Subjects but the fit is usually soon over and is recompenced by his placability and readiness to forgive those that have offended him His Respect to his Mother seems to equal if not exceed his Kindness to his Consort who hath the Satisfaction of his Constancy but little share in his Secrets and not very much of his Conversation which he frequently bestows on the Queen-Mother and usually eats in her Apartment His Majesty's most diligent Inspection into all the Affairs of his Kingdom besides that it makes all his Ministers more circumspect hath gain'd him a great stock of Experience The smallest matters are not below his notice and nothing of any moment is concluded before he hath been consulted this is the Employment of all his time scarce any hour of the Day passing from five in the Morning when he constantly rises in which business of one nature or other is not before him The Frugality of his Majesties Temper is every where visible in his Court in which there is little regard had to Splendor and Magnificence either in Furniture Tables or Attendants or other things of that Nature The Principal Officer of the Court is the Upper Marshal formerly called the Marshal of the Kingdom which Office is now held by Count Iohn Steenbeck next to him are the Marshal and Intendant of the Court with about eight or ten that are stiled Gentlemen of the Court who wait at the King's Table That which makes the best Appearance is the Foot-Guards which consist of 2200 Men of which one Company is always in the Castle and the other in the other parts of the City The Collonel of the Guards is next the King's Person in all Publick Solemnities and the Captain that has the Watch lies in the Room next to his Majesty's Bedchamber There is another Guard of 250 Men of which about ten at a time wait on Foot with Halberts and on Horseback when the King travels in Ceremony Next to the King the Queen-Mother is ranked both in the Addresses of Foreign Ministers and on all other occasions She is a Princess of great Virtue and Goodness and would be more esteemed if she were not diverted from the Exercise of Liberality by the Inclination she has to Building which she has gratified in the Structure of a very Magnificent House about six Miles from Stockholm it has one Front towards a great Lake and the other looks upon a Garden of a Thousand Yards long adorned with very fine and choice Statues the Spoils of Germany and Denmark and a great number of Cascades that are supplied with very good Water from an Eminence about a Mile distant Her Court and Revenue is governed by Count Charles Gyldenstern and next to him is the Marshal of her Court and other Officers as also a Governess of the Maids of Honour who are six with other inferior Servants The Queen Consort besides what has already been said of her is a great lover of Reading and together with the Northern Languages speaks French perfectly well she is of a Melancholy Disposition and lives very retired seldom stirring out of her own Apartment and that of the Prince and Princesses The Elder Princess was born in the Year 1681. And the Prince in the Year following both of a delicate Constitution of great hopes and Educated with much care The Younger Princess was born Anno 1688. CHAP. IX Of his MAJESTY'S Government HIS Majesty was no sooner Crowned but he found himself engaged in the War then on foot and espoused the French Interest in Consideration of a Subsidy of 200000 l. a Year in which the first Blow was the Defeat of Feldt Marshal Wrangel and his Army in Germany a Disaster so little foreseen or provided for that it made a more easy way for all the Miseries that ensued upon it and gave the King more eminent Occasions of shewing his Courage in defence of his Kingdoms and People for as the Success of that Action turned the Byass of the Danish Councels and presented the favourable opportunity they expected to engage in the War which they began with the surprizal of Holstein and the Taking of Wismar and thence translated it into Schonen so that when the King was called into those Parts to make Head against the Danes he found the effects of his Ministers Deficiency in making due Preparations Four of the Six Fortified Places of that Province being already in the Enemies hands and the Inhabitants at liberty to express their Affections for Denmark To encounter these Difficulties and a more Potent Enemy assisted by more Powerful Confederates the King at first had but a Handful of Men and empty Magazines the Forces of the Kingdom being scatter'd into Germany and Leifland the Borders of Norway and the Sea-Service from all which places his Majesty received nothing but accounts of Losses and Misfortunes so that the Fortune of Sueden and all its Ancient Glory seem'd to be confin'd to his Majesty's Person and his little Army with which in the compass of One Year he won Three Pitch'd Battels and in one of them he is said to have Charged Thirteen times at the Head of a Brigade and yet which is very remarkable doth value himself for not having drawn the Blood of any one man In the course of this War the King gain'd a great Stock of Military Experience without any Tincture of those Vices that commonly prevail in a Camp and was so indefatigable and perpetually employed that he scarce had his Boots off in Three Years time The Streights he was often reduced to taught him many excellent Lessons especially the Necessity of putting the Kingdom into a better Posture of Defence than he found it Besides his Officers with the chief Ministers about him Baron Iohn Guldenstiern made it their business to possess his Majesty with an ill opinion of the Senate and discovered the Malversations that the Ruling Lords had been guilty of in his Minority which sunk so deep with him that as his displeasure fell upon some of those Lords during the War and a Slight upon them all neither communicating his Counsels nor acquainting them with the Success of his Actions which they were left to learn from Passengers and Masters of Ships so after the Conclusion of the Peace and his return to Stockholm in the year 1680 his Majesty call'd together the States of the Kingdom and gave them a Summary Account of the State of Affairs during the War and the Issue of it and proposed to them to inspect the Occasions of the great Losses the Kingdom had sustain'd to find out means to deliver the Government from the Streights or rather States it laboured under and to consult for its further Security The Odium of all the Losses and Misfortunes of the War was easily fix'd upon the Ministers that had managed Affairs in the King's Minority and therefore a Committee was chosen out of the several Bodies of the States to enquire into the Miscarriages and Evil Counsels of those
are frequently found in Sueden and in greater variety than in England which seem to have been the Dane Gilt or Tribute that the Nation then paid The Normans also who about that time settled in France were in part Natives of this Country so that England together with the Miseries that accompanied those Conquests owes a great part of its Extraction to these People But to pass on to Times of more certainty it was about the Year 830 that the Emperor Ludovicus Pius sent Ansgarius afterwards Arch-bishop of Hamburgh to attempt the Conversion of the Suedes and Goths who at first had little or no Success but in his second Journey some Years after he was better received and baptized the King Olaus who was afterwards martyred by his Heathen Subjects and offered in Sacrifice to their Gods nor did Christianity become the general Religion of Sueden till about a Hundred Years after when it was planted by the English Bishops formerly mentioned sent for thither by another Olaus in whose time the Kingdom of Sueden and that of Gothia were united but became afterwards to be separated again and continued so near Two Hundred Years when they were again joyn'd on Condition that the Two Royal Families should succeed each other by turns as they did for the space of One Hundred Years but not without great Disorders and much Blood shed This occasion of Quarrel which ended in the Extirpation of the Gothick Family was succeeded by another for Waldemer Son of Berger Ierle or Earl who was descended from the Royal Family of Sueden being at that time chosen King by his Father's Advice he created his Three Brothers Dukes of Finland Sudermanland and Smaland with such a degree of Sovereignty in their respective Dukedoms as enabled them to disturb their Brother's Government who was at last forced to resign the Kingdom to his Brother Magnus which he left to his Son Berger who lived in continual Dissention with his Two Brethren Erick and Waldemar till he took them Prisoners and famish'd them to Death upon which he was driven on t of the Kingdom and succeeded by Duke Erick's Son Magnus who was perswaded to suffer his Son Erick to be chosen King of Sueden joyntly with himself as his other Son Haquinus was of Norway Both these Brothers made War upon their Father who thereupon caused the Eldest to be poysoned the other Haquinus being reconciled to his Father married Margaret the Daughter Waldemar King of Denmark in whose Person the Three Northern Kingdoms were afterwards United This Magnus being deposed for his ill Government made place for his Sister's Son Albert Duke of Mechlenburgh of whom the Suedes were soon weary and offered