their Mill; the moft is to be made of them, and then, poor Creatures, they are to be difmifs'd to follow their Profeffion again, and to till the Ground for a future Crop. This they do in the following Manner: When one of thefe Wenches is ripe for a Harvest, she is carried before one of the Prætors, where she is tortur'd with what they call ThumbScrews, 'till fhe confefs all the Men that have had any criminal Concern with her, and it is not very improbable, in the Agony of Pain, more. The Price of fingle Fornication is 50 Dollars or 10 l. and that of Adultery double the Sum: But in Order to levy this, the Perfon accufed must be publicly tried and convicted, and here it is they take the Advantage. The Perfon is fent for privately; told there is fuch an Information laid against him, and threaten'd with an immediate Profecution, unless he comply with the Terms prescribed him, which, acccording to his Circumftances, is 5, 10, or perhaps 20 Times the Penalty enjoyn'd by Law. Proteftations of Innocence, tho' attended with never fo plausible Circumftances, and confirm'd by an Oath, avail nothing, the Strumpet's Word is to be taken, and pay he muft, or be exposed. But the former is generally the Cafe; for they do not give themselves the Trouble of fending for them who have not wherewithal. Of two Evils (fay they) the leaft is to be chofen: Should every one, who has incurr'd the Penalty, be exposed, how many Family Quarrels, Law-Suits and Divorces, with all the evil Confequences attending them, would there enfue? This I would readily allow then *

*I fhall not pretend to aver the Truth of every thing our Author here relates; tho' it be no more, than I have been told a hundred Times: But this I have likewfie heard; that when a Person has not wherewithal to pay the Fine appointed by Law, they will rather play at fmall Game than ftand out; and will take two or three Duckets rather than expose him by a Profecution,

and commend their Practice, did they never exact more than the Law allows them; but as the Cafe now ftands, nothing is more plain, than that the efficient Caufe of their Proceedings is Mammon. There is, however, another Proof that fets it beyond all Difpute. No Doubt there are Wretches here, as well as in other Places, who prostitute themfelves for a Trifle to the most abject of the Vulgar, to fuch as are not capable of paying the smallest Fine: But I never heard of any of these being exposed to a public Profecution: No, this would be attended with fome Charge, but no Profit. But to this I would afk, whether public Example be not a public Benefit, and whether this be not the Profit a Judge ought principally to aim at? What think you, Sir, is not this encouraging Wenching with a Vengeance? Especially as these Strumpets, after they have made their Confeffion, are turned loose to begin again. Would not the Allowance of public Stews, as in many Places, be as commendable? And what think you, Sir, of admiting the fingle Evidence of a profligate Wretch, under the Agonies of Torture, who ftands convicted of a Crime, punishable, by Law? It is by far worfe than an Evidence admited in our Courts, which I have always condemn'd: I mean the fimple Oath of the Profecutrix in puncto Stupri, a Crime, perhaps, never commited by any one Man, fince the Creation, unlefs thro' Threats and Fear in the Perfon injur❜d.

I MUST not conclude this Subject without making you merry with a ludicrous Story that has been told me, on this Occafion. Heribertus, a Burgher, and afterwards Senator, of great Reputation, about the Begining of the foregoing Century, was fo immoderate a Lover of the fair Sex, that he greatly impaired his Fortune, as well as his Conftitution by it. Being arrived at the Prætorship, he was refolv❜d to pick up his Crumbs again, by fubjecting

others

others to the fame Lash he had fo often lain under himself; and none was ever more noted for this Sort of Profecution than he. Having once a Female Delinquent of this Kind under his unmerciful Clutches, who had already given him a long BedeRoll of her Gallants, which fhe protefted were all fhe knew; Avarice or Want prevail'd upon him to be incredulous, and to order another Turn of the Screws, which put the poor Creature to fo exquifite Torture, that oblig'd her to cry out, with fuch Vehemence as was heard in the Street; If you would take my Life away, I can confess no more

but

your Worship and your Son! who, it seems, was a Chip of the old Block. This becoming foon a Town-Talk, fhamed our Magiftrate fo, that he was obferved to be more moderate ever after.

