a succus lapidescens and makes a gray Stone It is within two hours going of Bellacherqua or Cursumnè where I observed a Convent and an old Church with two handsom Towers From whence passing over the Hill Jasnebatz we came to Eshelleck between the two Morava's and so by a Castle upon a Hill near unto which is a noted Convent wherein is kept the body of Kenez Lazarus and the body of St. Romanus and so proceeded But I must not forget to say something of Larissa THE DESCRIPTION OF LARISSA AND THESSALY LARISSA is the chief City of Thessaly seated by the River Peneus the chief River of that Country Upon the North it hath the Famous Mountain Olympus and on the South a Plain Country It is now inhabited by Christians Turks and Jews hath fair Bezestens divers Turkish Moschea's and Christian Churches in it It is pleasantly seated and upon a rising ground on the upper part whereof stands the Palace of the Grand Seignior which he hath made use of during his residence in this place it is contrived with jetting large Windows on four sides near which he took his repast and pass-time according as the Wind served or afforded the best ventilation It is also an Arch-Bishop's See having divers Suffragan Bishops under it The Reverend Father Dionysius was then Arch-bishop The Church of St. Achilleus is the Cathedral where I heard Divine Service the Arch-bishop being present and standing in his Throne in his Episcopal habit and his Crosier in his hand when three or four of us Strangers came into the Church he sent one to fume us with Incense and â—weet Odours The Grand Seignior kept his Court in this place for some years in order to his Affairs in Candia and for the great convenience of Hunting and Hawking wherein he exceedingly delights When I came away it was said that he would go to Negroponte but he remained at Larissa some months after until he removed to Saloniâ—hi and afterwards to Adrianople The Greeks who are forward to magnifie the Concerns of their Country speak highly of Mount Olympus and Homer would have it to be the habitation of Jupiter and the Gods and to be without Clouds but unto me some part of the Alpes seem much higher and I have seen Clouds above it and in September there appeared no Snow upon it which the high Peaks in the Alpes Pyrenaean and Carpathian Mountains besides many others in Europe are never without And Olympus also was plentifully supplied with it upon the first Rain that fell in that Country it not being unknown to you I suppose that when it rains upon the Valleys at the same time it snows upon high Mountains and this Hill I must confess to be visible at a great distance for I beheld it from Eccisso Verbeni in Macedonia seventy miles from it and it consists not of one rising Peak as it is sometimes described but is also extended a great way in length and makes good the Epithere of Homer Longum tremere fecit Olympum If the word be there taken nor only for high but long This Hill chiefly extending from East to West makes the Inhabitants at the foot of the North and South sides to have a different temper of Air as if they lived in Climes much distant which makes the expression of Lucan very Emphatical Nec metuens imi Borean habitator Olympi Lucentem tot is ignorat noctibus Arcton Paulus Aemylius the Roman Consul winding about this Hill by the Sea-side overcame King Perseus and so conquered Macedonia When King Antiochus besieged Larissa Appius Claudius raised the Siege by great fires made upon part of Mount Olympus the King apprehending thereby that the whole force of the Romans were coming upon him But the Exploit of the Consul Martius upon this Hill was most remarkable and unparallel'd by any since who being sent against King Philip the last of that Name brought his Souldiers over Olympus by passages unknown and such difficult ways that his men were fain to wallow and make hard shift down and his Elephants by strange contrived Engines somewhat like draw-Bridges one under another were let down into the Plains as Sir Walter Rawleigh hath more largely described the same And as the Grand Seignior hath honoured Larissa by a long aboad in it so King Philip of Macedon the last of that Name did the like for we find he passed the Summer at Larissa the same Year when Hannibal took Saguntus in Spain Whether Xerxes were here when his great Army passed through Thessaly towards Thermopylae Histories do not declare But King Philip Father unto Alexander the Great after he had quieted the Illyrians and Pannonians bent his mind upon Greece in order whereto he took the City Larissa upon the River Peneus and thereby got so good footing in Thessaly that he made great use of the Thessalians in the following Wars with Greece Before the Battle of Pharsabia as Caesar delivers Scipio lay with a Legion in this City and this was the first place unto which Pompey retired after his Overthrow according to that of Lucan Vidit prima tuae testis Larissa ruinae Nobile nec victum fatis caput And not staying there he went along the River and taking Boar went out to Sea and was taken in by great Ship then ready to weigh Anchor The River Peneus which runs by Larissa is the chiefest in Thessaly and into which most of the other Rivers run arising from Mount Pindus and running into the Sinus Thermaicus or Gulf of Salonichi passing by the famous Valley of Tempe and running between Mount Olympus and Ossa into the Sea In that famous Expedition against the Graecians Xerxes would have made his entrance by this way for Herodotus delivers that he failed from Thermae now Salonichi unto the mouth of the River Peneus to observe if there were any passage or any could be made to enter into Thessaly and finding upon enquiry that the River had no other passage and that it could not be turned he said That the Thessalians had done wisely to yield and make their peace with him for by stopping of the River Peneus Thessaly might have been drowned I found the Epithete of Homer very agreeable unto this River for it hath a clear stream and bottom and the Fable of Apollo and Daphne the Daughter of Peneus who was turned into a Bay-Tree had a proper Scene in this place for on the Banks of the River Bay-trees grow plentifully unto this day There is an handsome Stone Bridge over this River consisting of Nine Arches and peculiarly contrived with holes and passage in the solid parts between the Arches to afford some passage unto the water when it is high and hinder the bearing down of the Bridge in high waters and great floods The City being full many Turks had their Tents in the Fields by the River side and lower Grounds which being of various colours and not far from a large Moschea and
wherein their manner of hunting and working may be observed A Picture of our Saviour the Hatches of which are writing or written and contain the story of his Passion Bevers taken in the River Elbe A Picture of the murther of the Innocents done by Albert Durer Pictures of divers strange Fowls A Greenland Boat The Skins of white Bears Tigres Wolves and other Beasts And I must not omit the Garter of an English Bride with the story of it of the Fashion in England for the Bridemen to take it off and wear it in their Hat which seemed so strange to the Germans that I was obliged to confirm it to them by assuring them that I had divers times wore such a Garter my self Leaving this busy and trading City of Leipsick I directed my Journey unto Magdeburg and travelled through a plain Country between the River Sala and the Elbe by Landsberg nigh to Petersdorff where there is a small Hill which overlooks all the Country next to Koehten the Residence of the Prince of Anhalt then to Caln and over the River Sala before it runs into the Elbe which arising at Mount Fichtelberg now hastens towards it Fichtelberg is a considerable Mountain near which are divers Mines Baths and Mineral-waters of which Gasper Bâ—uschius hath written a Description And from it arise four Rivers running to the four quarters of the World The Maine or Maenus towards the West the Nab or Nabus towards the South the Aeger towards the East and the forementioned Sala towards the North. These four afterwards fall into the three greatest Rivers of Germany the Danube the Rhine and the Elbe Then to Sals or Saltz a place noted for Salt-springs and that night to Magdeburg Parthenopolis or Magdeburg is seated by the River Elle formerly the Metropolitan City of Germany now under the Marquiss of Brandenburg of very great Circuit but little more than half built again since it was sacked and burnt by Tilly and Thirty six thousand persons put to the Sword and destroyed I could not but observe the ruinous and destructive effects of the late wars in many parts of Germany but not in any so great and flourishing a place as this And a man might think that after this great destruction of Houses and People this place should not be able to stand a Siege yet a few years after it was besieged by General Hatzfield unto whom Bannier the Swede not being able to relieve it it was yielded The Cathedral Church is very fair and built like an English one by the Emperor Otho the First and his Empress Editha an English Woman Daughter unto King Edmund whose Effigies in Stone I saw in the Church with nineteen Tuns of Gold by her which she gave thereto And to say the truth English money hath done great things in Germany for hereby or with a good part thereof this Church was built or endowed Leopoldus Duke of Austria built the old Walls of Vienna with the ransom of King Richard the First whom he detained in his return through Austria from the Holy Land King Edward the First sent a great Sum of Money unto the Emperor Adolphus for the raising of Souldiers in Germany which the Emperor employed in purchasing a great part of Misnia for himself The Lutheran Churches are handsom and their Pulpits are extraordinary noble and richly set off as I observed through all Saxony Norimberg and where they are Masters of the Places and have not their Churches only by permission here they shewed me in the Cathedral Church of St. Maurice the Statua's of the five wise Virgins smiling and of the five foolish Virgins lamenting which are very well expressed They shewed me also two odd Reliques which they still kept as Rareties that is the Bason wherein Pilate washed his hands when he declared himself free from the Blood of our Saviour and the Ladder whereon the Cock stood when he crowed after St. Peter's denying of Christ In the Ruines of the Cloister of the Augustines there is still to be seen Luther's Chamber his Bedstead and Table and upon the Door are these German Verses Dis war Lutheri Kammerlin Wan er in 's Clâ—ster kam herin Gedachnis halb wird noch itzund Herin gesehen sein Bettespund i. e. Luther did lodge within this little Room When first he did into the Cloister come In memory whereof we still do keep The Bedstead within which he us'd to sleep I lodged at Magdeburg in an old man's House who would tell me many stories of the burning of the Town the cruelties and bloody usage of the people who were destroyed without exception The Nuns many of them being drowned in the River Elbe Alter which some observed that Count Tilly never prospered in his Wars He told me also that Dureus lodged with him who was employed by King Charles the First to endeavour a reconciliation between the Lutherans and Calvinists in Germany and to unite them if possible We were now in the Territory of the Elector of Brandenburg Fridericus Wilhelmus Great Chamberlain of the Empire who is in effect possessed of Magdeburg and next unto the Austrian Family is the most potent Prince in Germany being able to raise great Armies and his Dominions so large that they are reckoned to extend two hundred German miles in length from the further part of Prussia unto Cleve but they lay not together but interspersed with many other Princes Countries Howsoever a Horse-man may so order his Journey as to lie every night in one of the Electors Towns in travelling from one end of his Territories to another I had now left the pure German Language behind me for at Magdeburg comes in another kind of German called Plat-Deutch Broad-Dutch Niedersachsische or the Language of lower Saxony a great Language spoken in the North part of Germany They speak it at Hamburg Dantzick â—ubeck and many great Cities But they can converse with the other High-dutch and with some difficulty also with the Netherlanders the one speaking in his Language and the other replying in his At this City of Magdelurg was performed the first Turnament that was in Germany which was opened in the year 635. by the Emperor Henry Surnamed the Fowler who coming from the War of Hungary exceedingly satisfied with the Nobility would oblige them to exercise themselves in handling their Arms and managi g their Horses and therefore instituted these Sports whereby the Nobility was powerfully attracted to Valour and Gallantry and induced to perfect and accomplish themselves in all kind of Chevalry No new Nobility no Bastard no Vsurper none guilty of High Treason no Oppressor of Widows and Orphans none born of Parents whereof one was of base Extraction and Ignoble no Heretique Murderer Traytor no Coward that had run away from the Battel nor indiscreet Person that had given offence to Ladies by word or deed were admitted to this Honour nor above One of the same Family at a time Princes came into the Lists with four Squries
Party bathes Then if he be a Subject of the grand Seignior's or it be the Custom of his Country he hath his head shaved and if a young man his beard except the upper Lip next the Barber rubs his Breast Back Armes and Legs with an hair Cloth while he either sitteth or lieth with his face downward then washes his head with Soap and after throws cold Water upon him all over his Body and then he walks in the steam of the Bath for a time The Germans call this City Offen and some will have it founded by Buda the Brother of Attila the Famous King of the Hunnes And to speak the truth among all the numerous Countries and Places Conquered by that Warlike Nation they could not choose out indeed a nobler Seat to build a City in where besides the advantage of their natural Baths and Stoves this being placed upon the Banks of the greatest River in Europe where it runs in one entire Stream and the City rising up by degrees to the top of Hills affording from most Streets of the Town a Prospect of twenty Miles or more on the other side of the Danube as far as ones eye can reach with the view of Pest and the long Bridge of Boats and the beautiful fruitful Country about it renders it most exquisitely pleasant and delightful and was the Royal Seat of the Hungarian Kings and Queens till that Solyman the Magnificent entered it with his Sons Selimus and Bajazet on the Thirteenth of â—ugust in the Year One Thousand Five Hundred Forty One and made a Decree that Buda should be from that day kept by a Garrison of Turks and the Kingdom converted into a Province of the Turkish Empire and the Queen and her young Son be sent into the Country of Lippa beyond the River Tibiscus at a little distance from Buda or Offen there is another Place called old Offen conceived to be Sicambria of old where the Sicambrian Souldiers quartered in the time of the Romans and some Antiquities and Inscriptions have been taken notice of in that place Over against Buda upon the Eastern-shoar of Danubius stands the City Pest being Quadrangular and seated upon a Plain and by â—eason of its Wall and the Towers of the Mosches makes a handsom show from Buda It gives the name unto the County or Comitatus Pesthiensis Hungaria being divided into Counties like England between this place and Buda the handsom Bridge of Boats is above half a Mile long The habit of the Turkish Women seemed new and strange to me Breeches almost to their feet a kind of Smock over them and then a long Gown with their Head-dress which setches about covering their face except their eyes and makes them look like Penitents but it was not unpleasant unto me as taking away the occasion of Pride and Folly though otherwise it can have no good grace in a stranger's fancy During our Stay at Buda we went into a Turkish Convent where the Prior or Superior called Julpapa or Father of the Rose with some of his Brethren brought us into a large Room like a Chappel and entertained us with Melons and Fruit at parting we gratified them with some pieces of Silver which were kindly accepted The Julpapa had his Girdle or Ceinture embossed before with a whitish Stone bigger than the palm of my hand which was Galactites or Milk-stone whereof they have a great opinion because in their belief Mahomet turned a whole River in Arabia into this kind of Stone We lodged at an old Rascians house where we were well accommodated having from it a fair Prospect over the Danube the long Bridge and Pest and a good part of the Country Divers Turks and some Chiauses resorted unto us where they were treated to their content The Master of the House was thought to hold secret correspondence with a Franciscan Friar of Pest and to give intelligence of Occurrences unto the Ministers of State at Gomora Rab and Vienna he prevailed with me to pen a Letter in Latin and Italian wherein I was not unwilling to gratisie him because it contained nothing besides an account of some Prisoners and the encroachment of the Armenian Merchants upon the Trade As we were riding in the City divers of the common Turks murmured that we should ride where they went on foot But I was pleased to see many Turks to salute Seiginor Gabriel the Emperors Courrier in our Company and to take his hand and put it to their foreheads but was much more delighted with the courteous entertainment of Mortizan Ephendi a person of note and who had been an Envoy extraordinary at Vienna He received us in an handsom large Room and treated us with great kindness saying that he desired our company not to any Feast but to a Treat of Affection and Respect such as might declare that we had conversed like friends and eat and drunk together he called for a stool that I might sit down it being then uneasie to me to sit cross-legged and asked me whether I would learn the Turkish Language or whether I would go to the Port and how I liked Buda and among other questions asked what was the King of Poland's name and when I told him Michael Wisnowitski his reply was s mewhat strange unto me saying Michael that 's a good name that 's the name of the greatest Saint in Heaven except Mary and so having entertained us he dismissed us with good wishes At our return to this place after two days stay the Governor sent us with four and twenty Horse Souldiers into Christendom again these guarded us with great care a day and a night till they saw us safe at Dotis But now leaving Buda we travelled by Land Eastward and passing by the ruines of the King of Hungary's Mint-house by Ham Zabbi Palanka and by Erzin we came to Adom in Turkish Tzan Kurteran or anima liberata so named by Solyman the Magnificent because in his hasty retreat from Vienna he first made a quiet stop at this place and there could think himself secure from any pursuit of the imperial Forces This place was afterwards taken by Graff Palsi from thence we came to Pentole or Pentolen Palanka This or Adom is conceived to be the old Potentiana where the Hunnes invading those parts fought a bloody Battel with the Romans under the conduct of Macrinus and Tetricus but were overthrown From hence to Fodwar in sight of Colocza seated on the other side of the Danube in the road to Temeswar formerly an Arch-Bishops See whereof Tomoreus was Bishop whose rashness conferred much unto the loss of Hungary at the Battel of Mohatz Then by Pax or Paxi unto Tolna formerly Altinum or Altinium where the Hunnes being recruited fought a second Battel obtained the Victory and expulsed the Romans though not without the loss of forty thousand of their own men This hath been a very great place but burnt by the Christians The Hungarians and Rascians who inhabit here living in
large Farm-house not far from thence belonging to a rich Wine-Merchant of Belgrade From hence we travelled by Night to the noted River Morava or Moschius the chief River of this Country which arising above in the Mountains in two streams the one named Morava di Bulgaria the other Morava di Servia after uniting runs into the Danube at Zenderin or Singidunum opposite to the Rascian shoar we passed this River at a place which was broad somewhat deep and rapid and therefore not without some fear and the continued loud prayer of the Chiaus in Turkish and of the Couriers Ora pro nobis This passage put me in mind of the swist River Varus in the Confines of Provence and Italy which I passed on Horse-back with two men going by me on the lower side shoving up my Horse lest the current should bear him down By this River Morava the commodities of Servia and part of Bulgaria are brought into the Danube and so dispersed and up the current of the same River are brought Salt and other commodities from Hungary Austria and the neighbour Countreys Not far from this River was that great slaughter of the Turks by Hunniades who with ten thousand Horse set upon the Turkish Camp by Moon-light slew thirty thousand and took four thousand Prisoners victoriously returning unto his Camp Where he left Vladislaus and George Despot of Servia We arrived at length at Halli Jahisar or Crushovatz in Bulgarian a considerable place where there is an handsom Church with two fair Towers Then travelling the whole day through Hills and Woods we came to Procupie which some will have to be Villa Procopiana in Turkish called Vrchup Here we stayed till the next day being lodged in a Ragusean Merchants house where we were well entertained The Priest being of the Roman Church spake Latine which is a Language not ordinary in these parts and enquiring of me after Latine Books I presented him with one called Manuductio ad coelum which he kindly accepted and gave me a wrought-coloured Handkerchief and some little things of those parts They had also a Physician who had some knowledge of Simples and ordinary Compositions His manner was to go into the Market-place every morning and invite all persons who stood in need of his assistance to resort unto him From hence we came to Lescoa or Lescovia where I could observe little besides a large Tower which seemed to be ancient but without Inscription We passed much of our time at a great Fair which happened to be at that time kept in a large enclosed place with great resort of People where I thought it seasonable to present the Chiaus with a Feather he having lost his the day before and we found some want thereof for hereby we travelled with more Authority through all places This Town is seated upon the remarkable River Lyperitza which may well be called the Maeander of Maesia for it runs â—o winding and crankling between the Hills that in the space of less than twelve hours we passed it ninety times This called to my mind the River Taro in Italy which parting from the Dominions of Parma I passed forty times before I came to Fornovo The next day we travelled over the Mountain Clissura one of the Spurs or Excursions of Mount Haemus We were much surprised at the gallant appearance thereof for the Rocks and Stones of this Mountain shine like Silver and by the light of Sun and Moon for I passed it once by day and another time by night afforded a pleasant glittering show as consisting of Muscovia glass whereof I brought some home with me This Mountain surely cannot be much unlike that mentioned by Olearius in his Travels into Persia between Permeras and Scamachia where he relates that he saw a Mountain of Lapis Specularis which when the Sun shined upon it looked like a heap of Diamonds We descended in a narrow rocky way by the strong Castle of Kolombotz or Golobotz and came unto Vrania seated at the bottom of the Mountain Clissura this is a strong Pass which the Castle commands and locks up the passage The Hills between Servia and Macedonia are a part of Mount Haemus which under several names is thought to extend from the Adriatick to the Euxine Sea admitting of several passages which Philip King of Macedon took a special care to shut up against the Neighbouring Nations Which when he had done he thought himself secure and that from thence no Enemies could come at him except they dropped out of the Clouds Some have thought that from the middle Peaks of Haemus a man might see both the Euxine and Adriatick Seas and King Philip made tryal of it but we find not that he satisfied his curiosity therein nor do I think any hath done it Being upon high Mountains and more inclining to the Adriatick Sea I viewed all about but found that the high Albanian Hills did cut off all long Prospect From Vrania we passed to Comonava near which there is still a Greek Monastery upon the side of the Hills From thence to Kaplanlih or Tigres Town but why so called I could not learn Then to Kuprulih or Bridge-Town where there is a considerable River named Psâ—nia and a good Bridge built over it This Town was casually set on â—ire while we were in it and a great part of it burnt down the fire encreasing much before we got out of it Here we met with many persons who brought the Tribute and a Present of Hawks out of Wallachia unto the Grand Seignior then residing at Larissa From hence by Isbar we came to Pyrlipe first passing the high Mountains of Pyrlipe in Macedonia which shine like Silver as those of Clissura and beside Moscovia Glass may contain good Minerals in their bowels The Rocks of this Mountain are the most craggy that I have seen and massy Stones lye upon stones without any Earth about them and upon a ridge of a Mountain many Steeples high stands the strong Castle of Marco Crollowitz a man formerly famous in these Parts Then through a Plain Country we came to Monaster or Toli a great Place well peopled and pleasantly Seated Here the Sultana who was great with Child at Larissa was designed to be delivered and lye in All accommodations being ordered to that purpose where I afterwards heard she was delivered of a Daughter who lived not long after The Turks who have a high opinion of Alexander the Great would have been glad to have had a Son of the Empire born in Macedonia From hence to Filurina and Eccisso Verbeni where there are Acidulae of good esteem the Springs large and plentiful Before we descended the Hill which leads to this Town we had a sight before us of the famous Mount Olympus about Seventy miles off and on the left hand we saw the Lakes of Petriski and Ostrova they have a Traditiâ—n that one of these Lakes was made by taking great stones out of the side of the Hills whereby the
and thence to Breda they reported his entertainment in Walcheren amounted to fifty thousand Guldens The Women in this Island wear most of them red Cloth and straw-Hats if a Man dies a great bundle of Straw is laid at the Door if a Boy a little one if a Woman the straw lies on the left side of the Door when any woman is brought to bed they fasten a piece of Lawne to the ring and rapper of the Door and make it up into a little baby or puppet finely pleated and in such manner as to distinguish of what sex the young Child is Returning to Middleburg by Land I observed there was a row of Trees round the Town between the moat and rampart where ordinarily there is only a breast-work or a hedge and embarked at Middleburg again and passed down the River by the fort Rammakins and so for the Schelde Sayling up that noble River till we had passed the Fort Frederick Henrick and came to Lillo where we stayed till the Vessel was searched Over against Lillo lies another Fortification called Lifgens hoek the Fort de la croix is the last that belongs to the Hollanders and lies on the North side of the River the Banks are cut nigh to it and the Country drowned for its greater Security The Spanish Forts hereabouts to defend the Frontiers are the Philip the Pearl and the Maria. The River Scaldis or Scheld mentioned by Caesar is a gallant River affording plenty of Fish and convenience for Navigation and passage unto several noted places It arises in the Country of Vermandois passing to Cambray Valencienne so to Tournay or Dornick Oudenard Gaunt Rupelmond and Antwerp and pursuing its course is afterwards divided into two streams whereof the Southern is called the Hont the other runs by Bergen ap Zome and afterward into the Sea between the Isles of Zealand The next day morning we went on our Voyage still up the Scaldis or Schelde and arrived at Antwerp Where I had the good fortune to see Mr. Hartop one very well known in all those parts and of high esteem for his personal strength and valour A Gentleman also so courteous that he makes it his business to oblige strangers he shew'd me many curiosities in this City carrying me with him in his Coach The Walls of Antwerp are very large faced with Brick and Free-stone having divers rows of Trees upon them broad walks and conveniences for the Coaches to make their tour upon The Bastions are not so large as generally they build now a dayes yet after the modern way The Ditch is very broad and deep the Country about it all Gardens The Cittadel is a regular Fortification of five Bastions wherein lies always a Garrison of Spanish Souldiers upon every curtain there are two mounts or Cavaliers and between them below a row of building or lodgings for the Souldiers the ears of the Bastions are cut down and Casamates made or Case matte and Palisado's set round upon the Esplanade the Walls are lined with excellent Brick and Stone nor is there any where a more regular beautiful Fortification of five Bastions that is finished it commands the City the River and the Country besides this Cittadel there is another Fort within the Town near the Schelde to command the River having eight Guns in it called St. Laurence Fort. The Exchange is handsome supported by 36 Pillars every one of a different carving four streets lead unto it so that standing in the middle we see through every one of them The Meer or Largest street is considerable for the water running under it and for the meeting of Coaches upon it every evening to make their tour through the streets of the City which are clean and beautiful at one end of it stands a large Brass Crucifix upon a Pedestal of Marble The Jesuites Church goes far beyond any of that bigness that I have seen out of Italy The Front is noble with the Statua of Ignatius Loyala on the top A great part of the inside of the Roof was painted by Rubens and some of it by Van Dyke there be many Excellent peices of flowers done by Segers a Jesuite the Carving and gilding of all the works is exquisite The Library of the College is great and the Books disposed handsomely into four Chambers the Founder hereof was Godfridus Houtappel whose Monument together with his Wife and Children are worth the seeing in a Chappel on the South side of this Church In the Church of the Carmeli tes is a large Silver Statua of our Lady and models of Cities in stone Onser Lieven-Vrowen Kerck or the Church of our blessed Lady is the greatest in the City and the Steeple one of the fairest in World five hundred foot high one of their feet is eleven of our inches so as it is 459 of our feet In this Church there is much carving and a great number of Pictures highly esteemed among which one piece is much taken notice of drawn by Quintin at first a Smith who made the neat Iron work of the Well before the West door and afterwards to obtain his Mistress he proved a famous Painter his head is set up in Stone at the entrance of the Church with an inscription and this verse Connubialis amor de Mulcibre fecit Apellem I was at the famous Abby of St. Michael pleasantly seated upon the Schelde where among other curiosities I saw a glass which represented the Pictures of our Saviour and and the Virgin Mary collected from the putting together of divers other heads One was represented from a Picture wherein were thirteen faces and another from one of twelve over the blessed Virgin was this Inscription Diva nitet varis expressa Maria Figuris The Countess of Brabant's Tomb who was drowned and her Statua as also the Monument of Ortelius are here shewn Marcarius Simoneus was then Abbot the Monks 63. Near unto the Wharf-gate is the Church of St. Walburgis an English Saint who contributed much towards the conversion of these Countries The Town-house is fair the House built for the East-country Merchants is very stately and large but runs now to ruine in this I saw among other curiosities divers strange Musical instruments which at present are not understood or at least not made use of The Hessen house hath been also formerly considerable The water which they make use of in Brewing is brought by an Aqueduct from Herentall about thirty miles distant from hence and is conveyed into the Town by a large Channel peculiarly walled in by it self where it passes the Ditch in this City are many good collections of Pictures both Ancient and Modern and excellent Miniature or Liming by Gonsol one fine piece which I saw was peculiarly remarkable it being the work of 35 several Masters From Antwerp I passed to Brussels by water changing Boats five times and going through divers locks by reason the Country is so much higher about Brussels and the water
above two hundred foot lower at Antwerp At Fontaine a league and half from Brussels three Rivers cross one another one of them being carried over a bridge The Piazza of Brussels is fair and oblong in figure upon one of the longest sides stands the Town-house and over against it the Kings-house where upon a Scaffold hanged with Velvet Count Egmond and Horne were â—â—headed the whole Piazza being hanged with Black Cloth Upon the top of the Town-house stands St. Michael the Patron of the City in Brass Count Marsin's house formerly belonging to the Prince of Orange hath a fair Court and overlooks a good part of the City but a quarter of it is ruined by Lightning The Thunderbolt or Stone which they affirm to have effected it is bigger than two Mens heads and hangs up upon the door at the entrance The Jesuites Church is handsom and in it the fair white Tower is beautifully gilded at the top The Carmelites Church hath a noble Altar and near unto the Church is the Statua of a pissing boy which is a continual Conduit The Armory was well furnished as we were informed before the Governors of the low Countries sold the Arms and Cassel Roderigo the Governor left it very bare There remains the Armour of Charles the fifth of Duke Albert of the Prince of Parma Ernestus and of the Duke d'Alva and of the Duke Alberts horse who being shot saved his Master and died the same day twelve month Spears for the hunting the wild Boar one with two Pistols The Armour of Cardinal Infante and of an Indian King A Polish musket which carries six hundred paces Charles the Fifth's Sword for the making the Knights of the Golden Fleece and Henry the Fourth's Sword sent to declare war Good Bucklers for Defence and some well wrought especially one with the Battel of Phrrhus and his Elephants and banners taken with Francis King of France at the Battel of Pavia Somewhat like Godfrey of Bouillons shooting the three Pigeons near the Tower of David is the shot which Infanta Isabella made when with an Arrow she killed a Bird in memory whereof a Bird pierced with an Arrow is set upon the top of a Tower in the Court which is large and if the New Buildings and Design were continued it would be very handsome Before the Court stands five brass Statues The Park is pleasant with Trees set in order and adorned with Grotto's Fountains and Water-works which come very near the Italian one piece somewhat imitating Frascati in which all Musical Instruments are imitated and a perpetual motion attempted and on the Front of the Buildings stand the Caesars heads But the Echo is most remarkable which may perfectly be distinguished to ten or twelve Replies The greatest Church is that of St. Gudula in which is her Statua the Devil striving to blow out the Light of her Lanthorn The two Chappels therein are remarkable the one built by Leopoldus very fair on the out-side the other towards the North hath been visited by five Kings in which is the Host which bled being stabbed by the Jews In the Dominican Church is the Monument of the Duke of Cleve and his Dutchess in Corinthian brass But for a New Church that of the Begennes or Pious Maids is very considerable there being Eight hundred of them in this City who have a particular place allotted to them where they have built this milk-white Church The Plague was much in this place at that time three hundred Houses being shut up and Garlands placed on the doors in the middle of which was written IH †S. I saw the English Nunnery and other considerable Buildings And after I had refreshed my self at the Fish-Tavern which is worth the seeing especially for two Rooms in it furnished from top to bottom with very good Pictures I returned to Antwerp Octob. 4. I travelled through an open Country and lodged at Molin brusle The Spanish Souldiers met us upon the Road this day some of them well mounted and armed and begged of us and were well satisfied with a small Benevolence The next day we entred the Country of Liege and passed great Heaths and on the Sixth in the morning arrived at Maestreicht Trajectum ad Mosâ—m or Maestreicht is a strong Town seated upon the Maes four Leagues below Liege The Out-works are very considerable the Wall is old Towards the South-east lies a Hill which arises gently and overlooks part of the Town Under this Hill is one of the noblest Quarries of Stone in the World To secure the Town from the disadvantage it might receive from this Hill there was formerly a Fort built upon it but it hath been long since slighted and they have made out an Horn-work within Musket-shot of it and the Bastion answering to it is made very high to cover the Town On the other side of the River stands Wicke very well fortified also and rather stronger than Maestreicht into which they might retire if the Town should be taken by Storm it being united to Maestreicht by a handsom Bridge over the Maes consisting of Nine Arches All about Wicke the Country is flat there are many Inhabitants in it and a handsom Glass-house The private Houses of Maestreicht are generally covered with a black Slat or Ardoise otherwise not very beautiful The Town-house is fair seated in one of the Piazza's built of white Stone it hath Nine large Windows in a row on each side and within is very well painted by Theodorus van der Schuer who was Painter to the Queen of Sweden In another Piazza is a Fountain rows of Trees and the great Church This Town was besieged and taken from the King of Spain by the Confederate States in the year 1632. October the Seventh I dined at Gollop a small place and came that night to Aken Aix la Chapelle or Aquisgrane an ancient noble City the Inhabitants Courteous and much frequented by reason of its hot Baths of which I shall speak more particularly in my Journey from Colen to London Leaving Aken I travelled towards Juliers or Gulick but it being late before we arrived the Gates were shat up so as we went only under the Walls leaving it on our right hand Near unto Gulick runs a shallow swift River called the Roer At the Mouth of it where it falls into the Maes is seated a considerable Town called Roermonde through which I passed in the year 1673. when Sir Lioncl Jenkens and Sir Joseph Willamson were sent Plenipotentiaries to Cologne in our Journey from Antwerp to that City We then pasâ—ed the Country of Brabant by the way of Thornhaut Weert Roermonde and the next Night passing by Erkelens lodged at Castro or Caster in Gulickland where there are still the remains of an old Castle formerly built for the Defence of that part of the Country Roermonde is seated upon a rising Hill near the River Roer hath a Colledge of Jesuits in it a handsome Piazza and an