the Kingdom to Margaret whose Husband Haquinus had left her Norway and her Father Denmark King Albert therefore being beaten in a pitch'd Battle was taken Prisoner by this Margaret who succeeded him and enacted the Vnion of the Three Crowns into a Law which was ratified by the States of those Kingdoms but proved much to the Prejudice of Sueden and to the Advantage of Denmark which People had always the Art or Luck to get their King's Favour and render the Suedes and Norwegians suspected conformable to Queen Margaret's Advice to her Successor Sueden shall feed you Norway shall cloath you and Denmark shall defend you At her request the Three Nations chose her young Nephew Erick of Pomerania reserving to her self the Government during his Minority which she out-lived and had time to repent at last she died of the Plague in the Year 1412. This Erick married Phillippa the Daughter of Henry the 4th of England of her their Histories relate that Copenhagen being besieged and King Erick in despair retreating to a Monastery she took the Command of the City and beat the Besiegers but afterwards having in the King's absence fitted out a Fleet that was unsuccessful at his return he so beat and abused her that she thereby miscarried and retiring into a Cloyster died soon after The Oppression the Suedes lay under from Strangers and to whom the King committed the Government of Provinces and the Custody of all Castles contrary to the Articles of the Vnion made them at last throw off the Yoke and renounce their Allegiance to King Erick in whose place they substituted the General of the Kingdom Carl Knuteson with the Title of Protector which he held about Four Years till they were perswaded to accept Christopher of Bavaria whom the Danes and Norwegians had already chosen his short Reign gave the Suedes new Disgusts to the Vnion so that upon his Death they divided themselves and chose Carl Knuteson to be their King who had before been their Protector and remains a memorable Example of the Vicissitude of Fortune for after he had Reigned Ten Years he was driven out by a Danish Faction and retiring to Dantzick was reduced to great want Christian of Oldenburg King of Denmark and Norway succeeded him and renewed the Vnion which was soon dissolved Christian after a Reign of Five Years being turn'd out Carl Knuteson was restored to the Crown which he held only Three Years being over-power'd by a Faction of the Clergy and forced to forswear the Crown and retire into Finland where he again fell into want upon his Deposition his Daughter's Husband Erick Axelton was made Governour of the Kingdom which was miserably shattered by Factions of which the Bishops were the greatest Ring-leaders in Favour of Christian of Denmark whom they endeavoured to restore but their Party being worsted Carl Knuteson was the third time received King of Sueden and continued so till his Death upon which Steno Sture a Noble Man of ancient Family was made Protector of the Kingdom which he defended a long time against King Christian and his Successor to the Crowns of Denmark and Norway but was at last forced to give place to Iohn who again restored the Vnion of the Three Crowns but pursuing his Predecessors steps in oppressing the Nation and imploying of Strangers he was soon expell'd the Kingdom And Steno Sture was again made Protector and he dying Suanto Sture succeeded in the same Quality He had continual Wars with King Iohn all the time of his Government which at his Death was conferred on his Son Steno Sture the younger who withstood the Danish Faction which the Arch-bishop of Vpsall headed till dying of a Wound he received in a Skirmish against the Danes Christiern or Christian the II. King of Denmark and Norway was advanced to the Crown of Sueden but behaved himself so tyrannically and shed so much innocent Blood especially of the Nobility which he design'd utterly to root out that his Reign became intolerable and the whole Nation conspired against him under the Conduct of Gustavus the First descended from the ancient Kings of Sueden whose Father had being beheaded and his Mother had two Sisters imprison'd by Christiern He was
at first received Governour of the Kingdom and two Years after had the Regal Dignity conferr'd on him and as the Danes and Norwegians had also expell'd King Christiern who had married Charles the 5th's Sister and repaired to the Imperial Court for Succour which he could not obtain to any purpose being upon his Landing in Norway defeated and taken Prisoner in which State he continued to his Death Therefore Gustavus was freed from all further trouble on that account and at liberty to redress the Disorders of the Kingdom which were great His first Contest was with the Clergy who had been the Authors of much Confusion in former Reigns to prevent which for the future he took all occasions to diminish their Revenues reuniting to the Crown all the Lands that had been given to the Church the last Hundred Years which together with the Reformation of Religion disquieted the first Ten Years of his Reign and occasioned frequent Commotions Which being over the remainder of his time pass'd without any disturbance at home or Wars abroad save only with Lubeck and sometimes with Moscovy Hitherto the Kingdom of Sueden had for several hundred Years been Elective but was at this time made Hereditary to the Male Issue of Gustavus in a right Line of Succession with reservation that in default of such Issue the Right of Election should return to the Estates Gustavus by his three Wives had four Sons and several Daughters his eldest Son Erick was to succeed to the Crown Iohn was made Duke of Finland Magnus Duke of Ostrogothia and Charles Duke of Sudermanland whereby those Provinces were in a manner dismembred from the Crown An Error in Policy that Sueden has so oft smarted for that they have since made solemn Resolutions never to be guilty of it again thus having in his Reign of Thirty six Years brought the Kingdom into such a flourishing Condition as it had not seen in many Ages and entail'd a Crown upon his Family in which it still continues He left it to his Son Erick who was thereby hindred from prosecuting his intended Voyage to England with hopes to marry Queen Elizabeth He Reigned Nine Years Five of which he kept his Brother Iohn close Prisoner upon Suspicion of his designing to supplant him as he finally did but not before Erick his making a Peasant's Daughter his Queen and by several cruel and dishonourable Actions had lost the Affections of all his Subjects so that he was without much difficulty deposed and condemned to a perpetual Prison where he ended his Life Upon his Deposition the Crown came to Iohn III. notwithstanding the States of the Kingdom had engaged their future Allegiance to King Erick's Son that he had by the Queen before Marriage The War with Moscovy which began in King Erick's time about Liefland was carried on by this King with good Success and several Places taken to which not only Muscovy but Poland and Denmark also pretended for as the Knights Templers had transferr'd their Right to Liefland upon Poland so the Muscovites had agreed to deliver it to Magnus Duke of Holstein the King of Denmark's Brother in consideration of a small Acknowledgement to the Czar of Muscovy as the Supream Lord So that Four great Nations claimed this Country at once which possibly might facilitate the Suedish Conquests This Prince's Reign was disquieted by his Attempt to alter the Establish'd Religion in which he made considerable progress but was sometimes in doubt whether he should endeavour an Vnion with the Latin or Greek Church to the former of which he at last declared himself but could not prevail with his Subjects to follow his Example He kept his Brother Erick Ten Years in Prison and then thought it necessary for Safety to have him poyson'd according to the Advice which it is said the States of the Kingdom had given His Brother Magnus did not Minister any Cause of Suspicion being disturbed in his Brain and uncapable of having any Design But his Brother Charles gave him sufficient occasion of Jealousie and it was not without great difficulty that things were kept from coming to an extremity between them After a Reign of Thirty six Years King Iohn died by the Fault of an ignorant Apothecary there being then no Physicians in Sueden to him succeeded his Son Sigismund whose Mother was Catharine a Princess of the Iagellan Family in Poland To which Crown Sigismund had been Elected Five Years before his Father died His Brother Iohn was in his Minority so that his Uncle Charles had the Government of the Kingdom till Sigismund came from Poland to be Crowned in Sueden which was not till about a Year after his Fathers decease His Coronation was retarded some Months by the Difficulties that arose about the Points of Religion and the Confirmation of Priviledges All which were at last accommodated and the King after a Years stay in Sueden returned to Poland leaving the Kingdom in great Confusion which daily encreas'd So that at his return some Years after he was met by his Uncle at the Head of an Army which defeated the Forces the King brought with him Whereupon an Accomodation being patched up he returned to Poland leaving his Uncle to manage the Government Which Post he held till the States being weary of Sigismund and having in vain brought him to