Chap. III. thrmgh S w i s 
that Fabrick. Not far from this is Moral ; and a Jittle 
bn this Side of it is a Chapel full of the Bones of the 
Burgundians, that were killed by the Switzers, when 
this PJace was befieged by the famous Charles Duke of 
Burgundy, who loft a great Army before it, entirely cut 
off by the Befteged. The Infcription is very extraor- 
dinary, efpecially for that Age : For the Bones being 
fo piled up, that the Chapel is quite filled with them, 
the Infcription bears, that Charles Duke of Burgundy^ 
Army having befieged Moral, Hoc fui monumentum re- 
liquit, left that Monument behind it. It cannot 
but feem ftrange to one that views Moral, to 
imagine how it was polTible for a Town fo fitu- 
ated, and fo (lightly fortified, to hbld out againft 
fo powerful a Prince, and fo great an Army, chat 
brought Cannon before it. I met with nothing re- 
markable between this and Bafil, except that I ftaid 
fome time at Bern, and knew it better ; and at this 
fecond Time it was, that my Lord Advoyer Erlach 
gave Order to fhew me the original Records of the 
famous Procefs of the four Dominicans : Upon which 
I have retouch’d the Letter I wrote to you laft Year. 
2^. Bafii is the Town of the greateft Extent of all 
Switzerland, but it is not inhabited in Proportion to its 
Extent. The Rhine maketh a Crook before it, and 
the Town is fituated on a rifing Ground, which hath a 
noble Effeft on the Eye, when one is on the Bridge, 
for it looks like a Theatre. Little Bafil, on the 
other fide of the Rhine, is almoft a fourth Part of the 
whole. The Town is furrounded with a Wall and 
Ditch, but it is expofed on many Sides, and hath now 
fo dreadful a Neighbour within a Quarter of a League 
of it, the Fort of Hunningen, that it hath nothing to 
truft to, humanly fpeaking, but its Union with the 
other Cantons. The Maxims of this Canton have hin- 
dred its being better peopled than it is : The Advan- 
tages of the Burgerfliip are fuch, that the Citizens will 
not fhare them with Strangers, and by this Means they 
do not admit them. For I was told, that during the 
laft War, that Alfatia was fo often the Seat of both 
Armies, Bafil having then a Neutrality, it might been 
very well filled, if it had not been for this Maxim. And 
it were a great Happinefs to all the Cantons, if they 
could have different Degrees of Burgerihip, fo that the 
lower Degrees might be given to Strangers for their 
Encouragement to come and live among them ; and 
the higher Degrees, which qualify Men for the advan- 
tageous Employments of the State, might be referved 
for the ancient Families of the Natives. Bafil is divided 
into fixteen Companies, and every one of thefe hath 
four Members in the Little Council, fo that it confifteth 
of Sixty-four : But of thofe four, two are chofen by the 
Company itfelf who are called the Matters, and the 
other two are chofen by the Council out of the Com- 
pany i and thus, as there are two Sorts of Counfellors 
chofen in thofe different Manners, there are alfo two 
chief Magiftrates. 
There are two Burgo-mafters, that reign by Turns, 
and two Zunft-Mafters, that have alfo their Turns, and 
all is for Life ; and the laft are the Heads of the Com- 
panies, like the Roman Tribunes of the People. The 
Fabrick of the Stadt-houle is ancient. There is a very 
good Painting in Frefco upon the Walls. One Piece 
hath given much Offence to the Papifts, though they 
have no Reafon to blame the Reformation for it, fince 
it was done feveral Years before it, viz. in the Year 1510. 
It is a Reprefentation of the Day of Judgment, and 
after Sentence given, the Devil is reprefen ted drivino- 
many before him to Hell, and among thefe there is a 
Pope and feveral Ecclefiafticks. But it is believed, 
that the Council, which fat fo long in this Place, afting 
fo vigoroufly againft the Pope, engaged the Town in- 
to fuch a Hatred of the Papacy, that this might give 
the Rife to this Reprefentation. The more learned 
in the Town afcribe the Beginning of the Guftom in 
Bafil, yf. the Clocks anticipating the Time a full Hour, 
to the fitting of the Council: And they fay, that in 
order to the advancing of Bufinels, and the fhortening 
their Seffions, they ordered their Clocks to be fet for- 
SERLAND^ '^C. 63I 
ward an Hour, which continueth to this Day. The 
Cathedral is a great old Gothick Building ; the Chamber, 
where the Council fat, is of no great Reception, and is 
a very ordinary Room. 
