Part 52

"Sperat amplissimus Senatus, intercedente Excellentia vestra, ex justitia et favore Domini Protectoris, restitutionem earundem secundum jus et aequum suo populo futuram, quem in finem, tam magistratus, quem hujusce civitatis populus suppliciter rogat favorem et amicitiam Celsitudinis suae Domini Protectoris, et illustrissimae reipublicae Angliae, in iis, quae vel commercia vel etiam alia spectant, posse sibi continuari."

After a little pause Whitelocke made answer in Latin to the Syndic's speech, to the effect following:--

"Spectatissimi viri,

"Recte a vobis observatum est, antiquam fuisse inter populum Anglicanum civesque Lubicenses amicitiam et mutuam officiorum benevolentiam; nec defuisse unquam nobis, data occasione, Domini mei Domini Protectoris reipublicae Angliae, Scotiae, et Hiberniae, animum benevolentissimum, quem integrum adhuc a Serenissima sua Celsitudine erga vos conservari nullus dubito. Nec suspicio mihi est, quin amplissimus Senatus, hujusque celeberrimae urbis liberi cives, Dominum meum Dominum Protectorem honore omni debito prosequentur, et benevolo affectu quotquot Anglorum, commercii aut conversationis causa, apud vos appellere voluerint.

"Referte, quaeso, meo nomine, amplissimo hujus civitatis Senatui, gratias ob respectum erga Dominum meum Dominum Protectorem rempublicamque Anglicanam, in honorifica mei eorum ministri receptione significatum, tam in appulsu meo ad suum portum, quam ad civitatem suam aditu, necnon in munere quod mihi offerre ipsis placuit: honori duco quod per me, in suis negotiis, Dominum Protectorem compellare ipsis visum est, quod munus in me libenter recipio praestandum, quamprimum Deo placuerit ad Serenissimam suam Celsitudinem mihi reditum indulgere, cui id curae est, ut unicuique quod est juris uniuscujusque tribuatur. Non equidem dubito, quin particularia favoris et respectus erga hanc celeberrimam civitatem specimina reipsa effecta comperiamini."

The Syndic replied in French, that they did give many thanks to Whitelocke, in that he was pleased to take in so good part the respect of this City to him, and desired that if there were anything here which might do him service, that he would command it. Whitelocke said he came by this City in a desire to see it and the fortifications of it, which, if they pleased to give him leave to do, he should take it as a favour. They said, that even now the Senate had ordered Monsieur Bilderbeck and the commander of their forces to wait upon Whitelocke at such time as he should appoint, to view the city, with their fortifications and magazines, and whatsoever here should be thought by him worthy of his sight. Whitelocke thanked them, and discoursed touching the government of the City, and what laws they used, to which the Syndic answered, that their government was chiefly and generally by the municipal laws and customs of the city.

Of these gentlemen and others Whitelocke learned this city is the chief and most ancient of the Hanse Towns of Germany, and a kind of free State; that they have power to send Commissioners as public ministers to any foreign prince or State, to treat and conclude with them about any matters relating to their city, and that without the leave or knowledge of the Emperor.

The people of the city chiefly are the merchants and artificers, most of them tradesmen; and both they who are masters, and their servants, being constantly employed in trades and personal businesses, they are the less troublesome in the government of them; as to the criminal part, idleness, being the mother of mischief, causeth quarrels and debaucheries, from whence pilferings, robberies, fightings, and murders do arise; but where people are kept to occupations, traffic, and employments, as they are here, it breeds civility, peaceableness of disposition, desire of rest and quiet, and a plentiful subsistence, and gives less occasion of proceedings in criminal offences. But as to suits upon bargains and contracts, they are the more, because there be so many contracts as merchants and tradesmen must make; yet those suits are here brought to a speedy determination within themselves by their ordinary judges, which are three, and usually assisted with a doctor or licentiate in the laws, who are in great esteem in this country. These judges commonly sit thrice a week, to determine civil controversies, which they do by their own laws and customs, which also have much affinity to the civil law, especially as to the forms and manners of their proceedings; and where the matter contended for exceeds the value of a thousand rix-dollars, there the party grieved may, if he please, appeal from the sentence of these judges to the Imperial Chamber at Spires, as they also do in capital causes; but civil causes under the value of a thousand dollars are finally determined within themselves, and no appeal lies from them.