consent to his Son's Advancement to the Crown which his Brother Iohn also refused They conferr'd it upon his Uncle Charles the 9th who thereby became engaged in a War with Poland as he was already with Muscovy the Scene of both being in Liefland where the Suedes lost Ground till the Affairs of Muscovy fell into such Confusion that they were forced to give Sueden a Peace that they might have its Assistance against the Poles and Tartars which was granted upon Terms very advantageous for Sueden and sent under the Conduct of Count Iacob de la Gardie who did Muscovy great Service but the Muscovites failing to perform the Conditions stipulated he broke with them and took the City of Novogrod and disposed the Inhabitants with others of the Neighbouring Provinces to desire Prince Charles Phillip the King 's younger Son to be their Czar which was so long in treating about that the Opportunity was lost The Year before this King's Death a War broke out with Denmark in which State he left the Kingdom to his Son Gustavus Adolphus who having ended the War with Denmark by the Mediation of Iames the 1st of England applied himself to that in Leifland and Muscovy To the Borders of which he sent his Brother not with an Intention to procure his Establishment in that Throne which he rather aimed at for himself But to induce the fortified Places adjacent to Finland and Liefland to accept of Suedish Garisons in Prince Charles Phillip's Name which succeeded in a great measure till another was chosen Czar with whom after various Success on both sides a Peace was concluded by the
business In point of Learning they like their Neighbours the Germans are more given to Transcribe and make Collections than Digest their own Thoughts and commonly proportion their Studies to their occasions In matters of Trade they more easily do the Drudgery than dive into the Mystery either of Commerce or Manufactures in which they usually set up for Masters before they be half taught so that in all such things as require Ingenuity Neatness or Dexterity they are forc'd to be served by Strangers Their Common Soldiers endure Cold and Hunger and long Marches and hard Labour to admiration but they learn their Duty very slowly and are serviceable more by their Obedience to command and standing their Ground than by any great forwardness to attack their Enemy or in nimbleness and address in executing their Orders and so their Peasants are tolerably Laborious when need compels them but have little regard to Neatness in their Work and are hardly brought to quit their old slow and toilsome Methods for such new Inventions as are more dextrous and easy The Dispositions more peculiar to the several degrees of these People are That the Nobility and Gentry are naturally Men of Courage and of a Warlike Temper have a graceful Deportment inclined to value themselves at a High rate and make the best Appearance they possibly can that they may gain the respect of others and are therefore more excessive in the number of their Attendants Sumptuous Buildings and Rich Apparel than in the plentifulness of their Tables or other less observ'd Occasions They never descend to any Employments in the Church the Practice of Law or Physick or the Exercise of any Trade and tho to gain experience in Maritine Affairs they submit to the lowest Offices abroad yet at home there is but one Example known of a Gentleman that accepted the Command of a Merchant's Ship The Clergy are but moderately Learned and little acquainted with the Disputes about Religion as having no Adversaries to oppose they affect Gravity and long Beards are esteemed for their Hospitality and have great Authority among the Common People The Burghers are not very Intelligent in Trade nor able to do their business without Credit from abroad rather inclined to impose upon those they can over-reach than follow their Calling in a fair way The Peasants when Sober are very obsequious and respectful but Drink makes them mad and ungovernable most of them live in a very poor Condition and are taught by necessity to practice several Arts in a rude manner as the making their Shooes Cloathes c. the several Instruments of Husbandry and other necessaries that they cannot spare Money to buy And to keep them to this as also to favour the Cities it is not permitted to more than one Taylor or other such Artisan to dwell in the same Parish tho it be never so large as many of them are above twenty Miles in compass In general it may be said of the whole Nation that they are a People very Religious in their way and constant frequenters of the Church eminently Loyal and Affected to Monarchy Grave even to Formality Sober more out of necessity than Principles of temperance apt to entertain Suspitions and to envy each other as well as Strangers more inclined to pilfering and such secret Frauds than to such open Violences as breaking of Houses or Robbing on the Highways Crimes as rarely committed in this as in any Country whatever CHAP. V. Of the Religion of Sueden CHRISTIANITY was not received into Sueden till about the beginning of the Ninth Century and not into Finland till near three hundred Years after and if not first Preached was at least first Established by English Divines of whom the chiefest was St. Sigfrid who as their Histories relate quitted the Arch-Bishoprick of York to become the Apostle of the Goths as they stile him with him three of his Nephews that he brought thither were Martyred by the Heathen Goths So also was St. Eskill and other English by the Suedes and about the Year 1150. St. Henry an English Bishop accompani'd St. Erick King of Sueden in his Expedition to Finland which the King conquered and the Bishop converted into Christianity he also was Martyred by the Infidels and lies buried at Abo the Metropolis of that Country The Reformation as well there as in Denmark and Norway began soon after the Neighbouring parts of Germany had imbraced Luther's Tenets and was established according to his Platform The Tyranny of King Christian the Second who then wore these three Northern Crowns gave an opportunity to Gustavus the Founder of the present Royal Family both to alter Religion and advance himself to the Regal Dignity which till that time was Elective but was then made Hereditary to his Family in which it has since continued as the Lutheran Religion has also done in the Country never but once disturbed from abroad and since that disturbance never distracted at home with Non-conformity all the Orders of Men agreeing in a constant Attendance on Divine Service and a Zeal for their own Way without any nice Enquiries into disputable Points either in their own Tenets or those of other Churches whereby it becomes the business of their Preachers rather to persuade the Practice of Piety than to oppose the Doctrine of others or defend their own The Church is governed by an Archbishop and Ten Bishops whose Studies are confined to their own Employments being never called to Council but only at the Assembly of the States nor troubled with the Administration of any Secular Affair their Revenues are very moderate the Archbishop of Upsall not Importing 400 l. a year and the Bishopricks after that Proportion Under them are Seven or Eight Superintendents who have all the Power of Bishops and only want the Name and over each Ten Churches is a Provost or Rural Dean with some Authority over the Inferior Clergy of whom the Sum total may best be computed by the Number of Churches which in Sueden and Finland is short of Two thousand to which the Addition of Chaplains and Curates will encrease the Body of the Clergy to near Four thousand persons they are all the Sons of Peasants or mean Burghers and can therefore content themselves with the small Income of their Places which besides more inconsiderable Dues arises from Glebe-Lands and one Third of the Tythes of which the other two Thirds are annexed to the Crown to be employ'd in Pious Uses However the Clergy have generally wherewithal to exercise Hospitality and are the constant Refuge of Poor Travellers especially Strangers who use to go from Priest to Priest as elsewhere from Constable to Constable The Clergy of each Diocess upon the Death of their Bishop propose Three persons to the King who either chuses one of them or some other to succeed in that Office which is also practised in the Choice of Superintendents In the Choice of an Archbishop all the Chapters in the Kingdom vote but the