being dark before we came to Mospach the Peasants conducted us from Village to Village with bundles of lighted Straw The next day we came to Poxberg where there is an old Castle and in the afternoon reached Morkenthal or Mergetheim the Seat of the Grand Master of the Herrhn Deutchern or the Teutonick Order The Town is well built hath a fair Piazza with a large Fountain in it and a Statue of one of the Grand Masters with a long Corridore from his Palace This Order hath been of great Fame and hath had large Possessions as may be seen in the exact Account of the Teutonick Knights of Prussia made out from the best Authors by my worthy honoured Friend Mr. Ashmole in his Noble Description of the Order of the Garter and as Lewis du May Counsellor unto the Duke of Wirtenberg hath set it down For the Knights Templers and of St. John having fought prosperously against the Infidels raised an Emulation in some German Gentlemen who waited upon the Emperor Frederick the First in his Expedition to the Holy Land to take the Croisado And because they were installed in the Church and Hospital of St. Mary at Jerusalem they were called Marianites Their Order differed nothing from those above-mentioned but in the form and colour of their Cross and was approved by Pope Celestin the Third Afterwards when Jerusalem was taken by Saladin those Knights betook themselves to Ptolemais from whence the Emperor Frederick the Second sent them back into Germany and employed them against the Prussians and Livonians who at that time were still Pagans But by the Valour and Piety of those Knights their Souls were brought into subjection to Christ and their Bodies to the Order which began that War in the year 1220. a little while after these Knights found themselves Masters of a Country of very large Extent which obeyed the Order till the year 1525. at which time Sigismond King of Poland gave the investiture of Prussia unto Albert Marquess of Brandenburg In the year 1563. the Great Master became Secular again and took a part of the Lands subject to the Order with the name of Duke of Curland And Livonia having been the Subject and Theatre of many Wars between the Polanders Muscovites and Swedes these last did at length become Masters of it and have it in possession still So that there is no more remaining of the Teutonick Order but some Commanderies scattered here and there in Germany And the Great Master hath his Seat and Residence at Mergenthal They wear on a white Matle a plain black Cross The Dignity of Grand Master is generally held by some Great and Honourable Person and in the Great Assembly he takes place of al Bishops The present is the Baron of Amring and the Grand Master before him was Leopold William only Brother to the Emperor Ferdinand the Third From hence we travelled to Lauterbach near which we passed through a Wood and found a Noble Church upon the top of a high Hill which being much frequented by Pilgrims they have made handsome stone Stairs from the bottom to the top then to Rotenburg and lodged at Burgperner and the next day by Schantzbach we came to Nurenberg Rotenburg is an Imperial City which some have likened unto Jerusalem for its Situation upon hilly places and many Turrets in it It is Situated near the head of the River Tauber which may be accounted the second River of Franconia passing by Rottingen Lander and Werthaim where it runs into the Main Nurenberg is the fairest City that I saw in Germany the Houses most of them of Free-stone very high and divers of them painted on the outside and adorned with gilded Balls on the top many are of six or seven Stories high Der Herr Peller hath one of the fairest The City is very populous and full of Trade although it stands in a barren Country and wants a Navigable River The three best Churches are the Hospital Church lately built very fair St. Laurence which is very large with two high Steeples in the Front and St. Sebald the best of the three The Body of St. Sebald being laid upon a Cart drawn with Oxen in that place where the Oxen stood still they buried the Body and erected this Church in his Memory In this Church is a Crucisix of Wood very well carved and esteemed at a high rate The Crucisix without the Church is very great and of a black colour and some fancy that the Raht Herrn or Magistrates of the Town have reposited a Treasure within it The Pulpit is well carved and gilded and the whole Church so stately that it may pass in the first rank of Lutheran Churches that Religion being here practised in its splendour The Priest every morning reads the Scripture to the people for half an hour or preaches a Sermon The Town-house is well worth the seeing In it the Hall is spacious as also the Chambers and furnished with good Pictures and Stoves well gilded and painted with white and gold green and gold dark coloured and gold and the like There is one Picture of most of the Great Persons in Germany entertained in the Great Hall another of the three Brothers of Saxony one of an Elephant as big as the life a piece of St. John and St. Mark and another of St. Peter and St. Paul both by Albert Durer but the most rare piece is that of Adam and Eve by the same Master with this Inscription Albertus Durer Almang faciebat post Virginis partum 1507. Another excellent one is that of St. Luke drawing the Picture of our Saviour and the blessed Virgin Over the Gate at the entrance of the Shambles is a large Oxe carved in Wood and painted over with this Inscription Omnia habent ortus suaque incrementa sed ecce Quem cernis nunquam Bos fuitâ—â—ic Vitulus The Castle stand upon a high Hill from whence the Town makes a handsome show In it are observable a very deep well the Emperors Chappel his Picture and the Pictures of the Electors good Night pieces and one of a man behind a white Curtain transparent very well expressed The Armour of Hebbele van Gailinghen the great Sorcerer is here shown and in the Wall of the Castle the marks of his Horses feet when he leaped from thence over the Town ditch The new Fountain was not then finished but the Statua's in Brass made for it were excellent the Sea Horses large the Sea-Nymphs much bigger than the life and N ptune who was to stand on the top is above three yards and a halfhigh When I came first into this place I was not a little surprized to behold the fairness of the Houses handsome Streets different Habits industrious People and neatness in all things more than I had observed in German Cities before and no place hath greater number of curious Artificers in Steel Brass Ivory Wood wherein they work at an extraordinary cheap rate and there are Officers to
met with in one place made me think of Nero's admirable Fish-pond built in the like manner within the Earth We came out again near to a Convent upon the Banks of the River and returned by water to Maestreicht The next day we parted Company Mr. Newton Mr. Ettrick Mr. Grove Mr. Carlton and Mr. Newcomb went for Aken and Colen Mr. Bates and Mr. Daston went up the River again to Liege at which place staying a day or two to find a convenience to pass to Brussels we were nobly entertained at a Dinner with Venison Wild-boar and other Dishes by that worthy Person and Learned Mathematician Franciscus Slusius one of the great Canons of Liege who also continued his high Civilities to us to the last Minute we stayed in Town Leaving Liege we soon came in sight of Tongres or Tungrorum opidum the most ancient place in all these Countries Ortelius would have it to be called of old Atuatuca It was a strong hold before the coming of Julius Caesar into Gaul and was afterwards made a Roman Station and in process of time became so great that Attila the Hun destroyed an hundred Churches in it it being at that time a Bishops See which in the year 498 St. Servasius removed unto Maestreicht Many old Coins and Antiquities are still found here and part of an old Chappel said to be built by St. Maternus Disciple to St. Peter is still remaining When the King of France made his great inroad into the Low-Countries 1672. he borrowed this Town of the Elector of Cologne and then passed on to Maseick where crossing the Country to the Rhine by the sides of these great Rivers Rhine and Maes he made that notable Incursion and quitted not Tongres till he had taken Maestreicht the year following We dined this day at Borchloe and lodged at St. Truyn or St. Truden a handsome little Town so called from a Church and Abbey herein dedicated to that Saint The next day we dined at Tienen or Tilmont on the little River Geet once one of the chief Towns in Brabant but long since decayed In these Plain Countries in many places we saw small Hills or Sepulchral Eminences of the Ground And near unto the Walls of Tienen are three very remarkable ones said to be the Tombs of great Commanders In the Evening we came to Lovain Lovain is the chief City of that quarter of Brabant which comprehendeth Arschot Halen and Judoigne an ancient and large City pleasantly seated upon the River Dele it is of great Circuit and the compass of the wall accounted above four miles about but there are many void Spaces Hills Fields and Gardens within it which makes it very pleasant and delightful There are herein divers good Buildings Convents and Churches the chief whereof is the stately Church of St. Peter the Convent of the Carthusians the Hospital The publick Palace or Senate-house is also Noble It is the great Vniversity of these parts said to have had its beginning about 926. but endowed by John the Fourth Duke of Brabant and confirmed by Pope Martin the Fifth 1425. There are forty three Colleges in it wheâ—eof the four chief are Lilium Falco Callrum Porcus Goropius Becanus a Learned Man and Native of Brussels affirms That no Vniversity in Italy France Germany or Spain is to be compared unto it for its elegant and pleasant Situation The Vniversity is under the Government of a Rector who is in great esteem and honour among them This Vniversity hath produced many Learned Men But neither the Buildings of the Colleges nor their Endowments do equal those of our Vniversities and the Situation thereof seems not to exceed that of Oxford We travelled from hence to Brussels being most part of the way in the sight of the very high Tower of the Church of St. Rombald at Machlin Count Monterei was then Governour of the Low-Countries and resided at Brussels the ordinary Seat of the Governours of the Spanish Netherlands which City he had taken care to fortifie and to make it more tenable if it should be attempted by the French From Brussels we passed to Antwerp where we were handsomely treated by Mr. Wauters and Mr. Hartop and having visited some of our Friends the next day we passed the River Schelde and took Coach in the morning travelling through a fruitful plain flat Country set with rows of Trees in most places and arrived in the evening at Ghent Gaunt Gandavum or Ghent is esteemed to be the greatest City not only of Flanders but of all the Low-Countries and challenges a place amongst the greatest in Europe but at present it decreases and decays rather than encreases And if Charles the Fifth were now alive he could not put Paris into his Gant a greater Glove would not fit that City which is so much increased since his time In Ghent are many noble Convents among which the Jesuites is one of the fairest There is a Cloister also of English Nuns The Cathedral is stately and the Tower belonging to it being very high gives a prospect of a pleasant and fruitful Country round about it There are divers Piazza's large and fair in one of which stands a large gilded Statua of Charles the Fifth Emperor and King of Spain who was born in this City The whole Town is generally well built and the Streets are fair and clean The Inhabitants hereof have been taken notice of to be extreamly given to Sedition and for their sakes a great many other Cities in Europe are punished and have in a manner totally lost their Liberties For the Spaniards to curb the Seditious humour of the People of Ghent were put upon the Invention of building Cittadels in Cities whereby a few Souldiers are able to suppress any Commotion or beat down the Town so that here I saw the first Cittadel that was built in Europe by Charles the Fifth It is not large and the Bastions little and though of a Regular Figure yet not so convenient as those of latter days since that Art hath been improved From Ghent we passed by water about Twenty English miles to Bruges a very elegant large City and formerly a place of very great Trade being within three Leagues of the Sea so that from the tops of their highest Buildings the Ships under Sail are visible and at the same time a Fleet of Ships and a large Territory of a fruitful pleasant Country comes under your eye It is fortified with Works of Earth and deep Ditches The Convents are numerous The artificial Cuts of Water from this Town to all places makes it of easie access and though it hath no Port the Passage from hence to Ostend by water is short And they are at present upon a Design of bringing Ships up to this City Ostend is about Ten English miles from Bruges seated upon the waves of the German Ocean which wash it continually on one side And they have now contrived it so as to let
was born Mantua Musarum domus atque ad sidera cantu Andino evectus Mantua the Muses dwelling all along But rais'd up to the Stars by th' Andine song The Palazzo del Te at no great distance from one of the gates of the City is well worth the seeing where the hall is painted with the history of the Gyants storming of heaven and so artificially roofed and vaulted that it makes a double whispering place where at the opposite corners of the room every little sight and whispering is distinctly heard and in no other place and he that stands between hears nothing of it I had formerly been in whispering places at Padoa Montpellier and elsewhere but those were single ones made by the contrivance of the roof upon this rule That the Angle of Incidence is always equal to the Angle of Reflection and the whole top of the room so proportioned as to reflect all to one point that comes from another opposite to it but these far exceed them all being contrived with a double and cross Arch and make a large double cross whispering place Threescore years before the Trojan war Eteocles and Polynices sons to Oedipus King of Thebes contending for the Soveraignty that City was invaded besieged and ruined by the Greeks when Mantho the great Theban Sorceress seeing that her Country was destroyed fled first into Asia where she built a Temple and dedicated it to Apollo then sayled into Italy and went to Tyberinus King of the Tuscans by whom she had a Son named Ocnus who alterwards passed the Apennines the Po built this City and called it after his Mothers name according to the Mantuan Poet. Ille etiam patriis agmen ciet Ocnus ab oris Fatidicae Manthus et Tusci silius amnis Qui muros matrisque dedit tibi Mantua nomen The Galli Cenomani afterwards beat out the Tuscans and made Reto fly into that part of the mountains since called the Rhetian Alpes The Romans overthrew the Gauls and Mantua followed the various Fortune of the Western Empire till the Emperour Otho the second gave it to Tedaldo Count of Canossa Boniface succeeded and Beatrix his Countess then the Countess Mathildis who made great wars in Italy sided with the Pope against the Emperor and left large possessions and revenues to the Church The Family of the Bonacolsi in process of time obtained the Lordship of this City Passavino the last of that stock was slain in the market place by the people in the year 1328 under the command of Lodovico di Gonzaga the first Lord of Mantua of this Family that reigns at present Frederick the second of this line was made Duke of Mantua by Charles the fifth and Vincent the first was afterwards created Duke of Montferrat The present Duke is Carolus Ferdinandus Gonzaga Duke of Mantua and Montferrat and of Niveronis and Retelois in France perpetual Prince and Vicar of the holy Empire Marquess of Gonzaga Viadana Gazolo and Dozolo Count of Rodiga Lord of Luzara and chief of the order of the Knights of the Blood of Christ which order was instituted in the year 1608 by Vincent Duke of Mantua who had been three times in Hungary Austria and Croatia in the wars against the Turks From Mantua we travelled to the great River Eridanus Padus or the Po which arises from mount Viso or Mons Vesulus one of the highest mountains of the Alpes towards France and rowling down in divers branches at first without any fixed channel unites at the foot of the mountain and falls under ground and after a mile or two appears again and running with a swift course through Lombardy after it hath received thirty Rivers more which fall from the Alpes Apennine discharges it self by divers mouths into the Adriatick sea and this being by far the greatest River in Italy it is mightily magnified by the Latin Poets who would have it no less than the Nile and the Danube and mention it by the name of the King of Rivers and the greatest in the world And it must be confessed that it is a noble flood and that it is the only River that hath a place in Heaven or that hath the glory to be made a constellation and placed in the Chambers of the South near to the stormy tempestuous Orion andsince that it is adorned with thirty eight stars which shine visibly in the Firmament to be called Starry and Celestial are but its due Terms of honour but sure there are many Rivers upon earth in Europe Asia Africa and America that far exceed it The Po being very swift we passed it by boat not without some peculiar Contrivances and Engines and the kind assistance the sisters of Phaeton who mourn here for the dismal fall of their Brother when Jupiter struck him down from Heaven into the Po. Excipit Eridanus fumantiaque abluit ora Ediranus did his Limbs imbrace And wash'd his smoaking Sun-burnt face And having stood so long by thebanks of this River they may be though to be more conversant with its Course and Passages They tye ropes in this Country to the tops of high Poplars one end on one side of the River and the other on the other or build high Beacons or Posts like those made use of in the Strapado on each side of the River and upon a line fixed to them they put a running Pully to which they fix another long rope and to the further end of this rope the boat is tyed and by steering the head of the boat obliquely cross the River the force of the Stream makes the pully run from one side to another by which means we passed it without labour or trouble Sine Remig is ictu Concava Trajecto Cymba rudente vehit A rope drawn through a Pully soon convey'd Us cross the Po without the Rowers aid And a small boat without broad sayls and oars Did gently waft us to the neighbouring shores I had formerly passed the Po as high as Turin and at another time went by boat through a cut made out of the Po into the Athesis and once I travelled for some space together on horse-back at the bottom of a branch of this River where the banks being broken down it had forsaken its channel The next town we came to was Guastala belonging to a Soveraign Prince the Duke of Guastala a handsom small Town at present but formerly larger and more considerable when there were two General Councils held here one under Pope Vrban the second and another under Pope Pascal the second From Guastala we travelled by Gualtea to Brescello or Brixellum a compact close strong Town fortified after the modern way upon the side of the Po An old Roman place of habitation where the Emperor Otho staid in his journey against Vitellius when after the conflict at Labiuta then called Bebriacum he took a resolution of dispatching himself not out of any despair of overcoming all difficulties but rather out of
A Brief Account OF SOME TRAVELS In divers Parts of EUROPE Viz. HUNGARIA SERVIA BULGARIA MACEDONIA THESSALY AUSTRIA STYRIA CARINTHIA CARNIOLA and FRIVLI Through a great part of GERMANY AND The Low-Countries Through Marca Trevisana and Lombardy on both sides the Po. With some Observations on the Gold Silver Copper Quick-silver Mines and the Baths and Mineral Waters in those Parts AS ALSO The Description of many Antiquities Habits Fortifications and Remarkable Places The Second Edition with many Additions By EDWARD BROWN M. D. LONDON Printed for Benj. Tooke at the Sign of the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXXV TO THE READER A Great part of these Papers were Printed eight years since and some of them have seen the light no less than twelve But since that the Copies have been disposed of and the Impressions sold the Bookseller hath thought fit to Reprint them together In order to which whilst he gave me the Opportunity to read them over I could not omit the making of divers Additions and adjoyning another Journey through the delightful Country of Lombardy Calling to mind the Magnificence of some Roman Antiquities and the Remarkable Actions of great Men in those Quarters Whereby I might give a short Account of the strange Fate and various Revolutions of divers of their ancient Cities As to the natural Curiosities and Observations in the first parts it would be unnecessary to make any Introduction they having now run through so many hands I can only say that what you had in scattered parts before are here compacted together in one intire Volume and hope for the same kind Acceptance The number of the Cuts are increased and the Figures of divers Habits Medals and Antiquities added The Particular Description of which in this Preface would prevent the satisfaction of considering them in their proper places to which I shall refer you wishing you the same pleasure in viewing them there that I have had formerly in beholding them in their due Situations and in the Contemplation and Description of them afterwards Edward Brown THE General Description OF HUNGARY HOW far HVNGARIA exceeds other Countries of Europe in Mines Baths and Mineral-waters because I have elsewhere given a particular account of such Subjects I shall at present omit their repetitions and at this time add some other Considerables and in the first place say That it aboundeth not only in those but is also the best Rivered Country in Europe nor doth any Region thereof afford so many noble and useful Streams On the East side it is washed with that Noble and Navigable River Tibiscus or the Teisse arising in the Country of Maromorus at the foot of the high Carpathian Hills which having received the Mariscus or Marisa and many Rivers into it runneth into the Danube between Varadine St. Peter and Belgrade By this River comes down the great quantity of natural Stone-salt brought from many Salt-mines in Hungary and Transylvania whereof a great part is brought up the Danube to all Places as far as Presburg it being prohibited to be carried any higher least it should hinder the sale of the Austrian Salt upon which the Emperor hath an Impost and no small quantity also down the Danube and afterwards up the River Morava into Servia and neighbouring Countries On the West side runs the River Arabo or Rab rising in Styria and running into the Danube by Javrinum or Rab. A considerable River receiving the Lauffnitz Pinca Guncz and other Rivers into it And now lately more famous for the defeat of the Turks under Achmet the Grand Visier by the Imperial Forces at St. Gothard nigh this River The discourse hereof was fresh when I was at the City of Rab and many I found who saw the Corps of Men and Horses floating in that Stream Upon the Southern Parts are considerable the River Dravus or Drau which arising in the Territory of Saltzburgland a part of old Noricum runs a long course through Carinthia and Hungary and falls into the Danube near Erdoed or old Teutoburgium after it hath passed from its head about three hundred Miles About its entrance into Hungary it receiveth into it the long River Mur and far above this nearer its original I found it a considerable Stream having passed the same by a good Bridg as high as Villach or Villaco and between Clagenfort and Mount Leubell in Carinthia I passed the same also by two long Wooden Bridges and an Island in the middle between them On the same side is also the noble River Savus or the Sau which arising in Carinthia entreth the Danube at Belgrade continuing a long course of about three hundred Miles and swelling by the accession of many good Rivers Being at Carnodunum or Crainburg an handsom Town not far distant from the Head it appeared a considerable Stream which is afterwards so enlarged as to have remarkable Islands in it as that of Metubaris to the West of old Sirmium and that of Segestica or Sisseck by Zagrabia containing of old a strong and famous Town unto which the old R mans brought their Commodities from Aquileia and so by Land to Labach or Nauportus from thence unto Segestica and forwards for the supply of those Provinces and their Garrisons and Forces in them Between these two noble Currents of the Dravus and the Savus lyeth a fair and long Inter-amnian Country wherein Solyman the Magnificent chose a safe retreat until he came to Belgrade when with about four hundred thousand Men which he brought to take Vienna he dared not to meet the Forces of Charles the Fifth then encamped before that City Upon the North part of Hungary are the Rivers arising from the Carpathian Mountains which divide Poland and Hungary more particularly the River Gran which runs into the Danube over against Strigonium or Gran and also the River Waag or Vagus which comes in above Comara which Stuckius an ocular Witness conceiveth to equal the Po in Italy I am sure at Freistat above fifty Miles before it dischargeth into the Danube it is a very large Stream and hath a long Bridge over it part whereof was broken down by the Ice the same year when I was there And far above it nearer the head there is also a considerable Bridge at Trenschin a fair Town which gives the name unto that Country and much resorted unto for its hot Baths and Mineral Waters having no less than thirty two plentiful Springs The great Danubius or Thonau continues its Stream quite through Hungary and no one Province hath a larger share of it for accounting from the City of Vlme in Swabenland or Suevia where it beginneth to be Navigable it continues a long course passing by Ingolstad Ratisbone Straubing Passau Lintz and Vienna unto Presburg from whence through Hungary it makes a course of above three hundred Miles before it passes by Belgrade To omit the long Stream thereof in its farther progress when having washed the Shoars of Servia Bulgaria Wallachia and Moldavia with many
mouths it entreth the Euxine or Bla k-Sea having in this long passage drank in above sixty considerable Rivers and in sober account performed a course of above fifteen hundred Miles Whereby it may tolerably admit the double name of Danubius and Ister properly applyed unto distinct Parts thereof So that altho I have seen the Danubius for about seven hundred Miles yet cannot tell whether I may certainly say that I have seen any part of Ister For Strabo ascribes that name unto it below its Cataract or great fall which happenes about Axiopolis in Moesia inferior or Bulgaria But Appianus and later Account define it to begin at its concurrence with the Savus at Belgrade and if so yet we had but a short sight of the Ister which travelling more up into Servia we were fain to leave at Hissargich And of this Ister or lower part of the River many things are spoken and related by the Ancients which are not so plainly verifiable of Danubius An Aqua Duct near Scopia Besides these large Rivers above named there are some others taken notice of also by Pliny and esteemed Huvii non ignobiles The Sarvizza or Orpanus arising near Vesprinium and passing by Alba Regalis runs into the Danube which I passed over at Jeni or nova Palanka The River Walpo or Vulpanus arising above the Town of Walpo which was taken by Solyman in his march to Alba Regalis or Stull-Weissenburg We passed over it by Walcovar and the River Bosneth or Bacunâ—hus which runs into the Savus not far from old Sirmium As this Country excels in Rivers so has it also many considerable and long Bridges There is a long Bridge of Boats over the Danube between Strigonium and Barchan which is the first Bridge on this River which we meet with from the great Wooden Bridge at Vienna which takes above two thousand Trees to plancher it Upon the shoar of St. Andrew's Island by Virouichitz I took notice of a ruine of Stones where the Turks told us there had been formerly a Stone Bridge but the Turks in these Parts think it best to make Bridges of Boats which they so handsomly contrive as to open a passage for Boats and Vessels of burthen to pass so that he that beholds those in these Parts will not wonder at the Bridges of Boats at Rouen and Grenoble in France Between Buda and Pest there is a Bridge of Boats over the Danube where it runs all in one Stream of above half a Mile long the best I have seen of this kind and if Sigismund had lived to effect his Design of making a notable Stone Bridge in this Place there had probably been no Bridge in Europe to compare with it There is also a Bridge at Calocza formerly an Archbishop's Sea and a handsome and well-contrived Bridge by Walcovar over the River Walpo But that of Esseck or Mursa of old is scarce to be parallel'd with any other built partly over the Dravus and partly over the Fenns which are often overflowed The Bridge is five Miles at least in length having Towers built upon it at the distance of every quarter of a Mile It is handsomly railed on each side and supported by great Trees erected under it nine or ten in a rank unto each Arch. That part of the Bridge which was built over the Dravus was burnt down by Count Nicholas Serin in the late Turkish Wars between Leopoldus the First Emperor of Germany and Sultan Mahomet the Fourth and is now supplyed by a Bridge of Boats somewhat below the former which I passed over in September 1669. The Turks did not rebuild it in the same place because the Supporters below the Water when the fire ceased were so strongly fastned and hard that it would have cost them too great a labour to get them up By this Bridge the Turkish Forces pass into Hungary and at this place the unfortunate King Ludovicus thought to have stopped the Turkish Army which marched under Solyman And lately Count Serini undertook a long March to burn the same to prevent Supplies from coming to the Visier who was with his Army in other parts of Hungary And as there are still many Bridges over the upper Danube so have there also been in Old time upon the lower or Istrian part thereof Darius King of Persia made a Bridge of Boats over that Mouth of the Ister called Ostium Sacrum Nicephorus relates that Constantine built a Stone Bridge over it But the most remarkable and admirable Bridge was that built by the Emperor Adrian and described by Dion the Historian whereof there are still some Ruines not far from Severin about twenty Hungarian Miles from Belgrade This Bridge consisted of twenty Piles of square Stone of an hundred foot high besides the Foundation of sixty foot in breadth and the distance between each of them one hundred and seventy foot and conjoyned by Arches upon the which was this Inscription PROVIDENTIA AUG VERE PONTIFICIS VIRTUS ROMANA QUID NON DOMAT SUB JUGUM ECCE RAPITUR ET DANUBIUS And as a Memorial hereof many Roman Coins were stamped and some in Silver not yet rare among us with this Inscription DANUVIUS No River affordes so large and peopled Islands Between Vicegrad and Vacia there is a fair and large Island called St. Andrew's Island Another a little below Buda against the West side of which stands Adom extending forty Miles and exceeds that of the Isle of Man containing many Villages in it upon part whereof the Turkish Forces encamped when they came to raise the Christian Siege at Buda and was the great omission and error of the Christians that they fortified not in that Island Another against Mohatch another about the entrance of the Dravus and a new one hard by Belgrade made by the settling of the Silt or Ouse brought down by the Savus and the Danube where thirty five years ago there was no face of an Island but is now full of Trees how this may advantage or disadvantage Belgrade future times may shew But the Turks are so secure and fearless of any Forces that may ever hurt them in these Parts that they have no consideration of such things And allowing the River Leyta to be the boundary of Austria the Island of Schut or Insula Ciâ—uorum will prove most considerable of any containing many good Towns as Comora Sumarien besides very many Villages And passing through it I found it well peopled and ordered against Incursions wherein there have been divers formerly made by Turks Tartars and rebellious Forces No River whatsoever so far from its discharge into the Sea affordes more Naval Vessels of strength and sufficiency for Fight nor hath any afforded the like signal Engagements and Encounters at this distance from the Sea The Emperor hath some Vessels of War handsomly built like Gallies at Vienna Presburg and Comora and an Arsenal for provision of many upon occasion The Turk at Strigonium Buda Belgrade and other places below At the Siege of
Belgrade Mahomet the great brought two hundred Ships and Gallies well appointed up the Stream And the Hungarians sent so many down the Stream from Buda that after a sharp encounter they took twenty of the Turkish Vessels and forced the rest on Shoar near the Camp so that to prevent falling into the Enemies hand Mahomet was fain to cause them to be set on fire The Christians had a great Fleet at the Siege of Buda when all miscarried under Count Regensdorff For the History delivers that the Christian Fleet consisted of four and twenty Galliots about fourscore small Pinnaces and little less than an hundred Ships of Burthen and other great Boats By the help of such Naval Vessels Wolfgandus Hodder did a good piece of Service when Solyman besieged Vienna for he came out of Presburg with armed Vessels and sunk the Vessels sent from Buda with the great Ordnance to batter the Walls of Vienna And as this Country aboundeth in Rivers so is it not without some notable Lakes as the Lake Balaton or Platsee or Volcaea of old extending a great length between Vesprinium and the Dravus with some strong Forts upon it This Lake put a stop unto the cruelty of Solyman's Souldiers who destroyed all from Buda unto the Lake Balaton And since it lyeth on the East of the River Leyta we may also reckon in the Newsidler Sea a pleasant Lake seven German Miles long and three broad so called from Newsidel a small Town of one street and some backward Houses with a small square Castle upon an Hill by it from whence I had a good prospect over all the Lake In the Commotions of Botscay fourteen Villages about this Lake were burnt by Turks Tartars and rebellious Heyducks The Hungarians call it Terteu and Pliny Peiso It is in the middle way between Vienna and Sabaria the birth-place of Saint Martin The long extended plain of Pampus in Paraguay in America exceeds all others as being two thousand Miles in length And I have heard that famous Navigator Captain Narborough say who not long since was Commander of the Sweepstakes and made a Voyage in her into the South-Sea that there is all low Land from the River of Plate unto the middle of the Straights of Magellan Moscovia and Poland have long Plains but many of them Woody and obscured by Trees but none more open and clear Plains than this Country The greatest Plains I have observed in England are those of Salisbury Lincoln and New-Market But these are but long Walks compared with those of Hungary and are exceeded by the Plains of Austria from Vienna unto Mount Simmeren unto the Borders of Styria And though the Vpper-Hungary be hilly and plentiful in Wood yet are there large Plains below I travelled from Vienna to Belgrade about four hundred Miles upon continued and not interrupted Plains which often appeared like the Sea without any visible Eminencies only a short and plain Wood by Bacna and Shilberg beyond Dotis and if we reckon the full of this Plain it will prove much longer extending from Mount Kalenberg or Cetius two German Miles West-ward of Vienna and so beyond Belgrade still along the North side of the Danube unto the Borders of Walachia which will make a larger extent than the famous long Walk from Agra to Lahor in India This plainness of the Country affords an handsome way of Travelling in open Chariots carrying one or two Men with a Charioter drawn by two or three sometimes four Horses a Breast and room enough to lye down In this manner I travelled from Buda to Belgrade over fair large Plains and many Miles upon Green-Swarthe and unworn Wayes especially in the County of Sirmium or Schremnia as they now call it No Country hath so large a share of Capital Cities upon the Danube for whereas from the course thereof from Vlme unto Belgrade there are reckoned Ten very considerable ones there are no less than four thereof that is Presburg Strigonium Buda and Belgrade accounted unto Hungary and Buda with the addition of Pest on the otherside the Water seems to be the largest of them all and I believe the largest also of any upon that Stream As the Rivers are full of Fish so are they covered with Fowl in the Winter Swans I observed none in the Danube but many other Fowls and some Pelicans not far from Belgrade As the Waters are also fruitful in Fish so the Land aboundeth in other Provisions and very eminently in the two supporters of Life Bread and Wine their Bread is hardly exceeded by any in Europe worked up and kneaded with long continued labour and so made light wholsome and well tasted and at so cheap a rate that for two pence as much is afforded there as twelve pence with us in England And indeed in all the Turkish Dominions where I travelled I met with so good and well tasted Bread that with Wine it was a Feast and with Water a sufficient Repast Grapes they have very delicious and large those at Virouichitz by Vacia are of eminent Note Wines also of a generous and noble sort the Wines of Tokay are highly esteemed the Sirmian Wines are very rich and pleasant in the South part of Hungary in which Province the Emperor Probus is said to have planted Vines about Mount Almus or Arpataro In many other places the Wines are very noble and some brought unto Vienna where there are above thirty sorts of Wines to be sold brought from several Parts And as the ground is not unfruitful in its own Nature so they are not without the practise of Good-Husbandry both in their Arable and Pasture Grounds especially in Vpper-Hungary and Parts not subjected to the Turks I being there about the end of February saw every night all the Country about us on fire occasioned by burning the Stubble and Grass and Herbs which afterwards arose with plenty again Saepe etiam sterileis incendere profuit agros Atque levem stipulam crepitantibus urere flammis To set their Fields on fire and Stubble burn With crackling Flames does to their profit turn They use not Barnes or Stackes of Corn but have many deep and large Caves under Ground wherein they lay it up safe both from Robbers and sudden incursion of Enemies At Clesch near Toopolchan when the Turks and Tartars made their Inroads in the last Wars the People retired and hid themselves in such Cavities but some Turks speaking Schlavonian told them that the Coast was clear and the Enemy gone and so tempting them out of their Holes they were unfortunately deceived into Captivity and carried away into remote Countreys never to be heard of again There is also great plenty of Deer Hares all sorts of Poultrey Partridges and Pheasants great store of Sheep which in divers places have long Spiral Horns and very long curled Wooll And Oxen in great numbers whereof 't is thought they send an hundred thousand yearly into Italy Germany and other Parts and it is
