IT is so common to write Travels , that for one who has seen so little , and as it were in haste , it may look like a presumptuous Affectation to be reckoned among Voyagers , if he attempts to say any thing upon so short a Ramble , and concerning Places so much visited , and by consequence so well known : Yet having had opportunities that do not offer themselves to all that travel , and having joyned to those a curiosity almost equal to the advantages I enjoyed , I fancy it will not be an ungrateful Entertainment , if I give you some account of those things that pleased me most in the Places through which I have passed : but I will avoid saying such things as occurr in ordinary Books , for which I refer you to the Prints ; for as you know that I have no great inclination to copy what others have said ; so a Traveller has not leisure nor humour enough for so dull an Employment .

As I came all the way from Paris to Lyons , I was amazed to see so much misery as appeared , not only in Villages , but even in big Towns , where all the marks of an extream Poverty , shewed them●elves both in the Buildings , the Cloaths , and almost in the Looks of the Inhabitants . And a general dis-peopling in all the Towns , was a very visible effect of the hardships under which they lay .

I need tell you nothing of the irregular and yet magnificent Situation of Lyons , of the noble Rivers that meet there , of the Rock cut from so vast a height for a Prison , of the Carthusians Gardens , of the Town-House , of the Jesuits Colledge and Library , of the famous Nunnery of St. Peter , of the Churches , particularly St. Irenees , of the Remnants of the Aqueducts , of the Columns and the old Mosaick in the Abbey Dean : in short , Mr. Spon has given such an account of the Curiosities there , that it were a very presumptuous Attempt to offer to come after him .

The Speech of Claudius ingraven on a Plate of Brass , and set in the end of the low Walk in the Town-house , is one of the noblest Antiquities in the World ; by which we see the way of Writing and Pointing in that Age very copiously . The Shield of Silver of twenty two pound weight , in which some Remains of gilding do yet appear , and that seems to represent that generous Action of Scipio's , of restoring a fair Captive to a Celtiberian Prince , is certainly the noblest piece of Plate that is now extant : the embossing of it is so fine and so entire , that it is indeed unvaluable ; and if there were an Inscription upon it to put us beyond conjecture , it were yet much more inestimable .

A great many Inscriptions are to be seen of the late and barbarous Ages , as Bonum Memorium , and Epitaphium hunc . There are twenty three Inscriptions in the Garden of the Fathers of Mercy , but so placed as it shews how little those who possess them do either understand or value them . I shall only give you one , because I made a little Reflection on it , tho' it is not perhaps too well grounded , because none of the Criticks have thought on it .

The Inscription is this , D. M. Et Memoriae AEternae Sutiae Anthidis . Quae vixit Annis XXV . M. XI . DV . Quae dum Nimia pia fuit , facta est Impia : & Attio Probatiolo , Cecalius Calistio Conjux & Pater , & sibi vivo ponendum curavit & sub ascia dedicavit . This must be towards the barbarous Age , as appears by the false Latin in Nimia : But the Inscription seems so extravagant , that a man dedicating a Burial-stone for his Wife and Son , and under which himself was to be laid , with Ceremonies of Religion , should tax his Wife of Impiety , and give so extraordinary an account of her becoming so through an excess of Piety , that it deserves some consideration .

It seems the Impiety was publick , otherwise a Husband would not have recorded it in such a manner ; and it is plain that he thought it rose from an excess of Piety .

I need not examine the Conjectures of others ; but will chuse rather to give you my own , and submit it to your censure .

It seems to me , that this Sutia Anthis was a Christian ; for the Christians , because they would not worship the Gods of the Heathens , nor participate with them in their sacred Rites , were accused both of Atheism and Impiety . This is so often objected , and the Fathers in their Apologies have answered it so often , that it were lost labour to prove it : so this Wife of Cerealius Calistio having turned Christian , it seems he thought he was bound to take some notice of it in the Inscription . But by it he gives a honourable Character of the Christian Doctrine at the same time that he seems to accuse it ; that through an excess of Piety his Wise was carried to it ; since a mind seriously possessed with a true sense of Piety could not avoid the falling under a distaste of Paganism , and the becoming Christian .

