6 
642 Mr. Ray 
2. We went in the Packet-Boat i8th, 1663. 
from Tiover to Calais^ formerly belonging to the Englijlo^ 
fince to the Spaniards, and foon after furrendered to the 
French,\n 1598. Its Situation is very advantageous, and 
the Fortifications of Earth, with a deep Ditch and Ci- 
tadel to the Land-fide. It exceeds DiJwr in Bignefs, 
and the Market-place is a very fpacious Square ; the 
Government of the' Place being adminiflred by a Ma- 
jor and four Aldermen. 
April 21. We continued our Journey, by Way of 
Gravelin to Dunkirk *, the firft is a Place but indiffe- 
rently built and peopled, feated in a watry Country, 
and enclofed with a good Number of Out- works and 
broad Ditches : The fecond may be compared for Ex- 
tent to Cambridge, being very populous and well forti- 
fied. It is one of the four Port-Towns of Flanders. 
We travelled along the Sea-fhore from thence to 
OJlend, taking our Way by Neuport : This laft is ano- 
ther of the Flemijh Ports, having a capacious and fe- 
cure Harbour, but will admit of no Ships of any great 
Burthen ; the Streets are broad and uniform, but the 
Houfes are low, and built of Timber. Oitend is ano- 
ther of the Harbours of Flanders, confiderable both 
for Strength and Conveniency i being capacious and 
fecure againft the Violence of the Winds, and capable 
of receiving Ships of confiderable Burthen ; the Build- 
ings are likewife but low here, yet pretty uniform, and 
the Streets regular and ftreight, being built all at 
once, after the famous Siege of three Years, before it 
could be taken by the Spaniards. Sluys, is another 
Sea-port Town of this Country, but under the Jurif- 
didlion of the United Provinces ; its Harbour exceeds 
all the before-mentioned for its Capacity, but is grow- 
ing daily fhallower, and will in Time be choaked up. 
3. April 24. Having taken us Places in the Track-boat, 
bound for Bruges, and drawn by Horfes, we came about 
a League and an half from OJiend, to one of thofe 
Locks (called Sojiegni by the Italians) which are gene- 
rerally made at a great Declivity of a Fall of Water, 
to keep up the Water, and thereby render a River na- 
vigable, which either wants Water, or has too fleep a 
Defcent. Such there are in Guildford River in Surry in 
England. The City of Bruges is about four Leagues 
diltant from OJiend, well built, and of a great Circum- 
ference, having been formerly a very confiderable City 
for Trade. Here, when we law Pieces of Linnen faft- 
ned to the Ring of the Doors, where Women were 
lying in % it put us in Mind of what Erafmus had 
taken Notice of upon this Head in his Colloquies. But 
what delighted us much, was a certain Engine made 
life of here, for the drawing up of Water in great 
Quantities for the Ufe of the City. This is perform’d 
by Means of a Chain, unto which are faftned Cylindri- 
cal Buckets, of Iron ; the Chain being round in form 
of a Wheel-band, and put over a large Axis, deeply 
furrowed, from whence hanging down into the Well 
below it, and being turn’d about by the Axis, the de- 
fending Buckets have their Mouths downward, take 
up the Water as they pafs through the Well, which af- 
terwards afcending with their Mouths upwards fyet a 
little inclining from the Chain outward) they carry up 
to the Axis, to which as foon as they are come, they 
muft, by Reafon of their Pofition, turn it out into a 
Trough placed lower than the Axis, by which it is con- 
veyed into a Ciftern, and thence by Pipes through the 
City. The deep Furrows in the Axis made to hold 
up the Backets, without which, the Chain would be 
apt to flip back, by Reafon of the Weight of the af- 
cending Buckets. I have feen many of this kind in 
France, Spain and Italy. This City has but Seven Pa- 
rifh Churches, but Convents in a great Number : In 
the Church dedicated to Our Lady, you fee the Monu- 
ment of Charles, firnamed the Hardy, D\jk.Q- oi Bur- 
gundy, who (as the FrencB Infcription tells you) was 
flain in the Battle of Nancy, 1476. and his Body tran- 
flated thence by the Emperor Charles V. We faw here 
a very tall Fellow, and well-fliap’d ; from his middle 
Finger to his Elbow 25 Inches, the Lehgth of his Hand 
ip the" WnE ii„lnchesj his middle Finger 7 Inches, 
’ s Travels Book II 
and the refl: of his Limbs pi-oportionable : He was af- 
terwards fhown in England. 
