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A57454
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An account of Sueden together with an extract of the history of that kingdom.
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Robinson, John, 1650-1723.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing R1690; ESTC R12230
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47,457
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212
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and become Grayish but Hares turn white as Snow Fowl both Wild and Tame are very plentiful and good in their kind except Sea-Fowl which feed and taste of Fish The most common are Orras and Keders the former of the bigness of a Hen the other of a Turky as also Partridges and a Bird somewhat resembling them called Yerpers There are taken in Winter great numbers of small Birds as Thrushes Blackbirds and Sydenscwans the last of the bigness of Veldefares but better meat supposed to come from Lapland or yet farther North and have their Name from the beautifulness of their Feathers some of which are tipt at the point with Scarlet Pigeons there are those of the Woods very rare because of the Hawks and of the House-Pigeons none but what are kept tame because their Food is scarce and the danger of the Hawks great if they go abroad Eagles Hawks and other rapacious Fowl abound most in the Northern and Desart parts whither Nature seems to call them as may be gathered from a Story credibly related of a large Hawk shot some years ago in the Northern Parts of Finland which had on one Leg a small Plate of Gold with this Inscription Ie Suis au Roy on the other one of Silver with these words Duc de Chevereuse me garde The chiefest Lakes in Sueden are the Vetter the Wenner and Maeler the first in Ostrogothia remarkable for its foretelling of Storms by a continual Thundering Noise the day before in that Quarter whence they arise as also for the sudden breaking of the Ice upon it which sometimes surprizes Travellers and in half an hour becomes Navigable For its great depth in some places above 300 Fathom tho no part of the Baltick Sea exceed 50 it supplies the River Motala which runs through Norcopingh where it has a Fall of about 30 Foot and some Winters is so choak'd up with Ice that for many hours no Water passes The second is in Westrogothia from which issues the River Elve that falling down a Rock near Sixty Foot passes by Gottenburgh The third empties its self at Stockholm furnishing one side of the Town with Fresh Water as the Sea does the other with Salt These and abundance of other Lakes whereof many like Ponds have no Vents and are called Inn-Seas are not ill stored with variety of Fish Salmon Pikes Perch Tench Trouts Eels and many other sorts unknown elsewhere of which the most plentiful is the Streamling a Fish less than a Pilcher taken in great quantities and salted in Barrels and distributed over all the Countrey Besides the North-Bottom or Bay that separates Sueden and Finland abounds with Seals of which a considerable Quantity of Train Oyl is made and exported and in the Lakes in Finland are vast quantities of Pikes which being taken are salted dry'd and sold at very cheap Rates These Lakes are of great use for the convenience of Carriages both in Summer by Boats and by Sleds in Winter and among them and on the Sea-Coasts are almost innumerable Islands of different Sizes whereof there are in Sueden above 6000 that are Inhabited the rest are either bare Rocks or covered with Wood Gotland Oland and Aland are Isles of large Extent one being Sixty miles long and the others little less Their Woods and vast Forests overspread much of the Country and are for the most part of Pines Fir Beech Birch Alder Juniper and some Oak especially in the Province of Bleaking the Trees growing in most places so close together and lying to rot where they fall that the Woods are scarce passable These afford a plentiful and cheap firing and being generally very straight and tall are easily convertible into Timber fit for all uses In the parts near the Mines the Woods are much destroyed but that want is so well supplied from distant places by the convenience of Rivers and Winter-Carriages that they have Charcoal above six times as cheap as it is in England tho indeed it is not half so good Of Mines in Sueden there is one of Silver into which Workmen are let down in Baskets to the first Floor which is 105 Fathom under ground the Roof there is as high as a Church supported by vast Arches of Oar thence the Descent is by Ladders or Baskets to the lowest Mine above forty Fathom where they now Work They have no Records so ancient as the first Discovery either of this or the Copper Mine which must needs have been the work of many Ages the Oar seldom yields above 4 per Cent. and requires great pains to Refine it they are also at the charge of a Water-Mill to drain the Mine and have the benefit of another that draws up the Oar. It yearly produces about Twenty thousand Crowns of Fine Silver of which the King has the Pre-emption paying one fourth less than the real Value The Copper-Mine is about eighty Fathom deep of great extent but subject to damage by the falling in of the Roof yet that is sometimes recompenced by the abundance of Oar that the ruined Pillars yield tho most commonly the loss in that Case is very great the occasion of which falls is attributed to the throwing the Earth and Stones brought out upon the Ground over the Mine by which the Pillars become overcharged and give way and the reason of this is said to be that the profit arising to those that are concerned is so little that they are not able to work it off as they ought and unless the King abates considerable part of the Profit arising to the Crown from this Mine 't is believed it will in few years be at a stand especially if the designs of making Copper that are on foot elsewhere do take any tolerable effect The Copper yearly made out of this Mine amounts to the value of about Two hundred thousand pounds of which the King has a fourth part not by way of Preemption but in kind besides that upon the remainder he has a Custom of 25 per Cent. when it is exported unwrought Lately a Gentleman of Italy came to Sueden with Proposals to make Copper a shorter and cheaper way than has hitherto been practised as to make that in five Days which before required three Weeks and with one fifth part of the Charcoal and with fewer hands The Bargain was made and his Reward agreed to be a Hundred thousand Crowns the first Proof he made succeeded to admiration but when he came to work in earnest and had got his new-invented Ovens built to his mind the Miners as he complained pickt out the very worst Oar and were otherwise so envious and untractable that he failed of success and lost his Reward and not without difficulty obtained leave to buy Oar and practice his Invention at his own Charge as he now does Iron-Mines and Forges are in great numbers especially towards the Mountainous parts where they have the convenience of Water-falls to turn their Mills From these besides supplying the Country
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