new Batauia To expres this name al that is comprized between the gulphes of the Flye the old Rheyne and the Meuze render them-selues into the Brittish sea the firmnesse of this middle gulph of the Rheyne being the cause hat al this land holds together The which by reason of the continual ditches or downes made to resist the rage of the Sea seperates Batauia from Freezland Pomponius Mela the Geographer calls it a great Lake which is not so vntil the flowing of the Ocean come into the Zuyderzee and so to Amsterdam and Sparendam and from thence by Scluses to Harlem Al which agrees very well with Tacitus who saies it is but a short passage from one side to the other yet it is so large from Encuysen to Harlinghen that with a faire season and a good wind it will aske some foure houres passage To conclude who wil know the manners fashion of liuing and military vertue of the ancient Batauians or Hollanders let him read for the ancient perticularly Cornelius Tacitus and for the moderne Hadrianus Iunius a Phisition of the towne of Horne in his Batauia wherein I doubt not but he shall find much to content him Concerning their vertue and military discipline I dare affirme that the Hollanders at this day doe not only equall their predecessors but farre exceed them both by Land and Sea wherein their Auncestors had no experience as it hath well appeared for these forty yeares against all the attempts of that puissant Monarch of Spayne Dordrecht THis towne is the first in order of 28. in the County of Holland hath the first voyce in the assembly of the Estates for that County It is seated vpon the Merwe but so as this riuer is cōposed of the Rhyne the Wahall the Meuze and Ling which all being ioined in one passe before the town so as we may say it is seated vpon 4. riuers the Merwe Wahal Meuz Ling. And so they represēted the portrait of it by these two lattin verses at the happy entrance of king Philip the 2. into their town in the yeare of our Lord 1549. Me Mosa et Wahalis cum Linga Meruaque cingūt Aeternam Batauae virginis ecce fidem Guirt with the Meuse Wahal the Merwe Ling See Hollands virgin faith vn-altering THere are great diuersities of opinions about the etimologie of the name of it some there are that would haue it called Durdrecht and not Dordrecht saying that this word Drecht was heretofore as much as to say a Fayre or a free market called in lattin Forum Of the which name there are diuers townes after the names of great personages as Forum Varronis not farre from Milan Forum Cornelii in Emilia which is now called Imola Forum Claudii now called Tarentaise Forum Iulii Forum Liuii and others and so by that reason Durarecht should haue its name from some certaine man called Duret yet the Annals of Holland make but small mention of any such The same may bee sayd of Haesstrecht three thousand paces from Tergoude heretofore a towne that had three Castles and two Monasteries now a Village in the middest of the Earldome of Blois between the townes of Schoonhouen and Goude which three townes were the proprietary inheritance of the Earles of Blois as you may more amply read in the general history of the Netherlands The same may likewise be said of Moore-drecht Papendrecht Suyndrecht Barendrecht and Slydrecht all Villages of Holland not farre from Dordrecht which is also witnessed by the old seale of the said towne the circumscription is Sigillum oppidanorum in Durdrecht The seale of the townsmen of Durdrecht It is also found in rec ords amongst others in the Bull of the Emperor Henry the fourth Thure-Drecht Be as it may be in regard of the ancientnesse of the vse and that it lasts to this day we wil giue it no other name but Dordrecht This Towne is long in forme of a compasse rich and well peopled and indeed a very store-house of all things necessary for mans life being since the yeare of our Lord 1421. become an Iland the Wahal the Meuze and the Sea by the breach of a ditch filleth all the gulph which before was firme land and ioyning to the Dutchy of Brabant and drowned 72. Villages where there perished aboue an hundreth thousand soules with al their substance The time of this deluge is expressed by these two lattin verses DurDreChto InCVBVItVIs atroXInCIta VentIs Vrbs quâdIssILVItprotInVs haVsta MarI In one thousand four hundred twenty and one DORT felt that feareful dissolution THis deluge hapned by the wickednesse of a country-man that enuying the prosperity of his neighbour assayed to drowne his land that lay neere the Sea or at least to spoyle it not thinking what would follow and to accomplish this his cursed resolution he wrought a hole through the earth and made a gutter that the water of the Sea might drowne