PHILIPPUS IV HISPANIARUMET INDIARUM REX CATHOLICUS    

The Original and Growth OF The Spanish MONARCHY United with the HOUSE of AUSTRIA. Extracted from those Chronicles, Annals, Registers and Genealogies, that yield any faithful Representation how the Houses of Castille, Arragon and Burgundy became knit and combined into one Body. To which are added several Discourses of those Accessions and Improvements in Italy, afric, with the East and West-Indies, that are now annexed by Alliance or Conquest to the Diadem of SPAIN.  
By THOMAS PHILIPOT M. A. Formerly of Clare-Hall in Cambridge.  
London, Printed by W. G. for R. Taylor, in St. martin's le Grand near St. leonard's Church yard. 1664.   

To the Learned and Judicious St RICHARD FANSHAW Knight and Baronet, One of HIS MAJESTY'S most Honourable PRIVY COUNCIL, and Designed Lord Ambassador for Spain.  
My Lord,  
YOur Experience and practical Observation being the best Comment on those Annals and Registers which have an Aspect on this ensuing Treatise; Give me leave to offer it up to be Scanned and Winnowed by your particular scrutiny; and if it shall receive its Approbation in your Vogue and Estimate, I fear no Blot from the Common Suffrage. For I shall not Fear that Justice, which is so even and Impartial; nor despair to find an Absolution there where the former is mixed and complicated with so much Charity and Candour. And I dare with much Confidence expect to be Assoiled by the Public Decision, if once it shall appear that Your Private Determination hath discharged and acquitted  
(My Lord) Your very humble Servant THOMAS PHILIPOT.   

The Preface to the Reader.  
Courteous Reader,  
SInce the Printing off the first Sheets of this Treatise, the signal Battel was Commenced between Don John of Austria, and the Conde de Villaflore General for the Portugal, where (after an eager and Blo●●● Debate) the Spanish Grandeur did so sink in the Fatal Carnage of that Field, that many Conjecture (how truly or falsely I know not) it will not buoy up again, (at least for some years) from that important Ruin. Nor hath a less Destructive Wound been lately inflicted on the House of Austria by the Turkish Scimeter, which hath lopped off Newhausel from the Dominion and Interest of the Emperor; which as it hath a dangerous prospect towards Novigrad, Cassovia, Tokay, and other Towns of the Upper Hungary, so it hath a dismal Aspect on Moravia, Austria, and the residue of that Princes Hereditary Territories; and from the Prejudice its Loss may probably supper induce, does tacitly seem to implore other Christian Princes to Concentre in a Noble and just Confederacy, to stop the Impetuous Current of the Turkish Conquests, which like an Inundation threaten (if not timely intercepted) to entomb not only the House of Austria, but Germany itself in a Ruinous Devastation. And since I am engaged in this Discourse of the Turkish Greatness, you may be advertised that if this Essay find any acceptance in the Public Estimate, I shall represent in a Compendious ●●lume, the Original and Growth of the Turkish Empire, and from what a narrow Increment this Thracian Bramble hath shot out and improved itself to that Excrescency, that it hath not only by an unhappy Diffusion, overspread the Lesser Asia, but a considerable part of Europe itself.  
I have no more to add but this, that those Errors which through the Inadvertency of the Press, and peradventure too, through my own, have by an unhappy Intertexture been Embodied with this Treatise, (as namely, Page 19 line 30. in my Discourse of Castille, for Despois Nos Vos, read Despues de Nos Vos. and then line 31. for No es Lover read No ay Lugar. And in my Discourse of Portugal, Page 26. line 25. for John the fourth, is inserted John the fifth) have made this Treatise and myself the Object of your Charity. There may possibly occur other Mistakes of a lesser Dimension, on which you may exercise at once, both your Justice and your Candour; with the first you may Censure, and with the last excuse  
T. P.   

Imprimatur,  
October 27. 1663. ROGER L'ESTRANGE.   

The ORIGINAL and GROWTH OF THE SPANISH MONARCHY.  

THE Spanish Monarchy is like a tall Colossus swollen by new Acquists to that Bulk and Dimension that it bestrides almost two parts of the habitable World, that is, Europe and America, and indeed its glory hath in these latter ages arrived to that Eminence and Lustre, both in its Latitude of Power, and extent of Empire, that it is by a successful competition grown almost corrival with the great Eye of the Day, the Sun, who both rises and sets in those Dominions which are subservient to the Interest of the Spanish Sceptre. And though its Grandeur hath been lately Eclipsed, and the wide circumference of its Jurisdiction and Command hath been contracted into a narrower Orb, by the Revolt of Catalonia, because its ancient Rights were invaded by Conde Olivarez; and the total Defection of Portugal, because its Native Franchises and Immunities were assaulted by Vasconcelos the Secretary, and other ill Ministers of State; yet is Catalonia by the valour and Magnanimity of John de Austria, and the prudent Conduct of the Marquis of Mortara, almost retrieved and again knit to the Spanish Patrimony; nor did the Duke of St. German and the Marquis of Viana not long since manage and improve the increasing Hopes of the Spaniard to less advantage in Portugal; for since the Reduction of Olivenza by the first, and the subduing of Monzon and Salvaterra on the River of Minho by the last, that Crown and Sceptre did then seem to shake, and was feared (if not by a timely supply supported) it might have fallen from the Head and Hand of their own Native Sovereign, to prostrate themselves at the Feet of the Spanish Monarch. But not long after, the Victory of Elvase did so expiate these crooked and sinister accidents, that the Diadem of Portugal that did before look somewhat dim, did by this Conquest and other successes of a more modern Aspect, seem to recover its primitive lustre.  
Having in this short Preface limned out a Compendious prospect of the Spanish Empire, I shall now take a more full and serious view of all those Limbs which like so many Ingredients fall into the Composition of this great Body; and first I shall consider those Provinces which lie immediately wrapped up within the Verge of Spain. Secondly, those which like so many Excrescencies have been annexed to this Sceptre, by the collateral Designs either of Marriage or Conquest. And thirdly, those Islands and other Dominions and Principalities which lie scattered on the Continent either of the East or West-Indies, and which by any modern Discovery have been successfully subdued and made Captive and Ministerial to the Power and Jurisdiction of the Spanish Diadem.  
Spain was in Times of an elder Aspect styled Hesperia, from Hesperus the Evening▪ star, under whose Beams and Influence it is believed to be situated; Secondly, it fell under the Appellation of Iberia, which Name was conceived to be borrowed from the River Iberus now called Ebro which disembogues itself into the Mediterranean Sea, not far distant from Tortosa in Catalonia. Thirdly, it had the Denomination of Hispania, either from Panus an Iberian Captain, o● else from Panus a Punic word, which imports or signifies in that Dialect, a Coney; with which Creature this Continent in elder Times was much infested. It stretches out itself to a length of Eight hundred miles, and is again dilated into a breadth of Five hundred and six of the same proportion, so that the whole Circuit amounts to Two Thousand eight hundred and sixteen miles. It was anciently distinguished into three parts or divisions, known by the Names of 1. ●arraconensis, 2. Boetica, and 3. Lusitanica; w●ich afterwards by Constantine the Great, were broken and multiplied into seven Divisions or Provinces styl●● 1 B●tica, 2 Lusitanica, 3 Gallicia, 4 〈…〉 haginensis, 5 ●arraconensis, 6 pingitore, 7 The Province of the Isles, embracing w●●●●n its Verge and Circuit, Ma●orc●, Minorca, Ebusa and F●umentari●.  
Spain after many Contests and signal Decisions in the Field, wherein the ●ate of this Nation was put to the bloody Umpirage of the Sword, first sto●ped and surrendered its Neck to the Rom●n servitude, but when the Vandals like an ●nundation swollen with success and Victory, b●oke in upon Spain and bore down all before them, the Romans were supplanted and disseised, and being wholly dislodged from their ancient Acquists, this Kingdom was once mo●e resigned up as a prey to the successful Sword of Gunderious King of the abovesaid Nation. But the same Vicissitude which had crushed the Romans, ●●●led in upon the Vandals, who being in several Conflicts and encounters broken and dispersed by the allain and Suezians, gave up their new C●nquests to be enjoyed by the Victorious Hand of there early Invaders; but their triumphs were blasted, and those Laurels and Chaplets which they expected like a happy Guerdon should have Crowned their Victories, suddenly withered, being torn from ●●eir Temples by the rough 〈◊〉 of the Goths: For Athaulfus their Lead 〈…〉 Match▪ d with Placidia Sister to Honouring 〈◊〉 ●●p●rour, espoused his Quarrel, and b 〈…〉 tuned eruption made on the Spanish Re●●o●s, ● co●●●●●ted ●he power, and dissipated the strength ●f these bold ●●ttuders, that they erected ●h●t Throne, upon which they intended to fix and 〈◊〉 that ●●n●rchy they aspired to in this Nation, upon their Ruins. So that about the year 420. the Temples of Vallia Successor to Athaulfus, were impaled with the Diadem of Spain; yet was it not obtained without the regret and reluctancy of the Relics of those Roman Forces who were scattered into the several Provinces of Spain, who being wholly broken and subdued about the Year 641. the Conquest than appeared to be wholly perfected, and the Sceptre confirmed in the Hand of S●intilla the second, to whose successful Managery of Affairs the Gothish Nation seemed first to owe the Glory and Grandeur of a full Establishment in their Triumphs over this Kingdom. No● was their such an inherent tincture of Barbar●ime in the minds of the Goths (though I know they appeared black in elder Times for their Ra●ure of Histories and demolishing of Records and other Monuments of Antiquity) but the Culture of Discipline did melt and supple m●●● into a capacity which made them fit to 〈◊〉 a nobler Complexion; for though the Laws 〈◊〉 Spain peradventure borrowed an imperfect Institution from the Romans, yet were they mingled with the Customs of the Goths, which were after digested into shape and Order by Euricus the first. But in procedure of Time these being found of too general a latitude to be calculated for the Climate of every Province, they about the Year 1296. were refined and new polished by Ferdinand the third, that being thus attired they might be made proportionate to the manners and temper of his Subjects, and fit for the Genius of Castille. And thus they continued without any thing of moment or importance being added to them, until the Year 1492. and then King Ferdinand (the Scourge of the Moors) and Isabel his Queen Ordained and decreed by a Statute enacted at Corduba, that all Gentlemen of those Signories and Lordships which were Subject to the Crowns of Castille and Arragon, were obliged to appear and exhibit a just proof and Testimony of their Pedigrees and Nobility; which Law, because it received its first Birth and Institution there, hath ever since obtained the Appellation of the Law or Statute of Corduba. But I have digressed, I now return, and shall discover a compendious Series of the Gothish Kings of Spain, as I find their Names Recorded upon their ancient Coins, from whence their Catalogue has been drawn, and exactly Registered by the Industrious Pen of Augustinus Bishop of Tarragona, in his learned Discourse of Ancient Coins.  

369. Athanarick joined with Fridigerne reigned 13 years.  
382. Alarick united with Radagaise governed 28 years.  
411. Athaulfus ruled 6 years.  
416. Segeric, who being suddenly after his being invested with the Crown destroyed by a traitorous Combination of his own Subjects, upon his Decease one Vualia ascended the Throne and managed the Sceptre 3 years, as Vulsa and Isidore testify, and not twelve years as Sigebert asserts.  
419. The●deredus governed 33 years.  
452. Turismund held the Sceptre but one year according as I●idore avers, and not three as Jornandes and Sigebert record.  
453. Theuderick and not Theodorick ruled 13. years.  
466. Euricus wore the Gothish Crown 17. years.  
483. Alaricus the Second ruled 23 years.  
506. Gesaleicus and in other records styled Gesalicus and Gesalaricus reigned four years.  
511. Theudericus the Second was invested with the Diadem 15 years.  
526. Amalaricus swayed the Sceptre 5 years.  
531. Theudis, and in History sometime written Theudes and Theudius, governed 17 years.  
548. Theudiseulus sat on the Throne one year and five months.  
549. Agila, and in other Monuments of Antiquity styled Aquila, sat five years and three months.  
554. Athanagildus governed 15 years.  
567. Liwa, and not Liuba or Luiba as some Historians falsely intimate, ruled one year.  
568. Leovigildus, so his name is exhibited on his Coins, and not Leovegildus or Liuvigildus as some Historians represent, reigned 18 years.  
586. Reccaredus wielded the Sceptre.  
601. Liwa the second governed two years.  
603. Wittericus or Wittricus, not Victericus as some Records insinuate, sustained the Sceptre six years.  
610. Gundemar not Gundimar reigned two years.  
612. Sisebutus managed the government 8 years and 6 months.  
621. Reccaredus the second ruled but some few days.  
621. Suintilla not Scintilla or Cintila swayed the Sceptre Ten years.  
631. Sisenandus and not Sisnandus as Histories misrepresent his name, governed 3 years.  
636. Suintilla the second reigned 3 years.  
640. Tulca not Tulcas governed two years.  
642. Chindassuintus, not Cindasiundus or Ghindasuintus, as his name is falsely registered in some Annals, ruled 6. years and odd months.  
649. Reccesuinthus not Reccesiundus, for under that notion Antiquaries have registered him, supported the Diadem 23 years.  
672. Wamba not Bamba as his name is placed in ordinary Registers, managed the Government eight years.  
680. Erigius, erroneously sometimes written Eringius, continued placed on the Throne six years.  
687. Egica falsely styled Egipsa wielded the Sceptre of the Goths 15 years.  
701. Witiza and not Vitiza, as his Name is enroled in some Chronicles, reigned in a joint Combination of Government with his Father five years, and five years he swayed the Sceptre alone.  
711. Rudericus, so his Name is inscribed on his Coins, and not Rodericus, as it is registered in the Spanish Annals, governed one year, and then having by an injurious and violent Rape polluted and debauched the Honour of Cana Daughter to Count Julian an eminent Nobleman of Spain, he to assoil his Name and Family from that Stain which this ignominious Affront had spread over it, invited the Moors of afric, under the Conduct of Musa, to expiate the former violence, who indeed executed the Vengeance designed by him for Roderick so solemnly, that in a signal Battle commenced at Xeres de la Frontera in Andalusia, the Fortune of Spain was entombed in the Carnage of that Field, and Roderick abandoned both Crown and Kingdom to the prevailing Sword of the Moors; and Musa being supported and reinforced by new Supplies, by frequent successes, forced almost all Spain to bow to a universal Conquest, whilst the scattered Relics of the pale and amazed Goths immured themselves in the inaccessible Retreats of Asturia or Leon, from whence Garcia Ximenes a Nobleman, extracted from the Royal Gothish Blood, about the year 713. or as others assert about the year 716. descended with 600 men, and after divers successful encounters with the Moors, gave a Beginning to the little Kingdom of Suprarba locked up within the Pyrenean Hills, which sometimes after dilated itself, and spread into the Valleys, which from hence assumed the Name of Navarra, or Navierras, which in Spanish imports as much as plain grounds: And of this Kingdom I shall now render an Account.    

NAVARRE.  
NAVARRE is circumscribed on the East with the principality of Berne in the Kingdom of France; on the West with the River Ebr● or Iberus; on the North with the Cantabrian Mountains, and on the South with the River Arragon which separates it from that Kingdom.  
The ancient Inhabitants were the Vascones, invested not only in the possession of this Track, but of Biscay and Guipusc●a also. It was ravished away from these by the Romans, who were expulsed by the Goths, and they again were disseised of the tenure of this Province by the invading Moors, who finally were dislodged from their new Acquists by the Magnanimity of Garcia Ximenes abovementioned; whose Successor Ximenes Garcia dying without Issue, after an Interregnum of four years, Inigo Arista Son of Simon Earl of Bigorre, was advanced by Election to the Royal Dignity of Navarre as the next Heir in the Collateral Line to Ximenes Garcia abovesaid; and he was Ancestor to Sancho the fourth, who in respect that he was possessed by Descent of Navarre and Arragon, of Castille in Right of his Wife Donna Nugna or Elvira Sister and Heir of Sancho the last Earl thereof, and of Leon by Conquest, incorporated into his stile the Title of Great; and he upon his Decease bequeathed the Kingdom of Navarre to his eldest Son Garcia, whose Son Sancho the fifth was unnaturally assassinated by his younger Brother Raymir; after whose Tragical Exit, and the brief interposition of this bloody Intruder who had bespattered the Throne of Navarre with such a purple Effusion, this Diadem was plucked from his Temples by Sancho Ramires, to invest his own; after whom, Pedro and Alfonso Kings of Arragon likewise did severally and Successively wield the Sceptre, and manage the Government of Navarre: But this Alfonso dying without Issue, and his Brother Raymir a Monk unclouding his Head of his Cowle to adorn it with the Crown of Arragon, the Sovereignty of Navarre was vested in Garcia Raymir Grandchild of Garcia de Nagera, and Son of Raymir the Usurper abovementioned; so that the Right of this Descent so fortified his Title, that he ascended the Throne of Navarre as the direct Heir of that Kingdom, from whom the transmission of Descent transported it to his Grandchild Sancho the eighth, in whom the Male Line of Garcia Ximines was wound up in a Conclusion; for he going out without Issue, Theobald Earl of Champagne Son of Blanch his Sister and Heir, was entitled in Right of this Descent to the Diadem of Navarre; and from the Thread of Succession wafted this Dignity to his Grandchild Henry, who determining in Joan his sole Daughter and Heir, she by Matching with Philip the Fair King of France, by this new Alliance inoculated the the Sceptre of Navarre on that of France, and in the Hands of his Posterity it flourished during the Government of Lewis Hutin, Philip the Long and Charles the Fair, Kings of France and of Navarre his Lineal Successors; but Charles the last of these, expiring without Issue, Jane Daughter of Lewis Hutin, as Heir General of this Charles, was invested in the Possession of this Kingdom; and in her Right, Philip Earl of Eureux her Husband stepped into the Throne of Navarre; and from these two did the Diadem of this Province devolve by Successive transmission to his Grandchild Charles the third King of Navarre, in whom the Male Line determining, the Distaff prevailed against the Spear, for Blanche his Daughter annexed this Kingdom to the Patrimony of her Husband John King of Arragon, who likewise found his Name wrapped up, as to this particular Match, in two Daughters and Coheirs; one of whom styled Leonora, by espousing Gaston de Foix, gave up the Royalty, Possession and Crown of this Kingdom to impale the Brow of this Earl her Husband; and from these two the Sovereignty was conducted down by successive Delegation to their Grandchild Francis Phoebus, who deceasing without Issue, the Crown and Dignity of Navarre came to embellish the Head of Catharine his Sister and Heir, and she being espoused to John d'Albret of Gascony, descended from Amani d'Albret; which Amani (in the Government of Charles the fifth King of France, was wedded to Margaret of Bourbon, Sister to Jane Queen of France, and by that Alliance very much improved the splendour of his House) linked the Kingdom of Navarre to his Patrimony; and from these two descended Henry their Son and Heir, who was King of Navarre, and Matched with Margaret Sister of Francis the first, King of France, by whom he had Issue Jane the sole Inheritrix of Navarre, who by espousing Anthony of Bourbon, entitled him to the Crown and Sceptre of Navarre; and she was Mother of Henry the fourth, Grandmother of Lewis the thirteenth, & Great-grandmother of the instant Lewis the fourteenth, successively Kings of France, who by Authority of this Alliance, have ever since inserted and interwoven the Title of King of Navarre amongst their Style and Inscriptions. But alas! this is only a barren, naked and empty Title, for the actual Possession of the Crown, which should give support and vital Energy to it, was long since torn away by Ferdinand the Catholic King of Arragon and Castille; the occasion which ministered materials to that Foundation on which that Detention was established, was this: About the Year 1510. Lewis the twelfth having by a signal Victory over the Venetian at Aignadel humbled that People, much retrenched their Power, and infused a Terror into all the Princes of Italy, fell into contention with Pope Julius the second, and their mutual Animosities were enhansed with that acrimony and Spleen, that the Quarrel was prosecuted almost to a Scihsme; for Julius blasted all the Partisans of Lewis with an Excommunication, and put their Estates under Interdict, in the Register of whom was John d'Albret King of Navarre, who was disseised of his Crown and Sceptre by Ferdinand above mentioned; for this Ferdinand varnishing his Design of ravishing this Kingdom away from the House of D'Albret, with a pretence and show of passing into Guinne, to combine and unite his Forces with the Confederate Invading English, by Virtue and Authority of the Papal Interdict to seize and subdue the Crown of France, suddenly retrieved his Army, and like a Tempest, dropped on the Kingdom of Navarre; and by Conquest about the Year 1512. supplanted ●nd expelled John d'Albret above mentioned; upon this pretence, that he was entwined and linked in Confederacy with Lewis the twelfth, who was a Rebel against the Church, and an avowed Enemy to the English, with whom he was wrapped up in mutual Alliance; and more to fortify this pretence, he asserted, that there was an ancient Compact or stipulation between the Kings of Spain, by which they did Covenant and Indent with each other, not to suffer or permit that any of the Spanish Crowns should fall into Foreign Hands, or under the Power and signory of Houses not Sovereign, as those of Foix and Albret were, and who likewise by a kind of Servile Coherence and Connexion had their Dependence on the Crown of France: And though in Ages subsequent to this, the French have protested against this Invasion and Forcibl●●ntry, and have likewise endeavoured to vindicate their Interest by the more powerful Argument of the Sword; yet hath it ever since been so firmly linked to the Spanish Patrimony, that it still obeys the Sceptre, and confesses the Dominion of Philip the Fourth, King of Spain.   

CASTILLE.  
CASTILLE is bounded on the East with Navarre, Arragon, and part of Valentia; on the West with Portugal; on the North with Biscay and Guipuscoa and Asturia; on the South with Estremadura, Andalusia and Granada. It is divided into the Old and New Castille; the first of which assumed that Appellation, because it was the ancient Patrimony of the first Earls thereof: The other hath borrowed the Distinction of the New, because it was incorporated into the Old Demean when the successful Conquests of the Castilians had rend it from the Moors. The ancient Inhabitants of these two Provinces were, the Vaccai, Ventones, Arevacae, Oretani, Dittani and the Carpentani, whose Chief City was named Castulo, now shrunk into an obscure Village, hav●●g its ancient Glory entombed in neglected Rubbish, from whence some Conjectures have asserted, that the Name of Castille was imposed on this Province. But all these Inhabitants having been much harrassed by the frequent Incursions of the Romans, not able to stand the shock of so powerful an Opposition, fell under their Conquests, and became a part of the Roman Empire; from which again they were rend off by the Alani, who again were disseised of their violently extorted purchase by the Intrusion of the Goths, who being overwhelmed by the Moors, who like an ●nnundation not cloistered up within the shore and channel of any Restraint, bore down all before them, for some distance of Time gave way to the Torrent; but not long after, their spirits, which before seemed to have been sunk, buoyed up again, and by the Assistance of the Kings of Leon, so resolutely vindicated their own Interest, that they disengaged themselves wholly of that yoke of Moorish servitude, that with an uneasy Load had so crushed their shoulders; and the better for the ●uture to secure themselves from the Eruptions of the Moors, resigned themselves up to the dominion and protection of the Kings of Leon, who managed this Province at first by Provincial Earls; but they having made ill use of that power they had entrusted them with, by making too frequent Inroads upon the people's Liberties, were by the instigation and influence of one Ordogno, who much fomented this Defection, barbarously assassinated by the impetuous Multitude; having thus thrown off all Obedience to the Sceptre of Leon, they were afterwards Governed by Judges; and secondly, by Earls, as an absolute and Independent Estate, chained by no subserviency to any Foreign Diadem; but still this did not so supersede the Claim of the Kings of Leon, but that they often endeavoured by the power of the Sword to assert their Title, until Sancho King of Leon being engaged in a Debt to Ferdinand Gonzales, ●e to absolve himself From this Obligation, quitted and released▪ all pretence and Claim to the Earldom of Castille, so that Ferdinand Gonzales from this signal Investiture is looked upon in the Spanish Annals as the first Proprietary Earl of Castille; and from him it came down to his Great Grandchild Garcias the second, who being treasonably assassinated, and concluding without Issue, Sancho the Great, King of Navarre, in Right of his Wife Elvira Sister and sole Heir to this Garcias, entered upon it and linked it to his Revenue; and upon his Decease settled by particular Donation on his Son Ferdinand; and more to enhaunse the glory of this Grant, annexed the Title of King to this Concession; and from him did the Crowns of Castille and Leon by the Devolution of many Descents come to impale the Temples of Sancho the third, second Son of Alfonso the fifth, King of Castille and Leon; who by the Revolution of humane Affairs, having the Fate to survive his elder Brother Ferdinand de la Cerd●, contrived so many Stratagems in his Father's Life Time, which Artifices of his were so closely combined and knit together in the Contrivance and Contexture of them, that by Aid of these, and the concurrent support of a prevalent Faction beside, he extorted the Sceptre of Castille and Leon from the Heits of his Elder Brother, though many Attempts were made to retrieve the Diadem thus placed on the Head of Sancho, which being by the prudence of Sancho broken and disappointed, Alfonso Son of Ferdinand, retreated for shelter into France, where he Matched, and had Issue Lewis Earl of Clermont, which Lewis, by Leonora de Guzman, extracted from the House of Medina Sidonia, had Issue Lewis and John, both which were extinguished without Issue, and Isabel de la Cerda, who by matching with Bernard, a Natural Son of the House of Foix; and so all the Right of that Family which was concentered in her, was now lodged on him; which Bernard, King Henry the second, (the more by some solemn Obligations to endear and fasten to himself) adorned with the Title of Earl of Medin● C●li; and his Son Gasto●, the better to enforce and propagate the memory of the Nobleness of his Antiquity and Extraction, discarded the Name of Foix, to embrace that of De la Cerda; which hath ever since been transmitted with the Title bestowed on Lewis, Grandchild to this Gaston, and to his Posterity, though there hath not wanted a successive regret and murmur in this Family, to be thus excluded from the Spanish Diadem. It is customary for this House, at the Coronation of the Kings of Spain, to put up a Petition to the Prince, wherein they exhibit their Claim to the Spanish Sceptre, that at the least, upon the Defailance of this Family now Reigning, the stream of Sovereignty might flow back into this House; to which demand the King subscribes this Answer, Despois Nos Vo●, After Us, You: And sometimes, No est lover, There is no place for him. Thus have I in a compendious Prospect represented the Fate which attended on the Stock and Lineage of Ferdinand de la Cerda: I shall now trace out what Vicissitudes waited on Sancho the third, from whom the Sceptre of Castille and Leon (by the unbroken Thread of Succession) came to be swayed by the Hand of his Grandchild Pedro the Cruel; who was expulsed out of the possession of his kingdoms by the procurement and influence of his natural Brother Henry Earl of Transtamare, because of that havoc and ravage his savage Executions had acted both on the Nobility and Populacy; who after the discarding and Renunciation of him, was by the Favour of the People advanced to the Crown of Castille and Leon; but his Son John the first, finding that his Title was established but upon a crazy Foundation, unless there were some more powerful Buttresses to sustain, more to fortify his claim, matched his Son and Heir Prince Henry to Catharine Daughter to John of Gaunt by Constance one of the Daughters of Pedro the Cruel, and so twisted the two differing Titles into one; and from him did the Diadem devolve to his Great Grandchild Henry the fourth, who going out without Issue Male, Isabella his Sister and sole Inheritrix, being Wedded to Ferdinand Son to John King of Arragon, incorporated it with the Patrimony of his Crown and Sceptre; but both these Princes dying without Issue Male, Jo●n their only surviving Princess of Castille, Leon, Granad●, etc. and of Arragon, Navarre, Sicily, Naples, etc. by espousing Philip Archduke of Austria, and Lord of Belgium, fastened these vast Territories into one Body; the Cement which knits them together hath been in subsequent Ages so closely united by the combination of many reciprocal Leagues and Marriages, that they are still the Demean of the Austrian Family; and particularly, the Sceptre of this Kingdom is lodged in the Hands of Philip the fourth, now Monarch of Spain.   

PORTUGAL.  
PORTUGAL is bounded on the North with the Rivers Minio and Avia, which separate it from Gallicia; on the South, with Algarue; on the West, with the Atlantic Ocean; on the East, with the two Castile's, and Estremadura.  
The ancient Inhabitants were the Lusitani; and from them the Name of Lusitania was imposed upon it; but though these were the principal, yet the Celtici and Turditani, who dwelled on the Southside of Tagus, and the Gallaici Braccarii (so styled from the Gallaici Lucenses, who were Proprietaries of Gallicia) and who inhabited on the North of Duero, were entitled to a considerable part of the possession of it.  
It was at first by the successful Sword of the Romans made Subject to their Empire, but when their Power began to sink under the Impressions of those barbarous Nations who had so fatally assaulted them, this was extorted from their Jurisdiction by the Alani; but continued not long twisted into their Acquists, for the Suevians breaking in upon them, supplanted the Contexture of their newly obtained Conquests, and forced them to dislodge, and tamely to surrender their Interest here to them; but a usurped Right can have no solid Foundation to establish itself upon, for not long after, these new Invaders were cast out from their new encroachments by the prosperous Attempts of the Goths; but they again sunk in this Ruins of Spain, (particular Lamentations are not distinguishable in universal Groans) when the Moorish Invaders by a public Conquest made the Liberty of Spain stoop to their Commands and Success, and after it had for some Ages groaned under those Fetters they imposed upon it, it was rescued from its servitude by the noble Conduct of Henny of Lorraine, to whom (as a just Recompense of his Virtue and exemplary Services) Alsonso the sixth, King of Leon, espoused his base Daughter Teresa, and with her, to improve her Fortune, transmitted that part of Portugal which he and his Ancestors had by some auspicious Conquests rend from the Moors; and and to make his Bounty more conspicuous, he Invested him with the Title of Earl; from whom it came by Descent to his Son Alfonso, who by the Sovereigns of Leon, was as Guerdon to poise both his Valour and his Virtue, and that testimony of an excellent Courage he exhibited at the Battle of Obriqu●, Anno 1139. he Governed as Earl and King seventy two years, and managed his Sceptre with that Art and Prudence, that at his Decease he made his Exit with the Fear and Reverence of his Enemies, and the Adoration of his Friends. And from him did the Diadem of this Kingdom descend to Alfonso the Wise, who by a successful Conquest enlarged the Dominions of Portugal, and wrung the Kingdom of Algarue from the Moors of Morocco, who had before supplanted the Moors of Sevill, and so broke the Power of Aben Mefad, one of the most Puissant Princes of this Track, that most of the Towns and petty Governors became by a subordinate Vassalage subject to the Sceptre of Portugal; and having thus entwined the Right of these two Provinces, he transmitted them to his Grandchild Pedro, who left Issue Ferdinand the first, in whom the Male Line of Hen. of Lorraine determined, so that the Right both of Portugal and Algarue was concentered in Beatrix his Daughter; who was disseised of her Title to the Crown by her Uncle John, Natural Son to Pedro above mentioned; who having thus dislodged her from the Throne, by ill Arts and dark Stratagems, disdaining to be tired down by any bordering Title by an unlawful Disherision, discarded and cast out the remaining Lawful Issue of his Father Pedro; and having thus by these crooked Designs grasped the Sceptre, and impaled his Temples with the Diadem of Portugal and Algarue, he to fortify and support his unjust pretensions, Matched with Phillippa Daughter to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, with whom so many noble English Families entered Portugal, that most of the Eminent Houses of this Nation spin out their Extraction from them at this Day. And this John the first, had by this Alliance Alfonso the fifth, and John the second, successively Kings; who both Deceasing without any Issue surviving, Emanuel Son to Ferdinand Duke of Vis●o, third Brother to these two Monarches, ascended the Throne of Portugal; and from him it descended to his Grandchild John the fourth; who upon his Decease left it to be enjoyed by his Son and Heir Don Sebastian, who being unhappily slain in the Fatal Battle of Alcazar, which stained the Fields of afric wi●h so much Blood, Henry third Brother to King John above mentioned, and Uncl● to this Sebastian, put off his Cardinal's Hat to adorn his Head with the Diadem of Portugal; but he being Aged and Impotent, his Hand was too we●k to Manage or sustain a Burden of that importance (as the Royal Sceptre) long, so that being assaulted with Cares, and over-laid with Years, after some short Time of his assuming the Crown, shrunk into Ashes, and paid that Debt we all owe; upon his Decease, several pretended a Title to this Diadem; Lewis second Brother to King John above mentioned, died without any Lawful Issue, but left Antonio, Christopher and others begot in unlawful embraces; Antonio fixed his Claim upon a pretended Act of Legitimation from the Estates of Portugal, but there were Titles which appeared more specious and plausible which staved his off; for Edward the fourth Brother to King John, though he concluded without Issue Male, yet he left two Daughters and Coheirs, Marry wedded to Alexander Duke of Parma, and Catharine Matched to John Duke of Braganza; and the two Aunts of the Deceased Sebastian, namely, Mary was espoused to Charles the fifth, and Beatrix was married to Charles Duke of Savoy; from both which Alliances there proceeded Issue, so that now the Controversy was, whether after the Decease of Cardinal Henry, a Brother's Daughter, or a Sister's Son had the more fixed and established Pretence to the Crown and Sceptre of Portugal; and when this Question was begun to be winnowed by the Civil Lawyers, the Duke of Alva to endear himself to his Prince, who was Philip the second, King of Spain, and Son to Charles the fifth and Mary above mentioned; and to assoil himself from that Slain his stupendous Massacres in the Netherlands had contracted, persuaded his Master to cast his Claim upon no other Debate, but the Umpirage of the Sword; and this counsel had so great an Operation upon him, that he employed this Duke, and a puissant Army under his Conduct to assert his Title to the Diadem of Portugal; the Effects of which Invasion were so visible, that after some Trivial Opposition made by the Portuguees, who were broken and split into Division and Faction, the whole Kingdom stooped and resigned itself up (with a Restriction to haus its original Franchises preserved and supported) to the Dominion and Sceptre of Philip the Second; and under the command of his Successors it continued until the year 1640. and then by the Arts and dark Engines of Cardinal Rich●lieu, the Negligence and Supine inadvertency of Conde d'Olivarez, and the ill managery of Affairs in Portugal itself by the King of Spain's Ministers, that Kingdom was torn off by a total Defection from the Crown of Spain, and the Sceptre placed in the Hand of John Duke of Braganza, who was with the public Applause of the people acknowledged for King, by the Name of John the Fifth; and upon his late Decease this Kingdom is come to confess Alfonso his Son just Heir to his Dominion and Sceptre.   

Leon and Oviedo.  
THe Kingdom of Leon and Oviedo is bounded on the East with Biscay, on the North with the Main Cantabrian Ocean, on the South with Castille, on the North with Galicia. The ancient Inhabitants were the Astures, from whence the name of Asturia was imposed upon it; and were divided into the two general names of the Augustani and Transmo●tani, in which the particular Tribes of the Pesici, Gigari, Zoelae and Lanci●●s●s were involved and circumscribed.  
It is divided into two parts, Asturia de Oviedo confining on Galicia towards the West, and Asturia Santillana approaching Biscay towards the East. From which Divisions thus approportioned, the eldest Son of the Monarch of Spain is styled Prince of the Asturias, which Denomination some probably conjecture was derived from this Foundation, that this Country was the first that like a Dam stopped the Current of the Moorish Fury, which before like an impetuous Inundation carried down all before it, though other Spanish Writers of Authentic credit, refer the rise and original of this Appellation to that time which was cotemporary to the Match of Catharine Daughter to John of G●●nt, and in Right of her Mother Constance the indisputable Heir of Castille, unto Henry Son of John the first, then planted in the possession of the Kingdom of Castille, it being then assented to more to improve the Honour of this married pair, that as the Heir apparent of England is styled the Prince of Wales, so the eldest Son of Castille should be named Prince of the Asturias.  
It was first conquered by the Romans, and by Augustus Caesar made parcel of the Province Tarraco●ensis, and part afterwards of the Province of Gallicia by the Emperor Constantine; torn it was from the Roman dominion by the conquest of the Goths; and from them again it was extorted by the invading Moors, though they were not long after supplanted. For as the Lust of Roderick, excited the injured Count Julian to call in the Moors, so the intempered and disordered Lust of Magnutza a Moorish Viceroy, engaged him to ravish the Sister of Prince Pelagius, whilst he had embarked the said Prince in an Embassy to Musa the Moorish General, who being a person of noble pretensions and daring Hopes, at his return to expiate this Dishonour and Infamy with which his Family was bespattered, to assoil this Stain, he gave up the life of this Viceroy as an Oblation offered up to the Justice of his Sword, and the Price of so great an Insolence and Lust; Despairing of pardon for this Act, he flew to defensive Arms, as his noblest Sanctuary, and fortified himself in the most inaccessible Retreats of this Country, to which many of the old inhabitants resorted, and having prospered under his Command, elected him for King, by the Name of King of the Asturias, though after he had reduced the City of Leon, he assumed the Title of King o● Leon, and left it to his Son Fasila; who dying without Issue it devolved to Alfonso, for his piety surnamed the Catholic, who had wedded Ormisind his Sister; and he had Issue Froilla the Repairer of Oviedo, Aur●lius and Odesin matched to Sillo, who after the Decease of the two others was King of Leon, after whose Exit the Crown of Leon was unjustly usurped by Mauregate natural Son to Alfonso; in which violent detention he was supported by Aderamen King of the Moors, who was obliged to this supply by an infamous stipulation transacted and made between him and the said Mauregate; by which this Usurper was engaged to pay him, as an annual Cense or Tribute, fifty Virgins collected out of the Families of the most eminent and noblest Estimate in this Region; but after his Decease the Crown of Leon returns to invest the Temples of Veramund, Son to Froilla abovementioned; and from him the Clew of Descent guided it down to his great Grandchild Alfonso the Third, who not only with Contempt and Scorn disdained to pay the ignominious Tribute of Virgins abovesaid, but in so many signal contests and encounters retrenched the power of the Moors, that he justly merited the Title of Alfonso the Great; and he left Issue Garcia, who deceasing without Children, the Crown and Sceptre of Leon devolved to his s●cond Brother Ordogno who was King of Gallicia; and from him the Inheritance by many Generations flowed down to his Successor Veramund the Third, who engaging in an unsuccesseful War with Ferdinand King of Castille, was by him in a prosperous Conflict discomfited and slain; upon whose Tragedy the Sceptre of Leon was seized on by this Ferdinand, as having matched with Sanctia Sister and Heir to Veramund; and he left the Crown of Leon to Alfonso his youngest Son, and that of Castille to Sanctius his eldest; which Sanctius dying without Issue both Sceptres devolved to be grasped by Alfonso, from whom the Efflux of Descent cast them into the possession of his Daughter ●rraca Queen of Leon and Castille, and she had two husbands Raymond of Burgundy, and Alfonso the Seventh King of Arrag●n and Navarre; by the Raymond she had issue Alfonso the Eighth, who succeeded in the Realms of Leon and Castille; and he had issue Sancho the Second, on whom he settled the Kingdom of Castille, and Ferdinand the Second, on whom he enstated the Realm of Leon; and from him it went along to Alfonso the Ninth of Leon, who (more to twist the complicated Interest of these two Diadems) espoused with Berengaria Sister of Henry King of Castille, from which Alliance descended Ferdinand the Third King of Leon, who by the Arts and Designs of his Mother Berengaria, was advanced to the Sovereignty of Castille, to the prejudice of Blanch her eldest Sister, matched to Lewis King of France. And thus the Crowns becoming once more united, they were never since dissevered, though the Title by the violent Assaults of Sancho second son of Alfonso the fifth, was distorted and planted in his Family, to the injury and apparent disherison of the Children of Ferdinand de la Cerda. Of which discomposure I shall discover more when I come to treat of Castille.   