They acknowledge the Emperor as their protector, but afford him no gabels or taxes but what their deputies, whom they elect and send to the general Diet of the Empire, do assent unto. Their chief officers are a Burgomaster, like our Mayor, twenty-four Senators, like our Common Council, and a Syndic, as our Recorder. These are the chief Council and Judicatory of the city, and order all the public affairs thereof; only in some extraordinary occasions of making laws or foreign treaties, matters of war and peace, the people of the town make choice of deputies, sometimes forty or fifty,--more or less, as they please,--who sit and consult with the Senate, and by their votes by the people, who willingly submit thereunto.

The town-house of their Guildhall is reasonably fair, not extraordinary. Their Court of Justice is below at the upper end of a large hall, made four-square, with seats like the Court of Exchequer in England; above this is another Court or Council-house, greater than that below, which is for the meeting of the Deputies of the Hanse Towns, who usually all assemble here; they have also several other chambers for the meetings and consultations of their own Senators and officers about the affairs of the city.

In the afternoon the Commander or Lieutenant-General of the forces of the town, whom they call Obrist Lieutenant, Monsieur Andreas Keiser, and the Senator Bilderbeck, came, with four of the city coaches, to accompany Whitelocke to see the town and fortifications of it. The Senator spoke only Latin, the Lieutenant spoke good French. They went through most parts of the town, and found the figure of it exactly done in painting in a table in their magazine, with the fortifications of it: upon the view of the whole town, it seemed a pleasant and noble city. It is of great antiquity, freedom, privileges, trade, polity, and strength, few in these parts exceeding it; not unhealthful in the situation, beautiful in the buildings, profitable in the commerce, strong in the fortifications, and rich in the inhabitants.

The streets are large and fair, kept clean and sweet; the houses built of brick, generally uniform, most in the frontispieces, and covered with tile; at the entry into them, usually the first and lower room is largest, paved with Orland stone, full of streaks of red and white, and some with black and white rich marble. In this first room they use to set their best household stuff, as the chief room for entertainment; yet they will also in some part of the room have a partition with boards, above a man's height, for a kitchen, where they dress meat and hang their bacon and other provision{9}, which are not out of sight nor smell; and here also, in this room, some of their goods of merchandise are placed; but the better sort keep their houses more neat, and have kitchens and larders out of view. In the second story are ordinarily the lodging-rooms, and some for entertainment; the third and fourth stories are granaries and storehouses, which they hold better for such uses than cellars and lower rooms, which, they say, cause damage to the commodities.

The country about, for a league, and in some parts two leagues or more, belongs to the city, is within their jurisdiction, and is fruitful and pleasant, sweetly watered by the Trave, adorned by the groves and meadows, and many pleasant summer-houses for the recreation of the citizens.

The town is regularly and strongly fortified, the more being situated in a plain and low country, with the rivers and waters about it; the grafts of the works are large and deep, full of water on all sides; between the bulwarks are large places, sufficient to draw together five hundred men in each vacant place; and on the banks of some of the ditches are low thorn hedges, kept cut, as good for defence as palisades. There be many pieces of ordnance mounted on several parts of the works, chiefly on the bulwarks, and divers of them are demi-cannon: the fortifications are about a league in compass; the Trave furnisheth water for all the grafts, and the earth with which the lines are made is of a good sort and well turfed. They are well stored with arms and ammunition, which Whitelocke was admitted to see in their arsenal, which is a large house; in the lower room were twelve mortar-pieces of several sizes, and two hundred pieces of brass ordnance, founded in the town, some of them great culverin, one of an extraordinary length; but there was neither powder nor ball--that was kept elsewhere; but here were the utensils to load and cleanse the guns, hung up in order, and the carriages were strong and good. The story above this was furnished with arms, few for horse or pikemen, but many muskets and swords, disposed in ranks the whole length of the room, with bandoliers between, and cases for bullets beneath; at the upper end of the room hung certain great swords, with which traitors had been beheaded; at the lower end of the room were many halberds; divers of the muskets were firelocks, others for match, and some with double barrels. There was in all, by conjecture, arms for twelve thousand foot, few pikes or horse-arms, but muskets, as most useful for a town, and according to the custom in these parts, where the companies in the town militias are only musketeers, they holding pikes not proper but in the field and against horse.

The forces of this city constantly in pay are fifteen hundred men, besides twenty-five companies of the citizens, each company consisting of two hundred men, and two troops of horse of the citizens. Their chief strength, under God, consisting in the bodies of their citizens, proper and stout men, who, if they come to fight pro aris et focis, for religion, liberty, wives and children, and estates, for their all, are full of courage; not like mercenary, unfixed, unfaithful men, whose trade is in blood, and who are pests to mankind.