At Grenoble there is not much to be seen . The learned Mr. Chorier has some Manuscripts of considerable Antiquity . In one of Vegetius de re Militari , there is a clear correction of a Passage that in all the printed Editions is not sense . In the Chapter of the size of the Souldiers , he begins ; Scio semper mensuram à Mario Consule exactam : à is in no MS. and Mario Consule is a mistake for trium Cubitorum , for III which are for trium have been read M. and C , which stands for Cubitorum , as appears by all that follows , was by a mistake read Consule ; so the true reading of that Passage , is , Scio mensuram trium Cubitorum fuisse semper exactam . He shewed me another MS. of about five or six hundred years old , in which St. John's Revelation is contained , all exemplified in Figures ; and after that came Aesop's Fables , likewise all designed in Figures : from which he inferred , that those who designed those two Books valued both equally , and so put them together .

I will not describe the Valley of Dauphine , all to Chambery , nor entertain you with a Landskip of the Country , which deserves a better Pencil than mine , and in which the heighth and rudeness of the Mountains that almost shut upon it , together with the beauty , the evenness , and fruitfulness of the Valley , that is all along well watered with the River of Liserre , make such an agreeable mixture , that this vast diversity of Objects that do at once fill the Eye , gives it a very entertaining Prospect .

Chambery has nothing in it that deserves a long Description ; and Geneva is too well known to be much insisted on . It is a little State , but it has so many good Constitutions in it , that the greatest may justly learn at it . The Chamber of the Corn has always two years Provision for the City in store , and forces none but the Bakers to buy of it at a taxed price ; and so it is both necessary for any Extremities under which the State may fall , and is likewise of great advantage ; for it gives a good yearly Income , that has helpt the State to pay near a Million of Debt contracted during the Wars ; and the Citizens are not oppressed by it ; for every Inhabitant may buy his own Corn as he pleases , only Publick Houses must buy from the Chamber . And if one will compare the faith of Rome and Geneva together by this particular , he will be enforced to prefer the latter ; for if good Works are a strong presumption , if not a sure Indication of a good Faith , then Justice being a good Work of the first form , Geneva will certainly carry it .

At Rome , the Pope buys in all the Corn of the Patrimony ; for none of the Landlords can sell it either to Merchants or Bakers . He buys it at five Crowns their Measure , and even that is slowly and ill paid ; so that there was eight hundred thousand Crowns owing upon that score when I was at Rome . In selling this out , the Measure is lessened a fifth part , and the price of the whole is doubled ; so that what was bought at five Crowns , is sold out at twelve : and if the Bakers , who are obliged to take a determined quantity of Corn from the Chamber , cannot retail out all that is imposed upon them , but are forced to return some part of it back , the Chamber discounts to them only the first price of five Crowns : whereas in Geneva the measure by which they buy and sell is the same ; and the Gain is so inconsiderable , that it is very little beyond the common Market price : so that upon the whole matter , the Chamber of the Corn is but the Merchant to the State . But if the Publick makes a moderate Gain by the Corn , that and all the other Revenues of this small Commonwealth are so well employed , that there is no cause of complaint given in the Administration of the publick Purse ; which with the advanta es that arise out of the Chamber of the Corn , is about one hundred thousa●d Crowns Revenue . But there is much to go out of this : Three hundred Souldiers are payed ; an Arsenal is maintained , that in proportion to the State is the greatest in the World ; for it contains Arms for more men than are in the State : there is a great number of Ministers and Professors , in all twenty four , payed out of it , besides all the publick Charges and Offices of the Government . Every one of the lesser Council of twenty five , having a hundred Crowns , and every Syndic having two hundred Crowns Pension : and after all this come the accidental Charges of the Deputies , that they are obliged to send often to Paris , to Savoy , and to Zwitzerland ; so that it is very apparent , no man can enrich himself at the Cost of the Publick . And the appointments of the little Council are a very small recompence for the great attendance that they are obliged to give the Publick , which is commonly four or five hours a day . The Salary for the Professors and Ministers is indeed small , not above two hundred Crowns ; but to ballance this , which was a more competent Provision when it was first set off a hundred and fifty years ago , the price of all things , and the way of living , being now much heightned , those Employments are here held in their due Reputation , and the richest Citizens in the Town breed up their Children so as to qualifie them for those Places : And a Minister that is sutable to his Character , is thought so good a Match , that generally they have such Estates , either by Succession or Marriage , as support them sutably to the rank they hold . And in Geneva there is so great a regulation upon Expences of all sorts , that a small Sum goes a great way . It is a surprising thing , to see so much Learning as one finds in Geneva , not only among those whose Profession obliges them to Study , but among the Magistrates and Citizens ; and if there are not many men of the first form of Learning among them , yet every body almost here has a good tincture of a learned Education ; insomuch that they are Masters of the Latin , they know the Controversies of Religion and History , and they are generally men of good sense .

