to keep the Burghers in Aw; and for this Reason, he likewife call'd it the Brille *. The River Aa flows thro' the City, and falls into the Ems near the new Gate. At our Entrance, into this Place, I obferved a great Number of Priefts, of different Orders, and, as I thought, excepting the Priefts, more Women than Men, many of whom feem'd to be of the loofer Sort (†). As we came here in the Forenoon, and our Stay was to be but fhort, I no fooner had refreshed myself, in my Quarters, than I got a Perfon to accompany me in taking a View of the City. The Houfes are most of them ancient, or at least in the antique Stile, and the principal in the four Markets, where, among other Buildings, the Senat-house, and the Hall for the Guilden, or Companies of Artificers, are the most remarkable: In the Eaftern Part of the City is a large Place, where the Fronts of the Houfes reft upon Pillars, and form a handfome Piazza. This City has five Collegiate and fix Parish Churches, befides a great Number of Monafteries, Convents and Religious Houfes, moft of them ftately Piles, and fome pleasantly fituate 1, in the Midft of beautiful Gardens. I vifited as many of them, as Time would allow me, this and the following Day, and had particular Civilities fhewn me in feveral of them; but more efpecially in a Convent of Dominicans, an Order indulg'd with more Freedom than * Our Author's Friend must have understood the German Idiom to comprehend this Reafon without an Explanation. Brille in German fignifies Spectacles, and to fell any one Spectacles, or to put Spectacles on his Nofe, fignifies with them to keep one in Aw, or within Bounds, likewife to deceive one. It is a general Obfervation in the Roman Catholic Cities of Germany, the more Priefts, the more W- -res: And at Ment they have a Saying, that if any one paffes the Bridge, from the other Side of the River, without meeting a Pricft or a W-re, the City forfeits its Charter. any any other except the Jefuits, and whofe Votaries, at leaft if we may judge by their outward Appearance, wallow in Luxury and Eafe. They are, likewife, call'd the Order of Preachers, and are fuppos'd, next to the Sons of Loyola †, to be the moft learned. It being about Noon, when I vifited them, I was invited to partake of what they call'd a Repas maigre (or Fafting Dinner); but tho' it confifted wholly of Fish, it appear'd in fo many Shapes, and different Ways of Dreffing, as might have fatisfied an Epicure. After Dinner, one of the Fathers accompanied me to a Nunnery of the fame Order near adjoining, where, however, I was to have gone no farther, than the ParJour and Chapel But, by a furprizing Ad+ venture, was afterwards admited into the moft inward Receffes of it. : WHEN We enter'd the Parlour, I found two Nuns at the Grate, cheapening fome little filver Toys, which an elderly Woman had to fell. I took the Liberty (having firft afk'd my Guide, if I might do it without an Affront) to offer each of them a filver Needle-cafe, which they accepted of, and difcourfed with me in French: But by their reserved Answers, I fufpected, as it afterwards appear'd (for they were then veil'd) that they were + The Jefuits. *This is very common, and it has been obferv'd, in several Parts of Germany, fince the Reformation, that they generally have fubterraneous Communications. Martin Luther (in his Table Difcourfe) gives us a remarkable, and, at the fame Time, fhocking Inftance, near Erfurt, where, upon draining a Pond belonging to one of them, after the Monks were oblig'd to abandon it, there were found the Bones of a great Number (if my memory does not fail me, of fome Thousands) of Infants. An cutward Room, feparated by an Iron Grate from another within, where the Nuns are allowed at certain Times, to come veil'd, tho' the young are feldom trufted alone without an elder Sifter. a a Couple of antiquated Sifters, who had no Relifh for Gaiety. It was not long before I was relieved from their dry Conversation, by a third, who feem'd to be the very Reverse of them. She came running to the Grate, with the perfect Air of a Coquette, discovering a lovely white Hand, took hold of mine, thro' the Irons, and, without farther Ceremony, accofted me, in Italian, with a Come fta Signore Ingblefe? (How do you do Mr. Englishman?) I thought my Habit might betray my Nation, and, therefore, without any Shew of Surprize at her Knowledge of that, began to talk with her, in the Language I thought her own; tho' her Difcourfe favour'd more of the Freedom of the English, with fomething of the Levity of the French Woman. I perceived she was young, and, by the Sample fhe had