^4® Mf\ R A y'j ^aveh Book If 
of the Admljraky of Amfiefdam, &c. The Office of 
the Burgomajlers Regent is, to take Care of the Go- 
vernment and Peace of the whole City, to determine 
Differences between private Perfons, to be Surveyors of 
the Fortifications, Streets, and publick Buildings. If 
one of the twelve Burgomajlers happen to die, it be- 
longs to the Vroetfehap to chufe another. When the Ef- 
chevins are to be eleded, the Vroetfehap propofes fourteen 
Perfons, out of which the Eurgomajiers feled feven •, 
but one Condition is, that they muft not be near of 
Kin either to the Schoiit^ or any of the Burgomajlers 
Regent, Unto thofe feven the new and old Burgo- 
majlers,, together with the new eleded Efehe^s^ by the 
Majority of Voices, add two out of the Number of the 
Ejehevins chofen the laft Year, which two for that Year 
have the firft and fecond Rank among the Efehevins, who 
are Judges both in civil and criminal Caufes. The 
Councir of thirty fix, or Vroetfehap^ continue in their 
Places for Life, and as often as one of that College dies, 
the reft chufe Another in his Place, but no body under 
twenty five Yeds of Age is admitted. They not only 
have the Power of prefenting the fourteen Perfons out of 
whom the Efehevins are chofen, but are alfo called toge- 
ther by the Burgomafers, when any Thing of great Mo- 
ment is to be debated or refolved upon ; fo that the fu- 
preme Power feems to be lodged in them. Not many 
Years ago, according to the Conftitution of this City, 
no Body could be Burgomajler, unlefs his Father had 
been a Freeman a Year and fix Weeks before he was 
born i but now any who will pay five hundred Gilders, 
may be made a Freeman, and after feven Years is quali- 
fied to be a Burgomajier \ but fuch as do not afpire to 
this Dignity, may be made Free for fifty Gilders. 
The City Trained Bands confift of fifty four Companies, 
divided into four Regiments, of eleven Companies each, 
one hundred and fifty Men in a Company, which amount- 
ed to 8250. Two Companies are drawn out every 
Night to guard the City, which makes^ them fit for 
Service. 
9. June the 1 6th, we profecuted our Journey to Utreeht 
by the ordinary Paflage-boat, where we arrived in fix 
Flours. This is the capital City of the Province of the 
fame Name ; a large Place, furrounded with a good 
earthen Wall and deep Ditch j but its Streets are not 
comparable for Neatnefs or Cleannefs to thofe of the 
Province oi Holland^ though the Water- channels are alfo 
conveyed through feveral Streets. The Univerfity here 
was eftablilhed by the States General in 1636 ; the 
Profdfors of which, as well as thofe of Leyden, publifh 
a yearly printed Catalogue of their Names and intended 
Leeftures. For the Adminiftration of the Government, 
they have an Upper and Lower Sehout and four Burgo- 
majiers, two of whom are new chofen every Year. 
Hence we paffed by Boat to Vianen, refembhng the 
Mint, a Place for Refuge belonging to the Lord of 
Brederode. We faw here a certain Engine for the Wea- 
ving of Tape by the Motion of many Shuttles at a 
Time, at once curious, expeditious and profitable. 
We continued our Journey the fame Day 'thro’ Leer- 
iam, (about three Hours diftanc from Vianen) and the 
June, xhroufw Jfperen, below which we crofted 
the River Wale or Vabalis in a Ferry-boat, and came to 
a very pleafant walled Town called Bommel, feated in an 
Ifland j a fmall Biftance thence we ferried over the 
and paffing in Sight of two ftrong Forts near 
the River fide, one Creveeeeur, and the other En- 
gelen, came in four Hours to Hertogenhofeh, Syha Duels, 
or Bois~le-duc, as the French caWh, and by which Name 
it is generally knowri. As this City is feated upon a 
Kind of a Hill, furrounded with Fens of a large Ex- 
tent, the greateft Part of which was then (and is gene- 
rally) covered with Water, we paftM upon Caufe- 
ways through a Moat, and over two Draw- bridges, 
before v/e entred the Town. Befides which, being 
ftrengthened by a good Wall and deep Ditckj and de- 
fended by a regular Citadel, this, with: its' Situation, 
feems to render it impregnable, and yet it has been 
taken in the late Wars. In the Choir of the Church of 
St. John, 2irQ to be feen the Arms of -many of the 
Knights of the Goldeu Fleeee, and over the upper Stalls. 
an infeription in Freneh,^ importing, That Philip, fir- 
named the Cwi, Duke of Burgundy, Lorrain, znA, Bra- 
bant, had, in 1429, inftituted in the City of Erut^es, an 
Order of Honourable Knights, unto whom he had given 
the Name of Knights of the Golden Fleece, limiting their 
Number to twenty four, their Chief to be the Duke of 
Burgundy, or Supreme Lord of Low -Countries for 
the Time being. The Houfes here are for the moft 
Part covered with Boards on the Outfide ; the Marfties 
about it produce great Abundance of Wild-fowl, and 
the fandy gravelly Banks the Herniaria hirfuta. 
