566 A, D, 1672, 



forts of trees, plants, and fruits, with horned cuttle, hogs, and goats^ 

 (brought originally thither from Europe by the Portuguefe) alfo with 

 wild fowl, turtles, &c. and of late years yielding coffee, and fundry 

 other improvements *. 



Voltaire (though in many things not abfolutely to be relied on, yet 

 in thefe matters may be better liftened to) obferves, in his Age of Louis 

 XIV, how greatly he had improved, fortified, and adorned France : ' It 

 was (fays he) wonderful to behold the fea-ports, which before were 

 deferted and in ruins, now furrounded by works, at once both their 

 ornament and defence, covered alfo with Ihips and mariners, and con- 

 taining already near 60 large (hips of war. New colonies, under the 

 protedion of his flag, were fent from all parts into America, Eaft-Tn- 

 dia, and Africa : a wonderful change this in fix year's time. More- 

 over, every year of Colbert's miniftry, from 1663 to this year 1672, 

 was diftinguifhed by the eftablifhment of fome new manufadure, fuch 

 as fine woollen cloth, filk, and glaffes (with which, till this time, Ve- 

 nice had fupplied all Europe). He alfo procured from England the fe- 

 cret of the ftocking-frame, of Englifli invention, by which ftockings 

 are made ten times quicker than by the knitting needles ; the manu- 

 fa6tures of carpets alfo, and of fine tapeftries, v/ere introduced ; alfo 

 wrought-iron ware, fteel, fine earthen ware, Morocco leather,' &c. 



* While fuch vafl; improvements were making at home, Louis in this 

 fummer kept his court at Utrecht, and his troops were making excur- 

 fions within one league of Amfterdam itfelf. Thus was the greatefi: 

 mercantile fi;ate that ever exifi;ed upon the very brink of utter defl;ruc- 

 tion. A m-oment's diligence would have put that king in pofl^eflion of 

 Amfterdam. The richeft families, and thofe who were mofi: defirous 

 of liberty, prepared to embark for Batavia, and fly even to the extre- 

 mities of the world. The fiiips capable to make this voyage were 

 numbered, and it was found that 50,000 families might be embark- 

 ed. The Dutch would no longer have exifled but in the moft difi:ant 

 part of the Eall-Indies : and thefe European provinces, which fubfifl: 

 only by their Afian riches, their commerce, and (if a Frenchman may 

 fay fo) by their liberty, would on a fudden have been ruined and de- 

 populated. Amfl:erdam, the warehoufe and magazine of Europe, 

 wherein commerce ard the arts are cultivated by 300,000 people, 

 would liave prefently become only one vafl lake ; and the adjacent 

 lands, which require an immenfe expenfe to raife and maintain their 

 banks, would probably at once have wanted both the fupport of men 

 and money, and would at length have been overwhelmed by the fea, 

 leaving Louis XIV" only the wretched glory of having deftroyed one 



* The firll LiJ.ment of the French at Bourbon is dated in 1655, and the more efFediial oiie i;) 

 1.671, by Vifcuui.t De Vuux, in his Hiilory of Mauritius, pubh'hed in 1801. M. 