his neighbours land but the vehemency of it was so great that of a little streame the Sea gayning more it made such a gap that it was vnpossible to be stopt and so all the country about Dordrecht as it is yet to bee seene was lost Notwithstanding since by little and little Adrian Cornellis vander Mylen a Bourgue maistet of the said town and his children haue recouered and yet dayly doe recouer a good part of it by vertue of a grant giuen by Charles the fifth Emperour to the said Bourguemaister so that at this day there are fayre feeldes in firme land adioyning to the sayd Towne with the little Castell of Craesteyne belonging to the said Vander Mylen This Towne especially the streete called Den Langen-dike hath the most fayre and lofty buildings that are to bee found in all Holland with their store-houses and caues for Wines all vaulted so that they neuer see neither Sunne or Moone There is a fayre great Church where there had wont to bee a Colledge of Chanons The history of Holland sets downe certaine foolish fables of the foundation of this Church which I forbeare to repeat for that they are too ridiculous A Faucon shotte from that part of the towne towards Papendrecht there are high and eminent reliques of the Castle of Merwe neere to the ditch where before the Inundation was as also of the Village and Barony of Merwe from whence the Lords of Asperen and Langueraeck haue their Barony inioying yet both profits and preheminences in the towne of Dordrecht Holding vppon certaine dayes in the yeare either in his owne person or by his Bailyffe or sheriff as large power in iudging causes as the Bourguemaister and Councell of the town whose authority in case of iustice at this day ceases In this drown'd land and in the Merwe there are great store of Salmons and Sturgeons taken besides it abounds in sundry other sort of fishes the water beeing for foure or fiue leagues sweete The priuiledge and right of the staple for all sorts of Marchandise
excellent Poesie as appeareth by the Lawrel crowne that the Emperor Maximillian the first sent him by his orator Stephanus of Crocouia It was he that first controlled Gerard of Nymegen in his booke that he writt of the true situation of Batauia or Holland betweene the Hornes of the Rhine which the said Gerard of Nymegen would haue attributed to the Betuwe a part of Gelderland wherein the said Aurelius liuely expresses the honor of the Hollanders who in his youth was brought vp by that so much renowned Erasmus of Rotterdam being begotten at Goude but by remooue of dwelling borne and brought vp at Rotterdam There are many other learned famous persons sprung from this towne too long here to rehearse of whom Iustus Lypsius Ianus Gruterus and Dominicus Baudius of Lille in Flanders haue amply written in their workes Notwithstanding that throughout all the townes of the Netherlands many bloody decrees haue beene executed for religion on both parts yet they of this towne haue bin so moderate euen to great Papists their neighbors and in their power that in a hundreth years more there haue bin but three executed vpon those placarts or decrees whereof one was an Anabaptist who being secretly aduertised by the Magistrat that he should retire himselfe yet hee came and rendred himselfe into the hands of the officer whereby it may appeare that they of Goude haue euer detested tyrannie and persecution beleeuing that it belongs onely to God to command the conscience ENCHVYSEN THis towne of Enchuysen hath taken name from the fewnesse of houses it had at the first being by little and little become a great towne as is to be seene at this day this word Enckle huysen signifying little â—r simple houses It is a faire towne and by the naturall situation very strong opposed to the rigor of the sea standing vpon a corner of the land their traffique by sea makes them riche and opulent it is for the most part built of faire masonrie hauing very few houses of wood for feare of fire which they haue once or twice before had experience of for you may read in the Annales of Holland that in the yeare of our Lord 1297. the Lords of Arkell Putten burnt it all and yet within twenty yeares after it was made greater by the halfe for all the salt pitts that were along the sea banke and the marishes behind are now within the walls with many faire gardens fish-ponds There are two passages out to sea and three hauens at one of the which entrances there is a great tower wherevpon is engrauen a Lattin distique made by D' Adrianus Iunius vpon the attempt that Charles the last Duke of Gelders made for the surprize of it that he might get an entrance into Holland it expresses the time of the attempt and is this EnChVsaM