There is an universal Civility , not only towards Strangers , but towards one another , that reigns all the Town over , and leans to an excess ; so that in them one sees a mixture of a French Openness , and an Italian Exactness : there is indeed a little too much of the last .

The publick Justice of the City is quick and good , and more commended than the private Justice of those that deal in Trade : a want of Sincerity is much lamented by those that know the Town wall . There is no publick Lewdness to●lerated , and the disorders of that sort are managed with great address . And notwithstanding their Neighbourhood to the Switzers , drinking is very little known among them . One of the best parts of their Law is the way of selling Estates ; which is likewise practised in Switzerland , and is called Subhastation , from the Roman Custom of selling Subhasta . A man that is to buy an Estate agrees with the Owner , and then intimates it to the Government ; who order three several Proclamations to be made six Weeks one after another , of the intended Sale , that is to be on such a day : when the day comes , the Creditors of the Seller , if they apprehend that the Estate is sold at an under-value , may out-bid the Buyer ; but if they do not interpose , the Buyer delivers the money to the State , which upon that gives him his Title to the Estate , which can never be so much as brought under a Debate in Law ; and the price is paid into the State , and is by them given either to the Debtors of the Seller , if he owes money , or to the Seller himself .

This Custom prevails likewise in Swisse , where also twelve Years Possession gives a Prescription ; so that in no place of the World are the Titles to Estates so secure as here . The Constitution of the Government is the same both in Geneva , and in most of the Cantons . The Sovereignty lies in the Council of Two hundred , and this Council chuses out of its number Twenty five , who are the lesser Council ; and the censure of the Twenty five belongs to the great Council : they are chosen by a sort of Ballet ; so that it is not known for whom they give their Votes : which is an effectual method to suppress Factions and Resentments ; since in a competition no man can know who voted for him or against him : yet the Election is not so carried , but that the whole Town is in an Intrigue concerning it : for since the being of the little Council leads one to the Sindicat , which is the chief Honour of the State ; this Dignity is courted here with as active and sollicitous an Ambition , as appears elsewhere for greater matters . The Two hundred are chosen and censured by the Twenty five ; so that these two Councils , which are both for Life , are checks one upon another . The Magistracy is in the one , and the Sovereignty in the other . The Number of Twenty five is never exceeded in the lesser Council ; but for the greater , tho' it passes by the Name of the Council of Two hundred , yet there are commonly eight or ten more : so that notwithstanding the absence or sickness of some of the Number , they may still be able to call together near the full Number . There is another Council besides these two , composed of Sixty , consisting of those of the Two hundred that have borne Offices , such as Auditors , Attorney-Generals , or those that have been in other Employments , which are given for a determinate number of Years : This Court has no Authority , but is called together by the Twenty five , when any extraordinary occasion makes it advisable for them to call for a more general Concurrence in the Resolutions that they are about to form . And this Council is of the nature of a Council of State that only gives Advice , but has no power in it self to enforce its Advices . The whole Body of the Burgesses chuses the Sindicks the first Sunday in the Year , and there are some other Elections that do likewise belong to them . The difference between the Burgesses and Citizens is , that the former degree may be bought or given to Strangers , and they are capable to be of the Two hundred : but none is a Citizen but he that is the Son of a Burgess , and that is born within the Town .

