"Thing of our public Buildings, till you fee "them at the fame Time.

HERE my Friend finifh'd his Relation, and, our Breakfast being likewife at an End, we began our Progrefs.

THE firft Place I went to fee was a spacious Room or Hall, in the Houfe where I lodge, of the Length and almoft Breadth of the whole Edifice, the Walls of which are handfomely adorned with fmall Arms, it being a fort of Armory for the Burghers. In this Hall, the Altermänner (or Council of Commerce) hold their Meetings, and public Entertainments upon extraordinary Occafions. At the Bottom of a Defcent of three Steps, by which you enter into the Hall, ftands the Figure of a Warrior in compleat Armor, who, by Means of a Piece of Machinery under the Steps, as foon as you tread upon them to defcend, lifts up the Bever of his Helmet, with his Truncheon, and falutes you.

THIS Statue put me in Mind of the Story of Roficrufius's Sepulchre, as told in the Spectator, in which was a Statue of a Man, in Armor, fiting by a Table, and leaning on his left Arm. He held a Truncheon in his right Hand, and had a a Lamp burning before him; at the firft Step, he ftood bolt upright, at the fecond, lifted up the Truncheon in his right Hand, and at the third, with a furious Blow, broke the Lamp in a Thoufand Pieces. This, they tell you, was defign'd to fhew Pofterity he poffefs'd the Art of preparing a perpetual Lamp, and, at the fame Time, to deftroy it, and thereby conceal that Myftery from others; but the Defign of our modern Piece of Machinery was not fo deeply laid.

FROM this Armory in Miniature, we went to the grand Arfenal of the City, which is well ftored with all Manner of Artillery, fmall Arms,

and

and other Utenfils of War, as well ancient as mo dern. This Arfenal, I found, is under the particular Difpofition of the Major who accompanied me, and he has fhewn his Skill by the handfom Manner of ranging the feveral Sorts of Arms, &cs as well in the great Hall, where the Artillery is, as in a large Gallery, which encompaffes it, and contains the greater Part of the small Arms.

FROM this Gallery, there is a Paffage into the Gymnafium, or Academy, where we faw the Library, and the Anatomical Hall, neither of which contain any Thing very remarkable. And here I must give you an Inftance of thofe falfe Punctilios of Honour, of which I had been frequently told, and had fometimes found, the Germans are fo full. Upon being fhewn the Anatomy of a Man, I heedlesly happen'd to say, that Figure was Proof against the whole Art of War; I immediately obferv'd the Major change Countenance, and iwell, and tho good Manners got the better of his fuppos'd injur'd Honour, I perceiv'd it was fome Time before he could calm the Tempeft rais'd in his Mind, by the Imagination of my having defignedly caft a Slur upon his Profeffion, or prefered that of Chirurgery to it. From hence we went to the Rabtbaufz (or Senat house) which, as I faid in my former,

is

a large ancient Sructure, built in 1405. The lower Part, or Hall, out of which are Doors to the feveral Courts of Juftice, and other Apartments, is fill'd with Shops for retailing Prints, Toys, Stationary and Haberdashery Wares, of feveral Sorts. The Courts of Juftice, and other Apartments, are very plain, and hardly decently enough furnish'd for the Dignity of the Offices they are put to. The Outfide of this Edifice is adorn'd with feveral Statues of Emperors and Electors, as likewise those of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and Other Ancients,

AT one End of this Building, feparated by a Street, is another public Edifice, the lower Part whereof being a Piazza, in which are likewife Shops, is made Ufe of as an Exchange: But is not fo frequented as thofe of London and Amfterdam. The Merchants refort thither only on Poft-days, and then not in fuch Numbers, but that you may walk with Eafe, from one End to the other. From the Exchange we went to the Cathedral, which is an ancient, but large and ftately Edifice. I was here agreably furprized to meet with an old Acquaintance of yours and mine: I mean the Reverend Mr. Crufius, whom we formerly knew at London, in the Family of Monf. Schutz, the Hannoverian Minifter at our Court. He is now Superintendant of the Lutheran Congregation in this City; an Office little inferior to that of a Bishop, or rather Dean of other Cathedrals; and of about 1000l. per Ann. Income, a large Revenue in thefe Parts. This Church, which is under the immediate Protection of his Majefty of Great-Britain, as Bifhop of Bremen and Verden, enjoys great Privileges; and is very ancient. The first Church, built by St. Wilbadus, ftood 270 Years; but, in the Time of Befelinus, the fifteenth Bishop of Bremen, Ann. 1042, it was burnt to the Ground, by the Wickedness of his Son, Edo. The good Bishop gave all he had in the World to repair the Damage, and began to rebuild it; but he died the Year following. His Succeffor Albert, deftroyed the Foundation he had laid, thinking it too fmall, and laid a larger; and that he might not want Stone, caufed the Walls of the City to be razed, and the Stones to be employ'd for that Ufe: But going about the fame Time, to Rome, the Work lay ftill twenty-four Years. -four Years. And tho he afterwards refumed the Building of it; he did not live to fee it finished; but left that to his Succeffor, Liemarus

Liemarus, the feventeenth Bishop of Bremen, about the Year 1090. Towards the Conclufion of the fourteenth Century, it likewife fuffered very much by Fire And the Tower or Steeple was not rebuilt 'till 1446. It is now a ftately large Building, the only Church the Lutherans have, tho' they are fo numerous in this City, that they reckon near 20,000 Communicants. The Ecclefiaftical Jurifdiction of this Metropolitan extended, for fome Centuries, over the three Kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden; but they exempted themselves from it towards the Conclufion of the eleventh Century; when, at the defire of Ericus, King of Denmark, the Pope erected an Archbishopric at Lunden, in Scania, and made all the Bishoprics of thofe three Kingdoms Suffragans to that Metropolitan: From which Time we find no Mention of any Archbifhop of Hamburg, but only of Bremen. The City of Bremen embraced the Doctrine of Luther in 1522. But the Archbishops did not acknowledge the Auguftane Confeffion 'till 1585.

My Landord juft comes to tell me, it is Time to fend my Letter to the Post-houfe; I must therefore break off with affuring you, &c.

I am, &c,

SIR,

LETTER IX.

BREMEN.

CONCLUDED my laft with a brief Hif torical Account of the Cathedral of Bremen: But I must not omit mentioning a Thing which is fhewn, to Strangers, as a Rarity, tho', in Reality, there is little in it. They preferve, in a Vault under this Church, five or fix Corps, which, tho' they were depofited there fifty or more Years ago, without being embalmed, or the Entrails taken out, are yet intire and uncorrupted. The Skin of these Bodies is hard, and, like a Parchment, fomewhat fhrivel'd. I had the Curiofity to lift one of them up by the Head, and found it fo light, that I did not conceive the whole Body could weigh more than ten or fifteen Pounds. One of thefe Corps, they tell you, is of an English Countess, who, having led a diffolute Life, had the foul Difeafe, to fuch a Degree, that he was deem'd incurable, and was, therefore, fent to this Place, to end her Life privately, without bringing a Blemish upon her Family. That the Perfon died of this Difeafe, is not improbable; becaufe, tho' the Reft of her Face is intire, a good Part of her Nofe is wanting: But if the really was of our Nation, we may fuppofe her to have been a Countefs of the Hundreds of Drury.

BUT to give fome Account of this Matter; the Vault in which these Corps are fhewn, had not been open'd, in thirty or more Years after the last was de

pofited;