InsIdIIs taCitIs sVh noCte sILentI Obâ—Vere adnI Xa est Ge LrICa perfIdIa The trecheroVs GeLDrols soVght by Violent Might T' haVe tane EnchVIsen through the Vayle of n Ight. This town is rich in salt pits the InhabitaÌ„ts fetching grosse salt from Brouage by Rochel or in Spaine and some-times from the salt Ilands where they haue it for nothing and after boile it again and refine it multiplying it with sea-water brought them in boates taking the heate away making it white fit for the table their are as sufficient store of sluces in this town and about it for the passage of sea-water as in France or Spaine but the sharpnesse of the sunne is not of that force to congeale and harden it as in other places heretofore they made great aboundance of salt of the ashes of turues sea-water after the manner of making of salt-peeter at this day which they call Silt-sout whereof they make a great traffick but since that they haue traded to Spaine and France from thence brought in their great shippes what quantity the will this maner of making it is come to nothing it beeing vnpossible that that which they made in diuerse places should be so good as that which is made of the pure sea-water This towne may very fitly be called Neptunes seate for that their ships passe all the seas of the world and haue had the honor to carry and bring backe the Emperor in diuerse of his expeditions and likewise sundry times King Philip his sonne and since â—nne of Austria his wife the daughter of the Emperor Maximillian the second They carry in their armes three herrings argent and two stars or in a field Azure as a fatall and certaine Augure presaging that after the manner of herrings they should cut through all seas and trade to the one and other pole which at this time they doe In this towne dwelt Doctor Paludanus an exquisite Phisition and great gatherer together of strange and rare antiquities to such an Infinite number that they could hardly bee seene peece by peece in three daies the maruelous workes of nature as well proceeding from the land as the sea and the secret workes of God being therein to bee contemplated admired but I vnderstand since a great part of them haue bin sould to the Lantgraue of Hessen HORNE ABout the yeare 1316. in the time of Count William the third of that name called the good Earle of Holland Zeeland Henault and West-freezeland this towne tooke his little beginning in this manner When the towne of Veronne neere Alckmar was destroyed by the Frisons there was a great sluce in the ditch where at this day the market place of the sayd towne stands which was called Roestein by the which the country people entred into the sea with their barkes It happened that three brothers cittizens of Hambourgh came and went thither with shippes laden with beere who caused three high houses of stone to be built there for the Frisons for the Danes came thither ordinarily with oxen kine horses and other marchandise passing the sea with their little ships from the Cimbrique Chersonesus or the country of Holstein so that from time to time by little and little it began to augment in buildings first became a village afterwardes a towne and at last a good city one of these three houses remained entire 220. years after vntill the yeare 1430. The other two beeing ruined were built againe but not with so great stones as this third There is some diuersity of opinion about the etymology of the name of Horne which signifies as well a hunters horne as otherwise some say it is of the hauen of the towne that turnes in forme of a little horne others say that this same place was full of bogges where now the ditches and walls of the towne are and that there grew there certaine plants in great quantity in forme of a horne the which beeing cut either aboue or below one might winde as of a cornet The streete of the said towne that is called the New Dam where the woodmongers and shoomakers dwell and where the turue boats
as Wine Corne Wood and other commodities that passe by them comming out of Germanie Gelderland Cleues and Iuilliers belonging to this towne of Dordrecht VVell seeing wee haue made mention of this word Staple it followes necessarily for the true vnderstanding of it that we say something both for the name and vse of it The word Estaple is a French word deriued from the lattin word Stabulum so that the word Staple is a market or publicke place in a towne ordained for the bestowing of VVine Corne VVood and other Marchandise that comes frō other countries euery Towne hauing their seuerall priuiledges according to the graunt of the Prince Not without great greefe and vexation to others both Marchants and Marryners that bring them thether