horses three times by the way, by reason of the badness of the road, on all hands environed with rocks, that hardly open so much as here and there to leave a shred of plain ground. At two miles' distance upon that road the city of Stockholme looks great; because of the King's palace, the houses of Noblemen, and some Churches which are seated upon rocks; and indeed, the whole city and suburbs stand upon rocks, unless it be some few houses built upon ground gained from the rivers that run throw the town. Stockholme has its name from a stock or log of wood which three brothers threw into the water five miles above the city, making a vow that where ever that stock should stop, they would build a castle to dwell in. The stock stopped at the Holm or rock where the palace of the King now stands; and the brothers to be as good as their word, there built their castle, which invited others to do the like; so that in process of time the other rocks or holmes were covered with buildings which at length became the capital city of the Kingdom. It is now embellished with a great many Stately houses, and much emproved from what it was 4●0 years ago, as indeed, most cities are; for the Stathouse then built, is so contemptible and low that in Holland or England, it would not be suffered to stand to disgrace the nation. The Council Chamber where the Burgemaster and Raedt sit, is two rooms cast into one not above nine foot high; and the two rooms where the sheriffs and the Erve college (which is a Judicature like to the Doctor's Commons in England) sit are not above eight foot and a half high. The King's Palace is a large square of stone building, in some places very high, but an old and irregular fabric, without a sufficient quantity of ground about it for gardens and walks. It was anciently surrounded with water; but some years since part of it was filled up to make a way from the castlegate down into the old town. In this Palace there are large rooms; but the lodgings of the King, Queen and Royal family are three pair of stairs high, the rooms in the first and second story's being destined for the Senate Chamber and other courts of Judicature. The King's library is four pair of stairs high, being a room about forty six foot square, with a closet adjoining to it not half the dimensions. When I considered the apartments and furniture of this Court, I began to think that the French Author wrote truth, who in his Remarks upon Swedland says, that when Queen Christina resigned the Crown to Carolus Gustaphus the father of this present King, she disposed of the best of the furniture of the Court, and gave away a large share of the Crown lands to her favourites; in so much that the King considering the poor condition she had left the Kingdom in, and seeing the Court so meanly furnished, said that had he known before he accepted the Crown, what then he did, he would have taken other measures.  
There are many other Stately palaces in Stockholme belonging to the nobility; but many of them for want of repairs, and not being inhabited run to ruin; several of the nobles who lived in them formerly, having lost the estates that maintained their ancient splendour, as we shall see hereafter, being retired unto a Country life. There are also some other magnificent structures begun, but not finished, as that Stately building intended for a Parliament house for the nobles, and two or three Churches: but what I most wonder at is the vault wherein the late King lies buried, is not as yet covered but with boards, for it is to he observed that the Kings of Sweeden have no tombs and monuments as in England and other Countries; but are put into copper coffins with inscriptions on them, and placed one by another in vaults adjoining to the Grey Friar's Church. These vaults are about Eight in number, having turets over them with veins of Copper gilt, carved into the cyphers of the several Kings who give them their names by being the first that are interred in them. The vault of the late King is not yet finished, no more than the fabrics above mentioned, which perhaps may be imputed to the late troubles of Swedland. The number of the inhabitants of Stockholme are also much decreased within these few years, partly by reason of the removal of the Court of Admiralty and the King's Ships from that city to Charles-crown, a new haven lately made about 200 English miles from thence, which hath drawn many families belonging to the fleet and admirality from Stockholme to live there: and partly because many of the nobility, gentry and those that depended on them, are, as I said before, withdraw'n from Stockholme to a retired life in the Country. Nevertheless the ordinary sort of Bourghers who still remain are extremely poor; seeing the women are fain to work like horses, drawing carts, and as labourers in England, serving masons and bricklayers with stone, bricks and mortar, and unloading vessels that bring those materials; some of the poor creatures in the summertime toiling in their smocks without either shoes or stockings. They perform also the part of watermen, and for a small matter will row passengers 40 miles or more if they please.  
