Jo. Hawtrey Fellow of Kings Coll. Camb. Robert Hawtrey Esq of Rillip in Middlesex Peter de la Hay of Westminster Tho. Hayes of Crattfield in Suffolk Edward Haynes Esq Nicholas Hayward Pub. Notary of London Charles Hearl Tho. Henshaw Esq of Kensington Middlesex John Herbert Esq Sir John Hewly of Yorkshire Charles Hickman M. A. of Ch. Ch. Oxon. Samuel Hieron M. A. of Huniton in Devon Thomas Hillersden Esq of Elstow in Bedf. Abraham Hill Esq of London Rich. Hill Canon Resid of Sarum Thomas Hill Esq of Silton in Shropsh Samuel Hoadley of Tottenham-Highcross Tho. Holbech D. D. Mr. of Emanuel Coll. Cambridg Tho. Holdsworth Dean of Midleham in Yor. Patrick Home Esq Barth van Homrigh Merchant in Amsterd Robert Hook Esq of Gresham Coll. Lond. Walter Hooper Esq of Stokebury in Kent Anthony Horneck B. D. of the Savoy George Horsnell Citizen of London Sr. Richard How Bar. of Compton in Glouc. Ferd. Hudleston Esq of Millon-Castle Cumb. Mr. Humphries Rector of Barton in the Clay Sr. Tho. Hussey Bar. of Lincolnshire Will. Hussey Merchant of London John Huxley Esq of Broseley in Shropshire Tho. Huxley Fellow of Jesus Coll. Oxon. Harry Hyrne of Kensington in Middlesex Sir LEOLINE Jenkins Principal Secretary of State Will. Jackson M. D. of Nantwich Ja. Jacobson Esq Mr. of the Steel-Yard Tho. James D. D. Warden of All-Souls Coll. Oxon. Will. Jane D. D. Reg. Prof. in Oxon. Nich. Johnson Esq Edward Johnson of Oxford Peter Joy Merchant of London Sr. Tho. Isham Bar. of Lamport Northampt. ANTHONY Earl of Kent Thomas Kerby Merchant of Amsterdam Charles Killigrew Esq Abraham Kick Merchant of Amsterdam Will. Kinsmill of Sydmonton Esq in Hampsh Sir N. Knatchbull Kt Bar. of Marsham in Kent JOHN Duke of Lauderdale GEORGE Earl of Linlithgow General of his Majesties Forces in Scotland FRED Alefeild Count of Langland and Rixingen Great Chancellor to the King of Denmark HENRY Ld. Bp. of London THOMAS Ld. Bp. of Lincoln CHRISTIAN Lindenaw Chamberlain to the King of Denmark and Envoy Extraordinary to the King of England Edward Lake D. D. Sr. James Langham Bar. of Cottesbrook Northamptonshire Sr. William Langham of Walgrave Henry Langly Esq of Shrewsbury John Langley Esq of Amias Shrop. Thomas Langly Esq Henry Lavor Esq John Lawson M. D. London Eldred Lancelot Lee Esq of Cotton in the County of Salopp Esq Dan. Leblon Merchant of Amsterdam Sr. Nicholas Lestrange Bar. of Norfolke Roger Lestrange Esq Sr. Peter Lely of London VV. Levinz M. D. President of St. Johns C. Ox. Thomas Lewis Esq Thomas Lewis Merchant of London John Lewknor Esq of West Dean Sussex Edm. Long Esq of Linehams Court Wiltsh Sr. James Long of Wiltshire Mr. Lovell Cittizen of London John LLoyd D. D. Principal of Jesus Coll. Oxon. Will. LLoyd D. D. Dean of Bangor Robert Lovet Esq Richard Lucas Minister in Coleman-Street London Narcissus Lutterel Esq Edward Lutwych Esq JAMES Duke of Monmouth Chancellor of the University of Cambridg JAMES Marquess of Montross ROBERT Earl of Manchester CHARLES Ld. Vicount Mordaunt WILLIAM Ld. Maynard GEORGE Ld. Dela Mere Sr. JOHN Skiffiington of Fishenwick Bar. Ld. Vicount Massereene LORENG Muller Envoy from the Duke of Brunswick RICHARD Maiteland Esq Sr. GEORGE Mackenzie Ld. Advocate of Scotland Sr. GEORGE Mackenzie Ld. of Torbet Ralph Macro M. D. London Robert Maddox Esq Sr. Thomas Mainwaring Bar. of Pever in Cheshire Rawlin Mallack Esq of Cockington Devon Will. Man Esq Sword-Bearer to the Ld. Mayor of London Thomas Manning of London Gerhardus Martens M. A. and Minister of the German-Church London Narcissus Marsh S. T. P. Provost of Trinity Colledge in Dublin John Marsham Esq of Cuxton Kent Thomas Master Esq of Ciciter Sr. John Matthews Robert Maylin Esq of Binnie John Morris Esq of London Henry Maurice Fellow of Jesus Coll. Ox. Isaac May Merchant of Amsterdam Clement Mayo Esq Edmond Meadow Esq Ro. Meine Esq Postmaster of Scotland Sr. Richard Meredith Bar. of Denbishire Jonas More Esq of the Tower of London John Meriton D. D. Rector of St Michael Cornhill London Roger Meredith Esq Secretary of the Kings Embassy in Holland Sr. Tho. Midleton Bar. of Denbishire John Millington Esq of Newich Edward Mills of the Temple Walter Mills M. D. Adiell Mill Cittizen of London William Molyneux of Dublin Owen Morgan Esq Will. Morton D. D. Dean of Xt. Church Dublin Will. Moses Esq of London Luke Mott Fellow of Caius Coll. Camb. JAMES Earl of Northampton GEORGE Earl of Northumberland JAMES Ld. Norreys FRANCIS Vicount Newport and Baron of High Archoll CHARLES Ld. North and Grey Baron of Kirtling and Rollston ANDREW Newport Esq Sr. John Napper Bar. of Luton Bedfordshire Georg Neale M. D. of Leeds Yorkshire Jasper Needham M. D. London Walter Needham Honorary Fellow of the Kings Coll. of Physitians Sr. Paul Neile of Codnor in Derbyshire Goddard Nelthrop Esq of Charter-House-yard London Edward Nicholas Esq of Hitcham Edward Nicholas Esq John Nicholl Esq Secretary to the Ld. Chancellor John Nicholls Esq of Trewane in Cornw Will. Nicolson Fellow of Queens Coll. Oxon Will. Nott Bookbinder to the Queens Majesty Tho. Novell M. D. London JAMES Duke of Ormond Ld. Lieutenant of Ireland and Chancellor of the University of Oxon. THOMAS Earl of Ossory AWBREY Earl of Oxford JOHN Ld. Bp. of Oxon Sr. Thomas Ogle of Lincolnshire Will. Oliver Bookseller in Norwich Rich. Owen D. D. Rector of St. Swithin and of St. Mary Bothaw London Sr. Henry Oxenden Bar. of Dean in Kent Colleges in Oxford which have Subscribed are All Souls Coll. Tho. James D. D. VVarden Brazen-Nose Tho. Yate D. D. Principal Bailioll John Venn Mr. Christ Church John Ld. Bp. of Oxon Dean Corpus Christi Dr. Newlin President Edmund Hall Stephen Penton Principal Exeter Arthur Berry D. D. Rector Jesus John LLoyd D. D. Principal St. Johns VVill. Levinz M. D. President Lincoln Tho. Marshal D. D. Rector Magdalen Henry Clark M. D. President Merton Sr. Thomas Clayton VVarden New Coll. Dr. Beeston VVarden Oriel Robert Say D. D. Provost Pembroke John Hall D. D. Master Queens Tim. Halton D. D. Provost and Vice-Chancellor Trinity Ralph Bathurst M. D. President University Obadiah VValker Master Wadham Gil. Ironside D. D. Warden WILLIAM Ld. Herbert Earl of Powis CHARLES Earl of Plymouth JAMES Earl of Perth WILLIAM Ld. Bp. of Peterborough WILLIAM Ld. Paget Sr. Tho. Page Provost of Kings Coll. Cambr. Justinian Pagit Esq Allington Painter Esq VVill. Palliser D. D. Reg. Prof. in Dublin Thomas Papilion Merchant in London Richard Parr D. D. of Camberwell George Payn Fell. Com. of Clare Hall Camb. Robert Payn Esq Will. Peachey Esq of New-Grove Sussex Robert Pease Merchant in Amsterdam Will. Peisley Esq of the Temple John Pell D. D. Mr. Pelling of St. Martins Ludgate Lond. Sam. Pepys Esq Sr. Philip Percival Bar. of Ireland Ralph Petley Esq High Sheriff of Kent William Pett Citizen of London Alexander Pitfeild of Hoxdon Middlesex Esq Robert Pleydall Esq Robert Plott L. L. D. of University Coll. Oxon. Sr.
each side four feet an head like an Acorn with four horns 2. The Sawfish which hath a long Snout on either side set with teeth like a Saw he seldome gives over the Whale till he hath killed him he eats up his tongue and nothing else 3. The Hay from two to three fathoms long round and small a sharp snout and three rows of teeth in his mouth with which he will bite great pieces out of the Whale and sometimes eat up all the fat the Fishermen have found Whales half devoured by them they are taken with a bait fastened to an Hook with an Iron Chain for a Rope they will presently sheer asunder The Whales when the Sea begins to freez go Southward dispersing themselves some unto the coast of America some few this way and many keep in the deep and wide Ocean where the Basques who say that the Whales follow the light used to fish for them before Greenland was discovered And I have heard that the Dutch caught a Whale near Japan that had sticking in her an Harping Iron lost at Greenland WILLOVGHBIES-ISLAND THe Dutch had no way to take from Sir Hugh Willoughby the honour of first adventuring upon these Northern Coasts which he did by the commission and at the charges of King Edward the sixth but at the advice and direction of the great Sea-man Sebastian Cabot Grand Pilot of England but by bestowing on him an imaginary Title of an Island which they call Willoughbies-Island and which they place near Nova-Zembla Besides what we have spoken to this matter in the description of Greenland it may further be noted that neither Captain Edge who travelled those Seas so many times nor Mr. Seller nor any other English man that we know of name any such Islands in their Maps nor do any of the Journals of our Mariners nor H. Hudson who expresly went to seek for it mention any such place and the latest Dutch Map of Nova Zembla which is the nearest Country to that imaginary Island set out 1678 makes not any mention of it nor does Sir H. Willoughby seem to have sayled that way which is East and by North from Sainam but set his course towards North-east nor doth the description he made of the Countrey agree to a small Island All which being considered Mr. Purchas with good reason several times affirmeth that Willoughbies-Island is no other then a conceit of the Cart-makers and for such we shall let it pass till better informed NOVA-ZEMBLA NOva-Zembla is separated from the Samoieds Countrey by the Streits of Waygates or as the new Map calleth them Straet van Nassau it was first discovered by the English in 1556 and since visited by several both English and Dutch who have attempted to find out a passage that way into the Tartarian-Sea and so farther to Cathay China Japan c. Yet notwithstanding all their endeavours very little progress hath been made in that discovery except you will say that they discovered by sad experience that though perhaps the Sea might be continued through those Streits yet by reason of the very great hinderance as well as danger of the Ice it is unpassable or if in some warm Summers perhaps it might be sailed yet is the danger and trouble so great that it is not worth the hazard and charges of the adventure Especially since the miscarriage of that worthy Pilot William Barents who out of confidence of the feasibility of the enterprise adventured so far that his Ship was first hem'd in and afterwards frozen and broken in the Ice so that they were forced to winter upon the land where the good man lost his life of whose sufferings by cold I have before spoken Only give me leave here to take notice of their particular observations of the setting and rising of the Sun comparing them with others made in Greenland by the English Our men that winter'd in Greenland 1630 The length of their nights lost the light of the Sun intirely Oct. 14 and saw him not again till Feb. 3. Those that stayed there in 1633 say that Oct. 5 was the last day they saw the Sun though they had a twilight by which they could read till the 17 on the 22 the Stars were plain to be seen all the 24 hours and so continued all Winter Jan. 15 they perceived for six or seven hours about noon so much light as they could make shift to read by it Feb. 12 they saw the light of the Sun upon the tops of the Mountains and the next day his whole body Those in Greenland in 1634 who all perished there left in writing that the Sun disappear'd Oct. 10 and was seen again Feb. 14. Those that winter'd in Nova-Zembla in 1596 in 76 deg on Nov. 2. new stile saith Purchas i. e. Oct. 23 saw the Sun not fully above the earth it rose South-South-East and set South-South-West after Nov. 4 Oct. 25 they saw the Sun no more but the Moon continued as long as she was in highest degrees to be seen day and night Jan. 24 they saw the edge of the Sun above the Horizon and 27 he totally appear'd and he then was in 5 deg 25 min. of Aquarius They farther observed that by an Ephemerides which they carried with them at Venice would be a conjunction of the Moon and Jupiter that very day at one a Clock in the morning which they in Nova-Zembla saw at 6 in Taurus So that the difference of Longitude of these two places is 5 hours which answers to 75 deg Venice therefore being accounted in the Longitude of 37 deg 25. min. Nova-Zembla must be 112 deg 25 min. And from thence it is no more than 60 deg to Cape Tabin the uttermost point of Tartary What to say to these observations so contrary to all Astronomers I know not had Barents made them they would have staggered us more but since the Observer hath so grosly mistaken in the Latitude of the place which he always places in 76 deg insomuch that Hudson saith that that place is by them laid too far North much out of its place to what end he knows not we have the less reason to assent to him in the rest besides to place Nova-Zembla in 76 is to make it in the same Latitude as Horn-Sound in Greenland which no man ever affirmed Nor can any one imagine that the refraction of the Sun-beams can cause such a difference for Mr. Baffins observation which he made in Greenland from the Air whereof that in Nova-Zembla cannot much differ will not admit any thing like that difference which take in his own words Beholding it about a north-north-east Sun by the common Compass at which time the Sun was at the lowest one fifth of his body was above the Horizon and four fifths below his declination for that instant was 10 deg 35 min. north being at noon in 2 deg 7 min. of Virgo his daily motion was 38 min. whose half being 19 to be
forty German miles from Pleskow and as many from Novogardia 2. Nieslot or Neuschlos i. e. new Fort not far from the Lake Peipus upon the River Narva 2. Viria Wiria or Wilandia Viria which has Alentakia on the East Harria on the West the Finnic Bay on the North and Jervia on the South Places remarkable in it are 1. Wesenberg not far from the River Weissenaa which A. D. 1581 was taken by the Swedes from the Muscovite 2. Tolsburg twelve miles distant from Wesenberg 3. Borcholm 3. Harria or Harrenland 〈◊〉 bounded on the South with Wicia on the East with Viria and on the North and West with the Finnic Bay In this division is Revalia the Metropolis of Liefland a little but handsom pleasant and well fortified City lying in 59 deg 30 min. of Longitude In the year 1374 it was sold to the great Master of Livonia In 1561 being in danger to fall into the hands of the Muscovite it committed it self to the protection of the Kings of Sweden and has ever since been subject to them Here was anciently a Bishops See but since Lutheranism spred it self into these parts that Title is here discontinued and all Ecclesiastical affairs manag'd by Superintendents For the promoting of Learning and good Education this City has one publick Gymnasium wherein Professors and Tutors are maintain'd to read and teach Humanity and all the Liberal Arts. The chief Church is dedicated to St. Olaus Not far from this place is the Monastery of St. Bridget seated upon the Finnic coast and the Fort Pades or Badis lying upon the River Assa 4. Vikia Wicia or Wikke which has in it these three places of note 1. Habsalia Habsel lying upon the Bothnic Bay formerly viz. in the time of Frideric II. King of Denmark in the possession of the Danes afterwards A. D. 1575 taken by the Muscovite and in the year 1581 gain'd by John III. King of Sweden 2. Lode 3. Leal 4. Wickel or Wyck all Forts of good strength and consideration 5. Jervia which lyes landward almost in the middle of the other Districts It contains Wittenstein Oberpalen and Lau or Lais places of moment II. Odepoa bounded on the East with the Lake Peipus on the North with Embeck and the Rivers Fela and Pernavia on the West with the great Bay of Livonia and on the South with Lettia In it are these places of note viz. 1. Derpat Derbat Dorpat or as the Russes call it Juriogoord a large City built most of Stone and Brick and secured by strong Stone-walls where was formerly a Bishops seat It was heretofore under the Tzar of Muscovy A. D. 1230. Under the Poles A. D. 1582. Afterwards taken from them by Charles Duke of Sudermannia But by them regain'd A. D. 1603. In the year 1625 when Gustavus Adolphus sent Forces into Livonia under the command of Jacobus de la Gardie this City was gain'd to the Swedish Crown and ever since remains as a part of its possessions Here by reason of the great abundance of all sorts of commodities of life and the healthfulness of the air Gustavus Adolphus ann 1632 at the desire of one John Skytte Baron in Ouderof who had sometime been Tutor to that King instituted an University and appointed and stipended one Rector and several Professors for Theology History Mathematicks c. 2. Warbek upon the mouth of the River Embeck 3. Kanneleks 4. The Fort Ringen 5. Odepoa a small Town whence the whole District has its name 6. Nienhausen a strong Fort upon the borders of Muscovy 7. Marienburg another Fort not far from the Lake Peipus 8. Tarnest a place anciently of good importance but being in the hands of the Muscovites it was besieged by the Polander and at last by them taken and when they quitted it so demolished that tho the Swedes have spent some charges in repairing it it has not at present attain'd its ancient strength and splendor 9. Felinum Fellin fifteen German miles from 10. Parnavia Parnow upon a River of the same name a Town of great trade for all commodities Corn especially first of all added to the Swedish dominions by Ericus XIV King of Sweden an 1562 Afterwards taken by the Poles and regain'd from them an 1617. 