Chap. III. through S w i s 
Temper of Mind of t). Fahritius, and D. Mkk, who, 
as they were long in England^ fo they have that gene- 
rous Largenefs of Soul, which is the noble Ornament 
of many of the Englijh Divines. Prince Charles-Lewis 
faw that Manheim was mark’d out by Nature to be the 
moft important Place of all his Territory, it being^ fi- 
tuated in the Point where the Neckar falls into the Rhine ; 
fo that thofe two Rivers defending it On two Sides, it was 
capable of a good Fortification. It is true, the Air is not 
thought wholfome, and the Water is not very good, yet 
he made a fine Town there, and a noble Citadel, with 
a regular Fortification about it ; and he defigned a 
great Palace there, but did not live to build it. He 
faw of what Advantage Liberty of Confcience was to 
the peopling of his Country ; fo as he fuff-ered the Jews 
to come and fettle there ; he refolved alfo not only to 
fuffer the three Religions tolerated by the Laws of the 
Empire, to be profeffed there, but he built a Church 
for them all three, which he called the Church of the 
Concord, in which the CaMnifts, Lutherans, and Pa- 
pijis had, in the Order of which I have fet them down, 
the Exercife of their Religion j and he maintained the 
Peace of his Principality fo entirely, that there was not 
the leaft Diforder occafioned by this Toleration ; This 
indeed made him to be,look’d on as a Prince that did 
not much confider Religion himfelf. He had a wonder- 
ful Application to all Affairs, and was not only his own 
chief Minifter, but he alone did the Work of many. 
But I were unjuft, if I ftiould not fay fomewhat to 
you of the princely Virtues, and the celebrated Probity 
of the prefent Prince Eleftor, upon whom that Dignity 
is devolved by the Extinftion of fo many Princes, that 
in this Age compofed the moft numerous Family of any 
of that Rank in Europe. This Prince, as he is in many 
Refpeds an Honour to the Religion that he profeffes,fo he 
is in nothing more to be commended by thofe who differ 
from him, than for his exaft adhering to the Promifes he 
made his Subjeds, with relation to their Religion -, in 
which he has not (even in the fmalleft Matters, broke in 
upon their eftablifh’d Laws ; and though an Order of 
Men that have turned the World upfide down, have 
great Credit with him, yet it is hitherto vifible, that 
they cannot carry it fo far, as to make him do any 
thing contrary to the eftablifh’d Religion, and to thofe 
facred Promifes that he made his Subjects. For he 
makes it appear to all the World, that he does not con- 
fider thofe, as fo many Words fpoken at firft to lay his 
People afteep, which he may now explain and obferve 
as he thinks fit, but as fo many Ties upon his Confcience 
and Honour, which he will religioufly obferve. And 
as in the other Parts of his Life he has fet a noble Pat- 
tern to all the Princes of Europe, fo his Exaftnefs to his 
Promifes is that which cannot be too much commended 
of which this extraordinary Inftance has been commu- 
nicated to me fince I came into this Country. The E- 
leiftor had a Proceffion in his Court laft Corpus Chrifii 
Day ; upon which one of the Minifters of Heidelberg 
preached a very fevere Sermon againft Popery, and in 
particular taxed that Proceffion perhaps with greater 
Plainnefs than Difcretion. This being brought to the 
Eleftor’s Ears, he fent prefently an Order to the Eccle- 
fiaftical Synod to fufpend him : That Court is compofed 
of fome fecular Men and fome Churchmen ; and as the 
Princess Authority is delegated to them, fo they have a 
Sort of an Epifcopal Jurifdidion over all the Clergy. This 
Order was a Surprize to them, as being a diredt Breach 
upon their Laws, and the Liberty of their Religion ; fo 
they fent a Deputation to Court, to let the Eledlor know 
the Reafons that hinder’d them from obeying his Orders ; 
which were heard with fo much Juftice and Gentlenefs, 
that the Prince, inftead of expreffing any Difpleafure 
againft them, recalled the Order that he had fent 
them. 
