754 Dr. Brow 
Duke of Newhuvg and the Prince of Lorvain were 
Competitors for the Crown ; but the Poles thought fit 
to pitch upon Michael VPifnowitskiy a Native of PoLCind^ 
for their King. I faw alfo at the fame T\mt Vienna, 
the Spanijh Ambaffador Don Balthafar de la Cueva , the 
Pope*s N^uncio was Canlo Canada, Befides whichj the 
Venetians had their Ambaffador at Vienna, who folicited 
Succours for Candia, which the Purkijh Envoy oppofed 
with all his Might. Much about the fame Time came 
an Ambaffador from the Cham of the Crim Tartars, 
named Cha Gagi Aga, who prefented the Emperor with 
feveral very fine Tartarian Horfes, in Return of which 
he was regaled by the Emperor with fome Plate, a 
Silver Bafon and Ewer, and a very fine Watch for the 
Cham. They were lufty, fiirongffimb’d Fellows, but 
very coarfe, their Habit long fur’d Vefts and Caps. 
They took a vaft Quantity of Tobacco in very long 
Pipes. 
19. Among the Greeks, who live and trade at Vienna, 
I was chiefly acquainted with three confiderable Per- 
fons ; one was an Abbot, who had been forced to quit 
his Convent for Fear of the Turks •, another, who called 
himfelf Conjlantine Cantacuzenus, being defcended of 
the Royal Blood of the Cantacuzeni ; the third was a 
Greek Prieft, named Jeremiah, who having travelled in 
Queft of a young Man, taken by an Algerine, and re- 
taken by an Englijh Ship, through Italy, France, Ger- 
many, the Lozv Countries, and England, had retained a 
moft peculiar Kindnefs for the Englijh, who, he faid, 
had treated him more courteoufly than any other Na- 
tion. 
The Country about Vienna is fo fertile in all Things, 
that People live here in great Plenty ; and if any Scar- 
city ftiould happen, the Danube fupplies them from re- 
moter Parts. Hungary, Italy, and Germany, furnilh 
them with fuch Varieties of Wine, that you may drink 
thirty feveral Sorts at any good Table in Vienna nei- 
ther are they deftitute of good Beer. Halftadt in Au- 
Jiria affords them Salt, from whence the Emperor draws 
a vaft Revenue. Sheep and Oxen they have in great 
Plenty of their own, yet are they fupplied with the laft 
cut of Hungary and the Grand SeignioFs Dominions. 
Wild Boar is a great Difli with them, their Fat being 
as delicious here, as that of our Venifon. Neither do 
they want Flares, Rabbets, Partridges, Pheafants, a 
Fowl called in Latin, Gallina Corylorum, &c. The 
Danube furnifhes them with vaft Plenty of Filh, fuch as 
Carps, Trouts, Tenches, Pikes, Eels, Lampreys of all 
Sorts, white Fifh, and large Creviffes, befides Fifh not 
known to us. Here you meet with the Scheiden, the 
Silurus Gefneri, which exceeds the Pike, Salmon, nay, 
any of our River Fifh in Bignefs ; but the biggeft of 
all are the Haufons, called Hufones, by Johnfion, being 
fometimes twenty Foot long. Some will have this to 
be the Fifli named Anacetus by yElian, which he fays is 
catch’d in the Mer. I faw them bufy in fifhing for 
them in the Ifle of Schutz, between Presburgh and Co- 
morea, for they feldom come up hither, it being fup- 
pofed that they come out of the Euxine-fea. They are 
not unlike the Sturgeon in Tafte, and they eat them 
both frefh and pickled. It is full of Griftles, having a 
hollow nervous Chord down the Back, which, when 
dried, they ufe inftead of a Whip. When they fifli 
for them, they blow a Horn or Trumpet. Venice fur- 
niflies Vienna with Oyfters, Sturgeon, and other pickled 
Fifli, with Red-Herrings, Oranges, Limons, and other 
Fruits. They are much difpofed to Jollity in this City ; 
nothing more common than to fee them dancing and 
fencing for Prizes on Holy- Days, and fpending their 
Time in Merry-making, which made me wonder that 
they have not a Company of Players belonging to 
them. 