Biscay and Guipuscoa.  
BIscay is bounded on the West with Leon, on the East with the Pyrenean Mountains and Guienne, on the North it confines on the Cantabrian Ocean, and on the South with Navarre and Old Castille.  
The ancient Inhabitants of this Province were the Cantabri, subdivided again into the several Tribes of the Mar●ogi, Caristi, Antrigones, Varduli, and the Cantabri properly so called, a people as eminent for their Antiquity as they were for their Valour and Conduct, which they exemplified in many solemn Contests with those Adversaries of theirs that endeavoured either to retrench or else absolutely to subvert their Liberties; nor lost they any thing by their intermixture with the Vascones, who came out of Navarre and settled amongst them, but rather improved their courage by this union, so that notwithstanding the frequent Impressions and Onsets made upon them by the Romans, Carthaginians, Goths, and Moors, they remained as in their Liberties not vanquished so in their Language unalter'd, the Reasons of which eminent Courage of theirs may be assigned to be these: First, their Habitations being amongst the craggy and inaccessible Retreats of inexpugnable Mountains, those natural Bulwarks cast up at Gods own charges, might make them more confident and daring; and secondly, the purity of their native Air, might so fan and winnow their Spirits from those Dregs and compacted humours, which thicker fumes and grosser exhalatious frequently amass together, might possibly render them more active and vigorous. This hath made them so impatient of servitude, and not easily yielding a tame Compliance to any thing they resent with dislike and regret, so that this scale of privileges still fortifies their Liberties. First, Though they give obedience to their Prince with their Bodies, they deny him the service of their Purses; being exempt from all Tallages and Impositions, for when ever the King of Spain approaches their Borders, he is accosted in his progress by the Noblesse of the Country, near the Borders, and there they present him with some small pieces of Brass, called Maravedies, treasured in a Leathern Bag appendent to the End of a Lance, which he is obliged not to take; which refusal (as they conceive of his,) does enwrap a Tacit Symbol of a Confirmation of their Immunity from Taxes. Secondly, at all their public Assemblies, the Women first taste of the Cup, which custom hath grown by tacit Consent into use, and hath been made hoary and reverend by a prescription of many years, ever since Ogne Countess of Castille attempted to destroy the Life of her Son, by a Cup of Wine fatally mingled with poison. Thirdly, they admit no Bishops; which averseness to that Order, peradventure had its Rise and Growth from some antecedent pressure imposed upon them by that Order, as our modern Sectaries from some personal Defects they beheld in the English Protestant Bishops, did arrive at that height of Animosity as to abrogate their Function; as if this were an equitable piece of Logic, because there is an Error in the Seed therefore consequently there must be one in the Soil, not considering that these Biscainers by the want of Bishops and Episcopal Visitations have fallen into that ignorance, rudeness, and excess, which like a Cimmerian Mist dwells yet about them. Fourthly, they allow or give licence to no Priest to officiate amongst them unless he bring his Concubine with him, to appease his desires; affirming it impossible to preserve their Wives chaste and unmixed from the embraces of the Incumbent, if he hath not a woman with may allay the wilder flames of Concupiscence. But to proceed, though the ancient Inhabitants were so martial and vigorous, yet the frequent Assaults of the Romans so wasted their strength, that though they were not wholly subdued, yet they were forced to resign themselves with some Salvo or Provision which had a Reflection on their Liberties, to the Command of Augustus. Under the Romans they continued until that Empire shrunk into its own Ruins, and then not brought under Servitude by the Goths, but surrendered to them with the Residue of Biscay. And this indeed may be added to their glory, that they were the last Province of Spain which offered themselves up to the successful Fury of the Moors (excepting the Asturias never part of their Triumphs) and the first which disengaged their Necks of that yoke of Conquest the Moors had loaded them with, animated in that design by Soria, who so managed and improved their increasing Hopes, with Conquests and augmentation of Territory, that about the year 870. he undertook the Command of Lord of Biscay, and from him did the Title and Estate by the steps of several descents pass down to his Successor Lopez Diaz the third, the first who assumed to himself the Surname of Haro, borrowed from a Town of that name of that Foundation; and from him did it descend to his Successor Nugno de Lara, who determined without Issue; so that his two Sisters and Coheirs, Jean and Isabel were entitled to his Inheritance; but were defrauded of the Possession by the forcible Intrusion of Pedro King of Castille; Ferdinand the younger Son of Ferdinand de la Cerda King of Castille, Matched with Jean Nugna the Edest of these two Sisters; and from this Conjunction Issued Jean Manuel espoused to Henry the second, King of Castille likewise; and he had Issue John who was invested also with the Diadem of that Kingdom, and he in Right of his Mother was planted in the Propriety of Biscay; and from him did it devolve to his Successor Henry the fourth, King of ●●●tile, who dying without Issue, it came to confess the Title of his Sister and Heir Isabel; who by Matching with Ferdinand King of Arragon, placed the Propriety of it amongst those Flowers which adorned his Diadem, where it hath been so permanent and fixed, that though several Revolutions have intervened in this Family, yet still it acknowledges itself to be an Appendage to the Crown and Sceptre of Philip the fourth, now King of Spain.   

GUIPUSCOA.  
AS for the Fortunes of Guipuscoa, they had this Aspect as they stood in their posture towards the Rest of Spain. First, the Vascones, than the Cantabri, subdivided into the Marbogi, Caristi, and other petty Colonies abovementioned, enjoyed the Possession of this Track, and for sometime were disseised of the Propriety of it by the Invading Romans; but having vindicat●● their Interest from their Encroachments, they were at last forced to bow to the Dominion of the Goths; and from them was it torn by the Moors; and being again rescued from their Slavery by the Kings of Navarre, it was linked to that Kingdom, and remained a Member of that Crown, until it was wrung from Sancho the sixth King of Navarre, by Alfonso the first King of Castille, about the Year 1079. by whom it was entrusted to the Managery and Sway of Lopez Diez de Haro Lord of Biscay. But after the Decursion of some Time, it was again upon following Capitulations, surrendered to the King's o● Navarre, to whose Sceptre it continued fastened until the Year 1200. when the People of Guipuscoa having by a just and equal Resentment tasted of both Governments, and relishing that of Castille better than that of Arragon, they by a voluntary Resignation bowed their Heads to the Command of Alfonsus the fourth, King of Castille, who without the least Decision of the Sword received this Country into a full Subjection, and left it thus settled and confirmed to his Successor● the Kings of Spain, in whose Demean and Revenue the signory of it is yet constantly treasured up.   

GALLICIA.  
GALLICIA or Gallaecia, is bounded on the East with Leon, on the South with Portugal, from which it is separated by the River Minio, on the North with the Cantabrian Ocean, and on the West with the Atlantic. The Ancient Inhabitants were the Gallaeci, whence it assumed its Name, broken into the several Tribes of the B●dyi, Su●ri, Cilini, Capori, and Lemavi.  
It was one of the last Provinces which resigned themselves up to the Power of the Romans; encouraged to this Noble Defence and asserting of their Liberties by that Chain of Cantabrian Mountains, with which this Country is almost interlaced; out of which Consideration it was selected as a Refuge or Sanctuary by those afflicted Christians who groaned under the Conquest of the Moors.  
It was in Times of an Elder Inscription a Limb of Hispania Tarraconensis; after it swollen itself into the Estimate of a Province, and had the Name of Gallicia imposed upon it, being augmented with the Asturia's, and some part of Portugal, and the Old Castille. In the Eclipse of the Roman Power, the Suevi, a warlike Nation of Germany (accompanying the Vandals and Alani in their Eruptions) invaded Spain, and achieved the Conquest of this Province. But not satisfied with their new Acquists, they assaulted the Siling, a Collateral Tribe of the Vandals, then invested in the Possession of Boetica; whom they subdued, and by a successful Province extorted that Province from them, animated to this Conquest by the presence of Richila their second King. They not long after improved their Victories by the Addition of Lusitania; but their farther progress was intercepted by Theodorick the second, King of the Goths, by whom they were discomfited and shut up within the Recesses of Gallicia; which they enjoyed until their final Suppression and Subversion by L●u●igild King of the Goths, about the Year 858. and then this Province was linked to the Gothish Sceptre. In Time's subsequent to this, it was incorporated into the Kingdom of Leon, being Conqueted by retail and in pieces from the Intruding Moors by the Kings of that Province. It was first erected into a Kingdom by Alfonso the third, surnamed the Great, Anno 886. and given to Ordogno, his second Son, who upon the Decease of his Elder Brother Garcia was entitled to the Crown of Leon likewise, and so Gallicia became once more united to Leon; but so as by particular Compact it was beheld as an independent distinct Realm of itself. But this Connexion was not very permanent, for in the Year 955. the Gallicians resenting with regret the ill Government of Raymir the third, elected Veramund for their King, who was Son of Ordogno the third, and had the most manifest Title to the Diadem; who being advanced to the Crown of Leon on the Death of Raymir, once more incorporated the two Realms under one Sceptre; but it was torn off once more from Leon, by Ferdinand King of Castille and Leon, who gave it unto Garcia his youngest Son, Anno 1067. But it was again reduced under the Sway and Dominion of Leon, by Sancho eldest Son to Ferdinand above mentioned, by whom the Forces of Garcia were broken, and he himself made Captive in the Year 1081. never since broken off from Leon and Castille; but when Leon was rend from Castille, being still involved with Leon in those Distinctions till that disunion of Leon and Castille was sodered together and Cemented in the Person of Ferdinand the second, in the Year 1230. And being thus entwined they are by Successive Descent brought down to confess the Diadem of Philip the fourth, now King of ●Spain.   

CORDUBA.  
CORDUBA, as it stood when it was by Conquest rend from the Moors by the Spaniards, was thus environed. On the Fast it was contiguous to Murcia and the Mediterranean; on the West to Portugal and the Ocean; on the North to the Mountains of Sierra, Morena, and Castille; and on the South with the Ocean, the Straits of Gibraltar, and the Midland-Seas. It extracts this Denomination from Corduba the Principal City, and did anciently enwrap with its Limits Andalusia, Gades, Estremandura and Granada; of which last I shall speak more hereafter. The ancient Inhabitants of these Provinces were the Turduli, the Bastu'i, the Yurditani of Andalusia and Granada, the Celtici, and some part of the Lusitani; all which were reduced to the Roman Obedience, and contributed to the making up those Triumphal wreaths which adorned the Temples of Scipio African, about the Commencement of the second Punic War. From the Romans the signory of these Provinces was ravished away by the Vandals, who passing over into afric, there to multiply their Conquests to a larger Extent, transmitted it to them; but they were scarce planted in their new Patrimony, but they were disseised by Theodorick the Fourth, King of the Goths, who by these Victorious Achievements made all Boetica augment the Grandeur of his Diadem; under the Sceptre of whose Successors it continued constant, until the Fatal Eruptions of the Moors, who having by perpetual Conflicts and Inroads enslaved almost the whole Continent of Spain, were first subservient to the Commands of the great Caliphs', who spread their Rule over the Saracenical Empire, commanding here from Ulidor Ulit, by whose Influence and reiterated Supply they perfected their Triumphs over the Goths, Anno 714. to Abdalla, Anno 757. at what time Abderamen of the Line of Mahomet the Impostor, declining by flight the Fury of Abdalla, by whom the ancient Line of the Caliphs' of the Race of Humeia (from which Stem this Abderamen was extracted) had been devested of the Empire, sought for shelter in Spain, and was with many Symptoms of Joy and other unusual carresses received by the Spanish Moors entirely devoted to his House, whose Government (upon his shaking off all dependence or subordination to the Caliphs' or Mahometan Emperors) he wholly assumed to himself. In his Line the Title flowed with an even and undisturbed Current until it streamed down to Hizen the Second; after whose Decease the Sceptre of Corduba seemed to be broken to pieces by the surprisal or encroachment of subsequent Usurpers and Pretenders, the last of which was Mahomet the Son of 〈◊〉, after whose Exit the Body of the Carduban Monarchy (having evaporated its most vigorous and most active Spirits at those wounds the successful Swords of the Kings of Castille and Leon had inflicted on it) languished into decay, and fell to pieces; the Fragments of which dissolved Monarchy, were gathered up by several Royolets and erected into new Principalities; as namely, one started up at Sevill, another at Toledo, a third at Valentia, and a fourth at Corduba. After this great onset made on the Monarchy of Corduba, which so broke the Sceptre and disordered the Diadem, made now contemptible and cheap by the tearing off so many Provinces from its signory and Jurisdiction, the Series of those Princes who were Successors to Mahomet above mentioned, is so raveled and discomposed, that there is no Track in the Registers of History made visible to us by which we may pursue their Remembrance, only several petty and inconsiderable Tyrants by an unjust Usurpation endeavoured to grasp the Sceptre; but their Arrogance and insolent comportment so disgusted and disobliged the people, that to rescue themselves from that Load of Oppression which with so Calamitous a pressure sat heavy upon their Lives and Fortunes, they called in the Miramomolins, or Kings of Morocco, who so nobly asserted the People's Liberties that all those Roytelets were totally by them subdued. Under seven Princes of Morocco did the Government of these Spanish Moors continue unbroken, that is to say, from the Entrance of Joseph Telephin in the Year 1091. unto the going out of Mahomet the Green, in the Year 1214. During which Interval of Time, which made up an Account of an Hundred and twenty years, their Affairs and Designs were so well managed by the Conduct and Inspection of these active Chieftains, that they lost nothing but Estremadura, which was snatched from them by Alfonso the Second, King of Castille and Leon; and the City of Lisbon torn from them by Alfonso the First, King of Portugal. But Mahomet the Green being discomfited at Serra Morena, by the Forces of the Christians, concentered and knit together in in a joint Confederacy or Combination about the Year 1214. was so dispirited with this disastrous Success, that he made an obscure Retreat, abandoning all that Care which might have obliged him to a farther defence of this Monarchy; after whose Recess this Kingdom was once more split and dissolved into divers Principalities and small Royalties almost equal to the number of great Towns, which after various Contests were incorporated into that Regal Patrimony which bowed under the several Sceptres of the Kings of Castille, Arragon, and Portugal; but the Kingdom of Corduba, having too crazy and infirm a Foundation to support a Fabric so ruinous and tottering, sunk into its own Ruins, being plucked asunder by the victorious Hand of Ferdinand the second King of Castille in the year 1236. who afterwards fastened to that Revenue which owned the Jurisdiction of that Crown and Sceptre, where the Title hath remained ever since so fixed and permanent, that by the Steps of several Descents it hath been conducted down to confess the Power and Authority of Philip the fourth now King of Spain.   

GRANADA.  
GRANADA is circumscribed on the West with Andalusia, on the East with Murcia and the Mediterranean, on the North with New Castille, on the South only with the Midland Sea.  
This Kingdom was a Limb of the Kingdom of Corduba, being still wrapped up in the Fate of that, having still the same Inhabitants cultivating its earth, and the same Conquests retrenching its Liberty, so that it was sacrificed as an oblation to the Sword of the invading Moor and Saracens. But when the Castilians by many signal Encounters had so dissipated and rend asunder the great Kingdom of Corduba, that it appeared to be split into Parcels, this was seized on by Mahomet ben Alhamar or Alcamir, who so vigorously asserted the Interest of the Moors, even in their declining Fortune, that he made this Province part of his own Endowment and Patrimony, and▪ was by those persons whom he had so gallantly shadowed with his protection, advanced to be the first King of Granada, though he was the last of Corduba; of all the Kings subsequent to him, the Spanish Records affords us so dim a Beam that we wander in the dark, when we endeavour to trace out a just and successive Series of them; for Civil Contentions and intestine Animosities like a private Moth did so fret into the Title, that it was no longer stable than the power of the Sword did support it, nor indeed could it be but expected that the Foundation of a Monarchy fixed on so great a Ruin, and whose Fabric was cemented with so much blood, must be crazy, brittle, and unsafe, so that the ●●own devolving to Mahomet Boad delin (who did not expect his Father's death, but hastened it) with all these imperfections debauching its lustre, it is no wonder if it was snatched from his head by Ferdinand and Isabel, who having by a noble and a Christian Conquest knit it to the Demeasn of Castille and Arragon, it is now by successive right brought down to confess Philip the Fourth, now King of Spain for its Lord and Sovereign.   

TOLEDO.  
THe Kingdom of Toledo extracts its Appellation from Toledo the principal City, which in elder times did circumscribe the chiefest part of that Country, which now falls under the Name of New Castille. The ancient Inhabitants were the Carpentani, and Gyres●●ni dislodged by the Romans; who again were dispossessed by the Alani, and they again finally disseised by the Goths, who after they had many Descents possessed it, and made Toledo their capital Residence (which City was surrounded and fortified with a Wall by the Care and Expense of Bamba King of the Goths) were outed and devested by the discomfiture given by Musa Chieftain of the Moors, to Roderick the last Gothish King, whose incogitant ●●●st gave him and Spain up a prey to the Sword of Barbarous Saracens. But afterwards, when the great Kingdom of Corduba began to be split asunder, by its own Disorder and Confusion, it was upon the entrance of Abderamen, into Spain, ravished away from Galafr●y, who held it as Vassal under the Caliphs' of Da●ascus, but with the Title of King; and this Abderamen left it to his eldest Son Zuleima, who was disseised not only of this Province, but of Corduba likewise, by his younger Brother Hizen; after which devestiture it remained constant to the Interest of Corduba, until the Expiration of the Reign of Abderamen the second, King of Corduba; from whom it was torn away by Aben Lope; who again was supplanted by Mahomet Son of Abderamen, about the year 848. and here it continued fixed and constant until Addalla, a Man of very great estimate amongst the Moors, taking advantage of the Feud started between Zuleima and Hizen the second in relation to the Realm, seized on Toledo, and entitled himself to the Diadem of it; but he dying without Issue, as divers old Records intimate, the Crown of Toledo devolved by his Testament and Donation to Mahomet Almohadi (issued from the Royal Family of Humeia King of Corduba, to which Diadem though he had an indisputable Title, yet he was illegally and forcibly discarded from the possession of it by the Violence of Zuleima and his more prevalent Faction) and from this Mahomet did the Sceptre of Toledo come to adorn the hand of his Son Obeydalla, who had but newly ascended his Throne, when he fell in an unsuccesseful Encounter a Sacrifice to the Ambition and Fury of Hizen King of Corduba, about the year 990. After whose disastrous Tragedy the Diadem of Toledo empailed the Temples of his Kinsman Hairam; from whom the Devolution of successive Right carried it down to his great Grandchild to Hiaya, surnamed Alcaduchir or Alcadarbile; who having by his Tyranny and Exactions disobliged his Subjects and exasperated their Spirits against him, opened a Gap so wide, that Alfonso the first, King of Castille and Leon▪ rushed in at that breach, and by an absolute Conquest annexed this Province to Castille, to the Dominion of whose succeeding Princes, it hath ever since continued so constant, that it still obeys the Sceptre of Philip the fourth now King of Spain.   

MURCIA.  
MURCIA is bounded on the West with Granada, on the East with Valentia, on the North with Valentia and part of Granada, on the South with the Levant or Mediteranean Sea. This Province being an appendent Limb to Hispania Carthaginensis, was upon the Eruption of the Alani ravished from the Romans, who were by Conquest first entitled to it; but the Alani had not been long resident in their new Achievements here, but they were expulsed by the more powerful Sword of Vallia or Wallia King of the Goths. After this it was so subservient to the Fate of Spain that it was made part of the Conquests of the Moors of afric, when the rest of the Kingdom bowed itself to their yoke and Sceptre: But their Empire in Spain being by their own Divisions and Animosities so disordered and discomposed, that it was distracted and broken into several parcels, this upon so general Shipwreck was seized upon by Aben-Hut, extracted from the Kings of Saragossa, who raised it into a distinct Kingdom about the year 1228. and afterwards stretched out his power to that latitude, that he not only commanded over this Country, but reduced Granada and part of Andalusia under his Dominion. But long he had not been in the possession of his new Conquests, when amidst the Caresses of a drunken Feast, he was traitorously assassinated by Aben Arramin a perfidious Servant of his own; upon whose Tragedy, one Aben Hudiel with a successful hand seized on the Sceptre; but long he had not grasped it, when one Alboaquis wrung it from him; but he being not able to assert his new achieved Regality against the power of his Competitor, resigned the Kingdom into the hands of Ferdinand the second King of Castille, but with this Proviso, that he should enjoy the Title of King of Murcia during his Life; upon whose Expiration it was annexed to the Diadem of Ferdinand abovementioned, and hath been so constantly linked ever since to the Sceptre of Castille, that it now acknowledges no other Monarch but Philip the fourth now King of Spain.   

VALENTIA.  
VALENTIA is circumscribed on the East with the Mediterranean; on the West with Castille and Arragon; on the North with Catalonia. It was originally part of that Division of Spain called Tarraconensis; but afterwards that Province being subdivided by Constantine, it was made a Limb of Hispania Carthaginensis. The ancient Inhabitants were the Bastitanis, the Edotani, the Contestani, and some part of the Celtiberi. In the waning of the Roman Empire, when the Imperial Diadem was torn to pieces, by its fatal Distemper within, as well as by the violent and forcible Eruptions of the Barbarous Nations from without; this▪ Province stooped to receive that yoke which was imposed upon it by the victorious Alani; but this was not long after taken off by the Goths, who having subdued these new Intruders, cemented this Province by Conquest with the Residue of Spain; but was again rend off from their Monarchy by the successful Sword of the Moors, and knit by this Acquist to their Kingdom erected in Spain, and in their Do ninion until Mahomet Enasirs received that destructive Blow at the Battle of Sierra Morena, which so diminished the strength of the Moors, that their Retreat into afric was an effect of this Defeat; Valentia was erected into a distinct Kingdom by Zeit Aben Zeit, the Brother of Mahomet Enasirs before mentioned, about the year 1214. but not long after, that is about the year 1228. it was ravished away from this new Prince by Zaen, a Prince of the Moors in Spain; and the pretence upon which he established this Violence, was, that this dethroned Potentate had an Intention to revolt to Christianity; but this Zaen had not been long seated in his new Conquests; but he was supplanted and subdued by James King of Arragon, about the year 1238. and this Province annexed as an Appendage to the Kingdom of Arragon; to which it hath ever since been so constantly fastened, that both its Title and Propriety is at this instant linked to the Sceptre of Philip the fourth, now King of Spain.   

MAJORCA.  
THe Kingdom of Majorca contained the Islands of Majorca, Minorca, Fbusa, Frumentaria in the Levant, and the Land of Roussillon, which was added to Spain in the time of the Goths, being accounted a Limb before of Gallia Narbonensis. On the Decease of Gerrard the last Proprietary Earl, it was added to the Crown of Arragon by Alfonso the second; by James the first it was annexed to the Diadem of Majorca; but being torn from that Sceptre by Pedro the fourth, it was once more linked to the Patrimony of that Crown. After that it was transmitted as a pawn by John the second, to Lewis the eleventh King of France, to secure the reimbursement of 300000 Crowns, lent in the year 1462. and freely surrendered to Ferdinand the second, surnamed the Catholic, with a Release from all encumbrances by Charles the Eighth his Son, in the year 1493. with this Proviso annexed, that he should not impede or intercept him in those Designs which had an Aspect on the Conquest of Naples; from whom the continued Flux of Descent carried it down to Philip the fourth King of Spain, in whose Patrimony it lay couched until the late Defection of Catalonia; and than it was totally lopped off from the Interest of the Spaniard by the successful Sword of the French, and is by the conditions of the last Treaty of Peace to remain during the truce wrapped up in the Demesnes of the Gallican Diadem. Adjoining to this Province, as part of the Kingdoms of Majorca, is that Country, which by the Spaniard is styled Cerdagne, and it is probable borrowed this Appellation (now stived into a lesser Volume) from the Cerretani, who were the ancient Inhabitants. This Province lying in those Valleys which are linked to the Pyrenean Hills, was judged meet to be annexed to the County of Roussillon, for the farther improvement of that Province, to whose paramount Fortune, its appendent Fate hath been constantly ever since so subservient, that when it and Roussillon was pawned to the French, it was part of the Mortgage, and was also wrapped up in the Restitution.  
The Earldom of Montpellier was some hundreds of years since, by Mary the only Daughter of William the last Earl thereof, united to the Dominion and Patrimony of Peter the second King of Arragon; and by her he had issue James King of Arragon and Majorca, of that Name the Third, who conveyed it by Sale to Philip of Valois King of France, in the patrimony of whose Successors it hath ever since been resident.  
Majorca with the circumambient Islands of Minorca, Ebusa, now called Yuica, Frumentera styled by the Greeks Ophiusa and Colubraria by the Latins, from the multitude of Serpents which anciently infested it, Drag●nera, Cabraria, Vedra, Co●●rello, Moncolibre, Alfaques, and Scombraria, so called from a contemptible Fish named Scombrus, attaqued in the time of the Romans in numerous Shoals on this Coast, and thence transported to Rome; though more anciently, as divers eminent Records testify, it obtained the Denomination of the Island of Hercules.  
These Islands were first planted by the Tyrians or Phaenicians, to whose industrious care most of their Cities owed their first Institution and Erection, there being one erected in the Island of Ebusa, which to enforce a grateful acknowledge meant to posterity of their expense, had the name Phaenissa anciently lodged upon it. And from these Phaenicians the future Inhabitants derived the Art of Slinging, which they improved to so great advantage and Dexterity, that the Name of Baleares in subsequent Ages was imposed upon them, which word some do assert was extracted from the Phaenician word Baal-Jarre, which in the Punic Dialect imports as much as a Master in the Art of Slinging, though others with more probability deduce it from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies to cast forth or throw. But to proceed. These Islands first bowed to the yoke of the Carthaginians, whose Affairs here were successfully managed by the prudent conduct of Hanno and Himilco, Anno M. 5500. At what time the City of Rome lay gasping under the Tyranny of the Decemviri, under the Dominion of that State they remained subject until the Conclusion of the second Punic War, when the Carthaginians being no longer able to shelter them with their protection they abandoned them to themselves, who immediately moulded themselves into the Constitution of a Commonwealth, whose Contexture was quickly supplanted by Metellus Brother to him who subdued Crete, and united it to the Roman Patrimony, who from this submission of theirs to that Empire, was recompensed with the glorious Trophies of a triumph. Afterwards being incorporated into Spain, and made a Limb of that great Body, the same Fortune, either prosperous or adverse, which waited on that, attended likewise on this. In those Distractions which retailed out the Empire of the Moors in Spain to a various Ruin, they were knit into an entire Kingdom, under the notion of the Kingdom of Majorca; from the Moors it was rend away by the Conduct and Prowess of Raymond Earl of Barcelona, assisted in that undertaking by the concurrent Supply of the Genoese, about the year 1102, but I know not upon what grounds; not long after the Genoese made a tame Surrender of it to the Moors again, which was not long resident in their possession, for James King of Arragon about the year 1228. wrung it from them by a second Conquest, and he settled it on his second Son James, and from him the Diadem devolved to his Son and Heir Sancho, who dying without Issue, James Son of Ferdinand, Brother to James the first King of Majorca, entered upon it by the Name of James the second; on whose decease James the Third ascended the Throne, who suddenly after was dislodged, being subdued and slain in a disastrous Encounter by Pedro the fourth King of Arragon about the year 1348. After whose Tragedy this was annexed to Arragon, and hath continued ever since so closely interwoven with the Interest of this Kingdom that it still obeys the Sceptre of Philip the Fourth now King of Spain.   

CATALONIA.  
CATALONIA is shut in on the North with the County of Roussillon and the Pyrenian Mountains, on the East with the Mediterranean, on the South with Valentia, on the North and North-West with Arragon.  
The Name (as some probable Conjectures seem to affirm) is derived from the Castellani, who in elder times were the ancient Inhabitants of some part of it, though others upon as possible Grounds assert it was extracted from the Catalauni, an ancient People of Languedoc, a Province of France, divided by no considerable distance from this Province. But the Affirmation of those, is certainly the most proportionate to Reason, who deduce it from Gotholonia, which, by depravation of Dialect, and a more easy pronunciation, was melted into Catalonia. This Province having been adopted into the Name of Gotholonia by the Goths, as having been one of the first Provinces of Spain on which that Nation made their violent and successful Eruptions.  
The ancient Inhabitants of this Province were the Castellani, Auxitani, Indigites, Cosetani, with part of the Ilercones and Jaccetani, all of them Possessors of that distribution of Spain which was styled Hispania Tarraconensis; but when the Glory of the Roman Empire began to suffer her Eclipse and umbrages, and wand into a visible Declension, this was rend from that great Body by the Alani, who not long after were subdued and disseised by the Goths; but when a general ruin was super-induced on Spain by the power of the Moors, this sunk in that general Shipwreck, and was forced to stoop to receive a yoke from the Hands of Infidelity; from them, after many signal struggle, it was rescued by the Magnanimity of Charles the Great, who having reduced the City of Barcelona about the Year 801. settled it on one Bernard a Frenchman, with the Title of Earl, and he managed the Affairs of this Province for that Emperor, as Gothofredus his Successor did for Lewis the Godly. But Gothofredus Son to this Godfred, having acted some exemplary Service which obliged Charles the Gr●● to some grateful acknowledgement, he to expiate this Engagement made him Proprietary of it, with this Limitation reserved, that the Year of the Kings of France as was accustomed to be performed by his Predecessors should be Inscribed and used in all Records and Instruments of public Cognisance; and from him it was transported to his Grandchild Gothofred the Second, who dying without Issue, his Uncle Borellus entered upon the Possession of this Earldom, and in his Line was it so successively fixed until by an even Clew it descended to Raymond the Fifth, who by Matching with Petronilla Daughter of Raymir the Second, King of Arragon, was by the Authority of that Alliance invested with the Diadem of that Kingdom, and knit by a future Combination this Earldom to the Patrimony of that Sceptre, whose Successor was James the First, King of Arragon and Lord of Catalonia, (for so the Records of Spain seem to insinuate, his Style was used in Coins and other Inscriptions) to whom St. Lewis King of France, by Resignation and Surrender released that Vassalage and acknowledgement which was due from his Predecessors to the Diadem of France in the Year 1260. and this King James to balance and poise the Merit of so great an Obligation by a proportionate Compensation, at the same time devested himself by a general Release of all his Right and Title to Carcassan, B●ziers, Nismes and some other considerable pieces in France, in Tim●● of el●er Inscription relating as Appendages to the Revenue of that Crown. Thus have I represented in Landscape, how Catalonia became twisted into the Demean and Royalty of Arragon, where it constantly reposed itself until the Year 1638. and then that Defection from the Crown of Spain, which was occasioned by the Invasion of the Liberties of the Catalans, as was pretended by the Spaniard, though those pretences were improved, inflamed and aggravated by the Arts and cloudy Stratagems of Cardinal Richelieu, having torn it off from that Sceptre, it was by the Inhabitants modelled and fashioned into the shape of a Commonwealth, but with a Reservation that it should still be under the Patronage and shelter of the Crown of France, and in this Capacity it remained until the sucbesseful Sword of Don John of Austria, the Marquis of Cerra, and the Marquis of Mortara so vigorously asserted the Interest of Spain, that they wrung all Catalonia from the hands of the French; and although this Nation by the concurrent Aid of the Catalans did retrieve Puycerda, Castiglione, and some other pieces from the Spaniard, yet the more principal part of Catalonia doe●●et after all these vast Concussions acknowledge no other Sceptre but that which is swayed by the Hand of Philip the Fourth King of Spain.   

ARRAGON.  
ARRAGON is fettered in on the East with the Land of Roussillon and the Pyrenean Hills, on the West the two Castile's, on the North Navarre, on the South and Southeast Catalonia and some part of Vanlentia. The ancient Inhabitants were the Celtiberi, who spread themselves over a very considerable part of Spain, styled Hispania Tarraconensis, but originally had their Rise and Extraction from the Celtaes an ancient People of France, who being clogged and surcharged with superfluity of People, advanced over the Pyrenean Hills, and mingled with the Iberi, the old Possessors of Arragon; yet there were other Inhabitants of less importance, as namely, the Jaccetani, the Lacetani with some part of the Editani, and Ilergetes or Ilurcones, that had their Concernment in this Province, and thrived under the protection and shadow of the Nobler Colonies. And in this posture it remained until the Carthaginians endeavouring to enlarge their Territories made it bow to their Government; but here it had not long been resident, when the power of the Romans growing paramount to theirs, it was forced to submit to the more predominant strength of that Empire, and to their Interest it was subservient, until it was ravished away by the prevailing Arms of the Goths, whose Acquists here attended the Fate of Spain, and was surrendered to the Moors in that public Calamity which was complicated with their Conquest. But about that time when the Foundations of the Kingdoms of Leon and Navarre were established, one Aznarius a Person of an unbroken Courage, disdaining any longer to lie panting under that load of Slavery which the Moors had cast upon him, disengaged himself of the pressure, and by many generous Conflicts with the Moors, wherein he exhibited many Symptoms of an inexpugnable Courage, he invested himself in the Possession of some Lands on the Banks of the River of Arragon; but because he found his Power was too infirm and crazy to support his new Acquists without some collateral supply, he put himself under the Protection of the King of Navarre about the Year 775. And that Monarch, both to excite and cherish so worthy a Virtue with some exemplary Guerdon, dignified him with the Title of Earl of Arragon; and from him it devolved by Descent to his Lineal Successor Fortunio Ximines, in whom the Male Line determined, so that Fortunio the Second King of Navarre, in Right of his Mother Urraca who was his Sister and Heir, was entitled to Arragon supported by this Alliance, annexed this Province to Navarre; and from him the Clew of Descent transmitted it to Sancho the Great King of Navarre, who gave it to his Son Raymir begotten in unlawful Embraces, to the prejudice of his Lawful Son Garcia, who indeed justly merited this Disherision, because he had by an unnatural Accusation endeavoured to blast the Reputation of his Mother Queen Elvira Wife to his Father, by besmearing her with the Calumnious Aspersion of Adultery, from which black tincture she was assoiled by the Noble and generous Assistance of Raymir above mentioned, who offered to assert her Innocence by the solemn Decision of a mutual Combat with this Garcia, which obliged his Father King Sancho to reflect with so benign an eye on so great a Virtue, that he thought the Earldom of Arragon a proportionate Guerdon to his Merit and Courage, and translated the Coronet of this Province into a Diadem, that the Reward designed him might swell into a more considerable Dimension, and with more Lustre adorn his Temples; and from this Raymir did there Issue out a Series of Kings that was never interrupted, disturbed, or raveled in the Clew of Descent, but in an even order went along until the Line of Succession brought the Crown of Arragon to impale the Temples of Ferdinand surnamed the Catholic, who by Matching with Isabel the Heir of Castille, linked and incorporated these two Kingdoms into one Body, whose divided Interest being thus combined, hath ever since continued fastened and tied up in so strict a Union, that the Propriety of both these Kingdoms does now support and enforce the Grandeur of that Diadem which invests the Head of Philip the Fourth the instant Monarch of Spain.   