together with his Kingdom and to send him a Crown and other Royal Ornaments At the same time it fell out that Misca King of Polonia sent about the same Errant and a Crown was providing for him But Pope Benedict the Eight in the mean time was warned by an Angelical Apparition to send the Crown unto King Stephen which accordingly he did which probably begot that great Veneration and high Opinion they have ever since had of it The Crown it self is also singular in its Fashion and Figure for it is a low Crown with a Cross upon it with four Leaves or Turnings up about it one whereof is as large as the other three at least as two thereof It is no easic Favour to obtain a view of this Crown at Presburg but I saw a Model of it in the Treasure of the present Emperor Leopoldus which was a Crown of Gold adorned with many precious Stones exactly made after the fashion of the Hungarian Crown and perhaps richer than the exemplar Though the Hungarians want not Ingenuity Industry and sufficient parts for Learning and liberal Arts yet have they been more addicted unto Martial affairs than unto deep Learning Even the Bishops and Clergy-men proving stout Soldiers and no less than six Bishops were slain with their King Ludovicus in that fatal Battel of Mohatch Some report and others believe that the famous Poet Ovid died and was buried in Hungary at Sabaria seated at the confluence of the Rivers Guntz and Regnitz before they run into the Rab. Where it is reported that he having been banished unto Tomos near the Euxine Sea was at last recalled and in his return towards Italy died at Sabarta Where 't is said his Tomb was found with this Epitaph made by himself Hic situs est Vates quem Divi Caesaris Ira Augusti patriâ cedere jussit humo Saepè miser voluit patriis occumbere terris Sed frustrà hunc illi fata dedere locum Before I came into Hungary I observed no shadow or shew of the old Pyrrhical Saltation or Warlike way of Dancing which the Heyducks practice in this Country They dance with naked Swords in their hands advancing brandishing and clashing the same turning winding elevating and depressing their bodies with strong and active motions singing withal unto their measures after the manner of the Greeks The mighty Acts of Attila King of this Country together with the numerous Forces he brought out of these and the neighbouring parts are very remarkable whereby he over-ran a considerable part of Germany and a great part of Italy Sacked and Burnt Aquileia and fought that memorable Battel with Aetius the Roman General in Campis Catalonicis near Tholouse wherein 't is said were ten Kings present and about two hundred thousand slain and which is also observable the Generals on both sides were of these Parts for Attila was a Hunne and Aetius a Maesian or Servian of the neighbour Country And in succeeding Ages how far and widely the Kings of Hungary enlarged their Dominions besides many Historical Accounts is tellified at their Coronation by ten Banners carried by Great Persons wherein were represented ten Provinces of that Kingdom that is Hungaria Dalmatia Croatia Schlavonia Galisia Rascia Servia Bulgaria Bosnia and Ludomiria This Country has given the longest stop unto the Turkish Conquests and farther intrusion into the Western Parts of Europe For most which they have already obtained has been upon the advantage of the Hungarian Divisions and their own subtilty and false practises and Solyman by such false and low dealings surprized the Capital City of Buda And although the Turk has now obtained the best part of the Country yet almost a third part remains out of his Power and in obedience to the Emperor as King of Hungaria as almost all Vpper Hungary from Presburg unto Tokay and Zatmar And there are yet out of their hands the three notablest Bulwarks of Chrislendom Rab Komara and Leopoldstadt all which I had the advantage to fee. This last has been erected since the loss of Newheusell and made much after the same manner consisting of Six regular Bastions revestues It is seated on the West side of the River Waag over against Freistadt not far from the place where the Tartars passed over in the last War and destroyed a great part of the Country and carried away many Captives from those Parts and out of Moravia This Fortisication was begun in the year 1665 and was well advanced but not finished when I was there 1669. Count Souches the younger was then Governor thereof from whom I received great Civility in that place and a Guard of Foot Soldiers to convoy me through the Contribution Country towards Schemnitz Cremnitz and the other Mine Towns Many Roman Emperors have honoured these Quarters with their Presence Birth Death or great Actions For to omit Trajan Caracalla Galienus Constantius and many more the Emperors Aurelianus Probus Gratianus Maximianus had their Nativities at Sirmium and Claudius Gothicus died in it or near it Jovianus and Valentinianus were Born in Pannonia Ingenuus Governor of Pannonia was saluted Emperor by the Moesian Legions Vetranio likewise in the same Country And at Sirmium was held a General Council when Photinus was Bishop of that place The Roman Armies being much in this Country no wonder it is that so many Coins of Copper Gold and Silver are to be found in it Whereof I obtained no small number at Petronell or Old Carnuntum which was a Part of Pannonia And at Sene or Senia situated near the Danube I met with very many They are also to be found at Old Buda or Sicambria at Old Sirmium in the Country now called Schremnia at Mursa or Esseck and many other Parts An Armenian Merchant in whose House I lodged at Belgrade undertook to provide me with Roman Coins against my return which he might well do about those Parts as at Sirmium Samandria and other places And not far from thence Lysimachus King of Macedon and Thrace is conceived to have kept his abode at a Castle or Palace near Deva where that unparallel'd mass of Gold Medals was found as is particularly delivered by Monsieur Fumeé in his Account of the Wars of Hungary Near the Town of Deva or Devas was found great store of Treasure by the Peasants of the Country under an Ancient Castle or Palace all ruined and decayed The Rain continuing a long time and the Water running with a forcible current there was discovered an infinite company of Golden Medals upon one side of which was Coined the Image of Lysimachus on the other side a Victory every one weighing two or three Crowns The Storm and rage of water being past and the Sun shining on these made a marvellous glittering which perceived by the Peasants they remained ravished with joy and taking them up they also found a Golden Serpent which afterwards General Castalde sent unto Ferdinand with a part of these Ancient Medals This being an ancient
shall make but short mention as particularly of Newhewsell by the Hungarians called Vywar seated by the River Neutra not far from Nitria a strong place and Bishops See taken by Count de Souches in the last wars Newhausl is a strong Hold regularly fortified with six large Bastions which makes it lie in the form of a Star it was surrendred after six storms unto the grand Visier who presently besieged it after that Count Forchatz the Governour had rashly lost a great part of his men at the Battel of Barchan where the bones of the Slain lie yet in the Field The Turkish Bassa lives in the Palace which belonged to the Arch-bishop of Presburg and has converted the Church into a Moschea The Bassa growing too familiar with the neighbour Governour of Komara was jealously looked on by the Grand Seignior who sent one to take of his head and put another into this Government This place commands contribution from a good part of the Country between the River Waag and the Neutra and between the Neutra and the River Gran and in places where we lodged in those parts the Master of the house told us he was obliged to give notice unto the Turks who and how many were in his house whereof we were not unwilling resolving to be gone before the account thereof could come unto them If the Visier had not spent time about the siege of Newhewsell but marched into Austria when the Emperour was yet unprovided the Auxiliary forces farr off and Vienna and all the Country about in great fear he might have probably left sad effects in those parts but attempting some time after to break into Austria by Saint Godard when the Imperial forces were in readiness and the great bodies of Auxiliaries of Germans and French came up he was repulsed with great loss of his best Soldiers and readily clapt up a peace which kept these parts in quiet for many years Sene Sone or Senia a Village near the Danube and remarkable place for variety of Antiquities where by the help of the Byro or Judge of the Town I met with divers Coins and some of Gold some Intaglia's and as they called it a Heathen or Râ—man Key Whereof I presented some unto Petrus Lambecias who shewed them unto the Emperor This place being in the contribution Country to the Turks hath been little enquired into and therefore the Antiquities thereof were the more welcome Amongst all the Inscriptions of Gruter I find but one or two of Senia The People say this place was formerly called Apollonia but without any good ground Passing from Raab to Dotis St. Martinsberg offers it self to view an handsome Town and strong Hold upon the top of a high Hill overlooking all the Country This is still in the Christians hands though it hath formerly been taken by the Turks once in Amurath the third's time Dotis Tata or Theodata about twelve English miles from Gomora where there is a Castle with a Ditch about it and also some Natural Baths near it It hath been often taken and retaken Graff Zacki a Noble Hungarian was then Governor whose singular Civilities I must always acknowledge and indeed in these parts I was at best content in the company of Souldiers for they commanded all and were generous and free hearted Persons and could commonly speak either Latine High-Dutch or Italian my company was the more acceptable to them because I had seen many parts of Europe before which they would much enquire after But to return into the road again we parted from Comora being towed by a Saick of twenty four oars The Hungarians rowing upon one side and the Germans on the other they saluted the Fortress with two small Guns which they carried at the head of the Saick and so we passed by Sâ—ne Nesmil Rodwan and came to Motch the exact place of the Frontiers Here we expected a Turkish Convoy which coming betimes in the morning we made ready for them their Officers went first on shoar then our Veyda or Veyuod with the Interpreter and chiefest of the company both parties walking slowly and at meeting gave hands to one another then we delivered our Boat unto the Turks which they fastned to their Saick and sent one iâ— to our Boat to steer it and turning about saluted the Christians with one Gun and then with eighteen Oars rowed down the Danube we carrying the Eagle in our Flag they the Double Sword Star and Half-Moon The Turkish Saick convoyed us to Strigonium or Gran and set our Boat on shoar in the Town and so left us the Governor also took no notice of us either in hopes of a present or some private interest but an Aga who came with four troops of Horse from Newhewsell being come into the Castle asked the Governor as we were informed by a Turk that came unto us what he meaned to have so little care of his head to deal with us after this manner who were not sent to him or to a Bassa or a Visier but to the Sultan and no doubt had a Present for him whereupon we were soon dispatched This City of Gran Strigonium or Ostrogon is seated on the South-side of the Danube near the Confluence with the River Gran divided into the upper and lower and both walled the lower Wall doth well command the Danube St. Thomas Hill hard by the Town is also walled because it commandeth the Town There are in this place Natural Baths of a moderate heat This hath been the Metropolitan City of Hungary where St. Stephen the first Christian King of Hungary was born and King Stephen the third buried Scarce any place has suffered more strong and notable Sieges besieged in vain by John King of Hungary taken by Solyman recovered by Count Mansfelt for Matthias the Arch-Duke besieged again in vain but taken in the time of Sultan Achmet by the mutinous baseness of the Christian Defendants who shutting up Count Dampier the Governor delivered the place unto Aly-Beg the Turkish General but after many years it was taken again by the Christians under the Duke of Lorraine in the year 1683. Over against Strigonium lieth Barchan between these two places there is a Bridge of Boats From Strigonium we passed to Vicegrade or Vizzegrade The upper Castle of this place is seated upon a very high Rock where the Crown of Hungary hath been formerly kept the lower Castle hath been fair there is also a handsome Fabrick of square Stones and Arches the ruines whereof do still remain this place was retaken from the Turks by the Forces of the Arch-Duke Matthias in the time of Mahomet the Third but betrayed and delivered up by the Treachery of the Heyducks in the Reign of Sultan Achmet Charles King of Naples and sworn King of Hungary was wounded on the head by Forchatz and being carried into the Castle under pretence of laying a Plaster on his head was strangled This place yielded to the Duke of Lorraine 1684. Over against
no good agreement Thence to Jeni Palanka where we passed the River Sarvizza formerly Vrpanus a handsom River arising near Vesprinium and passing Alba Regalis or Stullweissenburg the ancient place of Sepulture of the Hungarian Kings which makes a triangle with Buda and Strigonium and running into the Danube below From thence by Setzwar to Botoseck where we travelled by night and had a Horse-guard of Spahies till we came to Setz a large Town where I observed the ruines of an old Castle and a round Palesado upon the Hill Here is also a new Chan or Caravansara then to Mohatz Before we came to this place we passed by a small Bridge over the Brook Curasse which upon great rains over-flows the Neighbour parts near which Ludovicus the unfortunate King of Hungary perished being stifled in a muddy place where his Horse plunged after the Battel fought with the Forces of Solyman on the other side of the Town We went to see the place where so noble a Prince lost his life and an inconsiderate Battel lost the Crown of Hungary This Battel was fought the 29th day of October in the Year 1526. Cotriscus who was near the King's Person when he was drowned related the manner of it to the Hungarians and shewed them the place where he fell in from whence the King's Body was afterwards taken up entire and carried to Alba Regalis where with great Solemnity it was buried among the Sepulchres of the other Kings of Hungary his Predecessors Hereabouts we met with a Caravan of two or three hundred Persons some going to a place of Devotion and having Janizaries with them to guard them others intending by permission to seat themselves in other parts of Hungary And in divers places I met with numerous droves of Oxen driven towards Vienna upon the account of the Eastern Company of that City who furnish that place and Country about and are permitted to pass free by the Grand Seignior This day we leâ—t Quinque Ecclesiae and Zigeth on the right hand this last is a strong place seated by the side of a Fenn in which there is an Island and beyond that a Castle Count Sereni defended this Place against the Turks with unparalleled Bravery and when he had lost the Town retired into the Island and last of all into the Castle and when there were but four and twenty of them left alive they all Sallied out together choosing rather to die every man than to give Solyman the Magnificent who besieged them any pretence to the Town by their Surrender and Solyman himself died likewise in the Camp and hath a Sword hanging by his Tomb in Constantinople as a peculiar honour to him in regard that he did not only spend a great part of his life but also died in War From hence by Barinowar Darda or Draza unto Esseck or Osseck conceived to be old Mursa or not far from it It is seated low and the Streets are planked with Trees Upon one side of the Gate is part of a Roman Inscription M. AELIAN c. on the other side a Maids head in a Stone there is also a Dyal which is not ordinary brought from Serinwar and the greatest piece of Ordnance which I saw in all those parts not lying upon a Carriage but upon Bodies of Trees But that which is most remarkable here is the well contrived Bridge of Wood made partly over the River Dravus and partly over the Fenns adjoyning being five Miles long being rayled and having Towers at every quarter of a Mile that part over the River Dravus was burnt down by Count Nicolas Serini in the last Wars and another built since He that beholds this Bridge the Towers of Wood upon it the strong rayles and floar and the numerous supporters of it cannot but wonder how they should be supplied with Wood to build it or maintain it But hereof I speak elsewhere this is the greatest Passage in Hungary from Servia and the Turkish Dominions Had this been well defended when Solyman invaded Hungary he had not probably obtained so easie a March unto Buda And to hinder the Supply of the Grand Visiers Army from other parts of Turky Count S rini burned down that part which was built over the Dravus and in his return burnt Quinque Ecclesiae or the City of five Churches which lieth Westward from Esseck From thence we came to Valcovar where there is a handsom wooden Bride over the River Walpo or Valpanus plentiful of Fish and upon which to the Westward stands the Town of Walpo taken by the Turks in the Year 1545. by the Treachery of the Dependants after that it held out three Mâ—nths under the Command of Perennus's Lady and Friends and the Garrison was notwithstanding put to the Sword Then by Sotzin Palanka and Towarnick or Tabornick to Metrouitza a large Town and a great place for a Fair strengthned by the adjacent Lake So to Simonovitz leaving at a good distance on the right hand the famous old Sirmium now an inconsiderable place whereof I have also said somewhat elsewhere They call this Country Schremnia and that more near the Dravus Bossega In this Country many Families and the Inhabitants of divers little Towns live all under ground I had formerly read of Troglodytes and subterraneous Nations about Aegypt but I was much surprized to see the like in this place and could not but say unto my self Now I believe the Troglodytes of old Whereof Herodotus and Strabo told Since every whâ—re about these parts in holes Cunicular men I find and humane Moles Near these Habitations are Wells to supply them with Water which they draw up like Dyers and Brewers and Dogs come out upon Strangers As we travelled by them the poor Christians would betake themselves to their holes like Conies So that to satisfie our curiosities we were fain to alight and enter their houses which we found better than we expected divided into partitions with Wooden Chimneys and a Window at the farther end a little above the ground and all things as neatly disposed as in other poor houses aâ—ove ground although but meanly after the fashion of those parts Their Speech is a Dialect of the Schlavonian Then travelling on between the Danubius and the Savus we came to Zemlin upon the Danul e from whence we had a fair Prospect of Belgrade into the Castle of Zemlin Stephen the usurping King retired and died From hence we passed by Water unto Belgrade Belgrade Taurunum Alba Graeca Greek-Weissenburg or Nandor Alba as the Hungarians call it it is a large strong populous and great Trading City in Servia or Moesia Superior seated at the Confluence of the River Savus and Danubius having the first on the West the other on the North. The Danubius is here very broad runs â—uriously and seems to cut off the Savus as the Rhosne doth the Soane by Lyon in France The Water of the Danube seems more white and yellow troubled and more confused Turbidus
volvens flaventeis Ister arenas That of the Savus darker greenish and clear at the entrance of the Savus there is an Island on which there is now much Wood although it be not older than five and thirty years about which time since the silt of both streams so sâ—ttled as to appear first above Water Arriving at Belgrade I passed by the Water Castle and afterwards by the upper Castle both large and having many Towers The Streets where the greatest Trade is driven are covered over with Wood as in divers other Trading Places so that they are not offended with the Sun or Rain They consist commonly of Shops which are but small and no other than a Taylors Shop-board placed low upon which after the same manner the Shop-keeper sits and selleth his wares to his Chapman without few or none entring in I saw also two large places built of stone like unto the Exchange with two rows of Pillars over one another but they were so full of Merchants Goods that they lost much of their beauty There are also two large Bezestens or places where the richest Commodities are sold They are built in the form of a Cathedral Church and within are like to the old Exchange above stairs The Grand Visier hath built a noble Caravansara in this City with a Fountain in the Court and near unto it a Moschea with a Fountain before it which was the first Moschea which I had the opportunity to see within-side He hath also built a Metreseck or College for Students I saw a Stuâ—ent habited in green and wearing a Turbant with four Corners different from others which is a peculiar distinction Although near to most Towns there be Sepulchres to be seen yet I observed them to be most numerous at Belgrade as being very populous and the Plague having been lately in it We lodged at an Armenian Merchant's house where we were handsomly accommodated And we visited divers others who had built them fair houses one in which there was a Fountain and handsom Bath and Stoves where we wanted not Coffee Sherbet and excellent Wines such as the Neighbour Country affords These Armenians are dispersed into all Trading Places and have a Church here at Belgrade and seem to be more plain dealing and reasonable men to buy any thing of than either Jews or Greeks The Countries about have a great Trade unto this place the Raguseans Trade here and the Eastern Merchants of Vienna have a Factory in this City And surely Belgrade is as well seated for Trade as any in-land place in Europe for being situated upon the Confluence of the Danubius and the Savus having the great River Tibiscus running into the Danule near it the Dravus not very far from it and the River Morava not far below it the Danube also flowing forward unto the Euxine Sea it may hold no uneasie Commerce with many remote parts And Servia being a fruitful and pleasant Country consisting of Plains Woods and Hills which might afford good Metals not without stout Men good Horses Wines and Rivers if it were in the Christians hands of the temper of those in the Western part of Europe it might make a very flourishing Country This place hath formerly been the Bulwark of Hungary in vain besieged by Amurath the second and again by Mahomet the Great who was repulsed by the valour of Hunniades and the Auxiliaries raised by Friar Capiftranus when Hunniades issuing forth and encamping out of the City beat away the Turkish Forces with great slaughter where Mahomet himself was wounded in the breast lost his Ordnance and two hundred Ships were overthrown by a Fleet which came from Buda but being unprovided it was since taken by Solyman the Magnificent in the second Year of his Reign in the Year of our Lord 1521. and in no likelihood to be recovered Leaving Belgrade we proceeded in Servia and pa ssed by a very high Hill called Havilleck on the South or right hand where are still the ruines of an old Monastery and came unto Hissargick nigh the Danube which in Maps is commonly placed too far from it Here we took leave of that noble River which by this time hath run a long course and from Vlme in Schwabenlandt where it begins to be navigable about nine hundred Miles but more from its first source and orignal and hath a long space yet to run before it enters the Euxine Next to Collar not far from Samandria an old habitation and Roman Colony but now a place of no great remark It fell into the hands of the Turks in the time of Amurath the first and was given to the Christians again by his Son Sultan Bajazet for Lazarus Despot of Servia being slain in Battel left a mournful Widow Stephen his Eldest Son and a fair Daughter and their Family being then in great distress they sent Ambassadors to Sultan Bajazet with rich Presents and great Offers which pleased him well but above all he was marvellously taken with the incomparable beauty of the fair Despoina at the same time presented to him by her Mother the Despotin who had formerly promised her to him upon which he not only granted them peace for the present but in return thereof bestowed upon them the pleasant City of Semandria The beautiful Despoina after this when Bajazet was overthrown and shut up in an Iron Cage was suddenly taken Prisoner in the City of Prusa in Asia Minor by Axalla one of the Generals to Tamerlane and carried far away into the Eastern Parts of the World but however it came to pass She was afterwards brought back again and now lies buried by the Tomb of Sultan Bajazet at Brusia From hence to Hassan Bassa Palanka about forty English miles from Belgrade perhaps so called from Hassan Bassa a famous Turkish General Here I could not but take notice of an handsome Antiquity in Stone of a Lyon worrying a Wolf From thence to Baditzna where the Womens dress began to change and was somewhat odd unto me They wear a kind of Canopy on their heads which is set about as also their foreheads with all sorts of mony which they can get of Strangers We left some small pieces among them to add unto that curiosity in this kind of Ornament I have seen some Graecian Women very rich and somewhat after this fashion but their head-dress not raised so high having their foreheads covered with Ducats of Gold and Pearl A Bulgarian Woman We passed on to Jagodna pleasantly seated and in a fair Country whence setting forwards after a few hours we turned Southward and soon after upon the side of an Hill upon the right hand I saw the Tomb of a Turkish Saint about four yards long and a square covered place by it here our Chiaus alighted and performed his devotions in prayer then we travelled on through great Woods dangerous for Wolves and Thieves by Chifflick where there is a Caravansarah but not always safe so as we refreshed our selves in a
Subterraneous water finding vent over-flowed the Neighbour Plaines We came afterwards to Egribugia where we again left the Plains and travelled over high rocky Hills to Sariggioâ—e Whence passing through the River Injecora we came to Sarvitza a noted Place built partly upon an Hill and partly in the Plain The Christians live most in the upper part the Turks in the lower there is also a Castle upon a very high Rock not far from hence we went through a passage cut through the Rocks like to a great Gate and a small River passing also through it which makes a fast Pass and commands the passage of this Country which put me in mind of la Chiusa in the Julian Alpes between Vensone and Ponteva which passage the Venetians shut up every night we took notice also in our Journey of the first Turkish Moschea which was built in these parts upon that place where the Turks first rested after they had taken the strong Castle and Passage of Sarvitza Here we also passed by a Hill of a fine red Earth whereof they make Pots and Vessels like those of Portugal Earth which are of esteem all about these Parts We proceeded over dangerous Rocks in narrow hanging ways still on Horse-back although we had little pleasure to look down the Precipices on one hand and see the Carkasses of Horses in some places which had fallen down and broke their necks Afterwards we had the Mount Olympus on our left hand till we came to Alessone or Alesswn a considerable place where there is a Greek Monastery and Monks of the Order of St. Basil The Monastery was of a different kind of building from any I had then seen From hence passing over a River we entered into a round Plain of about five Miles over with divers Towns pleasantly seated in it Then over an Hill again which is a Spur of Mount Olympus upon the top whereof an old Man stood beating of a Drum to give notice unto Passengers on both sides that those parts were free from Thieves From this Hill as we descended we had a good Prospect of the Plains of Thessaly and at the foot of it we turned to the left and passed over a River which runs from under a rocky Mountain not in small Springs but the whole body of the River together and then through Vineyards and Cotten Fields to Tornovo and from thence to Larissa where the Ottoman Court resided of which places we shall speak more hereafter In our return we left the road about Kaplanlih and turned unto Skopia a City of great Trade and the largest in these parts Scopia or Scupi of Ptolomy named Vscopia by the Turks is seated in the remotest parts of Maesia Superior or the Confines of Macedonia at the foot of Mount Orbelus upon the River Vardar or Axius in a pleasant and plentiful Country seated partly on Hills and partly on Plains It was first a Bishops afterwards an Arch Bishops See still a pleasant and populous place There are seven hundred Tanners in it and they Tann in great long Troughs of Stone and make excellent Leather wherewith they furnish other parts There are some handsom Sepulchral Monuments and many fair Houses as that of the Cadih and that belonging to the Emir or one of Mahomets Kindred whose Father was of great esteem in these parts In the Court-yard of the Emir's House stands a remarkable and peculiarly contrived Fountain in manner of a Castle set round with many Towers out of the tops whereof the Water springs forth Their best Houses are furnished with rich Carpets to tread upon and the Roofs divided into Triangles Quadrangles and other Figures fairly gilded and painted with several Colours but without any Imagery or Representation either of Animal or Vegetable Here is also a fair Bezestan covered with Lead many Streets covered over with Wood and divers places are fair both within and without the Town being set off by Trees and pleasant Hills and Dales There are a great number of Moschea's or Turkish Churches The fairest is on a Hill and hath a large Portico before it supported by four Marble Pillars near which is a Tower of Wood with a Clock and a Bell in it from whence I had a good Prospect of the City There is also an Arch which seems to be Ancient and a rivolet running under it A large Stone also which seems to be part of a Pillar with this Inscription SHANC A little way out of the City there is a noble Aqueduct of Stone with about two hundred Arches made from one Hill to another over the lower ground or Valley between which is a handsome Antiquity and adds to the honour of this place When Mahomet the First conquered this City he placed a Colony of Asiaticks in it which makes it the more Turkish Great Actions have been performed hereabouts in the time of the Romans particularly by Regillianus as is testified by Trebellius Pollio that he won so many Battles and carried on such mighty things at Scupi that he deserved a Triumph Hereabouts also stood Paraecopolis and Vlpianum The Sanziack of this Place is under the Begleâ—beg of Rumelia or Graecia A Trade is driven from hence to Belgrade and to Thessalonica or Salonichi and many other places I have been more particular concerning this City because Geographers pass it over in a few words and I could never meet with any who had been at it From hence we travelled to Catshanich a Fortress that commands the passage b tween the Hills and afterwards advanced so far as to enter the famous Plains of Cossova in Bulgaria which some take to be Campus Merulae a Plain not very much exceeding Lincoln Heath yet the Stage of great Actions Here the greatest Christian Army that was ever brought into the Field in Europe consisting of five hundred thousand men under Lazarus Despot of Servia fought with the Forces of Amurah the first and lost the day In which Battle Lazarus was slain and Amurah viewing the dead bodies was stabbed by Michael Cobilovitz a Christian Souldier left for dead in the Field Amurah hath in these Plains a Memorial Monument unto this day and that part is called the Field of the Sepulchre in the same Plains was also fought that remarkable Battle between Hunniades and Mahomet for three days together where Hunniades having very unequal Forces was at last over-thrown We proceeded forward to Prestina a good Town and where we expected good accommodation but having entered into a fair Room we found a man lying down in it sick of the Plague So we consulted our safety and stayed not long and having a Gypsie to our Guide we travelled through a Country thinly inhabited but fruitful and pleasant and were much refreshed with fair Cornelions which grew plentifully in the ways we passed also by an hot Bath a little on the right hand The Bath is an arched Room well built and very refreshing unto Travellers It hath a red Sediment and is impregnated with
clamorous or acting any thing against good Manners When I was there in September 1669. it was very hot Weather and many were sick of Fevers and Agues as they were at that time in most Parts of Europe and at my return into England I found many languishing under Quartan Agues who had been taken therewith about that time They were then also in their Vintage and we had the opportunity of tasting their Must and New Wine and the stricter Turks who would not be tempted with Wine would be much delighted to take a little in the Must During the hot sweating Season we went often to the Barber who would handsomely perform his Work and much to our refreshment trimming every Man according to the Fashion of his Country The Greeks have a place of the bredth of a Dollar lest bare upon the top of their Crowns and then let the Hair grow round it the bredth of two Fingers more or less after which they shave all the rest of their Head and wear it bare The Croatian hath one side of his Head shorn and the other side is neither shorn nor cut but the Hair is let to grow as long as it will The Hungarian shaves his whole Head except his Fore-top The Polander wears his Hair short cut so as it comes down to the middle of his Fore-head and the middle of his Ear. The Turk shaves his whole Head except a Lock upon his Crown The Francks shave not their Heads but wear their Hair long as with us only for the more amicable converse and that nothing about them might be offensive to those whom they live amongst they often tuck it up under their Caps The Greek Priests also neither shave nor cut their Hair but wear it as long as it will grow and many of them have thick heads of Hair but those that have least receive most refreshment here The Party to be shaved sits low and the Barber has the better advantage to shave much at one stroke he lays on very much Soap and holds his Rasor as a Knife and in a few strokes finishes his Work There is a Vessel of Water with a Cock hanging over their Heads which the Barber opens as he pleases and le ts fall theâ— Water on them In one of these Barbers shops in the City of Larissa I saw an ancient large Tomb of stone of a Jaspis green colour a noble Monument but taken little notice of there and the Barber had caused a hole to be digged through the top stone and put Water into it and made it to serve him for a Cistern I was in some doubt how we should be accommodated for the exchange of our Ducats Dollars and other money we brought with us but we found ready accommodation therein from Money-changers who sit in the Market-place for such purposes to change them into Medines Aspers and five sols Pieces whereof there was plenty in those Parts The great trading Streets were covered as in other great Turkish Towns the Shops are small but well furnished wherein hang all Commodities which may be had in a larger manner if desired The Shop-keeper sits like a Taylor in his Shop and so sells his Commodities unto his Chapman who commonly stands in the Street â— or other Commodities a man riding through the Streets cries them and gives notice where and at what rate they may be had Though I have been much pleased at the sight of the fine Stables of Horses of many Princes in Christendom as at that of the Louvre in Paris The Vice-Roy's of Naples The Duke of Saxony's noble Stable at Dresden and Count Wallesteyne's at Prague in the last of which each Horse hath a Marble Pillar by him eats his Provender out of a Manger of polished Marble upon a Pedestal of the same placed in a Nicchio in which hangs also his rack of hammered Steel and over his head on one side his Picture as big as the life Yet those gallant Horses I beheld at Larissa were surprizing unto me chosen from all parts of the Turkish Empire which were so richly equipped with Bridles and Saddles set with precious Stones and withal so tender mouthed and tractable that it was a great delight to behold them I saw some Tartarian Horses which are of singular esteem for hardiness lasting and swiftness but unsightly and promise little and when Cha Gagi Aga Ambassador from the Cham of Tartary presented some of them to the Emperor of Germany at first sight I thought them but a pitiful present The Greek Merchants some of them learn the Italian Tongue in order to their Commerce which makes that Language of good use unto a Traveller in these parts where French and Latine are in a manner useless The Jews speak commonly Spanish as they do in Macedonia Servia and Bulgaria and High-Dutch in Hungaria I was in Thessaly at a very dry season and some considerable Rivers were low and small ones dry yet one I observed about seven Miles on this side Tornovo to flow plentifully from under a rocky Mountain not in small springs or streams but the whole body of the River came from under the Hill The Country however in general was very hot and dry and I could not but think what a different face it now had from that in the time of Deucalion King of Thessaly when that memorable deluge happened in this Country which some affirm to have lasted a whole Winter occasioned by some stopping of the River Peneus and its current into the Sea into which River most of the others run and so an inundation must follow in such a Country as Thessaly which is plain and encompassed with Hills And some also conceive that in the first times all this Country was under water till an Earthquake divided the Mountains of Ossa and Olympus and made a free passage for Peneus to pass by Tempe into the Sea In Macedonia between Comonava and Filurina at a place called Eccisso Verbeni where I saw plentiful Springs of Mineral waters I had also a Prospect of two great Lakes one whereof the People have a Tradition that it first happened by taking great stones out of the side of a Mountain whereupon there issued out such a flood of water as to drown the Country about and to cause a Lake As I travelled in Macedonia the Chiaus told me that within two days he would show me French men whereby he meant the Country People of Thessaly from some likeness of their Caps with small brims to the little Hats lately in fashion The Thessalians have been a warlike Nation and are still a stout People I heard the Turks complain of them as a sturdy and desperate People and Men who if injured would find opportunity to be revenged and that divers of the Turks had been surprized and had lost their lives by them The Country of Thessaly seemed the more considerable to me in regard that it hath formerly been the Seat of great Actions and produced many worthy Persons