According to Boetius, a Native of this Place 
certain fubterraneous Woods are diggM up ten or 
twelve Ells deep in the Earth, with the Trunks, Boughs, 
and Leaves fo apparent, that the feveral kinds of them 
may be eafily diftinguifli’d. The like I have been in- 
form’d, are found in Friejland and about Groningen, 
efpecially in the fenny Ground, where they dig for 
Turfs. In England they are called Mofs-wood, and 
are likewife found in moorifh and boggy Grounds : 
It is very probable, that in mofl; ancient Times, before 
all Records, thefe Places were Woods on the Continent, 
and being overwhelm’d by the Sea, continued under 
Water, till the Rivers and Floods brought thither fo 
much Earth and Mudd, as by Degrees cover’d thefe 
Trees, and rejoined them to the Continent. As for 
the Seas often encroaching upon the Continent, it is 
manifeft on our Coafl of Suffolk about Dunwich, there 
being very ancient and authentick Records, which 
mention a certain Wood a Mile and a half to the 
Eaft of Dunwich, which is now a great Way in the 
Sea. And, as to what concerns the filling up of fuch 
Places, I have fome Reafons to believe, that if not all, 
at leafl a great Part of the Low-Countries have been 
thus gained from the Sea, I remember that Varenius 
mentions, that at the finking of a Well in Amjierdam, 
of 100 Foot deep, they met with a Floor of Sand and 
Cockle- fhells, a convincing Argument that the Bottom 
of the Sea lay there in former Ages, and that in Pro- 
cefs of Time, thefe hundred Foot of Earth were ac- 
cumulated and brought thither by fome confiderable 
Rivers which depofited the Sands its Stream had wafhed 
from the high Grounds hereabouts. Of this we have 
divers other Inftances in the Flats about Venice, and in 
the Camarg, or the Ifle of the River Rhofne, near Aix 
in Provence, where (as we were credibly informed) the 
Watch-Tower had been three Times removed nearer to 
the Sea, within the Memory of fome People, by Reafon 
of the AccefTion of Land on that Side. Some objecft 
concerning the Trees digg’d up in England, that, as they 
are generally taken for Firs (a Tree that never grows 
well in England) this Argument will not hold in refpedl 
of our Country ; but till we are better convinced that 
the Trees they fpeak of are really Fir Trees, the Solu- 
tion of this Objedlion meets with no great Difficulty. 
We travelled April the 27th, by Water, from Bruges 
to Ghent, a City which ftands on a great Trafl of 
Ground, but fcarce half built. It has only Seven Pa- 
riffi Churches, but Fifty-five religious Floufe. 
From hence we continued our Journey, April the 30th, 
to Bruffels, by the Way of Aloji (a fortified Town) the 
firft being the Capital City of Brabant, and the Refi- 
dence of the Governors of the Spanijh Netherlands. 
The Inhabitants here, as well as in divers other Cities 
of the Low-Countries, have Dogs to draw their little 
Wheelbarrows or Carts, in which they fell Fruits and 
other fmall Commodities. 
May 2. We came to Louvain, a City which for its 
Circuit exceeds that of Ghent by three Rods, but con- 
tains, like that, abundance of void Ground, and is but 
indifferently built ; the Town-houfe, which is very 
ftately, being the only Structure worth mentioning. It 
has 43 Colleges, but does not now make the Figure 
it did. 
The Students are diftinguiffi’d by their Habits, ac- 
cording to their Profeffions, the Divines wearing con-^ 
ftantly Gowns and fquare Caps, which the reft are not' 
obliged to, except at publick Exercifes ; yet none are al- 
lowed to wear Swords in the City. In the four Pedagogies, 
Philofophy only is taught by two Profeffors ; the firft 
is ftiled Primarius, the other Secundarius. The Prima- 
rius reads in the Morning, from half an Hour after fix 
till half an Hour after feven, and from ten to eleven a 
Clock. The other in the Afternoon, from half an 
Hour after one, till half an Hour after two j and from 
half an Hour after four, till half an Hour after five. 
They take the Profeffors Leflures ; (which are divided 
into Didlata or Fbefes, and Propofitions, and Annotata, 
or 