ordinary offices of their Sex put to Plow and Thrash to Row in Boats and bear Burthens at the Building of Houses and on other occasions Domestick Quarrels rarely happen and more seldom become Publick the Husbands being as apt to keep the Authority in their own hands as the Wives by Nature Custom or Necessity are inclin'd to be Obedient Divorces and other Separations between Man and Wife scarce ever happen but among the Inferior sort when the Innocent Party is allowed to marry again Cousin-Germans may not Marry without the King's Dispensation which is more frequently granted than refused In Wedding Entertainments they have ever affected Pomp and Superfluity beyond the proportion of their Abilities for by the Excess of one Day oft-times many of them involve themselves in such inconveniences as they feel many Years The same is observable in their Funeral Solemnities which are usually accompanied with more Jollity and Feasting than befits the Occasion and to gain time to make their Preparations they commonly Transport their Dead to Vaults within or adjoyning to their Churches where they remain unburied some Months and sometimes several Years but of late these and other unnecessary Expences begin by degrees to be laid aside as well in conformity to the Frugality of the Court as in compliance with their present Fortunes which are narrower now than they have formerly been CHAP. VIII Of the Royal Family and Court of Sueden CHARLES XI the present King of Sueden was born November the 25th 1655. Two years after his Father Charles Gustave X. of the House of Deux Ponts was advanced to the Crown up on the Abdication of Queen Christina whose Cousin-German he was being the Son of Iohn Casimir Prince Palatine of the Rhine and Catherine of Sueden Daughter to Charles IX and Sister to Gustavus Adolphus Queen Christina's Father This Kings Mother Princess Hediwing Eleonora of the House of Holstein and Sister to the present Duke had no other Child and upon the Decease of the King her Husband in the year 1660. was made Regent of the Kingdom together with the five Great Officers of the Crown and held that Post till the Year 1672. when the King her Son was declared Major and took the Government His Majesties Education in his Minority by his own Genius and the Indulgence of his Mother if not by the contrivance of the Principal Ministers was mostly in order to a Military Life in which Exercises such as Fencing and Riding the Great Horse he took more pleasure and made better proficiency than in such Studies as required more intention of the mind Besides the Suedish and High-Dutch Languages which his Majesty learned in his Infancy and speaks both equally well he was not perfected in any other having only a smattering of French to which he hath so great an Aversion that he will neither own nor be brought to speak so much of it as he understands which want concurring with if not causing in him a reserved Temper and backwardness to Conversation with Strangers makes it more difficult for Foreign Ministers to entertain his Majesty and himself uneasy upon their Addresses None ever better conquered this Difficulty than Mr. Warwick who having learned a little High-Dutch with which he entertain'd his Majesty in ordinary Discourse without much mixture of business he thereby became the Favourite Foreign Minister and had the Honour to be singled out by his Majesty on all occasions In the year 1674. his Majesty was Crowned and presently after engaged in a War that gain'd him an eminent degree both of Experience and Honour having never lost a Battle in which he was Personally present At the Conclusion of the War Anno 1680. he married the Princess Ulrica Eleonora Sister to the King of Denmark a Lady as Eminent for Piety Virtue Wisdom and all other Qualities truly Great and Noble as for her Birth and Extraction These with her great Charity to the Poor and Liberality to all have gain'd her the Hearts of the whole Nation and surmounted the Aversion they naturally have to those of her Country By her his Majesty hath already had Seven Children five Princes four of which are Dead and two Princesses and has fair hopes of a more numerous Issue The King is of a Middle Stature and well-set his Hair brown of a healthful and vigorous Constitution and Sanguine Complexion never attacqued with any Violent Sickness but what has been occasion'd by some outward Accidents of which two especially have endangered his Life one was in the War when his Majesty riding on the Ice it brake and he fell into the Water which brought him into a Fever that he narrowly escaped The other happened by the fall off his Horse when he broke his Leg and was so ill treated by his Surgeons that besides the danger of his Life then the effects of their miscarriage are still seen in his Majesties halting There have happened to him two Accidents more which have impaired his Strength and it 's fear'd may shorten his Days One was That at Hunting Monsieur Wachmaster being in danger to be kill'd by a Bear the King was so eager to rescue him that he broke a Vein and was then like to have bled to Death and since hath been subject to bleeding upon any motion The other was That his Majesty hath formerly accustomed himself to ride Post such long Stages and with so great speed that he hath often been near suffocated by the heat the expence of his Spirits and the Agitation of his Blood whereof the effects are still observed and feared by those about him He possesses many Excellent and Princely Qualities an Exemplary Piety and Religious Disposition that shews its self in all his Actions and invincible Courage that has oft exposed his Person to great dangers not only in his Wars but in his Divertisements His Chastity and Temperance are very regular at least if there be any Instances of his failing in the latter upon any extraordinary Occasion or Entertainment he hath never been known or scarce suspected to violate the former Frugality is practised by his Majesty in a high degree and his Parsimonious Temper appears on all Occasions that if his Subjects think him too pressing for Money they have the Satisfaction to see and believe that it is laid either out or up for their Good not expended in profuse Liberalities or vain Divertisements to which his Majesty is a perfect Stranger neither delighted with Plays Gaming or any other Recreations besides Riding Fencing and Hunting His peaceable Demeanour may perhaps more justly be ascribed to the State of his Affairs than his own Nature which more powerfully inclines him to the Fatigue of a Camp than the Ease of a Court and suits better with a Martial Familiarity than the shews of Grandeur and the Solemnities of State The Cholerick Temper that hath been incident to all his Ancestors hath sometimes carried him to low Expressions of his Anger as well towards the greater as meaner sort of his
Ministers and pass Sentence upon the Delinquents And to this end the Registers of the Council were examin'd the dammage arising from each Resolution computed and every Senator that had Voted therein was charged with his Proportion of it and that with so much Rigour that their whole Estates have not sufficed to make Satisfaction To this the States also found that the Power the Senators attributed to themselves had helped to produce these bad effects and therefore declared That as they the States needed no such Mediators between the King and them so neither did they find that the Article of his Majesty's Coronation-Oath in which he had promised to rule the Kingdom with the Advice of the Senators did oblige him to think it necessary any longer to have their Concurrence to any Counsels he thought fit to take or continue their Salaries to more of them than he was pleased to employ Upon which several of them were laid aside and the rest instead of their former Title of Counsellors or Senators of the Kingdom were stiled the King's Counsellors a Method which perhaps in time may cost the Crown dear there being left none to bear the Burthen between the King and the Complainants And to give greater strength to this the States declared also That tho the Regents during a Minority might be called to account for their Administration yet his Majesty who received his Crown from God was only accountable to God for his Actions and tied by no other Engagements than what his Coronation-Oath imported namely To rule the Kingdom according to Law Which Article was further explain'd in the following Convention To remedy the great Necessities the Government was reduc'd to and discharge the vast Debts contracted in the War several very Important Conclusions were made for both a very large Benevolence was granted towards which every person in the Kingdom that receiv'd Wages paid the Tenth Peny every whole Farm Five Crowns which is near as much as the usual Rent of those Farms and the Cities a proportionable Contribution and that for Two Years or if a War hapned for Four And a Resolution was taken to establish a New Colledge of Reduction with Power to reunite to the Crown all such Lands as by former Kings had been alienated by way of Donation or sold at an undervalue The Choice of the Members of this Colledge and the Particulars of their Instructions were left to his Majesty the States only prescribing some general Bounds and especially providing That of such Lands as were to be reunited the value of 70 l. a year should be left to the Possessor The care of the future Security of the Kingdom the States recommended to his Majesty praying him to make such an Establishment of the Militia and Preparation of the Fleet and Fortresses as should appear needful So favourable was this Conjuncture for the Advancement of the King's Authority that he scarce needed to ask whatever he desired each Body of the States striving which should out-bid the other in their Concessions The Nobility and Gentry who universally depend on the King as not being able to subsist upon their own private Fortunes without some additional Office were under a Necessity to comply with every thing rather than hazard their present Employments or future Hopes of Advancement their Interest therefore obliged them to keep pace with the Officers of the Army that sate in their House and some others of their Brethren who vigorously promoted the King's