As for example The towne of Arras is the Staple for Arthois and Valenciennes for Henault for Wines that are brought out of France by land into the Low-Countries So that the Marchants or Carryers are constrained to bring them thether before any other place and there to bee stayde a certayne time in the Staple to see who will buy in the Market the which beeing done they may carrie them away whether they thinke best The towne of Middlebourgh in Zealand is the Staple for Wines that come from France Spayne Portugal and other Countryes brought thether by Sea But the priuiledges of the town of Dordrecht are more strickt and compelling for they are of fuch force and vertue that what-souer is brought either by the Rhyne or Meuze be it corne wine pitch cole or any other Marchandise passing by them they are compelled vppon paine of forfeyture of all if they bee taken not hauing payed their duty to discharge their boates or barkes in their Hauen and to paie all rights customes impostes and other duties what-soeuer and also to discharge their Marchaundise in Shippes of the towne or of the Cittizens and free Marryners or else to make some agreement with them and so they may passe them in those that belong to the custome or impost And notwithstanding that the priuiledges are at this present diuers and vary one from another according to the nature of the marchandise and condition of the townes to whome such priuileges are graunted yet they haue euer from the first beginning beene called by the name of Estaple The which being sometimes in one towne sometimes in another either for the scituation or some other occation cause a great commodity and benifit to the country both in generall and particuler and a faire reuenew and large profit to the Prince of the same This towne as the first in rancke hath power to coyne both siluer and gold a priueledge denied to any other towne of Holland what-so-euer In this towne the Prince or Earle of Holland is put in possession of this county taking his oth to the states of the country and receiuing their homage and feallty Harlem THe second towne of Holland in rancke and prerogatiue is the towne of Harlem which within this thirty yeares before Amsterdam was made greater was the greatest and fairest of all Holland as well in faire buildings as sweete and good temperature of ayre hauing neither the Sea nor Marishes or Fens to annoy it feared in the middest of a good land fit both for tillage and for pasture enuironed with faire country houses Farmes little woods and many castles and villages and to conclude seated reasonable high and very pleasant It hath one very great Church with a high steeple supported with great columnes or pillars and much longer then any other in the Low-countries There passeth now through it a riuer called Sparre which falls out of a lake of fresh water into the chanell that runnes towards the townes of Amsterdam and Leyden which is called the sea of Harlem which riuer hath bene drawne with great labour and charge from that of Tye by the sluces of Sparendam about halfe a league from thence before the towne on that side towards Leyden there was heretofore a very pleasant wood which during the seege of the Spaniards was cut downe by the Allamaines that were quartred on that side in the village of Hemsted But within a few yeares after the Magistrate of the towne caused it to be replanted so as in a short time it became as pleasant as it was before seruing the inhabitants of the towne for delightfull walkes for the excersise of their spirits and keeping many people of the towne from the Tauernes and such other places in passing their time there There is there likewise made very great store of fine white linnen cloth much desired and sought for from Spaine Italy and other countries and also good wollen cloth which for the dye equalls any other country and is like-wise transported into forraine regions Touching the Etymology or deriuation of the name I may not rely vpon Lewis Guichardine who hath followed the old Dutch chronicle of Holland but rather follow that learned Phisition and Historiographer of Horne Doctor Adrianus Iunius who affirmes that the Harlemois are issued from the bloud of the Kings of Freezland who first built both the their towne and castle in the yeare of the natiuity of our Sauiour Iesus Christ fiue hundred and sixe The castle was seated vpon the chanell that runnes towards Egmont not farre from Heimskirk all built of great and large bricke as yet at this day is to be seene by the ruines and ground worke of the walls The demolishment whereof some attribute to the tyrany of the Lord of the place others to the fury of the people who sought to extirpe and