11. Sales or Lemsael with some other less remarkable Towns and Forts III. Lettia bounded on the East with part of Muscovy on the West with the Livonian Bay on the North with Odepoa and on the South with the River Dwina It s chief City is 1. Riga an Arch-Bishops See lying in 48 deg of Longitude and 57 deg 30 min. of Latitude upon the Dwina at its entrance into the Bothnic Bay It is defended with a strong Wall Bulwarks Towers an extraordinary large Trench and three rows of great Guns which were put in good order and readiness chiefly by the care of Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden Here is a noted Harbour for Ships much frequented by Merchants from Germany Holland England c. who come hither in the summer-time and are laden with Hemp Flax Wax Pitch Tar with Planks also and Wood ready hew'n for building Ships with skins of all sorts as of Bears Elks Foxes c. and Furs of Castors Sables Martrons Ermins c. all which are brought to this City out of Muscovy and Poland in the winter-time over the ice and snow upon sledds and made ready for sale against the time when the Merchants usually arrive The Citizens commonly speak either Swedish German Curlandish or Livonian and have their Divine Service which is reform'd according to the Augustan Confession always celebrated in some one of those languages In the year 1581 this City was taken by Stephen King of Poland from the Emperor and by his successor Sigismund III. endow'd with many notable priviledges and immunities and by him kept in possession till 1605 at what time Gustavus Adolphus Prince of Sweden brought an Army into Livonia and after six weeks close siege had it surrender'd up to him since which time it has always been under the Swedish power 2. Dunamund i. e. the mouth of the Duna or Dwina so call'd from its situation being plac'd upon the Dwina two miles from Riga at its very entrance into the Livonian Bay It is a Fort of great importance commanding the whole River so that without leave had from the Governour here no Ship can pass into or come out of the Harbour of Riga And because the Dwina at this place breaking forcibly into the Sea and often in the spring-time especially bringing huge flakes of ice along with it very much alters the Channel and thereby makes the passage into the River very dangerous there are waiting here a sort of experienc'd Guides call'd Pilosen or Pilots who for small wages conduct all strangers along the safe way either up to Riga or back again into the Baltic 3. Kakenhusen Kockehaus a strong Fort where was anciently the residence of the Archbishop of Riga 4. Ascherad with many lesser Towns
Christian Whereupon he was baptized in the year 826 and immediately restored to his dominions But soon after he renounced Christianity and continued Heathen till reclaim'd by St. Anschar who for his good offices in the Northern Kingdoms was made Archbishop of Hamburgh in the year 835. 2. Eric succeeded his brother Harald with whom he had been baptized in Germany in his Kingdom and cruelty against the the Christians In his days about the year 853 the Danes first enter'd France under the command of their Captain Rollo though others more probably relate him not to have been the first of those Northern Rovers that invaded France but to have succeeded to Gotfrid and to have entred France about the year 876 and not to have been peaceably settled in Normandy till 889 or 890 see the History of the life of King Aelfred and seated themselves in that part which has ever since kept the name of Normandy 3. Eric Barn or the Child being the only male left alive of the Royal Family after the bloody wars between his predecessor and Guthorm King of Norway He begun his reign happily having married the daughter of King Guthorm but within awhile he grew more cruel then any of his Ancestors had been slaying more Bishops and destroying more Churches and Religious Houses both in Germany and England then all the rest of the Danish Kings put together In his German wars he slew Brunno Duke of Saxony and twelve Counts He dyed about the year 902. 4. Canutus the Hairy or Lodneknudt succeeded his father Eric In his days saith King Eric in his Chronicon every third man in Denmark went by lot to seek his fortune so that those who marched off over-run all Prussia Semgal Curland and several other Countries whence they never return'd but there they and their posterity have continued to this day He dyed a Heathen about the year 912. 5. After the death of Canutus the Danish Scepter was given to Frotho his son so say the most credible Historians tho Lindenbruch reports that his brother Sueno reigned nine years He was twenty years King of England and Denmark in the former of which he was baptized and dyed a good Christian 6. Gormo Gormund or Guthrum surnam'd Hartesnute and Engelender because born in England succeeded his father He together with his followers was baptized at Aalre in Sommersetshire and had our Learned and Pious King Aelfred to his Godfather who at the Font gave him the name of Athelstane and afterwards bestowed on him the Kingdom of the East-Angles From this Gormo a Village near Huntingdon call'd at this day by the inhabitants corruptly Godman-Chester had its name Gormon-Chester As Cambden proves from that old Verse Gormonis a Castri nomine nomen habet I am very unwilling I must confess to confound this Gormo with King Aelfred's God-son who as far as we can learn from English writers never sat in the Throne of Denmark neither do the times agree But the Danish Historians will have it so and 't is in vain to seek for satisfaction in the midst of such confusion as we meet with in their writings 7. Harald surnam'd Blaatand succeeded his father Gormo In his days the Danes threw up that famous Trench between Gottorp and Sleswic call'd Dannewirck of which we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter 8. Sueno or Svenotho surnamed Tuiskeg i. e. fork'd-beard succeeded Harald At first he was an Heathen and a severe persecutor of the Christians but afterwards he turned Christian himself and founded three Bishopricks at Sleswic Ripe and Arhuse Some say he dyed in the year 1012 and was buried at York others make him live till the year 1014 and bring him to his grave in Denmark 9. Canutus the Great son to Sueno He was at once King of England Denmark Sweden Norway Slavonia and Sambland some make him King or Duke at least of Normandy And this seems to be the meaning of that old Distich which not reckoning either Slavonia or Sambland a Kingdom brings him in thus speaking of himself Facta mihi Magni pepererunt inclyta nomen Quinque sub imperio regna fuere meo He was buried at Winchester in the year 1036 after he had been twenty-seven years King of Denmark twenty-four of England and seven of Norway leaving the Kingdom of Denmark to his son 10. Hardi-Cnute who within four years obtain'd the Kingdom of England upon the death of hs brother Harald Here he dyed in the year 1041 and was buried by his father in the Cathedral at Winchester 11. Magnus King of Norway seized on the Kingdom of Denmark upon the death of Hardi-Cnute pretending a title to it by contract But he enjoy'd it not long He dyed in the year 1048 and left the Kingdom to 12. Sveno Esthret son on one Vlf an English Earl He dyed in the year 1074 and left behind him five sons who all of them sate successively in their fathers Throne 13. Harald Sveno's eldest son held the Scepter only two years He was a soft easie and timorous Prince afraid to punish offenders or to look an enemy in the face So that the English making use of the opportunity shook off the Danish yoke without any considerable molestation 14. St. Canutus King Swain's second son was barbarously murder'd in St. Alban's Church in Odensee a City in the Isle of Funen whither he fled for sanctuary from the rage of his own Subjects in the year 1088 Pontanus says 1077 The occasion was this The pious King commanded that all his Subjects should pay Tythes according to the custom of other Nations This Edict was represented to the people by his brother Olaf who long'd for the Crown as an encroachment upon the priviledges and liberty of the Subject Whereupon they quickly rose in open rebellion against their Soveraign who to appease the rage of the rabble was martyr'd 15. Olaf Swain's third son upon the slaughter of his brother Cnute which he traiterously had procured was by his followers unanimously declared King But his brothers blood went not long unrevenged For in this Kings days the famine was so great in Denmark that even the Kings Houshold wanted bread Olaf at last sensible that this judgment was inflicted on the Kingdom for his sins pray'd that God would turn the current of his vengeance from the people upon his head that had offended His prayers were heard and the same night in the year 1096 he dyed hungry and miserable and the famine immediately abated 16. Eric Swain's fourth son surnam'd the Good for his religious zeal and piety who dyed in his pilgrimage towards Jerusalem and was buryed in the Isle of Cyprus in the year 1106. In his days Lunden was made an Archbishops See before which time all the Danish Bishops were under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Bremen 17. Nicolas Sveno's youngest son He was slain by the Jutes in revenge of Cnute Duke of Flanders whom he had caused to be killed in the Church in the year
Light-horse as the King thinks fit and pay in yearly such a sum of money into the Treasury But these are neither so numerous nor large as before the alteration of Government in the year 1660. Again out of the Nobility are chosen all the Court-Officers Of which the chiefest are 1. Court-Officers The Chancellor 2. The Admiral who takes care of the building and repairing of all sorts of Ships belonging to the Crown He has under him a Vice-Admiral who acts by his Commission 3. The Marshal who provides necessaries for all manner of dispatches in the times of war and peace 4. The Treasurer who receives in and gives acquittances for all summs paid into the Kings Exchequer he has under him two Secretaries of the Nobility and a great number of inferior Scribes 5. The Master of the Horse There are only seven Bishopricks in Denmark Bishopricks which are all as in England in the Kings gift 1. Copenhagen where the Bishop has Archiepiscopal rights tho without the title 2. Ripen and 3. Arhusen both in the Northern Jutland 4. Odensee in Funen 5. Wiburg 6. Arhusen 7. Sleswic in the Southern Jutland The Cities are governed by their distinct Corporations Citâ—â—â— And the Citizens enjoy peculiar Priviledges and Charters as in other parts of Europe The Rustics are either Freeholders Frybunder Rustics such as have hereditary Estates paying only some small Quit-rent to their Landlords Or Wornede Villains absolutely in the power of their Lords Whilst the Kingdom of Denmark lay confused and broken into several incoherent parts Laâ—â— the Provinces had not all the same Laws but were governed by peculiar Statutes established by their petty but independent Princes Whence in Danish Authors we meet often with mention made of the Leges Scanicae Leges Sialandicae c. But afterwards when all these scatter'd members came to be re-united under the same head they were all subject to the same Government and Laws The Laws now in use were drawn into one body which they call the Jydske Lowbog or the Book of the Laws of Jutland and established by King Waldemar the first and revised and confirm'd by Waldemar the second To the observation of these as the only Municipal Laws of the Land the Kings of Denmark have formerly bin sworn at their Coronation Howbeit some of them have been since changed As for instance by the ancient Laws of Denmark as well as in England as may appear by the frequent mention of manbot and wergild in our English-Saxon Laws murder was not punished with death but a pecuniary mulct This custom was observed till the days of Christian the third who looking upon it as a constitution inconsistent with the Law of God and dictates of humane reason abrogated it ordering that from thenceforward wilful murder should be judged a capital crime The ancient Danes were so careful and zealous to transmit their Estates to their right heirs that tho they could be so merciful as to suffer murderers to live yet they punished Adultery with death Which Law is still in force in Saxony as may be seen in any Sachsen-Spiegel and many other parts of Germany The fashion of deciding all manner of causes in our English Courts by a Jury of twelve men Judâ—â—â—ture may seem to have bin borrowed from the Danes who used formerly as they do still in some parts of Jutland to assemble every Parish by themselves once a year in the fields to determine all differences by twelve select men From whom if the disagreeing parties were not reconciled an appeal lay to the Judge of the Province and thence to the supreme Court of Justice as is shown before The Heathen Danes had another way of determining Controversies by Duels in which the Challenger was to demonstrate the justice of his cause by his success This custom lasted till the first planting of Christianity by Poppo who to confirm the truth of his Doctrine took up with his bare hands glowing-hot bars of Iron without the least harm to the admiration of all beholders This miracle wrought not only a change in the Religion but Laws also of the Kingdom For hereupon King Sueno or Suenotto ordered That thence forward all persons accused of any hainous crime should clear themselves by carrying in their hands a glowing plough-share or some other piece of hot iron This kind of purging is called by some of the Danish Writers Jerntegn i. e. Iron-token by others Ordale Whence this last word should fetch its original is not agreed on by our modern Etymologists Verstegan brings it from Or an old word for Law and deal a part or portion And indeed the German word Vhrteil seems to favour this derivation Our fore-fathers the Saxons had borrowed from the Danes several kinds of Ordale As by carrying a bar of hot iron up to the high Altar bare hand by treading barefoot and blindfold over a certain number of glowing barrs laid on the ground at unequal distances by thrusting the naked arm into a pot of boiling water and lastly as they use to try Witches by throwing the accused party into a River or deep Vessel of cold water He that desires to see an exact account of the ceremonies used in the second and third kinds of Ordale may read them at large in the Ecclesiastical Laws of King Athelstane published by the Learned Sr. Henry Spelman Concil Britann tom 1. pag. 404. And in the same Kings Laws as they are published by Mr. Lambard you have the other two sorts described The first that throughly abolished all kinds of Ordale in Denmark was King Waldemar the Second about the year 1240 at the request of Pope Innocent the Third who thought it an intolerable and hainous impiety thus to tempt God Barclay in his Icon Animorum wonders that such innumerable swarms of men should sally out of these parts as were able to overrun the greatest part of Europe whereas at this day there is such a scarcity of Inhabitants that the King of Denmark is hardly able to wage war with any of his Neighbours without a supply of Souldiers out of foreign Countries But this is no such great miracle when we consider how the vastest Empires in the World Assyria Egypt Judaea and Rome it self vainly flattered with the name of Vrbs Aeterna have had their periods The greatest strength of the King of Denmark as of all Princes of Isles consists chiefly in the number of their Mariners and good Ships In all Skirmishes and Wars between the Dane and Swede it is obvious to observe how much the latter have usually prevail'd at Land and the former at Sea Christian the second upon a short warning fitted out a hundred good men of war to aid Henry the Second King of France against the English and this present King has a much larger Fleet always ready for action The Danish King can afford to build yearly twelve men of war without impoverishing his Exchequer And in this Naval force the