Affairs The Clergy Burghers and Peasants were easily persuaded That the Miseries they had suffered proceeded from the too great Power of the Nobility that the King could never be too much trusted his Majesty having so oft exposed his Life to the greatest Dangers in Defence of his Subjects it was their Duty to make all the grateful Returns they were able besides they were glad of an occasion of humbling the Nobility who in Prosperity were always imperious and concluded that the burthen falling upon them would redound to their own ease These Dispositions of the People added to the excessive Affection they had for the King's Person from an Opinion of his Piety and Admiration of his Courage gave him an opportunity to lay the Foundations of as Absolute a Sovereignty as any Prince in Europe possesses The Project of which great Alteration his Majesty as was supposed received from Baron Iohn Gyldenstiern a Minister of Great Abilities and as great an Enemy to the Senate He had waited on the King in the War and drawn to himself the Management of all weighty Affairs and perhaps expected to hold the same Post upon this Great Revolution which in the former Constitution he could not hope but before this Assembly and soon after his return from an Embassy in Denmark he died not without suspicion of Foul play Upon these Foundations his Majesty after the Separation of the States set his Ministers earnestly to work and with an Unwearied Application took Cognizance of their Proceedings Foreign Affairs were committed to Count Benedict Oxenstiern Monsieur Ehrenstien and Monsieur Oernstedt persons of great Experience and Abilities The Count began to be employ'd in Publick Affairs at the Treaty of Munster at which he was for some time and has since been for the most part in Embassies especially in Germany and was then return'd from the Treaty of Nimeguen where he had 't is said upon his Lady's account entertain'd a violent Aversion to France and being made President of the Chancery in the room of Count Magnus de la Gardie who was laid aside he took care to give his Majesty the same Impressions laying before him how that Court by corrupting his Ministers had engag'd Sueden in the War of which his Majesty had felt the miseries and was forced to sit down with the Loss of some Territories in Germany besides Forty Sail of good Ships and above 100000 men all which might either have been prevented or repair'd if France had not sacrific'd Sueden to its own Interest That the Subsidy was rather distributed by French Commissaries and employ'd in their own Service than paid to his Majesty who oft times in his greatest need could not be supplied out of that Fund That his Majesty could neither be Master of his own Counsels nor make any tolerable Figure in Europe so long as he was esteemed a Pensioner and a Mercenary These and the like Reasons moved the King to command each Member of the Privy Council to put in Writing what Measures they thought advisable for him to take in relation to Foreign Affairs in which some of them argued very warmly for France but the Reasons on the other side were more prevalent with his Majesty who thereupon took such Resolutions as produced the Guaranty League with Holland and other Counsels that Sueden has since pursu'd For the management of Affairs at Home his Majesty employed Baron Claudius Flemingh whose Father having been ill used by the Regents in the King's Minority had left him several
and the frequent and heavy Taxes imposed by the States are no less sensible to those of inferior Degrees that perhaps the King of Sueden has lost as much in the Affection of his Subjects as he has gain'd in his Revenue yet this is not like to produce any bad Effects since the King knows so well how to make himself obeyed and has such effectual means in his hands not only to restrain any disorders but to engage the greatest part of the Nation to his Interest For the Distribution of all Imployments of any Value in the Kingdom belongs to his Majesty and the Nobility and Gentry as well as others are under a greater necessity than ever of rendring themselves acceptable to him that they may get Employments Besides his Majesty has lately thought fit to cause all that are in Office to renew their Oath of Fidelity the Tenor of which has been accommodated to the present Government The Instructions also of all Governors of Provinces and other both Civil and Military Officers have been revised and renewed And as a new Body of Laws Ecclesiastical is already published so the Common Laws of the Kingdom are under Consideration to be rendred more plain full and suitable to the present State of things according to the mind of the King and those that are his Advisers in this Change yet all this Power and Provision is not by the Court it self thought sufficient to keep an Oppressed People from Disorders nor would it likely long do so if the King did not by great Applications and Deferences court the Clergy and by no small degrees of Compliance with them not only in Ecclesiastical but even in Civil Affairs cultivate their Fidelity and Affection and this because the Priests have very great and uncontroulable Interest and Authority among the Common People who only can make Disturbances and can at their pleasure inflame or appease them CHAP. X. Of the Privy-Council THE Ancient Constitution which gave them the Title of Senators of the Kingdom gave them also Authority not only to advise in all business of Importance but in some Cases to admonish and over-rule the King who was not at Liberty to transact any weighty Affairs without the Concurrence of a majority of the Senate and tho the King chose them yet the States received their Oath which rather exprest their Fidelity to the Kingdom in general than to the King their Office was for Life and not only attempts upon their Person but Defamation of them was accounted Treason But the Late Revolution has effectually delivered the King from this as they call it Encroachment upon Royalty and Prerogative and reduced those Officers to the Title and proper Duties of Privy-Counsellors putting it into the King's Power to employ them as he thinks fit to ask their Counsel as he sees occasion and to lay such of them aside as he finds convenient which his Majesty accordingly practices some of them being laid aside and the remainder together with those the King hath added to them are disperst into various Imployments and very rarely meet in a Body his Majesty transacting all Affairs both Domestick and Foreign with the proper Officers to whom they are immediately intrusted without the Participation of the whole Council The number of Privy-Counsellors is at present about Eighteen each of them has a Salary of 300 l. a year and most have other beneficial Employments CHAP. XI Of the States of Sueden THE Boundless Liberality of the three last Sessions of the States hath left that Body little more than its Ancient Name and a Power of Consent to such Impositions as the King's Occasions require which he chuses rather to receive through their hands than imploy his Authority in a matter so apt to Administer occasion of Discontent Their usual time of Assembly is once in three Years or oftner if the Affairs of the Kingdom require it The Letters for calling them together are sent to the Governors of Provinces who thereupon write to each Nobleman and Gentleman in their Province and to the Bishops who cause the same to be published in all Churches The Body of the Nobility and Gentry are represented by one of each Family of which there are about a Thousand in Sueden and with them the Collonel Lieutenant-Collonel Major and one Captain of each Regiment sit and vote For the Clergy besides the Bishops and Superintendents in each Rural Deanery or Ten Parishes one is chosen and maintained at the Charge of his Electors these make a Body of about Two hundred The Representatives of the Burghers are chosen by the Magistrates and Common-Council of each Corporation of which Stockholm sends Four others Two and some One who make about One hundred and fifty The Peasants of each District chuse one of their own Quality to appear for them whose Charges they bear and give him Instructions in such matters as they think need Redress they are about Two hundred and fifty Their first meeting when at Stockholm is in a large Room in the Castle called the Hall of the Kingdom where his Majesty being seated on a Throne and the Privy-Counsellors sitting at some distance the President of the Chancery makes them a Complement in the King's Name and then a Secretary reads his Majesty's Proposals to them in which they are acquainted with the State of Affairs since their Recess and the present occasion of their Advice and Assistance To which first the Marshal of the Nobility who is chosen by the King returns an answer and kisses the King's hand and after him the Archbishop in the Name of the Clergy the first Burgher master of Stockholm for the Burghers and one of the Peasans for his Brethren They then separate into four several Houses and chuse a Secret Committee composed of an equal Number of each Body who receive from the King's Ministers such further Informations of his Majesty's Pleasure as are not thought fit to be communicated in publick and thereupon prepare such matters as are to be proposed to the several Bodies In each House matters are concluded by majority of Voices and if one or more of these Bodies differ in Opinion from the rest they are either brought over by persuasions or the point remains unconcluded When the Affairs proposed by the King are finished they then insinuate their Grievances each Body severally to which the King returns such Answers as he thinks sit and to each Member of the three Inferiour Bodies an Authentick Copy is delivered as well of the general Conclusion made by the whole States as of the King's Answer to the Grievances of his respective Body which he carries home to his Electors CHAP. XII Of the Revenue of the Kingdom THE standing Revenues of the Kingdom of Sueden arise from Crown-Lands Customs Poll-Money Tythes Copper and Silver-Mines Proceedings at Law and other less considerable Particulars which are calculated in all to near a Million of Pounds a Year of which the Lands make above one Third and the Customs