The Court here is very thin and silent, the King living frugally & seldom dining in public He eats commonly with the two Queens his mother and consort, who is a virtuous Princess sister to the King of Denmark. She is the mother of five Children, three sons and two daughters, with whom she spends most of her time in retirement. The King is a goodly Prince whom God hath blessed and endowed with accomplishments far beyond what might have been expected from his education, wherein he was extremely abused, being taught little more than his mother tongue. He is gracious, Just and valiant, constant at his devotion, and utterly averse from all kind of debauchery, and the unfashionable vanities of other courts in plays, and danceing.  
His Sports are hunting and exerciseing of his guards, and he rarely appears publicly or gives audience to strangers, which is imputed to his sense of the neglect of his education. He is a Prince that hath had a very hard beginning in the world, which hath many times proved fortunate to great men; and indeed, if we consider all the circumstances of his early misfortunes, how he was slighted and neglected by his nobles who would hardly vouchsafe to pay him a visit when he was among them in the Country, or to do him homage for the lands they held of the Crown; and how by the Pernicious counsels of the French and the weakeness or treachery of his governor's he was misled into a war that almost cost him his Crown, having lost the best of his territories in Germany and Schonen, and most of his forces both by sea and land: If I say, these things be considered, it will probably appear that hardly any Prince before him hath in a shorter time or more fully settled the Authority and prerogative of the Crown, than he hath done in Sweden; for which he stands no ways obliged to France, as he was for the restauration of what he lost during the war. He is now as absolute as the French King, and makes Edicts which have the force of Laws with out the concurrence of the Estates of the Kingdom. He hath erected two judicatures the one called the college of Reduction, and the other of inspections; the first of which hath put his Majesty in possession again of all lands alienated from the Crown, and the other called to account all persons even the heirs and executors of those who had cheated the Crown, and made them refound what they or their predecessors had appropriated to their own use of the Public revenue. These two necessary constitutions, as they have reduced many great families to a pinch, who formerly lived splendidly upon the Crown lands and revenues, and obliged them to live at home upon their ancient and private Patrimony in the Country, which is one great cause that the Court of Sweden is at present so unfrequented; so have they enabled his Majesty, without burdening of his subjects, to support the Charges of the government, and to maintain 64000 men in pay. The truth is his other Renews are but small, seeing Queen Christina enjoys the best of his territories, as her allowance, and that what arises from the Copper and Iron mines, one Silver mine, the Pitch and Tar, the customs and excise amounts to no extraordinary sum of money, & the land tax in so barren a Country scarcely deserving to be named. The customs and excise, I confess, are very high, and the rigorous manner of exacting them pernicious to trade; as for instance. I● a ship come to Stockholme from London with a hundred several sorts of goods, and those goods assigned to fifty several men more or less; if any of those fifty do not pay the custom of what belongs to him, though it be for a barrel of Beer, the Ship shall not be unladen, nor no man have his goods out, though he hath fully paid the customs for them, till this last man hath paid his. There are several other silly customs in Swedland that discourages men from tradeing there; as if any stranger die there, a third of his Estate must go to the city or town where he traded. No foreign Merchant in Stockholm can travel into any Country where there is a fair without a passport: and at present seeing there is no treaty of trade betwixt England and Sweden, though the English bring as considerable a trade to that Kingdom, as any other Country whatsoever, yet they are very unkindly used by the Officers of the custom house; whereas the Dutch, in Lubeck, and other cities have new and greater Privileges allowed them. Nor would I Counsel an Englishman to go to law with a Swedish Burgher in Sweden, especially if he be a Whiggish Scot who hath got his freedom in Stockholme, for those are a kind of skrapers, whom I have observed to be more inveterate against the English then the native Sweeds.  