divided formerly the Dukedom of Holstein from the Kingdom of Denmark BEfore the invention of Guns and other terrible Engines of war now used by all the Europeans and the greatest part of the known world the only fortifications and ramparts were strong walls and ditches which the ancients fancied as indeed they were sufficient to defend them from the arrows and battle-axes the only weapons then in use of their barbarous neighbours Hence it was that the Chinois thought their Empire secured from the incursions of their bloody neighbours the Tartars when their famous King Tzinzow had hedged them in with a wall of some hundreds of miles in length Thus the best expedient the Romans could find of putting the borders of their Brittish dominions in a posture of defence against the daily revolt of the Natives whom they had driven into Scotland was the building of Picts Wall and Severus's rampire which reach'd from Sea to Sea For the same reasons the Kings of Denmark having their Territories continually infested by the daily inroads of the Germans thought it highly requisite to block up their passage by walling up that neck of Land which lies between Hollingsted and Gottorp It is hard to determine from the account given by Historians when this work was first begun Paulus Aemilius a curious French Historian says Gothofred King of Denmark whom the Danish writers call Gothric was the first that made use of this stratagem to exclude the Armies of the Emperor Charles the Great about the year 808. The same story is told us by Aimoinus and Christianus Cilicius But Saxo Grammaticus Crantzius and the whole Class of the Northern Historians tell us unanimously That Queen Thyra daughter of Ethelred King of England and wife to Gormo Gamle King of Denmark was the Authoress of this fortification and that thence she had the surname of Danebode i.e. the Mistress builder of the Danish Nation bestowed on her I can scarce allow the latter part of the story to to be truth since we find that this surname was given her long before she had done any thing either towards the building or repairing of the Danewirk as they call'd this Fort. For upon a monument erected by King Gormo Gamle in honour of his Queen Thyra we find the following Inscription Gurmr Kunugr gerdi kubl dusi eft Turui Kunu sina Tanmarkur-bat i.e. Gormo the King erected this Tomb for Thyra his Queen Danebode or repairer of the Kingdom of Denmark This inscription cannot be an Epitaph writ after Queen Thyra's death seeing all the Danish writers assert positively that she outliv'd her husband Gormo many years and after his death took the Danewirk in hand So that its more then probable the surname of Danebode was given her for the many good offices she had done the Nation in repairing several old decayed Castles and Forts and building a great many new ones King Eric the Eighth in his Danish Chronicle says Thyra built the Fort of wood Which Witfield understands of the fencing the rampire with Stakes as bulwarks are guarded in our modern fortifications Others make Harald Blaatand Queen Thyra's son the first Author of this work after he had driven the Emperor Otho out of Jutland Which Erasmus Laetus the Danish Virgil alludes to when speaking of this King Harald he says Hic ille est solido primns qui Cimbrica vallo Munijt arva solique ingens e corpore dorsum Eruit immani quod se curvamine longos Incitat in tractus mediumque perambulat Isthmum Et maris Eoi ripas cum littore jungit Hesperio ac tenuem Sleswici respicit urbem King Eric decides this controversy by telling us That Thyra built a wooden fortification and afterwards advised her son to strengthen the work by Trenches and Rampires of earth Notwithstanding all these relations of other Historians both Pontanus and Wormius agree that 't is most likely the rude draught of this Fort was first drawn by King Gothric and only repair'd and improv'd by Queen Thyra King Harald and other succeeding Princes Waldemar the first built a wall of brick seven foot broad and eighteen high to strengthen it After so many improvements the fort was reckon'd impregnable For soon after King Waldemar's reparation when Henry Duke of Saxony surnamed the Lion intended to have endeavoured a breach through this fort into the King of Denmark's dominions he was disswaded from the enterprise by his chief Counsellor Bernhard Razburg who represented the undertaking as a thing impossible to be effected assuring him Danewirkae custodium Danorum sexaginta millibus mandatum esse i.e. That Danewirk was defended by a Garrison of sixty thousand Danes Hence King Sueno finding himself unable to force his way through so strong and so well man'd a Rampire endeavour'd to work his passage by corrupting the Keeper of Wiglesdor the only Gate leading through this wall into Jutland At this day there remain but sleight marks of so great a work At Schubuge and Hesbuge two small Villages upon the ruins of the wall the Inhabitants find reliques of old furnaces and brick-kilns whence the Danish Antiquaries conclude that King Waldemar had his bricks burn'd here tho he was forced to fetch mortar as far as Gothland Joh. Cypraeus tells us at Dennenwirch an inconsiderable Village in these parts may still be seen the ruins of an old Castle where Queen Thyra lodged The same Author says Wiglesdor was antiently called Kaelgate because placed in an open and plain part of the Country where the Enemy could have no shelter nor be in any probability of suprizing the Defendants HOLSTEIN ANtiently the whole Territories of the Dukedom of Holstein contained at present in the Provinces of Holstein properly so called Ditmarss Wagerland and Stormar went under the general name of Nortablingia or the country beyond the Elb Northwards Adam Bremensis and Helmoldus are the first that mention Holsatia which the former derives from Holts-geseten i.e. seated in a wood or forrest DUCATUS HOLSATIAE DESCRIPTIO NOVISSIMA Excudebant Janssâ—â—io-Waesbergii et Moses Pitt The fruitfulness of the soil convenience of trading in the Baltic and Brittish seas and industry of the Inhabitants render Holstein the richest Country in the King of Denmarks dominions and make the incomes of some of the Nobility exceed the treasure of many Princes in Germany The chief Cities and great Towns in Holstein are 1. Kyel Chilonium seated on the Baltic shore in a corner of land shut in betwixt the mouths of two rivers Whence some have fetcht its name from the German word Kiel which signifies a wedge It is furnished with a large and commodious haven which is continually throng'd with Merchant-Ships from Germany Liefland Sweden and all the Isles on the Baltic Sea There is yearly in this Town a meeting of the greatest part of the Nobility of Holstein who come hither to consult about the affairs of the Dukedom especially the concerns of the mint and value of money The Castle which is seated on the
pass all the Merchant-ships which traffick in the Baltic The breadth of it is about twelve German miles and the length eighteen This Island is undoubtedly the ancient Codanonia mentioned by Pomponius Mela which signifies the same thing as the more modern words Dania and Denmark Most of the Danish Etymologists derive Seeland from Soedland or Seedland from the plenty of Corn which this Country affords Others with greater probability make the word signifie no more then an Island or piece of ground encompassed with the Sea Whence Saxo Grammaticus and several other ancient Historians call it Seelandia from the old Danish word Sia or Sio which is now turned into Soe and in our English tongue corrupted into Sea In most or all of the ancient Runic Manuscripts it is called Soelunder or the Sea-Grove The Edda Islandorum calls it Soelund and gives us this account of the first original of the word There was formerly a certain King in Sweden named Gylfi who promised an Asian Sorceress call'd Gesion who had pleased him with her melody as much land as four Oxen could plow up in one day and a night Whereupon the old Hag brings four of her sons out of North Jutland and turning them into as many Oxen caused them to plow up a large and deep furrow round this piece of ground Which when the Sea had fill'd up the land became an Isle and was call'd Seelund Stephanius thinks Ptolomy alluded to this fable when speaking of some Islands in the Baltic he said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. Beyond the Cimbrian Chersonese ly three Islands called Alociae from the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a furrow Copenhagen the Metropolis of this Island Copenhagen and of the whole Kingdom of Denmark is seated on the East of Seeland upon the Sea-shore The Danes call it Kiobenhaun and the Germans Copenhaven both which words are corruptions of Kiobmanshafen i.e. Portus Mercatorum as Saxo somewhere calls it Mejerus a learned Frisian writer derives the name of this City from Coppen which says he in the Frisian language signifies James and Haven q.d. St. James's Haven But there is very little or no grounds for any such derivation About the year 1168 Axil Wide surnamed Snare Saxo calls him Absolon Archbishop of Denmark built a considerable fortification in the Island in which now stands the Castle This was call'd after his name Axel-huys and was a good defence to the whole Island against the daily incursions of Pyrats Under the protection of this Fort several Fishermen and others that traded this way used to harbour their Ships in security This caused a continual concourse of the Natives who resorted hither to furnish the Vessels with such provisions as their Country afforded and in a short time laid the first rude draughts of a City which at this day for strength trade beauty and bulk is not surpass'd by many in Europe Most of the Danish Kings especially Christian IV. have been very active in beautifying this City with an University Churches Walls Ditches c. James Ecland Bishop of Roschild was the first that granted any priviledges to it in the year 1254. These his successor Ignatius confirm'd and they were afterwards considerably enlarged by King Waldemar in the year 1341 and Eric of Pomeren in the year 1371. Christopher of Bavaria endowed it with Municipal immunities like the other Cities of Denmark in the year 1443. All which were confirm'd by the large Charters of Christian the third and Frideric the second The Citizens houses till within these few years were very mean and low most of them patcht up of wood and mortar but of late they are grown more curious and expensive in Architecture and few of their streets are without a considerable number of fair brick buildings The Cathedral Church dedicate to St. Mary is beautified with a noble Copper Spire built at the charges of King Christian the fourth The Advowsance of this Church belongs to the Professors in the University The Market-place is exceeding spacious and no small ornament to the Town Besides these the Kings Palace the Arsenal which perhaps excels any thing that Europe affords in this kind the Observatory or Runde taarn and the adjoining University Church and Library the Exchange c. are places richly worth the seeing and deserve a larger description then the bounds of this short account of the whole Kingdom will permit The City is governed by four Burgomasters one whereof is Regent or President for his life This honour is at present conferr'd on that worthy and learned person P. John Resenius Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University at Copenhagen and Counsellor to the present King of Denmark With him most of the other Professors of note in this University as William Langius formerly Tutor to this present King Christian the fifth Erasmus Vindingius Professor of History and Geography and Author of the Academia Hafniensis which gives us an exact account of all the famous men that have ever flourished in this University Thomas and Erasmus Bartholini both well known by their incomparable works c. are at this day Ministers of State in the Court of Denmark and keep only the title and pension of Professors without being tyed to the performance of the duties SELANDIAE in Regno Daniae Insulae Chorographica Descriptio Apud Janssonio-Waesbergios et Mosem Pitt VIRO Illustri ac Generoso Dno GEORGIO SEEFELDO Haereditario in REFFES Regni Daniae Senatori ac Iudici provintiali Selandico Domino ac Patrono plurimum honorando D. D. D. Johannes Janssonius The rest of the great Towns and places of note in this Island are Roschild 1. Roschild which takes its name from a river running by the Town which drives seven mills Roe in the antient Danish Tongue signifies a King and Kille a stream of water 'T was formerly the Metropolis of the whole Kingdom but of late years this City has decayed and Copenhagen grown so fast that it is scarce remarkable for any thing at this day save the great old Cathedral the burying place of the Kings of Denmark and some small trade This City was first made a Bishop's See by Suenotho King of England Denmark Sweden and Norway about the year 1012. who gave the Bishoprick of Roschild which is now swallowed up of Copenhagen to Gerebrand a Monk Afterwards Sueno Gratenhede fortifyed it with a wall ditch and bulwark Lyscander tells us there were once no less then twenty seven fair Churches in this Town Among these I suppose he reckons the Chappel built by King Harald Svenotho's father in which both he and his son whose dead corps were carried out of England to Roschild to be buried are entombed In the old Cathedral amongst many other rich monuments in honour of several of the Danish Kings and Queens stands a fair marble pillar which Margaret Queen of Denmark erected on purpose to hang thereon the Whetstone which is fastened to it with a chain which Albert King of
CUCULLUM In which last word we have as many Numeral Letters as will give us the year 1315. 1318. Ludowic Duke of Bavaria after an Interregnum of some years was Elected and Crowned Emperor by a majority of the Electors but was oppos'd by Frideric Duke of Austria the Emperor Albert's Son who was set up by another faction and Crown'd at Bonna a small Town in the Territories of the Archbishop of Colen For some time the dispute was managed with equal success betwixt the two Emperors but at the last the victory went on Ludowic's side who having utterly routed Frideric's Army got the whole Empire into his own hands He was a great opposer of the Pope's authority insomuch that in a public Oration spoken by him at Francfurt he declared openly Quod nihil Juris Pontifici Romano sit in Imperium i. e. That the Bishop of Rome had no reason to pretend to any Jurisdiction over the Empire He deposed Pope John XXII and set up Nicolas V. in his stead He sleighted the Popes Excommunications which were daily denounc'd against him being encouraged thereto by Occam and some others who came in with him for a share in the Curse Occam's continual advice to him was O mi Imperator Tu me gladio defende ego Te verbis scriptis defendam i. e. Do you my Liege guard me with your Sword and I 'll protect you with words and writing 1346. Upon the death of Ludowic Charles IV. Son of John King of Bohemia was elected and proclaim'd Emperor by a Gang which he had corrupted with large sums of money He is blam'd by some Historians for taking much more care of the public affairs of France and Bohemia then those of the Empire for being more solicitous in promoting the interest of his own private Family then the good of the Commonwealth and lastly they represent him as a miserable penurious wretch that minded more the scraping together an Estate and great Portions for his Children rather then the administring of Justice and the grand concerns of his Empire and people However 't is commendation enough to say that he was the first contriver and establisher of the Aurea Bulla which contains a register of all the Rites and Ceremonies which for ever are to be observ'd by the German Princes in the Election of their Emperors of which more hereafter He was doubtless a prudent and learned Prince one that took great delight in the reading of Books and enjoying the company of Scholars There were three more Emperors elected against him at several times but none of them contended with him for the Crown The first of these was Edward III. King of England whose brave exploits in France had made him famous all Europe over But he finding employment enough in the management of his own Dominions at home very generously refus'd the Imperial Diadem when it was offer'd to him The second was Frideric Landtgrave of Thuringen who for a good sum of money very willingly quitted his pretensions Gunther Earl of Schwartzburgh was the third who was Crown'd at Aix la Chappelle and drew up his Forces near Francfurt intending to have given his Rival battel But Charles was loath to encounter so great a Soldier and hazard an Empire at one engagement which had cost him such large sums as he was obliged to pay to some of his