roote out the Nobility This castle alone at this time was not demolished but like a violent thunder they threw downe all to the ground Seeing wee are speaking of this castle I thinke it not amisse although it be set downe in the history of the Netherlands to relate a memorable accident that then hapned as a strange note of true coniugall loue And thus it was The Lord of the place hauing by his exaction and cruelty made him-selfe odious to all his people and he and his wife being beseeged and so prest for want of victualls that he was compelled hauing no other meanes to escape to enter into treaty for the rendering of the towne His wife atrue mirror of piety and loue towards her husband among other articles for the rendring of the towne capitulated that shee might haue as much of her most pretious mooueables as she could carry out at one time the which being graunted shee with the helpe of her chamber-maide carried her husband lockt in a chest out of the castle leauing all her rings and iewells behind her In imitation of the wife of Guelphe Duke of Bauaria who in the like necessity prayed the Emperor Conrad that she and her Ladies might carry out that which they held most deare and pretious the Emperor imagining it was nothing but their rings and iewels shee and all the Ladies after her example tooke her husband on her
by two brothers borne in this towne whose equals in this art of painting haue not to this houre bin found The 12. of Ianuary 1552. the steeple of this Church was burnt by thunder and lightning of the date whereof D. Adrians Iuuius in his Batauia hath made this distique LVX bIssena fVIt IanI hora vespere nona CVM sacra IohannIS VVLCano CorpVII aedes The tWeLfth of IanVarâ—e SaInt Iohns SpIre At nIne a cLoCk was MVCH Impaird with fire The which mischieuous fire burnt nothing but the said steeple and a part of the church notwithstanding that it was enuiron'd with houses But about an hundreth yeares before in the yeare of our Lord 1438. the 18. of August vpon Saint Lewis his day the towne was wholy burnt except three houses vpon the Hauen the old ruines of them being yet to bee seene At this time the old charters and priuiledges of this towne were burnt wherevpon this distique was made FLetIbVs Id dIaICI qVIa GoVda Cre Mat LVdoWICI Sorrow allowde with sighes proclaimes That Lodowicks Goude is all on flames It is not long since that about halfe a league from the said towne were found diuers peeces of siluer with this circumscription on the one side HLVDOVICVS IMP. and on the other CXRISTIANA RELIGIO which seeme to haue beene coyned in the time of the Emperor Lewis the Debonaire the sonne of the Emperor Charlemaine and the Father of the Emperour Charlâ—s the bauld who after he had setled Christian religion in those parts gaue the Earldome of Holland to Thierry of Aquitaine the first of that name There is mention made in the ancient charters and priuiledges of this towne how Florentius the fift of that name Earle of Holland told a Knight called Nicholas van Cats that this towne had beginning in the yeare 1272. Others and among the rest Doctor Adrianus Iunius 1262. notwithstanding that the said towne hath beene knowne to haue beene long time before whereof many Gentlemen haue taken their names and chiefly among the rest Thiery Vander Goude one of the priuie councell to Earle William King of the Romaines and the priuiledges granted to them of Vtrecht in the yeare 1252. shew the like A quarter of a league out of the towne is yet to be seene the place where the Church stood and is commonly called the old Church-yard where during the Romish superstition they vsed to goe on procession in Rogation weeke and likewise a way called the old Goude But for that this place was too farre from the riuer of Issell the Inhabitants for their more commodity remooued from their former dwellings to the place where the Towne now stands The freedome and iurisdiction of this Towne at the beginning was no more then the compasse of it within the portes and walls with very little land without but was afterward in the yeare of our Lord 1484. much amplified by the Emperour Maximillian the first and the Arch-duke Philip his sonne with at least a league of land in compasse on both sides the riuer of Yssell The gouernment of this towne appertained heretofore to the Earles of Blois Lords of the same and was seated in the center or middest of the sayd Countie Iohn of Beaumont Earle of Blois by his wife was made Lord of it and Schoonhouen with their dependances by his brother William the Good Earle of Holland to augment his reuenews in the yeare 1306 who by the consent of his brother instituted the first payments and rights of