Their Way of executing Criminals is commonly done 
by cutting off their Heads ; though in Cafes of High 
Treafon, they firft cut off the Right Hand, and next 
the Executioner ftrikes off the Head with one Fore- 
blow. I remember I faw one executed in this Manner -, 
and no fooner was the Head feparated from the Body, 
but a Man ran fpeedily to catch the Blood, which gulli- 
ed out of the Neck, which he drank, and then ran as 
N Fs Travels Book II. 
fall as he could : They look upon this as a Remedy 
againft the Falling Sicknefs. I had heard of fomethino- 
like this in Germany before, and I well remem.ber, that 
Celfus tells us, that in his Time, fome epileptical Perfons 
ufed to drink the Blood of the Gladiators ; yet m.oft 
Phyficians exclaimed againft this Remedy, and I did not 
ftay long enough here to learn the Effefts of it. 
At Presburgh they have an odd Way of Execution, 
(which is alfo in Ufe at Metz). They have an Engine 
framed in the Shape of a Maid, which the criminal Fer- 
fon is obliged to falute ; but at the fecond Salute, flie 
embraces him, and cuts him through the Middle. 
It muft be confefs’d, that the Winters are very fharp 
here, but their Rigour is much mitigated by their fleep- 
ing betwixt two Feather-beds, and the Stoves they make 
Ufe of to warm their Rooms, as well here as in moft 
other Parts of Germany and the Northern Countries. 
The Citizens of Vienna are generally well clad, and wear 
Furs very much, and the Womens Bonnets, which they 
wear upon their Heads, are both lined and faced with 
fome Fur or other. The Climate is very healthful, yet 
have they an epidemical Difeafe, called CoJica Aultriaca, 
among them, which is very difficult to be cured. In 
the Court and City they fpeak very good German, but 
the Country People fpeak fomewhat thick, and have a 
different Tone, and divers odd Words. I faw a certain 
Trick, performed 2it Vienna, which at firft Sight fome- 
what furprifed me, viz. a middle fiz’d Man laid upon 
his Back, had a heavy Anvil fix’d upon his Breaft ; upon 
which two lufty Fellows, with great Hammers, gave at 
leaft a hundred Blows, till they had cut an Iron Horfe* 
fhoe, about half an Inch thick, afunder. 
No other Religion but the Roman Catholick is per- 
mitted the publick Exercife of Worfhip here, the Pro- 
teftants being obliged to go to Church as far as Pref- 
burgh, forty Miles from hence ; for which Reafon a 
Coach goes thither every Day, befides the Convenience 
of the Paffage by the Danube the Exercife of the Pro- 
teftant Worfhip being ftriftly forbid here ever fince the 
Battle of Prague, the fame being allowed before in the 
Church of the Holy Ghoji at firft, and afterwards at 
Arnolds, not above an E'nglilh Mile from Vienna In 
this City are Abundance of Jews,hux. thefe have their di- 
ftineft Habitations on the other Side of the Water. I'hey 
are, indeed, permitted to traffick in a certain Street in 
the Day-time, but muft leave the City before Night. 
They have frequent Broils with the other Inhabitants, 
and more efpecially with the Students. Whilft I was 
there, thefe laft affaulted the Jews Town, where divers 
were killed on both Sides 5 the Confequence of which 
was, that many of xhtjews were to be banifh’d againft 
a certain Day. The Emprefs being then with Child, 
they prefented her with a Silver Cradle *, but as fhe 
was their declared Enemy, fhe would not accept of it, 
and it was chiefly by her Means that afterwards they 
were banilh’d, not only out of Vienna, but alio out of 
all Aujtria *, for as they were ufeful on one Side, for the 
Sale or Exchange of many Things, and ufed to furnifh 
the Officers with Accoutrements and other Neceffaries ; 
fo on the other Hand, they fpoiled the Trade of 
the Citizens, and were accufed of holding a fecret Cor- 
refpondence with the Turks. The JewiJh Phyficians 
pretend to more than ordinary Skill in Urines, which 
makes the common People refort to them, and to look 
upon their Prediflions as Oracles. 
20. Being now refolved to take my Leave of Vienna, 
in order to my Journey for Prague, I took a Place in 
the Coach, which goes thither in fix Days in the Sum- 
mer, and eight in the Winter. We pafs’d over the 
great Bridge upon the Danube near the Chapel of St. 
Bridget. After we had pafs’d the River, we enter’d 
that Part of Aujiria which lies betwixt the Danube and 
the River Theya, and travel’d in Sight of Cornenhergh, 
feated near the Hill Bifnebergh, which lies oppofite to 
Calenbergh. Hence we came to Stockerau, famous for 
the Death of St. Colman : It is feated at the Conflux of 
the River Mial and the Danube. From thence, by the 
Way of Gunter Jdorf to Koldorff, which (though on the 
other Side of the River Theya) is reckoned the firft ViJ- 
lao-e of Moravia, and fo farther to Znaim. It is ob- 
fervabJe, 
