Year 1666: We parted about One, merry, but none of us in the least disguised; for Old Hock has this good Quality, that tho' it be ftrong, it is not intoxicating. The Major excufed his not being able to fee me the next Day, because he was obliged to be upon Duty; but engaged me to fpend the Day following wholly with him, and kindly offer'd to conduct me to the feveral Parts of the Town, where there was any Thing worth my feing. I therefore refolved to spend this Day in Retirement, and writing this Letter to you, which if it fhould prove too prolix or trivial, you must thank yourself, I having your pofitive Command, fign'd, feal'd and delivered, to write to you the moft minute Circumftances which fhould occur to me, that had any Thing of Singularity in them, or could contribute to your Amusement, in the happy Retreat you have wifely chofen to end your Days I am, &c.

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SIR,

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LETTER VIII.

BREMEN.

Y laft gave an Account how happy I was in the Acquaintance of a worthy Gentleman, a Major in the Garison of this City, and of the Appointment I had made to spend the next Day with him, in taking a View of what was worthy my Notice here. Accordingly, he came to my Lodgings early in the Morning, and having prevail'd upon him to breakfast with me, I took that Opportunity to defire a brief Account from him, of the ancient and prefent State

of

of this City, which he readily gave me, in the following Words:

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"BREMEN (faid he) tho' now reckon'd "the leaft confiderable of the three renown'd free Imperial Cities, in Lower Saxony, Hamburg, "Lubeck, and Bremen, is beyond all Difpute, "the eldeft. Not to mention the Account of its being the Fabiramum of Ptolomy, built by "Drufus, which is generally look'd upon to be "fabulous, I believe I may venture to fay it was "a Place of fome Note, towards the latter End "of the fifth Century, when Pope Gregory I, fent "St. Auguftin, with other Monks, to Britain, to con"vert the Saxons to the Christian Faith, in the Time "of Ethelbert, King of Kent. This was the Place "thofe holy Men chose to embark in, to be tranf

ported to that Ifland; it being noted for Ship"ping at that Time, which was above 200 Years "before the Building of Hamburg, and more than " 500 Years before the Building of Lubeck.

"IN the Year 788, Charlemaign made it a Bishop's See, and appointed St. Wilbadus, an "Englishman, to be the firft Bishop: Tho' the Diploma, pretended to be granted by this Prince, "at the Caftle of Nemes, now Spires, for the "Establishment of this See, is, on Account of "fome Articles contain'd in it, generally believed "to be fuppofititious. In 848, St. Anfcharius, "Archbishop of Hamburg, which had been laid "wafte, three Years before, by the Danes, was "fent to Bremen, by Emperor Lewis the Pious; "where he was fourth Bishop, and first Archbi

fhop, the Metropolitan See being transfer'd thi "ther, or, according to other Writers, incorpo"rated with this, by Pope Nicholas, with the "Confent of that Emperor. Several Privileges "were afterwards granted it by fucceeding Em

perors, particularly by Henry V, William,

"Wenceslaus,

"Wenceslaus, and Charles V, to exterminate Pirates, "and protect Merchants trading on the Wefer "from all Danger. And for the Encouragement "of the Trade of this Place, no Goods were al"low'd to go down the Wefer, and pass this City, "without being firft landed here. The Inhabi

tants have, likewife, the Privilege of fifhing

from the Bridge of Hoye, four German Miles "above Bremen, down to the Sea, as likewife in "the Rivers Hunte, Ochtum, Wumme and Lecfem,

which flow into the Wefer. Among other "Fish, they catch great Quantities of Salmon and Lampreys, the former of which being dried and "finoaked, and the latter pickled, are in great "Efteem throughout all Germany. Rudolph II, "endowed them with the Privilege, that neither "their Perfons nor Goods fhould be liable to Ar"reft, Attachment, or other Impofition, through❝out the whole German Empire: And Charles V, "gave them the Right of Coinage. They pre"tend to a Right of Seffion and Vote in the Diet "of the Empire, ever fince Charlemaign, which "was confirm'd to them, notwithstanding the Op

pofition of the Archbishop, by Emperor Fer"dinand III, in 1641. But afterwards, upon the "Secularization of the Archbishopric, in the Reign of Queen Chriftina of Sweden, new Dif