30. The Way from Heidelberg to Francfort is, for the firft 
twelve or fifteen Miles, the beautifulleft Piece of Ground 
that can be imagined ; for we w'ent under a Ridge of 
little Hills that are all covered with Vines ; and from 
them, as far as the Eye can go, there is a beautiful Plain 
of Corn-fields and Meadows, all fweetly divided and 
enclofed with Rows of Trees, fo that I fancied I was 
S E R L A N D, ^C. 635 
in Lombardy again, but with this Advantage, that here 
all was not of a Piece, as it is in Lombardy ; but the 
Hills, as they made a pleafant Inequality in the Prof- 
pedl, fo they made the Air purer, and produced a 
pleafant Wine. The Way hear Darmjladt, and all 
forwards to Francfort, becometh more wild and more 
fandy. There is a good Suburb on the South Side of 
the Maine over-againft Francfort, which hath a very 
confiderable Fortification. There is a double Wall and 
a double Ditch that goes round it •, and the outward 
Wall, as it is regularly fortified, fo it is faced with 
Brick to a confiderable Height. The Town of Franc- 
fort is of a great Extent, and feemed to be but about 
a third Part lefs than Strasburg. The three Religions 
are alfo tolerated there, and though the Number of the 
Papifts is very inconfiderable, yet they have the great 
Church, which is a huge rude Building ; they have alfo 
feveral other Churches, and fome Convents there. 
There are feveral open Squares for Market-places, and 
the Houfes about them look very well on the Out- 
fide. Among their Archives they preferve the Original 
of the Bulla Aurea, which is only a great Parchment 
writ in High Dutch, without any Beauty anfwering to 
its Title j and fince I could not have imderftood it, I 
was not at the Pains of defiring to fee it ; for that is 
not obtained without Difficulty. The Lutherans have 
here built a new Church, called St. 'Katharine''^, in which 
there is as much Painting as ever I faw in any Popifh 
Church and over the high Altar there is an huge car- 
ved Crucifix, as there are painted ones in other Places 
of the Church ; the Pulpit is extreme fine, of Marble 
of different Colours, very well polifhed and joined. I 
was here at Sermon, where I underftood nothing •, but 
I liked one thing that I faw both at Strasburg and here, 
that at the End of Prayers there was a confiderable In- 
terval of Silence left, before the Conclufion, for all 
People’s private Devotions. In the Houfe of their pub-* 
lick Difcipline they retain ftill the old Roman Pijlrina, or 
Hand-mill, at which lewd Women are condemned to 
grind, that is, to drive about the Wheel that maketh 
the Mill-ftones go. There is a great Number of Jews 
there, though their two Synagogues are very little, and 
by Confequence, the Numbers being great, they are 
very nafty. I was told, they were in all above twelve 
hundred. The Women had the moft tawdry Embroi- 
dery of Gold and Silver about them that ever I faw, for 
they had all Mantles of Crape, and both about the 
Top and the Bottom there was a Border above a Hand’s 
Breadth of Embroidery. The Fortification of Francfort 
is confiderable their Ditch is very broad, and very 
full of Water j all the Baftions have a Countermine 
that runneth along by the Brim of the Ditch, but the 
Counterfearp is not faced with Brick as the Wails are, 
and fo in many Places it is in an ill Condition : The 
Cover’d Way and Glacis are alfo in an ill Cafe. The 
Town is rich, and drivech a great Trade, and is very 
peafantly fituated. Not far from thence is Hockam, 
that yieldeth the beft Wine of thofe Parts. Since I 
took Francfort in my Way from Heidelberg to Mentz, 
I could not pafs by Worms, for which I was forry.. 
I had a great Mind to fee that Place where futher 
made his firft Appearance before the Emperor and the 
Diet ; and in that folemn Audience expreffed an un- 
daunted Zeal for that glorious Caufe in which God 
made him fuch a bleftcd Inftrument. I had another 
Piece of Curiofity on me, which will perhaps appear 
to you fomewhat ridiculous. I had a Mind to fee a 
Piifture, that, as I was told, is over one of the Popifh 
Altars, which one would think was invented by the E- 
nemies of Tranfubftantiation, to make ir appear ridi- 
culous. There is a Windmill, and the Vngin throws 
Chrift into the Hopper, and he comes out at the Eye 
of the Mill all in Wafers, which fome Prieits take up 
to give to the People. This is fo coarle an Emblem, 
thatone would think it too grofs even Laplanders ; but 
a Man that can fwallow Tranfubftantiation itfelf, will 
digeit this likewife. 
31. Mentz is very nobly fituated, on a riling Ground, a 
little below the Conjunblion ot the two Rivers, the Rhine 
and the Maine , it is .of too great Compafs, and too ill 