to conduct us and that no man could or ought to stop him whereupon the Cadih said the Chiaus must not be hindred in his journey nor the Post-master be unconsidered and so presently called for the Post-masters Book and with his pen made of a reed set down a Sultanine to be allowed him in his accounts to the Tefterdar and bade us good morrow and wished us a good journey In the European Turkish Dominions which I passed I could not but take notice of the great number of Christians for excepting great Cities or where the Souldiery reside they are generally all Christians whereof the great body is of the Greek Church who live patiently under the Turkish toleration If there should happen any considerable commotion among the Turkish powers it is highly probable they would sit still and be little active and if any Forces of the Latine Church should attempt the Conquests of these parts in all probability they would find very little assistance from them and I fear they would rather adhere unto their Turkish Masters Though Augustus thought it a point of wisdom to put some limit unto the Roman Empire yet I do not find the Turks are of his judgment but still endeavour to enlarge their Dominions and when I consider that people their hardy education sober course of life and obedience to their Superiors that no Bassa can easily intend a revolt but some others will discover him in hope to obtain his place or some great preferment and that they so punctually observe the duty of their Charges I am apt to think or fear if he who puts bounds to the Sea and saith hither thou shalt come and no further doth not out of his great merâ—y put a stop to their further incursions they may probably obtain and conserve a far larger Empire and even all Europe unto the Western Ocean Certain it is that they are unsatisfied with their present bounds and look beyond Hungaria and I have heard them say we must in due time come to Beatch for so they call Vienna and try our fortunes again At this day the Star and Half-moon are above the Cross upon the Steeple of the Cathedral Church of St. Stephen in the Emperor of Germany his Imperial City of Vienna and it grieved me to see in all the Conâ—ines a sort of Cross which our Heralds do not dream of which is a Cross Lunated after this manner whereby the Inhabitants as they testifie their Christianity so they acknowledge the Turkish power A Cross with Half-moons set over the Churches in the Country which payeth contribution to the Turks in Hungary The Star and Half-moon upon the Steeple of St. Stephen's Church at Vienna Leâ—pold stadt pagâ—â— A JOURNEY FROM KOMARA OR GOMORA TO THE MINE-TOVVNS IN HUNGARY AND FROM THENCE TO VIENNA BEING at Komara and having satisfied my curiosity as far that way as the Christian Dominions extended I pursued my intention of seeilng the Copper Silver and Gold Mines in Hungary and being unwilling to return again to Presburg so far about to get into the road towards them I attempted a nearer passage although there be few who go that way And therefore I travelled along the North shoar of the Island of Schut till I came to the Confluence of the River Waag and Danube and then passed over to a Fortification raised since the last War called Gutta it lies in a Marish ground between a branch of the Danube the Waag and the Swartz within a mile of Newheusel which we plainly saw from the Steeple of the Church at Gutta and could distinguish the buildings within it as the Bassa's Palaâ—e formerly belonging to the Arch Bishop of Presburg The Church in the middle of the Town the Tower to the Moske and others But this nearness to Newheusel proved not only dangerous but destructive to it in the beginning of the year 1685. after that the Turks had sent great Recruits from Buda â—or the Count of Zabor having burnt the Suburbs of Newheusel and taken several Prisoners the Turks to revenge it made an excursion and burnt the Town of Gutta and put all the Inhabitants to the Sword Their Boats here are of one piece of wood in which notwithstanding they venture themselves and pass the greatest Rivers with them in this Fort were 130 men commanded by Captain Matthias Fruhwurdt From hence by Forchatz we came to Schella where there is another Fort built to hinder the Turks from passing the River Waag for hereabouts thâ— Tartars broke over burned and ruined the whole Country about in the late war in such manner that it remains still desolate at half a miles distance from this place is a hole in the Earth which burns like Solfaterra by Naples From hence we went to Schinta a large Fort and built long since to command the River and the Country about There is a Tower in the middle four Bastions and many good pieces of Cannon At the entrance there hanges a great Rib a Thigh-bone and a Tooth which I judged to be of an Elephant having seen the Skeleton of one and also such bones as these hang up before the Emperor's House at Laxambourg those bearing the name of the bones of a great Heathen Virgin and these of a Gyant We came afterwards to Leopolstadt a noble regular Fortification with six Bastions where the Young Count de Souches commanded to whom I delivered Letters and received many favours from him Afterwards I passed the River and came to Freistat a large sair Town but lately burned by the Turk Count Forchatz hath a handsome Castle here and a large House in the Town whereof I took the draught The Lutherans had also a School or College here but ruined with the rest of the Buildings They are Tributaries to the Turk paying yearly eight Hungarische almost four pence of our money for every head whether of Man Woman Children Sheep Oxen or Horses The Children are educated to hardship and the Women seldom marry twice They bathe much and use sweating naked in Stoves holding their feet in warm water They use Cupping-glasses also very much and scarifications In the Convent of the Franciscans were onely twelve Friars left and the Roman Christians in these parts have few other Priests but Monks Two Hungarian miles from Friestat lies Banca where in a low ground near the River are fifteen Baths into three of which the River-water is now entred the River Waag continually wearing out its banks by reason of its rapid course Twenty years since there were also hot Baths on the other side of the River but are now covered with the cold stream These Baths leave a white sediment in all places and tinge Copper and Silver immediately as black as Ink Hard by these Baths is a Quarry of Stone and some Veins of Chalk which were very pleasing to behold the Chalk being of all colours except green and the colours so finely mixed as a painting or marble Paper doth not equal it We being
here upon the 18 of March and the weather very cold had no thoughts of bathing in so open a place though in some of them we saw Women and Children and the Hussar who drove our Chariot hither after we had supped went out and in a very hard frost pulled off his clothes in the open Meadow at midnight and bathed himself in one of those Baths A Boate cut out of one tree much used in Hungaria Croatia Carniola Sclavonia c. ordiâ—arily about 18 foot long two foot and an halfe broad â—ne and halfe deepe A Sclarâ—nian German Pâ—lonian Hungarian Croatian March the 21. Graff Souches sent us German Musqueteers to convoy us through the Contribution Country and defend us in our travels we passed by Ripnich and a Castle at Docatzi belonging to Baron Berrini and came at night to Topolchan upon the River Nitra where the Town with the Church were burnt in the last war and had not well recovered it self again A mile from hence at Bellitz are also hot Baths The next day by Clesch the Inhabitants of which place were all carried away Captives in the last Wars and through a great wood by Hochwise where the Inhabitants were most Germans We came to Sernowitz seated upon the River Gran where is a Castle upon a Rock but the Town is Tributary to the Turks and they often visit it March 23. We passed the River Gran early in the Morning and came among the Hills to Hodrytz by which Town runs a swift stream very serviceable to them which helps to move their Engines employed in the pounding washing and melting of the Silver-ore We travelled over a Mountain called Hell and came to Schemnitz the greatest of the Mine-towns in Hungary and where great quantity of Silver-ore is every day digged The Town is well built hath three fair Churches in it the greatest part of the Inhabitants are Lutherans There are also three Castles here the old Castle in the Town where there is Wind-Musick at six every morning and at twelve and at six at night 2. The New-Castle built by a Lady who removed the Gibbet from this Hill and left a fair building in lieu of it The third is on a high peak where there is a continual watch kept to discover the approach of the Turks who immediately give notice of it by the shooting off a Culverin The Streets lie up and down Hill the Country hereabouts being all very uneven There are very many Mines here and many adventurers are induced to try their fortunes by the good success so many have had for if they find a Vein of Ore in any reasonable time before they have quite spent their Stocks in digging they may probably expect great profit These Mines amongst others are very remarkable the Windschacht-Mine the Trinity that of St. Benedict St. John Matthias and one called the three Kings but the chiefest and most wrought are those of Windschacht and Trinity Trinity-Mine is seventy fathoms deep built and kept open with under-work at a great expence much of this Mine being in an earthy soil The Ore of it is much esteemed and is commonly of a black colour covered with a white Earth or Clay so that the streams where they work it become milky and whitish and is that substance I suppose which is called Lac Lunae or the Milk of the Moon or Silver Divers Veins in this Mine lie North and other rich Veins run to the North-East When two Veins cross one another they esteem it fortunate so that all Veins of Ore keep not the same point even in the same Mine which would be an help to discover them but they have no certain way to know either which way they run or where they are till by industrious persevering in the labour of the Mines they are at last found out They use not the Virgula divina or forked Hazel-stick to direct them having no opinion of it as I observed they had at the Silver Mine at Friburg in Misnia where I also learned the use thereof but dig alwayes as the Adventurers desire They shew'd me one place which they had digged streight on six years when the Ore was but two fathoms distant from the place where they first began and in another place they digged twelve years outright and a t last found a Vein which in a short time paid their charges I was in many parts of this Mine and went so far that at length I passed quite under a Hill and came out on the other side In Windschacht-Mine wherein I also descended as far as the water would then permit me descending thrice almost perpendicularly about three hundred large steps or stairs of a Ladder I observed a large Wheel deep in the Earth of twelve yards Diameter turned about by the fall of subterraneous Waters This Wheel moves Engines which pump out the water from the bottom of the Mine up to the cavity wherein this Wheel is placed The water which moves this Wheel falls no lower into the Mine but passes away through a Cumculus made on purpose through which both this and the other water pumped from the deepest parts of the Mine do run out together at the foot of an Hill Besides this Wheel there is another above ground which lies Horizontally drawn about continually by twelve Horses which serves also to pump out much of the water of this Mine about all the Works whereof I was informed that there were no less than two thousand men employed In some places of the Mine it is very cold and in others so hot that to refresh my self I was constrained to go with my breast naked although I had only linen Cloths on Where they work it is always hot so that they labour naked for eight hours if they are able and then rest eight hours more In this Mine they shewed me a place where five men and a Person of quality were destroyed by a Damp for which reason they have now placed a Tube there the like they place over all doors and over all ways where they dig right on for a great space and have no passage through whereby the air is let in let out or carried round and the Miners under-ground ventilated with it The blackish Ore is esteemed the best much of it hath a mixture of a shining yellow substance or Marchasite which if it be not in too great a quantity is not unwelcome by reason that it disposes the Ore to fluidity or renders it more easie to be melted but if it be in too great a proportion they are of opinion that it preys upon the Silver in the Mine and in the Furnace carries it away while it melts by over-volatilizing it and therefore they term it a Robber as a substance which spoyls and takes away the richness of the Ore There is often found a red substance which grows to the Ore called Cinnabar of Silver which being grinded with Oyl makes a Vermilion equal to if not surpassing the
Springs with a red white and green substance very fair and pleasing to the eye Bathing my self in the largest of these Baths when there were a great many Men and Women in it an active man to divert the Company had privately conveyed himself to the top of the House which covered the Bath and on a suddain cast himself down into the water and by taking hold upon the bottom of the Seats kept himself under water for some time afterwards a Serpent coming into the Bath through a channel which conveyed the water into it many of the women were afrighted at it He still to continue his service and good will to the Company was the first that would encounter it and deliver the Damsels which he did in a short time so successfully that he caught the Serpent in both his hands and holding it out of the water put it into his mouth and bit the head off Being taken with his good humour I afterwards sent for him into the Stove and finding that he had been employed in the Mines I asked him among other things whether he had seen any natural Vitriol and where in the Mines crystallized in lumps pure and ready for use which he said he had in many places but in the greatest quantity in a Mine now given over by reason that in some places the Earth was fallen in which was near to Schemnitz And accordingly two or three days after he came to see me at Schemnitz brought me Lamps and Mine-mens habits for my self and two Friends more and we went with him under ground till I came where he shew'd me great quantities of it much to my satisfaction the Vitriol there shooting upon the Stones and Earth upon the floor and sides of the passages as it doth by art in the Pans and about the sticks not hanging from the top as in many other places I have seen it like to Ice-icles Glass-Hitten belonges to the Count of Lippey of whose Family was the Learned Polycarpus Procopius Bocanus who was sent some time past by the Arch-Bishop of Presburg to give an account of the rarities of these Countries but his death hindred the publishing of his observations Eisenbach about four English miles from Glass-Hitten and five or six from Schemnitz hath also hot Baths the Sediment of which is red and turnes into stone so that I brought away with me pieces of it of five or six inches diameter I took also a large piece of this water petrefied as it fell from a spout in which the waves of it are to be seen but the spout it self although made of Wood was not at all changed as lying under it However those Trees with which they built the sides of the Bath were so petrefied that those which lay next above the water were intirely turned into Stone And it was not unpleasant to observe how nature did here assist art and out of the body of a Firr-Tree frame a Column of Stone Nor is it much to be wondred at that the wood under the water should remain unaltered whilst that above suffered so great a change These waters are hot and part of whatsoever is contained in them is sufficiently Volatilized to be carried up with the steam of the Bath and I remember in the Bath of the Green Pillars at Buda I took notice that the exhalation from the Bath reverberated by the high Cupola built over it and by the Irons extended from one Column to another and by the Capitals of the Pillars was formed into long Stones like Ice-icles which hang to all the said places such as may be observed in many subterraneous Grotto's and particularly in England in Okey-hole in Somerset-shire and Pooles-hole in Darby-shire Sulphur also which is in great quantity in many hot Springs flyeth away continually and is not to be found in them if you boyl or evaporate the Bath water and therefore to discover it I thought it more rational to look out of the water than into it neither was I more deceived in my conjecture than he who looked towards the West rather than towards the East to see the rising of the Sun For upon many places which were over the Baths and received the steams of the hot water I have seen Sulphur to stick and to satisfie my curiosity further herein I caused once a Pipe to be opened at Baden in Austria through which the hot water continually ran and took with my hand from the upper part of the Pipe divers Boxes full of a substance scarce to be distinguished from Flower of Brimstone Walking about also one day in the Sower Bath at Baden and leaning over the Ballistres to talk with some Friends who were then bathing themselves I perceived that my Buttons and what else I wore of silver were all turned yellow of a fair Gold colour although I were at some distance from the water Which made me try this experiment also which was to hang money over the Bath at a foot distance or at a greater to see what alteration it would make and how soon which it coloured in a minutes time and that which was nearer in half a minute But to return to Eisenbach there are two convenient Baths much frequented and a third which is made by the water let out of the former called the Snakes-bath from the number of Snakes coming into and delighting in it when it is filled with these warm waters March the thirtieth I travelled from Schemnitz by Glass-Hitten and Apfelsdorff where there is a House of the Arch-Bishop of Presburg and afterwards passed the River Gran and came in between the Hills where in one place they have thrown up the Earth and made a work from one ridge of the Hills to the other to defend the Country and hinder the Turkish Excursions towards Chremnitz Afterwards we proceeded by that Golden River and yellow Stream which washes all the Ore above till we came to the Town Chremnitz is a small Town but hath large Suburbs and lies high St. Johns Church at some distance from it is thought to stand upon the highest ground in Hungary This is the oldest Mine-Town and the richest in Gold of all the seven in these parts which are these Schemnitz Chremnitz Newsol Koningsberg Bochantz Libeten and Tiln They have worked in the Gold-Mine at Chremnitz nine hundred and fifty years the Mine is about nine or ten English miles in length and there is one Cuniculus or Horizontal passage which is eight hundred fathoms long called the Erbstall The depth of it is above one hundred and seventy fathoms they do not use Ladders to descend into this Mine but are let down at the end of a Cable unto which is fastned a sling or seat of Leather the Leather being broad and divided ordinarily into two or three parts so that it is to be shifted or changed as you find convenience and affords no uneasie seat even to such as are not used to it And in this manner whoseever enters the
Copper and Silver having 7 15 of Silver and 8 15 of Copper is in a minutes time turned from a white into a dark yellow and soon after becomes black It gives a fine green colour to the Moss and Plants which it washes and leaves often a scum upon them of a purple mixed with white As it runs from the Spring-head it somewhat resembles the Sulphur River in the way from Tivoli to Rome but is not so strange or stinking nor doth it incrustate its banks The Spring head is also considerable in regard that it rises under a rocky Hill at some distance from the entrance and I passed to it about the length of forty yards through an Arched passage cut in the Rock which is also a natural stove as that of Tritola and Baiae made by the hot Bath water running under it most part of the top of this Cave is incrustated with a white substance which towards the mouth becomes harder and stony I caused some of the Pipes through which the Bath water runs to be opened and from the upper part of the Pipe I took some quantity of the Sulphur in powder it being very like flowers of Brimstone this being as it were sublimed from the water and not deposed it being found in the upper part of the Pipe oleum Sulphuris per campanum dropped into this water is received into it quietly Oleum Tartari per deliquium causes an ebullition as in the making of Tartarum Vitriolatum The Second Bath within the Wall is our Lady's Bath about twelve foot broad and twenty four foot long One end of this is under a Church of the same name This is fuller of Sulphur than the rest and more blew and leaves a yellow flower upon the boards as the others do a white The Third is the New Bath without the Town near the Gate when I saw it it was full of People who were making merry and singing The Fourth is the Jews Bath this hath a partition in the middle to separate the Men from the Women The Fifth is St. John's Bath of a triangular Figure The Sixth is the Beggars Bath alwayes shallow so as they lie down in it The Seventh is the Bath of the holy Cross about two sathoms square chiefly for the Clergy The Eighth is St. Peter's Bath this is greener than the rest The Ninth is the Sower-Bath this is set about with stone Balastres and covered with a handsome Cupola and a Lanthorn the Water is very clear in the stream of this Bath I have often coloured Money black without touching the Water yet the Water it self being once cold changes not the colour of Metals although they be boyled in it The hottest of these Baths have not the heat of the Queens Bath at Bathe in England They use no Guides as with us but direct themselves with a short turned Staff Here we met with very good Company and all kind of accommodation at no dear rate A Captain of the Emperour 's whom I had accompanied to these Baths as a token of his love gave me a Gempskugel which is said to be an excrescence upon the Liver of a wild Goat of Tyrol and highly cryed up in Germany for a signal remedy against the diseases of the Liver malignant Fevers and the Plague and many are so obstinately credulous as to think that whosoever takes it becomes invulnerable for twenty four hours after Having bathed in the Baths and taken a draught of the Town I left Baden and the next considerable place was Newstad one of the chiefest Cities in Austria it is of a square Figure with a Piazza in the middle of it two sides whereof are arched and supported with Pillars there are four Gates three whereof are to be seen from the Piazza St. Jacobs is the chiefest Church which hath two Steeples in the Front The Emperor hath a Palace here of a square Building with four Towers which are to be seen a great way off as is also most part of the Town as lying in a Marish Ground and in a plain Country it is encompassed with a Ditch and two Walls the one very low the other seems not strong yet as they told me at one time the Turk could not take it but left it upon condition that they might take something out of the Town which being granted they took the Pronger or Whipping-Post and carried it unto Constantinople and at another time in the Year 1529. Solyman the Magnificent stormed it seven times in one day and was every time repulsed At this place Count Peter Serini and Frangipani were beheaded as being chief Contrivers in the Hungarian Revolt From hence through the Plains we came to Mount Simeren passing by Newkirckel where there is a Chappel with a little red Pinnacle which they say was built by an English King I suppose by King Richard the first who was kept Prisoner in Austria in his return from the Holy Land whose Ransom built the old Walls of Vienna Mount Simeren is a part of Mount Cetius upon the top whereof lies an heap of Stones which make the boundary between Austria and Styria the ascent of the Hill is steep and stony so that sometimes it takes twenty four Horses or Oxen to draw up a Cart or Coach We lodged at Schotwien or Schadtwien a strange Town seated between Rocks upon the passage of the Hills the Houses upon the sides of the Rocks are inaccessible but from the Top of the Hills and looking over the Plains serve for Watch-Towers this is a close strong place and called by some Claustra Austriae having the Mountains on each hand and shut up with a Gate at each end a small current coming down from the Hills is admitted into the Town under the Wall which put me in mind of the Picture of the Wall to the Kingdom of China wherein is expressed the manner of the Rivers running into China the Wall being still continued over them From hence I came to Mehrzuschlag the place where they beat out the Iron into Bars so to Keimburg passing by a swist small River named Murtz then travelled by a Castle belonging to the Family of Stubnberg which is esteemed one of the Ancientest in Germany and came to Prug seated upon the River Mur or Muer a swift large River but not navigable although after it hath passed by Gratz and Rakenburg it enlarges Prug or Muripons is not ill built considering the Country and hath a fair Piazza Another Town of this name I had seen before seated upon the River Leyta and for distinction called Prug upon the Leyta so forward by Luheim where the Staple of Iron is I came to Knitelfeldt and Judenburg still nigh to the River Mur the next day to Hundtsmark and Newmark then to Freisach which some think to have been Virunum others Vacorium in sight of Altenhofn the Castle of Itrowitz and the Castle of Tottenbrun which belongs to the Arch-bishop of Saltzburg Then to St. Veit or St. Faith formerly
Vito a Port Town of the Venetians in Friuli so named from St. Vito who is said to have been buried in this place At this Town we took a Felluca and sayling by the shoar of Friuli or Patria we passed by Porto di Taiamento and came to Cahorle In this Island there is a Church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin seated upon the Sea-shoar nigh the Waves yet said never to be overflowed by the Sea being as it were the Halcyon Nest of its Patroness and a place of remarkable devotion On this shoar we refreshed our selves and were divertised at Sea in seeing them take Shell-fish and then passing by Livenza where the Sea came formerly up as high as Opitergium and afterwards by Porto di Piave I arrived at Venice entring by the Porto de Castelli passing by the Carthusians Convent and landed at the Piazza of St. Mark Here I found the whole City highly concerned for the Hazardous State of Candia which was lost soon after Dominico Cantarini the present Duke was sedulous in that affair The Voyage of Ghiron Francisco Marchese Villa General of the Infantry of Candia with a journal of a Siege had been lately published and was in many hands There was also a supply of Auxiliaries in good readiness it was at that time a more than ordinary hot Season and some of our English Sea Captains and Masters told me that they had seldom met with such hot weather even between the Tropicks Having formerly had a view of Rome Naples Florence and the great Cities of Italy and passed some time at Padoa a few years before I made but a short stay about Venice and having reviewed what was most considerable and renewed my acquaintance with some worthy courteous Friends at Venice and Padoa Mr. Hales the Conful Mr. Hobson Dr. Cadined and others I disposed my affair for my return to Vienna the ordinary way In order thereto I took Boat at Venice and landed at Mestre a pretty Town and the best place for accommodation for such as travel into Germany by Tirol or into Austria by Friuli from hence I travelled ten miles through a pleasant plain Country till I came to Treviso or Tarvisium which gives the name unto the Country about La Marca Trevigiana a handsome City adorned with good Houses Churches Towers and Fountains The clear River Sile or Silo runs through it and afterwards into the Sea between Mestre and Murano it abounds in good Wines and Fruit and was a chief Seat of the Lombards in these parts This old City after having run various fortunes and been under the subjection of the Huns and other conquering Nations and sometimes obeyed the Signori della Scala and the Carraresi was united to the State of Venice in the year 1388. It was converted to the Christian Faith by Prosdochimus a follower of St. Peter Eight miles from hence stood the Ancient City Altinum founded by Antenor and destroyed by Attila From thence I came to Lovadina and crossed the great River Piave Plavis or Anassus which arising in the Mountains passes by the Cities of Belluna and Feltre then to Concian or Coniglian and next to Sacille or Sacillum formerly a Bishops See under the Patriarch of Aquileia a pleasant and well-built place esteemed the Garden of the Republick and seated by the River Livenza or Liquentia which passing by Motta runs into the Gulf of Venice Here I took a guide to conduct me through the Plains and Meadows and came to Spilimbergo where I again took a Guide to cross the swift River Taiamento or Tiliaventum this is esteemed the greatest River in Friuli arising above in the Julian Alpes and running down into the Adriatick Sea and often over-flowing a great part of the plain Country This swift River put a stop to the incursion of the Turks when Scander Bassa of Illyria broke into Friuli with twelve thousand Horse and destroyed all before him in the Reign of Sultan Bajazet the Second Not far from Spilimbergo I passed a neat River or notable Cut called La Brentella sixteen miles long made by the Venetians for the better bringing down of wood from the Mountains to be used in the making of Glasses at Muran it is all paved with a good Stone bottom and sides the bottom is round so that it is somewhat like a Tube opened or split in two Then I passed by St. Daniel seated upon an Hill by Hospitaletto and came to Vensone a Town seated at the beginning of the Hills and formerly the limit of the Venetian Dominions thence by Rejuta to La Chiusa a place remarkable for the streight passage of the Alpes where the Venetians keep a guard and shut up the passage every night from thence I came to Ponteba or Ponte Fella upon the River Fella the exact Confines between the Venetian and Imperial Dominions and surely a man can seldom pass more clearly and distinctly from one Country unto another than in this Town on one side of the Bridge live Italians Subjects unto the State of Venice on the other side Germans Subjects unto the Emperor Upon the one side their Buildings their manner of living their empty Rooms large Windows Iron Bedsteads show them to be Italians On the other side immediately their Stoves higher Bed-steads Feather-beds one over another square Tables and their Bason and Cloth by the Wall declare them to be Germans the Bridge it self is also half Italian half Dutch one part being built of Stone and the other of great Trees laid over after the German fashion of making bridges Between Vensone and Poâ—teba there are many great Cascata's or falls of waters but of several passages of the Alpes this seemed unto me the best and most easie In these Mountainous places I was entertained with strange stories of the Snow which covers these Hills in the Winter as how many pikes length the Snow was deep in some places how round the Country would look when all the craggy Rocks were covered how a Snow-ball thrown down from a Mountain would so gather and augment in the fall as to do great mischief in the Valley and that if the smallest Bird should but scrape with her foot at the edge of an high Hill that little beginning might so encrease in the descent upon a thaugh as to over-whelm an House at the bottom From hence by Tervis and Tirl unto Villach or Villach an handsome Town and one of the chiefest in Carinthia but before I came to Villach I went to see the Natural Baths which were not much out of the way at the foot of an Hill about an English miles from the Town and in good esteem There are two clear Sulphureous Baths but very gently warm and have an acid and no unpleasant taste the bottom is not planchered nor paved but hath its own natural Spring and Settlement with it yet into one there is a hot Spring let in which arises by it they are large and have stairs to descend into them with little Rooms of
there is a noble monument the Tomb of William of Nassaw Prince of Orange together with his Wife and Son Prince Maurice his Statua is in armour with his Dog at his Feet and four Obelisks are supported by ten Marble pillars In a house of this Town there were shewn me in a Wall the marks of the bullets shot at Prince William who was thereby murthered 1584. and in another Church which was broad and spacious I saw a handsome Tomb for Sir Charles Morgans Lady and the Monument of Peter Hein the Admiral who took the Spanish Silver-fleet The Hague Haga Comitis the ancient place of Residence of the Counts of Holland and now of the States general is about an hours going distant from Delft in which passage at some distance we had a sight of two of the Prince of Orange's houses This place is well built the Princes Court handsome The Piazza by it full of green Trees many fair Houses The Course where the Coaches meet the Pall-mall the Wood the Park do much beautiâ—ie it and the way from hence to Scheveling from whence his late Majesty King Charles the Second returned into England is very remarkable it being a streight way cut through the Sand-hills and paved with Brick for three miles having on each hand four or five rows of Trees and Scheveling Steeple at the end of it The Hague and Madrid in Spain are accounted the greatest Villages or open unwalled places in Europe and the Hollanders have thought it more honour to be Masters of the greatest Village than of a place which if it were walled would come short of many Cities but this may prove a dangerous resolution for sormerly upon this advantage Martin van Rossem Captain to the Duke of Gueldres sacked the Hague and it was lately in the like danger when the French Forces lay at Vtrecht and Worden if they had forced a passage into that part of Holland Leyden is three hours or three Dutch miles from the Hague at present one of the neatest Towns in Europe Well built hath divers large Streets beautified with rows of Trees and the water passing through the middle of them and also well fortified after the modern way I took notice of that Antiquity called Hengist Castle or the Berg said to be built by Hengist the Saxon and went up to the top thereof Upon the top there is now an Arbour and a Maze or Labyrinth round it and a Well out of which they told us they took a Fish alive when the Town was almost famished during the Siege which was shewed to the Enemy over the Wall endeavouring to make their condition to appear better than it was and to dishearten the besiegers There are now handsome stairs from the top to the bottom and a good house built by it where they have their publick sales and entertainments But a nobler Antiquity lies under the Sea than any above ground not far from hence near Catwyck is a square fortress called Arx Britannica built by Caligula in the declining of the Roman Empire ruined in part by the Normans and afterwards neglected and overwhelmed by the Sea But in some years and great retire of the Sea the ruines have been discovered and many noble Antiquities brought from it some having this inscription Ex. Ger. Inf. ex Germania Inferiori The Stadthuise hath a fair front towards the Street In the Anatomy Schools are a very great number of Skeletons Two legs of an Elephant The Skeleton of a young Whale of a Horse Deer Cow Cat Fox and many other Animals divers Skeletons of Men and Women some bodies preserved with their Muscles and one intire the flesh skin and all parts defended from corruption I saw also here what Monsieur de Bils pretended towards the preservation of Bodies but more accurately afterwards at Dr. Ruisch his house at Amsterdam The Physick-garden although but small is well filled with Plants where are also many other both natural and artificial Curiosities to be seen and many sorts of Optick-glasses Near the garden are the Schools built of Brick with the Officina Elzeviriana on the top In the Churches I saw the Monuments of many famous men in the French Church is the Tomb of Joseph Scaliger with a large Inscription upon it and these few words which he himself desired might be placed there Josephus Justus Scaliger Jul. Caes Fil. Hic expecto Resurrectionem As also the Tomb of Carolus Clusius the great Herbarist Omnia Naturae qui munera pectore clusit Clusius herbifero clauditur hoc tumulo And with this following Non potuit plures heic quaerere Clusius herbas Ergo novas campis quaerit in Elysiis i. e. Clusius view'd all the Plants that this Earth yields And now is simpling in the Elysian Fields There is a Picture in the Chamber for the Burgermasters representing the day of Judgment drawn by Lucas van Leyden so much esteemed that it is said the Emperor Rudolphus would have given for it as many Ducats of Gold as would have covered it The Table also upon which John of Leyden wrought whilst he was a Taylor is a Curiosity because he proved afterwards so considerable a disturber of Germany and came to be King of the Anabaptists This City endured a hard siege by the Spanish forces and they were reduced unto great extremity but they saved themselves by overflowing the Country and so forcing the enemies to make away with great loss and afterwards coyned a memorial-Medal with this inscrption Vt Senacherib à Jerusalem sic Hispani à Leyda noclu fugerunt 1574. From Leyden I came to Haerlem a neat City pleasantly seated and having a Grove near it The great Church is esteemed the largest in Holland with a very high Lanthorn upon it Within are many Inscriptions and Monuments most of which are transcribed and set down in Gotfr Hegenitii Itinerarium Hollandicum In the Prince's house are all the Earls of Holland Painted upon the wall and in the Garden in the Summer-house the Picture of Laurentius Costerus who is said to have first invented the art of Printing in this Town but others attribute it to Johannes Gottenberg a German On the other side there is a Picture of a Ship with Saws in memory of the manner how Damiata in Egypt was formerly taken by those of this Town who as they report accompanied Frederick Barbarossa in an expedition against the Saracens and when the men of Pelusium or Damiata had chained up their Port by this invention of fastning strong Saws to the keels of their Ships they cut the chains in sunder and so took the Town In the rooms are very good Paintings by Hemskerk and Goltzius as his Prometheus and other Peeces but Cornelius van Haerlem most delighted me in his peeces of Herods killing the Innocent Children his feast of the Gods in which Vulcans foot is esteemed at a great rate and another Picture of a Frier and a Nun at a Collation not inferiour to