I need say no more of the Constitution of this little Republick : It s chief support is in the firm Alliance that has stood now so long between it and the Cantons of Bern and Zurich ; and it is so visibly the Interest of all Switzerland to preserve it as the Key , by which it may be all laid open : that if the Cantons had not forgotten their Interest so palpably in suffering the French to become Masters of the Franche Comtè , one would think that they would not be capable of suffering Geneva to be touch'd : for all that can be done in fortifying the Town , can signifie no more , but to put it in case to resist a Surprise or Scalade ; since if a Royal Army comes against it to besiege it in form , it is certain , that unless the Switzers come down with a Force able to raise the Siege , those within will be able to make a very short resistance .

From Geneva I went throngh the Country of Vaud or the Valley , and Lausanne , its chief Town , in my way to Bern. The Town of Lausanne is situated on three Hills , so that the whole Town is ascent and descent , and that very steep , chiefly on the side on which the Church stands , which is a very noble Fabrick . The South-wall of the Cross was so split by an Earthquake about thirty years ago , that there was a rent made from top to bottom above a foot wide ; which was so closed up ten years after by another Earthquake , that now one only sees where the breach was . This extravagant situation of the Town was occasioned by a Legend of some Miracles wrought near the Church : which prevailed so much on the Credulity of that Age , that by it the Church , and so in consequence the Buildings near it , were added to the old Town , which stood on the other Hill , where there was a Town made on the High-way from the Lake into Switzerland , to which the chief Priviledges of the Town , particularly the judicature of Life and Death , do still belong . Between Geneva and this , lies the Lake which at the one end is called the Lake of Geneva , and at the other the Lake of Lausanne . I need not mention the Dimensions of it which are so well known , only in some Places the depth has never been found , for it is more than five hundred Fathom : The banks of the Lake are the beautifullest Plots of Ground that can be imagined , for they look as if they had been laid by art : the sloping is so easie and so equal , and the Grounds are so well cultivated and peopled , that a more delighting Prospect cannot be seen any where : The Lake is well stock'd with excellent Fish ; but their Numbers do sensibly decrease , and one sort is quite lost : it is not only to be ascribed to the ravenousness of the Pikes that abound in it , but to another sort of Fish that they call Moutails , which were never taken in the Lake untill within six years last past : they are in the Lake of Neuf-chastel , and some of the other Lakes of Switzerland , and it is likely that by some conveyance under ground they may have come into Channels that fall into the Lake : the Water of the Lake is all clear and fresh . It is not only a great Pond made by the Rhosne that runs into it , but does not pass through it unmix'd , as some Travellers have fondly imagined , because sometimes a soft Gale makes a curling of the Waters in some places , which runs smooth in the places over which that soft breath of Wind does not pa●s , the Gale varying its place often . But it is believed that there are also many great Fountains all over the Lake : these Springs d● very probably flow from some vast Cavities that are in the neighbouring Mountains , which are a great Cisterns that discharge themselves in the Valleys which are covered over with Lakes . And on the two sides of the Alps , both North and South , there is so great a number of those little Seas , that it may be easily ghessed they must have vast Sorces that feed so constantly those huge Ponds . And when one considers the height of those Hills , the chain of so many of them together , and their extent both in length and breadth ; if at first he thinks of the old Fables of laying one Hill upon the top of another , he will be afterwards apt to imagine , according to the ingenious Conjecture of one that travelled over them oftner than once , that these cannot be the primary Productions of the Author of Nature , but are the vast ruines of the first World , which at the Deluge broke here into so many Inequalities .