Of all the Swedish army of 64000 men, the King keeps but 12 Companies of 200 men a piece, with some few horse guards in Stockholme, who are not upon duty as sentinels at the Court gates, as at the Courts of other Princes. The rest are dispersed into quarters and garrisons upon the fronteers which are so far distant in that large compass of land which his territories take up, that it would require a hard and tedious work to bring them together to a general muster. They are however kept under very strike discipline, and those that lie near often viewed by the King. They have odd sorts of punishments for the Soldiers and Officers of all degrees: for example if a Sergeant or Corporall be drunk or negligent on duty, they are put into armour, and with three muskets tied under each arm, made to walk two hours before the Court of guard: yet for all the severity of discipline used against the Soldiers, they commit many abuses in the night time, robbing and sometimes kill men upon the streets in Stockholme, where they have no lights nor guards as in Coppenhaguen. Informer times there have been at one time thirty five Colonels besides General Officers in the Swedish Army all the subjects of the King of great Britain, but at present there are few or none, unless it be the sons of some Scottish Officers deceased; nor did I ever see an Englishmen in the King's guards horse or foot but one, and the son of Sr. Eduard wood, who hath since quitted the service. The King hath exceedingly won the hearts of the common people, not only by exempting them from the tyrannical Jurisdiction of the nobility and gentry, who formerly would by their own private authority punish and put to death the peasants at their pleasure; which makes the Countries very willing to quarter the King's Soldiers, but by his exactness in punishing duels, murder and robberies. Perjury is death here also as in Holland: which makes the Magistrates in some ports of this King's territories enjoins strange kinds of oaths to deter men from being forsworn. As for instance, in some places, the witness is set, with a staff in his hand, upon some peeble stones and charcoal, where he is to imprecate and pray, that if what he sweareth be not true, his land may become as barren as those stones, and his substance be consumed to ashes like the coals he stands on, which as soon as he steps down are set on fire. This manner of swearing so terrifies the people, that they commonly tremble when they come to take their oath.  
The Religion of the dominions of the King of Sweden, as of those of the King of Denmark, and of other Princes and states whom we have named is Lutheran; who are more rigid to Roman Catholics and Calvinists than the Protestanrs of Germany. There is no toleration allowed here to Calvinist ministers; and they take an effectual course to keep the Country clear of priests and Jesuits, by gelding them whether they be young or old. In commemoration of the great losses and desolation iustained in the late war, the Swedes strictly keep four fasting days in the months of April, May, June and July; on which days all men are prohibited by Authority to kindle fire in their houses, or to eat till after Evening service is done, which in the winter time could not be endured. They delight much in singing in their Churches, which they constantly perform twice every day, morning, and evening. In their marying, Christen and bury they are so prodigally extravagant, that if all three happen in one year to a man of a competent estate, it is enough to break him, The clergy of Sweden are neither so rich nor learned as those of Germany, wanting both the opportunities of study, and of conversing with learned men, that those of other Country's enjoy; though there be some learned men amongst them. A Bishopric in Sweden is no great benefice, if compared with some Personages in England; for the Archbishop and Metropolitan hath not above 400 L. per ann. and some of the rest are not worth above 150 or 200 L. a year. The inferior Clergy are not so regular in their lives and conversation in the Country's distant from Stockholme, as they are near the court, and the reason is, partly because they entertain travellers that pass the Country, there being no Ins in most places for the accommodation of persons of any quality, and so are obliged to drink with their guests: and partly because at bury and Christen, where there is commonly high drinking, the Pape or Parson is master of the Ceremonies; And here give me leave, to tell a short story of one of them. A Pape coming to christian a Child in a Church, and finding a Scottish man to be Godfather, was so transported either with Zeal or his cups, that when he came to exorcise the Child which is a rite used in their Office of Administering that Sacrament, He neglected the form prescribed by the liturgy, and in an extemporary prayer begged that the devil might depart out of the Child, and enter into that Scottish Heretic; for so they call the Presbyterians of that nation. The prayer of the Pape so incensed the Scot that he vowed revenge, and watched the Pape with a good cudgel next day as he crossed the Church yard, where he beat him and left him all in blood lying on the ground and crying out murder. For this fact the Scot was had before the Justice, who ask him how he durst be so bold as to lay his profane hands upon the man of God, He, who knew very well what use to make of the devil he had got, foaming at the mouth and cunningly acting the demoniac, made answer that the Pape might thank himself for what he had met with; for since he had conjured the devil into him he spared no body, neither wife nor Children, nor would he spare the Justice himself, and with that sell a mangling and tearing the Magistrate, that he was fain to betake himself to his heels, crying out O! the devil, save me; and so the Scot marched home no man daring to lay hold on him, for fear of being torn to pieces by the devil. But the Justice recollecting himself sent for the Pape, told him that the Scot was a cunning rogue, and bid him go home, get a plaster for his head and be silent; lest if the matter came to the Bishop's ears, he might be censured for going against the rubric of the liturgy.  