the rest among many Epitaphs in the great Church there is this Dutch one for a Man and his Wife Laet lopen die lopen luste Onse tiit is verlopen wy leggen hier in ruste Let them run that run will Our time 's run out and we lye still The old Mens house or an Hospital for sixty aged persons is large and handsome having a good Quadrangle and a Garden in it The Hospital also for the sick is very cleanly kept Here I first saw the manner of punishing Malefactors by whipping them with rods which is more severe than I imagined they lead them to a Post upon a Scaffold their hands tyed and by a Pully drawn up as high as can be extended and then an Iron fastned about their wast to keep them steady in which stretched-out posture they receive sometimes fifty or sixty stripes or more according to the merit of their offence Not far from this place there is a great Water or noted Lake called Haerlem Meere about twenty Miles in length which is frozen over in hard Winters and men swiftly travel over it by sliding or in sleds When Haerlem was besieged there was a Naval fight upon it The Dutch having about an hundred and fifty Vessels and the Spaniards not many fewer The Town was afterwards taken by Composition but such Cruelty was used by tho Spaniards that they have not yet forgot it From Haerlem I went to Amsterdam a City at present for Riches Trade Shipping fair Streets and pleasant habitations scarce yielding to any other of the World It is seated upon the River Ye and hath its name as 't is reported from a Castle appertaining long since to the Lords of Amstel to whom this place also belonged At the beginning the seat of a few Fishermen but afterwards increasing it received many Priviledges from the Counts of Holland and was made a Town or City by the favour of their Grants and Charters In the year 1470. it was walled about with a Brick-wall to defend it against the Citizens of Vtrecht they having been in great danger to have fallen into their hands if those of Vtrecht had pursued their Victories In few Months after also the whole Town was almost reduced to Ashes by fire but by the increase of their Traffick they easily overcame their losses waded through all difficulties and rendred good Services to their Counts and received the honour afterwards from Maximilian the Emperor to have the Imperial Crown over their Armes which arâ— three Crosses on a Pale About the year 1525. Gelen sent from the new King of Munster passed through Friesland and came to this City where having made a Party and communicated his design he resolved to surprize the Town by night at the time of the sounding of the Bell to which intent they were already entred the Market place had set upon the Town-house and cut in pieces those who resisted them When by great providence the rope to the great Bell was taken away the Magistrates had notice of it and caused all the Streets and Avenues leading to the Market-place to be stopped up with Wool-sacks and Hop-sacks whereby they were hindred in their design of taking the Town by night and the next morning their number being discovered to be inconsiderable they were set upon driven into the Stadthuis and defeated Of late years this City is mightily encreased and encompassed with a new Wall and fortified after the modern way The new Streets are large and uniform and the whole Town being in a low Marshy ground the water is let in through all the considerable Streets The River Amstel passes through the City being let in under a handsome well contrived Bridge of Eleven Arches which is so built as to make part of the Wall and Rampart and is 26 paces broad The whole Town is built upon Piles or high Firr-trees driven down perpendicularly into the Earth so thick together that nothing more can be forced in between them And by this means they build Houses in the Sea and lay Foundations strong enough to support the geatest Buildings whatsoever in places where no solid bottom is to be found But they must needs be at a great expence and labour before they can lay the first Stone And the number of Trees required to each Foundation is considerable since for the Foundation of one Tower or Steeple alone over against the Church of St. Katherine Mr. J. de Parivall who wrote Les Delices de la Hollande reckons that there was rammed into the ground a Forest as he calls it of Six thousand three hundred and thirty four great Trees About this manner of work for the fixing their Foundations I saw them employed in divers places particularly at the East-India-house and at a place where a Lutheran Church was then designed to be built So that it was not improbably said That if a man could see all under this City he could hardly behold a greater Forest The Stadthuis or Town-house is the noblest Building in all these Countries A Pile of Freestone of an hundred and ten paces in Front being larger than the Magnified Front of the Church of St. Peter's at Rome and eighty one paces deep or on the sides The Chambers in it the Pictures and Statues are worthy to be seen and admired The first Room on the right hand or Judgment-hall where the Malefactors receive their Sentence is adorned with large Statues hanging down their heads in mournful postures as if concerned or grieving at what was then pronounced The Floors are of Marble the Roofs are richly gilt and painted Upon the top of all stands Atlas or Columbus holding a Globe upon his Shoulder made of Copper of about ten foot Diameter which is as large perhaps as any Ball or Globe whatsoever employed to this ornamental use That upon St. Peter's at Rome as having been in it I judge to be less as likewise that at Florence The Turkish Ornament to the Tower of their Mosques is three Balls one above another and an half Moon over them but they are less by far at least such as I have seen and by relation from Eye-witnesses the largest of the three noble gilded Balls at Morocco are inferiour to this But I will say nothing more of this great building the Stadthuis since there is a peculiar description of it in Folio with Cuts and Figures of the most remarkable Curiosities in it The Exchange is fair and large and above it are Shops it is very well frequented and he that comes after twelve payeth six stivers Divers of their Churches are fair In the new Church the partition with Ballisters of Brass and the carved Pulpit are noble In the old Church the Tomb of Van Hâ—lse and Heemskerk are remarkable Heemskerk did his Country great Services in their first attempts upon India for the King of Spain having confiscated some of the Hollanders Ships who traded to his Dominions which were then the Staple for the India Trade It was
Voygats New-Holland West-Friesland Cape d' Hyver c. but I have since met with a Book which doth somewhat contradict this entituled A Voyage into the Northern Countries by Monsieur Martiniere who went in one of the three Ships belonging to the Northern Company of Copenhagen in the year 1653. and by that means had occasion to converse with the Norwegians Islanders Laplanders Kilops Borandians Siberians Zemblians and Samojedes who are Neighbours to the Tartars and Tingorses in his 46 Chapter he expresses himself after this manner There having fallen into my hands several Geographical Charts of sundry eminent and much celebrated Authors I am much amazed to see how they are mistaken in the position of Zembla which they place much nearer the North Pole than really it is they divide it likewise by the Sea from Greenland and place it far distant from it when as indeed those two Countries are Contiguous the Coasts of Greenland butting upon the Coasts of Zembla so as did not the great quantity of Snow and the violence of the cold render those Borders uninhabitable the passage would be very easie by Land from Greenland to Zembla and from Zembla passing the Pater-noster Mountains to enter into Samojedia from thence into Tartary or Muscovy as one pleased I was amazed likewise to see they had described the Streight called Voygat not above ten French Leagues in length whereas it contains above five and thirty Dutch Leagues which is six times as much Again they would perswade us that through that Streight our ships might pass into the great Tartarian Ocean which is a mistake And although they indeed do affirm that in the time of Prince Maurice of Nassaw a Dutch Vessel passed that way into that Ocean yet it is a manifest error that Streight being bounded as I said before by the Pater-noster Mountains which are half a League high and the tops of them covered with perpetual Snow which never dissolves And of this I can give a positive testimony having been my self in that Streight under those Mountains in the Dog-days which is the hottest time of the year From the Steeple of the old Church of Amsterdam I had a good Prospect of the Town and the great number of Ships lying upon one side of it like a Wood and all the Towns about it The Roofs of the Houses being sharp it is a most uneven Town to be looked upon downward as it is a handsome one to be looked on upward and is not so divertising or pleasing to the sight as some Towns in France and Italy which have flatter Roofs or else are covered with a fine black Slat or Ardoise Upon this and all other Towers of the Town a Trumpet is sounded at Midnight and in other parts of the City at six a Clock night and morning At eleven a Clock the time of going on to the Exchange there is good Musick at the Stadthuis given by the Earl of Leicester They make good Harmony also every hour in playing upon their Chimes and Bells in most Steeples And there is a Musick-house or Entertaining-house where any one is admitted for a Stiver hears most sorts of Musick sees many good Water-works and divers motions by Clock-work Pictures and other Divertisements During my stay at Amsterdam I had the opportunity of seeing divers Learned Men and Persons of Note Dr. Ruish shewed us many Curiosities in Anatomy as the Skeletons of young Children and Faetus's of all Ages neatly set together and very white the Lymphatick vessels so preserved as to see the valves in them A Liver excarnated showing the Minute vessels all shining and clear The Muscles of Children dissected and kept from corruption entire Bodies preserved the face of one was very remarkable without the least spot or change of colour or alteration of the lineaments from what might be expected immediately after death he had then kept it two years and hoped it would so continue Dr. Swammerdam shewed us divers of his Experiments which he hath set down in his Treatise De Respiratione and a very sair Collection of Insects brought from several Countries a Stagg-fly of a very great bigness an Indian Scolopendria or Forty-foot a fly called Ephemeron and many other Curiosities Old Glawber the Chymist shewed us his Laboratory And we received much civility from Blasius the Physick Professour who hath wrote a Comment upon Veslingius The Jews live more handsomly and splendidly here than in any other place Their chief Synagogue is large adorned with Lamps of Brass and Silver We happened to be there at the Feast of their New-year so that there blowing of Horns shouting and singing was not omitted Some of them understand divers Languages I saw one Moses di Pas a Learned young Man and Orobio a Physician of Note And I was sorry to see divers here to profess themselves publickly Jews who had lived at least reputed Christians for a long time in other places One who had been a Franciscan Friar thirty years and another who had been Professour some years at Tholouze and before that Physician to the King of Spain Juda Leo a Jew hath taken great pains in making a Model of the Temple of Solomon of Solomon's House the Fort of the Temple the Tabernacle the Israelites encamping and other Curiosities I was present at the Circumcision of a Child which is performed by thrusting a Probe in between the Glans and Praeputium and separating it or dilating the Praeputium so as the inward Skin may be drawn forward as well as the outward then by applying an Instrument joynted like a Carpenters Rule or a Sector the Skin is held fast beyond the Glans and with a broad Incision-knife or Circumcision-knife the Foreskin is cut off close to the Instrument and what remains of Skin is immediately put back the blood stopped with Powders and a Plaister applyed the Relations and Acquaintance singing all the while whereby the cries of the Infant are less heard Leaving Amsterdam I passed by a peculiar Burial-place of the Jews who are not permitted to interr their dead within the Walls by Overskerk Bamburg and in six or seven hours arrived at Vtretcht in a Boat drawn with Horses through artificial Cuts of Water which is the way of Travelling in Holland Vtretcht and divers other Provinces of the Low-Countries Vtrecht is an ancient large handsome City and chief of the Province of the same name called formerly Antonina and afterwards Vltrajectum Long famous for its Episcopal See founded by Dagobert King of France who endowed it richly with Lands and Possessions Willebald or Willebrode an Englishman was their first Bishop who converted these Countries unto Christianity and the following Bishops grew so powerful that they were able to bring many thousand men into the field and to wage great Wars against the Counts of Holland Their Succession also continued for above Nine hundred years It is now an University founded by the States in the Year 1639. I shall not trouble you with the
Names of the Professors the Learned Mr. Ray whom I had the honour to meet in divers places abroad having already caused to be printed the Series Lectionum of this and many other Universities in the Low-Countries Germany and Italy in his Observations Topographical Moral Physiological set forth 1673. The great Church hath a very high Tower or three Steeples one above another From the highest of which I had not only a good sight of the Town it self which lay under mine Eye like a Platform but of many others also Vtretcht being in a plain slat Country and so well seated and encompassed with so populous a Country that in a days Journey a man may go from hence to any one of fifty walled Towns and Cities The English Church here is an ancient Building the Pillar in the middle of it whose Foundation could not be laid but upon Bulls-hides is much taken notice of It was built 1099. and hath the Picture of a Bull upon it with this Inscription Accipe Posteritas quod per tua saecula narres Taurinis cutibus fundo solidata columna est There is an old Library belonging to this Church which contains divers old Books and Manuscripts A large Bille in six Volumes painted and gilded after a very ancient manner Two Idols taken in time of War long since in Germany and given to this place by the Emperor Henry the Fourth are worth the seeing not so much for their neatness as their Antiquity and odd shape As also a Horn made out of a Tooth said to be given at the same time There are also three Vnicorns Horns little differing in length the longest being five foot and an half I drank out of one of them the end being tipp'd with Silver and made hollow to serve for a Cup. These were of the Sea-Vnicorn or the Horn or long wreathed Tooth of some Sea-Animal much like it taken in the Northern Sea of which I have seen many both in Publick Repositories and in Private Hands Two such as these the one Ten foot long were presented not many years since to the King of Denmark being taken near to Nova Zembla and I have seen some full fifteen foot long some wreathed very thick some not so much and others almost plain Some largest and thickest at the End near the head others are largest at some distance from the Head Some very sharp at the end or point and others blunt My honoured Father Sir Thomas Brown had a very fair piece of one which was formerly among the Duke of Curland's Rarities but after that he was taken Prisoner by Douglas in the Wars between Sweden and Poland it came into the hands of my Unckle Colonel Hatcher of whom my Father had it he had also a piece of this sort of Vnicorns Horn burnt black out of the Emperor of Russia's Repositorie given him by Dr. Arthur Dee who was Son to Dr. John Dee and also Physician to the Emperor of Russia when his Chambers were burned in which he preserved his Curiosities I have seen a walking Staff a Scepter a Scabbard for a Sword Boxes and other Curiosities made out of this Horn but was never so fortunate as from experience to confirm its Medical Efficacy against I oisons contagious Diseases or any other evident effect of it although I have known it given several times and in great quantity Mr. Charlton hath a good Vnicorns Horn Sir Joseph Williamson gave one of them to the Royal Society The Duke of Florence hath a fair one The Duke of Saxony a strange one and besides many others I saw eight of them together upon one Table in the Emperors treasure and I have one at present that for the neat wreathing and Elegant shape gives place to none But of these Vnicorns Horns no man sure hath so great a Collection as the King of Denmark and his Father had so many that he was able to spare a great number of them to build a Magnificent Throne out of Vnicorns Horns I had the honour to see divers Persons of Note in this City as D. Cyprianus ab Oesterga Dr. Regius Voetius the only Member then left alive of the Synod of Dort and others but missed the sight of the learned Anna Maria Skurman who was then gone out of Town and was forced to content my self with beholding her Picture well drawn by her own hand with this Inscription of hers under it Cernitis hic picta nostros in Imagine vultus Si negat aâ—sformam gratia vestra dabit The Painters Hall is considerable wherein are many good pieces to be seen of several Masters Amongst which there are good Heads by Van Colen and Tuart Land-skips by Soft-lever and good Drapery especially in some Turkish Habits by Vander Mere. This Town is also beautified with a fair Piazza or Market-place divers long Streets and a Pall-mall with five rows of Trees on each side In the Church of St. Katherine is the Tomb of my Lord Gorge Though I had seen France and Italy and the Noble Cities thereof which are worthily admired by all yet I was much surprized upon the first sight of the Vnited Provinces especially of Holland and the adjoyning places He that hath observed the easie accomodation for Travel therein both by Land and Water their excellent order and regular course in all things the number of Learned Men the abundance of Varieties in all kinds the industry frugality and wealth of the People their numerous good Towns their extraordinary neatness in their Buildings and Houses their proper Laws and administration of Justice and their incredible number of Shipping and Boats will think it an omission to rest in the fight of other Countries without a view of this A Country of little extent and soon travelled over but so replenished with People with good Cities fair Towns and Villages as not to be met with upon so little a compass of ground except perhaps in China From Vtrecht in two hours I came to Friswick and passed over the River Leck to Vianen where there is little remarkable besides the House and Gardens of Count Brederode one of the Ancient Nobility of Holland or according to common esteem of the most Noble Family of all the Family of the Egmonds being formerly esteemed the Richest the Wassenaer's the most ancient and the Brederodes the Noblest The Mount in this Garden serves for the Rampart to the Town and on a round Bullwark are divers small brass Guns planted The Statua's of the twelve Caesars of Aristotle the Pyramids and Partitions with the Paintings upon the wall are the rest of its Ornaments From hence I passed still by Boat through the Land of Arkel some say derived from Hercules belonging formerly to the Lords of Gorchom and Arkeland till by Mary daughter to the last Lord of Arkeland it fell to John Lord of Egmond and was afterwards sold to William the sixth Earl of Holland I arrived this night at Gorchom a Town well seated near three Rivers the
Ling the Wael and the Maes The Market-place is fair the Stadthuis is sunk somewhat on one side The Governour hath a good House and the Church a very high thick Steeple the Works are of Earth the Water-gate is handsome and over it in Great Letters in this inscription Civitas in quâ maximè Cives legibus parent in pace beata bello invicta 1642. The more remarkable because it made good its Inscription in the year 1672. When Louis the Fourteenth King of France came down with so powerful an Army into the Low-Countries that in that Summers Expedition he took thirty walled Towns and Cities this Watergate being the Limit to his Conquests this way beyond which his Forces were not able to attempt any thing Leaving Gorcum I passed by Worcum on the other side of the River and then by the Castle of Lovestein strongly seated and well fortified and therefore hath been often made use of to secure Persons of Note Sir George Ascue of late years suffered his Imprisonment herein and formerly Barnevelt upon which occasion this Castle hath been much spoken of and hath given the name to that whole party who sided with him well known at present by the name of the Lovestein Faction Passing on further by the Maes I left Proye on the left hand and Huesden on the right and the next day morning arrived at the Bosche Hertogen Bosche Sylva Ducis Boscum Ducis Boisleduc Bolduc takes its name from a Wood belonging to the Dukes of Brabant It is a strong pleasant City seated upon the River Disa or Deese which enters the Maes about two Leagues below it one of the greatest Cities in Brabant and for its strength for which 't is beholden both to Nature and to Art the States of the Vnited Provinces possess not any one more considerable and is a very good Frontier against all Enemies on this side It is encompassed on all sides with Fens and Marshy Grounds The Avenues to it are by narrow Causeys made turning and winding to be commanded in all places by one or other of the six Sconces or Forts built at some distance without the Town for its greater Security Besides which the Hollanders having some reason to be jealous of the Inhabitants whose affections might incline them towards the neighbouring Princes of whose Religion most of them are they have built a Cittadel within the Town a Briel or pair of Spectacles to look more accurately into their Affairs It is a handsom regular Fort of five Bastions each Curtain is 84 ordinary paces long the Faces of each Bastion 63 and the Flank or Neck 24. There is a handsome House of Stone for the Centry at the point of each Bastion and the middle of each Curtain every one of which cost Seven hundred Guldens Here is also a Field Canon of an extraordinary length said to be able to fling a Bullet almost as far as Bommel The Piazza in this Town is Triangular This City was made an Episcopal See 1559. The Cathedral is Dedicated to St. John In the Quire are painted the Arms of many of the Knights of the Golden Fleece And over the upper Stalls or Seats an Inscription in French which contains the History of the first Institution and Model of this Order by the most High and mighty Prince Philip the Good Duke of Burgundy Lorain and Brabant in the year 1429 who then named four and twenty Knights besides the head of the Order to whom he gave a Chain of Gold and a Golden Fleece for which this Inscription was thought fit to be placed upon his Tomb Pour maintenir l'eglise Qui est de Dieu Maison I'ay mis sus le noble Ordre Qu'on nomme le Toison Besides divers Statua's and Pillars There are also several Monuments of the Bishops of Bosche and others This Town was taken from the King of Spain by the Forces of the Confederate Estates in the year 1628. after a long and chargeable Siege in which the little Sconce one of the Forts towards the South did excellent Service Divers of the Nuns were still alive in this Town but at Vtrecht they were all dead From the Bosche we travelled through a plain Country somewhat Sandy to Breda upon the River Merck A place very considerable pleasantly seated and well-fortified It hath formerly had more Out-works than at present For they have taken away the Crown-works and left only the Half-moons and Horn-works and Conserves or Contregards about the Half-moons There is a large Ditch of Water round the Counterscarp and a small Ravelin between each Bastion joyned to the Rampart within side of the Ditch There is also a double Hay or Quickset-hedge almost quite round the Town besides Palisado's The Parapet is very thick and strengthned with a row of Elms and seconded with another row at three or four yards distance round the Town the bodies of the Bastions are sunk down or hollowed away and filled with a thicket of Elms. The Half Moons are the like without the To wn and after all a brest-work between the Town and the Bastions and Cavaliers upon several places of the Rampart This Town belongs unto the Prince of Orange unto whom it hath descended by the right of the house of Nassaw by the Marriage of Engelbert the seventh Earl of that house with Mary daughter and Heir of Philip the last Lord thereof about the year 1400. It was taken by the Spaniards in the beginning of the Low Country Wars and was afterwards surprized by the Dutch by a stratagem performed by eighty men hid in a Boat covered over with Turf and let into the Castle In the year 1625. the Spaniards took it again as by Inscriptions and Chronograms are to be seen in divers places as that over the door of the Church aMbrosI spInoLae VIgILantIa breDa eXpVgnata As also this PhILIppVs hIspanIae reX gVbernante IsabeLLa CLarâ EVgenIa Infanta obsIDente spInoLa qVaternIs regIbVs frVstra ConIVrantIbVs breDa VICtor potItVr Afterwards it was besieged and taken by Frederick Hendrick Prince of Orange as an inscription at the West end of the Church sets it down Auxilio solius Dei Auspiciis confoederati Belgij Ferdinando Austriaco Hispaniae Infantae cum ingenti exercitu frustra succurrente à Iulij 23 obsessam ad 19 Augusti oppugnatam Fredericus Henricus Princeps araVsIVs breDaMeXpVgnat seXâ—a OCtobrIs The Church is fair and hath many good Monuments as Renesse's Tomb a Monument for Sir Thomas Alisbury set up by the Lord Chancellor Hide an old Tomb erected 1349. for John Lord of Lech and Breda the Tomb of Grave Engleberg Van Nassaw and his family on the side of the Wall the Here Van Horne and his three Wives but the Principal Monument is that of Grave Hendrick Van Nassaw whose Armour is supported by four Warriers upon their Knees he built the Castle of Breda which is at present both strong and beautiful I observed the place where the Turf-Boat came
old Abby with divers Monuments very ancient founded by Gerard Earl of Guelderland From this Town their Excellencies were saluted with the Guns from their Walls charged with Bullets The Spaniards in most places striving to express the highest of their respects From Gulick I travelled to Cologne where I arrived October the 10 th 1668. A JOURNEY FROM COLEN TO VIENNA COlen Coln or Colonia Agrippina was anciently the Capital City of the Vbii a people who were at first possessed of the Countries now called Berg and March but being over-run by the Germans next to them Agrippa Lieutenant of Gallia received them into protection and placed them upon this side of the Roman shoar of the Rhine where they built this place and called it Opidum Vbiorum and the Romans seating themselves here for the defence of the Country in Honour of Agrippina daughter to Germanicus and wife to Claudius whose Birth place it was gave it afterwards the Name of Colonia Agrippina It is at present one of the largest if not the greatest of any City in Germany secured towards the Land by a high Wall and two deep Trenches and towards the Water by a Wall of Stone The Rhine renders it delightful upon one side and divers rows of Trees enclose the Town towards the Land They have some Out-works as Half-moons and Ravelins but their best security is in the great number of men which they are able to raise within themselves Many of the Streets are broad and paved with broad stones It received the Christian Faith very early and Maternus was their Bishop above 1350 years since who subscribed amongst others to the Council of Arles They have a great number of Churches and well endowed which take up a great part of the Town the Prebends and Canons Houses having in many places Vincyards and large Gardens adjoyning Towards the North end of the Town the Church of St. Kunibald is considerable The Convent of the Dominicans is fair and newly built with a Garden in the Court and all the Chambers uniform The Jesuites Church is well built and stored with rich Copes Altar-pieces and other Ornaments In the Church of St. Gereon a Saint of great name here martyred about Colen in the time of Maximianus are about a thousand Saints heads and on each side of the Altar a large Statua whereof one is of a Moor and under the Quire another Church The Convent of the Carmelites is also considerable wherein the Treaty of Peace was held with good accommodation in it though with no success in the year 1673. In the Church of St. Vrsula is her Tomb and the Tombs of divers of the Eleven thousand Virgins martyred by the Huns. Upon the Monument of St. Vrsula is this Inscription Sepulchrum Sanctae Vrsulae indicio Columbae detectum Upon many of the Tombs which are old are Crosses and Lamps Many Bones and Heads of the Martyrs are also kept in this Church The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter and is very large but not finished The Body of the Church hath four rows of Pillars within it The Quire is handsome and very high behind it are believed to be the Tombs of the three Wise men which came from the East to worship our Saviour or the Kings of Arabia of whom it was prophesied that they should bring Gifts commonly called the three Kings of Colen Melchior who offered Gold Gaspar Frankincense and Balthasar Myrrh Their Bodies as the account goes were first removed to Constantinople by Helena the Mother of Constantine the Great then to Milan by Eustorsius Bishop thereof and they have now rested at Colen for above five hundred years being translated from Milan hither by Rainoldus Bishop of Colen in the year 1164. There are also divers other Monuments of Bishops and Noble Persons in Brass and Stone and one in the shape of a Castle with six Towers The Canons of this Church are all Noblemen among whom the Duke of Newburg who ordinarily resides at Dusseldorff about twenty English miles below this City upon the Rhine hath two Sons In a Church dedicated to all the Apostles they shew us a Tomb which being opened by Thieves intending to plunder it the Woman buried in it arose up and went home and lived with her Husband divers years after In one of the Streets is a Tower or rather one Tower upon another which seems to be ancient now made a Prison Upon another Ruine also in the Streets lies a Tomb made out of one Stone of which sort of Tombs there are many in this City and other places but the greatest number of them I ever saw was at Arles in Provence The Senate House is Noble having a fair Tower upon it from whence there is a good prospect over the City Upon the Front of the Senate House is a Man in Basso relievo fighting with a Lyon who as it was related to me was formerly one of the Consuls who having had a contest with some Clergy-men about the Government of the City on a suddain they caused a Lyon to be let in upon him upon which occasion he behaved himself so well as he delivered himself and slew the Lyon The Elector or Archbishop of Colen hath two Places in the City but by agreement between him and the Town he is not to stay here above three days together Only this present Archbishop upon the coming down of the Imperial Forces and his loss of Bonna took Sanctuary here in the Convent of St. Pantaleon where he continued a great while The City is Imperial and Free and yet it doth Homage to the Elector much after this Form We free Citizens of Colen promise to the Archbishop to be faithful and favourable unto him as long as he preserves us in Right and Honour and in our ancient Pivileges Vs our Wives our Children and our City of Colen Most of the City are of the Roman Church and the whole Town so full of Convents Churches Church-men and Reliques that it is not undeservedly styled the Rome of Germany The Lutherans have also a Church within the Walls and the Calvinists at Malheim half a League down the stream on the other side of the Rhine Over against Colen lies Dutz a small Village inhabited chiefly by Jews The Vessels which come out of tho Low-Countries hither are long round bellied and of great burden Near to the Wall of the Town upon the Quay or Key is a kind of Harbour made for them into which they may be drawn and escape the Injuries they would otherwise suffer by the Ice in Winter Besides the rich Clergy there are many wealthy Citizens and Merchants here and they maintain a Traffick and Correspondence with divers Countries especially by the convenience of the Rhine They speak not the best High-dutch but Latin and French are understood by many Divers Hosts in Inns speak Latin and the Servants French which proves a good help unto Travellers It was made an University about the year 1388. Besides the General
Hospitals for young and old persons there are two for the Sick and well accommodated They have a Pharmacopaea Coloniensis or a Dispensatory proper to the place whereby Apothecaries compound their Medicines I was acquainted with one of the best Mr. Elburg a knowing and obliging person who was his Late Majesty King Charles the Second's Apothecary while he resided at Colen and whom my honoured Friend Sir Alexander Fraser his Majesties chief Physician made use of who lived in great reputation in this City Two hundred years since Aeneas Sylvius left an high expression concerning this place Colonia quae de conjuge Claudii matre Neronis Agrippina dicta est trium Magorum ossibus illustrata nihil magnificentius nihil ornatius totâ Europâ reperias which though if strictly construed will hardly be admitted by any who hath beheld Paris Naples Venice c. yet doth it declare the nobleness of this City even in former times We left Colen about four a Clock in the Afternoon being drawn up the Stream with Horses they being made fast by a very long Rope to the Mast we lodged in a small Village having had a good prospect of Colen all this Evening from off the water Near to this Place Julius Caesar made his Bridge over the Rhine The next day we came to Bon the Seat of the present Archbishop and Elector of Colen Maximilianus Henricus Duke of Bavaria Bishop of Hildisheim and Liege and Arch-Chancellor of the Empire throughout Italy This place was formerly called Bonna or Castra Bonnensia the wintering place in the time of Tacitus of the sixth Legion It was not long since very well fortified by the order of the present Archbishop and the direction of Colonel Biser a blind man having Cataracts in both his eyes The Archbishops Palace is very Noble and there is a Chamber seated a good way into the Rhine to which they pass thorow a Gallery This Night we lodged at the foot of the highest of the seven Hills by the Rhine which are seen at a great distance and upon divers of them stand old ruined Castles On the 15 th we passed by a pleasant Island with a Convent in it at Remagen is also a Convent upon a Rock fortified with round Towers In the Evening we lodged near to a Castle ruined four years before by the Electors of Triers and Colen it belonging at that time to the Duke of Lorrain On the 16 th early in the Morning we came to Andernach where the Plague was very much at that time and they kept a great many of their sick in Boats upon the Rhine Andernach of old Antenâ—â—um was one of the Roman Fortresses Upon this River some think that Caligula was born and that Valentinian was buried thereabouts Near unto this place are also Mineral Springs well frequented and much made use of The Town is encompassed with an old Wall and the Gates were shut up by reason of the Plague Notwithstanding there being divers Friars in our Company several of the Towns-men sent out dishes of Meat to them which we eat in the Field upon Trees which were laid along near the Town This day the passage by water seeming tedious to us Mr. Mulstroh a worthy German Gentleman with whom I travelled as far as Spire was willing we should hire a Coach together which we did and invited the Friars with whom we had breakfasted to go along with us in it to Coblentz We passed through a very pleasant Country between rows of Walnut-trees in sight of two of the Elector of Triers Houses and near to a House belonging to the Count de Wert We passed the Mosella over a handsome Stone-bridge of thirteen Arches built by Archbishop Baldus or Balduinus in the year 1344. and coming into the Town we went to the Dominican Convent which is pleasantly seated near the Banks of the River Mosella but the Prior of the Convent whom we had brought with us was so obliging that he would not part with us that night and we were very civilly entertained by him in his Lodgings He invited also some of the Convent to bear us company and after a handsome Supper with plenty of excellent Mosella Wine we went to bed between two Feather-beds Coblentz or Confluentia is a Town of a Triangular Figure seated at the meeting of two great Rivers the Rhine and the Mosella which make two sides thereof and the third is made by a Line drawn from one River to the other which is now well fortified after the most regular Modern way The Wall within these Works had many old high Towers and formerly there was another still nearer to the uniting of the Rivers and consequently containing a less space of ground This Town is under the Elector and Archbishop of Triers Carolus Caspar of the Noble Family of the Leyen Arch-Chancellor for the Empire in Gallia Belgica and the Kingdom of Arles It was given to the Church of Triers when Medoaldus was Archbishop above a thousand years since in the time of King Dagobert The Situation is pleasant and convenient and lies over against the Castle of Hermanstein or Ehrenbreiâ—stein that is The Stone of far extended Honour at the foot of which Castle upon the shoar of the Rhine under a great Rock stands a very Noble Palace of the Electors two large Wings and the Front with five Pavilions standing towards the River and from it a long Bridge of Boats over the Rhine to Coblentz when any great Vessel passes by they let slip three Boats whereby the passage lies open and make them fast again afterwards In the German Wars the Spaniards thrust in a Garrison into this Town which was afterwards beaten out by the Rhinegrave for the King of Sweden and the strong Castle of Ehrenbreitstein being put into the hands of the French the Emperours Forces seized upon the Archbishop of Triers who then was Philippus Chrisâ—ophorus and carried him away to Vienna In places where the Rhine runs through a low Country and a sat Soyl it washes away the Banks to secure which in divers places they have made great Works of Wood and also to secure Vessels from the danger of the Ice And I remember riding near the Banks of the River Loire in France I observed them in some places to be handsomely defended for a long way together with Freestone Near unto Coblentz upon a Hill is a Convent of Carthusians October the 17 th we went up the Rhine to Boppart a walled Town upon the western bank where Van Trump was at that time It is a very old Town one of the Roman Fortresses against the Germans called anciently Bodobriga some would have it called Bopport from Beauport Faiâ—haven or Bonport a good convenient place for Vessels to retire into or to ride in On the 18 th we dined at St. Guer a pleasant Town belonging to the Landtgrave of Hesse who hath a Castle here Coming on shoar we met with an odd custom for upon the Wall