SPAIN.  
SPAIN in Times of an elder Complexion was the Stage where the Scene of much Contention and Bloodshed was established, the Romans attempting with much eagerness and Animosity to ravish away the Spanish Liberty, and impose that yoke of Servitude on their Necks they had burdened and loaded the shoulders of other captived Nations with, and the Spanish Inhabitants, again endeavouring with a generous vigour to assert their Native Franchises against their Eruptions, and so to secure their Liberties, that they might not be offered up an Oblation to the rapatious Talons of the Roman Eagles; but after many Conflicts commenced, and the bloody Umpirage of several Battles, the Spanish Body having exhaled its most active and vigorous Spirits at those breaches and wounds the successful Swords of the Romans had torn and discomposed the Bulk of their Empire withal, fell a cheap Sacrifice to their Success and Ambition, and by a tame Submission put on those Fetters the Hands of these new Victors had designed to load them with; and the Romans, the better to manage and fortify their new Acquists with a cautious improvement, scattered several Colonies and Forts on those several Provinces which were circumscribed within the Continent of Spain; a subsequent List of which I shall now represent to the Reader, as likewise an exact Register of those Cities and Towns which in times of a more modern Inscription have like so many Phaenix's ascended into shape and order out of their antiquated Ruins.  

A  
ALCE a City of the Celtiberians, was razed by Gracchus.  
Abdera now called Almeria, and according to the Conjectures of some, the place where now the City of Vera●s ●s situated.  
Abula, now denominated Avila.  
Acci, likely to be Guadix in Granada.  
Agra, it is under Controversy whether it were placed in Spain or in afric  
Arcobrica, now styled Calataiub, or else separated by no great distance from it.  
Assindon, the place where now Medina Sidonia or Xeres in Andalusia is fixed.  
Astapa, a Colony of the Carthaginians was destroyed by Martius, a Roman Commander under Scipio.  
Astigia, reputed to be Eccia in Andalusia.  
Asturica or Astorga, retains its primitive Appellation, and continues a Bishopric until this day.  
Ategua, how this City is denominated now is represented by Ferrarius, who asserts that it is now called Tebalaveia or Teiveila in Granada.  
Augusta, a Name Common to many Towns in Spain, yet when it is simply rehearsed or Registered without being yoked with any additional Denomination, it is taken to signify Bracar or Braga.  
Auriensis, or Aquae Calidae, now taken for the Bishopric of Orenza or Orense in Gallicia.  
Auringa was an eminent City in Andalusia, dismantled and overturned by Scipio.  
A●s●●●a or Auxima, at this present styled Vic d'Ossone, an obscure Town circumscribed within Catalonia.  
Auca, an ancient City out of whose ruins Burgos is now started.  
Axenium, where that was situated, or what City was extracted from its Ashes is uncertain.   

B  
Barcina or Rubicata, now called Barcelona, the Capital City of Catalonia.  
Bastitania now known by the Name of Baza, in the Province of Murcia.  
Bregetium, in old Records denominated likewise Lucus Astu●um is now the City of Ovi●do in Leon.  
Biaria, now called Barra, is in the Kingdom of Toledo.  
Bigastrensis Civitas, or Urbs Bistargensis, was a Bishopric situated in the Province of Carthagena.  
Bigerra, now styled Beijar, is contiguous in its position to Valentia.  
Britolensis Urbs, was a Town near Tuy in Gallicia.   

C  
Cauca, was a City in the Territory of the Vacceni, and situated in Portugal, ruined by Lucullus the Roman General.  
Carmona was a Town near Cordova, demolished by the Goths.  
Cauria, at this day denominated Coria, and is placed near Merida.  
Caesarea Augusta, or Salduba, now Sarragossa, the Metropolis of Arragon.  
Calaguris, now represented under the Name of Calahorra, in Navarre.  
Colimbrica or Conimbrica, now Coimbra, an eminent University in Portugal.  
Carthago Nova, or Carthagena, which still retains its pristine Name and though now fallen under some Umbrage and obscurity, was in elder Times one of the most eminent Cities of Spain.  
Castulo, at this day styled Castona, and is situated near Sevill.  
Centobrica in Celtiberia, was reduced to the Roman obedience by Metellus, since crumbled into Rubbish.  
Complutum, out of w●ose Rubbish, the noted and Illustrious Unive sity of Alcala de Henarez in C●stile, is now risen forth.  
Conistorgis was a Colony in Portugal, long since mouldered into a neglected heap.  
Colenda was a City of the Celtiberians.  
Corduba gave Na●e to the whole Province wherein it was placed, and preserves the ancient Appellation, and continues a Bishopric until this day.   

D  
Dertosa, now called Tortosa, and is situated upon the River of Ebro, which separates Catalonia and Valentia.  
Di●ni●m, now styled Denia, is placed in the Kingdom of Toledo.   

E  
CIvitas Egarensis, was the Residence of a People called Egur●●, out of whose Ashes sprang a town in Toledo, styled Medina del Rio Secco.  
Egedita, now a little bourg in Portugal called Edania.  
Egosa or Egiba, is a Town which still continues its ancient Appellation, and is situated near Girona in Catalonia.  
Ebora, now is known by the Name of Euora, and is placed in Portugal, and is at this instant ascended to that Eminence that it is become the Residence of the Kings of Portugal.  
Elib●●is, was in Ages of an higher step, a populous and spacious City, though in Times of a lower Descent, it shrunk into the narrow Bulk of a Castle; but it is conjectured that Granado, not far distant, owes part of its Dimension and Grandeur to its superannuated Ruins.  
Eliocrota, was situated betwixt Carthagena and Cas●ona, but was by the Fury and frequent Onsets of the Vandals, rendered so inconsiderable an heap, that it is now entombed in its own Rubbish.  
Elna, was placed in Gallia-Narbonensis, and is now shrunk into Decay and Oblivion.  
Emirita, at this instant called Merida, is placed in Castille, and hath nothing singular to ennoble it, but only some venerable Ruins.  
Eminium or Euminium, is placed in Portugal, betwixt Coimbra and Porto; but it is now crumbled away into such a narrow heap, that it hath at present, found a forgotten Sepulchre.  
Ergavica, now a Town in Arragon, called Alcanez.  
Escadia, was a City situated in Lusitania, reduced to Ruins by the Roman Conquests.   

F  
FLaviobriga, a City in Biscay, which mouldering away by the injurious Impressions of Time, and the Assaults of Enemies, fell into decay and Rubbish.  
Bilbao, the Capital City of that Province, was extracted from its Sepulchre.  
Flavium Brigantium now passes under the Notion of Corvina, in Gallicia.  
Flavinavia, was situated in Asturia, and hath now achieved the name of St. Andero.   

G  
GAdes, an ancient Town of Spain, in more modern Orthography written Cadez.  
Gerunda, in Catalonia, is now marshaled under the Name of Girona.  
Gerabrica or Jeraabrica, is placed in Portugal, betwixt Lisbon and St. Irene, but is now by the rude hand of Time, crushed into so disordered a Mass, that it is removed but a small preferment from the notion of a Village.  
Gemella, was a Fortress in Portugal, what Name it hath since been habituated to, is uncertain.  
Girniza, a City of the Vacceans, demolished by Titus Didius.   

H  
HIspalis, in Andalusia, is now listed under the Name of Sevil, and is the Metropolis of that Track.   

I  
IAcca was the principal City of the Jaccetani, in Arragon, and still preserves its name.  
Ilerda, was situated in Catalonia, and is now styled Lerida.  
Ilice, in the Kingdom of Valentia respecting the Islands Pitieuses, and adopted that eminent Bay called Sinus Ilicitanus into its own Surname, but where this Town or the Rags and Skeleton of it, have found their Innterment, no Beam extracted from public Record, can direct to a Discovery.  
Ilipa was a City situated in the Strait of Boetica, It is supposed to be Niebla in Portugal.  
Illiturgis, was situated in Andalusia, and was put into Flame and Ashes by Scipio.  
Julio Briga, an antiquated Colony, is now Logrogno in Arragon.  
Illiberis, was a City in Roussillon, divided by no great distance from the Pyrenean Hills, out of whose Rubbish Coliure or Colibre, a City now extant, had its original Institution.  
Civitas Imotinensis, is by some Conjectures now asserted to be Montanches not far distant from Merida.  
Imopyreneus or Rhoda is at this day called Roses and is a City of Eminence in Catalonia, it was built by the Rhodians.  
Empuria Urbs Impuritana or Emporitana, though languished into Decay hath from its Skeleton afforded a Town called Empuria now placed in Catalonia.  
Julia Libica is now that City we style Sardona or Cardona, a City existent in Catalonia, or as some conjecture Linca.  
Jugastria or Juncaria was Situated in Catalonia and is in more modern Appellation styled Junquera.  
Intercatia was placed amongst the Astures, but what Denomination it hath acquired now no Record does exhibit.  
Iria Flavia is at this instant styled Padron and hath its Situation near Terrae Finis in Gallicia.  
Italica an ancient City in Andaluzia, is now entombed in its own Ruins and wild Dispersion.   

L  
LAmbria was no far Distance divided from the Margin of the River of Limia in Portugal, but what name it hath obtained now is incertain.  
Lacobrica there were two Towns which bore this Denomination, the one at Cape St. Vincent, the second near Palenza it is now conjectured to be Lagos.  
Lameca now passes under the Denomination of Lamega, and is a noted City in Portugal.  
Luci Tarum is now styled St. Lucar di Barameda in Andalusia.  
Lancia was in elder times the Metropolis of Asturia, though now wholly devested both of Bulk and Beauty.  
Laurona was an ancient City made an heap of Flame and Ruins by Sertorius even in the presence of Pompey.  
Legio is at this instant styled Leon, and is the Capital City of that province.  
Lucia or Urbs Lucensis was an ancient Colony now known by the Name of Lugo in Gallicia.   

M  
MAlaca at present called Malaga, one of the most eminent Cities of the Kingdom of Granada.  
Mentesa now Monteio or else Jaen in Andalusia.  
Munda was a City of the Vacceans' Eminent for the Battle between the two Pompey's and Caesar, it is now obscure in its own Ruins unless Ronda be started from it.   

N  
NOvi●m in Gallicia is now fallen under the Name of Noya.  
Numantia after a tough Siege buried in its own Ruins, by Scipio.   

O  
OBoliola was a City upon the Verge of Portugal, which was demolished and destroyed by Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus in his War commenced against Viriatus.  
Occi or Acci is now involved in Guadix, Situated in Valentia.  
Ocilis or Ocelona was a City near Merida, now so wrapped up in its own disordered and confused dispersions that it its difficult to trace out its rubbish even amidst its ruins.  
Olisipo now known by the Name of Lisbon the Metropolis of Portugal.  
Orcelis whose Bishop was at the Council of Arles, it was fixed in Valentia. It is now Denominated Origu●la.  
Or●tana now styled Calatrava, the Seminary of Knights of that Order, was in the Kingdom of Toledo.  
Osca that is Huesea in Arragon a Bishopric and a University.  
Ossobona was in Algarbe not far divided from Faro which by the Moors was named Exuba.  
Oxovia in the Kingdom of Toledo styled by Plyny Uxania at this instant it is known by the Appellation of Osona, and is honoured by being the See of Bishop.  
Oxthraca a City of eminent note in the ancient Lusitania destroyed by Atilius or Acilius Balbus one of the Roman Commanders.   

P  
PAx Augusta an Eminent Roman Colony in Extremadura now stilled Badaisos and by the Moors in elder times named Baxang●.  
Palentia or Palantia in the Kingdom of Toledo, continues listed under that Name and remains a Bishopric at this Day.  
Pampelona continues still espoused to its ancient Name, and is at this instant the Capital City of Navarre.  
Placentia is Situated in Castille and preserves its ancient Denomination at this instant.  
Porto or Portogallo, is placed in Lusitania, and is that City which at present is named Portoport.   

S  
SAguntum was destroyed by Hannibal out of whose Ashes Morviedro in Valentia is now descended.  
Sanuessa is now Sanguessa in Navarre.  
Salmantica or Elmantica is circumscribed within the Limits of Castille, and hath now assumed the Denomination of Salamanca, being both a Bishopric, and an eminent University.  
Segobia or Secobia is Situated likewise in Castille, and with a small variation from the ancient name is now styled Segovia.  
Segobrica is the Town called Segorbia in Arragon.  
Seguntia or Saguntia, now named Siguenza is placed between Castille and Arragon, and is made eminent by being the See of a Bishop.  
Senga in Arragon, hath now contracted the name of Balbastro.  
Segissama hath now atcheived the name of Tordede●illas.  
Sediga was a noted City of the Arevaces, and was extinguished and dismanteled in the Conflicts and Contentions between Spain and the Romans.  
Setabis is the Town Xat●va now a Limb of the Kingdom of Arragon.  
Septimantia now styled Simanca, is a Town which is Situated in Castille..  
Scalabis was an eminent Roman Colony in Portugal, how it is styled now is incertain.  
Sarabris or Sentilla was Situated in Castille, and is now Marshaled under the name of Zamora or Toro.  
Sitia was erected in the Province of Corduba, but what Name it hath assumed at this instant no Record does discover.  
Sitale o● Sitiale was established in the Track of Andalusia, what Denomination it hath now put on we cannot at present trace out.   

T  
TArracona was Situated in Catalonia, and at present is styled Tarragona, being an Arch-Bishops Seat and the Second City for Eminence and Populacy in that Province.  
Talabriga hath now obtained the appellation of Talavera and is circumscribed in Portugal.  
Tartessus, now styled Carteia, is Situated in Andaluzia, and gave the Name to the whole Track.  
Trebia and Tribola were two eminent Cities in Castille and the Old Lusitania both cast into a heap of Rubbish in the Wars of the Romans waged with the people of that Province.  
Thermissa was in times of an elder Complexion a City of the Vacceans or Arevaces, and was demolished by the Consul Titus Didius.  
Thermantia was an ancient City of Spain not far distant from Numantia now by the Injuries of time shrunk into Decay and Oblivion, only it is supposed Nuestra Sennora de Tiermas in Arragon is now extracted from its Tomb.  
Toletum is that eminent City, we now style Toledo being an Archbishopric and the Metropolis of Castille.  
Turiasso now the Town Tarrasso which had its position near the Limits of Navarr.  
Tucca was Situated in Betica near Castulo, what name is fixed upon it now I cannot discover.  
Tuda or Tyda is now adopted into the name of Tuy in Gallicia and is adorned with the Title of a Bishop.  
Tullica was placed in Cantabria or Biscay, but what denomination it hath borrowed since no Beam of Antiquity does exhibit to us.  
Turris Julia is now compacted into the more modern Name of Trugillo in Portugal.   

V  
VAlentia or Valence, is at this instant an eminent Archbishopric▪ and affords a Name to the whole Province where it is situated, preserving both its Name and Antiquity.  
Valeria, had its first erection in the Province of Arragon, and hath at this instant got the Appellation of Co●cia or Cuenca.  
Vasco Baso, was an eminent City of the Vascones now languished into an obscure Town in Navarre, called Basconton.  
Veila, was an ancient City in Cantabria, now languished into neglected Ruins.  
Vesci, is now styled Viseo, and is a noted Town in Portugal.  
Urci, was an ancient Roman Colony, not far removed from Almeria in Castille, now shrunk by Decay into an inconsiderable Obscurity.  
Urgela, called likewise Bergidum, is now Urgel, a City, and a Bishops See in Catalonia.  
Urbicua, a Town of the Celtiberians, put into Ruins by Q. Fulvius Flaccus, a Roman Commander.  
Ucubis, a Town in farther Spain, now entombed not only in its own Rubbish, but in oblivion likewise; only it is conjectured Ucubis in Granada, is a child of its production.  
Uxama, an ancient Colony of the Romans, is fallen into so obscure a Decay that it hath lost both its Name and the place of its abode, so that it is now extant only in Record and Annals.  
Vellica, was in Navarre, whose dispersed Rubbish was in the Year 1181. by Sancho the fourth, King of Navarre, Collected into a City, whose Denomination in Memory of some Success upon its first Institution was Victoria.  
Viminacium, was placed in Castille, but what Town is now descended from its Ruins, the testimony of History does not exhibit to us.  
Virovesca in Old Castille, hath now put on the Name of Briviesca, or Birviesca.  
Voluce, or Veluca, hath from its Ashes given us Cannatanazor, now in Valentia,  
Urso, hath f●om its Ruins been productive of Ossuna, now placed in Andalusia.   
There are other Ancient Towns in Spain, and its Circumabient Provinces, which are Registered in Mela, Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny and Antoninus; which because they have put on other Names, I shall represent the first as they are Recorded in those Venerable Authors, and exhibit the last as they lie enroled in the Spanish Histories; as namely,  

A  
ASta, in Pliny is now Xeres, in the Kingdom of Granada.  
Augusta Forma, mentioned by the former Author, is now Eccia in Andalusia.  
Aquae Calidae, enroled in the Pages of Ptolemy, is now Oreus or Orenza, in Gallicia.  
Aspavia by Corduba, mentioned by Ptolemy, is styled Espeio.  
Alba in Antonnius, is now Viana in Navarre, which formerly afforded a Title to the King of Navarr's eldest Son, who was styled Prince of Viana.  
Avia or Livia, Registered likewise by Antoninus, is now Villalon in Castille.  
Alaba in Celtiberia or Biscay, called so by Ptolemy, hath now in more modern Appellation assumed the Name of Alava.   

B  
BAlaria in Antoninus, hath now assumed the name of Bara or Vera, and is fixed in Castille.  
Baetulo or Betullo styled so by Mela is now named Badelona.   

C  
CErtima in Ptolemy is now Carthama in Castille.  
Caetobrix or Cetobrica, recorded by Pliny and Antoninus, is now either situated in Portugal, or else Almadas on the Mouth of the Tagus.  
Calpe or Heraclia in Antoninus, is now Gibraltar in Andalusia.  
Carmela in Antoninus is now Carmon in Portugal.  
Cex mentioned in Ptolemy, and Sexicanum registered in Antoninus, is now Velez Malaga, in the Province of Granada.  
Condabora in Ptolemy is now Siguenza in Castille.  
Cecillia Gemellina in Antoninus, is now St. Mary of Guadalupe.  
Clunia remembered by Pliny and Livy, was a Colony of the Arevaces, and is now styled Corunna del Conde, or Cividad deal Castro, both situated in Castille.  
Cauca registered by Ptolemy, is now that Coca which is situated in Old Castille.  
Contestania mentioned by Ptolemy and Clusius, is now shrunk into Concentayna in Valentia.   

E  
ELna in Roussillon, mentioned by Antoninus, was erected by the Celtaes, and still deserves its ancient Denomination.   

G  
GRacu●is was a Colony in Hispania Baetica, instituted by Gracchus, whose Memory is preserved in the Pages of Ptolemy and Antoninus, and is now called Agreda, being seated in Castille.   

I  
I Lorci recorded by Pl●ny, is now that Town we call Lorca in Murcia.  
Illusias or Illusia, so it is written in Ptolemy, is now denominated ●ucena, and is placed in Valentia.  
Illarco situated in New Castille, and styled so by Pliny, hath now obtained the name of Alarco.  
Illuro or Diluron, styled so in the Registers of Ptolemy, is now called Alora, being a Village in Catalonia.  
Ilarcuris, named so by Ptolemy, is placed on the Margin of New-Castile, and is now called Caros de los Infants  
Ildum. hath obtained that Name in the Itinerary of Antoninus, and was seated in Valentia, where it is now known by the name of Salsadella.   

L  
LAcuris or Larcuris, whose remembrance is treasured up in Ptolemy, and Surita is circumscribed within Castille, and is now styled Loquera or Alarcos.  
Lebrisia in Ptolemy, hath now from its Ruins given us Nebrissa in Andaluzia.   

M  
MAntua whose Appellation survives amongst the Leaves of Ptolemy, is now supposed to be Madrid in Castille, the eminent Residence of the King of Spain.  
Marcia offered up to our Remembrance by Pliny and Strabo, is now Marchena in Andaluzia.  
Margis, preserved from Oblivion by the Industry of Ptolemy, is now conjectured to be Maxacra in Granada.  
Menralia, whose name is enroled in the Volume of the abovesaid Author, is now the eminent City of Murcia.   

N  
NOrba Caesarea, though subverted and demolished by Petreius and Afranius, two of Pompey's Commanders, yet it lives still in the Volumes of Ptolemy, and Antoninus, & hath contributed a Being to Alcantara in Portugal.  
Nemetobriga or Nemetobrica, a ●own plac●d by Ptolemy in Old Casti●e, is now called Val●de Nebro.  
Nebrissa so styled by Ptolemy, but called Veneria in the Records of Pliny, hath now contracted the Appellation o● ●ebrixa.  
Naebis is placed by ●●ra●o near Viana in Portugal, and is now called Neiva.  
Nagara is by Ptolemy represented to be a Town of Hispania Tarraconensis, and hath acquired the name of Naira.   

P  
PInta registered by Ptolemy, hath now transplanted its name into Valladolid.  
Porta Augusta is by Ptolemy likewise asserted to be a Town of Hispania or Old Caestile, and hath now purchased the modern name of Torquemada.  
Portus Calensis was seated in Portugal, and is named now Porto Port.   

R  
RUseino or Ruscino, mentioned by Pliny, is conjectured by some to be the Castle of Roussillon, and by others to be Perpignan in that County.  
Rusticiana was placed by the Itinerary of Antoninus in Old Castille, and is now as some contend named Castileo though others assert Cividad Roderigo, was extracted originally out of its Ruins.   

S  
SAcili or Sacilis, affirmed by the Registers of Pliny and Ptolemy, to have been a Town of Hispania Baetica, is now known by the Name of Alcorrucen in Granada.  
Salaria in Ptolomy's Time, hath from its Remains afforded Siruela in New Castille or as some from very ancient Records do assert, another Town styled Cazorlo.  
Salsulae in Roussillon nominated so by Stra●o, is now fallen under the Denomination of Salses, Selsona, or Celsona, for so they are promiscuously written in Ptolemy & other venerable Monuments of Antiquity, hath from its Ashes contributed a new Production to Salsona in Catalonia.  
Segisama mentioned by Ptolemy and Orosius, is now involved in Veyzama seated in Biscay.  
Segortia Lacta or Lata, which owes for its Remembrance to Ptolemy, is now wrapped up in Sepulveda, situated in Castille.  
Segobriga, whose name occurs in Strabo and Pliny, hath now assumed another Appellation, and is styled Cabezza del Griego, being situated in Valentia.   

T  
TUcci denominated likewise Augusta Gemella, and Gemella Tuccitana, as the Pages of Pliny and Ptolemy do abundantly testify, is now shrunk into a little Town in Andaluzia called Martos.   

V  
VIrgao, whose Memory is improved by the Pen of Pliny, is now called Vera in Granada.   

Z  
ZAcantha was an ancient City in Spain, entombed in its own Ruins, by the successful fury of Hannibal.   
There were other ancient Towns wrapped up within the limits of the Continent of Spain and Portugal; as namely Al●hea, Aronda, Athanasia, Arsa, Anitorgis, Cusibis, Cunes, Contrebia, Evandria, Hippo, Ituca, and Serezola, which often occur in the Annals of Spain, which were so dismantled and defaced in the Wars commenced by the Romans with the Carthaginians, and the Native Inhabitants of Spain, and there memory now entombed in such inhospitable Ruins, that it is a work of more perplexed Difficulty to trace out their Fragments and Remains, which now lie treasured up in untractable Rubbish, than it was for the Roman Generals first to subdue them.  
HAving taken a prospect of the Continent of Spain, let us now launch out into the Ocean, and make a reflection on that Interest or concernment, the Spanish Sceptre is entitled to, either in Africa, Asia or America; and the first of these new Acquists wh●ch does obviate our discovery are the Canaries, which are in number seven, and have contracted this Denomination from Canaria the principal Island. In ancient Records they are adorned with the Epithet of the Fortunate Islands; and in the Arithmetic of Pliny and Ptolemy are computed but six, but though they consent in their Number they disagree in their names. By Pliny they are said to be 1 Ombrio, 2 Junonia Major, 3 Junonia Minor, 4 Capraria, 5 Nivaria, and 6 Canaria: But upon Ptolemy's catalogue and account they are thus reckoned, 1 Aprositus, 2 Hera or Junonia, 3 Pluitania, 4 Casperia, 5 Canaria and Pincuria. But more modern discoveries h●ving rectified former Surveys, have improved the account to Seven, now better known by the new Names of 1 Canaria, 2 Palma, 3 Teneriffa, 4 Gomero, 5 Ferrò, 6 Lanserotte, and 7 Fuerte Ventura.  
The ancient Inhabitants of these Islands were the Guanches, who were (as ancient Relations discover to us) both rude and barbarously ignorant, for their food was raw flesh, for want either of the use or knowledge of Fire; their earth they turned up with the Horns of Oxen, being destitute of Ploughs or Instruments of Iron; their Beards they shaved with a sharp Flint, and transmitted the care of their Children to the Nursery of Goats. The Slaughter of Beasts was in their estimate the most sordid and despicable employment, and therefore was imposed on Prisoners and persons devoted and conden ned to the Ignominy of a common execution, who being the common Slaughtermen, were to live separated from public intercourse and Society; yet notwithstanding this Barbarity, the light of nature, though it shined in them with a faint and sickly Beam, yet was it not so extinguished but that it still did send forth those rays, which did guide them to resign themselves up to a Kingly Government; for each Island was ruled by a single person, whose power and authority held some Proportion and Analogy to the Rule and Dominion of a King: but yet was their Government not so purely regal, but that it was retrenched with the Dictates and Prescriptions of a comm●n Council collected out of all the Islands, and consisting of an 130. who did not only guide in Civil matters, but direct and steer in Sacred also, the People being by them conducted both in their Interest of State and that of conscience, and obeyed their Prescripts, which had an aspect on their faith and worship, as well as an Influence on their Civil obedience.  
The knowledge of these Islands being lost with the Roman Empire, they lay concealed until about the year 1330. when an English, or as some affirm, a French Ship, did in the disorder of a Tempest fall upon them. Notice thereof being given to Alfonso the Fourth King of Portugal, Lewis de Ordo was by that Prince designed to the conquest of them, who being repulsed at Gomera Anno 1334. abandoned the enterprise, and only left some foundation for the Portuguese to establish a future Claim upon. But the News of this new discovery successively extending itself to the Court of Rome, Pope Clement the sixth esteemed it convenient by a new Donation, to transmit the Right and Title of them to Prince Lewis, Son to Alfonso de la Cerda, the indisputable Heir of Castille; But nothing being effected by Lewis abovesaid in relation to the Pope's concession, some Adventurers of Biscay about the year 1393. furnishing out some Ships from Sevill to recruit their ebbing Fortunes at Sea, fell amongst these Islands, and having observed the number, greatness and situation of them, after their Pillaging of Lanserote, returned into Spain with a considerable Cargo of Wax, Hides, and other Commodities, which did ennoble the Riches and Fertility of these Islands, and did so excite the appetite of Henry, at that Instant King of Castille, that for the future he did resolve toinvest himself in the Possession of them; but though his Design was by death made abortive, yet Katherine his Queen Dowager during the Minority of her Son King John the Second, pursued the enterprise, and employed John de Betancourt an active daring Frenchman in the conquest of them (with a condition annexed to hold them under the Sovereignty of the Crown of Spain) and he so well managed the undertaking that four of them were subdued, but attempting to attaque the remainder, he perished in the Action. In the year 1417. young Betancourt the Son finding his Power not proportionate to the Conquest and reduction of Canaria the chief Island, whither most of the Islanders had retired for Sanctuary, fortified himself in Lanserote and assumed the Title of King, which he transmitted to one Menault, under whose Rule, these Islands were reduced to the knowledge of Christianity, having a Sea Episcopal established in the Isle of Lanserote. But this new Commander having raveled and disordered the Government of these Islands by many irregular excesses, by the clamorous Importunity of the Inhabitants in the Court of Castille, Pedro Barva de Campos with three Ships of War was employed against him, with whom Menault abovesaid being unable to grapple, he with the approbation of the Crown of Castille, conveyed his Interest in these Islands to Fernando Perez a Knight of vast wealth in Sevill; from whom the Title and Propriety streamed down to his Successors, but the posterity of this Perez were entitled to the possession of the four Lesser Islands only, for Canaria itself, Teneriffa and la Palma, continued under the Sceptre of their own Kings, and so remained until the rule of Ferdinand the Catholic; who in the year 1483. under the conduct of Alfonso de Muxica and Pedro de Vera two eminent and prosperous Leaders, obtained the Empire and Dominion of them, and translated the Episcopal See from Lanserote to Canaria. But as these Islands before this total Conquest, were by separation broken into two estates, so do they remain at this Day, though now one be subordinate to the other, for Gomera, Lanserote, and Hierra, or Ferro, are resident in private hands, but Canaria (where the prime Seat of Justice is fixed, to which all the residue resort as their occasions oblige them) Palma, Teneriffa, and Fuerte Ventura, are at this instant a Limb of that Demean which makes up the Patrimony of the Crown of Spain.  
AMERICA is the next Subject of our Discourse, which if you measure it by parts and proportions, as to the principal Territory of it both for Wealth and Dimension, it is now subservient to the Dominion of the Crown of Spain.  
I shall now represent the first Discovery of those parts in the West-Indies, that are now interwoven with the Demean of that Crown; and first Cuba exacts our Consideration.  
It was one of the first Islands which was discovered by Columbus, who having almost tired and tortured the Expectation of the Spaniards with increasing hopes, first fell upon Guahanani by Florida one of the Lucaios, to which he gave the name of St. Saviour's; and from thence ●ailed to Baracoa on the North of the Island, which he styled Fernandina in Honour of Ferainand the Catholic King of Castille and Arragon. The Inhabitants he found rude and ignorant, not knowing the use of Money, nor understanding the nice Intrigues of Meum and Tuum, being Tenants in Common to those Blessings the Earth by a cheap and easy Birth produced, and Coheirs of Nature: After this about the year 1514. this Island was reviewed by Don Diego de Valasques, by whose prudent conduct the Spaniards got such footing in it, and made that footing good by so many Colonies, that their Title and Possession was beyond dispute, and so continues until this day.  
Hispaniola was fir●t Discovered by Columbus, being conducted hither by some of the Natives of Cuba, and having by his civil Compliance endeared the Affections of the Islanders, he obtained licence of one of the Kings or Caciques to erect a Fortress here, which he styled Natividad, which he Garrisoned with 36. Spaniards, who upon his departure were butchered by the perfidious Natives, and the Fort dismantled. But on his return, being better furnished for a second Plantation, he erected the Town Isabel (styled so in honour of Isabel Queen of Castille) near the Mines of Cibao; which afterwards was also abandoned and the Colony transplanted to St. Domingo, which was first built by Bartholomew Columbus, Anno 1494. on the East bank of the Ozama; and afterwards in the Year 1502. removed by Nicholas de Obando then Governor of the Island, to the opposite shore. After this the Spaniards so secured this Island with surplusage of Colonies, and so immured and chained it up with Fortifications, that notwithstanding the various Attempts of Foreigners, it is still wrapped in the Patrimony of the Crown of Spain.  
Porto Rico was first touched upon by Christopher Columbus in his second Voyage, in the Year 1493. But being deserted by him, it was first Planted and Inhabited by John Ponce de Leon in the Year 1510. who▪ having by a fair deportment obliged Aiguabana the Chief Prince thereof, established a Colony of Spaniards in the North part of the Island, called Caparra; from whence some ten years after, the Colony was transplanted to Guarica; and from thence drawn off to St. Germane; nor did it fix here, for it was carried away to Porto Rico, now become the Chief Town, placed in a little Island, on the North-side the greater, which having been Fortified with two Castles, by the Command and Influence of Philip the first, Anno 1514. it ever since maugre the Assaults and Saccage of the English, hath been rolled up in the Income of the King of Spain.  
Jamaica lieth on the South of Cuba, from which it is divided by a distance of fifteen Leagues. It was Discovered in the second Voyage of Columbus, who not only entitled the Island St. Jago, but likewise Instituted here a Spanish Colony, which he styled St. Jago de la Vega, which in some years after was enhanced to a higher Reputation and Estimate, when it gave the Title of Dukes to Christopher Columbus, and his Brother Bartholomew. But in Ages subsequent to this, the Possession of this Island was not so secured to the Spaniard, but that it was Invaded and Conquered in the Year 1596, by Sir Anthony Shirley; but being again abandoned, it remained under the Spanish Obedience; until late years, it was again subdued and quitted by Capt. Jackson, so that it again returned to confess the Interest of the Spanish Sceptre, and continued subservient to that Dominion, until lately it was snatched away by the English, under the Command and Conduct of Colonel Doiley.  
Margarita and Cubagna are two little Islands opposite to Cumana. The first of which was discovered by Columbus in his third Voyage, which was about the Year 1498. And not long after Cubagna, where the Spaniards erected a Colony, which they adopted into the Name of New-Cadiz● But in the Year 1521. the Convent of Franciscans on the opposite shore being destroyed by the Savages of Cumana, infused so much Terror and Astonishment into the Spaniards, that they abandoned the Island, and fled to Hispaniola; but were Commanded back again by the Council there under the Command of James de Castellon, by whom the Town was adorned with more Beauty, and improved to more strength than it enjoyed since the first Plantation. Both these Islands were under a signal Repute, and much frequented, whilst the charms & Magic of the Pearl-Fishing did invite the Spaniards hither; but that being decayed, the flourishing condition of these two Islands is shrunk into Neglect, and languished away with it; and the Midland parts of these two Islands being destitute of Grass and Water, and by Consequence, of Cattle, and there being nothing kept up in Reserve which might attract either new Resort or Commerce, they quickly grew overgrown with Solitude and Desolation; so that these two Islands have been compared to some profuse Gallants, who spend all upon the Back, but nothing upon the Belly, having their outsides laced with Pearl, but within nothing but Want and Hunger.   