The famous University where their Clergy are bred is Vpsall eight Swedish miles from Stockholme. There are commonly 150 or 200 Students there, but no endowed colleges as in other Countries. The library is so mean and contemptible that the libraries of many Grammar Schools and of private men in England or Holland are far better stored with books than it is. Upon viewing of it, and that of the King's Palace, I called to mind the saying of a French man, upon the like occasion; That Swedland came behind France and England in the knowledge of men and things at least 800 years; yet some Swedes have been so conceited of the antiquity of their Country, as to brag that Paradise was seated in Sweden, that the Country was turned into such heaps of rocks for the rebellion of our first parents, and that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel in a Country three Swedish miles distant from Vpsall. A French man standing by and hearing this Romantic story, as I was told, fitted him with the like, telling him that when the world was made in six days, at the end of the creation all the Rubbish that remained was thrown together into a corner, which made up Sweden and Norway. And indeed the French seem to have no great liking to the Country, what ever kindness they may have for the people, for a French Ambassador, as an author of that Country relates, being by order of Queen Christina treated in a Country house 4 Swedish miles from Stockholme, and upon the road going and coming, with all the varieties and pleasures that the Country could afford, on purpose to make him have a good opinion of the same; made answer to the Queen (who asked him upon his return what he thought of Sweden) that were he master of the whole Country, he would presently sell it & buy a farm in France or England; which, under favour, I think was a little tart and saucy.  
Having stayed a considerable time in Swedland, and most part at Stockholme, I set out from thence to go to Elsenbourg by land, and went a little out of my way to see a small city called Eubrone famous for a coat of Arms which it got in this manner. A certain Masculine Queen of Denmark who had conquered a great part of Sweden, coming to this city, asked the Magistrates, what was the Arms of their city; who having told her that they had none, she plucked up her coats and squatting upon the Snow, bid them take the mark she left there for their Arms: It's pity she did not give them a suitable motto to it also. What that figure is called in blazonerie I know not, but to this day the city uses it in their Arms, and for marking their commodities. This Queen came purposely into Sweden to pay a visit to a brave woman that opposed a King of Swedland, who in a time of famine would have put to death all the men and women in his Country above sixty years of age. The Country all the way I traveled in Swedland is much of the same quality of the land about Stockholme, until I came near the Province of Schonen which is called the store house and Kitchen of Sweden, where the Country is far better. It was formerly very dangerous to travel in this Province of Schonen, because of the Snaphances who were a kind of bloody robbers, now utterly destroyed by the King; so that it is safe enough travelling there. Entering into Schonen I saw twenty nine of these rogues upon wheels, and elsewhere in the Country, ten and twenty at several places. The King used great severity in destroying of them; some he caused to be broken upon the wheel, others speeted in at the fundament and out at the shoulders, many had the flesh pinched off of there breasts, and so were fastened to stakes till they died, and others again had their noses and both hands cut off, and being seared with a hot Iron were let go to acquaint their comrades how they had been served. The King is very severe against Highwaymen and duellers. In above a hundred miles travelling, we found not a house where there was either French wine or brandie, which made me tell a Swede of our Company who was travelling to Denmark, that I would undertake to show any man 500 houses wherein a traveller might have wine and other good accommodation in the space of an hundred miles upon any road from London. There are several small towns and fertile land in this Country of Schonen, lying upon the Sound; at the narrowest part whereof lies Elsenbourg burnt down by the Danes in the last war: Here I crossed over to Elsenore, the passage being but a league broad.  