customes with the houses and sluces where hee receiued his right hee inlarged and much beautified the Castle of the sayd towne the which long time after was chosen by the Estates of Holland as a place very strong for the keeping of the charters priuiledges and lawes of their Countie which Castle except the Tower where their charters were kept was in the yeare 1577. demolished at which time there were many others throwne downe in the Low-countries Iohn of Beaumont Lord of Blois died in the yeare 1456. leauing one onely sonne likewise named Iohn who being a Knight of the Teutonique or Dutch order went into Prussia against the Infidels and there died leauing two sonnes Iohn and Guy Earles of Bloys and of Soyson Iohn of Chastillon Lord of Goude riche and strong issued by his father from the Earles of Holland and by his mother from the Kings of France married Madam Mathilda Dutchesse of Gelders and Countesse of Zutphen at that time when the houses of Bronchorst and Heeckers assaied to shutte out the sayd Lady from her patrimoniall inheritance To remedie the which the Earle of Blois came into Geldres accompanied by many Lords and Knights and a good troope of souldiers besieging Wagheningen and Groensvoerdt which he tooke and afterwards in the right of the Lady his wife was receiued into Arnhem and acknowledged for Lord and Prince This Lord and Lady as Dukes of Gelders gaue priuiledge to the Citizens of Goude to saile with their Marchandize through-out the Dutchie of Geldres and Earledome of Zutphen freely without eyther taxe or toll This priuiledge was giuen in the towne of Arnham in the yeare of on Lord 1372. Iohn of Chastillion dyed in the yeare 1381. without children leauing all his goods to his brother Guy of Blois who married Mary the daughter of the Earle of Namur by whom hee had one sonne called Lewis Earle of Dunois who dyed young at Beaumont the two and twenty of December 1397. After whose death the right line of Iohn of Blois was extinct so that the Signeuries of Goude and Schoonhouen with their dependances which were called the Baliage of the countie of Blois returned to the country of Holland in the time of Albert of Bauaria notwithstanding Guy of Blois left a bastard called Iohn of Blois Lord of Treslon and Henault who as the historâ— of the Netherlands makes mention had by his wife six sons It is apparent that the townes of Goude Dordrecht Harlem Delft and Leyden with the Knights and nobles of the country represented the Estates of Holland and Westfreezeland long before the towne of Amsterdam was receiued for a member as it appeareth by diuers records and letters of state past vnder the seales of the said fiue townes together with the iniuries that they of Amsterdam haue done to them of Goude vpon the same The said towne of Goude for the good order which they haue alwaies held in discipline and Scholasticall instruction hath brought forth many great learned personages to their eternall fame as Henry and Iohn of Goude whom Trithemius Abbot of Spanheim puts in ranke of the rarest writers William Herman of Goude whom Erasmus Roterodamus in his Epistles calls his delight a most excellent Poet and Historiographer Hermanus Goudanus a great Diuine Iacobus Goudanus a famous Poet Thâ—odorus Gerardi Reinerius Suoy a Phiâ—â—ion and historiographer who haue all written learned workes worthy to be consecrated to posterity But Cornelius Aurelius likewise borne in this towne surpast them all in
Lilloo beeing opposite vnto it vpon the riuer of Escault so as all ship s that come from the sea to goe to Antwerp must passe betwixt these two forts But it could not resist the enemies attempts like vnto Lilloo for in the yeare 1584. the Vicont of Gant Marquis of Roubay besieged it and tooke it by assault by a stratageme which he made with a heape of strawe and haie which he caused to bee burnt on the dicke-side where hee gaue the assault so as the smoake being driuen with the winde did so trouble their sights that defended the breach as they were forced with great furie the Vicont killing Collonel Petain who commanded there with his owne hand in cold bloud and causing many Burgers of Antwerp to bee hanged the which was afterwards reuenged vpon the Spaniards and other prisoners which they held in the vnited Prouinces It was since recouered by the Estates vnder whose obedience it hath continued vnto this day Yet it is not like to continue as Lilloo but may well be razed vpon the conclusion of a peace beeing of no such importance as the other TERNEVSE Is a good village of that quarter of Flanders which hath a Baylife Alderman and other officers whereas the vnited Estates did long since build a fort and entertained a good garrison