The Spanish Interest on the Continent of AMERICA.  
PARIA is the first which exacts our Notice. It is bounded on the East with Guiana, and the Islands in the Mouth of the River of Orenoque, on the West with the Gulf or Bay of Venezuela, and part of the new Realm of Granada, on the North with the Atlantic Ocean, or Mare deal Noort; the Countries on the South being hitherto not discovered. It is called Paria from its eminent situation, Paria in the American Dialect importing high Hills or Mountains, (for here begins that Chain of Hills which are from thence continued to the straits of Magellan for the distance of 3600. Miles) Cumana, and Venezuela are Limbs or Provinces of this Paria.  
Cumana hath on the East the Gulf of Paria, and the River of Orenoque, on the West Venezuela, on the North and South it is circumscribed as before. It was first Discovered in the third Voyage of Columbus, but the Possession was first taken by two Dominicans, who out of a zeal to disperse the Mists of Infidelity in Paria, by the Irradiation of the Gospel, established a little Cell in the place, where after in the Year 1513. the Borough of Cumana was erected; and certainly their Religious Intentions had been reduced to perfection, had not the Avarice and Treachery of some Spaniards subverted it, who having brought the Chief of one of their Tribes with his Wife and Train into Captivity, so enraged the Natives, that nothing but the Death of the two Monks could expiate this Affront; But their Death was recompensed with revenge by Alfonso de Oieda in the Year 1520. but he himself not long after fell a Sacrifice to the Fury of the Savages; and with him perished two Convents of Dominican and Franciscan Friars, which had been established here in the Year 1518. To repair these prejudices, and piece up the Colony, a second Supply is employed hither under the Conduct of Gonsalvo de Ocampo, who beheads one of their Kings, hangs some of the People and depopulates the Country. But this Force being likewise dissipated and broken, Diego de Castellon is Commanded by the Council resident in Hispaniola, to secure the Possession of the Country; by whom the Castle first, and secondly the Borough of Cumana was both built and planted. Afterwards the Castle St. Michael de Neveri was erected by Hierome de Ortal, which Fortifications and Strengths have so asserted the Interest of the Spaniard in this Province, that it is yet under the signory & Sceptre of that Monarch.  
Venezuela▪ the second Province of Paria, is shut in on the East with Cumana, and on the West it is chained in with the Bay of Venezuela, the Lake of Maracaybo, and the New Realm of Granada. It was first Discovered by Columbus, but first Discoveries being like the Designs of Chemists in their Quest of ●old, much in projection but little in perfection; It was afterwards perfected and brought to some accomplishment by Alfonso de Oieda, who having found a Borough of Savages to which there was no passage feasible but by a Boat, being circumscribed with Waters, he styled it Venezuela, the Word importing as much as Little Venice. Afterwards John de Anpuez was in the Year 1527. by the Council of Hispaniola employed to secure this Province thus Discovered, with Forts and Colonies, to the Dominion of the the Crown of Spain; and thus it remained until Charles the fifth, being obliged by his Necessities, had taken up vast Sums of Money of the Velsers, a wealthy Family of Augspurg, mortgaged this Province to them as their Security until they were reimbursed, and by them was Ambrose Alfinger employed with 400 Foot and 80. Horse, to take Possession; but he and his Successors▪ filling the whole Country with Rapine and Devastation, the Council of Domingo being zealous in the Reduction of this Province to perfect Obedience and Civility, designed one John de Caravayall in the Year 1545. for that employment, who having out-vied his predecessor in all excess and disorder, was supplanted and outed by one John Pe●ez de Tolosa, sent over likewise by the Council of Hispaniola, by whose Prudence and Conduct this Province was brought to conform to Order and Government. In the Year 1550. the Negro, being transported out of afric in great Multitudes into this Province, endeavoured a Mutiny, but their Treasonable designs being discovered, they were for the most part offered up to the Sword of Justice; after these distempers and concussions the Country was in short time so thoroughly planted, and the Natives in their several Tribes so exemplarily encouraged by exempting them from Taxes and other pressures, that Peace, Plenty, and Contentment have ever since waited upon this Province, under the Government of the King of Spain.  
Guiana is bounded on the East with the main Atlantic Ocean, on the West it is hemmed in with the Mountains of Peru, or rather some undiscovered Countries interposed betwixt them; on the North with the River of Orenoque, and on the South with that of the Amazons; it is affirmed by Authors of approved Esteem that it is called Wiana from the River Wia, and by the Dutch who cannot melt the W into A, in their Dialect Guiana, the G. being more naturally proportioned and shaped to the Genius of their pronunciation.  
Rio●e ●as Amazons, called likewise Orellana, was first discovered by Orellana Lieutenant to Gonzales Pizarro, from whom it extracted its Name: This Pizarro moved with the noise of some rich Countries beyond the Andes, he collected a considerable Force and passed those Mountains (where being necessitated by the want of Provisions (they framed a Boat▪ and employed Orellana abovesaid to bring in Provisions; but the River he engaged in was of that course, that being debarred of Return, he obeyed his Fate, and followed the Stream from the beginning of January to the end of August 1540 and at last descended into the Sea, and arriving in the Isle of Cubagna sailed into Spain; in his passage some Masculine Women showed themselves active to oppose his Landing, intermixed with Men, and in some places he found Men with long Hair like women; either of which relations might foment that report which affirmed these parts to be held by Amazons. But to return, in the Year 1549. he obtained a Commission from the Court of Spain for the Conquest of these Countries, and immediately undertook the Employment; But though he found one of the Mouths of the River, yet he could never attaque that Channel, though often attempted, which conducted him before to the Sea. This ill success, waited on with the loss of his Fame and Fortune, filled him with that Regret and discomposure, that the Lord of Sorrow sunk him into his Sepulchre, having bequeathed to Posterity the Honour of the first Discovery. This Enterprise was prosecuted with the same fruitless success, by one Pedro de Orsna in the Year 1560. since which the Spanish Hopes being blasted with these Discouragements, they have abandoned the design and given it over.  
The Coast and River of Orenoque with the several Nations that dwell on the Margin and Fringes of it, as namely, the Capuri, and Macureos, with the Tivitivas, Assawy, Saymae, Wikeri, Aroras, and Ar●ac●, were first Discovered by Diego de Ordas, Anno Do●. 1531. furnished with a Patent for the Conquest of this Track, by Charles the fifth, but missing the true Channel, and being not able to levelly those Difficulties which did intercept his Design, he returned into Spain, effecting nothing, but opening the way to others. Followed herein by Hierome de Ortal, Anno 1533. and after Anno 1536. by Herrera, who advanced his progress farther than the others, and finally by Gonsalvo Ximenes de Quesada: and Antonio Berreo, with more auspicious Fortune waiting upon their designs, who commencing their Journey from the new Realm of Granada in the search of Guiana, sell casually into this great River, as Orellana did before into that of the Amazons. But yet not perfectly Discovered until the Year 1595. in which Sir Walter Raleigh having taken Prisoner this Antonio Berreo, and taking an Account of him of his Expedition, resolved upon the undertaking, and searched so far into the Country, by the course and Conduct of this River, that some have since imposed the Name of Raliana upon it. The business next year was prosecuted by Capt. Laurence Ke●is, who by the Influence and employment of Sir Walter Raleigh embarked himself in that Attempt, but the Spaniard, having unravelled his Design, dispersed and scattered the Natives which favoured the English, and made good their Interest here with such vigorous opposition, that he was forced to return without any other effect of his Journey then the finding out the true Mouth of the River of Orenoque, which owes itself to his Discovery. After this the Spaniards the more to secure their Concernment here, erected St. Thome, situate on the main Channel of the River, a Town consisting in the Bulk of it but of 140. Houses, stretched out in extent (though meanly built) the distance of half a mile, which in the Year 1617. was sacked by Sir Walter Raleigh, not without the loss of his Son and a considerable part of his Forces, who at his return into England, to expiate this Affront offered to the Spaniurd, was excuted upon a former Attainder Octob. 29. 1618. though some Lawyers of that Age did assert, that the investing him by Commission with the power of General, did absolve him from all former guilt of High Treason, upon whose Tomb stone the Character dropped upon his Memory by the learned Cambde● in his Annals may be endorsed as an eternal Epitaph; Vir erat nunquam sat is Laudato Study, & Regiones remote as detegendi, & navalem Gloriam promovendi: And so having opened the Sepulchre of this great Man, I again close it up and leave him in his bed of Rest, and proceed. In the Year 1629. the Town of St. Thome abovementioned was again Invaded and ransacked by the Hollander, but being abandoned not long after, it was repossessed by the Spaniard, and remains in obedience with the Country adjacent at this instant under the Crown of Spain,  
There is an Island at the Mouth of the River of Orenoque called Trinidado, or Insula Trinitatis, being situated opposite to Paria, from which it is divided by a Frith or Straight by Columbus, who in his third Voyage Anno 1497. first discovered this Island called Boca del Drago, or the Dragon's mouth, from the Difficulty and danger of the passage of it, the Frith or Straight is but three miles over, yet made more narrow by the Interposition of four or five little Islands, which the Sea breaks thorough with great impetuousness, leaving only two entrances for Shipping into the Gulf, called the Gulf of Paria. There is nothing more memorable in the story and fortunes of this Island, but that it abounds with Maiz, Sugarcanes, cotton-wool, excellent Tobacco, sufficiency of Fruit and cattle for the use of the Natives, and some Veins of Gold and other Metals, as likewise such abundance of Pitch that innumerable Ships might be laden with it, but that it is conceived to be unfit for the Calking of Ships, because it ●oftens in the Sun: The principal Town of the Island is St. Joseph's, patched up of forty Houses, yet the Spanish Governor who hath here his Residence, besides this Island, stretches his Command (as is intimated by his Titles) over the two Provinces of El Dorado and Guiana.  
Paraguay is bounded on the South with Magellanica, on the East with the main Atlantic, on the North with Brasil, on the West it is shut in with some unknown Countries that interpose between it and Chile. It hath borrowed this Appellation from Paraguay one of the greatest Rivers in the World which runneth through this Province, which with the adjacent Country is by the Spaniards christened by the Name of Rio de Plata, from the great abundance of Silver they expected from it.  
It is divided into the three Provinces of Rio de Plata, Tucuman, and S. Crux de Sierra. The Soil is productive of Maiz, Wine, Sugarcanes, and other American Fruits; blest with an increase of cattle, especially of Kine and Horses brought out of Spain, multiplying here to a strange Improvement: Not unfurnished of Mines of Brass and Iron, some Veins of Gold and Silver, and great plenty of Amethists. It contains likewise great plenty of Stags, and of Monkeys incredible numbers; not to say any thing of Lions, Tigers, and other such destructive Animals, a few of this noxious Register being thought too many.  
These Provinces were first Discovered by John Diaz de Solis, Anno 1515. Afterwards the Discovery was reduced to a more eminent Perfection by a farther prosecution by Sebastian Cabot, in the Year 1526. but wanting that happy Conclusion that a Design of this nature did seem to exact, its Discovery was reassumed by Pedro de Mendosa in the Year 1535. but still his undertake were not so matured and digested but that they were left to be brought to a final period by Alvarez Nonnez, who in the Year 1540 having fully perfected the Discovery and Conquest of these Territories, hath left the Possession ever since to be enjoyed by the succeeding Kings of Spain.  
Chile is shut in on the North with the Desert of Alacama extended 90. Leagues in length, interposing betwixt it and Peru, on the West with Mare del Zur, on the South with the straits of Magellan, and on the East as far as to Rio de la Plata, with the main Atlantic Ocean.  
The Soil hereof towards the Midland is Mountainous and unfruitful, towards the Seaside level and fertile, made so by Rivers distilling from the Mountains, productive of Maiz, Wheat, and excellent Pasturage, not defective in plenty of Gold, abundance of Honey, store of cattle, and Wine enough for the use of the people; the Vines and all other Plants which are transported hither out of Spain, enriching the Industry of the Inhabitants with a thriving and successful Fertility. The People are of a white Complexion, but shaggy Haired like the rest of the Savages, of a tall and Gigantic stature, well conditioned and qualified unless provoked, they are Armed with Bows and Arrows, and are attired with the Skins of Beasts, the Climate exacting it; this Country being called Chile from the word Chill, which in more Tongues than ours, doth signify Cold; indeed the Air of this Territory is so exposed to the violence of Frosts, that many times both Horses and Men are congealed, and hardened like a piece of Marble.  
It is divided into Chile, properly so called, and Magellanica. The first Province was discovered by Almagro de Alvarado, but Conquered by Baldivia, Anno 1544. And he with the concurrent Assistance of Garcias de Mendoza, the more to secure the Spanish Acquists in this Track, about the Year 1551. strewed it with the Colonies of Serena, St. Jago Delos Confines, Imperiale (so styled by the Spaniards, because they found on the Doors of some Houses an Eagle ensculpted in wood, the Relic perchance of some Germane Shipwreck) Villa Rica, Baldivia Osor●o, Castro, St. Juan de la Frontera, and other Colonies; and though the Savages (worried by some Affronts of the Spaniards) flew to Arms, and not only in a successful Encounter slew Baldivia, but about the Years 1599 and 1604. being better furnished with Military provisions, Sacked the Town of Baldivia, forced Imperiale to surrender without Conditions, and reduced Osorno by Famine, yet in Times subsequent to this, the Spaniards so vindicated their Interest here, that a considerable part of this Province is yet held in Obedience to the Spanish Sceptre.  
Magellanica is a Province which for the most part is not only interlaced and bunched out with Mountains, but condemned to Cold and Barrenness, abounding with Men of a huge proportion and Gigantic Stature. It was styled so from the dangerous Gulf or Strait which washes the South parts of it, and was Discovered by Ferdinand Magellan 1520. But the first discovery being imperfect, it was endeavoured to be improved by Don Pedro de Sarmiento, who entered the Gulf 1584. and planted two Colonies on the most convenient parts of that Strait which he named Nombre de Jesus, and Cividad del Roy Philip, which he resolved to fortify and store with Canon. But Winter approaching, he left his Men, promising to supply them upon his return with a Recruit of necessary Provisions to enforce their increasing hopes; but after struggling with many Storms, Shipwrecks, and disappointments, his unhappy Fate cast him into Captivity under Sir Walter Raleigh, so that his two Plantations shrunk into Ruin, the men either mouldering away with Diseases, or else being destroyed by the Savages; so that the Design of Planting this Province hath ever since been abandoned.  
Peru is bounded on the Fast with that vast Chain of Mountains they call the Andes on the West with Mare del Zur, on the North with some part of the Realm of New Granada, on the South with Chile. It hath extracted its Name from the River Peru, which being one of the first of Note the Spaniards met with in their pursuit of this Country, invited them to impose this Name upon the whole.  
It is divided into the Plains, the Mountainous Countries, and the Andes; all of so different a Nature one from the other, as if they were far distant, both in sight and soil; the Plains extended on the Seashore are in all places level without Hills, the Andes a continual Ridge of Hills without any valleys, the Hill-Countryes are composed of both. In the Plains it seldom raines; on the Andes almost continually; on the Hill Country's rain distils from September to April, and then is ushered in a constant Fair Wether. In the Hill Countries the Summer begins in April and concludes in September. In the Plains their Summer Commences from October and Determines in April. The Andes are clothed with Woods and Forests, but the Hill-Countries are bare and naked; the Plains though refreshed with store of Rivers, are yet dry, barren and sandy. In some parts of the Hill-Countries though there is a destitution of Rivers and Rain but seldom, there is a copious production of Roots, Maiz-fruit, and all other necessaries: In the Plains there never blows any but the Southern Wind, though it is the harbinger to no Rain; In the Hills the Wind's breath from every quarter and Coast, and of every Nature, some ushering in rain, some snow, some claps of Thunder, and some again being the parent of fair weather. As for the Country itself though it be productive of a narrow Increase of Wheat, yet is it of a large plenty of Roots (the principal food of the Inhabitants) some proportion of Maiz, and plenty of Cocas, the Leaves whereof being dried and form into Lozenges, are exceeding useful in a journey, for melting in the mouth they appease both hunger and thirst, and preserve a man in his strength, and his Spirits in vigour; and though the cattle of Europe brought hither in a considerable quantity, are not multiplied to any great increase, yet is that defect supplied by Beasts called Vicagues, in Resemblance somewhat like a wild Goat, which in infinite numbers graze in their woods and pastures; and great store of Sheep by the Natives called Pacos, profitable for Fleece and Burden, as big as a small breed of Horses, but in relish as pleasing as our Mutton, and no less conducing to nutriment. A Creature so well acquainted with his own abilities, that when he is over-pressed with a burden, no force or violence shall engage him to move forward until his load be abated; and of so cheap a Diet, that very little suffices him, passing sometimes for the continuance of three days without any water.  
Nor is the Peruvian Figtree to be forgotten, the North-part of which respecting the Mountains produces its Fruits in Summer only; the Southern part having an aspect upon the Sea, is fruitful only in Winter: and secondly that Beast called the Huanacu, exacts our Remembrance, of that regard to their Females that the Males stand sentinel on the hills, whilst they are feeding in the valleys, and if any men approach, they by some clamorous notice intimate to them the invasion, and if they are pursued they descend to bring up the rear, that by interposing their own bodies, they may secure their retreat from danger. Another plant the Relations of Peru inform us of, but do not discover the name, which being placed in the hand of a sick man will by some Symptoms give testimony whether he shall live or die, for if on the pressing of it his Visage be Cheerful, it is an assured sign of his recovery; as otherwise, if sad and troubled, a certain index of ensuing death. Nor is Peru defective in Rarities of Nature even in things inanimate, for here is affirmed to be a Lake near the Mines of Pot●si, whose water is so hot, though the circumabient Region be exceeding cold, that they who bath themselves are not able to sustain its Heat if they depart and wade some distance from the Bank, there being a Boiling in the midst of above twenty Foot square; a Lake which never does decrease though they have drawn a considerable stream to be subservient to their Mines of Silver.  
As for the Inhabitants, they are people of no great knowledge, yet great Dissemblers, being never drawn to discover their conceptions freely. They are ignorant of Letters, but bold in War, and dexterous in the managery of those Weapons they have been accustomed to, nor do they resent Death with any Fear, being prompted to this Confidence by an Opinion that after Death they shall eat, drink, and make their Love & addresses to Women. At the Funeral of any eminent person they offer up one or two of his Servants as an Oblation to his Sepulchre (being egged on to this inhumanity by the former opinion) to attend him in the world to come. In their Habit they are conformable to other Savages, only those attire their upper parts with some decent Garment, but expose the other Members to public view, being bare and naked. But this is only near the Aequator, both Sexes else wearing Mantles pendulous to their feet, Habited generally in one Fashion, unless in the Attire of their Heads, wherein they almost all disagree from each other, each retaining his mode to himself. The Women here are treated as Slaves, and sometimes upon trivial Accidents cruelly beaten, the Men being prompted to this Barbarity by being given up to Sodomy, and other unnatural uncleanness.  
Peru is divided into Quito, a Province of a fertile Soil well stored with cattle, plentifully furnished with Fish and Fowl, great quantity of Nitre, and replenished with Rivers, some of which have their sand enameled with veins of Gold; the people are strong and healthy, industrious in the making of Cottons almost proportionate to Silk in fineness, but given to dissembling, the disorders of drink, and other vices, which renders it difficult to reclaim them from their ancient Barbarism, and makes them unapt for any Tincture or impression of the Christian Faith. Secondly, Los Quix●s, somewhat more barren than Quit●, whose people have distinct a Tongue of their own, though they both understand and speak the common Per●vian Language. Thirdly, Lima or Los Reys, ennobled with the Mines of Castro Verreyna, from whence is extracted Silver of the purest Complexion. Fourthly, Cusco, a Province blest with a calm and temperate Air, not fretted or over-scalded with the scorching reflections of the Sun, nor made drowsy & dull with the distempers of Evening Mists, and whose Soil is full of Rivers and Pasturage, which makes it to be furnished with Deer and other Herds of cattle; nor is it wanting in Coca which is here gathered in some abundance, or defective in Mines of Gold or Quicksilver, very subservient to the easy extraction and purifying of the former noble Metal; the first being discovered at St. Juan deal o'er in the Valley of Carravayan, and the second being traced out in the year 1566 near the Town of Guancabelica. Fifthly, Callao, a Country well stored with fertile Pastures, and those pastures furnished with Herds of cattle, but barren of Corn, and not well furnished with Maiz, whose defect is supplied by Bread composed of a Root called Ropa, dried in the Sun bruised to powder; Its Inhabitants are of a more clear and solid Judgement than the rest of Peru, and so dextrous in the observations of the Course of the Moon, that the Spaniards upon their first Discovery of this Province, found the Year distinguished into Months, Days, and Years, for each of which they had a proper and significant Name. In this Province is the so much famed Lake of Titicaca, in which twelve Rivers are reported to lose themselves, in compass 80. Leagues, and usually Navigable with Barks and Ships; the waters are not so salt as that of the Sea, but so thick that they are in no capacity to be drank. By a fair watercourse or River i● glides into a less Lake called Aulaga, and thence most probably by some indistinguishable recesses empties itself into the Sea. Sixthly, Los Ch●rc●s, a Province not very plentiful in Corn or cattle, though in many places furnished with excellent Pasturage; but its eminence arises from the inexhaustible Mines of Porco and P●tosi, which makes it to be unparalleled with any Province in Peru. The Mine of Potosi is two hundred Fathom deep, to which they do descend with Ladders made of raw Hides eight hundred steps, some of the Workmen not seeing the Sun many months together. For the refining of this Silver there are 52. Engines or Silver-mills upon a River near unto it, 22. more in the Valley of Tarapia near adjoining, besides many which they turn with Horses; and from these Peruvian Mines as from some bottomless Exchequer does the King of Spain load that Fleet whence he extracts so much Income and profit.  
Peru and the Provinces circumscribed within the Limits of it were discovered and conquered from Arabaliba the Inga or Emperor of Peru by Pizarr● & his Complice Diego de Almagr● 1528. first of which (more to secure his Conquests) erected Lima, Truxillo (named so from Truxillo a Village in Navarre where Pizarr● was born and educated) Arned● and other Colonies, but yet the Conquest was not so perfected by these two Commanders abovementioned, but that Gil●s Ramirez first in the Year 1559▪ and Don Francis de Toledo afterwards in the Year 1565. by Building of Oropes● in Charra●, and establishing Colonies in the other Provinces, brought this vast Kingdom to the full Obedience of the Spanish Sceptre.  
Nova Granada, or the new Realm of Granada is shut in on the North with Castilia Aurea, on the West with Mare del Zur, on the East with Venezuela, on the South with the Hills and unpassible Mountains and Countries not yet discovered. It is divided into Granada, properly so called, and Popayna.  
Granada hath an Air well tempered, the Country is full of Woods, amongst which Guiacum so medicinable for the Malady of France, grows in great abundance; the soil is of great fertility, well stored with Corn and Pasturage, which affords a Feeding to many Herds of cattle; it is enriched likewise with some veins of Gold and other Metals, and that part which is called Tunia exhibits plenty of Emeralds. The People are tall and strong of Constitution, but not very industrious, they wholly devoting their time to Songs and Dances. The Women are of a white and more clear Complexion than their Neighbours, and more handsomely attired, being apparelled in Black or particoloured Mantles girt about their middles, their Hair ●ied up and covered with Chaplets artificially composed and intermixed with Flowers.  
Popayna is a Country which being over-cloid with rain produces little Maiz, less Wheat, and almost no cattle. The People were anciently Man-eaters and as rude as any, now more industrious and accostable than the other Americans, especially about Popayana where the Soil is better tempered then in other places.  
Both these Provinces were reduced to the Signory of Spain by Gonsalvo Ximines de Quesada and Sebastian de Betalcasar, the first subdued Granada 1536. and the last mastered Popayana not long after, and styled it so from the Name of a King which then Governed it at the Conquest by the Command and Influence of Francis Pizarro Governor of Peru.  
Castilia del Oro is bounded on the East and North with Mare del Noort, on the West with Mare del Zur, and some part of Veragua, on the South with the New Realm of Granada. It is divided into Panama Darie●e, Nova Andalusia, St Martha, and Rio de la Hach.  
Panama hath an Air foggy but exceeding hot, and consequently, the Soil is either Mountainous and barren, or Low and miry; naturally uncapable of Grain, and productive only of Maiz, and that but sparingly; more devoted to pasturage & the goodness of it: upon the first approach of the Spaniard, the Country was almost overrun with Swine, but being destroyed, that Nation now complains as much of their defect, as they did before of their abundance. As for the Inhabitants, most of the old stock being almost rooted out by the Spanish Massacres, and no new ones planted in their room, the Country in all parts, except towards the Sea, is almost desolate and forsaken.  
Darie●e hath an Air well tempered and a fruitful Soil, very happy in the production of Melons and other Fruits, ripening here in twenty Days after they are sown, and with the same felicity does it yield an increase of Grapes, either congenial hereunto, or else transported from Europe. A Tree here is called Hov● whose Shade is reputed so wholesome that the Spaniards covet to sleep under the shadow; out of the Blossoms they distil a perfumed water; out of the Bark they compose a Bath prevalent to open the pores and redress weariness; and out of the Roots they extract a Liquor fit for Beverage; of Beasts and Fowl both wild and tame, there is exceeding plenty, and some of them not discoverable in other places.  
Nova Andalusia is Mountainous and full of Woods, but those woods abound with great store of Rosin-gums, and ●ome kind of Balsams. Here is said to be a Tree which whosoever touches is in danger to contract a Ruin by poison. Our Europian Fruits transplanted hither prosper not, because the Soil being obnoxious to abundance of Rain, becomes moist and soggy. This Province is interlaced with few veins of Gold, only in that part of it which is called Zena; the Spaniards at their first Arrival found much Treasure not digged out of the Entrails of the Earth, but deposited in the Tombs and Repositories of the Dead, such being the reputed Sanctity of this Region, that the bordering Nations brought their Dead to be Interred here, with great quantity of Gold, Jewels, and other Riches. The Natives were fierce and bold whilst they were a People, but being wasted in those Contests which intervened between them and the Spaniards, the populacy of this Province is now thin and empty, and their Courage much broken and debased.  
St. Martha hath a Soil barren and unfruitful not capable of Pasturage or Tillage, it being made knotty by a long Ridge of Mountains, called by the Spaniards, La● Sierras Nievadas, or the Snowy Hills; yet notwithstanding the Air which hovers on the Sea-Coast is in its temper Hot and Scalding, though it be again fanned and qualified with the Breezes of the Midland parts which are Cold and Freezing; which combination of Heat and Cold, peradventure renders the Soil productive of Lemons, Oranges, Pomegranates, and such other fruits as are transplanted or transported out of Spain. The Inhabitants are affirmed to be of a rough and Arrogant Nature, some of whom by the advantage of the Mountains of Tairona, called so from a Neighbouring Valley of that name, have preserved their Liberty against the Spaniard; the residue, though they retain their several Kings are yet in subjection to the Spaniard; whose Government they submit to with much unwillingness and Regret.  
Rio de la Hacha is a fifth Province which summons our Notice. It is a Territory of a small circuit, confining on the North-east of St. Martha, environed on two sides with the main Ocean, and on the third, which is that of the East, shut in with the spacious Arm of the Sea called Golfo de Venezuela, the extremities hereof North west, have borrowed the Denomination of Cabo la Vela, and those on the North-East the Appellation of Cabodi Coqui Boccoa.  
The whole Province borrowed its Name from the Town and River of La Hacha, which though it be but narrow in its Dimension and Estimate, yet is it big enough to afford a Title to so small a Province. The Soil which embraces the Town is exceeding rich, giving Increase to all such Plants as are transported from Spain, being enameled with Veins of Gold, studded with some Gems of much worth, value, and virtue, and likewise well replenished with Wiches which are fitted and proportioned to the production of excellent Salt: The Inhabitants both in the Dimension of Body and Quality of nature differ not much from those of St. Martha, from which this Province is divorced by no great distance. Panama, Nova Andalusia, and Dariena, now annexed to Panama, were first Discovered on the North-side by Columbus about the Year 1508. Dariena and Panama were afterwards imperfectly Conquered by Didaco Ni●uesa; and Nova Andalusia as lamely subdued by Alfonso Oreda: But the Complete and perfect Reduction of these Provinces to the Obedience of the Crown of Spain, in whose Patrimony they have been ever since resident, was reserved to the Victories of Eucisus, Balboa, and Pedro d'Avila.  
The two Praefectures of St. Martha, and Rio de la Hacha, were brought under the Dominion of the Spanish Sceptre by the Successful managery of the Arms of that Nation by Francisco Vasquez; and being thus reduced, have been ever since constantly subservient to the Commands and Interest of the Successive Monarches of Spain.  
Guatimala is environed on the North with Jucutan and the Gulf of Honduras, on the South with Mare del Zur, on the East with Castilia del Oro, on the West with New Spain. It is resolved into six more subordinate Provinces, namely, Chiapa, Verapaz, Guatimala properly so called, Honduras, Nicaragua, and lastly Veragu●.  
Chiapa hath a Soil not very productive of Corn or Fruit, though that Valley which is contiguous to the Town of Chiapa is well replenished with Pears, Apples, Wheat, and Maiz; Herbs, Beans, and Lentils transported from Spain thrive here to a plentiful increase, yet Vines seldom arrive here to any maturity, though Wood-vines there are besides, which afford a pleasant Pulp, and if they were well managed might repay the Labourers Industry with a nobler profit. Their Trees, as Pines, Oakes, Cedars, and the Cypress are of greater dimension then in other places; here are entire Woods of Walnut-trees, but the nut is not of that quantity as those of Europe; some Trees distil Rosin, some such Balsamick-gums as in other parts are not Customary, and some there are whole leaves being dried into powder, contribute a sovereign Plaster against inveterate Ulcers: And indeed this Country being stored with Snakes and other venomous Creatures, doth often exact such defensatives against their poison which is fatally deadly. Here is a considerable production of Cochineal.  
The Inhabitants are more devoted to Music, and become more exact in Painting than the rest of the Natives.  
Verapaz is a Province distinguished into eminent Hills and deep Valleys, but defective in Fruitful Valleys. It is generally overspread with Woods very large and thick, which so disturb the free passage of the Winds, that the air is much exposed to showers, insomuch that Nine months in the year are moist with continual Rain, nor are the other three altogether secure from it; which excess of moisture engenders many Mesquetoes injurious and destructive to Fruit, with which, and with Fish and other necessaries this Province is redundant. In stead of Mines of Gold and Silver not yet discovered, some Trees here pour out a kind of Amber, which the Natives style Liquid Amber; some Mastic and other Gums; nor is here any defect of Medicinal woods, as Sarsa-parilla, China, and many others of the like Nature.  
The Natives are tractable in their Conformity to the Spanish Discipline, unless the Le●andones and Pachuteci, being some broken remains of the Ancient Savages, who immuring themselves in the craggy Fastnesses of this Country, have at once asserted their Native Freedom against the onsets of the Spaniards, and retained their ancient Idolatry, there being but fourteen Villages in all this Province in which the Spaniards have mingled with the Old Inhabitants.  
Guatimala properly so called, is a Province not only embossed with Mountains, but likewise interlaced with many Rive●s, which renders the Country commodious both for Fishing and Hunting. Productive it is of Wheat, Maiz, and other Provisions not durable; it is not so much exposed to Rain, as the neighbouring Province of Verapaz, but more infested with winds. It contains plenty of rich and fertile Pastures, and those covered with great Herds of cattle. It contributes store of cotton-wool, some Balsam and other medicinable Liquors; it transmits' the best Sulphur, and other healthful Drugs, whose Register I am ignorant of. The People are full of Fear and Pusilanimity, yet seem greater poficients in Christianity and Civility than the Residue of the Savages, yet very prone to relapse again to Paganism and Infidelity, and as propense to revive again their old Barbarous Customs, if the curb of Power and bridle of Authority, did not with an awful Fear restrain this Apostasy. The Men are affirmed to be dextrous in Archery, and the Women skilful in Spinning.  
Honduras is a fourth Province of Guatimala, a Country so swollen with Hills or depressed with Valleys, that it affords little Champagne, yet is productive of Maiz and Wheat, and of rich Pasturage, improved to that Fertility by the constant overflowings of their Rivers about Michaelmas. Some Mines of Gold are affirmed to be wrapped up in the Entrails of the Earth not yet discovered; the Inhabitants being made so unactive with Sloth and Idleness, that they had rather subsist by Roots, the common stock of Nature, then by the more industrious design of Tillage, and therefore not easily charmed to toil for others, that will not Labour for their own necessities.  
Nicaragua is a fifth Province which claims our consideration. It is a Country destitute of Rivers unless where it is linked to Costa Ric●, which is itself marshaled under the Notion of a Province. The defect of which is supplied by a great Lake called the Lake of Nicaragua, one hundred and twenty Leagues in compass, ebbing and flowing like the Sea. It is not much enriched with Corn, but abounding in Herds of cattle, who have a Soil to graze on Level and champaign, but cooled with the shadow of frequent Trees; one amongst the residue is of that nice Constitution, that a man cannot touch it in any part but it presently withers. Vulgar relations assert this Province to be as well replenished with Parrots as England with Crows; It is stored with plenty of cotton-wool, and a numerous product of Sugarcanes. Indeed the Country is so ennobled with all things that may either improve Delight or contribute to Necessity, that the Spaniards have imposed upon it the Title of Mahomet's Paradise. The Inhabitants are generally knowing in the Spanish Dialect, to the Garb, Behaviour and Apparel of which Nation they willingly conform themselves; well retrieved from their old Barbarous Customs, which are still retained by those Mountainers, they call Cho●tales. They are all of a considerable Stature, and of a Complexion indifferently white. Before their reduction to Christianity, they were knit together by a politic Form of Government, only as the Romans had no determined Law or punishment for a man that destroyed his Father, so had these none for the Killer of a King, both of them judging that men could not be so unnatural as to act either Parricide or Regicide. A Thief they condemned not to Death, but decreed he should be Slave to that person he had injured, till by his Service his crime was expiated with just satisfaction: A course both prudential and merciful.  
Veragua is the last Province in Guatimala which extracts our Inspection. The Name which was imposed upon it, was extracted from Veragua, the most considerable River in it at the first Discovery. This Country is knotted with Mountains, and has a Soil condemned to Barrenness, in no capacity for Tillage, and less useful for the feeding of cattle, yet is sufficiently productive of Maiz and Herbage, but else very thrifty in other necessaries which conduce to the Life of Man; but to recompense this Ingrateful indigency and penury of Soil, the Bowels of the Earth treasure up in their Cells and gloomy Repositories, as in some inexhaustible Exchequer, never perishing Mines of Gold and Silver.  
The Inhabitants are of a Warlike and Irrefragable spirit, sufficiently testified by their undaunted Courage in bearing the Spanish Yoke with that Regret and reluctancy as they do at this instant; it being observable, that the most untameable and untractable Nations have been the Inhabitants of Woody and Mountainous Countries; the last being Bulwarks cast up at Gods own charges to secure them from the onsets of any foreign violence.  
This Country entitles its Discovery to divers men, according to the several Members and Divisions of it; Veragua, though the last of these Provinces which were conquered, had the Honour to be first visited by Columbus, who in the Year 1502. driving up and down on these Coasts was cast on the Entrances of that River on which he afterwards imposed the Name of ●elen, where (hearing that there was Golden Treasures in the Mines of Hurira not far distant) he intended to fortify; But his Designs being superseded by a Defect of provisions to to sustain his followers, the further discovery of Guatimala was abandoned, being reserved to the fortunate and vigorous undertaking of Ferdinand Corte●, who having fully settled and composed the Affairs of Mexico, determined to make the residue of America bow to the Commands of the Spanish Sceptre. And to reduce these Intentions of his to perfection, he employed his Officers and Commanders into several parts, Guatimala was discovered and reduced by Pedr● de Alvarado; Honduras was Conquered by Christopher de Olid; Nicaragua and Verag●a were subdued by Gonsalvo de Corduba; and lastly, Vera Paz was won to Christianity, and the Spanish Obedience together, by the Preaching of some D●minican Friars of that Nation. But Cortes distrusting that some new Revolt or Defection might tear these Provinces from the Spanish Dominion, resolved to secure his new Concernments by a personal Visit; and to fortify, and second this Design in the Year 1524. he collected a Body of fifteen hundred Horse, and as many Spanish Foot, with an Addition of Three thousand Mexicans, and advancing into Guatimala, he continued his progress as far as Truxillo, where finding that Gonsalvo de Cordova had so composed Affairs, that there was no farther need of his Conduct or Assistance, he with his little Army in the Year 1526. retreated to Mexico, leaving these Provinces before recited, firmly fastened and annexed by an happy Conquest (as they have continued ever since) to the Dominion and Command of the Diadem of Spain.   