Votaries He still fancied his Gold was the best weapon he had to trust to and so indeed it prov'd For therewith he hired a Physitian to poyson Gunther's body which made him unfit for government That done he compounded with his Children and a small piece of money bought off their Title He reign'd thirty-two years 1378. Wenceslaus Charles the Fourth's Son succeeded his Father upon his earnest entreaty for there was nothing in himself that could deserve a Crown In the beginning of his reign he gave himself up to all manner of vicious practices and towards the later end proved a cruel but unfortunate Tyrant He was twice taken prisoner but made his escape At last the Electors weary of so sordid an Emperor deposed him after he had reign'd twenty-two years Frideric Duke of Brunswic was elected into the room of Wenceslaus but never liv'd to enjoy the Imperial Crown For returning from the Election he was barbarously slain by Henry Count Waldeck who with a company of Ruffians lay in ambush for him near Fritzlar Whereupon the Electors immediately return'd to Francfurt and chose 1400. Rupert Elector Palatine of the Rhine A Prince of great valour tho never engag'd in any war but by constraint The greatest enterprize he ever set upon was the recovery of the Dukedom of Millain which his predecessor Wenceslaus had sold But John Galeazzes at that time Duke of Millain quickly routed his Army and forc'd him to retire back into Germany He dyed in peace after he had reign'd nine years and ten months and was buried at Spire 1410. Jodocus Barbatus Marquess of Moravia and the Emperor Charles the Fourth's Nephew succeeded Rupert He reign'd no longer then five months being no way qualified for an Emperor and having nothing remarkable in him but his beard which surnam'd him Barbatus 1411. Sigismund Wenceslaus's brother King of Hungary and Bohemia was chosen into Jodocus's place by an unanimous consent of all the Electors Historians represent this Emperor as a Prince of incomparable piety learning and valour who wanted nothing but success in his undertakings to make him compleatly happy He was a great promoter of the Council of Constance held in the year 1415 wherein John Huss and Jerom of Prague notwithstanding the Emperors Pass and promise that they should return safe to Bohemia were condemn'd to be burnt alive for Heretics This so incensed the Hussites that they immediately rebell'd against Sigismund under the command of their General Zysca who had been bred up in the Emperors Court This Zysca prov'd so fortunate in the field that he vanquish'd the Emperors Army fourteen several times He was a Captain of that courage that after his death his Soldiers cover'd a Drum with his skin imagining that the noise thereof would strike terror into the hearts of the stoutest of their enemies Sigismund having reign'd twenty-seven years most of which time was spent in a continual war with the Hussites dyed and left his Empire to his Son-in-law 1440. Frideric III. or IV. if we reckon the Duke of Brunswic who was slain at Fritzlar for one Duke of Austria was unanimously elected into the Imperial Throne upon the decease of the Emperor Albert and was Crown'd Emperor at Rome by Pope Nicolas V. He made it his whole business to procure and establish an universal peace in Christendom and to that end procured the calling of the Council of Basil He married Leonora daughter of Alphonsus King of Portugal whence the Houses of Spain and Austria were united into one Family He reign'd fifty and three years the longest of any of the German Emperors and dyed as some say of a Surfet by
nearest distance betwixt the two places measured by the arc of a great Circle is the other side But this case hath so many varieties and intricacies that it will be too tedious to set down the whole operation especially because it is in effect the same problem with that in Navigation Having the difference of Longitude and Latitude betwixt two places to find out the degrees of the Rumb leading to them which may be more properly demonstrated in another Volume to be set forth concerning such matters An easie method and sufficiently accurate for ordinary use is to extend your Compasses from one place to the other and then to apply them to the Equator and mark how many degrees they set off there which being multiplied by 60 gives their distance in miles But indeed the most accurate observers find that about 66 miles and a quarter answer to a degree in the Equator so that 60 is used only for the roundness of the number and readiness of computation every mile according to this rate answering to a minute which would be a very strange and happy chance if it were exactly so This may be discovered by several ways but the most practicable and certain is by taking the height of the Pole at two places distant Northward one from the other about an hundred miles or as much more as may be and then taking the true distance and situation of one place from the other by a large surveying Instrument and Scale made by an accurate workman not going always along the High-ways but from bystations observing Churches and such remarkable places The miles and other measures are so much different in one Nation from what they are in another yea in one part of the same Nation from what they are in another that they cannot without a great deal of difficulty and uncertainty be reduced to one common standard hence it is that often in the same Map we have a triple scale of miles the longest shortest and mean ones The Italian mile is commonly reckon'd equal to the English Two of these make a French League somewhat more then three of them a Spanish League four of them a German mile five and somewhat more a Swedish or Danish mile What hath been farther attempted for the reduction of shorter foreign measures to our English foot may be seen in the following table  English Feet Inch. 10th part English Foot 00 12 00 Rynland or Lynden which was the old Roman Foot 01 00 04 Leyden Ell 02 03 01 Paris Foot 01 00 08 Lyon Ell 03 11 07 Bologna Ell 02 00 08 Amsterdam Foot 00 11 03 Ell 02 03 02 Brill Foot 01 01 02 Dort Foot 01 02 02 Antwerp Foot 00 11 03 Ell 02 03 03 Lorain Foot 00 11 04 Mechlin Foot 00 11 00 Middleburg Foot 00 11 09 Strasburg Foot 00 11 00 Bremen Foot 00 11 06 Cologn Foot 00 11 04 Frankford and Menain Foot 00 11 04 Ell 01 09 09 Hamburg Ell 01 10 08 Leipsig Ell 02 03 01 Lubic Ell 01 09 08 Noremburgh Foot 01 00 01 Ell 02 03 03 Bavaria Foot 00 11 04 Vienna Foot 01 00 06 Spanish or Castile Palm 00 09 00 Spanish Vare or Rod 03 00 00 Foot 01 00 00 Lisbon Vare 02 09 00 Gibralter Vare 02 09 01 Toledo Foot 00 10 07 Vare 02 08 02 Roman Larger Foot 00 11 01 Roman Lesser Foot 00 11 06 Roman Palm ten making a Canna 00 08 08 Bononia Foot 01 02 04 Ell 02 01 07 Perch 12 00 05 Florence Ell or Brace 01 11 00 Naples Palm 00 09 06 Brace 02 01 02 Canna 06 10 05 Genoa Palm 00 09 06 Mantoua Foot 01 06 08 Milan Calamus 06 06 05 Parma Cubit 01 10 04 Venice Foot 01 01 09 Dantzick Foot 00 11 03 Ell 01 10 08 Copenhagen Foot 00 11 06 Prague in Bohemia Foot 01 00 03 Riga Foot 01 09 09 China Cubit 01 00 02 Turin Foot 01 00 07 Cairo Cubit 01 09 09 Persian Arash 03 02 03 Constantinople greater Pike 02 02 04 Greek Foot 01 00 01 PAge 7. col 2. l. 29. in the Transactions of the Royal Society ann 1674 n. 101 it is mentioned that the Grand Tzaar sent to discover Nova Zembla and found it a Peninsula join'd to Tartary as in the Map which if true we cannot well imagine how Barents should winter upon it nor how divers other relations agree to it as concerning Waygatz and the like tho the French Surgeon seems to make it also continued to the main land In sum it is most probable that very little of those parts is discovered they who sail thither not tracing from Port to Port but because of the ill weather harbouring where they first approach and departing as soon as they can In the year 1676 the industrious and ingenious Seaman Capt. Wood was again sent out by his Majesty King Charles II. to make a more perfect discovery of that North-East passage perswaded unto it by divers relations of our own and Dutch Mariners who reported many things concerning it which Capt. Wood upon his own experience conceives to be false as that they were either under or near the Pole that it was there all thaw'd water and the weather as warm as at Amsterdam c. He saith further that himself could pass no further then 76 deg where he found the Sea as far as he could discern entirely frozen without intermission That it is most likely that Nova Zembla and Greenland are the same Continent at least that there is no passage between them for that he found scarce any current and that little which was ran E. S. E. along the ice and seemed only to be a small tide rising not above eight foot That whilst he was in that degree there was nothing but Fogs Frost Snow and all imaginable ill weather tho at the same time the heat seemed to be as great as at any time in England That the land where not cover'd with Snow was so boggy that they could not walk upon it being grown over with a deep moss under which they dug in less then two foot to a firm body of ice so that it was impossible to make any Cave for their winter-lodging had they been forced to it There were great store of rills of very good waters and some veins of black Marble The point he landed at he call'd Speedill point in 76 deg 30 min. the Sea-water was extraordinary salt and so clear that he could see the shells at 80 fathoms deep The like opinion also Capt. James hath deliver'd concerning the North-West passage which is That there is no passing that way to China Japan c. because there is a constant tide ebb and flood setting into Hudsons Straits the flood still coming from the Eastward which as it procedes correspondent to the distance it alters its time of full Sea which also entring into Bays and broken ground becomes distracted and reverseth with half tides 2. Because he found
West-side whereof he sailed some days together with a good wind and therefore could not be a small Island as they describe this which H. Hudson could not find when he sought for it see a discourse of this in Purchas's Pilgrim l. 3. c. 1 15. We have nothing of this voyage but those imperfect or short notes which were found lying upon his table after his death wherein it is contain'd that they parted from Seynam Aug. 2. Aug. 14 they were 160 leagues North and Easterly from Seynam they continued sailing till Sept. 14 when they landed on a country high rocky and uninhabited from whence the cold and Ice forced them to return more South which they did till they reach'd Arzina a River in Lapland where the next Spring they were all found frozen to death in their Ship A few years after this about 1556 we read of Steven Burrows who searching a passage by the North-East unto the Indies arrived in 112 deg 25 min. of Longitude and 76 of Latitude and so sailed to 80 deg 11 min. and thence to Nova Zembla Now this cannot be any known place but Greenland which is also confirm'd because the Land was desolate the Ice of a blew colour and great store of Fowls All signs of Greenland But from this time began a great and familiar trade from England to all those Northern Regions and many trials made to discover the North-East passage so that no question but that they landed many times upon Greenland but took no notice of it as neither did the Dutch till many years after when a gainful fishing was there found out Before which none either gave it a name took possession of it or pretended to the discovery This trade was managed for divers years by the Russia company of English Merchants as will appear by the story of it which is this In 1553 the King and Queen Philip and Mary gave a commission to certain Merchants to trade into Russia and made them a corporation who presently not only began a very brisk and profitable negotiation into those Northern Countries but employed divers Ships for finding out a passage that way into the Indies Particularly Arthur Pet and Charles Jackman about the year 1580 rambled over all those Seas and it is very probable they also were upon Greenland but there is nothing particularly known concerning them No nation but the English frequented those Northern Seas till 1578 that a Dutch Ship came to Cola and a year or two after another to St. Nicholas by the solicitation of an English man that set himself against the company Afterwards they crept in more and more and in 1594 they employed Barents and others to find out a passage to the Indies and in 1596 the three Dutch Pilots aforenamed upon the same design who first light upon Bear-Island and thence to Greenland Barents separating from his company sayled to the Northeast of Nova-Zembla where he lost his Ship and himself died In 1603 Steven Benet was employed who went no farther then Cherry-Island whence he brought some Lead Oar. In 1608 Henry Hudson was sent forth to discover the North-pole who went to 82 deg as did also Thomas Marmaduke of Hull 1612 but saw divers Islands beyond that and gave names to divers places upon Greenland formerly discovered as Whale-bay Hackluits-Headland c. The company having been informed of the great number of Sea-horses Morsses and Whales that frequented Cherry-Island and Greenland first applyed themselves with one or two Ships to the killing of Morsses which in a short time made Morsses grow scarce In the year therefore 1610 they set out the Ship Amity Jonas Pool commander for Whale-fishing who fell upon the land formerly discovered though not regarded and called it Greenland whether because of the green Moss wherewith it was covered or mistaking it for Groenland a Northern Countrey formerly discovered or for some other reason I know not He called it also King James New-land but that name is grown obsolete He also gave names to many of the most eminent places upon the west side of the Country as to Horn-Sound because there they found an Unicorns-horn Ice-Point Bell-Point Lowness-Island Black-Point Cape-cold Ice-Sound Knotty-Point Fowl-Sound Deer-Sound And in Cross-Road 79 deg 15 min. variation 18 deg 16 min. northwest he seized upon the Country to the use of his Masters by setting up a red Cross and fastning a writing to it There also he made some quantity of Oyl and brought an Unicorns-horn as they called it from thence And this was the first time that any benefit was made by the fishing of that place In 1611 the company hired six Basques expert Fishermen and sent them with two Ships to fish for Whales in Greenland where the first Whale they killed yielded them twelve tuns of Oyl Some of his company looking about the Harbours for Whales discovered in Sir Thomas Smiths Bay a great number of Morsses The Master of one of the Ships taking with him some of his men went thither and killed of them 500 and kept 1000 alive on Shoar which afterwards they let go In 1612 two Ships more were sent when they killed seventeen Whales and some Morsses and made 180 tuns of oyl This year the Hollanders came thither with one Ship conducted by Andrew Sallows an Englishman Another English Pilot brought thither also a Spanish Ship the English Ships met with and threatned them but notwithstanding they made a good voyage In 1613 the company sent thither seven Ships who had a Patent to prohibit all strangers except the Muscovia company from frequenting those coasts Yet they met with fifteen Sail of Dutch French Flemish and some interlopers of our own Nation To some the General gave liberty to fish with others he made composition to have half or part of what they caught others he drave away from the Country after he had taken out the English that were in their Ships though themselves also by that means were not so well laden as they might have been this year they discovered Hope-Island and other Islands to the West In 1614 they set out thirteen great Ships besides two Pinnaces well armed and the Dutch eighteen whereof four men of war who being stronger stayed and fished there as did our men also but both parties made a poor voyage This land they fully discovered to 80 deg by Tho. Sherwin and Will. Baffin and by others divers Islands toward the East They also took possession of several parts of the Country for the King setting up a Cross and the Kings Arms in Lead the Dutch afterwards did the like in the same places for the Prince of Orange In 1615 they set out two great Ships and two Pinaces which by reason of fourteen Sail sent by the Hollanders came home not fully laden This year the King of Denmark sent three Ships men of war with an English Pilot James Vaden to demand Custom of the Ships for fishing upon his Island as he pretended the