side there is fastned a Collar of Brass at present but was formerly of Lead and given by Charles the Fifth into this most Strangers that come put their Necks at which time they ask them Whether they will be sprinkled with water or drink wine and if they choose the latter they give an entertainment of Wine to the Company The Queen of Sweden passing by this place gave a great Silver Cup out of which they now drink at this Ceremony We lodged this night at Wesel a Town situated between a high Hill and the River belonging to the Archbishop of Triers Here in the Market-place they shew'd us the print of St. Hubert's Horses foot in a Free-stone On the 19 th we came to Baccharach or ad Bacchiaras belonging to the Elector Palatine a place famous for excellent Wines We passed by an old Castle seated upon a Rock in the middle of the Rhine being of an irregular figure called Pâ—alts where formerly the Prince Palatines of the Rhine were born the Princesses being sent hither to be brought to Bed We came this night to Dreickshausen the next day we went by a dangerous Passage there being many Rocks under water which cause the River to run very rapid and unequally A little above this we came to a round Tower on a Rock in the Rhine called the Mouse-tower built by Hatto Archbishop of Mentz in the year 900. who as the Story goes in a time of great Scarcity pretending to relieve the poor who wanted bread invited them together into a Barn where he burnt them all saying They were like the Rats and Mice which would devour the Corn. After which he was so persecuted with Rats and Mice that to avoid them he caused this Tower to be built in the middle of the Rhine which did not avail him for they followed him thither also and at last devoured him A little above this lies Bing upon the Western shoar a considerable Town belonging to the Elector of Mentz here our Boat stayed to pay Custom as it had done also at Bonna Liutz Hammerstein Andernach Coblentz Lodesheim Bopport St. Gower Cub and Baccarach For the trade of the Rhine being great Princes and Lords who have Towns upon it make use of that advantage which though it abates the gains of the Merchant brings considerable profit to themselves Bing or Bingium was an old Roman Fortress upon the Rhine where the River Navus or Naw enters into it over which latter there is a handsome Stone-bridge In this Town were many of the Duke of Lorrain's Army sick and wounded who three weeks before had maintained a fight against the Forces of the Elector Palatine near this place From Bing we continued our Journey to Mentz at Rudesheim in Rhinegaw a place noted for good Wine they shewed us a Boy whose hair was thick and woolly like to the African Moors but of a fine white colour which being somewhat an odd fight I took away some of his hair with me Mentz Moguntia Moguntiacum and by the French Mayence is seated over against the Confluence of the River Main with the Rhine or rather a little below it in a fertile Country abounding in all Provisions and good Wine it lies at length and is most extended towards the River and that part excels the other towards the Land which is not so populous or well-built It is a strong place and well guarded it hath many Churches and Monasteries and some fair Buildings especially those of publick concern as the Palace of the Elector and others But the narrowness of the Streets and many old Houses take away much from the beauty of the City It is an University begun about the year 1486. or as others will have it 1461. This place also challenges the Invention of Printing or at least the first promotion or perfection thereof And the Territory about it is famous for the destruction of the Roman Legions under Varus by the Germans Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden was wonderfully pleased upon the taking of this City 1631. entring into it in State upon the 14 th of December it being his Birth-day which began the 38 th year of his life and kept his Court and Christmas here where at one time there were with him six chief Princes of the Empire twelve Ambassadors of Kings States Electors and Princes besides Dukes and Lords and the Martial men of his own Army At the taking of the Town they found great store of Ordnance and Powder and the City redeemed it self from Pillage by giving the King a Ransom of Eighty thousand Dollars and the Clergy and Jews gave Two and twenty thousand more of which the Jews paid Eighteen thousand Archbishop Wamhold saving himself upon the Rhine and retiring to Colen The King caused also two great Bridges to be made one over the Main founded upon fifteen great flat bottom'd Boats the rest being built upon great Piles of Wood Another over the Rhine supported by sixty one great flat Boats each lying the distance of an Arch from one another and many Families of people living sometimes in the Boats under the Bridge The Bridge over the Main is taken away but that over the Rhine is still continued Upon which I saw the present Elector passing in his Coach a Person of great Gravity of a middle Stature having long grey Hair and was very Princely attended his Name is Joannes Philippus of the Noble Family of Schoenburg Elector and Archbishop of Mentz Bishop of Wurtzburg and Bishop of Worms Arch-Chancellor of the Empire for all Germany the first of the Electoral College in all publick Conventions he sits at the right hand of the Emperor and is a Successor of the famous Boniface an English man Bishop of Mentz who very much promoted the Christian Religion in these parts But though his Dignity and Place excel the two other Ecclesiastical Electors of Colen and Triers yet his Territories come short and they lie not together but scatteringly with those of the Palatinate Spier Franckfort and divers places in Franconia But of late he hath much encreased his Power by seizing the great City of Erfurdt in Turingia which he hath since much beautified and strengthned by a Citradel built upon St. Peters-hill In the year One Thousand one hundred and fourteen the Emperor Henry the Fourth sent an Ambassador to the King of England Henry the First requesting that Maude the Kings daughter whom he had formerly espoused by Proxy might now being Marriage-able be sent to him to which request the King most willingly condescended and the Princess was presently conducted by his greatest Peers into Germany and at Mentz was married to Henry the Fourth and there Crowned his Empress From Mentz I passed by water up the River Main to Franckfort a free City of the Empire called Trajectum Franconum a Passage or Ford of the Franks as serving them for a Retreat when they entred or returned from Gaul at present Franckford upon the
Main to difference it from Franckford upon the River Oder which is an University It is a large Town divided into two parts by the River the lesser called Saxonhausen or Saxon-houses united to the other by a Stone-bridge over the Main of twelve or thirteen Arches It is a place of good Trade and well seated for it as having the advantage of the River Main which passes by Bamberg Schweinfurt Wurtzburg Guemund or Gaudia mundi and also the Tauber and other Rivers running into it affords conveniency for Commerce with the remoter parts of Franconia and the Main running into the Rhine makes a large communication both up and down that Stream But this place is most remarkable for the Election of the Emperor which by the Laws of the G lden Bull should be in this City as also for two great Marts or Fairs kept in March and September at which times there is an extraordinary concourse of people from remote parts in order to buying and selling of several Commodities especially for Books as well printed here as in other parts whereof they afford two Catalogues every year and have no small dealings that way by the Factors of the Germans Hollanders Italians French and English although at other times their trading in Books seems not great for when I was there out of the time of the Mart the Stationers Shops being shut up made but a dull show Here are also a great number of good Horses bought and sold and on the North-side of the City there is a spacious place for a Horse-Fair The City is strong and well fortified and most part of the Town are Lutherans In the German Wars the King of Sweden having taken Hanaw sent a Messenger to Franckfort to know whether the City would peaceably and speedily set open their Gates unto him and accept fairly of a Garrison or stand to the hazard of a Siege And although they were unwilling to yield yet for fear of the worst they consented That the King should have free passage for his Army through the City and that for the better assurance of it six hundred of his men should be received for a Garrison into Saxonhausen and also that the Magistrates and People should take an Oath unto his Majesty So that upon the 17 th of November 1631. the King's Army passed through Saxonhausen over the Bridge quite through the Town Colonel Vitzthumb was left Governour in Saxonhausen and the King himself rode bare headed through the Streets and by his obliging behaviour did generally win the affections of the beholders and three days after returned thither again with the Landtgrave of Hessen-Cassell and the Landtgrave of Hessen-Darmstadt where they met the Seventeen Earls of the Wetteraw or Veteravia and were feasted in the same room where the Emperors at their Coronation use to be entertained In Saxonhausen there is a House anciently belonging unto the Knights of the Teutonick Order which hath the privilege of a Sanctuary for Man-slayers and Bankrupts but it is a security but for fourteen days Upon this side thâ—re is the largest portion of Land belonging to Franckfort on the other side very little This being a trading place it is no wonder that there are so many Jews in it for a distinction they wear great Ruffs their Sons Bonnets and their Wives a peculiar dress of their Head The Collegiate Church of St. Bartholomew where many of the Emperors have been crowned is large hath a high Steeple and is built of a red stone There are divers handsome Fountains in the Town and good Houses in one of the best of which live Monsieur Pierre Neufville a great Merchant and a civil worthy person well known in most places of Commerce who obliged me with Letters to Venice and other places From Franckfort I continued my Journey through the Bergstraes passing by Darmstadt which belongs to one of the Brothers of the House of Hessen commonly known by the name of the Landtgrave of Hessen Darmstadt and afterwards through a fruitful plain Country in the sight of Hills and sometimes near them the whole Country planted with Walnut-trees Vines Corn and in some places with Tabaco till I arrived at Heidellerg In coming into this Town we passed over the River Neccar Nicer or Necarus upon a Bridge covered over from one end to another with a large Roof of Wood in the same manner is the long Bridge covered at the entrance of the City of Alessandria della paglia in Italy The River Neccar arises near the Sylva Martiana now Swartzwald or Black Forest and passing through the Territories of the Duke of Wittenberg runs into the Rhine at Manheim This though none of the greatest yet is a considerable River of Germany and hath divers good Towns upon it and near it as Sultz Tubingen Wirtingen Essingen Stutgard Canstat Lauffen Hallbrun Heidelberg There being Wars at that time when I was in this Country between the Elector Palatine and the Duke of Lorrain The Elector resided for the most part at Frankendale to be near his Forces Heidelberg is seated on the South-side of the River Neccar between it and a ridge of high Hills so as it cannot well admit of a modern Fortification or hope to be extraordinary strong as being over-looked by the adjacent Mountains It lies most at length from East to West It hath been an University since the year 134â— at which time it was begun by Rupertus Count Palatine and at present is much frequented In the great Church was kept the famous Library which after that the Spaniards had taken this Town 1620. was carried to Rome and added to the Vatican where I saw it in the year 1664. being placed upon one side of a very long Gallery belonging to the Vatican Library and the Duke of Vrbin's Library placed on the otherside over against it both which made a notable addition to the Papal Library In this Church and the Church also of St. Peter are divers Monuments of Princes of the Palatine Family and of Learned and Famous Men. The French have a Church here and the present Elector is of the Order of the Holy-Ghost and his Son a Mareschal of France and good French and High-dutch are both generally spoken here The Lutherans have also a Church in this Town by the favour of the present Elector although he himself be a Calvinist and to express his generous kindness the higher in this point the first Stone was laid by himself and his Son and it is called the Church of Providence according to the Elector's Motto Dominus Providebit Upon the Town-house is a Clock with divers Motions and when the Clock strikes the figure of an Old man pulls off his hat a Cock crows and shakes his wings Souldiers fight with one another and the like The Prince's Stables for above a hundred Horses are seated upon the River very conveniently but were fairer formerly above half thereof having been ruined by the Imperalists as also
inspect and enquire into the works of Artificers that they be true perfect and without fraud they make strong and handsome Clock-work The King of Poland presented the Grand Seignior with a very noble Clock who took so much delight in it that when it required some mending the Turks being ignorant in Clock-work he sent it from Adrianople as far as Nurenburg to be set in order again Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden was more magnificently received and entertained in this City than in any other of Germany which so incensed Wallenstâ—yn that he afterwards encamped before their Town and did great spoil upon their Territories But the King of Sweden marched thither towards their Relief and from thence towards Lutzen where in a bloody Battel he lost his life The River Pegnitz runnes through Nurnberg and hath divers Stone Bridges over it and below the Town joyning with the River Rednitz runs into the River Main at Bamberg and the Main runs at last into the Rhine The Reduitz arises at Weissenberg and is not far from the River Altmul which runs into the Danube towards Regensâ—urg Upon this convenience Charles the great designed to make a Communication of passage between the Danube and the Rhine and made a Câ—nalâ— thirty paces abroad between the Rednitz and the Altmul to joyn those Streams for the commodity of Passage by Boat but after he had prooceeded two German miles in this work Boggs Rains and his warlike Diversions made him give over that noble Design whereby there might have been a Commerce by water from the Low C un ries to Vienna and even unto the Euxine Sea The Roman Lieutenant in Nero's time had a desire to unite the River Soane and the Mosella and to make a passage between the Mediterranean and the German Ocean having been at the mouth of the Mosella by Coblentz and passed from Chaalon upon the soft and noble River Araris or Soane unto Lyon I cannot but think these very goodly Streams and fit for such a purpose The present King of France hath a design to unite the River Aude with the Garonne and so to have a passage by Boat from the Mediterranean Sea by Tholouse and Bourdeaux into the Ocean When I travelled in those parts viewing the Country well I thought it would be a difficult work and so it proves but the King hath proceeded already very far therein About four Leagues from Nurnberg lies Altdorff belonging unto it made an University in the year 1623. containing when I was there about 150 Scholars The Physick Garden is handsome and well stocked with Plants to the number of two thousand Dr Hoffman the Botanick and Anatomick Professour shew'd me many of the most rare of them and presented me divers The Anatomy School is not large yet the only one in those parts of Germany And they have divers curiosities preserved in it as the Skeleton of a Hart of a Horse of a Man of a Bear bigger than a Horse And some Pictures as one of a Ninivite and another of Moses which they take to be Ancient Dr. Wagenseyl Professour of Law and History brother to Captain Wagenseyl who travelled with me from Heidellerg invited us to lodge at his House and shew'd me his Library and all his Rareties and Coyns whereof he hath a good Collection having lived in most places of Europe and speaks many Languages well he gave me a piecâ— of the first money that was coined in Germany In the University â—â—brary I saw a fair Hortus Eystetensis and Toungerman's Collection of Plants by his own hand At Nurnberg I met with the Son and the Secretary to the 〈◊〉 Ambassador in Turky who had travelled hither over-land from 〈◊〉 stantinople in their return into the Low-Countries travelling in Greek Habits From hence I went to Newmark a good Town in the upper Palatinate belonging to the Duke of Barvaria and the next day through Heinmaw subject to the Duke of Newberg to Regensburg Ratisbona Regensburg Augusta Tiberli Colonia Quaâ—tanorum the chief place of the Ramans in this limit of the Empire where the fourth Italick Legion had a constant station was made a Colony by Tiberius in the year as some conceive of the Passion of our Saviour It was much augmented and adorned by the Emperour Arnulphus who had a great affection for this place so pleasantly seated and in a good Country Here the River Regen runs into the Danube from whence it was called Regensburg There are two Bridges one of wood below the Town and another Bridge of stone of about fifteen Arches which is the fairest stone Bridge over the Danube It is an Imperial City but not without some acknowledgement to the Duke of Bavaria And although it be strongly fortified yet it was taken by the Swedes in the German wars There are many fair buildings in it both private and publick and though I am not able to confirm what some report that there as aremany Churches and Chappels in this City as there are days in the year yet are there many fair Churches and Convents As the Cathedral of St. Peter on the South-side of which is the Picture of St. Peter in a ship andon the North another of the Apostles first Mission In the Piazza stands a neat little Church the Convent of St. Paul founded by St. Wolfgangus Bishop of this place the Convent of St. Emerammus Bishop of Ratisbone a Saint of great Veneration here though but of little mention or name in other parts The name of Albertus Magnus Bishop of this place hath also added unto the Fame of Regensburg But that which chiefly promotes its lustre is the General Diet or Parliament which is often held in this City and is not to be called in any part out of Germany and the place is not unfit for the accommodation of such a noble Convention as are the Estates of Germany The Vice-Marshal takes care to provide Lodgings respectively to their persons and sees that all things be brought hither and at a just price that the Hall or Place of Assembly be furnished and adorned suitably to the dignity of the Persons convened and hath an especial eye and regard towards the Publick safety By this Convention the great Concerns of Germany are much secured and their peace and quiet Established Wherein Germany seems to have a better advantage than Italy For Italy being likewise divided into many Dominions and Principalities hath no Common Diet or Great Council whereby to proceed for their Publick safety Which makes them often so divided in their common Concerns in times of Danger and when they most need a joynt Combination I entred the notable River Danubius at this place which hath already run a good course and passed by many fair Towns or Cities as the large City of Vlme in Swabenland where it begins to be Navigable as also Donawert Neuburg and Ingolstadt and hath already received the considerable River of Licus or Leck whereby the Commodities of that great trading City
of Benedictines which takes place of any other in Austria stands upon a Hill which over-looks the Town the River and the Country about is richly endowed and remarkable for the Monuments of many great Persons and the Tomb of St. Colman much honoured in these parts We dined at Steyn where there is a Bridge over the Danube Near to this lies Crembs another walled Town and over the water Mautern and not far from it the rich Convent of Ketwein After this the River Traisn or Tragisama comes in from the South Having passed by the noted Town St. Pold or St. Hippolitus we lodged this Night at St. Eldorff and the next day passed by Thuln Stockerau and Cloistor Neuburg to Vienna THE DESCRIPTION OF VIENNA VIENNA or Wien which the Turks call Beach is the Chief City of Austria in the Latitude of forty eight Degrees twenty Minutes not much differing from the Latitude of Paris The old Seat of the Dukes of Austria and for a long time of the Emperors of Germany According to ancient account it stands in Pannonia superior the Bounds of Pannonia extending unto Kalemberg or Mons Cetius five or six Miles Westward of Vienna beyond which still Westward all that lies between that Hill and the great River Oenus or Inne which runs into the Danube at Passaw or Castra Batava was anciently called Noriâ—um It was an ancient place of Habitation in the time of the Romans and called Vindobona as the Learned Petrus Lambecius hath at large declared where the Classis Istrica sometimes lay and the tenth German Legion had its station all this shoar or side of the Danube being famous for the Actions of Roman Emperors against the Marcomanni and Quadi who possessed the Country on the other side of the River and especially for the Wars of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Philosophus who notably defeated those Nations and who as Aurelius Vicâ—or who was Governor of Sirmium in Pannonia inâ—erior in the time of Constantius affirms fell sick at Carnuntum now Petronel and died at Vindobona now Vienna And to confirm the Antiquity hereof besides what Wolfgangus Lazius hath delivered not many years since some Antiquities were found For in the year 1662. when a Wall was digged up near the old Palace the Workmen digging still on below the Foundation found a Stone Trough or Coffin containing hard Earth and Bones with a small Gold Coyn a Glass Urn enclosed in a Brass one an Iron Knife like a Sicespita or Knife used about Sacrifices a little Roll or Scroll of pure Gold shut up with a Golden cover at both ends wherein was an Inscription in strange Characters Not far from the Sepulchral Monument were found a Head in Brass a Brazen Patera Lamps Lachrymatories and other Vessels and a Copper Coyn of Antoninus Caracalla The writing in the Golden Scroll which no man could read was conceived by the Learned Lambecius to be the old Pannonian Character and that this might be the Monument of some Pannonian Priest in the days of Caracalla who as good Authors deliver spent some time about these parts It is seated on the South-side of the Danube on the ripa Romana that side nearest to Rome and many Roman Colonies according to the usual position of Roman Stations both upon this River and the Râ—ine as may be exemplified in Colen Bonna Andarnach Coblentz Ments Wormes Spier and Strasburg And in like manner in the old Roman Stations on the South or Roman side of the Danube which were in no small number in or near the Austrian shoar as Carnuntum or Petronel Vischmund or Aquinoctium Ebersdorff or Ala Nova Melck or Ncmale Arlape or Pechlarne Lentia or Lintz for hereby they better secured their Conquests and hindred the incursions of the Barbarians before them It is not seated upon the main stream of the Danube but by a branch thereof for the River running through a low Country it is divided into several Streams and makes many Islands A small River named Wien runs by the East part of this City and enters the Danube below it which upon floods doth often much hurt yet sometimes low and very shallow so as I have stepped over it some will have it to give the Name unto this City it divides part of the Suburbs from it and hath divers Bridges over it For that we may have a distinct apprehension of Vienna we must consider the City and Suburbs thereof the Suburbs are very great and not without fair Houses Gardens Walks and all Accommodations at large The City it self is that walled and fortified part designed not only for convenience of Habitation but also to sustain a Siege or any Attack from the Turk and is now separated from the Suburbs by a fair Esplanade or open Ground above a Musket shot over The Houses near the wall were pulled down since the last Fortification in the Turkish war when they were in some fear that the Turkish Forces about Gran and New-husel would move towards them It is fortified a la moderna with ten Bastions towards the Land and a very deep Ditch into which they can let the Daâ—ube and with two other Bastions towards the water on that part of the River which lies on the North-side of the Town These two latter are called the Works of Gonzaga The Bastions are large upon one of them I saw Count Souches muster a good part of the Militia of the City The Ditch is large and very deep into which although they can let in the River yet it is commonly kept dry lest they might incommode their deep Cellars There are two walls the one old and inward little considerable at present built at first with the ransom of our King Richard the First who in his return from the Holy War was detained Prisoner by the Duke of Austria upon the 20 th of December 1192. The Austrians pretending they had received some affront from the King at Joppa and that he had taken down the Ensign and Banner of Duke Leopold in a contemptuous way The other outward of a great breadth made of Earth and faced with Brick edged with Free-stone so well built as to render this City one of the most considerable fortified places in Europe The Esplanade gently descends from the Town for three hundred Paces there are very few Outworks It is very uncertain who was the first Builder of Vienna and after it had been long built it ran to decay again for Four hundred years together till Henry the First Duke of Austria in the year 1158. did much repair it and the ransom afterwards of King Richard beautified it The whole compass taking in the Suburbs makes a very large Circuit but the City it self which is walled in may be about three miles in Circumference and is exceeding populous as full of People for the bigness of the place as most of the great Cities And I could not but take delight to behold so many Nations in it as Turks Tartars Graecians Transylvanians Sclavonians
Complexions wearing long furr'd Vests and Calpacks or furr'd Caps Some of them had silver Rings with the same Signatures of the Turkish Seals They took much Tabaco in very long Pipes Their Tabaco is not in Rolls but in Leaves dry They went about wandring and gazing at most things as Churches Houses Shops And took much delight to be in the Fair where they would take much notice of small trifles Yet these are the men that make such sad Incursions into the Eastern parts of Europe and carrying away so many thousands sell them to the Turks and so repair the defect of People in Turky And now after the Consumption of men in Constantinople and the Country about by the Plague are like to be active in that Trade hoping to find better Markets for their Plagiaries and Depredations There are divers Greeks who trade to Vienna and many live in the Town among which I met with three considerable persons One a grave Abbot who was forced from his Convent by the Turk upon suspicion that he corresponded with those of Candia Another who went by the name of Constantinus Catacuzâ—nos and was of the Blood Royal of the Catacuzeni The third was Jeremias a Greek Priest who had travelled through Italy and France into England and from thence through the Low-Countries and Germany to Vienna and intended for Constantinople He came into England to enquire after a young man who was in a Ship which was first taken by an Algerine and afterwards by an English man of war in the Levant He was very kindly used in England and particularly at Cambridge He did a great deal of honour at Vienna unto the English Nation declaring that they were the most civil generous and learned people he had met with in all his Travels and that he no where found so many who could speak or understand Greek or who gave him so good satisfaction in all parts of Knowledge And as a testimony of his respect and gratitude requested me to enclose a Greek Letter unto Dr. Piersâ—n now Lord Bishop of Chesler and Dr. Barrow Master of Trinity College in Cambridge M st men live here plentifully there being abundance of all provision They have great quantity of Corn which upon Scarcity by the help of the Danube might be brought to them from remoter parts The Country affords such plenty of wine that they send a considerable quantity up the River They have also rich wines out of Hungary and Italy and such variety that there are more than thirty several sorts of Wine to be sold in Vienna They are not also without good Beer Halsladt in Austria affords them Salt where they make it by letting in water into the hollow parts of a Mountain where it drinks in the Salt of the Earth and is afterwards let out and boiled up This affords great profit to the Emperor and therefore the Hungarian Salt is not permitted to be brought higher than Presburg They have also plenty of Sheep and Oxen but for Oxen at present they are also supplied from Hungary nor only from the Countries in the Emperors Dominions but from the Turkish parts by permission of the Grand Seignior and they are brought hither by the Eastern Company of Vienna They eat much wild Boar whereof the Fat is delicious like that of Vension with us They want not Hares Rabbets Partridges Pheasants A Foul called Hasenhendal or Gallina Corylorum is much esteemed by them which made me the more wonder to meet with some odd dishes at their Tables as Guiny-Pigs divers sorts of Snails and Tortoises But they have Dancing and Fencing often and every Holy-day after dinner the people flock to some Inns where there is Dancing in the inward Rooms and Fencing and Playing of Prizes upon a Stage in the Yard and at the Windows or from the Galleries they behold the Fencers playing at several Weapons and commonly pass the rest of the day in delights and merry Company In Treason and high Crimes they cut off the right Hand of the Malefactor and his Head immediately after I saw a Woman beheaded sitting in a Chair the Executioner striking off her Head with a Fore-blow she behaved her self well and was accompanied unto the Market place by the Confraternity of the Dead who have a charitable care of such Persons and are not of any Religious Order but Lay-men among whom also in this place there are many Fraternities and Orders as of the Holy Virgin of the Holy Cross and others Another person also executed after the same manner as soon as his head fell to the ground while the Body was in the Chair a man run speedily with a Pot in his hand and filling it with the Blood yet spouting out of his Neck he presently drank it off and ran away and this he did as a Remedy against the Falling-Sickness I have read of some who have approved the same Medicine and heard of others who have done the like in Germany And Celsus takes notice that in his time some Epileptical persons did drink the Blood of the Gladiatours But many Physicians have in all times abominated that Medicine Nor did I stay afterwards so long as to know the effect thereof as to the intended cure But most men looked upon it as of great uncertainty and of all men the Jews who suffer no Blood to come into their Lips must most dislike it At Presburg they have a strange way of Execution still used at Metz and some other places by a Maid or Engine like a Maid finely dressed up with her hands before her The Malefactor salutes her first and then retires But at his second salute she opens her hands and cuts his Heart in sunder Though the Winter was sharp yet the advantage of Stoves and lying between two Feather-beds made it tolerable For they use Stoves here as in other parts of Germany where they lodge and eat in Stoves and great Persons have Stoves in the Church or such as look into the Church There are Stoves also in the publick Schools where Lectures are read And this way of lying between two Feather-beds with a neat laced sheet spread over is more convenient in a cold Country than most others they make use of For in the common Inns in Germany they generally sleep upon Straw and also in Hungary almost every where and more Easterly upon the ground spreading a Carpet or Saddle-cloth under them and more Northerly they content themselves with the Skins of Beasts Bears Elks or the like upon which they sleep in the night Those that sleep lowest are coolest in a Stove those that lie upon Tables Benches or higher are more exposed to the heat The Citizens of Vienna are well attired and use Furs very much The Women wear a high Velvet Bonnet lined or faced therewith The Place seemed to be healthful but they speak much of the Colica Austriaca as an Endemical and Local Disease very hardly yielding unto good Medicines They speak good German at
the Court and in the City but the Common Country people seemed to speak grumblingly and besides their accent have divers words different from other parts They have a Custom upon St. Nicholas-day to put some small Gift into the Childrens shooes among other things they put in Medals and Dollars made of paper and flour gilded and silvered over yet scarce worth a penny They sell Trochies or Tablets in the markets made of the pulp of the Fruit of Hip-briar made sharp with Spirit of Sulphur very refreshing Some carry about them a Thunder-stone as a defence against Thunder and they rub their Childrens Gums with a Wolf's tooth instead of Coral When I was at Venice in the time of the Carnival I observed many Recreations and Shews as Rope-dancing flying down the Rope cuting off Bulls-necks with Swords and many other But at Vienna a notable trick which I saw there pleased me much A man of a middle Stature laid down upon his back and a heavy Anvil was placed upon his Breast as much as two men could well list then two other men with great Hammers laid on until they had given almost an hundred blows and cut in sunder a great Horshooe of iron about half an inch thick Here is no Christian Religion publickly permitted but the Roman and therefore those of the Protestant and Reformed Religion are fain to resort to Presburg Forty miles off for which they have some convenience by the Danube and a Coach which goes every day In the time of Maximilian the Second they were permitted the Exercise of their Religion in the Church of the Holy Cross in the City of Vienna But afterwards were prohibited by Rodolphus the Second The Emperor Matthias gave them permission to meet at Hernals a little more than an English mile from Vienna and gave leave to their Ministers to come into the City and there to christen marry baptize and visit the sick From which time they encreased very much till Ferdinand the Second returning from the Battel of Prague banished their Minister from Vienna and Arnolds sent the Freyherr Jorger to whom the Castle of Arnolds belonged Prisoner unto Lintz and never gave over till he had taken away their Privileges and Freedom of meeting publickly in any part of lower Austria But here are no small number of Jews who have a distinct Habitation assigned them over the Water They have also a Street allowed them in the City for the day time but they must all depart at night beyond the River into the Suburbs They are much distasted by the Citizens and Tradesmen and the Scholars agree but ill with them While I was at Vienna there was a quarrel between them to an high degree For the Scholars assaulted the Jews Town beat wounded and threw divers of them into the River Divers Scholars were wounded some killed and also some Souldiers who were commanded out to compose the Fray and the Jews Town was guarded many days by the Souldiers of the City This begot such ill Blood and Complaints that a good number of the Jews were to be banished at a certain day The Jews to ingratiate with the Empress then with Child presented her with a noble Silver Cradle but she would not receive it and there was great danger of the general banishment of them when I left that City which was afterwards effected they being severely prohibited from living not only at Vienna but in any part of Austria where there were formerly whole Villages of them so as they were forced to betake themselves into the Dominions of the Turk unto Venice into Poland and Bohemia They being not permitted to dwell in the Neighbour Countries of Hungary subject to the Emperor Styria or Carinthia But many of them went to Buda and were besieged there in the year 1684 and becoming obstinate haters of the Germans they assisted the Turks with their Purses and with what else they were able to maintain the Town against the Imperial Forces I must confess they seemed useful to Vienna for ready accommodation of any thing either by sale or exchange but the people looked with an ill eye upon them as taking away much of their Trade and Employment They also looked upon them as useless to them in war for the defence of the place as Souldiers and were not without some jealousie that they held Correspondence with the Turks and gave them Intelligence of their Affairs Yet the Souldiery dealt much with them and Captains for the suddain habiting furnishing and accommodating of their Companies And dining one day with a Commander at a Jew's House amongst other Discourse I asked the Jew concerning the ten Tribes and where they were He said they were far off in Asia b yond a great Lake which was continually stormy and scarce passable but upon their Sabbath-day upon which days the Jews do not willingly travel I have seen their Circumcision at Rome Padua and other parts Their Physicians ordinarily profess great skill in Vrines and the common people resort unto them rather than unto Christians and are so credulous and have such an opinion of them that they might be made to believe they have some old Receipts of King Solomon There are many Jews in Italy yet they seem to me to be in greater numbers in Germany In Amsterdam they are also grown very numerous At Franckfurt they told me there were seven thousand of them which seemed scarce credible At Colen they are in great numbers at Hamburg not a few But the greatest number surely is in Prague Though they be permitted in many Countries yet divers Christian Princes and States have assigned them some mark in their Habits to distinguish them In Avignon their Hats are yellow In Italy their Hats are covered over with Taffate In Germany they wear Ruffs and Gowns with great Capes In Holland I observed no distinction But the Jews there most of them having come out of Portugal there may be some suspicion of them from their complexion Lastly when I consider the old strength of Vienna consisting in an old wall and a deep Ditch I cannot much wonder that Matthias Corvinus King of Hungary took this City And I must ascribe it under God unto the singular valour and resolution of the Defendants that Solyman the Magnificent with two hundred thousand men was not able to take it and though he made large breaches could never enter it but lost some thousands at an Assault and departed at last with the loss of a great part of his Army But this place is now in a far better condition strongly fortified and able to resist the greatest Forces of Turky The houses are cleared from the wall and yet for better security when I was there Count Souches advised the Emperor to pull down part of the Suburbs upon the other side of the nearest branch of the Danube left the Turks might take advantage to play upon the two Bastions on that side The first hath on the obverse the head of the