10. June the 20th, we travelled in a Kind of Wag- 
gon in fix Hours to Eindhoven, and thence in four 
Hours more to Haumopt, both fmall but walled Towns, 
the laft of which belongs to the Bifhop of Liege. 
June the 2ift^ we travelled for three Hours through 
Fleaths to Bry, a fmall walled Town, and afterwards 
alcending the Hills, had a full View of Maefricht, and 
the Rivtr Maefe, where we arrived that Evening, after 
feven Hours riding. It is a ftrong well fortified City, 
ftrenthened with very good Out-works. The Magi- 
ftracy here are half Prote^fants and half Romanics, and 
of the laft are the greateft Part of the Inhabitants j 
though the Dutch Proteflants have alfo .three Churches, 
and the Englifh and French one, which they ufe by 
Turns. The Catholicks have twenty Convents here 
and are allowed the publick Exercife of their Religion! 
Moft of the old Houfes are of the famg Fabrick^ith 
thofe of Hertogenhofeh, but many new Brick Houfes haves 
been built of late Years. They were then alfo building 
a very ftately fquare Struflure, intended for their Town- 
houfe. The River Maefe, which divides the City into 
two Parts, is joined to both by a large Stone Bridge, 
fuftained by nine Arches, and the lefiTer Part on the other 
Side is called the Wick, being not inferior in Strength 
to the other Part. 
As to what relates to the common People of Holland, 
it muft be confefs’d they are furly and ill bred, which 
is the Reafon that no Strangers that know the Country 
will deal with Inn-keepers, Waggoners, Boatmen, Por- 
ters, and fuch-like, without bargaining before-hand. 
The Men are generally very large boned and bulky, 
and thefe, as well as the Women, are conftantly eating 
as they travel. Ac their common Entertainments, a 
Sailad leads the Van, a Kind of ftew’d Meat is the main 
Part of the Dinner, and it concludes with fome boil’d 
and butter’d Herbs. The chief Food of the ordinary 
People is Cod-fifh and pickled Herring, which they 
cure better than the Englifh. In the publick Houfes 
you commonly meet with ifmoaked Beef, cut in thin 
Slices, good Bread and Butter, and four or five Sorts 
of Cheefes. Their ftrong Drink (they call it Dick 
Beer, and very properly, for it is feldom dear) is fold 
for three Pence a (^art ; the Dearnefs of which arifes 
partly from the heavy Excife laid upon this, as well as 
all other Provifions ; partly from the Plenty of Money 
in thofe Provinces, which makes Land fold here at 
between thirty and forty Years Purchafe. Moft of their 
Beds are made clofe like Cabins, narrow and ftiort, and 
yet you pay an exceffive Rate for them in the Inns. 
Their Houfes are kept exceeding neat, even to the Oot- 
fide of Pots and Pot-hooks, nay, the very Tiles of the 
Pent-houfes \ yet has it been obfervable, that in dref- 
fing their Meats, they are not fo dean and curious as 
the Englifh. They ufe Organs in moft of their Churches, 
colled Money for the Poor in Sermon-time, with a 
Purfe faftened to a Stick, and a Bell hanging to it. 
The Pfalms to be fung are fet down upon Slates, hung 
upon the Walls of the Church for that Purpofe. They 
feldom travel on Horfeback, but generally in Wag- 
gons, fome cover’d, others nor, but moft by Water,, 
and this on Sundays as well as other Days. Beggars 
are very feldom feen in notwithftanding the 
vaft Multitude of 'People, this Province containing no 
Ids than twenty four wailed Towns and Cities, fix of 
which (befides Amferdam) are bigger than any in Eng- 
land, except London. And upon this Qccafion, I can- 
not ’Euf give you the Heads of fome Obfervations made 
by Ffu'mis Bamhm,, Efqi who was in Holland, with my 
Lord 