Nova Hispania.  
NOva Hispania is circumscribed on the East with a spacious Arm of the Sea called the Bay of New Spain, and the Gulf of Mexico; on the West it is shut in with some parts of Nova Gallicia and Mare del Zur; on the North with another part of Nova Gallicia, some part of Florida and the Gulf; on the South with Mar● del Zur, or the South Sea; from the Discovery of these new Acquists, the Kings of Spain style themselves Reges Hispaniarum, in the Plural number.  
The Air of this whole Continent, as to the generality or principal part of it, is temperate enough, though placed under the Torrid Zone, the Heat being much qualified by the Fannings of those continual Breezes which breath upon it from three Confines of the Sea; this Refrigerium or abatement of Heat being much enforced by that continual Flux of Rain which distils upon the Earth in those hotter months of June, July and August. The entrails of this Soil treasure up in themselves Mines of Gold and Silver, and some of Brass and Iron; Nor is the Surface of it more ungrateful to the Industry of the Inhabitants, here being a copious plenty of Wheat, Barley, Pulse of all sorts, and of such plants and roots as are nourished for the use of the Kitchen, Maiz in a fertile quantity; nor is the production less of other plants unknown to Europe; Pomgranats, Oranges, Lemons, Citrons, Malacatons, Figs and Cherries, do here enrich their owners even with superfluous increase; Apples and Pears are more thrifty in their fertility, and Grapes no less, and those which arrive to Maturity are unfit for the Composition of Wine. Of Beasts and Birds both wild and ●ame, there is a fruitful Account: but that which most ennobles it is the plenty of Coco-nuts, the abundance of Cassia, and the wonderful Increase of Cochineel, which hath been improved to that quantity, that Five thousand six hundred and seventy Arroba's of it (each Arroba comprehending Twenty five Bushels of our English measure) have been transported into Europe, ● Drug of a very inconsiderable Extraction, for it grows upon a small Tree or Shrub shadowed with thick Leaves called a Tuna, in their Institution planted and ordered as the French do their Vines, out of the Seed hereof issues a Worm, in its bulk, when extended to the greatest proportion not exceeding our Lady-cows, whom they much resemble; which receiving their food from the Leaves, and overspreading the ground with their number, are collected into heaps twice in the Year by the Natives, stifled with Ashes, or mortified with Water, and after this Tragedy, being dried and reduced into powder, make up that Cargo which is transported into Europe. Nova Hispania is distinguished into six Provinces, the Register of which follows, namely Panuco, Mexicana, Mechoacan, Tlascala, Guaxata, and Jucutan.  
All which are not alike in all places as to the Constitution of the Soil and Air, which is so different in these Provinces, that in such▪ parts of them as are hot and dry, their Seed time is in April or May, their Harvest in October; but in that Division of this Continent as is low and moist, they entrust their Corn to the Earth in October, and reap its product in April or May; thus two▪ Harvests in a year, (and yet but one if we consider their alternate and successive Vicessitudes) in this Region are the Result of the Husbandman's industrious Tillage.  
The Ancient and Original Inhabitants of this Track were the Chichimeca's and Ottomies, who were disseised by the Navatlacoes, resolved ●nd digested into seven Tribes, which are thus Registered in their Catalogue, the Sachimilci, ●he Chalchae, the Tepenecae, the Culvae, the Tla●uici, the Tlascaltecae; all of which were settled ●n this Track, and five of them upon the Mar●in of the Lake of Mexico, before the Eruption of the Mexicans, so styled from Mexi their principal Leader, who much charmed with the Con●eniences and situation of Temistitan, a City then ●n●ombed in a Heap of ruins, caused it to be re-edified and adopted it into his own Family, styling it Mexico, which afterwards grew the Metropolis of this Commonwealth; the Chiefs of six of the Tribes managing the public affairs ●n common after the fashion and mould of an Aristocratical Commonwealth, but the Tyrannical prevalency of some Tribes having by ●n overpoize made the Power unequal, the Mexicans, one of the most inconsiderable Tribes, ●eing grated upon by the unjust and uneven pressures of the rest, separated themselves from the main Body, and resigned up the Administration and sway of their Affairs to a King of their own, at first elected by themselves; but when the prosperity of their prevailing Arms had cast all these Tribes but Tlas●alla, under the Sceptres of Acamapitzli, Vitzovitzli, Hulzi●ihuiel, Chimal Pupuca, Iscoalt, Motezuma, and others of their succeeding Kings, the choice of the Mexican Monarches was entrusted unto Six, who as a Common-Council or Senate represented the six Tribes abovementioned, and they still lodged the Election upon the most Active and Magnanimous, and who were chiefly fitted for Military Designs and undertake.  
Although this spacious Province be not barren in Rarities, as namely, two Mountains, one in the Province of Mexico, which vomits out Fire, the second in that of Guaxata, which disgo●ges from its heated Entrails two Burning Streams, one of Red Pitch, the other of Black; yet the principal which exacts our Notice, is that which they call Magney or Meto, a Tree which they both plant and dress as we do our Vines; it hath on it forty several distinctions of Leaves, which when tender, they compose into Conserves, Paper, Flax, Mantles, Mats, Shoes, Girdles and Cordage; and these Leaves are armed with prickles so strong and pungent, that the people use them in stead of Saws. From the Top of the Tree issues a Juice in consistence like a Syrup, which upon Decoction puts on the shape of an Honey; and if purified, the form of Sugar, out of which they extract both Wine and Vinegar. Out of the Bark, being roasted, is drawn a convenient Plaster for wounds, bruises and sores; and from the highest of the Bows distils an unctuous Juice like a Gum, which is a Sovereign Antidote to chastise the malignity of Poison. But I have digressed, I now return to the description of those Provinces above mentioned; and first Panuco obviates our discovery, so called from Panuco the Chief River of it, which bubbling out of the Hills of Tepecsuan, bordering upon Cinoloa and Couliacan, and dividing New Biscay from the Province of Zocotecas, glides through the middle of this Province, and so at last after many traverses disembogues itself into the Gulf of Mexico.  
It is divided into three lesser Provinces called Aiotuxetlan, Chila, and a Third whose Name is not yet discovered. The Soil is in some parts fruitful and productive of Mines of Gold, in others again less pregnant, and in the last Provinces dry and unpleasant, being condemned to Barrenness & infertility not from any intrinsique defect in the Soil, but rather (as it's thought) from a want of Inhabitants to cultivate the Earth, who being active and courageous, rather than they would bow their necks to a Foreign Servitude, have been almost rooted out in those Contests and Encounters which were waged between them and Cortes the Spanish General.  
Mechoacan, the second Province, hath extracted its Name from that plenty of Fish their abundance of Rivers and Lakes afford them, the word importing in the Native Idiom Locus Piscosus or a Country of Fish. It is ennobled with an Air so sweet and salubrious, that Diseased people repair thither from distant Countries to retrieve their Health, which is likewise promoted and enforced by the use of those medicinable hot Baths which issue from Rocks and other craggy Repositories. The Soil is plentifully productive of Grain even to admiration. It is well Wooded and full of excellent Pastures, which are improved by the multiplicity of Springs and Rivers, nor does it yield to any part of America for Herbs and Plants of an active and Medicinal nature in the Conquest and expulsion of Diseases. It is likewise redundant with Amber, Mulbery-trees, Wax, Honey, and such other things as are subservient both to Pomp and Pleasure. The Inhabitants are tall, strong, and active, of no contemptible Ingenuity, as being dextrous in the Contexture of many Manufactures, more pliant to the manners and Habit of the Spanish Nation than any of the Natives of New Spain, the Mexicans only excepted, and of so propense an inclination to Christianity, that by planting many Parishes, and establishing many Convents of Dominican and Augustine Friars amongst them they are almost rescued from their old habituated Idolatry.  
Mexicana is the third Province which obliges our consideration. The Soil abundantly supplies not only the Inhabitants, but likewise numerous Herds of cattle, with plenty of Aliment; nor is it defective in Fruits, of which there is a liberal production. The Inhabitants are industrious as to the care of their common Subsistence, which commonly is supported by their copious Stock of cattle, of which some private persons abound to such store, that their Register amounts to Forty thousand Kine and Oxen: Nor are they less dextrous in extracting a livelihood from Fish, of which last they draw out such plenty from the Lake of Mexico alone, that the profits arising from this Trade swell to a volume of Twenty thousand Crowns paid yearly into the King of Spain's Exchequer: They are ingenious likewise in those Mechanical Arts which here are professed, growing good Handycraftsmen, if they stoop so low as to Trades; becoming rich Merchants, if they apply themselves to a more noble and profitable Commerce; and waxing hardy and valiant Soldiers, if they are disciplined and employed in Service, having in Times of more high ascent, very well managed the Sling and Arrows their ancient Arms, and in these modern Ages as vigorously (being enured to it by their Spanish Conquerors) wield the Harcubuize and Pike which are their new. But the greatest Glory and Fame which both now & anciently did accrue to them, was their exquisite perfection in composing their Feather Pictures, turning every feather to the Light every way, upwards and downwards, to discover in what posture it will best fit the place intended for; secondly, their most accomplished expertness in Refining their Metals; and thirdly, their curious designs in Painting upon Cotton, whatsoever was represented to the Eye. But these Virtues and perfections were stained and debauched with so Barbarous a Cruelty, that they thought no victim so fit could be offered up to appease the Fury of their gods, as an Oblation of humane Sacrifices, so that it is no wonder if God permitted the Spanish Sword to ●ake such bloody Ravage upon this People, as ● reward proportioned to recompense their inhuman Butcheries, it being still very equal that the Artificers of Death should be caught in their own impious and injurious Artifices. But Ignorance and Barbarity are still complicated and entwined, and so it was manifested here, for upon the first Eruption of the Spaniards, their misguided Apprehensions esteemed Them and their Horses to be one piece, and when they neighed they demanded what they spoke, ignorantly placing no Distinction between neighing and speaking.  
Guaxaca is a fourth Province which falls under our Cognisance. It hath assumed this Name from Guaxaca the principal Town of these parts, now styled Antequera. The Air hereof is sound and salubrious, which hovers over a Soil as fruitful, productive not only of those Commodities which it enjoys in common with other Provinces of this Continent, but likewise blest with such plenty of Mulberry-trees, that from thence is extracted such a quantity of Silk, that if the Natives paid their Tithes (as they do not) the Income which issued from thence, would afford a Revenue competent enough to support five Bishoprics. Rivers are here very numerous, whose Shores for the most part are enameled with Golden Sand, nor is there here any deficiency of Cochineal, Cassia, Silver, and other Metals; so that if the Industry of the People were but correspondent to the Fertility of the Soil and Wealth of the Country, it might become as opulent as any Province in America: But the natural sloth of the Inhabitants makes them impatient of Labour, and consequently intercepts all opportunities which may suggest an occasion of amassing together any considerable Estate; yet notwithstanding this, they are of a tractable and docile Capacity in relation to the Impressions of the Catholic Faith, which hath encouraged the Spaniard to establish here an Hundred and twenty Covents of Dominican Friars, and many other Schools and Seminaries of Learning, that by their Influence and concurrent assistance they might better improve the growth of Christianity in this Province.  
Jucutan is a fifth Province which calls for our remembrance. It hath borrowed this Name from Jucutan, which in the Idiom or Dialect of the Country imports as much as What say you? For when the Spaniards at their first arrival demanded the Name of the place, the Natives answered, Jucutan. The Air which hovers over this Country is hot, whose fervors are enforced from the Destitution or want of Rivers in this Track, whose defect is supplied by the conservatories of artificial Pits and Channels. The Soil is generally condemned to Barrenness, not producing wheat, or any European Fruits; nor many of those which are of the natural Extraction of America in other places. Nor are its bowels more pregnant in Mines of Gold and Silver or any other Metals, so that the general subsistence of this People, is principally supported by Trades and Mechanic Operations. But that which makes this Country most remarkable, is, that the Spaniards upon their first approach discovered here some symptoms or glimpses of Christianity, the people generally observing a constant Form of Baptism, which in the Native Dialect is styled a second Birth, expressing by that word a Regeneration; nor is any one permitted, to Marry until he hath the Symbol of this Initiation, which probably was some Vestigium or Relic of the Christian Religion left here behind by Mad●c●ap Owen, or some other Christians by the Disaster of some Shipwreck cast upon this infortunate shore.  
Tlascalla is that eminent Province, which being one of the Seven Tribes, which having supplanted the Ancient Natives, the Chichimechas, could never be reduced to the Tyranny and Usurpation of the Kings of Mexico, but still preserved themselves, notwithstanding their frequent Eruptions in the Liberty of a Democracie or Free State, and erected here the City of Tlascalla, which as it gave Name to, so it became the Metropolis of this Province, and in this Capacity they remained until the Invasion of Cortes made upon Mexico, to whose assistance out of Animosity to the Mexicans, they and the Inhabitants of Zempoallan, another City of this Province, contributed such large supplies both of Men and other Necessaries, that by their concurrence Mexico was reduced and the Sceptre of that Kingdom broken to pieces; and though they were forced afterwards to bow to the successful Sword of the Spaniard, yet do they preserve still some shadow of ancient Liberty, being exempt from all kind of Tribute, as a Recompense of their former Services, except it be an handful of Wheat for every person, and permitted to live under the protection of the former Government.  
This Province is abundantly stored with Corn and Cattell, every where strewed with rich Pastures, and abundantly productive of Mai●. It is level and beaten out into an even Champagne, unless where it confines on the Sea, where it is made Gibbous and rugged with a Chain of craggy Mountains; but indeed the Fertility of the Earth is very much enforced and multiplied by those many Rivers which stream almost through every vein of it.  
If we please to trace out those Eminent persons to whose Industry and Navigation these Provinces which lie clasped up within the Verge of Nova Hispania do attribute their first Discovery, we shall find that Panuco and Mechoacan were first attempted by Francisco Garaio, but their Conquest was perfected by Ferdinand Cortes in the Year 1522.  
Jucutan was first Discovered by Ferdinand Cordova in the Year 1517. which Discovery was in the Year 1518. reinforced by John de Grijalua, and pursued likewise by the Industrious Designs of Cortes, who about Tabasco obtained over the Natives a signal Victory; but the final reduction of this Province to the Obedience and Sovereignty of the Crown of Spain, is entitled to the Successful Sword of Francisco Monteio, who in the Year 1527. achieved a full and absolute Conquest over it.  
Mexico and Guaxata followed the Fate of Panuco and Mechoacan, and by their Conquest and Subjection augmented the Triumphs of the Victorious Cortes, about the Years 1521, and 1522. Tlascalan was first Discovered by John Grijalua, but received under the Protection of the Spanish Sceptre by Cortes in the Year 1521.  
Nova Gallicia is circumscribed on the East and South with Nova Hispania, on the West with the River of Buena Guia, and the Gulf of Califormia, the Countries which abutt on the Northern parts of it are not yet exposed to a Discovery. It hath assumed this Name from some resemblance or proportion it holds with the Province of Old Gallicia in Spain.  
The Air generally is of a temperate Constitution, yet more inclinable to heat than cold, yet often discomposed with Thunders and Storms, and Cataracts of Rain; the ground is much obnoxious to dryness, if not mollified by the Morning Dewes which here distil frequently, but whether the Temperature of the Air or Soil do contain in it some impure Seminalities is incertain; sure it is, that here is a production of Gnats (it is possible they may proceed from a complicated putrefaction) affirmed to be in bulk equal to a Bean, which by their stings afflict the People, and raise Blisters on their Bodies proportionate in their dimension to a Walnut.  
The Country in general is more knotted with Hills than level with Plains, and in most parts Sandy. Quarries of stone are here in abundance, but there is a deficiency of Marble, or any other Stone of value. Plenty here is of Mines of Silver, but few of Gold or Iron; yet is their Silver not free from a mixture of Lead. The Soil is so Fertile that for one Measure of Wheat it pays back its Interest in Sixty, and for one of Maiz it refunds Two hundred. The Rivers abound in Fish, and the Woods in Beasts; Swarms here are of Bees without stings, which have no other Hive but the Forest to compose their Honey in. Apples, Pears, Citrons, Figs, Malacotons, and other European Fruits transported from Spain, thrive better here than in their Native soil, only the Cherry and Olive arrive at no perfection; of which the first hath her nourishment purloined from her by Emmots, and the last thrusts forth such clouds of Leaves, (occasioned by the rankness of the circumambient earth) that the Fruit seldom ascends to just maturity.  
The People are of an inconstant volatile Nature, apt upon any Disgust to abandon their Houses, and take Sanctuary in Woods and other Fastnesses; nay, to return to their ancient Barbarism. Tractable and docile enough even in Matters which relate to Religion; but lazy and impatient of Labour, to which they hardly are enured either with Stripes or Wages, yet they are of vigorous and healthful temper, contagious Diseases seldom breaking in upon them, which is occasioned by the sound Constitution of the Air. Much given they are to Dancing, Singing, and sometimes to Drinking. Their stature is reasonably tall, their Vesture generally is a Shirt of Cotton, with a Mantle cast over it, fastened with two Buckles about their shoulders. They Inhabit in Villages, which swell in their Dimension, according to the greatness of those several Tribes they are to receive, which Tribes are under the Command of their respective Chiefs, who succeed hereditarily, yet notwithstanding are all subservient to the Sway and Regiment of the Judges, and other Ministers of the King of Spain. Plenty here is of Sugarcanes and Cochineal; but the Spaniards being concerned in more gainful Merchandise, and eager in the pursuit and search of Metals, neglect to refine the one, and are not very sedulous to attend the ordering of the other.  
If you will Survey the Anatomy of this Region, you will find it to be dissected into seven subordinate Provinces; namely, 1 Cinaloa. 2 Couliacan. 3 Xalisco. 4 Guadalaira; and on the Western shores, 5 Zacot●cas 6 New B●scay; and lastly, Nova Mexicana, locked up within the Land.  
Cinaloa the first Province in the Register above mentioned, is made happy by an Air generally clear and healthy, and enriched with a Soil fat and Fruitful, productive of Maiz, Pulse, and a certain long Pease, equivalent to those in proportion the Latins anciently called Phaseoli, of which it contributes to the industry of the Inhabitants a large Abundance; and this plenty is much enhanced by the multiplicity of Rivers with which this Province is very well watered.  
The Inhabitants are generally of an eminent Stature, which much exceeds that of the Spaniards; Warlike they are, vigorous and Active, and not reduced to the obedience of the Spaniard without the expense of much Blood and Treasure, though their Furniture either for offensive or defensive War, consisted in a narrow Inventory, being only a massy Club, a Bow and some poisoned Arrows. Those Garments which both Sex's attire themselves with, are made out of cotton-wool, of which this Province yields a plentiful increase; The Hair of both Sexes is nourished a considerable length, which the Men wind up in a knot, but the Women permit to shoot out into a wide Diffusion. Both Sexes at the first approach of the Spaniards, had nothing to veil their Nakedness, only their Pudenda were obscured, being both indigent and ignorant, adoring the Sun, and making their Diet out of Humane Butcheries.  
Couliacan is the second Province which exacts our Notice; It enjoys a Soil plentiful of Fruits, and yielding to none in its production of all sorts of provisions; and not defective in Mines of Silver, which owe their first Discovery to the Ingenuity of the Spaniard.  
The Inhabitants are not much different from the residue of Gallicia, only the Beauty, Personage, and Dress of the Women is more obliging; yet the Men were not secure from sordid and unnatural uncleanness. The Vesture which both Sexes were habited in at the first Discovery of the Spaniards, was framed out of cotton-wool. Their Houses are neatly thatched with straw, but the Lintels of the Doors are embellished with paintings full of impudence and impure obscenity. They are ignorant of Gold, of which this Province is defective, but the Spaniards having discovered some Silver Mines, made them by a costly experience know the Value of that Metal, compelling them both to Dig and Refine it, that it might be more ministerial to the ends of their Avarice and Luxury.  
Xalisco or Galesco is a third Province of account. It enjoys a Soil very capable of the production of Maiz, with which it plentifully rewards the Industry of the Inhabitants, only the scorchings of the Sun have introduced a penury of Herbage, which is the greatest defect, only the Northern parts styled Chiatnetla, are endued with more fertility and people, being enriched with store of Wax, plenty of Honey, and some Mines of Silver. The People were formerly embarked in perpetual Feuds and mutual Contests amongst themselves, and dieted themselves with Man's flesh; which barbarous Customs, their conversion to Christianity hath extinguished, only one of their Ancient Customs they yet adhere to▪ which is, to sustain the smallest Burdens on their Shoulders, and not carry them under their Arms, as thinking the last indecent and mis-becoming.  
Guadalaira is a fourth Province which obliges our Discourse. The Character which we have in general propotioned to the Natives of Nova Gallicia, may be fitted and shaped in particular to the Inhabitants of this Province. The Soil being moistened with the kind refreshments of the River Barania which cuts through the midst of it, becomes fortunate in the production of Herbage, Maiz, Wheat, and other Fruits which owe their first Extraction to Europe; nor are they destitute of Silver Mines, whose bowels here cast out their Treasure in some plenty.  
Zacatecas is a fifth Province, circumscribed within the Pale of Gallicia, whose Inhabitants whether by the conduct and Instinct of Nature, or the impulse of external Force, are more industrious than the rest of the Gallician Natives. The Soil is in its entrails enriched with Silver Mines, but its surface is naked and barren, being destitute of Maiz, Wheat, Water, and all other provisions which should contribute to the support of humane nature, as if it were designed to be the residence of some greedy Miser, who delighted to glut his Eyes more than his Appetite. The Northern parts styled Uxitipa, have nothing wanting which may give a supply either to necessity or pleasure; and though they are defective in Silver, yet are they plentifully stored with Corn and Fruit, whilst their Woods are liberally replenished with Deer, whose several Trees afford such entertainment to Quires of Birds, that they may be deemed the constant Repository of those feathered Choristers.  
Nova Biscaia is a sixth Province which does summon us to a Description. The Bowels of the Earth are the Exchequers from whence much Silver is extracted; as for its Margin it is abundantly productive of all necessary provisions, though much exposed in the Winter to the injurious inclemency of Frost and Snow; no● are they likewise defective in Mines of Lead, which fitly contributes to the melting and Refining their Silver, not only here, but in New Spain and Peru also. The Inhabitants are generally of a Vigorous Constitution, and of a Resolute and active Spirit, not bowing their necks to the Yoke of Conquest upon the first Impression, being rather reduced by the calmness of persuasion, then subdued by the rougher Attempts of violence and Force.  
Nova Mexicana is the seventh Province which calls for our Notice; But those Relations which have an Aspect on this Territory, are disordered with so much Fiction and Improbability, that, that Beam of Truth which should direct us to a just and regular Description of it, is mu●●led up in the darkness of incertain and imperfect Informations, so that until clearer Discoveries do dissipate that Cloud which invelopes this Province, I shall deliver nothing for positive or certain, either in relation to the Natives, or the Commodities emergent from the Soil.  
Cinaloa and Guadalaria in Nova Gallicia, were first Discovered and entered into by Non●●● de Gu●man, 1542. whose Conquest was accomplished and completed by Francisco Tharra about the Year 1554.  
Couliacan was reduced to submit to the Sceptre of Spain, by the auspicious Conduct of Nonnez de Guzman about the Year 1531.  
Xalisco or Galesco was forced to resign itself to the Spanish Obedience, by the Arms of Nonnez de Guzman 1530. but its Conquest received its perfection from the Successes of Francis Tharra, about the Year 1554.  
Uxitipa was made to increase the Register of the Spanish Acquists in America, by the fortunate Sword of Lopez de Mendoza, employed in this Design by Nonnez de Guzman about the Year 1529.  
Zocotecas and Nova Biscaia, were made to stoop to the Diadem of Spain, by the happy Conduct of Francisco Tharra, in the Year 1554  
Nova Mexicana was first offered up to the Discovery of Augustine Royaz a Friar, in the Year 1580. But its Conquest was afterwards attempted by Antonio Espeio a Citizen of Mexico; but his Designs being by their own Disorder rendered lame and imperfect, its final Reduction, as to that part which is now folded up in the Spanish Patrimony, acknowledges the happy Valour of John de Onnate to be solely Instrumental in it, who in the year 1599, by the vigorous Assistance of Five thousand men linked it to the Demeasn of his Master the King of Spain.  
Califormia circumscribes all those Provinces of Mexicana, which lie on the Westside of that Northern Peninsula which is seated beyond Gallicia and New Spain, though in the stricter acceptation of its Chorography, it is confined to that Province which is placed on the other side of a long and spacious ●ulf styled M●rvirmigl●o or the Pay, and Califormia, and limited to an Island (so generally conceived to be) extended in a full length from North to South thereof. The Continent is distinguished into the two Provinces of Cibola and Quivira, and the Island is subdivided into Califormia, properly so called, and Nova Albion.  
The Inhabitants generally of these Provinces make their Food out of the flesh of Beasts, which they feed on raw, and swallow down in great morsels without chewing; The Men from head to feet are attired in Bulls skins, but the Women have no other Garment to secure them from the Cold (which here is keen and eager) but their Hair, which they nourish to that extent, that like a Veil it rescues their Nakedness from the public view. Their Habitations are volatile and unsettled, wandering in Companies, and living in Hoards like the ancient Nomads, and the present Cathay Tartars, from whom they are removed by no great distance, and by whom, some probable Conjectures assert, they were at first peopled. The Inhabitants of Cibola are well propotioned and rall, and of a more pregnant Ingenuity than other Savages of Califor●ia, securing their Nakedness with Mantles wrought in variety of Colours, which with those painted skins, they with much industry import from ●icuique or some Northern Country, and that quantity of Cotton they have amongst them (none of it growing upon their Soil) are demonstrations of their Ingenuity, in managing a course of Traffic with their neighbours.  
The Natives of Califor●ia are numerous and of Thick proportion, resolved (as some Reports testify) into Twenty three several Nations, all of different Languages and Dresses, inhabiting the Banks of Bona Gui●. Some stain their Faces wholly with paint, and some half way, and others supply the use of Painting with Vizors; they bore Holes in their Nostrils and Ears for their Pendants, the tips of which last, they even over-load with the pendulous Bones of Fishes; each of their Wastes are surrounded with a Girdle, to which they fasten a bunch of Feathers which hangs down behind them like some excrescence, which the Women use also, but upon them they are visible before. The Deity to which these Califor●ians offer up their Devotions, is the Sun; and the god to which the Natives of Cibola consecreate theirs, is the W●ter; both which are by these Savages affectionately adored, because they are the Causes to which they entitle the Increase of the Earth multiplied into Corn, Fruit, and Herbage.  
The Soil of Quivira is plain, level and full of Herbage, giving nourishment to cattle, differing not much in bulk and dimension from those of Europe, only that there is a gibbous Excrescence or Bunch placed between their shoulders, they are Bristled upon the back like Boars, with somewhat which resembles the Mane in Horses, and the Beard in Goats; their Legs are short, but attired with something proportioned in similitude to Fetlocks, their Horns are sharp but short; the whole Beast is of an Aspect so full of Terror, that no Horse upon the first Access or Intercourse will approach him. The Hides of these yield the Natives either Houses, or the Covering of them; their Bones are composed into Bodkins, their Hair into Thread, their Sinews into Ropes, their Horns, Maw● and Bladders, are framed into Vessels; their Dung supplies Pi●e, their Skins are shaped into Bougets to preserve Water, their Blood affords Drink, and their Flesh Meat.  
The Soil of Cibola is generally level, but in some parts made rugged with Rocky Mountains. It is shadowed but with few Trees, and those destitute of Fruit; but to recompense this, they have a Wood like Cedar, which abundantly supplies them with fuel and Timber. Here is a plentiful stock of Maiz and white Pease, which gives them a supply of Bread. Here are numerous Herds of Deer, which they chase and destroy for their Skins. And a considerable production of Sheep, known to be so only by the Analogy of their Fleece, being in Bulk and Dimension equivalent to an Horse, or Ox, and having Horns that poise in Balance the Weight of Fifty pounds.  
But though Cibola enjoy but a narrow stock of those Creatures which are of profitable intercourse, yet of Bears, Tigers, and other noxious Animals, there is an unprofitable Redundance.  
The Island of Califormia, properly so called, is indifferently even, only here and there the Champagne swells with Mountains, and some of those from their Sulphurous Entrails vomit out Flame, which hath caused the Spaniards to impose the Title of Cacofogo upon them; the Waves which wash the Shore of this Island, afford the Natives plenty of Fish, which are found upon weeds amassed into Heaps, and which like so many floating Islands invest the Surface of the Sea. But the only Rarity which ennobles this Country, is a Beast which is Hairy like a Goat, but hath Teats like a Cow. The Air both of Cibola and Califormia, is of an Indifferent Temper, only it is sometimes discomposed with the unkind Distributions of Frost and Snow.  
Cibola and Quivira were Discovered by the diligence of Antonio Mendoza, who employed Marco de Nisa a Friar, to perfect the Discovery; but the more absolute and accomplished Conquest was reserved to the Valour and Conduct of Francisco Vasques de Coronado, about the Year 1540 Califormia was Discovered at the expense of Ferdinand Cortes, who set out two ships 1534. but the Design languishing away, it was renewed and reinforced by Francisco de Ulloa 1539. After him, Fernando de Alarcon, Discovered many Leagues up the River Bu●na Guia, where Naguacatus one of the chiefs, surrendered himself to obedience. Finally, Roderigo Cabrillo 1642. by a new Discovery attaqued two small Islands called S. Luke's, and Possession, on the Western Shore. But these Countries affording no Gold or other Attractives which might charm the Spaniards to an abode, they abandoned them to that poverty the Inclemency of the Air, and thriftiness of the Soil, had long before Condemned them to.  
Florida is circumscribed on the North-East with Virginia, on the East with Mare del Nourt, on the South and some part of the West with the Gulf of Mexico, on the residue of the West with part of New Gallicia, and some Countries not yet expofed to a full Discovery.  
The Country is parallel to Castille in Spain, which renders the Air and Soil to be almost adequate to that in their Temper & Constitution, but the last infinitely outvies Castille in its Fertility and plenty, the earth being not here so harrassed with the Impressions o● continual Tillage as in the other. Productive it is of abundance of Maiz the natural Bread of the Country, which they sow both in March and June, which the third Month after repays the Plowman's toil with a plentiful Crop, which they deposit in public Granaries, and employ as the necessities of persons exact its Destribution. Not is it defective in Fruit, which here are Registered under the particular names of Mulberries, Cherries, Chestnuts, Grapes, and Plums, of excellent taste and colour. It is likewise eminent for its store of Fowl, and its Herds of Beasts, both wild and tame. The Woods and Forests are shadowed with spreading Oaks and very tall Cedars; as likewise Cypress and Bay-trees of a large Dimension. Nor is their plenty inconfiderable, which they yield of that Wood the Natives style P●v●●e, and th● French Sassafras; and of the Tree named Esquire, the Bark of the first, and the Wood of the last, are both asserted to be sovereign against the incursions of the Malady of France. It is affirmed also, that the Entrails of the Florida● Earth are enriched with some Mines of Gold and Silver, and studded with Turquoises, Pearls, and Emeralds of much estimate and beauty, and the probability of the first is supported and enforced by the relations of the Natives, who report that in the Hills called Apalatei, there are discovered Veins of a reddish Metal, which the French concluded to be Gold, but wanted Time and Opportunity to improve their search.  
The People are of an Olive Colour, large Stature, and cast into a fair proportion, naked, only their privities excepted, which they obscure with the skins of Stags. Their Arms and Knees are stained with variety of Paintings, not to be forced off with frequent Ablution. Their Hair is by Complexion Black, which they nourish to that extent and length, that it diffuses and shoots itself even to their thighs. Apt they are to wrap up their Actions in an affected veil of Dissimulation, whose Contexture is made more specious by an Artificial cunning. They are naturally revengeful, which engages them in continual Feuds and Animosities, whose effects are visible by those bloody Contests frequently commenced amongst themselves. Generally they are subtle and Ingenious, and in a Capacity to be reduced to a tamer subserviency, by compliance and nobler Usages; but then they are like Tigers, who when they appear reclaimed by the intercourse and calmness of civil Correspondencies, yet upon the first draught of Blood they are apt to leap into their former Cruelty, and devour those Hands who gave them Food and Discipline.  
The Women upon their Husband's Decease (as a symptom of Sorrow) cut their Hair close to their Ears, and afterwards to make their Grief appear more signal and solemn, strew it on their Husband's Sepulchres; nor are they permitted again to entertain a second Marriage, until their Hair be improved to that growth as to cove● their shoulder. Hermaphrodites, that is, persons of a twisted or complicated Sex, Nature hath here yield plenty, who only are designed to the sustaining of Luggage, and the being ministerial to the cheaper and more ignoble works of Drudgery. Some imperfect Notions o● Conceptions the Natives have of the Immortality of the Soul, but otherwise their knowledge, in relation to a Deity, is so gloomy, that it is enwrapped and muffled up in a gross and dark Idolatry.  
This Continent, as to those parts of it which border on the Sea, hath in Times of a more modern Inscription been the Stage whereon the Scene hath been laid that hath represented to our view those sad Contentions which have been waged between the French and Spaniard, concerning the Dominion of this Province, which drew so much blood, that the purple effusion bedewed almost every Turf on which those fatal Tragedies were acted; but the French being at last utterly supplanted, and thei● Forts which they erected here, namely Arx Carolina, Fort Chastilion and others, were dismantled or diserted. But in these Contests the Spanish strength was so much broken and impaired, and its noblest Spirits evapourated at those Wounds the French Sword had inflicted, that wanting Recruits to manage their Conquests, they abandoned their new Acquists and retired to St. Jago, St. Matthew, and St. Augustine's, the only places they preserved in Florida, where they Planted and Fortified, but not long after the Fate of War cast the new Colony of St. Augustine's under some umbrage, for in the Year 1585. Sir Francis Drake having by a vigorous Assault mastered the Fort of St. john's which had a powerful Aspect upon the Town, he reduced this likewise, and enriched himself and his Partisans with a Booty of Twenty thousand Florins; but though this new Plantation was almost sunk by these Disasters, yet not long after, it buoyed up out of these Ruins, and being reinforced with a Supplement of additional Fortifications, this with St. Jago, St. Philip, and St Matthew, have been ever since so firmly twisted with the Spanish Interest, that they are at this Instant under the Dominion and signory of that Crown and Sceptre.  
The first who engaged himself in the Discovery of Florida, was John P●nce of Leon, who sailed thither about the Year 1512. but his Survey being left imperfect, it was attempted to be reduced to perfection by the Diligence of Vasques de Aillon, who made an Invasion on Florida in the Year 1524. but such a complication of cross Accidents encountered his Endeavours that they were rendered unsuccessful. To repair the Dishonour of this Expedition, Pamphilu● de N●rva●z makes an Eruption on Florida, about the Year 1528. being seconded with a strength of Four hundred Foot and Eighty Horse. And lastly, Hernandes à Soto, embarks in this Expedition, and did endeavour with a Supply of Three hundred and fifty Horse, and Ninety Foot, to accomplish the Conquest of Florida, that by the addition of this Province he might enhance both the Lustre and Patrimony of the Spanish Diadem, and pursued and managed this Enterprise with a various Success and Conduct from the Year 1538, to the Year 1543. But it is disputable whether the Storm with Reason, or the Storm without, was more Destructive and prejudicial to the double Expedition of these two last Undertakers: For Diseases, Tempests and Shipwrecks, combining with the Treacherous Ambushes of the Natives, so disordered their Affairs, and discomposed the Contexture of the whole Design, that the Spaniards ever since, have abandoned any Attempt which had any tendency to the Reduction of this Province to the Spanish Sceptre; since the Erterprises of those Commanders before named, which seemed at first to sprout out with such specious Hope, were at Last so infortunately Blasted, only they preserved St. Augustine's and the other Colonies above recited, to remain as In-lets, to open for the future both an Opportunity and Passage to any new Invasion which might fortify and confirm the Spanish Interest in this Province of Florida.  
Having taken a full prospect of those Additions of Empire the Spaniard is now possessed of in America, I shall now hoist sail, and make my Application to the East-Indies, and view what new Accessions have made an Improvement both of Revenue and Power of that Estate which relates to the Spanish Dominion in these Territories: And first the Malacca Islands do call for our Consideration: They are Seven in number, Ternata, Tidor, Macir, Bacha, Machian, Botona and Siana; the first Discovery entitles itself to Americus Vesputius, whose first Attempts were perfected by the Endeavours and successful Navigation of Ferdinand Mag●llan, encouraged to embark himself in this Expedition, by the expense and at the Command of Charles the Fifth, about the Year 1519. But though the Title of these Islands might seem at first so firmly engrasfed upon the Spanish Sceptre, that no external Force could almost ravish it away; yet have the Hollanders by some modern Successes, so shaken the Spanish Interests in these their new Acquists, that a considerable part of these Islands is plucked away, and annexed to the Patrimony of the United Provinces.  
Next the Philippina Islands oblige us to a Discourse; If you consult the Original Register, upon the Account you will find but four in the Catalogue, namely, 1 Luzon. 2 Mindanao. 3 Tandair. 4 Pall●han. They were discovered originally by Lagaspi a Spanish Captain, by the Concurrence, Procurement, and Assistance of Lewis de Velasco Viceroy of New-Spain, in the Year 1564. and in memory of Philip the Second (in whose Reign they were Discovered) they were called Philippinae. But since these Islands were knit to the Spanish Demeasn, the Hollanders by the Assistance of Fleets, and support of Armies, have endeavoured to ravish away these Islands from the Patrimony of Spain, to incorporate them into their own; but yet maugre these attempts, the title of them hath been so firmly inoculated upon the Spanish Sceptre, that it is still subservient to the Seignory and Command of Philip the Fourth, the instant King of Spain.    

THE SECOND PART.  

The Spanish Interest in BURGUNDY, BELGIUM, or the NETHERLANDS.  