a Marble Pillar between each Horse and for every Horse there is placed in a niche of the Wall a Rack of Steel and Manger of Marble and over his Head hangs a Picture of the Horse as big as the Life with his Name under it Among the rest I observed that a Bay-horse had for his Name Monte d'Oro a Mare Bel a donna another Espagnoletta and his most beloved Horse was named Mas Queride Some have thought that the best high German is spoken in this part of Prague and there living so many of the Nobility and great Persons it is not to be wondred at that their Language is better than ordinary But the common Language of Bohemia is a Dialect of the Sclavonian though very many speak also High dutch as we found in all our passage through that Country Koningsmark being with his Forces on the Frontiers of Bohemia a discontented Colonel of the Imperialists came unto him making it probable that he might surprize Hratschin and the lesser side of Prague which he suddainly attempted and so successfully that he surprized many Officers and old Colaredo in his Bed getting so great a Booty that he could scarce carry it away A Part of Prague is inhabited by Jews and called the Jews Town there are no small number of them and many rich as trading in all Commodities and have good skill in Jewels and several sorts of Stones digged out of the Mines in Bohemia I bought some Bohâ—mian Topazes of them neatly cut and well-figured and some which were very large and clear were at the rate of seven or eight Dollars During my sâ—ay here I had a great desire to have saluted Johannes Marcus Marci a famous Physician and Philosopher of Prague and also to have induced him to a Correspondence with the Royal Society but I understood that he had left this World to the great grief of Learned Men in these and other parts Many here do speak still of John Huss and Jerome of Prague and I have seen Silver Medals of them They were surely very notable men and I shall only set down what Aeneas Sylvius or Pope Pius the Second said of them Johannes aetate major authoritate doctrinâ â—acundiâ— superior Hieroâ—ymus pertulâ—runt ambo constanti animo necem quasi ad Epulum invitati ad incendium properarunt nullam emittentes vocem quae miseri animi posset â—erre ind cium ubi ardere ceperunt hymâ—um cecinere quem vix â—lamma fragor ignis intercipere potuit nemo Philosophorum tam forti animo mo tem pertulisse tradiâ—ur â—uam isti incendium In Hist Bohemica John was of greater years and authority Jerome of more Eloquence and Learning both of them endured their Death with great constancy and went unto the fire as though invited to a Banquet when they began to burn they sung an Hymn which the flame and fire could scarce intercept None of the old Philosophers endured their death with such a courageous mind as these the fire The same Author compares Prague unto the City of Florence in Tuscany wherefore having seen both places I cannot omit to say something I had a view of the City of Florence from the top of the Domo or Cathedral and of Prague from the Church of St Veit upon the Hill in the lesser Town Prague seemed to my eye to contain a far greater Circuit than Florence it seemed also more populous and to exceed it very much in the number of People the Streets larger and the Windows of Palaces and fair Houses being of Glass looked not so tatter'dly as the ragged Paper Windows of Florence The River Arno which runs through Florence is not to be compared with the Muldau at Prague having run about an hundred miles from its Head The large massy long Stone-Bridge exceeds any of if not all the four Bridges of Florence The Emperors Palace also upon the Hill is very stately But as for the well-paved Streets of Florence the Domo or Cathedral with black and white Marble with a Cupola second only to that of St. Peters of Rome for the incomparable Chappel of St. Laurence and the Dukes Gallery and Rarâ—ties I must confess I saw not any thing in Prague which aâ—swered them At Wissenberg or the White Hill near Prague that deciding Battel was fought Novemb. 8 1620. between Frederick Prince Palatine of the Rhine elected King of Bohemia and the Forces of the Emperor â—erdâ—nand the Second which such a deep blow unto the Protestant Party wherein so many of Frederick's Forces were slain and drowned in the River in their flight wherein also that famous Commander Papenheim was found lying among the dead who notwitstanding died not of his wounds but was reserved to end his days with the King of Sweden in the memorable Battel of Lutzen From Prague I designed to pass by water down the Muldau which unites with the Elbe about Melniâ—k and so down the Elâ—e unto Hamburg But the Winter advancing and the Weather proving cold the Boats did not go as in Summer and therefore I took my Journey by Land and leaving Prague and the Muldau on the right hand I passed the first day to Zagethal the next to Weluerne and so to Budin and Labasitz upon the Elbe Having passed over the Egra a considerable River arising not far from the City of Egra and at last running into the Elbe the next by the Castle of Kriegstein or Warrestone seated upon a high steep Rock I came to Ausig a small City not far from the Elbe having little remarkable in it like many other small Cities of Bohemia and so forward to Nolndorff where we lodged upon Mount Kninsberg the day after we entred into Misnia passing by Peterswald and Hellendorff the first Village in Misnia and Kisibel where are Iron Mines about eighteen Fathomsdeep and Iron works We now understood that Bohemia was a larger Country than we expected it lies round and some say it is three days postage over others that the Diameter extends two hundred miles From Igla upon the Conâ—ines unto Hellendorff it took me nine days Journey in November by Coach not reckoning the time I staid at Prague In many places there are very ill Passages and so rudely mended with great Trees laid side by side that they are often very troublesome to pass We travelled afterwards towards Dresden in a fruitful Country wherein were many Deer in most parts of the way in sight of the Castle of Pilnitz a strong place and seated high I could not but cast an eye on the Rocks behind us in the Forest of Bohemia which looked like the Ruines of a Wall which formerly enclosed Bohemia which Country is described with a Forest or Woods round about it But I confess I did not really perceive that there was such a Wood round about it as is commonly set forth in Mapps only both within and also in many parts of the Borders there are great Woods which are conceived to have been
part of the Hercinian Forest The Bohemians are a strong stout and hardy People make good Souldiers and have made wars both at home and abroad and Histories are full of their warlike Exploits The chief Magazine of the King is at Egra a strong City accounted the Second of Bohemia The Country affords also lusty and strong Horses The common sort of People are boysterous rough and quarrelsome especially in drink whereto they are too much addicted The Nobility and Gentry are civil and kind unto Strangers There are many great Families of tâ—e Nobility among which that of Rosenberg and Popel is ancient and of high esteem Since the unhappy accepting of the Crown by Frederick Count Palatine and the ill success upon it there hath been a great alteration in this Country both as to People and their Manners for thereupon many thousands left the Kingdom and many who remained turned their Religion And the Emperors have used the like severity upon others in their Hereditary Dominions The next considerable place we came unto was Dresden in Misnia as well worth the seeing as almost any Town in Germany Dresden is the Sâ—at and Residence of the Elector of Saxony seated upon the River Elbe over which there is a very noble Stone-bridge of Seventeen Arches The City is very well fortified after the Modern way the Bastions covered or lined with Brick and in each Bastion a Cavallier It hath also a large Trench or Ditch about it in some places double and the River Elbe adds unto its strength The Walls are very strong and they say that when the first Stone was laid to build them there was placed in the Earth a Silver Cup gilded a Book of the Laws and another of Coyns and three Glasses filled with Wine It hath also three Gates The places most worth the seeing are these The Italian Garden in the Suburbs the Hunters House in the old Town beyond the River the Electors Palace his House for wild Beasts his Stable-house and Arsenal of which I shall set down some things observable in their kind In the Electors Palace the Hall is very large and handsomly painted with Cities Gyants and the Habits of several Nations and set out with seven large branched Candlesticks But that which affords the greatest delight is his Kunstkammer Art-Chamber or Collection of Rareties both of Art and Nature In the first Partition are to be seen all manner of well made Instruments belonging to most Trades as Joyners Turners Barbers Smiths Chirurgeons and other Artificers Instruments to force open Doors Chests c. In the other Chambers these and the like are observable A Tube-glass four Ells long A large blew Turkish-glass Variety of Coral and artificial Works of it Fowls made out of Mother of Pearl Drinking Cups in the shape of Dragons Elephants c. Castles of Gold and Mother of Pearl Many Fowls and Cups made out of Nautili and other Shells and out of Oestrich-eggs A fine Oestrich made out of its Egg with the Feathers of Gold A Cup made out of the Ball taken out of an Oxes Stomach richly set about a foot long A Stone as big as my fist like a Bezoar-stone taken out of a Horse A Purse made out of the Linum Incombustible Silver Ore from the Mines of Freiberg almost pure in strings and shoots A Natural Cross of Silver Ore One hundred and twenty one Heads carved on the outside of a Cherry-stone A Religious Man or Friar of Japan carved in Box. A Chrystal Cabinet sold by Oliver Cromwell wherein is kept a Ring which hath Stones in it in the shape of a Castle His Majesty King Charles the Second on Horse-back carved out of Iron A Head of King Charles the First A Glass Organ Topazes unpolished ten Inches in Diameter A Cup out of a Topaze Emeralds an inch in Diameter as they grow in the Rock resembling the Vitrioâ—um Nativum as I saw it in Paradise-hill by Schemnitz in Hungary Stones named Thunder-stones smelling of Fire Rocks made out of all sorts of Ore and the names of the places written upon them from whence they were digged The Figures of Fishes in Stones out of Mansfield the Stones are dark-coloured but the Fishes of a Gold or Copper colour All sorts of Stones which are to be found about Saxony and Misnia polished Two large pieces of pure Virgin Gold out of the Mine A Cabinet of all sorts of Apothecaries Instruments and chief Druggs A Hart with a Cabinet made in his side containing all Medicines taken from a Hart. A white Hart as big as the Life made out of the shavings and filings of Harts-horn and looking like Plaister Figures printed in Trees A Spur in part of a Tree Horns in Trees A Chamber of all manner of Mathematical Instruments and Charts A good Library of Mathematical Books An Vnicorns-horn which they will have to be of a Land Vnicorn being neither wreathed nor hollow A Dart of Vnicorns-horn Among the Pictures in the same Chambers these seemed remarkable A Picture by Colier of the Siege of Jerusalem with great number of Figures and highly esteemed Four Heads of the Elements made out of the Creatures which belong to them in Caricatura A painting of Merchants Letters stuck behind green Tapâ— A Storm by Rubens Two Nuns by Lucas van Leyden A Picture of Dr. Luther in the Cloyster in his Gown and after his Death There is also great variety of excellent Clockwork and an attempt for a perpetual motion by a rowling bullet A Cuckow sings by Clockwork a Horseman rids a Ship sails an old Woman walks a Centaur runs and shoots a Crab creeps upon a Table so well as to amaze and delight but among all the Crab seems to be most naturally imitated In the Stable-house besides the extraordinary noble Stable of Horses wherein every Horse eats out of a Rack of Iron and Manger of Copper and on a Pillar by him his Comb Bridle and Saddle and other Necessaries hang besides a handsome Window with a Curtain before him There are observable a very fair Fountain and pond set about with handsome Ballisters where the Horses are watered A long walk arched and painted with Horses over which is a Gallery with the Pictures of all the Dukes and Electors of Saxony both in their Military and Electoral Habits Two Beds of Marble Drinking Cups which seem not great yet so coâ—trived as to hold divers quarts A Spring which causes a Horseman in Silver to come riding in bringing a Cup of Wine in his hand A pair of noble Pistols with all the Stories of the New and Old Testament upon them A Glass Gun A Gun which shoots off Forty times without charging again A Piece which shews the manner of the first invention of striking Fire in Guns A Lock without a cock A Chamber of rich Sleds for Horses made use of in Jollity and pompous Courses upon the Snow A white Bears skin stuffed Tigers and Lyons Skins A Cassowares Skin Good Armour for
a piece Counts and Barâ—ns with three a Knight with two and a Gentleman with one The hour and place for the Turnamenâ— being appointed he that had a desire to break a Lance there came to the President 's Lodgings to have his Name written down which was done in the presence of three Heralds to whom the Champion delivered his Helmet and Sword and after he had been at confession presented himself in the Lists with one or more Squires according to his quality The Horses of the Combatants were to be without fault or exception the Caparisons and Furniture such as gave no offence their Saddles without any extraordinary rising before and behind and all things equal After which they performed all kind of Exercises on Horse back and after the Jousts were ended every man repaired to the President of his Nation to wait for the Sentence of the Judgâ—s and he that best deserved the Prize received it either from the hand of some Lady or from the Prince that gave it These Pastimes were afterwards disused upon the Emulation it caused between the Princes and Nobility who strove to outvy one another or upon wars in which there was no leisure for such Exercises or perhaps upon consideration that divers brave men lost their lives in these Encounters and no less a Prince than Henry the Second King of France neglecting to wear his Beaver down was slain in a Turnament And at Darmstadt also in the year 1403. at the Three and twentieth Turnament which was held in Germany the Gentlemen of Franconia and those of Hesse drew so much blood upon one another that there remained dead upon the place seventeen of the former and nine of the latter The Winter growing on called me to make haste to Hamburg from whence I intended to pass by Sea into England and therefore I took the advantage of the Stage-Coaches at Magdeburg and in four days came to Hamburg I traveled through a Country for the most part barren of little accommodation or scarce any thing very remarkable through part of the Elector of Brandenburg and then through the Duke of Lunenburg's Country passing by the City of Lunenburg a handsom walled City beautified with divers fair Churches with high Spires The Church of St. Lambert the Town-house and the Duke's Palace are fair Here are salt-springs in the Town very beneficial to the place and supplying the neighbour Countries The Town is commanded by a Hill near to it called Kalkberg which lies on the North-side In this Road through lower Saxony I could not but take notice of many Barrows or Mounts of Earth the burial Monuments of great and famous Men to be often observed also in open Countries in England and sometimes rows of great Stones like those in Wormius his Danish Antiquities And in one place I took more particular notice of them where three massy Stones in the middle were encompassed in a large square by other large Stones set up on end Hamburg is a fair City and one of the great ones in Germany it is seated in a Plain being populous rich and remarkably strong It is fortified according to the modern manner much after the way of Holland with works of earth but in no place yet covered or faced with brick or stone The Territory belonging to it is but small it is divided into the new and the old Town There are five Gates The Stone gate leading towards Lubeck the Dome-gate the Alten-gate or which leads unto Altenaw a place near the Town belonging to the King of Denmark where the Romanists and Calvinists have their Churches the Bridge-gate and the Dike-gate The Buildings of this City are handsom and commonly have a fair entrance into them The Senate-house is noble adorned with carved Statua's of the Nine Worthies The Exchange or place of meeting for Merchants was then enlarging it being too small to receive those Numbers which frequented it Many of their Churches are very fair with high Steeples covered with Copper The Front of St. Katherines is beautiful The Steeple of St. Nicholas is supported with great gilded Globes The other great Churches are the Dome-Church St. Peters St. Jacob the greater and less St. Michael the New-Church in the New town The lesser Churches are St. Gertrude St. Mary Magdalen and the Holy Ghost They have a Sermon every day as in other Lutheran Cities The River Alster runs through it into the Elbe and turns many Mills and the Tide comes up into divers Streets through Channels although it be distant eighteen German miles from the Sea or Mouth of the Elbe This place abounds with shipping and many of good Burden and is well seated for Trade as having an open passage into the Ocean and being but a days Journey from Lubeck on the Baltick Sea and being seated upon the long River Elbe the third great River of Germany whereby it may have Commerce with a great part of that Country and as far as Bohemia Hamburg is full of Strangers and Merchants of several Countries The English Company have good Privileges and a rich Trade and Ships come laden thither with Cloth to the value of an hundred thousand pounds sterling and they live here in good Reputation and to the honour of their Country they are Persons of worth courtesie and civility and I heartily wish them all success in their Affairs I must not omit the acknowledgment of my particular Obligation to that learned and worthy Person Mr. Griffin Preacher unto the Company Mr. Free the Treasurer Mr. Banks who hath been in many places of Natolia and the Holy Land Mr. Jenkinson and my very obliging Friends Mr. Catelin and Mr. Townly This place hath the happiness to be quiet when the great Princes of Europe are at war for it desires to hold a strict Amity with Princes and declines all Dissention with them I found a Ship at Hamburg bound for London and while it was fitting for Sail I made a short excursion into part of the King of Denmarks Country and returning to Hamburg again I ordered my affairs for England upon the first wind and hoped the next Tide to get over the Altenaw-sand and to pass the Blanckness but a cross wind prevented so that I left not Hamburg till the tenth of December and then I had the good company of Mr. Hoyle who came from Narva and set Sail in a new Ship but the days being at the shortest and the nights dark in the New-Moon the Tide falling also in the day time we were able to get no further the first day than Stadt or Stoade upon the River Zwingh a strong Town belonging to the King of Sweden where the Ships that come up the River pay Custom and where the English Merchants had formerly their Residence when they left Hamburg upon a Discontent December the 11 th we came by Gluckstadt belonging to the King of Denmark where the Castle the King's Palace and the Church are handsom and Anchored that night before
the Mouth of the River Oast which arises in Bremerland and falls into the Elbe a mile from Brunsbüttel on the other Holsatian shoar December the 12 th we lost sight of the Northern shoar and passed Cook 's Heaven in full hopes to put out to Sea that night but about Three in the Afternoon we were becalmed a League and a half below it where we were forced to come to an Anchor again lest the strong Ebbe should set us on ground among the Sands we lay that night between Thicksand on the North and Newark on the South right over against a Light house December the 13 th the wind turning Westerly and blowing hard we returned to Cook 's Haven and came to Anchor Here I came ashoar and went up the Land to the Fort in this place belonging to the City of Hamburg It is a high square Work with a double Ditch and and some Vessels come up to the Fort but the Ditch or Channel which comes thither out of the Elbe is dry at low water The Town is called Reutsbüttel not far from the Lands end Two or three days after with a cold North-East-wind we set sail for England Coming out of the Elbe we were all the Afternoon in sight of an Island called Heilige-landt or Holy-land belonging to the Duke of Holstein which being very high Land is to be seen at a good distance and is of excellent use to direct and guide Ships into the Mouth of the Elbe without which they would be at a great loss the Country about that Rivers Mouth being all very low Land Heiligeland is a small Island having about two thousand Inhabitants and six or seven small Vessels belonging to it which are imployed a great part of the year in bringing Lobsters and other Fish to London or Quinborough the Inhabitants living most upon Fish We bore out to Sea all night and the next day made towards the Land again and sailed in sight of Schiemoniekeoghe Amelandt and Schelling in the Evening we saw the Lights at the Vly and Texel when we were near the Land we were much troubled with the Frost and cold Weather and less when we were off at Sea The next day we had a fair wind and made such way that in the Evening we took down our Sails and let the Vessel drive not being willing to deal with the shoar in the night The next morning we soon discovered the North foreland covered with Snow and came to an Anchor in Margaret Road where the wind growing very high we rode it out for two days and two nights and came safe on shoar praised be God upon Christmas-day morning Now having made so long a walk in Germany I must confess I returned with a better opinion of the Country than I had before of it and cannot but think it very considerable in many things The Rivers thereof are noble and seem to exceed those of France and Italy Of the Rivers of Italy the Padus or Po is the most considerable which notwithstanding hath no very long course before it runs into the Adriatick Sea And Italy being divided by the Appennine-bills runing from West to East the Rivers which arise from either side cannot be long neither on the South-side before they run into the Mediterranean as the Arno Garigliano and others Nor on the North side before they run into the Adriatick or the Po. The chief Rivers of France as the Loyre the Seine the Rhosne and the Garonne I cannot but highly commend having passed upon them for divers days There are also four great Rivers in Germany the Danube the Rhine the Elbe and the Oder but none of France seem comparable unto the Rhine and Danube France having the Sea upon the North the West and the two large Provinces of Languedoc and Province upon the Mediterranean Sea hath the opportunity of Noble Cities and Seaports But some doubt may be made Whether any thereof do exceed Hamburg Lubeck and Dantzick The great number of populous large and handsome Cities doth afford great content unto a Traveller in Germany for besides about Sixty six free Imperial Cities there are many more of good note belonging to particular Princes and divers highly priviledged And surely a true Estimation of the Cities and Towns of these days cannot be duly made from the Accounts and Descriptions thereof lest an hundred years since or more for since those times Buildings have been better modelled and ordered Fortifications and Out-works more regularly contrived Convents and Publick Houses more neatly and commodiously built and the fair Colleges and Churches of the Jesuites which are now to be seen in most do much set off the Beauty of great Places Every where we meet with great and populous Towns Villages Castles Seats of the Nobility Plains Forests and pleasant Woods And besides the satisfaction we may have from Objects above ground we may find no small content in the wonders thereof under it in Mines Minerals almost of all sorts of Gold Silver Copper Iron Tinn Lead Quicksilver Antimony Coal Salt Sulphur Cadmia and others where there are also singular Artificers and Workmen in the several Artifices thereof Conversation with the People is easie they behaving themselves without much Formality and are plain dealing and trusty so that a Traveller needs not to be so sollicitous and heedful of what he hath as in some other Countries which are esteemed of greater Civility The Women are generally well-complexioned sober and grave and they have not yet learned the custom of their Neighbours of France and Holland to admit of being saluted by Men faithful to their Husbands and careful in the affairs of their Houses They make good provision against the cold of their Country by sleeping between two Feather-beds and Stoves The common Stoves in Inns wherein there are for the most part several Companies eating drinking and in the night sleeping are convenient considering the great cold or at least tolerable but they being rooms close shut up the smell of the meat and especially of Cabbage an usual Dish amongst them makes them unpleasant so that sometimes I preferred the course of hot Countries while I called to mind that in Province and Italy we drank frozen Julebs which we dissolved with the heat of our hands slept upon a sheet on the outside of the Bed with all the Windows of the Chamber open and as we sate at dinner there was a Fann in the middle of the Room hanging over our Heads about two yards broad which with a string was pulled backward and forward to cool us and divers had Pans filled with Snow to cool the sheets when they went into their Beds Germany is a great Hive of men and the mighty destruction of men made by the last German wars and by the Plague is so repaired that it is scarce discernible They are fruitful and full of Children They are not exhausted by Sea Colonies sent forth or by peopling American Countries but they have some
consumption by wars abroad when they be at peace at home few wars being made in other parts of Europe wherein there are not some Regiments of Germans the People being naturally Martial and persons well descended very averse from a Trading course of Life While I read in Tacitus of the old barbarous and rude State of Germany how poorly they lived that they had their Houses at a distance from one another how ignorant they were in Arts and it was doubted whether their Country afforded Mines that they lived by exchange of things making little or no use of money and the like I may justly wonder to behold the present advance and improvement in all commendable Arts Learning Civility splendid and handsome Cities and Habitations and the general face of things incredibly altered since those ancient times and cannot but approve the expression of a Learned Man though long since That if Ariovistus Civilis and those old famous men of Germany should revive in their Country again and look up to Heaven beholding the Constellations of the Bears and other Stars they might probably acknowledge that these were the same Stars which they were wont to behold but if they should look downward and well view the face of all things they would imagine themselves to be in a new World and never acknowledge this to have been their Country A JOURNEY FROM COLEN IN GERMANY TO LONDON DUring the Treaty of Peace at Colen in the year 1673. between the Vnited States of the Netherlands the King of Great Britain and the French King many English Gentlemen having accompanied their Excellencies the Lords Ambassadors and Plenipotentiaries in their Journey had a desire also to view some of the Neighbouring Territories and to divertise themselves during the heat of the Summer at the Spaa the Baths of Aken and other places Having therefore in order to our Journey obtained a Pasport for our Safety from Count Blondel one of the Spanish Plenipotentiaries and from their Excellencies Sir Joseph Williamson and Sir Leoline Jenkins we left Colen on Monday the Fourth of July and upon the Road overtook my Lord of Peterborough who had been at Dusseldorp at the Duke of Newburg's Court and went afterwards into Italy to Modena and brought over the present Queen of England We dined at a small walled Town called Berckem which some think to be a name corrupted from Tiberiacum where we stayed a great part of the Afternoon to accommodate an unlucky Accident which happened A Servant of one of the English Gentlemen having casually shot a Horse which belonged to a Commander under the Duke of Newburg lying at that time with a party of Horse at this Town so that we travelled in the Evening through the Woods and came late to a place called Steinstrasse and the next day morning we went to Juliers Gulick or Juliers is a small Town by the River Roer but very ancient and called by the Romans Juliacum conceived to have been founded by Julius Caesar the Seat sometimes of the Dukes of Gulick before the uniting hereof with Cleve and since the dissolution of that Estate possessed by the Vnited Provinces and then again by the Spaniards but at present is in the hands of the Duke of Newburg It being agreed at the conclusion of Peace between the Spaniards and the Hollanders That the Marquess of Brandenburg should have Marck and Cleve and the Duke of Newburg Gulick and Berg. This is a handsome well fortified Town the Streets streight and the Houses of Brick The Cittadel consists of four Bastions of a regular Fortification within which is the Princes Palace The Piazza in the Town is handsome and the whole considerable for its beauty and strength July the 5 th we came to Aken or Aquisgranum five Leagues distant from Gulick the French call it Aix la Chapelle from a Chappel in the great Church much visited by Pilgrims from many parts and famous for the great number of Reliques preserved therein When the Romans made War upon the Germans they possessed themselves of divers places between the Rhine and Maes And Granus a noble Roman being sent into these parts of Gallia Belgica about the year of our Lord Fifty three discovered among the Woods and Hills these hot Springs which to this day are highly celebrated in many parts of Europe who aâ—terwards made use of them and adorned them after the manner of the Roman Baths and built a noble Habitation near them part of which the Inhabitants would have still to be standing retaining the name of Turris Grani an old Tower at the East-end of the Town-house a noble Antiquity But the manner of its building gives suspicion it cannot be so old Hence these Thermae from their Discoverer have been named Aquae Graniae and came to be frequented and the Town of Aquisgrane built and flourished till Attila the King of the Huns or Hungarians destroyed it About four hundred years after Charles the great riding out a hunting in these parts as he passed through the Woods his Horses Foot strook into one of these Hot-springs near which he also took notice of the Ruines of ancient Palaces and Buildings long before forsaken and being still more and more delighted with the pleasant Situation of the place and conveniency of these hot Rivolets he renewed and adorned the Baths built his Royal Palace near them and appointed that the King of the Romans should be crowned with an Iron Crown here as with a Silver one at Milan and a Gold one at Rome He also built a noble Collegiate Church dedicated to the blessed Virgin in the presence of many Princes and Bishops in the year 804 and endowed it with Revenues for the maintainance of Canons who lived together in a College at first but at present separately in the manner of Probends He built also the old or inward Wall of the City so that it flourished till the year 882. at which time it was again ruined by the Fury of the Normans and the Emperors Palace burnt to the ground This City besides these Devastations from the Irruptions of the Huns and Normans hath been divers times since destroyed by Fire as in the year 1146. which loss it overcame in such manner that Twenty six years after it recovered not only its former greatness but was so much increased that the large outward Wall was built by the command of the Emperor Frederick the First In the year 1224. happened another great Fire in which not only the Buildings but many of the Inhabitants perished And the Roof of the Church was burnt in another Fire 1236. And now of late for it is not long since it hath recovered its losses by the Fire in the year 1656. when twenty Churches and Chappels and about five thousand private Houses were destroyed The Town-house or Senate-house was built 1353. being all of Free-stone handsomly adorned with the Statues of the Emperors The first and second Story of this Building is divided into
unto the inward Wall of the City there are Baths which are not so hot as the former esteemed to be Sulphureo-nitrous The smell of them is some-what offensive and the water in the Cisterns not transparent The first is the Bath of St. Cornelius which hath two Receptacles The second the Rose Bath so called from Mr. Rose a Citizen of Aken who built it The third Compus Badt or the Poor man's Bath Of this sort of warm Water there is also a Fountain much resorted to and drank of every morning in the Summer for many Chronical Diseases About a Furlong out of the South-gate of Aken is a Village called Porcetum or Borset from the great number of wild Hogs which formerly frequented that place in which are many Hot Springs upon both sides of a little Rivolet and let into Houses where they are distributed into several Baths of Stone There are fourteen of these Houses and twenty eight Baths the Baths holding ordinarily about fifty Tuns of Water each of them the Water is clear and pleasant without any offensive smell excessive hot when it comes first out of the Ground hotter than the hottest of Aken and is left to cool about eighteen hours before they use it They use also an Instrument of Wood pierced with many holes to help to cool them sooner or to stir the Water when any one goes in whereby he is not so sensible of the heat There are many cold Springs rise near these hot ones whereby they might be tempered and surely the quantity of the hot Water being so great no place might be made more delightful nor no Baths more Noble The Turks in our times do most of any Nation beautifie their Baths and render them serviceable to their Health and pleasure In Austria at Baden the Sawer Bath is built after the Turkish manner with a Cupola over it and if any one hereafter shall build or beautify these they will yield to very few in Europe At present most of them are of a square Figure of about five or six yards over and the Houses in which they are very near one another The first House hath the name of the Ladies Bath the second is the Snake the third and fourth the Sword the fifth the Golden Mill the sixth the Fool the seventh the Cock the eight the Great Bath the ninth the Fountain the tenth the Crab the eleventh the World Inverted the twelfth the Glass the thirteenth the Angel and the fourteenth the Rose There is also another in the open Air called the man's Bath In the Street is a Well or Fountain of these Hot-springs of as great a heat as any I have seen perpetually boyling or bubling But of all these Baths Dr. Blondel and Dr. Didier have written so particularly as I need not to add any thing more and particularly of their Uses Within two Leagues of Aken in the Country of Limbourg is a Mine of Lapis Calaminaris which we went to see having a Corporal and eight Musquetiers for our Security to pass the Wood. This Mine lies over against the Castle of Einenberg As soon as I had delivered a Letter to Mr. John Franck Comptroller of the Mine for his Catholick Majesty he went along with us to shew us the manner how the Cadmia grows in the Earth and other Curiosities This Mine having been wrought Three hundred years and being one of the most remarkable of that kind it may not be impertinent to set down some particulars concerning it It is about eighteen or nineteen Fathoms deep lying all open like a Chalk Mine of an Oval Figure they digg at present in several places and the best Calmey lies between the Rocks in the deepest part of the Mine They have now found an excellent Vein so placed of eleven or twelve Foot thick which they digg out with Pick-axes with some difficulty by reason that the Lapis Calaminaris is very hard The colour of this Stone is of a dark yellow and red and hath Veins of natural Brimstone mixed thinly in it The Veins of the Lapis Calaminaris being so large they follow them not only in one place but digg over one anothers heads and frame their work into the shape of large Stayrs and one throws up what another diggs and so upward till they lade the Carts with it Some of the Cadmia is blackish and dark brown and there are Fluores between the Cavities of the Stone handsomly figured but most of a blackish colour The works about the Mine the most remarkable are these 1. An Overshot-wheel in the Earth which moves the Pumps to pump out the water and this not placed in the Mine but on one side of it and a passage cut out of the Mine to the bottom of it by which the Mine is drained and another passage or cuniculus out of the place where the wheel is turned which lets out the water which turns the wheel and also the water which comes out of the Mine into the Neighbouring Valley 2. The washing of the Ore or Stone which they perform as at other works by letting the water over it and stirring it and this they do wheresoever they begin to work near the Superficies of the Earth for there the Calmey is less and more mixed with Clay and Earth but the most remarkable work is the calcining of the Ore for all our Lapis Calaminaris of the Shops is the calcined Calmey and it is worth the seeing for they place Faggots in a handsome order first and cover a large round Area with them of about Forty or Fifty yards Diameter upon which they place Charcoal in as good an order till all be covered and filled up a yard from the ground then they place ranks of the largest Stones of Calmey and after them smaller till they have laid all on and then by setting fire to the bottom the fire comes to each stone and all is handsomly calcined They make Calmey also about two English miles from Bleyberg in Carinthia They make it after this manner They take the Ore out of the Mine sometimes they wash it and sometimes not they burn it as they do Rost Then they take it and beat it in pieces with a mallet They choose the best of it and throw away the dross the whitest is commonly the best From hence we went to Limburg meeting with divers Souldiers upon the Road who desired money of us but did not attempt any thing against us we being many of us together in Company Limburg is seated upon a high Rock which overlooks all the Country and a little River runs almost round it at the bottom The Avenue to the Town on the North-side is difficult all along upon the edge of the Rock and the Gate of the Town over which is the Governor's House spreads it self from one side of the Rock to the other and locks up the passage Here we shew our Passports from the Spanish Plenipotentiaries and in the Afternoon had a