of which was at least six foot high As the Sun and day began to appear the Fowls and Foxes began to come abroad for which they set traps and springes Of Fowls they took a vast number and at several times they got about fifty Foxes which they roasted and found to be pleasant and wholesome food The Dutch relation of their men that wintred in Nova-Zembla saith that though they did not relish Bears flesh yet Foxes they liked well for by their Flesh they were much relieved in their Scurvies May the first it being somewhat warm they went abroad to seek provision where they light of great quantities of Willocks-eggs which was a great refreshment to them that day also came two English Ships into the Sound which sent forth to seek them and took them in and brought them safe and sound into England The effects of the cold upon them the like also being testified by those of William Barents company that wintred in Nova-Zembla are wonderful The wonderful cold as that it raised blisters on their flesh as if they had been burnt with fire if they touched Iron it stuck to their fingers whilst they sate by a great fire their stockings burnt yet their feet not sensible of heat and their backs were frozen Yet our men either had not such reason or will to complain as the Dutch in Nova-Zembla whose Shoos froze as hard as horn to their feet whose Sack was quite frozen as likewise a Barrel of Water became perfect Ice in one night that their Carpenter taking a nail out of his mouth the skin and flesh followed glued to it with Ice That they heated Stones at the fire to apply to their feet and other parts of their bodies in their Cabines to hinder them from freezing with many like miseries which I omit The last who hath brought us any news from this country is Frederick Martens an Hamburger Freder Martens Voyage who set out from the Elb April the fifth 1671. He hath printed a very large and accurate description both of the land and all things therein as Fowls Plants Beasts Mountains c. Which he did as may be supposed in great part to satisfy the curiosity of several Gentlemen of the Royal Society who intreated his diligence in answering such queries as they sent him We shall omit such things as we think not so useful and abridg the rest for fear of cloying the Reader He first arrived upon Charles-Isle of seventy Miles in length Harbours and Havens not above ten broad separated from Greenland by a narrow strait called Forelands-ford betwixt this Foreland and Muscle-haven are the highest mountains and though the greatest part of the mountains and rocks of Greenland are of a red soil and communicate that colour to the Snow upon them which makes them look like fire yet there are seven that are of a blew colour and betwixt them many sharp pointed rocks In South-haven they commonly repair their faulty Ships being a very large and commodious harbour wherein thirty and sometimes forty Ships have conveniently anchored at the same time Here also they take in fresh water which runs plentifully from the mountains upon the melting of the Ice and Snow for the Rivers at least as far as they can go are too brackish and there are not any Springs or Wells as yet discovered This Haven hath high Mountains on either side but especially on the left particularly one called the Bee-hive another the Devilshuck which is commonly covered with a thick mist and which when the wind drives it that way darkens the Haven Within this Haven also is the Island called of Dead-men whom they ordinarily bury here in Coffins heaping Stones upon them where the bodies if they escape the Bears are preserved entire a long time some say they have seen them so after having been dead thirty years Here are also several Islands called Fowl-Islands because of the vast number of Fowls that breed there Next follows a Bay called by the Dutch Mauritius-Bay where some have wintred the relation whereof because it contains nothing considerable besides what is before expressed I shall omit Near to this stand the only houses in the whole Countrey which are a few Cottages built by the Dutch for the making their Oyl with a great Gun to defend them and those they call Smearbourg and the Harlingish-Cookery All other nations burn their houses at their departure In the Northern-bay is an Island the Dutch call Vogel-sang for the great noise that the Fowls make when they take their flight Next is Monyers-Bay the furthest North of the Western part of Greenland then Roe-field so called for its abundance of Deer the Soil here seems to be all Slats set up edgwise Muscle-haven lieth at the mouth of the Way-gate North of which Martens sailed to 81 deg he saw seven Islands more farther North but the Ice permitted him not to approach them Walter Thymens Ford is by us called Alderman Freemans Inlet and is a large mouth of a River which is undiscovered The Soil Soil as much as has been discovered of Greenland is in most places nothing but Rocks or heaps of vast stones many of them so high that the upper half seems to be above the clouds and so steep that they seem as if they would tumble down as many times great pieces do break from the whole with a terrible noise The little valley between them is seldom any thing but broken stones and Ice heaped up from many generations About Roefield and Muscle-haven is the greatest quantity of low land yet is that also full of Rocks stony and for the most part cover'd with Snow and Ice which being melted as in some places it is in Summer discovers nothing but a barren ground producing heath moss and some very few plants These Mountains which are exposed to the warm air and Sun-beams are in some places clothed with the same and in these places and the holes of the Rocks nest infinite quantity of Fowls whose dung with the moss washed down by the melted Snow makes a mould in the valleys or rather clefts which if open to the Sun-beams when the Ice is dissolved produceth some few plants as a kind of Cabbage-Lettuce of a Cress-taste Scurvy-grass Sorrel Snakeweed Mousear Hearts-ease a kind of Strawberry divers sorts of Ranunculus and of Sempervives one like an Aloes another like our Prickmadam a third like our Wall-Pepper and some few others unknown to our Climate The Sea seems not so salt here as in other places The Sea It is generally so clear that one may see at least twelve fathoms under water and commonly of the colour of the air The course of it at Musclebay and some other places is observed to be Northward There hath been no particular notice taken of the Tydes and Martens thinks that it ebbeth and floweth not regularly according to the Moon for then it would drown the nests of the birds that build nigh the
them Gudbrandus Thorlacius an Islandish Bishop and discreet person saith that the Islandish Chronicles affirm that they used formerly to trade to Engroneland and that in the days of Popery that Country had Bishops Now our men in all the places where they have landed find none but Savages and those also Idolaters speaking a language different from all that ever they heard though the Natives in their customs most resemble the Laplanders of whom more in due place The occasion of our voyages to those Coasts Later discoveries by the English Sir Martin Frobisher was to find out a way to China c. by the Northwest which had been fruitlesly sought toward the North-east The first whom we read to have searched the North-west for a passage was Martyn Frobisher who in 1576 with two Barks coming to the height of 62 deg found a great Inlet called by him Frobishers Straits whereinto having sailed 60 leagues with main land on either side returned He found there a certain Oar which he conceived to be of Gold and the next year he made a second voyage to fetch a quantity of it but it proving to be nothing but black Lead answer'd not expectation yet they found a Silver Mine which lay so deep and fast in the Rocks that they could not dig it They melted Gold also but in very small quantities out of several stones they found there upon Smiths Isle They found also a dead fish of about twelve foot long not unlike in shape to a Porcpoise having an horn six foot long such as is commonly called Unicorns-horn growing out of his snout which is still kept at Windsor In 1578 he went out again upon a discovery wherein passing as far as he thought good he took possession of the Land in the name of Queen Elizabeth calling it Meta incognita In 1583 Sir Hum. Gilbert Sir Humphrey Gilbert upon the same design went to the great River of St. Laurence in Canada took possession of the Country and setled a fishing trade there This voyage I suppose was made upon suggestion of a Greek Mariner who assured some of our Nation that himself had passed a great Strait North of Virginia from the West or South Ocean and offer'd to be Pilot for the discovery but dyed before he came into England In 1585 Mr. Davis Mr. John Davis was employed with two Barks to the same search The first Land he came to he named the Land of Desolation and is one part of Groneland then he arrived in 64 deg 15 min. in Gilberts Sound where they found a great quantity of that Oar which Frobisher brought into England and also Lapis Specularis Thence they went to 66 deg 40 min. to Mount Raleigh Totness Sound c. where they saw some few low shrubs but nothing else worth noting In 1586 he made a second voyage to the same place where he found amongst the Natives Copper Oar as also black and red Copper Thence they searched many places Westward and returned with good hopes of discovering the desired passage In 1587 he made a third voyage to 72 deg 12 min. the compass varying to 82 deg Westward the Land they called London-Coast and there they found an open Sea and forty leagues between Land and Land thinking this to be the most likely place to find the passage and it was from him called Fretum Davis Thus from time to time proceeded the discovery of these Countries Mr. Hudson but now not upon hopes of a passage to the Indies but for the profit of trading till Mr. Hudson in 1610 after he was satisfied that there was no passage North-easterly was sent to make a trial here also He proceeded an hundred leagues further than any before had done and gave names to certain places as Desire-provokes Isles of Gods mercies Prince Henry's-Cape King James's Cape Queen Ann's-Cape and the like but the Ice hindred him from going further and the sedition of his men from returning home In 1612 James Hall returning into England James Hall and with him William Baffin who discovered Cockins Sound in the height of 65 deg 20 min. which differed in Longitude from London 60 deg 30 min. Westward They saw also the footing of a great Beast they supposed an Elk or the like James Hall was killed in the Boat by a Native pretending to trade with them They tried the Mine at Cunninghams River which the Danes had digged before and found it to be nothing worth There were Rocks of very pure stone finer and whiter than Alabaster and Angelica growing plentifully in many places which the Savages use to eat In 1615 Mr. Baffin was sent again Mr. Baffin he found Fair-Point to differ in Longitude from London 74 deg and 5 min. Westward But the chief thing they discover'd was that there was no passage in the North of Davis Straits it being no other than a great Bay but that profit might be made by fishing for Whales Morsses and Unicorns of which there are good store In 1616 Mr. Baffin went again In Sir Tho. Smiths Sound 78 deg Lat. their Compass varied 56 deg Westward the greatest variation that is any where known Despairing to discover their desired North-west passage they returned home and since that we hear of no more voyages made from England upon that design The King of Denmark also By the Danes partly to advance the trading of his own and partly to renew his ancient pretence to that country if any thing should be discovered worth the claiming whilst the English were busie in these discoveries set out two Ships and a Pinnace 1605 the Admiral was Capt. John Cunningham a Scot Godske Lindenaw a noble Dane was Vice-Admiral the chief Pilots were James Hall and John Knight English men Gotske arrived on some part of the country where he traffick'd some small matters with the natives took two of them and returned into Denmark The other two Ships arrived at Cape Farewell thence went to Frobishers Straits gave Danish names to divers places traded with the natives of whom they brought away three and found certain stones in a place call'd Cunninghams Ford out of an hundred pound of which were extracted twenty-six ounces of fine silver In 1606 He sent again four Ships and a Pinnace Godske Lindenaw Admiral and James Hall Pilot-General they brought away five of the natives In 1607 James Hall was sent again but the Seamen mutining as soon as he came to the coast brought the Ship back again into Denmark without any thing done The King of Denmark set out two Ships more under Christian Richardson an Holsteiner with Norwegian and Iselandish Mariners who returned before they saw shore More of their expeditions we know not till 1619 when he sent out John Munck with two Ships They arrived safe at Cape Farewell 60 deg 30 min. where their tackle was so frozen and full of isicles that they could not handle them the next day was so hot
the most northern Country at the Polar Circle contains about 44 deg on the Meridian which make about 2640 English miles Europe conteins in it several Kingdoms Division the greatest of which is the Empire of Muscovy or Russia on the north-east comprehending several Nations more to the north-east scarce known to us and on the east Cazan and other Countries by the River Volga and part of Lapland on the north-west Next to Muscovy on the west lies the Kingdom of Sweden containing great part of Finland on the east and all to the mountains of Norway on the west Again to the east of Europe by the Caspian Sea lies the Country of the Circassi and the Kingdom of the Lesser Tartary and some other lesser Provinces Thence south-west lies the Kingdom of Poland extending it self thro the midst of Europe from the Baltic to the Euxin Sea comprehending on the north Prussia Litvania Lifland on the east Volinia Podolia and southward Moldavia Walachia Northwest of Poland lies Germany under several Princes the Emperor being the chief North of Germany lies the Kingdom of Denmark to the west Flanders or the Low Countries under divers Governments and north-west of them the Kingdom of Great Brittain comprehending several Islands South-west of Germany lies the Kingdom of France more south the Kingdom of Spain full south Italy under several Princes South-east of Germany lies the greatest part of European Turky as Hungary Transylvania and more south Croatia Dalmatia and all Greece There are in Europe Empires c. three Empires that of Muscovy the Roman Empire and the Empire of the Turks Ten Kingdoms Sweden Denmark Poland Hungary Bohemia England France Spain Portugal and the Lesser Tartary Nine Common-wealths and about forty Principalities of which when we come to particular Countries â—riginal Languages The principal Languages spoken in the northern and western parts of Europe may be reckon'd these three the ancient Gothic the Anglo-Saxonic and the Francic which also seem to be near akin or to have great affinity one with another and the later to be made up of the two former From the Gothic which differs little from the old Greek are derived the ancient Cimbric and the modern languages now spoken in Sweden Denmark Norway Iseland The Anglo-Saxonic may seem to have given birth to the Belgic or Low Dutch especially the ancient Frisic and in great part to the English and Scotch The Francic is compounded of the other two and seems to be the same with the Alamannic or Theotisc whence the upper German language takes its original The ancient British which seems also to be the Celtish or Gaulish the dialects whereof are still spoken in some parts of Great Britain and in Britannia in France The Cantabric also or the language of the Biscainers in the northern mountains in Spain is not much different And likewise the Irish if not it self a dialect of the old Cimbric as it seems to be must be accounted an original language The Turkish language is generally spoken in European Turky and also Arabic is well understood by their learned men as being the language of the Alkoran and is spoken in some of the Mountains of Granada The Inhabitants of the Lesser Tartary that live between Tanais and the Neiper speak the Tartarian language as also the Cossacs with some small difference The Fins and Laplanders seem to have divers languages both from one another and from all the rest The Paisan-Liflanders likewise have a different language to themselves The Sclavonic language whether originally one or many is still continued in divers Regions of Europe as in the dominions of the Emperor of Russia divers countries subject to the King of Poland in some parts of Hungary but the Hungarian tongue properly so