given me of a foft white Hand, imagined her beautiful. No Converfation was too gay, nor indeed too libertine for her, when the Prieft, who fhe found an Opportunity of informing me was her Father-Confeffor, was out of Hearing. Judge how ftrong my Curiofity, as well as Inclination, muft be, to fee my little Charmer unveil'd, especially as The feem'd to exprefs as great a Defire, of being better acquainted with me, as I could have. After about a Quarter of an Hour, in which it is hard to fay, whether my Pleafure in her agreable Difcourse, or Pain and Impatience at being debar'd from a nearer Knowledge of her Perfon, was the greater, the Prieft, whether upon any real Occafion, or out of Complaifance, faid he must leave us for a Moment, but would foon return; tho' I could have difpens'd with the latter Part of his Compliment. The two old Nuns retiring about the fame Time, I renew'd my Entreaty to fee my Fair One's Face; but yet in vain. She feem'd refolv'd not to gorge my Satisfaction, but rather to torture my Imagination, and ftretch my Impatience and Curiofity to the the utmost: For no fooner were we alone, than fhe not only chang'd her Language to English, but call'd me by my Name, nay, gave me to understand she was perfectly acquainted with my Family and Circumftances, and even with fome of the most private Tranfactions of my Life. At length, after having rack'd my Thoughts almoft to a Delirium, or a Perfuafion of fonte Magick Charm, fhe threw up her Veil But, good Gd! how inexpreffible was my Surprize; I difcover'd, indeed, as I expected, a beautiful Face; but, at the fame Time, a Face I was perfectly acquainted with; a Perfon whofe agreable Converfation I had frequently enjoy'd, with great Intimacy, and that at no great Distance of Time. And now my Wonder was equally great, how I could be fo dull of Apprehenfion, not to discover her fooner, either by her Voice, or by comparing of Circumftances, and I could no Way account for it, but by a perfect Perfuafion of her Death. 66 By this Time, I begin to think your Curiofity rais'd almost as high as mine was: You certainly want to know who this agreable Perfon could be: "Am not I likewife acquainted with her? Can my dear Friend have had any Intimacy with any of the Fair-Sex he has not let me into; after "the Opennefs with which I have always acted towards him? What Fate can have carried any Acquaintance of ours abroad, and that into a "Nunnery too? Or may it not be a Fable, an In vention of my Friends,to divert me in my Retire"ment"? Thefe, my Dear, are doubtlefs the Thoughts you are perplexing yourself with, and this the Gordian Knot you want to have untied, and you fhall have your Satisfaction. My Relation is no Fable, no Invention to divert you; but the bare naked Truth. You do know this agreable Creature, this unhappy fair One; you have been been perfectly acquainted with her; and happy in her charming Converfation as often as I have been. You fhall, likewise, know her Fate; but first, to keep you no longer in Sufpence, let me tell you, fhe is no other, than the individual, actually living, tho' fuppos'd dead Daughter, of our Friend, Mr. Br-n of Canterbury; the fame merry, witty, pratling little Gypfy fhe ever was; capable of warming the frozen Appetite of a fuperannuated Hermit, or of raifing irregular Defires in the most rigid Pretender to Sanctity and Mortification: The fame, who about three Years ago, left her Father's House privately, and retired to her Aunt's, in Ireland, from whence we had the formal Account of her Death, about fix Months afterwards. AFTER having rallied me, in her ufual jaunting Way, upon the Subject of my Surprize, fhe told me, if I dare truft myfelf in a Covey of fuch as herfelf; would make a Shew of being of her Religion, and perfonate a near Relation of hers, fhe would endeavour to procure me Admitance into the Convent And fhe had hardly made the Offer, when the Priest returning, we gave him a formal Account, of the pretended Proximity of our Blood, and by what Circumstances in our Difcourfe we had discover'd it; and fhe added her Entreaty to mine, that he would interceed with the MotherAbbefs, that her Coufin-German (for fo fhe call'd me) might be allowed an Hour's Converfation with her, within the Grate. The good-natur'd Father foon return'd, and introduced me to the MotherAbbefs, who entertain'd me with a handfome Collation, and a long Story of the Behaviour of her dear Child, my Kinfwoman, who, the faid, was very good and dutiful, tho' not fo perfectly wean'd from the World as fhe could wifh, but hop'd that would come by Degrees. When, among other Enquiries, |