One Hill not far from Geneva , called Maudit , or Cursed , of which one Third is always covered with Snow , is two miles of perpendicular height , according to the Observation of that incomparable Mathematician and Philosopher , Nicolas Fatio Duilier , who at Twenty two Years of Age is already one of the greatest men of his Age , and seems to be born to carry Learning some sizes beyond what it has yet attain'd .

But now I will entertain you a little with the State of Bern , for that Canton alone is above a third part of all Switzerland . I will say nothing of its Beginnings nor History : nor will I enlarge upon the Constitutions which are all well known . It has a Counsel of Two hundred , that goes by that Name , tho' it consists almost of Three hundred ; and another of Twenty five , as Geneva . The chief Magistrates are two Advoyers , who are not annual , as the Sindicks of Geneva , but are for life , and have an Authority not unlike that of the Roman Consuls ; each being his Year by turns the Advoyer in Office . After them there are the four Bannerets , who answer to the Tribunes of the People in Rome : then come the two Bursars or Treasurers , one for the ancient German Territory , the other for the French Territory or the Country of Vaud , and the two last , chosen of the Twenty five , are called the Secrets ; for to them all Secrets relating to the State are discovered : and they have an Authority of calling the Two hundred together when they think fit , and of accusing those of the Magistracy , the Advoyers themselves not excepted , as they see cause ; tho' this falls out seldom .

There are seventy two Bailiages , into which the whole Canton of Bern is divided , and in every one of those there is a Bailiff named by the Council of Two hundred , who must be a Citizen of Bern , and one of the Two hundred , to which Council no man can be chosen till he is married . These Bailiages are Imployments both of Honour and Profit ; for the Bailiff is the Governour and Judge in that Jurisdiction : since tho' he has some Assessors who are chosen out of the Bailiage , yet he may by his Authority carry matters which way he will , against all their Opinions : and the Bailiffs have all the Confiscations and Fines ; so that Drinking being so common in the Country , and that producing many Quarrels , the Bailiff makes his advantage of all those disorders : and in the six years of his Government according to the quality of his Bailiage , he not only lives by it , but will carry perhaps twenty thousand Crowns with him back to Bern ; on which he lives till he can carry another Bailiage ; for one is capable of being twice Bailiff : but tho' some have been thrice Bailiffs , this is very extraordinary . The Exactions of the Bailiff are the only Impositions or Charges to which the Inhabitants are subjected ; and these falling only on the Irregularities and Disorders of the more debauched , makes that this Grievance , tho' in some particulas Cases it presses hard , yet is not so universally felt : for a sober and regular man is in no danger . Many in this Canton are as in England , Lords of Castles and Mannors , and have a Jurisdiction annexed to their Estates , and name their Magistrate , who is called the Castellan , In matters of small consequence there lies no Appeal from him to the Bailiff ; but beyond the value of two Pistols an Appeal lies ; and no Sentence of Death is executed till it is confirmed at Bern. There lies also an Appeal from the Bailiff to the Council at Bern. There are many Complaints of the injustice of the Bailiffs ; but their Law is short and clear , so that a Sute is soon ended : two or three Hearings is the most that even an intricate Sute amounts to , either in the first Instance before the Bailiff , or in the second Judgment at Bern. The Citizens of Bern consider these Bailiages as their Inheritance , and they are courted in this State , perhaps , with as much Intrigue as was ever used among the Romans in the distribution of their Provinces : and so little signifie the best Regulations when there are intrinsick Diseases in a State , that though there is all possible Precaution used in the Nomination of these Bailiffs , yet that has not preserved this State from falling under so great a mischief by those little Provinces ; that as it has already in a great measure corrupted their Morals , so it may , likely , turn in Conclusion to the Ruine of this Republick . All the Electors give their Voices by Ballot ; so that they are free from all after-Game in the Nomination of the Person ; All the Kindred of the Pretenders , even to the remotest degrees , are excluded from Voting , as are also all their Creditors ; so that none can vote , but those who seem to have no interest in the Issue of the Competition : and yet there is so much Intrigue , and so great Corruption in the distribution of these Imployments , That the whole Business , in which all Bern is ever in motion , is the catching of the best Bailiages , on which a Family will have its Eye for many Years before they fall . For the Counsellors of Bern give a very small share of their Estates to their Children when they marry them : all that they purpose is , to make a Bailiage sure to them : for this they feast and drink , and spare nothing by which they may make sure a sufficient number of Votes : but it is the Chamber of the Bannerets that admits the Pretenders to the Competition . When the Bailiff is chosen , he takes all possible methods to make the best of it he can , and lets few Crimes pass that carry either Confiscations or Fines after them : his Justice also is generally suspected . It is true , those of the Bailiage may complain to the Council at Bern , as the oppressed Provinces did anciently to the Senate of Rome : and there have been severe Judgments against some more exorbitant Bailiffs ; yet as Complaints are not made , except upon great Occasions , which are not often given by the Bailiffs , so it being the general Interest of the Citizens of Bern to make all possible Advantages of those Imployments , the Censure will be but gentle , except the Complaint is crying .