pleasant Journey to the Spaa In the way we saw where the French Army had passed the Country towards Metz having lain about a Fortnight at Vichet after the taking of Maestreicht Spà is a neat Village in the Forest of Ardenna seated in a bottom encompassed on all sides with Hills and on the North with steep Mountains So that it happening to rain while we were there the place was in some hours time filled with water the Hay washed out of the Meadows the falls in the River made even and Pohunt one of the Mineral Fountains was drowned There was not much Company when we were there although it were in the hottest time of the year which is most seasonable for drinking the waters by reason of the wars and the danger of coming through the Country to them But in Spà it self all people are free from danger all the Neighbouring Princes protecting it and would count it very dishonourable to disturb a place which by the virtue of its Mineral Springs is so beneficial to Mankind These Waters are not only drunk upon the place but are also sealed up in Bottles and sent into many parts of Europe And Mr. Coquelet at whose House we lodged told me that he sent it as far as Saragossa in Spain and that he had at that time Thirty thousand Bottles empty and waited for a good season to fill them which is the hottest dryest time of the Summer and the hardest Frost in Winter at which times the water is strongest sparkling and brisk The chiefest of these Mineral Fountains are these Geronster Saviniere Tonnelet and Pohunt Geronster is in the middle of a thick Wood about an English mile and a half Southward of the Spà it is the strongest of any and the best adorned being built up with stone and a Pavilion over it supported with four handsom stone Pillars There is a green place cleared in the Wood near to it and a little House for the Patients to warm themselves in early in the morning or in cold weather The Arms of Sr. Conrade Bourgsdorff who adorned this Fountain are placed over on two sides and on the other two this Inscription in French and High-dutch in a handsom Oval Le Reverendissime Excellentissime Sr Sr Conrade Bourgsdorff Grand Chamberlan premier Conseiller d'Estat Colonel Gouverneur General de tous les Forts Forteresses du Serenissime Electeur de Brandebourg dans son Estat Electoral Grand Prevost des Eglises Cathedrales d' Halberstadt Brandebourg Chevalier de l'Ordre de St. Jean Commandeur du Baillage de Lagow de gros Machenau Golbeck Bouckow Oberstorff c. c. c. This Fountain smells very strong of Brimstone and causes vomiting in a great many yet passes chiefly by Vrine as they do all and strikes a purple with Nut-galls more inclining to red than the waters of Tunbridge The Sediment is of a light blew in the Fountain but of a dark dirty red every where else Not far from this is another large Spring in the Wood much like it but not as yet built and beautified Saviniere is another Fountain almost as far from the Spà Eastward and built after the manner of a Tower the Acidulae are not so strong as the former There is another Fountain hard by this almost the same held to be particularly good for the Stone and Gravel The third is Tonnelet arising in the Meadow and built up with stone But being there are no Trees nor Shades about it it is not so delightful as the others And Henricus ab Heer 's in his Spadacrene saith that this is more nitrous than the rest and causes such a coldness in the mouth and stomach that few can drink of it The fourth is Pohunt in the middle of the Town from whence most of the water is drawn which is sent abroad if no particular one be sent for This was beautified with handsome Stone-work by the Bishop of Liege to whom this place belongs and this Inscription set over it Sanitati Sacrum It is also called the Fountain of St. Remaclus to whom it was dedicated and these Verses are likewise engraven upon it Obstructum reserat durum terit humida siccat Debil fortificat si tamen arte bibis Being at the Spà we visited Franchimont one Afternoon passing through a thick Wood there is an old Castle and good Brimstone and Vitriol works the same Stone affording both and I presume may also make the Spà -water under ground or at least be a principal Ingredient in it We saw the manner here how they melted and cast their Brimstone first into great Pails the florid and clear parts remaining at the top and middle the thick and more obscure subsiding and adhering to the bottom and sides and is that which is sold for Sulphur Vivum We saw also the manner of casting the Brimstone into Rolls or Magdaleons And near unto this place a smoaking burning little Hill which is thus caused They throw out the burnt Pyrites out of which Brimstone hath been distilled and the Vitriol drawn out by infusion upon this Hill which consists all of the same matter and ferments in time grows hot smoaks and burns perpetually and withal drinks in a new Vitriol into its self From the Spà we crossed over to Frapont a Village seated upon the pleasant River Vta or Ourte where we took Boat and went down a rapid Stream yet one of the pleasantest I ever saw winding and turning between many green Hills in part of the Forest of Arduenna We descended afterwards thirty or forty small Falls in a long Boat made on purpose The Oar or Paâ—dle being only a square piece of Board fixed to the end of a Pole the Pole standing perpendicularly in the middle of it The delightful River Vesa or the Wesdret soon met us and joyning together we fell down with them into the Maes near Liege Upon the Banks of these Rivers all the Arms Guns and other Instruments are made for which the Country of Liege is remarkable Liege Luick Leodium or Augusta Eburonum Learned Men think this City to be seated near that Vally wherein two Legions of Julius Caesar under Sabinus and Cotta were destroyed by Ambiorix chief Commander of the Eburones It is seated upon the River Mosa which entring with two Streams makes some pretty Islands Three other small Rivers arising in the Forest of Ardenna are also here received into the Maes whereby they have plenty of Fish and other Conveniencies The City is very populous and so it hath been in former Ages when as Charles Duke of Burgundy sacked it and destroyed an hundred thousand of the people It abounds with fair Churches stately Convents and Religious Foundations richly endowed so that it hath been called the Paradise of Priests and is in that kind the most notable in all these parts The Palace of the Bishop is a noble Fabrick built by Cardinal Erardus Bishop of
the Sea in almost round the Town for a great space whereby it is become much more strong and defensible than before For when I looked upon it and considered what it was when it was besieged by Arch-duke Albertus and taken by Marquiss Ambrosius Spinola 1604. with an honourable Surrender after three years Siege I cannot but ascribe very much unto their Supplies from England and the obstinate Valour of the Defendants especially the English under Sir Francis Vere Sluys being in the hands of the States of the Vnited Provinces and Dunkirk under the French The Spaniards possess no other Port in Flanders but this and Newport and this being the most considerable they are now making the Haven large and are upon a considerable Work in order to the carrying of their Ships over into that Cut which goes from Ostend to Bruges out of their Harbour by the means of a very great Lock or Receptacle of Water which is to communicate with both which when it is finished may be very advantageous to the Traffick of the Spanish Netherlands This Town stands very low but the Streets are straight large and uniform From hence I went all along upon the Sea-shoar to Newport a handsom Town with large fair Streets but low built There were then a great number of small Ships in the Harbour This place is famous for the Battel of Newport fought here by Albertus and Count Maurice wherein the Spanish Forces lost the day and much of the honour of the Field was due unto the English under Sir Francis Vere since which time although there hath been much bloud shed in these Quarters yet there hath not been so considerable a Battel ever since although the English had also the fortune to do great Service hereabout at a fight called the Battel of the Sandhils when a part of the Army of French and English which besieged Dunkirk fought with the Spanish Forces by Newport and overthrew them From Newport we put to Sea sailing out of the Harbour and intending for England but the wind being very high and contrary after having been at Sea all the night and had leisure to take notice of the great number of Sands upon that Coast in the morning we put into Mardike where at present there is only a Fort of Wood just above the High-water mark with some few Guns mounted The other Fort more into the Land being demolished Dunkirk is much increased of late and the King of France hath not spared money to render it considerably strong He hath very near finished a noble Cittadel begun by the English while this Town was in their possession which hath the Sea on one side of it the Haven on another and the Sandhills towards the Land which when the wind is at South-west doth somewhat annoy it To prevent which the French have made divers Cuts and Channels through the Sands into which the Sea entring doth moisten and fix the Sand so as they are not so apt to fly And every Bastion is sprucely kept and covered within with green Turf Beyond the old Wall of the Town there are now great Works drawn which encompass so large a space of Ground that the Town is made bigger by half And in this part stands the English Nunnery and many handsom Buildings The new Fortifications are very large and the Bastion towards the North the most stately The Port is large and capable of receiving a grâ—at number of Ships but at low water it is almost dry and there are so many Sands before it that at that time the Sea comes not in any depth within a mile of it From Dunkirk we travelled by Land to Graveling where the Works are of Earth large and high the Church stately the Streets broad but the Houses low and at present not populous The Marquis de Bel fonds with the French and my Lord Ruterford with his Scotch and English came before Graveling upon the sixteenth of August 1658. and carried the place in twelve days time Don Christopher de Manguez yielding it upon the twenty eight on the same terms that it was delivered up by the French to the Spaniards 1652. From Graveling I came to Calais from whence setting Sail in the morning we came to Dover and the same day to London A JOURNEY FROM VENICE TO GENOA I Travelled some years since between Venice and Genoa through many Countries of early Civility seated in the middle of the temperate Zone in a fruitful and happy Climate affording plentifully all Necessaries for Life and through Countries which have not only been considerable for their copious production of Corn Fruit Silk Wine and Oyl but also for having been very fortunate in all Ages for bringing into the World Persons of great Fame and Renown who have rendred this Tract of Earth more than ordinarily remarkable for great Actions in all times The memory of which is still preserved not only in their Writings but also in their splendid Buildings and Antiquities though no parts have tasted more deeply of the dangerous variety of fortune these having suffered the frequent Incursions of many fierce and warlike Nations Having therefore formerly enjoyed such variety of observable Objects I could not remember this Journey without some considerable satisfaction especially having at the same time had the good luck to travel a great part of it with my worthy friends Sir William Trumbull Mr. Soames Dr. Palman Dr. James and Mr. Dashwood which makes me bold upon the opportunity of this second Impression to add further this short Account We passed from Venice to Padoa by water up the stream of the pleasant River Brent having all day long Houses of Pleasure and well built Palaces on each hand of us We entered this River near Lizafusina five Miles from Venice where formerly a Wheel or Engine was placed to convey the Vessels into the River The Venetians having long since stopped up the entrance of the Brenta lest that by the continual Descent of the Water the Stream and Channel might be diminished lost or altered and the passages for their Vessels rendred dangerous or inconvenient but this is otherwise contrived at present and four large Locks or Sostegni are made use of both to keep up the water and to facilitate the passage of the Vessels These are placed at Stra Dolo Mira and Moranzan and are very remarkable considering that the River in these places is locked up and the Vessels which are to pass are brought in between great Gates and the water let in or out as they have occasion to pass up or down the River The landing-place at Padoa is handsomly set off with stone steps continued for a long space along the side of the River after the manner of the landing-place at Ghent and some other elegant Cities of the Low Countries The outward Wall is strong being well fortified according to the Modern Rules of Fortification in the time of Leonardo Loredaro Duke of Venice and to render
it more strong the Rivers of Brenta and Bacchiglione are let into the Town Ditch The inward Wall is now most considerable for its Antiquity and for retaining the name of its Founder it being still called Antenor's Wall It contains a far less space of ground than the former Padoa being built in this respect like to the City of Aix la Chapelle or Aken having own Town within another That Patavium or Padoa is one of the oldest Cities of Europe built presently after the Trojan War is confessed by Ancient Writers and so generally believed of old that Livy lays it down for the Ground-work of his History beginning in this manner Jam primum omnium satis constat Troja capta c. i. e. In the first place it is sufficiently manifest that Troy being taken the Grecians executed the utmost of their rage upon the Trojans Aeneas and Antenor only excepted by reason of their ancient friendship with the Greeks and in respect that they had always endeavoured to make Peace and restore Helena After various fortunes Antenor brought a great Number of the Heneti who having lost their King Pylemon at the Wars of Troy and being driven out of Paphlagonia by a Faction were now seeking new Seats and a Captain to lead them and came along with them to the bottom of the Adriatick Gulf drove out the Eugenians who inhabited between the Sea and Alpes and established the Trojans and the Heneti in those Countries Martial also saluting Flaccus a Padoan Poet calls him Flacce Antenorei spes Alumine Laris. And that you may more firmly give credit to it you may further also have the authority of a Goddess for it for Venus is introduced expostulating in these terms with Jupiter in the behalf of Aeneas Quem das finem Rex magne malorum Antenor potuit mediis elapsus Achivis Illyricos penetrare sinus atque intima tutus Regna Liburnorum et fontem superare Timavi Vnde per ora novem vasto cum murmure montis It mare proruptum et pelago premit arva sonanti Hic tamen ille urbem Patavi sedesque locavit Teucrorum et genti nomen dedit armaque fixit i. e. What time great King shall terminate our woes Safe could Antenor break through all his foes Pierce to the bottom of the Illyrian bay View Kingdoms where Liburnian Princes sway Pass the nine mouths of fierce Timavus waves Which rores upon the hills and o'er the valleys raves And there could fix and on that foreign ground Great Padoa's tow'rs for after ages found New name the people and free from all alarms Hang up in peace his consecrated arms In those days when the art of Navigation was but in its infancy and the Mariners very unwillingly parted with the sight of land Antenor was forced to keep close and creep along the Coast of Peloponnesus and Epirus and then sail by the Illyrian and Liburnian Shoars which are very uneven and troublesom to deal with being full of Creeks unsafe Bays and Rocks besides very many Islands of various shapes Whereas if he had crossed over to the Italian coast he had had a nearer voyage and sayled with pleasure all along an even bold brave shoar The people of Padoa are well pleased with the thoughts of their Ancient founders and Progenitors and they still preserve the tomb of Antenor near to which at present stands the Church of Saint Lawrence and in their publick shows they will still be representing something of Troy and the old Trojans and in one place I saw a horse of wood about twenty foot high in imitation of the old Trojan horse but I suppose nothing near so big as the first original Yet when I consider that above eleven hundred years after the destruction of Troy when Towns and Buildings were very much amplified and improved Pompey coming in Triumph could not enter even the great Triumphal gates of Rome it self in a chariot drawn by Elephants an Animal that seldom or never comes to be so high as this Horse it may well be supposed that they could not have received even this poor model of the first great one into the old town of Troy without pulling down their walls The Tâ—mbâ— of Antenor The Buildings at Padoa both publick and private are very considerable for most of the City is built upon Arches making handsom Portico's or cloysters on each side of the street after the manner of the houses in the Piazza of Convent Garden which at all times afford a good defence against the Sun and Rain and many of the houses are painted on the outside with very good History-Painting in Fresco their Churches are fair and divers well adorned The Domo or Cathedral Church is large seated near the middle of the City endowed and mightily enriched by the Emperor Henry the fourth whose Empress Berta lies buried here The Revenues of this Church at present are reckoned to amount to a hundred thousand Crowns a Year and besides the Monuments of many eminent persons they preserve here the body of St. Daniel of Cardinal Pileo da Pratta and of Cardinal Francesco Zabarella The Church of St. Antonio is visited by persons far and near and the exquisite Design artificial Carving in Marble the handsom Quire and rich Ornaments make it worth the seeing The top of the Church is made up of six Cupola's covered with lead the Chappel of St. Antonio is nobly set out with twelve marble pillars and a rich roof Between the Pillars are carved the miracles of this Saint who lies interred under the Altar upon which stand seven Figures made by Titian Aspetti a good statuary of Padoa and behind the Altar there is a most excellent Basso relievo done by Sansovinus Tullius Lomburdus and Campagna Veroneâ—sis Over against the Chappel of St. Antonio stands the Chappel of Saint Faelix and his tomb nobly wrought with coloured marble and the whole splendidly adorned with the paintings of the highly celebrated Giotto The chief Reliques in this Church are the Tongue and Chin of St Antonio a Cloth dipped in the blood of our Saviour Three thorns of his Crown and a piece of the wood of the Cross some of the hair and milk of the blessed Virgin and some of the blood of the marks of St. Francis Before the Front of the Church there is a handsom brass Statue on Horse-back representing the great Venetian General Gattemela St. Antâ—nio lived six and thirty years dyed upon the thirteenth of June 1231 and was canonized by Pope Gregory the ninth in the City of Spoleto 1237. The convent of the black Monks of St. Benedict may compare with most in Italy and their Church dedicated to Santa Giustina built by Palladio is one of the fairest in Europe Saint Giustina was a Virgin and Martyr daughter to Vitaliano of this City she suffered Martyrdom in the time of Maximianus the Emperor In this Church there are still preserved as they say the body of St. Luke the
Evangelist of St. Matthias the Apostle of two of the Innocent Children of Prosdochimus the converter of these Countries to the Christian Faith and first Bishop of Padoa of Maximus their second Bishop and of Santa Giustina The Front of this Church looks into a spacious place called Prato della Valle where the Gentlemen meet in their Coaches in the Evening for their pleasure In a handsom room or burying place on the South-side of this Church is a round old red marble stone upon which the heads of many Martyrs were cut off and near to it a fine white marble Well called Pozzo d' Martiro or the Martyr's Well a place of great Devotion Where the Temple of Juno stood in old time there is now built a handsom Church dedicated to St. Augustin wherein are divers Monuments of the Family of Carrara the Tomb of Charlotta daughter to James King of Cyprus and of Petrus Aponensis a great Philosopher Il Ponte Molino where there are thirty Water-Mills together and the Castello delle munitioni both built by Ezzellin are worth the seeing La Corte del Capitanio is splendid and was the Palace of the Carraresi The Palazzo della Regione where the Courts of Justice are held is very large beautiful and highly considerable both without and within being built of Marble with rows of Pillars without and within there are Heads and Inscriptions for divers eminent Persons of this City the length hereof is 256 Foot and the breadth 86 without any Pillar or support in the middle The University of Padoa was founded in the Year 1220. by the Emperor Frederick the Second and the Schools are fair and large containing one Quadrangle with rows of Pillars above and below and besides handsom Schools on every side there is a very convenient Anatomical Theater The Physick Garden is large of a round Figure walled about and well stored with Plants The Prefects hereof have been Men of Note as Aloysius Mundella Aloysius Anguillara Melchior Guilandinus Jacobus Antonius Cortusus Prosper Alpinus and Joannes Veslingius The Arena or old Amphitheater at Padoa is an Antiquity very remarkable and the remains of some of the Arches are to be seen still in the Gardens backward but the Arena it self and the whole Podium are preserved intire free and empty And at one end thereof there is built a handsom Palace the Front of which looks directly into the open Amphitheater and is a portion of an Oval Figure and the whole area or Arena of the Amphitheater serves for the court to it in such manner that the entrance being now at the end directly opposite to the house the handsome prospect of it and the clear Avenue to it is extraordinarily surprizing and extreamly noble and I could not imagine that any Gentleman would ever desire to have a fairer Court-yard to his house than the spacious plain Arena of an old Roman Amphitheater nor a better Wall than a high intire handsom Podium the like to which perhaps is not at this day any where else to be seen And I must freely confess That of the Remains and Ruines of twelve old Amphitheaters which I have seen my self I have not met with any one that comes near it for in the Amphitheater at Douè in Poictou which is cut out of a Rock and being of a smaller dimension and part of the bottom being filled up there is no visible beauty of the Podiam the like may be said also of that at Nizza near the river Varus and that at Puzzuolo That at Nismes is filled up with dwelling houses in such manner that the upper seats only are distinctly visible The Amphitheaters of Bourdeaux Xainctes Arles Garigliano that at Rome near to the Church of Santa Croce in Gierusalemme and others are at present so much ruined that nothing of this nature distinguishable is to be expected nay even about the Arena at Verona and the great Colisseo or Domitian's Amphitheater at Rome the ground is now risen so high that the Podium is at present either buried or disfigured But as the Arena at Padoa is clear and evident in this part so is it wanting in all the rest and he that desires at this day to view all the Parts of an Amphitheater must not see one but many and by joyning them together in his thoughts he may collect the figure proportion and dimensions of this sumptuous sort of building of the old Romans From the Walls of Padoa there is a pleasant Prospect of a plain Country to the North East and South and of the Euganean Hills to the West which supply the Town with variety of Plants and great Number of Vipers At a few Miles distance are the hot Baths of Abano and the Mineral drinking Waters of Monte Ortone as also Obizzi's Country House which we saw with great delight it being well designed and accommodated with a good Armory a Theater for Comedies handsom Stables and a Tennis-court and nobly painted both within and without by that great Master Paulo Veronese Leaving the Ancient City of Padoa in the Two Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty Fifth Year after its first Foundation according to their own compute and Travelling Eighteen Miles through a fruitful Country we came to the pleasant City of Vicenza a place worth the seeing by reason that Palladius hath here shown great skill in Architecture in his Rotunda in imitation of the Pantheon at Rome in his Theater exactly proportioned to the strict Rules of Building and other fair Houses in the Town There are also two Arches worth the observing one near the Gate behind which there is a noble ascent up to Santa Maria del Monte and another in campo Martio This City is filled with Nobility and Gentry and drives a great Trade in making Silk but is not of any considerable Strength The Piazza della Signoria is as beautiful a place as can well be contrived and besides its being large enough to receive all the Gentry in an Evening and to have Tilting and Turnaments performed in it it is beautified with the exquisite Front of the Palazzo della Ragione of the Capitanio's Palace and also with the Buildings of the Monte della Pietà where Money is lent out without use to the poorer sort Vicenza is a rich Bishoprick esteemed at twelve thousand Ducats a Year and in the Cathedral besides other Reliques are preserved the Bodies of Carpophorus and Leontius Martyrs of this Place but the most celebrated Relique of all is kept in the Church of the Santa Corona belonging to the Dominicans It is one of the Thorns of our Saviour's Crown given by Saint Lewis King of France to Bartolomeo Breganza a native and Bishop of Vicenza The City of Vicenza or Vicentia is watered with the River Bacchiglione and Rerone or Eretenus besides two other pretty Streams called the Astichello and Seriola which highly confer to its delightful Situation and Convenience but by reason that there are divers Hills very near it can
sharp pointed Sword Who could contrast with such a cunning strong and active combatant Quis Myrmilloni componitur aequimanus Thrax The Thracian fighter would often engage with him and the Retiarius many a time and would come up to him with his Net in his hand singing this Non te peto piscem peto Quid me fugis Galle Another sort of Gladiators were named Samnites whose armour is described by Livy Their shields were inlayed engraven and imbossed with Silver and with Gold One end of their shield with which they guarded their breast was flat broad streight and even the other end next their shoulder was narrower that it might be turned and moved with more ease besides which they had a long strong Sword a Breast-plate a Helmet with Feathers upon the Crest and a Boot upon their left leg These Gladiators were in great request in Campania from whence the Romans learned many of their Amphitheatrical sports and exercises and they fought against the Pinnirapi and the Provocatores Besides these there were others called Dimachaeri who fought with two Swords and others named Laquearii these were dangerous fellows that fought with Sword and Halter and had two ways with them to entangle and destroy their Enemies The Meridiani were a bold desperate Crew who came rushing into the Amphitheater at Noon when the Gladiators had concluded and the Spectators were dismissed and with their drawn Swords ran at one another without Order Art or Armour and scorning to make use of Head-pleces Shields and such like Hindrances and Delays of Death butchered one another presently But that which is still more strange the tender Female Sex was not exampted from these sharp rude exercises Hos inter fremitus novosque lusus Stat Sexus rudis insciusque ferri Et pugnas capit improbus viriles They picked out the most beautiful comely lovely young Women that could be found and put them to School to a Lanista or Master of Defence to be instructed in the Art of Fighting where a tender young Gentlewoman that had scarce strength enough to exercise at a carving School must be fencing every Morning with a great Fellow and be set such rude Lessons as these None of your shifting Gallick play Great Caesar likes the Samnite way Come close strike home and you 'll one day Bear your Foes life and Fame away And if you miss of Victory In graceful postures learn to dye For those who were put to a Lanista in the most severe way were bound to be burnt whipped and fall by the Sword Igne uri virgis caedi ferroque necari Now to see one of these fine young Women fight well dressed with her golden Shield and her fair Plume of Feathers the Emperor himself could not forbear commending and crying out sometimes Well played fair Lady or as Xerxes said when he beheld from a high Hill the Sea-fight at Salamis and Artemisia had sunk one of his own Ships instead of one of the Enemies well fought Queen Artemisia my Women fight like Men and my Men like Women However we have very good Authority to assure us that the Women fought stoutly To see oâ—e of those spruce Dames lay it on Like any right bred raging Amazon You 'd think your self near to fierce Thermodon Credas ad Tanaim ferumque Phasim Thermodenâ—iacas calere turbas And that they generally fought after the manner of the Samnites we may learn from Juvenal where he takes notice what a fine Credit it would be for a man to cry out at a publick Sale of his Wives Goods who gives most for my Wives Boots who bids Money for her Corselet Helmet Gauntlets Quale decus rerum si conjugis auctio fiat Baltheus Manicae Cristae Crurisque sinistri Dimidium tegmen But Domitian the Emperor went still beyond this when he set his Gladiators together in the night and made his Dwarfs fight those little Pygmaean Creatures But we need say no more of them for it may be thought by some that Whether they slew or whether they were slain They'd both make but one Morsel for a Crane And indeed it is high time to leave this omnium Daemonum templum as Tertullian calls it altogether and pass forward to more pleasing objects Parting therefore from Verona in the Morning we travelled through a delightful plain Country 24 Miles and came early in the Afternoon to Mantua Mantua is pleasantly seated in a Lake like to the Description of the situation of the great City Mexico This Lake of about five Miles long is made by the opening of the River Mincius or Mentzo a delightful stream which runs slowly spreads it self wide and bears its name high amongst the noted Floods of this Region Frondentibus humida ripis Colla levant pulcher Ticinus Addua visa Caerulus velox Athesis tardusque meatu Mincius And again Volucres quas excipit amne quieto Mincius This River runs into the Po and rises out of the Lacus Benacus and is so full of Reeds in many places especially near Mantua that I cannot omit Virgil's proper elegant way of mentioning his own Country Rivers Hinc quoque quingentos in se Mezentius armat Quos patre Benaco velatus arundine glaucâ Mincius infesta ducebat in aequora pinu The entrances into Mantua over the lake are made good by strong Causeys of five or six hundred paces long having Draw-bridges at each end and that over which we passed called Ponte di St. Giorgio hath a covered Bridge for a great space together and a Tower in the middle The Ponte de' Molini hath twelve Mills in the Arches called the twelve Apostles which afford the Duke a considerable Revenue The Streets are large strait and clean Here are eight Gates eighteen Parishes and forty Monasteries The Domo or Cathedral is built after the design of Giulio Romano the Roof of which is painted with Azure and Gold in this Church they preserve the Body of St. Anselm Bishop of Luca in the Church of St. Andrew is the Body of St. Longinus the Martyr together with some drops of the Blood of our Saviour which are said to be brought hither by that holy man The Duke's Palace is stately and magnificent and was the best furnished of any in Italy till the Imperial Army plundered it in the time of the Emperor Ferdinand the Second in the year 1630. There are three Suburbs which appear like to so many distinct little Towns Porto Forteze Borgo di St. Giorgio and Il Te. The Duke hath also divers Country Houses as that of Marmirola in the way to Verona which is nobly furnished hath Royal Apartments good Gardens Fountains and Water-works La Favorita is upon the side of the Lake and hath about a hundred Rooms in it La Virgiliana is another pleasant Country House with a Farm adjoyning to it called thus by reason that it is near to the Village of Petola formerly called Andes where Virgil
his modesty as Suetonius relates it and unwillingness to seize upon and continue so great an Empire with the hazard of so many brave mens lives that served him and therefore early in the morning after a draught of cold water he stabbed himself with a dagger under the left Pap in the ninety fifth day of his reign and the thirty eight year of his life This town hath at present about three or four thousand Inhabitants and a good Garrison belonging to the Duke of Modena it being near to the state of Milan Mantua and Parma The Spanish Troops under the command of the Marquiss of Carracena attempted to surprize it in the year 1655 but were repulsed by the Duke of Modena's forces Having passed Briscello we crossed the River Nicia now Lenza and soon came to Parma The Dukedom of Parma is guarded by the Apennine mountains and divers Rivers and is a very fruitful Country affording plenty of excellent wines and some good Muscatelli fruits of various sorts rich pastures plenty of Cattel the best Cheese in Italy great store of Chestnuts and Tartufali Truffes Tubera terrae Roots without Stems or Plants growing from them which they hunt after with a pig which smells them out and discovers where they are these are a great dish in Italy and though they seem to have no great nourishment in them are esteemed to be provocative And besides these this Country affords some mines of Copper and Silver and very fine Wool Velleribus primis Apulia Parma secundis Nobilis The City of Parma is very ancient inhabited long since by the Tuscans then by the Boii next by the Romans a Colony being sent hither from Rome about a hundred and eighty two years before the coming of our Saviour and another in the time of Augustus Caesar But upon the declining of the Roman Empire it ran through divers fortunes served sometimes Venice and sometimes Milan till it was conquered by Pope Julius the second and given by Paul the third to his Son Petro Luigi Farnese about a hundred and thirty five years since in whose Family it still continues It is a Delightful Airy well seated City the Houses being low the Streets broad and the River Parma running between the City and the Suburbs both of which are well fortified with good Bastions and a broad Ditch It hath three handsom bridges over the River The Duke's Palace is splendid his Coaches extremely rich his Gardens worth the seeing with the Grotto's Fountains Water-works and Bows of Orange Trees The lodgings are furnished with excellent pictures vessels of Porphyry A gath and Jaspis The Cathedral is fair and stately In the Capucines Church is the tomb of Alexander Farnese Duke of Parma one of the greatest commanders of his time and of his Dutchess Maria of Portugal The Church of St. John is large and beautiful and adorned with the paintings of those great Masters Corregio and Parmegiano and the Benedictin Convent adjoyning is one of the largest and fairest of the order This City was formerly besieged for two years together by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa who in hopes to make himself Master of it built another Town near to it called Victoria but those of Parma behaved themselves so stoutly that they freed themselves and ruined his new Town of Victory From Parma we went to Fornovo ten miles from thence seated upon the swift River Taro and rendred remarkable by the battel gained here by Charles the eight King of France against the confederate Princes of Italy in the year 1494 in hisre turn from the conquest of Naples The River Taro is a remarkable River which runs and plays about the plains before it falls into the Po and is very swift although it be not streight but notably winding and turning At first sight I conjectured that it would prove a troublesome River when it was shut up between the Hills and so we found it for as soon as we had left the open spacious plain Country in which we had travelled with pleasure from Padoa hither and had got in between the spurs of the Apennine and entered the Val di Taro the valley in which this River runs we were forced to travel many times inconveniently upon the sides of the hills on the right hand and on the left and furthermore to cross the River it self above forty times and in one passage one Gentlemans Mule fell down with him in the middle of the River but after we came past Borgo di Valle the River was less and we turned more to the right hand and climbed up the Apennine Mountains Borgo or Borgo di Valle is a walled Town at the upper end of this valley upon the side of the hills where we shew our bills of health and where the Duke of Parma keeps a Garrison The Banditi appearing in these parts the day before the Governor sent a guard of Musqueteers with us to convoy us with safety over the hills into the State of Genoa The Apennine is a row of Mountains of many hundred miles long beginning at the Alpes continued from one end of Italy to the other and ending by Reggio or Rhegium upon the Sicilian Sea and in some places are more than a hundred miles broad and by this means take up the greatest part of Italy and render it a Mountainous Country and though there be many valleys between yet the hills do really reach and extend themselves from the Tyrrhene to the Adriatick from the lower to the upper sea conformable to the description of them by Lucan Hinc Tyrrhena vado frangentes aequora Pisae Illinc Dalmaticis obnoxia fluclibus Ancon And this makes the travelling in Italy to be generally on Horseback or upon Mules whereas in France one may travel five hundred miles together in Coaches and in Germany all over the Country and if it were not for Campania foelix and the great continued plain Country between the Alpes and Apennine Italy could never make good the high Character it has Ovid mentions the Airy Alpes and cloudy Apennine and most Mountains have clouds about them and in the evening the Clouds floating in the Air after Sun set slip away towards the next high hills and take up their rest in the hollow spaces of the Mountains and when the Sun rises next day and warms the Air the clouds dislodge again rise up and wander through the Skies but the Apennines are more cloudy generally than other hills whether for having the Seas on both sides of them or for other reasons I leave to the more accurate searchers into nature to judge and we have travelled for many days together in the Countries of the Apennine Mountains with the Clouds continually about us either a little over us under us or passing through them not without admirable variety of prospect and from the top of a Mountain to see a valley with Houses and Towns in it and then the clouds creeping over the next hill to