59^ Bipiop Bur 
Hoftie, which yet he vomited up Toon after he had 
fwallowed it. That failing, they ufed him fo cruelly, 
vyhipping him with an Iron Chain, and girding him 
about fo ftrait with it, that to avoid further Torment, 
he Iwore to them in a moll: imprecating Stile, that he 
would never difcover the Secret, but would ftill carry it 
on •, and fo he deluded them, till he found an Oppor- 
tunity of getting out of the Convent, and of throwing 
himfelf into the Hands of the Magiftrates, to whom 
he difcovered all. 
The four Fryers were feized and put in Prifon, and 
an Account of the Matter was fent firft to the Bilhop 
of Laufanne^ and then- to Rome ; and it may be ealily 
imagin’d, that the Francifcans took all poffible Care to 
have it thoroughly examined. The Bilhops of Laufanne 
and Zyon^ with the Provincial of the Dominicam<, were 
appointed to form the Procefs. The four Fryers firft 
excepted to JelzeFs Credit ; bnt that was rejefted : 
Then being threaten’d with the Queftion, they put in 
a long Plea againft that •, but though the Provincial 
would not confent to that, yet they were put to the 
Queftion : Some endured it long, but at laft they all 
confefTed the Whole of the Impofture. The Provincial 
appeared concerned 9 for though Jeizer had opened the 
whole Matter to him, yet he would give no Credit to 
him i on the contrary, he charged him to be obedient 
to them 9 and one of the Fryers faid plainly, that he 
was in the whole Secret 9 and fo he withdrew, but he 
died fome Days after at Conjlance, having poifoned him- 
felf, as was generally believed. The Matter lay afteep 
fome Time, but a Year after that, a Spanijh Bilhop 
came, authorized with full Power from Rome^ and the 
whole Cheat being fully proved, the four Fryers were 
folemnly degraded from their Priefthoods, and eight 
Days after, it being the laft of May^ 1509, they were 
burnt in a Meadow on the other Side of the River, 
over-againft the great Church. The Place of their Ex- 
ecution was ftiewed me, as well as the Hole in the Wall 
through which the Voice was conveyed to the Image. 
It was certainly one of the blackeft, and yet the beft 
carried-on Cheat that has been known 9 and, no Doubt, 
had the poor Fryer died before the Difcovery, it had 
paffed to Pofterity as one of the greateft Miracles that 
ever was 9 and it gives a fhrew’d Sufpicion, that many 
of the other Miracles of that Church are of the fame 
Nature, but more fuccefsfully finifh’d. 
7. Switzerland lies between France and Italy ^ both 
Countries incomparably more rich, and better furnifh- 
ed with the Conveniencies of Life than it 9 and yet 
Italy is almoft difpeopled, and the People in it are redu- 
ced to Mifery that can fcarce be imagined but by thofe 
who have fcen it : And France is in a great Meafure 
difpeopled, and the Inhabitants reduced to fuch Po- 
verty as appears in all the Marks in which it can fhew 
itfelf, in their Houfcs, Furniture, Cloaths, and Looks. 
Gn the contrary, Switzerland is full of People, and 
in feveral Places, in Villages as well as in Towns, one 
fees all the Marks of Plenty and Wealth. Their Hou- 
fes and Windows are in good Order, the Highways 
are well maintained. People are well cloathed, and 
every one at his Eafe. This Obfervation furprifed me 
ftill more in the Country of the GrifonSy where there is 
hardly any Soil at all, the Vallies being almoft waftied 
away with the Torrents that fall down from the Hills, 
and fwell their Brooks fometimes fo fuddenly, that in 
many Places the whole Soil is carried away 9 and yet 
thofe Vallies are well peopled, and every one lives hap- 
py under a gentle Government : Whilft rich and plen- 
tiful Countries are reduced to fuch Mifery, chat as ma- 
ny Inhabitants are forced to change their Seats, fo thofe 
who ftay behind can fcarce live, and pay thofe Impofi- 
tions that are laid upon them. The common People 
generally reafon very fimply of Government 9 but they 
feel truly though they argue falfe. So an eafy Govern- 
ment, though in a Country with am ill Soil, and ac- 
companied with great Inconveniencies, draws, or at 
Jeaft keeps People in it 9 whereas a fevere Government, 
though it rnay in Speculation appear reafonable, 
drives its Subjeds even out of the beft and moft defire- 
able Seats, 
N E t’s Fraveh Book II. 