At their Guildhall they entertained Whitelocke and his company with wine and sweetmeats, but not profusely. After a long and large tour, they brought Whitelocke back to his inn, and did him the honour to sup with him; and, with much respect and civility, the Obrist-Lieutenant and Senator after supper took their leaves of Whitelocke. Divers men and women of the best quality of the citizens came with their children to Whitelocke's inn to see him, and many of them would stand by whilst he was at meals. He caused his people to show all civility to them, as himself did, saluting the gentlemen and seeming to offer to kiss the women's hands, the salutation of the lip not being in these countries allowed.

The Lords sent a guard of twelve musketeers to attend Whitelocke, which were placed at his door and in the street, and relieved by others during the time of Whitelocke's stay here, as an expression of their respects to him. The town musicians, who were masters, well accoutred and behaved, and played some English lessons, and the town trumpets and drums, came likewise to show their respects to Whitelocke, but the more readily in expectation of some reward from him, which expenses cannot honourably be avoided. Whitelocke's four pages, eight lacqueys, and four grooms, besides the gentlemen's lacqueys, in his livery, walked bare by his coach-side when he went abroad; himself was in his plain grey English cloth suit, with the Queen of Sweden's jewel at his breast. The people were full of respect to him in their salutations as he passed by them.

The secretary of the English company at Hamburg came to Whitelocke from the Resident and company there, to invite him to the English house there, with expression of much ceremony and respect to him as their countryman. Whitelocke was not willing to stay longer than one day in this town, and therefore ordered his officers to make preparations of horses and waggons to remove from hence tomorrow; and understanding that it was forty English miles from hence to Hamburg, and much of the way bad, he thought it too long a journey for him, with so great a train and hired horses, to travel in one day, and therefore ordered to go from hence tomorrow in the afternoon, to lie at a village midway between Luebeck and Hamburg. The Lords of Luebeck, with much courtesy, offered him to lodge in a house of theirs three leagues from hence, and to make use of their horses; but he thought it not convenient, the house not being furnished and their horses not used to travel, and he having sent before to the village midway to take up his quarters; for which reasons he excused it to the Lords, yet with many thanks for their courteous offers.

June 9, 1654.

Several gentlemen of the English company at Hamburg, and among them his nephew, Sir Humphry Bennett's son, came hither to visit and accompany Whitelocke to Hamburg. The Senators and Syndic and Obrist-Lieutenant, who had been before with Whitelocke, came to take their leaves of him. From them and others Whitelocke learnt, that the religion professed in this city is after the doctrine of Luther and the Augsburg confession; yet some Calvinists are permitted, though not publicly, among them, and some Papists are also connived at, though not publicly tolerated to exercise their worship; yet some of them live in a college of Canons, who have a fair house and good revenues in this city.

They have many images and crucifixes in their churches: one, made of earth, of the Virgin Mary, very exactly, is believed by many goodwives of the town, that, upon worshiping and praying to it, they shall become fruitful. In the same church is a rare tablet of the passion of our Saviour, admired by artists for the rare painting and lineaments of it. Above the altar is a little image of our Lady, so contrived with wires fastened to it, that one, being hid on the other side of it, may make it turn forward and backward, to the admiration of the multitude of spectators, who know, by the motion of the image, whether the offerings which they make, and lay upon the altar, be acceptable or not; if one gives a small offering, the image turns away from it in disdain of it; if it be a fat offering, it turns towards it in token of acceptance; and though they tell these stories themselves, yet still they retain these images and trumperies among them. This church is of a good length and breadth, but the height is not proportionable: it hath few monuments of note, only some of their Bishops and Canons, among which one is indeed remarkable, which they will needs have to be believed, where a Canon was buried some hundreds of years since, yet now sometimes is heard to knock in his grave, whereupon instantly some one or other of his surviving brethren, the Canons, gives up the ghost, and comes to the dead Canon at his call.

From hence Whitelocke went and viewed the other churches, all alike furnished with images and crucifixes, and full of pews, fitted according to the quality of the parishioners. The churches are built of brick, and some of them covered with copper, which they brought from Sweden in older times. They use a liturgy, not much differing from our old Book of Common Prayer; their ministers are grave and formal; they commend them for pious and learned and good preachers; but Whitelocke, not having the favour to see one of them at his lodging, can give the less particular account of them.

