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of Distinction, ordered fome Truffes of clean Straw to be spread on the Mud-floor, with the Help of a Pitch-fork, and gave each of us a Trufs for a Pillow, affuring us there was not a wholfomer or more cleanly Lager (Bed I fuppofe he meant) in the whole Country.

THUS were we forced to ly down, with the Cows champing their Straw on the one Side, the Hogs grunting on the other, three or four Women, with a whole Litter of fquawling Brats, on our Right, and their Hufbands, bleffedly drunk, with CornBrandy, fome fnoring, others ranting, and again others fpewing, on our Left; with a Stench arifing from the four Eructations of fo many different Animals, and other concomitant Caufes, that we should have thought a Bog-house a Nofegay: And to mend the Matter, the flovenly Clown, who had drove us the laft Stage, thinking our Landlord had been too liberal of his Straw, for three Perfons, very familiarly laid himself down by us.

In this pitiful Plight, Wearinefs, at length, clos'd my Eyes, and I flept tolerably well; 'till a fudden Twitch, which almoft deprived me of my Pillow, at the fame Time, awaked me; when, ftretching out my Arm, the firft Thing I laid hold of was a Cow's Horn, and, I found, the good-natured Creature, having broke loofe from her Tedder, had, without Ceremony, made bold with my Pillow for her Supper, or rather Breakfast, for I found it was near Morning. You will eafily imagine, I had no farther Inclination to Sleep; I chofe rather to grope out my Way to the Door, for the Benefit of a Mouthful of fresh Air, which by this Time began to be highly neceffary; and Aurora beginning to arife from Tethys's Lap, I awaked my Companions, and having order'd fresh Horfes to be put to our Chaife (for you must know the glorious Hovel, of which I have given you a Picture,

was

was a Poft-houfe too) we departed at Day-break, and, to our great Refreshment, refted from our Labours, by continuing our Travels.

THIS faint Sketch may ferve to give you a general Idea of the whole Country, only this I obferved; as Weftphalia is under the Dominion of feveral Princes, partly Proteftants and partly Papifts, whofe Dominions are fo intermixed, that we went out of one into the other, feveral Times in a Day's Journy, that there are Degrees even in Mifery, and that the former enjoy fome Comforts of Life, which the latter are deprived of, by the Knavery and Tyranny of their Priests; of which even we, who were only travelling thro' their Country, felt the Effects: For, it being Lent, we were forced to enjoy our own Provifions by Stealth, and whenever we had an Inclination to regale ourselves with a Slice of Weftphalia-Ham, to obtain Leave first of the Parish-Prieft, at the Expence of a Bottle of Wine or Brandy.

As the Proteftants in Weftphalia are, a great Part of them, Calvinists, we met with daily Instances of those two great Weakneffes of human Reafon, Enthufiafm and Superftition; which a Member of the Church of England, who is educated in a juft and happy Medium between both, cannot but (1 had almost said, and must say it, abftracted of political Principles) equally abhor.

THE firft Place we come to of Note, was this famous City of Munster, the Capital of Weftphalia, and of a Bishopric of the fame Name, under the Archbishop of Cologn, and the Refidence of its Bishop; fituate on the River Aa, not far from its Conflux with the Ems. As my Stay in the feveral Places, which I fhall pass thro' in Weftphalia, will not be above a Day or two at each, and not much longer here, you must be contented with fuch a brief Account of them, as I fhall be able to procure

in fo fhort Time, especially as I fhall relate nothing to you but what I have upon the best Infor

ination.