call'd is by the learned accounted an original language Bohemia and Sclavonia but with greater difference than dialects of the same language use to be The ancient Greek seems to have been the mother of the old Hetruscan Oscan Menapian and such others as were spoken anciently in Italy as may appear by those few remainders still extant of them and therefore also of the Latin in the opinion of many learned as the Latin is of the present Italian French Spanish Grison and some other languages The Greek it self tho with great alteration is still continued in the Continent and Islands of Greece and some places near thereunto The glory of Europe is its Religion Religion which in most parts of it is but one tho diversly professed Greece with its Islands in the Egean Sea and others as far as Corfu as also some parts of Croatia Dalmatia together with Muscovia Walachia Moldavia Podolia Volinia and some other parts of the dominions of Poland with other neighbouring Countries follow the Greek Church The Latin Church conteins 1 Those of the Reform'd Religion and 2 Those of the Roman 1. The Reformed Religion is embraced in Great Brittain and Ireland and the lesser Islands belonging to the Crown of England And with some diversity in Sweden Denmark Holland and the rest of the Vnited Provinces and several parts of Germany Transylvania and some parts of the Kingdom of Poland 2. The Roman Religion prevails in Italy Spain Portugal France Poland and the greatest part of the German Empire and other Countries Mahumetanism is professed in European Turky by the Great Turk and his Musselmen The great ledg of Mountains that has its beginning at the great Western Ocean Mountains first divides France and Spain by the name of the Pirenean Hills and is thence continued thro the south parts of France till it cover Italy and is there call'd the Alps a branch of which running thro the whole length of Italy has the name of the Apennine Mountains another branch is continued under divers names as the Rhetian-Hills thro the country now called of the Grisons Alpes Graiae Noricae Juliae c. all which have now divers names according to the several countries thro which they pass From Italy they continue thro Stiria Carinthia Hungary Transylvania Moldavia to the Black Sea and branch out into divers other countries of all which we shall treat more exactly in the particular descriptions The Mountains of the north are not much discover'd one ledg of them is continued from the Baltic to the northern Ocean dividing Norway from the neighbouring Nations Those in the utmost north anciently call'd Riphaei and Hyperborei have at this day lost those names consequently they are unknown except they be those which are by the inhabitants call'd Welikicamenopoias i. e. Cingulum mundi or the great Rocky Girdle of which as also of other Mountains not here mentioned in their proper and particular places The Seas that coast Europe Seas are the Northern and Western Ocean the Mediterranean Sea and the Euxin or Black Sea which also contein in them several lesser Seas Bays Streights c. and have different names from the different shoars they wash as Mare
good huswifery and to look after their dairies or else imployed in spinning weaving or sowing whilst the men according to their several qualities follow their Husbandry Merchandiseing or the more weighty concerns of Church and State The Pesantry live in great servitude to their Lords whose dominions they may not quit without their permission if they were born or have inhabited three years therein those that do so are certainly hanged if taken The Nobles are very much addicted to travel as admiring forreign Countries more then their own which is the reason that they greedily and easily learn the languages of those Nations they affect And they esteem it no small commendation of their ingenuity to introduce something of the new habits and customs of the people with whom they have convers'd For tho they are very docible and easily attain what they give their minds to yet they rather set themselves to learn the inventions of others then to invent any thing new of their own Neither indeed are they so fit for Mechanic as for learned Arts to which they therefore more apply themselves as appears by the many eminent Divines Historians Mathematicians and Philosophers that have flourished in Poland witness Stanislaus Hosius Cardinal and Legat at the Council of Trent Matthias a Michovia Johannes Dglugossus and Martinus Cromerus their excellent Historians Johannes Zamoscius their great General and Chancelor of the Kingdom excelling no less in most parts of learning then he did in military conduct Nicolaus Copernicus the famous Astronomer Martinus Smiglecius the Logician Abr. Bzovius who hath continued Baronius's Annals with many others whose works are much esteemed in forreign countreys And doubtless the Learned would have been obliged to more of their nation had not their writings perisht for want of Printing but lately received amongst them Physick also begins to come in request since even in these parts the modern luxury in diet is attended with more diseases then the homely fare of former Ages Their language is a dialect of the Slavonian Language and not so copious as many others It is difficult to write and read because of the multitude of Consonants joined with one Vowel yet the harshness is much corrected in speaking for they pronounce them as if mixt with Vowels They have borrowed most of their terms of art for trades and instruments from the Germans of which nation there are many Artisans and Merchant among them and some Towns and Villages chiefly speak the German language Hot Baths are very much used in this Country Baths especially in Winter and are frequented by both sexes though in places apart from one another Their Habit differs according to the condition Habits age and quality of the person and of late they much affect new fashions which are often brought in by the Soldiery in imitation of those Nations against whom they have been victorious The women also have the same variety only they come nearer the dress of men then in most other Nations The antient diet of the Rusticks was Milk Diet. Cheese Fish and Herbs now Beef Veal and Mutton The Tables of the Nobility and Citizens are furnished with all sorts of dainties wherein they use great store of Spice and Sugar And indeed luxury in diet and apparel prevails more and more amongst them every day The common drinks of the country are Beer Drinks and Mead boil'd with Hops Besides which they use great quantities of Aqua-vitae made by infusing wheat in water for some days and then distilling off the Spirit and mixing it with Sugar and hot Spices The Nobility and Merchants here drink wine as plentifully as in other places imported from Hungary Moravia the Rhine and Gascogny The money peculiar to Poland is coined in such small pieces that 't is very troublesome receiving Money or paying out any round sum in it The Gross is a little piece of copper mix'd with silver valued at three half-pence English The Attine at four pence half-penny Their Trigross and Segross both of pure silver the one three times the other six times the value of a Gross But the most currant money in Poland at this time is forreign coin brought in chiefly tho not in great plenty by the Hungarian German and Italian Merchants for the Commodities of the Countrey which are Rie Wheat Barley Oats and other Pulse Flax Hops Hides Tallow tann'd Leather divers sorts of Furrs brought first out of Muscovy but dress'd and vended here Honey Wax Amber Pitch Pot-ashes Masts and Planks The Horses also of Poland for their swiftness hardiness and easy pace are much coveted by Foreigners Besides all these it supplies the neighbouring countreys with vast numbers of Oxen and Sheep To which must be added the Salt-pits whence springs the greatest revenue the King of Poland has The riches of Poland consist in the commodities of the countrey already mention'd Traffick which though they are of several sorts and general use yet bring but little money into the kingdom being counterpoised by the incredible quantity and richer variety of foreign merchandize so that they hardly suffice to pay for the Cloth Silk Jewels Tapistry the Fruit Spice Salt-fish Wine Tin and Steel brought in from England Flanders Portugal and Spain c. But to say the truth the people are neither industrious nor addicted to trade the Nobility being forbid it by their own constitutions upon the forfeiture of their Honor and the Commonalty for the most part wanting estates sufficient to promote it Besides those of better fortunes spend too much of their revenues in costly apparel and furnishing their tables by which means instead of saving and laying up they become very poor or at least always in a wanting condition To which we may add that their Countrey lyes not commodiously for traffick not having the advantage of any considerable Port Town Dantzick only excepted The chief strength of Poland consists in their Cavalry which is very numerous and readily raised Military Strength the Nobility being bound by the Laws of the Land to attend the King in all expeditions for the security of the Kingdom In such cases the King sends his summons-into all the Palatinates which are proclamed three times and at a months distance from one another Upon the third Proclamation the Nobility are obliged to repair to the paricular rendezvous of their own Palatine who leads them to the general rendezvous and in regard they are exempted from all other burthens they bear their own charges all the time of the war If there be any that refuse to appear their goods are presently confiscated to the use of the Kings table They all serve on Horseback and are enrolled above 200000 yet in as much as they have very few fortified places on any side for the security of their frontiers they can hardly draw together above 100000 without leaving their provinces too naked But these forces when assembled serve only for the defence of their countrey and
of the greatest concourse of people who flock hither for justice in all causes Civil and Criminal It was formerly called Cimmersbeg as being the chief City of the ancient Cimbrians Tacitus calls it Civitatem parvam but withall that it had been a glorious and strong hold and the Metropolis of a terrible and warlike Nation Whence and when it got the name Wiberg is not easily determined Some tell us that after the many petty Principalities of the Cimbrians were united into one Monarchy by Wiglet this City lost its ancient name and was called after the Prince Wigburg corrupted by degrees into Wiberg Elnot in the life of St. Canutus says it had its new name from Wig an Idol worshipp'd in this place I rather think it the seat of the Danish Pyrats called formerly Wigs or Wikenger For it was the custom in the Northern Countries where the inhabitants were more then the fruits of the Land could sustain for young Noblemen to live of what they could catch abroad As the Lacedemonians thought Robbery so these fancied Pyracy lawful and glorious Whence Princes of the blood would often turn Pyrats and take upon them the title of Kings tho they had not the least dominion at land as the Norwegian History reports of St. Olaus The most notorious Pyrats mention'd by the Northern Historians are the Jomswikinger who dwelt in the City Wollin called anciently Jomsberg where they had established certain Laws and were subject to Magistrates and Governors chosen out of the Royal Family Cambden tells us that the Danes are usually understood by the name Viccingi in the Latin writers of our English History because says he they were professed Pyrats In our Learned King Aelfred's translation of Bede's Ecclesiastical History Pyrats are called Wicengas and Wicings and Mr. Cambden guesses probably that the inhabitants of Glocestershire Worcestershire c. were formerly called Wiccii from the Sea-robberies committed daily by them upon the mouth of the Severn The English-Saxons named a stout warriour Wiga skill in war Wig-chaept a fort Wighus c. In the old Francic History of the life of St. Anno Arch-Bishop of Cologne we read Ninus hiz der eristi mann De dir ie volc Wigis began i. e. Ninus is the first that ever made war And in Willeramus's Paraphrase upon the Canticles Wighuis is a Castle Wiigfimme the art of Combat c. Nial's Runic History says Gunnar var alra manna best Viigur deira sem de voru a Islande i.e. Gunnar was the best Champion that lived in Island in his days From what has been said it seems very probable that Wiberg signifies no more then Wigton the name of several great Towns in England and Scotland and the Scots still retain so much of the old Saxon word Wig as to call souldiers and pillagers of the Country Wigs or Wiganeers There has been for some years a quarrel between the Bishops of Alburg and Wiburg about precedency each pretending his Bishopric the more ancient 'T is very hard if not impossible to decide the controversie except we date the first institution of the Bishoprick of Alburg from the removal of the Bishops Palace to that City For the Bishopricks of Wiburg and Borlum were both founded in one year by Sueno Esthrith who made Heribert Bishop of Wiburg the same time that he gave Borlum to Magnus Witfield gives Wiburg the precedency but Alburg is reckon'd the better and more honourable preferment by other Danish writers From the high Court of Judicature holden at Wiburg the Jutlanders can make no appeal save to the King himself The most memorable Bays in this Diocess are Sallingsundt Virckesundt Hualpsundt Sebersundt and Othesundt The last of which had its name from the Emperor Otho the first who making an incursion into Jutland about the year 948 came as far as this Bay into which he is said to have cast his Spear and given it the name it retains to this day The most considerable and fruitful part of this Diocess is Salling a Peninsula in the Limfiord whence are brought the best Horses that are to be met with in the King of Denmark's Dominions The name of this Province seems to point out the seat of the old Sabalingi whom Ptolomey makes a people inhabiting some part of the Cimbrian Chersonese but more Southerly then Salling The chief River in the Bishoprick of Wiburg is Gudius Gutalus or Guddenus called by the Natives Gudden Aa and stored with plenty of Fish Arhuse is a neat and pleasant Sea-port Town on the coast of the Baltic Sea Arhusen whence Etymologists derive its name from Aar-hus i. e. the house of Oars Which is a much more probable conjecture then is brought by Pontanus who fetches the word Arhusen from Ptolomy's Harudes The greatest part of the Danish Historians are of opinion that it was first made a Bishops See about the year 1014. Tho if it be true that Poppo was made Bishop of this Diocess its original must be fetcht as high as the year 992. The Cathedral at Arhuse is a neat piece of Architecture adorned with several rich monuments of Bishops Noblemen c. The Bishops Palace has lain many years in its ruins which still retain marks of its antient splendour and grandeur It is seated in the heart of Jutland and furnished with all manner of necessaries that the Country affords at a very reasonable rate and what forreign Commodities either the need or luxury of its Citizens call for are brought daily in by the Mariners In this Diocess there are thirty one Judicatures Seven Cities three hundred and four Parishes and five Forts the strongest of which is Schanderborch or Schonderborch i.e. the neat Castle seated on the Gudden The rest of the Cities of note in the Bishopprick of Arhusen are 1. Horsen on the South of Arhusen 2. Randruse a place famous for the best Salmon in Jutland 3. Ebeltod on the Baltic Coast a Town of considerable trade The Bishoprick of Ripen Ripen bordering on the Southern Jutland contains in it seven Cities two hundred eighty two Parishes ten Castles and an hundred Noblemens houses It is seated upon the clear and sweet river Nipsaa which parting it self into three streams divides the Town into as many parts and gave occasion to the City's Arms which are three Lions Here abouts Ptolomy seems to place his Cimbros phundusios That this City should have its name from the Latin word Ripa upon its being situate on the banks of the river is no great wonder if we consider that whilst the Natives of these parts busied themselves chiefly in fortifying and peopling their great Ciities 't was ordinary for the Germans Romans and other Foreigners to give names to small Villages upon the Sea-Coasts which after a revolution of some years by the advantage of a brisk Sea-Trade grew bulky and were often advanced into large Corporations The Cathedral is a stately Fabrick of hewen stone beautified with a Tower of an incredible height which