almost a Fourth The Poll-money is paid only by the Peasants each of which above Sixteen and under Sixty pays about Twelvepence a year In the Treasury-Chamber a President now Baron Fabian Wrede with Four Counsellors and other Officers sit and act as a Court of Justice in such matters as relate to the King's Revenue but they make no Assignments that being the business of the Contoir of State in which the Commissary in conjunction with the President dispose of all Payments but yet not without Orders immediately from the King At the beginning of every Year they make a Calculation of what is likely to come in and what will remain above the ordinary Charge which they lay before his Majesty and receive his Orders what Debts shall first be paid The greatest part of the King's Money passes through the Bank and thereby saves the Charge of Officers to recieve and pay it there being between the Contoir of State and the Bank only one Rent-master as they stile him who keeps account with them both and gives Assignments according to the Orders he recieves The Revenue is supposed at present to exceed the ordinary Charge of the Crown and the King having lately had three several extraordinary Contributions and vast Forfeitures from the Faulty Ministers of State as also great Advantages in recovering the Debts due to the Crown would have his Coffers well fill'd if the Building of Ships and paying of Debts contracted in the last War had not drain'd them in some measure In 1686 it was told the States in the King's Name That in Six Years time his Majesty had paid Debts to above Two Millions of Pounds tho many of them were paid with little Money besides the Building of about Thirty Ships And yet 't is generally believed the King is not ill provided with Ready Cash and there is great necessity for such Provision to supply any pressing occasion since the Credit of Sueden is very low Abroad and at Home the ordinary Taxes are so high that the people cannot long furnish any Additional and Extraordinary Assistances that as the Crown has resumed all former Liberalities and with Rigour exacted its utmost Right so it must chiefly depend upon those Funds little being to be expected from the People and no Credit from Abroad in case of Extremity since those that have formerly trusted the Crown have been so very ill used and neither the States of the Kingdom if they should interpose their Engagements are in a condition to make them good nor can any Dependance be made upon the Security either of the Crown-Lands or any other Branch of the Revenue since the late Resumption of those Lands and Revocation of such Securities have destroy'd all future Faith CHAP. XIII Of the Forces of Sueden THE Reputation gain'd and the Conquests made by Sueden in this and the last Age has not so much been owing to its Native Strength as to Foreign Assistance of Germans French English and especially Scots of whom they have used great Numbers in all their Wars with Moscovy Poland Germany and Denmark and by them the Art of War and Military Discipline has been by degrees introduced into this Nation that in former times had only the advantage of Courage and Numbers for tho the Original Constitution of the Countrey and its Division into Hundreds and other larger Portions that still retain Military Names seems to have been the work of Armies and the frequent Expeditions of the Goths and other Inhabitants of these parts shew That in all Ages they were addicted to War and Violence yet it was in a disorderly and tumultuous manner their Infantry always consisting of unexperienced Peasants raised for the occasion and disbanded as soon as it was over The Feudal Laws indeed which are supposed to have had their Birth amongst these people provided for a competent Number of Cavalry all Estates of the Nobility and Gentry being held by Knights Service and while the Kingdom was Elective the Kings were bound to maintain some Forces of Horse out of the Revenues of the Crown but this Establishment had been in a great measure corrupted and the Kingdom so shatter'd with Domestick Broils that it made a very inconsiderable Figure and was little known in Europe till the Crown became Hereditary and the Interest of the Royal Family concerned in the Strength and Prosperity of the Nation Since that time the Standing Forces of the Kingdom have been augmented yet not so effectually established as its necessities required for it generally happened that the Nobility and Gentry were so backward in fitting out their Horse and the Levies of Foot not being to be made without the consent of the Peasants in the Assembly of the States it was so hardly obtain'd that the Regiments were very thin and Recruits extreme difficult nor were the Officers Salaries so punctually paid as to enable them to be in readiness on all occasions To remedy these Inconveniences the present King on whom the States had conferr'd an Absolute Power to put the Militia into such a Method as he should think fit has made such Regulations in all the Particulars relating to this Matter as were requisite to bring it to Perfection The new Injunctions he has made about the Cavalry that the Nobility and Gentry furnish are so exact that 't is not in their power to put either the Man or the Horse that are once Listed to other Employments than what are there specified but must have them in a continual Readiness whenever they are call'd upon with such Arms and Equipage as his Majesty hath directed In default of which severe Penalties are inflicted and the Estates they hold by that Service subject to Confiscation For the Infantry the King has taken the like Care and whereas formerly no Levies could be made but by Consent of the States and that but by small parcels at a time and with such disturbance that on those occasions 't was usual for half the Peasants to run into the Woods and other hiding places to escape being made Soldiers This has been remedied by the King's Commissioners who have distributed the Infantry of each Province proportionably to the Number of Farms each of which of the Value of about 60 or 70 l. a Year not being appropriated to the Officers or other peculiar Services is charged with one Foot Soldier who receives from the Farmer Dyet Lodgings ordinary Cloaths and about Twenty Shillings a Year in Money or else a little Wooden House is built for him at the Farmer 's Charge who must also furnish him with as much Hay as will keep a Cow in Winter and Pasturage in Summer and Plow and Sow for him such a parcel of Ground as will afford him Bread they that are marry'd as many of them are generally accept this latter Condition the unmarried Soldiers usually abide with the Farmer but are not bound to do him any Service without Wages when they have once taken the Peasants Money and are Listed
of Bahunz scituate upon a Rock in the midst of a deep River but overlookt by the Rocks near it The City of Gottenburgh is a well fortified place but wholly Commanded by the Neighbouring Hills The Town of Marstrand and the Castle of Elfsburgh lie towards the Sea on that side towards Denmark are Waerburgh Halmstad Landscrone and Malmo places of good defence Upon the Baltick Shoar are Carlescrone and Calmar with two small Forts at the entrance of the River leading to Stockholm The Northern parts are covered with Lapland the Borders of Finland towards Russia with vast Woods and Morasses and in some parts with Castles and Forts In Liefland besides Riga Revell and Narva which are very strong places there are several considerable Fortresses CHAP. XIV Of the Trade of Sueden THO' Sueden has in all Times furnisht Europe with those necessary Comodities it abounds with yet either the Warlike Temper the Idleness or Ignorance of the Inhabitants has formerly kept them from being much concern'd in Trade and given Strangers the Management and Advantage of it which for a long time the Hans Towns scituate on the Baltick Sea monopolized till the Seven Provinces of the Netherlands were Erected into a Republick and became Sharers with them Before that time very little Iron was made in Sueden but the Oar being run into Pigs was carried to Dantzick and other Parts of Prussia and there forged into Bars for which reason the Country Smiths in England call Foreign Iron Dansk or Spruce Iron The Nation owes the greatest Improvements it has made in Trade to the Art and Industry of some ingenious Mechanicks that the Cruelty of the Duke de Alva drove into these parts their Success invited