THE Inhabitants pretend this City was first built by the Tenteri, an ancient German People, in or about the Year 584, who call'd it Mayland (the fame Name the Germans now give to Milan in Italy) which it kept 'till about the Year 696, when, on what Occafion I don't find, it was changed to Mumingerode. In 772, it was taken by Charlemagne, who, having founded a Bishop's See here, and in the circumjacent Country, about the Year 785, and having built a Monaftery, and a Church or Cathedral here, call'd the Munfter, this City from thence took the Name it now bears; tho' fome pretend it had not this Name, 'till Herman I, their 14th Bishop, built a Monaftery on the other Side of the River, which he call'd Monafterium trans aquam, about the Beginning of the 11th Century, and yet enjoys great Privileges. In 1121, it was befieged and reduced to a Heap of Ruins, by Theodorick, the degraded Bishop; but was rebuilt and enlarg'd by his Succeffor; and Herman II, the 25th Bifhop, added the Walls and Gates, in the Beginning of the 13th Century. Theodorick III, the 27th Bifhop, who was elected in or about 1225, laid the firft Stone of the Cathedral, which was not, however, finished 'till 36 Years after, under Gerhardus, the 31ft Bishop. My Companion's Packet, in which I enclofe this, being ready, I muft defer the Continuation of my Account of this Place, 'till my next, and remain, as ever, &c.

SIR,

LETTER II.

MUNSTER.

O continue my Account of this City, I muft tell you, that it is particularly noted in Hiftory, for three very remarkable Tranfactions.

1. THE Infurrection of the Anabaptifts, who, in 1533, feiz'd the City, and, fetting up Jack of Leyden for their King, laid it under inexpreffible Calamities, and perpetrated the most horrid Villanies, under the Pretence of an Enthufiaftic Zeal. Thefe Troubles continned 'till 1535, when Bishop William II befieg'd it, and after a Year's Siege, with great Bloodfhed, reduced the Rebels; whereupon he caus'd their King, John, to have his Flefh torn from his Bones, with red hot Pinchers, and his mangled Body, being put into a Sort of Iron Basket, to be hoifted to the Top of the highest Steeple in the City.

2. THE famous Treaty, which put an End to the bloody War that had raged thirty Years in Germany, on Account of Religion, and was concluded here, in 1648.

3. THE Troubles and War the Inhabitants had with their 57th Bishop, Bernhard Chriftopher von Galen (a Man wholly addicted to Cruelty and Bloodshed) who being elected in 1650, pretended to a certain Jurifdiction, in Temporalities, never enjoyed by his Predeceffors (this City having formerly been a free Imperial City, and afterwards exempt) and great Disorders enfued. In 1657, bc

ing

ing back'd by the Electors of Mentz, Triers and Cologn, together with the Duke of Neuburg, he laid Siege to the Town, which was defended with great Obftinacy, by the Burghers, with the Help of the Dutch, 'till, the latter End of October, they came to an Agreement with the Bishop, that the City fhould, for the future, be garrifoned partly with his Troops. But this Treaty did not fubfift three Years, before the Bishop found a new Pretence to quarrel with them, and the Dutch, at the Defire of feveral Princes of Germany, having refused them their Affiftance, they were obliged, in March 1661, after an obftinate and bloody Siege, to furrender themfelves to the Mercy of the Bishop, who making his public Entry into the City, in July following, overthrew their whole Form of Government, took the Adminiftration into his own Hands, and new-model'd it; fince which the City has been ever fubject to the Bishops.

THE Bishops were nominated by the Emperors, 'till the Beginning of the 13th Century, fince when they have been elected by the Chapter, which confifts of about forty Canons, who, for their Qualification, muft prove their Nobility, for eight Generations, and that they have ftudied a Year and fix Weeks at Paris. The prefent Bishop is Clement Auguftus of Bavaria, who was elected in 1719, to this Bishopric, and to that of Paderborn, and in 1723, Elector of Cologn*.

THE prefent City is a well fortified Place, almoft circular, has eight Gates, and a fine Citadel, call'd the Paulus-Berg, or Paul's-Mount, near adjoining to it, built in 1663, by Bishop von Galen,

* He is likewife Bishop of Ofnabrug, where he was elected in 1728, upon the Decease of Erneft Auguftus, of Hanover, Duke of York, Brother of his late Majefty King George I, and after his Death it again devolves to the Houfe of Hanover.

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