and its people too stiff-necked to be kept in subjection In the days of our Saxon Kings a continual and uninterrupted war between this Nation and the Northern Kingdoms put a stop to all trade in the British and Norwegian Seas But as soon as the Danes had made themselves Masters of this Island commerce was again renewed which lasted till the English took their opportunity to-shew the world by rejecting the power of Denmark and all manner of communication with that people how highly they resented the tyrannical usurpation of foreign Princes Since the Conquest England has seldom or never wanted a considerable Fleet of Norway Merchant-men William of Malmesbury who dyed in the year 1142 tells us That in his time Bristow was a place much frequented by the Irish and Norwegians Hackluit gives an account of certain Treaties concerning the Northern trade between our King Henry the third and Haquin King of Norway He that will take the pains to read over the agreement between Henry IV. King of England and the Company of Merchants from the Hans Towns set down at large by Mr. Hackluit in the first Volume of his English Voyages p. 146. will find a considerable Register of our Merchant-men taken on the Coasts and out of the Havens of Norway and may thence be enabled to give a tolerable guess at the number of our Norway Merchants in those days In the twenty-fifth year of the reign of our present Soveraign Charles II. an Act pass'd for the encouragement of the Greenland and Eastland trades c. In which 't was order'd That it should be lawful to and for every person and persons Native or Foreigner from and after the first day of May 1673 at all times to have free liberty to trade into and from Sweden Denmark and Norway This and several other clauses of the same Act which take off a great part of the custom formerly paid upon the importation of any East-land commodity have encouraged great numbers of Merchants and others to traffick in these Northern Seas and improv'd the trade of Greenland and Norway far beyond the example of former ages For tho the advantages that can be hoped for from these kind of Voyages be not answerable to what may be expected out of the Levant and American plantations yet the small danger and charges these men are exposed to are strong inducements to venture a voyage wherein the hazard is not great nor any way proportionable to the prospect of gain Besides in the Act before mention'd 't is provided That whatsoever person or persons subjects of this Realm shall desire to be admitted into the fellowship of Merchants of Eastland shall be admitted into the said fellowship paying for his admission the sum of forty shillings and no more Which is a sum exceedingly inconsiderable if compared with the fees paid upon admission into some other companies The Islands of FERO THE Fero Islands are only so many high and rocky mountains in the Northern Seas divided from one another by narrow Friths and rapid Currents and inclosing a larger or lesser circuit of stony valley cover'd over with a turf of about two foot thick They are so called from Fare which in the language of the Natives signifies a Ferry from the many Ferries or Crossings of the water from one Island to another They are sixteen in number 1. Fugloe or Fowl-Island about three English miles long and two broad 2. Swino in which is a pleasant valley of a mile in length 3. Videroe six miles long and three broad 4. Bordoe six miles in length and a mile broad famous for a good harbour call'd by the Natives Vaag 5. Cunoe of the same bigness 6. Kalsoe something longer and broader then either of the former 7. Osteroe twenty miles long and in some places two in others four miles broad 8. Stromoe twenty-four miles long and eight broad In this Island stands Thors-Haven the Metropolis and Town of greatest Traffick in all the Fero Islands 9. Wagoe a round piece of ground of about eight miles in Diameter 10. Migness 11. Rolter a mile long and half a mile broad 12. Sandoe eight miles long and four miles broad 13. Sknoe three miles long and one in breadth 14. Storetdiemen 15. Lille-Diemen 16. Sideroe twenty miles long and eight broad The air in these Islands is in summer temperately warm not very hot at any time In the coldest winter the frost is never so violent as to cause ice in any of the Bays so that Horses and Sheep lye in the fields the whole winter long They have never any Thunder in the Summer but frequently in the Spring Autumn and Winter which is then generally accompanied with a storm and followed by showers of rain The air of it self is wholesome free from the Plague Small-Pox or any contagious disease except brought in by foreigners so that the inhabitants are commonly long-liv'd However in some of the Islands the Natives are exceedingly subject to rheums which cause violent coughs and head-achs both which diseases they cure by drinking soure Whey as hot as they can endure it Besides these the Scurvy Leprosie and a kind of feaverish distemper called by the Natives Landfarsoet are Epidemical illnesses which reign in several of the Isles but seldom or never turn to mortal diseases The Southern Islands produce great store of Barley tho hardly any other grain comes to maturity insomuch that a Tun of seed will ordinarily yeild twenty or thirty Tun of grain The pasture grounds afford great plenty of good and sweet grass These the inhabitants call Fiedelands and take care commonly that they lye open to the North and North-East winds In some of these fields they have stocks of as large and fat Oxen as any other part of Europe affords The Islands are all of them plentifully stor'd with all manner of medicinal plants requisite for the cure of those distempers to which the inhabitants are most inclined Amongst the rest you may every where meet with great quantities of Scurvy-grass Water-cresses Sorrel c. They have great store of Angelica which grows as well on the tops of high hills as in the open fields This commonly makes one of their most delicate dishes at all entertainments Besides the Radix Rhodia call'd in their language Hielpe-Rod is no where met with in so great plenty as in these Islands upon the banks of running streams and Lakes The distilled water of this plant is here made use of upon all occasions as Rose-water with us in England Here are several sorts of Fowl as Doves Stares Owls Sparrow-Hawks Crows and Ravens many of which are white Grellings c. Their chief Sea-fowl is a kind of Teal about the bigness of a Crow with a yellow long and round bill a great enemy to and persecutor of the Raven The Eyder a sort of Duck which yeilds the Eyder-down is a Fowl peculiar to these Islands This Bird usually pulls the down from her own breast to build her nest
Humours Manners c. of the Modern GERMANS SEneca long since observed Intellectuals that men of extraordinary large Bodies had commonly narrow Souls And he gives this reason for 't because says he grand abilities of both Soul and Body are too great a happiness for one man to enjoy 'T is probable the same considerations mov'd the Historians of old to represent the ancient Germans who as we have told you were a people of a larger growth then other men as a Nation of a dull and phlegmatic constitution Tacitus tells us they were generally ignorant of the use of letters And other writers would perswade us to believe that they were incapable of Learning Some of our modern Satyrists endeavour to make the present Germans answer the character which those men give of their Ancestors and strive to make the world believe that Germany is to this day a Country of Gothamites It has for some years been a proverb in the mouth of several French-men Pour faire un bon temperament il faut mesler le vif argent de France avec le plomb d' Allemagne i. e. That the Leaden temper of a German is to be helpt by mingling the French Quicksilver with it Jos Scaliger in his posthumous piece entituled Scaligerana will not allow the best of the High Dutch writers to be men of parts but rails at them all as a pack of senseless Loggerheads But we all know how much that great man was pufft up with the sense of his own merit and how unapt he was to confess the least grain of scholarship in a foreigner Our whole Island under went his censure when Mr. Lydiat ventur'd to contradict his dogmatical positions and the incomparable Sir Henry Savil to confute his gross errors in Geometry It is doubtless an unpardonable rudeness in any man to accuse a whole Nation of folly And he that will take the pains to peruse several of the High Dutch writers and reflect upon the many ingenious inventions for which the world is beholding to this Nation of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter will confess this But their Morals as well as Intellectuals Morals undergo the sharp censure of our modern Scriblers who accuse all Germans of intemperance and make drunkenness a vice proper to that Country 'T is grown an ordinary proverb Germanorum vivere est bibere 'T is hard to excuse them all of this fault nor are they themselves able to deny the accusation but commonly rack their brains to find out reasons why large draughts should be more pardonable in them then other men The sharp air they live in is they tell us of so parching a nature that without a continual supply of new moisture their bodies would shrink into nothing Nothing more ordinary in this Country then Trinck-bruder men that have created a brotherhood or intimacy of acquaintance by being drunk together It is the fashion to bring a stranger an unreasonable great vessel of drink to the Table which they call your welcome And this you are obliged in civility to take off at one or more draughts in a health to the good man of the house tho you run the hazard of being drunk in cancelling the obligation Ph. Melancthon was used to say Wir Teutschen essen uns kranck wir essen uns in die Holle i. e. We Germans eat our selves sick we eat our selves into Hell Long meals might probably occasion distempers but gluttony is not so ordinary a vice among them as drunkenness It is indeed no extraordinary thing to sit at Dinner from twelve at noon till five in the evening or at Supper from seven at night till two or three in the morning but then the greatest part of that time is spent in drinking of healths However 't is best to wave this accusation least in arraigning them we condemn our selves There are as sober and temperate men in Germany as in any Nation of Europe For tho the Court of Saxony of which in its place has been of late years eminent for this sort of exercise 't is unreasonable to bring the whole Empire into the Inditement I know no Dish of general use in Germany Diet. which is any great rarity in England except Snails From Michaelmas till almost Easter these are eaten as a great delicacy You shall scarce come at a Nobleman's Orchard or Garden in which you shall not find a Snail-house which furnishes his Table all the winter with this Dish They boil them in the shells and so serve them up Their other food is Beef Mutton Fowl c. none of which are ever brought to Table in such large quantities as in England Tho the High Dutch have a proverb Travel Wer wol leben und wol Schlaffen wil der bleib zu hauss i. e. He that has a mind to live and sleep well stays at home yet no Nation in the world is more given to travelling then they Not a Court in Europe but is full of them and they are easier met with on the road then Scotchmen This general itch of seeing foreign Countries does doubtless strangely impoverish their Nation and carries out yearly more money then all their Silver Mines can afford them For 't is below the spirit of a German Nobleman to appear in a foreign Court without a Retinue answerable to his Quality which piece of state will quickly swallow up a larger sum then the rent of his small Lordship amounts to There was not many years ago a small Book published under the title of Itinerarium Germaniae Politicum wherein the Author earnestly advises his Country-men never to go beyond the bounds of the German Empire except on public occasions And questionless he that shall with circumspection view all the rarities and Princes Courts in Dutchland taking the Netherlands into the circuit will return sufficiently qualified for a States-man without making any further progress 'T is the peculiar commendation of the Germans to be true and upright in their dealings with every man Integrity Teutschhertziger or Dutch-hearted is an Epithet which with them is usually apply'd to an honest and just man that scorns flattery or dissimulation A Frenchman gives this character of them La parole d'un Alleman vaut un obligagacion i. e. A German's word is as good as another man's bond Which is no more then what Tacitus observed of their Ancestors That no Nation under Heaven went beyond them at keeping their word Another excellent quality they have Hospitality which many of their neighbours want To be exceeding obliging to strangers Julius Cesar gives this character of the ancient Germans Hospites violare fas non putant qui quaque de causa ad eos venerunt ab injuria prohibent sanctosque habent Iisque omnium domus patent victusque communicatur i. e. They look upon it as a piece of injustice to affront a Traveller and esteem it a part of their Religion to protect those that come under their Roof
c. 2. En in Golden Brazen Silvern c. 3. Hood in Dutch heit in Manhood Priesthood c. 4. Dom in Kingdom Dukedom c. with many others of the like nature By the help of these and the authority which every man has to make use of them as he shall see occasion the German tongue is made exceeding copious For sometimes you may meet with a word of five or six syllables of which one only is significant of it self and the rest nothing but so many terminations hudled up together For example Vnwiederaufloslich signifies indissolvable in which word the syllable los is the primitive and the rest un wieder auf and lich only prepositions and terminations annexed to alter the signification The Greek tongue has hitherto been thought Compounds by most learned men to be the richest of any in admirable compounds A. Gellius says he often endeavour'd to render several Greek compounds into Latin but found many of them so exquisitely significant that all the skill he had in the Roman tongue was too little to furnish him either with a single word or Periphrasis which would fully express the signification of any one The words he instances in are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But however the Latin tongue may come short of the Greek yet questionless the High Dutch equals if not exceeds it For in this language you have not only words compounded of Adjectives and Substantives as in the Greek words before mentioned and Verbs or Participles with Prepositions which is usual in all languages but also innumerable ones which consist of two Substantives or two Adjectives We have still in our English that great elegancy of compounding Substantives on many occasions as in these words Huswife Snowball Football Nightcap c. But the greatest excellency in this kind of composition is in altering the signification of the word by transposition of the Substantives As in England we say Horsemill and Millhorse Shoecloth and Clothshoe c. Examples in this kind are infinitely more in High Dutch then English but I shall not stay to trouble the Reader with any more then these 1. Feurschiff signifies a Fire-ship but Schifffeuer a Fire on Shipboard 2. Jagthund any Dog that will hunt Hundjagt an Hunting with Dogs 3. Schifflast the Burthen of a Ship Lastschiff a Ship that carries Burthens 4. Friedgeld Money paid for Peace Geldfried Peace procured by the payment of Money 5. Wassermuhl a Watermill Muhlwasser the Water which drives the Mill. 6. Kaufmark the Market-place Markkauf the price given for any thing bought in the Market Sometimes three or four Substantives may be elegantly compounded into one word As Walfischfang the catching of Whales Kernobsbaum a Pippin-tree Erbkuchenmeisterampt the Office of the chief Master of the Kitchin with thousands more of the like The Germans have of late in some places much corrupted their Language by admitting into it a great number of French Italian and Latin words which they have turned into Dutch by giving them a German termination Hence Parliren Disputiren Informiren c. have crept into their Language However they are still so tender of the reputation of their own tongue that tho they love the fashion of using foreign words yet they will never write nor print any Latin French or Italian word in Dutch characters It will come near an impossibility to reckon up all the different Dialects in the German tongue Dialects if we consider that the old British English Danish Swedish Norwegian Islandic and Flandrian tongues with their inferior Dialects are only