In Bern there is very little Trade , only what is necessary for the support of the Towns They maintain Professors in the Universities of Bern and Lausanne , the one for the German Territory , which is the ancient Canton , and the other for the new Conquest , which is the French . In the former there are about three hundred Parishes , in the other there are but about a hundred and fifty : but in the Benefices of the German side , the ancient Rights of the Incumbents are generally preserved , so that some Benefices are worth a thousand Crowns ; whereas in the Pais des Vaud the Provisions are generally from a hundred to two hundred Crowns . It is visible that those of Bern trust more to the Affections and Fidelity of their Subjects , than to the strength of their Walls : for as they have never finished them , so what is built cannot be brought to a regular Fortification ; and it is not preserved with any care , nor furnished with Canon ; but if they have none on their Ramparts , they have good store in their Arsenal , in which they say there are Arms for forty thousand men .

The Peasants are generally rich , chiefly in the German side , and are all well armed : they pay no Duties to the Publick ; and the Soil is capable of great Cultivation , in which some succeed so well , that I was shewed some that were by accident at Bern , who , as I was told , had of Estate to the value of a hundred thousand Crowns , but that is not ordinary ; yet ten thousand Crowns for a Peasant is no extraordinary matter . They live much on their Milk and Corn , which in some Places , as about Payern , yields an increase of fifteen measures after one : they breed many Horses , which bring them in a great deal of money . The worst thing in the Country is the moisture of the Air , which is not only occasioned by the many Lakes that are in it , and the Neighbouring Mountains that are covered with Snow , some all the Summer long , and the rest till Mid-summer ; but by the vast quantity of Woods of Fir-trees , which seem to fill very near the half of their Soil ; and if these were for the most part rooted out , as they would have much more Soil , so their Air would be much purer ; yet till they find either Coal or Turf for their Fewel this cannot be done . I was told that they had found Coal in some Places . If the Coal is conveniently situated , so that by their Lakes and Rivers it can be easily carried over the Country , it may save them a great extent of ground , that as it is covered with Wood , so the Air becomes thereby the more unwholsome .

They have some Fountains of Salt-water ; but the making Salt consumes so much Wood , that hitherto it has not turn'd to any Account .