great Numbers of Reformed Waloons to transplant thither whose Language and Religion remains in the places they settled in where they erected Forges and other Conveniences for making of Iron Guns Wire and all other Manufactures of Copper Brass and Iron which for the most part are still carried on by their Posterity The Suedish Navigation was very inconsiderable till Queen Christina at the Conclusion of the War in 1644. obtained from Denmark a Freedom from Customs for all Ships and Goods belonging to Suedish Subjects in their Passage thro' the Sound and establisht in her own Dominions that difference in Customs that still subsists between Suedish and Foreign Ships and is in proportion of 4 5 6 the first called Wholefree the second Half and the last Vnfree so that where a whole free Suedish Ship pays 400 Crowns half free pays 500 and a Foreign Vessel 600. But as great as this Advantage was it had but little effect till the English Art of Navigation bridled the Hollanders and opened the Intercourse between England and Sueden Since that time their Commerce has been much augmented as well as ours that way and Goods transported by both or either Party according to the various junctures of Affairs When Sueden has been engaged in a War the English Ships have had the whole Employ but in times of Peace the Advantage is so great on the Suedish side and Merchants so much encouraged by Freedom in Customs to employ their Ships that English Bottoms cannot be used in that Trade but only while Sueden is unprovided with a number of Ships sufficient for the Transportation of their own Commodities whether it be feasible to lay a Duty upon Suedish Ships importing Goods into England proportionable to what is laid upon Foreign Vessels there or whether the Matter be of so great Importance as to merit such a Resolution does not belong to this Discourse to determine The chief Commodities Sueden vends are Copper Iron Pitch Tar Masts Deals and Wooden Ware besides the Commodities exported from Liefland to the value of about 700000 l. a Year in return of which they receive from abroad Salt Wines and Brandy Cloth Stuffs Tobacco Sugar Spices Paper Linnen and several other sorts of Goods which are supposed commonly to ballance their Exportations and sometimes exceed them Their Trade to Portugal for Salt is accounted most necessary as without great quantities of which they cannot subsist That with England is more beneficial because it takes off almost half their own Commodities and brings in near two thirds of Money for one of Goods The worst is their French Trade in regard it rather supplies their Vanities than Necessities and gives little or no vent to the Commodities of the Country The general Direction of their Trade belongs to the Colledge of Commerce which consists of the President of the Treasury and Four Councellors who hear Causes of that nature and redress any Disorders that happen The Bank at Stockholm is of great benefit to Trade as well in regard that the King's Customs for that City are paid in there as also that the Merchants ordinarily make Payments to each other by Bills drawn upon it which eases them of a great Trouble in Transporting their Money from place to place that would otherwise be very difficult and chargeable This Bank is well constituted and was in very good Credit whilst it had the States of the Kingdom for its Guarrantees of which it has now but the Shadow those States being and are now stiled the Kings not Kingdoms States so that all its Foundation derives now from the Will and Pleasure of the King which may on several occasions diminish not only its own Sufficiency but also the Confidence of those that make use of it The Management of the Trade of Sueden has always in the main been in the Hands of Strangers most of the Natives wanting either Capacity or Application and all of them Stocks to drive it for without Credit from abroad they are not able to keep their Iron-works going and therefore at the beginning of Winter they usually make Contracts with the English and other Foreigners who then advance considerable Sums and receive Iron in Summer Were it not for this necessity Foreign Merchants would have but little Encouragement or scarcely Permission to Live and Trade amongst them and even as the Case stands their Treatment of them is as rigorous as in any Country occasioned chiefly by the Envy of the Burghers who cannot with any Patience see a Stranger thrive among them This is less sensible to Hollanders and others many of whom become Burghers and the rest by their near way of Living are less subject to Envy but is more especially the Case of the English Merchants who find it not their Interest to become Burghers and usually live somewhat too high The Interest of England in the Trade of Sueden may be computed by the Necessity of their Commodities to us and the vent of ours there their Copper Iron Tar Pitch Masts c. cannot be had elsewhere except from America whence it has been supposed such Supplies may be furnished and if so this Consideration ought in reason to have an Influence on the Suedish Councels and engage them to make the English Trade with them as
easie as possible that the Merchants be not driven upon new Designs As to our Importations thither it has already been said that they scarce amount to one third of what we export from thence and consist chiefly of Cloth Stuffs and other Woollen Manufactures of which has been formerly vended yearly there to the value of about 50000 l. besides these Tobacco New-Castle Coals Pewter Lead Tin Fruits and Sugar with several other of our Commodities are sold at this Market as also good quantities of Herrings from Scotland with other of their Wares that in all we are supposed to vend Goods to about 100000 l. a Year whereof if any more than half be paid for it is extraordinary But the making of Cloth in Sueden to supply the Army c. which has been formerly endeavoured without Success being now encouraged and assisted by the Publick and undertaken by some Scots and others has of late and does now prove a great hindrance to the Vent of our Cloth there And to favour this Undertaking English Cloth is now unless it be such finer Cloths as cannot be made here clogg'd with such excessive Duties as render the Importation of it impracticable These Undertakers have got Workmen from Germany and some from England and besides the German Wool they use they receive great quantities from Scotland supposed to be practiced out of England without which they cannot work Yet as at present the English Trade in Sueden is of the Importance above mentioned notwithstanding the Abatements aforesaid it is however considerable and will be so while their Commodities continue to be necessary and those that are concern'd in it will deserve as they need Protection and Encouragement The last Treaty of Commerce between the Two Nations expired several Years ago and that of an older Date neither suits the present State of Things nor has been thought by the Suedes to subsist tho' now for their own Interest they insist upon the contrary accordingly their Treatment of the English is only in reference to their own convenience And as the Subject of former Complaints still remains so new Burthens are frequently imposed upon them Sometimes they have demanded of Merchants that were leaving the Country a sixth part of the Estate they had got in it and arrested their Effects on that account And besides others that more directly concern their Trade the quartering of Soldiers and paying of Contributions has been exacted for some Years and sometimes the English forced to submit to it In the Year 1687. upon their Petition to the King for redress of these Impositions which were than laid very high upon some above 50 l. upon others 40 30 c. besides that such of them as kept House had Soldiers quartered upon them some 3 6 or 8. In answer to their Petition a Placaet was publish'd declaring that they should be exempt from those Payments but withal that no Foreign Merchant should continue to Trade in Sueden above Two Months in a Year unless he would become a Burgher In pursuance of which Resolution their Ware-houses were shut up for some time and the Suedes seem resolved to proceed to extremity but have not put that Resolution generally in Execution tho' they seem to wait for an Opportunity and now and then they try it upon particular Persons to see how Foreign Princes will take it The Law that exacts the third part of such Foreign Merchants Estate as die in Sueden has not in effect been so beneficial to the Suedes as frightful to the Merchants who especially the English for that and other reasons never think of marrying and settling there so long as their Affairs are in good order and they in a Condition to return home with a competent Estate and Credit upon which account England seems to be less concern'd to endeavour the repeal of that Law it being more useful to have Sueden a Nursery for young Merchants than a place of Settlement for those that have got Estates CHAP. XV. Of the Suedish Conquests THE ancient Expeditions of the Goths and the Kingdoms they erected in France Spain Italy and elsewhere upon the Ruins of the Roman Empire have little Connexion with the present State of the Country and only shews that their Nation was then much more populous and powerful than it has been in latter times which is