The French County and Duchy OF BURGUNDY.  
THE French County, or County of Burgundy, is involved and couched in the Patrimony of the House of Austria, and is thus circumscribed; it hath on the East the Mountain of Jo●r, on the West the Duchy of Burgundy, on the North a Branch of the Mountain Vange, on the South la Bresse. It is by estimate 90 miles in length, and about 60 in Breadth. The ancient Inhabitants of this County, were the Sequani, whose power was of that Latitude, that it was once put into the Balance, when the Contest was between them and the Hedui and Arverni, for the Sovereignty of Gaul, until this emulous Contention was superseded by the Roman Conquest, under whose Government it made up, together with Switzerland, the Province of Maxima Sequanorum. In the Wane of whose Empire, it grew a Limb of the Burgundian Kingdom, the first of whose Monarches who conducted the Burgundians into Gaul was Tibica, whose Successor Gundomar Son of Sigismond was in a Successful War dislodged, and cast out from his Kingdom by Childebert and Clotaire Kings of Paris and Soisson, in Revenge of their Brother Clodomire, who fell by the Sword of this Sigismond. And thus was Burgundy annexed to the Demean of the French, after it had continued about an Hundred and twenty years entire, without any subserviency; Guntram the Son of Clotaire, and Clovis one of the Sons of Dagobert the First, bring both in their respective times ennobled with the Burgundian Diadem. But the subsequent Succession of the Kings of Burgundy, was emergent from the partage of the Patrimony and Empire of Cherlemaigne, amongst the Children of Lodovicus Pius the first, of which Monarches which wielded the Burgundian sceptre, was Charles younger Son of Lotharius the Emperor, in which Lotharius likewise, the Title to this Crown, as being Son to Lewis the Godly, was tacitly lodged; but he dying without Issue, it devolved to his Brother Lotharius, who likewise determined without Children; and ●o a second Vicissitude brought it to confess the Sceptre of their Uncle Charles the Bald, King of France, and Emperor of Germany, who conferred the signory with the Title of Earl, on Boson Earl of Ardenne, who had Matched with his Sister Judith; which Boson was advanced not long after, by Charles the Gross, to the Title of Monarch, and was styled King of Arles and Burgundy, in which last this Province was rolled up; from whom by several Traverses it came down to Rodolph the first, who had the Title of Duke of Burgundy beyond the Jour; and from him the Devolution of successive Interest, carried it to Boson the second Brother to this Rodolph the first, by whom the Dukedom of Burgundy beyond Jour, was united to the Kingdom of Arles and Burgundy; And from him the Thread of Descent transported it along to his Grandchild Rodolph the second; who concluding without Issue, gave this and many other Provinces to Conrade the second Emperor of Germany, who had Espoused Gisela Sister and Heir General of this Rodolph. After this it was so couched in the Caesarean Patrimony, that it was esteemed as a Limb of the Germane Empire, and was managed and Governed by such Earls and Provincial Officers, as those Emperors transmitted hither, to sway and regulate the Affairs of this Province.  
Otho of Flanders, Son of a Sister of the Emperor Conrade, by the Aid and Concurrence of Robert King of France, was the first who was invested in it as Proprietary, those others whom the French Registers and Records represent to us to have held it, being Official rather than Hereditary. This Otho above mentioned, determined without Issue; so that Reinald his Cousin and Kinsman, became Heir to the Earldom of Burgundy; but here the Title was very transitory, for he concluded in a female Inheritrix called Beatrix, who was Matched to the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, by which Alliance it was annexed to his Patrimony, and from him it devolved to his youngest Son Otho; but here likewise the Possession was as transient, for he expired in a Daughter and Heir styled Beatrix, who by Matching with Otho Duke of Meranis, which was part of the Province of tyrol, brought it to confess him for Earl of Burgundy, and by her he had Issue Alice, his only Daughter and Heir, who was violently dispossessed by Stephen de Chalons and his Complices, who was next Heir to Garrard de Vienne and Joan his Wife, second Daughter to Otho the first, and Sister of Beatrix, acknowledged by his Faction there for Earl of Burgundy, even in the Life Time of Otho; and from him did the Title glide down to his Grandchild Hugh, who finding his new acquitted Dignity was established upon a crazy Foundation, to fortify his Claim, he Matched with Alice the Heir of Otho, the second abovementioned, and so by twisting their Titles together, became indisputable Heir to this Earldom; and he had Issue Othelin, who going out in a Daughter and Heir known by the Name of Joan, she by Matching with Philip the Long King of France, annexed it as an Appendage to his Sceptre, and he settled it on Joan his eldest Daughter issuing from this Match, on Eudes' Duke of Burgundy; but his Grandchild Philip dying young and without Issue, this upon his Decease by right of Inheritance devolved to Margaret second Daughter of King Philip the Long, and Joan his Wife above mentioned, who was Wedded to Lewis de Malain Earl of Flanders; and he had Issue by her Lewis de Malain, who in her Right incorporated this Earldom into his Patrimony; but here it was not long resident, for he found his Sepulchre in a Female Heir called Margaret, who by Espousing Philip the Hardy, second Son of John King of France, linked this and the Title and Interest of many other eminent Seignories to his Paternal Demean.  
Having thus in Landscape discovered the Fate of the French County, I shall represent in a Compendious Prospect those Vicissitudes and Revolutions that rolled about the Title of the Duchy of Burgundy, until it came finally to accknowledge the Dominion of Philip the Hardy abovementioned.  
The Dukedom of Burgundy hath on the East the French County, and ●o ●e part of the Savoy; on the West Burbonnis; on the North Champagne; on the South Bresse, Lionnois, and and some part of Peau jeulois. The Ancient Inhabitants of this Dukedom, were the People in Ancient Records, so Eminent for their Warlike Disposition, called the Hedui. In times of a more modern Inscription, that is, about the Division of the French Kingdom of Burgundy, made by Charles the Bald, that part of it which was called the Dukedom of Burgundy on this side of the Soasne, was Cantoned into the Five Earldoms of Dijons, Chalons, Autun, Lions, and Mascon; whereof the three first being laid and amassed together, by Eudes' King of France, during the Minority of Charles the Simple, were given unto his Brother Richard, embellished with the Title and Style of Duke of Burgundy: But the common Fate which attends upon all humane Frailty, transported this Province, upon the Decease of Gilbert Son of this Richard who made his Exit without Issue Male, to Otho (Son of Hugh Capet Earl of Paris, surnamed the Great) in Right of his Wife, who was Daughter and Heir General of this Gilbert; in whose Patrimony it had not long resided, when he dying without Issue, this Duchy which he had been entitled to, by the Authority of this Alliance, came over to his Brother Henry, who likewise expiring without Children, the Thread of Descent wafted it along to Robert King of France Son to Hugh Capet, who was Nephew to Otho and Henry above mentioned; and from him did the Clew of Succession guide it down to Robert the third, who had Issue Hugh the fifth of that Name Duke of Burgundy, and Eudes, who upon the Decease of his Brother Hugh the fifth, without Issue, entered upon this Duchy as his Heir; and from him again did it come down to his Grandchild Philip; who dying young and sans Issue, this Province with all its Perquisites, augmented the Revenue of John King of France, to whom it accrued in right of his Mother Joan Wife to his Father Philip de Valois, who was one of the Daughters of Robert the Third above mentioned, and by Consequence upon defailance of Issue in Philip abovesaid, became entitled as his Heir General to the Propriety of this Duchy; But this was pretended only, for his Title was better supported by a violent Detention of this Duchy, upon which he had entered as an Escheat, to the prejudice and supplantation of the Earls of Eureux, by an illegal Inroad upon their Interest; since those Earls extracted their Descent and Claim from the Daughter and Heir of Lewis de Hutin K. of France, before Philip de Valois, which Lewis Matched with Margaret eldest Daughter to Robert the Third above mentioned, and Mother to the Heir General. But to proceed, K. John being thus invested in the Possession, settled it on his second Son Philip the Hardy, from whom by the steps of some Descents, it came down to Charles the Hardy, who finding an untimely Sepulchre in the Fields of Nancy, left the Propriety of Burgundy to be enjoyed by Mary his sole Inheretrix; upon the Decease of which Charles, Lewis the Eleventh King of France, seized upon the Duchy of Burgundy, as an Appendage to the Crown of France, pretending it was by the Fundamental Customs of that Kingdom to return to that Sceptre, in case there were a defailance of Issue Male; but the French County being an Imperial Isle, was permitted to remain united to the Patrimony of his Daughter Mary abovesaid, in whose Right Maximilian the Emperor her Husband, was invested in the Fee; and from him is the signory and Demean of this Province, by the transmission of Successive Descent, guided down to own the Sceptre and Dominion of Philip the fourth, the instant King of Spain.   

Flanders and Artois.  
THese two though since since separated, were Originally knit together in the Interest of one Estate, yet after the Interval of five or six Descents were again twisted together, and remained thus incorporated ever since.  
Flanders is bound in on the East with Hai●alt and Brabant; on the West with the Germane Ocean; on the North with the Seas of Zealand, and a Branch of the Scheld; and on the South with Picardy and Gravelling, interposing betwixt Calais and Gravelling. Antiquity hath extracted its Name from several Conjectures, as first from Flando, because it lieth upon the winds; others again assert that it was imposed upon it, from Flandbert the Son of Blesinda Daughter of Cl●dion the second King of France; some fetch it from a Town of that Name situated in that part of the Country where now Ardenbourg stands, so long since languished and shrunk into Ruin, that the least Symptom or Representation being wanting to inform us that there was once such a place in being, that we now with difficulty trace out its Rubbish amidst its Ruins; therefore the Conjectures of more rational heads extract the Appellation from Flandrina the Wife of Lideric the second, the first who managed the Government of these parts as Forester. It was in elder Times resolved into three Divisions, that is, Flandria Imperialis, called so because it was long in its obedience subservient to the Emperors of Germany; Flandria Gallica, so styled from the French Dialect there spoken; and Flandria Teutonica, because within its precinct the Dutch Language was properly used.  
Artois is limited on the East with Flanders Gallicant, and the County of Cambray; on the South and West it is bounded with Picardy; on the North with Flanders Flammegant, and the River of Lis. The Name is extracted from the Atrebates the old Inhabitants thereof; the Air is temperate, and the Soil so pregnant and fertile that it may very well have the Denomination of the Granary of Flanders and Brabant.  
These Countries of Flanders and Artois were anciently, if not a part, yet much of the same Nature and Condition with the great Forest of Ardenne, nothing but the Solitudes of continual Woods and Departs, making the Aspect of it rude and desolate; The ancient Inhabitants of the first were the Nervii and Morini, who were supplanted by the Romans, and these again by the French, who having established the great Earldom of Ardenne, made these Provinces in part subject to the Dominion and power of its Governors, whilst that Track of Earth which confined on the Sea, was so exposed to Rapine, Piracies, and Depredations of the Danes, that it was neglected, uncultivated, and almost unpeopled; the Inland Countries▪ something contributing to the general Calamity by being meanly planted, from a Deficiency of those Necessaries which should support the Life of Man. But when Brunulph Earl of Ardenne was secured by Dagobert King of France, this Wild and disordered Country, extending as far as the River of Some, and enwrapping besides Artois and Flanders, a considerable part of Pi●ardy about the Year 621. was given to Lideri● le Beuque, with the Title of Forester, to be held under Homage to that Crown. In whose Posterity this Title sojourned, until the time of Baldwin the first, the Son of Odoacer the seventh of the Foresters, whose Names are Recorded in the Registers of Flanders, there being a Gap or Parenthesis which ravels their Memories during the Ravage of the Danes and Normans. This Baldwin having by a violent Onset ravished away, and after Wedded Judith Sister to Charles the Bald King of France, and Emperor, was by him created Earl of Flanders about the Year 864. the Sovereignty reserved as before it was; in whose Issue the Interest of these Provinces remained combined and entire, until Philip the first surnamed of Elsas, Son of Theodorick the first, surnamed likewise of Elsas, to which Theodorick the signory both of Flanders and Artois accrued, as being Heir General of Heltrude, Daughter and Heir General likewise of Robert the first, Earl of Flanders and Artois, after the Decease of her Brother Robert the second, Charles' Son of Canutus King of Denmark, who had Matched with her Sister Adeliza, and of William, Grandchild of William the Bastard Duke of Normandy (who had Espoused Mawde Daughter of Baldwin the Fifth Earl of Flanders and Artois) gave unto Philip Augustus King of France, the Province of Artois with the Earldom of Veramandois, with Isabel his Niece, Daughter of Baldwin the eighth Earl of Hainault, which Baldwin had Wedded Margaret Daughter of Theodorick abovementioned, and Sister and Heir of this Philip. By Lewis the Eighth Son and Successor to this King Philip, Artois was given as a Portion to swell the Patrimony of his youngest Son Robert, who was adorned with the Title of Earl of Artois by King Lewis the Ninth Anno 1234. This Robert had Issue Robert the second, in whom the Male Line failed, so that Mawde his sole Daughter, being Matched to Othelin Earl of Burgundy, he in her right became Earl of Artois: But in him the Title was as volatile and unfixed as in the former; for he Deceased without Issue Male, and so Joan his Daughter and Heir by Espousing Philip the Long, King of France, united this Earldom to his Sceptre, and the Estate to his Patrimony, and gave it in Marriage with the County of Burgundy, with Joan his Eldest Daughter, to Eudes Duke of Burgundy; and from him the right of Descent wafted it along to his Grandchild Philip the Third, who expiring without Issue, Margaret second Daughter of King Philip the Long above mentioned, who was Matched to Lewis Earl of Flanders, entered upon this Earldom as his Heir General, and transmitted it and both the Burgundy's to his Son Lewis de Malain; and from him again did Margaret his sole Heir carry the united Titles and Interest of all these Provinces to Philip the Hardy, to whom she was solemnly Wedded at Gaunt, in the Year 1369.  
Having thus in a Compendious Discovery represented those Revolutions which annexed Artois to the Burgundian Stem, I shall now in as narrow a Volume pursue and trace out the Fate of Flanders; and it stood thus: Theodorick of Elsas Earl of Flanders above mentioned, had Issue Philip surnamed of Elsas, and Earl of Flanders likewise, who dying without Issue, Baldwin the eighth Earl of Hanault, who had Espoused Margaret his Sister and Heir, in her Right was entitled to the Earldom of Flanders, and left his new Acquists to his Son and Heir Baldwin the Ninth, a man of that Latitude of Power in the Age he lived in, that he was not only Earl of Flanders and Hainault, but Emperor of Constantinople also; but he and his Greatness found one Sepulchre together in two Daughters and Coheirs, Joan the eldest was first Matched to Ferdinand Son of Sancho King of Portugal, and secondly to Thomas third Son of Thomas Earl of Savoy, by whom having no Issue surviving, Margaret her second Sister Wedded to William of Dampiere, became Heir to her Concernment in Flanders and Hainalt; by her Husband abovementioed she had Issue William of Dampiere, whom even in her Life Time she admitted to the Title of Earl, which he continued until his Death, which was divers years before her own Decease; and Guy of Dampier● who was not only Dignified with the Title of Earl on the Death of his Brother, but invested also in the Estate, on the Exit of his Mother, and from him did the steps of several Descents conduct it down to his great Grandchild Lewis de Malain Earl of Flanders, Hainault, Artois, and both the Burgundy's; but expiring without Issue Male, Margaret his sole Inheritrix by Matching with Philip the Hardy, fourth Son of John King of France, brought them not only to improve the Grandeur of his Family, but likewise to swell and enforce his Patrimony, and from him did the Title of these Provinces flow down to his great Grandchild Charles Duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Warlike, who being unfortunately cut off at the Battle of Granson, and expiring without Issue Male, his Interest in Flanders, Burgundy, and many other Provinces, came to be enjoyed by Maximilian the Emperor, and his Son Philip having Wedded Joan Daughter of Ferdinand and Isabel, Monarches of Spain, so twisted the Title of Flanders and Burgundy with that of Spain, that it is still subservient to the Dominion and Empire of Philip the fourth, who now wields the Sceptre of the Spanish Monarchy.   

Hainault.  
HAIN AULT is bounded on the East with Namur, on the West with Flanders, on the North with Brabant, on the South with Picardy and Champagne. It was in elder times called Saltus Carbonatius, by some Writers the Lower Picardy; In Latin Records of a more modern Inscription Hannonia. It borrows this Name from the River Haine or Hania, which glides through it, and the Word Holt which imports a Wood; this Province being almost clouded and overspread with Forests, so that the Etymology will be Hainault quasi Hain-holt, a Country replenished with Woods on the River of Haine. Thus it is represented in French, but in Dutch it is best known by the Name of Henegou, that is, a Country consigning on the River Haine, as the signification in that Language does intimate.  
The ancient Inhabitants of this Province were the Nervii, so eminent in History for their Valour and Prudence, who after Bloody Contests were supplanted by the Romans; but they again being dislodged by the Prench, it became a Limb of the great Earldom of Ardenne, and remained so until the Death of Brunulph, who was subdued and slain in Battle by Dagobert K. of France; which Brunulph his Father in his Life Time had invested with the Title of Duke of Ardenne, and designed unto the Conquest of it; but the Fury of War being allayed, and the parts of Flanders and Brabant which were parcels of that Duchy being enstated on other Houses, this by the Indulgent Magnificence of Sigebert King of Metz or Austrasia, was settled on Alberic surnamed the Orphelin one of the younger Sons of Brunulph, and was likewise adorned with the Name and Title of Earl of Hainalt; and from him did both the Title and Estate by the Thread of Descent come down to Walter the third; by whose eldest Daughter it was brought to confess Albon both for Earl and Proprietary; and from him the Clew of Paternal Descent transported the Title to his Successor Reigner the third, who determined in a Daughter and Heir called Richild, who by Matching with Baldwin the Fifth of that Name, Earl of Flanders, added so strong a Right to this Alliance, that he became Earl of Hainalt by the Name of Baldwin the first, and left it to his Son Arnulph, who was Barbarously robbed of his estate by his unnatural Uncle Robert; who not glutted with this Ruin, ravished away likewise the Earldom of Flanders by an unjust and Usurped Surprisal, into which he succeeded, though his Nephew Baldwin, Brother to the infortunate Arnulph, was repossessed of Hainault, by the Name of Baldwin the second, and styled himself likewise Earl of Flanders; and from him by a continued Channel of worthy Successors, did the Title of this Earldom flow down to Baldwin the eighth of that Name in Hainault, and the Ninth in Flanders, who went out in two Daughters and Coheirs, Joan who died without Issue though twice married; and Margaret who being entrusted to the care and Tuition of Buschart her Guardian, he by ill Arts and worse Stratagems so seduced and charmed her Affections, that she was made a prostitute to his Lust, and by those unlawful Embraces had a Natural Son called John de Avesnes, Prior of St. Peter's in L'isle, who by the Designs of Force and Fraud, by an unjust intrusion extorted Hainault from his two Brothers William and Guy of Dampierre, both being Sons of William of Bourbon Lord of Dampierre and this Margaret, & both the Issue of Lawful Sheets; and this John being thus swollen with an Increase of Patrimony, and made tall in Title, Matched with Aleida Daughter and Heir of Florence the fourth Earl of Holland, and so by the Authority of this Alliance, was not only Earl of Hainault: but of that Territory also of whose Descendants, and how both Hainault and Holland came to devolve to the House of Burgundy, I shall discover when I come to treat of Holland.   

Namur.  
NAMUR hath on the East Hainault, on the West the Bishopric of Leigh, on the North Brabant, and on the South Luxenbourg. The ancient Inhabitants of this Country were the Nervii. It was first erected into an Earldom by some of the Descendants of the Sons of Clodion second King of the French, who being by a violent Usurpation devested of their Father's Diadem, by Meroveus Master of his Horse, to whose ingrateful and unworthy Tuition they had been entrusted by their confident (but unwary) Father, were forced to seek shelter in the most desencible places of the great Forest of Ardenne, where they established the great Earldoms of Ardenne and mosel. Divided in succeeding Generations into many parcels, of which this was one. Who the first Earls were, because Ancient Records are dim in that particular, is incertain. Albert who was Co-temporary to Hugh Capet, and Matched with Irmingrade Daughter of Charles of France, and first Duke of Lorraine, is represent in very old Registers to have been Earl of this Province; and he was Grandfather (and as some Authors assert) Father to ●eter Earl of Namur, in whom the Male Line determined, so that his Daughter and Heir by Espousang Henry the second Son of Baldwin the eighth Earl of Flanders and Hainault (which Henry was Emperor of Constantinople likewise, after the death of his elder Brother Baldwin the ninth Earl of Flanders and Hainault) brought this Earldom into that Family; and from him it descended to Yoland his Daughter, who Wedded Peter Earl of Auxerre (who also succeeded his Father in Law Henry in the Empire of Constantinople) and he supported by a Right derived from Her, was entitled to this Earldom; and upon his Decease Philip his younger Son, as being then in the Netherlands, entered upon it as Earl; but he dying without Issue, John his elder Brother, who at his Father's Decease was at Constantinople and there made his Claim, was entitled to it; but he likewise making his Exit without Issue, it devolved to Philip the second, Brother to Henry the Emperor above mentioned; and the likewise determining without Children, it was transmitted to Margaret one of the two Daughters and Coheirs of Baldwin the ninth, as Heir General to this Philip, and she settled it on her third Son John surnamed of Dampierre, upon whose Decease his elder Brother Guy of Dampierre entered upon the Earldom, and left it to his Son by his second Wife, by the Name of John the third; upon whose Exit, his Brother who was one of the Sons of Guy de Dampierre above mentioned, by his first Wife, was invested in the Earldom by the Style of John the fourth; but he expiring without Issue, his Brother by the whole Blood entered upon the Possession, by the Name of Guy the second; and from him it Descended to his Grandchild John the sixth, who in the Year 1429. passed away his Estate here in Reversion to Philip the Good, to be enjoyed by him, on the Decease of his next Heir Theodore, who being Infirm, and going out without Issue, it accordingly augmented the Revenue of Philip the Good; and from him hath the steps of several Descents carried down the Title and Propriety to Philip the fourth, now King of Spain.   

Luxenbourg.  
LUXNBOURG is environed on the East with the Moselle and the Land of Triers on the West with the Maes and the Forest of Ardenne, on the North with Luickland, Namur, and a part of Hainault, and on the South with the Duchy of Lorraine. It hath borrowed this Name from the Castle near the Town of Luxenbourg, selected by Sigifride the first Earl hereof for his Seat and Residence. The whole Duchy is resolved into two parts, that on the East having borrowed the Name of Famennes, that on the West having the Appellation of Ardenne imposed upon it.  
This Province was at first a Limb of the great Earldom of Ardenne, rend from it in the Reign of Otho the first by Sigifride the Son of Ric●inus Prince thereof, who in the breaking the Estate by Division into parcels, had this consigned for his Portion with the Title of Earl. Of his Successors Gilbert, Godfrey, and Conrade there is little represented to us by ancient Record, in a constant order of Succession, until the Time of Henry the first, who being slain in the Cause and Quarrel of Renald Earl of Gueldres▪ contending with John Duke of Brabant for the Duchy of Limbourg, this Province descended to his Son and Heir Henry the second, who by the Influence and procurement of his Brother Baldwin Elector of Triers, Emperor of Germany; and he had Issue John who Matched with Elizabeth Daughter of Wenceslaus the Elder, King of Bohemia; the Respect had to that Alliance was so operative upon that Nation, that he was in the Life Time of his Father by their Election advanced to the Sceptre of that Nation. And he had Issue Charles who was Emperor of Germany the fourth of that Name, and likewise King of Bohemia, and Wenceslaus the first, who was created Duke of Luxenbourg by his Brother Charles the Emperor, to enlarge and multiply the Grandeur of their Family; but he Deceasing without a Successor, this Duchy again was united to the Patrimony of Wenceslaus, who was eldest Son to Charles the fourth, and was Emperor, and King of Bohemia also; and to him Succeeded his Brother Sigismond who was invested in all his Estates, and adorned with all h●s Titles, as namely, Emperor, King of Bohemia, and Duke of Luxenbourg; but grew more considerable when he Matched with Mary Heir of L●wis the first, King of Hungary; by which Alliance that Diadem likewise encircled his Temples; and he the better to fortify his own Family with external Butteresses, by a munificient Donation, enstated this Duchy on Elizabeth Daughter to his younger Brother John Duke of Gortlitz; which endowment of his fitted her for the Bed of Anthony of Burgogn Duke of Brabant; after whose Decease she was remarried to John the third Earl of Hainault and Holland, but having Issue by neither of them, she by Sale conveyed her Concernment in this Duchy to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, 〈◊〉 whom several Descents hath conducted the 〈◊〉 down to Philip the fourth now King of 〈◊〉.   

Brabant.  
BRABANT is bounded on the East with Luickland, on the West with the River Scheld and a part of Flanders, on the North with the Maes, which separates it from Holland and Guelderland, and on the South with Hainault, Namur, and a branch of Guelderland. The ancient Inhabitants of this Province were the Aduatici, and some part of the Tungri, by the Romans reputed a Limb of that Province, called Germania Secunda; and by the French, a Province of the Kingdom of East-France or Austrasia; the Southern parts thereof Confining on Hainault, were subservient to the Command of the Earls of Ardenne; the Northern parts extending towards the Sea, were miserably harrassed with the Depredations of the Danes and Normans, and therefore for their future Indemnity, were committed to the Custody and Protection of one who had the Title of Lord Warden of the Marches. But long these Robbers had not laid this Province Desolate with their wild Depopulations, when their Rapine met with a just Expiation, for Theodebert Son of Theodorick first King of Austrasia, accompanied with Utilo a Boiarian Prince, so checked their Insolences, and retrenched their Eruptions by several Defeats, that Theodorick at the request of his Son Theodebert, to balance the signal performances of Utilo, gave him not only the Command of these Countries, but the Propriety and possession of a considerable part of them likewise by the Title of Lord Marquis of Antwerp, the fourth from whom called Araulph, was the first Mayor of the Palace to the Kings of France, made Hereditary to this Family and his successors. By Dagobert the first ●ole King of the French, that Branch of this Country which was 〈◊〉 subjection to the Earls of Ardenne, was by his Victorious Sword extorted from them, and the whole Estate conferred on Ansegisus Son of Arnulph, with the Title of Duke of Brabant; and from him did the Title and Estate descend to Charles Martell Base Son of his Son Pepin the first; and this Charles had Issue Pepin the second, surnamed the Short, who having managed Successfully the Affairs of France, at last Usurped that Diadem, and solemnly receive the Crown at Soissons from the Hands of Boniface Archbishop of Mentz in the year 751 The Dukedom of Brabant was by this means incorporated into the Revenue of the Crown of France, where it 〈◊〉 ●●●ch ●●nt● the partage of the French Empire amongst the ●ons and Kinsm●n of Lewis the Godly▪ and 〈◊〉 ●t w●s linked as an Appendage to the Kingdoms of Lorraine, where it lay wrapped up, until Lotharius the third King of France, in whose share it was involved conferred it on Charles his younger B●other with the Title of Duke of Brabant. But this Donation little improved his Interest, because the principal part of this, and that Moiety of the Kingdom of Lorraine which obeyed the French, was cut off by the Sucessful Sword of Otho the second Emperor of Germany, and annexed to the Empire. But this Otho considering that Charles abovesaid, thus devested, was his Cousin German, as being Son to Lewis King of France surnamed the Transmarine, who had Wedded Gerburg Sister to his Father Otho the first, invested him in the great Dukedom of Lorraine, which in spacious Latitude and extent of it circumscribed within its Precincts and perambulation, Lorraine, Gulick, Brabant, which had then the Denomination of Basse or Low Lorraine, and the Lands of Luick. But out of this spreading Patrimony thus enstated on Charles of France, Otho the second abovementioned, reserved out of it for his Aunt Gerburg Mother of the said Charles, the Towns and Territories of Louvain, Brussels, Antwerp, and Nivelle as her Dower; which with Reference to the Ancient Title, he Honoured with the Dignity of Marquisate of the Holy Empire, Ann● 981. Gerburg the Sister, and after the Death of Charles her Brother abovesaid without Issue, succeeded in Louvain, Antwerp, Brussels, and Nivelle; by a Right transmitted to her from her Grandmother the first Gerburg, aswell as from him, (though she had injuriously disseised of Lorrein and the Title to that large Demean by the Emperor Henry the second, the Emperor) which Territories of Louvain and the rest abovementioned, she conveyed in Marriage to Lambert one of the Sons of Reigner Earl of Hainault, with the Title of Earl of Louvain, Henry his Son reduced Antwerp, which it seems by an unjust Violence was detained from him; and by this Achievement obtained the whole Marquisate, but still reserved the Title of Earl of Louvain. Godfrey the sixth Earl, having by several new Acquists much extended the Bounds and Marches of his Dominions, was by the Emperor Henry the fifth, to whom he was linked in as near an Obligation of Affinity (having Matched with his Sister) as in Friendship, in the Year 1108, Created the first Duke of Brabant; and from him the Title flowed down with an undisturbed Channel to John the third of that Name Duke of Brabant, by whose Daughter and Co-heir both the Title and signory was transported to Wenceslaus the first Duke of Luxenbourg, by whom though she had no Issue, yet on him and on his Posterity she enstated this Duchy, and Sigismond his second Son Duke of Luxenbourg settled it on Elizabeth his Niece, Daughter to John Duke of Gorlitz in Lusatia; and she by Matching with Anthony of Burgogne, one of the younger Sons of Philip the Hardy, annexed it to his Inheritance; and being by this Alliance thus entitled to it, it was transmitted to John the fourth Duke of Brabant, who was eldest Son by his first Wife (for this his second deceased without Issue) Joan Daughter of Waleran Earl of S. Paul; but he dying without Issue, it devolved by Descent to his second Brother Philip, who likewise expiring without Children, Philip the Good Grandchild to Philip the Hardy, Succeeded in this Duchy as Heir to his two Kinsmen above mentioned; and from him did the Clew of divers Descents guide the Title down to Philip the second, King of Spain, and he lost a considerable proportion of it in the Fatal Defection of the Netherlands, occasioned by the Bloody Impression made upon their Invaded and Injured Liberties by Ferdinand Duke of Alva; though Brussels, Antwerp, Machlin, and other Important pieces, do yet confess the Sceptre and Dominion of Philip the fourth now King of Spain.  
The signory of Machlin consists only of that City, and some Eight or nine contiguous Villages; The most eminent of the Villages is styled Liest or Highest, situated on the pleasant Knob of a swelling Hill; the residue of the adjacent Villages confining on the foot thereof. Both Town and Villages were formerly enwraped in the Patrimony of the powerful Family of the Bertholts; which Name expiring in the person of Gualther de Bertholt, slain in the Battle of Worancan by John Duke of Brabant, one Moiety of it devolved to the Bishop of Liege, who again conveyed it by Sale to John the second Duke of Brabant, and the other proportion accrued to ...... Duke of Gueldres, and he in the Year 1333. passed it away to Lewis de Malain Earl of Flanders, but he conveyed nothing away but a naked Title which was before denuded of its Revenue, by the Successful Hand of John the third Duke of Brabant, who tore it away to augment his own Estate, since which this signory of Machlin with all its Perquisites and Appendages, hath so constantly attended the Fate of Brabant and Flanders, that it at this instant confesses the Interest of the Spanish Sceptre.  
Limbourg hath on the East the Dukedom of Gulick, on the West the Bishopric of Liege, on the North Brabant, and on the South the Dukedom of Luxenbourg. The ancient Inhabitants of this Track were the Eburones; when it was first advanced to the Title of an Earldom, the Light which should be Collected from Ancient Records is so dim and faint that it cannot conduct us to any clear and positive discovery, only it is probable, that it was Originally a Limb of the great Earldom of Ardenne, from which it was rend to institute and make up a Patrimonial Inheritance for some Cadet or younger Son, as Namur and Luxenbourg were, or snatched away by the Violent hand of some For aign pretender (as Gulick was, when Godfrey and Baldwin Dukes of Lorraine, the indisputable Heirs of▪ the House of Ardenne, were engaged to a necessary absence by the Holy War. But when, and by whom it was a●orned with the Title of an Earldom, certain it is, that of an Earldom it was erected to a Dukedom by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Anno 1172. Henry one of the Dukes hereof, Matched his Daughter Margaret to Godfrey the third Duke of Brabant, which suggested to his Successors some specious Colour to pretend unto it, supported with a Title of more Authority which came in to reinforce the former, on the Decease of another Henry, the last Duke of Limbourg, whose next Heir Adolph conveyed it to John Duke, who fortified his Claim and Title to it by a colourable Pretence and Right derived from the former Match Anno 1293. But Reynald Earl of Gelder's, being blown up with an overweening Conceit that his Title was established and erected on a better Foundation than that of Adolph, in Right of Ermingrade his Wife, Daughter to Herman a late Duke thereof, cast in his Challenge to this Dukedom, and attempted to evict the Title by the power of the Sword, but this was ruinous and destructive to him, for being subdued and made Captive by the said Duke John in the Battle of Worancan, he was forced to redeem his Liberty by no less a price or Ransom than his total Release to all Title or Claim that he or his Successors might pretend to the Dukedom of Limbourg: after which it was so folded up in the Interest of the Dukes of Brabant, that it came over with it to the House of Burgundy; and from that again to own ever since the Dominion of the Spanish Monarchy.   

Gelder's, Zutphen, and Groaning.  
GUELDERLAND is shut in on the East with Cleve and the Earldom of Zutphen, on the West with Holland and Utrecht, on the North with Over Issell and the Zuyder-Sea, and on the South with Brabant and the Land of Gulick.  
The ancient Inhabitants of Guelderland were the Menapii and Sicambri, People very eminent in ancient Record for their Magnanimity and Courage. In Ages of a more modern Inscription, these Sicambri mingled with the French, and under that Name and notion were entitled to the spreading Empire of the West. In the partage thereof by the Posterity of Charles the Great, this Province was knit to the Kingdom of Austrasia or East-France; and afterwards being broken off was united to the Germane Empire. At the beginning of its Government the Public Ast●i●s were swayed and wielded by some who enjoyed no other Title but Guardians and Protectors, and were advanced to that Dignity by the People in the Reign of Charles the Bald; the first who were embellished with this Title were Wickard and Leopold two Brethren, who fixing their Chief Residence in the Castle of Gelder's, gave an occasion to future Ages to impose the Name of Gueld●rland on the whole Province; but they and their Successors were supported by a Power of so narrow a circumscription, that in effect their Office was but Provincial, they themselves being accountable to the Emperors how they managed the public Concernments of this Province. The first Prince who disengaged from the Shackles of these Restraints, was Otho of Nassaw, who Matched with Aleida Daughter to Wickard the last Guardian, and was by the Emperor Henry the third made the first Earl of Guelderland; and under this Style and Title his Successors continued, until the Emperor Lewis of Bavaria improved this Dignity in the person of Reynold the second, to the Degree of a Duke, about the Year 1339. and from him did it descend to his Son Edward the Offspring of his second Wife Eleanor Daughter of Edward the third King of England; and he deceasing without Issue, Mary his Sister by Matching with William●arl ●arl of Gulick, brought both the Patrimony and Ducal Crown of this Province to be possessed b● him, and his two Sons William and Reynold the fourth, successively enjoyed it; but they dying without Issue, Arnold of Egmond Son of John Lord of Egmond and Mary his Wife, Daughter of Joan the Sister of William and Raynold the two last Dukes, as Heir General possessed himself of Guelderland; but in the declension of his Age, being worried by his unnatural Son Adolph with War and Imprisonment, he was in this agony supported by Charles the Warlike, Duke of burgundy, who rescued him from his Son, and released him ●rom his Fetters; and he to Balance ●o signal a favour, conveyed his Interest in Guelderland and Zutphen to this Duke, which Contract was after much Contest and Effusion of Blood ratified to Charles the fifth, by his second Son Arnold, and accordingly the Provinces of Guelderland and Zutphen were by a voluntary Resignation surrendered to Charles the fifth, and from him the Title devolved to his Son Phil●p the second, King of Spain, in whom it was lodged until the Barbarous Cruelty of the Duke of Alva engaged most of the Belgic Provinces to a Revolt or defection, and the Prudential Conduct of Maurice Prince, having much extended the Conquests of the Confederate States, most of this Province was by his successful Achievements annexed to their United Patrimony.   

Zutphen.  
ZUTPHEN was anciently an Earldom of itself without any Connexion or dependence on the Fortune or signory of Guelderland, and remained in this Capacity until it devolved to be the Patrimony of Wickman the last Earl, who determined in Sophia his sole Daughter and Heir, who by Matching with Otho first Earl of Guelderland, fastened it to that Province, and so it continued after this, subservient to the Command of the Successive Earls and Dukes; and when Arnold the last Duke of Guelderland conveyed all his Interest to Charles the fifth, this was wrapped up in the Purchase, and remained under the Dominion of the Sceptre of Spain, until the Defection of Holland and other Provinces from that Crown; and then about the Year 1590. it was by Prince Maurice, and the Army of the United States, by Conquest torn from the Spanish Patrimony, and hath ever since remained linked in Confederacy with those Combined Provinces.   

Groining.  
GROINING, both City and Province, did in elder Times confess no other signory but of that of the Bishop of Utrecht, but he either by want of Power of Inadvertency, being remiss in Asserting their Liberties against Foreign Eruptions, they submitted to the Protection of the Dukes of Guelderland. But these Princes were disturbed in their new Acquists by the Dukes of Saxony, who by a pretended Claim entitled themselves to the Propriety of it, during which disorder and emotion it was surprised by Ezardus the Earl of East-Frizeland, who about 1514. conveyed his Usurped Interest here to the Duke of Gelder's the just Proprietary of it. Afterwads they resigned themselves up, with a Reservation of their ancient Liberties, to Charles the fifth; which being menaced to be overwhelmed by the Fury of the Sp●niard, they Combined 1594. with Holland in ●●ion and remain yet wrapped up in that Confederacy.   

Holland, Zealand, and Frizeland.  
HOLLAND hath on the East the Zuyder-Sea, Utrecht and some part of Guelderland; on the West and North the German-Ocean; on the South the Isles of Zealand, and some part of Brabant.  
Zealand consists of Seven Islands, viz. Walcheren, South Beverlant, North Beverlant, Wolfers-Dike, Schowen, Duvelant and Tertole●. It is divorced from Flanders by the Left Branch or Arm of the Scheld; on the East it is divided from Brabant by the right Branch of the said River, on the North it is separated from Holland by the Gulf called the Flack, and on the West it is rend from England by the Ocean.  
Westfrizeland hath on the East the Land of Groining and a part of Westphalia, on the South over-issel and the Zuyder-Sea, on the North and West the main Ocean. The ancient Inhabitants of these three Provinces were the Batavi and Carinefates, Inhabiting that Track of ●arth contracted almost into the circumambient embraces of the Rhine and Wael, and which now circumscribes within its precincts and Verge Holland, Utrecht, ●●d a part of the Duchy of Gelder's; the Frisii who were entitled to the Possession of Westfrizeland, and the Mattiaci who were planted in Zealand. But when the Ravage and Piracies of the Normans had by many Bloody Onsets and Impressions acted such a Devastation here, that these Provinces were almost dispeopled; Charles the Bald to Thierry Son of Sigebert a Prince of Aquitane; and the more to manage and improve his increasing Hopes, and enable him to protect these depopulated Countries, he engrafted on him the Title of Earl, with this Restriction annexed to the Donation, that he and his Successors should own and confess the Sovereignty of the Crown of France, which was accordingly performed, until it was by Arnulph the fourth Earl interrupted and discontinued, who rendered himself Homager to the Empire; and from this Thierre an undisturbed Channel of Descent transported it down to John the Son of Florence the fifth, who determining without Issue, John of Avesnes Earl of Hainault, in Right of the Marriage of his Father John of Avesnes Earl of Hainault, and his Mother Aleide Sister and Heir of William the second Earl of Holland, entered into the Possession of these Provinces as their Heir General; and from him it was wafted down to his Grandchild William the fourth of that Name Earl of Holland, and the second of Hainault, who being slain in a War against the Frisons, and leaving no Issue, Margaret his Sister and Heir brought it to be possessed by Lewis of Bavaria Emperor of Germany, after whose Decease she was forced to relinquish Holland to her second Son William, and Hainault to her third Son Albert; but Earl William, the fifth above mentinoed, deceasing without Issue, Albert his Brother became entitled to the Earldoms of Holland and Hainault, and had Issue William the sixth, who by a Right transmitted to him from his Father, wore the Coronet of Holland; and in him this Family was entombed, for he Deceasing without Issue Male, Jaqueline his only Daughter became his heir; but it seems she was condemned by nature to an inexpugnable barrenness, for though she had three Husbands, namely, John the fourth Duke of Brabant, from whom she was separaed by Divorce, under pretext of Consanguinity, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, and John de Borselles, a Gentleman of a private Orb, yet the Annals of Holland do assert that she had Children by neither, so that wanting Posterity to enforce and propagate her Memory to succeeding Times, she conveyed her Concernment in Holland and Hainault to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, Son of John Duke of Burgundy and of Margaret his Wife, Sister to Earl William the sixth, and Daughter of Albert abovementioned; from whom by the Traverses and steps of several Descents (the House of Burgundy▪ having by the Match of Joan the Heir of Ferdinand and Isabel, fa●●ned and knit the House of Castille unto itself) the Propriety and Title of Holland, Zealand, and Frizeland, devolved to Philip the second King of Spain, 〈…〉 Viceroy for the ● Provinces the Duke 〈…〉 va having by his prodigious Butcheries and ●●●cutions incited the People to a total Defection from the Crown of Spain, they to Fortify themselves against the Bloody encroachments of the Spamard, Chained their divided Interests together in one common Union and Co●s●●●●●cy▪ in which they continue linked at this instant.   

