Chap. III. through Swiss 
dent Cantons. At laft I came to Zurich, which as it is 
the firft and moft honourable of all the Cantons, fo with 
relation to us^ it has a Precedence of a higher Nature, 
it being the firft that received the Reformation. _ 
ThirCanton is lefs than Bern, yet the Publick is much 
richer ; they reckon that they can bring fifty thoufand 
Men together on twenty four Hours Warning-, their 
Subjeds live happy, for the Bailiffs here have Appoint- 
ments, and have only the Hundred Penny of the Fines j 
fo that they are not tempted as thofe of Bern^ to whom 
the Fine belongs entirely. And whereas at Bern, the 
conftant Intrigue of the whole Town is concerning 
their Bailiages ; here it is a Service to which the Citi- 
zens are bound to fubmit, according to their Conftitu- 
tion, but to which they do not afpire. The Govern- 
ment is almoft the fame as at Bern, and the Magiftrate 
called the Advoyer at Bern, is here called the Burgo- 
mafter. The Revenue of the State is juftly accounted 
for, fo that the Publick is much richer than at Bern ; 
the Arfenal is much better furnifhed, and the Fortifi- 
cations more regular. There is a great Trade ftirring ; 
and as their Lake, that is twenty four Miles long, and 
two or three broad, fupplies them with Provifions, fo 
their River carries their Manufadure to the Rhine, from 
whence it is conveyed as they pleafe. One of their 
chief Manufactures is Crape, in all Refpeds the beft I 
ever faw. I will not deferibe the Situation of the Town, 
but content myfelf with telling you, that it is very 
pleafant, the Country about it mountainous, and the 
Winters hard for the Lake freezes quite over, only 
in fome Places ice never lies, which is efteemed a Mark 
that Springs rife there and caufe that Heat. So alfo in 
the Lake of Geneva, tho’ never quite frozen, yet Flakes 
of Ice lie in feveral Parts, but are never feen in fome 
Parts of the Lake i which is fuppofed to flow from the 
fame Caufe. 
But to return to Zurich : One fees here the ancient 
Simplicity of the Switzers, not corrupted with Luxury 
or Vanity. Their Women not only do not converfe 
with Men, except thole of their near Kindred, but 
even in the Streets make no Returns to the Civility of 
Strangers ; for it is only Strangers put off* their Hats to 
Women, but they make no Courtefies ; and here, as 
through all Switzerland, Women are not fainted, but 
the Civility is expreffed by taking them by the Hand. 
There is one Thing Angular in the Conftitution of Zu- 
rich, that is, their Little Council confifts of Fifty Perfons, 
but there fit in it only Twenty-five at a Time *, and fo 
the Halves of this Council, as each of them has his 
proper Burgomafter, have alfo the Government in their 
Hands by Turns, and they fliift every fix Months, at 
Midfummer, and at Chrifimas. The whole Canton is 
divided into nine great Bailiages, and twenty-one Caf- 
tellaneries -, in the former the Bailiff refides conftantly ; 
but the Caftellan, who is alfo one of the Great Council, 
has fo little to do, that he lives at Zurich, and goes only 
at fet Times of the Year to do Juftice. 
The Virtue of this Canton has appear’d in their ad- 
hering to the ancient Capitulations with the French, and 
not flackening in any Article, which has been done by 
all the other Cantons, where Money has a Sovereign 
Influence but here it never prevailed. I'hey have 
converted the ancient Revenues of the Church more 
to pious Ufes, than any where elfe. They have many 
Hofpitals well endowed ; in one, as I was told, there 
was fix hundred and fifty Poor kept : But as they fup- 
port the real Charities which belong to fuch Endow- 
ments, fo they defpife that vain Magnificence of Build- 
ings, which is generally affeiled elfewhere for theirs 
are plain and one of the Government faid to me very 
fenfibly, that they thought it enough to maintain their 
Poor as Poor, and not lodge them as Princes. 