The Men are generally sincere , but heavy : they think it necessary to correct the moisture of the Air with liberal Entertainments , and they are well furnished with all necessary Ingredients : for as their Soil produces good Cattel , so their Lakes abound in Fish , and their Woods in Fowl , the Wine is also light and good . The Women are generally employed in their domestick Affairs , and the Wives even of the chief Magistrates of Bern look into all the Concerns of the House and Kitchin as much as the Wives of the meanest Peasants . Men and Women do not converse promiscuously together ; and the Women are so much amused with the Management at home , and enter so little into Intrigues , that among them , as an eminent Physician there told me , they know not what Vapours are , which he imputed to the Idleness and Intrigues that abound elsewhere , whereas he said , among them the Blood was cleansed by their Labour , and as that made them sleep well , so they did not amuse themselves with much thinking , nor did they know what Amours were . The third Adultery is punished with Death , which is also the punishment of the fifth Act of ●ornication ; of which I saw an instance while I was at Bern : for , a Woman who confessed her self guilty of many Whoredoms , and designed to be revenged on some Men that did not furnish her liberally with Money , was upon that condemned and executed : the manner was solemn ; for the Advoyer comes into an open Bench in the middle of the Street , and for the Satisfaction of the People , the whole Process was read , and Sentence was pronounced in the hearing of all ; the Counsellors both of the great and lesser Council standing about the Advoyer , who after Sentence took the Criminal very gently by the hand , and pray'd for her Soul : and after Execution , there was a Sermon for the Instruction of the People .

The whole State is disposed for War , for every man that can bear Arms is listed , and knows his Post and Arms ; and there are Beacons so laid over the Country , that the Signal can run over the whole Canton in a night : and their Military Lists are so laid , that every man knows whither he is to come out upon first or second , or not till the general Summons . They assured me at Bern , That upon a general Summons they could bring above eighty thousand Men together . The Men are robust and strong , and capable of great Hardship , and of good Discipline , and have generally an extream sense of Liberty , and a great Love to their Country ; but they labour under a want of Officers . And tho' the Subjects of the State are rich , yet the Publick is poor : they can well resist a sudden Invasion of their Country , but they would soon grow weary of a long War : and the Soil requires so much Cultivation , that they could not spare from their Labour the Men that would be necessary to preserve their Country . They were indeed as happy as a People could be , when the Emperour had Alsace on the one hand , and the Spaniards had the Franche Comté on the other ; they had no reason to fear their Neighbours : but now that both those Provinces are in the hands of the French , the case is quite altered ; for as Basil is every moment in danger from the Garrison of Hunningen , that is but a Canon shot distant from it , so all the Pais de Vaud lies open to the Franche Comté , and has neither fortified Places , nor good Passes to secure it ; so that their Error in suffering this to fall into the hands of the French was so gross , that I took some pains to be informed concerning it , and will here give you this Account that I had from one who was then in a very eminent Post ; so that as he certainly knew the Secret , he seemed to speak sincerely to me . He told me that the Duke of Lorrain had often moved in the Councils of War , That the Invasion of France ought to be made on that side in which France lay open , and was very ill fortified : This he repeated often , and it was known in France : so that the King resolved to possess himself of the Comtê , but used that Precaution , that fearing to provoke the Switsers , he offred a Neutrality on that side : but the Spaniards who judged right , that it was as much the interest of the Cantons , as it was theirs , to preserve the Comtè in their hands , refused to consent to it ; but they took no care to defend it , and seemed to leave that to the Switsers .

