634 Bijhop Burn 
duceth none, then it is to go to the Publick. In Bafil^ 
as the feveral Companies have been more or lefs ftribt, 
in admitting fome to a Freedom in the Company, 
that have not been of the Trade, fo they retain their Pri- 
vileges to this Day. For, in fuch Companies, that 
have once received fuch a Number that have not been 
of the Trade, as grew to be the Majority, the Trade 
hath never been able to recover their Interefl. But 
fome Companies have been more cautious, and have 
never admitted any but thofe that were of the Trade •, 
fo that they retain their Interefl; Hill in the Government. 
Of thefe the Butchers were named for one ; fo that there 
are always four Butchers in the Council. The great 
Council confifteth of two hundred and forty, but they 
have no Power left them, and they are only alTembled 
upon fome extraordinary Occafions, when the Little 
Council thinks fit to communicate any important Mat- 
ter to them. There are but fix Bailiages that belong 
to Bafil, which are not Employments of great Advan- 
tage ; for the befl: of them affords to the Bailiff only a 
thoufand Livres a Year. They reckon that there are in 
Bafil, three thoufand Men that can bear Arms, and 
that they could raife four thoufand more out of the 
Canton ; fo that the Town is almofl the half of this 
State, but the whole making thirty Parifhes. There 
are eighteen Profeffors in this Univerfity ; and there is 
a Spirit of more free and generous Learning flirring 
there, than I faw in all thofe Parts. There is a great 
Decency of Habit mBaftl ; and the Garb of the Coun- 
fellors, Miniflers, and Profeffors, their ftiff Ruffs, and 
their long Beards, have an Air that is venerable and 
auguft. The Appointments are but fmall, for Coun- 
fellors, Minilfers, and Profeffors have but one hundred 
Crowns a-piece : It is true, many Miniflers are Profef- 
fors, fo this mends the Matter a little ; but perhaps 
it would go better with the State of Learning there, 
if they had but half the Number of Profeffors, and if 
thofe were a little better encouraged. No where is the 
Rule of St. Paul better obferved than at BafiP, for 
all the married Women go to Church with a Coif on 
their Heads, that is fo folded, that it comes down fo 
far as to cover their Eyes, and another Folding covers 
alfo their Mouth and Chin, fo that nothing but their 
Nofe appears ; and then all turns backward in a Folding 
that hangs down to their Mid-leg : This is always white ; 
fo that there is fuch a Sight of white Heads in their 
Churches, as cannot be .found any where elfe. The 
unmarried Women wear Hats turned up in the Brims, 
before and behind ; and the Brims of the Sides being 
about a Foot broad, ftand out far on both Sides ; This 
Fafhion is alfo at Strashurg^ ahd is worn there alfo by 
the married Women. 
26. I mentioned formerly the conflant Danger to 
which this Place is expofed, from the Neighbourhood 
of Hunningen : I was told, that at firfl: it was pretended 
that the French King intended to build only a fmall Fort 
there ; and it was believed, that one of the Burgo- 
mafters of Bafil^ who was thought not only the wifeft 
Man of that Canton, but of all SwiJJerlandy was gained 
to lay all Men afleep, and to affure them, that the fuf- 
fering this Fort to be built fo near them, was of no 
Importance ; but now they fee too late their fatal Er- 
ror •, for the Place is great, and will hold a Garrifon 
of three or four thoufand Men. It is a Pentagon, 
only the Side towards the Rhine is fo large, that if it 
went round on that Side, I believe it muft have been 
an Hexagon. The Baftions have all Orillons, and in 
the Middle of them there is a void Space not filled up 
with Earth, where there is a Magazine built fo thick 
in the Vault, that it is Proof againfl: Bombs. The 
Ramparts are ftrongly faced ; there is a large Ditch, 
and before the Cortin, in the Middle of the Ditch, 
there runs a Horn-work, which is but ten or twelve 
Foot high and from the Bottom of the Rampart, 
there goes a Vault to this Horn- work, for conveying 
Men tor its Defence. Before this Horn-work there is 
a Half-moon, with this that is peculiar to thofe new 
Fortifications, that there is a Ditch that cuts the Half- 
moon in an Angle, and maketh one Half- moon 
v/ithin another .* Beyond that there is a Coun- 
E xh travels Book II. 