8. In my Way from Berny I paffed by Solothurn^ 
and I came through Frihoiirg in my Way to Bern 
Thefe are two of the chief Popifh Cantons after Lu- 
cern 9 and one fees in them a Heat and Bigottry be- 
yond what appears in France or Italy. Long before 
they come within the Church, they kneel down in the 
Streets, when Mafs is faying. The Images are extreme 
grofs. In the chief Church of Solothurny there is an 
Image of God the Father, as an old Man with a black 
Beard, _ having our Saviour on his Knees, and a Dove 
over his Head.^ Here alfo begins Devotion at tht Ave^ 
Mary Bell, which is fcarce known in Francey but is prac- 
tifed all over Italy : At Noon, and at Sun-fet, the Bell 
rings, and all fay the Ave-Mary. But whereas in Italy 
they content themfelves with putting off their Hats, in 
Switzerland they kneel down in the Streets, which 1 
law no where praflifed except at Venicey and there it is 
not commonly done. But notwithftanding this, all the 
Switzers fee their common Intereft fo well, that they 
live in a very good Underftanciing one with another. 
This IS chiefly owing to the Canton of Lucerny where 
there is a Spirit in the Government very different from 
what is in the other Popifh Cantons. The Jefuits begin 
to grow as powerful in Switzerland, as they are elfe- 
where 9 they have a noble College and Chapel in the 
beft Place of Fribourg, It is not long fince they were 
Solo t hum, where there was a Revenue of a thoufand 
Livres a Year fettled for the Maintenance of ten of 
them, with this Provifion, that they fhould never exceed 
that Number. But where once fettled, they find 
Means to break through all Limitations % and are now 
become fo rich there, that they are raifing a Church and 
College, which will coft, before finifhed, above four 
hundred thoufand Livres, to which the French King 
gives ten thoufand Livres for the Frontifpiece 9 for a° 
this is the Canton in which his Ambafladour refides, 
he thought it for his Glory, to have a Monument raifed 
by an Order, that will never be wanting to flatter their 
Benefaeftors, as long as they can find their Account in it. 
In the fame Canton there is an Abbey, that has one 
hundred thoufand Livres of Revenue 9 there is alfo a 
very rich Houfe of Nuns that wear the Capuchins Ha- 
bit, that has fixty thoufand Livres of Revenue, and but 
fixty Nuns in it, who, having a thoufand Livres a-piece, 
may live in all poflible Plenty, in a Country where a 
little Money goes a great Way. But that which fur- 
pr ifes one moft at Solothurn is, the great Fortification 
they are building about the Town, the nobleft and fo- 
lideft that is any where to be feen. The Stone with 
which it is faced, is a Sort of coarfe Marble, but many 
Stones are ten Foot long, and two Foot thick : But 
though this will be a Work of Expence and Beauty, yet 
it would fignify little againft a great Army that attack’d 
it vigoroufly. The Wall is finifhed on the Side of the 
River, the Ditch is very broad, and the Counterfearp 
and Glacis are alfo finifhed, and they are working at a 
Fort on the other Side of the River, which they intend 
to fortify in the fame Manner. This has coft them 
near two Millions of Livres, and th's Expence has made 
them often repent the Undertaking 9 and it is certain, 
that a Fortification able to refill: their Peafants in cafe of 
a Rebellion, is all that is needful. This Canton has 
two Advoyers, as Bern 9 the Little Council confifts of 
thirty-fix : They have twelve Bailiages, which are very 
profitable to thofe that can carry them 9 one Burfar, 
and but one Banneret. All the Cantons have Bailiages 9 
but if there are Diforders at Bern in the Choice of Bai- 
liffs, there are far greater among the Popifh Cantons, 
where all Things are fold, as a foreign Minifter told 
me 9 who, tho’ he knew my Religion, did not flick 
to own frankly, that the Catholick were not near fo 
well governed as the Proteftant Cantons. Juftice is ge- 
nerally fold among them 9 and in Treaties with foreign 
Princes, they have fometimes taken Money both from 
French and Spanijh Ambaffadors, and have figned 
contradidlory Articles at the fame Time. 
9. Baden has nothing in it remarkable, except its 
convenient Situation, which makes it the Seat of the 
General Diet of the Cantons, tho’ not one of them, but 
a Bailiage that belongs in common to eight of the an- 
cient 