Whitelocke also learnt that the trade of this city is the most of any town on this side the Baltic Sea, having a convenient port or road at Tremon, belonging to this city, from whence they send into all parts of that sea, and have the advantage for the commerce of copper, deal, hemp, flax, pitch, tar, and all the commodities of those parts; and by this port, they save the trouble and charge of going about through the Sound, which southern merchants do.

Before the Swedes had much traffic, and built their own ships, and employed their own mariners, which is not ancient, Luebeck did more flourish, and had the sole trade of Sweden, and of vending their commodities again into all parts of the world; whereby the Luebeckers grew great and rich, especially by the copper and iron which they brought from Sweden hither, and wrought it into utensils and arms, and then carried it back to Sweden for the use of the inhabitants there; who, growing in time more wise, and learning to work their own materials, and to build and employ their own ships in trade, and the city of Hamburg growing up and increasing in trade, and particularly by the staple for English cloth being there settled, and those of Luebeck not admitting strangers among them, their town began to decay, and to lessen in their trade and wealth, and is not now so considerable as in former times, yet still they drive a good trade into the Baltic Sea and other parts, but not with so great ships as others use, which they build at home, of about a hundred and fifty and two hundred tons; and they affirm that they have built here ships of four hundred tons, but there is difficulty for them to go down to the river, by reason of the shallows, which yet serves to bring up their commodities in great boats by the river, from the ships to this town. They find the smaller vessels useful for their trade, and to build them they are provided of good store of timber out of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden; and, by their consent, the King of Denmark doth sometimes make use of their town and carpenters to build ships for himself.

About three o'clock in the afternoon, the baggage and most of Whitelocke's inferior servants went away. The Lords offered Whitelocke a party of their horse for the guard of his person; but he, with thanks for their courtesy, refused it, having store of company well armed of his own retinue, besides some English of Hamburg who were come to him. The Luebeckers commended the sobriety and plainness of Whitelocke and his company; only they said his liveries were very noble; and they wondered that they saw no more drinking among them, and that he had so constant exercises of religious duties in his family.

The Senators and Syndic came again to compliment Whitelocke for the Lords, and to wish him a good journey; and, after ceremonies passed, about four o'clock in the afternoon, Whitelocke took his coach for Hamburg; he had another coach and four waggons for his people. As he passed through the streets, multitudes of all sorts stood to see him go by, respectively saluting him. At the gates were guards of soldiers, and having passed the last port, they saluted him with three pieces of ordnance, according to their custom, but with no volleys of small-shot; and so he took his leave of Luebeck. Being come into the road, and his pages and lacqueys in the waggons, he made what haste he could in his journey with hired horses, and so much company.

The country was pleasant and fruitful, groves of wood, fields of corn, pastures, brooks, and meadows adorning it: it is an open champaign; few hedges, but some little ones made with dry wood, like our hurdles, for fencing their gardens and dividing their corn-grounds. The way was exceeding bad, especially for this time of the year, full of deep holes and sloughs in some places and of great stones in others. This Duchy of Holstein seems to take its name from holt, which, with them and in Sweden and with us, signifies wood, and stein, which is a stone; and this country is very full of wood and stone; yet is it fruitful, and, like England, delightful to the view, but it is not so full of towns, there not being one in the way between Luebeck and this night's quarter, which is five German, twenty English, miles. But a few small houses lie scattered by the way; and about four miles from Kettell, this night's lodging was a fair brick house by the side of a large pond, which is the house belonging to Luebeck, where they offered Whitelocke to be entertained, and he found cause afterwards to repent his not accepting their courtesy.

When they came to the lamentable lodging taken up for him this night, they found in all but two beds for their whole company. The beds were made only of straw and fleas mingled together; the antechamber was like a great barn, wherein was the kitchen on the one side, the stable on the other side; the cattle, hogs, waggons, and coaches were also in the same great chamber together. They made themselves as merry as they could in this posture, Whitelocke cheering and telling them that it was in their way home, and therefore to be borne with the less regret. They of the house excused the want of accommodations, because the war had raged there, and the soldiers had pillaged the people of all they had, who could not yet recover their former happy and plentiful condition; which was not helpful to Whitelocke and his people, who must take things as they were, and make the best shift they could. His officers had provided meat sufficient for them; he caused fresh straw enough to be laid all over the room, which was the more tolerable in this hot season. He himself lay in one of his coaches, his sons and some of his servants in straw, near him; the rest of the company, men and women, on straw, where they chose to lie in the room, only affording place for the horses, cows, sheep, and hogs, which quartered in the same chamber together with this good company.