The King of Denmark has a castle at Elsenore which commands the narrow passage of the Sound, where all Ships that enter into or come out of the Baltic sea must pay toll. Having visited this castle and stayed about a fortnight with the English Consul, and Sr. John Paul late resident at the Court of Swedland, I went to the danish Court at Coppenhaguen.  
Copenhaguen is the capital city of Zeeland, Jutland or Denmark and place of residence of the King It stands on a flat, encompassed with a pleasant and delightful Country much resembling England. The streets of the city are kept very neat and clean, with lights in the night time for the convenience and safety of those who are then abroad; a custom not as yet introduced into Stockholme where it is dangerous to be abroad when it is dark. The King's men of war lie here very conveniently, being orderly ranged betwixt Booms after the manner of Amsterdam, and near the Admiralty house, which is a large pile of building well furnished with stores and Magazines, secured by a citadel, that not only commands the city, but also the Haven, and entry into it. The Court of Denmark is splendid, and makes a far greater figure in the world then that of Sweden, though not many years ago in the time of Carolus Gustaphus the father of the present King of Swedland, it was almost reduced to its last, when the walls of Copenhagen saved that Crown and Kingdom. That siege was famous, carried on with great vigour by the Swede, and as bravely maintained by the Danes: The monuments whereof are to be seen in the canon bullets gilt that still remain in the walls of some houses and in the steeple of the great Church of the town. The Royal palace in Copenhaguen is but small and a very ancient building, but his Majesty's house Fredenburg is a stately fabric of Modern Architecture, and very richly furnished. Denmark is at present a flourishing Kingdom and the King who hath now made it hereditary, surpasses most of his predecessors in power and wealth: He hath much enlarged his dominions, aswell as Authority, and by his personal and Royal virtues, no less than the eminent qualities of a great many able ministers of State, he hath gained the universal love of his subjects, and the esteem of all foreign Princes and States. The Court if much frequented every day, but especially on Sundays where about eleven of the clock in the morning, the Nobility, foreign Ministers, and Officers of the Army assemble and make a glorious appearance. There one may see many Knights of the order of the Elephant of Malto but I never saw any order of the like nature as that of Sweden, that King rarely appearing in his George and garter, but on days of public audience I have observed at one time above 150 coaches attending at the Court of Denmark, which are ten times more than ever I saw together at that of Sweden. The King is affable and of easy accels to strangers, seen often abroad by his subjects in his gardens and stables, which are very large and well furnished with all sorts of Horses. He is a great lover of English horses and dogs, and delights much in Hunting, as his eldest son the Prince with his brothers do in cockfighting; in so much that the English Merchants can not make a more acceptable present to those Princes, then of English game-cocks. The standing forces of Denmark are well disciplined men, and commanded by good Officers both natives and strangers, both French and Scots, as Major General Duncan, and Major General Veldun both Scottishmen, whom I saw at Copenhaguen. The Soldiers, aswell as courtiers are quartered upon the citizens, a custom which is likewise practised in Sweden, and though somewhat uneasy, yet not repined at by the people who by the care and good government of the King find trade much advanced. For his Majesty by encouraging strangers of all religions to live in his dominions, and allowing the French and dutch Calvinists, to have public Churches, hath brought many tradeing families to Coppenhaguen, and by the measure he hath taken for settling trade in prohibiting the importation of foreign manufactures, and reforming and new modelling the East and West India Companies, hath much increased commerce and thereby the wealth of his subjects; so that notwithstanding the new taxes imposed upon all coaches, wagons, Ploughs, and all real and personal estates, which amount to considerable sums of money, the people live very well and contented. There are commonly about eight thousand men in garrison in Coppenhaguen, and his Majesty's Regiment of foot guards who are all clothed in red, with cloaks to keep them warm in the winter time, is a very handsome body of men, and with the horse guards who are bravely mounted, and have their granadeer and Oboes, make a very fine show. His Majesty hath caused several new fortifications to be built upon the Elb, and other rivers, and hath now in his possession that strong Castle called Hilgueland, at present commanded by a Scottishman. The Queen of Denmark is a most virtuous Princess, sister to the present Landgrave of Hessel-Cassel, and in persuasion a Calvinist, having a chapel allowed her within the Court; though the public religion of the King and Kingdom be Lutheran. The Clergy here are learned, many of them having studied at Oxford and Cambridge where they learned the English Language, and amongst the Bishops there is one Doctor King the son of a Scottishman. But seeing it is my design rather to observe the condition of the people, then to be punctual in describing all the rarities that are remarkable in the Countries I have been in, I shall conclude what I have to say of Denmark, by acquainting the Reader that the people of that Country live far better than the Swedes, and aswell as most of their adjoining neighbours; and that there are several places, both there and in Norway. which have the names of English towns, as Arundale, Totness, London etc.  