Erafmus^s Tomb is only a plain Infcription upon a great 
Brafs Plate, There are a great many of Holbein'*^ Pic- 
tures here, who was a Native of Ba/il, and was recom- 
mended by Erafnus to King Henry The two 
beft are a Corpo, or Chriii dead, which is certainly one 
of the beft Pictures in the. World. There is another 
Piece of his in the Stadt-Houfe (for this is in the pub- 
lick Library) of about three or four Foot fquare, in 
which, in fix feveral Cantons, the feveral Parts of our 
Saviour’s Paffion are reprefented with a Life and Beauty 
that cannot be enough admired. It is valued at Ten 
thoufand Crowns. It is on Wood, but hath that Frefii- 
hefs of Colour ftill on it, that feems peculiar to Hol- 
hebds Pencil. There is alfo a Dance that he painted 
on the Walls of an Houfe where he ufed to drink, 
that is fo worn our, that very little is now to be feen, 
except Shapes and Poftures *, but thefe fhew the Ex- 
quifitenefs of the Hand. There is another longer 
Dance, that running all along the Side of the Convent 
of the Auguftinians, which is now the French Church, 
and that is DeathVdance. There are above threefcore 
Figures in it at full Length, of Perfons of all Ranks, 
from Popes, Emperors, and Kings, down to the mean- 
eft Sorts of People, and of all Ages and Profeflions, 
to whom Death appeareth in an infolent and furprifing 
Pofture: And the feveral Paffions that they exprefs 
are fo well fet out, that this was certainly a great De- 
fign. But the Frefco being expofed to the Air, this 
was fo worn out fome time ago, that they ordered the 
beft Painter they had, to lay new Colours on it ; but 
this is fo ill done, that one had rather fee the dead 
Shadows of HolbeinH Pencil, than this coarfe Work. 
There is in Bafil a Gunfinith, that makes Wind- 
Guns, and he fhewed me one, that as it received at 
once Air for ten Shot, fo it had this peculiar to it, which 
he pretends is his own Invention, that he can difcharge 
all the Air that can be parcelled out in ten Shot, at 
once, to give a home Blow. I confefs thofe are terri- 
ble Inftruments, and it feems the Intereft of Mankind 
to forbid them quite, fince they can be employed to 
affaffinate Perfons fo dexteroufly, that neither Noife nor 
Fire will difcover from what Hand the Shot cometh. 
The Library of Bafil is by much the beft in all Swit- 
zerland. There is a fine Colledion of Medals in it, 
and a very handfome Library of Manufcripts. The 
Room is noble, and difpofed in a very good Method. 
Their Manufcripts are chiefly the Latin Fathers, or 
Latin Tranflations of the Greek Fathers ; fome good 
Bibles. They have the Gofpel in Greek Capitals, but 
they are vicioufly writ in many Places. There is an 
infinite Number of the Writers of the darker Ages, 
and there are Legends and Sermons without Number. 
All the Books that were in the feveral Monafteries, at 
the Time of the Reformation, were carefully preferved ; 
and they believe, that the Bifliops, who fat here in the 
Council, brought with them a great many Manufcripts 
which they never carried away. 
Among their Manufcripts, I faw four of Hufs*s Let- 
ters, that he writ to the Bohemians the Day before his 
Death, which are very devout, but exceflively Ample. 
The Manufcripts of this Library are far more nume- 
rous than thofe of Bern, which were gathered by Bon- 
garfius, and left by him to the publick Library there. 
They are indeed very little confidered there, and are 
the word kept that I ever faw. But it is a noble Col- 
lection of all the ancient Latin Authors. They have 
fome few of the beft of the Roman Times, writ in 
great Characters, and there are many that are feven or 
eight hundred Years old. There is in Bafil one of 
the beft Collections of Medals that ever I f^w in private 
Hands, together with a noble Library, in 'which there 
are Manufcripts of good Antiquity, that belo‘ng to the 
Family of Fefch, and that go from one learned Man 
of the Family to another : For this Inheritance can only 
pafs to a Maq of Learning ; and when the Family pro- 
duce th 