The Dean and Chapter are ftill continued as a Corpo- 
ration, and enjoy the Revenues which they had before 
the Reformation j but if they fubfift plentifully, they 
labour hard for they have two or three Sermons a 
Day, and at leaft one ; the firft begins at Five o’Clock 
in the Morning. At Geneva, and all Switzerland over, 
there are daily Sermons, which were fubftituted upon 
the Reformation. But the Sermons are generally too 
ERLAND, S99 
long, and the Preachers have departed^ from the firft 
Defign of thefe Sermons, which were intended to be 
an Explication of a whole Chapter, and an Exhorta- 
tion upon it ; and if this were fo contrived,i that it 
were in all not above a Qii^tter of an Hour long, as 
it would be heard by the People with lefs W^eai inefs, 
and more Profit, fo it would be a vaft Advantage to 
the Preachers ; for as it would oblige them to ftudy 
the Scriptures much ; fo having once made themfelves 
Mafters of the pradlical Parts, fuch fliort Difeourfes 
would coft them lefs Pains than thofe laboured Sermons 
do, which con fume the greateft Part of their Time, and 
often to little Purpofe. 
I told you, in Bern .the Bailiages are given by a Sort 
of Ballot, which is fo managed, that no Man’s Vote 
is known : But I muft add, that fince I was firft there, 
they have made a confiderable Alteration in the Way 
of Voting, when Offices are to be given ; which ap- 
proaches much nearer the Venetian Method, and which 
expofes the Competitors more to Chance, and may put 
an End to the Intrigues that are fo much in Ufe for 
obtaining thofe Employments. There are Balls put 
into a Box, equal to the Number of thofe that have a 
Right to vote, and are prefent ; of thefe one Third 
are gilt, and two Parts are only filver’d ; fo every one 
takes out a Ball, but none can vote, except thofe who 
have the gilt Balls j fo that a Man may have more 
than two Thirds on his Side, and yet be difappointed in 
a Competition. 
10. There is one Thing, for which the Switzers, in 
particular thofe Bern, cd^nnoi be too much commend- 
ed : They have, ever fince the Perfecution began in 
France, open’d a Sanduary to fuch as retired thither, 
in fo Chriftian a Manner, that it deferves all honour- 
able Remembrances that can be made of it. Such Mi- 
nifters and others, as were at firft condemned in France 
for the Affair of the Cevennes, have not only found 
Reception here, but all the Support that could be ex- 
peded, and indeed much more. For they have af- 
fign’d the French Minifters a Penfion of five Crowns a 
Month if unmarried, and have increafed it to every one 
who had a Wife and Children, fo that fome had above 
ten Crowns a Month Penfion. They difperfed them 
all over the Pah de Vaud, but the greateft Number 
ftaid at Laufanne and Vevay. In order to the fupporting 
of this Charge, the Charities of Zurich and other Pro- 
teftant States were brought hither. Not only the Pro- 
teftant Cantons, but the Grifons, and fome fmall States 
that are under the Protedion of the Cantons, fuch 
as Neufchdtel, St. Gall, and fome others, have fent 
their Charities to Bern, who difpenfe of them with 
great Diferetion, and bear what farther Charge this 
brings upon them. And in this laft total Difper- 
fion of thofe Churches, the Country has been animated 
with fuch a Spirit of Compaffion, that every Man’s 
Houfe and Purfe has been opened to the Refugees, who 
have pafled in fuch Numbers, that fometimes there 
have been above two thoufand in Laufanne alone, and 
of thefe at one Time near two hundred Minifters ; 
and they all met with a Kindnefs that look’d more 
like the primitive Age, than the Degeneracy of that in 
which we live. 
The only confiderable Tax under which the Switzers 
lie, is, when Eftates are fold, the fifth Part of the Price 
belongs to the Publick, and all the Abatement that the 
Bailiff can make, is to bring it to a fixth. This they 
call the Lod, which is derived from Alodium \ only there 
are fome Lands that zvt frank-alod, which lie not un- 
der this Tax. But this falling only on the Sellers, it 
was thought a juft Punifhment and a wife Reftraint on 
ill Husbands of their Eftates, 
I was the more confirm’d in the Account I have 
given you of the Derivation of Advoyer, when I found 
that in fome fmall Towns in the Canton of Bern, the 
chief Magiftrate is ftill fo called, as in P ay erne : So 
that I make no Doubt, but as the ancient Magiftrates 
in the Time of the Romans, that were to give an Ac- 
count of the Town, were called Advocates ; and after- 
wards the Judge in Civil Matters, that was named by 
the Bifliops, was called at firft Advocate, and afterwards 
Vidam 