terfcarp about twelve Foot high above the Water, 
with a covered Way, and a Glacis defigned, though 
not yet executed. There is alfo a great Horn-work 
befides all this, which runs out a huge Way with its 
Outworks towards Bafil. There is likewife a Bridge 
laid over the Rhine, and there being an Ifland in the 
River where the Bridge is laid, there is a Horn-work 
that fills and ftrengthens it. The Buildings in this Fort 
are beautiful, and the Square can hold above four thou- 
fand Men : The Works are not yet quite finifhed, but 
when all is complete, this will be one of the flrongeft 
Places in Europe. There is a Cavalier on one or two 
of the Bafiions, and there are Half-moons before the 
Baftions ; fo that the Switzers fee their Danger now, 
when it is not eafy to redrefs it. This Place is fituated 
in a great Plain, fo that it is commanded by no ri- 
fling Ground on any Side of it. I made a little Tour 
into Alface, as far as Mountbelliar d ; the Soil is extreme 
rich, but it hath been fo long a F'rontier Country, and 
is by Confequence fo ill peopled, that it is in many 
Places overgrown with Woods. In one Refpedt it is 
fit to be the Seat of War, for it is full of Iron-works, 
which bring a great deal of Money into the Country. 
I faw nothing peculiar in the Iron-works there, except 
that the Sides of the great Bellows were not of Leather, 
but of Wood, which faves much Money ; fo I will not 
ftand to defcribe them. 
The River Rhine^ all from Baftl to Spire, is fo low,- 
and is on both Sides fo covered with Woods, that one, 
that comes down in a Boat, hath no Sight of the 
Country. The River runs fometimes with fuch a Force, 
that nothing but fuch Woods could preferve its Banks, 
and even thefe are not able to fave them quite ; for the 
Trees are often wafhed away by the very Roots, fo that 
in many Places thofe Trees lie along in the Channel of 
the River. It hath been alfo thought a Sort of a For- 
tification to both Sides of the River, to have it thus 
faced with Woods, which makes the palTing of Men 
dangerous, when they muft march for fome Time after 
their Paflfage through a Defile. The firft Night, from 
Bajil, we came to Brifac, which is a poor and mifera- 
ble Town ; but it is a noble Fortification, and hath on 
the Weft Side of the River, over which a Bridge is 
laid, a regular Fort of four or five Baftions. The Town 
of Brifac rifeth on a Hill, which is a confiderable 
Height. There were near it two Hills, the one is ta- 
ken within the Fortification, and the other is fo well le- 
velled with the Ground, that one cannot fo much as 
find out where it was. All the Ground about, for ma- 
ny Miles, is plain ; fo that from the Hill, as from a 
Cavalier, one can fee exaflly well, efpecially with the 
Help of a Perlpedlive, all the Motions of an Enemy 
in Cafe of a Siege. The Fortification is of a huge 
Compafs, above a French League, indeed almofl: a 
German League. The Baftions are quite filled with 
Earth ; they are faced with Brick, and a huge broad 
Ditch full of Water round them : The Counterfcarp, 
the cover’d Way, which hath a Pallifade within a Pa- 
rapet, and the Glacis, are all well executed : There is 
a Half- moon before every Cortin ; the Baftions have no 
Orillons, except one or two, and the Cortins are fo dif- 
pofed, that a good Part of them defend the Baftion. 
The Garrifon of this Place, in Time of War, muft 
needs be eight or ten thoufand Men. There hath not 
been much done of late to this Place, only the Ditch is fo 
adjufted, that it is all defended by the Flanks of the 
Baftions. 
But the nobleft Place on the Rhine is Straslurg *, it Is 
a Town of a huge Extent, and hath a double Wall 
and Ditch all round it ; the inner Wall is old, and of 
no Strength, nor is the outward Wall very good j it 
hath a Fauffehraye, and is faced with Brick twelve or 
fifteen Foot above the Ditch : The Counterfcarp is in 
an ill Condition, fo that the Town was not in Cafe to 
make any long Refiftance ; but it is now ftrongly forti- 
fied. There is a Citadel built on that Side that goeth 
towards the Rhine, and is much fuch a Fort as that of 
Hunningen ; and on the Side of the Citadel towards the 
Bridge there is a great Horn-work that runs out a 
great 