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putes arofe thereupon, which came to a Rupture, " in 1654, on that, and other Accounts. Thefe "Differences were, indeed, composed under Charles "Gustavus, in 1658; but broke out again under "Charles XI, and lafted 'till, by the Treaty of "Habenbaufen, in 1666, among other Conceffions, they were oblig'd to wave their Pretenfion of "a Right to Seffion and Vote, in the Diet of the Empire, 'till 1700, which is yet difputed them. As to the ancient Form of Government, the Emperors had their Vogts (or Bailiffs) here, 'till

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"the

the Reign of Otto I, when, by the Interceffion "of Archbishop Adaldagus, the Administration was fuffer'd to devolve to Proconfuls and Confuls: "But, about the Begining of the fourteenth Century, the Form of Government approaching, by Degrees, too near to that of an Oligarchy, the "Burghers accufed feveral of the principal ancient Families of Malverfation; obliged them to quit the City, and condemn'd them to perpetual Exile. The Government by Proconfuls and "Confuls was hereupon refum'd, with this Dif«ference only, that they were limited to thirtythree, to be chofen by the four principal Wards, and, upon the Death of any one, the Vacancy "to be fupplied by the Ward the Deceafed belong'd to. In this Form, with fome few Alterations, it has continued ever fince. The Senat is now compofed of four Burgo-mafters, and twenty-four Senators, confifting of four Divifions, according to the four Wards. The Senat decides all Caufes Ecclefiaftical, Criminal and "Civil, and from them lies no Appeal, except, in the latter, where the principal Sum litigated ex"ceeds 600 Rhenifh Gold Guilders, or about 210 l.

when an Appeal to the Imperial Chamber of "Wetzlar may take Place. They have their own Statute-Laws, which were enacted in 1281, but << have been fince amended*. They have a small Jurifdiction of about a German Mile round

* It may not be amifs to add here, to our Author's or his Friend's Account, that the Archbishops of Bremen had never any Sovereignty over the City: Nor was it ever dependent on the Duchy of Bremen, which belong'd to them. This Duchy, of which our Author gives fome Account below, was yielded to the Swedes, in 1648, after which they formed several Pretences on the City, and befieged it forty-fix Days, in 1666. But they rais'd the Siege, at the Interpofition of the neighbourng Princes, and the Treaty of Habenbaufen enfued.

the

the Town, and are bordered on every Side with Territories now belonging to his Majefty of Great Britain; for which Reason, they always court his Favour. The River Wefer, which runs thro' the Place, and divides the Old City from the New, is not navigable for Ships of Burden farther than Fegefac, two Ger"man Miles below this Place, where all Ships " which come out of the Sea, or are outward-bound, "load and unload; nor does this River ebb or flow "farther. We have a confiderable Trade to Eng"land, especially with all Sorts of Weftphalian Li"nens, and fend feveral Ships, particularly to Lon"don, every Year: We fend Ships to France, and "fometimes to Spain, Portugal and Italy, and alfo

a good Number every Year to Greenland and "Davis's Streights. We have likewise a confider"able Inland Trade, particularly to the great "Fairs and Marts in Germany, whither, among "other Goods, we fend large Quantities of Cal

licoes and Sugar, printed and refined here, in "which, however, the Hamburghers out-do us. "Our Beer is very much efteem'd in many Parts of "Germany, and is therefore exported in large

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Quantities. Our Duties upon Exportation and "Importation are very low, which is a great En"couragement to our Trade, and gives us an Ad"vantage over the Dutch, in thofe Provinces which "ly ly between us and them. In the famous Hanfeatick League, this City is honoured with the third Place. It is divided, as I faid before, "into the Old and the New Town, the latter of which was began to be built in 1623. They έσ are both pretty well fortified with high Walls

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"and a broad Ditch. The old Town has feveral Towers upon the Walls, according to the "ancient Manner of Fortification; but the Walls of the new Town, which are more modern, have eight fine Bullwarks. I defer faying any "Thing

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