so many branches of the same stock Besides the differences of Dialects in High Germany it self are innumerable and some of them so vastly different among themselves that a Brandenburger will hardly understand a Misnian nor a Schwabe either of them The Citizens of Leipsic observe three several Dialects within the narrow walls of that small Town Busbequius found a great deal of High Dutch in the Tauric Chersonese and some have brought several fragments of it out of Persia But passing over the petit inconsiderable dialects and small shreds of the Tongue the whole German Language confin'd to the Empire and Netherlands is usually divided into the two dialects of Saxon and Francic The Saxon of which our English tongue is a branch contains under it the Languages of the Netherlands Westphalia Brunswic Holstein Mecklenburg Pomeren the Marks Prussia and Liefland There are many reasons to induce us to believe that this Dialect comes far nearer the ancient German or Celtic then any other whatever The strongest argument we can make use of may be taken from that infinite number of German words mention'd by ancient Latin Authors which at this day are no-where made use of but in the Lower Saxony only or at least among such Nations as are issued thence Thus Pliny tells us the old Gauls call'd a Whale Phiseter a Fish-eater Our English word Mare whence comes the title of Marshal is lost in the High Dutch but still in use among the Lower Saxons who write it Mahre Pausanias assures us that this was a Celtic word and thence fetches the Marpais Longobardorum spoken of by Paulus Diaconus Duret says Les habitans de Saxe se sont de tout temps d'anciennete vantez de parler entre tous les autres Alemands la plus entiere pure diserte langue Allemande i. e. The Inhabitants of Saxony have always brag'd of and pretended to the only pure unmix'd and ancient German tongue There was not many years since an ingenious Poem published in the Saxon dialect wherein 't is shew'n how far in many particulars this surpasses the High Dutch as spoken in Misnia and Austria But we are not to allow of this determination since it matters not what alterations are made in any dialect provided it retain manifest and undeniable marks of the fountain whence it at first sprang The Greek tongue was no-where so spoke as we find it in the Grecian writers And tho women and boys were admitted into the Roman Theaters to hear speeches yet none of their writers will allow that these people could speak the true Latin tongue That is only the true language of any Nation on which the learned men in it have thought fit to set their stamp Now seeing the Germans have all along pitcht upon the High Dutch dialect in all their writings ever since they set pen to paper 't is highly reasonable that we should pronounce it the nobler Dialect and esteem it the only true German tongue The Netherlanders 't is true write in their own Dialect but it is because they will not reckon themselves a part of the Empire and fancy they must needs be esteem'd so if they cannot shew a Language of their own But however there is not one man in an hundred of all these who will not readily allow that the German language far excels his Low Dutch Aventinus tells us that Charles the Great composed a
Brunswic belong Magdeburg Gosslar Einbeck Gottingen Hildesheim Hannover Vlsen Buxtehude Staden Bremen Hammel and Minden In the Circle of Dantzig are reckon'd Konigsberg Colmar Torn Elbingen Brunsberg Riga Derpt Revel c. In each of the four chief Cities was held an High Court of Judicature where all cases were pleaded that concern'd any of the particular members of that Circle Lubeck was reckon'd the Head and Metropolis of all the Hans-Towns Metropolis as lying the most convenient for Trade and being best fortified and most populous amongst them Hence all the rest of the Cities mentioned made use of the Seal of Lubeck in all their public Letters and that City kept an Advocate in the Imperial Chamber at Spire to plead all manner of Causes in which any of the Hans-Towns in matters of Trade were concern'd This City had also the sole power of calling by her Letters Patents an Assembly of the Estates of the whole Society in case of any extraordinary exigence that concern'd their whole Body in general These kind of Assemblies were commonly held at Lubeck but if the Radts-herrn of that City thought fit they might and sometimes did appoint such another place of meeting as lay more conveniently for the generality of the members concern'd This Society in short time became so considerable as to obtain large priviledges in most places of Trade in Europe Priviledges and Grandeur nay they were sometime grown so formidable as to be able to wage war with the most potent Monarchs in Christendom and to come off honourably The chief Mart-Towns they resorted to in foreign Nations in each of which they had extraordinary priviledges and immunities granted to them and kept their Storehouses and Exchanges were these four London here in England where their Store-house was call'd Stael-hof because the greatest commodity they traded in with the English was Steel Novogrod and afterwards Narva in Russia Bergen in Norway and Bruges in Flanders whence after some time they removed to Antwerp in Brabant But after the year 1500 Dissolution their Trade began to fail daily and the Society to dwindle into nothing insomuch that in the year 1570 there was scarce a City to be found that would offer to challenge the ancient priviledges formerly allow'd to Hans-Towns Afterwards there were some who appear'd very zealous in endeavouring to renew the decay'd Confederacy but all their endeavours prov'd successless and vain For many of the lesser Cities found themselves impoverish'd rather then enrich'd by continuing the League since they were obliged to contribute to all public charges of the Society tho they gain'd little or nothing by the bargain Besides within a while the great current of Trade was turn'd from Germany into England and Holland and the Hans-Towns render'd thereby unable to maintain so great a Fleet as formerly So that by degrees the Society fell in pieces and there nothing remains of it at present but the bare name in the memory of the Germans and their neighbours THE Territories Name Manners c. OF THE ANCIENT SAXONS ALtho at this day the Upper and Lower Saxony take up but a very small share of the German Empire yet 't is manifest from the writings of the best Antiquaries that formerly the better part of the inhabitants of that Nation were known by the general name of Saxons Gens Saxonum saith Ethelwerd an ancient English-Saxon Historian who flourish'd about the year of Christ 950 in toto erat maritima a Rheno flumine usque ad Doniam urbem quae nunc vulgo Dan-marc nuncupatur Since Mr. Cambden could not find out what City this Author and the men of his time call'd Donia or Dan-marck I shall not pretend to enquire But we may from hence safely conclude that all the ancient inhabitants of Jutland Sleswic Holstein the Bishopric of Bremen County of Oldenburg both Frislands and a great part of Holland were comprehended under the common name of Saxons This assertion is confirm'd by a notable passage in the old Belgic Chronicle written in rythm near four hundred years ago wherein the Author tells us Oude bocken hoor ick gewagen Dat al't land beneden Nyemagen Willen neder Sassen hiet Alsoo al 's die stroom vershiet Van der Maze ende van den Rhyn Die Schelt was dat west ende Syn. I hear says he that old Books report that all the Country below Nimmeguen was formerly call'd Nether Saxony which was bounded on the west with the Skelt a River on the coasts of Flanders that issues out of the Maes and Rhyne The German Antiquaries give Westphalia the name of Old Saxony and out of this Country 't is probable some of our English-Saxons came as we shall shew anon Mr. Sheringham in his learned Treatise De Anglorum Gentis origine makes Alsace a part of the ancient Saxon Territories telling us that the name which to this day it retains was borrow'd from its Saxon inhabitants For these men call'd their own Country Sassen as well as themselves Die Sassen and thence named this part of their Dominions which was the pleasantest and richest piece they were Masters of Edel-Sassen or Noble Saxony Which name was easily turn'd by changing the High Dutch termination into a Latin one into Edelsassia and at last contracted into Elsatia or Alsatia 'T is a difficult task to pick up a true and rational account of the name of Saxon out of the frivolous conjectures of ignorant Monks Name or the equal impertinencies of illiterate Etymologists Isidore Hispalensis will needs have the Saxons to fetch their name from the Latin word Saxum and he gives this reason for his fancy quod sit durum validissimum genus hominum praestans caeteris piraticis i. e. because they were always a strong and hardy people and archer pyrats than any of their neighbours But why should the Saxons be beholden to the Romans for their name since they inhabited the same Country whereof their own offspring are still Masters long before Rome was built Besides we do not find that the Romans gave any new names to the Nations they conquer'd any otherwise then by giving them a Latin instead of their barbarous termination Crantzius tells us of some and himself seems not altogether to dislike their opinion who derived the word Saxon from Askenas the great Leader of the Asians who first peopled Germany But why these people should any more retain the name of that grand General of the Asian Army then the Goths Franks or any other branch of the ancient Dutch Nation he cannot inform us Goropius who is follow'd by Cisner Cambden and several other learned men brings the Saxons from Sacae a Scythian people from whom they were first call'd Sacasons or the Sons of the Sacae and by contraction Saxons These Scythians he tells us and alledges the Authority of Strabo to confirm his story leaving their ancient Seats conquer'd Bactriana and a good part of Armenia thence they pass'd into Capadocia and
the Eastern banks of the Rhine is a Province of no large extent but exceedingly fruitful in Corn Wine and Hemp. The Country is every-where very populous and the Villages so thick that the whole Marquisate has been by some compared to one continued City with fair Gardens interlac'd among the buildings Entz 〈◊〉 Wirmb Phintz and the other Rivers afford plenty of Fish And the Chases and Parks are so well stock'd with Venison and Fowl that what the Nobility in other parts of the German Empire covet as a delicacy the Rustics of Baden have for their ordinary food The Merchants of Amsterdam Antwerp and other great trading Towns in the Netherlands furnish themselves hence with those vast quantities of Flax and Hemp which they transport into foreign Nations so that what passes for Holland Flax here in England grows for the most part in the Marquisate of Baden and is brought thence down the Rhine There are in this Country whole Woods of Chesnut Trees which feed their great Herds of Swine at a cheaper rate then the Hog-Merchants of Whestphalia who buy their Chesnuts at Bremen can afford to do The Quarries give the inhabitants an advantage of building fair Houses with a small cost 〈◊〉 providing them with a good Free-stone and Marble of all colours Amongst these especially in the County of Sponheim they sometimes find Agat which is here rarely polish'd and sent into foreign Countries 〈◊〉 But this Marquisate is most peculiarly happy in the multitude and goodness of its hot Baths and Mineral-waters especially at Baden of which more anon 〈◊〉 From the vast conflux of the Nobility from all parts of the Empire to these Baths we may reasonably imagine that the complaisant carriage towards strangers which we find every-where practis'd by the inhabitants of this Country has in a great measure proceeded from their conversation with strangers who flock hither upon the strong conceit they have of the more then ordinary virtues of these waters They are generally a stout and hardy people inur'd to labour and toil or the severities of a Camp from their their Cradle Hence they come to be reckon'd as good Soldiers as any in the Emperor's Dominions And 't is not a little Honour the Country has got this last year 1681 in having their Marquise Herman made choice of to succeed the late famous Commander Montecuculi in the place of General of all the Imperial Forces No question the Marquises of this Country are descended of an ancient stock of Princes Marquises but of what old Family they are to be reputed a branch the German Heraulds can scarce determine Some fetch them from the Vrsins and others from the House of Della Scala or the Scaligers Some again labour to prove that Baden and Hochberg are different Families and others that they are but one Other Genealogists tell us that the Emperor Frideric Barbaressa brought Herman Marquise of Verona out of Italy and made him the first Marquise of Hochberg and Baden A. D. 1155. Which will very ill agree with what the best High Dutch Historians report of a Monastery being founded by Herman Marquise of Baden in his Village of Backenau A. D. 1116 which was confirm'd by Bruno Bishop of Spire in the year 1122. The most probable opinion is that they are descended from the ancient Counts of Vindonissa and Altemburg in Switzerland from whom also the Dukes of Zeringuen and Tek the Counts of Habspurg and the Arch-Dukes of Austria derive their original At present there are two Families of the Marquises of Baden whereof one is a profess'd Lutheran and the other a zealous Papist For this reason their interests seem different the Marquise of Durlach associating himself with the Count Palatine the Marquise of Brandenburg the Duke of Wirtenberg and the Count of Solms and the Marquise of Baden with the Dukes of Bavaria Savoy and Lorrain and the Princes of Hohernzollern Each of these Princes stiles himself Marquise of Baden and Hochberg Landgrave of Sausenberg Earl of Sponheim and Eberstein Lord of Rotel Badenweiler Lohr and Mahlberg The Chief Cities in the Marquisate of BADEN BADEN is the Metropolis of this Marquisate Baden and has its name from the vast number of Hot Baths in this place which are said to be above three hundred The Town stands amongst Hills on a craggy and uneven spot of ground so that there 's hardly a strait and plain street in it Some of the Baths are scalding hot and all of them running out of Rocks of Brimstone Salt and Allum have the same tast One of them is call'd the Kettle out of which the water boils at a wonderful rate reeking as if set over a Furnace These waters are reckon'd soveraign medicines for several diseases especially the Cramp and Gout both which distempers have been admirably cur'd by them For this reason there is a continual resort of the German Nobility and Gentry who flock hither in as great companies during the whole Summer as our English Gentry are wont to do to Bath in Somersetshire See Joh. Keiffer's description of the Baths of this Country 2. Durlach DURLACH is seated on the bank of the River Psintz at the bottom of a high hill on the top whereof stands a Tower wherein contintial watch is kept for the security of the City The streets in this Town are generally fair and strait and the buildings stately and uniform The Marquise's Palace far excells that at Baden and is large enough to receive the Court and Attendants of the greatest Monarch in Europe There is a Gymnasium kept up by some few Professors who read public Lectures in the several Faculties But that which is most worthy a Scholar's sight is the rare Collection of ancient Coins and Meddals in the Marquise's Cabinet and the Library adjoining wherein are some pieces of good note 3. PFORTZHEIM says Rhenanus Pfortzheim was anciently call'd Orcynheim and by Latin Authors Porta Hercyniae because 't is seated at the entrance into the Schwartzwald a part of the Hercynian Forest as you travel from Spire On one side of the Town you have fair Meadows Pasture-grounds and Corn-fields but the other side is nothing but Mountains and Woods This Town was formerly subject to the Dukes of Schwaben but fell afterwards upon the death of Conradine the last Duke of that Country into the hands of the Marquises of Baden who are now Lords of it 4. GERSBACH is a Town of no great extent Gersbach having in it only two Churches whereof one is frequented by Lutherans and the other by Papists The Marquises of Baden as Counts of Eberstein a Castle not far from this Town have here a Palace and Court of Judicature for the determining all Controversies and Law-suits arising within the bounds of this small County 5. BADENWEILER a City betwixt Freyburg and Basil Badenweiler is a part of the Marquisate of Baden tho seated in the Territories of Brisach The hot Baths of this