In the mean while the French Money went about very liberally at Bern , and after those that were most likely to make opposition were gained , the French Minister proposed to them the necesity in which his Master found himself engaged to secure himself on that side ; but that still he would grant a Neutrallity on their account , if the Spaniards would agree to it ; and with this , all the assurances that could be given in words were offered to them , that they should never find the least prejudice from the Neighbourhood of the French , but on the contrary all possible Protection ; There was just cause given by the Spaniards to consider them very little in their Deliberation : for they would neither accept of the Neutrality , nor send a considerable force Force to preserve the Comte , so that it seem'd almost inevitable to give way to the French proposition ; but one proposed that , which an anbyassed Assembly would certainly have accepted , that they should go themselves and take the Comte , and by so doing they would secure the Neutrality , which was all that the French pretended to desire , and they might easily satisfie the Spaniards and reimburse themselves of the Expence of the Invasion , by restoring the Comtè to them when a General Peace should be made . He laid out the misery to which their Country must be reduced by so powerful a Neighbour , but all was lost labour , so he went out in a rage and published through the Town , that the State was Sold and all was lost . They now see their Error too late , and would repair ●t , if it were possible , but the truth is , many of the particular Members of this State , do so prey upon the publick , that unless they do with one consent reform those abuses , they will never be in condition to do much : for in many of their Bailiages , of which some are Abbeys , the Bailiffs not only feed on the Subjects , but likewise on the State , and pretend they are so far super-expended , that they discount a great deal of the publick revenue , of which they are the receivers , for their reimbursement : which made Mr. d' Erlack , once say , when one of those accounts was presented , that it was very strange if the Abbey could not feed the Monks . It is true , the power of their Bannerets is so great , that one would think they might redress many Abuses . The City of Bern is divided into four Bodies not unlike our Comp●nies of London , which are the Bakers , the Butchers , the Tanners , and the Blacksmiths , and every Citizen of Bern does incorporate himself into one of these Societies , which they call Abbeys . For it is likely they were antiently a sort of a Religious Fraternity : every one of these chuses two Bannerets , who bear Office by turns , from Four Years to Four Years , and every one of them has a Bailiage annexed to his Office , which he holds for Life . They carry their Names from the Banners of the several Abbeys as the Gonfaloniers of Italy : and the Advoyers carry still their Name from the ancient Titles Ecdicus or Advocate , that was the Title of the chief Magistrates of the Towns in the Times of the Roman Emperours . The Chamber of the four Bannerets that bear Office , has a vast power , they examine and pass all Accounts , and they admit all the competitors to any Offices , so that no man can be proposed to the Council of Two Hundred without their Approbation , and this being now the chief Intrigue of their State , they have so absolute an Authority in shutting men out from Employments , that their office , which is for life , is no less considerable than that of the Advoyer , tho' they are inferiour to him in Rank . They manage matters with g●eat address , of which this instance was given me in a competition for the Advoyership not long ago : There was one whos● temper was violent , that had made it so sure among those who were qualified to vote in it , as being neither of his Kindred nor Alliance , that they believed he would carry it from the other Competitor , whom they favoured ; so they set up a third Competitor , whose Kindred were the Persons that were made sure to him , whose Advancement they opposed ; and by this means they were all shut out from voting : so that the Election went according to the Design of the Bannerets . The chief Man now in Bern , who was the reigning Advoyer when I was there , is Mr. d' Erlack , Nephew to that Mr. d' Erlack who was Governour of Brisack , and had a Brevet to be a Marshal of France . This is one of the noblest Families in Bern , that acted a great part in shaking of the Austrian Tyranny ; and they have been ever since very much distinguished there from all the rest of their Nobility . The present Head of it is a very extraordinary Man ; he has a great Authority in his Canton , not only as he is Advoyer , but by the particular esteem which is payed him ; for he is thought the wisest and worthiest Man of the State , tho' it is somewhat strange how he should bear such a sway in such a Government , for he neither feasts nor drinks with the rest : He is a Man of great Sobriety and Gravity , very reserved , and behaves himself liker a Minister of State in a Monarchy , than a Magistrate in a Popular Government : for one sees in him none of those Arts that seem necessary in such a Government . He has a great Estate , and no Children , so he has no Projects for his Fa●ily , and does what he can to correct the Abuses of the State , tho' the disease is inveterate , and seems past Cure .