Utrecht.  
UTRECHT is chained in on the East with Guelderland, and on the West, North and South with Holland. The City of Utrecht was sometimes the Royal Residence of Radbold King of the Frizons, after the Romans were dislodged, who had long been plant ●here in those Cities and Seats, they by an unjust Violence had torn from the Bructeri, Salii, and Batavi, who w●re the ancient Inhabitants; but when Dagobere King of France had dissipated and broken the Strength of the Frizons, he erected this Province into a Bishopric, and annexed unto it a Demeasn spreading and opulent, the better to foment the increase of Christianity, and improve the subsequent Dignity of it. The first Bishop whose Hand sustained the Crosier, was Willibald an Englishman, who established Christianity, and dispelled the Mists of Infidelity which had long over-shadowed these parts; and his Successors multiplied it to that Grandeur and formidable Power, that they asserted their Patrimony and Intetest in this Province about Nine hundred year●, with much of Reputation and Courage against all the encroachments and unjust Incursions of the Invading Earls of Holland, until it came to be possessed by Henry of Bavaria Bishop hereof, who being distressed by the Duke of Gelder's, and expulied out of Utrecht by his own mutinous and tumultuous Subjects about the Year 1527. conveyed his Estate here to Charles the fifth, and he procured an Investiture in it from the Estates of the Empire (it being an Imperial Fief, and so not to be alienated or embezzled without their Licence) not long after; and from him did it devolve by Succession to his Son and Heir Philip the second, who having lodged the Government of the Netherlands upon his Vicegerent Ferdinand de Toledo, Duke D'Alva, this Duke by his Massacres and Assassinations, having filled the Inhabitants with a universal Regret and Animosity, this with the rest of the Provinces, by a public Revolt, renounced and disclaimed all Alleigeance to the Crown of Spain; and the better to secure their Liberties from the future Onsets of that Kingdom, the People of this Province cemented themselves in a Confederate Union with those of Holland, and continue at this day wound up in that first Combination.   

Cambray.  
THE City of Cambray with the Territory annexed, was established and erected into a Bishopric in the person of St. Diogenes by Birth a Grecian. In Times of a more recent Aspect, that is, about the Year 1562. it was advanced to the Dignity of an Archbishopric by Paul the fourth. It was made an Imperial Fief by the Germane Emperors, and was given in protection by the Emperor Henry the fifth, to Robert of Jerusalem Earl of Flanders, which Patronage was ratified to the Successors of this Robert, by the Indulgent Bounty of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa about the Year 1164. so that being under the constant Tuition of Flanders, it was esteemed a Limb of that Province, yet had the Bishops a separate Jurisdiction, and were of that Eminence and Latitude of Power, that the Bishop of Cambray was under the Repute and Notion of a Prince of the Empire. It was several times, sometimes by Assault, and sometimes by Stratagem, forced to bow to the Dominion of the French, who having disobliged the People by their disorders and irregular Exorbitances were expulsed in the time of Lewis the eleventh, and then it continued under the Character of a Free City & Province, though shadowed still with the Protection of Flanders, until the Year 1543. a Citadel was here established by Charles the fifth, which could not rescue it from being surprised in a sudden Camisade by the Duke of Alenzon, but being not long after retrived by the Courage and Virtue of the Spanish Arms, it hath ever since remained annexed to the Patrimonial Inheritance of the Crown of Spain.    

The Spanish Interest in Italy.  
SICILY is the first place in Italy which swells the Bulk of the Spanish Greatness; and made its Interest so considerable to its Enemies, and useful to its Friends in all its scattered Territories. It is environed with the Lower or Tyrrhenian Sea, and contains Seven hundred Miles in Compass, and by elder Conjectures was supposed in Ages of a higher climax to have been united to Italy, being then a Demy-Island or Peninsula, such as Peloponnesus, and joined to the Continent by some narrow Isthmus. Indeed the Narrowness of the Strait, thr shallowness of the Water in the Phare, the brittleness of the Shore on either side, being full of Caves, and Chinks, wrought in it by the violent Onsets of the Sea; and then the City Rhegium situated on the Portuguese Coast, and almost opposite to Messina, which imports a Breach or Cutting off, from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies to Break off; do evince to us by probability of Circumstances, that Sicily was one piece with the adjacent Continent, until the violence of Earthquakes, and the impetuous Fury of the Waters and Waves did dislodge and consume the earth which tied it to Italy.  
It was once called Trinacria, because it extends itself into the Sea with three Capes or Promontories, viz. 1 Pelorus now Capo de Foro. 2 Pachinus, now Capo Passaro, and Lilybaeum now Cape Boij, or Coro. The first Inhabitants that History represents to us to have possessed this Country, are those vast Giants Recorded in the Odysseys of Homer, under the Appellation of the Laestrygones and Cyclops. These were afterwards supplanted and discarded by the Sicani, a People of Spain, who called it Sicania. But these new Invaders being not long after rooted out by the Siculi, who were driven out of Latium by Evander and his Areadians, and forced to seek new Habitations here; it abandoned the Name of Sicania, and assumed that of Sicily. At their first Landing they built the City of Zancle called afterwards Messana, together with Ne●, Hybla, Catana, and Leontium. After them came another Italian Colony styled the Morgetes, being forced hither by the Oenotrians, and fixed their Residence in that part of the Island where they erected the City Morgentum, and adopted it into their own Surname. The first of the Greeks who Invaded it, were the Chalcidians, a People of the Isle of Euboea, now called Negropont, to whom the City of Naxos owed its first Foundation; and after Archias of Corinth, and his Retinue of Adventurers, by whom Syracuse (Famous in elder Times for the Petalismus or Banishment of Citizens by having their Names writ in an Olive Leaf) was first built, or else very much enlarged and adorned. Next them the Rhodians and Cr●tians sent some Colonies hither, the first Founders of Gela; and after, of the so much Celebrated City of Agrigentum. And not long after, a new Stock of Planters built Heraclia. The Citizens of Megaris, another State of Greece, transmitted a Colony also, who built S●linus: And so did those of Messene or Mycena also, who taking the Town of Zancle from the Siculi, new beantified it; and being thus repaired, fixed on it the Name of Messana. Nor can we deem the Tyrians and Phaenicians, such Noted Undertakers of Public Businesses, would be so stupidly unactive not to attempt nothing, when so rich and eminent a prey did invite their Industry; for we find they attaqued the Promontories of Pachinus and Lilybaeum, and some of the adjoining Islands, and Fortified them, the better to secure and improve the Trade they had established in Sicily. But these several Colonies being broken into several Interests and Factions, Combined not together in the Design of an absolute Conquest, but planting themselves on the Shore, did not discard the Name of the Island, by which they found it distinguished upon their first Eruption. After this Island by these particular Onsets and Impressions, fell under the Cognisance of the Greeks, from all their principal Cities, Colonies issued out, who Inhabited the Seacoasts of the Country; but so as they never Concentered in a Common Body, but had their several ends and particular Interests, whereby they came to be split into many Factions, and sacrificed as a Prey to as many Tyrants. Phalaris overruling Agrigentum, Panaetius at Leontium, Gelon at Syracuse, Cleander at Gela; and when one Faction was too Impotent to obviate or resist the other, they called in several Foreign Nations to support their Quarrel. For on this Foundation the Carthaginians were called in by the Messanians, against the Agrigentines. And on the same Principle, was managed the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians Combining with the Leontines, ●nd the Spartans' with the Syracusans, in which the whole Power of Athens was broken by Sea and Land, and their two Generals Nicias and Demosthenes offered up to an untimely and Bloody Fate in prison. But because Syracuse was a City of the most eminent Authority, and of the greatest Influence over the rest, the state and Affairs of that City are made more visible by History, than those which have an Aspect upon the Towns or Communities of this Island. The Government at first was popular, as it was in most of the Greek Colonies, according to the Platforms and Models they transported with them, and was but newly transplanted into the Aristocratical when Gelon erected his Kingdom here, about twenty years after the expulsion of Tarquins at Rome, whom with as many Succeeded in the Royal Dignity, take in this subsequent Register.  
A. M. 3465. 
1. Gelon taking advantage of the Contests in Syracuse betwixt the Magistrates and People made himself Master of the City, and was Chosen King. 7.  A. M. 3472. 
2. Hiero the first, Valiant, but rude and Covetous.  A. M. 3484. 
3. Thrasibulus Brother to Hiero, whose Government was so Barbarous and Insupportable, that he Swayed but ten Months.  A. M. 3544. 
4. Dionysius the so much Celebrated Tyrant, who being General of the Syracusans, made himself their King. A Man of great Vices, and as eminent Virtues. 38.  A. M. 3582. 
5. Dionysius the second Succeeded his Father in his Kingdom and his Vices, but not in his Courage or Prudence, being first supplanted by Dion a Gentleman of Syracuse, and secondly, vanquished and made Captive by Timoleon, of Corinth.  A. M. 3635. 
6. Agathocles a Potter, after a Soldier, twenty years after the death of Timoleon, made himself King of Syracuse. 29.  A. M. 3681. 
7. Hiero the second, of a Leader of their Armies, chosen King of Syracuse by a Party which he had packed amongst them. In his Time broke out the first Punic War, the Romans being called in by the Mamertones, who held Messana against the Carthaginians. 56.  A. M. 3737. 
8. Hieronymus Son of Hiero, after whose Decease all Sicily became subject to the Dominion of Rome, by the successful Conduct of Marcellus.   
Being thus made Subservient to the Government of Rome, it was wrapped up in the Fate of that City, and of the Roman Empire; until in the partition, ●f the Roman Empire, it was cast together with Apuglia and Calabria into the Power of the Greeks. In the Declension and wane of whose Greatness, this Island having been miserably depopulated and harrassed by Constans, Anno 669. it became a prey to the Saracens; from them rescued again by the Normans; who held both this, and the Realm of Naples in Fee of the Church, under the Title of Kings of both the Sicilyes. After that it fell under the Fortune of that Kingdom subject unto the Princes of the Norman and Germane Line, until the Death of Conrade, no discomposure or Interruption intervening. After whose Exit, when Manfred Base Son of the Emperor Frederick, and Brother of Conrade, had by a forcible Intrusion entitled himself to the Crown and Sceptre of this Island, it was offered by the Pope (upon some Conditions knotted with many rugged difficulties) to Richard Earl of Cornwall Brother to Henry the third; a man according to the Standard of those Times, of a most important Revenue; upon whose waving this motion, it was again offered to his Nephew Edmund second Son to Henry the third, who was espoused to this Royalty by a Ring, and Money Coined in his Name by the Pope's appointment, with the Impress and Inscription affixed to it of Edmundus Rex Siciliae. But Henry the third being not in any Capacity to pursue this Design, the Civil Contests with his Barons having entangled him in more difficult Undertake, and the Pope having sufficiently by this Overture drained his Exchequer, it was in the Year 1261. given to Charles Earl of Provence and Anoju, Brother to Lewis the tenth of France. To his Command this Island was subservient until the Year 1281. in which his Competitor Peter of Arragon justled his Title by a new Claim, emergent from his Wife the Daughter and Heir of Manfred above mentioned; and for the clearer decision of the Title, invited him to the Commencement of a Duel before King Edward the first of England, at Bourdeaux; which defiance he tacitly declining, Peter in the mean time by dark Stratagems and black Contrivances, wherein he was aided by John de Prochita a Gentleman of the Kingdom of Naples, from whom Charles of Anjou had violently snatched the Island of Prochita, upon a Summons received from a Toll of a Bell, sounded, as it was pretended, to give an Alarm to Sicily of the approach and onset of some Invading Sarazens, the French were Assassinated in this Island which massacre so firmly riveted the title into the House of Arragon, that it still continues incorporated into the Interest of Spain.  

Sardinia.  
THE Island of Sardinia lieth West from Sicily, from the nearest point thereof it is distant about Two hundred miles. It is in length one Hundred and eighty, Ninety in breadth, and in Circuit Five hundred and sixty miles. In the Time of Aristotle it was called Ichnusa, and next Sandaliota, from the Resemblance of a Shoe-sole or the Impression of a Man's Foot on the Earth; and finally, Sardinia from Sardus the Son of Hercules, who coming out of afric entitled himself to the Possession. And that which more improves and fortifies this Narration is, that the People in the Latin Tongue have still the Appellation of Sardi, and the circumambient Sea the Denomination of Mare Sardoum. And to this Name it hath remained so constantly ever since espoused, that no following Plantations were ever able to extinguish or divorce it. Some Companies of Attica were Conducted hither by jolaus, where they erected Olbion and Agrillis; which Colonies, to enforce and multiply the Memory of their Foundér, assumed to themselves the Name of jolatenses. And after the Ruin of Troy, some of the broken Relics of that scattered Nation came and planted in the void places of this Island; whose Successors are mentioned by Livy and Pliny, under the Denomination of the Ilienses. After these the Carthaginians by the nearness of their Habitation, did attaque all Advantages to make, as at last they did, a full Conquest of it; building therein the Cities of Carmis, Calaris, and Sulchi; and asserting their Title to it, it was unjustly wrung from them by the Romans, at the end of the first Punic War; at what time Carthage was in hazard to be Ruined by the defection of her own Mercenaries, and so in no Capacity to resist.  
This Island being thus extorted from the Carthaginians by the Romans▪ was immediately under the Signory of the Praefect of Rome; but after by Junsti●an, it was incorporated into his New Diocese of afric, and as an Appendage to it, was Claimed, Invaded, and Subdued by the Saracens, Anno 807. who destroyed Calaris, subverted by Gracchus and the Romans; and again in more settled Times reestablished. But from them it was rescued by the Pisans, (who re-edified Calari) and Genoese, who made a partition of it betwixt them; but the Genoese disgusted with their Portion, as being less in Quantity, and worse in Quality, began to enter into Contest with the Pisans, which at last ushered in an open War, Anno 1324. In which having worried themselves with mutual Contests, Pope Boniface the eighth, to appease their Animo●ties, and supersede all Quarrel for the future, by a new Donation enstated it on James the 2d. King of Arragon, who had entitled himself to it by a specious Claim before, upon pretence that it was a Limb or Appendix to Sicily, and wrapped up in the Patrimony of that Diadem; and the more to fortify his new Acquists, obtained the Papal Concession to support and improve his Interest here, which before appeared to be but infirm and crazy; and being thus doubly guarded with his own Title and the Pope's Grant, he after some signal Decisions of the Sword, wholly supplanted both the Pisans and Genoese; and in the Year 1324. reduced this Island under the Dominion of the Aragonian Sceptre. And from him hath the Propriety ever since been conducted down to his Successors in so uninterrupted a Channel, that the Devolution and Traverses of many winding Descents hath at this instant brought it to confe●s the Empire and signory of Philip the fourth K. of Spain.   

Naples.  
THE Kingdom of Naples is almost on every side circumscribed with the Adriatic, Ionian, and Tuscan-Seas, unless on the West, where it is separated from the Lands of the Church, by a small Neck of Land drawn from the Mouth of the River of Druentus, to the Spring Head of Axofenus. It is divided into Terra di Lavoro, Abruzzo, Apulia, Terra de Otranto, Calabria-Inferior, Calabria-Superior, and the Isles of Naples.  
Terra di Lavoro was Anciently called Campania, and extracted this Surname from the Campani, who with the Oscani, who were invested in Possessions about Capua, in Ages of a very old Inscription style● Osca, were the ancient Inhabitants of it. Abruzzo, in Latin styled Aprutium, was the Residence or Territory of the Picentes and the Samnites; the last of which were subdivided into the ●erentani, Arpinates, Caraceni Praecatini, Peligni, Vestini, Hirpini, and the Samnites, properly so called. Terra di Otranto was in elder Times Peopled by the Salentini, japyges, and Messapiani; and from hence in the Records and Monuments of Antiquity, it is exhibited to Posterity under the Names of Salentina, japygia, and Messapia. Calabria-Inferior and Superior, were both originally that Track of Earth which was postest by the Calabri, Tarentini, Lucani, ●rutij, and some sprinklings of the Liburni, a People devoted by the Romans to the sustaining of Burdens & other servile employments; and this I believe was done by such cheap and contemptible undertake to extinguish in them all thoughts which might egg them on to a Recovery of that Liberty which the Sword of the Romans had lopped off; for these, the Calabri and Tarentini were the last (not without many signal and solemn struggle) who prostrated themselves as a prey to the Victorious Talons of the Roman Eagle.  
This Kingdom of Naples hath been whirled about with so many Revolutions, that the Inhabitants of any Region have not been obnoxious to more Vicissitudes and Mutations than the Possessors of these Provinces have been. For 1. the Grecians entered and scattered here their particular Colonies of Achaians and Spartans', which obliged Antiquity to give the Name of Magna Graecia to Calabria; in which Track they erected Locris, so eminent in old Records for Zeleucus the Lawgiver, and his Laws and Institutions, and Eunomus the Musician. 2. Tarentum, which contributes a Name to that Capacious Bay called Sinus Tarentinus. 3. Crotona, whose Inhabitants were anciently so active in the Olympic Games. 4. Amycle, a Town whose Inhabitants were made up in elder Times of the Pythagoreans, a Sect which by the Institutions and Rules of their Order, devoted themselves to Silence. 5. Sybaris●o ●o infamous in Story for their Softness and Effeminacy, having melted themselves into so much Ease and Luxury, that they expulsed all Smiths and Braziers into Exile▪ because by the Noise of their Bellows and Hammers, they might make an Invasion on their Repose and Slumber, and entertained with unusual Caresses, Musicians, Fiddlers, because they improved their Sleep and Excess. And 6. they here erected Rhegium, which Name they fixed upon it from the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, which signifies to break or tear asunder; this City being separated or torn off from Sicily, by that Strait of Sea which they style the Faro of Messina. In Terra di Lavoro they erected Parth●nope, now called Naples, Osca now named Capua, Cuma and Sinuessa now called Sessa. In Abruzzo they established Arpinum. In Apulia Anciently by the Grecians called Daunia, they founded Luceria, Asculum sometimes styled Asculum Satrianum, and Argyripa the Argos Hirpium, of the ancients, and contracted by use and depravation of Dialect into Agyripa, which as Antiquity asserts and intimates, was erected into the shape and model of a City by Diomedes, and a Colony transmitted from Etolia. In Terra di Otranto they established Brundufium, Hydruntum, and as some affirm (but upon what grounds I know not) Gallipolis likewise; but though Naples were thus strengthened with Colonies, and knotted with Cities, yet this could not so secure her from Foreign Eruptions, but that she bowed her Head; and partly by a voluntary Resignation, and partly by Conquest, gave herself up to be made part of that Patrimony which improved the Roman Grandeur; and after it had for some years submitted to the Dominion of Rome, as it was first a Common wealth, and afterwards the Seat of the Empire, it was rend off from that Great Body by the Goths, under whose Tyranny it had not long lain gasping, but it was forced to surrender itself to the Jurisdiction of the Lombard's, who by their frequent and happy Inroads disseised the Goths of their new Acquists; but their Conquests were not fixed or permanent, for their Foundation being Cemented with Blood, was infirm and slippery, being after some assaults made upon it by Charles the Great, forced to bow to his Sceptre: But to wind up all Controversy for the future, and to entomb all emergent Differences in an amicable Pacification, this Charles about the Year 803. made an equal and indifferent partage between Nicephorus then Emperor of the East, and himself as Emperor of the West; the Limits of which Division was the River Liris now Cantigliano by Capua, and the River Aufidus now Ofanto in Apulia. But this partage did not long continue without some Discomposure; for ill Agents having fomented some Differences between the Greeks and the Germans, their private Animosities and Heats were at last blown up into the public Flame of War, which did determine in the total expulsion of the Germans out of Naples; yet this was not acted without the Concurrent Supply of the Saracens, Enemies to them both; who discovering the weakness of the Greeks in being invited in to supplant the Germans, Invaded those who had called them in; and thus was this unhappy Kingdom for several Ages made the sad Stage where the Latins, Greeks, and Saracens, acted their Bloody Tragedies. But in fine, the Greeks being wasted with frequent Conflicts, and almost sinking under the weight of a Foreign Conquest, they having evapourated their noblest & most active spirits at those wounds the Swords of these Infidels had inflicted on them, were supported in this their Agony by Forty Norman Gentlemen, who about the Year 1000 returning from a Pilgrimage made into the Holy Land, gave so noble and generous Assistance to the Afflicted Christians that they checked the Fortune of the Saracens, and intercepted the Current of their Victories, which before like a Deluge menaced wholly to over-whelme the Christian ●nterest and Concernment in this Kingdom. But this gave the distressed Inhabitants but some dawning of better hopes; the improvement of this Success was left to the Valour and Conduct of one Drangot, who having slain Repostel a Gentleman of Eminence, in the presence of Robert Duke of Normandy, Father to our William the Conqueror, so disgusted his Allies and Relations, that to decline the Tempest which menaced him, he retired into this Kingdom for shelter, and after many Conflicts commenced with the Saracens, by a Fortunate Managery of the Christian Quarrel, he contracted their Power into narrower limits; but being supplied with new Recruits the Sarazens not only reinforced their Animosities but Hopes also, until Tancred and his twelve Sons arriving out of Normandy with fresh Supplies, after many signal encounters, wholly supplanted the Interest that these Infidels had in Naples; but though these Invaders were thus dissipated, yet the Greeks remained dissatisfied, and gave new occasion of War and Trouble to these Norman conquerors under the Command of Melorco Vicegerent of this Province under the Grecian Emperors; but the Affairs of the Normans were so well swayed and ordered by the Care and Prudence of William Son to Tancred above mentioned, that this new Emotion was extinguished by the Defeat of Melorco, and the Troops marshaled under his Conduct; but this Discomfiture did not so totally dispel the Tempest, but that there were new Clouds collected together, to disorder and eclipse the Glory of the Norman Conquests; which in fine, were so wholly dissipated, by the active Courage of Robert Guiscard another of the Sons of Tancred, that the Greeks being absolutely crushed and subdued, & the Relics of the Saracens extirpated & thrown out, he justly merited in the Annals of succeeding Times the Title of the Conqueror of the Kingdom of Naples; and he bequeathed this Province with all its Perquisits and Appendages to be enjoyed by his second Son Robert Guiscard Earl of Sicily, who in the Year 1125. by the Favour and Influence of Anacletus then Pope, had the Title of King of Naples conferred upon him, and his Son William received the Crown, with this Restriction, that he should hold this Diadem as a Donative from the Pope, and in Homage of the See of Rome; and in the Hands of his Successors did the Neapolitan Sceptre remain fixed, until it came to be wielded by William the second, who upon his Decease left Constance his Daughter, his only Lawful Issue, and Tancred his Natural Son, the Issue of unlawful Embraces; and he by the concurrence and support of his Faction, so managed his Designs, that he invested his Head with the Crown of Naples, to the prejudice and Disherision of Constance the Lawful Heir; but disdaining to acknowledge the Pope for Sovereign of the Fee, the Pope to retaliate this Affront, Matches Constance to Henry the sixth Emperor of Germany, and by opposing the Right of his Empress to the distorted and Usurped Title of Tancred, so crippled his Authority and Power, that finally after many Contests and Bloody Decisions, the Sceptre of Naples came to be swayed by Henry the sixth abovesaid; but his Successor Frederick the second embarquing in the former Contrast with the succeeding Popes in Relation to the Sovereignty of Naples, disclaimed and renounced any Homage to the See of Rome, which so inflamed that Bishop, that he collected all supply that the Engines borrowed either from Strength or Art could contribute to vindicate his pretended Right to the Sovereignty of Naples; yet was he thwarted in his endeavours with such vigorous Opposition during the Government of Frederick the second abovesaid, Conrade his Son, Manfred his Natural Son, and Conradine Grandchild to Frederick, nothing was effected of Importance which might afford any support to the accomplishment of the Designs of the Popes for the time being: so that Pope Innocent the fourth, to Fortify his Attempts with Foreign Succour, presented the Kingdom to St. Lewis King of France; for his Brother Charles Count of Anjou and Provence, who had the Repute of an excellent Soldier, and an experienced Commander; and about the Year 1264. which was two years after Pope Urban the fourth invested him with it; he to assert his Interest, Commenced a War with Conradine King of Naples, and having put his Title to the Umpirage of a Battle, after a Bloody Debate, took this Conradine Captive; and made the forfeiture of his Head expiate its wearing that Diadem which the Pope's Donation had before by a pretended Investiture entitled him to; and having thus fixed the Sceptre of Naples in his own Hand, he left it to be swayed by his Son and Heir Charles the Lame, who by Mary his Queen Inheritrix of Hungary had Issue, Charles surnamed Martel, who had his Mother's Kingdom assigned him for his Subsistence or Portion; Lewis his second Son, who assumed Holy Orders, and Clouded all his earthly Glories in the Cowle of a Franeiscan Friar, and afterwards was Bishop of Thoulouse; Robert his third Son, was by the Munificence of his Father entitled to the Inheritance of the Kingdom of Naples. There were other Sons who had other Lands consigned them in Appennage for their future support and Alimony. Robert abovesaid, had Issue Charles, who dying without Issue Male in his Father's life time, left only a Daughter and Heir called Joan, who after the Decease of her Grandfather Robert, came to Manage the Neapolitan Sceptre; and this is that Joan so Famously Infamous in the Annals of Naples, for the probable Assassination of her first Husband Andrew, and other wild Disorders, which have cast so dark a Tincture upon her Fame, that though some have endeavoured to wrap up her Gild in a modest Covering, yet the Blackness of her Life is visible by an indelible stain through all those Veils the Industry of Flattery attempts to fold it up in. But to proceed; about the Expiration of the Reign of this joan, which was about the Year 1378. the Church of Rome was Disordered by a remarkable Schism; for Urban the sixth, being made Pope, the Violence of a predominant Faction, a considerable part of the Conclave of Cardinals Elected Robert Cardinal of Geneva, by the Name of Clement the seventh. Queen Joan being warped with Animosity against Urban, who was born under her Dominion and Sceptre, made herself a Partisan in the Cause and Quarrel of his Adversary and Competitor Clement. Her Crime contracted from the Slaughter of her Husband Andrew, had been long entombed in a Pacification transacted in her Favour by Pope Clement the sixth, with Lewis the Great, King of Hungary, Brother to Andrew abovesaid. But Urban the sixth, to recompense her for those Disservices with which she had disobliged him, again raked into her Gild, and incensed Charles of Duras, of the House of Hungary, to expiate the former Murder by a just Revenge; and this Prince, inflamed by his Instigations, came and Besieged her in Castello del Ovo, and having reduced her, and that Fortress to his Discretion, strangled her in or near that place where she had acted her Barbarous Parricide on her first Husband Andrew. Charles of Duras having thus destroyed this Infamous Princess seized on the Neapolitan Diadem, which did not sit so fast on his Temples, but that it was shaken by a Concurrent Title, for Joan not long before her Death, to fortify herself agrinst the Designs of Pope Urban, had adopted Lewis Duke of Anjou Brother to Ch●rles the fifth King of France, for her Heir; and he endeavoured to vindicate and extort the Crown from Charles of Duras by Dint of Sword; but the latter did so vigorously sustain all the Impressions of the House of Anjou, that he not only asserted and fixed the Right of the Crown to himself, but likewise transmitted a peaceable Possession of it to his Successors; which were, first, Ladislaus his Son and Heir, who Deceased without Issue, and Joan his only Daughter and then Heir, who upon the Death of Ladislaus, ascended the Throne of Naples by the Name of Joan the second; who for Disorders and irregular Excesses, and holding a scandalous Familiarity with one Caracciolo, as likewise for her ill Administration of the public Affairs, was Degraded from the Regal Dignity by Pope Martin the fourth, and Lewis of Anjou, Grandchild to Lewis Duke of Anjou above mentioned, named by him to wear the Diadem of Naples in her place; but she disdaining to be thus devested, to secure herself against the attempts and pretences of this Lewis, Adopted Alfonsus King of Arragon and Sicily for her Heir; but being a Woman of a volatile and inconstant Temper, upon pretence of some ingrateful Affronts put upon her by Alfonsus abovesaid, Canceled her first Adoption, and by a second Instrument declared Lewis the fourth Duke of Anjou, Son to Lewis abovesaid, for her Heir; and this Lewis having wrung the Crown from the House of Arragon, enjoyed it jointly with this Queen Joan, in a fixed serenity of Government for some years; but dying without Issue before her, she to preserve herself from the Eruptions of the Aragonian Faction, Adopted Rene Duke of Anjou his Brother, for her Heir; and soon after she had declared and effected this, she herself was disrobed by Death of all Earthly Glory. But this Rene being then Captive with the Duke of Burgundy, was debarred from amassing those Forces together, which might adjoust his Title to the Crown of Naples; indeed his Duchess Elizabeth, attempted to retrieve it, but being overlaid with the Faction and Force of Alfonsus, She and the House of Anjou were utterly supplanted, and Alfonsus upon a pretence extracted from the first Adoption of Joan, which was supported by Conquest, upon the Ruins of this Family, stepped up to the Throne of Naples; and he more to ennoble his Family by an Additional Augmentation of Revenue, enstated this Kingdom on his Natural Son Ferdinand, who being thus invested in it, transmitted it to his Son Alfonsus the second; and he had Issue Ferdinand the second, who likewise wore the Diadem of Naples; but a Tenure very volatile and unfixt attended the Sovereignty, and made it rest but loosely on his Temples; for Charles the eighth King of France, Espousing the Title and Quarrel of the House of An●ou, so vigorously supported their Interest, that he supplanted this Ferdinand, and forced him to abandon the Neapolitan Sceptre; but the French upon the Departure of Charles the eighth managing both the Civil and Military Affairs of this Kingdom with much Impetuousness and Inadvertency, excited the Neapolitans to resent their sway and Government with so much Regret and Passion, that Frederick Brother of Alfonsus the second, regained it with as much Facility as his Nephew Ferdinand had cheaply lost it. But Lewis the twelfth, Successor and Kinsman to Charles the eighth, upon the Decease of this Charles (who died suddenly at Amboise, as he was preparing for a second Eruption upon Naples) Collected a Powerful Army to vindicate his pretences and Title to that Kingdom, so that Frederick finding himself too weak to sustain the weight of so mighty an Opposition, threw himself into the Protection of Ferdinand King of Arragon and Castille, who in stead of asserting his Interest against the Onsets of the French, by an unworthy Compact with Lewis the twelfth, disserted his Kinsman, and had the Moiety of the Kingdom assigned him, as the price of this Dereliction; but not long after, the French and Spaniard entering into Contention about the Bounds and Limits of the Lands divided, their Animosities were improved to that height, that they blazed out in the Flame of a public War; which was managed with that Vigour and Prudence by Gonsalvo the Spanish General, that after many Encounters the French were wholly disseised, and their Interest they had in this Kingdom extorted from them; and though in Ages subsequent to this, the French did not tamely abandon their pretended Concernment here, but sought to retrieve it by the Bloody Umpirage of the Sword, yet were their Designs so ill managed, and their Arms so unprosperous, that their Disastrous success did but more fasten the Crown and Sceptre of Naples to that of Spain: to whose Diadem the Interest and Title of this Kingdom hath remained ever since so firmly linked, that it is still united to the Hereditary Patrimony of Philip the fourth now King of Spain.   

Milan.  
MILAN is shut in on the East with Mantua and Parma, on the West with Piedmont and Switzerland, on the North with the Province called Marca Anconitana, and on the South with that Chain of Hills which is styled the Apennine.  
The Ancient Inhabitants were the Insubres, the B●ji, the Cenomani, and the Senones; who were after divers signal Contentions devested of their Possessions by the Romans, and forced to surrender themselves as Tributary to their Dominion and signory; and in that Demeasn which supported Rome, as it was first the Head of a spreading Commonwealth, and then secondly, the Metropolis of a spacious Empire, did this Province lie folded up, until the Government of this Province came to be Managed by Augustulus, the last of the Western Emperors, who being subdued and his Forces broken by Odoacer King of the Heruli and Thuringians, this Province became the Guerdon of his Triumphs; but the Possession being thus achieved by an unjust Invasion, was not long after extorted and ravished away from them by Theodorick K. of the Goths, about the Year 495. but here the Title was as volatile and transient as formerly; for Teyas his successor, was about the Year 567. vanquished by the un●ted Forces of Alboinus King of the Av●res, invited out of Hungary, and Narses General for the Emperor Justinian in Ita●y; the Goths being thus disieised, this Province was consigned to Alb●inus, and his Troops by Narses, Anno 568. as the price of his Successful Courage, and meritorious Fidelity so visibly exhibited in the War commenced with the expulsed Goth; and in himself and his Line, did the Sovereignty of this Province, by a Decursion and Series of Twenty three Kings remain uninterruptedly lodged, until the Devolution of Descent brought the Sceptre to be wielded by Desiderius, who being about the Year 774. Discomfited by Charles the Great, this Kingdom sunk in his Ruins; and was afterwards incorporated as a Province into the spreading Demean of that Victorious Monarch. After whose Reign this Province remained Imperial, and was subservient still to those who had the Empire of the West. But when the House of Charle●aigue degenerated, and suffered the Imperial Diadem to be ravished from their Heads after the Year 900. an eager Dispute was managed by the Continuance of Fifty years, betwixt the Italian and Germane Princes, in relation to the Possession and Sovereignty of the Empire. In Fine, the Germans prevailed in the person of Otho the first, and his Successors having designed and fixed their Seat of Power and Government in the Empire, they afterwards were entangled in several Contentions with the Papacy, which so much retrenche● and contracted their Authority, that their Power in Italy began sensibly to crumble away, and a considerable part of Lombardy slipped out of their Dominion; and some Seignories chose to themselves Italian Lords, and some elected Liberty and a Popular Government. In these Confusions Milan and its Appendent Territory, put itself under the Patronage and Protection of Otho its Archbishop, Descended from the Viscounts of Angleria, a place of a narrow Circuit in this Duchy.  
But after his Decease Matthew Brothers, Son to this Archbishop, was confirmed in the Government of Milan by Albert Emperor of Germany, but under no other Notion or Title than that narrow one, only of Commander; (for still it seems the Skeleton of Sovereignty was deposited in the Hands of the Emperors, though those Nerves and Muscles which should make it act vigorously, and move regularly, were rend off) and from him did the same Command devolve to his Son Galeazzo Visconti, who because he exercised this Authority without the Approbation of Lewis of Bavaria the Emperor, he was disseised of his Power and expulsed; but his Son Actio Visconti was reinvested in that Command from which his Father had been dislodged by the same Lewis; but after his Exit, the same Command was successively Managed by his two Uncles Luchino and John Visconti, younger Brothers to his F●ther Galeazzo; and after their extinction, the Government of this State was dispensed and swayed by Galeazzo the second, Son of Stephen, who likewise was a younger Brother of these two, but embellished with no other Title but that of Commander of Milan; and here this Appellation expired with him, and was entombed in his Urn; for after his Decase, John Galeazzo Visconti Son of Galeazzo the first, abovementioned, coming to grasp the Command of this Province, by the Benefaction and Munificence of the Emperor Wenceslaus about the Year 1395. as some compute, or about the Year 1397. as others calculate, received his Investiture into the State of Milan, with the more splendid Title of Duke; which was successively enjoyed by his two Sons, John Maria, who in a popular Sedition fell an early Oblation to the Disorder and Fury of the Vulgar; and Philip Maria, who likewise made his Exit without Issue, so that the Right of Inheritance was lodged in Valentina their Sister and Heir, who about the Year 1398. was Matched to Lewis Duke of Orleans, Son to Charles the fifth King of France, and by the Contract of Matrimony, it was manifested and declared, that upon Defailance of the Masculine Line of Galeazzo, the Children of Valentina should be invested in the Succession of this Duchy; notwithstanding, this Clause had this emient Defect, that this Duchy being established a Masculine Fee, Galeazzo could not make it Feminine without the Emperors Grant or Licence, which was not demanded or required, because the Empire was then vacant by the Degradation of Wenceslaus whom the Electors had devested and deposed because of his dull and sluggish Administration of the Affairs of the Empire; but it is asserted by the French, that Pope Benedict the thirteenth, who then held his See at Avignon, ratified and approved the abovementioned Contract, for that Right the Pope's challenge in the Vacancy of the Empire. But this Succession falling in the Confusions of France under Charles the seventh, when the two Sons of Valentina, Charles Duke of Orleans, and John Count of Ango●lesme were Captive in England, where the first continued twenty five years, and the last almost thirty. It was a Design of not much difficulty for Francis Sforza (a man of a vigorous Resolution and a deep speculation) who had Wedded Bona Natural Daughter to Philip Maria, the last Duke of Milan, abovementioned; in that interval of Time, and the Desolation of the House of Orleans, to surprise and seize the Duchy of Milan, of which he had procured and obtained an Investiture of the Emperor Frederick the fourth. But this did not so supersede the int●insique Right of the House of Orleans, but Lewis the twelfth coming to be King of France, about the Year 1498. so powerfully prosecuted his Right, that he expulsed Lodowick Sforza (who h●d by a cla●destine Assassination destroyed his two Nephews, the Sons of his Brother Francis abovesaid, entrusted to his Guardianship and Protection, and violently ravished away the Possession of this Duchy) and having made him his Prisoner, carried him into France, where he died in Captivity in the Tower of Loches. Lewis remaining thus Master of this Duchy, to secure his Claim and fortify his Title, he obtained two Investitures of the Emperor Maximilian, the first in the Year 1506. and the second in the Year 1509. But this did not so support his Possession, but that towards the latter end of his Government he was supplanted by Maximilian Sforza, Son to Lodowick, and the Concomitant Succours of the Suisse, with the Consent of Maximilian the Emperor, who was disgusted because Claude eldest Daughter to Lewis who had been promised to his Grandchild Charles, was espoused to Francis, afterwards King of France, by the Name of Francis the first; which Francis after Decease of Lewis, being impaled with the Diadem of France, so Successfully vindicated his Claim and Title, that he regained this Duchy, and rendered Maximilian his Prisoner, but he either neglected o● the d●dained to do Homage to the emperor for a new Investiture; which Contempt of his, Charles the fifth, who succeeded his Grandfather Maximilian, repented with so much Regret, that his Animosity against Francis grew inveterate and implacable, which blazed out in the Flame of a Public War, in which Francis was made Captive at the Battle of P●via, and from thence transported and put under Restraint at Madrid, and there remained until he purchased his Enfranchisement with a plenary Release and Surrender of his Right to this Duchy into the Hands of Charles the fifth, though the French affirm this could only prejudice himself, but not the Children of Claude his Queen, who were entitled to a Right by Descent from their Mother; and that this Concession of Madrid is null by the Fundamental Laws of France, which will not permit the Alienation of the Sovereign Rights of the Crown without the Consent of the Estates General; and they never ratified this Concession; but the actual Possession of the Spaniard hath been more strong than these Pretences, who have so secured their Interest in this Duchy, against all the Efforts and hostile Eruptions of the French, that it is still wound up in the Patrimony of Philip the fourth King of Spain.    