THE Bailiwick of Ritzbuttel which the Senators enjoy, by Turns, for feven Years, is likewife profitable; but when they have pafs'd thefe Offices, they have nothing of Profit more to hope, unlefs Fortune advances them to the fupream Dignity. They have two Courts of Juftice for civil and criminal Causes, the Lower and Upper Court. The Lower Court confifts of the two Prætors, whereof one goes out every Year, and 13 Burghers, three learned in Law, and the Reft Traders, of which a certain Number, likewife, go out, and are fupplied by others, annually. The Upper Court is the whole Body of the Senat. In civil Caufes, the former try all under 200 Marks (or about 137. 10 s.) but there lies an Appeal to the Upper Court. All Caufes above that Sum are cognifable in the Upper Court, from whence, if the Sum exceed 2000 Mark, there is an Appeal to the Imperial Chamber at Wetzlar. Criminal Causes are tried before the Lower Court; but the Sentence given must be confirm'd or reform'd, and finally pronounced by the Upper Court. They have, likewife, fince the Year 1623, a Court of Admiralty,

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ralty, which confifts of a Burghermafter, four Senators, fix Merchants, and two Mafters of Ships; with the Affiftance of a Secretary and a WaterBailif. Their Law is the Civil or Juftinian Law; and, in Criminal Caufes, the Statutes of the Emperor Charles IV, with which they have, likewife, their own Statutes: But both one and the other are fo explain'd away, inftead of illuftrated, by innumerable Comments, and puzzled rather than clear'd up, by contradictory Precedents; that the Law there, as well as elfewhere, is itfelf a greater Evil, than the Evil it is defign'd to remedy, the Bane of the Nation; and the great Number of Lawyers, the Flock of Vultures, which are continually preying upon the Intrails of the State, and fpend in Sloth and Luxury, what the painstaking Trader or Artificer has honeftly gain'd by the Sweat of his Brow: A Sort of defpicable Wretches, of whom we may juftly fay, with Martial; Iras & Verba locant: (They hire out their Words and Anger.) What think you, Sir, of the Laws of Denmark, the whole Body of which is brought within the Compass of about a Quire of Paper, where no Comments are allow'd, nor Precedents regarded, and where every Suit, tho' never fo intricate or important, muft be decided within the Space of a Year? Happy People, had they not wantonly given up their Liberties, in Revenge to their tyrannizing Nobles, a Prey to abfolute and defpotic Power! But to return: Befides these two Courts, the two prefiding Burghermafters, and the two Prætors, fit each of them in their own Houses, three Times every Week, and try Caufes under 45 Marks, (or 37.) where a Fry of leffer Harpies, under the Name of Procurators *, are

*In an Edict publifh'd by the Senat, for the Regulation of thefe Harpies, (as our Author calls them) they are justly ftil'd a Peft of the City: But how comes it, then, they are still tolerated?

fure

fure to fleece both Parties, let which ever win the Cause. In the Lower Court they have certain Terms of fiting; as they have, likewife, in the Senat on Caufes; but on other public Affairs, excepting in the Dog-Days, they fit three Days every Week, befides the Bufinefs of their feveral Offices of Trust, from which none of them are free, and fome have four, five or fix at once. So that a Senator of Hamburg is a very Slave to the Public, and can hardly call a Day his own.

THE three Colleges of the Burghers are;

I. THAT of the Ober-Alten (or chief Elders) which confifts of fifteen, three chofen out of each Ward. They were first establish'd in the Year 1528, and were then but twelve, the City confifting but of four Wards, 'till, after the new Town was built, and a fifth Ward, on that Account, added, in 1685, they were encreas'd to fifteen. This College has great Power; not unlike that of the Tribunes in Rome; can, upon Occafion, demand of the Senat, to call a Convention of the Burghers, and even accufe a Senator of Malverfation, to the Senat: They can likewife demand a Conference with a Deputation of the Senat, upon thefe, or any other Occafions.

2. THE College of Sixty, which confifts of the former, and nine more out of each Ward, who are call'd Deacons : From 1528, to 1685, their Number was but 48.

3. THE College of One Hundred Eighty, which confifts of the two former, with the Addition of 24 out of each Ward, call'd Sub-Deacons: To which, fince 1720, each Ward adds fix more, as Adjuncts, who are call'd in upon certain Occafions. From 1528, 'till 1685, this College confifted of but 144 Perfons.

WHEN they are all affembled, and the Senat at the fame Time, which is upon all extraordinary

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