When I fist began to write this treatise, I had some thoughts of making observations upon the several governments of other States and Dominions, where I had traveled some years before I was in the Countries I have been speaking of, as of the rest of Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy and France; but that was a subject so large, and the usefulness of it to my present design so inconsiderable, that by doing so, I found I could neither satisfy the curious, by adding any thing material to those many who have already obliged the public by the remarks of their travels in those places; or make my discontented Country men more averse than they are already from removing into those Countries, where I think few of them will choose to transport themselves for the sake of liberty and Property, though England were even worse, than they themselves fancy it can be. All that remains to be done then, is to conclude this treatise with an obvious and popular remark, that those Countries where cities are greatest and most frequented by voluntary inhabitants, are always the best to live in; and by comparing the city of London with all other cities of Europe, and demonstrating by the surveys I have made (which I think will hardly be contradicted or confuted,) that of all the capital cities of Europe it is the biggest, and most populous, & so prove consequentially that England, for the generality of people, is the best Country in the world especially for its natives to live in. Now this being an observation, (for what I know) not hitherto made good by induction and instance, (as I intent to do it) I hope it will please the Reader as much, as if I gave him a particular account of other Countries and governments, and leave it to his own reflection to State the comparison.  
Though London within the walls cannot vie for bigness with many cities of Europe; yet take the city and suburbs together, according as it hath been surveyed by Mr. Morgan, in breadth from St. George's Church in Southwark to Shore ditch, and in length from Limehouse to petty France in Westminster and it is in a vast proportion larger in compass of ground, and number of houses then any city whatsoever in Europe. This I shall demonstrate first by compareing it with some cities of Holland, and then with the most considerable cities of the other Countries of Europe, which I shall set down in an alphabetical order with the number of the houses they severally contain.  
When London and suburbs was surveyed some years ago by Mr. Morgan, there were reckoned to be in it 84000 houses besides hospitals, Almshouses, and other buildings that paid no chimney money to the King: Now if those were added, and the vast number of new houses that have been built since that survey, upon modest computation London may be reckoned to countain 100000 houses; I know the French do vapour and would persuade the world that Paris is much bigger than London. And the Hollanders will scarce believe that London hath more Houses than the 18 Cities in Holland that have voices in the States, for say they Amsterdam Stands upon a 1000 Morgens land, and London Stands but upon 1800; To both which I answer, that it is very true that Paris takes up a great spot of ground, but than you must consider, that in Paris there are several hundreds of Monasteries, Churches, Coledges, and Cloisters, some of them having large Gardens, and that in Paris there are 7500 Palaces and Ports for Coaches, which have likewise great Gardens, whereas London is very thick built, and in the City the Houses have scarce a Yard big enough to set a Pump, or House of conveniency in; but the weekly bills of Mortality will decide this Question and plainly give it to London, and so doth Mons: la Cour, and Sir. William Pette in his last Essays dedicated lately to our King, making it appear that London is bigger than Paris, Rhoan, and Rochel altogether; and as for Amsterdam I do appeal to all knowing men that have seen it, that although it be true that it Stands upon 1000 Morgens Land; yet there is not above 400 Morgens built, and this I prove thus, that the large Gardens, on the Heeregraft, Kysersgraft, and Princegraft, and the Burgavalls' of Amsterdam take up more than a third part of the City, then reckon the Bastions, and the space of Ground between the Wall, and the Houses, and all the Ground unbuilt from the Vtricks-Port, to the Wesoper-Port, Muyer-Port, and so to the Seasido, and you will find it to be near 300 Morgens land: There are 2 Parishes in the Suburbs of London, viz Stepuey, and St. Martin's in the fields, (the later being so big that the last Parliament divided it into 4 Parishes,) either of them have more Houses than Rotterdam, or Harlem, and there are several other great Parishes as St. Margrets-Westminster, St. Giles in the fields, Toolyes, and St. Marry Overs, the which if they stood apart in the Country would make great Cities, we reckon in London and the Suburbs thereof to be at least 130 Parishes, which contain 100000 Houses, now if you reckon 8 persons to every house then there are near 800000 souls in London, but there are some that say there is a million of souls in it; I shall now set down the Cities Alphabetically and their number of Houses as they were given to me not only from the Surveyors and City Carpenters, but from the Books of the Herthmoney, and books of the Verpounding, where such Taxes are paid; and first I shall begin with the 18 Cities that have Voices in the States of Holland.  