generally ascribed to the use of Polygamy among them while they were Heathens but the Conquests which continue to be beneficial to Sueden at this day are of a much later Date For it was not till the Year 1560. that the Suedes got footing in Liefland When the Knights Templers who were Masters of those Parts being overthrown by the Muscovites King Erick of Sueden was invited by the Inhabitants of Revell and the Country adjacent to take them into his Protection which he consented to and the Door being thus opened the Crown of Sueden has by degrees wrested from the Poles and Muscovites the greatest part of Liefland and some Provinces of Russia adjoyning to it Countries of inestimable value to Sueden as which both cover it from the Incursions of the Poles and Muscovites and furnish it with plentiful Supplies of Corn and other Commodities besides the Benefit it reaps by the vast Trade of those Parts On the side of Denmark besides Yempterland and Hercadale Two Northerly Provinces lying opposite to Norway they have recovered the rich Countries of Schonen Halland and Blecking which joyn to the Body of Sueden and gave the Danes while they possess'd them free entrance into the very Heart of the Country They have also got from the Danes the Territory of Bahnus which prevents all Inroads from that side of Norway These together with the Countries of Pomerania and Bremen are so considerable that their Writers own that the present Royal Family hath augmented the Kingdom near one half only with this Disadvantage that all the Neighbours of Sueden are thereby disobliged and watch all opportunities to retrieve their Losses so that Sueden can never firmly depend upon the Friendship of Denmark Poland Muscovy or any other Neighbouring Princes CHAP. XVI Of the Interest of Sueden THE great Domestick Interest of Sueden has been of late thought to consist in the Advancement of the King's Revenue and Authority at home in order to make him more formidable abroad so that the Nation has had no Interest distinct from the King 's as the King on the other side would seem to have an inseparable Connexion with the Prosperity of his Subjects in general and most especially of the Yeomanry or Peasants who are accounted the Basis of the Kingdom rather than the Trading part therefore tho' the Peasants have not been spared from bearing a considerable Share of the common Burthen yet more care has been taken to make it sit easie upon them than upon the rest and they delivered from the Oppression of the Fellow Subjects which they formerly laboured under the Encouragement of Trade and Manufactures is also the King's
Care and great Wonders are expected from it but doubtless there is much more in their Imaginations than will ever be found in the Effect It is also found the King's Interest to keep the Nobility and Gentry very low In Matters of Religion his Majesty has no other Interest than to maintain the present Establishment and keep the Clergy to the due Performance of their Duty which admits of little or no difficulty In general the chief Domestick Interest of the King of Sueden is to preserve the Government in its present State and secure it such to his Successors it being constituted so much to the Advantage of the Royal Family that in that regard it can hardly be bettered by any Change In relation to Foreign Affairs it is apparently the Interest of Sueden to avoid all offensive War as being already in the quiet Possession of as many conquer'd Provinces on all sides as it can well defend tho' more would not displease them if they could be got with safety to maintain a good Correspondence with Moscovy by a due Observation of the Treaty lately concluded and endeavour to end the Point of Separation of the Limits which is the only Matter that can be like to create Trouble on that side with Poland Sueden has little occasion of difference or reason to apprehend any Quarrel neither does it seem the Interest of Sueden to aim at any further Enlargements in Germany but rather to use all good Offices to preserve the Treaty of Munster as the Foundation of its Right to Pomerania and Bremen which Provinces are of such Importance to Sueden as rendring it much more considerable to all Europe than it would otherwise be that they will never be parted with so long as Sueden is able to defend them The Intercourse with Denmark has seldom been friendly nor have there ever wanted Grounds of Quarrels when the Conjunctures were favourable tho' at present Sueden seems to have little occasion of Misintelligence with that Crown unless on the account of the State of Affairs abroad and the several Interests they have to mind therein their Agreement in Point of Trade seems to cement them but their Emulation in regard of a Mediation and in other Points is as likely to keep them at a distance nor is it at all probable they ever will or can so far surmount their mutual Distrusts as actually to take part on the same side But in regard of their own Affairs Sueden has gained so much from Denmark already and the Interest of the Trading part of Europe is so much concern'd to hinder it from getting more that being also inferior to Denmark by Sea it is not probable it will in many Years have any design of enlarging its Territories farther on that side tho' it has undoubtedly a longing Desire to Norway which would make it the sole Master of all Naval Stores And Denmark is so much weaker at Land that Sueden has no reason to apprehend it unless Domestick Confusions do happen which in all times Denmark has been ready to foment and has frequently profited by them and it is not very improbable but it may in not many Years have an opportunity of doing so again for which reason especially it is the Interest of Sueden to carry fair and live at peace with Denmark In Point of Alliances the less Sueden can depend upon its Neighbours the more careful it has been to entertain Friendship further from home especially with France which first began about 150 Years ago between Francis the First and Gustavus the First and subsisted till of late Years that the Emperor's Party was thought more agreeable to the Nation 's Interest which it has accordingly espoused The Friendship of England or Holland or both has ever been accounted indispensibly necessary to Sueden in regard of its Weakness by Sea neither has Sueden hitherto engaged in any War where both those Nations were Parties and if such a Case should happen 't is not to be doubted but Sueden would use all possible means to obtain a Peace for that the Country cannot subsist without a quick Vent of its own Commodities and continual Supplies of such Necessaries as it must receive from abroad of which it is very unusual to make any Provision before-hand or lay up greater Stores than what one Winter consumes CHAP. XVII An Extract of the History of Sueden THE Original of the Suedish Nations which their Historians ascribe to Magog Son of Iaphet whose Expedition thither they placed in the Year 88 after the Flood is built upon such uncertain Conjectures as neither deserves to be mention'd nor credited any more than the Names of the Kings supposed to succeed him invented by the Writers to fill up the Vacuities of those dark Times of which other Countries more likely to have been first planted can give so little account therefore tho' the Country might possibly have been early inhabited yet nothing of certainty can be known of it till the coming of Othinus or Woden who was driven out of Asia by Pompey the Great about Sixty Years before the Birth of Christ. From this Woden who as their Histories report conquer'd Moscovy Saxony Sueden Denmark and Norway all Northern Nations have been ambitious to derive their Extraction with him the Heathenish Religion that afterwards prevail'd in the North Witchcraft and other like Arts were brought in as also the Custom of raising great heaps of Earth upon the Graves of Persons of Note and Engraving of Funeral Inscriptions upon Rocks and Stones which yet remain in all Parts of the Country To Woden after his Death Divine Honours were paid as the God of War and as the two first Days of the Week were named after the Sun and Moon and Tuesday after T is or Disa an ancient Idol so Wednesday had its Name from him as Thursday from Thor and Friday from Frigga which three last were long the chief Objects of the Northern Idolatry The Succession of the Kings after Woden is full of confusion the Nation being sometimes parcell'd into several little Kingdoms sometimes into two Sueden and Gothia often subject to Denmark or Norway and sometimes Master of those Countries as also of others more distant where the Goths that forsook their Native Soil happened to plant themselves but when or on what particular occasions they made those Migrations is not certainly known nor how long they had been abroad when they first began to infest the Roman Empire about 300 Years after Christ. That the Saxons who were called into England about the Year 450 were originally a Colony of Goths is conjectured from the Agreement of their Language Laws and Customs But that the Suedes and Goths joyned with the Danes and Norwegians in their Invasion of England about the Year 800 we are assured from our own Historians that expresly mention them with the Character of Barbarous and Pagan Nations as they then were and the same may be concluded from the many Saxon Coyns that