it is situated in the midest of a drowned Land and therefore not easie to approch nor to campe before it for which consideration the Spaniard who will not willingly wet his feet would not attempt it remaining vnto this day vnder the Estates being commanded by a captaine superintendent for them AXELLE IS a little towne in the land of Waes which is one of the best quarters of Flanders which Seruaes van Steelandt great Bayliffe of the said country of Waes deliuered vnto the Spaniard when as the Duke of Aniou was retired after that great folly committed at Antwerp Six or seauen years after Sir Phillip Sidney Gouernor of Flessingue and Collonel Ihon Peron surprised it and deliuered it vnto the Estates in the yeare 1587. the which they much fortefied since by drowning of the great part of the country which makes it inaccessible whereof the said Peron hath recouered a good part during the time that the Estates left him gouernor of the place There are other forts in that quarter of Axelle and of â—erneuse vpon Flanders side as that of Blockersdyek Saint Marguerits and Saint Anthonis-hoeck the which we omit beeing of no great importance nor likely to continue Forts beyond the riuer of Rhine BOERENTANGHE IT is a goodly fort none of the greatest but at this present like a little towne vpon the fronters of the countie of Lingen which is the high-way to goe out of Friseland and Groning into the country of Westphalia and by Cloppenbourg to Delmenhorst and Breme and so to Hamburg Lubecke and other towns of the East country along the Baltique sea Is is entertained with a good ordinary garrison consisting of many halfe companies at the least when I was there wherby in my opinion the Estates did wisely cutting off many Monopolies and occasions of mutynies for that there is seldome any accord where there is diuersitie The countrie about is all moorish or full of turfes wherewith they doe both furnish the place and the countrie about it BELLINGER-WOLDER-ZYEL IS a good village or rather a Borrough at the end of the Dullard where as the riuer of Ems growes narrowest by the which they must passe comming from Embden by water to goe to Boerentanghe leauing the castle of Wedde vpon the right hand where the Estates haue made a fort to defend the county of Lingen yet is it not so well fortefied but it must yeeld to the first enemy if he be Maister of the field As for the other forts dispersed here and therevpon riuers fronters and passages beeing many in number throughout all the vnited Prouinces I haue thought it superfluous to describe them here particularly hauing onely vndertaken the chiefe By this description may be seene that in the said eight vnited Prouinces which make the Estates of the Belgike Common-weale there are aboue sixescore townes great and small and aboue a hundred castles and forts of all sorts entertained with ordinarie garrisons besides their troupes of reserue which they put into townes especiallie in winter or when they haue neede to refresh their companies either of foote or horse where they are well lodged and accommodated Touching the shippes of warre which the vnited Estates doe vsually entertaine as well at sea as vpon the riuers of Rhine Meuse Wahal Ems and others I cannot set downe the number the which is great some-times more some-times lesse according to the necessitie of their affaires they haue some-times a hundred and twenty shippes of warre in paie well armed and appointed with men and munition Their nauigation and trafficke of marchandise extends to the East West North and South I dare boldly saie that the Common-weale of Venice which is held so ritch and mighty an Estate could not haue continued such intestine wars three years as they haue done many and doyet like the ebbing and flowing of the sea whom all the forces of Spaine could neuer vanquish Wherefore wee must conclude that the King of Spaine was ill aduised to intreate them with such rigor as they haue beene forced to oppose themselues and to shake off his yoake Whereas contrary-wise the King his sonne now raigning for feare of some greater inconuenience hath with good aduice declared them free Estates seeing that his father could not with all his forces and treasure depriue them of their liberties and freedomes offring then peace without attending the preiudiciall euent of a warre of a hundred yeares as the Princes of Austria his Predecessors had against the Cantons of Suisses who almost for the like occasions did shake off their yoake neere three hundred yeares since Let vs praie vnto God that their vnion may continue the which may restraine the insolency of some of their Neighbours and norrish peace among them Which God grant FINIS