Cities' Houses. DOrt. 5500 Harlem. 7250 Delft. 2300 Leyden. 13800 Amsterdam. 25460 Rotterdam. 8400 Tergoe. 3540 Gorcom. 2460 Schiedam. 1550 Brill. 1250 Schonehoven. 2200 Alckmaar. 1540 Horn. 3400 Enckhuysen. 5200 Edam. 2000 Monekendam. 1500 Medenblick. 850 Purmerent. 709  

Cities in Germany and in the 17 Provinces.  ANtwerp. 18550 Aix la chapel. 2250 Arford. 8440 Berlin. 5200 Bonn. 410 Bresack. 1200 Breme. 9200 Breda. 3420 Bolduke. 6240 Bergen open Zome. 2120 Brussels. 19200 Cologne 12000 Cleave. 640 Coblins. 420 castles. 1520 Dresden. 6420 Disseldorpe. 620 Dunkirk. 2440 Emden. 2400 Francford. 10200 Groningen. 8400 Guant. 18200 Harford, 1420 Hanover. 1850 Heidelberg. 7520 Hamburg. 12500 Lubeck, 6500 Louvain. 8420 Lypsick. 3240 Lunenburg, 3100 Lewardin. 5860 Mayance. 2420 Malin. 8000 Middelburg. 6200 Madelburg. 1120 Mastricht. 5600 Munster. 1240 Nurenberg. 18240 Osenburg. 2200 Osburg. 8420 Oldenburg. 620 Praag. 18640 Passaw. 560 Ratisbone. 6540 Strasburg. 8560 Spire. 540 Stockholme. 6480 Salsburg. 12460 Vtrick. 8240 Viana. 4520 Vean. 340 Worms. 1200 Westburg. 2420  

Cities in France.  AVinion. 12400 Amiens. 5200 Bullion. 1400 Bomont. 800 Bordeaux. 8420 Calis. 1324 Cane. 2147 Chalon. 1850 deep. 1920 Lions. 16840 Montruill. 820 Monpiller. 5240 Marseilles. 9100 Nantes. 4420 Nemes. 3120 Orlians. 10200 Orange. 354 Paris. 72400 Rochel. 4200 Rouen. 11200 Tolonze. 13200 Valance. 458  

Cities in Italy.  BOlonie. 12400 Florance. 8520 Janua. 17200 Luca. 1650 Legorne. 3560 Milan. 18500 Napells. 17840 Pesa. 2290 Milan. 8550 Rome. 31200 Sena. 1820 Venetia. 24870 Veterba. 620 Valentia. 1520  

Cities in Savoy.  CHambray. 852 Salé 320 Turin. 8540 Niece. 500 St. John de Latteran. 420 Rheims. 340 Moloy. 270  

Cities in Switserland.  BErne. 4270 Ball. 5120 Geneve. 4540 Losana. 2100 Solure. 500 Zurick. 6200 Morge. 210 Vina. 320 St. Morris. 300  

Cities in Denmark.  COpenhagen. 8220 Elsenore.   

Cities in Sweedland.  NOrthoanen. 600 Stockholme, 7500 Vpsall. 8200  
FINIS.