The Spanish Interest in Sienna.  
Sienna.  
SIENNA and its circumambient Territory is situated between the Estate of Pisa, and the Patrimony of the Popes of Rome, called the Demeasn of the Church. The City is by Antoninus in his Itinerary styled Sena Julia, to distinguish it from another of that Name, situated on the Margin or Fringes of the Adriatic Gulf, and named Sena Gallica. It was as the Ancient Traditions of Italy testify, erected by Brennus, who here, as in some Infirmatory, did deposit his Soldiers who were superannuated with Age, or else almost crumbled away with Sickness. In Times of a more modern Aspect this Province was wholly devoted or offered up to the Interest of the Faction or Combination of the Gibellines or Imperial party, so that the price was narrow and easy at which they enfranchised & purchased their liberty of the Emperor Rodolphus. After this City and Province came to confess the signory and Sceptre of the Spaniard; but they had not been long resident in their new Acquists, but they were disseised by the French, but by the second Eruption of those Spanish they had not long before expulsed, they were again rooted out and supplanted; and the King of Spain having thus rescued Sienna from the yoke of the French, conveyed all his Concernment in it to Cosmo de Medici's Duke of Florence about the Year 1558. but with this Retrenchment or limitation, that the Duchy of Sienna itself should hold in Fee of the Crown of Spain, and the Cities and Ports of Porto Hercol●, Orbitillo, Piombino, and Porto Longone, should be annexed to the Crown of Spain, and remain as Limbs of the Patrimony of that Diadem for ever; & though Porto Piombino and Longone were not many years since torn from the Spanish Sceptre by the prosperous Arms of the French, yet the Spanish discovering how Destructive and Ruinous it would be to their Affairs in Italy, to suffer these new Intruders to be fixed in a constant Possession of them, retrived them by Dint of the Sword, and are at this instant entitled to the peaceable Possession of them.   

The Interest of the House of AUSTRIA in GERMANY.  
AUSTRIA properly so called, hath on the East the Kingdom of Hungary, on the West Bavaria, on the North B●●●●ia, on the South Stiria or Stiermarck, represented to us by the Dutch under the Denomination of Ost●●rick, that is to say, the Eastern Kingdom, this being the extreme Province of East-France, or the Eastern Kingdom of the French; in the rude and unpolished Latin of those Times styled Austrasia, whence the modern Austria hath borrowed its Name and extraction.  
The ancient Inhabitants were the Quadi who were subdued by the Romans; but these had scarcely advanced their Trophies upon the Ruins of this People, but the Marcomanni improving their strength by a Confederate mixture with the Boijs, dislodged the Romans from their new Acquists, and Conquered part of this Province, and left the remainder to be offered up as a Sacrifice to the Victorious Sword of the Avares.  
But these Boijs being subjugated by Clovis the Great, and the Avares expulsed from Pannonia by Charlemaigne, both this and that became incorporated into the French Empire, until the subduing Pannonia by the Hungarians. To oppose whom, and more vigorously to protect this Province in its Peace and Safety, some under the Notion of Guardians or Lord Marchers, were Deputed by the Kings and Emperors of Germany to have an Inspection into the Affairs of this Territory; and more to reward and ennoble their Care, they were adorned with the Title of Marquess'. At first officiary, but at last Hereditary; made so by the Emperor Henry the first, who gave this Province Anno 980. to one Leopold surnamed the Illustrious, extracted from the House of Schwaben; and from him descended Leopold the fourth Marquis of Austria, who dying without Issue, Henry the second was not only invested with the Estate, but likewise with the Title of Marquis of Austria; but by the liberal Munificence of Frederick Barbarossa in the Year 1158. was advanced to a higher Dignity and Created Duke of this Province by that Emperor; and from him it came down to his Grandchild Leopold the fifth, who surprised Richard the first, in his Return from the Holy War; and having made him his Captive, obtained so plentiful a Ransom for his Redemption, that with it he Purchased Stiermark and the Counties of Neobourg and Lintz, and Circumscribed U●enna with a Wall; and this Leopold had Issue Frederick the Warlike, who for some Enterprises wherein he exhibited signal Testimonies of his Courage, was made King of Austria by Frederick the second Emperor of Germany; but he Deceasing without Issue, Ottocarus Son of Wenceslaus King of Bohemia, being fortified with a Right derived from Margaret Sister to this Frederick, entered upon his newly established Monarchy, adding thereto, as an increase of Patrimony, the Countries of Carinthia, and Carniola, which he had Purchased of Ulric the last Prince thereof; but being Vanquished and Slain by Rodolphus of Hapsberg not long before advanced to the Germane Empire in the Year 1246. he conferred the Possession of these large Acquists on his eldest Son Albert with the Title of Duke of Austria, about the Year 1298. But though these new Conquests were incorporated into the Demeasn of Albert, by the successful Sword of his Father, yet was their Title better secured and supported by Marriage; for he Wedded Elizabeth Daughter of M●inard Earl of tirol and Elizabeth his Wife, the Daughter of Gertrude, who was Daughter to Henry Brother to Frederick the Warlike; which Gertrude Matched with Hermanus Marquis of Bad●n, by whom she had Frederick Beheaded at Naples by Charles of Valois, 1268. And this Elizabeth abovesaid, in whose Right Albert became entitled to Austria, Tiroll, and many other Opulent and considerable Possessions elsewhere; and from him did this Duchy by Descent devolve to Albert the sixth, who (as some Records and Histories assert) assumed the Style of Archduke, about the Year 1430. and much enhanced his Grandeur and Revenue by Matching with Elizabeth Heir of Sigismond King of Hungary and of Bohemia, she adding those two Crowns to his Patrimony; and he left Issue Ladislaus, who Deceasing Childless, Frederick the second, being extracted from Leopold one of the Sons of Albert the third Duke of Austria surnamed the Short, was by a Right flowing from him entitled to this Dukedom; and he had Issue Maximilian the first, from whom this Duchy devolved successively to his two Grandchilds Charles the fifth, and Ferdinand the first. The last of which had Issue Maximilian the second; from whom the Title was conducted down to his two Sons Rodolph the third, and Mathias, who both Deceasing without Issue, the Title was invested in their Kinsman Ferdinand the second Duke of Gratz, Son of Charles Duke of Austria youngest Son of Ferdinand the first; from whom it is transmitted to his Grandchild Leopold Ignatius, the instant Emperor of Germany.  
Stiria or Stiermark, is bounded on the North with Austria, on the South with Carinthia, on the East with Hungary, on the West with Carinthia likewise. It was anciently possessed by Inhabitants who fell under the Denomination of the Taurisci part of the Norici, from whom it extracted the Appellation of Stiermark; the Germans calling that a Stier which the Latins call Tauriscus, or a little Bullock. From which Account it may be asserted that Stiermark was nothing Anciently, but the Borders or Marches of the Taurisci, being the utmost Limits or Extent of their Possessions. It was annexed to Pannonia in the Destribution of the Roman Provinces, and had the Name of Valeria imposed upon it, as a Trophy of Honour imposed upon it, to improve the Memory of Valeria the Daughter of Dioclesian. But when it was rend off from the Roman Empire it obtained the Name of Stiermark, which had an Aspect upon the Ancient Inhabitants the Taurisci. It was first erected into an Earldom in the person of one Ottocarus, who was Dignified with the Title of Earl by Conrade the second. And this Title continued until Leopold the fourth was created Marquis of Stiermark by the Emperor of Germany, for the Time being; and from him the Right of Succession transported this Province to his Son Ottocarus the fourth, who was adorned with the Title of Duke of Stiria by Frederick Barbarossa. But he being without hope of Issue, and infected with the incurable Disease of the Leprosy, conveyed his Interest and Concernment in this Province to Leopold the fifth, Duke of Austria, which he purchased with that vast heap of Treasure he extorted from Richard the first, for his Ransom from that Captivity he was detained in. And hath been wrapped up ever since in the Demean of the House of Austria; but so that it hath been consigned as a Portion to support the younger Sons of that Family; as namely, to Leopold the ninth of that Name, one of the younger Sons of Albert the Short, and after to Ernest the youngest Son of that Leopold; and lastly, to Charles the youngest Son of Ferdinand the first, commonly called Charles Duke of Gratz, Father to Ferdinand the second, who was Successor to Mathias in the Empire, and Heir General likewise to that Complicated Interest he enjoyed in Austria, and the rest of the Estates incorporate with it, where it hath ever since remained so united, that it is not probable for the future, that it will so unpolitiquely be dismembered from it.  
Carinthia and Carniola are two other Provinces which enforce the Grandeur and swell the Patrimony of the Austrian Family. The first called Karnten in Dutch, is bounded on the East with Stiermark, on the West with the Bishopric of Saltzbourg, on the North with Austria, on the South with Carniola. Carniola styled Krain in Dutch, is surrounded with Sclavonia on the East, Friuli on the West, Carinthia on the North, and Istria on the South. The ancient Inhabitants of Karnten and Krain were the Carni; from them not only the adjoining Alps had the Name of Carnicae, but these two Counties had those Names imposed upon them, by which they now are known. Both Provinces were united long since in the persons of the Dukes of Karnten; the first of whom the Testimony of Authentic Record does exhibit to public view, was Henry Son to Berthold a Noble Man of Bavaria, in the Time of the Emperor Otho the third, who invested him with the Title, and planted him in the Estate; which were both disposed off in succeeding Times at will of the Emperors, as their Interest guided them. Nor was the Title fixed in any House, until it devolved to Henry Son of Englebert Precedent of Istria, in which Family it remained under this Henry, his Brother Englebert, Ulric the first, Henry the second, Herman and Ulric the 2d. the last who was entitled to these Provinces; who by Matching with Agnes Sister and Heir of Otho the second Duke of Meranis, linked that Estate to his former Patrimony. But being ancient and Issueless, he conveyed his Interest here to Ottocarus King of Bohemia and Duke of Austria, by whom these Countries were surrendered to Rodolphus of Habsperg, as an Oblation to that Peace which was solemnly stipulated between them. And though Rodolphus gave Carinthia to Mainard Earl of Tiroll (in Right of whose Daughter, Albert the Son of Rodolphus was enstated in Austria) yet upon the expiration of Henry the Son of Mainard without Issue Male, it devolved (according to a Precontract) unto Albert the Short, eldest Son of Albert, and Grandchild of Rodolphus, contained ever since annexed to that Family, though not always resident in the Chief House of Austria.  
In this Province of Carniola is the Town and little Territory of Gorit● anciently styled Noreia, and was in elder Times of that Repute that the Proprietary of it was adorned with the Title of an Earl; he that had the Dignity of Count of Goritz, was Albert second Son to Mainard Earl of tirol, who devested himself of the Propriety of it, to fix the Title on him; and in the Descendant Line of this Albert it continued until the Year 1500. and then Leonard the last Earl thereof dying without Issue, it was seized on by Maximilian the Emperor as his next visible Heir, whose Successors both in the House of Austria and Empire also, inter-weave the Title of Earl of Goritz in their usual Style.  

Tiroll.  
TIROLL is bounded on the East with Friuli and Marca Trivigiana, on the West with Grisons and some part of Switzerland, on the North with Bavaria, and on the South with Lombardy.  
The Earls were at first but Provincial Officers; but when this naked and empty Title vanished and grew Hereditary, no Beam either from private or public Record does contribute any Light to a Discovery. The first whom any certain Evidence does represent to us, is Mainard who died Earl of tirol about the Year 1258. and from him did this Earldom devolve to his Grandchild Henry, who dying without Issue Male, his Daughter Margaret by the consent and Suffrage of her Subjects, conveyed her Propriety in this Earldom to the Sons of Albert the Short, which hath been linked ever since to the Revenue of the Austrian Family. Ferdinand the first gave it in Appennage to his second Son Ferdinand surnamed of Inspruch, who having disgusted his Allies by Matching with Philippina a Burger's Daughter of Ausburg, he to becalm their Passions which boiled with Regret and Animosity against this cheap Alliance, entered into Covenant with them, that her Issue should not be entitled to the Inheritance of tirol; In order to which stipulation, after his Decease this Earldom devolved to the House of Gratz, his eldest Son Charles being adorned with the Dignity of Marquis of Burgh, and his second Son Andrew advanced to be Cardinal of Brixia, so that the Propriety of this County hath been ever since resident in the above recited▪ Family; and at this instant confesses the signory and Title of the Descendants of Leopold Brother to Ferdinand the second, Duke of Gratz, and Emperor of Germany.   

Bohemia.  
BOHEMIA is encompassed on the East with Moravia, on the West with the Upper Palatinate and Voitland, on the North with Misnia, Lusatia, and some part of Silesia; on the South with some parts of Bavaria and Austria.  
The first Inhabitants were the Marcomanni and Quadi, mingled with the Boiari Marsigni, Burij and Gothini; who upon the wane of that Power and Splendour which ennobled the Roman Empire, were disseised of their ancient Patrimony in this Kingdom by the Sclavi, a Nation Inhabiting the Banks of the River Ister; a People very Obscure in their Original and in their Country, until their Successes dispelled that Mist which hung about them, and made them more conspicuous. Under what Form of Government they modelled themselves after their Achievement of this Kingdom, is not obvious from any Ancient Record; or if they did erect any Frame, it was swept away by new Squadrons of Sclaves, Croatians, and other scattered Nations, who under the Conduct of Zechius a Leader of great estimate, like an Inundation broke in upon them, which Zechius, with his Brother Leches about the Year 640. were expulsed out of Croatia, for some Offences of a dark Complexion there acted by them; and being very acceptable to the Sclaves of Bohemia, who viewed him as a Prince extracted out of the same Cradle and Seminary with themselves, and one of the same Language, concerned in the same Laws, and conformable to the same Customs with their own, they Adopted him into the Supreme Government of this Province. But after his Decease the Estate crumbled into the Confusions of a disordered Anarchy; until Crocus about the Year 670. recollected the broken pieces into shape and Order; and from his Justice and Integrity in the Administration of the Public Affairs, acquired the Name of the Bohemian Lawgiver; after his Exit the Bohemians resigned themselves up to the Government of Libussa his youngest Daughter, but her Hand being too narrow to grasp the Affairs of State, her Subjects made choice of Primi●●aus, and by Matching of him to her devolved the Government on his shoulders; and in his Posterity the Supreme Authority was resident, who were adorned with no other Title but sometimes Governors and sometimes Dukes of Bohemia; until the Rule of Ueratislaus Brother to Sbtign●us, who about the Year 1086. was for his Worthy and generous Performances in several Undertake, by the Emperor Henry the fourth, at Metz, invested with the Title of King; which Regal Dignity was to continue Elective either at the will and Arbitrament of the Emperor, or at the Disposition of the Estates and People; and this is evident from several Precedents, this Uratislaus left three Sons who were devested of the Crown to give way to Conrade Brother to Uratislaus, who by the suffrages of the People was Elected King; and after his Decease Brecislaus Son to Uratislaus, to the prejudice of hi● two Sons, was advanced by Choice to the Bohemian Diadem; and after his Exit, Borivorius fourth Son to Brecislaus, to the Disherison of his three elder Brothers, was Elected to wield the Sceptre; and thus did the Crown continue in the persons of Sutopulcus, Uladislaus the second, Sobeslaus Brother to this Uladislaus, Uladislaus the third, Son to Uladislaus the second, above mentioned, who by the People's Election was advanced to the Diadem, the Sons of Sobeslaus being excluded and all the Residue of their Successors; until the Crown came to be placed on the Head of Ferdinand the first Emperor of Germany, who notwithstanding his Latitude of Power, acknowledged that the Bohemian Sceptre devolved to him not by the Authority of any Intrinsique or Inherent Right or the Claim of Succession, but only by the Election of the People; and this his Confession was enroled in the Records of the Kingdom; and though it is certain, that Maximilian his Son, Rodolphus & Mathias his two Grandchilds, were Successively Kings after him, yet not their Descent, but the People's Election, fortified their advancement to the Bohemian Diadem; and though upon the Decease of Mathias, Ferdinand surnamed of Gratz, as Adopted Son to Mathias, & declared Successor to the Crown of Bohemia by his Testament, intruded upon the Throne; yet being not formally and legally Elected by the People, he was by the Estates of the Kingdom rejected, who fixed upon Frederick Elector Palatine of the Rhine as the object of their Choice; but he being betrayed by his Confederates, and over-laid with the united Armies of the Emperor Ferdinand, and the Dukes of Saxony and Bavaria abandoned Bohemia, which was repossessed by Ferdinand, in whose Descendant Line it hath been since so permanent (the People's Election having been by Menaces and Force extorted) that it is now the Possession of his Grandchild Leopoldus Ignatius the instant Emperor of Germany.   

Silesia.  
SILESIA is bounded on the East with Poland, on the West with Lusatia, on the North with the Marck of Bradenburg, on the South with Moravia.  
The first Inhabitants hereof were the Marsigni, Burij, Gothini, and some part of the Quadi. In the great partage of the Eastern parts of Germany amongst the Sclaves, who had supplanted the ancient Proprietaries, it was incorporated with the Dukedom or Kingdom of Poland▪ and remained annexed unto it until the Government of Uladislaus the second, who being devested of his Crown and Sceptre by the unnatural Combination of his Brethren, was by the powerful Influence and Intercession of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Seated in this Country, with this Restriction, that it shoul be held in Homage to the Sovereignty of Poland. After his Decease it became split into parcels, and was distributed amongst his three Sons, and again according to that ancient Custom of Germany called Land-Skiftan (which with the Saxons was transplanted into England) was subdivided into so many subordinate parts, which were to support the Revenue and Livelihood of their Posterity, that it became resolved and broken into fourteen Dukedoms; of all which, only Oswitz and Zator continue fastened to the Crown of Poland, ten of the twelve remaining being by the Power and Prudence of Wenceslaus the second, and John of Luxenbourg, Son to the Emperor Henry the seventh, both Kings of Bohemia, knit to the Patrimony of that Diadem only Su●initz remained under the Regiment and Administration of its own Dukes, until Bog●slaus the last Duke by Testamentary Donation, passed away all his Interest in it to Charles the fourth Emperor, and King of Bohemia also; so that eleven of these petty Royalties by Conquest and voluntary Concession, came to be linked to those Possessions which improved the Grandeur of the bohemian Sceptre, and have still so constantly waited on the Fate which hath attended the Diadem of that Kingdom, that they are now subservient to the Interest and Dominion of the Austrian Family, at this instant Seated in the Imperial Throne; only Lignitz the last in the Inventory of Fourteen Dukedoms, does yet pay its Obedience to a proper Prince or Duke whose Predecessors have enjoyed it by a prescription of many Descents. But alas! his power is circumscribed, and himself so chained up by Tribute and Homage, to the Commands of the Emperor, as King of Bohemia, that he appears little more than precarious.   

Moravia.  
MORAVIA is shut in on the East with Hungary, on the West with Bohemia, on the North with Silesia, on the South with the Lower Austria. The Ancient Inhabitants were the Marcomanni and Quadi, who were in subsequent Ages rooted out and discarded by a Sprig or Branch of the Sclaves, who Inhabited about the Banks of the River Mora, from whence they imposed the Name of Moravia on their new acquired Patrimony. At the beginning of their Settlement in this Province, their Government was managed by Kings, the first Name of whom, represented to us in Record is Raslai, who was made Captive by Lewis the Godly, and this Province forced to become Tributary to the Empire; after Raslai the Right of Succession brought the Moravian Sceptre to be swayed by Hermodurus and Suantopulcus, under whose Reign these Moravian Sclaves were retrived from the Mists of Paganism and Infidelity to the Light and Clearer Conduct of Christianity, by the pious Industry of Cyrill and Methodius, two Grecian Doctors. After Suantopulcus, his Son Suantobegius ascended the Moravian Throne; a Prince of a Noble and inexpugnable Spirit, who stretched his Sceptre by many eminent Conquests over Bohemia, Silesia, and Polonia al●o; but his Power growing formidable, Arnulph the Emperor thought it meet to contract it, and taking the Advantage to lay the Foundation of a Quarrel from his Denial to pay the accustomed Tribute, by the united Aid of the Hungarians then Pagans, so bruised him in several encounters, that his Kingdom crumbled into a heap of R●ines, being seized on by the Hungarians and Poles, and other Nations. And in this Calamitous condition it lay entombed, until it began to glitter with a new Beam of Grandeur, by being erected into a Marquisate, but when Chronologie is silent; only History represents to us that Jodocus Barbatus about the Year 1410. Elected Emperor, was likewise Marquis of Moravia; after whose Decease it devolved to Sigismond Emperor and King of Bohemia as his next Heir, and he enstated it on his Son in Law Albert Duke of Anstria about the Year 1417. which Albert upon his Decease not only succeeded him in Moravia, but likewise was planted in all the rest of his Estates; since which time it hath been so constant an attendant on the Fate and Fortune of the Crown of Bohemia, that at this instant it obeys the Sceptre of Leopoldus Emperor of Germany.   

Lusatia.  
LUSATIA, in High Dutch styled the Lausnits, is clasped in on the East with Silesia, on the West with Misnia, on the North with the Marck of Brandenbourg, and on the South with Bohemia: Who were the first Inhabitants, no Beam from Antiquiy affords us Light enough to Discover, only an obsolete Supposition reflects upon the Senones of Tacitus to be its Ancient Possessors. In Ages of a more Modern Inscription, the Winithi or Venedi, the most Powerful Branch of all the Sclavoes were entitled by Conquest to the Propriety of it. When it was advanced to the Dignity of a Marquisate, the Annals of the Empire are so dim and obscure that they exhibit no Testimony to us which may justify a perfect Discovery. About the Year 1156. one C●nrade died invested with the Title of Marquis, to whose Dominion the Emperor Henry the fifth, added both the Title and Marquisate of Misnia, which for some Decursion of time remained annexed to Lusatia; after this, this Province of Lausnits being not able to support itself against the frequent Incursions and Inroads of the Poles, it stooped to the Sceptre of their Kingdom, and continued subservient to the Interest of that Diadem, until it was conveyed by Sale to Frederick the second, Marquis and Elector of Brandenbourg, who reserving to himself C●thouse, and some other pieces contiguous to the Margin and Verge of his Confines, transmitted the Remainder by a voluntary Resignation to George Pogibrachius King of Bohemia, who Claimed it by the Right and Authority of an Original Grant made to Uratislaus the first Bohemian King, by Henry the fourth Emperor of Germany; and from this George did the Right and Title of this Province flow down to Ferdinand the second Emperor of Germany, in an even Channel; who conveyed his Interest in it to the late Duke of Saxony, as a Guerdon of those Supplies with which he Supported his Quarrel against the Palsgrave Fredrick Elected King of Bohemia. yet though Moravia, Silesia, and this Lusatia, were thus interwoven in the person of one Supreme Governor, yet did they continue so distinct in their particular Laws and Governments, that the Chief Magistrate or Ruler is admitted and acknowledged by each Province distinctly by itself, and not by any one of them in the Name of the rest; and this is done to preserve themselves free from any Slavish Connexion or Dependency of each to the other; which Custom or Privilege, notwithstanding these late Concussions, hath remained unshaken and unviolated to this day.   

Alsatia.  
ALSATIA, in Dutch, Elsats, is shut in on the East with the Rhine and some parts of Schwaben, on the West with the Mountain Vogesus, which divorces it from Lorrein, on the North with the Palatinate, on the South with Switzerland.  
The Ancient Inhabitants were the Tribochi, with some mixture of the Nem●●es and Ra●ra●i▪ It was first subdued by the Romans; and wrung from them by the Almans; afterwards extorted from these by the French, and by them annexed as a Province to the Kingdom of Lorrein, and and when that Realm was in the Solstice of its most flourishing Condition, it fell under the Notion of a Province of the Empire. The Government at ●irst was managed for the Emperors by Provincial Earls called Landgraves, at first officiary and Titular only, as being accountable for the profits of the County to the present Emperor. But in the subsequent Age it was made Hereditary and Successive, in the person of Theodorick, by Otho the third; after whose Decease the Empire returning to be Elective, gave such an Alarm to these Provincial Commanders, that they endeavoured to secure themselves by lopping off any future dependant Connexion that might render them precarious; so that the Propriety of Elsats remained folded up in the successive Line of this Theodorick, until the Government of the Emperor Frederick the second, and then this Estate and signory of Alsatia was broken to pieces and conveyed by Female Coheirs to Albert the second Earl of Habspurg, Albert Earl of Hohenloe, and Lewis Count of Ottingen. Rodolph of Habspurg, afterwards Emperor, Son of this Albert, Matched with Anne Heir of the Earl of Hohenloe, and so in her Right and in his own, became invested in two parts of this Province, which make up the Upper Elsats, which remained so constantly fixed in the Possession of the House of Austria, that by the steps of several Descents it came to acknowledge the Dominion of the Emperor Ferdinand the third, not long since Deceased, who to reimburse the French for those vast expenses the Germane War had embarked and engaged that Crown in, by the Articles of the late Peace so solemnly transacted at Munster, conveyed it by Grant to the Crown of France, and remains so at this instant an Appendage to the Demeasn of that Diadem.  
Sungow or the Earldom of Pfirt, was Anciently clasped up within the Patrimony of the Princes of Schwaben, upon the expiration of which Eminent House, in the person of Conraradine about the Year 1268, the Patrimony of which, supported the Lustre of that Family; in his Extinction sunk into parcels, some proportion of which erected this into a distinct Earldom. And under this Notion it remained until Ulrick the last Earl, going out in two Female Coheirs, about the Year 1324. Ann the eldest Matched to Albert the Short, Duke of Austria, and Son to the Emperor Rod●lphus, and Ursula the second, by an equal Distribution shared his Inheritance; and she fearing his Power, for a Recompense of Eight Thousand Crowns conveyed her Moiety to this Albert; whose Successors (unless when it was pawned or engaged to Burgundy) were entitled by an uninterrupted Right to the Propriety of it, until the War Commenced not many years since, between the two Emperors Ferdinand the second, and Ferdinand the third, and Lewis the thirteenth King of France, made by that King in favour of the Swede, who was in danger to be over-laid, and dislodged from his new Acquists in the Empire, by the thriving Caesarean Army, after the Fatal Battle of Nortlingen; the effects of which Quarrel were so destructive and ruinous to the last Emperor, that to expedite an Accommodation with the Crown of France, he gave up his Interest in this Province, during the term of the Truce, to be enjoyed by the French.   

Brisgow in Schwaben.  
BRISGOW was in Times of a very high Ascent the Patrimony of the Earls of Zeringen, which was erected into an Earldom by Berthold the first, Son of Gebizo, and Grandchild of Guntran the second Earl of Hapspurg; which Family finding its Tomb and fatal Extinction in the person of Berthold the fifth, the seventh in succession, who Deceased Anno 1218. the Right of Brisgow devolved to the Earls of Fribourg, the Principal City of that Country. Cuno the first who bore the Title of Earl of Fribourg, being the eldest Son of Judith Sister and Heir of Berthold the last Earl of Zeringen. Eggon is the last Recorded in the Register of those Earls of Fribourg who were invested with that Dignity and the Propriety of Brisgow; who being overborn by the Eruptions of his Mutinous Subjects, he sunk under the pressure, and transmitted by Sale his entire Concernment in this Province upon the Receipt of Twelve thousand Ducats, to Albert and Leopold Dukes of Austria, Sons of Albert the Short; in the Patrimony of whose Successors the Title of this Province hath ever since been so constantly folded up, that it still confesses the Signory of the Austrian Family.   

Hungary.  
HUNGARY is shut in on the East with Transylvania and Walachia; on the West with Stiria, Austria, and Moravia; on the North with the Carpathian Hills; on the on the South with Sclavonia and some part of Dacia.  
The Ancient Inhabitants of Hungary on the North side Tisefeu, were the jazyges Metanastae; on the East-side of Tibiscus, the Daci were planted; on the Southside of the Danau, the Pannones resolved into the several Colonies of the Azuli, Latovici, Werciani, Jassij, and Oseriates; as likewise the Ercuneales', Breuci; Aravisei, and Scordisci Inhabited; the first of which extended their Dwellings to the East, as the last enlarged their Habitations to the West. But all these above mentioned were either very much broken, or else forced to surrender themselves to the Successful Sword of the Romans, Anno post urbem Conditam 719. Lucius Cornificius, and Sextus Pompeius being Consuls; and after they had been planted in the Possession of this Province for some Centuries of years, their Tenure and Title was disordered by the Invasions of the Chuni or Huns, who under the Command of Balamir their General, in several Encounters, so disspirited the Power and bruised the Force of the Romans, that they adandoned this Province to the Possession of these new conquerors; but the same Vicissitude which cast out the Romans, rolled in upon these Huns, and crushed them with the Wheel of a Revolution' like the former; for the Winnithi or Longobards, having both infested these Huns with many Inroads, and afflicted them in many fortunate Encounters, so wasted their Strength, and impaired their Armies, that they gave up themselves and this Province, as a Cheap Oblation to the Triumphs of these Victorious Longobards; but these being called by Narses into Italy, to reinforce his Armies (who then were in Contest with the Goths for the Sovereignty of that Territory) discarded the Cold and Barren Fields of Hungary to settle on the Warmer Champaign of Lombardy, where under the Government and Sceptre of Alboinus, they erected their Longobardian Kingdom. The Longobards having thus left the Stage, the Avares or Avarini, a People dropped out of the Bosom of Sarmatia, about the Reign of Tiberius the second Emperor of Greece, entered under the Conduct of Caganus or Chan, an Heroic but Merciful (Clemency and Magnanimity are twins) Cheiftane, who first dissipated the Forces employed to break him by Tiberius' abovesaid, and then after a Bloody Decision subdued Cometiolus Lieutenant to the Emperor Mauritius, Successor to Tiberius, and the Forces marshaled under his Conduct; which Emperor attempting to repair the Dishonour contracted by this Defeat, had his Endeavours frustrated by that execrable and perfidious Assassination which was acted on him by his Bloody Servant Phocas; which Murder so unsettled and disordered all those hinges which sustained the Frame of the Grecian Empire, that these Avares and their Commanders taking the Advantage of its intestine Distractions, not only reduced Hungary to their subjection, but likewise so extended their Conquests, that in the Reign of Phocas abovesaid, and the Emperor Heraclius, they Foraged to the Gates of Constantinople; and having thus broken the Power of the Greeks, they next Assaulted the Goth● and Gepidae, who yet possessed some part of Hungary; and after many Conflicts and Disputes with these tougher Nations about their Title, they supplanted these also, and asserted the entire Possession to themselves; and here they settled in a quiet and undisturbed Residence, until the Government of Charles the Great; and then he having like a Whirlwind, cast out those Nations which opposed him, shivered these into a wild Dispersion, and by his Victorious Arms dislodged them from the Possession of this Kingdom; after their Exit this Province was subservient to the Commands of the Germane Emperors; until Arnulphus being Assaulted by the fierce Impressions of Suantobogius King of Moravia, called in the Hungars, a People of Scythia, wandering in Sarmatia Europaea, and not tied or fixed to any certain abode, to his support and Assistance, and they so generously crushed the Attempts, and repulsed the Assaults given to the Emperor and his Armies, that to reward so signal and generous performances, Arnulphus Invested them in the Possession of Pannonia, and by a grateful elevation advanced Casala their Leader, to the Title of Duke of this Province; and he to perpetuate to Posterity the Memory of this Magnificent Donation, discarded the Ancient Name of Pannonia, and imposed that of Hungary (an Appellation extracted from the People above mentioned) upon it; and from him it came down to his great Grandchild Stephen the fourth Duke of Hungary, in whom that Title ceased, and was improved to the more eminent Dignity of King; which Office by the transmission of Descent, passed along to his Successor Stephen the fourth of that Name King of Hungary; and he determined in Mary his sole Heir, who by Matching with Charles the I am, Son of Charles' K. of Naples, linked the Crown of Hungary to his Patrimony; and in his Descendant Line it resided until the Sceptre of this Kingdom came to be grasped by his Successor Ludovicus or Lewis, who concluding in Daughters and Coheirs, Marry the eldest being Wedded to Sigismond the Emperor, brought this Crown about the Year 1387. to acknowledge his Sceptre and signory; and he left Issue, Elizabeth Daughter to them two, and she by Espousing Albert of Austria, planted the Crown of Hungary on his Temples; and from him it devolved to Elizabeth his Daughter by this Alliance, who was Affianced to Ladislaus the second, Son of Casimir the fourth King of Poland, who in her Right was justly entitled to the Hungarian Diadem, and left it to his Son Ladislaus or Lewis, infortunately slain at the Battle of Mohats by the Turks, about the Year 1526. upon whose Decease without Issue, Ferdinand Brother to Charles the fifth, in Right of Anne his Wife, who was Sister and Heir to Lewis abovesaid, was Invested with the Crown of Hungary; and from him the Sceptre of this Kingdom was transported by the Devolution of several Descents to Ferdinand the third Emperor of Germany, who upon his late Decease hath left it to be wielded by his Son and Heir Leopoldus Ignatius, who now is placed on the Hungarian Throne.   

Croatia.  
CROATIA is bounded on the East with Bosnia, on the West with Carniola, on the South with Contado di Zara, anciently Named Liburnia, on the North with Windischland. The Reason why the Name was imposed, is not obvious in Authors, only it is generally asserted it was fixed on it by the Sclaves when they made their first Eruption on this Country, when they disseised the Goths who supplanted the Romans, who had before rooted out and dislodged, by several multiplied Conquests, the ancient Inhabitants called the Liburni and Illyrij, mingled with some allay of the neighbouring Nations, or rather Colonies of the Japodes, the Scirtari, the Mazai, the Peruistae, the Derrij, Ceraunij, Daursii, Vardae, Siculotae, Sardiotae, and others of more despicable Estimate. But long the Sclaves had not settled in this Province, but their Disorders unsettled them; for by their Mutinies and Rebellions against their Governors, which concluded still in their slaughter and Ruin, they filled the State with Anarchy and Vicissitude, and were never calm or fixed, until the several Tribes to allay this Distemper, had Princes who succeeded one another in a more Regular Method, under the Title of Kings of Croatia; and in this Capacity it remained until the Year 970. when having worried and harrassed their Neighbours by Piracies and other acts of Devastation, the Venetians, inflamed by these Affronts, to expiate their Depredations with a just Revenge, in several Conflicts so embased and retrenched their Power, that Zelamirus the last King, Deceasing without Issue, bequeathed the Kingdom to his Wife, and she by a willing Donation transferred her Interest to her Brother Ladislaus the Saint, King of Hungary, so that it hath had its Title ever since so involved and wound up in the Fate and Fortune of Hungary, that by Ann the Sister and Heir of K. Lewis, who perished in the Ruin of the Battle of Mohatz,, it accrued to Ferdinand the first Emperor of Germany; and from him by the Traverses of several Descents, did it pass along, until at last it is now come to confess the Sovereignty of Leopoldus Ignatius now Emperor of Germany.   

Windischland.  
WINDISCHLAND is chained in on the East with part of the lower Hungary, on the West with Carniola or Karnt on the North with the River Dravus, on the South with Croatia.  
It was anciently esteemed a Limb of Pannonia Inferior, as in more modern Times a parcel of the Province of Savia. The ancient Inhabitants were the Winithi or Vendi, who being swallowed up in the frequent mixtures of their Confining Neighbours the Sclaves, were esteemed a Branch of that Powerful and spreading Nation; but still to preserve the Name of their first Original the Denomination of Windischland was imposed on this Province, which since by the Sale and conveyance above mentioned, made by Zelamirus to Uladislaus the Saint, hath been so linked with Croatia, that as it hath had still the same Successors, so at this instant it owns no other Sceptre, but that of Leopoldus Ignatius now Emperor of Germany.   
FINIS.